Policy on the #NNK

A New Lawsuit Tackles Restaurants That Trick People Into Double Tipping , by MEL's Tracy Moore, describes how Cheesecake Factory patrons have been scammed out of hard-earned cash by the restaurant chain. Moore writes: Until now, you may have believed that the biggest pain in the ass in a group dining situation was figuring out how to split the bill. Will you piss off the server by asking to split it four ways? Can you placate the group cheapskate who doesn't want to cover the booze? Turns out while you were sweating the small stuff, the Cheesecake Factory may have been making off with your money in a massive tip heist. According to a class-action lawsuit filed in California, the irritatingly upbeat chain restaurant with 16 billion different menu items may have been deliberately misleading customers on the suggested tip portion of the bill. Here's what the lawsuit claims [PDF]: At the Cheesecake Factory, as at many other restaurants, the bottom of your bill comes with ...

Do you play outdoors? Kayak the state's rivers and creeks, hike in state and national parks? Play ball in your yard? Then take the Virginia Outdoors Survey . The deadline is Thursday, August 31 at 5:00 pm , so hurry. The survey has been conducted since the 1970s to assess the popularity and needs for outdoor recreation facilities across the commonwealth. This year, the Department of Conservation and Recreation opened the survey to the general public. Some of what you should know: Outdoor recreation includes a wide variety of things people do outside, whether on public or private property, including simple things like walking for pleasure, using a playground, or going for a swim. DCR is interested in your visits to historic sites, campgrounds, and other open spaces. Your answers are completely confidential. Only those 18 or older can complete the survey. And only one response per household, please. The survey should take about 20 minutes to complete, depending on the length ...

Here's your weekly dose of TA. Enjoy. Tools Examples of filters applied to photos (via Prisma ). Typeform is a cool form maker. Free and paid. Prisma is an artistic filter app for your phone. If all your photos are staring to look the same, add some zing. Basic Twitter not enough? Try Ripl . With it, you are a tweet animator! Free and paid. Thanks to Anacostia Park and Community Collaborative for the original content (which I compiled). At work Stop Telling Millennial Women To Find A Mentor is one perspective on the oft-given advice. And then there's this: "Women don't need to be told which experience to add to their resume. They need someone to place their resume on a higher desk." Read What is Leadership? Read and heed Peter Drucker: How to (Actually) Manage Your Time . Thanks to Anacostia Park and Community Collaborative for the original content (which I compiled). Learn something Get Over Your Creativity Block With These 20 Social Media Content ...

Lancaster County Lancaster officials anticipate broadband hopes will improve Learn about opioid misuse Tuesday, August 29 from 3:00-4:00 pm at Lancaster Community Library (16 Town Centre Dr, Kilmarnock). Sponsors are Coalition for Health Virginia Communities and the Middle Peninsula-Northern Neck Community Services Board . Northumberland County Northumberland seeks zoning provisions for electrical substations and solar farms Richmond County The Rappahannock Community College Environmental Sustainability Committee and Math and Science Club will be holding the seminar "Potable Water in the Northern Neck" Wednesday, August 30, 12:25 to 1:25 pm at the Warsaw (52 Campus Drr, Warsaw) and Glenns campusus. The invited speaker is Dr. Lynton Stuart Land. Dr. Land will present on the issue of potable water in the Northern Neck, including the unsustainable pumping in the region. Dr. Stewart is a member of the Northumberland Association for Progressive Stewardship (NAPS). The ev...

August 21, 2017 Crabbing final regs : The Marine Resources Commission published their final regs regarding the 2017 and 2018 seasons for the harvest of crabs by crab pot, the time for harvesting at a higher bushel limit, and the start date of the lower bushel limit season. Final fishing regs withdrawn : The Marine Resources Commission withdrew the final regulations about fishing and crabbing licensing requirements and license fees. Crab dredging final regs : The Marine Resources Commission published final crab dredging prohibition regulations, effective August 1, 2017. The season is closed from December 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018. Final regs on menhaden landings : The Marine Resources Commission published final regulations to increase Virginia's portion of the coastwide total allowable landings of menhaden and modify the nonpurse seine bait sector quota allocations. The effective date was August 1, 2017. Proposed SNAP changes : The State Board of Social Services proposes to...

NOAA's Green Infrastructure Effectiveness Database includes literature sources containing information on the effectiveness of green infrastructure to reduce the impacts of coastal hazards, such as inundation and erosion from tropical storms and cyclones, more frequent precipitation events, and sea level rise. The database contains records from a wide range of sources, such as peer-reviewed journals, online tools, and gray literature, and includes information on 32 different coastal green infrastructure types. The green infrastructure techniques referenced cover a full range of approaches to coastal management, including natural, nature-based (e.g., low-impact development), structural, and policies. ( database description ) Users can conduct a simple and advanced searches. The latter has numerous options, such as the infrastructure type, hazards, methodological approaches, scale, region, and source type. It makes researching easier. In both kinds of searches, the NOAA provides ...

When we talk about unintended consequences, we usually talk about them in a negative way. Meaning, a public policy intervention to boost XYZ behavior does what it was designed to do but also does something we don't want. That's why researchers were so surprised to find Fast Track, "designed to improve the future general well-being of [at-risk] children by developing their social skills," turned out to boost voting behavior. Writes journalist Lily Carollo: By the time they reached adulthood, the kids that had received help in progressing their social skills were better off than those who hadn't. They were less likely to commit crimes or to be involved with risky sexual behavior, and they were more likely to be better educated and have better employment prospects, as well as have healthier relationships with their spouses and children. Fast Track wasn't intended to have an impact on the kids' later likelihood to vote, and yet that's what emerged fr...

Here's your weekly dose of TA. Enjoy. Online tools Pablo (by Buffer) is another way to create picture quotes. Use their pictures or upload your own. Choose from 30+ typefaces. Need to follow a person, organization, or term? Use the free Talkwalker Alerts service. At work The Difference Between Being Fiscally Responsible and Pinching Pennies offers some sound advice. Good Leaders Are Good Learners When To Speak Up in Tricky Office Situations The Journal of Public Interest Communications is published by the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The inaugural issue was published in April 2017. Articles include Community, Engagement, and Democracy: Re-envisioning Public Relations and Public Interest Communications through Civic Professionalism and Public Interest Communications: A Social Psychological Perspective . Access is free. Learn something Have new development staff? Perhaps this webinar, The Anatomy of an Effective Email Appeal , will be ...

Lancaster County The Lancaster County Board of Supervisors is holding a special meeting and work session Tuesday, August 22 at 5:30 pm at the Lancaster County Administration Building (8311 Mary Ball Rd, Lancaster) in the Board Meeting Room. The purposes: Work session on the proposed Emergency Services/Emergency Medical Services Building with the project architect and staff Closed Meeting – per section 2.2-3711A3 of the Code of Virginia, as amended, for the discussion and consideration of the acquisition of real property for a public purpose (proposed school capital project), where discussion in open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body The closed meeting will be held at the end of the special meeting, following the work session on the proposed Emergency Services/Emergency Medical Services Building. Lancaster Middle School is holding an open house Tuesday, August 29 at 4:00-7:00 pm (191 School St, Kilmarnock). Child...

Love America's national parks? Chat w/ em on Twitter. Handles: List of National Park units on Twitter https://t.co/phjWZFndKE @JasCochran — Susie Cambria (@susiecambria) August 16, 2017

Here's your weekly dose of TA. Enjoy. Online tools PicSvg converts pictures into .svg format. It gives you more options for images. And it's free! Biteable is a simple video maker. With the company's logo, vids are free. To see one in action, take a look at MPD needs volunteers. Will you help? The /r/web_design / subreddit is a gem. There's something for everyone all the time. Use Wordswag to create the images combining quotes with pictures. It's free and available for iOS and Android. These images are everywhere. Capitalize on people's interest and create and share some of your own. At work Why blog? Two reasons from Blogging Best Practices stand out: "Posts can be shared on social media, giving people a reason to come to your website... where your donation and newsletter forms are (hint hint). Similarly, you can repurpose posts for email and print newsletters." and "Frequent website updates keep returning visitors engaged and up-to-dat...

Lancaster County The River Road Food Pantry , USDA-certified, is open the second Thursday of each month from 2:00-5:00 pm . The pantry serves an average of 100 families (~300 people) each month. Get involved; call (804) 462-5908. The Town of Irvington's Planning Commission will hold a public meeting Tuesday, September 5 at 6:30 pm at Irvington Baptist Church (53 King Carter Dr, Irvington) to consider and recommend the adoption of the proposed (PDF) Planned Unit Development (PUD) ordinance to the Town Council. Those impacted may appear to present their views on the proposal. From the website : The proposed Planned Unit Development (PUD) Ordinance is intended to allow for denser development of land within the R-2 Residential District if requested and approved as a rezoning by the Town Planning Commission and Town Council. A PUD is restricted to those portions of Town currently zoned R-2 Residential and would increase the currently allowed density from one (1) single-family home...

Hurricane season about to peak, looking more likely that it'll be a busy one https://t.co/zbmPrMkrHG via @rtdnews @VDEM #KnowYourZoneVA — Jeff Stern (@SternJD) August 10, 2017

Tornadoes are the central United States kind of weather, right? Yes and no. Florida and "Tornado Alley" experience a disproportionate number of tornadoes. But that doesn't mean that tornadoes don't hit the Northern Neck. The 28 events between January 1, 1950* and April 30, 2017 did millions of dollars in damage but thankfully, no deaths. Eleven people were, however, injured. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Storm Events Database details the 28 events which occurred in Westmoreland, Richmond, Northumberland, and Lancaster counties. The events impacted the four counties on 22 days fairly equitably: Lancaster (7), Northumberland (6), Richmond (9), and Westmoreland (6). The tornadoes caused property damage on 21 days and crop damage on one day. The cost of the damage of the tornadoes is approximately $8.6 million — $8,570,000 in property damage and $78,000 in crop damage. The 11 injuries happened on two days. The information about the twisters is c...

Interested in education in Richmond County? You'll want to check out the Wednesday, August 9 school board agenda . The meeting is full of old business and new. If you are heading to the Northumberland Board of Supervisors meeting Thursday, August 10 at 5:00 pm , peruse the Northumberland supes August 10 agenda in advance. You'll find VDOT is on the agenda as is Dr. Holly Wargo, Superintendent of Northumberland County Public Schools; Commonwealth Attorney Jane Wrightson on the drug court grant; and Luttrell Tadlock giving the county administrator's report.

Here's your weekly dose of TA. Enjoy. Online tools COLORRRS HEX to RGB Converter does what it says. Type in the hex number and it will give you the RGB numbers (there are three, one each for red, green, and blue). The tool will also change the background to the number you provide. Another useful tool is TextCleanr . It removes email indents; cleans up spacing, line breaks, and Word characters; and lets users decide which cleaning option is needed. Works like a charm and saves a lot of time. WeTransfer is a free (they also have a paid version) file sharing app for laptops and desktops and mobile devices. It comes in handy when you have large files and Dropbox is not an option. Need Depression-era photos? Your first stop should be Yale University's Photogrammer platform which holds "170,000 photographs from 1935 to 1945 created by the United States Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information (FSA-OWI)." Users can search and map the photos. Very use...

Lancaster County There will be a special election for a seat on the Town Council Tuesday, November 17 in White Stone . The vacancy is the result of the death of council member Joe Sliakis. Those interested in running and serving the remaining term for the vacant seat and to serve the remaining — ending July 1, 2018 — must file by Friday, August 18. Questions should be directed to Lancaster County Voter Registrar Susan Jett, 462-5277, or Town Manager Patrick Frere, 435-3260. ( White Stone to hold special election Nov. 7 ) The White Stone Business Association (WSBA) meets Thursday, September 7 at 5:30 pm at the Town Hall (433 Rappahannock Dr, White Stone). The association meets the first Thursday at 5:30 pm. The Lancaster School Board will hold a special meeting Tuesday, August 8 at 6:00 pm at Lancaster County Schools Annex (235 School St, Kilmarnock). The purpose of the meeting is to discuss school improvements. The Lancaster School Board will meet Tuesday, August 8 at 6:30 pm ...

Anyone living on the Northern Neck expects hurricanes, tropical storms, and Nor'easters. Between January 1, 1950* and April 30, 2017, 22 events were reported by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information Storm Events Database in Westmoreland, Richmond, Northumberland, and Lancaster counties. (Events are defined as weather in a county so if a hurricane hit four counties, it would be counted as four events.) These events impacted the four counties on nine days, caused property damage on six days and crop damage on three days, and were made up of three types of events: high wind, hurricanes/typhoons, and tropical storms. Thankfully, no deaths or injuries resulted from any of the events. Combined, the 16 of the 22 events caused an estimated $17,225,000 in property damage and $3,412,000 in crop damage. Northumberland County by far experienced the greatest damage in terms of dollar value, as is shown in the pie chart below. Lancaster County had seven events of ...

Tracy Moore 's Why Boys Don't Have Many Female Role men, too? - Couldn't a woman starring in 'Doctor Who' be a role model for young men, too? is a must-read even if you are not a fan of the Doctor. In the end, what matters is this: "Role models matter." Moore walks us through the literature and popular culture to ascertain why boys have men and girls have women and men as role models. Beautifully written, easy to understand. Photo: From Why Boys Don’t Have Many Female Role Models (Original images via BBC).

The State Board of Health is considering amending several sections of the Rules and Regulations Governing Campgrounds ( Title 35.1 - Hotels, Restaurants, Summer Camps, and Campgrounds ) to reconcile regs with current campground use. As was described in Campgrounds may get new rules under proposed amendments , event sponsors are seeking waivers for festivals and short-term outdoor events. Primitive camping is also more common. The state held a public hearing June 20 and sought public comments (due July 28). No public comments were submitted. Look for the final regulations in the Virginia Register of Regulations .