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Food & Drink Innovation Network ? NEW BEST OF BRITISH SOUP ...

March 30th, 2012

Fresh soup brand New Covent Garden is celebrating the ?Best of?British? with its latest soup of the month.

April?s soup of the month, ?Rosie?s Vintage Cheddar & Piccalilli soup? has?been created by amateur cook and consumer Rosie Garrish.

Rosie?s soup was chosen as a winner through New Covent Garden?s social?media campaign, which invites soup fans to submit their own recipes based?on a specific theme.

The theme set for April was ?Best of British? which welcomed recipes that?took inspiration from all things British, from home-grown ingredients and?modern twists on traditional dishes to exotic flavours that are now our nation?s?favourite dishes.

Nigel Parrott, New Covent Garden?s Group Marketing Director, said:

?Rosie?s Vintage Cheddar & Piccalilli Soup truly captures the Best of British?and is exactly the recipe we hoped to find when we set April?s theme.

New Covent Garden is celebrating the ?Best of British?

?April?s Soup of the Month truly kicks off Britain?s year of festivities.

?The?Union Jack packaging will attract consumers to the fixture who want to?embrace all that is British and are seeking unique but traditional flavours.?

Consumers are still encouraged by an on-pack call to action to submit their?recipes for future Soup of the Months at www.newcoventgardensoup.com,?where recipes, tips and blogs are encouraging further engagement with the?brand.

Rosie?s Vintage Cheddar & Piccalilli Soup will be available until the end of?April 2012 with an RRP of ?2.20 in outers of six.

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Related posts:

  1. NEW COVENT GARDEN RELEASES NEW HEART WARMING SOUP
  2. NEW COVENT GARDEN UNVEILS SUMMER SOUP RANGE
  3. NEW COVENT GARDEN UNVEILS VALENTINES THEMED SOUP OF THE MONTH
  4. NEW SEASONAL HALLOWEEN SOUP FROM NEW COVENT GARDEN
  5. NEW COVENT GARDEN UNVEILS CHIPOTLE CHILLI BEAN AND CHORIZO SOUP
  6. NEW COVENT GARDEN UNDERGOES BRAND OVERHAUL
  7. NEW COVENT GARDEN LAUNCHES FIRST NEW SOUP OF THE MONTH
  8. ALCOHOLIC SOUP A FIRST FOR NEW COVENT GARDEN

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Corporate Debt Management Points of views | Growing Sound

Posted on March 30th, 2012

Internet marketers possess a hard time inside their adolescence. They fight too many what to get a foothold for this competitive company local weather, knowning that also they try them also soon. After they enter into new fields who have fantastic promise and also bet about new products these people risk pricey downfalls. New product roll-outs are very pricey and sometimes will take time for you to click on. Chance is but one issue which will keep the firms rotating new aspects and also makes income from it. It is primarily the threat which retains the actual uninitiated away. If you fail to threat to make some gamble operational then its no industry for you. Yet occasionally persons go a little much about trading a lot more inside a malfunction with expectations that certain day time they may click on. It does not take finest for a decided on few to find out when you should invest more and obtain away soon sometime. As well as the rest of us it really is mainly learning from mistakes. This is how corporate debt demonstrates their gory genuine kind.

Companies get financial products and get good credit, however eventually you will find the point of payment. You have to have taken financial products and also credit rating that fit the company plan you might have adopted. Should your know the company you?re in will need time for you to get out of the actual reddish, then you should be determing the best payment terminology consequently. In addition often it takes place which throughout the times regarding loan application individuals carry out some nuts goods and they are a lot more serious in order to protected the idea speedy. Necessities such as people that obtain caught inside unlimited maze regarding corporate debt. However, there is aid from a lot of for profit and also non-profit firms in every single space and also place worldwide. You?ve got to create a excellent educated judgment depending on your situation ?Who may help you while using corporate debt management?. There are numerous considerations although selecting the best persons to deal with the debt relief. Creation foremost will be the depth regarding choices provided by a company. There are numerous factors that the corporate debt organization has got to take care for you. They ought to be in a position to right deal with the actual collectors and try that contains the specific situation. When you have your creditors about these types of the idea provides you with enough time to focus in your small business and bring the much needed revenue and also earnings in order to payback your creditors. Occasionally the problem is even worse as compared to you needed awaited or even the business structure is actually bothersome to bring in just about any revenue. In these situations you will need these businesses to become that can deal with personal bankruptcy and also liquidation.


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Kids' Choice Awards 2012: 5 Things We're Dying To See

Katy Perry and One Direction's performances, Will Smith's hosting skills and more have us pumped for Saturday night.
By Kara Warner


Katy Perry
Photo: Robyn Beck/ AFP/ Getty Images

This year's Kids' Choice Awards are going to be as action-packed as ever, with Will Smith as host, two killer performers lined up and a slew of celebrities expected to be in attendance.

Here are the five things we're looking forward to during the live show at 8 p.m. Saturday:

Katy Perry's Performance
Perry is not only one of this year's top nominees, but the "Teenage Dream" singer will also take the stage at USC's Galen Center to present and perform. So what song will she sing? What will she wear? Will her hair still be blue? One of Perry's biggest hits, "Firework," is up for Favorite Song. She is also nominated for Favorite Female Singer and Favorite Voice in an Animated Movie for her role in "The Smurfs."

A Host With Big Willie Style
Nickelodeon hit the jackpot of high-profile celeb hosts in landing Will Smith for their master of ceremonies this year. Although he's one of the biggest stars around, it's been awhile since we've seen the former Fresh Prince. We've seen a lot of his son Jaden and daughter Willow, who are becoming big stars in their own right, but we are psyched to see what Smith has planned as host. Will he be joined onstage by his kids? Will he incorporate a few of his famous friends into the act, like Tom Cruise? Will we get a sneak peek at new footage from the upcoming "Men in Black III"? We'll have to wait and see.

One Direction Break Hearts Stateside
The cute and charming lads of "it" boy band One Direction will no doubt bring the house down with whatever they perform on the show. A word of advice to the lucky folks attending the show: Think about bringing earplugs to protect yourself from the enthusiastic, high-pitched screams that will take over the Galen Center the instant the British pop group takes the stage. And they're not taking the opportunity lightly. "Kids' Choice is the biggest night on Nickelodeon," Niall Horan told MTV News about the magnitude of their appearance on the show. "All the big stars are going to be there, and when we found out it was just us and Katy Perry performing, we were like, 'Geez, this is a big deal.' "

An Appearance By a First Lady
Talk about upping the style and class factor! The fact that the very well-respected FLOTUS will be on hand to present Taylor Swift with an award is a really big deal. Michelle Obama will honor Swift with the Big Help Award, in recognition of her philanthropic efforts, including work with U.S. tornado and flood survivors. Obama herself was the recipient of the award in 2010, in recognition of her Let's Move! Campaign, which champions healthier lifestyles for kids. And, as if that weren't enough to establish her Nick cred, earlier this year, Obama also appeared on a special episode of "iCarly" to promote her Joining Forces initiative to support military families.

Who Will Get Slimed?
On to the most intriguing and entertaining part of the annual awards show: Who will get slimed? Despite the sticky, icky and total-mess factor that is involved with being covered from head to toe in the network's trademark green slime, it is considered an honor to get hit with the goo, which is said to be a mixture of green Jell-O, shampoo, oatmeal and flour. The illustrious list of previously slimed celebs includes: Katy Perry, Will Smith, Tom Cruise, Justin Timberlake, the Jonas Brothers, Jackson Rathbone and Russell Brand. So who's going down this year? Traditionally, the host is a prime target toward the end of the show, so we can probably count on seeing Smith covered in green, but who else? Maybe Perry or one of the presenters — Chris Rock, Emma Stone, Andrew Garfield, Zac Efron, Victoria Justice, Big Time Rush or Cee Lo Green.

Don't miss the Kids' Choice Awards on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Nickelodeon.

Related Artists

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1682152/nick-kids-choice-awards-2012-tomorrow.jhtml

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Shoplr Takes Small Local Businesses Mobile - Business Innovation ...

Shoplr Takes Small Local Businesses Mobile ? Business Innovation Zone

This project is funded by a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). SBA?s funding should not be construed as an endorsement of any products, opinions or services. All SBA-funded projects are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis.


Source: http://bizci.org/shoplr-takes-small-local-businesses-mobile/

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Google patent app details method for generating a 'ghost profile,' a world of anonymous G+ users

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Google hasn't exactly had the easiest time keeping the privacy hawks off of its back, but if a recently published patent application is any indication of its future intentions, well... let's just say we could see a lot more people hiding behind an online veil. Made public today, Google's most recent patent app details a "system and method for generating a ghost profile for a social network," which would -- in theory, at least -- allow a user to use certain features in a social network without converting to a social network profile. For those curious, the ghostly profiles would be unsearchable, and comments that originated from said profiles would be shown as being from "partial names." The real question: are G+ ghosts allowed in the Facebook compound?

Google patent app details method for generating a 'ghost profile,' a world of anonymous G+ users originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 20:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceUSPTO  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/29/google-patent-application-google-plus-ghost-profile/

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Google+ gives you a few more reasons to Hangout, put mustaches on things

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So you've started a Hangout on Google+ with some pals. Now what? Are you just going to sit around and talk? Thanks to some new additions to the social network, you don't have to rely solely on your conversational skills anymore. The software company announced today the addition of a number of apps to the Facebook competitor, which should make your Hangout time all the more riveting. Now you and a few close friends can play poker and pop culture trivia, add mustaches and glasses to one another, collaboratively doodle and share presentations on the service. Google+ also announced today that it has taken its Hangouts API out of preview, letting developers share the fruit of their work with the rest of the site's fake facial hair-sporting community.

Google+ gives you a few more reasons to Hangout, put mustaches on things originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceGoogle+, Google+ Developers Blog  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/28/google-gives-you-a-few-more-reasons-to-hangout-put-mustaches-o/

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The Basics You Need to Know to Become a Good Public Speaker

When I first bought my Dish TV Packages, I was spellbound for a non-conventional reason. Most of them get carried away by the sheer number of programs and channels that they get to see, but for me it was the way celebrities who speak so fluently, and the ease with which they did it.

I have often been called to speak in public myself in the past, but most of the time I had declined and had cut a sorry figure, and that had left my hosts embarrassed. To put it in its right perspective, I was tongue-tied even though I had lots of ideas that I had always wanted to share with others. However, during the past few years my relentless efforts have paid off well. I bought books on public speaking tips, practiced them at home standing before a mirror, or just did plain speaking to myself. And they all helped me become a good public speaker many years later.

If I can, why not you too?

Public speaking ability is not something we are born with, remember. We get it through constant practice and from experience too, and most of us can do it with some effort. As you start speaking more and more in public, you will shed away the initial hesitation and nervousness that is inherent to first time speakers. Fear of ridicule is the biggest harbinger to becoming a public speaker, so try to get out of it as fast as you can.

Here are some tips that can help you become an accomplished public speaker yourself. The first few encounters may be a little disheartening to you, but in the end, if you are persistent, you will recognize your own worth as a public speaker. Give it a try, you will never regret for becoming a public speaker.

Public speakers, get paid for speaking, did you know that? In fact you stand all the chances to be hired by companies, political parties and by individuals to do some work for them. Why not think about becoming a professional public speaker if you have the ilk in you?

The biggest mistake that amateur, the speaker, makes early in their lives is they try public speaking without preparing for it. Preparing for the occasion days ahead and rehearsing it is important and that includes, understanding the audience, their level of education and ability to comprehend is all important. Imagine what it would be like if you tried speaking about breast feeding babies in an all men meeting? So choosing the right topic, relevant to the occasion is important.

Get the facts right before you prepare your speech. It is not uncommon to dish out facts and figures in public speeches, in fact they lend credence to your message, and that can bring respect to you. But remember that the numbers have to be correct and precise, and you give your sources so the audience can authenticate them later. Vague references and broad classifications can leave a bitter taste on the audience, so be careful.

Prolific speakers tell stories during speeches, and that help speakers to establish a rapport with audience at a very early stage, but the more important point is, it has to be relevant to the theme of the meeting or the audience. Stories out of context are the last thing that an audience wants. If you can help, try telling something that they can relate to with their own experiences.

Maintain a good posture and be appropriately (and comfortably) dressed to command the respect of your audience. Inappropriate clothing can invite flake and comments even if you have the best of arguments in your speeches. Finally don?t forget that you are delivering a speech, so don?t read from a speech you have written; they are least likely to register in the minds of the listeners. An occasional glance at the computer or a piece paper however is something that you can get away with, but don?t pause too long to do it.

Nathan Brown is a freelance writer, and has varied interests including Public Speaking. He watches Dish TV Packages and writes frequently for the internet.

Source: http://www.a1article.net/writing-speaking/the-basics-you-need-to-know-to-become-a-good-public-speaker-51315.html

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Steeping grains namely a quite beneath utilised technique surrounded extract brewing and for no comely reason. It's easy apt do plus very efficacious surrounded joining depth apt the flavour of the finished production Extract Home Brewing tin?leave you feeling?a?little?finite within what you tin accomplish for distant for the malt you use is cared?Steeping?is the process of drenching grains amid hot water to release some of the specifics the colour plus flavour,karen millen silver dress,plus using namely water among the seethe while you acquaint up your wort. It tin?be equitable what you need apt add another dimension to your brew.

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PHOTOS: Jennifer Lawrence's Stylish 'Hunger Games' Tour

Hollywood's newest "It" girl dresses the part as she dazzles during her Hunger Games media blitz. Check out her best looks! 

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/jennifer-lawrence-hunger-games-tour-stylish-moments/1-b-437619?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Ajennifer-lawrence-hunger-games-tour-stylish-moments-437619

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Smokers could be more prone to schizophrenia

ScienceDaily (Mar. 26, 2012) ? Smoking alters the impact of a schizophrenia risk gene. Scientists from the universities of Zurich and Cologne demonstrate that healthy people who carry this risk gene and smoke process acoustic stimuli in a similarly deficient way as patients with schizophrenia. Furthermore, the impact is all the stronger the more the person smokes.

Schizophrenia has long been known to be hereditary. However, as a melting pot of disorders with different genetic causes is concealed behind manifestations of schizophrenia, research has still not been able to identify the main gene responsible to this day.

In order to study the genetic background of schizophrenia, the frequency of particular risk genes between healthy and ill people has mostly been compared until now. Pharmacopyschologist Professor Boris Quednow from University Hospital of Psychiatry, Zurich, and Professor Georg Winterer's workgroup at the University of Cologne have now adopted a novel approach. Using electroencephalography (EEG), the scientists studied the processing of simple acoustic stimuli (a sequence of similar clicks). When processing a particular stimulus, healthy people suppress the processing of other stimuli that are irrelevant to the task at hand. Patients with schizophrenia exhibit deficits in this kind of stimulus filtering and thus their brains are probably inundated with too much information. As psychiatrically healthy people also filter stimuli with varying degrees of efficiency, individual stimulus processing can be associated with particular genes.

Smokers process stimuli less effectively

In a large-scale study involving over 1,800 healthy participants from the general population, Boris Quednow and Georg Winterer examined how far acoustic stimulus filtering is connected with a known risk gene for schizophrenia: the so-called "transcription factor 4" gene (TCF4). TCF4 is a protein that plays a key role in early brain development. As patients with schizophrenia often smoke, the scientists also studied the smoking habits of the test subjects.

The data collected shows that psychiatrically healthy carriers of the TCF4 gene also filter stimuli less effectively -- like people who suffer from schizophrenia. It turned out that primarily smokers who carry the risk gene display a less effective filtering of acoustic impressions. This effect was all the more pronounced the more the people smoked. Non-smoking carriers of the risk gene, however, did not process stimuli much worse. "Smoking alters the impact of the TCF4 gene on acoustic stimulus filtering," says Boris Quednow, explaining this kind of gene-environment interaction. "Therefore, smoking might also increase the impact of particular genes on the risk of schizophrenia."

The results could also be significant for predicting schizophrenic disorders and for new treatment approaches, says Quednow and concludes: "Smoking should also be considered as an important cofactor for the risk of schizophrenia in future studies." A combination of genetic (e.g. TCF4), electrophysiological (stimulus filtering) and demographic (smoking) factors could help diagnose the disorder more rapidly or also define new, genetically more uniform patient subgroups.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Zurich.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Boris B. Quednow et al. Schizophrenia risk polymorphisms in the TCF4 gene interact with smoking in the modulation of auditory sensory gating. PNAS, 26 March 2012 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1118051109

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/wBLGn3uPISA/120326160827.htm

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Plouffe Doesn't Rule Out Tapping Oil Reserve

[unable to retrieve full-text content]With gas prices rising and the choir of critics growing louder, Obama senior advisor David Plouffe defended the president?s energy policy and said the administration has not ruled out opening the country?s Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/plouffe-doesnt-rule-tapping-oil-120926459.html

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U.S. high court weighs historic Obama healthcare law

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two years after President Barack Obama signed into law a healthcare overhaul, the Supreme Court on Monday takes up a historic test of whether it is valid under the country's Constitution.

The sweeping law intended to transform healthcare for millions of people in the United States has generated fierce political debate. Republicans challenging Democrat Obama for the presidency in November and Republican members of Congress have vowed to roll back the March 23, 2010, law they say will financially burden states, businesses and individuals.

Now, the healthcare battle moves from the U.S. political arena to the less raucous world of its highest court.

At the law's core is the requirement that most people buy health insurance by 2014 or pay a tax penalty. Challengers, including 26 of the 50 states, say Congress exceeded its constitutional power to regulate commerce with this so-called individual mandate.

They argue that government should not meddle so deeply in people's lives and force them to pay for a product they have opted against. The Obama administration counters that virtually every person will need medical care and that those who shun insurance put a disproportionate burden on the system.

In the United States, annual healthcare spending totals $2.6 trillion, about 18 percent of the annual gross domestic product, or $8,402 for every man, woman and child.

A HISTORIC CASE

The arguments to be held over three days, and a modern record six hours, recall past momentous sessions, such as the 2000 election dispute that allowed Republican George W. Bush to take the presidency over Democrat Al Gore and the 1974 Watergate tapes case that led to President Richard Nixon's resignation.

For sheer spectacle, the atmosphere outside the white columned court across from the U.S. Capitol is likely to rival what goes on inside. People began camping out for seats on Friday, and would-be spectators were likely to line up for days.

Families USA, a supporter of the law, said doctors and nurses planned to show up Monday in front of the court, wearing white coats and scrubs and carrying signs of support.

Republican state attorneys general, leading the challenge to the law, will be holding news conferences. Banks of news cameras and microphones set up on the sidewalk in front of the court were likely to draw more politicians and advocates to the scene.

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A record 136 legal briefs have been filed by outside interests and demand for seats inside the white marble and red velvet courtroom has been overwhelming. It holds 400 people and most of the seats will be reserved for guests of court officials and people connected to the case, including lawmakers from Congress and top Obama administration officials.

Four distinct legal issues are before the nine justices, and the first question they will address is about the timing of any lawsuit against the individual insurance mandate.

Possibly the driest and most technical subject of the sessions, yet of great consequence, the issue is whether a longstanding law called the Anti-Injunction Act prevents people from challenging the individual mandate until after they have paid the tax and sought a refund, which would be in 2015.

Of the four U.S. appeals courts that have heard the healthcare dispute, only one has ruled the challenge to the individual mandate could not go forward because of the tax law.

Yet the justices plainly believe it important enough of a potential hurdle that they have scheduled the issue for their first session and appointed a special lawyer to argue the case.

As a result, the first day's arguments will not reach the more anticipated issue of Congress' power to dictate that individuals obtain insurance, a step that critics warn could lead to a wide range of other requirements such as eating broccoli, joining gyms, or buying American-made cars.

That test of congressional power will be aired on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, two questions will be heard. One is whether, if the individual mandate is declared unconstitutional, it can be severed from the rest of the law or all of it must be struck down. The other is whether Congress improperly put new burdens on states when it expanded eligibility under Medicaid, the joint state-federal program offering medical care for poor people.

On Monday, court-appointed attorney Robert Long will argue that no lawsuit against the individual mandate can go forward until after someone who refuses to buy insurance has paid the penalty and sought a refund.

The federal Anti-Injunction Act, dating to 1867, generally bars anyone from challenging a tax law until it has taken effect because such lawsuits would hinder the government's ability to collect revenues needed for the federal budget.

Under the terms of the 2010 healthcare overhaul, the penalty for refusing to buy insurance would be recorded on a person's annual tax form and collected by the Internal Revenue Service.

In his written court brief, Long emphasized that Congress could have carved out an exception from tax policy of "pay now, litigate later," to allow immediate judicial review of the individual mandate, yet it chose not to.

A PENALTY - OR A TAX?

When Obama and Democratic sponsors of the healthcare law in Congress were urging approval of the individual mandate they insisted the penalty for failing to obtain insurance was not a "tax." The legislation more often used the word "penalty."

The Obama administration, which had briefly argued in lower courts that the lawsuits could not go forward until after 2014 because of the Anti-Injunction Act, will argue that the justices should not regard the sanction for no insurance as a "tax."

The word "penalty" is different from the term "tax," asserts U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli in his brief to the court. He stressed that Congress merely wanted the insurance-related sanction to be collected by the IRS. It did not want "the full panoply of statutory rules governing ?taxes'" to apply.

Challenging the individual mandate with the 26 states are the National Federation of Independent Business and individuals who say they do not want to buy health insurance.

In the arguments Monday, the challengers will be represented by attorney Gregory Katsas, who will emphasize that their challenge is to the mandate, not the penalty that enforces it, and that the lawsuit should go forward.

Argument transcripts and audio are expected to be available each afternoon on the court's website: www.supremecourt.gov.

(Editing by Howard Goller and Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-high-court-weighs-historic-obama-healthcare-law-040313360.html

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Psychology of Pain: Five Crises in Pain Management Dr. John D ...

I believe that there are five preeminent crises in pain management today: (1) the lack of evidence for the outcomes of most of the things providers do for patients, (2) the inadequate education of primary care providers about pain and how to treat it, (3) the largely unknown value of opioid treatment for patients with chronic nonmalignant pain, (4) funding for the providers of pain management, and (5) access to multidisciplinary care. All of these issues may loom larger in the United States than elsewhere, but they are not unique to this country. Yes, there are other issues, but these seem to me to be the most important.

Proving that what we do has favorable outcomes for patients is certainly paramount, but we need to balance population-based studies with what we know about individual variation in response to treatment and the associated risks. Furthermore, evidence-based medicine does not address the needs that patients have for diagnosis, prognosis, guidance, and sympathy that have always been, and should remain, part of the provision of health care.1 Tyranny of data must be tempered by clinical judgment. This problem is compounded by the recommendations of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) that research for prospective new drugs should be targeted at diagnosis, yet the real focus should be on mechanisms of pain. Randomized clinical trials are not the only reliable source of information about treatment utility; they are rarely useful for the assessment of long-term effects, either good or bad. Observational studies do have something to offer. There is going to be tension between those who fund health care and would like to use population-based studies to determine what will be funded, and those who actually provide care to patients and recognize that almost no one is average. If we consider the individual's rights to be preeminent, how do we deny someone the chance to have a favorable response to a treatment that most people would not benefit from? Physicians have always placed their patients foremost. Who is going to fund research on the treatment outcomes that we advocate for, especially treatments that are not drug or device based? Since the mandate of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is to reduce the burden of disease, and since chronic pain produces more disability than the sum of cancer, heart disease, AIDS, and stroke, should we not look to the NIH to fund more pain treatment outcome trials?2 How do we get clinicians to have their patients participate in large trials that are necessary to determine population-based outcomes? How do we get all providers to record outcomes of their patients for such studies? Large national databases have been established in some countries. All patients evaluated and treated in any rehabilitation program in Sweden (including pain programs) are entered into a national register with demographics, diagnoses, and outcomes. In Quebec, all patients coming to tertiary care pain clinics are also entered into a data-base with a minimal 6-month follow up. These records include a structured physical examination, patient-reported outcomes, past treatments, new treatments, medications, and demographics. In Norway, all prescriptions are entered into a national database, which is used for research on opioid and benzodiazepine use and abuse. One way to get such outcomes and demographic data is to make physician reimbursement dependent not just upon the receipt of an operative report or clinic note but also upon follow-up data 6 and 12 months after treatment. All patients should be part of such studies, not just a small number selected for a randomized controlled trial. Why should any health care system fund care that has no known benefit to the patients? For such widespread data collection, we need to have a standardized database for all clinical outcomes studies so that meaningful comparisons can be made.3 We will also have to establish criteria for applying a diagnosis that are not solely based upon the procedure that the physician wishes to perform.

There are woeful inadequacies in pain education for medical students and advanced trainees.4?10 This shortfall has been noted for many years, and it remains, at least in the United States, the major cause of poor pain treatment. In Europe, this problem has begun to be addressed. In Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland), doctors who have completed clinical specialty training can enroll in a pain course. The Danish government will not allow any Danish doctor to practice as a pain doctor without having completed this course. Portugal also has such a course with a similar curriculum.

All physicians who deal with clinical illnesses will be confronted with chronic pain patients. For this reason, no one should receive a medical degree without learning core knowledge about both acute and chronic pain, including cancer pain and nonmalignant pain. There are hospitals that require all interns to spend a minimum of 1 week in the pain clinic. Some pain clinics also get residents for a minimum of 2 weeks from almost every specialty, but this practice has not yet become compulsory. The huge number of pain patients mandates that the overwhelming majority of health care for patients with chronic pain must come from primary care providers. Pain specialists can see only those who have special needs for advanced forms of therapy. The crisis in opioid therapy discussed below is primarily due to the prescribing traits of primary care practitioners, not pain specialists. The problem involves not only how physicians are educated, but also what types of people are selected to become physicians. Those who have a biomedical fixation are not likely to deal successfully with chronic pain patients. It seems to me that other health care disciplines have advanced further than medicine in this arena. Medical school curricula are the last vestige of the feudal system in the modern era; change will not be an easy task. The length of the educational process is fixed, and the hours available for teaching are not going to increase. What can be deleted from the existing curriculum to make room for pain? Since most of the faculty of most medical schools are ignorant of pain, how do we get them to replace existing curricular content with pain information? The prevalence of chronic pain and the inadequacies of our current graduates must be used to agitate for change. I cannot say that I am optimistic about this process, but we must do better by our students. A few North American schools of medicine have successfully addressed this issue and have shared their programs in publications.11,12

Pain management is plagued by factionalism. There is no organization that speaks for all of us, and there are no agreed-upon educational or certifying steps; many practitioners function within silos, unaware of what others are learning, saying, or doing. Competing accreditation organizations for individuals and professional societies produce confusion for the public and for organized medicine. Different agendas underlie the efforts of the myriad of professional organizations and publications that claim to represent pain medicine. Guidelines are promulgated that are said to be evidence-based, but often reflect what the members of the guideline-writing committee do for a living or where they stand on a political spectrum, particularly in reference to opioids.13,14 All guidelines reflect the values and preferences of those who write them; they are not really scientific, even though they are said to be based on "evidence." Perhaps we need a David to consolidate the pain professionals and lead us to victory over the Philistines who surround us.

Health care has never been based exclusively upon scientific evidence; indeed, acquisition of such evidence has been relatively novel in the history of medicine, and it is only recently that providers have had the opportunity to apply treatments that have scientifically demonstrated efficacy. Nowhere is this situation more clearly demonstrated than in the use of opioids to treat chronic pain. The first principle here was that acute and chronic pain were very different phenomena; this insight was one of Bonica's most important early contributions. His pain clinic was founded at the University of Washington in 1960, and within a decade its clinicians were swamped with patients who complained of chronic pain yet were taking significant doses of multiple opioids (and other drugs) prescribed by multiple physicians who had no idea what their patients were actually consuming. From this clinical experience, we developed the mantra that it was not wise to treat chronic pain patients with opioids, and we developed treatment strategies to get these patients off their drugs (using the "pain cocktail" approach) and rehabilitate them.15 It did not enter our minds that there could be significant numbers of chronic pain patients who were successfully managed with opioids, because if there were any, we almost never saw them.

In the mid-1980s, several papers were written that challenged the opprobrium surrounding opioids in the management of chronic pain patients.16 The authors appeared to generalize experiences from the treatment of cancer pain patients and reported on a small number of chronic noncancer pain patients who were carefully followed for limited times and "appeared" to do well, meaning that their reports of pain levels were improved but no functional changes were noted. Aberrant, drug-seeking behavior patterns were not observed. These publications fed into the concept that anyone who said "ouch" was entitled to receive opioids in whatever dose they seemed to need. Soon thereafter, the marketing of OxyContin? and the implication that opioids were good for all chronic pain patients led the charge in widespread use of opioids for chronic pain patients in the United States. Opioid prescriptions written by primary care practitioners and pain specialists soared, diversion became a very large problem, and deaths and emergency room visits ascribed to opioids escalated. The inevitable pendulum swing is now occurring, and there is much more concern about opioids for chronic pain patients. Side effects and risks of improper use are now hotly debated.

The fundamental question about efficacy of opioids for chronic pain patients has been lost in the political, economic, and ethical arguments. Scientifically valid data about treatment outcomes are sparse. Pain management in the United States has been badly hurt by this debacle. Similar things have happened in Canada, where the politicians are trying to enforce a special license for prescribing opioids, with mandatory teaching as a prerequisite. In Europe, opioid prescribing has not had such extreme highs and lows; problems with opioid prescriptions for nonmalignant pain were identified earlier than in the United States, and remedial actions were implemented in many countries.17 In many countries and in many U.S. states, the rational use of opioids is now impeded by regulatory agencies and insurers in the attempt to control excessive prescriptions without regard for what is best for a particular patient. Another result of the opioids-for-all movement has been the "pill mills" that seem to be most prevalent in the southeastern United States. Yet another is the expectation by chronic pain patients that they are entitled to receive opioids whenever they hurt. This crisis is primarily due to lack of evidence for the results of chronic opioid administration. Although the treatment of chronic pain may be a basic human right, that does not mean that all patients are entitled to large doses of opioids.18 On the other hand, what is legal to put in one's mouth has never been determined by medical science; it has always has been a social convention. The ethical resolution of this crisis is only to be found in research on this topic, not from consensus panels or legislative mandates. Who is going to fund this research?

The fundamental principle of capitalism is that money motivates behavior. This tenet certainly applies to health care providers; the way the United States favors the reimbursement of procedures over cognitive activities has led to the proliferation of interventional pain specialists and enormous increases in injections and operations for pain in the past 20 years, as well as a reduction in the number of comprehensive multidisciplinary pain clinics. This change has occurred in spite of very little evidence that interventional procedures are beneficial for most chronic pain patients. In countries that have centralized allocation of health care resources, this phenomenon has been controlled to a much larger degree.

No matter how health care is financed, pain management must be included within the pay line. Concerted action is needed on the part of the pain world to influence those who will make such funding decisions; whatever happens to pain management will be part of the grand scheme for the provision of health care. We must be vigilant, for we could be completely omitted from what will be funded. We need to create public demand for our services and secure legislative recognition for the importance of pain management. We need to develop champions in the political arena who will work on behalf of providers and our patients to facilitate the delivery of first-class pain management. This usually means access to multidisciplinary diagnosis and management. Access is compromised both by a shortage of such clinics and by the long patient waiting lists. In Sweden, the government body responsible for health care recently put forth a proposal that every county should have a board to which difficult pain problems would be sent for review. The problems would be evaluated, and if it was deemed necessary, the patients would then be sent for evaluation and treatment to a team composed of a physician, a psychologist, and a physiotherapist. Two Swedish counties have begun this process.

Eleven years ago I contributed an essay to Pain: Clinical Updates and outlined five issues that deserved our attention: defining the mission of pain management, producing outcomes data, showing the public why we matter, figuring out how to get paid for what we need to do, and learning how to continue to provide sympathetic care to our patients. Although some progress has been made on each of these points, it is not enough to make me feel comfortable about our specialty. Of all these issues, I believe that the one that is most critical is the education of health care providers. Pain physicians in academic medicine are the only ones who will address this shortfall, and we must make progress in this area. This endeavor should be independent of the political and economic issues that have enveloped medicine and over which we have little control. We need to redouble our efforts to provide better education for our students and trainees; no one else will do it if we default. And we need to do so with evidence-based clinical data to add to the vastly expanded basic science knowledge of neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, and neuropharmacology. If we fail, I look forward apprehensively to a legislatively mandated curriculum for medical schools: who knows what will be taught then? To be at the whim of legislators or government administrators will, I fear, be the death knell for both scientific and humanistic pain medicine. Health care providers need to care about patients and not see them as customers. The good for the individual patient must take precedence over costs and health system needs. The essence of health care is caring for the patient.

References

1. Barondess JA. The care of the patient. Pharos 2011(Summer):7?10.

2. National Center for Health Statistics. Health, United States, 2006 with chartbook on trends in the health of Americans. Hyattsville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2006.

3. Turk DC, Dworkin RH, Burke LB, Gershon R, Rothman M, Scott J, Allen RR, Atkinson JH, Chandler J, Cleeland C, et al.; Initiative on Methods, Measurement and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials. Developing patient-reported out-
come measures for pain clinical trials: IMMPACT recommendations. Pain 2006;125:208?15.

4. Institute of Medicine Committee on Advancing Pain Research, Care, and Education. Relieving pain in America: blueprint for transforming prevention, care, education, and research. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2011.

5. Green CR, Wheeler JR, Marchant B, LaPorte F, Guerrero E. Analysis of the physician variable in pain management. Pain Med 2001;2:317?27.

6. Chang HM, Gallagher R, Vaillancourt PD, Balter K, Cohen M, Garvin B, Charibo C, King SA, Workman EA, McClain B, Ellenberg M, Chiang JS; American Academy of Pain Medicine Undergraduate Education Committee. Undergraduate medical education in pain medicine, end-of-life care, and palliative care. Pain Med 2001;1:224.

7. Upshur CC, Luckmann RS, Savageau JA. Primary care provider concerns about management of pain in community clinic populations. J Gen Int Med 2006;21:652?5.

8. Fishman S. Listening to pain. Waterford Life Sciences; 2006. p. 3.

9. Benedetti C, Dickerson ED, Nichols LL. Medical education: a barrier to pain therapy and palliative care. J Pain Symptom Manage 2001;21:360?1.

10. Lippe PBC, David J, Crossno R, Gitlow S. The First National Pain Medicine Summit?final summary report. Pain Med 2010;11:1447?68.

11. Vadivelu N, Kombo N, Hines RL. The urgent need for pain management training. Acad Med 2009:84:408.

12. Murinson BB, Nenortas E, Mayer RS, Mezei L, Kozachik S, Nesbit S, Haythornthwaite JA, Campbell JN. A new program in pain medicine for medical students: integrating core curriculum knowledge with emotional and reflective development. Pain Med 2011;12:186?95.

13. Perret D, Rosen C. A physician-driven solution: The Association for Medical Ethics, the Physician Payment Sunshine Act, and ethical challenges in pain medicine. Pain Med 2011;12:1361?79.

14. Schatman ME. Editorial: The suppression of evidence-basis in pain medicine and the physician-driven quest to re-establish it. Pain Med 2011;12:1358?60.

15. Sizemore WA. Behavioral aspects of managing medications for chronic pain not caused by cancer. In: Loeser JD, Egan KJ, editors. Managing the chronic pain patient. New York: Raven Press; 1989. p. 117?27.

16. Portenoy RK, Foley KM. Chronic use of opioid analgesics in non-malignant pain: report of 38 cases. Pain 1986;25:171?86.

17. Eriksen J, Sj?gren P, Bruera E, Ekholm O, Rasmussen NK. Critical issues on opioids in chronic non-cancer pain: an epidemiological study. Pain 2006;125:172?9.

18. Cousins MJ, Brennan F, Carr DB. Pain relief: a universal human right. Pain 2004;112:1?4.

John D. Loeser, MD
Departments of Neurological Surgery and Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195, USA

Email: jdloeser@u.washington.edu

http://www.iasp-pain.org/AM/AMTemplate.cfm?Section=HOME,HOME&SECTION=HOME,HOME&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=15343

Source: http://psychologyofpain.blogspot.com/2012/03/five-crises-in-pain-management-dr-john.html

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রবিবার, ২৫ মার্চ, ২০১২

Used car as good as new, if insurance is renewed | Used Car Warranty

Utilized cars could turn out to be a liability over time as their performance diminishes. This is why it becomes even a lot more important that you have adequate car insurance for your used auto.

Accidents are equally likely to occur to both new cars as well as used cars. The savior in such situations is the car insurance which protects the owners and vehicles from the financial disaster that an accident causes.

Insuring a employed auto follows the very same basic process as insuring a new one. You can easily switch insurance businesses at any time. In case of a gap or lapse in renewing your policy, you may possibly want to get your vehicle inspected by a surveyor.

Here are some ideas and guidelines to aid you pick the proper vehicle insurance for your used car:

Know your possibilities well: Be certain about the type of coverage you require for your car. Many insurance companies offer you comprehensive coverage that can be further customized and tweaked to your wants.

Know your auto: Being conscious of the car kind ensures better vehicle insurance. If your auto is of the high performance sort, it is going to price you a lot more to insure. The reason being such vehicles are much more prone to theft or damages.

Know your deductibles: Follow the mantra, ?The greater the deductible, (i.e. the part of repair expenses or losses not covered by the company) lower the premium?. It is usually safe to keep your deductibles high for an older vehicle as this would lessen the premium value.

Auto insurance secures your utilized vehicle from unwanted trouble and helps in keeping it as great as new, so that you can get pleasure from the tension-no cost drive.

Source: http://www.district-rfo.org/used-car-as-good-as-new-if-insurance-is-renewed.html

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Interview with Hope Clark by Katie French - Underground Book ...

As a long time subscriber to the FundsforWriters newsletter, I had heard all about Hope Clark and her life as a writer. It was when I heard she had her debut novel released that I knew I had to contact her. Please welcome Hope Clark to the Underground.?

KATIE: First of all, for those few who don't know, you are the editor of the very successful newsletter and website Funds
forWriters, one of Writer's Digest's best websites for writers.??Where did you get the idea for FundsforWriters?

HOPE: FundsforWriters was happenstance. At a ladies' writing group in Atlanta, in 1998, I was asked to speak about online writing, and how it differed from print. At the time I was working for the federal government, for an agency that handled grants and loans, but I wanted to write for myself, so I started pitching essays and book reviews to various sites. One of the editors I wrote for asked me to speak in her stead at this meeting, since she was afraid of crowds. Sometime during the presentation, the topic strayed to concern about being unable to afford computers, printers, toner, etc. I started advising them financially, mentioning contests and grants and such, and the emails started flooding in once I returned home. I asked a journalist I knew about how to start a newsletter, which was new territory back then, so I could consolidate my responses to questions, leaving me more time to write for myself. Unbeknownst to me, that was the snowball catalyst needed to start an avalanche, and FundsforWriters took on a life of its own, overtaking my fiction writing with this sudden interest by writers everywhere. After a couple of months, I had almost a thousand writers on board. I accepted fate's nudge, embraced it and went full speed forward.

KATIE: Between the contests, ads, job postings and writing advice, FundsforWriters is full of information. How many hours a week do you dedicate to the upkeep of the information you send out weekly? How do you manage it with your busy schedule?

HOPE: FundsforWriters is a daily effort. I work fulltime as a writer, probably half the time with FundsforWriters, a quarter with promotional efforts and freelance pieces, and a quarter on the novels. My children are grown, but I started this exercise when they were teens. I laid down the law at the time that writing was as important to me as anything on their social agenda. Today they are quite proud of what I've done. I'm also a night owl, so I'm in bed around 2-3 AM each night, and up around 10 AM. That's the clock that works best for me, and now that I'm full-time as a writer, I can manipulate my personal schedule. I put in about 50-60 hours per week, but when I need a day off, I take it. The only glitch is when I'm speaking at conferences and they ask me to speak early in the morning.?

KATIE: Agents and publishers are always looking for a writer's platform. You seem to be the epitome of the platform builder. What advice do you have for new writer's trying to build a platform?


HOPE:?Funny you should ask. I just wrote a freelance piece on that for?Southern Writer Magazine! First, a platform isn't built overnight. I built FundsforWriters over the years, admittedly with a long distance goal of one day using it to promote the fiction. But a platform is nothing more than contacting people, making them like you or your work, and selling your writing to them. When an agent or publisher asks "what is your platform?" you're expected to tell them where these people are, how they came to like you or your work, and how you intend to reach them. Start with who you know. I suggest taking a month to note everyone you come in contact with - much like noting all you eat with a diet. Suddenly you realize your reach. Then add your Christmas card list, friends of friends, friends of relatives, business acquaintances, Facebook friends, Twitter people, and so on. Focus on those groups of larger numbers, like alumni, co-workers, clubs and organizations you belong to. Start a communication with everyone via newsletter, speaking, blog updates, whatever. It's all about who you can court into your circle. Doesn't matter what the subject matter is. It doesn't have to be writing, but you need to be a leader and a reliable, consistent communicator. Relay your slowly accumulating successes to these various groups, too. People love success. Just be patient, though. It's one reader at a time. If you don't have the time to professionally groom and respect the process, forget about it. Unless you're already well-known in some realm, you have to build your platform one piece at a time. FundsforWriters is 14 years old, remember. I just kept at it every single day.

KATIE:?In addition to the website and newsletter, you've managed to write a novel. Tell us a little bit about?Lowcountry Bribe.

HOPE:?Lowcountry Bribe?is my pride and joy! I actually started writing fiction before FundsforWriters. Only after I couldn't sell the novel did I start FundsforWriters. I was hell-bent on becoming a writer, so I figured if I could not make a living as a fiction writer (yet!), I'd freelance. But for years, I started, stopped, threw away, and rewrote this novel. It predates FundsforWriters by about a year.

Carolina Slade is Southern, a by-the-book girl whose life crumbles apart when she's offered a bribe. She calls in the authorities to report the crime, and her world is never the same. I was offered a bribe once upon a time, but my situation wasn't as entertaining or intriguing as Slade's, but that event in my life served as the starting point for this book. I adore mysteries, and I love lyrical prose about the South. I gobble mysteries like butterscotch, and over the years, the osmosis of great works sunk in to the point I was able to sell the story to an agent, then a publisher. The book is set in South Carolina, my home, and the array of characters are pretty three-dimensional, and, I hope, are as fun to read about as they are to write.

KATIE:?On your newsletter you've mentioned book signings and book release parties. How is managing the promotion of a novel different than what you've been doing as a freelance writer?

HOPE:?Oh my gosh, it's hard, hard work! You can't let a day go by without making a connection. Bookstores have to be convinced to stock the book. Today, for instance, I wrote a guest blog, a piece about platform for a writer's magazine, spoke to a reporter in the neighboring town, mailed a review copy of?Lowcountry Bribe?to another reporter for a weekly periodical, and scheduled a radio show for mid-March. Your eyes have to be open, and every opportunity you see, you need to jump on it. ?I also ran to the grocery store and a friend saw me and asked how the book was selling. The guy in front of us asked if I was an author and how to find the book. Then a guy behind us overheard and asked what kind of book. He loved mysteries. I didn't have postcards or business cards (I only went to get two cans of peaches, in my gym pants and T-shirt, no less!). However, my friend went outside, retrieved three cards he had and brought them back to the people in the store.??From now on, I'll have marketing material in my pocket!??But sometimes you wish you had more time to write. Marketing is intensely time consuming, and you are afraid to slow down for fear you'll miss an opportunity to make headway in this hugely competitive business.

KATIE: What got you started in writing? How did you develop as a writer?

HOPE: Teachers told me I could write since . . . I could write. A tenth grade teacher made me join the copywriting staff for the high school yearbook. I eventually became copy editor then editor-in-chief. I always loved hearing my own words come back to me in proper form, and I adored seeing people affected by what I wrote. However, I was also gifted in science, so I refused scholarships in journalism to go to pre-veterinary school. When I made a B, my advisor said to find another major, so I shifted to a degree in agronomy. I worked for two decades for US Department of Agriculture, and those experiences gave me the fodder for my novel series and introduced me to the grant world. Guess everything has its purpose. Writing had a major hand in every promotion I ever received and every venture I ever pursued. Eventually I decided to write for myself and requested an early retirement from my agency - leaving at age 46. Best decision I ever made except for marrying my husband.?

KATIE: With all your writing credits and hugely successful platform was it difficult to find a publisher for your novel? Tell us about your path to publication.

HOPE: Yes, it was difficult. I self-published The Shy Writer: An Introvert's Guide to Writing Success, and while that process wasn't bad, I decided I wanted more for my fiction. So traditionally publishing a mystery series went on my bucket list. Lowcountry Bribe was scrapped and started over three times. It was edited start to finish at least a dozen more times, before I started querying agents. I queried 35 of them, with an 80 percent response rate, before deciding to edit the book again, and after adding a chapter, removing a character and finely honing that story again, I queried another 35+ agents. Number 72 agreed to sign me. It took her another 18 months to land a contract. Along the way, I used the services of two critique groups to make it better. ?I also submitted chapters, sections and the entire manuscript to contests, so I could judge how well I was progressing. When I started placing in contest was when I began pitching agents. I wrote an editorial on using contests for selling a novel for The Writer Magazine, which should be out in April or May. I also write a chapter in Writer's Digest Books' Guide to Literary Agents, about how I researched agents tightly, matching their backgrounds to mine, to capture interest in my work. Every chance I could I spun an editorial, blog or freelance piece from everything I did. I think in the long run, that aided me in developing my platform.

KATIE: You give a lot of advice to new writers in your newsletter. What is your favorite bit of advice?

HOPE: Write hard every day and keep fighting to improve. It's really that simple. Head down, shoulder to the wheel, and keep working. If you are doing this job to publish a book or become famous or make money, your work will show the lack of sincerity. You have to enjoy the process and worship good writing first. Hurrying to produce a commodity because everyone else is self-publishing or throwing out an e-book or penning a story in six weeks, is bastardizing the profession and sullying your good name.??Take your time to do it well.

KATIE: Many of our writer's are taking the self-publishing route these days. Any opinion on self-published vs. trying out the traditional route?

HOPE: Don't self-pub until you understand traditional. Don't self-pub until you understand all the options with self-publishing. To self-pub for the purpose to rush a book into your hands or an e-book on Amazon, without understanding the industry, without realizing the importance of marketing, without deeming yourself an entrepreneur as well as an artist, is a formula destined for failure. I've spoken to hundreds of writers who are self-publishing because they've received a couple dozen rejections, don't want to wait for the vetting process, or think traditional takes too long. ? That's their choice. That also means that their end result is totally in their hands. They make or break their success, and when writers tell me they can't sell books, I tell them to look in the mirror. There lies the problem and the solution. Self-publishing is a phenomenal tool and an open door to success for those who understand the depth of marketing that accompanies the choice. Just don't think it's an easier route. What's easiest at the outset turns out to be harder along the way. Regardless of what bloggers and online pundits say, having a traditional press behind you makes a lot of the process easier. Only when you have a fire in your gut to market hard can you make self-publishing work. Yes, it's doable. No, it's not easier.

KATIE: Tell us a little bit about your schedule. What do you have on the docket for the near future?

HOPE: I'm visiting three venues in NC, providing a day-long seminar in State College, PA, an evening presentation in Bettendorf, Iowa, a four-day conference in Oklahoma City, and various conferences and events in Nashville, maybe Memphis, Myrtle Beach, St. Simons, GA and assorted little events wherever I can find them. In my media blitz in my hometown area of Columbia, SC, I landed a magazine feature about me, a weekly periodical piece, and a one-hour radio talk show. Add to that the fact I'm guest blogging wherever I can, and I'm writing around the clock. All of the above takes me into October. At the same time, I'm putting final edits on the second novel, and finishing the final six chapters of the third. I'm researching for the fourth. My agent wants me to write a nonfiction book, and I swear I just can't find the time to write it!

Thanks, Hope.?
You can find Hope at her website.?
You can find FundsforWriters here.?
You can find Lowcounty Bribe here.?

If you enjoyed this review, you can subscribe to the Underground or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Source: http://www.undergroundbookreviews.com/3/post/2012/03/interview-with-hope-clark-by-katie-french.html

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শনিবার, ২৪ মার্চ, ২০১২

Dog Collars Vs Canine Harnesses - That Is Most Suitable For Your ...

Note: to read about Comfy Control harness, click here

Although 1 may believe that a large canine can certainly pull harder and therefore need more restraint, the truth is that little dogs have little necks and small necks have fragile throats and tracheas. If your canine is below 20 pounds, you could put his/her throat in danger by pulling on their neck from a collar. Even a little quantity of pressure applied in an incorrect way could cause damage to your dog's neck. We endorse that you find a comfy fitting little dog harness and use it when you use the leash. In addition, in the event you use a car safety belt for your doggy, then it is best to connect it to a harness irrespective of the size of the canine. Many of these doggy harnesses are made of soft material that's comfortable and could be laundered if this gets dirty.

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How Well is Your Dog Trained for Leash Walking?

Whether or not you've a little pet or a big dog, you might require to investigate unique harness/collar choices if your dog tends to pull difficult or if he/she is tough to manage on a leash. For these dogs that have a tendency to "walk their owners" there are a quantity of options. You may first attempt a harness, but if that doesn't work, then you may consider a type of leash that goes around the muzzle and controls the top of the dog. There are also "choke" kind collars which are generally much more well-liked with bigger, stronger dogs like Pit Bulls or rambunctious Labradors. It's not a great concept to put one of these collars for dogs on a small animal as you might wind up having a huge vet bill. If your doggy comes into this class, the best answer usually is some coaching with a expert. The monetary investment may be far less than the frustration as a result of a cantankerous puppy.Irrespective of whether or not you use a dog collar or harness when running your pup, you'll nonetheless probably want to have a collar for the dog's tags. Most cities require a pet dog to be licensed and some have nonetheless fines for neglecting to do this.

Other posts:

Comfy Control

Comfy Control harness review

Source: http://goldenretrieverstreet.typepad.com/blog/2012/03/dog-collars-vs-canine-harnesses-that-is-most-suitable-for-your-pet-dog.html

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বৃহস্পতিবার, ২২ মার্চ, ২০১২

Size Doesn't Matter When it Comes to the Pet-Owner Bond | The ...

? Living the Good Life


Posted on by Shangz

One of my professors in veterinary school told me I was very brave when I told her I was taking a job at a hospital that deals mainly with rabbits and other exotic pets. I didn?t think much of her comment at the time, because I had been a veterinary assistant for two years prior and did not experience many problems during that time.

Fast-forward four years, and I have since seen out my contract with that hospital, completed a Master of ?Veterinary Studies in Conservation Medicine, and switched to working primarily with dogs and cats. This has placed me in a unique position to compare my experiences working with exotic pets, wildlife and traditional pets. I have found that ?bravery? was not the main attribute required in working with exotic pets. There are, however, several other attributes that will serve an exotic pet practitioner well:

  1. Curiosity
    We?ve all heard the proverb ?curiosity killed the cat,? but in the case of exotic pets, curiosity is more likely to save a life. Many problems with exotic pets result from the lack of proper care and diet, and one thing I have learned working with exotics, is that detailed questions must be asked of any client owning an exotic pet, to ensure that their care of the pet is not what is causing the symptoms displayed by the pet itself.
  2. Resourcefulness
    When the care and diet provided are not suitable for the pet in question, providing the right advice becomes critical. It may be impossible to remember what every single species of exotic pets requires, but having the resources to look it up when required is invaluable.
  3. Empathy
    There is a school of thought that exotic pets do not form the same bond with their owners as dogs and cats do, but that could not be further from the truth. Many young children do not shed a tear when their family dog is being euthanized, but will do so for their own pet hamster. Rabbits display a wide variety of affectionate behaviors that their owners will spend a lot of time recounting during a consult. And guinea pigs make different noises under different circumstances, which their owners very quickly pick up on. Rat owners are also very committed to their pet?s health and well-being, and will go to any extent to save their beloved friend. What I have learned from working with exotic pets and their owners is that I need to draw on my own experiences owning such pets and realize that I am not the odd one out in experiencing an indescribable attachment to my small furry friend. Size truly does not matter when it comes to the pet-owner bond.
  4. Gentleness
    Most exotic pet species are prey in the wild and do not appreciate being roughly handled. Being gentle helps them relax and makes the physical examination much easier for the pet, the owner and the veterinarian. Gentleness also applies when surgery is performed on exotic pets. Many exotics are much smaller than traditional pets, and the veterinarian has to become accustomed to working in tight spaces, with critical organs in close proximity to the organs that are being worked with. Gentle tissue handling will result in much better surgical outcomes.
? Living the Good Life

Source: http://waggingtail.banfield.net/2012/03/21/size-doesn%E2%80%99t-matter-when-it-comes-to-the-pet-owner-bond/

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বুধবার, ২১ মার্চ, ২০১২

The Province As A Corporation ? Education | Meddling Kids

Now, my kids don?t live here. For a while, I had Spazz living with me, but today they all live in the beautifully forested province of British Columbia, and so one might believe that matters of education do not concern me. That would be an incorrect assumption. For starters, there?s Demon, the child of the Lovely Lady who lives with me and is knee deep in the public education system. But more than that, there is the pride in knowing that I live in a country that values education for children no matter what their political and economic backgrounds. And there are my friends who teach in public schools and the legacy of my parents, both of whom were public school teachers. I care very much about the education system, and the current situation gives me a great deal of reason to be concerned.

But there are even larger concerns. An educated society is one where great things can happen. That does not mean that I expect everyone to go on to a great post-secondary education and a career at Super Corporation, but the opportunity should be provided for all citizens to be able to move in whatever direction they desire. Encouraging intellect to grow is a positive for society, and leads to a more competent and capable work force. This is a good thing. Our country is made up of people, and the more well rounded those people are, the better off our society is.

The corporation of the province has a vested interest and an obligation to ensure that each student gets the best possible education. All of the parties tell you that, but I want to look at their actual policies and pick them apart. Again, I?m biased here. My dog in the fight is the Alberta Party, and I do not pretend to be unbiased. Still, my intention is to look objectively at the various policies and figure out what I think works and what doesn?t.

The Current Situation
40 years of Conservative rule have definitely left a mark on the education system. When Ralph Klein was elected Premier, one of his first acts was to slash the hell out of public education. I remember my mother, a music teacher at a poor school, being told that the school had to choose between her music program and the phys ed program. Personally, I was disgusted. Music is such an important part of rounding out students, giving them pride of performance, and helping their minds develop properly, but phys ed is an integral part of the school as well, ensuring both that kids are challenged and tested physically, and that they burn off energy in a positive way. That?s like being asked which of your testicles you don?t want anymore.

Things haven?t gotten better. The school boards have responded by encouraging early retirement. Teachers with experience cost too much, and new teachers fresh out of college are cheap. Of course, this totally devalues the importance of teaching experience, and teachers are left with a knowledge vacuum. Any successful business knows the value of its experienced workers, and a corporation should be smart enough to try to balance cost and experience. Of course, it?s cheaper to run a business with fresh-out-of-the-blocks college graduates, but without more senior staff to watch out for the pitfalls, push the best practices, and share the wealth of knowledge they have accumulated, such a company is doomed to make the same mistakes over and over again. And that?s just bad business.

Today, we are left with massive class sizes and limited resources. Classes with special needs students are at an immediate disadvantage, because getting the appropriate resources for special needs children is difficult. I know this, as both my own and my friends? children have encountered the difficulties inherent in gaining understanding from teachers and access to learning resources.

There are other issues, but these ones are the ones that are front-and-center in my mind. So shall we begin?

Conservatives
Once again, I?m not going to waste my time looking. I don?t care how revolutionary their educational policies may or may not be, they?re the reason that education is in the position it is right now. To assume that as of election day they?re going to change 40 years worth of hacking and slashing is just ridiculous.

Liberals
The first thing I?m reading is that the Liberals want to end school fees. I?m not sure I entirely agree with that. I believe that school fees amongst the poor and working poor are a nightmare, and I would know, but to simply suggest that the government shell out another 40 million dollars (I?m basing this number on the NDP?s figure taken from this page from 2005) when those with money could take on some of that seems like an unnecessary burden to be dropped on the taxpayer. $40 million isn?t actually a lot of money in the provincial budget, but if it could be at least partially handled by the more wealthy parents, so much the better. I?m certainly not advocating dividing $40 million by how many rich kids there are, but if everyone over a certain earning level can spend their current fees, that will help.

Their next main point is to create a school lunch program. I honestly can?t comment on this, because I don?t know how many students in Alberta are going to school hungry. If it is a sizable number, then a school lunch program absolutely makes sense for the reasons they have said. If it isn?t, then it is a waste of money.

Then they suggest a $500 tax credit for teachers. I?m not against this per se, but I?m not for it. The argument is that teachers put a certain amount of their paycheck into the job. I know this to be true, but I?m not sure I agree with giving them a tax credit for it. In a normal job, any expenses you incur become tax deductible expenses. Would that replace the ability for teachers to keep their receipts and be remunerated for them? Are teachers not presently allowed to submit these receipts? To me, a $500 tax credit either overcompensates something that is already being taken care of or doesn?t solve the problem properly.

Their next point is to expand registered apprenticeship programs for students who want to learn a trade. I have no problem with this. Their last point, however, is stupid. They want provincial policy to denote that there is a zero tolerance policy on bullying. I personally hate bullies and would love to see the behavior quickly and efficiently rooted out of schools, but a provincial policy means nothing. Are they going to require schools to react to bullying in a specific way? How is the provincial government going to enforce this policy? To me, this stinks of currying favor with parents. Bullying is very topical right now due to a few high profile incidents, and I see no way for the provincial government to in any way impact this. It?s not like there are schools who have a ?Bullying is cool? policy that would need to be overturned. Unless this policy specifically addresses bullying behaviors with direct ramifications, then this whole point means absolutely nothing.

NDP
Now, this is nitpicky of me, and I get that, but the language on their page is awful. It actually should be read as ?Alberta?s NDP would the lack of appropriate funding has led to class sizes larger than recommended by the Alberta Commission on Learning?. Now, most people suck at working bullet points, but that?s just awful, and it makes me highly dubious of anyone who can?t get their official web site to read correctly. But again, that?s my grammar freakout, and doesn?t reflect the strength or weakness of the policy. Actually, as I read further down the page, this is just bad HTML. That?s still bad form, and just makes you wonder how they can run a province if they can?t proof-read a web page, but again, semantics.

Because it?s jumbled, I?m going to have to jumble a bit on how I deal with each point. It starts out with a good evaluation of the current state of things, including some points I hadn?t brought to light earlier. One of the stand-outs is that some schools are considering arrangements with private corporations. I?ve heard of this, and it freaks me right out. I thought calling it the Pengrowth Saddledome was tacky until I found out about Providence, RI?s Dunkin Donuts Center. How would you like Dunkin Donuts Elementary? How comfortable would you feel in saying that the landlords wouldn?t be willing to use their ownership of the building as a means to impact curriculum? That?s a yucky concept to say the least.

The first thing they want to do is implement caps on class sizes. I agree. I?m not sure what the Learning Commission targeted as right class size, but caps are important. There are just too many students in a typical Alberta classroom, and the mandatory decrease in class size means an increase in the number of teachers, which means a direct increase in cost. I?m all for this. That increase in cost is simply the cost of doing business for the education system. Health care would be remarkably cheap if you didn?t have to pay health care workers, but we accept that we do. It?s the same with teachers. Teachers are probably the most maligned public servants, and the notion that they are making the Big Bucks is just ridiculous.

Next up is ensuring that there are enough support staff for schools. Duh. I mean, I hate to say it, but how is this even a question? If you?re running a business and you want it to be successful, you assume that there are certain overhead positions that are going to be required to keep the ship running smoothly. And while having an office manager does not contribute to the income of a company, not having one directly diminishes the income as those duties take away from the time that others can spend actually working.

Funding full day kindergarten I?m good with. Funding half-day junior kindergarten I?m definitely not behind. This sounds to me too much like government-funded babysitting, and is that really what we want to do? I?d be all for offering to help with the cost of funding day care for the poor, but to make that a burden for the education system just seems pointless.

Their next point is weak. ?Make high school completion a priority by providing students with the support they need to stay in school and reach their educational potential.? That doesn?t really say how you are going to do it, and to me, this just comes across like the kind of statement that is made by someone running for Class President. Saying that you?re going to encourage something and saying how you?re going to encourage it are two different things.

Next, we?re eliminating fees and fundraising for learning essentials. I agree with this. If a computer is required for a classroom, it shouldn?t come down to the schools to find a way to jury-rig it in.

One of the things I haven?t touched on yet, but that I truly am appalled about is the fact that private schools are receiving public funding. I absolutely agree that this should be stopped immediately. If you as a parent have the means and the desire to send your child to private school, the public system should not be contributing a dime. As for charter schools, my understanding is that they are already under the jurisdiction of school boards, but if they aren?t, they should be.

Again with the healthy and nutritious food options. The NDPs are taking it one step further and making it breakfast and lunch. I still really don?t know if I agree with this concept, and would have to see how common the problem of children not having food at home is. The idea of the school system stepping in and feeding my kids just doesn?t seem right.

Lastly, they want to ensure that parents of students from 6-12 years old have access to after school care. Again, I agree with the concept of the government assisting with day care and after school care, but to me this isn?t educational policy. I would not be comfortable with the Calgary Board of Education deciding who was going to look after my kid between 3:00 and 5:00.

Wild Rose Party
Their main points start with putting the decision making into the locally elected school boards again, instead of largely coming from a centralized body in Edmonton. I agree with this. I also find it uproariously funny when a political party refers to the public servants as ?government bureaucrats?, both because it sounds like some cartoon character blaming ?those doggone bums in Warshingtin? and because they?re ACTIVELY TRYING TO BECOME GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRATS. That?d be like me saying how much I hate Business Analysts because they?re always over-thinking and never bloody well doing during a job interview to become a Business Analyst. Stupid!

In the Freedom To Choose section, they say they want funding for the student to follow the student to the school they attend, which makes sense. I thought it already did. They also want schools to be accountable by posting graduation rates and subject-by-subject assessment rates. This seems to me to be a great model for teaching to the test. Lastly, they?re perfectly fine with maintaining the 70% funding for private school students. SAY WHAT?

The Respecting Individuality section kinda gives me the creeps. It?s good that they realize that students aren?t all identical, and that tailoring learning is important, but statements like ?Students won?t be moved on to more advanced material until they demonstrate a strong understanding of the subject matter? leave me a little frosty. What happens if a student simply doesn?t understand a topic? Do we just keep hammering them with it day after day? And then they say that they want to get rid of the stupid old standardized tests with brand new standardized tests. Yay! Something new to teach to!

In their final section, Support For Special Needs Students, they talk about how special needs kids eat up resource time, and how they want to determine as early as possible that students have special needs and then find the best choice from them, be that staying the classroom or not. I?m all for that, but in my own prejudiced mind, I don?t trust the super-Conservatives not to just create some weird super soldier program where they root out the special needs kids and feed them to the strongest ones. But obviously that?s just ridiculous.

I thought these people were supposed to be Conservatives? but the idea of funding private school with government money, of supporting special needs students, and respecting ANYTHING simply don?t jive with that. That is a concern to me. Is this a party that isn?t as Conservative as they let on, or are they a party that lies to get elected?

Alberta Party
And again, we save the best for last. The Alberta Party policy is what I would consider most in line with what I as a typical Albertan would want to see. There are a lot of points in it that are brought up that the others haven?t touched on, and what I would consider largely the best of the other plans. Read the policies of all the parties, and see if you don?t agree?

For starters, we?re back to taking the control of local education out of the hands of the regional body. Things ranging from where schools are built to decision making for those schools should see more involvement from the regions affected.

This is the only plan that talks about teacher professional development. I have always been amazed at the general lack of professional development available to teachers. In any field I?ve ever encountered, employers pay for training courses, encourage professional growth, and feel the need to challenge employees. That is tragically not the case for public education, and it is a shortcoming the Alberta Party seeks to resolve.

Another first is the plan to remove the ridiculous age limit on coverage for completing high school. A high school diploma is a major prerequisite for so much opportunity, and until the age of 21, the government will pay for it. But what about those who wish to get it later in life? Well, the present system says that they can pay for it at a cost of around $350 per course. I?m guessing here, but I?d imagine that most people who don?t have and eagerly want a high school education would find it awfully difficult to find an extra $350 per course lying around the house. It becomes yet another barrier to success, and for what benefit?

And then the topic of Bill 44 comes up. I had trouble with this bill when I first read it because it seems innocent enough. It means that parents are to be warned whenever the topic of religion, sex, or sexual identity is planned to be brought up in class, and they have the option of having their children opt out of the lecture without penalty. Now, on the surface that doesn?t seem to be a big deal. If parents want their children to be ignorant about sex, sexuality, and religion, so be it. But there are things wrong with this. For starters, what happens if students turn discussion in that direction? For example, let?s say a teacher is lecturing about evolution. This is not a religious topic, it?s a scientific topic, but what happens if students actively lead the conversation into a discussion on evolution vs. creationism? In this, the student is the one who has created the issue, but any attempt to discuss it with the class has not been previously cleared with parents, and the teacher might be considered in violation of this law? What about teaching history without reference to religious impacts on war? How many topics have the potential to spill into violations of the law? Let?s say the topic of Artificial Intelligence (or code breaking, or World War II) brings mention of Alan Turing, and students wish to comment on his humiliation and suicide? It might be easier to find topics that could not possibly link through legitimate discussion to religion, sex, or sexual identity. The Alberta Party?s plan to remove this section of the law seems to me to be a protection of both teachers and free debate.

A common theme with several of the policies is about the damage that standardized testing like the Provincial Achievement Testing does to education. Teachers are teaching to the test, and that has a long history of blowing up in our faces. They plan to remove this testing and replace it with a better solution. As well, they want to reduce the weighting of diploma exams. I wholly agree. Why does a single test constitute half of the student?s mark? One bad day (at a time when the student is under maximum stress and fatigue) and their mark tanks hardly seems a fair notion. When I taught college, my mid-term and final exams were typically worth something like 25%, because exams are hardly the only evaluation of a student?s competency in a topic.

And throughout the whole document are a few constants that I think are imperative, and are generally lacking in the other party policies. Words like accountability and transparency as it pertains to what we?re paying for and how our investment is faring are important to me. I am a believer in public spending, but I am against blind public spending. The money exists in this province to properly fund an incredible system, but it has been diverted into middle management and bad decision-making. We give too little to the public education system and are given too little information on how that money is spent, and that is a failure.

(My) Conclusion
I can?t help but feel, after having read all of the educational policies (save the Conservatives) that the only one that is thorough, reasonable, and matches what I think are the priorities of the majority of Albertans with regards to education is the Alberta Party platform. Again, I?m biased. I have a dog in this race, and I encourage you to look at the policies and make up your own mind.

Education in Alberta needs to change. It needs more funding, smaller classes, better measures, better support for different types of learning and abilities to learn, better treatment of teachers, better treatment of students, and a general increase in the importance we place on this service. All of the platforms that I have read speak to this in different ways, but the Alberta Party does so thoroughly and thoughtfully, much more so than any of the others.

Once again, the Liberal policy comes across (at least to me) like empty promises by people who know they haven?t a hope in hell of having to back up their words. The NDP would be a cost mistake as leaders of the province. The Conservatives have proven that they have what it takes to cause problems, but not what it takes to fix them. The Wild Rose Party are clearly of the rich, for the rich, and by the rich. I mean, come on. You?re supposed to be Conservatives and you support the public system giving public money to private schools? Oh, right. Your kids go there. Any cost savings they see go directly to you. Right. Way to look out for everyone, guys.

When you look at the various policies, try to think about things from that corporation perspective. They are the leaders of the corporation. We are both their customers and their staff. We expect a certain level of quality when it comes to all of the services we utilize. We have services that require retooling. Who do you think has the best plan for that retooling to best his

Jim

Source: http://www.meddlingkids.org/2012/03/the-province-as-a-corporation-education/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-province-as-a-corporation-education

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