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Statement by Kenneth S. Apfel,
Commissioner of Social Security
before the House Ways and Means Committee
Subcommittees on Social Security and Human Resources
March 12, 1998
Chairman Bunning, Chairman Shaw, and Members of the Subcommittees:
Thank you for your invitation to testify today concerning the challenges facing the Social Security Administration (SSA).
Today I would like to discuss SSA's stewardship as an independent agency in the Executive Branch of the public trust and of the programs which touch the lives of so many people. While I have been Commissioner for only five months, I have been very impressed with the commitment of SSA's employees and with how much has been accomplished in such a short time. We are now approaching the end of our third year as an independent agency, and we are justifiably proud of the accomplishments of our 65,000 employees (and the 15,000 State employees who carry out our programs in the State DDSs). Social Security is a fundamental part of American society, and every month, as it has for almost 60 years, we make accurate and timely payments to more than 48 million Americans.
On September 29, 1997, the day I was sworn in as Commissioner, I shared with all SSA employees the five areas that I see as the agency's immediate priorities and which I plan to focus on during my tenure: Addressing the long-term solvency of the program; Assuring program integrity; Providing responsive service and guaranteeing equity for all claimants and beneficiaries; Strengthening our long-range planning; and Improving our policy making process. Today I will discuss what we have done and plan to do to meet each of these challenges, but I would first like to begin with a brief discussion of SSA's status as an independent Agency.
SSA as an Independent Agency in the Executive Branch
When the President and Congress enacted legislation establishing SSA as an independent agency, one of the primary goals stated for doing so was to provide the agency with stable leadership. Congress was concerned by a high rate of turnover and the resulting instability that characterized SSA's top management in the years before SSA became independent. I am deeply honored to be the first confirmed Commissioner since enactment of that legislation to provide the sustained leadership that the Congress expects and the agency needs.
But what other advantages have flowed from this momentous legislation? Independent agency status has given SSA greater visibility throughout government as a whole and within the executive branch in particular. As Commissioner of Social Security, I consult directly with the President, Vice President, and other Cabinet officers, and issues related to Social Security are raised to the level of importance that they deserve. I attend Cabinet meetings, serve with the President's senior advisors on the Domestic Policy Council (DPC), and actively participate in the National Economic Council (NEC). In addition, I serve as a member of the President's Management Council. The independent agency legislation also provides that I serve as a member ofboth the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees.
As you know, the DPC oversees development and implementation of the President's domestic policy initiatives and ensures coordination and communication among the heads of relevant Federal offices and agencies. The NEC coordinates the economic policy making process and provides economic policy advice to the President. The President's Management Council considers management issues that affect all executive branch agencies. My presence on these advisory bodies helps to assure that economic, policy and management issues that could affect Social Security are carefully considered within the Administration. In addition, SSA now works directly with OMB on budget and policy issues. The Commissioner's annual budget for SSA is submitted by the President to the Congress without revision, together with the President's annual budget for SSA.
But the independent agency legislation strengthened the agency in other ways. For example, the legislation called on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to provide SSA with a substantially greater number of slots in the Senior Executive Service (SES) than it had prior to its independence. I am pleased to report that the OPM has granted SSA an additional 34 SES positions, an increase of nearly 40 percent over the number that were available prior to independence.
The legislation that established SSA as an independent agency mandated the creation of a seven-member Advisory Board to make recommendations on policies and regulations relating to SSA's major programs. We are extremely fortunate to have the guidance of the Advisory Board, and I am pleased that SSA and the Board have established a cooperative and productive relationship. Reports issued by the Advisory Board concerning the need for an improved policy process, expanding our research efforts, and promoting public understanding ofthe programs have been valuable tools to improve our efforts in these areas.
SSA has also gained significantly by having its own Office ofthe Inspector General (IG). Our IG is extremely important in SSA's efforts to control program fraud and abuse. The IG's mission is to protect the integrity of SSA's programs. To strengthen its capacity to achieve this mission, SSA has significantly increased the resources available to the IG. When SSA was first established as an independent agency in March 1995, the IG's Office was relatively small. Since then, however, SSA has moved aggressively each year to increase the staff available to the IG. If the Congress approves the request made for the IG in the President's FY 1999 budget, the staff of SSA's IG will have increased 80 percent since 1995.
Social Security is inextricably linked with other executive branch agencies. It interacts with other agencies in the executive branch daily. The Treasury Department, the Office of Personnel Management, the Justice Department--all play an important role in assisting SSA in doing its business. Similarly, SSA assists other agencies in performing their duties. For example, SSA works with the Department of Health and Human Services in administering the Medicare program.
Addressing the Long-Term Solvency of the Program
I would now like to turn to a discussion of the first of the five priorities that I believe face SSA today. The long-term solvency ofthe Social Security system is the most urgent ofour immediate priorities. As you know, President Clinton in his State ofthe Union address called for a national dialogue during the coming year to engage all Americans on this critically important issue. As an agency, we have a responsibility to make sure that information is available for people to understand the essentials of the program as we examine how best to strengthen Social Security for the future.
As President Clinton announced in his State of the Union message, we should not commit the projected budget surpluses for any other use until we have taken all necessary measures to strengthen the Social Security system. The President's message was simple and very clear: Save Social Security first.
The next step is to engage in a major national dialogue. President Clinton has called on the American Association of Retired Persons and the Concord Coalition to jointly hold a senes of nonpartisan regional forums throughout the country on Social Security. The President, the Vice President, and members ofthe Cabinet will participate in these forums, as well as events organi zed by the Pew Charitable Trust. These forums and events will bring together a diverse group of experts and members ofthe public who share a concern about Social Security and will foster an open discussion about the challenges and options to consider.
The forums and events will give participants an opportunity to express their views and give the President and Congress a chance to hear those views. The first forum will be in Kansas City, Missouri, on April 7, and the first interactive video teleconference sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trust will be on March 21. The March 21 conference will link people in 10 cities and allow about 100 people to participate in each city. The Pew Charitable Trust plans to hold five additional meetings in April and May.
The President is encouraging all Americans to attend a Social Security conference or forum--or to organize or host one if there are not any planned nearby. We need the views of all Americans on this issue.
By the end of the year, the President will host a bipartisan White House conference on Social Security as a culmination of these events. This conference will be followed by bipartisan negotiations with the congressional leadership on how best to accomplish reform; to achieve, as President Clinton has said , " a landmark for our generation--a Social Security system that is strong in the 21st century."
During my first months as Commissioner, I have taken personally the President's call to ensure Social Security's solvency and enhance the public's understanding ofour programs. I have been traveling around the country, speaking to senior citizens and college students and ages in between, to encourage people to think about Social Security and its history and how we can prepare the program to meet the challenges of a retiring baby boom population.
SSA's public information outreach activities include an ongoing effort to educate the public about the need to save and plan for retirement. Our public education campaign is focused on ensuring that Americans have a clear understanding of the Social Security program of today so they can help shape the Social Security program of tomorrow. Our efforts in this area are consistent with the approach recommended by the Advisory Board in its recent report, "Increasing Public Understanding of Social Security." We recognize that we have a responsibility to increase the public's knowledge about our programs and to clearly communicate the benefits we provide, and we appreciate the Advisory Board's support of our efforts.
What do I want all Americans to understand about the program? I want all Americans to understand what Social Security has meant to older Americans. The plight of older Americans was once a disgrace. Now, Social Security provides them with an assured measure of economic security. It also provides many of them. and their children, the advantages that only living independently can offer.
I want all Americans to know that Social Security is more than a retirement program. I want younger people to know that not only will Social Security be there for them in the future, it is there for them NOW. How many people know that lout of every 3 Social Security beneficiaries is not a retiree but a disabled worker, or a member of his or her family, or a survivor of a worker who has died? They need to know that.
I want all Americans to know that Social Security was never intended to provide for all of a worker's retirement income needs. Pensions and personal savings have always been and should be part of :1 sound financial retirement plan.
I want all Americans to understand that the changing demographics ofthe country are the primary driver of the need for change. There is an unalterable dynamic at work: by 2030, there will be nearly twice as many older Americans as there are today, putting great strains on our retirement system.
I want all Americans to understand the economic facts about Social Security. Beginning in 2012, non-interest income will be insufficient to cover benefit payments. Beginning in 2019, the trust funds will start declining and, if no changes are made to the current program, will be exhausted by 2029. After the trust funds are exhausted, annual revenues will cover three-quarters of current-law benefits.
Finally, I want all Americans to understand one important fact: any option for change, however attractive, will require tradeoffs. Strengthening the Social Security system involves complex issues, and the advantages and disadvantages of each option for change will have to be discussed and examined.
As we begin this dialogue, we would do well to question whether changes to the program preserve and protect these important accomplishments: whether Social Security continues to be a benefit people can count on; whether the elderly, disabled, and survivors of workers are protected from financial hardship; whether the program is efficient; whether the program is universal and fair; and whether the program is maintained as a public trust. The dialogue about how we ensure the solvency of Social Security in the 21st century will need to include these critically important questions.
Assuring Program Integrity
The second immediate priority facing the Social Security Administration is ensuring the integrity ofour programs. The public rightfully expects us to be vigilant stewards oftheir tax dollars. So I want to be clear that SSA must continue to improve the administration of its programs while continuing to have zero tolerance for fraud. The following are some areas where we are moving to improve the administration of the programs entrusted to us.
SSI High Risk
SSA is committed to improving the management of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. The SSI program is demanding and complex, and we recognize that within some areas of the program we need to do better. We are evaluating ways in which we can simplify program administration, but one thing is clear: While there are some things we can do now to improve our performance. other changes will require a long-range, sustained effort. The Agency is committed to meeting this challenge.
As you know, the SSI program has been designated by the General Accounting Office as being at "high risk." The reason cited by GAO for this designation was that about $1 billion in overpayments were made to SSI recipients in fiscal year (FY) 1996. Overpayments occur in the SSI program for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they occur because SSA does not have complete information regarding income and resources or because the information required for the determination of eligibility can only be estimated, as in the case of wages or other income that is anticipated to be earned or received in the future. In other cases it is because the beneficiary fails to understand the necessity of reporting a change that may affect eligibility. And sometimes they occur as a result of fraud.
Some of the overpayments are recovered through deductions from subsequent SSI payments. Given the diversity of reasons that overpayments occur, SSA is developing a comprehensive plan which will strengthen the management of the program and substantially reduce the overpayments made to SSI recipients. There are several dimensions to this plan. They are: to enhance the accuracy of payment determinations; fraud prevention; and developing a more robust SSI debt collection process.
First let me discuss plans to improve the accuracy of payment determinations.
One of SSA's primary goals is timely and accurate verification of financial eligibility. Expansion of data exchanges and increasing their frequency are critical elements for improving financial eligibility verificati on. Within a year, we will expand nationwide our current computer matching pilots to detect earnings and nursing home admissions ofSSI recipients.
SSA is vigorously working to prevent overpayments before they occur by increasing the number of redeterminations ofSSI eligibility SSA conducts. To accomplish this, the President's FY 1999 budget request includes $50 million in new funding to increase the number of nondisability redeterminations of eligibility. If Congress provides these funds, they will allow SSA to increase our FY 1999 reviews of SSI cases from an estimated 1.8 million to 2.1 million. The increaseof '268,000 redctenninations ofeligibility would result in a projected net program savings of $223 million over a 7-year period.
Return to Work
The President's FY 1998 and 1999 budgets both contained a proposal for a "Ticket to Independence," a customer-driven approach for helping our beneficiaries with disabilities obtain the services they need to return to work. As you know. Chairman Bunning and Representative Kennelly have developed legislation in this area, and I would like to thank them for their efforts on this important issue. We are particularly pleased that many elements of the President's proposal are contained in the bill that was introduced yesterday. We look forward to working with thisCommittee on this important issue in the months ahead. I am hopeful that, during this session, Congress will pass legislation needed to help Americans with disabilities participate in the workforce.
Another way in which we ensure the integrity of the SSI program as well as the DI trust funds, is through continuing disability reviews (CDRs). During FY 1996, SSA processed roughly half a million periodic CDRs, with estimated lifetime savings (including Medicare and Medicaid) of nearly $2.5 billion. Under President Clinton's leadership, SSA has processed more CDRs more cost-effectively than ever before. During FY 1997, we processed over 690,000 periodic CDRs, a 38 percent increase over 1996. In FY 1998, we expect to process over 1.2 million periodic CDRs, more than double number of CDRs in 1996. Our improved profiling/mailer process provides a high level of confidence in both our ability to achieve our estimated workload targets and in the accuracy and reliability of the decision resulting from our case reviews.
Our achievements in proce ssing CDRs over the last two years demonstrate Congress' and the Administration's commitment to addressing this crucial workload. and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Subcommittees for their invaluable assistance in making the required additional resources available to us. Discretionary cap adjustments for additional funds have been authorized to enable SSA to become current in the processing of title II CDRs by FY 2000 and title XVI CDRs by 2002, and to stay current in tbe future. We are proud of our recent accomplishments and are confident that our CDR strategy will lead to reliable and cost-effective monitoring of the disability rolls.
Debt Collection
A robust debt collection system is an essential element in strengthening the integrity of the SSI and Social Security programs. SSA has a long-standing commitment to debt management and we are continually engaged in projects that improve our performance.
In 1997 alone, SSA collected $1.7 billion in debts owed to it. Of that total, $1.2 billion was returned to the Social Security Trust Funds while about $437 million in recovered SSI overpayments were returned to the Treasury's general fund.
SSA recovers more than 80 percent of the Social Security debt that it is owed when an individual remains on the benefit rolls, but is unable to match that performance when an individual leaves the benefit rolls. To enable SSA to strengthen SSI debt collections, the President's budget includes a provision that will help. This provision would authorize SSA to collect SSI overpayments from an individual's OASDI benefits. Nearly half of all uncollected SSI overpayments were paid to people currently receiving OASDI benefits. Although SSA currently may recoup SSI overpayments from current SSI benefits or recoup OASDI overpayments from OASDI benefits, SSA does not have the authority to collect an SSI overpayment from OASDI benefits in the absence of the beneficiary's express permission. This provision will significantly strengthen SSA's ability to recover SSI overpayments, and I would like to take this opportunity to request the assistance of all members of these Subcommittees to provide SSA with this important tool.
I want to make it clear, however, that the nature of SSI as a needs-based program must be taken into account in resolving any overpayment.
There is, as you know, a provision in SSI law which allows for waiver of overpayments. Generally, an overpayment will be waived when SSA determines that an individual was "without fault" in causing the overpayment and needs substantially all of his or her current income for ordinary and necessary living expenses. When waiver is appropriate and it has been requested, we will waive collection.
Now I would like to turn to measures we have developed to deter fraud.
Anti-Fraud Initiatives
As I mentioned earlier in my testimony, we have taken steps since SSA became indepenneut to strengthen the IG. A strong IG, working together with SSA's employees in local offices, is the most effective means we have to control fraud and abuse in the programs we administer. The efforts of the IG, with the help of referrals from SSA staff, have paid off in terms of both monetary savings and improved program integrity.
The IG's Office of Investigations in FY 1997 recovered over $64 million in fines, judgments, and restitutions. Because the integrity of the Social Security number (SSN) is important to SSA's mission, the IG also vigorously pursues investigations of Social Security number (SSN) misuse, even though most of these allegations do not equate to immediate savings to programs administered by SSA.
In response to concerns raised by staff in SSA field offices along the U.S. border, SSA's IG implemented its Southwest Tactical Operations Plan (STOP) with a pilot in EI Paso, Texas. The purpose Of the pilot was to determine if individuals were fraudulently receiving SSI payments while living outside the United States.
The IG's efforts under the STOP pilot have been very successfuL IG investigations have resulted in the suspension of benefits to about one-quarter of the individuals investigated. The projected 5-year savings stemming from these investigations is estimated to be about $2.9 million. As a result of the success of this pilot, we are extending it to all border areas in the U.S.
Another area of vulnerability of the SSI program to fraud lies in claims taken from individuals who do not speak English. It has often been a common practice that such applications would be taken through the assistance of a "middleman" who would assist the individual in his or her dealings with the Government. However, cases came to our anention where the middlemen, who would serve as interpreters, were providing SSA with misleading or incomplete information.
SSA acted to reduce the SSI program's exposure to fraud of this type. We worked with the leadership of foreign language communities to promote trust and to help change some immigrants' belief that they need the services of a "middleman" when they conducted business with the Government. In addition, we increased substantially the number of employees in local offices who were bilingual to serve as interpreters in cases involving individuals who do not speak English . These measures have been highly successful in bolstering the accuracy of the information SSA has about claimants who do not speak English and has reduced the SSI program's vulnerability to this type of fraud.
Although we have been making significant strides in addressing fraud in the operations and programs of Social Security, we realize that there is a lot more to be done. Accordingly. SSA has established a National Anti-Fraud Committee. comprised ofSSA's executive leadership, to oversee the implementation and coordination ofSSA's national strategies to eliminate fraud . The National Anti-Fraud Committee is supported by ten regional committees compri sed of regional executives who have the primary duty to oversee local policies and strategies to effectively combat, detect, and investigate potential fraud involving Social Security programs and employees. In addition. the Comminee began hosting annual conferences in 1996 to focus attention on fraud and to provide an open forum for discussing issues, concerns, and solutions.
Systems Security
I want to make clear how important I believe it is that we maintain the confidentiality of the information in SSA's systems. Nothing is more important in operating our programs than ensuring that the public has confidence in us that the information placed in our trust is secure. We are constantly reevaluating and, when necessary, upgrading the security features necessary to provide that confidence.
This means that, using comprehensive systems controls, we carefully restrict data access within SSA to its intended use. Our employees are continuously reminded of their responsibilities to safeguard personal data and their use of SSA's data files, all of which contain sensitive personal information about the people we serve, and are carefully monitored to prevent any misuse.
Under SSA's access authorization process, only persons with a "need to know" in order to perform a particular job function are authorized to access SSA's data files. This process not only authorizes access, it also determines what a person can do once access is authorized. Additionally, persons who are approved for access are assigned a personal identification number and password by SSA security personnel. Once access to the system is authorized. the security software contro ls what the employee is allowed to do. Finally. SSA audits and monitors the actions individual employees take when using our systems.
SSA's response to the findings ofa recent IG contract audit performed by Price Waterhouse reflects our commitment to continuous improvement. While I am pleased to report that the audit concluded that SSA's system of accounting and internal controls were in compliance with the internal control objectives issued by the Office of Management and Budget. the auditors identified five reportable conditions that needed management attention. We are moving ahead in these areas, and to date have resolved two of the five areas. and plan to resolve the remaining three as soon as possible.
Year 2000
I do not want to leave the subject of systems without a discussion of our Year 2000 efforts. Preparing for the year 2000 is unquestionably the biggest challenge the information technology industry has ever faced. In SSA, our national data center runs hundreds of systems that are supported by over 33 million lines of in-house computer code, as well as hundreds of vendor products. When SSA opens for business on January 3, 2000, everything that's operating in our data center to support SSA's business operations will have undergone Year 2000 renovation and testing.
We began to develop a strategy as early as 1989 to make sure that the payments we make to more than 48 million beneficiaries will not be in jeopardy. As ofJanuary 31, 1998, 88 percent of SSA's mission critical systems slated to be repaired are already Year 2000 compliant, and we expect to complete our work and test these changes by this December--a full year ahead of the deadline.
As you know, SSA relies extensively on data exchanges with other agencies, States, and employers to administer its programs. To assure continuity of administration, we must also make sure that Year 2000 problems do not impede our ability to conduct these data exchanges. We have been in contact with all of our data-trading partners regarding the format and schedule for making these data exchanges Year 2000 compliant and are working to implement them as well. Thus far, half are completed and we are working to implement the remaining half by this December.
In addition, SSA has assumed a large role in overseeing and managing the renovation of the systems used by the State Disability Determination Services (DDS). As of January 31, 1998, twelve DDS systems have been renovated, tested. and certified as being Year 2000 compliant. We expect that all of the DDSs will be compliant by the end of this year.
SSA is justifiably proud of its leadership among Government agencies in converting its massive computer systems to recognize a four-digit date at the turn of the century. SSA's achievements in this area have been rated as the best in Government, both by the Office of Management and Budget and the Congress.
Guaranteeing Equity for All Beneficiaries and Claimants
Another of the immediate priorities challenging SSA is providing responsive service and quaranteeing equity for all beneficiaries and claimants, including children.
SSI Children
When I became Commissioner last year, one of the first challenges I faced was to ensure that the new childhood disability standard established by Congress had been implemented fairly and accurately. So let me now tum to a discussion of that issue.
Over the past quarter century, SSI has helped families of children with disabilities meet their special needs. The SSI program has come to represent an important safety net to some of our most vulnerable families. That is why during my confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, I made a commitment to conduct a "top-to-bottom" review of the implementation of the changes to the SSI childhood disability program brought about by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconc iliation Act of 1996. I believed that this review was needed because of public concern with the implementation of the new law. I believed that the Congress, the President and the American people deserved to know whether the law and the regulations were being applied fairly.
The review showed that overall the Social Security Administration's (SSA's) and the State Disability Determination Services, which make disability determinations for the agency, have done a good job of implementing the review of the cases ofthose children who were affected by the changes in the law. Of the approximately one million children receiving SSI benefits based on disability, about 288,000 were subject to redetermination under the new law, and most of these cases were handled properly. However, the review also found some inconsistencies in the application of the rules and in compliance with SSA instructions. Where specific problems have been identified, I have directed that the agency take corrective actions. And, because of my concern for the welfare of children, a concern I know we all share, SSA is taking steps above and beyond normal actions to ensure that every child receives a fair assessment of his or her eligibility for benefits.
The review identified three specific areas of concern: processing of cases classified in SSA's records as having mental retardation; the quality of case processing in certain areas; and the adequacy ofthe information SSA was providing beneficiaries on their rights to appeal a cessation determination and to request that benefits be continued through the appellate decision.
When SSA published its interim childhood disability regulations in February 1997, we estimated that, of the approximately one million children receiving benefits, 135,000 would eventually be determined ineligible for SSI benefits after all appeals. Now that the redeterminations are mostly completed, and in view of the actions dictated by the findings of the review, the estimate has been revised downward to about 100,000 children who will lose eligibility after all appeals.
I am pleased to report that on February 18, 1998, we sent over 70,000 notices to families of children determined ineligible who may not have understood their rights to appeal the decision to terminate their benefits. Additionally, on March 10, we completed training for essentially all of our 15,000 adjudicators, including administrative law judges (ALJ), on childhood issues, such as mental retardation and evaluation of maladaptive behaviors, that were problematic in adjudicating these claims. This training was held in preparation for the completion of the rereviews. We expect to have the initial reviews completed by the end of this fiscal year. Where continuance accuracy was found to be below threshold, we will give childhood disability cases priority review.
Disability Redesign
Providing responsive service means that we administer our programs as efficiently as possible, and one of our projects for achieving this goal is our redesign of the disability process. I am concerned that it has taken SSA so long to accomplish this initiative and I expect to be making some decisions to implement certain aspects of disability redesign nationally in the near future.
I would like to mention three major components of disability redesign: process unification; an integrated disability computer system; and modifications to the disability claims process.
Our goal is to achieve similar results on similar cases at all stages of the process, through consistent application of laws, regulations, and rulings with minimal or no impact on program costs. I know that this subcommittee has long been interested in differences in adjudicative outcomes between our state adjudicators and the ALJs. In order to reduce these differences, we needed to minimize those factors, within our control, which contribute to the variance in allowance rates between the DDSs and the ALJs.
So far, we have seen an increase in initial and reconsideration allowance rates from fiscal year 1995 to fiscal year 1997, and a corresponding decrease in allowance rates at the hearing level. The ALl allowance rate has decreased from about 65 percent in 1995 to 54.5 percent in 1997. At the same time, our quality remains high.
Based on our preliminary analysis, we appear to be making more correct decisions earlier in the process, serving our customers better, and cutting administrative costs without increasing program costs. Ifon further analysis, these conclusions hold up, we will be continuing our current activities in this area, as well as beginning new activities.
An important element of redesign is automating the initial claims process and integrating the 54 state DDS systems with each other and with the Federal system. The Redesigned Disability System (RDS) is envisioned to accomplish this goal.
Although we are currently testing an early release of RDS in Virginia and the Federal DDS, the software has not performed as we anticipated it would. Therefore, I have determined that the RDS be independently evaluated, and have ordered that a contract be awarded for this purpose. The contractor will conduct an evaluation and provide recommended options for how we might proceed. We are discussing this issue with the DDSs and the regions to ensure that the contractor addresses all of their concerns in its evaluation. I am looking forward to awarding this contract soon. It is important to remember that SSA and its partners in the States share a common goal in providing the best system affordable for processing disability claims. We all support this goal and are working together toward its achievement.
The third major component ofredesign, modifications to the disability claims process to improve customer service and eliminate hand-offs, is now proceeding on a number of fronts. We are piloting many different variations of these modifications both singularly, and in combination in several States. These pilots will yield significant data on which I will base my decisions.
As a final note on this subject, I want to reemphasize the importance I have placed on pushing forward with the redesign activities. Although we do not expect the final product to be exactly the same as envisioned in the original plan, we do expect to build a process which will improve the level of service we provide to claimants with disabilities from their initial contact with SSA through final administrative appeal.
One of the more immediate challenges facing SSA is implementation of the EFT99 provision of the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996. This provision requires all Federal payments, with the exception of tax refunds, to be made electronically by January 1, 1999. This will affect how benefits are delivered to more than 10,000,000 recipients ofSSA benefits each month. SSA is working closely with the Treasury Department to identify reasonable and low cost methods of delivering benefits to the large portion ofSSA check recipients who are unbanked. Working with Treasury, we are looking at a broad range of approaches to meeting this mandate, including increased use of direct deposit, low-cost electronic transfer accounts (ETA), electronic benefits transfer (EBT), and broad-based waivers for recipients for whom compliance with EFT99 would represent a hardship.
800 Number Service
In fiscal year 1997, the Social Security Administration served over 55 million individuals who called our 800 number, making it one of the largest toll-free service systems in the world. 1am proud ofSSA's achievements in providing prompt, accurate, and courteous service to the many Americans who use this service annually. It is especially gratifying that SSA's achievements in this area were recognized in 1995 by Dalbar Associates, an independent auditing agency, which rated SSA's toll-free telephone service as one of the best--compared to a number of private sector companies renowned for customer service.
Our commitment to providing world-class service is to achieve customer accessibility to SSA's 800 number as well as to provide accurate and courteous service. I am pleased to report that SSA's 800 number service met our fiscal year 1997 agency performance objective. That objective, which remains in place for FY 1998, is that 95 percent of the calling public will successfully access the 800 number within 5 minutes of their first attempt. In addition, the courtesy of SSA's 800 number representatives was rated high--at 98 percent--by the calling public. Response accuracy was maintained at 98 percent--that is, 98 percent of representative responses and transactions processed were free ofbeneficiary payment errors.
Using Technology
A key to our ability to manage our workloads now--and in the future--is to use technology extensively and imaginatively. The FY 1999 budget request supports our efforts to manage and expand our use of technology. At the time SSA became an independent agency, one of our first tasks was the implementation and distribution of Intelligent Workstation/Local Area Network (IWS/LAN) equipment to approximately 55,000 employees.
IWS/LAN will support many of our agency's future needs. It provides the infrastructure that allows for the redesign of our claims processes. In addition, it is the foundation for on-line "help" systems and state of the an interactive training that ensures SSA employees provide timely and accurate information to our customers. We began installing IWS/LAN in late 1996, and as of February 1998, we have installed almost 30,000 workstations on almost 800 LANs. Over 27,500 employees have been trained to use this new technology and hundred s of SSA employees have been trained to provide technical assistance to other employees. By the second quarter of 1999, we expect to have this equipment installed in all our field offices and other operations serving the public.
We expect that the current level of IWS/LAN technology will save 2,300 workyears annually by FY 2000. In addition, the technology will facilitate additional business process improvements to further reduce costs and improve service. Moreover, IWS/LAN serves as the business platform from which we plan to develop and launch additional systems initiatives to achieve further efficiencies that will strengthen SSA's ability to handle the work associated with the retirement of the baby boom generation.
Strengthening Long-Range Planning
SSA has accomplished much over the last decade in developing and implementing the concepts of strategic management that the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) espouses. Our current strategic plan, Keeping the Promise, is the third plan our agency has produced, and has been recognized as one of the best plans in Government. Long recognizing that strategic planning does not end with the issuance of a plan, we also have established a system of strategic management that we continually have refined and improved over the years to help ensure that our strategic plans direct, and not merely reflect, the agency's priority-setting and decision-making process. And, as other government management reforms have been enacted, such as the Information Technology Management Reform Act, we have integrated these requirements into our agency strategic management system.
Another vehicle the agency uses to guide its planning is the Accountability Report. The Report presents financial, programmatic, and performance data to provide a comprehensive picture of how SSA uses its budgetary authority to maintain the public's trust. SSA was the first agency to issue an accountability report, and I am proud that SSA's strategic plan and accountability report have been given high marks by the Congress.
Over the next decade, SSA will face perhaps its greatest administrative challenge yet, handling the dramatic growth in workloads that will occur as the baby boomers reach their disabihty-proue years, and then retirement age. Although the time frame addressed by our current strategic plan is the next five years, through the year 2002, we need to stretch our strategic planning horizon much further out, to 2010 and beyond . We need to position the agency's resources and processes to accommodate these emerging workloads.
It will require that we think in a cohesive way about how we are going to look in 2010 and beyond, and what we should be doing now to work toward that vision. For example, what will be our future customer's service expectations and how will we meet them? How can we achieve the efficiencies needed to enable the agency to handle increasing workloads within the context of current budgetary resources?
At the same time that we must prepare for the retirement of the baby boom generation. SSA is planning to meet a retirement wave of its own employees. A January 1998 study showed that SSA faces a potentially significant loss of knowledge and experience over the next 5 years, when over 80 percent of all SSA employees Grade 13 and above will be eligible for optional and early retirement. This will present challenges but it will also provide opportunities.
To ensure that SSA remains a world class organization, we are aggressively planning for future leadership. We are working to provide the necessary tools and training to achieve a highly skilled, high-perfonning, and diverse workforce, one that will serve SSA's diverse customers in the 21st century. We will continue to provide ongoing training to all employees based on the needs and skills of those employees. In addition, we have assessed the strength of our management cadre and have undertaken new initiatives, including implementing national management career development programs from entry level to SES, the accelerated hiring of Presidential Management Interns, and the establishment of a revitalized competency-based management curriculum.
Improving Our Policy Making Process
Since becoming an independent agency, SSA has taken a number of steps to strengthen the research and policy development capability needed to respond to critical issues faced by its programs, and we will continue to pursue efforts to strengthen policy development at SSA in the years ahead. SSA's policy staff serves as an agency catalyst for innovative research and policy development, supplementing core staff with consultants, Intergovernmental Personnel Act assignments, contracts and grants.
SSA has pursued several means of building our research capacity. A streamlined, simplified mechanism was instituted at SSA last year that facilitates awarding contracts for research. Under this mechanism, four firms are under contract to SSA for a five-year period, making them available without having to award a specific contract for a single research project. Instead, these finn s conduct policy evaluation work through a much-expedited task order process.
Looking to the future, SSA plans to expand research on issues critical to Social Security, through a Retirement Research Consortium which should be in place by the end of FY 1998. This consortium will initially involve two university-based multi-disciplinary centers that, under contract with SSA, will plan and conduct a broad research program, facilitate data sharing for research, disseminate knowledge broadly, and provide training to SSA employees involved in research endeavors.
SSA's research budget allocation is nearly $49 million in FY 1998 (of which about $17 million is new money and the remainder carried over from previous years); the President's budget has requested $30 million for FY 1999. The major areas toward which our research will be targeted include solvency research (retirement policy research and disability growth), rehabilitation/return-to-work, and policy evaluation.
The Disability Evaluation Study (DES) is a national survey designed to understand recent growth in the disability programs, as well as potential future growth. By screening a nationally repr sentative sample of adults, including not only survey questions but also reviews of medical records and medical examinations, we will be able to estimate how many adults meet our definition of disability, regardless of income or work status, and better understand what enables indivi duals who are disabled to remain in the workforce. This research will help us design a better disability decision methodology, while understanding what impact any changes would have on people with disabilities.
Other initiatives include development of ways to provide for better interaction with the various stakeholders in the policy process and the development of policy integration initiatives to ensure that policy development is organized and consistent, not only within the agency, but also across the other Federal programs which serve the same populations. This process is also designed to ensure the integration of research with policy development. To facilitate the interaction among policy developers and policy users within SSA, groupware applications have been developed and are currently being tested. This technology will allow policy users to weigh in on policy proposals as they are being developed and will also facilitate the interpretation of policy instructions after policies are implemented.
Throughout its 60-year history, Social Security has made a difference in the lives of Americans, young and old. We have an obligation not only to strengthen the program's financial outlook in the 21st century, but to be responsible and careful stewards of our programs in the here and now. Ultimately, our efforts will be judged on whether we have protected and strengthened Social Security. As Commissioner, I accept this challenge. We have ambitious goals and we will do everything we can to achieve them. As we move SSA into the 21st century, I look forward to working closely with the members of this Committee in that spirit on this important endeavor.


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PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Jimmy Terry—whose more than a quarter-century of management experience includes recently serving as PGA Senior General Manager for PGA Tour Golf Course Properties at both TPC San Antonio and TPC Harding Park, in San Francisco—has been named the new General Manager at The PGA of America's flagship facility, PGA Village. He assumes his new role on June 1, 2013.
Terry, 52, will be responsible for managing all programs, sales, marketing and community relations plans to fulfill the mission and objectives of The PGA's only owned-and-operated golf resort destination. Located in Port St. Lucie, Fla., PGA Village encompasses 54 holes of championship golf designed by legends Tom Fazio and Pete Dye at PGA Golf Club; the 35-acre PGA Center for Golf Learning and Performance golf practice, instruction, fitness and technology park; the onsite PGA Museum of Golf, home to golf's four major Championship trophies; and the nearby private PGA Country Club.
While at TPC San Antonio, Terry oversaw a private resort that is the crown jewel of the $600 million JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa, which annually hosts the PGA Tour's Valero Texas Open and the ATT Championship on the Champions Tour. TPC San Antonio was also named by GOLF Magazine as one of its "Best New Golf Courses You Can Play for 2010," and on Golfweek's "2011 Best Courses You Can Play" list.
As well, TPC Harding Park is considered one of the top municipal courses in the country, with a breathtaking layout that has hosted The Presidents Cup, American Express Championship and several Charles Schwab Cup Championships.
"In order to launch an exciting and new era at PGA Village, we searched across the country for the most qualified person to lead our facility and elevate its stature in being recognized as one of the top golf destinations in America," said PGA President Ted Bishop. "We are absolutely delighted to welcome Jimmy Terry, who brings an award-winning track record of customer service, sales, marketing and revenue development in support of highly successful programs for resort, private and public facilities."
A former Officer and Board of Director for the Southern Texas PGA Section, Terry is a highly decorated PGA member, having been awarded the Section's 2004 Bill Strausbaugh, 1997 Horton Smith and 1995 Junior Golf Leader Awards. He is a two-time Section Merchandiser of the Year (1990, '93), who earned the 2012 TPC Network Platinum and the 2010 TPC Special Recognition Awards. Under his leadership, TPC San Antonio was recognized among America's Top 100 Golf Shops in 2010, '11 and '12 by Golf World.
"To serve as General Manager of my Association's own facility is a dream come true and an honor for me," said Terry. "As The PGA of America's flagship golf destination, PGA Village must serve as a source of pride for each and every PGA member and apprentice, while our club, staff and operations must be considered as the very pinnacle of our industry."
Previously, Terry served as PGA general manager and director of golf at: The Club at Waterford in Marble Falls, Texas (2005-'08); Falconhead Golf Club in Austin, Texas (2002-'04); The Club at Comanche Trace in Kerrville, Texas (2000-'02); and The TPC of Tampa Bay in Lutz, Fla. (1999-2000). Through these roles, Terry brings to PGA Village extensive and thorough experience in all aspects of golf operations and course construction management—from membership to budgeting to financial modeling to design planning.
A 1982 graduate of Tarelton State University in Stephenville, Texas, Terry holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration.
About PGA Village
The Ryder, Wanamaker, and Dye Courses form a trio of world-class courses at PGA Golf Club, at PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, Fla. PGA Village also features the award-winning, 35-acre PGA Center for Golf Learning and Performance and the PGA Museum of Golf. PGA Golf Club exists to be one of the premier public-access resort facilities in America, complete with a Private Members Club, and serves as the home club for our 27,000 men and women PGA Professionals. For more information, please visit pgavillage.com.
About The PGA of America
Since its founding in 1916, The PGA of America has maintained a twofold mission: to establish and elevate the standards of the profession and to grow interest and participation in the game of golf. By establishing and elevating the standards of the golf profession through world-class education, career services, marketing and research programs, The PGA enables its professionals to maximize their performance in their respective career paths and showcases them as experts in the game and in the multi-billion dollar golf industry. By creating and delivering world-class championships and innovative programs, The PGA of America elevates the public's interest in the game, the desire to play more golf, and ensures accessibility to the game for everyone, everywhere. As The PGA nears its centennial, the PGA brand represents the very best in golf.

subset: commoncrawl


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STAGE TUBE: Video Tribute to CINDERELLA's Laura Osnes!
The celebrated musical RODGERS + HAMMERSTEIN'S Cinderella, originally written for television in 1957 by the legendary musical theatre duo Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, will begin performances on Broadway tonight, January 25 at the Broadway Theatre (1681 Broadway at 53rd Street). To celebrate the show's first night of performances, BroadwayWorld tributes the fabulous leading lady with a compilation of our favorite Laura Osnes performances. Check them out below!
Directed by Mark Brokaw (CRY BABY, THE LYONS, HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE), this new production has music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a new book by four-time Tony nominee Douglas Carter Beane (XANADU, SISTER ACT, LYSISTRATA JONES, THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED), based on the original book by Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical has choreography by Josh Rhodes, and music adaptation, supervision and arrangements by David Chase. Opening Night is Sunday, March 3, 2013. Tickets to RODGERS + HAMMERSTEIN'S Cinderella are on sale now through Tele-charge and can be purchased by calling 212 239 6200 or online at www.telecharge.com.
RODGERS + HAMMERSTEIN'S Cinderella, one of their most popular titles, was written for television, debuting in 1957 starring Julie Andrews. Although stage adaptations have been performed worldwide since 1958, RODGERS + HAMMERSTEIN'S Cinderella, in fact, marks the Broadway premiere for the beloved romantic musical. Along with Cinderella, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's legendary musicals include OKLAHOMA!, CAROUSEL, THE KING AND I, SOUTH PACIFIC and THE SOUND OF MUSIC.


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Events, Music & Entertainment in NYC. Short and Sweet.
Lilith 2010 (Arista) The Lilith 2010 Tour compilation album, released by Arista, bottles up sixteen tracks by talented female artists who toured […]
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This map was created by KLM who provide flights to New York for those looking to discover the city.
© 2019 Short and Sweet NYC. All rights reserved.


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A good morning wish, for you my friend
May joy be yours, until day's end
With nothing but sunshine, no clouds at all
Until the evening shadows fall.
Receive this gift of salam
Rapped with love
Tied with care &
Sealed with dua
To keep u safe &
Happy on every day !!!
Good morning
Twinkle twinkle lazy star
kitna soyega uth ja yaar
up above the world so high
Sun has risen in the sky
uth ke jaldi pele chai
then call me & say hi
The sun is shining and
It is a lovely day
I was thinking of you
And just wanted to
Wish you a
Really right and beautiful day
Good Mornings
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The official Hungerford Town Football Club app
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Bulpit Lane HUNGERFORD West Berkshire RG17 0AY View with Google Maps
This website is part of the Pitchero Football network. Create your own free Football club website with Pitchero.
Digital advertising by Minute Media
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Pitch Hero Ltd Registered in ENGLAND | WF3 1DR | Company Number - 636 1033


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Am I completely out of my mind?
In my opinion, no. Will I qualify for any of the top tier schools with my lower gpa?
Do schools take into consideration the difficulty of my 2 undergrad degrees?
I have been taking practice LSATs and have been consistently scoring 170+. What kind of schools can I get into?
Thanks for the honest reply. Odd how with a 3.0 you can qualify for some of the top physics programs, but can't go any top tier law school. I suppose I can't do anything to make myself a better candidate?
Yes, I am aware that I am a candidate for IP law. Many of my friends who were engineers did this, but unfortunately I was looking into international law. Do you think that perhaps a masters degree in Public Policy with a high GPA would make me a better candidate?


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Security, Cloud & Collaboration Enable Federal Agencies BYOD Success
We know you were in much anticipation for this week's Public Sector BYOD Thursday post…drumroll please!
User expectations around using personal devices have evolved rapidly over the past few years, and the BYOD trend has been the result of users demanding to use personal devices and applications the way they want, when they want it on the device of their choosing.
Last week, I talked about the Pentagon's move toward BYOD. With the BYOD movement here to stay, government agencies are starting to jump on board.
As David Rosenbaum writes in a recent blog post for CFO, BYOD can increase worker productivity (by enabling telework, for example) and reduce capital expenses on technology. However, some CFOs may have reservations about BYOD, perceiving it as a threat to data security.
Rosenbaum declares that these fears are not unfounded, citing a Symantec study that found devices used for personal matters are exposed to more malware than devices used strictly for business purposes. This puts the burden of mobile security on the company because ultimately it is corporate data that is at risk.
Figuring out a place for storing company data is equally important as securing the mobile devices. Moving data and applications off of the desktop, laptop and mobile devices and storing it in the cloud is one solution that can help achieve necessary levels of data protection.
TechAmerica's 22nd annual survey of federal chief information officers defined the cloud as an enabler for easier data monitoring, quicker detection of problems, faster security fixes and better overall management. The survey's findings offer some great suggestions and resources federal agencies can use to guide an architectural adoption of BYOD and the transfer of data to the cloud.
Security and cloud aren't the only new and exciting applications that are opening doors for BYOD for federal agencies. Collaboration applications take BYOD one step further and gives users the ability to collaborate; when, where, and how they need to. For example, Cisco WebEx TelePresence can be used on a mobile device to deliver a quality "in-person" video experience from the cloud, offering unlimited calling and data sharing. This ability to have an in-person experience on any device from any location makes remote collaboration more effective.
What is your agency's approach to BYOD? Does it have the right supports in place to make BYOD a success? No matter the answer, you should consider collaboration as part of your strategy!
Don't miss next week's BYOD blog where I will talk about why a BYOD strategy is no longer an option but a necessity for governments.
*Cisco is also currently on the road talking about all things BYOD. Find out if it's coming to a city near you.
In an effort to keep conversations fresh, Cisco Blogs closes comments after 60 days. Please visit the Cisco Blogs hub page for the latest content.


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The most important thing is that, once hidden with this method, the files/folders cannot be viewed by any search options even if you click "Show All Hidden Files and Folders".
Hiding the most wanted files and folders is very important nowadays and it's really a tedious job too. In order to make this tedious job an easy one, i'm going to deliver you a the trick now.
For Example: You have a folder named "collegephotos" and this folder is stored in (Disk Drive E). You think that it should not be seen by strangers who use your PC.
For that you need to follow the following instructions
- Press windowkey+R: Run command dialog box appears.
- Now type "cmd" and hit enter. A command prompt window displays.
- Now type "attrib +s +h E:\collegephotos" and hit enter.
- The folder "collegephotos" will be hidden (Note: It cannot be viewed by any search options)
(To view this folder again, use the same command but replace '+' with '-' on both flags 's' and 'h')


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Subscribe to RSS Feed
Bench Scales
Bench scales is a generic term used for a wide range of weighing equipment that is suited to use on a workbench or table. The term bench scales can also be used to describe scales with capacities of up to 300Kg that may be positioned on the floor. Generally bench scales will have a maximum weighing area size of around 600 x 600mm, scales of this size that are fitted with a pillar / column (or swan neck) tend to have a height more accustomed to being placed on the floor, its important to check the height of the column and whether the indicator can swivel to a desirable angle.
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"Spoils of War" S5 E19
Pictured: Linda Hunt (Henrietta "Hetty" Lange). After learning that Special Agent Kensi Blye disappeared and the Taliban may be he holding her captive, Hetty sends the NCIS: LA team to Afghanistan on a rescue mission, on NCIS: LOS ANGELES, Tuesday, April 1 (9:00-10:01 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Photo: Screen Grab/CBS ©2014 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


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This presentation was by Richard Stauffer and the entire name of the presentation was "Tap into Billions of Historical Records and Family Tree Profiles with the MyHeritage Matching API. Of course, I couldn't miss this one. Just a brief review, an API is an Application Programming Interface. It is important to know about these, even if you are not a developer, because they are the ways that third-party programs can access the data in the host database, in this case, MyHeritage.com. This is one of a series of classes focusing on API issues. This is where the rubber hits the road so to speak in the world of large online genealogy database programs. The large companies can expand access to their records while at the same time controlling who and under what terms that access may be given.
Matching in MyHeritage.com is matches individuals in your family tree with individuals and the same individual in other family trees. Once a match has been confirmed by the user, the match can be added to your own family tree. The other matching technology is Record Matches where the search engine matches the user's individual with the millions of records already on the MyHeritage.com. There is also a confidence level displayed when a match is obtained.
In this case MyHeritage is seeking additional online partners from online database applications. This API allows developers to provide MyHeritage.com matches on their own website. In this case, the number of matches can be displayed on the website. MyHeritage uses JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) data-interchange format.
Most of this presentation dealt with the mechanics of how the API worked. It is interesting that this will work in any of the 40 languages supported by MyHeritage. This is essentially a way for third-party websites to benefit from the matching capabilities of the MyHeritage.com website while still keeping the third-party users within their own website.


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ACParadise Network: American Cosplay Paradise American Cosplay Experience American Cosplay Snapshots
I´m a begginer in this big world of cosplay, but I´m going to do the better i can!
Recent Updates
Newest Favorites
Newest Fans
Recent Comments
- Yeu says, "... Okay, I can stop cosplaying now. THIS IS AWESOME!"
- For The Great Will of the Macrocosm from Excel Saga
- Meltingmirror says, "I just died of laughter. Great costume idea. "
- For The Great Will of the Macrocosm from Excel Saga
- Yukimaru says, "O.O you killed usagi-san"
- For Pleinair from Disgaea
- cherryteagirl says, "Your Pleinair is very cute!"
- For Pleinair from Disgaea
- Ichigo_Kurosaki says, "wrong guns :( 9mm is weak compared to what Jo uses"
- For Jo from Burst Angel


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Science Friday® is produced by the Science Friday Initiative, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Science Friday® and SciFri® are registered service marks of Science Friday, Inc. Site design by Pentagram; engineering by Mediapolis.
In this segment, we'll hear about the new work in the field of discovering exosolar planets -- including research that used the Hubble Space Telescope to take optical images of a planet orbiting a star some 25 light years away.


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Save musicians, entertainers, speakers, and services, and they'll appear here.
Caterers Near You
Where do you need a Caterer?
Select your event location in Crawford County Arkansas:
Why Book Caterers
Hiring a caterer is a great way to simplify the planning of your special event. A scrumptious meal can make any event a success. Whether you're planning a sit-down formal reception dinner or a buffet-style company picnic or banquet, GigSalad will connect you with local caterers and catering companies to help create an appetizing indoor or outdoor menu for your wedding, party, picnic or special event.
Click here to get quotes from Caterers near you!
About Booking Caterers
Who wants to spend all day slaving over the stove when you have a party to host? Wouldn't you rather be enjoying your party and mingling with your guests? The answer to this dilemma: hire a caterer. Does your event require a specific style of cuisine? There's a caterer for that! Whether it be carefully crafted Japanese sushi, finger-lickin' BBQ, or a fully roasted pig, you can find a specialized caterer for your needs. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the meal!
Consider the type of event you're holding before settling on a caterer. Are you having a picnic? Hire a caterer that specializes in BBQ. Are you trying to feed the guests at your wedding reception? Consider a caterer who specializes in weddings. Hosting a Hawaiian luau? Find a caterer who does pig roasts. Always be sure to do a taste test before making the final decision on the menu. For more formal events, you'll have to discuss with your caterer whether to have the meal served buffet style or as a plated dinner. When going with the plated dinner, caterers usually charge per plate. Be sure to get an accurate headcount so you don't over order!
Bon Appetit!
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If you provide Caterer services in the United States or Canada, get more gigs by joining GigSalad.


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The Ravens made a series of roster moves Monday to get down to the NFL roster limit of 75 players in advance of Tuesday's deadline.
The Ravens released linebackers Austin Spitler and Nick DiMarco, safety Omar Brown, offensive tackle David Mims, cornerbacks Deji Olatoye and Marrio Norman, running back Cierre Wood, punter Richie Leone and wide receivers LaQuan Williams (Poly and Maryland) and Mike Willie.
The Ravens also waived-injured rookie offensive tackle Brett Van Sloten (sprained medial collateral ligament) and fullback Shaun Chapas (shoulder.
The Ravens placed three players on injured reserve, officially ending their seasons.
That includes defensive...


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As manager
As coach
Terry Lee Collins (born May 27, 1949, in Midland, Michigan) is the manager for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball. A former minor league shortstop, Collins managed the Albuquerque Dukes of the Pacific Coast League, the Buffalo Bisons of the International League, the Duluth Huskies of the summer collegiate Northwoods League, and the Houston Astros and Anaheim Angels of Major League Baseball. Collins is known as a "feisty and intense manager."


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Regular price
Nature has never been this fun before!
Bring a touch of the outdoors and some bold, funky style into your home with these adorable wall stickers. Each pack contains friendly squirrels, cheerful rabbits, a curious deer, plus birds, flowers, trees, and much more! With bright and colourful hues and fun patterns on each design, this set is sure to be a hit with both kids and adults. And because our wall decals can be repositioned over and over, you can create and change your own woodland scene on your walls as many times as you like.
This product is printed on opaque material for optimum colour brightness. Suitable for any wall colour.
Size:Wall stickers range from 20.3cm x 34.9cm to 1.27 x 2.5cm
Includes 89 wall stickers


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2 pounds ground pork
4 garlic cloves, minced
A 1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced...
Using Leftovers To Your Advantage
If there's anything that pains me greatly in the kitchen, it's wasting food. Most tasks, including washing dishes (and we don't have a dishwasher), I perform without complaint. This may be because I've resigned myself to doing them or because I genuinely don't mind. However, cleaning out the refrigerator is always sobering.
Food waste is a persistent problem that we've been trying to eliminate from our kitchen. We do pretty well, especially considering that we test a lot of recipes, and we're only two people. But I still find myself tossing out odds and ends that were forgotten or leftovers that were unloved. While there are worse things than wasting a bit of food here and there, it's not something that I ever want to be comfortable with.
But as any persistent home cook knows, using up leftovers is fraught with little cumbersome details. It's not always a matter of reheat and eat. Just as some foods taste better the second, third, or fourth day, others are noticeably the worse for wear, developing a "warmed-over" taste and unappealing texture. What's more, attempting to combine leftovers often results in something inferior to the original dishes, muddying flavors and textures.
A third problem that I have often experienced is the leftover feedback loop phenomenon: taking leftovers to make something new and then having leftovers of the new dish, etc., etc. You could theoretically eat leftovers for the rest of your life if you're not careful.
In short, leftovers can be a reward for taking the time to cook something, or they can be a punishment. Take care lest the latter usurp the former. Below are some basic tips for using leftovers, with an eye towards economy and flavor.
--Limit the number of leftover ingredients you are working with so that they retain some semblance of identity.
--Freshen up leftovers by serving them with fresh greens (chopped herbs, for instance) or with a freshly made sauce.
--Create a contrast in texture. If your leftovers are soft (or, heaven forbid, mushy), add minced celery or peppers, nuts, water chestnuts, crisp bacon, herbs, or buttered bread crumbs.
--Have a small store of leftover components in your fridge and freezer--cooked beans and grains, roasted vegetables, bread crumbs, poached meats, etc.--as these can greatly reduce the time it takes to get dinner on the table. For instance, in the photo above, I made a gratin of leftover black eyed peas and cooked wheat berries. I spruced it up with fresh kale and grated cheese from some odds and ends knocking around in my cheese drawer. For a flavor boost, I sautéed some onion, garlic, and the chopped up remnants of a package of salami and added this to the bean mixture. My Pumpkin and Black-Eyed Pea Cakes were also a happy result of leftovers.
--Use leftover pasta in pasta salads, thrown into soups at the last minute, or in croquettes or frittatas (frittatas happen to be a great vehicle for all sorts of leftovers).
--Don't throw away those chicken bones! Use them, along with vegetable trimmings, to make flavorful stock.
--Tuck leftover cooked meats into savory pies, frittatas, enchiladas, or casseroles (if the word "casserole" gives you chills, call it a gratin and no one will be the wiser).
--Use leftover potatoes in potato cakes (add onion, garlic, and herbs for flavor), dice roasted or boiled potatoes and panfry them until golden, or use mashed potato leftovers as a quick topping for meat pies (think Shepherd's Pie).
--At the risk of stating the obvious, don't make more than you know you'll need. If you're not a fan of leftovers, try halving large recipes to suit your family's needs. If you still end up with more than you need at the moment, freeze the leftovers in individual portion sizes. In a few weeks, when that chicken casserole is but a memory, you may benefit from being able to pull a few servings out of thin air at a moment's notice.
--While it may take more time initially, roasting large cuts of meat such as pork shoulder are worth the time investment. The leftovers can be used for a week's worth of meals: think burritos con carne, tacos, tostadas, enchiladas, stuffed peppers, sandwiches, pizza, lasagne, hand pies, and a variety of other dishes.
Other articles you might enjoy: Venison Black Bean Chili, Celery Revisited, Using the Bountiful Harvest
I used the Kale and Potato
I used the Kale and Potato recipe in the 75th Anniversary edition of the Joy of Cooking, page 278, and it has not cheese listed in the recipe. Fortunately I spread some cheddar and fresh Parmesan over the last layer and it was tasty. Is this an error? I can't see any mention of it in the eratta section on this edition on line.


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My Fundraising Page
Sep 14, 2015
Welcome to My Light The Night Walk Fundraising Page
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) funds the research and development of therapies that save thousands of lives every day. Two examples are targeted therapies that seek out cancer cells and kill them, and the use of a patient's own immune system to kill cancer. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light The Night Walk helps fund those treatments for patients like Joseph, a leukemia survivor.
At just 9 years old, Joseph was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). LLS was there with Joseph and his family from the very beginning with friendship, support and critical treatment information, through daily chemo, aches and pains, weight gain, lumbar punctures and daily clinic visits. Now, Joseph is in remission.
Joseph's is just one of the thousands of lives saved because of the LLS work supported by people like you.
Please make a donation and check my Web site frequently to see my progress.
Thank you for bringing us all closer to living in a world without blood cancers!0


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Creator and Creature
God's Word starts with the creation by God of all things out of nothing. Genesis chapters 1 and 2 present creation as the foundation of all scriptural truth. The first eleven chapters of Genesis are foundational to the entire …Read More
The Binding of Satan
Revelation 20 is the only place in the Bible that speaks of "the millennium"—the thousand-year reign of the triumphant Christ on earth. Nowhere else does Holy Scripture mention this word, so it is necessary to look at related teachings …Read More
The Value of Confessions
To this day, Christian Churches, especially in the Reformation tradition, use a powerful tool for "maintaining the form of sound words" and for spreading the gospel to the world—their confessional documents. The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century represented a …Read More
The Unshakable Purposes of God
Hebrews 12 approaches the vast changes to come in church and culture as orchestrated by God for the advancement of His kingdom of grace: "'Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.' This phrase …Read More
Bedtime Stories
As a father of five children, and now a grandfather, I have spent three and a half decades seeking to pass down the Christian faith to the next generation. Let me deal with only one area of this vast work …Read More
Living by the Royal Law
This final chapter of Hebrews is in many ways a fuller exposition of what James 2:8 calls "the royal law." The idea of both James 2 and Hebrews 13 is that since God has made His people "a …Read More
Things That Cannot Be Shaken
The entire epistle to the Hebrews seeks to encourage tired and suffering believers to keep looking to Christ in order not to lose heart and give up the good fight. God's good providence has ordained that we all must pass …Read More
Ordained by God
In the 1950s, a very popular song proclaimed "He's got the whole world in his hands!" Insofar as it had any theological content, it presumably spoke of the beneficent control by the Lord of all that He has made …Read More
Partakers of Holiness
The pain involved in following the Lord Jesus Christ in a hostile world is never hidden from us in Scripture. The early Hebrew Christians to whom this epistle seems first to have been written were no strangers to "reproaches and …Read More
The Wisdom of Faith
Forbes magazine features the four hundred most wealthy families in America each year. Those who make "the top four hundred" constantly change, according to their abilities in making and investing money. Being listed in this group is a measure of …Read More
The Blood of the Covenant
One of the chief points of evangelical Christianity that was most offensive to Protestant Modernists in the great debates against Fundamentalism in the early twentieth century was the centrality of the blood of Christ for salvation. Many a would-be "sophisticated" …Read More
Before the Throne of God
The Epistle to the Hebrews was written to encourage Jewish believers who had professed faith in Christ not to backslide from Him in order to return to the still impressive Temple rituals of pre–A.D. 70 Judaism. What the inspired …Read More
The True Tabernacle
Both the Old Testament tabernacle and the Mosaic covenant were mere shadows of the eternal reality that in due season fulfilled and surpassed them. They were "true shadows" in that they correctly bore a relationship to that which they imaged …Read More
Justified by Faith, Perfected by Hope
The great Apostle who so clearly teaches us the liberating gospel truth that sinners are justified by faith, later in the same epistle adds that "we are saved by hope" (Rom. 8: 24). While Romans chapters 3 through 5 teach …Read More
Perseverance of the Saints
In my many years as a professor of theology and conference speaker, one of the questions I am most frequently asked is, "Doesn't the Reformed (or Calvinist) tradition teach the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints?" "Yes, it …Read More
Douglas Kelly
Dr. Douglas F. Kelly is Richard Jordan Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, N.C. and author of Systematic Theology: Grounded in Scripture and Understood in Light of the Church.


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One of the most useful features of Apigee's API BaaS is the ability to create connections between entities, which allow you to model arbitrary relationships between entities. This feature is particularly powerful when applied to user entities by allowing you to model complex social graphs between users as well as groups of users.
To make the social graph possibilities of entity connections even easier to achieve, API BaaS also has special support for a default following/followers relationship, which offers these additional features:
Reciprocal connection: If a
followingconnection is made between a user and another user, a reciprocal
followersrelationship will be created automatically. In contrast, all of other entity connections are one-way, meaning any reciprocal relationship must be created manually.
Activity feed subscription: The followed user's activities will automatically be posted to the following user's activity feed. For example, if Arthur is following Ford, then any activities published by Ford that Arthur is allowed to see will appear in Arthur's activity feed.
Creating a following/followers connection
To create a following/followers connection between two entities, create the connection as you would any generic entity connection. For full details on creating connections, see Connecting entities.
For example, the following request would create a following/followers relationship between two
user entities with the usernames 'Fred' and 'Barney':
POST https://<baas_host_name>/your-org/your-app/users/barney/following/users/fred
This would retrieve a list of the users that Barney is following:
GET https://<baas_host_name>/your-org/your-app/users/barney/following
And this would retrieve a list of users that are following Fred:
GET https://<baas_host_name>/your-org/your-app/users/fred/followers
Creating other connections
You can extend this connection structure to create connections using any relationship. For
example, you could use
likes to denote a connection between a user and his dog with
POST https://<baas_host_name>/your-org/your-app/users/Fred/likes/dogs/Dino
Note that in this case a reciprocal connection is not automatically created. To do so you
would need to manually create the reciprocal connection with another
POST such
POST https://<baas_host_name>/your-org/your-app/dogs/Dino/liked_by/users/Fred
For more information on using entity connections, see Connecting entities.