There were a number of great albums that were released in 2011 in the blues and rock genres and an amazing amount of creativity was present in the guitar plane of many of these albums. Some of the most memorable performances were due to the passing of certain amazing guitar players who impressed upon the music industry the artistry necessary to create amazing musical performances. Some of the legends in music that passed away this year include a blues player named David Edwards who passed away at the age of ninety six and an amazing guitarist named Hubert Sumlin who had decided to learn how to play guitar at the tender age of six.

Some of the top albums are likely Johnny Nicholas’ “Future Blues” and “2120 South Michigan Ave.” but George Thorogood and the Destroyers. Other guitar fans have suggested that “Roots” by Johnny Winter might have been the best album or “The Bright Lights EP” by Gary Clark Jr. might have been the best release of the year. Much of the attention this year has also been placed on The Cash Box Kings who released an album called “Holler and Stomp” and Lucky Peterson who released an album called “Every Second a Fool is Born.”

Much of the official awards shows have tended to showcase only the same bands over and over with bands like the Allman Brothers who seem to show up on major awards shows every single year because someone from that band happens to collaborate with another band at some point in the year that ends up winning an award.

One of the big trends in medicine over the next few years is likely to be an increasing level of responsibility placed on nurses, particularly those who have an MS in Nursing. Studies are showing that the level of education attained by the nurses who care for a patient is a big factor in how well the patient does. In addition, while they are often as capable as doctors of doing much of the routine care of a patient, they cost far less to hire because they do not have to go through as many years of training and study in order to be licensed. The result of these factors combined is that a person who pursues an RN to MS in Nursing is likely to have an extremely stable career for the foreseeable future.

One of the particularly nice things about careers in nursing is that there are people in many medical occupations who are well positioned to take advantages of future opportunities in nursing. For example, someone can go from Paramedic to RN and many of the skills that they have developed will transfer well to their new job. This makes the process of training much easier, especially since it gives them a context in which to understand the importance of the information that they are learning in the classroom.

One of the most stable and financially rewarding careers out there is nursing, and it is only expected to continue to get better as hospitals look for ways to hold their costs down while still taking great care of their patients. Anyone who is willing to pursue higher levels of education is going to be greatly rewarded over the years to come.

Fishing and solar training courses hu nting are two pass ions I enj oy in my sp are time. Hop efully, I will not have to de lay any of my hobb ies for any me dical proc edures, espec ially procedu res that will be tax ed. It is not rig ht for the IRS to get inv olved with peop le’s heal thcare. What other asp ects of a per son’s life will they get invol ved in next? Our coun try is in eno ugh of a me ss, and mo re eff ort sho uld be put into stra ighte ning it out first.

If solar training courses a ch ild with a cle ft pal ate needs surge ry so that he can fit in with his pe ers, then his fam ily sho uld not be punis hed with a tax on the sur ery. The sa me holds true for a wom an who has bre ast can cer and wo uld like the disfigu ring mastec tomy scar ring corre cted. Why shou ld she have to pay a tax on that? Put ting a tax on med ical proc edu res is just not ri ght. In fact, it is simi lar to a dea th tax. Ple ase do the right thin g for your const tuents and opp ose the taxa tion of electiv e med ical proce dures that may be con idered cosm etic.

That includes keeping all of your things organized and on you at all times. That is why most people will invest in a leather portfolio. These are much smaller than a briefcase and therefore easier to take with you wherever you might be going. You just have to make sure that you are going to be able to find the one that you love.

The best place to go when you are looking for one of these things is at the Office Depot. This is a great place to find all of your office supplies and they have a wide range of leather writing portfolios that you will absolutely love. They come in all different sizes and colors that will match your personality and they all are professional.

You will even have the option to engrave your name on the outside of it. That way people will know for sure who it belongs to. Just make sure that it is going to be able to hold the necessary documents for your work and help to keep your business life well organized when you need it to be the most.

Brain games seem to be all the rage nowadays. It seems that every month there is a new brain game designed to boost the memory and increase an individual’s chances of retaining a fully functioning mental state well into their late years. But do these games actually have the ability to keep the mind young, fresh and agile? The truth is that they can be extremely beneficially, especially in terms of memory retention. Keeping the mind focused and exercising certain skills the best way to continue to develop those skills, just like with any other form of exercise or discipline. Brain games might not be able to cure cancer or help a person elude the grave but they can help to stave off certain aspects of old age such as mental deterioration and forgetfulness, things that many people fear and begin to experience in the later stages of their lives.

As with all exercise the best results are gleaned from those that start early on. It is highly recommended that everyone makes an active effort to participate in some sort of brain game on a regular basis. Brain games include things such as word or number puzzles, memory games and even certain games that test and utilize hand-eye coordination. As the human body ages the brain’s associative cortex can begin to degenerate which makes it more difficult for the brain to recognize information that it is sent via the body’s senses. This has been shown to have a direct effect on memory reserves as well as memory formation. Participating in brain games on a regular basis can keep the brain’s associative cortex strong and allow for better memory recall and development even in old age.

Brain games help to stimulate the mind’s ability to reason and problem solve which are invaluable tools in daily life. Brain games are meant to be a continual exercise for the mind, just as one should walk everyday and eat their fruits and vegetables; one would need to keep their brain on point with regular brain game activities. Certain studies showed that the best results for brain games participants began to manifest after five years of regular brain game activities. This proves that the long term benefits of brain games are plentiful and the sooner a brain game plan is introduced to a person’s lifestyle the better off that person will be as they age.

an article by Phin Upham

In the final days of World War II, February 1945, the Big Three allies – Franklin Roosevelt (US), Joseph Stalin (USSR), and Winston Churchill (U.K.) met in Yalta, in a former Tsarist palace on the Black Sea in the Soviet Crimea.  Each man had his own perceptions and goals.  Roosevelt failed to see Stalin and the Soviet Union as a post-war enemy resolutely hostile to Western free market democratic nations.  Certain agreements made at Yalta had a damaging effect on Central Europe and the post-war world.

At Yalta Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin had different concerns.  Churchill was wary of Stalin and of communism and envisioned an Anglo-American alliance against Soviet aggression.  The history  of Anglo-American friendship and the similarity of tradition and government reinforced this expectation.  Churchill wanted to guarantee free elections in Poland and Central Europe and to define Poland’s Western border, because the “Soviet menace … had replace the Nazi foe.”[1] Nevertheless, even Churchill’s policies toward Stalin and toward the Soviet threat to the post-war world were inconsistent and uncertain.[2]

Stalin’s most important goal was dominance of Eastern Europe.[3]

Roosevelt was the most powerful of the Big Three, but his goals were the least clear.  He wanted the Soviets to finish the war in Germany and Central Europe and to enter the war with Japan in order to save American lives, and he wanted his four policemen peace plan for the post-war world – Great Britain, The Soviet Union, The United States and China cooperating to police the world.  For these goals Roosevelt was willing to sacrifice Poland, Central Europe and parts of the Far East to Soviet expansion.[4]Roosevelt ignored the post-war menace of Soviet expansionism although there were many advisors who saw the post-war danger, and many events which demonstrated the aggressiveness  and untrustworthiness of the Soviets.

The Soviet-Nazi pact to divide up Central Europe and the Soviet invasion of Poland and the invasion and bombing of Finland were clear and abundant demonstrations of Stalin’s post-war intentions.  In 1943 it was found that the Soviets had murdered 10,000 Polish army officers at Katyn forest in Poland in order to prepare for the intended Soviet domination of Poland. [5] During the Warsaw uprising the Soviet army waiting outside the city was instructed by Stalin to stall Soviet  promised aid in the uprising against the Germans so that these people who were demonstrating the will and ability to rise up would be killed and therefore pose less threat to the Soviets in  Poland after the war.  The calculating and ruthless nature of those strategies to dominate Central Europe was plenty of warning of the serious post-war Soviet threat.[6]

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About the Author

Phin Upham is an investor who lives in NYC and San Francisco.  He has studied at Harvard University and Wharton Business School (UPenn) and is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

by Phin Upham

One can only stare in awe at the Socratic Elenchus at work. Elegant, simple, and powerful, it simultaneously routes out inconsistency within a belief-matrix while testing the interlocutor moral content. It is the extraordinary link between knowledge and morality that is explored between 77c and 78b of the Meno. Socrates and Meno initially disagree over whether all men desire good things. Through incisive argument, careful parsing of the issues involved, and by invoking commonly accepted premises, Socrates slices through Meno’s claim, and forces him to capitulate. But we must not let Socrates’ cunning rhetorical ability blind us to the underlying validity of his argument, its logical consequences, and the profound speculations on human nature and the nature of morality that it raises. Do we still accept the premises of the argument or even agree with it? What is the link between knowledge and moral actions, and the link between moral actions and good actions? What logical implications can be generated from this passage? Do we agree with these implications? If not, what aspect of the argument might be unsound or incomplete?

In just 34 lines ( 77c to 78b) Socrates is able to route Meno’s claim that “all men desire good things” (77c). Examining the exact route he took, and the precise arguments he used, we may be able to shed more light on the conclusion. Socrates’ first step is to clearly delineate the argument he will attack. “Do you mean that [those that desire bad things] believe the things to be good, or that they know they are bad, and nevertheless desire them?” (77c) Socrates asks. He here makes clear that he is arguing that all men desire good things, not that all men always do good things. He cannot plausibly argue that no bad acts are committed, he will instead make a clear division between actively desiring a bad, and unintentionally desiring a bad through ignorance. If this distinction were not made, it would be difficult to explain differing desires and differing decisions in similar situations (say running away from the enemy in a battle or remaining to fight). We therefor disregard the ignorant wrongdoers, and focus on the claim that knowledgeable wrongdoers exist. Socrates now begins to force Meno to commit to logically necessary statements that he will be later forced to contradict. “Do you think, Meno, that anyone, knowing that bad things are bad nevertheless desires them?” (77c). This seems an innocuous extension of the original argument, and Meno accepts it.

Head over to Watching the Economy for the rest of this article.

About the Author

Phin Upham is an investor who lives in NYC and San Francisco.  He has studied at Harvard University and Wharton Business School (UPenn) and is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

an essay from Phin Upham

In John Rawls’ book Political Liberalism he presents the original position as an adequate point of view for reaching a fair agreement on principles of justice between persons regarded as free and equal.  The ultimate justification for this claim, I will argue, will reside largely in Rawls’ understanding of the way in which individuals conceive of themselves as free.  The claim can be broken up into several distinct parts, each of which will be dealt with:  That the original position is an adequate point of view for reaching a fair agreement is the first part.  That the original position is fair constitutes the second part.  And lastly, that the fairness of this claim provides a moral justification for the principles of justice.  It is crucial that the original position is a case of pure procedural justice, and thus provides a procedure, namely that of using rational autonomy, with which one can, from the perspective of the original position, come to conclusions that are just and fair.  The three conceptions of individual freedom combined with the original position – which appropriately limits  what can be put forward as good reasons for a claim regarding the structure of society – are the flesh and bone of Rawls’ analysis.

The original position is a device of representation that asks one to remove all bargaining advantages, and all loyalties to one comprehensive doctrine, and place oneself behind a “veil of ignorance.”  From this standpoint, everyone has a symmetrical position, and thus can be seen as “free and equal citizens who are to reach an agreement under conditions that are fair” (24).  The original position and the veil of ignorance serve to limit “what can be put forward as good reasons” (25).  In doing this the original position is able to unfetter the freedom and rational autonomy of the individual in the political realm from biases.  When making judgments in the world Rawls claims we are imbedded in an “all-encompassing background framework” for “cumulative social, historical, and natural tendencies” (23).  From this biased standpoint we cannot fairly make agreements about social cooperation.  We need appropriate conditions in order to give our agreement validity.  These conditions are provided by the original condition.

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About the Author

Phin Upham is an investor who lives in NYC and San Francisco.  He has studied at Harvard University and Wharton Business School (UPenn) and is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

One popular option is the Associates Degree in Nursing. Many people like this option since only two or three years of full time study is necessary in order to get the degree and earn the RN license to practice nursing. This also means an extra year or two of career earning by entering the workforce sooner. Remember that the RN license earned by two year college degree graduates is the same as those who went to get a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree in nursing.

Another popular option to consider is the BSN Degree. With this program, it will take four to five years to graduate with full time study. It seems like this is not a desirable option since it will cost more time and tuition to graduate with the RN license. However, there is a reason why many students consider it better than the associate degree option. Many hospitals all over the country are now requiring that all level of jobseekers to have a bachelor’s degree in nursing. It doesn’t matter if the nurse has a lot of work experience. It doesn’t matter if the nurse has a bachelor’s degree in some other field. Improved job prospects is a good reason to choose the BSN over the ASN.

With health care reform coming to the country, there will be more nurses as more people are eligible to get subsidized medical care. As a result of more patients, there will be more demand for nurses and other health workers that have patient contact.