Just to let you know–I have recently fallen in love with a hot, dirty, beautiful mistress who goes by the name of Morocco. Stepping off of the Explorer, the first thing that comes to mind is: Where the hell am I? The port of Casablanca is heavily industrialized and extremely busy. Massive cranes fill the skyline while a thick dust swirls constantly through the air. The port is so large that we have to take shuttles to reach the entrance of the city. Once there, I was thrust into a hectic mayhem of cars and mopeds zipping every which-way. Traffic laws are more of a suggestion in Morocco. Stoplights and lanes are there for what appears to be only show. I’m still not sure which side of the road one is supposed to drive on. The sound of honking is almost deafening as it echoes off of the numerous skyscrapers that line the streets of the city. We were all very excited to discover this new place. Our pre-port warned us about the conservative customs that are expected in an Islamic country. Women were to wear long pants and cover their shoulders at all times while men were told to […] read more

What Does a Pharmacy Technician Do? I have been writing articles on why and how to become a pharmacy technician, but some recent feedback has made me realize I left out the obvious. What is it that pharmacy technicians do in a pharmacy? Most people figure they help the pharmacist enter prescriptions and count pills. This is true for an outpatient pharmacy, also called a retail pharmacy, but there are many roles for pharmacy technicians in healthcare. The rest of this article will list different types of pharmacy settings and the roles that pharmacy technicians have in these settings. Community/Retail Pharmacy: I have worked retail, and I prefer other settings; however, it is where a large percentage of pharmacy technician jobs are found. What a pharmacy technician can do is determined by the state they work via state laws and rules. In general, technicians cannot provide clinical information to patients or be the final check for prescriptions. In some states, technicians are allowed to provide information on over-the-counter (OTC) medication (ie, medications that do not require a prescription, such as, acetaminophen and ibuprofen). Pharmacy technician tasks include, but are not limited to: • Collecting patient information (insurance and personal information […] read more

The Price of Admission to the Digital Age Identity theft is everywhere. It’s the crime of the millennium; it’s the scourge of the digital age. If it hasn’t happened to you, it’s happened to someone you know. Using Federal Trade Commission (FTC) data, Javelin Research estimates that about 9 million identity thefts occurred last year, which means that about 1 in 22 American adults was victimized in just one year. So far – knock wood – I’ve personally been spared, but in the course of running an enterprise identity theft solutions company, I’ve run across some amazing stories, including from close friends that I had not previously known were victims. One friend had her credit card repeatedly used to pay for tens of laptops, thousands of dollars of groceries, and rent on several apartments – in New York City, just prior to the 9/11 attacks. The FBI finally got involved, and discovered an insider at the credit card firm, and links to organizations suspected of supporting terrorists. So what is this big scary threat, is it for real, and is there anything one can do other than install anti-virus software, check credit card statements, put your social security card in […] read more

Colorado citizens voted to pass Amendment 20 in 2000 opening the door for an influx of new legal medical marijuana dispensaries. Over the past several years, the Colorado medical marijuana industry has become the fastest growing industry in the state. It was reported in 2010 that the number of Denver dispensaries has grown to outnumber the number of Starbucks in the city. With this overwhelming number of new cannabis dispensaries opening across the state, it’s hard to know where to start. So if you have your Colorado medical marijuana registry card and you’re wondering how to find the best Colorado dispensaries, then keep reading for some handy tips… The first step in locating a new medical marijuana dispensary is to identify all the dispensaries that are in close proximity to your location. Google maps is a great tool for this task because it will actually overlay location markers if you do a search for something like “Denver Dispensary”. Once you have a list of a few dispensaries in your area, you can start researching each by doing another Google search for their specific name and keywords. So search for something like “Denver dispensary review” or just “the best Denver dispensaries” […] read more

Mushroom growing on a small scale is relatively easy, as everyone knows. All you need is a little growth medium and some spores, and the mushrooms virtually grow themselves. These days you even have kits which allow you to grow mushrooms even more easily. These kits provide you with everything that you could possibly need, and all you need to do is to water the mushrooms regularly and make sure they don’t dry up. However, this sort of mushroom growing will provide the occasional mushroom meal for your family, but nothing more than that. If you want to grow enough mushrooms to share with your friends and acquaintances, you’re going to have to go one better than this. You’ll have to take a little trouble and prepare the containers for growing the mushrooms, and perhaps even the growth medium, yourself. However, if you succeed at this, you might even be able to go on to grow mushrooms commercially, or at least enough to sell them locally. Now the first thing you need when you’re considering growing mushrooms on a larger scale is space. After all, you can’t grow anything unless you have the space to plant it in. You’ll need […] read more

As state and local authorities crack down on underage drinking, the fines and fees on businesses that sell alcohol to minors continues to increase. Anyone under the age of 21 is not permitted to purchase or drink alcohol. Tobacco sales are age-restricted as well. Enforcement by federal, state and local officials is expected, and many bars, grocery stores, restaurants and nightclubs are scrambling for a way to stay one step ahead of those sporting fake ID cards to avoid infractions. Checking IDs is not enough. False identification is readily available and some young people go to every effort to go to bars or buy alcohol and tobacco products from legitimate businesses. It can be a status symbol for the underage patron to “get away with it.” Fake IdentificationWhile some fakes can be spotted easily, others are much more difficult to distinguish between the real deal and those made at home on a computer. The fact remains that no matter what, the business establishment will be still be held responsible for serving minors if the alcoholic beverage control board or a law enforcement agency discovers they have done so. Old Iron Sides fakeOne way to combat this is through modern technology. […] read more

He who sleeps here, when dying, mistaking the approach of death for the return of health, whispered with his latest breath, ‘I am better now.’ Let us believe, in spite of doubts and dogmas, of fears and tears, that these dear words are true of all the countless dead. Robert G. Ingersoll, Eulogy for his brother Ebon. Washington, DC, May 31, 1879. INTRODUCTION – People are squeamish about death. It ranks with religion, politics and sex as topics to avoid in polite (and other) society. While most overcome the culturally-induced reluctance to think about it long enough to do a bit of estate planning (e.g., set out a will, maybe sign a donor card), little if any attention is given how to die. DYING HEALTHY? – To die healthy means to live well, to the final moment of existence until, with a last breath, you think, murmur or say aloud, I feel better now, as spoke Robert Green Ingersoll (following the example of his brother Ebon) when he closed his eyes forevermore on July 21, 1899. Of course, not everyone gets much choice of how, when, why or where to die. Dying is not really a choice at all for […] read more

If you think that the china plate your grandmother passed down to you is an antique than you have to find out to know for sure one way or another. Try to think about how it came to be in your family. Did your family buy it from an auction sale it or did they acquire it at a flea market? Some individuals have purchased these simple items for a low price not understanding what they were. One of the single ways that you will master the art of identifying these pieces is if you study them first. Invest in magazines or books that will help to teach you what you have to look for and what the most common pieces are. They will provide you with tips on how you can pick out a fake and methods used to determine where it came from. After a bit of studying you can study the piece that you have. Look at it all over and try to find the mark of the manufacturer. This is normally settled on the bottom. This may be a number, symbol, or a name. Frequently when the manufacturer made each piece they will stamp or indent […] read more

We live in a day and age where people are spending more and more time outdoors than ever before. Whether it is a grand EDM festival or a local art showcase, the turn up is usually quite impressive and this has turned the events planning industry into something very lucrative. One of the most important and possibly most sensitive aspects of a successful event is security and access control. Over the years, the industry has seen everything from basic ticket stubs and name tag passes to finger print recognition and ID wristbands as a way to control access. However, the ID bands have proven to be the simplest yet most effective modes of control. So, how do you make the most of these identification wristbands for your event or party? Below is all you need to know. Types Of ID Wrist Bands Wristbands that can be used at events as modes of identification are available in many different forms. The main ways to classify them is in terms of material used, fastening mechanisms and identification mechanisms. Below are the categories and examples of types of wristbands that you have to choose from in each. 1. Material used Tyvek If you […] read more

E-commerce technology is an expanding field that can encompass all facets of the online landscape. New e-commerce technologies are being developed in response to market demand to deal with conversion metrics, design, development, security, loyalty program management and site infrastructure. The product life cycle of any product is now being reduced because the pace at which new technologies are being developed and marketed is increasing. Here are some areas of the online space that experience persistent e-commerce technology development: Content Management: In the past, static HTML sites were the standard format used to display information on the web. When a change was required, a manual HTML programmer was required to recode the page and upload it. Web editing programs were then developed that gave people the ability to create and modify pages using the same approach that has been conventionally followed by word processing applications. Although this is still the norm, the evolution of the content management system has, to a large extent, replaced the need for manual page creation. Companies can now deploy sophisticated content management systems which provide all the functionality of standard web editors without the need to FTP upload or an understanding of HTML page elements. […] read more