Typography rules and terms every designer must know By Creative Bloq Staff

Source: http://www.creativebloq.com/typography/what-is-typography-123652

March 08, 2016

We explain the fundamental concepts and terminology of typography in words you can understand.

Key typography rules

• Key typography rules
• Glossary of typography A-D
• Glossary of typography E-L
• Glossary of typography M-Z

The Unintended Consequences of Outsourcing By Panos Mourdoukoutas

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2011/12/09/the-unintended-consequences-of-outsourcing/#4c41b2ac7e36

Dec 9, 2011

Image via Wikipedia

Economists are almost unanimous: Outsourcing is a good business strategy. It improves efficiency, cuts costs, speeds up product development, and allows companies to focus on their “core competencies.” And for the most part, they are right. Outsourcing has helped American companies deal with the destructive forces of globalization; that is, the intensification of competition and the price and profit erosion associated with it. For some companies, outsourcing has made the difference between staying in business and going out of business. But, as with every other business strategy, outsourcing has its own limitations and "unintended consequences" that if not addressed, can turn it into a bad business strategy.

Outsourcing is easy to be replicated by the competition; it leads to fragmentation and disintegration of the supply chain, inviting new competitors into the industry. It also nurtures corporate complacency; and it undermines a company's relations with its labor, customers, and the domestic and local communities.

Outsourcing is easy to be replicated, and therefore, it is not a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Outsourcing provides certain competitive advantages to early-movers --that is, to companies that adapt it first -- but it isn’t proprietary. It cannot be patented, preventing others from adapting it. For example, if outsourcing hardware manufacturing provides IBM (NYSE:IBM) a cost advantage, it also does for its competitors, such as the Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Dell Computers (NYSE:DELL), and EMC (NYSE:EMC) that will follow suit. If outsourcing call centers cut costs for American Express (NYSE:AXP), it also does for its credit card competitors Visa (NYSE:V) and Master Card (NYSE:MA). This means that outsourcing works only as long as some industry members have yet to adapt it. Once this happens, outsourcing is no longer a source of competitive advantage.

Outsourcing leads to the fragmentation and disintegration of the supply chain, inviting new competitors into the industry, and undermining pricing power and profitability. Outsourcing of manufacturing, for instance, is feasible only if it can be separated from other supply chain activities: product development, branding, marketing, distribution, and after sales services. The same is true when it comes to outsourcing marketing or distribution and so on. This means that as more and more activities are outsourced, the supply chain turns from a single integrated process performed within the boundaries of traditional corporations to a fragmented and disintegrated process, a collection of separate and disjointed activities, performed across several independent subcontractors. And although such a fragmentation and disintegration of the value chain offers corporations a number of well publicized advantages, it has an unintended consequence:  It makes entry of new competitors to the industry easier, intensifying competition, shortening product cycles, and squeezing return on invested capital.

To understand how this works, let us imagine that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) develops a perfectly fragmented and disintegrated Web TV-supply chain: Every activity from the new TV-concept development, to design, manufacturing, marketing, and so on can be performed by independent subcontractors. This means that any company that has no capabilities in making and selling TVs can enter the TV industry, as long as it comes up with the sufficient capital to pay the subcontractors handling the different value chain activities. The problem, though, is that once the product hits the market, nothing prevents another company from doing exactly the same thing, and then another, and another, until the TV industry becomes crowded with companies pitting against each other in a cut throat competition that eliminates industry profitability. What seemed to be a good strategy for each investor in the beginning turned into a bad strategy for everyone at the end. By carrying outsourcing to the extreme, industry members opened the door widely to competition, reversing whatever outsourcing’s early positive effects, and then some.

But what if outsourcing isn’t carried that far? What if companies outsource only their “non-core activities,” and retain their “core activities”— the things they can do best? Certainly this strategy cuts costs and improves product quality, but it has another unintended consequence: it nurtures corporate complacency. By focusing on things that they can do best, company managers become complacent with their achievements, they think that what is a best product for their customers today will be the best product tomorrow. Corporate complacency, in turn, leads into corporate blindness, the failure of management to see that their markets reach saturation or are undermined by alternative products.

Outsourcing’s unintended consequences for companies and industries that adapt it are not confined to the intensification of competition and corporate complacency. They extend to the relations of these companies with one of their partners—labor. If each and every activity of the value chain is gradually farmed out, what binds labor with management and stockholders? If company engineers and marketers who develop new product ideas can sense that their jobs will eventually be farmed out, why should they be loyal to the company? Wouldn’t it be better to part from the company and pursue their own value chain by farming out the development, the manufacturing and so on, to outsourcing companies?

Outsourcing’s unintended consequences extend to company relations with another partner—the customer. If each and every activity is outsourced, customers may feel betrayed. If I hire Sears (NYSE:SHLD) or Home Depot (NYSE:HD) to make certain improvements in my house because they have a reputation for reliable services, I would feel betrayed if I get services from strangers hired by the said companies, especially if they perform a sloppy job. And I will feel even more betrayed if I end up discussing my medical or financial records with overseas strangers.

Outsourcing undermines relations with a third company partner—the domestic and local communities. By shifting production and jobs overseas, outsourcing has a devastated impact on both levels that often unleash tidal ideological and political waves that may reverse all the gains from outsourcing, and then some. Let’s not forget that people who live in these communities are not just workers, they are customers and citizens, too. As customers, they may end up boycotting the products of the corporations moving from one location to another, just to cut costs and raise profits. As citizens, people may end up supporting legislation that increases the cost of doing business in their community.

What seems to be trendy in business strategy isn’t always a good strategy, especially if it is carried to the extreme. If carried to the extreme, outsourcing turns corporations into opportunistic institutions without a vision, heading into a collision course with its most valuable partners—labor, customers, and the community. True, in a competitive world, it is hard to swim like a salmon against the current. Yet the salmons that swim hard always make it to their destination.

'Very depressing': CIBC staff losing jobs to workers in India, expected to help with training

Up to 130 CIBC finance jobs will be lost due to outsourcing this year

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cibc-outsourcing-jobs-india-1.4045759

By Sophia Harris, CBC News

Affected CIBC staff must train other local CIBC employees, who will in turn train workers in India to take over the jobs. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

CIBC is eliminating up to 130 jobs in its Toronto finance department and outsourcing the work to India.

As part of the transition, staff losing their positions must train other local CIBC employees. Those employees then train the workers in India who will be taking over the jobs.

Although they aren't directly training their replacements, the situation isn't sitting well with some affected staff who spoke with CBC News. They asked that their identity be protected because they fear repercussion from CIBC — one of Canada's largest banks.

"It's very, well, depressing," said one employee about having to pass on his work knowledge so that someone in another country can replace him.

"A lot of people would have rather just been let go immediately than to sort of, if you will, suffer [through this]."

"It feels like no one cares for us," said another employee. "The environment is really bad. People are bitter."

The jobs being outsourced are mainly accounting-related positions. CIBC has already let go 16 employees and the layoffs will continue to roll out over the course of the year.

The replacement workers in India are with the global consulting and outsourcing firm, Accenture, which is partnering with CIBC.

$1.4B profit for CIBC

The bank says it has found jobs for 36 displaced staff and is making every effort to find work for others.

But the employees that CBC News spoke with say they feel the bank is more interested in raking in profits than helping them out.

"They want to get rid of us no matter what, because we are old or something," said one worker who claims many of the employees facing layoffs are middle-aged or older.

She said CIBC pulled in a $1.4 billion profit in the last quarter and is still outsourcing jobs to save money. "They said it's cheaper labour and it's 24 hours, because when we are sleeping, they are working."

• Outsourcing bank jobs is common practice

• Offshore outsourcing 'not always a negative thing'

Another employee said he could accept his layoff if his job had been outsourced to another Canadian company. But he believes sending the work offshore is going too far.

"You have to draw the line somewhere, especially when you're talking about the types of profits that these companies are making," he said. "You're taking these good-paying jobs out of the Canadian economy."

When asked why it's outsourcing the work, CIBC suggested it's a common practice.

"Like most large companies, we selectively outsource," spokesperson Caroline Van Hasselt said in an email.

CIBC currently has 43,000 employees and has created almost 2,500 jobs in Canada over the past five years, she added.

Everybody does it

Many Canadian corporations outsource work to other countries, said Ron Babin, with the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University.

"It's the way of the world. It's how companies remain efficient, it's how they remain competitive, it's how they keep their costs down."

Many Canadian organizations from banks to government outsource labour, says a business expert. (Vivek Prakash/Reuters)

Although outsourcing is a routine business practice, Babin said it still generates negative attention when people lose their jobs.

"It's a sad story," he said. "You hate to see something bad happen to good people."

In 2013, Royal Bank of Canada faced a tidal wave of criticism following a CBC News report that 45 of its IT employees were being replaced by cheaper workers from India employed by global outsourcing firm, iGATE.

RBC brought several of the replacement workers to Canada, prompting an employee to complain that they had to directly train them to take their jobs.

• RBC replaces Canadian staff with foreign workers
• RBC chief 'listening' after foreign worker controversy

CIBC says none of its offshore workers are setting foot on Canadian soil.

RBC crossed a line by bringing foreign workers to Canada to be trained by staff facing layoffs, Babin said.

"That was callous, I would say, and I think RBC has learned from that."

RBC won't offshore jobs for money

RBC reacted to the backlash at the time by pledging to never outsource a Canadian job to another country solely to save money.

"RBC will not offshore work where salary savings is the primary reason and will make every effort to source in Canada," the bank said in a statement.

A CBC News story about RBC replacing Canadian staff with foreign workers sparked a tidal wave of criticism. (Reuters)

The bank's then-CEO Gord Nixon also published an open letter in national newspapers, apologizing to affected employees.

"We should have been more sensitive and helpful to them," he said, adding that the workers would all be offered comparable job opportunities at RBC.

The CIBC employees that CBC News spoke with also hope that the bank will have a change of heart and do something to guarantee their jobs.

"How are we supposed to make a living?" says one employee who worries about not being able to land a comparable job. "We have family, we have expenses to take care of."

Bring Assata Back ASAP By Michelle Malkin

Source: https://www.creators.com/read/michelle-malkin/03/17/bring-assata-back-asap
March 22, 2017

If FBI agents have time to track down Tom Brady's stolen Super Bowl jerseys, why can't they bring back AWOL convicted cop-killer Assata Shakur?

It is time for one of the agency's most wanted women in the world to pay her dues. And President Trump is just the man to force this militant and unrepentant escapee to face justice.

Forty years ago this week, a New Jersey jury convicted Joanne D. Chesimard — aka Assata Shakur — on first-degree murder, assault and other charges in the 1973 traffic stop execution of state trooper Werner Foerster and wounding of trooper James Harper. She received a life (plus 30 years) sentence.

But instead of serving behind bars, Shakur has led the pampered life of a "political fugitive" in socialist Cuba after her radical Black Liberation Army buddies busted her out of prison. The late Fidel Castro's regime provided the fugitive murderer and social justice vigilante an apartment, stipends, books and funding for graduate school.

As she ages in comfort, the BLA's self-styled mother hen is now a campus icon among the Black Lives Matter generation. She's a T-shirt, a poster, an internet meme. Just last week at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, minority students convened an "Assata Shakur Reading Group" — which the school newspaper described as a "biweekly book club for people of color that focuses on radical, black activism."

Activism? Try bloodstained domestic terrorism. At the time of Foerster's murder, the BLA had been tied to the murders of more than 10 police officers across the country. Before the turnpike shootout, the BLA had ambushed two pairs of NYPD officers in a 48-hour spree, killing two of them; murdered another cop in Atlanta; and executed another pair of NYPD officers in 1972.

Chesimard, her brother-in-law Zayd Shakur (who died in the gunfight with Foerster and Harper) and another BLA member were wanted for questioning in the murder of two of those cops when they were stopped.

BLA's "sole goal," domestic terrorism expert and author Bryan Burrough noted in an interview for my new CRTV.com investigative program on Shakur, "was assassinating policemen." When BLA thugs ambushed rookie NYPD officers Rocco Laurie (who was white) and Greg Foster (who was black) while they walked the beat in the East Village in 1972, they didn't just shoot them. They stood "over them and just continue(d) to shoot into their bodies, into their heads" after they lay dead in the snow, Burrough recounted.

Retired FBI agent and Morris County, New Jersey, Sheriff James Gannon further schooled the ignorant: "This is not a soccer mom, this is a woman who was involved in very high-end, very violent crimes."

Joseph Connor, whose father, Frank, was murdered by the BLA-aligned Puerto Rican terrorist group FALN in 1975, added that these violent left-wing extremists were far from freedom-loving peaceful protesters: "They were looking to subjugate people beneath them. They weren't looking to free people, they were looking to murder people, they were looking to cause mayhem."

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has vowed to use trade policy to pressure Cuba to extradite Shakur and scores of other convicted criminal fugitives back to the United States. President Trump, who ushered in a new era of respect for law enforcement after eight years of President Obama coddling of the social justice mob, should get this deal done before yet another grim anniversary passes.

Every day they wait is another day the left's violent movement for "armed struggle" against our men and women in blue festers with impunity.

"Cop-killer Assata Shakur: The FBI's Most Wanted Woman in the World," debuts March 22 on CRTV.com's "Michelle Malkin Investigates." To find out more about Michelle Malkin and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

Why Heat Exhaustion Is so Dangerous By Dr. Mercola

Source: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/07/06/heat-exhaustion.aspx
July 6, 2016

Story at-a-glance -

• Heat stress ranges from mild heat rash to dangerous heat stroke, which claims the lives of nearly 660 people each year, more than from tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and lightening combined
• Death from heat stroke is preceded by a flood of toxins from your gut into your abdominal cavity, even passing the blood-brain barrier
• Simple strategies can reduce or even eliminate heat-related illnesses when you know what to do
  
  

  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on average, extreme heat causes 658 deaths in the U.S. each year. This is more than those in tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and lightning combined.¹ Sadly, many, if not all, of these deaths are preventable.

  Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reported 2,630 heat illnesses in 2014. These included all conditions related to overheating, such as rhabdomyolysis, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke.²

  In a study released by the CDC in 2013, researchers found 7,233 heat-related deaths in the U.S. between 1999 and 2009. This data also indicates the numbers are rising.³

  In a two-week period in 2012, excessive heat resulted in 32 deaths over four states in the U.S. This is four times the typical average for those same states for the same two-week period between 1999 and 2009.

  Just under 70 percent of deaths happen at home and 91 percent of those homes did not have air conditioning. Most of the people who died were either unmarried or living alone.

  Factors Affecting Your Potential Risk for Heat Stress

  Factors that affect your risk for suffering heat stress include your environment, your work and rest schedules, and your nutrition and training schedules.⁴ You are most prone to suffering heat stress if you are elderly, have high blood pressure or work or exercise in a hot environment.⁵

  You might think you can only suffer heat stress when temperatures outside are very warm, but it need only be 57 degrees Fahrenheit (13.8 degrees Celsius) to suffer the effects of heat stress.

  Humidity is another environmental factor affecting your body's ability to evaporate sweat, and cool your core temperature. Days of high humidity reduce sweat evaporation, and therefore affect your body's cooling system. Wind speed will help evaporate sweat and cool your body.

  Acclimating to extreme heat is important if you plan to spend time outside working. In this process, you physically adjust to the temperature in your outdoor environment. In a healthy person, this can take up to two weeks; a little faster in the heat and slower in the cold.⁶

  Your physical condition, age and weight are all factors in how quickly you acclimate to your environment. However, this is effective only when you have access to cooling off in times of heat stress. You cannot acclimate to living in an apartment without air conditioning during high temperatures.

  Age, medications and metabolic rate are also factors impacting your response to heat.⁷ As you age, your body's response to temperature change is reduced, causing higher risk in elderly individuals. Some medications may also interfere with your brain's temperature regulation.

  If your metabolic rate is high, you may feel warm at 72 degrees F (22.2 degrees C), whereas someone with a slow rate will feel cool. How often you rest in the heat, seek a cooler environment and schedule water breaks will also affect your response.

  Mild to Moderate Heat Stress

  There are varying degrees of heat stress, starting with heat rash and culminating in heat stroke.⁸ You may have experienced heat rash or prickly heat in the past. It is caused from heat and humidity and usually disappears quickly once you enter a cooler environment.

  Clusters of red pimples or small blisters may appear on your neck, groin, and chest, or under your breasts or your armpits. You may use powders to keep the area dry and reduce the irritation, but ointments and creams may only exacerbate the discomfort.

  Heat cramps are involuntary muscle contractions. In heavy working conditions and hot temperatures, your body can lose as much as 2 pints (1 liter) of fluid every hour.⁹ Replacing water is important, but so is replacing minerals and sodium. However, typical sports drinks are not the solution.

  Rehydration with coconut water¹⁰ supplies your body with minerals, salts and energy without the disadvantages connected to sports drinks, which can contribute to tooth corrosion and high sugar levels spiking your insulin and increasing your potential risk for metabolic syndrome.

  Heat syncope (fainting) or dizziness happens more frequently after prolonged periods of standing in one place in the heat.¹¹ Dehydration and lack of acclimatization contribute to the problem. You may have sweaty skin but will have a normal body temperature. Go to a cool area and drink to rehydrate.

  Rhabdomyolysis is the medical term to describe a rapid breakdown, destruction and death of muscle tissue. This can happen in times of extreme heat, causing muscle cramps, weakness and exercise intolerance.¹²

  The large amounts of proteins and electrolytes suddenly flooding your body from ruptured muscle cells can damage your kidneys, and trigger seizures and irregular heart rhythms. It is important to stop what you're doing, drink water, get to a cool place and seek immediate medical attention.

  Heat Stroke and Heat Exhaustion Are Different

  Heat exhaustion is your body's response to a loss of large amounts of water and salt.¹³ Your symptoms may include:¹⁴

  ✓ Headache	✓ Nausea	✓ Dizziness
  ✓ Weakness	✓ Irritability	✓ Thirst
  ✓ Heavy sweating	✓ Elevated body temperature	✓ Decreased urine output
  ✓ Vomiting	✓ Diarrhea	✓ Clammy or pale skin

  Immediate medical care is necessary to prevent the onset of heat stroke. If a clinic or emergency room is not immediately available, call your local emergency response phone number. Take the individual to a cool area, give them water to drink, remove unnecessary clothing and cool them with cold compresses.

  Avoid drinking ice cold drinks in favor of cool liquids.¹⁵ Take a cool shower or get into a bathtub or swimming pool. Spritz cool water over bare skin, or soak your clothing in cool water. Do not cool yourself or someone else to the point of shivering.

  Heat stroke is the most severe form of heat stress, causing dramatic changes in your cells that can potentially lead to death. Symptoms usually include:¹⁶

  ✓ Confusion (altered mental status)	✓ Loss of consciousness (coma)
  ✓ Hot, dry skin or profuse sweating	✓ Seizures
  ✓ Body temperature 104 degrees F (40 degrees C) or higher	✓ Death if treatment is delayed

  Act Quickly If You Suspect Heat Stroke

  Heat stroke is a medical emergency requiring immediate medical treatment. Give the same first aid you would for heat exhaustion while waiting for emergency personnel. Heat stroke causes specific changes in your cells, triggering large scale inflammation in your body that may result in death when left untreated.

  When your core temperature rises too high (hyperthermia), it quickly triggers a response as your body tries to correct the temperature elevation.¹⁷ Your blood vessels on the surface of your skin dilate in an attempt to cool the blood and body. This results in red (flushed) or blue coloring to the skin.

  To shunt more blood to the skin, the body constricts the blood supply to the gut. This reduces blood flow and increases the movement of bodily fluids between the cells, a structure designed to keep fluids and toxins in your gut from leaking into your abdominal cavity, usually a sterile environment.¹⁸

  The leaking that occurs is not the slow trickle of leaky gut, but rather a sudden onslaught of toxins. In fighting the massive amount of toxins, your body also damages other organs and tissues. According to an article in Scientific American, which quotes a chapter in the textbook, "Wilderness Medicine," it can be challenging to differentiate between damage from overheating and from the secondary effects of the toxins.¹⁹ As explained by Scientific American:

  "Proteins in the spleen start to clump as a direct result of heat; they're essentially cooked. The blood-brain barrier that normally keeps pathogens out of the brain becomes more permeable, allowing dangerous substances into the brain … and 30 percent of heat stroke survivors experience permanent damage in brain function, according to Wilderness Medicine."

  Treat Heat Stress Early

  Heat stress may move quickly from cramps to heat exhaustion and into heat stroke. It is important to be diligent and to evaluate your symptoms and the symptoms of the people around you. Early treatment and immediate help can prevent heat stroke and the resulting damage to organs, tissues and your brain.

  If you are working in the heat daily and don't experience symptoms, it is prudent to weigh yourself nightly. You are flirting with danger if you lose between 1 percent and 1.5 percent of your body weight in a single day.²⁰ For a 170-pound person, 1 percent loss is 1.7 pounds and 1.5 percent is 2.5 pounds. You might not think such small numbers represent grave danger, but they do.

  Heat stress may make you feel tired, fatigued and irritable, and may cloud your thinking. This increases the likelihood of performance decay, leading to poor decisions or an increased risk of an accident.

  Your goal is to find a balance between the conditions under which you are working or enjoying an athletic pursuit, the amount of rest in cooler environment you get and your fluid intake. Even in perfect balance, you must listen carefully to your body and know the symptoms of heat stress.

  Prevent or Lower Your Risk for Heat Stress

  Preventing heat-related illness is easier than treating it. Be prepared to prevent heat stress or help those who are experiencing the condition.

  ✓ Know the Signs and Symptoms When you know what to look for, you may be able to prevent muscle cramps from accelerating to heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

  ✓ Monitor Yourself and Your Companions Be diligent about watching for the signs of heat stress and treat them immediately.

  ✓ Block a Direct Heat Source Shield yourself from the sun, open flames in hot weather and light when you are suffering from heat stress. Use the shade as much as possible. You may want to build simple reflective surfaces to fit your windows to deflect sunlight in the summer.21 Wrap aluminum foil around cardboard cut to fit your window. Anchor it between window dressing and the window to deflect the sun and reduce the heat absorption in your home. You may want to use this in the rooms you sit in the most.

  ✓ Use Cooling Fans and Air Conditioners While you may be able to acclimate to high temperatures outside, it is important to have cooling fans or air conditioning indoors where the air is not moving to aid in sweat evaporation.

  ✓ Check on Your Friends, Family and Acquaintances During a heat wave, check on people you know who live alone, don't have air conditioning or suffer from a medical condition which increases the potential for heat-related illness. Help them find shelters where they will be safe. Create a communication plan with people you know may need help in the heat. Identify when you will call and what will happen if they don't answer.22

  ✓ Drink at Least 8 Ounces of Water or Coconut Water Every 15 Minutes You will want to replace the fluid lost from sweat in the heat, supporting your body's cooling mechanism to prevent heat stress.

  ✓ Avoid Caffeinated Drinks, Alcohol and Heavy Meals23 Alcohol and caffeinated drinks stress your kidneys under hot conditions, increasing the potential for heat stress. To stay cool, your body will dilate capillaries close to the skin and shunt some blood from your gut, slowing digestion. Eating a heavy meal without adequate blood supply for digestion will be uncomfortable and may trigger nausea.

  ✓ Wear Lightweight Loose-Fitting Clothing This allows your sweat to evaporate and cool your body more efficiently. It's also important to leave your sweat on your skin and not wipe it off.24 Your sweat is the core of your body's cooling system. By wiping it off, you don't allow the body to cool as efficiently.

  ✓ Take the Time to Acclimatize Yourself Spend time intentionally getting used to the hot weather before attempting to participate in athletic activities or working outside. It can take up to two weeks to get used to changes in weather. Learn to listen to your body signals during this time and drink plenty of fluids.

  ✓ Rest Frequently Muscle activity increases the production of internal heat. This in turn increases your body core temperature and your risk of heat stress. Rest for at least 15 minutes every hour to allow your core temperature to stabilize.25

  ✓ Turn Off the Lights Lights and digital equipment emit heat as they function. When the room is already hot, even additional lighting or computers can raise the temperature enough to trigger heat stress.26

  ✓ Track the Local Weather Knowing when the heat is expected to rise will help you to plan outdoor activities, fluid requirements and when to activate your communication plan with friends and family.

  ✓ Eat Appropriately for the Weather It's important you continue to eat during a heat wave when you aren't actively working or participating in athletic activities. Small, frequent meals are more easily digested rather than two or three large meals a day.27

  ✓ Do Not Leave Children or Pets in the Car The temperature inside your car can quickly rise to 120 degrees F (48.8 degrees C) or higher. Hot enough to kill someone quickly.

The best free alternatives to Adobe Creative Cloud 2017: The finest free software for designers, illustrators, photographers, and artists By Cat Ellis

Source: http://www.techradar.com/news/the-best-free-alternatives-to-adobe-creative-cloud
March 29, 2017

Free alternatives to Adobe CC

Starting next month, Adobe is raising the price of its Creative Cloud suite in countries including the UK, Brazil, and Sweden to reflect changes in foreign exchange rates. That’s bad news for photographers, videographers and artists – particularly amateurs who might struggle to justify the extra expense.

Thankfully for cash-strapped creatives, there are some brilliant free alternatives to Creative Cloud’s key apps – some so similar to their Adobe counterparts there’s virtually no learning curve.

These free programs can’t replace premium software for professional creatives, but for hobbyists they’re ideal. Use them together with a cloud storage service like DropBox or OneDrive, and you’ll have access to your creations wherever and wherever you need it.

What are your favorite creative apps? What alternatives would you suggest for the other tools in Adobe CC? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The best free InDesign alternative: Scribus

Create great-looking, print-ready posters, newsletters and magazines

If you’ve ever used Adobe InDesign, you’ll have no trouble at all with Scribus; the two programs are extremely similar, using a system of grids, frames and layers to create great-looking PDFs. The two programs’ interfaces and workflows are almost identical (members of the TechRadar team with a background in print media can attest to this), and Scribus has all the tools you need to get your documents ready for professional printing, including font management and color profiles.

Scribus comes with a small selection of templates designed for single-page or folded documents (including business cards, brochures and newsletters) and more are available to download free. These are mostly for single-page documents; for multi-page newletters and magazines, it’s better to create your own layouts and save them as master pages.

Our only real complaint is that pagination – despite being very important for publishing – is tucked away in the document settings rather than the Arrange Pages dialog, where it is in InDesign. That aside, Scribus is a top-notch replacement for InDesign.

Download it here: Scribus

 The best free Photoshop alternative: GIMP

Refine your photos or create your own artwork from scratch, with support for Photoshop plugins

GIMP is a totally free, open source photo editor that’s as close to Photoshop as you can get without a credit card. It’s in constant development, with frequent updates to add new features and squish bugs (take a look at the release notes for more details), and despite its power, it’s surprisingly easy to use – especially if you’re used to Adobe’s system of menus and toolbars. There are drawing tools, layers, filters and a host of plugins that give you granular control over your images. It even supports Photoshop extensions.

GIMP’s main drawback as a Photoshop substitute is portability; there’s no mobile version, and although there’s a portable app, it’s too large to fit on an ordinary USB stick (and that’s before you’ve started installing extra plugins and fonts).

If you’d prefer a photo editor that you can use anywhere, try Pixlr Editor. It’s not quite as flexible as GIMP, with no support for third-party extensions, but it’s otherwise very similar.

Download it here: GIMP

The best free Lightroom alternative: LightZone

A digital darkroom for converting, editing and managing photos in batches or individually

Free, convenient and powerful, LightZone is the best free alternative to Adobe Lightroom. It provides layer-based, non-destructive editing so you can arrange and readjust filters as you see fit, and save the resulting stack for re-use. There’s vector-based selective editing for refining localized areas, plus a clone brush and spot-healing tool for correcting blemishes, re-lighting, and full manual color adjustment. Best of all, LightZone can process RAW images, including those from Canon, Nikon, Kodak, Panasonic, and Olympus cameras.

You need to sign up for an account before you can download LightZone (its developers want to monitor the number of downloads to see how the project is doing), but the process only takes a minute.

Download it here: LightZone

The best free Illustrator alternative: Inkscape

A versatile open source vector editor that's ideal for hobbyist illustrators and web designers

Inkscape is another free tool that does a great job of emulating its Adobe equivalent. Its toolkit makes creating and editing scalable vector graphics (SVG) files a breeze, with advanced manipulation options and a great assortment of filters – both functional and artistic.

Inkscape’s drawing tools are easy to get to grips with and fully customizable. New additions this year include extra path effects, mesh gradients, and interactive smoothing of pencil lines to help you create more realistic drawings.

Some users find Inkscape a little slow, but in all other respects it’s a fine substitute for Illustrator.

Download it here: Inkscape

The best free Adobe Stock alternative: Unsplash

Professional-quality stock photos in the public domain – totally free to download and use

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Top Democratic Lobbyist Bundlers Tied to Russian Interests: Lobbyists hauled in millions for Clinton's failed presidential campaign, thousands for Dem leaders By Joe Schoffstall

Source: http://freebeacon.com/politics/top-democratic-lobbyist-bundlers-tied-russian-interests/

March 20, 2017

A number of top Democratic lobbyist bundlers, who together pulled in millions of dollars for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and donated generously to Democratic leaders, personally represent or work at firms that have represented Russian interests in recent years, according to a review of foreign agent registration filings.

Several powerful lobbyists who have pushed millions of dollars into Democratic coffers have ties to foreign banks and governments.

Emanuel "Mike" Manatos, the senior vice president of Manatos & Manatos, a D.C.-based government relations firm, bundled tens of thousands for Clinton's campaign.

"Mike Manatos has orchestrated efforts that set numerous records in the policymaking process of the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives and the Executive Branch as he moved clients’ issues forward," the company's website states. "This record of success for clients’ issues has attracted some of the world’s and America’s leading individuals and organizations to ask Manatos & Manatos to oversee the handling of their issues in Washington, D.C."

One of those clients was the VTB Group, a Russian financial group that includes the VTB Bank—a large financial institution that is majority-owned by the Russian government.

The Foreign Agents Registration Act requires individuals who act as agents for foreign principals "in a political or quasi-political capacity" to provide periodic updates to the Justice Department on the work and services they perform. Foreign agents must submit receipts and disbursements in relation to the work they perform for foreign entities.

Manatos filed paperwork on May 11, 2016 to work on behalf of the VTB Group, a "global provider of financial services, comprised of over 20 financial institutions and financial companies operating across all key areas of the financial markets," the registration reads.

The Russian government is the majority shareholder of the VTB Group, controlling 60.9 percent of voting shares. The group received a $2.6 billion bailout from the Russian government in 2014-15, the registration notes.

Manatos was tapped by the group to lobby Congress and the Obama administration on sanctions imposed on Russian-affiliated banks.

According to a "privileged and confidential" document attached to the registration, the firm receives $17,500 per month and a $35,000 security retainer fee for its services.

Manatos bundled more than $40,000 in lobbyist contributions for Clinton's campaign. He and brother Andy Manatos, the second partner at the firm, have donated tens of thousands to Democratic politicians, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

Tony Podesta, owner of the powerful D.C.-based Podesta Group lobbying shop, works on behalf of Sberbank CIB USA, Inc., a subsidiary of Russia's largest bank that is majority-owned by the government. Tony is the brother of John Podesta, the former chairman of Clinton's campaign.

A lobbying report filed with Congress showed that Sberbank paid Podesta $20,000 in the first quarter of 2016 to "clarify the scope of sanctions imposed by Executive Order 13660," signed by President Obama in March 2014 to block "property of certain persons contributing to the situation in Ukraine." Podesta also was hired to explore possible sanctions relief.

The Security Services of Ukraine accused Sberbank of transferring funds to pro-Russia "terrorists" fighting for Soviet occupation in April 2014, a charge the bank denied.

Podesta was paid $170,000 by Sberbank for his services throughout 2016, disclosure forms show. Podesta bundled at least $260,000 for Clinton's campaign and has given hundreds of thousands more to prominent Democratic lawmakers, PACs, and committees.

Capitol Counsel, another D.C.-based lobbying firm, submitted a proposal to the Russian Direct Investment Fund, a $10 billion fund established by the Russian government, on Sep. 12, 2014 to represent the group in the United States. The letter was addressed to Kirill Dmitriev, the investment fund's chief executive officer.

"RDIF acts as co-investor or partner, always as a minority stakeholder, with leading international businesses and sovereign wealth funds. Co-investors perform joint due diligence with RDIF in evaluating opportunities and make independent investment decisions," the proposal states. "Recent press articles have significantly misstated the role and function of RDIF. To help address this concern, Capitol Counsel proposes to assist RDIF in correcting the press reports by working with US investors and the international investment community to educate the Administration and major policy makers as to the role of RDIF and its relationship with US business and investors."

Capitol Counsel proposed a monthly retainer of $45,000 for a minimum of two months as compensation.

The lobbying group submitted paperwork to FARA on October 31, 2014 to represent the Russian Direct Investment Fund. The group would "educate and explain to U.S. Department of Treasury and U.S. policy-makers RDIF's role and relationship with the United States partners and investors" and have communication with Treasury officials, policy-makers on Capitol Hill, and with Senate and House Committees of jurisdiction to "gather information regarding U.S. sanctions on Russian entities."

David Jones and Richard Sullivan, partners at Capitol Counsel, bundled more than $1.3 million for Clinton's campaign. The partners have donated generously to liberal politicians and groups.

None of the lobbyists in this story returned requests for comment by press time.

Joe Schoffstall   Email Joe | Full Bio | RSS
Joe Schoffstall is a staff writer for the Washington Free Beacon. Previously, he spent three years with the Media Research Center and was most recently with the Capitol City Project. He can be reached at Schoffstall@freebeacon.com. His Twitter handle is @JoeSchoffstall.

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Lourdes Cardiologist Explains “Broken Heart Syndrome”

Source: https://www.lourdesnet.org/blog/2017/02/17/lourdes-cardiologist-explains-broken-heart-syndrome/

Friday, February 17, 2017

When actress Debbie Reynolds died suddenly, just one day after her daughter Carrie Fisher passed away, many people speculated she died more of a broken heart than from a stroke. Mother and daughter were reportedly close, and they are just one example of close relatives, including twins and long-time spouses, who have died shortly after one another.

But is it possible to die from grief?  Yes, says a Lourdes cardiologist, however, it doesn’t happen often.

“Broken Heart Syndrome,” or stress-induced cardiomyopathy, is a condition in which intense emotional or physical stress can cause rapid and severe muscle weakness, explains Lourdes cardiologist Vivek Sailam, MD.

“Stress cardiomyopathy symptoms include chest pain, shortness of breath and low blood pressure,” said Dr. Sailam. “Tests may show changes in rhythm and blood substances that are typical of a heart attack, but the arteries are not blocked.”

Dr. Sailam says that with stress-induced cardiomyopathy (sometimes referred to as Takasubo’s cardiomyopathy), a portion of the heart temporarily enlarges and stops pumping effectively. “The rest of the heart continues to function normally or even with more forceful contractions.”

As the syndrome involves severe heart weakness and abnormal heart rhythms, it can be fatal for some individuals. However, the condition often improves very quickly, and patients under the care of an experienced cardiac team can make a full recovery.

Experts believe that with stress-induced cardiomyopathy, the heart is overwhelmed with a large amount of adrenaline. The exact way adrenaline affects the heart is not clear. It may cause a narrowing of the arteries, leading to a temporary decrease in blood flow to the heart. Adrenaline also may bind to the heart cells, causing large amount of calcium to enter the cells and not function properly.

Unlike a heart attack, when heart cells die, the cells are only “stunned” by the adrenaline. This usually allows the heart to recover without permanent damage.

“Patients may experience arrhythmias, heart failure or cardiogenic shock—when a suddenly weakened heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs,” said Dr. Sailam. “All of these conditions can be fatal if not treated immediately.”

Debbie Reynolds suffered a massive stroke. Stress-induced cardiomyopathy can lead to a stroke as well, said Dr. Sailam.

“When the heart isn’t pumping effectively, blood inside of it can become stagnant and can clot,” said Dr. Sailam. “A clot that breaks loose can travel to a blood vessel in the brain and cause a stroke.”

Middle-aged and older women appear to be at greatest risk of stress-induced cardiomyopathy, though younger women and men can experience it as well.

Stress is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. To help manage your stress:

• Maintain a positive attitude.
• Accept you cannot control everything.
• Exercise daily.
• Take time out to relax, including practicing yoga, meditating, listening to music or doing something else you enjoy.
• Eat well-balanced meals.
• Limit alcohol and caffeine.
• Get enough sleep.
• Talk to someone or seek help from a professional therapist.

While not everyone who has stress will experience stress-induced cardiomyopathy, Dr. Sailam says it’s important not to ignore its symptoms.

“If you’re experiencing chest pain, shortness of breath, inability to speak or move one side of your body, or any other possible symptoms of a heart attack or stroke, call 911 right away for immediate medical attention,” he said.

The GOP’s ObamaCare replacement will boost jobs and cut taxes By Betsy McCaughey

Source: http://nypost.com/2017/03/10/the-gops-obamacare-replacement-will-boost-jobs-and-cut-taxes/

March 10, 2017

Ignore the grandstanding on Capitol Hill and the noise coming from town-hall protests around the nation. The Republican bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare will boost your chances of getting a job and cut your tax bill, not to mention your insurance costs.

The repeal bill — called the American Health Care Act — also will stave off a tidal wave of future Medicaid spending that threatens to drown the states and Uncle Sam in red ink. Here’s how.

No more penalties. If you’re among the 8 million people getting whacked with a tax penalty for not enrolling in an overpriced ObamaCare plan, the repeal bill is good news. The federal government will no longer compel you to buy insurance.

The repeal bill also cancels penalties on employers. ObamaCare forced all but the smallest employers to provide a benefits package far costlier than what they had been offering prior to the reform. Employers then passed these costs onto workers, raising deductibles by 50 percent on about 155 million people.

Other employers dropped coverage altogether for millions of workers. Only in Washington, DC, would an employer mandate result in fewer people getting on-the-job coverage.

Still others — like community colleges and fast-food outlets — demoted workers to part-time status (having them work less than 30 hours a week) to avoid the mandate. In New York, some service and manufacturing companies stopped hiring altogether, according to the New York Fed.

Without repealing ObamaCare, there would be 2 million fewer people with full-time jobs by 2025, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The repeal bill is a jobs program.

Lower taxes. It’s also a massive $600 billion tax cut. It eliminates taxes that pushed up the costs of insurance and devices like artificial hips. It also allows people to put aside more earnings tax-free in a health-savings account for out-of-pocket health expenses.

And it eliminates the taxes that targeted people earning more than $200,000 a year, including the ObamaCare payroll tax hike (2.35 percent) and the 3.8 percent ObamaCare tax on unearned income.

Medicaid fix. Repeal rescues the nation from a looming financial calamity.

Medicaid, the public program for low-income people, has grown explosively under ObamaCare. Medicaid now covers 74 million. The ACA encouraged states to expand enrollment by promising the federal government would pay between 90 percent and 100 percent of the cost. That’s like handing your teenager your credit card.

State politicians eager to rake in federal funds spent with abandon. More than half of all federal dollars now going to the states are for Medicaid.

And Medicaid spending per recipient is growing twice as fast as Medicare for seniors. But without improving health outcomes, like controlling blood pressure.

You pay for Medicaid costs twice: first as a taxpayer and again as a consumer. Because Medicaid reimburses hospitals and doctors only 90 cents for every dollar of care, the shortfall gets shifted onto patients with private insurance, adding about $1,800 a year to your premium. Ouch.

Disregard shrill complaints from ObamaCare partisans like Zeke Emanuel that reforming Medicaid is “cruel.” The repeal bill protects Americans who need Medicaid, grandfathering in everyone enrolled through 2019. No one will lose coverage. But states are put on an allowance after 2019. Medicaid reform is long overdue, and this repeal bill launches it.

Individual insurance buyers. Finally, if you’re one of the 19 million people who buy insurance in the individual market, you’ll find all the protections of ObamaCare are preserved, including banning lifetime and annual-payment caps and penalties for pre-existing conditions. True, subsidies for lower-income buyers are smaller.

But the most newsworthy innovation is a multibillion-dollar fund that states can use to reduce premiums. States will pay the costs of the sickest insurance customers, so that premiums paid by healthy customers can stay reasonable. That feature has been ignored by the media and repeal critics, but it’s a keeper. With adequate funding, it has the potential to deliver what ObamaCare never did: affordability.

Betsy McCaughey is a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research.