text:
An Afghan security man stands guard on the roof of a damaged house following a gun battle between militants and Afghan security forces on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)
KABUL, Afghanistan: Asadullah Ramin has lost all hope in his homeland - he's so worried about what will happen when U.S. and international troops leave that he's ready to pay a smuggler to whisk his family out of Afghanistan.
It would cost the 50-year-old, self-employed electronics engineer tens of thousands of dollars to leave his middle-class life in the Afghan capital and start a new chapter with his wife and their three daughters. He has done OK in recent years, even getting contracts from the foreign forces, and he has warm memories of Kabul from his teens - before Soviet forces invaded the nation.
But he wouldn't hesitate for a moment. He already paid to have his two sons smuggled to a European county he won't disclose.
"If I could go in the next hour, I would leave everything - the house, my shop," Ramin said, tears welling in his eyes as he spoke in his dusty workshop.
"I have no hope, no hope," he said, opening his palms as if pleading to be understood.
The United States and its allies have tried to reassure Afghans that they are not abandoning the country when international combat troops leave by the end of 2014. Donor nations have pledged billions to bankroll Afghan security forces and billions more in development aid. Country after country has signed a long-term partnership pact with Kabul.
But the promises have done little to buoy the hopes of Afghans who are in despair about the future of their nation.
Among Afghans around the country interviewed by The Associated Press, the worry is pervasive. Many are deeply skeptical that Afghan police and security forces, which the U.S.-led coalition has spent years trying to build, will be able to fight insurgents and militants without American and NATO fighting alongside. Worse-case scenarios that some fear: The Afghan forces could splinter along ethnic line and prompt civil war, the nation could plunge into a deep recession, or the Kabul government - plagued with corruption and still fragile despite efforts to establish its authority - would remain too weak to hold off a Taliban takeover.
Just a 45-minute drive south of Kabul, residents of Wardak province directly feel the tenuousness. The province is a battleground for Afghan and coalition forces trying to squash hotbeds of the Taliban. Residents quickly warn visitors that it's dangerous just to go past a checkpoint less a kilometer (half-mile) outside the provincial capital, Maidan Shahr.
"We don't know if the government has been successful or not," 17-year-old Mohammad Ashaq said, chatting inside a tiny pharmacy in the city. "Most people think that after 2014, the government will not exist."
Hanging over the fears is a sense that history could repeat itself. Afghans felt abandoned by the U.S. after 1989, when the Soviet army withdrew from Afghanistan. U.S. support to mujahedeen fighters battling the Soviets dried up quickly and Afghanistan sank into civil war as militias and warlords battled for power, devastating Kabul. That was followed by the rise of the Taliban and years of rule under their repressive regime.
In one sign of the lack of confidence, the number of Afghan asylum seekers in 44 industrialized countries went up 34 percent in 2011 over the year before, according to the latest figures issued by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. In 2011, 35,700 Afghans sought asylum, compared to 26,000 the year before.
Another sign: the real estate market in Kabul.
Broker Mir Ahmad Shah says this is the worst of his seven years selling properties in the capital. No one wants to buy. A piece of land that went for $100,000 last year now is priced as low as $60,000, but even at that cut-rate price buyers aren't tempted. It's in part because of increased security worries the past year, but it's "especially because of the announcement about the coalition leaving," he said.
"I'm not hopeful for the future and it's not just me," he said, waving his hand toward small shops across the street where a vendor was selling live chickens. "The shopkeepers, the businessmen - they are all hopeless." One of his listings is the home of a man selling to move to Canada, he added.
The Americans insist that the pledges of international support going forward will prevent the worst from happening. The pledges make the possibility of another civil war or deep recession "unlikely scenarios," according to Ryan Crocker, who just stepped down as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan.
At a NATO summit in May in Chicago, NATO members agreed to help the Afghan government bankroll its security forces post-2014. Earlier this month in Tokyo, the international community pledged $16 billion in aid - at least through 2015 - to further help rebuild.
"We are not even imagining abandoning Afghanistan," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said during a stop in Kabul en route to the Tokyo gathering. She announced that Afghanistan was the newest "major non-NATO ally" - a statement of political support for the country's long-term stability and close defense cooperation.
Afghan, U.S. and coalition officials believe Afghan forces are getting more capable day by day. They boast that while insurgents remain a threat, they have been forced out of population centers. Seventy-five percent of the Afghan population lives in areas where security is being transferred to Afghan forces, they said.
The Afghan army and police force suffer from low levels of literacy, corruption within their ranks and lack of equipment and experience, but are showing themselves to be increasingly capable on the battlefield - and there are still two years to go, Gen. John Allen, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, told the AP in a recent interview.
"It's gaining experience. It's gaining leadership," Allen said.
Still, civilians are increasingly caught in the middle of the fight against insurgents. Last year was the deadliest on record for civilians in the Afghan war, with 3,021 killed as insurgents stepped up suicide attacks and roadside bombs, according to the United Nations.
In the south, where the Taliban have their strongest roots, the governor of Helmand province praises the security gains. In 2008, the provincial capital Lashkar Gah was surrounded by militants and the Taliban controlled a number of districts. There was only one brigade of the Afghan army in the province, and the police forces were plagued by drug addiction, Gov. Gulab Mangal told Pentagon reporters recently.
But after years of operations by coalition and Afghan forces, insurgents have been pushed back. Today, 80 percent of the Helmand police are trained and equipped, he said, declaring Helmand is "open for business.'
Aftab Jan, a 35-year-old who runs a hotel business in Lashkar Gah, agrees. "We used to be scared to even go out of our homes to work as we might never return alive, but now we can walk around and do our business safely."
But, he said, "If the foreign forces leave us on our own now, then we are going to go back to zero all at once."
"It will mean being under the same old Taliban hold," he said. "All these years would mean nothing. The war and struggle over bringing peace to this land would mean nothing."
Even in Kabul where there are more jobs and educational opportunities than in the outlying provinces, it's difficult to be positive. Every day, people in the capital are confronted by scores of penniless Afghans - men without limbs and women clutching soiled babies - who beg from motorists idling in traffic.
Regwida Neayish, a 19-year-old in her second year of college in Kabul, wants to leave Afghanistan to study abroad to become a doctor - although she promises to return.
"I don't think there is a future for us," Neayish, a soft-spoken woman in a baby blue headscarf, said at a new women's only Internet cafe.
"It's in our hands to study and work hard, but there are no jobs for the people of Afghanistan. ... There is nothing, nothing," she said.
Her mother, Frozan Marofi, who was checking her email across the room, had a more positive outlook.
Instead of wringing their hands about what might happen in 2014, Marofi said, Afghans should be thinking about how they can improve life now.
"Maybe after 2014, we will have a very, very nice life."
Unconvinced, her daughter giggled into her headscarf and said, "I just want to go to another country."
Your feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us their views and comments about this article.
Disclaimer: Comments submitted by third parties on this site are the sole responsibility of the individual(s) whose content is submitted. The Daily Star accepts no responsibility for the content of comment(s), including, without limitation, any error, omission or inaccuracy therein. Please note that your email address will NOT appear on the site.
Alert: If you are facing problems with posting comments, please note that you must verify your email with Disqus prior to posting a comment. follow this link to make sure your account meets the requirements. (http://bit.ly/vDisqus)


text:
- Ethics Home Page
- About the Center
- Focus Areas
- Publications
- Events
- Contact Us
- Site Index
Radio News: When to use a name?
By Jessica Silliman
Dan Davidson had just started his senior year at Santa Clara University and knew he wanted to pursue a career in journalism after graduation-in fact, he already had a job lined up at a major newspaper that he had interned with over the summer. On campus, Dan was heavily involved with KSCU, the campus radio station, and as a senior had become the head of the organization. Although it was a huge responsibility, Dan loved working in radio news. It was a month into the school year and Dan thought everything was running smoothly. He had developed great rapport with his new staff and, as of yet, he hadn't encountered any major issues.
On a Monday morning, Dan was reviewing the weekend's campus safety report when he got a phone call from his friend who worked at The Santa Clara, the university's student newspaper. His friend told him that, over the weekend, a female student reported that a local worker had attempted to rape her. Dan immediately called the Santa Clara Police Department to verify the information. He was transferred to the police officer covering the case. He told Dan that the report filed by the female had been called into question.
An hour later, the police officer called Dan and said that officers had found the report to be false-the young woman had made up the story in an attempt to implicate the local worker. Dan wasn't sure what to do with this latest piece of information. He knew that KSCU had to cover the story, but he didn't know if the female student's name should be used.
"The female student obviously did this out of pain," Dan said. "But she did allegedly commit a crime." It was against the law to make such a false report.
"It felt like a lose-lose situation: Running the name would label the female student and embarrass her, but not running the name could be seen as a cover-up," said Dan.
After discussing the issue with his staff and his faculty advisor, Dan decided that KSCU would run the name of the girl in their story. He felt that withholding her name would set a poor precedent for the rest of the school year. As a dedicated journalist, he felt you couldn't take these issues on a casual basis in which exceptions were easily made against their principle that favored disclosure.
When Dan picked up The Santa Clara that week, he saw that the paper had the same story of the false report, but had chosen not to run the girl's name. Although this caused some questioning in Dan' s mind, he still felt he had done the right thing.
Discussion Questions:
Jessica Silliman was a 2006-07 Hackworth Fellow at The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.
June 2007
New Materials
- Air Travel Emissions
What universities can do
- Just a Sandwich
Student video on selflessness
- Government Ethics Laws
California laws regulating behavior of officials
Center News
- Yik Yak: The Medium and the Message
How SCU is using the platform
- Confronting the End of Life
A health care ethics intern reflects
- More News »

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The following is an archive of a post made to our
'vox-tech mailing list'
by one of its subscribers.
On Mon, Jul 16, 2001 at 11:31:30AM -0700, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
> from. how is this done from C?
Usually one checks for the existance of a non-empty DISPLAY.
Henry House
OpenPGP key available from http://romana.hajhouse.org/hajhouse.asc
Description: PGP signature
Hosting provided by:
Sunset Systems
Sunset Systems offers preconfigured Linux
systems, remote system administration and
custom software development.
LUGOD: Linux Users' Group of Davis
PO Box 2082, Davis, CA 95617
Contact Us
LUGOD is a 501(c)7 non-profit organization
based in Davis, California
and serving the Sacramento area.
"Linux" is a trademark of Linus Torvalds.


text:
Top Searches:
Horoscopes |
Salaries |
Washam |
July 22, 2013
Links: Australian Glass and the Pacific Northwest at Museum of Glass
Wsu Master Gardeners of Pierce County at Master Gardener of Pierce County
The Shape of Things by Neil Labute at Dukesbay Theater
All events for today »
Submit an event | All events
Horror, Suspense/Thriller
Two hundred years after his shocking creation, Dr. Frankenstein's creature, Adam, still walks the earth. But when he finds himself in the middle of a war over the fate of humanity, Adam discovers he holds the key that could destroy humankind.
Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense fantasy action and violence throughout.
Visit the official site
Cast: Aaron Eckhart
Produced by:
Directed by: Stuart Beattie
Written by:
Running time: 1hr 32min
Opens: Jan 24, 2014 Nationwide


text:
NO LONGER is there any question that tens of thousands of people in Darfur in western Sudan will die, slaughtered in their homes or starved in refugee camps, within the coming days and weeks.
At issue is how many additional deaths can be prevented through quick and firm action by the international community.
Yesterday's visit to the region by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan offered high-powered testimony to the gravity of Darfur's plight: a million tribal villagers driven from their homes by Janjaweed militias, and a million more in desperate need of food and medical aid that can't reach them because of militias or the arrival of torrential rains.


text:
There will be no more servicing missions to the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA has announced, leaving one of the agency's most spectacularly successful projects to die a slow death.
The decision, announced late on Friday, is the first serious fallout from President George W Bush's new plan for the US space program. One part of this is to scrap the space shuttle fleet in 2010.
The other key factor which ended astronomers' hope of a Hubble upgrade was the recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. These require that all future shuttle missions must either be within reach of the International Space Station, to provide a safe haven in an emergency, or be able to fix any damage to its insulating tiles and carbon-composite panels in orbit. It was a hole in one of the panels that caused the disintegration of Columbia during its re-entry from orbit.
The Hubble servicing mission that was scheduled for 2006 was the only shuttle mission planned not going to the ISS. NASA would therefore have had to go to the trouble and expense of developing the repair capability for just a single mission. They have now decided that does not make sense under current budget constraints.
Batteries and gyroscopes
The servicing mission was supposed to deliver new batteries and gyroscopes, considered crucial to the telescope's survival. Without them, the telescope is only given a 50 per cent chance of surviving until 2007, which is still three years shy of its expected retirement. The telescope is already down to four operational gyros out of a complement of six, and at least three are required for its ability to point at its targets.
But even more devastating to astronomers will be the loss of two new instruments that were to be installed during the service mission: a new wide-field camera and a spectrograph designed to probe the Universe's deepest regions.
New instruments added to the telescope in past missions "were so much superior to the older instruments that the results coming from these contained lots of new information," says Imke de Pater, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley, who has used the Hubble.
The existing wide-field camera is "superb," she told New Scientist. "But the new wide field camera has a larger field of view, and goes to shorter and longer wavelengths. I expect that this camera would have been in high demand."
Late replacement
The second lost instrument is the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, which would particularly probe ultraviolet wavelengths. UV observations, which have provided important new insights into processes such as planet formation, are impossible from telescopes on Earth.
Hubble's planned replacement, the James Webb Space Telescope, is not due to be launched until 2011 at the earliest.
But former astronaut James Grunsfeld, who himself participated in the last Hubble servicing mission, said on Friday that NASA had made the right decision, albeit a sad one. "It's one that's in the best interest of NASA," he said.
If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.


text:
Dr. Melanie Dreher, reefer researcher
When Dreher released solidly researched reports showing that children of ganja-using mothers were better adjusted than children born to non-using mothers, she encountered political and professional turbulence.
Dr. Melanie Dreher is one of a handful of scientists who have researched marijuana objectively and intelligently in the last three decades.
Dr Dreher is Dean of the University of Iowa's College of Nursing, and also holds the post of Associate Director for the University's Department of Nursing and Patient Services. She's a perpetual overachiever who earned honours degrees in nursing, anthropology and philosophy before being awarded a PhD in anthropology from prestigious Columbia University in 1977.
Although Dreher is a multi-faceted researcher and teacher whose expertise ranges from culture to child development to public health, she began early on to specialize in medical anthropology. After distinguishing herself as a field researcher in graduate school, Dreher was hand-picked by her professors to conduct a major study of marijuana use in Jamaica. Her doctoral dissertation was published as a book titled "Working Men and Ganja," which stands as one of the premier cross-cultural studies of chronic marijuana use.
Along with being a widely-published researcher, writer, and college administrator, Dreher is a professor or lecturer at several institutions, including the University of the West Indies. She recently served as president of the 120,000 member Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honour Society, has been an expert witness in a religious freedom case involving ganja use by the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church, and is one of the most well-respected academicians in the world.
Governmental and private organizations, including the US State Department, have funded Dreher's many research projects, some of which focused on ganja's role in Jamaican culture, and the effects of ganja and cocaine on Jamaican women and children.
Dreher has impeccable credentials and a wealth of proprietary information on ganja use, but when she released solidly-researched reports showing that children of ganja-using mothers were better adjusted than children born to mothers who did not use ganja, she encountered political and professional turbulence. Some observers accuse the government and anti-pot groups of working to suppress her findings, but Dreher continues to speak openly about her research.
When Dreher spoke to Cannabis Culture from her office at the University of Iowa, she was affable and intriguing, pleasantly but firmly defending her right to study ganja use and to publish valid scientific findings regardless of political pressure.
[: How did you first become involved in studying ganja in Jamaica?
Dr Dreher: I had already spent one summer in jamaica studying obeah, a kind of black magic, and my professor, Dr Lambros Comitas, felt that if I could study an illegal and underground practice like obeah then I could probably get information on ganja use.
This was in the 70's, when American pundits were saying that marijuana caused people to be lazy and dysfunctional. We were especially interested in testing the notion that ganja caused an amotivational syndrome. My dissertation research studied various kinds of men's work, primarily agricultural work, and how ganja interacted with that.
Jamaica was a great place to study because these men used ganja every day for eight to ten years, unencumbered by cocaine or other drugs, and just a little bit of tobacco or alcohol, so you could really measure how ganja affected them. After nearly two years of study in Jamaica, I'd found ganja was used to stimulate work. The amotivational syndrome, whatever it was, certainly didn't manifest itself in the people I studied.
[: So you just walked up to Jamaican villagers and started asking them about ganja? Weren't you afraid they'd think you were a police agent?
It was an interesting experience! I had never smoked anything, not even a cigarette. I'm a white woman, a former cheerleader, about as 'American' as you could get. I didn't have an intermediary or liaison. I went into villages and politely introduced myself as an American student. I established trust by going to church and schools and living with these people, telling them I was there to study certain aspects of their culture, especially herbs and particularly marijuana, and people began to trust me. They gave me a few social tests to see if they could really trust me, and after I passed those tests pretty soon I was going into their fields and seeing where ganja was grown, dried, stored, processed and sold.
There is a cultural division between men and women in this culture, but even though I was a woman, as a white American researcher I had more privilege and access to men's rituals than a Jamaican woman. I got to sit with the men surrounded by these big clouds of smoke, and as they smoked their chillums I asked questions about ganja use and took notes.
[: So ganja use had its own cultural identity and rules?
Yes. Ganja use is governed by customs, beliefs, and social rules. Ganja arrived in Jamaica through the Indian indentured labour; Indians brought with them this whole tradition of preparation of teas, tonics, hash, cooking ganja in food.
The Jamaican ganja-users, except for the Rastas who tend to use more ganja than the people we studied, had strict cultural contexts in which to use marijuana. It isn't like in the US where people indiscriminately light up and walk around all day stoned. The Jamaicans prescribed certain situations and ways to use ganja.
There were people prohibited from using it. When you smoked you had to act a certain way ? serious, intelligent, reasonable. A man who used ganja and got silly or got the munchies or laughed too much or acted like a fool ? the other men stopped smoking with him because they felt the ganja was a spiritual thing. It's to be taken seriously in a mature and responsible way.
A whole set of cultural rules guided use and made sure it was positive. The set and setting and cultural traditions in Jamaica made ganja use a positive thing. It's useful to study ganja in a place where its use is not just a recreational activity ? its use is sacramental, medicinal and social, but it is designed to be a thoughtful activity ? not like you stop at the store and get a six pack of beer to get drunk.
[: Did ganja culture affect how men and women used ganja?
It did. The men believed that ganja inhaled went to the brain and had a psychoactive effect, but that ganja consumed as tea or tonic went into the blood and had a health effect rather than intoxication. They only allowed men to smoke ganja because they didn't believe women had the right kind of brain for it.
Now there are physiological differences between men and women, and it's also true that ganja eaten or ingested as tea follows a different route in the body than ganja smoked, but I am not expert enough in this to comment on whether the cultural tradition is supported by science.
Women were allowed to control the medicinal use of ganja. I spent lots of time with rural women, who taught me how to make ganja tonics and teas. They were the administrators of ganja, often the producers and sellers of ganja. It gave them some power and income, like a cottage industry. They gave ganja to men and children as teas, and they knew how to titrate the strength of marijuana teas so a new baby would get just a leaf's worth but men and boys got more, so they could go and work in the fields with enough strength to survive the hard days.
[: So women never got to smoke ganja?
When I first started research in Jamaica in 1970, women were the ganja medicine specialists but there was a social rule that women should not smoke. The only time women were allowed to smoke was in a pre-sexual context. Everybody believed ganja was an aphrodisiac, they said it made both sexes more powerful, makes you like sex more, makes you concentrate on lovemaking more.
It was not used as a clandestine seduction tool like alcohol. That's not to say that like at a dance if young men were smoking, a young woman wouldn't say "Give me a draw," but it was very innocent, I never saw an attempt to use marijuana as seduction or date rape.
Back then, women were smoking secretly. If a man didn't finish the whole spliff then after he went to work the women might smoke a little. Women said it helped them do their housework and be good to their children. So the women had to sneak around to smoke it but they were expected to openly administer its medicinal use.
The real focus of the women was to have marijuana to prepare for tea for their children to make them healthier and smarter and help them have better school performance and help them concentrate.
[: Has your subsequent research found changes in the use of ganja by Jamaican women?
Yes, as the role of women has changed economically and socially, some women have been able to smoke ganja openly with the men. They're called "roots daughters", which is a term of respect meaning that they can smoke as hard as a man and maintain a dignity of conversation and behavior. They can smoke ganja and reason with men, have debates about serious topics like politics and religion. They are considered to be principled women who are astute and trustworthy.
Another characteristic of these women is they tend to be economically independent and resourceful. They don't expect that men will have the sole burden of supporting households. Many of these women are working for themselves, and a significant number of them are involved in ganja sales, along with work such as farming and other commercial enterprises. They build their own houses and become less dependent on men, or on one man, for their livelihood.
Part of this change came from Rastafarianism, because Rasta women do smoke ganja chronically as part of their religious rituals. Older women have built up their roles as ganja administrators, while older men may have to decrease their ganja use once their days in the fields are over. The society is changing, experience with ganja is changing, and women smokers are becoming more visible then before.
[: Give us a general overview of the studies you've done on ganja use during pregnancy
When I noticed that increasing numbers of women were smoking marijuana, I decided to study prenatal marijuana exposure and its effects on children. Most of the studies done in North America had serious confounds and results which just did not hold up under scrutiny.
We did ethnographic studies which examined the lifestyles of mothers who used ganja and mothers who didn't use ganja, and compared behavioral characteristics of neonates from both groups in the first month of life. We later went back and looked at the children with a five-year follow-up study.
[: How did your studies differ from other studies?
Up to that point, most studies which examined marijuana use during pregnancy were flawed by serious methodological problems. They couldn't control for so many variables, and the negative effects they blamed on marijuana could well have been caused by other things.
My studies are among the few which actually measured how much ganja a woman has consumed. I wasn't sitting in a clinic somewhere divorced from women's lives asking them how much marijuana they'd used ? my research team is in a community and in the field where we can observe these women and check out their reports. We know how much ganja, and what type and potency, they are consuming. We had ways of verifying the amount of ganja they consume; neighbors would come and tell us what was going on, so we could compare that to what we had been told by the mother.
We had a setting in which we knew that the women were only exposed to marijuana. In most North American studies the women were using all kinds of drugs like alcohol, tobacco, speed and cocaine during prenatal studies, and there was no way for the researchers to know what or how much. We knew what our test subjects were doing and this gave extra credibility to our work.
A lot of media publicity had been given to US studies which purported to show that marijuana caused birth defects or serious developmental problems, but most of this research involved participants who were multi-drug users who had a terrible social support network that probably caused the problems. Instead, these problems were blamed on marijuana.
[: Is it possible that American women didn't know how to use marijuana intelligently? Did you find that Jamaican women had more ganja wisdom?
American drug use often takes place without cultural rules and in an unsupervised context. The Jamaican women we studied had been educated in a cultural tradition of using marijuana as a medicine. They prepared it with teas, milk and spices, and thought of it as a preventive and curative substance. Smoking it during pregnancy was a way of relieving nausea, increasing appetites, combatting fatigue and depression, providing rest and relaxation. Some of these women were in dire socioeconomic straits, and they found that smoking ganja helped allay feelings of worry and depression about their financial situation.
Our testing showed that the children of women who used ganja had better alertness, stability and adjustment than children of women who didn't use ganja. This was measured at the age of one month. We measured children again at four years and at five years of age, and found that there were no apparent deficits in the children of marijuana-using mothers. In fact, in many ways, they were better off than children of non-smoking mothers. The ganja-using mothers also seemed better off than non-users.
[: Since these results contradicted the hysteria of drug war assertions, did you find it hard to get your studies published?
I insisted on publishing in a medical journal ? I wanted the academic community to understand that the jury was still out on marijuana and that's why we do cross-cultural studies to determine how drugs really affect people. It isn't logical to look just at one culture's problems with a drug and conclude that that's a universal situation.
The medical community needed to see that these results, which came from very solid research methods, were far different than what they are usually exposed to. They needed to see that women who smoked marijuana are not bad mothers. I am so damned sick of picking up a woman's journal or a tabloid and seeing some article saying that if you smoke even one marijuana cigarette during pregnancy you are a bad mother and you're doing permanent damage to your baby. There's no evidence to back up these warnings, and in my studies the evidence points in the other direction.
[: It sounds like you're frustrated about the influences of politics and inaccuracy in the reporting of marijuana research findings.
I just want researchers to use good research methods and to tell women the truth. I think these hyperbolic warnings about marijuana and pregnancy have made women absolutely nuts.
I got a call from a woman who was in tears because she and her husband had waited several years to adopt a baby and finally she had found a baby to adopt, but somebody told the couple they couldn't adopt the baby because the baby had tested positive for marijuana. "Oh for god's sake," I said, "Go adopt your baby. Love your baby. Your baby is going to be just fine."
Now they're talking about charging women with child abuse if they test positive for drugs during pregnancy. It's a slippery slope. Where's it going to stop? Are we going to arrest women for sitting on the couch eating junk food watching television during pregnancy? We are on the way to the Stepford Wives.
So one of my goals with this research was to get the message to physicians: so women smoke a little marijuana ? big deal. Let women enjoy their pregnancies. If there's something seriously wrong with their baby it would have occurred no matter what ? marijuana or not. Things have gotten so strange in regard to babies. We have to have the perfect baby and if not, well somebody or something has to be blamed. It must have been a whiff of paint she smelled, or a glass of wine, or a cigarette, or a draw of marijuana? It's ridiculous.
[: Can you comment on the issue of crack babies?
I have tended to be vary skeptical of crack baby findings. I have studied cocaine use in Jamaica, and have studied children exposed to crack pre-natally who are doing fine.
I think the problem with crack is what happens after birth. The babies are often abused by mothers or others in the home; cocaine is just part of a terrible environment. Ironically, Rastas are the only group who refuse to participate in the cocaine trade. They think it's poison. Women use ganja to kick cocaine withdrawal; they use ganja during cessation to get enough of a comfortable anti-depressant feeling so that they don't have to use crack.
Some start using what they call a seasoned spliff, which is a marijuana cigarette seasoned with crack. Having the pot in there seems to relieve the precipitous drop from the crack high to a paranoia which would otherwise force them to smoke crack immediately again. They are high enough on the pot and the crack drop doesn't make them crazy like it would if they were using crack by itself.
The American government's approach to cocaine and ganja in Jamaica has been very counterproductive. The DEA finds it easy to see and go after ganja fields, but almost nothing is being done to stop cocaine, which is ravaging the country. It's very sad.
[: I heard that political pressure influenced your subsequent research grants and the academic journal that you were going to publish your findings in.
It did take us a while to get published. We had to do revisions that I thought were unnecessary. It would be hard to classify the request for us to do revisions as politically motivated. I just thought that these people who wanted the changes made haven't got a clue about Jamaica or ethnographic research. They went on vacation once to Jamaica and drew some incomplete conclusions.
I felt that the revisions suggested were often based on ignorance of Jamaican culture and prejudice against ganja. The same problems were evident in letters that the journal received after publication. The letters contained unfounded criticisms, and I had to explain that I was doing anthropological research that nobody else was doing. I wasn't measuring physiology with test tubes. I was measuring behavior, reporting how these women and their children acted.
These babies are doing great. It wasn't necessarily due to marijuana, but pot-smoking mothers were apparently good mothers and the marijuana didn't appear to be hurting the babies. I have said repeatedly that I am not recommending that you smoke pot to have a healthy baby, but I am saying let's not castigate women who use a mild substance during pregnancy.
After doing research in Jamaica funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) from 1988 to 1991, I submitted two follow-up proposals in 1993 and 1994 and got news that never ever do they want to see those proposals again. They had done one of the worst reviews of a proposals that I had ever seen. Really weak.
I thought I should call NIDA and tell them this shows a lack of understanding of any type of unbiased research on the issues involved and what we're trying to do. It was a damning review, misguided and misinformed. I have to think that this was due to a political consideration, not an honest review of my work.
I'm 55, in my 15th year as dean, I testified in a trial and the prosecution brought out that I was once on the board of NORML, and involved with a group called POT (Patients Out of Time) and wrote an article for a medical marijuana book. So what? I am a good researcher. Nobody knows more about marijuana use in Jamaica than I do, and I am prepared to speak about that and don't care what people try to do against me because of it. I felt that this last denial at NIDA was motivated by anti-pot ideology, but since that time I was funded by the National Institute of Health.
[: Has your career suffered because you've objectively researched marijuana? Do you feel you've been persecuted because of your research?
There may well be persecution, but if there is, I don't obsess over it. I'm a very good dean and highly regarded in the nursing and academic communities. Somebody asked me if I was worried about DARE coming after me, and I thought: Isn't that the organization that gets children to report on their parents?
I am going to continue doing good research and disseminating the results. Am I worried about persecution? Well, I have a secure academic position and could be a nurse again if I had to, but some of these researchers haven't got something to fall back on so they have to please NIDA and find what they're supposed to find. To a large degree, the politicization of such research has corrupted the research process. I'm never going to be a part of that.
Next Issue: More about Dreher's research into Jamaican cannabis medicine, and how ganja affects children and mothers. Be sure to subscribe today, so you don't miss the fun-filled conclusion to the Dreher saga.
Photos from the film ROOTS DAUGHTERS -Internationally acclaimed film, is a touching moving testament to a modern living myth that informs us about Rastafari Culture. Screened at 7 Int. Film Festivals, nominated for the Best film Award at Black Int. Film Festival in South Bend Indiana LIMITED.
EDITION $59.90 SEND CERTIFIED CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO Fari Int.Productions Inc. 147 Vaughan Rd. Suite7 Toronto M6C-2L9; website:
ganja use when pregnant
I want to thank you for the couple of articles on this subject by Dr.Melanie Dreher. I have been suffering from severe nausea and vomitting during pregnancy that hasnt gone away like it does for most women. I did alot of online research before finding these articles and to be honest the information I was getting was of course completely bias and frustrating. I smoke pot normally, but as soon as I found out I was pregnant I gave that up and many other things. What is hard for me to swallow is how it is ok for me to be taking like 8 other doctor prescribed medications a few times a day in a sad effort (cause its not working) to relieve my symptoms and that is somehow considered much more healthy for my baby then smoking a little pot. Now I am unsure what to do...I think the judgement of society and how it has been drilled into me that marijuana is bad during pregnancy has made me afraid to even try it but my head tells me it cant be any worse than all these prescription drugs Im having to take even though I dont want to take them. I did read some research done by Motherisk at Sick Kids hospital and they are trying to make a point of telling you not to do it, but at the same time as Dr.Dreher pointed out that not only were these women smoking pot but smoking several cigarettes, drinking and doing other street drugs during pregnancy. I do none of those things. Anyway it definately gave me something to think about it and if I get over my own paranoia about it maybe I can have a comfortable non puking rest of my pregnancy. Thanks for this!
Marijuana in pregnancy
I smoked pot during my pregnancies and have always believed it was one of the factors that contributed to having two very healthy children. But...both my children were born with chromosome abnormalities. One has Down Syndrome and the other has a rare genetic deletion called Smith-Magenis syndrome. Of course I would have had these children with or without cannabis. I have always believed that smoking cannabis (occasionally)while pregnant enhanced their health and mental abilities. My two children do not fit the norm for their syndromes and continue to amaze everyone they meet with their physical strength, coordination and alertness. No, they are not medical oddities, super athletes or math whizzes, just exceptionally healthy. And, yes they are still considered disabled although that term would need to be re-defined since my children are truly abled in so many ways. We so need to change the perception of this remarkable plant and yank it out of the "Cheech and Chong" image. It is called TaiMa in Chinese medicine, which means THE GREAT MOTHER! Is there anything more to say once that fact is known?
Mahalo Dr. Dreher for the work you are doing to change the image of this all purpose plant.
I used ganja when pregnant
I used marijuana a lot during my pregnancy. Before I found out I was pregnant. When I found out, I did like they say, and I stopped smoking it. About a week, maybe two later I was terribly terribly nauseous, I was in pain, I couldnt even eat. So after 3 days of being unable to consume food I began smoking marijuana again. I felt better!
I was able to eat and my baby stopped playing soccer with my stomach and I quit being nauseous.
It was at that point where I decided I wanted to know for myself what the effects were. I searched the internet and found Dr. Dreher's research. I read the whole thing, I told my Dr that I was using marijuana and she prescribed something for my nausea. I again stopped the marijuana (had to give the Dr's option a try) I took the pill they gave me, then prompltly threw it up, how was that going to help if I couldn't even keep that down. Needless to say I went back to smoking marijuana. (I'm talking like 3-9 times a day)
My baby is now almost 2 years old. Other then complications with hospital staff and police being jerks saying there must have been some other drugs I was taking and trying to take my child. I got to take her home from the hospital and everything has turn out great. My baby turned out fine, she is in the 95-100th percentile for Height and Weight and is physically much more developed then others her age, runs, jumps, plays, and is generally healthy.
Marijuana worked for me.
i gotta admit i feel the same way i was given three differnt prescriptions one in which is beging recalled i havent told any doctors that i use pot,in fear of well any discrimnation, unless i felt it was contributing to something negative through my pregnancy ( in which all is good Now @ 34 weeks)..zofran has somewhat help with nausea but i have absoloutly no appteit i cant even hold down water some days, finding after a small hit i can snack and drink juice and water all day,9 at the very least.lol) i wish these studies were easier to find because sometimes the stress of hiding not knowing if your alone in this ..can cause more stress which i feel is more harm, thnx dr. dreher
how did everything turn out?
Hello. I just came across this website and found it ever so intriguing to finally find people...with real live credibility, that agreed with me! I have no morning sickness or anything of the sort, i just use pot here and there to keep myself relaxed and keep myself from going crazy!!i see no problem with hitting the bong and then eating some health foods!!:)Just wondering, you said you were 34 weeks in december...how is your baby?I hope everything turned out well and your baby is healthy!if so then you and your child are proof!thats what i am aiming to be!!!hope to hear from you soon!!
i appreciate your studies and tests shown on mothers who use and dont use marijuana while being pregnant! ive come to find that actually marijuana helps me with nausea and vomitting also! it takes away my headaches in the moring! and keeps me eating. my doctor told me my due date was sept. 1st but is now pushed up to august 25th because my baby is too big! so i dont really know how it could harm the baby! this is a risk ive been willing to take.ive been so scared on how my babys development is but i could tell you one thing, all my tests ive taken for birth defects and other things came out normal and my baby does not have down syndrome! i appreciate your time and effort for those mothers who use marijuana during pregnancy! :)
i found this information
i found this information very helpful! i have smoked marijuana during my pregnancy and have had no problems so far? i am 24 weeks.
Feeling better!
I am so thankful for Melanie's research. I have 3 children, and am pregnant with my 4th (9 weeks). I smoked marijuana while pregnant with my first two children, in moderation. My daughter is the smartest little girl I have ever seen. She taught herself to read. She is in the 1st grade and reads at a 3rd grade level. She and my son are the sweetest, mildest children you could ever meet. Of course, they are not perfect and neither am I! But I always felt guilty for my marijuana use because of what the world leads you to believe about it, though in my heart I don't believe it's wrong to smoke a little pot while pregnant. It does help you feel better and it helps you to eat. I didn't smoke with my 3rd child and I don't see any differences in behavior or growth in any of my children. I do smoke now, maybe 2 times a day. I do skip days where I do not do it at all, and I use it in moderation to where I take just a few hits off a marijana cigarette at a time. I don't go overboard. I suffer from bi-polar disorder as well and have opted to not take medication, but I treat myself with marijuana instead. I'd much rather put a NATURAL substance in my body that GOD created!! Rather than some random pills that Lord knows what's in them. Pot helps me in my daily life to blanket my bi-polar symptoms and mood swings. It helps me to enjoy my daily life and to be a better, less irrated mother for my children.
I will always be a marijuana advocate. It was put on this earth for a reason!
If you guys haven't checked out Melanie's video report on marijuana use while pregnant on Youtube, you should. It's great!
Feeling more at ease now
I must say that I am super happy that I found this website!
I am a pot smoker and have 2 boys that I did not smoke with while being pg with them but now life is more hectic and stressful with them and I began smoking again to calm my nerves and now I'm 6wks pg and worried about the effects of me smoking pot with this baby. I have a friend who told me her Dr. advised her that it was ok to smoke it but of course that was between them not for the publics ears to hear, so I thought if a Dr. would say its ok then how bad could it really be? So I began my research and wow pretty much everything I've found is scary and makes you feel full of guilt but something in my heart just doesn't believe it all, I know the medical field is full of scare tactics to deter one in continuing to paratke in pot smoking. Now what I have read here makes 500% sense in my brain as Melanie has stated most negative medical findings were done with woman who also smoked ciggarettes or drank alcohol or used powerful drugs, I use none of those and now feel safe and most importantly confident I will not be harming my baby by cotinuing to smoke pot in moderation...Thank you so much Melanie for all your years and efforts of research.
420 Mom with Questions for you!
I have been researching the effects of marijuana during pregnancy and came across your comment. THANK YOU for posting! It was like reading something I could have written. I am Also bi-polar and have severe mood swings. Pot makes me a calmer, more balanced mom and person. I am 7 weeks pregnant with my 2nd child and have morning sickness like I have never imagined. I had no illness with my first child, and did not smoke during that pregnancy. My morning sickness has been so bad that I could not hold anything down for 9 days, so i gave in and took 3 hits off my pipe and OMG INSTANT RELIEF! I couldn't believe how much better i felt. I smoke maybe a bowl a day now, which is conciderably less than what I was smoking prior to my new pregnancy, but I am able to eat and it alos gives me energy to clean and get things done. I have to admit, its WAY better than living in the bathroom, or worrying about going anywhere there's not a garbage can close by. I am glad to see that I am not alone..I Would like to ask you some questions if you wouldn't mind...
Thanks again for your post!
Go Green! Go Organic!
Fellow Pregnant pot smoking mom Dawn.
reassurance needed
Hi, I found out I was pregnant literally an hour ago (after smoking cones all day, my usual practice for the past year -I started smoking a year ago after I miscarried and wanted to take my mind off things..) I have smoked on/off for 15 years (am 31) but wasn't smoking when I conceived the baby I miscarried.
Anyway, because i had no idea i was pregnant until an hour ago, i have been drinking a few wines a night, smoking cones all day etc and now I'm so worried that something may happen badly with my pregnancy. I was planning on stopping smoking when I saw the positive test result, until I started googling and found this site, but now I'm wondering what to do? I do mix my weed with cigarettes tho so that's prob different to USA ppl..
Aussie Chick
xo thanks!
Hello Aussie
I think you should cut down on the weed just for when you need it and not smoke tabbacco at all it could cause asthma in your baby. the wine wont effect the baby as long as you catch it early and stop drinking :)
dont worry about the weed just make sure its only once in awhile dont over do it because it can effect ur blood pressure especially in the early stages of pregnancy. i hope this helps take care and congrats!! :)
Just wondering
If you smoked weed once while you were pregnant like around 4 months will it show up in your babys system? Im doubting it but wanting some other opinions...
Pot and Pregnancy
I have had 4 healty children and one more on the way. Suffered severe morning sickness with all and the only cure was smokin some weed. I came home the other day from a prenatal visit felt so thirsty drank some juice and it came right back up. I think not eating or drinking during pregnancy could cause far more problems, birth defects and what not then smoking a lil pot. I think cigarrettes cause more problems and have more risks but you dont see the cops or anyone else arresting a pregnant woman for smoking those. Technically they can't do anything about a pregnant mother drinking alcohol either and that has been proven to have horrendeous affects on babies. But wait... I know why... thats right the government can tax ciggarettes and alcohol. Gee Golly what an epifany I just had. LOL I can't believe the reefer madness has carried on this long. My children are healthy "normal" kids, advanced in school, and socially gifted lol they have no problem making friends. I do keep my marijuana use a secret from them just because of D.A.R.E. week at school. I would hate for my kid to see a pipe in that briefcase they bring to school and have my daughter say ohh my mom has one of those and the cops come knockin on my door. I love my kids, wouldnt do anything to harm them. After reading the very long list of side effects and possible birth defects from the prescriptions I was given I decided to go the natural route. I aleviated my morning sickness symptoms, and helped with post partum depression. I did stop using pot during the pregnany after 7 months because I was no longer having morning sickness and it did give my body and baby time to get all the THC out of our system before the delivery. Some states test your babies for drugs at birth and some states will take custody of any children who test positive for ANY illegal substance. So I took precautions to make sure no one was going to take my babies. Some say pot use during pregnancy causes ADHD, or ADD. Well I believe we have forgotten what its like to be children. We live in a fast paced world that forces too much resposibility on our kids at an early age. My 2nd grader has 5 pages front and back of homework per night. I know when I was in 2nd grade it was not like that. Anyhow I think people are impatient with their kids because of stress from either work or the economy and their kids just become another stress factor so they take the kid to a doctor ( doctor makes $85 per visit) the doctor tell them their kid is ADD, or ADHD ( precription time!!) writes a script and those parents choose to put their kid on government issued speed, instead of making time for their children, playing with them, and giving them time to grow up at a normal pace not when the parent wants them to grow up. People when you get a puppy and it pees on the floor or chews somehting up do you put it on speed? lol NO you say ohh its still a puppy. Why do you treat your dog better than your kids?! Lets let our kids be kids. Marijuana and pregnancy is a personal choice it worked for me 4 healty babies with out birth defects is my proof (oh and smoking pot didnt create any infertility issues either, and though we do have more girls then boys in our family we DO have a boy so its doesnt MAKE you have all girls) lol geez some of the stuff our government will tell you just to scare you into do what they want. The American government is not here for our best intrest they are here to get rich. They dont really care about us. But they do care about that dollar bill YOU worked hard to get.
If that comment was for me you can email me at firstname.lastname@example.com
How's your pregnancy going?
Links of london
Our Links of London Earrings are produced by professional and
qualified Jewelry makers. Our store of Links of London provides a
large collection of high quality Links London with reasonable
price. Choose your favorit Earrings at once!
God made it why wouldnt it help?
I used marijuana with my first pregnancy my son is now 3 yrs old and hasnt had any problems he is very smart and very well delevoped much larger than most children his age he almost looks like a 4 yr old! If i didn't have pot in the first few weeks of this pregnancy i would have had to be hospitalized for not being able to eat or drink ANYTHING. I had one little hoot here or there to help me eat or sleep or calm my nerves but i never smoke while around my son i dont like the feeling i get when he sees me under the influence so i usually get my mum next door to watch him for a bit or wait till hes alseep. i have been born and raised around weed and to me it is a natural thing i love it and wish it wasnt looked at so badly by people i belive it promotes peace love and harmony I live in Vancouver British Columbia so i am a strong beliver in love for marijuana!! thank you all for your information i am glad to see i am not the only one who feels this way about this wonderful HERB!! God put it in this earth for a reason smoke away people!!!
marijuana in babys system?
just wondering if you do smoke while pregnant, can it show in the babies system?
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOUUUU ! IM NOT THE ONLY ONE. I'm pregnant too and was a little hesitant on wether i should stop or what to do. Marijuana is my medicine, wether its for a headache, menstrual cramps, stress, insomia EVERYTHING! My opinion is if you dont drink, do drugs, or smoke tobacco, marijuana is just fine. its a NATURAL herb. not some man made pill. 3 of my friends all smoked weed during their pregnancies and they have beautiful HEALTHY daughters. what more proof do we need ?!!!!
I too am pregnant. I used
I too am pregnant. I used pot to lessen the affects of morning sickness in my second pregnancy, which my child is perfect. My first child I quit smoking all together, he is also perfect. Now that I'm having my third child, i am still confused and concerned for the health of this child. I am 35, so i am at a higher risk for other complications. I am very pleased to read the info that has been posted, because I believe marijuana has been given a bad rap. There has never been conclusive scientific studies done on marijuana for a person to make the decision to use or not to use. Everyone says its a gateway drug,...I must say that the only drug i have ever used is pot. I have never wanted to try cocaine or heroin, although i know many of my friends who have. I do believe that it was put on this earth for a reason, and it is all natural. You don't have to cut it with a chemical like cocaine, or process it in any way except to pick it and let it dry out enough to smoke it!! What is it gonna take to get it legalized and sell it like cigarettes but only in a liquor store like establishment where you have to be of certain age to purchase. Alcohol causes more problems than marijuana! People need to be a little more open minded and not so quick to judge. We will all be judged in the end by the MAN that put marijuana on earth to begin with!!!
I'm so grateful to find this
I'm so grateful to find this website! All the others just slate pregnant women who choose to smoke cannibis, without backing it up with any real scientific evidence. I have an 8 month old son (and another on the way) who is happy, very intelligent and quick to learn, and healthy, and I smoked pot through the second and third trimester. I had chronic morning sickness from month 2-6 and smoking weed was the only way I could keep down any food and even water. Without it I was hungry, weak, tired and extreemly cranky. I'm experiencing the same terrible sickness in this pregnancy now so have not even attempted to quit the bud, although I have cut down considerably (i use cigarette in my joints and the negatives from that are proven).
The only time I will not smoke at all is when I am breastfeeding because I found it reduced my milk supply the last time (not saying it's a medical fact, just happened to me). But when I have stopped breatfeeding I will continue to smoke the weed because it generally makes me a happier, less irritable mother, which bides well for me, my son and my next child.
me too...
I smoke while pregnant with my first two and breastfed...didn't ever notice a problem with my milk. But my third child I did not smoke while pregnant (weed, I don't smoke cigarettes) but did smoke while breastfeeding and I did notice my milk supply was not as strong. But we also had issues because he was tounge tied at birth (the only kid I didn't smoke with, and he has the birth defect, which is not that serious but ;)Proves a point!)
I just wonder what the main factor in my reduction of milk was...hmmm.
Gateway drug
I just wanted to comment that my favourite reply to pot being a gateway drug is that this is only the case because some of the people you have to see to get pot from have other drugs. They're dealers its their job to push whatever they got. But I mean if Pot's biggest argument is based around who sells it then fuck we should be laughing. That's easy to fix. Sell it in stores. If it was there is no way you can tell me it's anymore a gateway then alcohol. They're abbreviants and on a level even smoking, stealing, or any other kind of rebellious act could be considered a "gateway." As for other drugs its only the ones government and people have twisted around melted down extracted whatever from that are bad. Cocaine has had alot of positive impacts as a coca plant. The incas would travel down to the amazon three times a year and collect enough for their community. Being high on mountains they were subjected to lower levels of oxygen and grew abnormally big lungs and other organs too adjust and the coca helped their blood flow quicker o keep their energy levels up. Even extracted it has had wonderful medical abilities esp in eye and retinus surgeries. I like anything natural. I understand I can't live a whole life messed up on mushrooms and havent done them in years, tho the spiritualness of them is a feeling I never forget, pot works for me. Alcohol definitely does not and my record can second that notion. I'm not a bad guy until the chemicals affect me and thats all the government sells. Alchol and pills. They even put chemicals in my friggen cigarrettes like I know tobacco is natural why can't I just smoke dried up tobacco leaves thats how it started. I doubt we'ld be facing half as much cancer risks as we do now. But it's all money and popualtion control. It won't last forever tho.
thankgod!!!i can smoke weed!!
my cusin told me not to smoke weed cuz it will deform my baby..
but me nd my boyfriend smoke everyday..weed is something imma do for the rest of my life!i didnt wanna stop smokin weed just cuz my baby..but i would if i had too..
thnk god i found this site cuz my bf always gets high and me having to watch sucked!i love smokeing weed!!nd whatching everyone pass a blunt nd me having to say no bugs me cuz being sober around ppl that r high sucks!!!!!!
nd i cant wait for my baby to come out okay i dont have to worry anymore!!
thank you soooooo much!!!
i love this site!!!!:D
than yu thank you!!
god bless!!!
Hey there my long lost
Hey there my long lost friends! Yep, the ol' ganga got me too. I am 28 years old and I have a beautiful 3 yr old daughter, who is way ahead of her age group. I was a very high risk pregnancy with her bc I had just battled certain cancers. I stayed sick to my stomach and depressed as well. My husband worked as a driver so his schedule never matched mine. Also I have no relationship with my family so I was alone for mostly everything, I drove myself hm from the hospital after I hd her!!!! Anyhooo, everything was great and she was perfect!!!!! No complications at all my delivery I pushed 2 times there she as in no time;) I just took a pg test because we've been trying in hopes for a lil boy....it came out positive!!!! So now I'm lookin dor the cutesy way to tell my husband!!! Not that I know it's a boy, but it dsnt matter bc it's a Baby!!! Any ideas?? By the way I am still smokin never stopped and nursed my daughter for 2 yrs even! She always tested highest percentile I'm trying not to brag but it really might be a good thing!


text:
Now, two weeks after heavy rainfall and high surf washed out the area, the storm's footprint is apparent in the cliff-like drop off in the sand at the
"After a storm, you can often see the erosion that's happening," said park information specialist Ashley Melton. "We get a lot of washout. A distinct ridge is typical after a big storm."
Melton, accompanied by fellow information specialist Joe Mocilan, surveyed the park's beach Wednesday, pointing out areas of concern. She said recent storms led to the destruction of two sea turtle nests, which were washed out by high surf.
"We have a lot of wind moving the water around and as you can see, it starts to undercut," said Melton, motioning toward a sharp cliff at the park's Gulf-side beach. "This is a very dynamic area. The more dynamic it is, the faster these processes are going to work."
Melton said the Gulf side, a popular area for surfers, is especially dynamic, but it's not the only area in
A June 2012 report from the
The dune area behind "
"If this thing erodes away, it'll drain that lake on out," Mocilan said. "They put a lot of sand here and it's still eroding away really fast."
To protect the shoreline, the channel is dredged about every year to year and a half. The last dredging project in the channel took place just last winter.
However, constant dredging on one side of the dune has created the opposite problem on the peninsula's adjacent "


text:
Camping Out in the Adirondack Mountains
In the last Adirondack image that Homer prepared for the illustrated press, he once again presented local woodsmen in a familiar and favorite setting. Two men sit before a bark leanto on the shore of Mink Pond before a smudge fire burning to keep away insects. The nearby canoe, assorted fishing paraphernalia, and a string of fish announce the end of a successful day on the pond. An enthusiastic fisherman, Homer may well have participated in this excursion as both angler and artist.
- Artist: Winslow Homer, American, 1836-1910
- Engraver: W. H. Lagarde
- Medium: Wood engraving
- Dates: 1874
- Dimensions: Image: 9 1/8 x 13 3/4 in. (23.2 x 34.9 cm) Sheet: 11 x 16 1/4 in. (27.9 x 41.3 cm) (show scale)
- Collections:American Art
- Museum Location: This item is not on view
- Accession Number: 1998.105.195
- Credit Line: Gift of Harvey Isbitts
- Rights Statement: No known copyright restrictions
- Caption: Winslow Homer (American, 1836-1910). Camping Out in the Adirondack Mountains, 1874. Wood engraving, Image: 9 1/8 x 13 3/4 in. (23.2 x 34.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Harvey Isbitts, 1998.105.195
- Image:
- Record Completeness: Good (62%)


text:
February 7, 2013 from 6:30pm to 8pm – NSTA Learning Center Attend this web seminar and learn how to incorporate exciting space exploration problems into your technology or life science classes. See how you can use the engineering design process to have stude… Organized by NSTA Learning Center | Type: free, webinar
© 2015 Created by Middle School Portal. Powered by


text:
Links Sort by: Hits | Alphabetical
|Hot Air Ballooning - http://www.hunterballoonrides.com.au
Hot Air Balloon Flights - The Hunter Valley's newest hot air ballooning company comes with 10 years experience in hot air rides. For hot air balloon flights contact us today.- Details
|hotels leeds city - http://www.entradaapartments.com/
Serviced Apartments Leeds and Hotels Leeds City Centre, Entrada Apartments is one of the only Serviced Apartment & Cheap Hotel providers in Leeds City Centre. Offering high quality Corporate and Leisure accommodation at very affordable rates it is one of the best luxury serviced apartments and hotels accommodation in the posh Leeds area of United Kingdom.- Details
|How Do You Decrease Base Insects? By Jessica Gutierrez - http://combatbedbug.com/bed-bug-heat-treatment-options/
One that can assist out is anti-itching cream for insect bites. You possibly can usually find these at a drug retailer over-the-counter. Our Mattress Bug Treatment section has a list of all remedies that labored for our guests.- Details
|Internet Marketing Company - http://www.semwhizz.com
Get high quality Internet Marketing Services from India at Semwhizz. Get Professional Internet Marketing Services such as Search Engine Optimization, Pay Per Click, Social Media Marketing and Link building services from Semwhizz.- Details
|Moving to Mexico - http://www.fm3mexico.com
While this new electronic monitoring combined with the new FM3 & FM2 ID cards as viewed on our home page instead of the older passport book style has speeded the process up, it has also changed the way an individual goes about the filing process.- Details


text:
Girl Scouts dedicate outdoor classroom
Longan Elementary's Girl Scout Troop 207 earned the Scouts' prestigious Bronze Award for building and dedicating an outdoor classroom at the school earlier this week.
The outdoor classroom includes brand new picnic tables, birdhouses and a flower garden.
"[For] the Bronze Project we did the outdoor classroom because the [old] picnic tables, they were really splintery," said Junior Girl Scout Hannah Paulding. "So we fixed the picnic tables with new wood and we made birdhouses."
The Bronze Award is the highest honor that a Junior Girl Scout Troop can earn. In order for these fourth- and fifth-grade scouts to earn the award, they must take the time to complete a project that will make a difference in the community. The Girl Scout Council presents the award to troops that, in its estimation, have met the award's criteria.
Troop 207 completed the project at the beginning of the month after planning and working on it for an entire school year. Members completed it with the assistance of their troop leaders, Vickie Marandina and Maggie Drilling.
"We've been writing down choices about what to do for a long time for the Bronze Project," said Junior Scout Raygan Lukowsky. "This one stuck out because it helped."
At the dedication ceremony, the Juniors recited the pledge of allegiance and Girl Scout promise before officially dedicating the site.
Longan's principal, Richard Hall, gave the closing remarks, praising the girls for their hard work and dedication.
'Proof of Heaven' coming to Glen Allen
Dr. Even Alexander, a New York Times best-selling author who has been featured on Oprah and Dr. Oz, was in town last week to promote his June 27 talk, "Proof of Heaven," at Glen Allen High School.
Alexander (pictured, at right, while Unity of Bon Air church member Harry Simmons interviews him) has written about what he considers to be his journey through the afterlife.
Tickets to this month's event are $25 and will support the new Bon Secours Hospice House being built later this year. > Read more.
Innsbrook Rotary celebrates 25 years
The Innsbrook Rotary Club, which is celebrating its 25th year in 2015, has completed a number of volunteer projects this year and raised thousands of dollars for various organizations through three events.
The club's annual rose sale, benefit for youth live auction and Virginia Fire Games competition, combined with individual and corporate donations, have raised nearly $70,000 – money that the club contributes back to the community.
FeedMore is the beneficiary of the club's 25th anniversary project, which provides refrigerated trailers to be used for the distribution of food throughout Central Virginia. > Read more.
Weekend Top 10
For our Top 10 calendar events this weekend, click here! > Read more.
No one injured during fiery morning wreck on I-295
Va. Guard soldiers, airmen eligible for Va. Veterans ID card
Land Lovers, Clean Businesses honored
Henrico Schools holding job fair to recruit bus drivers
Fairfield MS band wins 5 awards
- More News
Print Edition
Jul. 2, 2015Click here to read the print edition.
Weekend Top 10
Voltaggio to host three-course dinners at Family Meal July 21-22
Fan favorite shines in new West End home
Weekend Top 10
Weekend Top 10
- More Entertainment
Obituary – Ruby White
Obituary – Thomas Stewart Gammon
Obituaries – Frances Inthavong
- More Obituaries
'Proof of Heaven' coming to Glen Allen
Innsbrook Rotary celebrates 25 years
Holman student named Miss Va. Coed Junior Teen
- More Community
My daughters' other dads
All hail to mothers and the hardest job of all
Cabin fever cures - and blessings
- More Opinions
Athlete of the Week – July 3: Kayla Sell
Athlete of the Week – June 19: Sydney Whitaker
Steward School's Enright drafted by NY Mets
- More Sports
Reader Survey | Advertising | Email updates
ClassifiedsDONATE YOUR CAR, TRUCK OR BOAT TO HERITAGE FOR THE BLIND. Free 3 Day Vacation, Tax Deductible, Free Towing, All Paperwork Taken Care Of. 888-617-1682
Full text
Place an Ad | More Classifieds
CalendarInnsbrook After Hours will present 311 with special guest The Green at 6 p.m. 311 mix rock, reggae, hip-hop and funk into their own unique sound. The band has released… Full text


text:
than double in the coming decades unless the causes of disability can be identified and controlled (Schneider and Guralnick, 1990).
The following themes of risk and opportunity have guided the preparation of this report, and have justified support for the study of aging through scholarship and research:
the need to control acute and chronic illness in old age and to achieve a major reduction in disability and suffering, thus not merely extending life but enhancing it; and
the new opportunity offered by science to improve the quality of life for older persons through analysis and discovery of the relationships among basic biological phenomena, disease, economic and social deprivation, disability, and dependence.
Building on two reports by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), Our Future Selves (1978), and Toward an Independent Old Age: A National Plan for Research on Aging (1982), the present agenda aims to identify priority research on aging in basic biomedical science, clinical science, and behavioral and social studies as they relate to health, health services delivery, and biomedical ethics. To this end, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) convened a committee of 18 leaders in national health care, and charged them to:
identify for the next two decades priorities in research on aging that will contribute to the quality of life and maximize the independence of older persons;
stimulate research on the fundamental processes of aging and the prevention of disability and disease, and further the application of current knowledge to the treatment of age-related disorders;
alert scientists to promising but neglected areas of research on aging;
provide the stimulus that will encourage new investigators to undertake the study of aging, and continue to engage the interest of established researchers in this field;
estimate the resources required to fulfill the scientific needs for gerontological and geriatric research;
guide federal and nonfederal funding agencies in supporting this research, and identify collaborative and nonduplicative funding patterns for government, industry, and private sources of support; and
bring the importance of research on aging to the attention of government, private institutions, industry, the scientific community, and the public at large.
During the project the committee became convinced of the impor-


text:
So I we decided to order a pizza one night and i was dared to sit in any positon that my boyfriend wanted. He had me take of my panties and sit with my knees to my chest. When the pizza arrived at the door the pizza boy (who was probably about 19) saw my pussy! The poor kid dropped his money when he was trying to give my boyfriend change. He left and we laughed a little at his emabarresment. After that, we had a hell of a night together!!!!!
Dare Blog ||
Sex Archives ||
Dare Videos ||
Amateurs ||
Free Video Chat ||
MILFs ||
Your Stories ||
Sexy Chat ||
Boobs ||
Hottest Cam Girls & Skype Girls ||
Personals ||
Strip Games ||
Nude Dares ||
Audio - Submit your Truth or Dare Pics and Stories! - Girls
Real Girls Naked at Porn.com ||
Kink ||
Watch Girls Flash ||
© 2004-2015 Truth or Dare Pics - Terms - Contact


text:
Indian Army faces Massive Shortage of Officers
Filed Under: Opinion, Politics | Posted: 03/17/2010 at 11:31PM
Comments | Region: India
The approval of the Union Government to open a second Officers' Training Academy (OTA) at Gaya in Bihar marks a major step to solve the problem of shortage of officers in the country.
The new academy will function on the similar lines as one that exists in Chennai. Initially the new Officers Training Academy at Gaya will commence the training of 250 cadets, but in due course of time it will be upgraded to its full design capacity to train 750 short-service commission officers annually.
At present the Indian Army has two training institutions; one, at the Indian Military Academy ,(IMA) Dehradun that annually churns out permanent commission officers. The other is Short Service Commission officers that are produced at the Officers Training Academy at Chennai.
IMA gets its cadets from the tri-Service National Defence Academy (NDA) at Khadakwasla, which is open to youngsters after class XII, as well as through the `direct entry' route open to college graduates.
The Officers Training Academy at Chennai is open to college graduates only are also struggling for students. In both the institutions students have to clear a very comprehensive test and this include physical endurance test as well.
As part of their force-restructuring to maintain a young profile and attract bright youngsters to their fold, the armed forces are gradually moving towards substantially increasing the number of short service commission officers in their ranks. The change in intake pattern will eventually lead to one is to two ratio, for Permanent Commission to Short Service Commission officers.
India Military Academy at Dehradun currently has a capacity to train 950 officers per year, while the Officers Training Academy at Chennai trains around 500 officers. The capacity at both these academies is also being expanded to train an additional 100 cadets each every year.
However, the National Defence Academy that enlists high school graduates and turns them into officers for the Navy, Air Force and also the Army, is struggling for students. The defence ministry records show just 190 students signed up this month against the academy's sanctioned strength of 300.
Incidentally, almost all the three wings of the armed forces in the country are short of officers. The Indian Army is short of around 11,400 officers. The Indian Navy is short of about 1,500 officers. The Indian Air Forces grapple with a shortage of about 1,400 officers.
The shortage of the Indian defence force officers becomes conspicuous when we cross check shortages of the officers with those of its prescribed strength.
The Indian Army has an authorized strength of 46,614 officers. The authorized strength of Indian Air Force is 12,136, whereas the Indian Navy has an authorized strength of 8,797 officers.
India's army, the world's fourth largest, is failing to attract enough youngsters with "officer-like qualities" for its 1.13-million strong Army. The second is Indian Army is facing a massive exodus from its ranks, with more and more officers opting for premature retirement. The shortage of officers in the Indian defence forces is blamed on stress, low pay, slow promotions and the military's tough lifestyle.
Even though the salaries of armed forces have substantially increased after the 6th Pay Commission, the youngsters still find them less compared to the private sector. This consideration is put forth especially is one takes into the account of the life of a soldier which is tough and risky.
Then army has severe promotional bottlenecks. After entering the army, an entry level officer must wait up to 10 years before donning the flashes of a lieutenant-colonel. But even at that level the monthly basic salary does not exceed much. The other contributing factors are poor promotional avenues and frequent transfers that disrupt family life of the officers.
The traditional catchments area like; Punjab and Rajasthan for recruitment of Army officers have gone dry. Most of the families that have strong soldiers background have stopped sending their wards to the Amy schools and are keen to send them abroad have hampered the steady flow of the officers in the Indian Military service.
Added to it is the lack of interest of the Anglo- Indian and Muslim communities in joining the Indian Army that has resulted into the shortage of the officers in the armed forces. If we check the old records and compare with the recent ones the total desertions of these two communities from the armed forces is glaring.
We may like it or not, corruption has entered into the armed forces as well. Many talented recruits feel patriotism and valor the two cardinal features of the deference services are compromised with corruption coming into its ranks. This has resulted in keeping them away from the defense services.
Indian Army faces a dire shortage of officers because the booming private sector is recruiting the best talent. The private sector, which has been luring away India 's best talent by offering hefty wages and generous perks and the government and the services, simply cannot compete in matters of salary and perks with the corporate world.
The Indian Armed forces has enormous opportunities available outside the services. According to the defence ministry's Directorate of Resettlement, a third of the 3,000 officers who retire annually enlist in top Indian business schools. And the corporate world welcomes retiring military recruits with open arms.
This has left the military with poor pickings. Most of those applying are not the right material. Experts feel that the deficiencies should not be met by lowering the quality standards of the world's largest voluntary army.
India, which has fought three wars with Pakistan and a bloody border skirmish with China since its 1947 independence, has never turned to compulsory recruitment but such a move could be an option in future to meet the demand of the shortage of officers.
Compulsory military service could be one of the avenues before the government but at moment it's not given much thought but sometime in the future such possibilities cannot to be ruled out.
However, skeptics feel that conscription is not the answer to the problem because it may lead to indiscipline, waywardness and desertions.
Nonetheless the recruitment issue has become an urgent priority for the army after 3,000 mid-level commanders recently sought early retirement on top of an existing shortage of 11,200 officers. The army needs a total of 46,615 officers.
How this anomaly is going to be resolved needs to be seen in the new policies that are going to be evolved by the government in the course of time. The only good news is thanks to India 's billion-plus population and high unemployment, the 1.23-million-strong army has no shortages in the lower ranks.
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai, India. He can be contacted at email@example.com


text:
Last month, my Facebook news feed was flooded with images of broken houses, wailing mothers and dead children of Gaza. Friends were sharing news reports of how Israelis were celebrating this bloodbath. Many of them even replaced their profile or cover picture with banners "Save Gaza"/ "Save Palestine".
I, too, was affected by the disturbing reports of Israel's massive crackdown on Gaza civilians, and for some days, even I uploaded a "Save Gaza" banner as my Facebook cover picture.
With the Israel-Gaza conflict now waning, fewer pictures of devastated Gazan families now show up on my news feed. But as one gory episode in the Middle East fades into the background, another emerges. That of the Iraq and Syria-based Sunni militant group ISIS's massacre of minority Yazidis, Shias and Christians in Iraq.
But the same friends who were crying "death of humanity" over Israel's ruthlessness are deafeningly silent over the ISIS's barbarism. A disclaimer here: Much before the ISIS showed its ugliest face so far in its mistreatment of Iraq's minorities, I had stated on my Facebook wall that as a Sunni Muslim, I abhor the group and all that they declare or do. That was when the group had declared a so-called Islamic caliphate. In the wake of the Yazidi massacre, I again made clear my hatred for ISIS on Facebook.
Of course, I am no holier than thou. There are other Sunni Muslims who have condemned the ISIS. But sadly, the vast majority of them are mum. There are no street protests condemning the ISIS, nor sharing of pictures in solidarity with the victims of ISIS's terror on my Facebook news feed.
Considering that the ISIS's attacks on Yazidis and Christians comes immediately after Israel's attacks on Gazans, this contrast in Sunni Muslims' reactions appears even starker. Just because one of your own does an evil act, it's not that bad, huh? If someone else does it, it's really bad? And if that someone is a Jew supported by an American, it's worse? These are some questions that Sunni Muslims, or Muslims in general, need to ask themselves.
But first, let's get some historical background to this. The Israel-Palestine conflict is rooted in history and religion, and most Muslims believe that Israelis have wrongfully and forcefully taken away Palestinians' land with the support and aid of the Americans. Palestine-Israel even hosts Islam's third holiest shrine, the Masjid Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem. The anti-Americanism among Muslims dates to the beginnings of American support for Israel, in the 1940s. So, when trouble erupts in Gaza, the Muslim world erupts in uproar.
The case of Iraq is different. America invaded Iraq in 2003, and left the country in a mess in 2011. The ISIS …continued »
Best of Express


text:
Request your transcript in one of three ways:
Note: Your HCC transcript reflects all of your credit coursework.
If there are any holds on your account or record, your transcript will not be issued. Transcripts will be processed within two business days. Please allow extra time at peak periods such as end of semester, commencement, and late registration.
Where's my transcript?
Need an unofficial transcript?
National Student Clearinghouse
You may request a copy of your transcript online through the National Student Clearinghouse 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There is a $2.25 fee for each transcript requested. A credit card is required for payment.
You will need the following to order a transcript online:
To request transcript(s) online, please click on www.getmytranscript.com
Note: This service is not provided by HCC but rather by a private contractor (National Student Clearinghouse), who forwards the transcript requests to HCC. Using this service does NOT guarantee that transcripts will be processed sooner than those requested directly through HCC.
Follow these steps to have an official transcript mailed:
A photo ID is required for transcript pickup. No exceptions.
Note: A maximum of two copies of your transcript can be processed at the registration counter. If you require more than two copies, complete out a transcript request form and place it in the drop slot at the Office of Records, Registration & Veterans' Affairs. You do not need to wait in line if you are using the drop slot.


text:
Member since Jan 2014
1 Curated Comments,
2 Total
Sterling Hooten lives in Portland Oregon. Former CEO of Timberland Tile. His interests include complex adaptive systems and genetic engineering.
Sterling Hooten Personal website http://www.sterlinghooten.com
Sterling Hooten built a Rocket Launcher when in high school.
The socks are supposed to be pretty good!
Sounds like an interesting event, will try and check out when I'm in the city next.


text:
Tonight, Executive Editor Diana Gill, Senior Publicity Director Pamela Spengler-Jaffee, and Agent Ginger Clark from Curtis Brown will be answering all of your questions about sf/fantasy and publishing at Reddit. Here's your chance to ask us anything!
2 thoughts on "Reddit Fantasy AMA with Diana Gill, Pam Spengler-Jaffee and Ginger Clark tonight"
Robin has had some awful covers, ugh the Mad Ship Series was btarul. I get her books from the UK as those covers are infinitely better and more suited to her excellent writing!


text:
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Tips For Designing Bookshelves
24 comments:
Great post and a good reminder about negative space! That's something that is sometimes hard (for me) to remember but so important to follow!!ReplyDelete
That is such a huge improvement! Thanks for the great tips!ReplyDelete
Great tips. While I love styling shelves, I find it ver challenging. I agree with everything you shared!ReplyDelete
Really great post. Thank you for sharing all of these wonderful tips.ReplyDelete
Such a great improvement! I want those target trophies bad....ReplyDelete
#2 is the best, and I've never heard many people talk about negative space except artists! Love it. I'll share on Facebook.ReplyDelete
Looks so much better, you did an excellent job!ReplyDelete
Looks great! It's amazing what can happen when you design with intention :)ReplyDelete
I love this post. Good job on the shelves. I am totally laughing about the faux ivory. For some reason our church building out here as lots of it and when ever we are assigned to clean the building (yes, apparently that is what you do outside of Utah) I want to throw it away! Nothing at all is better than faux ivory! Hope all is well with you guys!ReplyDelete
Great tips! I always have a hard time knowing how to "style" bookshelves. I have one I can apply these steps to simplify it :-)ReplyDelete
I do have a question though....is there a secret as to why "The DaVinci Code" book is placed upside down? ;-)Replies
lol no! I just totally didn't notice it. too funny :)Delete
Great changes! Great tips.ReplyDelete
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
This is exactly like my mom's house! I feel like if I say anything about it though, I will hurt her feelings. Was that hard for you too, or did your parents take it ok? I want to restyle her shelves so bad!ReplyDeleteReplies
Luckily my dad approached me. But I'm not sure if I ever would have been able to say anything to them. I know how hard that would be!Delete
Thanks for the great tips. I just did this over the weekend and it looks soooo much better.ReplyDelete
That is an amazing difference! And it feels "doable" for real people too. Nicely done.ReplyDelete
Fantastic Tips Kirsten! Absolutely love the result. Super fun to see you today!! Thanks again for letting me steal your frames for a day or two. I might just steal them altogether because I am SO in love with them :) he he!!ReplyDelete
So I bought this faux ivy arrangement with twigs etc, paid a lot of money for it at the time. I can't throw it out so I will put it in a box in the basement! LOL Thanks for pointing out something deep inside I already knew, the first step is admitting there's a problem! ha haReplyDelete
Thank you for the fantastic article. The place else could anyone get that kind of info in such a perfect means of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I am at the search for such information.ReplyDelete
The shelves are so nicely done. Those target trophies are looking great. Some of your tips are so helpful. thanks for that. xoxoReplyDelete
~ Herman Swan
Faux ivy!!! Oh my gosh, I about died reading that. It makes me cringe.ReplyDelete
I think you're right too about the souviner thing- it's easy to go overload when you're on vacation, but then where to put everything? And it looks so cluttery. I love too, just framing the pictures and making those the souviners.
Your suggestions are great and I love the updates you made in your parent's home. Thanks!!
We at Low cost website design dallas believe in providing low cost web design solutions per client specifications. Our strength lies with the skilled professionals who embrace fresh ideas in areas of high quality theme based design, sparkling web design layouts, web colours with stylish copy and inventive presentation. An eye for perfection and a key sense of layouts and designs set us a class apart. We make small business big business in Low cost website design dallas, Texas.For more information http://www.flashwebz.com/.ReplyDelete
Hey, great blog, but I don't understand how to add your site in my rss reader. Can you Help me please? professional websitesReplyDelete
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. It means a lot. I try and answer any questions directly in the comment section so if you ask a question come back to look for my answer. However it is much easier for me to answer questions through email at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Have a Great Day!


text:
Future and Kelly Rowland appeared on last night's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, performing their duet version of "Neva End" from Pluto 3D, the deluxe edition of Future's album that was released yesterday. Future also performed "Turn On The Lights" with the crowd singing along. Watch both clips below.
- Feed
- Fader TV
- Magazine
- Events
- Shop
- Fader Radio
- Follow the Fader


text:
Fionn Regan Readies His 'Bunkhouse' for January Release/
Press Release: Just over a year after the release of his critically-acclaimed 100 Acres of Sycamore, Fionn Regan returns with a new studio album The Bunkhouse Vol. I: Anchor Black Tattoo set for release January 28 in the U.K. (U.S. release TBA). Self-recorded in his Bunkhouse studio with a 4-track and a single microphone, 'The Bunkhouse Vol. I: Anchor Black Tattoo is Regan's most stripped back album yet and shows the artist bursting with imagination and humour. Regan has returned to his roots, with an album that shines a light on the strengths of the artist at work. Listen to one of the new album songs, 'Salt & Cloves', on Youtube here.
The Bunkhouse Vol. I: Anchor Black Tattoo is Regan's fourth studio album and is the latest addition to a family of highly acclaimed work including the Mercury Music Prize nominated debut album The End of History, the barn-storming The Shadow of an Empire and the orchestral steeped epic that was 100 Acres of Sycamore. During the past few years artists from surprisingly diverse quarters have singled out Fionn as having been an influence, and with an ever-growing list of noteworthy fans (Lucinda Williams, Rhys Ifans, Shane Meadows, Rankin, Justin Vernon) to his name, its clear that Regan's music is quietly increasing in stature and is built to last.
Regan has consistently stayed true to his own path "I've always just followed my instinct, I've made some huge sacrifrices in order to work that way, but I think once you stop doing that and tailor make your music to fit, you're not really an artist anymore. I think people respond to that and respect it."
Which brings us to The Bunkhouse...
Regan says of the album "I made the record here by myself with a 4-track and one microphone. I did quite a bit of touring on my own earlier this year supporting Feist and although the rooms were big, I felt very much at home on the stage and after that I had a strong instinct to get right down to the brass tacks, back to the essense of what is it that I do as a songwriter, so that's what I've done. You can call it folk but I feel in a lot of ways it's like an Irish punk album, in that it's pure, it's stripped down, and it was made with just what I have at my disposal. Recording in this way also allowed me to work very quickly, I was documenting as I was writing, so these songs feel very fresh to me, straight out of the ground, which is a really great feeling."