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The SESCO Report – April 2008
Wage and Hour Compliance Not an Issue ? Think Again!
Many employers today believe they are in compliance with Wage and Hour regulations including minimum wage, overtime and time records. Simple enough, right? However, the Fair Labor Standards Act is a very complicated piece of legislation regulating hours of work and compensation practices. To complicate compliance, the trend today is plaintiffs' attorneys "trolling" for employees to file lawsuits through the state court systems. The reason — it is a very lucrative business. Employees can receive liquidated damages (2 times that normally received through the Department of Labor and attorneys' fees are paid). Also, court systems are not "throwing out" lawsuits, so win, lose or draw, employers are losing because of the expense of defending practices. Even if you are in compliance or think you are in compliance, the reality is sooner or later you will be challenged by a lawsuit.
However, compliance is achievable and affordable if you completely understand the regulations and the impact they have on your business. The best and most effective way to ensure compliance is to have SESCO conduct a Wage and Hour audit. As many clients may know, SESCO was founded in 1945 by an ex-Wage-Hour officer, Dr. J.W.R. Lawson, Sr., therefore, our roots and history are strongly grounded in Wage and Hour consulting. Additionally, don't count on your CPAs or payroll service to ensure compliance to Wage and Hour accounting. Through our audits where an outside service is utilized, most of these CPAs or pay systems are not in compliance because they are not aware of the regulations nor are their computer programs utilized able to compute overtime appropriately on certain compensation.
More common violations include:
On-call time. Employees required to remain on-call on the employer's premises are considered working while on-call. Employees required to remain on-call at home and are restricted to their home are working.
Waiting time. Employees are paid for waiting time when they are "engaged to wait." Employees fall under this definition if they're required to be at a work site at a certain time.
Rest and meal periods. You must pay employees for short rest periods, usually 30 minutes or less. You generally don't need to pay employees for bona fide meal periods (typically 30 minutes or more). Employees must be completely relieved from duty during unpaid breaks and meal periods. Example: If you require your assistant to eat lunch at her desk in case a call comes in, she must be paid because she hasn't been fully relieved of her duties. (Some states require paid breaks.)
Sleeping time. Employees required to be on duty for less than 24 hours are considered "working," even if they're permitted to sleep. Employees required to be on duty for 24 hours or more may agree with their employer to exclude from hours worked any scheduled sleeping periods of eight hours or less.
Training programs and meetings. You don't have to pay employees for time spent at training programs, lectures or similar activities as long as they meet the following four criteria:
1. The event is outside normal hours;
2. It's voluntary;
3. It's not job-related;
4. No work is performed during that time.
Travel time. The Labor Department rules clearly say home-to-work commuting isn't counted as paid time. In addition:
? Day trips to another city. Time spent traveling to and returning from the other city is work time. You can exclude the employee's regular commuting time.
? "All in a day's work" travel. Travel time spent by employees as part of their principal activity, such as travel among job sites during the workday, is considered "work time" and must be paid.
? Overnight travel away from home. Travel away from home is considered "work time" when it cuts across the employee's workday. That's true not only on regular working days during normal working hours, but also on nonworking days such as Saturday and Sunday. You don't have to pay employees for time spent in travel away from home outside of regular working hours while they're passengers on a plane, train, boat, bus or automobile.
Commissions on Bonuses and Incentives. Employers must pay overtime on all wages earned to include bonuses, incentives and commissions. Overtime must be calculated on these payments on a prorated basis.
If you should have any questions concerning any of your pay practices, contact us. SESCO clients receive free telephone consulting and an onsite audit annually to review not only Wage and Hour compliance, but also compliance to all federal and state employment regulations. If you are not a retainer client, feel free to call to discuss our Professional Service Arrangement providing professional services at no additional cost.
Altering Time Sheets Can Mean Personal Liability for Managers
If you're responsible for approving time sheets or signing off on alterations to the hours reported by employees, take note: It's not just your organization that risks a big fine and costly litigation. Your personal assets are also at risk, as a new court ruling shows.
That's because the Fair Labor Standards Act allows employees to sue their bosses, execs and HR professionals for personal liability for altering pay records.
For that reason, make sure supervisors don't tolerate ? or, worse, encourage ? off-the-clock work or the altering of time records. U.S. Labor Department officials announced last year that they're receiving more complaints about employees forced to work through breaks.
Remember: For breaks to be unpaid, employees must be completely relieved of their duties and it must be at least 30 minutes in length. (That's one reason to discourage them from eating lunch at their desks).
Recent Case
A group of "living assistants" (hourly workers) at a home for the disabled worked 48-hour weekend shifts and were required to check on each resident every two hours, around the clock.
When those employees turned in their time sheets, managers routinely deducted eight hours because each living assistant supposedly got two four-hour breaks. The CEO then signed off on the altered time sheets.
The problem: The employees couldn't leave the building during "breaks" and had to call the main office once an hour. Because the time wasn't their own, the court said they should be compensated.
The kicker: The court held the CEO personally liable, ordering him and the company to pay more than $500,000 to the employees, including $155,000 as a penalty.
You May Be Liable for Accidents if Employees Do Business by Cell Phone
You want your managers and employees to stay productive, so you suggest they use their wireless phone. You may even buy phones or reimburse for them. This is fine, as long as employees don't drive carelessly while using their phones.
In a Pennsylvania case, a broker who allegedly was talking on his cell phone dropped it, bent down to get it, ran a red light and killed a motorcyclist. The broker's employer agreed to pay $500,000 to the family, who sued the firm for contributing to the accident.
If you expect employees to use cell phones for business, be sure to provide policy that requires them to pull over while they talk; or, at the very least, provide hands-free devices. SESCO prepares policy for clients including policy regarding cell phone and PDA usage.
Document "I Quit" Words to Avoid Unemployment Claims
Employees who quit typically aren't eligible for unemployment compensation. Yet employees who announce that they've had enough and won't be back still might file for unemployment insurance benefits anyway.
Teach your supervisors how to handle sudden "I quit" outbursts in order to avoid being on the hook for unemployment. Specifically, tell supervisors to note the "I quit" in writing, including the date and time and, if possible, the exact words.
They should then forward the memo promptly to HR for inclusion in the employee's personnel file. Send the employee written confirmation that his/her resignation has been received and accepted.
Recent Case
William Baker worked for Erie Construction. During a break, he asked a co-worker to drive him home and, as they drove along, he told her he had "quit." He then phoned his boss and told him the same thing.
The next day, he called his boss and asked to rescind his resignation. The boss told Baker to reapply. When he did, HR informed him that his position had been filled and no openings were available.
He filed for unemployment benefits. But Erie brought in the boss, his conversation notes and the co-worker, who testified that Baker had told her he quit. That was enough for the court: It denied the benefits and ordered Baker to pay the court costs of his appeal.
Create a Hiring "Checklist;" Lax Process Will Cost You
It's tempting to shorten your hiring processes, but don't do it. Give managers clear hiring procedures to follow during interviews. Make a checklist, if necessary. Practice the same procedures for internal and external candidates, match qualifications with job descriptions and be able to defend your decisions.
Cast in point: For nearly two years, Joyce Dennis worked in progressively more responsible jobs at a South Carolina hospital. But when she interviewed for a promotion to ER registration supervisor, the hiring manager suggested Dennis wouldn't get it because she was rumored to be having an affair with a doctor. Dennis denied the affair and complained to the hospital's CFO.
The CFO then took over the selection process. He reviewed Dennis's application but never interviewed her. Instead, he hired the husband of a co-worker he knew.
Dennis quit and filed suit, alleging discriminatory failure to promote and defamation. A jury sided with Dennis and awarded her $161,000 in damages. A federal appeals court agreed, calling the hiring process "peculiarly informal."
While Dennis didn't possess all the skills and criteria in the written description, the man who received the job was even less qualified.
Job Descriptions: How to Make them Lawsuit-Proof
Job descriptions are among the first items that courts examine to determine the legitimacy of a discrimination charge. You can use them as part of a defense in court only if they're accurate and were prepared before the job was advertised or interviewing began. To ensure accuracy, interview employees already doing the job and their supervisors. Here's what you need to find out:
� The job's essential functions, including any physical requirements, such as heaving lifting. (Required by ADA)
� Any secondary duties or responsibilities.
� Attendance requirements.
� Any education requirements and special skills necessary to perform the job.
� Standards to which the person filling the post is held. (A salesperson, for example, may be expected to bring in five new clients per month.)
� The worker's supervisors.
� Any positions an incoming supervisor will be responsible for overseeing.
SESCO prepares job descriptions for clients which include a performance appraisal format built in. Call SESCO to have your job descriptions reviewed or developed.
SESCO Client Inquiry — Staff Response
Q. Are we required to offer continued health care insurance coverage when an employee leaves our business?
A. Employers with 20 or more employees offering health care coverage are required under certain circumstances to offer continuing coverage under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) to qualified beneficiaries. The employee must have been enrolled in the employer's group health plan at the time of termination. The employee (and his or her dependents) are not eligible for continued coverage if the employee was released for gross misconduct.
Employers with less than 20 employees that offer health care coverage to their employees may also be required to offer continued or converted health care coverage to terminated employees. These requirements vary from state to state. If you have questions about your state's requirements, feel free to contact SESCO.


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The roots of a Chinese herb, the blue evergreen hydrangea, help with the treatment of autoimmune disorders, according to a new study.
An autoimmune disorder occurs when the immune system can't tell the difference between healthy body tissue and antigens. Antigens are harmful substances that seek to attack the immune system, such as viruses, cancer cells and bacteria. So, the immune system attacks and destroys healthy body tissue by mistake.
Currently, there are more than 80 known autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. To date, there are no preventative measures known to lower your chances of developing an autoimmune disorder. Symptoms include fatigue, fever and general ill-feeling.
The roots of the blue evergreen hydrangea may aid in developing a treatment for autoimmune disorders.
Photo by Chickens in the Trees/Courtesy Flickr
Researchers found that the blue evergreen hydrangea, also known as Chang Shan, may weaken the immune response that occurs in many autoimmune disorders.
Here's how it works: The active ingredient in Chang Shan, called halofuginone (HF), stops the development of a dangerous type of immune cell called Th17 cells. When it stops the production of Th17 cells, HF prevents the harmful autoimmune response and allows the rest of the immune system to continue running properly.
So far, Chang Shan has only been tested on mice, but researchers are hopeful that this new discovery will help them come up with safe, efficient treatments for people with autoimmune diseases.

subset: commoncrawl


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Thierry Henry is mystified by Jamie Vardy's apparent decision to turn down a move to Arsenal, with the club legend not understanding how a switch from Leicester to Arsenal could possibly not appeal to anyone, as reported by the BBC.
Follow the author on Twitter: @Attlee
Vardy looked close to making the switch to Arsenal last weekend, but with no confirmation of the move it seems like he may have had a change of heart. We won't know for sure until after the Euros when we get something a little more concrete, but Henry certainly seems to believe the 29-year-old is making a mistake.
"All I can say is if I was playing for Leicester and I had Arsenal coming, and I'm 29, I would have gone. But I'm not Jamie Vardy," Henry said.
"Either he has another proposition on the table, or Arsenal doesn't seem attractive to him anymore."
While there's obviously going to be a bit of bias on Thierry Henry's part, it's hard to disagree with him. While Leicester are obviously the current Premier League champions and undoubtedly had a superb season, they are unlikely to even come close to replicating that form next season.
Don't Miss:
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Arsenal, meanwhile, are still one of the biggest clubs in the world, and you'd expect us to be a lot more likely to be challenging for the title next season.
There are many Arsenal fans who thought Vardy wasn't the right player for us anyway, so as far as they're concerned his decision will be a blessing in disguise.
Arsenal transfer news
We unquestionably need a striker signing this summer though, and if Vardy isn't going to be the one to arrive then Arsene Wenger needs to make sure he has other targets identified.


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Breast Reconstruction Beverly Hills
Dr. Golshani is a recognized expert for the breast reconstruction he performs in the Beverly Hills and Los Angeles area. In general, breast reconstruction is a surgery performed for a woman who has lost a breast because of cancer or another condition. Having a breast reconstruction can truly restore a woman's confidence in her body. Beyond the physical rewards of breast reconstruction surgery, patients also report this is an emotionally rewarding experience because of its ability to improve self-image and quality of life.
Sometimes breast reconstruction is performed as a single surgery, but more often the reconstruction process is performed over multiple surgeries. The reasons Dr. Golshani frequently recommends multiple surgeries is to allow for the use of a tissue expander to better place the implants, or to perform subsequently reconstruction of the nipple or areola. In the case only one breast needs reconstruction, Dr. Golshani may opt for a follow-up surgery to allow for fine-tuning of the reconstructed breast to give you balance and symmetry.
It is normal that the reconstructed breast may feel firmer and look rounder or flatter than the natural breast. It is also normal to not have perfect symmetry in your breasts - however, no one has perfect symmetry in natural breasts either. For our mastectomy patients, they find that these "imperfections" are visible primarily to them, but not to others.
Scheduling Reconstructive Breast Surgery
If you are going to have a mastectomy, you should consult a board certified plastic surgeon like Dr. Golshani to help plan your breast reconstruction well before the date of your mastectomy. If you live in the Beverly Hills or Los Angeles area, we can easily schedule a consultation for you. Important questions to answer are whether immediate reconstruction should be considered or whether reconstruction should be delayed to a later time. Factors influencing this decision include surgical options, the need for post-operative radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy, your general health, and your particular desires.
Please reach out to us if you have any breast reconstruction questions we can answer for you, or if you would like to set up a private consultation with Dr. Golshani.


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Kevin is very trust worthy and hard working. will get the job done perfectly.Carol Pretz, Travel Agent at Map Travel
Kevin and his awesome crew (Scott Whittaker, Mike, Martin & others) did a remodel/addition to our residence in 2013. They were all wonderful to work with, very professional, considerate of our personal space and needs, managed the subs well, overall we HIGHLY recommend them. Feel free to contact me as a reference for K & G!Sherry Schweiter Seeh, Owner - Meltdowns Fused Glass & Unique Boutique


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16 Reasons To Get Married Between Ages 25-32!
> Onedio
> 16 Reasons To Get Married Between Ages 25-32!
It's probably the biggest decision of your life...Spending it with someone else. Someone that you really really love. It's completely up to you when or who to marry. But studies show that getting married between the ages 25-32 slightly reduces the chances of ending up with a divorce. And here we've found the 16 reasons behind it.


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You should check the "Revision" section near the title section to ensure that the indicated changes were made in the drawing itself. You must ensure that the construction plan, the specifications, and the drawings are discussing the same project. When there are inconsistencies between general drawings and details, details should be followed unless they are obviously wrong. When there are inconsistencies between drawings and specifications, you should follow the specifications.
As an estimator, you must first study the specifications and then use them with the drawings when preparing quantity estimates. You should become thoroughly familiar with all the requirements stated in the specifications. Some estimators may have to read the specifications more than once to fix these requirements in their mind. You are encouraged to make notes as you read the specifications. These notes will be helpful to you later as you examine the drawings. In the notes, list any unusual or unfamiliar items of work or materials and reminders for usc during examination of the drawings. A list of activities and materials that are described or mentioned in the specifications is helpful in checking quantity estimates.
The tables and diagrams in the Seabee Planner's and Estimator's Handbook, NAVFAC P-405, should save you time in preparing estimates and, when understood and used properly, provide accurate results. Whenever possible, the tables and the diagrams used were based on Seabee experience. Where suitable information was not available, construction experience was adjusted to represent production under the range of conditions encountered in Seabee construction. A thorough knowledge of the project drawings and specifications makes you alert to the various areas where errors may occur.
Quantity estimates are used as a basis for purchasing materials, determining equipment, and determining manpower requirements. They are also used in scheduling progress, which provides the basis for scheduling material deliveries, equipment, and manpower. Accuracy in preparing quantity estimates is extremely important; these estimates have widespread uses and errors can be multiplied many times. Say, for example, a concrete slab is to measure 100 feet by 800 feet. If you misread the dimension for the 800-foot side as 300 feet, the computed area of the slab will be 30,000 square feet, when it should actually be 80,000 square feet. Since area is the basis for ordering materials, there will be shortages. For example, concrete ingredients, lumber, reinforcing materials, and everything else involved in mixing and placing the concrete, including equipment time, manpower, and man-hours, will be seriously underestimated and ordered.
The need for accuracy is vital, and quantity estimates should be checked to eliminate as many errors as possible. One of the best ways to check your quantity estimate is to have another person make an independent estimate and then to compare the two. Any differences should be checked to determine which is right. A less effective way of checking is for another person to take your quantity estimate and check all measurements, recordings, computations, extensions, and copy work, keeping in mind the most common error sources (listed in the next section).
Failure to read all the notes on a drawing or failure to examine reference drawings results in many omissions. For example, you may overlook a note that states "symmetrical about the center line" and thus compute only half the required quantity.
Errors in scaling obviously mean erroneous quantities. Great care should be taken in scaling drawings so correct measurements are recorded. Common scaling errors include using the wrong scale, reading the wrong side of a scale, and failing to note that a detail being scaled is drawn to a scale different from that of the rest of the drawing. Remember: Some drawings are not drawn to scale. Since these cannot be scaled for dimensions, you must obtain dimensions from other sources.
Sometimes wrongly interpreting a section of the specifications causes errors in the estimate. If there is any doubt concerning the meaning of any part of the specification, you should request an explanation of that particular part.
Omissions are usually the result of careless examination of the drawings. Thoroughness in examining drawings and specifications usually eliminates errors of omission. Checklists should be used to assure that all activities or materials have been included in the estimate. If drawings are revised after material takeoff, new issues must be compared withContinue Reading


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Lollapalooza Day two was off to an interesting start. We arrived just to be told to evacuate due to inclement weather.
Thousands and thousands of people roamed the streets trying to find shelter before the rain and winds hit. Luckily, we found food and shelter at a nearby Epic Burger… and so did many others.
This Chicago-based burger chain offers a simple menu of burgers, fruit smoothies and milkshakes. Choose from an all-natural beef burger, tasty turkey burger, all-natural chicken breast sandwich, or a very veggie portabella sandwich on a white or whole wheat bun. Add lettuce, tomato, pickles, grilled or raw onions and Epic sauce, to your liking. Top it with a fried egg (hard or over easy), slice of bacon, and/or one of their all-natural Wisconsin cheeses. Every burger is cooked fresh to order.
Here's the Portabella Sandwich on whole wheat bun with lettuce, tomato and raw onions, topped with a fried egg.
The grilled portabella mushroom was gigantic, juicy and delicious. The addition of a fried egg enlightened the burger to another level. Eggs tend to do that for me.
Here's the Portabella Sandwich, this time on a white bun with lettuce, tomato and grilled onions, Epic sauce and pickles on the side.
Also topped with a fried egg, of course. Along with some fresh cut fries too.
Lastly, here's the Peanut butter milkshake, made with fat-free frozen yogurt and soy milk.
We lingered around Epic Burger as long as we could to avoid the rain. The restaurant grew crowded very quickly and employees started asking people to leave if they are not ordering or have already finished their meals. Strategically, we enjoyed our burgers slowly, savoring every bite, and chatted up with others while they dined as well.
We were happy to know to receive notice that Lollapalooza would resume in the evening with just as much energy and an updated schedule. Doors reopened at 6pm and attendees entered the park filled waving their wristbands with excitement.


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While speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on May 20, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said that the U.S. electoral process has been broken by the Supreme Court with its ruling in the Citizens United campaign finance case.
But an inconvenient truth for Trumka lies in readily-available campaign finance records.
According to OpenSecrets.org's list of the top 140 donors from 1989 to 2010, 12 out of the top 15 donate overwhelmingly to Democrats. As a matter of fact, a majority of those who give the most donations are unions such as the SEIU, American Federation of Teachers, and the Communication Workers of America.
The AFL-CIO, the union Trumka heads, is ranked 26 out of the top 140 political 'Heavy Hitters' with money in politics.
One way to put this into perspective is how much the Left has tried to demonize Koch Industries and the brothers who head it.
You'd think from all the shouting the Left does, they'd be the top contributor to Republican causes, which they are not.
As a matter of fact, they are ranked 87 out of the 140 on this list- that's 61 spots behind Trumka's AFL-CIO.
To see the entire list of 'Heavy Hitters' in politics, lobbying, and influence click here to head on over to OpenSecrets.org.


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"If the universe is non-ethical by our present standards, we must reconsider those standards and reconstruct our ethics."
G. Wells, 1901
Humanitarianism is a basic orientation towards the interests and welfare of people. It demands that whatever detracts from human well-being must be questioned, regardless of its effects on economic growth, political power, or the stability of a certain order. Abstractions such as growth, stability and order are not ends in themselves, but have value only if they bring about the greater welfare of people.
Humanitarianism proceeds from the recognition that each one of us is no more but also no less than a human being. To emphasize our common humanity is not to deny or play down the importance of transcendental concerns, but simply to recognize that no single definition of truth is universally and unconditionally accepted. Common humanity is a point we can start with, as we learn to live with multiple perceptions of the truth .
The humanitarian perspective takes a long-range view of human welfare, and one of its essential dimensions is solidarity with future generations. Our first responsibility to our children is to ensure that they have a future by avoiding catastrophic war. It is also necessary to ensure that they do not inherit a planet whose environment has been substantially diminished or irreparably destroyed . We have a responsibility not to deprive our descendants of the chance to live fully and to push forward the frontiers of knowledge for the benefit of humankind . We have an obligation not to foreclose the options available to them . Humanitarianism is cautious. It has a strong bias against the irreversible.
We uphold humanitarianism as a framework for recognizing dilemmas and a formula for resolving them. Once human welfare has been placed firmly at the centre of individual and collective concerns, however, there are still a host of questions to be resolved in any specific set of circumstances. The humanitarian perspective includes an ethical orientation that equips us to approach these difficult questions: an ethic of human solidarity.
The identification of common values from which to construct an ethical framework for human solidarity is dependent upon the establishment of a broader consensus about the meaning of humanitarianism, and about its role in the promotion of human welfare.
For us, humanitarianism is both an attitude for individuals and a framework for policy-makers. It encompasses both humanism and human rights and goes beyond the confines of existing humanitarian law. It connects ethics to action at all levels . In this sense, we attribute to the term humanitarianism a broader context than its current usage permits.
Traditional concepts of humanitarianism tend to be negative in character, concerned more with refraining from certain actions which harm others than actually helping. They remain limited in scope. Providing emergency solutions to urgent social problems is, of course, a first priority, but too often they have come to be used as a substitute for addressing the root causes and providing long-term answers.
A more universal moral perspective suits our times, because we are linked so much more closely to one another. An expansion of humanitarianism better to match modern needs must occur in several dimensions: horizontal, to cover more of the globe and include a multitude of actors; vertical, to take in new kinds of moral issues; and temporal, to cover future generations. And there must be an accompanying reform of individual, collective and institutional attitudes to accommodate this expansion.
The Challenge
In a world of shrinking spaces, porous national boundaries, expanding technological capacity and instant communication, we live in an imperfect but vivid relationship with all of our fellow human-beings. Our attention to any one segment of humanity may be limited or self-limiting. But our mutual ability to affect each other's lives, for better or for worse, has never had the scope and immediacy that it has today.
Modern communications have played an important role in strengthening our sense of human solidarity. This was seen most recently and dramatically when the images and descrip tions of the famine in Africa burst upon the consciousness of the public everywhere in the world. Coming face-to-face, in an almost literal sense, with suffering on such a scale challenges people's notions of what it means to be human. It brings about an expansion of our moral universe.
Many kinds of environmental problems, such as air pollution, acid rain or the effects of destructive land-use practices, do not respect international borders. Increasingly refugees, other displaced people or migrant workers are also crossing national borders in large numbers. The vast population movements that are now taking place give rise to a plethora of humanitarian problems . Those who are obliged to leave their homes often become targets of exploi tat ion , discrimination or debilitating dependency; those who remain behind often face inhumane conditions.
Man's inhumanity to man is not an invention of the modern era, but the scope and scale of his capacity to act it out is historically unprecedented. Age-old themes such as greed, betrayal of popular will, lust for power and ethnic hatred combine with contemporary economic and social strains to create new sources of conflict. Rivalry over land and resources has intensified, spurred by the need to satisfy the requirements and aspirations of increasing populations.
The greatest obstacle to the achievement of a sense of community based on an inclusive ethical consensus is the drifting apart of the rich and the poor into two separate worlds. Today , this is a far more complex phenomenon than the geopolitical division of the world into North and South or industrialized and developing countries. The rich in the capitals of the Third World have far more in common with the rich of the First World than they have with the poor in their own countries. The affluent also communicate more easily with each other across national boundaries than with their poor compatriots. Technologies of communication and transportation, to say nothing of a pervasive consumerist culture, have helped to create a new stratification of the world's people into transnational classes that share very little information, experience or common concern with others. The gap in understanding between rich and poor is in imminent danger of reaching the point where the only form of discourse may be violent conflict, occasionally punctuated by outbursts of charity. It is matter of the greatest practical, as well as ethical urgency, to prevent the split between the two worlds from widening, and to restore a sense of solidarity among people.
The human person in today's world is particularly vulnerable. For millions of people, violence has become a fact of life. Wars continue to plague developing countries. Civilian casualties have greatly risen in proportion to combatant casualties. In scores of countries, torture is becoming institutionalized as an instrument of state control and repression. Weapons oL indiscriminate destruction are being used increasingly in armed conflicts while nuclear weapons have become the sword of Damocles of modern times. Starvation continues to be used as a means of suppressing opposition, while control over civilian populations serves as a tactic as well as an objective of armed conflict.
Scientific and technological developments have given human-beings powers that far outstrip their collective good judgement. Formidable conventional weapons are easily available, even to small groups. Consequently, every country with an aggrieved minority , faces a potential risk. With the development of modern weapons of mass destruction , the power of the instruments of war has reached levels never before imagined, so that even those States not directly involved in a conflict have a strong interest in helping to resolve it. In today 's volatile world, conflicts cannot easily be contained and isol ated. Furthermore, each time a violation of international law is tolerated, it sets a dangerous precedent that makes it more likely that similar abuses will be repeated.
The State is on the defensive. The pursuit of national security has come to place excessive reliance on the threatened use of force. This has led to the militarization of whole societies to the detriment of the economic, social and political sectors State authorities seem to be increasingly willing to use violence , not only in their relations with other States but also against their own people.
In some cases, this turmoil may be a part of the struggle to throw off the remnants of colonial structures and power relationships. But in many more, the end of the colonial era has been followed by periods of contention and unrest as mechanisms for political representation failed to take hold. Even without the wilful appropriation of state power, the development process itself generates inequalities that a representative government must mediate. All too often, however , States have failed in , or abandoned, their mediating roles and substituted repression for social management.
With all societies so vulnerable to the actions of others , and all faced with the possibility of extinction, the need to formulate new standards for humanitarian decision-making is imperative. General rules and principles of human conduct have evolved and acquired authority in specific historical settings. But in a shrinking world and in a situation of rapid social, economic and technological change, it is necessary to find common values that are acceptable across a wide spectrum of cultures and ideologies.
Increasingly, ambivalence and uncertainty characterize the ethical choices that people are called upon to make. These arise because worthy goals can and do conflict with each other, because contemporary life puts before us a multiplicity of choices and because we cannot perfectly foresee or control all the consequences of our actions . In any complex situat ion , the unintended consequences of a choice may overwhelm the intended result. Even with an ethical orientation toward human well-being, we cannot , everywhere and at all times , completely eliminate risk or catastrophe. Nor is it always possible to prevent people from doing what they believe to be right even if the price in terms of human suffering, death and desolat ion, is very high.
The Framework
Certain ethical imperatives follow from the fact that we cannot control and predict the consequences of our actions in a complex environment. They include:
- The responsibility to examine and attempt to understand the full range of consequences of an action and avoid one-dimensional thinking.
- To make every effort to minimize harm and to compensate the sufferers when harm is unavoidably generated in pursuit of a competing
- To exercise discernment in the face of unintended consequences or Justifiable actions may hurt some people. However it is important to acknowledge any ill effects for what they are rather than insisting that they are acceptable because they cannot be avoided.
Inaction can be as decisive as action, and just as damaging. On the other hand, the need to act without full knowledge or total certainty is a major dilemma for those who hold power. The fact is that no single person or institution has the capacity to marshal! all the facts, understand all the alternatives, or predict all the reactions to and interpretations of an action. This underscores the crucial importance of continual discourse on ethical issues. Exposure to different ways of looking at a problem may, therefore, increase understanding and in so doing enlarge areas of agreement. This is a necessary first step for an expanded consensus on humanitarian issues.
Such a consensus must necessarily take into account the increasing prominence of new actors, particularly in recent decades, both within and outside the governmental structures of new States or States that have radically changed their political system. However, these new actors have emerged from nations, cultures and ideologies that did not participate in formulating the international consensus on humanitarian norms, and have not had the opportunity to give their views on it. It is not surpris-ing that they feel little obligation to abide by it.
Many of the new States do not have adequate experience of national politics, much less of international politics. Moreover, many States that accept international standards in external conflicts still refuse to apply humanitarian norms to the internal ones when dealing with opposition groups. These groups thus lack the incentive of mutual restraint to apply the norms themselves.
One additional explanatory factor in the fragility of the humanitarian consensus may be that the consensus itself has not drawn sufficiently upon non-Western cultural, legal and religious traditions. The historical reasons for this are clear. The norms of humanitarian conduct, therefore, might become more universally acceptable if they draw on more universal, rather· than strictly Western sources of inspiration. The holy texts of various religions and the legal systems, philosophies, and customary practices of other cultures, including oral trad itions , abound in moral injunctions that imply an ethic of human solidarity.
The international community can condemn violations of humanitarian standards but it can hardly claim to be surprised when desperate people react violently, and in so doing disregard basic humanitarian principles. The first reaction of the perpetrators to pleas for restraint is likely to be: 'Where was the outrage of the international community , whose norms we are now being asked to respect, during the crises that imprisoned us in poverty, ignorance and oppression, that killed our children through malnutrition and disease, that despoiled our lands?' The keen sense of structural violence on the part of its victims, and their determination to resist it , is the link that joins long-term issues of poverty and injustice to the breakdown of humanitarian norms in wars or violent internal struggles. The contenders in such struggles are not likely to observe the norms set by the international community until they are acknowledged to be a part of it themselves.
Dual standards, or multiple standards tailored to specific circumstances or to the perceptions and ideologies of separate societies are a luxury that can no longer be afforded . International standards must be such as to be acceptable across a wide spectrum of cultures and ideologies. They must be based on the notion of the human species as a single, indivisible but pluralistic unit.
The tenuousness of human judgement is an inescapable fact of life. However, to reduce the margin for error, we must strive to keep the channels of communication with others open. The broadest possible discourse can at the very least uncover differences of conviction and their sources. Exposure to different ways of looking at a problem may increase understanding and in so doing enlarge areas of agreement. Sometimes, received opinion may be false, or it may be necessary to clear up apprehensions about erroneous opinion. But the commoner case than either of these, is when conflicting opinions, instead of being one true and the other false, share the truth between them, and an exchange takes place to supply the remainder of the truth .
Calls for a strong international consensus are often dismissed as una ttainable , for they raise fears of forced imposition of a uniform system of values on a highly pluralistic wo rld. Such uniformity is neither necessary nor desira ble, for an inter national consensus can and should be a minimum one. It requires identifying a few irreducible values – but these may have a different configuration among themselves and in relation to other values , depending on their cultural setting . What is important is not the configurat ion , but rather that within each culturally specific setting the irreducible values are to be found. Each nation has a stake in helping to identify the core of the humanitarian eth ic, and in tolerating man y different expressions of it.
For centuries, the great religious texts have taught the essential oneness of the human race. That transcendent perception of common humanity seems to have waned, though it may yet be reawakened. It is strongly buttressed by the facts of mutual reliance as well as the logic of moral philosophy and it is fully consistent with the reality of international pluralism. Living together on this plant with its finite resources, where we all have the ab ilit y to hurt if not destroy each other, requires an enlargement of our vision and sense of neighbourhood.
Neighbours are bound together in mutual reliance, and in that sense all people today surely qualify as neighbours. But we lack the positive qualities of neighbourliness: an acknowledgment of mutual obligation, and a reasonable level of tolerance. It may be that the classic neighbourhood is also a place of intense suspicion, jealousy and even hosti lit y. But its members know that they must live together , and that the expression of open antagonism leaves them all poorer and less secure. There is also a degree of acceptance, within bounds, of the faults of one's neighbours on the grounds that they display a weakness that we may all have to some degree. In the final analysis, they too belong despite what we may not like in them.
What we need is an explanation and justification of moral obligations which are predicated upon ensuring mutual welfare. It is natural to talk about helping those with whom we are in immediate contact, but here we are talking about those far away as well. The duty to help those in need , at least within the family circle and the immediate community if not the nation and the wo rld , is widely if not universally acknowledged in some form. Psycholo gically, most human-beings are made uncomfortable by the suffering of others. But why should one be concerned with persons one does not even know?
In part the answer lies in the combined notions of solidarity and reciprocity. The main motivation in the present times comes from the increasing realization that adversity anywhere is a threat to prosperity everywhere. Solidarity and reciprocity thus take the form of enlightened self-interest. This is based on the realization that inequalities which are incompatible with human dignit y are politically, socially and economically destabilizin g. The willingness to ignore humanitarian needs is likely to encourage the same attitude in others.
General rules and principles of human conduct have evolved in specific historical settings, and within those settings they have acquired strong presumptive authority. But in a situation of rapid social, cultural and technological change, the old principles may lose their acceptability as ethical guidelines. Still, it is possible to define the outer limits of ethical behaviour that would be acceptable very widely in the modern world. What is more difficult to define is ethical decision-making within those limits , in the complex, ambiguous , uncertain and fast-changing circumstances in which humanitarian issues unfold.
It must be recognized that the problem is not of morality versus politics but rather of the kind of politics which allow moral restraints to emerge and to be observed . Such political activity begins with a sober consideration of the underlying self-interest that will persuade States and other actors to accept the precepts of common humanity.
The willingness to blunt voluntarily the sharper edges of national sovereignty can be seen in all successful efforts to bring about greater international cooperation. It is essential to the task of preserving and extending humanitarian values. Restraint in the exercise of sovereignty does not require an undermining or superseding of the State. It does, however, imply the need to agree upon effective and mutually agreed methods for holding States accountable for their actions, or for their inaction, in the face of another's dereliction of humanitarian obligations.
We recognize that disregard for humanitarian values is not found only in situations of overt conflict. It is also manifest in the willingness of the international community to stand by while hundreds of millions of people sink into the depths of absolute deprivation. This amounts to acceptance of a doctrine of dispensability applicable to the poorest and most helpless members of society. While the first line of responsibility for them rests with their own commun "ties and States, these are often helpless to remedy a harmful situation. Often, they lack the resources or the skills to combat deprivation, or are in the grip of larger forces in the national or the world economy over which they have no control.
A broader consensus on humanitarian issues requires, in our view, a search for the highest common values that are widely shared despite all the negative, conflictual elements of human societies. All cultures and religions credit human-beings with a moral dimension and expect to see it manifested in however fragmented and diluted a form.
The conceptual framework within which our Commission functioned was based essentially on an ethical core which can help build a wider consensus. The cornerstones of this framework were the values which from time immemorial have been a part of the collective consciousness of the human species, which have ensured their survival and well-being, and which have stood the test of time:
- Respect for life;
- A responsibility towards future generations;
- Protection of the human habitat
- Altruism nurtured by a sense of mutual interest and a recognition of human dignity and worth.
We have borne in mind these values when exammmg the specific humanitarian issues which form the bulk of this Report. Recognizing the value of a pragmatic and realistic approach, we endeavoured at the same time to remain fully conscious of the over-arching global issues which condition the humanitarian problems as well as the new forces which are bound to affect , for better or for worse , the future shape of things. These are treated briefly in the first part of our Report. Our purpose was no more than to be catalytic, however modestly , in encouraging public debate on the need for people to be more humane in facing contemporary challenges . We are fully aware that the idea of human solidarity and the ethics which must cement it imply an almost Copernican change of perspective, from a fractured to a holistic view of human welfare which is centred on the commonality of human interests. The task of building a consensus around an ethic of human solidarity is a long-term proposition . The key is to engage individuals in collective action at all levels: to bring the needy to see themselves as individuals whose primary purpose is self-sufficiency; and to bring to those in a position to help, the understanding that true self-realization involves the alleviation of others' suffering. Progress in removing the causes of human suffering is a step-by-step proposition which calls for tenacious efforts on a long-term basis. This should not be a source of discouragement , but rather accepted as a challenge that the eternal human spirit needs to achieve its own fulfilment.


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Lombergar's Doors Turn A Few Heads
Although making a debut at the biggest construction show in the region, two doors crafted by glass designer Ales Lombergar and featured at Alukomen's stand, did succeed to turn quite a few heads at last year's Big 5 show, literally opening the doors for the small Slovenian firm into one of the world's fastest growing economies.
Lombergar's passion for the art took shape way back in 1984, when as a young boy he was fascinated by the chemical formula that was used by craftsmen centuries ago. In a span of a little over two decades, Lombergar has become one of the few artisans in Europe, who continue with the ancient art and craft of glass acid etching that flourished in the late 19th century. Decorations are applied with resin resists by hand and then exposed to acid baths, with no machinery used.
"I was always more interested in the past than in the present, so even today I hardly pass by a medieval building without stopping to admire it. My wish is to bring the forgotten ornaments back to life and glass is only a medium," says Lombergar.
Today, Lombergar's work adorns a variety of locations, ranging from Europe's biggest casino near Vienna through to many European cultural institutions and private mansions to one of the biggest cruisers, the Chrystal Symphony.
"Many believe that what I aspire for is luxury – rather I am for uniqueness. You simply don't find products like mine either in the US or in China and patrons want to have my works no matter the price," he explains.
Explaining the work that went into the creation of the doors that were displayed at the Big 5, he says: "My quest for something that truly depicted Arabia took me back to the library. Glass with the Arabesque embellishments was etched in a way that was meant especially for this piece of work and was never used before. Two symmetrically-etched glass panes were then gilded and laminated together so that it appears that there is a golden arabesque cast in the glass that is floating free without touching the wooden door frame. The arabesque ornaments are hollow and this unique masterpiece was created by Lombergar especially for this exhibition.
"The arabesque ornament itself was from the 16th century and was not created by a Muslim artist as one would expect, but by an European Renaissance artist, the German engraver Peter Floetner.
"The golden arabesque could not yet technically have been made in a size big enough to cover all the doors, so I enlisted the help one of the best sculptors in wood – Marko Crtanec – to make a door frame. His masterpiece – made of small nutwood stars that are put together – created a similarity in transparency and blended well with the ornamented glass, making the end-product even more fascinating. Such doors could certainly not be equipped with any of the standard door handles on the market so I called upon another sculptor Jozef Vrscaj to create a transparent door handle with a hollow form partially filled with mercury – which, when lowered, causes liquid silver to flow from one side of the door handle to the other. Such doors could only be used in a palace – not because of the price but because of the craftsmanship and dedication that has gone into it."
The second door at the Big 5 show depicts an etched map of Arabia drawn by a Venetian mapmaker in 1563. The adaptation of the map from paper onto glass in such a large dimension gives the impression of monumentality, especially as the space beyond it is blurred to the vision.
"My creations aim at perfect beauty. They give the interior a complete new dimension, whether it is a door, window or glass wall – modern or ancient," explains Lombergar,
Apart from the doors of Lombergar, Alukomen also used the show to promote three of the company's systems:
– Logo metal counterframes for sliding doors and wing doors;
– Exclusive door panels combining wood and acid-etched glass, which are custom-designed to clients requirements; and
– Vertical shelving systems called Patter Noster, which are automated rotating retrieval storage systems that can be used both in offices and in warehouses."
Alukomen, which has a 50-year history behind it, claims to be one of only five European manufacturers specialising in acid-etched doors and was at the Big 5 to set up agencies in the Gulf and create awareness of its expertise.
Using the pomegranate – a symbol of fertility and business prosperity – as its talisman, the company has grown beyond the confines of the Slovenian market to take on the global markets, says Alen Tibljas, general manager.


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The simple way to create a Montessori play space at home
Even small changes in a room can have a noticeable impact on children's behavior.
Montessori children's environments are carefully designed to encourage independence and concentration. Even small changes in a room can have a noticeable impact on children's behavior.
Whether or not your child is in a Montessori school, setting up a Montessori-inspired play space at home is really simple, and may transform the way your child plays.
Here's what to do:
1. Simplify
I recently had someone ask me why our playroom, setup for my 1-year-old, is so "minimalist." This totally caught me off guard because I had never thought about it that way. When I started comparing it to more traditional children's rooms though, I quickly got what they meant.
Montessori spaces use more neutral colors than the bright colors often associated with young children. The goal is to make the space soothing, so that it fosters concentration. They also have far fewer things, both on the walls and to play with—you may find a small shelving unit with two or three shelves and just a few items on each shelf, with plenty of space between each toy.
If you want to make a Montessori playroom in your home, you don't necessarily need to get rid of a bunch of toys, but you will likely want to put many of them in storage. Putting out just a few toys at once, and rotating them regularly, allows your child to really focus on what's available. Rotating toys has the added bonus of keeping your child's interest as you can regularly put out "new" things without breaking the bank.
When you offer limited options, it also becomes really clear which ones spark your child's curiosity. I've often noticed that a once beloved toy has remained on the shelf for a whole week untouched. I then know that it's time to put it away and put out something different.
2. Give everything a place
Montessori wrote a lot about "sensitive periods." A sensitive period is a time when a child is especially attracted to and able to learn about something. Children have a sensitive period for order from birth through age five, peaking in early toddlerhood.
You can see this through young children's love for routine and repetition (and their sometimes extreme reactions to something being done the "wrong" way or in the "wrong" order). Young children like order in their daily lives, and also in their physical environments, but they definitely need some help to establish that.
Montessori environments support this desire for order through giving everything a specific spot where it goes. You will not find big toy bins full of many unrelated things in Montessori play spaces. Each toy has a space where it belongs on a shelf. Toys including multiple pieces, like blocks or play animals, are often organized in small baskets or trays on the shelf.
You might think this would make it more difficult for the children to put their things away, but it's really the opposite. It turns out it is much more satisfying to put something in the perfect spot where it belongs, than to toss everything together in a big bin.
Always finding things in the same spot is calming because it's predictable.
3. Include open space
Montessori environments have plenty of work space, both on the floor and at tables, once the child is old enough to sit at a table independently. Having open space in the room also allows for plenty of movement, which is essential for young children.
4. Think low
The furniture in Montessori classrooms is child-sized and the materials are kept on low shelves so that the child can access them herself. For a toddler or older, you would also want to include a child-sized table and chair so the child has the option to play on the floor, or at a table for things like puzzles.
Ikea has some great, inexpensive options such as this shelf (placed horizontally) and this table and chair set.
You may also want to have a high-up wall shelf to keep any of your own items, like a cell phone or cup of coffee, that you don't want your child to play with.
5. Include nature
If possible, choose a room with natural light. Few things are more beautiful than watching a baby discover shadows by playing in the changing light from a window or watching a child mesmerized by the rain.
Windows also offer endless entertainment and opportunities to talk about what your child sees, whether looking out at a busy street or a quiet backyard. If the window is too high up for your child to look out of, try providing a step stool. Just make sure to ensure safety while you child is by the window.
It's also wonderful to include plants and animals in the environment whenever possible. Hanging plants or herbs with edible leaves are a great option for babies in the "eat everything in sight" stage. House plants also offer toddlers and older children a chance to take care of something, as well as adding natural beauty to the room.
Babies and young children also love watching fish or other pets and toddlers and older can help feed and care for them as well.
6. Make it beautiful…for the child
So many children's rooms have beautiful artwork or photographs hanging, but at a height where children can't see them. Montessori spaces hang artwork at the child's level. This way the child can really benefit from the beautiful images you select
For babies, it's great to include simple black and white images. For older children, images from nature, family photographs, your child's artwork, interesting maps, and art from different styles of painters or different cultures all work well.
7. Choose toys carefully
Unless you are homeschooling, there is no need to fill your home with "academic" work. It is great to choose a variety of toys that help your child develop in different ways though.
You might think about including toys that develop fine motor (small muscles), gross motor (big muscles), art and music, books, and open ended items (like blocks) for creative play. It's also important to include toys that offer a varying degree of difficulty. You want a mix of challenging toys, like maybe a puzzle with more pieces than your child usually works with, and things that are easy and familiar for your her to play with when she needs a mental break.
In Montessori, we also look for open ended toys that engage rather than entertain. We don't generally include things that light up or make noises. We also choose toys made from natural materials, like wood and metal, whenever possible to give the child more real experiences.
8. Create a cozy space
Lastly, it is great to include a cozy space, somewhere for your child to rest or recover from an upsetting moment. This is often a big floor pillow in a corner for a younger child. It could be a comfy chair by a window for an older child.
This might seem like a lot to think about, but the great thing is you can totally pick and choose what works for your child and your home. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. You may decide to simplify, but keep your child's favorite electronic toy. Or you may choose to have low, orderly shelves, but also keep a big bin of stuffed animals.
Do what works for you mama!


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Drunk Entitled Brat Gets In Wrong Uber, Refuses To Get Out, Then This Happens...
Featured 01/21/2016 in facepalm
She's the type of person that treats waiters and bartenders terribly. Her daddy probably bailed her out. **UPDATE: She is eventually handcuffed, ends in cash settlement and no jail time.**
Categories: Facepalm


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This product is not available
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Product details
- Time, date and alarm
- Heart rate monitor
- Foot pod
- Auto Pause® (pauses and resumes timer based on speed)
- Auto Lap® (automatically starts a new lap)
- Time/distance alert (triggers alarm when you reach goal)
- Interval training (set up exercise and rest intervals)
- Heart rate-based calorie computation
- Calculates calories burned
- Customizable screen
- Shock Resistant
Running and Cycling:
- Virtual Pacer™ (compares current pace to target)
- Accelerometer (calculates distance for indoor workouts, without need for a foot pod)
- Personal records and Bike speed/cadence sensor
Activity Tracking:
- Step counter
- Auto goal (learns your activity level and assigns a daily step goal)
- Move bar (displays on device after a period of inactivity; walk for a couple of minutes to reset it)
- Sleep monitoring (monitors total sleep and periods of movement or restful sleep)
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- Garmin Connect™ compatible (online community where you analyze, categorize and share data)
- Automatic sync (automatically transfers data to your computer)
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- Vibration alert
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- BLE transfers to Garmin Connect Mobile and Time, distance, and calories alerts as well as heart rate
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- In the Box: Forerunner 35, Charging cable, Manual
- Size: 35.5 x 40.7 x 13.3 mm
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Garmin's Forerunner 35 is slim and lightweight watch that is perfect for daily runs, training and racing. It features built-in wrist-based heart rate as well as GPS that tracks your distance, pace, intervals and more. And since all these stats are captured by the watch, your watch is all you need — no phone, no chest strap.
When paired with your compatible smartphone, Forerunner 35 offers the convenience of smart notifications right on your wrist along with a variety of other connected features makes it easy to live and run without one interrupting the other. Stay connected to family and friends with the live tracking feature, which lets them follow your runs in real time. Forerunner 35 also keeps you up to date with automatic software updates, and it allows for music controls and more on your device.
Forerunner 35 GPS running watch allows you to automatically upload your stats and runs to Garmin Connect, our free online fitness community where you can review your progress and even share via social media.
There's no reason not to wear your Forerunner 35 every day, thanks to its extensive activity tracking features. That includes steps, calories, distance, sleep and intensity minutes, not to mention 24/7 heart rate monitoring. It also watches out for periods of inactivity and gives you vibration alerts when it's time to move.
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From my heart to yours, Merry Christmas!♥
Are you right in the middle of Christmas madness trying to finish up last minute wrapping, baking, or perhaps packing your kids up to see their dad?
Christmas is a special season and yet, from experience, it can bring extreme loneliness. Each Christmas season seemed to be different for me. My family always invited me, but I usually stayed home and waited for the girls and then we travelled to see my family.
One year when I was alone, I had the privilege to help serve a dinner for people who had no family around. Other years, I spent going for walks and finishing wrapping the girl's gifts. Once I cooked a turkey for a vegetarian friend for her extended family to eat and joined them.
I personally feel that Christmas was when and what we made of it. Some years our little Christmas celebration was a few days before the 25th. Other times it was a day or so after. All that mattered was that we were together. Believe me, it could have been easy to feel sorry for myself. I didn't like to be alone or be reminded my family had broken up.
Getting the season back into perspective helped. Jesus came to earth born in a humble stable providing a way for us to come to God. (Luke 2). We can celebrate His Birthday whether the 25th or 26th or 27th…..and also enjoy our celebration time with the kids' any day. I learned that I had to be flexible in a divorced home.
My heartfelt wish is for all of you to have a special time with your kiddos in whatever celebrations you have planned.
Merry Christmas to you all and…


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David Bailey challenges the codes and traditions of photography. He has a love for the purity and the authenticity of a picture taken on the spot. His approach is personal and peculiar. His work is his passion, his way of expressing his will, his desires, his fantasies. The enfant terrible of the world of fashion was born in London in 1938. As a self-taught photographer, his new found popularity brought tremendous change to the world of fashion and advertisement photography thanks to intimist approach. His models are true and proud women who wish to no longer be considered as mere coat hangers. He is, often wrongfully, simply considered as a fashion photographer due to his partnership with vogue.
His more personal works include landscapes, journalism and nude; an approach to photography strongly influenced by cinema and documentaries. In 1948, he comes across a black and white picture of a woman in prayer, taken by Henri Cartier Bresson. He immediately proceeds to acquire a analog camera. This photograph and his discovery of Stravinsky and Picasso will mark a turning point on his artistic journey. "I saw a piece by Picasso in Look magazine when I was seventeen years old. I had no idea what a work of art was before this point, and it excited me. If I had to choose a moment that felt anything close to a revelation in my entire life, it would be this moment. Picasso had shown me that there were no rules. A bycicle wheel doesn't necessarily have to be round. He had a simplistic visual ingenuity that was never complicated or pretentious. It is this simplicity that I strive to express through my pictures".
After applying to work for several magazines and photographers, David Baily became an assistant to the John French studio in 1959 before making his debut as a photographer with John Cole in May of 1960. He was later hired at the age of 22 as a fashion photographer for the british magazine Vogue. A studio shot picture taken for the Daily Express, representing Paulene Stone on her knees with a squirrel in her hand, is the impending sign of Bailey's creative force. This picture marks the beginning of his seperation with the period's standards. He rapidly gets his first front page on the cover of Vogue in february 1961. In only a year, he shot 800 editorial pages for Vogue and acquired an incredible rise in popularity. In 1966, famous italian director Michelangelo Antonioni took inspiration from David Bailey when working on this movie Blowup, which depicts the surreal life of a fashion photographer in London.
David Baley immortalized John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Yoko Ono and the Rolling Stones before creating an album cover for The Who. He captured portraits of celebrities such as Mia Farrow, Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Peter Sellers or Michael Caine and more recently Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell. Bailey is also the creator behind several television advertisements and documentaries. From 1968 to 1971, he directed and produced TV documentaries such as Beaton, Warhol and Visctoni. He was appointed Commander of the British Empire in 2001. For this interview, we met the Master in his London based studio. Now at the age of 80, David Bailey is still active and creative. He still takes photographs, but also paints and sculpts... This is a reflection of a world, an era, the potrait of a captivating, saavy, honest, fun and innovative man.
Do you consider yourself a photographer, a portraitist, an artist?
None of the three. I do not particularly like photography. It's just a medium, a tool. It's exactly like a brush. I do not like cameras either, but they are tools with which I can express myself, they are only tools.
What seduces you in a model?
Everyone is different so it's up to you to find what you like in someone! And you have to do it before you shoot the right person. The actors are just hard to photograph because they are still playing comedy. But I love everyone, I like masons, ice sellers, poets ... Everyone!
Do you like to destabilize people?
- Meet David Bailey in
Normal Magazine11


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Windows 10 Setup Now Has Voice Commands
Installing Windows just got easier, because now you just have to tell Windows to do it, thanks to Cortana. Cortana has become a part of the OS's initial setup process with the new Creators Update, which is now available to install. Now, you can save wear and tear on that mouse or keyboard, listen to the digital assistant prompt you, and vocalize your selection of options during setup.
However, using Cortana is an option, you can go with the standard method of installing if you want to as well. Also, not every option can be controlled via voice. As Windows Central notes, more complicated menus still require selections to be made with an input peripheral. This includes the new privacy settings, which involve multiple sliders and a good deal of explanation text, must be handled with a mouse or keyboard (or your touchscreen, if you have one).
While not many users might like having Cortana on board, there are users who would actually prefer it. Microsoft does have some big plans for Cortana, so we might see more of it soon.
This article was originally published on tbreak and has been reposted on Entrepreneur Middle East based on a mutual agreement between the websites.
Related: Microsoft's Cortana Is Coming To The Android Lock Screen


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Using GtkApplication
GtkApplication is the base class of a Gtk Application. Its primary purpose is to separate your program from main().
main() is an operating system implementation detail that is really uninteresting to applications. The philosophy of GtkApplication is that applications are interested in being told what needs to happen, when it needs to happen, in response to actions from the user. The exact mechanism by which the operating system starts applications is uninteresting.
To this end, GtkApplication exposes a set of signals (or virtual functions) that an application should respond to.
startup: sets up the application when it first starts
shutdown: performs shutdown tasks
activate: shows the default first window of the application (like a new document). This corresponds to the application being launched by the desktop environment.
open: opens files and shows them in a new window. This corresponds to someone trying to open a document (or documents) using the application from the file browser, or similar.
When your application starts, the startup signal will be fired. This gives you a chance to perform initialisation tasks that are not directly related to showing a new window. After this, depending on how the application is started, either activate or open will be called next.
GtkApplication defaults to applications being single-instance. If the user attempts to start a second instance of a single-instance application then GtkApplication will signal the first instance and you will receive additional activate or open signals. In this case, the second instance will exit immediately, without calling startup or shutdown.
For this reason, you should do essentially no work at all from main(). All startup initialisation should be done in startup. This avoids wasting work in the second-instance case where the program just exits immediately.
The application will continue to run for as long as it needs to. This is usually for as long as there are any open windows. You can additionally force the application to stay alive using g_application_hold().
On shutdown, you receive a shutdown signal where you can do any necessary cleanup tasks (such as saving files to disk).
GtkApplication does not implement main() for you. You must do so yourself. Your main() function should be as small as possible and do almost nothing except creating your GtkApplication and running it. The "real work" should always be done in response to the signals fired by GtkApplication.
Primary vs. local instance
The "primary instance" of an application is the first instance of it that was run. A "remote instance" is another instance that is started that is not the primary instance. The term "local instance" is used to refer to the current process which may or may not be the primary instance.
GtkApplication only ever emits signals in the primary instance. Calls to GtkApplication API can be made in primary or remote instances (and are made from the vantage of being the "local instance"). In the case that the local instance is the primary instance, function calls on GtkApplication will result in signals being emitted locally, in the primary instance. In the case that the local instance is a remote instance, function calls result in messages being sent to the primary instance and signals being emitted there.
For example, calling g_application_activate() on the primary instance will emit the "activate" signal. Calling it on a remote instance will result in a message being sent to the primary instance and it will emit "activate".
You rarely need to know if the local instance is primary or remote. In almost all cases, you should just call the GtkApplication method you are interested in and either have it be forwarded or handled locally, as appropriate.
An application can register a set of actions that it supports in addition to the default activate and open. Actions are added to the application with the GActionMap interface and invoked or queried with the GActionGroup interface.
As with activate and open, calling g_action_group_activate_action() on the primary instance will activate the named action in the current process. Calling g_action_group_activate_action() on a remote instance will send a message to the primary instance, causing the action to be activated there.
Dealing with the command line
Normally, GtkApplication will assume that arguments passed on the command line are files to be opened. If no arguments are passed, then it assumes that an application is being launched to show its main window or an empty document. In the case that files were given, you will receive these files (in the form of GFile) from the open signal. Otherwise you will receive an activate signal. It is recommended that new applications make use of this default handling of command line arguments.
If you want to deal with command line arguments in more advanced ways, there are several (complementary) mechanisms by which you can do this.
First, the handle-local-options signal will be emitted and the signal handler gets a dictionary with the parsed options. To make use of this, you need to register your options with g_application_add_main_option_entries(). The signal handler can return a non-negative value to end the process with this exit code, or a negative value to continue with the regular handling of commandline options. A popular use of for this signal is to implement a --version argument that works without communicating with a remote instance.
If handle-local-options is not flexible enough for your needs, you can override the local_command_line virtual function to take over the handling of command line arguments in the local instance entirely. If you do so, you will be responsible for registering the application, and for handling a --help argument (the default local_command_line function does this for you).
It is also possible to invoke actions from handle-local-options or local_command_line in response to command line arguments. For example, a mail client may choose to map the --compose command line argument to an invocation of its "compose" action. This is done by calling g_action_group_activate_action() from the local_command_line implementation. In the case that the command line being processed is in the primary instance then the "compose" action is invoked locally. In the case that it is a remote instance, the action invocation is forwarded to the primary instance.
Note in particular that it is possible to use action activations instead of activate or open. It is perfectly reasonable that an application could start without an activate signal ever being emitted. activate is only supposed to be the default "started with no options" signal. Actions are meant to be used for anything else.
Some applications may wish to perform even more advanced handling of command lines, including controlling the life cycle of the remote instance and its exit status once it quits as well as forwarding the entire contents of the command line arguments, the environment and even forwarding stdin/stdout/stderr. This can be accomplished using G_APPLICATION_HANDLES_COMMAND_LINE and the command-line signal.
For more in-depth information about commandline handling with GApplication, see /CommandLine.
1 #include <gtk/gtk.h>
3 static void
4 activate (GApplication *app,
5 gpointer user_data)
6 {
7 GtkWidget *widget;
9 widget = gtk_application_window_new (GTK_APPLICATION (app));
10 gtk_widget_show (widget);
11 }
13 int
14 main (int argc, char **argv)
15 {
16 GtkApplication *app;
17 int status;
19 app = gtk_application_new ("org.gnome.example", G_APPLICATION_FLAGS_NONE);
20 g_signal_connect (app, "activate", G_CALLBACK (activate), NULL);
21 status = g_application_run (G_APPLICATION (app), argc, argv);
22 g_object_unref (app);
24 return status;
25 }
1 import sys
2 import gi
4 gi.require_version('Gtk', '3.0')
5 from gi.repository import Gio
6 from gi.repository import Gtk
9 class App(Gtk.Application):
10 def __init__(self):
11 Gtk.Application.__init__(self,
12 application_id="org.gnome.example",
13 flags=Gio.ApplicationFlags.FLAGS_NONE)
15 def do_activate(self):
16 window = Gtk.ApplicationWindow(application=self)
17 window.show()
19 if __name__ == '__main__':
20 app = App()
21 app.run(sys.argv)
const Gio = imports.gi.Gio; const Gtk = imports.gi.Gtk; const Lang = imports.lang; const ExampleApp = Lang.Class({ Name: 'ExampleApp', Extends: Gtk.Application, _init: function() { this.parent({ application_id: 'org.gnome.example', flags: Gio.ApplicationFlags.FLAGS_NONE, }); }, vfunc_activate: function() { let w = new Gtk.ApplicationWindow({ application: this }); w.show(); }, }); let app = new ExampleApp(); app.run(ARGV);
1 class ExampleApp : Gtk.Application {
2 protected override void activate () {
3 var window = new Gtk.ApplicationWindow (this);
4 window.show ();
5 }
7 public ExampleApp () {
8 Object (application_id: "org.gnome.example");
9 }
10 }
12 int main (string[] args) {
13 return new ExampleApp ().run (args);
14 }


text:
Homemade sound, homegrown festival
Tom and Sandy Kott weren't on their own turf Monday as they listened to music from lawn chairs at Goodells County Park.
But, for the Fair Haven couple, the soft sound of bluegrass held the familiarity of home.
"We just love bluegrass music, and the local musicians are excellent," Tom Kott said. "We followed a lot of them from Lexington. We were up there for Thumbfest.
"They're good players, and the softness of the music just brings you back home."
Organizers estimated more than 1,500 people set up lawn chairs or sat on blankets in the grass Monday for Lake Bonisteel Music Association's fifth annual BlueChiliGrass Festival.
The homegrown festival — which included acoustic, bluegrass and electric stages — combined local musicians, homemade crafts and a chili cookoff.
"You can go to a chili cookoff or a music festival, but you don't find many that combine both," LBMA president Sue Wilson said.
Wilson said the event — originally held in the backyard of Jeff and Mary Baron in Fort Gratiot — outgrew its homegrown location a couple of years ago.
The music association rented out about a quarter of Goodells County Park for the festival last year. This year, the association rented out half the county park.
"We're hoping, in another couple years, we'll have to rent out the whole park," Wilson said. "We want to rival Thumbfest."
Glenn and Marilyn Schade, of Goodells, said they came to sample the bluegrass tunes for the first time Monday.
"It's the blending of all the instruments," Marilyn Schade said. "We live right here, so you can't get any closer than this for nice entertainment."
Frank and Penny O'Malley also were novices of the festival.
"Its wonderful," Penny O'Malley said. "It's a good family event."
"It's not so doggone loud," her husband added. "And you can understand it."
Wilson said the music association is working toward obtaining its 501c3 status as a nonprofit and hopes to have a fundraising event in the fall.
"Our main purpose is to foster homemade music and crafts," Wilson said.
Contact Beth LeBlanc at (810) 989-6259 or email@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @THBethLeBlanc.


text:
We linked to a New York Daily News story this morning in which it was suggested that Pedro Martinez could come back. Forget it. MLB Trade Rumors read and translated a Spanish language newspaper interview with Martinez in which he sounds like a guy quite happy with retirement, even if he hasn't officially retired:
"I'm realizing what it is to be a normal person … It's most likely that I don't return to active baseball …but honestly I don't know if I'll definitively announce my retirement."
If Philly really does want that fifth ace, however, they'll have to look elsewhere. I seem to remember Steve Carlton being a fitness nut. He could probably still bring it.


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text:
Shadow Transport Secretary Lilian Greenwood says that plans to roll out smart ticketing in the North have stalled, claiming that just 1% of stations are fitted with smart ticketing readers and that an Oyster-style smartcard system has been rejected.
The Government has pledged £150 million to introduce smart ticketing across northern England. But although she says an equivalent to London's Oyster scheme appears to have been dropped, Greenwood points out that some alternative contactless and mobile payment systems still require contactless ticket readers.
Transport for the North (TfN) says it will set out an implementation plan for delivering "smart and integrated travel" across the region by March 2016.
- For more on this, read RAIL 794, published on February 17.


text:
In late 2010, Nicholas Wade, then a frequent science writer for the New York Times, wrote a frankly nasty piece on the stem cell field that was insulting and oversimplistic.
Now today we have yet another piece in the NYT by Wade on stem cells, and he mostly makes a mess of it again, with one exception.
Starting with the good news, Wade's perspectives on the difficulty of science reporting on changeable, emotional issues like stem cells and cloning are insightful and valuable. I enjoyed that.
However, his historical perspectives on the stem cell field are overly simplistic, extreme, wrong and in some cases dismissive.
Here's a comment I posted on the newer Nicholas Wade piece at the NYT website:
This "rearview" commentary is interesting in some ways, but also did not work in others.
I find it fascinating how Wade opens up about the difficult challenges of reporting on important, but emotionally-laden issues like cloning and stem cells. That is helpful and important insight provided. Thank you.
However, to me as a stem cell scientist who follows the field closely, it seems that the historical views given of cloning and stem cells are very narrow and extreme in some ways in this article.
The author's statements, for example, seem oddly dismissive to the field in general too: Yamanaka "guessed" on the 4 factors (Noble Shmobel), ES cells are just going to be so much flotsam in the history of the stem cell field (Advanced Cell Technology might cure blindness via ES cells? no big deal), cloning Dolly wasn't really at all important, people unnecessarily got overly emotional about stem cell issues, etc.
These statements sound more like just one guy's narrow perspectives, rather than a useful overall historical narrative on stem cells that could have been powerful & helpful. Anyway, that's this one guy's view of it.
Paul Knoepfler
Associate Professor
UC Davis
What do you think?
Update: on the topic of human cloning, you might enjoy this newer piece on why cloning could produce someone other you.


text:
The quarterback was coming off a miserable Larry Webster III Authentic Jersey 1 as a true freshman, and yet while watching game tape of draft-eligible defenders beating up on the Bears, the coach and general manager kept noticing certain inescapable traits: A lightning-quick release …amily is not something McCarthy takes for granted.18 Regress-to-the-mean alert!He was released large part because of a salary that jumped to $6 million while counting $8 million against Philadelphia's cap.
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Dec 22 2 PM The 2013 Draft class is looking like one of the least talented recent memory.Sky has estimated budget of $40 million, about double that of Tom Dumoulin's Sunweb team.The teams from the Beast had the highest winning percentage against fellow BCS schools non-conference and had by far the highest mark against the spread non-cons overall .When asked why his father would put something like this together — it was a process that required him to get diagrams of formations, and photos of his own play sheets and notebooks Xeroxed by the staff at Johns Hopkins, with the words of the book artfully dictated and written by his wife — his answer was http://www.devilsteamproshop.com/Andy_Greene_Jersey simple.10: Niklas enter 2014 draft Niklas, a tight end who played outside linebacker his freshman , bypass his senior and enter the 2014 NFL Draft.I can do everything that I wanted to do without limping, knee getting swollen or anything of that nature.
The cash, while nice to have, doesn't mean much if you're not winning and having success.He saw players weren't at their best.We know it's going to be a physical football game.
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JohnCarlson74 signs Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse is a restricted free agent this summer.Look for Evans to have a breakout year opposite Moulds.


text:
Ill health delays first day of 'Auschwitz medic' trial
AFP · 29 Feb 2016, 15:11 Published: 29 Feb 2016 15:11 GMT+01:00 A German court Monday suspended the trial of former SS medic Hubert Zafke for aiding in 3,681 murders in Auschwitz after the ...
Chief judge Klaus Kabisch put the trial in the northeastern town of Neubrandenburg on hold shortly after it opened, saying a doctor who examined the defendant on Sunday found that he had "suicidal thoughts, and was suffering from stress reaction and hypertension".
He was therefore "not in a state" to be transported to the court or to be heard, the judge said.
Zafke was working at the Nazi death camp from August 15 to September 14, 1944, a period when teenage diarist Anne Frank was interned.
Prosecutors charge that by serving there, the former medical orderly "knew of and willingly supported the industrially organised mass killing people in an insidious and cruel manner".
But Zafke's ability to stand trial has been a key contention.
A first court had ruled against a trial, finding that he was suffering from dementia, but an appeals court overturned the decision.
It found that, despite his "cognitive impairments" and diminished physical capacity, the defendant could be granted regular breaks and close medical supervision.
Shortly before Monday's hearing, the prosecution had also sought, but failed, to have the panel of judges recused on the grounds that they were biased towards declaring Zafke unfit to stand trial.
Following Kabisch's decision, prosectors filed a motion for a second medical opinion on the health condition of Zafke, which would now be examined by the court.
Given Zafke's advanced age, the court has only set an initial two further hearing dates, March 14 and 30.
Zafke risks between three and 15 years in prison, but even if convicted, he is unlikely to serve any time.


text:
Without employees, there would be no business at all. It's very important to encourage a culture that puts employee wellbeing at the forefront of the workplace. Statistics show that happier, healthier employees are generally more productive, have improved overall efficiency and higher levels of motivation. If your team doesn't feel valued, this can impact on your business's success. A happy workforce leads to happy clients and business growth.
Enforce home time
Research has shown that 26% of the UK population believe they do not have a good work-life balance. Ensuring that employees leave work on time and avoiding long, and often unnecessary working hours is a great way to encourage staff to have a healthier work-life balance, meaning they've got time for their family, friends, exercise, hobbies and interests.
Be transparent
As an SME, holding weekly staff meetings gives you a chance to update your team accordingly on any upcoming projects. It also gives your team the chance to report on any issues or successes from the past week or month. Employees will feel valued and appreciated when given the chance to understand the company's progress and the opportunities to voice their opinions in the correct environment.
Flexible working
Allowing your employees a little bit of freedom and the flexibility to work away from their desks can make them feel trusted and motivated. This freedom will boost happiness in the workplace too which can lead to an increase in productivity. This method of working smarter; whether that's remote working or flexible hours, can help workers lead healthier lifestyles.
As a small business, it may be difficult for you to offer a pay rise to your employees but a bonus is always a great way to say "Thank You". Your generosity will show your team that you care and your employees will feel appreciated and valued.
Finding solutions to help your team be healthier and happier doesn't have to be an expensive or time-consuming task, but taking the time to invest in your employees can be invaluable to your company.


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BE PROACTIVE: Encouragement from Bishop Bob Coulter:
Isa 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. (NKJV)
The Coronavirus is still with us and the fear and panic are rising. I believe this could be the church's greatest hour, if we do not fall into fear and join the panic. Remember Rom 8:15-17 Tells fear is not our inheritance.
In the verse in Isaiah I just read, God tells us not to be dismayed for God will strengthen you and help you. He will uphold you. This virus not a surprise to God. In Heb 13:5 God assures us "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
Now is the time for us to walk out Prov 3:5, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
We, the church, must bring hope and life to our Sphere of Influence. First, I would suggest that you start by protecting your home and family by praying the blood of Jesus over your house and family. Repent of anything that is not godly in your home and lives. I would suggest you anoint your doors and windows with oil and pray the blood of Christ over the entire house.
Ex 12:13, which is our example, says: The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
We are in a spiritual war against the Coronavirus, and the spirit behind it creating fear and the panic. The church must not be absent for this war. We, the church, are the only ones who have the authority and power, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to bring the battle to the enemy and win.
We must be proactive by interceding in the situation. We must pray life into our sphere of influence, our country and the world.
I know the U.S. Government has requested no gatherings of more than 10. While that limits many physical meetings, God has given us a tool that we can still bring the Gospel of Peace and Hope to many. It is called the internet. There many ways to connect and "forsake not the assembling" of ourselves together. Through cell phones, computers, tablets we can utilize FREE resources to meet and broadcast: Facebook live, Zoom, Free Conference Call to name a few. We will have some of these resources listed on the web later this week You can do live video, or just audio. On the worldwide web we have an opportunity to actually reach people that might never darken the door.
If you are a church or have a regular Bible study or meetings in your home, I encourage you to use the internet to broadcast your message to your members to encourage them. Many churches already broadcast on Facebook. If you not broadcasting, I encourage you to make it happen.
Start a Bible study online and hold prayer meetings online. In April TMCI will start holding Internet connecting conferences on the first and third Monday night of each month. On the Second Monday we will be having a prayer meeting for the nation. The fourth Monday we have World Prayer when we pray for our missionaries and the countries they serve. We encourage you to join us.
Lastly, let us remember this: Prov 18:21 also tells we can speak death into the situation. Let us speak death to rumors and misinformation that cause panic and let us speak DEATH to the virus and kill it.
Speak forth and bring life to those around us and speak death to the Coronavirus. Use the authority and power you have in Christ's name, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to call the Coronavirus null and void. Mark 11:23 gives us that authority: For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
Let us let God use us to be part of the solution and the use us to bring revival in the land. This is our opening to make this the finest and greatest hour for THE Church.
Be Blessed,
Bishop Bob
The Missionary Church International @ 2021
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