Friday, December 30, 2005
The Australian Centre for Languages, a company which has a multi-million dollar contract with the Australian government to provide refugee services, has been accused of breaching its duty of care following the death of a chronically ill child and allegations of failing to provide three women in their care with food.
By Craig Elliott-
Disasters can strike anytime, anywhere. Recovering from disasters can be a major task, especially if not handled properly. Chaos and confusion generally rule the day. The need for organization is critical and everyone wants to return to some semblance of “normal” life. It doesn’t matter whether it is a small, local disaster or a major, national scale event. The goal is the same; get back to some form of normalcy as quickly as possible.
Disasters do not need to be major in scale to disrupt daily life. A fire is a disaster that may affect only one family. A tornado may impact one town. These are still disasters by definition and a period of recovery must take place. Usually, the recovery effort for small-scale disasters is local in nature. Volunteer organizations such as Red Cross and the Salvation Army will often help with local disaster recovery efforts. Religious and other community-based groups will usually step in and also help with these efforts. Much of the recovery work falls on the shoulders of the victims and their immediate friends and families. The individual insurances are often the sole financial help.
Larger disasters, on the state and regional levels, usually involve several agencies that assist with the recovery efforts. Local, state, and many times, federal, agencies all have a hand in the clean up and recovery. Resources may be made available to assist individuals and businesses with their recovery. Federal money can be requested in larger disasters. Shelters and alternative housing are often set up to help those displaced from their homes.
Local and state agencies have plans in place to minimize damage and loss of services from a disaster, no matter what scale. Part of that plan includes beginning disaster recovery efforts as soon as possible. Delays in recovery work can lead to additional destruction. After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf States, the recovery effort was started as quickly as possible. However, due to the immense scale of the disaster, many areas could not be reached immediately and many homes and businesses had to be torn down due to the growth of dangerous molds and bacteria. The sooner recovery work can begin the better chance that homes and businesses can be saved.
Individuals involved in a disaster, whether local or large-scale, must rely on their insurance to cover the major costs of repair or rebuilding. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the federal government are not insurance programs for individuals. In larger emergencies they may help out by bringing the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) loan programs into play. This allows individuals to secure low or no-interest loans to help with repairs.
Small businesses are often treated as individuals in disaster recovery. The SBA offers loans to help rebuild the business and get operations moving again. Other loans and grants may be available, depending on the scale of the disaster and programs involved. The individual state may offer low and no interest loans and grants as well. The goal of these programs is to get businesses back up and running as quickly as possible to serve the communities and help workers get back to their wage earning positions. This helps individuals in their recovery efforts as well.
Governmental agencies and services will receive the bulk of federal monies. They are tasked with serving the community throughout and after the disaster. They are often without necessary equipment or supplies and this must be taken care of quickly to ensure continued operations. Federal money may also be channeled through local governments in the form of grants and federal assistance programs. This money may directly, and indirectly, benefit the individual citizen.
There are many companies that specialize in disaster recovery plans for businesses either consulting or the actual disaster recovery work. They help companies develop plans for safeguarding important data and information during a disaster. They also work with companies after a disaster to recover and get back on their feet. Any disaster can cause the loss of valuable information, hardware and software for a business. This must be recovered in order to continue operations as before. Sometimes it can be saved and reused; often it must be repaired or replaced.
The main goal of disaster recovery is to get individuals and businesses back on their feet and back to normal as quickly as possible. The transition will never be smooth, but it should be well planned and organized. Many outside organizations may be available to help out, although it is important for the individual citizen or business to have a plan in place for recovering from a disaster. This should include adequate insurance to cover losses and a plan for operations during the recovery effort. Recovery of important data for a business may require assistance from an outside company that specializes in disaster recovery. The most important aspect of disaster recovery is having a plan in place before disaster strikes.
About the Author: Craig Elliott is a freelance writer who writes about topics concerning planning, safety preparedness and demonstrations for emergency response such as
efilmgroup.com/Safety
Training Videos | Terrorism Response Videos
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Friday, March 13, 2009
A team of archaeologists excavating an Ancient Egyptian tomb have discovered golden jewelry in a recently-discovered lower chamber at the Valley of the Kings burial site in Luxor, Egypt.
Two golden rings and five golden earrings were found in the tomb of Djehuty, an 18th-dynasty official of Queen Hatshepsut, and were probably the property of Djehuty or his family.
The discovery was announced by Farouk Hosni, Egypt’s current Minister of Culture.
Djehuty was overseer of the treasury and overseer of works for the Queen. Hatshepsut reigned approximately 1479–1458 BCE. Djehuty was responsible for managing the huge amounts of precious goods brought in from Egypt’s military expedition to Punt in the Horn of Africa and the vast building projects of Hatshepsut which have made the female pharaoh one of the most-remembered of any from ancient Egypt.
Djehuty died after Hatshepsut did, sometime during the reign of Thutmosis III. Both Hatshepsut’s and Thutmosis’s names are recorded on the tomb. In a fashion typical of ancient Egyptian rivalries, Hatshepsut’s name was partly obscured on the monument over the tomb sometime after the queen’s death.
The team, led by José Manuel Galán of the National Research Center (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC), in Madrid, Spain, had been excavating the tomb, designated TT11 and located in the necropolis of Dra’ Abu el-Naga’, since 2002. While much of Djehuty’s funerary equipment was lost to fire in antiquity, the lower chamber of his tomb was concealed at the end of a three-meter shaft and discovered at the end of 2008.
A superficial description of the tomb itself was recorded almost two hundred years ago by 19th-century French Egyptologist Jean-François Champollion, rubble blocking the entrance hindered excavation until the 21st century. In that time, emphasis in Egyptology has changed from the cataloging of treasures to the investigation of ancient culture, life and religion.
Since excavation began, Djehuty’s tomb has yielded a number of surprises. It was discovered that the tomb was re-used repeatedly up to and during the Greco-Roman period. There is an unusual face-on depiction of pharaoh Thutmosis III hunting ducks, and the mummy of a young, bejewelled, as-yet unidentified woman.
In 2007, 44 preserved bunches of flowers thought to be from Djehuty’s funeral were found in the site. In their 8th season of excavation, which ended on February 22, 2009, the team also found considerable evidence that below Djehuty’s tomb is a network of burial sites from the 11th dynasty, four thousand years old.
The lower chamber also displays passages from the Egyptian funerary text the Book of the Dead on its walls and a colorful mural of the goddess Nut, an embodiment of the heavens, on the ceiling. The names of Djehuty and his parents were also intact in the second chamber; the names were defaced in the previously-known first chamber of the tomb, which had also been looted.
According to a press release from Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, Djehuty’s tomb is only the fifth known decorated burial chamber of the 18th dynasty. An additional unusual feature of the tomb is that its upper chamber is decorated in relief, rather than simply paint. When the excavation is completed, Dr Galán’s team plans to open the site to the public as the carved stoneworks will not be destroyed by tourists’ activities as paint would.
The identification of Djehuty is a complicated one, as a number of officials of the 18th dynasty bore the name, including a general and several governors. The name itself is an alternate transliteration of the name of the Egyptian god usually written in English as Thoth.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Anna Nicole Smith, who was born as Vickie Lynn Hogan, was found unconscious in the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida in her 6th floor hotel room. One of her attorneys has confirmed that she was pronounced dead at a hospital less than an hour later. She was 39.
Paramedics are reported to have performed CPR on the actress and had to have breathing equipment inserted into her chest after a nurse found her passed out in her hotel room and witnesses say that Smith was receiving CPR while the ambulance took her to the hospital around 2:00 p.m. [EST]. Smith’s bodyguard is reported to have given Smith “cardiopulmonary resuscitation” before paramedics arrived.
“I can confirm that she is deceased. It’s as shocking to me as to you guys. I don’t know what the cause was. This is just tragic and that’s all you can say right now and I don’t know anything further,” said one of Anna Nicole’s lawyers, Ron Rale.
Smith was taken by ambulance to Memorial Regional Hospital and “checked in Monday [to the hotel] at 8 p.m. as a guest. She was due to check out tomorrow,” said cafe spokeswoman, Danielle Giordaano.
“Our rescue crews got there, and they were escorted to a bedroom, where they found a female alone in her room and unresponsive. We then began our normal protocol for dealing with a non-breathing individual. The victim never regained consciousness and we continued with CPR and all life-support methods right up until the time we delivered her to the hospital and then the hospital takes over,” said a spokesman for the responding paramedics team. Smith was pronounced dead at the hospital at 2:49 p.m. [EST].
According to Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office investigator, Edwina Johnson, an autopsy will be performed on Smith on Friday and that her death is currently being investigated. Authorities are not yet treating her death as a crime.
One of Smith’s attorneys, Howard K. Stern, is reported to have been staying with Smith in her room, but authorities have yet to locate Mr. Stern. Mr. Stern is identified by TRIMSPA as Smith’s husband.
“He was here with her. I don’t know where he’s at right now,” said Charlie Tiger the chief of the Seminole Police Department also adding that Smith’s 5 month old baby was not with them.
Smith was a spokeswoman for the company TRIMSPA when she passed, and TrimSpa has removed all content from their site for now, shutting it down and posting only a message in response to her death.
“Today, Anna Nicole Smith’s grief stricken and tumultuous personal life came to an end. Anna came to our Company as a customer, but she departs it as a friend. While life for Anna Nicole was not easy these past few months, she held dear her husband, Howard K. Stern, her daughter, Dannielynn Hope, her most cherished friends, beloved dogs, and finally, her work with TRIMSPA. Anna knew both the joy of giving life, and the heartache of losing a child. We pray that she is granted the peace that eluded her more recent days on earth, and that she find comfort in the presence of her son, Daniel,” said the statement on TRIMSPA’s website posted by Alex Goen, CEO and Founder of TRIMSPA.
Smith was rushed to the hospital in November of 2006 after she was suffering from symptoms of pneumonia. Smith’s son, Daniel Smith, died on September 10, 2006 shortly after Anna gave birth to a baby girl 5 months ago.
Smith was shopping for a new boat in Florida and reports say she felt ill and had a fever for at least a day.
Submitted by: Leo Lazich
Every life created by nature has a purpose and usually a predator to keep it in check. Overtime of course, some predators got extinct or displaced and so their prey begin to dominate and soon became pests. Human ingenuity however, is limitless and we soon find solutions to problems that often, we ourselves inadvertently created. The pests in our garden is one such problem and fortunately, we do know how to get rid of them.
When it comes to pests in the garden or pest control in general, the first thing that comes to mind is chemical pesticide. The unfortunate truth about them is that each year homes in Australia use approximately several million litres of pesticides on lawns and gardens, and in the home. In fact, on an average, home owners use thrice the quantum of pesticides as farmers. This sad statistics results in lot of wildlife poisonings also, most surface water contamination from pesticides come from single-family homes.
You can be environmentally friendly by opting for natural methods and natural pest control which by the way, is less expensive and it’s 100% safer for your family, your garden, the wildlife near you and of course, the environment.
Here are the secrets to how organic pest control works:
Smell: Like humans, garden pests too are affected by bad smell however (and fortunately), garden pests hate smell of garlic, rhubarb, fish, tobacco etc. you get the picture. So discard old garlic, fish heads, etc. by burying them near the roots of your plants.
Gases and odour molecules: Certain plants give off natural odours or oils which some bugs find unpleasant. Sprays and other concoctions made from these plants and sprayed onto plants will deter pests while not harming your plants.
Oil: Vegetable oils, Mineral oils and oils made from cotton seed will suffocate soft-bodied pests e.g. caterpillars.
Soap: Add small quantities of vegetable based liquid soaps to sprays in small amounts to make them stick to plants. Many insects dislike it and are harmed by soap.
Physical: If only one or two plants exhibit pests, the good old manual (by hand) removal method works fast and is best. You may hate to go near them but removing caterpillars by hand works best. Just use some simple tool to pry the caterpillars lose and drop them into a bucket or paper bag.
Remember, all insects are not pests. Some are there to control the real pests. The easiest way to differentiate between them is to open Google in your web browser and insert a description of the ‘pest’ and voil you will know if the garden pest you describe is really a pest of a predator of the real pests. You want a Lawn Mowing Services Forster teeming with life with the many creatures and insects keeping each other in check.
The idea of organic pest control is to work with nature rather than bombard everything with chemical based sprays and other counterproductive material.
Of course, you can also opt to have a team of Garden Clean Ups Services Penrith professionals from Fox mowing attend to your garden pests. More information here: http://foxmowingnsw.com.au.
About the Author: Leo Lazich is a Franchisor of Fox Mowing for NSW and QLD in Australia. Welcome to the Fox Mowing and Gardening website. We here at Fox are pretty passionate about our work. We love gardening and lawn care and nothing makes us happier than having satisfied clients.Visit Here For More Information :
foxmowingnsw.com.au/
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Monday, August 27, 2012
London, England — As Paralympians ready for the Games which are set to open later this week, they have access to a world class fitness center inside the Paralympic Village which is designed to maximise their pre-Game preparations.
According to volunteers staffing the center, instead of being a single large room, as in Beijing, the building has numerous rooms. It, along with the adjacent Village Services Centre, is designed to be converted into a school after the games conclude. Rooms have been structured as a gym, an auditorium, and science laboratories.
Gym equipment is supplied by Technogym, an Italian firm that has supplied gym equipment for the Olympics since 2000. Equipment has been provided not just for for the Fitness Centre, but for gyms at all the Olympic venues. The newest equipment is oriented toward maximum flexibility, allowing athletes to exercise the particular muscles that they most require for their sport.
In addition to the equipment, the Fitness Centre also provides instructors trained in the use of the equipment, the likes of which athletes from many countries have never seen before. There are also a number of instructors available to provide motivational training.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Hundreds of mourners paid their last respects in honour of Colleen Howe yesterday at St. Hugo of the Hills Church in Michigan, United States.
According to a statement released by the Detroit Red Wings, Howe, who was a business entrepreneur and sports agent with the nickname “Mrs. Hockey”, died on Friday of Pick’s disease, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She was 76 years old.
Howe, who was born in Sandusky, Michigan in 1933, was most famous for establishing Power Play International and Power Play Publications to manage the hockey career of her husband Gordie Howe and her sons, Marty and Mark. She established the first Junior A hockey team to the United States and Michigan’s first indoor ice hockey rink.
Howe is survived by husband Gordie Howe, sons Marty, Mark, Dr. Murray A., daughter Cathy Purnell née Howe, nine grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Red Wings owners Mike and Marian Ilitch and Red Wings coach Mike Babcock attended the funeral along with vice president Steve Yzerman, Red Wings players Kris Draper Brian Rafalskim, Pavel Datsyuk, and Henrik Zetterberg. Amid the Red Wings contingent was also captain Nicklas Lidstrom.
Retired hockey players also paid their respects, in attendance were Bill Gadsby, Johnny Wilson, Frank Mahovlich, Alex Delvecchio, and Brian Watson.
Howe’s motto was “Why not?” said her son, during the services.
Howe was diagnosed in 2002 with Pick’s disease, an incurable neurological disease that causes dementia. Red Wings general manager Ken Holland held a moment of silence before the Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets hockey game last Saturday. When a picture of Howe and Gordie lit up the scoreboard, fans responded with a standing ovation at the Friday, March 6 Vancouver Giants’ game against the Calgary Hitmen in the Pacific Coliseum.
Howe was one of the founders of the Detroit Junior Red Wings, the first Junior A hockey team in the United States. Howe served as general manager for three years with the Detroit Junior Red Wings. As an assertive and business savvy sports agent she formed Power Play International to manage Gordie, Marty and Mark’s business interests. Howe trademarked Gordie Howe’s name and nickname, “Mr. Hockey”, and her own nickname, “Mrs. Hockey”, as registered trademarks.
Howe was instrumental in the construction of the Gordie Howe Hockeyland arena, Michigan as well as the first Michigan indoor ice hockey rink. She was named Sportswoman of the Year in Detroit in 1972 followed by Michigan Sportswoman of the Year in 1973.
The Colleen J. Howe Arena, Sandusky, Michigan, was named in her honour. The Colleen & Gordie Howe Middle School, Abbotsford, British Columbia, British Columbia and the Howe Arena in Traverse City, Mich. are also named in their honour.
Howe established the 1993 Gordie Howe tribute tour in 65 cities and the Howe Foundation which supports charities. She was also the proud recipient of The Hartford Chamber of Commerce award for outstanding community achievement in 1979.
Howe and Gordie jointly received the Wayne Gretsky Award from the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001.
Howe wrote the book My Three Hockey Players published in 1975 which became her first venture into writing. Howe, Gordie and Charles Wikins collaborated on the book After the Applause published 1989, followed by When the Final Buzzer Sounds in 2000. A 20th Century Hockey Chronicle written by Howe and Gordie was published in 1994, And …Howe!: An Authorized Autobiography was written together by Howe, Gordie and Tom Delisle and released in 1995. The final joint venture between Howe and Gordie was You Read to Me & I’ll Read to You: 20th-Century Stories to Share which came out in print in 2001. Charities were supported by proceeds from the sales of her books.
| Both Gordie and I stem from humble, rural origins. We have been fortunate to see the positive effects hockey has had on our lives, our family’s lives and the lives of millions of others. | ||
Howe was born as Colleen Joffa, to a farming family in Sandusky, Michigan and married Gordie Howe on April 15, 1953. Together they had four children, Mark, Marty, Murray and Cathy. Together they had four children, Marty, Mark, Dr. Murray A. and Cathy Purnell née Howe. Her son, Murray diverged from the family’s footsteps, becoming a doctor, and helped treat Howe during her ordeal with Pick’s disease. Howe is survived by nine grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Howe’s most remarkable negotiation as sports agent occurred in 1973, when she brought Gordie out of retirement and arranged for Mark, Marty and Gordie to all play together on the Houston Aeros. The three had also played together for the Hartford Whalers. Gordon “Gordie” Howe, Mr. Hockey, OC is a retired professional ice hockey player from Saskatchewan, Canada who played for the Detroit Red Wings and Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League (NHL), and the Houston Aeros and New England Whalers in the World Hockey Association.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Wikinews interviewed David Palmer, a member of the USA 2013 World Wheelchair Curling Championship team, about the 2014 Winter Paralympics being held in Sochi, Russia.
((Wikinews)) The US qualified a team for the Sochi Games. How likely are you to be on the final team? As these games would be your first, how excited are you about the possibility of representing your country?
((WN)) Were you happy with your team’s fourth place finish at this year’s World Championships?
((WN)) What steps is the team taking to try to get a gold medal in Sochi?
((WN)) Why do you participate in wheelchair curling? Why not wheelchair fencing, tennis, basketball or athletics?
((WN)) What is the nature of your disability? Do you use a wheelchair for most daily activities?
((WN)) How does being a parent impact your ability to compete at elite levels?
((WN)) Does participating in wheelchair curling cost a lot money?
((WN)) How do you afford to compete at the highest level? Do you have any sponsorship deals?
((WN)) Do you think USA Paralympic competitors get enough financial support to enable the country to compete at the highest level? Is funding equitable in the United States across sports and competitor visibility?
((WN)) What are your thoughts on the classification system and processes for your sport? Do you know of anyone who has been impacted as a result of it?
((WN)) Have you gotten much media coverage? What do you think of media coverage for curling in general and wheelchair curling specifically?
((WN)) What has been your favorite moment as a wheelchair curling competitor?
Submitted by: Richard Smart
Nearly all people suffer from the inability to fall and stay asleep at some time in their lives. It has been estimated that three-fourths of people suffer from sleeplessness on a regular basis for a long period of time, at least three months. Sometimes people have no problem falling or staying asleep but the quality of the sleep is so poor that they wake up feeling unrested.
The effects from lack of restful sleep can affect your relationships, health and even your career if left unchecked. Many prescription medications are available to treat insomnia. However the side effects associated with these medications may prove as harmful as not getting enough high-quality sleep. Most of these medications are made with narcotics and can be habit-forming and highly addictive, leading to tolerance and withdrawal symptoms. People who take them often complain of drowsiness or sluggishness the next day. In a few cases the side effects can include headaches, dizziness, sore throats and muscle pain. Follows is a summary of these dangers in greater details in order to prove the need to find a better alternative to harmful prescription sleep aids.
The most harmful side effect common with prescription sleep aids is the addictive nature of the narcotics used in these drugs. Very quickly someone who takes these prescription medications for insomnia can find themselves dependant on them for any sleep at all. OTC medications have similar effects but the most dangerous are the sleep aids prescribed by doctors. The only way to avoid the side effect of dependency is to avoid using these prescription sleep aids.
Another problem with prescription sleep aids is that they are often created using very strong drug formulas. In order to try and ensure the patient a full night’s sleep, these medications are made strong enough to last for at least eight or nine hours at a time. Sometimes it takes a while for the sleepiness that these drugs cause to wear off, leaving you tired and sluggish in the morning. It can take many hours after waking for someone who takes prescription sleep aids to feel fully awake.
Eventually you will want to stop taking a prescription sleep medication to help you sleep. Unfortunately, due to the addictive narcotics, this can be difficult and lead to serious withdrawal symptoms.
Withdrawal symptoms can include:
Headaches
rebound insomnia
spells of dizziness
For this reason, the suggested dose of prescription sleep aids is usually very small although it may be increased as tolerance to the drugs becomes higher.
Due to the dangerous nature of prescription sleep aids, it is in your best interest to research natural over-the-counter, or OTC, alternatives that do not contain addictive ingredients and have no past history of habit forming in people who have taken the medication long term. There are also lifestyle changes that may help with sleeplessness that should be explored before turning to drugs of any kind. Changes in diet and exercise habits may be enough to allow you to get the high-quality full night’s sleep that you need.
About the Author: Richard Smart writes for Natural Health Products, Inc and online natural health company which provides a very effective
natural sleep aid
and sleep medicine.
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Saturday, March 14, 2009
Rico Daniels is a British TV presenter living in France who is known for his two television series — The Salvager — whilst he still lived in the UK and then Le Salvager after he moved to France. Rico has been in a variety of jobs but his passion is now his profession – he turns unwanted ‘junk’ into unusual pieces of furniture. Rico’s creations and the methods used to fabricate them are the subject of the Salvager shows.
Rico spoke to Wikinews in January about his inspiration and early life, future plans, other hobbies and more. Read on for the full exclusive interview, published for the first time: