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Tag Archives: Erika Menendez

Things that need fixing in our mental health system

Things that need fixing in our mental health system:

1. Certification

The NYS Mental Health Law mandates OMH to certify all providers. Certification provides the legal covers that allows our public legal advocates to bring cases of abusive providers to courts. But, totally against the mandate, OMH has established since the 1990s, together with our State’s DOH, a policy of DECERTIFYING providers. At least half of providers and services are not licensed in NYS.

This decertification scheme has provided judges who are less friendly to the mentally ill in our State’s highest courts the ammunition to allow the continued abuse of the disabled and the mentally ill in not-for-profit agencies. The state knows it; it participates in the abuses and defends these practices in courts.

Refer to the DAI case. Ask yourself: why, in the new millennium, we are still struggling with Willowbrookesque cases; why did we need to create a Center for The Protection of People with Special Needs this year, not 20 years ago?

2. ‘Best Practice’: no monitoring of providers needed.

Without certification, monitoring is just a word among the many used to describe something that is not happening in our mental health system. In other words, ‘monitoring of providers’ is a delusion of our mental health system. NYS courts have decided many times that legal advocates can’t monitor the safety of their clients in places where complains were logged, because these places are not ‘certified’.

Quality of services is a mandate. There is no point in giving money away to ‘providers’ who will pocket the money and dish out substandard mental health treatment. But you can’t have quality of services because our DOH and OMH says that monitoring is not necessary for people who can “defend themselves” from bad providers.  This is actually in their ‘license’ rules. Since you can’t monitor or be defended in court, quality of services becomes an unenforceable fantasy.

3. No Consumer participation.

This is the ‘pet peeve’ of the Citywide Mental Health Project. Please, read our Vision and Mission.

Federal and state laws provide for our participation in the programs, to the policy level of the programs. These provisions are there for us to protect ourselves from the history of abuse, to prevent more abuses.  It’s part of a policy system that requires the feedback of those receiving the benefits of the policy.

If you can buy a ticket to the moon then we consumers can give feedback to our not-for-profit servers.

Our bureaucrats are mis-managing our mental health system. Look, we adore the corporate system, even our bureaucrats use that model.  Just as you find CEOs that destroy their own companies and still get bonuses, we have the corporate model in OMH. They mismanage the system and still get praised.

Meanwhile, down here in the communities, you are raking your minds about why we have Erika Menendez in the streets. You are asking the wrong question. Ask why  OMH so often the defendant in cases of abuse; why is our public system been privatized by a decertification scheme that leaves the troubled people without quality of services. Why are the families so often complaining that the ‘system’ has left them alone with their troubled child?

Don’t look for quick fixes. Forced hospitalization as a remedy to the problem is a delusion you are suffering.

Erika Menendez, and the “impossible dream”.

I confess: I rather spend New Years Eve writing about this than freezing my touchy in Time Square. Eh, there are other reasons, let’s leave it at that.

OK. look: mental health, it’s not only a state of mind. It’s also a state of political priorities. There will for ever be people with mental issues, just as there will forever be poor people and wars.  So, how do we deal with those issues? We put most of our money on wars-for-profit.

Historically, we deal with mental health problems as in a spring: up and down turns, never going back to the same place…supposedly.

up and down, but never up in the beginning.

up and down, but never up in the beginning.

I have an ‘outline’ of  the history of our nation’s mental health system policy here, written in the summer. I keep writing about that past because it is TOTALLY relevant to today’s problems. The point is that dealing with ‘disruptive’ citizens is not new. Historically we lump the mentally ill and the ‘feeble’, the petty thieves and the communists/anarchists/socialist and feminists in prison and psych hospitals. Yes, even the political  prisoners wind-up in psych ‘treatment’.

Our less critical citizens tend to display knee-jerk reactions and solutions to every problem the news papers talk about. Today the issue is so-called mentally ill people running berserk, unmedicated, killing civilians. Hit me in the knee for a solution, please:

How solutions for social problems are really made.

How solutions for social problems are really made.

OK, let’s round-up anyone who shows anger at anything, real or imagined, commit them involuntary, and forget about them in the hospitals. Just as we did until…this year! Read about the NY Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs. Check my post about this here.

That’s exactly what we do: we ignore their problems, we forget about them in the hospitals until one day good ol’ New York Times reports about the abuses in the hospitals (reports for the next 12 or 20 years) and one day we say ‘fine, open the hospitals; throw them to the streets.’ That’s your knee-jerk mental health policy process in action. No planning, no priority.

I have written in this blog many times about this. We have a plan. Please, read our ‘Vision” in the page up there.

How do you solve this problem? You can’t. You can only pablum it because you don’t want to spend the money it takes to provide the quality of services that would prevent this from happening. It’s not just services, it’s QUALITY of services that we need. Forced-medicate a person could be necessary ONCE; the problem is when you get used to force-medicate and it becomes a power-tool in your hands to use when you feel like doing it. And you know nobody is watching over you. It’s like those cops who abuse their power and you see them in the news beating unarmed civilians. Or when you WITHHOLD the services and meds because of carelessness and neglect. Same thing.

Erika Menendez does not lives in outer space, in a vacuum. You can point at her history and say ‘she was a problem’. Fine. If you neglect to see how and why the mental health system dealt with her, you become part of the problem.

Here in the NY Times an article about how mental health services are being reduced after the hurricane Sandy (here)

“I cried when I saw her,” Ms. Rosa said. “I found her in horrible conditions. She was lying in her own feces, she had a fractured leg and the provider could not explain how her leg was fractured.”

That has happened since BEFORE the hurricane, is common practice; you just didn’t want to know about it. Be honest, you still don’t care about how that woman is been treated in our house of ‘healing’.  What about those reports for over 10 years in the NY Times about abuses in adult home care run by the state? Willowbrook is alive and well! And your solution is still  to open that house of horrors as mental health policy again?! How is that a solution? How is ignoring that our bureaucrats are  doing a lousy job at managing our public mental health system a conscientious citizenry practice?

Our Office of Mental Health (OMH) doesn’t want to spend the money on monitoring abusive providers. For that reason, I guess, they have renegaded  the mandate to certify and monitor  every program (public). Interestingly enough,  pretty often OMH ends up being one of the DEFENDANTS in some of the most abject cases of abuse on the elderly, the mentally ill and the physically disabled. OMH has decertified more than half of programs that serves the mentally ill. I wrote about that here in this blog too. I’m still waiting for OMH to correct me on this. (Patience, I will get there.)

It is YOU who should be asking  OMH why have they decertified so many programs. YOU who should be asking OMH why is it that THEY so often end up as DEFENDANTS in those court cases about abuse to those who can’t protect themselves.

We, consumers, are fighting the budget cuts that not only cut spending but, inevitably, cut the quality of  services too. And we keep losing cases in courts about abusive providers and State.

Now, you tell me: If your budget cuts in mental health bring reduced quality of services, how do you think that may affect YOU? And, who wants to go WILLINGLY to psych hospitals or state-run adult home care (“assisted living”) housing to be abused?

As a consumer that I am, I tell you that I wouldn’t mind being carted away if I start to ‘lose it’…BUT NOT IN THIS SYSTEM. I have been hospitalized three times in the last 12 years, always ‘voluntarily’. The fear and terror I feel every time is not funny. I want to be treated, NOT MISTREATED. In psych hospitals, you bump into a tired worker and BAM, next you find yourself tied up to a bed and being ECTed. This didn’t happen to me, I witnessed it, though.

The abuses I have received in the hands of providers in the community is enough to make me distrust the system.

I used to work, and after I got ‘sick’, I wanted treatment and return to work. Thanks to my provider, NOT MY ILLNESS, my dream became an impossible dream. I had to fight, to get the services I needed, FOR FIVE years. It was only when I went to court PRO SE (without lawyer) that I saw some change. I lost the case, of course. A long story.

The mental health system and its policies needs monitoring by the citizenry. The consumers have no voice. No one listens to our screams, only when one of us succumbs to the neglect and the mistreatment.

LISTEN TO US, PLEASE. Let’s engage in a public conversation with us as HUMAN BEINGS, don’t talk about us in the third person.

You can’t cut funds and not monitor the system and then pretend that the sick people will get better by magic.

Forced hospitalization is a remedy for your convenience, so you don’t have to think about the problem. It does not to fix the problem.


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Posted by: dreamerspoetry | March 6, 2009

Black Tears

I seek

Solace in the

Quiet solitude

Of my mind.

I sit in my corner

And think of

The things

Which drove me here.

Running from my past,

I continually search

For places to hide.

Rocking slowly

Back and forth,

My frozen and

Lonely heart

Begins to crack.

All of the secrets,

All of the lies,

All of the dark things

That haunt me

Start to pour out of

My heart and

Seep into my mind.

Memories flash

Across my mind

And faces

Float in front

Of my eyes

At night.

Will I ever be

Whole again?

Or will I remain

Locked inside myself?

-Sabrina Hoddy

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View Full Version : Remington Model 58 12 ga Question

March 30, 2011, 07:42 PM
Hi All,
A quick question. I just purchased a Mod 58 from a pawn shop. I haven't fired it yet but am a little confused about something. When I load two shells in the tube and bring back the bolt and release it, one shell leaves the tube but the bolt does not release until I push the release button. Once I push the button the shell goes in the chamber just fine. Then when I pull the bolt back to eject the shell, the shell ejects okay but the other round does the same thing. Is this normal? if not what is the probable cause. I am hoping it was designed that way and when fired everything will work as it should but I have my doubts. Thanks.

March 30, 2011, 08:55 PM
Greetings Wingnut238, and welcome aboard.

Try loading as the gun was intended to be loaded: with the safety on, put a shell into the ejection port allowing the front of the shell to settle down on the carrier. Then with fingers clear of the port, press the carrier latch button -- the bolt will spring forward and lock-up.

To load the mag: place a shell on the carrier (not the latch button) depressing it toward the bolt and push the shell forward into the mag until is clicks past the carrier latch.

With it loaded, pointed in a safe direction and with the safety on, quickly pulling back on the handle and releasing it (to simulate actual firing) should elect the shell from the barrel, then feed and chamber a round from the mag. The bolt should lock back only when the mag is depleted. If the bolt locks back when the mag is loaded, then you've got troubles.

March 30, 2011, 09:14 PM
Thanks Zippy,
Well I followed your instructions and something you said did not sound right but I tried it anyway. You said after loading one in the chamber load the mag by putting the shell on the carrier and pushing it toward the bolt. The carrier will not allow the shell to enter the tube unless the button (spring release) is pushed. I have found that to be the case on many autoloaders I have used. I am 65 years old and have had many guns in my life and this one has me puzzeled. After loading the chamber and the tube, when I pull the bolt back it ejects perfectly and the shell comes out of the tube and rests perfectly on the carrier but the bolt stays to the rear untill I manually release it.
It would seem that the shell coming out of the tube is supposed to trigger something on the inside of the carrier to release it. Could it possibly be a weak spring in the tube not allowing the shell to trigger the carrier?

March 30, 2011, 09:30 PM
After sending that last post I went and got the gun out and looked inside the chamber. I can see where the shell coming out of the tube is supposed to trigger the release of the bolt. With the bolt to the rear and locked I held onto the bolt handle and I reached in the chamber with my index ginger and put a little backword pressure on the spot that releases the bolt and it released it with very little pressure. This suggests that the spring in the tube is weak and not forceing the shell hard enough against that release. I will try to fix that tomorrow by pulling out the spring and seeing if I can put some more tension on it. If I can't I will probaby put a 2/3/4 " spacer in the tube for more tension and see if that works. If it does it will mean that I will just have two shots to get my bird which is all I ever get off anyway :)

Jim Watson
March 30, 2011, 10:11 PM
I haven't fired it yet

I have seen a lot of peculiar things when hand cycling an auto shotgun (or rifle or pistol.)

Take it out and fire a few before making any modifications.

March 30, 2011, 10:46 PM
That is very good advice....I have been around the block a few times but don't know everything. It might work fine with that jolt it gets from the shell firing and the recoil. Thanks again!

March 30, 2011, 11:22 PM
IINM, the M-58 is only a 3-shot because, unlike the M-1100, the M-58 has its action spring in a separate compartment in the front of the mag tube. Perhaps loading two in the mag would increase the spring pressure enough to tell you if it's a problem with the mag spring. As Jim astutely mentioned, hand cycling and actual firing are different.

March 31, 2011, 12:06 AM
Thanks Zippy,
My problem is that I have nowhere close and handy to test fire the gun. I am going to try the full three shell load to see if that makes a difference, better that than screwing with the spring. I have never owned an autoloader that one shell could not be put in the tube then fed into the chamber by simply cocking the gun by a pull on the handle and a release. I am a little frustrated with it but will figure it out. I owned a gun shop in my younger days and I am retired military...guns have been a major part of my liife except for the Sportsman Mod 58 :confused: Stay tuned ;)

March 31, 2011, 01:15 AM
Go here (http://www.stevespages.com/page7b.htm) and then click on Remington Model-58 to download a .pdf diagram and parts list.

March 31, 2011, 01:50 AM
Per this Remington will send you a free manual. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_disassemble_a_Remington_Sportsman_58_shotgun

Here us a link to a home made video on disassembly. I have not idea if the guy in it knows what he is talking about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AojOVRvoMcM

But not what he says about the magazine cap and it having two settings. If it is on the setting for low b rass shells and you fire a high brass shell you can blow the cap off the gun.

He also says not to fire steel shot through it.

March 31, 2011, 10:29 AM
Well, I downloaded the parts list..thank you, I also watched a couple videos on Yutube, thank you also.

I will be away from this thread until I figure out what is wrong or at least until I fire it, that might be a few days.

I want to thank all of you for your input. Stay tuned I will eventually come back with a report on what I found.


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Old February 25, 2013, 11:22 AM   #18
Senior Member
Join Date: October 20, 2010
Location: Pawleys Island
Posts: 1,446
I shoot 90grn Nosler BT's in my .243 with great results. Only had one travel and it was about 25-30yds. Most good bullets today will kill very well provided shot placement is where it should be. I would imagine an 85grn Partition would be very effective.
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Old March 12, 2013, 12:40 PM   #8
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Join Date: July 21, 2011
Location: Idaho
Posts: 7,637
James K and Mike Irwin make very good points, I had forgotten about the G41, there isn't much literature about it that I've run across so it rarely comes up in conversation. however I would like to offer my own opinions towards this statement:
Regardless, the outcome of WWII really was not much affected by the small arms used. The Allies did not win because the U.S. had the M1 rifle, or the Russians had the SVT 40. The huge technological advantage the U.S. had in mass production and the advantage the Soviets had in both production and manpower would have made the difference if all the armies had had only bolt action rifles. When a squadron of P.51's descended on a German troop convoy or a supply column with all guns blazing, it didn't matter much whether the Germans had K.98k's or G.43's, they were in deep trouble.
now I will largely agree with you here however there are a couple situations to look at. in the south pacific where much of the fighting was in rain forests and swamps things like P51s, tanks and artillery were largely irrelevant. the heaviest thing you could post were machine guns. had the Japanese adopted a semi auto rifle then the entire south pacific campaign could have ended much differently as the marines were still largely issued 1903s. in this situation the japs had few machineguns and no SMGs while the US had plenty of both, the advantage of firepower(mixed with better supply chains) is what turned the tide in the south pacific, not tanks, planes and big guns.

you are largely correct in the case of the african and european campaigns though large amphibious landings like normandy where you have machine gun fire raining down on you would have been even more catastrophic had everyone been using bolt actions instead of the mix of semi, bolt and full auto weaponry that we hit the beaches with. the rest of the war however were pretty much won but tanks planes and big guns
ignore my complete lack of capitalization. I still have no problem correcting your grammar.
I never said half the stuff people said I did-Albert Einstein
You can't believe everything you read on the internet-Benjamin Franklin
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Old March 13, 2013, 10:12 AM   #40
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Join Date: December 20, 2008
Location: Pittsburgh PA
Posts: 2,863
I see no one liked my double mag matched AC41 P38 :P - thats ok though.

Its about time someone posted a broomhandle. Thanks.
Speak of the devil! A few months ago, a guy I know through a friend decided to sell a Broomhandle he had acquired. He told me it was a 9mm, and the SN was 36XXX. I researched it, and found out that was the correct SN range for the red 9 contract. During WWI, Germany needed more pistols, specifically lugers, and the German brass felt that the Mauser factory was under-utilized. They then commisioned Mauser to make the broomhandle in 9mm. The seller had said he felt it was a pre WWI commercial 9mm - which basically did not exist. I figured that he probably missed the very small Imperial proof mark on the right side of the chamber. The seller claimed the gun matched inside and out, including the grips. There were some variance with the grips, since some "red 9" stamps on the grips were possibly done at the factory, some were done by armorers, some were done near the front lines, etc. This was of course done to prevent someone from confusing a 9mm version with a 7.63 mm aka 30 mauser version.

I liked the condition - all original. The gun came with a repro stock.

Here is the small proof mark that the seller must have missed.

All matching, with the correct "NS" hammer. NS meant "Neue Sicherung" aka New Safety - the safety was in the up position for safe and the hammer had to be cocked to engage. This was a departure from the previous design.

Look - it transforms into an assault weapon!

Winchester 73, the TFL user that won the west
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Thread: .357sig
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Old July 15, 2013, 06:06 PM   #130
Senior Member
Join Date: May 1, 2001
Posts: 9,546
Spray-n-pray does not work.
I dont, but I guess those who need to justify their choices need to keep saying it. It was an old cliche back when Cooper was beating it to death. Its still old.

Machinegunning your opponent does not work.
Id like to hear the reason why here.

Having a zillion rounds is meaningless.
Having one round less than needed, tends to have some meaning. Or at least I think so.

I wont fault you for not having enough along, as long as you dont expect me to bail you out if you dont.

It is good powerful hits, from the first shot to the last, that are important.
Absolutely, and applied until the problem is solved, and any other threats that may be around are solved as well.

Carry the most powerful gun you can shoot well AND conceal with your everyday cloths. And by shooting well I mean being able to control it fast, one handed, at reasonable SD ranges.

Ive carried full sized handguns concealed in street clothes, 18+ hours a day, everyday, most of my adult life, as well as a double reload and often a second gun. Carrying them isnt a problem, constant practice solves the other issue.

I was a Cooper child back when he was still learning. I swore by a .45acp 1911, mostly Colt Commanders, for 25+ years, until I saw things changing and degrading in the 1911 world. Switched to SIG P220's and related models, and then to SIG 357SIG's, P226's, P229's, P239's, and swore they were the Hammer of Todd as well, until I started digging deeper, and talking to the people who load the ammo and what the facts were. Now I carry pretty much nothing but a Glock 17 and 26, usually together, in place of the others. Until Todd comes up with a better hammer, these will do.

By all means use what you shoot best with, regardless of caliber. Just dont caught up in a lot of the hype, without doing your own digging and homework. Dont be surprised, if you dont find much real difference in real world comparisons these days.
"If the rule you followed brought you to this,
of what use was the rule?"

“The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he is on.” - Joseph Heller
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The Firing Line Forums

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Old December 10, 2001, 10:34 AM   #1
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Join Date: May 6, 2001
Posts: 141
Black Bear shot placement

I've head several opinions on shot placement for a charging black bear facing the hunter.

1. Aim for the neck at shoulder level.
2. Aim somewhat below eye level engaging skull.

I know this is somewhat academic as things develop very quickly.

Just trying to pick up some tips.

Last edited by Art Eatman; December 10, 2001 at 03:11 PM.
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Old December 10, 2001, 03:19 PM   #2
Art Eatman
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Join Date: November 13, 1998
Location: Terlingua, TX; Thomasville, GA
Posts: 23,826
From what I've seen about bears (still photos, video, etc.), if the bear is truly wild and sees a hunter, it's not going to just stand there, head up, and look. And if the bear is unaware of the hunter, the head is more commonly down.

Thus the view is of the face and top of skull, rather than of the throat area. I'd take your #2 head shot, I guess. The entry hole won't ruin a taxidermist's day. However, if the shot is off just a bit, there is the chance of just making a bad head wound that still would allow the bear to run a truly long way...

If you can take the neck shot, it oughta do just as good. Ruins the spine and major blood vessels, every neck shot on a deer that I've ever made.

Just speculatin',

You're from BATFE? Come right in! I use all your fine products!
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Old December 11, 2001, 10:15 PM   #3
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Join Date: July 25, 2001
Location: Colorado
Posts: 504
First of all Black Bears can move astonishlingly fast. Keep that in mind. When they are in the aggresive charge mode or are posturing they tend to arch up at the shoulders and hold there heads low. I've seen them charge many times when hunting them with dogs (at the dogs) the speed and power of even a small black bear is truley amazing and needs to be seen to be appreciated. I've also made a good number of back up shots on wounded bears (usually coming out of a tree) and it seems that a man is almost always looking down on a bear when he's coming at you on the ground so I tend to shoot them in the neck or forward spine shooting at a downward angle usually. The head tends to be the smallest target on a black bear and I can only think of one time that I had to shoot one in the head to make him desist current activity. If I were to shoot one coming at me hard on the ground I guess if I were able to put one in him in the front side (shoulders neck head) I'd be pretty happy with my shooting. We've got a picture of a truley huge blck bear on our web-site he was shot through the neck with a 30-30 after jumping a tree.
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Character Logo Design Explained

A character logo design can personalize your brand, bringing a face or message to who you are as a company and successfully reaching out to your consumer. Character logos come in almost every shape and size and when effectively used, will significantly change how your business is initially perceived.

MS Windows and Apple Logo: Make Good Use of Space

A character logo isn’t necessarily an anthropomorphic character, or even a person. The Windows logo character is four squares that come together on the screen, and the Apple logo is an apple with a bite taken out of it. One of the things that make both logos so successful, however, is their use of space.

The exclusion zone of a logo is the perimeter around a logo that can’t contain any other images or words so that the logo does not get lost. Nobody does a better job of this than Apple. The nature of a laptop offers a giant area for the Apple logo to shine, and they make full use of it. They have transferred this open use of space to every other format, too. Even in small spaces, the design ensures that the logo has at least twice its width of space on each side.

Pixar Character: Bringing Life to the Brand

For an example of an active character logo, just remember the Pixar lamp. The Pixar lamp excellently represents its brand for several reasons. First, the connection between a light bulb and ideas is strong, showing that Pixar is an inventive company. Second, they have brought to life an otherwise common part of a home (which is a lot of what Pixar does onscreen).

Most importantly, however, the Pixar lamp has its own mini storyline full of its own personality and playfulness. When you see the lamp, you remember how it accidentally squished the Pixar “I” and how it played with a ball. In thirty seconds or less, Pixar has given you a taste of what they can do with a story, and it is phenomenal.

Android Logo: Creating Versatility

The little green robot that hovers above Android’s name works wonderfully both as a stationary logo and animated character zooming around a commercial or loading page. The character design itself is catchy, creating a robot that mimics the “men” and “women” signs we see on bathroom doors every day. By using only one color, the design will also transfer well to black and white.

The designers took this logo a step further by making it an open-sourced logo, meaning that other designers could take the design and customize it. That is why if you research the Android logo, your search may pick up the little green robot transformed into Frankenstein, the Monopoly man, or R2-D2. The ingrained versatility of the logo in addition to the creator’s willingness to let others tinker with it has made it one of the most memorable designs.

KFC Logo: Describing Who the Brand Is

Sometimes it is not so much what a brand is as who it is. KFC could have used anything as its logo, but it decided to use the image of its founder, Colonel Harland Sanders. He began his restaurant in Kentucky and was the one who originally turned the company into a franchise. He would even dress up as the KFC Colonel on occasion for events.

Are you just as central to your company as your products? For example, if two sisters run a business together, a character logo of two sisters is not a bad idea. Creating a logo based from one of your defining characteristics has been a common way for sole proprietors to market their business for years.

Tony the Tiger: Knowing Your Audience

All you need is a picture of Tony the Tiger to know that we are talking about Frosted Flakes. Tony has been one of the most successful cereal mascots ever created, outlasting other brands and characters like Count Chocula and the Cookie Crisp Bandit even though he originated back in the 1950s. Like most cereal mascots, Tony was created to endear children to himself and the cereal he is the face of.

How is he so good at it? Kellogg knows its audience, so Tony is energetic, incredibly encouraging, and tough in a lets-go-have-fun sort of way. Basically, he is the dream older brother eager to take every child under his wing, and kids love him for it.

Marvel and DC Characters: Using Color Psychology

When you think about comics and other cartoon characters, you might notice that the designers do not just create a character; they also create character logos for cartoon characters. Between DC and Marvel logos, you’ll find that the design communicates the heart of the hero through its images, color, or text.

The spider image of Spiderman, for example, is a spindly looking spider with extra-long legs. A new design of the Spiderman character has brought in the red that has always been included in the costume. When viewed through color psychology, the positive connotations of red include things like courage and strength. Red is actually physically stimulating, raising our pulse rate in a similar way that the spider’s venom has strengthened Peter Parker’s blood. DC logos are equally enlightening in view of color psychology as well; the yellow background of Batman’s logo has to do with fear and depression, the reigning emotions of Gotham City, while the black bat lends itself to protection and menace.

Think a character or mascot could be the right fit for your brand? The Logo Company is a leading logo design company rated highly by The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, INC., and more, and we would be happy to help you find a logo you love. Our logo design packages come with unlimited revisions and redraws so that you get exactly what you need.

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Google to acquire Nest for $3.2 billion

Google to acquire Nest for $3.2 billion

Google has announced the pending acquisition of smart home device maker Nest Labs for $3.2 billion.

Nest earned acclaim for its first product, a learning thermostat, and had just launched Protect, a smart smoke detector, late last year.

Google CEO Larry Page had this to say of the deal:

Nest’s founders, Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers, have built a tremendous team that we are excited to welcome into the Google family. They’re already delivering amazing products you can buy right now–thermostats that save energy and smoke/CO alarms that can help keep your family safe. We are excited to bring great experiences to more homes in more countries and fulfill their dreams!

According to the terms of the acquisition, Nest will maintain a separate brand identity. Fadell, who worked on the original iPod at Apple, will continue to lead the company.

Fadell said in a blog post that partnering with Google will help Nest “change the world faster than we ever could if we continued to go it alone,” citing the giant’s business resources, global scale and platform. He also noted that the two companies’ visions are well-aligned.

Google Ventures had been one of Nest’s earliest investors. It led the startup’s Series B financing in 2011, as well as its Series C round in 2012. Fadell demoed the Nest Thermostat to Google co-founder Sergey Brin ahead of the device’s launch in 2011.

For those worried about potential privacy issues with Google tapping into your thermostat’s data, Nest co-founder Matt Rogers said in a Q&A: “Our privacy policy clearly limits the use of customer information to providing and improving Nest’s products and services. We’ve always taken privacy seriously and this will not change.”

Rogers also confirmed that Nest will continue to support iOS even after joining Google.

The connected home space was a major theme at CES last week, and Nest has emerged as one of the hottest (pun intended) brands in the industry. It’ll be interesting to see how Google teams up with Nest to push into the space. I actually would have liked to see Nest stay independent. Rogers’s assurance that it won’t share data with Google is comforting for now, but Google has a history of valuing customer data over product sales.

Read next: Twitter rolling out refreshed website to match the look & feel of its iOS and Android apps

Here's some more distraction


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Praying with Karl Barth – “Fifty Prayers”

Karl Barth, Fifty Prayers. Translated by David Carl Stassen (London/Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008), 63 pp.+xii, $10.36.

Lord, our God, you know who we are: People with good and bad consciences; satisfied and dissatisfied, sure and unsure people; Christians out of conviction and Christians out of habit; believers, half-believers, and unbelievers…But now we all stand before you: in all our inequality equal in this, that we are all in the wrong before you and among each other…but also in that your grace is promised to and turned toward all of us through your beloved Son, Jesus Christ (p. 1).

So begins the first of fifty prayers by Karl Barth in this delightful little collection by Westminster John Knox. With the exception of a few unprinted prayers, those here are taken from Karl Barth, Predigten 1954-1967, third edition (Theologischer Verlag Zürich, 2003) which reissued them from two earlier volumes long out of print, Fürchte dich nicht and Dem Defangenen Befreiung. Although I did not cross check all of them, at least one of the Pentecost prayers was previously translated and published with twelve others in Prayer:50th Anniversary Edition (Westminster John Knox, 2002).

From his 1962 forward to Fürchte dich nicht, Barth describes his longstanding dislike for liturgy and all manner of worship formalities. The formalism and distance in language between the liturgy and the modern worshipper both chaffed and prompted him to begin replacing the prayers of the liturgy with those of his own crafting. Praying with the congregation extemporaneously, he confessed, was “a risk” he would never dare, so he brought together various biblical passages from the Psalms. In time, he began fashioning those prayers himself and it is from that context that these were collected. In his words, their publication was an entrance “into the society of true liturgy only through a back door.”

Barth envisioned worship leaders or congregations using these prayers for planning services or for personal reflection, and considering their thematic organization here around the seasons of the liturgical year they could effectively serve that purpose.

Beyond that, however, new readers of Barth and those more intimately acquainted with the unique delight of losing oneself in his impassioned (and sometimes circuitous) thought will cherish the opportunity to pray with him through these pages. And in praying with him, the reader can’t help but glimpse the contours of his theology.

A few of my favorites:

Do not allow us to harden ourselves to [your faithfulness]! Continually awaken us from the sleep of indifference and the bad dreams of our pious and impious passions and desires! Do not tire of continually guiding us back onto your path! (p. 10)

Lord our God, when we are afraid, do not permit us to doubt! When we are disappointed, let us not become bitter! When we have fallen, do not leave us lying down! When we have come to the end of our understanding and our powers, do not leave us to die! No, let us then feel your nearness and your love, that you have promised to those whose hearts are humble and broken, and who fear your Word (p. 11-12)

None of us is a great Christian; rather, we are all very small Christians. But your grace is sufficient for us. Awaken us to the small joy and thankfulness that we are capable of, the timid faith that we bring, the incomplete obedience that we cannot refuse – to the hope in the greatness, wholeness, and completeness that you have prepared for us in the death of our Lord, Jesus Christ and that you have promised to us in his resurrection from the dead (p. 30)

2 thoughts on “Praying with Karl Barth – “Fifty Prayers”

  1. Pingback: Fifty Prayers by Karl Barth « Per Crucem ad Lucem

  2. Pingback: Against the Protestant Gnostics - God Discussion

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The Oransky Journal

Interesting stuff that doesn't fit on Embargo Watch or Retraction Watch

Never mind 150 half-siblings: Try ‘twinblings,’ inadvertent full siblings from different mothers

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I’ve heard a fair amount of “woahs” about a story in yesterday’s New York Times noting that one sperm donor seems to have fathered 150 half-siblings. (The Times has trod this ground before.)

The reaction reminded me that I’d come across a paper earlier this summer in the journal Fertility and Sterility. The case report, by fertility doctors in the Bronx and Westchester, begins as follows (emphasis mine):

At our institution, all patients using donor gametes to achieve pregnancy meet with an on-site psychologist before undergoing treatment. During this meeting, the existence of half-siblings based on anonymous gamete donation is discussed. Currently, the possibility of genetic full siblings, ‘‘twiblings,’’ as coined by Melanie Thernstrom, is not discussed, because the likelihood of such an occurrence is minute. We report herein such an occurrence at our institution.

The two women in the study were

…independently undergoing donor recipient cycles with anonymous donor oocytes and donor sperm.

The abstract continues:

Both women received oocytes from the same donor several months apart and then by coincidence selected the same anonymous sperm donor to create anonymous full-sibling embryos.

Both women conceived using the same donor sperm and donor oocytes in independent cycles, resulting in simultaneous pregnancy of full siblings.

So how was this discovered? And when?

Both patients underwent their respective donor-recipient cycles without complication and each conceived twin gestations several months apart from each other. On routine review of recently completed cycles in our database, it was noted by our lab director that these donor-recipient cycles used the exact same oocyte donor and the exact same sperm donor. At the time that this realization occurred, patient #1 was at 23 weeks’ gestational age with an ongoing pregnancy and supernumerary frozen embryos. Patient #2 suffered a spontaneous miscarriage at 9 weeks’ gestational age, but has frozen embryos for a potential future cycle.

In other words, the lab director discovered the parentage issues only after the pregnancies had begun, but nature averted the interesting ethical questions — for now.

The authors don’t speculate as to how often this sort of thing is likely to happen. They shared the news with an ethics committee at one of their institutions. After all, what if the siblings met and didn’t know they were siblings?

The majority of the committee thought that if both recipients were aware of the possibility of anonymous half-siblings before using donor gametes, that the providing physicians have no obligation to provide any further information to the recipients. The case was also presented to a group of regional mental health professionals specializing in infertility, who reached the same conclusion.

Still, the authors conclude:

As providers with the knowledge that anonymous full sibling embryos have been created, we may have an obligation to disclose this information to the patients.

Written by Ivan Oransky

September 7, 2011 at 3:41 pm

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"Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:7-8

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The People's Chemist

Mom-In-Thong Teaches 3 Things to Never Feed Your Children

Growing up, I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. There were even bowls of candy spread around the house on holiday mornings that inevitably put us into sugar shock by 8:00am. Disgusting.
With no nutritional guidance, I left my first year of college with an extra 15, or 20lbs of fat and often felt lethargic and moody.   This was not the road my children were going to follow. I’ve learned three rules you must never break to assure your children don’t grow obese.
Number one don’t eat fast food. I would be mortified if someone saw me in a McDonalds. That alone keeps me from ordering my food from a talking box and picking it up through a window.
Number two avoid monosodium glutamate (MSG). This is a nasty unnatural dangerous chemical used as a flavor enhancer. Basically, it’s designed by evil chemists to make tasteless food addicting. Big profit for someone right? At the same time, my husband teaches that it also interrupt’s your body’s natural hormonal intelligence by screwing with insulin levels and making the fat storing hormone surge. The outcome over time is diabetes.
My number three ingredient to avoid is high fructose corn syrup. This stuff will make your kids fat. Really fat. It is an altered sugar that is not natural as its manufacturers claim. It’s found in so many products you may even be fooled by the “All Natural” labels.
Avoiding these three poisons will put your children on the fast track to a happy healthy childhood!

About the Author

Shane Ellison

My name is Shane “The People’s Chemist” Ellison. I hold a master’s degree in organic chemistry and am the author of Over-The-Counter Natural Cures Expanded Edition (SourceBooks). I’ve been quoted by USA Today, Shape, Woman’s World, US News and World Report, as well as Women’s Health and appeared on Fox and NBC as a medicine and health expert. Start protecting yourself and loved ones with my FREE report, The 5 Deadly Pills Checklist.

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The People’s Chemist provides these articles for information only. They are not meant to provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and do not replace professional medical advice from a medical doctor. I am not a doctor and would only “play doctor” if I was with my wife. In fact, I have not even read Grey’s Anatomy.

* Every testimonial on this site is true and correct as submitted by active customers. Their results are individual cases and do not at all guarantee that you will get the same results. Results vary widely and there is nothing that works 100%.

** These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration FDA. Products sold by The People’s Chemist are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any medical disease. They are not approved by FDA.

Information provided by The People’s Chemist is intended for your general knowledge only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment for specific medical conditions. If you want more detailed information, read Over-The-Counter Natural Cures Expanded. Also, always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or emergency.

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ImperatorFish: A day in the life of Simon Bridges

Written By: - Date published: 3:50 pm, April 10th, 2014 - 8 comments
Categories: Hekia parata, john key, russel norman, Satire - Tags: , ,

ImperatorFish generously allows us to repost some of his posts. It was impossible to resist this satire.

Apparently I signed a bunch of mining permits to allow exploratory drilling in areas of the conservation estate. It’s a bit harsh of the media to criticise me just because I don’t remember signing something. I don’t remember them ever doing the same to Russel Norman when he was a minister. It’s media bias, that’s what it is. This news media have got in in for National. The only ones who give us time of day nowadays are the major newspapers, radio stations and TV networks.

8:42 am

I see Don Brash is releasing his autobiography. I’ve always admired Don, and he was a great National Party leader who inspired me to get into politics. I’m a lot like Don, because I also entered politics to make a difference. When I saw what the left were doing to this country, I decided something had to be done. I will never forgive Russel Norman for the terrible things his government did during the early 2000’s.

11:13 am

I won’t let them rewrite our history. Other people may want to conveniently forget our recent past, but I remember everything done by the Greens during their time in office. It’s especially galling to hear the Greens talk about protecting the environment, when they have never done a single thing in government to preserve our forests, lakes or rivers.

4:33 pm

Fireworks in the House today, but I gave as good as I got. I really got under Russel Norman’s skin when I flung in his face his own record in government. He had to be rescued by Trevor and Winston in the end. I reckon John’s going to be delighted with my performance.

Wait, that’s the Prime Minister calling on the phone now. I’d better take that.

Oh, yes, hi John. Yeah, good thanks. Did you see me in the House today?

Oh, that’s why you’re calling? What did you think? I almost had Russel Norman in tears.

What? Tears of laughter? Are you sure?

Um… yes, of course I know New Zealand’s recent political history.

What? He wasn’t? Not ever? Are you certain about that?

Look… couldn’t we just say he was a minister in the last Labour government? Surely no-one will check.

Yes, Prime Minister. Yes. Yes, yes I will, sir. I’m very sorry about that, Prime Minister. I’m sorry. So so sorry. I have let you down again.

4:49 pm

A parcel just arrived at my door, with a note attached: “Dear Simon, please read these. Love, Gerry”

Books! A History of New Zealand, and a New Zealand Atlas. The last one is full of pictures.

How interesting. I always wondered what that huge bit of land was called. South Island!

5:08 pm

I don’t know if I can go on. I have let the team down, and I’m now the laughing stock of the entire nation. Where do I go from here. Should I resign?

5:15 pm

Just asked Hekia what I should do. I told her I feel like I’m the weakest link in the entire Cabinet. I could swear I saw relief on her face as I said it. “Don’t you dare leave,” she told me.

8 comments on “ImperatorFish: A day in the life of Simon Bridges”

  1. lprent 1

    Andrew Geddis has a similar but different view here in a ‘transcript’ from parliament yesterday. What is even more hilarious, is that some of it was actually not made up.

  2. ghostwhowalksnz 2

    Every Dog has its Daybed

  3. fender 3

    Yeah you set them straight Soymon, don’t forget to remind everyone Norman allowed mining on Great Barrier Island when he was Prime Minister…

  4. captain hook 4

    lokk in th emirror, check haircut.
    look in the mirror check haircut.
    look in the mirror check haircut.
    look in the mirror check haircut.

  5. ianmac 5

    Simon laughs and sneers at his political opponents. Sarcasm drips from his thin lips. But oh dear! When the Political World is rolling around laughing at him and his ineptness he finds it distinctly un-funny.
    Actually the Nat Ministers who have handed out the most acidic attacks are getting their come-uppance. Think Judith Collins. Think Simon Bridges. Watch this space for others like Paula Bennett and John Key.
    (Much better that during Question Time Speaker David Carter now sees to it that the microphone switches off the moment that people like Mr Key starts on his nasty bits. Well done Mr Carter.)

  6. captain hook 6

    you mean he switches the microphone off when they ask him if he used to fix the currency market when he was a forex trader.
    Those fortunes that were made could only be obtained when the fix was in.
    If the market was really FREE then all those windfall profits would be arbitraged away in seconds.
    Okay for some I suppose.

    • ianmac 6.1

      No. I mean that when Key answers a question in Question Time he has been getting away with pretty nasty jibes tacked onto the end of his reply. David Carter now has the PM’s microphone switched off as soon as he says the first words of spite. Key looks a bit pissed off because he must have a team of “comedy” writers preparing his stuff.
      As for answering important questions like about when he was Forex dealer, Key switches his own mike off.

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