text:
Family, Survivor Benefits and Resources
There are many possible benefits available to survivors including:
- Burial
- Dependents Indemnity Compensation (DIC)
- Parents DIC
- Education and Training
- Education Program Refund
- Home Loan Guarantee
- Health Care
- Life Insurance Proceeds
- Commissary and Exchange Privileges
Survivors married to the veteran at the time of death, as well as eligible dependents, may be buried in national veterans cemeteries and certain state cemeteries. Eligible family members may be buried there even if they predecease the veteran.
Reimbursement of Burial Expenses
A burial allowance may be paid to help offset expenses of the Veteran's funeral and burial. The allowance is payable for a Veteran who:
- Died of a service-connected disability, or
- Were in receipt of compensation or pension or retired pay in lieu thereof, or
- Died in a VA facility
Plot Allowance
If not buried in a national cemetery, a plot allowance may be payable for veterans who:
- Were discharged for disability incurred or aggravated int he line of duty, or
- Were in receipt of compensation or pension, or retired pay in lieu thereof, or
- Died in a VA facility
Most Veterans, their spouses, and dependent children are eligible for burial in one of VA's national cemeteries at no cost to the family. Many states have veterans cemeteries built with VA grants, with similar benefits.
VA provides a headstone or marker for veterans buried in any cemetery worldwide.
An American flag is provided to drape the casket or accompany the urn of an eligible Veteran. The flag is presented to the veteran's next of kin upon burial.
Presidential Memorial Certificate
Family and other loved ones may request these personalized certificates.
CHAMPVA is a program in which the VA pays for certain healthcare services to the spouse or widow(er) and to the children of a veteran who:
- is totally and permanently disabled due to a service-connected disability or
- died as a result of a service-connected disability or who at the time of death was rated as totally permanently disabled or
- died while in active duty status (includes periods of inactive duty for training) and in the line of duty, not due to misconduct
For more information contact CHAMP VA, PO Box 469028, Denver, CO 80206 or call 1-800-733-8387
Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC)
DIC is a monthly benefit paid to unmarried surviving spouses and dependent children of service-members who die during active military service, or Veterans who:
- Die after military service because of a service-connected disability or
- Were receiving or entitled to receive VA compensation for a service-connected disability that was rated as totally disabling:
- for at least 10 years immediately preceding death or
- since the veteran's release from active duty and for at least five years immediately preceding death or
- for at least one year immediately preceding death if the veteran was a former POW.
Parents DIC
This is a monthly benefit paid to parents of veterans who die in service or as a result of a service-connected disability. There are qualifying income limits and the amount payable varies based on the parents' other income.
Death Pension
Death pension is a monthly benefit paid to unmarried surviving spouses and dependent children of wartime veterans whose death is not due to a service-connected disability. There are qualifying income limits and the amount payable varies based on the amount of other income.
Education and Training
Education and training benefits are available to unmarried surviving spouses and dependent children of:
- Service members who die during active military service or
- Veterans who die of a service-connected disability or
- Veterans who were rated permanently and totally disabled due to a service-connected disability at the time of death.
There are time limits for use of this benefit. A surviving spouse has 10 years from the date that eligibility is established, but 20 years if the veteran died while in active duty. Children are eligible from age 18-26. Educational and vocational counseling, and employing as a work-study student, are also available.
Home Loan Guarantee
The unmarried surviving spouse of veteran whose death was service connected is generally eligible for this program. VA guarantees loans to purchase a home, including a condominium or manufactured home, or to refinance an existing home loan.
Health Care
The Civilian Heath and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) provides coverage for unmarried surviving spouses and children of veterans who:
- died of a service-connected disability or
- were permanently and totally disabled due to a service-connected disability at the time of death or
- died in service in the line of duty, and the dependents are not eligible for Department of Defense TRICARE benefits.
The veteran may have had an active life insurance policy with VA. Such policies include:
- United States Government Life Insurance
- Veterans Service Life Insurance
- National Service Life Insurance
- Veterans Reopened Insurance
- Service-Disabled Veterans Insurance
- Veterans Mortgage Life Insurance
- Service members' Group Life Insurance (SGLI)
- Veterans Group Life Insurance
Free financial counseling is available to SGLI and VGLI beneficiaries.
Survivor Outreach Services (SOS)
SOS' mission is to delivery on the Army's commitment to families of the fallen. Services are provided to all surviving family members regardless of Army component, cause or location of Soldiers' death.
We assist with:
- Working with the casualty assistance officer to provide resources immediately following death
- Serving as the Army's long-term casualty support
- Providing services closest to where the survivor resides, regardless of the component of the deceased, for as long as a survivor desires
- A variety of support and financial counselors
Family Assistance
Child Specific
On line Tutoring - for Children and Career Assistance
Veteran Children - seeks to assist in the building of an historic bridge between veterans and their children, a bridge of stories.
Military Spouse Career Center – employment
Military Spouse Employment Program – employment
Military Spouse Resource Center – assist with employment, education, scholarships (this also falls under employment and education)
National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies
Traumatic Brain Injury information for Educators and Parents
Survivor Specific
Army Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Center
Bereaved Parents of the U.S.A.
Dougy Center for Grieving Children & Families
Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors
Family Members
Cell phones/calling cards for soldiers
Colorado Community Health Network
DOD Dictionary of Military Terms
Federal Voting Assistance Program
Military news with benefit information
National Military Family Association
National Resource Directory or https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits/nrd
Project Sanctuary – provides free retreat for the whole family.
United Services Organization – can assist with referrals, housing and emergency assistance
Veterans Holidays (discounted rates)


text:
Readers of this blog know that there has been an ongoing debate between the Marijuana Policy Project and the marijuana reform organizations in Oregon. (See: MPP's Rob Kampia warns Oregon not to try marijuana legalization in 2014 and Will MPP doom a 2014 chance at Oregon marijuana legalization?)
Now, a new poll released in Oregon shows that the locals do seem to know more about the political climate for legalization here, with an astounding 57% of likely 2014 voters supporting a specific tax and regulate proposal for marijuana legalization.
Shortly after Washington and Colorado legalized marijuana, MPP's Executive Director, Rob Kampia, threatened Oregon locals with a complete cut-off of financial and organizational support if locals didn't support his vision of waiting until the 2016 presidential election to run a marijuana initiative.
…there are already well-meaning activists in Oregon and other states who aren't remembering the efforts of well-meaning activists in California, who ignored the lesson of [waiting for a presidential election year] and pushed a risky initiative during a non-presidential election in 2010, which I'm sure felt good but succeeded at failing.
In addition to that public admonishment on Huffington Post, Kampia sent a private memo to Oregon locals with more direct language (emphasis mine):
As things currently stand, a [tax & regulate] initiative in [Oregon] in November 2014 would be expected to receive approximately 47% of the vote…
- 47% baseline from November 2012
- +1% because of better drafting
- +2% because of advertising disparity
- -3% because November 2014 isn't a presidential election
Given that an initiative in November 2014 would be almost certain to lose, MPP would contribute no money toward a signature drive, paid staff, or advertising during the 2013-2014 cycle.
…If, however, a [tax & regulate] initiatve is placed on the November 2014 ballot, then [Oregon] will fall by the wayside and lose its time in the sun in November 2016, in the same way that California was premature in 2010 and was unable to raise any funding for a 2012 ballot initiative. (The comparison between [California's] past failure and [Oregon's] prospective failure is pretty precise.)
In a subsequent town hall meeting in Portland this January, MPP's National Political Director, Steve Fox, responded to my question, "I agree that 2016 is an absolute 'slam dunk' but I don't see that 2014 is not a 'layup'… strike while the iron is hot… if 2014 is a roadblock, how can we get past it?"
"I think what Rob [Kampia] was probably saying… is not necessarily that MPP will bail. Who knows what will happen? … But we've been in this situation before where in 2009, we were trying to encourage there to not be an initiative in California in 2010."
Who knows what would've happened if, early in the Prop 19 campaign, instead of sitting on its wallet, MPP was spending money to educate and advertise for the measure? After Richard Lee had spent $1.5 million of his own money to get it on the ballot, no big funders stepped up to support it until the waning weeks before the election. It's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy to say mid-term initiatives can't win when you don't fund them.
"But in terms of the momentum… the seven-point bump [we get from a presidential election year turnout] and the likelihood of not knowing what's going to be happening in Washington, whether there will be diversion issues… you just don't know. You might feel it's momentum now, but it might be coming in the other direction in 2014. I would never say that winning in 2014 is impossible, it might be possible, but you're going to have to invest a lot of money and then not know. … People in Oregon might say, 'we did a poll today and it says we have 58 [percent] support, so I think we're going to be all right.' And then you spend X hundreds of thousands of dollars on a signature drive and you get it on the ballot and then, all of a sudden, all the newspaper reports are negative stories about how Washington's initiative is being implemented. And then all of a sudden you drop to like 53% and then you get the mid-term election drop that occurs when people actually vote because it's a more conservative electorate than what you got in your polling in February of 2013. And then you might end up with a loss. For what? You had a guarantee in 2016 and now you don't have 2016. So is it worth it? Do you wanna like, roll the dice?
So… don't move in 2014, even with a 58% poll, because bad news over the next 18 months may doom it. But if we wait until 2016, we can overcome 42 months of bad news? And how does a potential loss in 2014 doom 2016 any more than the loss in 2012 did?
According to our poll from May of 2013, of registered, likely 2014 voters (a.k.a. "a more conservative electorate"), when read a lengthy statement explaining a tax and regulate initiative in great detail, 37% would "definitely vote yes", 18% would "probably vote yes", and 3% are "leaning toward yes". That's 57% (there's some rounding) that say they'll support legalization in Oregon in 2014. Using Rob Kampia's formulae of +2% for advertising and -3% for a mid-term election, this still looks like a layup to me.
In the next poll question, voters are asked, "Regardless of how you feel about this specific initiative, do you think marijuana should be taxed, regulated and legalized for adults?" On that issue, 51% – a majority! – strongly agree and 13% agree, for a total of 63% (again, rounding) of 2014 Oregon voters who support legalization in general. That's two out of three, almost, who are on our side.
The landscape has changed. MPP is still fighting for legalization with pre-legalization strategy. Now that marijuana is legal in two states, the whole perception is different among the voters. We are the majority now. Legalization's no longer a pipe dream (pardon the pun), it's a money vacuum sucking dollars from Portland to Vancouver. Supporting legalization is no longer something taboo because you're endorsing criminality, it is now a legit policy option that two states have realized. If there is going to be bad news from Washington's implementation, it will come in the form of annual DUID stats, youth use rates, and diversion estimates that won't be made public until late 2014, when figures from 2013 can be collected and published. Better to jump at the opportunity to pass legalization in 2014 with one year of bad news than to allow three years of bad news to poison the well for 2016.
Besides, this year, for the first time in my reporting history, all the Oregon locals are working together, they have already gotten leaders from every other national organization but MPP to join them at the table, they're pushing sensible language that can actually pass, and they have some big funders with some commas in their accounts. This part of the landscape has changed, too; as entrepreneurs sense the impending "green rush", there are more deep pockets than just Peter Lewis'.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
How congressional offices could use Google Dataset SearchSeptember 11, 2018 / Michael McGrady
Google recently announced the release of a new dataset search engine tool. Like Google Scholar, Dataset Search will provide keyword-oriented search results to make the web's thousands of data repositories more accessible.
While Dataset Search's utility may be obvious for industry and academic research, we think this tool could also assist congressional offices better understand their districts and constituents.
For instance, a search for "congressional districts" offers a variety of constituent datasets from various governmental sources.
These sources included the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Transportation, the U.S. Census Bureau, and the Environmental Protection Agency with datasets ranging from congressional district population tabulation, demographics, geographical information, and environmental data.
Similar search queries yielded additional useful results. When we searched, "states," and "cities," for example, the results were also wide-ranging. These queries provided broad results from agencies, higher educational institutions, and some publishers. Staffers doing policy research could also use Dataset Search for a variety of purposes.
The research capabilities of this platform offer a simple approach to dataset research and acquisition for congressional staffers. Users in this space who attempt to utilize Dataset Search for a project should know what to look for, in any case.
Keep in mind that Dataset Search is still in the beta testing phase. There are very few search filtering options besides the traditional search bar. The search engine is also actively welcoming feedback from users so the product's developers can improve the overall experience.
Google Dataset Search is free to access and is available for users by clicking here.
More from HillSDK & the Lincoln Network:
- Congressional App Marketplace – Consumer-style reviews covering the hottest tech brands on Capitol Hill.
- Congressional Excel Hacks – We partnered with Microsoft to produce an Excel training module built on congressional applications that utilize the world leading spreadsheets tool.


text:
In September 1998, at the height of the contaminated blood crisis, Canadian Blood Services opened its doors across Canada as the country's blood authority in all provinces and territories except Quebec, taking over the role of blood operator from the Canadian Red Cross Society. The principles and recommendations in the Krever report, published by the Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada that same year, provide CBS with essential guidance. Over the years, through many changes, trust in CBS to act in the best interest of the public has been consistently high, reflecting the organization's commitment to safety, quality, and improving outcomes for patients.
Today, CBS provides life essentials for Canadians undertaking a broad range of activities in four main areas including: blood, plasma, Organs and Tissues, and Stem Cells. Some milestones celebrated in their 20yrs of service include:
- Approximately five million patients have received a blood transfusion, which remains the most common medical intervention in a hospital setting.
- Over 1,000 patients have received kidney transplants through the Canadian Transplant Registry, built and managed by Canadian Blood Services.
- 3,900 patients have received stem cell products through the national registry, whether from Canadian or international donors.
- Canada's blood supply is now recognized as one of the safest in the world. There has not been a single recorded instance of blood-borne infection from either hepatitis C or HIV, since 1998.
With less than 4% of eligible Canadians rolling-up their sleeves to save lives, CBS greatly relies on the generosity of new, existing, and returning donors. Interested in booking an appointment or learning more? Visit us online at www.blood.ca or call us at 1-888-2DONATE. Walk-in appointments are also available at all donor centres.


text: Jerhop1 Posted June 3, 2016 I wanted to share more of my story. I recently joined the forum and asked about removing telangiectasia from my face. So in 2005 I was brought down by a serious case of pancreatitis. 32 days in the hospital. Crazy long. Anyway, about 75% of my pancreas is not functional. I became a type 1 diabetic and insulin dependent. I was not diagnosed with anything and the doctors did not know why I got the pancreatitis. At the time I was 30 years old and drinking some alcohol but not enough to get pancreatitis from but doctors suspected maybe alcohol. I then just to be cautious did not drink at all for 6 years. During this period I also developed Raynaud's with some digital ulcers on and off. and I have vitiligo (white blotches) on legs and couple on chest and back. And I also have noticeable telangiectasia on my face. As you now can tell I had enough symptoms to be diagnosed. I haven't had any more issues with my pancreas other than it not producing insulin. I have started drinking again, just socially. But do think about sometimes if the alcohol could bring a bout of pancreatitis back? I know this disease is so unpredictable and anything can happen but I don't want it to run my life so I am going to do my best with it and do want I want to do -with some caution. Anybody out there had pancreatitis with scleroderma? Thanks for listening, Jeremy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


text:
Before taking this class I had only studied history in high school, which was a very different experience. To be honest, it was always my least favorite subject, just a list of names, dates, events, arbitrarily selected, with no sense of connection and no acknowledgement of the broader themes of human existence that make the subject interesting and worthwhile. For that reason this class was very eye opening to me. It forced me to confront that inevitable conflict/challenge, incontinuity – the difficulty as a person to recognize things outside of your own experience as Real, something that real people just as alive as you experienced, are molded by, just as you experience, are molded by, live in the context of the events of your own time and space.
It is really striking how difficult it is to conceptualize events that you are learning about at a distance, through words on a page or images or video footage – all of which contain an element of fiction – to conceptualize them as real in that way. To try and feel in your body and mind the full impact and significance and weight of them. I really appreciate that this class encouraged me to do that, partially through the avatar project.


text:
Table of Contents
- Compiling and start-up code
- Hardware Abstraction Layer and UART
- Debugging, display, heap and fonts
- Timers and ADC
- DAC, Sound and Nokia Tunes
- Random Number Generator, Rendering Engine and the Game
- Operating System
I have recently been playing with microcontrollers a lot. Among other things, I have worked through some of the labs from this course on EdX. The material does not use much high-level code, so it gives a good overview of how the software interacts with the hardware. There are some "black box" components in there, though. For me, the best way to learn something well has always been building things from "first principles." I find black boxes frustrating. This post describes the first step on my way to make an Alien Invaders game from "scratch."
Compiling for Tiva
First, we need to be able to compile C code for Tiva. To this end, we will use
GCC as a cross-compiler, so make sure you have the
arm-none-eabi-gcc command
available on your system. We will use the following flags build Tiva-compatible
-mcpu=cortex-m4- produce the code for ARM Cortex-M4 CPU
-mfpu=fpv4-sp-d16- FPv4 single-precision floating point with the register bank seen by the software as 16 double-words
-mfloat-abi=hard- generate floating point instructions and use FPU-specific calling conventions
-mthumb- use the Thumb instruction set
-std=c11- use the C11 standard
-O0- don't perform any optimizations
-pedantic- warn about all the potential issues with the code
-fdata-sections- place every function and data item in a separate section in the resulting object file; it allows the optimizations removing all unused code and data to be performed at link-time
Object files
To generate a proper binary image, we need to have some basic understanding of object files produced by the compiler. In short, they consist of sections containing various pieces of compiled code and the corresponding data. These sections may be loadable, meaning that the contents of the section should be read from the object file and stored in memory. They may also be just allocatable, meaning that there is nothing to be loaded, but a chunk of memory needs to be put aside for them nonetheless. There are multiple sections in a typical ELF object file, but we need to know only four of them:
.text- contains the program code
.rodata- contains the constants (read-only data)
.data- contains the read-write data
.bss- contains statically allocated variables (initialized to zero)
Let's consider the following code:
1 #include <stdio.h>
3 int a = 12;
4 int b;
5 const char *c = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.";
6 const char * const d = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.";
7 int e[20];
8 const int f[4] = {7, 4, 2, 1};
10 int main(int argc, char **argv)
11 {
12 printf("Hello world!\n");
13 return 0;
14 }
After compiling it, we end up with an object file containing the following sections (most have been omitted for clarity):
]==> objdump -h test
test: file format elf64-x86-64
Idx Name Size VMA LMA File off Algn
13 .text 00000192 00000000004003f0 00000000004003f0 000003f0 2**4
15 .rodata 0000006d 0000000000400590 0000000000400590 00000590 2**4
24 .data 00000020 0000000000600948 0000000000600948 00000948 2**3
25 .bss 00000090 0000000000600980 0000000000600980 00000968 2**5
As you can see, every section has two addresses:
- VMA (virtual memory address) - This is the location of the section the code expects when it runs.
- LMA (load memory address) - This is the location where the section is stored by the loader.
These two addresses are in most cases the same, except the situation that we
care about here: an embedded system. In our binary image, we need put the
.data section in ROM because it contains initialized variables whose values
would otherwise be lost on reset. The section's LMA, therefore, must point to
a location in ROM. However, this data is not constant, so it's final position
at program's runtime needs to be in RAM. Therefore, the VMA must point to a
location RAM. We will see an example later.
Tiva's memory layout
Tiva has 256K of ROM (range: 0x0000000000-0x0003ffff) and 32K of RAM (range: 0x20000000-0x20003fff). See the table 2-4 on page 90 of the data sheet for details. The NVIC (Interrupt) table needs to be located at address 0x00000000 (section 2.5 of the data sheet). We will create this table in C, put it in a separate object file section, and fill with weak aliases of the default handler function. This approach will enable the user to redefine the interrupt handlers without having to edit the start-up code. The linker will resolve the handler addresses to strong symbols if any are present.
So, we define a dummy interrupt handler that loops indefinitely:
1 void __int_handler(void)
2 {
3 while(1);
4 }
and then create a bunch of weak aliases to this function:
1 #define DEFINE_HANDLER(NAME) void NAME ## _handler() __attribute__ ((weak, alias ("__int_handler")))
3 DEFINE_HANDLER(nmi);
4 DEFINE_HANDLER(hard_fault);
5 DEFINE_HANDLER(mman);
6 DEFINE_HANDLER(bus_fault);
7 DEFINE_HANDLER(usage_fault);
8 ...
Finally, we construct the
nvic_table, place it in the
.nvic section in the
resulting object file and fill it with handler addresses:
1 #define HANDLER(NAME) NAME ## _handler
2 void (*nvic_table[])(void) __attribute__ ((section (".nvic"))) = {
3 HANDLER(reset),
4 HANDLER(nmi),
5 HANDLER(hard_fault),
6 HANDLER(mman),
7 ...
Linker scripts
We will use linker scripts to set the VMAs and the LMAs to the values we like and to create some symbols whose addresses we can play with in the C code. We first need to define the memory layout:
2 {
3 FLASH (rx) : ORIGIN = 0x00000000, LENGTH = 0x00040000
4 RAM (rwx) : ORIGIN = 0x20000000, LENGTH = 0x00008000
5 }
We then need to tell the linker where to put the section in the final executable:
2 {
3 .text :
4 {
5 LONG(0x20007fff)
6 KEEP(*(.nvic))
7 *(.text*)
8 *(.rodata*)
9 __text_end_vma = .;
12 .data :
13 {
14 __data_start_vma = .;
15 *(.data*)
16 *(vtable)
17 __data_end_vma = .;
20 .bss :
21 {
22 __bss_start_vma = .;
23 *(.bss*)
25 __bss_end_vma = .;
27 }
- We start with the
.textsection and begin it with
0x20003fff. It is the initial value of the stack pointer (see the data sheet). Since the stack grows towards lower addresses, we initialize the top of the stack to the last byte of available RAM.
- We then put the
.nvicsection. The
KEEPfunction forces the linker to keep this section even when the link-time optimizations are enabled, and the section seems to be unused. The asterisk in
*(.nvic)is a wildcard for an input object file name. Whatever is in the brackets is a wildcard for a section name.
- We put all the code and read-only data from all of the input files in this section as well.
- We define a new symbol:
__text_end_vmaand assign its address to the current VMA (the dot means the current VMA).
- We put this section in FLASH:
> FLASHat line 10.
- We combine the
.data*sections from all input files into one section and put it behind the
.textsection in FLASH. We set the VMAs to be in RAM:
- Apparently TivaWare changes the value of the
VTABLEregister and needs to have the NVIC table in RAM, so we oblige:
- We put
.bssin RAM after
- We use asterisks in section names (i.e.
.bss*) because
-fdata-sectionsparameters cause the compiler to generate a separate section for each function and data item.
Edit 02.04.2016: The initial stack pointer needs to be aligned to 8 bytes
for passing of 64-bit long variadic parameters to work. Therefore, the value of
the first four bytes in the text section should be:
LONG(0x20007ff8). See
this post for details.
See the binutils documentation for more details.
Start-up code
On the system start-up, we need to copy the contents of the
.data section from
FLASH to RAM ourselves before we can run any code. We do it by defining a reset
1 extern unsigned long __text_end_vma;
2 extern unsigned long __data_start_vma;
3 extern unsigned long __data_end_vma;
4 extern unsigned long __bss_start_vma;
5 extern unsigned long __bss_end_vma;
7 extern void main();
9 void __rst_handler()
10 {
11 unsigned long *src = &__text_end_vma;
12 unsigned long *dst = &__data_start_vma;
14 while(dst < &__data_end_vma) *dst++ = *src++;
15 dst = &__bss_start_vma;
16 while(dst < &__bss_end_vma) *dst++ = 0;
18 main();
19 }
21 void reset_handler() __attribute__ ((weak, alias ("__rst_handler")));
We first declare external symbols. They are put in the symbol table by the
linker. The reset handler then moves the
.data section from FLASH to RAM,
zeroes the
.bss section, and calls
A test
Let's put everything together. I wrote a short program that blinks an LED using the SysTick interrupt. The color of the LED depends on the switch pressed. The files are here:
Compile and link:
]==> arm-none-eabi-gcc -mcpu=cortex-m4 -mfpu=fpv4-sp-d16 -mfloat-abi=hard -mthumb -std=c11 -O0 -Wall -pedantic -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -c main.c -g
]==> arm-none-eabi-gcc -mcpu=cortex-m4 -mfpu=fpv4-sp-d16 -mfloat-abi=hard -mthumb -std=c11 -O0 -Wall -pedantic -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -c TM4C_startup.c -g
]==> arm-none-eabi-ld -T TM4C.ld TM4C_startup.o main.o -o main --gc-sections
Let's see what we have in the resulting binary:
]==> arm-none-eabi-objdump -h main
main: file format elf32-littlearm
Idx Name Size VMA LMA File off Algn
0 .text 00000484 00000000 00000000 00010000 2**2
1 .data 00000004 20000000 00000484 00020000 2**2
2 .bss 00000004 20000004 00000488 00020004 2**2
.text section starts at 0x00000000 both VMA and LMA. The
.data section
starts at 0x00000484 LMA (in FLASH) but the code expects it to start at
0x20000000 VMA (in RAM). The symbol addresses seem to match the expectations as
]==> arm-none-eabi-objdump -t main | grep vma
20000004 g .bss 00000000 __bss_start_vma
00000484 g .text 00000000 __text_end_vma
20000008 g .bss 00000000 __bss_end_vma
20000000 g .data 00000000 __data_start_vma
20000004 g .data 00000000 __data_end_vma
We now need to create a raw binary file that we can flash to the board. The
arm-none-eabi-objcopy utility can take the relevant sections and put them
in an output file aligned according to their LMAs.
]==> arm-none-eabi-objcopy -O binary main main.bin
]==> stat --format=%s main.bin
The total size of the raw binary matches the sum of the sizes of the
.text and
.data sections (0x488 == 1160). Let's
flash it and see if it works!
]==> lm4flash main.bin
Found ICDI device with serial: xxxxxxxx
ICDI version: 9270
Get the full code at GitHub.


text:
Nothing Wasted - Danamon Go Green, Danamon Peduli Foundation (Indonesia)
The traditional farms of Indonesia are getting a face-lift, and the organic fertiliser they now produce is giving agriculture in the area a huge boost.
Fuel Cell - Biogas as an alternative source of energy (Kenya)
A prison in Kenya is using inmate's waste to power the kitchens and heating, reducing energy costs and improving the health of the prisoners.
Jiko Rescue - The Gorilla Organization Stoves for Survival project (Democratic Republic of Congo)
The endangered Mountain Gorilla population is getting a helping hand from the fuel-efficient "jiko" stove.
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text: by Xu Ping, Mark Schaub and Jennifer Yao* China is re-thinking how it deals and interacts with foreign investment. The publishing of the Draft Foreign Investment Law ("Draft FIL") for public comment on 19 January 2015 was to announce that China was planning a foreign investment regulatory re-boot. However, it would be wrong to look at the Draft FIL in isolation. There is little doubt that the Draft FIL is another strand of the larger trend by which the Chinese government is transforming its role in the economy, cutting red tape and simplifying the administration of companies. China is not the same country it was when the first Sino-foreign Joint Venture Law was promulgated in 1979. In those days China was hungry for technology, investment and economic growth. Today China has a slew of hi-tech companies and is innovative in many cutting edge technologies such as e-commerce, super-computers, smart phones, etc. Its rapid growth and developing economy has led to strong and sustained growth in outbound investment. In 2014 China changed from being a country of net capital inflow to one of net capital outflow. Despite these changes China's current foreign investment regulatory framework has not kept pace with change and is largely been kept in place for the last 30 years. The main intention of the original raft of laws was tight control over both the entry and influence of foreign capital into China. Accordingly each and every foreign investment project requires approval by the Chinese authorities. However, as China has increasingly globalized and as foreign investment has changed from being a "one way street" to "two way traffic", China has increased in confidence and also changed its mindset. Indeed, the new reforms foreshadowed by the Draft FIL may be a "velvet revolution" – in that the reforms illustrate both China's confidence in dealing with foreign investment and also her emergence as a global economy that is willing to play by global rules. Draft FIL – One law to govern all The Draft FIL is intended to replace the piecemeal regimes set out under numerous existing laws and regulations relating to various forms of foreign invested enterprises (FIEs). In this regard the FIL will provide a uniform foreign investment regulatory framework which aligns with common international practice. This represents a very significant step in the direction of liberalization. The current foreign investment regime foresees involvement by the authorities' in every stage of the foreign invested enterprise's ("FIE") life cycle - from cradle to grave. The FIL would replace the old system with a much lighter touch – one which largely relies upon reporting except for certain sensitive areas. Sensitive areas will remain subject to scrutiny but for the vast majority of FIEs their establishment and dealing with corporate compliance for on-going operations will become much, much simpler. The key changes proposed in the consultation draft FIL can be summarized as follows: More Level Playing Field - Under the new framework, foreign investors will (for the most part) be subject to the same rules and procedures as domestic investors except if they fall within a "negative list" (listing prohibited or restricted sectors) or with a large total investment which exceeds review thresholds. The Draft FIL is another milestone in the on-going trend of China moving towards a level playing field for FIEs – another example is the unification of the tax system in 2008. In most instances the different rules do not really protect Chinese companies or specific national interest, but are just anachronisms that may have been relevant 30 years ago resulting in only unnecessary delays and complications today. The Draft FIL will make establishing and operating a FIE a lot simpler and cheaper. Information Report to Replace Pre-Approval - Foreign investment projects not falling within the negative list will only be subject to a reporting requirement. Reports will need to include key details such as total investment amount, relevant industry, geographical scope, shareholding, organisation type and key corporate governance. In an important break from the current practice there will be no requirement to submit specific contents within the agreements between shareholders for scrutiny. This is a bold move towards greater contractual freedom between the parties as the joint venture contract would no longer require approval by the government. In practice this should also mean that minority Chinese shareholders will not automatically enjoy veto powers over key decisions which would often lead to gridlock in joint ventures. New Review Process for Sensitive Projects – Projects falling within the negative list will still need to proceed with a foreign investment review procedure that considers the project's impacts from a national security, energy resource, technological innovation, environmental, employment and public interest perspective. In many ways this also mirrors the broader arc of China's legislative developments in recent years – relax restrictions and ease approvals for most projects but scrutinize sensitive ones more closely. The concept of negative list is borrowed from other countries such as Australia and Canada but the implementation of this concept in China will no doubt have its own wrinkles. Integrated National Security Review - The national security review was a latecomer to China's foreign investment regulatory regime in 2011[1]. Its role was not always clearly defined and despite its obvious importance it languished as a departmental regulation. The Draft FIL seeks to integrate the national security review framework and thereby elevates it from being a policy to official law. This will reinforce the critical importance that the Chinese authorities will continue to pay to national security review. No Approval for Basic Corporate Dealings – The whole current Chinese foreign investment apparatus is approval based. Accordingly approval is not required just for the establishment, but also for every subsequent change in the company such as share transfers, pledges, capital increases, dissolution etc. Although this is good for lawyers, it is a source of expense, delay and, more importantly, uncertainty, for investors. The new system will no longer require prior approvals for investments, but rather these can simply be reported within 30 days. New "De Facto Controller" Concept – The one area in which the Draft FIL appears to tighten matters for foreign investors is the introduction of the concept of actual (or "de facto") control. Under the Draft FIL the determinant as to whether an investor is domestic or foreign will depend upon its actual control rather than where it is incorporated or domiciled. This new approach appears to be squarely aimed at Variable Interest Entities ("VIEs"). VIEs are domestic incorporated entities controlled by a foreign entity or person by way of contractual arrangements. VIEs have to date been used by both foreign investors who wish to circumvent restrictions on operating in China (e.g. sectors which are restricted to foreign investments such as in telecoms) and by Chinese investors who wished to list a China centric company offshore and were therefore forced to use an offshore vehicle for the listing (the so called "small red chips"). Many of the most well-known offshore IPOs by Chinese companies involve VIE models including such luminaries such as Alibaba, Sina, Agria etc. The Draft FIL clearly seeks to enforce the restrictions upon the foreign companies seeking to circumvent rules. The de facto controller concept will amount to an official sanction for VIE arrangements under which de facto control is ultimately retained by a Chinese party (such as the original Chinese founder(s) in an offshore listed company). But the Draft FIL is cautious as to how to deal with existing VIEs as this could have a significant impact upon the market. Instead of providing a final answer, MOFCOM has mentioned three different approaches as to how legacy VIE structures may be handled. However, while the suggested approaches have indicated possible solutions for companies ultimately controlled by Chinese investors, none were clear whether grandfathering will be granted to existing VIEs so as to enable those companies to carry on their business. This is the most worrisome for foreign investors who are relying upon a VIE model or other "legal grey area" structures to overcome a specific legal restriction. Possible improvements Although the Draft FIL will generally have a very positive effect on both foreign investment and also FIEs there are areas where the draft could be improved: Unclear review criteria – Despite the move to international standards (i.e. negative list and registration) old habits die hard. As is common in Chinese law the standards to be applied remain very vague and therefore the authorities will continue to retain broad discretions. Indeed, although the larger trend is towards transparency in China the rules for the national security review seem to move in the opposite direction as the Draft FIL provisions are vaguer than the existing rules. In the current rules at least the sensitive industries are listed. New Reporting Requirements to MOFCOM - All FIEs will be required to submit annual reports to MOFCOM, or quarterly reports in the case of an FIE with significant assets, large revenues or multiple subsidiaries. The reporting requirements are extremely broad and may be burdensome in practice. In some ways the reporting requirements outstrip those required under the current system. They are also much more invasive compared to countries which have served as inspiration for the system (such as Canada and Australia). There are concerns the reporting requirements will add to the compliance cost for foreign invested enterprises. Although the details of the reports remain unclear there may be an overlap with information currently provided on an annual basis to the Administration of Industry and Commerce. Quo Vadis VIE? On its face, the de facto controller amounts to an official sanction for VIE arrangements under which the de facto control is ultimately retained by a Chinese party (such as the original Chinese founder(s)). However, this change could potentially impact foreign investments that rely upon VIE or other "legal grey area" structures. Article 149 (as drafted) provides that foreign investors may be subject to administrative or criminal penalties if they are found to have invested in prohibited or restricted sectors without approval thorough the use of beneficial or contractual control mechanisms (i.e. VIEs). However, the FIL is silent as to the treatment of pre-existing VIE structures. MOFCOM has provided some preliminary comments on how legacy VIE structures could be handled, while a more definite guideline is required to meaningfully assess these proposals. This will be a critically important issue for foreign investors already using such structures. Given that the VIE model has been adopted across a number of sectors we anticipate that MOFCOM will approach this issue with caution and the risk of all pre-existing VIE arrangements being declared illegal and unwound is, in our view, relatively low. Historically, very few PRC foreign investment laws have made provisions that address the utilization of contractual agreements to effectively take control of another company. As such, VIE's were always in a grey area of PRC law. However, as the Draft FIL introduced for the first time the concept of "actual control" to determine whether a company is considered as a foreign invested or domestic company, the legal validity and the associated risks of VIE structures will need to be reassessed. Furthermore, VIEs have now been recognized as a type of general investment structure for the purposes of the Draft FIL, so that VIE structures will be subject to the same restrictions as other types of corporate structures if the sector selected for business operations is listed as restricted in the Negative In this regard, it is important to note that at the same time certain restricted sectors such as value added telecommunications and education/training see some steps towards liberalization and this trend is likely to continue. In short, the new proposed Draft FIL will likely have an effect upon VIE structures but it is too early to definitively state what the effect will be. Clarity will only exist once the legislation has been finalized and comes into force and then also once there is experience as to how the authorities interpret and implement the FIL. At the same time we expect that liberalization in many of the sectors that use VIE models will continue so it will not be just the FIL that will ultimately impact VIE structures but also whether a particular sector is included in the Negative List. The experience with the Shanghai FTZ has been that the Negative List will likely be amended several times in quick succession so it is far too early to tell now how the list will look when the Draft FIL finally comes into effect. Trend is apparent, timing is not It should be stressed that the Draft FIL is still a draft and there is a long way to go before it becomes law. Under PRC law[2] there are generally five phases to the legislative process. Basically the phases are 1) Development of the draft legislation; 2) Submission and procedural review by National People's Congress of the PRC (NPC) or the NPC Standing Committee; 3) Review by NPC delegates and NPC Legislative Committee; 4) Voting on bill; and 5) Enactment. The length of the journey for the Draft FIL becomes even more apparent when one realizes it is currently half way through phase 1 – the development phase. At present the Draft FIL has been announced as a "Exposure Draft for Discussion" (征求意见稿) which means the first draft has been prepared by MOFCOM. Currently the MOFCOM is collecting comments and suggestions from society as a whole on the draft. Given the level of the FIL MOFCOM will need to submit the draft to the State Council which will review and revise the draft before submitting to NPC. In addition a complexity is that China is also negotiating bilateral investment treaties which may also impact the final text of the draft as well as the timing of its enactment. Summary The changes that are afoot indicate in a very real way how China has become an integral part of the global economy and is adopting international practices. It is clear that if and when the Draft FIL comes into effect then there will be issues to be considered and actions to be undertaken. Any law that seeks to overthrow 30 years of practice will inevitably result in a complex transition and will undoubtedly lead to complexities in overlapping regulatory restrictions such as foreign exchange controls and operational licenses. Also depending on the final wording companies that are using the VIE model will need to consider how best to restructure or deal with the new environment. However, it would be wrong to concentrate on these issues. The transition will be over in a relatively short time and any issues will likely to be resolved quickly. China is still a country that very much welcomes foreign investment (at least in most sectors). The Draft FIL does give cause for concern on the part of foreign investors relying on VIE models. However, it is likely too early to form any conclusion now. The trends of market liberalization and greater contractual freedom may large negate problems in this regard. In any event to consider the Draft FIL exclusively from a VIE model perspective would be wrong. The provisions in respect of VIE models will affect only a small percentage of foreign investors and ones focused on specific sectors. The bigger picture is that the Draft FIL is an indicator the Chinese government's resolve to promote a market economy, cut red-tape and reduce administrative interference. Since its opening up China has been a magnet for foreign investment and foreign investment has played an important role for the country. In our opinion the new law will, for the vast of foreign investors, level the playing field and reduce the cost of doing business in China. However, it should be noted that as China develops the foreign investment (and indeed corporate) environment has become increasingly sophisticated. It has strengthened its supervision over how companies, both domestic and foreign invested, operate. This includes the recent attention given to anti-trust, compliance and unfair market practices. Foreign investors will need to re-think their operations and need additional awareness as to how to deal with the developing regulatory regime and greater operational supervision. *Jennifer Yao is a senior associate in King & Wood Mallesons' Corporate Group, Beijing Office. [1]Quoted King and Wood China Bulletin FEB 2011 VOL 46 - "On February 3, 2011, the State Council released the Notice on Establishing National Security Review Mechanism for Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises by Foreign Investors ("Notice"). According to the Notice, China will implement a national security review process in relation to foreign funded mergers and acquisitions ("M&A") of domestic enterprises 30 days after the issuance of the Notice." [2]The Law on Legislation of the People's Republic of China and related laws and regulations


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Watch This Site Daily About Community News from USA, Sierra Leone, Africa and Current World Affairs. Join Me Explore Hot Topics.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Book of Job-Richie Spice. A must have album for any serious reggae fan
BBC Review
"Another essential set from the Jamaican star."
Angus Taylor 2011-03-09
Richie Spice never strays far from the template that has served him so well as a singer – keeping to simple, soulful songs and uplifting messages. Fifth album Book of Job continues previous outing Gideon Boot's biblical theme and, while boasting fewer tracks than its predecessor is, tune for tune, just as strong.
Spice chose the title to compare Job's faith in the face of misfortune with his own persistent approach in a volatile industry. Fittingly, he has continued working with both veteran producers and fresher blood. Where Gideon Boot was mostly helmed by Bobby Digital, Job's rhythms come mainly from Donovan Germain of Penthouse – who produced Bushman's Peter Tosh tribute Bushman Sings the Bush Doctor and the youngster Romain Virgo for VP in 2010.
Germain and Spice strike extra hard with the Randy Crawford reinterpretation My Life (previously released on Ronald "Sunny Spoon" Wright's less traditional Chemistry backing). They again pair up nicely for Confirmation, on the rhythm to Virgo's No Money.
Younger star-producer Shane Brown offers his thumping Indiscretions bass for Soothing Sound – which asks musicians not to squabble. He also lends the well used, synth-string-heavy Nylon rhythm for Serious Woman which – along with Mother of Creation and delightful Raging Fyah production Black Woman – forms part of a trilogy of tributes to the ladies. Spice prefers action to words, and he and dancehall beat-maker Lenky Marsden prove it with the catchy Yap Yap, warning of the dangers of gossip. Meanwhile, the deceptively upbeat self-production Legal was inspired by Richie's moving visit to Gorée Island off the Senegalese city of Dakar, which was a holding area for soon-to-be-transported slaves.
Earlier albums, such as 2005 effort Spice In Your Life and 2007's In the Streets to Africa have been lengthy ambitious works. This time, with fewer songs and another safe pair of ears and hands at the controls, Job doesn't quite hit the heights of Africa but is still an essential set.
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It was bigger than a pencil eraser and irregular in shape. That put the odds against her. But it had smooth edges; that was in her favor. From four seats away, in the diffuse light of the bookshop, it looked black. But I couldn't be sure.
I wanted to be concentrating on the fledgling poet who was courageously reading aloud. But the poetry faded into the backdrop of my internal debate. The mole on the left shin of that woman in my row: was it a malignant melanoma?
She was perhaps 45 years old and wearing pedal pushers. When her right leg was crossed over her left, the mole was obscured; I was free to listen. When she rearranged herself, crossing her left over her right, I was thrown into conflict.
Should I say something to her in spite of my uncertainty? It felt like arrogance to intrude into the life of this stranger. I imagined myself, a doctor-bull barging into her china shop, shattering her peace of mind. Or was that the overempathic psychiatrist in me speaking?
It is common medical knowledge that if a melanoma is discovered while still very thin, it can be surgically removed and the patient cured. But left to grow to the thickness of just three stacked CDs, it is the deadliest of skin cancers indeed, one of the deadliest of all cancers. If this mole was really a melanoma, how could I keep silent?
Doctors are trained to be observant. During my psychiatric residency we performed five-minute interviews as a learning exercise. What could one discover in five minutes? Quite a lot. Patients tell their life stories through nuances of tone and cadence, flashes of suspicion in the eyes, postures of arrogance, shame or pain. Now, even from a distance, clues leap out at me unbidden.
A doctor is often in the position of perceiving evidence of medical or psychiatric disease in an unsuspecting patient. But clues are always shadowed by uncertainty. How sure is the diagnosis? How grave? Is there a cure? A treatment? Would the person want to know?
The regret of another physician (a former patient) crossed my mind. It had been obvious to her that a hospital receptionist had a thyroid disorder; she had assumed that the woman was being treated. Countless physicians had passed this woman at the information desk until one day it was whispered around the hospital that one of their own had shown up in the emergency room. There the receptionist received the help she needed, but only after her condition had led to a medical crisis.
Why not risk some awkwardness to alert the woman down my aisle? What would be the harm in speaking up?
There's defensive anger, for one. At a reunion with his old college roommate, Dr. Robert Marion, a clinical geneticist, realized that the roommate's daughter probably had a rare inherited syndrome. His article in The American Journal of Medical Genetics in 1996 describes what happened when he decided to tell. The friend was not grateful and "nearly shouted" at him, "You spend a couple of minutes with my kid and you think you know more than the doctor who's been seeing her since she was a newborn."
Beyond the pain of hearing that one might have a serious disease (with visible pathology, no less), I knew that other harm could follow: terror, sleepless nights, doctors' visits, costly and even painful medical workups that, in the end, might turn up nothing.
A century-old autobiography articulated the value of restraint. Dr. Leonard Mark had been crossing Cavendish Square in London when it came to him that he had acromegaly, a disorder in which a tumor leads to excess growth hormone and gradual changes in physical appearance. Soon he learned that his colleagues and his own physician had been aware of this for some time. Though initially resentful, his feelings turned to gratitude. Their silence had allowed him extra years of believing he was a healthy man. Acromegaly was untreatable in 1905; but this was 2007.
The poetry reading ended. When she stood up, the woman's pant leg covered that spot on her shin. There was applause, and then, during the chitchat that followed, someone introduced me to the woman with the mole.
I apologized in advance for being intrusive and said that as a physician, I was concerned about the mole on her shin. Conveying only the barest of information, she related that a dermatologist had thought her mole was benign.
She thanked me for my concern and moved on quickly. The five-minute interviews had taught me to be aware of the contradictory message in her abrupt departure. I felt awkward, bumbling. I had embarrassed her. My diagnosis had probably been wrong. Even so, it had been too risky to keep silent.


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Museum Day Live! takes place this Saturday, September 24, which means it is your chance to try out several of L.A.'s less familiar museums for free!
Museum Day Live! is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day Ticket. This year, a handful of LA-area museums are participating: The Fowler Museum at UCLA, The GRAMMY Museum, the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, Zimmer Children's Museum and more.
For more about participating museums and to buy tickets, click here.


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East End Wine Down returns to Vardon Avenue on Saturday April 1, bringing together big gun South Australian producers and their small-batch counterparts.
Forty-two wineries will pour more than 160 wines throughout the day. New additions this year include Brash Higgins, Jericho Wines and Switch Wines. "We're market leaders in the global wine scene," says event director and East End Cellars owner Michael Andrewartha. "It's a real snapshot of what our state's doing."
The annual street party also includes beer, cider, and now, gin. Mismatch Brewing Co. and Coopers will provide the brews, alongside some of the Adelaide Hills' best cider producers: Sidewood, Hills Cider Co. and LOBO Cider. A dedicated "Gin on the Green" area will host locally distilled Ounce Gin and Willabrand Fresh Figs, who will be mixing fig gin "Figrioskas".
"We want to support our [East End] community," says Andrewartha. "So we've invited our neighbours to cook." NOLA, Mother Vine, Sukhumvit Soi 38 and the newly opened Iberia are all on board. There will also be a DJ set from Skin Contact.
East End Wine Down is on Saturday April 1 from 12pm to 5pm on Vardon Avenue. Tickets are $35 and available online or at the door. This includes entry and a plastic glass for tasting.


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Premiere 10000 BTU Portable Air ConditionerDPA100CB5BP This product is no longer available.
When the temperatures soar during the summertime and the heat becomes unbearable, keep yourself refreshed with this trendy 10,000 BTU portable air conditioning unit by Danby Premiere. It features low, medium and high fan speeds which can be controlled via the unit's LED display and remote control device. You can set the temperature anywhere to your liking from 17°C to 30°C (62°F - 86°F). The appliance also features a helpful automatic on/off option which allows you to start and stop it to suit your schedule. The air conditioner is environmentally friendly. This is an ideal model for apartments, condos and larger rooms as it can cool down areas of up to 450 square feet.
|Product Width
|45.39 cm
|Product Depth
|37.49 cm
|Product Height
|70.00 cm
|Shipping Weight
|Loading Capacity
|Package Dimensions
|Package Width
|Package Depth
|Package Height
- 10,000 BTU 3-in-1 portable air conditioner
- Cools up to 450 sq. ft.
- Environmentally friendly R410A refrigerant
- Single hose design
- Removable air filter
- Electronic controls with remote and LED display
- Dehumidifier mode with direct drain feature controls humidity in medium-sized living spaces
- Automatic on/off: Have the unit start or stop to meet your schedule
- Auto Swing
- Built-in handles and castors allow you to move the unit from room to room easily
- Fits easily in sliding glass doors, slider and double hung windows
- Exhaust hose length: 59 1/16" (150 cm)
- Variable temperature control from 17ºC - 30ºC (62ºF - 86ºF)
24 months parts and labor coverage with in-home service. Installation and/or yearly maintenance (cleaning) are not covered under warranty.
On most models with heat mode, it is advised to use the hose for direct drain. This will ensure the pan does not fill up too quickly.
When selected, this automatically sets the appropriate option for your room based on the ambient temperature. For example, if it is 15°C outside, the unit would flip to fan mode. If it is set to 30°C, the unit would revert back to cooling mode.
The water drains from the drainage port. If you are not using the continuous drain, the internal pan drains from the bottom outlet. Consult your owner's manual for more information.
You should always use it during cooling and heating. It is not required during fan and dry mode. Please consult your owner's manuals for more details.
During heat mode, dry mode or continuous draining. Please consult your owner's manuals for more details.
This is not recommended, as the unit is built to operate using the drain hose/power cord provided.
Units with three drainage ports are units which also feature heat mode. The bottom drainage port empties the internal pan, the middle port is for continuous drain during heat and the top port is for continuous drain during dry mode. Please consult your owner's manual for more detail.
Dual hose models have an intake and exhaust hose. With single hose models, the hose exhausts and the air that is to be "conditioned" is taken in from the room through the unit.
No, this is not recommended. Please bring your AC unit indoors during the winter months.


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Bags and organizers galore!
In case you weren't aware, disposable and plastic...
Water, Water everywhere.
How to decorate!
It's chocolate! What more is there to say? Actually, a lot.
John Cooper is featured on Quad Cities Business Beat this week.
Lynette Hoyt and San Martin Rodriguez sit down for a chat with Amanda D'Agosto of A Valley of Vitality Wellness Studio.
This week's topic: The NAZ Suns!
Hoping to get that youthful look back again?
Ever consider taking part in the the Co-Working world?
Lynette Hoyt talks with Debbie Maranville about food! What's not to like?


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Ethan started to stand up last week! He is getting so big. The first time I saw him do it was while I was giving Kiera a bath. I guess he wanted to see what was going on and he crawled on over to the tub and pulled himself up! WOW! Now he is doing it everywhere he goes. I have to watch him more carefully now because he tends to get tired and looses his balance. Here are a couple pictures of him at the computer chair. Kiera joined in on the fun and I got a couple really cute shots. They grow up too fast!
5 weeks ago


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Financial Guy
Passionate about the Community
Film Enthusiast
What do you do at The Grossbauer Group?
I wear several hats at The Grossbauer Group. I administer company finances (payroll, account payables/receivables, and taxes), train and orient new staff, and direct employee benefits. I also fill in wherever it's needed to help with a variety of projects. I oversee the company's day-to-day operations, manage our business agreements, and ensure that our team has the resources they need to do their amazing work.
What are 3 words that describe The Grossbauer Group?
Creative. Hardworking. Elite.
What makes you feel good about the work you do?
I am inspired by the caliber of my co-workers. Everyone is incredibly talented and we work together easily. Our skills sets and knowledge bases complement each other's very well. Whether I'm leading a project or supporting the team, I feel good working with such great people who write, design, program, and share such remarkable projects.
How do you get unstuck?
I put my earbuds in, crank the volume of my Spotify playlist, put my head down, and focus on knocking things out.
In your opinion, where are the best local foods?
- Chicken wings - Louie Wingz and Catfish in Valparaiso
- Pasta salad - Val's Pizza and Grinders in Chesterton
- Pizza - Tomato Bar in Valparaiso
- Tacos - Casa Blanca in East Chicago
- BBQ - Wagner's Ribs in Porter
How do you spend your weekends?
During the weekends I am usually pretty busy. My wife and I like to travel and catch a live comedy show, a concert, or movie. If there's a trivia night or new museum exhibit, we'll be there. I also enjoy volunteering with our local Boys and Girls Clubs, getting involved in political events, and catching up with friends.
What brings you joy?
Volunteering, learning new things, devouring saucy BBQ with a side of mac and cheese, and hanging out with my wife and our cat and dog.
What are your 3 favorite movies?
- Jurassic Park: This film perfectly balances wonder with terror...plus, it has dinosaurs.
- The Dark Knight: This is what you get if you take the movie Heat and add Batman and the Joker.
- Mad Max: Fury Road: A film that fully embraces its own insanity and matches it with artistic visuals and unbelievable stunts.
What does Cinco de Mayo smell like to you?
Sizzling steak, fresh salsa, and a Jarritos lime soda.
Will you give us 3 tracks from your working playlist?
- Joker and the Thief - Wolfmother
- Knights of Cydonia - Muse
- September - Earth, Wind & Fire
What's on your to-do list this year?
I recently launched my campaign for a local political office and it's very exciting. I want to directly help people in our community in a different way than I've done before.


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I still remember where I was, what I was doing and how I felt when the not guilty verdict of George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin was announced. It seemed so surreal at the time. Before knowing the verdict would be announced, I was scheduled to appear on Fox 5 News in Washington, DC to give an update on the case at 10:00 PM on a Saturday evening. However, before I arrived at the station, the breaking news said a verdict had been reached. As I rushed to Fox 5 studios, I got in chair with mic on and waited for the verdict to be read. Although, I was in the local DC Fox studio, the station aired the Fox News network for the verdict. And I sat stunned, numb and outraged at the same time, but trying to appear expressionless as I heard the not guilty verdict read. And listening to the Fox News commentary while still in studio waiting my turn, I felt a sense of failure on the part of the criminal justice system, once again.
The sense of failure on the part of the justice system to do what is right and fair in cases involving young black males is present whether I hear the George Zimmerman verdict or read the statistics on the number of black men in jail today or under the umbrella of the criminal justice system. Statistics and research show that there are more black men under the criminal justice system in jail or in the criminal justice system today than enslaved in 1850. For many African American males, our criminal justice system is the new slavery system. And for young African American teens, the number who are suspended or arrested while juveniles and committed to a juvenile or adult detention center is astonishing high compared to the same white population. While black teens represent 16% of the youth population, 37% of their cases are moved to criminal court with 58% ending in adult prison.
And there is slow change coming with programs like President Obama's initiative, My Brother's Keepers, to help give young boys and men of color the necessary tools to get on and stay on the right path. However, many of the tools and programs fail to address the elephant in the room. Its name is racism. And for many young men and boys of color, who do all the right things, they still may face the injustice of a criminal justice system that should be just and fair with stop and frisks aimed at them for being black and "acting suspicious", whatever that term means.
And in the year since the George Zimmerman verdict, I have felt the same sense of let down and outrage, at the system each and every day that I go to court and see the hallways and court rooms filled with young black boys, teens and men. I felt those same feelings when the verdict of Michael Dunn was read and the jury once again failed to find a non-black defendant guilty for the murder of a young black teen. Although, a re-trial is scheduled for September, I question why the jury couldn't get it right the first time. And since the Zimmerman verdict, there are still over 26 states with Stand Your Ground laws that give many persons the legal right to kill like George Zimmerman.
But outrage and apathy will not solve the problem. First, there must be an awareness that a problem exists. Second, there must be solutions to the problem. And solutions cannot just rely on acting blind or indifferent to the real issue. Racism is the elephant in the room. And as Attorney General Eric Holder has said in a speech in 2009 and as recent as July 13, 2014, we are all a nation of cowards until we face and discuss the racism that exists in America. We have not had a meaningful conversation yet. I'm still waiting.


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Metroid: Equis, is a story written by flammenwerfer14 it is a crossover between the Metroid Prime portion of the Metroid series and takes place between Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
So far the story is told from the P.O.V. of Samus, Luna, and Celestia
On a night like any other, Princess Luna is observing her sky, making changes and manipulating the heavenly bodies as needed. However, one particularly bright object in the sky refuses to be moved by her command. Frustrated, she tries everything she knows about manipulating every celestial object, only to find out upon investigation that said object is a meteor on a crash course for their planet and nation. Unable to prevent the impact, Luna observes the meteor land towards the Frozen North. She thinks nothing of it... that is until large volumes of reports of deaths, mutations, and corruptions flood the Princess' daily issues.
With the national (and possibly world) emergency only getting worse, and with no ability to track and contain the spread of the Great Poison, the Princesses and the Elements silently hope for a miracle... any kind of help to save them from a violent doom.
Help may come from a very unlikely source. Specifically, the Hunter, clad in metal.


text: (from New York) The Bishops of the United States speak out against the recent decisions by the US Administration and Attorney General Jeff Sessions on immigration. Speaking at the opening of the Spring General Assembly of the Bishops in Florida, Card. Daniel DiNardo, President of the US Bishops' Conference, called the decision to separate "babies from their mothers" at the US border with Mexico "immoral". He then openly challenged the Attorney General's decision to overturn the ruling of an immigration Court which had granted political asylum to a Salvadoran woman victim of domestic violence. Card. Di Nardo, joining Mgr. Joe Vásquez, Chairman of the Committee on Migration, strongly condemned "family separation at the U.S./Mexico border as an implementation of the Administration's zero tolerance policy". Card. DiNardo also recalled that the laws currently in force in the country should "ensure that young children are not separated from their parents and exposed to irreparable harm and trauma". Family unit cannot be sacrificed on the altar of domestic security: "While protecting our borders is important, we can and must do better as a government, and as a society, to find other ways to ensure that safety. Separating babies from their mothers is not the answer and is immoral". The president of the bishops also criticised the Attorney General's decision, noting with concern that "asylum is an instrument to preserve the right to life": the Attorney General's decision is likely to disproportionately impact vulnerable women, who "will now face return to the extreme dangers" of violence in their home countries. Jeff Session had justified his decision by saying that US laws could not be used to "provide redress for all misfortune". However, for Card. DiNardo, this latest decision could affect "vulnerable women", by exposing them to "extreme dangers" that will put their own survival and protection at risk. The Attorney General's decision, thus, elicits deep concern because it potentially strips asylum from many other vulnerable people who took refuge in the country.


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Wed 31 Jan 2018
Welcome to a new semester at Williams
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The Weinstein Co.'s Radius has been taking an aggressive approach to releasing films on VOD, most recently releasing Bong Joon-ho's critically acclaimed sci-fi epic Snowpiercer only two weeks after its theatrical debut. Last month, they also became the first film distributor to release weekly VOD grosses.
"It makes a statement," co-president Tom Quinn tells The Hollywood Reporter about their decision to publicize the numbers. "You need to start reporting this. How are we going to get to the place where people take this seriously unless it's reported alongside box office? On VOD, Snowpiercer is outperforming major studio movies that have grossed $100 million at the box office. That's important to know."
"For a long time, the studios were reluctant to have box-office numbers reported, and then they realized: 'Wait a minute. There is this perception of success, and making these things public can actually be helpful,'" co-president Jason Janego corroborates. "We continue to try to push the model and be more and more progressive with the way we release movies."
Quinn reiterates his confidence in Radius' business model saying their "multiplatform release and how we incorporate it and an additional revenue stream has a lot of possibilities. Our batting average is .800."
Read the full story here.


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Is it really winter in San Antonio?
The weather is unseasonably warm and our San Antonio market continues to be stronger than last year! Single family homes sales have increased two-percent and days on the market have decreased an entire week over 2014. We also continue to experience a buyer and seller market from October with only 3.6 months of inventory.
New Construction vs. Existing
It really is a great time to sell your existing home (learn how using our FREE Checklist!). Only 6.5% of single-family home sales in November were new construction. The lack of supply has really pushed buyers to choose move-in ready homes. Better yet, the sales price of existing homes have increased while new construction values have decreased over last year.
A stable, strong San Antonio market.
Total home sales in San Antonio increased two-percent over last year with a slight decrease in average price.
"Though our prices are marginally less than they were at this time last year, it speaks to the stability of our local market that we don't see big spikes or drops in our prices like other markets do," said Mary Ann Jeffers, SABOR's 2015 Chairman of the Board. "It's also not unusual to see prices decrease somewhat as we get into the winter months. Fewer people are out shopping for homes and competition is not as fierce."
Details across Texas
The amount of sales dropped slightly across Texas from last year, but both the average and median sales prices reported moderate growth with the average sales price rising 3.9 percent and the median sales price growing 5.9 percent.
If you are considering buying or selling, now couldn't be a better time! Learn more about how US Realty Pros can assist you!


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Incorporating honey into your baking is a great way to add moisture, flavour and goodness to the final product. My favourite honey baking combos are peanut butter and honey, or lemon, honey and ginger. These are classic flavour combinations, and for good reason too. Like any successful relationship they work together, balancing each other out.
Recipe by Megan Muldowney
Honeyed Nuts
½ cup blanched almonds, chopped
1 tbsp honey (not liquid)
Honey Cakes
¾ cup canola oil
¾ cup honey (not liquid)
¼ cup caster sugar
2 eggs
½ cup milk
½ tsp vanilla essence
2 cups self-raising flour
Peanut Butter Frosting
200g butter, softened
3 tbsp smooth peanut butter
3¼ cups icing sugar
Honeyed Nuts
Using a spoon, blend the chopped nuts and honey together until the nuts are well coated. Place the nuts on an oven tray lined with baking paper.
Bake on a low heat, 140°C, for about 15 minutes until golden brown. You will need to stir them about twice during this process. They can burn very easily, so keep an eye on them. Set them aside to cool down.
When cool, chop to a finer consistency.
Honey Cakes
Lightly grease and flour a 12 capacity mini cake pan.
In a medium bowl, beat together the oil, honey and caster sugar until combined.
Beat in the eggs, milk and essence, followed by the flour, half a cup at a time.
Pour the batter into the prepared mini cake tins and bake at 170°C for about 20–25 minutes.
Peanut Butter Frosting
Beat together the butter, peanut butter and icing sugar for 3–5 minutes until light and fluffy.
Final Assembly
Level off the tops of the cakes before piping the icing on. This doesn't have to be much, just enough to give them an even appearance.
Sprinkle the honeyed nuts onto the iced cakes.


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Charlene began her career as a dental assistant 25 years ago, when she graduated from the Nassau School of Medical and Dental Assisting. For the last 16 years she has teamed up with Dr. LaSota. Her vast knowledge and experience has made her one of the best in the field. Charlene is not only Dr. Eugene LaSota's right hand but his left hand as well. She has an uncanny ability to read Dr. LaSota's mind and anticipate his every need. Charlene prides herself in making sure that every patient's experience is comfortable and productive.
In her spare time, Charlene enjoys spending time with her family. She also enjoys reading fiction novels, and is an avid collector of magnets from around the world.


text: Firebolt Tweet NM-Mint, English, 20 in stock $0.19 Details Color: Red Card Text: Firebolt deals 2 damage to target creature or player. Flashback 4R (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.) Rarity: C Cost: R Card Type: Sorcery Name: Firebolt Finish: Regular Card Number: 130/249 Set Name: Eternal Masters


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The first phase of a project to revamp the emblematic Lower St Michael's Cave has now been completed. The works involved a major clean-up, removal of the old electrical cabling and conduit system and the installation of new LED lighting along the main entrance and throughout the cave.
An office with storage facilities for equpment has also been provided to assist guides when conducting tours.
The forthcoming phases will include information panels at the entrance of the Cave to provide details about the history of Lower St Michael's, rock formations and general information. There will also be improved access to the pathway leading up to the entrance of the Cave as well as a new staircase inside the cave at the start of tour.
Lower St Michael's cave is not open to the public and can only be visited by pre-booking a tour with a qualified guide. Tours normally last around 3 hours.


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We are a tour operator, travel agency and tourist transport company that is dedicated to spreading the image of Peru. Years of experience supports our professionalism. Our programs are executed with the most recognized experts and tourism professionals.
We take you to the destination of your choice in comfort, confidence and security that you deserve.
We care about the trip you make, as comfortable and enjoyable as possible, we have developed a passion for tourism, we are Cusco yah!
We own mobilities for the better development of our activities and equipment the different cultural, ecological and adventure operations.
We have a team of professionals to offer programs tailored to your needs, personalized assistance, easy to contact24 hours.


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In the nineteenth century, Britain's G. A. Henty was advertised as "The Boys' Historian" because of the novels he published. And while Guy Arnold, who wrote a monograph about Henty entitled Held Fast for England: G. A. Henty, Imperialist Boys' Writer (Hamish Hamilton 1980), claims that "Henty was no historian, nor did he ever claim to be one" (88), the fact remains that many British boys in the late 19th and early 20th centuries had their first grounding in imperial history from Henty's stories and novels. The books, which had titles like With Wolfe in Canada, With Clive in India, A Roving Commission or Through the Black Insurrection of Hayti, and The Young Colonists: A Tale of the Zulu and Boer Wars offered British (and other) readers a chance to experience vicariously the conquering and securing of the British Empire throughout the world, with frequent reminders about white British superiority. One of the key reasons for Henty's success is that, unlike a traditional history book or even many historical novels, his stories used a young white British boy (there were a couple of exceptions, where a girl character was center stage) to focalize the history. When Henty used a title such as With Wolfe in Canada, he addressed both his main character (in this case, teenaged doctor's son from Sidmouth, James Walsham) and his potential reader as being with Wolfe; essentially, Henty was urging the reader to go along on the journey.
Any readers choosing to do so were rewarded by "introductions" to famous figures in history. In With Wolfe, for example, not only does James interact with those involved in the battle over Quebec in Canada, he also meets General George Washington, the future first president of the United States:
James resolved, at once, that he would speak to Colonel Washington, and ask him if he could join the Virginian militia. He accordingly went up to him, and touched his hat.
"If you please, sir, I am anxious to join the Virginian militia, and, as they tell me that you are adjutant general, I have come to ask you if I can do so."
"I see no difficulty in it, my lad," the colonel said; "but if you have run away from home, in search of adventure, I should advise you to go back again, for we are likely to have heavy work." (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17766/17766-h/17766-h.htm)
James manages to convince Washington that he is not a mere adventurer, and the general calls him a "lad of spirit" and organizes his entry in this militia, recommending he go to the stores for "a brace of pistols and a sword, a blanket, and cooking pot". James, and the reader, are riding by Washington's side when the battle begins.
Henty's style of writing invites identification with the young protagonist, rewards that identification through equality of status with "history heroes" like George Washington, and then enforces the values—including white privilege and white supremacy—of empire through use of language by, about and for non-British, non-white subjects and characters in the books. In With Wolfe, Washington discusses the Indian tribes as savage, in more ways than one: "The Indians will pounce upon a village or solitary farm house, murder and scalp the inhabitants, burn the buildings to the ground, and in an hour be far away beyond reach of pursuit," he says, and Henty describes them elsewhere in the book as "swarming"—a word which suggests animal, rather than human behavior. These are just a couple of examples, and With Wolfe is not the most racist of Henty's novels; his description of Black people, whether slaves or insurrectionists or rebel fighters, are far worse. British empire history and racism go hand in hand in the 19th century boys' adventure novel.
I mention all this because I have recently been reading historical novelist Catherine Johnson's Blade and Bone (Walker 2016), a sequel to her 2013 Sawbones (also published by Walker). I had a brief moment of déja vu at the beginning of Blade and Bone when the main character, Ezra McAdam, finds himself in Revolutionary-era France. Sixteen-year-old surgeon's apprentice Ezra is performing an amputation on an infantryman when a historical figure enters Ezra's makeshift operating theatre: "Lieutenant Colonel Dumas, the head of the American regiment" (10). Like Washington did in Henty's novel, Dumas praises Ezra's skill, gives him guns, and invites him to stay with the regiment. The respect Dumas accords a mere boy is not depicted as surprising in any way, because the reader has already been encouraged to identify with Ezra, the character through whom the novel is focalized. In this way, Johnson's novel is a 21st century version of 19th century Boys' Adventure stories such as those written by Henty.
However, while Johnson may be writing boys' adventure, she is not writing the novel of empire. In fact, in many ways, Johnson's novels act as anti-Empire narratives. Ezra is not, like James Walsham, a born-and-bred white British lad but a former mixed race West Indian slave. Unlike slaves and former slaves in Henty's novels, Ezra is not an escaped slave turned rebel (or, "insurrectionist" in Henty's terms) nor is he brought to England as a servant or page boy. Instead, he is taught to use his brains and his hands to become a surgeon, nearly equaling the skill of his employer, William McAdam, by the time of the surgeon's death. Dumas, too, is the mixed race son of an enslaved mother and a white father who did not remain in slavery but was educated in France, becoming the first Black person in the French army to be made a brigadier general. Both the fictional Ezra and the historical Dumas defy their imperially-designated roles in life, but while both are remarkable, neither is shown by Johnson to be so remarkable that readers could not aspire to similar greatness.
Additionally, Johnson writes Ezra as a British character who neither likes nor approves of the idea of Empire; in so doing, she reminds us that although Ezra may have been of the minority opinion, he was not alone and surrounded by the flag-waving British imperialists of Henty's novels. For Ezra, Empire and slavery are inextricably linked throughout the world; in Sawbones he tells the son of a Turkish sultan, "No one man should belong to another. No man should have that power. That is wrong . . . My life has been thrown into chaos because of your stupid empire" (189). And in Blade and Bone Ezra writes to his friend Loveday Finch that "I think it a sign of Great Advancement for any people to want to Govern themselves without the Intercedence of any Kings or Lords or Suchlike" (7). Ezra is an anti-monarchist, and in favor of the principles of the Revolution (though not, as he later finds, the methods of it); but he is not anti-British. At the end of the novel, he wants to go home—and home means London. Johnson's novels, like Henty's, take the reader through British history by creating a young, highly skilled British character who meets up with famous figures and has a hand in affecting history. But unlike Henty, Johnson takes readers with her through different kinds of histories, and makes room in the past for Black Britons and anti-imperialists.


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- Michelle Dawn Mooney
Atlantic City man arrested with loaded gun in stolen car, police say
An Atlantic City man was arrested with a loaded gun in a stolen car, police said. Officers Michael Peters and James Andros IV saw a Dodge Caravan that had been reported stolen Saturday, when the owner thought he was turning it over to a valet at the Wyndham Hotel, according to the report. The man then sped off. While driving in the area of Tennessee and Atlantic avenues at about 7 a.m. Sunday, the officers recognized the minivan, and pulled it over, Sgt. Kevin Fair said. They arrested the driver, Steven Jacobs, 35. The officers also found a loaded handgun on the floorboard of Jacobs' seat, Fair said. He is charged with unlawful possession of a weapon and theft of movable property. He was taken to the Atlantic County Justice Facility.
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Spring is the time for turning the soil, putting into action the dream plans made during the winter days of hebernation.
The time when sunshine warms the air and little green sprigs start to burst through the soil to greet the gardener and her many plans for the season.
Here at Sage Hill Farms there is always one more tiny bit of space to be cultivated, one more spot that needs that special touch, one more idea for an herbal tisane or recipe that is just pleading to be tried.
If one is at all tuned into the happenings and the status of the world around us, we have to know the link that is missing for many is simply " a connection to something greater than self." What better place to find that connection than in the garden…be it a large sprawling design and function, or a small space on a patio or porch that holds life and beauty from the soil.
One tiny plant from one tiny seed can bless us with many cups of warm and soothing tea or tisane.
Many hours of restful reflection on planting, caring, and harvesting our own creation.
Many meaningful conversations with a good friend or a total stranger of the why's, and how to's of our display…our garden…our herb garden.
Oh…and by the way, don't forget to name your garden, give it that special recognition, it in turn will do the same for you.
My favorite herb during the early days of spring is the romantic Thyme.
Kipling wrote, " wind-bit thyme that smells of dawn in Paradise."
Thyme makes a delicious tasting and wonderfully medicinal tea for spring troubles such as: colds and allergies.
The delicate clove-like flavor of thyme complements almost any food, making it a perfect tea for meal time.
Thyme is very antiseptic and a great digestive aid.
A pot of Thyme Tea…
4 cups of boiling water
4 teaspoons of dried thyme leave (or) a handful of fresh sprigs.
Lemon, honey or stevia to taste.
Place thyme in the boiling water, cover and steep for 5 to 7 minutes…longer if you prefer it stronger.
Pour and add you speciality…
I trust you will have a beautiful experience in your own garden space this spring…and do share.
Bea Kunz
Sage Hill Farms