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Beating The Cold
For many with outside jobs, the cold isn't conducive to productivity. That's the reason many COSMIX construction workers got to go home early, Monday. "Weather like this is awful, it's so cold," said COSMIX spokesman Bill Badger. "When you tell the guys they get to go home for the day because it's too cold, most are pretty happy about that!"From breaks at work to broken bones, Memorial Hospital's emergency room was up to it's neck in weather-related injuries."Lots of bumps, bruises, fractured hips and broken wrists," said emergency room Doctor, Rich Loehre. Whether you're shoveling snow or just walking, Dr. Loehre says give yourself a little more time to do it."Be aware of your body mechanics, take things slower, take smaller steps."Dr. Loehre also says bundle up to avoid freezing-- a big concern for the homeless.
UK online centre projects to demonstrate social impact of ICT
Thousands of socially excluded people will get the chance to change their lives and reconnect with their communities by connecting with ICT, thanks to 20 new projects to be run by UK online centres across England.
The projects will support the areas identified in last year's Social Exclusion Action Plan - families in poverty, teenage parents, adults with mental illnesses and those supporting children in care. Some projects will also support older people, who form a significant proportion of those at both a social and digital disadvantage.
UK online centres were encouraged to bid for their share in the £2million of Social Impact Demonstrators grant funding, provided by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). The top 20 projects were picked by a panel of judges, including private and voluntary sector stakeholders.
Heading up the panel was Helen Milner, Managing Director of UK online centres. She said: "We were looking for projects which demonstrated creative use of ICT and innovation in engaging with key audiences. The winning bids are all designed to make a deep impact on specific groups, getting some of the hardest to reach people online for the first time, learning new skills, connecting with their communities and interacting with public services.
"The projects will explore the links between social and digital exclusion, and how ICT and the skills to use it can benefit individuals, families, communities and society itself. I'm excited about the potential of these projects to make a real difference to people's lives, and a difference to how we look at and address digital and social exclusion in the future."
More than 150 UK online centres will be involved in delivering the 20 projects. Each project will receive up to £100,000, and run for between six and 15 months. Some will help disadvantaged people with free or loaned home computers and internet access - others are using blogs, video diaries and digital media to collect stories and record how ICT can change lives. From outreach activities to community websites, the successful projects will all bring together local voluntary and community organisations to engage and support the people they're targeting.
One of the successful bids came from the Harold Tomlins Centre in Chester, run by Chester Aid to the Homeless (CATH). Chief Executive Robert Bisset explained: "The Social Impact Demonstrators funding will help us embed ICT into the work we already do to support homeless people. The project will see the introduction of a new 'Living and Learning' programme which will target older homeless people and those clients with mental health problems, and which will have technology at its heart.
"The fact is computers are key to everyday life now - in terms of employment and even communication. An email account is a real lifeline if you don't have a fixed address, and we've found ICT can be a real 'hook' for people. Once they're in front of a monitor, we'll introduce different elements of the programme, including living strategies and job skills, courses and qualifications. We'll also integrate housing services and work or volunteer experience by building on existing partnerships with the council and with local businesses.
"At CATH, we work with some very vulnerable and troubled people, for whom homelessness is often just one of many problems. Our job is to help them progress their lives - finding confidence, stability, accommodation and work. I'm excited about the potential of this project to help even more people make that journey."
Helen concluded: "Like Robert, I believe ICT really does have the potential to offer people new opportunities and new choices. I also believe UK online centres have a role to play in ensuring socially excluded people are able to take advantage of them. The results of these projects will help us demonstrate the clear link between social and digital exclusion, and help shape future activity to ensure we're reaching those who need us most."
Ends
For more information on UK online centres and the Social Impact Demonstrators projects, please contact Abi Stevens on 0790 987 5890.
Notes to editors
UK online centres engage with adults who have low or no skills in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), or who do not have access to ICT at home or at work.
Call Centers Come Home
In an effort to cut costs, companies have been outsourcing their call center functions for the past decade to low-wage workers in India, the Philippines and other far-flung countries. But that trend is changing as call centers are coming homeand into the homes of free-agent workers in the United States. Early adopters of the trend, which is sometimes referred to as homeshoring, include JetBlue Airways, Alpine Access, PHH Arval and LiveOpscompanies that since about 1999 have rejected traditional employer squeamishness about managing a telecommuting workforce and have made at-home agents their central staffing model. Now other employers are following suit, and the trend toward using at-home workers is taking flight. (See A Trend on the Rise.)
Some of the benefits that companies derive from tapping this workforce include reduced costs, increased staffing flexibility and an expanded pool of job applicants.
Can Working In Your Bathrobe Help You Attain Life Balance? - Work ...
Gurnee, IL (February 2007) – If your job often makes you feel tired, burned out, or stressed to the max, try a new bathrobe on for size. February 12, 2007 is the fifth annual “Doing Business in Your Bathrobe Day," a time to celebrate the freedom home business ownership offers people. In fact, more than 4.5 million home business owners have waved goodbye to the pressures of the corporate rat race and have settled into a more balanced and better quality of life…working from home. Kristie Tamsevicius, co-founder of Webmomz.com, a site that empowers women who have chosen to work from home, views having a home business as the ultimate life balancer. “Some people may think that living and working under the same roof creates more stress, but in fact, just the opposite is true. Working from home gives you the freedom to schedule your work around your life, rather than the other way around.
Easy Home Based Businesses
If you want to survive in this world and support your everyday needs, then its either you work for others or work for yourself. The former is the more common choice simply since people find it easier to find a job working for other people. Traditionally, employees favor a predictable office lifestyle than the risks involved in running their own business. Nowadays, however, more and more individuals discover that they prefer to have their own business in order to free themselves from the constant 9 to 5 hour routine that a normal day job requires. Establishing a home based business may seem daunting at first but things can be easy if you know which direction to take. .
Rescued Missouri boy only talking to FBI
KIRKWOOD, Mo. (AP) - The uncle of a 13-year-old boy rescued four days after he was snatched on his way home from school said on Monday that no one is pushing the boy to talk about his ordeal.
Lloyd Bailie, the uncle of teenager Ben Ownby, told CBS' “Early Show" that the boy was only talking with FBI counselors.“No one's pushing him at this point to answer these questions," Bailie said. “The biggest concern right now is all of the media coverage ... that somebody's going to ask the wrong question. ... (But) at this point, everyone has been very respectful of Ben and his family."On Friday, police found Ben and another missing boy, Shawn Hornbeck, in the home of 41-year-old Michael Devlin. Shawn was 11 when he disappeared in 2002.Devlin was arrested and jailed on $1 million bond.
After 26 years, inmate seeks second chance
In January, 1981, Timothy Caffrey of Martin put a .25-caliber handgun to the side of his father's head and pulled the trigger. Then he shot him again, stole the dead man's money and set out to cover up the crime.
It was, he concedes, a methodical act, one driven by what he viewed as a father turned irrational by alcohol abuse who wanted to part ways with the son because of Caffrey's own drug abuse as a teenager.
Caffrey didn't want that to happen.
Twenty-six years later, it remains Caffrey's defining act.
After having a first-degree murder conviction overturned and subsequently pleading guilty to manslaughter, Caffrey has been serving a sentence of life without parole in the South Dakota State Penitentiary.
The state parole board has recommended that the sentence be softened to allow Caffrey to one day get out.
