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New Approaches to Geriatric Healthcare Will Save and Improve Lives, Revitalize Neighborhoods and Spur Technical Innovation

Philadelphia is ripe for healthcare delivery innovation. The new administration has recognized this via its interest in embedding more health services within the city’s schools. Many have already begun to consider the potential for new partnerships among and between health centers and other city agencies, hospitals, medical schools, community-based organizations and entrepreneurs.

Historically, local public interest in healthcare has focused on large public health issues, particularly the prevention of communicable diseases, and providing for children’s and young adults’ healthcare, including providing immunizations that are part of a larger public health strategy. Conversely, providing geriatric healthcare services has been mostly viewed as a federal government concern via the Medicare program, and to a lesser extent a state government concern through the Medicaid program, for which states pay about half of the cost of acute and chronic medical care for the poor, including the elderly poor.

This paper maintains that the city of Philadelphia, working directly through its health centers and in coordination and cooperation with the city’s hospitals, medical schools, community-based organizations and the private sector, is in a unique position to improve the health and safety of tens of thousands of the city’s elders, and that in doing so the city can also economically gain.  We begin by noting that:

  1. Large numbers of Philadelphia elders are in a healthcare crisis and the demographic trends within the elderly (and the soon-to-be elderly) population indicate that this crisis will worsen absent new policies and programs.
  2. Overwhelmingly, the city’s elders are insured by the federal Medicare program, the state and federally funded Medicaid program, or both, and as such, the inability to pay providers is generally not a barrier to accessing services.
  3. Federal and state officials are eager (desperate) to control the costs of these programs and improve healthcare outcomes and are therefore open to new partnerships and innovations as never before.
  4. Philadelphia has a healthcare infrastructure that could be readily positioned to catalyze and participate in new, geriatric-focused healthcare partnerships that would save and improve the lives of tens of thousands of Philadelphia older citizens.
  5. Unlike other areas of public policy which the city would like to address, no new laws or appropriations are needed in order to act. Most of the money necessary to undertake these efforts is available through Medicare and Medicaid. Doing so would likely enable the city and other providers to draw down tens, if not hundreds, of millions of state and federal dollars that would be added to the city’s economy.
  6. In implementing these efforts new jobs at all skill levels would be created.
  7. If creatively implemented, some of this investment could be focused into new geriatric healthcare zones in which new healthcare and associated facilities might be built, and new state-of-the-art, health-enhanced senior housing constructed along with housing for care and service workers working with this population. The impact of this investment would be a source of, and undoubtedly spur, additional neighborhood revitalization.
  8. This new focus on the delivery of geriatric services could be leveraged by the city’s high tech community by creating opportunities whereby entrepreneurs could demonstrate the efficacy of their inventions, helping inventors overcome a significant barrier to bringing products to market. In return, marketable products might be manufactured in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia is home to about 186,000 residents who are age 65+, or about 12% of the city’s total population. Virtually all of these residents will need increasing levels of acute and chronic healthcare services in the years ahead. Demographically, the “older elderly,” those who are 85+ years of age, are the fastest-growing population among the city’s elderly, and these seniors will be poorer relatively, and absolutely, in comparison with the emerging younger elderly population. Overwhelmingly, Philadelphia’s elderly are insured via Medicare. In addition, roughly 46,000 of Philadelphia’s elders are so poor that they also qualify for Medicaid, the so-called “dual-eligibles.”

Yet, even with insurance coverage tens of thousands of elderly Philadelphians do not receive the preventive care for which they are eligible; care that would cost them nothing, or close to that, to receive. Reasons for this include poverty and the absence of skills necessary to access providers, geographic isolation and/or medical conditions that limit mobility and access. About 16%, or nearly 30,000 elderly Philadelphians, are effectively “shut-ins,” for example. As a result, Philadelphia’s elderly population incurs acute and chronic health problems at rates exceeding state and federal averages as well at rates that exceed comparable cities nationally. For example:

  • Older Philadelphians have higher rates of heart disease, stroke, diabetes high frequency cancers, hypertension, respiratory disorders and dementia relative to the state, the nation and comparative jurisdictions.
  • Philadelphia elders have the highest chronic disease rate leading to premature death in the nation.
  • The preventability of most of geriatric chronic illness episodes and injuries can be seen in the fact that large and disproportionate numbers of Philadelphia elders are:
    • Not receiving immunizations for flu and pneumonia.
    • Untested for heart disease and various cancers.
    • Not screened for osteoporosis.
    • Have higher rates of smoking, binge drinking and overweight/obesity.
  • Philadelphia elders will make about 200,000 emergency room visits each year, taxing these facilities, municipal emergency services and taxpayers. Annually about 11,000 senior citizen falls require at least emergency room treatment.

In short, despite high levels of insurance coverage and the presence of a world-class hospital and medical school infrastructure, Philadelphia’s healthcare delivery system, as experienced by tens of thousands of elders, does not meet their most basic healthcare needs. Worse yet, operating this healthcare delivery system is also incredibly expensive for Medicare and especially Medicaid, where these expenditures represent a huge portion of the state budget.

Philadelphians cannot be satisfied with the state of public health in the city when 98% of neighborhood health centers show disproportionate incidence ratios by race (e.g., racial disparity): 59% of the disparities state black Philadelphians as significantly less healthy, 28% have Hispanics disadvantaged and 11% show Asians as less healthy. However, knowing about these disproportionalities does not yield a health improvement strategy because all of the differently-impacted ethnic subpopulations are widely distributed throughout the city and because the disparities, while real, tend not to be large enough to justify race-based targeting efforts. In other words, the city is in a public health crisis together and a citywide health improvement strategy is what is needed now.

The overriding demographic description of public health in Philadelphia is simply this: 80+% of chronic illness deaths and about 50+% of hospitalizations for all causes are age-related in nature.  The 65+ subpopulation live with, and die from, just about all of the chronic diseases, usually, more frequently than do their younger age cohorts. Accordingly, achieving improvements in geriatric health is not only mission critical for the city’s health professionals but crucial for the crucial for the fiscal health of healthcare providers.

New Advanced-aged Geriatric Healthcare Initiatives

Below we call for five new and specific, evidence-based initiatives to improve the health and safety of the city’s elders. Per the theme of social innovation, each of these initiatives would rely on the city health center network accepting a new mission of leading and coordinating new geriatric activities largely paid for through new partnerships with Medicare and Medicaid. Additionally, the city’s hospitals, medical schools and other nonprofit and for-profit entities would all have new opportunities to participate in new ways of delivering health services to the city’s older population.

1. Preventing Fall Injuries Among the City’s Elderly

In any given year more than 11,000 city elders visit a hospital emergency department for a fall-related injury. About 3,350 will be hospitalized, with 2,000 to be discharged to a nursing home (where almost two-thirds will require a stay of more than 836 days). In short, 863 persons are projected to be on Medicaid, in a nursing home, for at least two years at a cost of $73 million.

Between 2000-2003, Pennsylvania Medicaid oversaw a large-scale fall prevention program in Philadelphia for 3,000 elders. This effort documented a 60% reduction in nursing home admissions for geriatric falls among the participants. A reconstituted program for 11,000 elders who are recognized as being at the highest risk of falling (as they had already been to a hospital emergency room for a fall injury) would cost about $9 million to offer and save about $73 million in hospitalizations and post-critical treatment, including nursing home stays, for a net savings of about $64 million.

One approach might be to refer patients to new Fall Prevention Centers. Such centers would coordinate with hospital emergency doctors and be operated by for-profit or nonprofit sponsors. Each center could be expected to produce dozens of jobs and perhaps as much as twenty million dollars in new local economic activity. State Medicaid officials have the authority to enter into partnerships with the city Health Department and/or other geriatric healthcare partners without legislative action, and a program with a proven track record of producing savings would likely be very attractive to state officials eager to reduce the state Medicaid budget.

2. Providing Free-to-the-Elderly Preventative Health Services

Medicare covers 20 types of screenings, immunizations and treatments, most of which are 100% free to the elderly patient. These services include pneumonia, flu and shingles vaccinations, Hepatitis B vaccination, PSA testing, smoke cessation and counseling programs, low-dose CT scans for lung cancer, colonoscopies, glaucoma screening, obesity counseling, cholesterol screening, aortic aneurism testing, annual wellness visits, physician-based health planning for preventative chronic disease and much more. Unfortunately, a significant number of Philadelphia’s elderly do not access these preventive services. For example, 46% of elders don’t get flu shots, 33% haven’t received pneumonia immunization, and about half of eligible men don’t get prostate screenings.

Some of the difficulty in accessing preventive services are explicable when one understands that at least 16% of Philadelphia elders are “shut-ins” and in need of mobile health delivery and about 18% of older citizens report lacking a personal physician. But mostly the healthcare community just has not gone out to the locations where elders congregate with an effective message of how they can obtain these lifesaving treatments.

A health center network that was interested in providing these services and effectively communicating the availability of these services backed by new mobile outreach programs using health vans and the like would do much to make these valuable preventive programs available to Philadelphia’s elderly. Medicare, and certainly Medicaid, would have strong interest in providing resources to conduct outreach as these interventions reduce high-cost hospitalizations and too often, nursing home admissions.

Targeting the more than 37,000 elders who lack a primary care physician and therefore are not receiving most of this preventive care would alone likely trigger more than $20 million in new healthcare expenditures within the city including salaries and other items that ultimately yield revenues to the city. In addition, of course, the actual cost of providing treatment is fully reimbursable for the provider, including city health centers.

3. Keep Seniors Living in the Community

Philadelphia is the obvious place for Pennsylvania Medicaid to look to achieve savings in its annual multibillion dollar Medicaid budget. Statewide data indicate that elders constitute 14% of the state’s Medicaid enrollees, but 32% of the Medicaid budget, with a disproportionate amount of elderly expenditures being on nursing home care. In Philadelphia, roughly 480,000 persons are on Medicaid, of whom about 10% are classified as elderly. There is no reason to believe that local elders proportionately cost Medicaid any less than the statewide figures, and good reason to believe Medicaid spends more here since prices in the city tend to run ahead of rural Pennsylvania.

The vast majority of Pennsylvania’s older residents, poor or not, want to stay out of a nursing home and most current nursing home residents would like to return to the community if they could be properly cared for. This fact, and the need to control these Medicaid costs, is why Governor Wolf’s budget proposes to help 5,500 additional elders stay out of a nursing home. His budget calls for saving $168 million annually by providing services and alternative housing assistance (an average of almost $30,000/case, which can cover a lot of services and rental assistance) to keep elders out of nursing homes. In a separate budget category, $50 million is being set aside to provide additional services to Medicaid recipients of all ages and PHFA is proposing to spend an additional $15 million on home modifications and other assistance. The city should be seeking to actively cooperate with these proposals and stake its claim to these resources.

For example, some elders cannot return home because their home is simply unsafe for them to be in. The City’s overwhelmed basic systems repair program might have the expertise to do the repairs but it has neither the financial wherewithal nor the capability to do repairs quickly so that elders can be discharged back to their home. Money from this state initiative could pay for these repairs, as well as the emplacement of other safety enhancements, but the city would need to build a system capable of acting expeditiously.

On the other hand, some elders will need more care than they can obtain at home, but still do not need to be in a nursing home. Here, the city could take the lead in producing a new generation of senior housing that is designed for these frail elders and uses a lower reimbursement rate than nursing homes receive as a subsidy stream to operate this housing. These subsidies could be combined with existing housing subsidy programs, or in some cases avoid them, in return for Medicaid guarantees of a “patient stream” as units became available over time, ensuring the full occupancy of this housing.

Neither the city’s housing authority, nor much of the nonprofit community has been very interested in developing new senior housing, but such a program could provide them with new development opportunities, or opportunities for new organizations to specialize in developing this housing if properly incentivized. In addition, it is likely that elders living in PHA housing would qualify for this housing, freeing up federally-subsidized housing for families and others.

4. Helping hospitals and physicians improve emergency care for elders

Various data suggest that Philadelphia elders make as many as 200,000 emergency visits a year. Aside from the personal tragedies of those elders who arrive at an emergency room because they were unnecessarily injured or sick due to a lack of earlier access to medical care or other services, and the cost, including to local emergency services, there is a secondary serious problem----many elderly patients leave the emergency department with little or no documented follow-up, unsure of what they need and not knowing where to get necessary services.

There is a need for a greater coordination of care, better transitioning from the emergency department to the community and better triage within the emergency department to minimize inappropriate use of emergency services. The city’s health centers can help and should be organized to be a provider or gateway for this assistance.

As indicated above, 18% of the elderly in Philadelphia lack a personal physician and 20% do without medical services because of cost, or perceived cost. From the perspective of hospitals, the current system is failing and likely to get even more expensive with the specter of federal rapid readmission penalties looming. This problem is in part evidenced by the fact that a relatively recent survey of the ten largest Medicare certified home health agencies operating in Philadelphia scored 75% below the state average on reducing re-hospitalizations.  The twenty largest agencies, representing well over 50% of home health discharges from Philadelphia-area hospitals, scored 61% below state averages on reducing re-hospitalizations!

If geriatized city health centers were established where elders could go to receive information, additional discharge planning and medical follow-ups, local hospitals, Medicare and Medicaid would all have strong interests in working with and funding the development of this new health center capacity.

5. Better integration of mental health services with physical health services

At least 30% of Philadelphia elders hospitalized for all causes each year have a mental health condition in addition to whatever may have caused the hospitalization. These mental health problems are vastly under-reported, under-diagnosed and under-treated. Untreated, these mental health conditions result in otherwise preventable suicides, homicides, drug abuse and alcoholism,  tax the city’s emergency services system, and impose additional costs upon local hospitals and other providers. Mental health disorders trigger a 200% increase in rapid re-admissions and a 311% increase in nursing home admissions. Under new Medicare rules these rapid re-admissions trigger new costs on hospitals.

Doctors and hospitals, understandably, focus on the primary (physical health) diagnosis, but by undertreating comorbid mental health illness conditions, additional and earlier elder deaths occur. Screening for depression, anxiety disorders and cognitive impairment (including drug and alcohol problems) is almost universally a good option for aged chronic- illness patients. Establishing a strong network that encourages and facilitates primary care physicians and emergency care doctors to undertake some preliminary patient screening for these conditions and then refers patients in need to existing providers, or to an updated health center network, including city health centers, is called for.

A new mental health initiative would, like physical health services, attract Medicare and Medicaid administrator attention as such a program would undoubtedly yield better health outcomes and medical cost savings. Getting hospitals, doctors and other providers, including existing mental health providers onboard for such a program would not cost much money, but it would benefit strongly from city leadership.

Meeting the Needs of the City’s Elders an Economic Development Strategy

The above five programs would all bring new funding and capacity to city health agencies and their partners, and save Medicare, Medicaid and city emergency services budgets money. Most importantly, these interventions would save lives and/or improve the quality of life for tens of thousands of vulnerable, elderly Philadelphians. However, these programs also could be components of a broader city community and economic development strategy. Below are ways the city could also create jobs, revitalize neighborhoods and catalyze new economic activities while improving and saving lives among Philadelphia’s elders.

1. Use health centers as anchors for community revitalization

The city’s health centers presumably were located where they are for reasons now-largely known only to neighborhood historians. What is clear is that these centers have not been successfully used as engines for community investment and redevelopment, but they could be. Building on the presence of these centers in their respective communities the city could:

  • Create tax-advantaged healthcare zones around the centers. These zones would offer various tax breaks to medical practices and related services to encourage the opening of new medical arts buildings that offer complementary services to those being offered in the nearby health center.
  • Site senior, special needs and other assisted housing proximate to the health centers and require that the plans for these buildings create partnerships with the health center to meet the needs of residents of these developments. Make redevelopment of these sites a priority for the city Land Bank and the processes by which city housing subsidies are awarded. These sites should also be a priority when building a new community-based housing partnership with Medicaid that avoids unneeded nursing home usage, as discussed above.
  • Create housing for care workers that these elders will need. Care work jobs are one of the region (and nation’s) fastest growing job categories. It is also a category plagued by high levels of employee turnover, and too often, poor quality care, in part because of high levels of employee turnover. By working with caregiving firms and using employer-assisted housing techniques, the caregiving workforce can be stabilized and improved.

2. Declare an intention to make Philadelphia the “Silicon Valley” for the elderly

New senior medical technologies are regularly coming into existence and additional technologies are needed. One “routine” barrier to the introduction of new technologies is that entrepreneurs have difficulty arranging for demonstration studies that test the efficacy of their products. Subject to appropriate federal and state regulation, those elders participating in various health initiatives could also be offered the opportunity to participate in the testing of new products, helping local entrepreneurs overcome a key market barrier. In return, efforts could be made to have products produced in Philadelphia, adding new high-tech manufacturing jobs to the city’s economy.

Nationally, no community or state has declared its intent to become the nation’s geriatric healthcare technology center. Philadelphia has the medical, engineering and manufacturing infrastructures that are needed to be the Silicon Valley for geriatric innovation, and it also has land on which research and manufacturing facilities could be built. Philadelphia has a population in need. It has entities such as the Ben Franklin Partnership and University Science City that could be harnessed to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in new capital to develop this new industry here. As Philadelphia continues to repurpose itself for the 21st century why not make this a key strategy on which to base the city’s economic future? To further this approach, the city could:

  • Create an Office of Economic Development within the Department of Health that is charged with increasing healthcare investment and access. Advanced-aged Geriatric care and increasing the city’s biotech and related sciences R&D capacity should be key priorities.
  • Create a “Mayor’s Working Group on the Expansion of the Healthcare Industry” consisting of leaders of the major hospitals, medical schools, etc., plus health center leaders and leaders in biotech, assistive tech and related industries, as well as the Office of Economic Development within the Department of Health. The purpose of the group would be to create a healthcare industry strategy or plan for the City that maximizes employment, investment and development opportunities through increases in service, research and manufacturing activities related to healthcare, and ultimately facilitates the City goals of increasing tax revenues and population.
  • Convene a conference that brings together city health center and community development leaders and others in the medical professions to discuss how the health and community development sectors can work together in ways that yield health and community development outcomes.

In addition to taking these actions, city leadership should also be focusing on the nearly $500 million dollars in Governor Wolf’s proposed budget to encourage the growth and expansion of urban- and technology-based economic development, including healthcare technologies. The city can and should play a catalytic role to ensure that Philadelphia businesses get their share of these incentives. More importantly, however, city leadership can spark new partnerships that yield new solutions that better address the healthcare and associated problems of the city’s, and the nation’s, aged population.

3. Link new geriatric-based health, community and economic development strategies with new educational opportunities

There should be one or more new public or charter high schools designed to create a workforce and a leadership pool for biotech industrial expansion, as well as training for direct care service opportunities. Miami-Dade County in Florida has established BioTech High School; Philadelphia should have at least one, too. With all of the clamoring regarding charter v. public schools, and the role of the private sector in education, creating such a school (or schools) to bring the city’s technology communities, educational communities and foundation communities together to educate the city’s children for the jobs of tomorrow would be a worthy achievement on its own.

Philadelphia has all the components necessary to be a national leader in elderly healthcare innovation, but we have not yet organized our public, private and nonprofit sectors in ways that enable us to provide better and oftentimes less-costly care for our vulnerable elders or take advantage of the economic benefits that would derive from better geriatric healthcare policy. With the arrival of a new mayor and health commissioner in the city and a governor still early in his administration (and facing a huge budget crisis) the public sector stars are aligning with the city’s large and diverse healthcare sector to begin the conversations necessary within government and with the private and nonprofit communities for the reinvention of how the city, and ultimately the nation, can better respond to this growing public health concern.

Daniel Hoffman is a Philadelphia-based public policy consultant whose work focuses on cross-disciplinary approaches to seemingly intractable housing, community and economic development problems. He is particularly known for his pioneering work on employer-assisted housing and business improvement districts. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Dr. David C. Schwartz is president and CEO of the New Jersey-based ElderCare Companies. He is Professor Emeritus of urban studies and community health at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and an internationally recognized leader in the field of preventive geriatrics.


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Aster & Oak

Butterfly Harem Jumpsuit

$31.46 $44.95

Made just for little explorers, this Butterfly Harem Jumpsuit is made from 100% GOTS certified organic cotton & dyes, has elastic on the knee length cuffs, crossed straps and elastic waistband at back and features 4 wooden buttons on straps for the perfect fit.

INFO: 100% Certified Organic Cotton & Dyes | Hand Illustrated Butterfly Print | Australian Designed | Beautifully Soft Jersey Knit Fabric | Standard Sizing

CARE: Cold gentle machine wash with similar colours. Line dry inside out.

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Lift Off… In Just A Few Seconds

…6… 5….4….3…2…1…

This is exactly what I am feeling right now as we prepare for our latest release.  And it’s a huge release.  In fact, it’s a company defining release and will launch us into brand new territory.  It involves a Seconds launch event Friday night in Seattle, with hundreds in attendance.  It involves national press coverage.  It has involved weeks of (almost) all-nighters from the team – blood, sweat and tears.

It, by all regards, has been the most challenging but exciting time of each one of our lives.

It also involves a hell of a lot of dev work on the product.  We basically rebuilt Seconds from the ground up, keeping what worked and threw away the unnecessary.  At the time, I didn’t think we could make a more streamlined payment experience, but we did!  This could be taken as blasphemy, but the Seconds payment experience is unlike any other.

If you are are a frequent reader you know we have experienced growth each and every month yet we were struggling to onboard new customers/find the right market.  Based on that situation, during this summer we decided it was time to expand what was working and remove what wasn’t.

If it’s on or after Sep 28th, check Seconds out now!

Here’s a run down of our changes.

1.  We stripped away much of the old merchant experience, it was too clunky and confusing and have drastically redesigned the experience from the ground up.  Seconds is truly a new age payment system, built mobile first.

2.  We realized the payment experience must be available to everyone (device agnostic), available and functional anywhere the consumer finds themself (proximity agnostic) and merge together communication and transaction for a quick but complete commerce experience.

3.  We created a clean interface for both individual and merchant accounts, easily usable and quicker to complete a task.  The product is even leaner than before and in my opinion, way more potent.

4.  The Seconds experience starts with a simple search bar asking you “who do you want to pay?”  You can make payments by searching name, email, twitter @username, phone number and possibly location, if they are not in our system there will be an option to send a quick invite.  If you find them, you then enter an amount and click pay.  That’s it.  The new interface is an interesting direction we are leaning towards…. The merging of Search and Payments.  It’ll be exciting to see how this will be used and where it will go from here, especially with merchant’s ability to create keywords. ☺

5.  We reimagined what “accepting payments” meant, and have now placed the opportunity one click away from a general Seconds user.  Basically, anyone can instantly upgrade to a “merchant account” if they want.  The cool thing is merchants are users by default, so they can make payments as well as accept them.

6.  We split payment acceptance in two options: a web only account (people are only able to make payments to that account via the web) and a text enabled account (involving both the web and messages sent via text/keyword based payments).  Web only is free.  Text enabled is $5 per month.  All merchants are charged $.50 per transaction through Seconds.  We believe the free monthly option will be a big winner and help increase merchant account creation.

7.  Creating a merchant account and accepting credit card payments can happen in just a few minutes – all on a mobile device if necessary.  It’s truly an amazing experience.  This was not the case just a week or so ago – a recent discovery of a new payments partner is going to open doors previously unimaginable.

8.  Based on these changes our margins are becoming even more awesome.  We enhanced how we are facilitating credit card payments and digital cash payments to create not only a better merchant onboarding but a better overall business.  This is huge and will allow for a nice cashflow in the short term as we get going.

9.  We have decided to focus Seconds on the college/University/Greeklife student market.  We have been told over and over how desperate they are for a sleek payment system where mobile users can quickly make a payment on the fly when they need to.  There is also strong interest in non-profits and donation collections for the same experience.  These two markets have one big thing in common: the payment is the product, in the sense there’s typically no physical product to be served.  This is where we’ll start and should get some strong growth from there.

Below is just a few of the events on our calendar:

Sep 28th – Media Launch of new Seconds payment system

There will be solid media coverage of the launch of our new system.  Sky’s the limit.

Sep 28th – Startup Crawl Fights Poverty

I have organized an event for the startup Seattle community and which will double as a launch party.  It will be a great night, should grab some exposure for Seconds and you are definitely invited if you are in Seattle.

Oct 1st – 3rd. – DEMO Conference

We will be down in SF for the DEMO conference, the trip we won during the SURF Incubator pitch competition.  It will be fun and we’ll be working on meetings and connecting with people there.  If you are in SF, please connect with me.  @jnickhughes.

Oct 16th – 18th –  TwilioCon

Twilio (the platform we use for communications) has invited Seconds to be a part of the event, one of a select group of startups to demo/highlighted during the event.  TwilioCon will be an awesome time for Seconds to get some solid attention from other startups, users, investors and media.

Soon – Dwolla partnernership

Dwolla will be making some big announcements and they have asked us to be associated with the event.  More on this soon!

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Mercury Mosaics Handmade Tiles – Now Available in the 3D Library!

by Kerry Hansen

The addition of these handcrafted gems within the Chief Architect Platform bring design-dreams to life.

Mercury Mosaics’ Tile selections are now available in the Chief Architect 3D Library. Their addition to the Chief Architect platform benefits clients by showcasing how the tile will look in their space. The collection will be released in three phases, the first represent tiles available in Mercury Mosaics Fall 2020 Look Book! This collection embraces the simplicity of shape and pattern in order to focus on the soul of their work: exquisite, hand-painted color. Each piece is unique, created by hand-applying glaze that reveals stunning variation and depth.

A stunning bathroom design featuring handmade tile from Mercury Mosaics.

Rendering – Chief Architect Software
Photography – Marissa Cramer

About the Founder

As a college student, Mercedes Austin stumbled upon a shop that made its own tile, applied for a job, and got the offer to work there shortly after. The tile-making position didn’t come with a paycheck, it paid in tile and learning the trade. Mercedes took that education and the inspiration she gained back to her personal art studio. Eventually, she made her way to Italy to refine her skill. That’s how it began, Mercedes Austin is an artist through and through. She acquired the company’s first kiln with funds from selling her music collection combined with tax returns from working as a waitress. Mercedes built her business from the ground up. This one-woman show is now a team of around 30 artisans who live to make ideas come to life. Throw the phrase “starving artist” out the window.

Mercedes Austin, founder of Mercury Mosaics Mercury Mosaics

The name Mercury Mosaics was inspired by the Roman god of skilled trade and craftsmanship. It is the spirit behind this Minneapolis production facility and everything they produce. In fact, the Mercury Mosaics facility is more like an artist’s workshop than a factory. According to Mercedes, “Handmade, hand-painted tile isn’t the easiest thing to make. But it makes all the difference. Floors, walls, backsplashesfireplaces, or your favorite statement space, our analog process is reflected in every square inch of each pattern. You can’t machine-produce these distinctive colors and textures. Order some tile samples (we ship anywhere) and see for yourself.”

Rendering – Chief Architect Software
Interior Design – Quality Cut Design
Photography –  Alyssa Lee Photography

The Mercury Mosaics Way

Each individual tile is hand-brushed by Mercury Mosaics’ team of artisans as a way of celebrating craftsmanship. It’s a commitment to how tile should be made. There are variations in the tile. Some can have up to twenty variations – and it’s these variations, along with color and movement that create the magic behind Mercury Mosaics’ tile. There are times when the tiles may have small imperfections, but as Mercedes puts it, “I kind of like these imperfections because it just shows you this was made by an actual person.” The Mercury Mosaics Blog is a wonderful resource to learn more about handmade tile variation and get a great sense of Mercury Mosaics’ glaze personality, depth, and character.

Moroccan Fish Scales in a calm, lagoon green with lots of variation. Chief Architect is proud to offer Mercury Mosaics’ beautifully crafted tiles in our 3D Library. Download their catalog today and incorporate these striking shapes and vivid color profiles in your interiors.

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Fork me on GitHub

New Templates for Community Health Files November 24, 2020

Our .github repo houses file templates and other content that can be used by LLNL open source projects. The goal is to help standardize the presentation and organization of certain types of content across the LLNL organization. New this month are community health files that developers can copy and/or modify as needed to ensure their repos adhere to certain guidelines regarding licenses and other aspects of releasing and maintaining open source software. New files include Contributing Guidelines, a Notice, a Code of Conduct, and templates for opening issues and submitting pull requests. More information is available on the .github README.


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Reading App Builder

Create customized mobile apps with synchronized text and audio.

Reading App Builder helps you build customized apps for Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. You can use it to make apps containing picture books, health and community development materials, song books, illustrated stories and libraries of easy-to-read books for new readers – each with the option of synchronizing text and audio, highlighting each phrase as it is read. The app menus, icon, splash screen and colors can all be customized for your language and culture.

To build an app, you specify the text and audio files, the app name, the fonts, the colors, the about box information and the icons. Reading App Builder will package everything together and compile the customized app for you. You can then install it on your mobile device, send it to others by Bluetooth, share it on microSD memory cards and publish it to app stores on the Internet.

Easy to build

Apps can be built directly from Word documents and audio files. Launch Reading App Builder, follow the steps in the New App Wizard and click the Build App button. No programming experience is necessary.

More about Building Apps...

Synchronize text and audio

Audio recordings can be synchronized with the text so that each phrase is highlighted as it is read. This is a powerful feature for those learning to read in their language.

More about Audio...

Easy to distribute

The apps do not require an internet connection. All content can be packaged together for offline use and distribution, or audio can be made available online for download when needed.

See more FAQs...

Common questions

Once the app has been built, how can I distribute it to others?

You can start distributing it right away via Bluetooth or microSD card to people around you. It can also be made available on the Google Play Store.

Will people need internet access to use the app?

No. Everything can be packaged inside of the app, meaning that it will need no additional permissions like internet or file system access. However, there is an option to make audio files available online, in which case users would need an internet connection.

How do we get the audio-text synchronization to work?

You will need to create a corresponding timing file for each audio file. These can be created in one of two ways: (1) using Audacity, a free audio editor; or (2) using aeneas to automate the process.

Can we build a text-only app or does it have to contain audio?

Yes, you can build a text-only app. Audio is optional and the play button will not be displayed in an app without audio.

See more FAQs


text:
I have one BL function and one SQL stored procedure (let's name it: getPersonDetailsById) which returns person details by passing his PersonId.

Now I need to get the same details (data table) but by passing the person's Email because for the same flow I don't have the person Id.

What's the right way to do it:

Option 1

Add new BL function and new stored procedure (let's name it: getPersonIdByEmail) that will get personId from the database by passing the Person's Email and then use the existing function (getPersonDetailsById) to get the Person Details?

In other words, Creating a SP "In the Middle" that will just return PersonId as scalar result and then call to the getPersonDetailsById SP with the returned personId. (2 DB Calls but one central SP with no duplication).

Option 2

Change the existing SP (getPersonDetailsById) so it will get Email as additional parameter and pass null for PersonId.

Will happy to learn another better option.

  • 1
    how about creating a view (PersonDetails), and then using a SELECT query? – Sjoerd Job Postmus May 2 '16 at 11:43
  • @SjoerdJobPostmus Thanks for your comment. I never access views directly from code. always using stored procedures. – Omtechguy May 2 '16 at 12:23
  • 3
    In that case it should be obvious: add another stored procedure (getPersonDetailsByEmail). – Sjoerd Job Postmus May 2 '16 at 14:01

It seems like in your app, having two separate functions (Option 1) is a simple enough solution because you have these distinct ways of getting user details at different places in your application. If you wanted to have a single function that has to determine whether you're giving it an ID or an email, that type of logic isn't too difficult. You can even create some sort of UserItentificationType interface and have various uses of it. The basic rule of thumb here is keeping your business logic in this part of your application.

This doesn't really hold up on the database side. Two stored procedures would be preferable. There's no need to have this type of business logic in the database and most of all, it can also cause a performance problem. I'm sure your application will be accessing user's details a lot, so why add any complexity or performance hindrance.

Queries get messy when you start checking for null parameters and making decisions on a WHERE clause using this field in one case OR using another field. RDBMS really like having everything all set up beforehand and very simple. Indexes get utilized more consistently. Other statistics and query plans get cached.

Of course these two procs will be nearly identical (They'll return the same fields from the same table(s)/view(s)), but don't rely too much on a programmer's tendency to avoid duplication and all that other stuff. As much as I like to write my code for a programmer, sometimes you have to write a query for the database. Sometimes the database will help you out so much more than the benefits of cleaner code.

  • Thanks a lot for the detailed answer and your effort. Do you suggest duplicate getPersonDetailsById for getting data using Email (1 DB Call but SP code duplication). OR What is mentioned in Option 1, Create a SP "In the Middle" that will just return PersonId as scalar result and then call to the getPersonDetailsById SP. (2 DB Calls but one central SP with no duplications). – Omtechguy May 3 '16 at 7:05
  • @Omtechguy I would definitely move the proc to code and create a dynamic sql to which the name of the column and value may be injected, and then create two specializations, one for id and the other for email, using the universal proces with the dynamic sql. – Andy May 3 '16 at 7:28
  • @DavidPacker most of the people i know think that dynamic sql is a "big no no" in terms of security and performance. Are you sure about dynamic SQL? – Omtechguy May 3 '16 at 7:58
  • @Omtechguy The dynamic sql happens in code, that is where you construct it, what you are sending to database are simple prepared statements and the querries are also built by your rules, you do not give users the ability to build it themselves. I have not noticed any performance nor security drop. I will post an answer explaining my thoughts in more detail once I get the time. – Andy May 3 '16 at 8:53

I am strongly against procedures, I don't believe any business logic (including logic that says in which format you should query a database) belongs to the database, but to the code itself.

Even though in your case the simplest solution is to simply create a new function in your code, make a getUsersByEmail procedure in the database and call this newly created procedure from the newly created function in code, there are two main cases why I don't like database procedures:

  • database procedures are very difficult to debug
  • having database procedures forces you to learn additional programming language

You are currently suggesting two options:

  1. Add new BL function and new stored procedure (let's name it: getPersonIdByEmail) that will get personId from the database by passing the Person's Email and then use the existing function (getPersonDetailsById) to get the Person Details?

  2. Change the existing SP (getPersonDetailsById) so it will get Email as additional parameter and pass null for PersonId.

If you are considering a solution out of only those two suggested options, then performance-wise it does not really matter which one you choose.

Although dynamic sql queries need to be recompiled every time, in your case you will only be choosing either one or second column and you should see very little to performance drop.

Dynamic sql queries are a little more susceptible to sql injection, that is if you allow the user to choose which column value should be inserted into the code calling the procedure containing the dynamic sql.

An example is a user choses a value from a drop-down and you take the selected value and pass it directly to the procedure.

Luckily, this is easy to fix, by limiting the value of the input to a specific ids, which represent a column in your database, and if a user passes an id which does couldn't be found, an error is returned.

With the first approach (creating a getUsersByEmail procedure), while the query itself cannot be heavily modified by nature, you are still required to have some decision in code, which chooses either one or the other procedure, which is pretty much the same as the second approach, where you limit the user to use only specific values.

Using the first approach, you get a slight benefit of performance increase at the cost of storing pretty much the same sql code twice in the database.

Using the second approach the performance will be slightly (really slightly) worse, you kind of avoid code duplication in the database procedure but you really should add additional checks in your code due to security issues.

So if you really only consider one of the two options, it does not really matter which one you choose, but if you decide to choose the dynamic sql version, make sure to add some security check in your code, so that at least the column names are passed as constants you define and not as strings the user can change.

If you are open to different suggestions, I'd suggest a third approach: Not having stored procedure at all and moving it to code.

As I said in the begining of this answer, I don't believe any business logic belongs to database and this seems like business logic (you're deciding in which way you want to query the database based on some rule).

At the very end, you'll have a dynamically created sql query and this will be hidden behind two facades, providing public interface, for either querying by id or email.

Here's a pseudo C# implementation:

internal class DynamicPersonDetails<T>
    private Database db;

    public DynamicPersonDetails(Database database)
        this.db= database;

    public DbResult GetByColumnName(string columnName, T value)
        var sql =
            "SELECT * FROM person_detail WHERE "+columnName+"="value.toString();

        return this.db.DoQuery(sql).FetchSingle();

public class EmailPersonDetails
    private DynamicPersonDetails<string> dpd;

    public EmailPersonDetails(DynamicpersonDetails<string> dpd)
        this.dpd = dpd;

    public DbResult GetPersonDetailsByEmail(string email)
        return this.dpd.GetByColumnName("email", email);

public class IdPersonDetails
    private DynamicPersonDetails<int> dpd;

    public EmailPersonDetails(DynamicpersonDetails<int> dpd)
        this.dpd = dpd;

    public DbResult GetPersonDetailsById(int id)
        return this.dpd.GetByColumnName("id", id);

The class where the sql is built should be hidden from the outside world and you should only expose to the world the classes with interfaces representing the available columns.

In reality you most likely wouldn't construct the query in DynamicPersonDetails the way it's done here, but have prepared statements instead (mainly to prevent SQLi)

Naturally you could even group both methods, GetPersonDetailsById and GetPersonDetailsByEmail to one class and not have them scattered between two as I am showing.

What you get by using this approach:

  • code very easy to debug (you're debugging the code you're fluent in, be it C#, Java, PHP or C++)
  • if you use prepared statements, you get performance increase on multi querries
  • if you use prepared statements, you get security boost and pretty much deny sql injection

You get the benefit of no-code duplication (at the sql level) while also having code which is robust and secure to run against the database.

And most importantly, if you even decide to switch to an engine which does not support stored procedures, you can have the EmailPersonDetails and IdPersonDetails implement a IEmailPersonDetails interface or IIdPersonDetails respectively, make your application depend on this one instead and swap out the dependency when needed, being totally database-ignorant.

By the way, REST/SOAP APIs do exactly what I described, they hide database dependency behind an abstract web service layer - pretty much moving all procedures to code and making certain endpoints accessible.

Before web services became common, you could mimick the same behaviour by denying database users access to tables directly and granting them permission to only execute certain procedures.

But this didn't feel right, because then you couldn't have any cache layer in between the client of the database and the database server itself, which resulted in heavy load.

Now since web services became so popular, I can hardly imagine anyone going back to the old way.

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text:
Make People Sleep

It’s an audacious, incredibly rewarding mission that our increasingly diverse team is dedicated to achieving.

SOHO is built around the idea that everyone should be able to take the perfect nap and a blissful sleep.

Guided by our four core values, we’ll meet these challenges creatively and with the support of our global community. Join us!

  • Design creative solutions to drive guest growth in India market
  • Craft elegant flows, smooth interactions, and lovable experiences across platforms
  • Envision long-term solutions and break down to shippable milestones
  • Partner with Product Managers, Engineers, Operations Specialists, Data Scientists, Researchers and UX Writers to define problems & goals, map user flows, prototype interactions, and launch new products and services
  • Give and solicit feedback from designers and cross-disciplinary partners
  • Executive in a fast-paced environment with ambiguity

  • 3-8 years of experience with end-to-end product design
  • Bar-setting craft skills and trend-leading aesthetic taste
  • Excellent UX/UI skills, solid lo-fi & hi-fi prototyping skills
  • Diverse graphic capabilities is a plus (basic illustration & motion skills)
  • Have cross-platform design experiences (iOS, Android, Mini-App, Web, H5 etc.)
  • Open-minded visionary full of fresh & creative ideas
  • Problem solver with a systematic, long-term mindset
  • Excellent communication skills, good storyteller
  • Basic analytical skills, have practiced data-informed design
  • Good team player, have worked with cross-functional teams
  • Have shipped effective products, preferably growth / event-based products

India is one of the largest and fastest growing travel markets and a critical piece to SOHO’s mission. Here we want to build a localized product team that best serves Indian users and market, enabling everyone to truly “SLEEP”.

We are now looking for talented software engineers to join the team, to help us build a strong and fast feedback loop, and adapt our products according to local needs. You will have the chance to thrive on a global platform empowered by deep and localized innovations while building a unique experience for Indian users.

  • Develop and automate large scale, high-performance data processing systems (batch and/or streaming) to drive SOHO business growth and improve the product experience.
  • Build scalable Spark data pipelines leveraging Airflow scheduler/executor framework
  • Design our data models for optimal storage and retrieval and to meet critical product and business requirements.
  • Understand and influence logging to support our data flow, architecting logging best practices where needed
  • Contribute to shared Data Engineering tooling & standards to improve the productivity and quality of output for Data Engineers across the company
  • Improve data quality by using & improving internal tools to automatically detect issues

Minimum Requirements:

  • 5+ years of relevant industry experience
  • Bachelor’s and/or Master’s degree, preferably in CS, or equivalent experience
  • Demonstrated ability to analyze large data sets to identify gaps and inconsistencies, provide data insights, and advance effective product solutions
  • Experience designing and deploying high performance systems with reliable monitoring and logging practices
  • Working knowledge of relational databases and query authoring (SQL).
  • Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal

  • Deeply understand the need for data and machine learning and how it can be applied intelligently for CS within SOHO
  • Drive product and technical requirements, strategy and end results for data collection, processing, publishing, pipelining, and ML models within SOHO
  • Keep up with cutting edge technologies, (especially open source projects) and new technological and machine learning innovation that can potentially be applied to SOHO CS use-cases
  • Define and drive technical product scope and prioritization and be flexible to iterate/change per latest developments to meet agreed upon deadlines and business needs
  • Maintain product backlog, drive product roadmap and own prioritization process of CS data product solutions based on business value and customer impact
  • Demonstrate ability to translate business requirements and work with various levels of business stakeholders to create innovative scalable solutions
  • Define the success metrics and SLAs by partnering with other cross functional leaders in Support Products while keeping it up to date and relevant
  • Evaluate new product opportunities (both buy and build solutions) and bring forward proposals and influence to expand product and business capabilities with data and intelligent automation at the forefront
  • Leverage and instrument data-driven experimentation and measurement frameworks to track and report product success or lack of thereof
  • Work closely with all business, ops, and product stakeholders to ensure successful end-to-end delivery of data and ML products
  • Work closely and collaboratively with CS operations and engineering teams to ensure reliable operations and SLAs are met or exceeded
  • Create data strategies and programs for the long-term success of business teams and ensure engineering teams are positioned to deliver results
  • Present overall product roadmap status to the business and Support Products leadership on an ongoing basis
  • Closely coordinate cross-functional global operations, Support Products, and IT teams to ensure close alignment, clear dependencies, and streamlined execution.
  • Develop key interdependent roadmap sequencing and plans in support of Support Product leadership

  • 10+ years experience in Product, Technical Program or Project Management, or similar role leading a cross-functional technical team
    BA/BS degree is required. Concentration in Computer Science or a related technical discipline is preferred
  • 3+ years of technical product management
  • Exceptional collaboration, partnership and influencing skills with the ability to work in a global environment across multiple locations and time zones to drive consensus in cross-functional teams
  • Demonstrated interpersonal skills to interface well with ops and business partners at all levels
  • Outstanding written and verbal communication ability to a diverse stakeholder audience, including a global team of C-level executives, product, and technical stakeholders
  • Strong customer engagement and relationship management skills
  • More than comfortable in an ambiguous matrixed organization
  • Strategic platform and system thinker who can balance big picture strategy with detailed, flawless execution
  • Creativity and ability to work independently with limited guidance with proven ability to create structures and develop operational concepts
  • High tolerance for ambiguity and ability to perform under pressure to meet deadlines
  • Experience developing roadmaps and long-term data-driven strategies for improving operations, data platform efficiencies – all without sacrificing quality
  • Deep understanding of software development for machine-learned products and services
  • Self-sufficient in analyzing and drawing conclusions about the quality and product opportunity from raw and refined product data
  • Self-motivated and proactive, with demonstrated creative and critical thinking capabilities
  • Innate capability to, directly and indirectly, lead teams through success
  • Strong technical project/product management experience in large scale systems, Linux/server operating systems, databases, cloud computing, big data, networking, and bonus points for past programming experience.
  • Prior PM or engineering experience in speech recognition, natural language understanding, search, data pipelines, and/or A/B testing a big plus

The ideal candidate will have a strong technical background in one or more of the following areas:

  • Data architecture
  • Hadoop, Spark, Kafka, large scale real time and batch processing
  • Machine learning, artificial intelligence, feature engineering, model lifecycle management and deployment
  • Query building, Presto, HIVE, SQL, metadata, data wrangling,
  • Data warehouse, data stores, aggregations, data architecture, data integrations
  • Data quality, SLAs, customer engagement
  • Containerization – Kubernetes, agile, workflow, resource management
  • Scalable API infrastructure and general APIs
  • Data assets, data governance, storage and sharing
  • User experiences, user access, security, query builder, interface and information architecture
  • The Customer Service Representative is responsible for providing service excellence to customers by processing orders, quotes and assisting customers with catalog information, always maintaining and exhibiting SOHO values to each and every customer.
  • Accurately processes customer transactions such as orders, quotes or returns with a strong focus on service excellence.
  • Follows up with customers to ensure ongoing customer satisfaction and to resolve any customer concerns that may arise.
  • Provides information regarding availability of in stock and out of stock items. Provides customers with cross-selling and up-selling opportunities, and offers associated products and promotional items.
  •  Researches and expedites customer orders. Monitors and ensures delivery date and product quality to meet customer requirements; verifies customer orders are processed correctly.
  • Confirms special handling orders are expedited. Fills requests for catalogs, information or samples.
  • Demonstrates effective time management and planning/organizing skills. Self-motivated and results oriented. Works effectively with other members of the team.
  • Maintains a high level of commitment to achieve goals. Promotes and maintains high standards of quality and service excellence. Exhibits strong analytical, problem solving and negotiation skills, and analyzes the impact of decisions before execution.
  • Proficient in using personal computer, data entry terminal and other common office equipment and software. Takes initiative to expand knowledge for position utilizing all available sources.
  • Supports local Customer Service teams, and provides support for other teams when needed.
  • Provides Chat support as required, local language plus other required languages.
  • Regular attendance at work is an essential part of the job.

SOHO Mattress®  | Copyright © 2020 | Innovative Foam Limited | All rights reserved | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service

Brand Owned and Marketed by: Innovative Foam Ltd: 506, Vardhaman Chambers, Cawasji Patel Road, Horniman Circle, Near Bombay Stock Exchange, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400001


text:
Solemnity Of Saint Joseph, Spouse Of The Blessed Virgin Mary: Psalm 89 - The Son Of David Will Live For Ever

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text:
Hotel Die Sonne Frankenberg | Wellness- & Gourmethotel Hessen

Marktplatz 2-4

D-35066 Frankenberg / Eder

+49 (0) 64 51 / 750-0 ZUM KONTAKTFORMULAR
Historisches Rathaus Frankenberg

Town Hall

One of Frankenberg’s best-known landmarks is the two-storey Gothic half-timbered town hall, which is not only adorned with ten towers, but also with the piggyback figures of artist Philipp Soldan, whose fame spreads well beyond the walls of the town.

Kirche Frankenberg

Liebfrauenkirche (Church of Our Lady)

Following the example of the Marburg “Elisabethkirche”, the foundation stone for the three-nave “Liebfrauenkirche” (Church of Our Lady) was laid in 1286. The stained-glass windows in the choir, dating from the middle of the 14th Century, and the tabernacle, stone pulpit and ceiling paintings are well worth seeing.

Landratsamt Frankenberg, alte historisches Gebäude

St. Georgberg Nunnery

Once a nunnery for the Cistercian Order, it is now home to the district office and district museum, and houses sacred exhibits by master builder and stone sculptor Tyle von Frankenberg and many works by Philipp Soldan.

Märchenland Ederbergland

Altstadt (Old Town)

The old town mainly consists of half-timbered houses, which have been restored to perfection. The Witch’s Tower, one of the few relics of this defensive fortification, tells the story of how the old town was once surrounded by mighty walls featuring 20 towers and five gates.

Discoveries to be made close to DIE SONNE

Eder Uplands: winding roads and beautiful views.

Enjoy pure driving pleasure when you take a trip in one of our convertibles, classic cars, or motorcycles. Explore unforgettable destinations on a day out by bicycle, on foot, or in a canoe. Sports enthusiasts will find unlimited opportunities including golf, sailing, diving, gliding, skiing, and bobsledding.

Make the most beautiful discoveries.

Follow a small stream through an enchanted forest. Discover the outlines of a castle through the green of the leaves. Where could that be? In the middle of a world full of sagas and legends: in Kellerwald-Edersee National Park. This is the home of the Brothers Grimm, where their world-famous fairy tales have their origins.

Sonne Frankenberg
Hotel Die Sonne Frankenberg
Marktplatz 2-4
35066 Frankenberg (Eder)
+49 (0) 64 51 / 750-0


text:
Keep Australia Beautiful Beeswax Wrap Fundraiser!

🐝🌿🥪 Keep Australia Beautiful Beeswax Wrap Fundraiser! 🐝🌿🥪

It’s Keep Australia Beautiful Week, so to celebrate the P&C are launching the new Bee Wrappy Beeswax Wraps Fundraiser!

The wonderful folks at Bee Wrappy, are supporting the school by offering us beautiful 3 packs of Beeswax Wraps for only $25 each (inc GST). $11 from every pack sold comes back to the school, and we’re reducing single use plastic in our community at the same time! How good is that!

If you’re not across all the benefits of Beeswax Wraps please check out the flyers attached for all the details.The order form is also attached to complete, scan, and send to You can make payment online via the bank details provided on the form – please use your child’s class plus your surname as the reference. Given the current health climate we would prefer this 100% online option.

If this is not possible, please return the form plus the exact cash amount in a sealed envelope to the school office, and we’ll make sure you’re taken care of.

If you can’t print off a form, please request one via your class teacher or email We won’t be sending out forms in schoolbags as this is a environmentally friendly initiative!

The fundraiser will run for 2 weeks, ending Monday 31st August, so all orders and payments must be in by this date.

Please feel free to talk to your friends, neighbours, grandparents… whoever! to get involved. Anyone can order a pack, but please only one order form per SCPS family so it doesn’t get too hard to distribute packs when they arrive. Please make sure your friends and family are ordering via your order form, with one payment being made to the school per form. Thanks for your understanding!

Any questions please email

Thanks so much for your help on this, and let’s Keep Australia Beautiful!


text:
Written by Pete Seeger

Reviewed by Ralph (age 10)

newscan6 (2).jpg

The son liked to play music. The people did not like his music. His father was a magician. The father kept doing pranks on people. Somebody was working hard cutting wood and he made the ax disappear. The people did not want them in the town. There was a monster that came and started eating sheep. A woman said everyone should leave and take all their special things. The father said that he needs to get the monster on the floor to make him disappear. The son said come with me. The son started singing a song about the monster. The monster danced, and then he fell on his back because he was out of breath. The father made the monster disappear. The people in town said the father and son could come back into the town.

My opinion is that the book was good because when the dad made the monster disappear and the whole town cheered for the son and dad because they saved the town from the monster. I liked the part when the son was singing and the monster laughed so hard that he fell on his back. It was funny because the monster was so happy and then he just fell on his back. And I liked the illustrations because they made the monster look really scary and he ate cows and sheep. A lady said, “take all of your personal things and leave” because the monster would eat everything. If I was a monster I would only eat the people and the animals. The monster also destroyed the houses which was cool. I like the song the dad and son sang to the monster because it helped it relax and then he danced. His dance was funny because he was going crazy. The song was good because now the people know how to make the monster fall on his back and disappear.

I recommend the book to my friends and other people who like monsters. The monsters were big and scary and other kids will think it’s cool. It was a fast book to read. I also recommend this book to kids that like funny books and songs because it has songs, funny stuff, and jokes. One jokes was when the man was cutting the wood and he just made the axe disappear.

Ralph is a student in New York Cares/Island School Reading Club


text:
Words of Comfort

By Suzanne

Saint Paul, who wrote one-third of the entire New Testament, suffered incredible persecutions for the work of the gospel. In his second letter to the church at Corinth, he wrote that some of the things he endured included being beaten with the lash and with clubs by Jewish leaders and Roman officials, he was shipwrecked, stoned almost to death, robbed, imprisoned, cold, naked, abandoned, betrayed by his friends, weakened by hunger and thirst, and he was constantly anxious for the welfare of all the churches he had planted (2 Corinthians 11:16-33).
He wrote, “Brothers and sisters, we don’t want you to be ignorant about the suffering we experienced in the province of Asia. It was so extreme that it was beyond our ability to endure. We even wondered if we could go on living. In fact, we still feel as if we’re under a death sentence. But we suffered so that we would stop trusting ourselves and learn to trust God, who brings the dead back to life. He has rescued us from a terrible death, and he will rescue us in the future. We are confident that he will continue to rescue us, since you are also joining to help us when you pray for us. Then many people will thank God for the favor he will show us because many people prayed for us” (2 Corinthians 1:8-11 GW).
Paul’s focus was not on how much he suffered but on the comfort that he received, and was able to give, through Jesus Christ. He understood that suffering is never what we ask for but that when it comes, God is always with us to comfort us and he will always turn what we suffer to the good.
Paul illustrated this when he wrote to the Corinthian believers, “Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! He is the Father who is compassionate and the God who gives comfort. He comforts us whenever we suffer. That is why whenever other people suffer, we are able to comfort them by using the same comfort we have received from God. Because Christ suffered so much for us, we can receive so much comfort from him. Besides, if we suffer, it brings you comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, we can effectively comfort you when you endure the same sufferings that we endure. We have confidence in you. We know that as you share our sufferings, you also share our comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3-7 GW).
Beloveds, when we suffer, we know we have a Comforter who has experienced suffering as we have and who will never leave us nor forsake us. The God of all comfort has given us his Word to help us to endure times of trial. He does not leave us comfortless and he does not leave us as orphans. He abides with us, forever.
Like Paul, we have confidence in Christ, that even when we experience suffering, God is with us to see us through. He will use everything we endure to strengthen and shape us as instruments of his peace.
It is our prayer that these scriptures will comfort your hearts and encourage you to become a comfort to others, in Jesus’ name:
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted (Matthew 5:4 ESV).
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you (1 Peter 5:10 ESV).
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27 KJV).
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33 KJV).
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words… because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:26-28 ESV).
I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope (Jeremiah 29:11 GW).
 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you (Isaiah 43:2 ESV).
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV).
Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning (Psalm 30:5b ESV).
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1 ESV).
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31 ESV).
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified (Isaiah 61:3 ESV).

Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:34-39 ESV).

Wherefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:18 KJV).


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Market-leading point-to-point solutions

We offer a wide choice of permanently connected, high bandwidth point-to-point solutions which can help you to extend your networks and deliver a range of high-quality services to your customers.

The Ethernet fibre network that underpins them, provided by BT Openreach, offers unrivalled geographic coverage of the UK, serving many remote business locations.

These solutions are an ideal solution for your business if you have multiple locations across a single region, or for offsite back-up or disaster recovery.

Our point-to-point solutions are available in a wide variety of speed, many of which are scalable over time, depending on the needs of your business.

Why Spectrum?

Our point-to-point solutions give you ultimate flexibility and control, along with the ability to prioritise traffic across the network.

Because they are not internet-facing, they are secure and completely private and offer very cost-effective connectivity for locations within the same telephone exchange. Installation time is typically 40 days, compared to Ethernet, which can take up to 75 days to install.

This is an extremely bespoke and adaptable solution, which can be used in conjunction with a number of other technologies to ensure you can access the level of network integrity you need to grow your business.

Customer satisfaction is our highest priority. We’ll take the time to build a partnership and gain a true understanding of your business, so we can deliver a bespoke solution tailored to your exact needs.


text:
USA Cheer: NCAA Endorses Catastrophic Injury Policies

USA Cheer LogoThe NCAA Board of Governors recently unanimously approved a set of policies to help prevent catastrophic injury and death across all NCAA sports.

We are proud to say that the recommendations include areas that the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators, now part of USA Cheer, has been promoting since its first Cheerleading Safety Manual, published in 1990, and which many of USA Cheer’s member organizations have teaching at camps and clinics for at least as long.

These include developing a practiced emergency action plan, acclimatization and conditioning, strength and conditioning of personnel, protective equipment, and education and training. Additionally listed is an area that is already a centerpiece of cheer – sportsmanship.


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Welcome to Spiti Roussas

Spiti Roussas is a guest house on the Greek island of Symi offering accommodation of superior standards and quality.

Our prestigious guest house is available throughout the year and suitable for couples and groups of friends. It offers the comfort of a hotel and the intimacy of a home. Spiti Roussas is ideal for visitors not wanting to compromise on quality during their holidays.

It is a luxurious and comfortable guest house that offers a wonderful experience in a rustic set up. Spiti Roussas offers 4 luxurious bedrooms for up to 8 people, each providing you the comfort of a luxurious guest house with stunning views. The whole house is decorated with flair, local ornaments and wooden floors.

Spiti Roussas offers the accommodation you need for a comfortable holiday stay

Located between the vibrant town and the peaceful village, Spiti Roussas provides the amenities and convenience for a relaxing stay

Food and Restaurants

Food & Restaurants

You have access to a variety of nearby
grocery stores and restaurants.

Laundry Service

Laundry Service

Washing machine and clean linen available
during your stay.

Beach Towels

Beach Towels

Everything you need to enjoy the sun
and nearby beaches.

Wifi Access

Easy Wifi Access

Easy access points to remain connected
everywhere on the island.

Drinks and Bars

Drinks & Bars

A multitude of cafés & bars at the proximity
to unwind after a long sunny day.

Multiple Bedrooms

Multiple Bedrooms

4 premium bedrooms ideal for large
groups of friends.

Discover Symi, a unique Greek island

Symi belongs to the Greek Dodecanese islands. The island is easily reachable and served by daily boats from Rhodes and Piraeus.


text:
Third Wire

Got info on Third Wire?
Third Wire logo
Established: 1999

Software Highlights from Credited Titles

Third Wire's first work that SPOnG is aware of is the 1996 title, "AH-64D Longbow Flash Point Korea" (PC).

The company has been involved titles released on the PC.

The company's most recent involvement was on the 2003 release "Strike Fighters Project 1" (PC).

Know something we don't? Let us know! If you work for Third Wire, register now to manage this listing.

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text:
Yacht Clubs of the World [Audiobook] download free by Yacht And Sail

Yacht Clubs of the World Audiobook download free by Yacht And Sail
  • Listen audiobook: Yacht Clubs of the World
  • Author: Yacht And Sail
  • Release date: 2012/5/11
  • Language: English
  • Genre or Collection: Sports
  • ISBN: 9780847837212
  • Rating: 7.36 of 10
  • Votes: 423
  • Review by: Aubree See
  • Review rating: 9.85 of 10
  • Review Date: 2018/9/30
  • Duration: 3H0M34S in 256 kbps (48 MB)
  • Date of creation of the audiobook: 2018-07-25
  • You can listen to this audiobook in formats: FLAC, Musepack, WAV, WMA, MP3, MPEG4 (compression TAR.XZ, ZIP, TZ, RAR, TAR.7Z, RPM, XZ)
  • Total pages original book: 240
  • Includes a PDF summary of 26 pages
  • Duration of the summary (audio): 18M33S (5.2 MB)
  • Description or summary of the audiobook: A lavish survey of the world’s most prestigious yacht clubs. The world of the yacht club is steeped in tradition and the aura of social exclusivity. This handsome volume is a gorgeous yet refined collection of photographs of the world’s top clubs, where the spirit of sportsmanship is combined with an appreciation for fine living and elegant society. From Italy’s Yacht Club di Genova, one of the oldest on the Mediterranean, to the storied New York Yacht Club, which held the longest recorded winning streak in sports by winning the America’s Cup 150 years in a row, this book features the fifteen yacht clubs most important to yachting’s remarkable culture. These clubs are distinguished by history and tradition, as well as their central role in the social calendar. Among the yacht clubs featured are the Golden Gate Yacht Club, the current defender of the America’s Cup; the fabled Yacht Club de France; the exotic Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club; and the Yacht Club de Monaco, with its new showcase headquarters designed by Sir Norman Foster.
  • Other categories, genre or collection: Sailing, Transportation Books, Sports Books
  • Download servers: Microsoft OneDrive, Wuala, Dropbox, FileServe, 4Shared. Compressed in TAR.XZ, ZIP, TZ, RAR, TAR.7Z, RPM, XZ
  • Format: Hardback
  • Approximate value: 69.54 USD
  • Dimensions: 270x335x29.46mm
  • Weight: 567g
  • Printed by: Not Available
  • Published in: New York, United States
Download audiobook in:

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Award: More than Medals Athlete Award
Winner: Liz Johnson  Location: Bath

Over the last 12 months Liz has delivered programmes in multiple locations, including England, Wales and Northern Ireland and has gone above and beyond in her commitment to the young people she has worked with. Her work has improved young people’s wellbeing to above national average, has helped unite communities in Belfast and improved the confidence of young people she’s worked with, helping them to move into employment, education or training.

About the Charity
We are a UK youth sports charity who support 11-25 year-olds facing disadvantage in education and the community. We do this through training and developing world class athletes to deliver personal, social and emotional development programmes, enabling every young person to develop the confidence, resilience and self-esteem to succeed in life.

For more inspiring stories from the Sport Gives Back family, please click the name of another one of this year’s charities.

Active Communities Network – Greenhouse SportsLord’s Taverners
Samson CentreSaracens Sports FoundationSportedSport Works
Yorke Dance ProjectYouth Sport Trust.


text:
9/6/19        By: Matt Gutierrez

Antonio Brown has yet to play a single down as a Raider. After Thursday’s fiasco, there’s a very good chance he never will.

With the opening Monday Night Football game vs Denver less than a week away, Brown finds himself in the middle of yet another controversy. Like the rest, this one was self inflicted.

After posting his frustration on Instagram with the fine letter Raiders GM, Mike Mayock sent him, the two got into an altercation on Wednesday night. According to the report by ESPN insider Adam Schefter, Brown confronted Mayock and threatened to “punch him in the face.”

The Raiders have been brief in their comments following Schefter’s report saying only that Brown wasn’t at practice on Thursday, and they would comment further when they knew more. Jon Gruden has stood by his star wide receiver through the cryo chamber foot issue as well as the helmet issue. But the fact remains that Brown has missed significant time because of his own negligence, and his teammates are now the ones who will suffer.

So where do the Raiders go from here? Should they suspend Brown; cut him; fine him; just brush it all under the table? I think there are cases to be made for each.

A suspension seems like the most likely scenario. Brown is as talented as they come. No WR in NFL history has had a better six year run that Brown just put together. For an offense that struggled last season to find the endzone with any consistency, Brown is the missing link. He gives QB Derek Carr a “go to” weapon and opens the field up for everyone else. Suspending Brown sends a message to him and his teammates that no one is above the team while keeping him on the roster with the hope of salvaging the relationship.

Simply fining Brown wouldn’t be enough. Brown is set to make in the neighborhood of $15M this season. Any fine the team levied on him would be nothing more than a drop in the bucket to Brown.

How about forgetting any of this ever happened, and go back to football as normal? This can NOT happen. The Raiders brought in three guys this offseason that all have a checkered past, Brown being one of them. Linebacker, Vontez Berfict has been fined and suspended for illegal hits on more than one occasion during his time as a Bengal. Offensive linemen, Richie Incognito has bullied players in the locker room, and had multiple off the field issues that resulted in him being suspended for the first two games of this season. Those two guys are there to play ball, and have shown that they are willing to do whatever it takes to be a part of that team. What message does that send to them if Brown is simply given a slap on the wrist? They have to stay in line but the star WR can act like a damn fool? You don’t want that kind of discourse before the first snap of the season has even taken place.

Gruden and Mayock need to establish the rules now, and make sure all 53 men in that locker room understand what the consequences will be for behavior detrimental to the team. But none of that will matter in Brown’s case if he isn’t willing to be a better teammate.

Brown should be suspended. He should miss the first two games in Oakland. The Raiders won’t play in Oakland for six weeks following their week 2 game vs KC. That’s a lot of bonding time for Brown and his team. If Brown can be an adult about this, take some responsibility, and get right with himself, then there is hope for him in the Silver and Black this season. If he’s not willing to do that, then he has to go. There really isn’t any point in keeping a headache like that if he isn’t mature enough to want to be better.

I honestly believe everyone in that locker room wants him on the field come Sunday. He’s the best at what he does. He makes that team better. Let’s all hope that Antonio Brown realizes that sooner than later, and makes a legitimate effort to be part of the Raiders future.

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2021-01-20 20:23 CET

View Issue Details Jump to Notes ]
IDProjectCategoryView StatusLast Update
0000666Spring engineUnit Scriptingpublic2007-11-14 22:22
Assigned ToKloot
Product Version
Target VersionFixed in Version
Summary0000666: Units in factories don't obey angular translations of the QueryBuildInfo piece
DescriptionI have an air factory that needs to have the units turned to y-axis <45> in order to not clip with the factory. No matter where I turn the piece (Create, StartBuilding, or any other function) the unit stays facing the direction of the building orientation until it is 100% complete--then it instantly spins into the 45 degree angle and takes off as if that's the way it had been facing all along.
Additional InformationXTA v9 airplants at least share the bug. The units do not spin with the build pad (which quite visibly is spinning).

It happens in 75b2 and in svn builds.
TagsNo tags attached.
Checked infolog.txt for Errors
Attached Files

gnomre (reporter)

Did some further testing, and it seems gunships/transports/air cons do work with the spinning/turning buildpad, but other planes do not. However, the former class will always zero out their heading while taking off to face south, then turn to the direction of their factory (if it's not built facing south).

So in other words, fighters/bombers need to follow the same instruction sets as gunships/transports/aircons while building, and gunships/transports/aircons need to follow the same heading instructions as fighters/bombers when they take off out of the factory.

Kloot (developer)

These nibbles should be gone in r4789
(with the reservation that bomber-type
planes use the rotation of the factory
pad when taking off, rather than turning
to match the plant's facing first, like
gunship-type aircraft will now do).

-Issue History
Date Modified Username Field Change
2007-10-30 00:17 gnomre New Issue
2007-10-30 00:17 gnomre Status new => assigned
2007-10-30 00:17 gnomre Assigned To => fnordia
2007-11-04 00:10 gnomre Note Added: 0001406
2007-11-12 15:43 tvo Assigned To fnordia =>
2007-11-12 15:43 tvo Status assigned => new
2007-11-14 22:22 Kloot Note Added: 0001432
2007-11-14 22:22 Kloot Status new => resolved
2007-11-14 22:22 Kloot Resolution open => fixed
2007-11-14 22:22 Kloot Assigned To => Kloot
+Issue History


text:
20:46 GMT20 January 2021
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    0 63

    The cost associated with the British government's immigration policy has come under fire after it was revealed that taxpayers are paying over one millions dollars (£726,000) a day to house and feed asylum seekers.

    Critics of the government's approach to immigration claim the current system is broken, with refugee processing times contributing to the additional cost to the taxpayer.

    The figures, revealed through a Freedom of Information request by the Scottish Express newspaper, show that the cost of housing asylum seekers, along with other basic expenses for 2013-2014 was £265 million, which equates to more than £700,000 per day.

    Meanwhile since 2010, £1.2 billion has been spent on accommodation costs for refugees while their claims are being processed.

    Critics argue this money could have paid for 58,000 extra nurses, 52,000 teachers or 47,500 police officers, while others have pointed out that costs associated with asylum seekers is actually higher, as the Home Office figures didn't include health care, school or legal aid costs.

    UKIP MEP Steven Woolfe was quoted as saying that the figures showed Britain had a "soft-touch" immigration policy:

    "Instead of wasting more than £700,000 a day keeping claimants here we should use the money to abolish the bedroom tax or reduce the huge national debt."

    Immigration minister James Brokenshire described the statistics as "disappointing" and said the government was working to cut down costs associated with refugee claims.

    "We are building a system that is fair to British citizens and legitimate migrants and tough on those who abuse the system or flout the law but we know there is much more to do."

    Advocates of strengthening Britain's immigration intake say that the UK's seemingly generous benefit system for those who have entered the country has led to an increase in refugees and in turn, has contributed to an increase in cost.

    'Put the Figures in Perspective'

    Immigration critics have pointed out that the UK receives three asylum seeker applications an hour, however refugee advocates say these comparisons can be misleading.

    In 2013, the number of people applying for asylum in the UK was 29,875, far below the record of 103,081 in 2002.

    Refugee advocate group, the Refugee Council, says asylum seekers aren't swamping Britain as much as some politicians and elements of the media make it out to be, with UN figures showing that the UK receives a fairly low level of asylum seeker applications compared to other countries.

    Germany had the highest number of asylum seeker applications in 2013 with more than 109,000, followed by other countries such as the US (84,000), South Africa (70,000) and France (60,000), while the UK received 23,000 applications.

    The number of refugees, people with pending asylum seeker cases and stateless persons in Britain is less than 150,000 — 0.23 percent of the country's population.

    These figures go against the assumption that the UK is considered the most desirable place to live for many asylum seekers.

    Refugee Council head of advocacy Dr. Lisa Doyle said: "It's important to put these figures into perspective: this money provides shelter and basic food for a small number of the world's most desperate people.

    "Asylum seekers are ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. They have been forced to flee their home countries and have often survived trauma that's difficult for most of us to understand. They have lost everything and are in need of our protection."

    Additionally, Britain was criticised in Amnesty International's annual report into human rights, with the report stating that out of the 4 million Syrian refugees forced to leave their country due to ongoing conflict, only 500 places had been offered by Britain, and only 90 Syrians had been resettled so far.

    "Considering the world is in the grip of the greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War, the numbers of people seeking safety in Britain over the past few years has remained fairly static; we're home to less than 1% of the world's refugees. Over 86% of the world's refugees are hosted by developing countries," says Dr. Doyle.

    "It would be inhumane not to offer the appropriate compassion and humanity to the low number of people who come to our shores seeking protection."

    International Migrants Day: the Ins and Outs of Migration Explained
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    asylum, government, immigrants, politics, immigration, Great Britain, United Kingdom
    Community standardsDiscussion


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19:31 GMT20 January 2021
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    The party caused a stir in the country after it became the first mainstream political force there to proclaim support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, targeting Israel. It, however, soon backtracked on the endorsement and now has to distance itself from the scandalous activist.

    Member of the Dutch party Green Left, Alireza Taimurizadeh, has made a stunning statement on his Facebook, claiming that Israel was given to the Holocaust survivors so they could act as "Nazis", Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTI) reported. The social media post was apparently taken down later, but, according to JTI, it was given as a comment to a news piece reporting about the alleged mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners by Israelis.

    "Israel, a country to appease the conscience of Europe. Israel, a country which makes a Jew feel shame. Israel, the bribe for 6 million lives, far away, where they can live out their trauma, react to it. Where they can be the SS", Alireza Taimurizadeh wrote, referring to the Nazi organisation that ran most of the Reich's death camps, where millions of Jews perished.

    The activist's party was quick to distance itself from Taimurizadeh, slamming his statement as "inappropriate and unacceptable" in an interview with the broadcaster RTV Arnhem. Vice chairman of the Dutch Central Jewish Board, Ronny Naftaniel, has demanded the activist apologise for his statements, noting that it is "the least that should be done".

    Taimurizadeh's own party Green Left, which holds around 10% of seats in the country's legislative body, endorsed the anti-Israeli Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement earlier this year, but later backtracked under pressure from the public.

    Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) logo
    © AP Photo / Amr Nabil
    Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) logo

    The BDS movement was established in 2001 as a campaign aimed at pressuring Israel into fulfilling what the movement’s founders see as the Jewish state's obligations under international law. The founders of BDS believe they can achieve their goals by isolating Israel on the international arena and call for other countries to support it.

    The movement has gathered both many supporters and detractors among politicians, celebrities, and governments around the world. Many of BDS’ critics accuse the movement of spreading anti-Semitism globally and of attacking Israel's legitimacy.

    'Soviet Officers Saved Us From Nazis': Israel Rises Up Against Rewriting History
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    Austria Recalls Diplomat From Embassy in Israel for Wearing ‘Nazi’ Shirt (PHOTO)
    Labour's Corbyn Apologizes for Speaking at Event Comparing Israel to Nazis
    Netherlands, holocaust, jews, Israel
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