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Monday, March 11, 2013

Dedicated to the writers/bloggers of tomorrow?

oops.THAT Word.

To be fair, it was only the ?ess-word?. ?I mean, it?s not like I flashed the EFF or SEE words. And it was a total accident that, of course, caused an eruption of hearty laughter?.in Sugar Bean?s 7th grade, Advanced English class last Thursday.

You see, after Sugar Bean oh so proudly told her teacher that I write a blog, she began following, and then asked me to come and speak about the benefits of good grammar skills in everyday life, the advantages of having an English degree, and the blessing that came from writing my thoughts down right here and having them turn into a job. That pays. A little

Anyway, I was delighted to go in and speak to the students. I?ve never been asked to do such a thing. Of course, that could be because I?ve only had a blog for a little over a year, and it?s hardly proper for the under 12 crowd, don?t ya think? So I prepared ahead of time, decided the key points to talk about, and then chose 3 posts to read aloud. Sugar Bean helped in the selection process. If you would like to read the selected posts. They are here, here and here. I had planned to read this one?also, but got completely flustered after ?Cold Turkey? popped up onscreen while I was searching for ?Good Morning, Radio Listeners?. (wtf is that about?) I had all the selected posts pulled up in different tabs on my laptop, so I could easily navigate from piece to piece, but God decided to laugh at my technical preparedness, and throw me out of sync. In other words, I couldn?t project the screen of my laptop onto the wall of the classroom. Not for lack of trying though! Luckily, my blog isn?t blocked on the school?s server (although I?d throw?down a heavy bet in Vegas it is now) and we were able to use Mrs.W?s computer. Short on time, and not really remembering how to open a new window on a PC, I decided the best way to find each post quickly was to simply search. BAD IDEA. After reading the first post, I typed in the keywords for the next one into the SEARCH BOX, and was taken to a post accompanied by an image with a caption containing the ?ESS? word. Oh, and the background was bright yellow, as not to be missed. ?Of course, the projector was working very well that day. ?GO ME, right??

Fortunately, the class was only exposed to it long enough to read it, and react with roars of laughter. Once I realized it was there, I scrolled down and pulled it from view. Then I scrolled back up by accident 2 or 3 more times, inciting more hysterics. So, I?m oh for three now.

Oh well. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Or at least that?s what Mama always said

All in all, it was a very good day. I never lost their attention, and believe they genuinely enjoyed what I had to say. The word on the street is they told Sugar Bean I was pretty, and thought I was younger than I am. That?s ALWAYS a plus! They may have even learned a thing or two, who knows? A couple of the students had questions, and although I didn?t have time to discuss them in class, I want to now.

The first question is: ?Do you blog everyday???

The obvious answer to this is NO. However, I do write everyday. I keep a journal in my purse, and I am constantly jotting things down in it for publication later. At any given moment, my brain has 8 gazillion thoughts running through it and it?s necessary to record?the ones that shine. Or else they will be gone forever?lol. I want to blog everyday, eventually. But honestly, if I put down ALL my thoughts and adventures here?.someone would show up at my door and fit me for a nice jacket and room with padded walls. So I?ll just stick to publishing the important stuff. For now.?

The other question is: ?Do you want to write a book one day???

OMG, yes. That?s a dream of mine, and honestly, I didn?t know it was a dream until I started writing. That?s years down the road though?I think. I?ve got so much more living and learning and storytelling left to do, right here on this blog before I have enough to make a whole book worth reading. As I discussed with the class, my soul-sister whom I?ve never met (but will very soon), Glennon Doyle Melton?the genius behind Momastery?has written a book. Due for release ?to the public on April 2nd. In a magical moment 2 weeks ago, I was contacted by TLC Book Tours about posting a review of her book, Carry On, Warrior, here on my blog. After I peed my pants, I enthusiastically accepted. The book arrived a few days ago?.

It?s REALLY here!

And I?m reading it?right now.

Thanks again, to Mrs.W, for making me feel like a ROCKSTAR by asking me to visit my Sugar Bean?s class. And thanks to the class for laughing at the inappropriate image your eyes were drawn to. That totally turned the day into a post

Source: http://calibamamom.com/2013/03/10/dedicated-to-the-writersbloggers-of-tomorrow/

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The day Johnny Carson asked if anyone in the audience played piano (Americablog)

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Use Cola to Clean Up Oil Stains

Use Cola to Clean Up Oil Stains Oil dripping from a car can tarnish your driveway or garage floor, but it's easy to clean up with a some cola.

All you have to do is pour a few cans of room-temperature cola on the stain, and let it sit overnight. In the morning, blot it with some old towels, and rinse off any remains. If there's anything left over, you could try using dish soap, or any of the other methods included in the source link.

7 DIY Ways to Remove Oil Stains from Your Asphalt Driveway | WonderHowTo

Photo by dno1967b

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/uRh9AdYKmE4/use-cola-to-clean-up-oil-stains

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Sunday, March 10, 2013

Exporting Grandma? Some German elderly head abroad for nursing care

Long-term nursing insurance is a pillar the German welfare model, but the system is increasingly stressed by the aging population ? leading some elderly to go to other EU countries for care.

By Isabelle de Pommereau,?Correspondent / March 10, 2013

An elderly woman walks along a shopping street in Berlin last September. With Germany's population aging and its long-term nursing care growing more expensive, some German elderly are looking abroad to countries like Hungary and Slovakia to find good, affordable senior homes.

Thomas Peter/Reuters

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From Germany, the pull of Senior Palace's webpage is hard to resist. "Looking for a senior home to bring the autumn of your life comfortably... where your savings are going to stay intact?"

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"Then," the ad says, in German, "Senior Palace is what you need."

Over the past two years, some 70 elderly Germans and Austrians have heard the call. That the "palace" nursing home is more than 400 miles to the east in Slovakia ? in a village on the Danube River one hour south of Bratislava, the capital ? seemingly did not matter.

Since the European Union's borders moved east, entrepreneurs in Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic have started luring Germany's oldest citizens by offering them something that experts predict will soon not taken for granted any more in Germany: good, affordable, around-the-clock nursing care.

A pillar of the system

Germany is one of the only nations in the world (the others being Japan, Korea, and the Netherlands) to have dedicated public insurance for long-term care. Based on an equal contribution between employees and employers ? roughly 2 percent of people's income ? it provides financial protection to anybody who cannot live independently, because of illness or old age.

"We have a budget, a pot, and the contributions are collected into this pot. If you are in need of care, you get it from this solidarity pot," says Vjennka Garms-Homolova, a professor of health care management at the Alicia Salomon University of Applied Sciences in Berlin. "This is not government payment ? this is really solidarity."

Along with public pension, disability, and health insurance, long-term nursing insurance ? Pflegeversicherung in German ? is a pillar the German social welfare model designed by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck 120 years ago, the oldest in the world.

The model has fostered social cohesion and been the envy of many countries. But the "Oma [grandmother] export" phenomenon, as some here refer to sending elderly parents abroad, has revealed the system's limits.

"It is a sign it will be increasingly difficult to pay for the care you need," says Professor Garms-Homolova. Even if it's small, the phenomenon has added fuel to the national debate on how to find better, and cheaper, ways of dealing with long-term care.

"We are used to expecting that the government will step in and help, but that isn?t going to be possible in the future," says Doris Schaeffer, a professor of public health at the University of Bielefeld. "We have to broaden our understanding of caring, to think about other models of informal care giving ? one where everybody takes responsibility for their community, for the people living there."

All industrialized countries are aging, but in Germany ? as well as in Italy and Japan ? the demographic change is particularly dramatic, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). By 2050, Germans aged 60 and over will constitute more than half of the population, up from 26.8 percent today. By then, Germany will have the second oldest population in an OECD country after Japan. Fewer workers will be called upon to finance the benefits of more recipients, something the World Health Organization recently called Germany's "demographic time bomb."

Crisis in nursing care

Germany's graying population will require doubling the number of nursing home personnel by 2050 and adding 800,000 nursing home beds, according to the Bertelsmann Foundation, a private research foundation in G?tersloh. But Germany cannot afford it. Making the situation even more difficult is that nursing care is regarded as an undesirable profession, experts agree.

In the town of Wittenberge in the former East Germany, social worker Rita Langwisch foresees a worrisome development: old-age poverty. Her town, once a robust industrial hub in Communist times, saw its sewing machine factory and other industries close when the Berlin Wall fell. More than 8,000 jobs disappeared, prodding a massive exodus of young people which shrank the town from 36,000 to 18,000 people.

Today, one in 10 people is unemployed. For many, today's jobs aren't the life-long jobs of yesterday. There are mini-jobs, part-time jobs. Families are no longer intact. And more and more women have to work, meaning they are less and less able to look after older parents.

"With the new generation of retirees, that?s when we?re going to have a real problem," says Ms. Langwisch, manager of the local diakonie, a church-run charity in Wittenberge. "In five years from now, old-age poverty is going to be a real problem."

?Who will actually be there to care? This is the problem of the future,? concurs Garms-Homolova, the health care management expert. ?We will get only older staff. We have to look at how to reduce the need for care.?

Financial pressure for alternatives

Financial pressure is mainly what drives children to send their parents to a cheaper nursing home in Slovakia or Hungary, says Senior Palace founder Arthur Frank. ?Financially, people are pushed to the limit,? Frank says. ?The real problem in Germany is that caregivers have a bad reputation ? nobody wants to do the job.?

"Here, in Slovakia, we don?t have this.?

While nursing-home costs have skyrocketed to an average of 2,900 euros ($3,800) per month, pensions have remained the same at best, experts agree. His five homes cost between 1,000 and 1,400 euros ($1,300 and $1,800) a month, Frank says.

In Germany, it's still family who mostly care for elderly parents, and more so than elsewhere in Europe, according to EURHOMAP, a European Community-funded research project comparing the home-care situation in 27 EU states as well as Croatia, Turkey, Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland.

"In Germany, one's sense of taking care of one's parents is very strong," says Garms-Homolova.

The way Pflegeversicherung works partially explains why, experts agree. Germans can either get their nursing-home costs partially covered or receive a lump sum, of roughly 700 euros ($910), that can be used by relatives. ?The money is one reason why people have traditionally preferred not to take nursing care, but to take the money,? says Prof. Schaeffer.

Deal with insurance?

The money helps Frank's patients or their relatives offset the travel cost to Slovakia, he says. EU law forbids German insurance funds from establishing deals with nursing homes abroad, partly because checking quality is difficult. But the topic in recent years has become part of the public debate.

"It would be wrong to uproot people from their family surroundings just because they need nursing care," says Uwe Deh, chairman of the AOK Federal Association, the largest of Germany?s roughly 180 statutory health insurance funds, in Berlin. "But freedom of movement is a reality, and whoever wants to be cared for in other countries should have the right to do so."

"Good, affordable nursing care shouldn?t become a rarity," says Mr. Deh.

A rare phenomenon, but a worrisome sign

Experts estimate that the number of people going to other EU countries to receive nursing care will remain extremely limited, under 5,000 people a year.

?We?re talking about individual cases,? says Garms-Homolova.

?As long as it is a free choice, why should it be somehow problematic?? she says. ?But that poverty is the cause is not right.?

To reduce the need for long-term care, says Schaeffer, change should start by preventing older people from being dependent. That could start with small steps, like promoting the living together of various generations or designing bike lanes adapted to the special, wider bicycle older people may use. "We need more solidarity," Schaeffer says.

In the end, sending your mother to Slovakia may pose more than one moral dilemma. "If you want good nursing home in Czech Republic you have to wait for 10 years," says Garms-Homolova. "Now the better places are occupied by Germans."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/iiz6sBG1rII/Exporting-Grandma-Some-German-elderly-head-abroad-for-nursing-care

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Ads for small businesses | The Salt Lake Tribune

Many Utah cities are trying to clamp down on electronic billboards. Here?s the part of the story you probably didn?t hear: This new advertising option is great for small advertisers.

Say there are 10 northbound billboards on Interstate 15 in the Salt Lake Valley. In any given month, 10 businesses would contract with a billboard company and pay from $5,000 to $10,000 per month for that space.

Since companies aren?t allowed to build any more billboards, that limited supply means the price just keeps going up. In the future only big advertisers like Coca-Cola or Larry H. Miller will be able to afford billboards.

But with digital billboards, many smaller advertisers can afford to share that space because nobody has to climb up and hang a new ad. The messages on the electronic screen change every eight seconds. There?s no animation, just static ads electronically sent to the billboard from a computer somewhere. It?s hard to tell the billboard is even digital.

In an era when small business is under attack, the little guy needs a break. Digital billboards are just what we need.

Greg Jarrard Owner, Atomic Advertising Agency, Inc.

South Jordan

Reader comments on sltrib.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Salt Lake Tribune. We will delete comments containing obscenities, personal attacks and inappropriate or offensive remarks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. If you see an objectionable comment, click the red "Flag" link below it.
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Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/55953227-82/billboards-advertisers-billboard-digital.html.csp

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4-story building collapses in Senegal, killing 2

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) ? Ibrahim Balde knew his place. He was the newest member of the construction crew, expected to do the hardest tasks for the lowest pay. So when he showed up for work on Friday morning, he went to take his place on the ground floor, at the bottom of the pulley used to yank buckets of cement up the four stories of the apartment complex they were building.

He was surprised and touched when his fellow crew member decided to give 20-year-old Balde a break, telling him to go to the top of the building and unload the buckets of cement, a far lighter and less-tiring task. It was that act of kindness that saved Balde: On the fourth floor when the building began to shake, Balde first fell with the structure, then regained his footing and succeeded in leaping off. The building crumpled beneath him, killing two members of the construction crew, including the young man who had traded places with him earlier.

It's the latest loss of life due to a building collapse in this part of Africa, where regulation is lax and officials are easily bribed. Last November, a housing goods store crumbled in Ghana, killing at least 17.

The four-story building was only permitted to be half as tall, said Omar Samb Gueye, the local chief in the Ouakam neighborhood, a former fishing village which has become part of Dakar's urban sprawl. He confirmed that two people were killed when the building fell between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Friday. Gueye blamed badly-executed and hasty construction for the tragedy.

"It's due to a defect in the way the building was constructed," he said. "There's no cement. Look," he said pointing to the rubble, which appeared to consist mostly of cinderblocks, a sand-like filling and metal wiring. "I'm not a mason, but even I can tell that it's bad construction."

Balde was hired a month ago and agreed to work for $4 a day doing whatever the foreman asked. He was brought on after his friend, the foreman's son, put in a good word for him. And for the first month ? up until Friday ? his job had consisted almost exclusively of hauling bags of cement to the mouth of the large bucket. Then filling the bucket, and then yanking the pulley until the bucket ascended, a job that he said left his arms tingling by the end of the day and the palms of his hands as hard as wood.

"I was at the top of the building. On the fourth floor ... I felt it fall away under me, and I went with it. Like I was sitting down. But then I was able to stand back up, and I jumped as hard as I could. I landed on my back, hitting my shoulder. A brick hit my head. I got up and ran," Balde explained. "When I looked back, the building was gone. I knew there was nothing I could do for Hassane," he said, naming his friend, whose crushed body was pulled out by firefighters later Friday.

In fact, it's possible that his friend was alive for at least one to two more hours. Moustapha Kane, a mason who was working at a construction site nearby, said that at around 11 a.m. one of the people trapped inside the building called a relative on his cellphone. He said that he and another man were stuck near the staircase, hemmed in by the debris. He begged for help.

Associated Press writers Sadibou Marone and Ndeye Sene Mbengue contributed to this report.

Rukmini Callimachi can be reached at www.twitter.com/rcallimachi

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/4-story-building-collapses-senegal-killing-2-110132421.html

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Teaching money lessons at a restaurant

By Trent Hamm,?Guest blogger / March 9, 2013

A waitress brings a cart of dim sum to a table of customers at Chatham Square Restaurant in the Chinatown neighborhood of New York. According to Hamm, a restaurant outing can be a great opportunity to teach kids about the economics of food and service.

Mark Lennihan/AP/File

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A few nights ago, our family went out to dinner at a local restaurant. On the occasions when our family does eat out, our children are usually pretty excited for the event, as it?s a change of pace from eating at home every evening. They?re usually really observant and spend much of the meal asking questions of all kinds and chattering like crazy.

Skip to next paragraph Trent Hamm

The Simple Dollar is a blog for those of us who need both cents and sense: people fighting debt and bad spending habits while building a financially secure future and still affording a latte or two. Our busy lives are crazy enough without having to compare five hundred mutual funds ? we just want simple ways to manage our finances and save a little money.