News for today's 2018: 12/20/12

18000 visitors! Yay!

11:20 PM Tukiyooo 0

Inspiration 18000 visitors! Yay!

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<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />Hola y’all! Santa came over tonight and hung out with me and agreed to do a Jay Said, Santa Said for the blog cause he’s cool like that.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj12ASIpW9CEw47HkpReAJIwa8k4_ud-tQSDq1p25m-24c2AUDQGmhPgxtZYJcd8PiCV8Vt5Vt9Dyg3V3UShTKoaAZOqxy2YRpY4ba1s95JBmuQp1jnuC1oHzWhPowJYPq5phs_ehKyr90/s1600/Santa+Clause+Chillin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj12ASIpW9CEw47HkpReAJIwa8k4_ud-tQSDq1p25m-24c2AUDQGmhPgxtZYJcd8PiCV8Vt5Vt9Dyg3V3UShTKoaAZOqxy2YRpY4ba1s95JBmuQp1jnuC1oHzWhPowJYPq5phs_ehKyr90/s320/Santa+Clause+Chillin.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><b>Jay:</b> Hola Santa!<br /><b>Santa: </b>Beer please. And some chips. I’m hungry.<br /><b>Jay: </b>I’ve already got them for you; uh please don’t smoke in here.<br /><b>Santa: </b> I’m Santa Claus I can smoke anywhere I fucking please.<br /><b>Jay: </b>It’s bad for you though.<br /><b>Santa:</b> So is sliding down everyone’s filthy chimney but nobody tells me not to do that!<br /><b>Jay: </b>Good point.<br /><b>Santa:</b> Nobody cares about my wellbeing.<br /><b>Jay: </b>Now, that’s just not true.<br /><b>Santa: </b>Really? Everyone leaves cookies, fudge and cake for me.<br /><b>Jay: </b>I’m sure some people in Cali leave granola and soy milk.<br /><b>Santa:</b> Yes and that shit is disgusting!<br /><b>Jay: </b>I know being Santa isn’t easy, but not THAT bad.<br /><b>Santa: </b>Nobody ever asks what I want for Christmas.<br /><b>Jay: </b>That’s only because you can have whatever you want.<br /><b>Santa: </b>Yeah, but having someone else get it for me would be nice every once in a while.<br /><br /><b>Jay: </b>But, you’re Santa Claus. You do this out of the goodness of your heart.<br /><b>Santa: </b>I should sell ads.<br /><b>Jay: </b>Really? Sell out like that?<br /><b>Santa: </b>Nothing big. Maybe just some small ads on the wrapping paper?<br /><b>Jay:</b> Maybe on the tag?<br /><b>Santa: </b>That’s brilliant! “To Timmy … From Santa brought to you by Tostitos” or something.<br /><b>Jay:</b> I’m thinking Johnsonville Brats.<br /><b>Santa: </b>I like the way you think.<br /><b>Jay: </b>With your sophisticated marketing operations, you should be able to target ads.<br /><b>Santa:</b> I’m thinking of asking Google to help me with that.<br /><b>Jay: </b>You’ll get some criticism for this.<br /><b>Santa: </b>Only from the pink-o, panty-waste, atheist, baby-killing liberals who hate me already.<br /><b>Jay: </b>That’s true.<br /><b>Santa: </b>So fuck them<br /><b>Jay:</b> Hell yeah! You go Santa!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb-Rq-1e5l6BeCiBDQWoW8hpaP5WR6GSmW21q5PZf1QJsDF-5ooAlIdch6Evm59JNcCENch_iLgLtzKdZ-WYft92lXCKj8HM5mCGB0CaFo-BYmf5ITVS2IqjCPvy1j4Ias_6bPrOdtkDA/s1600/Courtney+Stodden+Nude+Santa+Claus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb-Rq-1e5l6BeCiBDQWoW8hpaP5WR6GSmW21q5PZf1QJsDF-5ooAlIdch6Evm59JNcCENch_iLgLtzKdZ-WYft92lXCKj8HM5mCGB0CaFo-BYmf5ITVS2IqjCPvy1j4Ias_6bPrOdtkDA/s320/Courtney+Stodden+Nude+Santa+Claus.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><b>Jay:</b> So how’s the Christmas season been this year?<br /><b>Santa: </b>Same as always. Greedy, spoiled kids demanding expensive toys.<br /><b>Jay:</b> Gets worse every year.<br /><b>Santa: </b>Damn right it does. And I get pissed on at least four times a day.<br /><b>Jay:</b> Is your suit water proof?<br /><b>Santa: </b>I spray it down with a special formula so I don’t smell like piss all day.<br /><b>Jay: </b>Well if you did, you could just take the bus and fit right in.<br /><b>Santa:</b> Hey-OOOOOOOOO!<br /><b>Jay:</b> Is there anything good about being Santa?<br /><b>Santa: </b>Well there are a few things.<br /><b>Jay:</b> The joy of the season? Happy children smiling and laughing?<br /><b>Santa: </b>Well that and a few “fringe benefits.”<br /><b>Jay: </b>Oh really? Like groupies?<br /><b>Santa:</b> Dude. Every hot chick in the world wants to sit on Santa’s lap.<br /><b>Jay: </b>That’s awesome.<br /><b>Santa:</b> It’s crazy. Hell, I can go to any strip club and get a free lap dance for every single girl there.<br /><b>Jay: </b>I’m so jealous.<br /><b>Santa: </b>You should be. In some of the dodgier places I can get a free handy too.<br /><b>Jay:</b> Santa! I’m so disappointed in you!<br /><b>Santa: </b>Oh please! Spare me your fake indignation. I never claimed to be a role model.<br /><b>Jay:</b> Well, that’s true. I guess anyone would take advantage of being Santa a little bit.<br /><b>Santa:</b> I’m only human dude.<br /><b>Jay: </b>Good point.<br /><b>Santa: </b>Well, I better be off.<br /><b>Jay: </b>Got big plans?<br /><b>Santa: </b>Getting pissed on by kids and free lap dances from strippers.<br /><b>Jay: </b>Typical weekend then.<br /><b>Santa: </b>Yup.<br /><b>Jay:</b> Well, Merry Christmas and safe travels Santa.<br /><b>Santa: </b>Thanks my friend.<br /><br />There you go. As you can see, Santa is a very complicated, yet fun and thoughtful guy.<br /><br />Jayman<br /><a href="mailto:Jayman3768@gmail.com">Jayman3768@gmail.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.twitter.com/jayman_iws" target="_blank">@Jayman_IWS</a><br /><br /></div>

Hanging Out with Santa Claus

Hola y’all! Santa came over tonight and hung out with me and agreed to do a Jay Said, Santa Said for the blog cause he’s cool like that.Jay: Hola Santa!Santa: Beer please. And some chips. I’m hungry.Jay: I’ve already got them for you; uh please don’t…

Looking Back On A 10 Year Long Conversion Experience: Was It Mine Or Ours?

4:18 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Reading N. T. Wright’s Jesus and The Victory of God has sparked some reflection on how my religion has changed during the past decade. It’s a fundamental shift in what I believe and what I do – a change in how I find meaning and value in life. Oddly, it tracks a shift in our scholarly understanding of Jesus that I was not aware of at the time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">I came back to Christianity about 1980 from several years of pretty serious Buddhism. I still value my Buddhist experience and could not have found my way back to Christianity except by that path. But for reasons that will become clear, I now find the historical focus, the narrative structure, and the hope for change in this world offered by Christianity is more helpful -- at least in our cultural context. I am quite content to let Buddhist be Buddhists. I just hope Christians will be Christians. It has taken me a lot of years, step by step, to actually engage the distinctly Christian hope in this world and for this world – in fact, I’m pretty sure I am not there yet. It’s a process.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">In the 1980’s and 90’s, the in vogue view of Jesus was “wisdom teacher.” Most of what Jesus taught was about “the Kingdom of God.” But what does that mean? It definitely isn’t where we go when we die. The Jesus Seminar folks and others who gave us Jesus the Wisdom Teacher interpreted the Kingdom as a spiritual state already available to anyone who got their mind right. That’s what I believed and that’s what I taught. The Kingdom Jesus proclaimed did not have any implications for the existing power structures of the world, like the Roman Empire, the Temple theocracy, local authorities like Herod, etc. The crucifixion of Jesus either did not happen at all or it was a big mistake. Jesus was a wise teacher like Lao Tzu. He was no threat to either Pilate or Herod. If they killed him, it was because they didn’t understand that he was harmless.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">My religion in the 80s and 90s was about getting my mind right and helping others to get their minds right too. What about crime, economic injustice, poverty, disease, etc.? I thought Christians should do kind acts here and there as evidence of our right-mindedness. But for the most part, I saw secular society as hopelessly corrupt and believed the Church should stand apart from it. I wanted to prophesy against society from a removed position of purity. I talked about living by the Church Calendar instead of the Hallmark Calendar. My religion in those days was “spiritual but not political.” Wright’s word is “escapist.” I had washed my hands of humanity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">9/11 was the turning point. The religion I had on September 10 was not up to what happened on September 11.  That day brought home to me that religion can be a horribly destructive force in this dusty flesh and blood world where we live. We can go to work one morning and be killed by someone’s religion. Or religion can do good in this world. It can feed the hungry, teach the illiterate, heal the sick, even liberate the captive. The meaning and value of our lives turns on which kind of religion we practice – but only if we actually practice it with our feet on the ground here, now -- in this time and this place.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">It wasn’t just watching the Twin Towers fall. A lot of things went into my conversion process – a sabbatical semester at Harvard Divinity regrooving my theology, hitting the age for a “generativity crisis,” reengaging racial reconciliation work in Georgia, and the ONE Campaign for the Millennium Development Goals. I changed what I did before I changed what I thought. Praxis first. Theory later. I know that sounds like some other philosophies, but it’s also Anglican.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">So now I am learning that Jesus was not a “Wisdom Teacher” in the mode of Lao Tzu et al. – not that it’s bad to be a Wisdom Teacher – that just isn’t who Jesus was. Jesus was doing two things: (1) he was offering hope that <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">God will intervene in the socio-economic-political world we live in and turn the apple cart upside down – like in the Magnificat. (2) He was already bringing that new reality into being. He was already turning the apple cart upside down with his teaching, his way of life, and his healing miracles. When God happens in the world it looks like Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">Getting our minds right is part of joining the Kingdom movement. It takes prayer, meditation, and study. Without spiritual practice, our service to others isn’t grounded in God but in our own egos, so it goes awry. But the Kingdom Movement is also practice. It takes rolling up our sleeves and engaging in Kingdom work in our time and in our place. We don’t build the Kingdom with our own hands. We can’t fulfill it in its wholeness, but we can live the Kingdom in a world dominated by the ungodly forces Paul called “the powers and the principalities of this present age.” We can get on the right side and widen the fissures so grace can break in. We can enact the Kingdom in the midst of a world that has gone so dreadfully wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">I knew as I watched the Twin Towers fall that my religion would have to grow or die. It grew. I wrote God Of Our Silent Tears (my book on how God responds to evil and suffering), worked with racial issues in Georgia, raised money for the ONE Campaign, and now am working to organize communities in Nevada to restore the quality of our common life. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">So here’s what I am wondering: N T Wright portrays a Jesus who is making a real difference now; that difference is more important than it looks because it also opens the door to a whole new reality dawning in God’s time. Reading Wright makes me ask whether this change in my religion is just a personal thing, just the natural adjustment of religion to another stage of life – or is the Church waking up to an earthier pragmatic faith that can change the world? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.0pt;">I don’t know the answer to that. I have a hope but it is not “sure and certain.” I am not hoping for a nice political correctness that calls itself religion. I am hoping for a spiritual movement that has boots on the ground, a movement to challenge the status quo from a strong theological stance of faith, a conviction that we are following God’s call, making straight the way for the Savior. Are we ready to do that? Are we ready to lay aside our nets – even if those nets look like the pastoral maintenance religion that has defined the Church for centuries – in order to follow Jesus and change the world into the Kingdom?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

Looking Back On A 10 Year Long Conversion Experience: Was It Mine Or Ours?

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Study: U.S. Surgeons Still Leaving Things in Patients - Lindsay Abrams - The Atlantic

3:55 PM Tukiyooo 0

<base href="data:"><div style="color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">PROBLEM: When something goes wrong during a surgery that can be chalked up to human error or a breakdown in the chain of command -- say, a surgical sponge getting left behind in someone's abdomen -- surgeons refer to it as a "never event." Because they should never happen. Unfortunately, they sometimes still do. Measuring how, when, where, and why they happen is a step toward making them literal neverevents.</font></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">METHODOLOGY: Johns Hopkins researchers raided a federal trove of official medical malpractice claims to find instances where patients successfully sued -- meaning they needed to have had adequate proof to back up their claims -- over never events that nonetheless occurred. Specifically, they looked at incidents that occurred in the U.S. from 1990 to 2010.</font></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">RESULTS: "Never," according to their findings, occurs at least 4,082 times per year. Deaths attributable to these mistakes occurred in 6.6 percent of patients, 32.9 claimed permanent injury, and payments doled out totaled $1.3 billion.</font></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Looked at another way, the researchers estimate that every week, 39 foreign objects are left behind in a patient's body, 20 procedures are performed on the wrong body site, and another 20 are the wrong procedure to begin with. And 12.4 percent of surgeons were repeat offenders.</font></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">CONCLUSION: Preventable errors, the researchers conclude, are exacting a serious toll on patients and the health care system.</font></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">IMPLICATIONS: Marty Makary, this study's lead author, is a huge proponent of increased transparency in health care; <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/09/how-transparency-can-empower-patients-and-fix-health-care/262531/" style="color: rgb(0, 89, 140); text-decoration: none; ">as he told The Atlantic in September</a>, "I think if all of that information is public, patients will not have to walk into a hospital blind. They'll know about the quality of care in their hospital, and the hospital, most importantly, will be accountable." In this case, simple measures that are already used in many medical centers -- like having procedures in place to count sponges and double-triple-quadruple-check patient information before and after surgeries -- can go a long way toward reducing these numbers. In order to drive their widespread implementation in hospitals, Makary argues now, we need to have more data like that revealed in this study to urge them along.</font></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">The full study, "<a href="http://www.surgjournal.com/article/S0039-6060(12)00623-X/abstract" style="color: rgb(0, 89, 140); text-decoration: none; ">Surgical never events in the United States</a>," is published in the journal <a href="http://www.surgjournal.com/" style="color: rgb(0, 89, 140); text-decoration: none; ">Surgery</a> .</font></p></div><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/12/study-us-surgeons-still-leaving-things-in-patients/266489/"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/12/study-us-surgeons-still-leaving-things-in-patients/266489/</font></a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Study: U.S. Surgeons Still Leaving Things in Patients - Lindsay Abrams - The Atlantic

PROBLEM: When something goes wrong during a surgery that can be chalked up to human error or a breakdown in the chain of command -- say, a surgical sponge getting left behind in someone's abdomen -- surgeons refer to it as a "never event." Because th…

Another Good Reason to Quit Smoking in New Year: Less Back Pain - University of Rochester Medical Center

3:48 PM Tukiyooo 0

<base href="data:"><div style="color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(60, 60, 60); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">A University of Rochester Medical Center analysis of more than 5,300 patients followed for eight months during treatment of spinal disorders showed that cigarette smokers reported far more pain than never-smokers or those who had quit.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(60, 60, 60); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Smoking cessation either prior to treatment or during the course of care was related to significant improvements in pain – a result that underlines the need for structured stop-smoking programs among the legions of patients who experience back pain due to degenerative disease, deformity, or musculoskeletal problems, said <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; ">Caleb Behrend, M.D</span>., chief resident in the <a href="http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/ortho/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(48, 115, 167); text-decoration: underline; ">Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation</a> at <a href="http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(48, 115, 167); text-decoration: underline; ">URMC</a>.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(60, 60, 60); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; ">Glenn R. Rechtine, M.D.</span>, a nationally recognized spinal surgeon and adjunct faculty at URMC, led the study, which was published in the <a href="http://jbjs.org/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(48, 115, 167); text-decoration: underline; "><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; ">Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery</span></a>.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(60, 60, 60); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">"We found that people who stopped smoking had meaningful benefit by reduction of their pain," said Behrend. "The pain improvement is in addition to all the other benefits you gain from quitting."</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(60, 60, 60); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">The relationship between pain and smoking is complex and full of contradictions. Nicotine has analgesic properties, for example, and yet clinical evidence shows that smokers are at higher risk for developing back pain and other chronic pain disorders, according to the American Society of Anesthesiologists.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(60, 60, 60); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Scientists already know that nicotine interacts with a family of proteins (nAChR), which have a key role in the central, and peripheral nervous system, and control anxiety and pain. Prolonged exposure to cigarettes upsets the function of these cells and eventually changes the way pain is processed, as well as impairing oxygen delivery to tissues, predisposing a person to bone and joint disorders such as osteoporosis, and inducing inflammation and depression. Smokers with spinal conditions also tend to have persistently more intense pain and more long-term disability.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(60, 60, 60); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">The URMC study noted a daunting fact: Nearly all people will experience back pain at some point in their lives and many will seek medical care. And because the socioeconomic impact of spinal disorders (cost of care and lost productivity for patients) is so great, researchers wanted to find out if improvements in pain could be achieved with a cost-effective intervention such as smoking cessation.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(60, 60, 60); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Researchers reviewed a prospectively maintained database of 5,333 patients, who completed questionnaires about pain at the initial doctors' visit and at the time of discharge from care. Patients were treated with surgery, or with physical therapy, injections, over-the-counter medications, and home exercise programs. Physicians counseled all smokers to quit, and patients were referred to a smoking cessation hotline.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(60, 60, 60); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Of the 5,333 people, those who had never smoked or had quit some time ago reported less pain than smokers or those who had just quit. By the end of the follow-up period, the people who had recently quit or who quit during treatment showed significant improvements in pain. People who continued to smoke during treatment had no improvement in pain on all scales.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(60, 60, 60); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Behrend noted that younger people tended to comprise the group of current smokers and those who only decided to quit during treatment; this is consistent with other studies showing that smoking is associated with degenerative spine disease at a younger age. Older patients tended to comprise the group who had never smoked or quit long ago.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 18px; color: rgb(60, 60, 60); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">The rate of smoking cessation was 22 percent, and research shows that up to 36 percent of patients with painful spinal disorders are able to quit with help from a structured program. A grant from the Southwestern Medical Foundation was used to create and maintain the patient database.</font></p></div><a href="http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/index.cfm?id=3695"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/index.cfm?id=3695</font></a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Another Good Reason to Quit Smoking in New Year: Less Back Pain - University of Rochester Medical Center

A University of Rochester Medical Center analysis of more than 5,300 patients followed for eight months during treatment of spinal disorders showed that cigarette smokers reported far more pain than never-smokers or those who had quit.Smoking cessati…

Senior Technical Writer (Austin, TX) ( RoboHelp | Frame Maker | Linux | Microsoft Office | SDLC) (# 108952)

11:34 AM Anonymous 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="WordSection1"><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Position:</b> Technical Writer<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Location:</b> Austin, TX<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Duration:</b> Full time<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Job Description:<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">KLA- Tencor is looking for a senior technical writer with experience in Adobe RoboHelp, Adobe FrameMaker and Microsoft Office. The candidate must have excellent writing skills with the ability to interview engineers and scientists and produce software product documentation with minimal additional review and editing. Requirements for the position include strong verbal and written communication skills, self-motivation and the ability to prioritize tasks and meet deadlines. Experience in the semiconductor industry is a plus. Writing samples will be requested for on-site interviews.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Responsibilities:<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1) Writing online help including product feature overviews, window descriptions, user procedures, and API documentation<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2) Indexing online help topics and user manuals<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3) Writing and editing release notes and installation manuals<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4) Creating troubleshooting topics<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Preferred Qualifications:<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1) BS/BA in engineering disciplines, journalism, English literature or similar field<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2) 5+ years of experience in technical writing<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3) Excellent writing and strong editing skills<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4) Experience with Microsoft Windows operating systems, experience with Linux a plus<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5) Strong skills in Microsoft Office products<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6) Experience with Adobe RoboHelp and Adobe FrameMaker<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">7) Knowledge of software development life cycle<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">8) Experience in semiconductor industry a plus<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Basic Qualifications:<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bachelor's Level Degree with at least 3 years of experience.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">OR<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Master's Level Degree with at least 2 years of experience.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">Kindly send your resume to </span><a href="mailto:raju.balaji@kla-tencor.com"></a><a href="mailto:raju.balaji@kla-tencor.com">raju.balaji@kla-tencor.com <span style="font-size: small;">/ </span>Sivaram.bose@kla-ten<span style="font-size: small;">cor.com</span></a></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></div></div>

Senior Technical Writer (Austin, TX) ( RoboHelp | Frame Maker | Linux | Microsoft Office | SDLC) (# 108952)

Position: Technical WriterLocation: Austin, TXDuration: Full timeJob Description:KLA- Tencor is looking for a senior technical writer with experience in Adobe RoboHelp, Adobe FrameMaker and Microsoft Office. The candidate must have excellent writing …

Happy Holidays

7:00 AM Tukiyooo 0

Happy Holidays

Some year-end posts will happen in the next couple weeks, but that will be about it as I spend time with family during the holidays. Happy Holidays to everybody, and see you in 2013!…

Christmas Mourning and Yuletide Angels

5:18 AM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Some of you who are familiar with my previous blog, may know this story, but many may be unfamiliar with it.  I have published this story every Christmas Season since the fickle finger of fate gave birth to this this heart-warming, yet bittersweet story of a Christmas miracle. Enjoy!!</i><br /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4cpRDao14z74AUB_WhibXgvooePrBU99jizniifKVmm3AgpOXOOGbv3ZwEmm6l3m750-0hPk9CPJVX1LS8EW4h4bC4DBxMuYV6391fNBpdB1iwU5wfXrXxWZKAW9A6VM4hmk0ADx2D7Ry/s1600/Santa+Drunk+Creepy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; color: #2d00bb; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-decoration: initial;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4cpRDao14z74AUB_WhibXgvooePrBU99jizniifKVmm3AgpOXOOGbv3ZwEmm6l3m750-0hPk9CPJVX1LS8EW4h4bC4DBxMuYV6391fNBpdB1iwU5wfXrXxWZKAW9A6VM4hmk0ADx2D7Ry/s320/Santa+Drunk+Creepy.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 1px; position: relative;" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Words cannot express the sorrow that I feel at this moment. No amount of tears can purge my soul of the loss. Bagwine Kringle gave so much to so many and his passing will be felt the world 'round.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /><strong></strong>It seems BK and a couple of his “elves” Tina and Dex, were busy wrapping presents for some of the less fortunate local kids.<br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">While Tina and Dex selfishly ran next door to grab a sandwich, Kringle the workaholic that he is, ate what he had on hand and continued the Christmas assemblage.<br /><br />He was hurriedly gulping down some Salmon Fancy Feast cat food and evidently began to choke on a small bone, because when Tina and Dex returned, he was lying on the floor gasping for air.<br /><br />Dex called the paramedics while Tina tried to ply Kringle with some Wild Irish Rose to relax his throat muscles. </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"></span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">She quickly found out that that was not the best idea.<br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">He spewed out a mixture of WIR and bile that resembled a poorly made marinara sauce with a stench reminiscent of bandicoot urine.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Although nearing death, he was with his two best friends.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"></span><br /><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">BK was with his dear friend Tina, whose street name is Bowling Ball. Tina is a 48 year old prostitute with large breasts, two prosthetic legs, and a glass eye.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI2s7UPoUf1JkjVwOHcdvM7PFczwZsuiKFvRoBxkJHYpU_WiKmpzudllXpAp-4uaCXHQG4E3A2ug5SfMqj50JLmWcO_qeu8PtTsT3QQz_SbcI-voAEXArvqFIr7-vYyG3NqMcU0fM-7ztP/s1600-h/drunk_santa.jpg" style="color: #660000; text-decoration: initial;"><span style="color: black;"></span></a></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Her seductive wiles are legendary. Oh sure, some women can spread their legs really wide, but Tina can take hers completely off.<br /><br />She is also very accommodating. If a client is feeling extremely kinky, she will pop out her glass eye, and let him give her, shall we say...a facial.<br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Tina is one who gives and gives, and that is why she and Bagwine Kringle were pals.<br /><br />And then, there's good ol’ Dex Lexler, or Sarge, as BK called him. He was never in the military, but BK always kidded him that he looked like the dog from Beetle Bailey.<br /><br />I know, the dog’s name was actually Otto, but BK was close. Those two shared so many of the same traits…compassion, generosity, and cirrhosis of the liver.<br /><br />They were of one mind inside of two bodies and now sadly, they are half the men they use to be…or som</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">ething like that.<br /><br />I guess when the paramedics arrived, BK was nearly expired. His lungs raled bilaterally, desperately gasping for air, but it was not to be.</span><br /><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"></span></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMSJMoFA2S5yvvWj2PL-RMXxApC3k5yeVMsNfH9wuON6EuHBCVqcjhLOT8l3YGfCw0SiXvAuG_xpvVn35Pxwa22VpxIyrn13Qx95WIAGn_8G317_8xeQRKMShWt9x60klvQhoiusOHCaVT/s1600-h/newspaper-generator.jpg" style="background-color: white; color: #660000; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: initial;"><span style="color: black;"></span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjre2y_TD5BAxVt47vszLv7UwB_5OGpjt3QnlSo_6JCGR-2eEr91jqj1-M1HIEvLvMjj9y9EaQKnLnVLePutD6PGWHO6BJ59upf9ZO327BlV3MqQR2ByxcnOGIbuY9IO2mXLMElpPCng_PA/s1600/newspaper+funny+headline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; clear: right; color: #2d00bb; float: right; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-decoration: initial;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjre2y_TD5BAxVt47vszLv7UwB_5OGpjt3QnlSo_6JCGR-2eEr91jqj1-M1HIEvLvMjj9y9EaQKnLnVLePutD6PGWHO6BJ59upf9ZO327BlV3MqQR2ByxcnOGIbuY9IO2mXLMElpPCng_PA/s320/newspaper+funny+headline.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 1px; position: relative;" width="320" /></a><span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Tina and Sarge looked down upon BK as they sobbed unrelentingly.</span></span><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">And then, as the medics placed him on the cart, Bagwine Kringle looked at his friends with that familiar twinkle in his good eye, and with his final breath said...</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><em>“Don’t cry for me Sarge and Tina.”</em><br /><br />I miss you Bagwine Kringle, here's a toast to you....<br /><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><em>Cheers!!</em></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><em>Matt-Man</em></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><em><a href="https://twitter.com/MattMan_IWS" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">@mattman_IWS</span></a> </em></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><em><br /></em></span> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, Times, FreeSerif, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">In other news....Yesterday, Jayman and I broadcast our 200th episode of I'm With Stupid on Blog Talk Radio. We laughed, cried, and talked cheese.  Boring, you say?  Not when one is talking putting cheese in places it doesn't normally go with a hot babe from Canada and a to die for Jersey girl.  And that's exactly what we did with the sultry duo of Jamie and Dianne....</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, Times, FreeSerif, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.adobe.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="105" id="143577" name="143577" width="210"><param name="movie" value="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf?file=http://www.blogtalkradio.com%2Fplaylist.aspx%3Fshow_id%3D4159067&autostart=false&bufferlength=5&volume=80&corner=rounded&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/flashplayercallback.aspx" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="menu" value="false" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf" flashvars="file=http://www.blogtalkradio.com%2Fplaylist.aspx%3Fshow_id%3D4159067&autostart=false&shuffle=false&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/FlashPlayerCallback.aspx&width=210&height=105&volume=80&corner=rounded" width="210" height="105" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" wmode="transparent" menu="false" name="143577" id="143577" allowScriptAccess="always"></embed></object></div><div style="font-size: 10px; text-align: center; width: 220px;"><br /></div></div>

Christmas Mourning and Yuletide Angels

Some of you who are familiar with my previous blog, may know this story, but many may be unfamiliar with it. I have published this story every Christmas Season since the fickle finger of fate gave birth to this this heart-warming, yet bittersweet st…

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 12/20/2012

1:30 AM Tukiyooo 0

<ul class="diigo-linkroll">      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://frontandcenterbso.tumblr.com/?utm_campaign=Front_%26_Center_with_the_BSO&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_source=SocialToaster#stv=49271304">Front & Center with the BSO</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">"Front & Center with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Photos, videos and stories from our artists. Interviews, articles and links from our staff. A new way to follow the music!" So many organizations are finding an audience on Tumblr and YouTube. Schools, arts, and more. The stage is no longer the only stage or the most important stage - and websites like tumblr can help struggling nonprofits attract more.  In this series, the artists are talking about how they've created new artistry around the Nutcracker. Very cool.</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/nonprofit">nonprofit</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tumblr">tumblr</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/video">video</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/socialmedia">socialmedia</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://powazek.com/posts/3229">Derek Powazek - I’m Not The Product, But I Play One On The Internet</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">An excellent article about the recent INstagram outrage and comments that "you are the product." This is a great read and has excellent points refuting this over-used statement about the current business models on the Net. As for me, I'm scrutinizing the services I use and have been trying out app.net - I don't like what Twitter has done by closing down their api and think app.net has potential as a business model.   From the post:  "We can and should support the companies we love with our money. Companies can and should have balanced streams of income so that they’re not solely dependent on just one. We all should consider the business models of the companies we trust with our data.  But we should not assume that, just because we pay a company they’ll treat us better, or that if we’re not paying that the company is allowed to treat us like shit. Reality is just more complicated than that. What matters is how companies demonstrate their respect for their customers. We should hold their feet to the fire when they demonstrate a lack of respect.  And we should all stop saying, “if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product,” because it doesn’t really mean anything, it excuses the behavior of bad companies, and it makes you sound kind of like a stoner looking at their hand for the first time."</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/instagram">instagram</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/business">business</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/privacy">privacy</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/tos">tos</a></p>                                        </li>  </ul><p class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href='http://www.diigo.com'>Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href='http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher'>here</a>.</p>

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 12/20/2012

Front & Center with the BSO "Front & Center with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Photos, videos and stories from our artists. Interviews, articles and links from our staff. A new way to follow the music!" So m…