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Continue Reading Maximizing Business Insurance Coverage Benefits After a Fire

The coronavirus (COVID-19) has already caused severe disruption to the economy. In the U.S., governmental entities as well as the private sector are implementing more and more drastic measures to respond to the coronavirus.  While these efforts may be wise in light of the substantial public health concerns, they threaten to bring parts of the economy to a virtual halt, adversely impacting most every business and resulting in substantial losses.  The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates that if the coronavirus continues to spread more widely, it could cut global growth in 2020 by half.

Business Interruption

As a company determines the impact of the coronavirus on its business, it should assess the business interruption coverage available under its commercial property (or “first-party”) insurance policies.
Continue Reading Business Interruption Coverage for the Coronavirus (COVID-19)

In Pitzer College v. Indian Harbor Insurance Company, the California Supreme Court resolved two previously open questions in insurance law: (1) it concluded that the notice-prejudice rule[1] is a fundamental public policy of California, and (2) it concluded that the notice-prejudice rule applies to consent provisions, but only in first-party policies.

This decision provides three primary lessons to insureds. First, when a first-party insurer cites a strict notice provision as a complete bar to coverage, a California policyholder should respond by citing the notice-prejudice rule, even if the policy selects the law of a state that does not follow the notice-prejudice ruleSecond, the insured should do the same if a first-party insurer cites a consent provision as a basis to limit coverage for otherwise-covered expenses. In both cases, the notice-prejudice rule may override the choice of law provision and preserve coverage unless the insurer was actually and substantially prejudiced by the delayed notice/consent. Third, in the case of third-party policies, the insured should continue to promptly notify the insurer in the event of a claim and should seek consent before incurring otherwise-covered expenses. The insured should not rely on the notice-prejudice rule to potentially save coverage where it delays notice or fails to seek consent for expenses under a third-party policy.
Continue Reading California Supreme Court Ruling Clarifies That the Notice-Prejudice Rule Is a Fundamental Public Policy That May Override Choice of Law Provisions

Insurers often claim “economic damages” are not covered under a standard commercial general liability (CGL) policy. The Fourth District Court of Appeal’s decision in Thee Sombrero, Inc. v. Scottsdale Ins. Co., 28 Cal. App. 5th 729, 736 (2018) review and request to depublish denied (Jan. 30, 2019), demonstrates that “loss of use” can be measured by “economic damages”—i.e., loss in profit or diminution in value—so long as they are tied to a property interest.

In Thee Sombrero, Inc., the insured’s negligent security services resulted in the revocation of Thee Sombrero’s permit to use its property as a night club after a patron was allowed to enter without passing through the metal detector, resulting in a fatal shooting. Thee Sombrero sued the security company, and obtained a default judgment. Thee Sombrero then pursued Scottsdale to satisfy the judgment. The trial court found in favor of Scottsdale, but the Court of Appeal reversed, finding that “the loss of the ability to use the property as a nightclub is, by definition, a ‘loss of use’ of ‘tangible property.’ It defies common sense to argue otherwise.” Id.
Continue Reading Damages for Permit Revocation Constitute Covered “Loss of Use”

We do not often write about coverage opinions from jurisdictions as far away as Oklahoma; however, a recent case from the Federal Tenth Circuit looked at one of our favorite topics and came out with a much better reasoned opinion than recent decisions from the Ninth Circuit.

I’ve written before on the topic of the meaning of “that particular part” as the phrase is used in exclusions j(5) and j(6) of the Commercial General Liability (“CGL”) policy. The “j” exclusions exclude coverage for damage to certain property. Specifically, the j(5) and (6) exclusions state that the insurance does not apply to:

(5) That particular part of real property on which you or any contractors or subcontractors working directly indirectly on your behalf are performing operations, if the “property damage” arises out of those operations; or

(6) That particular part of any property that must be restored, repaired or replaced because “your work” was incorrectly performed on it.

The part of these exclusions that some courts consistently get wrong is the meaning of the phrase “that particular part.” In particular, in June 2017 I wrote about the way the Ninth Circuit (supposedly applying California law) has on several occasions ignored the insurance industry’s own explanation of the meaning of the phrase “that particular part” and applied the exclusion to the entire project a contractor was working on.
Continue Reading The 10th Circuit Correctly Construes “That Particular Part” Narrowly

A 6th Circuit case decided earlier this year demonstrates how positions taken by insureds in prior litigation can impact or foreclose coverage in subsequent disputes with insurers. See K.V.G. Properties, Inc. v. Westfield Ins. Co., 900 F.3d 818 (6th Cir. 2018).

In K.V.G. Properties, Inc., K.V.G., was unaware that its tenant was operating a cannabis growing operation. Although Michigan allowed for limited legal marijuana cultivation, there was no evidence the tenant was in compliance with local law. After a DEA investigation resulted in a search warrant, K.V.G. had the tenant evicted from the property. K.V.G. then sought recovery from Westfield under its property policy for extensive damage done to the property by the tenant, including torn out walls, and damage to the HVAC, duct work, and roofing.
Continue Reading Evicting Tenants Over “Illegal” Cannabis Operation Comes Back to Bite Landlords in Coverage Dispute

While experts debate how quickly autonomous vehicles (AVs) will take over our roads, there is little doubt they will be a fixture in the next decade. Fully self-driving vehicles are predicted to substantially reduce the accident rate, given the dominant role of human error in most crashes today.

But there still will be accidents. And

Before worrying about an insurance claim, first ensure that you and your family, including pets and extended family, have their immediate needs met, particularly medical needs. When you are ready to begin the recovery process, we have outlined a few steps for you to take in working with your insurers to ensure that you receive the maximum benefits under any applicable policies.
Continue Reading Steps and Resources to Recover Homeowner Insurance Benefits After a Fire: A Tip-Sheet for Homeowner / Small Business Insurance Claims

shutterstock_223838977 Are You ReadyIt’s a good time to insulate your wine business against getting burned or shaken up in a disaster.

The California wildfire season is well underway. Only a year ago, the Lake County fire destroyed hundreds of homes, thousands of acres and threatened vineyards and wineries. A recent report on climate change predicts that wildfires in the western U.S. and Canada will become more frequent and severe. And the Napa earthquake — only two years ago as of Aug. 24 — reminded us of another constant danger for California residents and businesses, particularly those with costly products like wine in tanks, barrels and bottles.

In the face of these risks, you can take steps now to be sure you have the right insurance and are prepared to get the most out of it if the worst happens.

Continue Reading Insurance for Wildfires and Other Natural Disasters


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These are Responsible for 40% of All Injury Deaths

Q. Recently, we got a call from the emergency room that my husband’s grandmother fell outside of a store and fractured her wrist. It was a rainy night and she slipped on the ramp walking out of the store.

Typically, when you hear about falls, you hear about instances where they occur on a rug that isn’t affixed to the floor in the living room or in the bathtub. You don’t hear a lot about outdoor falls, how often they occur, how they can be prevented, and how to make things safer for loved ones.

We are concerned about grandma, who is currently aging-in-place, and want to protect her as best as we can. Do you have any suggestions for us to better ensure her safety?

A. Falls can happen at any place and at any time, which is why it is so important to take extra precautions to ensure the utmost in fall prevention strategies.

While it is true that falls are most common inside the home, as you have experienced with your husband’s grandmother, it doesn’t mean they can’t happen outside the home, as well. In fact, falls (whether they are inside or outside the home) are the number one reason that seniors end up in the emergency room, accounting for over 50% of injury-related hospital admissions and 40% of all injury-related deaths

Organized efforts to prevent outdoor falls by older adults, sadly, have been somewhat neglected, as most research has focused on falls occurring in the home or hospital environment. However, outdoor falls are frequent with approximately half of falls among adults aged 65+ occurring in outdoor environments. Up to now, little research has been available about the contexts in which outdoor falls occur, how features of the external environment can present as risk factors for outdoor falls, and which outdoor falls are more likely to lead to injury and/or fear of falling.

However, a new study, conducted through New York University and published in the journal Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, focused solely on the outdoor fall experiences of older adults living in New York City. The findings are being used to develop and pilot an outdoor fall prevention program.

For the study, the researchers set out to investigate the experiences and fall prevention knowledge of older adults living in the community. Findings were as follows:

  • Researchers surveyed 120 adults, ages 55 and older.
  • Of those surveyed, 71% (85 people) had fallen outdoors in their adult years.
  • Of those who had experienced an outdoor fall, 28 had minor injuries such as scrapes and bruises, 18 had moderate injuries with prolonged pain or soreness, and nine had severe injuries such as fractures, rotator cuff injuries, or injuries requiring stitches or surgery.
  • Beyond physical injuries, respondents commonly described having an emotional response to the fall, including fear of falling again or embarrassment.
  • A number of people surveyed reported their falls occurring during otherwise healthy activities such as exercising or walking a dog. For many participants, the falls were triggered by environmental factors, such as objects (metal post, branch, stones), surface conditions (slippery or uneven) or stairs, particularly at entranceways. Many participants attributed falls in part to their own practices, such as wearing ill-fitting or inappropriate shoes, not paying attention, or walking too fast.
  • In addition, those surveyed frequently described multiple factors that contributed to their fall, such as rushing on an icy surface or being distracted on an uneven surface.

The study highlighted several aspects of the outdoor environment that may represent risk factors for outdoor falls and associated fear of falling. It also revealed a number of unmet education and training needs for outdoor fall prevention among older adults and caregivers.

What You Can Do

While many senior care providers have implemented safety tips and strategies in order to prevent seniors from falling inside the home, there are also additional steps that need to be taken by caregivers for when seniors leave the home, as well.

  • Use your best judgement: If the weather looks bad and it isn’t an emergency, urge your loved one not to leave the house.
  • Suggest that he or she pay close attention to curbs, ramps and elevation changes, as they are some of the main reasons that seniors tend to trip and fall. Make sure that you are looking out for drops in the pavement, uneven terrain or slippery surfaces (watch for holes, tree roots, and ice).
  • Wear shoes that fit: Make sure that seniors are wearing properly-fitting shoes with plenty of traction on the bottom; this can help a great deal. There are also special accessories you can add to the bottom of the soles of your loved one’s shoes to lessen their chances of slipping.
  • Walk on grass if sidewalks or roads appear to be slippery or uneven(grassy areas provide more traction and solid footing).
  • Wear correct eyewear when walking(reading glasses or bifocals can distort the ability to see potential hazards). Consider wearing sunglasses (glare from the sun can hide areas, which can lead to falls).
  • Walk in well-lit areas in the eveningto provide the most visibility for hazards.
  • Walk hands-free using a fanny pack or an over-the-shoulder bag instead of a purse or hand-held bag.
  • Wear hip pads or protectorswhile walking to ensure the protection of bones and to avoid hip fractures.
  • Make sure your loved ones have their mobility aides, such as their canes, wheelchairs, or scooters, whenever they leave the home, even if you don’t think they will be travelling far.
  • Accompany your loved one by holding on to his or her arm or hand while walking. This is one of the best ways to make sure an elder has the stability needed.

Health professionals, as well as caregivers, are recommended to consider outdoor environments as well as the home setting when working to prevent falls and increase mobility among older people. Adults could benefit from training on fall prevention strategies, including safety during routine activities such as carrying items on uneven surfaces, going up and down stairs, and opening or closing doors. Education around safe outdoor walking strategies (avoiding distractions, navigating sloped and uneven surfaces, and walking slower) would also be beneficial, and more opportunities for such education are much needed.

What Happens If a Loved One Falls and You Are Not Around?

Sensor-based home monitoring systems can alert a family member or caregiver of an emergency or when something unusual has happened. Some Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) also contain GPS technology. If in trouble, the wearer can press a button and be connected with a call center that can dispatch help and notify caregivers. Many PERS devices only work at home, but a few allow the wearer to get help wherever they are — on the golf course, in the car, or around the block. Examples of such technology include the GreatCall 5Star Urgent Response, MobileHelp, or Life Alert.

When Taking Preventative Measures Isn’t Enough

When taking preventative measures isn’t enough, assisted living or nursing home care may be needed for your loved one. Nursing homes in our area can cost as much as $150,000 per year. Life Care Planning and Medicaid Asset Protection is the process of protecting yourself or your loved ones from having to go broke to pay for nursing home care, while also helping ensure that you or your loved ones get the best possible care and maintain the highest possible quality of life, whether at home, in an assisted living facility, or in a nursing home. Please call us to make an appointment for a no-cost initial consultation:

Fairfax Elder Law Attorney: 703-691-1888

Fredericksburg Elder Law Attorney: 540-479-1435

Rockville Elder Law Attorney: 301-519-8041

DC Elder Law Attorney: 202-587-2797

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Cross Country Event

Cross Country
On 14th October our Key Stage 2 children took part in a Cross country event at Honiton Learning Community. Wet weather meant a change in venue and the event took place inside the sports Hall. This lead to an exciting and highly motivating event, in which the children ran in teams. The Farway children excelled in sportsmanship, all supporting each other and representing the school brilliantly, well done to them.


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DAVID KOMA online – stores, hours, outlet and other information

Don't miss: Hot Links

Our DAVID KOMA online page offers you useful information about this brand, which thus far you perhaps weren’t able to find. You will learn about the DAVID KOMA stores, their opening hours and you will even find here maps to the nearest stores. You can also find links to official pages and certifies DAVID KOMA online stores, as well as the current catalogue or flyer. If you have issues buying DAVID KOMA products, we will help you how to proceed with your claim or return of goods. You can also find here additional information. Read on.

Find and shop DAVID KOMA products online

In the box below, you can easily search for any product of DAVID KOMA or any other brand. Just type in the search bar what you're looking for (the brand or the product type), and tap the GO button. You will see the Nike products available on Amazon which can be purchased online in just a few clicks. So easy!

Well, how did it work out? Did you find what you were looking for or not? If so, we are very happy to help you. If not, then don't worry. Continue reading to find out more information and ways to buy DAVID KOMA products online or discover the best DAVID KOMA discount codes and deals.

Deals and coupons

Taste the great feeling of using our DAVID KOMA discount coupons and deals to save money. Below are a couple of random fashion deals or coupons. Try them, it's free! In case it is not what you are looking for (but we truly hope it is) and you want to discover more, please visit the special page with all DAVID KOMA deals, in-store and online coupons, and promo codes and save big!

DAVID KOMA online store

If you are a modern person and online shopping is no problem for you, or you just don’t want to run around shops, you will certainly appreciate to buy DAVID KOMA products in an online store. Many people are browsing through a DAVID KOMA online store only to take a look at the assortment of goods and check prices of individual products, but they rather make the actual purchase in a brick and mortar store, so they could touch the products and try them out.

The second group of people makes it the other way around – first they visit a DAVID KOMA store, they try out the products, but they don’t buy them immediately in the shop. From the comfort of their homes they look up the DAVID KOMA online stores and buy in the cheapest one. Whether you belong in the first or the second group of customers, we have tips for DAVID KOMA online stores for you. You just need to write “DAVID KOMA online store“ or “DAVID KOMA online shop“ in the search field and click on “Search online stores“. Subsequently you will see results of the DAVID KOMA online shops search. Generally the best results are the first ones, therefore we recommend to try these shops first. You can be sure you will find a suitable DAVID KOMA online store with excellent product prices.

If you already have experience buying DAVID KOMA products on the Internet and you know the best online shop and products of this brand, you can write about it, we will be glad to publish it on our webpage and you will help other visitors when searching for DAVID KOMA online stores.

DAVID KOMA.com official website

If you still haven’t found the necessary information about the DAVID KOMA brand, or you have no luck searching for a DAVID KOMA online store, in which you could buy quality products, try to visit the DAVID KOMA.com official website. The DAVID KOMA.com official webpage perhaps won’t provide you all of the detailed information you are searching for, but it is possible you will find something the unofficial DAVID KOMA websites won’t tell you. Go to the DAVID KOMA.com official webpage now!

DAVID KOMA catalogue for 2021

The DAVID KOMA catalogues are a major source of information about products of this brand. They offer an overview of products, current prices, discounts or special offers. But since today almost everything is on the Internet, there are fewer catalogues. There aren’t as many DAVID KOMA catalogues today as they were in the past. After all it’s easier to search for DAVID KOMA online stores and compare offers and prices of various sellers in the comfort of one’s home. Moreover the Internet shops frequently offer discounts, sometimes time limited, so the possibility of an immediate purchase from home can be a great benefit in terms of prices. You simply save in DAVID KOMA online stores! Therefore we recommend searching for online stores using the search placed above. You certainly won’t be disappointed.

If you would still like to find some older or current DAVID KOMA catalogue, you can do so using the search function, but this time we provide a search for to look up catalogues. In the search field write e.g. “DAVID KOMA catalogue 2021“ and click on the “Search catalogue“ button. Again you will see results of the search, from which you simply have to select what interests you.

The operation of DAVID KOMA in the US is natural. DAVID KOMA USA has a network of stores, which you can find in majority of American towns, maybe even in your own. You can find a complete list of stores, opening hours and maps below on this page.

The representation of DAVID KOMA in the largest city in the US – New York is impressive. In this city you can find certainly the largest number of seller and shops of this brand. If you want to find all of the shops or anything DAVID KOMA New York related, we recommend this webpage – DAVID KOMA New York.

DAVID KOMA Los Angeles

Are you trying to find the DAVID KOMA brand in Los Angeles, the second largest city in the US? There are many DAVID KOMA shops in this city as well, you don’t have to worry you won’t find the DAVID KOMA Brand in LA – that’s not possible. However if you are unsure about DAVID KOMA shops in Los Angeles, or you simply want to learn more about DAVID KOMA in relation to Los Angeles, visit DAVID KOMA Los Angeles.

As we mentioned before, DAVID KOMA has a network of stores in the US, where you can find quality branded products. So if you don’t want to use any of the DAVID KOMA online stores, below you can find a map with DAVID KOMA shops near your location.

DAVID KOMA opening hours

In case you want to visit a DAVID KOMA store and you are not sure about the opening hours, you simply need to visit the webpage of the shopping center, in which the store is located, you can find the opening hours there. If your DAVID KOMA shop is not located in any of the shopping centers or malls, try searching for it using the name of the brand and address of the shop. Most of the retailers have now their own webpages, so you will certainly find the desired information without any problems.

And while you are on the webpage i tis possible, it will also contain an online store, so you will be able to purchase DAVID KOMA products directly through your computer or a cellphone. You will save time (searching for the DAVID KOMA opening hours or wandering through the mall). Fast and efficient. And oftentimes much cheaper than in the brick and mortar stores.

Majority of the shops have their opening hours between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. and they are opened Monday through Sunday. Exceptions are small DAVID KOMA stores outside of shopping centers, where opening hours can be shorter than in the shopping center. So if you have the possibility to shop in shopping centers, it will be hard to find a closed DAVID KOMA shop.

DAVID KOMA – claims

If after purchasing DAVID KOMA goods you have discovered that it is damaged or it is of sub-standard quality, it is necessary to reclaim such goods. You can do so directly in the DAVID KOMA shop, where you bought it. You need a proof of payment for the claim. The DAVID KOMA claim process starts by the seller taking the claimed goods and within 1 month he or she informs you about the result of the claim. If the claim is unjustified, the goods will be returned to you without a remedy or money return. Should the seller determine that your claim is justified, the seller will remedy the DAVID KOMA goods or possibly exchanges for a new item, or will provide your money back, as quick as possible.
When buying DAVID KOMA goods in online store it may happen that other goods are delivered than the ones you originally ordered, or the goods are delivered damaged. You mustn’t be satisfied with such goods and demand a claim with the DAVID KOMA seller. If you were delivered damaged or incorrect goods, contact the seller as soon as possible and ask about further steps. The DAVID KOMA seller is obliged to deliver you correct goods at his or her own expense.

Return of DAVID KOMA goods

Have you purchased DAVID KOMA products for yourself and later at home you have discovered they don’t fit or they are not the right size? Or you have bought DAVID KOMA products to a love done as a gift and you missed the taste or size? Don’t despair! If the goods are not worn or damaged, according to the law you are entitled to return or exchange the goods within a defined time limit. Majority of the customers have no issues with returning DAVID KOMA goods. You just need to visit a DAVID KOMA store with the goods you want to return, or exchange it together with a proof of payment, and DAVID KOMA will return the money, or you will be able to select other goods. The choice is yours. The return of DAVID KOMA goods is a piece of cake!

Have you not received the newest DAVID KOMA flyer in your mailbox? It is possible the DAVID KOMA Company is stopping to invest in print ads and moves to online promotion of its brand and goods. Do you still want to be regularly informed about DAVID KOMA offers, news, events and discounts? Watch DAVID KOMA online! Subscribe to our newsletter or come to our portal at FacebookTwitter or Instagram and always stay informed about the DAVID KOMA brand.

If you are looking for DAVID KOMA products in the lower price range, you don’t need to go straight for worn things from the bazaar or second-hand. A DAVID KOMA Outlet can be an ideal choice for you. A DAVID KOMA outlet is a fire sale of old collections. These are unsold goods from previous seasons or years. DAVID KOMA outlet has brand new, not worn products, which you can get in outlets at a fraction of its original price. So don’t hesitate and look for the closes DAVID KOMA brand outlet.

DAVID KOMA collection

Have you seen the newest DAVID KOMA collection? New items introduced to you in regular intervals by the DAVID KOMA brand are literarily breath taking. The newest collection confirms this claim. Fresh, modern, elegant and stylish. These are the right attributes for the newest DAVID KOMA collection. Check it out for yourself. Go to the DAVID KOMA gallery and check out all new DAVID KOMA items.

DAVID KOMA clothing

DAVID KOMA clothing has long been very popular. This is supported by a network of shops throughout the US, which has every year a large turnover, as well as several DAVID KOMA online stores, where you can find goods for reasonable prices. If you are looking for DAVID KOMA clothes, we recommend to visit one of the online stores and look up interesting DAVID KOMA goods, which you can order directly online or later visit a brick and mortar store.


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Apple’s Arm-based Macs will be able to run software for iPads and iPhones, including the game Monument Valley.

Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET

Apple is overhauling its Mac computers with its own Arm chips, close cousins to those it designs for its own iPhones and iPads. Moving away from the Intel processors it’s used for the last 14 years is a historic change that disrupts software makers but that could appeal to customers who need better battery life.

“The Mac is transitioning to our own Apple silicon,” Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said Monday at Apple’s WWDC conference. The first Arm-based Macs will arrive later this year, though developers can order Arm-based Macs this week to get started on building software.

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Apple announces its transition to ARM-based chips with…

Apple is now signaling that it’s got the expertise to challenge Intel in the PC segment, where chips generally consume more electrical power but offer more computing power. It’s betting that the likely advantages of Arm chips — lower power consumption, lower costs and greater control over product plans — will outweigh the disruptions.

“The first thing this will do is give the Mac a whole new level of performance,” said Johny Srouji, senior vice president of hardware technologies. Apple Mac chips also employ mobile device hardware for better power management, graphics, artificial intelligence and secure enclave hardware security hardware.

Apple demonstrated several important apps already adapted for the new chips, taking pains to show the horsepower of its Arm-based Macs. It demonstrated Final Cut Pro playing three simultaneous 4K video streams, Lightroom scrolling and synchronizing edits across a large catalog, and Photoshop being used to edit a large image with complicated edits. Other demos featured Affinity Photo and Cinema 4D.

With a new version of its Rosetta emulation tool, software written for Intel-based Macs will run on the new Arm-based machines. There, Apple demonstrated the Tomb Raider game running at 1080p screen resolution. Apple will support Intel-based Macs for years, the company said.

It’s still not clear exactly how fast Arm-based Macs will be, which products will arrive first, how much they’ll cost, and how good their battery life will be, though. “I am very disappointed Apple didn’t provide a lot of technical details to give confidence to users and developers in the Arm-based processor Mac experience,” said Moor Insights and Strategy analyst Patrick Moorhead.

Later at WWDC, Apple said it’ll have a variety of Arm chips for different size Macs, spanning from more efficient models for compact Macs to beefier, hotter chips that consume more electricity in bigger Macs.

The transition to Arm-based Macs will take up to two years, which could cast a shadow on some products.

“We do wonder whether this could prompt consumers to delay their purchases of existing Intel-based Macs in the next 24 months, on the fear that they’d be buying an orphaned product,” Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi said in a research note Tuesday.

Apple’s first Mac Arm chip: A12Z

The chips, which Apple broadly called Apple Silicon, is designed by Apple but will be brawnier than the A-series chips in iPads and iPhones. Apple’s special developer Macs will use the A12Z processor in newer iPad Pro, but Apple said aspects of that Mac Mini-like machine won’t match the Macs that consumers will buy.

One new trick the chip and Rosetta will enable is the ability to run iPhone and iPad software directly on the new Macs.

The switch to Intel chips, rumored for nearly a decade, emerged at the online version of WWDC. The conference ordinarily draws thousands of programmers learning about the latest changes to writing programs for Macs, iPhones and iPads, but went virtual this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Many of those programmers interested in WWDC now will need to wrestle with the challenge of re-creating their software for Arm Macs.

Computer processors are some of the most complicated products on the planet, with billions of electronic components carefully arranged to balance performance and power consumption. Apple’s A series processors, used in all its mobile devices and members of the Arm chip family, have consistently outpaced rival Arm designs used in Android phones.

Macs are influential PCs that command premium prices, but they still represent less than 10% of computers being used today. Using its own Arm chips offers Apple a chance to cut costs dramatically — saving $100 to $150 in Mac component costs, in Moorhead’s estimate.

Passing those lower prices on to consumers could help Apple compete better against Windows machines, particularly among cost-sensitive buyers like students.

“I think Apple should lower its prices, but I don’t think it will,” Moorhead wrote ahead of Apple’s announcement.

The switch will hurt Intel’s revenue and reputation, but it said in a statement it believes it can still deliver technology that will “redefine computing.”

“We believe Intel-powered PCs — like those based on our forthcoming Tiger Lake mobile platform — provide global customers the best experience in the areas they value most, as well as the most open platform for developers, both today and into the future,” Intel said.

Apple’s third Mac chip transition

Apple has changed Mac chip families before, first from Motorola 68000 family processors to PowerPC chips in 1994 and then to Intel chips in 2006. Each time, it eased the transition with emulation software to enable programs built for the earlier chip design run on the new Macs, though at a significant cost in performance.

One aspect of the transition will be easier on Mac customers this time around: much of the software we use runs in a web browser. Web developers building sites like or web apps like don’t generally need to know or care what processor a computer is running.

So if you use Google’s Gmail for email and Microsoft’s Outlook 365’s online word processor, Arm-based Macs will be less of a disruption.

Re-creating Mac software

Programmers will have varying degrees of difficulty rebuilding their software for Arm-based Macs while continuing to support Intel-based Macs that will still be used for years.

Developers firmly in the Apple camp, using its Xcode programming tools and its Swift programming language, will have the easiest time with Arm Macs. And programmers tweaking their iPad apps into MacOS versions using Apple’s Catalyst approach also should have an easy time.

Apple Silicon features

Apple’s Arm chips will inherit abilities built into Apple’s A-series chips for iPhones and iPads.

Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET

“The vast majority of developers can get their apps up and running in just days,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering.

But many programs, particularly those like Adobe Photoshop that are developed to run on Windows, too, often use other tools and languages. Web browsers, for example, are usually written in the C++ language. There, more work will be required. So while Apple’s Safari browser will be available from day one on Arm-based Macs, other versions could take longer to arrive.

Some developers are excited. “This will mean greater innovation and better performance, not just from a speed perspective but also battery life,” said Jayson Lane, developer of the Quick Draft note-taking app. He acknowledges that developers of heavy-duty software for jobs like sound, photo and video editing will have a harder time moving to Arm. But for simpler apps like his, “the Arm transition will be surprisingly easy … perhaps even as easy as clicking a checkbox.”

Software sometimes is carefully optimized to run as fast as possible on a particular chip design, but programmers have had time to adapt software development tools like Clang, supported by both Apple and Google, to Arm designs, said 451 Research analyst James Sanders.

“Improvements to Arm support in the Clang compiler over the past two years should mitigate optimization challenges,” he said.

Low-level software called drivers that let a computing device communicate with components like network chips and accessories like printers also will need to be rewritten for the new Macs. That could mean support gaps for third-party hardware, and older products may never work with the new Macs.

Arm chips getting faster

Some are worried that Mac Arm chips won’t be fast enough to make emulation useful. One worrisome example is a line of Windows laptops that use Qualcomm’s Arm chips. “It works super well in terms of functionality, but the performance for apps that you need/want like Chrome, Photoshop, or Acrobat Reader make it a non-usable solution,”Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft’s former Windows leader and now a partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, said in a blog post ahead of the transition.

Mac Arm transition kit

Apple will offer developers a transition kit to get started bringing their software to Arm-based Macs.

Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET

Apple touting its new Rosetta emulation software indicates confidence its Arm Macs have enough performance to handle emulation fine, though. “It’s awesome what Rosetta can do with existing games,” said Andreas Wendker, Apple’s vice president for tools and frameworks engineering.

Intel has struggled in recent years to improve its chips’ performance while Apple has steadily advanced its A series of chips — a hundredfold improvement since it began the line, Apple said Monday. The chips’ core performance attribute, the speed of a single thread of computing instructions, has increased each year. And Apple has added new circuitry to speed up graphics and artificial intelligence software, too.

A UK company called Arm licenses designs to companies like Qualcomm but also licenses its’ chip instruction set — the collection of commands software can use to control it — to companies like Apple that design their own. That leaves room for companies to build more powerful processors than are used in most phones if they’re willing to pay for physically larger chips and accept designs that consume more power.

One such example is Fujisu’s A64FX processors, which power the world’s fastest supercomputer. Another is Amazon’s Graviton processors, a low-cost alternative to Intel chips for servers in its enormous Amazon Web Services business. Those chips are based on Arm’s Neoverse designs for data centers packed with servers.

“Apple is not alone in their exploration of Arm for higher-performance scenarios,” Sanders said.

Source Article


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Lagging census response rates could cost N.C.

Brian Gordon Asheville Citizen-
The Fayetteville Observer

In less than two hours, Carol Gardner earned her community $160,000.

A retired educator, Gardner lives in Balsam Grove, an unincorporated town in the hollers of Pisgah National Forest. Even by Western North Carolina standards, Balsam Grove is remote: A cluster of homes, churches and stores in Transylvania County, 30 minutes removed from the nearest full-service grocery store.

To help her small community enjoy its maximum share of federal funding and political voice, Gardner resolved to nudge neighbors to fill out the census, the once-a-decade count of every resident in the United States.

“I've seem to have become obsessed with the census,” Gardner said. “I keep thinking, ‘Why aren’t we all doing this?’”

But across North Carolina, especially in rural areas and among minority communities, officials are struggling to get residents to respond. And that delay could cost more than just civic pride.

Why it counts

According to a George Washington University study, the federal government allocates roughly $1,600 per-person, per-year based on census population data. These dollars support a litany of programs like Medicare, school lunch programs, hurricane relief and highway planning for the next decade. This year, the U.S. Treasury Department used 2010 census data to divvy out $150 billion in CARES Act coronavirus relief.

"Basically, every important allocation that occurs at the federal level is influenced in some way by census data," said Tim Love, Buncombe County's intergovernmental affairs director.

Under count and counties lose out.

On the political side, census data determines how states will redraw state legislator and congressional districts in 2021, how many representatives they’ll send to Washington D.C., and how many electoral votes North Carolina will possess in the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections.

Despite these stakes, most households around Balsam Grove haven’t answered the census, with the local census tract household response rate sitting at 38%.

“I know this community,” Gardner said. “They're not going to do it short of being reached out and touched. It seems to take that personal touch, which is certainly missing this year."

Operating amid the coronavirus pandemic, networks of North Carolina officials, advocates and volunteers like Gardner strive to overcome census obstacles, both systematic and new.

Balsam Grove is not alone. In many rural areas of North Carolina, household response rates dwell below 50%.

Graham County holds the dubious distinction of the second-lowest response rate in the state at 24.1% since the process opened in March.

The response rate for North Carolina as a whole, 57.1%, lags behind the national average of 60.8%.

Hitting the pavement

In mid-August, official census counters called enumerators will begin pounding the pavement to visit every household that didn’t self-respond. The final deadline to count residents, extended due to the pandemic, is the end of October.

Historically, many factors dip census tallies. Areas with high percentages of renters, child under 5, P.O. boxes, seasonal residents like college students and summer vacationers, or hard-to-count minority groups tend to record lower results. Others suggest government mistrust or general apathy and confusion about the census hamper final counts.

“You're fighting for attention span with everything in the world going on,’’ said Mike Poston, director of the Jackson County Planning Department. Poston mentioned coronavirus and the protests over the death of George Floyd.

COVID-19 also highlights a new disparity. Census 2020 initiatives — usually conducted in-person at churches, schools and nonprofit centers — have shifted online. This year is also the first census that people can complete online, in addition to by mail or phone.

Thousands of households in Western North Carolina have spotty cellular connections, and not all cable providers extend services to the state’s most rural areas. There are similar pockets of internet deserts throughout the Tar Heel State, especially in Eastern North Carolina.

Census Bureau data shows areas with elevated online census completion are areas with greater completion rates overall.

To overcome these obstacles, North Carolina counties formed Complete Count Committees composed of diverse community stakeholders. With no direct funding to promote the census from the state or federal government, these committees work within existing county budgets to market the decennial event.

“If Buncombe County increased its response rate by 1%, we would increase our potential federal funding by $40 million per year over a 10-year period,” Love said. “That's only if we get an additional 2,500 people counted.”

Question of trust

A number of Love’s micro-marketing actions gear toward Latinos. “Hard-to-count” is official census lingo, encompassing several minority groups, including the Latino community. Yet convincing more Latinos to complete the census can be daunting when some say they fear being counted.

Rosario Villarreal works as a community health coordinator for the YMCA of Western North Carolina in Asheville. Like much of the state, the Asheville-area has substantial populations of Latino immigrants — some documented, some undocumented. Officially, Latinos make up 6.7% of the Buncombe County population, but Villarreal said actual numbers may be much greater.

“Many people don't even report where they live because of the immigration issues,” she said.

Some misinformation stems from past efforts by President Donald Trump to include a citizenship question on the 2020 Census. The Supreme Court blocked the addition on June 27.

Still, Villarreal said residents worry their neighborhoods could become targeted for immigration sweeps if the census accurately reflects their presence.

“I let them know that this is money that we're losing and that it's OK to do the census,” she said.

Officials also are working hard to make sure the state’s African-American community isn’t overlooked.

“It’s been a real challenge because as we began to plan, along came COVID-19,” said Deborah Dicks Maxwell, president of the New Hanover County chapter of the NAACP and a member of a Wilmington-area group to promote census participation. “We were planning on the churches to help really get us going, but the virus forced us to change all that.”

In some areas, census promoters also are battling built-in mistrust of the government, although Maxwell said it’s too early to tell if the George Floyd protests have added to the skepticism.

“You have to trust this,” she said. “This has been going on for hundreds of years. It’s not being used to track people for immigration services, just to get an accurate count of your county.

“And we need it. There’s no doubt we qualify for it, so we just need to fill out that form.”

‘Going to keep going’

Over a morning in late May, Gardner sat with her computer at a church food pantry and guided five people through the census, who accounted for 10 people in total. One woman, who recorded five members in her household, filled out the census for the first time.

“We're going to keep going until they quit taking data,” Gardner said. “People keep asking me if I’m working for the census. I’m not. I just want Balsam Grove to have a better count.”

Gareth McGrath from the Wilmington StarNews contributed to this story.

Reporter Brian Gordon can be reached at

Who is responding in N.C.?

Top counties*

1) Union County (68.9%)

2) Orange County (67.2%)

3) Wake County (66.5%)

4) Davie County (65.6%)

5) Chatham County (57.2%)

Bottom counties*

100) Avery County (23.5%)

99) Graham County (24.1%)

98) Swain County (27.3%)

97) Jackson County (27.6%)

96) Dare County (29.1%)

* Data as of June 7

North Carolina’s statewide response rate was 63% in the 1990 census, 64% in the 2000 census, and 64.8% in the 2010 census. The current 2020 response rate is 57%.

For more information about the census, go to

Source: N.C. Counts Coalition


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Hokkien Ministry

Hokkien Service TIME & DAY
3pm, Saturday

Touch Centre (TC)
(please click here for more information on Hokkien Service bus services)

Pastor Eugene Tan

FCBC's Hokkien Ministry reaches out to the Hokkien-speaking community. It aims to bring the gospel to this community and help them grow in the love of God, with Hokkien as the language of communication. The first service started in September 2000. Since then, the congregation has grown from 30 to 600, and is largely made up of 40 to 90 year olds.

Are you praying for your loved ones to receive His gift of salvation? Do you have difficulty sharing the gospel with them? Bring your pre-believing family and friends to our Hokkien Service and let them experience the reality of God!

Hokkien Phone-in Devotion

Due to our church office move, our Chinese, Hokkien, and Cantonese phone-in devotions will be temporarily terminated with effect from 19 March 2021.

For this period, audio recordings of the devotions will be sent daily via WhatsApp to Chinese and Hokkien leaders. The leaders will then forward these recordings to their members. If you face any issues or haven’t been receiving the recordings, please contact Pastor Jason Tan at jason.tan@fcbc.org.sg.

We will update the church once we’re able to resume our phone-in devotions.

Hokkien Ministry News

View this in

Hokkien Ministry: An Interview with Pastor Daniel & Patsy Gan

My dear Hokkien members, from just the testimony of Ng Ngian How & Monica, God is telling us, “He cares!”

Hokkien Ministry: Testimony of Hock Lai & Mooi Eng

When I spoke to Tay Hock Lai and Ng Mooi Eng one Saturday afternoon, they were keen to share their testimony of a life-changing encounter they experienced with God after joining the Hokkien Celebration Service for just a few months.

Two members of our Hokkien Celebration Service got married at TOUCHCENTRE last Saturday. What’s so special, you may ask. Well, the bride is 75 years old and the groom is 85 years old.


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Alex Trebek dies from pancreatic cancer: What you need to know

Nearly 47,000 people will die this year from pancreatic cancer in 2020, according to the American Cancer Society. Alex Trebek, the beloved “Jeopardy!” host, is now included in this number. Pancreatic cancer remains the nation’s 3rd leading cause of cancer deaths, after lung and colon cancer.

Unfortunately, pancreatic cancer is difficult to find early and most people don’t display symptoms until it has advanced and spread. Therefore, the strong majority — up to 80 percent — are diagnosed at later stages when it is more difficult to treat.

Compared with many other cancers, the combined five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer (the percentage of all patients who are living five years after diagnosis) is just 5 to 10 percent, according to the American Cancer Society. Stage IV pancreatic cancer has a five-year survival rate of just 1 percent.

Representative John Lewis and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg also died of pancreatic cancer this year.

Risk factors

The chances of getting pancreatic cancer are about 1 in 64, with risk factors including:

  • Tobacco use
  • Obesity
  • Diabetes
  • Long-term inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis)
  • Age (65 +)
  • Gender (men are more likely to develop pancreatic cancer than women)
  • Race (African Americans are at higher risk)
  • Family history/genetics
What are the symptoms?
  • Pain, usually in the abdomen or back
  • Weight loss
  • Jaundice (yellowing of the skin, eyes or both) with or without itching
  • Loss of appetite
  • Nausea
  • Changes in stool
  • Pancreatitis (swelling of the pancreas)
Testing for pancreatic cancer in people at high risk

The two most common tests used are an endoscopic ultrasound, a procedure that uses sound waves to take pictures of the pancreas, bile duct and digestive tract, or MRI. These tests are not used to screen the general public, but they may be helpful for a person with a family history of pancreatic cancer or with a known genetic syndrome that increases their risk.

Copyright © 2021 Florida Digestive Health Specialists. All Rights Reserved.


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How can we help you?

Food & Health

What is your nutritional philosophy? What guidelines do you follow?

We take an evidence-based approach to formulating diets. That includes referencing the standards established by other expert nutritionists that participate in the annual review process for the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). Refereed journals and evaluations of new research are ongoing, and we discuss how the findings may change our guidance on optimal nutritional profiles.

Petaluma's lead formulator, Dr. Blake Hawley, also draws from his extensive personal experience formulating diets and evaluating test results. It is possible to derive a similar nutrient profile using millions of different combinations of ingredients, but ingredients may interact with each other in unforeseen ways. By tracking the performance of hundreds of formulas through digestibility, palatability, and nutritional testing, Dr. Hawley has developed deep insights into how different nutrient sources and ingredient combinations work together. We apply these learnings to produce an ingredient combination that achieves our desired nutritional profiles and delivers your dog optimal nutrition for a healthy life.

In addition, Dr. Hawley work with many pet food and treats companies to define the target canine consumers and tailor formulations to meet the unique nutritional requirements of that life stage and health condition. It is not possible to design a “one size fits all” diet that truly optimizes the nutritional requirements of all dogs.  We know your dog is special, so we want you to feed her that way.

Should I talk to my veterinarian before switching to Petaluma?

Proper nutrition is a pillar of health and your veterinarian should be aware of your dog’s diet on your next routine visit. We recommend that you consult with your veterinarian when making significant changes to your dog’s diet, as you would with other decisions that may influence your dog’s health.

The most important aspect is to transition your pet from one food to Petaluma over a 4-7 day period, slowly introducing Petaluma over that time period as you decrease the amount of old food. If your dog has known health issues and/or your veterinarian has recommended therapeutic dog food for a specific health condition, it is particularly critical that you discuss any intended changes to their diet in detail. Our first Petaluma recipe is not for every dog, and we do not recommend transitioning from a veterinarian-prescribed therapeutic diet without your veterinarian’s approval.

Is your food organic?

We support organic agriculture and the benefits it brings to the environment, farmworkers, and consumers by sourcing organic ingredients when feasible. Our adult dog formula contains over 50% organic-certified ingredients from farms and processors that engage in (and are audited for) organic farming practices. We will continue to add organic versions of ingredients to our recipe as we grow and exert more influence over the ingredient supply chain.

Our packaged food product is not certified organic because it is not made in an organic-certified facility and we have chosen to supplement it with a synthetic form of the amino acid taurine, which is not an exempt nutrient approved by the National Organic Program.

In light of the recent investigation into the heart condition dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and the possible link to taurine deficiency, we believe that offering a bio-available form of synthesized taurine in our diet is critical. The National Organic Program allows supplementation with many vitamins and minerals but has not added taurine to its approved list for adult dogs as the FDA’s animal feed organization continues to debates whether taurine is an essential supplement for adult dogs as it is for cats.

Is your food human-grade?

No, our dog food is not prepared in a facility that is certified for human consumption. The ‘human grade’ term in pet food marketing is not an official regulatory distinction but is often used for goods the FDA defines as “edible” for humans. This requires that all ingredients are handled in “food grade” certified facilities and storage containers across the entire supply chain.

Our food is not intended for human consumption (and it’s a bit bland for most human preferences) and is produced in a pet food bakery. Pet food facilities are subject to FDA and USDA safety regulations and inspected annually, but follow a different set of standards than commercial kitchens. We do not believe that the additional handling requirements established for human food production offer enough benefits for our plant-based and animal-free foods to justify the increased cost to our customers.

The biggest concern with “feed grade” dog food is usually the meat quality, and particularly the use of animal by-products that are deemed inherently unfit for human consumption (i.e. not just because they were handled in a facility that isn’t a certified commercial kitchen). This includes “4D” (dead, dying, diseased, or down
) livestock animals as well as other animals like horses and even euthanized dogs and cats, which can be mixed in with other animal parts, rendered into a soup-like substance, and dried into an ingredient that appears as “meat meal” or “meat by-product” on a pet food label. By avoiding animal ingredients entirely, we also eliminate the risks from some of the most unsavory parts of traditional pet food processing.

Can I mix Petaluma with wet or homemade food?

Feel free to mix Petaluma with any complete and balanced dog food without limitation. Petaluma can be a great base for any topper, and any portion of Petaluma improves your pup’s environmental pawprint and animal welfare impact. The main consideration is calories - make sure you are properly accounting for the mixture to avoid over-feeding your dog. Overweight dogs live 5-10% shorter on average than healthy weight dogs.

If you mix in table scraps or homemade food, we do not recommend exceeding 10% of the total caloric value. We’ve carefully planned this diet to achieve the right balance of nutrients, and diluting it with nutritionally unbalanced foods can result in nutritional deficiencies.

How is your food made?

Our food is baked for over 10 minutes in a convection oven. All ingredients are mixed into a dough, molded into small bites, and slowly travel through a 100+ ft. oven on a conveyor belt. They are allowed to cool and then filled and sealed into our bags. The production date is stamped onto the bag to ensure you know when your pup’s food was made.

This approach is significantly different from traditional pet food, which is rapidly pressure-cooked in an extruder. The high pressure - usually 400 - 600 psi (or ~40x our atmospheric pressure) - allows for faster cooking and more efficient production, but compromises some of the taste and nutritional quality. Extruded food is often sprayed with fat and flavoring powder after cooking to make up for the loss of flavor during steam-cooking.

Baked food preserves a lower glycemic index, reduces oxidation of omega-3 and omega-6 fats, and preserves the natural flavor and aroma of the ingredients. We are proud to smell and see the difference, and most pups love the roasted flavors.

Why are my pup’s poops larger after we switched to Petaluma? Is that normal?

As many human vegetarians will tell you, plant-based foods are rich in natural forms of fiber, whereas primarily animal-derived foods have very little fiber. There are two types of fiber that both provide benefits to your dog's digestion process as well as what passes through.

The soluble fiber in Petaluma slows the digestive process through your pet's GI system, which actually improves the efficiency of nutrient absorption, creates firmer (and easier to pick up) stool by giving the intestines more time to absorb water, and feeds beneficial gut bacteria (your dog's microbiome).

Petaluma's insoluble fiber increases the bulk of the stool, which prevents straining and helps dogs naturally clear their anal glands and alleviate painful (and very unpleasant) leaks.

When you see slightly larger poops, you can know our food is working to make your dog even more healthy!

How digestible is your food?

The digestibility of our food has been validated through an in vitro digestibility test performed by a university laboratory. The test found that dogs digest ~80% of nutrients in our diet, including protein-specific digestibility of 80%. This digestibility result is similar to meat-inclusive formulas and provides peace of mind that dogs are able to derive more than enough protein and essential amino acids from our diet.

Digestibility is not a stand-alone metric of nutrient quality, but an important factor to consider when formulating a diet to ensure you are providing enough bio-available forms of every nutrient.

Factors like fiber levels can decrease protein digestibility, but that does not make diets with more fiber (like Petaluma) less healthy as long as the dog is still absorbing sufficient amounts of protein. In fact, the additional dietary fiber brings a number of important metabolic benefits.

Plant-Based Nutrition

Can dogs safely eat a vegan or vegetarian diet?

Yes, as long as they are formulated to be nutritionally complete and supplemented to account for any gaps in typical plant-based ingredients.

Dogs (and humans) require nutrients rather than specific ingredients. There are many possible ingredient combinations that provide a healthy nutrient profile, and there are no essential nutrients provided by meat and animal-derived products that can’t be replaced by a plant-, fungi-, or synthesized version.

Where do dogs get protein if they don’t eat meat?

Each cup of Petaluma has as much protein as a serving of steak.

Plants create most of the world’s protein, and an entirely plant-based ingredient list can provide more than enough protein to meet a dog’s nutritional needs. Diets designed for adult dogs without health issues should have 20-30% protein as a percentage of dry matter weight (i.e., if the food was fully dehydrated), or ~50-70 grams per 1000 kcal of food energy. For reference, 1000 kcal of chickpeas contains ~53 grams of protein and peanut butter is ~25% protein by dry matter weight.

Adding additional protein beyond a dog’s metabolic requirement is not healthier, as protein cannot be stored for later use. Excess protein is stripped of the amino acids, converted into energy (glycogen), and stored as fat tissue in the same way that energy from carbohydrates and fat is.

Amino acids are the fundamental ‘building blocks’ of proteins, and a dog’s diet also requires specific, “essential” amino acids that their bodies do not synthesize. Plants also create and provide all the essential amino acids in different ratios. We use a variety of plant-based protein sources in Petaluma, including brown rice, peas, chickpeas, and oats, to create a balanced amino acid profile that aligns with and complements a dog’s nutritional needs.

I thought dogs were carnivores. How can they eat a meatless diet?

This is a common misconception, partially due to the confusing similarity of language used to describe species classification terminology (taxonomy) and descriptors of an animal’s nutritional requirements.

The dog species (Canis familiaris) is classified as part of the taxonomical order Carnivora, which includes 280 species (all called carivorans vs. carnivores) that have a broad range of dietary preferences. The carnivorans includes animals with diets described as obligate carnivores like wolves and domestic cats, omnivores like raccoons, and even herbivores like the Giant Panda. So the giant panda is a carnivoran with a primarily herbivorous diet.

Dogs’ nutritional requirements are omnivorous, meaning they can eat and derive nutrients from both plants and animals, and their nutritional requirements can be met without the need for animal-derived products.

The feeding behavior of free-ranging dogs is classified as omnivorous opportunistic scavenging as they spend more time scavenging for scraps of plant, animal, and insect foods in trash piles than hunting down prey (i.e. more like a raccoon than a wolf). This is also supported by dogs’ physiology, including their genetic adaptation to produce enzymes that digest carbohydrates more efficiently and the development of molar teeth that have a flat surface for grinding.

Safety & Quality

Who formulates your diet?

Our diet is formulated by Dr. Blake Hawley, a veterinarian who has spent over 25 years developing scientific diets and pharmaceutical delivery products for dogs and cats, including formulas for many veterinary-prescribed foods.

He received his doctorate in veterinary medicine from NC State University and conducted postdoctoral studies at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. He has developed deep nutritional expertise while designing hundreds of unique canine diets.

Our formula and nutritional profile has also been reviewed by board-certified veterinary nutritionists that are accredited diplomats of the American College of Veterinary Nutrition (ACVN).

Where is your food manufactured?

Our food is manufactured at a pet food bakery in Wisconsin. The facility has a long history of baking high-quality food and treats and bakes products for a number of pet food brands with decades-long safety records.

How do you test your products?

We are committed to testing protocols that treat dogs like family members rather than lab equipment. We do not perform any animal testing or contract other companies to test our products on animals. We also preferentially source ingredients from suppliers that do not test their products on animals.

Our expert-designed formulas are first validated with software to ensure the estimated nutritional profile meets the nutritional standards of the life stage the diet is intended for. We then produce a small batch of the food at the manufacturer and perform complete laboratory analysis to measure the levels of every essential nutrient. After we determine the diet meets our nutritional standards, we send food to over 50 beta testers who feed the diet to their companion dogs for at least 30 days and report back about how their dog liked the taste and how it is impacting their poops.

For tests that are harder to perform with volunteer companion dogs, such as digestibility testing, we partnered with a university laboratory that developed and validated a cutting-edge in vitro technique that accurately models the digestive system of a dog without the need for laboratory animals.

Most pet food companies test their diets using corporate- or laboratory-owned dogs living in shelter-like environments. While many company-owned kennels provide high standards of care, we believe dogs belong in homes and are happy to invest additional time and money to conduct more compassionate testing.

How are you addressing the FDA’s warning about heart disease (dilated cardiomyopathy / DCM) that may be linked to diet?

There are many unanswered questions about both the prevalence and the causes of diet-related DCM in dogs. However, we have formulated our food to proactively address the suspected risk factors. That includes providing most of our protein from plants that are not legumes, including grains (brown rice and whole oats) and yeast. We also supplement the food with the amino acids (i.e. protein building blocks) taurine and methionine from sources that are easily digestible by dogs. We conducted protein digestibility testing to ensure dogs can absorb the essential amino acids in the food.

For context, the FDA announced a perceived increase in cases of DCM and a potential link to “grain-free” foods - specifically those that contained a high proportion of peas, lentils, and other legume seeds (pulses) and/or potatoes. In the FDA’s own words, the current data does not enable them to determine “whether or how these case reports are linked to diet” and “the agency believes that the potential association between diet and DCM in dogs is a complex scientific issue that may involve multiple factors.”

While there is significant debate about the underlying causes and the meaning of the case data, deficient levels of the amino acid taurine is a known cause of DCM. The causes of taurine deficiency are not well understood, as most dogs can synthesize their own taurine from other amino acids rather than relying on taurine in their food. However, taurine is involved in maintaining heart muscle and studies have shown that providing taurine-deficient dogs with supplemental taurine in their food alleviated the signs of DCM in many cases.

As a result, most veterinary nutritionists are recommending taurine supplementation in dog food,  as we have done with Petaluma. Methionine is an essential amino acid that is a precursor to taurine (i.e. it can be converted into taurine by the dog’s metabolism), and we have added additional methionine in an easily digestible form (DL-methionine) as an added precaution.

It’s important to note that DCM is a serious but rare condition that impacts <1% of dogs, and disproportionately impacts certain pure-breed dogs, including Doberman Pinchers, Great Danes, Boxers, and Cocker Spaniels, which suggests a significant genetic component. We will continue to monitor additional research findings closely as they are released and are applying cutting-edge knowledge to alleviate risks with Petaluma recipes.

Orders & Subscription

What if my dog doesn’t like Petaluma food?

While it might hurt the chef’s feelings, we understand that tastes differ. We offer a full refund on your first order of Petaluma if you or your dog aren’t satisfied for any reason. Just let us know within 30 days of your first order. No need to return the food - just dispose of it (compost is best!), donate it to another pup, or use it as a high-nitrogen fertilizer in your garden!

How do I cancel my subscription?

You can manage your subscription, including cancellation, within our customer portal. You can also email our support team at

1) Login to your Petaluma account and click your next order from the home tab

2) Click the box with your subscription details

2) Click the 'Cancel subscription' link at the bottom of the menu

4) Select the appropriate reason for cancellation and click 'Next'

I have too much food. How do I delay my next food shipment date or adjust my delivery schedule?

You can manage your subscription, including adjusting your subscription frequency or pushing back your next shipment date, within our customer portal.

1) Login to your Petaluma account and click your next order from the home tab

2) Click the 'Order Date' box

3) Select the date you'd like your next order to ship and click "update next order date." If you'd like to skip the shipment entirely, click 'Skip this order." Your next scheduled shipment will continue without change. Note that it will take 2-4 days from the order date to arrive at your address.

1) Login to your Petaluma account and click your next order from the home tab

2) Click the box with your subscription details

2) Click the 'Order Frequency' box


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Clinton: Maiorano Sentenced for Producing Child Pornography

Clinton Man, Gino Alexander Maiorano Sentenced to 25 Years for Producing Child Pornography
Identified, Arrested the Same Day He Shared Live Video, Photos with Undercover Officer

KANSAS CITY, MO (STL.News) A Clinton, Missouri, man who was identified and arrested on the same day he shared live video and images of his sexual assault of a toddler with an undercover officer was sentenced in federal court today for producing child pornography.

Gino Alexander Maiorano, 26, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to 25 years in federal prison without parole.  The court also ordered Maiorano to spend the rest of his life on supervised release following incarceration.

On June 23, 2020, Maiorano pleaded guilty to one count of producing child pornography.  Maiorano admitted that he used a 2-year-old victim to produce child pornography on April 12, 2019.

An FBI task force officer in Washington, D.C., acting in an undercover capacity, communicated with Maiorano in an online Kik chat group in April 2019.  Maiorano sent two sexually explicit photos and a video of the child victim to the undercover officer on April 12, 2019.  The photos and video were shot live during the time Maiorano was chatting with the undercover officer.

This News Clinton: Maiorano Sentenced for Producing Child Pornography appeared first on STL.News.


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The United States Designates ISIS Financial Facilitators

Washington, DC (STL.News) Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken released the following statement:

Today, the United States is designating three individuals and one entity connected to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to coincide with the 14th meeting of the Counter ISIS Finance Group, which plays a key role coordinating the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS’ efforts to disrupt the group’s generation and transfer of resources.

Despite our defeat of ISIS’ territorial “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria, ISIS remains active and maintains connections to the financial system.  In countries throughout the Middle East, ISIS has relied on key money services business operators, like those designated today, that allow ISIS to obfuscate its transactions.  The Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS will continue to target ISIS’ illicit financial activities to include its disbursement of millions of dollars in cash reserves across the region.

Alaa Khanfurah is being designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, as amended, for having assisted in, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or financial or other services to or in support of ISIS. Khanfurah’s Turkey-based money service business transferred funds to ISIS members throughout Syria and sent thousands of dollars to an ISIS financial facilitator.

This News The United States Designates ISIS Financial Facilitators appeared first on STL.News.


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Fee-Fo-Lay Cafe Makes the News!

Fee-Fo-Lay Cafe featured in News Examiner.

We enjoyed having Pam Folse of the News Examiner over at the Fee-Fo-Lay Cafe to discuss the business, tourism, and our community. We're receiving an increase in phone calls, website visits, and of course customers since the publication of her article. Thank you Pam! .

29 views0 comments


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VLC for iOS 2.0

So there we are. We have come a long way. Today, it’s my pleasure to announce that VLC for iOS is back on the App Store. It’s available free of charge in any country, requires iOS 5.1 or later and runs on any iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

This is more than an upgrade of the initial version: it’s a full re-write. From the ground-up. Relying on the power of MobileVLCKit and its underlying libvlc, we started with modern video and audio output modules offering faster drawing, full support for 10bit H264 encodings, retina displays and lower latency.

On top, we started from scratch. While the UI offers all the functionality you might remember from the initial version, we did not stop there. We added multiple ways to sync media, video filters and playback speed manipulation, support for subtitles including Closed Captions and complex SSA, playback on external screens or AirPlay, and of course native support for multiple audio tracks and background audio playback as well as passcode lock.

Depending on your App Store’s time zone, it will be available here.

Let us walk through the features and let’s start with:

Media Synchronization

WiFi Upload

When switching a toggle in the VLC menu, a URL will appear. Entering it in a web browser on your PC or Mac will reveal a file upload mechanism. You can choose your files with an ordinary picker or just drop them in the browser. It will automatically upload the media to your iOS device and allows parallel operations. You can start playback on the device as soon as upload started. No need to wait until it is complete.

VLC for iOS offers native Dropbox integration. After login, you can browse all your files and folders to download media to your device for offline playback. Integration with further clouds such as Google Drive or Microsoft Skydrive is scheduled for subsequent releases.

Download from Web Server

VLC for iOS allows you to download files from any web server and scheduling should you choose to download multiple files at a time.

Network Streams

VLC for iOS includes the ability to play any network streams support by VLC media player for desktop operating systems, be it locally served or provided through the cloud. It will remember your last 15 streams and offers a private mode, too.

iTunes File Sharing

Like the initial port to iOS, you can attach your device to your Mac or PC and use iTunes to fetch or put files.

3rd party app integration

Any app including a “Share” dialog can use VLC for iOS for media playback. You will be prompted if you’d like to keep a copy in its media library or not.

Media Library

Your media collection. It offers basic information about each file, such as length, resolution, or file size. Your last playback position is visualized through an orange triangle at the bottom of the snapshot, unless it’s new or fully played.

The controller panel provides access to basic playback controls, a video filter panel, audio and subtitles track selection as well as playback speed.

The time slider a the top of the playback screen matches the default media player behavior by allowing you to seek at the pace you want. Next to it, you will find a 2-mode time counter and a button to control aspect ratio and cropping.

Video Filters

Like VLC media player on desktops, VLC for iOS allows you to modify the video’s colors in real time. Brightness will adapt your device’s physical luminance unless you play your media on an external screen, where it will fallback on a software mode.

VLC for iOS is fully open-source. You can fetch its code online, modify and redistribute it following its bi-licensing under both the Mozilla Public License 2.0 and the GNU General Public License Version 2 or later.

MobileVLCKit and MediaLibraryKit are licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License Version 2.1 or later, which allows you to build your own playback applications based upon our engine. Launch partners include ROTAPP and Korrisoft.

We will publish a SDK along with VLC media player 2.1 for desktop this summer. Both frameworks can be adapted to your needs. If you need assistance, you are more than welcome to get in touch.

Thank you

VLC for iOS wouldn’t have been possible without major support by the VideoLAN association, which sponsored devices and trips to meet with geeks and major cooperations, invaluable help provided by Gleb Pinigin who wrote a fifth of the app, Jean-Baptiste Kempf for sharing his insights during conception, regarding legal implications and for insisting on WiFi File Sharing, Pierre d’Herbemont, the original author of VLCKit and MediaLibraryKit, which lay the base for this project to great lengths, Jean-Romain Prévost for stepping-up for the Web Interface, Damien Erambert (once again!) for the UI design as well as Romain Goyet from Applidium for finishing touches and final suggestions.

Furthermore, a huge thank you to Freya Lindhorst for providing the freedom to devote so many nights on this project as well as Helena Arndt, Luca Barbato, Ana Coronel, Keiji Costantini, Ludovic Fauvet, Roberto Ferraro, Christian Kosim, Adrien Maglo, Ilkka Ollakka, and Alexandre Perraud for tests, ideas and translations.

You are terrific.

6 thoughts on “VLC for iOS 2.0”

  1. Great one.. Thanks for that great app !!
    There is one thing tho..
    The app don’t requires password after Relaunching,
    That is an issue for users that need the pass protection.

    Thanks again !!

    1. The issue you got is due to a design decision I think. It will only ask for the passcode after 5 min after leaving the app…

    1. No, it can’t for licensing reasons as all DVD playback libraries are under GPL which we may not use for the App Store.

Comments are closed.


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Healthcare M&A takes post-reform spotlight

The health reform ruling has been a big driver for mergers and acquisitions, and the increased focus on deal-making will likely obscure the weak earnings forecast for healthcare organizations, The Street reported.

With healthcare earnings season getting underway, executives will turn much of their attention to M&A activity, despite bleak earnings expected with Affordable Care Act provisions, including the medical-loss ratio and individual mandate, the article noted.

According to Moody's Investors Service, any outcome of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling will hurt nonprofit hospitals. So Ohio's Summa Health System has started looking into partnerships to prepare for the reimbursement changes under health reform, reported The Plain Dealer.

Health system officials acknowledged that hospitals nationwide are exploring M&A initiatives to shrink "back-office" expenses and to better position themselves for the new payment models.

"We have what we need to survive the future but [the future] will be challenged by heathcare reform," Summa President and CEO Thomas Strauss told the newspaper.

Meanwhile, deal-making in the health IT sector is off to a strong start this year, jumping 28 percent to 196 deals in the first half of 2012, up from 153 deals in second half of last year, according to a new report by investment bank Berkery Noyes. Health IT deals are growing amid calls to reduce costs and improve outcomes by digitizing medical records and enhancing revenue-cycle management and billing operations, noted a Wall Street Journal blog post.

To learn more:
- read The Street article
- here's the article
- check out the Berkery Noyes report
- read the WSJ blog post


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Security in the Baltic Sea Region Contested

Endast inbjudna · Wanha Satama, G-hall · 18.05.2016 10:00 - 12:00
  • Endast inbjudna

Endast inbjudna

The security situation in the Baltic Sea region is getting tense. What used to be a region of good cooperation and common interests is gradually turning into an area of increasing political and military tension and mutual distrust. How is it possible to manage the current tensions? How can the role played by the norms and institutions of cooperative security be restored? What are the main concerns of Finland in the Baltic Sea environment and how does it promote its own goals there?
Anne Sipiläinen, Under-Secretary of State, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland
Tomas Ries, Senior Lecturer, Swedish Defence College
Hanna Ojanen, Jean Monnet Professor, University of Tampere
Chair: Teija Tiilikainen, Director, the Finnish Institute of International Affairs

Summary of the Seminar

Director of FIIA, Dr. Teija Tiilikainenopened the seminar and addressed the particular features of the Baltic Sea region. The states around the Baltic Sea are small, and they have painful memories from the era of the Cold War, when huge confrontation took place in the area. When the Cold War ended, the atmosphere at the Baltic Sea region was optimistic. Now, the future seems very bleak, said Dr. Tiilikainen.

Under-Secretary of State, Anne Sipiläinen from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland noted that a year ago Prime Minister Sipilä’s government decided that we need to change the way of preparing our foreign and security policies.  So instead of a traditional security and defence policy report, two papers will be prepared. A more strategic report outlining the government’s foreign and security policy goals will be given to the Finnish Parliament this June and a paper on defence will be submitted probably by the end of this year. She also mentioned the new NATO assessment, which was conducted by four independent researchers, Dr. Tiilikainen being one of them. In her speech Ms. Sipiläinen addressed the key factors affecting the security policy environment of Finland. Unpredictability, complexity, fast changes, short reaction time and new actors characterize this environment, she said. Russia has challenged the foundations of the European security by illegally annexing Crimea, and its increased military activities make Europe more unstable. Incidents and close military encounters in our neighborhood bring increased risks and can lead to further escalation. We can try to enhance our security by building confidence between parties, by strengthening international cooperation and by increasing the cooperation within Nordic countries. In addition, regional structures such as the Arctic Council can offer ways to search grounds for practical work in the region. To conclude her remarks, Ms. Sipiläinen noted that transatlantic relations will remain very important.

Senior lecturer Dr. Tomas Ries from the Swedish Defence College pointed out the reasons why the Baltic Sea region states are so concerned with their security. This concern focusses on the Putin regimes intentions, capabilities and interests.  First, the nature of the Russian regime raises concerns. . Putin has used brute military force outside its territory in wars against Georgia and in Ukraine and the Russian regime is based on strong centralized leadership and authoritarian power politics.  The Kremlin has sent strong signals of increasing hostility towards the West. Secondly, the vulnerability of the Baltic States also raises concerns that Russia would use military force in the Baltic Sea. Russia has maintained its strategic nuclear arsenal as strong as possible, allowing it to deter the United States, it has built up an absolute nuclear superiority in Europe which makes Europe helpless in the event of Russian nuclear coercion, and it started to modernize its conventional forces in 2010. The ambitious modernization of Russia’s armed forces is struggling under the country’s economic pressures, but if Russia reaches even third of theoriginal goals it will have an overwhelming military superiority along its frontiers in Europe, said Dr. Ries. In addition, according to US government studies, neither the United States nor NATO can currently defend the Baltic States. Third, the Kremlin under Putin could have deliberate interests in invading one or more Baltic countries, as a means to crack NATO and teach Europe to respect Russia as a great military power, Dr. Ries notes. There is also a risk of inadvertent conflict, should Putinfeel the need to counter an unexpected situation. Dr. Ries concluded that we face a dilemma, because if we start to build up defence, we increase tensions, but if we do not, we remain vulnerable to a very dangerous and militarily powerful regime.

Dr. Hanna Ojanen, a Jean Monnet Professor from the University of Tampere, addressed change. In the Baltic Sea region, nuclear weapons have been brought back to game, and trust has changed into mistrust. The Baltic Sea region has changed from a periphery to a center. Russia’s actions have shifted from cooperation to confrontation, said Dr. Ojanen. Russia’s actions are diverting our attention and time at the same time when Europe faces problems with economy and immigration. Russia has hit EU’s weak points and it has not been easy for member states to decide on sanctions against Russia. EU is now contested within and outside the EU, noted Dr. Ojanen. She remarked that the EU must keep its unity, legitimacy democracy and resilience in order to survive.

Dr. Tiilikainen opened the floor to questions and asked the panelist, whether the perception, that the Baltic Sea region was the easiest area for Russia to deal with was based on a realistic understanding or not. She also asked if we still do have power in dealing with our own security issues. Dr. Ries answered, that the conditions for the small countries are getting more difficult. He added that Sweden lost its sense of history, when they declared in the 1990s that Russia would no longer be a threat. Sweden has no capacity to defend itself but the Ukraine crisis has woken up the political parties to search for solutions. Dr. Ojanen noted that we have lost the power over the security agenda for Russia.

Questions and comments from the audience concerned the accountability of the EU, striking Russia in Kaliningrad and at the Belarussian territory, economic interdependence and if Finland still does see Russia as a threat even though it is not mentioned often. Dr. Ries remarked that Europe faces two challenges, Russia and the domestic development of societies. He thinks that we should balance deterrence with reassurance. Russia should be more careful because of Kaliningrad, but on the other hand Russia can also see it as a reason to move forward to the Baltic States in order to protect it. Dr. Ojanen pointed out that in a globalized word it is difficult to say who is dependent on who. Ms. Sipiläinen noted that we have constructive work going on with Russia which offers avenues for building confidence. When it comes to Ukraine, she said that there can be no normalization of relations with Russia before the implementation of both Minsk agreements.

More questions were asked regarding for example Finland active stability strategy towards the Baltic states, the border between Norway and Russia, and Obama’s speech where he promised to stay on the side of the Baltic States. Ms. Sipiläinen remarked that the U.S. government decided to increase its military expenditure in Europe, and that Finland’s territorial defence is an important contribution to the Baltic Sea region’s security. Dr. Ries noted that Russia has an interest in keeping its border to Norway stable, and that Russia has seen Obama crossing his red lines previously, which undermines the commitment of the U.S. towards the Baltic States. Dr. Ojanen added that even though Sweden and Finland seem to have different approaches to the defence of the Baltic States, it might not mean a big difference in practice.


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Thierry (Terry) Montfort, PE

Senior Engineer

Thierry (Terry) Montfort, PE

As a senior mechanical engineer, Mr. Montfort has more than 35 years of diverse experience in various aspects of process equipment. He has worked as lead project engineer for major pollution control and air scrubber manufactures such as DuPont Belco and Procedyne Corp. He has conducted detailed design and manufacture of catalyst activators, fluidized bed reactors, gas-solids processing, fluid bed dryers and pressure vessels. At FSI, Mr. Montford is responsible for design and fabrication of filtration test setups and prototypes for various R & D projects. He has also designed and developed new commercial products for water/wastewater treatment and hydrocarbon/solvent purification.

In carrying out various projects through the years, Mr. Montfort has acquired computational and analytical capabilities including the application of MathCad, Finite element Analysis (FEA) software, Computer Aided Design (CAD) software. He also performs programmable Logical Controller (PLC) programming for automation of various processes. Besides these technical skills, he has extensive field experience involving system installation, start-up, testing and troubleshooting. He is also proficient with various industrial design standards including ASME Sect. VIII, Div. 1 & 2, API 620 & 650, ASME B31.3, TEMA, ASCE-7, WRC Bulletins, AISC, AWS welding standards, NFPA 70, NFPA 79, ASME Y14.5M-1994, ASME Y14.24M-1989 (R1996).

Mr. Montfort holds two U.S. patents in filtration related areas. He is affiliated with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and ASM International.

Mr. Montfort holds a B.S.M.E. from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He is a registered and licensed Professional Engineer in the state of New Jersey.

Mr. Montfort is a U.S. Navy veteran.