NHS Providers response to Mental health clinically-led review of standards: models of care and measurement consultation
We welcome the opportunity to respond to NHS England and NHS Improvement’s Mental health clinically-led review of standards: models of care and measurement consultation. Our response is based on feedback from our members on the proposed new standards for mental health services specifically, as well as our broader engagement with trusts on the wider programme of work underway to amend and evolve access standards used within the NHS.
- We support the proposals to develop new standards covering a broader range of mental health services. We know from all the clinical evidence available how important timely access to services is both to prevent mental ill health and avoid where possible conditions worsening.
- The introduction of these standards is also an important step towards parity of esteem by providing more information about the demand for, and access to, mental health services and a potential means to support more effective models of care delivery.
- Meeting these new standards, at thresholds we expect for those seeking NHS services for physical health conditions, will require additional funding beyond current commitments, including money for buildings and equipment, and a significant strengthening of the workforce fundamentally.
- It will be important to ensure the standards are accompanied by clear guidance, as well as investment, to ensure services for assessment are not prioritised at the expense of services for care and treatment, or services that remain without an access standard attached to them but need to be a focus and priority for trusts given their local contexts.
- There are also significant, systemic challenges to consistently providing the right level and nature of mental health support in a timely way that need to be tackled. How mental health services and their partners in the wider system are resourced, commissioned and funded needs to be addressed to improve access and the quality of care for individuals across the country fundamentally.
- Implementation planning must be realistic and honest about what resource and time is needed to introduce these standards successfully, taking full account of the current operationally challenged context and ongoing and anticipated long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the NHS.


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text:
The early start was not too brutal - I slept well even in the thin air, and woke feeling fine at 5.30am. The others felt better too, and more up for a day of sightseeing than they had been yesterday. The lake, so red the previous day, was now more or less all blue. We breakfasted on mate de coca, crusty bread and scrambled flamingo eggs and left Laguna Colorada at 7am.
Our first stop was a group of stones sculpted into weird and wonderful shapes by the winds of the high Altiplano. The centrepiece is the Arbol de Piedra, a stone 'tree' which stands on an implausibly thin base and looks as if it could be toppled with a light push. A few other vehicles were there, and a few people were trying to topple it, but all found it impossible. We spent half an hour or so scrambling over the rocks, looking around at the desert and the mountains and the wilderness, before setting off. There were no roads here, just dusty tracks which we almost seemed to glide along in the 4WD. Victor had a CD of reggaeton music, and was becoming worryingly fond of one particular track as we ploughed through the thick sand. It was beginning to drive us slightly mad, but would become the almost constant soundtrack to our Altiplano journey.
We stopped at Villa Alota for lunch. It was a strange place, just a few dozen houses in the middle of nowhere and more or less deserted. Victor left us eating lunch while he gave someone a lift somewhere, which took an hour or so, and then for reasons we couldn't work out he drained all the fuel from the car into a large tub, before refilling it. Then we had a pretty boring afternoon of driving through the desert to the village of Chuvica, which sits right on the edge of the Salar de Uyuni. The Salar looked strange in the evening light as we arrived, glistening in the sun and stretching away as far as the eye could see.
« Breathless Heights | South America 2005 | Days of Salt »

domain: geography


text:
Time's deputy editor of photography, Paul Moakley, says he remembers exactly when his two-year journey to document America's opioid epidemic began. "A photo came to my desk," he told Poynter. "It was a picture of a little boy in a car in Ohio."
He is talking about the photo from East Liverpool, Ohio of a young boy sitting in the back seat of a van with his grandmother and her boyfriend slumped over, overdosed in the front seats. "There are a lot of ethics questions about the photo. I thought they were dead, and then after thinking about it, I just wanted to know everything about the image. The magazine sent me out there to do a story about the police officers who took the photo."
This week, Time published a magazine that is, cover-to-cover, the work of Moakley and photojournalist James Nachtwey. There is no advertising in this issue. Just page after heartbreaking page of photographs and text that calculate the human toll of the American opioid epidemic that kills 64,000 people a year. And there is nothing that leads us to believe the problem has peaked.
After he explored the details of the child in the van, Moakley began tracking down two people captured on video in Memphis. A social media video of two people on a city street strung out on heroin attracted 5 million views and thousands of hateful comments about the couple. In the Time "Opioid Diaries" edition, Moakley tracked down the couple to hear their painful life story that includes more than 40 years of addiction and crime to support it.
"I think that oftentimes, we see these stories where people are photographed from the back or the shadows. We were looking for something that went deeper and was closer to people. It was hard. We were seeing people in the critical moments in their lives, but spent a lot of time going back to them."
Nachtwey is best known for his work in conflict zones including Bosnia, Kosovo and Rwanda. Some consider him to be among the great war photographers in recent decades. TED talks featured his work and his quiet plea to allow his photographs to bear witness to the conflicts he has covered in 30 countries. At the end of the Time Opioid Diaries project, Nachtwey writes:
The only way to make real sense of it, I told my editors, was to see what happens to individual human beings, one by one.
Photography can cut through abstractions and rhetoric to help us understand complex issues on a human level. Never is photography more essential than in moments of crisis. To witness people suffering is difficult. To make a photograph of that suffering is even harder. The challenge is to remain open to very powerful emotions and, rather than shutting down, channel them into the images. It is crucial to see with a sense of compassion and to comprehend that just because people are suffering does not mean they lack dignity.
Moakley said he researched the story for nearly two years; Nachtwey began photographing it 10 months ago. Moakley said Time director of photography Kira Pollack "Pushed me to focus on this." A year ago, he started working just on this project. "It is just unheard of," he said. "James captured a couple thousand pictures. He sends us very tight edits of things so we were surprised when he would send these longer edits a couple of hundred pictures. It was amazing to see his precision." Nachtwey and Pollack teamed up for the difficult photo editing process, deciding how graphic is too graphic and how to be intimate without exploiting people's addiction.
Moakley and Diane Tsai captured video for the project. Moakley struggled to explain how a journalist can spend so much time with addicts who, right in front of them, are injecting themselves with doses that could be their last. "I try to be really comforting around anyone I work with. That is my style," Moakley said. "You don't want them to do that to themselves. You begin to understand how much it controls them."
Moakley said every person they photographed, every person they profiled in their project, knew who the journalists were and what they were doing. And, he said, "People gave us consent. People kept saying you have to show this. I am in hell and people need to see what I go through. We never met anyone who yelled at us. They wanted to open up about what they were going through."
The reader comes to recognize that the drug user affects many others. One story followed a woman fighting addiction even while she is pregnant knowing she has already harmed her baby.
One photo caption of a grandmother, next to her 24-year-old granddaughter's casket, quotes the grandmother: "After Michaela died, I saw it clear as day. They're not only destroying themselves, they're destroying us." Her mother said in a video version of the story, that she was "prepared" for news one day that her daughter had died of an overdose, she just wasn't prepared for the news her daughter had been brutally murdered.
"The Opioid Diaries" tells how in case after case, what became drug abuse started as legitimate drug use. They tell the story of a high school football player who hurt his back and got opioids to ease the pain. Now he is addicted to heroin. Time travels with police officers, community health workers and EMTs who often see the same people, overdosed day after day.
Nachtwey's black and white still images force the reader to linger on the page. One of the most haunting images is not the most graphic. It is a photo of an aging woman named Jen. In the photo, she sits beneath the carriage of a truck in the freezing Boston cold, trying to inject herself with heroin. An empty needle lies by her feet, a syringe in her hand, she tries over and over with blood running down her arm to hit a vein with the needle. "It was brutal to watch that moment — it lasted for over an hour trying to inject," Moakley recalled. Her friends tried to help her, he said. "She let never anybody near her."
Why, in this age of artificial intelligence, drone videos and 360 panoramas, would Time turn to black and white still images to tell a story of such prominence and effort? "Still photography matters," Moakley said. "It will always matter, the same way that paintings, films, and novels will matter. If somebody has the talent to communicate using their genius talents, it will matter." Moakley said working with Nachtwey, he learned that the photographer "Is not just documenting things — he is trying to communicate an emotion that is happening in front of him."
The Time team will travel to Washington, D.C., next week to meet with senators and others to share their findings. "Our editors wanted to make a statement with this story," he said. Readers who know this epidemic well will still learn from this work. As deep as this epidemic has grown, the story does not linger just on the problem but looks for solutions.
Time documents how needle exchanges and "safe injection sites" work. Online viewers listen to inmates speak of their determination to stay clean once they get out of lockup even though the odds are against them.
"We hope readers will come away thinking, 'What if we gave them a safe place to do these drugs — a safe injection space.' What kind of opportunity would it open up if we were just a little kinder?" Nachtwey, who as a photojournalist has witnessed the worst that the world can offer humanity, offered readers glimmers of hope that this work, raw and disturbing as it is, may stir the country to action:
Over the past 35 years, my work as a photojournalist has taken me to other countries to document wars, uprisings, natural disasters and global health crises. In revisiting my own country I discovered a national nightmare. But the people living through it aren’t deviants. They are ordinary citizens, our neighbors, our family members. I don’t think I met one user whom I would consider to be a bad person. No one wants to be an addict.
I also saw signs of hope, particularly from the people who are dealing with the crisis at the street level. Some of them are former users who have lifted themselves up and are using their experience to help others. They are refusing to allow our country to be defined by this problem. Instead, they are helping us define ourselves by finding solutions. We must join them.
Watch all of the videos at this link.

domain: artistic


text:
Guillermo E. UmpierrezMD, CDE, FACP, FACE
Dr. Umpierrez is a professor of medicine in the division of endocrinology, metabolism at Emory University School of Medicine, and chief of diabetes and endocrinology at Grady Memorial Hospital.
Dr. Umpierrez first joined the Emory University School of Medicine faculty in 1992 – 1997. He returned in 2003 to focus on diabetes and metabolic disorders. Dr. Umpierrez's research interests include mechanisms for ß-cell dysfunction in minority populations with ketosis-prone type 2 diabetes, the effects of free fatty acids on insulin secretion and hypertension in obese patients, and the inpatient management of insulin in critical and non-critical patients. His research programs at Grady Hospital and Emory University are funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), American Diabetes Association (ADA), and American Heart Association (AHA).
In 2009, Dr. Umpierrez received the “Outstanding Service Award for the Promotion of Endocrine Health of an Underserved Population” by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE). The Outstanding Service Award the Promotion of Endocrine Health of an Underserved Population is given to an individual for exceptional contributions to the care, health, and service to an underserved population via leadership, long-term commitment, vision, innovation, and impact/outcomes.

domain: biology


text:
Amish Potato Bread
Prep: 30 min. + rising Bake: 40 min.
1 loaf (16 pieces)
A tasty mix of whole wheat and all-purpose flour and a small amount of mashed potatoes combine to give this golden bread its wonderful texture. The loaf is very moist and stays that way for days. —Sue Violette, Neillsville, Wisconsin

domain: food


text:
Owls Flock To Burnley
Tickets for the short trip to Turf Moor have been snapped up by Wednesday fans eager to see their side return to winning ways against Steve Cotterill's men.
Over 2100 tickets have sold out for the trip over the Pennines - with the Owls occupying the lower tier of the Jimmy McIlroy stand following storm damage to the usual away end.
And the match should provide great entertainment for both sets of fans with both sides desperate to pick up points following a disastrous start to 2007.
Wednesday have yet to pick up a point in the league and have also been knocked out of the FA Cup at the first stage while Burnley fans have witnessed a similar vein of form which has seen them well and truly out of the race for the play-off spots despite a fine start to the season.
No further tickets will be available for the match and Wednesday fans are advised not to make the short trip to Turf Moor unless in possession of a valid ticket.

domain: news


text:
1. Working theory: Bipolar RF, infrared laser, vacuum, Roller
2. Function: body slimming, body shaping
3. Laser wavelength: 850nm
4. Machine screen: 10.2 inch color touch
5. Handle screen: 1.5 inch
6. Power: 300W
Velashape 3 Machine Functions
Shaping: face and neck, limbs, buttocks and abdomen slimming, face, chest, buttocks firming, postpartum and liposuction recovery.
Stretch marks: Efficiently fade the stretch marks.
Slimming: Reduces cellulite, reduces fat and improves skin relaxation.
Firming and anti-aging: Strengthen firming skin, increase skin elasticity, improve orange peel, postpartum stretch marks, facial lifting and so on.
Shu pressure: Shujinhuoxue, acupoints dredge, promote blood circulation, relieve muscle tension, fatigue, soreness, relieve skin edema, improve dark circles and bags under the eyes.
Promote detoxification: promote lymphatic and blood circulation, calf detoxification of the calf, and detoxification of the abdominal colon.
Bipolar RF, near-infrared laser, vacuum negative pressure, mechanical rolling and other four technologies in one body suitable for all parts of the human body.
Vacuum negative pressure, attract skin, accelerate fat metabolism, while infrared light stimulates collagen hyperplasia, tightens skin, smoothes cellulite, accelerates fat cell volume reduction, bipolar RF, heat promotes fat cell decomposition, mechanical roller massage The treatment site accelerates fat metabolism, and the four-in-one technology works synergistically to make the fat lose shape and quickly lose weight.

domain: medical


Nico Kreis is a Berlin-based filmmaker. His work is diverse and wide-ranging, but always with a strong focus on highly cinematic, visual storytelling.
He was introduced as new director by Shots Magazine London in 2013 and won a Young Directors Award at Cannes 2015, as well as a first prize at the AICP Show 2016. His work “Revolution” is archived in the Department of Film of The Museum Of Modern Art (MOMA), New York.
He has directed films and global campaigns for Porsche, Agent Provocateur, Mercedes-Benz, GMC, Pilsner, Ferrari, Samsung, Toyota and Nissan.
In 2018 Nico co-founded the production house BONAPARTE Films which recently produced the multi-award winning short film MALARIA by Andzej Gavriss.
In 2021 Nico had the honor to participate as a Jury member at the YDA, Cannes.
Nico is a collaborative filmmaker and always on the lookout for interesting artists and partners.


Marquette University rescinds Bill Cosby's honorary degree
Marquette University announced Thursday it is rescinding an honorary degree it awarded to comedian Bill Cosby when he was commencement speaker for the Class of 2013, amid compounding allegations the actor was a serial rapist who drugged his victims.
It's the first time the Jesuit university has taken back an honorary degree, according to Marquette officials.
Cosby drew big applause when he donned a Marquette cap and revealed an MU sweat shirt under his graduation garb during the May 2013 commencement at a nearly packed BMO Harris Bradley Center.
He told graduates to go into the world remembering the values they learned from the school's Jesuits — respect, integrity and a responsibility to serve others.
That was before the sordid allegations from dozens of women began publicly piling up against him. Cosby admitted in a court deposition to getting prescription Quaaludes to give women he wanted to have sex with, according to documents from a civil lawsuit obtained in July by several news organizations.
"By his own admission, Mr. Cosby engaged in behaviors that go entirely against our university's mission and the Guiding Values we have worked so hard to instill on our campus," Marquette President Michael Lovell and Provost Daniel Myers wrote in a letter to the Marquette community after the Board of Trustees voted Thursday to rescind the degree.
"Every day, we live these values by challenging our students to integrate knowledge and faith into their real-life decisions in ways that will shape their lives," the letter said.
Lovell later tweeted that he was proud of the university for "taking this important stand."
Asked about the timing of the action, Marquette spokesman Brian Dorrington said the Board of Trustees' met for the first time this academic year on Thursday.
The decision came after extensive conversations with campus leaders and faculty members who showed overwhelming support for taking back the honorary degree, Lovell and Myers said in their letter.
Through the years, Cosby has been awarded honorary degrees by 23 colleges and universities, according to the Daily Beast. He also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Kennedy Center Honor, Twain Prize and a Bob Hope Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
One by one, universities have distanced themselves from the actor.
Fordham University announced Thursday that it would rescind an honorary degree given to Cosby in 2001, marking the first time that university had ever taken back an honorary degree.
The University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where Cosby received his master's and doctoral degrees, cut ties with him in November.
Cosby also resigned last December from the Temple University Board of Trustees, a position he held for 32 years, after the university faced considerable pressure to force him out. Cosby had studied at Temple.
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Warisan: What are the details on the four Shariah Bills?
(from left) Basal, Jenifer and Batholomew.
7 Sept 2021
KOTA KINABALU: Several Warisan State leaders have demanded Sabah PN leaders to stop with their silence and tell Sabahans the truth regarding the proposed bill on 'control and restriction of the development of non-Muslims religions' purportedly to be in the drafting process as reported by Free Malaysia Today (FMT) today.
According to Basal Bullah who is the Deputy Divisional Chief of Parti Warisan Keningau Division, the party through its Treasurer-General, Terrence Siambun had brought up the issue immediately when the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office (Religious Affairs), Ahmad Marzuk Shaary announced in March this year about the proposed bill and to his knowledge, no Sabah PN leader to date had given any explanation about it.
"Terrence is correct to demand (in March this year) Sabah PN leaders with the likes of the President of STAR, Jeffrey Kitingan and President of SAPP, Yong Teck Lee who sits in the PN Presidential Council Committee together with the Presidents of Bersatu and PAS, Muhyiddin Yasin and Abdul Awang Hadi respectively, to give us the finer details of the proposed bill.
"There had been no answer from any Sabah PN leaders on the issue and when the nominated State Assemblyman, Aliakbar Gulasan of PAS proposed the controversial trolley segregation proposal in June this year, Terrence again demanded Kitingan and Yong to tell us the finer details of the proposed Bill mentioned above.
"And again there was no answer from both gentlemen whom, I would assume, were and currently enjoying equal standing as Presidents of member parties in PN chaired by Muhyiddin who also served as the Prime Minister at that material time (March and June 2021). Kitingan had described him as being very accomodating.
"It has been a good seven months since the proposed Bill was first known and it is unlikely that Muhyiddin decided to drop the matter during his tenure as Prime Minister. Even if both Kitingan and Yong managed to register their concerns to Muhyiddin, the potential backlash from Sabah and Sarawak if the Bill is perceived to be oppressive, there has been no report anywhere that it was rejected by Sabahan leaders, either from PN or BN, who make up the Government of the Day," Basal said in a statement today.
Meanwhile, the former State Education and Innovation Assistant Minister, Jenifer Lasimbang contended that Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs), Maximus Ongkili should get the details from his colleague, Ahmad Marzuk Shaari.
If the situation warrants it, she doesn’t see any problem for Warisan and PBS to work together in opposing any attempt to control and restrict the propagation of non-Muslim religions in Malaysia, as freedom of religion is guaranteed and enshrined in the federal constitution.
"Why not? If the Malay-based parties that have divergent and differing idealism in the likes of Bersatu, Umno and PAS, can come to political arrangements such as Muafakat Nasional to cater for the needs of their respective support base, then why can't Warisan and PBS work together on this issue that clearly relates to Sabah's rights?
"In fact, Sabah has successfully thwarted several attempts to suppress the freedom of religion in the State, which I assume include the right of propagation of non-Muslim religions. For example Berjaya with Datuk Peter Mojuntin toppling Usno and Tan Sri Pairin Kitingan winning the Tambunan seat as an independent candidate in 1984.
"So I don't see the problem for Warisan and PBS working together on this issue and in fact, Sabahans would be ecstatic to see us jointly fend off any attempt to suppress our rights but the Minister of Sabah and Sarawak Affairs, Maximus Ongkili needs to get the details and if the situation warrants it, PBS should be in contact with Warisan.
"This is an issue that will not affect anyone's ego as to 'who did it first so perhaps this is the starting point for a unified Sabah political bloc like in Sarawak and in fact, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal has always been consistent with his stand on building a nation and not a particular race or religion," she said.
The Chairman for Penampang Act of Kindness Association (PAKA), Batholomew Jingulam said that it is proper that Sabahans know the basics of the Bill and to immediately register their disapproval while the Bill is still in the midst of being drafted.
"To my understanding, and I stand corrected, is that the Bill to control and restrict the propagation of Non-Muslim religion was the immediate reaction by the then PN Federal Government over the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision on March 10 regarding the Kalimah issue.
"Irrespective of the motivation of these political parties in coming out with such a Bill, there is a need for our Sabahan leaders, especially those in power, to remain ever vigilant and ensure that the spirit of IGC and MA63, which our forefathers agreed to when forming this Federation, remains alive. Unless we have the details of the Bill, any attempt to suppress or restrict the propagation of Non-Muslim religion would obviously be contrary to that spirit.
"While we Sabahans have the right to know the details of a Bill that may very well have emanated from a political decision, our Sabahan leaders in power have the obligation to make immediate notification to enable any remedial measures to be done during the drafting stage so that it will be consistent with IGC and MA63 instead of waiting it to be tabled at Dewan Rakyat," he said.


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text:
41 Halford Street, England LE1 1TR
Regular monthly meet up to discuss how we can best help and deliver what is needed
Every 3rd Saturday of the month
, United States of America
The program is a virtual program that strengthens the child's ability to form meaningful social relationships.

domain: sociology


text:
How can SONAR help me as a Financial Analyst?
Use SONAR to gain an edge on the financial markets. Take the freight market’s pulse before it gets priced in.
For analysts and investors, the most important considerations are the financial outlook for companies/industries and whether that outlook is already priced into shares.
SONAR helps analysts and investors get to the bottom of those questions better than any freight intelligence system on the market.
To gain unique insight into publicly-traded truckload carriers and brokers, SONAR knows the actual capacity in the truckload market, along with load volume and carriers’ and shippers’ reactions to current market conditions. This information helps analysts and investors to understand where volume and margins are heading and allows investors to take action before those trends are visible in other data sources.
For unique insight into the Class I railroads and truckload-based intermodal providers, SONAR provides detailed daily intermodal volume and rates in greater granularity, and in a more timely manner, than what can be found on other data sources.
For insight into how maritime companies are performing, as well as where domestic transportation volumes are heading, SONAR offers daily customs data broken down by lane and port as well as daily maritime freight rates.
All of this information and much more is then compiled into indexes that are easily accessible and updated daily.
With SONAR, your investments and recommendations don’t rely on old data.
How is a public company performing and is that performance reflected in the share price?
A simple question, but harder to answer. Management teams are restricted from sharing anything that is material. Many major industry data sets are backwards-looking. Research reports and whitepapers are widely disseminated. This makes it difficult to know what’s really going on any better than everyone else does.
Are certain companies long-term outperformers or underperformers? Gain insight into whether a company should be considered a long-term overweight or underweight by comparing its metric to the specific industry segments and geographies it competes in.
Volatility of market share on heat map list.
A sampling of what you can benchmark with SONAR:
- Carriers’ market share against growth in their individual market segment, whether that is dry van, flatbed, reefer, or specific lengths of haul
- Carriers’ productivity against industry wide metrics for revenue per loaded mile, empty mile percentage, miles per truck per week, driver to non-driver ratio and many others
- Domestic intermodal providers’ volume versus overall domestic intermodal volume or the key lanes in its network
- Domestic intermodal carriers’ reported revenue per load against spot rates nationwide or in key lanes
- Margins reported by 3PLs and truck brokers against margins industry wide
Is a company’s guidance conservative, aggressive, reasonable or stale?
Financial analysis is all about gaining insight that the market doesn’t yet have. With SONAR, compare real time market trends to what the market already knows, (i.e., what management teams of public companies have included in their guidance and public comments). If you were in management’s shoes, and seeing these trends, what would you have to do with guidance?
SONAR gives you access to changes in market conditions in real time, which provides a real edge on others who are relying on backwards-looking information or scripted comments from company management teams. Gain a competitive edge with SONAR.
Chart view of the Outbound Tender Reject Index.
A sampling of what you can analyze with SONAR:
- Surges in tender rejections indicate that carriers are finding better opportunities in the spot market - carriers may be in for a good quarter and equipment orders may turn higher
- Increases in tender lead times suggest that shippers are becoming concerned with securing capacity - that is evidence that the balance of pricing power is shifting to carriers
- Major freight corridors becoming more imbalanced - that suggests a favorable market for brokers, sourcing cheap capacity in backhaul lanes
- Inventories becoming bloated - freight volume may underperform economic trends
- Customs data showing east coast ports expanding market share - a negative indicator for intermodal volumes since the east coast is more truck-competitive
- Domestic intermodal outperforming international intermodal - a positive for the domestic truckload-based intermodal providers
How are companies performing intra-quarter?
As public companies tell you: they are under no obligation to update their guidance. With SONAR, you see changes in freight trends taking place in real time so updates to company guidance won’t surprise you, they’ll just surprise everyone else.
Volatility of weekly market volumes on tree map.
A sampling of what you can monitor with SONAR:
- How is a carrier’s volume guidance looking? Create a SONAR dashboard with volume tailored to that company’s equipment type, length of haul, major geographic markets and lanes.
- Is truck capacity tightening? Monitor tender rejection rates by the specific equipment type and geography that impacts a company’s performance the most.
- Are brokers’ margins expanding this quarter? Gain insight into the cost effectiveness of sourcing capacity by monitoring lane balance, tender rejection rates and carriers’ spot rates.
- Covering a company that participates in the domestic intermodal market? Monitor those volumes without noise from international intermodal or less important lanes.
Are consensus estimates too high or too low?
Companies are worth a multiple of projected earnings or cash flows. And beating the market is about recognizing those changes in value before everyone else does. SONAR can help analysts determine whether consensus projections are too optimistic or not optimistic enough, enhancing an analysts’ ability to select securities that outperform the broader averages.
Map and chart view of the Local Inbound Tender Lead Time Index.
A sampling of how SONAR can help you forecast:
- Adjust earnings models for changes in daily data sets related to supply and demand.
- Identify macro trends leading to sector or company outperformance or underperformance.
- Utilize productivity metrics to more accurately forecast carriers’ margins.
- More accurately forecast brokers’ margins through a greater understanding of what they are paying for capacity.
- Improve expense and cash flow projections by utilizing FreightWaves’ predictive rates tool which highlights upcoming changes in the rates carriers need to cover their operating expenses.

domain: economics


text:
How to Harden Off Plants
Acclimating and Preparing Seedlings for Transplant by Hardening Them Off
By Marie Iannotti, About.com
There are 3 approaches to hardening off:
1. Gradually Longer periods of Time Outdoors
2. Place in a Cold Frame
3. Withholding Water
Gradually Longer periods of Time Outdoors
1. Begin 7 - 10 days before your transplant date.
2. Place plants in a sheltered, shady spot outdoors. Under a tree or even on your back porch is fine.
Leave them for 3-4 hours and gradually increase the time spent outside by 1-2 hours per day.
3. Bring plants back indoors each night.
4. After 2-3 days, move the plants from their shady spot into morning sun, return them to the shade in
5. After 7 days, the plants should be able to handle sun all day and stay out at night, if temperatures
stay around 50 degrees F. Keep an eye out that the soil doesn't dry and bake the plants, if the
weather is warm.
6. After 7 -10 days your plants are ready to transplant. Try to do so on a cloudy day and be sure to
water well after planting.
Place in a Cold Frame
1. Begin 7 - 10 days before your transplant date.
2. Indoor grown plants can be moved and left in a cold frame, for hardening off.
3. Turn off heating cables and/or open the cold frame cover for gradually longer periods of time. Start
with 3-4 hours and gradually increase the exposure time by 1-2 hours per day.
4. Close the cover and resume heating at night, if temperatures dip below about 40 degrees F.
5. Plants should be ready to transplant in 7 - 10 days. Try to do so on a cloudy day and be sure to
water well after planting.
Allowing seedlings to wilt has the same effect as gradually exposing them to the elements.
1. Starting about 2 weeks before your transplant date, don't water your seedlings until they start to
2. At this point, water normally, then wait for them to wilt again.
3. After 2 weeks of this process, seedlings should be ready to transplant. Try to do so on a cloudy day
and be sure to water well after planting.
· The moving in and out process can be made easier by putting your plants on a wagon or wheelbarrow and simply wheeling them into the garage for the night.
Non-toxic and Homemade Remedies
Homemade remedies are inexpensive and, best of all, you know what is going into your garden. Many homemade sprays have been used with good results to control harmful insects. They usually involve noxious (but non-toxic) ingredients such as garlic,
cayenne, stinging nettles or horsetail which are diluted in water and blended to be sprayed on the plants. Here are a few simple formulas:
Soft-bodied insects (mites, aphids, mealybugs): Mix one tablespoon canola oil and a few drops of Ivory soap into a quart of water. Shake well and pour into a spray bottle. Spray plant from above down, and from below up to get the underside of the
leaves. The oil smothers the insects.
Grubs: For lawn or garden grubs, there is a natural remedy called milky spore. The granules are spread on the soil and cause the grubs to contract a disease that kills them. This natural control affects only the grubs, leaving the beneficial organisms
unharmed. Milky spore multiplies over time and will sit inactive, waiting for grubs to infect. One treatment is said to last 40 years. The grubs are actually the larvae of Japanese beetles. So, when you kill the grubs you kill the beetle.
Mites and other insects: Mix two tablespoons of hot pepper sauce or cayenne pepper with a few drops of Ivory soap into a quart of water. Let stand overnight, then stir and pour into a spray bottle and apply as above. Shake container frequently during
Earwigs, slugs, and other soft-bodied garden pests: Sprinkle diatomaceuos earth over plants and around edges of garden beds. The diatoms particles are very small and sharp – but only harmful to the small exoskeletons of insects, slugs and snails. Insects
cannot become immune to its action, as it is a mechanical killer – not a chemical one.
Fungal diseases: Mix two tablespoons of baking soda into a quart of water. Pour into a spray container and spray affected areas. Repeat this process every few days until problem ceases.
Powdery mildew: Mix equal parts milk and water and spray on infected plants. Three treatments a week apart should control
Insects and fungal diseases: Combine one tablespoon of cooking oil, two tablespoons of baking soda and a few drops of Ivory soap into a quart of water. Pour into a spray container and apply as above.
Insects on fruit trees: Lime sulfur and dormant oil, available at nurseries and garden centers, can be sprayed on the trunk and branches of dormant fruit trees. This concoction will suffocate insect egg cases. Because the oily spray is heavy compared to the other water-based sprays, you'll need a pump sprayer. These are fairly inexpensive, and are available to rent from some nurseries. Only use this method while the tree is dormant, however, or it can kill the tree.
Commercial dormant oils may contain petroleum oil or kerosene. A less toxic method is to make your own. Mix 1 cup vegetable oil and 2 tbsp liquid soap in one gallon (4 liters) water. Mix the soap and oil first, then add the water. Shake often during use.
Caution: Sprays which kill harmful insects will also kill beneficial insects. Use these homemade remedies selectively, only spraying the infected plants. Apply them early in the morning or just before dark. Re-apply after a rain. Wear protective
clothing when spraying insecticides.
· Protect your young seedlings from animals and snails or slugs.
WHY GROW HEIRLOOM PLANTS
One reason to grow heirloom vegetables is simply that they are a taste of the past. Many varieties, which had been prized and maintained for generations, have been lost in recent decades as fewer people save seed year to year. For many gardeners, saving an heirloom cultivar is a connection to their heritage.
Many gardeners grow heirlooms that have superior flavor. Heirloom varieties that have been selected for taste and tenderness through several generations are often tastier than cultivars that have been selected for ease of shipping, uniform appearance or ability to grow well through out the country.
When gardeners save the seed of the best-tasting, best-performing plants in their gardens each year for a number of years, they gradually select their own special cultivars. Those selections will be suited to their own growing conditions and tastes. Open-pollinated seed that has been grown and harvested for generations in a region or microclimate becomes adapted to that area’s soil, climate and pests.
Many people grow and save old cultivars because they save a lot of money by avoiding the purchase of new and expensive hybrid seed each year. Hybrid seed will not produce similar plants when saved from year to year. Another vital reason to maintain heirlooms is to keep their genetic traits for future use. When old varieties of food crops are not maintained, the gene pool grows smaller and smaller. This may lead to increased disease and pest problems.
If you grow heirloom vegetables, you will almost certainly save seed. More and more companies are beginning to carry old cultivars in their seed list, but most heirloom gardeners want to ensure their seed supply against changes in fashion. Many also feel that saving their own seed gives them more connection to the entire process of growth and regeneration.
Do not try to save seed from hybrid vegetables. It will not produce plants the same as those from which it is collected. Saving seed can duplicate open-pollinated cultivars, if the crop is not allowed to cross with other strains of related vegetables.
There are several ways that home gardeners can maintain their seed stock without unwanted crossing. Some vegetables are mainly self-pollinating; their seeds will produce plants like the parent plant that produced the seeds.
Beans, peas and peanuts, lettuce, eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes are usually self-pollinating. Insects occasionally cross them, so plant them with at least 10 feet between varieties.
Beans and tomatoes are very popular as heirloom vegetables partly because they are easily maintained true to type.
Vegetables that are cross-pollinated by insects or by wind need to be isolated or raised at a considerable distance from other varieties. This distance may need to be several hundred yards or more, depending on the crop.
Onions, cucumbers, corn, pumpkins, squash, broccoli, beets, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, melons, radishes, spinach, Swiss chard and turnips are all insect-or wind-pollinated. In a small garden, the easiest way to ensure purity is to grow not more than one variety of a species at a time. If your goal in raising an heirloom variety is to preserve it, you do not want it to cross with something else.
One way to isolate cultivars is to grow them in separate screened cages, or to cover individual flowers with bags and hand-pollinate them. Another method is called time isolation. Time plantings so that different varieties are not flowering at the same time and so cannot pollinate each other.
Choose plants to save seed from before you harvest the rest of the crop to eat. You should choose the healthiest, most productive and most flavorful plants to save for seed. Make sure that you label them clearly for seed to avoid temptation.
Allow seeds to ripen fully before they are harvested. Mature seeds are more likely to grow well than seeds harvested too soon. Strong, healthy plants produce healthier seeds than seed from weak, stressed plants.
Warm, dry conditions while seed matures increases their storage life. It is best to harvest your seeds and bring them inside for final drying as soon as they are fully mature and dry, especially if rains threaten
Most vegetable seeds remain viable for three to five years when stored properly. Place thoroughly dry seed in a tightly closed glass jar and keep the jar in a cool dry location. Put silica gel packets in with the seed to help keep it dry. You can add diatomaceous earth to seed to help prevent insect damage. Store seed in the refrigerator to further increase its life expectancy.
To test for germination, sprout seeds between moist paper towels; if germination is low, either discard the seeds or plant extra to give the desirable number of plants.
Long-lived seeds include beets; all cabbage relatives such as broccoli, cauliflower, collards, and kale; cucumber; lettuce; melons; peppers; sunflower; tomato; and turnip. If you keep them cool and dry, these seeds should maintain good viability for five years or more.
Medium-lived seeds include beans, carrot, chard, eggplant, parsley, peas, pumpkin and squash. These, properly stored, should last at least three years.
Short-lived seeds can only be depended on to last to the next growing season. This list includes corn, leek, onion and spinach seed.
HEIRLOOM VEGETABLE CULTIVARS
Beans of all kinds are very popular heirloom vegetables. There are thousand of cultivars, with huge variations in taste, size, color and markings, and climate adaptability.
Beans are usually not cross-pollinated. Separate plantings by enough distance to avoid having their vines intertwine.
Allow the seed to thoroughly mature on the vine. Pull the entire plant and place it in the shade to dry out for one to two weeks. Bring inside to finish drying if rain threatens. Shell and store in a cool, dry area in a paper bag. Bean and cowpea seeds will keep for three or more years.
Lima and Butter Beans
‘Christmas Lima’ does well in hot, humid climates. Climbing vines produce large seeds that are white with maroon streaks and have a wonderful flavor.
‘Snow on the Mountain’ is a beautiful, heavy-producing pole lima from the 1800s. It has deep maroon seeds with white markings.
‘Jackson Wonder Bush’ is a productive and drought-tolerant 1880s vintage heirloom from Georgia. Purple and black mottling. 66 days.
Pole, Snap And Dry Beans
‘Cherokee Trail of Tears Pole’ These heirloom pole beans were carried by Cherokee Indians on the "Trail of Tears." Purple-striped pods with shiny black seeds.
‘Greasy Cutshort Pole’ has leaves that are shiny, giving a greasy appearance. Good eaten as snap beans.
‘Jacob’s Cattle’ is a small, pretty bean, pure-white with deep maroon splashes. Excellent quality for baking and soups.
‘Rattlesnake Pole’ has purple-streaked 7-inch green pods that curl like snake. The buff-colored beans with black stripes are good as shell beans or snaps. Vines grow 10 feet tall.
‘Tongues of Fire’ is an early snap bean with beige and brown markings. Excellent flavor.
All corn is wind-pollinated and will readily cross with other varieties. Varieties should be widely separated, from 600 feet to over half a mile to ensure purity. You can also save seed by bagging the ears that you want to save for seed and hand-pollinating them, or by growing cultivars that will be separated by blooming time. You should always grow at least 200 corn plants in a large block when saving seed. Save seed from 50 ears of different plants to reduce inbreeding depression. Let the seed dry thoroughly on the plant and then dry further once husked. Seed lasts only one year.
‘Golden Bantam’ was first introduced in 1902. This is the corn all others were compared to.
‘Country Gentleman’ is a popular old-fashioned shoe peg variety with irregularly spaced white kernels.
‘Stowell’s Evergreen’ was the standard, late-season white sweet corn before ‘Silver Queen.’ Ears are 8 to 9 inches long.
‘Bloody Butcher’ is a flint corn used for flour-making or decoration. The ears are bright red.
‘Strawberry Popcorn’ an old variety, grows 2-to 3- inch ears that are excellent for decorations in the fall, then popping in the winter.
There are many different forms of cucumbers that are rarely seen in stores. Cucumbers are cross-pollinated by insects. So if you want to save cucumber seed, plant only one variety. Let the fruits hang on the vine until ripe (skin becomes yellowish and hard). Then handle like the process for tomatoes given below.
‘Lemon’ produces many lemon-colored and lemon-shaped fruit on fast-growing vines.
‘White Wonder’ is an old variety that matures to an ivory white color. The 7-inch fruit are easy see at harvest.
Cut off seed stalks when fluffy in appearance, just before all the seeds are completely dried. Seeds will fall off the stalk and be lost if allowed to mature on the plant.
‘Deer Tongue’ is a pre-1900 heirloom that is named for its pointed leaves and thick mid-rib. It is heat-tolerant and slow-bolting.
‘Tennis-ball’ was a very popular lettuce in the vegetable garden at Monticello. Tennis-ball lettuce has been grown since the late 18th century, and it is the parent of Boston lettuce types.
Treat melons in the same way as cucumbers.
‘Jenny Lind’ grows to 1 to 2 pounds with sweet, lime-green flesh. An heirloom from New Jersey, it was named in 1846.
‘Hearts of Gold’ is a very popular old-timer. The 3-pound melons have thick, fine-grained flesh with spicy flavor. Flesh is salmon-orange in color.
Potatoes are popular heirloom vegetables. There are many unusual colors, shapes and flavors that are seldom found at the grocery store. Heirloom potatoes are saved from year to year as tubers, and so are very easy to maintain true to name.
‘Russian Banana’ is a fingerling potato that is yellow-fleshed with a pleasantly waxy texture. It varies from fingersize up to the size of an actual banana.
‘Yellow Finns’ are medium-size, with yellow skin and yellow flesh.
‘Ruby Crescent Fingerling’ has small tubers between 2 and 6 inches long. Ruby-red skin covers deep yellow flesh.
Okra pods should be left on the stalk until brown and well-matured. Remove the pods and place them in the shade until thoroughly dried. It is best to store okra seed in the pod until ready for planting.
‘Longhorn’ has long pods that are tender up to 6 or 8 inches long. It dates from the 1880s.
Peppers, Sweet and Chili
Peppers are usually self-pollinating. Insect cross-pollination does occur sometimes, and if it does, hot bell peppers can result, since the gene for hotness is dominant. If grown closer than 500 feet apart, plants must be caged or bagged to prevent spicy surprises in future years.
Peppers should be allowed to ripen until they become red. Cut the pepper pod in half and scrape the seed onto a piece of paper. Spread out the seed and dry thoroughly before placing in a storage container.
Wash your hands thoroughly with soapy water after harvesting the pepper seeds, since the residues will burn eyes and lips for hours after contact.
Southern Peas or Cowpeas
Southern peas are handled in the same way as beans.
‘Calico Crowder’ is a medium-sized, heirloom, climbing crowder pea, white with maroon splotches, good fresh or dried. 70 days.
‘Kreutzer’ is an excellent cowpea which produces quantities of attractive beige-and-brown cowpeas with darker brown specks.
‘Pink-Eye Purple-Hull’ has cream-colored seeds with maroon eyes in pods which turn purple at maturity. Vigorous, heat-loving and drought-tolerant plants with little vining.
‘Washday’ is so named because they cooked up fast on busy washdays. This tan-yellow variety is a good yielder that makes a tasty soup. It is a half-runner type from the 1800s.
Squash and Pumpkins
Winter and summer squash and pumpkins are all related. Crossing readily occurs between varieties of the same species. No crossing occurs between different species. Grow only one variety of the same species, and separate by ½ mile or hand pollinate to maintain purity.
The commonly grown species are: banana, buttercup, cushaw and hubbard squash (Cucurbita maxima); butternut squash (Cucurbita moschata); acorn, crookneck, and scallop squash, zucchinis and most pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo); and Mexican gourd (Cucurbita ficifolia).
When the outer covering of the squash is so hard that it cannot be dented with your fingernail, the seeds are generally mature. Split the squash fruit open, scoop out the seed and wash until all pulp is removed. Spread out on newspaper to dry.
‘Cushaw Green-Striped Squash’ (C. mixta) has good-sized white fruits with green stripes and long, curved necks. It is good for pies and baking. Drought-tolerant and a good keeper.
Pumpkins and Related Squash (Cucurbita pepo)
‘Rouge Vif d’Etampes’ is also known as the Cinderella pumpkin. This French heirloom pumpkin is productive and beautiful. The fruits are flat, burnt orange to red, and deeply ridged, ranging from 1 to 2 feet across.
‘Connecticut Field’ is an old standard in field pumpkins. Large 20 to 35 pounds.
‘Small Sugar’ is a sweet, tasty pumpkin to 9 inches across, on short, space-saving vines.
The Amish Paste is holding up better than our hybrid Romas under this type of stress, though the
yield is definitely less.
Tomatoes are self-pollinators and are usually not cross-pollinated. Only the potato leaf varieties must be separated.
Pick fruit from desirable plants when ripe. Cut fruit and squeeze out pulp into a container. Add a little water and let ferment two to four days at room temperature, stirring occasionally. When seeds settle out, pour off pulp and spread seeds in a thin layer to dry thoroughly. Store in an envelope or glass jar in a cool, dry place. Properly stored seeds will remain viable for four to 10 years.
‘Brandywine’ is the most famous heirloom tomato. This Amish heirloom originated in Chester County, PA, in 1885. The flavor and texture are superb. Fruit quality stays high late in the season. The plant often appears disease resistant. This "potato-leaf" variety makes a half to a pound pinkish-red fruits.
‘Cherokee Purple’ is one of the most widely adapted of the "purple" or "black" tomatoes. The flesh inside is brick red and soft, and it has good flavor. Pinkish-brownish-purplish delicious fruits on indeterminate vines.
‘Georgia Streak’ is a yellow and red beefsteak indeterminate heirloom from Georgia. Makes great-looking slices for summer salads.
‘Yellow Pear’ has prolific vines that produce loads of 1- to 2- inch pear-shaped fruits with good flavor.
‘Arkansas Traveler’ produces medium-sized, dark-pink tomatoes on heat-tolerant vines.
‘Mortgage Lifter’ produces pink to red, medium-sized to large fruit. Also called Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter.
‘Moon & Stars’ is another heirloom from the Amish. These 15- to 30- pounds melons have sweet red-pink flesh. The dark green rind is covered with bright yellow spots. The leaves of the plants are also spotted.
Clemson University Cooperating with U.S. Department of Agriculture, South Carolina Counties, Extension
Service, Clemson, South Carolina,

domain: agronomy


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Welcome to my tour stop for Langston's Daughters by Juliette Harper. This is an adult contemporary mystery that is also very focused on family, small town and ranch life as well as some clean romance. This is the first in the series. It is appropriate for ages 16+.
The tour runs Feb. 23- March 6 with reviews, author interviews, guest posts and excerpts. Check out the tour page for more information.
(The Lockwood Legacy #1)
Author: Juliette Harper
Kate, Jenny, and Mandy. Langston Lockwood’s daughters. His tyranny drove them away. His suicide draws them home. They inherit his land, his millions, and his mysteries. Meet the women of the Rocking L and the men who come into their lives. Together, they begin the journey to discover the truth about The Lockwood Legacy. From the pain of the past they find the strength to build a dynasty.

domain: library


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Cozumel | Land of the Swallows
If you need a Shuttle in Cancun or Transportation from Cancun International Airport to Cozumel we will take you!
The island of Cozumel is located east of the Yucatan Peninsula in the Mexican Caribbean, its name means “Land of the Swallows” in Mayan and was so named because of the indigenous birds, which are regularly observed patrolling the beaches of Cozumel and the coast.
Cozumel was created approximately 2000 years ago by the ancient Maya, a seafaring people, who saw Cozumel as a commercial stop as well as a sacred sanctuary.
The island was a mecca for Mayan women who made the journey from the mainland to Cozumel Island in large canoes to worship Ix Chel, the goddess of fertility. Leaving the continent of what is now Playa del Carmen and Tulum, Mayan women crossed the dangerous canal in canoes to give offerings at the altar of Ix Chel.
A destination par excellence for cruise ship stopovers that has three very well equipped docks that can receive the arrival of thousands of tourists in a single day: Punta Langosta located in the very center of the city, International Pier and Puerta Maya a short distance from the center by private taxi.


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Police: Couple zip-tied 4-year-old to baby gate
A couple is accused of using plastic zip ties to bind their 4-year-old daughter's wrists and ankles to a baby gate, according to Raleigh authorities.
Police say Gerald Thomas Swinehart, 26, and 28-year-old Marianne Victoria Coffey, 28, are accused of using the plastic ties used by electricians to bundle wires to tie the child to the gate.
Investigators also said Swinehart pushed or kicked the child so hard that her lower teeth broke through her lower lip.
Arrest warrants said the incidents occurred in February and March, but the documents didn't say if police believe it happened once or was an ongoing practice.
Swinehart is charged with two counts of intentional child abuse inflicting serious physical injury. Coffey is charged with one count.


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Raz-Plus resources organized into weekly content-based units and differentiated instruction options.
Pourquoi Tale (fiction), 1,638 words, Spanish Level T (Grade 3), Lexile 830L
How the Robin Stole Fire is a retelling of an Australian Aboriginal pourquoi tale. The story begins when a travel-weary old man shares the secret of fire with a group of hunter birds. The birds then set out to steal the fire from the cockatoo who hoards it. The tale explains both the origins of useful fire and the brush fires that periodically sweep the grasslands of the Australian outback. Whimsical illustrations support the text.
Use the reading strategy of retelling while reading
Story Elements : Understand story elements of setting, characters, problem, and solution
Grammar and Mechanics
Quotation Marks : Identify and use lines of dialogue
Content Vocabulary : Understand and use content vocabulary
Think, Collaborate, Discuss
Promote higher-order thinking for small groups or whole class
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|After 9 years of planning, a life size bronze sculpture of a 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer soldier will be unveiled and dedicated on the Butler, Missouri Courthouse square. Many events are planned for the weekend culminating in the unveiling at 3 PM Sunday afternoon. Bates County Missouri was the sight of the 1st battle that African Americans engaged in actual combat. They "fought like tigers" and proved their ability and dedication to fight against white soldiers. Come honor these soldiers with us. Pat Decker, Executive Director of the Butler Chamber of Commerce.

domain: history


AUSTIN, Texas — As Austin city leaders work to address the homeless population and look for solutions in Austin, KVUE reached out to its sister station KING5 in Seattle to hear how that city has been addressing homelessness.
Mayor Steve Adler traveled to Seattle as part of a trip to discuss public transit this summer. While he was there, he met with city leaders to discuss the homeless population and potential solutions.
KVUE's Molly Oak spoke with KING5 reporter Jake Whittenberg about what Seattle is doing to help the homeless.
"Seattle has been an interesting test case on the homeless issue because it really is a crossroads between the grand debate, which is everyone living on the streets of Seattle is a drug addict that needs to go compared with the group that thinks these folks need compassion and people need to be approaching the situation in a much more humane way," said Whittenberg.
Whittenberg said the city does not have homeless ordinances in place, aside from no trespassing laws. He said Seattle's mayor, council and police chief have opted for a "hands-off" approach.
He said city leaders are working on other solutions, like additional shelters and a navigation team that goes out and interacts with the homeless face to face to get them into treatment.
Whittenberg said the "common complaint" from people in the city is "that the streets are a mess."
"When you talk about the crowded sidewalks, the tents and the camping, that all still remains," he said. "One thing that is interesting, and we are seeing now that we have seen more money put into this issue, we've actually, for the first time since 2012, seen the number of homeless people on the streets decreasing. That's actually quite the phenomenon. We are down about 1,000 people on the streets."
Whittenberg also offered some advice for Austin as the city works to find a solution to homelessness.
"What we have seen in Seattle is at least city leaders attempting things. There are some that say the city is not doing enough to fix the homeless problem," he said. "The more and more this issue is out there, the more companies and local businesses express their frustration, their concerns at public comment sessions at city council, the more that solutions seem to come to the table."
Whittenberg said Seattle has seen things like tiny houses or tiny villages pop up, along with local companies, like Amazon and Microsoft, donating money to help solve the problem.
MORE KVUE HOMELESS COVERAGE:
- ECHO, 4700 East Riverside partner to provide homes for homeless people in Austin
- Austin's homeless population even higher than reported numbers, leaders say
- ‘I’ve regained my dignity in life’: Community First! Village brings homes to homeless
- Austin City Council to consider three separate ordinances on homeless camping ban at meeting
- Street Youth Ministry: Helping a younger generation of homeless
- Hutto woman creates new app, plans to donate proceeds to groups helping homeless
- Homelessness affecting Austin tourism? Some downtown business owners think so
- Austin receives less state funding for homelessness than other large Texas cities
- Austin 311 still seeing record number of homeless complaints
- City spending $390,000 annually to clean underneath overpasses in Austin
- Texas Mutual Insurance Employees aid in Community First! Village project
- A night in the life of Austin’s homeless sleeping on city streets
- City of Austin launching new 'Guided Path' pilot focused on homeless 'encampment strategy response'
- As Austin gears up to possibly change ordinance, City gives state of homelessness updates


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This forest full of animals is a classic Toile de Jouy wallpaper with a new look. The design gives a nice glimpse into the forest, and there is plenty to discover for your child: the big bear with a raccoon and bird on its back,…
Big and little giraffe discover the jungle! The spider monkeys and tropical birds curiously watch these amazing animals.The classic Toile de Jouy feel with a new look.
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This tropical landscape is a classic Toile de Jouy wallpaper with a new look. A beautiful glimpse of various types of palm trees and tropical plants. Nice and bohemian look together with several large plants!
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Despite widespread calls for reform in the wake of the country’s biggest banking shock, little has changed. Is that stability or complacency?
(Bloomberg) — In 2022 it was “Schwinger,” or traditional Swiss wrestlers, that were the star attraction. This year it was youth groups. Every Aug. 1 since 1891, patriotic Swiss have gathered on an Alpine meadow overlooking Lake Lucerne to commemorate a rebellion in 1291 that was the foundation of “modern” Switzerland. This is a country that likes tradition.
It was a very different kind of youth who in March swarmed the headquarters of Credit Suisse on Zurich’s Paradeplatz, in an extraordinary display of anger at the normally staid epicenter of Swiss banking. Young protesters wrote messages like “Cretin Suisse” in chalk outside the bank’s headquarters as demonstrators bellowed their discontent through megaphones. Newspaper editorials were filled with columns about a national humiliation and regulators stressed the need for major change. Some questioned whether Switzerland had a future as a predominant banking center.
Credit Suisse was, after all, an icon of the Swiss economy that financed the country’s railroads. So its government-brokered rescue by UBS Group AG, to prevent it collapsing and wreaking havoc across the global banking sector, was one of the biggest blows to the national psyche since the 2002 demise of national icon Swissair, and was seen by many as something that could, or should, trigger a profound change to the way the country works.
Yet four months on, there are few signs that anyone is readying for major change in Switzerland. It is almost as if most Swiss heaved a collective shrug and the country went back to making money. Unemployment has barely budged and is not expected to move much even after bank layoffs, the country’s annual inflation rate of 1.6% remains the envy of the industrialized world and the almighty Swiss franc has even gained in value since March when the deal was brokered.
The apparent lack of change since March stems from what makes Switzerland what it is — a 13th-century nation which takes pride in its reputation as a bastion of stability on a continent repeatedly torn apart by war. A country that first gave women the right to vote only in 1971, decades after the rest of the western world. It’s a nation where, if change occurs, it happens very, very slowly.
“There is a big risk that nothing happens,” says Michael Hermann, director of Swiss political research institute Sotomo in Zurich, “because you get used to the new situation with a huge bank and if it works, why would you change anything?”
But is Switzerland missing an opportunity to repair and improve its reputation for competence and prudence, so tarnished in the eyes of international investors in the wake of the takeover by UBS? The run-up to federal elections set for Oct. 22 will offer a stage for national debate on that, but some believe it’s already too late.
There are politicians who want to make the Credit Suisse debacle a catalyst for reform and an election issue, but feel that it has already been swept under the rug, says Jared Bibler, a former regulator at the Swiss Stock Exchange. “We are all surprised by how quickly the issue seems to have dissipated,” he says.
Bibler, who wrote a book about Iceland’s banking crisis, says there are similarities with the Nordic nation in 2006 when it failed to properly address the need for banking reform. “In Switzerland, you have a real culture of circling the wagons among the elites.”
The first step to solving a problem is often acknowledging that you have one. But if you speak to those elites — ranging from the central bank to government and parliament — such forthright admissions are rare. Instead many will say Credit Suisse’s rescue is a testament to the country’s strengths.
“The way Credit Suisse was saved speaks in favor of the stability of our country,” says Thierry Burkart, MP and president of the center-right Free Democratic Party. “We prevented massive damage to the financial system of Switzerland and possibly even to Europe and the whole western world.”
‘Attacked’ From All Sides
What’s indisputable is that Switzerland is not the country it was a decade ago. First it was Swiss banking secrecy that came under attack from a US Department of Justice bent on making Swiss lenders pay for helping American taxpayers hide their money. Then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year prompted Switzerland to abandon its strict neutrality — allowing it to fully embrace EU sanctions against Moscow — amid pressure from Brussels to not ignore a war just one day’s drive away.
Read More: Forget Londongrad. Switzerland in Focus as Sanctions Target Rich
In June, Swiss voters backed raising corporate taxes for multinationals to the OECD-wide agreed minimum level of 15% from an average of 11% in a national referendum after the government persuaded once-skeptical voters that it was better to keep tax revenue inside the country given it wasn’t able to stop the international accord.
For Burkart, there are malign forces at work. “We are attacked from abroad. And also from within,” he says in a reference to the DoJ, European Union and those inside the country calling for more banking regulation. “Political forces from the left to the center are working to destroy the advantages of Switzerland as a location for business.”
Despite the proposed tax hike the country remains an attractive hub for multinationals, but its long-held primacy in wealth management is slipping. It’s likely to drop to second in the rankings of those who manage the assets of the rich, behind Hong Kong, by 2025, according to the Boston Consulting Group. Singapore, emboldened by outflows of money from China during the pandemic, and Dubai, which has seen billions roll in from wealthy Russians since the invasion of Ukraine, have made inroads too.
The stakes for Switzerland’s position as a financial center are high. Finma, the country’s banking regulator, and the Swiss National Bank, have called for reform to the way things work, including more powers to punish those who break the rules, in the aftermath of the Credit Suisse crisis. The question is whether it can overcome a Swiss tendency toward inertia to identify what went wrong. And then, do anything to repair the reputational damage.
“The regulatory culture in Switzerland is weak and not based on a meaningful set of rules,” says Kern Alexander, chair of the law and finance program at the University of Zurich, “but instead on a light touch principles regime that leaves the regulator too much discretion not to take action and to allow problems to fester until they reach a breaking point.”
Both Finma and the SNB were intimately involved in the Credit Suisse-UBS takeover. And both have faced heavy scrutiny.
Finma came in for severe criticism during the crisis, a result partly of its controversial writedown of $17 billion worth of AT1 bonds. The writedown, made possible by a clause in the fine print of the high-risk bonds, has spawned a wave of lawsuits that face an uphill battle in the Swiss courts.
The light-touch regulation of Credit Suisse in the years leading up to the bank’s collapse has also been the focus of criticism. Urban Angehrn, head of Finma, acknowledged as much in a recent editorial in the Neue Zurcher Zeitung newspaper.
Switzerland has historically avoided Anglo-Saxon style financial policing, but Angehrn called for Finma to be given similar powers to those of the US Securities and Exchange Commission to fine errant banks or their staff. “This is tried and tested practice in other financial centers and strengthens the precautionary effect of supervision,” wrote Angehrn.
His earnest appeal was made just as the Swiss parliament headed off on its lengthy summer recess, and has been met with silence from lawmakers. A further indication, say critics, of the lack of urgency around the banking collapse. Crisis averted. Normal service resumed.
What to Do About the Banks
The glacial, consensus-building pace at which Swiss politics moves should give pause to anyone expecting urgent reforms to restore trust in the banking system or reconcile Switzerland with the fact that the enlarged UBS is now twice the size of the domestic economy.
Thomas Jordan, the central bank president, said in June that lessons need to be drawn and that in future, “banks should be required to prepare a minimum amount of assets that can be pledged at central banks.” That suggestion might feed into a broader global discussion about whether the liquidity rules pledged after the 2008 financial crisis are still fit for purpose, but any concrete change will likely need to be squared with international peers and take years to materialize.
Following the 2008 financial crisis, politicians from the right-wing Swiss People’s Party and the left pushed a legislative proposal to split big lenders into their constituent parts, to minimize the risk that a loss-making investment bank could jeopardize the entire institution — a scenario that roughly describes what happened with Credit Suisse. But when that bill finally made it to a vote before parliament in 2014, it failed with 64% opposing the measures.
Now, 15 years later, academics and politicians are again chewing over the problem of what to do about the banks. A report produced in May by the University of St. Gallen has created a framework for a finance ministry study on reform that’s due later this month. The report argues that in order to avoid the problem of “too-big-to-fail,” stricter liquidity rules and higher capital requirements as well as a robust framework for nationalization are needed. It dismissed the prospect of splitting up the banks as unworkable.
The report barely addressed the problem that sank Credit Suisse in the first place, namely that bad risk management was embedded in the culture of the bank over many years.
Read More: The Triumph of UBS Is Also the Humbling of Swiss Banking
“Culture is a very important thing,” says Andrea Schenker-Wicki, a professor of management and president of the University of Basel. “If we don’t change the culture, we’ll have the same problems again.”
Colm Kelleher, the UBS chairman, has stressed that anyone who joins his bank from Credit Suisse will have to make it through a culture filter to avoid contaminating “our ecosystem.” His message? UBS doesn’t have a culture problem.
The FDP’s Burkart goes further and says Credit Suisse lost its way because it lost its Swiss-ness.
“Going by its management culture, Credit Suisse wasn’t a Swiss bank anymore, but a global one,” says Burkart. “When corporations abandon classic Swiss values like diligence, precision, modesty and humility, things like this happen.”
It is this kind of Swiss groupthink that ails the country, says Arturo Bris, the director of the Institute for Management Development’s World Competitiveness Center in Lausanne. To illustrate his point, he invokes the photograph of the Swiss finance minister, the heads of the SNB and Finma, and the chairmen of Credit Suisse and UBS all sitting together on March 19 to announce the hastily-agreed takeover.
“That to me has been the most damaging picture that Switzerland has had in decades,” says Bris, “when everybody gets together like in crony capitalism.” A nationalization of Credit Suisse wasn’t seriously considered seriously enough because selling it to UBS was deemed feasible, he argues.
Hand-Wringing in a Powerless Parliament
In the days after the collapse, senior regulators and government ministers gave repeated interviews in which they stressed the same message: that the snap rescue by UBS was the best option given the circumstances. They ruled out the temporary nationalization of Credit Suisse or an orderly wind-down of the bank even though the latter scenario was something expressly planned for, by the government and regulators, in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
Elsewhere, there are signs the Swiss establishment wants to move on. Geneva’s top financial crimes prosecutor signaled in May that he plans to drop a multi-year investigation into Credit Suisse’s mishandling of rogue banker Patrice Lescaudron, one of several damaging scandals, many of which are still being fought over in the courts, that undermined investor confidence in the bank.
Just a year ago, the prosecutor, Yves Bertossa, said there were clear grounds to indict Credit Suisse because it had let eight suspect transactions slide. Now he has done an about face. He concluded that because Lescaudron had been convicted of fraud and forgery but not money-laundering, the bank couldn’t be indicted on those charges either.
Back in April, well aware of the upcoming elections and the risk that inaction could lead MPs to be punished at the polls, Switzerland’s parliament denied the takeover its blessing in a vote. In a fiery special session of parliament that stretched over two days, the same left-and right-wing parties who a decade earlier had unsuccessfully pushed for a separation of investment and corporate banks voted down the state guarantees for Credit Suisse.
But the vote was purely symbolic. A designated group of senior lawmakers had already signed off on the deal. A parliamentary Inquiry Commission was formed in May to look at the role played by the government, Finma and the SNB ahead of the takeover by UBS. But its findings are not due for at least a year and it has said that the files used by the committee will not be made public for 50 years — signaling that lawmakers apparently see no need for greater transparency to inform the debate.
Schenker-Wicki of the University of Basel says she is eager to see what conclusions the commission reaches but remains wary about whether much will change. “Does it make sense for such a small country to have such a big bank?” she asks. “Is that a risk a country like Switzerland can take?”
–With assistance from Myriam Balezou.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.


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Mrs. Wages Quick Process Bread & Butter Pickle Mix
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A block-based imputation approach with adaptive LD blocks for fast genotype imputation
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This paper addresses the issue of improving long imputation time usually required for a large volume of SNP genotype data which can be easily obtained by biological experiments with the genomewide SNP chip or the next-generation sequencing technology. For this purpose, we propose a block-based imputation approach that generates adaptive LD blocks with observed SNP genotype data and applies an imputation procedure for each block separately. Also, we implemented the block based imputation to maximize the use of computing resources. Specifically, each task of block imputation is allocated to individual processor and is executed on each processor independently. Thus, multiple tasks of block imputation can be executed on multiple processors in parallel where the parallelization can reach up to the maximum number of processors allowed by user’s computing environment. Our experiment was performed with Mao et al.’s prostate cancer dataset. The results show that our adaptive block approach can reduce the imputation time up to 60–70% of original imputation time given by MaCH without the loss of imputation accuracy.
KeywordsSNP chip Next Generation Sequencing Imputation Linkage disequilibrium block Haplotype reference panel
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- 1.Ellinghaus, D., Schreiber, S., Franke, A. & Nothnagel, M. Current software for genotype imputation. Hum. Genomics 3, 371–380 (2009).Google Scholar
- 3.Zhang, B. et al. Practical Consideration of Genotype Imputation: Sample Size, Window Size, Reference Choice, and Untyped Rate. Stat. Interface 4, 339–352 (2011).Google Scholar
- 5.Li, Y. & Abecasis, G.R. Mach 1.0: Rapid haplotype reconstruction and missing genotype inference. Am. J. Hum. Genet. S79, 2290 (2006).Google Scholar
- 6.IMPUTE version 2, http://mathgen.stats.ox.ac.uk/impute/impute_v2.html.
- 7.BEAGLE Genetic Analysis Software Package, http://faculty.washington.edu/browning/beagle/beagle.html.
- 10.International HapMap Project, http://hapmap.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.
- 11.1000 Genomes, http://www.1000genomes.org.
- 14.Howie, B., Marchini, J. & Stephens, M. Genotype imputation with thousands of genomes. G3: Genes, Genomics, Genetics 1, 457–470 (2011).Google Scholar
- 17.Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/.

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