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The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arvind Boolell, has reassured the population that the group of thirty Mauritians who have been stranded in Kashmir which is being ravaged by floods have been evacuated and are now safe and sound. The disaster is weakening in intensity, but has left behind deaths, casualties, and a disease-plagued population.
30 Mauritians stuck in Kashmir floods
Thirty mauritians were in Kashmir when the country was hit by terrible floods. The situation had reached alarming levels until recently when it has been said that the level of water accumulating is gradually declining and that the thirty Mauritians who were evacuated from the affected areas are safe and sound, according to a communiqué issued by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arvin Boolell.
The Mauritians have not yet returned to the island though.
Holidays gone bad: from a boat house to the mountains to Delhi
The group of 30 Mauritians had travelled to Kahmir on the 2nd of September. They were to spend some relaxing time at a boat house in Dal Lake, but shortly afterwards, the water level rose to around 2 meters above normal. They were then evacuated to the Kabir hotel. However, things were to get even worse that finally they ended up as refugees in the mountains. To get there, they had to walk about 6 kilometers, accompanied by their guide. They spent 3 nights in the mountain tents. Fortunately, noone has been injured.
Afterwards, on the 11th of September, they were evacuated from Kashmir, and all 30 Mauritians moved to a hotel in Delhi.
In contact with the authorities
In order to ensure communication with the Indian army, a member of the Special Mobile Force, Khemraj Servansing, has been dispatched to the country.
Also, the authorities concerned, including the chief of staff of the PMO and the Indian Minister of Foreign Affairs held a meeting to discuss the evacuation of the tourists stranded in the hotels because of the floods.
Natural calamity leaving behind a homeless & diseased population
The 2014 Kashmir floods have had disastrous consequences. Uptil now, 460 people have died as a result, with around a million more having had to be displaced. While the natural calamity seems to be abating, hundreds of thousands of inhabitants are still at risk, with around 300 000 people not having had relief aids reaching them yet while others are having to take shelter in mosques and Sikh temples facing a severe lack of food, clothes, and medicine.
Now that the water level is dropping, the extent of devastation will be more easily gauged – however, as yet, it is still not clear. The flood might be decreasing in intensity, but the damage that has been done has far-reaching consequences: on top of the stress entailed, people left without their homes are also suffering from conjunctivitis, gastroenteritis, and perhaps, the near future might reveal a cholera outbreak.
Update 12.09.14 16h00: Mauritians returning on the 18th September; from Kashmir to Delhi to Dubai to Mauritius
They will now return to the island on the 18th of September. While 5 of them were to return to the country because of their tight schedule, the others have opted for a trip to Dubai before getting back to 'paradise island' again. After the tumultuous events, what better than signing up for the delights of Dubai?!
They are to leave India for Dubai tomorrow, 13th of September.


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Tasty but salty
Verified Purchase
Tasty but salty
This Pretzels are a litte on the salty side for me but my husband loves them. Full of good things so worth a try.
Was this review helpful to you?
Posted by iHerb Customer on Jul 07, 2013 | Verified Purchase
These do not taste like pretzels. They taste like sadness.
Very hard
Posted by iHerb Customer on Jul 12, 2012 | Verified Purchase
These are very hard and salty. I was afraid to eat them because I thought I might break a tooth in doing so. I did try putting them in soups or stews, but that was just a so-so idea.
It's not tasty
Posted by iHerb Customer on Feb 28, 2017 | Verified Purchase
It's crispy enough but the taste is missing.
1-3 of 3 total

subset: commoncrawl


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Letter from Herndon.
(5 posts)
Letter from Herndon.
Jun 15, 2002 12:09 PM
So here I am, newly installed in a place called Herndon, VA., right next to Dulles Airport, in a sea of brand new urban sprawl, four lane roads crisscrossing cloverleafs to limited access highways, lined by shopping centers and housing developements, solidly packed with frenetic motor traffic.
Boomtown. Everybody's here, from Vietnam, Korea, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Iran, Afghanistan, Myanamar, and Patagonia, starting new lives, tapping into the American Dream, opening restaurants of every description, grocery stores, clothing stores, fast food gas stations with five kinds of gourmet coffee; building houses, repairing autos, running hotels, bank tellers, doctors, internet wizards, freeway toll collectors! Buzzing on their cell phones from brand new BMWs with custom plates like "HISPEED"! The parking lots are always full. Long gone are the shaded country lanes, that only ten years ago provided endless miles of respite from the mad city. Riding a bike, I take my life in my own hands.
County planners have thoughtfully installed sidewalks all over, which the faint of heart will be seen cycling on, and two blocks from my apartment in "historic old town", where the railroad used to stop, the Washington & Old Dominion Bike Trail crosses the main street. What luck!
I took it into Georgetown last weekend, a 20 mile run. Used to smooth, wide roads, I felt at home only upon reaching the city streets, packed with cars moving like thick molasses through a sea of pedestrians--that's right--people walking, hundreds, thousands of them.
Upon my return home, I felt demoralized. Is this all we get, a network of bike trails, feeding off into sidewalks, with little tunnels or bridges that go under or over these high speed auto highways into apartment complexes and shopping centers? I felt over-directed, constrained, always traveling in a tunnel, green and pleasant, but not any less hectic than the roads, especially for the walkers, kids and slower riders, not bent on "getting a workout."
Where's the life, the pulse of the city, the little dramas that entertain the trip, the sumptuous visual feast that can be appreciated only from a bicycle?
All this is new to me. I left Washington in 1988, when this grid of bikeways was not yet in place, and we rode with traffic on the roads.
Is it still cool to ride on the roads when there are pristine bikepaths paralleling the routes? Is separating cyclists from motorized traffic and putting them in with walkers and birdwatchers a good idea? Or, for the sake of sanity, and "traffic calming," should we be out there on our bikes in the right lanes and shoulders of these freshly paved thoroughfares, drafting the passing traffic?
NVA - Worst Place For Cycling - Drivers SUCK
Jun 15, 2002 2:43 PM
Having lived in Northern VA - beltway insider - BFD, I can honestly say that it is one of the most hostile places for a cyclist to ride. My trip to Central Park NYC up 5th avenue is much, much less un-nerving. NYC drivers (believe it or not) respect cyclists much more than your average NVA driver (always working for someone too important to effect their apathy towards others). Also, since NY is a city and not a metro the flow of vehicular traffic is easier to deal with.
Expect that you will lose whatever hill climbing ability you have. Unless you take 66 Past Front Royal and grab some hills. NVA is just too flat from Purcellville to DC.
Drivers in this area are the absolute worse. Their self righteous, narcissistic attitudes make it impossible to share the road. Given the nature of the area (not suburban nor a city - kind of a metro) cars are just able to go fast enough to be dangerous until they come to the next traffic jam. Every greenlight is a race, every red means late braking. Cars come closer to you than anywhere else at speeds normally in excess of 45mph. There's no courtesy and drivers do not go around you - they always hold their line.
From Herndon I would probably head to Purcellville and try and grab a few hills somewhere out there. It's really not worth going towards Falls Church/DC. Sure the airport is fun and the loop around the Capitol is scenic but those damn tourists get boring fast.
Best of Luck, I would advise you stay off the road. It was my opinion that getting hit down there was only a matter of time.
NVA - Worst Place For Cycling
Jun 16, 2002 9:53 AM
Thanks Jose for the upfront analysis. Rode west on the W&OD last night out into Loudon County, and came within a few inches of being sideswiped by one of those drivers who don't change their lines. Often, drivers stop for you at the crossings, but you never know when.
Now the wiser, I'll stick to the bike paths until gaining access to cut-throughs in older neighborhoods, or country roads way out in Loudon County.
Railroad-bed grades are subtle, but they're there. A woman who passed me last night said it's a constant climb west to Purcellville, and more or less downhill into Washington. Good training with the heart rate monitor.
Used to ride up in Montgomery County. Around Gaithersburg-Rockville area motorists were the same way. Seems to be an environmental problem.
Enjoy NYC. Wish I had a good enough income to live there!
Take 66 Past Front Royal
Jun 16, 2002 3:16 PM
I actually live outside of NYC but as close to the city as I lived to DC when in VA. My rent up here and cost of living has actually decreased. My $1500/month one bedroom apt in Oakton was ridiculously priced - but about average for down there.
Watch crossing the roads from the trail, most drivers I encountered were just terrible about giving courtesy. That's why I loved to do the late braking thing :-)
One fun part of the ride is after you leave Purceville a few miles out. You come to a road where you have to make a left, then right, over a highway (66?), and another left. You then start down a switchback hill as you run in to Leesburg (I think). From the switch back to Leesburg is an awesome time trial - I used to average about 30 during those miles - much fun.
Anyhow, I would head out towards George Washington State Park - it's close to a place called Elizabeth Furnace - a nice mountain ride or a very good place to find a hilly road ride. My directions are skectchy but:
Take 66 West towards Front Royal. 66 ends and you go down a hill onto some other highway. If you take the first exit and go left you head towards a quaint little antique looking town. Take the left at the light in the middle of town and you head back out towards the mountains. Eventually (a few miles), you will pass a grave yard on your right. Hang a right there and a few miles down the road you will see a sign for Elizabeth Furnace - I would cycle out there - fun, not crowded, and hilly.
Take 66 Past Front Royal
peter in NVA
Jun 16, 2002 5:55 PM
I had the same reaction moving out here 10 years ago from LA. The W&OD is a great trail, but not for real road biking. I was shocked when I first tried it (starting from Herndon!) and came upon road crossings every mile or so in places cars don't even expect to see you.
I have had very good experiences with cars, however. Most try to give me space but it just doesn't work since the roads are narrow with no shoulders and overcrowded.
My solution was to buy a cyclocross bike and ride on the local trails. I get an intense, technical workout, but its not road biking. I have ridden the loop around Elizabeth Furnace and Skyline Drive-its great and resembles what biking in VA is supposed to be, but you have to drive an hour to the start.


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But Alyssa Rosenberg is very interested. She was quite upset that Sophia is just going to be a generic princess rather than a Hispanic stereotype, and she's not the only one.
Unfortunately, Disney has had to respond to these asinine demands. Here's a disclaimer that I didn't need:
"What's important to know is that Sofia is a fairytale girl who lives in a fairytale world," Nancy Kanter, senior vice president of original programming and general manager of Disney Junior Worldwide said in a post on the Princess Sofia Facebook page. "All our characters come from fantasy lands that may reflect elements of various cultures and ethnicities but none are meant to specifically represent those real world cultures."My emphasis. This strikes me as a big "No shit" moment. Even if a fantasy cartoon was intended to represent real world cultures, it would do a poor job of it since it's a fantasy cartoon.
Alyssa says this "isn't just cowardly: it's all kinds of boring." It may be boring --I personally am quite bored by princess shit-- but I'm not sure it's cowardly.
What's next? Getting mad at Tolkien because he called his little people "Hobbits" and made no serious effort to deal with the real world problems of midgets?
It's a fantasy, man. The whole point is that it's not real.


text: Well I was doing a lot of trial and error last night and i am stuck because i tried the "put your at&t Sim card" to enable push and i used Pwnage Tool to unlock and jailbreak the phone. So i made sure to un-check the box that says "activate the phone" in pwnage tool. After i made the custom firmware i loaded it up to my phone and everything was going as usual and then i had an old At&t SIM lying around so i just loaded in the little tray slot. The blue notification came on that says "activing iphone this may take a while" or something of the sort. And i waited.......now just so u know the SIM card is inactive. It was from when i bought my iphone and cancelled the plan. So after waiting for about 6 minutes or so i just took out the AT&T SIM out and loaded in my T-Mobile SiM and the then after a few seconds the little blue screen came on and it said "YOUR iPHONE IS ACTIVATED" so i was super stoked that it was working BUT ONE LITTLE PROBLEM CAME UP! I KEEP LOSING SIGNAL!!! SO ANNOYING! the push notification is WORKING GREAT!!! like flawlessly but i just keep getting the NO SIGNAL or SEARCHING... signs. SOME ONE PLZ EXPLAIN to me what i did wrong or if i could use redsn0w to do it or any suggestions. I feel i might get grief from using a dead SIM card from at&t but hey i was desperate and it kinda worked SO plz help!


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Mulberry Lane Farm Wedding: Meg + Paul // The Overwhelmed Bride Wedding Blog + Southern California Wedding Planner
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DIY Paper Heart Garland | 15 DIY Wedding Ideas on a Budget
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text: Weekly Photo Challenge: Fleeting Moments Published on June 30, 2012 by Janet Sunderland A moment in Paris. And one of my favorite photos from the entire trip. Note the tips of her shoes, neatly lined up, toes lifted. Moments later, a second shot: loved the dog. Rate this:Share this:TwitterLinkedInFacebookEmailPrintLike this:Like Loading... Related


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DeboraLynn: Journal Out-Loud
I was just thinking....
Thursday, March 2, 2017
Saturday, December 10, 2016
"You get what you pay for."
When you pay in barbs and insults, your love and kindness account becomes overdrawn. What you have purchased is distrust. Regardless of your claims, your investments eventually become clear. Your return is negative, and your currency will fluctuate, then fall. Your credit is rated poor. Communication ends. Doors that were once held open just for you, may be closed and even locked. You may find yourself on the outside looking in at what was once yours. This is what happens when you don't guard the treasures you already have. You chose your currency, and this is your return on investment.
|How many times will you rebuild,
only to watch your investments repeatedly
fail in the same way?
Each failure was an option to learn and grow and do better. Repeating the same proven failed strategies shows a belief that there is more comfort in the struggle than in the light.
Saturday, December 3, 2016
Being A Mama ;
Monday, September 12, 2016
So my father died, and I was just thinking....
I got something HUGE out of sitting in the silence just now.
I was on my deck listening to the breeze, wind chimes, and my wonderful miniature wind gong. My father died a couple of days ago. I was taking a breather from an emotional few weeks and an emotional data dump into another solar system (well, that's what it felt like) that I just released on Facebook a couple hours earlier. My dear friend, Moe, sent me a note of encouragement about my Facebook post (data dump) and my previous blog post ("The Dark Soul and Little Spitfire"), and I stated something to him about how many of my blog posts have a distinct topic, but are vague or esoteric in nature. That is by design -- no accident, because it is kind of like a song. You know how a song means different things to different people? I might hear a song one way, and you hear it differently, or it has a different meaning for me than you. That is the reason I am vague and casual in my blog posts many times. I want the topic to be clear, but the parameters to be set by the reader. This way it can have many meanings, and the meaning/s can even change over time as our thinking and experiences evolve as well.
I think my style is effective for the purposes I mentioned above. However, here's the meat. What I got while sitting in the silence was how extremely ineffective it has been for me in my real, in-living-color life. I am a natural introvert, and a reluctantly-learned extrovert; so this is a tragic, perfect fit. There are times in life when diplomacy is most certainly called for, and a lack of it can cause more harm than good. There are times when tact and/or caution are necessary. But I see how tip-toeing around myself in order to avoid injury to others down my path of personal healing has only prolonged and deepened the injuries. I am not saying one should just bulldoze over people and their feelings, but I AM saying that I have forgotten who I am to myself. I have forgotten to treat myself like the one and only me that I will ever, ever, EVER have. Why should I not treat myself the way I try to treat others whom I revere, and the way that I advise them to treat themselves? So rather than opening myself up to personal things, I am... VAGUE. And if I want to get deep with it, that's not really an honest way of being.
Now, don't get me wrong. I can talk and TALK about all kinds of things. I have been told more than a few times that I talk too much! But if you're one to really pay attention, you would notice that next to none or absolutely ZERO of what I was talking about had anything very personal or vulnerable about me in it. If you feel this is not true about me, then consider yourself one of the chosen extreme few. That's not bragging, by the way, it's part of today's epiphany.
I also get that my vague style of communicating personal things is a protection. I am sure as I am Irish that it is my own training. All the way to his death, if you didn't agree with my father, you were going to pay. So, I mastered "vague." Hell, I JUST said to my husband THIS very morning after I posted my data dump, "I will probably never fully trust anyone." <blink> Wow. Way to go... Team... ➟➟➟➟➟➟ of ONE! How convenient for someone who wants to stay stuck in the beige realm. (Is that taupe or ecru? No one really knows.)
I will remember to revere
and take care of
my one and
ME! ღ
An Aside: I just took a break from writing this blog post to read some of the comments on Facebook. After I posted my blast, I purposely ignored it for a while. I was fully expecting some cricket noises, maybe a few thumbs-up, and possibly some negative returns. But I am in tears right now instead at the support I have received. This is what happens when you put yourself on an island in your mind instead of sharing. You begin to think you are alone in your feelings and experiences. I am touched by the kind and caring comments, as well as some private messages, text messages, and phone calls I have received in response. I hate to sound cliché, but my mind is just blown. It is time for me to do the work of someone who is ready to move forward from where I've been stuck.
I am sad. I am tired. My head hurts. I feel a little less angry today, but I see I have a ways to go, and I fully understand it is totally up to me to find my way to peace. This is a journey I have to take alone. I don't mean that in that lonely, sad way -- like "I don't want anyone around" way, or "There is no one to help me" lugubrious way. It just is what it is! Some lessons and transformation are truly and simply a journey for one.
So, what am I going to do about this revelation? What am I going to do next? I'm going to buy more wind chimes, that's for sure. Those things are MAGIC... like Tinkerbell! For sure I need to be responsible. What that looks like is no longer allowing people to abuse my time, which includes family gossip and anything or anyone that just doesn't feel good or right, or anything that puts me in the position of aligning myself with someone that consistently and purposely makes others feel bad. After that... I need to stay present and conscious, and I'll just keep breathing (both directions), learning, and sharing.
Stay with me. I'm sure my ride is not over.
ღ Love yourself. ღ
|Little Spitfire
I would like to go back
and hug her so tight!
P.S. "Follow" my blog if you want to keep up with me (button on the far right side). Some of my posts are going to change tone. When it makes sense, you're going to see more clearly who I'm writing about.
Posted by Debora Garcia at 11:22 PM
Labels: abuse, conscious, death, encouragement, epiphany, family, headache, learning, love, peace, present, revelation, sad, self care, self love, sharing, Soul, tired, transformation, vague
Sunday, September 11, 2016
The Dark Soul and Little Spitfire
A story that starts over and over again to have a happy ending
Once upon a time, there was an evil man with an infectious smile and a big sense of humor -- but a dark soul, he was. Nothing good about this man was genuine. He smiled on the outside, but his insides were murky and sour. He covered it up by putting on a gregarious and charitable act for all to see, but in the dark is where he crafted his masterpiece of deceit and lies. His energy was strongest in the dark where no one could see and where he could keep his secrets hidden. In the dark was where he lured his victims, where he would devour them with enticements of money and favors that they could never repay fully, except with the defeat and surrender of their consciences. Even then, this Dark Soul would not be done with you. Once you bowed to him, you were eternally damned with only one way out. That way was a rarely chosen one which forced the affected to leave all behind. His force was so strong, and so dense was his canvas of lies, that only a scant few could see out. Some who saw through his darkness continued to pander to him anyway out of fear. If you walked through the blinding exit, your true essence would be forgotten by all that you knew and loved, eclipsed by the grimy portrait of lies painted by the Dark Soul that sucked the good out of everything he touched. He breathed in what goodness he could find and regurgitated stench; and when he breathed in stench, he regurgitated his own demons that were always someone else's fault.
There was a little soul, a Little Spitfire born to the Dark Soul and a Family of Light. She was innocent to the inner workings of the dark side. But as she matured she began to come into her own mind, and she began to see the contrast between the Dark Soul and the Family of Light. She also began to come into her own awareness about the world around her -- the world she was immersed in. This was the corner the Dark Soul missed when he brought the little soul into the world. He misjudged his own powers of influence and mistakenly thought that he was stronger than all else. After all, the evidence was there that he was the great influencer, was it not? But indeed he had not learned that the Light is always greater than darkness; he had born his daughter into the Family of Light as well as his own, and he had immersed his daughter into a world full of life, colorful surroundings, and cultures. As his darkness grew, so did the little soul's awareness. Her immediate surroundings became intolerable, as he not only weighed on her illuminated conscience, but also weighed heavy on her little heart. The Dark Soul's abuse was growing in the dark that was beginning to take over. Then one day the Light Protector decided it had become too dark for anyone to grow, and gave the Little Spitfire the option to stay where she thought she knew her surroundings, or to come with her and live where only Light was allowed. Having had enough of the stench of the darkness, the 13 year old Little Spitfire chose to go with the Light Protector. She had no idea that nearly an entire family would turn away from her because of her choice to grow -- even her grandparents.
As the years passed, Little Spitfire and Light Protector grew and learned together. The Dark Soul tormented them whenever and wherever he could for years. He ruined vehicles, stole jewelry, would call endlessly, spoke horrible language, and stole money from Little Spitfire. He even enlisted other family members, childhood friends of Little Spitfire, and friends of Light Protector to keep tabs on them for him. He relied on their gossip and willingly and relentlessly spread untruths about them to his own family and friends. The Dark Soul even entered Little Spitfire's school one day shouting epithets at her teachers and administrators to coerce them to have her removed. Fortunately, it only caused them to frown upon him and feel bad for his embarrassed Little Spitfire, and he was banished from the grounds. He did anything he could to spread the darkness. He knew he couldn't survive in the Light. Every nasty, big or little thing he did to them, he would turn into a different story to his comrades and family. His stories were so big and he held so much power, that nearly 40 years later these stories are still believed as the truth, and have been retold and spread by many. Interestingly enough, not one word has ever been said directly by any of these players to the Little Spitfire or the Light Protector directly about any of these stories. One can only surmise that it must be easier to believe a lie than to find out the hard truth about everything you thought you knew.
Several years passed, and the Dark Soul was only heard from intermittently with an occasional drive-by, or through packages of old pictures or knick-knacks being left anonymously on the Light Protector's doorstep. Spitfire had grown into her own life by now, but was living in the darkness of the trauma left behind from him. For a while, it seemed that his darkness had followed her and was going to live on through her. She didn't realize it until she made a lot of mistakes, some which hurt other people, but most hurt her own life. Spitfire had an awakening one day when the Light shone on her just right, and she realized that she had little souls of her own that were being affected by the Dark Soul, though his physical presence was absent. She was at once angrier than she had ever been in her life, but quickly realized that this anger had been the downfall all along -- that it had been the remaining shade casting out the Light trying so hard to pull her through for so many years. In the realization alone, the warmth from the Light began to spread, and little by little, more became illuminated. The most important thing that showed up for Spitfire was herself, and the realization that she held all the power for herself and her little souls all along. She had just forgotten in the darkness to open her eyes.
The next chapter in Spitfire's life was challenging as she learned a new way of thinking and teaching her little souls and for herself. She had to learn to love the forgotten life she hated in order to have Light everywhere. Darkness can be like an addiction, and can suck you back in when you aren't paying attention. So Spitfire tried very hard to be aware of her surroundings at all times. Again, she made lots of mistakes, but always brushed herself off and vowed to never make the same mistake twice. Her biggest wish was for her little souls to grow in the Light and not have to know the darkness that she did. She worked diligently to cultivate the characteristics in them that the Dark Soul would never have taught -- diplomacy, honesty, sincerity, tenacity, decency, impartiality, frankness, honor, unconditional love -- whatever she felt were crucial to a life of integrity and courage.
By now, Spitfire's little souls were on their own, and as some of us do when we feel we have forgiven those in dark places, we think we are strong enough to go back and visit. We think we have risen above and feel that somehow we "should" out of a forgiving spirit. And so it goes, that we learn all the while we live. At least, that's the point of it anyway. A few of us choose to ignore the lessons and are doomed to repeat them. So Spitfire went back for a visit, and she stayed for a while until once again, the Dark Soul began casting his shadows upon her life. She realized that he was one of those that would die having never learned, and would take with him his darkness to the very end. And sadly, those that would mourn for him would never know the true Light as long as they remained under his cloak of darkness and refused to even peer into the Light. Spitfire learned that forgiveness does not mean you need to revisit darkness to show the strength of forgiveness. The strength of forgiveness is shown in the manner in which we live our lives. It is in the proof that we do not repeat the mistakes from which we turned. The lesson is proven when we realize that those scars caused in the darkness are ours forever, but not to pass down and share. They are only bookmarks, or reminders, like those pushpins on a map. The Light is shown when we no longer pretend to or show reverence for the darkness that caused the scars, and refuse to lend credence and participation to the Dark Soul's insidious ego any longer.
Spitfire has come to realize that even in death, the Dark Soul will live on through those that carry out his legacy of darkness, and it will continue to be repeated until someone says, "Enough!" and chooses the Light instead. She chose a different world for herself and for her little souls so that eventually his darkness will end. Light always wins over darkness, but it is a conscious choice. It was the best choice, but it was not an easy path. She will remain forever grateful for her Family of Light that showed her a dichotomy in her bubble. She remains strong in her resolve, but unsure if she would have recognized that it was the Light shining on her without them. Her early training in the darkness has caused a ripple that is a constant struggle against her own worst self, but the Light shines so bright on her awareness that she can never become unconscious again. Sometimes it's up to the beholder to give broken things a purpose.
Lessons continue, and darkness is always waiting. Spitfire will always keep her head up so she can see, and protect her own to the end. She knows about the cycle. It is illuminated now and cannot be unseen. She thinks to herself how she would have liked to have learned these lessons another way, but she understands that this must have been what it took to change the course for her little souls and her to have a different life.
"Goodbye, Dark Soul. You'll have to leave without me."
|Sometimes it's up to the beholder
to give broken things a purpose.
|Light always wins.
Posted by Debora Garcia at 1:19 AM
Labels: #abuse, #change, #DarkSoul, #family, #illuminate, #lessons, #light, #purpose, #soul, #transform, abuse, change, family, illuminate, lessons, light, purpose, reinvent, Soul, transform
Monday, August 15, 2016
Reject The Summons To A False Dilemma
"If you're not with me, then you're against me!"
We take sides in family, friendships, politics, the workplace, and more! Often, we even take pride and puff out our chests at the divide of which we are at the root, when often we probably should be hiding our faces at the damage we have done – often irreparable. Sometimes we get so wound up in it that we can't get out, and we collect other accomplices and victims in our ball of twine as we wind up to make sure we are not in it alone. Then we assume that those who won't join us are therefore on the opposing side. Is it worth it? Does it make us better individuals or life better when we support another person, group, idea, etc., so vehemently that relationships fall into a cavern of uncertainty or spiral down into oblivion? Did we actually provide a measurable service for anyone? Or, was it all done for a power-feed for our own ego or other personal gain?
Sure, sometimes we find we must let someone or something go (bad match, matters of safety, etc.), but that is not what I am talking about. So as not to justify butting in where we don't belong, or so obtrusively inserting ourselves where we aren't needed, I am specifically talking about occasions and instances where we are an outside party and have an opportunity to take a step back and "assist" only if asked. I am talking about times where a difference could actually be made by our absence and by keeping our mouths closed – where showing our support would look more like keeping our personal thoughts in our heads vs. putting them into someone else's space. I am also talking about how allowing the outcome to be whatever it is going to be without interjecting or injecting our personal selves into it where matters do not require our attendance, literally or figuratively.
There is always more... or none!
Truth – this is hard to do sometimes! It is so easy to get caught up, especially if it involves someone/something/a group that we love or despise. We want to take sides! Sometimes we think we have to take sides. But do we have to? Instead of jumping right in, how different might the outcome be if we first took some time to assess the need for us to insert ourselves in some way, and then just opted out instead? Or in the case of family and friends, what if we just waited to be asked for assistance or advice, and then still only gave what was actually needed vs. what we personally felt? We might stop here to consider that when we think we are helping someone with our opinions that we might actually be putting that person in an uncomfortable position with us! They might really love us so much that they won't say anything in order to avoid offending us. It happens! From there may come avoidance, distrust, dishonesty… you get the picture. Or, you may just get an earful, and then what? Once you have inserted yourself as someone's steadfast ally, what will you do if they change their mind and go a different direction than what you want for them? How are you now going to react and respond with their once-opposing side, or yet another new choice?
What I am suggesting here is to think way ahead before you jump in feet first, eyes closed, and mouth open if you are considering taking sides with someone or on something. Once you choose sides you are dividing more than just the two entities in question. Your energy in the matter will cause a wake. There is more than one way to show your love and commitment to your person, cause, or group, and it does not always have to mean making the "other side" appear wrong. Do not expect everyone to jump on board with you if you choose to take sides; and when someone chooses not to, do not fall for the false dilemma that just because they aren't "with you" that they are "against you." Do not actualize an enemy or opponent where there was none. They may simply realize they have other options, as do you.
Here's an idea!
Monday, July 18, 2016
Whose Side Are You On?
It is hard to tell the difference sometimes, isn't it? Often it is very clear who is the one in the wrong, but many other times it is hard to differentiate. What about those times when our loyalties to a person or a group cloud our judgments? Or maybe our judgments aren't clouded so much as we are just too afraid of rocking the boat to jump ship, or to just draw the line and say "enough is enough." A lot of times we just don't take the time to step back and even listen or try to understand the other person or group. We "love" and are attached to our own understanding so much that we don't even take a second thought that there might be something more, something else, something beyond our personal experiences and comprehensions. That is not LOVE. Now I am not saying that you do not love that person, that entity, that group, etc., but if you can't love them all, then truly, it is incomplete. It is one thing to show support, but it is completely another when the support is actually hateful competition.
Love is ALL-encompassing, and leaves no one out. Love does not discriminate or differentiate, and it is always complete. It is static, yet fluid at the same time. It is everywhere and never absent. It is there for the asking and the taking, yet is best when given. It is a verb and a noun, and you can give it away and even give it to yourself (highly recommended). But we pick and choose... why?
We show favor to one family member, while we backbite and gossip about another. We condemn one group of people trying to survive over another. We close our minds and hearts to someone who doesn't look like us or think like us, and the whole time we are claiming love for the one we chose. It is incomplete. Get out of the way.
Do I accomplish LOVE all the time? No. I understand that I'm in its way sometimes. When are you in the way? When are you blocking it or preventing it for someone else? I also understand that if I purposely block it for someone else, that I'm blocking channels somewhere for myself as well. Be careful about the love you profess for someone, something, or a group. If your "love" is a clever disguise as hate or discord, you may fool some people, but you will not fool LOVE. If you are clouding someone else with discord, realize that you are doing it to yourself as well. Do yourself a favor and get out of the way.
I am a work in progress, and continually working on this. I know a few people that I think are so good at showing and being LOVE all the time, and when they aren't, they are able to quickly redirect. That is the side I want to be on and keep practicing. I hope that is the side you will choose. Think about it. Whose side are you on?
In LOVE,
Debora Lynn
Posted by Debora Garcia at 2:13 PM
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Please let me know.
hmmm i think that post is like 8 years old.
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Just taken in part exchange with only two lady owners, long MOT and recent service. Click and collect available with this car, call for details Next MOT due 12/02/2018, Last serviced on 03/02/2017 at 69,828 miles, Full service history, Green, FULLY INSPECTED. 6 MONTH WARRANTY INCLUDED, UP TO 36 MONTHS AVAILABLE. EXPERIAN CHECKED. FINANCE ME, Experian auto check clear, £2,000
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Air-Conditioning, Portable music Connection Socket, Electric Windows (Front), In Car Entertainment (Radio/CD), Heated Front Screen
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Vehicle summary
|Body style
|Engine size
|1388 cc
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|154 g/km
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|43.5 mpg
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|1534 mm
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It was Saint Anthony's Festival in the North End, and I walked with Mom and TonyCantoneseRoseLoveAnthony through the streets. Catholic idols were paraded with waterfalls of dollars hanging off of them. Everything was a foreign awe-inspiring spectacle. It was a new coat of paint. There was something to believe in amidst the lights and the corn dogs and the carnival games.
How could anyone feel so much joy belonging? There were people everywhere, and I wasn't one of them. It was all magic and community. I breathed the same disorienting mystery as the basketball camp, and the wedding, and the men, and the houses and kitchens and carpets and TV carts.
Was it because we were Jewish? What did we do when people were lost?
It would be too late for Nintendo when we got back to the dark kitchen.
Solomon Deep 2016.
All Rights Reserved.


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Mumbai: Bharat Petroleum Corp. (BPCL) plans to spend around Rs3,000 crore in the current fiscal to fund drilling operations in some exploration blocks, upgradation of refineries and for building a product pipeline.
"Our capex for the current year is Rs3,000 crore. Of this, Rs 1,000 crore would be spent for upstream operations (of Bharat PetroResources Ltd). We plan to drill 8-9 wells in some blocks," BPCL chairman and managing director Ashok Sinha told reporters.
Bharat PetroResources Ltd (BPRL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of BPCL, has participating interest in 27 exploration blocks in India and overseas.
Besides, the company would invest around Rs450-500 crore for setting up 500 petrol stations pan-India, he said.
The PSU refiner currently operates around 8,500 petrol pumps in the country.
"The remaining amount will be spent for upgradation of the Mumbai and Kochi refineries," Sinha said.
In the Mumbai and Kochi refineries, BPCL has taken up the fuel quality upgrade project for improving the quality of petrol and diesel for Euro IV specifications.
"We are also building a (multi-product) pipeline connecting our Bina refinery to Kota (in Rajasthan). A dispatch terminal at Bina with storage facilities is also under construction," Sinha said.
Bharat Oman Refinery Ltd, an equal joint venture between BPCL and the Oman Oil Company is building a six-million tonnes per annum (1,20,000 barrels per day) refinery at Bina in Madhya Pradesh.
The refinery is 94.5% complete and is expected to be commissioned by March 2010, Sinha said.
The Bina refinery will help BPCL meet requirements of key markets in central and northern India.
The oil PSU has undertaken expansion to 9.5 mmtpa and modernisation of the Kochi refinery at a cost of Rs3,941 crore, which is due for completion in December.
After completion of the Bina and Kochi refineries, the refining capacity of the BPCL group, including the three-million tonne Numaligarh Refinery, will be 30.5 mmtpa.


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Men's Sports
Women's Sports
Men's Sports
Women's Sports
July 16, 2007
The following story by Zack Eldridge ran in the July 12, 2007, edition of the Herald-Argus.
Sarah McFarland's career has come full circle.
Now she's ready for her next challenge.
McFarland accepted the volleyball head-coaching job at her alma mater Michigan City on Wednesday, which adds to her expanding list of experience.
McFarland was approved at the Michigan City School Board meeting on Tuesday night and was formally introduced at a press conference at the high school on Wednesday morning.
McFarland is a 1997 Michigan City graduate and was a member of the 1995 state championship volleyball team.
"I was very excited to come home again and to be back in the high school," McFarland said. "I liked college coaching a lot but there were aspects of it I didn't like. And my favorite part about it was being in the gym and obviously in high school that's what you're doing. You get to be in the gym a lot. There's not recruiting and being gone every weekend flying somewhere different."
McFarland takes over for Vera Jones, who resigned last month. Jones coached the Wolves for four seasons, winning two sectional titles.
After graduating from Michigan City, McFarland graduated from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, playing Division-I volleyball and earning a bevy of accolades, including being named a two-time volleyball All-American in 1999 and 2000 as well as the NCAA national record holder for average kills per game from 1999 to the present. She was a USA volleyball national team member in 2001, too.
To read the full story on McFarland, click here.
© Copyright 2017 West Coast Conference. All Rights Reserved.


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GOC Student Christa Campbell Nominated for the Georgia Entertainment Gala Youth Artist Award
February 22, 2017 • 739 views
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Christa Beth Campbell, an 8th grader at GOC, is having a great 2017 so far. She's currently working in LA, but flew home for the Georgia Entertainment Gala where she was honored as a nominee for the Youth Artist Award. She was thrilled to be nominated alongside such wonderful talent as Brandon Spink, Myles Truitt and Chandler Riggs. She attended the red carpet event with her acting buddies some of which go to school with her at Gwinnett Online Campus such as Stella Smith, Ethan Caldwell, Cady Walls, and Bailey Campbell. It was an amazing night and she was so happy to be able to share it with her friends.
Christa could not do any of this without the flexibility provided to her by being a student at Gwinnett Online Campus. In addition to the flexibility, she enjoys the connections she is able to make with friends and teachers at GOC. Technology allows her to maintain these relationships long distance by attending her learning labs and even her club meetings virtually. This week she will be using our new robot, Vigo, to interact in her language arts class as well as at her student leadership meeting. She uses face time and google hangout to rehearse with her team members on her Odyssey of the Mind team. Adobe Connect allows her to attend her learning labs from LA and have live instruction from her teachers that gives her the ability to stay in the loop even when she is thousands of miles away.
Christa has attended GOC since she was in 5th grade. She is a member of the Junior National Honor Society and is on the Honor Roll. She is the Co-President of the Jr. Student Leadership Team and has been a part of the Odyssey of the Mind program for three years and has gone to state every year.
GOC is proud of Christa and her incredible work ethic that she exhibits in every aspect of her daily life.
#Powering Potential


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Well, I know this font is very similar to Chalet NY 70 or Chalet London 70, but the "s" isn
Permalink Submitted by Stephen Coles on 23 February 2003 - 10:05pm
Permalink Submitted by Yves Peters on 24 February 2003 - 3:24am
"… wakes up, stretches and grins…"??? Hey Stephen, don't you go stealing Cheshire's routine! Furthermore, hens can't grin, they have no teeth (and no sense of humor neither, unlike you). =D
And all that in 5 minutes flat!
Permalink Submitted by Stephen Coles on 24 February 2003 - 4:09am
Pardon. Please replace my grins with a clucks.
Now I'm going to bed. I leave the floor to Yvezzie.


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Single-dose nevirapine (sd-NVP) for prevention of mother-to-child HIV-1 transmission is associated with selection of resistant viral variants, particularly the Lysine (K) to Asparagine (N) mutation at codon 103 (K103N) of reverse transcriptase. As this may influence subsequent treatment responses, a better understanding of the dynamics of decay and persistence of this variant is needed.
We measured the frequency of K103N mutants among a cohort of HIV-1-infected pregnant women recruited at an out-patient clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa. Samples taken 6 weeks, 3, 7 and 12 months after delivery from 67 HIV-1-infected women who received sd-NVP during labor to prevent transmission were analyzed. Quantification of K103N mutants in maternal plasma viral RNA and cellular DNA was done using an allele-specific real-time polymerase chain reaction assay capable of detecting codons AAC and AAT if their frequency was > 0.002 of the total viral population.
Using the allele-specific assay, 87.1% (27/31) of RNA samples and 52.3% (23/44) of DNA samples collected 6 weeks after sd-NVP had detectable K103N variants. This declined to 65.4% (17/26), 38.9% (14/36), and 11.3% (6/53) in RNA at 3, 7 and 12 months respectively, and to 4.2% (2/48) in DNA at 12 months.
K103N resistant variants were present in almost all women at 6 weeks post-sd-NVP but declined rapidly over time. Resistant variants were detected less frequently in cellular DNA with persistence in this compartment by 12 months post-sd-NVP among only a minority.
The simplest regimen for reduction of mother-to-child HIV-1 transmission utilizes a single dose of nevirapine (sd-NVP) for the mother at labor onset and one for the child soon after birth [1,2]. The simplicity and low cost of sd-NVP allows programs to achieve high population coverage making the reduction in new cases of pediatric HIV-1 infection a reality even in low resource settings.
A worrying consequence of sd-NVP is the rapid selection of viral variants resistant to nevirapine and to other non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI). Viral mutations associated with NNRTI resistance can be detected among 20–40% of nevirapine-exposed women using standard sequencing-based methods [3–8]. The Lysine (K) to Asparagine (N) mutation at codon 103 (K103N) is the most common mutation [4,5,7]. Standard sequencing-based methods generally detect minority species only when present at frequencies > 20% of the viral population, so these studies under-estimate the presence of resistant variants [9]. If more sensitive methods are applied, the majority of nevirapine-exposed women have detectable resistance mutations 1–2 months after exposure [10–12].
These observations have raised concern about the possible long-term efficacy of sd-NVP for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1, including whether sd-NVP may be as efficacious in subsequent pregnancies, and whether treatment with NNRTI-based regimens will need to be avoided for nevirapine-exposed women and infants [13,14]. Although the percentage of individuals with detectable genotypic resistance measured using population sequencing methods declines with time after exposure [5,15] interpretation is hampered by lack of knowledge about the viral dynamics occurring below the threshold of detection of these assays. There are also no data on the presence of K103N in cellular DNA following sd-NVP. A better understanding of these dynamics is critical to the development of strategies to reduce possible adverse clinical consequences.
To address this problem, we applied a quantitative, allele-specific, real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method to measure the most common nevirapine resistance mutation, K103N, at various time-points post-sd-NVP among HIV-1-infected women. This sensitive assay allowed us to track minority K103N viral RNA populations in plasma over time after sd-NVP and was also used to determine persistence of low-frequency mutants in cellular DNA.
Samples were obtained from a cohort of 164 HIV-1-infected women giving birth at Coronation Hospital, Johannesburg, South Africa. The women received antenatal voluntary counseling and testing and were given 200 mg nevirapine at the onset of labor. Their infants were given 0.6 ml of nevirapine after delivery and were scheduled for post-natal follow-up as part of the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) program at the hospital [16]. Women were enrolled at 6 weeks post-delivery and consumption of nevirapine was confirmed by interview and by review of records. None of the women had been exposed to antiretroviral drugs before this pregnancy. CD4+ T cell counts (BD Biosciences, Palo Alto, California, USA) were performed on maternal blood samples at various time-points post-delivery and viral load (Versant HIV-1 RNA 3.0 bDNA Assay) at 6 weeks. Infant blood samples were collected at 6 weeks and 3 months and tested for HIV-1 DNA by PCR (Roche AMPLICOR HIV-1 qualitative assay v1.5; Roche Diagnostics, Mannheim, Germany). Plasma and buffy coat fractions were stored at −70°C.
A subset of 67 women for whom longitudinal samples were available were selected for this study. Plasma samples collected at 6 weeks, 3, 7 and 12 months post-delivery (n = 160) and buffy coat samples collected at 6 weeks and 12 months (n = 101) were tested using real-time PCR. These women had lower CD4 cell counts and higher viral loads than the larger cohort, but their other characteristics, including transmission risks, were similar. For 16 patients, plasma samples were available from all four time-points; these had similar viral loads to the 67 women in the subset. Real-time PCR data was obtained from 146 (91.3%) of the plasma samples and 92 (91.1%) of the buffy coat samples. Buffy coats from 31 drug-naive HIV-1 pregnant women from a neighboring clinic were used as negative controls.
Plasma samples (0.5 ml) collected at 6 weeks post-sd-NVP were used to identify NNRTI resistance mutations using an in-house nested PCR and population sequencing as described (Loubser SA, et al., in preparation). Briefly, complementary DNA (cDNA) was generated by reverse transcription of viral RNA using an antisense primer (LC-OUT-REV 5′-GAGTTCATACCCCATC CA-3′, nucleotide position 3234–3251 of HIV-1HXB2) followed by a first-round PCR reaction generating a 473 base pair (bp) product spanning the 103 codon (primers LC-OUT-FOR 5′-TTCAGGGAACTCAATA AAAG-3′, 2778–2797 of HIV-1HXB2 and LC-OUT-REV). A second-round PCR amplification generating a 419 bp fragment of reverse transcriptase (RT) was performed using primers LC-IN-FOR (5′-TTTTGGG AAGTTCAATTAGG-3′, 2808–2827 of HIV-1HXB2) and LC-IN-REV (5′-TGGGGGTTCTTTCTGATG-3′, 3210–3227 of HIV-1HXB2). Bidirectional DNA sequencing of PCR products was performed using an ABI Prism BigDye 3.0 kit and resolved on an ABI3100 Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, California, USA).
cDNA was generated by reverse transcription of a 15 μl aliquot of viral RNA using the method described above with the primer pREV-OUT (5′-ATGGGTCATAATA TACTCCATG-3′, 3492–3513 of HIV-1HXB2) in a 20 μl reaction volume. A 1128 bp RT gene fragment was amplified using the primers pFOR-OUT (5′-AAAATG ATAGGAGGAATTGG-3′, 2385–2404 of HIV-1HXB2) and pREV-OUT. After an initial denaturation at 94°C for 2 min, 35 cycles of 94°C for 30 s, 55°C for 30 s and 72°C for 60 s were performed, with a final extension at 72°C for 10 min. A second-round PCR reaction with primers pFOR-IN (5′-CACCTGTCAACATAATT GG-3′, 2491–2509 of HIV-1HXB2) and pREV-IN (5′-AATTTCCCTGTTCTCTGC-3′, 3459–3476 of HIV-1HXB2) was performed with cycling parameters of 94°C for 2 min followed by 35 cycles of 94°C for 30 s, 58°C for 30 s and 72°C for 60 s, with a final extension at 72°C for 10 min to generate a 985 bp product. The same PCR method was used with 15 μl of DNA to generate RT gene fragments from cellular viral DNA.
An allele-specific real-time PCR method was developed to distinguish between the wild-type codons for lysine (AAA and AAG) and the mutant codons for asparagine (AAC and AAT) at position 103 of RT. Primers for detection of all four possible alleles of codon 103 were designed by determining the consensus of 153 known subtype C sequences from South Africa. A common forward primer was used in combination with one of four reverse primers designed with a 3′-base complimentary to the third nucleotide position of codon 103. Each primer combination was tested using plasmid clones representative of each of the four codons at position 103 to confirm the discriminatory power of the method and establish background cut-off values. The PCR products were diluted 1 : 1500 in water and real-time PCR reactions performed on an ABI7000 Real-Time PCR instrument in 10 μl volumes using the SYBR GREEN PCR Master Mix Kit (Applied Biosystems) containing 5 μl of diluted PCR product, a common upstream primer pB (5′-GTTAAACAATGGCCATTGACA-3′, 2610–2630 of HIV-1HXB2) and one of the four allele-specific down-stream primers p103A, p103C, p103G or p103T (5′-CC CACATCCAGTACTGTCACTGATTTT/A/G/C-3′, 2858–2884 of HIV-1HXB2 identical except for their last 3′ nucleotide). Cycling parameters were an initial denaturation and activation of DNA polymerase at 95°C for 10 min followed by 40 cycles of 95°C for 15 s and 60°C for 1 min generating a 274 bp product. Threshold cycle (Ct) values were generated automatically and used to calculate relative frequencies of each codon per sample tested.
To confirm the presence of low frequency K103N variants, the second-round PCR product was used for ligation into plasmid vectors (TOPO TA Cloning Kit for Sequencing; Invitrogen Life Technologies, Carlsbad, California, USA) and transformed into competent bacteria (TOP10 chemically competent; Invitrogen Life Technologies). Individual colonies selected on kanamycin agar plates were picked and re-suspended in 2 ml of water. K103N real-time allele-specific PCR was performed using 5 μl of diluted colony suspension to determine codon 103 usage.
Plasmids were generated from subtype C pol amplicons bearing all four variants of the 103 codon (pCR2. 1TOPO; Invitrogen Life Technologies). Plasmids were sequenced and both the pB and the p103 primer binding sites shown to differ only at the position under test. Mixtures of these plasmids were used to measure sensitivity and establish background cut-off values for each reaction. Synthetic plasmid mixtures showed a cut-off of detection of 0.002 for the minor variant. Analysis of 15 samples repeated in quadruplicate showed a mean standard deviation of 0.011 (range 0–0.036).
Since the allele-specific assay is quantitative with a low threshold of detection, we examined two parameters: the percentage with detectable K103N (compared across groups using chi-squared tests) and the frequency of K103N defined as the proportion of the viral population that was 103 variant (compared across groups using non-parametric Wilcoxon tests). Spearman rank correlations were calculated to describe associations between frequencies of K103N variants at different time points and with other quantitative parameters, including maternal viral load and CD4 cell count. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) models were used to estimate the rate of decline per month in K103N frequency (slope) by covariates taking into account repeat measures on the same individual. To test if the rate of decline differed by specific covariates, an interaction term on the multiplicative scale between time and the covariate of interest was included in the GEE model. Statistical analyses were undertaken with SAS software (Cary, North Carolina, USA).
The median CD4 cell counts and viral loads of the 67 study participants indicated that most women were in the chronic phase of infection (Table 1). Using a nested 'in-house' population sequencing method, 54.5% (36/66) of plasma samples taken 6 weeks after sd-NVP were found to harbor K103N viral mutations and all, except 1 (subtype A), were infected with subtype C.
Among 31 plasma samples collected 6 weeks after sd-NVP, K103N variants were detected using the allele-specific assay in all 16 samples in which K103N had originally been detected by sequencing, and in 11 of 15 (73.0%) samples in which K103N had not (Fig. 1). The allele-specific assay also quantified the frequency of these variants which were significantly higher (P < 0.0001) when K103N was also detected by sequencing. The median frequency of K103N variant for genotype positive samples was 0.223 (range, 0.061–0.969) and for genotype negative samples the median frequency of K103N variants if detectable was 0.016 (range, 0.004–0.083). No K103N mutants present at a frequency of < 0.10 of the viral population were detected using the original population sequencing method.
As shown above, K103N variants were detected by real-time PCR in 27 of 31 (87.1%) plasma RNA samples obtained 6 weeks post-sd-NVP. Among the 27 in which K103N variants could be detected (i.e. frequency > 0.002), the median proportion of the viral population that was K103N variant was 0.108 (range, 0.04–0.969). Both the number of patients with detectable K103N variants and the proportion of the viral population that harbored these variants declined rapidly in samples collected at later time points (Fig. 2). At 3 months, 65.4% (17/26) of the samples had detectable K103N variants (median if detected 0.059; range, 0.003–0.819). This declined to 38.9% (14/36) at 7 months (median if detected 0.012; range, 0.002–0.290) and to 11.3% (6/53) at 12 months after sd-NVP (median if detected 0.007; range, 0.005–0.054). All the women who had detectable K103N in plasma at 12 months by real-time PCR also had K103N detected by standard genotyping at 6 weeks.
Representative examples of patterns of decline are displayed in Fig. 3. Of 43 women with two or more sequential RNA measurements, 27 (62.8%) had lower frequencies of K103N variants at later time points and 13 (30.2%) had frequencies below detection or very low levels at all time points measured. Three women (7%) had higher frequencies of K103N variants at 3 months than at 6 weeks, thereafter frequencies of their K103N variants declined.
Women with high K103N frequencies 6 weeks after sd-NVP were more likely to have K103N mutants detectable later than women with low frequencies. Among women with ≥ 0.1 K103N variant at 6 weeks, frequencies of the mutant was higher at 3 months (P = 0.02), 7 months (P = 0.02) and 12 months (P = 0.01) than among women with < 0.1 K103N variant at 6 weeks. There was significant within-person correlation of K103N frequencies from one visit to the next.
Since 88.7% of women had no detectable K103N variants in RNA by 12 months, the rate of decline between 6 weeks and 12 months post-sd-NVP was significantly faster for those women with higher frequencies of K103N variants at 6 weeks. Assuming the decline in K103N frequencies was linear per month on a log-scale, then the decline was more rapid per month if 6-week levels were high (≥ 0.1; β-coefficient, −0.189) than if they were low (< 0.1; β-coefficient, −0.093) (interaction term P < 0.001).
Higher maternal viral load 6 weeks post-sd-NVP tended to be associated with higher K103N frequencies but this only reached significance for the 7 month time point. Lower CD4 T-cell counts tended to be associated with higher K103N frequencies at 7 and 12 months but not with more proximate time-points.
K103N frequencies were determined for DNA samples taken at 6 weeks (n = 44) and 1 year (n = 48) after sd-NVP. At 6 weeks, 52.3% (23/44) of cellular DNA samples had detectable mutant genotypes, with a median frequency of the K103N variant of 0.031 (range, 0.003–1.0) if detectable (Fig. 4). Two of these samples contained only K103N mutant variants. By 12 months, the frequency of K103N variants declined to 4.2% (2/48). The frequency of K103N variants was 0.039 for patient NVP16 and 0.024 for patient NVP196. The presence of K103N was confirmed by real-time allele-specific PCR analysis of clones generated from the NVP196 12 month DNA sample. Of 80 clones tested one (1.3%) was positive for the mutant codon whereas the remainder were wild type. DNA sequencing of this positive clone confirmed the presence of the AAC codon at position 103. None of 31 DNA samples from drug-naive HIV-1-infected pregnant women had any mutant populations detectable by real-time PCR.
Of those with K103N variants quantified in both RNA and DNA samples collected at 6 weeks (n = 17), all with detectable K103N variants in cellular DNA also had detectable K103N variants in RNA. The proportion of the cellular viral DNA population quantified as K103N variant was significantly correlated with the proportion in RNA (rho = 0.85; P < 0.0001) and with maternal viral load (rho = 0.61, P < 0.0001) at 6 weeks. Correlations between the frequency of K103N variants in cellular DNA at 6 weeks with frequencies of K103N variants in RNA at 3, 7 and 12 months became steadily weaker over time. Neither of the two patients with detectable K103N variants in DNA at 12 months had detectable K103N in RNA at 12 months although both had K103N detected in > 0.1 of the viral RNA population at 6 weeks (Fig. 3).
We have shown, as have others [10–12], that viral mutations associated with nevirapine resistance are much more common 6 weeks after sd-NVP than suggested by conventional sequence-based genotyping. Using an allele-specific real-time PCR assay for the most common mutation (K103N), we found almost all women had detectable levels of this mutation at 6 weeks. K103N is important since it is associated with resistance to nevirapine and efavirenz, which are both popular NNRTI for therapeutic regimens and it is also the most persistent [15]. The nested 'in-house' population-sequencing method we used on these same samples detected mutations only if present in > 0.1 of the viral population. This is a slightly greater sensitivity than has been observed with other commercial population-sequencing assays possibly because of the nested PCR reaction and shorter target region. However, the lower limit of detection of the allele-specific assay was 0.002 which is at least 50-fold more sensitive than our 'in-house' assay and closer to 100-fold more sensitive than commercial genotyping assays.
Over time both detection of K103N-resistant variants and the proportion of the viral RNA population found to harbor these variants declined rapidly in plasma. By 12 months after sd-NVP, our sensitive allele-specific assay could detect K103N variants in only 11% of RNA samples, and these variants were present at low frequency. It remains to be determined whether resistant variants at such low levels have clinical consequences. A study in Thailand showed that women who received nevirapine for prevention of mother-to-child transmission had a poorer virological response to treatment than unexposed women even in the absence of detectable resistance mutations [17]. These results imply a clinical role for these low frequency mutants. However, the Thai study also found that among the nevirapine-exposed, those without detectable resistance mutations were more likely to achieve virologic suppression after treatment than women with detectable resistance [17]. As shown here, women without detectable K103N by conventional genotyping have resistant variants at significantly lower frequency than those detected by conventional genotyping. Thus the frequency of resistant variants may influence treatment response in a dose-dependent manner. Clinical studies should investigate specifically whether sd-NVP has any influence on women's response to an NNRTI-treatment regimen when started more than 12 months later by which time clinical consequences, if any, may be small.
There were appreciable individual differences in the frequency and persistence of resistant variants. Women who had higher frequencies of mutant viral RNA at 6 weeks (who would have been detected by conventional genotyping) were more likely to have resistance variants detected at later time points. However, the rate of decline was faster among those starting with higher frequencies. These results are consistent with more rapid viral kinetics being associated both with higher peak frequencies of resistant variants and with their more rapid decline. The net result was that for most women resistant variants had declined below detection by one year. Individual variation in drug clearance, viral dynamics or host immune factors may explain the small number of women who displayed an increase in the frequency of K103N variants between 6 weeks and 3 months before declining. Our data also suggest that markers of more advanced disease, including low CD4 cell count and higher viral load, tended to be associated with persistence of resistance mutations. Further clarification of these predictors may have clinical utility. These associations also caution against uncritical comparison across different clinical cohorts since the profile of disease within cohorts may affect the extent of resistant mutations observed.
A limitation of our study is that we examined only the most common resistant variant, K103N. Other mutants may show different dynamics due to differences in viral fitness [18]. A further limitation is that pre-treatment samples were not available. Although resistance mutations may exist at very low frequencies even in the absence of drug pressure [19] other studies among drug-naive, subtype C-infected women have not detected K103N mutations [11,12]. This suggests that pre-existing mutants, if present, are below the detection threshold of even these kinds of assays. Resistance mutations and other polymorphisms may occur in primer binding sites which could affect the sensitivity of the real-time PCR assay. However, we designed subtype C-specific PCR primers in highly conserved regions and single nucleotide changes would not result in complete loss of primer binding. These limitations seem unlikely to explain the dramatic changes in the detection and frequency of K103N variants as time elapsed after sd-NVP.
Our study documented that even once mutants are no longer detectable in plasma viral RNA, persistence in cellular DNA can occur after sd-NVP. However, this could be detected in less than 5% of women. We only examined persistence in the total leukocyte pool and therefore cannot rule out whether there might be mutants present in other cell reservoirs or in lymph nodes. A limitation is that we were unable to quantify cellular HIV DNA copies for input into our PCR. Furthermore it was not possible to determine whether viral DNA was integrated or extra-chromosomal. These factors may have resulted in an underestimation of K103N in DNA. It will be important to test in clinical studies whether the presence of these variants in DNA identifies women most vulnerable to failing NNRTI-based regimens.
Our data suggest that although readily selected by sd-NVP therapy, resistant viral genotypes do not persist for long periods in peripheral blood viral RNA and, although persistence in the cellular DNA compartment occurs, it can be detected in only a minority. If these markers predict subsequent response to NNRTI treatment, when treatment is started more than 12 months post-delivery, previous exposure to sd-NVP may affect treatment responses among only a minority. This is reassuring since the numbers of women needing treatment in the immediate post-partum period will decrease as HIV care programs are implemented more widely and women who meet criteria for drug treatment (low CD4 cell count and symptomatic disease) are started on treatment before or during pregnancy. Furthermore, as subsequent deliveries will generally occur only at some interval of more than 12 months the consequences of previous exposure to sd-NVP for future transmission may be less than anticipated.
We thank Stephanie Jones for sample collection, Adrian Puren and Wendy Stevens for diagnostic work, Sarah Cohen for sample and database management and Jefferson Smith for assistance with the real-time PCR assays.
Sponsorship: This work was supported by Bristol-Myers Squibb 'Secure the Future' Grants (RES212-01 and RES105-01), Columbia University Center for AIDS Research (AI 42848), and a National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development grant (HD 47177). L.M. is a Wellcome Trust International Senior Research Fellow in Biomedical Sciences.
PubMed Central Canada is a service of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) working in partnership with the National Research Council's national science library in cooperation with the National Center for Biotechnology Information at the U.S. National Library of Medicine(NCBI/NLM). It includes content provided to the PubMed Central International archive by participating publishers.


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Plumbsure Square Shower Enclosure with Pivot Door (W)800mm (D)800mm
Plumbsure Square Shower Enclosure with Pivot Door (W)800mm (D)800mm
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Update your bathroom with this square shower enclosure's Plumbsure range. The contemporary pivot door and space saving size means you can fit this enclosure into the smallest of bathrooms, while the sleek silver effect frame and beautiful clear glass provides the perfect finishing touch.
- This shower enclosure has reversible fittings. Fixings supplied
- Shower tray not included - Shower tray and waste available separately
- Compatible with 800x800mm square shower trays - Choose from classic stone, low profile and hidden waste trays
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- All our Plumbsure shower enclosures are constructed from 4mm toughened safety glass for additional strength and durability.
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Suitable for Use with wet room shower trays Comes with Glass panel, channel and horizontal support bar Fixings supplied Complete with full instructions Guarantee - 1 year
Update your bathroom with this square shower enclosure from Cooke & Lewis' Beloya range.and slim design is great for small bathroom designs, while the sleek silver effect frame and beautiful clear glass provides the perfect finishing touch. This shower enclosure has reversible fittings. Fixings supplied ...
Make mornings more inviting with this rectangular shower enclosure from Cooke & Lewis' Exuberance range. The modern single sliding door and spacious design will make a fantastic feature for your bathroom, while the sleek silver effect frame and beautiful clear glass provides the perfect finishing touch. ...


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"Great Fun!"
Kimberley Haynes
14 October 2014
I bought this to decorate some biscuits with my niece, its really easy to use and very effective
Product Features
Pop in hot water to melt the chocolate, then write, swirl, draw or drizzle onto your cookies and cakes. The chocolate drizzles really smoothly, and you get loads out of each tube – enough to decorate about 24 cupcakes! Leanne from our Buying Team baked a tray of cookies and drizzled on choccy lines, covering the whole lot in seconds, but they're just as effective for adding fine detail to chocolates or dressing up desserts.
Please note - stencils are available to download below. Just print off stencil and then cover with greaseproof paper to trace the shape with chocolate.
80g. , (224p per 100g.)
14 October 2014
I bought this to decorate some biscuits with my niece, its really easy to use and very effective
08 October 2014
I bought this for decorating cupcakes and cookies. It is good to decorate with, and the chocolate comes out well. However, i found that it didn't have much flavour (if at all) so i would say don't use as a substitute for icing-purely decoration.
11 November 2015
I thought this would be easier than piping chocolate but found that it cooled down so quickly that I could only do a couple of things. Much better to stick with melting chocolate and a piping bag.
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I bought this to decorate some biscuits with my niece, its really easy to use and very effective


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Happy Father's Day
Today is Father's Day in Australia, and I would like to wish all you fathers out there a very happy day.
I would like to wish my own father a happy Father's Day, but I don't know where he is. I know that he is in trouble somewhere in Asia - as per usual.
Now, my father has some fine qualities. He is clever, he is funny, he is warm, and he used to get so excited during family celebrations that he was like another kid. He could be great fun to be around. But unfortunately, his fine qualities are completely outweighed by his bad qualities.
You know that line about how fun it is when dad is like another kid? Well, its not that fun when its true. Not for us. And not for my mother, either.
The qualities that truly handicapped my dad as a father were his inability to buckle down and work at anything for any length of time, his chronic irresponsibility and his deep belief that if anything bad happened, it was someone else's fault. He was a very frustrated man, mainly because he was very bright but unable to apply himself and stick to anything. This meant that he was always in jobs that were way below his abilities and that he found utterly boring and pointless. A boring job and the demands of two children were too much for him. He would drink out of frustration and boredom, and he was a very nasty drunk.
I can't tell you how horrible it is to be a kid when you have a parent who is totally irresponsible. Because you have no power to confront him, no power to make him be the adult and no power to leave the situation. You are just at his mercy.
When I was little, the problems were comparatively minor. For instance, he would forget he had brought me with him to the shopping centre. One minute, I'd be toddling by his side, chatting away, and the next, he had wandered off. He would get distracted by, say, a record shop, and forget me. He would head for home without me. I would circle round and round the shopping centre, searching frantically for him, crying hysterically, for hours. Meanwhile, he would be chilling out at home, listening to his new record.
But of course, events like these just reflected a mindset that later caused much bigger problems. I still love my dad. I don't know why, but I do. But whenever I think of him, I can't help thinking of things like:
All sitting at the dinner table, trying to breathe silently, because dad was on the rampage, he had his "mad eyes", and the slightest sound could set him off.
The way he would rage around, frightening everyone, and if you went to call for help, he would pull the phone out of the wall, breaking the cable so that you couldn't call, kicking out hard at the chair you had been sitting on. It is truly terrifying to be a child in a house where an adult is out of control, because an adult is HUGE. Its like being trapped in a room with an angry giant.
The way he told me the problems in the marriage were my fault.
The way he threw things at me when he was in a bad mood.
The way I came to understand that I would never be safe with him, either emotionally or physically, because even the smallest problem or obstacle was too much for him and, when the chips were down, he would always put himself first. That he was a man so weak that, not only could he not protect me from anything else, he couldn't even protect me from himself.
The time my mother left for two weeks and he virtually disappeared, on a perpetual party. I was ten years old, and left to shop and cook for my sister and I alone. I remember wanting him to give me a lift home with the shopping because the shop was near his workplace and he had the car, but he wasn't there. I carried it all home on the bus. I still remember staggering under the weight of all those bags. I still remember the shame of people staring as a bag burst and the potatoes went rolling down the aisle.
The relief I felt when he broke his arm so badly on one of his rampages that he couldn't straighten it any more or do anything too challenging with it. I realized that I could out-run him, and that he couldn't really hit me easily. It made me less afraid.
The day he got extremely drunk and angry and started firing a rifle in the house. And when I called a friend to come and get me, he demanded to drive me wherever I was going, and said that if I didn't want him to, then I didn't love him.
The day he told my sister that she deserved to have been raped.
How, when he finally left, I was partly relieved and partly inconsolable. It was easier without him. But his leaving proved to me what I had always suspected: he didn't love me. And I wasn't interesting enough or lovable enough to be worth hanging around for. I had always wanted his love, I had tried to please him, and now even the possibility of that was gone.
He went overseas and, although he promised almost every year to come back for visits, I didn't see him again from the time I was sixteen until I was thirty. He spent that time travelling around Asia, getting women pregnant and abandoning them and the children. And contacting us mainly when he had gotten into trouble and needed help - usually money and someone to negotiate with the Australian Embassy because his chaotic life and bad behaviour had landed him in jail over there. Again.
When people ask me about my childhood, I often don't know what to say. I wasn't beaten (aside from some pretty heavy "discipline" with the buckle end of his belt). I wasn't really abused, in the sense of "serious" abuse. A friend of mine's father sexually abused her and her four sisters and, compared to him, my father was a saint. But I felt neglected, I felt frightened, I never felt safe, and I felt unloved and finally abandoned.
I believe my father has an undiagnosed mental illness of some kind. He told me once, in a moment of rare honesty, that sometimes he saw things, and heard things, that weren't there. That sometimes he believed that people were against him, were persecuting him, when they really weren't. But the next time I mentioned that conversation, he denied it had ever happened. And its hard to tell how much of his behaviour is due to his illness, and how much of it is due to being a chronically irresponsible and self-indulgent shit.
For myself, I developed a belief that I admit is not completely rational or fair: that fathers are not very relevant unless they are good fathers. If your own father is such a liability, such a chronic source of disruption and sadness and fear, then its hard to believe that some children aren't better off without their fathers. And a number of my friends have also had "bad" fathers - abusers, drunks, violent men. Or just "hopeless" fathers - who can't take any responsibility, are no help at all, and when they finally leave can't even bring themselves to pay child support. Or even just fathers they are not close to. Fathers who are distant. Fathers they just can't communicate with and don't understand. Fathers who probably love their children, but don't know how to show it.
To this day, the most baffling thing to me about men is the relationship so many of them have to their own children. I know that there are bad mothers, too. But they just seem so much more rare. Bad fathering, or even just inadequate fathering, seems so common. What is wrong with them? I just don't get it.
And I get angry. I want to say to these bad fathers: Fucking the mother of your children doesn't make you a real father. A tiny piece of DNA is not enough of a contribution. If that is all you are willing to throw in, please, just don't do it. When I see those little neglected children in public sometimes, the ones who clearly haven't had a bath or seen a hairbrush or a toothbrush or clean clothes in a long time, who have that pale and neglected and unloved look, who are toddling hopelessly after their drug addicted parents, I want to swoop them up and take them home with me. But I don't do any of those things, because that would be acting like a maniac.
And, you know, I also see good fathers. Fathers who love their children so devotedly and tenderly. Who tell their children how beautiful they are and how much they love them. Who care for and protect their children. Who are patient and kind with them. Who make sacrifices for them. Fathers who bring tears to your eyes with the reminder of what a wonderful thing a good man, and a good father, can be.
Fathers like my partner.
During the pregnancy, my partner seemed somewhat distant from me and our baby. I worried about the sperm donor issue, and whether it would bother him and interfere with his bonding with our baby, despite his assurances that the biological link wasn't that important to him. And I was so excited to be pregnant, and yet so apprehensive, that I kept looking for him to share the experience with me. And its not really that he didn't. But he is a very low key person generally, not very excitable, and he was like that about the pregnancy, too. He thought it was wierd that I poured over those "your fetus this week" development sites, and over pictures of developing babies in the womb. He didn't get all excited about every aspect of the pregnancy like I did. He couldn't get worked up about it unless there was an actual task for him to do. So, I was a bit concerned.
But from the moment our boy was born, once the baby was actually in front of him and there were things to do, things that needed to be done, he was utterly different. He sang to him, he played with him, he showed our baby in every possible way how much he loved him.
We call my partner The Dude, partly because of his love of bowling and of the movie The Big Lebowski, and our baby the Little Dude. The Big Dude and the Little Dude are such a team. They are together all the time, just playing and hanging out. The sight of the Big Dude and the Little Dude together is my favourite sight in all the world.
But more importantly, my partner is totally responsible. He doesn't just play with our baby and do the fun stuff. He doesn't just give him his bath and a story and think he's done his bit. He also does the nappy changes, the bottles and the night shift. I can leave our baby with my partner with complete trust that he will look after him as well, or better, as I would myself. Nothing is too much to ask, where our baby is concerned.
Seeing what an excellent father my partner is definitely makes me love him more. Our boy has brought out both his fun side and his responsible, stoical, protective side. My partner can play like a child, but he can work and protect and nurture like a man.
My boy is very lucky to have such a great dad.
And I am very lucky. It heals something within me, some wound my father left me, to know that my partner is such a great father to my boy. Like a link has been broken. Like a curse has been lifted.
Happy Father's Day, Dude.


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Hypothyroidism in dogs is a disorder where the thyroid gland in the neck doesn't secrete enough thyroxine, a hormone that controls metabolism. This means that a dog's body is no longer able to convert food into fuel at an appropriate rate. Age, breed, lifestyle, and exposure to certain substances can all influence the onset of read more
As hard as the staff at Shriners Hospital for Children works to make life easier for their charges, waiting to see a doctor can be nerve-wracking, treatments can be painful and recovering from surgery can be hard. But as soon as Harley rounds the corner, once glum and frightened faces beam. Tiny hands reach out read more
On Saturday, a big Labrador retriever named Thorr bounded up to the nurse's station in Sitka Community Hospital and nudged Ryan Huddlestun, twice. Down the hall, Thorr's owner, Eric Lamont Skousen, was having a seizure. The nudges were a call for help, one Skousen couldn't give himself. Huddlestun, a senior ward clerk at the hospital, read more
While it may seem like an obvious warning, the Fourth of July is not necessarily dog friendly. People who buy fireworks often start experimenting with them well before the actual holiday and sometimes long after the holiday is over. Whatever plans you have going on for the Fourth of July be sure to take into read more
It turns out, the best thing about your dog might not be their unconditional love. A new study suggests there's yet another benefit to owning a dog – you walk more. In a study recently published in BMC Public Health it was determined that dog owners, on average, walked 22 minutes more per day compared read more


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