News for today's 2018

IRON DOME WAS THE ONLY REAL ISRAELI WINNER OF THE GAZA OPERATION

10:26 AM Tukiyooo 0

<br /> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUIeAVhVHUJW3n4tQyGBhLWmKXert5g0r8HW6EbrQ86hhkMbDHvzc2xpLe4kXaLDUfiBss111WS7c2ypbQZOQx_Jnzziq3So3dTWGDleARgs6MkCh-AeJNcIVxlSFyzrrC2Jy76CO2QSgb/s1600/CE3EB8F5-3F7A-43ED-8132-A37956BA1645_mw1024_s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUIeAVhVHUJW3n4tQyGBhLWmKXert5g0r8HW6EbrQ86hhkMbDHvzc2xpLe4kXaLDUfiBss111WS7c2ypbQZOQx_Jnzziq3So3dTWGDleARgs6MkCh-AeJNcIVxlSFyzrrC2Jy76CO2QSgb/s400/CE3EB8F5-3F7A-43ED-8132-A37956BA1645_mw1024_s.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">IRON DOME WAS THE WINNER</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Via DEBKA<i>file</i> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: large;">The trio which conducted ISRAEL’S eight-day Gaza operation, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, marked the Gaza ceasefire that went into effect Wednesday night, Nov. 21, by announcing that all the goals set for the Pillar of Cloud operation were achieved.<br /></span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">They did not reveal the concessions they made to enable the US and EGYPT to persuade Hamas to promise to halt its long missile blitz against ISRAEL. The most damaging was ISRAEL’S consent for EGYPT to act as truce monitor and arbitrator between itself and Hamas and the address for complaints of violations, misunderstandings and broker of future negotiations to follow the ceasefire for regulating future relations.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />By deferring to EGYPT’S superior authority, ISRAEL let itself be demoted to an equal footing with Hamas, a group listed as a terrorist organization in the US and EUROPE and dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />In some respects, ISRAEL might have been better served by direct talks with Hamas itself rather than placing its strategic policy on two borders in the hands of the EGYPTIAN Muslim Brotherhood.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">As of 9 pm, Nov. 21, Israel’s security actions on its borders with EGYPT and the Gaza Strip must be adjusted to staying on EGYPTIAN President Mohamed Morsi’s good side.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">THE USA HAVE VERY LITTLE INFLUENCE ON THE MUSLIM BROTHERS</span></b></span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">   </div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />Netanyahu and Barak’s advisers defend this concession by maintaining that it is superseded by Morsi’s dependence on Washington for the sake of AMERICAN aid grants and guarantees for international credit to rescue EGYPT’S economy from collapse. Cairo will be in the hands of the Obama administration and so ISRAEL has nothing to worry about, they say.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">However reasonable this argument may sound, debkafile’s analysts say it has nothing to do with EGYPTIAN-ISRAELI relations which operate on a separate plane. It is a fact that Barack Obama never managed to persuade EGYPT to resume its gas supplies to ISRAEL after the Sinai pipelines were repeatedly sabotaged, or raise a finger to halt the arms smuggling traffic running through its territory to the Gaza Strip from LIBYA and SUDAN.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Washington has very little influence on the Muslim Brothers when it comes to Cairo’s attitude towards ISRAEL. They are far from being AMERICAN puppets. President Morsi may heed US wishes up to a point with regard to the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian terrorists ruling the enclave, but the Brothers will prefer to line up with TURKEY, SAUDI ARABIA and the GULF EMIRATES and follow the gospel of their radical guru, Sheikh Yousuf Qaradawi, the great champion of suicide terrorism against ISRAEL.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ISRAEL has gained substantially less than Defense Minister Barak claimed from the eight-day air operation launched to rescue southern ISRAEL from the 12-year old Palestinian missile war waged from Gaza .</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: blue;"><b>WEAPON<span style="font-size: large;"> TEST</span></b></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCrv39Lcx8wZ2VkJTlU_qqm0yh4jB223AgnbQrJ2f6A8a8hKi5cVrj5VVpj3w1m_wEFcQxb0YGKGVhxZ15SnwhRVg90aKdTCexsVflvuZy29_9l0yIIalT29xd3xdTKJKuWnxGvGhdMGE_/s1600/operation-pillar-of-cloud-t-shirt_olive_men_tshirts_a8102dm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCrv39Lcx8wZ2VkJTlU_qqm0yh4jB223AgnbQrJ2f6A8a8hKi5cVrj5VVpj3w1m_wEFcQxb0YGKGVhxZ15SnwhRVg90aKdTCexsVflvuZy29_9l0yIIalT29xd3xdTKJKuWnxGvGhdMGE_/s200/operation-pillar-of-cloud-t-shirt_olive_men_tshirts_a8102dm.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: blue;"></span>Hamas undoubtedly took a heavy beating and devastating damage to its command and control, military infrastructure, arms manufacturing and arsenal. But its 15,000-strong militia remains largely intact after losing 50 men and can be reconstituted. In any case, Operation Pillar of Cloud was not meant to be a military contest between the IDF and the Hamas military wing. What it finally boiled down to was a duel between the IRANIAN weapons wielded by Hamas and Jihad Islami and ISRAEL’S Iron Dome missile interceptor.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">TWO HOURS AFTER THE CEASEFIRE WENT INTO EFFECT, HAMAS HAD FIRED SOME 12 ROCKETS AGAINST ISRAEL</span></b></span></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">   </div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Iron Dome came out of the ordeal the unchallenged victor.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">With that success in hand, ISRAEL had no need to get into negotiations with Hamas and Jihad Islami over a ceasefire, which neither of the two organizations is expected to honor. A unilateral ceasefire declaration from Jerusalem would have been enough. And in fact two hours after the ceasefire went into effect, Hamas had fired some 12 rockets against I<span style="font-size: large;">SR<span style="font-size: large;">AEL </span></span>. Schools in the south will remain closed Thursday.</span></span></div>

IRON DOME WAS THE ONLY REAL ISRAELI WINNER OF THE GAZA OPERATION

IRON DOME WAS THE WINNER Via DEBKA file The trio which conducted ISRAEL’S eight-day Gaza operation, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Def...

How to Get Health Care While Uninsured | The Billfold

10:25 AM Tukiyooo 0

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">A couple of years ago, I had a cold for about four months. I thought I had somehow caught five colds in a row, which I thought was no big deal, because they were just colds after all.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">But then I started dropping a lot of weight while eating a lot of chocolate cake. My hair started falling out, and I had the shakes so bad that my handwriting—which I used to be proud of—became illegible. My short-term memory stopped working. It was difficult to have a conversation, because by the time I neared the end of a sentence, I had already forgotten what I was talking about.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">Things were bad, but I had no health insurance, which I thought meant that the only thing to do was try to ignore it, and hope that whatever was wrong with me would go away on its own. Each new symptom added another few hundred dollars to the imaginary doctor's bill in my head, which meant that as things got worse, I had more incentive to pretend that I had some sort of temporary bug that would eventually go away.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">Then one day, I got up to go to work— at the time, I had a part-time job copyediting product labels and PowerPoint presentations—but I couldn't make it out the door. About halfway through my morning shower, I started panting, and my heart was beating out of my chest. It was as if I had just run a mile, when I had actually just walked 20 feet from my bed to the bathroom. There had been signs before this incident: The day before, I found myself so nauseous and out of breath during my four-block walk to work, that I turned around and went straight back home. <span id="more-5401"></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">It took near-complete incapacitation for me to bite the bullet and go to the doctor. It turned out that I have <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001398/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">Graves disease</a>, a congenital, autoimmune hyperthyroid condition that I'll have for the rest of my life. Missy Elliot, George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush also have it. Graves disease affects every cell in your body, so it gets bad if it goes untreated. But it's very manageable as long as I take my pills, see my endocrinologist and get a blood test every six weeks.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">As a freelancer, I still don't have health insurance. But at this point, I've gone to a bunch of doctors, and have learned some things along the way about getting health care without health insurance. The more I know about the health care system, the less I do stupid things like get so sick I can't function anymore.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); "><strong>1. Doctors aren't just for the insured.</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">If you don't have health insurance, the immediate reaction is not to go, and to chew on a couple of echinacea pills and hope for the best. I thought of health insurance as some kind of entry card to the entire health care system, but it doesn't work that way. Plain old cash can get you through the door too. A trip to a doctor costs around $150–$200, or about the price of a nice dinner.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">If you're too broke to go for nice dinners, then look for community health clinics, like <a href="http://www.ryancenter.org/rn_cost.htm" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">Ryan-NENA</a> in New York City, which has a sliding scale for people without health insurance. I used to go there for routine check-ups when I was a student, and they were very nice. I don't remember getting a bill for more than $5. If you're skirting the poverty line, which is an annual income of<a href="http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/11fedreg.shtml" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">$10,890</a> for a single person, then you might qualify for Medicaid, and you should <a href="http://www.medicaid.gov/Medicaid-CHIP-Program-Information/By-Topics/Eligibility/Eligibility.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">definitely apply</a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">The other thing to keep in mind is that unless it's a true emergency (severed limbs, heart attacks), don't go to the emergency room. Go to an urgent care clinic for things like broken bones, pink eye, and other non-life threatening illnesses, or a private walk-in clinic. They're more pleasant, faster, and much, much cheaper. Call ahead to ask how much, but they usually fall in the $150–$200 range to see a doctor. I went to one in San Francisco, and they were the ones who ended up diagnosing my illness. Last time I had a tear in my cornea, I went to <a href="http://www.nydoctorsurgentcare.com/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">this place</a> in Manhattan.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">Sometimes specialists don't cost much more than a generalist, depending on what you need. The endocrinologist I go to in New York charged $300 for the initial consultation, then $175 for each visit afterwards. While general practitioners are accessible and great, it's nice to have a specialist who knows a lot about my disease. If you've had insurance before, you may have heard that you need a "referral" before going to a specialist. That's insurance provider bureaucracy, and you don't need one if you don't have a health insurance company to answer to.</p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); "> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); "><strong>2. Always ask for a discount at the moment when you are handing over your debit card.</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">Even if you've made a huge deal since the moment you walked into the doctor's office that you don't have health insurance, they often won't give you a discount unless you ask for one, point-blank. If you've called ahead to make sure they give discounts, be sure to ask again at the counter. It's up to their discretion, but the discounts I've gotten have been around 20 percent off. And since I go to doctors pretty often, I've had a chance to test this out. When I'm too shy to ask for a discount, I usually end up paying more.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">The trick is to remember that you're making them do less work because you don't have health insurance. They don't have to pay an administrator for filling out insurance paperwork. They don't have to wait for the insurance company to send a check. They don't even have to send out a bill. When the office gives you a discount, they're not just being nice: You've saved them from doing a lot of work, and deserve one.</p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); "> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); "><strong>3. Blood tests are very expensive, but they also offer big discounts.</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">I really hate needles, but the thing about blood tests that scared me the most was the bill. Before I got the right diagnosis for my illness, I went to a doctor who ran $1,200 worth of blood tests. They were all the wrong ones, and told me nothing useful, but I still had to pay for them. It was horrible. I didn't know that discounts existed, so I didn't know to ask for them.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">These days, I still have blood tests every six weeks, but my doctor gives me a form to fill out called the "Patient Financial Assistance Application," which I send to <a href="http://www.questdiagnostics.com/home.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">Quest Diagnostics</a>, a testing company. I declare my income, and depending on how much I'm making with my footloose and fancy-free freelance job(s), I fall into either the 50 percent off bracket, or the 75 percent off bracket. Instead of paying around $400 every six weeks, I pay around $100.</p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); "> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); "><strong>4. Drugs can be really, really cheap. Don't assume that you can't afford any medicine at all without health insurance. </strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">As with everything else on this list, it all depends on what you have and what you need to treat it, but if the patents on your drugs have lapsed, the generic version will be dramatically cheaper. I got a prescription for alprazolam (generic Xanax) for anxiety related to a spike in hyperthyroid symptoms, and a bottle of 30 pills cost $20. Cheap.</p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); "> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); "><strong>5. Medical tourism isn't as sketchy as it sounds, and it is less sketchy than just being sick for years.</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">You know how health care costs so much more in America than anywhere else in the world? That's a huge topic that can and should be talked about, but here's how it played out for me. After getting a blood test that showed that my thyroid levels were completely out of whack, I was told that before I could start treatment, I needed to take two more tests. Large machines and radioactive liquids were involved. That sounded expensive.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">I called a specialist to ask how much it would cost without health insurance. They estimated that it would be $3,000 to $7,000. Not just expensive, but prohibitively expensive.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">I'm from the Philippines, and my cousin is a doctor there, so I called him. He was appalled at the price that I was quoted, and told me to go to the Philippines to get these tests. Here's why: Each of those two tests cost $20. For a total of $40, or the price of a cheap meal for two in the U.S. and—just to give you some perspective of relative prices—$40 is the price of a nice meal for two in the Philippines. Add the price of a ticket, some doctors fees ($14 per visit) and a trip to the beach, and I spent maybe $2,200. My doctor was the head of endocrinology at a big hospital there, and was educated in the U.S. She was, by far, the most capable and knowledgeable doctor I've dealt with so far. The experience was easy, pleasant and safe. There was even a man playing a grand piano in the lobby of the hospital.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">There are risks (and probably some discomfort) to going abroad, sight unseen, to get medical treatment, so <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/Features/MedicalTourism/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">do your research</a>. But with limited access to health care and rising costs in the U.S., medical tourism is something that <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2012/04/16/120416ta_talk_surowiecki" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">millions of people do each year</a>. I suggest involving your doctor in the U.S. Mine wrote down exactly which tests I needed to come back with, and I called my endocrinologist in the Philippines before booking my tickets to make sure that all the logistics worked out. If you don't have a connection in another country, there are <a href="http://www.medicaltourism.com/en/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">whole associations</a>dedicated to facilitating medical tourism, and there are a couple of hospitals who have made their name treating foreigners, like <a href="http://www.bumrungrad.com/thailandhospital" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); ">Bunrumgrad Hospital</a> in Thailand.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; orphans: 2; 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); text-align: center; "><a href="http://thebillfold.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/walletfavicon.jpg" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(82, 160, 204); "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHJnVcMcF-pBhDIADrUA17Mz5w9ZtIbwZoMKR4gN1iWq6TKujyWCq6GW8PChStGA-hVxd-hwiEJGjXVEwWV2yrxvO81BoQYwtqcaE7FD7Ikdfajc3aLhwBgeVKABZMTZvJfC2B48kr1k/s1600/walletfavicon-740040.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5813705272023610130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHJnVcMcF-pBhDIADrUA17Mz5w9ZtIbwZoMKR4gN1iWq6TKujyWCq6GW8PChStGA-hVxd-hwiEJGjXVEwWV2yrxvO81BoQYwtqcaE7FD7Ikdfajc3aLhwBgeVKABZMTZvJfC2B48kr1k/s320/walletfavicon-740040.jpg" /></a></a></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: normal; color: rgb(39, 39, 39); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; 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); ">Everyone's health care experience is going to be different, but the aim of this is to demystify the health care system enough to help you start using it. Just because you don't have health insurance, it doesn't mean you're not going to get sick. Remember that you have options.</p><div><br></div></div><a href="http://thebillfold.com/2012/06/how-to-get-health-care-while-uninsured/">http://thebillfold.com/2012/06/how-to-get-health-care-while-uninsured/</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

How to Get Health Care While Uninsured | The Billfold

A couple of years ago, I had a cold for about four months. I thought I had somehow caught five colds in a row, which I thought was no big de...

Avoiding Surgery in the Elderly - NYTimes.com

5:15 AM Tukiyooo 0

It may take members of our parents' generation (and our own) a long time to get over thinking of hospitals as refuges of safety and operating rooms as harbingers of better days ahead. But it's gradually becoming clearer that for the very old and frail, and for nursing home residents in particular, hospitals are places to avoid whenever possible, and surgery can become a source of danger in itself.<br /><br><br /><br>Even operations considered fairly routine in younger patients, like appendectomies, become high-risk for nursing home residents. "Something about undergoing anesthesia, the surgery's physiological assault on the body, impacts older people much more than we think," said Dr. Emily Finlayson, a colorectal surgeon at the University of California, San Francisco, and lead author of a recent study published in The Annals of Surgery.<br /><br><br /><br>In fact, the study, which compared mortality risks and subsequent interventions for four types of major abdominal surgery, found that even compared with adults of similar age who had the same number of chronic illnesses — but who weren't in institutions — nursing home residents fared sharply worse.<br /><br><br /><br>Bluntly put, surgery is much more likely to kill them.<br /><br><br /><br>Dr. Finlayson and her colleagues used national Medicare claims and nursing home surveys to identify nearly 71,000 nursing home residents who had surgery from 1999 through 2006. They compared them with more than a million elders who underwent the same four procedures but did not live in a nursing home. The researchers chose operations frequently performed on older adults: removal of an infected appendix (appendectomy), removal of an infected gallbladder (cholecystectomy), surgery for a bleeding ulcer in the upper part of the intestine, or surgery for noncancerous colon diseases like diverticulitis or colitis. These are painful conditions requiring immediate decisions, as opposed to diagnoses like breast or prostate cancer, in which a patient and his or her family can take a few days to figure out the best course.<br /><br><br /><br>Typically, Dr. Finlayson explained, the surgeon gets a call from the emergency room, frequently at 3 in the morning: an 85-year-old nursing home resident is being admitted with acute appendicitis. The response is almost always: Prepare the O.R.<br /><br><br /><br>But after an appendectomy, 12 percent of nursing home residents died, compared with 2 percent of Medicare recipients who weren't in nursing homes. Gallbladder surgery was also more dangerous: an 11 percent mortality risk for nursing home residents, versus 3 percent in elders who weren't institutionalized.<br /><br><br /><br>The risk of dying rose sharply for the other two operations. For colon surgery, it was nearly a third for nursing home residents, and 13 percent for others. Ulcer surgery proved the most dangerous; 42 percent of nursing home patients died, compared with 26 percent of others.<br /><br><br /><br>Even when the researchers matched these two groups of patients by age and by the number of other diseases they had, those in the nursing home group (and in this study that meant long-term residents, not those in temporary rehab) were significantly more likely to die in each case. Just by virtue of living in a nursing home, "they've demonstrated they don't have the strength and mobility to live independently," Dr. Finlayson said. "They don't have the energy and vitality" — in doctorspeak, they lack "physiologic reserve."<br /><br><br /><br>But even those who survived surgery — and they're a majority, in some cases a large majority — weren't out of the woods. Nursing home residents were far more likely to undergo "invasive interventions" afterward; they required mechanical ventilators for days to help them breathe, feeding tubes inserted in their abdomens when they couldn't eat, venous catheterization (known as a central line) to monitor their hearts. Each of these painful procedures presents additional risks, of course.<br /><br><br /><br>We know that a substantial proportion of older people who enter hospitals will never fully regain their physical or mental capabilities, even when the illness that brought them there is successfully treated. (More on this syndrome later.) These interventions, which typically also keep people in bed, even though getting out of bed is critical to their recovery, may help explain why.<br /><br><br /><br>"Surgeons are very resistant to hearing this," Dr. Finlayson said. "We're focused on 30-day mortality. If patients leave the hospital alive, that's success. We don't see what happens three months down the road."<br /><br><br /><br>So here's a key question family members can ask before the surgeon starts scrubbing, especially if their older relative is frail enough to require nursing home care: Is there any alternative to surgery we could try?<br /><br><br /><br>"We think of appendicitis as a surgical disease — you take it out," Dr. Finlayson said. "But if you get appendicitis in England, it's often treated with antibiotics, whatever age you are." Gallbladder attacks can also be treated with antibiotics, or sometimes with a drain inserted under local anesthesia. A stent inserted by a gastroenterologist can relieve a bowel obstruction.<br /><br><br /><br>In each case, the treatment is less of an assault than surgery with general anesthesia. And if it doesn't work — if a 24-hour course of intravenous antibiotics, which can be administered in the nursing home, avoiding hospitalization, can't overcome the infection — surgery remains an option.<br /><br><br /><br>It might take a confident surgeon (because invasive surgery can provide protection against lawsuits, even if it's hard on patients) and a persistent family to pull off this alternative approach.<br /><br><br /><br>Surgeons, like most other physicians, are trained to save lives. "But with older patients, there's less length of life to protect," Dr. Finlayson pointed out. "So the other variables become way more important: maintaining cognitive status, living independently, caring for yourself. Quality of life."<br /><br><br /><br><a href="http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/avoiding-surgery-in-the-elderly/">http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/avoiding-surgery-in-the-elderly/</a>

Avoiding Surgery in the Elderly - NYTimes.com

It may take members of our parents' generation (and our own) a long time to get over thinking of hospitals as refuges of safety and oper...

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 11/22/2012

1:30 AM Tukiyooo 0

<ul class="diigo-linkroll">      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://news.msu.edu/story/principal-plays-surprising-role-in-why-new-teachers-quit/">Principal plays surprising role in why new teachers quit</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">Relationships are vital. Principals need them, especially with their teachers. It keeps coming back to leadership! Good principals have good relationships with their teachers. Also, the perception of how well the school principal works with the teaching staff as a whole.  "Why do so many beginning teachers quit the profession or change schools? Surprising new research finds it’s not a heavy workload or lack of resources that has the most significant effect, but instead the relationship between teachers and their principal."</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/research">research</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/researcher_thoughtleader">researcher_thoughtleader</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/principal">principal</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="https://support.evernote.com/link/portal/16051/16058/Article/2517/Workarounds-for-Clipping-Web-Pages-into-Evernote-on-iOS">Workarounds for Clipping Web Pages into Evernote on iOS</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">If you use Evernote on the ipad, these instructions for installing the Evernote clipper into your bookmark bar works very well. I use evernote quite extensively now and find it very helpful. You can also install it on your iphone as well.</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/ipad">ipad</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/productivity">productivity</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/evernote">evernote</a></p>                                        </li>      <li>      <p class="diigo-link">                <a href="http://edtechdunny.blogspot.com/2012/11/launching-virtual-book-club.html">Learning with Meaning: Launching a Virtual Book Club</a>      </p>      <p class="diigo-description">From my friend Kyle Dunbar - if you want to join in - sign up on her blog.  "I am giddy with excitement about the opportunity to host a Virtual Book Club discussing the fantastic book Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds: Move to Global Collaboration One Step at a Time by Julie Lindsay and Vicki A. Davis. The book club was announced last Sunday night in my school division and I am thrilled that we already have thirteen teachers signed up! Even better, we have teachers from across our school division and from all different grade levels. It is a wonderful thing when already busy teachers find time in their lives to discuss powerful educational ideas with their peers.   Now, I am ready to get some global participation in this book club. I can't think of a better way to brainstorm about global projects than to have teachers from across the globe in the session together. So, we are inviting all teachers, parents, students, thinkers and learners out there to join us for six live meetings to share what they think about the projects, resources, and research discussed in Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds.   We will be meeting on Mondays at 7:30pm EST on the following dates: January 7th January 21st February 4th February 18th March 4th March 18th (find the time in your area here)   Meetings will be live using Blackboard Collaborate and will last one hour. We will spend the time sharing thoughts about ideas raised in the book. It will also be a great opportunity to connect with other educators that share similar passions and beliefs about flattening our classrooms walls. We will share strategies and resources for building those 21st century skills like collaboration, communication and creativity in authentic ways.</p>              <p class="diigo-tags">          <span>tags:</span>                      <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/flatclass">flatclass</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/bookgroup">bookgroup</a>            <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/flatclassroom">flatclassroom</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 11/22/2012

Principal plays surprising role in why new teachers quit Relationships are vital. Principals need th...

Webinar reminder for tonight - 'The Power of Popplet'

11:11 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhItD85XbsbqS9Eg7BGk-SKx92Ta8TQaaOHkb5ASYD3VYXbZTdNxKqNvk77FD28YX_HeNiAoGE2XHsnKKo9lMDvz9CwJkqGfdL4fyWppPiPWYoTV_AnxtKwSX_Bit8HHdYiiXtoN2D7ZCQ/s1600/popplet2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhItD85XbsbqS9Eg7BGk-SKx92Ta8TQaaOHkb5ASYD3VYXbZTdNxKqNvk77FD28YX_HeNiAoGE2XHsnKKo9lMDvz9CwJkqGfdL4fyWppPiPWYoTV_AnxtKwSX_Bit8HHdYiiXtoN2D7ZCQ/s320/popplet2.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A snippet from one of Michelle's popplets</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Our guest webinar tonight features Michelle Botha from Somerset House Primary School in Somerset West. She has made good use of an amazing classroom tool called  'Popplet' in her classroom experience and you don't want to miss what she has to share!</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Please join us in an Adobe Connect Meeting:<br /><u>Meeting Name</u>:  The Power of Popplet<br /><u>Summary</u>: This webinar features the lovely mindmapping/sticky-note/<wbr></wbr>collaboration application<br />Popplet (<a href="http://popplet.com/" style="color: blue; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">http://popplet.com</a>/) with which you can do much.<br /><u>Presenter:</u> Michelle Botha from Somerset House in Somerset West.<br /><u>Invited By</u>: Fiona Beal (<a href="mailto:fiona@schoolnet.org.za" style="color: blue; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">fiona@schoolnet.org.za</a>)<br /><u>When:</u>  Thursday 22 November 6:00 PM - 6:15 PM (15 mins)<br /><span style="line-height: 14px;"><u>Time Zone</u>:</span><span style="line-height: 14px;">  </span><span style="line-height: 14px;">(GMT+02:00) Harare, Pretoria<br />URL: </span></span><a href="http://meet78641452.adobeconnect.com/popplet/" style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-family: arial; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">http://meet78641452.<wbr></wbr>adobeconnect.com/popplet/</a><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; line-height: 18px;">The recordings will be placed on the blog the day after the webinar. </span></div>

webinars Webinar reminder for tonight - 'The Power of Popplet'

A snippet from one of Michelle's popplets Our guest webinar tonight features Michelle Botha from Somerset House Primary School in Somers...

30 Days of Google #8: Get to know Google+ (Includes a webinar recording)

10:46 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8VnEoJxTV6YXU3kBsWig0aFO_3V2-1v3ePkb5M0kqSIppqULes3r4sqS16pjQuyiikrochx1DmJaeSBOfMO136KEiB3vFEbTbnaLeNmv5txxlbHC9XgdYpN-aWoneCdQ3kivvxO_HAQ7x/s1600/google+.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8VnEoJxTV6YXU3kBsWig0aFO_3V2-1v3ePkb5M0kqSIppqULes3r4sqS16pjQuyiikrochx1DmJaeSBOfMO136KEiB3vFEbTbnaLeNmv5txxlbHC9XgdYpN-aWoneCdQ3kivvxO_HAQ7x/s200/google+.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br /><div style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 7.68pt; text-indent: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Social networking is a way of life for most teachers today. It is a marvelous way for us to share and learn about new ideas that can really enhance our teaching. We know about social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for example, all designed to let you share up-to-the second updates, ideas, thoughts, links and media with your colleagues. But have you discovered Google+? This is a social network of note that I have only recently explored. One thing I am discovering about Google is that they usually bring a very creative and different slant, with additional features, to something that others might be doing; and the result is very pleasing.  These are a few features which makes Google different from the other social networking networks.</span></div><div style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 7.68pt; text-indent: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;">Google </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;">has integrated Google+ </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;">with its </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;">other services (and continues to do so) e.g.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic; text-indent: -0.38in;">Search</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;">, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic; text-indent: -0.38in;">YouTube</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;">, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic; text-indent: -0.38in;">Gmail</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;"> and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;">more</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;">. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;"> Google</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;">+ is already built into services you use every day.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Google+ uses the concept of<i> circles </i>(groups)<i>, </i>and this<i> </i>differentiates it from </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Facebook for example as it allows users </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic;">precise control over who sees what. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Google includes the free use of 'hangouts' with Google+ and this feature has incredible positive implications for education. </span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Slideshare presentation</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a Slideshare on Google +. It covers:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-indent: -0.38in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">•</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.38in;">What is Google +</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">•Highlights of interesting features<br />•Circles<br />•How to write a post<br />•How to receive a notification<br /><span style="text-indent: -0.38in;">•</span><span style="text-indent: -0.38in;">Benefits to education</span> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />'Google Hangouts' will receive a post of its own later. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="356" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/15264977" style="border-width: 1px 1px 0; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin-bottom: 5px;" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="427"> </iframe> <br /><div style="margin-bottom: 5px;"><strong> <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/fionabeal/get-to-know-google-plus" target="_blank" title="Get to know Google plus!">Get to know Google plus!</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/fionabeal" target="_blank">Fiona Beal</a></strong> <br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Webinar recording</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This Slideshare was presented as part of a SchoolNet Adobe Connect webinar on Google+. If you would like to know what was said, here is the webinar recording: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://meet78641452.adobeconnect.com/p8k2og7qufw/">Get to know Google+</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Further reading</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many very interesting posts have been written on Google+. Here is a list of some of them:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) <a href="http://mostateteachers.typepad.com/missouri_state_teachers_a/2011/07/google-plus-what-does-it-mean-for-education.html">Google + - what does it mean for education?</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2)</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://mostateteachers.typepad.com/missouri_state_teachers_a/2011/07/google-plus-what-does-it-mean-for-education.html">27 ways to use Google+ to support education</a> (a presentation)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) <a href="http://edreach.us/2011/07/06/circle-me-up-exploring-circles-in-google/">Circle me up - exploring circles in Google+</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4) <a href="http://40%20google%20plus%20tips%20for%20newbies/">40+ Google tips for newbies</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5) <a href="http://www.chrisbrogan.com/googleplus50/">The Google+ 50</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6) <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwnJ5Bl4kLI&feature=youtu.be">The Google plus project - a quick look</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7) <a href="http://www.livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=135530">A livebinder of Google+ resources</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8) <a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/professorsconsider-%20classroom-uses-for-google-plus/32131">Classroom uses for Google+</a></span></div></div></div>

30 Days of Google 30 Days of Google #8: Get to know Google+ (Includes a webinar recording)

Social networking is a way of life for most teachers today. It is a marvelous way for us to share and learn about new ideas that can really ...

Step Back, Relax, and Give Thanks

9:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDegkDDNutt1Jx97rZUET0vNZBgmsAaKn-X0ICXTguh-4jhj86hC_ImwsmyvAeddHKInLEIPPDD8lVUwp9V1H2q5m-sgQDXdOshbHPZGGKNkL4epWxXgN3aaFxfGgKZbrdgyZQOo77I18/s1600/Schmoop+Sleeping.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDegkDDNutt1Jx97rZUET0vNZBgmsAaKn-X0ICXTguh-4jhj86hC_ImwsmyvAeddHKInLEIPPDD8lVUwp9V1H2q5m-sgQDXdOshbHPZGGKNkL4epWxXgN3aaFxfGgKZbrdgyZQOo77I18/s1600/Schmoop+Sleeping.JPG" /></a><i>“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”</i><br /><br />--Thornton Wilder<br /><br />As many consistent readers and listeners of IWS know, life has hit a rough patch here in the Bagwine digs for Schmoop and me, and it would be easy, on this day of thanksgiving, to write about how my spirit, soul, and optimism have experienced blunt force trauma to the skull, but I refuse to allow that to happen.<br /><br />After all…It’s Thanksgiving Day here in America, and in spite of  personal setbacks, serious illness, and what could only be called, plain bad luck, I am very thankful for many things.<br /><br />In spite of my oft times public displays of cynicism and sarcasm, I am at heart, a bit of an optimist, and perhaps that is why Thanksgiving has always been and has remained, in spite of its growing irrelevance in the eyes of many Americans of late, my favorite holiday.<br /><br />Don’t get me wrong; Christmas is fantastic…<br /><br />Christmas shines with the glow of dazzlingly wrapped gifts, the colorful lights, good-natured ho ho ho’s, and smiles on the faces of babes, but Thanksgiving has for me, always contained something much warmer, more comforting, and much brighter than the wonderful excitement that abounds at Christmas.<br /><br />Growing up, Thanksgiving was <b><i>the</i></b> family day.<br /><br />With no interference or distractions of giving and receiving presents, my family of eleven would spend the day doing nothing, as we all burrowed within my mom and dad’s house while waiting for the Thanksgiving Day feast to be fully cooked and presented.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9jnHKzvhbKbosUX4iUgGajgO77_TKhljH63xs4HwJlKo601TNVdTryAADF4pJg_x4vbYR4U02zqJJ34ivMTOxXAkRxHQz47-mymX4q2kpsLE1xqi83ER45BA_ns5OY-IKodxwNuPfcvA/s1600/JayStalker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9jnHKzvhbKbosUX4iUgGajgO77_TKhljH63xs4HwJlKo601TNVdTryAADF4pJg_x4vbYR4U02zqJJ34ivMTOxXAkRxHQz47-mymX4q2kpsLE1xqi83ER45BA_ns5OY-IKodxwNuPfcvA/s320/JayStalker.jpg" width="320" /></a>But by spending the day doing nothing, I mean, watching football together.  Playing football together.<br />Drinking beer together.  Making fun of each other together.  Smiling together, and having a great day together.<br /><br />On those Thanksgiving days more than any other day of the year, we…were…family.<br /><br />And to me?<br /><br />It was the greatest feeling in the world, especially when I was eight years old or so, and was stuck eating at the kids’ table, which happened to be a rickety red card table with discolorations and indentations resulting from years of spilled beers and fist poundings from my Uncle Eddie’s inability and lack of luck to draw to an inside straight.<br /><br />It didn’t matter; it was family…And today, on this glorious day of Thanksgiving…<br /><br />In spite of Schmoop’s health challenges, I will be putting aside my angst, nervousness, and worries as to how our future will unwind, and do nothing but cook, drink, and enjoy my family.<br /><br />I will spend the day calling my immediate family.  I will shoot my long-time friend Richard a call.  I may talk to my beloved partner in crime and friend, Jayman.  And I will of course…<br /><br />Spend the day with my best friend of twelve years, Schmoop.<br /><br />And a couple of things about Schmoop and I spending Thanksgiving together.  We won’t be spending it alone.<br /><br />You see, a friend of mine, a very sweet friend…one of my very best friends Miss, came through the Beer Mine the other night and dropped some things off for Schmoop and I to have for Thanksgiving.<br /><br />It was inordinately generous, and I said to her, <i>“Miss, thank you so much, and I am sure I will thank you a hundred more times in the near future.”</i><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOIGBsRjPupmWwvJqu0Fidig5PShtWPjuQ0CNtPWdb3TdLzitGxdS4ngJ6ftmizJWJF2-oFDR1cCLO1_VQ5khN7k_MO9mOSNaX8s5SVee09PiLWRTsyXHPiWCbnSiMH87Pj2Du4sn2Wvk/s1600/Missy+Cali+Love.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOIGBsRjPupmWwvJqu0Fidig5PShtWPjuQ0CNtPWdb3TdLzitGxdS4ngJ6ftmizJWJF2-oFDR1cCLO1_VQ5khN7k_MO9mOSNaX8s5SVee09PiLWRTsyXHPiWCbnSiMH87Pj2Du4sn2Wvk/s320/Missy+Cali+Love.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Miss said to me, <i>“Don’t thank me.  We are family. Family doesn't have to thank one and other.”</i><br /><br />And she’s right.  Although not related, she and I <i>have</i> become family, because a deep and true friendship is like being family.<br /><br />And that is how I feel about Miss, about Schmoop, about Jayman, and about a handful of my other friends.<br /><br />And in spite of Schmoop’s bad turn, we have that family on which to fall, and rest, and chances are...many of you do as well.<br /><br />And on this day of Thanksgiving, we need to take a second to realize that, and appreciate those who make life's slumber sound.<br /><br /><i>Cheers!!</i><br /><br /><i><a href="mailto:mattmaniws@ymail.com">mattmaniws@ymail.com</a></i><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/MattMan_IWS" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: blue;">@mattman_iws</span></i></a></div>

Step Back, Relax, and Give Thanks

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” --Thornton Wilder As many consistent read...