Blogs

At the recent Fairview/Boulder crosstown basketball rivalry, the programs of both schools put away their purple and red to wear orange in support of their schools' Culture of Respect Pledge. In solidarity they have collected over 1000 signatures from their school communities.

They did this to explain that…
"Because sexual harassment and sexual assault are prevalent in our society and…
Because these actions create a culture of intimidation, irresponsibility and fear… both programs join together to replace this rape culture with a “Culture of Respect” in which ALL people feel safe ANYWHERE and that ALL students can reach their goals and realize their dreams."

They committed to:
- do their part to make all others feel respected and safe.
- treat ALL students, teachers & school staff with dignity, equality & respect.
- be aware of my language and the language around us.
- step off the sidelines and be part of the solution to harassment and assault.

Members of Zonta Foothills Club of Boulder County, the Boulder High PantherZ Z Club and the Flatirons Golden Z Club were on hand in their orange t-shirts taking pledges. This effort is all part of Zonta Says No! and international program to fight violence against women.

(Lafayette, CO) – TRU Community Care, a nonprofit organization providing hospice and supportive services to the Boulder community and beyond, has received a $300,000 Worthy Cause grant from Boulder County.  TRU Community Care will allocate these funds to its new TRU PACE facility located at 2593 Park Lane in Lafayette. TRU PACE stands for Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly.

Scheduled to open in early 2017, TRU PACE coordinates and provides all needed preventive, primary, acute, and long-term care services so that older individuals can continue living safely in their community. TRU PACE is an innovative model that enables individuals who are 55 years old or older and certified by the state to need nursing home care to live as independently as possible. TRU PACE will help participants and their family members navigate the complicated issues associated with aging.

In 2008, county voters approved “Worthy Cause III,” a 10-year extension of a .05 percent sales and use tax that helps with debt reduction (payments toward capital debts such as mortgages and loans for construction/renovation) and funding of capital facilities for nonprofit organizations. These funds help with the high price of obtaining and/or improving facilities that fit nonprofits’ specific needs as they serve the population. The tax expires in 2018.

About TRU Community Care

TRU Community Care provides end-of-life hospice and palliative care to those residing in Boulder, Adams, Jefferson, and southwest Weld counties. TRU Hospice of Northern Colorado serves Greeley and extends to Weld and Larimer counties. Additional services include grief support groups, which are available to anyone in the community free of charge. It is a privilege for us to help those who are grieving regain their balance and resume healthy living. Grief groups include adult, teen, and child as well as equine therapy. At TRU Community Care, we add life to days, because that’s what TRUly matters. The sooner you call, the more we can help – 303.442.0961 or visit trucare.org.

Largest Hemp Expo in the U.S. Plans 125+ Exhibitors, 4,000+ Attendees March 31 & April 1, 2017

Loveland, CO – The NoCo Hemp Expo, the largest hemp-centric event in the U.S., returns to The Ranch Events Complex in Loveland, Colorado for its fourth year March 31 and April 1, 2017. The event, dedicated to Setting the Stage for Hemp Tomorrow, is the most diverse scene anywhere for manufacturers, sellers, investors and consumers of industrial hemp products to connect and learn more about the fast-growing industrial hemp business.

“There’s an urgent need and strong interest across the country to put Americans to work and again lead the world in manufacturing. Hemp is the sustainable crop to make America great again,” said Expo Founder Morris Beegle. “Industrial hemp production opens the door to a wide range of manufacturing jobs and provides carbon offset to fossil fuels from growing and creating products with hemp.”

The 4^th NoCo Hemp Expo provides a place to connect and learn for those in the industry and those interested in learning more about hemp, a low-to-no THC miracle plant. Many health advocates consider it a superfood because of its nutritional value and a wide variety of wellness benefits.

With some 30+ sponsors lined up, many returning after last year, the event has a limited number of sponsorship opportunities and exhibitor spaces still available, with a 10% early-bird discount available (use EARLY10 code) through December 15, 2016 or until sold out. Attendee early bird tickets go on sale December 15, 2016 at NocoHempExpo.com. After growing from 350 attendees in 2014 to 1,250 in 2015 and more than 3,200 in 2016, the 2017 event expects more than 4,000 people from around the world.

“Each year, to a growing audience, the NoCo Hemp Expo shines the spotlight on the industry’s products, producers, innovators, educators, and most of all, the truth,” added Beegle. “The benefits and potential of hemp are clear, and the more we do to educate people about that, and get hemp products available and in use everywhere, the more people realize those benefits.”

Expo events include two full expo halls; a dedicated business/industry day; the Hemp Summit with Cannabis Professional Advancement Series (CPAS) for attorneys, accountants and professional services; Fashion Alley; an Artists & Activists Tent; as well as expert speakers, workshops, demonstrations, and countless other educational and networking opportunities and a post-expo concert.

About NoCo Hemp Expo 4, Colorado Hemp Company and TreeFreeHemp

WAFBA LLC (We Are For Better Alternatives) is home to the NoCo Hemp Expo, TreeFreeHemp and Colorado Hemp Company, located in Loveland, Colorado and operating since 2012. Areas of focus include product and brand development, marketing, printing, production, events and advocacy. Learn more at NocoHempExpo.com, and find us on Facebook and Twitter.

So what I originally was trying to do was find out how to contact someone at the Boulder paper to let them know that on their homepage, whenever I would try to read an article, a notice would appear that I had 'used up'? my 'digital' time, and when I would try to delete that message, the whole page went away (four times in a row!).  That led me to a page referenced 'how to contact us', which led to this convoluted way to get a message sent.

The total irony is, I STILL don't know if this is going anywhere!  The message, that is - the thought probably isn't !!

Floyd Scharlemann

You will hear of the sea turning black, and many living things dying because of it.

You will see many youth, who wear their hair long like my people, come and join the tribal nations, to learn their ways and wisdom.

These are the 8^th and 9^th signs in the ancient Hopi prophecy prior to great earthly destruction. 

The 8^th sign of the Lakota prophecy states, “the black snake will come and attempt to cross our river into our land.  The 7 tribes must come together to defeat the black snake.  If the 7 tribes fail and the black snake succeeds in crossing the river, it will mark off the end of the world.”

At this time 10,000 people from 400 nations have gathered by the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers at the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota to protest completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline that the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) routed through contested sacred Tribal land.  The initially proposed route through Bismark, ND was rejected due to risk and proximity to residential and municipal water sources.  The USACOE subsequently elected to route the pipeline under the Missouri River half a mile from the Standing Rock reservation.  As a result of shifting that risk to Tribal land with very little environmental study by the USACOE and being contested by the indigenous people, there is an ongoing effort to raise awareness and cease development of this pipeline.

There is a great deal occurring at Standing Rock that is being misrepresented or is not being covered by mainstream media.  It hasn’t been reported that the military police on site are removing the protective rubber from their rubber bullets before firing, but they are.  We are not being told that the security officers are taping down the safety valve on tear gas canisters so they explode instead of spraying a targeted stream, but this is happening.  We haven’t learned about the financial warfare of hundreds of falsely created GoFundMe pages to divert donations intended for the Tribe, but it is rampant.  We also weren’t informed that the DAPL aggressors deliberately set fire to the fields above the camps and refused to put them out, but those fields are now charred and black.  We haven’t been told about the seizure and destruction of personal property, such as medical canoes, and their broken pieces being placed behind razor wire in the face of their owners who used them to carry their harmed brothers and sisters to safety.  Mainstream media won’t tell you that the former front line at the bridge on 1806 has been deemed a “Kill Zone” where DAPL security are permitted to use live rounds against unarmed citizens because they are deemed an “imminent threat to their safety”.  And we are being shown images in the media of young native warriors placing themselves between armed forces and civilian protestors with captions that state they were attacking the police officers, when in fact they were placing themselves in harm’s way in order to protect untrained civilians from police assault.

Payu Vane Harris, a recent resident of Boulder CO, is a member of the North Cheyenne Tribe from the Lame Deer Reservation in Montana.  He has been living on site at Standing Rock for 4 months, spending time every day at the front lines.  One of his main roles for the Tribe is to ensure that protestors remain peaceful and to move anyone who has been harmed by DAPL security to safety.  There have been days when he has pulled as many as 30 people out of danger during a direct action, although sometimes too late to prevent injury.  Other days he simply works as a mediator to calm protestors who are incited and must be reminded that their words or actions could cause the police to harm many others who are there in prayer.  He is even working to conduct friendly dialogue with the security officers to diffuse emotions and remind them that the protestors are people, not just targets. 

“Prayer” is another word and concept that mainstream media is not speaking of, however it is the most prevalent element and objective of the Tribal elders and most residents of the camps.  Every morning begins with a prayer ceremony and the sacred fire remains lit, often with elders present, for spiritual guidance.  There is a prayer circle before every meal, and prayers are conducted in the healing tents, at the water ceremonies, at the front line and throughout every inch of these camps.  The overwhelming effort and method of protest from natives and most traveling protestors is peaceful and prayerful.  But, you aren’t hearing about this on the major news networks. 

The indigenous people who hold their burial grounds, water and land resources supremely sacred are standing up in prayer to face the men in black on the hill.  They are speaking to them from the water’s edge with respect, yet asking with great strength how they would feel if their grandparents’ graves were being desecrated for profit.  They honorably ask where is their compassion for the oppressed Tribes whose land continues to be stolen out from under them in spite of signed treaties.  They reach out to find understanding and appeal to some sense of a conscience about how they could brutalize unarmed people who are merely coming to their sacred place of prayer in attempt to protect their water.  They look up and ask the officers if they pray.  Upon receiving an answer of silence, they say they will pray for them, for their children and for their safety.

Of course there is a growing element in the camps of young warriors who want to fight for their rights.  They are struggling to honor the requests of their elders by remaining peaceful while also harboring great concern that their forces need to be strengthened and more aggressive action should be taken to slow pipeline progress.  The Red Warriors were asked to leave Oceti Sakowin, the main camp in contested territory on the north side of the river that borders the front line.  As of November 27 they had not left, but they remained peaceful.  It is imperative that non-native people coming to protest know to respect the Tribe’s stated wishes and do not incite violence.  As Payu stated, “no matter what they do to fight back, it will impact the people living in the camps and praying at the front line.  The police will assert that they feel threatened by acts of aggression and will respond with undue force.”

The USACOE has stated that they are asking the camps to clear out of the contested territory by December 5, the day after thousands of veterans are planning to arrive at the site to stand with the Tribes.  The Army Corps of Engineers has clarified that they will not forcibly remove camp residents but those who stay will be subject to citations.  The USACOE claims this move is to ensure public safety, however the people in the camps are working to feed each other, to heal each other and to prepare their shelters for the oncoming harsh winter.  They have no interest in violence. 

Of notable concern is the fact that the Army Corps has taken it upon themselves to identify 41 acres on the reservation side of the river as a “Free Speech Zone”, declaring police access.  US military is not needed or permitted on the reservations, nor does this country governed by our Constitution need any area to be officially designated as permitting free speech, per the First Amendment.  Is the Army Corps using this transparent propaganda to militarize the reservation in yet one more clear violation of Tribal rights?

Jana Stone of Telluride, CO recently spent some time at Standing Rock around the Thanksgiving holiday.  She worked with Payu to establish a new camp on the reservation side of the river, as well as offering her counseling services to those experiencing trauma.  She has great concern for what may transpire on December 4^th and 5^th, especially how it may impact the currently insulated camps on the reservation south of the river.  If the military unilaterally claims access to this area, there will be no camp remaining that is not vulnerable to police assault.  The reservation is and should continue to be self-governing and safe from US military of any kind. 

Payu Harris is working tirelessly to establish a permanent lobbyist in Washington DC to continue to advocate for native rights.  His effort, DC Camp 2017, is an attempt to shift the fight from firepower on the front lines to lobbying on Capitol Hill.  He is determined to maintain public interest in these critical issues to ensure that leaders will listen and act appropriately.  You can help support this vital effort by making donations to www.gofundme/dccamp2017.  Their goal of raising $87,500 will cover expenses for 2-3 lobbyists to maintain a permanent presence in DC for 18-24 months.  Financial support for this cause is crucial.

If you choose to travel to Standing Rock, what they most need for the coming months is wood, quick-starting fire logs, propane, dome tents, immune boosting vitamin powders and a special request of cookie dough.  Yes, cookie dough is a quick way to give front line protestors in the dire cold a shot of energy, especially if they’re being assaulted by water canons in freezing temperatures.  If you go, please go with an open heart, ready to serve the indigenous people in they way that they need.  They request peaceful protest, not violence or rage.  This is absolutely critical, so if you are not in the presence of mind to honor that request from the elders, please do not intrude.

There is great power in prayer, and this issue now expands beyond that of water protection.  Our country is in a dark time of turmoil where good and evil are facing off in almost every facet of our culture.  Standing Rock is an opportunity for a shift to occur.  The exposure this event is achieving through civilian protestors is helping to shine a light on the peaceful truth of the Tribe’s actions.  They are not armed or violent.  They are not deserving of the brutality that has been inflicted upon them, but they do deserve a clean water source just as much as the white residents of Bismark. 

Project Team Chloe strives to raise money to help family in need, Bring Chloe Home!

Longmont, Co October 17, 2016:  Chloe has lived in isolation at Children’s Hospital in Aurora Colorado since she was 9 days old. After two rounds of chemo therapy, two bone marrow transplants and over 433 days in the hospital things are finally starting to look up. With a little bit of hope and faith, Chloe will be able to leave the hospital in about 6 months but Chloe’s family needs a place to live. Please help us find / build a home for Chloe. Support, share or keep us in your thoughts to help us bring Chloe home!

Chloe Elizabeth Cook was born on July 8^th, 2015 to Beth and Jackie Cook. Chloe was born with SCID, Severe Combined Immunodeficiency. Basically, Chloe was born without an immune system. (Think Bubble Boy). When Beth and Jackie, found out their baby girl had SCID, their lives were turned upside down. They were forced to make decisions no parent even fathoms. Destiny (Chloe’s big sister), is so excited to be a big sister but the only time Chloe and Destiny have even met was before Chloe was admitted to the hospital.

“Beth and Jackie pour themselves into Chloe and Destiny, Chloe’s 8-year-old sister.” Says Sherie Dike-Wilhelm, a close family friend. “With one daughter at Children’s Hospital in Denver, and the other in Longmont, both Jackie and Beth have been stretched to the absolute limits of what parents can handle. They have sacrificed jobs, education, a wedding ceremony, and more. They love their girls, but this is not how they imagined their life together. In many ways, Chloe’s fragility has put their lives on hold.”

We are raising money to find / build / put a down payment on a house for Chloe, Destiny and their moms. You can also help us spread the word about SCID. Please consider making a donation to our cause. Your donation will help provide a clean, safe home where this family can just be together again. For more information or to make a donation please visit our website at https://chuffed.org/project/bring-chloe-home. Support, share or keep us in your thoughts to help us bring Chloe home!

Spectra Logic, a Boulder-based data storage company, is one of several organizations participating in Northern Colorado Manufacturing Partnership’s “Manufacturing ROCKS! Tours” today, October 7th. This event is designed for local school district students to expand their knowledge about and improve perception of manufacturing careers. Two groups of high school students from St. Vrain Valley School District visited Spectra Logic at 9:30am and 11:30am for a 90-minute tour and overview of the company’s manufacturing department. The event is taking place on national Manufacturing Day, and will allow students to learn about real career opportunities, training and resources.

Spectra is involved in and committed to the local community, as well as the larger international community. The company offers volunteers and monetary donations to support various organizations in the Colorado area, and organizes special events for its employees to give back to the community. Examples of Spectra’s commitment include participation in Boulder County’s Corporate Food Challenge, on-site blood donations, reputable internship programs and volunteer time with groups like Habitat for Humanity.

Visit us at www.spectralogic.com or follow us @SpectraLogic.

Spectra Logic’s Thadd Corlett, Senior Director of Operations and Todd Stam, Director of Manufacturing, prepare to educate high school students from the St. Vrain School District at the Manufacturing ROCKS! event happening in the Boulder Community today

8z Real Estate was pleased to have been the presenting sponsor of last month’s Venus de Miles bike ride in Longmont, Colo. The ride took place on Saturday August 27, 2016, starting and ending from  the Prospect New Town. Venus de Miles is a major fundraiser for Greenhouse Scholars, a nonprofit organization that supports low-income high-achieving students with scholarships, mentorships, and support for college success.

Venus de Miles is unique as it is Colorado’s largest women’s road ride.  This year’s Venus de Miles ride had 1193 rider participants, who raised over $45,648 in donations.

8z Real Estate participated in multiple areas as the event’s presenting sponsor.  Thirty 8z Realtors, staff, and friends of 8z rode in the event as Team Cycle 8z, and rose over $1,700 in donations for the event.  Another eight 8zers volunteered serving snacks at a rest station along the course.  Upon finishing the course, the 8z Real Estate logo was on the finish line signage, and the finish line festival.  Riders were invited over to the 8z Shasta, where 8zers served 8z’s signature blue lemonade, popcorn, and ran raffles throughout the afternoon for Venus de Miles participants. 

Beyond the participation at the Venus de Miles ride, 8z Real Estate is an active supporter of Greenhouse Scholars.  The company makes a donation on behalf of each buyer or seller who closes a transaction with an 8z Realtor.  Each year several 8z Realtors and staff members have volunteered for the organization’s selection committee, reading applications and interviewing scholarship applicants, to help select the ambitious scholars to benefit from scholarships and support from Greenhouse Scholars. 

Please join us on October 7 for the public gallery opening of Portraits of Ability: 25 Stories of Independence and Inspiration, a powerful photojournalism art exhibit featuring the people Via serves functioning capably in their world.

Curated by VSA Colorado, Portraits of Ability features the distinctive style of visual storyteller Sophie Klafter, the recipient of the 2014 VSA Emerging Young Artist Award of Excellence from the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. Ms. Klafter is a young photographer living with an inherited neuromuscular disorder whose portrait art serves to dispel continuing myths of disability and age. By fully immersing into her subject's home, family, possessions, present challenges and life dreams, the photographer is able to capture the spirit of the individual in the final image. Each of the 25 subjects is incredibly unique; however, all share a common theme - that of striving to not be defined by disability or age. Yet paradoxically, by authentically connecting to, rather than denying physical challenges, Sophie and her subjects transcend personal limitations and allow the spirit to ring loud and clear.

Portraits of Ability employs the power of visual storytelling to transform personal narrative into public meaning and demands the audience to ask what are we doing to support these lives?

VSA Colorado/Access Gallery is the state organization on disabilities and the arts whose purpose is to create opportunities for people with disabilities to access and experience the arts.    www.accessgallery.org

Via is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting independence and self-sufficiency for people living with mobility limitations and providing caring, customer-focused transportation options. Via serves over 20 communities in five Colorado counties.  www.viacolorado.org

For immediate release:
Sept. 22, 2016

Contact:
Maria Thomas,
Communications Coordinator
mariathomas@trucare.org

LAFAYETTE, CO – TRU Community Care – founded in 1976 as the first hospice in Colorado – is pleased to announce it has been awarded $100,000 in grant funding by the Colorado Health Foundation to increase access to primary care services for elderly individuals through telehealth.

The grant will be used to extend the ability to monitor and assess patients between physician and home health visits for those with chronic diseases in TRU’s new PACE program (Program for All-Inclusive Care of the Elderly). Telehealth includes equipment, connectivity, clinician consultations via electronic communications, monitoring of vital signs, and other symptoms related to chronic disease.

As a result of the grant funding, there will be increased access to primary care services for patients with chronic conditions and reduced isolation for seniors in our community. The telehealth tools will allow clinicians and others to proactively, rather than reactively, manage patients with chronic conditions, with the goal of keeping patients healthier, living independently, and reducing unnecessary emergency department visits and hospitalizations.

TRU PACE is scheduled to open in early 2017, and is the first time this program will be offered in Boulder and southwest Weld Counties and beyond. Once PACE is open, the goal is to enroll at least 40 seniors in the first year who can benefit from TRU’s continuum of care model for years, as oppose to months. PACE participants will have access to a primary care physician, health condition specialists, nutrition, group activities, physical therapy and more – all in one convenient location. The goal of the program is to keep seniors in their home, increasing the quality of life for this ever-expanding population.

TRU Community Care serves Boulder, Louisville, Lafayette, Broomfield, Erie and beyond. TRU Hospice of Northern Colorado offers services in Greeley and extends to Weld and Larimer counties. Additional services include grief support, which is available to anyone in the community free of charge. It is a privilege for us to help those who are grieving regain their balance and resume healthy living. Grief groups include adult, teen and child as well as equine therapy. At TRU Community Care, we add life to days, because that’s what TRUly matters. The sooner you call, the sooner we can help – 303.442.0961 or visit trucare.org.

The Colorado Health Foundation works to make Colorado the healthiest state in the nation by ensuring that all Colorado kids are fit and healthy and that all Coloradans achieve stable, affordable and adequate health coverage to improve their health with support from a network of primary health care and community services. To advance our mission, the Foundation engages the community through grantmaking, public policy, investing in evaluation, private sector partnerships and strategic communications. For more information, please visit www.ColoradoHealth.org.

Social media networking sites are a place where users come together and share common interests. These social websites require a minimum amount of personal information to join. Identity thieves gain access to personal identity information and use it for their benefits. It is so hard to catch identity thieves and fraudsters who take advantage of business proprietor that do not have protection precautions for their business. Identity theft is becoming a serious problem in the world and is becoming harder & harder to protect personal data. New ways to steal identity are coming about every day with advanced technology like internet, smartphone, laptop and computer. . It is highly recommended to use identity theft protection services like Identity Guard to remain safe from fraudsters

In 2012 a scam involving Facebook created as an attempt to use steal financial information from social media users.  Hackers impersonating Facebook security to hijacked user’s account and used these accounts to send fake messages to other users. The Identity Theft Resource Center surveyed –more than 10 million Americans per year fall prey to identity theft while about 45% of online consumers fear about identity theft. Results show that even though numbers of days that identity thieves misuse the stolen identity increases in comparison of previous years.

Identity theft may steal or misuse the following profile elements:

• Name
• Date of Birth
• School Location
• Graduation Dates
• Relationship Status
• Home Town
• Interests & Hobbies

Social media has both positive and negative effect on business – positive: it gives the ability to increase business, brand image, sales and consumer connections through websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Negative - it includes many risks on business:

• To use intellectual property without permission
• To steal trade secrets or confidential information
• To steal information of employees and customers
• To make false claims
• To commit trademark infringement or copyright
• Giving password or other account details to people you know
• Download free applications
• Accept invitations from unfamiliar person
• Having low privacy or no privacy settings
• Email scams or phishing ask you to update social networking profiles
• Participate in quizzes
• Using out dated antivirus or anti-malware
• Clicking on links that redirect to others websites

 Risk Management Factors to Protect Business from Social Media Risks:

1.  Develop Crisis Management Plan

 Create a crisis plan that should state what is accepted or not accepted in social media. It should have details of employee and employer protocol in data breach, consumer’s complaints, injured employees details and social media issues.

2.  Develop Social Media Policy

Creating a social media policy will effectively reduce the potential of misuse. Many companies cover social media use in confidentiality agreement or an employee handbook on how to customize a best practices policy for a particular business. These social media policy may include:

• Guidelines about disclosures
• Limit access to social media websites
• Filtering content
• Procedure of updating antivirus or anti-malware daily
• Wireless policy about mobile devices
• Training for employees to inform latest risks of social media
• Revised policy about new technology or social media

3.  Educate and Give Training to Employee

It is a best way to protect employees, to give them training and information regarding safety and management of customer’s information. Review the privacy policies and settings on accounts to make sure the information is shared with known person. Be sure to have information policy of record management consistent for all communication and correspondence with social media.

4. Recognition of Social Media Risks

Many common risks of social media can also amplify and accelerate risks and damage is inflicted on company’s brand both in terms of scope and speed. Most of the social media sites ask personal information and business information from users and they have experienced data-breach events. Identity thieves are using social media to create more opportunities to steal identities and commit fraud nowadays. It is important to businesses to identify social media risks of theft and data breach and plan according to essential solutions.

How to Protect Businesses from Identity Theft via Social Media Channels:

• Use high level of security settings that websites allows
• Read privacy and security policies carefully
• Verify emails and links in emails
• Scan attachments of emails before downloading them
• Install updated antivirus or anti-malware
• Install a firewall
• Always use HTTPS based websites
• Beware of hidden file extensions
• Use commonsense while using internet
• Be certain of both source and content of each file
• Educate employees about scams via emails, phone calls and internet
• Turn off Wi-Fi connection when not in use
• Do not browse adult websites
• Do not enable auto log in
• Do not enable auto saver password in browser
• Use strong and unique passwords for websites
• Change passwords frequently
• Close old accounts that are not in use
• Keep communications network secure

LAFAYETTE, COLORADO – More than 100 guests will get their groove on September 17 at TRU Community Care’s Peace, Love & PIZZAZ! 2016, the nonprofit’s largest fundraiser of the year. This annual gala helps raise funds for the compassionate end-of-life care and grief services that TRU provides to our local community.

Held at the Denver Marriott Westminster, guests will enjoy a silent auction, dinner, games of chance as well as a live auction. Local band Soul School will perform a variety of 70s hits sure to get people on the dance floor.

Silent auction items include several jewelry items courtesy of Snyder Jewelers, Inc., a gourmet Celestial Seasonings gift basket, gift certificates to many local area restaurants, a golf package, and an overnight stay at a local hotel including breakfast and champagne for two.

TRU Community Care is celebrating its 40^th year of service to the Boulder community this year. What better way to celebrate than with a tribute to the decade that started it all? Don’t miss out on the fun!

Purchase tickets now to Peace, Love & PIZZAZ!

TRU Community Care serves Boulder, Louisville, Lafayette, Broomfield, Erie, and beyond. TRU Hospice of Northern Colorado offers services in Greeley and extends to Weld and Larimer counties.

Additional services include grief support, which is available to anyone in the community. It is a privilege for us to help those who are grieving regain their balance and resume healthy living. Grief groups include adult, teen, and child as well as equine therapy.

At TRU Community Care, we add life to days, because that’s what TRUly matters. The sooner you call, the sooner we can help – 303.442.0961 or visit trucare.org

New Show Displays the Awesome Power of Math

By Bob Brown
August 4, 2016

Boulder, CO — Gregg Tobo sits in a coffee house in Boulder; he’s talking about Pokémon Go. But as a self-professed “recreational mathematician” he’s interested in the numerical side of the popular game. “Pokémon Go has been phenomenally successful, but mathematics allows us to cut through the specific details and to predict when Pokémon Go’s growth will begin to slow and ultimately fade.”

“The life-cycle of fads, from Pokémon Go to the Hula Hoop, can be represented mathematically and tend to follow the same S-shaped curve: a modest beginning, followed by explosive growth, and then a gradual tapering of demand,” says Tobo. Barring a significant update to rejuvenate the game, Pokémon Go is mathematically destined to fade like so many other toys and novelties.

“A well-run company will have a mathematician on board to watch for that inflection point in the data that indicates we are nearing the end. That’s when the developers need to surprise us with a literal game-changer to revive our interest and draw more people into the game.”

As Tobo talks his world becomes clear. A world in which math is us used for more than calculating the proper amount to tip, a world in which math is embedded everywhere – hidden just beneath the surface.

In order to share his world view – one in which math is cool -- he has created a theatrical performance called, “A Mathematician at Play,” which opens at the Boulder International Fringe Festival on August 19. He calls it a show for people who fear math as well as for people who love math.

In the show Tobo performs feat of lightning calculation, multiplying numbers in his head faster than you can operate your calculator. He introduces math concepts with off-beat and humorous stories, and he startles audiences with the beauty, power, and simplicity of math.

Last year, on March 14 (Pi Day), Tobo stood before a panel of judges and recited 1,149 digits of Pi from memory alone. On stage, beneath the hot lights, in front of a curiously intense audience, he began calling out digits of the iconic number, “3.141592653….”

Pi is an irrational and transcendental number which means that the digits of Pi go on forever, never ending, never repeating, and never following any pattern.

When he stepped off the stage, after reciting Pi for 78 minutes without a break, he ranked 89th in the world for Pi memorization.

What was the point of his demonstration? “I wanted to tackle numbers -- a subject that causes anxiety for many people -- and show that it could be conquered,” says Tobo.

Despite his triumph, Tobo’s relationship with numbers has not always been so congenial. When he first entered college he wanted to be an engineer and immersed himself in math. But after three years, in a sudden change of course, he decided to forsake math and pursue theater instead.

“I had gotten bogged down in the mechanics of math,” says Tobo, “Too often math education focuses on the boring bits and neglects the really amazing and creative parts. It’s like studying the English language and learning only spelling and grammar while ignoring Shakespeare and Faulkner.”

“It wasn’t until years later that a friend reintroduced me to math and how awesome mathematics can be,” admits Tobo.
So, after years of creating for the theater and performing on stage, he decided to explore mathematics as a performance, combining his rekindled passion for numbers with his experience as a performer.

In his new show, Tobo refers to himself as a recreational mathematician. It means that he engages with numbers simply for the fun of it. You can see the excitement in his face with a complex problem is made clear by applying mathematics.

In his show he tells the story of math starting with the Babylonians (who developed a remarkably powerful set of math tools nearly 4 thousand years ago), he explores paradoxes in probability while trying to match socks, and he demonstrates a mathematical loophole that gets you free beer.

What led him to create a theatrical performance about math? “I’d like to be an ambassador for mathematics,” says Tobo, “I want people to have fun with math and to reduce the fear and uncertainty that people have about numbers.”

IF YOU GO:
The show, “A Mathematician at Play,” is a part of the Boulder International Fringe Festival

Recommendations: Appropriate for teens and adults

Dates & Times:
Friday, August 19, at 8:00PM
Saturday, August 20, at 6:30PM
Sunday, August 21, at 6:30PM
Tuesday, August 23, at 6:30PM
Thursday, August 25, at 8:00PM
Friday, August 26, at 6:30PM

Running time: 55-minutes

Location: Free Motion Dance Studio, 2126 Pearl Street, Boulder, CO 80302
Tickets are $12 General/$10 Student & Senior

To purchase tickets visit: www.boulderfringe.com

If you see someone wearing a Bonfils Blood Center T-shirt at the Louisville Rec Center, there’s a good chance it’s Virgil Olson doing his daily workout. At 83, Virgil has no plans to cut back on the frequency of his workouts or his blood donations. He became only the 9^th Bonfils blood donor to reach the 70-gallon mark Thursday, June 16 at Bonfils’ Boulder Community Donor Center.

Only one other Bonfils donor is expected to reach this milestone in 2016.

A platelet donor, Virgil is able to donate as often as 24 times per year compared to six times per year for a whole blood donor. Platelets are essential for blood clotting and are routinely needed to support cancer therapy, open-heart surgery, blood disorders and organ transplants.

Every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood and whether a donor is making their 560^th donation or their first, every donation of every blood type has the potential to help up to three patients in need.

Bonfils operates seven community donor centers and up to 10 blood drives daily all around Colorado. To make an appointment call the Bonfils Appointment Center at 303.363.2300 or 800.365.0006 option 2 or visit bonfils.org.

Violinist Vadim Gluzman will be joined by Boulder piano virtuoso David Korevaar for “Italian Influences,” part of the Presenting Series on Tuesday, July 19th. Gluzman and Korevaar will team up to perform César Franck’s familiar, canonic Violin Sonata – a prayerful, passionate tribute to love. In Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’sPiedigrotta 1924 for solo piano, Korevaar goes it alone to reveal the rhapsodic nuances of Neapolitan folk music. In turn, a sextet of Colorado Music Festival string players come together to show off the contrapuntal prowess of Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in his “Souvenir de Florence,” initially sketched by the composer while visiting Florence.

Zeitouni's thoughts, “ Let’s not forget that Vadim Gluzman is a Russian trained musician. He’s actually Ukrainian, but the music of Tchaikovsky that’s he’s going to play in this program is the music that is his bones, in his DNA. I think the program itself is very well balanced with the two of them performing the Franck, which is a short sonata but really poetic, really pure. It’s a true dialogue between two souls.”

Program: Franck Violin Sonata in A Major, Castelnuovo-Tedesco Piedigrotta 1924, Tchaikovsky Souvenir de Florence

Tickets for this concert are $12.00 - $45.00 ($9.00 - $42.00 Concert Member) for 7/19 and can be purchased online at www.comusic.org or www.chautauqua.com, in person at the Chautauqua Box Office (900 Baseline Road, Boulder, CO) or over the phone by calling 303-440-7666. Free Hop 2 Chautauqua shuttle is available for this concert.

RefactorU now offers 27 competitive scholarships for women and minorities underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers.

“RefactorU has developed the most comprehensive and rigorous diversity-related scholarships of any accelerated skills bootcamp in the United States,” said Sean Daken, CEO and founder of RefactorU. “We recognize that structural inequality exists, and we are committed to reducing that inequality by offering a competitive scholarship program to foster diversity in the STEM workforce.”

According to an American Community Survey report, among science and engineering graduates, men are employed in a STEM occupation at twice the rate of women. While Blacks and Hispanics continue to be underrepresented, making up about 13% of the STEM workforce. “RefactorU is committed to accelerating the learning and development of the world's aspiring creatives, makers, and technologists. That means everyone,” said Daken. “That’s why we are invested in helping people from groups underrepresented in STEM fields find ways to overcome some of the structural disadvantages beyond their control.”

RefactorU will offer three diversity scholarships for each cohort, totaling 27 scholarships a year. Diversity scholarships are available to women and minorities per the U.S. federal definition: all persons classified as Black, Hispanic, American Indian or Alaskan Native, and Asian or Pacific Islander. After acceptance into the RefactorU web development bootcamp, students can apply for the diversity scholarship by submitting an essay and personal statement. A panel from the community will judge applicants on problem solving ability, ingenuity, grit, and passion for coding.

If you identify with the one of the groups above, we welcome you to participate in our scholarship program.

About RefactorU

RefactorU offers a 10-week, hands-on, immersive Web Application Development Bootcamp in Boulder, Colo. Students learn modern full-stack development from world-class instructors, while creating their own applications and building a portfolio of projects to share with employers.

Are you interested in learning more about our passionate and committed team of educators? Please visit www.refactoru.com