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If you're thinking about selling products online but you're unsure where to begin then don't worry, you have definitely come to the right place.

Whether you've been running your business for years or you've only just started, you need to be sure you're as prepared as you can be when it comes to selling your products online. Luckily, there are lots of ways in which you can do exactly that. From working out which products you're going to sell to finding out a way to direct traffic to your store, you need to be sure you're doing all that you can to prepare for your launch in advance. Whilst it may be overwhelming at first, you'll be thankful when your business is a huge success. With that in mind, here are 13 things to consider before selling your products online:

One of the first things you need to do when it comes to selling your products is to put together a business plan. Whether youve already started working on one or youre yet to give it a go, having a business plan in place in the best way to ensure your business is going to get off to a strong start. It will feature your mission statement, your goals and all of the steps youre going to need to take in order to run your business successfully.

Although it can take some time to put together, having a business plan is essential for those that want to succeed. For some tips and tricks when it comes to putting together a business plan, you can visit this site here.

While youre putting together your business plan, you also need to think about the products youre going to sell. Whether youre selling your full product line online or youre just choosing a select few products, having a clear idea of what you want to list online will make all of your other decisions much easier. If youre unsure what you should be selling online, you may want to take a look at what your competitors are doing and what is performing well for them. It may be that you launch a couple of products, to begin with, and then build on your range.

When youre thinking of your products, you need to consider whether or not youre going to be buying them yourself or getting them from a supplier. Although both are great options, you need to think about your business model before you started selling things online. Have you always created your own products? Do you make enough profit margin? For a guide to making your own products for your business, you can visit this site here.

Another important thing to consider when it comes to your products is how much stock youre going to need at once. If youre a small business that only gets one or two orders a week, chances are youre not going to need to keep high levels of stock. If youre expecting lots of orders, however, youre going to need to ensure you have the stock levels that are needed to fulfil the orders. If you notice youre getting busier and busier each week, you may want to consider increasing your stock in small increments.

If you have to invest a lot into your stock before it sells, its best to start with small numbers at first.

Once you have started to think about the products youre going to sell and the quantity of stock youre going to need to think about where youre going to be selling them. Whether youre using social media as your sole platform or youre using sites like Etsy or eBay, its important you know which platform your target audience is most likely going to be using. If youre unsure, you may want to trial a couple of different platforms before you find what is right for you. For advice when it comes to choosing the right platform to sell your products, you can visit this site here.

Another great way to sell your products online is to build your own website, which is what most online sellers should be aiming to do as their business starts to grow. If youre going to be setting up your website from the start of your launch, you need to be sure youre doing all that you can to make it a success. This means hiring a designer and web developer, putting all your efforts into writing the web copy and ensuring that it works from a user perspective. The more time you put into your website, the better.

If youre worried about creating a website, there are lots of people that you can outsource the work to. Not only will this help free up your time but it will also ensure that your website is fully functional from the get-go.

Once you have built your website or started listing your products online, you need to think about how youre going to be driving traffic to your website. From focussing on your SEO to working with a paid ads specialist, there are lots of ways to get people to click through to your site. Although it may not happen right away, after a little bit of hard work youll soon start to see your numbers grow. Patience is key when it comes to traffic.

Another great way to direct traffic to your site and to grow your brand is to use social media to promote your products. Again, this is not something that will happen instantly but if youre consistent in your message it will come. Whether youre using Instagram to share photos of your products or youre using Facebook to go live and show a behind the scenes look at running a business, the more followers you have the more chance you have of turning them into paying customers.

When it comes to followers, you need to ensure theyre all within your target audience if you want a high chance of converting them.

If youre struggling to grow your brand and direct traffic to your site, working with influencers and bloggers is a great idea. Working with influencers who have a similar target audience to you will allow you to get your products in front of people who may be interested. Although it will cost you, its proven to be super effective.

Another important thing to consider when it comes to selling your products online is how youre going to be shipping your products once they start to sell. Whether youre using a shipping company or youre heading to the post office on your own, you need to choose the method that is easiest for you. In most cases, it will come down to the time and cost that you have to invest. For more information when it comes to shipping, you can visit this site here.

Speaking of shipping, you also need to think about whether or not youre going to be charging for delivery. Although some companies choose to offer free delivery over a certain spend, often not possible for those that are running small businesses from their home. If you do want to charge free delivery, you need to ensure your prices reflect that.

Another important thing to consider is whether or not you need to put together a refund and returns policy. Although you dont necessarily want to think about people returning your products and asking for refunds, having a policy in place will make it much easier should this happen. If you can, try to include this policy on your website.

If you need help when it comes to putting together a refund and returns policy, you can visit this site here.

Finally, you need to think about whether or not you have a contingency plan in place. Although you may never need to use it, knowing what youre going to do if your business is not successful is important as it will allow you to prepare in advance. After all, you never know what could happen in the world of business.

Are you thinking of starting an online business selling products? What can you do to ensure your business is a success from the start? How will you be selling your products? Did we miss anything? Let me know your thoughts and ideas in the comments section below.

More here:
Effect of Banner Blindness on Design - BBN Times

Pastor Terry Goerz,Redeemer Lutheran Church

Jesus healed a man who was born blind. The church officials of the day refused to believe that Jesus could have done this, since in their eyes Jesus was a sinner. He was healing on the Sabbath, the holy day, when no work was to be done.

The blind man testified he was born blind and Jesus put some mud on his eyes, told him to go wash, and he could see.

They refused to believe. They called his parents who testified that he was born blind and now he could see, but they did not know how.

They called the blind man again who again testified that Jesus had restored his sight. They still refused to believe, Jesus was a sinner, and God does not use sinners to heal.

The man born blind not only had his physical sight restored, but he had his spiritual sight restored as he worshiped Jesus as the Son of Man, that is the long promised Messiah who was to save the world.

Jesus concluded this account saying in John 9:39, For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.

When we read this account from scripture we may feel what dummies. Couldnt they see the obvious? Sadly, this same blindness is all around us today. God creates us as spiritual beings, knit together in the womb, yet multitudes of babies are murdered in the womb.

It is now legally possible to take your own life, or anothers, through the euthanasia legislation. Homosexuality, described as an abomination to God, is now celebrated as an alternative life style. Marriage, which is described in scripture as the lifelong union of one man and one woman, is ignored with same sex marriage becoming common.

It seems our society today suffers from the same blindness that the church officials of Jesuss day suffered from. We think, as a society, we are so advanced, so smart, so enlightened. Yet the word of God seems to be screaming what dummies.

The real problem, though, is not connected to mankinds natural intelligence. As a result of the fall of man in the garden of Eden we are all born in sin and conceived in iniquity. We are naturally alienated enemies of God and destined for an eternity separated from God in a torturous place called hell; unless we have our spiritual eyes opened. Without God working in our lives, mankind cannot see and understand what is obvious.

As Jesus said earlier, For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.

Paul tells us the same thing in 1 Corinthians 1:18,19 for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.

Fortunately for mankind we have a God who is full of mercy and grace. It is His desire that all mankind be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. This is the message of reconciliation that has been committed to all Christians.

2 Corinthians 5: 1921: That God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting mens sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christs ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christs behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

While there may be some value in rallying and lobbying against the blindness that is so obvious in our society, the real answer is to apply the balm that opens their eyes. God made Jesus to be sin for us. Jesus has paid the penalty for the sin of the whole world, past, present and future.

We who serve our Lord should be acting as Christs ambassadors and telling all those around us that God wants to be reconciled to them, that forgiveness and life eternal are a free gift available to all who will believe.

God will use that message in those whom He has called and chosen to open their eyes to the truth. One by one God will use us as He snatches the lost from the fire.

Blessings!

Link:
Inspiration - We are all Christ's ambassadors | - South Peace News

Can the Coronavirus be the key to getting Bill Cosby out of the slammer? His lawyers hope so.

As per Page Six, Cosbys legal team is filing a motion to get him released from his Pennsylvania jail and put on house arrest amid reports that at least one prison officer has tested positive for COVID-19.

At his age, Cosby is at a greater risk of having serious complications if he were to contract the Coronavirus. Not to mention the close quarters in prison.

His lawyers say he is not a threat to the public if hes allowed to serve his time from home due to his advanced age and blindness. He would wear an ankle monitor and his wife would supposedly take care of him.

Will the plea work? We will have to wait and see. Considering his Pennsylvania mansion is 9,000-square-feet, as Page Six notes, he can easily practice social distancing.

Related:Celebrity Inmate Bill Cosby Says He'd Rather Do A Decade In Prison Than Show Remorse

Another celebrity-turned-criminal dealing with COVID-19 is Harvey Weinstein. Hehas tested positive for the virus, as we reported on The Things. Will Weinstein be handed a get out of jail free card too, so he doesnt spread it around?

Cosby may even push for Weinstein to be given special treatment. Cosbys publicist called Weinsteins conviction a sad day for the American judicial system, as NBC News reported.

Two peas in a pod? At least theyre not in the same prison.

Next:More Trouble For Harvey Weinstein... He Tests Positive For Coronavirus!

Mason Disick Takes To Social Media And Spills Info About Kylie Jenner

See the rest here:
Free Cosby... From Coronavirus | TheThings - TheThings

in Lifestyle 27-03-2020 01:00:00 0 Comments

If you're lucky enough to have your own garden, there's lots of ways you and your family could enjoy it - and connect with nature and benefit from a wellbeing boost in the process.

With social distancing at the height of the agenda at present, you might need to make sure you keep a safe distance from neighbours, so be sensible and follow the all-important guidelines. But gardens can bolster wellbeing for both children and adults, says gardening writer, presenter and horticultural influencer Ellen Mary.

Mary, who specialises in gardening for wellbeing, has just launched a 30 Moments In Nature challenge on her website, featuring activities to help people reconnect with nature.

"We all lead such busy lives, with everyday stresses of work, school and digital life, that 'nature deficit disorder' and even 'plant blindness' has become all too real," she says.

"There is nature everywhere, and spotting it, even in the most unlikely places, can give a much better understanding of how we are all connected - to nature, not our phones."

Here, Mary offers top tips on how you and your children can reconnect with nature in your own garden...

1. Garden tracing

This is an activity many of us took part in at school as a child and it's still really good fun, no matter what age we are. Children can learn about plants and trees in their garden, identify them and be outside away from computers and mobile phones. Studies have shown that walking among trees reduces levels of cortisol and can even boost the immune system.

Activity: Take a walk in your garden with some paper and a crayon. Trace the bark of a tree, if you have one, and a fallen leaf to stick on the paper by your tracing. Look closely at the tree, identify it, touch the bark and the leaves. Back inside, put it on your fridge. Each time you look at your tracing, remember how you felt in the garden, the smells and the air on your face.

2. Walk barefoot

Walking barefoot brings us into direct contact with the planet and allows us to absorb the natural energy the earth provides. This is known as 'earthing' and it's said to have a host of benefits. Great on a warm morning in the garden.

Activity: Get your socks off! Put your shoes aside. Feel liberated by walking outside on the lawn or a soft outdoor surface with bare feet. Feel the natural negative charge from the earth being absorbed through the soles of your feet. Allow it to happen, accept it. Breathe deeply and relax.

3. Spot a star constellation

When we are busy looking down at phones and laptops, it's easy to forget to look up. By looking up at the night sky not only is it a hub of fascination and awe but it's also a relaxing activity before bedtime. Finding shapes in the moon and trying to spot star constellations can be a lovely way to switch off before a good night's sleep.

Activity: Did you ever stare at the stars as a child and wonder what they are? Glistening in the sky, light years away. It's really good fun identifying star constellations but if you can't work out where Orion is, make your own shapes in the sky like a dot-to-dot drawing.

4. Sow some seeds

Sowing seeds is now only a great way to grow your own food, but also for children to understand where their food comes from. Great seeds to try with children are sunflowers, nasturtiums and microgreens, which grow really quickly.

Activity: Be mindful and sow some seeds. Before you do, feel the seeds in your hand. What is the texture, shape, size? Look close at the detail - does each seed differ? Smell them and if they are edible, taste them. Be marvelled at the way those tiny seeds become big fruits, vegetables or flowers.

5. See life beneath

Picking up a large stone from your garden, your children will be able to marvel at the life beneath. They'll be fascinated by the woodlice, ants, worms and beetles. We forget that inner child as we grow up and life takes over.

Activity: Revisit those memorable moments with your children, lifting a stone in your garden and encouraging the children to stay inquisitive and keep looking.

Original post:
Fun ways for kids to reconnect in the garden - The Portugal News

Monday marked the turning. There appeared a line that we all stepped over together into this odd, unsettled twilight land we now find ourselves in.

On Friday thousands still gathered at Bondi beach. But a friend who was there said the vibe, which couldnt be captured by the pictures (themselves now viral), was more complex. There was this instinct to come together one last time, to seize the dwindling moment, he told me. It was less wilful blindness, he said, and more paradoxically a life-affirming impulse in the face of the terrible known unknown that was coming next.

By Sunday, Bondis brief Weimar Republic moment was over. The beaches were fenced shut. We all knew now, if we didnt know it then, that our lives would enter a new, much darker phase, unlike anything most of us have experienced.

By Monday an estimated 88,000 people lost their jobs in the hospitality industry alone and tried to file for unemployment. The system crashed under the demand.

Black Monday brought waves upon waves of frightening news (record job losses, NRL season over, Olympics wont go ahead, Queensland to shut borders, 3,000 Australians stranded on cruise ships; pubs, cafe, licensed premises, gyms etc all shut at midday). There were heartbreaking sights: the streets all across the country empty, except for thousands and thousands of people queuing at a mandated social distance for Centrelink. The next day people started lining up at 4:30am.

The virus is invisible but the economic devastation is a tragedy you could see. Each job loss represents a seismic explosion in an individuals world. By the end of Monday at least 15% of people I know had lost a substantial portion of their income, or their jobs or businesses they had spent decades building up.

And in all this - when you need it most you cannot get a hug from your friends

Suddenly jobless in my circle were yoga teachers, barmen, baristas, cafe owners, a university support worker, university cleaner, personal trainers, roadies, two tour managers for bands, freelance journalists, friends in PR and regional journalism, playwrights, coffee cart owners, sound engineers, winery owners, chefs, cinema operators, kitchen hands, film production crew, ushers at theatres, stage hands, driving instructors, those doing contract work for financial services, event organisers, florists and professional MCs.

When I spoke to these friends, the conversations were flooded with fear.

As a society, white Australia has not experienced this level of fear collectively before.

Fear is everywhere this week. You can see it in peoples eyes and hear it in their voices. It even leeches out of text messages as if the virus had the power to distort even the most disembodied form of communication.

But mostly fear is in the air thick and heavy all around us like an invisible pea soup, carrying an almost chemical taint. This taint feels hormone-like in its elements, a kind of an anti-pheromone that repels rather than attracts. Passing people quickly on the streets the fear is dense and hard to move though and when home, secure in our houses, we carry it back with us on our clothes and around our bodies.

There is cruelty heaped upon cruelty with this pandemic. The fear is not just the mortal fear of contracting what could be a deadly virus, the fear is losing your job and having no money, the fear is being evicted and made homeless, the fear is foreclosure, the fear is being separated from your family whether interstate or overseas (or in my case, a town two hours away), the fear is bankruptcy and sacking your staff, the fear is your debt, the fear is for the education and anxiety of your children, the fear is for the health of your elderly parents, the fear is for your immunocompromised friends. It goes on.

The fear also includes each persons unique personal reckoning. Right now were all meeting our own fears and limits. Character is being swiftly revealed. Each persons bundle of fear is different: you are in an imperfect or dysfunctional relationship, or you are isolated alone in an enormous tower in the city in a 50 sqm flat, or you are single and lonely and miss your friends, or you are sheltering with a violent or unpredictable partner, or you are overwhelmed by your children, or you are in substandard or insecure housing, or you are with near strangers in your random share house, or with your boyfriend of three weeks, whom you really dont know that well yet.

And in all this, when you need it most you cannot get a hug from your friends.

What parts of ourselves are we going to meet there in our quarantine houses and apartments, during our 4am insomnia and aching with loneliness and heartache for the lovely, bright lost world outside our doors?

On Monday, in central Victoria, it was the last day of trade for many small, independent businesses in my town. The high street had changed overnight. A man (security? management?) stood at the door of the butchers shop in gloves, wiping down doors, policing social distancing. Shoppers were wearing face masks, people swerved away from each other when passing in the street. Everything looked familiar, and entirely strange. The weather was crisp and sunny and the gold leaves were yet to turn.

I got my last coffee from my favourite cafe and stood in a warming patch of autumnal sun.

Across the street there was a funeral home, and a service was coming out. There were plastic chairs spaced far apart in the forecourt and large bottles of hand sanitiser on trestle tables.

People came out dispersing onto the street. I watched and waited then I saw it people hesitating, then hugging each other quickly on the road.

Watching this broke my heart. It was a bit of the old world of touch and comfort and a bit of the new world of fear and distance. This is the week were crossing over.

The cafe shut indefinitely now, the tables were packed away. I stood still in the patch of sun for a long time after, crying outside a funeral for a stranger, and then walked home to isolate.

Brigid Delaney is a Guardian Australia columnist

Read the original here:
We crossed over this week: coronavirus is heaping cruelty upon cruelty - The Guardian

I watched Love is Blind with my eyes closed, and I cant say I was surprised.

After days of hearing all about Netflixs new hot dating show, I decided to see what the hype was about, and given the unique circumstances presented in the program experiment, I decided to play along. If the dating was going to be blind, I would be blind too. But it turns out, love really probably isnt all that blind. Theres a lot one can still gather from the sound of anothers voice.

For those unfamiliar, the rules are simple. Participants had about ten days in pods to shop around for a fiance before they must decide whether to get married in a matter of just a few short weeks following a brief getaway to Mexico together. But heres the catch: singles were barred from actually seeing each other until a marriage proposal was accepted in the pod.

With nothing to go off in the way of their appearance except for their voice, which, as I discovered, you can still tell a lot from, it presented a daunting experiment to those participating. Is love really blind? Can couples really disconnect emotional compatibility with physical attraction? Do we really have dating reversed in the real world? Intriguing questions to be sure, but they were presented in a limited experiment at best.

For one, the cast of characters turned out to be pretty predictable. I only kept my eyes shut for the first episode, and by the time episode two rolled around, Cameron and Lauren had already gotten engaged. Both quirky, cute, geeky and charming, it came as little surprise. These traits and mannerisms could be picked up on just by the sounds and inflection in each of their voices, and Lauren had given away that she was black by telling off another guy who speculated about her race.

The other couples in the season were even more predictable, particularly Barnett who was found stuck between Amber and Jessica. Sure its judgmental and assuming, but its human, and all three sounded just as attractive as they looked, and the participants could probably pick up on the others level of attractiveness through the pod. It was no surprise either that Mark, a fitness instructor, was hitting things off with Jessica too, whose high-pitched feminine voice painted a relatively accurate picture as one of the shows prettiest people.

In the end, the couples to end up engaged in Mexico had found their partner evenly matched in their level of attractiveness despite not even seeing each other before they got engaged. Subconsciously, I suspect deep down that they all saw what I did in the blindness of the pods, imagining the figure behind the wall through the context presented by the sounds of their voice and any other clues in their background, i.e., fitness expert. After all, its human nature.

The biggest surprise to come when opening my eyes for the rest of the series was how well the singles so often dressed as if they were preparing for a magazine photoshoot. These people were talking to a wall and drinking copious amounts of alcohol, so why dress up? They were on TV to be fair, but there was plenty of time to play dress up in the more momentous occasions on the show such as the second proposals where their looks were revealed and their trips to Mexico.

The experiment seemed to work, for some couples. Of course thats something to celebrate, and I wish them all the best. But the experiment remained limited in scope as the couples no doubt were able to sense identifiable physical characteristics through the sound of the others voice.

So is love blind? Probably not.

The rest is here:
I Watched 'Love Is Blind' With My Eyes Closed - The Federalist

The CW shared spring premiere dates, which sees season two of In the Dark debut April 16 and DCs Stargirl premiere May 19.

Perry Mattfeld stars in In the Dark. She plays Murphy, a messy 20-something who struggles with love, alcohol and blindness. CBS Television Studios and Warner Bros. Television, in association with Red Hour Films, produce the show. Executive producers are Corinne Kingsbury, Ben Stiller, Jackie Cohn, Nicholas Weinstock, Michael Showalter and Emily Fox .

DCs Stargirl follows high school student Courtney Whitmore as she inspires an unlikely group of heroes to stop the villains of the past. Brec Bassinger, Luke Wilson and Amy Smart star. That show debuts a day after its digital debut on DC Universe.

Geoff Johns executive produces with Melissa Carter, who is co-showrunner, and Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Greg Beeman. Berlanti Productions and Mad Ghost Productions produce the series in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Go here to see the original:
The CW Shares Start Dates for In the Dark and DCs Stargirl - Broadcasting & Cable

It is with great sadness to announce that Beverly Patte Szewczyk of Rochester (Penfield), NY, passed away peacefully on March 20, 2020, at the age of 78.

Bev was born in Holyoke, MA. She spent her childhood in Dryden, NY and graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Physical Education. She spent her child-raising years in Rochester (Brighton), NY and Madison, CT. Bev loved the outdoors, sports, and was involved in many PTA activities. She passed these passions on to her children and grandchildren.

Bev was an amazing woman who was an inspiration to anyone who knew her. Even with her blindness, she always had a positive outlook on life. She was a fun-loving spirit and had a recognizable laugh that brightened up any room. Her incredible strength was very evident during her battle to survive numerous medical issues over that last several months. She lived a fantastic life.

Bev is survived by her loving husband of 53 years, Richard Szewczyk; her son, Todd Szewczyk and wife Kim (Hollis, NH); and her daughter, Kathleen Kenney and husband Dan (Jamison, PA). She is also survived by 5 grandchildren, Lindsey, Kyle and Brian Szewczyk and Kylie and Danny Kenney; her brother, George Patte and wife Mary; and sister, Mary Ann Hester and husband Gerry. She is predeceased by her parents, George and Patricia Patte; and her, sister Kathy Malison.

A memorial service and celebration of life will be postponed and announced at a later date due to the virus pandemic that has affected the entire nation. Lansing Funeral Home in Lansing, NY, is assisting the family. In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution in Bevs name to ABVI (Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired), 500 South Clinton Street, Rochester, NY 14520.

To share a memory, please visit http://www.lansingfuneralhome.com.

See the original post:
Obituary: Beverly Patte Szewczyk - The Ithaca Voice

The proportion of U.S. adults at high risk for blindness has grown over a 15-year period and so has the share who say they cannot afford eyeglasses, according to a new study.

Between 2002 and 2017, the number of people at high risk for vision loss seniors, people with diabetes and those with eye disorders rose from 65 million to 93 million, but 40% of adults said they hadnt been getting yearly eye exams, researchers report in JAMA Ophthalmology.

Nearly 1 in 10 also said they couldnt afford eyeglasses.

We have a large number of adults at high risk for vision loss and at high risk for not receiving recommended eye care, said study leader Sharon Saydah of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The solution is to really improve access, awareness and the affordability of eye care.

Saydah and colleagues looked at nationally representative surveys of 31,000 adults in 2002 and nearly 33,000 adults in 2017.

The proportion at increased risk for vision loss grew between the two surveys: adults over age 65 rose from about 51% to 53% of the total, and those with a diabetes diagnosis rose from about 21% to 25%.

People reporting vision problems or eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, or eye injury grew from 9% in 2002 to almost 11% in 2017, the study found.

Among all adults, the proportion who said they couldnt afford eyeglasses rose from 8.3% in 2002 to 8.7% in 2017.

While not having corrective lenses wont lead to vision damage, it can lead to injury, Saydah said. Having poor vision and not being able to see properly can contribute to falls and can lead to other disabilities, she said.

A major factor leading to vision loss in seniors is high blood sugar, Saydah said. But if diabetes is managed properly and blood sugar levels are controlled, that can help reduce vision loss, she added.

While U.S. seniors are covered by Medicare, the original version of the federal health insurance program for those 65 and older doesnt cover regular eye exams unless the patient has diabetes or is at high risk for glaucoma.

In 2017, among adults at high risk of blindness, 57% reported visiting an eye care professional annually and 60% had received a dilated eye examination.

This study highlights critical gaps in eye care access and affordability in the United States, and indicates these gaps have persisted despite shifts in our health insurance landscape, Bonnielin Swenor, of the Wilmer Eye Institute and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, said in an email.

This study is not examining a question about improving eye conditions, but instead focuses on access and affordability of eyeglasses, said Swenor, who wasnt involved in the study.

Currently most medical insurance and Medicare do not cover the costs of eyeglasses, which this data support as an important gap for the American population.

Unless something changes, the problem is likely to get worse, said Dr. Syed Mahmood Ali Shah, an associate professor of ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

While there was a slight increase over the past 15 years in the percentage of patients getting examined, the number of elderly with diabetes is expected to double by 2040, said Shah, who was not involved in the new research.

Shah suspects cost is the big reason for patients skipping eye exams. Even among those with some coverage, there can be a significant copay, he said, which not everyone can afford.

Read this article:
Number of U.S. adults at risk for blindness on the rise - The Union Leader

Colour blindness may not remain a roadblock for driving anymore as the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on Monday drafted a notification for issuing license to people suffering from colour vision deficiency. "Being sensitive to the issues raised and considering the demand of such citizens, the Ministry has issued a draft notification GSR 176 E, dated 16 March 2020 for amendment to Form 1 and 1A of Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989 for soliciting comments and suggestions," ministerial officials told ANI.

"The matter was sympathetically examined consulting the Medical experts. It had been reported that the citizens with certain degree of colour blindness can be provided with driving license and this is being done in many countries of the world," they added.

The issue was brought to the notice of the ministry that the colour blind are unable to own a license for driving.

The draft norms have been prepared after ophthalmologists from the All Indian institute of Medical sciences suggested its positive recommendations.

According to the new draft regulations, the question of distinguishing between pigmentary colours, red and green, 'Yes/No,' shall be omitted.

However, the certification of medical fitness regarding the applicant's colour vision have been mandated. The applicant needs to prove whether he/she have been found suffering from severe or total colour blindness.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

See the rest here:
Driving license might soon be issued to those with colour blindness - Livemint

When the plague came to London in 1665, Londoners lost their wits. They consulted astrologers, quacks, the Bible. They searched their bodies for signs, tokens of the disease: lumps, blisters, black spots. They begged for prophecies; they paid for predictions; they prayed; they yowled. They closed their eyes; they covered their ears. They wept in the street. They read alarming almanacs: Certain it is, books frighted them terribly. The government, keen to contain the panic, attempted to suppress the Printing of such Books as terrifyd the People, according to Daniel Defoe, in A Journal of the Plague Year, a history that he wrote in tandem with an advice manual called Due Preparations for the Plague, in 1722, a year when people feared that the disease might leap across the English Channel again, after having journeyed from the Middle East to Marseille and points north on a merchant ship. Defoe hoped that his books would be useful both to us and to posterity, though we should be spared from that portion of this bitter cup. That bitter cup has come out of its cupboard.

In 1665, the skittish fled to the country, and alike the wise, and those who tarried had reason for remorse: by the time they decided to leave, there was hardly a Horse to be bought or hired in the whole City, Defoe recounted, and, in the event, the gates had been shut, and all were trapped. Everyone behaved badly, though the rich behaved the worst: having failed to heed warnings to provision, they sent their poor servants out for supplies. This Necessity of going out of our Houses to buy Provisions, was in a great Measure the Ruin of the whole City, Defoe wrote. One in five Londoners died, notwithstanding the precautions taken by merchants. The butcher refused to hand the cook a cut of meat; she had to take it off the hook herself. And he wouldnt touch her money; she had to drop her coins into a bucket of vinegar. Bear that in mind when you run out of Purell.

Sorrow and sadness sat upon every Face, Defoe wrote. The governments stricture on the publication of terrifying books proved pointless, there being plenty of terror to be read on the streets. You could read the weekly bills of mortality, or count the bodies as they piled up in the lanes. You could read the orders published by the mayor: If any Person shall have visited any Man known to be infected of the Plague, or entered willingly into any known infected House, being not allowed: The House wherein he inhabiteth shall be shut up. And you could read the signs on the doors of those infected houses, guarded by watchmen, each door marked by a foot-long red cross, above which was to be printed, in letters big enough to be read at a distance, Lord, Have Mercy Upon Us.

Reading is an infection, a burrowing into the brain: books contaminate, metaphorically, and even microbiologically. In the eighteenth century, ships captains arriving at port pledged that they had disinfected their ships by swearing on Bibles that had been dipped in seawater. During tuberculosis scares, public libraries fumigated books by sealing them in steel vats filled with formaldehyde gas. These days, you can find out how to disinfect books on a librarians thread on Reddit. Your best bet appears to be either denatured-alcohol swipes or kitchen disinfectant in a mist-spray bottle, although if you stick books in a little oven and heat them to a hundred and sixty degrees Fahrenheit theres a bonus: you also kill bedbugs. (Doesnt harm the books!) Or, as has happened during the coronavirus closures, libraries can shut their doors, and bookstores, too.

But, of course, books are also a salve and a consolation. In the long centuries during which the plague ravaged Europe, the quarantined, if they were lucky enough to have books, read them. If not, and if they were well enough, they told stories. In Giovanni Boccaccios Decameron, from the fourteenth century, seven women and three men take turns telling stories for ten days while hiding from the Black Deaththat last Pestilentiall mortality universally hurtfull to all that beheld ita plague so infamous that Boccaccio begged his readers not to put down his book as too hideous to hold: I desire it may not be so dreadfull to you, to hinder your further proceeding in reading.

The literature of contagion is vile. A plague is like a lobotomy. It cuts away the higher realms, the loftiest capacities of humanity, and leaves only the animal. Farewell to the giant powers of man, Mary Shelley wrote in The Last Man, in 1826, after a disease has ravaged the world. Farewell to the arts,to eloquence. Every story of epidemic is a story of illiteracy, language made powerless, man made brute.

But, then, the existence of books, no matter how grim the tale, is itself a sign, evidence that humanity endures, in the very contagion of reading. Reading may be an infection, the mind of the writer seeping, unstoppable, into the mind of the reader. And yet it is alsoin its bidden intimacy, an intimacy in all other ways banned in times of plaguean antidote, proven, unfailing, and exquisite.

Stories about plagues run the gamut from Oedipus Rex to Angels in America. You are the plague, a blind man tells Oedipus. Its 1986 and theres a plague, friends younger than me are dead, and Im only thirty, a Tony Kushner character says. There are plagues here and plagues there, from Thebes to New York, horrible and ghastly, but never one plague everywhere, until Mary Shelley decided to write a follow-up to Frankenstein.

The Last Man, which is set in the twenty-first century, is the first major novel to imagine the extinction of the human race by way of a global pandemic. Shelley published it at the age of twenty-nine, after nearly everyone she loved had died, leaving her, as she put it, the last relic of a beloved race,my companions, extinct before me. The books narrator begins as a poor and uneducated English shepherd: primitive man, violent and lawless, even monstrous. Cultivated by a nobleman and awakened to learningAn earnest love of knowledge... caused me to pass days and nights in reading and studyhe is elevated by the Enlightenment and becomes a scholar, a defender of liberty, a republican, and a citizen of the world.

Then, in the year 2092, the plague arrives, ravaging first Constantinople. Year after year, the pestilence dies away every winter (a general and never-failing physician), and returns every spring, more virulent, more widespread. It reaches across mountains, it spreads over oceans. The sun rises, black: a sign of doom. Through Asia, from the banks of the Nile to the shores of the Caspian, from the Hellespont even to the sea of Oman, a sudden panic was driven, Shelley wrote. The men filled the mosques; the women, veiled, hastened to the tombs, and carried offerings to the dead, thus to preserve the living. The nature of the pestilence remains mysterious. It was called an epidemic. But the grand question was still unsettled of how this epidemic was generated and increased. Not understanding its operation and full of false confidence, legislators hesitate to act. England was still secure. France, Germany, Italy and Spain, were interposed, walls yet without a breach, between us and the plague. Then come reports of entire nations, destroyed and depopulated. The vast cities of America, the fertile plains of Hindostan, the crowded abodes of the Chinese, are menaced with utter ruin. The fearful turn to history too late, and find in its pages, even in the pages of the Decameron, the wrong lesson: We called to mind the plague of 1348, when it was calculated that a third of mankind had been destroyed. As yet western Europe was uninfected; would it always be so? It would not always be so. Inevitably, the plague comes, at last, to England, but by then the healthy have nowhere left to go, because, in the final terror of pandemic, there is no refuge on earth: All the world has the plague!

Go here to read the rest:
What Our Contagion Fables Are Really About - The New Yorker

The Be My Eyes app which connects the blind and low-vision community to sighted volunteers

In the age of coronavirus, it is more important than ever before to help the blind and low-vision community feel supported and safe. Be My Eyes is a free mobile app with one main goal: to make the world more accessible for blind and low-vision people. The app connects blind and low-vision individuals with sighted volunteers (over 3.7 million and counting) and companies from all over the world through a live video call.

Progressive and forward thinking brands like Microsoft, Google and Procter and Gamble have also started partnering with Be My Eyes to create dedicated customer experiences. According to the WHO, the estimatednumberofpeople visually impairedin theworldis 285 million: 39 millionblindand 246 million having low vision. They represent a hugely underserved market for brands wishing to reach new customers and build unique new experiences and content.

I caught up with Will Butler, VP of Community to find out more about his journey and how brands can work with this inspiring platform.

Afdhel Aziz: Will, welcome. Please tell us about your personal journey, and how it lead you to your work at Be My Eyes?

Will Butler: Ive been dealing with changing vision most of my life. I used only one eye all throughout high school, but mostly maintained as a regular "sighted" person. I drove a car, did all the normal things a sighted person would do. It wasn't until I was 19 that my "good eye" finally gave out on me that I had to really start confronting the idea. But it took me four more years to finally take the most important step: adopting a white cane.

I wrote about this in this Times piece, but the cane is so stigmatized, it is really hard for us as newly blind people to admit that we need the tools that are available. It's like accepting defeat. But once you adopt the tools, it's far beyond defeat: it's total empowerment.

That's what I'd like to think we're doing here with Be My Eyes: giving people a tool that can change their life. An app that allows you to randomly harness the power of someone else's eyes for on-demand assistance with no strings attached? That means not leaning on friends, loved ones, or colleagues to overcome your most common daily barriers. That's pretty powerful when utilized, and I think many of our users who use the app often would testify that it has changed their lives for the better.

Will Butler, VP of Community for Be My Eyes

Aziz: Thank you for sharing that Will. Is it true that Be My Eyes is the largest online blind community out there? How do we get more members of the blind or low vision community to join?

Butler: Yes there are very few communities that have a self-selecting blind/low vision membership like ours, and certainly none that serve users in almost 200 languages. With the power of crowdsourced volunteerism and translation, we were able to scale up our UI quickly in terms of translation to meet the needs of a global community, not just a U.S.-based or westernized community. We're very proud of that and it's particularly rewarding to see Be My Eyes utilized in parts of the world where there are little to no services it truly becomes a lifeline for blind people in rural and underdeveloped parts of the world.

Due to regulations around medical data and privacy considerations, many companies have no idea who their blind users are. That's why companies even big ones with their own video chat apps, like Microsoft and Google come to Be My Eyes for that portal into the blindness community. Be My Eyes is known around the world as the go-to hub for getting support as a blind person, and for that reason companies join our platform as support providers to meet customers and users where they already are.

At the end of the day, we grow as a community by word of mouth: the power of our message, both from the volunteers and other blind users, is what propels us forward as a community. Growing the blind community is a fascinating and difficult challenge which is one that I take most of the responsibility for at Be My Eyes. We have strong connections with blindness organizations around the world who provide direct services, making sure they know about us. We attend and speak at conferences. And we use the same digital marketing tools as anyone else!

Historically blind people have been very isolated having a very custodial relationship with their sighted friends and family and haven't been directly connected to traditional information channels. Today, it's different. Blind people have incredible accessible technology natively running on iOS and Android devices. So you can reach blind people directly, searching by interests, the same way you reach someone who likes cats or sports or golf. That's pretty cool, and a sign that blind people have come a long way in terms of participation in society.

Aziz: That is pretty cool. There is something heartwarming about the fact that you have so many sighted volunteers (4 million) - why do you think that is?

Butler: I don't care what anyone says: Helping other people is the most fundamental aspect of human nature. We all tend to our needs: food, water, sleep, etc. But helping others having an understanding of ourselves in relation to other beings is the thing that elevates us beyond animals. Be My Eyes gives people who are searching for meaning and let's be honest that's all of us an opportunity to get out of the "smartphone zombie" loop and connect with a real human in a powerful way.

There's the simple task at hand: a straightforward, solvable A to B interaction. Then there's the knowledge that you helped someone, the feeling of connection and meaning it provides. I've never seen such a dopamine rush come from any other app. That's why we're approaching 4 million volunteers, and it's why people so freely and openly take to social media to share their experiences. I couldn't think of a better bridge between humans for these strange virtual times we're now living in.

In Part 2 of this interview (click here), we explore how brands like Microsoft, Google and others are working with Be My Eyes to create unique customer experiences.

See the rest here:
The Power Of Purpose: How Brands Can Work With Be My Eyes To Help The Blind And Low-Vision Community (Part 1) - Forbes

Posted March 21, 2020

Although we may have the gift of physical sight, we are all born blind blind to our pride, our sinfulness, and above all, to our true dignity as beloved children of God.

Andrew Lane, a seminarian at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania shares how Christs miraculous healing of a man born blind invites us to let ourselves be healed by Gods love, that we in turn might help to heal others and the wounded world in which we live.

If youre accessing this podcast on a mobile device and do not wish to download the SoundCloud app, simplyclick on the Listen in browser option. You can also find us onStitcher,Google Play, andiTunes.

Please join in the church's vital mission of communications by offering a gift in whatever amount that you can -- a single gift of $40, $50, $100, or more, or a monthly donation. Your gift will strengthen the fabric of our entire Catholic community.

Make your donation by check:CatholicPhilly.com222 N. 17th StreetPhiladelphia, PA 19103

Or by credit card here:

Read the original:
Letting the Lord heal our blindness - CatholicPhilly.com

Louisiana Techs Institute on Blindness has received grant approval for Structured Discovery Cane Travel (SDCT) and Structured Discovery rehabilitation training, a development that brings more depth and opportunity to the Institutes education programs that are specialized for teaching individuals who are blind or visually impaired.

Louisiana Tech University is the only university in Louisiana to offer graduate certifications and master programs in Teaching Blind Students (TBS), Orientation and Mobility (O&M), and Rehabilitation Teaching for the Blind Counseling and Guidance. These graduate certifications and master programs train individuals to become teachers who help give independence to the blind community. The innovative and effective SDCT and Structured Discovery rehabilitation training programs will offer more opportunities to improve mobility and daily living skills for individuals who are blind or visually impaired.

Dr. Edward Bell, Director of the Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness (PDRIB),expressed that he has seen great success from previous years and through the renewed grant he anticipates exponential growth.

Over the past five years, Louisiana Tech has benefited from this grant and has trained 35 individuals who have gone on to be employed across the country in professional careers, Bell said. With this new grant, we are excited to train as many as 40 new and eager students who are ready to change the world by bringing independence to blind kids and adults nationwide.

The PDRIB, housed in Techs College of Education, prepares highly qualified professionals to educate and rehabilitate individuals who are blind or visually impaired. The PDRIB also conducts thorough research that broadens perspectives, deepens the overall understanding of blindness, and seeks the best methods to increase independence for individuals who are blind or visually impaired.

However, there is a nationwide shortage of educators for the blind and visually impaired community.With a 90% illiteracy rate and a 75% unemployment rate nationwide within the blind community, there is a dire need to increase the number of educators trained in teaching students with visual impairments.Job opportunities have grown exponentially for teaching blind or visually impaired students; currently there are four times the number of teaching jobs available than there are the number of qualified educators and instructors to fill those positions.

Through their job assistance placement services and new program offerings, Bell and his team seek to do their part to fill this hiring need and empower educators to change lives within the visually impaired community.

All tuition and fees are covered for the Structured Discovery Cane Travel (SDCT) and Structured Discovery rehabilitation training programs. Scholarships are available on a competitive basis for those who pursue these programs. Students who receive scholarship funding must work in the field of rehabilitation for two years for each year of their scholarship support.

To become an educator for the blind and visually impaired community, contact Bell at ebell@latech.edu. For more details on how to make a difference in the national shortage of teachers for the blind and visually impaired, visit pdrib.com.

Read more from the original source:
Institute on Blindness gets grant extension for improved mobility and rehabilitation programs - News at Louisiana Tech

In his 1995 novel, Blindness, author Jose Saramago tells a story about a world in which nearly everyone is stricken with blindness.

The epidemic brings out the worst, and sometimes the best, of humanity. Panic overtakes reason. Self preservation replaces care for others. Order is eclipsed by chaos.

The pandemic weve come to know as COVID-19 is bringing out our best and our worst. Some folks have been fighting over toilet paper. Others are hoarding garages full of hand sanitizer. And a few are even vilifying sick people who unknowingly exposed others to the virus.

There are also stories of care and compassion: neighbors reaching out to neighbors. Employers caring for workers. Teachers serving their students.

Were all authors and characters in this non-fiction thriller, so we get to decide whether or not it will be a story of blindness.

In Saramagos book, one person keeps her sight in the midst of the epidemic: a woman who feigns blindness in order to accompany her husband into a makeshift, and horrific, quarantine. As the story unfolds, she uses her sight to lead a small band of blind followers through the apocalyptic scenes of a lawless city.

Imagine being a person who could see in an epidemic that steals sight. How would you use your vision? Would you aim to preserve your life or serve others? Is it possible to do both?

How you answer those questions will depend a lot on where you look for answers.

This virus, and other large-scale disasters, are physical problems that require physical solutions like hand sanitizer, social distancing and self quarantine.

But our world is more than just physical. Its both physical and spiritual. We are more than just living hosts for opportunistic viruses. Were living souls. And even though were naturally susceptible to self preservation, we also have a strong desire to help others, especially when life is at stake. Its a tension between physical and spiritual reality, and were not the first to feel it.

Martin Luther lived through a plague more brutal than the one in Blindness and more sinister than COVID-19. When the bubonic plague swept through Europe in the 16th century, Luther penned a letter he titled, Whether One May Flee From a Deadly Plague. His answer brings vivid clarity to how we see our physical and spiritual world. I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine, and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence.

He trusted God and took medicine. He practiced social distancing before it was a term. But he also practiced incarnational proximity, by serving the sick when they needed him. He and his wife even welcomed patients into their home. Not everyone is called to that response, but acknowledging the tension will draw our eyes to the one who turns blindness into sight.

Jesus doesnt distance himself from our viruses or our fears. He takes them on. His incarnation brought Him into close proximity with the sick, the lame and the lepers. His teaching opens our eyes to the reality of trusting God and serving others. That seems more useful than fighting over toilet paper.

Were writing history here. Lets make sure it isnt a story of blindness.

Gregg Madsen is the Lead Pastor of Steadfast Gretna. Reach him at gmadsen@steadfastgretna.org.

Read more from the original source:
Don't let COVID-19 be a story of blindness - Omaha World-Herald

Priest and Martyr (1903-1940)

His life

+ Marian was born in Poznan, Poland. He entered the army at age 17, fighting in the Polish-Bolshevik War.

+ After leaving military service, he entered the seminary and was ordained a priest in 1928. After serving as associate pastor in Leszno, Poland, he became prefect of the seminary in Kozmin and Wolsztyn.

In 1933, Marian was assigned to serve the Polish community in Gdansk. The city, whose population were largely German, were sympathetic to the rise of the Nazis and the Polish minority was often subject to harassment and, at times, physical violence.

+ On September 1, 1939, the day the Nazis invaded Poland, Father Marian and other priests were arrested, beaten, and sent to various concentration camps.

+ Blessed Marian Grecki was shot to death in a field outside the Stutthof concentration camp on Good Friday, March 22, 1940. He was beatified with other martyrs in 1999.

Spiritual bonus

On this day we also honor Saint Lea of Rome. A wealthy widow, she supported a community of consecrated virgins under the direction of Saint Marcella, and she later served as the leader of the community. Following her dead in 384, Saint Jerome praised her for her dedication to prayer and her simple way of life.

Prayer

Almighty and merciful God, who brought your Martyr blessed Marian to overcome the torments of his passion, grant that we, who celebrate the day of his triumph, may remain invincible under your protection against the snares of the enemy. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal: Common of Martyrs)

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.

Excerpt from:
Saint of the Day: Blessed Marian Grecki - Sunday, March 22 - Aleteia EN

There has been a swift backlash against the "Hoarding Brothers," two brothers from Tennessee who bought nearly 18,000 bottles of hand sanitizer in an effort to profit off fears relating to the coronavirus.

After publicly whining that Amazon and Facebook Marketplace prevented them from selling their stock, the brothers Matt and Noah Colvin have been harshly shamed on social media, and the Tennessee attorney general accused them of "price gouging" during a national emergency before confiscating and redistributing their stash.

And yet, dramatic photos of empty shelves in grocery and retail stores, and signs shaming people for how much toilet paper they've bought, indicate that the Hoarding Brothers may only be an exaggerated version of general American behavior.

Hoarding is so commonplace that President Donald Trump has addressed the issue. "You don't need to buy so much," counseled the president. "Take it easy. Relax."

Such pleas reveal how in times of national emergency, few domestic actors have been the object of more scorn than hoarders and black-market traders, and this has been by government design.

During World War II, when rationing of essential supplies took effect, wartime propaganda inserted morality into the marketplace to ensure the effectiveness of the program. It worked. Hoarders took center stage as the dastardly villains.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt directed the Office of War Information to explain rationing to the public in a "positive, thought-provoking but nonthreatening manner." Indeed, the OWI's educational campaigns often appealed to citizenship and patriotism in its efforts to explain why hoarding or trading on the black market contributed to inflation, caused shortages and undermined the war effort.

But the OWI also used guilt and shaming techniques against the selfish hoarder and greedy black-market trader.

Films such as the Department of Agriculture's "It's Up to You," portrayed a shopper being browbeaten by her conscience after soliciting a "dishonest butcher" for a black-market steak. Some of these scenarios took place with images of Adolf Hitler, the ultimate beneficiary of ration violations, lurking in the background.

Hollywood studios followed suit. "Letter from Bataan," a "victory short" produced by Paramount Pictures, dramatized the results of hoarding through a letter from a soldier named Johnny to his family. The film begins with Johnny's neighbor bragging that the authorities "didn't catch me" when she managed to amass 28 pounds of canned goods and 200 pounds of sugar.

But the elderly woman slinks off in shame after Johnny describes the death of his buddy, who perished when Johnny's night blindness, a result of "a lack of fresh vegetables," prevented him from accurately shooting down Japanese planes.

In the feature "Since You Went Away," Agnes Moorehead played an acerbic socialite who hoarded sugar and wasted goods as she antagonized the film's resilient protagonist, the lovely Claudette Colbert.

Even Popeye the Sailor got in the action in an animated short titled "Ration fer the Duration." In a dream sequence reminiscent of Jack and the Beanstalk, Popeye fought the giant who not only held captive the golden goose but was also stockpiling sugar, rubber tires, silk stockings, cola, gasoline and empty toothpaste tubes.

Such propaganda did not always work. When the government announced new rations, consumers often invaded the stores and caused new shortages. Black market trading persisted.

Between 1941 and 1947, the OPA issued 259,966 citations, and the agency estimated that in 1943 alone consumers bought $1 billion worth of goods illegally.

But the social pressure remained and appeals to morality proved effective at unifying the country, keeping inflation in check and mitigating shortages during a national emergency.

Complying with rationing, resisting hoarding and avoiding the black market complemented many other activities undertaken by Americans during World War II, including planting victory gardens, participating in salvage campaigns and volunteering their services.

This volunteerism gave Americans pride in knowing that individual actions contributed to the public good, and show that even while the temptation to hoard persists during our current crisis, social and political pressure play an important role in keeping such impulses in check.

Emilie Raymond is an associate professor of history at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Original post:
Raymond: US has long history of dealing with the villainous hoarder - Lexington Dispatch

Editors note: Grace Lutheran Pastor Russ Glaser shared his home worship packet with us this week and we are sharing it with our readers who might want to worship at home. There are two attachments at the bottom for download or printing.

Dear Grace Friends,

In place of Sunday worship on the Grace Lutheran campus, I am offering three items to assist you in home worship this March 22, 2020, weekend.

They are:

Home Worship for Sunday, March 22, with message, see below.Gospel reading of John 9 in large print, pdf below.Wordsearch puzzle, pdf below.

The church building will be open 9 a.m.-12 p.m. Sunday if anyone wishes to stop by and spend any time in individual prayer.

As always, feel free to contact me or church leaders for any concerns or needs you have during this time. Again, we are doing our part with the community to address and slow down the effects of COVID-19.

In Christs love,

Pastor Russ GlaserGrace Lutheran E.L.C.A.210 Holliday St.Osage City, KS 66523

From Pastor Russ:

While acting to limit our exposure to the spread of the coronavirus, we may be separated in time and location. But we are united together in Jesus Christ.

Please use the provided devotional and message as your home substitute this coming Sunday. It is based on two of the readings assigned for the Fourth Sunday of Lent. If there are two or more at home, take turn reading or speaking parts. Have fun with it!

Sunday March 22, 2020For Home Worship

Breathing In

Declaration of Grace / Absolution

Once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light.Everything exposed by the light becomes light.You have brought your sin into the light of Christ.Your sins are forgiven.Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

May our eyes be opened in new ways to Gods glory, Gods light and our place in Gods purposes as we worship this week.

Gospel Reading John 9:1-41: Jesus heals a man who was born blind, and, because this was done on the Sabbath, the religious leaders start an investigation, calling in the mans parents and ultimately throwing the man out of the synagogue. Then, Jesus teaches that he came to bring sight to the blind and to reveal the blindness of those who think they see.

Read from your Bible or download attachment John 9.

Message

Now I See

How quickly the world changes. In just the past week or so, schools and universities around the country are now closed. Many libraries, restaurants, cafes, and cultural centers are shutting their doors. Its hard to find hand sanitizer, bathroom tissue, or other staples at the local grocery.

I am learning to maintain a six foot distance from every human being I encounter. Welcome to life in the shadow of Covid-19. Like I said, how quickly the world changes.

How do we respond to change? How do we respond when something challenges the way we are used to seeing or doing things? Are we quick to adapt ourselves to the change or do we stubbornly stand our ground?

In Johns Gospel, Jesus heals a ruined man on the Sabbath, a man who has been blind since birth. When Jesus sees him, he kneels down, spits on the ground, makes a muddy paste with his saliva, rubs the paste on the mans eyes, and instructs him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. When the man obeys, his sight is restored.

Though this is a miracle story, the Gospel writer doesnt spend too long on the healing itself. The focus of the lection is on the religious communitys response, both to the mans blindness, and to his restored sight. In other words, one of the most barren and desolate places we can occupy as Christians is a place of smugness. Of rightness. Of certainty. The more convinced we are that we have full insight, comprehension, and knowledge, the less we will see and experience the truth.

We saw that in many of our nations leaders who dismissed COVID-19 as a partisan hoax. Some stubbornly felt it was just another flu and would be gone in a week. In their righteous smugness (which is often anti-science or any other thing which could challenge their strongly held positions) our nation lost precious time in preparing for and meeting the demands this coronavirus strain will have on us and the world. It is what it is.

And in our story, even the disciples of Jesus held their own strongly held lenses in viewing the blind man. The disciples assume that his blindness is his own fault somehow. So they ask Jesus who has sinned and incurred Gods displeasure the man himself, or his parents. But Jesus rejects the entire premise of their question.

There is no relationship between the mans condition and his sinfulness, Jesus says. God does not make people sick in order to punish them for wrongdoing. To step away from our brother or sisters suffering because we assume its divinely ordained, is not righteous. Its reprehensible.

In the story John tells, Jesus sees the blind man a man whom no one else really sees. In the eyes of his peers, the man is contaminated, burdensome, and expendable. In his communitys calculus of human worth, the blind man barely registers hes not a human being; hes Blindness. The condition itself, with all of its accumulated meanings.

Which is why, when the mans sight is restored by Jesus, his own townspeople the people he has lived and worshipped with for years dont recognize him. They dont know how to see him without his disability. To do so would be to recognize a common humanity, a bond, a kinship. And that would be intolerable.

So, of course, when the man shows up at the Temple healed and whole, the community rallies to discredit him. To restore order, re-establish the social hierarchy, and reinforce the status quo.

But why? Why does the community feel such an urgent need to silence the healed man? I wonder if the core reason is fear. A fear so primal and so deep, it drives away all compassion, all empathy, all tenderness, all sense of kinship.

If the mans blindness isnt a punishment for sin, then what does that mean about how the world works? Anyone might get sick, or suffer from a disability, or face years of undeserved pain and suffering for no discernible reason whatsoever.

That wouldnt be fair would it? That would be a version of reality the good religious folks cant control. A terrifying, destabilizing version. Who among us can bear to surrender the illusion of control?

Not only does the communitys legalistic approach to faith prevent them from seeing the healed man; it also prevents them from seeing Gods love and power at work in their midst.

Notice that no one in the story rejoices when the man is healed. No one not even the mans parents expresses joy, or wonder, or gratitude, or awe. No one says, I am so happy for you! or asks, What is it like to see for the first time? Does the sunlight hurt your eyes? What are you excited to look at first?

Instead, the community responds with contempt, its need to preserve its own sense of righteousness more important than celebrating a fellow human beings restoration to life. Hard and cynical. Hard and suspicious. Hard and stingy.

This suggests to me that vulnerability, softness, curiosity, and openness are essential to real seeing. The Gospels tell us that Jesuss true identity eludes just about everyone until after his Resurrection. Even his disciples struggle to understand who and what their Teacher is.

Most of the people who encounter Jesus are too busy seeing what they want to see a magician, a heretic, a political and military leader, a carpenters son, a wise man, a phony, a clerical threat to notice what the blind man, free of all such filters, discerns by the end of the story. The blind man alone sees Jesus as the Son of Man and calls him, Lord.

We might say, then, that this is one of the rare and beautiful moments in the Gospels when Jesus himself is truly seen. The blind man sees Jesus as wholly and purely as Jesus sees him; the gaze and the recognition in this story are mutual. Because the healed man has no bias or preconceptions(remember he was blind from birth), because the spiritual ground he stands on is soft and supple, he is able to see God as God is. This allows the whispers of Gods Spirit to bring forth new life.

Whether we want to or not over the coming weeks, we will face a choice the choice to see or to turn away. Will we allow the ground we stand on to remain pliable, or will we harden our stance and refuse to grow and change?

During these hard days, who are the people we might render invisible with our cherished theologies, our dogmatic political views, our legalistic approaches to justice, fairness, generosity, and sympathy? Why are tests found for NBA athletes and not for the common person. Who might we deem expendable during this season of mass illness and fear? The homeless, the elderly? Whose joys will we be unwilling to celebrate, because were so busy hoarding our own?

Will we be flexible in the ways we extend love across distances, or will we hunker down in fear and suspicion? Will we dare to be the Church in new ways, even as we practice quarantines and social distancing or will we forget that we are one body, connected and interdependent, incomplete without each other? Will we have eyes to see God in our neighbors, regardless of whether they are sick or healthy, insured or uninsured, citizen or foreigner, protected or vulnerable? Will we be brave enough to look our own vulnerability our own mortality in the eye, and trust that God is with us even in the valley of the shadow of death? Or will we yield to cynicism, panic, and despair?

I am in awe of the trust the healed man has in Jesus by the end of this weeks Gospel story a trust deep enough to enable him to bear honest, radical witness to his experience, even at the risk of censure and excommunication from his religious community. In shedding his identity as the man blind from birth, the healed man becomes a disciple, a traveler, a pilgrim. He commits himself without looking back, straining forward instead of clinging to what others tell him is right and true. He is, in the truest sense, born again.

During this Lenten season, may we drop any sense of righteous smugness we might stand on. During this season, may we, too, confess our blindness and receive sight. May we also praise the one who kneels in the dirt and gets his hands dirty in order to heal us. May we also soften and prepare the ground we stand on, so that when new life appears in whatever surprising guise God chooses, we will embrace, cherish, celebrate, and share the good news, too!

Breathing OutGo ahead and sing the hymn. Youre at home after all!

Amazing GraceAmazing grace! how sweet the sound,That saved a wretch; like me!I once was lost, but now am found,Was blind, but now I see.Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,And grace my fears relieved;How precious did that grace appearThe hour I first believed!The Lord hath promised good to me,His word my hope secures;He will my shield and portion beAs long as life endures.When weve been there ten thousand years,Bright shining as the sun,Weve no less days to sing Gods praiseThan when we first begun.

A Prayer on Coronavirus

Jesus Christ, you traveled through towns and villages curing every disease and illness. At your command, the sick were made well. Come to our aid now, in the midst of the global spread of the coronavirus, that we may experience your healing love.

Heal those who are sick with the virus. May they regain their strength and health through quality medical care.

Heal us from our fear, which prevents nations from working together and neighbors from helping one another.

Heal us from our pride, which can make us claim invulnerability to a disease that knows no borders.

Jesus Christ, healer of all, stay by our side in this time of uncertainty and sorrow.

Be with those who have died from the virus. May they be at rest with you in your eternal peace.

Be with the families of those who are sick or have died. As they worry and grieve, defend them from illness and despair. May they know your peace.

Be with the doctors, nurses, researchers and all medical professionals who seek to heal and help those affected and who put themselves at risk in the process. May they know your protection and peace.

Be with the leaders of all nations. Give them the foresight to act with charity and true concern for the well-being of the people they are meant to serve. Give them the wisdom to invest in long-term solutions that will help prepare for or prevent future outbreaks. May they know your peace, as they work together to achieve it on earth.

Whether we are home or abroad, surrounded by many people suffering from this illness or only a few, Jesus Christ, stay with us as we endure and mourn, persist and prepare. In place of our anxiety, give us your peace.

Jesus Christ, heal us.Amen.

Source: Kerry Weber, Executive Editor of America: The Jesuit Review

Ephesians 5: 8-10

For you were oncedarkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light(for the fruitof the light consists in all goodness,righteousness and truth)and find out what pleases the Lord.

Sending

The kingdom of love is coming because:

somewhere someone is kind when others are unkind,somewhere someone shares with another in need,somewhere someone refuses to hate, while others hate,somewhere someone is patient and waits in love,somewhere someone returns good for evil,somewhere someone serves another, in love,somewhere someone is calm in a storm,somewhere someone is loving everybody.Is that someone you?

Go in peace. Serve the Lord. Thanks be to God!

Gospel reading of John 9 in large print, pdf download or print.

Wordsearch puzzle 3-22-20, pdf download or print.

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Feeling confined? Home worship with Grace Lutheran | Osage County Online - Osage County Online | Osage County News

By REP. DAVID EASTMAN

The mess in our Legislature in Juneau today is far greater than any one legislator will be able to fix, but that does not mean that every single legislator should not be working earnestly today to do their part to fix it. I am committed to doing my part, day in and day out, which sets me at odds with the status quo in Juneau.

When I first expressed concern about the coronavirus in January, I cautioned those in Juneau and other parts of the state to take this virus seriously. The response was sadly predictable. The responsefrom ADN and the political blogswas to mock the one legislator who was willing to call attention to it at the time.

When I wrotein Januaryabout the censorship of doctors in China, who were trying to warn their countrymen about the disease, there was still significant reluctance to talking about it in the state capitol building.

When I highlightedthe first discussionabout the virus in the U.S. Senate, and then passed on advice thatThe Time to Prepare is NOWon February 3rd, Juneau was still not ready to take this virus seriously.

I responded by simply reminding the critics that All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. (Arthur Schopenhauer)

It is a very familiar progression, as it is a path that I have walked down many times since first becoming a legislator. We walked down that path for three long years in the effort to repeal SB91.We were repeatedly told that it was impossible, that there was no stopping it, that we would simply have to let SB91 run its course, that those in Juneau who supported it were too powerful. Thankfully, there were some in Juneau (including then Sen. Mike Dunleavy) who were willing to persevere anyway, and SB91 is now repealed.

I have been walking a similar path with the Coronavirus for the last two months, and we have now reached the point where the crisis of the coronavirus is now accepted as being self-evident everywhere; everywhere except Juneau that is.

To Juneau, everything is political. The political angle is the focus. Everything else is blurry. This is what is meant when you hear someone say that those in Juneau are blind. Its not actual blindness, its simply an extreme case of tunnel-vision. This becomes painfully clear with something as tangible and as terrible as the coronavirus. It is coming. We know it is coming. It is coming to Juneau, just as it is coming to any community in Alaska that maintains passenger traffic with other parts of the state and nation.

And yet, the legislature has literally done nothing to prepare for the arrival of the virus in Juneau. If the coronavirus were to be identified in the capitol building this morning, unlike legislatures in other states, the Alaska Legislature has no contingency for how to conduct business without assembling all legislators together into a single room.

The White House has advised all Americans to avoid groups of more than ten people due to the extremely contagious nature of the coronavirus. The response in Juneau has largely been it wont happen to me, and so, other than shutting the capitol building to the public, we have largely continued with business as usual.

Each day, the House of Representatives assembles, as usual, putting more than 50 people in the same room, a number of whom are senior legislators in the 70s.

Yesterday,the entire Georgia legislaturewas urged to self-quarantine after a Georgia senator tested positive for the coronavirus. Do we think this wont happen here?

Over the last ten days, we have debated bills onelectric bicycles,notaries, andchanging the name of a road. This is Juneau. You arent dreaming; this is what its really like. While other nations are enduring conditions not seen since World War II, we have prioritized debating a new law for electric bicycles.

Im sure, simply for writing this, my colleagues in the legislature will be looking for new ways topunish and silence me, but if no one has the courage to call a spade a spade, legislators will continue to walk the streets of Juneau wearing little more thanthe invisible clothesthat exist only in their imagination.

The first item of business when the legislature gathers today should be passage of a bill that establishes legal authority for the legislature to conduct business without physically assembling more than 50 people in the same room. Thats it. That should be our first order of business. No exceptions.

Other states have passed similar bills. Why not Alaska?

It hasnt happened in Alaska yet because doing so would deprive some legislators of a helpful excuse to rush their favorite bills through the process unvetted.

Juneau is so hopelessly mired in politics today that, rather than spur the legislature to action, the threat of the virus is simply seen as a political tool to accomplish old political agendas. Last week, it was used as an excuse to push through an absolutely awful mental health budget (what fighting against the U.S. Supreme CourtsJanusdecision has to do with mental health is your guess as well as mine), and was used yesterday as an excuse to pass thelargest supplemental budget in state history, only a small fraction of which had anything to do with responding to the coronavirus.

Juneau needs help today. It needs concerned Alaskans to take note of the mind-boggling decisions that legislators are making. It needs concerned Alaskans willing to ask legislators the hard questions that few in Juneau seem willing to ask. And when legislators offer unsatisfactory answers, it needs individual Alaskans who wont take a non-answer for an answer and, when the time comes, will be willing to vote against maintaining the status quo in Juneau.

Perhaps most of all, Alaska needs a handful of good men and women who are willing to make the personal sacrifice to take a tour of duty and deploy to Juneau for six months or more each year to protect their neighbors from the damaging, long-term decisions the legislature will continue to make if they do not. Otherwise, the status quo will continue.

It didnt have to be this way. But it is. So lets deal with it and each do our part to fix this mess.

Rep. David Eastman represents District 10, Wasilla.

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Legislature's response to coronavirus is predictable, and irresponsible - Must Read Alaska

Friday, March 13, 2020 5:48 p.m. EDT by Thomson Reuters

By Linda Carroll

(Reuters Health) - The proportion of U.S. adults at high risk for blindness has grown over a 15-year period and so has the share who say they cannot afford eyeglasses, according to a new study.

Between 2002 and 2017, the number of people at high risk for vision loss - seniors, people with diabetes and those with eye disorders - rose from 65 million to 93 million, but 40% of adults said they hadn't been getting yearly eye exams, researchers report in JAMA Ophthalmology.

Nearly 1 in 10 also said they couldn't afford eyeglasses.

"We have a large number of adults at high risk for vision loss and at high risk for not receiving recommended eye care," said study leader Sharon Saydah of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "The solution is to really improve access, awareness and the affordability of eye care."

Saydah and colleagues looked at nationally-representative surveys of 31,000 adults in 2002 and nearly 33,000 adults in 2017.

The proportion at increased risk for vision loss grew between the two surveys: adults over age 65 rose from about 51% to 53% of the total, and those with a diabetes diagnosis rose from about 21% to 25%.

People reporting vision problems or eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, or eye injury grew from 9% in 2002 to almost 11% in 2017, the study found.

Among all adults, the proportion who said they couldn't afford eyeglasses rose from 8.3% in 2002 to 8.7% in 2017.

While not having corrective lenses won't lead to vision damage, it can lead to injury, Saydah said. "Having poor vision and not being able to see properly can contribute to falls and can lead to other disabilities," she said.

A major factor leading to vision loss in seniors is high blood sugar, Saydah said. "But if diabetes is managed properly and blood sugar levels are controlled, that can help reduce vision loss," she added.

While U.S. seniors are covered by Medicare, the original version of the federal health insurance program for those 65 and older doesn't cover regular eye exams unless the patient has diabetes or is at high risk for glaucoma.

In 2017, among adults at high risk of blindness, 57% reported visiting an eye care professional annually and 60% had received a dilated eye examination.

"This study highlights critical gaps in eye care access and affordability in the United States, and indicates these gaps have persisted despite shifts in our health insurance landscape," Bonnielin Swenor, of the Wilmer Eye Institute and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, said in an email.

"This study is not examining a question about improving eye conditions, but instead focuses on access and affordability of eyeglasses," said Swenor, who wasn't involved in the study. "Currently most medical insurance and Medicare do not cover the costs of eyeglasses, which this data support as an important gap for the American population."

Unless something changes, the problem is likely to get worse, said Dr. Syed Mahmood Ali Shah, an associate professor of ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

While there was a slight increase over the past 15 years in the percentage of patients getting examined, the number of elderly with diabetes is expected to double by 2040, said Shah, who was not involved in the new research.

Shah suspects cost is the big reason for patients skipping eye exams. Even among those with some coverage, there can be a significant copay, he said, which "not everyone can afford."

SOURCE: https://bit.ly/33o0OFm JAMA Ophthalmology, online March 12, 2020.

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Number of U.S. adults at risk for blindness on the rise - WHTC News