Our next Second Saturday On The Farm is on Saturday, March 8, 11 am – 3 pm at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, Highway 152 outside Watsonville. This event is FREE! Donations appreciated. Bring your whole neighborhood to participate!
This Second Saturday on the Farm features a scheduled talk on how robots are used in the agriculture industry in Santa Cruz County and around the world, plus LEGO building, robotic car races, programming, drawing a robot, competing sumo robots, hayrides, movies, practice cow milking, and other activities for children.
11:00 am – 3:00 pm: LEGO building, Robotic car races, Programming a BeeBot robot, drawing a robot, Sumo robotics, and other fun activities for children.
1:00 pm – 1:30 pm: Learn to Discover, an educational nonprofit organization, will be discussing Robots in the Agriculture Industry.
Ongoing: Our popular tractor driving, practice cow milking, water pumping, and other fun activities for kids.
Brian and Shelly Laschkewitsch from Learn to Discover will be facilitating many of the fun learning activities about robotics at this event.
Learn to Discover is a 501 c(3) nonprofit that designs, develops and delivers high-quality, hands-on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math) courses and activities to kids from pre-school through high-school.
Content provided by http://www.aghistoryproject.org/event/second-saturday-farm-robotics-agriculture/
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The most recent figures from the National Center for Health Statistics show that 18.6 million American adults (that’s one in 12) suffers from asthma. If you’re one of them, buying Life insurance can be costly — depending on the severity of your condition and your reaction to treatment.However, asthmatics with a good track record of controlling their symptoms can have a near normal life expectancy. So, if it’s been more than two or three years since your asthma led to an ER visit and your condition hasn’t caused you to miss work, you shouldn’t have much trouble getting Life coverage at or near a “standard” premium. Before you apply for coverage, it makes sense to:
- Have your physician monitor your condition at least twice a year.
- Follow the medications the physician prescribes.
- List these medications on your insurance application.
- Provide a comprehensive medical history for the application.
- If you’re a smoker, kick the habit!
We’d be happy to review your situation and recommend the coverage that’s best for you. Call us today for more information.
Content provided by Transformer Marketing.
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In case you’re still wondering how Obamacare is going to affect you, you now have another answer.
You might start seeing Obamacare surcharges on your restaurant checks.
The Executive Editor of CNN Money, Chris Peacock, tweeted a snapshot of one such bill this morning. You can see the surcharge there right at the bottom: $0.20 for “ACA” — a.k.a., the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a., Obamacare.
Twenty cents isn’t exactly exorbitant. But this new practice will no doubt get the anti-Obamacare crowd howling.
Content provided by: http://www.businessinsider.com/restaurant-obamacare-surcharge-2014-2#ixzz2uYGl80Gq
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Farmers in California, where Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency last month, are facing hard choices as a drought threatens to ruin their crops. They must weigh the costs of paying for irrigation against the chance that their fields will never get enough water this season.
A striking picture illustrates the severity of the situation, as Northern California’s Folsom Lake, a reservoir northeast of Sacramento, is seen in January at only 17 percent of its capacity. In July 2011, “the lake was at 97 percent of total capacity and 130 percent of its historical average for that date,” according to NASA.
The federal agency says it is working with the California Department of Water Resources to help the state manage its water resources. Last month, NASA released other images showing the drought’s severity. As NPR member station KQED reported, the state’s snowpack is shown in January 2013 and last month. Much of it did not return.
Here are other updates on the situation:
NASA said today that it’s working to share satellite and weather data with California farmers and water officials to help them avoid wasting water, and to use it in the most efficient way possible. The space agency says a trial run of its Satellite Irrigation Management Support system in 2012 and 2013 “demonstrated sustained yields while reducing the amount of water used by up to 33 percent relative to standard practice.”
Growers of almonds — a state crop valued at $5 billion in 2012 — have been pulling trees out of the ground while they’re still in their prime, in desperate actions driven by high water costs. The AP spoke to a grower who watched crews rip 20 percent of his orchard out of the ground. A man who does that work for a living says business is up 75 percent because of the drought, and his crews are working from sunup to sundown.
Forecasts of rain and snow were welcomed by many Californians, as parts of the state could see more rain this week than they’ve had in the previous eight months together. But Time’s Bryan Walsh warns that even with that rainfall, “much of California will still be below average for precipitation this month. Since February tends to be the wettest month for California, that means that the state still has a larger and larger rainfall deficit to make up if this drought is to ever end.”
Contact Scurich Insurance Services today to get a review of your agriculture insurance.
Content provided by http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/02/25/282624536/california-s-drought-a-shocking-photo-and-other-updates
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Another Winter Olympics season has come and gone and it was a nail-biter, right up until the end. The United States had received the most medals up until the closing weekend, when Russia dominated in the events. Russia came through in the end, earning a total of 33 medals with 13 gold medals, 11 silver medals and 9 bronze medals. The United States came in second,m earning a total of 28 medals with 9 gold medals, 7 silver medals and 12 bronze medals. Norway came in third with 26 medals, 11 of the medals are gold, 5 silver and 10 bronze medals. Here is the breakdown between Russia and the United States.
Russia won the gold in the following categories:
Biathlon-Men’s Relay
Bobsleigh-Four Men and Two Men
Cross Country-Men’s 50 km
Figure Skating-Ladies, Pairs, Team
Short Track-Men’s 1000m, Men’s 500 Men’s 5000m
Skeleton-Men
Snowboard Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom
Snowboard Men’s Parallel Slalom
The United States won the gold in these categories:
Alpine Skiing-Men’s Giant Slalom, Women’s Slalom
Figure Skating-Ice Dance
Freestyle Skiing-Men’s ski halfpipe
Freestyle Skiing-Men’s ski slopestyle
Freestyle Skiing-Women’s ski halfpipe
Snowboard-Men’s slopestyle
Snowboard-Women’s halfpipe
Snowboard-Women’s slopestyle
The complete list of all 2014 Sochi Olympic winners is here.
Congratulations to all Olympians!
Content provided by Transformer Marketing and http://graphicsweb.wsj.com/documents/sochi-medal-count/
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I recently did a workshop for a group of CEOs at which the Chair asked the participants, “What single piece of wisdom have you learned about managing people?” Here are some of their responses:
Don’t try to manage more than seven reports at a time.
Be firm, but fair.
Focus on the problem and not the person.
Never look a gift resignation in the mouth.
Be direct; people want the truth and nothing but the truth.
Tap into the company’s informal communication network.
Don’t take things personally (one of Don Miguel Ruiz’s Four Agreements).
Never take sides.
Listen (can you listen to someone for five minutes straight without any interruption, criticism, or judgment?).
Be slow to hire and fast to fire (a popular topic in the workshop!).
Bear in mind that a decision driven by emotion, is not driven by logic (or, as I like to say, if it doesn’t make sense, don’t try to make sense out of it!).
Content provided by Transformer Marketing and http://humanresources.about.com/od/icebreakers/a/icebrker_wisdom.htm
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Our next Second Saturday On The Farm is on Saturday, March 8, 11 am – 3 pm at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, Highway 152 outside Watsonville. This event is FREE! Donations appreciated. Bring your whole neighborhood to participate!
