#Holden Dentist

[khananifamilydental]

Brighten Your Day: Top Tips for a Radiant Teeth Whitening Experience

A bright, dazzling smile can significantly boost your confidence and enhance your appearance. Whether you have a special event coming up or simply want to enhance your daily look, teeth whitening is a popular choice for achieving a dazzling smile. Here’s how to make your teeth whitening experience both effective and enjoyable.

Choosing the Right Whitening Method

Professional Treatments

When it comes to teeth whitening, professional treatments are a leading choice. Dentists use advanced techniques and products that can deliver quicker and more noticeable results. Procedures like in-office whitening and custom take-home trays are tailored to your needs, ensuring safety and effectiveness. With the guidance of a dental professional, you can achieve a brighter smile with minimal sensitivity.

Over-the-Counter Options

Over-the-counter whitening products offer convenience and cost-effectiveness. Whitening strips, gels, and toothpaste are popular options. While these products can help improve the appearance of your teeth, results may take longer compared to professional treatments. It’s essential to follow the instructions carefully to avoid potential issues and achieve the best results.

Maintaining Your White Smile

Proper Oral Hygiene

Maintaining your new bright smile starts with good oral hygiene. Brush your teeth at least twice daily and floss every day to eliminate plaque and avoid staining. Using a whitening toothpaste can also help keep your teeth looking their best. Regular dental check-ups will ensure your teeth and gums stay healthy, contributing to a lasting, radiant smile.

Avoiding Stain-Causing Foods and Drinks

Certain foods and beverages can cause staining, even after whitening. Coffee, tea, red wine, and dark sauces are known culprits. To maintain your bright smile, try to limit your intake of these items or rinse your mouth with water after consuming them. Incorporating fruits and vegetables that naturally clean teeth can also help.

Regular Touch-Ups

Over time, your teeth might gradually lose their brightness. Periodic touch-ups can help maintain your results. Depending on the method you chose, this might involve using whitening toothpaste, applying over-the-counter products, or scheduling follow-up appointments with your dentist. Regular touch-ups will help keep your smile looking fresh and vibrant.

Enhancing Your Whitening Experience

Pre-Whitening Preparation

Before beginning any whitening treatment, it’s a good idea to consult with your dentist. A thorough dental examination ensures that your teeth and gums are healthy enough for whitening. Addressing any dental issues beforehand can prevent complications and enhance the effectiveness of the whitening process.

Choosing the Right Shade

When selecting a whitening treatment, consider the shade you want to achieve. A dentist can help you choose a shade that complements your natural tooth color and enhances your overall appearance. Customizing your whitening goals ensures that you get the results you desire while maintaining a natural look.

Comfort and Care

Comfort is key during the whitening process. If you experience any sensitivity, inform your dentist or follow the product instructions to minimize discomfort. Using products designed for sensitive teeth or taking breaks between treatments can help manage sensitivity and ensure a more pleasant whitening experience.

Achieving a radiant smile involves more than just whitening your teeth. It’s about maintaining good oral hygiene, making smart choices about your diet, and seeking professional advice when needed. If you’re considering teeth whitening, a Holden dentist can guide you through the process and help you achieve a smile that truly shines.

[girlsnightgirlsnight]

(normal just thinks the nigerian royal family is really large)

[p-redux]

I'm back from the dentist (won't be my last visit, I'm having a lot of work done) so, without further delay, I present you the Sam Heughan, Sarah Holden, SH and SH, #samarah PROOF they stayed together in the same villa in the Canary Islands a few days ago.

First, here's a refresher on my previous post where I showed a fan shared he saw Sam on the same flight with him headed to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands. 👇

And a refresher on my other previous post showing Sarah Holden was also in Gran Canaria.

Soooo, onto the PROOF that #samarah stayed at the SAME villa. A few days ago, I was DMed the info on WHERE EXACTLY they stayed. But I didn't want to post pics while they were still there since the location could be easily found via a quick Google search. Now that Sarah has posted she's back in Scotland and Sam has posted he's in Austria, I can post info about where they stayed. Here is the listing for the villa. Just copy and paste it into browser and you can read the location, all the info, and look at over 40 pictures of it. 👇

https://www.vrbo.com/no-no/feriebolig/p10693498

Here's the main pic on the listing and some info 👇

And here's Sarah's IG post where you can see the villa's pool in the background. It's the same shape and you can see the same wall and fencing detail in both pics. You can also see the black chairs and table. 👇

Here's proof Sam was in the same villa 👇 The flooring in the bedroom in the villa is the same as in the room where Sam is in. The painting to the right of him is the same, but it's reversed because of the video.

Here's both of them from the same villa. Notice the matching ceiling vents throughout the villa. The same ones are in the kitchen where Sarah is, as in the bedroom where Sam is. Also, the same exact doors in all the rooms in the villa. And the same kitchen microwave and oven in the kitchen in the villa as in the pic with Sarah. The door is on the other side because, again, the pic is reversed due to the video. 👇

You can also see the reflection from the room on Sam's watch. 👇

In addition, someone pointed out in DM that Sarah had already been to the Canary Islands with her son last March. 👇

So, she probably told Sam how great it is, and she an Sam planned a few days' vacation there, just the two of them.

I rest my case, your honor.

FACTS: Sam was in the Canary Islands. Sarah was in the Canary Islands at the same time. Both stayed at the Tauro Villas Deluxe 1. Sam did not post where he was, which is usually the case when he's on a non work, non charity trip. BTW, Anyone who leaves comments that "they could have been there as friends or workout partners," will have their life experience card revoked, and be sent to a remedial course on THE FACTS OF LIFE. JS 🤗

Sarah is around age 32, is a single mom to a young son, lives in Scotland, is fit AF, I don't think I've ever seen such a flat stomach on a woman, AND this is AFTER having a kid, and she battled a pretty serious health scare. She seems very cool. So, let's see if she and Sam are dating casually or more will develop. Stay tuned...

[theunstuffedpepper]

We went on a little outing to a sunflower festival over the weekend! It was our first real outing as a fam of four, aside from trips to the playground. So fun.

Yesterday was a big day for Holden — he officially said bye bye to his binkies. We’ve been reading a “bye bye binky” book for a while and decided finally to just do it. The dentist told us the binkies are pushing his front teeth out and it’s true, I can see it. He had a really hard time adjusting to his first nap without a binky, which was hard for me too, but I stayed strong and we did it. After his nap he got a balance bike from the binky fairy, who took his binkies that we left out while he was sleeping. So cute. He’s uncomfortable on the balance bike for now but I hope he warms up to it. I can’t believe he’s such a big kid already!

[beyondedenton]

“I think we have two big pumpkins and one smallish pumpkin left but I can always get more.” This was something for them to do together and Rohan was enjoying it far more than he could say. Rohan didn’t want Holden to see him as just the person he’d forced to live with; he wanted to bond with him. Perhaps even to form a friendship.

“I like the fang idea, and the tooth. Making it a full dentist is probably beyond my artistic talents. Should we use the big ones or one big and one small?”

Holden stared off into space for a moment. His thoughts seemed empty. He was here but not here. Felt like he was someone else looking in on this little back and forth. That was called something, wasn't it? Out of body? His brother Arthur loved that kind of shit. Yoga, meditation, stuff he couldn't sit still long enough for.

And then he was back, feeling more hollow than he'd felt in days. His eyes glassy. What the fuck was that?

"Uh... one big... one small. We can just fuck around with the - with the last one."

[mystoriesandcharacters]

Heterosexual Parents

Cheryl and Justin Tran

Lily and Kenzõ Sano

Susan and Seo-Yun Moon

Rachel and Michael Macedo

Linda and Trevor Rhee

Charlene and Charles Bubble

Melissa and Nathan Sparkler

Claudia and Spencer Jagels

Janet and Gregory Coffey

Judith and Darius Burdette

Bernice and James Berger

Martha and Jason Sweetz

Regina and Holden Van Dew

Polly and Lucian Marlowe

Leonora and Henry Ekins

Ava and Titus Teaford

Vera and Ivan Borisov

Dahlia and Dante Crook

Lorie and Kenneth Salts

Lucia and Giovanni Capello

Aikara and Ritsu Miyamoto

Barbara and Atticus Madler

Eden and Jarvis Linnet

Marjorie and Caleb Crisper

Sharon and Peter Janzer

Imogen and Gideon Blue

Victoria and Lucas Lacelle

Isadora and Porter Paratore

Charlotte and Edward Paratore

Sandra and Andre LaMane

Aylin and Nicholas Carbine

Ashley and Gordon Naron

Dina and Dewey Decko

Priscilla and Andrew Pearlette

Isobel & Preston Brightwind

Geraldine and Glen Gibbsite

LGBT Parents

Catalina and Natalia Gonzalez

Lisa and Gloria Gaffner

Roxanne and Erin Forestier

Uma and Penelope Taplin

Thora and Jane Pagels

Mitchell and Noel Prickler

Tessa and Iris Welling

Sylvia and Sheila Froning

Avery and Logan Zill

Cole and Stuart Glover

Eddie and Chris Lacer

Ethan and Gavin Balliet

Andrew and Ronald Kidwell

Zachary and Levi Heers

Liam and Asher Crowding

Travis & Cameron Nelligan

Susan & Monica Gooseberry

Gerald & Dylan Nutbrown

Marissa and Leona Turmeric

Divorced Parents

Zelda Zilles & Freddy Valois

Piper Citrus & Douglas Zahler

Felicity & Tommy Axtell

Geraldine & Timothy Turcaz

Brianna & Andrew Berrien

Seraphina & Dominic Marrone

Tamara & Percy Purnell

Marsha & Ross Ebonite

Diana & Alexander Zhōu

Audrey & Maxwell Juneberry

Carmelita & Diego Romero

Alexandra & Johnny Blackberry

Selena & Earl Glowez

Other Residents

Anastasia Novikov

Shannon Twist

Bertha & Ernest Crumble

Nancy Zheng

Lila Wonderstar

Edith Prism

Janice Timmons

Karen Gim

Tammy Cho

Stephanie Song

Renee LeGrand

Evelyn LaMane

Fiona Lavergne

Régine Cardoux

Tracy Timmons

Teens and Children

Clover Tran

Ozzy Tran

Enzo Moon

Prudence Sano

Tyler Zahler

Cory Sparkler

Alan Jagels

Darcy Valois

Sapphire Rhee

Sage Rhee

Mackenzie Macedo

Ruby Marlowe

Ginger Gonzalez

Genevieve Gonzalez

Chloe Bubble

Joey Bubble

Trish LaMane

Harley LaMane

Praline Coffey

Lena Welling

Elijah Welling

Zelda Froning

Kendra Burdette

Jessica Burdette

Zaria Burdette

Fiona Heers

Calliope Snowflake

Juniper Blue

Tiffany Van Dew

Topaz Van Dew

Bijou Carbine

Delilah Naron

Lemon Javins

Mona Kulkarni

Ophelia Davern

Elodie Ekins

Posie Lacelle

Jameson Paratore

Luna Chen

Phoebe Teaford

Esme Berger

Eloise Ollinger

Leona St. Cloud

Alexis Miyamoto

Roxy Capello

Lizzie Zant

Willow Forestier

Wendy Lacer

Desmond Decko

Esther Janzer

Luanne Junebug

Dion Marzel

Julianne Inglett

Heather Salts

Hudson Taplin

Blake Balliet

Mabel Pagels

Axel Crowder

Jasmine Crook

Marco Crisper

Samuel Linnet

Rebecca Madler

Lexi Daffron

Shawn Dasinger

Dariel Farson

Ryan Canright

Dimitri Borisov

Margaux Nelligan

Kate Kidwell

Dexter Axtell

Logan Turcaz

Jacques Berrien

Yvette Marrone

Tobias Purnell

Athena Pearlette

Vincent Ebonite

Nathan Gooseberry

Maxwell Nutbrown

Maxine Zhōu

Isla Brightwind

Juliet Turmeric

Grace Juneberry

Amaya Romero

A.I. Blackberry

Pepper Glowez

Ingrid Muse

Kylie Spize

Agatha Glover

Patty Perrin

Opal Sourtwist

Elio Zill

Mandy Tunesong

Betty Crinkle

Dorcas Cloudberry

Finn De Glam

Zoe Sweetz

Gina Gibbsite

Josephine Joynes

Lola Jentzen

Luca Barone

Kevin Prickler

Haylie Sweetbutton

Brielle Thames

Occupations

Cheryl Tran = Baker

Justin Tran = Comic Book Writer and Illustrator

Lily Tran = Lawyer

Kenzõ Sano = Business Owner and CEO

Polly Marlowe = Mayor

Lucian Marlowe = High School P.E Teacher

Rachel Macedo = Lawyer

Michael Macedo = Lawyer

Linda Rhee = Doctor

Trevor Rhee = Doctor

Zelda Zilles = Music Producer

Freddy Valois = Fashion Designer

Claudia Jagels = Judge

Spencer Jagels = TV Producer

Piper Citrus = Juice/Smoothie Bar Owner

Melissa Sparkler = Weather Host

Nathan Sparkler = Dentist

Charlene Bubble = Socialite

Charles Bubble = Real Estate Developer

Catalina Gonzalez = Chef/Restaurant Owner

Natalia Gonzalez = Chef

Nancy Zheng = 7th Grade Teacher

Shannon Twist = Hair Stylist

Bertha Crumble = Candy Store Owner

Ernest Crumble = Candy Store Owner

Edith Prism = Middle School Principal

Anastasia Borisov = Dance Teacher

Gloria Gaffner = Romance Self Help Book Writer

Lisa Gaffner = Scientist

Susan Moon = Nail Salon Owner

Seo-Jun Moon = DJ

Businesses

Crazy Treats

Moon Mani

House of Styles

Hair 2 Dye For

LaMane Books

Mademoiselle Renée’s Theater

Sweet Snowflakes

Sugar Hills

Hecho Con Amor

Fiery Rockets

The Sparkle

Pizza Pizzazz

Chamber of Imagination

Black Fruity

Funk N Fresh

The Lotus Dragon

Athena's Eye

Game Space

Rain of Petals

Purple Brew

Miss Anastasia S Dance Studio

@unvale-io

[infinitemonkeytheory]

The 2022 Shkreli Awards have been released! Each year, the Lown Institute passes out awards as a way of reporting on dysfunction in the US health care system. Dysfunction in healthcare is one of our foundational pillars here at Healthcare Triage, and these awards highlight some of the worst examples.

2022 Shkreli Awards

VIDEO: The 2022 Shkreli Awards, featuring guest hosts Dr. Uché Blackstock, CEO of Advancing Health Equity, and Amy Holden Jones, Executive Producer and Creator of Thre Resident.

JANUARY 10, 2023 — Welcome to the 6th annual Shkreli Awards, the Lown Institute’s top ten list of the worst examples of profiteering and dysfunction in healthcare, named for the infamous “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli.

Nominees for the Shkreli Awards are compiled by Lown Institute staff with input from readers of Lown Weekly. An esteemed panel of patient activists, clinicians, health policy experts, and journalists help determine the winners. (press release | previous winners)

#10

Dentist bags a bundle by breaking patients’ teeth

How did Wisconsin dentist Scott Charmoli go from fixing 434 crowns a year to more than 1,000? By purposely breaking patients’ teeth, according to federal prosecutors. Charmoli allegedly drilled into patients’ teeth unnecessarily and submitted photos of the damage to insurance companies to justify expensive procedures. This move elevated his salary by $1.1 million, according to the Washington Post. The scheme was uncovered when Charmoli sold his practice in 2019 and the new owners reviewed his files, noting the absurdly high rates of crown procedures. Charmoli was convicted of healthcare fraud and sentenced to 54 months imprisonment and over $1 million in fines.

SOURCE: Jonathan Edwards, The Washington Post; U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Wisconsin

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

Talk about supplier-induced demand! Oy, pass the laughing gas.

#9

“Dangerous” doctor deemed a star by leadership despite disgraceful malpractice record

Image caption: A February 1999 advertisement for CMC’s New England Heart Institute in the Boston Globe, featuring Baribeau. Source: The Boston Globe

Leaders of Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, NH knew their renowned cardiac surgeon Dr. Yvon Baribeau had one of the worst malpractice records in the country. Yet they continued to support Baribeau, featuring him in hospital advertisements and allowing him to keep operating over the objections of other CMC doctors, the Boston Globe reported. Examples of Baribeau’s alleged harmful behavior include surgical errors that led one patient to require blood transfusions of nearly five times her blood volume, and keeping another patient whose chest cavity had turned “black and necrotic” on life support as a possible ploy to protect his surgical 30-day survival rate.

Throughout Baribeau’s career, he racked up 21 medical malpractice settlements, including 14 related to patient deaths. In a statement provided by his lawyer to the Globe, Baribeau said, “I performed over 10,000 procedures at CMC, always with patient safety as my first priority.”

SOURCE: Rebecca Ostriker, Deirdre Fernandes, Liz Kowalczyk, Jonathan Saltzman, and Patricia Wen, The Boston Globe

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

The protection of doctors who are known to be dangerous is a national scourge that must be exposed and ended.

When a hospital administration puts “heads in beds” ahead of patient safety, it should be called to account—and not just by the media.

#8

Medical labs bilk Medicare for $300 million in elaborate bribery scheme

Three laboratories in North Texas allegedly found a way to score $300 million in extra Medicare reimbursements, the Dallas Morning News reported. In collaboration with two marketing firms, they bribed physicians to order unnecessary drug tests and blood work, according to a federal indictment. Some physicians got as much as $400,000 in kickbacks. In one case, even a physician’s spouse got an illegal bonus. The founders of all three labs pleaded guilty to the fraud in April 2022.

SOURCE: Aria Jones, The Dallas Morning News

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

Unnecessary tests and procedures are bankrupting us and harming patients. There is nowhere near enough coverage of this.

Unnecessary “care” is a huge part of the $1 trillion (that’s trillion-with-a-T) the US wastes in healthcare.

#7

Patients qualified for financial assistance; hospital sends them to debt collection instead

Nonprofit hospitals are required to provide financial assistance to low-income patients. Providence health system, however, did the opposite in many cases. Rather than ensuring that low-income patients received the financial assistance they were due, Providence hounded them to pay and sent debt collectors after them when they didn’t, according to a New York Times investigation. These actions were part of an official campaign to boost revenue called “Rev-Up” developed with help from corporate consultant McKinsey. The “Rev-Up” campaign directed employees to tell patients about financial assistance only as a last resort. The result: more than 55,000 patients were pursued by debt collectors when they should have been given a discount.

In response, a Providence spokesperson told the Times that they stopped sending Medicaid patients to debt collection, and said that they will issue refunds to about 760 patients eligible for assistance who were previously charged for their medical care.

*Note: The Lown Institute provided data to the New York Times about Providence Health System’s tax exemption for this piece.

SOURCE: Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Katie Thomas, New York Times

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

Large consulting companies like McKinsey are hospitals’ accomplices in revenue maximization.

Catholic hospitals have come a long way since the nuns of the Sisters of Providence provided services to the poor.

#6

When smokers get sick, this tobacco company has the treatment

Philip Morris has spent 175 years selling products that cause heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and other serious health problems. Now the tobacco giant is poised to make more money treating the very conditions it helped create by acquiring companies that develop inhaled therapeutics, according to a STAT News report.

Experts told STAT News they are concerned that Philip Morris could potentially use research on inhalation developed by these newly acquired companies to hook even more people on their products. But don’t worry—a representative from Philip Morris stated they have no plans to do so.

SOURCE: Olivia Goldhill, STAT News

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

When your corporation creates both the problem and the solution to it, you clearly care about one thing: finding and making profits by any means possible.

In the 1980s, the hospital I worked in still used machinery made and branded by Philip Morris to treat lung-cancer patients. This is NOT a novel abuse— it must be stopped.

#5

Pharma giant exploits bankruptcy loophole to avoid legal responsibility for cancer-causing product

Johnson & Johnson had known for decades that asbestos, a deadly carcinogen, could be contaminating their talc baby powder products but continued selling them anyway. Now J&J faces lawsuits from 40,000 cancer patients, many of them Black women, as J&J allegedly marketed its talc-based products specifically to this population. To avoid the lawsuits, J&J created a subsidiary company with all of the baby powder-related liabilities and then declared this shell company bankrupt, NPR reported. Despite this “bankruptcy,” J&J ranked in the top 50 of Fortune’s largest companies last year. The fate of J&J and the lawsuits await appeals. According to the J&J corporate attorney, the bankruptcy will benefit victims by producing a faster settlement.

SOURCE: Brian Mann, NPR; Casey Cep, The New Yorker

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

Especially egregious because of delay in acknowledgement at the expense of patients

Big Pharma has become an evil conspiracy against public health.

#4

Hospice CEO allegedly tells employees to hasten patient death to avoid caps on government reimbursements

Bradley Harris, the CEO of Novus Hospice in Frisco, Texas, and a dozen other Novus employees were sentenced to a combined 84 years in prison for committing healthcare fraud, according to D Magazine. The US Department of Justice reported that Novus staff were provided with pre-signed prescription pads and directed to dispense powerful medications like morphine and hydrocodone to patients, without guidance or oversight from physicians.

According to an earlier FBI investigation reported by NBC Dallas, Harris allegedly told employees to dose patients with more than the maximum allowed amount of painkillers to hasten patient death, with the goal of reducing the average patient stay to avoid caps on government reimbursement. The FBI investigation revealed that a Novus employee was allegedly sent a text message by Harris, ��You need to make this patient go bye-bye.” It is unclear whether any patients were actually given overdoses or died from Harris’ instructions.

SOURCES: Will Maddox, D Magazine; US Department of Justice

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

This behavior is abhorrent, cold and heartless

Individual and corporate greed, meet well intentioned yet perverse financial incentives.

#3

System keeps community hospital on life support to cash in on drug discount program meant to serve the poor

Image caption: Richmond Community Hospital.

The 340B drug program provides safety net hospitals with deep discounts on medications to ensure access to care for low-income patients. Richmond Community Hospital in Virginia, owned by Bon Secours Health System, has profited heavily off of this program, yet they don’t have an intensive care unit, maternity ward, or even a consistently-working MRI machine. That’s because Bon Secours has been diverting the profits from Richmond Community to its other hospitals in wealthier, whiter neighborhoods, according to a New York Times investigation. “Bon Secours was basically laundering money through this poor hospital to its wealthy outposts,” said a former Richmond ER doctor.

A spokeswoman for Bon Secours Mercy Health told the Times the hospital system spent $10 million on improvements to Richmond Community Hospital over the past decade. But that doesn’t seem like much considering the $108 million expansion at neighboring St. Francis Hospital, a nearby Bon Secours hospital.

*Note: The Lown Institute provided data to the New York Times about Providence Health System’s tax exemption for this piece.

SOURCE: Katie Thomas and Jessica Silver-Greenberg, The New York Times

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

Skimming profits from the poor is the sleaziest kind of theft.

Care facilities are thin on the ground in low-income areas nationally, which makes this story even more painful.

#2

Private equity-backed firm runs rural hospitals into ground, leaves patients in unsafe conditions and employees without health insurance

When Noble Health, a private equity-backed startup, bought two rural hospitals in Missouri, residents hoped this might offer a lifeline to the struggling institutions. Instead, hospital employees faced shortages in supplies and drugs, leading to unsafe conditions for patients, Kaiser Health News reported. Noble Health also stopped paying for employees’ health insurance despite deducting money out of their paychecks that was supposed to be for premiums. Some staff members now face hundreds of thousands in medical bills because they did not know they were uninsured, according to Kaiser Health News. Noble Health closed the hospitals two years later, after taking $20 million in federal COVID relief funds. The company is currently under federal investigation.

SOURCE: Sarah Jane Tribble, Kaiser Health News

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

Private equity too often puts profits over patients, and is using the proceeds to swallow up the US healthcare system.

Private equity corporations are one of the biggest threats to healthcare quality and justice.

#1

Insurers systematically overbill Medicare Advantage, siphoning billions of taxpayer money

The majority of large Medicare Advantage insurers have been accused of fraud or overbilling by the US government, a New York Times investigation finds. Overpayments to Medicare Advantage insurers were estimated to cost taxpayers as much as $25 billion in 2020. Because the Medicare Advantage program pays private insurers a set amount per patient based on their risk, there is an incentive for insurers to “mine” patients for diagnoses—for example, adding diagnoses for old or resolved conditions.

While Mark Hamelburg, an executive at AHIP, an industry trade group, said to the Times that some coding differences were due to doctors “look[ing] at the same medical record in different ways,” some of the diagnoses were clearly inaccurate. In one case, insurer Independent Health added a diagnosis for prostate cancer to a woman’s record, because “when a married couple has any disease, both were assigned to that disease,” Bloomberg reported.

Among the top 10 Medicare Advantage providers by market share, the following have been accused of fraud or overbilling by the US government or Inspector General and have ongoing lawsuits as of 2022, according to the Times: UnitedHealth Group, CVS Health, Elevance Health, Kaiser Permanente, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Cigna, and Highmark. These insurers have disputed the claims.

SOURCE: Reed Abelson and Margot Sanger-Katz, New York Times; John Tozzi, Bloomberg

JUDGES’ COMMENTS:

The overbilling of Medicare Advantage has become nothing but a big game that private insurers play. There are no rules, no morals, no sense of right or wrong.

The “advantage” in Medicare Advantage plans seems to go to the insurers who exploited Medicare for billions.

Weekly news for people who want a radically better health system

Judges for Shkreli Awards

Carole Allen, MD, MBA, FAAP

Immediate Past President

Massachusetts Medical Society (follow)

Special advisor to the president of the Lown Institute and lecturer at the George Washington University School of Public Health (follow)

Director of the Centre for Health Policy at University of Melbourne and senior fellow at the Lown Institute (follow)

Professor and chair emeritus at Duke University School of Medicine (follow)

Chair of the Lown Institute board of directors, former CEO of Denver Health

Assistant professor, NYU School of Medicine (follow)

Associate professor at Yale School of Public Health (follow)

Creator and showrunner,

“The Resident” (follow)

President of Physicians for a National Health Program and retired internist at Cook County Hospital (follow)

President of the Minority Health Institute, Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCLA School of Medicine, author of Blacks in Medicine (follow)

[jgroffdaily]

[This article appears in the September 16, 2019, issue of New York Magazine.]

Within minutes of my meeting Jonathan Groff, he asks if I would like a slice of cherry pie, and then, only a short time later, if I would like to be eaten by a giant plant. The first I readily accept because Groff and the rest of the cast of Little Shop of Horrors have thoroughly analyzed the desserts they picked up for a bus ride down from New York to the suburban Philadelphia puppet studio where they’re rehearsing for the day, and they’ve all concluded it’s the best option. The idea of being eaten by a plant seems a little less palatable, considering the contortions involved in entering the hippopotamus-esque maw of the man-eating Audrey II, which is operated by several puppeteers, and because I’m not sure if Groff is making a serious offer. I learn quickly that he is always offering you things, and those offers are always serious.

The puppet in question represents the largest form of Audrey II, a sassy carnivorous horticultural oddity that convinces Seymour, an awkward flower-shop assistant, to commit murder in the pursuit of fame, fortune, and a suburban life with the original Audrey, a human who works with him. The day I visit, Groff, playing the misfit Seymour (despite good looks that actor Christian Borle, who plays the maniacal dentist, Orin, describes as “scrumptious”), and his castmates are climbing inside Audrey II one by one, figuring out how each of them will die. Wearing a hat from Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s “On the Run II” tour, Groff jumps inside wielding a floppy machete, which is so un-aerodynamic it keeps getting stuck in Audrey II’s lips. Groff suggests a real machete prop would be sturdier, and they try substituting an umbrella, which flies out more cleanly. Michael Mayer, the director, says with satisfaction, “It’s a belch!”

Staging this revival of Little Shop is “illegal fun,” as Groff puts it. The original ran from 1982 to 1987 but never transferred to Broadway, at the insistence of writer-lyricist Howard Ashman, who wanted to preserve the show’s off-kilter spirit in a smaller space. Ashman and composer Alan Menken would go on to fill the Disney Renaissance — which consisted of films like The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast — with the Marie’s Crisis–ready melodies and queer subversions you can already hear in Little Shop (Ashman died of aids-related complications in 1991). Despite a Broadway staging that kicked off in 2003, this version is staying put at the Westside Theatre Off Broadway in hopes of preserving the quirky spirit of the original. There’s a lot of laughter in rehearsal as well as dress codes like a “kimono Wednesday,” which Mayer enforces by handing me a spare kimono when I drop in that day.

I can’t imagine anyone who is consistently involved in or adjacent to homicide having a better time. In addition to playing a murderously nice guy in Little Shop, Groff stars in Netflix’s David Fincher–produced drama Mindhunter, playing an FBI agent who interviews serial killers; the show is based on the real work of John Douglas, who was one of the first criminal profilers. Considering he’s no big fan of true crime, Groff is somewhat confused about how he became a poster boy for gore and mutilation, though he’s enjoying the texts from friends who point out that even when he does musical comedy, there’s a dark edge involved. A few days after we meet in Philadelphia, we’re talking over breakfast at the cozy Grey Dog in Chelsea, where he insists on paying for everything, picking up all the water and utensils, and getting up from the table to refill my coffee cup when it’s empty.

Groff signed up to star in Little Shop this spring after careful consideration, by which I mean he got the offer and then listened to the original cast recording on repeat for a whole weekend. He’d never played Seymour before, unlike the majority of white male theater actors, but he had positive memories of seeing the first performance of the 2003 Broadway version just after high school, when he was rehearsing the role of Rolf in a non-Equity tour of The Sound of Music. “I wanted to make sure that I’m bleeding for it eight times a week,” he says, which is his measure for doing musicals; he wants to make sure he won’t get bored with the material. Even now, when I assume he might want a break from it during rehearsals, Groff still has the album on repeat. “I never went to college, and I’m not educated, really, so I couldn’t say, like, intellectually why that is,” he says. “When I listened to it, it shot through my heart.”

There’s a clue, however, in the way he remembers obsessing over the film version of the show as a seventh-grader, standing in his kitchen with the song “Skid Row” on repeat — specifically when Seymour sings, “Someone show me a way to get outta here.” It was an appealing message to a closeted kid whom Groff describes as just “a sweaty, uncomfortable person with a secret that was so deep-rooted I wasn’t even flirting with the idea of being myself.” With a little distance from that version of himself (the child of a phys-ed teacher and a horse trainer, growing up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and occasionally having to clean stables on the weekends), Groff recalls the kinds of tells that seem obvious in retrospect, like, say, listening to “Skid Row” on repeat. Or developing an obsession with I Love Lucy, which he still watches before going to bed. Or dancing along to the Donna Reed’s Dinner Party album when his parents weren’t home. There’s a similar longing in Little Shop, which has the queerest kind of perspective on its central couple, as Audrey and Seymour imagine an unreachable, heteronormative life away from skid row and where she looks “like Donna Reed.”

If there’s a murderous kinship between Little Shop and Mindhunter, it extends to the shows’ shared skepticism about that white-picket-fence-style normalcy. Holden, Groff’s profiler character, is a cardboard cutout of a man with a girlfriend who introduces him to 1970s-style sexual liberation, but he is ultimately more fascinated with the deviancy of the killers he’s interviewing. To play him, Groff shuts down his charisma, amassing such emptiness between his angular jaw and his eyebrows that you wonder if he’ll slip into deviancy himself. It’s a performance of square, even sinister straightness that feels close to the best-little-boy performances of closeted queer men, though what seems to thrill Holden most in the show are his interviews with killers. “Sexuality is so complicated, and the people I’ve ended up working with who have cast me in straight parts are interested in looking at things in a complicated way,” Groff says, noting that he feels the argument about whether gay actors can play straight, or vice versa, has gotten “sillier” as time goes on. “Being out and gay and being myself, it allowed me to find people that weren’t closed-minded.”

Groff came out when he was 23, without directly consulting his agent, after he’d become an idol to the nation’s theater teens of Facebook by starring as the sexy, rebellious, tousle-haired Melchior in Spring Awakening. “I was so compartmentalized,” he says, “singing about sex but then not talking about it.” He remains thankful for the way Mayer, who also directed that show, choreographed the explicit sex between himself and Lea Michele’s Wendla clinically, without asking them about their own experiences. He hadn’t spent too much time worrying about the aftereffects of coming out on his career, which were more limiting in 2009 than they are now. “I did think I might not be seen as a romantic lead, but ultimately I was okay with that,” he says, explaining that he was in love at the time and didn’t want to hide it. “At 23, I’d rather just have a real romantic relationship than pretend to have one with a girl.”

Several years after coming out, Groff booked a leading role in HBO’s Looking, a comedy-drama about gay men in San Francisco, which he calls one of the most fulfilling roles he’s had. The series ran for two seasons and got a wrap-up movie but never quite found a viewership, even among queer audiences, instead receiving, as he puts it, “a total mixed bag of very extreme reactions.” Some of that was because people just didn’t like the show — which was often slower, more interior, and whiter and fitter than people may have wanted — and some of it was because it was “carrying a lot of weight; there wasn’t a lot of specifically gay content on a major cable network.” To Groff, making the show opened him up to the possibility of using material from his own experience in his work. Among the cast and crew, “we would talk about stories about PrEP and uncut dicks and monogamy,” he recalls, among “so many stories about anal douching,” and those anecdotes would make their way into the scripts. He was used to a sort of “closeted training of the mind” to abstract himself from his own experience. Looking taught him he could use it.

Recently, Groff has developed an ability to end up near the center of cultural sensations. He stepped in for Brian d’Arcy James as Hamilton’s fey Britpop version of King George III midway through the show’s Off Broadway run. It was a somewhat ideal gig, given that he was onstage for only about nine minutes a night, performed crowd-pleasing kiss-off songs, met Beyoncé, earned a Tony nomination, and got a lot of reading done backstage. This fall, he’s in Disney’s sequel to Frozen, where he returns to play Princess Anna’s rugged (at a Disney-appropriate level) love interest, Kristoff. In the first movie, while Idina Menzel’s Elsa got the vocal-cord shattering “Let It Go,” Groff sang only a few lines of melody between Kristoff and his reindeer, Sven. This time around, he’s putting his Broadway training to use with a full-length solo. It’s the second one he recorded for the movie, since the writers had one idea for a Kristoff piece (“a jam”) but then canned that song while promising Groff they’d write something different, which he didn’t quite believe. “Then they fucking wrote that other song,” he says, characteristically effusive. “I was like, Wow, and the animation of the song is so brilliant.”

As personable as Groff is and as successful as he has become — and as beloved, especially among theater fans and people like my mother — there’s a point at which he maintains a certain distance, in what feels like a way to stem his own impulses. He doesn’t use any social media, though he did consider it when Looking was struggling, before he realized “I’d have to be good at it and want to do it, and I don’t.” He has never thrown himself a birthday party, because the impulse to make sure everyone’s having a good time would stress him out too much. In behavior that reminds me of both a secret agent and Kim Kardashian, he regularly goes through and deletes all his texts after responding to each of them. “I want to make sure I get back to everyone,” he says, holding his iPhone up in front of me to reveal the remarkably few surviving messages.

Before Groff gets up to leave breakfast and travel to rehearsal by way of the single-speed bicycle he rides around Manhattan, we end up talking about the larger trajectory of his career. Considering that he’s scaling down for a revival run of a musical Off Broadway, was he ever the kind of actor who thought of his work as building up to something? A big film? A franchise? “I think I gave that up when I came out of the closet,” he says. “I gave up the idea that there was an end goal or ideal or some kind of dream to work toward.” An image appears in my mind of the life Audrey sings about in Little Shop, a place that’s comfortable, traditional, and expected, somewhere that’s green. “When I moved to New York, what I wanted was to be on Broadway. That happened and then I came out, and it’s sort of been anybody’s guess since then,” Groff says. “I like when something makes me cry or I can’t stop listening to it. Okay, I want to do that.”

Little Shop of Horrors is in previews and opens October 17 at Westside Theatre Upstairs. Buy tickets here.

[khananifamilydental]

Brighten Your Smile with Stunning Veneers in Holden, MA!

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[cmvarma]

Teeth Hospital Near Me

I've seen a lot of unbearably white teeth lately. A colleague with dazzling white fangs also tightened his forehead. He is a wax figure of the man I once knew - teeth hospital near me.

"You haven't changed at all," I said, but thought, "Man, you've changed."

Talking Heads' Seen and Not Seen from 1980 is a story about people changing faces. It became my dystopian stoner song when I was 18, but it sounds more real now.

The dazzling helicopter once seen only by Hollywood actors has been democratized. Botox, fillers, and whiter teeth are affordable (at least for those who can).

Mechanics and their partners, accountants, auto salesmen, mortgage brokers and retail workers are all now showing off super white, often with a look of perpetual surprise.

I drink coffee, not baby milk coffee or oat milk coffee. The real stuff: espresso, macchiato, and "Greek" coffee (okay, Byzantine, government dental hospital so we won't insult our Turkish and Lebanese cousins). However, I am very concerned about my teeth.

I floss my teeth after meals and then use an electric toothbrush. I went to the only legally recognized abuser dentist for a cleanup. Why am I under pressure to have my teeth as white as my real estate agent?

Professor Alexander Holden from the Sydney Dental Hospital and Oral Health Service wrote a paper in 2020, "Consumed by prestige: the mouth, consumerism, and the dental profession".

"The smile as a symbol of status and prestige makes teeth an object and product that can be bought and sold," he begins.

I drink coffee, not baby milk coffee or oat milk coffee. The real stuff: espresso, macchiato, and "Greek" coffee (okay, Byzantine, so we won't insult our Turkish and Lebanese cousins). However, I am very worried about my teeth.

I floss my teeth after meals and then use an electric toothbrush. I went to the only legally recognized abuser dentist for a cleanup. Why am I under pressure to have my teeth as white as my real estate agent?

Professor Alexander Holden from the Sydney Dental Hospital and Oral Health Service wrote a paper in 2020, Consumed by Prestige: Oral cavity, consumerism and the dental profession.

I presented my thesis to Professor Holden that whitening is cheaper now and it's a status symbol.

"Of course, teeth whitening is more accessible than ever, and whitening kits are now ubiquitous at chemists and elsewhere on the high street," he told me.

"Healthy teeth indicate youth and health; however, it is clear that someone has had their teeth done when they don't match their age."

What he means is that if one's teeth belonged to a bleached marble Greek statue, rather than the ever-young Hermes, they would look a little rude. just say.

"Over time and with age, as teeth yellow, enamel wear helps the underlying yellow dentin appear more prominent," Professor Holden said.

I come from a generation that enjoyed free dental care in elementary school. Even as children of poorer immigrants, we were able to afford braces and avoided the buck teeth of our much poorer accomplices of the past - braces cost in areadental.

For that, I am grateful. Healthy teeth are vital to social, physical and mental health.

But dental care shouldn't be a futile pursuit of a long-gone youth. People, you know who you are and need to stop going overboard.

[pcttrailsidereader]

What Was I Most Scared Of When Hiking the PCT?

From the beginning of our efforts to collect stories for the Pacific Crest Trailside Reader books, Corey and I quickly learned just how rare hikers were who also worked at the craft of writing.  That was a decade ago.  In the seven years of curating this website since the anthologies were published, that perception has not changed.  So it refreshing to discover hiker/writers like Kathleen Neves.  Over the next half year, we will periodically publish more of Kathleen’s writing.  In the meantime, do not hesitate to check out Kathleen’s website:  http://www.kathleenlovesyoga.com/

By Kathleen Neves

Since being home from thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, people have asked me all kinds of questions about my trip. The one question that keeps getting asked over and over is, “What was I most scared of when hiking the PCT?” Most people think my answer would be animals or creepy people on trail. Nope. Some have even guessed it would be weather. Nope again. Surprisingly all three of these were the least of my concerns on trail.

I was fortunate enough to not come across any creepy people on trail. In fact, I met the most friendly, generous and amazing people on the PCT. Nowhere else in my life have I ever met so many people who genuinely wanted to help others without expecting anything in return. This ranged from fellow hikers to trail angels and complete strangers I met along my way up to Canada. Thanks to my experiences on trail, my faith in humanity has been restored. I now know there are plenty of kind people still out in the world.

I didn’t have a whole lot of encounters with wildlife other than a bunch of friendly deer, swarms of bees in Northern California, several mosquitos in the Sierra and a couple of baby skunks, the occasional snake and tons of lizards in the desert. The only bear I saw on trail was when I was on my way into Chester, California when I saw its butt scurry down the trail as I rounded a corner while singing at the top of my lungs.

I lucked out with weather for the most part on trail. It rained on our way into Julian, down in Southern California. By the time we got back to the trail from Julian, the sun and warm weather had come back. There was one scary thunder and lightning storm Grit and I hiked through on our way into South Lake Tahoe. In Washington, from Trout Lake to Holden Valley, Grit and I hiked through several days (and miles) of fog, rain and even some snow, but nothing too crazy. Nothing we couldn’t handle.

When I first started my hike on the PCT, I thought my biggest fear of being on trail would be having to camp by myself because I’d never slept outside by myself before. On my first night on the PCT, I camped with 10 to 14 other thru-hikers at Hauser Creek. It was here where I met my Team Lagger trail family. For the next 700 miles, I didn’t have to spend a single night by myself. It wasn’t until Day 58 when I went into the High Sierra by myself when I finally faced that big fear of mine and camped alone for the first time.

In all honesty, sleeping outside by myself wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. The first night in the High Sierra was hard, but that’s only because I was heartbroken about having to say goodbye to my Team Lagger trail family. All night long, I kept thinking everyone’s tents were just outside of mine – KitKat and Amish, Punchline and Bleeder. Anytime I wanted to yell out something to one of them, I remembered no one was there to answer back. I cried multiple times that night in my tent. Since no one else was camping near me, I wasn’t afraid to cry loudly either.

In the High Sierra, I spent most nights camping by myself, all the way to Red’s Meadow. In Red’s Meadow, I was reunited with Grit again. From Red’s Meadow to Burney, we camped together on most nights. From Burney to Mount Shasta, I hiked solo while Grit stayed back in Burney, waiting to see a dentist. It was during this section when solo camping became less of a fear and more of a choice. I’d see plenty of hiker friends during the day on trail. At night, I’d purposely choose tentsites at the top of big climbs, on ridgelines or on mountain tops with epic views. Everyone seemed to spread out at night and do their own thing. I loved it when I’d have a tentsite all to myself – just me, my tent, the bees, the mosquitoes and the sunsets/sunrises. It’s funny how the one thing I was sure would terrify me turned out to be something I really enjoyed doing.

The thing I was most scared of when hiking the PCT was a fear I never knew I had. My biggest fear of hiking the PCT?  Fording rivers and creeks. Before hiking the PCT, I’d never forded a river or creek. Never in my life had I ever needed to walk across a raging river to get to the other side without there being a somewhat safe way to get across. There had always been either a bridge to cross or stones large enough to walk over to get safely to the other side. What made fording rivers and creeks even more scary was every time I came up to one, there never seemed to be anyone else around. Where were all of the other hikers?

The first time I had to ford a creek was at Rae Lakes, just after Glenn Pass in the High Sierra. I hiked along the trail, all the way to where the trail ended, which was at the creek. I could clearly see the trail continuing on the other side, but there was now a body of water standing between it and my dry shoes. I looked around to see if there was a log bridge or another way to get across without having to get my feet in the water. I couldn’t find anything. Since my camp shoes were flimsy, slip-on sandals, my choices to get across the water were to either do it barefoot or get my shoes and socks wet. I took a deep breath, braced myself for the cold water and walked across the water with my shoes and socks on. The water wasn’t all that deep, but it was cold. At least my feet would be cleaned off for the evening. That was always the bonus of getting my feet wet at a water crossing.

The next time I had to ford a creek was much tougher than the first time I’d done it. This time, the trail had led me to a raging river, the South Fork Kings River. I walked all the way to the end of the trail and could see the trail starting up again on the other side. Roaring rapids stood between me and the other side of the trail. Of course, I was the only person around. I could’ve sat there and waited for another hiker to come by, but who knew when that would be? I’d have to suck it up and face this fear on my own.

As I got closer to the water, I took a look around. From where I was standing, the river looked pretty deep and the rapids were raging. Not exactly the safest place to cross. As I scanned the area, I could hear my friend, Katie’s voice in my head telling me what to do. Her voice reminded me that I didn’t have to cross the river right where the trail ended. She told me to go upstream and look for a calmer, shallower spot.

I walked upstream a bit until I found a spot I felt comfortable crossing. It was much calmer and there were hardly any rapids going through the area. From what I could see, it didn’t look all that deep either. Just like the first crossing, I decided to keep my shoes and socks on. I stuck my trekking poles in the water first and then allowed my feet to follow. One by one, I slowly stepped one foot in front of the other as I felt around the ground with my trekking poles, trying to gauge the depth of the water as I went. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. To help keep my anxiety at bay, I started talking out loud to myself, telling myself exactly what I was going to do next: “Step. Okay, you got this. Easy does it. Slow. Okay step. Slippery rock, okay maybe not there. Try another step. Easy. Slow.”

Towards the middle of the crossing, the water came up to my knees. I could feel the current of the water pushing against my legs and feet. Some rocks were more slippery than others. A couple of times, I could feel my feet starting to slip out from underneath me. I did my best not to panic. I kept talking myself through the situation and took it slow, one careful step at a time. Once I made it safely to the other side, I couldn’t help but turn back around towards the river and yell, “Not today!” I had just forded my first big river safely and had done it all on my own. I felt pretty accomplished.

Fording a river or creek never seemed to get easier though, no matter how many times I had to do it. I was scared every single time. I always seemed to be alone whenever I’d have to do it, which made the whole situation even scarier. After doing a few of these, I learned how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. I came up with a system based on the things I had learned at previous crossings. I’d always scan the area for the safest spot to cross. Before getting in the water, I’d take a big breath to calm myself down. Once I was in the water, I made sure I was never in a hurry and took my time getting across.

A couple of  times I got blisters on my feet from having to hike in wet socks and shoes after fording a river. I learned the best way to keep my socks and feet dry was to take my socks off and the insoles of my shoes out before getting in the water. This way, only my shoes would get wet. By the time I got to the other side, I could wipe my feet dry with a towel and would have dry insoles and socks to put back on and hike in. Since I hiked in my trail runners, my shoes would dry completely within a couple hours of being out of the water.

There were a couple times I forded a creek barefoot. Not a good idea! Not only did it hurt my feet, but I slipped a fair amount of times on wobbly, slippery rocks. I felt much safer and more stable with having the traction of my shoes underneath my feet instead of bare feet.

Another thing I learned was to move things in my pack I didn’t want to get wet, up to the top of my pack. For example, I usually kept my GoPro, wallet and cell phone in the hip pocket of my pack. At a river crossing, I’d move these items up to the very top of my pack instead. This way, if the water was deep enough and reached my hips or if I slipped and fell in the water, these items would most likely not get wet because they’d be further from the water.

Also, on big water crossings, I learned to unbuckle my pack before getting in the water. This way if I slipped and fell in the water or was swept in by a rapid, I could easily release myself from my pack and prevent myself from drowning.

Before hiking the PCT, I had no idea fording a river or creek would be such a huge fear of mine. Probably because up until this point in my life, I’d never been in a situation where I had to do anything like this before. My fear of fording rivers and creeks made my fear of sleeping outside by myself seem so silly. The High Sierra section of the PCT was really good about not only showing me how strong of a person I am, but forcing me to face fears I never knew I had.

[tigerellasims]

asks :-)

sorry i haven’t been as active with answering asks! my boyfriend is here soo.. i haven’t been on tumblr much!

Anonymous said:

God maya and caleb are cute but Zelda and Holden are better in my opinon 😍

they’re my otp honestly

Anonymous said:

How many followers do you have rn? 💛

1033 :-) way more than i deserve!

Anonymous said:

When do we get to see Holden meeting Caleb, the kids or Zelda’s parents? I’m excited!!!! HOLDEN WE - I - LOVE YOU!

we’ll see some of that soon!

Anonymous said:

i forgot the kids were at their grandparents and freaked out for a second bc i thought they were at home alone

haha nooo. they’re staying with aurora and zeke for now!

Anonymous said:

no your editing tutorial now!

ohh, well most of it is reshade honestly and then i just use an action over the top, and some topaz clean

Anonymous said:

I’m the anxiety nonny about school and the soccer boys. It’s freezing cold and yesterday, I tripped while walking to the bus and got a scab across my chin. I also started my pd but, do not fear! I’ve got a medical certificate to get me out of hpe for rest of term. Except. My teacher may or may not have seen me running to get the ball back in rugby kicking training lesson thingy. So, I’m scared. Also got dentist and may have to get 2 teeth pulled and I’ve never had a tooth pulled! Sorry, bye!

ahh bby i’m sorry sending you big hugs from me! also i’ve had a tooth pulled before and it’s not bad at all just a lil bit sore afterwards :-)

@authentic-glitter-trash said:

Holden booty 💦😏👀👀

..i know. it’s everything i’ve ever wanted

@pxlcreek said:

What If Holden has ran out of "protection" and the amount of banging they are doing i'm surprised the thing hasn't ripped, XD

what “thing”? this message confuses me

Anonymous said:

Have you ever thought about writing a book? Your writing is so amazing I really think you could..if you wanted to and had the time of course

honestly i don’t even know if i could! like writing dialogue is wayy different to writing a book haha. but ty for the compliment bby <3

Anonymous said:

Plz we need more gen 2

you’ll get it!

[beyondedenton]

Rohan's laugh was equal parts humor and relief. Even if Holden didn't understand what he was being thanked for, Rohan did, and it meant a very great deal.

He turned his own pumpkin around, revealing its cute surprised face. "This guy is shocked to hear it. He probably goes to the dentist more than most pumpkins. We should get another pumpkin and make that one a greedy dentist."

"How we make him look like a dentist?" Simple really was a relief. Simple pumpkins. Simple conversation. Simple jokes. He could breathe easy for a moment.

"Oh, hey, we can shape one like a tooth, or, ya know, fangs. We got enough orange guys for all this?"

[cars4starters]

Equinox better than trip to the dentist

Untitled #cars4start

What is it?

I had about as much interest in driving the new Holden Equinox as going to the dentist.

But then a funny thing happened — I liked it.

In fact, I liked it a lot.

The Chevy Equinox — I have a hard time substituting Holden for Chevy — is a mid-sized SUV that replaces the five-seat Captiva in the Holden lineup.

It’s sleek, sits relatively low, and is easy to get in and out of, as well as…

[meximominva]

Personal view on Social Media

Social Media and Business

Get out of the way everyone, social media is taking over! While social media was designed for personal communication between users, it has evolved into a platform where different users are taking advantage of social media. These different users are organizations of all sorts; retail stores, dentists’ offices, churches, doctors’ offices, pet stores, etc. So many different entities are using social media as a platform to advertise what they do, and it is amazing! However, there is a different manner at which these users should approach social media, professionalism is key.  Holden (2016) tells us that even when it is acceptable for businesses to have a social media page, they should proceed under a framework of professional, legal, and ethical guidelines. This behavior is known as e-professionalism. Holden (2016) also tells us defines e‐professionalism to be “the attitudes and behaviors that reflect traditional professionalism paradigms but are manifested through digital media” (p. 1). In my personal experience, using social media to get a message out to the public works well. I am on my church’s social media team and spreading church messages, biblical passages, and even sermon recaps have helped our church reach people that we could not reach before.

Social Media and Personal Use

On a personal note, social media has both its positive and negative aspects. People share as they will and sometimes, they share their negative energy. On the positive side, social media helps you form connections. I was able to connect with family in Mexico, that I never really met in person. I was able to share family stories with them and they shared things with me that I never knew about our family, honestly this would never had happened if it was not for social media. Whiting and Williams (2013) tell us that the ten major reason why people use social media are “social interaction, information seeking, pass time, entertainment, relaxation, communicatory utility, convenience utility, expression of opinion, information sharing, and surveillance/knowledge about others” (p. 3). When used personally, social media turns into a sharing frenzy.

Society and Social Media

Social media is used for both personal and professional purposes and sometimes both at the same time, but it is important to separate these forms of communication. If you own a business, you should separate your personal and professional page. Advice Media (n.d) tells us that a business page is used to showcase the service it provides while a personal page represents the views of a single viewer. Advice Media (n.d) also tells us that a “it is against Facebook’s policy to use a Personal page for business” (p. 2). While it is okay for a business owner to have a personal page, they can not interlap.

Now, lets take the information mentioned above and analyze how it has affected society. Society now turns to social media for their information. Potential employers are looking at personal pages to decide whether they should hire someone, and users are checking business pages for reviews before deciding if they will utilize their services. Others check their spouse’s social media pages to make sure they are being faithful. Social media is one of the first places people go to for opinions, news, and entertainment, and for some, the only place they go to.

[thisdaynews]

Super Bowl 2020: The NFL Academy & its first students on new path to US game

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/super-bowl-2020-the-nfl-academy-its-first-students-on-new-path-to-us-game/

Super Bowl 2020: The NFL Academy & its first students on new path to US game

The first intake of students started at the academy in September

It’s 5am and an alarm clock goes off in Milton Keynes. Fraser Holden has to get up and out in time to catch the 05:53 to London Euston.

From there he takes the tube to Southgate, north London, and is down to work by 7.30am. He might not leave until five in the afternoon.

Unlike the other commuters, Fraser travels kitted out in sportswear. He’s 16 and is going to college to learn how to play American football. Today. the aspiring linebacker will meet Jerry Rice, one of the greatest players of all time.

Yet this is not a one-off, it’s a regular day at the NFL Academy. Backed by the NFL, Nike and some superstar mentors, the programme is the first of its kind in Britain.

The aim? To transform the perception of American football in the UK and Europe.

The NFL said nothing until a surprise social media campaign announced the details last May. Within two weeks, over 1,500 had applied for the 90 places on offer.

In September, the first intake started at Barnet & Southgate College. Here, 16-to-18-year-olds study for regular qualifications alongside elite American football training.

Fraser was one of those who applied. He grew up playing rugby but had started playing small-sided American football games too. He was lured by the ‘We Can, We Do’ campaign, aimed at British youngsters dreaming of following Efe Obada and Jay Ajayi into the NFL.

The first try-outs were held in June. Cleveland Browns’ wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr was there – as well as BBC pundits Osi Umenyiora and Jason Bell.

From the outset, the message was clear. Academy hopefuls would be judged on their attitude and character as much as their athletic ability. And the programme would be very demanding.

Jerry Rice is widely regarded as the greatest wide receiver in NFL history

“It’s dedication, it’s commitment,” says Will Bryce, NFL UK’s head of player development. “It’s prioritising studying, managing your time, getting to bed early, getting off social media when you don’t need to be on it. It gives the kids structure, they’re part of a team, plus there are some pretty cool opportunities too.”

Selfies with OBJ was just the start. After the try-outs, 150 hopefuls were called back to a stadium showcase in the first NFL event at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in July. There they met Obada himself and did drills with Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Juju Smith-Schuster.

Fraser was among the 90 eventually accepted. He admits the first few weeks of the programme were “a big shake-up – especially after going to school five minutes away”. Now he is proud to wear his NFL-branded kit, to be one of those who stands out on campus.

In pride of place is the academy gym, which was converted from the college’s theatre and now features NFL branding inside and out. Jerry Rice came for the official opening.

The 57-year-old, who won three Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers, tells students that at their age he was a “diamond in the rough”, that he never thought he would play professional football, that he wasn’t the greatest athlete and didn’t have the best skills but refused to let anybody “out-work him”.

The legendary receiver speaks with the ‘inspiration wall’ as backdrop. It features quotes from NFL players, each one almost always featuring the same word – work. Three more are prominent too: Responsibility, integrity, respect.

The students are often here lifting weights at 7.30am. For linebacker Fraser and defensive end Tyrese Peters-Tovey, 19, the strength and conditioning work has been the toughest part. But the shared experience quickly saw the group bond.

“You kind of have to when you’re running 110-yard sprints together and running into each other for three hours a day!” Fraser says.

Each week they have three field sessions, four classroom sessions and four weightlifting sessions. On Wednesdays, the focus is on character development. Staff and external speakers talk about life skills, wellbeing, and issues such as social media safety and domestic violence.

They have 10 hours of classes in their chosen subjects – the same as all the college’s students – plus 15 hours of training on top. And if anybody wants extra video footage to review in their own time – an essential part of life in the NFL – staff are happy to oblige.

“If they’re willing to put the work in, we’ll match it and then some,” says Bryce. “It’s going to produce a type of American football player which this country has not produced before. They’re going to be much better prepared to compete in the NFL, mentally and physically.”

Only 90 could be accepted for the academy’s first intake in September

Head coach is Tony Allen – the long-serving London Warriors coach. He and his staff have had to tailor sessions to accommodate a range of skillsets.

Some signed up having already broken into Great Britain’s Under-19s, some had never played a snap. Many have come across from rugby, others have switched from sports like athletics, tennis, judo and swimming. In total, 32 of the 90 students are considered ‘crossover athletes’.

While American youngsters grow up with the game, British players like Umenyiora and Obada have proved you can pick it up late and still succeed.

Umenyiora was born in London and hadn’t even heard of American football until he moved to Alabama at the age of 14. He went on to win two Super Bowls. Obada didn’t play until he was 22 and, five years on, has just signed for a third year with the Carolina Panthers.

“We always said that if we’re going to help develop European talent we need to get them earlier and here we are working with 16-year-olds,” says Allen.

Students come from very different backgrounds, too. Three are involved with the Big Kid Foundationwhich seeks to help “young people at risk of social exclusion and youth violence”. Another is a former pupil at Charterhouse boarding school in Surrey.

Thirty-five have left home to be here – 30 from further afield in the UK, five from Europe. Because they’re under 18 they aren’t permitted to live on their own, so the college has partnered with a homestay programme to place them with local families, with extra pastoral and welfare staff on hand to support them.

The dream for many is to earn a scholarship and join the American collegiate system, from which NFL players are drafted. The academy has therefore had to find centres in London where they can sit the SAT test, for college admissions in the US.

That’s true of George Reynolds. He wants to be the NFL’s first British quarterback and has just been out in Florida. He was one of eight from the academy, selected by fellow students, to take part in a High School skills showdownbefore Sunday’s Pro Bowl all-star game in Orlando.

Fraser has recently joined George in the British U19 squad, and although he also hopes to play in the US too, he feels his academic choices could help him pursue an alternative career in politics.

Tyrese chose to put off university for a year, moving from Hackney to his dad’s in Enfield so he could be closer to campus. While his parents backed the decision, he initially faced opposition from his grandparents, who are lawyers and dentists in Trinidad.

“They made it sound like I wasn’t being productive,” Tyrese says. “But I’m not just getting better at football, I have a chance to get a qualification and get something in life.

“Whatever happens after this, I’ll be a better player and a better person. I think I made the right choice.”

Fraser Holden grew up playing rugby but switched over to American Football

With the NFL’s regular season already over, British players Christian Scotland-Williamson and Jamie Gillan recently dropped by. Obada is also set to pay another visit.

He and Scotland-Williamson are products of the International Player Pathway, which started in 2017. And the success of that programme, for over-20s, gave Alistair Kirkwood the inspiration to revisit an idea he first presented early in his 20-year tenure as NFL UK’s managing director.

Back then, things were focused solely on producing more elite, international players. But after helping bring regular season games to London, Kirkwood realised an academy could do much more.

“We wanted something from a community perspective in north London that was more year-round and impactful than just playing the London Games,” he says.

“Now education is as important in the academy as the athletic side, if not more so. An elite few will go to the States but success for us is 100% of kids having some form of defined success, be it going on to further education, becoming more employable or being role models who can influence younger kids.

“We’ve had lots of little landmarks where we’ve confounded ourselves and gone on to greater things but of all of these, I’d say the academy has the potential to be truly transformational. It could be something we look back on and say it changed the shape of the sport.”

As the students watch Super Bowl 54 this Sunday, it will be with a clear path of how one day they could get there too. Realistically, few will make it. Only 1.6% of US college players were drafted in 2018.

But even if they don’t, the experience will last a lifetime, wherever their future lies.

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