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Archive for the 'Europe' tag
Down Goes The Kaiser!
The Karl Denninger Podcast for December 5, 2011
Downgrades coming across Europe — what it means for you, for the markets, for the global Ponzi – and where you better be. PS: The media is waking up. Watch 60 minutes last night? Better late than never, but probably too late for most…..
Down Goes The Kaiser! – Dec 05, 2011
European Countries Will Lose Their Sovereignty
Not To Worry. Just Visiting
Bob Chapman on The Financial Survival Show – November 16, 2011
with Melody Cedarstrom
The situation in Europe continue to deteriorate each day, the manipulation of the markets continues, In Europe they are trying to jam through legislations which will take away the sovereignty of all the nations in the European union and the excuse is we have to make the Euro stronger, the European Union stronger and it is important that you give us the right to run your fiscal affairs in your county …, the Germans will go ballistic over this if they have not already says Bob Chapman, the power is being taken from the countries and given to the bureaucrats in Brussels ….
Bob Chapman The European countries will lose their Sovereignty
Karl Denninger Podcast – September 26, 2011
Europe Goes ENRON
Unbelievable. The latest sticksave is that the Eurozone intends to use the EFSF to "lever up" by creating a SPV and then playing with the ECB on the bonds it issues. This, of course, is the same crap that ENRON pulled, and the opacity of SPVs makes them inherently a "trust me" off-balance sheet instrument. Ive ranted about these "structures" before, and now theyre being proposed at a sovereign level. Well look at it, but you dont have to listen if you want to know if I like it.
Europe Goes ENRON – Sep 26,2011
A Distant Sound of Churning
by James Howard Kunstler
In my last dream of a febrile night, I put my flat-screen TV on top of an old house in town and watched it crash onto the street. There was nothing inside it. The darn thing was empty. The ghost of Little Caylee wasn't even in there.
From the news this weekend, you'd think the world was in a coma, but I swear I heard ominous bassoon phrases through the night rain… something large groaning out there in the dark. A great churn, coming closer. The world is in a box, tortured with its obsolete ideas about how economies are supposed to run, especially the money part, and the economists are clueless.
A case in point: the eminent Vincent Reinhart at the Council of Foreign Relations last week. (Conspiracy theorists just shut your pie-holes):
"There are very few debt defaults… there are a whole lot of restructurings. For most of history, default is something the strong declare on the weak when they lose their patience. And if you're members of the same club, you're less likely to lose your patience. Hence you're less likely to default. Greece is in the club."
The club he refers to – the Euro money club – is less a jolly fraternal lodge than a funeral insurance association. The latest restructuring for Greece he referred to is a cockamamie perpetual rollover with no redemptions allowed, while Greece has to agree to become more like its neighbor, Albania, in lifestyle – that is, like Borat, minus the joie de vivre.
There's a third option that Reinhart ignores: the Greek populace can riot in the streets, toss out their government, install some kind of rump leadership and hoist its middle fingers at the Euro management team, opting out of the club. Why this does not occur to Reinhart (and many other vested poobahs) I can't say, despite the fact that there are many places around the world (especially Europe these days) where the natives are obviously getting restless. Besides, it's not lost on the Greek people that they're being asked to go Albanian for the sake of a dozen banks up in Germany, France, and Holland, not their own country's sacred honor.
The proposed restructuring is all about the Great Fear that haunts the inner sanctums of finance (like the ghost of Caylee haunts America): counter-party obligations on a Burj Dubai of side bets over things such as the soundness of bonds and the movement of interest rates. The world of money imagines a thundering crash of cascading defaults as the various counter-parties are revealed to be broke, naked, and ashamed. And rightly so, because the creakings and groanings of this tower of paper will not only crash, but burn, too. The bankers can already smell it.
Anyway, let's be clear that money has become a world unto itself now, a self-referential hall-of-mirrors that only sees itself and is increasingly confused by what it sees in that self. Outside that blinding little box there are real economies of people trying like hell to go about their daily life, and there is much to be fretful about. Economies are caught in the permanent compressive contraction of fossil fuel based activities. When you hear a politician utter the word "growth" note that he/she is speaking out of his/her ass. Contraction is contraction, not growth. We're done with growth of that kind because our fuel supplies are shrinking, not growing. The vaunted "recovery" is a political three-card-monte trick.
The sad fact is we don't want to go where history wants to take us: to a smaller human imprint on the planet, with all that implies. This is true especially of the intellectual avant-garde, who can't imagine a world without the joys of perpetual techno-narcissistic novelty, of levitating skyscraper cities with hanging gardens and flying cars, full of girls with green nail-polish in get-ups so fantastic mere mortals could never have dreamed them up, flaunting hand-held gadgets so miraculous that life itself seems besides the point. Oh, shimmering future! Oh Ray Kurzweil and your nano-ladder to the worm-holes of forever!
This Ancien Régime is about to be swept away on the tsunami of its own futility.
The failure of leadership around the world is now complete. Nobody who needs to get it gets it. Our own money management team here in the USA is in a box even worse than Europe's. It's not even a hall of mirrors. It's a broke-down Winnebago with moldy upholstery and the propane line is leaking inside. Everybody's wondering if Ben Bernanke is going to light a cigarette. What else can he do? If he doesn't keep the QE-ZIRP racket going, the wheels will come off the Winnebago. If he lights that American Spirit, she'll blow.
The US banking system can easily implode, anyway, if a European nation or two opts out of ECB-peristroika. God knows who is a counter-party to whom in the mammoth international clusterfuck of accounting fraud that passes for a commerce in capital. Hence, everybody is nervous – except the fools at the Nascar oval with Big Gulps in their fists. When the Greeks and Spain's youth corps, and even the bleery folk of Dublin take to the central square to express their rage, and hoist middle fingers to those who would chisel them into debt serfdom, Americans will have no central squares to go to. Will we take to the highway strips and burn down a Taco Bell or two? Maybe President Obama will ask congress for a home mortgage TARP, guaranteeing that nobody will ever buy a house again, at least not on an installment loan. Maybe in tonight's New Hampshire "debate," Michele Bachman will appeal to Jesus for the release of Little Caylee from eternity's impoundment lot, and the stunt will carry her overwhelmingly to the oval office.
By then, America, too, will be more like Albania. You can take that to the bank, if there's one left standing. Yesterday a little US flag appeared on every mailbox in the neighborhood. Someone is trying to help remind us what country this is. Most years, this is just ceremonial routine, but now I suspect a lot of people get up and scratch their heads over it. And, believe me, just waving that old flag is not going to furnish any kind of idea you can really hang onto.
Out of the current stillness in world events, a horrible churning waits. Men in impeccable suits on Swiss terraces cannot hide their anxiety. One might even lose it and jump a hotel maid – you never know. Bernanke, Obama, Geithner are powerless against the dark lurking churn, though they can easily make it worse. What a summer we're in for. Get out of the stock market.
The Evidence Suggests E Coli Superbug was Bioengineered
Here we go again…. I'm surprised that we didn't have to wait for Matthew to tell us this time. We're definitely catching on. No comfort for those who lost their loved ones. Thanks to Roth.
Forensic evidence emerges that European e.coli superbug was bioengineered to produce human fatalities
Monday, June 06, 2011
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com, http://www.naturalnews.com/032622_ecoli_bioengineering.html
(NaturalNews) Even as the veggie blame game is now under way across the EU, where a super resistant strain of e.coli is sickening patients and filling hospitals in Germany, virtually no one is talking about how e.coli could have magically become resistant to eight different classes of antibiotic drugs and then suddenly appeared in the food supply.
This particular e.coli variation is a member of the O104 strain, and O104 strains are almost never (normally) resistant to antibiotics. In order for them to acquire this resistance, they must be repeatedly exposed to antibiotics in order to provide the "mutation pressure" that nudges them toward complete drug immunity.
So if you're curious about the origins of such a strain, you can essentially reverse engineer the genetic code of the e.coli and determine fairly accurately which antibiotics it was exposed to during its development. This step has now been done (see below), and when you look at the genetic decoding of this O104 strain now threatening food consumers across the EU, a fascinating picture emerges of how it must have come into existence.
The genetic code reveals the history
When scientists at Germany's Robert Koch Institute decoded the genetic makeup of the O104 strain, they found it to be resistant to all the following classes and combinations of antibiotics:
• penicillins
• tetracycline
• nalidixic acid
• trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazol
• cephalosporins
• amoxicillin / clavulanic acid
• piperacillin-sulbactam
• piperacillin-tazobactam
In addition, this O104 strain posses an ability to produce special enzymes that give it what might be called "bacteria superpowers" known technically as ESBLs:
"Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamases (ESBLs) are enzymes that can be produced by bacteria making them resistant to cephalosporins e.g. cefuroxime, cefotaxime and ceftazidime – which are the most widely used antibiotics in many hospitals," explains the Health Protection Agency in the UK (http://www.hpa.org.uk/Topics/Infect…).
On top of that, this O104 strain possesses two genes — TEM-1 and CTX-M-15 — that "have been making doctors shudder since the 1990s," reports The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentis…). And why do they make doctors shudder? Because they're so deadly that many people infected with such bacteria experience critical organ failure and simply die.
Bioengineering a deadly superbug
So how, exactly, does a bacterial strain come into existence that's resistant to over a dozen antibiotics in eight different drug classes and features two deadly gene mutations plus ESBL enzyme capabilities?
There's really only one way this happens (and only one way) — you have to expose this strain of e.coli to all eight classes of antibiotics drugs. Usually this isn't done at the same time, of course: You first expose it to penicillin and find the surviving colonies which are resistant to penicillin. You then take those surviving colonies and expose them to tetracycline. The surviving colonies are now resistant to both penicillin and tetracycline. You then expose them to a sulfa drug and collect the surviving colonies from that, and so on. It is a process of genetic selection done in a laboratory with a desired outcome. This is essentially how some bioweapons are engineered by the U.S. Army in its laboratory facility in Ft. Detrick, Maryland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation…).
Although the actual process is more complicated than this, the upshot is that creating a strain of e.coli that's resistant to eight classes of antibiotics requires repeated, sustained expose to those antibiotics. It is virtually impossible to imagine how this could happen all by itself in the natural world. For example, if this bacteria originated in the food (as we've been told), then where did it acquire all this antibiotic resistance given the fact that antibiotics are not used in vegetables?
When considering the genetic evidence that now confronts us, it is difficult to imagine how this could happen "in the wild." While resistance to a single antibiotic is common, the creation of a strain of e.coli that's resistant to eight different classes of antibiotics — in combination — simply defies the laws of genetic permutation and combination in the wild. Simply put, this superbug e.coli strain could not have been created in the wild. And that leaves only one explanation for where it really came from: the lab.
Engineered and then released into the wild
The evidence now points to this deadly strain of e.coli being engineered and then either being released into the food supply or somehow escaping from a lab and entering the food supply inadvertently. If you disagree with that conclusion — and you're certainly welcome to — then you are forced to conclude that this octobiotic superbug (immune to eight classes of antibiotics) developed randomly on its own… and that conclusion is far scarier than the "bioengineered" explanation because it means octobiotic superbugs can simply appear anywhere at any time without cause. That would be quite an exotic theory indeed.
My conclusion actually makes more sense: This strain of e.coli was almost certainly engineered and then released into the food supply for a specific purpose. What would that purpose be? It's obvious, I hope.
It's all problem, reaction, solution at work here. First cause a PROBLEM (a deadly strain of e.coli in the food supply). Then wait for the public REACTION (huge outcry as the population is terrorized by e.coli). In response to that, enact your desired SOLUTION (total control over the global food supply and the outlawing of raw sprouts, raw milk and raw vegetables).
That's what this is all about, of course. The FDA relied on the same phenomenon in the USA when pushing for its recent "Food Safety Modernization Act" which essentially outlaws small family organic farms unless they lick the boots of FDA regulators. The FDA was able to crush farm freedom in America by piggybacking on the widespread fear that followed e.coli outbreaks in the U.S. food supply. When people are afraid, remember, it's not difficult to get them to agree to almost any level of regulatory tyranny. And making people afraid of their food is a simple matter… a few government press releases emailed to the mainstream media news affiliates is all it takes.
First ban the natural medicine, then attack the food supply
Now, remember: All this is happening on the heels of the EU ban on medicinal herbs and nutritional supplements — a ban that blatantly outlaws nutritional therapies that help keep people healthy and free from disease. Now that all these herbs and supplements are outlawed, the next step is to make people afraid of fresh food, too. That's because fresh vegetables are medicinal, and as long as the public has the right to buy fresh vegetables, they can always prevent disease.
But if you can make people AFRAID of fresh vegetables — or even outlaw them altogether — then you can force the entire population onto a diet of dead foods and processed foods that promote degenerative disease and bolster the profits of the powerful drug companies.
It's all part of the same agenda, you see: Keep people sick, deny them access to healing herbs and supplements, then profit from their suffering at the hands of the global drug cartels.
GMOs play a similar role in all this, of course: They're designed to contaminate the food supply with genetic code that causes widespread infertility among human beings. And those who are somehow able to reproduce after exposure to GMOs still suffer from degenerative disease that enriches the drug companies from "treatment."
Do you recall which country was targeted in this recent e.coli scare? Spain. Why Spain? You may recall that leaked cables from Wikileaks revealed that Spain resisted the introduction of GMOs into its agricultural system, even as the U.S. government covertly threatened political retaliation for its resistance. This false blaming of Spain for the e.coli deaths is probably retaliation for Spain's unwillingness to jump on the GMO bandwagon. (http://www.naturalnews.com/030828_G…)
That's the real story behind the economic devastation of Spain's vegetable farmers. It's one of the subplots being pursued alongside this e.coli superbug scheme.
Food as weapons of war – created by Big Pharma?
By the way, the most likely explanation of where this strain of e.coli was bioengineered is that the drug giants came up with it in their own labs. Who else has access to all the antibiotics and equipment needed to manage the targeted mutations of potentially thousands of e.coli colonies? The drug companies are uniquely positioned to both carry out this plot and profit from it. In other words, they have the means and the motive to engage in precisely such actions.
Aside from the drug companies, perhaps only the infectious disease regulators themselves have this kind of laboratory capacity. The CDC, for example, could probably pull this off if they really wanted to.
The proof that somebody bioengineered this e.coli strain is written right in the DNA of the bacteria. That's forensic evidence, and what it reveals cannot be denied. This strain underwent repeated and prolonged exposure to eight different classes of antibiotics, and then it somehow managed to appear in the food supply. How do you get to that if not through a well-planned scheme carried out by rogue scientists? There is no such thing as "spontaneous mutation" into a strain that is resistant to the top eight classes of brand-name antibiotic drugs being sold by Big Pharma today. Such mutations have to be deliberate.
Once again, if you disagree with this assessment, then what you're saying is that NO, it wasn't done deliberately… it happened accidentally! And again, I'm saying that's even scarier! Because that means the antibiotic contamination of our world is now at such an extreme level of overkill that a strain of e.coli in the wild can be saturated with eight different classes of antibiotics to the point where it naturally develops into its own deadly superbug. If that's what people believe, then that's almost a scarier theory than the bioengineering explanation!
A new era has begun: Bioweapons in your food
But in either case — no matter what you believe — the simple truth is that the world is now facing a new era of global superbug strains of bacteria that can't be treated with any known pharmaceutical. They can all, of course, be readily killed with colloidal silver, which is exactly why the FDA and world health regulators have viciously attacked colloidal silver companies all these years: They can't have the public getting its hands on natural antibiotics that really work, you see. That would defeat the whole purpose of making everybody sick in the first place.
In fact, these strains of e.coli superbugs can be quite readily treated with a combination of natural full-spectrum antibiotics from plants such as garlic, ginger, onions and medicinal herbs. On top of that, probiotics can help balance the flora of the digestive tract and "crowd out" the deadly e.coli that might happen by. A healthy immune system and well-functioning digestive tract can fight off an e.coli superbug infection, but that's yet another fact the medical community doesn't want you to know. They much prefer you to remain a helpless victim lying in the hospital, waiting to die, with no options available to you. That's "modern medicine" for ya. They cause the problems that they claim to treat, and then they won't even treat you with anything that works in the first place.
Nearly all the deaths now attributable to this e.coli outbreak are easily and readily avoidable. These are deaths of ignorance. But even more, they may also be deaths from a new era of food-based bioweapons unleashed by either a group of mad scientists or an agenda-driven institution that has declared war on the human population.
Additional developments on this e.coli outbreak
• 22 fatalities have so far been reported, with 2,153 people now sickened and possibly facing kidney failure.
• An agricultural ministry in Germany said that even though they now know the source of the outbreak is a German sprout farm, they are still not lifting their warnings for people to avoid eating tomatoes and lettuce. In other words, keep the people afraid!
• "The German variant of E coli, known as O104, is a hybrid of the strains that can cause bloody diarrhoea and kidney damage called 'hemolytic uremic syndrome'." (http://www.independent.ie/world-new…)
• A total of ten European nations have reported outbreaks of this e.coli strain, mostly from people who had visited northern Germany.
• The following story is in German, and it hints that the e.coli outbreak might have been a terrorist attack (http://www.aerztezeitung.de/medizin…). Yeah, a terrorist attack by the drug companies upon innocent people, as usual…
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/032622_ecoli_bioengineering.html#ixzz1OYlXsve4
Evidence Suggests Superbug was Bioengineered
The Creeping Nausea of American Exceptionalism
by James Howard Kunstler
History, that coy dominatrix, loves to trick the credulous human race. In a moment when something we call "democracy" seems to be spreading through the dodgy precincts of the world like a contagion of virtue, the trend is actually going the other way in countries that have practiced it for a while.
That is certainly the case in Europe, especially Greece right now, where the mobs in Syntagma Square denounce their waffling parliament for agreeing to a bailout deal that will make Greece a step-child of Germany. The German voters are none too pleased with this, either, since their country is now on the hook to pay Greece's bills. Ireland, Portugal, and Belgium are standing by for adoption next in Europe's Home for Wayward Children. Spain and Italy may need to become wards of the Euro-state, too, but they are more like adults with drinking problems who are liable to wreck the whole household if invited in.
Anyway, the Greeks rallying in Athens' central square lately are sick of politicians and parliaments, and there is a no small danger that they will soon rise up and dispense with theirs in the dumpster behind the Parthenon. A man in a uniform has a certain appeal in a situation like this. He is comfortable issuing orders in unfavorable situations, in fact, rather thrives on it. The Germans know all about this. Their "savior" back in the 20th century was a fellow in an ersatz military getup who virtually ran for office by denouncing "parliamentarism" and by the time his party occupied a fair portion of the seats in theirs, he burned the darn thing to the ground.
The Irish gaze longingly at little Iceland, out there in the North Atlantic now free of debt obligations from the simple act of raising the middle finger in the direction of the London banks. Ireland is sore tempted to do likewise, and the act would have an appealing historical symmetry to it. They may toss out their parliament to get to it. Staying sober is another matter. In Portugal, they are too busy having lunch, which is a very serious affair, they will assure you, and undertaken in spirit of absolute Iberian fatalism (that beefsteak died for you!). Oh, for the days of Salazar when lunch was decreed eighteen hours a day! Belgium, of course, will always be hopeless – Europe's doormat. And what can you say about a people who slather mayonnaise on their French fries – apart from their amazing failure to discover the miracle of ketchup, despite being overrun by American GIs sixty-odd years ago – and speaking a language that nobody has ever written rock and roll song in.
Europe is held together with baling twine, masking tape, and spit. It's been a fun half-century catering to harmless clownish tourists from Houston, with their "big boss" belt buckles and decoupaged wives. But lately the Chinese visitors look more like bargain-hunters at the preview of an estate auction, sizing up the merchandise, and even the waiters in the cafes know the score. The Grand Palace of Euroland is closing for business. Anybody who thinks that Germany is going to run some kind of halfway house for crackhead countries "in recovery" will be disappointed. The compressive contraction that grips the OECD like economic Lou Gehrig disease will be with us as far ahead as anyone can see.
For sure, there are features of European life that dispose many of its countries to face the long emergency on much better terms than the train wreck across the Atlantic. They know how to get by on much less oil – though the coming energy crisis will still be hard on them. They have excellent public transit already in place (yes, it depends on the energy situation). Their agriculture is scaled much more intelligently. Their cities, too, with some exceptions. But they have a long history of brawling amongst themselves and the recent half-century of peace and prosperity is already taking on the shimmer of a fading mirage. Europe is burning down financially from the outside in while the monster that was known as the global economy lies gasping on the rocky shore of Fukushima. The Euro and the weak political union that went with it, is toast. You can include the outsider England in all that, since their practical circumstances are no better than Spain's or Italy's – perhaps a little worse, even… poor tattered Old Blighty!
By the way, I hope you don't think the homefolks here in the USA are all that deliriously happy with representative government either. These days, despite all Sarah Palin's bluster about "freedom" and "our heritage," elected officials are held in about equal esteem to herpes viruses. Congress and the senate are paralyzed by triviality and the President is too busy golfing to disturb the status quo – which is the status quo of a house on fire. We won't have to wait much longer to find out how unexceptional America actually is.
It's a darn shame, and I mean that literally, because this is exactly what the American public is so ashamed of, and why appeals to the repressed sense of shame based on hyper-patriotic bluster, are so successful. It allows folks to feel great about themselves while they sink into the ooze. It's okay, we're special. I stopped at a convenience store at the edge of the Adirondack Mountains on Saturday afternoon and a more frightening gaggle of disfigured mutts I have never seen before. Has everybody in upstate New York only just been released from prison? The tattoo craze is especially telling. It's one thing to get some tattoos with the idea that you are artfully expressing something. It's another thing to deploy them around your body parts as though you were slapping decals on a 1989 beater car. These mutts had tattoos on their necks, their boobs, the sides of their heads, their knuckles, their ankles. The idea, apparently, is to make yourself appear as frightening as possible – and I can tell you it is a very successful initiative. Can lady Gaga please write us a new national anthem: America the horror movie.
The Creeping Nausea of American Exceptionalism
Piers Corbyn: Must See Video + Another Summer of Extremes In Britain, Ireland, Europe and USA
Read FULL report from Piers Corbyn
Piers Corbyn: Must See Video + Another Summer Of Extremes In Britain, Ireland Europe and USA
Is Another European Empire Collapsing Before Our Eyes?
by Wayne Madsen
The history of Europe is one of successive collapsed empires. Some, such as the Roman, Holy Roman, Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian empires, simply overextended themselves and collapsed due to nationalist uprisings coupled with domestic political and economic inertia. Others, like the German Nazi, Soviet, Italian fascist, Napoleonic French, Spanish, and Portuguese empires collapsed as a result of their military aggression and incessant subterfuge from external forces.
The European Union appears to be suffering from the same symptoms as those experienced by the first category of failed European empires: over-extension, a stagnant and bloated bureaucracy, and economic collapse. As Europe strives to become a more unified and federal union, there has been a backlash from across its member states, with a North-South divide and economic turmoil now threatening to bring down the whole house of cards.
The rise of nationalist political parties in some of the EU's heretofore staunchest pro-EU member nations and the collapse of some EU national economies due to predatory banking policies and America's flooding of the global financial system with cheap dollars – a central bankers' contrivance known as "quantitative easing" — has created fault lines in Europe that not only threaten to bring down the euro and drive the European Central Bank into extinction but prompt some members to leave the EU altogether.
Although there have always been degrees of Euro-skepticism throughout Europe since the coming into force of the Treaty of Maastricht in 1993, which transformed the European Economic Community into the European Union and created the euro, anti-EU feelings now run the full gamut from right to left. Anti-EU fervor has not only increased in the traditionally Euro-skeptic nations of Denmark, the United Kingdom, and France but has gained a strong foothold in the earliest supporters of European integration, including Ireland, the Netherlands, Finland, Greece, and most importantly, Germany…
Denmark originally failed to ratify Maastricht and a referendum on the treaty in France narrowly passed. Denmark, upon ratification, insisted on four exceptions to the treaty. In 1985, Maastricht was preceded by the Schengen Agreement, which dropped border controls between the member nations, including non-EU members Switzerland and Norway. However, the UK and Ireland never agreed to the Schengen Agreement.
More: http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2011/05/15/is-another-european-empire-collapsing-before-our-eyes.html
Is another European empire collapsing before our eyes?
Hundreds of Herbal Remedies Now Outlawed Across Europe
(NaturalNews) Live in Europe? Get your herbs while they last. New rules put forth by the European Union (EU) will ban the sale of certain herbal remedies that have been used for centuries.
Traditional herbs such a St. John's Wort or Echinacea must now meet strict licensing guidelines in order to be sold, while other lesser-known herbs that haven't been "traditionally" used in the last 30 years won't even make the cut to reach consumer shelves. Only those products that have been "assessed" by the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will be available for purchase. The real kicker? Even approved products will only be recommended for minor ailments such as the common cold, which means that product labeling may no longer be allowed to convey the potent health benefits of widely-used herbal remedies.
According the the EU, the laws were put in place to protect consumers from the "damaging" effects of traditional herbal remedies. The subtext of that statement, of course, is that herbal remedies can sometimes have dangerous interactions when taken with prescription drugs. Used alone, however, herbal supplements rarely pose a problem. With so many people taking prescription drugs, it's clear that the EU's move to ban herbal products is a monopolistic attack on the alternative health movement. While they can't admit the dangerous and deadly side effects of manufactured drugs, they can shift the blame to herbs.
Richard Woodfield, MHRA head of herbal medicine policy, claims that the new regulations empower the consumer: "The current signs are that the [herbal remedy] market will be lively and competitive. The key difference for consumers is that in the future they will be in the driving seat and able to make an informed choice when they wish to use these medicines."
Banning widely-used natural substances that may help cure or prevent illness promotes "informed" choices?
Paul Gimson, director of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in Wales, also claims that herbal remedies may not be safe because they have not been put through clinical trials in the same way drugs are tested. Isn't this a tad obvious, however, since drug companies would never even consider testing or promoting a natural herb as a medicinal cure? Clearly, herbal remedies are not widely used because doctors or health care professionals recommend them. They are used because people know they work.
The most disturbing part? These regulations point to a movement toward complete restriction of herbal products and the idea that pharmaceutical companies may someday have patents on herbal remedies. Consider a possible scenario: A woman who has been taking Chasteberry supplements to regulate a gynecological condition may now need a prescription for it. She goes to her doctor and, instead of giving her the herb, he recommends a drug. She can no longer buy Chasteberry supplements unless she scours the Internet in search of a reputable company that sells safe herbal products. As we all know, these companies can be hard to find.
Not only do these laws threaten the livelihood of nutritionists, herbalists and holistic healthcare providers across Europe, but they put consumers in a lose-lose situation: go without herbal remedies or run the risk of purchasing them online.
Vicky Perks, clinical nutritionist at The Health Diva and health food store, Beanfreaks, notes that the regulations are "poorly thought out" and are driven by money: "Licensing is just a way of generating extra money for the government. It costs �50,000 to license one product."
Herbal products still on shelves will be for sale until their expiration dates. Stock up while you can.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13215010 http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/05/09/fears-that-eu-rules-on-herbal-medicines-may-put-patients-in-danger-91466-28657790/
Hundreds of herbal remedies now outlawed across Europe
Worldwide Global Earthquake and Volcano Update and Overview
Pressure is building on the north American plate beyond the rocky mountain continental divide. As far north as the Cascadia range in the Pacific Northwest, south east to Yellowstone, then further south east to Georgia, up north to Montreal / New York …
The threat of a new madrid earthquake , in my opinion, goes up ANOTHER notch, with the signs of more activity in the north east, extending along the faults down to Arkansas.
The pressure buildup is extending across the atlantic to the mid-Atlantic ridge, and now showing signs of stress on BOTH sides of the european plate.. the european plate is showing signs of "uptick" in activity.. as far north as south belgium, east towards Poland and south to the mediterranean sea.
Expect anywhere along a plate boundry and anwhere there are active volcanos to experience 5.0 quakes and greater for the next 2 weeks or more.
Also areas where DORMANT volcanos exist .. such as greenbrier Arkansas, Mono Lake California, off the coast of seattle, south belgium / west germany…
Asia, the threat extends from the India Russia border (central india) south east to australia, and bending around the australian continent down to the south pole, right through new zealand, and branching north up to the hot spot of japan.
Japan still is due for a VERY large quake.. in the 8.0+ range within the next 2 weeks.
Post glacial rebound effect:
check out scott from believers underground who first proposed this theory to us here on youtube.. he is correct about the effects of PGRE.
No quakes in Australia.. hmm
Worldwide Global Earthquake And Volcano Update And Overview (05/09/2011) – Pressure Buildup On The North American Plate, Yellowstone & Pacific Northwest Earthquake Activity & Magma Movement


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Tommie Ryden And Mona Are So Divine
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subset: commoncrawl


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DeWitt Michigan Golf Courses
|Highland Hills Golf Club
|Prairie Creek Golf Course
Additional Golf Course Reviews:
|Moose Ridge Golf Course -- Treetops? NOPE. MOOSERIDGE!
|Review by: Dave Toth
|this course blew my mind right out the gate pulling up to this majestic log cabin style clubhouse , followed by being greated by bag handlers taking all my equiptment to my cart then the views were indiscribable for south lyon just go play this one!
|From MICH


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6 RV Parks near Jefferson, Colorado
Fairplay, Colorado 5.41 miles S
Bailey, Colorado 17.94 miles NE
Breckenridge, Colorado 19.8 miles NW
Keystone, Colorado 24.48 miles NW
Jefferson, Colorado 80456 (719) 836-2031
Sites: 35 | Latest Rate: $15.00 | 2 Reviews
|Clean Restrooms:
|Clean Showers:
Jul 2012 - $15.00
Lodgepole is one of 3 camp grounds in the Jefferson Lake Recreation Area. There are no hookups. This campground is very popular on the weekends. Reservations are essential for Friday & Saturday night. There is a 3 mile gravel road leading to the campground. It can be a little rough but good news for 2012 campers: the road was just graded. Most sites are shaded and large. There are vault toilets which are kept very clean. There are no showers, but showers are available in Fairplay near the Sinclair station. There is no dump station but you can dump at the Western Inn and RV Park in Fairplay. Fishing, hiking, and birdwatching are the main activities. There is Colorado Trail access next to Site #10. It is short easy hike on the Colorado Trail up the Jefferson Lake Campground. Don't miss the South Park City Museum in Fairplay. It is a real gem. Allow at least one and half hours to see it. Your dog may accompany you through out the exhibit. Senior citizens with Golden Age passport can camp for $7.50 a night. There is a host. - NT2013
Jul 2011 - $15.00
This review is of Lodgepole campground in the Jefferson Creek Recreation Area 3.5 mile from the small town of Jefferson. There is another NFS campground by the same name near Gunnison so don't get confused. Lodgepole is one of three campgrounds at at Jefferson Creek Rec Area. The other 2 are Aspen with 12 sites and Jefferson Creek with 17 sites. The are all very nice. I picked Lodgepole because it was larger and more private than the two IMO. My camp site didn't look like much from the road but when I walked back for about 200 feet I found my all time favorite tent site. Beautiful and very private! There are no hookups. Each site has a fire ring and a picnic table. All are shaded. And there is good spacing between most sites. There are no showers. Toilets are vault but are very clean. And there are plenty of them. The host was friendly and helpful. The 3 campgrounds fill up every weekend so you will need reservations. During the week you can probably get in with a RV under 35 feet or a tent. The 3.5 mile gravel road was very wash boarded. Hopefully it will be graded by next season. The section of the road up to Jefferson Lake is paved. despite what some guidebooks say none of the campgrounds are near the lake. The lake is about 500 feet above the campgrounds. Fishing and hiking are the main activities. Besides the lake there are beaver ponds and a fast running creek for fishing. Colorado Trail runs thru the recreation area. Trail head parking was not very convenient. For day hikes you can park in the picnic area. I plan to return next season with my trailer. - NT2013
490 US-285 Fairplay, Colorado 80440 (map) | (719) 836-2533
Sites: 12 | Latest Rate: $31.00 | 3 Reviews
|Clean Restrooms:
|Clean Showers:
Aug 2011 - $31.00
A "minimal" park behind the Motel. We camped here while visiting friends in the area, so we were very happy with the facilities. Electric and water were fine. Pull through site with small grassy area with picnic table. Small, young trees at each site provided some privacy. Dogs were welcome, but not much room to walk. Took ours to the fairgrounds about a block away. Met our needs and certainly the best value in the area. - User2112
Jul 2010 - $25.00
Looks like 10 hookup sites, a small lawn for 2-3 tents and small area for dry camping. Not much of a park but "the only game in town". The motel claimed to have WiFi, but we were unable to connect at any time during our stay. No laundry. Most sites are pull-throughs. Not a very attractive park, but we stayed 2 weeks while scouting the area, so shouldn't complain too loudly. - camprats
May 2010 - $29.00
Very basic small park. Several permanent residents. Pull through was easy to get into. We did have to ask the maid to move car to leave, as she parked in front of us. - paxton
255 US Hwy 285 Fairplay, Colorado 80440 (map) | (719) 836-4857
Sites: 26 | Latest Rate: $38.00 | 3 Reviews
|Clean Restrooms:
|Clean Showers:
Jul 2016 - $38.00
We have stayed at MiddleFork RV twice over the past three years. It is by far the most convenient place for campers and close to all of the scenic sites. There is an awesome grocery store nearby. The management is great and are very accommodating. If we ever come back to FairPlay we will definitely stay at Middle Fork again. - Aames
Jun 2015 - $31.00
Everything is pretty much the same as it was two years ago (see my previous review) except that they have raised the weekly and monthly rates to ridiculous extremes. Nightly rate isn't so bad, but I won't be able to be a monthly resident ever again. - Old Mountain Man
Aug 2012 - $35.00
Rated 8 instead of 10 because there is only one thing to do here (well, two if you're a fisherman): pan for gold. If you're not into gold panning you might not like this place! However, the tourist attractions in town would be walking distance at sea level. At nearly ten thousand feet, it may or may not be walking distance for you. The park is new, staff is friendly & knowledgeable, sites are reasonably level, bathroom seems clean (but I didn't use it), etc. but there are no shade trees, no playground/rec room, not even any picnic tables at the sites. You pan for gold. And there is plenty of gold there. I get gold in every pan full of dirt, which has never happened to me anywhere else I've prospected. They have pans, classifiers, etc. around for your use if you're a greenhorn, plus gold panning supplies (pans, sniffer bottles, vials, etc.) for sale at the office. I have lost track of the number of times I've camped here this season, but it's been quite a lot. P.S. The trout are HUGE. - Old Mountain Man
Fairplay, Colorado (map) | (719) 836-9747
Sites: 35 | Latest Rate: $40.00 | 1 Reviews
|Clean Restrooms:
|Clean Showers:
Aug 2007 - $40.00
Resort is located about 24 miles south of Breckenridge. Fairplay is a small, friendly former mining town and offers a few good restaurants and an interesting historic downtown. Whispering Aspen is located in town and has modular cabins, park models, and RV sites for sale and rent. Sites are large with concrete pads, but could use a some additional landscaping. Staff is extremely friendly and easy to get along with. The resort offers a clubhouse with a lounge, pool table, and outdoor tennis courts. A nice getaway and rural alternative to Tiger Run in Breckenridge. - Scottx2
CR 77 Lake George, Colorado 80827 (map) | (719) 836-2031
Sites: 27 | Latest Rate: $9.00 | 2 Reviews
|Clean Restrooms:
|Clean Showers:
Jun 2013 - $9.00
This campground is filled every weekend from Memorial Day until it closes the day after Labor Day. There is a friendly and helpful host. My high rating is for the tent sites--probably the best in the state, the scenery, the large camp sites and the hiking trails. This is a Forest Service campground. There are no hookups. There is a dump at a nearby campground. The RV sites are widely spaced, but there is no shade. Rigs over 35 feet will have a hard time fitting into a site. There are 360 degree spectacular views. Fill your water tank in advance. The only water on site is hand pumped. Reservations are available and required for weekends. The vault toilets are clean. There are no showers. This is a place for people who love camping and the outdoors. Man made amenities are in short supply here. The nightly rate is with a Golden Age pass. - NT2013
Jun 2011 - $8.00
This is a forest service campground. There are no hookups. The 3 pull-thru sites are on the creek. However, they are really just wide spots in the road. That said they are private and pretty special. Most of the other RV sites are short and open with no shade. But they have wonderful scenery 360 degrees of it. All have picnic tables tables and fire rings. It is the tents sites that justify the high rating--they are actually a 10 plus. The hiking is also a 10. Wonderful trails!! Trail rides are available just down the rode. Horses are in good condition and gentle. To reach the camp ground take Hwy 24W make a right on CR 77 (less than a mile from Lake George). It is paved. Follow it for 13 miles. The last 7 miles have lots of pot holes. The campground is poorly marked so starting looking for it on the right when you pass the little white school house (looks like a church). Turn right at the end of the white fence just pass the old school. Roads in the campground are good. Tent people will need reservations for the 8 walk in sites. RVers probably can get in without reservations during the week. This campground is full every weekend. - NT2013
85 Revett Dr Breckenridge, Colorado 80424 (map) | (970) 453-9690
Sites: 182 | Latest Rate: $60.00 | 140 Reviews
|Clean Restrooms:
|Clean Showers:
Jan 2017 - $60.00
Not sure what to say. While this is one of the most beautiful areas in the world, the park value for money makes it is hard to give it a good rating. Pros: Beautiful, great location, hot tub, indoor pool, great showers, the other campers are great, the mouse if u r lucky enough to see her, Cons: EXPENSIVE and not worth it, camp employees are clueless and not helpful, hot tub and laundry closed off and on while there, the key card that u need to get into everything is a bit painful because if it goes out, u cannot get into bathroom etc. It did not work half the time so had to find other ways to get into pool area etc. Arrived to not plowed space, thank goodness it was early in the day so called the office and got another number to go to. - FrancisandRenee
Sep 2016 - $66.00
Location location. Being so close to the popular town of Breckenridge I guess makes it ok to pay the price but in reality for the money we were disappointed in the amenities. The sites are nice but there is some road noise, the gym is old & outdated, the pool is indoors and nothing special but ok and did I say the sites are nice. We stayed in a premium back in for a week and then moved to a basic pull through for a week. The pull throughs are like any you would find in most average parks but the back in premium site was very nice with privacy. - hdrider
Sep 2016 - $60.00
This is a very pretty, well-kept park. We just stayed here overnight so we didn't take advantage of the extra amenities. It seems to have a lot more chalets than it does RV sites. Our site was level, nicely situated, and would be very pleasant to sit outside (had it not been raining). However, there was not enough space to leave the car hooked up. There is a small dog enclosure with grass and a small dog walking loop. There is access to a narrow trail, but we didn't have an opportunity to try it. We would stay here again. - Dapper


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prAna Marina Bikini Top - Women's - $33.93
The prAna Marina Triangle bikini top pairs a classic triangle shape with bold graphics and adjustable back ties for a swimsuit top you can comfortably wear all day. Fully lined triangle shape provides support; adjustable rear ties provide secure, customized fit. Features removable molded cups for added shape. Includes prAna Marina Triangle bikini top only. - $33.93


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Louis Vuitton #9268 Large Monogram Neverfull Gm Tote Shoulder Bag
Measurements: 15.5"L x 13"H x 8"W
[$$$]Handle Drop: 9" [$$$] Bag in very good to excellent condition. Vachetta leather has minor wear, stains, and scuffing. Leather has creasing. Handle tops, handle bases, and top edges have creasing and darkening. Corners have minor rubbing on canvas. Interior lining has very minor wear and stains with fragrance/storage scent. Hardware has minor scuff marks. Date code is shown in the picture. Sku# 9268


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The must-visit boutiques in Belgium
From luxurious Belgian chocolates to locally made design objects, find everything you need at these 10 amazing stores in Belgium
Moncler's fabulously stylish outerwear is a winter essential and the brand has opened a new store in Brussels. Visitors can expect to find Moncler's main and Grenoble collections, including a wide array of menswear, womenswear and accessories.
Moncler, 57A boulevard de Waterloo, 1000 Brussels, +32 (0)2 514 1302
The Game
The aim of The Game is to present visitors with an ever-changing selection of eclectic and stylish goods. The products, which range from quirky ceramics to home interior wares to novelty candles, are curated by Alexis Ryngaert, founder of the Victor Hunt Designart Dealer gallery. While there are always 52 projects on display, customers should be quick, as each week one is replaced in order to keep up a constant evolution.
The Game, 123 boulevard Anspach, 1000 Brussels, +32 (0)2 503 4418
Wouters & Hendrix
Last year, jewellery brand Wouters & Hendrix opened a flagship store in Antwerp's fashion district to house its silver and gold collections under the same roof for the first time. Situated on Steenhouwersvest, the new store has an interior that is perfectly in line with the brand's aesthetic, combining art, eccentricity, heritage and a touch of futurism.
Wouters & Hendrix, Steenhouwersvest 52, 2000 Antwerp, +32 (0)3 231 6242
Antwerp's Verso boutique began as a low-key menswear store two decades ago and is now a nationally renowned concept store housed in a restored 16th-century mansion. One visit to this impressive space makes it easy to see why the store has been so successful. Once you've restocked your wardrobe, head to the Verso Café next door to refuel.
Verso, Lange Gasthuisstraat 11, 2000 Antwerp, +32 (0)3 226 9292
The Little Green Shop
It's not often that you find a store that's a fantastic florist, a charming tea room and an ideal brunch spot for vegetarians, hence The Little Green Shop is special. Located on the ground floor of a traditional Belgian building, the space is filled with cheerful plants, quirky furniture and delicious things to eat and drink.
The Little Green Shop, 314 chaussée d'Alsemberg, 1190 Brussels, +32 (0)2 218 1121
Pierre Marcolini
There are Belgian chocolates and then there are Pierre Marcolini chocolates. As one of the country's most revered chocolatiers, Marcolini is known for his imaginative approach and ultra-chic packaging. His company is one of the few to oversee manufacture from bean to bar, and although an international brand with 24 boutiques it remains deeply committed to its cocoa suppliers.
Pierre Marcolini, Markt 11, 8000 Bruges, +32 (0)50 349810
Curated clothing stores are the way forward, as ManouOever28 proves. Located in an art deco building in the heart of Antwerp's historic quarter, the store is all about design, inside and out. This unique boutique focuses on quality and craftsmanship in its carefully curated selection of apparel, handbags, jewellery, accessories, ceramics and other design objects.
ManouOever28, Oever 28, 2000 Antwerp, +32 (0)4 6825 1820
Karl Lagerfeld
If you are yet to experience one of Karl Lagerfeld's own-label stores, head to the Antwerp Karl Lagerfeld boutique. In partnership with Lagerfeld himself, the architectural studio Plajer & Franz has created a minimalist store focusing on a monochrome palette among other trademarks of the brand's design. An exciting and extensive digital experience is offered, with iPads dotted around to allow visitors a window into the digital world of Karl Lagerfeld.
Karl Lagerfeld, Schuttershofstraat 53, 2000 Antwerp, +32 (0)3 303 1856
Multi-brand boutique Icon has been a vital presence in the Brussels fashion scene for more than 12 years. Situated in the Dansaert area, Icon stocks everything from footwear and accessories to jewellery and womenswear. Brands such as Acne Studios, 3.1 Phillip Lim and Mother of Pearl are represented, alongside up-and-coming local designers.
Icon, 5 place du Nouveau Marché aux Grains, 1000 Brussels, +32 (0)2 502 7151
Fork's restaurant serves seasonal, homemade cuisine alongside a fine European wine list and a great selection of Belgian beers. The adjoining store is an authorised Freitag dealer and stocks an array of the brand's colourful accessories.
Fork, 13 rue du Rempart des Moines, 1000 Brussels, +32 (0)2 201 7770
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Everything you need to shop, save money and navigate the world's best shopping cities.


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2bdr Irish Apartment with balcony
Vendégek száma4
Hálószobák száma2
Méret55 m²
Floor No.4
- Családi / Gyerek barát
- Konyha
- Mosógép / szárítógép
- Kisállat megengedett
- Internet/WiFi
- Erkély/terasz
- Törölköző
Accommodation summary
|Bocheńska, 30-001 Krakow, Lengyelország
|Ingatlan típusa
|Ingatlan azonosító
|Acceptance rate
|Response time
|A few hours
|Calendar updated
The apartment consists of 2 bedrooms, a fully-equipped kitchen, bathroom and balcony. In the bedrooms there are the king size bed (main bedroom) and a double pull out sofa (second bedroom); there is also huge white sofa in the living room with a relaxation corner (TVsat, DVD, wifi internet access).
The apartment sleeps up to 4 people. The apartment also offers a balcony with two chairs and a small table.
You can't beat this place for location.!
It's smack bang in the heart of Kazimierz, the lively former Jewish district of Krakow, now - a part of the Old Town of Krakow.
A small town in a big city, Kazimierz owes its unique atmosphere to the historical neighbourhood and has many interesting attractions: galleries, antique shops, small restaurants, cafes and pubs. For those who are interested in visiting historic monuments, museums, galleries, churches and synagogues, our apartment is a perfect starting point. There are good local shops, plenty of places to eat out (regional cuisine, Jewish cuisine, vegetarian meals, etc.) and probably the best pubs in the world!
HázirendFirst of all: thank you for choosing our apartment! We do hope you'll really enjoy your stay :)
We'd be grateful if you'll follow the rules below:
-The apartment is on a residential building. Apart from this one, the other apartments are used by full time residents. Do please respect the neighbors and try not to make much noise after 22:00h especially on the staircase
-Check-in is after 14:00h (2PM), and check-out is before 11:00h. We do accept check in earlier or check out later in case the flat is available :)
- Please inform us regarding your arrival time to Krakow earlier, we do not live in the same area and need time to get there with the keys for you!
-We do provide bed linen and towels as well as hairdryer
-Please don't smoke inside our apartment
-Let us know if you have any problems.
Enjoy the best Krakow has to offer!
|Weekly rate for up to 4 guests
|516 €
|Érkezés legkorábbi időpontja
|Check-in before
|Távozás legkésőbbi időpontja
|Lemondási feltétel
A házigazda egyéb ingatlanjainak értékelései
This apartment was perfect for a few days in Krakow. It is well-connected to the main square, the train station, etc. by tram, and is within walking distance of just about anywhere you would want to go in Krakow (so long as you are okay walking 30 minutes or so). The apartment itself was bright and comfortable, with all the amenities you could need. I appreciated the free wifi, as well as the multiple electric heaters provided to chase out the September chill. I would definitely stay here again!
Nice, modern renovated apartment in fine condition. Well located near the old town. Small balcony above the rooftops. Good place to stay in Krakow for two people.
We had a wonderful time staying in Nicolas Studio. The pictures are representative of the quality of the apartment, it's very clean and equipted with everything you need. This is a very good place to stay as a couple or friends. The apartment is also nicely located - just about one minute walk from the market square. The communication with Natasza worked very well and everything (getting the key etc.) was perfectly organized.
Wonderful apartment. Easy check-in and check-out. No problems at all.
Igen skønne dage i Krakow i "vores" Vanilla lejlighed.
We are really pleased with the apartment, it was clean and tidy and everything we could imagine was there. The host was nice and was in the apartment when we got there. The transfer that he arranged between the airport and the apartment worked perfectly.
Even the location was perfect
We were delighted with our stay! The apartment is cosy, warm, clean with simple yet tasteful decoration. Excellent location, just a few steps from the main square. Communication with the host was flawless. Thank you for hosting us. Highly recommended!
The Snow White Apartment was perfect for our family break in Krakow.
In the Heart of Kazimierz and easy walking distance to the main square and the castle. Just a few yards away from the river and surrounded by some lovely cafes and restaurants.
The Apartment was beautifully decorated with everything you need- my daughter and I loved the fact that we had a walk in wardrobe :)
The communication with the hosts was fantastic and they even organised our transport to and from the airport and our day trips to Auschwitz and the salt mines.
Large apartment in a good position. Jacek was extremely helpful and made our trip much easier
Wir hatten eine wundervolle Woche in der Ferienwohnung!
Es hat alles problemlos geklappt, von der Anreise, das Parken vor dem Haus und auch mit der Abreise.
Die Wohnung ist gut eingerichtet, und man ist schnell in der Innenstadt.
- Minőségbiztosított szállás
- Minden házigazda hitelesítésre került telefonon keresztül
- Biztonságos fizetés SSL titkosításon keresztül


text:
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FortiGuard Services
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|Enterprise Bundle
|Protection to address today's advanced threat landscape. It delivers all FortiGuard security services available for the FortiGate including: NGFW Application Control and IPS, Web Filtering, FortiSandbox Cloud, Antivirus, Mobile Security, IP & Domain Reputation, Antispam, and core FortiCare security services with a choice of 8x5 or 24x7 support.
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- NSS Labs consistently awards Fortinet "Recommended" status for NGFW, NGIPS, and Breach Detection (Sandboxing).


text:
Drykorn style Meryl. Sand colored mixed fine knitted cardigan with long sleeves and ribbon to tie at the waist. Unfinished edge at the hem, cuffs and at the neckline. Length in size S approximately 70 cm. True to size.
Orangebag-number: S369101
Fabric: 40% cotton, 25% lyocell, 20% wool, 15% polyester
Hand wash
Orangebag-number: S369101
Style: 88228 Meryl 401201 / 18
* Free, insured shipping (>EUR 75) to NL, BE and DE.
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text:
Here's the first in what I hope will be a long series of black and white wordless comics. This one is a Sergio Aragones-style humor strip.
This strip is based on a revelation I had as a kid about superheroes. When I was 13, it occurred to me that Spider-Man was an asshole. Spider-Man would routinely wrap up the bad guys in his web and hang them from a lamp post for the police with a note. But then what? What happens to these people after they've been hanging there for a while and the police find them? It's not like they can arrest them. Where's the evidence of a crime? Are they supposed to take Spider-Man's word for it? Is it somewhere in the note?
And then there was the Super Friends. For some reason during the late 70s and early 80s people were even more paranoid about TV violence, and superheroes weren't allowed to punch people on TV. So Superman's default method of capture was to wrap a lamp post around the bad guy. You would think that there would be obvious consequences to this kind of casual damage to municipal property, and that punching the guy would have been more civically responsible.
For those curious about such things, I made the tones by doing a series of dry brush and pencil textures that I then used as a palette to clone from in Photoshop. This way I could get a lot of natural looking textures while still maintaining a good deal of control. I like the effect better than your standard flat photoshop gray tones or airbrushed modeling, and I'll probably use it a lot more in the future for my black and white comics work.
And yeah, either the van or the car in the last panel is on the wrong side of the road. It just worked out better that way compositionally.
A lot of the characters here are left-handed probably because I'm left-handed, and when it occurs to me I try to make people right-handed because more people are right-handed than left-handed.
Obviously I've been over thinking this.
Friday, November 07, 2008
New Wordless Comic: Superman Story
Posted by Jed Alexander at 2:33 AM 8 comments Links to this post
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
This Is Happening
It's really happening. Just a few weeks ago I wouldn't have thought it was possible. I've never been so excited and enthralled by the outcome of an election. Obama's acceptance speech was genuinely moving. Obama has the potential to be one of the truly great presidents, maybe to be among the greatest presidents in history.
Unfortunately he's inherited a big mess, but so did Franklin Roosevelt. This is a genuine opportunity to make revolutionary change. So don't blow it Obama!
Edit: It looks like prop 8, the proposition to ban gay marriage, is going to pass here in California. As excited as I am about Obama, prop 8 is a real setback for California.
After that this seems pretty trivial, but here I am at the Alternative Press Expo that was held this last weekend:
The picture's are a little blurry since I forgot my camera and we had to use Regina's picture phone. It was pouring down rain, so from what I heard, the turn out wasn't what was expected, but despite this we did really well. To the right of me is Mari Naomi, author of Estrus Comics, autobiographical comics about her love life. She was really a neat woman, and it was good to meet her.
Here's our spread. We sold out of the elephants print, and sold a ton of the smaller bicycle tree print. We had a larger bicycle tree print, but the small one had a little color, and people seemed to like that one better because of the color. The Baby God minis did Ok, but I sold very few Blue Kid minis for some reason. Since the Blue Kid is the thing I'm most proud of right now this was a little disappointing, but I did learn that people really really seem to like these two particular prints. I didn't have business cards, and I'm not set up to sell anything on my website, so I'm probably going to have to do something about that. Regina is the one hiding behind the table. She won't let me include any pictures of her on the blog.
This was my first sighting of the elf:
To the left of me is Ben Costa, author of a really amazing comic called Shilong Pang and another really cool guy.
More elf. Just in front of the elf is another talented cartoonist that was seated near us. His name is R. Carrasquillo according to his mini comic, The Heights, but I don't remember what the R stands for.To the very far right is Morgan Lee Kessler who had mini zines and prints. She was responsible for our first sale, a Baby God.
And here's the elf in all his glory:
For some reason he reminds me of Doug Henning.
I vowed this time not to buy anything at APE that I could buy anywhere else, something that, for the most part, I stuck to. My major purchases were from the one and only Jason Shiga. Most of his books are hand made, and all of them are amazing. This year he even recorded a rap album! "I Love My Shigacorn" and "2Pac Lives" are my favorite rap singles of all time!
From top left, clockwise: Shiga's rap album (I bought three), Hello World, a choose your own adventure type of comic that is mindblowingly complex (Shiga is a mathematician and often uses math in the formal presentation of his comics), and last, Empire Park, Shiga's newest. Shiga is not only amazing with the formal aspects of comics, but he's great at writing characters and dialogue and, in the case of his books Fleep and Bookhunter, suspenseful plots. His books get very poor distribution so he's the best kept secret in comics.
You can buy his books and music here.
Other highlights included the new giant Kramer's Ergot which is mindblowingly huge and mindblowingly beautiful but also really really spendy. Ted Stearn has a very funny and underrated strip called Fuzz and Pluck. His new hardbound is called Splitsville. Lets see, Jesse Reklaw's Diary Comics, the new Acme Novelty Library, too much stuff to recount, but I didn't really get as good a look around as I would've liked since I was so busy selling things.
I almost forgot:
The Wuvable Oaf! The sweetest gay bear comic you will ever read. It's also very funny and beautifully drawn!
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Luxurious 4 Star Bed and Breakfast in Brittany France
Welcome To La Renardais : Luxurious Bed and Breakfast in Brittany France
Established in 1993, La Renardais, an elegant 19th century stone built country house, is situated on the outskirts of Plouër-sur-Rance, a pretty riverside Breton village. Being in a picturesque location, we are the perfect guest house for a range of holiday types from weekend breaks to the ideal French summer holiday.
The house has been restored by us, both to preserve its original charm and to offer modern-day comforts to our guests. Our bed and breakfast accommodation in Brittany now boasts:
– 4 Star Quality Accommodation
– Prices from €90 per night
– Full continental breakfast included – see below*
– 4 spacious en-suite bedrooms
– Tea/Coffee-making facilities in each bedroom
– Glorious garden with private terrace
– Private off-road parking
– Free Wi-Fi Internet connection
* Our continental breakfast is really a proper meal to start the day and comprises:
yoghurt and cereals, orange juice, a selection of croissants pastries and jams, coffee tea or chocolate, delicious local bread, and ham and cheese.
Brittany, the most westerly part of France and bounded on three sides by the Atlantic Ocean, has a character all of its own. Here ancient Celtic traditions and the Breton language mingle with more recent contacts with the rest of France. It is a region steeped in legends and mythology. A fantastical place to enchant all who visit it
The Côtes d'Armor is situated on the northern coast of Brittany and is an ideal base for your holidays, whether to explore the spectacular coastline itself (also known as the « Emerald Coast »), the lush countryside with its Manoirs and Chateaux, or the delightful valley of the river Rance, which runs from Saint-Malo on the north down through Dinan and then on into southern Brittany.
There is a veritable wealth of discoveries awaiting you for all seasons. « A favourite area, blissfully little known… » is how Patricia Fenn describes Plouër-sur-Rance in her well known French Entrée Guide to « Chambres d'Hôtes in France ». A peaceful and safe setting for your stay in France.


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Citation: Wojciechowski R, Hysi PG (2013) Focusing In on the Complex Genetics of Myopia. PLoS Genet 9(4): e1003442. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1003442
Editor: Greg Gibson, Georgia Institute of Technology, United States of America
Published: April 4, 2013
This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
Funding: This work was funded by an NEI Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award: 1K08EY022943-01. The funder had no role in the preparation of the article.
Competing interests: RW and PGH are authors on one of the main articles discussed in this Perspective [16].
Refractive Errors Are Important Public Health Problems
Myopia (i.e., nearsightedness) is rapidly becoming a significant public health problem. The incidence of myopia has been increasing for at least three decades [1], [2], and 2.5 billion people will be affected by myopia by the year 2020 [3]. In some East Asian countries, the prevalence of myopia now exceeds 70% among teenagers and young adults [2], [4], [5]. Even though ocular refraction (the quantitative trait underlying myopia) is highly heritable [6], the recent change in the incidence of myopia is obviously not the result of short-term shifts in the genetic makeup of the population. Instead, secular trends in environmental and behavioral factors are thought to be driving the myopia "epidemic" throughout the world.
The Etiology of Myopia: A Historical Dilemma
The etiology of myopia has been the subject of conjecture for centuries. Johannes Kepler, who published the first comprehensive treatise on the optics of the eye and myopia in 1604 [7], attributed his own nearsightedness to intense study. Ever since, scientists have engaged in a heated nature versus nurture debate on the causes of myopia. Inherited and congenital forms of myopia have been documented since at least 1906 [8], [9]. Not until the late 1970s did experiments conclusively show that myopia could be induced during postnatal development by altering the visual experience of animal models through form deprivation or optical defocus [10]–[12]. Subsequent human and animal studies have led to the development of a robust model for refractive control during infancy, dubbed the emmetropization process. Although the details of this mechanism are still emerging, its effect is to maintain homeostasis by adjusting eye growth so that the plane of the retina coincides with the focal point of the eye's optical system, much like a camera lens focuses an image on its sensor. In this paradigm, altered visual stimuli (e.g., optically blurred images) initiate a signaling cascade that originates locally in the sensory retina, traverses the retinal pigment epithelium and the vascular choroid, and ultimately regulates eye growth via active remodeling of the sclera—the rigid white connective tissue that forms the outer layer of the eye globe (Figure 1, panels A and B). Alterations within this sequence of biochemical events may disrupt this finely tuned mechanism and lead to refractive errors, resulting in blurred vision. Hence, any gene that plays a role in this complex signaling pathway may contain susceptibility variants for myopia.
Panel A. The optical basis of myopia. Parallel lights from distantly viewed object focus anterior to the retinal plane, causing blurred distance vision. Although myopia can result from alterations in the optical system (the cornea and lens), myopia is almost always the result of excessive growth of the posterior segment of the eye. This growth occurs through active remodeling of the fibrous sclera. Panel B. Optical coherence tomography cross section of a normal posterior pole. The depression in the middle is the fovea, where the concentration of photoreceptors (and by extension the visual acuity) is greatest. Only four of the ten layers of the neural retina are pointed out. In refractive regulation, visually induced signals are generated by the photoreceptors and processed by other retinal cells (notably, by the amacrine cells, which release neuromodulators and neurotransmitters (including dopamine)). These retinal signals must traverse the retinal pigment epithelium and the highly vascularized choroid in order to regulate eye growth through active remodeling of scleral ECM. The sclera is composed mainly of collagens, but also contains active fibroblasts and normal constituents of ECM (proteoglycans, MMPs, TIMPs, etc.). The composition of the sclera with its organized structure of collagen fibrils are shown under three different magnifications. Panel C. Statistical significance and effect sizes for 23andMe and CREAM studies. Statistical significance of overlapping SNPs with association p-values <1e-04 in both datasets are plotted. Red dots show SNPs that were genomewide significant (GWS; p<5e-08, −log10(p)>7.3) in both studies. Green dots represent SNPs that were genomewide significant in one study and fulfilled our statistical criterion for replication in the other study. Blue dots show SNPs whose p-values for association were between p = 10e-4 and 5e-8 in both datasets. The replication thresholds were the Bonferroni-corrected p-values for a family-wise error rate of 0.05: since the CREAM dataset contained 544 (nonindependent) SNPs that were genomewide significant in 23andMe, the Bonferroni-adjusted p-value threshold for replication was 0.05/544 = 9.2e-05 (or −log10(p) = 4.037). Similarly, there were 308 genomewide significant SNPs in CREAM that were also in the 23andMe dataset presented in Table S2 of Kiefer et al. The replication threshold was therefore 0.05/308 = 2.4e-04 (−log10(p) = 3.615). Dotted horizontal and vertical lines show the thresholds for genomewide significance and replication. Panel D. Natural logarithm of hazard ratios for myopia in 23andMe vs. effect size (beta coefficient) in CREAM. Both analyses assumed an additive effect of the representative allele on the scale used in the analyses. Color coding is identical to the left panel. The dashed diagonal line shows the linear regression of the 23andMe log hazard ratios on CREAM effect sizes. All SNPs are concordant as to the expected direction of their effects (i.e., positive HRs for myopia would be expected to increase the severity of myopia and negative HRs would be expected to decrease the degree of myopia). Dotted lines show the origins where the effects are null.
Large GWAS Discovers Numerous Myopia Susceptibility Variants
In a recent issue of PLOS Genetics, Amy K. Kiefer and a group from 23andMe, Inc. [13] reported the results of the largest GWAS (n = 45,771) of a refractive phenotype conducted to date. In addition to confirming previously reported loci [14], [15], they discovered 20 novel loci associated with age of onset of myopia in a European-derived population. Their Cox proportional hazards survival analysis approach proved quite powerful and was ideal for the nature of the data collected: given that the vast majority of myopes develop the condition by early adulthood, ascertainment is effectively complete by age 30. Their findings provide unprecedented insight into the genetics of human myopia and may very well transform our understanding of this perplexing condition. Specifically, the authors identified novel loci containing genes involved in a variety of mechanisms putatively related to visual perception and refractive control, including extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling, the visual cycle, neuronal development, eye and body growth, retinal cell development, and neural signaling. Their data substantiate the assumption that myopia (more precisely: the myopias) is a complex, multifactorial, and genetically heterogeneous condition. Though their precise roles in refraction regulation are currently unknown, many of these genes' molecular functions and biological processes can be placed within the broader biological context of a retina-to-sclera signaling cascade, similar to the one that maintains optical homeostasis during infancy.
Kiefer et al.'s study was not without some limitations. Most notably, their use of questionnaire data, not validated against medical records or eye exams, likely resulted in substantial misclassification. Moreover, age of onset may not be relevant to the severity of myopia, which is ultimately the main outcome of interest for most clinicians and scientists.
As with most complex diseases, Kiefer et al. found no smoking gun (myopia susceptibility variants did not follow the vision genetics precedent of CFH as the statistical geneticist's equivalent of a slam dunk). Despite highly statistically significant associations, no variant was estimated to have a strong effect on myopia onset: the hazard ratios among the most highly significant SNPs ranged from 0.79 (rs12193446; LAMA2) to 1.15 (rs1381566; LRRC4C). The more common associated polymorphisms had quite modest effects, conferring relative hazard differences of less than 10%. These results suggest that we are pushing the boundaries of the power of traditional GWAS to detect myopia susceptibility genes with reasonably sized studies (although the effect estimates in this study are likely biased toward the null given the misclassification rates expected from questionnaire data). If common variants of large effect did exist, however, Kiefer et al. would surely have found them.
The Three Laws of GWAS: Replication, Replication, Replication
Conventional (i.e., conformist) dogma, in a world of infinitesimal p-values, states that GWAS results are unreliable (minus confirmation through "replication") no matter the size or statistical power of the "discovery" sample. Kiefer et al. used a validation set of over 8,323 participants who reported on their use of corrective eyewear for myopia before age ten. Using a quite liberal threshold, they statistically replicated ten of their novel loci.
Independent Studies Unequivocally Confirm Their Association Signals
Many readers may be skeptical of replication p-values on the order of 0.01, especially given multiple testing issues. Kiefer et al.'s replication cohort was, to be sure, underpowered to replicate small effects. Nonetheless, their study was, in fact, remarkably successful as revealed by a large independent study: the Consortium for Refractive Error and Myopia (CREAM), of which we are members. CREAM concurrently conducted a meta-analysis of GWAS comprised of 27 studies (n = 37,382) of adults of European descent and five Asian cohorts (n = 8,376) [16]. The study-specific mean ages ranged from 31.4 to 79.9 years, and the average ages in 26 of these studies were >45 years. Unlike the questionnaire data used by Kiefer et al., CREAM phenotypes consisted of direct objective measurements of the quantitative trait, ocular refraction, measured using autorefractometry. Astonishingly, this independent meta-analysis codiscovered genomewide significant association signals (p<5e-08) at 11 of 20 of Kiefer et al.'s "novel" loci (Figure 1, panel C). An additional five loci met our conservative threshold for statistically significant replication based on a Bonferroni correction. In total, 16 of the 20 novel loci identified by Kiefer et al. were confirmed by CREAM; and of the 22 loci discovered by the CREAM analyses, 14 were replicated by 23andMe (Figure 1, panel C). Arguably, nine additional regions could have been added to the list of replicated loci because both studies contained highly significant signals at these loci, albeit at different SNPs.
Perhaps even more surprising was the fact that, although the demographics, analyses, and measurement scales differed markedly between the respective studies, there was a linear relationship between the effect sizes of the statistically significant SNPs common to both studies (Figure 1, panel D). It is quite striking that locus-specific hazard ratios for myopia age of onset (all occurring before age 30) would have predictable, though often small, consequences on the degree of refractive error throughout middle age, and well into the golden years. These relative effects are evident despite substantial changes in refractive error throughout life, in addition to the cumulative influence of a plethora of environmental and behavioral risk factors on refraction.
What's Next?
There is no doubt that the findings published by Kiefer et al. will contribute significantly to our understanding of the processes by which common forms of myopia develop. Their results were strongly (in many cases unequivocally) validated by a large consortium of refractive error GWAS. Survival analysis of population-based samples, however, may not be adequate to detect variants for rare myopia subtypes, such as Mendelian forms of high myopia. For these cases, sequencing of highly ascertained pedigrees should offer better odds of identifying rare causal variants.
Many of the genes identified by the 23andMe and CREAM groups can be linked to biologically plausible pathways for refractive error control. The eye-growth signaling pathway models developed by biologists had previously defined broad constraints on the mechanisms by which ocular development should be controlled by visual inputs. However, scant few genetic animal models for myopia have been developed [17], [18]. Moreover, to our knowledge, none of the refractive error loci identified in the 23andMe and CREAM GWAS have been implicated in visually induced experimental myopia. Hence, the exact mechanisms through which these genes act to regulate ocular refraction are unknown, and current animal models may be inadequate to hypothesize mechanisms for later-onset myopia in humans. The scientific focus will now go back to biology, bioinformatics, and computational biology in an attempt to untangle the effects of these gene networks. Both the 23andMe and CREAM groups have shown that there is no substitute for large sample sizes, and we expect the trend of accumulating ever-larger datasets to continue. Fortunately, refractive error data are easily obtained noninvasively, and Kiefer et al. have shown that age of onset of myopia can be powerful in detecting the signal of refractive error variants.
Future studies should not, however, neglect the large effect of extrinsic factors on refractive error. A significant body of work has linked refractive errors with a number of environmental, ecological, and behavioral risk factors (summarized in, e.g., [6], [19]). In fact, societies in which these putative risk factors are uncommon have low prevalences of myopia [20]–[23]. This suggests that, despite high heritability, exposure to deleterious environmental influences (i.e., reading and near work) may be essential for refractive variation to be manifested. Hence, a clearer picture of myopia and refractive error genetics will require incorporating measures of environmental exposures into our statistical analyses in GWAS. Finally, it is imperative to conduct whole-genome searches in a variety of populations and ethnicities, not only to further validate these results, but to investigate the causes of the wide disparities in the distribution of ocular refraction within, and among, these groups.
- 1. Vitale S, Sperduto RD, Ferris FL 3rd (2009) Increased prevalence of myopia in the United States between 1971–1972 and 1999–2004. Arch Ophthalmol 127: 1632–1639.
- 2. Lin LL, Shih YF, Hsiao CK, Chen CJ (2004) Prevalence of myopia in Taiwanese schoolchildren: 1983 to 2000. Ann Acad Med Singapore 33: 27–33.
- 3. Kempen JH, Mitchell P, Lee KE, Tielsch JM, Broman AT, et al. (2004) The prevalence of refractive errors among adults in the United States, Western Europe, and Australia. Arch Ophthalmol 122: 495–505.
- 4. Wu HM, Seet B, Yap EP, Saw SM, Lim TH, et al. (2001) Does education explain ethnic differences in myopia prevalence? A population-based study of young adult males in Singapore. Optom Vis Sci 78: 234–239.
- 5. He M, Zeng J, Liu Y, Xu J, Pokharel GP, et al. (2004) Refractive error and visual impairment in urban children in southern China. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 45: 793–799.
- 6. Wojciechowski R (2011) Nature and nurture: the complex genetics of myopia and refractive error. Clin Genet 79: 301–320.
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Kepler J (1604) Ad Vitellionem paralipomena, quibus astronomiae pars optica traditur… Tractatum luculentum de modo visionis, & humorum oculi usu, contra opticos & anatomicos. Frankfurt: Claudius Marnius & heirs of Joannes Aubrius.
- 8. Worth C (1906) Hereditary influence in myopia. Trans Opthal Soc U K 26: 141–144.
- 9. Wold KC (1949) Hereditary myopia. Arch Ophthalmol 42: 225–237.
- 10. Sherman SM, Norton TT, Casagrande VA (1977) Myopia in the lid-sutured tree shrew (Tupaia glis). Brain Res 124: 154–157.
- 11. Wallman J, Turkel J, Trachtman J (1978) Extreme myopia produced by modest change in early visual experience. Science 201: 1249–1251.
- 12. Wiesel TN, Raviola E (1977) Myopia and eye enlargement after neonatal lid fusion in monkeys. Nature 266: 66–68.
- 13. Kiefer AK, Tung JY, Do CB, Hinds DA, Mountain JL, et al. (2013) Genome-wide analysis points to roles for extracellular matrix remodeling, the visual cycle, and neuronal development in myopia. PLoS Genet 9 (2) e1003299 .
- 14. Hysi PG, Young TL, Mackey DA, Andrew T, Fernandez-Medarde A, et al. (2010) A genome-wide association study for myopia and refractive error identifies a susceptibility locus at 15q25. Nat Genet 42: 902–905.
- 15. Solouki AM, Verhoeven VJ, van Duijn CM, Verkerk AJ, Ikram MK, et al. (2010) A genome-wide association study identifies a susceptibility locus for refractive errors and myopia at 15q14. Nat Genet 42: 897–901.
- 16. Verhoeven V, Hysi P, Wojciechowski R, Fan Q, Guggenheim J, et al. (2013) Genome-wide meta-analyses of multiancestry cohorts identify multiple new susceptibility loci for refractive error and myopia. Nat Genet 45: 314–318.
- 17. Chen YP, Hocking PM, Wang L, Povazay B, Prashar A, et al. (2011) Selective breeding for susceptibility to myopia reveals a gene-environment interaction. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 52: 4003–4011.
- 18. Troilo D, Li T, Glasser A, Howland HC (1995) Differences in eye growth and the response to visual deprivation in different strains of chicken. Vision Res 35: 1211–1216.
- 19. Morgan I, Rose K (2005) How genetic is school myopia? Prog Retin Eye Res 24: 1–38.
- 20. Pokharel GP, Negrel AD, Munoz SR, Ellwein LB (2000) Refractive error study in children: results from Mechi Zone, Nepal. Am J Ophthalmol 129: 436–444.
- 21. Casson RJ, Kahawita S, Kong A, Muecke J, Sisaleumsak S, et al. (2012) Exceptionally low prevalence of refractive error and visual impairment in schoolchildren from Lao People's Democratic Republic. Ophthalmology 119: 2021–2027.
- 22. Peet JA, Cotch MF, Wojciechowski R, Bailey-Wilson JE, Stambolian D (2007) Heritability and familial aggregation of refractive error in the Old Order Amish. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 48: 4002–4006.
- 23. Young FA, Leary GA, Baldwin WR, West DC, Box RA, et al. (1969) The transmission of refractive errors within eskimo families. Am J Optom Arch Am Acad Optom 46: 676–685.


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Job Development
Community outreach through job creation is one of many ways that The Haitian Project works to continually serve and improve our neighborhood in Santo.
Below you can read about some of the job development projects taking place in Haiti.
From Rags to Riches
June 2011
THP's Rag-a-Muffin Program employs three sewers from the neighborhood who make hand-crafted bags from secondhand shirts.
The Rag-a-Muffin Program employs a team from the neighborhood. The secondhand shirts come in bales shipped in from U.S. thrift stores. The team up-cycles these shirts into beautiful harlequin cloth to make one-of-kind bags, experimenting with various styles from simple totes to duffels, and even a laptop bag. Each bag is unique, some incorporating the t-shirt logos or hand-painted designs by local artists.
Besides providing full-time employment, the Rag-a-Muffin Program showcases the can-do attitude and artistic flare of Haitians—a positive image to invite investment in the country.
Read more from the June 2011 article.
No Need for a Jobs Bill, We Create our Own
December 2011
LCS '96 graduate Salomon Asmath (left) returned from his position at the United Nations to lead a team of trained tailors and designers to branch off a new business based from LCS' Rag-A-Muffin program.
The graduates of LCS are an eclectic group, with skills and professions that spread across Haiti. Among the 346 alumni, Salomon Asmath (LCS '96) is one of the most experienced. He has worked for many private companies and through them, Salomon received substantial training in industrial production. As noted in our June 2009 newsletter, his experiences include an employer-funded training program in El Salvador as a production engineer. Despite his success and positive experiences in the private sector, Salomon began working for the United Nations Mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH, in 2008. The MINUSTAH position did not require any of the production engineering skills that Salomon had obtained in his trainings, but the job did provide stability and a steady income.
In early 2011, Deacon Patrick Moynihan approached Salomon with a unique, albeit potentially risky, proposal. Deacon Moynihan argued that Salomon's time would be better spent working with a company in the private sector and adding to the economy of Haiti by "producing." He invited Salomon to join forces with Christina Moynihan to expand the Rag-a-Muffin program. Rag-a-Muffin seeks to transform pepe – donated clothes sent from the USA to Haiti - into purses, laptop bags, tote bags, and other accessory items. Rag-a-Muffin utilizes local production in order to add tremendous value to these new products, which are subsequently exported to the USA and sold to THP supporters.
Read more from the December 2011 article.