On October 31st, 1918, as the First World War neared its end, celebrated war poet and officer of the Second Manchesters Wilfred Owen wrote home to his mother. Sadly, this would be his last letter. Four days later–exactly a century ago–Owen was shot dead as he led his company across the Sambre–Oise Canal. His mother

SALLY BANGS THE CLOWN not that there's anything wrong with that

ANATOMICALLY CORRECT Kermit wishes he was.

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During the 2017 Conference & Expo in Boston, the Standards Quest took participants through a journey of the Standards Development Process.  Participants answered questions on the Public Input, Public Comment, Technical Meeting (NITMAM), and

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Hudson Star-Observer
Published Friday, January 18, 2008

A flight of fancy for a wayward hot air balloon
by Julia Tosti
Special to The Friday Flyer

It was a beautiful morning, one of those mornings where the fog had rolled in sometime prior and settled, nestled in the valley and hugging the lake, giving it a mystical feel.
My husband and I enjoy a beautiful view from Tuscany Hills. We moved here two years ago from Orange County and have never tired of the endless beauty that surrounds our home.
From the back of our home, we have views of Canyon Lake, Mount San Jacinto, Big Bear and, far to our left, Mount Baldy. We watch hawks soar high and ducks and white cranes take flight from Canyon Lake to Lake Elsinore. It seems every morning the view is visited by a new guest that perpetuates this never-ending cascade of attractions. Today was no different.
We sat sipping on our coffee chatting and discussing the day’s tasks. We conversed about the beauty of the mountains, the mystical feel to the lake and today’s surprise guest, a hot air balloon. Typically balloons float toward Menifee, hovering high above the valley east of Canyon Lake, but today’s visitor seemed to be moving in our direction, approaching the lake.
Our excitement heightened as we watched the balloon, seeing the colorful fabric come into clearer view. At this point I decided to document this visitor and ran to get our camera. As the balloon continued to move our way it seemed to be picking up momentum; all the while, I was clicking away with our camera.
The balloon sailed over the lake, coming closer and closer and losing altitude. Our chatter turned to silence as we watched, stunned by the sight. Slowly at first, but then more rapidly, the balloon started to descend until it looked as though it was sitting on the lake. We strained to see if it had actually landed on the lake, wondering out loud if we should call 9-1-1 or the lake “coast guard” or someone! Just as we were about to dial the phone, the balloon started to rise. Slowly at first, then faster and faster until it was high in the sky. Up, up and away it went over our house, continuing to float until it was out of our sight.
Wow! We love this area – what a great place to live! It seems we are always seeing something of beauty or excitement outside our back view – and this was the icing on the lake, I mean, cake!

By Gretchen Becker
Posted: October 12, 2008
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A planned $2 million recreation of a historic balloon flight would give Conner Prairie visitors a bird's-eye view of the Fishers living-history museum.
The project was expected to be announced today, said Ellen Rosenthal, Conner Prairie president and chief executive officer.


Beginning in June, a $10 ticket would let museum guests take a 15- to 20-minute hot-air balloon ride at an elevation of 350 feet.
Rosenthal said Friday that the Balloon Voyage exhibit commemorates John Wise's 1859 launch of the first manned balloon intended to travel cross-country, from Lafayette to New York.
"It is one symbolic event that draws attention to how much progress and scientific advancement was being made," Rosenthal said. "At this event, 20,000 people were there. There were only 19,000 people in Indianapolis then. (Since) 2009 is also the 150th anniversary . . . it's now or never to do the exhibit."
Wise, a Philadelphia native, was trying to prove that mail could be delivered across the country by air, Rosenthal said. Winds on Aug. 17, 1859, sent him south instead of east as planned, so he landed 40 miles away in Crawfordsville. Although a train eventually delivered the mail, the landmark launch was still considered a success.
Dan Freas, Conner Prairie's director of museum experience, discovered Wise's story, Rosenthal said. To learn more, museum representatives visited the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., to which one of Wise's relatives donated his journals and notebooks.
Tom D. Crouch, a senior curator of the Smithsonian's aeronautics division, told Conner Prairie representatives he'd waited years for an exhibit like this to introduce people to early flight attempts in America.
The exhibit is to be installed in the current Clowes Common area next to the main museum center. Before that can happen, Conner Prairie must appeal a Fishers zoning rule to allow for the equipment, Rosenthal said.
The museum plans to renovate Clowes Common to make concessions look the way they would have in 1859, Rosenthal said. Plans also call for an outdoor exhibit to engage guests in activities such as filling gas balloons and trying on the helmets of balloon pilots, or aeronauts.
The Balloon Voyage would join other living-history experiences at Conner Prairie, which include recreated towns from 1836 and 1886 and a Lenape Indian camp from the early 1800s, when white settlement of the area was beginning.
• Call Star reporter Gretchen Becker at (317) 444-2805.

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.

This project aims to identify factors which contribute to effective, child focussed, SMART plans for children by getting the views of social workers who work in child protection and those who chair child protection case conferences. It will consider ways of working in a more inclusive, collaborative way with children and their families, as well as ways to work more effectively in partnership with other agencies. It will also consider whether the Signs of Safety approach to child protection has a role to play in making plans more effective. The project is an IRISS project in partnership with East Lothian Council and is supported by WithScotland and Social Work Scotland. It is anticipated that the final report will assist with further development of positive outcomes for children and young people across Scotland.

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.

Meaningful and Measurable was a Collaborative Action Research project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The project brought together three academic organisations, eight practice partners and four national stakeholder organisations with a shared interest: adopting a focus on personal outcomes in health, social care and other human services. The project aims included: 1.To develop and test out in practice approaches to the qualitative and quantitative analysis of personal outcomes data and use of this information for decision making within organisations. 2.To capture emergent good practice in the analysis and use of personal outcomes information and disseminate this widely to practice, policy and academic audiences. 3.To explore the practical, epistemological and political tensions inherent in this work and capture evidence as to the benefits and limitations of different approaches

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

Short breaks are among the most fundamental services for supporting families with disabled children. By providing breaks from caring and positive experiences for children and young people, they allow parent carers to focus on relationships with other children, or to have time to themselves or with their partner, leading to lower levels of psychological distress, higher levels of life satisfaction and better health. As a result, fewer parent carers reach ‘breaking point’ and fewer children require access to emergency provision or enter the looked after system. This report, commissioned by Every Disabled Child Matters, looks at the current provision of short breaks to families of disabled children in England.

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.

The Better Breaks funding programme is focused on improving the range and availability of short break opportunities for disabled children and young people, particularly those with multiple support needs, including short break opportunities that families can enjoy together, or which allow parents and siblings to have time away from their caring responsibilities. This is the summary report.

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 71 from SCIE Roundtable held on 12 February 2015. The aim of the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) roundtable discussion was to identify, celebrate, support and learn from community-led activity.

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 Sarah Duff from Alzheimer Scotland who participated in the PROP2 programme and is a research study exploring the experience of group yoga classes and music with those affected by 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.