Bilety Radom

There are more victims in the recent economic and housing downturn and they’re buddies of mine: the family dog. You see, as houses are foreclosed, people are being forced to either move in with other family members who cannot accommodate dogs or relocate to apartments who don’t allow pets. Some of these folks are under so much stress that they wait until the last minute when they do not have time to think about what to do with their pets. In many of these cases, these pets are simply left in the abandoned homes where they will starve to death if not discovered.

At this time of crisis, my mom and I have seen many animal shelter groups on TV, encouraging people to turn their pets in to them. But my mom has been reading Nathan Winograd’s book, “Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America” to me and I say, “Not so fast!”

I was shocked to hear that many shelters have routinely euthanized healthy adoptable pets in staggering numbers. Shelters will tell you that their cages are crowded, their intake is greater than demand and they lack the money to care for these animals long-term. If you ask me, many animal lovers have blindly drunk the “pet overpopulation” Kool-Aid that many animal organizations have been peddling for years.

But in interviews, Winograd points out that if pets are killed because a shelter doesn’t have a comprehensive foster care program, that’s not pet overpopulation. That’s the lack of a foster care program. If adoptions are low because people are getting those pets from other places and the shelter isn’t doing off-the-premise adoptions, that’s a failure to do outside adoptions, not pet overpopulation.

If animals are killed because working with rescue groups is discouraged, that’s not pet overpopulation. If dogs are euthanized because volunteers and staff aren’t allowed to socialize them and they went “cage-crazy,” that’s a failure to have behavior rehabilitation program in place, not pet overpopulation.

Of course, I am not advocating for people to abandon their dogs in empty homes. Good grief! Dying of starvation is a very cruel and painful death. However, if you or someone you know is facing foreclosure and needs to relocate a dog, maybe you should consider contacting a rescue or a no-kill shelter. Rescue groups already have foster care systems in place and work very hard to match the right animal with the right home. When our family adopted Krissy, our most recent addition from Southwest Airedale Rescue, my mom and dad had to fill out a comprehensive questionnaire, undergo a home visit so that the rescue coordinator could make sure the home was safe and after a meet-and-greet with Krissy, we were finally approved for adoption.

As I think back on my own rescue from the local humane society, I am so grateful that a rescue group knew that I was going there so I didn’t have to stay too long. Who knows what would have happened to me? I just might have been another victim of the real estate market and when the economy is bad, it just kills us.

Author:Robin Reynolds

Saturday, September 09, 2006

A poem (again, a poem) about God in one’s life: The Rule of St. Benedict… turning to God in vigil…

Most recently, I have begun a vigil for a woman who is nearing death. I visit a nursing home health care unit weekly, and a woman I have known for a while is refusing to eat, apparently too old now to live. This disturbs me, and it has been going on for some time. No one could do anything about it, including doctors and nurses. What do I do? How do I react? I chose to turn to God and a vigil.

I called it my vigil, but when I mentioned it to others they suggested some prayers (for it is their vigil, too). I chose to turn to God, and this poem is about a way of turning to God.

Poetic recitation on The Rule of St. Benedict

by Peter Menkin

Attend with the ear of your heart

Listen in the silence

at night or daytime

through trials and living.

This Rule brings God, the Lord

closer: do so to me.

Labor of obedience:

Before beginning a goodwork, pray earnestly.

We are the Lords counted

sons and daughters.

The path offers good gifts,

open your eyes to the light.

Arise from sleep.

The Rule proffers the voice

from heaven this day.

Audio reading by poet of poem is here:

http://www.archive.org/details/PoeticRenditionOnTheRuleOfSt.BenedictByPeterMenkin

 

This prayer was suggested as one for the vigil:

For All Who Suffer: O God, look with mercy on those who suffer, and heal their spirits,that they may be delivered from sickness and fear. Restore hopefor the desolate, give rest to the weary, comfort the sorrowful, bewith the dying; and bring them, finally, to their true heavenly home, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.

Author:Peter Menkin

The Pilates exercise program is one of the best known and popular exercise programs in the United States today, enjoying a huge following of people in a range of ages. The Pilates method was developed in the 1920’s by a man named Joseph Pilates.

Exercise is practically inevitable. This is no new concept that we’re just coming to terms with. The idea of physical fitness has been around forever. It all just depends on whether or not you’re willing to put forth the effort. Some have the will power and some don’t. One of the keys to exercising regularly is finding a routine that you actually enjoy. One the the more popular ones of today is the pilates exercise program. This is a great cardio exercise that can get your legs toned-up and that excess thigh fat gone. However, I might as well go ahead and mention that pilates are not easy. Are you ready to sweat?

No pain no gain! That’s probably the most well-known slogan for proper and realistic exercise. Many professionals and laymen alike feel that you have to suffer a little if you expect to make progress. This is not exactly true. Pain does not always equal results with weight training, cardio, a pilates exercise program, or any other fitness regime. The truth is that you could be doing it incorrectly. This would inflict pain on the body; however, it may not produce worthwhile results. This is why it’s always imperative to receive proper instruction prior to training.

Nothing is different with a pilates exercise program. You also must learn the proper movements if you plan to be safe and see results. The cool thing about pilates in particular is the overall body workout they offer. This is a system of exercise that dates back to the 1920s. Take a glance around today and witness its popularity. Celebrities and fitness gurus love this routine. It’s especially known for its enjoyment factor. Now, you may have difficulty believing that any exercise regime can be enjoyable. Well, wait until you get consumed in a contemporary pilates exercise program.

Learn all you please about pilates and a variety of other exercise and fitness routines on the web. As I stated before, enjoying your fitness program is the key to success. Far too often people dread their daily workouts and end up dropping them. See if a pilates exercise program will suit you, your schedule and your body-sculpting needs.

The Pilates exercise program may be contrasted to weight lifting programs, where arms, legs and abdomens are “buffed up” while neglecting the remainder of body and spirit.

While running or swimming provide a whole body workout, they do not address the centered and emotional focus of a Pilates exercise program. If you’re looking to get fit, you owe it to yourself to look into Pilates programs. You have started to make the decision that could improve your life dramatically by reading this article. There are many more on my website.

Author:Ann Marier

There’s no option as effective as SEO, if a business wants to get more people to know about itself as well as its offerings. This is especially true in the current world of head to head and cutthroat competition. Most web users make use of search engines to get the information they’re looking for. So, for any business wishing to stretch its wings further and gain a big slice of the cake of success, a high SEO ranking would prove to be fruitful. Several SEO companies use Kansas City as a center to render budget-oriented SEO services. In combination with an appropriate internet marketing methodology, these services can help generate leads in great numbers.

Popular SEO services that one can take advantage of in Kansas City are keyword research and integration, development and integration of Google sitemap, keyword analysis, layout and development of an optimized site, and web content development.

One aspect of good SEO services is the achievement of the right balance between techniques to attract the search engine spiders, and techniques to attract the target human group. Another is the use of ethical practices. One should be wary of SEO companies whose services could get the website banned due to the incorporation of black hat techniques like keyword stuffing, cloaking, link farms, and hidden text. SEO content development being a very important part of SEO, one should look for an SEO firm that can develop content free of grammar and spelling errors. SEO services in Kansas City can be tailored to meet the needs of different sizes of businesses.

SEO services received from the right company can result in several benefits for the person or firm requesting the services. These benefits include:

•    An enviable position for the website on such well-recognized search engines as Google, MSN, Altavista, and Yahoo
•    Prevalence over the competition
•    Heightened visibility
•    More online sales
•    A maximization of ROIs (Returns On Investment)

A detailed perusal of the portfolio of various SEO companies can help choose the right one for a particular project. Irrespective of whether your firm deals with art or commerce, you have nothing to lose by trying out the SEO services available for your benefit in Kansas City.

Author:Brody Dorland

Would you liket to get your kids to read more? Audio books are proving to be a useful and enjoyable way for children to learn in a natural and entertaining manner. They show more attention and focus that is otherwise difficult to come by in the classroom.

Teachers and parents alike are using audiobooks to catch the interest of the “mp3 generation”.

Though some teachers have trouble accepting the fact that learing can be fun, a growing number say that such an approach can make learning more interesting for today’s youngsters who have never known a world without the internet, cell phones, text messaging, and playstations. In fact they say it can have kids learning in spite of themselves.

The audio format attracts youngsters because it’s considered a cool reading alternative, especially now that they can download a book direct to their MP3 players.

Audio books are providing a rich learning environment that can be used in innovative and engaging ways, supporting learning and appealing to the digital characteristics of today’s generation.

And when you think about it, the spoken word is how people have communicated and learned for centuries. It only makes sense therefore that when a new technology comes along that resonates with the today’s kids they tend to get hooked.

“It makes “reading” more interesting,” are some of the comments from young students. “You don’t have to listen to the teacher talk all the time. You don’t have to look at a book all day.”

The audio industry over the last decade has experienced tremendous growth, even as formats have moved from cassettes to CDs and now digital downloads.

“The rule of thumb over the years has been that the audio industry is about 10% of what the book industry is in size,” according to Jae Taylor of http://www.audiodigitalbooks.com.
In fact, according to Mr. Taylor, “audiobooks have withstood the economic downturns of the retail book market better than books themselves.”

While children’s audio books remain a small segment of the overall audio book market, sales have been increasing over the years, following a general industry trend,” Mr. Taylor says.

Audiobooks are particularly helpful in studying for exams or in situations where you need to take in a lot of information. They also make things like learning foreign languages much easier.

In fact, the Commission on Reading report, entitled “Becoming a Nation of Readers” states, “The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children,’ “

Studies show that audiobooks help children increase their vocabulary and develop greater reading fluency because they can listen to books that they might otherwise show no interest in.

Author:Jae Taylor