Josh Kelly suffered from epilepsy, a brain disorder that forced him to drop out of high school nine days before graduation. For nearly a decade, Kelly attended Idaho State University working toward a degree in geology, with his service dog, a black pit bull named Cletus, by his side. The pair would dutifully walk two miles both ways to catch the bus to campus.

Unfortunately, Kelly passed away in February just two classes shy of his degree. Nonetheless, ISU granted him a posthumous degree on May 10. In the young man's place, Kelly's tearful father, Terrell, walked across the stage with Cletus by his side and accepted the diploma.

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Building the future: shaping our social work identity newly qualified social worker conference was held on 31 May 2018 in Edinburgh. Delivered with the University of Edinburgh (in partnership with the Higher Education Heads of Social Work Group), Iriss, Scottish Social Services Council, the Scottish Association of Social Workers, Social Work Scotland and the Scottish Government, it provided an opportunity for newly qualified social workers to come together to connect and reconnect.

In this episode, we hear the moving story of Jo McFarlane, a writer, poet and public speaker. She provides an engaging story of her early life and journey to recovery, peppered with powerful, and often comic, poetry.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes

In this episode, Michelle Drumm speaks to Mairi O'Keefe, Chief Executive of Leuchie House national respite centre, based near North Berwick since 2003. The only facility of its kind in Scotland, Leuchie has specialised in providing short respite breaks for people and their families living with MS, Parkinson's and other long-term conditions.

In 2010, Mairi successfully led the Save Leuchie campaign, saving the centre from closure and setting it up as an independent charity in July 2011. In 2015, she received an MBE for services to people with disabilities.

Confirming that she will be leaving Leuchie House in November 2018 Mairi O'Keefe said:

Everyone who knows me knows how passionate I am about Leuchie House and the very special service we provide. It was always going to be difficult to step down, but I know I can do so feeling proud of everything we've achieved. I've been honoured to experience on a daily basis just how much of a difference Leuchie makes to all the hundreds of families we support every year.

Freshly Squeezed aims to 'squeeze' information and inspiration from key influencers in social services in Scotland.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes

Michael McEwan speaks to Linda Mitchell from the Scottish Commission for Learning Disability (SCLD) about IASSIDD - the World Congress of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, which is being held in Glasgow on 6-9 August, 2019.

IASSIDD Congresses are the leading international research and practice meetings in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The Congress theme is Future4All.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes

Hannah Tweed from the ALLIANCE and Dianne Theakstone from Self-directed Support Scotland spoke to Iriss about the joint research they are undertaking on user experiences of self-directed support in Scotland.

This Scottish Government funded research intends to encourage and develop policy and best practice across the social care landscape.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

Cumbernauld Action for Care of the Elderly or CACE is an organisation that supports improved wellbeing and quality of life for older people in Cumbernauld.

We spoke to Margaret Riley, Chief Executive of CACE about how the organisation is managing in the Coronavirus outbreak.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

On 22 April 2020, Michelle from Iriss spoke to Jennifer Carruthers, Deputy manager at Rashielee Care Home in Erskine.

Jennifer tells us how both staff and residents are managing in the current circumstances and how they’ve had to change and adapt services to cope in the crisis.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

Creative Commons has joined forces with other legal experts and leading scientists to offer a simple way for universities, companies, and other holders of intellectual property rights to support the development of medicines, test kits, vaccines, and other scientific discoveries related to COVID-19 for the duration of the pandemic. The Open COVID Pledge grants the … Read More "Open COVID Pledge: Removing Obstacles to Sharing IP in the Fight Against COVID-19"

The post Open COVID Pledge: Removing Obstacles to Sharing IP in the Fight Against COVID-19 appeared first on Creative Commons.

Thousands of strangers working together, almost entirely online, to effectively solve an urgent, global challenge is remarkable—and it’s happening, right now. Recently, we published a post titled, “Open-Source Medical Hardware: What You Should Know and What You Can Do” examining the collaborative efforts by volunteer groups, universities, and research centers to solve the medical supply … Read More "Just One Giant Lab Co-Founder Leo Blondel on the Power of Community and Open Source During COVID-19"

The post Just One Giant Lab Co-Founder Leo Blondel on the Power of Community and Open Source During COVID-19 appeared first on Creative Commons.

DRINK, IT'S GOOD seems legit

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  These were the words of Captain Peter Berger of Hallandale Beach Fire Rescue as he spoke to a full house of fire service industry leaders — along with his partner Captain Greg Moulin of DFW Airport Fire Services — on the topic of

The short answer: everyone.     Hot work is one of the leading causes of industrial fire. According to the NFPA report Structure Fires Started by Hot Work - September 2016, U.S. fire departments responded to an average of 4,440

In 2013-15, the Scottish Government funded 16 projects proposed by criminal justice partners across Scotland to develop community services for women who offend. Developments were based on existing service provision and to ensure changes could be sustained locally at the end of the funding. Funding varied in amount and timeframes. Most of the projects were undertaken by local authority criminal justice social work1 (CJSW) departments with partner providers, including public and third sector agencies. The national evaluation examined how the 16 women’s community justice services (WCJSs) were implemented and to what extent they contributed towards positive outcomes for women. A further aim was to build local capacity for self-evaluation in WCJSs. Findings were drawn from two phases of interviews with practitioners and women, secondary documents, and quantitative data for 1,778 women who were in the WCJSs between April and December 2014. This included outcomes data for 406 women.

And this is without even considering the Trump Memes which are even less presidential, but at least those are made by the people, not the Commander-In-Chief himself.

Meredith McIver is the speech writer who took responsibility for Melania Trump's plagiarism (you may have heard about it?). But people aren't convinced that Meredith is even real, leading to the internet's new favorite conspiracy theory. Is Meredith McIver a fake persona created by Trump? Let's examine the evidence.

And if you'd like some appetizer Trump memes before you get started, now would be the time.

Donald Trump's kept it pretty low key on Twitter in recent days. That didn't stop him from penning a little St. Paddy's Day sentiment though. If only he'd spell checked before sending it off though. Then again, would we expect anything less than this from the guy with a wide-reaching, well-developed reputation already for spelling shit in his own language incorrectly?

Yeah, yeah, we know. Here are some Trump Memes to smooth it over.