Detailsby Helen WilsonPublished: 13 September 2019Hits: 589

Following on from the launch of our Salary & Benefits Survey last week, we are expanding on some of the key issues raised in a series of weekly articles.

Firstly, a significant factor which can influence a candidates decision whether or not to stay with their current employer is the training and development opportunities offered. In the current candidate-driven market, the professional development opportunities that are on offer could be the make or break between accepting a role or deciding to stay put.

There are an array of benefits to offering training and development:

In order to implement an efficient training programme, a Training Needs Analysis (TNA) should be undertaken, looking at three tiers:

The training should be designed and delivered taking the above in mind. Off the peg training is often cheaper but doesnt always meet the objectives. Training that has been designed specifically from a TNA will be more aligned to help your company meet corporate objectives and offer a feel-good factor to employees as they feel their needs have been catered too.

Its easy to see why training is overlooked. One of the main reasons it doesnt have a tangible effect is because it isnt used back at the desk. People return from a training session and put the training material back in a desk never to see the light of day again. This means that behaviours dont change and skills may not improve.

Making sure that training programmes are tailored will ensure that any training delivered is utilised and therefore an investment, not a cost leading to a more content workforce.

Helen Wilson,Sales Director, GPRS Recruitment

You are now being logged in using your Facebook credentials

On 3rd September 2018, the Department for Educations statutory guid

More than 1 in 4 companies are considering changing apprentice provide

The government yesterday (11 Sept) confirmed Michelle Donelan as Parli

University of Cambridge Must Do More to Retain StudentsHighly selectiv

NAO report on Support for pupils with special educational needs and di

Today (11 Sept) the final report from the Forgotten Third Commission r

See the rest here:
Do you offer on-going training and development?: Benefits to the employer and individual - FE News

Erick Trickey is a writer in Boston.

NEWBURGH, N.Y. Suriana Rodriguez is only 19, but shes already lined up a full-time job at IBM. After her junior year in high school, she interned at the tech giants Poughkeepsie, N.Y., campus, 20 miles north of her hometown, for $17 an hour. For a year, Rodriguez has worked 40-hour weeks as an apprentice test technician, examining IBM mainframes to confirm they work before shipping them to customers. In January, shell move to a permanent position with a future salary that she says is definitely much more than I ever thought Id be making at 19.

Rodriguezs opportunities with IBM came to her thanks to her high school, Newburgh Free Academy P-TECH. Its part of an innovative public-school model that combines grade 9-12 education with internships and tuition-free community college. P-TECH, which stands for Pathways in Technology Early College High School, has spread to 10 states and 17 countries since its founding in Brooklyn in 2011. The P-TECH network is growing fast. By the end of 2019, there will be 220 P-TECH schools in operation. With 93,000 students nationwide, it is one of the most extensive career and technical education programs in the United States.

Story Continued Below

For public school districts, starting P-TECH schools is a way to try to address the skills gapAmerican educations often-elusive goal of tying vocational training to what actual employers such as IBM and Cisco and Microsoft want. It focuses on the much-valued STEM subjectsscience, technology, engineering and math. It aims to prepare students for so-called new collar jobs: work in tech that requires more than a high school diploma, but not always a four-year college degree. And at a time when free college education is surging toward the top of the progressive agenda, its an affordable free-college program thats taken root in poorer cities, boosting high school graduation rates and two-year-college completion rates among students of color and immigrants.

P-TECH interns showed off their projects at an exposition hosted by IBM in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. | Mark Peterson/Redux Pictures for Politico Magazine

In 2014, Newburgh, an industrial city of 28,000 in New Yorks Hudson Valley, was struggling with widespread abandoned properties and the states highest murder rate. A majority-Hispanic city where 31 percent of people are impoverished, Newburgh embraced a statewide expansion of the P-TECH program as a strategy for building opportunity. It launched its P-TECH school with a class of 50 ninth-graders.

Rodriguez signed up. Since none of my family had ever really graduated from high school or college, she says, I was very interested in the aspect of getting a free college degree. Rodriguez and 16 classmates who jumped onto P-TECHs fast track finished the six-year program in four years.

In spring 2018, Rodriguez graduated with both a high school diploma and an associates degree in cybersecurity from Orange County Community College. An undocumented immigrant, Rodriguez couldnt get federal financial aid to attend a four-year college. But shes authorized to work through the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program, so she took advantage of another part of P-TECHs model: a job interview with IBM after graduation. This August, she became the first Newburgh P-TECH grad to get a full-time job with IBM. Earlier this year, she spoke, along with IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Rodriguez is now a night-school student at Dutchess Community College, with a goal of getting a bachelors degree in electrical engineering in two years, and a masters in five years.

Newburgh, N.Y. has struggled with unemployment and crime. Mayor Torrance Harvey, bottom right, believes the P-TECH program can help the city improve its economic profile by training students to fill well-paying jobs in the area. | Mark Peterson/Redux Pictures for Politico Magazine

Rodriguez is the first Newburgh graduate to go from IBM intern to apprentice to full employee, but others are likely to follow soon. IBM, which helped launch the first P-TECH school in 2011, is now affiliated with at least 30 P-TECHs worldwide. It has hired 30 of the 240 students whove graduated from IBM-affiliated P-TECHs so far, paying each a starting salary of at least $50,000.

Story Continued Below

The P-TECH experience really helped me feel more confident overall, and it helped me learn a lot of skills that I am still today using, says Rodriguez, like collaborating and communicating, professional e-mail writing, and knowing when to ask questions and when to just listen.

Newburghs mayor, Torrance Harvey, is also a full-time P-TECH history teacher. He says the school helps Newburghs efforts to recover from its early-2010s crime epidemic. Public safety is always our No. 1 priority, but the next thing is how to create meaningful employment for our residents, Harvey says. Newburgh P-TECH students complete associates degrees in either computer networking or cybersecurityfast-growing fields, Harvey notes, whose importance has grown after Russias interference in the 2016 U.S. election and enormous data breaches suffered by corporate giants such as Target and Equifax.

These are inner-city Newburgh kids, the mayor says of his P-TECH students, and this program has changed the trajectory of their earning potential and their career potential and their education.

Newburghs P-TECH campus opened in 2014. Principal Kevin Rothman talks to Mayor Torrance Harvey, who also teaches history at P-TECH. | Mark Peterson/Redux Pictures for Politico Magazine

Newburghs trajectory is changing too. Gun violence has declined 80 percent since 2015. City Hall has launched an aggressive revitalization plan, bulldozing buildings that had stood abandoned for decades. We were able to get businesses to return back to the city, Harvey says. We were able to get new home ownership. People are investing in our city like you wouldnt believe.

***

The P-TECH idea was invented in 2010, when then-IBM CEO Sam Palmisano was chatting up his friend Joel Klein, then New York Citys schools chancellor. During a rain delay at the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Palmisano told Klein that the tech industry was having trouble finding young people with the skills it needed. Klein proposed opening a six-year school with the City University of New York and curriculum input from IBM. Students could work IBM internships and, if they passed a company certification test, would be first in line for job interviews at IBM. Palmisano agreed. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the plan in September 2010 and gave the partners a year to open the school.

When Klein and Palmisano shook on the deal, vocational education was just beginning to emerge from the academic backwater where it had languished for decades. Conceived a century ago so high school students could learn a trade if they werent going to college, vocational education had developed a reputation as a dumping ground for students who werent doing well in regular academics. Harvards influential Pathways to Prosperity report, released in 2011, warned that nearly two-thirds of new jobs of the 2010s would require more than a high school educationyet only 40 percent of Americans had obtained a bachelors degree or associates degree by their mid-20s.

Downtown Newburgh has been hit hard economically. Vincent Lacertosa, 18, from Newburgh, is a P-TECH graduate and an apprentice at IBM where he tests main frame computers. | Mark Peterson/Redux Pictures for Politico Magazine

By contrast, the report noted, 40 to 70 percent of high school kids in many European countries spent three years in career programs that combined classroom and workplace experience, where they earned diplomas or certificates strongly valued in the labor market. Eight years later, critics of American career and technical education, as its called today, still complain that it needs to become more academically rigorous, better prepare students for education beyond high school, and provide actual work experience based on the needs of todays employers.

The first P-TECH, in Brooklyn, emulated the workplace learning focus of European vocational education while eliminating tuition costs. It established design principles that still apply to all the 200-plus P-TECH schools today. The entire program, including the community college courses, is cost-free. (P-TECH schools are funded through various combinations of local tax dollars, state funding, federal career-ed grants, and cost-sharing with local community colleges.) Theyre open-enrollment schools, with no testing or grade requirements for admission, and they focus on disadvantaged youth. The high school, the community college and the industry partner work together. The curriculum includes workplace skills, such as public speaking, as well as company mentors and paid internships. Graduates are first in line for job interviews at the partner company.

Suriana Rodriguez, 19, is the first Newburgh P-TECH graduate to get a full-time job offer from IBM. Shes currently an apprentice at IBMs campus in Poughkeepsie, above. | Mark Peterson/Redux Pictures for Politico Magazine

Political leaders quickly embraced the model, excited by its combination of career and technical education, paid internships and early college. Barack Obama praised Brooklyns P-TECH in his 2013 State of the Union address and visited the school later that year. This is a ticket into the middle class, and its available to everybody whos willing to work for it, Obama said in an address at the school.

A year earlier, in 2012, Chicagos then-mayor, Rahm Emanuel, had inked a deal with IBM, Microsoft, Cisco, Verizon and Motorola to open five P-TECHs there. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo debuted a state P-TECH program in 2014, pledging $28 million over seven years for 18 new schools, including Newburghs. Connecticut opened its first P-TECH school, in Norwalk, in 2014, with then-Gov. Dannel Malloy cutting the ceremonial ribbon. P-TECH schools are popular in Northeastern cities and states, but have also caught on in Dallas, Baton Rouge and Colorado. Though Democratic governors and mayors have championed them, their public-private collaborations have also won over Larry Hogan, Marylands Republican governor.

Danille Jager is the liaison between Newburgh P-Tech and IBM. At a recent exposition for P-TECH interns, attendees got their passports stamped after they heard presentations from the students. | Mark Peterson/Redux Pictures for Politico Magazine

In Baltimore, a conversation between Hogan and Johns Hopkins University President Ron Daniels, soon after the citys 2015 riots, led to the creation of two P-TECH schools in 2016. One is affiliated with IBM, while the other, located on the edge of Johns Hopkins hospital campus, is focused on health care, with the hospital and Kaiser Permanente as industry partners. This summer, 10 of its 200 students completed internships at the University of Marylands shock trauma center and John Hopkins anesthesiology, neurology and orthopedics departments.

Now, eight P-TECH schools are operating in Maryland, including four in Baltimore, with some state funding. The Maryland Chamber of Commerce has organized a consortium of 400 businesses to offer mentors, internships and job interviews to P-TECH students. The challenge in the P-TECH schools is not whether or not the individual jurisdiction wants to do it, says Keiffer Mitchell, a special adviser to Hogan. Its just finding enough businesses that can take on internships for the kids, and also have ideas [about] hiring those kids.

This May, Hogan signed a bill allowing for three more P-TECH schools in Maryland, after the state Senate killed his proposal to remove a state cap on the programs expansion. Were not against it, Paul Pinsky, chairman of the Maryland Senates education committee, told the Baltimore Sun. Its just we havent gotten the data back about whether its working or not.

Results have taken a while to emerge, since P-TECH schools are six-year programs, and most arent six years old yet. But the inaugural class at the original P-TECH in Brooklyn achieved a stunning 100 percent high school graduation rate, followed by 87 percent for the second class and 93 percent for the thirdcompared with graduation rates of 71-74 percent for their peers across New York City. Fifty-seven percent of the first class and 39 percent of the second class also graduated with the no-cost associate degree in a computer science field. Brooklyn P-TECHs principal, Rashid Davis, notes that many students who didnt get the associate degree took college courses, then transferred the credits to four-year colleges.

At Norwalk High School in Connecticut, P-TECH students study web design. | Mark Peterson/Redux Pictures for Politico Magazine

About 70 percent of the Brooklyn P-TECH students are low income. Just under a third of the student body female and 55 percent of the students are black males. And P-TECH is not achieving those high graduation rates by taking it easy on the students. Davis says students at the open-enrollment Brooklyn P-TECH are achieving results on New York state college-readiness tests that are comparable with New York Citys screened and specialized high schools.

Students are buying into the culture, Davis says. Our attendance rate still hovers above 90 percent. That is a key indicator that students are wanting to be in this environment.

***

Vocational education used to teach students how to weld or how to fix a car. Todays career and technical education means something much different. Students are learning to code software, design websites, or operate robots and AI systems that have replaced manual-labor jobs across much of the economy.

China Tinnen and Nico Tullio are juniors in the P-TECH program at Norwalk High School. As part of the six-year program, P-TECH students take classes at nearby Norwalk Community College. | Mark Peterson/Redux Pictures for Politico Magazine

This August, rising seniors at the P-TECH high school in Norwalk, Conn., gathered at Norwalk Community College for the P-TECH Norwalk Intern Expo. To mark the end of their summer internships, the students gave presentations on their work for their parents and their IBM mentors.

Bianca Velez and Pongsa Tayjasanant, both 17, stood behind a table and told passersby what they did with their summer. For eight weeks, at IBMs offices in White Plains, N.Y. (a half-hour from Norwalk via school bus), they worked in IBMs digital sales team. They used the companys Watson Language Translator, an artificial intelligence tool, to translate sales documents for IBM employees around the world.

Bianca Velez and Christian Tapper, both P-TECH students, take classes at Norwalk Community College. | Mark Peterson/Redux Pictures for Politico Magazine

Instead of translating word for word like Google Translate, it looks at a document holistically, Tayjasanant explained, his polished presentation reflecting the public-speaking element in P-TECHs curriculum. Its able to keep the tone, able to keep the diction, the nuances to language that are so important.

Velez and Tayjasanant have each taken seven college courses already. Theyre on track to graduate next spring, in four years instead of six, with associates degrees as well as high school diplomas. At first, says Velez, the personal draw to me was, obviously, free college. Then she embraced P-TECH Norwalks path toward an associates degree in web development. Im really into things like design. I was thinking, maybe learning how to code and design websites was something I would really like to do. Now she knows she likes coding websites, but shes also considering careers in chemistry or chemical engineering, attending a four-year college, and working with IBM.

Velezs mother, Annette Velez, says P-TECH, especially its college classes and public-speaking course, have helped her daughter grow as a student. She was a very timid child, she recalls. Now shes very open, loves talking, sharing ideas.

Karen Amaker, principal of Norwalk High School, in a P-TECH web design class. | Mark Peterson/Redux Pictures for Politico Magazine

Karen Amaker, has been the principal at P-TECH Norwalk since 2014, when it was founded as Norwalk Early College Academy and adopted the P-TECH curriculum. She says the model works for students like Velez and Tayjasanantour high flyers who are on that fast track and for the typical P-TECH student, who completes the program in 5 to six years. For those families for whom college wasnt necessarily in their plannot because they didnt want it, because they didnt see it as accessibleI think P-TECH makes that accessibility and opportunity very much visible. Most P-TECH Norwalk students go on to pursue a four-year degree, Amaker says, and some choose careers outside tech. For instance, a recent graduate, accepted into the Rhode Island School of Design, didnt finish the associates degree, but transferred her college credits to her new school.

The Norwalk school, one of four P-TECH schools in Connecticut, launched with state funding. When that dried up after a year, Norwalk Community Colleges then-president used discretionary funds to pay for the students free college courses. Now P-TECH receives an extra $1,000 per pupil from the Norwalk school district to help cover the cost. Pell grants also help, as does federal funding from the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act.

I think one of the biggest mistakes Ive seen in education is this trend to do away with technical skills, Amaker says. Instead, she says, schools need to help students to develop those skills, be that auto mechanics, computer science, [or] now culinary arts, and all the things in between. We have to move away from this cookie-cutter model of doing education as rote memorization and really think about project-based learning and design thinking.

See the article here:
How Vocational Education Got a 21st Century Reboot - POLITICO

Friday, September 13, 2019 at 6:19 pm |Back to: Shared News

An artists rendering of the Royal Saint Lucia Turf Club

The first of 12 slots in the 2019 Pitons Cup, the feature race that will mark the launch of the Royal Saint Lucia Turf Club Dec. 13.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, owner Sol Kumin and EliTE sales and bloodstock agent Bradley Weisbord have teamed to purchase the first slot for $20,000 to guarantee their spot in the field for the $150,000 race, to be contested at a mile and an eighth on the dirt track.

The endorsement of Todd, Sol and Brad in securing a slot on top of the level of enquiries we have received since announcing the Pitons Cup has been beyond expectation, said Eden Harrington, director of the RSLTC. Todd, Sol and Brad are leaders in the American racing industry, they have records of excellence and confirmation of their involvement in Saint Lucia is exceptionally rewarding. Not only are they passionate racing fans, they raise the standard of competition and bring great awareness of Saint Lucia with them.

The slot holders for the Pitons Cup may enter a racehorse of their choice, ownership of one of 12 selected unraced 2-year-olds currently in training in Florida (inclusive of flights to Saint Lucia and pre-training costs in the US); and an entry for that horse in the $20,000 supporting feature.

For additional information, visit https://rslts.com/the-pitons-cup/.

Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.

More here:
First Pitons Cup Slot Snapped UpFirst Pitons Cup Slot Snapped Up - Thoroughbred Daily News

Stephanie ByrdCo-OwnerThe Block

What her business does: The Block is a casual, gastropub-style dining restaurant on Woodward Avenue between Selden and West Alexandrine streets. She also manages the adjacent Garden Theater, an events space for wedding receptions and banquets.

How she got started: Byrd left Detroit to get a college education at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she studied marketing and communications. She lived and worked in D.C. for most of her 20s in marketing at H&R Block and XM Radio. In 2013, she moved back to Detroit to join her family's restaurant business. Her father, Michael Byrd, is the longtime owner of Flood's Bar & Grille on St. Antoine Street, adjacent to the headquarters of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Michael Byrd and his business partner, George Stewart, own all of the buildings on Woodward between Selden and Alexandrine, known as the Woodward Garden Block Development. In building out an 88-seat restaurant at 3919 Woodward Ave., a group of consultants convinced the Byrds to open an upscale restaurant in November 2013, during construction of the QLine streetcar track on Woodward Avenue. "That was definitely our valley, that time during QLine construction," Stephanie Byrd said. After less than two years, the Byrds pulled the plug on Grille Midtown. "We found the concept didn't work, so we rebranded to something much more casual," Byrd said.

In rebranding the restaurant, the father and daughter were initially at an impasse over the new name. "We were considering calling it Byrd House or Byrd something," Stephanie Byrd said. "Me and my dad had a little argument about it and he said, 'Just call it The Block.' He didn't think I would take it and run with it. But I did run with it."

Keys to growth: In her years of going to college and working in Washington, D.C., Byrd saw restaurants come and go in multiple cycles as a "fickle" base of patrons never became loyal to any one establishment. In Detroit, she's found that loyalty is everything after four years of running The Block with a neighborhood bar and grill vibe. "Folks really want that Cheers environment they want their bartender to recognize them by name," she said.

Advice to other restaurateurs: Understand your clientele and be ready and willing to make changes. Byrd acknowledges she and her dad were too "hands off" with the Grille Midtown restaurant in 2013 competing with other nearby upscale establishments like Selden Standard and Grey Ghost. "That was a learning experience for us," she said.

Follow this link:
Meet 10 black entrepreneurs on the rise in Detroit - Crain's Detroit Business

Like a lot of my pieces, this one came about as the result of a question. A member of the cycling industry Facebook group was pointing out how hard it is to find a new position in the bike business and asked, where have all the bike jobs gone?

I should point out this was not the form this question usually comes in, which is from a person outside the business who wants to get into the industry for the first time. I still hear that version a lot (and I bet you do too, if you've been in the business awhile). I even published an answer to it a few years ago with the help of industry recruiter Terry Malouf. But this question came from a long term industry professional with solid credentials and a stable history who is currently between jobs for what seems like an unreasonably long time.

So I started thinking about it, and came to three tentative conclusions. See if you agree.

1. Traditional industry sales are down

Make no mistake. Bicycle sales in units have been essentially flat for the past 20 years; increases in average selling price have not kept pace with the changing value of the U.S. dollar. Net effect is that an industry traditionally run on lean margins makes less money on bikes than ever. And of course, more and more of those sales are channeled outside the traditional bike shop channel, often to consumer-direct brands.

A couple months ago I mentioned Its the same pair of pants; were just shuffling the money around to different pockets. What I failed to mention is that those pants now have not just fewer, but smaller, pockets as well.

As I mentionedin this space a couple months ago, "The fundamental truth is that across all channels, adult bikes aren't putting any more real dollars into the industry today than they were at the end of the Clinton administration. It's the same pair of pants; we're just shuffling the money around to different supplier and retailer pockets." What I failed to mention at the time is that those pants now have not just fewer, but smaller pockets as well.

Traditional equipment categories (PA&R, and variations thereof) have had their profitability gutted by the effects of internet discounting; on the other hand, price increases, particularly on top-end equipment, have outpaced the rising cost of money, unlike bikes. But more of that money is leaving the traditional retail channel orders of magnitude more than with bicycles and all too often, the country itself. Overall, my feeling is that fewer consumer dollars are entering the traditional equipment market, and this impact is felt across all segments in the supply chain.

Point of all this being, fewer dollars coming into the channel means fewer jobs available.2. The industry is consolidating, and so are the jobs

Further to my point about pockets and pants, as companies consolidate, so do the overall number of available positions. At both the retail and supplier levels, fewer employees cover more lines or locations to generate the same number of dollars, and fewer total employees are needed.

The most notable exception is mechanics. While the total number of shop locations stays relatively constant (although they may be consolidating under fewer owners), new bikes and equipment are becoming increasingly labor (and therefore time) intensive to service. Think electronic shifting, suspension systems or e-bikes and their various complex subsystems. Now think about all the different proprietary formats for all these categories. As the installed base of sophisticated products grows while the overall labor pool shrinks, what happens to the value of highly skilled mechanics? Demand begins to exceed supply, that's what. In fact, being a high-end mechanic might just be the best form of job security in an increasingly insecure industry.

3. Growth comes from new product categories ... and new job descriptions.

As the industry consolidates, the middle always tends to fall out. Companies at the bottom just don't have the resources to hire new folks. And increasingly, we see the ones at the top larger and often more agile players are sourcing talent from outside the traditional industry recruiting pool.

The current generation of industry-leading brands were all founded by entrepreneurs working with landlines and fax machines. The mountain bike was born before the desktop computer and a full decade before the web browser.

There are relatively few sharp young people working the supplier help desk or retail sales floor nowadays who have formal training in digital marketing, for instance. It was the same with back end social media skills ten years ago. And ten years from now, young people will be bringing those and other skills with them when they enter the bike business. But for the time being, there are a lot of industry folks often smart, hardworking and ambitious lower and midlevel people getting caught in the middle. And that's a shame. But it's also the reality in which we find ourselves.

It's sometimes hard to remember that the current generation of industry-leading companies were all founded by entrepreneurs working with landlines and handwritten orders, sent over those landlines via fax machine. The mountain bike was born before the desktop computer and a full decade before the World Wide Web. The guys at the top don't have to keep abreast of the latest technology. But to stay on top, they have to hire people who do. And that's the way it's always been.

So, here's the bottom line. The bike industry job market is shrinking. But more importantly, it's changing, just as it always has. And hopefully, always will.

See original here:
Vosper: Is the cycling job market growing or shrinking? - Bicycle Retailer

Previously, Ive proven four undeniable truths. Its time for Undeniable Truth #5: An idea is not responsible for who believes it. Thats another way of saying each of us is responsible for our own thoughts and for what we believe. A perfect example is the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. If youve never heard of the Bhagwan, look him up; youll be astonished. The Bhagwan was a Hindu spiritual guru in India back in the 1960s and 70s. He developed a large following of new age, Rajneesh spiritualists, which led to problems between the Bhagwan, his followers, and the Indian government. In 1981, the Bhagwan bought 65,000 acres in a sparsely populated county in the Oregon desert and moved his entire operations over here.

ONCE THE Bhagwan arrived in America he established a large commune. To join the commune, the new age adherents had to pledge loyalty to the Bhagwan; and they had to give him all their possessions to include their spouse (i.e. wife). The Bhagwan was very charismatic and somehow convinced over 1,000 people to join his desert paradise. The commune, specifically the Bhagwan, became very wealthy from the hundreds of people who gave him everything they owned. While his followers meditated most of the day, slept on mats in open-bay dormitory type housing, and disavowed all material possessions; the Bhagwan grew extremely wealthy, slept with a different woman each night, and bought luxury car after luxury car.

IT WASNT long before the commune came into conflict with local ranchers and county officials, mostly over land use issues. Since the county was sparsely populated, the Bhagwan sent busses around the West, rounded up hundreds of homeless people, brought them to the commune so they could vote in local county elections with the goal to oust the county officials and replace them with Rajneesh spiritualists. Eventually, the Bhagwan and the commune ran afoul of the law and warrants were issued for the Bhagwans arrest. The Bhagwan, and several of his lieutenants, fled to India before they could be arrested. When authorities raided the commune they were amazed. The Bhagwan had over 50 Rolls Royces, a luxurious mansion, and flaunted his ostentatious wealth while his Rajneesh followers lived a subsistence existence with no material possessions whatsoever.

REMEMBER, AN idea is not responsible for who believes it. With that as a truth, who were the fools, the Bhagwan or his gullible followers? In order for anyone to believe something, first, we must be presented with an idea; then, we ponder that idea; and finally accept or reject it based on common sense. Its obvious that the Bhagwan didnt believe his own rhetoric about the path to enlightenment; yet he managed to convince hundreds of people to follow his teachings that they might gain spiritual oneness but to do so, they had to forego all material possessions. The Bhagwans followers were living an impoverished existence; they could see the luxurious lifestyle the Bhagwan was living; still they continued following him. Thirty five years later, Im still astounded that so many people allowed the Bhagwan to scam them.

ANOTHER IDEA that amazes me is climate change (CC). For Earths entire history there has been climate change. Climate change is an absolute FACT, and the ice ages are the best proof. There have been at least five ice ages in Earths history. Climate scientists tell us that right now we are in an interglacial period of the Pleistocene ice age. The Pleistocene glaciation began 2.58 million years ago. Over that span, the climate has changed numerous times. The cycle is as follows: First, the climate cooled creating continental ice sheets that covered much of the northern hemisphere and Antarctica. Then, after hundreds of thousands of years, the climate warmed and, except for Antarctica and Greenland, most of the ice sheets melted. Each time the glacial ice sheets advanced the oceans receded. Then, when they melted, the oceans rose. In the past 2.58 million years, this cycle has repeated itself at least four times, possibly five.

THE UNANSWERED question is what caused the glaciers? Why do ice sheets advance and then recede? The weather and climate is probably the most dynamic, complex system on Earth. Some of the factors that affect the climate include wind and ocean currents, volcanic activity, continental drift, the global vegetation coverage, global ice coverage, composition of the atmosphere, changes to Earths axial tilt (41,000 year cycle), precession of the planet (26,000 year cycle), variations of earth orbit, and solar activity. Each of these factors affects the climate in some manner. How much? We dont know. Climate scientists tell us that theres more we dont know about the climate than what we do know. Heres proof of how little we know; tell me what the weather will be on Oct 11th, 30 short days from now. Will it be hot? Cold? Sunny? Or rainy? If you cant tell me what the weather will be one month from today, then dont try telling me what the climate will be 50 or 100 years from now.

HOWEVER, DONT worry about why the climate changes because we have climate change gurus, such as Al Gore and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. They have it all figured out. The climate gurus insist that human activities that burn fossil fuels - such as driving your car, heating and cooling your house, etc. are causing the planet to warm thus creating climate change that will melt glaciers and raise ocean levels. The climate gurus insist that the only way to save the planet is for you to forego all activities that burn fossil fuels. However, just like the Bhagwan, the climate gurus dont believe their own rhetoric. If they did, Barack Obama would not have bought a $15 million ocean-front mansion. Also, if mankinds burning of fossil fuels changes the climate, explain how the climate changed so often before mankind existed?

WEEKLY THOUGHT: An idea is not responsible for who believes it.

Excerpt from:
JUST THE WAY IT IS: Believing something doesn't make it true - Monroe County Reporter

ATHENS, Ga. The Georgia Bulldogs put up a decisive 55-0 win against Arkansas State Saturday to improve to 3-0. But the days game was about more than football.

Thousands of fans showed up in pink, not their team, but to support the head coach of the opponent. It was thanks to a couple of fans who learned his story and took it to heart.

It started with a tweet. A simple plea to wear pink.

Dwight Standridge from the Bulldogs Battling Cancer charity was compelled.

I saw the story about coach Anderson, and his wife passing away from breast cancer three weeks ago, he said.

Blake Anderson lost his wife, Wendy, to breast cancer after 27 years of marriage. Less than a month after her death, Anderson returned to coaching.

The idea of a pink-out went viral. Retweets and endorsements followed including one from ESPNs Scott Van Pelt.

I knew Dawg National would show up and show out, he said.

Its personal for Dwight and charity co-founder Theresa Abbot.

"Shes a 15-year survivor. I lost my mom to ovarian cancer, he said. At the end of the day, I think my mom and Wendy Anderson will have their arms wrapped around each other today.

Dawg fans didnt disappoint. Fans flooded the stands in a sea of pink.

"Its just helping someone else out going through the battle, Dwight said.

And it didnt go unnoticed.

Just one of the classiest moves Ive ever seen. Hard to truly prepare for something like that. So, I would say thank you, Anderson said.

Im rooting for Georgia the rest of my life for that, Arkansas State player Jacob Still said. They didnt have to do that and they did, what were doing here is bigger than football.

The Red Wolves didnt shock the world, but the result didnt matter. Football is helping Anderson heal.

Its that energy that keeps me going, he said. I dont want to let her down or her legacy.

(Blake Anderson) is a great person and I have a lot of respect for him, said UGA coach Kirby Smart. Hes such a wonderful person. I cant imagine what hes been through. Our fans showed up and showed out. It was a great turnout and Im so proud they embraced a program that has been through some tough times.

MORE HEADLINES

No. 3 Georgia romps to another win, 55-0 over Arkansas State

Former Bulldog Robert Arnaud passes away

Johnny Isakson honors UGA icon Vince Dooley on Senate floor

See the original post:
Bulldog fans stage 'pink out' to support Arkansas State coach who lost wife to cancer - 11Alive.com WXIA

Quarterback Justin McMillan understood exactly where offensive coordinator Will Hall was coming from last week when he labeled Tulanes performance against Auburn humiliating.

McMillan, who went 10 of 33 passing against the Tigers, agreed.

Me and coach Hall talked on the phone a little bit that next day (after Tulanes 24-6 loss to Auburn), he said. I was sick to my stomach myself, so we had the same mindset. Having a guy like that as a leader for us on this offense, I'd run through a brick wall for him.

McMillan encountered much less resistance on Saturday night against Missouri State, rushing nine times for 49 yards and two scores while completing 13 of 16 passes for 122 yards and another touchdown before sitting out the entire second half of the Green Waves 58-6 romp. He will need to be similarly sharp Thursday when Tulane (2-1) opens American Athletic Conference play with a big game against Houston (1-2) at Yulman Stadium on ESPN.

He says Halls passion is driving him.

This is fun for him, McMillan said. This is his life, so when he says (critical) stuff like that, I don't take it as a joke, so I'm going to work my butt off for him in that situation. I feel like the offense all took in on the chin (against Auburn). Were not going to have games like that again just for the fact that coach Hall won't allow us to.

In his rant, Hall criticized his own play-calling, emphasized the offense had plenty of talent and added he would remember the disappointment from the Auburn game for the rest of his life.

After the bounce-back outing against Missouri State, McMillan pointed out the offense was still a work in progress, saying growing pains were inevitable. Hall began coaching his system in spring practice and now has a body of work of three games at Tulane.

Having failed to connect of a multiple vertical routes at Auburn, Tulane hit Missouri States soft coverage with plenty of quick-hitting passes.

We got back to our base offense and pretty much our bread and butter and tried to work that a lot more and get an identity for this team and keep working in that direction, McMillan said. At the end of the day this is still a new offense with a lot of young players. This offense is a nonstop progress for us, and we hope to continue to grow.

McMillan improved to 7-2 as a Tulane starter, and he will get the chance to atone for his other loss against Houston. He threw two interceptions in the second quarter against the Cougars last November as a battle for first place in the AAC West spiraled into a lopsided, 48-17 defeat.

Almost nothing is the same 10 months later. Houston (1-2) is 0-4 against rugged FBS competition since then, losing 52-31 to Memphis and 70-14 to Army in the Armed Forces Bowl last season and to Oklahoma 49-31 and Washington State 31-24 this year (with a win against Prairie View in between).

Tulane has a new offensive coordinator in Hall, and McMillan has been in the program for more than a year rather than three months.

Of course its going to be a different result as far as our effort and our ability to make plays, McMillan said. Like coach (Willie) Fritz said, we have better players. No crack on the guys in the past, but we have a better team this year.

Missouri State provided no real competition, but Tulane improved in one huge area of emphasis, getting only four penalties after racking up 23 through its first two games.

That was much better, Fritz said. We could have gotten away with (penalties) in this game, but we just want to be one of those teams that plays disciplined all the time. We certainly need to do that Thursday evening.

The Wave should be fresh for that game even off a short week. Almost none of the starters played in the second half of a stress-free night against Missouri State, maybe giving them a slight advantage on Houstons front-line guys, who played all the way Friday night against Washington State.

"It was good that we could get up off our feet early and be able to rest, wide receiver Darnell Mooney said. They (Houston) played yesterday, so they are a day ahead of us.

See the original post here:
Tulane QB Justin McMillan: Will Hall's offense a work in progress but improving rapidly - NOLA.com

Former Ole Miss QB and retired NFL return man Micheal Spurlock now coaches wide receivers at Southeastern Louisiana.(Photo: Courtesy Ole Miss Athletics /Special to the Clarion Ledger)

OXFORD When Ole Miss hosts Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday, a familiar face will be roaming thesideline. But he willbe wearing unfamiliar colors.

Former Ole Miss quarterback Micheal Spurlock, who played in 20 games for the Rebels between 2003-05, will return to Oxford this weekend as the visiting team's wide receivers coach. Spurlock, anIndianola native who played eight years in the NFL as a receiver and return man, is in his second season as a full-time college position coach.

This is not the path Spurlock says he expected his life to take.

"No way.If I wrote the story 10 times, it never would've come out with this ending," Spurlock told the Clarion Ledger."But you know the old saying, 'If you love what you do, you'll never work a day?' I feel like I can do this 18 hours a day and not feel like it's work because I enjoy the guys I work with. You spend long hours with them, but they become your family. And then the kids you work with. To me, they've become my kids."

Former Ole Miss QB Micheal Spurlock (under center) now coaches wide receivers at Southeastern Louisiana.(Photo: Courtesy Ole Miss Athletics / Special to the Clarion Ledger)

Spurlock's journey from Ole Miss to Hammond, Louisiana, involved more stops than a bus trip from Los Angeles to New York. Between 2006 and 2014, Spurlock bounced from Arizona to Tampa to San Francisco to Dallas to Jacksonville to San Diego to Chicago before he announced his retirement from professional football. He ended hiscareer with two punt return touchdowns, three kick return touchdowns and three receiving touchdowns.

Upon retiring, Spurlock returned home to Mississippi with his wife and six kids. Boredom set in pretty quick.

"You don't realize it, but most of your life if you're a player, you had someone setting a schedule for you," Spurlock said. "All of a sudden, [my wife and I] would wake up and look at each other and say, 'What do you want to do today?'"

For Spurlock, the answer to that question often involved heading to the local ballpark to watch kids play baseball. Soon after, Spurlock's wife encouraged him to take up coaching, since he obviously liked interacting with and imparting wisdom upon young athletes.

So Spurlock volunteered as a coach at Philadelphia High School. Soon after, he spent some time at Coahoma Community College. Then, in 2016, he startedan internship with the Dallas Cowboys. By 2017, former Ole Miss assistant coach Frank Wilson had offered Spurlock a position as a quality control assistant at UTSA.

It was there where Spurlock met Frank Scelfo. He was UTSA's offensive coordinator, and Spurlock's cubicle was right outside of Scelfo's office. The two would talk every day. So when Scelfo was hired as Southeastern Louisiana's head coach, he offered to bring Spurlock with him.

"People always say 'I want to help you' in this profession," Spurlock said."He was a man of his word."

Former Ole Miss QB and NFL return ace Micheal Spurlock now coaches wide receivers at Southeastern Louisiana.(Photo: Courtesy Ole Miss Athletics)

The job has been a blessing for Spurlock. He's only three hours from his hometown and happy to be working in the Southeast again. But more than that, he's happy to have found a job where he can make a difference in the lives of young people.

When reflecting on how important Ole Miss was to his life, Spurlock said the school helped turn him from an 18-year-old kid into a 23-year-old man. Now he's getting to do the same with the players he coaches. It's the relationships that matter to Spurlock, who said he looks forward to getting invites to weddings and birthdays 20 years from now because of the difference he's making today.

It's not as if this will be Spurlock's first return trip to Oxford since 2005. His brother-in-law works at Oxford High School, so he stops by on recruiting trips any time he's in the area.

But the chance to coach at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium this Saturday, even if it's for the opposing team? It'll be a special opportunity for Spurlock.

"There's nothing but family there," Spurlock said of Oxford and Ole Miss. "But just for one day I have to go and compete against them."

More: 'A tear fell': Ole Miss football player shines with his mom watching for the first time

Non-conference games: Could Ole Miss and Southern Miss revive football rivalry?

Ole Miss football: How to watch this week's game

Contact Nick Suss at 601-408-2674 or nsuss@gannett.com. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter.

View original post here:
Homecoming: Former Ole Miss quarterback returns to Oxford as opposing coach - Jackson Clarion Ledger

All it took was four months this year for Houston Decks life to change completely.

After traveling to Park City from Auburndale, Florida, where he grew up, Deck took an internship with U.S. Ski and Snowboard in late April. Four months later, after the end of his internship, U.S. Ski and Snowboard offered him the full-time position of Athletic Development Coach for aerials and freeski.

Its exciting for sure, kind of a no-brainer for me when I was offered the job, Deck said. I was originally looking at positions in Florida following the finish of the internship, but they had a job open up and I went for it. I had to do an interview and presentation but it was worth it.

Deck, despite his youth at 24, believes that his age will benefit his coaching as a two-part system that can propel U.S. Ski and Snowboard forward. Having graduated college four years ago, according to him, Deck is much more relatable to the younger athletes. They all have similar common interests and are in similar parts of their lives, being up to date on the latest fashion and pop culture trends and just communicating with one another.

My age was actually something asked of me during the interview process for the job and I told them I think its a benefit because of the relationship I can have with the athletes, Deck said. Compared to the coach who may be older with a family and a mortgage, and not knocking that at all, but with me being younger it allows me to be on a similar level as the athletes are in our respective lives.

The second part of where his age believes will be an asset to U.S. Ski and Snowboard is that Deck will come in with little knowledge of the sport-specific training required. Because of this, Deck says he will constantly ask questions in order to learn more and develop better training regimes.

If youre smartest person in the room, youre in the wrong room, Deck said, reciting a turn of phrase. Having that age factor, Im going to ask a ton of questions. Where some might have obvious answers, some might make the other coaches and staff think as well in ways they might not have considered. Instead of being older and coming in believing I know it all, my youth should help us so much more.

Finding out he got the job was a life changing experience, especially because it allowed him to finally tell his family what was going on. Deck, whos close to his family, kept everything a secret from them regarding the full-time job process because he didnt want to get anyones hopes up.

Accepting the job was the easiest part of the process but telling my family, now that was hard, Deck said. Im really close with my older brother and obviously, he was stoked for me. My mom on the other hand, she wasnt as excited because I was her last son to be leaving home and going across the country. But now shes super excited and beyond supportive of this new journey.

The one person who did know about the process, and actually pushed Deck to apply for the internship in the first place, was his girlfriend Melyssa. According to Deck, because both of their families live on the East Coast, the couple had it in their minds to come out West. The decision to not only apply but then take the job was easy as it comes.

With the new season beginning very soon, Deck is focused on just continuing the culture thats already in place.

He believes its already incredibly so continuing it and establishing himself as someone the athletes can trust and come to you are at the top of his immediate goals. He really expects that once the season ends, he can start working with the athletes in a more strength and condition-based role with his ideas and implement his style to help benefit the athletes.

The best way to describe it is that I want to have more than a weight room relationship with the athletes, Deck said. Its about way more than just making them stronger. I want them to know that Im in their corner and they can trust me and come to me with anything. If I dont know the answer, I will find someone who does.

Deck graduated from Florida Southern College with a degree in Human Movement and Performance before he spent two years working at the Athletic Lab in North Carolina under sport scientist Dr. Mike Young, who deck considers a mentor.

While there, Deck gained valuable experience working with elite athletes and implementing new developments in sports science. He eventually left Athletic Lab and returned to Orlando, Florida, where he worked in the private sector before beginning his masters program online with Liberty University, which he said should be completed around the summer of 2020.

I had a goal for myself that once 2019 started, I wanted to go back to school for my Masters and wanted to get more into the strength and conditioning side of things with athletes, Deck said. Ive been in Florida my whole life besides a couple of years spent in North Carolina. I went out West once and really enjoyed it so I searched online for internships out there and I found this.

The rest is here:
After four months as an intern, Houston Deck takes over as U.S. Ski and Snowboard athletic development coach - The Park Record