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The Good, the Bad and the Slutty A few of Halloween's best and absolute worst costumes
The Good, the Bad and the Slutty A few of Halloween's best and absolute worst costumes
Halloween is my favorite holiday because it means I get to dig out my 1984 Madonna costume and wear a million black rubber bracelets and feel famous. It's also my favorite holiday because I get a kick out of seeing all the awesome and creative costumes people come up with. But my favorite part? Keeping track of the truly bad, no-good, horrible costumes that people wear without shame—or, sometimes, with glee.
The Good
New-school Batman might be cool with his muscular dark Batsuit, but really, I have a soft spot for the old-school '60s version. With his pale purple and dark blue cape and bodysuit, he was a kinder, gentler and more human Batman. He also didn't talk in a completely pretentious wheezy voice. Get the Grand Heritage Batman Adult Costume ($129.99) at Party City.
Listen, I'm generally against slutty Halloween costumes. They are lazy and dumb. (See below for a few of the most egregious offenders.) But there is one sexy Halloween costume that I approve of, and that's old-school Catwoman. Slick, comfortable, saucy and with the little kitten ears and the '60s touches like the gold medallion, why, this 1966 Catwoman ($129.99 at BuyCostumes.com) is just purrrfect.
There are people who get Halloween costumes, spill lots of drinks on them, and then throw them out the next day. You are not one of those people. You save up money and plot your costume all year. You are also a little bit of a nerd, as evidenced by your extensive gaming collection and your choice of attire. Basically, the Halo 3 Master Chief Costume ($799.99 at Spirit Halloween) is ultra-pro. It comes with the helmet, the gauntlets, the armor, the LED lights, the whole shebang. Wear this and everyone will get out of your way. (And for that price, they better.)
The Bad
Quick! Go look at these pictures of Helen Slater as Supergirl. Now go look at this Supergirl T-Shirt Adult Costume ($24.99 at CostumeExpress.com) and come back. What's wrong with it? Well, the illustrated curves and cleavage for one thing. And the fact that it's a T-shirt with a "cape" attached. If you wear this on Halloween, you are fired from Halloween.
Question: What is a Sun Drop, and how would you dress up as one? Yeah, I have no idea either. But the forces behind packaged Halloween costumes have gone ahead and provided a look that no one has ever demanded: the Sun Drop Halloween costume ($48.99 at BuyCostumes.com). The getup comes with a headband, leg warmers and a T-shirt with the Sun Drop logo. (Also, I still have no idea what a Sun Drop is.)
A ballerina costume is pretty, but on a dude, it's funny. To make it really hilarious, make it a fat ballerina costume ($39.99 at Spirit Halloween). Cue sound of no one laughing.
How did we know this was coming? Because of course, Miley Cyrus's outfit at the VMA's (sexy, demented teddy bear) will inspire lots of bad, terrible, no-good Halloween costumes like this Twerkin Teddy Costume ($39.99 from SpiritHalloween.com), which has a giant bear sticking its tongue out and one eye closed. The giant pointy foam finger ($9.95 at Rakuten) and the silly hairdo are not included. What I can guarantee you is that if you wear this outfit in public, we are no longer friends.
The Slutty
I could do several articles about bad, slutty costumes because unfortunately for women, the main go-to during Halloween is to take a persona like, say, a cop, and add "slutty" to it. It's an all-American tradition that I find rather annoying but nonetheless amusing. Here are a few:
You know, the first thing I think about when I hear the word "giraffe" is … sex. These animals are just so hot. That's why I'm totally going to get a sexy giraffe outfit ($69.99 at Target) complete with a tutu dress, knee-high boot covers and a top that has an adorable heart in the center of my bosom. Because in addition to being a sexy giraffe, I am also 5 years old.
The last few years saw a ton of Angry Birds costumes, so it was only inevitable that we'd see the "sassy" version ($27.99 at CostumeExpress.com) for women who didn't want to walk around looking like a giant plump bird. To which I say, if you can't do Angry Birds right, stay home!
You know what else is totes sexy? Dr. Seuss. Especially Thing 1 and Thing 2. They just ooze sensuality and make me so horny. What? Oh, right, I've gone completely insane. The Dr. Seuss Thing 1 and Thing 2 Tutu ($59.99 at Spirit Halloween) costumes are a real and not-at-all-made-up thing. I'm sorry. For comparison's sake, please see the men's version.
The hipsters at Urban Outfitters have the right idea, though. Skip the slutty cop/firefighter/schoolteacher/tree costume, and go straight for the ironic-statement tee. Grab a "Naughty Nurse" ($24) and "This is my slutty cop costume" ($24), and stand next to a woman who has the unfortunate taste to wear one of these for real.
The Weird and Confusing
What's black all over and has a fake LED patch on the chest? Um, a Raver Adult Morphsuit? ($59.99 at BuyCostumes.com). It's okay. I went to a few hundred raves in the '90s, and I don't understand this costume either. But I bet it'd be fun to wear and confuse all your fellow partygoers.
If your idea of a good Halloween costume is a comfortable getup that no one can figure out, head to Urban Outfitters, where you can choose from a couple of different Japanese-inspired costumes that double as pjs on non-Halloween nights. The Kigurumi Pug Costume ($80) barely resembles a pug, but you'll be totally cozy all night long and won't even have to take it off when you go home. See also: the Kigurumi Dino Costume and the Kigurumi Cat Costume.
Hipster beards are really cool right now. Up in Seattle, nearly all the guys are sporting one—whether it's a good look for them or not. If you don't have a beard, but you want to just pretend to be a bearded hipster, you can grab party pack of prefab, totally fake but somehow awesome beards ($12 at Urban Outfitters). This can be your entire costume. I'm giving you permission. Just add a can of PBR.
Party City: Get $10 off orders of $80 or more or get 25% off any one Halloween item (expires October 4).
BuyCostumes.com: Through October 30, get $10 off $80 or more.
Spirit Halloween: Through October 23, get 20% off one item.
Target: Save $5 off orders of $50 or more.
Costume Express: Get 15% off any one item (expires October 20) or 20% off $100 or more.
Urban Outfitters: Check out the Halloween shop and through October 30, get 10% off plus free shipping on $50 or more.
Like the blog or have suggestions? We'd love to know what you think of The Real Deal! Email our editor at email@example.com or take our Real Deal Survey for a chance to win $100!


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Cross Country Skiing at Northfield Mountain
Northfield Mountain has more than 25 miles of trails designed specifically for cross country skiing and groomed for both classical and free-style skiing. Our trails offer some of the finest Nordic skiing in the region, from beginner trails to the demanding 800-foot vertical climb of Tenth Mountain Trail. Hikers, dogs and other pets are excluded from our trails during the ski season.
Hours of Operation: Wednesday through Sunday 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Always call ahead to our 24-hour Snow Phone for the most current conditions: (800) 859-2960 or check our Trails Report on our Facebook page which is updated daily. Trail system closed to all users Mondays and Tuesdays, except holiday openings.
Rental Equipment and Trail Fees
We offer mid-length waxless skis, equipped with easy-to-use NNN bindings. Adult sized skate ski rentals are also available as are combination packages that include rentals, trail fees and lessons. For those with very young children, pulks may be rented for $5 per hour.
View Our 2018–2019 Rates (PDF)
Northfield Mountain's certified ski instructors offer 90 minute group lessons for $25/person which are generally offered at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on weekends and weekdays by appointment. Ski lessons emphasize fun, essential skills, and safety. Participants may choose between beginner's group lessons, special technique clinics, or private instruction for $50/hour. Reservations are required. Phone: (800) 859-2960. Special programs at moderate prices are offered for school groups.
More than six miles of trails are reserved exclusively for snowshoeing. The trails meander through scenic sections of the mountain, with great views from Rose Ledges. Free snowshoe trail tickets must be picked up at the ski shop before heading out. Please see our price chart above if you need to rent snowshoes.
Northfield Mountain can take on the largest blizzard or the lightest dusting of snow with their fleet of grooming vehicles. The trails receive regular grooming–usually in the early morning, with tracks set for classical skiing and areas groomed flat for skating.

subset: commoncrawl


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IGNITION is an event for high school and middle school students the Sunday night before See You At The Pole each year that's all about inspiring students in the Pittsburgh region to share God's love with their friends at school beginning with See You At The Pole (the 4th Wednesday of September).
Featuring Greg Stier from Dare 2 Share Ministries, Red Letter Hymnal, and Propaganda!
This Sunday, September 20th, 2015, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Free as guests of Beverly Heights Student Ministries!


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So this isn't really much of an outfit post, since all of these photos are headshots.... but I just had to share this amazing mini portrait session I had with Kelsey when I was visiting her in BC. This girl is a true beauty - inside and out! I can't believe how blessed I am to have her in my life and she's probably my favourite subject to photograph.
This girl is drop. dead. gorgeous.
Wouldn't you agree?
p.s. ♥ clara ( & kelsey)


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Knitters and needle workers throughout
the Seattle Metro area and the South King County area have been finding expert advice at
the Knittery for more than 40 years. Click
here to read a review of
the Knittery.
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and other needle arts projects.
The Knittery offers an outstanding line
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knitting wants of our customers and happily do special
orders. Interested in improving your knitting skills?
Check out the knitting
class schedule at the Knittery.
Drop by and visit us in Renton at 601 S.
Grady Way (Renton Village Shopping Center) or give us a call
at 425-228-4694.
Subscribe to our newsletter


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Amazing Gates and Railings
Amazing gates has been welcoming customers throughout Bradford and the surrounding areas for over 12 years,offering a services that focuses on personal attention to design and requirement which has given me an excellent reputation around the region. Quality gates and railings at very competitive prices. Its my aim to produce gates and railings that you will be proud of at affordable budget prices that are very hard to match anywhere else. I also manufacture and install security gates and grills that gives you protection and peace of mind whilst enhancing your property. Commercial fabrications and gate repair services are also available for small or large projects. For a free quotation please contact Paul anytime by phone or email.
Security Gates in Bradford
I am a fully qualified welder and although I am based in Bradford, I am more than happy to take on work from throughout the Leeds area. I am proud to boast an excellent reputation around the region, which has been built up by providing a level of service that is second to none, as well as a product that is of the highest possible standard.


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This article looks at the role of resistance and support levels in the foreign exchange market.
In order to be an effective foreign exchange rates trader, you must have an understanding of all aspects in the foreign exchange industry. This includes concepts pertaining forex to different charts such as resistance and support. This is a simple enough topic, however can be rather complicated to the beginner trader.
What is resistance and support?
Traders will often hear about price movements approaching levels of resistance or levels of support. These support and resistance levels are the price levels or ranges of price levels that a currency does not generally go over (resistance) or go under (support)
A basic example of the support and resistance levels can be seen in the chart below. The support level is the price which is seldom fallen below, and the resistance is the price level that is rarely exceeded. If the currency price hits either level it meet and then reverse, at least for a short while.
Why do foreign exchange prices behave in this manner?
The main reasons why prices behave in this manner is supply and demand and trading psychology. When approaching support levels, the number of buyers will usually exceed the number of sellers on the foreign exchange. This will cause a rise in the currency price. However, at the resistance level the number of sellers will exceed the number of buyers causing a decline in the currency price. This can occur frequently in a range until new market material is available to shift the price to a new range in which a new resistance and support level will be established.
What about support and resistance role reversal?
When a resistance or support level is met and exceeded, the roles of resistance and support will flip. If the currency price heads below a support level then that level will become a new resistance level. Furthermore, if the price exceeds the resistance level then the resistance will become the new support level.
This role reversal generally occurs when a strong price has shifted the currency price to a new range, usually caused by major global influences and economic reports. The chart below illustrates a role reversal where the dotted line represents a resistance level. However, when the price exceeded the level heading into a new range, the old resistance become a new support.
Support and resistance analysis on the foreign exchange market
The analysis of support and resistance levels is important to understand as part of technical analysis. These levels are viewed as essential aspects of trends and are used to make trading decisions, as well as identify when a trend may reverse. The levels can sometimes assist a trader in establishing a good trade over a bad trade.
For example, if a particular price level is reached, the trader may wish to take profits as he knows the price level rarely rises beyond that resistance point. Conversely, the trader may identify a support level and use the information to identify an appropriate entry point to a trade.


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How was your weekend? Ours was good - dinner with friends on Friday night, errands and some relaxing on a chilly Saturday, and then more relaxing and some clean up on a sunny Sunday. Overall, a pretty great weekend. Since the bathroom is now well under way there's not much for us to do on weekends - this is very "new" for us. We're used to being part of the progress instead of watching from afar. I have to say, it's pretty amazing to come home from work and see progress every day! If we were doing this on our own we would be nowhere close to where we are now, and we would have made more than a few rookie blunders along the way.
Before the drywall went up, the Mr. and I did some finishing touches on the framing, including framing out the spots for our recessed medicine cabinets:
Last week marked the subfloor being completed (the mr. did most of it, but our carpenter came in to finish off the tricky parts around the toilet), drywall going up, and tile going up! The ceiling also got fixed (from where we ripped out the wall), and some taping and mudding happened.
Well hello there, future home of the double vanity.
Sneak peak at my pretty new bathtub (we tried to protect it with plastic and tape...we'll see what happens :) ). We are going to have glass put as the third "wall" ontop of the pony wall (or knee wall) for a clean finish to the bathtub area.
On a non-construction note, I did some baking this weekend and tried a new muffin recipe for apple spice muffins from Smitten Kitchen.
They are delicious.
What did you get up to this weekend?


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TAX CUTS | With just three weeks to go before Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire and President Obama urging Democratic lawmakers to accept a compromise he struck with the GOP, House Democrats rejected the tax deal in its current form. Jim Lehrer has the latest.
COMPROMISE AND THE ART OF GOVERNING | Jim Lehrer speaks with lawmakers about the challenges of compromising on Capitol Hill.
HAITI UPDATE | Margaret Warner has the latest on the political unrest in Haiti surrounding the troubled nation's presidential election.
PARKINSON'S AND DANCE | Special correspondent Dave Iverson reports on how teaching dance to Parkinson's patients can alleviate some of their symptoms.
SMOKING DANGERS | Judy Woodruff speaks with Surgeon General Regina Benjamin about a new report on the dangers of smoking – even rarely.
TECH CRAZE | Jeffrey Brown speaks with New York Times technology columnist David Pogue about the latest in gadgets and how the affect our lives. Pogue is also hosting a new NOVA episode on PBS early next year:
Jim Lehrer and Margaret Warner anchor tonight's broadcast. We hope you'll join us.


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In this week's Sound for Video Session we have a quick look at a commercial mix I'm working on at the moment. We run through each sound effect/foley, and music track, the effects applied and talk briefly about fader automation.
Links to gear we discussed or used to record this session:
Presonus Faderport Motorized Fader and Control Surface:
Focal CMS 65 Near Field Monitors - Same as the 40s but with 6.5 inch woofers and bass response that reaches a little lower on the spectrum. These are on closeout so a good time to buy if you're in the market.
Focal Shape 65 Near Field Monitors - These are the newer versions of the CMS. Will be included in our upcoming comparison
Electrovoice RE20 Dynamic Broadcast Microphone (this is the mic I used for this session)
Antelope Audio Orion Studio Audio Interface (This is what I used to record my sound for this session)
Copyright 2017 by Curtis Judd
Ethics statement: Some of the links above are affiliate links which means that if you click on them and buy, I get a small commission. You don't pay more by clicking these links than if you just went to the retailer's web site on your own. I use the proceeds to buy additional gear to review and help you improve your sound, lighting, and video. Thanks for your support!


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Steel City Rock N Roll Showcase
A bunch of us got together this past weekend and threw the first of many shows to come, the "Steel City Rock N Roll Showcase". We are all super proud of this particular show. First off, there were a ton of attendees/great people, friends and musicians that are striving really hard to grow our scene in Pittsburgh. Secondly, this is more than an event, it's a start of a movement. Besides Big Atlantic, there are a handful of people getting together and communicating behind this annual showcase to cultivate and welcome all music fans and musicians. For this particular showcase, we had Philly rockers "Holy Smoke" out to play with us, Horus Maze and Winter's Descent. Although the smoking gun for this event was the team of media people we had covering it. This showcase is built to snowball into a greater cause. One that will become a media and networking hub for our local music scene and the bands touring through it. One of the main problems that bands run into especially in Pittsburgh is that, if you're touring and trading shows with bands from another city or state, it can be tough to return the favor and give them the great experience that you want to give them when they are passing through your home turf. This helps accomplish that and vice versa. Pittsburgh Music Scene peeps can land tour stops and opportunities for their act in various areas. Bands that come to these events also get the tangible benefits of great live photos, videos and press write ups to help strengthen their EPK/press kits. The end game is to unite our scene in a way that we can actually make a difference and help each other with our operations. When we get enough noise happening, we want a music conference to come to Pittsburgh to help educate, build knowledge and our inner core network of the Pittsburgh Music Scene. Thanks to all who will be and are apart of this! We are very excited for the future of music in Pittsburgh!


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A crisp winter morning always makes me happy, frost on the ground and a clear blue sky. These unfortunately dont happen that often so I have a pair of sunglasses in my bag at all times incase the grey skies decide to let a ray of sunshine through. My glasses of choice at the moment are a pair of grey vintage Givenchy from Pretavoir, I love the oversized frames they are super glam, and what better way to show them off than with a vintage faux fur coat and vintage hat?
Glasses – Pretavoir
Hat – Vintage
Coat – Vintage
Shirt – Lee (mens)
Dress – H&M (similar here)
Necklace – Miss Selfridges
Socks – ASOS
Boots – Dr Martens


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Don't worry, I had that happen on mine as well, but in every case, the my was a percentage faster and the ref was a percentage slower and everything else just hummed around in the middle. The point wasn't the benchmark. The point was that declaring aliases or setting up your own constant subs, are not that much slower than my'ing a variable or local'ing a variable.
The point of benchmark is ballpark, and all of the types are in the ball park.
my @a=qw(random brilliant braindead); print $a[rand(@a)];
In reply to Re: Re: Re: my $var; vs. use constant VAR = '';
by Rhandom


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Bury comets hosted Sheffield stars on match day three of the Northern Cycle Speedway Season.
This was, however, the Stars' first fixture due to inclement weather causing their opening two fixtures to be postponed.
A fabulous looking track, one which you would expect in the summer time, greeted the teams on a bright sunny Easter Sunday.
Bury started off well on the fast track with Parish and Whitaker taking a maximum score in the opening heat.
Stars responded with their own maximum immediately in the next heat with great team riding on the first bend.
After a shared heat 3 with Zareba racing for a win, Bury scored maximum heat wins in every race up to the interval with the exception of heat 6 with Stars again showing good team riding on the first bend by relegating young Bury rider Will Owens to last place.
Second half started like the first ended with Bury scoring heavy by obtaining maximums in every heat except 17, Joe Allen receiving the only exclusion of the day whilst pushing Kyle Holland for position.
Stars never gave up and pushed Bury hard for every point, some battling rides from Holland, Hudson and Webster who with more matches will undoubtedly score more than they did today.
Final score was Bury 115 Sheffield 64.
For Bury it was another victory that was never in doubt. Zareba is looking good and secured the fastest time of the season at Goshen by winning heat 18 in 43 secs, Parish is leading the way at number 1 and Whitaker supporting well as a foil for Parish.
All eyes now on next week's clash as Bury travel to Stockport.
Last year's top 2 are leading the way this year, both unbeaten and both teams confident so something has to give.


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In this very creative clip, multi-talented musician and arranger Yanky Briskman, joins with the amazing Shira Choir performing Nigun Yoseph, a creative, fast-paced, harmoniously complex song written by Israeli musician and composer Achiya Asher Cohen.
With intertwined layers across musical genres such as traditional klezmer, debka, disco, Israeli dance, and fusion, this song pays homage to legendary Israeli guitarist Yosi Piamenta, who elevated countless weddings in Israel and America with what he called the "strings of my heart".
Piamenta was known for seamlessly transitioning between American rock and roll, klezmer, fusion, and multiple Middle Eastern flavors. This song commemorate his talent with a song he surely would have loved to play.
Composed by: Achiya Cohen
Sung by: Shira choir
Music by: Yanky Briskman
Stage manager: Motty Jay
Mixed by: Chaim gottesman
Video and editing: Motty Engel


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It was suggested by a few folks that it would be good to do a semi-regular feature on some of the wonderful art that may not follow the norm of what's posted out there. For this post, we'll be taking a look at Ookami Kemono and his storied images, both from the Dear L. series and other narrative pieces of art.
As a bit of a disclaimer, I've been following Ookami Kemono for a while, and have even had a commission of my own done by him. Even so, I think it's very interesting to see someone come up with a touching and emotional story for many of the pieces of art they post, and he certainly does post rather often! In this instance, we'll be posting each of the "stories" that comes along with the pieces themselves in order to help complete the image (thus making this one of the longest posts of ours - the words really do help complete the images, though); be sure to check out the full versions on FurAffinity.
Dear L,
My boyfriend is a big Dungeon and Dragons nerd as well as a WoW patron. In his D&D lifestyle, he loves creating worlds, making stories for them as well as characters and other concepts, and playing them out. In his WoW lifestyle, he loves raiding with people he knows or complete strangers for hours on end. It got to a point where you don't even have to guess what room he would be in whenever he comes home from work or school. At first I didn't really complain that much. Being his girlfriend, I tried my hand in his fantasy world and WoW campaigns. For a while, I played with him, learning the ropes and the books until I was no longer a "newb" to him. On special occasions, we even "larp"ed in the bed room, i.e roleplaying our sexual fantasies.
I was wrong when I thought his obsession for the fantasy world couldn't get any worse. This new game came out last month for his console system and ever since, he was glued to the TV set. He hardly goes to work or school anymore as he juggles his D&D games, WoW raids and now this. It came to a point where I started to pick up extra shifts at my work just to make up for what he lost. I didn't mind it as much until I, his girlfriend, started to fade from his attention. He hardly notices me anymore, even when I want to make love to him. He would brush me off, saying that he was too busy or too hooked into the game he was playing. When I do managed to get his attention, our love making would be quick, emotional-less and rather dull. I find myself just sitting next to him on the couch, watching him play. This is the only time where I feel like we are spending "quality" time with each other.
Each of Ookami's works comes with its own little story, often touching and always emotional.
" I remember that time very clearly. I sat quietly on the sofa - my fingers entwined together, my back straight and my and my breath calm. The only thing that was offset and erratic was my quick beating heart in my chest. I sat there, dressed in my lime green over shirt, my long sleeve purple silk shirt, my lucky red skirt and black stockings. My favorite Pride bracelet was resting on my wrist and my blue earring upon my right ear. I wore my favorite perfume for the special occasion: Vanilla Mist. Smelling it calms my nerves and makes me smile. Behind me was a wall filled with photographs from my past. My family loved to keep a photographic history of my past mounted on the living room wall. It ranged from when I was a pup, to my first day at school, to my participation at the marathon, my high school prom, to my graduation from college. Hopefully, my legacy wall will continue to have pictures of my continuing future. But that, I don't know if that would happen.
Infront of me were my parents, both sitting in separate chairs, looking at my direction as their minds tried to process the information I just told them. Their faces, even their body language, were a mixture of puzzlement, confusion, anger and sadness. The images behind me were me when I was young and male. Now, I sit here before my parents, reveling my true self to them for the first time: I am a female inside a male's body and I'm now coming out. My breasts and figure were thanks to my hormone medication. My antlers were still on my head, almost like a big lettered sign saying I'm a male, but I didn't want to go far into surgery without telling my parents about myself and who I am.
One of the greatest things about this work is the intense effort put into shading via traditional techniques of cross-hatching and stippling. Even in his colored images, the effort put into this shading is evident.
"What she wanted, I knew she couldn't have. Sonya, my lesbian girlfriend, is a very nurturing woman. She has this motherly nature to her that I rarely see in woman now a days. Whenever we pass by a child in the park or on the train, wherever we wondered, she would always take a moment to make the child smile with silly words or goofy faces. Her face would bright up like the sun whenever she smiled. After she talked about how cute the child was, she would sometimes feel down, wishing to have a child that she could take care of someday. She takes care of me like I'm her 'child', but she wanted something small she could teach and dress up. With our income, we wouldn't be able to afford to take care of a child of our own. Having to pay for the sperm injection, the labor and everything after that, it was a dream that she wishes that would come true.
Christmas was approaching and she was hoping to get a big promotion at work. Sadly, she didn't get it. She told me that if she did get promoted, she would be able to afford to have a child of her own. This event caused her to feel down and to sulk. Even though she smiled at me and said nothing was wrong, I knew that she was depressed on the inside. To have your dreams crushed and shattered like glass by just one negative word from your selfish boss' mouth is terrible. It broke my heart to feel that, to see her try to hide her true feelings and to see her dream shatter so quickly. I was saving up to buy us two tickets to Europe, but I didn't want her to feel down during our getaway. I rushed to a special store ( about 10 miles away ) that I hoped would have something to cheer her up. With the money I saved up, I used it all on something I knew she would love.
The emotions tied with these images have a lot to do with gender, sexuality, or body image.
"... It's time to go to my parents house - my family who thinks they know all about me, their son. They don't. I don't tell them everything. I wish I could, but doing so would cause drama and so many issues that I can't possibly handle in my life right now. They don't know of my transformation: Male to Female transsexual. I have been taking pills for a long time and I now have grown well developed breasts. I can't put bras on when I see them. They would notice the strap lines as well as the roundness of my chest. I would wear a thick sweater, but its no where near winter yet and they would still show. I don't regret my new growth or the years I spent taking the pills to transform into what I want to be, so the only option I have is to bind my chest as tightly as I can with medical bandages, sometimes with a combination of duct tape I have to buy a bulk of rolls because they are one use only. It's like wearing a corset that makes your chest as flat as possible. On top of wearing this stupid bandage, I have to wear boy clothes, down to the underwear. This makes me even more uncomfortable.
Its hard to breathe with this bandage on and I can't flex my torso as much as I want to. In the end, I get burns and bruises from the tightness of the bandage. Sometimes my damage my ribs. I sometimes lock myself in the bathroom when seeing my parents and remove the construction from my chest. I only manage to get a good few breathes of air before I have to put it on again and walk out - continuing to act like a male instead of the female I want to be.
That someone can come up with a story behind each image and present it almost in a slice of life journal entry or letter is, in my mind, quite impressive, and worthy of the attention.
" Dear L,
I hope you don't mind if I write this under Anonymous, because what I have to say sounds pretty weird and I don't want to be the center of attention for hate mail and bullies. I have read the letters you have published from other people and I gained enough courage to finally write down what I have on my mind. I don't know if its sick or not, but I'm hoping that you would give me some good feedback. I'll just start out by saying that I have a huge crush on a girl. Her name is Ling-Doe. The thing is, this girl was drawn by an artist; a fictional character.
I'm single and lonely. Ill start off by saying that. I believe it's normal for single people to fantasies about their dream mate. I first saw a Ling-Doe drawing created by an artist on a popular furry website. This artist,draws very beautiful woman. The detail to their bodies is amazing: the line work, the shading, the colors, everything. It almost pops out to life whenever you look at his creations. Ling-Loe has been drawn by other artists in various styles, but his style is what really brought me to my knees for her. It's her eyes. There is so much life in her eyes. When I look into her eyes, those computer painted neon glowing eyes, I lose myself in a world of fantasy where here and I are talking, walking together, cuddling, and even making love. Everything like that. She talks to me in my dreams. Her voice so soft like a spring breeze, her eyes give off the warmth of a sun in a clear blue sky. Her body is molded like a Goddess among Goddesses. Her smile melts my heart and makes me want to pluck the moon for her. She is so unique. I've never seen any woman like her drawn as beautiful as her by anyone except for that artist who created her. Yes...I know... Its a bit overboard for an imaginary character drawn by an artist I have no idea what is is like or even his real name. All I know is that he draws her in a way that she becomes flawless, realistic, and unique in every way. I "worship" the artist because he is the one who created her - beautiful Ling-Doe.


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Two RAF student pilots who died when their plane crashed into a remote field in Ryedale have been named by police.
Cameron James Forster, 21, from Sussex, and Ajvir Singh Sandhu, 25, from Essex, were killed as the light aircraft crash landed in a field off Mains Lane, between Castle Howard and the A64, in North Yorkshire, at about 10.40am on Saturday.
The plane was a Slingsby T67 Firefly, which is thought to have took off from Full Sutton Flying Centre near York. A spokesman for the centre declined to comment.
Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) investigators continue to probe the cause of the crash.
The Castle Howard family have sent their "heartfelt condolences" to the grieving relatives of the pilot and his passenger.
Nicholas Howard, the executive co-chairman of the Castle Howard Estate, said: "The sudden shock is always terrible for those close to fatal accidents, and my heartfelt condolences go out to the families and friends of those who died in this crash."
Members of the public alerted the police to the crash at around 10.40am on Saturday.
Following the crash, North Yorkshire Police Chief Inspector Mark Grange said: "Two males who were in the aircraft were pronounced dead at the scene."
Up to 20 firefighters attended the scene and set up a foam blanket around the aircraft in case it caught fire, a North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said.
A spokesperson for the nearby Crown and Cushion pub in Welburn added: "All we heard was sirens about half 10. A lot of people heard the fire engine go and stop but we didn't see the plane."


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Ashoka Samrat Episode 73 Update On Wednesday 21st November 2018 On Joy Prime
Episode starts with Sushim attacking Ashok. Then both start fighting while each getting flashbacks of their encounters. Sushim manages to put dirt in Ashok's eyes and runs forward towards the sword. Ashok remembers Akramak's words and concentrates and throws his stick and it hits Sushim's leg. He falls down and Ashok runs and jumps over him to reach the sword. He lifts the sword and all the blockades open up and he starts running towards those open ways. Sushim follows him and is determined to take the sword from him before he reaches the finish line.
Subahu is trying to figure out his way when he sees Ashok running with sword in his hand. He is happy to see Ashok emerge victorious and feels bad that he had mistreated Ashok on Sushim's orders. Sushim also reaches there and is angry at seeing Subahu. But Subahu tells him that he didn't leave the competition so as to help him defeat Ashok and then tricks Sushim into believing that he is on his side. He misguides Sushim and finally quits the competition.(Ashok gets one more friend!)
Sushim is running and cannot find Ashok anywhere. Ashok is running and is thinking how his mother would be proud of him, how samrat would be happy to see him emerge winner, how everyone would change their perceptive about him, how he would be declared the great warrior of Magadh! Suddenly he hears the roar of a tiger and someone's cry for help. There Sushim is scared to see the tiger standing in front of him. The tiger pounces on him and Ashok jumps and saves him. The sword gets dropped from his hands while doing this. Sushim gets up and picks up the swrod and climbs up a tree to protect himself. Ashok gets up and says that Vanraaj wont get killed by a tiger. Then he picks a stick and starts defending himself against the tiger.
Precap: The fight with the tiger continues, Ashok and tiger are literally having a trial by combat!(and Sushim is enjoying the fight from his tree-side seat! Way to go self proclaimed crown prince of Magadh!)


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The behind-the-scenes story of the All-Star game's heartwarming surprise military homecoming
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Staff Sergeant Cole Condiff, a special tactics operator in the Air Force deployed overseas, got a proposition three weeks ago from his lieutenant and captain: How would he like to come home early and surprise his family at the MLB All-Star game in Washington D.C.?
The All-Star game sounded good, but what sounded even better was seeing his family.
"It'll get me home four days before my daughter's birthday," he figured and said yes.
His little girl, Charley, turns 3 later this week and Daddy wasn't going to be there until this opportunity came up through MLB's relationship with Geico and its Seats for Service program.
Fast forward to the end of the first inning at Nationals Park. Rachael Condiff, Charley and Sgt. Condiff's sister-in-law, Aubrey Lyon, were shown on the video board in the stadium. Then a video played of Sgt. Condiff, with a full beard, saying hello to his wife, wishing his daughter a happy birthday and apologizing for not being there.
After the video, the camera's view got wider and Sgt. Condiff, now clean shaven, snuck up behind his family and surprised them. Rachael, who is almost six months pregnant with their second child, immediately burst into tears upon seeing her husband for the first time in six months. Rachael ran toward him, they embraced and then had a group hug with Charley. The stadium cheered. The surprise worked. The family was whole again.
.@GEICO and MLB created a special moment tonight, reuniting Air Force Special Tactics Operator, Staff Sergent Cole Condiff, with his family. #SeatsforService pic.twitter.com/An4hNnw8ES
— MLB (@MLB) July 18, 2018
"I was talking to my wife today," Sgt. Condiff told Yahoo Sports about an hour before the surprise, deep inside Nationals Park. "I told her 'Oh, I'm planning a mission.' She has no idea."
It was a mission — just a different type of mission. As part of Operation Enduring Freedom, his job is finding solutions for combat challenges his group of Special Operations Forces face. That means things like integrating air power into the battlefield. He's highly trained and often gets deployed at a moment's notice. That means he doesn't always to get communicate with his family back home.
"We have some spotty wi-fi," Sgt. Condiff said. "Depending on how well the wi-fi is working, I can text her and whatnot, but that's about it."
Near the National League clubhouse before the game began, Sgt. Condiff was greeted by Sean Doolittle, a Washington Nationals relief pitcher who is on the NL squad. Doolittle comes from a military family and is active in supporting veterans causes like Operation Finally Home and Swords to Plowshares — he's particularly passionate about helping veterans who have "bad papers."
"Are you nervous?" Doolittle asked Sgt. Condiff.
"A little bit of both," Sgt. Condiff said. "I wasn't nervous at first, but as it's gotten closer …
"My family thinks I'm still over there."
He figured this was a surprise they'd love — and that they deserved.
"My wife does a lot back home," Sgt. Condiff said. "She's taking care of my daughter, getting ready to have another kid. All that by herself is phenomenal … Without my family everything would be so much harder."
Judging by Rachael and Charley's reaction when the surprise unfolded, Sgt. Cole Condiff's secret All-Star game "mission" was a resounding success.
– – – – – –
Mike Oz is a writer at Yahoo Sports. Contact him at firstname.lastname@example.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
More from Yahoo Sports:
• Former Steelers first-round pick Gabe Rivera dies
• Man calls cop after hard foul in pickup basketball
• Terrell Owens might be making a comeback in the CFL
• Cowboys DE Randy Gregory finally reinstated after 18-month suspension


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Kick back in our comfortable service lounge and enjoy complimentary Wi-Fi, gourmet coffee, snacks and even HDTV. Our complimentary service shuttle runs every half hour and allows you to schedule pickups within 20 miles of our store. Better yet, if additional work is approved outside of the primary concern, rentals will be provided for additional repairs taking over 2-hours to complete.
Welcome to Nourse ToyotaWelcome to Nourse Toyota, where we're completely dedicated to providing Ohio's Toyota fans with a dealership experience unlike any other. From the moment you walk through the doors of our Chillicothe Toyota dealership, you'll see how we strive to ensure each customer's individual needs are met to their satisfaction. For the past 25-plus years, Nourse Toyota has been proud to serve as a shopping hub for Ohio residents from Bainbridge, Kingston, Waverly and beyond. We hope that we can serve you next!
Visit our Toyota dealership serving Circleville to instantly see why we've turned many Toyota shoppers into lifelong customers. Every new Toyota in our showroom comes with the Nourse Toyota Lifetime Warranty, non-factory warranty, valid at ASE-certified dealers and good for unlimited miles. We maintain a large inventory of new vehicles, including popular cars like the best-selling Toyota Camry and Corolla, mighty Tacoma and Tundra trucks and environmentally-friendly Prius models. Our professional sales staff is happy to set you up with a test-drive at your earliest convenience so you can see for yourself which new Toyota model is best suited for your lifestyle and your needs.
If you prefer a more budget-friendly used Toyota, we recommend taking a look at our great selection of pre-owned vehicles. Each Certified Pre-Owned Toyota, used Toyota and pre-owned vehicle from another automaker that we sell has passed a comprehensive mechanical and safety inspection by our superior service staff, before we even put it on our lot. This way we can ensure that every customer who visits our Toyota dealership serving Frankfort, New Holland and Laurelville is looking at a vehicle in like-new condition.
From the beginning of your shopping experience right up until you sign on the dotted line, Nourse Toyota's expert staff is there for you every step of the way. Our intelligent Toyota finance staff will work with you as you decide if you should lease or buy, and they'll help you find an auto loan with an affordable rate. Even after you drive home to Williamsport, South Salem, Clarksburg or elsewhere in the Buckeye State, our professional Toyota service and parts staff is still available to assist you with all your maintenance needs. Our well-trained Toyota service team knows every aspect of your vehicle, so whether you need minor maintenance or major repairs, they'll put your mind at ease. If you're in need of OEM Toyota parts, our staff can easily assist you with ordering the correct components for your car, truck or SUV.
We know how much you rely on your Toyota every day, and we hope you'll put your trust in us to take care of all your automotive needs. Our Chillicothe Toyota dealership welcomes neighbors and friends from Washington Court House, Jackson, Portsmouth and the rest of Ohio. Stop by Nourse Toyota, conveniently located at 423 North Bridge Street, or give us a call at 877-682-7168 to get started finding a new Toyota and becoming a member of the Nourse Chillicothe Automall Owners Club today!


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Your IT system is one of your most critical investments–and possibly one of the most costly. Abel Solutions Managed IT Services offers an ultra-efficient and flexible set of services that can help keep your company safe and productive while also maintaining tight controls over increasing costs.
With Abel, you have peace of mind knowing your systems are being monitored and managed by some of the most qualified Microsoft certified technicians in the business. We can support you both on-site and remotely by using the latest in technology support tools. And because we use a fixed cost per user pricing model, you'll avoid cost fluctuations and have better control over ongoing IT expenses.
Abel Solutions Managed IT Services include:


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Share your social media links with your audience. Make it super easy for them to follow you. Gone are the days, when you ask your viewers to type in your website links. Or worse hold up pieces of paper with your links written on.
The Link Me Live Pic helps you share your links in a professional yet easy way. Use your Link Me Live Pic at the beginning of your live stream, in the middle or at the end as part of your call to action. I want you to focus on engagement not on sharing your links the old way.
How to use the Link Me Live Pics
Your Link Me Live images would be open on another device. So allowing you to flip between your Links images and yourself.
If you want more versatility by having the PDF's you can print them out on white card and simply pin them up, for the same effect. Ideal for live streaming in places you can't add another device, or if don't have a second device.
You will receive:
5 Main Blank Link Backgrounds
5 Blank Call to Action Backgrounds
12 Official Logos
Bonus How to Video Tutorial
Instant access to your image pack.


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http://www.w3c.org/ redo and techniques at: W3C Home Page Table-less Layout: HOWTO and FAQ http://www.w3.org/2002/11/homepage === Thanks Dominique. It does not look that much different, but what looks different even looks even better. Glad to see the changes, too. I will be passing around the news. hollyReceived on Thursday, 5 December 2002 13:57:13 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.1 : Tuesday, 6 January 2015 20:16:17 UTC


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I'm having sales in my Etsy and Felt shops. It is a last minute decision, hence the short notice. This will be the last sale for 2016. Everything in both my shops are 20% off. Sale runs from today 25 November till midnight Monday 29 November. Remember to enter coupon code BFCM2016 for Felt shop when you check out. There is no need to enter any coupon code for Etsy as it is already discounted. You'll see a photo like this in the shop, simply check out as usual.
As for markets, I will be at Titirangi Village Market this Sunday, 27 November, 11 and 18 December 2016 and will call it a wrap for 2016.
The flower garden is looking a little sad this year, but there are pops of flowers that self seeded, like this pot marigold from Flighty, a much welcome cheer. I hope to get my hands in the dirt once all markets are over and give my garden a much needed TLC.
Have a lovely weekend :)


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What is OPSUMIT® (macitentan)? OPSUMIT is a prescription medicine used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH, WHO... Read more Group 1). PAH is high blood pressure in the arteries of your lungs. OPSUMIT can:
Improve your ability to exercise as measured by the 6-minute walk distance (6MWD). In a clinical study of mainly WHO FC II-III... Read more patients, those taking OPSUMIT walked, on average, 22 meters farther at Month 6 than patients not taking it
Improve some of your symptoms
Help slow down the progression of your disease
Lower your chance of being hospitalized for PAH
It is not known if OPSUMIT is safe and effective in children. Read less
Women who are able to get pregnant must have negative pregnancy tests:
Your doctor will decide when you should take pregnancy tests.
Improve your ability to exercise as measured by the 6-minute walk distance (6MWD). In a clinical study of mainly WHO FC II-III patients, those taking OPSUMIT walked, on average, 22 meters farther at Month 6 than patients not taking it
Help slow down the progression of your disease
It is not known if OPSUMIT is safe and effective in children.
It's important not to have unprotected sex while taking OPSUMIT. Tell your doctor right away if you have unprotected sex, think your birth control has failed, miss a menstrual period, or think you may be pregnant. He or she may recommend using a form of emergency birth control.
If you are the parent or caregiver of a female child who started taking OPSUMIT before reaching puberty, check with your child regularly for any signs of puberty. Your child may reach puberty before having her first menstrual period. Talk to your doctor if you think your child is showing signs of puberty or if you have any questions about the signs of puberty.
Before starting OPSUMIT, women must enroll in a program called the OPSUMIT Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS). If you are a woman who is able to get pregnant, you must talk to your doctor to learn the benefits and risks of OPSUMIT. You must also agree to all of the instructions in the program. Men who are prescribed OPSUMIT do not need to enroll in this program.
Talk to your doctor about all your medical conditions, as well as all the medicines, vitamins, and supplements you take. OPSUMIT and other medicines may affect each other causing side effects. Tell your doctor right away if you take an HIV medicine. Do not start any new medicine until you check with your doctor.
Talk to your doctor if you have a side effect that bothers you or does not go away. These are not all the possible side effects of OPSUMIT. For more information, ask your doctor or pharmacist.
You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch.
Please see full Prescribing Information and Medication Guide, including an Important Warning about Serious Birth Defects.
About Karla: Karla was diagnosed with PAH in 2003. She finds the greatest joy in spending time with family and loves anything that involves the theater. Karla knows the importance of setting goals with her "new normal" in mind.
About Cheryl: Cheryl was diagnosed with PAH in 2011. She is a mother, grandmother, and photographer who loves exploring the outdoors. Cheryl is focused on looking forward, setting goals with her doctor, and knowing when to "sit out" and rest.
About Nurse Counselor Support:Meet the Nurse Counselors available as a resource through the Actelion Pathways Patient Education Program. Find out what kind of information they can provide.
*Nurse Counselors do not provide nursing services, treatment, or medical advice.


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Contact Us
If Chat is offline, try finding your answer in our FAQ database by typing the subject of your question in the box above and viewing the FAQs that appear as you type. If you don't find what you're looking for, you may submit your question and receive an answer via email as soon as possible.
Related Topics
Answered By Library Staff Last Updated: Jun 14, 2018 Views: 27
The Library does have some current course textbooks in the Reserves collection on each campus.
You can search the Course Reserves collection online for your textbook on the Library's homepage.
1. Look under Find
2. Click on Course Reserves to begin your search.
Reserve textbooks must stay in the library, and can be used for up to two hours.
Note: At TCC, the textbooks for courses are specific to the curriculum taught at each campus so you will find the textbooks in the library only matching the curriculum taught on that campus.


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D-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase is essential for the biosynthesis of hemoglobin. Inhibition of this enzyme interferes with the formation of blood up to the point of anemia. In the active site , a zinc ion binds to four ligands, three of which a sulfur atom. When lead replaces zinc, it only binds to the three sulfur atoms. The reason for this is the emerging free electron pair of the lead cation. It acts like an electronic shield on one side, pushing away the fourth ligand. Such a dramatic geometrical distortion at the active center could explain why lead inhibits this enzyme.
Walter Weder and Erich Russi the University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, stated in a comment:'The technical development in this area should be continued, with the aim of extending the continuity to airway stent must carefully in future studies that selection. The patient, so that the chances of producing a sustained therapeutic effect is high can be performed. Achieved for progress, detailed analysis of the EASE study is needed to respond populations to identify and to improve practices.But just as in the building industry , nanotechnology researchers may be often are delimited by the amount of raw materials. Now, Biodesign Institute of Arizona State University was scientists Hao Yan these pitfalls using using cells of as the plants DNA based nanostructures inside a living cell.


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CREAMY AVOCADO PESTO WITH COURGETTE SPAGHETTIServes 8 – Calories per serving 98
For the spaghetti:
- 450g courgette put through a spirali machine to make spaghetti.
For the pesto:
- 2 Avocados de seeded and the skin removed
- Juice of 1½ lemons
- Large bunch of fresh basil
- 6 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
- 125g cherry tomatoes or normal tomatoes with the seeds removed
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Place all the pesto ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
- Pour the pesto onto the courgette spaghetti and gently toss to cover the spaghetti.
- Serve with a small garnish of chopped basil.


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Last week brought us the news of the biggest celebrity pissing contest of the new year, between Mel Gibson, who wanted to make a "Jewish Braveheart" about the story of Judah Maccabee, and Joe Eszterhas, the screenwriter (Showgirls, Basic Instinct) initially hired to write it, who claims Mel Gibson is a psychopath who calls everyone "oven-dodger" and "Jewboy", hated John Lennon, and only was interested in the project as a way to rehabilitate his image. In his public response, Gibson said the only reason the project hadn't moved forward was because Eszterhas's script was "extraordinarily disappointing." Frankly, neither of their stories are that hard to believe.
Today Sharon Waxman at TheWrap has posted a review of Eszterhas's script, which was apparently titled M.C.K.B.I., and sounds like an NKOTB side project. She says it's "every bit the Jewish Braveheart" Eszterhas was commissioned to write, but you may want to take the whole thing with a grain of salt, considering TheWrap was the site that initially broke Eszterhas's letter to Gibson, and Waxman has had an ongoing feud with Nikki Finke of Deadline, who published Gibson's response. Don't be surprised to see a few pro-Gibson and pro-Eszterhas stories being thrown back and forth between them. (My, this is all very exciting, isn't it). Anyway, here's Waxman's account of the script:
Eszterhas's script is remarkably faithful to the 2nd century B.C. biblical tale. A group of five brothers, sons of the high priest Mattathias, band together to fight the anti-Jewish occupation of Israel by the Greek-Syrian ruler, Antiochus. It is primal: white hats and black hats. Heroes and heinous villains. Good vs. evil.
On the face of it, this is a script that Mel Gibson should absolutely love: A band of pious underdogs take on an evil overlord. (They don't paint their faces a la "Braveheart," but the Jewish women are physically branded as harlots.)
It is full of throat-slitting and cutting off of heads. There are miles of heads on stakes. In one scene, a woman plunges a dagger into the eye of an opponent. Hearts are cut out of dead bodies. And the fighting is full of Rambo-like relish.
The question is, perhaps: Does anyone outside the Anti-Defamation League want to see a Jewish "Braveheart"?
The answer: YES. Especially if Tom Berenger plays a grizzled old Hebrew, running around with a necklace made of enemy foreskins.
From one scene:
"Ramses turns to run, but Judah is on him…Ramses falls. Judah kills him with his bare hands – lifting him by the neck and snapping it suddenly. Judah gets up and faces the other mercenaries. He is a crazed, furious, dervish – explosive, a killing machine. The mercenaries have shields, swords, and shovel-like spears. Judah draws his knife. He is a fighting machine at full roar."
"Suddenly, the tide of the battle changes when Judah bends down to pick up a nickel. 'GLAYVIN!' he shouts, licking his enemies' blood from his pointy dagger. As the enemy charges forward he asks for a time out, explaining, 'The dry air makes me wheeze.'"
It's got feeling in spades and as far as triumph goes, probably too much for many. (Spoiler alert: the Jews win.)
But here's the other question about this script: it's a first draft. And as such, Warner's decision to reject it whole cloth is a mystery. After spending presumably hundreds of thousands of dollars on Eszterhas, why not give him notes and get him to do a rewrite, as more commonly happens in Hollywood?
It's surprising that Gibson would reject it, along with Warner Bros. It seems right up his alley. [TheWrap]
I know, why wouldn't they want it?? It's a mystery! The only explanation is that Mel Gibson is a Jew-hater and never had any intention of making it in the first place. …Wait, don't you see what this means? IT MEANS THAT STORY YOU PRINTED FIVE DAYS AGO WAS TOTALLY 1000% ACCURATE! I mean talk about coincidence! Even for those scoop-breakers over at TheWrap, I don't know how they could've seen this coming.
[picture via Cleveland.com]


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Before beginning, I would like to thank Carmen Amato for this opportunity to share my endeavors, hopes and dreams. She has been a great inspiration to many writers and her encouragement has had a very profound and positive impact on many people.
I primarily refer to myself as a "whole-istic" artist. I use the word in English "whole" which describes more accurately what I feel my life experience is. It is a multiple approach to living; an interactive process through creativity, art, spirituality and communication. These endeavors often happen simultaneously; they integrate and create a single focus called life.
Generally, I have various activities happening at the same time. Presently, I am at my mother's house. Today is her birthday. She is 102 years old. I help to take care of her some of the time. I maintain a flexible schedule so that I can create. Presently, I am finishing one of several music projects—a sonata for four saxophones, soprano, alto, tenor and baritone. I just finished a vocal duet for soprano and alto with piano accompaniment and I am mounting a single track environmental song called Raindrop that can be purchased at a music website called cdbaby.com My great concern is the global environment. I just finished reading a book by Rachel Carson called Silent Spring. It affected me deeply and I was inspired to write a story and libretto for a smaller scale opera/musical that I am composing which I have named, The Black Nightingale Prince. I also wrote another opera/musical that I wrote called Raindrop that was presented as a live dramatic reading and songs for Earth Day, 2010.
Presently, I teach Music Appreciation at the Northern New Mexico College in Española. I also teach piano privately, orchard and farm, help to take care of my mother, write, compose and prepare for a photographic exhibits such as the Dixon Art Tour or other. I also spend important time with family and friends. I enjoy cooking and entertaining. I am finishing a sonata for Saxophone quartet to be performed in Santa Fe and also finished a duet for soprano and alto using the words, "Peace comes from remembering only love is real."
Presently, I am focusing all of my activities on the environment, writing, composing, teaching and farming. I also keep a personal journal and have for years. Presently, I am writing about this experience in my personal journal—it's very important to me:
I am experiencing each day as a great gift. I think about it especially when I am lying in my bed and the light of the morning starts to stream through my bedroom window. If I wait long enough, I can hear a little bird and maybe more sometimes, singing as they greet the morning light. I start to think about this and I begin to feel the uniqueness of the day—how special it is, what a great gift a day is in the life of anyone or anything. When I write in my journal about this, other things begin to occur to me. Soon I realize that there a second great gift and that is, the gift of "choosing." I realize that I can "choose" how my day will go. I write about this and then I really start to pay attention to what I am choosing all day long. What are my activities, my words, my actions, my thoughts and concerns. Who did I remember, where did I go. My day is emerging with a quality that is making it more unique and singular. I write about this in my journal and then I realize that there is a third gift. This is the gift of sleep. One third of my life is spent sleeping. It is an opportunity to learn about peace and tranquility. Also, it is another reality—a dreamtime reality that contrasts with my wake time. Now, I am thinking a lot about my bedroom. Actually, I am no longer calling it my bedroom. I call my bedroom, my "dream room." I never used to make my bed. All of the sudden, I want to take time to make my bed. I find that taking time to make my bed puts me in a calm, meditative state. The activity of making my bed creates within my being a sense of peace, tranquility, restfulness, balance—it's like blessing where my dreams had come to visit me. It marks the place where I lie and must trust, yes, must trust that the light after the darkness of night will return and flow through my window and greet me once again. I write about this and ponder and think about these three wonderous gifts that did not cost me a penny. My awareness of these three gifts has radically changed my life. I think again and realize that every human being has these three gifts of human experience. I really like this. It's a realization of a cosmic identity of humanity—especially after feeling the shamefulness of what destruction we as human beings have caused the planet, it is through these illuminations that I feel optimistic again, hopeful that as a human beings, we can express and share our gifts without exploitation that we have.
I am a professor at Northern New Mexico College in Española, New Mexico. I teach Music Appreciation and Piano. I also have taught Creative Dance and Flamenco.
I also work for myself. I have an organic (no chemical or pesticide) agricultural based endeavor called La Carreta. www.lacarretanewmexico.com In the past, I have made a line of fruit preserves, sauces, vinegars, teas, apple cider from the fruits that grow in my orchard. My La Carreta business is undergoing an updating process and a change of direction at this time. The new changes will be reflected in my website soon. I will be making fewer products with sugar such as fruit preserves. What I will continue to do is make fresh pressed apple cider, vinegars, fresh and dried fruits, herb teas, apple syrup without sugar. Also, I am very interested in healthy, organic nutrition, fresh bean sprouts, fresh fruits and vegetables. I will continue to sell my photography and books and hope to pen some articles and essays for journals and newspapers.
Recently I wrote a large scale musical/opera called Raindrop. It is an environmental work consisting of 15 arias. It was presented last year 2010 in Dixon, New Mexico for Earth Day, World Environment Day and on radio for Fourth of July. There is a detailed description of these events on my website, lacarretanewmexico.com under the "news" section of my website. I have also published some environmental essays in this same section as well.
I also have a recorded song called Raindrop which was premiered with an interview of me done by Dave Hockmeyer at the world famous KTAOS solar radio station up in Taos, New Mexico, January 2010.
I am a self-publisher. My books are published under my publishing company called La Carreta. I have also published an article for an environmental journal, call Taos Green Guide for Sustainable Living. My photographs have been published front cover and inside covers of a book that was produced by the National Hispanic Cultural Center and the Pueblo Cultural Center called Healing Plants of the Rio Grande Valley: Hispano and Pueblo Uses of Nature. The book is edited by Verónica Iglesias Swanson and Carlos Vásquez. It is an intercultural collaboration. The cover of the book and two additional large full size pages are of my photographs. They are pictures of remedios that grow on my farm. Many of my works in music, literature, photography and dance have been published in magazines, books and newspapers. Some of them have won awards.
My books are:
Crest of the Wave (poetry) Nature, contemplative, prayers, agriculture/ personal experiences of living on a farm in rural northern New Mexico
Beyond the Garden (poetry)
Nature, travel, farming experiences, contemplative
Beyond the Garden (poetry Spanish translation)
Spanish translation by Clara Hilda Padilla of Sonora, Mexico
Toward and Away (narrative poetry)
Personal reflections about questions and the call hidden deep in questions
La Última Posada (Christmas story plus recipes)
Fiction Christmas story set in southwestern territorial times/ a carpenter lost in the mountains, small family, winter storm and a birth / family recipes for posadas and other festive occasions/ verses of Spanish posadas with English translation
Vineyards of Blood (vignettes and poetry)
Encounters with Jesus, Maria and feature poem, Vineyards of Blood/ exploration of religious symbols and their impact
Trilogy (three dramas, songs, poetry and photography)
Three plays--Catedral del Viento concerning the controversy of "Our Lady" digital art work of Alma Lopez/ Marco's Return a Vietnam veteran from Alcalde returns from the war in search of his daughter given up for adoption/ Serenata a romantic play without conflict about love between a Cherry tree and the acequia water and how they never want to be separated.
Scream (La Frontera, Las Mujeres Desparecidas narrative poetry)
Frontera, an at length narrative poem with Spanish translation by Hector Contreras reflecting on border issues and clashes. Las Mujeres Desparecidas, an at length poem inspired by various trips to Juárez and conversations with women of Juárez. Final poem inspired by imaginings of grass roots strategies creating social change through communication. Featured at the Encuentro de Poesia en Ciudad Juárez.
The White Golden Blanket (drama and poetry)
Four Act Play set in Afghanistan, Pakistan and New York City based on interviews and correspondence with photo journalists and combat journalist/ clash of cultures creates settings where persons unlikely to meet do/ women in conflict in all cultures, women--important in solving world conflicts, landmines, environment, the plight of refugees, reflections on war, death and religion
Tecolote Tales (short stories)
Tecolote Tale--a young boy tests his courage and meets an owl who teaches him wiser ways/ The Master and His Slave--two men are marooned on an island learn that survival requires overcoming personal barriers even though they have the physical means to save themselves./ The Psychic Desert--explores an interior world of solitude--imagination and reveals itself in a desert where animals, humans and spirits play out the interior drama of the human spirit.
Infinite Love (intimate poems)
English/future Spanish translation by Carmen Amato
Intimate poems--a love letter to the universe/ a deep request, a Spanish healing remedio for a return to balance in the world. This work is also re-interpreted in jazz with song, piano, string bass and flute.
La Virgen de Guadalupe (El Huérfano y su Madre)
An Epic poem inspired by the account of the tilma of La Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe enshrined at Tepeyac near Mexico City. An additional separate poem concludes the book called The Fragments of My Soul in English with Spanish translation by my mother, Maria Casias and Carmen Holguin Contreras.
Bear Foot Song (A Passage through Transformation)
Three essays interwoven within a story.
Shalt (narrative poetry)
English with Spanish translation done by Carmen Holguin Contreras
The Vote (non-fiction narrative)
A non-fiction narrative about the author's experience of being a Challenger for the Democratic Party at the Alcalde Precinct#2, November 2, 2004. The account covers a period during the election campaign, the Election Day and time after the election. It is about the personal experience of political involvement.
I enjoy both solitude and time with friends and family. I'm an optimistic person and enjoy both work and play. Humor is important. I am serious, but I also enjoy being very silly with friends. I like being physically very active, being in nature, dancing, working on farm and orchard projects, inventing, trying out new approaches and ideas. I love children and enjoy working with people of all ages. I enjoy cooking and entertaining. Essentially, my philosophy is: relax, focus, enjoy your work, do your best, discover and innovate
I have a list of projects that I am working on.
I want to finish entering all the arias from the Raindrop musical/opera into and learn the Finale composing computer program. Finish the overture that goes to this opera and also finish my project of having the theme song from Raindrop available to buy on cdbaby.com. This will be happening very soon, so check out that website for the song. Also, I want to put the Raindrop story into an e book and hardcopy to sell. My hope is to have The Black Nightingale Prince also ready. I also have two ideas for other opera/ musicals and an additional essay and story. These are all on my mental dock (logged in my mind) ready to work on as soon as possible. All the work is environmental.
I would like to tell people who are concerned about the environment---Don't give up. Make "trying" a goal. You must make it a consistent, life-time effort. Read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. She is a wonderful writer and an important example and model of someone who made such important contributions through her writing. She is an inspiring example of someone who makes "trying" a life-time goal.
Photography sent by Silvia Vergara
Sylvia Ernestina Vergara (2010)
Sylvia Ernestina Vergara is an internationally recognized visual, performing artist and author. Vergara has a Master Degree from Mills College, Oakland, California in Theatre Arts with an emphasis in Dance Choreography and concentration in music. Sylvia E.Vergara is an accomplished pianist, composer and dance choreographer. She was awarded a partial tuition scholarship in music composition by eminent French composer, Darius Milhaud (Aspen Summer Music Festival). Her other mentors include J. D. Robb and Walter Keller of the University of New Mexico. Ms. Vergara founded and directed Arte Mudanza, a prominent performing and visual arts center receiving support through five separate successive grants from the New Mexico Arts Division now known as the Office of Cultural Affairs.
Using music composition and dance choreography, writing, visual arts and agriculture, Sylvia creates an artistic synthesis about life in rural New Mexico. Through art she expresses her cultural New Mexico roots that reach back generations. Simultaneously, Vergara expounds on contemporary topics that concern environmental and social issues locally and globally. On Earth Day, April 23, 2010, Ms. Vergara premiered her musical/opera called Raindrop, an environmental musical for children, teenagers and adults about the Arctic, global warming, polar bears and solar cars. Other 2010 presentations of Raindrop were for World Environment Day and Fourth of July. Her approach to challenging environmental issues is positive and seeks to explore in as many ways as possible viable solutions that might work. Vergara believes that artists can make an important difference in helping to solve the world's most difficult problems through a visionary approach that uses imagination and creativity. Sylvia has presented her creative works at the Tercer Encuentro Internacional de Poetas 2008 en Ciudad Delicias, Mexico. This is her seventh invitation to share her music and literary works at international symposiums for scholars, writers and journalists in Mexico. Sylvia Ernestina Vergara has been a three-time panelist for Bioneers in New Mexico, an internationally prominent environmental organization. Vergara presented her perspective through her written articles, song, poetry and art at the New Mexico Bioneer's Conference 2007 in Santa Fe. Ms. Vergara is featured in the January 2008 Taos Green Guide for Sustainable Living concerning water issues. Vergara's latest photographic publication was for a major book called Healing Plants of th Rio Grande, Valley: Hispano and Pueblo Uses of Nature, a collaborative effort between the National Hispanic Cultural Center and the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, USA.
Sylvia Ernestina Vergara teaches Music Appreciation at Northern New Mexico College. She also has the honor of being an original member of the women's literary group of prominent Mexican scholars and writers called Red Planetaria de Mujeres Poetas.
There is more about the literary encuentros that I would like to talk about that were so wonderful and listings also of literary works in Mexican anthologies. I would love to talk about how wonderful the literary encuentros in Mexico were and what a life-long, powerful inspiration they were. I will never forget those cherished and valuable experiences and the wonderful friends I made. Thank you.
Environmental Research and Agricultural Projects 2011
Research Project using Newspaper to insulate windows (a passive solar energy approach to heat conservation)
Presently I am conducting two environmental studies at the farm. Winters are very cold in northern New Mexico. This year 2011, the temperature dropped 20 degrees below zero. Generally the temperature does not drop that low. I live in an adobe home and in the past I have used plastic to insulate the windows. This year I have decided to use one sheet of newspaper thickness on the south side and east and west windows and two sheets of newsprint on the north side windows. I also created newsprint panels to section off a room and a hallway. I wanted to use a recyclable material such as newspaper instead of plastic because newspaper is readily available and recyclable. Also, I felt that if I could successfully keep the cold out, perhaps other people in cold regions could benefit from this experiment and try this method. I was able to conserve heat with minimal dependence on other fuels for heat.
Next season I hope to use plain newsprint paper that I can create artwork on the paper. I see important aesthetic possibilities as well as functional ones. Also, I found using newsprint an affordable approach. The entire project cost less than $10 dollars. Anybody could do it.
Research Project #2
Using Organic Apple Cider Vinegar
for Well Water Sanitation
The second study has to do with using organic apple cider vinegar instead of Chlorine
To sanitize a drinking water well. Many people in rural northern New Mexico have water wells that they use for their drinking water. Chlorine is used for sanitizing wells. The continued use of chlorine has been found to be harmful to the environment. This includes the devastation to water aquifers, air, our bodies, soil and nearby rivers and streams. I am experimenting with apple cider vinegar as an alternative to the use of chlorine for disinfecting my water well. This study will be conducted throughout the year 2011 on my water well. Apple cider vinegar does not hurt the aquifer. It is safe for our bodies and does not hurt the air. And as I imagine it, I like the idea of supporting an organic (no chemicals or pesticide industry) by using an organic apple cider vinegar. If this can be achieved, then people possibly could have another alternative that does not hurt the environment.
The ants are making pyramids
Without bulldozers
Without corporations
The bees are making
Without gas
Without electricity
Without advertizing
The birds are making
Their nests
Without concrete
Without plastic
Without cutting trees down
The fish are
Without hospitals
Without polluting the water
Without population explosions
The plants are making solar
Without mining.
Alfabeto de la conciencia
La página está temblando
se me perdió mi pluma
ahora tengo que escribir
con mi corazón.
La vida muerde mi corazón
las palabras están hechas de sangre
y el ritmo está pulsando
en una volcánica arteria.
Emociones están envueltas
en este misterioso músculo.
La página espera
mis dedos están quietos,
siento la punta
de la pasión
entrando en el alfabeto
de mi conciencia.
Por Sylvia Ernestina Vergara
(Traducción en Español por Inma Lopetegui)
Yo creo que ninguna semilla debe ser patentada. La semilla no esta hecha para ser estéril y no dar más semillas. Todas las semillas pertenecen a la humanidad y esto significa ayudar a alimentar toda la tierra.
Dedico este poema a todos los campesinos del mundo y especialmente a aquellos que han perdido toda esperanza y están cometiendo suicidio (especialmente en India) porque han perdido sus derechos humanos y sus semillas.
Qué diminutos, mis pequeños Dioses y Diosas.
Qué preciosos, mis pequeños Dioses y Diosas
Grande es vuestra voz en mi corazón
Yo bailo mientras tu cantas:
¡Estoy viva!
¡Estoy viva!
La palma abierta de mi mano
es uno de vuestros muchos tronos
Yo os susurro:
Qué diminutos, mis pequeños Dioses
Qué preciosos, mis pequeños Diosas
¡Cuantos diferentes maravillosos tamaños
y formas tenéis!
La canción de cuna de la tierra
os arrulla en el viento y los ríos
En otoño, manos con esperanza os recogen
para plantar la futura cosecha
Plantas secas marchitasen y desmenuzan
mientras el helado invierno os pisotea.
Vuestro primero y último grito es "¡Semilla!"
El frío helado os pisotea y os rompe
abriendo vuestras pequeños féretros
Vuestras semillas se derraman fuera y
se dispensan sobre el suelo
Pequeños animales os recogen para su invierno
Cuatro vientos, ríos, pájaros celebran el regalo sagrado
Todas las pequeñas Dioses y Diosas llamados "Semillas"
han llegado a bendecirnos
Mientras ellas crecen,
ellos serán nuestros compañeros
y nos enseñan amor y paciencia
Ellos han llegado a darnos
fe universal en ellos
cuando ellas calladamente empiezan
a brotar debajo del suelo
Ellos susurran:
"Necesitáis creer en milagros
incluso antes de que aparezcamos"
Los Dioses semilla nos enseñan su synergéticas
bendiciones mientras ellos se transforman y crecen:
"La bendición de Dios Padre, Dios Hijo, Dios
Espíritu Santo
y la mía te alcance también"
Los valles, campos, agua y campesinos eco:
"…y la mía te alcance también"
Nosotros no debemos estar sin las pequeños Dioses y Diosas.
Nosotros no debemos olvidaros
Compartamos nuestras semillas
Compartamos, reunámonos y juntos alabemos
las Dioses semillas
No debemos dejarlas morir.
Pintura y Foto de Sylvia Vergara
Extracto del Sueño de Isis
Por Sylvia Ernestina Vergara
(Traducción Español / Inma Lopetegui)
Osiris entra:
El huele a los campos de trigo y cebada
Las aguas del Nilo se estremecen en el estanque de sus ojos
Sus manos son las del gran faraón, dios y poeta
Sus orejas están hechas de música maravillosa
Sus sandalias no están pintadas de sus enemigos
para ser aplastados con sus pisadas
Sus sandalias están hechas de flores y hierba
De su túnica de lino, retoños de maíz están creciendo
Sus labios y su sonrisa sabe a las frutas y
los vegetales recogidos al amanecer
Su piel es morena y vibrante como los campos inundados
por el Nilo, listos para plantar
Sus movimientos fluyen como el gran río de Egipto
Su espíritu está lleno del hermoso lenguaje de los animales que
crecen vigorosamente bebiendo las aguas de sus orillas.
Photography by Carmen Amato
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Website: www.lacarretanewmexico.com


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Hello World!
So what do you need to know? I grew up in Hawaii and still call it home even though I was surprised to do the math and learn that in just 4 years I will have lived as many years out of Hawaii as in. So far its been 5 years in Boston and 8 years in Connecticut and I've been loving every minute of it (okay maybe not the days that have hit below 10 degrees, but the rest of them have been pretty awesome).
I started this blog over on Tumblr at the end of 2009 in order to motivate myself to go out and see the world, and for the most part I think it has really helped me to stop my couch-potato ways. So here you will really just find mindless ramblings of a disney-loving, self-proclaimed foodie snob trying to get the most out of the East Coast before moving back to that place I still call home all while maintaining a hate-hate relationship with diet and exersize.
Any questions? Feel free to email me at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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A Little Get-Away
The Cypress Hills in Alberta do not feature the same towering conifers as they do in Saskatchewan but they come with their own charm. The transition from prairie to hills and forest is rapid. The Pelicans on Elkwater Lake welcomed us and then because the weather was forecast to be rainy, we headed out the evening we arrived. In the second picture, in the distance you can see a small bit of water that is Reesor Lake. The other view is the miles that this high point provides from where the ice age 10,000 years ago didn't reach.
Reesor Lake in the evening light is stunning. It is stocked with rainbow trout and there are upwards of 30 pelicans enjoying the bounty. Fisherman were hopeful as they slip-bobbed from the shore. Other birds fished, as well. From a distance, I saw the splash as one dived to capture supper. The little doe was grazing in the grounds of the Lodge and cabins. As you can see, it's a mule deer. The next morning, when rain threatened as promised we drove to Horseshoe Canyon. You can see the lowering clouds and the canyon beyond the trees. Next is a view of Elkwater Lake. We tried for a walk but suddenly grey clouds came in and sent us back to the car. These are resident geese of Elkwater Lake. They had one chick but I took the picture from the car. The up and down threats of their heads let me know it was a good decision.
Wednesday morning was RAIN. When there was a break, we tried to take a little drive, perhaps back to Reesor Lake. The fog thickened into what for us prairie dwellers seemed like a pea-souper. This is what the road looked like, the trees eerily draped in grey. In the evening, there was a bit of sun. This abandoned farmhouse was on the southern side of the Hills on the way to the border. Yes- after a crappy day (weatherwise), the setting sun painted the sky in delicate pinks and peaches.
Of course, the next morning dawned bright and sunny as we had to head out. Medicine Hat was a good stop and the Siiamus teepee has beautiful paintings by Indigenous artists, depicting their culture and history.
The cactus bloomed on a bank near one of Medicine Hat's golf courses. Below my intrepid travelling companion is watching nervously as I scrambled up to get my picture. She would have called 911, had I rolled to the parking lot, I think. After lunch, we went for a walk on Police Point along the South Saskatchewan River. The bull snake sunning itself on the path looked dead. HA! He was playing dead AND we thought he was a rattlesnake. There are a few rattlers in Medicine Hat and the bull snake takes advantage of its venomous cousin to scare predators off. It worked on us. Lastly, the tail-end, so to speak, was this little albino bunny in the parking lot. Great little getaway and the weather was a minor annoyance. You make your fun.
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I've been married a long time and often write about everyday events.
February 2018


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This is essentially the same pathway that regulates our food and water-seeking behavior. By directly or indirectly influencing the molecules of pleasure, alcohol and other drugs trigger key neurochemical events that are central to our feelings of both reward and disappointment. In this sense, the reward pathway is a route to both pleasure and pain. Studies of the nucleus accumbens have demonstrated abnormal firing rates in scanned addicts who were deep into episodes of craving. The craving for a reward denied causes dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens to crash dramatically, as they do when users go off drugs.
During his presentation in Bielefeld, "Stimulating the Addictive Brain," Dr. Jens Kuhn of the University Hospital of Cologne walked the audience through an explanation of one of the most controversial addiction treatment options of all, known as deep brain stimulation. For those unfamiliar with DBS, this surgical procedure uses implanted brain electrodes and a subdermal set of wires connected to a small power source to directly stimulate a designated area of the brain via electric current. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is becoming an established treatment option for some movement disorders, in particular Parkinson's disease. It is also being investigated for obsessive–compulsive disorder, major depression, and Tourette's syndrome.
Kuhn and his researchers, the first German group to investigate deep brain stimulation beginning in 2002, started by investigating Tourette's and OCD. But soon, Kuhn said, it became clear that "valid animal studies show significant induced improvement in cocaine, morphine and alcohol addiction behavior following DBS of the nucleus accumbens…. the few patients who underwent DBS surgery for addiction remained abstinent or had a major reduction of relapses."
Carrie Wade and others at the Scripps Research Institute and Aix-Marseille University in France electrically stimulated the subthalamic nucleus and got addicted rats to take less heroin and become less motivated for the task of bar pressing to receive the drug. Earlier work had demonstrated a similar effect in rats' motivation for cocaine use. "This research takes a non-drug therapy that is already approved for human use and demonstrates that it may be an option for treating heroin abuse," Wade said in a prepared statement.
Dr. Kuhn told the audience that DBS is a "focused neuromodulation procedure to enrich electrical activity" applied to certain brain regions and requiring only "minimally invasive" surgery. In the case of DBS surgery for addiction, which Dr. Kuhn has performed in clinical settings, the target is the nucleus accumbens, which Kuhn called "the key player in the so-called limbic reward loop."
The problem is that these investigations, while positive in many cases, are small and scattered thus far, and do not represent a systematic investigation of the procedure by the field of neuroscience at large. Not yet, anyway. And maybe not ever. There are very few published studies on human addicts, Kuhn said, "but luckily, the ethical implications of DBS are being more and more discussed."
Unfortunately, as Kuhn pointed out, "neurosurgical interventions in psychiatric patients raise ethical considerations not only based on the disreputable experiences of the era of psychosurgery." But that's a good starting point. The procedure, despite one's best efforts, conjures up images of "psychosurgery"—prefrontal lobotomies, or early electroconvulsive shock therapy (ECT). It doesn't help that the likeliest mechanism of action that explains DBS is that high frequency stimulation causes functional lesions at the specific brain sites. From almost every angle, it seems ham-handed and crude—until you see some videos of results, like this one of a Tourette's patient: Video
Kuhn acknowledged that a number of medical professional believe DBS is a poor choice for addiction, and its use "is premature due to expenses, possible risks and the assumed poor scientific rationale of the method in this field." In a letter to the journal Addiction, Adrian Carter and Wayne Hall of the University of Queensland, Australia, noted that some of the positive reports come from China, where scientists have experimented with ablation of portions of the nucleus accumbens and other brain areas. And it seems to work. So, one cure for addiction has been discovered already—but surgically removing chunks of the midbrain isn't likely to catch on, except as a seminar topic for medical ethicists. Carter and Hall call the evidence base for the safety and efficacy of DBS in addiction "weak," and argue that "the addition of an expensive neurosurgical treatment that costs of the order of $50,000 will worsen this situation by utilizing scare health resources to treat a very small number of patients with the income to pay for it."
In a history of "stereotactic lesions" as a treatment for movement disorders, researchers at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences reviewed efforts to expand the use of DBS to include specific psychiatric disorders like depression and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Writing in the Journal of Neurosurgery in 2010, they concluded that "addiction and schizophrenia showed the least improvement from surgery. Therefore, pursuing the treatment of these disorders with DBS using the targets in these studies may be ineffective."
The Neurotech Business Report recently documented that St. Jude Medical, a manufacturer of surgical devices, has shut down its clinical trial of DBS for depression (h/t Vaughan Bell). The company's website said "The BROADEN (BROdmann Area 25 DEep brain Neuromodulation) Study" has been closed and is no longer enrolling participants. The article suggests that "the complexity of specifying the precise brain circuits involved with major depression" may have been the reason for halting the trial.
Known risks associated with deep brain stimulation placement include: dizziness, infection, loss of balance, and speech or vision problems. In addition, the devices, wires and leads that make up the system, which are all implanted in the brain or under the skin, can break or fail in various ways. DBS can also alter glucose metabolism and food intake in lab rats. Altogether, there are few case reports, and the mechanism of action remains essentially uncharacterized. In the case of addiction, this is one treatment that does not seem ready for prime time. It would be premature to move DBS beyond the clinical trial stage in humans without additional data.
Photo Credit: http://biomed.brown.edu


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The Ravens got back into the regular season routine Wednesday morning and it was fairly obvious from the upbeat comments of several team leaders afterward that they're pretty stoked for Sunday's season-opener against the Buffalo Bills at M&T Bank Stadium.
And why not?
If you're Joe Flacco and you haven't played in a real game since November, you've got to be as excited as a kid at Christmas to get back out on the field with a full complement of playmakers, two healthy knees and a clean slate.
If you're Steve Smith Sr., you're essentially resurrecting a career that you expected to be over by now back before your farewell season was cut short in November by a torn...


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Tea for Two. Hope it was Jasmine tea. Premier Wen Jia Bao and PM Gordon Brown 2009.
1954 photo of Mayor of Beijing entertaining the British Labour Party Delegation - Open air cocktail party. (Photo from COrbis)
Original caption: Aneurin Bevan and other members of the British Labor Party delegation visiting Red China chat with Communist officials of the Ministry of Foreign Trade around a fruit-laden table in Peking. Seated in front, left to right, are: Yeh Chi-Chuang, Foreign Trade Minister; Bevan; Morgan Phillips; Harry Earnshaw; and W. Burke (smoking), all members of the delegation. An open-air cocktail party given August 25th by Peking mayor Peng Chen wound up the Britons visit to the Red Chinese capital.
Image: © Bettmann/CORBIS
© 2001-2009 by Corbis Corporation.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Simplicity : Beijing 1954 and London 2009
Memoir by I Am Sarawakiana at 6:40 PM
Labels: china-British relations
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2013 Unveiled LA - Bridal Style Revealed
plan A events
Sunday, March 24, 2013 from 11:00 AM to 3:30 PM (PDT)
Event Details
Say "I Do" to Unveiled, the West Coast's finest bridal event, crowned "the best of the West" by industry bible Martha Stewart Weddings. The most unique celebration of all things bridal, Unveiled is an event unlike any other, bringing together the best event professionals, resources and designs for couples to enjoy as they plan for their big day.
With media sponsors including Martha Stewart Weddings, California Brides and Angeleno Magazine this superbly stylish one-day event presents the best in cakes, dècor, beauty, locations, food, floral and fashion - all crowned by a formal runway show of Vera Wang's latest bridal collection.
Spend an unforgettable afternoon mingling with wedding experts and trendsetters, as you sample treats from caterers and enjoy champagne and cake from each cities' finest bakers - and make sure to check out the State of the Union Address, where our expert panel shares their tips, trends, and current views on weddings.
Enjoy the gallery of our photos, videos and press at unveiledevent.com
Unveiled passports will cost $30 in advance and $40 on-site
When & Where
AT&T Center Penthouse Suites
1150 S Olive St
Los Angeles,
Sunday, March 24, 2013 from 11:00 AM to 3:30 PM (PDT)
Add to my calendar


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15.03.20162 days
Axis Innovation is hosting our flagship innovation conference, Axis Tel Aviv, March 15-16th 2016 @ the Peres Center for Peace. For the conference we'll be bringing top international investors to Israel to meet, network, and present alongside 25 selected series A Israeli tech startups. Last year we hosted over 80 investors from 20+ countries for the event (including Innovation Endeavours, BBVA, Qualcomm, Samsung, Flint Capital, Magma Ventures, DCM, and more). To see our panelists confirmed thus far click here.This years conference will focus on Fintech, Connectivity, Cyber, Big Data and IoT.
Axis Tel Aviv Highlights
- Startups pitches from around 25 Israeli startups
- Investors, VCs, Corporates from over 20 countries presenting on stage
- Networking and 1-1 meetings
- Keynote speakers and panel discussions on industry topics – over 50 speakers from around the world
- Germany Feature: following up with last year's successful Germany Feature honoring 50 years of German-Israeli relations, Axis Tel Aviv 2016 will once again highlight the startup cooperation potential between Israel and Germany, this year with a focus on Bavaria. Visit the Bavarian Lounge at the Peres Center for Peace Library, which will be open throughout the conference.
What Makes Axis Tel Aviv unique
- Intimate setting – limited participants (under 200 people)
- Dealflow oriented environment and support
- Active and diverse global investors – all pitching on stage
Some of the delegates joining us:
Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners • Tiger Ventures • 500 Startups • Waarde Capital • Blue Wire Capital • Visa • Ford • Tyco Innovation • Leta Capital • Mastercard • TechExit • Life.Sreda • Benhamou Global Ventures • Bloomberg • Group SEB • Samsung Ventures • CEIIF • D-Raft • Naspers • Runa Capital • Pereg Capital • Team in residence • DoubleRock • CT Innovations • ATME • Daimler AG and more…
Peres Center for Peace, Tel Aviv