I am a hard money mortgage broker.  I work with lenders who fund projects all over the United States including Alaska and Hawaii.  These lenders can range from local, private lenders to national funding sources.  They all have one thing in common.  They can make decisions quickly and work with commercial and investment properties.

Most hard money lenders want borrowers to have some of their own money into the transaction.  This can range from 10 – 35% of the purchase plus rehab.  There are a hand full of lenders who will fund 100% of the purchase and rehab – up to 65 – 70% of the after competed value.  These lenders want the borrower to pay the points (as a fee for doing the loan) and closing costs at the closing table.

The amount of money the lenders want the borrower to contribute is specific to the borrowers experience, the property and the lender’s ability to assure itself that the loan will be paid back (the exit strategy of the borrower)

A standard loan program is as follows:

Territory      Nationwide

Amount        $50K to $50M

LTV               65 – 70% after repair value  (with borrower contribution of 10% or more)

INT               14 – 16%

PTS               4 – 5

TRM              6 – 24 months

None             Pre Payment Penalty

Credit           Not score driven

Reserves       Not usually

The following documents are needed for submission of the loan:  Residential Loan Application (1003) or Personal Financial Statement; Credit Report; Proof of Funds (usually one bank statement); Purchase & Sale Agreement; 2 – 3 Comps to show after completed value; Photo or Listing of subject property, Estimate of Repair from a Licensed General Contractor (with license and insurance); other documents as requested by lender.

As a professional who has ten years of experience with residential, commercial and hard money loans, I can help you plan your project or answer any particular question to make the process work better.

I would be pleased to receive email or direct phone calls to help you with your project.

Joel Soforenko

Continental Finance Service

799 Sumner Avenue

Springfield, MA 01108

413-478-5379

ContinentalLoan@gmail.com

October 29-31, 2009

Saint Louis, MO

Once again the wonderful people at Kaldi’s Coffee hosted the MWRBC. What a class operation on every detail, and of course Midwest hospitality. After taking a year off from judging in order to concentrate on Brewed Behavior, I once again completed judges certification and got back into the mix .Of course the Midwest is home for me, in fact it was home for the first ever regional Barista competition in Kansas City. Early on when we were first forming the USBC, through the vision of Danny O’Neill the first SCAA sanctioned regional competition was born. In addition, Jeff Taylor and his crew at PT’s have always been top contenders or winners since that day. Amazing to watch the resilience of PT’s as staff turnover affects every business, they continue to churn out top competitors, paired up with exemplary coffees and create winners in both the MWRBC and USBC. So when you consider the MW Regional competition, consider the heart that goes into making and maintaining a specialty coffee culture in the Heart of America.

W Świdnicy rozpoczął się już kurs PTS. Pierwsze spotkanie odbyło się w listopadzie. Na początku grudnia kolejne na temat interwencji kościoła w życie osób uzależnionych a także współuzależnień.

Good Morning Manpower!

When I received my M.Div. from Princeton, it said, among other things, that I have been found “blameless.”  I’m sure there is a long, theologically-rich tradition of why my degree states this, but I am not going to bother with discovering that tradition now.  What I AM going to do, however, is convince you that, having been found blameless by an institution such as Princeton, you should give weight to my opinions on popular culture.  (Obviously).

You’re welcome.

Opinion Number One, in the realm of FASHION:

For the love of everything holy, WOMEN!  STOP WEARING LEGGINGS/TIGHTS AS PANTS!

I’ve been away from the States for a little over two months now, and so I can only attest to American trends based on my limited viewing of American television and avid reading of The New York Times.  But, here in the UK, I am shocked no less than twice a day by the sheer and skin-tight fabric that is passing for legitimate pants these days.  Let me be as clear as possible:  Leggings and tights are not pants.  Stop the madness.

Now, some will say, “Surely, in your blamelessness, you recognize that there are some appropriate situations in which leggings/tights are suitable?”  To which I respond, “Yes, of course.”  However, there is a fine line between relying on these accessories to accessorize and relying on these accessories to serve the purpose that God only intended more substantial fabrics to serve.  And why bring God into it?  Well, naturally, because God was the first one to set this fashion rule up.  Remember when Adam and Eve sewed clothing out of the insubstantial fabric of the fig leaves?  And God was all, “Ummm, no.”  Then God made them more suitable clothing out of animal skins?  Remember?  REMEMBER?

I’m just sayin’, y’all.

Need some tips?

This is ok.

This is not ok.

This is ok.

This is not ok.

Are we clear?

Opinion Number Two, in the realm of TELEVISION:

There are some countries where the concept of America’s Next Top Model works.  CANADA is not one of them.  (Sorry, Jay!)

We stumbled across the atrocity the other day.  It was painfully boring.  Painfully.  Even writing about it right now is making me sleepy.  YAWN.

Sorry to do this to you, but a girl’s gotta prove a point:

Opinion Number Three, in the realm of MUSIC:

A good friend was asking for music suggestions on her blog, and in the spirit of this snarky, nonsensical post I thought I’d give some recommendations of music to avoid.  ’Cause, why not?

Katy Perry.  The reasons are too numerous to record.

Lady Gaga.  I’ll admit: she can sing, she can play the piano, she is invested in her performances.  Yet, I can’t quite get my head around the fact that she NEVER WEARS PANTS.  Also, come ON.  Learn to write some lyrics, lady.

Let’s have some fun, this beat is sick

I wanna take a ride on your disco stick

AND

P-P-P-Poker face, P-P-Poker face

Point proven.  The End.

Entrevista com Sonia Hirsch, pesquisadora, jornalista e escritora especializada em promoção da saúde.

“A soja é muito ácida. Só serve para comer depois de ser fermentada em forma de missô, shoyu, tempê e natô.”

» Sonia Hirsch, você agora é contra a soja?
» Nunca fui a favor, a não ser nas formas fermentadas: misso, shoyu, tempê, natô. Já no meu primeiro livro, Prato feito, que é de 1983, aviso que a soja não deve ser consumida como feijão.

» Mas seus livros dão muitas receitas de tofu.
» Tofu é bom de vez em quando, porque parte da acidez da soja sai no soro. O tofu é feito de leite de soja talhado. Funciona muito bem para substituir o queijo quando a gente está querendo parar de comer laticínios, mas não dá para abusar. O mundinho natural e macrô adora, mas eu mesma como pouco, porque minha pele não gosta.

» E a carne de soja? Você dá uma receita de picadinho de carne de soja no Prato feito.
» Essa receita foi uma exceção, é a única que você encontra em todo o meu trabalho. Está lá como uma homenagem ao Bira, cozinheiro macrô que morou muito tempo no Rio e ficou famoso pelo picadinho. Eu mesma já não gostava de carne de soja na época, início dos anos 80; achava aquele negócio muito esquisito. Mas o Bira fez o picadinho num evento do Circo Voador na Quinta da Boa Vista, a galera gostou e eu pensei: vou botar a receita, afinal ele merece… Depois fiz a autocrítica no próprio livro, a partir da décima edição. Demorou…

» Mas afinal, por que você está revoltada com a soja?
» Estou revoltada com o uso que estão fazendo dela. Porque o consumo liberal de soja é muito prejudicial à saúde, tanto em forma de comida e bebida quanto em fórmulas farmacêuticas para suplementação hormonal.

» Prejudicial, como assim? A soja não é o tesouro da Ásia?
» O cultivo da soja na Ásia é muito antigo, tanto que ela é um dos cinco grãos sagrados dos chineses, junto com arroz, trigo, cevada e painço; mas não para fins alimentares. Seu dom é agrícola. Por ser muito rica em proteínas, a soja, que é uma leguminosa como todos os feijões, é também muito rica em nitrogênio, elemento essencial para a fertilidade do solo. Plantar a soja entre as outras culturas e cortá-la quando as favas de feijão se formam, deixando-a apodrecer no solo, traz o maior benefício para a lavoura. Sem ela a terra se esgotaria. Como alimento, porém, ela tem inúmeros inconvenientes. Como todos os feijões, mas muito mais acentuados.

» Os feijões são inconvenientes?
» Hipócrates já dizia que os feijões são tão ricos em nutrientes que poderíamos viver só deles – se não fossem tão tóxicos. Por isso, recomendava comer os feijões em pequena quantidade e sempre acompanhados por algum cereal, para equilibrá-los. A uma pessoa doente, Hipócrates proibia os feijões. O dr. Barcellos, médico, em sua dieta contra o câncer e todas as alergias, proíbe os feijões todos. Inclusive o amendoim e os feijões verdes, como a vagem, a ervilha fresca, o petit-pois. Aponta como problema a qualidade extremamente ácida e tóxica das proteínas dos feijões. E realmente, se você pára de comer feijão as indisposições melhoram. Feijão é coisa para gente saudável!

» Mas e a soja?
» Então, a soja é o mais proteico de todos os feijões, por isso o mais tóxico. Hoje existem muitos estudos esclarecendo vários pontos. Um: a soja contém altos níveis de ácido fítico, ou fitatos, que reduzem a assimilação de cálcio, magnésio, cobre, ferro e zinco em adultos e crianças, prejudicando a saúde e o crescimento. E os métodos convencionais, como deixar de molho, germinar os grãos ou cozinhar longamente em fogo baixo, não neutralizam o ácido fítico da soja; somente a fermentação tem esse poder. Dois: a soja contém inibidores de tripsina que interferem na digestão das proteínas e podem causar distúrbios pancreáticos e retardo no crescimento. Três: desde 1953 é conhecido o impacto negativo das isoflavonas sobre a saúde humana. A esse respeito, você encontra uma lista de 150 estudos científicos que não podem ser ignorados em www.westonaprice.org/soy/dangersisoflavones.html#studies .

» Mas as isoflavonas não são fitoestrógenos, bons para reposição hormonal?
» Os fitoestrógenos da soja atrapalham as funções endócrinas, têm o potencial de causar infertilidade e de promover câncer de seio em mulheres adultas. São poderosos agentes inibidores da tiróide, causando hipotiroidismo e podendo provocar câncer de tiróide.

» Nesse caso, as mulheres japonesas, que consomem tanta soja, não deveriam estar mal de saúde?
» Pra começar, elas não consomem tanta soja; vivem muito mais de arroz, algas marinhas, vegetais, peixes e frutos do mar. Da soja usam basicamente misso, que é a massa fermentada e salgada de soja; shoyu ou tamari, que são molhos fermentados de soja; e nattô, que é o próprio feijão de soja fermentado, com gosto e sabor fortíssimos. Aqui, ao contrário, as pessoas estão usando qualquer coisa de soja achando que é bom – leite de soja, tofu, proteína de soja, extratos de soja. Uma japonesa obtém da soja uma média de 10 mg de isoflavonas por dia. As brasileiras estão ingerindo por dia 150 mg de isoflavonas (genisteína, genistina, daidzaína) em cápsulas, ou seja, dez vezes mais do que a média das japoneses consome.

» Mas elas têm menos câncer de seios e ovários.
» Sim, mas é porque a alimentação delas, como um todo, é menos rica em estrogênio e seus análogos do que a dieta ocidental, abundante demais em leite, laticínios, carne vermelha, frango e ovos, todos conectadíssimos ao surgimento de doenças crônicas e degenerativas.

» E os milhões de crianças que se alimentam de leite de soja, correm algum risco?
» Vários. Um deles é o desenvolvimento de distúrbios na tiróide. Não sei se você notou que há uma epidemia de problemas na tiróide hoje em dia. De onde vem isso? Do stress, mas também da alimentação. Um estudo mostra que bastam 30 g de tofu por dia, durante um mês, para causar problemas na tiróide.

» Um ponto positivo parece ser a presença de uma forma de vitamina B12 na soja…
» A vitamina B12 só existe nos organismos animais. A gente produz B12 dentro do corpo. Nos vegetais você a encontra em uma ou outra microalga, ou então em forma análoga. Acontece que os análogos da vitamina B12 que a soja contém não são absorvidos e ainda aumentam a necessidade de B12 no organismo. Pior: comidas à base de soja aumentam também a necessidade de vitamina D.

» E a proteína da soja, serve para alguma coisa?
» Não entendo por que alguém vai querer uma proteína tão desnaturada, já que é processada em alta temperatura até virar proteína isolada de soja, proteína vegetal texturizada. O processamento da proteína de soja resulta na formação da tóxica lisinoalanina e das altamente carcinogênicas nitrosaminas. Fora um conteúdo extra de alumínio em grande quantidade – e o alumínio é tóxico para o sistema nervoso, para os rins, para a medula óssea…

» Você tem mais algum horror pra contar sobre a soja?
» Só mais um: o ácido glutâmico livre, MSG, GMS, glutamato monossódico ou simplesmente glutamato de sódio, é uma poderosa neurotoxina formada naturalmente durante o processamento da soja. Estimula a tal ponto nossos receptores de sabor no cérebro que pode matar neurônios. São documentados os casos de morte súbita por excitotoxinas, outro apelido dessas neurotoxinas, entre as quais se inclui o aspartame. Ainda assim, esse derivado da soja está espalhado por inúmeros produtos industrializados (bem como o aspartame). E nos próprios alimentos à base de soja, mais glutamato é adicionado para realçar o sabor sem que seja preciso avisar no rótulo, já que se trata de um derivado “natural” da soja, então a lei dispensa.

» Como se pode evitar o consumo de glutamato?
» Lendo os rótulos, evitando produtos industrializados, preferindo comer o que está ainda na sua forma natural. E, num restaurante japonês, pedindo missoshiro sem ajinomoto, que é o próprio glutamato. Eles tentam recusar, porque a sopa de misso já está pronta, mas você repete com firmeza e eles preparam outra na hora. Não existe nada mais fácil, saudável e nutritivo do que uma missoshiro: o lado maravilhoso da soja.

http://correcotia.com/soja/index.html

beasiswa yang dilematik buat PTS: bahagia bagi siswa kurang mampu, tapi derita bagi perguruan tinggi swasta (PTS) Indonesia. ITB, sudah PT tua, terkenal, BHMN, dana melimpah, cerdas pula cari mahasiswa

Syarat utamanya harus lulus Program Penelusuran Minat, Bakat dan Potensi (PMBP-ITB) 2010, yakni ujian masuk ITB yang akan dilaksanakan di 14 atau 15 kota di Tanah Air pada Maret 2010.

Beasiswa “ITB Untuk Semua” tidak hanya menanggung seluruh biaya kuliah, namun juga menanggung ongkos tempat tinggal dan biaya hidup selama kuliah di Bandung. Karena itu, Beasiswa “ITB Untuk Semua” juga dinamakan Beasiswa Biaya Pendidikan Penuh dan Bantuan Biaya Hidup.

Tahun lalu, beasiswa “ITB Untuk Semua” diberikan kepada 40 mahasiswa ITB angkatan 2009 yang lulus Ujian Saringan Masuk ITB (sebanyak 27 orang) dan Seleksi Nasional Masuk Perguruan Tinggi Negeri (13 orang). Para mahasiswa tersebut telah lolos penyaringan ketat dari 3.170 pendaftar.

Beasiswa Biaya Pendidikan Penuh dibuka bagi pelajar dari keluarga golongan ekonomi lemah yang merupakan lulusan SMA IPA (bukan ijazah persamaan) dengan tahun ijazah 2010 bagi peminat jalur ujian Sains dan Teknik.

Beasiswa juga tersedia bagi lulusan SMA IPA/IPS (bukan ijazah persamaan) tahun ijazah 2010 yang meminati jalur ujian Bisnis dan Manajemen. Khusus lulusan SMA/SMK (bukan ijazah persamaan) dengan tahun ijazah 2010 juga tersedia, yaitu melalui peminatan jalur ujian Seni Rupa dan Desain.

Tertarik? Formulir pendaftaran serta kit kelengkapan dokumen Beasiswa “ITB Untuk Semua” dapat diperoleh di http://usm.itb.ac.id atau download langsung di http://usm.itb.ac.id/Beasiswa/kitbeapenuh.zip. Informasi lengkap menyangkut “Beasiswa ITB Untuk Semua” dapat dilihat di http://www.itbuntuksemua.com. Batas waktu pengiriman dokumen pendaftaran beasiswa adalah 24 Desember 2009.

sumber: Kompas.com, KAMIS, 12 NOVEMBER 2009 | 12:58 WIB.

In my head swims influences of red paint, chrome, EcoSense toilets (I am remodeling my bathroom), the two movies I watched last night, YoYo Ma’s album Classic YoYo, not to mention friends and conversations, acupuncture and my grief group. Through it all I am inspired toward taking another look at my book to see if my brain can handle editing while I sketch ideas for as screenplay. However, inspiration isn’t the same as action.

My biggest lament about grieving is that I have no brain. I wasted a box of sheet vinyl because of incorrect measurements, even though I measured twice. Even before I started, I needed to call a friend in to help me see that my bathroom was more square than rhomboidal because the measurements just wouldn’t add up. I definitely don’t recommend tackling a remodel by yourself while grieving. I thought the the physical labor would do me good, but the mental aspect confounded me.

I feel slow and vapid and finding words is like sorting through a twenty-thousand piece, broken-up jigsaw puzzle I just threw down and have yet study. In my head, images and ideas zip around, one idea stimulating the next, but I have no effective method to contribute any of this to the world. Words and thoughts fall heavy and disconnected on the page.

I found out at my second grief group with hospice that grieiving is not linear, but rather circular. I see it as a spiral, as I do most of life processing. And I’ve come to accept that, appreciate it, even, for the depth. But when it comes ot grief, as with trauma, I want linear. I want an end. It distresses me that there isn’t. I link that thought somehow to my bathroom and its never-ending list of items yet to be finished. I want to be done, and it’s not. I lose patience and throw linens around my bedroom in childish frustration because I can’t remember where I placed a hammer. I feel trappped in a metal security box with no give to expand and no outlet to release what is going on inside. Communication is as sticky and stubborn as the wax stuck to the flange in the bathroom and I wonder, is that really the only way to say that?

I rented both Defiance and Food, Inc. last night and watched them both. Under their influence this morning I’ve travelled through the bitterness I feel about the selfishness of people and how to raise both awareness and compassion in myself. I am angry at what we’ve done to ourselves and our planet and all its beings for profit and yet am stunted as an activist by my own mother’s contempt toward my being “difficult” about what food I ate. But it’s not only her, as my activism was also stunted by trying to help the world and feeling unappreciated and alone, then traumatized by my failure. With the protagonist in my novel, I try to balance the insanity of living clean in a corporation-dominated world where most people are too distracted reaching to thrive or survive to create change that will sustain our species.

As I write that, the song Simple Gifts wafts through the speaker, reminding me to breathe. I cry when I open myself to the sound of the cello. It gets me out of the upper ranges of my head and into my heart. I am just starting to cry for my losses, almost a half a year later. I suppose that’s an improvement, as it took me over thirty  years to deal with post traumatic stress.

It’s terrifying, for someone who has relied on her head her whole life, to feel so much that thinking is obscured. My head doesn’t work, not the way I need it to. So I have to figure out how to be okay with the feeling. I’m not. Insead of allowing the music to continue to seep in, I come back to my keyboard. There is too much hurt. How does one find balance in all the hurt?

At the end of Defiance, there was a note that the 1200 Jews who survived created  tens of thousands of progeny. I remember hearing my gradmother proudly announce that she had “eight grand children and thirteen great grandchildren,” and wondering, is that something to be proud of, in this day and age when the world struggles to support us? The movie asks what do we live for, what do we fight for? Death stirs up that question. What is the purpose? To reproduce? To see that ours do well? To save others, who in their pain and selfishness, do things that only benefit themselves? What am I here for? I don’t have kids. I have few connections. I have no influence. What is the purpose?

As usual, my thoughts are scattered as I try to find balance and direction. And as I struggle with the knowledge that there is no end to the grief, only transformation, maybe all I can do is make peace with that. It’s hard. I want the grief to be over, just as I want the post traumatic stress to stop haunting me. I don’t want to have to manage these things for the rest of my life. I want to lay them to rest. How is it that our loved ones can die, but the emotions don’t? I want to be done with the grief, but it remains. Mom is gone. Why can’t the emotion be as black and white as the life and death?

Maybe life and death isn’t as black and white as I am trying to make it. Funny, how I can get caught up in thinking it is when, honestly, I’ve never seen it as that. So perhaps to look for answers to resolve my pain in what my therapist refers to as “black and white depressive thinking,” to search for no grief while grieving, is perhaps not the path that will bring me peace.  Maybe the peace is in making peace with the messiness of life.

As I write this, I realize, I come to the conclusion of my novel. It’s as if I haven’t even written it in my forgetting its message. The message I worked on for years to explain and share, I stumble upon as if for the first time this morning. That’s the path of the learning spiral, I suppose. That we forget, then come back. Like I’ve done so many times before. I’m in awe when I read journals from years ago only to discover that I’d already learned what I was again learning. My first reaction is to scold myself for being so dumb, but friends tell me the lessons are the same, only so that I may go deeper. When the counselor at the hospice group mentioned that after break we’d talk about the depth of grief, I moaned. As I said, I wanted to be done with it, not to go deeper. I’m tired of school and the lessons. I want to graduate, forgetting that for me, the juice has always been in the discovery of self.

Perhaps my struggle now is that the learning is not intellectual or physical, but emotional.

I don’t know. I don’t have the answers.  But I suppose if I pretended I did, then how would I learn, and then what would be the meaning of my life?

The Scoop: 80’s Night PT’s Bar and Grille: $3 Wells, $1.50 PBR, $3 Import Bottles

I remember the 80’s. My blankie in one hand, a cigar in the other, sporting my designer Oshkosh B’Gosh. Watching backstage as Big Bird rocked out with Guns N’ Roses on Sesame Street while Snufalufagus shot up heroin with Oscar in the back alley….or was that Hill Street Blues?

Anyways 80’s Night @ PT’s is always rockin’. T-Lo on the DJ tip. $1.50 PBR cans, $3.00 Sam Adams Pint, $3.00 wells and $3.00 import bottles. Phew. Makes you almost wish you were two years old again.

      Allen Kate’s article “PTS Can Attack Years Later: Even With No Previous Symptoms” was published in the July/August 2009 issue of “Sheriff” magazine.  He was also quoted in the article “New Des Moines police unit helps officers fight job stress.” Des Moines Register 7-29-09.  You can read the article at http://desmoinesregister.com/Better/news.jap?key-498638

      Taken from THE WRITE WORD, the newsletter for the Society of Southwestern Authors Vol. 38. No. 5  Oct/Nov. 2009

The implementation of routine outcome measures in a Tier 3 Psychological Therapies Service: The process of enhancing data quality and reflections of implementation challenges, Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 2009

Amra S. Rao;  Gemma Hendry; Robert Watson

East London NHS Foundation Trust, Newham Psychological Therapies Service, London, UK

Abstract:

Lancashire Care staff can request the full-text of this paper, email: susan.jennings@lancashirecare.nhs.uk

Traveling alone is a double edged sword. On one hand, you’re completely free to do what you want to do, meet new people along the way, and experience new culture. But on the other hand, traveling unaccompanied may bring about some fear. I’d imagine if these solo journeys happened say every 13 weeks, that you may start to get used to it. I think it’s important for traveling PT’s, OT’s, and SLP’s to enjoy their travel time, but also to make sure they stay safe while doing so. I’ve researched some “safe tips for women traveling alone” from SmarterTravel.com, and I’d love to share some of them with you…

#1 Arrive During the Daytime: Arrive in new cities during the day. Areas around bus and train stations can be scary and/or deserted, and small towns tend to shut down early. Veteran solo traveler Mara Rothman of San Francisco notes that plenty of beautiful towns can appear eerie at night, and locals who are genuinely trying to help you can appear unnecessarily threatening. Arriving during the day means you’ll be able to find a place to stay and get your bearings before dark.

#2 Keep Your Money/Documents Safe: If you choose to wear a money belt, use it for storage and not as a purse. Constantly reaching under your shirt for money draws attention to it, and tends to defeat the purpose. Instead, keep your extra stores of money and other important documents tucked away, and use a bag or purse for carrying daily spending money.

#3 Dress Appropriately: To avoid attracting unwanted attention, dress as conservatively as the women you see around you. This doesn’t necessarily mean donning the traditional dress, as that can sometimes backfire.

#4 Know When to Buddy-Up: Traveling alone doesn’t always mean being alone. There are plenty of situations in which seeking out company can make for a safer and more enjoyable experience.

#5 Combat Harassment: A few might argue that it’s just a well-developed appreciation of women, but unsolicited stares, calls, and attention feel more like harassment when you’re alone in unfamiliar territory. Having a repertoire of harassment deterrents can be as important to women travelers as a sturdy pair of shoes and a passport.

To read more about traveling alone on your next therapy assignment visit www.smartertravel.com/travel-advice

Ashley Iero

Cirrus Allied

High Rate of PTSD Among U.S. Veterans
Masage Magazine
posted:10/27/2009

Massage therapists are no strangers to clients who live with the effects of stress and trauma locked in their tissues. A new report claims that up to 35 percent of U.S. veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),

“A Dynamic Model for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among U.S. Troops in Operation Iraqi Freedom,” by Michael P. Atkinson of the Naval Postgraduate School and Adam Guetz and Lawrence M. Wein of Stanford University, is running in Management Science, the journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences.

The tempo of deployment cycles in the Iraq War is higher than for any war since World War II, the authors write, and military survey data suggest that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common among service members.

The authors suggest that the Department of Veterans Affairs improve its delivery of mental health services.

The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences is an international scientific society with 10,000 members, including Nobel Prize laureates, dedicated to applying scientific methods to help improve decision-making, management, and operations.

In April, MASSAGE Magazine reported that military personnel who suffer from poor mental or physical health are up to three times more likely to develop PTSD once deployed. In February the magazine reported U.S. military personnel serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from increased musculoskeletal injuries.

Ujian Masuk Bersama PTS  - (UMB PTS 2010/2011)

Lokasi dan Waktu Ujian cybertest akan tercantum pada Kartu Peserta

Medan

1. Universitas Islam Sumatera Utara (UISU)
2. Universitas Medan Area (UMA)
3. Universitas HKBP Nommensen (Univ. HKBP)

Lampung

1. Universitas Bandar Lampung (UBL)
2. Universitas Malahayati (UNIMAL)

Jakarta

1. Institut Teknologi Indonesia (ITI)
2. Universitas Tarumanagara (UNTAR)
3. Universitas Trisakti (USAKTI)
4. Universitas Yarsi (Univ. YARSI)
5. Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya (UNIKA JKT)
6. Universitas Nasional (UNAS)
7. Universitas Pancasila (UP)
8. STIA Mandala Indonesia (STIAMI)
9. Institut Sains dan Teknologi Nasional (ISTN)
10. Institut Keuangan Perbankan dan Informatika ASIA – Perbanas
11. Universitas Indonusa Esa Unggul (UIEU)

Bandung

1. Universitas Parahyangan (UNPAR)
2. Institut Teknologi Nasional (ITENAS)
3. Universitas Widyatama

Semarang

1. Universitas Islam Sultan Agung (UNISSULA)

Yogyakarta

1. Universitas Achmad Dahlan (UAD)
2. Universitas Atma Jaya Yogyakarta (UAJY)

Surabaya

1. Universitas Surabaya (UBAYA)
2. Universitas Pembangunan Nasional “Veteran” Jatim (UPN ” Veteran”)
3. Universitas 17 Agustus 45 Surabaya (UNTAG)
4. Universitas Wijaya Kusuma Surabaya (UWKS)
5. Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Ekonomi Perbanas (STIE Perbanas)
6. Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Ekononomi Indonesia (STIESIA)
7. Institut Teknologi Adhi Tama Surabaya (ITATS)

Malang

1. Universitas Islam Malang (UNISMA)
2. Universitas Merdeka Malang (UMER)

Pendaftaran dilakukan secara online dengan terlebih dahulu membayar biaya pendaftaran ke cabang-cabang bank BNI terdekat di kota Anda.

Biaya pendaftaran sebesar Rp. 225.000,- (dua ratus dua puluh lima puluh ribu rupiah) per peserta baik peserta Kelompok IPA maupun peserta Kelompok IPS

Setiap peserta dapat memilih maksimal empat program studi pilihan yang tersebar di 31 PTS. Cara pemilihan program studi dapat dilihat di sini.

Bank BNI akan memberikan Nomor Pendaftaran dan PIN yang akan digunakan untuk melakukan pendaftaran secara online di situs ini.

Prosedur Pendaftaran
(UMB-PTS 2010/2011)

1. Membayar biaya pendaftaran ke cabang-cabang bank BNI terdekat. Biaya pendaftaran untuk pilihan kelompok IPA atau IPS adalah sebesar Rp. 225.000,-. Ketika membayar biaya ujian ini, Anda harus menyebutkan PTS, lokasi dimana Anda akan ujian.Bank BNI akan memberikan Nomor Pendaftaran dan PIN yang akan digunakan untuk melakukan pendaftaran secara online di situs ini.
2. Mendaftar secara online di situs ini dengan menggunakan Nomor pendaftaran dan PIN sebagai data untuk melakukan Signin

Jadwal

1. Pembayaran di Bank BNI: 9 Oktober 2009 – 6 November 2009
2. Pendaftaran Online: 9 Oktober 2009 – 6 November 2009
3. Pencetakan KARTU UJIAN : 1 November 2009 – 7 November 2009 jam 11.30, apabila Anda tidak mencetak maka Anda dianggap mengundurkan diri
4. Ujian (Cyber Test): 8 November 2009 (Tempat dan Waktu tertera pada kartu Ujian)

Materi Ujian terdiri dari:

Kemampuan Dasar terdiri atas :

• Soal Matematika,
• Soal Bahasa Indonesia, dan
• Soal Bahasa Inggris.

Kemampuan IPA terdiri atas :

• Soal Biologi,
• Soal Kimia,
• Soal Fisika, dan
• soal IPA Terpadu.

Kemampuan IPS terdiri dari :

• soal Sejarah,
• soal Geografi,
• soal Ekonomi, dan
• soal IPS terpadu.

Peserta Kelompok IPA harus mengikuti ujian Kemampuan Dasar, dan ujian Kemampuan IPA.

Peserta Kelompok IPS harus mengikuti ujian Kemampuan Dasar, dan ujian Kemampuan IPS.

sumber :  www.spmb.or.id

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   |       |
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Grattis internet på 40-årsdagen!

Igår bjöd Näringsdepartementet in till ett seminarium om öppna nät, där det var meningen att vi skulle diskutera problem och vart vi i Sverige är på väg när det gäller öppenheten. We rebuild och Juliagruppen kommer cirka 1.24h in i streamen, så se till och se det och tipsa samtidigt era vänner.

Christopher Kullenberg har redan skrivit ett mer ingående inlägg om seminariet och jag kommer därför att kort försöka ta upp ett par generella saker som jag kom och tänka på.

• Det finns dom som tror att nätneutralitet är något som ska “införas eller inte” som reglering eller lagstiftning. Detta är en felaktig tanke eftersom “internet” som vi idag känner till det – med dess kommunikationsfrihet, verktyg för demokratisering, toleransökande inslag, “folkporr”, innovationer och kommunikationsfrihet -  har fram tills nu varit oreglerat, öppet och fritt. Nätneutraliteten har alltså varit förutsättningen för att internet idag på sin fyrtioårsdag ser ut som det gör. Om vi vill låta internet få vara fritt och öppet i fyrtio år till kommer vi att behöva tala om nätneutralitet på flera olika plan som går utöver svensk inrikespolitik och marknadsekonomi.
• När vi diskuterar nätneutralitet innebär det inte att vi vill hårdreglera helt utan föregående analys av konsekvenserna. Vi ska istället akta oss för regleringar. Under 00-talet har vi flera gånger sett hur lagar och förordningar måste patchas flera gånger per år för att inte de inte hinner med i samtiden och hur företag överför analoga marknadsmodeller till internet i tron om att de ska fungera helt friktionsfritt i ett helt annan medium. Dessutom ser vi hur ny lagstiftning blir helt verkningslös nästan direkt efter att ha implementerats. Istället kan man gemensamt ta fram generella principer för hur operatörer och andra aktörer på marknaden ska förhålla sig till nätneutralitet. Norska motsvarigheten till PTS har tagit fram regler tillsammans med norska aktörer, så kan inte PTS undersöka möjligheten till att göra samma sak i Sverige? Vi måste samtidigt diskutera behovet av fridlysningar och undantag som gynnar internet istället för att fastna i en regleringsdebatt.
• Om vi tar fram verktyg som medborgare kan använda sig av för att undersöka att de får “internet” och inte inlåst “kabel-tv-internet”, kan vi direkt få statistik och data på om alla aktörer rent faktiskt värnar för ökad öppenhet. Det kommer bli mycket enklare för människor och journalister att se vilka som erbjuder “internet” och vilka som erbjuder internet som blockeras, utsätts för diskriminerande felprioriteringar, låses in, som inte har applikationsfrihet och som inte når ‘upp’ till tier 1. Vi skulle behöva innehållsförteckningar som tydligt visar att man får “internet” och operatörer borde öppna upp sig mer och presentera mer statistik för hur de bedriver sin verksamhet.
• Givet att vi tar fram en form av öppenhetsmärkning av internet kan man tänka sig att den konsumentmakt som nya verktyg medför tydligt kommer att visa vilka operatörer som erbjuder bra internetaccess och vilka som inte gör det. Istället för att stirra oss blinda på konkurrensen och “marknaden som kan lösa allt” kan vi istället tänka oss en hel sammansättning av begrepp, generella principer, verktyg, samarbeten och innehållsförteckningar som kommer att göra det ännu tydligare för kunden vad de får och vad nätneutralitet verkligen innebär.
• Vi behöver diskutera antimarknader i samband med diskussionen om marknadsekonomi samt konkurrens utan att blunda och hålla för öronen när öppenheten kommer på tal.
• Internet ska inte ses som en stor marknadsplats. Det är under 00-talet som marknader har börjat etablera sig allt mer, men internet har ju framförallt handlat om nätverken och kommunikationsverktygen. Vad vi ser idag är hur vanliga medborgare, du och jag, faktiskt producerar mer och mer av det material som vi affekteras av när vi nätar. Historiskt sett har tjänsteleverantörerna försökt att få konsumenter att just använda deras tjänster och plattformar, men detta har gång på gång visat sig vara ett stort misslyckande. Man tar sig lätt runt dessa hinder och konsumenter vill inte ha några inlåsningar. Tjänste- och innehållsleverantörerna vill ju leverera sina tjänster, men detta innebär att de inte får hindra mig från att använda motsvarande tjänster som jag tycker är bättre.
• Om internet ska kunna bli vad som helst, då gäller det att ingen säger vad det ska bli. Jag vill inte att “internet” ska vara en marknadsplats – jag ser mycket hellre att internet exempelvis realiserar global vox populi. Ligger internets framtid i en ökad förståelse för nätverken? Eller kommer det att utvecklas till något kontrollerat och inlåst? Vi bör diskutera hur vi kan främja internet, öppenhet, nätverk, kommunikation, demokrati och så vidare, oavsett om vi gillar marknadsekonomi eller lulz. Om politikerna ser investeringar i internet som en möjlighet för Europa att ta sig ur en kris, tror jag att medborgare vill se investeringar på infrastruktur av andra anledningar. Jag förespråkar därför fler ingående samtal om internets öppenhet mellan olika aktörer. Vi får inte heller glömma att mycket av nätets charm ligger i att det “inte har något som helst syfte utan är till sin essens idiotiskt” – Rasmus Fleischer, eller att dess essens “ligger nånstans i triangeln porr, avancerad politisk filosofi och bilder på små söta pälsdjur” – Isobel Hadley-Kamptz, Kvällspasset, P3 29/10.
• Kom alltid förberedd och påläst om du ska uttala dig om telekompaketet i samma lokal som Kristian Viidas, Näringsdepartementet.
• Seminariet fastnade alltför mycket i marknadsekonomi och konkurrens vilket är olyckligt för att dessa fenomen överskuggar öppenhetsbegreppet och det samtal som vi bör ha. Jag rekommenderar alla att ägna ett par minuter åt att tänka på alla positiva värden som ni skulle vilja främja om internet inte inbegrep marknader och det inte fanns några som helst konkurrensproblem. Om ni vågar er på detta lilla tankeexperiment är jag övertygad om att ni kommer få en ännu bredare bild av “internet” och dess möjligheter.
• Till sist, Om ni tyckte att We rebuild eller Juliagruppen tog upp bra saker under gårdagens seminarium och vill samtala mer ingående om något som rör internets öppenhet, offentlighet och möjligheter, se här och här.

Okay, so my life is a mess. Maybe not if you’re looking at me from the outside; people would probably say I was crazy for saying that. After all, for the moment, I am taking time off and don’t have to deal with the stresses of a job. I’m not starving. I’m considering lots of options for the next phase of my life. What do I have to complain about?

Well, the first thing is that I don’t have a brain. Seriously. I have a book to edit and publish, and when I read it, it’s all gibberish to me. My edits from one day to the next are inconsistent and I can’t tell if they are helping or ruining the writing. Because I can’t work on it, I feel like a malingerer using Mom’s death as an excuse for my inability to move forward with my life.

Malinger. The word was used often in the past before post traumatic stress got its official stamp of approval. Post traumatic stress. I personally don’t like to add “disorder” because for me that conjures up images of the person going ballistic at the post office. The disorder never fit me, and prevented me from getting help for years because I wasn’t “that bad.” Now, I  refer to the term “post traumatic stress” on a contiuum rather than force a reference into a small disorder box on one end of the spectrum. I think a majority of people suffering from it, like myself, aren’t at the extreme. And it’s these other people that I write about in Breathing Color into Teal. The ones who can’t quite function to their full potential, but who function enough to get by. Who have big dreams but little capacity. Who may excel in some areas but the rest of their lives are broken or crushed. Who refer to themselves as malingerers because they can’t quite accept the fact that their incapacitations aren’t something that they can get over with shear will. Yet, we keep trying, bullying and shaming ourselves for being so weak.

I can’t edit my book. I can’t get my head around planning for the winter. I can’t stick to one goal or thought. Now I’m obsessing about all the projects that need to be done at my place: new roof, new deck, new toilet. There are countless decisions for me to make and I can’t even decide what to eat. The bike tour is a pipe dream. Indecision and absentmindedness are all apart of grief, yes. And so is anger. And for me, that is tightly woven into the post traumatic stress. The result: I can’t function. I do, but not to the degree that I feel I should be capable. (Should: an abusive word I make an effort to avoid, but can’t seem to these days.)

For example, I can’t figure out how to secure the legs onto the kitchen table from my childhood. The movers lost the fasteners that I begged them to take care of along with the side piece to the leaf that had fallen off. I should have packed them. I kept nagging at myself to pack them in one of my boxes, but instead of listening to my intuition, I forced myself to trust the movers. Trust not my intuition, but the movers. That is part of my deep wound: the brainwashing that trust is something to be invested in others, and not my own gut. Instead of listening to the red and yellow flags thrown up from my subconscious or wherever they come from, I close my psychic eyes tight like a little child holding her breath and force myself to give the person a chance. I ignore myself, but give some stranger the benefit of the doubt because I learned at a very young age that this is what I’m supposed to do. This was survival.

Trust others’ perspectives about right and wrong, not my own. Embedded at that moment of flight or fight when I froze, this is the lesson I can’t seem to learn. I comprehend it in my head, but embracing it in my being is like trying to wedge a crow bar under a four-ton block of steel. Okay, it’s not that hard any more, but when I regress back to disempowerment, it feels like I’ve moved nothing and gone nowhere.

Yesterday, after I tediously carved from an oak dowel pieces that I hoped would help me attach the table legs, I misplaced them. At first my search for them was rational, but when I checked everywhere I thought they could be and didn’t find them, I became irrationally ballistic. Notice the use of the word “became.” It’s my lame attempt to soften the rage I went into. There I was,  spewing the derogatory crap my father ingeniously planted into my head while barely uttering 500 sentences to me my whole life. I haven’t heard these tapes in years, and here they were again, loud and clear. My heart was breaking and I couldn’t stop. I threw all the clean linens sitting on the dryer up in the air, knowing I was being a complete lunatic yet unable to stop myself. I kicked at them in anger. I looked under the beloved black cashmere coat I took from my mom, throwing it like a rag behind me. All for four pieces of dowel that took me two hours to carve. It wasn’t like I threw them away or lost them outside. I knew I’d find them eventually. But I couldn’t in that moment and I was hating myself for being so stupid.

Even as it was happening, I felt so much shame. Why was I regressing like this? What was the trigger? I suppose that is one advantage of having done all the trauma work; instead of asking these questions three years down the line, there is actually a rational part of me that I can access during moments like this. Another advantage from the work is that these moments are very rare these days. It’s been years since my last seemingly untriggered rage, the kind where I simply have no clue as to where it is coming from. They are ugly and scare the heck out of me. What if I have one when someone else is around? Will I be like my father, and make it that person’s fault?

I found the carved pieces next to the table and felt like an idiot because that was the one place I hadn’t looked. Still angry, I glued them into place, knowing as I did that this solution wasn’t going to work, either. That snowballed into a rant about my general incompetence and how could I install a roof and a toilet if I couldn’t even fasten a stupid leg onto a table? Still, I went ahead with the project, trusting the stranger’s opinion instead of my instinct. At least I only experimented with one leg instead of four.  I won’t know if it’s successful until later this afternoon when the glue is good and dry.

Afterwards, I went out to meet a friend for coffee. Still, I was unable to identify the trigger. Was it because I was rushing to finish the project before we met? My perceived lack of control of time? I didn’t notice then that even though I said hateful things toward myself, I didn’t believe them as I would have in the past. I could identify them as part of the rage, and they didn’t go in. Yes, I have some reservations about my abilities to install a toilet, but not to the point where I won’t try or will belittle myself into doing a bad job. There has been a lot of improvement in my psyche, especially over this past year. Which is why this rage caught me so off guard.

When I returned home, I was able to link the triggers, all of which by themselves were mere inconveniences, not triggers. However, together, they produced a cyclone. First there was the eggnog. I bought some pre-made soy stuff and drank a nonalcoholic toast to my father, who was famous for his eggnog. I was making an attempt at forgiveness, but it was apparently premature. The eggnog, of course, got me to thinking of the written recipe as compared to the very long pours he used, and the resulting drunkeness of the guests. Then, of course, there was the kitchen table of my childhood, and god knows what unconscious associations I have with that. My inability to set up the table, using some of dad’s tools, which brought me no magical fix; the juxtaposition that I’ve spent days walking around all of this stuff shipped from my childhood home, that my own life has been hindered because of the seemingly endless organizing and cleaning of a few boxes and some furniture, which is the sum total of what is physically left from Mom; the anger that I can’t go back and retrieve more of her. And of course, all those tapes playing in my head nagging me about bad decisions and stupid ideas.

My therapist would applaud that I recovered so quickly, within hours rather than days. In the past, it’s literally taken me years to untangle the mess in my head. I try to take  this in, but I am not satisfied that healing doesn’t relieve me of these episodes, that my healing is about successfully managing symptoms when they come up. I don’t want them to come up. Ever. I want to like myself and not rage. I want to be able to buck up and edit my book rather than wait with compassion until I can. I want my head to work and not be distracted so that I can remember where I put things. I want to be able to go out into the world for as long as I want and not feel like I have to run back home in order to manage the stimuli. I want to be able to “just let go” or meditate without the physical wiring in my brain tripping me up so that isn’t possible. I don’t want to be handicapped any more. I’m tired. I’ve worked hard to get where I am. I want to connect with a nice man who isn’t worse off than me because I feel like an ogre around people who don’t know what rage is like. I want to make choices based on my potential rather than on whether I’ll crack. I want to live fully. I want to be done with convalescence. I want my brain to work.

Others have healed from their traumas. I’ve met them and know it’s possible, though I still have doubts. I know I’ve come far. And, I want to be done.

For now, all I can do is at least try to accept what is rather than loathing myself for unmet expectations. Perhaps I can soften the fact that I’m not done by seeing my expectations as something to strive for rather than having to exist now. That puts them in the same category as publishing my book or going on a bike tour and reinterprets them as an adventure to look forward to rather than failure. Hm. Something to think about.

I have to thank my friend out in western Colorado for the inspiration of that last paragraph. Yay Mr. B! I’m feeling better already.

The following is part of a blog on antiwar.com, link, I noticed the high percentage of mental health problems in returning troops compared to what the WDVA mentioned at the hearing for the Assembly Veterans and Military Affairs committee last week.

There are the soldier suicides and sexual assaults, the low morale, and the lifelong injuries and combat illnesses – like those incurred by those who have lived near the base burn pits overseas or have eaten spoiled food or showered in dirty water supplied by defense contractors. We all know about the backlogs at the VA and the fact that soldiers who were promised money to cover college tuition this year still haven’t received it.

We know that once in, soldiers will be expected to rotate in and out of the war zone on a 1:1 dwell time ratio – that’s one year in, one year out. And the Army doesn’t seem to care what shape you’re in when you redeploy, at least according to these harrowing accounts. Meanwhile, domestic strife is high among military families, especially for female soldiers, who represent 11 percent of deployed servicemembers and have triple the divorce rate of their male counterparts.

According to recent studies, 44 percent of the more than 400,000 Iraq and Afghanistan vets who have gone to the Veterans Administration for medical care since the beginning of the war were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder or another mental health need. Those vets are also at greater risk of heart disease, another study finds. And, an estimated 320,000 returning soldiers are said to have some degree of brain injury due to blasts and accidents on the battlefield.

As for the fighting itself, the Washington Post has been vigilant lately about producing stories that suggest how weak links in the chain of command have put soldiers in harm’s way in Afghanistan. Recent reports in other news outlets point to sinking morale among the troops there.

However, when less than one half of 1 percent of the population is actually serving in the Armed Forces, it is difficult for the rest of us to comprehend the hardships of the professional military. But think about it: we may be avoiding the dreaded draft by straining these volunteers to the limit, but at what cost? Without our attention and outrage, the surges will continue, through this generation and likely into the next, if some of today’s warhawks and counterinsurgents have their way.

So while it is obvious why the Pentagon would like to steer our focus in another direction, that does not let the media off the hook, since it should have known it was being fed a line.

The Pentagon’s Recruitment Two-Step
by Kelley B. Vlahos, October 20, 2009