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fighting back against Wells Fargo after the bank cut off credit to Quad City Die Casting factory on Moline, Ill., causing the factory to close. This week Wells Fargo has cut off health care benefits to the workers, which the workers say violates federal labor laws.
The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) Local 1174, which represents the workers, has responded by filing charges today with the National Labor Relations Board. The company also informed employees that Wells Fargo would not approve the expenditure of owed vacation pay, and the company has refused to pay a 2 percent wage increase due the employees under their legally binding collective bargaining agreement.
As Wells Fargo cuts off credit to Quad City and forces it to break its collective bargaining agreement with its workers, the bank has $25 billion in federal bailout funds that were intended in part to make credit more available to businesses.
“Wells Fargo first ends financing, forcing our company to close, and now they won’t pay us what we are owed by law. To us, our vacation, insurance and wages mean everything to our families. But to Wells Fargo its pennies, not even a blip in their billions. Yet they choose to cheat us out of what we have earned. said Deb Johann, a union member employed at the factory.
According to management officials, Wells Fargo approves all expenditures by the company on a weekly basis. Workers are calling upon federal officials to investigate the practices of Wells Fargo.
The UE that represents workers at the plant is the same union that occupied Republic Windows and Doors last summer. Its members are engaging in direct action against Wells Fargo, calling on the bank to keep the plant open. Workers continue to demand that Wells Fargo do what is necessary to keep the company in business until a sale of the company is finalized. According to parties familiar with the discussions, there are currently several interested parties looking to make a bid to purchase Quad City Die Casting.
The union says that after having received $25 billion in bailout money, Wells Fargo has an obligation to promote economic recovery by keeping the plant open.
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The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) Local 1174, which represents the workers, has responded by filing charges today with the National Labor Relations Board. The company also informed employees that Wells Fargo would not approve the expenditure of owed vacation pay, and the company has refused to pay a 2 percent wage increase due the employees under their legally binding collective bargaining agreement.
As Wells Fargo cuts off credit to Quad City and forces it to break its collective bargaining agreement with its workers, the bank has $25 billion in federal bailout funds that were intended in part to make credit more available to businesses.
“Wells Fargo first ends financing, forcing our company to close, and now they won’t pay us what we are owed by law. To us, our vacation, insurance and wages mean everything to our families. But to Wells Fargo its pennies, not even a blip in their billions. Yet they choose to cheat us out of what we have earned. said Deb Johann, a union member employed at the factory.
According to management officials, Wells Fargo approves all expenditures by the company on a weekly basis. Workers are calling upon federal officials to investigate the practices of Wells Fargo.
The UE that represents workers at the plant is the same union that occupied Republic Windows and Doors last summer. Its members are engaging in direct action against Wells Fargo, calling on the bank to keep the plant open. Workers continue to demand that Wells Fargo do what is necessary to keep the company in business until a sale of the company is finalized. According to parties familiar with the discussions, there are currently several interested parties looking to make a bid to purchase Quad City Die Casting.
The union says that after having received $25 billion in bailout money, Wells Fargo has an obligation to promote economic recovery by keeping the plant open.
Similar posts: independent health
- Mood:hangry
- Music:Linkin Park
City-wide drunk driving patrols between 6/10 and 6/14 resulted in the arrest of four people out of the nine stopped for evaluation of sobriety, according to a 6/16 announcement from the department. In addition to the intoxicated driving arrests, four people were cited for driving with a suspended license or without a license at all. Altogether, 97 vehicles were stopped.
•••
Effective 7/1, private company Prison Health Services, Inc., will provide mental health services as well as medical services to inmates at the Santa Barbara County Jail. While the company had been providing medical help, it will now be replacing the Alcohol, Drug Mental Health Services department in giving mental health help to those who need it. County staff say the company will save the county money while increasing services to inmates.
•••
The Santa Barbara Tea Fire Response Fund, a community organization begun in the wake of last November’s Tea Fire, on 6/15 began the third of four planned dispersal periods during which victims of the blaze can receive financial aid. During this dispersal period, $62,086.16 will be given out — 53 percent to help those who are self-employed and whose businesses have been affected by the fire, 45 percent to housing needs, and the remaining 2 percent to medical needs. So far, people and organizations have donated $434,447.15 to the fund.
Similar posts: independent health
•••
Effective 7/1, private company Prison Health Services, Inc., will provide mental health services as well as medical services to inmates at the Santa Barbara County Jail. While the company had been providing medical help, it will now be replacing the Alcohol, Drug Mental Health Services department in giving mental health help to those who need it. County staff say the company will save the county money while increasing services to inmates.
•••
The Santa Barbara Tea Fire Response Fund, a community organization begun in the wake of last November’s Tea Fire, on 6/15 began the third of four planned dispersal periods during which victims of the blaze can receive financial aid. During this dispersal period, $62,086.16 will be given out — 53 percent to help those who are self-employed and whose businesses have been affected by the fire, 45 percent to housing needs, and the remaining 2 percent to medical needs. So far, people and organizations have donated $434,447.15 to the fund.
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- Mood:Very good
- Music:Benny Benassi
On the heels of the White House report "100 Days, 100 Projects,"which boasts such stimulus successes as the purchase a new building with walk-in freezers for a food distribution center in Virginia, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) released a scathing report called 100 Stimulus Projects: A Second Opinion. The report lists 100 examples of waste in the stimulus bill. According to Senator Coburn's press release:
"Earl Devaney, head of the Recovery Act Accountability and Transparency (RAT) Board, estimates that at least $55 billion of stimulus funds may be lost to waste, fraud and abuse. However, the final number will likely be much higher. If stimulus funds do not promote economic growth history may indicate that the vast majority of stimulate dollars would have been better off staying in taxpayers' pockets."
Ten examples of wasteful stimulus projects in the report include:
1. $1.5 million in "free" stimulus money for a new wastewater treatment plant results in higher utility costs for residents of Perkins, Oklahoma.
2. $1 billion for FutureGen in Mattoon, Illinois is the "biggest earmark of all time" for a power plant that may never work.
3. $15 million for "shovel-ready" repairs to little-used bridges in rural Wisconsin are given priority over widely used bridges that are structurally deficient.
4. $800,000 for little-used John Murtha Airport in Johnstown, Pennsylvania airport to repave a back-up runway; the 'Airport for Nobody' Has Already Received Tens of Millions in Taxpayer dollars.
5. $3.4 million for a wildlife "eco-passage" in Florida to take animals safely under a busy roadway.
6. Nevada non-profit gets $2 million weatherization contract after recently being fired for same type of work.
7. $1.15 million for installation of a new guard rail for the non-existent Optima Lake in Oklahoma.
8. Nearly $10 million to renovate an abandoned train station that hasn't been used in 30 years.
9. 10,000 dead people get stimulus checks, but the Social Security Administration blames a tough deadline.
10. Town of Union, New York, encouraged to spend a $578,000 grant it did not request for a homelessness problem it claims it does not have.
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- Mood:lol
- Music:Bob Sinclar
Dear President Obama and Legislators:
You want a "uniquely American solution" to the health care crisis. So do I. Fortunately, we already have a uniquely American solution. It works. It saves money. It's called Medicare. It's the most popular social program in history.
I want expanded and improved Medicare now. For me. For everybody. Just like in Rep. Conyers' bill, HR 676.
Health insurance is not the same as health care. Insurance is for accidents. Health care is not an accident. I want health CARE, not health insurance.
Insurance company flacks and high-paid lobbyists twist the truth about Medicare. It's not "socialized medicine." Medicare is publicly financed, privately delivered health CARE. I have heard the nonsense about "government bureaucrats practicing medicine." The insurance companies paid Harry and Louise to twist the truth in 1994 and spout half-baked "facts" to defeat the Clinton plan. That tactic won't fool me again.
Medicare works for Americans over 65. It will work even better for healthier younger people. Quit looking for a solution that gives the insurance companies more money. Use what works. Give Americans under 65 the same right that seniors have - the right to guaranteed affordable health care with free choice.
Medicare for me. Medicare For All. Everybody In, Nobody Out. Now.
Please do the right thing for our kids, our nation, our economy, and vote for expanded Medicare for all.
Sincerely,
Richard Schoor, rich@drschoor.
Similar posts: independent health
You want a "uniquely American solution" to the health care crisis. So do I. Fortunately, we already have a uniquely American solution. It works. It saves money. It's called Medicare. It's the most popular social program in history.
I want expanded and improved Medicare now. For me. For everybody. Just like in Rep. Conyers' bill, HR 676.
Health insurance is not the same as health care. Insurance is for accidents. Health care is not an accident. I want health CARE, not health insurance.
Insurance company flacks and high-paid lobbyists twist the truth about Medicare. It's not "socialized medicine." Medicare is publicly financed, privately delivered health CARE. I have heard the nonsense about "government bureaucrats practicing medicine." The insurance companies paid Harry and Louise to twist the truth in 1994 and spout half-baked "facts" to defeat the Clinton plan. That tactic won't fool me again.
Medicare works for Americans over 65. It will work even better for healthier younger people. Quit looking for a solution that gives the insurance companies more money. Use what works. Give Americans under 65 the same right that seniors have - the right to guaranteed affordable health care with free choice.
Medicare for me. Medicare For All. Everybody In, Nobody Out. Now.
Please do the right thing for our kids, our nation, our economy, and vote for expanded Medicare for all.
Sincerely,
Richard Schoor, rich@drschoor.
Similar posts: independent health
- Mood:smile
- Music:Britney Spear
America is more open to a public conversation about government regulation of companies than at any time in many, many years. (Yesterday in a discussion with union leaders in a highly regulated industry they could not agree on the starting date for this wave of deregulation. Was it 1965 or 1971?)
Congress is talking about regulating credit cards. Remember, they used to be regulated, state-by-state. Then they all moved to South Dakota or some other lawless place. Now, America wants Congress to start minding the store again. There is strong popular sentiment to outlaw sub-prime mortgage scams and predatory lending practices. The word “predatory” is used openly to describe giant financial companies. Again, Americans want Congress to mind the store.
Yesterday’s “let us do it” letter from big health care industry stakeholders can be seen in this context. They see the regulatory wave growing, and want to be out ahead of it. The only proper response is to step up the call for regulation with teeth. If the industry mends its ways, regulations won’t bother them. If they don’t, the machinery will be in place to act quickly.
We can help people see the need by shining a light on “predatory” practices by insurers. After all, they are financial institutions like banks and credit card companies. Denial of payment should be treated the same as a bank refusing to give you your money. It’s not the insurance company’s money. They are just holding it to pay for my health care.
“Sub-prime” insurance should be outlawed. A policy that does not cover the purchaser is a scam. High-deductible policies are sub-prime. Bare-bones policies are sub-prime. If we don’t demonize them, the other side will describe them as bargains and run a “one size does not fit all” media blitz. If ever there was a time to set a reasonable floor on health coverage, it is right now.
We have to wage this regulatory fight to make the “level playing field” attack less damaging. A public health insurance plan should not have to compete with a high-deductible, low coverage, low premium rip-off plan. The power of the public option is magnified when combined with a strong regulatory wall keeping insurance companies from a big part of their plundering and pillaging business model.
We should join the industry in the call for a “specific focus on obesity prevention commensurate with the scale of the problem.” A good place to start is corporate fat cats and bloated bureaucracies. The recent Georgetown/RWJ study [pdf] shows people can’t figure out their policies, can’t figure out what is covered and what isn’t, and can’t estimate what the real costs will be. They call for truth in packaging. We should add strong content standards.
The public hates insurance companies for a reason. Even Luntz sees it. Turn up the heat on insurance company predatory practices. It’s regulation time for American health care.
Nick Unger works for the AFL-CIOs health care campaign.
(also posted at the NOW.
Similar posts: independent health
Congress is talking about regulating credit cards. Remember, they used to be regulated, state-by-state. Then they all moved to South Dakota or some other lawless place. Now, America wants Congress to start minding the store again. There is strong popular sentiment to outlaw sub-prime mortgage scams and predatory lending practices. The word “predatory” is used openly to describe giant financial companies. Again, Americans want Congress to mind the store.
Yesterday’s “let us do it” letter from big health care industry stakeholders can be seen in this context. They see the regulatory wave growing, and want to be out ahead of it. The only proper response is to step up the call for regulation with teeth. If the industry mends its ways, regulations won’t bother them. If they don’t, the machinery will be in place to act quickly.
We can help people see the need by shining a light on “predatory” practices by insurers. After all, they are financial institutions like banks and credit card companies. Denial of payment should be treated the same as a bank refusing to give you your money. It’s not the insurance company’s money. They are just holding it to pay for my health care.
“Sub-prime” insurance should be outlawed. A policy that does not cover the purchaser is a scam. High-deductible policies are sub-prime. Bare-bones policies are sub-prime. If we don’t demonize them, the other side will describe them as bargains and run a “one size does not fit all” media blitz. If ever there was a time to set a reasonable floor on health coverage, it is right now.
We have to wage this regulatory fight to make the “level playing field” attack less damaging. A public health insurance plan should not have to compete with a high-deductible, low coverage, low premium rip-off plan. The power of the public option is magnified when combined with a strong regulatory wall keeping insurance companies from a big part of their plundering and pillaging business model.
We should join the industry in the call for a “specific focus on obesity prevention commensurate with the scale of the problem.” A good place to start is corporate fat cats and bloated bureaucracies. The recent Georgetown/RWJ study [pdf] shows people can’t figure out their policies, can’t figure out what is covered and what isn’t, and can’t estimate what the real costs will be. They call for truth in packaging. We should add strong content standards.
The public hates insurance companies for a reason. Even Luntz sees it. Turn up the heat on insurance company predatory practices. It’s regulation time for American health care.
Nick Unger works for the AFL-CIOs health care campaign.
(also posted at the NOW.
Similar posts: independent health
- Mood:cry
- Music:Timbaland
hat happens when the followers submit too much to the leaders, trust them too much, and give them too much leeway to do whatever they want. Cheney, Goss, and the rest are saying: you have to trust us, if you want to be safe. Give us the power to decide which laws to follow, when to waterboard detainees, how to extract information. We know whats best, and anyone who questions us is putting your life at risk.
As Prof. Altemeyer says, this is the road to something undemocratic, tyrannical and brutal. The United States is famously a nation of laws, not of men. That ideal is protected by our constitutional democracy, a system which promises that no person, even the president of the United States, is above the law. This ideal teetered in the balance during the Nixon years, when the president tried to turn the government into the instrument of his will, insisting that whatever he did was, by definition, legal. The defenders of torture are challenging our constitutional democracy once again. If they win, we have no guarantee that presidents and their men (and women) must obey the law. They are defending an authoritarian ideal which can be boiled down to this: in order to remain safe, Americans must trust their government to do whatever it deems necessary, even when that means breaking the law. Those who defend torture claim they are the only ones who can defend us from terror, but their conception of an authoritarian America with leaders who are literally above the law is, itself, terrifying.
Similar posts: independent health
As Prof. Altemeyer says, this is the road to something undemocratic, tyrannical and brutal. The United States is famously a nation of laws, not of men. That ideal is protected by our constitutional democracy, a system which promises that no person, even the president of the United States, is above the law. This ideal teetered in the balance during the Nixon years, when the president tried to turn the government into the instrument of his will, insisting that whatever he did was, by definition, legal. The defenders of torture are challenging our constitutional democracy once again. If they win, we have no guarantee that presidents and their men (and women) must obey the law. They are defending an authoritarian ideal which can be boiled down to this: in order to remain safe, Americans must trust their government to do whatever it deems necessary, even when that means breaking the law. Those who defend torture claim they are the only ones who can defend us from terror, but their conception of an authoritarian America with leaders who are literally above the law is, itself, terrifying.
Similar posts: independent health
- Mood:normal
- Music:Black Eyed Peas
plugged this speech from A.B. Culvahouse, the head of Sen. John McCains 2008 vice presidential vetting project, and it was a fascinating look into how such decisions are made. Point one: Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) was seriously enough considered by McCain for the vetters to look into state sore loser laws that would impact a ticket that included a party-switcher. They would have mandated a trip to the Supreme Court, so Lieberman was essentially ruled out.
Culvahouse also detailed which stumper questions the top VP choices were asked, including whether they were ready to use nuclear weapons and whether they would take a shot at Osama bin Laden even if it meant the death of civilians. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin hit them out of the park, said Culvahouse, without saying what the correct answers were.
Similar posts: independent health
Culvahouse also detailed which stumper questions the top VP choices were asked, including whether they were ready to use nuclear weapons and whether they would take a shot at Osama bin Laden even if it meant the death of civilians. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin hit them out of the park, said Culvahouse, without saying what the correct answers were.
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- Mood:bad
- Music:Limp Bizkit
Just in time for National Autism Month
One of the great advantages of being a book author is that you have control over your working hours which, for me, means that when my kids are on vacation, IM on vacation. Ill have decades of writing time to myself once the kids are out of the house, but free time with them is limited and Im not going to miss out on it. Which is why I havent posted anything for over two weeks. (Fortunately Kim picked up the slack and then some.) My apologies. No regrets, though. It was our best vacation ever.
But now that Im back home and theyre back in school, its time to get serious about work again. So: hello everybody!
(All together now:
Hello, Claire!
Thanks.)
When I left for vacation, it was March, which wasnt remarkable, but I returned in April which is National Autism Month. As you all must know by now, when Im not writing lighthearted womens fiction, Im co-authoring books about autism. The second collaboration between Dr. Lynn Koegel (of the Koegel Autism Center at UCSB) and me came out last month and, in honor of National Autism Month, Im going to give a copy away.
Similar posts: independent health
One of the great advantages of being a book author is that you have control over your working hours which, for me, means that when my kids are on vacation, IM on vacation. Ill have decades of writing time to myself once the kids are out of the house, but free time with them is limited and Im not going to miss out on it. Which is why I havent posted anything for over two weeks. (Fortunately Kim picked up the slack and then some.) My apologies. No regrets, though. It was our best vacation ever.
But now that Im back home and theyre back in school, its time to get serious about work again. So: hello everybody!
(All together now:
Hello, Claire!
Thanks.)
When I left for vacation, it was March, which wasnt remarkable, but I returned in April which is National Autism Month. As you all must know by now, when Im not writing lighthearted womens fiction, Im co-authoring books about autism. The second collaboration between Dr. Lynn Koegel (of the Koegel Autism Center at UCSB) and me came out last month and, in honor of National Autism Month, Im going to give a copy away.
Similar posts: independent health
- Mood:More emotions
- Music:Timbaland
Published: 2009-03-25 00:00:01
Roasting a chicken
Never underestimate the smell and taste of a simple roast chicken. A crisp, golden skin that falls from a pinkish white slice of meat, served with a simple bread sauce, is all you need to appreciate such a homely dish. Who really needs those rotisserie jobbies from the supermarket when one's home could be filled with the aroma of freshly cooked food?
Simon Hopkinson, chef and author of the cookbook Roast Chicken and Other Stories, agrees, saying we should roast our own chickens out of love. The best I ever enjoyed was my mother and father's, he says. We were lucky enough to have an Aga when I was young an old-fashioned solid-fuel one, and I can still smell that chicken being roasted in their kitchen now. You can't beat it with that beautiful, crisp, salty skin served with gravy, bread sauce and a little sausage wrapped up in some streaky bacon.
Simon recommends selecting a good-sized, preferably free-range, bird (300g is sufficient per person). Remove its innards, and smother the skin with plenty of butter before placing carefully in the cooker. Don't bung it in (This kind of food needs great respect, he says). Let it roast at 220C (gas mark 7) for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 190C (mark 5) and allow 45 minutes per kilo, plus another 20 minutes, or until the juices run clear. Allow its skin to become golden and prepare a good bread sauce. Remember, says Simon: a true Englishman believes chicken and bread sauce (milk, butter, onion, garlic, cloves, thyme, salt and breadcrumbs) should never be parted. You can stuff the chicken cavity with garlic, lemon halves and onion, but this is of the Gallic school, he says, and could lose you friends. You have to want to roast a chicken. Don't be driven by necessity. It's all about being able to look forward to its delicious flavours on your tongue, or salivating when you pull it from the oven. It's not a chore. Rob Sharp
Going for a walk
As you zoom into work on the train, or drive your car to your mother-in-law's house three roads away, think about the physical and mental health benefits you are missing out on by not using your legs as God intended.
Martin Christie, founder of exercisewith friends.co.uk, is a firm believer in the value of taking a walk to put a brake on your pace of life, or to provide a useful hiaitus in our frantic daily lives and careers. My wife and I have one car between us and she takes it to work, he says. So every day at around midday, I walk to pick up my little boy from nursery. This takes 45 minutes out of my day, ambling down the road. But I love it. Along the way, I pick up calls on my mobile. There's no reason my business has to stop.
When walking, why not take a look around you and appreciate the natural world how spring is bringing lighter mornings, or the blossom is appearing on the trees? The simplicity of it, or the social side of walking with a friend, can make an important difference to people's lives. Some even do it to get fit.
If you are walking for fitness set yourself a realistic target, continues Christie. You don't have to do it for more than an hour, and even that will make a big difference to your health. The Government advises you walk at a brisk pace. You certainly want to feel you are raising your breathing rate and getting slightly warm, but you should be able to converse comfortably with any walking partner accompanying you. If you swing your arms you are also using your upper body.
Try to fit your walking around your lifestyle, he says. If you live in a city, travel home from the railway station on foot rather than take a bus. And don't bother changing Tube lines travel the old-fashioned way, instead. Our species has been doing it for thousands of years, after all. Rob Sharp
Caring for clothes
In these days of fast fashion, the concept of caring for one's clothes seems hopelessly outdated. Why would anyone bother with all that folding and storing, stitching and darning when all they've got to do is pop to the high street, and buy an armful of new outfits each year?
Consequently tragically many of us don't know the ritualistic pleasure that comes with good, old-fashioned, wardrobe routines. The notion of carefully packing away your winter wools as spring dawns, and lovingly laundering delicates by hand, has become an alien concept.
Hopefully, with less cash in our pockets to throw away on passing fads, this won't continue. Not long ago Prince Philip stepped out in a pair of perfectly-preserved 51-year-old trousers (altered only to taper the legs to make them fashionable). Whatever you might think of HRH, for true clothes lovers it was a heart-warming sight not just because it conjures up the rather terrific image of the prince studying stills from a Hedi Slimane catwalk but also because it represents a peculiarly old-fashioned mentality of make-do and mend, whereby clothes are treasured, not coveted.
People don't realise, but I've seen an enormous increase in damage to clothes, thanks to our culture of rushing, says Garry Charnock of Jeeves of Belgravia, the royal dry cleaners, who laments fashion's disposable culture. But it's much more economical to buy good quality classics and care for what you've got. They don't have to be Chanel, they can be Marks Spencer.
Garry recommends using a cotton sheet (he customises his own) to cover items that you won't be wearing for a while: That way, the moths won't get to them and you won't need mothballs. He also advises scenting clothes with dried lavender to dispel any musty odours: To quote John Keats and Mary Poppins, 'A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.' Alice-Azania Jarvis
Cleaning the windows
Back in the Seventies, when Robin Askwith was clambering up ladders in Confessions of a Window Cleaner, this task probably had men scrambling for the bucket and cloth and offering to their neighbours (nudge, nudge).
Nowadays most of us view it as a tedious chore, but taking charge of your glazing is simple to do, and will instantly brighten your home.
Guy Scott has been in the business for more than 20 years. The best way to go about washing your windows is to use a squeegee and an applicator with some warm soapy water, says Guy. Go in a horizontal fashion from one side to another, then use the back of the applicator, following the same pattern, to remove all the dirt and grime. Finally, use a crimp a muslin cloth that has broken down and wipe the frames to remove any residue.
Guy says that, if possible, the process should be repeated at least once a month.
In this day and age, for high windows, even the householders shouldn't be going up ladders. It's not worth the risk, and most people don't realise they won't be covered on their house insurance, says Guy. Instead, he advises using a reach and wash pressure water system, or extension poles.
Though Guy admits it can be difficult to illicit much pleasure from cleaning windows during colder months, he says there's no excuse for not getting the squeegee out during the summer. When it's warm, it's just nice to be outside, he says. It can be sociable too - if your neighbours are out, you can have a chat. Ben Naylor
Servicing the car
Changing your own starter motor was once not only a matter of pride, but a matter of course.
Today, however, many motorists happily spend fortunes to have mechanics change something as simple as a brake light. This, according to James Ruppert, of bangernomics.com is partly the fault of the manufacturers. They deliberately make cars complicated, he says. With some models, every time you replace a bulb you need to reset the car computer. It's all to force you to go back to the dealer.
In reality, even the most intimidating sounding tasks ought to be well within the capabilities of the up-for-it amateur mechanic. All they need are some basic tools a set of spanners, three or four screwdrivers and the relevant Haynes manual, all of which will, says Ruppert, quickly pay for themselves.
There's no law against servicing your own motor. When it comes to something like the brakes, then perhaps if you're not confident, you should pay someone to do it, but with most other jobs you may well do a better job than your garage.
And, if you're handy with a wrench, you'll soon be able to deal with a whole host of household tasks that might previously have seemed to demand a plumber or electrician.
Young motorists today don't know one end of a car from the other. There are fewer and fewer people able to do these things. It gives you a sense of satisfaction, you learn a skill and you save money. And besides, oil-stained overalls can be quite the aphrodisiac. Tim Walker
Baking a cake
Our butter is unbeatable, our cream and milk unmatched. Our chickens lay some of the finest eggs you'll crack and we mill a mean flour. So why do we so often reach for the supermarket shelf for a sweaty lump of stodge wrapped in plastic?
It's a mystery to Lesley Norris, who oversees cake creation at Betty's Craft Bakery in Harrogate, Yorkshire. When you make a cake in the home, the family can mix the ingredients and lick the bowl, she says. And then, best of all, you've got the smell of a freshly baked cake coming out of the oven you can't get any of that if you get something off the shelf.
Lesley has seen a return to traditional cakes as austere times breed nostalgia. And cakes don't get much more traditional, or easy, than the Victoria sponge. The recipe requires only butter, caster sugar, self-raising flour as well as four eggs, a teaspoon of baking powder and the all-important jam and cream for the filling.
Over to Lesley: Mix the butter and sugar really well so it's pale and fluffy. Then, add your eggs a tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift in the flour and baking powder, using a large metal spoon to fold it in gently with a spoon using a figure of eight motion so you don't knock any air out.
Then divide the mixture between two greased tins and bake for 20 minutes (at a 175C) until golden brown. Cool on a rack, remove the sponge from the tins, and spread one half with jam and the other with whipped cream. Finally, sandwich the sponges together and dust the top with icing sugar. What could be nicer? Simon Usborne
Making sloe gin
Erroneously believed to be the province solely of Miss Marple types, the making of fruit liqueurs is thriving in certain quarters. This was forcibly brought home to me when I agreed to judge the category entitled One Bottle Sloe Gin or Other Fruit Liqueur at a country show in North Yorkshire. Instead of the half-dozen entries I anticipated, the phalanx of 30-odd multi-coloured bottles posed problems for both stamina and sobriety.
The best of these potent refreshments is sloe gin, made from the tiny, intensely bitter fruit of the blackthorn (look for them in the local park, or next time you take a walk somewhere leafy). To make a bottle, you need a pound of berries and a pin, though two hours in the freezer is said to perform the puncturing just as well.
Mix the punctured sloes with a quarter their weight of sugar. Half-fill an empty bottle with the mixture. Top up with gin and leave for two months, shaking occasionally. If you pick sloes after the first frost, which weakens the skins, the resulting liqueur should be ready by Christmas.
Be warned, however: once you start making fruit liqueurs there is a danger of the house filling with bottles, though these soon empty after reaching maturity. My home-made crme de cassis resulted in a kir so irresistible that the entire production run disappeared in a single evening. This proved to be somewhat expensive since, unless you happen to have a still, hidden in your back garden, the gin or vodka required as a basis for fruit liqueur involves a substantial payment to Mr Alistair Darling.
One way of avoiding rapidly vanishing stocks is to make a drink that is resistant to consumption. This proved to be the case with my dauntingly rustic elderflower vodka. Though unappealing taken neat, I eventually discovered a cocktail that adequately disguised this stalky concoction. Elderflower caipirinha, anyone? Christopher Hirst
Reading a map
Reading a map is an invitation to the imagination. The nautical chart leads the desk-captain into stormy harbour; the aviator's Tactical Pilotage Chart brings with it the vision of clouds forming as the wind heaps up over this ridge, this one, here. The Ordnance Survey maps, even the big ones, lay history before our eyes. These villages, all in hollows: the people who settled them weren't afraid of their neighbours or they'd have built on the hilltops. See how the place-names change: this valley was once a river, separating tribes with different languages.
GPS, or Google Maps, show a world through glass, with the manic focus of an imbecile. Zoom out your satnav to see the places passing either side of your affectless motorway and within seconds it autozooms in again, a flat line on a joke horizon. You don't need to know that. Time to destination, to the minute? I can do that with my thumb on the map and a glance at my wristwatch.
Let me navigate boat, car, or aeroplane with a map and a protractor, an E6-B drift calculator, a sextant and skills other men have taught me, passed down since that worst of all navigators, Odysseus. Let me see not just where but how and why and what. Great Circles, Mercator projections, rhumb lines, speed-over-ground; B-roads and single-tracks and villages big enough for a pub or small enough for a history: map-reading brings these all into view, and, with them, the pleasure of being wrong.
And, of course, texture. Paper and chinagraph pencils and sun-sightings and compass dip: more to life than precision on a screen. Yes, I love Google Maps on my iPhone. But maps are qualitatively different. When my father was dying, he gave me his Rand MacNally Road Map of the USA. I'll have no more use for it, he said. I read it in bed, pencil in hand, thumb on the map, planning the journeys he'll never make. You can't do that with a TomTom. MIchael Bywater
Brewing a cup of coffee
For some of us, getting to work without at least one shot of caffeine is as unthinkable as turning up without clothes on. And while it may be tempting to fork out for a Nespresso machine, or grab a skinny macchiato at Costa Nerobucks, anyone who knows their beans would attest that brewing a proper cup of coffee requires nothing more complicated than a cafetire.
Ben Townsend is a barista trainer and self-confessed coffee geek from London. His morning routine starts with a bag of beans. The most critical part of making good coffee is to grind good-quality, fresh beans every time, he says. I use a little burr grinder rather than a blade grinder. Blades tend to create particles of uneven size.
Ben then places his cafetire, or French press, on a set of digital scales and weighs out his freshly ground coffee and hot water (not boiling the heat overpowers the coffee). The industry standard is 50 grams of ground coffee to one litre of water, Townsend says. You can reset the scales and use them to measure the water a litre is roughly one kilo.
Then you've got time to get your cereal sorted. Good coffee comes to those who wait (for about four minutes). Add milk if you like, though he thinks it's a shame to dilute the flavour of the coffee, and pour. The final decision: the cup. According to psychologists who have studied how our brains are wired up to latch on to the rituals associated with drug delivery, coffee tastes better in your favourite mug. Just make sure it's clean a week's worth of encrusted rings will do nothing to improve the taste of organic arabica beans. Simon Usborne
Having a clear-out
Having a good clear-out is something we should think of as less of a chore and more of a meditative experience. According to Isobel McKenzie-Price of Ideal Home, there's nothing more satisfying than the sense of tranquillity that comes from an organised home.
And rather than spending money on storage for your long-forgotten possessions, surely it's better to confront clutter head-on and get your house in order. We have a need to create order from chaos, explains McKenzie-Price. She recalls the bliss of visiting a well-ordered home. A couple of years ago, I spent a weekend with the CEO of a global company in her house in the Hamptons. She showed me her perfectly ordered cupboards and her fully stocked larder and I was in heaven.
To feel this euphoric about one's own abode, she recommends tackling one room at a time, claiming this makes it a far more relaxing, and even a de-stressing experience. Be systematic don't just drift from pile to pile, get stuck in and be ruthless. Teenage love letters and puffball skirts might once have loomed large in your life but if you're drowning in stuff then it's time to sling them out. Clear bookshelves of anything you've always meant to read and haven't, then deliver the spoils to Oxfam so others can enjoy your cast-offs.
One top tip for sorting out a crowded bedroom or sitting room is to tip all of the debris on the bed or the couch that way, you can't have a sit-down or sneak off to sleep until you've thoroughly dejunked and dealt with the mess. Anything valuable can be posted on eBay or, if you're feeling altruistic, listed on Freecycle.org. Finally, sit down and enjoy a well-earned drink. Ben Naylor
...or just doing nothing
We're busy doing nothing, working the whole day through, sang Bing Crosby in the 1949 film, A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court, Trying to find lots of things not to do./We're busy going nowhere, isn't it just a crime?/We'd like to be unhappy but we never do have the time.
It's a lost art, the art of idling, loafing, wool-gathering. We're so driven by schedules and deadlines, BlackBerry-consulting and Facebook-checking, it's hard to imagine life without it all. There's always, we tell ourselves, something to be done, someone to be rung, something to be read or cooked or recycled or consumed. Kipling, in his poem If, encouraged us to fill any spare minute on our hands with 60 seconds' worth of distance run, like some deranged scoutmaster. Should we try that?
Try doing nothing, instead. The TV is switched off, the children are away, the phone is dead, the dogs are silent and you are prowling in your kitchen, picking up a corkscrew or a wooden spoon as though trying to familiarise yourself with ordinary life. In the garden, you stare at the leaves of a magnolia tree as if you've never seen them before. You spend whole, unrecoverable minutes of your life gazing at a caterpillar arching its back along a wooden fence. Back indoors, you sit on the living-room carpet and admire the complicated geometry of the sticks that make up the unlit fire in the grate...
Doing nothing, in other words, makes you notice everything. The mind, sated with processing external stimuli from page, screen and the chatter of humans, finds itself fixing on the ordinary and being startled by its unfamiliarity. Doing nothing inspires involuntary meditation, until you suddenly hear the sound of your own self, tucked away deep inside you, ruminating on the world and your place in it. It's a fantastic noise.
Similar posts: independent health
Roasting a chicken
Never underestimate the smell and taste of a simple roast chicken. A crisp, golden skin that falls from a pinkish white slice of meat, served with a simple bread sauce, is all you need to appreciate such a homely dish. Who really needs those rotisserie jobbies from the supermarket when one's home could be filled with the aroma of freshly cooked food?
Simon Hopkinson, chef and author of the cookbook Roast Chicken and Other Stories, agrees, saying we should roast our own chickens out of love. The best I ever enjoyed was my mother and father's, he says. We were lucky enough to have an Aga when I was young an old-fashioned solid-fuel one, and I can still smell that chicken being roasted in their kitchen now. You can't beat it with that beautiful, crisp, salty skin served with gravy, bread sauce and a little sausage wrapped up in some streaky bacon.
Simon recommends selecting a good-sized, preferably free-range, bird (300g is sufficient per person). Remove its innards, and smother the skin with plenty of butter before placing carefully in the cooker. Don't bung it in (This kind of food needs great respect, he says). Let it roast at 220C (gas mark 7) for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 190C (mark 5) and allow 45 minutes per kilo, plus another 20 minutes, or until the juices run clear. Allow its skin to become golden and prepare a good bread sauce. Remember, says Simon: a true Englishman believes chicken and bread sauce (milk, butter, onion, garlic, cloves, thyme, salt and breadcrumbs) should never be parted. You can stuff the chicken cavity with garlic, lemon halves and onion, but this is of the Gallic school, he says, and could lose you friends. You have to want to roast a chicken. Don't be driven by necessity. It's all about being able to look forward to its delicious flavours on your tongue, or salivating when you pull it from the oven. It's not a chore. Rob Sharp
Going for a walk
As you zoom into work on the train, or drive your car to your mother-in-law's house three roads away, think about the physical and mental health benefits you are missing out on by not using your legs as God intended.
Martin Christie, founder of exercisewith friends.co.uk, is a firm believer in the value of taking a walk to put a brake on your pace of life, or to provide a useful hiaitus in our frantic daily lives and careers. My wife and I have one car between us and she takes it to work, he says. So every day at around midday, I walk to pick up my little boy from nursery. This takes 45 minutes out of my day, ambling down the road. But I love it. Along the way, I pick up calls on my mobile. There's no reason my business has to stop.
When walking, why not take a look around you and appreciate the natural world how spring is bringing lighter mornings, or the blossom is appearing on the trees? The simplicity of it, or the social side of walking with a friend, can make an important difference to people's lives. Some even do it to get fit.
If you are walking for fitness set yourself a realistic target, continues Christie. You don't have to do it for more than an hour, and even that will make a big difference to your health. The Government advises you walk at a brisk pace. You certainly want to feel you are raising your breathing rate and getting slightly warm, but you should be able to converse comfortably with any walking partner accompanying you. If you swing your arms you are also using your upper body.
Try to fit your walking around your lifestyle, he says. If you live in a city, travel home from the railway station on foot rather than take a bus. And don't bother changing Tube lines travel the old-fashioned way, instead. Our species has been doing it for thousands of years, after all. Rob Sharp
Caring for clothes
In these days of fast fashion, the concept of caring for one's clothes seems hopelessly outdated. Why would anyone bother with all that folding and storing, stitching and darning when all they've got to do is pop to the high street, and buy an armful of new outfits each year?
Consequently tragically many of us don't know the ritualistic pleasure that comes with good, old-fashioned, wardrobe routines. The notion of carefully packing away your winter wools as spring dawns, and lovingly laundering delicates by hand, has become an alien concept.
Hopefully, with less cash in our pockets to throw away on passing fads, this won't continue. Not long ago Prince Philip stepped out in a pair of perfectly-preserved 51-year-old trousers (altered only to taper the legs to make them fashionable). Whatever you might think of HRH, for true clothes lovers it was a heart-warming sight not just because it conjures up the rather terrific image of the prince studying stills from a Hedi Slimane catwalk but also because it represents a peculiarly old-fashioned mentality of make-do and mend, whereby clothes are treasured, not coveted.
People don't realise, but I've seen an enormous increase in damage to clothes, thanks to our culture of rushing, says Garry Charnock of Jeeves of Belgravia, the royal dry cleaners, who laments fashion's disposable culture. But it's much more economical to buy good quality classics and care for what you've got. They don't have to be Chanel, they can be Marks Spencer.
Garry recommends using a cotton sheet (he customises his own) to cover items that you won't be wearing for a while: That way, the moths won't get to them and you won't need mothballs. He also advises scenting clothes with dried lavender to dispel any musty odours: To quote John Keats and Mary Poppins, 'A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.' Alice-Azania Jarvis
Cleaning the windows
Back in the Seventies, when Robin Askwith was clambering up ladders in Confessions of a Window Cleaner, this task probably had men scrambling for the bucket and cloth and offering to their neighbours (nudge, nudge).
Nowadays most of us view it as a tedious chore, but taking charge of your glazing is simple to do, and will instantly brighten your home.
Guy Scott has been in the business for more than 20 years. The best way to go about washing your windows is to use a squeegee and an applicator with some warm soapy water, says Guy. Go in a horizontal fashion from one side to another, then use the back of the applicator, following the same pattern, to remove all the dirt and grime. Finally, use a crimp a muslin cloth that has broken down and wipe the frames to remove any residue.
Guy says that, if possible, the process should be repeated at least once a month.
In this day and age, for high windows, even the householders shouldn't be going up ladders. It's not worth the risk, and most people don't realise they won't be covered on their house insurance, says Guy. Instead, he advises using a reach and wash pressure water system, or extension poles.
Though Guy admits it can be difficult to illicit much pleasure from cleaning windows during colder months, he says there's no excuse for not getting the squeegee out during the summer. When it's warm, it's just nice to be outside, he says. It can be sociable too - if your neighbours are out, you can have a chat. Ben Naylor
Servicing the car
Changing your own starter motor was once not only a matter of pride, but a matter of course.
Today, however, many motorists happily spend fortunes to have mechanics change something as simple as a brake light. This, according to James Ruppert, of bangernomics.com is partly the fault of the manufacturers. They deliberately make cars complicated, he says. With some models, every time you replace a bulb you need to reset the car computer. It's all to force you to go back to the dealer.
In reality, even the most intimidating sounding tasks ought to be well within the capabilities of the up-for-it amateur mechanic. All they need are some basic tools a set of spanners, three or four screwdrivers and the relevant Haynes manual, all of which will, says Ruppert, quickly pay for themselves.
There's no law against servicing your own motor. When it comes to something like the brakes, then perhaps if you're not confident, you should pay someone to do it, but with most other jobs you may well do a better job than your garage.
And, if you're handy with a wrench, you'll soon be able to deal with a whole host of household tasks that might previously have seemed to demand a plumber or electrician.
Young motorists today don't know one end of a car from the other. There are fewer and fewer people able to do these things. It gives you a sense of satisfaction, you learn a skill and you save money. And besides, oil-stained overalls can be quite the aphrodisiac. Tim Walker
Baking a cake
Our butter is unbeatable, our cream and milk unmatched. Our chickens lay some of the finest eggs you'll crack and we mill a mean flour. So why do we so often reach for the supermarket shelf for a sweaty lump of stodge wrapped in plastic?
It's a mystery to Lesley Norris, who oversees cake creation at Betty's Craft Bakery in Harrogate, Yorkshire. When you make a cake in the home, the family can mix the ingredients and lick the bowl, she says. And then, best of all, you've got the smell of a freshly baked cake coming out of the oven you can't get any of that if you get something off the shelf.
Lesley has seen a return to traditional cakes as austere times breed nostalgia. And cakes don't get much more traditional, or easy, than the Victoria sponge. The recipe requires only butter, caster sugar, self-raising flour as well as four eggs, a teaspoon of baking powder and the all-important jam and cream for the filling.
Over to Lesley: Mix the butter and sugar really well so it's pale and fluffy. Then, add your eggs a tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift in the flour and baking powder, using a large metal spoon to fold it in gently with a spoon using a figure of eight motion so you don't knock any air out.
Then divide the mixture between two greased tins and bake for 20 minutes (at a 175C) until golden brown. Cool on a rack, remove the sponge from the tins, and spread one half with jam and the other with whipped cream. Finally, sandwich the sponges together and dust the top with icing sugar. What could be nicer? Simon Usborne
Making sloe gin
Erroneously believed to be the province solely of Miss Marple types, the making of fruit liqueurs is thriving in certain quarters. This was forcibly brought home to me when I agreed to judge the category entitled One Bottle Sloe Gin or Other Fruit Liqueur at a country show in North Yorkshire. Instead of the half-dozen entries I anticipated, the phalanx of 30-odd multi-coloured bottles posed problems for both stamina and sobriety.
The best of these potent refreshments is sloe gin, made from the tiny, intensely bitter fruit of the blackthorn (look for them in the local park, or next time you take a walk somewhere leafy). To make a bottle, you need a pound of berries and a pin, though two hours in the freezer is said to perform the puncturing just as well.
Mix the punctured sloes with a quarter their weight of sugar. Half-fill an empty bottle with the mixture. Top up with gin and leave for two months, shaking occasionally. If you pick sloes after the first frost, which weakens the skins, the resulting liqueur should be ready by Christmas.
Be warned, however: once you start making fruit liqueurs there is a danger of the house filling with bottles, though these soon empty after reaching maturity. My home-made crme de cassis resulted in a kir so irresistible that the entire production run disappeared in a single evening. This proved to be somewhat expensive since, unless you happen to have a still, hidden in your back garden, the gin or vodka required as a basis for fruit liqueur involves a substantial payment to Mr Alistair Darling.
One way of avoiding rapidly vanishing stocks is to make a drink that is resistant to consumption. This proved to be the case with my dauntingly rustic elderflower vodka. Though unappealing taken neat, I eventually discovered a cocktail that adequately disguised this stalky concoction. Elderflower caipirinha, anyone? Christopher Hirst
Reading a map
Reading a map is an invitation to the imagination. The nautical chart leads the desk-captain into stormy harbour; the aviator's Tactical Pilotage Chart brings with it the vision of clouds forming as the wind heaps up over this ridge, this one, here. The Ordnance Survey maps, even the big ones, lay history before our eyes. These villages, all in hollows: the people who settled them weren't afraid of their neighbours or they'd have built on the hilltops. See how the place-names change: this valley was once a river, separating tribes with different languages.
GPS, or Google Maps, show a world through glass, with the manic focus of an imbecile. Zoom out your satnav to see the places passing either side of your affectless motorway and within seconds it autozooms in again, a flat line on a joke horizon. You don't need to know that. Time to destination, to the minute? I can do that with my thumb on the map and a glance at my wristwatch.
Let me navigate boat, car, or aeroplane with a map and a protractor, an E6-B drift calculator, a sextant and skills other men have taught me, passed down since that worst of all navigators, Odysseus. Let me see not just where but how and why and what. Great Circles, Mercator projections, rhumb lines, speed-over-ground; B-roads and single-tracks and villages big enough for a pub or small enough for a history: map-reading brings these all into view, and, with them, the pleasure of being wrong.
And, of course, texture. Paper and chinagraph pencils and sun-sightings and compass dip: more to life than precision on a screen. Yes, I love Google Maps on my iPhone. But maps are qualitatively different. When my father was dying, he gave me his Rand MacNally Road Map of the USA. I'll have no more use for it, he said. I read it in bed, pencil in hand, thumb on the map, planning the journeys he'll never make. You can't do that with a TomTom. MIchael Bywater
Brewing a cup of coffee
For some of us, getting to work without at least one shot of caffeine is as unthinkable as turning up without clothes on. And while it may be tempting to fork out for a Nespresso machine, or grab a skinny macchiato at Costa Nerobucks, anyone who knows their beans would attest that brewing a proper cup of coffee requires nothing more complicated than a cafetire.
Ben Townsend is a barista trainer and self-confessed coffee geek from London. His morning routine starts with a bag of beans. The most critical part of making good coffee is to grind good-quality, fresh beans every time, he says. I use a little burr grinder rather than a blade grinder. Blades tend to create particles of uneven size.
Ben then places his cafetire, or French press, on a set of digital scales and weighs out his freshly ground coffee and hot water (not boiling the heat overpowers the coffee). The industry standard is 50 grams of ground coffee to one litre of water, Townsend says. You can reset the scales and use them to measure the water a litre is roughly one kilo.
Then you've got time to get your cereal sorted. Good coffee comes to those who wait (for about four minutes). Add milk if you like, though he thinks it's a shame to dilute the flavour of the coffee, and pour. The final decision: the cup. According to psychologists who have studied how our brains are wired up to latch on to the rituals associated with drug delivery, coffee tastes better in your favourite mug. Just make sure it's clean a week's worth of encrusted rings will do nothing to improve the taste of organic arabica beans. Simon Usborne
Having a clear-out
Having a good clear-out is something we should think of as less of a chore and more of a meditative experience. According to Isobel McKenzie-Price of Ideal Home, there's nothing more satisfying than the sense of tranquillity that comes from an organised home.
And rather than spending money on storage for your long-forgotten possessions, surely it's better to confront clutter head-on and get your house in order. We have a need to create order from chaos, explains McKenzie-Price. She recalls the bliss of visiting a well-ordered home. A couple of years ago, I spent a weekend with the CEO of a global company in her house in the Hamptons. She showed me her perfectly ordered cupboards and her fully stocked larder and I was in heaven.
To feel this euphoric about one's own abode, she recommends tackling one room at a time, claiming this makes it a far more relaxing, and even a de-stressing experience. Be systematic don't just drift from pile to pile, get stuck in and be ruthless. Teenage love letters and puffball skirts might once have loomed large in your life but if you're drowning in stuff then it's time to sling them out. Clear bookshelves of anything you've always meant to read and haven't, then deliver the spoils to Oxfam so others can enjoy your cast-offs.
One top tip for sorting out a crowded bedroom or sitting room is to tip all of the debris on the bed or the couch that way, you can't have a sit-down or sneak off to sleep until you've thoroughly dejunked and dealt with the mess. Anything valuable can be posted on eBay or, if you're feeling altruistic, listed on Freecycle.org. Finally, sit down and enjoy a well-earned drink. Ben Naylor
...or just doing nothing
We're busy doing nothing, working the whole day through, sang Bing Crosby in the 1949 film, A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court, Trying to find lots of things not to do./We're busy going nowhere, isn't it just a crime?/We'd like to be unhappy but we never do have the time.
It's a lost art, the art of idling, loafing, wool-gathering. We're so driven by schedules and deadlines, BlackBerry-consulting and Facebook-checking, it's hard to imagine life without it all. There's always, we tell ourselves, something to be done, someone to be rung, something to be read or cooked or recycled or consumed. Kipling, in his poem If, encouraged us to fill any spare minute on our hands with 60 seconds' worth of distance run, like some deranged scoutmaster. Should we try that?
Try doing nothing, instead. The TV is switched off, the children are away, the phone is dead, the dogs are silent and you are prowling in your kitchen, picking up a corkscrew or a wooden spoon as though trying to familiarise yourself with ordinary life. In the garden, you stare at the leaves of a magnolia tree as if you've never seen them before. You spend whole, unrecoverable minutes of your life gazing at a caterpillar arching its back along a wooden fence. Back indoors, you sit on the living-room carpet and admire the complicated geometry of the sticks that make up the unlit fire in the grate...
Doing nothing, in other words, makes you notice everything. The mind, sated with processing external stimuli from page, screen and the chatter of humans, finds itself fixing on the ordinary and being startled by its unfamiliarity. Doing nothing inspires involuntary meditation, until you suddenly hear the sound of your own self, tucked away deep inside you, ruminating on the world and your place in it. It's a fantastic noise.
Similar posts: independent health
- Mood:bad
- Music:PaPa RoAch
You are not alone in search of home care stack. Thousands of people search for Initiation of success hemorrhoids medicine every day.
In this article you will learn more about the most effective drug in the base of the hill and try to give advice on how best to you. Everyone has different needs and severity of hemorrhoids vary from person to person to understand how to solve the hemorrhoids are very important to your success.
Venapro: at home, the most effective way to overcome the problem of hemorrhoids.
Natural is the most effective hemorrhoids Venapro Homeopathic. He successfully by many thousands of simple cases difficult. The legal age of child patients between the age hangar used Venapro hemorrhoids. Venapro is a natural way, without special effects that are dangerous. E In addition to various chemical based cream, which always set by the - result. Bleeding, irritation and itching to do within 48 hours after initiation of drug use and restore blood flow after the health and status. All this with the basic treatment of large groups successfully.
Other solutions based pole home with thousands of patients, waiting for miracles. Created by ex-patients of hemorrhoids, it is a miracle waiting to show the incredible opportunity to reduce pain and treat hemorrhoids that only natural products. This is good for 2 reasons, first Venapro, harmful side effects are not available, and the second will be more than chemical alternatives. Waiting for the amazing site that can claim to treat hemorrhoids in less than 48 hours. Of course, this depends on the severity of hemorrhoids, but this is a remarkable achievement that was not easy. This request is in test and 90 days money back guarantee.
2 products should continue for at least 2 liters of fluid through the drinking water daily. E is important eat foods rich in fiber to your body to produce soft stools. Veges and fruit size and maize and beans.
Constipation is a significant barrier for patients and haemorrhoids in May seriously aggravate the already existing and to create a large number of repeat offenders. With fiber foods may increase the risk of constipation, while maintaining a healthy metabolism. Try to walk at least 15 minutes of daily exercise by metabolism in the environment.
Hemorrhoids home treatment more effective in combating all forms of hemorrhoids. Venapro is a wonderful miracle and repair solutions that can be used at home, quickly and definitively resolve hemorrhoids. Venapro is a miracle waiting much cheaper but equally effective. What you choose will not be disappointed. Use the link below to see and read all the comments highlighted Venapro left two phenomenal.
Similar posts: independent health
In this article you will learn more about the most effective drug in the base of the hill and try to give advice on how best to you. Everyone has different needs and severity of hemorrhoids vary from person to person to understand how to solve the hemorrhoids are very important to your success.
Venapro: at home, the most effective way to overcome the problem of hemorrhoids.
Natural is the most effective hemorrhoids Venapro Homeopathic. He successfully by many thousands of simple cases difficult. The legal age of child patients between the age hangar used Venapro hemorrhoids. Venapro is a natural way, without special effects that are dangerous. E In addition to various chemical based cream, which always set by the - result. Bleeding, irritation and itching to do within 48 hours after initiation of drug use and restore blood flow after the health and status. All this with the basic treatment of large groups successfully.
Other solutions based pole home with thousands of patients, waiting for miracles. Created by ex-patients of hemorrhoids, it is a miracle waiting to show the incredible opportunity to reduce pain and treat hemorrhoids that only natural products. This is good for 2 reasons, first Venapro, harmful side effects are not available, and the second will be more than chemical alternatives. Waiting for the amazing site that can claim to treat hemorrhoids in less than 48 hours. Of course, this depends on the severity of hemorrhoids, but this is a remarkable achievement that was not easy. This request is in test and 90 days money back guarantee.
2 products should continue for at least 2 liters of fluid through the drinking water daily. E is important eat foods rich in fiber to your body to produce soft stools. Veges and fruit size and maize and beans.
Constipation is a significant barrier for patients and haemorrhoids in May seriously aggravate the already existing and to create a large number of repeat offenders. With fiber foods may increase the risk of constipation, while maintaining a healthy metabolism. Try to walk at least 15 minutes of daily exercise by metabolism in the environment.
Hemorrhoids home treatment more effective in combating all forms of hemorrhoids. Venapro is a wonderful miracle and repair solutions that can be used at home, quickly and definitively resolve hemorrhoids. Venapro is a miracle waiting much cheaper but equally effective. What you choose will not be disappointed. Use the link below to see and read all the comments highlighted Venapro left two phenomenal.
Similar posts: independent health
- Mood:normal
- Music:Roxette
Having Scott lead the charge against healthcare reform is like tapping Bernie Madoff to campaign against tighter securities regulation. You see, the for-profit hospital chain Scott helped foundthe one he ran and built his entire reputation onwas discovered to be in the habit of defrauding the government out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
This is the man who will be delivering what Politico called the pro-free-market message.
A Texas lawyer who shared a business partner with George W. Bush, Scott started his health company, Columbia Hospital Corporation, in 1987. Its growth was meteoric, expanding from just a few hospitals to more than 1,000 facilities in thirty-eight states and three other countries in 1997. As his firm gobbled up chains, like the Frist familys Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), it became the largest for-profit hospital chain in the country. By 1994, Columbia/HCA was one of the forty largest corporations in America, and Scott had acquired a reputation as the Gordon Gecko of the healthcare world. Whose patients are you stealing? he would ask employees at his newly acquired hospitals.
Not long after joining the company in 1993 as the supervisor of reimbursement for the Fort Myers, Florida, office, Schilling noticed things werent quite kosher. They were looking for ways to maximize reimbursementwhich ultimately would improve the bottom line.
One way they did this was to fudge the costs on their Medicare expense reports. They were basically keeping two sets of books, says Schilling. The company would maintain an internal expense report, what it called a report, which accurately tallied its expenses. And then they would have a second report, whichthey would file with the government, which was more aggressive. That report would include inflated costs and expenses they knew werent allowable or reimbursable. The one they filed with government might claim $5 million and the reserve would claim $4.5. Columbia/HCA would pocket the difference.
By 1997 the FBI was investigating Columbia/HCA. Days after agents raided company facilities armed with search warrants, Scott was forced to resign. In 2000 the company pleaded guilty to fraud and agreed to pay the government $840 million. Other civil settlements would follow, ultimately totaling a staggering $1.7 billion, making it the largest fraud case in American history.
Similar posts: independent health
This is the man who will be delivering what Politico called the pro-free-market message.
A Texas lawyer who shared a business partner with George W. Bush, Scott started his health company, Columbia Hospital Corporation, in 1987. Its growth was meteoric, expanding from just a few hospitals to more than 1,000 facilities in thirty-eight states and three other countries in 1997. As his firm gobbled up chains, like the Frist familys Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), it became the largest for-profit hospital chain in the country. By 1994, Columbia/HCA was one of the forty largest corporations in America, and Scott had acquired a reputation as the Gordon Gecko of the healthcare world. Whose patients are you stealing? he would ask employees at his newly acquired hospitals.
Not long after joining the company in 1993 as the supervisor of reimbursement for the Fort Myers, Florida, office, Schilling noticed things werent quite kosher. They were looking for ways to maximize reimbursementwhich ultimately would improve the bottom line.
One way they did this was to fudge the costs on their Medicare expense reports. They were basically keeping two sets of books, says Schilling. The company would maintain an internal expense report, what it called a report, which accurately tallied its expenses. And then they would have a second report, whichthey would file with the government, which was more aggressive. That report would include inflated costs and expenses they knew werent allowable or reimbursable. The one they filed with government might claim $5 million and the reserve would claim $4.5. Columbia/HCA would pocket the difference.
By 1997 the FBI was investigating Columbia/HCA. Days after agents raided company facilities armed with search warrants, Scott was forced to resign. In 2000 the company pleaded guilty to fraud and agreed to pay the government $840 million. Other civil settlements would follow, ultimately totaling a staggering $1.7 billion, making it the largest fraud case in American history.
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- Mood:normal
- Music:Moby
In a major setback for business groups that had hoped to build a barrier against injury lawsuits seeking billions of dollars, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said state juries may award damages for harm from unsafe drugs even though their manufacturers had satisfied federal regulators.
The ruling could have significant implications beyond drug manufacturing. Many companies have sought tighter federal regulation in recent years in part to shield themselves from litigation.
The court, by a 6-to-3 vote, upheld a jury verdict of $6.7 million in favor of a musician from Vermont whose arm had to be amputated after she was injected with an antinausea drug. The drug’s manufacturer, Wyeth, had argued that its compliance with the Food and Drug Administration’s labeling requirements should immunize it from lawsuits.
(snip)
Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for the majority in Wednesday’s decision, Wyeth v. Levine, No. 06-1249, said Congress could have required pre-emption in the case but had not. “Evidently,” he said, “it determined that widely available state rights of action provided appropriate relief for injured consumers.”
Justice Stevens noted that Congress did adopt just such an express pre-emption provision for medical devices in the law at issue in the Riegel case.
Until a recent change in policy under the Bush administration, Justice Stevens wrote, the drug agency had welcomed state injury suits as a useful complement to federal regulation. But in “a dramatic change in position” in 2006, Justice Stevens said, the agency reversed that longstanding policy not withstanding its “limited resources to monitor the 11,000 drugs on the market.”
The agency’s new position, Justice Stevens wrote, “is entitled to no weight.” He was similarly dismissive of a brief supporting Wyeth filed by the Justice Department under former President George W. Bush, saying it was “undeserving of deference.”
Justice Stevens was joined by Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer. Justice Clarence Thomas voted with the majority but did not adopt Justice Stevens’s reasoning, saying instead that he objected generally to “far-reaching implied pre-emption doctrines” that “wander far from the statutory text.”
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., writing for the three dissenters, said the court had done an about-face, “turning yesterday’s dissent into today’s majority opinion” and turning ordinary injury suits into a “frontal assault on the F.D.A.’s regulatory regime for drug labeling.”
“This case illustrates,” Justice Alito said, “that tragic facts make bad law.” (Emphasis added.
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The ruling could have significant implications beyond drug manufacturing. Many companies have sought tighter federal regulation in recent years in part to shield themselves from litigation.
The court, by a 6-to-3 vote, upheld a jury verdict of $6.7 million in favor of a musician from Vermont whose arm had to be amputated after she was injected with an antinausea drug. The drug’s manufacturer, Wyeth, had argued that its compliance with the Food and Drug Administration’s labeling requirements should immunize it from lawsuits.
(snip)
Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for the majority in Wednesday’s decision, Wyeth v. Levine, No. 06-1249, said Congress could have required pre-emption in the case but had not. “Evidently,” he said, “it determined that widely available state rights of action provided appropriate relief for injured consumers.”
Justice Stevens noted that Congress did adopt just such an express pre-emption provision for medical devices in the law at issue in the Riegel case.
Until a recent change in policy under the Bush administration, Justice Stevens wrote, the drug agency had welcomed state injury suits as a useful complement to federal regulation. But in “a dramatic change in position” in 2006, Justice Stevens said, the agency reversed that longstanding policy not withstanding its “limited resources to monitor the 11,000 drugs on the market.”
The agency’s new position, Justice Stevens wrote, “is entitled to no weight.” He was similarly dismissive of a brief supporting Wyeth filed by the Justice Department under former President George W. Bush, saying it was “undeserving of deference.”
Justice Stevens was joined by Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer. Justice Clarence Thomas voted with the majority but did not adopt Justice Stevens’s reasoning, saying instead that he objected generally to “far-reaching implied pre-emption doctrines” that “wander far from the statutory text.”
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., writing for the three dissenters, said the court had done an about-face, “turning yesterday’s dissent into today’s majority opinion” and turning ordinary injury suits into a “frontal assault on the F.D.A.’s regulatory regime for drug labeling.”
“This case illustrates,” Justice Alito said, “that tragic facts make bad law.” (Emphasis added.
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- Mood:hangry
- Music:Justin Timberlake
The Senate Judiciary Committees Getting to the Truth Through a Nonpartisan Commission of Inquiry convened this morning to consider Sen. Patrick Leahys (D-Vt.) proposal for a sort of truth and reconciliation commission.
The hearing was full of all the predictable, lofty statements from illustrious supporters about why a commission would further the American peoples understanding of our nations past and true values, and also demonstrate to the world our commitment to truth and justice most of which I agree with. But what was most surprising was that the Senate Republicans and their witnesses, in the process of ripping apart the idea, made the strongest case Ive heard yet for why the Department of Justice should prosecute former senior officials of the Bush administration.
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The hearing was full of all the predictable, lofty statements from illustrious supporters about why a commission would further the American peoples understanding of our nations past and true values, and also demonstrate to the world our commitment to truth and justice most of which I agree with. But what was most surprising was that the Senate Republicans and their witnesses, in the process of ripping apart the idea, made the strongest case Ive heard yet for why the Department of Justice should prosecute former senior officials of the Bush administration.
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- Mood:Very good
- Music:Enrique Iglesias
Created in 1989, DDIFO is the largest, independent organization dedicated to representing and protecting the business interests of Dunkin Donuts franchisees.
Dunkin Donuts is the worlds largest coffee and baked goods chain, serving 3 million customers per day at approximately 8,000 stores in 30 countries which include approximately 5,800 Dunkin Donuts locations throughout the USA.
All Dunkin Donuts locations are all franchisee owned and operated.
These are unique times for all franchisees; today your business is being adversely affected by a number of external forces that you have little or no control over such as the economic recession, and the competitive pressure from national brands. There are other internal forces that affect Dunkin Donut franchisees everyday that you deserve a say in, DDIFO is committed to giving you the platform to face those forces as one group, the DDIFO: united, dedicated, and committed to representing and protecting your business interests.
There is no doubt this is a critical time for Dunkin Donuts, Dunkin Brands and DDIFO. DDIFO deserves to play a significant role in the relationship. To accomplish this, DDIFO will have to be well organized and properly positioned as a national organization that aggressively represents the interests of all Dunkin Donuts Franchisees.
The greatest strength of DDIFO is that all members share in common that they are Dunkin Donuts franchisees. This is an important and powerful constituency. Working together we can have a positive influence on your businesses and our relationship with Dunkin Brands.
The interests of DDIFO are solely those of the franchisee, we rely on the strength of numbers to create a unified voice for the benefit of all Dunkin Donut franchisees. As a group, our voice is a powerful force for change and speaks louder than we can individually. Unity and commitment mean we can accomplish more, faster.
DDIFO leadership is vitally concerned about the health and the growth of the System, the well-being and the effectiveness of our Advisory Council System, Maintaining Franchisees Rights, Franchisee Profitability, Dunkin Donuts Brand Success, and Franchisee Wealth Creation and Preservation.
DDIFO is a vocal partner in making the system work for you. We are a clearinghouse for issues relevant to your business.
We need to hear from you on what you think is important.
Please dont hesitate to let us know your comments, questions or suggestions.
Similar posts: independent health
Dunkin Donuts is the worlds largest coffee and baked goods chain, serving 3 million customers per day at approximately 8,000 stores in 30 countries which include approximately 5,800 Dunkin Donuts locations throughout the USA.
All Dunkin Donuts locations are all franchisee owned and operated.
These are unique times for all franchisees; today your business is being adversely affected by a number of external forces that you have little or no control over such as the economic recession, and the competitive pressure from national brands. There are other internal forces that affect Dunkin Donut franchisees everyday that you deserve a say in, DDIFO is committed to giving you the platform to face those forces as one group, the DDIFO: united, dedicated, and committed to representing and protecting your business interests.
There is no doubt this is a critical time for Dunkin Donuts, Dunkin Brands and DDIFO. DDIFO deserves to play a significant role in the relationship. To accomplish this, DDIFO will have to be well organized and properly positioned as a national organization that aggressively represents the interests of all Dunkin Donuts Franchisees.
The greatest strength of DDIFO is that all members share in common that they are Dunkin Donuts franchisees. This is an important and powerful constituency. Working together we can have a positive influence on your businesses and our relationship with Dunkin Brands.
The interests of DDIFO are solely those of the franchisee, we rely on the strength of numbers to create a unified voice for the benefit of all Dunkin Donut franchisees. As a group, our voice is a powerful force for change and speaks louder than we can individually. Unity and commitment mean we can accomplish more, faster.
DDIFO leadership is vitally concerned about the health and the growth of the System, the well-being and the effectiveness of our Advisory Council System, Maintaining Franchisees Rights, Franchisee Profitability, Dunkin Donuts Brand Success, and Franchisee Wealth Creation and Preservation.
DDIFO is a vocal partner in making the system work for you. We are a clearinghouse for issues relevant to your business.
We need to hear from you on what you think is important.
Please dont hesitate to let us know your comments, questions or suggestions.
Similar posts: independent health
- Mood:smile
- Music:Backstreet Boys
New York Fashion Week isnt what it used to be, one industry insider moaned.
Where superstars Renée Zellweger and Jennifer Lopez once parked, now plop former hooker to the elite Ashley Dupre, sex-tape celeb Kim Kardashian, and graduate Tori Spelling.
They come cheap.
But this years pretty young things attend for a few thousand bucks worth of free clothes, grab gift bags missing high-end goodies and settle for McDonalds instead of Starbucks or champagne.
Paris Hilton - ubiquitous this week with sister Nicky and Kardashian in tow - used to charge $50,000 to appear at just one show, another veteran celebrity wrangler said. Now she is showing up at shows this year for free airfare, hotel accommodations and $5,000 in free clothes per designer, sources said.
Similar posts: independent health
Where superstars Renée Zellweger and Jennifer Lopez once parked, now plop former hooker to the elite Ashley Dupre, sex-tape celeb Kim Kardashian, and graduate Tori Spelling.
They come cheap.
But this years pretty young things attend for a few thousand bucks worth of free clothes, grab gift bags missing high-end goodies and settle for McDonalds instead of Starbucks or champagne.
Paris Hilton - ubiquitous this week with sister Nicky and Kardashian in tow - used to charge $50,000 to appear at just one show, another veteran celebrity wrangler said. Now she is showing up at shows this year for free airfare, hotel accommodations and $5,000 in free clothes per designer, sources said.
Similar posts: independent health
- Mood:Good
- Music:Tokio Hotel
Dear O.E.B.:
This letter serves as the W.E.E.P. submission to the Notice of Proposal to Amend a Code, Proposed Amendments to the Distribution System Code Board file # EB-207-0709.
While the Proposal to Amend a Code appears to offer some improvements to the code for the safety of livestock, the OEB will fail with this submission to correct the real problem that is facing Ontario. I refer to the fact that Ontario has a dangerous and outdated electrical distribution system. If this problem is not addressed, serious adverse effects to Ontario livestock, citizens, and the environment will continue to occur. The failure to direct utility companies to correct their distribution systems is improper conduct by the OEB, which contravenes its mandate and may be illegal.
From the beginning, the OEB has chosen to limit the definition of farm stray voltage, excluding all farms except those where the livestock are experiencing problems. In doing so, you have misrepresented the directive of Dwight Duncan, Minister of Energy, in his Order in Council. The directive states that "it is desirable to improve the quality of electricity service to address certain issues related to stray voltage which are currently being experienced by the agricultural sector and, in particular, by farm customers". It is clear from his statement that he is referring to ALL farm customers.
From the time that MPP Maria Van Bommel introduced the private members bill and Minister Dwight Duncan introduced his directive to the OEB, I believed that the farm stray voltage issue would be rectified. I also believed that this change would enable me to return to my farm home, where high levels of stray voltage/ground current had been measured, and live there safely without suffering from the ill health effects from which I had been suffering. My farm, however, did not have livestock, and so did not qualify according to the OEB misinterpretation of the Order. The fact that I did not have livestock did not, however, make the stray voltage/ground current measured inside my home any less real. Nor was the extreme illness that I suffered because of this strong current, mitigated in any way because I did not have livestock. I can assure you that the cancer that I suffered, probably as a result of stray voltage, and the need to move from my affected home would have been equally real whether or not livestock were present on the farm. Yet, somehow, the OEB has discounted my health and the safety of my home, making them less important than that of livestock. If mine were an isolated case, this may not be important. The OEB knows, however, that it is not. This blatant disregard for the health and welfare of rural citizens is an affront and creates for them a danger that they should not have to face.
For this reason, the definition provided in Appendix A, 4.7.1, bullet 3 is unacceptable. Within this section, you mention only customers engaged in livestock husbandry and refer only to livestock making contact with farm stray voltage. Your definition does not recognize that any rural customer can be affected by stray voltage. It also does not recognize that if livestock is in contact with stray voltage, than the humans who tend the livestock must also be in contact with it. Knowing that the voltage is harmful to the livestock, it is reasonable to suppose that it is also harmful to the humans. In addition, you do not recognize that the stray voltage problem on a farm may be worse in the residence than in the barns. Its presence in a home can cause illness, cancer, even death. The health of the farmer is critical to the success of the farm. Without his or her good health, the entire operation can be in serious jeopardy. The OEB has failed to address these very important health and safety issues, and this mistake must be addressed before implementing the proposal.
Another problem with the OEB proposal is that it fails to respond to the Ministers statement that "it is desirable to improve the quality of electricity service in order to address certain issues related to stray voltage". There is nothing in this proposal that helps to improve the quality of service. Instead, there are cheap shortcuts. With this proposal, the utility will endeavour to rectify the worst of a problem at a farm where the problem has been identified (provided the farm has livestock). But, the solution of the problem at one property may become the source of a problem at a neighbouring property. In other words, the OEB will be allowing the utility companies to play a high stakes game of passing the stray voltage problem around the farming community. In the process, the voltage will undoubtedly pass to farms that do not qualify for assistance because they are non-livestock properties. Ultimately, the OEB will be responsible for their difficulties.
And, since most people do not realize that they have a stray voltage problem in their homes until their health deteriorates and they search for answers, it may be too late for them to return to a normal life. Unless the OEB mandates that the electrical utility companies must test all homes and farm properties on a regular basis to ensure that stray voltage is not harming people and livestock, there will most certainly be further victims throughout the province. The proposed "cheap" low cost of dealing with farm stray voltage issues does not rectify the underlying cause of the problem and will not make it go away. Very simply, the utility companies must update and upgrade their distribution systems to correct the problems.
Another important issue for this proposal is high frequency pollution carried by stray voltage. Several submissions, including mine, brought this to the attention of the OEB. Yet, there is no mention within the proposed amendments about the importance and the danger of this high frequency pollution. The difference between one volt of clean stray voltage and one volt of stray voltage carrying dangerous high frequencies has huge health implications for animals and humans and must be addressed by the OEB. If the OEB, its consultants, and the electrical utility companies do not understand the significance of high frequency pollution, they should seek the advice of experts who are knowledgeable about these huge dangers before they endeavour to change the legislation.
The Order from the Minister of Energy combined with the input of many victim farmers and the submissions of interested persons provided the OEB with the information and opportunity to make real and important changes for a safer future. With this proposal, the OEB is very close to making the huge mistake of giving cost considerations more importance than the safety of the electrical distribution system. Please do not leave livestock and people throughout the province in danger by continuing with this inadequate proposal. Please take your duties and responsibilities seriously and make the amendments necessary to help Ontario, rather than allowing stray voltage harm to continue.
Similar posts: independent health
This letter serves as the W.E.E.P. submission to the Notice of Proposal to Amend a Code, Proposed Amendments to the Distribution System Code Board file # EB-207-0709.
While the Proposal to Amend a Code appears to offer some improvements to the code for the safety of livestock, the OEB will fail with this submission to correct the real problem that is facing Ontario. I refer to the fact that Ontario has a dangerous and outdated electrical distribution system. If this problem is not addressed, serious adverse effects to Ontario livestock, citizens, and the environment will continue to occur. The failure to direct utility companies to correct their distribution systems is improper conduct by the OEB, which contravenes its mandate and may be illegal.
From the beginning, the OEB has chosen to limit the definition of farm stray voltage, excluding all farms except those where the livestock are experiencing problems. In doing so, you have misrepresented the directive of Dwight Duncan, Minister of Energy, in his Order in Council. The directive states that "it is desirable to improve the quality of electricity service to address certain issues related to stray voltage which are currently being experienced by the agricultural sector and, in particular, by farm customers". It is clear from his statement that he is referring to ALL farm customers.
From the time that MPP Maria Van Bommel introduced the private members bill and Minister Dwight Duncan introduced his directive to the OEB, I believed that the farm stray voltage issue would be rectified. I also believed that this change would enable me to return to my farm home, where high levels of stray voltage/ground current had been measured, and live there safely without suffering from the ill health effects from which I had been suffering. My farm, however, did not have livestock, and so did not qualify according to the OEB misinterpretation of the Order. The fact that I did not have livestock did not, however, make the stray voltage/ground current measured inside my home any less real. Nor was the extreme illness that I suffered because of this strong current, mitigated in any way because I did not have livestock. I can assure you that the cancer that I suffered, probably as a result of stray voltage, and the need to move from my affected home would have been equally real whether or not livestock were present on the farm. Yet, somehow, the OEB has discounted my health and the safety of my home, making them less important than that of livestock. If mine were an isolated case, this may not be important. The OEB knows, however, that it is not. This blatant disregard for the health and welfare of rural citizens is an affront and creates for them a danger that they should not have to face.
For this reason, the definition provided in Appendix A, 4.7.1, bullet 3 is unacceptable. Within this section, you mention only customers engaged in livestock husbandry and refer only to livestock making contact with farm stray voltage. Your definition does not recognize that any rural customer can be affected by stray voltage. It also does not recognize that if livestock is in contact with stray voltage, than the humans who tend the livestock must also be in contact with it. Knowing that the voltage is harmful to the livestock, it is reasonable to suppose that it is also harmful to the humans. In addition, you do not recognize that the stray voltage problem on a farm may be worse in the residence than in the barns. Its presence in a home can cause illness, cancer, even death. The health of the farmer is critical to the success of the farm. Without his or her good health, the entire operation can be in serious jeopardy. The OEB has failed to address these very important health and safety issues, and this mistake must be addressed before implementing the proposal.
Another problem with the OEB proposal is that it fails to respond to the Ministers statement that "it is desirable to improve the quality of electricity service in order to address certain issues related to stray voltage". There is nothing in this proposal that helps to improve the quality of service. Instead, there are cheap shortcuts. With this proposal, the utility will endeavour to rectify the worst of a problem at a farm where the problem has been identified (provided the farm has livestock). But, the solution of the problem at one property may become the source of a problem at a neighbouring property. In other words, the OEB will be allowing the utility companies to play a high stakes game of passing the stray voltage problem around the farming community. In the process, the voltage will undoubtedly pass to farms that do not qualify for assistance because they are non-livestock properties. Ultimately, the OEB will be responsible for their difficulties.
And, since most people do not realize that they have a stray voltage problem in their homes until their health deteriorates and they search for answers, it may be too late for them to return to a normal life. Unless the OEB mandates that the electrical utility companies must test all homes and farm properties on a regular basis to ensure that stray voltage is not harming people and livestock, there will most certainly be further victims throughout the province. The proposed "cheap" low cost of dealing with farm stray voltage issues does not rectify the underlying cause of the problem and will not make it go away. Very simply, the utility companies must update and upgrade their distribution systems to correct the problems.
Another important issue for this proposal is high frequency pollution carried by stray voltage. Several submissions, including mine, brought this to the attention of the OEB. Yet, there is no mention within the proposed amendments about the importance and the danger of this high frequency pollution. The difference between one volt of clean stray voltage and one volt of stray voltage carrying dangerous high frequencies has huge health implications for animals and humans and must be addressed by the OEB. If the OEB, its consultants, and the electrical utility companies do not understand the significance of high frequency pollution, they should seek the advice of experts who are knowledgeable about these huge dangers before they endeavour to change the legislation.
The Order from the Minister of Energy combined with the input of many victim farmers and the submissions of interested persons provided the OEB with the information and opportunity to make real and important changes for a safer future. With this proposal, the OEB is very close to making the huge mistake of giving cost considerations more importance than the safety of the electrical distribution system. Please do not leave livestock and people throughout the province in danger by continuing with this inadequate proposal. Please take your duties and responsibilities seriously and make the amendments necessary to help Ontario, rather than allowing stray voltage harm to continue.
Similar posts: independent health
- Mood:smile
- Music:Tokio Hotel
How about some role play with your rap music? A technique long ago mastered by those cheeky WuTang lads, the tempting habit of cramming one's album with scripted banter and winkwink inside jokes occasionally sidetracks the Brothers Lindsey. Yet when Al and Krispy focus on the actual songs, the young duo confirm themselves as genrebending hiphop impresarios. "Bang! Bang!" would make a devastating TV on the Radio cut as it begins a Matrixworthy techno rocker before exploding into electric, rhymeheavy verses. Likewise, side one of "Remind Me" is an exercise in stylemashing precision, but when the halfassed skits creep in during the second half hour, one gets the sense that The Knux could be truly great if they could only consistently answer the classic actor question: What's my motivation.
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- Mood:hangry
- Music:Ricky Marti
The May 12 immigration raid at the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa changed the lives of many people. Immigrants were detained, criminally convicted and subsequently deported. Some immigrants were sent back into the community with ankle tracking devices but left with few options to materially provide for themselves or their children. Still others face criminal prosecution.
It’s a story that’s been difficult to ignore and one that has drawn a worldwide audience. It seems odd, then, that a man who has charged himself with writing a theatrical production based on the events in Postville would have spent the last seven months, as he put it, “with his head in the sand.
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It’s a story that’s been difficult to ignore and one that has drawn a worldwide audience. It seems odd, then, that a man who has charged himself with writing a theatrical production based on the events in Postville would have spent the last seven months, as he put it, “with his head in the sand.
Similar posts: independent health
- Mood:normal
- Music:Backstreet Boys
Dear O.E.B.:
This letter serves as the W.E.E.P. submission to the Notice of Proposal to Amend a Code, Proposed Amendments to the Distribution System Code Board file # EB-207-0709.
While the Proposal to Amend a Code appears to offer some improvements to the code for the safety of livestock, the OEB will fail with this submission to correct the real problem that is facing Ontario. I refer to the fact that Ontario has a dangerous and outdated electrical distribution system. If this problem is not addressed, serious adverse effects to Ontario livestock, citizens, and the environment will continue to occur. The failure to direct utility companies to correct their distribution systems is improper conduct by the OEB, which contravenes its mandate and may be illegal.
From the beginning, the OEB has chosen to limit the definition of farm stray voltage, excluding all farms except those where the livestock are experiencing problems. In doing so, you have misrepresented the directive of Dwight Duncan, Minister of Energy, in his Order in Council. The directive states that "it is desirable to improve the quality of electricity service to address certain issues related to stray voltage which are currently being experienced by the agricultural sector and, in particular, by farm customers". It is clear from his statement that he is referring to ALL farm customers.
From the time that MPP Maria Van Bommel introduced the private members bill and Minister Dwight Duncan introduced his directive to the OEB, I believed that the farm stray voltage issue would be rectified. I also believed that this change would enable me to return to my farm home, where high levels of stray voltage/ground current had been measured, and live there safely without suffering from the ill health effects from which I had been suffering. My farm, however, did not have livestock, and so did not qualify according to the OEB misinterpretation of the Order. The fact that I did not have livestock did not, however, make the stray voltage/ground current measured inside my home any less real. Nor was the extreme illness that I suffered because of this strong current, mitigated in any way because I did not have livestock. I can assure you that the cancer that I suffered, probably as a result of stray voltage, and the need to move from my affected home would have been equally real whether or not livestock were present on the farm. Yet, somehow, the OEB has discounted my health and the safety of my home, making them less important than that of livestock. If mine were an isolated case, this may not be important. The OEB knows, however, that it is not. This blatant disregard for the health and welfare of rural citizens is an affront and creates for them a danger that they should not have to face.
For this reason, the definition provided in Appendix A, 4.7.1, bullet 3 is unacceptable. Within this section, you mention only customers engaged in livestock husbandry and refer only to livestock making contact with farm stray voltage. Your definition does not recognize that any rural customer can be affected by stray voltage. It also does not recognize that if livestock is in contact with stray voltage, than the humans who tend the livestock must also be in contact with it. Knowing that the voltage is harmful to the livestock, it is reasonable to suppose that it is also harmful to the humans. In addition, you do not recognize that the stray voltage problem on a farm may be worse in the residence than in the barns. Its presence in a home can cause illness, cancer, even death. The health of the farmer is critical to the success of the farm. Without his or her good health, the entire operation can be in serious jeopardy. The OEB has failed to address these very important health and safety issues, and this mistake must be addressed before implementing the proposal.
Another problem with the OEB proposal is that it fails to respond to the Ministers statement that "it is desirable to improve the quality of electricity service in order to address certain issues related to stray voltage". There is nothing in this proposal that helps to improve the quality of service. Instead, there are cheap shortcuts. With this proposal, the utility will endeavour to rectify the worst of a problem at a farm where the problem has been identified (provided the farm has livestock). But, the solution of the problem at one property may become the source of a problem at a neighbouring property. In other words, the OEB will be allowing the utility companies to play a high stakes game of passing the stray voltage problem around the farming community. In the process, the voltage will undoubtedly pass to farms that do not qualify for assistance because they are non-livestock properties. Ultimately, the OEB will be responsible for their difficulties.
And, since most people do not realize that they have a stray voltage problem in their homes until their health deteriorates and they search for answers, it may be too late for them to return to a normal life. Unless the OEB mandates that the electrical utility companies must test all homes and farm properties on a regular basis to ensure that stray voltage is not harming people and livestock, there will most certainly be further victims throughout the province. The proposed "cheap" low cost of dealing with farm stray voltage issues does not rectify the underlying cause of the problem and will not make it go away. Very simply, the utility companies must update and upgrade their distribution systems to correct the problems.
Another important issue for this proposal is high frequency pollution carried by stray voltage. Several submissions, including mine, brought this to the attention of the OEB. Yet, there is no mention within the proposed amendments about the importance and the danger of this high frequency pollution. The difference between one volt of clean stray voltage and one volt of stray voltage carrying dangerous high frequencies has huge health implications for animals and humans and must be addressed by the OEB. If the OEB, its consultants, and the electrical utility companies do not understand the significance of high frequency pollution, they should seek the advice of experts who are knowledgeable about these huge dangers before they endeavour to change the legislation.
The Order from the Minister of Energy combined with the input of many victim farmers and the submissions of interested persons provided the OEB with the information and opportunity to make real and important changes for a safer future. With this proposal, the OEB is very close to making the huge mistake of giving cost considerations more importance than the safety of the electrical distribution system. Please do not leave livestock and people throughout the province in danger by continuing with this inadequate proposal. Please take your duties and responsibilities seriously and make the amendments necessary to help Ontario, rather than allowing stray voltage harm to continue.
Similar posts: independent health
This letter serves as the W.E.E.P. submission to the Notice of Proposal to Amend a Code, Proposed Amendments to the Distribution System Code Board file # EB-207-0709.
While the Proposal to Amend a Code appears to offer some improvements to the code for the safety of livestock, the OEB will fail with this submission to correct the real problem that is facing Ontario. I refer to the fact that Ontario has a dangerous and outdated electrical distribution system. If this problem is not addressed, serious adverse effects to Ontario livestock, citizens, and the environment will continue to occur. The failure to direct utility companies to correct their distribution systems is improper conduct by the OEB, which contravenes its mandate and may be illegal.
From the beginning, the OEB has chosen to limit the definition of farm stray voltage, excluding all farms except those where the livestock are experiencing problems. In doing so, you have misrepresented the directive of Dwight Duncan, Minister of Energy, in his Order in Council. The directive states that "it is desirable to improve the quality of electricity service to address certain issues related to stray voltage which are currently being experienced by the agricultural sector and, in particular, by farm customers". It is clear from his statement that he is referring to ALL farm customers.
From the time that MPP Maria Van Bommel introduced the private members bill and Minister Dwight Duncan introduced his directive to the OEB, I believed that the farm stray voltage issue would be rectified. I also believed that this change would enable me to return to my farm home, where high levels of stray voltage/ground current had been measured, and live there safely without suffering from the ill health effects from which I had been suffering. My farm, however, did not have livestock, and so did not qualify according to the OEB misinterpretation of the Order. The fact that I did not have livestock did not, however, make the stray voltage/ground current measured inside my home any less real. Nor was the extreme illness that I suffered because of this strong current, mitigated in any way because I did not have livestock. I can assure you that the cancer that I suffered, probably as a result of stray voltage, and the need to move from my affected home would have been equally real whether or not livestock were present on the farm. Yet, somehow, the OEB has discounted my health and the safety of my home, making them less important than that of livestock. If mine were an isolated case, this may not be important. The OEB knows, however, that it is not. This blatant disregard for the health and welfare of rural citizens is an affront and creates for them a danger that they should not have to face.
For this reason, the definition provided in Appendix A, 4.7.1, bullet 3 is unacceptable. Within this section, you mention only customers engaged in livestock husbandry and refer only to livestock making contact with farm stray voltage. Your definition does not recognize that any rural customer can be affected by stray voltage. It also does not recognize that if livestock is in contact with stray voltage, than the humans who tend the livestock must also be in contact with it. Knowing that the voltage is harmful to the livestock, it is reasonable to suppose that it is also harmful to the humans. In addition, you do not recognize that the stray voltage problem on a farm may be worse in the residence than in the barns. Its presence in a home can cause illness, cancer, even death. The health of the farmer is critical to the success of the farm. Without his or her good health, the entire operation can be in serious jeopardy. The OEB has failed to address these very important health and safety issues, and this mistake must be addressed before implementing the proposal.
Another problem with the OEB proposal is that it fails to respond to the Ministers statement that "it is desirable to improve the quality of electricity service in order to address certain issues related to stray voltage". There is nothing in this proposal that helps to improve the quality of service. Instead, there are cheap shortcuts. With this proposal, the utility will endeavour to rectify the worst of a problem at a farm where the problem has been identified (provided the farm has livestock). But, the solution of the problem at one property may become the source of a problem at a neighbouring property. In other words, the OEB will be allowing the utility companies to play a high stakes game of passing the stray voltage problem around the farming community. In the process, the voltage will undoubtedly pass to farms that do not qualify for assistance because they are non-livestock properties. Ultimately, the OEB will be responsible for their difficulties.
And, since most people do not realize that they have a stray voltage problem in their homes until their health deteriorates and they search for answers, it may be too late for them to return to a normal life. Unless the OEB mandates that the electrical utility companies must test all homes and farm properties on a regular basis to ensure that stray voltage is not harming people and livestock, there will most certainly be further victims throughout the province. The proposed "cheap" low cost of dealing with farm stray voltage issues does not rectify the underlying cause of the problem and will not make it go away. Very simply, the utility companies must update and upgrade their distribution systems to correct the problems.
Another important issue for this proposal is high frequency pollution carried by stray voltage. Several submissions, including mine, brought this to the attention of the OEB. Yet, there is no mention within the proposed amendments about the importance and the danger of this high frequency pollution. The difference between one volt of clean stray voltage and one volt of stray voltage carrying dangerous high frequencies has huge health implications for animals and humans and must be addressed by the OEB. If the OEB, its consultants, and the electrical utility companies do not understand the significance of high frequency pollution, they should seek the advice of experts who are knowledgeable about these huge dangers before they endeavour to change the legislation.
The Order from the Minister of Energy combined with the input of many victim farmers and the submissions of interested persons provided the OEB with the information and opportunity to make real and important changes for a safer future. With this proposal, the OEB is very close to making the huge mistake of giving cost considerations more importance than the safety of the electrical distribution system. Please do not leave livestock and people throughout the province in danger by continuing with this inadequate proposal. Please take your duties and responsibilities seriously and make the amendments necessary to help Ontario, rather than allowing stray voltage harm to continue.
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KNIGHTON, Wales / News Wales / December 18, 2008:
As many as 25,000 older people in Wales could be suffering abuse, a seminar at Cardiff University Law school has heard.
Ana Palazón, Director of Help the Aged in Wales, said: We estimate that as many as 25,000 older people in Wales could be suffering elder abuse, but the very nature of this problem where people can often be too afraid to report that they are being abused - makes it difficult to know for certain how widespread the problem actually is.
Robert Taylor, Age Concern Cymru Chief Executive, said: Many of us will find it difficult to get our heads around the idea that elder abuse is a fact of life for many older people in modern Wales, but elder abuse does happen, and it happens every day on our doorsteps in communities right across Wales. We cannot allow this to continue.
ve organised this seminar to inform our work in this area and so that together we can influence the development of adult protection policies for Wales and consign elder abuse to the pages of history.
The seminar brought together an all-Wales panel of experts to test expert opinion on whether new legislation is the answer.
Organised by Help the Aged in Wales and Age Concern Cymru, the seminar, also attended by Ruth Marks, the Commissioner for Older People in Wales, involved workshops and presentations on issues such as the effectiveness of current legislation in protecting older people.
copyright 1999-2008 News Wales
Related Report
New charity appoints Dr Bernadette Fuge as chair
CARDIFF / Daily Post / December 18, 2008
By Martin Williams, Daily Post
THE new charity for elderly people in Wales has appointed Holywell doctor Bernadette Fuge as its chairwoman.
The Transition Board for developing a new organisation from Age Concern Cymru and Help the Aged in Wales made the announcement yesterday.
Dr Fuge graduated from the Welsh National School of Medicine in Cardiff in 1969 before becoming a GP principal and partner in a general practice in the capital between 1978 and 1990.
She then moved to the Welsh Office between 1990 and 1999, and until 2005 worked for the Welsh Assembly as Medical Director NHS Wales.
Commenting on her appointment, she said: I am delighted to have been chosen for this important and challenging role.
I want to build on the success that Age Concern Cymru and Help the Aged in Wales have achieved as separate charities over many years, and help create a powerful and influential new charity which will improve the lives of older people in Wales.
Similar posts: independent health
KNIGHTON, Wales / News Wales / December 18, 2008:
As many as 25,000 older people in Wales could be suffering abuse, a seminar at Cardiff University Law school has heard.
Ana Palazón, Director of Help the Aged in Wales, said: We estimate that as many as 25,000 older people in Wales could be suffering elder abuse, but the very nature of this problem where people can often be too afraid to report that they are being abused - makes it difficult to know for certain how widespread the problem actually is.
Robert Taylor, Age Concern Cymru Chief Executive, said: Many of us will find it difficult to get our heads around the idea that elder abuse is a fact of life for many older people in modern Wales, but elder abuse does happen, and it happens every day on our doorsteps in communities right across Wales. We cannot allow this to continue.
ve organised this seminar to inform our work in this area and so that together we can influence the development of adult protection policies for Wales and consign elder abuse to the pages of history.
The seminar brought together an all-Wales panel of experts to test expert opinion on whether new legislation is the answer.
Organised by Help the Aged in Wales and Age Concern Cymru, the seminar, also attended by Ruth Marks, the Commissioner for Older People in Wales, involved workshops and presentations on issues such as the effectiveness of current legislation in protecting older people.
copyright 1999-2008 News Wales
Related Report
New charity appoints Dr Bernadette Fuge as chair
CARDIFF / Daily Post / December 18, 2008
By Martin Williams, Daily Post
THE new charity for elderly people in Wales has appointed Holywell doctor Bernadette Fuge as its chairwoman.
The Transition Board for developing a new organisation from Age Concern Cymru and Help the Aged in Wales made the announcement yesterday.
Dr Fuge graduated from the Welsh National School of Medicine in Cardiff in 1969 before becoming a GP principal and partner in a general practice in the capital between 1978 and 1990.
She then moved to the Welsh Office between 1990 and 1999, and until 2005 worked for the Welsh Assembly as Medical Director NHS Wales.
Commenting on her appointment, she said: I am delighted to have been chosen for this important and challenging role.
I want to build on the success that Age Concern Cymru and Help the Aged in Wales have achieved as separate charities over many years, and help create a powerful and influential new charity which will improve the lives of older people in Wales.
Similar posts: independent health
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