Do arthritis gloves work? The short answer to that question is “maybe”—but the real answer depends on the design of individual arthritis gloves, how and when they're used, and the person wearing them.
There are several varieties of arthritis gloves, each designed to address different arthritis symptoms. Thermal gloves increase circulation and keep the hands warm. Compression gloves may relieve pain by applying pressure to affected joints. Glove splints give extra support to hands weakened by arthritis. Combination gloves offer multiple features.
And the University of Maryland Medical Center reviewed two studies and found that overnight use of compressionin the fingers.
The fit of arthritis gloves is important. If they are too tight, they can cut off or impede circulation. Gloves that are too loose are not likely to apply enough pressure or give enough support to help. Stay away from “one-size-fits-all” gloves. Try them on before making a purchase.
Compression gloves are designed to apply pressure where it hurts the most. That is usually one, two, or all three of the joints, beginning at the base (knuckles). All of them should be covered by the glove. Arthritis gloves, including compression gloves, should be open at the fingertips so the user has a sense of feel to perform normal activities.
Look online and at the point of purchase for product reviews and endorsements. The Arthritis Foundation’s “Ease of Use Commendation” recognizes prorecognition comes only after a product has been .u.


Once upon a time, Nothing ever exciting happens at the Ball.
Certainly there are...
Certainly there are lovely ladies and preening lords, but for Kit, it would be so much simpler to forego the entire event and be knocked senseless dueling than dance another waltz. At least that was until she walked in.
Ella thought the night might be perfect to kill herself a prince. Dance, drink, smile for the crowd Easy enough to slip a knife between the ribs and be home before midnight.
But the prince wasn’t what she was expecting; and the maiden was unlike any other he’d met.
Caught between duty and romance, prophecy and adventure, can two people find a way to be together when city walls stand between them?
One waltz at a ball. One trip of a slipper. One Prince & One Assassin.
This is not your childhood Fairy Tale...
...
Fallen (A fractured retelling of The Frog Pri...
Alainn’s father is not a..This steamy fairy tale blends p...
Tales of everyday magic have been in short supply but this collection of short stories makes heroes...
ys l't. Wheard's slave.


Jennifer Adeli has a long history of working to make our government run more efficiently and effectively so that communities are better served. With decades of experience bringing innovative business solutions to tackle the greatest challenges of the times, Jennifer is hoping to take her leadership to the next level by bringing her business expertise to the legislative process. In her work, Jennifer always focuses on the needs of constituents and taxpayers in her community-centered approach to seeking solutions. She is the mother to two Iranian-American children and has been happily married to an Iranian immigrant for the past 18 years. We know her love of community, expertise in business, and passion to serve are exactly what the people of Virginia need most right now.


Summer's Trendiest Pet Events You Don't Want to Miss!
Are we enjoying the summer sun and trendy hot spots? Good! Now share some of the fun with your pets! Sure, the beach is awesome, as always. But any pet who's any pet is going to be seen at the hottest events this summer. Not in the know? That's okay, that's why I'm here. Check out the list below for great events and mark your calendars!


to critical hits. A force field regains 1 hit point each roundNanite Technology: A gearsmen's body is infused with nanites that allow the gearsmen to perform many abilities. You may use only one of the following technologies once per day: ♦ Particle Charge: Once per day as a swift action, a Gearsmen can call on the electrical power lurking in its circuitry to charge any metal melee weapon wielded with electricity and deal +1d6 points of electricity damage on a hit. If not wielding a weapon, unarmed strikescreature . ♦ Self-Repair: Once per day, a gearsman's nanites heal it of damage equal to its Hit Dice. ♦ Surge: Once per day as an immediate action, a gearmen can cause its n gearsmenn a gearsmen uses this power, its circuitry glows  Weaknesses: Whenever a gearsmen's force field is shut down and it  Gearsmen remain Gearsmanack, unless they are immune to electricity via other special defense. Languages: Gearsmen begin play speaking Common and Hallit. Gearsmen with high Intelligence can choose any of and Gnome.
In this week's episode, Tyler was faced with an unexpected surprise (which is redundant). We are going to examine surprise rolls, and the various mechanics that Shadowrun uses in the 5e Core Rulebook to determine whether or not a character is "surprised" in combat.
D&D (5e): Spending Hit Dice.
Gearsmen - (Total RP = 17) Type Construct (20 RP) Size Medium (0 RP) Base Speed Slow (-1 RP) Ability Score Modifiers Weakness (+2 Str, +2 Int, -4 Cha) (-1 RP) Languages Standard (0 RP) Racial Traits Offensive Traits Elemental Assault (1 RP) Senses Racial Traits Darkvision (- RP) Low-Light Vision (- RP) Weakness Racial Traits Elemental Vulnerability (-2 RP) Critical Hit Vulnerability (-2 RP) [homebrew] Magical Racial Traits Self Repair (2 RP) [homebrew] Gearsmen Racial Traits +2 Strength, +2 Intelligence, -4 Charisma: Gearsmen are strong and calculating but coldly silent. Medium: GearsSpeed: Gearsmen have a base speed of 20 feet. Low-Light Vision: Gearsmen can see twice as far with normal vision in conditions of dim light. Darkvision: Gearsmen can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Constructed: Gearsmen can be repaired through the use of the Craft Construct feat. Gearsmen GearsmenGeasmen  Finality: Gearsmen. Gearsmen cannot be raised or resurrected. Artificial Health: Gearsmen are hard to destroy, and gain 20 bonus hit points based on their size. Artificial Immunity: GearsmenGearsmen are n Gearsmen do not have a Constitution score. Any DC'Gearsmen as having a score of 10 (no bonus or penalty). Gearsmen a. Particle Charge (Ex)Self-Repair (Ex): A Gearsman's nanites heal it of damage at the rate of a number of hit points per hour equal to its Hit Dice. Weaknesses: Whenever Gearsmen take extra damage from a critical hit, theys a successful saving throw, they areExplaining D&D (badly) - How to calculate AC in 5th edition!
Barky's Brigade find themselves with a boat and a mission to save the town of Perlamore. Watch the Actual Play action in this D&D 5e-based adventure! Watch . Barky's Brigade are battling gnomes on warforged for the fate of Perlamore!Season 1 here: . Barky's Family battles their way through the city, finding corruption and Asher discovers an old face from his past. Watch the Actual Play action in this D&D . Bad Bjørn is back! Well. sort of. Chat seems to want this Brigade dead! Do they manage it? Enjoying the series? Help us make more! Consider supporting our .
Nerdarchy the News Letter- http://nerdarchy.com/NewsLetter Game Master Tips Running A RPG Game On The Fly. A lot goes into running a successful table top rpg game. Which can require a lot of planning on the game masters part, but sometimes it won't matter how much you plan. There will be times that the players will do crazy stuff that will stump you. There will be times when the the players are not going to take your carefully planned out adventure hooks. So what are you to do as the GM? That is what we cover in this edition of Game Master Tips. Follow us on FaceBook- https://www.facebook.com/Nerdarchy Please Like, Comment, and Subscribe! </s> YouYou Space’s units are all climate-controlled in door units. We provide the best environment for you to protect your belongings. Temperature controlled air systems which heat in the winter and cool in the summer. Your valuables are protected from temperature extremes. Humidity controlled system helps prevent molds, mildew, mites, rust, paper rot, and degradation of wood by maintaining low humidity. Our freight elevator helps you to store and pick up your stuff easily.
1. What’s the difference between Climate Control and Regular garage-type storage?
At You You Space，the climate control rooms are kept between 18-25 degrees C. We use a separate dehumidification system year-round to keep humidity around 60%. Our Climate Control buildings have a central air system providing better ventilation without the worry of leaks or dampness.
2. Does climate control help


Gorgeous Grilled Chicken – I’ve probably mentioned it here before, but I’m kind of squeamish about eating meat off a bone. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but something about it has just never worked for me. I know I’m probably going to get hate mail saying that it’s my inner vegetarian screaming at me and that I should listen, but whatever, I’m over it. My husband on the other hand as well as my girls love chicken wings, ribs, drumsticks and basically anything else that is bone-bearing. Go figure.
Making Gorgeous Grilled Chicken
But sometimes I make it for them and I actually like it. Enter this this Gorgeous Grilled Chicken. We’ve made this a few times and each time it’s a hit with everybody. Plus, it’s just pretty lookin’. This last time I was only able to marinade them for about an hour and they weren’t as flavorfulem to soak up the goodness. BUT don’t let them marinade for more than 4 hours or so because the lemon juice in the marinade will actually start to cook the chicken and will give it a funky texture in the end. I used all drumsticks here, but any cut of chicken will work well. Just rso keep an eye on them and remove from the heat when the juices from them run clear and not cloudy when pierced.
This grilled chicken would be prefect for any tail gating and end-of-summer bashes you have coming up!
Interested in other juicy chicken recipes?
- Skillet Honey Dijon Chicken Thighs
- One Pan Garlic Herb Chicken Thighs
- 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring
- 1 teaspoon- 1 tablespoon Sriracha depending on how spicy you like them
- Combine every ingredient except for the chicken in a large gallon-size ziplock bag. Shake or massage bag to mix and then add in chicken. Let marinade for at least 2 hours, up to 4 hours (anything past four will start to cook the chicken and make it a funky texture).
- and it's juices run clear.


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Dr. Chanda PilgHello and welcome to my profile. Are you dealing with a situation that looks and feels overwhelming right now? When we are close to things, they look bigger, that is true for objects and for situations. It is my job to help you see your issue from another perspective. Most often that simple shift in how we look at things can make you feel better. I am Dr. Chanda Pilgrim and I have been a psychologist for over 25 years working in schools, private agencies, andver...JulieClinical Social Worker, licensed in Georgia, and Chemical Dependency Counselor, licensed in Alaska,e, LGBT and issues facing indigenous peopl abuseactive duty military and veterans. My counseling s.aTasha Billingsl...mandtephenliceia Lyles-Welcome to Betterhelp! It may have taken a lot to get here but I am so glad you did! Taking the first step to a better you can be difficult but rewarding. Hi! My name is Aliceia Lyles-Edward education at the University of West Georgia. Over the last ten year. I pride myself on helping adults reclaim their voice. I help in the restoring to your true authentic self after a change in life. I know firsthand that getting help can be...
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I don't care who you are, what your background is or what your lifestyle looks like, make no mistake about it - getting and staying lean in today's modern environment in the western world is very very difficult.  Obesity researchers have coined our current environment 'Obeseogenic' (1), meaning that the odds are entirely stacked against us when it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle.
Think about it, it's so easy to drum up whatever type of food you could possibly imagine at the touch of a button..'Deliveroo' anyone? Let's couple that thought with the prevalence of online jobs, working from home and not needing to physically go to your place of work anymore for a lot of people. We know that excess calories and inactivity drive weight gain more than any other single factor. (2) So given all of this, how is it that some people even when the cards are as stacked against them as they are stay lean, fit and healthy?
They have habits set in place that make the task of staying lean an effortless part of their every day life.
The crazy part of this is that more often than not it's not something they consciously do! You will generally find that lean people have their daily routine down on lock by engineering their environment to be conducive to leanness by implementing some, or all of the following traits:
They will often find an excuse to get up and walk around in the office or think nothing of walking to the next bus stop if there's a delay. Those people who are seemingly always on the move and on their feet. More on this later.
Often they get so caught up in their project at work that they genuinely forget to eat. *Yes, there are some really annoying people in the world that exist like that would you believe? He's definitely one of them below....*
Yea we all know those people who get so caught up in work that they 'Forget to eat'. What?!
Motivation for even the most dedicated of us comes in waves – it isn’t 100% 365 days
per year. (4) If you have to rely on it on days where you aren’t really feeling it, you're not going to succeed.
Let’s face it, the health and fitness industry on social media is alive and well due to people’s lack of motivation. I bet you can’t scroll down five posts on Instagram on a Monday morning without seeing an aggressive looking safari animal with a motivational quote telling you to #Hustle and #Grind... Bore. Off.
You know how you have that one friend who was just born with a fast metbolism? Can eat anything they want and they don't get fat? Picked the right cards genetically etc? Yea doesn't actually work like that...When two people are matched for bodyweight and all similar stats, the differences in metabolic rate are trivial (A measly 200-300 calories for the most part) (5)
Where there is a huge individual variance is when it comes to unconscious activity such as more standing, walking, sitting with a better posture, fidgeting, foot tapping etc. This unconscious moving has been shown in the research on the high end to account for as much as an extra 2,000 calories burnt in the most extreme cases. (6) This is huge!! Let's put this into perspective 2,000 extra calories burned every day via non traditional exercise would be 16 lbs of fat per month not gained or 192 lbs over a year - the equivalent to nearly 14 stones.
Whilst you personally might not be the type of person that naturally moves about a lot and can't sit still, you can learn a lot from this phenomenon. Investing in something like an activity tracker or fitbit purely as a reminder to get up off your arse from time to time, whereas normally you would be sitting on it for more than 3/4 of the day is a huge step in the right direction in getting and staying lean.
Remember the value of a fitbit or activity tracker doesn't lie in it's accuracy. It's value lies in the reminder to you to get up off your arse at regular intervals throughout the day and move.
This chappy with the excellent beard just downloaded the app 'Steps' on his I-Phone and look how happy he is already...
They Never Miss Twice
'You are what you consistently do, not what you sometimes do' - Sharif Lawton *in pretty much at least 1 x blog post per week. Seriously though...*
No one got fit from eating a salad... and no one ever got fat from eating a single donut
We are all human. We all enjoy highly palatable, calorific foods that go against our goals of wanting to be lean and sexy from time to time. What's the fun in one cookie? Sometimes you just have to indulge your caveman side and have a good old feed up with the foods you love. After all, a life without pizza, wine, cheesecake and oatmeal raisin cookies is no life I want to be a part of. Saying this however, you will often find that lean people don't let this one indulgent meal lead into a binge, or a bad day, week or month. They get right back on track ASAP and this is key in their success. Think about it, if you dropped your phone on the floor and put a tiny crack in it, you wouldn't then continue to stamp on it until it was so wrecked that you could no longer read the screen - that self sabotaging behaviour makes no sense yet is exactly what people do when it comes to food. If however you can adapt a flexible approach to your diet strategy and mentality when it comes to food in general, you will find far greater longer term success than those who see the whole diet and healthy eating thing as an 'On' or 'Off' switch. (7)
Just make sure the majority of your breakfast's don't look like this and you'll be just fine. Damn this looks good though...
Protein As The Priority
Lean people eat more protein. I don't need to bore you with the importance of having sufficient protein in your diet now do I? You should be aware of it's abilities to help you gain/maintain muscle mass so that you look great naked and help recover from training. However, you may not be aware that protein is the most satiating macronutrient (8). Basically meaning that out of all the three macronutrients we eat (protein, carbs and fats) protein is the most filing and satisfying, leaving you fuller for longer and therefore you'll be less likely to snack on crap in between meals. Not only this, but protein has the highest thermic effect as well, meaning that in terms of digestion it takes more calories for your body to digest protein than it does carbs or fats. Another win for protein. (9)
So in terms of how much, it seems that when eating at maintenance or a surplus calorie intake, 1.6 grams of protein per kg of bodyweight seems to maximise the muscle building effects of protein (10), whereas in a deficit or whilst actively trying to lose fat, there is certainly an argument to push protein intake up a little higher - probably to the tune of 2.2 grams per kg or 1 gram of protein per lb of bodyweight. (11)
If you're really trying to eek out every last drop of potential muscle gain, there is also evidence that a) pre bed protein might be a good idea (12) and b) spacing out your protein feedings fairly evenly out over 3-5 meals per day may be best (13). Saying all this, the key takeaway really is that good quality protein source should be at the forefront of your meals. For more information about protein, different sources and how to increase protein intake if vegan/vegetarian etc, check out my protein article.
Get your protein in, every single meal. That's no yolk.
Good quality sleep and relaxation tactics are not only vital to a decent quality of life, nailing these two areas of your lifestyle could indeed help you get and stay leaner. In fact, getting better sleep at night could potentially lead to you seeing a 55% increase in fat mass lost during a diet, compared with if you have crappy sleep. (14) However, this is an area of fitness and self development where coaches often give misguided information and get the wrong end of the stick. Let me make this very clear, just because you are stressed or sleep deprived - this in and of itself cannot stop fat loss in the face of an energy defecit. All you have to think about is the morbid example of those unfortunate people in some third world countries where food and water is scarce and they are literally starving to death. Clearly they are in some of the most chronically stressed situations ever, yet they aren't putting on weight. The same could be said for prisoners of war. They come out weak, and emaciated, not with full bellies just because they were living stressful lives.
What high levels of stress and poor sleep does do however, is make it drastically more difficult to adhere to a fat loss plan and cause you to overeat. It's been shown that as little as a couple hours of sleep deprivation wacks up your hunger hormones and increases appetite. (15) Let's face it, no one's appetite for fruit, veg and all the healthy stuff increases...it's the pastries, cookies, and crap that we all crave when tired and cranky. Clearly this can be problematic. You will tend to find that lean people have great coping mechanisms when dealing with life's stressors and prioritse their sleep to ensure that they are at their very best the next day, not crying into bowls of ice cream at night.
It's no secret that my most successful fat loss clients are cooler than the other side of the pillow.
I wanted to keep this articles to 5 key points so that you could a) action some or all of the above immediately without being overwhelmed and b) these were the ones I felt were the most important when it comes to the habits of lean people. However, there are a few other habits and traits that I haven't highlighted here that I feel deserve at the very least a mention, with the likelihood that I'll get into each of them in more depth as we move forward with the articles here on the site. So here we go:
Don't drink their calories
Are good at planning and preparing their food choices in advance
Don't go to food for short term pleasure in stressful times
Have 'fun foods' in moderation and in control, not on a daily basis
Fruits and veggies as a staple (as well as protein) in each meal
Understand that the scale doesn't just weigh fat mass
Understand that consistency over perfection is key
Don't compare their progress to others
Are process focused rather than outcome focused
- Develop lean habits you can take with you no matter where you are in the world or whatever life throws in your way.
- Be a NEAT freak and move whenever you can.
- Get your protein in.
- Make sure you prioritise your sleep and manage your stress levels just like you prioritise your training and nutrition. Meditation, yoga, stretching, getting to bed on time all help.


Bethlehem Center, a mission of the parish, provides food and clothing in an atmosphere of dignity and respect to those in need. Formerly known as the Good News Center and earlier as Sister Ursula’s Kitchen, the Bethlehem Center continues the vital work established by the Daughters of Charity and its successor, Catholic Charities Diocese of Fresno.
Through cooperative efforts of churches in the area and local merchants and business, the Bethlehem Center continues its mission to feed the hungry and clothe the naked in the name of Christ, the Lord.
Our area director is Anna Livingston. Those interested in contributing to the Bethlehem Center are invited to visit the Center at 1638 N. Dinuba Blvd. in Visalia,bethcenter.org.


2 NaNO3 and KNO3, solutions and distilled water were observed until the 2-15 dilution; however, the dynamic trends of the 2-15 dilution and distilled water still had different directions. Great interest has been roused by the studies directed at detecting the differences between the glow of natural and synthetic essential oils with identical chemical composition (Korotkov et al, 2004). The oils were analyzed in order to detect possible differences between oils that were obtained by means of natural and synthetic processes, between oils of organic and regular origin; between oils obtained in different climatic conditions and extracted by means of different methods; between oils with different optical activity; between fresh oils and oils that were oxidized by various methods. The combinations of oils under study did not show any statistically significant differences when analyzed by means of the gas chromatography method. Technique The study of Electrophotonic parameters of liquids is based on using a commercially produced instrument GDV Camera, which is manufactured by the KTI company, St. Petersburg (Web ref. 2). This instrument is well-known for analyzing stimulated photon emissions from human fingers, which is being used for health and well-being diagnostics (Measuring 2002), analysis of athletes (Bundzen et al. 2005), of altered states of consciousness (Bundzen et al. 2002. Korotkov et al. 2005), of the influence of music (Gibson, Williams 2005) and Qigong to people (Rubik, Brooks 2005), as well as of geo-active zones (Hacker et al. 2005) and minerals (Vainshelboim et al. 2005). When the EPC parameters are measured for liquid subjects, a drop of the liquid is suspended at 2-3 mm distance above the glass surface of the optical window of the device, and the glow from the meniscus of the liquid is registered (Fig.1). The volume of the liquid is about 5*10-3 ml. The temperature is kept in the range 22-24 C, the relative humidity is maintained from 42% to 44%. The train of triangular bipolar electrical 10 mcs impulses of amplitude 3 kV at a steep rate of 106 V/s and a repetition frequency of 103 Hz, is applied to the conductive transparent layer at the back side of the quartz electrode thus generating an electromagnetic field (EMF) at the surface of the electrode and around the drop. Under the influence of this field, the drop produces a burst of electron-ion emissions and optical radiation light quanta in the visual and ultraviolet light regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. These particles and ions initiate electron-ion avalanches, which give rise to the sliding gas discharge along the dielectric surface (Korotkov, Korotkin 2001). A spatial distribution of discharge channels is registered through a glass electrode by the optical system with a charge coupled device TV camera, and then it is digitized in the computer.
Figure 1: Priniciple of study of electrophotonic glow of liquids. 1 liquid meniscus; 2 transparent quartz electrode; 3 impulse generator; 4 optical system; 5 metal electrode. The drops are exposed to the EMF from 2 s up to 10 s, and short films are recorded in the computer as .avi files. The frame rate (frequency of recording) is defined by the optical system and typically ranges from 30 to 60 frames per second. The avi files are then converted to a series of BMP files, and the area (the number of light-struck pixels) and averaged intensity (ranked from 0 for absolute black to 255 for absolute white) parameters for every image is calculated by the software. The time series are averaged on 10 measurements that provide the statistical reliability at the confidence level of 0.95 with the experimental sensitivity of 75%. Examples of the EPC glow for different liquids are presented in Fig.2. This method is very sensitive to the condition of water and liquids, but in the process of discharge micro-droplets of water are dispersed to the surface of the electrode thus changing the volume of drop in time. So this method may be used for short up to 30 s time series only. Recording 30 frames per second provides about 900 images in 30 s which is quite enough for statistical analysis.
Figure 2: Examples of EPC glow of different samples of water. 1 distilled water; 2 tap water; 3 structured water.
4 The reproducibility of the method was verified by measuring the time dynamics of the gas discharge around a titanium metal cylinder that was 10 mm in diameter, and was placed at the center of the optical electrode and electrically connected with the EPC instrument. A special holder fixes the position of the cylinder on the electrode. 30 subsequent measurements provided statistical reliability at the confidence level of 0.95 with the experimental sensitivity of 95%. The deviation at every point of the time series was less than 3%. The same type of metal cylinder is used in another method of measuring variations of water properties in time from tens of minutes to many hours. In this case, the water is kept in a glass vial and a standard Pt electrode is inserted in the water (Fig.3). The Pt electrode is connected with the metal cylinder, which in this case is disconnected from the EPC instrument. In this case the electrical current (and the intensity of gas discharge around the metal cylinder) is defined by the capacitance resistance of the electrical chain: cylinder electrical wires - Pt electrode - water, which depends on the water properties.
Figure 3: Priniciple of study of electrophotonic glow of liquids. 1 EPC instrument; 2 metal cylinder; 3 glass with water; 4 Pt electrode; 5 sliding gas discharge. To define the exact dependence from the capacitance the metal cylinder was connected to different grounded capacitances. The experimental data and a quantative approximation are presented at Fig.4. As you see from the graph the signal increases up to approximately C = 100 pF and this line may be described by the equation [1] = 3717Ln(C) 2269.3 at 100.
Figure 4: Dependence of the EPC Area of the metal cylinder from the capacitance.
5 For water and different liquids the capacitance is in the range 25-30 pF and little changes of physical properties of the water cause changes of the capacitance parameter, which is reflected in significant changes of the EPC signal. This makes the Pt electrode method very sensitive to the changes of water properties under the influence of different factors. This method allows to study time changes of water properties for many hours. Together with mentioned above two methods a set of instruments was developed for studying of low-conductive liquids (oils and ) and different subjects (see fig.5).
Figure 5: EPC installations for studying different subjects. A,B low-conductive liquids; C grains; D leaf. Results (a) Method with suspended drop The study of water should be done with great precaution: water changes its properties in the process of interaction with air after opening the bottle. This process is well-known in the wine industry, but the same aging we may see for water. As an example fig.6 demonstrates the change of time dynamics of electrophotonic parameters for two water samples just after opening the bottle and 4 hours later. The water was taken from two commercially available plastic bottles
6 of Evian water purchased in the same shop. The bottles were opened simultaneously in the same laboratory room at room conditions (23 0C, 46% humidity).
Figure 6: Time dependence of the EPC glow area of the water drop. 1,2 Samples of water taken right after opening the bottle; 3,4 Samples of water taken 4 hours after opening the bottle; 5 Distilled water. The vertical lines represent the level of variation between 10 independent samples of the tested water. The presented data shows that right after opening the bottle the glow of water is characterized by a great variability between the measurements and by a considerable increase of the values of parameters, with two distinct phases, but about 2 minutes after the opening the results become stabilized. For the samples of water that were taken 4 hours later, a rise can be observed during the first 30 seconds; after that the parameters remain stable. The amplitude of glow for the distilled water is considerably lower and practically does not change in time. Monotone increasing of the area at the first seconds of measurement is due to the electropositive discharge accumulation that takes place at the surface of the glass electrode where the discharge is occurring. As was demonstrated by computer modelling (Korotkov 1985), an electrical field created by positive ions decreased the applied EMF so that the length of the discharge streamers decreased in every subsequent discharge. After some time, when the dynamic equilibrum between the speed of the positive ions accumulation, their neutralization and leakage along the surface was established and the length of the streamers became quasiconstant. To study the dependence of EPC parameters on the concentration of salt solutions of strong electrolytes (completely dissociated into ions by the solvent) such as NaC1, KC1, NaNO3 in
7 distilled water have been used. Fig.7-8 reflects a typical concentration dependence for the parameters EPC Area and Entropy. Both parameters reach a quasi-stable level at some concentration which is related to a particular electro-conductivity of the solution (fig.9).
<PHONE> <PHONE> 0 0.01 0.02 0.04 0.17 0.66 2.66 10.6 42.5 Concentration NaNO3
Figure 7: Dependence of the EPC Area on the concentration for a NaNO3 solution.
3 0.01 0.02 0.04 0.17 0.66 2.66 10.6 42.5 Concentration NaNO3 (g-mol/L))j
Figure 9: Dependence of the EPC Fractality on the electro-resistance for a NaNO3 solution. The studied solutions of strong electrolytes are different in ion radiuses and electro-conductivity and have statistically significant differences between EPC parameters for neighboring concentrations of the same solution as well as between similar concentrations of different solutions. The glow area of drops of the same size is a function of photon emissions from their surface. Consequently, activity and flexibility of ions as well as the ionization and dissociation degree will contribute to the value of the given parameter. The Area parameter and the equivalent electro-conductivity appear to be connected by the polynomial dependency of the fifth range. Such dependences confirm a non-linear character of connection between the electro-conductivity and EPC coefficients. It is reasonable to suggest the both groups of parameters reflect some basic physical properties of solutions. Such a property for the equivalent electro-conductivity is the flexibility of ions and ion clusters. The revealed dependence of the coefficients of non-linear regression from the values of ion radiuses, found during analysis of the data supports these assumptions. The given dependency is also characteristic for super small concentrations of ions that corresponds to the hypothesis that cluster structures in liquids may be revealed by the EPCtechnique. The sensitivity of the Electrophotonic analysis of water allows studying changes of water properties under different influences. As an example fig.10 demonstrates an EPC signal from several samples of tap and filtered water under the influence of a pulsating magnetic field. In all cases we see significant changes of the EPC Area of the water samples.
Figure 10: EPC Area for initial and magnetized samples of water. We have mentioned a paper of Bell et al, (2003): Evaluation of Ultra-molecular Doses of Homeopathic Medicines Under Blinded, Controlled Conditions. It was shown that homeopathic remedies of 30 potency had different response to the electromagnetic field compared with the solvent. Similar research was done with Bach Flower essences. They are being prepared by adding several drops of the flower essence to the solvent. Fig.11 demonstrates results of the experiment where a different number of drops of chamomile essential oil was added to 100 ml of solvent. As we see from the graph the highest EPC signal we had from solvents with half a drop and two drops. It is interesting that in Dr. Bachs recommendations it was written to add two drops.
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10 Figure 11: EPC Area of solutions with different number of chamomile essential oil drops (from 0 to 5) added to 100 ml of solvent. There are a lot of speculations about the influence of pyramidal structures on different processes and in particular, on the human condition. We developed a model of a pyramid made from paper 30 cm high (~ 1 ft) and placed a glass with 100 ml of tap water under the pyramid for a night. After repeating this experiment several times we found that in some cases the EPC image of water being measured in the morning changed its appearance. Fig. 12 demonstrates typical images of initial water and water after a night under the pyramid. We need to pay the readers attention to the fact that these results were irreproducible, we had them just several times in many experiments and no correlations with environmental conditions or with moon phases were found.
Figure 12: EPC images of water. A initial tap water; B,C the same water after a night under the pyramid. Later we were able to travel to Mexico, where we had numerous experiments with water kept at the top of pyramids for several hours or overnight, and in many cases we had significant difference of EPC parameters from this water compared with control samples. During experiments it was mentioned that result depended on the time water was kept under the pyramid. In 2009 Dmitrii Orlov performed long-term experiment. 2 liters of tap water were filtered and poured into two glass vessels filled to the top without extra air. Vessels were hermetically closed. One vessel was placed under the paper model of Cheops pyramid oriented to the cardinal, and other vessel was covered with black non-transparent cloth. Both vessels were placed on the top shelf of a cupboard and left intact for three months. Then vessels were opened and water samples were measured in the following regime. Sample of water was place in the EPC installation (fig.1) and measured 8 times for 25 s each with 5 frames per second interval. Parameters were averaged on 8 measurements. This process was repeated 4 times. Results are presented in Table. 1. As we see from the Table, statistical difference between samples was found for parameters Area and Intensity. We pay attention that water after the pyramid had much higher Standard Deviation compared with the control sample. Of course, these results should be accepted as preliminary and anecdotic, and this topic needs much more time and research attention.
11 Table 1. Parameters of water kept under the pyramid compared with control samples. Data having 0.95 statistical differences in accordance with Mann-Whitney test are marked with *.
Area Pyramid Average St Dev Control 1st series St Dev Pyramid Average 2nd series St Dev Control Average 57 1321* <DIGITS>* Average 1274* <DIGITS>*
Intensity 82.0* 1.7 86.2*
Form Coeff 2.2 0.1 2.2
Entropy 1.8 0.2 2.0
1.7 82.0* 1.4 87.5*
St Dev Pyramid Average 3rd series St Dev Control Average
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St Dev Pyramid Average 4th series St Dev Control Average
There are a lot of discussions about water structurization under the influence of internal inclusions. Structured water is characterized by ordering water molecules that generally occurs next to hydrophilic interfacial surfaces, where layers of ordered water are found with properties that differ from these of bulk water (Chai et al. 2008). This water has a lot of physical properties different from ordinary bulk water (Wiggins, 2002), in particular that extended water clusters aggregating in an auto stabilizing network can grow to macroscopic proportions (Chaplin 2000, Johansson 2009). This leads to a formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in water (Voeikov, Del Giudice, 2009), which increases the concentration of free electrons in water and may result in an increased signal of stimulated photon emission registered by the EPC instrument.
12 A series of experiments was conducted by measuring EPC images of different water samples after immersing gemstones in water, in particular, tourmaline crystals. The experiments were conducted both with tourmaline crystals of 3-5 carats and tourmaline crystal powder. The crystals were cleaned three times in alkaline solution, rinsed with distilled water and dried with warm air. The gemstones were obtained from the Himalayan region. Typical time dynamics of the EPC area are presented in Fig.13. The initial signal of mineral water has some dynamical character, which means a response of the water to the electrical field of the EPC instrument, which is typical for active natural waters. This type of dynamics is quite reproducible and after several seconds the EPC signal reaches a quasi-stable level. After the tourmaline crystals were immersed in water the signal increased and was kept for about an hour, after that it came to a quasi-stable level, significantly higher than the initial signal. Every curve of Fig.13 was taken with a new sample of water. The control sample of water had no significant difference from sample 1.
Figure 13: Time dynamics of the EPC signal of mineral water after tourmaline gemstones were immersed into the water. 1 initial sample; 2,3 5 min and 30 min after placing the gemstones; 4,5 1 hour and 2 hours after immersing the gemstones. As it was mentioned before, different mineral waters have a different time response to the electrical field of the EPC instrument. As an example Fig.14 demonstrates time dynamics for a natural mineral water (curve 1) that is absolutely different from the one presented in Fig.13. Fig.14 demonstrates an example of the so named water memory. The tourmaline crystals were kept in the water for the duration of 1 hour, then they were removed, and during several hours the samples of water were taken for measurements. As you see from the graphs, the water had parameter values different from the initial EPC signal for many hours after the crystals have been removed from the water.
Figure 14: Time dynamics of the EPC signal of mineral water after the tourmaline gemstones were kept in the water for 1 hour and taken out. 1 initial sample; 2,3 1 hour and 5 hours after taking out the gemstones; 4 9 hours after taking out the gemstones. The presented results were repeated many times with different waters and in most cases immersing crystals into the water produced a significant effect. This confirms ideas of water structurization on crystalline surfaces with increased production of free electrons. Nowadays, the EPC method is being used for testing different drinking waters having similar chemical composition for their activity. At the same time, several research lines have been developed on studding different liquids, first of all blood. Study of blood with the suspended drop method After developing the technology for testing water it was natural to apply it for different liquids and first of all blood. Several research lines demonstrated interesting results. In the work of Korotkov et al (1998) blood plasma samples were taken from patients with primary and metastatic cancer (carcinoma of the stomach, carcinoma of the uterine cervix, bronchopulmonary cancer, adenocarcinoma, etc.), and compared with control samples taken from healthy donors. Samples were also taken from a patient with a benign tumour. The experiments were carried out in a 1- or 4-well plastic plates containing 200 microlitres each of blood plasma solution, diluted either in de-ionized distilled water (milli-Q Reagent Water System). Some plasma samples were examined in the fresh state and others after freezing and thawing. Ten series of two-fold dilutions were made, so as to result in a final concentrations of the total protein content of about 75 to 0.15 mg/ml. In some cases teh dilution was continued so as to reach a concentration of 15 mg/ml. It was found that the EPC characteristics of blood plasma samples were quite different for healthy donors and patients with cancer. As the illustrations of Fig.15 show, the EPC parameters varied with the dilution in an irregular way. No rule has been noted in the behaviour of the
14 curves. In all the samples studied, the EPC parameters were significantly and reproducibly higher for cancer patients as compared with the controls. Intermediate values were found for the patient with benign tumour. The difference between cancer and control was maintained throughout the dilution series - despite the irregular course of the curves. The observed differences remained unaltered by freezing and thawing. These results were statistically significant and reproducible. It is noteworthy that the differences became more significant after dilution and succussion than they were in the original plasma.
Figure 15: EPC Area of samples of blood plasma diluted in NaCl with two-fold dilutions for healthy and ill patients. You may also see in Fig. 15 the repetitive "waves" area, the peaks being shifted as a result of one or two dilution with every fresh sequential dilution and potentisation. This kind of quasisinusoidal curve is typical for the reaction of biological objects in general to a variety of lowintensity stimuli. Such dose-response curves often reveal a complex polymodal character, and the presence of "dead zones". In addition, an inversion in the dose-response to high dilutions is also observed in most experiments. This effect is well known, mostly in pharmacology and immunology (Froehlich 1968, Hao 1985). Among a number of explanations, it has been suggested that the effect is related to transmission of information via the molecular organisation of water. Much evidence supports the hypothesis that water acts as the signal pathway for the effects of many low-intensity physical influences, such as weak electromagnetic and other fields. We believe that the differences we have observed in the EPC images between normal and pathological blood plasma cannot be attributed to the known changes in blood biochemistry characteristic of cancer. These include hypercoagulability, a low pH resulting from lactate produced by anaerobic glycolysis, together with a number of other homeostatic abnormalities. It seems virtually impossible to understand the effects described here without considering the role of the supra-molecular organisation in the aqueous medium of the organism. Since the organisation of water is necessarily of a highly dynamic nature, one must consider that any body of water oscillates as a whole, so that any changes to the oscillatory pattern in one part of it will rapidly spread to the rest. This implies that the general oscillatory pattern of the water
15 in an organism will be sensitive to any of a great variety of influences, even though they may occur at strictly localised sites. Thus it is to be expected that the effect of malignant transformation in any part of the body should be seen in the blood plasma. It is particularly significant that the difference between cancer and normal samples were remained in evidence throughout the dilution series, even up to 1/1024 of the original plasma. A new approach to a non-invasive diagnostic of allergy was developed by Sviridov et al (2005).
Figure 16: Example of dynamical trend for two samples of blood: 1 initial; 2 with allergen. The simple and non-invasive method we describe can be used for integral early diagnostic criteria and prognostic implications of pathological states of an organism, especially of a tumour transformation. This system could be further developed. Further detailed information may be obtained by means of an integrated analysis of all aspects of the image, including geometry, brightness, and spectral characteristics. It may then become possible to use the EPC method to classify the stages of progression of a malignant disease. Analysis of essential oils A large series of experiments with essential oils and their synthetic counterparts with identical chemical composition were conducted by a research team from AVEDA Co, USA (Vainshelboim et al. 2004, 2005). In this technique, a drop of oil was positioned on a glass plate with a hollow and a metal electrode was touching the drop. The oils were analyzed in order to detect possible differences between oils that were obtained by means of natural and synthetic processes, between oils of organic and regular origin; between oils obtained in different climatic conditions and extracted by means of different methods; between oils with different optical activity; between fresh oils and oils that were oxidized by various methods. The difference between the EPC area and the averaged intensity for the time curves was found for the 42 pairs of investigated oils and liquids, after about two seconds of exposure to the electromagnetic field. Again, for each pair of oils and liquids, they had similar chemical contents in accordance with the gas chromatography analysis, but each differed in origin. That is, for a particular pair of oils and liquids, both could have been sourced differently, or one liquid was
16 synthetically derived while the other was naturally derived, and so forth. In all cases, however, no distinct difference was observed between the chemical spectra of the studied pairs of oils and liquids, in accordance with the gas chromatography data. An example of this case-scenario is that of the investigation of Oil of Bitter Almond versus Synthetic Benzaldehyde. The analysis by gas chromatography (GC) has proven that both chromatograms for the respective materials are statistically identical. Specifically, Oil of Bitter Almond contains about 95.00% pure natural benzaldehyde, while Synthetic Benzaldehyde is 99.00+% to 99.5+% pure. (Information on Benzaldehyde (Product Numbers 41, 809-9 and B133-4) taken from the 2003-2004 Aldrich Handbook of Fine Chemicals and Laboratory Equipment). However, given this information, the GC analysis by itself has its limitations. That is, it cannot reveal the subtle differences between the two materials (however, once again, except under unique advanced techniques that are expensive, time consuming, and are not readily available). This is why the analysis by Dynamic GDV-graphy has been applied to this situation. Fig. 17 shows a graph for the averaged intensity parameter for Oil of Bitter Almond and Synthetic Benzaldehyde. The graph clearly demonstrates that the average values show a statistically significant difference for the averaged intensity parameter after four seconds of measurements.
Figure 17: Time dependence of the intensity of the EPC image around drops of Bitter Almond (1) and Synthetic Benzaldehyde (2) oils. Data averaged on 10 measurements. The main trends of these experiments for these two liquids revealed a higher position of realizations for Oil of Bitter Almond and a lower position of realizations for Synthetic Benzaldehyde for the averaged intensity parameter. In later experiments, it was shown that in terms of the area parameter, the trends were reversed for the same two liquids. That is, a higher position of realizations for Synthetic Benzaldehyde and a lower position of realizations for Oil of Bitter Almond were revealed in the case of the area parameter. Therefore, the results show that the same chemical ingredient in both materials (which is Benzaldehyde for this situation) can be distinguished from one another by using the Dynamic EPC-graphy. In another studies, highly purified Citrus Natural and highly purified Citrusl Synthetic oils were used. Both oils abruptly changed their behavior in interaction with the electromagnetic field of
17 the EPC instrument after about 2.5 seconds (see fig.18) and a statistically significant reproducible difference was detected between the synthetic and the natural Citrus essential oils.
Figure 18: Time dependence of the area of the gas discharge image around drops of oils Citrus natural (1) and Citrus synthetic (2). Data averaged over 10 measurements. For the oils of Moroccan Rose, Bulgarian Rose, and Russian Rose, which are chemically similar; however, as can be seen, they are sourced from different locations. During the initial moments of measurement, the time series for the area for each oil coincided with each other. However, in less than one second, each of the curves began to deviate and differ statistically significant from one another (see fig. 19). In addition, no statistically significant difference between Moroccan Rose and Bulgarian Rose oils was found, but they both differed statistically significant from Russian Rose oil.
18 Figure 19: Time dependence of the area of the gas discharge image around drops of Rose oil of different origin. Data averaged over 10 measurements. 1 Moroccan Rose; 2 Bulgarian Rose; 3 Russian Rose. Table 2 presents the list of investigated compositions with marked statistical difference in EPC parameters. Table 2. Results of study of different pairs of oils.
The Individual Case Scenarios Oils of Essential and Synthetic Nature Bitter Almond versus Synthetic Benzaldehyde Linalool Synthetic versus Linalool Extracted from Bergamot Linalool Synthetic versus Linalool Extracted from Bois de Rose Linalool Synthetic versus Linalool Extracted from Pinene Linalool Synthetic versus Linalool Extracted from Shiu Oil Oils of Organic and Regular Origin Peppermint Organic versus Peppermint Regular Lavender Organic versus Lavender Regular Cloveland Organic versus Cloveland Regular Oils Received in Different Climatic Conditions and Extracted by Different Ways (Oils from Different Sources) Indian Jasmine versus Moroccan Jasmine Algerian Jasmine versus Indian Jasmine Algerian Jasmine versus Moroccan Jasmine Cold-Pressed Valencia FCC* Orange versus Midseason FCC* Orange Cold-Pressed Valencia FCC Orange versus Brazil Cold-Pressed High Aldehyde Content Orange Brazil Cold-Pressed High Aldehyde Content Orange versus Midseason FCC* Orange Bulgarian Rose versus Russian Rose Bulgarian (Otto) Rose versus Russian Rose Bulgarian Alba Organic Rose versus Russian Rose Moroccan (Otto) Rose versus Russian Rose Turkish Bulgarian Type Rose versus Russian Rose Bulgarian Rose versus Bulgarian (Otto) Rose Bulgarian (Otto) Rose versus Moroccan (Otto) Rose
Intensity X X X X
19 Bulgarian (Otto) Rose versus Turkish Bulgarian Type Rose Bulgarian Rose versus Bulgarian Alba Organic Rose Oils of Various Optical Activity Dextro Carvone versus Laevo Carvone Dextro Limonene versus Laevo Limonene Dextro Linalool versus Laevo Linalool Natural Oils: Fresh and Oxidized in Various Ways Lime Oil Italian Refrigerated versus Lime Oil Italian Oven Treated at 120F Lime Oil Italian Refrigerated versus Lime Oil Italian Xenon Arc Treated Lime Oil Mexican Refrigerated versus Lime Oil Mexican Oven Treated at 120F Lime Oil Mexican Refrigerated versus Lime Oil Mexican Xenon Arc Treated Conclusion The obtained data shows that the electrophotonic method has high selectiveness and sensitivity when used for the study of liquid-phase objects, in particular, various types of water. The obtained information depends on the chemical composition of water, but the determining and the most curious dependency is the dependency on the structural composition of the liquid. The electrophotonic parameters are determined by the emission activity of the surface layer of the liquid, which depends on the presence of surface-active valences. This property is obviously determined by the structure of the near-surface clusters, which means that the electrophotonic method is one of the informative methods for the study of structural-informational properties of liquids. Acknowledgment The authors thank Jerald Pollak and Vladimir Voeikov for gainful discussions and Dominique Conseil for interest and support off the work. References Bell I, Lewis DA, Brooks AJ, Lewis SE, Schwartz GE (2003). Gas Discharge Visualisation Evaluation of Ultramolecular Doses of Homeopathic Medicines Under Blinded, Controlled Conditions. J Altern Complement Med 9:25-37. Bundzen PV, Korotkov KG, Unestahl LE (2002). Altered States of Consciousness: Review of Experimental Data Obtained with a Multiple Techniques Approach. J Altern Complement Med 8:153-167. Bundzen PV, Korotkov KG, Korotkova AK, Mukhin VA, Priyatkin NS (2005). Psychophysiological Correlates of Athletic Success in Athletes Training for the Olympics. Human Physiology, 31: 316323. X X X X X X X X X No difference found
20 Chai BH, Zheng GM, Zhao Q, Pollac G (2008). Spectroscopic studies of solutes in aqueous solutions. J Phys Chem 112:2242-2247. Chaplin MF (2000). A proposal for structuring of water. Biophys Chem 83:211-221. Del Giudice E, Vitiello G (2006). Role of the electromagnetic field in the formation of domains in the process of symmetry-breaking phase transition. Phys Rev A. 74: 1-9. Froehlich H (1968). Long-range coherence and energy storage in biological systems. Int J Quant Chem 2:641-649. Gibson S, Williams B (2005). The effect of music and focused meditation on the human energy field as measured by the gas discharge visualization (GDV) technique and profile of mood states. Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine. 16: 57-60. Gudakova G, Galinkin V, Korotkov K (1990). Study of the phases of the development of fungi CANDIDA by Gas Discharge Visualization technique (Kirlian effect). J Mycol Fitol .24:174-179 (In Russ). Hacker GW, Pawlak E, Pauser G, Tichy G, Jell H, Posch G, Kraibacher G, Aigner A, Hutter J (2005). Biomedical evidence of influence of geopathic zones on the human body: scientifically traceable effects and ways of harmonization. Forsch Komplementrmed Klass Naturheilkd 12: 315-327. Hao BL (1985). Chaos. World Scientific, Singapore. Johansson B (2009). Effects of Functional Water on Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability, and Salivary Immunoglobulin A in Healthy Humans: A Pilot Study. J Altern Complement Med 15:871-877. Korotkov K (1985). Physical processes in sliding gas discharge. J Technical Physics Letters, 412: 67-70 (In Russ). Korotkov K, Gurvitz B, Krilov B (1998) New conceptual approach to the early diagnosis of cancer. Consciousness and Physical Reality.. 3:51-58 (In Russ). Korotkov K, Korotkin D (2001). Concentration dependence of gas discharge around drops of inorganic electrolytes. J Appl Phys 89: 4732-4737. Korotkov K (2002). Human Energy Field: study with GDV Bioelectrography. Backbone publishing, NY. 360 p. Korotkov K, Krizhanovsky E, Borisova M, Hayes M, Matravers P, Momoh KS, Peterson P, Shiozawa K, Vainshelboim A (2004). The Research of the Time Dynamics of the Gas Discharge Around Drops of Liquids. J Appl Phys. 95:3334-3338. Korotkov K, Bundzen P, Bronnikov V, Lognikova L (2005). Bioelectrographic Correlates of the Direct Vision Phenomenon. J Altern Complement Med. 11:885893. Korotkov KG, Matravers P, Orlov DV, Williams BO (2010) Application of Electrophoton Capture (EPC) Analysis Based on Gas Discharge Visualization (GDV) Technique in Medicine: A Systematic Review. J Altern Complement Med. 16(1): 13-25.


Posted in goal, walk, walking Tagged flowers in the 'hood, goal, walk, walking 44 Comments


Thanks to everyone who voted, that was fun. 🙂 I hope you got a little chuckle out of my Valentine’s Day post.
Mr. A told me the story of what happened, and it wasn’t quite that way, but while he was telling me we started thinking of how funny it would be if the store owner had done just that. We laughed and laughed just imagining it, how confused he would be, how determined she would be to get rid of him once and for all. How delighted, how his eyes would have lighted up, seeing the gumball machines with little fake rings inside.
He did go in and look around and he’s just not sophisticated like that to know how much something costs, so he was just looking at what he thought I might like, and then honestly shocked at the price. But there isn’t a dark corner with cheap jewelry and she didn’t shove him out the door to gum ball machines. In fact, I think that’s what cracks me up so much to imagine, because she is a petite, very sweet lady and it’s totally opposite of her personality. And most of what he was looking at did cost more than my wedding ring. It was $200 and was a combination Mother’s Day, birthday and wedding ring that he gave to me in 2007.
They were having a sale that day, and the ring he got me was originally $200, discounted to $115. It is really pretty, with 11 diamond chips and it has a ribbon effect to it.
Imy husband likes to buy me presents now and then, and sometimes for holidays he’ll do something special like this. I’m not easy to surprise, but I love being surprised. This was a COMPLETE surprise, and I was so delighted at his surprise.
Laughing together about something silly like my Valentine’s Day “story” is one of the reasons I love Mr. A. His wacky sense of humor has me giggling and laughing almost daily. Even though life is busy, and stressful, he always comes up with something. He’ll even call me on the phone in the middle of the day. Another thing I love is how he buys me little food gifts. In December I cleaned up my diet and am focusing on eating traditional foods, so one of things he used to do was was buy me a sweet treat, like a Milky Way Dark, and I’d stash it in my top drawer until I wanted some chocolate. But now the special treat will be a gorgeous red bell pepper, or he’ll pick out a bunch of asparagus that is thin (I prefer the thin over the thick), and fresh mushrooms. And he always buys them on sale which I also love.
What do you love about your sweethearim’’m not usually a huge fan of the brand, but it’’asted!
Plus your guy got a really good deal!
Nice flowers. Nice gifts are good on special occasions particularly when they come from the heart and do not break the bank. We were going to go to a diner that would cost us about 100 bucks. We opted for the $25 on instead tip included.
What do I think of my sweetheart? I wrote a blog about her. Never boring.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Daddy Paul. Nice tribute to your wife. Thanks for sharing.


- Women's Midnight Maiden Costume
- 85% nylon, 15% spandex stretch satin fabric
- Cap sleeves are studded w/ faux gems
- Skirt has glittery side puffs
Make sure you get to that ball
Don't skip the invitation because you don't have the right outfit. Never do that! Skip the whole fairy godmother routine, too. Because we've got your back with this costume dress, and all the accessories to complete the look. We're more than happy to help make you the Midnight Maiden with this costume. And all we ask in return is that you make sure you truly have a ball!


Smart sponge storage | The Thing About Daisies...
Not only am I trying to make my life easier, but I have been trying to make life around the house easier...
I used the larger one for a space in between our windows over our sink. The larger ASKER has a hole in the bottom, which makes it perfect for hold something that needs to drain. Yep, that's right, I used it for holding our sponge and sink stoppers!
I works perfectly and of course...


Trumbull County WIC hosts group for breastfeeding moms


264.–was 306.–
411.–
ULTIMATE Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencils REVIEW // Knoel's Nook


Friends of the President: Why the Ukrainian government is engaged in selective pressure on businesses.
The bill No. 5600 (signed by President Zelensky in December 2021) has caused heated discussions in the Ukrainian community. For now, let’s overlook the record-breaking 11,000 corrections after its first reading, and a storm of other controversial innovations. Rather, let's focus on one small, but important, aspect concerning the extractive industry.
This “inconspicuous” correction, against the background of the 11,000 mentioned above, deprived the Ukrainian budget of 800 million hryvnias—neither more nor less.
Representatives of the mining and metallurgical complex explained the differences between ore and concentrate, in an interview with delo.ua, with the help of a metaphor about tomatoes and tomato juice. Tomatoes (i.e. the ore) are a marketable product; and in order to "extract" them, certain costs must be incurred. Tomato juice, in turn, is already a concentrate—that is, a product of deeper processing. Andrey Levitsky, technical director of the AMKR mining department, explains, “There is no such product as ore in nature. It is already a product of primary processing since before reaching a marketable condition (pieces less than 20 mm in size), it has to be extracted from the soul and then go through four stages of crushing.”
One can understand the desire of fiscal and regulatory authorities to extract as many taxes from the “deep pocket” metallurgists as possible, especially given that 2021 was the most successful year in the history of players such as Metinvest and Ferrexpo. According to a senior analyst at Dragon Capital Denis Sakva, “…in the first nine months of 2021, the revenue of the Metinvest group increased by 78%, and Ferrexpo reported an increase in revenue by 74.3% in the first half of the year.” So, it is quite likely that the Zhevago Metallurgical Group will be next in line to receive a “nightmare audit” from the responsible authorities.
It should be noted that the fiscal service works in the recognizably creative style of "additional accrual" of large, super-large, and astronomically large numbers.
All this would be great fun if every pragmatic and rational person, observing these events and facts, did not want to ask the State and the President, himself, a few very simple questions:
How does all this affect the image of Ukraine as a country for international investment?
The questions are somewhat rhetorical. After all, and unfortunately, many of the answers are already quite clear. The only thing that remains unknown is whether or not Zelensky will be able to finally put to rest the cliché of a president’s certain affections to various “dear friends” that has been made so well known to us by all his of predecessors, move from selectivity, and adopt the simple and understandable stance of “the law for one is the same for all.”
Rinat Akhmetov Zhevago Ferrexpo AMKR Dragon Capital Metinvest Igor Kolomoisky Kolomoisky Vladimir Zelenskyy Zelenskyy


. Of course, in addition to brushing and flossing at home, you also need to regularly see a dentist you trust. If you’re on the lookout for a new dentist, search results you’ll inevitably see online. Thankfully, rather than having to read endless amounts of text, you really only need to look at 4 key things to see if a dental practice is right for you. Thanks to these simple tips, you can spend more of your precious time on the internet being productive. (more…


Freed from outdated design standards, cities will be able to change their streets much more quickly.
“For the cities out there leading the way on building smarter, safer, complete, walkable streets that are also magnets for productive economic growth, this is a really encouraging move that will make their work easier,” he said. “We hope others will support FHWA’s proposal.” </s> ille
Which of these two deserves the Golden Crater? Use your last vote wisely.
Between Seattle and Tacoma lies Federal Way. Believe it or not, this “downtown” is already a transit hub with frequent bus service to Seattle. And it’s about to get a new light rail station (site outlined in red), thanks to an eight-mile, $1.5 billion expansion project.
A spokesperson for the Federal Way mayor’s office, however, assures us that some transit-oriented development projects are coming to this area. So there’s that.
You can see in the upper left corner, the castle looking building is Louisville‘s colleges and Louisville‘s Main Branch public library, but here you’d never guess people existed at all.
The area suffered a lot, Klayko says, when the widening of Ninth Street, the street with a green median in the photo, “split Downtown from the predominantly black Russell neighborhood and created what is locally called the ‘Ninth Street Divide,’ a major problem still dividing the city today.”
Here’s a historic photo of what used to be, taken during a devastating flood in 1937:
This is the last vote of this year’s tournament and we’ll be keeping the polls open for two days. Weigh in before Friday at noon to determine the winner of the 2016 Golden Crater — and with it, a friendly reminder to make smarter decisions in the future.
- Louisville (57%, 217 Votes)
- Federal Way (43%, 167 Votes)
Total Voters: 384 </s> Rabbit with vegetables
Marinate the rabbit in water and vinegar for about 3 hours. Soak the mushrooms for 30 minutes. Wash and chop the vegetables.
In a deep saucepan sauté a clove of garlic in the oil and butter, remove, and add the rabbit together with the vegetables, the herbs and bacon. Cook on a high heat and when the rabbit is browned add the mushrooms and wine. When the wine has evaporated add the stock cube and cover with warm water. Cook on a low heat until the water is completely reduced.
Pass the vegetables through a sieve or vegetable mill and spoon the purée obtained over the rabbit and serve.
_1 tender rabbit in small pieces
_50 g rolled bacon
_50 g butter
_50 g oil
_5 carrots
_1 head of celery
_1 small pkt dried mushrooms
_1 glass white wine
_1 stock cube
_bay leaf and rosemary
_salt and pepper
_water as needed </s> Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland, and Ryan Ridley, the writers and voice actors behind "Rick and Morty," talk to Kevin Smith about how they came up with Rick's catchphrase, "Wubba lubba dub dub."
Awesome!!!! Just plain fantastic! Just what we've been waiting for! At a loss for words!! Thank You God! It's about time that writers have opened up to ideas from a new realm! This is it! No hold bars, out of this world, other dimensions, straight in your face! Brilliant! I can't wait to see more! I have to see more! There better be more; it would be pretty ugly, otherwise! Hawt-dam! Yee-Freaking-Haa! Sit down, strap in, hold on and be amazed! Super clever, great story lines, great visuals, smooth, exciting, thought provoking works of art; absolute masterpieces! I applaud the writers and commend them for their brilliance and am so excited this is happening! Rick and Morty FOREVER!!! </s> Hi again all! Here is the third update
3. Dylan 186
5. Abbott and Dutch 130
6. Mitzie 125
7. Pinot 120
10. Nelson 110
Good job Melissa. This is a hard one to keep to date.Thomas
Thanks Thomas. My Excel file is helping. I just updated and refreshed my VHS page and noticed that a whole bunch of votes have changed! I'm def going to do another update tonight. </s>
So I read 20th Century Ghosts and was blown away. Fabulous book, and


Ton't tu'll find that you'f!


Tesla has disrupted the automotive industry with innovations in vehicle Feature editor Tom Neveril explains how this has sparked an industry-wide wave of innovation initiatives, and suggests qualitative researchers re-think traditional automotive study approaches and adopt more agile, iterative explorations that focus on the impact of new technologies on customer lifestyles. Several industry-leading automotive researchers share their views on the essential methods and skills needed to successfully conduct automotive research.
From auto shows to TV spots to dealer showrooms, car marketing has typically been focused on incremental improvements in the product design.
As a result, automotive qualitative research has traditionally been conducted by specialists. Manufacturers, suppliers, and their marketing partners have prioritized hiring qualitative researchers who can hit the ground running in conversations with shoppers about the details in safety, styling, comfort, features, and performance.
However, the rise of industry disruptor Tesla is causing automakers to innovate beyond these traditional aspects of vehicle design. In this article, I’ll explain how Tesla’s disruption is generating new opportunities for qualitative researchers in the automotive industry. I’ll also explain the essential methods and skills required to successfully compete for project work in the near term.
Importantly, I could not have written the following without the inspiring conversations and generous contributions from several automotive qualitative experts, whom I interviewed for this article.
To understand how Tesla is disrupting automotive marketing, it’s important to consider a key trend that set the stage for this industry. In recent years, there has been declining product differentiation across almost all brands.
In general, automakers have incrementally improved their vehicle designs so much over the last 10 years that the average shopper increasingly struggles to find meaningful differences between brands competing within the same segment. For example, reliability used to be a huge differentiator for Honda and Toyota versus U.S. automakers. But today, new cars and trucks are safer and more reliable1 than ever before. You simply can’t get better than zero repair visits.
Other design improvements are also yielding diminishing returns. SUVs and crossover utility vehicles (CUVs) have become the dominant segments, but their styling and silhouettes are increasingly difficult to differentiate. Functionally, their aerodynamic drag coefficients can only improve so much. Leather can only get so soft. The interior can only get so quiet. Handling and acceleration can only improve so much before the realities of physics and speed limits mean that every vehicle provides the same rush of adrenaline.
Tesla has been the only automaker to take innovative steps to address this trend.
Since its launch two decades ago, Tesla has abandoned not only the most fundamental aspect of car design—the internal combustion engine—but also the assumptions of how vehicles should be built, marketed, sold, and maintained.
Simply put, Tesla has successfully flipped over the game board of the industry. Consider the fact that Tesla’s market capitalization reached a point in 2021 where it eclipsed3 the market capitalization of the top five largest automakers… combined. It has remained in that position as of this writing in 2022.
Tesla has achieved this position in part because the company has revolutionized the process of vehicle production—making their own parts and software, and using robots almost entirely for assembly.
More importantly, Tesla has reimagined vehicles as computers, wherese Software Defined Vehicles (SDVs) are optimized by continually updated software.
This innovative thinking has allowed Tesla to take the lead in four key areas of automotive innovation known collectively as “CASE” technologies: Connectivity, Autonomy, Sharing, and Electrification. These technologies provide consumers with tremendous benefits in the ownership experience.
Vehicle connectivity is important because it not only reduces driver effort, it also provides some lifestyle enhancements. For example, Tesla vehicles have the capability for “over the air”4 software updates, including refreshed map information for the navigation system, upgrades to the infotainment system, and even improvements to powertrain, chassis, and safety systems. Also, in a partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, Tesla vehicles will have internet access from nearly anywhere on Earth, for emergency calls and texts.
Connectivity via the Tesla app has allowed the company to eschew the traditional dealership model and instead provide simple showrooms where shoppers can test drive cars and ask technical questions face to face, without selling. The Tesla app allows shoppers to configure a car with desired options, purchase it in fewer than 10 clicks, and then arrange to have it delivered directly to them. These capabilities are exactly what most car shoppers are requesting.
Autonomous (or self-driving) vehicles will likely have the greatest impact on our lifestyles. Cars will become mobile rooms for productivity, socializing, or even sleeping. While most industry analysts agree5 that “Level 5” fully autonomous technology (that will take you anywhere with zero human effort) won’t be available until around 2030, Tesla has pushed this technology farther than any other manufacturer by a wide margin.
As of this writing, Tesla’s Full Self Driving (FSD) beta software is consistently improving safety while expanding autonomous use cases. Current capabilities include autopilot, which nd steering assistance, which helps you avoid getting stuck behind slower vehicles. Smart Summon will steer your vehicle out of a tight parking space and roll to where you are standing. Park Seek mode will enable the car to drop you off at a building entrance, then find a parking spot in a parking lot and park itself. These capabilities obviously have far-reaching impacts on consumers’ lifestyles.
The popularity of Uber, Turo, and even Bird has signaled that vehicle sharing is also likely to change how people think about mobility. Since the company’s inception, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly spoken about launching the Tesla Network, an Uber-like ride-hailing app for Tesla “robotaxis” that enables you to share your car with friends and family.
At the end of 2021, Tesla released an app update that allows owners to share their vehicle—making it fully usable—with up to five other Tesla app users. Another feature, interior cameras, is already built into Tesla vehicles and will pave the way for future vehicle sharing.
Lastly, Tesla has obviously led the industry’s transition to fully electric vehicles (EVs). While EVs have been available from other manufacturers for decades, Tesla was the first company to deliver a complete solution for customers: vehicles with substantial range, performance, and fast-charging capability; a vast network of charging facilities; and a home solar and battery system.
We are all familiar with the massive lifestyle benefits of electrification. The important point is that Tesla has finally executed on all the complementary products and services that allow people to make a frictionless transition to electrification.
As Tesla leads the way with CASE technologies, the rest of the industry is scrambling to improve many aspects of the vehicle ownership experience. Not surprisingly, automakers are stepping up their lifestyle market research.
The Cox Automotive study (referenced earlier) explored consumer experiences beyond vehicle design. Specifically, it gathered feedback on service concepts that reduce customer effort required to shop, test drive, buy, and service their vehicles.
For example, the study presented several new convenience concepts, including at-home delivery of a purchased vehicle, at-home maintenance (no more driving to the dealership to have the car serviced), and fast online purchasing (no more long sales processes). The study reported that consumers are increasingly open to all these new approaches (which are already part of the Tesla ownership experience).
The study also explored alternatives to traditional ownership. These appealed primarily to the early adopter segments within the younger shoppers (millennials and Gen Z). The attractive concepts included fractional ownership models and subscription models with access to different types of vehicles (sports cars, RVs, off-road, etc.) based on driver needs.
Automotive researchers will continue to use what might be called traditional qualitative methods—focus groups and car clinics. These have been the standby approaches to vehicle design work, and they’re arguably responsible for the incremental product improvements over the last 10–15 years. More importantly, these methods will remain popular as automakers explore the CASE technologies, many of which have a direct impact on physical design and usability.
Eric Johnston, principal of Eric Johnston Research & Consulting, an automotive qualitative specialist, described how focus groups and car clinics are used. “There are two phases in car marketing research that a lot of automotive companies use. First, an exploratory research phase, where they generally will only have photos—confidential, high-level photos—of an upcoming vehicle, concept, or prototype. We’ll do focus groups to generate hypotheses and possible positioning directions. These are typically conducted in person.
“After that we proceed to a car clinic. A clinic is often quant and qual combined. You’ll typically screen and recruit 200–300 people to attend a venue such as a facility that can accommodate several vehicles (which is rare), a convention center, or a hotel ballroom. You’ll have the client’s vehicle along with four or five competitive vehicles. Then, over a few days, you’ll hspace, completing a roughly two-hour quant survey, usually on a tablet.
“The survey will fully explore the vehicle design, exterior, and interior—everything about the vehicle. A clinic really digs into reactions to the vehiclethe competitive context, the user imagery, all that sort of thing. Pricing impact and brand impact are where conjoint exercises are often used.
Virtual usability studies have been conducted for many years in the automotive industry, as so much of car shopping takes place online. However, like other industries, automakers have expanded the use of virtual methods after .
The automotive industry has also used ethnographic approaches for decades. However, newer technology has provided some interesting new capabilities. Natalia Tafur, founder and chief researcher of Keyhole Research & Consulting, described a particularly noteworthy approach.
“We have conducted some special studies that we call the ‘home placement program.’ I think these studies simulate real-life car ownership scenarios of respondents. We recruit respondents and let them drive home with a car for about three to four days. During this time, respondents are periodically interviewed and asked to take videos and selfies, much like other mobile ethnographic studies. In some cases, we have manufacturer engineers put meters or sensors in the car, so that while the respondent is driving, we can see all the data on how they’re using the vehicle, like speed or acceleration.
“Then the respondents will come back and swap the car out for a different, competitive vehicle and repeat the process. By the end of the study, they have driven about four or five cars, in different orders.
Bob Naik, principal at Research AV, a commercial advertising photography studio and automotive specialist, offered some thoughts on how another new technology is being applied in automotive qualitative.
Industry experts recommend that qualitative researchers familiarize themselves with the fast-paced development and agile research approaches used at technology companies.
Like other industries, understanding the automotive jargon is essential, from a B pillar, to a liftgate, to a feature-on-demand (FOD). However, in automotive, the lingo is multiplied by different constituencies.
Automotive is a high-involvement category and always has been. Cars are a big part of American culture and our identities. From a qualitative researcher’s perspective, this brings many benefits. People are often eager to share their opinions, and that can make for a lively, insightful focus group.
The political issues surrounding automotive are highly complicated, and moderators need to be politically informed and equipped with the temperament to keep the conversation productive and courteous. As is always the case, researchers who can resist bringing their own biases into their work are far more likely to be successful in automotive qualitative.
pandemic-related shutdowns accelerated adoption of virtual qualitative methods. Clients are increasingly interested in agile research approaches and new mobile qualitative methods. In-person focus groups and in-depth interviewing continue to be valued despite their predicted demise.
However, unlike other industries, almost every aspect of the automotive industry is being disrupted by Tesla and CASE technologies. A new wave of automotive decision-makers is taking control of the market research function. As a result, today might be the best time ever for qualitative researchers looking to break into the automotive industry.


Movement has begun, albeit late,coronavirus, in Blaine County and the rest of Idaho. The hope is that “better late than never” will save lives, but more must be done quickly.
Gov. Brad Little needs to restrict gatherings, control access to businesses that may be viral centers, restrict travel and get more tests for Idaho.
Statemust shoulder his legal duties, includingtine,he department and health districts should help vulnerable residents of nursing and assisted-living centers by ramping up staff testing.
That could keep such facilities from becoming death traps like the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., which was a nexus for the outbreak and where 50 staffers have tested positive for the virus.
Idaho’s mayors and city councils should act, too. State law empowers cities tos and make and enforce quarantine laws within 5 miles of city limits.
Mayors can enforce the ordinances like New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio did when he ordered restaurants and bars into take-out-only operations Sunday.
All organizations must be conscientious. Sun Valley Resort followed other ski resorts and rightly shut down Bald Mountain on Monday, the same day Blaine County schools closed.
The virus will bring grievous economic harm, but lives are priceless. Action is key. Just ask Italy, which acted too late and where hundreds of people are dying each day.


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