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"I know of no other book that addresses this problem with such practical and applicable Biblical wisdom." -- Dr. John MacArthur, Jr., Senior Pastor, Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, CA --Grace & Truth Books
"An extremely readable and practical book about a problem frequently encountered but too rarely addressed. There is nothing else like it. Counselors will want their own copy as well as others to give away. Pastors will put it in their libraries. Parents will devour it! Christian children will benefit from it. It is a book whose time has come." -- Dr. Jay Adams, Founder of NANC and author of many books on Nouthetic Counseling --Grace & Truth Books
About the Author
Lou Priolo is a graduate of Calvary Bible College and Liberty University. He is the author of several books including The Heart of Anger, The Complete Husband, Teach Them Diligently, Getting a Grip, Picking Up the Pieces and Pleasing People. In addition to his books, Lou has dozens of recordings extrapolated from his twenty-seven years of lectures, teaching and preaching. He is the editor of the Resources for Biblical Living series of booklets dealing with numerous counseling issues. Lou is a Fellow in the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors and an instructor with the Birmingham Theological Seminary. He travels frequently throughout the United States and abroad training pastors, laymen, and fellow counselors. Since 1998 he has been the Director of Biblical Counseling at Eastwood Presbyterian Church, Montgomery, Alabama, and has recently started the counseling ministry at Valleydale Baptist Church in Birmingham. Lou and his wife, Kim, are the parents of two girls, Sophia and Gabriella.


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I’ve been a vet for nearly a quarter century now. Over that time I’ve seen just about everything go wrong that can.
Pet disasters tend to go along recurring themes. If you know what they are, you have an excellent chance to avoid them. Continue reading “Ten Tips To Keep Pets Safe”
‘Emergency Care’ (details below)
What To Do If A Dog Eats Chocolate
- Chocolate is a nervous system stimulant & causes seizures in dogs
- Death is more likely with dark or cooking chocolate & smaller dogs
- See a vet ASAP to have the chocolate vomited and signs monitored
now dive deeper… Continue reading “Help! My Dog Ate Chocolate”
There’s a common, popular treat causing kidney failure in dogs. It’s right there in your local pet store. It drives vets crazy because there’s nothing we can do to stop it except warn you not to buy it. Continue reading “The Problem With Jerky Treats & Tenders”
Emergency care (details below)
What To Do If A Pet Eats Onion
- Toxin absorption can be prevented by immediately seeing a vet to induce vomiting
- If onion has been absorbed then daily blood tests are needed to monitor anaemia
- Please see a vet even if the amount seems tiny: pets vary in sensitivity and the toxic dose is low
now dive deeper… Continue reading “Help! My Dog Ate Onion”
Before I show you the causes of the most serious problems we see in young puppies at my clinic, there’s one thing that you have to do: know where to go.
Plan your route before you need it. This map shows your closest 24-hour veterinary emergency hospital in Adelaide. Continue reading “Common Hazards To Puppies”
Most people will say having a new puppy in the house is a bigger shock than a new baby. With a baby you have plenty of time to get the house safe as they grow and develop. A puppy is in full-on grab-and-destroy mode from the day they arrive. Here’s a checklist to keep them safe and you sane. All of these points are covered in detail in Common Puppy Dangers. Continue reading “How to Puppy Proof Your House”
‘At A Glance (Details Below)’ Emergency Care
What To Do If A Dog Eats Rat Or Mouse Poison
- If less than two hours since ingestion, see a vet ASAP to cause vomiting
- Dogs with suspected poisoning need to start an antidote within 2 days
- Follow your vet’s advice on blood testing & when to stop treatment
What if common treatments recommended by your vet are causing deaths in dogs and cats?
‘Does Bravecto Kill Dogs?’ is a popular Facebook group with over 25,000 members dedicated to fighting the use of the popular 3-monthly flea control. Continue reading “Does Bravecto Kill Dogs?”
“If a dog eats grass it means they are going to die”. Amazingly I still hear this from time to time. Usually it’s not quite that dramatic.
Dogs and cats eat grass for a variety of reasons, some good, some bad. Continue reading “Why Do Dogs & Cats Eat Grass?”
Vitamin D is an essential part of any balanced diet. What you may not know is how dangerous it can be. Let me show you three poisonings that have already happened, and a fourth that just might. Continue reading “Vitamin D poisoning”

domain: pet


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As a parent a lot of time is spent teaching and training. One vital area is that of emotions, firstly interpretation of emotions then slowly but surely regulation of those said emotions. What becomes confusing is when you introduce the complexity of Sensory Processing Issues which cloud the interpretation, "for example, avoidance of sensory stimulation may be interpreted as fear, and the child may be allowed to avoid many situations to reduce his or her distress. Seeking of sensory stimulation may be misread as out-of-control behaviour, and the child may be punished (Miller, Robinson and Moulton, 2004, p 250). As you can imagine any parent can be mislead when trying to understand their child and as a consequence not understand the true cause behind their behaviour.
Cole, Michel, and Teti in Miller, Robinson and Moulton, (2004, p 251) describe emotional regulation as "the ability to respond to the on-going demands of the experience with a range of emotions in a manner that is socially tolerable and sufficiently flexible to permit spontaneous reactions as needed." Loosely translated emotion regulation is the skill of responding to life within the socially acceptable boundaries that exist within our cultures. What is concerning is that those with Sensory issues are reported to have issues with emotion regulation, which makes it difficult for the person to exist and function within society easily. This should catch the attention of any parent.
Cole inMiller, Robinson and Moulton, (2004, p 251) then discusses two major types of emotion dysregulation: "under-regulation and over-regulation.
Under-regulated behaviours tend to be overly expressive or extreme and required others to assist the child to maintain control, by soothing or limiting the child's exposure to events that give rise to strong emotions.
Over-regulated emotions are held in tightly, as in the freezing response, and the child may need assistance from others to express what they experience."
These types of dysregulation make it extremely difficult for a child or adult for that matter to respond to the daily demands of life, school work. Any therapy that can be given to address the issues of emotion regulation will have a meaningful and most profound impact on the immediate day to day functioning, and also will have a deciding influence on the capacity or lack of capacity for that child in their future.
To learn is to understand, to gain knowledge and knowledge especially to us is power or more importantly empowerment. If we are unaware or unable to understand the issues our children face we can parent inappropriately (note I don't say wrongly, incorrectly). If we can understand our children, then we can embrace them and adjust our parenting styles and goals to suit.
For further reading, please check out the original article that I read that I have quoted from Sensory Modulation Dysfunction: Identification in Early Childhood.

domain: psychology


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North American railcar leasing fleets, shippers and railroads pulled 3,064 cars out of storage during June but still had 23.7 percent of their freight hauling equipment sitting idle.
Or, for unlimited access to timely news and analysis:
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domain: news


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Types of Hearing Loss
Hearing loss and deafness happen when sound signals don’t reach the brain. This is caused by a problem in the hearing system.
There are different types of hearing loss depending on which part of the hearing system is not working properly.
Sensorineural Hearing Loss
This type of hearing loss is caused by problems in the inner ear: Damage to the hair cells inside the cochlea, damage to the acoustic nerve, or both.
It makes it more difficult to hear quiet sounds and reduces the quality of sound that you can hear.
Sensorineural hearing loss is permanent.
Conductive Hearing Loss
This type of hearing loss is caused by problems in the outer and middle ear: Something, like ear wax or an ear infection, stopping sound from passing through the ear canal, ear drum, or bones in the middle ear.
Sounds will become quieter and may sound muffled.
Conductive hearing loss can be temporary or permanent, depending on the cause.
Mixed Hearing Loss
If a person suffers from both sensorineural and conductive hearing loss, this is classified as mixed hearing loss.
Mixed hearing loss affects both the inner ear and outer or middle ear.
It can lead to a more profound hearing loss.
Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder (ANSD)
This type of hearing loss is not caused by a problem with the hearing system. The sound reaches the acoustic nerve, but there is a problem with it being transmitted to the brain.
ANSD can occur for a variety of reasons; a genetic mutation, damage to the auditory nerve, specific damage to hair cells within the inner ear, among others.

domain: medical


While bandsaw machines are usually associated with cutting wood, it has proven to be a reliable choice for cutting metal. There are many other methods of cutting metal that is automated, but nothing beats the quality of the handcrafted metal you can make with a bandsaw machine. While automatic cutting machines emphasize on speed, they sacrifice a bit on the quality side. With the bandsaw machine, you get reduced costs because you don’t have to maintain additional systems, and get extra precision because you will be cutting metal with your own hands. While the speed of cutting metal may be a bit slower, the precision is the most important factor when you’re doing this task, and in this task, the bandsaw machine excels.
How to Improve Metal Cutting Results with the Bandsaw Machine?
Bandsaws come in many variations, but they all share one same thing. It is a steel band with teeth that rotates on two wheels and cuts through the chosen material, in this case, metal. There are also a few guides and bearings that hold the metal in the desired position while you’re cutting it. You can choose from portable bandsaws that offer more portability but will make your job tougher as the vibrations will cause the cuts to be less precise. Floor bandsaw models are bulkier cousins of portable bandsaws, and they offer much better-cutting power and stability that is essential for cutting metal.
Bandsaw cuts often leave saw marks, so if you want to improve the cutting results, it is important to smooth over the rough edges. If you want to minimize lost material while smoothing over the rough edges, try cutting on the outside edges of the metal. It takes practice, sure, but when mastered, you can perfect your craft.
Make sure that the bandsaw teeth are hardened at all times. You don’t want to lose more time because the saw teeth are not sharp enough to cut through metal.
If you want to prevent overheating, it is essential to set up the saw blade correctly. You must position the guides so that the saw blade has enough space for cutting and to prevent unwanted overheating.
When the saw blade gets dull, immediately replace it. The cutting results will be much inferior with a flat blade. Before doing that, check the blade. If it’s just a little dirty, a good cleaning may be due. It will save you some time and money.
It is recommended to replace the stock saw blade because a simple upgrade can significantly improve the performance of the bandsaw. Blades with hardened teeth will undoubtedly improve the cutting performance. They may cost more, but they are a bargain if you want to increase the effectiveness of your bandsaw. When choosing saw blades, you’re looking at two other factors aside from quality; width and teeth per inch. If you’re doing straight cuts, wide blades are an ideal choice because their cuts won’t stray away from the target that often likes with narrow blades. If you’re cutting metal and emphasize on curves, then thin blades are a choice for you. The premise is simple: when the blade is thinner, it can turn more tightly.
When talking about teeth per inch (TPI), blades with lower TPI will be better for thicker metal, while blades with higher TPI will cut at reduced speed, but do the job more smoothly. The choice is entirely up to you depending on your preference.
An ideal saw blade is a midsized blade. With this kind of blade, you get the benefits of the wide and narrow saw blades, as you can make straight or curved cuts with a high efficiency. These blades will significantly reduce the need to change saw blades, as you can do almost every kind of cut with that saw blade.
It comes without saying, if you want to increase the performance of your bandsaw machine, you must sharpen it with a finishing stone. This method will significantly reduce the vibration of the saw blade, making every cut precise than ever while also increasing the life of the saw blade. The process of sharpening the blade takes up 5 minutes of your time and offers benefits that will last for the whole shelf life of your bandsaw.
Even though there are many faster methods to cut metal, not any of them are precise like the bandsaw cutting machine. It requires a lot of maintenance and a steady hand, but the work that has to be done to increase the effectiveness of the bandsaw surely pays off. With the bandsaw machine, you will cut metal more precise than ever, and that is the primary factor in becoming better than the competition. Aesthetics pay off after all.


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Numerous pieces of fake news continue to circulate promoting the Bitcoin Era scam, involving Italian celebrities such as Jovanotti, Flavio Briatore, Gianluca Vacchi, etc.
Sadly, one of the first to have had great success was the one linked to the name of Jovanotti, so much so that even the Italian TV show Striscia La Notizia covered it, with the delivery of the “Tapiro d’Oro”, and Jovanotti’s official and categorical denial.
All this happened almost two years ago, but in two years the situation has unfortunately not changed.
In fact, numerous pieces of fake news of this type continue to circulate, involving both the famous people already mentioned, and others who are currently on the crest of the wave.
For example, there is one circulating that involves Elon Musk, who has made headlines in recent months for his constant public statements for or against Bitcoin.
In addition, the name of the alleged automated trading software being advertised is also often changed. In addition to Bitcoin Era, it is sometimes also called Bitcoin Profit, Bitcoin Prime, Bitcoin Koers, or numerous other different names that only serve to avoid being identified.
Bitcoin Era and others
In reality, it would be very easy to tell that these are scams, because it is enough to compare the address of the website where the fake news is published with the name of the newspaper in the article: since they do not match, they are obviously fake articles.
Furthermore, anyone who promises significant gains with cryptocurrencies, while hiding the fact that these are investments that can very well produce losses, is lying, precisely because it is not possible to guarantee significant gains with cryptocurrencies.
It should also be stressed that the celebrities involved have absolutely nothing to do with it. Everything is done without their knowledge, and their name and image are exploited in a totally illegal manner. Unfortunately, the scammers are often not in Italy, so it is difficult to find and arrest them.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have nothing to do with it either, because the advertised automatic trading software does not even exist.
In short, it’s all just lies across the board. Nothing that is said in these articles is true. They are just words designed to lure the naive into sending money to fraudsters.
The incredible thing is that, despite the fact that these scams are talked about all the time, they continue to proliferate online, as if they still allow fraudsters to successfully extort money from the unfortunate people who fail to notice these lies. A scam that has been going on for two years is unfortunately a scam that works.


If you want to buy new Smartphone and you have concerns which is a batter Mobile Phone available in the market right now and this year? So Respectively I want to provide Nokia Lumia 1020 Vs Karbonn Titanium S9 Comparison Review.
Both The Smartphone offer attracting highly developed features, impressive components, and cutting-edge software.
So today we will have a quick comparison review between Nokia Lumia 1020 against Karbonn Titanium S9. Both handsets came with a dissimilar specification, Designs and Hardwares. The Nokia Lumia 1020 comes with a 41 – megapixel camera compared to 13 – megapixel camera from Titanium S9.
The Lumia 1020 and Titanium S9 both handsets new member of their family and they are recently launched in the Goble market in this year 2013. They are new flagship Smartphones device based on the different platform. Nokia Lumia 1020 runs on windows platforms from Nokia and Karbonn Titanium runs on Google android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). As a priced Nokia Lumia 1020 available in the market at USD 300 (Rs. 17,964), Karbonn Titanium S9 is priced at USD 330 (Rs. 19,760).
Also Read: Nokia Lumia 925 flagship WP8 Smartphone
Nokia Lumia 1020 Hardware Reviews
Design: The handset has got 4.5 – inch Clear Black AMOLED display with WXGA (resolution: 1280 x 768 pixels). The Lumia 1020 protected by Sculpted glass Gorilla Glass 3 and it came with many features: PureMotion HD+ ClearBlack / High Brightness Mode / Nokia Glance screen / Sunlight readability / Refresh rate 60 Hz / Super sensitive touch for nail / Wide viewing angle / glove usage / Sculpted glass.
The color of the nokia Lumia 1020 is available in the market in three different colors: white / black & yellow and it has also slim body design.
Operating System (OS): if we are doing comparisons of the operating systems The Lumia 1020 Handset runs on Windows Phone 8 platforms. The phone has updated with the latest windows 8 OS and which has added 160,000 applications.
Camera: 41 – megapixel camera sensor it is the most extremely feature of Nokia Lumia 1020 Smartphone. It can take HD Images and video recording with amazing high-resolution zoom. The 1020 also has come with a 808 PureView technology and Optical Image Stabilization. It has LED flash feature for used video recording and a correct xenon flash.
The 1020 handset has a 1.2 – megapixel Secondary Camera with wide angle. You can use this option for video calling.
Processor, Storage and Battery: The Lumia 1020 powered by Dual – Core Krait Snapdragon Processor with 1.5 GHz Clock speed. It has 2GB of RAM and 32GB internal storage. This device also supports 7GB cloud storage that can be used by Mobile Internet.
And according to battery specification the Smartphone has 2000mAh Li-on battery capacity. It has offered up to 17 hours talk time for 2G and 10 hours talk time for 3G and it also supports standby time up to 400 hours for 2G / 3G. The Lumia 1020 supports Wireless charging via accessory cover.
Nokia Lumia 1020 specification (Quick Vision)
- Display: 4.5 – inch Clear Black AMOLED display with WXGA (resolution: 1280 x 768 pixels)
- OS: Windows Phone 8 Operating system platforms
- Processor: Dual-core 1.5 GHz Snapdragon™ S4 Qualcomm Processor
- Storage: 2GB of RAM and 32GB internal storage
- Battery: 2000mAh Li-on battery capacity
- Connectivity: MicroUSB2.0 / NFC with SIM based security / WLAN a/b/g/n / BT 3.0s / A-GPS / Glonass / 3.5 mm audio connector / Bluetooth 3.0
- Network Support:
- 2G : [GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900]
- 3G: [HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100] – speed up to HSDPA 42 Mbps / HSUPA 11 Mbps
- 4G: [LTE 800 / 1800 / 2600 / 900 / 2100] – speed up to LTE, Cat3 50 Mbps UL, 100 Mbps DL. GPRS / EDGE
- PD – 95G Camera Grip For Nokia Lumia 1020 – It has 3 different colors: White / Black & Yellow
- AC – 60 Nokia Universal fast USB Charger – you can charge the phone battery up to 35% faster when battery empty
- CC – 3066 Wireless Charging Cover for Nokia Lumia 1020 – you can charge the phone without plugging and this cover has 2 different colors: Black And Yellow
Karbonn Titanium S9 Hardware Reviews
Design: Karbonn Titanium S9 has a 5 – inch IPS touch screen HD display. It is the biggest display compared to the Lumia 1020 Smartphone. The screen has got resolution of 1280×720 pixels with 267ppi pixel density. It looks like Samsung Galaxy Grand Smartphone. It has body part slimness & rounded edges. The Titanium S9 colors are boosted with 16 Million colors. The handset provides full HD screen display and you can play games, watch videos and used browser for web with a high definition screen.
Operating System (OS) and Camera: The S9 Smartphone runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system (OS). The Google Android OS most accepted operating system compared to the Windows Phone 8 Platform.
The Titanium S9 handset supports 13 – megapixel Back camera and if we are doing comparisons of Camera with Nokia Lumia 1020. So The Lumia 1020 has very high pixel facility of the camera. But even Karbonn Titanium S9 support full HD quality. You can take pictures with better quality. It also has auto focus and LED flash features.
The device also support 5 – megapixel front camera for 3G video Calling. The 5 – megapixel camera is a great feature of the Titanium S9. You can also record HD video with this Smartphone and you can enjoy the amazing experience with S9.
Processor, Storage and Battery: The Titanium S9 device powered by quad core cortex A7 processor with 1.2 GHz Clock speed. It has 1GB of RAM and 16GB internal storage. You can also used up to 32GB Memory storage via a microSD Card slot.
Now is comparison of battery, The Titanium S9 Dual SIM Handset mobile supports 2,600mAh battery.
It is the powerful battery capacity compared to Nokia Lumia 1020 Battery Capacity which provide you more talk time than Lumia 1020.
Karbonn Titanium S9 specification (Quick Vision)
- Display: 5 – inch IPS touch screen HD display [267ppi]
- OS: Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system (OS)
- Camera: 13 – megapixel Back camera, 5 – megapixel front camera for 3G video Calling
- Processor: 1.2 GHz quad core processor
- Storage: 1GB of RAM and 16GB internal storage and external used up to 32GB via microSD card slot
- Connectivity: 3G / Wi-Fi / Bluetooth / GPS / Dual SIM Support
- Battery: 2,600mAh battery capacity [More Powerful talk time]
Priced Nokia Lumia 1020 of USD 300 (Rs. 17,964)
Priced Karbonn Titanium S9 of USD 330 (Rs. 19,760)


In this article, we will present to you why to use satellite layer in your project, what are satellite data and how maps from these data are created then which satellite data we are hosting for you, and how you can use this data in your project.
About satellite imagery
Sometimes even with the most accurate maps you can't describe/capture the level of detail in our real-world or maybe you want to do some specific analysis of a particular area.
All of this is becoming available thanks to satellite imagery.
Today there are plenty of satellites that are orbiting the globe, that’s the main reason why the availability of satellite data is increasing.
Each of these satellites captures the globe in different spatial, temporal, and spectral resolutions, some of them like MODIS captures the globe in spatial resolution of 100 m/px, others like Sentinel-2 to a couple of meters (10 m/px) or even centimeters 41 cm/px from DigitalGlobe's GeoEye-1.
In the context of temporal resolution, there are satellites that acquire the same spot under the same angle in a couple of days or even days.
All of these satellites, capture images in a different wavelength, which brings different information about the surveyed area, all the acquired information from specific wavelengths are stored in separate bands.
For visual purposes, like creating beautiful satellite maps, normally bands from the visible spectrum would be used like the blue, green, and red bands.
The creation of a beautiful satellite map, it's a bit of alchemy, it is necessary to process a large amount of data with a decent dose of algorithmic art. This is caused by huge variability in the quality of satellite images, e.g. there are parts in the world where it is almost impossible to find satellite images without any artifacts in them like clouds, snow, or shadows.
And that's why we in MapTiler do this tedious work for you and bring the best satellite maps to you in our MapTiler Cloud or thanks to our MapTiler Server you can host your satellite map on your own infrastructure by yourself. On our MapTiler Data page, you can find plenty of data sources, not just satellite data but also orthophoto, different maps, and so on.
MapTiler satellite maps
Are created from data that comes from satellite Sentinel-2 with spatial resolution 10 m/px, for coverage see the official Revisit and Coverage of Sentinel-2 mission from the European Space Agency (ESA). In our Cloud, you can find in overall 4 satellite maps. Our main MapTilerSatellite map is created from Satellite Mediumres 2020 (zoom level 0-13) and aerial data (zoom level 14-19).
Then we have separate satellite map layers from different years Mediumres 2016 (zoom level 0-13), Mediuemres 2018 (zoom level 0-13), and the latest one from Mediumres 2020 (zoom level 0-13). The quality of the maps goes in the same order, 2016 with the least quality to 2020 with the most detailed and highest map quality.
Link to product
10m/px - 20cm/px
Satellite Mediumres 2020
to be released
Satellite Mediumres 2018
2017 and 2018
Satellite Mediumres 2016
Satellite Medium res 2016
It having some qualitative issues (visible clouds) mainly in America, Asia, and areas around the equator. This was caused by the lower temporal resolution of Sentinel-2 around these areas until the year 2017 when Sentinel-2B was launched, which then increased the total revisit time and brought the higher quality of improved Satellite Mediures 2018. Both Satellite Mediumres 2016 and Satellite Mediumres 2018 have visible strips almost in all locations. This is caused by different time periods from which the algorithm was selecting input files for the final map creation. But in the areas like Europe, North Africa, Middle East, and Australia Satellite Mediumres 2016 is fairly looking.
Satellite Mediumres 2018
Thanks to the higher revisit time of twin satellites Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B, areas that did not contain clouds increased. Mountain ranges with snow cover look more real, they don’t contain that many clouds as in Mediumres 2016. Most of the coastlines and islands got significant improvement in quality. Asia and also America has fewer clouds on them, but strip visibility caused by different seasons is still significantly present. Finally, improved color toning brought a more realistic look to the satellite map. In Mediumres 2018 you can spot a huge improvement in quality, but we think that it was still far from perfect.
Satellite Mediumres 2020
We improved the algorithm in a way that the artifacts like clouds, snow, and shadows are visible only on a fraction of areas comparing to Satellite Mediumres 2018, also these areas are those with the least significance. We managed to eliminate the strip visibilities that were visible on both Mediumres 2016 and Mediumres 2018, also with the better algorithmic approach of selecting the input files we brought to you a more greeny-looking satellite map. We have also added a new NIR (B08) band to the final product, for analytic purposes. Finally, with the new-looking color toning, you can enjoy an even more realistic feel of a satellite map.
New Mediumres 2020
Let's take a look at some astonishing places on earth that you can find in our new Mediumres 2020.
But there is so much more to see. Find out more at the MapTiler Data page.
Using MapTiler satellite maps
You can find our satellite map on our MapTiler Cloud as MapTiler Satellite, currently, we are using Mediumres 2018 as the source dataset, but in a very short period, we would be switching it to our new Mediumres 2020 satellite map. You can try it for free.
For more info about satellite maps don’t hesitate to visit our MapTiler Satellite page.


Yes, literally from a train. I’m writing this on Amtrak’s #5, the westbound California Zephyr, on my way home from Omaha for Passover.
I’ll confess a weakness for trains. In this, I’m not unlike most Americans, although unlike the Americans running the government, I recognize the economic limitations of passenger trains in a country with a relatively low population density. But hey, if I’m already subsidizing the thing, I may as well use it, especially if planes are more expensive and buses are dirtier, more expensive, and take longer. Driving, in this day of $4-a-gallon gas, just means I’m spending too much money to also lose 8 hours of productivity.
With all but the northeast corridor reduced – essentially – to tourist service, Amtrak has scheduled the dull parts of the ride at night. The train goes from Chicago to San Francisco, and as there’s a fair amount of majesty in Colorado, and not so much on the fruited plain, the segment from Omaha to Denver is mostly at night both ways. This makes it the rare practical alternative to flying. I can leave Omaha at 11:00, and (usually) be in Denver by 7:30, and leave Denver at 7:30 PM, and be in Omaha by 5:00 AM.
It’s also a better class of passenger than on the bus, even with the lower fares. The problem is sleeping. When I was just out of college, I took a long train trip from DC, up to Toronto, and then across Canada on the Canadian, all the way out to Vancouver. I came back from Seattle to Washington. Another time, I took a trip down to Orlando to visit my parents. On both trips, I got a sleeper car. (On the second one, I took my electric typewriter with me and wrote a twenty-page term paper in my berth.) I can tell you that sleeping in a chair, even when you get both of them, with a CPAP, is a somewhat different experience. In any case, train travel has always been less North By Northwest, than our romantic imaginations would imply. For one thing, in that shot, it’s the scenery that moves.
The other thing I’ve re-discovered is that it’s easier to take pictures of trains than to take pictures from trains. When you’re driving, you can stop the car, maybe double back to take a shot you saw from the road. The train frowns upon that sort of behavior. Added to that, in recent years, Amtrak has changed its rolling stock on its cross-country trains. When I took that cross-country trip, the observation car looked like this:
Now, the trains are all double-decker:
You can see the problem. When the whole train is double-decker, you can’t see ahead, you can only see out the side of the train. You can’t see as much to begin with, and by the time you see something worth photographing, your shot ends up be perpendicular to the train’s motion, leaving you with a lot of blurry pictures. It also had the side-effect of slowing us down Thursday night because of high winds, costing us about 90 minutes into Denver.
The thing is, despite the somewhat newer rolling stock, the train still has an air of faded glory. The bathrooms are clean enough, but often not fully stocked. There seem to be plenty of staff, but on the train, it’s not entirely clear what they do when not at the station. The first time back at Denver, it took 30 minutes to move the luggage across the street from the train to the station. The one thing they don’t do it grope you on the way to your destination or make you stand in line for 2 hours, and I overheard a number of conversations that indicated Amtrak was benefiting from that behavior at airports.
The fact is, the train is an anachronism. It’s fun, it’s less money and less work than flying. But because it takes more time, it’s not how people travel these days. Most cross-country routes are tourist trains, and so there’s sense of guilty luxury, in spite of the price. And if you’re going farther than overnight, the cost of a room really does turn the trip into a luxury outing. These routes couldn’t exist with taxpayer subsidies; even with a fairly good ridership, I doubt they come close to breaking even. And they’re only half-full because there’s only one train a day, which limits your options.
But if it makes economic sense, it’s still a great way to go.


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March 13, 1857
A brief note calls attention to an abstract of the decision in another portion of the paper. “The decision is, to the last degree, infamous and tyrannical. None more cruel or abominable was ever given by Scroggs or Jeffries.”
The major points of the decision are included in another part of the paper. “The delivery of the opinion occupied about three hours, and was listened to with profound attention by a crowded court room. Among the auditors were gentlemen of eminent legal ability, and a due proportion of ladies.”
In a separate article, from the New York Tribune, that paper comments that the decision “has been heard and commented on here with mingled derision and contempt…If epithets and denunciation could sink a judicial body, the Supreme Court of the United States, would never be heard of again.” In regard to Taney, “His arguments were based on gross historical falsehood and bold assumptions, and went the whole length of the extreme Southern doctrine. He held that the Constitution was made only for white men, and that it carried slavery into the Territories. The decision, as it stands, is ample to head off all legislation by Congress on the slavery question, and effectually bridles the free States.”
Comments are closed.

domain: law


text:
Thought of the Day:
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” -George RR Martin
Joke of the Day:
What can a fisherman catch when it’s raining? A cold.
Random Fact of the Day:
Some makeup has fish scales in it.
Journal Entry Idea:
If you could meet any real person on earth, who would it be? Why?

domain: literature


The Yiddish Press as a Historical Source for the Overlooked and Forgotten in the Jewish Community
by Eddy Portnoy
Eddy Portnoy is Senior Researcher and Director of Exhibitions at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. He is the author of the recently-published (and much acclaimed, and fun) book, Bad Rabbi: And Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press (Stanford, 2017), available here (https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Rabbi-Strange-Stories-Stanford/dp/150360411X).
This is his first contribution to the Seforim Blog.
Sanhedrin 25 has this pretty well-known, somewhat rambling bit about what sorts of people are trustworthy enough to serve as witnesses in court. It’s pretty standard stuff. However, as part of this discussion, we get to learn about some early gambling practices among the Jews. While this topic is invoked mainly to denote the fact that gamblers may not be the most trustworthy folk, some of the details include a bit of haggling over whether people who who send their trained pigeons to steal other people’s pigeons can be considered as shysty as those who simply race pigeons for cash rewards. After a bit of back and forth, it is concluded that everyone involved in pigeon shenanigans are just as sleazy as dice players, who are banned by halakhah from serving as witnesses. The long and the short of it is that the Rabonim simply do not like the gambling.
When I first read Sanhedrin 25, I thought it was terrifically interesting, not because I had some investment in knowing whose testimony is considered worthy, nor because I’d just renovated the pigeon coop on top of my tenement. I was fascinated because it was an instance of the amoraim interfacing with the amkho. I have an abiding interest in the the amkho, those average, everyday Jews that make up the bulk of this freaky nation. These are the people you find on the margins of rabbinic discourse, those upon whom the rabbis meted out their rulings and punishments. Truth be told, I find these people much more interesting than either the rabbis or their fiddling with halakhah. Amazingly, in this discussion, the rabbis throw out some neat details about how pigeon racers would hit trees to make their pigeons go faster and how some people played a dice-like game with something called pispasin, a hardcore Jewish gambling habit that seems to gone the way of the dodo.
Unfortunately, Jewish traditional texts aren’t very amkho-friendly. The average Yosls and Yentas who smuggle their way into works produced by rabbinic elites generally appear because they somehow screwed up, did something the rabbis didn’t approve of and thus wound up being officially approbated, a fact they also often ignored. That fact notwithstanding, the amkho still appears to have retained a high regard for their rabbinic elites, in spite of the fact that they frequently disregarded rulings that interfered with anything they considered even remotely fun.
Take, for example, the body of rabbinic admonitions that trip their way from the gemara through 19th century responsa insisting that Jews refrain from attending theater and circus performances. Did any self-respecting Jew with tickets to whatever the 6th century version of Hamilton was ever say, “um, this isn’t permitted...we’d better not go.” This type of thing goes on for centuries. Sure, there’s a broad core of laws that most Jews stuck to, but, when it comes to matters of amusement or desire, the edges can get pretty fuzzy.
If you jump from the Talmudic period to the early 20th century (yes, I know this is ridiculous), one finds that the dynamic doesn’t change very much. The only real difference is that the rabbinic elite has lost much of its power and influence. Amkho still respects them, but they also still do what they want. One interesting factor is that there is now a forum where news of both the rabbis and the amkho begins to appear on a regular basis. This would be the Yiddish press, the first form of mass media in a Jewish language, a place where international and national news collided with Yiddish literature and criticism, where great essayists railed both in favor and against tradition, where pulp fiction sits alongside great literature, and where, among myriad other things, you can find a near endless supply of data on millions of tog-teglekhe yidn, everyday Jews who populated the urban ghettos of cities like New York and Warsaw. In a nutshell, the Yiddish press is a roiling and angry sea of words filled with astounding stories of all kinds of Jews, religious, secular and many who vacillate perilously between the two, aloft somewhere between modernity and tradition, taking bits of both, throwing it all in a pot and cooking it until it’s well done.
It is not at all uninteresting.
As a kind of wildly disjointed chronicle of Jewish life, Yiddish newspapers are an unparalleled resource on the pitshevkes, the tiny, yet fascinating details of Jewish urban immigrant life. Where else could one find out that Hasidim were a significant component of the Jewish audience at professional wrestling matches in Poland during the 1920s? Or that 50,000 Jewish mothers rioted against the public schools on the Lower East Side in 1906? Where could one discover that petty theft in Warsaw spiked annually just before Passover, when Jews were known to buy new clothes and linens? Is there a place you know of where one could find out that Jewish atheists antagonized religious Jews on Yom Kippur by walking around eating and smoking? Or that gangs of ultra-Orthodox Jews stalked the streets on Shabbos demanding people shut down their businesses? If you want to experience the knot of fury into which Jewish life was bound up, look no further than the Yiddish press.
Yiddish newspaper editors always knew where to find the juiciest stories and, for example, frequently sent journalists to cover goings-on in the Warsaw beyz-din. And it wasn’t because there were important cases being seen there, but because there was always some wild scandal blowing up in front of the rabbis that often ended up with litigants heaving chairs at one another. Whether it was some guy who thought it would be okay to marry two women and shuttle between them, or a woman who knocked out her fiancée’s front teeth after he refused to acknowledge that he had knocked her up. Like a Yiddish language Jerry Springer Show, brawls broke out in the rabbinate on a near daily basis during the 1920s and 1930s. The rabbis, of course, were mortified. But they kept at it. And the journalists of the Yiddish press were there to record.
Captions (top, middle, bottom):
"Gas masks as a security measure in the Rabbinate."
"A woman poured vitriol on her husband in a divorce case" (from the Rabbinate Chronicle)
"Thus can we now begin the case. Call in the two sides."
It may be that you don’t want to know that there were Jewish criminals, drunks, prostitutes, imbeciles, and myriad other types that comprise the lowest echelons of society. But these small, often inconsequential matters that litter the pre-WWII Yiddish press comprise the details of a culture that has largely disappeared. Moreover, one can find a wealth of information on the amkho, who they were, how they lived, how they thought and spoke. This of course, begs the question: what do we want out of history? Do we only want to know about the rabonim, the manhigim, the writers, the artists, and the businesspeople? Or do we also want to peek into the lives of the average, the boring, the unsuccessful, the dumb, and the mean? Do we want a full picture of the Jewish world that was, or do we only want the success stories?
For my money, I want to know as much as I can about how Jews lived before World War II. Not everyone’s great grandfathers were kley-koydesh. In fact, most weren’t and it’s sheer fantasy to think that most Jews had extensive yeshiva educations. Most Yiddish-speaking Jews were poor, uneducated, and sometimes illiterate. Many of them did dumb things, made bad decisions, and wound up in big trouble. Clearly a shonde, they may not have the yikhes we want, but, also, we don’t get to choose. They may not be the best role models, but they are nonetheless integral to the Jewish story.


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I had to really look to find something orange! I don't usually wear orange. First it isn't my favorite color and secondly my skin tends to have yellow tones so I don't think I look good in oranges or yellows.
I do have one outfit that is turquoise with orange flowers appliqued on it. I wear an orange scarf with it and interestingly enough I get a lot of compliments when I wear it. I guess there's enough turquoise that the orange doesn't look overwhelming.
Our bedspread -- which is in a box which was supposed to have arrived on the container but didn't -- has quite a bit of orange in it. So we painted three walls of our bedroom blue with an accent wall of orange. So here you are with my orange appliqued outfit and scarf and our orange wall.

domain: design


Grooves, grooves, grooves.
Get ready to read and hear a lot about them in the coming new year.
The equipment rule change taking effect with next week’s start of the new PGA Tour season at the SBS Championship in Kapalua is of interest to more than today's PGA Tour pros. Yesterday's top players are curious to see whether the game will look any more like the game they played, where missed fairways and greens were more severely punished.
During the Shark Shootout in Naples, three-time major championship winner Nick Price said he was interested in seeing how much a generation of young players who have relied on a bomb-and-gouge style will have to adjust. Industry experts have estimated that pros playing the traditional V-groove design will only get about half as much spin from shots from the rough as they got playing the U or square grooves.
“I think the days of finishing 180th in driving accuracy and winning four or five tournaments are over, I really do,” Price said.


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If a person repeatedly deals with the overuse or abuse of alcohol or any other substance, they should seek addiction counseling to overcome the illness. A three-phase approach involving detox, counseling and maintenance over the course of weeks is effective for helping sufferers defeat dependency. Additionally, kidneys release hormones aiding blood pressure regulation and affecting other organs. Damage to the kidneys creates a chain reaction that can lead to many other issues.
People use it in the short term to relieve fever and reduce inflammation. If you sprain an ankle or have oral surgery, ibuprofen is your best friend. We are dedicated to transforming the despair of addiction into a purposeful life of confidence, self-respect and happiness. We want to give recovering addicts the tools to return to the outside world completely substance-free and successful. At Inland Detox we treat individuals who are suffering from alcohol or drug addiction, at our facility located in Temecula, CA. Our staff are highly qualified and provide the best care to the clients that we treat.
The Side Effects of Alcohol
This second interaction is what can happen when you mix ibuprofen and alcohol. Ibuprofen is an over-the-counter medication that belongs to a class of drugs called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and is typically used to treat mild pain or inflammation. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism warns that taking ibuprofen and alcohol around the same time can lead to several adverse health effects. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is in a different drug class called analgesics. It may be even worse than ibuprofen to take while drinking because it can cause liver damage, and your liver takes quite a beating from alcohol too. Fortunately, educating patients about the risks of combining medications with alcohol may help them avoid negative outcomes.
The less developed teen brain is more susceptible to damage from alcohol and prone to a tendency to engage in risky behaviors. A higher amount of alcohol consumed when drinking means a greater chance of hangovers and the use of a pain reliever like ibuprofen to negate the effects. Alcohol can potentially irritate the gastrointestinal tract on its own, and NSAIDs are notable for drug-induced liver injuries. The combination can cause bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract. The two together might create ulcers, sores or tears in the esophagus, stomach or small intestine.
Can You Drink On Ibuprofen? Mixing Alcohol And Ibuprofen
While ibuprofen is readily available without a prescription and is generally considered a safe option for pain management, this doesn’t mean that it’s without its risks. Ibuprofen is a strong medication, eco sober house rating and when it’s not taken properly, it can have harmful effects. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reports, older adults risk more complications when mixing alcohol and Advil.
- Specific demographics may be more likely to abuse alcohol and ibuprofen or experience worse negative interactions.
- Someone who mixes alcohol and ibuprofen might increase the risk of kidney damage.
- The elderly are more likely to develop adverse effects when combining ibuprofen and alcohol.
- Ibuprofen belongs to a class of medication known as NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs).
- When taking ibuprofen, it is crucial to follow the directions on the package or prescription label.
However, this also changes how well the kidneys can do their job as filters, at least temporarily. The following sections discuss the health risks relating to taking ibuprofen and alcohol at the same time. However, dependence on medication can also negatively impact your life. At Ashley Addiction Treatment, we offer pain management and substance abuse programs that can reduce your reliance on medication. If you breastfeed or take other prescription or over-the-counter medications, ask your doctor if it’s safe to take ibuprofen.
The Experience Blog
Roughly 95 percent of alcohol in the bloodstream is broken down by the liver, and the rest is removed in the urine, exhaled through the lungs, or excreted in sweat. It takes about an hour for the average person to process 10 grams of alcohol, which is the amount of alcohol in a standard drink https://sober-house.net/ or a glass of wine. If someone drinks alcohol faster than their body can process it, their blood alcohol level will continue to rise. If you only occasionally take ibuprofen and accidentally have a drink around the same time, you typically don’t need to worry about experiencing side effects.
Better yet, speak with your healthcare provider about the amount of ibuprofen and alcohol you consume. Your healthcare provider can help you assess your actual risk so that you are not placed in harm’s way. Acetaminophen is a pain reliever found in many OTC medications.
Alcohol-Medication Interactions: Potentially Dangerous Mixes
The higher risk is because, the older you get, the harder it is to break down alcohol. Therefore, if you drink, you risk more complications from interactions. Ibuprofen can be risky for persons who already have impaired kidney function. Meanwhile, the risk of kidney damage is minimal in healthy people who only occasionally use the medication. Ibuprofen is a common pain reliever and a type of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). It functions by preventing your body from producing some natural inflammatory substances.
This goes for immediately post-imbibing, too, when you’re trying to preemptively treat the hangover-induced headache you know will hit in the A.M. The risk of damage to stomach lining increases the longer a person takes ibuprofen. Someone who takes ibuprofen daily for several months is at a greater risk of symptoms than someone who takes it only on occasion.


Authorities are investigating a Minnesota-based medical marijuana producer over the alleged illegal transport of $500,000 worth of medical cannabis oil, according to a Star Tribune report.
A former employee at Minnesota Medical Solutions has accused the licensed cannabis producer of transporting the oil illegally from its production facility in Minnesota to its parent company’s New York location, which was reportedly short on its production deadline at the time. The search warrant was filed May 26 in Hennepin County.
“We are confident the claims relied upon by regulatory authorities to begin the investigation will be found to be false,” the producers’ parent company Vireo Health said in a statement.
The former employee said they had been privy to a conversation among several MinnMed administrative officials, in which a significant inventory of cannabis oil was said could maybe “rescue New York.” According to the employee, the company’s chief medical officer (CMO) offered to drive the oil via armored car to New York and “make the inventory disappear.”
Health officials audited MinnMed’s Otsego location in May and found a missing inventory page from Dec. 16, which tracked product transfers out of the facility. Investigators also noted that there had been several product transfers in December with no recorded destination. Furthermore, many of said transfers were conducted after-hours, something that health officials eventually learned was “out of the ordinary.” In total, these transfers involved more than 5,580 grams of cannabis oil.
Vireo has released a two-page statement that says their New York location was not low on inventory and that the missing oil had been destroyed. The company said the discrepancies are a result of using tracking software designed for cannabis flower to account for oil products. According to the statement, this has led to dozens of transfers without listing a destination, “not just the small number of entries cherry-picked by the disgruntled former employee.”
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Environmental test chamber equipped with a temperature and humidity chamber on top and a muddy saltwater bath on the bottom are ideal for the automotive market
The reliability of automotive parts has an extremely high, and developed products must be able to withstand temperature and humidity cycle tests as well as air and liquid thermal shock tests, which cannot be evaluated with those conventional tests. As a result, we are seeing more severe tests and an increase in tests that combine various environmental factors that these parts are actually used.
For automotive sensor parts mounted around the outside of the body, the environmental factors include water splashes from the road, rainwater, and sodium chloride or calcium chloride contained in road antifreezing agents.
The Muddy Saltwater Cycle Test System was developed to meet the need for testing under these environmental factors. This system is equipped with a muddy saltwater bath below a hot chamber, enabling you to subject the specimen to severe temperature and humidity stress after being submerged in the muddy saltwater bath. It is possible to exposure the specimen to shocks that cannot be realized in a conventional environmental test chamber, and perform endurance tests closer to the environmental condition to be used.
- Muddy saltwater bath
- The test area is raised and lowered, and the specimen is submerged in the muddy saltwater. This process, which is conventionally done by hand, has been automated, and higher reproducibility tests can easily be performed.
- Unique program testing
- You can create a program that combines low temperature, high temperature and high humidity, muddy saltwater soaking, and high temperature testing and operate that automatically.
- Test profile (example)
- Corrosion resistant
- The inside chamber is made of titanium to prevent corrosion from saltwater. In addition, the heater and cooler are also made of titanium to enhance durability.
Test Sample Parts and automotive sensors inside the engine and around the outside of the body Purpose of use Investigation of failure factors due to exposure to greater stress and mud water and saltwater in actual environmental condition parts to be used Main markets Automotive parts manufacturers, electronic parts manufacturers (automotive sensor manufacturers) Processes Development and evaluation
- Temperature and humidity control range
- Chamber construction
- Main specifications
Model LTM-3701046 Method Two-zone method by transferring specimen up and down 200 V AC, 3 Φ, 3W, 50/60 Hz (Supporting any power supply voltage as an option)
(Power supply voltage fluctuation: Within ±10% of rated voltage)
Maximum load current 32A Performance*1 Temperature and humidity chamber – High humidity chamber Temperature range -40°C to +150°C Temperature fluctuation Within ±0.5°C Temperature uniformity Within ±1.5°C Temperature heat-up time Within 60 minutes from -40°C to +150°C Temperature pull-down time Within 60 minutes from +20°C to -30°C (average) Humidity control range 60 to 98%rh Humidity fluctuation ±5%rh Humidity distribution ±5%rh Water chamber – Silicate mud water chamber Temperature range Temperature range
Ambient temperature result
* May fluctuate due to effects of high humidity chamber
Temperature recovery sampling data pattern Operation method
- Program operation by chamber controller.
- Controlling cylinder for sample transfer by time signal during water temperature exposure.
- Capable to control chamber temperature. Water temperature is uncontrollable and reading water temperature from water temperature gauge.
Data pattern 1.High-temperature exposure: +25°C/5 min.→
2.High-temperature exposure: -30°C/60 min.→
3.High-temperature exposure: +80°C 80% RH/30 min.→
4.Silicate mud water exposure: ambient temperature (result)/30 min.
(Hot chamber is in standby at +40°C)→
5.High-temperature exposure: +40 Sample pattern
* Data is sampled by adding approximate temperature change time to above times.
Brine muddy saltwater (perform using city water) Sensor location Within test area frame/up-stream from specimen (high-humidity exposure) Temperature recovery target Within 5 minutes (no specimen) Performance*1 Specimen transfer time Transfer time from hot chamber to water chamber: 5 seconds
* There may be a large mechanical shock
Transfer time from water chamber to hot chamber: 10 seconds
Construction Interior Titanium (body, water chamber) Heater (high humidity chamber) Sheathed heater (titanium) 2 kW Humidifier (high humidity chamber) Boiler type 2 kW Cooler/dehumidifier
(high humidity chamber)
Plate fin cooler
(material: titanium alloy), 1 unit
(high humidity chamber)
Sirocco fan 1 Φ, 30/32 W, 2 units
* Fan and shaft have corrosion resistant coating
Agitator (water chamber) None
* Optional when needed.
Refrigerator unit Method: water-cooling single-step refrigeration system
Compressor: hermetically sealed rotary compressor 1.2 kW
Refrigerant: R404A (HFC)
Condenser: water-cooler condenser, 1 unit
Dimensions / Weight Outside dimensions W1260 × H2000 × D1373mm Test area dimensions W200 × H160 × D150mm Test area load capacity 5kg Weight Approx. 450 kg (not including liquid weight) Water chamber liquid weight Approx. 65 L
- *1 With ambient temperature of +23°C and no specimen
- * The model is for operational purposes and may be changed after order. Thank you for your understanding.


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CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - New Dominion’s Lauren Lenentine has another medal to add to her collection after she won gold as an alternate with Canada’s junior women’s world championship rink from Nova Scotia.
The Kaitlyn Jones skipped-squad from Halifax, N.S., earned the title at the event in Aberdeen, Scotland, with a 7-4 win over defending champion Isabella Wrana of Sweden.
China’s Zixin Wang won the bronze medal with an 11-5 win over Norway’s Maia Ramsfjell.
Lenentine, 17, skipped P.E.I. to a 5-0 start at the Canadian juniors in January and finished 5-5. She was asked after nationals to join the Jones rink for the worlds after it won the Canadian title.
The Tyler Tardi rink from Langley, B.C., won the men’s title thanks to a 6-5 extra end victory over the host Scottish foursome.
It was Canada’s first sweep at the worlds since 2015.
Summerside native Suzanne Birt and Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue accomplished the double in 2001.


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We’ve all heard food is medicine. Do you believe it?
I mean really believe it, enough to change your lifestyle?
I had two very different conversations at church on Sunday. I don’t see these friends often, so it was good to catch up with them. One was grappling with the early stages of arthritis. A talented musician, she was struggling to play her instruments without pain. I explained to her that my husband and I have experienced significant reduction in our pain levels (especially Jim’s knee pain) since adopting a gluten-free diet. She just smiled, as if that was a nice thought, but was never going to happen in her lifetime. I told her that going without gluten can be a hard lifestyle transition for some people. She quickly replied, “Yes, especially in my family!” She regularly prepares meals for her four young adult male children. It would be a difficult undertaking. I understand that.
After the second church service, my other friend was commenting on how delicious the Christmas treats looked, but how he’d better stay away from them. I was curious and inquired. He said he started a gluten-free diet three months ago and has never felt better. This was exciting news to me! I remember a time when he had requested prayer for his major back problems, and missed days of work because of severe pain. Now his back and joint pain are going away. He is enjoying his job more, since he has increased energy and mental clarity. Since going gluten-free, this middle-aged family man has also reduced his sugar intake and tried new foods, and he believes that is contributing to his improved health as well. I was so happy for him.
What a contrast! I was struck by the divergent nature of these two situations. Both are my friends and I want the best for them. I’m still hoping that my musician friend will discover food can be powerful medicine.
Food as Medicine
Despite what we’ve been told by some doctors in the medical establishment, food can be quite healing. Or put in the reverse, the elimination of certain foods can improve health. Yes, changing your food can change your life for the better. Ten years ago, I was told food had nothing to do with my digestive troubles. Instead, my gastroenterologist said that I had a stomach acid “condition” that could be remedied by taking prescription drugs. I wish now I would have put my faith in food instead of his diagnosis and treatment plan! I eventually did, but it took three more years and lot more pain before I changed my diet and discovered the healing power of food. (Read more about my story and the dangers of proton pump inhibitors.)
Have you ever thought of food as a drug? When you take a pill, it alters your chemistry and the way your body responds to viruses, bacteria, or inflammation. Food does the same thing! When you eat a food, it alters your body’s physiological response, either building a stronger and healthier immune system OR compromising the body’s natural defenses, weakening its core structure.
For example, when I eat organically-grown vegetables without pesticide residue, my body takes those wonderful phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals and turns them into building blocks for each cell, muscle, and bone. The broccoli I consumed three hours ago is strengthening my mitochondria right now.
However, when I eat white refined sugar, my body doesn’t recognize that as a building block. In fact, that sugar actually sets off a cascade of inflammatory responses. (See 146 Reasons Sugar Ruins Your Health.) That inflammation affects the weakest link in my body. For me, it’s my digestion and skin. For you, it may be your joints or bones. For others, that inflammation may cause headaches or allergies or even psychological symptoms, like anxiety or depression. If the inflammation continues for years, it can causes serious and dangerous diseases, like diabetes or cancer. And all because of what you put in your mouth!
(Side note – I realize there are other factors at play here. Exercise, sleep patterns, stress, and inherited genes all play a role in determining your overall health. But for this post, I want to demonstrate how influential dietary choices can be, because what you eat is something you have great control over! And new research is showing that gene expression is controlled largely by environmental factors. That means our lifestyle choices can turn on or turn off genes that we inherited by our parents and grandparents! How empowering is that!?)
Building Up or Tearing Down
Though the synthesis of food in your digestive tract is quite complex, for the purposes of this discussion, you can view food in two camps, as building up (anti-inflammatory) OR tearing down (inflammatory). In this way, food acts like medicine. The technical definition of the word medicine is, “a compound or preparation used for the treatment or prevention of disease, especially a drug or drugs taken by mouth.”
If sourced from quality producers, taken in the right amounts, and in the right preparation, food can be the best healer. Grass-fed beef and real butter have amino acids that build muscle and bones. Organic vegetables and fruits have rich vitamins and minerals that make new brain cells and repair nerve endings. Cultured foods, like yogurt and sauerkraut, have diverse probiotics to enhance digestion and build immune cells.
If obtained from inferior producers, over eaten in large quantities, and prepared in harmful ways, food can be slow poison. CAFO (confined animal feeding operations) poultry and beef contain antibiotics and hormones that can disrupt our delicate hormonal cycles. The Dirty Dozen vegetables contain high levels of pesticides that can damage our livers and kidneys, the detoxifying organs. Sugar-loaded soda pop, juices, and ice cream and high-carbohydrate white bread, bagels, and pasta can cause elevated blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer. Highly processed junk food of any kind contains synthetic chemicals, artificial dyes, MSG, and trans fats. These so-called foods pollute our bodies. In the long term, they can be fatal.
What does your body prefer? Have you asked it lately?
New Year, New Food Choices
If food is truly medicine, then I challenge you to use it to its fullest potential in the new year. It’s the perfect time to examine your lifestyle choices. Shake off the sugar from Christmas dessert and adjust your mindset. Real food is healing. Change your food; change your life. Try these three things.
(I’m not a doctor. I believe in these recommendations, but they are for informational purposes. Please consult with your licensed physician for medical advice.)
1) Eliminate gluten
The best way to know if you have gluten sensitivity is try a gluten-free diet for 30 days. Get rid of all wheat, barley and rye. Watch out for hidden sources in soy sauce, processed meats, and soups. Listen to your body carefully during this time. Watch for struggles like withdrawal headaches or severe cravings for wheat. But also watch for signs of improvement, like increased energy, reduced joint pain, less bloating, and fewer headaches. In one month, try reintroducing wheat and see what happens. At this point, most people know if gluten is a problem. You might be surprised! If you have any suspicion of celiac disease, get tested first! For more information, read my previous posts about gluten.
- An Open Letter to People Who Think I’m on a Fad Diet (Why I Eat Gluten Free)
- Top 3 Gluten-Free Diet Mistakes
- Why is Gluten Sensitivity on the Rise?
- Beginner’s Guide to Going Gluten Free
2) Reduce your refined sugar intake
You already know that sugar causes inflammation. It’s also addictive. Some studies have concluded that white sugar is more addictive than cocaine! For me, it was best to stop sugar cold turkey. But you may want to wean yourself. Replace conventional white sugar with organic sugar, then coconut sugar, then honey and maple syrup. You can also reduce the amount of sugar you place in baking recipes over time. In our house, we only use honey and maple syrup for baking. Avoid agave syrup as it is extremely processed and contains high amounts of fructose. As you reduce sugar in your diet, watch for improvements, such as less brain fog, increased energy, and fewer colds and flu viruses. For more ideas about how to reduce or eliminate refined sugar from your diet, see the following posts.
- 12 Ways to Cut Sugar Out of Your Diet – Paleo Hacks
- How to Detox from Sugar – Dr. Mark Hyman
- 5 Ways to Help Our Kids Eat Less Sugar – Simple Life, Abundant Life
- A Few Healthier Alternatives to Table Sugar – Hug a Tree with Me
- What Surprising Thing Happens When You Eliminate Sugar? – Paleo Diet Basics
3) Buy your food from quality sources
In other words, know your farmer. I encourage you to purchase your food from people you know! We buy grass-fed beef from my mom’s friend, who owns a small ranch about 30 miles from our house. We buy pastured lamb for special occasions from a ranch about 60 miles south of our home.
In the summer months, we buy from local farmers markets and grow a large vegetable garden that saves us hundreds of dollars. We occasionally shop at grocery stores and order bulk items from the family-owned company Azure Standard. We always try to select organic fruits and vegetables on The Dirty Dozen list. Poultry is tough to get locally, since it’s so expensive. But we buy organic chicken in bulk when it’s on sale. Just knowing where your food comes from is a huge boon to health!
Healing with Real Food Takes Time
Keep in mind that these three steps will take you several months to fully complete, maybe even a year or more. Don’t expect it all to happen quickly. Eating real food in our culture is difficult at times, but it’s not impossible. You’ll have to work at finding real food sources. You’ll have to practice saying “no” to junk food. You’ll have to learn what it means to live a “food as medicine” lifestyle.
Also remember that switching to a “food as medicine” program does not equate to fast progress in health. It’s not a quick fix. It often means slow improvements over time. It took me three weeks to feel any progress from a gluten-free diet. But as the inflammation in my body decreased, I felt better and better. If you are currently in a “sickness” state, it’s going to take time to recover. Give real food a chance and give it time to work. So, my encouragement to you is DON’T GIVE UP!
Are you ready for a “food as medicine” mindset? Go for it and don’t look back. You will be glad you did! I welcome your question and comments. If I can help in any way, let me know.
Have a blessed new year!

domain: food


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The Haibike xDuro AllMtn 10.0 FLYON 2020 is equipped with a carbon Flyon frame, full suspension and is the top spec model in the FLYON range with up rated DT Swiss wheels and suspension and Sram Eagle 12 Speed drive train. Built with 150mm front and rear travel. Ideal for trail riding, all mountain, single track & trail centres. With big enough travel to tackle the bike parks but not too big to tackle single track.
The Haibike FLYON is probably the biggest developmental leap since the invention of the eMTB and is the most powerful ePerformance bike available. with a massive 120Nm of torque and 820% assistance you can accelerate faster than any other eBike, powering up hills. The Haibike FLYON is the future of eBiking.
Using a TQ HPR120S mid drive motor, the FLYON range offers 120 Nm of torque, making it more powerful than any other ePerformance bike currently available. To put it into perspective, top of the line Bosch, Shimano or Yamaha motors output between 70 to 85 Nm. You will literally “Fly Uphill”. This is thanks to the 48V system Haibike uses along with the top of the line transmission of the TQ motor.
The FLYON range will use a 48V battery with a capacity of 630Wh. The waterproof battery can be charged via a 4amp charger either directly through the bike or separately when removed. The battery can be charged to with an additional 10 amp charger which brings a empty battery to 80% within 60 minutes.
Frame: Carbon/Aluminium, thru-axle M12 (1.75) x 148mm, disc brake Post Mount, Travel: 150mm
Fork: DT Swiss F535-One Lockout, air, Travel: 150mm, aluminium steerer tube 1 1/8" - 1 1/2" tapered, thru-axle Boost
Rear: DT Swiss R535 One, air
Rear Derailleur: Sram XX1 Eagle, 12-speed
Shift Lever: Sram XX1 Eagle, trigger switch
Cassette: Sram Eagle PG1230, 11-50 teeth
Chain: Sram XX1 Eagle
Chain Ring: aluminium, Haibike Components The Chainring, 38
Brake Lever: Magura MT7 HC-lever, aluminium
Front Brake: Magura MT7, 203mm
Rear Brake: Magura MT7, 203mm
Tyres: Maxxis Minion DHF, 63-622 / Maxxis Minion DHR II, 71-584
Wheel Set: DT Swiss HX 1501
Handlebar: Haibike Components The Bar ++ 780mm
Grips: Haibike MTB Grips
Stem: Haibike Components TheStem 2, A-head, Bar bore: 31.8mm
Headset: A-Head Tapered
Saddle: Haibike Components TheSaddle
Seat Post: XLC AllMtn, Remote, telescope, 34.9mm, aluminium
Pedals: MTB platform pedal aluminium
Headlight: Haibike Skybeamer 5000, 150 lux
Rear Light: Haibike Twin TailLights
Motor: Flyon HPR120S, 25km/h, 120 Nm Torque
Battery: Flyon The Battery 630Wh
Display: Flyon The Display
Charger: Haibike The Battery Charger 4A


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In December 2011 an international conference took place in Oxford to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Italo Svevo, and to take stock of the continuing influence exerted by his work at the start of the third millennium. With over 100 participants from all over the world, the conference represented a unique moment of reflection and exchange of ideas among the foremost Svevo specialists. Resulting from that meeting, the 38 papers included in this two volume publication represent the cream of current scholarship on one of the best known (in Italy and abroad) among the Italian writers at the turn from the 19th to the 20th century. Svevo's masterpiece, La coscienza di Zeno (1923), was one of the most significant Modernist novels, admired by the likes of J. Joyce, T. Mann and E. Montale, and has become one of the major narrative works in the Italian language.
Taking advantage of the unique richness of the cultural background of its Triestine author and drawing abundantly from the Germanic philosophical tradition (Schopenhauer in particular), the novel was also one of the very first works of fiction to dialogue with Freudian discourse and with Darwinian theories, at the same time effecting a true revolution in terms of literary style; its legacy (as shown by several contributors) is visible in terms of direct and indirect influence on many Italian and non-Italian writers in the course of the 20th century, and beyond. These two volumes will be an indispensable companion to the work of all those (students, teachers, researchers, or simple readers) who wish to understand the momentous transformations taking place in Italy and in Europe at the dawn of the past century and leading to the two World Wars and the shaping of new models of society. Svevo's work is not only a mirror of his own time from an unusual and particularly revealing perspective, but also an exceptionally lucid analysis of the fundamental questions elicited by those changes, and their effects on human behaviour.
Giuseppe Stellardi's main research interests lie in modern Italian literature, literary theory and continental philosophy. He has published on Dossi, Tarchetti, Svevo, Gadda, Moravia, Morante and Eco. He has also worked on Deconstruction (Derrida) and on metaphor. He is currently working on a book on time in 20th century Italian literature. Emanuela Tandello Cooper specialises in modern and contemporary Italian poetry. She is currently working on a major project on the poetry of Giacomo Leopardi, and has also translated and published the work of Canadian poet Anne Carson, in Italy.
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- ID: 9781783064236
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domain: library


text:
3D BELLY CASTING & BELLY HENNA
Cherish this pregnancy for years to come with a 3D belly cast
Honour this unique pregnancy with traditional belly henna designs
Register for this class TODAY!
Are you interested in having your pregnancy moulded to create a forever lasting memory, OR maybe you want to honour this beautiful journey with pregnancy henna. Our professionals are taught to create a private atmosphere in which we prepare, cast/apply henna and clean up.
What is included:
Preparations of the cast and belly OR traditional henna
All moulding materials OR henna materials
Basic finishing for castings provided. Additional finishing options available at extra cost.
Due at time of registration
This is a great gift or first time mothers, especially when combined with one of our RMBC celebrations or ceremonies <3

domain: artistic


text:
Luvin life on the lake…usny(upstate ny) …is about enjoying the view, the unique and sensory experience of sights, sounds and smells of living and playing on the water, at the cottage, lake house, beach or boat …tucked into our slice of paradise.
With a passion for photography, waterfront living provides an endless and ever-changing backdrop …. a plethora of subject matter and activity, so I hope you enjoy…the view.
Perhaps the words may touch some common shore, spark a memory or a laugh along the way…for those who share… the waterfront experience.
A passion and a place is all that is required…so… never take the view for granted…(waterfront)…of course.
I hang my hats …on the Golden Crescent along the eastern shores of Lake Ontario…luvin life on the lake upstate ny.
Link to my photo blog… J’s eye…on? (the other view ; )
14 thoughts on “About”
Thanks for the “likes” and Following. I love your blog…really nice photography and look forward to getting to know you.
U too…and me too. Thanks.
Thank you for following. You have a lot of nice photographs here. I look forward to seeing more.
Thank you. I really like your Leaves post.
Beautiful photos and such a lovely place to live. I look forward to seeing some more. 🙂
Thank u so much.
Hi, and thanks for the following.
You have sooo many wonderful pictures, it´s gonna be exiting to follow.
Thank you. I need to get back to it Thanks again. Enjoying yours too.
Thank you very much for following my blog! I’m looking forward to more of your posts.
Me too. Thanks
beautiful picture here 🙂
Thanks very much for following my blog at http://countrygardenuk.com/ I am sure I will enjoy following your beautiful blog and I hope that you enjoy a glimpse into my life in the English countryside.
Thank you, I am a fellow gardener too. Looking forward to yours as well.


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Series concept: A Hunter is one who travels the world doing all sorts of dangerous tasks.
The latest piece to arrive is a look at episode 24 where Silva has a heart-to-heart with Killua!
It’s been a long time since I watched the Hunter x Hunter simulcast but the show was a real treat over its run which Crunchyroll had handled.
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domain: hobby


Since launching three years ago, California Restaurant Association Foundation’s “Restaurants Care” hardship program, with a mission to help individuals in the restaurant industry in need, has awarded 477 $500-$1,500 grants to restaurant workers statewide.
In the last five weeks, since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Sacramento-based program has granted 447 grants, ranging from $300 to $1,000, to restaurant workers either with the coronavirus, taking care of an immediate family member who has fallen ill with the disease or that is unable to access financial support otherwise. In San Diego County, Restaurants Care has aided 155 workers from restaurants like OB Noodle House, Puesto, Craft & Commerce and Raised by Wolves, to list a few, according to Program Director Alycia Harshfield.
“Our mission is to take care of the most vulnerable at heart in our industry and we are staying true to that mission through COVID-19,” said Harshfield, who is based out of Carlsbad and has another four colleagues also headquartered in Southern California.
Not only is the program helping restaurant workers in her hometown, she said, but it is also benefitting from the philanthropic efforts from members of San Diego’s food and beverage industry, including Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey, which donated $100,000 to the organization.
Steve Yeng, co-owner and founder of Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey, said having been a part of the restaurant community for the past decade, he and his wife, Brittany Yeng, felt a special connection to the organization, its mission and its work in helping people in his own backyard.
Provide the Most Impact
“When Brittany and I heard about and quickly saw the impact that restaurant and bar dine-in closures were going to have on the food service industry, we knew we had to help our community and we had to do it fast,” said Steve Yeng. “Our family has been in the bar and restaurant industry for over 10 years and we were thinking about what we could do to provide the most impact to assist others, so we quickly committed to a couple of initiatives. We know it takes an entire team.”
To apply for a Restaurants Care grant, Harshfield said individuals have to complete an application online and it is first come, first serve. She said there are nearly 7,000 more requests for grants in the cue, which the organization can’t currently cover. To continue to raise funds and fulfill the immediate needs of restaurant workers statewide, Harshfield said California Restaurant Association Foundation is rethinking its funding model to hopefully continue to sustain the program and counting on the San Diego community to help do so. Because the organization is very business-to-business oriented, she said the challenge will be in becoming more consumer-facing to gain the support of individuals.
In the meantime, Restaurants Care will continue to use social media and its platform to raise awareness, said Harshfield. On that front, the program is currently running a campaign on its social media handles and website called “86 My Hair”, with members of the culinary industry vowing to significantly cut their hair or shave their heads once their fundraising goals are met.


I had not really noticed this missile at the Museum of Aviation. The reason was that it sits behind the eye-catching, powerful SR-71 “ Blackbird” in the Century of Flight Hangar. While I was walking down the stairs behind the SR-71 the other day, I realized that there was a missile there standing upright. It immediately caught my interest. It was an SA-2. It stands 35 feet tall.
As I stood there I thought of the recent downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 that was allegedly brought down by a Russian surface-to-air missile over Ukraine. The SAM that was used, if true, was surely a descendent of the Soviet designed S-75 Dvina SAM system that was created in the 1950s and used by the North Vietnamese in the Vietnam War. NATO gave the S-75 the designation “SA-2” and the name “Guideline.” According to many sources, the SA-2 became the most widely deployed air defense system in history.
The Soviets introduced the SA-2 system in 1957. There were 4,600 launchers built.
In the 1960s, the SA-2 became well known for several incidents. The most famous incident was the 1960 downing of Francis Gary Powers in the American U-2 spy aircraft over the Soviet Union. Another well-known downing of an American plane occurred in 1962 when another U-2 was hit with an SA-2 over Cuba.
The greatest use of the SA-2 system was in Vietnam. With Soviet-built MiGs added to the mix of war along with surface-to-air missiles, U.S. planes were vulnerable to incoming fire. The U.S. had to quickly adapt. In his book “The 11 Days of Christmas,” Marshall L. Michel III writes, “It would be the first and only time that the latest and most modern air defense technologies of the Soviet Union and the most modern jet fighter planes and bombers of the United States confronted each other in combat.” About 200 U.S. aircraft were shot down by the SA-2 during the Vietnam Era.
Many pilots and crew who served in the skies of South and North Vietnam had stories of near misses from what some called “flying telephone poles” coming at them. With MiGs, SAMs and other types of small and large anti-aircraft fire, the skies over Vietnam were a dangerous place to be.
The SA-2 sites themselves had as many as six missiles on launchers, a guidance radar and an acquisition radar. According to the National Museum of the Air Force, “the SA-2 missile had a solid fuel booster that launched and accelerated it, then dropped off after about six seconds. While in the booster stage, the missile did not guide. During the second stage, the SA-2 was guided, and a liquid –fuel rocket propelled it to the target.”
The U.S. military had several answers to the SA-2, such as anti-radar missiles and powerful jamming equipment placed on aircraft. Fighter-bombers were fitted with radar homing and warning equipment that enabled the aircrew to detect and attack SAM sites and radar-guided guns. The aircrews and aircraft were known as “Wild Weasels” and they engaged the SAM sites in a very dangerous game of cat and mouse. The “Wild Weasels” courageously placed themselves in harm’s way to protect other American aircraft.
SA-2 missiles, in a more advanced form, are still used today in countries around the world. Countries like Vietnam, Egypt, North Korea and China are among them.
The next time you are over at the Museum of Aviation, take a look at the SA-2 behind the Blackbird. It is worth stopping for a moment and reflecting on its history and the impact it has had on our world.


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On Monday night, the Wellesley Little League Astros completed a near-perfect season with a 4-2 win over the Padres to take the National League title at Reidy Field. The league includes third-sixth graders.
The Red Sox nipped the Pirates at Reidy the same night, thanks in part to what we hear was a great outfield catch, to take the American League title.
The Angels won the senior baseball league championship Sunday, overcoming a 7-run deficit to prevail 10-8 against the Orioles at Fiske. The league includes 7-9th graders.
In softball, the Hurricanes won the senior league, while the Wolverines won the junior league.

domain: game


text:
Hello Friends!!! I’m finally back after a week long vacation and I’m so ready to film the next couple of videos I have planned.
I finally made the dive into buying an Anastasia eyeshadow palette. I have never owned one before because I always thought I could find something similar for cheaper but when the Prism Palette came out I really convinced myself that I needed it because the colors in the palette were so unique. In this video I try on a few shades and review the palette for myself. I don’t want to spoil the video but I can honestly say that sometimes you do compromise on the quality when you buy cheaper makeup and this palette was definitely higher in quality compared to other eyeshadows I own. If you would like to see what I thought about the palette watch my video below and I will see you next time!!! ❤


The seemingly polarized pair of Talib Kweli and Freddie Gibbs joins forces today alongside Flint’s Jon Connor. The trio came together for “Makes No Sense,” a new track that popped up earlier this afternoon without much context or explanation.
Wherever this one came from and wherever it’s headed, it’s a powerful joint with three formidable musicians all bringing their best game. Listen to that below, look out for Talib’s Prisoner of Conscious on May 7 and Gibbs’ The Neck Tie Party later this year.
Listen: Talib Kweli f/ Freddie Gibbs & Jon Connor "Makes No Sense”


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Thank you for viewing our profile
If you would like to learn more about us, please call 1-800-ADOPTION (2367846), fill out the form at the bottom of our on-line profile page, or email us at email@example.com.
To revisit our on-line profile page and view our profile video at American Adoptions, simply use your mobile phone to scan the QR code on the right. We are looking forward to hearing from you!
Paul & Addie
We appreciate you taking the time to look at our profile! We acknowledge the bravery and selflessness that goes into making an adoption plan. We hope our profile can give you a glimpse into our lives and the life a child would have in our home. Having a family is something we have always looked forward to and we know watching our family grow through adoption will be remarkable!
We enjoy a simple life finding any excuse to spend time together and making every task into something fun. We both work in town meaning our morning commute is only about four minutes, or in Addie's case, some days the morning commute is just downstairs to the home office. After work we have always felt eating supper together is important and will continue to do that as we grow our family. When we aren't working you can find us tending to the garden out back, sharing laughs with friends and family, or catching a local ball game. One of our favorite things to do in our free time is host family when they come to town. We love living so close to our families and take any opportunity we can to cook a meal and get everyone together to enjoy an evening. We attend church every Sunday morning and find ourselves busy throughout the week taking in the different activities our community has to offer. It is also important to us to get out of town and relax even if it's just to enjoy the porch at Paul's parent's home, cheer on our nephews and niece in their activities, fish at the family cabin with Addie's mom, or grab a bite to eat from the food truck Addie's dad owns. Overall we stay busy, but always make sure to have time for us through the week and can't wait to add youth activities to the calendar.
Qualities We Love, Admire and Respect in Each Other
Addie About Paul: Paul is the type of man you're proud to know. He makes everyone smile with his contagious positivity and his charming personality. Paul takes advantage of every moment he can to make others feel loved and welcomed whether it be in our home, at work, or in the community. He is always ready with a helping hand and doesn't think twice when others ask for help. Paul doesn't do anything halfway and parenting will be no exception. His dependability is second to none and his patience, understanding, and cheesy jokes prove to me time and time again that he will make an amazing dad.
Paul About Addie: Addie loves to spend time with our family. Family is her priority, and she keeps them to the top of our list as often as possible. I admire how hard she works at maintaining relationships with those she cares about. Whether they be family, friends, or people she met once on a vacation, she maintains a very open dialogue with those she cares about, and I love that about her. I respect her work ethic, and how hard she focuses on her job, family, and other commitments in the community. I am ecstatic to do parenting with Addie and watch her take on a role as a mom.
We love and celebrate people of all different races, cultures, and backgrounds in our home. We have family that come from cultures different than our own and we have learned so much from them. Raising a child of a race/culture different than our own will come with challenges, but we are willing and able to put in the time to educate ourselves to be the most supportive parents we can be for this child. We want to raise a child to be proud of who they are regardless of their skin color, cultural background, or interests. We will encourage open and honest communication on the topics of race and culture so that the child knows they are supported. We will not belittle any feelings a child may have regarding race and we will do the work to help them feel secure and proud. We will never be able to fully understand what the child is going through regarding race issues, but we will be there to listen and to love and support them through their life.
Our House and Neighborhood
We live in a small town in Nebraska. Our town is within an hour of a large city which allows us to enjoy the simple side of a small town while still enjoying the benefits of a big city. Our town hosts a lot of different events for families and encourages everyone to get out and spend time together. We have various restaurants, walking trails, parks, lakes, great schools, and places for entertainment. Our town has lots of young families as well as families touched by adoption. We love how friendly and welcoming our community is and all the resources our town works to bring to us. We are fortunate enough to live near the public elementary school which means we have playgrounds just a couple of houses away, our town has also approved the building of a large new park that will be walking distance from our home.
Our home is a three-bedroom home with an open concept for the living areas. When weather permits, our favorite place to be is our fenced in backyard. We love to grill, garden, and host family gatherings under the nice shade our trees provide. During the colder months we enjoy spending time in our cozy basement watching movies, or cooking and baking together in the kitchen.
Our Extended Families
Family has always been our number one priority and we are so fortunate that we live close to the majority of our close and extended relatives.
Paul has a younger brother that lives in Iowa which is a short drive for us when we want to visit or when he wants to visit us.
Addie has an older sister, a younger brother, and a variety of step siblings. Addie's sister and her sister's family live in a town nearby and her brother lives in Texas.
We were both raised in families that valued hard work, but also liked to have a good time together. When we get together with our families we enjoy playing games, spending time outside, laughing around the supper table, and overall just being in the presence of one another. This child will be brought into a large loving family that can't wait to welcome him or her with open arms. We look forward to raising a child alongside his/her cousins with the support of those this child will be able to call aunt, uncle, grandma, and grandpa.
From Us to You
Thank you for taking the time to look into this brief description of our life! We know you are here because of the love for your child, and we admire you for your strength through such a difficult decision. We can promise you that our home is a home full of love, stability, and understanding. Your child would be joining a family that can't wait to adore them and to share life's experiences with them.
We have been married for 3½ years. What started as a blossoming romance on a college campus has turned into a loving and happy marriage. We encourage each other to be better versions of ourselves and take pride in one another's accomplishments. We enjoy the simple things in life together and can't wait to enjoy those things with a child. We both loved our childhood and can't wait to raise a child and get to experience our childhood again through them.
Our community is inclusive and embraces the idea of keeping young families local. This means our community works hard to be sure families and children have fun activities to do throughout the year. The events and priorities in our town are geared towards making life for our youth as fun and positive as possible. In the summer you can cool off under a fireman's hose after a water balloon fight in the streets or watch the fireworks crackle overhead. In the fall you can collect more Halloween candy than you could ever eat at the local businesses, or catch the candy during the local parades. In the winter you can watch as downtown turns into a Hallmark movie and Santa comes to visit. Any time in between these events you can enjoy one of the various playgrounds or pools. We may be a smaller community, but our community works hard to ensure we have all we need right here.
While we value fun in our home, we also value hard work. Education is extremely important to us. Our community has public and parochial schools to choose from all of which provide an exceptional education. We have clubs and organizations in town that further this education into extracurriculars. We want a child to appreciate a quality education, but we also want them to feel free to explore their own interests and find their own passions. Our proximity to larger cities allows us to be able to take advantage of different organizations or camps that may not be offered locally.
We would love for this child to have a relationship with you. At a minimum we will share letters, photos, and stories with you as this child grows. However, we hope that the bond we have over loving this child will also bring us closer and allow us to create an ideal open adoption for the child. The openness of the adoption is something we are willing to work with you on to find what works best for all involved with the best interest of the child in mind. The openness of our relationship may vary based on the age of the child and proximity in our locations. We feel if we can be open in our communication with one another we can work towards making choices we are all comfortable with that also puts this child first.
We are ready to devote our marriage and our time to growing our family and giving our love to a child. This opportunity is not something we take lightly and there are no words to describe the respect we have for you as you navigate this difficult decision.
Paul & Addie

domain: sociology


Thanks to a new ruling by the US Department of Transportation (DOT), airlines are now required to allow small musical instruments, such as a violin or guitar, to be carried into the cabin and stowed in approved stowage spaces, if available, and/or under the seat.
“Under the rule, musical instruments as carry-on items are treated no differently from other carry-on items and the stowage space should be made available for all carry-on items on a “first come, first served” basis,” reads the new ruling. “Carriers are not required to give musical instruments priority over other carry-on baggage, therefore passengers traveling with musical instruments may want to buy the pre-boarding option offered by many carriers to ensure that space will be available for them to safely stow their instruments in the cabin.”
The rule goes into effect in 60 days.
For many years people traveling with instruments have been subject to arbitrary and contradictory size and weight requirements imposed by each airline for musical instruments carried on or checked as baggage, “[a]irlines will now follow a consistent policy for all musicians traveling with instruments, said Ray Hair, president of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada.
Airlines are now required to train air crews, gate agents, counter agents, and baggage personnel concerning appropriate procedures necessary to comply with all FAA musical instrument transportation policies and, hopefully there won’t a repeat of the incident that prompted the viral hit, United Breaks Guitars.
To help explain the new ruling, the DOT has created a webpage with helpful tips on traveling with musical instruments – and advice on what to do if you have a problem getting your instrument on a flight.