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Multiple myeloma — cancer of the plasma cells — is considered a fatal disease. New treatments, however, are extending life expectancy, leaving patients seesawing between hope and fear.
Jenny Ahlstrom, who was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2010 at the age of 43, has outlived the life expectancy for her particularly aggressive form of multiple myeloma. She has tamped down her anxiety and thrown herself into the fight against multiple myeloma in a way that will help other patients as well as herself.
With her husband, Paul, the Utah-based mother of six has used her background launching start-up companies to create a number of projects aimed at fighting multiple myeloma on several fronts, including a radio program; a website called Myeloma Crowd; and a research initiative to fund studies on high-risk myeloma.
Jenny and Paul's latest effort, introduced in the summer of 2018, is a digital platform called HealthTree that allows patients to share data about their multiple myeloma treatment—what worked, what didn't—to better analyze the medical options, connect with clinical trials, and discuss possibilities with their doctors in a more informed and assertive way.
"I would say this advocacy work is my therapy," says Jenny. "I don't go to counseling because this work makes me happy. I feel optimistic. But I never feel settled or like I can relax now and just enjoy my life with my kids."
Here Jenny talks to HealthCentral about battling her disease with data, loving her life as an advocate, and facing an uncertain future.
HealthCentral: When you were diagnosed with multiple myeloma, did your doctor discuss your life expectancy?
Jenny Ahlstrom: The oncologist who diagnosed me never told me anything. But online, they say life expectancy used to be two to four years and now it's four to six years, so isn't that great.
But you know, it's alarming. It's completely alarming.
I have a particular translocation (a genetic feature) in my myeloma cells, the t(14;20) translocation. When my husband and I started doing research about my type of myeloma, we found out the life expectancy of the average patient is 22.4 months.
HC: How did you feel when you saw that number?
Jenny: Well, I was 43 and my husband and I had six kids all under the age of 15. So of course it was sad.
But I have to preface anything I say by talking about my husband's brother David. Five years prior he had been diagnosed with AML, acute myeloid leukemia. He was 33 and had six kids under the age of 10. He lived for a year. It was such a traumatic experience for our family.
My husband was with David when he got his diagnosis. The doctor told David, you can get chemo or you can do the stem cell transplant, so which one do you want to do? And David was like, well, I don't know, which one is going to help me live longer? So he tried the chemo first and by the time he went to transplant it was too late.
So my husband's sitting in the same hospital with me when I get my diagnosis, and the doctor's saying the exact same thing to me about treatment. And that completely changed the way we responded. We decided we're going to transplant immediately. I'm fit, I'm young, we're going to hit it as hard as we can.
HC: So that motivated you to find a specialist and go for more aggressive treatment from the very beginning?
Jenny: Exactly. I ended up seeing a doctor up at Huntsman [Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City] who had data showing he could get 30 to 50 percent of multiple myeloma patients out eight to 10 years. So he had more optimistic data and we said OK, we're gonna do that protocol. I ended up doing tandem transplants [two stem-cell transplants done six to 12 months apart].
My number one piece of advice for anyone with a multiple myeloma diagnosis is to get a specialist on your team. There was a University of North Carolina study that showed that multiple myeloma patients seen by a specialist within the first year of diagnosis lived longer than patients who were seen in the general community settings.
So why is that? General oncologists are using protocols that are probably several years old; they are not going to the multiple myeloma medical conferences because they're also treating breast cancer, lung cancer, kidney cancer, other types of cancer. I don't know how they do it.
HC: I imagine a lot of people would probably react very differently to hearing a life expectancy of 22.4 months. Rather than springing into action like you did, they might just curl up into a ball.
Jenny: That is what a lot of people do. And we knew that doesn't end well.
I did the tandem transplants and had two years of maintenance therapy. And then once I felt a little more normal I thought, OK, we have to do something to help other patients make their treatment decisions. We have to advocate.
When I was diagnosed I wanted to look at all the data about all the younger patients who had my translocation. What did they do for treatment and what was the outcome? Doctors are awesome and wonderful but I also wanted to make an educated decision based on data. There are umpteen treatment combinations you can use in myeloma and who knows which is the best one? The answer is no one really knows because they're running one-off clinical trials and not doing comparative analysis. That data doesn't exist. So that's why we built HealthTree.
HC: You've been in remission for a long time and surpassed your initial life expectancy by years. How are you feeling about that?
Jenny: I still feel like I'm playing beat the clock. Because multiple myeloma is a terminal cancer. I don't know how long I have. I still have young kids at home, I still have a big family that I want to raise. If I'm going to go down, I want to go down swinging, saying that I've done everything I could think of to do to save my life and other people's lives.
When I was diagnosed in 2010, nobody was saying the word "cure" — nobody. If you said the word "cure" as a myeloma doctor you were made fun of. Now I'm hearing, "We could potentially be curing a certain percentage of patients. We don't know who they are, what treatment they got or why they were cured but they're now living 20, 20-plus years, so is that a cure?" You're really starting to hear it in the general research community, at hematology conferences. All the immunotherapies are giving people a lot more hope.
So yeah, there's lots of hope. But I still have this cancer.
Every single time I get labs, I still get nervous. I have a bone marrow biopsy on Friday and I'm still nervous. I don't know where my numbers are going to be. Will I need to start treatment? I've been in this great remission for a really long time but I'm never completely worry-free.
My goal isn't to live another five years. My goal is a cure.
Interview has been condensed and edited.


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Located approximately 8 miles from Downtown Austin, The Ridge at Lantana provides residents with easy access to a number of Austin area amenities. Yet, despite its proximity to The Ridge at Lantana, residents of the community still enjoy beautiful views of the Texas Hill country and vast green spaces featuring mature trees and views of the city.
For those who are interested in living in The Ridge at Lantana community, a wide variety of housing styles are available. Developed by Meritage, Newmark and Plantation Homes, most of the homes in the community range in size from 2,400 to 5,500 square feet. Residents of The Ridge at Lantana also enjoy a number of luxurious features within their homes, such as gourmet kitchens, cathedral kitchens and game rooms. Still, despite the spacious floor plans and attractive features, homes at The Ridge at Lantana typically range in price from the high $300,000 to $500,000.
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While The Ridge at Lantana does not feature amenities such as a pool or park, it is located conveniently close to Downtown Austin and Lake Travis. As such, residents don't have to travel far to take advantage of all of the cultural attractions, restaurants, retail establishments and other attractions the downtown area has to offer. At the same time, nearby Lake Travis offers ample opportunities to participate in a variety of water-based recreational opportunities. The Hill Country Galleria, which is also located nearby, features an amphitheater area with lawn seating for staged events. Fazio Canyons Golf Course is also located near to the neighborhood.
Residents of The Ridge at Lantana also enjoy spending time with each other at a number of community events and organizations. This includes a mother's group and a women's book club, which both meet weekly, and seasonal events such as the fall fling, an Easter party and the occasional neighborhood garage sale.
For those who want to enjoy all that the city has to offer without actually living in the city, The Ridge at Lantana is a great choice. Not only is it conveniently located, but the homes offer plenty of living space while still remaining affordable for many budgets.
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text: EuroGamer: "Emotional cruelty, suicide, haunted euphoniums - there's a surprisingly dark heart beating away inside this cheery little Halloween special. There's a genuine sense of mischief, too, conveyed by the bug-eyed howls of your prey and the looping, lilting tones of the jazz-club soundtrack. Short yet rather lavish, this will light up your Vita's screen (or that of your PlayStation Certified Android device!) for, at best, one cold dark night of ghoulish mayhem. That's just enough, as it happens - that's just enough."


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Concert to mark the Anniversary of the Founding of the State of Israel – CHANGE
Schönberg / Mendelssohn / Bernstein
Date of EventMonday, 14. 5. 2018 from 20.00
Event placeMunicipal House – Smetana Hall
Price250 - 1 400 CZK Sold out
- Arnold Schönberg: A Survivor from Warsaw Op. 46
- Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: Violin Concerto in E minor Op. 64
- Leonard Bernstein: Symphony No. 3 "Kaddish"
- Prague Symphony Orchestra
- Tomáš Brauner - conductor
- Julian Rachlin - violin
- Pavla Vykopalová - soprano
- Vladimír Polívka - narrator
- Pueri Gaudentes
- Zdena Součková - choirmaster
- Prague Philharmonic Choir
- Jaroslav Brych - choirmaster
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Tomáš Brauner Standing in for the Conductor Leonard Slatkin
The Prague Spring festival regrets to report that the American conductor Leonard Slatkin has undergone a major surgical procedure, forcing him to cancel his appearance at the concert on14 May at the Municipal House. The programme will remain unchanged, and standing in for Leonard Slatkin will be the conductor Tomáš Brauner(who has, incidentally, been involved with the project from the beginning, because Mr. Slatkin entrusted him with conducting preliminary rehearsals of the Bernstein symphony). The Prague Spring team wishes Mr. Slatkin a quick recovery and looks forward to future cooperation with him!
Prague-bornTomáš Braunerranks among the most sought-after conductors of his generation. He studied at the Prague Conservatoire (oboe and conducting) and the Academy of Music in Prague (conducting), subsequently furthering his education during a residency at Vienna's Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst. In 2010 he became laureate of the Dimitris Mitropoulos Conducting Competition in Athens. He is currently principal conductor of the Plzeň Philharmonic Orchestra and chief guest conductor of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. He works regularly with major symphony orchestras (Prague Symphony Orchestra, PKF – Prague Philharmonia, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Ostrava Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra and others) and opera houses (J.K. Tyl Theatre in Plzeň, State Opera Prague, or Moravia-Silesia National Theatre in Ostrava). He has guest appeared at prestigious international festivals (Bad Kissingen, Richard Strauss Festival in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Prague Spring, Litomyšl Smetana Fest, Český Krumlov), and conducted Janáček's Jenůfaat the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.
New – Mastercard Lounge
Order refreshments at intermission and avoid standing in a queue! During concert intermissions at the Municipal House, the Mastercard Lounge with a special menu will be open to Mastercard holders. You will receive a voucher entitling you the enter the salon, which is otherwise restricted.
For more information please click here.
In 2018, the violinist, violist, and conductor Julian Rachlin will be the Artist-in-Residence of the Prague Spring festival. He will be presenting the entire breadth of his talents at four festival concerts. First, he will be the soloist in Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto on 14 May. At his recital on 16 May, accompanied by the pianist Itamar Golan, he will be heard playing the famed Stradivarius "ex Liebig" violin built in 1704, and also a superbly crafted viola from the workshop of Lorenzo Storioni (1785). This promises to be an experience that (not only) lovers of chamber music should not miss. He will be playing chamber music at his third appearance on 21 May, and on 23 May he will conduct the PKF – Prague Philharmonia. To open the concert, he will be accompanying the winner of last year's Prague Spring International Music Competition, the violinist Olga Šroubková. In the final round of the competition, she dazzled the jury with her performance of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. At her Prague Spring appearance, she will play Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5.
Returning to this concert – the Artist-in-Residence Julian Rachlin will perform Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor Op. 64. The Prague Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the famed American conductor Leonard Slatkin will also present two quite extraordinary compositions – Schoenberg's cantata A Survivor from Warsaw and Bernstein's Symphony No. 3 "Kaddish".
Triple dedication
At this concert, there will be a symbolic intersection of a triple dedication: the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Leonard Bernstein, who was closely associated with the first two annual Prague Spring festivals (the first annual festival witnessed his European debut), and commemoration of a figure behind the founding of the Prague Symphony Orchestra, Rudolf Pekárek. His confrontation with the communist regime (coincidentally in the year when the State of Israel was founded, not long after the Nazi persecution) forced him to choose emigration. All three of these dedications have one thing in common: resilience and stamina in the search for a path to the Promised Land.
Programme notes
The cantata A Survivor from Warsaw Op. 46 for narrator, men's chorus, and orchestra, is one of the works in which Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) openly declared his adherence to the Jewish faith. This evocative work cannot fail to fill the listener with a sense of horror. Schoenberg had originally written the work on commission for the Russian dancer Corinne Chochem, but she withdrew from collaboration with the composer for financial reasons. Schoenberg offered the work in a modified form to the Koussevitzky Music Foundation, which had approached him with a commission for a new work. This musical depiction of one of the most horrifying events of the Second World War, the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto, works very effectively with contrasts. The agitated voice of the narrator presents a monologue with interjections of commands in German. The almost fragmentary music of the beginning becomes more integrated in the second half of the work, as the instrumentation becomes denser. Finally, the prayer Shema Yisrael, the creed of the Jewish faith, is sung by men's choir at the very conclusion of the work with the accompaniment of the full orchestra. All of this makes the brief but effective work one of Schoenberg's most fascinating compositions.
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847) composed his Violin Concerto in E minor Op. 64 for his long-time friend, the outstanding violinist Ferdinand David, to whom he wrote: "I would like to compose a concerto for you for next winter; the introduction in E minor keeps running through my head. The melody doesn't give me any peace." Mendelssohn spent a long time composing the concerto, which he conceived from the beginning as a grandiose work, over which "the angels in heaven will rejoice." Although the score was officially finished in September 1844, it continued to undergo constant revisions almost up to the premiere on 13 March 1845 in Leipzig. Because of illness, Mendelssohn was unable to conduct the premiere. Ferdinand David played the solo part. An instant success, the concerto was regarded from the very beginning as one of the most beautiful works of its genre thanks to Mendelssohn's harmonic inventiveness and also thanks the virtuosic solo part, of course. As the famed violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim stated in 1906: "The Germans have four violin concertos. The greatest, most uncompromising is Beethoven's. The one by Brahms vies with it in seriousness. The richest, the most seductive, was written by Max Bruch. But the most inward, the heart's jewel, is Mendelssohn's.."
The concert will end with the Symphony No. 3 "Kaddish" for orchestra, mixed choir, boy's choir, narrator, and mezzo-soprano by the American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990). This multigenre musical image crosses over deeply into philosophy. The Kaddish, a Jewish hymn of praise, appears in the title of each of the composition's three movements. Like Schoenberg, Bernstein wrote both the music and the text.
Leonard Slatkin
"The concert was throughout a triumph of musical execution and often expression. Slatkin's engagement revealed that 70 could be the new 50 if music flows strongly in your veins."
This season, after a remarkable ten years, the American conductor Leonard Slatkin will be retiring from his role of music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and at the same time, he is becoming the conductor emeritus of the Orchestre Nationale Lyon. During the many years of his career, he has appeared in a long list of concert halls in Europe, the USA, and Asia. His discography encompasses more than a hundred recordings, seven of which have earned prestigious Grammy awards, while more than sixty have been nominated for that prize. He is also the author of two books in which he reveals to his listeners the environment of the contemporary world of classical music.
Julian Rachlin
"Julian feels music from the depth of his heart."
The violinist, violist, and conductor Julian Rachlin is a graduate of the Vienna Conservatory (Boris Kushnir), and he was also a private student of Pinchas Zukerman. Winning the title of Eurovision Young Musician of the Year in 1988 was a major achievement for him, and it was followed by his debut with the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Riccardo Muti. His busy concert schedule includes collaborations with the Munich Philharmonic, the La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Bayerischer Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra. He plays the Stradivarius "ex Liebig" built in 1704.
About the choir
The Prague Philharmonic Choir is one of Europe's leading vocal ensembles. Its domain is primarily the cantata and oratorio repertoire, which it performs regularly in collaboration with the world's leading orchestras (Berlin Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic) and conductors (Daniel Barenboim, Manfred Honeck, Jakub Hrůša). In addition to a large number of projects to its credit, the choir has an extensive discography. In recent years, it has made recordings for the Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, Sony Classical, and Supraphon labels. Lukáš Vasilek has been its chief choirmaster since 2007.
Jaroslav Brych first completed studies in the French horn performance at the Pardubice Conservatory in O. Tvrdý's class and then conducting in the Prague Academy of Performing Arts at V. Neumann, J. Veselka and R. Eliška. Since 1994 he had been second choirmaster of the Prague Philharmonic Choir, in the years of 1996–2005 his principal choirmaster. In the years of 2006–2012, he was the choirmaster of the Prague Chamber Choir. Currently, he is the choirmaster of the Foerster Chamber Choir, he occasionally cooperates with the Prague Philharmonic Choir, Kühn Choir of Prague, Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK, the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice and other Czech orchestras. Apart from conductor and choirmaster activities, he teaches at the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory in Prague and at the Pardubice Conservatory.
About the orchestra
The Prague Symphony Orchestra is an ensemble with many years of tradition. Its artistic renown has been shaped by collaborations with a number of famed conductors (Seiji Ozawa, Zubin Mehta, Sir Charles Mackerras) and soloists (Pinchas Zukerman, Murray Perahia, Garrick Ohlsson, Renée Fleming). It has made guest appearances in most of the countries of Europe, the USA, South America, Japan, Korea, Israel, and recently Oman and China. The Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen has been at the orchestra's helm since the 2015/2016 season.
Tribute to Rudolf Pekárek
In addition to its dedication to Bernstein and to the founding of the State of Israel, this concert is also a tribute to the founder of the Prague Symphony Orchestra, Rudolf Pekárek (1900-1974). If Pekárek is known to the musical or the general public at all, it is exclusively as the founder and architect of the Prague Symphony Orchestra; he was fully engaged with the orchestra as an organiser and conductor from 1934 until October 1941.
One might not realise how risky and ambitious it was to found an orchestra at a time when the effects of the Great Depression were still being felt, when for every success there were many failures. Rudolf Pekárek, however, had the will and the diplomatic skills to carry it off. He wagered successfully on collaboration with radio broadcasters and the film industry, and he also surrounded himself – showing his generosity – with an outstanding team. For example, he brought in the conductor Václav Smetáček to work with him from the beginning. Smetáček later took the orchestra's helm when Pekárek was deported to Auschwitz in October 1941 because of his Jewish origins.
Pekárek's misfortune was mitigated by his assignment for labour in Silesian coal mines, from which he escaped in September 1944, and he later joined the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps. He began to perform in that unit's Army Artistic Ensemble, and he took over its leadership in January 1945 after the premature demise of its founder, Vít Nejedlý.
After the war, he returned to Prague and gradually renewed his cooperation with the Prague Symphony Orchestra. Nonetheless, at the very end of 1948, because of his opposition to the new communist regime, Pekárek and his wife immigrated to Australia, where his brother had already settled.
The totalitarian press of the 1950s reported that Pekárek had died in a German concentration camp, and his name was simply erased from the annals of the prominent orchestra, but nothing could have been farther from the truth: first he settled in Sydney, and he soon began to make a name for himself as a conductor who would take on the challenge of even the most difficult orchestral repertoire. And in spite of starting with almost nothing and lacking knowledge of English, he was so successful that by 1950 he was appointed as the chief conductor of the Perth Symphony Orchestra, later renamed the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. He lived in Perth until October 1954, when he took the helm of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra based in Brisbane, and he remained in that position until 1967.
The many things that Pekárek was able to achieve in Australia are documented not only by his concert programmes preserved by the National Library of Australia, but also his vast correspondence, a very important segment of which is his exchange of letters with Václav Smetáček. All of the documentation shows that while living "down under", he went about promoting Czech music systematically – he performed mostly works by Dvořák, Smetana, Janáček, Suk, Ostrčil, V. Novák, and Martinů, but he also gave Australian premieres of the music of Kabeláč, K. Slavický, Jirák, Feld, Pauer, Sommer, and Jaroch. Smetáček sent him many new scores and consulted with him about programming. Pekárek even got his Czech Music Hour heard on regular radio broadcasts all over Australia. This extraordinarily active conductor also collaborated with the greatest musicians of his day, such as the pianists Claudio Arrau, Géza Anda, Daniel Barenboim, Paul Badura-Skoda, Philippe Entremont, Julius Katchen, and John Ogdon, and the violinists David Oistrakh, Isaac Stern, Ruggiero Ricci, Yehudi Menuhin, Ida Haendel, and Ricardo Odnoposoff. Among the guest conductors who expressed their satisfaction with Pekárek's orchestra when guest conducting were John Barbirolli, Lorin Maazel, Charles Mackerras, and Otto Klemperer along with the great Czech conductors Rafael Kubelík and Karel Ančerl.
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Win and he's back in?: MMAmania.com exclusive UFC 88 interview with Nate Marquardt
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» Win and he's back in?: MMAmania.com exclusive UFC 88 interview with Nate Marquardt
Ever since losing a title shot to Anderson Silva at UFC 73 back in July of last year, Nate "The Great" Marquardt (26-8-2) has been looking to get back into title contention. He welcomed Jeremy Horn back to the UFC with a guillotine choke submission at UFC 81 in February.
And he looked … um, "Great" in a well-publicized UFC 85 bout with Thales Leites.
Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Your split decision loss to Thales Leites has got to be a bitter pill to swallow. How do you feel about the two points that you were docked, the second of which looked unjustified?
Nate Marquardt: Yeah, you know, it's not as bad as it seems to be honest. That fight got me a lot of publicity. Everyone who saw the fight said that I won. So it's not really like I really lost that fight.
Yeah, I thought the second point deduction … I don't feel like what I did was illegal, but sometimes that happens in fights. To be honest, I think I could have finished Thales, and that was my fault for not keeping on him at a couple of points in that fight.
Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): I read that after the fight, Leites didn't want to grant you an immediate rematch. Is that true?
Nate Marquardt: Yes. We asked Joe Silva immediately after, and he said that Thales didn't want a rematch.
Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): Do you think he was trying to dodge you?
Nate Marquardt: I don't know. It's the smarter decision on his part. He ran away with the win on his record. And he's looking to get a title shot, so it would be a smart choice on his part.
Adam Wagner (MMAmania.com): So is it difficult to bounce back from something like this, or are you looking at it as a win … or at least not a loss?
Nate Marquardt: Yeah, exactly. I see some mistakes I made during that fight, and I always try to work on that. I just try to get better after every fight. I'm not trying to look at it as a win or as a loss. I'm just trying to look at it and see what I did right, and try to copy that, and see what I did wrong and try to fix it.
kampmann wins and he's getting a titleshot.
there needs to be a rematch between marquardt and leites. they both showed huge heart in that fight.
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Asean had numerous issues on its plate at the recent Asean Summit, no solutions were finalized, but progress was made on several fronts.
The 18th Asean Summit opened in Jakarta May 7-8 with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono serving as chair.
When addressing the opening ceremony, the president said that "Asean can't be silent and do nothing" in the face of challenges of energy and food security, disaster management and people trafficking.
Among other issues confronting the summit were Myanmar's Asean chairmanship in 2014, East Timor's joining Asean as its 11th member, a dam dispute in the Greater Mekong Subregion, the escalating conflict over the South China Sea, the border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, inflation and rising food prices and energy cooperation. None of these were resolved but positive steps were made toward a resolution.
Before the Asean Summit opened, Myanmar requested that it be given the position as chair of Asean in 2014, taking the place of Laos which was scheduled to chair that year. Myanmar had been passed over for chairmanship in 2005, with the promise that if it conducted democratic elections it would be given the position. Pointing to the elections held in 2010 and the release of human rights advocate Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, the Burmese government argued that it should be given the role. Laos consented to giving up its year as chair for Myanmar and an early draft communiqué expressed agreement to the change.
However, a published report said that the United States warned that it would no longer work with Asean if Myanmar were given the 2014 chair, citing the country's abysmal human rights record. Asean looked at the Myanmar human rights record, and did not reach a resolution on who would chair the organization in 2014.
East Timor was set to become the 11th member of Asean, but its members failed to agree on the issue. An article in the Bangkok daily, the Nation, on May 10 said that the division reflected concerns that China's growing role in Timor would turn the country into a Chinese proxy in Asean. The building of the Xayaburi Dam on the Mekong River was another contested topic not on the formal agenda. At the summit, Vietnam and Cambodia pressured
Laos into abandoning its plans to build the Xayaburi dam, which would have reduced water access in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. This also had the potential of destroying the great fishery in the region that supplies significant protein for river residents particularly Cambodia........
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Compact crossover SX4 from Suzuki did not get nice feedback. Customers were not happy with last edition, launched back in 2014. With so many complains, Japanese carmaker decided to make a break. Now, after consultation, they decided to re-launch this SUV as 2017 Suzuki SX4. We will see if its development takes results. Once again, Fiat was a partner in a project. Fans hope that Italian styling and comfort in combination with Japanese reliability and quality can result much better vehicle. In other case, it is very sure that this could be the last run of the SX4 crossover.
2017 Suzuki SX4 engine
The 2017 Suzuki SX4 will use a 1.0-l turbocharged inline-four drivetrain as its main unit. With it, SUV can develop 120 hp and 100 lb-ft of torque. Nevertheless, there could be other engines in the offer. Also, this crossover will have sibling in higher class. It is S-cross model, with improves in performance. Both kinds of vehicles will have manual and automatic transmission system. This 5-speed gearbox transfers power to front wheels. Additional system is all-wheel drive. Since this is compact crossover, this car can offer better mileage than its competitors.
2017 Suzuki SX4 features
We believe that 2017 Suzuki SX4 will be available in few trims. Base models will come under the name SZ4. Mid-range SZ-T has more to offer, while top of the class is SZ5, with most options and features. However, it is up to buyers which type of crossover will pick. Base unit can come out with good equipment. Big LCD display is part of modern dashboard on the new SX4. Also, to be more attractive, all systems suffer revisits. Now, this SUV should be packed with latest infotainment, safety and driving features. Some of them are parking sensors and cameras, lane departure warning, or more stylish wheels. Navigation is available in upper trims.
2017 Suzuki SX4 competition
It is still unknown when 2017 Suzuki SX4 will come out. Nevertheless, some of the rival companies already announced their lineups. Some of them are already out in the market. However, when it comes, SX4 will face Skoda Yeti and Nissan Qashqai as its main competitors. There are some other vehicles, for example Honda CR-V or VW Tiguan, but these are way ahead of Suzuki crossovers in every aspect.


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Author(s): Jane Yolen
"This collection is Jane Yolen at her best. This is magic."--Patricia C. Wrede, author of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles
Fantasy icon Jane Yolen (The Devil's Arithmetic, Briar Rose, Sister Emily's Lightship) is adored by generations of readers of all ages. Now she triumphantly returns with this inspired gathering of fractured fairy tales and legends. Yolen breaks open the classics to reveal their crystalline secrets: a philosophical bridge that misses its troll, a spinner of straw as a falsely accused moneylender, the villainous wolf adjusting poorly to retirement. Each of these offerings features a new author note and original poem, illuminating tales that are old, new, and brilliantly refined.


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A family gathering occurred in Las Vegas this weekend, and I was not invited.
It was even on my calendar. Just because it was Taylor's bachelor party weekend, I'm supposed to stay home and watch from the Facebook sidelines?
Truth is, I'm not much of a party animal.
But the nightsights are pretty remarkable when your grandkids are in the foreground.
And cheering Duke to a victory with the family might have been fun…if only I had been invited.
But no, I stayed home to enjoy the festivities vicariously.
(I'll see all but Ben in less than a week, so don't waste any pity on me.)


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An American relationship blogger has sparked speculation she enjoyed a romantic relationship with Olly Murs after telling all in one of her posts.
New York based romantic Brittany Allyn, 32, has set tongues wagging after she wrote an update titled How to Lose a Popstar in 10 Weeks.
In her lengthy post, Brittany describes embarking on a text-heavy romance with a "cheeky popstar from the Essex countryside" - with many speculating it is none other than 33-year-old chart topper, Olly.
Details are restricted to the gentleman in question being described as a guy with "an extreme European love affair with volumizing mousse and acid wash skinny jeans".
And while she doesn't name Olly in the post, she does share video of him performing a cover of the Tina Turner classic What's Love Got To Do With It live on stage at one of his concerts, with Brittany claiming the performance was dedicated to her by Olly.
While fans online have been quick to assume the man in question can only be Olly (while others have wondered if it could be James Arthur), the details shared would suggest Olly really is a hopeless romantic, if it is indeed him.
"We exchanged videos of our houses, our messy hair in the mornings, our summer activities of being at the beach or out and about. I genuinely enjoyed talking to him like a friend. PG related, pinky-promise," Brittany gushes in her post - claiming they met through friends last year.
Brittany alleges she an 'Olly' had a pact - that he would think of her whenever he performed What's Love Got To Do With It live.
"We had a pact that he'd promise to think of me every time Tina Turner came on his setlist. He'd report back after shows each week that he kept to it. I asked him to take a video of him singing at his concert...not thinking he would actually remember in all the chaos, but he did," she writes, sharing video of Olly singing the song to a packed out crowd.
The blogger claims they met in July last year - where it is suggested Olly is the perfect gent on a date.
"He told me... what the major things were that he wanted out of life. We talked a lot about relationships and love (my favorite topic)," she gushed.
"Two hours later we had a very innocent but cute kiss goodbye. The kind where you kiss for a second, pull back and smile, and then kiss again. He walked me to my doorstep and left," she added.
The 'relationship' crumbled after the popstar landed a "big opportunity in the industry and couldn't pass it up," with many suggesting the 'big opportunity' was Olly landing a role as a judge on The Voice UK.


text: Crisis Response Care is a program designed for first responders, Chaplains and community volunteers to deepen their knowledge in the area of crisis response. Our intention is to provide information from multiple sources in one place to assist them in serving their communities. We believe one of the greatest ways to impact a community is by making its roots stronger and that is done by building relationships and providing the best resources possible. Our hope is to build a network of trust to demonstrate that we care about where you live. Our Crisis Response Care is about impacting communities with training and resources and helping to create a team of first responders, Chaplains and community volunteers that can assist on a deeper level during a time of need.Pastor Mike,K-LOVE Radio


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Patter's blog, then you are on the right track. If not, you will want to head back to the ODBD blog to start at the beginning. This week I'm featuring stamps from the beautiful ODBD set Mother Teresa. This set had long been on my wishlist and I finally got a chance to get it several months ago. The waterlily image is so beautiful and the quotes from Mother Teresa are so very beautiful, as well. I inked up the waterlily with Tuxedo Black ink, colored with Copic markers and then trimmed out. All the papers are from The Scrap Cake 6x6 pad My Private Happiness. Because I wanted the waterlily to really take center stage on the card I finished off the interior with some patterned paper and one of the sentiments from the sent.
Thanks for stopping by... your next stop on the hop is the equally uber talented Angie! I know she is going to knock your socks off!!!
Supplies: Cardstock: PTI white, SU! pink; Stamps: ODBD; Ink: Tuxedo Black; Dies: Spellbinders; Copic Markers; Pearl Flourishes: Recollections; PP: The Scrap Cake


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View all calendars is the default. Choose Select a calendar to view a specific calendar. Subscribe to calendar notifications by clicking on the Notify Me button and you will automatically be alerted of the latest events in our community.
February 23, 2020, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM @ Carrboro Century Center
Join photographer Denise Allen in the Carrboro Century Center to explore and discuss her exhibit, "My Son Matters", that is showing through April 2nd. The event is 3:00pm-5:00pm, with a discussion with the artist beginning at 3:30pm.
February 23, 2020, 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM @ Carrboro Century Center
Come warm up with some dancing. Get ready for a fun afternoon of great music, dancing, games and refreshments. There will be a winter scene background for you and your friends to take photos! Be sure to bring your camera. You must register three days prior to the event.
Ages: 8+


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Surgical Abortion
Surgical abortion is a quick, safe and common surgical procedure that's performed all over the world for women wanting to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Once a woman has decided to have a surgical abortion she will need to make a booking at either our Brisbane Clinic or Gold Coast Clinic.
How Surgical Abortions work
During the first fourteen weeks of pregnancy a surgical abortion can be conducted by a method called 'vacuum aspiration' under a general anaesthetic (where the patient is unconscious) or under sedation.
With vacuum aspiration, the cervix (opening to the uterus) is gradually opened, and the pregnancy is then removed through a small tube using suction.
The abortion is performed in our day surgery clinic and the entire procedure takes approximately 15 minutes. The operating doctor will then inspect the removed tissue and verify that the surgery was successful.
Are there any risks?
There are some minor risks, which can be managed at our facility:
- retained blood clots
- perforated uterus
- infection
The surgical abortion success rate is 99%. During and after the procedure, our supportive staff will make sure you're kept comfortable and pain free. You'll be observed in the recovery area of our day clinic for approximately one hour after your procedure is complete and then discharged once you're fully alert.
For additional information visit www.prochoice.org
Making Your Choice
Options Clinic Brisbane
383 Wickham Terrace, Spring Hill
Clinic 07 3831 8300
Freecall 1300 405 585
Clinic Opening Hours
Monday to Saturday – 8 am to 5 pm
Options Clinic Gold Coast
127 Wharf Street, Tweed Heads
Clinic 07 5536 1626
Freecall 1300 405 585
Clinic Opening Hours
Monday to Saturday – 8 am to 5 pm
For enquiries and appointments please call between 8 am to 9 pm (7 days a week). Outside of these hours, please leave a voicemail message or complete our contact form and we will get in touch with you.


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IMF Working Paper WP/09/96 (2009)
Reviewed by Andy Wynne – email@example.com
Some staff with the World Bank, IMF and other donors are taking slow steps in re-assessing the effectiveness of their dominant prescriptions for public sector financial management over the last decade. This has often included large scale mega-reforms such as a Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), an Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) and decentralisation.
Richard Allen has been part of this process from the beginning. In this paper he now recognises that the development of sound budgetary institutions in countries such as France, the U.K. and the U.S. has taken a very long time―200 years or more―and is still evolving. Institutional reform is also likely to be very slow in developing countries since the budget is especially prone to rent-seeking influences. This paper discusses the currently fashionable emphasis on complex, multiannual PFM reform strategies, which have been strongly promoted by the donor community; and advocates a simpler approach grounded on Schick's important principle of "getting the basics right."
Richard's conclusions are first, reforming public financial management is a frustratingly slow business. In developing countries, the progress of modernizing budgetary institutions needs to be measured in small steps. Major reforms such as introducing a new treasury system or a medium-term budget framework can take a decade or longer. Second, governments, donors and multilateral institutions almost always underestimate the difficulties and challenges, and overestimate the capacity of government to deliver reforms. They fail to learn from the lessons of the past.
Whilst not criticising his own institution (the IMF) directly he has some trenchant views on technical aid to governments in the Global South. Many technical aid providers, Richards says, have a vested interest in maintaining existing approaches and instruments. Developing countries should not be regarded as a laboratory or playground for the donors. Fresh thinking is required but there is not much incentive for change since technical aid providers are not sufficiently held to account for the imperfections of the models they use, and the advice they offer.
Other examples of similar hard hitting criticisms over the last year are Salvatore Schiavo-Campo (see http://blog-pfm.imf.org/pfmblog/files/MTEFpaperFinal.doc) and Bill Dorotinsky on the ICGFM Blog (see http://icgfm.blogspot.com/2008/12/public-financial-management-reform.html ).
The global recession appears to have provided a welcome space for those who do not accept the current orthodoxy. Such criticism is necessary to try and increase the degree of success with public financial management reforms. It is hoped that the current upturn does not end this opportunity. The lessons of Richard's paper are important and need to impact directly on reform plans in many countries.


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Green's Pleasant Springs Orchard
What we Grow
At Green's Pleasant Springs Orchard apples are our specialty. We grow 74 varieties of apples press our own apple cider and make applesauce and apple butter. In addition, we grow an assortment of fruits and vegetables, including rhubarb, salad greens, peppers, tomatoes, pumpkins, squash, melons, sweet corn, and pears.
Where We're Located
We are located 13 miles southeast of Madison, WI, near Stoughton, WI, 1.5 miles from the intersection of I-39-90 and County Highway N. You can find us at:


text: First, an ENTERPRISE story by Vivek Tiwary and Artist TK. Captain Archer's pet beagle Porthos takes center stage in a Temporal Cold War tale that sees the beloved pooch traveling back in time in order to save a young Jonathan's life. Then, a NEXT GENERATION story by Scott Bryan Wilson involving double trouble – quite literally – for an away team when they explore a strange new planet!


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| 7.1°C Belfast
I very much welcome the public discourse on the flying of flags and emblems for a maximum of two weeks and only with the consent of the community where they are proposed to be sited.
Hopefully, it would be a further step towards zero tolerance for the hijacking of our streets and avenues in the name of intolerance and bigotry disguised and delivered as culture.
My genuine concern is: who will enforce these policies should they ever miraculously become law on the Hill?
With a complete lack of political will from our political police force, how will we ever help create a more tolerant, less sectarian society?
I would propose Camp Twaddell would prove a perfect test case for any new legislation placing restrictions on the display of flags and emblems.
This illegal camp is facilitated by the state, from the Housing Executive to Belfast City Council cleansing department to the PSNI.
I have had personal experience of the failures by state agencies to uphold the law with regard to hate crimes and illegal bonfires.
In 2014, I ran as an Independent Socialist candidate in the Castle Ward for Belfast City Council. During the election campaign, several of my election posters disappeared - subsequently to reappear on the Mount Vernon bonfire.
I informed the police, who confirmed to me that they were treating the matter as a hate crime.
During further conversations, I expressed the view that it was unacceptable that my posters would be set alight in front of a cheering mob, to which the police response was: we will not be taking the posters down and should anyone (presumably me) try to regain my lawful property, climb the bonfire and recover the posters, they would be subject to removal from the area and arrest for breach of the peace.
Who enforces the law when those charged with doing so abdicate this responsibility? Does this mean they tacitly agree with the bonfires, or is there a concern for their personal safety, as the majority of the PSNI live in and come from the PUL community?
Belfast Telegraph


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Your local computer repair company in Hertfordshire and West Essex
Fixitvan engineers are friendly, reliable and arrive when we say we will and return your equipment promptly. We won't confuse you with technical jargon or sell you something you don't need. We pride ourselves on leaving all our customers happy so you pass our name onto your friends.
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text:
Home > Worcestershire > Bliss
Lost Pubs In
Bliss Gate, Worcestershire
Bliss Gate Inn
Do you have any anecdotes, historical information, updates or photographs of closed or lost pubs in
Bliss Gate? Become a contributor and submit them here.Like this site? Recommend us via the social networking share button on the left hand side of the page, or follow us on


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Why you should use emoji if you're looking for a romantic partner online
In a study conducted by Match.com last year, researchers found that singles who used emoji more often in their communications had sex more often.
So what is it about emoji that make people so hot and bothered?
Communicating on the Internet can be cold and impersonal. It lacks a certain range of emotion that you could normally find in a face-to-face conversation. Things such as body language and emotional expression are lost when the only context we have is text on a screen.
In a phenomenon known as "emotional contagion", humans tend to mimic each other's physical expressions in order to empathize with each other. It's in this way that you and I are able to understand each other's emotions without using verbal or written communication.
Studies have found that emoji actually replicate the effects of emotional contagion when we are communicating online. So when we see an emoji our brains recognize those little yellow faces as actual faces, giving us us emotional context we can connect to.
Therefore, it's no surprise that when people are communicating with potential partners online, Emoji can be an incredible resource to express romantic interest in a nonverbal way.
So if you are one of the 91 million people using dating sites, you should maybe consider including emoji in your communications.
If you enjoyed the video above, make sure to subscribe to Mashable on YouTube for new episodes every week!
BONUS: Is it easier to find love when the weather sucks?


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Recently, one of our clients faced an issue on their server which they were hosting with a well known managed provider (traditional dedicated hosting approach). Let us compare the consequences of their problem in both the old fashioned approach of having a dedicated server at a collocation center or a managed hosting provider and in the Cloud based hosting.
Old Fashioned Approach:
Suddenly, their server's hard disk failed. He contacted the datacenter and after a series of back and forth emails and phone calls, the datacenter asked the client to backup their data so that they can do a hardware test. Even though the client has a good backup policy, their backup was more than 6 hours old and their website is a fairly dynamic media site with a popular forum. In spite of the regular overnight backups, the client has to do another backup by booting the server under read-only mode (as it was not booting up normally). Once he completed the backup, the datacenter added a new disk, reloaded the OS and put the backup disk back on the server. The client then secured the server with the usual security procedures, restored the data for all their domains and, finally, the server was up and running after 10+ hours.
Cloud Computing Approach:
Under the Cloud Computing approach, the client will not face any issues related to disk failures. The architecture has been set up in such a way that such drive failures are inconsequential. Users will never face a hardware issue under a well architectured Cloud Computing model. Let us consider the same website on Amazon EC2. A base operating system with the necessary LAMP stack can be set up and secured. It can, then, be bundled as an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) and stored on Amazon S3. This AMI can be registered to run as an EC2 instance. The Mysql and other web files can be stored on an Elastic Block Storage (EBS) with an optional backup on S3. This EBS volume can be mounted on a EC2 instance to serve up the website. In the event of any issue with the running EC2 instance (BTW, no hardware issues here), one can just kill the running instance, start a new instance from the AMI stored on S3, mount the EBS volumes and, boom, the website will be up and running. The total time lost will be few minutes with a proper initial planning and configuration.
Compare the 10+ hours of downtime for a very popular media site and forum with just a few minutes of downtime (which can also be minimized with proper automation). it is easy to see why the Cloud Computing route is a better option than the traditional one. In fact, the economics also favors the Cloud route for this client. Even though it is a personal story of our company's client, I am sharing it here because it will be a good lesson to any small businesses taking the traditional route to hosting. Even if we take out the economics from consideration, the other advantages with the Cloud based hosting makes a compelling case for moving the Small Business hosting to the Clouds.


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Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Wiggaz and Dirty Dreads. On How Race Still Matters
For centuries black people tried to look as white as possible, they often still do. Many use skin clearing creams, relax their hair so to have straight hair, favorite mixed-race looking people in the media, etc. Since the 90's we can see another phenomenon, white people who want to be black, or at least who adopt symbols and styles that are perceived as black in the Western world.
Some white people adopted e.g. what they think is hip hop culture and with it adopted styles considered African-American. Certain haircuts, clothing and accessories such as jewelry are all part of a style that many consider first as black. Some other white people try to have dreadlocks even if their soft, thin and straight hair makes it hardly impossible to have knots in their hair (other whites with curly hair can have neat dreads though). Some white people love reggae music and styles and are therefore also wearing the symbols of the Rastafarian movement and sport the Pan-African colours.
The sight of such a white man adopting black style looks to many as ridiculous, just as ridiculous as a black man sporting a goth style. My opinion on this was at first that it actually is a positive sign. It means that black and white cultural manifestations are mixing and that you don't have to act or look this or that way because of your race. Be goth, be rasta, no matter the colour of your skin. However, there is much more … which still makes this phenomenon rather problematic. Let me explain this below.
When black people adopt white styles, it's because they want to fit in. They don't want to offend the majority, they don't want to be perceived as different, they want to be normal and thus want to be conform to the norm. A girl with relaxed hair is actually something positive from a conformist perspective (and I don't say 'a white perspective', because in many African societies black styles are not considered 'good' either. African societies often internalized white perspectives on blackness).
On the contrary, when white people adopt black styles they do this to be non-conformists. Their motivation is to be different, to be anti-establishment, to be special, to even be perceived as some kind of outlaws. Some have dreadlocks but have dirty hair. In their rasta style they are actually emphasizing stereotypes, prejudices and myths and are interpreting rasta as a bump style. Others might have big golden chains and diamond earrings but they interpret hip hop culture also in a stereotype way, ignoring the political and social conscious elements of hip hop and openly focus on the bling bling elements. They try to actually overcompensate their whiteness by stressing on a black myth, which makes them look ridiculous.
In this sense being black still means that you are by definition not normal, that you might be some kind of outlaw. Because of your physical appearance you are automatically set outside conformity and you should do some effort to fit in. Speaking the language and adapting to the local culture is not enough, you have to change the black body. Black styles and cultures will not help you to be considered normal you should adopt white styles, i.e. relax you hair, clear your skin and do not wear too flashy clothes. You even have to overcompensate your race by being cleaner and smarter than your white counterparts. The blacker you are, the more you should work on that.
On the other hand, whites who want to be outside society just have to mimic black stereotypes, to mimic a black myth that isn't even real but fits the prejudices. These white people are not even being like blacks, but they are making a buffoon version of blacks, exaggerate the difference by being dirty or overtly superficial and materialistic. Although most of white people who do imitate that style think of themselves as anti-racists, they are (mostly unconsciously) accentuating racism and keeping race as a social marker alive.
13 comments:
This is a well thought-out opinion on this issue. i have to admit i had never given it much thought before. good observation!ReplyDelete
"Wiggaz" are everywhere! Even overseas.ReplyDelete
I had a couple of "wiggaz" as students. I couldn't really blame them. All of their friends are blacks. One kid's brother is half black and thought of himself as black too, because society (and "white people" according to himself) look down on him and his brother. So he didn't like white people either, despite being white.
I do have a problems with Africans at the school using the N word. They're not black Americans. They can't use the N word just like white kids can't. They don't know the full impact of the word.
First off I love this topic… And everything I read in the first 3 paragraphs is true. I try to wrap my head around why we want to be like each other. I sometimes think imitation is the biggest form of flattery. Then I think some takes it to a level of coonery and buffoonery. But what you say is true we have all at one point tried to be like the other.ReplyDelete
And yes when Black people adopt a white style they do it to fit in. And I must say in some cases it is needed just to get your foot in the door. But there comes a time when you have to say the hell with this. This is not who I am…and become a better you. If that makes sense.. But thanks for dropping that knowledge on me about the African societies… I had no idea.. But when did it become that our hair was not the norm? I always wonder why our hair is considered bad. And everyone else's hair is considered good!! I never thought that..but I know many people who do. Man I must say you have given me a lot to think about. But when I think of not wanting offend the majority.. I think of just to the purpose of becoming a success in the work force. But we are different so to speak and then again we are not. Man this can be debated big time…
Right you are when white people adopt a Black style they do it for totally different reasons. It's really not about flattery its exactly like you said it is..it's about being anti-establishment. And has very little to do with wanting to be like us. But then there are those who want that as well. But the thing about that is…when they are around their peers they can turn it on and turn it off. I have seen this many times and it puts a bad taste in my mouth when I see it. So in all reality they are not being true to who they claim they are.
Being Black to some means you are not normal. But to me i'm normal and everyone else is not. I guess for me i just stopped letting what others think of me determine how i act. And how i feel about myself...i'm no longer a child. I'm a man with a brain and i know how to use it. I may not think the way others do...but it's who i am. I've learned to think outside of what i was taught growing up. Because all that was taught was others perspective of what the world is all about. Being Black should never be a bad thing. It should never mean you have to water down who you are to make others happy. Are others doing that for us...i think not.
Stereotypes are just that!! If someone thinks wearing big gold chains makes them Black...then they have major issues. If someone thinks because they hang out with white people and speak their language ..then they are Blind as well.You can never be anything other than who you are. If you are Black you are Black and be proud of that. You will never ever be white no matter how many white people you befriend. I guess for me i never understood the fascination with white people. But i do understand where all this stem from. There are many Black people on this site that has adopted the so called white way of thinking. And the sad part about it is that they don't even realize they don't have real self love.
I love this article and i can't wait to read more of what you have to offer. You write from the heart as well from experience ...i can tell that. And thank you for exposing ignorance on both sides...
Thanks all! I just wanted to add that I don't have any problem with white people who love hip hop or reggae or other black styles, I know many of them and have a lot of love and I know white people who have very neat dreadlocks ... my post isn't against those people of course ... My critique is against the buffoons, those who think that being dirty is actually being rasta or (as negroamor4u just wrote) those who think that having a big golden chain makes them 'black' etc.ReplyDelete
Sibo I think it was understood. You expressed yourself perfectly. And just to add to that some may think that I have problems with white people. And I don't I'm just aware of whom I'm dealing with. And I just don't give them or anyone else power over my thinking, self esteem, my quality of life...anything. I believe in self love first…if you don't love you and where you come from…then you don't know love. And I truly love being BLACK!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I love my people…all who are Black no matter where they come from. And even those who don't love me back…. We are all human and should all be treated equally. That is my main issue with this world…equality!!!!!! As I said should be... great article man...thanksReplyDelete
- AnonymousFebruary 27, 2012 at 5:41 AM
Only problem is dat u said black ppl relax their hair to have "whit ppl hair". Not really true; most of us just try to get the curly knots out of our hair otherwise known as kitchens.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousFebruary 28, 2012 at 7:55 AM
I know a lot of afro-punks and goths who are proud of who they are and where they come from no matter who they're around. They just happen to like the rock genres. I don't believe that if you are black or white that you have to listen to a specific genre of music or dress a specific way. There are no "How to be black" manuals out there that we have to abide by. I, myself listen to all types of music but stay true to my myself always. But you do make a great point that there are many people out there who feel they need to fit in. It's sad really.ReplyDelete
Interesting article.ReplyDelete
I think there are some nuances that should be considered though.
I think your article is probably targeting more those white kids from upper-middle and upper class backgrounds who are adopting black, working class cultural traits to make a "statement". We've all seen the little blond from the OC or Greenwich, CT who tries to pretend that he/she knows all about the "mean streets" when the closest they've ever been to the ghetto is when they drove through it once on their way to yoga class.
However, I do personally know white people who have grown up in working class urban areas. I don't think it would be fair to label them as "wiggers" just because they've absorbed by osmosis the speech patterns and aesthetics of the people (mostly black) who have surrounded them since childhood. None of them are trying to be something they're not; it would actually be far less authentic of them to start talking and dressing like valley girls or prep school students (even though these are perceived as "white" cultural groups).
The same goes for Afrrican-Americans like me who grew up in the black middle class. I don't speak with a "black" accent, nor do I wear hip-hop gear. It wouldn't be authentic for me to do so. I can relate to my brothers and sisters in the black working class in so far as we both have experienced being black in America and continue to struggle together against prejudice. But to pretend to understand that I "know all about what they live" when I grew up with two professional parents in a detached home, went to a private school and never even saw a project until I moved to Chicago, would be not only fake, but insulting. The cultural codes and manners that I absorbed in childhood were not "adopted" to make me more "acceptable" to white people, it's simply what I am.
I love my blackness and I love that black people can be so many things and come from so many backgrounds and still unite as one people.
- AnonymousMarch 22, 2012 at 5:59 PM
I am Hispanic and I totally understand all the resentment of black people towards those who oppressed them in the past. What I don't understand why do they feel the need to discriminate against Hispanics. I have been discriminated by blacks more times than any other ethnic group. I have lived in Los Angeles, In San Antonio Texas, and in Chicago, and everywhere I went I was always discriminated by them. I don't hate black people because I know they are not all racists as a matter of fact I have come to realize that in order to continue living with a peaceful heart, I have to hate the actions but not the race because MOST of the black people I interact with on a daily basis are awesome, curteous, well educated. I guess we Hispanics are perceived as a less deserving ethinic group. Can anyone give me any idea as to what is going on?ReplyDelete
To "Hispanic Anonymous":ReplyDelete
I only recently found this site and I love it! To me,it's one of the most UNIQUE blogs on the Internet; where African descendants and continental Africans can come together and speak of our mutual experiences.
I say all this to ask, is your individual experience as an Hispanic in the United States who has had bad relations with Blacks part of the topic of "Wiggas?" I'm not sure about the degree of "sticking-to-the-topic" the moderator of this group demands, but I didn't understand the purpose of your post----in adding to the understanding of why Whites co-opt Black Style.
But since you posted your feelings, a possible answer of the WHY you've experienced bad relations with Blacks in the US----particularly in the cities you've named----I suggest you do a search on You Tube and download the entries about the unending attacks on perfectly innocent Blacks in California, by Latino gangs. It's actually kinda "Ku Klux Klannish", when you think about it.There are also newspaper and magazine articles about how The "Sureno" and "Mexican Mafia" gangs have sent out the decree to attack African-Americans who are found living---or even walking in many Hispanic neighborhoods in California, especially Southern California. VERY RACIST.
Anyway, sorry to the group for going off-topic.
@Wiggaz and Dirty DreadsReplyDelete
Here in Montreal I see this often. The amazing thing is these kids have no real clue what it is to really live in "The Hood". Yet they dress the part, call each other niggah, which is also interesting considering most don't even speak English.
I'm going to go on a limb though and say that while it might be about rebelling many do appear to really want to identify with the culture. Unlike the average white American or Anglo Canadian they do have their own distinct culture (Quebecois) which stands apart from the rest, yet they still integrate the language of hip hop into their own French . It's not all that surprising, considering African Americans have always been cultural leaders in the US. Virtually no American music is untouched by the influence of some form of music that originated with the African in America. Likewise American fashion as well as language is heavily influenced by the Black American. Sports is another area where the Black influence is apparent. In fact any arena where we haven't been forcibly excluded, overtly or covertly, has our mark on it. All that to say, I don't blame them for wanting to emulate us. We should only be so lucky as to fully realize the things we are capable of, for ourselves.
- AnonymousMay 30, 2012 at 12:03 PM
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMay 30, 2012 at 12:08 PM
i mean i'm white listen to rap.. i like to smoke weed i have dreads.. and i grew up in the hood around it all. did you ever think maybe people are just products of their enviromentReplyDelete


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Difference between revisions of "The Biolibrarian Proposal"
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Biolibrarians may already exist as part of bioinformatics service groups if they facilitate both data use ''and'' submission without regard to a specific data type or database.
Biolibrarians may already exist as part of bioinformatics service groups if they facilitate both data use ''and'' submission without regard to a specific data type or database.
==Guiding principals of the Biolibrarian==
==Guiding principals of the Biolibrarian ==
Biolibrarians are:
Biolibrarians are:
Revision as of 00:43, 16 March 2009
The survey
Please take the Biolibrarian proposal survey by visiting http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=LubRkhzbX9a7e8aPGKGevQ_3d_3d
It's only six questions and can be filled out in less than five minutes.
What is the Biolibrarian proposal?
The Biolibrarian proposal proposes the creation of new positions at university libraries around the world.
A Biolibrarian is trained in the use of biological databases that would initially include biological pathway, complex and interactions databases. This scope is intentionally limited for the purposes of the proposal but could be expanded.
It is envisioned that molecular biologists could meet with a Biolibrarian in the same way that they meet with and use the services of a librarian. The Biolibrarian could help molecular biologist researchers to locate pathways, complexes and interactions that their molecules of interest are involved in.
The Biolibrarian would help the biologist to access, use and interpret data from curated molecular databases (including pathway, complex, interaction, model organism and protein databases).
In addition, the Biolibrarian would be trained in the use of state of the art text mining tools to help researchers locate data for their molecules of interest in abstracts and full-text research articles.
Finally, Biolibrarians could help researchers enter verified information from full-text articles into curated databases where it would be available to researchers around the world that were querying for information on these same molecules. In this role, the Biolibrarian would act as a broker between local researchers and database curators. This would apply to those databases that are set up to accept feedback and entries from external sources. Biolibrarians would also become local brokers that provide feedback on databases, interfaces and associated search tools.
Would you support such a service at your local university library? Do you have comments on this proposal? Follow the link above and take our survey.
You can read a synopsis of the proposal below.
Comments and suggestions are welcome. We are also interested in learning about similar proposals or projects that are already in place. Please email email@example.com. If you would like to add your name to this wiki page in support of this application, please send a brief email.
The Biolibrarian's role defined
act as brokers between biologists and databases: this means that they facilitate interaction between local biologists and biological databases. This is a two-way process that includes helping bioloigists find and use biological databases AND helping biologists submit data and feedback to biological databases.
facilitate retrieval of biological information: biolibrarians would be trained with specialized knowledge of major biological databases, that includes their data representations, data exchange mechansisms with other databases, and the controlled vocabularies and ontologies that they employ. These are all important aspects of being able to find, use and interpret biological data. Examples of major biological databases include databases like GenBank, UniProt, the Saccharomyces Genome Database, Genetic Association Database, Gene Ontology Database, The Protein Databank, The Eukaryotic Linear Motif Database, GAPScreener, IntAct, BioModels Database and Reactome. These are just a few of the hundreds of biological databases that may be of relevance to local biologists MetaDB.
facilitate submission of data to biological databases: Each of the databases listed above will accept record submissions and/or feedback from biologist users. The quality of these databases is dependent on this relationship and many of these databases face critical shortages in curation personnel. The Biolibrarian's role is to to actively seek out and engage biologists in submitting data and feedback to these databases. The sheer number of databases, data models, and controlled vocabularies employed by these databases requires a specialist intermediary to facilitate this exchange of information.
How do Biolibrarians differ from Biocurators and Bioinformaticians?
Biologists, BioLibrarians and Biocurators are all Bioinformaticians. Each group both consumes and produces biological information. Biologists are the primary producers of biological information. Biocurators care for some specific subset of biological information associated with a specific database. Biolibrarians care for the transfer of knowledge between biologists and databases (Biocurators) regardless of the focus of the biologist or the database. Bioinformatics encompasses all aspects of this process of data production and consumption. The defining and differentiating aspects of the Biolibrarian are:
1) BioLibrarians are non-partisan with respect to databases (as opposed to biocurators)
2) Biolibrarinas do not write code (as opposed to bioinformaticians) and
3) Biolibrarians facilitate submission of data from biologists to databases.
Biolibrarians may already exist as part of bioinformatics service groups if they facilitate both data use and submission without regard to a specific data type or database.
Guiding principals of the Biolibrarian proposal
Biolibrarians are:
Non-partisan with respect to database or data type.
Non-partisan with respect to software
Pro open source
Pro open access
Pro standards
Pro documentation
The proposal in brief
Time plan: 5 years
Personnel: 8 – 10 biolibrarian curators
Deliverable: A prototype for biolibrarian positions at universities around the world.
We will propose a team of 8 to 10 curators who will search primary biomedical research literature and enter biomolecular interaction and pathway data into machine readable format to facilitate exchange and integration of data with other similar efforts as well as to facilitate human and machine based data mining. These personnel will be trained in the use of the latest pathway, complex, interaction, model organism and protein databases. They will act as a liason between researchers and databases to facilitate retrieval of information AND entry of curated information by local researchers.
Biomolecular interaction data consists of the set of experimentally verified interactions that occur between proteins, DNA's, RNA's, small molecules or complexes involving any of these molecular types. These data, along with associated reactions and state changes form the basis of biological pathways. As such, interaction and pathway data define the biological function of their participant molecules. The resulting network of interactions and pathways between molecules forms a map of living systems that may be searched and computed on. The resource is a broadly applicable to all molecular and medical life sciences.
Presently these data are collected by several small groups around the world. It is a labour intensive task that requires skill in reading research articles and knowledge of multiple standard data formats using large controlled vocabularies. Traditionally, these databases have had difficulties in securing long-term, stable funding since they compete with proposals for experimentalist research while they are essentially infrastructure projects. Despite the fact that these databases receive hundreds of citations per year, a survey of the major interaction databases indicates that they employ only a handful of full-time curators. This number is insufficient to keep up with the rate of research publications let alone the backlog of uncurated research articles. This infrastructure call represents a unique opportunity for Norway to establish a prototype position in this area that could be replicated across universities. The cost is fractional compared to the funds expended by universities on biomedical journal subscriptions. The payoff is a powerful dataset that may be data mined by humans and machine algorithms.
We will solicit letters of support from international interaction databases supporting our efforts in this area. We will also solicit national and international research groups to propose biomedical areas requiring curation. Finally, we will survey universities worlwide to assess their support of such a service. Newly curated data will be used to give context to high and low throughput proteomics and sequencing projects as well as provide tools for genome wide analysis studies related to human disease, cancer and personalized medicine. Graphical algorithms acting on large scale interaction and pathway maps have broad utility that includes (but is not limited to) identification of biological roles of proteins, identification of disease genes and selection of drug targets. The efficacy of these algorithms is dependent on the quality of the underlying data. Presently, high-quality, human curated data is dwarfed by less reliable data from high-throughput interactomics studies. The interpretation of these high-throughput studies themselves are benefited by the presence of human-curated data.
The proposed project will have high visibility and high impact. Data will be made freely available in internationally recognized formats (such as the HUPO PSI-MI standard) under a Creative Commons License. Data will be available via bulk-download, web-interface and at least one internationally recognized graphical viewer (http://cytoscape.org). Data will be integrated and exchanged with other similar database efforts to facilitate search and analysis. Integration will be accomplished using a system recently developed in the principal investigator's research group (http://irefindex.uio.no). This same system will be used to monitor and ensure accepted curation practices. We will contribute to the maintenance and expansion of data exchange formats and controlled vocabularies. We will adhere to and develop curation practices set out by the International Molecular Exchange Consortium (http://imex.sourceforge.net/). Existing curation and database systems for handling data are already available from other IMEx groups and these will be installed, used and built upon.
This initiative is a proposed infrastructure project at the University of Oslo in Norway where this position type would be prototyped. The initiative is led by Ian Donaldson at the Biotechnology Centre of Oslo. The above survey is an attempt to assess support for the proposal at the University of Oslo and at Universities around the world where this project could be replicated.
Ian Donaldson was a lead bioinformatics developer and research scientist for the Biomolecular Interaction Network Database (BIND) between 2002 and 2005. This effort employed close to 30 curators. He was involved in many aspects of this project (including curation and data standard development) since the project's inception in 1999.
How to add your university to this survey
We have sent query emails to lists of biology researchers at a number of universities. If you would like to do the same for your university, you can use the following message. Simply copy and paste. Results of the survey will be posted on this site.
Subject line: would you like to meet with a biolibrarian?
We are proposing the creation of a new infrastructure position at university libraries around the world. The position is called a "Biolibrarian".
A Biolibrarian is trained in the use of biological databases that include biological pathway, complex and interaction databases.
It is envisioned that molecular biologists could meet with a Biolibrarian in the same way that they meet with and use the services of a librarian. The Biolibrarian could help molecular biologist researchers to locate pathways, complexes and interactions that their molecules of interest are involved in. The Biolibrarian would help the biologist to access, use and interpret data from curated molecular databases (including pathway, complex, interaction, model organism and protein databases).
Finally, Biolibrarians could help researchers enter verified information from full-text articles into curated databases where it would be available to researchers around the world that were querying for information on these same molecules.
Would you support such a service at your local university library? Do you have comments on this proposal? Please take our six question survey to enter your opinion.
You can read more about the proposal here: http://irefindex.uio.no/wiki/The_Biolibrarian_Proposal


text:
Fall little angel. You have lost your wings.
Trade in your halo
For a soft show.
Down little angel. Who has cut your strings?
Fear the light of the sun.
Didn't they warn you?
What held me, now floats above.
Fall from grace - no longer loved.
My lover,
your branches too.
We've so much in common, me and the leaves.
How can a dancer dance if you don't sing?
Trade in all that was sunshine for a shady view.
I never knew silence could be so deafening.
All that used to surround
twinkles above you.
Chorus X2


text:
I'm a huge fan of Open Source in general. Because of this love, I've decided to put my blog on GitHub using Jekyll and some Markdown. However I think it's time to move into a different direction.
Medium has been on my radar since it went online. But until now, I wasn't quite sure if it will last the journey and not get bought by one of those big players in our industry. Of course I'll never be fully sure if my stories have found a new, independent place to grow. But since it looks and works so beautifully now, I'll take that risk.
The main reasons why I've decided to make the move, is, that writing posts "like a Hacker" (Jekyll's most known motto) DOES make fun, but sadly often gets into your way of writing great pieces.
Since it's based on Git and plain code, there's no real place to write. So far, I've been writing most of my posts in iA Writer, a beautiful app for Mac OS and iOS that lets you write without distractions. But until now, I had to copy each post, move it into the repository and add all kinds of so-called Front Matter fields which defined the meta information of each post. Of course I also had to adjust the filename to make it compatible with Jekyll's preferred way of parsing posts.
Not to mention writing essays on the way: As I said, iA Writer DOES provide a iOS app. However there's still this stupid workflow for actually deploying my posts. So all in all I still need to take my MacBook with me if I want to publish something. And that's just not acceptable.
Now that I'm on Medium, the only thing I need to do is wake one of my devices from sleep, open the app and start writing. Awesome!
And the best thing about this: iA Writer now even provides an easy way to publish to Medium by simply clicking a menu item:
All of those tiny workflow improvements make Medium a much more convenient platform to write on. And if you ask me, that's one of the most important things to keep in mind when setting up your own blog: Nothing should get in your way while writing.
Because if something does, you'll loose both the fun that it makes and the ability to convert your thoughts into something helpful for others.
While I don't yet know what I'll be writing about here, you can probably expect a lot of technical talk about my projects and what I've learned. Besides of that, I might even republish a few of my older posts in here, if they seem like they're not related to their time of publication to me.
So, what can I say? "Stay tuned!", I guess.


text:
A Lake Worth man is accused of stealing candy from a gas station before swiping a bag out of a car.
According to an article from the Sun Sentinel, Carmine Rozzo was caught on a security camera hiding items from the candy aisle in his pants at a Sunoco gas station. After he purchased a soda and left, he reached into a Jeep Patriot and removed a black bag. The bag contained a laptop, iPad and textbooks, all valued at more than $700. He then got into a Volkswagen and left.
Police found his car parked at a duplex on Kirk Road. After speaking with Rozzo's girlfriend, police discovered that he had borrowed the car from her. She had found the textbooks and called Palm Beach State College in order to return them. Rozzo later called police and said he was working with a bail-bondsman in order to surrender.