Wednesday, November 7, 2012

When Honesty is Bravery | College Life- Sex and Relationships

I saw this post on Freshly Pressed about a month ago.? I thought it was great and wanted to share it here.? Please click on? Queer Confessions to read more from this great blogger.

I remember the first time I came out to anybody. I was a socially awkward fifteen year old boy living in Texas. I had no athletic prowess to boast, and my musical tastes were closer to my father?s than to my peers. For three years, I kept my sexuality a secret from everybody because I was terrified of being gay. I didn?t know any other gay kid or adult, so I felt lonely and misunderstood. The only thing that scared me more than my solitude was the very real possibility that others could hurt me with their words or fists if they found out that I preferred boys over girls.

At fifteen years old, I decided that I had lived under fear long enough. There was a reality show on TV back in 2001 that documented the lives of average high school students, including one gay youth; his visible gayness gave me the courage to share my secret with one person. When I came out to a friend in my youth group, I was frightened that he would make my life a living hell ? and because my friend was the most popular youth in our very large church, he had the means to do so. But he did not make my life miserable; he said, ?Thank you for telling me. This doesn?t change who you are. You are still my friend.?

That was almost 12 years ago, and since the winter of 2001, I have mastered the art of coming out to friends, coworkers, and family. I have told my conservative, evangelical friends about my sexuality, and I have come out to my liberal friends and colleagues. I have come out in intimate conversations and in public speeches before large crowds. I have come out to straight neighbors and gay neighbors, rich friends and poor friends, Christian friends and doubting friends; by and large, I am a better man for being honest about myself. I feel better knowing that I can be my true, genuine self around my peers, because I do not have to hide something that is a profound part of my existence. I can simply be, and I can simply be gay.

My friends remind me that I am a brave man for coming out. A friend of mine regularly tells me, ?You are the bravest, most courageous person I know;? this same friend has a story of being delivered by the grace of God from a life of crime (including murder), counterfeiting money, gang banging, and homelessness. Another friend said that my decision to tell my story to a crowd of evangelical Christians numbering over 200 was, perhaps, the bravest thing he ever saw a person do. These comments puzzle me; I am simply being honest. Aren?t Christians supposed to be honest? And yet, in this society, honesty is bravery; it takes courage to tell the truth.

Two realities ? one societal, and the other personal ? ?remind me why it is so important for my LGBT brothers and sisters to come out and make their sexualities known to their network of friends and colleagues. Extremists from the far right will call us monsters, abominations, and sick perversions; their subordinates will tacitly (or not so tacitly) agree with them. The extremists are content to shove us into boxes made of fears based on ridiculous stereotypes and assumptions, and they cannot see LGBT people as such ? people. When we come out, we force all our neighbors to see that we LGBT people are their neighbors, their sons and daughters, their mothers and fathers, their brothers and sisters, their aunts and uncles and cousins. We show the world that we are their teachers, doctors, accountants, scientists, politicians, theologians, preachers, dancers, musicians, and athletes. We show the world that LGBT people, like our straight brothers and sisters, can have hope, can believe in God, can walk in faith and not by sight, can embrace a peace that surpasses all understanding. We show our enemies and allies alike that we are human like them: we breathe, we eat, we laugh, we cry, we hope, we dream.

However, I am constantly reminded two days a week why I must be out and why making my sexuality visible is so vital to my well-being. I work in a church that is hostile to the LGBT community, where the parishioners will sometimes make overtly homophobic comments, where I would be fired if the leadership knew my sexuality. I do feel like I live two lives ? my normal life at home where I can be out with my friends and school colleagues, and a closeted life (although the closet is transparent) where I am trapped in fear and isolation. Because I am not out to anybody in my congregation, I feel like I have no connection to anyone, for I cannot truly be myself with those people. It?s enough to make me want to leave the church (but not the one, holy, apostolic Church); for the sake of genuine relationships and my own health, I must be honest about myself to my neighbors and friends.

If you are an out and proud LGBT person, I celebrate you and your courage!

If you are a closeted or partially closeted LGBT person, I am with you. Stay strong, and may you one day find a safe place to leave that prison of fear.

If you are a straight ally, thank you of your support and love. We need you as friends and advocates.

Source: http://collegerelationships.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/when-honesty-is-bravery/

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Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Healthcare Finally Moving Past Wang-Like Legacy Systems ...

Editor?s note:?Dave Chase?is the CEO of?Avado.com, a patient portal and relationship management company that was a?TechCrunch Disrupt finalist. Previously he was a management consultant for Accenture?s healthcare practice and founder of Microsoft?s $2 billion health platform business. You can follow him on Twitter?@chasedave.

Healthcare has long been a technology paradox. There have been few places further out on the cutting edge of technology than biotech and medical devices. In contrast, healthIT has been in a time warp (see Why It?s Good News HealthIT is So?Bad). Nearly 20 years after the advent of the web, the dominant healthIT vendors have thrived on a business model and technology architecture that harkens back to when Wang and Prodigy were cutting edge. That is, most healthIT still has the same company provide technology from the top to the bottom of the stack.

Healthtech Investors Double Down

The widespread use of the web disconnected the front-end, user-experience technology supplier from the back-end. Whether it?s travel apps or package tracking, consumers are able to tap into back-end systems without knowledge of what mainframe or client-server system may be running those systems. The spike in digital health investment reported by Rock Health?s Q3 2012 Funding Report echoes what I heard from hospital executives at two recent healthtech-related conferences ? Health 2.0 and the Digital Health Conference. That is, for the first time in my experience, these executives talked about how they recognize that they have a flood of new requirements and they have zero expectation that their legacy healthIT suppliers will meet those needs in the next 2-3 years.

This projection is due to legacy vendors being overloaded with their core business (e.g. installing electronic health records) and also having slow product cycles. Healthcare executives explicitly talk about how they want EHR-agnostic tools that will work with their EHRs. Increasingly, providers recognize that while they have complained about vendor lock-in strategy reminiscent of the Wang era, the risk of lock-in increases exponentially if they also adopt consumer/patient-facing tools from their legacy vendors. It?s one thing to disrupt your staff with switching EHRs, it?s quite another to ask patients to switch tools as well. Smart providers are disconnecting those two decisions like virtually every other industry already has. This dynamic is the core reason for the New York Digital Health Accelerator (NYDHA). See Rip Empson?s article here?on why the NYDHA was formed and has 22 large healthcare providers engaging with startups at a level that is unprecedented in healthcare. [Disclosure: My company, Avado, is one of the eight companies selected for this program.]

The following slide deck from Rock Health highlights key findings such as an increase in dollars invested by VCs of 70 percent and 84 percent more deals over a year ago:

Growth in healthtech investment isn?t limited to the U.S. For example, noted investors/entrepreneurs Esther Dyson, Peter Frishauf (founder of Medscape) and Milena Adamian (founder of Life Sciences Angel Network ? New York) recently invested in the Series A for VitaPortal in Russia. It?s also not limited to traditional VCs as we saw in a?Community Hospital Joins Wave Of New Strategic Venture Funds To Drive Disruptive?Innovation.

Legacy Health IT Built For The Last Battle

Already healthcare providers are realizing that what they thought was going to be their 100 percent solution is really best optimized for just 25 percent of where healthcare dollars are spent (hospital-based care). In reality, 75 percent of healthcare spend is directed toward chronic disease. Legacy healthIT has its strength in automating internal workflows of hospitals and other clinical settings. In those high-intensity settings, healthcare providers make the decisions that drive the patient health outcomes. However, with chronic disease, it?s an entirely different story. The decisions that individuals (or their families) make drive the health outcomes. For example, does the patient fill a prescription and take it properly? Or do they make the necessary lifestyle choices to optimize their health?

This dynamic isn?t lost on thought leaders in healthcare. One of the leading thinkers in healthIT, Shahid Shah (aka?The Health IT Guy), laid out why legacy EHRs are ill-prepared for the era of accountability that is rapidly transforming healthcare.

The?EHR?systems and IT required for MU (Meaningful Use) is a quite different from what will be required for ACOs,? Shah continued. ?It will be nowhere as easy for existing legacy EHRs to simply retool their current platforms, like they did for MU.?

With that said, Shah outlines nine ways future EHRs need to support ACOs.

1. Sophisticated patient relationship management (PRM).?According to Shah, today?s EHRs are more document management systems, rather than sophisticated, customer/patient relationship management systems. ?For them to be really useful in ACO?environments, they will need to support outreach, communication, patient engagement, and similar features we?re more accustomed to seeing, from marketing automation systems than transactional systems.?

Read full article?here.

Health Systems Making Newspaper Industry Mistakes

Despite a clear recognition of the radical transformation that is happening, it is striking that the path many healthcare providers are taking parallels that of newspaper companies (another local oligopoly/monopoly that had barriers to entry that were no longer unassailable). See WWJD? The CEO Every Healthcare Leader Should Learn?From for more. In contrast, providers such as those in the NYDHA are taking a different path.

In the above piece, newspaper executive John Paton had a three-point prescription for reinvention that led to a 5x revenue increase and halving of capital expenses. This resulted in his organization going from bankruptcy to $41 million in profit in two years. There were three keys to his approach that can be applied by healthcare leaders:

  1. Speed to market: One new product launched per week (See Related Article:?The Rise of Nimble Medicine)
  2. Scaling opportunity: Sourced centrally, implemented locally. Ideas can come from all over. Identify the best ideas/people from all over.
  3. Leverage partners: Feed the firehose of ideas from outside. This is at the heart of why astute healthcare executives in New York have actively engaged in an accelerator that is without precedent.

Unfortunately, most newspapers didn?t adhere to that prescription. It?s a cautionary tale for hospitals, in particular. In other countries when the shift happened from a reactive ?sick care? system to a proactive health-focused system, over half of the hospitals closed. Naturally, forward-looking hospitals and health systems are making moves to not only survive, but also to thrive.

New York Is A Harbinger Of Things To Come In Healthcare

If you want to see the future of healthcare, New York is a great place to start. Nirav Shah, MD, MPH is the New York State Commissioner of Health for the State Department of Health. Dr. Shah talks about fundamentally rebuilding the healthcare system. The stakes are high to make that happen. Dr. Shah oversees a budget of over $50 billion that has 5 million Medicaid recipients. Like all states, they see healthcare?s hyperinflation is devastating state budgets and education budgets, in particular (see Bill Gates TED Talk for more). ?The old system, acute care focused in the hospital. That was the past. Tomorrow is chronic disease focused in an outpatient setting. That is what the Health Home program promises and that is what the Medicaid program is investing in. That is what the NYDHA is all about.? The pace of decisions by NYDHA providers is dramatically faster than procurement models of the past. I?ve already seen one Health Home program (and the hospital that is running it) evaluate and make a selection in less than two months. For those of us familiar with the excruciating year-plus decision processes of the past that has crushed many a startup, this is exciting.

At the kick-off event for the NYDHA, Intel veteran and current Executive Director of the New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC), David Whitlinger discussed that the health information exchange his organization operates (the State Health Information Network of New York ? aka the ?SHINY?) will allow software developers to facilitate the information exchange critical to reinventing healthcare delivery. The missing link has been having tools that sit on top of the SHINY. The NYDHA startups will get first access to their APIs and then it will be opened more broadly.

In order to achieve those goals, it?s critical to have the right resources and players at the table. Maria Gotsch, president and CEO for the Partnership for New York City Fund, is building off of the tremendous success of the FinTech Innovation Lab?that her organization orchestrated for healthcare. The NYDHA is intended to foster innovation and economic development. In tandem with the NYeC, Gotsch?s organization got commitments from 22 large healthcare providers and seven investment funds to deeply engage with the program.

For a long time I said ?healthcare is where tech startups go to die,? as the decision processes in healthcare favored 20-30 year old companies that could wait out excruciatingly convoluted decision processes. Those decision processes not only killed many startups, they doomed healthcare providers to outdated technology and price tags reminiscent of the mainframe era. But times have changed.

At a recent presentation given by Leonard Achan, RN, MA, ANP and chief communication officer for the prestigious NY-based Mount Sinai, described how they have changed how they worked in the past and contrasted to what they are doing now. He said that that they are far more open to working with startups. Rip Empson reported on one example of this.?Just a year ago, who would have thought mainstream healthcare organizations would be releasing ?app stores? of their own. This is why VCs are voting with their pocketbooks on healthcare? reinvention fueled by breakthrough startups leaving the Wang/Prodigy era behind.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/04/healthcare-finally-moving-past-wangprodigy-era/

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Gartner: 1.2 Billion Smartphones, Tablets To Be Bought Worldwide In 2013; 821 Million This Year: 70% Of Total Device Sales

nexus4-8The unstoppable rise of smartphones and tablets will see 1.2 billion of the devices being bought worldwide next year, analyst Gartner is predicting. It also forecasts sales of 821 million of the smart devices this year -- accounting for 70 percent of total devices sold in 2012. Tablet sales to businesses are also set to grow substantially, says the analyst.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/e7UmXJ7Pcjo/

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Pakistan parents killed daughter for eyeing boy

(AP) ? A Pakistani couple accused of killing their 15-year-old daughter by pouring acid on her carried out the attack because she sullied the family's honor by looking at a boy, the couple said in an interview broadcast Monday by the BBC.

The girl's death underlines the problem of so-called "honor killings" in Pakistan where women are often killed for marrying or having relationships not approved by their families or because they are perceived to have somehow dishonored their family.

The girl's parents, Mohammad Zafar and his wife Zaheen, recounted the Oct. 29 incident from jail. The father said the girl had turned to look at a boy who drove by on a motorcycle, and he told her it was wrong.

"She said 'I didn't do it on purpose. I won't look again.' By then I had already thrown the acid. It was her destiny to die this way," the girl's mother told the British broadcaster.

Television footage of the couple showed them standing behind bars in separate, but adjoining jail cells.

The father said the family had already come under public censure because of their older daughter's behavior, but he did not detail what exactly he meant.

Pakistani officials initially said the attack occurred because the girl supposedly had an affair with a boy.

According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, at least 943 women were killed in the name of honor last year. Only 20 of the women were reported to have been given medical care before they died, the report said. The real toll is believed to be higher because many of the crimes go unreported.

"Throughout the year, women were callously killed in the name of honor when they went against family wishes in any way, or even on the basis of suspicion that they did so. Women were sometimes killed in the name of honor over property disputes and inheritance rights," the report said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-11-05-Pakistan-Acid%20Attack/id-2f72ae50e74b4dbdad374a5edba5b017

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Deciding if Your Kid is Too Sick for School | Parenting Advice

During cold and flu season, it's a classic conundrum for parents. Are those sniffles and sneezes enough to keep them home? Get advice and insight here.

Jaclyn Rink

You know the drill. Your school-bound child tugs at the side of your bed sheet, whining, "Mommy, I don't feel good." You quickly assess the situation. Runny nose? Check. Heavy cough? Check. Temp? 98.6.

Is your child in the clear because he doesn't have a fever? Or do those sniffles mean rest is best? These are questions all parents seem to face when trying to determine just how sick our kids are. So. When should you send them off ? and when's it best to keep them home?

A doctor's take

Dr. Neena Bhargava of Willow Pediatrics in Macomb suggests that you keep kids home if they have a fever over 100 degrees, acute runny nose or coughing, and any vomiting or diarrhea. Coughs can be signs of bronchitis or pneumonia, and fevers are often an indication of a viral infection. A tummy ache or the sniffles do not meet the criteria to keep them home ? even if these symptoms are accompanied by a theatrical presentation of tears.

Lots of fluids and plenty of rest, in most cases, seem to do the trick, but sometimes a trip to the doctor is necessary. Worsening symptoms, dehydration, rashes or sights of blood should require immediate attention from your pediatrician. It's unnecessary (not to mention costly) to take your child to the doctor every time she develops a cough or cold and, with weak immune systems and germ-infested environments, it's much easier for kids to get sick.

"Typically, a child can have six to eight colds per year, on average," Bhargava explains. If your child missed school for the duration of each illness, he or she would be absent a lot.

If you decide to keep your child home from school, how long before she can return to school? Bhargava agrees with the general rule that children should go back to school 24 hours after their symptoms have subsided.

School rules

"Our school says kids can come to school if they have a 'slight' cold," says Lisa Kolb, a mother of triplets from Canton. "I keep my kids home if they have yellow or green nasal discharge, sore throat, earache, fever and, of course, vomiting or diarrhea."

Michigan law allows school districts to create their own attendance polices and how they distinguish between excused and unexcused absences. Many schools consider written documentation of illness an excused absence.

But the issue of missing school is more than whether your child will technically get in trouble for having too many absences. There's also the matter of missing key lessons that will affect their education, of course.

"There is really no substitute for the kind of instruction kids get in school," says Kristen Berry, a mother of two and a seventh grade English teacher at Clifford Smart Middle School in Walled Lake. "As a teacher, I can see the direct correlation between attendance and achievement.

"Kids who stay home too often are missing out on the kind of directions and examples that help them gain the skills they need. Additionally, the kids who miss school clearly are not able to participate in the kind of activities that result from student-to-student interaction."

Yet sending a sick child to school can be almost as detrimental as keeping them home. "Sick kids at school are miserable, uncomfortable and usually are not gaining anything more than they would be if they stayed home," says Berry. "It's a catch-22 for sure."

Contagion factor

Sending a sick child to school can affect other kids and faculty, too.

"The rate of transmission at that age is very high, so they are going to spread their illness to other children," Bhargava says. This only increases the risk of other children getting sick ? which, in the long run, can circle back around to your own child. Schools are potential breeding grounds for germs since young children are close in contact and share just about everything from scissors to sandwiches.

But the American Pediatric Association, through its Healthy Child Care America program, recommends kids with the common cold go to school as long as they are still comfortable enough to partake in activities.

Why? Two reasons. For one, kids can catch germs from another child before, during or after that child is sick, so keeping a sick child home may not prevent others from catching the illness. In addition, the APA points out that although infections can spread to others, exposure to a harmless virus may have the potential to strengthen children's immune systems.

Working parent dilemma

For working parents, the question of whether a child should be stay home sick is even trickier. Who will care for the child who stays home?

Some parents can't afford to take the time off ? or they have pressing meetings or work obligations that make it difficult. And finding a last-minute babysitter isn't always an option.

"People may send their children to school and pray that they really aren't as sick as their gut tells them they may be," Kolbe says. "People are generally 'pleasers,' and the thought of taking off work if they themselves are not sick may make them feel guilty."

Bhargava doesn't have a solution for the working parent dilemma, but she gets it.

"I understand, as I am one of them," Bhargava says. "Unfortunately, their child is sick and they need to stay home from school. I would suggest parents have a backup plan or that the people that employ them understand that they do have children and they need to take time off to take care of them."

Here are a few other ideas for working parents:

  • Save some personal days: For days like these, the easiest way out is to use paid time off. Save a few extra hours for child emergencies. If your company doesn't provide PTO, talk to your supervisor in advance about the best plan of action if your child wakes up sick.
  • Have a backup babysitter list: Start to accumulate a list of family, friends or care providers who could possibly be available at short notice. Keep their phone numbers and availability within reach.
  • Watch for warning signs: Be aware of early warning signs in your child that could predict an oncoming illness. Does your child get a tickle in her throat or a headache? Recognize the signs and tend to these immediately to try to ward off illness.

Be honest. Your main priority is your child. That's a given. But you also have to have a job and pay the bills. So, you have to balance the two obligations. Take turns with your spouse if you can, create a system and include your boss in finding solutions for sudden childhood sickness.

Whether you're a working parent or a stay-at-home mom, it's never easy tending to a sick child. The next time your tot wakes you up with tummy trouble, think of the advice from these three moms and the path of choice may become a little clearer. Oh, and never forget about your own parental instincts. After all, mother (or father) knows best.

Source: http://www.metroparent.com/Metro-Parent/November-2012/Deciding-if-Your-Kid-is-Too-Sick-for-School/

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Monday, November 5, 2012

INVESTMENT | Accounting | Finance | Financial Markets | Payroll ...

INVESTMENT | Accounting | Finance | Financial Markets | Payroll | Quickbooks & Quicken

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This project requires you to perform a financial analysis of a specific company listed on the New York Stock Exchange or on the NASDAQ. The project is designed to assist you in integrating many of the topics learned in this course, as well as to give you an opportunity to apply your knowledge in a practical way. The project requires you to utilize library resources (both in-house paper sources and the internet/Web and COMPUSTAT database) to search out real-world data relating to your specific company. In addition, this exercise should provide training in writing business reports and working effectively in a group setting.

This project is divided into three parts. Part A involves analyzing the financial statements and performance of a firm. Part B requires an analysis of the risk-return profile for the stock. Part C involves a write-up of your analysis from the perspective of a potential shareholder or an investor. The most important part of this project is stock valuation by using Fundamental Factors.

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