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Care Opinion



  • Webwatch
  • Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (IRISS)

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Supporting positive relationships for children and young people who have experience of care




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The impact of welfare reform on the social services workforce












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THOSE ARE JUST SAD




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Are you awake yet?




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Squee Spree: Brown-Eyed and Bat-Eared

Me oh my, Mr. Fox Friend! What a lovely stare you've got there!




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ChaosMen: Kayden Frost Fucks Bailey – Bareback

ChaosMen: Kayden Frost is a skinny boy with a fat cock, and Bailey was just the Twink to take it! For those of you who love lean guys with big dicks, this video is for you. Bailey could barely get Kayden’s cock down his throat, gagging often, so Bryan was worried when it came time... View Article

The post ChaosMen: Kayden Frost Fucks Bailey – Bareback appeared first on QueerClick.





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The fire through the smoke: Working for transparency in climate projections

To help policymakers more confidently prepare for the effects of climate change, a group of preeminent climate scientists evaluated the scientific work and expert judgments behind the most recent projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change regarding the potential ecological, social, economic and meteorological repercussions of climate change.




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Omaha/Council Bluffs Area Gas Stations, Owned by Mega Saver and Tobacco and Phones 4 Less, Agree to Upgrade Spill Monitoring and Alarm Systems

Environmental News FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE




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EPA Announces Supplement to Science Transparency Proposed Rule

WASHINGTON (March 3, 2020) — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking to the Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science proposed rule.




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EPA Announces Extended Comment Period on Supplement to Science Transparency Proposed Rule

WASHINGTON (April 2, 2020) Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced an extension of the comment period on the supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking for the proposed rule, “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science.”




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Science Advisory Board Issues Comments on Agency’s Draft Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science Rulemaking

WASHINGTON (April 28, 2020) —  Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Science Advisory Board (SAB) transmitted its official advice and comments to EPA Administrator Wheeler on the Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science proposed rule.




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EPA and Wisconsin Announce Inland Sheboygan County Area Now Meets Federal Air Quality Standard for Ozone

Sheboygan County, Wis. – Today, the U.S.




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Observing Asthma Awareness Month, EPA Honors Leading Community Asthma Care Programs in Colorado and Texas

DENVER (April 30, 2020) —  Tomorrow, in celebration of Asthma Awareness Month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will honor two outstanding asthma care programs, the Children’s Hospital Colorado Breathing Institute in Aurora, Colorado and the University of Texas Health Sc




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Observing Asthma Awareness Month, EPA Honors Leading Community Asthma Care Programs in Colorado and Texas

WASHINGTON (April 30, 2020) — Tomorrow, in celebration of Asthma Awareness Month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will honor two outstanding asthma care programs, the Children’s Hospital Colorado Breathing Institute in Aurora, Colorado and the Univers




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EPA Honors University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler for Outstanding Community Asthma Care Program

DALLAS – (May 1, 2020) In celebration of Asthma Awareness Month, the U.S.




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EPA Celebrates Air Quality Awareness Week May 4 - May 8, 2020

WASHINGTON (May 4, 2020) — This week, as part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) month-long celebration of our nation’s progress in improving air quality over the last 50 years, we are celebrating the 14t




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Air Quality Awareness Week is May 4 - May 8, 2020

BOSTON – To kick off Air Quality Awareness Week, the U.S.




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Tribune Editorial: We are all guinea pigs now




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Brett Favre says he actually worked for that $1.1 million in Mississippi welfare money

He's still giving the money back though.




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Brett Favre says he actually worked for that $1.1 million in Mississippi welfare money

He's still giving the money back though.




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For Most States, At Least A Third Of COVID-19 Deaths Are In Long-Term Care Facilities

The report comes as the government announced all states must now meet federal reporting guidelines. The type of information gathered by states up to now has been inconsistent.




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Brett Favre says he actually worked for that $1.1 million in Mississippi welfare money

He's still giving the money back though.




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CARIBBEAT: BKLYN Commons ‘shared’ work spaces firm moves smartly into ‘the new normal’

There was certainly was stress in the air when health and economic consqeuences of COVID-19 bore down on Brooklyn and the rest of America. But as these pressures grew, constructive hearts and minds prevailed at the BKLYN Commons (BKC) shared workspace operation at 495 Flatbush Ave., in the Prospect-Lefferts Gardens area, which creatively and passionately morphed to adapt to the new normal.




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We counted more than 2,000 customers in the St. George area. Here's how many were wearing masks

With regulations urging residents statewide to wear masks when in public, here is how Southern Utahsn have fared following the recommended guidelines

       




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Purdue men's basketball career scoring leaders

Top 10 scorers in Purdue men's basketball history

       




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Channel24.co.za | Prince Harry shares heartfelt video message to commemorate Invictus Games

The Duke of Sussex sent a special video message to mark what would have been the opening ceremony of the 2020 Invictus Games.






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Magnitude 4.2 earthquake recorded in Manikwaki area Saturday

People just north of Ottawa felt the ground moving Saturday afternoon.




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Coronavirus: Intensive care and other key terms explained

Use our tool to check the meaning of key words and phrases associated with the Covid-19 outbreak.




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Because There Aren't Enough Reasons to Visit San Diego in Winter, Now You Can Ice Skate

Filed under: , ,

Hotel Solamar
Top reasons to visit San Diego right now:

Continue reading Because There Aren't Enough Reasons to Visit San Diego in Winter, Now You Can Ice Skate

Because There Aren't Enough Reasons to Visit San Diego in Winter, Now You Can Ice Skate originally appeared on Gadling on Tue, 10 Dec 2013 15:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AI 101: How learning computers are becoming smarter

Many companies use the term artificial intelligence, or AI, as a way to generate excitement for their products and to present themselves as on the cutting edge of tech development.

But what exactly is artificial intelligence? What does it involve? And how will it help the development of future generations?

Find out the answers to these questions and more in AI 101, a brand new FREE report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, that describes how AI works and looks at its present and potential future applications.

To get your copy of the FREE slide deck, simply click here.

Join the conversation about this story »




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Here's how NASA engineers piloting the Mars rover are managing their work-life balance during lockdown

  • NASA engineers are continuing to drive the Mars Curiosity Rover while working from home.
  • The job is highly technical and delicate, but the team has already managed to complete a successful operation under lockdown.
  • Business Insider asked two of the rover team how they manage their work-life balance now the rover has colonised their living space.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Life during lockdown has meant millions of people having to adapt to their home and work lives colliding. But what's that like when your work involves driving a nuclear-powered robot on the surface of Mars?

Business Insider spoke to two of the NASA technicians currently piloting the Mars Curiosity rover from home. It's a delicate operation that takes careful planning between a team of roughly 75 NASA engineers and scientists. Even while working remotely, the team was able to rig up their home workstations well enough that the rover has already completed a successful drilling operation while its human operators are in lockdown.

Despite doing the most otherworldly job imaginable, the Curiosity rovers are having to contend with familiar stresses of lockdown working life. They told Business Insider their personal tips and tricks for staying focused and healthy as they work from home.

Get comfy

Matt Gildner is the planning team lead for the rover, which means he directs a team of about 20 people who build the commands to send the rover to tell it where to go and what to do. Gildner's day involves staying permanently teleconferenced in to conversations using two headsets, one in each ear. A few times a day he also uses red-blue 3D glasses to examine images sent back by the rover.

His first change to his work-from-home set-up: Get a better chair. "The first week I got here I had an old wooden bank chair that while it looked really nice next to my desk, [was] not very comfortable," said Gildner. He quickly swapped this out for a more comfortable ergonomic chair. He and his wife are also making cold-brew coffee every night, ready to go in the morning.

Make sure you're seeing some kind of change

Gildner's also trying to make sure he doesn't stay glued to his ergonomic chair, making it a point to get up and moving around. "It's really about just getting up and stepping away from the desk for a while," Gildner said. This could be to just go to the kitchen to get a snack or, in Gildner's case, tend to some home baking projects.

"I was already baking some bread before this all happened, but I did kind of up my game in that area," he said. Specifically Gildner (a fan of the YouTube cooking channel "Bon Appetit") has started experimenting with overnight dough fermentation.

"It's nice to go and have something new to see every morning that changed overnight, or you get to see something progress," he said. "That's an important part of mental health and this point in time — to make sure you are having something in your life that is life-changing and dynamic despite your being in the same place."

He draws a parallel between this and his work on the rover. "That is one of the big draws of working a spacecraft operation, especially on Mars, is that every day we're driving to a new place and I get to look at images that no human has ever seen before. And Mars is always throwing us something new."

Keep a firm line between work time and downtime

"I also tend to really shut my computer down and put my phone away for work at the end of the day, just because I want to still try to keep some good separation between work life and home life, even though they're happening in the same place right now," Gildner said.

Project lead Alicia Allbaugh, who oversees the entire team of 75, also likes to draw a clear line between home and work life. She also recommends "not blending home tasks during your work time."

"I try not to deviate too much from what I would've done at work. Because then it can get you distracted and you start pulling away," she said.

Allbaugh also had to divvy up parts of the house with her husband, who also works at NASA. The two didn't want to work in adjacent rooms because they might hear each other's teleconferences through the walls, so Allbaugh works upstairs while her husband gets the kitchen, along with the couple's two rescue bunnies Oreo and Grayce.

In her free time Allbaugh has been tinkering with home improvements, and finished a long-standing project of painting and varnishing some linen-closet doors.

Respect other people's rhythms

As manager of a large team, Allbaugh also has to be sensitive to the fact that everyone has different daily rhythms working from home, especially those with children. Sudden mutes in meetings for children talking and clocks chiming have become the norm.

"We're all very empathetic for each other. I mean we find this adorable. We're not frustrated, whereas if someone came in and interrupted your meeting when you were in the conference room, you may have been like, 'What was that about?'" said Allbaugh.

Keep up the social side of the office

Allbaugh's team has also tried to keep social elements of their office going through virtual happy hours, and she has set up open-office tea break meetings so her team can just come in for a chat, which she thinks is important to keep up even as the lockdown drags on. "Because at first it's novel, and then it's okay — now it's a marathon," she said.  

SEE ALSO: NASA engineers explain what it's like to drive a nuclear-powered Mars rover from home during the pandemic

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A cleaning expert reveals her 3-step method for cleaning your entire home quickly




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News24.com | Covid-19: Big profits for the cigarette 'black market' in KZN

The ban on cigarette and alcohol sales during the lockdown has created an underground market of rampant deals all over Pietermaritzburg.




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News24.com | Here are your Lotto and Lotto Plus results

Here are the winning Lotto and Lotto Plus numbers.




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News24.com | Smoke and mirrors: 4 minutes – that's how long it took to find banned cigarettes during lockdown

Four minutes and 28 seconds. That is how long it took a News24 reporter to find cigarettes – meant to be banned under Level 4 lockdown regulations – which were available for purchase at one of many places in South Africa.




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Sport24.co.za | Stewart prepared for first county cricket wipeout since WWII

Surrey director of cricket Alec Stewart has reluctantly accepted there could yet be a long-term good for the county game if it is wiped out in 2020.




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DAREarts stepping up to help at risk kids with mental health support

School, friends and normal day to day interactions have taken a virtual shift. However, for those with limited access to the internet, devices and other technology, isolation can be challenging.




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Turkey’s Post-Coup Reverberations Are Just Beginning

21 July 2016

Fadi Hakura

Consulting Fellow, Europe Programme
President Erdogan’s harsh crackdown is causing severe damage to the country’s political and social fabric.

2016-07-21-Erdogan.jpg

People wave Turkish flags in front of a billboard displaying the face of Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a rally in Ankara on 17 July 2016 in Ankara. Photo by Getty Images.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has responded with an iron fist to last Friday’s failed military coup attempt in Turkey by detaining, dismissing or suspending, so far, 60,000 military officers, police and intelligence officials, judges, teachers, academics and civil servants, and imposing a widespread travel ban and a three-month state of emergency. He is vowing to reintroduce the death penalty, abolished in 2004 as part of reforms required for opening EU accession negotiations.

This uncompromising approach in the post-coup period will have profound negative implications on Turkey’s domestic politics, security and foreign policy in the foreseeable future to the detriment of its stability and prosperity.

Fractured politics

Erdogan’s indifference to the unprecedented political unity against the coup is, regretfully, a missed opportunity to dilute the deepening polarization and divisiveness bedeviling Turkish politics. His determination to use the putsch to consolidate political power in the presidency and to erode or eliminate the secular character of the Turkish state by means of a new constitution will widen the ideological and ethnic divide between, respectively, secular and conservative Turks and Turks and Kurds. Just a few months ago, Ismail Kahramam, speaker of the Turkish parliament and Erdogan ally, exhorted that ‘secularism cannot feature in the new [religious] constitution’.

His policies and rhetoric, in other words, will undermine even more the almost imperceptible presence of ‘interpersonal trust’ in Turkish society - the willingness of one party to rely on the actions of another party – seen as incongruent with a robust polity and cohesive society. According to a 2010 OECD survey Turkey’s levels of interpersonal trust are considerably lower than OECD averages and it stands out among the 20 surveyed countries as the only one where higher educational attainment correlates with lower feelings of trust. That posture can only breed even more discord and mistrust between the different segments of the Turkish electorate and entrench personality-based and top-down politics, the root cause of political turmoil in Turkey.

Diminished state capacity

Turkey’s NATO partners fear that the purges of experienced military and security personnel have the potential to diminish its capability to thwart the threat posed by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and other militant groups and to better manage its long and porous borders with Syria and Iraq. Thus far, Turkish authorities have incarcerated nearly one-third of Turkey’s senior military commanders and more than 7,000 police and intelligence officials. This constitutes a major loss of expertise and institutional memory at a time of heightening security challenges. After all, Turkey witnessed 14 bomb attacks over the last year, many of them carried out by ISIS or the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Similarly, the removal of tens of thousands of school teachers, both in private and state schools, university academics and education ministry officials will severely disrupt the provision of adequate educational services to enable future generations to succeed in an increasingly complex global economic environment. This ‘cleansing’ operation did not spare even the elite and renowned state and private universities considered bastions of liberalism and cosmopolitan values in Turkey.

In all probability, the government’s replacements of key staff with less qualified loyalists will rupture the institutional integrity and professionalism of the military establishment and the state institutions. Such a hollowing out process was already underway prior to the coup but post-coup decision-making has greatly accelerated the speed. Sadly, under the best case scenario, it will take Turkey years, if not decades, to restore a modicum of rule of law and public services’ delivery at pre-coup standards to which the Turkish citizenry have been accustomed.

Foreign policy challenges

Erdogan’s endorsement of the death penalty might signal the end of Turkey’s (already nearly non-existent) EU accession prospects and a more troubled relationship with Europe and the US. He was, before the coup, a prickly and challenging partner for the US and NATO to handle, a recalcitrant member of the US-led anti-ISIS coalition and vociferously against the US cooperation with PKK-affiliated Syrian Kurdish fighters targeting ISIS in northern Syria. After the coup, he will probably become more disagreeable to US and European foreign policy and security objectives.

His disagreeability will probably extend to Turkey’s deal with the EU to stem the flow of Syrian migrants across the Aegean Sea and Greece into mainland Europe, which looks increasingly unsustainable. A pugnacious Erdogan may utilize the forthcoming EU refusal to abolish visas for Turkish travellers to the Schengen borderless zone by end-October to wring out more concessions from an Erdogan-sceptical Europe. Despite their exasperation, they should decipher from his rapprochement with Israel and Russia that he tends to compromise with muscular diplomacy as opposed to diplomatic niceties.    

Turkey will be so convulsed and self-absorbed by internal political machinations and its security and military capabilities so compromised that it cannot afford to deploy sizeable assets to promote regime change in Damascus. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian backers are, naturally, the prime beneficiaries while the armed largely Sunni opposition are the biggest losers. Arguably, Assad must now feel very secure in power and confident that he will enlarge his territorial acquisitions at the expense of the Sunni groups. Equally, the Syrian Kurds will seek to strengthen and, perhaps, extend the quasi-autonomous zone along the Turkey−Syria border commensurate with Turkey’s declining influence in the Syrian quagmire.

Europe’s lesson

Turkey is a bitter testimony to the ill-effects of sacrificing progressive values to political expediency, fear and interests. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy demonstrated a lack of strategic foresight by stymying Turkey’s desire to join the EU in 2005. Had the EU engaged Turkey in a credible accession process, however arduous it may have been, the coup would probably have never occurred. Turkish political leaders would have been forced to implement deeper and wider reforms to strengthen democracy, secularism, human rights and a functioning market economy. Instead, Europe is reaping what it sowed: a coup-rattled and more unstable Turkey on its doorstep.

To comment on this article, please contact Chatham House Feedback




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Are you addicted to your phone?