The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians has launched a legal
battle, based on its aboriginal water rights, for clean water and plenty
of it for its citizens and neighboring communities in the Coachella
Valley.The Band filed a federal lawsuit in May asking the court to
declare that the tribe has prior and paramount rights to ground and
surface water in the Coachella Valley, to quantify those rights, and
stop the local water authorities from further degrading the quantity and
quality of water in the aquifer. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S.
District Court for the Central District of California and names the
Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) and Desert Water Agency (DWA) as
defendants.
Robocat successfully funded Thermodo on Kickstarter, surpassing its initial goal of US$35,Choose from a large selection of Customized Silicone Bracelets to
raise awareness.000 with more than $330,000 in pledges. Prices start at
$19 for the Black Edition all the way up to $2,999, which nets you a
personalized Anodized Aluminum Edition (multiple colors will be
available) with your name engraved on it, as well as becoming a
consultant of sorts for the Robocat team in refining the Thermodo. At
that price level,Winbo photo frames backers
also receive a tour of Copenhagen (where the Robocat office is
located), ending with dinner with the design team. The estimated release
date for those who have backed the project is sometime in August of
this year, with no word yet when it will become available to the
public.
Based on the peer-to-peer bittorrent protocol, it
consisted of a Firefox browser plugin that offered a dead-simple way for
users to share files on their computer with anybody else in their
AllPeers buddy list. Sadly, however, the startup was arguably ahead of
its time and deadpooled in 2008.
The lawsuit says the two water
agencies have adversely affected the quantity and quality of the Valleys
groundwater for decades by overdrafting the groundwater while importing
Colorado River water with higher levels of salinity and dissolved
solids. A water quality study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey
found higher levels of contaminants in Coachella Valley aquifers
compared to the rest of the state.
"Since at least the 1990s,
the Agua Caliente and others have aggressively urged the CVWD and DWA to
take action to end the mismanagement, overdrafting and polluting of the
aquifer underlying the Coachella Valley," Grubbe said. "The tribe has
patiently attempted to work with CVWD and DWA to address these long
standing concerns but to no avail. This precious resource is crucial to
the future of this region and we must take action now."
The
tribe cites long settled federal law to support its senior water rights
claim, including a precedent-setting Supreme Court decision in 1908,
Winters v. United States, which set the standard for tribal water rights
on reservations. The high court concluded, among other things, that
when the U.S. government created Indian reservations, it intended that
the people on the reservations would become self-reliant and
self-sufficient. Since water is needed to achieve self-sufficiency, for
example, in agriculture, water rights were implicitly reserved for
tribes in establishing reservations, the court said.
The
Cahuilla Indians, ancestors of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla
Indians, have lived in the Coachella Valley since time immemorial and
the reservation was established in 1876, therefore, the Band argues, the
tribe's surface and groundwater rights are the most senior in the
Coachella Valley, predating all water rights decreed or otherwise
claimed under California State law.
It was the right call, and
there was reason to believe that trading away players like Sundin, Tomas
Kaberle, Bryan McCabe, and Darcy Tucker could land the team the sort of
blue-chip building blocks it would need to someday reemerge as a
contender. In Toronto,Handy Pocket Mirror with hinged lid that doubles as a stand. that mere possibility was enough to create some long-absent optimism.
The
two agencies filed separate but similar responses to the lawsuit on
July 8, denying that the tribe has aboriginal title to the surface and
ground waters of the valley. Their responses say that the groundwater
they supply to customers meets federal and state water quality
standards, and that the tribe does not have ownership of pore space in
any aquifer underlying the Coachella Valley. They also argue that the
water storage space provided by the aquifer is a public resource. And
they ask the court to dismiss the lawsuit.
Grubbe issued a
statement saying the tribe would review the CVWD/DWA responses, but
emphasized that the tribes lawsuit is about the future of Coachella
Valleys water supply. What is most astonishing is the water agencies
continue to deny there is any issue with the water. Independent
investigations and their own documents attest to the fact that the local
water is being depleted and polluted, Grubbe said. We are asking the
federal court to declare our senior water rights so we can be proactive
in partnership with Coachella Valley residents and prevent the Desert
Water Agency and the Coachella Valley Water District from continuing to
overdraft the aquifer and degrade the quality of existing groundwater.
The
water agencies have warned there will be a hike in water bills if the
tribe wins in court, a claim Grubbe called a deceptive attempt. to
frighten the public and mislead the community. He pointed out that the
water agencies have regularly increased rates over the past 10 years
sometimes as much as 394 percent. This is not about rates, Grubbe said,
it is about ending the mismanagement of our water resources and
protecting it for generations of Coachella Valley residents to come.
The
High River Hospital is currently only operating at half capacity. They
have two physicians, three nurses and clerical staff on-site from both
the regular staff and physicians displaced from the Charles Clark
Medical Centre and Highwood Health Centre in High River. The hospital
took on a few inches of water in the flood, damaging some of their
medical records, the physiotherapy area, cancer clinic and back hallway.
Brisebois Blouin said from the time they knew flooding could occur,
they moved equipment up to the third floor and sandbagged the generator
in the back hallway.
The hospitals urgent care is open 24-hours a
day. Urgent care is for non-life threatening health issues that require
same-day treatment, such as broken bones, sprains, lacerations, asthma,
dehydration, pain and infections. For life-threatening emergency
situations, Alberta Health Services urges people to call 911. There are
other nearby health centres fully operational including the Okotoks
Health and Wellness Centre, Oilfields General Hospital in Black Diamond
and the South Health Campus in Calgary.
While the High River
Hospital was closed, the Okotoks Health and Wellness Centre operated
24-hours a day with displaced staff from the hospital. They saw an
increase of people, about 150 patients a day as opposed to their regular
75 patients a day, said James Finstad, communications for Alberta
Health Services. However,Molded Soft PVC coaster with
your custom design and colors. he said the Health and Wellness Centre
was never close to capacity, with the average wait time being a standard
two hours.
While the Health and Wellness Centre has now
returned to regular operating hours of 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., the High River
low-risk obstetrics clinic is still operating in Okotoks because it is
usually held in the cancer clinic at the High River Hospital that is now
being repaired after water damage.
Finstad said part of the
clean-up process is ensuring infection prevention is controlled and
everything meets standard. Crews are currently running dehumidifiers and
disinfecting walls, floors and various surfaces.
With the
opening of urgent care at the High River Hospital, residents still need
to be careful cleaning up their homes. Brisebois Blouin said she has
seen an increase of wounds needing tetanus shots. Alberta Health is
urging people cleaning their homes to wear puncture-proof boots, gloves
and facemasks. If there are no open wounds, chief medical officer Dr.
James Talbot said the bacteria in the silt isnt too much of an issue.
Click on their website http://www.winbogifts.com/products/luggage-tag.html.
2013年7月17日星期三
Walking on clouds in Turf Valley
An all-brick Colonial-style home nestled in the golf course setting
of Turf Valley in Howard County sold at the end of May for close to the
sellers' asking price of $915,000.Just 14 years old and sitting on
almost a half-acre of impeccable landscaping, the 4,340-square-foot home
in the subdivision of Turf Valley Vistas spent just five days on the
market, according to listing agent Bob Lucido of the Bob Lucido Team of
RE/MAX Advantage Realty. And while its location spoke for itself, Lucido
notes that the main reason for the quick sale was the right price.
"The house was spotlessly clean better than a model home," Lucido said. "It was perfectly staged, [and] the sellers did not cut corners. They priced it right and made it look like the best house on the block. The people who bought it were so impressed."
Little wonder. With its two-story entrance hall and a winding staircase rising to the open second-floor hallway, the flowing interior is the essence of elegance. The interior features a formal living room, dining room with tray ceiling, office and den, state-of-the-art kitchen, five bedrooms, four full bathrooms and a powder room. Other amenities include hardwood flooring and three gas fireplaces. The exterior, with a deck, patio and flood lights, backs to trees.
Im kind of sick of having to do this, but once again, theres a scolding, anxiety-producing article about how young women these days are doing sex wrong (which of course means too much with too many guys, always,Full service promotional company specializing in Custom USB flash drives. always, always) out there, and of course, its producing a massive amount of discourse based on a fundamental premise that no one questions but is just straight up wrong. That presumption is that womens choices exist in a vacuum, and that the only real factor of any importance in their lives is their choices. I complained about this yesterday at XX Factor: Men are erased from trend stories about women, because the fact that women are often reacting to mens choices makes everyone all uncomfortable, so must be ignored. So, for instance, the womans decision to opt out or lean out is portrayed as just one in a lovely buffet of choices, simply the result of an inherent female lack of ambition. The possibility that its because her husband either made it clear through his actions or outright told her that she will be responsible for the majority of domestic chores is ignored, even though in most cases thats exactly what happened.
The home at 2712 Heaven Wood Court also features a sunroom and an in-law or au pair suite. Accent moldings and bay windows are found throughout. The kitchen showcases a center island with granite countertop, breakfast bar and butler's pantry, six-burner stove and wine storage. The recreation room includes a wet bar. The interior rooms also have chair railings, crown molding, drapery rods and custom drapes. The basement is fully finished with a rear entrance to the outdoors. Security includes an electric alarm system.
When city council changed the zoning bylaws this past March, so that single-family homes can be built on 25-foot-wide lots in older neighbourhoods, concerns were voiced by the public and by community leagues.Anyone struggling to imagine the esthetics and feasibility of building a comfortable family home on such a narrow spot should see the house Louis Pereira designed and had built in 2010.
For me: I want to use writing and comedy to express truths about the human condition and to live a life filled with joy, passion, kindness, abundance,Winbo Luggage Tags humor, honesty and love. That's my actual mission statement. That is what I want. So when someone pisses me off, when I am tempted to go down a K-hole of distraction, I can ask myself: Will this benefit what I actually want? Usually, no. That short-term reactivity often derails you from the bigger goal at hand.
The home, with its two-storey facade in glass, was inspired by a number of Louis favourite design philosophies, including urban activist Jane Jacobs creed of eyes on the street. The couple admits this means the home can sometimes feel a bit exposed, but Louis has prepared for that. Dark but translucent manual roller shades are built into discrete pockets above every floor-to-ceiling window and door, so the family can escape the sun or enjoy instant privacy with the flick of a wrist.
The living areas seating looks modern, but was designed by some of Louis favourite Modernist architects long ago. Two black leather and chrome Barcelona chairs (a style introduced at the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition) are placed parlour-style, opposite a French Corbusier-style couch. A large, one-armed Arco-style light from Henrys Purveyor of Fine Things on nearby 124th Street hangs above the intimate setting.The rooms high-efficiency, wood-burning fireplace surround is a wall of walnut-stained maple panelling, and provides a warm contrast to the minimalist look. With one touch, Louis reveals hidden cupboards that line the seamless-looking wall and provide copious storage, including a large cubby for firewood.
The galley-style kitchen was designed to Giselles specifications. A white and charcoal Thermafoil material was used on all door fronts, drawers and side panels in reflective, high-gloss finish. The material was also applied as backsplashes, a less-expensive alternative to glass.Molded Soft PVC coaster with your custom design and colors. The couple chose subtle white, quartz countertops rather than busy granite. The cabinets are white Ikea Akurum, and are one of many flexible, organizational units Louis has included in the home. They complement the black-and-white Bosch double-wall oven, and the neutral grey, plank-like laminate flooring, which, with its reflective quality, could pass for ceramic tile. The couple says that the appliances easy-care high-gloss surfaces require less maintenance to keep clean than did their previous fingerprint-catching stainless-steel models. Since the home has few partitions, Louis used dropped ceilings over both the living room and kitchen areas to create a feeling of intimacy. The heating system is conventional, high-efficient forced air, so ducts had to be furred into ceilings and even the back portion of cabinets to accommodate the homes narrow figure.
Other than the small rear and front courtyards, there is no yard. How close this puts the home to the street reflects Louis idea that a neighbourhood can be a shared living space.Throughout the home, natural lighting is provided by high, long, transom-style windows. On the main floor, a hallway leads to the mud room and attached double garage, which Louis jokes could hold four Smart cars. For now, the new location with work and the childrens school a 10-minute walk or short drive away has enabled the busy family to downsize to a one-car lifestyle.
Upstairs, the same narrow strip houses the central laundry room and leads to the well-insulated, multi-purpose living space above the garage.Louis doesnt believe in outgrowing a home. Everything, including the large, shared childrens play space and bedroom, is designed for flexibility. Curtains serve as walls in the childrens space, which is designed to morph into two rooms at a later date.
Another hallway leads to the ensuite and master bedroom, where a 180-degree view of the streetscape reveals mature trees swaying outside the windows on all sides.This home functions much better for the family than their previous raised bungalow, says Louis, who jokes that its design description, the LG house (derived from a combination of the couples first initials), also stands for lifes good.
Click on their website http://www.winbogifts.com/products/iphone-headset.html.
"The house was spotlessly clean better than a model home," Lucido said. "It was perfectly staged, [and] the sellers did not cut corners. They priced it right and made it look like the best house on the block. The people who bought it were so impressed."
Little wonder. With its two-story entrance hall and a winding staircase rising to the open second-floor hallway, the flowing interior is the essence of elegance. The interior features a formal living room, dining room with tray ceiling, office and den, state-of-the-art kitchen, five bedrooms, four full bathrooms and a powder room. Other amenities include hardwood flooring and three gas fireplaces. The exterior, with a deck, patio and flood lights, backs to trees.
Im kind of sick of having to do this, but once again, theres a scolding, anxiety-producing article about how young women these days are doing sex wrong (which of course means too much with too many guys, always,Full service promotional company specializing in Custom USB flash drives. always, always) out there, and of course, its producing a massive amount of discourse based on a fundamental premise that no one questions but is just straight up wrong. That presumption is that womens choices exist in a vacuum, and that the only real factor of any importance in their lives is their choices. I complained about this yesterday at XX Factor: Men are erased from trend stories about women, because the fact that women are often reacting to mens choices makes everyone all uncomfortable, so must be ignored. So, for instance, the womans decision to opt out or lean out is portrayed as just one in a lovely buffet of choices, simply the result of an inherent female lack of ambition. The possibility that its because her husband either made it clear through his actions or outright told her that she will be responsible for the majority of domestic chores is ignored, even though in most cases thats exactly what happened.
The home at 2712 Heaven Wood Court also features a sunroom and an in-law or au pair suite. Accent moldings and bay windows are found throughout. The kitchen showcases a center island with granite countertop, breakfast bar and butler's pantry, six-burner stove and wine storage. The recreation room includes a wet bar. The interior rooms also have chair railings, crown molding, drapery rods and custom drapes. The basement is fully finished with a rear entrance to the outdoors. Security includes an electric alarm system.
When city council changed the zoning bylaws this past March, so that single-family homes can be built on 25-foot-wide lots in older neighbourhoods, concerns were voiced by the public and by community leagues.Anyone struggling to imagine the esthetics and feasibility of building a comfortable family home on such a narrow spot should see the house Louis Pereira designed and had built in 2010.
For me: I want to use writing and comedy to express truths about the human condition and to live a life filled with joy, passion, kindness, abundance,Winbo Luggage Tags humor, honesty and love. That's my actual mission statement. That is what I want. So when someone pisses me off, when I am tempted to go down a K-hole of distraction, I can ask myself: Will this benefit what I actually want? Usually, no. That short-term reactivity often derails you from the bigger goal at hand.
The home, with its two-storey facade in glass, was inspired by a number of Louis favourite design philosophies, including urban activist Jane Jacobs creed of eyes on the street. The couple admits this means the home can sometimes feel a bit exposed, but Louis has prepared for that. Dark but translucent manual roller shades are built into discrete pockets above every floor-to-ceiling window and door, so the family can escape the sun or enjoy instant privacy with the flick of a wrist.
The living areas seating looks modern, but was designed by some of Louis favourite Modernist architects long ago. Two black leather and chrome Barcelona chairs (a style introduced at the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition) are placed parlour-style, opposite a French Corbusier-style couch. A large, one-armed Arco-style light from Henrys Purveyor of Fine Things on nearby 124th Street hangs above the intimate setting.The rooms high-efficiency, wood-burning fireplace surround is a wall of walnut-stained maple panelling, and provides a warm contrast to the minimalist look. With one touch, Louis reveals hidden cupboards that line the seamless-looking wall and provide copious storage, including a large cubby for firewood.
The galley-style kitchen was designed to Giselles specifications. A white and charcoal Thermafoil material was used on all door fronts, drawers and side panels in reflective, high-gloss finish. The material was also applied as backsplashes, a less-expensive alternative to glass.Molded Soft PVC coaster with your custom design and colors. The couple chose subtle white, quartz countertops rather than busy granite. The cabinets are white Ikea Akurum, and are one of many flexible, organizational units Louis has included in the home. They complement the black-and-white Bosch double-wall oven, and the neutral grey, plank-like laminate flooring, which, with its reflective quality, could pass for ceramic tile. The couple says that the appliances easy-care high-gloss surfaces require less maintenance to keep clean than did their previous fingerprint-catching stainless-steel models. Since the home has few partitions, Louis used dropped ceilings over both the living room and kitchen areas to create a feeling of intimacy. The heating system is conventional, high-efficient forced air, so ducts had to be furred into ceilings and even the back portion of cabinets to accommodate the homes narrow figure.
Other than the small rear and front courtyards, there is no yard. How close this puts the home to the street reflects Louis idea that a neighbourhood can be a shared living space.Throughout the home, natural lighting is provided by high, long, transom-style windows. On the main floor, a hallway leads to the mud room and attached double garage, which Louis jokes could hold four Smart cars. For now, the new location with work and the childrens school a 10-minute walk or short drive away has enabled the busy family to downsize to a one-car lifestyle.
Upstairs, the same narrow strip houses the central laundry room and leads to the well-insulated, multi-purpose living space above the garage.Louis doesnt believe in outgrowing a home. Everything, including the large, shared childrens play space and bedroom, is designed for flexibility. Curtains serve as walls in the childrens space, which is designed to morph into two rooms at a later date.
Another hallway leads to the ensuite and master bedroom, where a 180-degree view of the streetscape reveals mature trees swaying outside the windows on all sides.This home functions much better for the family than their previous raised bungalow, says Louis, who jokes that its design description, the LG house (derived from a combination of the couples first initials), also stands for lifes good.
Click on their website http://www.winbogifts.com/products/iphone-headset.html.
2013年7月11日星期四
Learn How To Budget On A Roller Coaster Income
My husband has two jobs — he is an artist and a salesman. He earns commissions from both jobs, so we never know what our income will be. I work part-time and am paid hourly. How can we possibly live on a budget? — Jenn P., Texas he mistake many people who live with an uncertain income (or what I call “mystery means”) make is they spend whatever amount of money they earn as it comes in.
They multiply a good month’s income by 12 and figure that’s about what their annual income should be and then set their lifestyles accordingly. Then they starve during the lean months, allowing all the bills to go past due hoping that a good month will follow soon.
The secret to living on an uncertain income is to determine the very minimum you need to live each month. What dollar figure must your husband’s commissioned jobs produce so that when added to your part-time paychecks will allow you to pay all of your bills? Whatever that number is, let that become his new salary.
Next, open another checking account and designate it as his holding account. Instead of putting his commission checks into your regular household account, from now deposit them to this holding account. Once a month, write out one check from this account to pay him his salary. This is going to require a great deal of discipline because some months he will bring in more than the amount you’ve determined to be his plastic card. That’s good because you will have lean months ahead. Allowing money to build up in that separate account will become the reserve you need to pay him even during those slow months.
Being self-employed (or commission-based, which to me is about the same thing) can be either rewarding or horribly debilitating. It all depends on your willingness to be disciplined and to exercise great restraint during that occasional month when it feels like your ship has come in. Don’t believe it. Next month could produce little, if any, income at all. You have to learn to handle both.I am opposed to any kind of plastic for kids of any age. Honestly, age 18 is about the right time to introduce credit and debit cards. Plastic is a privilege for financially mature adults.
Plastic confuses and skews children’s thinking processes. Cash, on the other hand, works like a dream. It’s real, and you cannot spend more than you have. Teach your kids how to earn, save, give and manage cash. Those are the skills they need to learn now so that they will be able to understand and manage plastic in the future.
I have written extensively about this in my book, “Raising Financially Confident Kids,” which also includes a foolproof, step-by-step plan that will help you to produce financially confident adults. I hope you will read it soon, before you hand your child an American Express card. Keep an eye on your mailbox. I’m sending you a copy of the book. Enjoy!
To that end, I usually head straight for the self-service checkouts. It is not perfect – “unexpected item in bagging area” has become a familiar element of the experience – but it is fast and I don’t have to worry about offending a checkout worker by talking on a mobile phone.
So I was excited to hear about a scheme in France where shoppers were able to pay for their goods with a flick of their finger.In a six-month trial, customers of supermarket chain Auchan and DIY store Leroy Merlin were able to pay for their goods by placing a fingertip on a scanner.The participants carried a payment card holding their biometric data and a case that allowed the card to communicate with the till. All the customer had to do was present a finger and the payment was processed.
The customers certainly seemed to like it. Around 900 people took part in the trial and 94pc said they would be willing to use fingerprint payment for all their in-store purchases.Mr Delaforge said the technology could also be developed to add loyalty points and discounts automatically when a customer scans their fingerprint, helping consumers save both time and money.
It could be the influence of Minority Report, but there seems to be an interest in biometric payments on this side of the Channel as well.A recent study of more than 2,000 shoppers by payment processing group WorldPay found 49pc would use biometric payments, such as fingerprint or iris scanners – far outweighing the popularity of smartphone payments, which won 30pc of the vote.
Ron Kalifa, deputy chairman of WorldPay, said: “It’s interesting to see the public considering biometric payments, a science that they may have seen in films or on television, which suggests familiarity and visibility of new payment technologies is crucial in moving usage from tech-savvy enthusiasts to the wider public.”Biometric payment might be a few years away from supermarkets in Britain. But in the meantime, a number of developments are under way to change the way we shop.
The idea was to take the self-scan checkouts and redesign them for bigger shop loads. A shopper places their items on a conveyor belt which passes through a 360-degree scanner, able to identify bar codes from every angle. There are two bagging areas so as soon as the first shopper’s goods have passed through the scanner, a second shopper can begin sending their items through.It is also a cashless process, as the system only accepts payment from a plastic card.
Sainsbury’s, meanwhile, is currently piloting a mobile app which allows customers to scan their shopping using their smartphone as they walk around the aisles. The app tracks their spending, so customers can pay for their shopping at the till without having to unload their goods. The service is currently available in three stores – Clerkenwell and Bethnal Green in London and Tadley in Hampshire – ahead of a wider rollout next year. A Sainsbury’s spokesman said in future the app could act as a mobile wallet, allowing customers to pay with their smartphone and avoid the till altogether. A slightly more Big Brother-esque possibility is that the app could remind customers if they forget to buy a regular item.
I hope that checkout staff remain part of the supermarket shop. It is helpful – sometimes essential – to have a human dispensing some common sense behind the till. But if anything can get me out of the door faster while keeping my personal data safe, I’m all for exploring the possibilities.
Read the full products at http://www.smartcardfactory.com/smart-card-IC-card_c504.
They multiply a good month’s income by 12 and figure that’s about what their annual income should be and then set their lifestyles accordingly. Then they starve during the lean months, allowing all the bills to go past due hoping that a good month will follow soon.
The secret to living on an uncertain income is to determine the very minimum you need to live each month. What dollar figure must your husband’s commissioned jobs produce so that when added to your part-time paychecks will allow you to pay all of your bills? Whatever that number is, let that become his new salary.
Next, open another checking account and designate it as his holding account. Instead of putting his commission checks into your regular household account, from now deposit them to this holding account. Once a month, write out one check from this account to pay him his salary. This is going to require a great deal of discipline because some months he will bring in more than the amount you’ve determined to be his plastic card. That’s good because you will have lean months ahead. Allowing money to build up in that separate account will become the reserve you need to pay him even during those slow months.
Being self-employed (or commission-based, which to me is about the same thing) can be either rewarding or horribly debilitating. It all depends on your willingness to be disciplined and to exercise great restraint during that occasional month when it feels like your ship has come in. Don’t believe it. Next month could produce little, if any, income at all. You have to learn to handle both.I am opposed to any kind of plastic for kids of any age. Honestly, age 18 is about the right time to introduce credit and debit cards. Plastic is a privilege for financially mature adults.
Plastic confuses and skews children’s thinking processes. Cash, on the other hand, works like a dream. It’s real, and you cannot spend more than you have. Teach your kids how to earn, save, give and manage cash. Those are the skills they need to learn now so that they will be able to understand and manage plastic in the future.
I have written extensively about this in my book, “Raising Financially Confident Kids,” which also includes a foolproof, step-by-step plan that will help you to produce financially confident adults. I hope you will read it soon, before you hand your child an American Express card. Keep an eye on your mailbox. I’m sending you a copy of the book. Enjoy!
To that end, I usually head straight for the self-service checkouts. It is not perfect – “unexpected item in bagging area” has become a familiar element of the experience – but it is fast and I don’t have to worry about offending a checkout worker by talking on a mobile phone.
So I was excited to hear about a scheme in France where shoppers were able to pay for their goods with a flick of their finger.In a six-month trial, customers of supermarket chain Auchan and DIY store Leroy Merlin were able to pay for their goods by placing a fingertip on a scanner.The participants carried a payment card holding their biometric data and a case that allowed the card to communicate with the till. All the customer had to do was present a finger and the payment was processed.
The customers certainly seemed to like it. Around 900 people took part in the trial and 94pc said they would be willing to use fingerprint payment for all their in-store purchases.Mr Delaforge said the technology could also be developed to add loyalty points and discounts automatically when a customer scans their fingerprint, helping consumers save both time and money.
It could be the influence of Minority Report, but there seems to be an interest in biometric payments on this side of the Channel as well.A recent study of more than 2,000 shoppers by payment processing group WorldPay found 49pc would use biometric payments, such as fingerprint or iris scanners – far outweighing the popularity of smartphone payments, which won 30pc of the vote.
Ron Kalifa, deputy chairman of WorldPay, said: “It’s interesting to see the public considering biometric payments, a science that they may have seen in films or on television, which suggests familiarity and visibility of new payment technologies is crucial in moving usage from tech-savvy enthusiasts to the wider public.”Biometric payment might be a few years away from supermarkets in Britain. But in the meantime, a number of developments are under way to change the way we shop.
The idea was to take the self-scan checkouts and redesign them for bigger shop loads. A shopper places their items on a conveyor belt which passes through a 360-degree scanner, able to identify bar codes from every angle. There are two bagging areas so as soon as the first shopper’s goods have passed through the scanner, a second shopper can begin sending their items through.It is also a cashless process, as the system only accepts payment from a plastic card.
Sainsbury’s, meanwhile, is currently piloting a mobile app which allows customers to scan their shopping using their smartphone as they walk around the aisles. The app tracks their spending, so customers can pay for their shopping at the till without having to unload their goods. The service is currently available in three stores – Clerkenwell and Bethnal Green in London and Tadley in Hampshire – ahead of a wider rollout next year. A Sainsbury’s spokesman said in future the app could act as a mobile wallet, allowing customers to pay with their smartphone and avoid the till altogether. A slightly more Big Brother-esque possibility is that the app could remind customers if they forget to buy a regular item.
I hope that checkout staff remain part of the supermarket shop. It is helpful – sometimes essential – to have a human dispensing some common sense behind the till. But if anything can get me out of the door faster while keeping my personal data safe, I’m all for exploring the possibilities.
Read the full products at http://www.smartcardfactory.com/smart-card-IC-card_c504.
2013年7月10日星期三
With Apple's iWatch on the horizon
Were on the cusp of an explosion of wearables,The smart card has a memory chip embedded in it that, and the smartwatch will be one of the first styles to go big. By all appearances, the iWatch is happening. And even if it doesnt happen, the Google watch will, or perhaps the Galaxy watch. Where does that leave the little guys, the Pebbles and the MetaWatches of the world? Are they primed to compete?
Dipping your toe in the primordial ooze of the smartwatch industry isnt easy. Ive had various MetaWatches for a year and a half now; Pebble, though, is a different story. Having stayed on the sidelines for Pebble's Kickstarter last year, I only just now managed to get one over the weekend by walking into a Best Buy. I really wanted the white model, not the black-on-black that Best Buy is carrying, but beggars can't be choosers.
The watches are remarkably different for having basically the same goal: turning your wrist into a primary destination for notifications from your iPhone or Android device. In most ways, that diversity is a great thing. I've long maintained that watches are fashion accessories and extensions of the wearer's personality, and sameness is the sworn enemy of that philosophy. But these products still make it crystal clear that we're still very early in the smartwatchs formative years. Some might even argue theyre betas. Were still at the point where everyone can learn something from everyone else.
I have limited latitude to criticize a watchs aesthetics different strokes for different folks but theres an exception: when a manufacturer only offers one design, its got to be universally appealing and universally good. In that regard, Pebble delivers a mixed report card.
Where Pebbles design succeeds is in its no-frills simplicity; a watch that isnt overwrought is less likely to offend, and the glossy, curved face and plain black wristband are about as simple as they come.Transportation China IC card Applications Ceremony. There are no bells or whistles, no extraneous flourishes. People who steer clear of the giant, chunky watches that have been trendy as of late wont be bothered by the relatively lithe Pebble. (I actually think its too small, but I love a really big watch.)
But the Pebbles cheap materials betray the designs true intentions: the watch looks simple not because its elegant, but because there simply wasnt much thought put into it. The entire thing is glossy, Samsung-esque plastic (not a compliment) paired with a low-grade rubber watchband, physical evidence that engineers poured resources into circuitry and software while racing against the clock. Its 90 percent technology, 10 percent aesthetic. Its clear it was produced by a technology startup, not a watchmaker.
The buttons are no better. These are some of the worst-feeling buttons Ive ever experienced on any product, ever theyre wobbly hunks of plastic that offer no tactile confirmation that youve actuated a command. I actually dread pressing them. They feel like they could break at any moment.
But then theres the display. A smartwatchs prime directive is to be "glanceable," meaning you can spend no more than a couple seconds looking at it and get all the information you need without needing to interact. It needs to be able to serve that need 24 hours a day for several days at a time, bare minimum, between charges. To pull that off, Pebble uses a monochrome e-paper display that delivers a really reasonable level of contrast.
The MetaWatch, meanwhile, uses one of the most objectively awful, exceedingly low-res displays Ive ever seen on a consumer device. It's called a "polymer network LCD," chosen for its low power drain. The tradeoff, though, is that it has an extremely low contrast-ratio, which means you simply can't see it in many lighting conditions. The problem is compounded when it's dark by a crappy single-bulb sidelight, reminiscent of digital watches from the 1980s. I have very vivid memories of owning a sweet Timex Ironman before the advent of electroluminescent lighting; this is a lot like that,where cards are embedded with chip card and a cardholder. and not in a good way.
MetaWatch treats its devices as slaves to the phones that theyre connected to there are no "watch apps," per se. Instead, third-party apps on the phone can use MetaWatchs SDK to push pixels directly to the watch and receive button and sensor input back from it over the ever-present Bluetooth connection (fortunately, the watch can still keep time if the connection is lost). Pebble, meanwhile, is very actively promoting the development of apps that run directly on its watches games, for instance.
In these early days, theres another philosophical difference between these products that has a much greater impact on the users experience: the "watch face," the home screen, whatever you want to call it. MetaWatch divides its square screen into four slots of equal size; using the MetaWatch app on iOS or Android, you can select various first- and third-party widgets to occupy one, two, or all four slots. For instance, you could have the time in the upper right, the weather in the upper left, and upcoming calendar events occupying both of the bottom two slots. Its versatile and user-friendly. Pebble, meanwhile, requires that the user select a single watch face.
Out of the box, none of the watch faces include any information other than time and date, nor do any of the extra faces that can be installed through the official Pebble phone app its far less flexible. Granted, there are some pretty watch faces available, but if all Im going to see is the time when I glance down at my wrist, Id just as soon wear a traditional watch that looks and feels a lot better. Third-party faces with more functionality can be installed from other sources, but that adds a layer of complexity that an average watch-wearer shouldnt have to deal with.On balance, Id like MetaWatchs four-slot widget concept paired with Pebbles superior UI and a better database of watch face designs (in fact, MetaWatch really only offers one design). And Id like it on a MetaWatch Frame with the higher-resolution, higher-contrast display of the Pebble. Id also like inductive charging while were at it at present, both devices require proprietary charging accessories that are just begging to be lost.
Dipping your toe in the primordial ooze of the smartwatch industry isnt easy. Ive had various MetaWatches for a year and a half now; Pebble, though, is a different story. Having stayed on the sidelines for Pebble's Kickstarter last year, I only just now managed to get one over the weekend by walking into a Best Buy. I really wanted the white model, not the black-on-black that Best Buy is carrying, but beggars can't be choosers.
The watches are remarkably different for having basically the same goal: turning your wrist into a primary destination for notifications from your iPhone or Android device. In most ways, that diversity is a great thing. I've long maintained that watches are fashion accessories and extensions of the wearer's personality, and sameness is the sworn enemy of that philosophy. But these products still make it crystal clear that we're still very early in the smartwatchs formative years. Some might even argue theyre betas. Were still at the point where everyone can learn something from everyone else.
I have limited latitude to criticize a watchs aesthetics different strokes for different folks but theres an exception: when a manufacturer only offers one design, its got to be universally appealing and universally good. In that regard, Pebble delivers a mixed report card.
Where Pebbles design succeeds is in its no-frills simplicity; a watch that isnt overwrought is less likely to offend, and the glossy, curved face and plain black wristband are about as simple as they come.Transportation China IC card Applications Ceremony. There are no bells or whistles, no extraneous flourishes. People who steer clear of the giant, chunky watches that have been trendy as of late wont be bothered by the relatively lithe Pebble. (I actually think its too small, but I love a really big watch.)
But the Pebbles cheap materials betray the designs true intentions: the watch looks simple not because its elegant, but because there simply wasnt much thought put into it. The entire thing is glossy, Samsung-esque plastic (not a compliment) paired with a low-grade rubber watchband, physical evidence that engineers poured resources into circuitry and software while racing against the clock. Its 90 percent technology, 10 percent aesthetic. Its clear it was produced by a technology startup, not a watchmaker.
The buttons are no better. These are some of the worst-feeling buttons Ive ever experienced on any product, ever theyre wobbly hunks of plastic that offer no tactile confirmation that youve actuated a command. I actually dread pressing them. They feel like they could break at any moment.
But then theres the display. A smartwatchs prime directive is to be "glanceable," meaning you can spend no more than a couple seconds looking at it and get all the information you need without needing to interact. It needs to be able to serve that need 24 hours a day for several days at a time, bare minimum, between charges. To pull that off, Pebble uses a monochrome e-paper display that delivers a really reasonable level of contrast.
The MetaWatch, meanwhile, uses one of the most objectively awful, exceedingly low-res displays Ive ever seen on a consumer device. It's called a "polymer network LCD," chosen for its low power drain. The tradeoff, though, is that it has an extremely low contrast-ratio, which means you simply can't see it in many lighting conditions. The problem is compounded when it's dark by a crappy single-bulb sidelight, reminiscent of digital watches from the 1980s. I have very vivid memories of owning a sweet Timex Ironman before the advent of electroluminescent lighting; this is a lot like that,where cards are embedded with chip card and a cardholder. and not in a good way.
MetaWatch treats its devices as slaves to the phones that theyre connected to there are no "watch apps," per se. Instead, third-party apps on the phone can use MetaWatchs SDK to push pixels directly to the watch and receive button and sensor input back from it over the ever-present Bluetooth connection (fortunately, the watch can still keep time if the connection is lost). Pebble, meanwhile, is very actively promoting the development of apps that run directly on its watches games, for instance.
In these early days, theres another philosophical difference between these products that has a much greater impact on the users experience: the "watch face," the home screen, whatever you want to call it. MetaWatch divides its square screen into four slots of equal size; using the MetaWatch app on iOS or Android, you can select various first- and third-party widgets to occupy one, two, or all four slots. For instance, you could have the time in the upper right, the weather in the upper left, and upcoming calendar events occupying both of the bottom two slots. Its versatile and user-friendly. Pebble, meanwhile, requires that the user select a single watch face.
Out of the box, none of the watch faces include any information other than time and date, nor do any of the extra faces that can be installed through the official Pebble phone app its far less flexible. Granted, there are some pretty watch faces available, but if all Im going to see is the time when I glance down at my wrist, Id just as soon wear a traditional watch that looks and feels a lot better. Third-party faces with more functionality can be installed from other sources, but that adds a layer of complexity that an average watch-wearer shouldnt have to deal with.On balance, Id like MetaWatchs four-slot widget concept paired with Pebbles superior UI and a better database of watch face designs (in fact, MetaWatch really only offers one design). And Id like it on a MetaWatch Frame with the higher-resolution, higher-contrast display of the Pebble. Id also like inductive charging while were at it at present, both devices require proprietary charging accessories that are just begging to be lost.
2013年7月9日星期二
First Impressions
While Micromax always tries to focus on delivering upgraded specifications at economical price points, this time it has taken a different course. With the Canvas 4, the company's key focus areas are the build and construction of the device and a differentiated user experience. Here's what we think about the device after having spent some time with it.
Micromax A210 Canvas 4 has to be the best Android device from Micromax in terms of the fit and finish. While the device is not completely made of metal, it does sport an aluminium frame that gives it a premium finish. It also feels more solidly built compared to other phones made by Micromax. We got a hands on of the White colour variant of the phone, though a Grey variant is also available.
The front of the phone is dominated by a 5-inch IPS display panel that sports a resolution of 720x1280 pixels. We were expecting the phone to feature a 1080p display and were a bit disappointed. Having said that, we found the display to be pretty decent, similar to the one we've seen in the Micromax Canvas HD. Colours look vibrant and images and text rendered sharply. Viewing angles were also good. We also found the touch on the display to be more responsive than the Canvas HD and other phones in the Canvas series. Micromax claims that one can even operate the phone with gloves on, due to the increased sensitivity of the smart card.
Just below the display, there are capacitive touch keys for Menu, Home and Back navigation functions. The sensor array and the 5-megapixel front camera are located above the display just adjacent to the chrome grill earpiece. The edges of the phone are bevelled when they meet the aluminium frame.
The Power/ Screen lock key is located at the right hand side, towards the top, while the Volume rocker sits at the left hand side. Both these keys sport a metallic finish and offer good tactile feedback.
Interestingly, the Canvas 4's aluminium frame also features small bands at the left, and at the top and bottom edges, similar to the ones we've seen on the iPhone 5 and HTC One. As per the company the frame also acts as an antenna, just like it does in the iPhone.
Coming to the Canvas 4's software, we'd like to point out that it runs Android 4.2.1, the latest iteration of the operating system, with some of its own UI modifications on top. The first thing that we noticed while using the handset is that there was no visible lag, at least with the set of preinstalled applications.
The Canvas 4 also boasts of some extra bells and whistles including a 'blow to unlock' feature - yes, that's what it's called. You can just blow some air on the phone's screen to unlock it. Just like some of Samsung's latest Galaxy smartphones, the phone features a pop-up video player, that lets users watch a video while doing some other task on a floating window, auto-pause videos when you're not looking at the phone's screen, answer phone automatically when you bring it your ear, flip to silent and preview other videos in the gallery while playing one, among other features. It also brings some new camera tricks such as multi-dimension Panorama and a photo solid mode for increased precision.
Micromax has also pre-installed a security software called M! Security, offering back-up, anti-theft tracker, and anti-virus features. Other bundled apps include Fone Clay to download themes, Hike instant messenger, Opera Mini, Spuul to watch movies, Kingsoft office suite, and Micromax' music and app download services.
Overall, the phone delivers a good package, incorporating a balanced set of software and hardware features, though features like blow air to unlock, appear to be gimmicky. Those hoping for a significant upgrade over the Canvas HD in terms of specs would obviously be disappointed, but Micromax has tried to pack in other things.
Tony Blackman, 47, was driving a 1997 Volkwagon Gulf north on I-95 near exit 12 when police said he swerved twice. He was pulled over at exit 12. While checking his car’s license plate, police learned it didn’t match the car. Blackman told police he didn’t know why that was the case, according to police. The plate was registered to a 1993 Nissan Sentra. It’s unclear who owned that car. Blackman was not charged with stealing a license plate. He also didn’t have a valid insurance card, police said.
Police detected alcohol on Blackman, and said Blackman admitted to drinking a few alcoholic beverages at a Stamford party. Police also found a lemonade and vodka drink in the passenger side door, police said.
While searching the vehicle, police also found a green leafy substance that was later determined to be marijuana, police said. They also found cigars. While processing Blackman at headquarters, Blackman removed his shoe and a plastic bag with more pot fell out, police said.
The pot weighted under a half-ounce and constituted an infraction charge. He was also charged with operating under the influence, improper use of a turn/stop signal, failure to drive right, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance, failure to insure a motor vehicle, failure to register a motor vehicle, and improper registration.
As you may already know, Micromax is currently the largest Indian smartphone maker. Sales of its Canvas series of smartphones has recently hit a 1 million milestone. Little wonder then, this domestic brand is giving Samsung a run for its money in the budget segment. One of the important reasons behind the company’s success has been its aggressive pricing. For instance, the Micromax Canvas 2 A110 delivers almost all the features of Samsung's GALAXY Grand at half its price. However, with the Canvas 4, the company has decided to test waters in the mid-range mobile space. I got a chance to play around with the phone at it's launch event, and here are my initial impressions about the latest Micromax handset.
Read the full story at http://www.smartcardfactory.com/smart-card-IC-card_c504!
Micromax A210 Canvas 4 has to be the best Android device from Micromax in terms of the fit and finish. While the device is not completely made of metal, it does sport an aluminium frame that gives it a premium finish. It also feels more solidly built compared to other phones made by Micromax. We got a hands on of the White colour variant of the phone, though a Grey variant is also available.
The front of the phone is dominated by a 5-inch IPS display panel that sports a resolution of 720x1280 pixels. We were expecting the phone to feature a 1080p display and were a bit disappointed. Having said that, we found the display to be pretty decent, similar to the one we've seen in the Micromax Canvas HD. Colours look vibrant and images and text rendered sharply. Viewing angles were also good. We also found the touch on the display to be more responsive than the Canvas HD and other phones in the Canvas series. Micromax claims that one can even operate the phone with gloves on, due to the increased sensitivity of the smart card.
Just below the display, there are capacitive touch keys for Menu, Home and Back navigation functions. The sensor array and the 5-megapixel front camera are located above the display just adjacent to the chrome grill earpiece. The edges of the phone are bevelled when they meet the aluminium frame.
The Power/ Screen lock key is located at the right hand side, towards the top, while the Volume rocker sits at the left hand side. Both these keys sport a metallic finish and offer good tactile feedback.
Interestingly, the Canvas 4's aluminium frame also features small bands at the left, and at the top and bottom edges, similar to the ones we've seen on the iPhone 5 and HTC One. As per the company the frame also acts as an antenna, just like it does in the iPhone.
Coming to the Canvas 4's software, we'd like to point out that it runs Android 4.2.1, the latest iteration of the operating system, with some of its own UI modifications on top. The first thing that we noticed while using the handset is that there was no visible lag, at least with the set of preinstalled applications.
The Canvas 4 also boasts of some extra bells and whistles including a 'blow to unlock' feature - yes, that's what it's called. You can just blow some air on the phone's screen to unlock it. Just like some of Samsung's latest Galaxy smartphones, the phone features a pop-up video player, that lets users watch a video while doing some other task on a floating window, auto-pause videos when you're not looking at the phone's screen, answer phone automatically when you bring it your ear, flip to silent and preview other videos in the gallery while playing one, among other features. It also brings some new camera tricks such as multi-dimension Panorama and a photo solid mode for increased precision.
Micromax has also pre-installed a security software called M! Security, offering back-up, anti-theft tracker, and anti-virus features. Other bundled apps include Fone Clay to download themes, Hike instant messenger, Opera Mini, Spuul to watch movies, Kingsoft office suite, and Micromax' music and app download services.
Overall, the phone delivers a good package, incorporating a balanced set of software and hardware features, though features like blow air to unlock, appear to be gimmicky. Those hoping for a significant upgrade over the Canvas HD in terms of specs would obviously be disappointed, but Micromax has tried to pack in other things.
Tony Blackman, 47, was driving a 1997 Volkwagon Gulf north on I-95 near exit 12 when police said he swerved twice. He was pulled over at exit 12. While checking his car’s license plate, police learned it didn’t match the car. Blackman told police he didn’t know why that was the case, according to police. The plate was registered to a 1993 Nissan Sentra. It’s unclear who owned that car. Blackman was not charged with stealing a license plate. He also didn’t have a valid insurance card, police said.
Police detected alcohol on Blackman, and said Blackman admitted to drinking a few alcoholic beverages at a Stamford party. Police also found a lemonade and vodka drink in the passenger side door, police said.
While searching the vehicle, police also found a green leafy substance that was later determined to be marijuana, police said. They also found cigars. While processing Blackman at headquarters, Blackman removed his shoe and a plastic bag with more pot fell out, police said.
The pot weighted under a half-ounce and constituted an infraction charge. He was also charged with operating under the influence, improper use of a turn/stop signal, failure to drive right, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance, failure to insure a motor vehicle, failure to register a motor vehicle, and improper registration.
As you may already know, Micromax is currently the largest Indian smartphone maker. Sales of its Canvas series of smartphones has recently hit a 1 million milestone. Little wonder then, this domestic brand is giving Samsung a run for its money in the budget segment. One of the important reasons behind the company’s success has been its aggressive pricing. For instance, the Micromax Canvas 2 A110 delivers almost all the features of Samsung's GALAXY Grand at half its price. However, with the Canvas 4, the company has decided to test waters in the mid-range mobile space. I got a chance to play around with the phone at it's launch event, and here are my initial impressions about the latest Micromax handset.
Read the full story at http://www.smartcardfactory.com/smart-card-IC-card_c504!
2013年7月8日星期一
The Moment I Knew
At 5 a.m., I knew I wouldn't be going in to work that day. This was the first time I woke up still drunk from the night before. Usually my hands shook, but my mind remained clear. Now back on anti-depressants however, I spent my days and nights in a hazy stupor spotted with terrifying blackouts never before experienced in my drinking. Plopping in front of the TV and putting on a movie, I grabbed my jug of cheap vodka for company. When my mother stopped by my apartment and found me at ten in the morning babbling about how I might be schizophrenic when clearly I was just drunk, I knew I had reached my breaking point.These low cost RFID key tags could be RFID key tag products. The jig was up.
I was two years into a three-year Master's program. I smattered together a livable income with two low-wage jobs, and had been laid off twice since moving out of my parent's house at 23. During the times spent with only half an income, I racked up enough credit card debt to make interest payments suck up any money I could have saved, creating a cycle of fruitless frustration. After the last layoff, I spent four months underemployed until I settled for a job as a barista at half the wage I had previously earned. A month after accepting the job, I remember putting out the papers the day the stock market crashed and the world fell apart. Prospects of better work seemed hopeless. As the recession wore on, it became evident that the career for which I had been killing myself would all but disappear in the next few years, and my hopes of finding a job in my field shrunk to nil.
In the meantime, I started having a nightly drink to quell the anxiety. The nightly drink became two, then four. Once I started working the four AM shift at the coffee shop, my internal clock went haywire, my body no longer knowing an acceptable hour to start drinking. Why would it? I began my day at 3:30 a.m., rolled out of bed and powered through work on fumes and caffeine until 9:30. I would have a few hours off to nap or do homework until my next job started around one. Then, I would work some more until dashing off to my evening classes, getting home anywhere between 8 and 9 p.m., only to study or write papers until I fell asleep with books on my chest and my laptop on the floor by the bed.
After several months, I started my drinking before work, simply to stop the shaking. I didn't recognize this as a symptom of withdrawal, slating me into the category of alcoholic, because I still functioned at a remarkably high level. I continued to get all A's and show up to work and school without exception.
However, I was miserable beyond description. I didn't have insurance to go to the doctor or receive any psychiatric help, but I finally managed to scrape together enough for one doctor visit and a prescription for generic anti-depressants. Little did I know, this signified the beginning of the end. For those unfamiliar with anti-depressants, drinking alcohol while on them causes severe drug interaction. This did not stop me, and I soon discovered why the two don't mix.
When my roommate told me she was moving out, I knew I had to find another, and fast. I couldn't swing the rent alone because the amount exceeded my entire paycheck. The days zoomed by,Memory card reader / writer products Assorted Colors No Color Choice, the new roommate never materialized, and I was frantic. Another drink would ease my anxiety, but then I would black out, calling people and not remembering or calling in sick to work. Within a few weeks, I called myself defeated, asking my parents if I could move back in with them.
On that first morning of missing work, when someone saw me as the mess on the couch with my plastic gallon bottle of liquor, I couldn't hide my alcoholism anymore, even from the hardest person to convince: myself. Though I didn't understand what I needed to do next, I did know that I could not figure it out while keeping up the same mad pace. Quitting one of my jobs and taking a leave of absence from the other, I hoped that by eliminating some of the stress, I wouldn't need to drink as much.
It was too late for that, though. I had become a full-blown alcoholic without realizing it. I didn't know how to quit. Not long after moving back home, I poisoned myself, desperate for a drink and half-crazy.
After hospitalization and the darkest, loneliest night of my life, my parents asked me to leave. They told me I needed treatment, and that they would help me get it, but I couldn't stay with them. For the first time, I started to agree. Though the idea of dropping everything seemed insurmountable and irresponsible, I did it. I had to. I had nowhere to live, no way to support myself, and no way to stop drinking on my own. I quit my other job, took a sabbatical from school, and started the business of starting over.
After a rocky beginning with nights spent crashing at friends and my boyfriend's house, I landed in a nine-month long inpatient program. I went from a 150 miles an hour to zero. I had nothing but time: time to reflect, time to heal, time to learn my limitations and time to understand that imperfection is not a character flaw. Honestly, rehab was the best thing that could have happened to me. It was where I learned to be human, where I learned just how toxically stressful my life had become. I could have a fulfilling life without alcohol, and rehab taught me how to recognize overload warning signs.
When I exited the program three years ago, I eased back into life, trying to be kind to myself. Living off of other people's generosity until I could get full-time work was a blow to my pride, but I accepted it as graciously as I could until I found work. I went back to school and finished my final year and a thesis. I learned to put my health -- physical, mental and spiritual -- first.
Today, I don't try to tackle superhuman feats of endurance. I make time for exercise, for downtime, for activities with friends and family. When I feel the stress creep back in, instead of reaching for something to numb me, I step back, remove an unnecessary obligation, and take time for what I need, whether that is journaling, painting, reading, jogging or even crying. It takes strength to release control and find another way to live, strength to let yourself be weak, be vulnerable,Introducing the latest in thermal rewritable card products technology, be helped. I learned the hard way that stress can destroy your life if you let it, but I also learned you can rebuild, and what I am building now is far more satisfying.
Now, you may be wondering exactly why a black-and-green laptop made by a gaming company is being compared to a silver-and-black laptop made by a company that is specifically avoided by gaming enthusiasts. Once you get your hands on the new Blade though, it becomes instantly clear it looks like Razer made its own version of a MacBook Pro with Retina display. From the slim form-factor and curved edges, to the backlit chiclet keyboard and smooth touchpad, the Blade looks like the MacBook Pros Windows sibling that started listening to death metal and wearing black nail polish.
I was two years into a three-year Master's program. I smattered together a livable income with two low-wage jobs, and had been laid off twice since moving out of my parent's house at 23. During the times spent with only half an income, I racked up enough credit card debt to make interest payments suck up any money I could have saved, creating a cycle of fruitless frustration. After the last layoff, I spent four months underemployed until I settled for a job as a barista at half the wage I had previously earned. A month after accepting the job, I remember putting out the papers the day the stock market crashed and the world fell apart. Prospects of better work seemed hopeless. As the recession wore on, it became evident that the career for which I had been killing myself would all but disappear in the next few years, and my hopes of finding a job in my field shrunk to nil.
In the meantime, I started having a nightly drink to quell the anxiety. The nightly drink became two, then four. Once I started working the four AM shift at the coffee shop, my internal clock went haywire, my body no longer knowing an acceptable hour to start drinking. Why would it? I began my day at 3:30 a.m., rolled out of bed and powered through work on fumes and caffeine until 9:30. I would have a few hours off to nap or do homework until my next job started around one. Then, I would work some more until dashing off to my evening classes, getting home anywhere between 8 and 9 p.m., only to study or write papers until I fell asleep with books on my chest and my laptop on the floor by the bed.
After several months, I started my drinking before work, simply to stop the shaking. I didn't recognize this as a symptom of withdrawal, slating me into the category of alcoholic, because I still functioned at a remarkably high level. I continued to get all A's and show up to work and school without exception.
However, I was miserable beyond description. I didn't have insurance to go to the doctor or receive any psychiatric help, but I finally managed to scrape together enough for one doctor visit and a prescription for generic anti-depressants. Little did I know, this signified the beginning of the end. For those unfamiliar with anti-depressants, drinking alcohol while on them causes severe drug interaction. This did not stop me, and I soon discovered why the two don't mix.
When my roommate told me she was moving out, I knew I had to find another, and fast. I couldn't swing the rent alone because the amount exceeded my entire paycheck. The days zoomed by,Memory card reader / writer products Assorted Colors No Color Choice, the new roommate never materialized, and I was frantic. Another drink would ease my anxiety, but then I would black out, calling people and not remembering or calling in sick to work. Within a few weeks, I called myself defeated, asking my parents if I could move back in with them.
On that first morning of missing work, when someone saw me as the mess on the couch with my plastic gallon bottle of liquor, I couldn't hide my alcoholism anymore, even from the hardest person to convince: myself. Though I didn't understand what I needed to do next, I did know that I could not figure it out while keeping up the same mad pace. Quitting one of my jobs and taking a leave of absence from the other, I hoped that by eliminating some of the stress, I wouldn't need to drink as much.
It was too late for that, though. I had become a full-blown alcoholic without realizing it. I didn't know how to quit. Not long after moving back home, I poisoned myself, desperate for a drink and half-crazy.
After hospitalization and the darkest, loneliest night of my life, my parents asked me to leave. They told me I needed treatment, and that they would help me get it, but I couldn't stay with them. For the first time, I started to agree. Though the idea of dropping everything seemed insurmountable and irresponsible, I did it. I had to. I had nowhere to live, no way to support myself, and no way to stop drinking on my own. I quit my other job, took a sabbatical from school, and started the business of starting over.
After a rocky beginning with nights spent crashing at friends and my boyfriend's house, I landed in a nine-month long inpatient program. I went from a 150 miles an hour to zero. I had nothing but time: time to reflect, time to heal, time to learn my limitations and time to understand that imperfection is not a character flaw. Honestly, rehab was the best thing that could have happened to me. It was where I learned to be human, where I learned just how toxically stressful my life had become. I could have a fulfilling life without alcohol, and rehab taught me how to recognize overload warning signs.
When I exited the program three years ago, I eased back into life, trying to be kind to myself. Living off of other people's generosity until I could get full-time work was a blow to my pride, but I accepted it as graciously as I could until I found work. I went back to school and finished my final year and a thesis. I learned to put my health -- physical, mental and spiritual -- first.
Today, I don't try to tackle superhuman feats of endurance. I make time for exercise, for downtime, for activities with friends and family. When I feel the stress creep back in, instead of reaching for something to numb me, I step back, remove an unnecessary obligation, and take time for what I need, whether that is journaling, painting, reading, jogging or even crying. It takes strength to release control and find another way to live, strength to let yourself be weak, be vulnerable,Introducing the latest in thermal rewritable card products technology, be helped. I learned the hard way that stress can destroy your life if you let it, but I also learned you can rebuild, and what I am building now is far more satisfying.
Now, you may be wondering exactly why a black-and-green laptop made by a gaming company is being compared to a silver-and-black laptop made by a company that is specifically avoided by gaming enthusiasts. Once you get your hands on the new Blade though, it becomes instantly clear it looks like Razer made its own version of a MacBook Pro with Retina display. From the slim form-factor and curved edges, to the backlit chiclet keyboard and smooth touchpad, the Blade looks like the MacBook Pros Windows sibling that started listening to death metal and wearing black nail polish.
2013年7月7日星期日
McKenzie can end this cultural cancer
The biggest rugby match on Australian soil in a decade and these two players let the team down yet again. What should have happened is they should have been evicted from the Wallabies on match day. It would have caused pandemonium. It would have caused chaos. And it would have brought the Wallabies together like nothing else.
But, of course, nothing happened. The expedient thing was to bury the whole episode and pretend it never happened. It was the smart thing to do. It was the practical thing. And it was utterly the wrong thing to do because it showed everyone within the Wallabies who really cares -- which is just about everyone -- that the cultural cancer within the team was utterly out of control.
And to think Robbie Deans stubbornly held Quade Cooper at arm's length, manufacturing reasons why he hadn't been selected -- what better man, incidentally, to have sent into the fray when Australia slid behind 29-16 on Saturday night? -- while embracing players whose toxic impact on the Wallabies was evident to all the world.
We've reached the end of the Deans era and, like most endings, we approach it with some sadness. He promised so much at the beginning. When he spoke of "playing what's in front of us" we all oohed and aaahed and wondered why on earth none of us had ever thought of it. As a game plan, it was somewhat short on detail but the assumption was that Deans was holding back all the good stuff, all the deep and fascinating detail that would make it work. It was only over time that the realisation set in that whatever else was happening within the Wallabies, attention to detail wasn't one of them.
Like his two immediate predecessors, John Connolly and Eddie Jones, the trigger point for assembling Deans's firing squad was a scrum that failed him miserably. He inherited a shambles and now he will pass one on to either Ewen McKenzie or Jake White.
But how did it get to that? Yes, there have been some promising moments for the Wallabies at set-piece time over the past year or two but the scrum has always been Australia's Achilles heel so why was it that the match was only 13 minutes old before French referee Romaine Poite was pleading with James Horwill to do something about it?
Even through the "ref's ears" it was possible to hear the desperation in his French-accented voice. He didn't want to have to go to a yellow card but in the end -- well, 10 minutes later -- he decided he had no IC card.
Technically, the Wallabies' scrum is deficient, so why wasn't it tactically smart? If Japan can clear its scrum ball in the blink of an eye using channel one, why is it so difficult for the Wallabies? If the Wallabies weren't going to get the right-hand side of their scrum up, why weren't they using a heap of left-hand scrum plays?
The Australian Rugby Union now is going about the grim process of regime change. Bill Pulver already has sounded out both the Reds and the Brumbies to make certain they are prepared to release McKenzie or White, whichever one is needed. Former Wallabies flanker and ARU high-performance manager Brett Robinson is understood to be heading the committee to decide which of the two worthy candidates will become the next Australia coach.
I believe White would do an excellent job with the Wallabies and I recall urging him to apply for the position when, by chance, I happened to be booked into the same Parisian hotel as the Springboks before the 2007 World Cup. The work he has done with the Brumbies over the past two seasons has been nothing short of outstanding.
But I am going to break ranks with the mob and urge the ARU to go with McKenzie instead. When I suggested this to Pulver just over a week ago, he laughed and said I had my Reds hat on.Naturally I blustered and protested and argued, quite persuasively I thought, that I had even supported him when he was coaching NSW. But on reflection I had to concede there was a lot of truth in what Pulver said.
But consider this -- everyone involved in Queensland rugby, from QRU chairman Rod McCall and CEO Jim Carmichael all the way down to the lowly media who each day troop out to Ballymore for press briefings, has nothing but admiration for McKenzie and the way he goes about his business.
This is an important point given the mudslinging coming from critics who barely know him -- the people who know McKenzie the best sing his praises the loudest.
His attention to detail is breathtaking yet he is a big-picture man, capable of looking beyond the Reds to identifying how Australian rugby needs to rebuild. He has the Reds playing a brand of rugby that left the Lions and the British media agog and while Queensland ultimately lost that match, it might very well have been a different story had the Wallabies released a lineout jumper or two.
He won a World Cup as a player, he helped take the Wallabies to a World Cup final as an assistant coach. He has been the most successful Super Rugby head coach in the history of both NSW and Queensland, has coached in Europe and returned to resurrect the Reds and in the process break Deans's own record for most Super Rugby matches as head coach.When he said in 2006 he wasn't ready to coach the Wallabies, he showed that for all his ambition he was a realist. We believed him then. Believe him now when he says he is ready.
I'm not entirely sure why this is critically important but somehow it is. Deans last week came down hard on a journalist who attempted to get him to explain what he had learned from coaching Australians that he didn't know when he came into the job back in 2008 and he basically batted the question out of court. All Blacks, Springboks, Wallabies -- all pretty much experience the same thing so they're all pretty much the same, was the Deans response.
Well, clearly they're not and while Micky Arthur never had any real contact with the Black Caps, he was head coach of both the Proteas and the Australians and the sad evidence is that while he took South Africa to No 1 in the world, he just didn't work for the Aussies.His chemistry with the Australian cricketers wasn't right, just as Deans's chemistry with the Wallabies has fluctuated from acidic to alkaline.
McKenzie sets high standards and it's noticeable that almost all the trouble Cooper has ever been embroiled in has happened while he was on duty with the Wallabies. But as rigid as McKenzie is on cultural issues, he's a flexible tactician. If the Lions game represented the breathless end of his tactical spectrum, the hard-nosed, hard-bitten end surfaced in 2011 when the Reds kicked the Stormers off the park at Newlands to begin their epic run to the title.
The brand of rugby the Wallabies play is absolutely central to the growth of the code in Australia. As the Wallabies play has shrunk in recent seasons, so too has popular support for the game. A McKenzie-coached Wallabies would have a crack. Nothing is more certain. It's time for Australia to reclaim the Wallabies.
Click on their website www.smartcardfactory.com.
But, of course, nothing happened. The expedient thing was to bury the whole episode and pretend it never happened. It was the smart thing to do. It was the practical thing. And it was utterly the wrong thing to do because it showed everyone within the Wallabies who really cares -- which is just about everyone -- that the cultural cancer within the team was utterly out of control.
And to think Robbie Deans stubbornly held Quade Cooper at arm's length, manufacturing reasons why he hadn't been selected -- what better man, incidentally, to have sent into the fray when Australia slid behind 29-16 on Saturday night? -- while embracing players whose toxic impact on the Wallabies was evident to all the world.
We've reached the end of the Deans era and, like most endings, we approach it with some sadness. He promised so much at the beginning. When he spoke of "playing what's in front of us" we all oohed and aaahed and wondered why on earth none of us had ever thought of it. As a game plan, it was somewhat short on detail but the assumption was that Deans was holding back all the good stuff, all the deep and fascinating detail that would make it work. It was only over time that the realisation set in that whatever else was happening within the Wallabies, attention to detail wasn't one of them.
Like his two immediate predecessors, John Connolly and Eddie Jones, the trigger point for assembling Deans's firing squad was a scrum that failed him miserably. He inherited a shambles and now he will pass one on to either Ewen McKenzie or Jake White.
But how did it get to that? Yes, there have been some promising moments for the Wallabies at set-piece time over the past year or two but the scrum has always been Australia's Achilles heel so why was it that the match was only 13 minutes old before French referee Romaine Poite was pleading with James Horwill to do something about it?
Even through the "ref's ears" it was possible to hear the desperation in his French-accented voice. He didn't want to have to go to a yellow card but in the end -- well, 10 minutes later -- he decided he had no IC card.
Technically, the Wallabies' scrum is deficient, so why wasn't it tactically smart? If Japan can clear its scrum ball in the blink of an eye using channel one, why is it so difficult for the Wallabies? If the Wallabies weren't going to get the right-hand side of their scrum up, why weren't they using a heap of left-hand scrum plays?
The Australian Rugby Union now is going about the grim process of regime change. Bill Pulver already has sounded out both the Reds and the Brumbies to make certain they are prepared to release McKenzie or White, whichever one is needed. Former Wallabies flanker and ARU high-performance manager Brett Robinson is understood to be heading the committee to decide which of the two worthy candidates will become the next Australia coach.
I believe White would do an excellent job with the Wallabies and I recall urging him to apply for the position when, by chance, I happened to be booked into the same Parisian hotel as the Springboks before the 2007 World Cup. The work he has done with the Brumbies over the past two seasons has been nothing short of outstanding.
But I am going to break ranks with the mob and urge the ARU to go with McKenzie instead. When I suggested this to Pulver just over a week ago, he laughed and said I had my Reds hat on.Naturally I blustered and protested and argued, quite persuasively I thought, that I had even supported him when he was coaching NSW. But on reflection I had to concede there was a lot of truth in what Pulver said.
But consider this -- everyone involved in Queensland rugby, from QRU chairman Rod McCall and CEO Jim Carmichael all the way down to the lowly media who each day troop out to Ballymore for press briefings, has nothing but admiration for McKenzie and the way he goes about his business.
This is an important point given the mudslinging coming from critics who barely know him -- the people who know McKenzie the best sing his praises the loudest.
His attention to detail is breathtaking yet he is a big-picture man, capable of looking beyond the Reds to identifying how Australian rugby needs to rebuild. He has the Reds playing a brand of rugby that left the Lions and the British media agog and while Queensland ultimately lost that match, it might very well have been a different story had the Wallabies released a lineout jumper or two.
He won a World Cup as a player, he helped take the Wallabies to a World Cup final as an assistant coach. He has been the most successful Super Rugby head coach in the history of both NSW and Queensland, has coached in Europe and returned to resurrect the Reds and in the process break Deans's own record for most Super Rugby matches as head coach.When he said in 2006 he wasn't ready to coach the Wallabies, he showed that for all his ambition he was a realist. We believed him then. Believe him now when he says he is ready.
I'm not entirely sure why this is critically important but somehow it is. Deans last week came down hard on a journalist who attempted to get him to explain what he had learned from coaching Australians that he didn't know when he came into the job back in 2008 and he basically batted the question out of court. All Blacks, Springboks, Wallabies -- all pretty much experience the same thing so they're all pretty much the same, was the Deans response.
Well, clearly they're not and while Micky Arthur never had any real contact with the Black Caps, he was head coach of both the Proteas and the Australians and the sad evidence is that while he took South Africa to No 1 in the world, he just didn't work for the Aussies.His chemistry with the Australian cricketers wasn't right, just as Deans's chemistry with the Wallabies has fluctuated from acidic to alkaline.
McKenzie sets high standards and it's noticeable that almost all the trouble Cooper has ever been embroiled in has happened while he was on duty with the Wallabies. But as rigid as McKenzie is on cultural issues, he's a flexible tactician. If the Lions game represented the breathless end of his tactical spectrum, the hard-nosed, hard-bitten end surfaced in 2011 when the Reds kicked the Stormers off the park at Newlands to begin their epic run to the title.
The brand of rugby the Wallabies play is absolutely central to the growth of the code in Australia. As the Wallabies play has shrunk in recent seasons, so too has popular support for the game. A McKenzie-coached Wallabies would have a crack. Nothing is more certain. It's time for Australia to reclaim the Wallabies.
Click on their website www.smartcardfactory.com.
订阅：
博文 (Atom)