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  These were the words of Captain Peter Berger of Hallandale Beach Fire Rescue as he spoke to a full house of fire service industry leaders — along with his partner Captain Greg Moulin of DFW Airport Fire Services — on the topic of

  During the session Promoting A Culture Of Safety And Fitness To Prevent Cancer, Heart Disease, and Injuries in Boston Firefighters at NFPA’s Conference & Expo (C&E), Dr. Michael Hamrock, a former firefighter and medical

Andrew Klein, Principle with AS Klein Engineering, and Lynne Kilpatrick, Fire Marshal in Sunnyvale, CA led an education session on ‘On-Demand Mobile Fueling; Enforcing Existing Regulations and Evaluating Future Needs” at NFPA Conference &

John Sullivan, deputy chief of the Worcester Fire Department/vice chair of the IAFC health and safety section, discusses why it's so important for firefighters to get physical exams each year.  The average age of a first heart attack for the general

Hudson Star-Observer
Published Friday, January 18, 2008

Newton Faulkner performed a selection of his hits way above the Swiss countryside

KENNETH Karlstrom is more used to piloting champagne balloon flights from a St Albans school than taking part in a radio sessions thousands of feet above the Swiss Alps.

As Virgin Balloon Flights'chief pilot, he flew the 100-foot-tall balloon in which singer-songwriter Newton Faulkner lived up to the title of his hit single Dream Catch Me while soaring near to the town of Greyere.

Kenneth normally pilots champagne flights from Nicholas Breakspear School in Colney Heath Lane but he found himself joining 13 lucky passengers to hear dreadlocked Newton play several tracks including his latest single Teardrop.

The performance was recorded for Virgin Radio and the gig was punctuated by the noise of father-of-two Kenneth firing the balloon's burners.

Kenneth and the singer enjoy an after-flight Champagne

The high altitude and cold temperatures meant Newton had to continually warm up his hands and retune his guitar in order to pull off his light-fingered guitar playing.

Unforgettable

It was the first time a radio session has ever been recorded in a hot-air balloon and Kenneth, who has flown balloons all over the world, said: "Every hot-air balloon flight is an unforgettable experience but this had to be in my top 10 and I've been flying for nearly 30 years."

After a 50-minute flight, a soft landing and a champagne toast, Newton continued the celebrations with an impromptu gig in a chalet among the mountains. He was then presented with a platinum gold disc marking half-a-million sales of his number one album Hand Built by Robots.

A video of the full Unplugged and Airborne session is available to watch online at www.virginradio. co.uk

Steve Fossett

Steve Fossett, who has been declared dead aged 63, made his fortune on the Chicago futures exchange and embarked on a dogged campaign to break more world records than any other sportsman in history; he set 116 records in hot air balloons, sailing boats, gliders and powered aircraft, getting into numerous scrapes and surviving several brushes with death.

Calif. searchers find Fossett's plane and remains

By TRACIE CONE and MARCUS WOHLSEN – Oct 2, 2008

MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. (AP) — More than a year after the mysterious disappearance of millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, searchers found the wreckage of his plane in the rugged Sierra Nevada, along with enough remains for DNA testing.

A small piece of bone was found amid a field of debris 400 feet long and 150 feet wide in a steep section of the mountain range, the National Transportation Safety Board said at a news conference Thursday. Some personal effects also were found at the site.

Officials conflicted on whether they had confirmed the remains were human.

"We don't know if it's human. It certainly could be," Madera County Sheriff John Anderson said late Thursday, hours after the leader of the NTSB had said the remains were those of a person. "I refuse to speculate."

Asked about the sheriff's assessment of the physical evidence, NTSB spokesman Terry Wiliams reaffirmed NTSB acting Chairman Mark Rosenker's earlier statement.

"We stick by that. It's human remains," said Williams, who declined to say how the NTSB had arrived at that conclusion.

Fossett, the 63-year-old thrill-seeker, vanished on a solo flight 13 months ago. The mangled debris of his single-engine Bellanca was spotted from the air late Wednesday near the town of Mammoth Lakes and was identified by its tail number. Investigators said the plane had slammed straight into a mountainside.

"It was a hard-impact crash, and he would've died instantly," said Jeff Page, emergency management coordinator for Lyon County, Nev., who assisted in the search.

NTSB investigators went into the mountains Thursday to figure out what caused the plane to go down. Most of the fuselage disintegrated on impact, and the engine was found several hundred feet away at an elevation of 9,700 feet, authorities said.

"It will take weeks, perhaps months, to get a better understanding of what happened," Rosenker said before investigators set off.

Search crews and cadaver dogs scoured the steep terrain around the crash site in hopes of finding at least some trace of his body and solving the mystery of his disappearance once and for all. A sheriff's investigator found the 2-inch-long piece of bone.

The remains are enough for a coroner to perform DNA testing, Rosenker said.

"Given how long the wreckage has been out there, it's not surprising there's not very much," he said.

Fossett vanished on Sept. 3, 2007, after taking off from a Nevada ranch owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton. The intrepid balloonist and pilot was scouting locations for an attempt to break the land speed record in a rocket-propelled car.

His disappearance spurred a huge search that covered 20,000 square miles, cost millions of dollars and included the use of infrared technology. Eventually, a judge declared Fossett legally dead in February. For a while, many of his friends held out hope he survived, given his many close scrapes with death over the years.

The breakthrough — in fact, the first trace of any kind — came earlier this week when a hiker stumbled across a pilot's license and other ID cards belonging to Fossett a quarter-mile from where the plane was later spotted in the Inyo National Forest. Investigators said animals might have dragged the IDs from the wreckage while picking over Fossett's remains.

The rugged area, situated about 65 miles from the ranch, had been flown over 19 times by the California Civil Air Patrol during the initial search, Anderson said. But it had not been considered a likely place to find the plane.

Lt. Col. Ronald Butts, a pilot who coordinated the Civil Air Patrol search effort, said gusty conditions along the mountains' upper elevations hampered efforts to search by air, as did the small amount of debris that remained after the plane crashed.

"Everything we could have done was done," Butts said.

Searchers had concentrated on an area north of Mammoth Lakes, given what they knew about sightings of Fossett's plane, his travel plans and the amount of fuel he had.

"With it being an extremely mountainous area, it doesn't surprise me they had not found the aircraft there before," Lyon County Undersheriff Joe Sanford said.

As for what might have caused the wreck, Mono County, Calif., Undersheriff Ralph Obenberger said there were large storm clouds over the peaks around Mammoth Lakes on the day of the crash.

Fossett made a fortune in the Chicago commodities market and gained worldwide fame for setting records in high-tech balloons, gliders, jets and boats. In 2002, he became the first person to circle the world solo in a balloon.

He also swam the English Channel, completed an Ironman triathlon, competed in the Iditarod dog sled race and climbed some of the world's best-known peaks, including the Matterhorn in Switzerland and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

"I hope now to be able to bring to closure a very painful chapter in my life," Fossett's widow, Peggy, said in a statement. "I prefer to think about Steve's life rather than his death and celebrate his many extraordinary accomplishments."

Marcus Wohlsen reported from San Francisco. Associated Press writers Malia Wollan in San Francisco and Scott Sonner in Reno, Nev., contributed to this report.

For the second year in a row, the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta was marked by the tragic death of a person in a balloon. Now, Wells Fargo Bank is trying to help the families of those at the center of this year's accident.
Wells Fargo opened the account for the families of pilots Keith Sproul and Stephen Lachendro, who were in the "Wings Of Wind" balloon when it hit a power line last Friday morning.
The gondola caught fire and separated from the balloon envelope, crashing to the ground.

Thieves made off with radios, computers and other items.
Wells Fargo has already donated $1,000 into the account to help the families deal with expenses surrounding the funeral, medical care costs and the break-in .
Donors who want to give to the account can contact Wells Fargo and should ask about donating to the Debbie Sproul account.

THE Warrnambool husband and wife who were burnt in a freak hot air balloon accident yesterday are well-known community volunteers.
Stuart Prince, 65, and his wife, Heather Martin-Trigg, 51, were taking part in an early-morning joy flight when the terrifying incident occurred north of Bendigo.

It is believed the flight was a birthday present which had been postponed from earlier this year due to hazardous weather conditions.

Mr Prince, who suffered serious burns to his right arm and lower extremities, was in a stable condition in The Alfred hospital yesterday after being transported from the scene by helicopter.

Ms Martin-Trigg was taken by road ambulance to the Bendigo hospital and also transferred to The Alfred in a stable condition yesterday afternoon.

The couple are both life members of 3WAY-FM where Mr Prince is a founding member and presenter and Ms Martin-Trigg is the committee treasurer. She is also vice-president of the Friends of the Warrnambool Art Gallery.

They own and operate Henna Street Picture Framers and Ms Martin-Trigg also works with the Vision Radio Network.

The balloon, operated by the Goldrush Ballooning company, was on a regular flight from Bendigo with eight passengers ? two from Warrnambool, two from Rochester and four from Melbourne.

It was under the control of a Bendigo man who has 12 years experience as a pilot.

http://www.standard.net.au/news/local/news/general/wellknown-volunteers-recover-after-balloon-crash/1653659.aspx?storypage=1

Little is known about the effects of repeated imprisonment. Very few research studies have examined how those who are punished by the criminal justice system experience and interpret their sentences. Research that does exist, like my PhD, has largely focused on one single sentence. But people who have served many sentences (in other words, who have long punishment careers), are likely not to experience criminal punishments in isolation, but in the context of their wider lives and previous sentences. The aim of the Lives Sentenced project is to address this gap in the knowledge base by examining the life stories of 35 people with long punishment careers

Home supervision requirements are a type of legal supervision order at home which is unique to the Scottish system of child legislation. Despite being the most common type of disposal used by the Children’s Hearing little is known about how HSRs work in practice or about its impact on young people and families. Using a multi-method approach that included secondary analysis of the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) dataset; documentary analysis of social work case files; and in-depth interviews; this research seeks to find out more about the nature, scope and outcomes of HSRs from the perspective of those who are affected the most by this type of compulsory intervention – young people, their parents and social workers.

The topic of domestic violence is an emotive one conjuring visions of child abuse by parents or carers, or marital violence, in general abuse by men of their wives or partners. According to published police statistics in Scotland for the years of 2012 – 13 male violence of women accounted for 80% of all domestic abuse, and in 2014 over 2,600 children in Scotland were identified as needing protection from abuse. This is particularly concerning since the NSPCC suggests that, for every child who has been identified, there are 8 other children who are at risk but who are ‘under the radar’. These statistics, highlighting the underlying nature of inter-family abuse relationships, i.e. the abuse of less powerful and more vulnerable family members by more powerful adults, undoubtedly account for the majority of the abuse situations within family homes. However this is, sadly, not the whole story. Understanding abuse within a family means recognising the impact of sibling aggression on every family member. It also needs to encompass the growing recognition of child to parent aggression and it is this latter aspect of inter-family relationships with which this article is primarily concerned.

This report describes the rationale, process and learning from a project led by IRISS which explored the topic of supervision with a group of six partners from across the social services sector. The purpose of this report is to share the learning gathered through the project to provide some evidence, inspiration, and pointers for those interested in improving supervision. Key points from the report can be used to prompt reflection and discussion with teams, to review current supervision practice and to help plan improvements.

In 2013-15, the Scottish Government funded 16 projects proposed by criminal justice partners across Scotland to develop community services for women who offend. Developments were based on existing service provision and to ensure changes could be sustained locally at the end of the funding. Funding varied in amount and timeframes. Most of the projects were undertaken by local authority criminal justice social work1 (CJSW) departments with partner providers, including public and third sector agencies. The national evaluation examined how the 16 women’s community justice services (WCJSs) were implemented and to what extent they contributed towards positive outcomes for women. A further aim was to build local capacity for self-evaluation in WCJSs. Findings were drawn from two phases of interviews with practitioners and women, secondary documents, and quantitative data for 1,778 women who were in the WCJSs between April and December 2014. This included outcomes data for 406 women.

This is a paper produced as part of the PROP2 (Practitioner Research: Outcomes and Partnership) programme, a partnership between the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR) at the University of Edinburgh and IRISS that was about health and social care in Scotland. This paper was written by Elaine Monteith from ENABLE Scotland who participated in the PROP2 programme. What this research paper explores: All women are asked to go to the doctor every few years to get a check for cancer but women who have a learning disability don’t go for these checks as often as other women. The paper explore what barriers there are for women attending for checks and also looks at what could be done to encourage women them to attend.

Explores how the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (IRISS) promotes the delivery of cost effective social services in Scotland that will support the achievement of positive outcomes for people accessing support. It identifies a number of principles that underpin the work of IRISS and suggests how these facilitate innovative evidence-informed practice. The approach to evidence-informed practice comprises four pillars of activity. The first pillar focuses on improving awareness and access to evidence and is exemplified by the Learning Exchange, the IRISS Insights series, and audio and video recording. The second pillar refers to strengthening the evidence base and is discussed in the context of work on self-directed support. Improving skills and confidence to use evidence forms the third pillar and is represented by work on data visualisation and peer support for self-evaluation. The final pillar is embedding evidence in organisations, through co-production, creating spaces to test and challenge evidence, and through the development of evidence-based products. Supporting people to share knowledge, learn from each other and to collectively produce new knowledge and solutions is an innovative approach but also one which should be cost-effective. Pre-print. Published in Evidence and Policy, 2014 (10)4 as Embedding research into practice through innovation and creativity: a case study from social services

This evaluation report is based on feedback from people living with dementia and carers who received an Individual Award from the Life Changes Trust. The Individual Awards Pilot Scheme was run in Argyll & Bute and Edinburgh in 2014-15 and aimed to provide a small amount of additional financial empowerment to a number of individuals whose lives have been affected by dementia, to help improve their well-being and quality of life. A secondary aim of the pilot scheme was to find out what people would spend the Award on when given relatively broad choice, and what benefit that might bring in the short and medium terms.

This is a paper produced as part of the PROP2 (Practitioner Research: Outcomes and Partnership) programme, a partnership between the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR) at the University of Edinburgh and IRISS that was about health and social care in Scotland. This paper was written by iain Houston from Alzeimer Scotland who participated in the PROP2 programme. What this research paper explores: An explorative case study investigating how completing a life story project affected a person with dementia.

Systematic review produced by the EPPI-Centre in 2015.This systematic review aimed to evaluate the effect of HAART and ARV monotherapy on liver disease progression and liver-related mortality in individuals co-infected with HIV and hepatitis C, including in patients with haemophilia.

This is a paper produced as part of the PROP2 (Practitioner Research: Outcomes and Partnership) programme, a partnership between the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR) at the University of Edinburgh and Iriss that was about health and social care in Scotland. This paper was written by Alan Gilmour from Glasgow City Community Health Partnership who participated in the PROP2 programme. This research aimed to gain an understanding of how training and information support contributes to positive outcomes for carers. It provided a range of information to answer specific questions such as: • Do carers feel that their needs are identified appropriately at different stages of their journey? • Does training contribute to the carer’s outcomes? • What are the barriers to carers engaging in training?

Report 69 published by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) in November 2014. This research, commissioned by the Department of Health (DH), set out to identify what could be learned about current policy and practice in self-neglect, experienced as a highly challenging aspect of contemporary adult social care.

This is a paper produced as part of the PROP2 (Practitioner Research: Outcomes and Partnership) programme, a partnership between the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR) at the University of Edinburgh and Iriss that was about health and social care in Scotland. This paper was written by Geraldine Ditta from Alzheimer Scotland who participated in the PROP2 programme. People living with dementia are at risk of becoming socially isolated and disconnected from their local communities. Reactions from others on being told someone has dementia can have a significant impact on the person with dementia’s sense of self. This study sought to explore the perceptions of people with dementia in relation to attitudes within their communities and how they subsequently respond. Semi-structured interviews were carried out to examine how they feel about their lives with dementia.

Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) Report 73 from SCIE roundtable discussion held on 26 March 2015. This report considers the potential of technology to transform how health and social care services are delivered.

CCPS is the Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland. Their mission is to identify, represent, promote and safeguard the interests of third sector and not-for-profit social care and support providers in Scotland, so that they can maximise the impact they have on meeting social need.

The Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC) draws on research and practice, from across the world, to provide a comprehensive, up-to-date resource on all aspects of dementia.

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is the membership organisation for Scotland's charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises.

Evaluation report for the inter-authority learning exchange between Shetland Islands, Falkirk and Glasgow Councils throughcare and aftercare teams. In February 2014 a member of the Throughcare and Aftercare team from Shetland, spent two weeks in each host authority as a means of developing and sharing practice, experience and learning. The report describes the planning process, in-situ experience, and post-exchange learning of participants, it also report highlights the positive learning outcomes and benefits achieved for all participating local authorities. The report identifies ideas for future applications of such a learning and practice exchange model to improve practice for looked after young people and care leavers.

As part of the implementation of the Equal Partners in Care (EPiC) Highland Carer’s Strategy 2014-2017 it was agreed to undertake a review of respite for Adult Carers of Adults (aged 16+). Independent consultants were commissioned by NHS Highland through Connecting Carers to undertake this work. There are four groups of people – totalling an estimated 200 people - with whom conversations have taken place during the review: Carers and staff from carer support organisations – more than 75 carers have given their views; Health and social care workforce – we have met with just over 50 people who have given their views and shared our initial findings with more than 60 others; Respite providers – we have met with staff from 15 organisations that are providers of respite Those staff responsible for overseeing the commissioning, planning and administration of respite.

The Short Breaks Fund helping to make breaks better and brighter for unpaid carers and cared-for people in Scotland. Launched in 2010 for one year, the fund has now been running for five years and has proved to be a lifeline for many carers. During the past five years the Scottish Government, through Shared Cared Scotland has distributed 12,547,409 to 697 projects to deliver innovative, tailor made breaks to groups and individuals.

In 2006 Mencap produced a comprehensive review of short break provision. Now, 10 years on, they are revisiting the support available for family carers to see whether recent policy initiatives and investment have delivered the much-needed change. A total of 264 family carers responded to their survey on short breaks provision and experiences of caring. They also sent Freedom of Information requests to all 152 local authorities in England that provide social care services. This report looks at short breaks provision in a climate of cuts to central and local government budgets. It examines the extent to which these cuts have impacted on the lives of people with a learning disability and their family carers. It also looks at the state of affairs for family carers of children and young people across the full spectrum of learning disability; from people with mild and moderate learning disabilities, to people with severe and profound disabilities.

ARCH, the National Respite Network and Resource Center in the United States of America identified that evidence-based research on respite care has, to large extent, been lacking. Across ages, needs and settings, respite is based upon the premise that providing caregivers periodic relief from daily, ongoing caregiving responsibilities will directly benefit them in terms of their physical health, immediate and long-term psychological health, and social-emotional relationships with family members. These benefits are assumed to result in secondary benefits for care receivers and even larger societal benefits in the form of cost benefits or improved employee productivity. Some research studies point to the merits of these assumptions. However, evidence-based research supporting this premise - or going beyond it to demonstrate how to best provide respite care that results in maximum benefits - has not been available. This report presents the findings of an expert panel composed of academics, researchers, service providers, advocates, policymakers and administrators representing a range of age groups, disabilities and professional disciplines. Over a period of 18 months the panel explored the current status of respite research, proposed strategies to overcome barriers to research, and developed a plan to encourage rigorous research in key areas.

Meredith McIver is the speech writer who took responsibility for Melania Trump's plagiarism (you may have heard about it?). But people aren't convinced that Meredith is even real, leading to the internet's new favorite conspiracy theory. Is Meredith McIver a fake persona created by Trump? Let's examine the evidence.

And if you'd like some appetizer Trump memes before you get started, now would be the time.

Say what you will about the President, but there's no denying that his Twitter habits have given us hours of entertainment. His latest Twitter escapade was regarding Time Magazine's 'Person of the Year' issue. On Saturday  President Trump tweeted "Time Magazine called to say that I was PROBABLY going to be named "Man (Person) of the Year," like last year, but I would have to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot. I said probably is no good and took a pass. Thanks anyway!" Parodies from comedians such as Julia Louis Dreyfuss and Billy Eichner began pouring in, along with riffs on New Yorker cartoons. Here are some of our favorites. 

And on a side note, here are some of our favorite tremendous Trump memes that are nearly unbelievable.

Some of these are even more tremendous than Donald Trump Memes. What a time to be alive. Big times up ahead...

While Trump Memes have been online for a while by now, the internet has come up with a brand new meme in light of footage of Donald Trump craning his neck over the voting booths to check his wife Melania's ballot. Possibly because everyone has a lot of time on their hands while they wait in insanely long voting lines.

Donald Trump Jr. tried to sweet talk Twitter, and NOBODY was having it. Does the guy just want to be mocked by the masses on a continually often basis at this point, or what? 

Just two dudes completely roasting the hell out of each other in a distinctively non-PC way. The back and forth here is what makes it. Sorta like this facebook thread that answered funny questions black people had about white people, it's good to see online conversations like this that don't spiral out of control.

Everyone needs to read this woman's insightful Facebook post amidst the whole college admission's scandal dominating our news feeds. 

Yesterday Trump tweeted a photo of himself hard at work on his inauguration speech and the internet has been having a field day with it. 

It started on twitter with people guessing at what The Donald might be drawing. Shortly thereafter it got a small photoshop battle. 

'What's Donald Drawing' definitely has the potential to catch on.

Get More Trump Memes that are simply tremendous, people tell me how amazing these memes are all the time.

Trump In Cinema is dedicated to displaying some of movie history's best moments with Donald Trump at the center of them. Some of these photoshops are too perfect. Others as just... troubling.

Just when we thought we'd never get anything better than Donald Trump grasping that orb, we get this dark-humored, delightfully awkward pic that just oozes cringe. Naturally, people were ready to flood Twitter with some entertaining captions. 

These memes will make you us want to quit Stalin and overthrow capitalism right Mao.

Recently Donald Trump tweeted the word "TREASON?" in light of the New York Times op ed that was published on Wednesday. The article was supposedly written by someone within the Trump Administration, calling themselves part of the "resistance." 

After Trump's "treason" tweet, people on Twitter began making their own amusing parodies, which you can read below!

It's been a fun week for political memes. While Donald Trump's friend "Jim" has been the subject of skepticism since as early as 2016, the marvelous mystery has once again been thrust into the spotlight by the Associated Press. Their July 13th piece, "Trump in Paris: The curious case of his friend Jim" was covered by outlets such as HuffPo and the AV Club, and inspired a healthy number of Twitter jokes. We've put together the most noteworthy Jim jokes from the past year, for your convenient viewing pleasure. 

New York Magazine published an excerpt from Ivana Trump's memoir Raising Trump - and it has since become a wildly entertaining meme. Thhe excerpt is actually a quote from Ivanka, reminiscing about her "punk" days. 

"During my punk phase in the nineties, I was really into Nirvana. My wardrobe consisted of ripped corduroy jeans and flannel shirts. One day after school, I dyed my hair blue. Mom wasn't a fan of this decision. She took one look at me and immediately went out to the nearest drugstore to buy a $10 box of Nice'n Easy. That night, she forced me to dye my hair back to blond. The color she picked out was actually three shades lighter than my natural color… and I have never looked back!"

The quote has left Twitter users in stitches, making Photoshop memes and mocking the wealthy businesswoman's statement. The results have been delightful.