Title: COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)
Category: Diseases and Conditions
Created: 12/31/1997 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/6/2022 12:00:00 AM

There is much of Jesus' early life we don't know about. We know He didn't begin His earthly ministry until around the age of 30. What did He do in those preceding years? Those years in obscurity were a vital part of 'Jesus' Preparation For Ministry'. What lessons can we learn from such obscurity and silent years? Follow Him 'From Obscurity To Prominence', as we consider this question and also the importance of Christ's baptism, holiness, obedience and His empowerment by the Spirit. This message is available at https://www.preachtheword.com now in MP3 audio format and in HD video on our YouTube Channel (https://youtube.com/PreachTheWord)...

Une porte-parole de la partie continentale de la Chine a condamn� mercredi les politiciens du Parti d�mocrate progressiste (PDP) dans la r�gion de Taiwan, qui tentent de faire obstacle aux �changes normaux entre les deux rives du d�troit de Taiwan...

Whilst perusing Dave Winer's blog I accidentally came across Guy Kawasaki's ten observations that he's learned in his first 100 days of blogging.

The ones that are the most revealing are:

The moment Steve Jobs’ and Apple’s work first came into my life was back in 2002. That first brush, I hated it. 

In time, I came to see him for the genius and pioneer that he was, and the work that Apple did - and does - as amongst the most extraordinary in the World today.

First some context:

In 2002, I was at the European BSD conference and Jordan Hubbard, founder of FreeBSD and then newly-employed release engineer at Apple, had secured for the “terminal room” a sponsorship from Apple which meant the room was full of the 2002 iMacs. The 2002 iMac was a little “alien” in that each machine was a dome with a flexible protruding screen. Installed on them was OS X, an operating system I had beta tested before its first release on an ancient iBook, and I had very mixed feelings about.

It was pretty. But was it really a Unix? The other developers of BSD Unix in the room needed very little convincing. The command line was Unix, but the desktop and applications on there were beautiful. It was what they dreamed a Unix should be. Many of them left that conference committed to buying Apple equipment and moving to OS X within the year.

I resented this “attack” on the community, but could see where they were coming from. It was - and remains - a key part of Apple’s renaissance: build great tools for developers and alpha-geeks, and in turn the developers will build an ecosystem that users crave. Instill in the developers an aesthetic and teach them a way to do the things they struggle with (human interface guidelines, for example), and they will reward you with loyalty.

In short: empower your customers, and they’ll empower you.

No technology firm had done this as successfully before as Apple were doing between 2002 and 2004.

By 2004, I had just about had it with the drain away from the community Apple had “caused”. On one mailing list I wrote a very angry email in response to somebody else’s request for configuration advice on their latest Apple laptop:

http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-chat/2004-October/002684.html

“Yes, of course. My advice is that you sell your over-priced fashion-victim toy with it’s Fisher Price Unix installed, and use the money instead to buy yourself a top of the range Thinkpad. It will outperform it, run FreeBSD, not look out of fashion next season, has been built by a company that is truly committed to the open source movement and whose execs don’t patronise you by assuming you travel to work on a skateboard in cargo pants or worse, pander to your girlfriend’s idea of what a computer should be.”

Ashamed by my petulant anger, about six month later I decided to reconsider, step back and think about what they were doing in a wider scheme of the industry I was in. This was when I started to “get it”. It was when I could see what others lauded about Apple and its founders.

Within 14 months of writing that email I had acquired a 12” iBook. It was all I could afford at the time, and even then it was subsidised by the fact that I was working in a University faculty and so got a discount.

I immediately loved the fact I had a Unix machine with WiFi and Bluetooth that I didn’t need to spend a week configuring. I loved the software I could buy, and that all the open source tools I loved would work too. I loved the thought that had gone into developing that code underlying OS X. I loved the developer tools and Safari. I found myself thinking more and more about aesthetics and craftsmanship as part of what I do as a developer. Suddenly programming wasn’t just a dry science of mathematics and engineering: Steve’s ideas were getting to me through the product of his and Apple’s work.

Two things then happened like thunderbolts. 

First, I had found a copy of Steve’s commencement speech to Stanford in 2005.

Steve’s speech stuck with me. I had studied rhetoric, and was pleased by the simple construct he had used - a structure I would begin to notice he used in product announcements - but the content had hit me somewhere deep.

In it he talked about three things:

• Follow your intuition, because in hindsight the dots will join up. You can’t plan to be great, you just have to let the intuition guide you.
• Do what you love, and change things if you find yourself not enjoying life
• Death is inevitable. It’s coming. Deal with it as an agent of change, and don’t waste your life.

The second thing that happened around then, was that I discovered the Ruby programming language, a language that was designed to be beautiful and enjoyable for programmers to work with.

It astonished me.

I don’t think it would have done if by that point I had not started to “get” aestheticism in software, the Apple way. It’s no secret that the Ruby on Rails framework is developed almost entirely on Apple OS X machines. A Ruby conference is basically a hang-out of Apple fans. The two seem to go hand-in-hand together, just like how in 2002 it was Apple and the BSD guys.

Last night as I watched the speech again on YouTube (on my iPhone, natch), I realised I was connecting dots back, and in hindsight the impact this speech and this discovery had on me was immense.

Coupled with the discovery of Ruby, what happened next was perhaps inevitable, but still surprised me.

I went and started my own business.

I had always wanted to, but right there and then, something clicked, and I got rid of all the fear and doubt and realised that when I looked back on my life I wanted to be able to say that for a while at least I had been an “entrepreneur”.

I made the decision that I would not work on projects in that business I did not enjoy. I would only work on things that brought me joy: that is to say, I would only write code in Ruby. A brave choice in early 2006 when Rails had yet to reach v1.0 and Ruby was still considered a “toy” language by many.

I had no money, no client roster, and survived the first six months coding away on that tiny, slow little 12” iBook for friends who had piece work for me. I had never been happier.

I ate noodles and beans on toast, drank donated Guinness and chose to love my work. Working from home I would love waking late on a Monday morning, but I could never lie-in: I always wanted to just get started.

I spent the next few years helping other businesses, talking about development as a craft, not just a science.

I went into schools and told kids that learning how to write beautiful software was the most powerful skill you could cheaply acquire in this generation. Like me, they could come up with an idea and with a laptop and internet connection share it with the World in a weekend.

In the years since, I have helped dozens of start-ups, spoken to thousands of teenage children (and hopefully inspired a few to give programming with an artistic flair a go), and changed my life substantially.

I am not the same man I was in 2005. The depression and anxiety I had suffered prior to then have more or less gone. I have a brilliant relationship with an amazing girl who I consider to be my best friend, and I do work that makes me excited almost every day.

The decisions I made in those few months in 2005 and early 2006, looking back, are what made me who I am today.

I had to call time on my main business in 2010 partly because I was finding myself looking in the mirror and not looking forward to the day ahead any more - just like Steve had said, I decided I needed to change something. As sales had dried up I realised I was doing something I no longer enjoyed.

I then turned down one job offer for another on a quarter of the salary because it felt right, it felt like more interesting work and ultimately I knew it might lead to an exciting adventure I had dreamed about.

Today I work on an amazing product with brilliant people and finding myself learning new things every day.

Looking back I realise I have developed a new sense of intense curiosity. I will wander in my work, inquisitively poking whole areas I know little about. I read more, listen more and learn more. I teach where I can, I play, and I explore.

I realise that my time on this little rock is limited, and I try and make sure every day I do something that makes me smile.

In hindsight then, Steve’s words and work have had a substantial impact on who I am today professionally. Because that impact made my work more joyful, pleasant and fulfilling, in turn, his words and work have made my life better than it would have been without his impact.

“This was a very typical time. I was single. All you needed was a cup of tea, a light, and your stereo, you know, and that’s what I had.”

It’s all the more impressive because according to “the rules” society is meant to work by, he should have been another liberal arts wash-up. As I said on Facebook earlier:

“I don’t think the economically right-wing anywhere - US, UK, Eurozone, China, anywhere - would be able to deal with the idea that the largest company on the planet was founded by a Buddhist counter-culturalist of complex family origins who made decisions based on intuition, aestheticism, love and curiosity.

Yet, it makes perfect sense to me.”

I never met him, never got close to knowing him the way that his friends and family did, or even his colleagues, but in my own way I learned to love him. His impact will be with me for the rest of my life, and late last night as the news broke here in the UK, despite it being on the cards for a while, the news came as a shock and I had to hold back the tears.

His critics’ words (and there are many!), sound very much like my own before I “got it”. Right now - today - though, it is petulant, angry, juvenile scribbling, and unworthy of any mature grown-up, given it is less than 24 hours since his dying.

Some call him a fascist, others a megalomaniac. In essence all he was trying to do was produce the best - and most human-friendly - technological products humanity was capable of producing right now. He did so within the rules shareholders gave him along with their money, because after being fired once, he didn’t want to mess up and be fired again. As ever, he exceeded their expectations and produced a company larger than any other on earth in terms of market capitalisation.

When you have a vision, as long as nobody gets hurt along the way, there’s no harm in following it ruthlessly. That’s what he did.

Some point to the fact that he didn’t donate much to charity in his life time, but I’m quietly confident that is because he didn’t want the ego stroking whilst he was still alive, and in coming years and months his wealth will quietly reach parts of the World that need it. He felt that shareholders’ money was their, and he shouldn’t give it away. He felt the best way he could help the World was by empowering as many people as possible. There’s no real shame in that. And in that, he was immensely successful.

He was also a subversive, and this is a point that his critics miss - or point to - the most. Biologically he was a half-Syrian Muslim, which when acknowledged in the last decade caused the conservative right in the US a huge problem: was the leader of the hottest thing on Wall Street one of them? They needn’t have worried - he’d discovered Buddhism many years ago. Adoptively he grew up to be a counter-culture Bay Area “hippie” and counter-culture type that worried some in the establishment even more.

His critics point to the consumerist message of Apple, without realising its founding principle was to go against the grain and to help people push further than the establishment wanted them to. The fact that he was able to make a living - a good living - as reward for that vision should not be seen as a fault or flaw.

Those unfamiliar with this background with questions to ask might want to start here. It might change your mind about him.

He wasn’t perfect. Nobody is. But regardless, he was an inspiration to millions who right now are working at building the next generation of technology. He showed us what we were capable of when we tried, and his death some 20-30 years “before his time” shows what a great leveller pancreatic cancer can be. So, if you are a critic: please shut the hell up and let us deal with paying tribute to him in our own way. You’ll reap the benefits as we march forward, inspired by his vision, into giving you the technology you deserve to make the World a better place.

I genuinely believe those who hate him haven’t given him - specifically what lay beneath his vision - a chance, in the same way I hadn’t.

The moment I did though and started to use the tools he and his company produced the way they were designed, my life got better and my attitude to what I wanted to do with my life improved.

I can’t think of another businessman I could say that about. I can’t think of another businessman anybody will be able to say that about when they die.

As I watched that commencement speech another time, the words were as fresh and as poignant as ever. His final few words seem particularly appropriate to me today, and so I will leave you with them. You may love him, you may hate him, but you can’t disagree that his vision was sharp, and worth sharing.

My thoughts and condolences today are of course with his family, his friends and colleagues, and all who were impacted by Steve from a distance the way I was. Steve was an amazing man, who inspired so many and has changed the World for the better, forever.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960’s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

The US oil and gas industry is experiencing a paradoxical trend: record-breaking production levels coupled with a significant decline in employment. Despite the United States achieving unprecedented oil and gas output, the number of jobs in the sector has been steadily decreasing. This decline is not driven by climate policies or the rise of clean energy but rather by the industry’s relentless push for efficiency and the cyclical nature of the market. According to recent data, oil production in the US has increased by 5% since 2019, reaching an average of 13.4 million barrels per day. However, employment in the oilfield sector has dropped nearly 20% from pre-pandemic levels. The oil and gas extraction industry employed approximately 112,000 people in 2022, a significant decrease from previous years. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this trend, leading to a loss of nearly 200,000 jobs in the sector, a 20% reduction in the total workforce. Although there are signs of recovery, with projections suggesting a rebound in employment levels by 2027, the current job market remains challenging for many workers. The industry’s focus on efficiency means that fewer workers are needed to produce more oil. This shift has resulted in job losses across various...

This is one item I really wanted to post in a
hurry. The below link is a quick way to find
a job. See if this can be of some help:

New Job Search

This shows that modern technology really can
help speed up the job selection process.


Another Job Lead:

This is a lead that I would take seriously.

AAA is hiring! If you'd like to test the
waters, send your resume to Lori Duvall,
at duvall.lori@aaa-calif.com . Your resume
will be sent directly to Lori and she will
ensure that it gets to the right place.

Be sure to include your contact information.

Best Wishes and Merry Christmas!

Military Transition Coach

Certainly. I’ll rewrite and expand the article, incorporating the tips into the main content and optimizing it for keywords related to stress management, relaxation techniques, and mental health. Here’s the revised and expanded version: Comprehensive Guide to Effective Stress Management in Daily Life Stress is an unavoidable part of modern life, with various triggers affecting […]

The post Reduce Stress By Observing These Simple Tips appeared first on Complements For Health.

Consider these jobs that require the best physical condition.

Delicious tasting, wholesome and natural rolled oats from Bobs Red Mill.

Illustration by Jonathan Mak

For one reason or another, envelope stuffing is one of those jobs that a lot of people look for when they want to work at home. Usually, they become quite discouraged by the lack of such jobs available. Aren’t there any legitimate envelope stuffing jobs out there? Sorry to...

The post Where Are The Legitimate Envelope Stuffing Jobs? appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

TheMobs Cheap Mobile Handset Deals

Download tips and books on resume, debts, education, investment ...... from Clickbank anytime.

In addition to actually seeking a job, there are also other valid reasons to monitor the job market. Perhaps you are satisfied in your current position, but just want to keep an eye on new positions in a specific sector. Perhaps you are just curious to know what the wages are for similar positions. The job market can be monitored quite easily using RSS feeds. You can subscribe to RSS feeds in order to find specific company job openings, employment available within a specific region (i.e. by using a postal or zipcode), specific positions available, or to locate all jobs within a specific wage range.

RSS Feeds to Locate Jobs

In addition to actually seeking a job, there are also other valid reasons to monitor the job market. Perhaps you are satisfied in your current position, but just want to keep an eye on new positions in a specific sector. Perhaps you are just curious to know what the wages are for similar positions. The job market can be monitored quite easily using RSS feeds. You can subscribe to RSS feeds in order to find specific company job openings, employment available within a specific region (i.e. by using a postal or zipcode), specific positions available, or to locate all jobs within a specific wage range.

The following are websites that have RSS feeds to help employees looking for jobs...

RSS Feeds to Locate Jobs

Using RSS Feeds To Locate Jobs

In addition to actually seeking a job, there are also other valid reasons to monitor the job market. Perhaps you are satisfied in your current position, but just want to keep an eye on new positions in a specific sector. Perhaps you are just curious to know what the wages are for similar positions. The job market can be monitored quite easily using RSS feeds. You can subscribe to RSS feeds in order to find specific company job openings, employment available within a specific region (i.e. by using a postal or zipcode), specific positions available, or to locate all jobs within a specific wage range.

The following are websites that have RSS feeds to help employees looking for jobs...

RSS Feeds to Locate Jobs

Laylatul Qadr or ‘Night of Power’ is considered an important date in Ramazan for Muslims

Laylatul Qadr or ‘Night of Power’ is considered an important date in Ramazan for Muslims

Frederica interviews Fr. Hans Jacobse about a formal debate he had with atheist Matthew Dillahunty regarding morality. She also shares a recipe for vegan pancakes!

Frederica discusses a possible trend in film of wrapping a conservative message in vulgar jokes and nudity. As examples, she looks to the movies Love, Actually; Knocked Up; and The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

Fr. John shares about the importance of setting boundaries in relationships, and the story of the life of St. Mary of Egypt.

Why is God so interested in what we do in the bedroom? Why is the Church so keen that we should learn to control our bodies and their passions? Why can't we just focus on the spiritual side of life and live as spiritual beings?

Fr. Apostolos Hill addresses the Parable of the Sower and the Seed of the Gospel which is but scarcely proclaimed, having been supplanted by an array of false ones.

In some Orthodox traditions, the story of Zacchaeus is the first reminder of the coming of Great Lent. Fr Thomas teaches us that Zacchaeus exhibits the zeal that is an essential prerequisite for true conversion, the conversion that Christ desires of us during the Great and Holy Fast.

Fr. Alexander Rentel, Chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America brings us a preparatory message in anticipation of Great Lent: observe the religious practice of the Church like the pharisee, but beg our Lord for the humble heart of the publican.

Why is our culture obsessed with death, and how can remembrance of death help us to overcome it?

In this homily preached the fourth Sunday of Great Lent 2014, Fr. Pat looks at the story from Mark 9 of Jesus driving a demon out of a young boy, and makes three observations of what this story teaches about faith.

The Waverley Gate call centre will cease operations in December before the building closes in March 2025.

The deal to save the chain will see more than 30 of its restaurants close.

The chancellor says businesses will "contribute more" as she raises employer National Insurance to 15%.

John, whose wife Wendy is being cared for at the hospice, said it deserved more government funding.

Cotswold District Council says the new roles were to make sure residents were aware of the "vital services" it provided.

"Clang clang clang went the trolley..."

Aim/Purpose: The paper discusses various factors contributing to disagreements, such as differing experiences, perspectives, and historical narratives, leading to disagreements within families and societies. It explores how beliefs, values, and biases feed into disagreements, with confirmation bias affecting decision-making and the media. Cultural values also play a role, showcasing conflicts between meritocracy and inclusivity in ethical decision-making. Haidt's Moral Foundations Theory highlights differences in value priorities between Western and Eastern societies. The impact of Western values like rationalism, freedom, and tolerance, under threat from Marxist illiberalism on campuses, is dis-cussed. The text also delves into disinformation, emotions in warfare, and the use of fake information and images for propaganda purposes. The need for diligent reporting to avoid spreading disinformation is emphasized, given its potential to create misconceptions and harm diplomatic relations.

Background and Objective: In response to the challenges of poor mapping outcomes and susceptibility to obstacles encountered by indoor mobile vehicles relying solely on pure cameras or pure LiDAR during their movements, this paper proposes an obstacle avoidance method for indoor mobile vehicles that integrates image and LiDAR data, thus achieving obstacle avoidance for mobile vehicles. Materials and Methods: This method combines data from a depth camera and LiDAR, employing the Gmapping SLAM algorithm for environmental mapping, along with the A* algorithm and TEB algorithm for local path planning. In addition, this approach incorporates gesture functionality, which can be used to control the vehicle in certain special scenarios where “pseudo-obstacles” exist. The method utilizes the YOLO V3 algorithm for gesture recognition. Results: This paper merges the maps generated by the depth camera and LiDAR, resulting in a three-dimensional map that is more enriched and better aligned with real-world conditions. Combined with the A* algorithm and TEB algorithm, an optimal route is planned, enabling the mobile vehicles to effectively obtain obstacle information and thus achieve obstacle avoidance. Additionally, the introduced gesture recognition feature, which has been validated, also effectively controls the forward and backward movements of the mobile vehicles, facilitating obstacle avoidance. Conclusion: The experimental platform for the mobile vehicles, which integrates depth camera and LiDAR, built in this study has been validated for real-time obstacle avoidance through path planning in indoor environments. The introduced gesture recognition also effectively enables obstacle avoidance for the mobile vehicles.

If you ever had the app, odds are you were reading some barely coherent narrative about One Direction or Harry Potter

Obsession Of Islam vs Belief In Jesus compares Christianity and Islam in a frank mannar, to protect people from being misled. The article highlights the striking differences in peacefulness, making disciples and the definition-description of God.

Republicans are touting big plans for the early days of the incoming Trump administration, saying their expected trifecta of power in the House, Senate and White House will allow them to fulfill a lengthy list of campaign promises.

The European Biodiversity Observation Network (EU BON), a European project on biodiversity data, was launched in December 2012. The Belgian Biodiversity Platform attended the symposium connected to the EU BON kick-off meeting in Berlin, Germany, on 11-12th February 2013.
The symposium entitled ‘Nature and Governance: Biodiversity Data, Science, and the Policy Interface’ highlighted the importance of biodiversity data for policy-making and research.  The complexity of producing and collating data on an international scale involving different methods and disciplines was well illustrated. The importance of the accessibility of biodiversity data within an integrated system was well demonstrated - the sum of all contributions will in the end enable monitoring, forecasting and policy-making.
EU BON will create a substantial part of the Group on Earth’s Observation’s Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) and will operate in support of biodiversity sciences and policy initiatives, such as the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
EU BON will build on existing components, such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), LifeWatch infrastructures and national biodiversity data centers. As Belgian GBIF node, the Belgian Biodiversity Platform can provide an important support to the development of EU BON. The Belgian partners in the EU BON project are the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA), the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), and the National Botanic Garden of Belgium (Botanic Garden).
We will follow with interest the development in the EU BON project and will continue publishing data through GBIF. If you would like to support this initiative by having your data published on GBIF, please contact André Heughebaert (GBIF node manager), Dimitri Brosens or Kristina Articus (Biodiversity Experts).

Issue 72 of the CBD Technical Series is now out focusing on "EARTH OBSERVATION FOR BIODIVERSITY MONITORING : A review of current approaches and future opportunities for tracking progress towards the Aichi Biodiversity Targets". The issue shows how earth observation technologies can and should fit into systems for biodiversity monitoring, as well as demonstrates how these approaches could further improve relevant indicators for the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. It illustrates a clear track from observations done by remote sensing platforms through Essential Biodiversity Variables to biodiversity indicators and ultimately to the assessment of progress towards the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and ultimately in support of evidence-based decision making. EU BON is also featured in this report.

The goal of the CBD Technical Series is to contribute to the dissemination of up-to-date and accurate information on selected topics that are important for the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the equitable sharing of its benefits. A large and growing body of evidence has clearly established the need to disseminate synthesis publications relevant to CBD objectives and selected reports presented at CBD meetings.

The CBD Technical Series is intended to:

• Foster scientific and technical cooperation;
• Improve communication between the Convention and the scientific community;
• Increase awareness of current biodiversity-related problems and concerns; and
• Facilitate widespread and effective use of the growing body of scientific and technical information on conserving and using biological diversity.

The full report is available here.