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Started this discussion. Last reply by Elmer Querubin Jun 6, 2012. 2 Replies 0 Likes
Hello, everyone.I'm making a birthday cake for some very close friends. But it is part of my business, and they are aware of that. The cake is homemade from fresh ingredients. It's 2 9x13s with a…Continue
Tags: ingredients, costs, pricing, cake
Started this discussion. Last reply by Tamara L. Barney May 23, 2012. 11 Replies 0 Likes
I have been told I'm pretty good at decorating cakes and have taken some lessons recently on improving my skills. I enjoy it and am pursuing beginning a business from home selling decorated cakes.…Continue
Posted on August 11, 2012 at 1:08pm 0 Comments 1 Like
This is my latest creation in my business - Special Occasion Cakes. This iPhone cake was a triple flavor - chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla covered in black butter cream and fondant with fondant app pictures. So far I have been working out of my home under the Cottage Laws.…Continue
Posted on May 26, 2012 at 8:13pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
This cake was Classic White one 9 x 13 and one 9 in square. Again, I separated or torted each layer and spread a raspberry cream filling between each layer. I used buttercream frosting for decorating zebra stripes. I may have had an easier time making zebra stripes out of fondant, but the…Continue
Posted on May 26, 2012 at 8:08pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
Posted on May 13, 2012 at 3:39pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
Here's the latest cake I made. I baked a white cake recipe with orange flavoring in two 9" square pans. I used buttercream icing with orange flavoring to frost cake and pipe decorations. I tinted some of the frosting orange for between the…Continue
Welcome Vanessa!
I try to take time each week to welcome new members to 48Days.Net. So, let me say "welcome" to you! I know you will find this to be a great site filled with people who are experiencing true success in both life and work.
Also, I'd like to point out that one of the best places to connect with other liked-minded people here is in the GROUPS section. There are groups for just about every interest you can think of, and if you can't find a group that interests you, you can start one. Groups are my favorite part of 48Days.Net!
Finally, if you happen to be a speaker or author (or want to become either), check out these two groups. They are two of the most popular groups on the site because of all the great conversation taking place:
* Speak It Forward -- REAL Success and Profit for Speakers!
* Write It Forward -- REAL Success and Profit for Writers!
Again, enjoy 48Days.Net. It's a great place to be!
Live it forward,
Kent Julian www.liveitforward.com
Welcome Vanessa! And welcome to 48 days. It is an inspiring and encouraging place to be. I hope you will join in the active discussion. May I recommend some groups to you? I am a member of Write It Forward, Speak It Forward and a group that I recently started, A Called Woman. Hope to see you there...
Hi Vanessa,
Just stopping by to welcome you to the amazing 48days community!
Little background on me; I'm a long time member here, who truly believes in the 48 days vision and this community. I can truly testify that the power behind this community is a huge reason for my success and business.
So whenever I can, I like to reach out to see who I can help. If you have any questions, or you start feeling overwhelmed right off the bat, because there is just so much great content, discussions, and just lots of great stuff happening, feel free to reach out and let me know! I would love to help guide you here.
If you have questions, or get stuck with anything, you can always ask me, any of the 48 Days Advisors, and you can always just post a discussion on the home page forum.
Many blessings on your journey, and by all means… Enjoy the adventure!
~Rob Clinton
Hi Vanessa,
Thank you for adding me as your friend.
What have been some of your favorite finds here on the site? You are invited to join us in finding your voice and get in the conversation.
The next issue of our newsletter will be out in a few days. 4 Points Coaching is a weekly. May we begin sending it your way?
Hear our podcast with Dan Miller.
Hey, Vanessa. Welcome to the neighborhood. Thanks for jumping on board.
© 2017 Created by Jon Dale. Powered by


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We've watched Liv Tyler grow up from starring in Aerosmith videos as a rebellious teenager to starring in the Lord of the Rings as an elfin beauty. But our favorite role for her is just being herself — a beautiful and low-key mother and wife. Usually we see her staying out of the spotlight and just living her life in New York, but recently she has stepped back on the red carpet, looking more beautiful than ever. Always a woman with curves, she plays up her great figure and height (5'10") with elegant dresses that are both glamorous (Marchesa, right) and ladylike (Derek Lam, left). As she approaches 30 next year, Liv is looking better than ever!
To see more of Liv click here
Photo: Jackson Lee/Admedia; Robin Platzer/Twin Images


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The 47th annual IPLOCA Convention will be held September 23-27 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. The convention will focus on networking, providing platforms to bridge dialogue between members and bring key speakers and leading industry professionals together. Members and guests of IPLOCA will gather for techinal presentations, business meeting as well as social events and tours. Topics may include business perspective of onshore and offshore pipelines, training, new technologies, safety and the environment.
Consider staying with us at our Washington DC lodging, located a mere 15 minute walk from the meeting center. For directions, from our DC accommodations, please see the map below. We offer free WiFi, complimentary coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and cookies, and breakfast is included in the rate.
View Directions to the Omni Shoreham Hotel from the American Guest House in a larger map
American Guest House


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Don't miss out on a lower price on this hotel
Get an overview of this hotelEco-friendly Swindon hotel in Wroughton with free parking
Popular property highlights
Located in Wroughton, this eco-friendly hotel is within 6 mi (10 km) of Wilts & Berks Canal, Swindon Designer Outlet, and Coate Water Country Park. Museum of the Great Western Railway and Lydiard Park are also within 9 mi (15 km).
Hotel Features
Along with a restaurant, this hotel has an indoor pool and a health club. Free WiFi in public areas and free self parking are also provided. Additionally, a bar/lounge, a coffee shop/café, and an outdoor tennis court are onsite.
Room Amenities
All 152 rooms feature modern comforts like LCD TVs with satellite channels, along with free WiFi. 24-hour room service, coffee makers, and hair dryers are among the other amenities available to guests.
Guest Highlights
- Comfortable rooms
- Good location
- Breakfast
- Helpful staff
- Clean guestrooms
- Guestroom size
- WiFi could've been better
Alexandra House
Renovations & Closures
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
In addition to an indoor pool, Alexandra House provides an outdoor tennis court, a health club, and a sauna. Dining options at the hotel include a restaurant and a coffee shop/café. A bar/lounge is on site where guests can unwind with a drink. Wired and wireless Internet access is complimentary.
Business-related amenities at this 4-star property consist of a 24-hour business center and meeting rooms. 25 meeting rooms are available. This Art Deco hotel also offers spa services, barbecue grills, and an arcade/game room. Onsite self parking is complimentary.
- Number of meeting rooms - 25
- 24-hour business center
- Meeting rooms 17
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Conference space
- 24-hour front desk
- Arcade/game room
- Tennis on site
- Bar/lounge
- Coffee/tea in common areas
- Coffee shop or café
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Elevator/lift
- Health club
- Free wired Internet
- Luggage storage
- Restaurant
- Total number of rooms - 152
- Laundry facilities
- Number of floors - 2
- Outdoor tennis court
- Free self parking
- Spa services on site
- Barbecue grill(s)
- Breakfast available (surcharge)
- Wedding services
- Free newspapers in lobby
- Free WiFi
- Year Built 2005
- Sauna
- Garden
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
- Steam room
- Indoor pool
- Television in common areas
Family Friendly Amenities
- Family Hotel
- Indoor pool
- Free Wi-Fi
- Outdoor tennis court
- Laundry facilities
- Arcade/game room
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi , Free wired Internet
Free self parking
Room Amenities
- Cribs/infant beds (surcharge)
- Room service (24 hours)
- Air conditioning
- Phone
- Coffee/tea maker
- Daily housekeeping
- Private bathroom
- Free toiletries
- Hair dryer
- Shower/tub combination
- Satellite TV service
- Desk
- Iron/ironing board
- In-room climate control (air conditioning)
- Rollaway/extra beds (surcharge)
- Free WiFi
- In-room safe (laptop compatible)
Where to Eat
English breakfasts are available for a surcharge and are served each morning between 7 AM and 9:30 AM.
Restaurant Tempus - This restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A children's menu is available. Open daily.
Alexandra House Bar - This bar serves light fare only.
24-hour room service is available.
Nearby Things to Do
An outdoor tennis court and a health club are featured at the hotel. In addition to an indoor pool, other recreational amenities include a sauna.
Children under 17 years old are not allowed in the swimming pool without adult supervision.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or nearby; fees may apply.
- Golfing nearby
- Sailing nearby
- Windsurfing nearby
- Mountain biking nearby
- Golf lessons available nearby
- Fitness classes on site
- Pilates classes on site
- Yoga classes/instruction on site
If you have requests for specific accessibility needs, please note them at check-out when you book your room.
- Accessible bathroom
- In-room accessibility
- Roll-in shower
Hotel Policies
Check-in time ends at midnight
Check-in time starts at 2 PM
Check-out time is 11 AM
Payment types
Children and extra beds
- Children are welcome.
- Rollaway/extra beds are available for GBP 50 per night.
- Cribs (infant beds) are available for GBP 10 per night.
- Pets not allowed
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy.
- Cleaning deposit: GBP 50.00 per stay
- Resort fee
Optional extras
- Fee for English breakfast: GBP 14.95 per person (approximately)
- Crib (infant bed) fee: GBP 10 per night
- Rollaway bed fee: GBP 50 per night
Hotel Name
- Alexandra House Hotel
- Alexandra House Hotel Swindon
- Alexandra House Swindon
- Vere Alexandra House Hotel Swindon
- Vere Alexandra House Hotel
- Vere Alexandra House Swindon
- Vere Alexandra House
- De Vere Alexandra House
We should mention
A resort fee is included in the total price displayed. Some facilities may have restricted access. Guests can contact the property for details using the contact information on the booking confirmation.


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With cars such as the X5 M, BMW demonstrated it could use technology to make an SUV handle like a sport car. The 2012 BMW X5 xDrive35i does not reach quite the same level, but shows that technology does not rule out responsive driving feel. The X5 is not a luxury SUV for lazy drivers; it never let me forget that I had my hands on the wheel.
Some luxury SUVs aim for effortless driving, and some people appreciate that character. But the X5's steering wheel keeps a connectedness to the road that many cars have lost. Although BMW employs some electronic components in its power steering, it still holds on to hydraulic power as the main boost. Many automakers have gone to pure electronic power-steering systems, but none have been able to crack the code of maintaining true road feel with these systems.
Not that BMW's steering technology is behind the times. The X5 can be had with BMW's Active Steering option, which varies the turning ratio, or lock-to-lock turn of the wheel, based on the speed of the car. When going slower, this system means less force is required on the steering wheel to effect more angle on the front wheels. At higher speeds, the car offers more latitude with the steering wheel.
Likewise, the suspension gives the X5 excellent contact with the road, while at the same time offering a comfortable ride. The X5 corners exceedingly well, considering its ponderous 4,563-pound curb weight. Little tricks like having a wider track at the rear wheels help in this regard, as do the ridiculously wide tires that come as part of the M package, 275 millimeters on the fronts and 315 millimeters on the rears. BMW also offers an active-suspension option to keep the car really flat when tackling tight corners.
The xDrive part of the X5's model name means it comes with BMW's all-wheel-drive system, which also contributes to the vehicle's cornering prowess. Instead of torque vectoring, BMW uses the term Automatic Differential Brake, a technology that slows a wheel that is slipping, running its torque to the wheel at the other end of the axle.
If none of these technologies and attributes sound appropriate for a rock-crawling four-wheel-drive truck, it is because the X5 feels designed much more for paved roads. It boasts 8 inches of ground clearance, which is not bad, and BMW even insists it can ford water to a depth of 1 foot 7 inches. But with the wide, low-profile tires and the body cladding, it doesn't look like a vehicle for the outback, at least not without significant aftermarket mods. It features automatic descent control to help it down steep, snow-covered roads.
The engine in the xDrive35i version of the X5 is one of my favorites from BMW, a high-tech masterpiece with 3 liters of displacement from six inline cylinders. Direct injection delivers the fuel and a twin-scroll turbocharger pushes in the air, getting output up to 306 horsepower and about 300 pound-feet of torque.
Given the X5's weight, this engine gives its all. It hits 60 mph in a reasonable 6.8 seconds. The acceleration comes on steadily, without drama or turbo lag, put to the wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission. The engine offers enough power for just about any traffic situation, but there is not a lot of overhead.
Even with its just-adequate power, the X5 xDrive35i does not achieve particularly good fuel economy. The eight-speed transmission helps it up to 23 mpg on the highway, but its city number is only 16 mpg. During CNET's time with the car, its average came in at under 20 mpg. BMW should probably put its efforts into lightening the X5 to boost the fuel economy number further.
Any major updates to the X5, such as a lighter body, will have to wait until 2013, when the next generation of BMW's largest SUV should come out. Although the current generation has been around since 2007, BMW's interstitial refreshes included updating the cabin tech to the latest and greatest.
The middle of the dashboard holds BMW's wide-screen LCD, with two-thirds set aside for main cabin-tech functions and the other third acting as a supplementary screen, showing information such as trip data or the currently playing music. The iDrive dial, on the console, and voice command control all of the onscreen functions. The interface takes a little getting used to, and functions such as browsing need improvement.


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This ice cream bombe is filled with a refreshing, slightly sweet lemon-verbena ice cream and served with a hot, rich fudge sauce. Use a good store-bought chocolate ice cream for the shell, but for piquant flavor make the ice cream for the center at home, using either fresh or dried herbs. To create the bombe's perfect shape, we used a large white bowl as a mold, from Loaves & Fishes Cookshop. Leaves of lemon verbena on top contrast prettily with the ice cream.
- Featured In: Chocolate Dessert Ideas


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Please note that the Oxford Centre for Practical Ethics reserves copyright in all material appearing in its pages accessible through the World Wide Web, unless an explicit statement to the contrary appears in the page in which the material appears (or in the index page of any section in which the material appears).
Permission is given only to copy material appearing in these pages for the purposes of reading them, executing them, or otherwise processing that is directly necessary in order to fulfil the apparent intent of the Oxford Centre for Practical Ethics in placing them on the Web. Copies may be held on other systems only for personal reference purposes or for expediting access to them (eg storing in caches).
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The general Oxford University Copyright Statement can be found at http://www.ox.ac.uk/copyright/


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Well, we told you Shailene Woodley would anger Twihards with her comments about the franchise and we weren't wrong!
Emma Clark, the infamous Twilight fan Robert Pattinson once said he was "desperate to meet", is responding to Shailene's assertions that the love story in Twilight is "toxic" and "unhealthy".
As Popdust previously reported, like Jennifer Lawrence and Kristen Stewart before her, Woodley is playing the lead role in a series of films adapted from young adult novels (Divergent).
While Shailene asked Jennifer's advice before taking on the role, we're guessing there were no friendly chats with Kristen, based on the following comments:
"Twilight, I'm sorry, is about a very unhealthy, toxic relationship," Shailene says. "She falls in love with this guy and the second he leaves her, her life is over and she's going to kill herself! What message are we sending to young people? That is not going to help this world evolve."
Clark—who goes by the Twitter name "nuttymadam" —says she loves Divergent and plans on meeting the cast in London—but, sure enough, the British superfan lays into Shailene, accusing her of being a hypocrite and not understanding 'fandom'.
She also says a bunch of other stuff using language we couldn't possibly repeat.


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District Safety Programs
The Broward Sheriff's Office, Lauderdale-By-The-Sea District, offers the following special services to our residents:
The C.A.T. (Combat Auto Theft) - is a remarkably effective way for citizens and law enforcement to work together to keep vehicle theft in check. When you register a vehicle with the C.A.T. program, a highly visible sticker is placed on the rear window of the vehicle. The sticker lets law enforcement know that your car or truck should not be on the road between 1:00 am and 5:00 am. It's a great way to help cut down on nighttime auto theft. For more information, contact the district office at (954) 640-4240.
Sheriff Israel's e-Alerts - We encourage you to stay informed by registering with Sheriff Israel's e-Alerts. You will receive email or test messages from us about criminal activity, BSO events and traffic concerns that affect your neighborhood. Visit the Sheriff Israel's e-Alerts page to register.
VACATION HOME CHECK - BSO offers residents in its jurisdictions a free Vacation Home Check program. Deputies will drive by unoccupied residences and perform a daily perimeter check for signs of break-in or suspicious activity.
To participate, call or stop by your district office and request a vacation home check form. You must provide the dates and times your home will be unoccupied with a contact phone number of a trusted neighbor or local relative. If you live outside a BSO jurisdiction, notify your local police department that you are leaving town and provide them with the dates you will be away and an emergency phone number.
RAD KIDS PROGRAM - RADKids (Resisting Aggression Defensively) BSO Deputies teach your children how to replace the fear, confusion and panic of a dangerous situation with confidence and personal safety skills. For further information, contact The Crime Prevention Unit at (954) 435-2000 extension 249.
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The Nomenclature of Exclusivity
The automotive fascination with platinum is rather interesting.
Gary S. Vasilash
Editor-in-Chief, Gardner Business Media, Inc.
Editor-in-Chief, Gardner Business Media, Inc.
The automotive fascination with platinum is rather interesting. No, not the use of the metal in catalytic converters, but as the trim level of a vehicle that's at the upper strata.
Which is somewhat interesting given that the name of the element comes from the Spanish word platina, which means "little silver." Silver, incidentally, is number 47 on the Periodic Table. Platinum is further along at 78, with iridium (no, not the satellite communications company) on one side and gold on the other.
Earlier this week, Cadillac announced that in the fourth quarter it will be rolling out with the 2015 Escalade Platinum, which includes things like Nappa semi-aniline leather for the first and second row seats, a cooled center console to keep beverages chilled, and a unique grille mesh design.
Earlier this week on this site, you may have noticed the review of the Platinum trim of the Toyota Tundra pickup.
And back in June, Ford announced that there is a Platinum trim level for the 2015 Expedition (again, one of the key aspects is a high-end leather; leather is not an element, by the way). Ford has been offering a Platinum F-150.
While there are a couple problems with it—like it is radioactive and it is not easy to spell—if some automotive marketer was really clever, they'd come out with an "Ununoctium" trim level.
Presumably the whole Platinum thing is about exclusivity. According to the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, since 2006, "only a few atoms of ununoctium have ever been produced."
That is a whole lot more exclusive and rare than a special set of 22-inch wheels.


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Plans to build 150 houses on land off Prince Charles Drive in Calne have led to concerns about increased traffic, a loss of green space and local infrastructure.
A public exhibition of plans for the land, owned by Robert Hitchins, was held at an exhibition at Priestley School on Tuesday.
The site lies at the edge of a large housing estate, which includes homes owned by GreenSquare and private housing, and there is only one access point off Oxford Road.
Tony Trotman, town councillor for the Calne Chilvester and Abberd Ward, said the best solution would be an eastern bypass linking the estate with Sandpit Road.
He said: "Other applications that are in at the moment have access to Sandpit Lane and don't affect the movement of traffic as much as this will.
"We've had two accidents over the last few years at the Honeymead junction with children running into that road. If this application goes forward there will be substantial money required for highways improvements."
The exhibition, held by the Pegasus Group on behalf of Robert Hitchins Limited, gave no information on the size of the site to be built on or the type of houses.
A Pegasus Group spokesman said any future development would take into account feedback from the public exhibition and would include an element of affordable housing.
Former Calne mayor Roy Golding lives on Abberd Way and said he was worried about increased traffic on Prince Charles Drive after several accidents, adding emergency vehicles already had difficulty gaining access.
Carol Porteous, of Heron Close, said: "We don't want it, it's as simple as that. There's only this school at the end of town. You're waiting three to four weeks to get a doctor's appointment now."
A spokesman for the developers said: "The public consultation was very helpful and has identified issues which are important to the local community."
To give any comments on the application, email email@example.com


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Growing pains: Mount Si girls find lessons, tout team-work in narrow Mercer loss, Totems win | Slideshow
Finding ways to come together and stay on top has been the Mount Si girls basketball team's quest this past week.
The team took the lead but then struggled in the Wednsday, Jan. 23, home match with Mercer Island. But they put it all together on Friday, hosting Sammamish.
The Wildcats fell 55-46 on Wednesday. Mount Si led 32-25 at halftime, thanks to strong play by Madi Bevens in the first quarter—and the rest of the game—and a Grace Currie three-pointer. But Mercer Island steadily chiseled into that lead, and closed things out on the 'Cats in the fourth quarter.
"We have to be positive about some things," said Currie, a senior guard, following the game. "Our first half, we came out strong and we were leading. That was a really big deal.
"We just need to learn to pick it up in the second half, make sure we continue that lead and get a win."
"We started strong and we were working as a team," said sophomore guard Elizabeth Prewitt, who had a bit of an off night for shooting. "We were moving the ball, we were boxing out, getting offensive boards, pushing the ball. In the second, we dipped down and forgot our fundamentals."
"Mercer is strong," said Coach Megan Botulinski. "If we just let up a hair, they snuck right in."
Currie praised the sophomore Bevens for doing a great job rebounding and putting back up shots, and singled out both Katy Lindor and Katie Swain for their effort seeking those shots.
Swain played tough and aggressive: "She was a big difference in the game tonight," said junior Molly Sellers.
"Swain always works hard," added Lindor. "She's blocking and rebounding. It goes unnoticed. But I have a big shout-out for her."
Mount Si's leading scorer on the night, Lindor is cutting well, and her teammates are getting her the ball.
Lindor, a Mount Si captain and communicator, is the leader. She's worked hard on both sides of the court, and it's her voice that helps lead the charge on the floor. Leading scorer honors typically flit between Lindor and Prewitt.
Lindor echoed the need to stick through to the final buzzer. "Once they adjust, we need to figure that out, and keep fighting through the second."
After dealing with injury, four-year varsity player Sellers played her first full game back in a month, and had several shooting opportunities. She was glad to be in it.
"I want to see us be successful, play like we did tonight, just try to make the playoff game," she says.
On Friday, Jan. 26, Mount Si held on to claim a win over the Sammamish Totems at home, their second on that team, 59-53. Lindor had 16 points, and Currie had 11, sniping for three three-pointers.
"When we work together, we push the ball ahead, we incorporate everybody in the offense. We're able to put the ball in the hoop," says Prewitt.
With just a few games left in regular season play, she wants to see this team end the season "by taking steps forward, working toward finishing strong, finishing as a team."
Botulinski is proud of the effort and athleticism her girls have shown.
Younger players Camryn Buck and Bevens have had huge roles. Buck is a defensive specialist, very quick, and Botulinski has been able to substitute her in on fast opponents. She came off a successful varsity soccer season and is used to the intensity of this level.
Bevens, Mount Si's sophomore guard and post, is an up-and-coming force on this team. She is a transfer from Union High School near Vancouver, Wash., working wing and post. Even though she's smaller, she has great post moves. Bevens was singled out during the team's tournament trip to San Diego, Calif., where she was named player of the tournament at the Surf N' Slam Holiday Classic in San Diego, and a player of one of the games, as well.
"I was just giving it my all. I guess they saw that," she said.
Against the physical teams, "scrappiness pumps me up," the sophomore says. Rebounding from a cold, like many on the team, she has a lot of fight in her.
"I give it my 100 percent, no matter what," she says. "Age isn't anything. I have two more years with this team, and I look to give it 200 percent, each game and practice, like I've been doing."
Right now, "We've all got to come together, all at the same time," Bevens says. "It shows when we do."
"If you want to make it into the league tournament… it's go time," Botulinski said. "Be consistent, play with our heart.
"It's all heart, all team," the coach says.
Mount Si is at Interlake at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 29.
The team hosts Juanita at 5:45 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 31.
Mount Si is now 6-12 overall, 3-9 on league.


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The Fence
It takes immeasurable courage and compassion, strength and caring, to choose to have a child—and equal amounts of the same to choose not to have a child. The choice of either could be, for any particular woman, sacred.
This post is by Wendy Ortiz, and is part of Tsk Tsk: Stigma, Shame, and Sexuality, a series hosted by Gender Across Borders and cross-posted with Rewire in partnership with Ipas.
Another afternoon had fallen over the clinic, the morning bustle turned sleepy lull. In the waiting area, the patients seemed more sedate than I'd come to expect on such days.
Perfumes mingled in the air and dissipated with every opening of the door as patients or their companions entered or left, ignoring as best they could the protesters in the parking lot.
I was invited to leave the front desk and enter the small hallway where a doctor and certified nursing assistant stood, focused on a tray situated on a countertop in front of them.
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I was told to put on a blue paper smock, paper mitts, and a mask. My fingers felt unsure touching the crinkly paper.
"This one's about nine weeks." The doctor studied and turned over the little bits of blood and matter in the tray with an instrument. Our very pregnant CNA took notes.
I observed the fetus as it was surveyed and reported—all the parts of a fetus needing accounting, because fetal matter left in the woman's uterus can cause complications. The doctor's voice brought me back as she suggested that I'd be a good candidate to help with noting fetal measurements on future abortion days.
I was the receptionist at the only feminist women's health care facility that offered abortion in my adopted county in the Pacific Northwest. To me, this was a pro-choice activist's dream job. The fact that the job offer came just five days after I myself had traveled a couple of counties away for an abortion just made the job seem ever more appropriate, possibly fated.
I embarked on my activist dream job in earnest. Now I was looking at the remains of a fetus in a tray with a sense of awe I couldn't yet place.
There are photos of me holding a megaphone, standing in the gazebo of our downtown park. After the march from the Capitol building to the rally itself, the last thing I wanted to do was travel to the west side of town for what would be my first pregnancy test ever. Later that afternoon, I left behind a urine sample at the HMO clinic and was told I could call for the results after four.
At four sharp, I sat on the couch and punched the numbers on the phone.
A perky female voice answered. After telling her the reason for my call, she asked, Which way do you want it to be?
I started to say something, sighed, said nothing.
The test came out positive, she replied after an awkward moment. My breath caught in my throat. Another moment of silence eclipsed everything until she said, It sounds like that's not the news you wanted. Here's who to contact.
I was twenty-four, just a few months shy of twenty-five. A few weeks prior, newspapers around the country, including ours, noted the 25th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. I hung up the phone. I had crashed into my fertility.
I'd always felt like I was on one side of a fence; my friends who had abortions stood on the other side. I was holding their hands through this fence, but we were indeed separated. I was perfectly content to stay on my side of the fence for as long as possible, if not forever.
Back then, I often collected statistics and rational, practical analyses of most issues in order to compose arguments that would stand up in discussions and even in the most personal dilemmas. My notebooks were filled with talking points to make my case or compose a talk about the latest issue I was involved in. In the case of women's reproductive rights, I was well-versed in what I believed were the most important facts.
Women average about thirty years of potential fertility. One article I read in a progressive magazine told me that forty-six out of 100 women (presumably American, presumably with insurance coverage…so many things to presume) would have at least one abortion in their lives. One (or two, and even three) unintended pregnancies in thirty years seemed pretty low in that context.
I was buffered by facts, padded with statistics. Pregnant, I wanted to hear about actual experiences, not talking points, not rhetoric.
I opened my black address book. My hand scrawled red curlicues and circles on the edge of each page as I called every friend I knew who had had an abortion. I had to abandon my fact sheets and statistical notes, and surrender to the fact that I was now going to join the women on the other side of the fence.
I worked next to a pregnant woman four days a week at the clinic. She'd had more than one abortion herself and now assisted women during their own procedures. People constantly asked her, Isn't it weird working here while you're pregnant? Don't you find it hard?
Their questions reminded me of the phone conversation I had with a customer service representative of my HMO when I called to inquire about coverage. It went like this:
Does my coverage include abortion?
Ahhh. Voluntary termination of pregnancy.
Oh. Yeah.
Let me see. His tone was friendly. He paused. In that pause, I could hear the click of the computer keyboard under his fingertips. I could practically hear him searching for something to say.
Abortion…such an ugly word, he finally said. And then, Yes, voluntary termination of pregnancy is covered. I breathed a sigh of relief and thanked him. The part-time state job I was leaving to work full-time at the clinic offered me the kind of insurance I needed for facing this unwanted pregnancy.
There was no dialogue to be had in this instance. I had to accept his comment and move forward.
It also wasn't until long after I hung up the phone that I realized there was a language to consider and learn. It was the protective, sterile coating that voluntary termination of pregnancy provided, instead of the word people often found shameful, ugly, or rife with political meaning. It was the doctor's office and insurance carrier's vocabulary substituted for the more common designation, and I would sometimes find it useful later when explaining the procedure to countless patients.
When people asked my co-worker if she found it difficult, or unsavory, to be working at the clinic while pregnant, she told them, No. It's not weird, or hard. In fact, she told me in private, she was easily irritated by women who couldn't utter the words 'abortion' or 'termination.' Eventually I felt exactly the same way.
In January of that year, 1998, protestors and demonstrators turned out in many cities across the country for the 25th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Norma McCorvey, otherwise known as "Jane Roe," was no longer a representative of abortion rights. She, had, in fact, been baptized three years before in a swimming pool as part of her conversion to Christianity, and ended up working for Operation Rescue.
Days after the anniversary, a clinic bombing maimed Emily Lyons, a nurse at a clinic in Birmingham, Alabama. Later that same year, Dr. Barnett Slepian, an obstetrician who provided abortion services, would be murdered in his home, the soup he had been warming going untouched once the bullets hit the window glass. More similar stories, too many, would follow, right up to the present time.
On that day in which I witnessed the aborted fetus in a tray, after finally removing the smock and the mask, I returned to the clinic desk. The last patient left the clinic, and soon after, I was set free to ride my bicycle home.
I thought about what I had seen in the tray that afternoon as I pedaled, knowing I'd want to talk about it with my boyfriend, but not yet knowing the words or the emotions I might express. By day's end, I had seen one more fetus, estimated at fourteen weeks, a rare occurrence at our clinic. The image felt burned into my brain.
As I locked my bike to the post outside my front door, I remembered the Operation Rescue posters I'd seen when passing by a protest, or when I'd come face to face with demonstrators. It was obvious they were looking for a particular response, and what more provocative way to accomplish this than to have posters of two-inch aborted fetuses enlarged to the size of the six-foot-tall anti-choice protestor holding the sign?
And still, the size of the fetus, or the poster, didn't matter.
In the days after, I realized that my beliefs were not fundamentally changed. In fact I believed, more so than ever, that it takes immeasurable courage and compassion, strength and caring, to choose to have a child—and equal amounts of the same to choose not to have a child. The choice of either could be, for any particular woman, sacred.
Wendy C. Ortiz is a writer and a Marriage and Family Therapist Intern at a community counseling center. Wendy holds an M.A. in Clinical Psychology and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles. She has been a creative writing teacher of both youth in juvenile detention facilities and college students, a journalist, library worker, and editor and publisher of a handbound literary journal. She received a B.A. from The Evergreen State College in 1995 and lived in Olympia, Washington for eight years before returning to her hometown of Los Angeles, where she lives now with her partner and daughter.


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and thats the nail in the coffin - goodbye winning streak
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and thats the nail in the coffin - goodbye winning streak
lol we get it to 11 tinsley takes some crazy looking 3 then JO forces a few and it's over...Did kareem rush get cut?
I renounce my fanhood.
Nothing went right this half. A sad day for fans watching Pacers streaming video everywhere.
stayin' up till 3:15am to catch this game...and this is the effort they give me? >_<
Typical opposing point guard torching the Pacers. Nothing new to see here.
Cassel 1 - Pacers 0
No Linking to your own site if it sells something.
Good. Go away.
well the Hawks are still on top of the Suns
I'm definitely no longer a Tinsley fan.
s*** the Celts are just whooping some *** right now!
I can handle a loss but a blowout? To the Paperclips? argh
No Linking to your own site if it sells something.
Wow they gave Sam that call? The run into a guy with his arms in the air and fall down call? ****
The bench just wasn't used well tonight. Too much Murph I thought. Not enough Rush, Shawne, Quis etc... We have the depth, and when things weren't going well for some players, we didn't use it
well lets see how they bounce back from this...or is it going to be like this for the rest of the season?
its not about being high on wins and low on the losses - its just the way we're losing right now...we just did NOT come out to play....
Anyone else praying Troy Murphy goes down with an injury?
I think we got away from the things that allow us to win games. Once we started getting killed by E.T. we just stopped playing our type of game.
when your starting PG has more turnovers than assists...you are in for a looong night
Well, this is just what happens occasionally when you play an up-tempo offense but minimal defense. When you have an off-shooting night, it makes for losses like this.
Kaman has 23 boards.
its not Murphy that made DG and DunDun to shoot 12-31 combined


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I think they'll go with the troubled hero routine. Adora will find out who she is and she'll probably receive the power of Grayskull by the end of the series but this time she isn't under any spell. Every choice she made was one she made contiously and she'll probably head off and take her time putting things in perspective. We'll probably see her again on occasions where she is really needed or if they accidentaly bump into her, sort of like Zodak or Mossman in the 200x show. I can't see her becoming the She-Ra we saw in the 80's. This version might have some rough edges. I don't think she'll get a spinoff though.
And this is also how I would like to see She-Ra handled.


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Topic: Thoughts on chemo....
I wonder...how many chemo treatments have you or your loved one had? I will get #6 Monday.
People often ask how many treatments I'm going to need, and it sucks not having an answer. Like I know someone with breast cancer. She needs 6 treatments, then gets surgery. I wish it was that easy for us (not saying breast cancer is easy).
Speaking of that...why do so many people think I have breast cancer?
Wife to Brian; Mommy to Carter (11) and Madison (8)
Liver transplant 7-9-2013


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ATLANTA to CHICAGO and vice versa for $69 R/T nonstop via UNITED
Amazing deal: Atlanta to Chicago and vice versa flight roundtrip as low as $69.
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Information is valid at time of publication. Due to a high amount of posts – it is hard to track down all expired offers, so sometimes you may not find the price mentioned in the post. It means that the deal was sold out or supplier (airlines/agency) has changed the conditions or removed the offer. To avoid these frustrating situations, you can subscribe to our newsletter, Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler.


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New York mayor Bill de Blasio's first scandal: pizza with a knife and fork
New York: The pizza arrived, steaming and delectable, a smoked-mozzarella-and-sausage pie presented to mayor Bill de Blasio like a gilded offering to a visiting caliph.
The New York mayor, on a pilgrimage on Friday to Goodfellas, the venerable Staten Island pizzeria, smiled, nodded at his slice and then proceeded to do the unthinkable: eat it with a knife and fork.
Cue the foodie firestorm.
''Disaster,'' declared a writer at New York magazine, citing the longstanding city protocol of devouring pizza, no matter how greasy, with the hands, and the hands only.
One website called it Mr de Blasio's first mistake as mayor. The fake-scandal hashtag #forkgate immediately appeared on Twitter. There were comparisons to Donald J. Trump, who once earned opprobrium for a utensil-laden trip to Sbarro.
Even the overseers of Goodfellas, while happy to have de Blasio in their midst, sounded a sceptical note.
''Hmm,'' said a co-owner, Scot Costentino, when asked about the fork use. ''I think he's just trying to be polite.''
Jerking his head towards the back of the restaurant, Mr Costentino said: ''We'll talk to him on the side about that.''
Confronted by reporters about his conspicuous use of utensils, Mr de Blasio argued that he was simply being authentic to his Italian roots.
''In my ancestral homeland, it's more typical to eat with a fork and knife,'' said Mr de Blasio, whose mother was Italian. ''I've been to Italy a lot.''
Mr De Blasio is not the first New York mayor to have a peculiar style of eating pizza.
When Michael Bloomberg was served a slice, he would often reach for the nearest salt shaker and pour a copious amount onto his dish. (He was said to prefer a level of saltiness that burns lips.)
And then there was the small matter of Mr Bloomberg's method of drinking beer: He liked it poured over ice.
Still, despite his billions, the wealthy Mr Bloomberg had a penchant for comfort food, and he munched on street-cart hot dogs utensil-free.
Charles Greinsky, a long-time friend of Mr de Blasio's who was also eating at Goodfellas on Friday, said he was thrilled to see the mayor visiting his home borough.
But his face darkened when the topic of the fork came up.
''No,'' he said. ''No. It's blasphemy.''
Pressed on why a mayor who prides himself on populism would opt for a such a technique, Mr Greinsky shrugged.
''He's from Boston,'' Mr Greinsky said of the mayor. ''He doesn't know any better.''
New York Times
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Film Club Screening: Princess Mononoke
This month the cinema club will discuss and view one of Hayao Miyazaki's most beautiful and influential films - Princess Mononoke. Princess Mononoke is a period drama set specifically in the late Muromachi period of Japan but with numerous fantastical elements. The story concentrates on involvement of the outsider Ashitaka in the struggle between the supernatural guardians of a forest and the humans of the Iron Town who consume its resources. There can be no clear victory, and the hope is that the relationship between humans and nature can be cyclical. [Wikipedia] The cinema club meets monthly to discuss and promote the work of film artists who have inspired them.
The Daily Yomiuri's Aaron Gerow called the film a "powerful compilation of Hayao Miyazaki's world, a cumulative statement of his moral and filmic concerns."


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Keeping it in the Family in Rio Vista
October 01, 2011 by Jacoba Charles
For more than a century, Jeanne McCormack's family has grown grain and raised livestock on a few thousand acres near Rio Vista. But she and her husband Al Medvitz didn't take a straight line to ranching. Instead, they detoured through Africa and Asia. Now, they're in it for the long haul.


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And, of course, the fine print:
Get free shipping on your next order when you spend over $100. The discount will be automatically applied to your purchase; no promo code required. The subtotal of your purchase must be $100.01 or greater after any promotional discounts have been applied. Additional fees such as tax or shipping and handling do not apply toward your minimum subtotal requirement of $100.01. Offer applies to standard shipping only. Certain items that require additional shipping and handling are excluded from this promotion and do not apply towards your $100.01 subtotal minimum. Offer subject to change.
Avoid after-work clutter by tossing your coat, scarf and hat on this handy reclaimed coat rack as soon as you step through the door. Made of industrial black steel pipe and weathered reclaimed pine, the coat rack is an ideal size for entryways, hallways or bedrooms.
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text: Ruffle-sleeve top Item F8171 Color: NAVY Size: All sizes are US sizes. XX-SMALL X-SMALL SMALL MEDIUM X-LARGE Size Charts Quantity: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Prices do not include taxes. Add to Bag Wishlist Add to Bag Add To Wishlist share: size & fit Slightly loose fit. Body length: 22 3/4". Product Details This refined shirt with subtle ruffled sleeves features a specially designed knit fabric that's bonded to a woven interior, so its silhouette stays structured. Cotton. Hand wash. Import. Item F8171.


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I made it my mission during week 2 to find the perfect sneakers for my feet. So…here are my feet all over the Internet. I emailed my friends at CGI Racing and said, "please help me find good sneakers!" First things first I had to learn what kind of feet I have so they directed me to Road Runner Sports, who have a great way to find the perfect sneaker called Shoe Dog (the dog fetches the perfect sneakers for you). As it turn out…I have flat feet with an inward ankle lean and of course had bunion surgery (which was an actual question)…next thing I know 6 different shoes were fetched for me! I ordered two of the choices and settled in on Brooks Addiction 10. So, I don't know if it was the sneakers or completing two weeks of training but I completed a personal milestone this week and ran 4 miles without stopping or walking. My lower body has been aching all week from my belly button down but I have never felt more accomplished and 5 miles is in my future next week (a personal goal for me).
I didn't get many songs…send me some for my training please!
Some people seem interested in getting together and training. 7:00 AM under the Morey's Piers archway on Mariner's Landing Pier at Schellenger Avenue on Saturdays. Email me if your coming email@example.com
Good Luck in your training,


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10:00am Thursday 31st October 2013
Exclusive By Keiligh Baker
10:00am Thursday 31st October 2013
Exclusive By Keiligh Baker
A TEACHER groomed an underage pupil for a "sordid" lesbian relationship and sexually abused her over several years.
Rachel Speed, 41, met the girl while she was teaching science at Fairwater High School and the pair bonded over personal problems.
Jurors in Cardiff Crown Court heard Speed kissed the girl for the first time in the school's store cupboard.
The victim said Speed got her to dress up in outfits, including PVC hotpants and a corset and a police officer's uniform.
The victim said Speed also had sex with her using a Mars bar.
Speed, of Griffin Drive, Hengoed, was yesterday found guilty of two counts of indecent assault and two counts of engaging in sexual activity while in a position of trust.
Speed always denied the charges.
Speed, who has worked at the school for almost 15 years, signed a contract with the girl's mother agreeing not to have a sexual relationship with her daughter, but it carried on anyway.
The girl would stay at Speed's house from a young age and the secret relationship carried on until she was in university and the victim said Speed gave her an engagement ring and a car as the relationship developed.
Speed would pick the girl up from a bus stop near her house after school so no-one would find out and drive her to the teacher's home in Abersychan.
The girl would stay over at the teacher's house several times a week and said the two shared a bed, showered together and performed sex acts on each other.
The girl's mother became suspicious after opening a letter which arrived in the post for her daughter and discovered it was from Speed.
Although it did not have any sexual content, she felt it was inappropriate and contacted the school.
She said the headmaster was "horrified" and assured her he would talk to Speed about it.
Former deputy head of Fairwater, Lynne Fear, warned Speed not to be alone with the girl, but the relationship continued.
Following a conversation with her daughter's friend, her mother discovered she had been lying about where she was staying and confronted her, at which point she admitted staying at the teacher's house.
The woman and her husband went to Speed's house to collect her daughter's belongings, including nightclothes and a teddy bear.
When the girl's mother first met Speed, she told her: "You're not going to like it but I love your daughter."
Her mother said: "I felt sick and angry. My daughter was a child. What I found difficult was she had already been warned about being inappropriate by the school. How could she then have the same child sleep over her house?"
When they told their daughter they were going to go to the authorities about the relationship, the victim became 'hysterical' and told them she would kill herself if they did.
Her mother said: "My daughter was suffering with borderline depression at that time and I could not take the risk of her hurting herself."
They relented but privately decided to write up the contract, which said in exchange for not going to the school or police, Speed had to agree to end their relationship until she was 21or finished full-time education.
Speed told the court she signed the contract because although she didn't think she was doing anything wrong, she felt 'intimidated' by the girl's parents.
Despite this, the relationship continued and the victim's mother spotted Speed giving her daughter a lift home from school not long afterwards.
The victim said the pair secretly carried on with their relationship for several years while she was at university.
Prosecutor Christopher Rees said: "You did not want them to know because they would know your sordid little secret. You were clearly obsessed with her, even when she went to university."
Speed said the girl only came to her house 'around 30 times' from the age of 14 or 15.
She also claimed the girl only stayed at her house once when she was a Sixth Form student, and she stayed in the spare bedroom after Speed picked her up from a party because the girl was 'inconsolable'.
Speed said they were girlfriends for around two-and-a-half years, while the victim was at university and maintained the kiss in the store cupboard never happened, and the pair did not start a sexual relationship until the girl was at university. Speed also denied having sex using the Mars bar.
She told police she let her victim visit her house because the girl was unhappy and having problems at home.
She said: "She blames me for everything that has happened to her in her life. She said I ruined her life."
Mr Rees said: "Yes, because you abused her trust while she was 14."
The victim told the court she dumped the teacher by text message when she was 20 after she met someone else. She reported it several years later when she realised the relationship was 'wrong', and was said she was worried other people could be at risk.
Judge David Wynn Morgan told Speed: "Be under no illusions, the only issue is the length of the sentence, rather than its nature."
Speed will be sentenced on November 22.
During the trial, jurors heard a number of glowing references from past and present colleagues.
A statement from Fairwater High's headteacher Helen Coulson said: "Rachel is an excellent science teacher. She has an outstanding relationship with her pupils."
Speed was described variously by colleagues from Fairwater school as a "hard working and dedicated colleague" and "an excellent science teacher."
The victim said Speed initiated contact, texting her about a TV show, and the pair would keep in contact using online messaging and the pupil wrote Speed letters.
A council spokesman said: 'The council apologises for the failure to protect this pupil during their time at Fairwater High School. The council has been working closely with the school, police and social services since the allegations against Rachel Speed were brought to our attention and since her suspension in January. Although safeguarding practices have been strengthened significantly in the time since these offences occurred, the process in this case is on going and evidence from the trial will be looked at closely to gauge what other actions we now need to take.'
Detective Constable Kay Gladwin who led the investigation said: "This was a clear abuse of trust and I would like to pay tribute the strength and bravery of the victim in coming forward and talking to the police in what was a lengthy investigation.
"I am pleased the jury saw fit to deliver a guilty verdict on the evidence that was presented and I hope this sends a strong message to the public that we take sexual offences of any nature seriously and will pursue any offenders through the courts."
© Copyright 2001-2017 Newsquest Media Group


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Keyboard Folio
Keyboard Folio
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A full-size typing experienceEasyType reinvents typing on the iPad with full-size keys that give you the feel and comfort of a traditional keyboard. Keys are where you expect them to be and custom iPad shortcuts add convenience while conserving valuable screen space. Enjoy the freedom and utility of a Bluetooth® keyboard. Type for three months between recharges with the Mini-USB cable.Based on average use of two hours per day.
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iPad® 2, iPad (3rd and 4th generation)
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Warranty Information
3-year Limited hardware warranty
Part Number


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Cart is empty
What do want your visitors to think when they walk up to your door? When paired with mix matched accessories and a nearby vintage mailbox, this rustic wall sconce does so much more than illuminate the doorstep. Simply select a galvanized finish with a clear glass jelly jar to have this same look! Read More >


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BackgroundFor all living organisms, sensing weak signals in environment and amplifying them are critically important to survive. Various types of signal sensing/ transduction systems have been highly developed in the course of evolution, e.g. immune and neuro-transmission systems. These systems are not only astonishingly sensitive but very effective and efficient. If we could borrow principles from the living systems, we could create a system with novel functionalities. In our project, we decided to create a sensing and signal transduction systems made of designed artificial biomolecules and chemicals.
MotivationIn order to realize a signal transduction system, we need to develop two types of system; a sensing system that detects external signal and a transmitting system that amplifies the signal and releases large amount of output molecules (payloard). We adopt liposomes as a container of the system.
Project: Lipo-HANABIIn our system, stored molecules in liposome are released in chain-reaction triggered by environmental stimuli. The system adopts a two-stage mechanism as follows.
1st stage: Sensing systemThe 1st stage detects a certain signal in the environment, and release molecules to activate the 2nd stage. In this project, we chose temperature change as an environmental signal that initiates the whole process. Namely, we use a temperature-sensitive liposome for the 1st stage. At a certain triggering temperature, they break and release key molecules for the 2nd stage. The released key molecules attach on the 2nd stage liposomes and induce puncture of them.
2nd stage: Amplification systemThe 2nd stage liposomes contain both the payload molecules (e.g. drug) and the same key molecules received from 1st stage. Once some of them break, it releases more key molecules, and they break other liposomes in their neighborhood. As a consequence, bursting of the liposomes propagates exponentially in a chain-reactive way and releases a lot of payload molecules
The advantage of adopting the two-stage strategy is that we can develop various types of signal amplification system by designing the 1st stage, without changing the 2nd stage.
The mechanism of this system is similar to that of HANABI (fireworks in Japanese), therefore, we termed the project "Lipo-HANABI".


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Being a job hopper at the executive level is undoubtedly less desirable than professionals further down the corporate ladder, but this doesn't mean you are incapable of being hired. By creating a resume that highlights your strengths and then backing them up with an impressive cover letter, you are likely to get the interview call you desire.
About the Author
Jessica Hernandez, is a resume authority for the Job Talk America radio program and multi-published expert author for resume, career, and job search publications. She boasts more than ten years in human resources management and hiring for Fortune 500 companies and utilizes her extensive experience to support job seekers in their quest to move onward and upward in their careers. Find out more at Great Resumes Fast.
Check out the latest Career Insider eNewsletter - November 3, 2011.
Sign up for the free weekly Career Insider eNewsletter.


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The Night Flight
Dominic was born and raised in the most northern town in Maine, the french speaking hard working mill town of Madawaska. A long time musician and songwriter, he moved to Portland after high school in search of musical opportunities founding the band 'Dominic and The Lucid' with fellow northern Maine transplants. Joining the WBLM team in 2003 he began his tenure as Night Flight DJ shortly after. His current musical endeavor is ShaShaSha, which can be heard at www.shashashamusic.com Dominic lives in Portland with his ravenous red-headed wife Kimble, and their always introspective pug, Professor Albert Sniffered Snerdsly.


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Topic: My Alternative Therapy
Hey there everyone,
I was asked if I'd post what I'm doing as far as alternative therapy goes. I hesitate, because you need to check with your Doctor and/or Naturopath before taking any of the following. Everything truely depends on your own personal treatment plan.
I'm currently taking Taxol and Carboplatin chemo (which I'm finding out isn't necessarily the best treatment plan for CC). But with that in mind, this is what my Naturopath has me on:
1. Milk Thistle: protects the liver (liquid form is best)
2. Acidophilus + Bifidus: Good bacteria for the digestive tract; replaces those killed by antibiotics and chemo drugs.
3. Magnesium: deficiency common during carboplatin treatment
4. Reduced Glutathione: While this is an antioxidant, it has been shown to reduce side effects of carbo without reducing effectiveness of chemo. You do not take it the day you receive chemo or for three days after.
5. Herbal mixture: Reishi mushroom: immune system, bone marrrow, energy
Astragalus: immune system, bone marrow, energy
Ashwaganda: adrenals (stress), bone marrow, energy
Siberian Ginseng: Adrenals, bone marrow energy
6. Coriolus Mushroom: Immune Modulating; shown to improve prognosis when combined with chemo in a wide range of cancers
7. Artemesin: Here is an arcticle written on it: http://www.townsendletter.com/Dec2002/a … in1202.htm
8. "TM" (tetrathiomolybdate): Lowers your body copper (you can find out more about it at Life Extension website www.lef.org)
9. Low Dose Naltrexone: (www.lowdoesnaltrexone.org)
At the time my Naturopath (who used to be an Oncologist herself, and is now an Internist as well as a Naturopath), was helping me with Carcinoma of Unknown Primary. I see her again next week, to let her know the new diagnosis of possible CC. So we'll see what happens.
Hope the info helps. Also, there is a GREAT website that has been very helpful to us when it comes to questions about all these drugs and such. It's the Life Extension website at www.lef.org.


text: Hi, I am new here and a "handymom". I have a gutter that does not lead into a drainpipe. The gutter downspout leads into a contained garden bed. When it rains alot the garden bed is extremely moist and saturated with water. I have a sidewalk on the otherside of the garden bed. I need a solution. I thought of a rainbarrel idea for that area however it is in the front of the house near the front door and the barrel would be an eyesore. Next maybe a sump pump. What do you think? I have been looking online for a complete kit that is not expensive. One with a basin, pump, hoses etc included. Am I better to buy all the parts separately? Should I run the outflow hose under the sidewalk leading to the sewer system? Any other suggestions would be helpful. Thanks


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This season junior receiver Jamal Miles has had a receiving touchdown, a kickoff return for a touchdown, and even thrown a touchdown pass of his own. After Saturday night's game against Oregon State, Miles can finally add a punt return to the ever-growing list.
Thus far, Miles is the only player at the Division I level to have scores in all four categories. He's also the only one to take both a kick and punt return back for a touchdown.
Miles finished the night with 249 all-purpose yards in the Sun Devils' 35-20 win over Oregon State.
His 78-yard punt return came during a time when ASU held a narrow edge after a sluggish first half, leading the Beavers 14-13.
"That was a turning point, head coach Dennis Erickson said. "That was a huge play for us and obviously made a difference in the game."
The return was ASU's first since Terry Richardson against Arizona in 2005.
"We just had a lot of really great blocking down field, Miles said. "I just had to make two guys miss pretty much, and after that it was open field. It feels great to get a punt return. It was my first one of my career so it felt pretty good."
Erickson said Miles is a rare and dynamic weapon.
"He's a special athlete as we all know," Erickson said. "He's a guy that is a big playmaker in all aspects of it...When he fumbled the punt against Missouri everyone wanted him off the punt return team. But no way he was coming off that. He's just so explosive. If you see the return as we view it, there were two guys that came somewhat unblocked and he just made a move and took it up in the middle. But he's a weapon for us. I think there's no question he's one of the best return guys in college football right now."
Breaking Tackles
After watching junior running back Cameron Marshall break through as many as half a dozen guys to reach the end zone, it was difficult to believe that he is still hobbling on an injured ankle that has affected him since the first week of fall camp.
"That was definitely my favorite run I've ever had," Marshall said. "It felt good. Kept moving my feet and guys kept bouncing off of me and I was able to put it in the end zone."
Marshall finished the night with two touchdowns and a total of 87 all-purpose yards. However, Marshall's first rushing touchdown, fitting for SportsCenter's "Top 10 Plays," not only wowed the crowd, but also his own teammates.
"It might have been the coolest football play I've ever seen," quarterback Brock Osweiler said. "I have a pretty good view back there from where I sit. Cameron just made an absolutely unbelievable football play. I don't know how many guys he ran through or lowered his shoulder on, but I think I saw at least four or five. He had this determination that he wasn't going down. Cameron's a pretty special player, and it was pretty cool to watch."
Magic Gloves
When sophomore cornerback Alden Darby put his new pink gloves on Saturday night, he had one purpose in mind -- to support his late aunt that passed away from breast cancer last year. However, little did he know that those gloves would give him more then just power within.
Darby intercepted passes from Oregon State quarterback Sean Mannion not once, but twice for 40 yards -- his first two career interceptions.
"This was my first career interception as a Division I football player," Darby said. "I went back to the sideline and I was just overwhelmed, smiling with joy, I was just happy because this was my first interception. I didn't want to relax though, I was still out there holding, trying to make tackles and make plays. [The interception] put a lot of confidence in me, knowing that if I did my job it would probably come back to me again. I have to give a lot of appreciation to my defensive line for putting pressure on the quarterback and allowing me to get that interception."
Saturday night, Darby was often put in the nickel position, which ASU used much more than in previous games this season. It allowing him to flourish and make significant plays for the ASU defense. His lucky gloves came into use for more then just one reason.
"Darby had an unbelievable night," Erickson said. "We put him in the nickel situation and played with five DBs a lot in this game, which we will continue to do. He just adds some things to us in those situations and he's just kind of a natural player back there. He was big."
Extra Effort
Senior defensive end Jamaar Jarrett's name may have been mentioned over a dozen different times Saturday night after making great tackles up field -- three for loss -- and often putting pressure on Mannion, getting credit for two sacks.
"Jamaar [Jarrett] had a heck of a day," Erickson said. "He was close so many times but didn't get it. He forced him out of the pocket. Jamaar last week against USC at the end of the game started doing some things pass-rush wise and started to turn into a pretty darn good player for us."
Center of attention
Starting senior center Garth Gerhart was knocked out of the game late in the first quarter with a severely sprained left ankle and replaced by sophomore Kody Koebensky, who drew praise from Erickson.
"If you lose somebody in the front, center is probably not the spot you want to do that," Erickson said. "Kody came in and did a really nice job. We've got to find out who our backup center is going to be because you get down to your third center you've got to move some people around."
Erickson said Gerhart was unlikely to play Saturday at Utah but would be re-examined later in the week.


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Colts will get chance to do what Cowboys couldn't
DALLASPeyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts get the chance next season to do what the Dallas Cowboys failed to do this time. They could become the first team to play a Super Bowl in their own stadium.
Tweet Be the first to Tweet this!.Submit to Diggdiggsdigg.
Yahoo! Buzz ShareThis ."It's exciting. I'm sure Dallas had to deal with those questions all year," Manning said in Dallas this week. "We have a great stadium to have the event and I know the people there are excited. Playing there, it'd be very special. ... That will be the motivation, like all teams, to get to Indy."
After the Green Bay Packers play the Pittsburgh Steelers at Cowboys Stadium on Sunday, the next Super Bowl -- the 46th in NFL history -- will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium in heart of the Indianapolis.
"Last year, I remember kidding the Dallas folks that we should have a home-and-home the next two years," Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard said. "That's not going to happen, obviously."
The Cowboys (6-10) didn't even make the playoffs, getting off to such a bad start that Wade Phillips was fired midway through this season. Indianapolis won 10 games and made its record-tying ninth consecutive playoff appearance, then lost to the New York Jets.
If the Colts make it 10 playoffs in a row, they will have the opportunity for a hometown Super Bowl.
"It's certainly possible. Peyton is still at the top of his game. His supporting cast is very, very strong. I'd love to see it," Ballard said. "Some people say, 'Oh, no, you don't want that because then you won't have as many visitors.' I don't believe that. Look at Butler. Them being in the Final Four actually generated more interest."
The Colts have been to the last two Super Bowls in Miami, winning the 2007 game over the Chicago Bears and then losing to the New Orleans Saints last year.
The 2013 Super Bowl will be played in the Louisiana Superdome, the home of the Saints.
"I'd like a rematch," Ballard said.


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Topic: ascities - the options
hi everyone, I just wondered if we could evaluate different experiences/management of ascities. Has anybody experienced a shunt? this seems to be an option enabling management of the condition at home. Repeated drainage in hospital is too much for anybody fighting this relentless disease, in addition has anybody experienced long term management with diuretics?
thanks, Jules


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Topic: Newly Diagnosed, new member ????
Hi All,
Thank you for all the information on this website. My mother in law was recently diagnosed with bile duct cancer and psc (at the same time). This website has been most helpful as all of us try to learn about this diagnosis.
Joanie started having symptoms in mid-January 2013 while vacationing in Florida. The initial symptoms were itching, dark colored urine and acid reflux. In Feb, on a Wednesday, the itching was so intense, she went to a clinic for the first time. At this point, the nurse practitioner recognized she was jaundice. The next day labs and ultrasound was performed. That evening the nurse practitioner called and reported the test results for the liver functions were approximately 5x higher than normal. Her Alkaline Phosphatase was 856 and her Bilirubin was 5.5 She said Joanie needed to see a GI specialist immediately. On Friday, she had a CT scan and an appointment with the GI specialist. The CT Scan significant finding was: common bile duct wall thickening or enhancement concerning for inflammation of the common bile duct.
Tuesday, Joanie had ERCP and plastic stent placed at OakHill Hospital. The ERCP showed a tight distal CBD and diffusely beaded irregular appearing proximal CBD, intraheptatic biliary ducts. At this point, strictures are noted and beading in the ducts. The diagnosis from the pathology was focal moderate chronic portal inflammation and focal portal fibrosis and mild pericellular fibrosis. The pathology showed no malignancy in the liver from the brushing.
On March 7 and 8, she had a MRI and ERCP spyglass at Mofitt Hospital. One week later, her doctor called informing her she had 2-3 cm malignant mass. The mass was in the mid CBD extending to superior margin of the pancreas, but the pancreas was normal. Findings: Extensive common hepatic ductal thickening present to the bifurcation and thickening of the distal gallbladder and cystic duct. Irregular beading of the intrahepatic ducts and left hepatic duct suggesting sclerosing cholangitis. There was a stricture fo teh left hepatic duct at the bifurcation. There was a periportal lymph node high in the porta hepatis measuring 1.5 x 1.1 cm.
Joanie lives up north and was vacationing in Florida, so she was referred to Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN. March 26 was her first trip to Mayo Clinic. On the second day of office visits, she met with a surgeon. He said she would need a whipple operation along with a liver transplant. The whipple was needed because the mass was so close to the pancreatic head. The transplant was needed because the right lobe of the liver was so affected. The right lobe was "dark" there were no ducts showing going to the right lobe. He advised that that she would not be able to withstand both procedures. He did not feel she was a good liver transplant. He advised consulting with ONC.
The ONC recommended putting two different chemos together. This is supposed to be a mild chemo with minimal side effects. Joanie may also be part of study by Bayer taking place at Mayo. This entails taking the two chemos plus a third drug.
Mayo transplant team looked at her case again, and there is a slight chance she could be a candidate for a liver transplant, but they need to do more tests to make sure the cancer has not spread to lymph nodes.
So... here we are... all the immediate family is gathered down south... yes from Florida to Minnesota back to the ocean. Its on Joanie's bucket list for all of her family to gather at the beach. We all hopped in our cars, and drove down to spend this week with her.
Now we have some decisions to make and would love some advice/insight from those of you who have been through this before.
What are your experiences with chemo? Is it mild like they say? What can we expect from the chemo? How about the whipple and liver transplant--- has anyone had both done successfully? Also, her insurance wants her to go to the University of Iowa-- has anyone been treated there? How about the stents-- right now she has plastic, but will need another one placed soon-- metal or plastic?
Joanie is feeling ok. She gets a little tired, itches a bit, eyes are slightly yellow, urine color gets dark and then normal, lost a little weight. No pain.
Thank you for taking the time to read her story and help us with our questions.
Thank You,
The Family


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Radiohead Tickets
English rock band Radiohead has climbed great heights and revolutionized the alternative rock genre of music since the release of their debut album "Pablo Honey" in 1993. The musical pioneers self-released their seventh album, "In Rainbows" for which they did an extensive tour in 2008. They are now back! With a series of US dates announced, and hopefully more to come, fans will be flocking to get their Radiohead tickets. Past Radiohead concerts have been a mind-boggling experience with Radiohead performing songs from their latest album "The King of Limbs" and classis hits such as "Paranoid Android", "Karma Police" and "No Surprises". You don't want to miss out on a Radiohead gig, so with so many Radiohead tour dates to select from, get your Radiohead tour tickets at viagogo!
Sign Up for Radiohead Ticket Alerts
Sign up for the latest information on upcoming Radiohead events. Be the first to know when Radiohead tickets go on sale!


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Dog Etiquette at Outdoor Cafes
To the Rescue: Tips to Improve a Dog's Sidewalk Cafe Stay
After enjoying a stroll with your pup, it's always nice to stop by your favorite cafe for a bite to eat. Even with so many restaurants welcoming pets in their outdoor seating areas, it's still a good idea to think about proper pet-iquette. Here are a couple things to keep in mind when heading out:
- Before You Leave: Although many pet-friendly establishments offer to-go dishes for a pets' water, it can't hurt to bring along your own portable bowls. Also, make sure to have a non-flexi leash and a bag (if your pet's small) to be able to secure him. Loop the leash around the leg of your chair and the weight will keep him down. Remember to pack some to-go treats to prevent the temptation to give your dog any inappropriate human food.
- Before You Enter: Check with a hostess or server before you sit down. Just because it's outside doesn't mean it's automatically OK. And be mindful of other diners — if it's a crowded patio, it may be better to go elsewhere.
Time to be seated! Keep reading for more tips to ensure a pleasant meal.
- Before You Sit: Check the ground surrounding the table for any food or liquid droppings, any purses or shopping bags lying nearby, or anything else that could attract or tangle your furry friend. If it's a warm day, make sure there's some shade nearby for your pooch (even under the table) and that his leash is restricted short enough that he can't reach and pester other customers or get stepped on by pedestrians out front.
- Before You Go Home: Make sure to clean up after yourself. If you've been given a bowl of water, pick it up off the ground. Look around the table to make sure your pet didn't go potty while you weren't looking, and be certain to thank the server as you leave.
Source: Flickr user Lulu Hoeller


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Prize Recipient
Natalia Guerrero
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
My name is Natalia Guerrero and I'm originally from Orlando, Florida. I first considering studying physics when I was in high school. I had gotten a refracting telescope from a thrift store and started stargazing in my backyard every few weekends. The vast scale and beauty of space struck me then and I became interested in discovering the many mysteries and unknowns of the universe. At MIT, I plan on pursuing research in astrophysics and in the future, helping to answer the big questions in this field. I am very excited for this upcoming year of studies and am extremely grateful to have received this scholarship from the American Physical Society.


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What Happens When East Meets Western? Exclusive Song Premiere
Seattle western (not country, thank you) singer Brent Amaker has long had a fascination with graphic novels: the deluxe version of "Please Stand By," his 2010 album with the Rodeo, came with "Mescal de la Muerte," a comic book depicting him and his bandmates as superheroes battling demonic Mexican wrestlers.
Amaker goes one better on his new album, "Year of the Dragon," which features a cover designed by noted Japanese graphic artist Takashi Okazaki, creator of the "Afro Samurai" anime series featuring the voice of Samuel L. Jackson. Amaker discovered Okazaki's work through "Afro Samurai," and a mutual friend put him in touch with Okazaki himself. When Amaker sent the artist some of his new songs, Okazaki — Bob, to his English-speaking friends — offered to help with the artwork.
"I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to collaborate with such an incredible artist," said Amaker, whose songs sound like soundtrack entries for imaginary westerns. "I've always had plans of taking the Rodeo on tour in Japan, but I never dreamt that I might be able to collaborate with someone like Takashi Okazaki on a project. His work in the 'Afro Samurai' series is dark, gritty, beautiful and loaded with references to the Wild West. Our music could be a soundtrack for that imagery."
Hear for yourself: Speakeasy today premieres "Death Is Always Near" from "Year of the Dragon," which comes out June 4 on Fin Records. Listen after the jump.


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SEATTLE Amazon.com announced that net sales increased 41% to $6.57 billion in the second quarter, compared with $4.65 billion in second quarter 2009. Excluding the $48 million unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales would have grown 42% compared with second quarter 2009.
Net income increased 45% to $207 million in the second quarter, or 45 cents per diluted share, compared with net income of $142 million, or 32 cents per diluted share, in second quarter 2009.
"We're seeing rapid growth in Kindle, Amazon Web Services, third-party sales, and retail. We're also encouraged by what we see in mobile. In the last twelve months, customers around the world have ordered more than $1 billion of products from Amazon using a mobile device," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. "The leading mobile commerce device today is the smartphone, but we're excited by the potential of the new category of wireless tablet computers. Over time, tablet computers could become a meaningful additional driver for our business."
For the third quarter, Amazon.com expects net sales to be between $6.9 billion and $7.6 billion, or to grow between 27% and 40% compared with third quarter 2009.


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The Australian dollar marked time during the local session after traders overseas pushed it to a fresh one-week high overnight in response to brighter consumer confidence data.
In late trade, the currency was buiying 103.50 US cents, up from up from 103.39 cents on Wednesday. It rose to 103.71 US cents early on Thursday after international markets reacted to Wednesday's improved domestic consumer sentiment data.
On Wednesday the Westpac/Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index rose 7.7 per cent to 108.3 in February, its highest level since December 2010.
LTG Goldrock director Andrew Barnett said on Thursday that the Australian dollar spent the afternoon session marking time.
''It's just waiting around at the moment, waiting for a catalyst to take it higher or lower,'' he said.
Mr Barnett said the currency's post consumer-data rally was likely to be reversed over the next few days.
''At the moment the Aussie is a bit sort of lacklustre, it has had a bit of a dead cat bounce and there has been a few opportunistic buyers.
''I really don't see a lot of big money coming for it unless we get some sort of catalyst.''
Mr Barnett said the key events for currency markets overnight would be the release of GDP figures for Germany, France and the eurozone.


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Review of "Zanj Revolution": a mature film inspired by the Arab spring
"Zanj Revolution" flavors of revolutions past. (Image courtesy of Iffr)
When popular anti-regime demonstrations began in Tunis and Cairo in late 2010, some in Beirut were incredulous.
These Lebanese saw the mass mobilizations (later termed the Arab Spring) as echoes of Beirut's 2005 protests against the Syrian presence in Lebanon – which saw the Syrian military withdraw and Lebanon's governance remain as dysfunctional as ever. You wait, skeptics could be heard to sneer, they'll have their revolution stolen from them just like we did.
Assessing the ruptured landscape of 21st-century Lebanon, it's hard to imagine that Beirut was once one island in an archipelago of international militancy, wedded to the Palestinian revolution against Israeli occupation.
Since Lebanon and Palestine are now bywords for political cultures of co-optation, fragmentation and migration, it's tempting to discard Beirut's revolutionary history as the self-serving hyperbole of nostalgia.
Yet the city retains a place in the recollections of activists and militants from around the world operating in the late-20th century. These memories found some cinematic expression in the past year.
"Zanj Revolution" is among the films that does so. The visually engaging, intellectually challenging third feature of Algerian writer-director Tariq Teguia screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, having premiered at the Rome film festival in November.
Like a number of movies released from the Middle East and North Africa since 2011, "Zanj" is inspired, in part, by the wellspring of popular discontent that has shaken regimes throughout the region. Unlike most of these, Teguia's story is not "about" any of these uprisings.
With a story set in Algeria, Lebanon and Iraq – none of which has experienced significant Spring-like demonstrations – "Zanj" is situated at a more distant, historically informed, remove.
Anyone with a nodding acquaintance of the region's history will realize what Teguia is up to from the film's opening sequence.
A figure emerges from a dust storm that's blown up somewhere in southern Algeria. As he strides through a town's abandoned streets, he's pursued by young men who've covered their faces in kaffiyehs and the like.
Introducing himself as a reporter working for a paper in Algiers, he begins to question them about the demonstrations they've been conducting there. Gruff and confrontational, the masked men tell him they're angry that, though the entire state runs on the petroleum pulled out of the ground in this region, all the oil industry jobs go to northerners.
"You want to give us a voice?" one of the young men asks from behind his headgear. "What do you think we are, Zanj?"
The journo's name is Ibn Batutta (Fethi Ghares).
Ibn Battuta was the pen name of Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta. Of Berber heritage, like the filmmaker, the Tangiers-born 14th-century jurist is known in the West for his travel writing, recorded in a tome conventionally known as "Al-Rihla" (The Journey). It recounts his (for those days) extraordinary travels to the Iberian Peninsula, across the Maghreb, the Mashreq, East Africa, central Asia, south and Southeast Asia.
The Zanj were a caste of slaves, originally from sub-Saharan Africa, who in the late-8th and early-9th century rose up against the Abbasid Caliphate in what is now Iraq.
Bored with the interminable protests that mark southern Algeria, Battuta becomes obsessed with the story of the Zanj. He asks his editor Nacera to let him fly to Baghdad so he can research a story about sectarianism and the redrawing of the map of the Middle East.
Nacera forbids him to go to Baghdad, but – in one of this century's more indulgent newspaper management decisions – tells him to go to Beirut instead.
"Beirut," she says, "is the place where you can go to figure out what went wrong with the Arab nation."
"All the Arab world, with all its contradictions, wrapped up in one city," another colleague says of 20th-century Beirut. "We remained saddled with our questions in the end. ... To tell the truth, no one knew what Beirut was."
In Beirut, Battuta looks up a historian named Jean-Pierre Khoury (an amused Fadi Abi Samra), the only contemporary academic who's written a history of the Zanj. "They exist only in defeat," Khoury tells him, "That's their place in history, at least in the minds of those who wrote up the story."
Later, he finds his way to his editor's pal Malek, an antiquities dealer. He asks, not unreasonably, why an Algerian journalist is looking into a slave rebellion from 1200 years ago.
Like much of the dialogue in "Zanj," Battuta's response is impressionistic and poetic (especially for a hack), making no effort to sound realistic. Ultimately he admits what he's looking for is a map for revolution.
"You want to give the Zanj a voice?" the antiquities dealer asks.
"Their existence has already been proven in Beirut," Battuta says, "no?"
"Many things have been said about Beirut," he replies. "You're on the right track, though, coming to Beirut to find something that doesn't exist."
"Zanj Revolution" is among a handful of recent films that has taken up Beirut's militant history. Another is "The Ugly One," French filmmaker Eric Baudelaire's feature film debut and second collaboration with 74-year-old radical Japanese filmmaker-cum-militant Masao Adachi.
Both films come on the heels of an earlier wave of features and docs devoted to lacerating treatments of the revolutionary late-20th century – a moment to which the filmmakers ("We were Communists" director Maher Abi Samra, for example) were once themselves devoted.
Shot entirely or partially in Beirut, Baudelaire and Teguia's films are not propaganda movies supporting one now-irrelevant political party or another. They are post-partisan cinematic experiments seeking a visual and dramatic aesthetic for revolution – a notion that had been written-off as obsolescent until the financial crisis (and ancillary politics) compelled activists to take to the streets in the U.S., the Arab world, etc.
"Zanj Revolution" is Teguia's third feature – following the Algeria-set "Rome Rather than You" (2006) and "Inland" (2008) – and easily his most ambitious. A characteristically low-budget work, "Zanj" also retains the filmmaker's allusive approach to narrative.
"Zanj" is a much more migratory film – appropriate given the protagonist's name is Ibn Battuta. He moves from the Sahara to Algiers to Beirut to Baghdad before the film's done, and the camera periodically alights upon the Iraqi desert, Thessalonica and an urban wasteland masquerading as New York.
The story collects a range of auxiliary characters as it moves. The most sympathetic of these is Nahla (Diana Sabri), a Palestinian refugee whose parents knew Beirut in those bygone revolutionary days before relocating to Greece. For her part, Nahla wants to return to Beirut to contribute to her national cause – handing over a wad of euros to a Shatila politico before hooking up with Battuta.
Then there is the gaggle of unnamed Anglophone capitalists – incarnations of neoliberal, neoconservative evil – grown rich from the U.S. occupation of Iraq. For unexplained reasons, two representatives of this Anglo-American condominium (Sean Gullette and John W. Peake) travel to Beirut with a big bag of dollars for some dodgy business deal.
The Anglophones are the least-sympathetic characters and least convincing as well. These guys are needed to advance the plot – in one of the film's most absurd scenes, they facilitate the final leg of Battuta's rihla – but as they have relatively limited screen time, with every sentence they must declaim soliloquies of ruthless capitalism and Christian fundamentalism.
It's one of those instances in which silence would better serve the film's integrity.
Putting aside these and other shortcomings – the 136-minute run time, for example, will be grueling for Teguia neophytes – "Zanj" is an impressive thing.
In its narrative and thematic breadth, it is by far the most mature Arab film to emerge that takes its inspiration from the Arab Spring. This is no small thing.
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