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I attended Burning Man for the first time in 2016. It was the best thing that could have happened for me at that point in my life. I left feeling invigorated and revived, having reclaimed permission to love my broken self again.
I thought Burning Man had given me a new lease on life, but it had actually prepared me to deal with my dad's sudden death. It was a blessing disguised by what had initially been a more exciting package.
Every burn is different. For me, 2016 was life-giving even in the face of my father's death. So when I returned to the default world after the event, Black Rock City remained a beacon of hope. It had been my last hurrah before shit hit the fan, like my innocence had been left there.
I spent the next year slogging through continued trauma and unraveling stability. In many ways, the memory and distraction of Burning Man kept me going. My dad had died. I lost and couldn't regain weight. Trump was elected. My healthcare was threatened multiple times by Congress. Cross-country travel to manage my dad's estate was physically taxing. Changes in medications caused my appetite and weight to drop even further. And I entered the verge of homelessness.
I was desperate to return to the place that had saved me. So return I did.
The 2017 Burn could not have come at a better time. I arrived in Black Rock City the most broken I have ever been, with very little self-worth remaining. The three things I had managed to hold onto were hope, a shred of determination, and memories from the previous year.
2017 was very different.
It wasn't as profound as I had remembered. I was looking for the Sorcerer's Stone I had extracted the previous year, before I'd experienced the trauma of burying my estranged father. I realize now that it was precisely because I was looking for the eureka moment that I couldn't find it.
What I did find was an art installation.
A lone skeleton hunched over on a park bench holding her heart in one hand, covered in alkali dust, beckoned to me in the middle of a white out dust storm. Chills ran through my body, even in the heat.
I was terrified. And captivated. I thought, "Am I dead? Is that – me?"
The thought paralyzed me. My body rooted itself in place and forced my two booted feet down with muffled thuds into the dust as my bike skidded to a halt, my heart echoing the persistent throb of the electronic music pervading the Playa.
Except that's not what happened. Not that first time. My body hadn't stopped – it was only in my mind I felt the dust rise up like soft socks around my ankles and saw the skeleton looking up with piercing non-eyes, sucking my breath out of my soul.
My brain had been paralyzed while my body continued pedaling.
I glided by, craning my neck backwards every few seconds to make sure I had not imagined an apparition.
I felt nauseous.
And I knew I would be back.
Ever since my diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis I have developed an interesting relationship with skeletons – one reason being that I feel more like a corpse: rigid, fragile, thin – the other that my bones could fuse together from spinal bone spurs. Then there's also the fact that I see a full-sized skeleton model at every doctor appointment.
The beauty and the eeriness of this woman tugged at my soul – and my back – constantly. The miniature silicone skeletons decorating my bike basket seemed to reach for her, too. I needed whatever it was she was supposed to represent of my life. She had crawled inside me and felt like – me.
She was me, hunched over on that bench. Dead. Having given up, breathed my last breath. Having expired.
Or was it something else?
I rode by her every chance I got. There was a force-field around her every time. I was walled off by some invisible shield of my own mind's creation. I was haunted and mesmerized. I wanted to run but I also needed to feel. We all take away from art what our life experiences have molded us to need, and I teetered between logic and emotional memory.
She was an inanimate object. But she was also breathed emotion.
On the last day, before the Temple burned, I was finally able to touch the woman, this skeleton with feet that moved when the wind blew. Whereas before I had been mortified, imagining her suddenly grasping my hand and looking up with a face of death, I actually felt calm, comforted, and safe.
When I was able to touch this skeleton on a bench in the middle of the desert I felt very alive, as if she had given me strength, as if I had made peace with something. So I spent time with her in the nothingness, in the silence of the desert, as dust enveloped us both.
She was me, sitting there on the bench. Alive. Having breathed my first breath, having been validated.
Note from the artist, Candi Carrell:
"I am honored as an artist that you had a personal connection to my piece. that is such a compliment to me. This piece that I did this year was very personal/emotional for me, My piece- Rituals of Love- Broken Hearts and Lost Dreams – reflects a women ( me) or any other women that is going through the many struggles in their life. For me lost loves or no love, self reflection of who I truly am, coming out of the closet, fears, lost dreams because of other paths chosen, grown children, health, chapters closing and the realization that I want to be loved but haven't found that connection. We as women share many hearts and sometimes lose them along the way, we are extremely strong but with each heart taken from us – extremely fragile like a skeleton."


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I've already commented on the Democrats deciding to wait until after the election before figuring out what to do about the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. This was a remarkable development since failure to extend these pieces of legislation means a big tax increase next January. But this doesn't mean the Democrats are sitting on their hands. The President has a proposal to significantly increase the tax burden on American companies that compete in world markets, and Democrats on Capitol Hill think this is a winning political issue. They think higher taxes will encourage companies to keep more jobs in America, and they hope voters agree. But as the Wall Street Journal opines, this is a recipe for undermining the competitiveness f American companies. This means fewer jobs, and probably less tax revenue.
…the President's plan reveals how out of touch Democrats are with the real world of tax competition. The U.S. already has one of the most punitive corporate tax regimes in the world and this tax increase would make that competitive disadvantage much worse, accelerating the very outsourcing of jobs that Mr. Obama says he wants to reverse. At issue is how the government taxes American firms that make money overseas. Under current tax law, American companies pay the corporate tax rate in the host country where the subsidiary is located and then pay the difference between the U.S. rate (35%) and the foreign rate when they bring profits back to the U.S. This is called deferral—i.e., the U.S. tax is deferred until the money comes back to these shores. Most countries do not tax the overseas profits of their domestic companies. Mr. Obama's plan would apply the U.S. corporate tax on overseas profits as soon as they are earned. This is intended to discourage firms from moving operations out of the U.S. …Mr. Obama believes that by increasing the U.S. tax on overseas profits, some companies may be less likely to invest abroad in the first place. In some cases that will be true. But the more frequent result will be that U.S. companies lose business to foreign rivals, U.S. firms are bought by tax-advantaged foreign companies, and some U.S. multinational firms move their headquarters overseas. They can move to Ireland (where the corporate tax rate is 12.5%) or Germany or Taiwan, or dozens of countries with less hostile tax climates. We know this will happen because we've seen it before. The 1986 tax reform abolished deferral of foreign shipping income earned by U.S. controlled firms. No other country taxed foreign shipping income. Did this lead to more business for U.S. shippers? Precisely the opposite. According to a 2007 study in Tax Notes by former Joint Committee on Taxation director Ken Kies, "Over the 1985-2004 period, the U.S.-flag fleet declined from 737 to 412 vessels, causing U.S.-flag shipping capacity, measured in deadweight tonnage, to drop by more than 50%." …Now the White House wants to repeat this experience with all U.S. companies. Two industries that would be most harmed would be financial services and technology, and their emphasis on human capital makes them especially able to pack up and move their operations abroad. CEO Steve Ballmer has warned that if the President's plan is enacted, Microsoft would move facilities and jobs out of the U.S.
I've commented on this issue before, but I think the best explanation is in this video, which makes the key observation that American tax law may be able to discourage U.S. firms from building factories in other nations, but that simply means that companies from other countries will be able to take advantage of those opportunities.
A lot of Democrats, at least in private, admit that going after "deferral" is bad policy. But this makes the current proposal especially disgusting. People in the White House and on Capitol Hill know it will hurt jobs and reduce competitiveness, but they don't care. Or at least they put political ambition before doing what's right for the American people.
If they really cared, the would fix what's wrong with the current system. A very effective way to encourage more jobs and investment in America is to lower the corporate tax rate, which is the point I made in the Center for Freedom and Prosperity's first video.

subset: commoncrawl


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Celebrating Our First 30 Years800.567.1119 Menu 800.567.1119
At Woodbridge International, our vision is to provide the most efficient M&A model for our clients. That means combining global thinking with local action.
Our clients put their business in our hands. We must reward that trust with an all-in determination and work ethic that borders on the fanatical. But most of all, we must reward that trust with results.
Out here, we're free to explore new ways of thinking. We aren't subject to any one perspective or category. Our only agenda is our client's success. Our only goal is the relentless pursuit of positively impacting the destiny of the clients we serve.
We must never forget: none of us is as smart as all of us. Team Woodbridge is not a typical M&A firm. Not in our structure or in the way we approach our clients' business. Our people know it and our clients know it. Collaboration is one of our founding tenets, and it's hard to find work here that hasn't been affected by many, both internally and externally.
Thank you for visiting our website, and we look forward to working with you.


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If you've been following along on our blog, you know that we do try to reduce our negative environmental impact any way we can through things like cloth diapering and upcycling, to name a few. This journey has been challenging especially because we live in a country where food, clothing, hygiene products, cleaning supplies, etc. are readily available to us for super cheap. The circumstances we live in are such that we almost have no reason to give our consumption and excess a second thought. But we should and we must. Fortunately there are people and companies out there who are engaging in this conversation and raising the important questions we need to be asking ourselves both as consumers and as citizens of this beautiful planet. This post is the first in a series we are calling Mindful Homekeeping which will cover simple homekeeping practices, DIY ideas, and products that are mindful of the environment, body, mind, and soul.
One company inspiring civic action is Seventh Generation with their Generation Good initiative. Generation Good is essentially an online community for parents and non-parents alike, who care about their environmental impact, to share ideas and support one another, test out products, and participate in green forum discussions ranging from baby nutrition to gardening. Once you register, you are taken to a dashboard populated with various surveys and activities. Completing the surveys and participating in activities and forum discussions earns you points which in turn earns you more activities and sometimes free stuff (wohoo).
As a participating member, I received a free Baby Care Kit (diaper, lotion, wipes) , 2 trial packs of Free & Clear wipes, and three coupons for a total of $4 savings on Seventh Generation products. With the coupons, I purchased Seventh Generation Hand Soap from Target. All-in-all we enjoyed using the products and found them to be "greener" than many of the products out there in terms of the plant-based ingredients they use and their packaging. Our favorite product was definitely the coconut lotion which smells AMAZING! While we loved the texture and feel of the diapers and wipes, they were unfortunately non-biodegradable, making them not a sustainable alternative to cloth diapering.
Despite these issues, Seventh Generation and their Generation Good initiative deserve major credit for not only encouraging the conversation on social responsibility but for providing a platform where it can happen and where they can listen to their consumers. Sure they're not perfect (who is?) but what they offer is a great start. For your convenience, we have compiled a list of five Seventh Generation products (along with links to their pricing at Target) that we would consider buying because of their high rating by the Environmental Working Group. If you are ever unsure about the health or environmental impact of a particular company or product, the EWG is an excellent and invaluable resource for deciphering labels and learning to make safer, healthier consumer choices. These following Seventh Generation products were given an A rating by the EWG:
- Natural Dishwasher Detergent
- Laundry Detergent
- Multi-surface Disinfectant
- Toilet Bowl Cleaner
- Tub & Tile Cleaner
The important thing is that companies like Seventh Generation are offering alternatives to the unhealthy status-quo household and baby products. For that reason, we highly recommend you check out their products and consider participating in Generation Good.
What are your favorite "green" homekeeping products? Let us know in the comments below or share on instagram using #mindfulhomekeeping
If you liked this post please follow us and share!
Note: This is not a sponsored post. This is purely our opinion regarding our experiences using the Generation Good Platform and some Seventh Generation products.


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Save animals by little effort
Order a FREE vegan kit: http://www.peta.org/living/vegetarian-living/free-vegetarian-starter-kit.aspx
Take PETA's Cruelty-Free Shopping Guide along with you next time you head to the store! The handy guide will help you find humane products at a glance. Order a FREE copy HERE
Want to do more than go vegan? Help others to do so! Click on the below for nominal, or no, fees to vegan literature that you can use to convince others that veganism is the only compassionate route to being an animal friend.
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Have questions? Click HERE
It is very cold to those animals left outside
To them a car seems a safe place to hide
so give your car hood a couple of taps
so the vehicle does not become
a death trap.
Karen Lyons Kalmenson


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Shank 2 continues the tale of a man named Shank by providing more killing, more death, and more over-the-top gore that was a staple of the original title. At its core, however, is a side-scrolling brawler reminiscent of old arcade classics in which addictive gameplay is seasoned liberally with brutal difficulty to keep kids feeding quarters into the machines.
This is no longer the age of arcades, yet punishing challenge remains a main ingredient in this type of game. Of course, there's no point in having challenge without making progress, so Klei Entertainment has tried to implement some changes to the formula.
Shank 2 (PC [reviewed], PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade)
Developer: Klei Entertainment
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Released: February 7, 2012 (PC, PSN) / February 8, 2012 (XBLA)
Shank is an angry man who kills lots of things using varied and interesting methods. He is also a man who dies a lot. There doesn't need to be a reason for Shank to kill. The developers could have said someone sneezed on the hero, which sent him into a blind rage of murder and death. They didn't, however, and the result is a bit of back story to flesh out the character. Mostly though, this game is about killing lots of dudes.
To aid in the slaughter, you are given three attack types — light, heavy, and ranged — as well as explosives. Each weapon also carries certain bonuses, such as the sledgehammer, which deals 25% more damage to large enemies and 50% more damage to shielded enemies, or the pistols, which will deal an additional 20% damage to small foes.
On top of that, players can wield the weapons of those they've slain. If you want to kill dudes with a shovel or a large fish, that is an option. In case that isn't enough variety, there are several environmental kills as well. You can drop boats or crates on enemies, throw boxes of knives or blocks of ice, open up the floor so foes fall into giant grinding cogs or saws… the list goes on.
It is entirely possible to beat the game using only your basic abilities, which would be one way to challenge yourself. Using the additional weapons laying about will help, especially in areas where the difficulty level spikes ridiculously. None of the fights are easy per se, but there will be sections when it gets downright aggravating. At one point early in the game, you are shown how to grab and throw enemies. Following this, a number of more challenging enemies are sent your way, so not only are you forced to learn how to grab and throw, you also have to master it quickly or die. All while avoiding the instant-death hole in the floor, by the way.
You can also make fights less intense by utilizing counter attacks, which are triggered by grabbing foes when a big red exclamation mark appears over their head. Of course, this is often easier said than done. When you only have to deal with one or two guys, it's a lot easier to grab the right guy than when you are facing six or seven. There was more than one time when, while trying to perform a counter, the wrong guy was grabbed and then the rest of the enemies proceeded to destroy you.
If killing and dying alone isn't enough for you, there is also a two-player survival mode, which replaces the co-op mode of the original Shank and which may be the best part of the game. Instead of playing through main levels with a friend, you are now tasked with surviving wave after wave of enemies who are trying not only to kill you but also to blow up three clusters of supplies. Between waves, you are given the chance to purchase items like health drinks, decoys, or heavy weapons, and the more waves you survive, the more items that become available. Each of the three survival levels also have unique items, such as harpoon guns or trap doors.
Should you die during survival, your partner can revive you, so the only way to lose is if both of you die or if all three supply caches are destroyed. The only enemies that can blow up the supplies are little demolitions experts who will set charges. You've only got a few seconds to attack and/or kill the demo men before they set their bombs, and a few seconds to disarm the bombs if they've already been set, all while contending with the regular enemies as well.
As far as the story goes, it's pretty basic — this isn't an RPG, after all. Shank has to save someone he cares about while taking revenge on the ones who did the kidnapping. This brings us to the cutscenes, which are incredibly entertaining and over-the-top. In comic book/grindhouse-style animations, Shank causes even more devastation and destruction, all of which is rather satisfying and amusing. The same amount of detail in the cutscenes can be found in each and every chapter of the game, from the level design to the different enemies in each level.
It's only a shame that some of the fights are so frustratingly difficult. While one should expect some tough encounters, there should also be some balance, yet that balance was sorely lacking at times. Most of the areas were not incredibly hard, then there would suddenly be a near-impossible section that took quite a few tries, only to revert to far less challenging fights. These sections were even more brutal than the bosses, which seems a bit backward. More than once, I found myself stuck midway through a level, retrying the same goon battle over and over, only to beat the boss in one or two attempts.
Another fly in the proverbial soup was the controls. To be blunt, PC controls suck. Hard. If you have a controller but want to play on the PC, fine. Be warned, however, that things are going to get hairy when you're trying to play with a mouse and keyboard. It is possible to reassign key functions in the options, but even doing that, the mouse and keyboard felt so awkward that playing with the controller became necessary. Once the switch was made, things felt a lot easier, but there were still occasional issues. The biggest one is Shank's random turning in the wrong direction during attacks. In a slower-paced game, this wouldn't be an issue, but when you're in the middle of a combo or a brawl with three or four dudes, death happens — needless death, the most aggravating kind.
Also, once you've played through the campaign, there isn't much reason to go back and play again aside from completing objectives to unlock new skins and costumes, and even most of those can be done in survival mode.
The B-Movie theatrics are great but can become repetitive during the fights. The challenging gameplay is fun, but the fact that mid-level encounters are more difficult than bosses can leave a feeling of frustration instead of triumph. The only place where this doesn't apply is the ability to use items to kill, since they are varied and spaced well enough so as not to become boring. For what the game costs, though, it's worth a look if you enjoy brawlers. For the game's faults, the survival mode can be a lot of fun, plus the absurd destruction never gets old.
All in all, Shank 2 can be summed up as "fine." It isn't going to revolutionize brawlers or bring anything truly unique to the table, but it isn't a bad game either. Some of the strongest points also seem to be the weakest, but there are some places where they get done right.


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Portraits of the frontier West: A review of Western Heritage
Western Heritage: A Selection of Wrangler Award-Winning Articles
Edited by Paul Andrew Hutton
305 pages, softcover: $19.95.
University of Oklahoma Press, 2011.
Geronimo, Crazy Horse and the Texas Rangers all have dramatic cameos in Western Heritage, Paul Andrew Hutton's anthology of award-winning essays. Since 1961, Oklahoma City's National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum has given its annual Wrangler Award to what it deems the best article on frontier history and culture. This volume celebrates the award's 50th anniversary with some of its brightest winners.
Written by a range of scholars and journalists, the articles -- of varying length, approach and literary merit -- are loosely arranged into classic Western categories: cowboys, Indians and gunfights. There aren't many women to be found here, either as writers or subjects. But what the book lacks in female perspectives, it makes up for in weapons and warfare. In editor Hutton's page-turning account of the fall of the Alamo -- intriguingly titled "It Was But a Small Affair" -- at least one man is "tossed on enemy bayonets like so much hay." When Jeffrey V. Pearson describes the murder of Crazy Horse -- the Lakota war leader "screamed with agony, 'They have stabbed me' " -- history becomes almost painfully vivid, a visceral experience.
Less violent but equally absorbing is William Broyles Jr.'s epic story of the King family and its sprawling Texas ranch, which is bigger than Rhode Island. Broyles' piece is the book's longest and also the most engaging and practically cinematic in scope. It's no surprise that Broyles' screenwriting credits include feature films like Apollo 13.
Other pieces are more scholarly. Environmental historian Dan Flores grapples with the decline of the bison as well as the effects of the early American horse trade, and his fluid and accessible prose proves that historical analysis needn't be embellished to be readable. "Outside my door is a classic western landscape that, at first glance, seems very little different from what the Salish and Kutenai buffalo hunters saw. The mountain valley and its sagebrush foothills haven't gone anywhere, and neither -- in places -- have the fescues and bluebunch wheatgrasses, the cottonwood and aspen groves along the river. But, in fact, I inhabit an impoverished nature," he laments. Essays like Flores' offer us richly detailed portraits of the historic West. We're often reminded that we need to learn from the past; current and future generations can learn a lot about the West from these pages.


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Femto is a professional WordPress Theme solution designed with photography sites in mind, but may be very well suited for designers, creative agencies, videographers, or other visual professionals.
It comes with an Options Panel that lets you easily manage and modify any aspect of the theme.
Responsive layout designed to look beautiful on tablets and mobile phones
It can be used both as one page and multi page
Fullscreen parallax slider with background video
Select transition effect, and assign galleries individually to showcase your photos in fullscreen mode or the standard way
Autoplay slideshow with zooming transition effect
Video support for Youtube, Vimeo and self-hosted — on homepage and in Galleries
Responsiveness: Click on 'Remove Frame' on the top bar, to make use of the smaller versions of the theme
Other Features
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- Social media and sharing icons
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- Valid HTML & CSS code


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Argos Therapeutics Enrolls Initial Patients in Pivotal Phase 3 ADAPT Study
DURHAM, N.C. (January 14, 2013) — Argos Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of fully personalized immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases using its Arcelis™ technology platform, announced that the first patients have been enrolled in the ADAPT Phase 3 clinical study for AGS-003, its most advanced product candidate. AGS-003 is an investigational, fully personalized, dendritic-cell based immunotherapy. The ADAPT study is designed to examine the potential for AGS-003 plus standard targeted drug therapy to extend overall survival versus standard therapy alone in newly diagnosed patients with unfavorable risk metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC).
The ADAPT study is a randomized, multicenter, open-label clinical trial expected to enroll 450 patients in approximately 120 sites, mostly in North America, under an approved Special Protocol Assessment by the Food and Drug Administration. Secondary endpoints include progression-free survival, safety, overall response and immune response. By the end of first quarter 2013, the company expects to have nearly 70 active sites, primarily in the U.S., while the remaining North American and global sites are expected to be activated by summer of 2013.
Robert Figlin, MD, FACP, primary investigator for the ADAPT study and director of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Cedars-Sinai, said, "The commencement of the ADAPT study is a very exciting milestone for the kidney cancer community, which already has great enthusiasm for the evolving field of immunotherapy. With this Phase 3 trial, we are setting out to prove the merits of a unique dendritic-cell based personalized immunotherapy and its ability to re-educate the immune system to recognize and kill cancer. One important aspect is the fact that we are adding AGS-003 to what is already considered the backbone of today's best available care, in an attempt to improve treatment outcomes for patients with an aggressive form of the disease."
In a previous Phase 2 study, treatment with AGS-003 plus sunitinib was associated with encouraging median and long-term survival with no added toxicity in newly diagnosed, unfavorable risk mRCC patients. Compared to historical results with sunitinib alone, the combination was associated with median overall survival nearly double that expected in unfavorable risk mRCC patients.1,2 More than 50 percent of patients in the Phase 2 study survived longer than 30 months, which is nearly four times the expected long-term survival rate for sunitinib in similar risk patients.3 Furthermore, results demonstrated a statistically significant correlation between the number of anti-tumor, memory T-cells induced and overall survival, directly supporting the intended AGS-003 mechanism of action.4 Updated Phase 2 survival and immunologic data will be presented during the 2013 ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.
Jeff Abbey, Chief Executive Officer of Argos Therapeutics, said, "The initiation of enrollment in the Phase 3 ADAPT study is a major milestone in the clinical development of AGS-003, our first Arcelis technology product candidate. We intend to prove that our fully personalized approach to immunotherapy, uniquely designed to target the entire disease-antigen repertoire, can overcome immunosuppression and extend overall survival for those suffering with metastatic RCC. We are fortunate to be working with many of the country's top cancer centers and to have widespread support from national advocacy organizations such as the Kidney Cancer Association and the Society of Urologic Oncology Clinical Trials Consortium."
To create AGS-003, ribonucleic acid (RNA) is isolated from a small tumor sample obtained from standard tumor removal surgery (nephrectomy), and the patient's dendritic cells are taken during a single leukapheresis procedure. The tumor RNA is used to "program" the dendritic cells with the entire disease-antigen repertoire to trigger an immune response against the patient's specific cancer. These antigen-loaded dendritic cells are formulated into a ready-to-use, intradermal injection.
To be considered for the ADAPT study patients must be 18 or older, newly diagnosed with clear cell mRCC and identified at diagnosis as unfavorable risk with 1-4 baseline risk factors, based on the recently validated Heng risk factor model.1 Patients must be candidates for standard tumor removal surgery and treatment with standard targeted drug therapy, starting with sunitinib.
Patients participating in the ADAPT study randomized to the combination arm will receive one standard 6-week cycle of sunitinib prior to treatment initiation with AGS-003. The study aims to deliver at least eight doses of AGS-003 over the initial 12 months, in combination with standard targeted therapy, followed by booster doses every three months for those continuing to benefit after the first year of treatment. All AGS-003 therapy for the trial will be manufactured at a single facility in North America.
For more information about AGS-003 and the ADAPT study, visit ADAPTkidneycancer.com & Follow on Twitter @ADAPTkdnycancer
About the Arcelis™ Technology Platform
Arcelis is a fully personalized, active immunotherapy technology that captures all antigens, including mutated and variant antigens that are specific to each patient's disease. It has been shown to overcome immunosuppression by producing a durable memory T-cell response without adjuvants that are associated with toxicity. The technology can be leveraged to manufacture personalized therapies for any cancer or infectious disease.
The Arcelis process integrates readily into many current treatment paradigms, using only a small tumor or blood sample and the patient's own dendritic cells, which are derived and optimized following a single leukapheresis procedure. The proprietary process uses RNA isolated from the patient sample to program the dendritic cells to target the entire disease-antigen repertoire. The activated, antigen-loaded dendritic cells are then formulated into the patient's plasma and administered as an intradermal injection to produce the desired patient-specific immune response.
Arcelis technology also overcomes many of the manufacturing and commercialization challenges that have impeded other personalized cancer immunotherapies. Automated processes allow a single facility to serve all of North America and can be used to treat any cancer or infectious disease with the same manufacturing process and equipment.
About Argos Therapeutics
Argos Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of fully personalized immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases using its Arcelis™ technology platform. Argos´ most advanced product candidate AGS-003 has initiated a Phase 3 study for the treatment of mRCC, and the Company plans to have data from its Phase 2b study of AGS-004 for the treatment of HIV in the second half of 2013. Argos also recently completed a successful Phase 1a study of AGS-009 in patients with lupus. For more information about Argos Therapeutics, visit www.argostherapeutics.com.
1 Heng et al. J Clin Oncol. 2011:29 (suppl; abstr 4560).
Argos Therapeutics *Autologous Dendritic Cell Immunotherapy (AGS-003) Plus Standard Treatment of Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma
The Ruth Group
Nicole Greenbaum (investors)
Argos Therapeutics


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Russian and Chinese intelligence agencies have reportedly decrypted files of former U.S. National Security Agency contractor and leaker Edward Snowden, and have identified British and U.S. secret agents.
MI6, the U.K.'s secret intelligence service, has withdrawn agents from overseas operations in hostile countries, according to a report in the Sunday Times of London, citing U.K. government officials and Western intelligence agencies.
The report contains some apparently contradictory information. Although The Sunday Times quoted a U.K. Home Office official saying that Snowden has "blood on his hands," it also quoted a government source saying that there was no sign that agents have been hurt.
Prime Minister David Cameron's aides, however, confirmed that Snowden's files are in the hands of Russian and Chinese intelligence agencies, according to the report.
"It is the case that Russians and Chinese have information," according to one top U.K. government source cited by the report. "It has meant agents have had to be moved and that knowledge of how we operate has stopped us getting vital information. There is no evidence of anyone being harmed."
The report quotes David Omand, the former director of the U.K.'s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) intelligence agency, saying that access by Russia and China to Snowden's material is a "huge strategic setback" that was "harming" to the U.K., the U.S. America and their allies.
The NSA and U.S. Central Intelligence Agency did not reply to requests for comment about the report.
The first leaks about U.S. surveillance operations from Snowden came out two years ago. Snowden fled the U.S. to go first to Hong Kong before seeking refuge in Russia.
Snowden has said in the past that he was capable of preventing files that he obtained from being decrypted by foreign intelligence agencies. The information he leaked has led to ongoing debate in the U.S. about the scope of government spying. Just last week, the U.S. Senate passed legislation to curb the NSA's bulk collection of domestic telephone records, sending the bill to President Barack Obama for his signature.


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She left today.
Someone else packed her things
shrink-wrapped paintings
boxed up lamps, books.
But they had no idea
how to fit memories
into the moving truck.
So they left them all behind,
for me.
Shared with dVerse, the virtual pub for poets. While dVerse take its summer hiatus, I will continue to share my somewhat poetic thoughts here….and invite you to read, like or dislike, comment or not, as you wish. Sometimes the muse strikes, even in the midst of a beautiful summer day!


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Our giant galaxy is at least ten billion years old. It has 100 billion stars. Many of them second generation stars. It would seem most stars have planets, and many of these fall in the so-called habitable zone. In multiple star systems, some planets will fly away. Still, there may be 40 billion potential Earths in the Milky Way. Yes, and No.
However, ten billion years, over (more than) 100 billion planetary systems, gives more than plenty of time for a civilization to expand throughout the galaxy. Yes, throughout the galaxy. So aliens should have visited Sol, but all indications are that they did not: life on Earth is indigenous to Earth, or the Earth-Mars system.
How did Earth get her enormous radioactive fission core? A mystery. It seems that Venus did not. Indeed, Venus has no self-generated magnetosphere (differently from Mercury, Jupiter, or Saturn; Mars is too small to have a churning metallic core, so has no magnetosphere, thus CMEs tear the Martian atmosphere away, in particular water). Instead Venus has an induced magnetosphere. A pathetic device that could not prevent Venus from being deprived of all its hydrogen, hence water, torn by the solar wind, especially during Coronal Mass Ejections CME).Travelling throughout the galaxy is already within our reach. Nuclear fission rocket engines were very successfully tested in the 1960s. They would allow us, should we decide to do so, to make spaceships going through the galaxy at 100 kilometers per second.
That's 1/3000 of the speed of light. The galaxy is 100,000 light years across. So, with existing technology, primitive technology of the 1960s, we could cross the galaxy in 300 million years.
Now, of course, faster tech is perfectly imaginable, such as thermonuclear propulsion. (Thermonuclear propulsion may be easier to achieve than a contained nuclear fusion motor, because containment is the most major problem of controlled fusion; an uncontained engine would be half way between an H-bomb and ITER, and pure fusion is clean; actually NASA finances, all too modestly, such research.) Whereas the temperature in a fission reactor will be at most 3000 degree Centigrade, thermonuclear fusion could reach 100 million degrees, enabling an impulsion 10,000 times greater. Thus mastery of thermonuclear fusion would allow to cross the galaxy in a few million years.
So, if there was a civilization barely more advanced technologically than we are, it would have established a galactic empire in a few million years. It should have visited our blue planet, detectable from thousands of parsecs (with existing technology not deployed by the grotesque, imbecilic plutocrats who rule us through those countless obsequious greedy critters which most politicians are).
The definition of the traditional habitable zone is naive: it is only about temperature. Temperature has to be just right, so that there is liquid water on the surface. And, naively, that is thought to mean holding a particular distance relative to a star. However it takes more than temperature to keep a planet habitable. Mars had an ocean, but lost its surface water, a little bit at a time, from repeated Coronal Mass Ejections (CME). A CME consists in a super active flame jetting out from the sun. If a CME hit Earth now, much, if not most electric circuitry on Earth would fail.
Venus does not have a strong magnetic field either. Why? We don't know. OK, Venus doesn't rotate very much.
Earth, though rotates mightily, stabilized by her big Moon, and her high density (because of pressure, Earth is denser overall than Mercury, although the latter seems to be a planetary core…)
The Earth magnetic field is a shield, and it is created by the nuclear fission engine at the core of the Earth (it makes the surface of Earth's core hotter than the surface of the sun! That makes a metallic iron ocean above churn violently, and generate the magnetic field… And also plate tectonics, which recycles carbon deep in the mantle, preventing it to sit in the atmosphere, as in the case of Venus!)
Thermal hot spots are indirectly nuclear fission activated, but before three billion years ago, thermal hot spots driven directly by ionizing and mutagenic radiation from surface nuclear reactors, were probably ubiquitous. Thus, to have the four billion of years needed to develop ADVANCED native life, with all the mutations it entails, one needs to have both a nuclear reactor inside a planet AND the planet enjoying surface water for four billion years.
A tough, and rare call. Moreover, life has to escape crashing dwarf planets, migrating Super-Jupiters, super stellar Coronal Mass Ejections (all the more frequent in Red Dwarfs), close encounters with passing stars, gamma ray bursts, supernovae, colliding black holes, super stars exploding, central galactic black hole eruption (many of these catastrophes were very recently revealed, and did not percolate yet to We The People). To let life develop over four billion years, we need an extraordinary confluence of circumstances. (And when I say four billion, that's generous: the "Cambrian explosion" when animals appeared in a great number of types of species, was only 540 million years ago. Moreover, life on Earth may have been accelerated by being started on Mars, at a time when Earth was still way too hot for sophisticated chemistry, and then transported by meteorites (that this strange method of life transportation could still be done to this day, has been demonstrated, by carefully analyzing meteorites of Martian origin).
So expect life to be very frequent in the galaxy, and habitable planets to be many. As long as one is talking about bacterial life functioning on DNA like system (the details will be different, as post-DNA life was already synthesized in the lab!)
But little green men, Kzins and Doctor Spock? Not a chance. If they happen some day, they will be our descendants. That we are alone changes the stakes. We are not just threatening civilization, with our childish, yet lethal and atrocious antics, but we are threatening to annihilate the one and only crown of creation.
Patrice Ayme'


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Tough times bring with them opportunities. Hardly surprising, then, that entrepreneurs invest where and when more cautious souls are scrabbling to escape. Joseph Lewis and his investment in Bear Stearns is a recent example
[An update can be found [March 17th 2008] to the following post]
Doom and gloom in the world's financial markets. At the core of the problems are those institutes in the so-called sub-prime markets. At the core of the sub-prime business are the American investment and banking giants such as Bear Stearns.
But the principles of entrepreneurship hold. One of these is a calculated approach to risk-taking. Which appears to be what British entrepreneur did recently in investing in Bear Stearns.
Those of us outside the collective frenzy of the trading rooms have to reply on the indicators of expert opinion. The most immediate indicators are that the mighty Bear Stearns organization has been having a particularly tough time. Losses in two large funds seem to have prompted leadership changes.
According to a Bloomberg report
Bear Stearns triggered a decline in the credit markets in June after two of its hedge funds faltered as default rates on home loans to people with poor credit rose. For subprime mortgages turned into securities, defaults hit a 10-year high. The company pledged $1.3 billion to help stem losses in the funds. They filed for bankruptcy protection on July 31, two weeks after Bear Stearns told investors they would get little, if any, money back.
This was followed the removal of senior figures including one of the joint Presidents, Warren Spector, leaving Alan Schwartz, 57, as sole president. Spector was regarded as being groomed to take over from 73 year old James Cayne as CEO. The leadership moves have been seen as attempts by Mr Cayne to reassure markets.
Get out of that place
As a leadership watcher, my impressions recently have been that Credit Markets are a bad place to be in. And Bear Stearns a particularly bad place to be invested in. [Background music of I gotta get out of that place].
But such pessimism swamps awareness of opportunities to be made out of adversity. Step forward the fearless entrepreneur.
This week we learn that Billionaire British investor Joseph Lewis has invested over £400 million to acquire a 7% stake in Bear Stearns
Joseph Lewis. Who he?
A good starting point for billionaire bulletins is the Forbes Rich-List
Turns out that Mr Lewis is a self-made billionaire now happily located in Bahamas, gainfully employed through his Tavistock investment apparatus. There he is also busy building a nice little golfing set-up around the corner with his golfing chums Mr T. Woods and Mr E. Els.
Pausing one day, maybe on a newly leveled tee, he is unable to resist setting up a birdie chance. His route may skirt dangerous ground, but there's no gain without risk. He makes his selection. A beautiful swing. Faint, Muppet-like cry of 'in the hole' from an admiring spectator …
Enough of this golfing metaphor. According to the BBC
Mr Lewis has bought the shares over the past two months through his Florida-based investment firm Tavistock, according to a filing to the US financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission. It makes him Bear Stearns' largest individual investor… His other investments include minority stakes in Tottenham Hotspur and Glasgow Rangers football clubs.
To boldly go
What's the leadership angle? The entrepreneur seems to me to capture the archetype of the heroic leader. In mythology, the hero leaves the everyday world and sets out on a lonely and courageous adventure. Along the way he (usually he) encounters the greatest and most fearful of hazards, before overcoming them, and eventually returning home. In most fairytales the hero is reunited with his love, and they live happily ever after. This seems to be the story of the entrepreneur-hero. Which is also pretty much the case for the business leader-hero, whose courage gains its deserved rewards.
The Greeks tended to include in the story such wrinkles as the way that the hero's achievements are temporary blips in a final outcome determined by fate, the Gods, or whatever.
In either case, the hero-figure boldly goes where most of us fear to travel.


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Marion County, Kansas
Marion County was organized on July 6, 1865, by George Griffith; William H. Billins; William P. Shreve; Reuben Riggs; A. E. Case; and A. A. More. The county was named for General Francis Marion, Revolutionary War hero, and contains the cities of Peabody, Tampa, Lincolnville, Ramona, Durham, Florence, Hillsboro, Lehigh, Lost Springs, Marion, Burns and Goessel. Although based in fact, many stories of legendary proportions surround the area of land one section wide and eighteen sections long along the east boundary of the county. A murder had been committed in the area and Marion County did not want to have the trial so they gave those sections to Chase County to make certain the murder had occurred in that county.
The immigration of Mennonites from Russia in 1874 and their purchase of vast acreages of government and railroad land; and the large purchases of land by William Scully, of Illinois, between 1870 and 1885 and his introduction of the Scully land system, which included tenant farming and drain tiling the fields, both helped the early settlement and development of the county. The Scully estate still owned 53,491 acres in as late as 1942.
The Marion Methodist Church was organized in 1869. The Presbyterians at Marion had the first church building constructed in 1871, and is still being used. The first county fair was held October 13, 1875, at Peabody. The present fair board and system began in 1931 and conducts an annual fair in Hillsboro. The first school district, Number 1, was organized in 1865 for the entire county and also included everything west to Colorado and south to present Oklahoma.
Jim Lehrer (of the MacNeil-Lehrer "Report") wrote We Were Dreamers, based on Marion. Esther Vogts' several children books are about the county and the Hillsboro area. Ed Burkholder's The Story of Charley Faust, is about Faust who played for the New York Giants baseball team.
Interesting sites in the county include the The Marion County Courthouse, the The Elgin House, the Harvey House (the first one), and the Adobe House.
- See our Kansas Counties database for statistics in the county.
- Search our Register database for historic sites in the county.
- Search Kansas Memory for historic items from the county.
For more information see the Marion County website. There are public records at the courthouse. Also, the Adobe House Museum, the Harvey House Museum, Tabor College Library, and the Peabody Library and Museum all have historical source materials available for use.
Entry: Marion County, Kansas
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: February 2010
Date Modified: October 2015
The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.


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Today's News: Our Take - Law & Order: SVU Promotes Raul Esparza to Series Regular for Season 15
Producers are putting the "order" firmly back into Law & Order: SVU for the procedural's upcoming 15th season.
Raul Esparza, who recurred last year as ADA Rafael Barba, has been promoted to a series regular, Deadline reports.
Barba, known for his sharp suits and his sometimes brash methods, is the first ADA to be included in the regular cast since Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March) in Season 11.
Check out the Fall TV schedule day-by-day grid
Esparza made his debut on the show early in Season 14 after having worked with showrunner Warren Leight on the short-lived Broadway musical Leap of Faith. "Making him a series regular is a small way of acknowledging his enormous contribution to our show," Leight said in a statement.
Although the news is good for SVU fans, it might be harder to swallow for Hannibal viewers. Esparza recurred as Frederick Chilton, and series creator Bryan Fuller recently told TVGuide.com he wanted "a lot more of Raul Esparza" in Season 2.
Law & Order: SVU's two-hour season premiere airs on Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 9/8c on NBC. Are you excited to see more Barba?
View original Law & Order: SVU Promotes Raul Esparza to Series Regular for Season 15 at TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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Surrounded by Spain's finest cork oak and chestnut forests, this is one of six lovely cottages providing quality accommodation and excellent facilities in truly sublime surroundings ...
"My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed ZH11(5). She's and artist, me an architect, and we were both very impressed with the layout of the property and the construction / details in our cabin. Our hosts were both attentive to our needs and also provided us with our privacy. The surrounding walking trails were peaceful and romantic. The 15 minute walk to Alajar was an easy destination for lunch or dinner, and closeby town of Aracena and others. In summary, a great, great holiday at a very reasonable price. We would definetely return. "
One (a double with a mezanine galley floor above with two children's beds).
Shared swimming pool
11 m x 5.5 m, 1.4 m - 2.0 m deep.
In open countryside, 1 km from Alájar in La Sierra de Aracena region (Province of Huelva).
From 1,030 € to 1,080 € per week.
Villa Description
Situated among some of the finest scenery to be found anywhere in Spain, amidst cork oak and chestnut forests, these six cottages provide an extremely comfortable retreat in a unique and very beautiful setting.
Winner of the Huelva Province Tourism Award for 2002 and accredited as "Quality Accommodation" by both the Spanish and Andalusian Tourist Boards, the six stone cottages horseshoe around the upper reaches of a broad sweep of garden, looking out to the verdant Alajar valley. Views over the valley and surrounding hills are as magnificent as they are seductive.
The Parque Natural Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche is an area of outstanding natural beauty. Criss-crossed with ancient paths, some dating from Roman times, the area is a green oasis even during the hot Andalusian summer. This is an ideal starting point from which to explore this magnificent region.
Just twenty minutes (one kilometre) walk away from the very pretty village of Alajár, the cottages are traditional in design, rustic in style, beautifully furnished, well equipped and all have private terraces.
Enveloped in a wide bowl of densely wooded mountains, birds and crickets singing contentedly and not a car in sight (or in earshot), their secluded location in the midst of all this beauty is difficult to beat.
Shared facilities include a spacious and welcoming, wood-beamed communal room (the old Mill house) which has a sitting area in front of a large open fireplace, a table football machine and a large barbecue terrace.
The Mill House also has a wide selection of DVD's and music CD's to choose from, which you can take to your cottage to watch or listen to.
A little below the Mill House, you will find the splendid 11 x 5.5 metre swimming pool where you can enjoy a dip under the dappled shade of the ancient oak tree or enjoy the sunshine lounging on the grassy bank. There are sunloungers and deck chairs, of course, and the pool is walled and gated so secure for young children.
Alongside there's an excellent artificial grass tennis court too, with night lighting (there is a small charge if you want this switched on).
Please bring your own equipment (racquet, shoes etc) if you wish to use this facility. Bicycle hire can also be arranged, a great way to explore the beautiful country lanes all around.
You can pick your own fruit and vegetables (in season) from the the orchard and the carefully tended organic vegetable garden. Firewood is provided free of charge. Donkeys can be hired on an hourly basis for guided treks through the countryside.
The delightful, very friendly but unobtrusive Dutch owners have a knowledge of the area which is second to none and our clients always sing their praises for the kind, considerate hospitality they provide.
Detailed walking routes and itineraries are available. Typical regional meals can be ordered from a restaurant in Alajár for delivery to your house or for takeaway.
The six cottages, their thick walls built from local stones painstakingly collected from old houses and ruins, stand on raised ground overlooking the hills and valleys all around. Creating them was a labour of love for Peter and Monica, the Molino's owners. All of the base elements were locally sourced; chestnut beamed and planked ceilings, terracotta floor tiles and walls of locally-quarried red sandstone which give the buildings a really warm, integrated feel.
Little pathways lead up from the communal room and the car park through the lawned surrounds. The abundance of greenery between the cottages guarantees your privacy.
Carefully designed and constructed to look and feel like they have been there for years, they are very pleasing on the eye and the attention to detail is superb.
One client described them as "like a film-set". The warm, amber light is enhanced by the dark golden and honey hues of chestnut beams and windows and the reddish tones of hand-made clay tiles.
It is obvious that great care has been taken over furnishings and comfort. They are decorated with an appealing mix of locally crafted and antique furniture.
And a good range of comforts too: underfloor heating (and a hearth or woodburner for winter); TV, DVD and CD player (you can borrow discs from the communal library); bedrooms are simple and rustic, with iron beds and colourful bedlinen; bathrooms have pretty hand-painted sinks and Moroccan-style rain showers. Little touches include a bottle of wine awaiting you on arrival; welcome packs are available on request.
Cottage El Águila
The smallest of the family-sized cottages, perhaps the most rustic (and a little cheaper), El Águila is suitable for a couple or a young family.
One enters from the furnished terrace outside via a few external steps to a spacious sitting/dining room with galley kitchen. There's TV, CD/DVD player and a telephone. Music and movies can be borrowed from the common room, where there is a good collection to choose from.
There is under-floor heating as well as the open fireplace to keep you toasty warm. The kitchen area has a five-ring gas hob, electric oven, fridge, microwave, cookware, cutlery and crockery.
This leads through to the double bedroom (also with under-floor heating) which has a spiral staircase leading up to a mezzanine level with two beds for children. Kids of a certain age will love it but it's obviously not suitable for all.
This cottage has a full length bathtub (with shower over) in the en-suite bathroom.
A short (20 minutes or so) walk from your cottage, along little country lanes lined with stone walls, will take you to the village of Alájar, as pretty as a picture postcard, with its white-washed houses and winding, cobbled streets.
There are bars and restaurants here which have both cosiness and character. High above the village towers La Peña de Arias Montano, a craggy cliff with the sixteenth century hermitage Nuestra Señora de los Angeles set on its peak.
Many consider it to be the most beautiful of all the region's villages. The name Alájar comes from the Arab word for stone, appropriate as it is this stony peak that dominates the village and presides over the life and doings of its 800 inhabitants. From here the village below shines whitely, like the cut-out silhouette of a giant lizard against the green of the surrounding forests and meadows.
This is an ideal starting point from which to explore the magnificent countryside of this wonderful part of Spain. The Parque Natural Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche is an area of outstanding natural beauty, criss-crossed by ancient paths which offer some of the best walking anywhere in Europe.
It's a land of glorious woodlands and far-reaching views, of soft, rolling hillsides and crystal-clear streams. The hills are thickly wooded with sweet chestnut and cork oak, giving the area a marvellously green and verdant feel.
The forests give way, here and there, to small groves of olives or walnuts and to orchards of apples, plums, peaches and figs. Distant, rocky escarpments are covered in cistus and heather. In Spring, an incredible profusion of wild flowers carpet the meadows and clumps of peonies grow in the shade of the chestnut trees. It is almost reminiscent of a perfect day in the English countryside.
Aracena is only a twenty minute drive along scenic roads. A pretty market town, it is relaxed and friendly like so many here, set on top of the Gruta de las Maravillas (Cave Of Wonders), one of Spain's most impressive caves, and dominated by its splendid Moorish castle on the hilltop above the town.
And even closer are two of the best restaurants to be found anywhere in Southern Spain. We wholeheartedly recommend Restaurante Arrieros in the nearby village of Linares and others speak just as highly of Mariscastaña (open at weekends only) in Castaño del Robledo, another little hamlet just a few kilometres away.
For a complete contrast, there's marvellous Sevilla, little more than an hour away from here. Cities don't come any more vibrant - or any more beautiful than this one. And, in the opposite direction, there's enchanting, beguiling Portugal, so, so different from Spain.
Wherever you go, whatever you do, you are guaranteed comfort and tranquillity when you return here.
Relax, read, swim, play tennis … to the accompaniment of crickets, birdsong and the water in the river below … It's a fabulous place!
Villa Details
Weather permitting, the swimming pool will be open from mid May to mid September
The owners have five very friendly, well behaved dogs who are around and about in the grounds and more than happy to be taken on walks. Great if you like dogs but we do not recommend this property to those who are allergic to dogs
Rental start and finish days for this property are flexible
Note that the children's bedroom area on the mezzanine floor of the double bedroom is accessed by a spiral staircase. Not appropriate accommodation for toddlers in our opinion
Prices are inclusive of firewood and heating costs. Extra firewood is available for €10 per barrow
Welcome packs can be provided on request
Babysitting is available on request, payable locally
Other cottages on the Estate :
ZH11 (1) La Cigüeña 2 bedrooms, sleeps 4/6
ZH11 (2) El Conejo 2 bedrooms, sleeps 4/6
ZH11 (3) El Buho 1 studio bedroom, sleeps 2
ZH11 (4) La Tortuga 2 bedrooms, sleeps 5
ZH11 (6) Zoya 2 bedrooms, sleeps 4
Villa Prices
|2023 Season Dates
|1st January to 6th July
|1,120 €
|2,240 €
|7th July to 31st August
|1,220 €
|2,160 €
|5th September to 31st December
|1,030 €
|2,440 €
|2024 Season Dates
|Prices Pending
Prices are inclusive of firewood and heating costs in winter months
A 250 Euro security deposit is required on each booking. This is held against your credit or debit card and will be cancelled one week after your holiday, subject to any reductions for breakages or damage. See Terms and Conditions for full details.
Contact us with any questions.
We are here to help.
+34 958 76 33 81
Villa Availability
Villa Location
Access is by a 400 metre track which is negotiable in an ordinary car but please note that it is very narrow, with stone walls either side ... not for the faint-hearted and certainly not for a seven-seater
In open countryside, 1 km from the village of Alajár (basic shopping, bars & restaurants) in La Sierra de Aracena region (Province of Huelva).
11 km from Aracena (all facilities; supermarkets, restaurants; banks etc).
Portuguese border 45 mins; Sevilla 1½ hrs; Huelva 1½ hrs; Atlantic coast 1½ hrs.
Sevilla 1½ hrs; Faro (on the Algarve Coast in Portugal) 2½ hrs; Jerez 2½ hrs; Málaga 3¾ hrs.
See our Links Page for web sites of airlines traveling to Andalucia from the UK.
Travelling through the little country lanes of the Sierra, it is almost reminiscent of a perfect day in the English countryside …
Read more
A delightful little village with white-washed houses and winding, cobbled streets. Many consider it the prettiest of all the lovely villages in La Sierra …


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Apple has issued a rare public comment in response to the price fixing lawsuit filed against it and several large ebook publishers by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told Macworld:
The DOJ's accusation of collusion against Apple is simply not true. The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon's monopolistic grip on the publishing industry. Since then customers have benefited from ebooks that are more interactive and engaging. Just as we've allowed developers to set prices on the App Store, publishers set prices on the iBookstore.
The DOJ claims that Apple and various publishers colluded to get the industry to switch from retail pricing (where book sellers like Amazon set ebook prices) to the agency model, where the publishers themselves determine ebook prices. The DOJ alleges that the publishers and Apple made the switch in tandem to combat Amazon's dominance and its $9.99 price point for the vast majority of ebooks it sold.
Apple isn't the only company to counter the DOJ's claims in public. John Sargent, the CEO of publishing giant Macmillan wrote earlier this week that there was no collusion, and that his company "made the change [to the agency model] to support an open and competitive market for the future."
The outcome of the DOJ's antitrust case will likely have tremendous impact upon the publishing industry; publishers already make less money from ebooks than they do from printed books, and if the DOJ emerges victorious, ebook prices—and profits—will likely drop again.
Critics of the DOJ's position argue that the move will grant Amazon an ebook selling monopoly, and that the lower price points could put smaller book sellers out of business. But supporters counter that lower prices are better for consumers. The debate rages on.
Some publishers have already settled with the DOJ, including Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster. Apple clearly intends to fight, and seemingly hopes that its ability to point to another, very successful agency model—the App Store—will help its case.


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About fifty pages into A la recherche du temps perdu – the 4000-page novel of class consciousness, neurosis, and love by Marcel Proust (1871-1922) – comes the novel's most iconic moment. The narrator dips a madeleine into a cup of tea and that food memory stimulates thousands of pages of detailed observations and digressions about his life and the lives of those in his orbit, interspersed with philosophical reflections about time and memory.
I am a life-long reader. My parents provided me with a huge collection of Little Golden Books before I could read. When I was three or four, I wandered to the furniture store around the corner from my parents' business in downtown Tuscaloosa and independently bought a book shelf for my collection. Mr. McGraw didn't ask questions — he just put it on my parents' account.
From elementary school, I usually had at least a couple of books working at any given time and summers were always for reading, in addition to riding my bike to Baker's Candy Shop, listening for the popsicle man, and hanging outdoors. The reading habit continued through college, graduate school, a theatre and academic career, and beyond. I read a lot of serious fiction, but was also partial to history, essays, and other non-fiction, especially biography.
Lately, my reading has tapered off – not by choice but by time and necessity. I still read daily and frequently, but mostly magazines and things that may be started and finished in a single sitting. Reading is still a tactile experience for me – I like the feel of the object in my hands, the ability to dog-ear a page with a passage to which I want to return, the compulsion to underline or write a comment in a margin. My library is still a bound one on book shelves and not one I retreat to on a sterile small screen.
I decided to tackle a long-time mission this summer and start to read all of Marcel Proust's sprawling early 20th century novel in seven parts. The preferred and more accurate translation of the title is In Search of Lost Time but the most popular English translation is C. K. Scott Moncrief's Remembrance of Things Past. I am partial to Moncrieff's (inaccurate) title because of its reference to Shakespeare's Sonnet 30.
Proust's novel has been referred to as the literary Mount Everest. I've read bits and pieces over the years and frequently refer back to the "madeleine moment" which stimulates my ongoing interest in food memory. I've skimmed through other sections of the work and remember an overwrought 1984 film adaptation of the novel's "Swann in Love" episode starring Jeremy Irons.
I was immensely moved by playwright Harold Pinter's film adaptation of the sprawling work, published as The Proust Screenplay in 1977. The film, which would have been directed by Joseph Losey, was never produced, but the haunting – and skillfully taut and compressed – screenplay is beautifully rendered and evocative of the prose that inspired it. I still long to see the film if it's ever made but I doubt that it has a chance with contemporary audiences and tastes.
The lush, deliberate, and lyrical prose of Proust's novel is out of fashion in our dismal age of texting, twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. When I first tackled a complete navigation of the book this summer, I wasn't sure I would make it. As of today, I am only about a third of the way through, but I am compelled to move forward and determined to complete my task; each day it becomes more of a pleasure and less insurmountable.
The thing that I never realized in reading random and isolated fragments of the novel is just how frequently funny Proust is. To read the novel as a whole is to go through a master class of literary composition and style. Proust engages in pages of precious and immaculate description which follow dozens of principal characters and hundreds of supporting roles. His social satire sneaks up on the reader until its anticipation becomes part of what compels the reader forward.
The passages about the faithful "clan" of the Verdurin household and Mme. Verdurin's stranglehold on her little band of acolytes are as funny and biting a comedy of manners as the early and most wicked works of Evelyn Waugh (like Decline and Fall and Vile Bodies). I rarely laugh out loud while reading novels but I have laughed many times during my summer of Proust (which seems destined to become a fall of Proust and perhaps even the year of Proust).
Finally, after years of resisting the urge to read Remembrance of Things Past in its entirety, it feels like I have reached the time of my life in which its exploration of art and time and memory and nature, love and jealousy and the fragility of life, self-doubt and self-examination and what, ultimately, is the meaning of our brief time on the planet have a resonance for me that I have missed in the past.
It's well worth the effort. You should read it some time. Find the time of life that's right for you.


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Of Presidents and Derelicts
November 20, 2014 Leave a comment
Barack Obama is no fan of the Constitution. He has been known to criticize it for its focus on limiting government, for telling governments what they can and cannot do. He prefers a Constitution that focuses more on telling governments what they should do, at least telling governments to do what he would like, including seeing to the "redistribution of wealth," or what he calls elsewhere "redistributive change."
Of course, that is a mischaracterization. Not a mischaracterization of Obama's views but of what the Constitution says. It does limit government, but it also gives government specific responsibilities and the power to exercise those responsibilities. Article I, Section 8 provides a very clear list of the federal government's duties. It is noteworthy that those enumerated responsibilities and powers are in the Article that establishes the Congress. The list includes such things as providing for the common defense, borrowing and paying government debts, regulating foreign and interstate commerce, establishing standards for weights and measures, and so forth.
There are plenty of other provisions that limit the powers of the government and how it operates. The Constitution is a balance of governmental duties within a structure intended carefully to limit the government. As a limited government our Republic has prospered. It has struggled either when its duties were neglected (as in the days of President Buchanan, who did nothing while he watched state after state rebel from the Union) or when the limitations have been eroded (as we have witnessed through much of the twentieth century and in the first 14 years of the twenty-first).
The President has specific powers and duties, too, nearly all of which are carefully linked with the role of the Congress. For example, while the President does not make the laws—Article I, Section 1 gives "All legislative Powers" exclusively to the Congress—the President is authorized to make proposals to Congress and has the authority to veto legislation (but not change it) that Congress has approved. Once an act of Congress becomes law, the President then has the explicit obligation to, "take Care that the Laws be fully executed" (Article II, Section 3).
Note the words, "fully executed". The President takes an oath to fulfill those duties, and nowhere in oath or Constitution is the President authorized to execute the laws only as much as he likes or agrees with them. Once something has become a law, the President may not set aside this or that part of the law or decide that he will only enforce the law so far. His obligation is to take Care that the laws are fully executed.
Average Americans may not like this or that provision of law, but we are not at liberty to ignore any law that applies to us just because we do not like it. The President is not exempt from that common responsibility of all citizens, either. As the chief government executive, who sought to hold his high office of public responsibility, he is even more obligated not only to obey the laws but to execute them, fully. The President may not make the laws, he may not amend the laws, he may not change the laws, and he may not disregard the laws. His duty is to execute the laws, and when he does not he is derelict in his duties.
This is all in accordance with the important division of labor, the separation of powers that the Founders put into the very structure of the Constitution to combat the tendency of all humans to abuse power once it comes into their hands. By dividing the power of government among three separate but coequal branches, dividing legislative power even further between House and Senate, and yet again separating government power between federal and state governments, the Founders went to clear and elaborate lengths to create checks and balances.
Under the American system of government no branch, no person, no group of people in government, are to be able to do very much on their own without getting the other elements of government to go along. Where they are not able to agree, where there is no consensus, for the safety of our freedoms government is prevented by constitutional law from moving forward unless substantial consensus among the different branches can be reached. Those checks and balances again and again, throughout the more than two centuries of our Constitution, have forced the very human people in government to revisit their differences and come to terms with one another, however much they may disagree and be disagreeable. There is safety for you and me in that. And it helps keep our Union together, repeatedly forcing our leaders (and the parts of the nation that they represent and whose authority they exercise) to work with one another, like it or not.
Recently, President Obama has expressed impatience with the Constitution's checks and balances. After all, he personally, in and of himself, embodies an entire branch of government. The other branches, Congress and the courts, have many different people with a messy variety of ideas. President Obama complains that Congress cannot decide what it wants to do as quickly as he can. In his view, why wait?
By design, Congress of course has something of a multiple personality. It is a gathering of elected representatives, reflecting the diversity of views among the people of the nation. Appropriately, it takes time to build a consensus that accommodates those views, as it should. But President Obama cannot wait. He sees the need to accommodate no ideas other than his own. He has decided that on this issue or that—today it is immigration laws—there is a limit, defined by himself, as to how much time Congress can take to consider things. When time is up, he, the executive branch, will take the matter into his own hands, and pretend to the authority to do it.
His tool of choice today is to abjure his duty to execute the laws fully and instead to execute them partially, just to the extent and manner that suit his own desires, as he engages in another round of redistributive change. That he is endeavoring to violate rather than execute our national, founding law, and his constitutional oath of office, apparently does not trouble him. It is the Constitution itself that troubles him.
But from where does he think he gets his authority to do anything. When he breaks the Constitution, does he not break his very authority to act in the office that the Constitution created?


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Sandra Twang: No to Abduction of Dignity!
Posted on April 02, 2012 by Marivel Guzman
First American Citizen Activist that started the International Campaign of Non Violent Protest of Resistance joining Palestinians Prisoners in hunger strike
21 days in hunger Strike for Justice
Sandra Twang: No to Abduction of Dignity!
Standing in solidarity with Hana Shalabi
by Sife Saleem – Original Posted Aljazeera Talk – Gaza
Translated by: Jummana Al-Kahlout
A scream out for liberty exploded from the land of democracy and human rights, the United States of America. Sandra, an American citizen was inspired by a Palestinian hero fighting for freedom and now stands in solidarity with her, demanding justice. Her message is a call out to Barack Obama, the Israeli government and the international community's conscience.
Sandra Rose Twang, the American peace activist has been on hunger strike since the 21st of March 2012 in solidarity with Hana Shalabi. She told Aljazeera Talk that her solidarity movement is a message to Barrack Obama pleading him to intervene in Hana's case and attempt to end the inhumane and unjust imprisonment of Palestinians in Israeli jails.
Sandra has spread her message on the internet asking people to support the cause and join the hunger strike to impose enough pressure to drive the American government to take action. "Hana Shalabi is a hero and a role model to me in her courage and power" Claims Sandra.
Twang has been interested in the Palestinian cause for the past two years and has educated herself enough to conclude that the Palestinian people are a strong nation who withstood suffering, injustice and discrimination for over 60 years.
Thus, she has joined their fight for liberation by standing in strong solidarity with Hana Shalabi in her hunger strike. She tells us "It was difficult to cope in the first few days, but I now feel fine. My youngest son supports me and so does my mother because they believe Palestinian's have the right to live in dignity"
"This is justice." She adds. Hana is fighting for her basic human right, to live a decent life within Israeli prisons, which she is sitting in without even a hint of a fair trial! First degree murders receive a trial so why is Hana, whose crime is her "unacceptable" opinion, denied this right? She explains that it saddens her to see the international community failing to interact with Hana's situation, expressing her sorrow at the evident reluctance.
"Palestinians are a symbol of courage" she says in a heart-felt manner.
Administrative detention is not just arrest. It is the abduction of dignity, land and life. The sole goal of this detention is to keep Palestinians deprived of basic human rights, consequently making their ultimate demand; to gain them back.
This is simply unacceptable. The United States has always been an advocate of human rights and international democracy, but Sandra fears that if the US continues to support the oppression of the Palestinian people, it is contradicting its own values and faces an almost inevitable backfire in the near future.
Sandra's message to the Israeli government states "The world has stood by and allowed you to illegally occupy, kill and humiliate the people of Palestine; for this, you might think you have won, but a real country does not constitute of just land, a real country cannot stand on pillars of corruption, it is only a matter of time before you collapse"
The fate of 20,000 detainees illegally held in Israeli jails worries Sandra, and should worry the entire international community. Sandra is determined to fight for the freedom of these Palestinian prisoners and calls on people seeking peace and governments claiming justice to stand up and take a stance too.
Do not allow international silence to overwhelm you. Take action and enforce change.
US Senators Web Sites, and Direct Numbers
The silence protest staged by Palestinians Conscience Objectors is the best Non Resistance Weapon and only resource Palestinians have inside Israel Prisons, Often denied the rights of an attorney, which is the case in most of the detainees, they leave them with few option to exercise their rights. A silence hunger strike staged by an individual could be the lousiest of the protest can any one perform, the role of the press and the mouth to mouth news it is the key element to make it to succeed.
On March 23 the ethics committee of Israel Bureau of Prisons announced that Hana Shalabi was going to be forced to eat artificially using gastrointestinal tubes, a practice that it's considered inhumane treatment by Amnesty International, because even though is propagated as a human practice to save the life of a prisoners it curtail their freedom of expression and rights to protest in a Non Violent Way. A Silence Fight It's My Right! Hunger Strike For Justice
We have invented the most powerful flying machine, the smallest medical devices, the most dangerous weapon we can imagine and being so technologically advanced we still can not comprehend in its entirely our humanity, but we are trying, little by little we understand more and more of us, our world become so important that we feel the necessity of help in the restoration and the unification of our human family.
What make us humans we ask ourselves? The Soul?, our Heart?, our feelings? what really do we have inside our bodies that make us compassionate or despicable beings? Does all the human beings are able to FEEL?. The Most Powerfull Weapon Our Humanity
"I am ashamed to say that my country in particular has acted in a most egregious way in its veto of any UN response in holding Israel accountable for its crimes.
But now I want to tell you what drove me to this hunger strike.
There is a young woman, Hana Shalabi, now imprisoned in Hasharon Prison in Israel, arrested on February 16, 2012 and is being held under administrative detention, detention without charge or trial. She is not allowed to know what she is accused of, to examine any of the evidence against her, thereby rendering her capability for due process null and void." Sandra Rose Twang


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Most people only associate Spring as the worse allergy time since everything is blooming. Allergens differ with everyone and I myself suffer worsening of symptoms in Fall and late Spring, with Summer and then Winter a close second. Yup, I am a sneezy mess all year around and even though I take Claritin already for seasonal allergies, I need a boost when I am at my worst, so you bet I was eager to try an OTC allergy product and see how well it performs.
ClariSpray is made by Claritin but it does replace/substitute the use of the pill itself. The nasal spray should not been seen as being the same medication. ClariSpray, is a non-drowsy allergy medication geared towards combating outside allergens and directly with what affects the nasal passages. The spray in addition helps with pet allergies caused by exposure to cats and dogs, and indoor ones like Dust, Mold and Dust Mites. Being able to use another medication to fight inflammation and congestion, is what can give the user more relief. I take a decongestant and an allergy pill, but there are times that pills alone do not provide relief and this is why I started using a nasal spray and I went through many to find the one that worked for me.
Having a new puppy is great and especially after we lost our dog to cancer in September. What is not so great about puppies in general, is they love to get into EVERYTHING! I may be hearing my own voice in nightmares saying "NO" because that is how I spend most of my day. I add some "stop it and drop that", but pretty much trying to get the pup to stop playing with yard stuff. We have palms and they bloom beautiful smelling flowers that produce the most beautifully stuffed noses. Well, the pup loves those flowers, the grass, bougainvillea flowers and leaves are the biggest hit. Why buy toys when yard waste is the greatest puppy toy ever! Then puppy comes in and brings all the outside in with her and we are now bathing her every 3 to 4 days and usually until our noses and throats can't take the garden the puppy seems to keep on bringing in with her. You bet I would try anything and even a nasal spray if it means I can get at least some rest from sneezing and blowing my nose countless times a day.
ClariSpray contains fluticasone propionate and this medication helps to give quick relief and especially administered directly via a nasal spray. I tried the spray and the mist it delivers is not overwhelming or even too hard that it causes discomfort when used. Within 5 minutes, I felt less congested and within 15 minutes, I could actually think and start being productive. Yeah, that means a lot to anyone who suffers greatly from allergies. You can't think clearly and just moving and bending hurts when your congested but at the same time miraculously trying to control a forever flow of mucus that seems to keep tissue companies in business. How I can be stuffed up but still have a runny nose is just one of my amazing qualities! The spray works and no prescription is needed. Being able to get medication that provides actual relief and not needing to make a doctor appointment to then go visit a pharmacy is a double plus for me. The holidays are approaching and a leaky nose is the last thing I want preventing me from actually enjoying them. Oh and what makes this even better…..24 hours relief!
Connect with Claritin and check out the new ClariSpray at:
I received the above product(s) free of charge from ClariSpray and BzzAgent. I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion. I received no other compensation in exchange for my review. My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.


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About us
Formed in 1998, Barwon Health is one of the largest and most comprehensive regional health services in Australia, providing care at all stages of life and circumstance. Health services available through Barwon Health cover the full spectrum from primary care, community services, aged care, rehabilitation, mental health, emergency and acute care. With the exception of neurosurgery and transplantation, virtually all other specialties are available through University Hospital Geelong.
Care is provided to the community through:
- Community Health services at key locations throughout the region.
- Aged care through the McKellar Centre and its sites in North Geelong and Charlemont.
- Rehabilitation services both as an inpatient at the McKellar Centre and outpatient services at North Geelong and Belmont.
- A major teaching hospital and its associated services.
- With more than 7000 staff, we are one of Australia's largest regional employers and a major education provider through our relationships with Deakin University, Melbourne University, Monash University, the Gordon and a number of other educational centres and universities.
Barwon Health Statement of Commitment to Child Safety
- Barwon Health is committed to promoting and protecting the interests and safety of children. We have zero tolerance for child abuse.
- Everyone working at Barwon Health is responsible for the care and protection of children and reporting information about child abuse.
- We will ensure that our systems protect children from abuse, and will take all allegations and concerns very seriously and respond to them consistently in line with the organisation's policies and procedures.
- If any person believes a child is in immediate risk of abuse, call the Police on 000.
Barwon Health organisational structure
See an overview of Barwon Health's organisational structure.
Last Modified: Monday, 19 September 2022


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Legislature request denied in vote case
COLUMBUS -- A federal judge on Wednesday denied a request from the Ohio Legislature to become part of a lawsuit challenging early voting rules in the key swing state.
The Republican-controlled General Assembly had sought to be among the lawsuit's defendants, which include the state's attorney general and elections chief. Attorneys argued that lawmakers had a right to defend the statutes they enact.
But U.S. District Judge Peter Economus said the General Assembly failed to convince the court that its position differed from the current defendants. He also questioned the timing of the legislature's request to intervene, saying it came more than two months after the lawsuit was filed in May.
"The General Assembly has offered no reason justifying this delay," Economus wrote.
Attorneys have asked the judge to reconsider, saying they have complied with the court's schedule.
Jason Mauk, the Ohio Senate's chief of staff, said GOP leaders worked in consultation with the attorney general on their filing. He noted the lawsuit came as lawmakers wrapped up their spring voting sessions.
"We felt that the General Assembly was best suited to defend the constitutionality of the law that we enacted and the attorney general supported that decision," Mauk said in an interview.
The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, along with predominantly black churches and the Ohio Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. It specifically challenges two changes to the state's early voting rules this year.
One is a directive from Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted that set uniform, early voting times that included limits on weekend and evening hours. The other is to a bill passed this year by the GOP-led General Assembly that shortens the period by six days when voters can cast an early ballot. Instead of 35 days, the early-voting window would be 29. The law eliminates the days in which people could both register to vote and cast a ballot at the same time.
The voting rights and civil rights groups claim that the recent early voting changes will make it difficult for residents to vote and unfairly affect black voters. They are seeking a preliminary injunction to block the law from being enforced this fall and want Husted to issue a new schedule that includes weeknight hours and additional Sunday times.
The judge has scheduled a hearing for Aug. 11 on the request.
Also on Wednesday, U.S. Justice Department sided with the plaintiffs in the case, saying in a court filing that the voting measures unfairly affect minority voters.


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Skin-on waffle-cut fries coated in a light buttery batter to deliver greater plate coverage and homestyle appeal.
McCain Ultimate® Crispy Coated Skin-On Waffle Fries
before 730 days from date of manufacture, when stored at 0°F/-18°C or below
Cooking Time (min): 2-1/4 to 2-3/4
Fill basket one-third full (1.5 lbs) with frozen product. Deep fry.
Cooking Time (min): 10 to 14
Preheat oven. Spread frozen product evenly on a shallow baking pan. Bake, turning once for uniform cooking.
Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (Contains One Or More Of The Following Oils: Canola, Soybean, Cottonseed, Sunflower, Corn), Bleached Enriched Wheat Flour (Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid). Contains 2% or less of Annatto (color), Autolyzed Yeast, Corn Starch - Modified, Dextrose, Leavening (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Modified Cellulose, Salt, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate Added To Maintain Natural Color, Yellow Corn Flour