text:
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Clippers gave up 96 shots to Minnesota. Lucky for them, the Timberwolves' last three didn't go in.
''We got fortunate at the end,'' Los Angeles coach Doc Rivers said. ''It was a point-blank tip.''
With 3 seconds left, Kevin Martin missed a jumper that Nikola Pekovic rebounded, only to miss the layup. Love grabbed the ball and missed again to end the Wolves' two-game winning streak.
''My natural instinct was to try to rush it and get it up there, but it sat on the rim and came right off. I would say 99 times out of a hundred times that goes in,'' Love said. ''I could have dunked it, but I thought I just had to touch it real quick because time was running out.''
Paul had 11 assists, Jamal Crawford scored 18 points and DeAndre Jordan had 14 points and 11 rebounds to help the Clippers improve to 3-0 at home with Oklahoma City headed to Staples Center on Wednesday.
''This year is one of the most competitive years I've seen for a while,'' Clippers backup center Ryan Hollins said. ''Every single night you're playing a big matchup. Minnesota didn't even make the playoffs last year, and they're just as good as anybody in the league right now.''
Martin scored 30 points for the Wolves, who lost their sixth straight against the Clippers.
Pekovic added 25 points, and Love had 23 points and 19 rebounds. They ended a 22-game series losing streak against the Lakers on Sunday, and nearly stopped their skid against Staples Center's other NBA team.
''Our guys believed they could get back in it,'' Wolves coach Rick Adelman said. ''They made the right plays defensively and converted at the other end. That's the way you have to play if you're going to try to win. In this league, you have to give yourselves a chance to win in the fourth quarter, and we were there.''
Los Angeles opened the fourth with a 14-7 run to build a 98-87 lead, its first by double digits since the second quarter. Crawford scored eight points. Jordan missed all five of his free throws in the period, clanking his last two off the front of the rim while the Wolves got within six.
Minnesota cut its deficit to 101-99 on a fast-break dunk by Martin off Paul's turnover. Martin hit a 3-pointer on the previous possession.
The Clippers scored six in a row to go up 107-99 before the Wolves answered with six straight to trail 107-105.
Griffin got fouled and made both for a 109-107 lead. Corey Brewer missed a 3-pointer in the left corner, but Pekovic was alone under the basket, grabbed the rebound and put it in to keep the Wolves within two with 28 seconds left.
''We're a very good team when we are fighting back and this was another great learning experience for us,'' Love said.
The teams played a back-and-forth third, with neither leading by more than six points. Ricky Rubio's 3-pointer put the Wolves ahead 76-74 before the Clippers closed on an 11-4 run to lead 85-80. Crawford tossed up a 3-pointer from 15 feet behind the midcourt line that banked in at the buzzer, enlivening the crowd.
''We only won by two points so it came in handy,'' he said.
The Clippers used a 19-5 run, including 10 in a row, with six different players scoring to go up 53-42 in the second quarter. Pekovic keyed a 16-6 spurt with nine points to send the Wolves into halftime trailing 59-58.
Notes: Paul missed a free throw, going 7 of 8 to end his streak of converting 37 in a row. ... Barnes played with a right thigh contusion. ... Wolves rookie Shabazz Muhammad, who left UCLA after one year, sat after playing 2:47 against the Lakers in his return to Los Angeles. ... Paul has at least 10 assists in all eight games this season. ... The Clippers swept the Wolves in four games last season.
Copyright 2017 by STATS LLC and Associated Press.
Any commercial use or distribution without the express written
consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited.


text:
" A toy aimed at children aged 3-8, it is expensive, elaborate and seemingly endless fun. Make sure you have a lot of space for it. "
My husband and I bought this castle for our 3 year old son as his main birthday present. We first saw it in a Mothercare shop with an Early Learning Centre section. It was on a high display and my son spotted it from across the store. He dragged us over to it and was in awe as he stared at it. My husband, of course, checked it for it's sturdiness and durability while I checked it's price! We were both happy with it so bought it for a very happy little boy.
The castle comes flat packed so requires assembling. I was a bit worried about this to be honest as it always means there's a potential for missing parts or bits that don't fit where they should. Thankfully I had no problems at all assembling the castle. I built it on my own and it took approximately 1 hour 15 minutes, but I was watching TV and had a glass of wine at the same time! The instructions that come with the castle are incredibly easy to follow as they have plenty of illustrations to show what should be going where.
What I liked best is that you don't need any tools at all as there are no screws or nails involved in the assembly, all the pieces just slot together. Surprisingly though, the finished castle is incredibly sturdy and feels very well built. I was worried that it would be a bit flimsy since the pieces just slot together, but that actually seems to help make it stronger. Each piece of the castle is made from thick wood and feels of good quality, there are no thin, easy to snap bits here.
*Appearance and features*
The castle is a fantastic size, measuring approximately 110cm in height and 95cm in width which means it is big enough for a few children to play with it at the same time. The castle is mainly black and grey in colour and has a lot of detail painted on. On the base there is a fiery effect and around the bottom of the castle it has a rocky effect. One side of the castle has a moving drawbridge; there is a handle and when it is turned the drawbridge raises or lowers. It works easily and was also easy to build. On the other side of the castle is a dungeon area with lifting door.
Each side of the castle has different sections where characters can be stood. These sections all have painted details on the floor, such as rats or octopus tentacles sneaking out through grates. These are interesting effects for children to look at and help their imagination and game playing. At the top of one of the turrets is a big flag pole with material flag.
My son's favourite feature is in the middle of the castle, near the top. It's what he calls the 'trap door'. Two pieces of the floor are hinged so they can swing down. They balance on a little bit of wood that is actually the tongue of a gargoyle. When the tongue is pulled out then the trap door opens, plummeting any figures standing there down to the floor. It is amazing how long this trap door can entertain a 3 year old!
*Additional Information*
This castle is part of a set from Early Learning Centre. The castle is the main toy but there are many others in the theme. There are around 8 figure packs, usually containing around 4 figures. You can choose between different sets of knights or monsters. I won't mention them too much here as I'll be reviewing the other toys separately in another review and don't want to just repeat myself.
The castle cost £75 and came with a free pack of monster figures, normally costing £15. Although it is an expensive toy, in my opinion it is worth it as it has so much play potential. It is also incredibly well made and durable so I can imagine it will last for a lot of years. The box recommends it being suitable for ages 3-8 and I would say this is about right, although some older children may still enjoy playing with it. I wouldn't recommend it to children younger than 3 as I don't think they would get as much out of it and I think they would find the drawbridge and trapdoor difficult to work.
After having a good look round at the various castles and farms on the market when looking for Christmas presents for my 2 year old I found this and was quite taken with it. However, the £75 price tag was too high for me (burnt my fingers in the past buying expensive toys I think my kids will like only to find they don't!). By chance I popped into ELC one day and it was reduced to £45 with a pack of monsters thrown in - a far better deal and so I snapped it up.
I built the tower on Christmas Eve and despite hearing horror stories from friends about the time taken to build this tower (and various Christmas eves in the past where divorce has been a likely outcome when building toys from ELC) it took me less than an hour from beginning to end. I banned my husband from helping this year and am sure that made a difference to the time! It was really straight forward and there is only one wee section (the roof on the tower) which I'm not entirely happy with. The rest slotted in easily and is now solid and firm so no fears of it collapsing and needing rebuilt.
It comes on a big base which makes moving it around pretty easy. It's a good size and is actually bigger than my son which added a bit of a wow factor on Christmas morning as I managed to wrap it and so it looked pretty impressive beside the tree. My son isn't quite 2 and a half yet so it is probably a bit old for him at the moment but he was well impressed when he unwrapped it on Christmas morning and has spent a good bit of time playing with it. My 5 year old also likes it so it keeps them both occupied at the same time which is a bonus. The trap floor and draw bridge are great as are all the wee hidden areas and dungeon. Pulling the tongue to make the floor collapse kept me amused for ages when I built it! We got a pack of knights to go with it and with the original monsters this is more than enough figures for the kids.
Overall I'm well impressed with the tower. Obviously it is early days but construction was easier than expected and both kids are impressed with it and have spent a good bit of time playing with it. Hopefully many more hours of fun to come! And for the price I paid I reckon I got a real bargain.
We bought the newer version of the tower of doom for my sons 3rd birthday and he thinks it is the best present ever! He had been asking for a castle for a while and we could never find any that we liked until we seen this one in the early learning centre. It is rather expensive at £75 but we got lucky and got it in a sale for only £35! All the figures which you can get are sold separately and cost around £10 and there are a lot of different packs. So far we have bought our son 4 different packs and we are struggling to get them all to fit onto the castle but he always manages as there as lots of places they can go.
The castle comes flat pack and upon opening the box and taking all the pieces out we automatically thought it was going to take forever to build it, but it didn't take long at all. It comes with picture instructions which are easy to follow and all the pieces slot together like a big jigsaw. The castle is made from solid mdf and has lots of detail on it such as the stone work and gargoyles. There is a working drawbridge at the front of the castle which can be lowered down and up very easily by children. Other features are a trap door which can be released by pulling the demons tongue which is at the front of the castle and a dungeon which can be used to put the knights in or the ghost which comes in one of the packs. The castle stands at just over a metre tall and at the top it has a black flag with a red dragon on it.
I would highly recommend this product to anyone who has a child that loves castles, knights or monsters. My son absolutely loves it and never tires of playing with it. He's had the castle for about a week now and everyday we have to pretend the goodies and baddies are fighting. The castle is very sturdy and robust so it will last for a long time so we will certainly get our moneys worth out of it and when he decides he is too big to play with it (which will be a good few years yet) it will be easy to take apart and store for another time or for some else.
We bought the older style Tower of Doom which is featured on the picture from the ELC a couple of years ago for my son who was adamant that this was what he wanted Father Christmas to bring for him. I have to admit initially I was dubious: The castle was £75 and I was worried about spending such a large amount of money for something that may not last too long. I need not have worried. He still plays with the castle on a regular basis eighteen months after receiving it.
The Tower of Doom comes flat pack for you to build at home. In retrospect I wish we had built it on Christmas Eve and had it all set up for him on Christmas morning as he was quite impatient when we were trying to build it. I am totally useless when it comes to building things so it took a little time but the instructions were simple and once it was built it looked amazing and really complex!
The Tower of Doom has various little "holes" and "cages" where you can imprison the bad guys. ELC sell a really good range of figures to go along side the Tower but to be honest you can use any kind of figures. Currently my son is using his Ben 10 figures in there. There is a drawbridge which you can lower and raise and a ramp which once the drawbridge is open can sit on.
The Tower is very tall and quite big but it is on a base which makes it relatively easy to move around so I have ours in a corner next to the suite in the lounge but when he wants to play with the full thing we can easily pull it out. He is often happy just playing with the front of the Tower where it is.
One negative thing I have found with it, and it is literally my only complaint is that the very top of the tower where the flag goes can topple over quite easily, and it is heavy so if it hits anyone it obviously hurts. Perhaps this is more to do with the way my son throws his figures around in there though!
I really would recommend the Tower of Doom. Ok so it is very expensive but when you work out how many years it will last it doesn't seem such a bad investment.
Early Learning Centre have relaunched the Tower of Doom and in my opinion the newer version, which my three year old has, is great. The tower is made from glossy mdf and comes flat packed for home assembly. The pieces all slot together a bit like a jigsaw so the tower is (relatively) easy to take apart and store if you're not going to be using it for a while.
The castle now has one tall pointy tower from which flies a pennant and then a bridge to another, slightly shorter tower, which is built more in the style of a habitation. The bridge between the two towers spans a boiling river of fire. There is a trap door on the bridge and small children can delight in piling their knights onto the trapdoor and then pulling the demon's tongue to send them plummeting into the firey depths below.
The taller tower has a drawbridge at the bottom which children can raise and lower. Underneath the other tower is a dungeon to trap your good guys or monsters depending on what side you choose to play.
I had read some negative reviews of this toy on the ELC website before buying it and I was a bit unsure. We took our son to the store and looked at the old style tower (which was on offer) and the new style tower. The new one seemed to have more to offer and looks more like a tower of doom should in my opinion. It is decorated in dark grey, black and brown with accents of fire. There are plenty of little details to look for like the tentacled beastie trapped in one of the towers. My son seems to really enjoy this toy and it offers lots of opportunity for role play. I can see this lasting a long time as the way that it can be played with can develop as a child ages. We've even built train tracks around and through it and have used the castle monsters as obstacles for derailing the trains! The tower is made from good quality materials and there is nothing that could really be broken - or at least that could not be fixed with wood glue if it was.
ELC sell plenty of accessories for this toy including a scenic playmat to go underneath and they sell plenty of knights and monsters to use in the castle. There are also add ons like siege towers and battering rams to buy. There is, however, no reason why this castle would not accommodate knights and monsters bought from other shops. So there is plenty of opportunity to add to this toy and provide stocking fillers for years to come.
This review is for the old style Tower of Doom as pictured - on the website the style has changed to less of a castle & more two big towers with connecting bridge. Possibly they're still selling off the old ones in the shops; they're certainly the most common second-hand.
My son begged me for a Tower of Doom for years but I couldn't bring myself to pay £75 so in the end he saved like a man possessed until he could buy a second-hand one from ebay. Unfortunately he was eleven by this time & his childhood was nearly a fond memory, but it's a mark of what a good toy this is that he's neverthless getting a huge amount of playing done with it.
It comes flatpacked, & although ours came without instructions we managed to assemble it without too much trouble by looking at a picture. I should think that although it looks impressively complicated when finished it's a piece of cake with the instructions.
The finished article is about a metre high, & stands freely on a 68 x 60cm base which is useful for sliding it across the floor when necessary.
There's a ramp at the front leading to a drawbridge that can be raised & is overlooked by as guard's post.
The main courtyard within has roughly the equivalent floorspace of a shoebox so you can get a fair few knights in it, & it has two towers, one with two floors, one with three, joined by a walkway.
Under the castle is more playing space accessible by various arches, a portcullis & a secret entrance. Pedants like myself who always hated dolls houses without stairs will notice that defending soldiers under the castle can't get up to the other levels without coming out of the castle & up the ramp which rather spoils the continuity, but my son (nitpicker extraordinaire) says that's the only bad point.
It's a lovely big sturdy thing: surprisingly tough & unwobbly, even the highest tower. There's all kinds of balconies, doorways & windows so that there's new things to see from every angle.
I'm so impressed, acually, now that we've got it, that I wish I'd listened to the nitpicker & spent the £75 when he first asked, because it's a really well-made, generous-sized toy that's inspired hours of contented play.
The Tower of Doom from the Early Learning Centre was my nine year old son's main Christmas Present. He had been asking for it for months, since his birthday in July, but as it is marketed for 3-8 year olds I told him he was too old for it and tried to direct him towards more age appropriate presents.
However, a nine year olds' pleas can be relentless, and once we had established that this was all he really wanted for Christmas, I could hardly say no. Hence, I duly purchased the tower, which came with 6 'free' monster and warrior figures, plus an extra present of a pack of knights with King and Queen, just to even up the battle a little.
The Tower was met with delight on Christmas day and 9 year old son soon fitted all the pieces together with the help of his 15 year old brother. They all slot together without the need for tools, hence it was easy for the boys to assemble. Once put together the Tower stands 111cm tall and is 68cm wide with a depth of 95cm. That's one big Tower! It takes up a lot of space in itself, but you also need to allow for space to manouvre around it as it is one of those fab toys that can be played with on all sides at several levels. We have had a 9 year old, 11 year old and 15 year old practicing various battle strategies on and around the Tower, plus a 22 month eager participatory onlooker, so it definitely has multiple play value for several children of different ages. Even 10 year old sis has had a go, but as she was assigned to 'Queen' she still got to girlie up the game a bit!
The Tower stands on a board, giving the impression of foundations with oily, black depths and large stone boulders. The castle itself is made to look as if it has been constructed from grey stone, with flames licking the castle walls and devlish eyes above the drawbridge. I find these eyes particularly eerie as my son stores the Tower on top of a table, making the eyes almost level with mine when I enter the room to check on my two sleeping youngest sons - how it hasn't given littlest HonestBob nightmares I don't know.
Overall this has been a good buy. At £75 it was expensive, but it did come with 6 plastic warriors and monsters (see other review if interested in these). It has been played with daily, both by my nine year old alone and with various combinations of brothers (he has 5!) and a sister. I doubt a 3 year old would make much use of the Tower so the age range 3-8 is not accurate as far as I am concerned. Aged 3 boys are too young to get much fun out of this Tower and children over 8 miss out if parents stick to 'age-appropriate' toys and overlook this as too young. The Tower does require additional play items however as on it's own there is not much to play with. Figures of some kind are required. Having already added a set of Knights (with King and Queen) to the Tower, my son is now saving for a Chariot and the ELC also sells more knights (in different armour colours) and different monsters and warriors with prices ranging from £10 per figure set to £20 for a Lights and Sounds Battle Dragon or a Stomping Battle Rhino. Were we to get the entire set it could work out fairly expensive. However, there are plenty of ideas for his Birthday now and that makes things easier for the rellies!
My 5 year old son had written his letter to Santa and top of it was a castle for his dragons to live in. So the search was on and after trawling through websites for hours I decided on the Tower Of Doom. I had previously purchased other wooden products from the ELC and had always been pleased with how they handled being played with everyday and the Tower of Doom has not disappointed.
I ordered it in plenty of time as I had read that it would take hours to put together and know that as Santa's helpers dont get much time, it may take a few evenings of sneeking around to construct. However I was pleasantly surprised when after taking 10 minutes just to get it out of the box, it only took 40 minutes for me (a lady with little experience) to put together.
I stood admiring my work and was really pleased with the finished product but wondered how it would be once my 3 children (5, 4 and 17 months) began to destroy it.
Christmas morning came and they were as impressed with it as I was. 4 weeks on and I have no complaints at all, yes my youngest one uses the drawbridge as a seat and slides her dolly down the ramp but it is still in one piece albeit the flag does fall off the top sometimes.
This is an expensive wooden castle at £75 but it is good quality and can be used with may different characters. Sometimes ours houses dinosaurs, transformers or star wars figures. It also takes Polly Fashion but dont tell my son that. It is quite big and takes up a lot of the room but the wooden base board can folded in half to be stored away and the rest of it comes apart and goes back together easily.
Over All I am delighted with this and I now have 3 happy children.
Create your own battles and keep the enemy out by using the working drawbridge, ejecting weakling knights down the slide. Use the dark dungeon underneath to imprison captured knights and beastly monsters.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
ACParadise Network: American Cosplay Paradise American Cosplay Experience American Cosplay Snapshots
Hey everyone! I started cosplaying in 08 and gradually expanding my wardrobe over the years. I'm not too hardcore just yet, I prefer to connect with new comrades through cosplay and roleplay rather than owning a huge wardrobe.
Recent Updates
Newest Favorites
Newest Fans
Recent Comments


text:
Welcome to the Muppet Central Forum!
You are viewing our forum as a guest. Join our free community to post topics and start private conversations. Please contact us if you need help with registration or your account login.
Pre-Order Sesame Street 40 Years DVD Boxset
Discussion in 'Sesame Merchandise' started by Phillip, Aug 10, 2009.
- Thread Status:
- Not open for further replies.
Page 3 of 5
Page 3 of 5
- Thread Status:
- Not open for further replies.


text:
Topic: good news: tumor markers down
Dear wonderful CC family:
After three cycles of gem/cis (at 1000mg and 70 mg/m2) my AFP marker (hepatocellular carcinoma) went from 3000 to 114 and my CA 19-9 (cholangiocarcinoma) went from 3900 to 695. (I have a cancer that has both properties) So it looks like things are happening. The PET scan showed suv values are down by between a half on the little ones and down from 14 to 4 on the big one. That's good news too. I also had an MRI but am awaiting the report. I could not wait to let you all know some good news today. I will post again the MRI hopefully soon! Got the start of a fourth cycle today so I have been bombed again. Bring it on!!!!!


text:
The Chronicle Review
Lincoln at the Movies
Dreamworks Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, The Kobal Collection At Art Resource, NY
When John Ford first asked Henry Fonda to play Lincoln, the actor said no. "I can't play Lincoln. That's like playing God," he explained. "You're thinking of the Great Emancipator," responded the director. "This is the jack-legged lawyer from Springfield." Fonda relented, and the result was Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), the best film ever made about Lincoln—until now.
Steven Spielberg's Lincoln both overturns a century of cinematic portrayals of the 16th president of the United States and challenges a decades-long scholarly, if not popular, vision of him as halfhearted and reluctant in his efforts to eradicate slavery. Daniel Day-Lewis doesn't just portray Lincoln, he inhabits him, giving us not a stick figure but a beleaguered leader whose crafty political genius leads to passage of the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery. The film restores for our time a vision of Lincoln as a tireless opponent of slavery and, in the process, speaks to the political problems we face as a nation today.
The most important films on historical topics have always been tied to cultural moments, shaping and revealing assumptions about the past. None, of course, has been more controversial than The Birth of a Nation (1915), D.W. Griffith's silent film about the Civil War and Reconstruction. President Woodrow Wilson supposedly described it as like "writing history with lightning."
That film is remembered for its second part, which made heroes of white Southern Klansmen "protecting" themselves against radicals and blacks. The less frequently discussed first part offers a portrait of Lincoln (played by Joseph Henabery, who had a long career as a director). There is no reference to Lincoln as an emancipator; rather, he is a friend of the South, whose assassination, depicted in the film, removes his "fostering hand" from the process of Reconstruction.
Griffith came back to Lincoln 15 years later for Abraham Lincoln (1930). It remains the only biopic that attempts to cover the president's life in its entirety. Played by Walter Huston, from a script co-written by the poet and novelist Stephen Vincent Benét, Lincoln is a man of great physical strength, self-deprecating humor, paralyzing melancholy, and deep ambition. Much is made of his early life, particularly his love for the doomed Ann Rutledge. Once we arrive at the Civil War, slavery is barely mentioned. The theme of Lincoln's life is that the Union must be preserved, an aphorism stated repeatedly. Griffith reprises the vision of Lincoln as great reconciler. As the war nears its end he says, "I shall deal with them as if they had never been away."
Griffith was from Kentucky, and his nostalgia for the Old South fit with a general shift in historical literature focusing not on the moral issue of slavery but on the lost glory of Southern life. Sympathetic to the South, some scholars, like Charles W. Ramsdell, blamed Lincoln for starting the war.
But in the popular imagination during the 1930s, as Americans suffered through the Depression, Lincoln was seen as a man of the people and became an object of veneration. President Herbert Hoover, another Republican, invoked Lincoln repeatedly, but so too did President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a Democrat, who used Lincoln to remind Americans of the challenge to preserve "a people's government for a people's good." Carl Sandburg's four-volume Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, which appeared in 1939, portrayed a folk hero whose uncanny leadership maintained American democracy through unprecedented conflict, a message not lost on Roosevelt as he faced a mounting crisis in Europe.
Filmmakers and playwrights, however, avoided Lincoln's years in the presidency, choosing instead to allude to cultural anxieties over democracy and totalitarianism indirectly, through reverence for a Lincoln who fought for justice.
The genius of Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln, justly celebrated as a masterwork of American cinema, is visual as much as narrative. As the critic Geoffrey O'Brien observed a few years ago, "Ford seeks a cinematic language fit for democratic myth." Of less importance than what Henry Fonda says as Lincoln is how he looks, how he is framed by the camera. He always seems alone, even when in a crowd. He stares away, but viewers cannot take their eyes off of him. This is Lincoln as icon, foreshadowing Lincoln as monument. The film ends with a portent of what is ahead as Lincoln walks up a hill through a lightning storm toward his destiny.
Although Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940), based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Robert E. Sherwood, also stays grounded in New Salem and Springfield, Ill., it is the first film to deal with slavery directly. Lincoln denounces the "monstrous injustice of slavery" and delivers his "House Divided" speech ("a house divided against itself cannot stand") at the state Capitol as he accepts the Republican nomination to run for the Senate against Stephen A. Douglas. He is shown declaring that a nation cannot permanently endure "half-slave and half-free"—and also, in debates with Douglas, arguing against racial equality.
Raymond Massey's performance is not nearly as compelling as Fonda's, but it also conveys the dualism of Lincoln's character: mirth and misery. Despite some well-composed scenes by the director, John Cromwell, the effect is achieved here not by showing but by telling: Lincoln is "in one of his gloomy moods," someone says. "I want to be left alone," the man himself declares.
And so he would be, for the most part, until now. To be sure, cultural depictions of Lincoln have remained omnipresent. They include the television miniseries Sandburg's Lincoln, in 1974, which featured Hal Holbrook as Lincoln (in Spielberg's film, Holbrook plays Francis Preston Blair Sr., an adviser to the president known as "Lincoln's conservative"), and Lincoln, in 1988, with Sam Waterston in the title role. Anyone who came of age in the 1980s is likely to recall the Lincoln who appeared in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) and declares at the end, "Party on, dudes." Yet neither those television shows nor the assorted other sightings of Lincoln in popular culture did anything to restore the president to the prominence he held in the 1930s as an exemplar for the times.
The decline in interest can be attributed to several factors. The civil-rights movement focused attention not on emancipation but on the disappointing results of freedom: poverty, disenfranchisement, segregation. Martin Luther King Jr. paid homage to Lincoln at the beginning of his "I Have a Dream" speech," delivered in 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial, but lamented that a century after emancipation, "the Negro still is not free." Others were less generous to the Great Emancipator. In a magazine article in 1968, and again in his 2000 book Forced Into Glory: Abraham Lincoln's White Dream, Lerone Bennett Jr., executive editor of Ebony, denounced Lincoln as a racist and white supremacist whose actions against slavery were dilatory and halfhearted at best.
Parallel to the civil-rights movement was a shift in scholarly focus away from elites and toward the social history of ordinary people. Historians examined the lives of the enslaved and began to grasp the role they played in shaping their own destiny. That trend culminated in the 1990s with the Freedmen and Southern Society Project, which began in the 1970s and, over the decades, has unearthed tens of thousands of documents and published multiple volumes that have revolutionized our understanding of the lives of African-Americans in slavery and freedom. The voices of the supposedly inarticulate were being heard.
As the focus shifted to slaves and their experience in the Civil War, Lincoln and the role of political elites came under new scrutiny. Some scholars argued that Lincoln did not free the slaves; rather, the slaves emancipated themselves by taking advantage of the chaos of war and running away. Lincoln, the story emphasized, issued an Emancipation Proclamation that applied only to those slaves who had not been reached by Union armies and that did not touch slavery in areas under military control, nor in the four slave states that remained in the Union. That was taken as proof of his lack of conviction. Furthermore, the document was stingy in its expression of abolitionist faith.
Criticism of the proclamation's prose was present from the start: One official in 1862 said it was "written in the meanest and most routine style." On the cusp of the civil-rights movement, the condemnation returned: The historian Richard Hofstadter proclaimed that the Emancipation Proclamation "had all the moral grandeur of a bill of lading."
And so the powerful story of Lincoln and emancipation dwindled, a casualty of changing times as well as shifting assumptions.
Only recently has the narrative regained vitality. The years leading up to and following the Lincoln bicentennial, in 2009, yielded a wealth of new studies that provided fresh perspectives. Gone was the hagiography that characterized much of the writing of earlier generations. Instead, a more fully realized Lincoln emerged, one that emphasized the man's greatness.
Doris Kearns Goodwin's 2005 Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (the basis for Spielberg's film) highlighted Lincoln's leadership and skill at bringing his competitors into his cabinet. James M. McPherson's Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief (2008) offered new insights into the president's development as a shrewd military man. Harold Holzer co-chaired the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and brought out a steady stream of books, including Lincoln President-Elect: The Great Secession Winter 1860-1861 (2008), which illuminated Lincoln's political craftiness. Allen C. Guelzo also produced numerous books, including Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America (2004) and Lincoln: A Very Short Introduction (2009), which reemphasized Lincoln's antislavery credentials. Eric Foner's The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery (which won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for History) explored how Lincoln's views of slavery changed—and steadily grew closer to that of the Radicals. All helped restore Lincoln to a position of prominence.
But he has also remained a target. Libertarian pundits have denounced Lincoln as a dictator and a tyrant who abused the authority of his office and ushered in the bureaucratic, regulatory state they despise. Works by the economists Thomas J. DiLorenzo (The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War, 2002) and Charles Adams (When in the Course of Human Events: Arguing the Case for Southern Secession, 2000), for example, have sold well and appeal to those less interested in the problem of emancipation than in the problem of big government.
Lincoln the statist plays an important role in Spielberg's film. The president justifies the use of war powers that give him broad authority to act, and he will stop at nothing in his relentless effort to win passage of the 13th Amendment. "I am the president of the United States, clothed in immense power, and you will procure me these votes!" he demands at one point. Tony Kushner's screenplay brings Lincoln to the edge of tyrannical rule (his Democratic opponents certainly view him as a dictator) but then pulls back. Sandburg famously described Lincoln as a "man of both steel and velvet." There is plenty of steel to go around in the film, but it is the velvet that captivates.
Lincoln is nothing if not a Shakespearean tragedy. (Lincoln himself, a great admirer of the Bard, would have appreciated that.) We get not only a doomed, ambitious hero with whom we identify, but also domestic drama (Sally Field captures the often difficult yet sympathetic Mary Todd Lincoln, an "anti-Lady Macbeth," as one reviewer calls her) and well-timed comic interludes (James Spader plays the political operative W.N. Bilbo, a Falstaffian character).
Daniel Day-Lewis was initially offered his part in 2003 and kept turning it down until he felt he could overcome his reverence for Lincoln enough to portray him. The wait was well worth it. The actor summons Lincoln from the dead. His high-pitched tenor captures the voice described by contemporaries, as do the sadness in the eyes and the grin when he tells yet another story. This Lincoln is simultaneously melancholy and merry, despairing and determined. This Lincoln is fully human.
No actor has done more than the British-born Day-Lewis to bring American historical characters, fictional and real, to life on the screen: Hawkeye in The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Newland Archer in The Age of Innocence (1993), John Proctor in The Crucible (1996), Bill (the Butcher) Cutting in Gangs of New York (2002), and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood (2007). But Lincoln was something different. "I never, ever felt that depth of love for another human being I never met," Day-Lewis recently told an interviewer.
But for a contrived opening scene (white and black soldiers reciting the Gettysburg Address to the president) and an inability to decide where to end (there are at least four denouements), Spielberg's directorial vision has never been more spare and precise. The film conjures Lincoln's world, down to the ticking of his actual pocket watch as recorded at the Smithsonian's history museum by the film's sound designer. Spielberg manages to avoid the sentimentality that characterizes many of his other films. Each scene is a tableau that allows personalities to emerge merely from their physical relation to one another. There are moments that pay cinematic tribute to Ford, even occasionally to Griffith: Lincoln wrapped in a shawl; Lincoln in his stockings; Lincoln photographed from behind, forever moving away, ghostlike, just out of reach.
It was shrewd of Spielberg to focus on the final four months of Lincoln's life and to make the fight over passage of the 13th Amendment in the House of Representatives the centerpiece of the film. This is politics as hand-to-hand combat, and it portrays Lincoln not as idealist or moralist but as pragmatist and realist. Doing so does not diminish him but elevates him. It is a portrait that fits snugly with most recent scholarship, which should come as no surprise, since Goodwin, McPherson, and Holzer, among others, were consulted.
This Lincoln fits with our own cynicism about the political process. But it redeems the enterprise by suggesting that hard-fought battles can be won, that bipartisan agreement can be reached, even over the most intractable issues.
Perhaps that is why Spielberg delayed release of the film until after the presidential election. Lincoln shows that one person can indeed make a difference, but only when working with others—and only when willing to compromise. In a crucial scene, the Radical Republican Rep. Thaddeus Stevens (played brilliantly by Tommy Lee Jones) restrains himself from calling for equality for blacks, something he has agitated for his entire life, in order to hold on to the Democratic votes and abstentions necessary to pass the bill and abolish slavery. It is a hard lesson in political reality.
Spielberg's Lincoln is a politician for our time. The film restores his reputation as an emancipator, someone who was always antislavery and who even endorsed limited black suffrage, privately in 1864 and publicly a few days before his assassination. It does so by reiterating a faith in process, in slow, deliberate, incremental transformation, in proceeding on an issue only when the time is right, and then pouncing.
More important, the film serves to restore our faith in what political leaders, under the most trying of circumstances, can sometimes accomplish. In October, Spielberg donated $1-million to the super PAC Priorities USA, which supported President Obama's re-election. Now that Obama has won, the gift of this film may prove even more valuable.


text:
Study of Febuxostat Effect on Blood Pressure in Patients With High Normal Blood Pressure
This study has been completed.
University of California, San Diego
Information provided by (Responsible Party):
Daniel O'Connor, University of California, San Diego
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
First received: November 13, 2011
Last updated: March 31, 2014
Last verified: March 2014
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
High normal blood pressure, also called prehypertension, is a significant problem. High uric acid in the blood, the same thing that causes gout, may cause higher blood pressures. The investigators plan to monitor the effects of the drug febuxostat(trade name Uloric) on blood pressure and stiffness of the main blood vessels and see if lowering uric acid has any effect.
|Prehypertension Gout Pulse Wave Velocity Hypertension 24 Hour Blood Pressure
|Drug: Febuxostat
|Phase 4
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Triple (Participant, Care Provider, Investigator)
Primary Purpose: Treatment
|Official Title:
|Treatment of Uric Acid With the Xanthine Oxidase Inhibitor Febuxostat: Effects on Blood Pressure, Metabolic Markers, and Aortic Stiffness in Prehypertensive
Resource links provided by NLM:
Drug Information available for: FebuxostatU.S. FDA Resources
Further study details as provided by Daniel O'Connor, University of California, San Diego:
Primary Outcome Measures:
- Changes in 24 hour blood pressure [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
- Changes in Pulse wave velocity [ Time Frame: 8 weeks ]
|Study Start Date:
|October 2011
|Study Completion Date:
|March 2014
|Primary Completion Date:
|March 2014 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
|Assigned Interventions
|Active Comparator: Febuxostat
Drug: Febuxostat
80mg PO daily for 8 weeks
Other Name: Uloric
|Placebo Comparator: Placebo
Drug: Febuxostat
80mg PO daily for 8 weeks
Other Name: Uloric
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years to 50 Years (Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
- Prehypertensive male and female subjects with SBP =120-140 mmHg or DBP =80-90 mmHg (as determined by seated office BP).
- Plasma uric acid level ≥5 mg/dl
- Ages 18-50
- non-smokers
- Subjects will need to remain in the San Diego area for the duration of the study and be accessible by telephone or email.
Exclusion Criteria:
- no current smoking in the prior 6 months.
- Any history of any serious medical conditions requiring close monitoring from physicians- such as liver impairment, chronic kidney disease, or diabetes mellitus. Participants not currently under the care of a physician for these conditions will be eligible for the study.
- Any history of gout, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, morbid obesity.
- Any history of use xanthine oxidase inhibitors, antihypertensives, antiglycemic, and cholesterol lowering medications
- any history of illicit drug use within the last 6 months
Contacts and Locations
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below. For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01472692
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01472692
|United States, California
|Univerisity Of California San Diego
|San Diego, California, United States, 92037
Sponsors and Collaborators
University of California, San Diego
|Principal Investigator:
|Daniel O'Connor, UCSD
|Study Director:
|Jason T. Davis, M.D.
|University of California, San Diego
More Information
Keywords provided by Daniel O'Connor, University of California, San Diego:
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017
|Responsible Party:
|Daniel O'Connor, M.D. Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Diego
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01472692 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|Study First Received:
|November 13, 2011
|Last Updated:
|March 31, 2014
Keywords provided by Daniel O'Connor, University of California, San Diego:
Puls Wave Velocity
24 hour blood pressure
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Vascular Diseases
Cardiovascular Diseases
Gout Suppressants
Antirheumatic Agents
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017


text:
anchester is a creative hive of activity, famed for
its multicultural make-up, impressive music
history and worldwide sporting prowess. We
recently visited the buzzing city centre with our
East Street Market collection, celebrating the
vibrancy and excitement that surrounds the city.
Explore our online features for an array of goodies,
from upmarket shops in Exchange Square, trendy
beatnik boutiques and cafes of the Northern Quarter to
Canal Street's delightful bars and restaurants. Take a
trip to the wonderful Northern metropolis and while
you're there, pop into our lovely Manchester shop!
Manchester's art & craft scene can be found
everywhere you go, from knitting groups to craft co-ops. Communitiesare coming
together to craft!
There's a plethora of independent cafes, bars
and delis with a difference in Manchester.
Head to the Northern Quarter, the best spot
for people watching
Still a hub for musical talent, there's a lot
more to the Manc music scene than its Brit
pop bands and prodigal sons.
The Mancunian accent is more subtle than
we thought, and no one appeared
to be 'mad fir it'.
Beyond the 'theatre of dreams', Manchester
has some surprising and unusual
sporting customs.
Crafty artisan coffee shops, pop-up knitting
workshops, and of course...
Lancashire cheese.
Get a taste of our collections in action on the streets of Manchester
and explore the full range online now.


text:
As Buddhists I believe we are called to listen to and try to understand the suffering of others. The 15th of May every year is Nakba Day, where millions of people worldwide will reflect on the continuing suffering of the Palestinian people. I urge you all to take this day to reflect on the suffering of all living beings, and especially the Palestinian people who suffer under conditions that most us will be privileged to never even dream of.
With love,


text:
Royal MenaceRiddles are little poems or phrases that pose a question that needs answering. Riddles frequently rhyme, but this is not a requirement.
Against your royalty I attack,
Going black to white and white to black
And one by two or two by one,
Until I'm caught or the war is done.
AnswerA knight on a chessboard.
What Next?
See another brain teaser just like this one...
Or, just get a random brain teaser
If you become a registered user you can vote on this riddle, keep track of
which ones you have seen, and even make your own.
Back to Top


text:
quote:Originally posted by jmsettles:
DEFINATELY a good pedicure, 5 bathing suits, 2 good books, suntan lotion, sunglasses and a razor!! That should about cover it....And, hopefully you have lost about 5 pounds prior to now, cuz you know your gonna gain that back during your cruise. HAVE FUN!!
Wish I were getting ready to go, instead of just having returned.


text:
by David Crane defrev at gmail dot com All photographic images contained in this article were taken by DefenseReview.com, and they are the exclusive property of DefenseReview.com. DefenseReview.com owns the copyright on these photos. All photos were shot with a 7.2-megapixel Sony Cyber-shot digital camera (Model #: DSC-P150). By now, just about everyone and their mother should be aware that ... Read More »
Correction Re: TDI KRISS Photos in Previous Article
by David Crane defrev at gmail.com In our latest article on the TDI Kriss Super-V XSMG .45 ACP submachine gun, it stated incorrectly at the top that I, David Crane, am the pictured one in the photos. This mistake has now been corrected in the text. While I did test-fire the KRISS during that same range session, the photos in ... Read More »
TDI KRISS Super V XSMG .45 ACP Submachine Gun Range Session at Blackwater
by David Crane defrev at gmail.com November 11, 2007 All photographic images contained in this article were taken by DefenseReview.com, and they are the exclusive property of DefenseReview.com. DefenseReview.com owns the copyright on these photos. All photos were shot with a 7.2-megapixel Sony Cyber-shot digital camera (Model #: DSC-P150). The individual pictured in photos is a TDI company representative. It ... Read More »
KRISS Super V XSMG System .45 ACP Submachine Gun: Photos of Latest Prototypes
by David Crane david at defensereview.com January 21, 2007 This article contains photos (below) of the Transformational Defense Industries (TDI) booth and several KRISS Super V XSMG System prototype weapons at SHOT Show 2007. All photos below were taken by DefenseReview.com, are the exclusive property of DefenseReview.com, and are not to be reprinted or disseminated in any fashion without the ... Read More »
KRISS of Death: Unconventional and Deadly .45 ACP Subgun Makes It's Debut
by David Crane [email protected] September 06, 2005 What do you get when you cross a gas pump nozzle with a Thompson submachine gun? No, it's not a joke. It's a new and rather unconventional .45-caliber (.45 ACP) subgun that attenuates/mitigates felt recoil and muzzle rise/climb–thus increasing controllability–on full-auto by putting the bore axis at or slightly below the centerline of ... Read More »
New HK MP5 Gun Course: 'The MP5 Experience' 2 (Second Session)
by David Crane [email protected] 'The MP5 Experience', Second Session, is scheduled for July 31-August 1, 2004. The following is from HKPRO.com: "In conjunction with Dan Shea, and Long Mountain Outfitters, Las Vegas, Nevada, HKPRO.COM invites you to a special, unique opportunity to spend two very intensive days immersed in the MP5 Submachine Gun." According to HKPRO.com, 'The MP5 Experience' "will ... Read More »
DefRev Exclusive: Calico Light Weapon Systems Video: Blast from the Past
by David Crane [email protected] The download link for the Calico Firearms/Calico Light Weapon Systems Promotional/Sales Video is located at the very bottom of this story. You'll have to click on "Read More" hypertext (below) to get to it. DefRev is thrilled to be able to bring you this golden oldie. It's a little blast from the past that we here ... Read More »
Gorda SCH-21 Submachine Gun. AK Meets 9mm.
Well, despite the fact that the Gorda SCH-21 looks like Frankenstein's sister, the Russians might just have a nice little submachine gun on their hands here. Basically, it's a cut-down AKM. Actually, it looks like someone took a hatchet to an AKM, did away with the upper part of the forearm, and moved the front site back all the way ... Read More »
Krinkov AOW Mini-AK by Precision Weapons Corporation(PWC).
By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com October 5, 2002 I don't know about the rest of you, but there's just something about a 7.62x39mm caliber Mini-AK the size of a subgun that just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Who cares that it's semi-auto only? Who cares that it doesn't have a shoulder stock? It's small, ... Read More »
Modern Firearms Website – New Submachine Guns Added.
The Online Firearms encyclopaedia is once again updated, this time with some submachine guns, that include: FMK-3 (Argentina) AEK-919K (Russia) MAT-49 (France) Star Z-62 and Z-70b (Spain) Star Z-84 (Spain) Direct links to new articles are available here: http://world.guns.ru/main-e.htm Read More »


text:
NetWellness is a global, community service providing quality, unbiased health information from our partner university faculty. NetWellness is commercial-free and does not accept advertising.
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Dental Anesthesia
Citanest Forte
I was wondering about the side effects of the anesthesia called citanest forte 4%,1.200 (the one that has no epinephrine on it). It sounds like it is a strong anesthesia. What are its side effects and how safe is it, can it harm the body organs,heart, cause strong heart palpitations, etc. in any way? I would appreciate your help,thanks.
Citanest is a local anesthetic commonly used for dentistry. It comes in 2 formulations: 4% Citanest (without epinephrine) and 4% Citanest Forte with 1:200,000 epinephrine.
In the usual doses used in most dental procedures, either is very safe. The epinephrine can sometimes cause a short period of increased heart rate because of the systemic absorption of the epinephrine, but the epinephrine prolongs the duration of numbness so that the dentist can finish longer procedures while the patient remains comfortable because the epinephrine constricts the blood vessels in the area of the injection which traps the anesthetic around the nerve for an extended period of time.
Epinephrine also increases the maximum amount of Citanest that the dentist can give when multiple injections are needed for complex procedures compared to 4% Citanest without epinephrine because there is a less rapid absorption of the anesthetic into the blood because of the epinephrine.
High blood levels of local anesthetics can cause problems, such as unconsciousness and seizures,and in extraordinary overdoses, can stop the heart, but fortunately this would be very rare in dentistry because the dentist typically does not need much drug to numb the mouth.
2% Lidocaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine is the most common local anesthetic used in dentistry. Because the 1:200,000 concentration of epinephrine in 4% Citanest Forte is one-half the concentration compared to the 1:100,000 concentration of epinephrine in 2% lidocaine, the more dilute epinephrine in Citanest is less likely to increase heart rate but still prolongs the duration of numbness equal to the standard drug.
The maximum recommended dose of either formulation of Citanest, like any local anesthetic, is primarily based on the patient's weight (or in the case of a very obese person, it is based more on ideal body weight), assuming that they are reasonably healthy. Thus the maximum recommended dose for small adults and children is less than for a larger adult. It is rare that the dentist would come close to giving the maximum recommended dose, but if that were to occur, a drug overdose would be more likely with the 4% Citanest Plain because there is a more rapid absorption into the blood stream from the injection site when epinephrine is not present to constrict the blood vessels.
For a 150 lb adult in reasonable health, a dentist could inject 5 or 6 cartridges of 4% Citanest Forte with 1:200,000 epinephrine and be well within the maximum recommended dose. For a 30 pound child, the maximum recommended dose would be a little more than one cartridge.
To put this into proper perspective, approximately one million dental injections are made each day by American dentists and fortunately overdose reactions are exceedingly rare, perhaps one in 300,000,000 injections cause serious overdose reactions.
Joel M Weaver, II, DDS, PhD
Faculty Emeritus
Dentistry Administration
College of Dentistry
The Ohio State University


text:
For Republicans, victory for the pro-marriage side could take a difficult issue and shelve it — a version of the "I personally oppose it, but it's the law of the land" stand that a number of GOP governors have taken with respect to the Obamacare Medicaid expansion.
"It could be a savior of the Republican Party because it takes an issue off the table, and they don't have to pay a price for it," said one operative.
But what if the outcome isn't that clear? What if the emerging popular consensus in favor of gay marriage clashes with a still-intact regime of state laws that largely ban same-sex unions?
The possibilities are broad, but there are several outcomes that would muddy the waters, and bring fresh pressure to bear on Obama and other officials.
"A loss in these two cases, I think, is terrible for any person running for office," said the operative, adding that it will put all candidates on the Democratic side in a bind.
A gray-area outcome — something that is less than perfectly clear about whether gay marriage is legal in the United States — is massively complicated. Obama became the first president to talk about gay rights in an inaugural address earlier this year, and ameliorated some of the concerns in the gay community about his states'-rights position with the administration's briefs in the Supreme Court cases.


text:
- Screening
- Lung Cancer Basics
- Treatment
- Support
- Events
- Policy
- Research
We are often asked which doctor to see or where to go for treatment. The fact is there is no answer that is right for everyone. Some patients have the resources and desire to get their care at a major cancer center. Others want to get their treatment close to home or feel a smaller center provides more personalized care. The goal for every patient should be to find the best care possible for their situation. Here are some tips for finding the best care for you.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to finding a cancer center. Your goal is should be to find a facility that treats a lot of lung cancer with a healthcare team that you feel comfortable with. A center that has a lung cancer team or program is preferred.
A multidisciplinary team approach is when a surgeon, oncologist, radiologist, nurse, social worker and others meet to discuss your situation and work together to make treatment recommendations. It is thought that this team approach improves coordination of care and communication among the medical professionals caring for you. Remember, you are also a member of the team and the decisions about treatment are ultimately yours to make.
If you have trouble identifying where to go for treatment or need help finding a second opinion facility, call our toll-free information line at 1-800-298-2436 or e-mail email@example.com. We are here to help you find the best care possible.
You may be referred to a cancer doctor (oncologist) or you may find one on your own. Your oncologist may be with a cancer center or in private practice. You may decide to go to a specific cancer center and find an oncologist that way. If possible, we suggest finding an oncologist who specializes in lung cancer. Even if it's not their only specialty, a doctor who has lung cancer as an area of interest or expertise is likely to have a lot of experience treating it compared to someone who does not. This applies to surgeons too. Lung cancer surgery is best done by a thoracic surgeon who specializes in general surgery to the chest (thoracic surgery) rather than one who does both heart and lung surgery (cardiothoracic surgery).
Getting a second opinion is always a good idea. Doing so can serve two purposes: If the second opinion is the same as the first, it can confirm that your first doctor is on the right track. If it is different than the first, it can open up choices that you might not have considered. Either way, it is important that you feel comfortable about getting a second opinion. Some people fear that their doctor will be insulted if they ask for a second opinion. A doctor should understand that second opinions are valuable to make sure you have explored all your treatment options and some actually suggest that you get a second opinion. If your doctor feels threatened or offended when you want a second opinion, it may make you rethink your relationship.
When is especially important to get a second opinion?
Not all second opinions will make decision-making easier. Your second opinion doctor may offer a choice that is completely different from the first. Some people even get third and fourth opinions from doctors who are highly regarded in their field, with each doctor suggesting something different. Just because two doctors differ in their approach does not always mean that one way is better than the other. You may reach a point where you simply have to go with what makes the most sense to you.


text:
Chairman Edwards, many thanks for your longstanding support of Veterans over many years, and for inviting me to be here today for this announcement about the Pharmacy Customer Care Center you helped us stand up.
It's great to be back in Texas. Some of my most rewarding years in the Army were spent here.
President Obama has charged me with transforming VA into a high-performing 21st century organization—one that serves Veterans by increasing access to services and benefits they have earned, by providing them the highest quality of healthcare available, and by controlling costs for them to the best of my abilities. Doing so will make VA a model of governance for others in government. It will be a different organization from the one that exists today.
Five years from now, we want to be the provider of choice for Veterans—in insurance, in healthcare, in education, in home loans, in counseling, and in employment.
To achieve that kind of regard from Veterans, we must make it easier for them to understand their entitlements and then make it much simpler for them to access their benefits.
The National Pharmacy Customer Care Center is a piece of this new effort. The new center will be there to answer questions from Veterans about their prescriptions and work with VA facilities so that our practitioners can address critical issues promptly and safely. It will also free up pharmacy staff at our medical centers and outpatient clinics to concentrate on their primary responsibilities—safely dispensing medicine to patients. Veterans will be able to call Waco, instead of trying to get answers from their local pharmacy.
This new contact center is just the latest of new VA projects serving Central Texas:
More must be done to earn a "provider of choice" reputation amongst Veterans. Thanks to Chairman Edwards, we're a lot closer to that objective here in Central Texas. That's why I'm happy to be here to help make this announcement, which is good for Waco, good for VA, and, most of all, good for Veterans. Thank you.


text:
A Study to Compare Three Doses of T-20 When Given in Combination With Abacavir, Amprenavir, Ritonavir, and Efavirenz to HIV-Infected Adults
This study has been completed.
Hoffmann-La Roche
Information provided by:
Hoffmann-La Roche
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
First received: November 2, 1999
Last updated: November 14, 2005
Last verified: November 2005
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
Detailed Description:
The purpose of this study is to see if it is safe and effective to give T-20, a new type of anti-HIV drug, with a combination of other anti-HIV drugs. The other anti-HIV drugs used are abacavir (ABC), amprenavir (APV), ritonavir (RTV), and efavirenz (EFV). Three different doses of T-20 are tested.
|HIV Infections
|Drug: Enfuvirtide Drug: Ritonavir Drug: Abacavir sulfate Drug: Amprenavir Drug: Efavirenz
|Phase 2
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Primary Purpose: Treatment
|Official Title:
|A Controlled Phase 2 Trial Assessing Three Doses of T-20 in Combination With Abacavir, Amprenavir, Ritonavir, and Efavirenz in HIV-1 Infected Adults
Resource links provided by NLM:
MedlinePlus related topics: HIV/AIDS
Drug Information available for: Abacavir Efavirenz Ritonavir Enfuvirtide Amprenavir Abacavir sulfateU.S. FDA Resources
Further study details as provided by Hoffmann-La Roche:
|Estimated Enrollment:
|Study Start Date:
|May 1999
Patients are assigned to one of four groups. Three dose groups receive a background antiretroviral regimen (ABC, APV, RTV, and EFV) and T-20, which is given at one of three doses on a twice-daily regimen. The fourth group (control) receives the background antiretroviral regimen alone. For each treatment group, 17 patients are enrolled. Treatment is administered for 16 weeks, followed by a 32-week treatment extension, and a 2-week follow-up period. The following are assessed throughout the trial: safety parameters (as measured by hematology, clinical chemistry, urinalysis, and treatment-emergent adverse events); virologic and immunologic activity; phenotypic and genotypic resistance; T-20 plasma levels; and pharmacokinetics of T-20 and oral antiretrovirals. The total study duration is 1 year.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years and older (Adult, Senior)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria
Patients may be eligible for this study if they:
- Are HIV-positive.
- Have an HIV level (viral load) between 400 and 100,000 copies/ml at the screening visit.
- Have taken at least 1 PI (protease inhibitor) for at least 16 weeks, and have had no interruptions in their most recent PI-containing anti-HIV drug regimen.
- Are at least 18 years old.
- Agree to abstinence or use of 2 effective methods of birth control, including a barrier method, during the study.
Exclusion Criteria
Patients will not be eligible for this study if they:
- Have ever taken an NNRTI (nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor).
- Have an opportunistic (HIV-related) infection.
- Have had an unexplained fever of at least 38.5 C for 7 days in a row within 30 days prior to screening.
- Have had diarrhea lasting at least 15 days within 30 days prior to screening.
- Have ever taken abacavir, amprenavir, or efavirenz (ABC, APV, or EFV).
- Have certain genetic characteristics (drug resistance mutations) that could change the way a drug acts in the body.
- Are allergic to any of the study medications.
- Have a tumor other than certain skin or cervical cancers.
- Are on chemotherapy that cannot be discontinued during the study.
- Are taking an investigational drug within 30 days prior to screening.
- Have ever received an HIV vaccine.
- Are taking certain medications.
- Abuse drugs or alcohol.
- Have hemophilia or another blood clotting disorder.
- Have had an organ transplant.
- Are pregnant or breast-feeding.
Contacts and Locations
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below. For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00002239
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00002239
|United States, California
|Pacific Oaks Research
|Beverly Hills, California, United States, 90211
|UCLA Care Ctr
|Los Angeles, California, United States, 90095
|ViRx Inc
|Palm Springs, California, United States, 92262
|Donald Northfelt
|Palm Springs, California, United States, 92270
|San Diego, California, United States, 92103
|ViRx Inc
|San Francisco, California, United States, 94109
|Quest Clinical Research
|San Francisco, California, United States, 94115
|United States, District of Columbia
|Dupont Circle Physicians Group
|Washington, District of Columbia, United States, 200091104
|United States, Florida
|IDC Research Initiative
|Altamonte Springs, Florida, United States, 32701
|Gary Richmond MD
|Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, 33316
|United States, Georgia
|AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta
|Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 30308
|United States, Maryland
|Johns Hopkins Hosp
|Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21287
|United States, Missouri
|Washington Univ School of Medicine
|St. Louis, Missouri, United States, 63110
|United States, New York
|New York Univ Med Ctr
|New York, New York, United States, 10016
|United States, North Carolina
|Trimeris Inc
|Durham, North Carolina, United States, 27707
|United States, Oklahoma
|Associates of Med and Mental Health
|Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, 74114
|United States, Pennsylvania
|Pennsylvania Oncology and Hematology Associates
|Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19106
|Philadelphia FIGHT
|Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19107
|Univ of Pittsburgh
|Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15261
|United States, Texas
|Central Texas Clinical Research
|Austin, Texas, United States, 78705
Sponsors and Collaborators
Hoffmann-La Roche
More Information
Keywords provided by Hoffmann-La Roche:
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT00002239 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|Study First Received:
|November 2, 1999
|Last Updated:
|November 14, 2005
Keywords provided by Hoffmann-La Roche:
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
Drug Therapy, Combination
Anti-HIV Agents
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
HIV Infections
Lentivirus Infections
Retroviridae Infections
RNA Virus Infections
Virus Diseases
Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes
Immune System Diseases
HIV Protease Inhibitors
Protease Inhibitors
Enzyme Inhibitors
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action
Anti-HIV Agents
Anti-Retroviral Agents
Antiviral Agents
Anti-Infective Agents
Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A Inhibitors
Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme Inhibitors
Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors
Nucleic Acid Synthesis Inhibitors
Cytochrome P-450 CYP2C9 Inhibitors
Cytochrome P-450 CYP2C19 Inhibitors
Cytochrome P-450 CYP2B6 Inducers
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017


text:
This message was posted on the CDGC board by 2012 Worlds TD Sam Nicholson.
"May 1st the PDGA will open up the Worlds registration to all PDGA current members. If you are a invited Pro player, expect to play and have not yet signed up, I recommend that you do so before May 1st. Due to the fact that the Am divisions are mostly, if not completely filled, many Ams will sign up in the Pro divisions to have the opportunity to play in the Worlds at all. I would wager that by May 5th the entire event, all divisions and classifications will fill. If you snooze, you will lose and be a spectator or watch the results at home on the computer."


text:
Beaumont/Port Arthur
Workers and residents in Beaumont's West End were stopped cold after a work crew hit a gas main on E. Circuit Drive late Tuesday afternoon.
The sound of the gas spewing from the break could be heard down the street and at least one resident was evacuated.
According to a BPD press release, at about 2:50 p.m., Beaumont Fire and Rescue were dispatched to the leak at 198 E. Circuit Drive. A crew working on a city sewer line hit a two-inch gas main, but Beaumont's breezy afternoon helped to dissipate any danger of explosion.
Sunday, Dec. 23, about noon, a Beaumont Fire Department new release reported that Centerpoint Energy workers had gained control of the natural gas leak in the 4300 block of El Paso street. Just before 9 a.m. that morning, a city of Beaumont crew hit a natural gas line, causing a leak.
The Orange City Council officially denied CenterPoint Energy Resources Corp.'s request for a rate increase at its meeting Tuesday, Oct. 23. The council previously reviewed the ordinance for denial of the proposed increase at its Oct. 9 meeting and approved the measure unanimously Oct. 23.
City officials in Beaumont are fighting to keep gas rates low, but their efforts may be in vain if CenterPoint Energy has its way.
In July, CenterPoint filed a request to raise gas rates in Beaumont and surrounding cities. The company is asking for $8.6 million rate hike next year. This would raise the average residential gas bill from about $12 to more than $20 per month, according to the council agenda.
While we harbor no disrespect for the Wall Street Journal who called us "that scrappy little paper from Southeast Texas," we prefer to think of ourselves as simple seekers of the truth. We're of the opinion that headlines and sound bites never tell the whole story. Our readers demand all the facts, facets and flavors of every story or event. And, they expect to be informed, educated and stirred to action.
For this week's New York Times crossword puzzle, pick up a copy of this week's The Examiner on newsstands now.


text:
S'mores Cookies
I've had these cookies starred in my Google Reader for quite some time now. I knew I wanted to make them once I got the idea to do a week of smores recipes. These cookies taste just like smores and are so cute with the little chunks of Hershey bars and mini marshmallows poking out all over the place.
I'm not a huge fan of thin cookies, but these sure were tasty. And ooey and gooey just like smores you'd make at a campfire.
S'mores Cookies
Yield: ~3 dozen
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 dash of cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
3 Hershey bars, chopped
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a medium bowl combine the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, salt, and dash of cinnamon. In a second larger bowl beat together the butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Slowly beat in the flour mixture until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 8 minutes, and remove from the oven. Push 3 to 4 marshmallows and a few pieces of hershey bar into each cookies. Return to the oven and bake an additional 2-3 minutes until fully cooked. Cool cookies on a wire rack.
Recipe adapted from Sugar Cooking
Don't forget about my Power of Pink Challenge – make something PINK by the end of the month to raise Breast Cancer Awareness!
9 Responses to "S'mores Cookies"
These look SO delicious! I love cookies, especially as the holidays approach. Always on the lookout for new ideas! Thanks for sharing this one!
These look great! I did a S'mores brownie not to long ago and since then I have been craving more! There is something about S'mores that is just soooo awesome 🙂
These beauties not look any cuter. And of course, they look super delish as well.
I've had these kind of cookies before. (Someone else baked them, not me!) they are so good!
Over here in the UK we know that you all love S'mores and we are jealous as we dont have them!
I am a newish follower and enjoying ur blog so much.
I have an award for u on my blog.
They look great! What a fun idea. I love S'mores everything! Over the summer, I had a very casual party, just days before my wedding, and made a bunch of toaster s'mores. They were so easy and a big hit!
I LOVE smores and will be trying these soon!!!
I'm getting ready to make these tomorrow and I'm just wondering how many cookies this makes…
Jes – It makes around 3 dozen. I updated the post to say that as well. Hope you enjoy them.


text:
After I was completely through making it, taking photos, and eating a big bowl of it for lunch, I had the thought that it would have been nice to toss in a few dried cranberries if you had some. Actually, I didn't have any, so maybe I'm glad I didn't think of it sooner, but I do recommend that variation if you're making this for Thanksgiving.
Green Apple, Celery, and Walnut Salad with Lemon-Mustard Vinaigrette
(Makes 4-6 servings; adapted slightly from Green Apple and Celery Salad with Walnuts and Mustard Vinaigrette in Bon Appetit, November 2005.
2 T fresh-squeezed lemon juice
2 T Dijon mustard
1 T + 1 tsp. Agave Nectar or honey (Use Agave Nectar for South Beach Diet)
6 T extra-virgin olive oil
5-6 large stalks celery with leaves
2 large Granny Smith apples
salt to taste
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted then chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries (optional, but nice if you're serving this for Thanksgiving)
Wash celery stalks and dry with paper towels, making sure both stalks and leaves are very dry. Cut leaves away from stalks and chop to make 1/2 cup chopped celery leaves. Slice stalks on the diagonal into very thin slices, enough to make 2-3 cups sliced celery.
Working with one apple at a time, cut apple into fourths, peel and cut away seeds, cut each fourth into half crosswise, then cut each piece into thin wedges. Toss cut apples with a small amount of dressing as soon as they are cut so apples won't turn brown.
Combine sliced celery, chopped celery leaves, and apple/dressing mixture and stir to combine. Add enough more dressing so celery and apples are well moistened, but not overly wet. (You may not need all the dressing.) Season salad with salt to taste.
Toast walnuts in a dry pan over high heat for about 2 minutes, or until they start to smell toasty. (The toasted walnuts will smell a bit like popcorn.) Coarsely chop walnuts, then mix walnuts and dried cranberries (if using) into salad and serve.
South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Nutritional Information?
More Thanksgiving-Worthy Salads with Fruit:
(Recipes from other blogs may not always be South Beach Diet friendly; check ingredients.)
Thanksgiving Spinach Salad with Dried Cranberries, Almonds, and Goat Cheese from Kalyn's Kitchen
Healthy Waldorf Salad from Kitchen Parade
Winter Fruit Salad with Persimmons, Pears, Grapes, and Agave-Pomegranate Vinaigrette from Kalyn's Kitchen
Chopped Shrimp Waldorf Salad from Use Real butter
Double Berry Thanksgiving Jello Salad from Kalyn's Kitchen
(Want even more recipes? I find these recipes from other blogs using Food Blog Search.)
More About This Recipe:


text:
More teams are lining up to support the Keighley BigK 10K.
It is hoped the March 30 event – in aid of Manorlands – will take the Keighley News campaign for the Sue Ryder hospice a giant stride closer to its £1 million target.
We revealed last week how Steeton firm Acorn Stairlifts – an annual supporter of the run/walk – is once again entering a strong contingent.
Now two more organisations are limbering up to put their best foot forward for the Oxenhope hospice.
AWB Charlesworth Solicitors, which has offices in Keighley and Skipton, is entering a seven-strong team of staff and partners – April Chamberlain, Alan Davidson, Julie Bridgman, Declan Hayes, James Dunn, Andrew Foulds and Michelle Gower.
"This is the third year we have entered a team, and we have supported Manorlands on many other occasions throughout the years – adopting it as our charity of the year in 2012," said a spokesman.
Liam O'Neill, a partner in the firm, is a member of the Manorlands Challenge Committee.
Staff at Townend Close care home in Cross Hills are also donning their running shoes.
The quartet is joining a colleague from Anchor Retirement Housing to take part.
Townend business manager Sharon Mackie said: "Staff are getting sponsors to help generate extra income for Manorlands hospice and its work in the community.
"Team members have been going for runs every day to get themselves fit, and are really looking forward to taking part as they like to give back to the community."
The team comprises care assistants Sharon Sorsby, Alvin Cruz and Donna Ashton and kitchen assistant Ellis Denton. They will be joined by Donna's husband, Karl, who is location manager at Anchor Retirement Housing.
The BigK 10K, which last year attracted more than 1,000 entrants and raised £49,000, starts and finishes in Victoria Park and follows a multi-terrain route around the town.
Race organisers are still seeking more teams and individuals to get involved in the event, which is sponsored by the Airedale Shopping Centre, White Rose Volkswagen and Convenience Hire.
Entry for teams of five is £50. Individual entry is £12 for adults and £6 for under-18s.
All participants receive a technical T-shirt and a sports bottle provided by Yorkshire Water. And with the event once again being held on Mother's Day, every mum completing the course will receive a BigK 'K-arnation'.
Call 01535 640176 for team entries. Individuals should visit bigk10k.org.uk or pick-up an entry form from a Sue Ryder shop.


text:
Bandage Contact Lens and Oral Analgesics Versus Patching and Oral Analgesics for Pain Following Pterygium Surgery
The recruitment status of this study is unknown. The completion date has passed and the status has not been verified in more than two years.
Verified October 2010 by University Health Network, Toronto.
Recruitment status was: Recruiting
Recruitment status was: Recruiting
University Health Network, Toronto
Information provided by:
University Health Network, Toronto
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
First received: November 22, 2010
Last updated: November 24, 2010
Last verified: October 2010
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
The purpose of this study is to determine if patching the eye or a bandage contact lens along with Tylenol #3 is more effective for pain control following pterygium surgery.
|Procedure: Patch or bandage contact lens
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary Purpose: Treatment
|Official Title:
|Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Bandage Contact Lens and Oral Analgesics Versus Patching and Oral Analgesics for Pain Following Pterygium Surgery
Resource links provided by NLM:
MedlinePlus related topics: Eye WearU.S. FDA Resources
Further study details as provided by University Health Network, Toronto:
Primary Outcome Measures:
- Visual Analog Pain Score [ Time Frame: 1 week ]
Secondary Outcome Measures:
- Sensitivity to light, tearing, foreign body sensation [ Time Frame: 1 week ]
- Postoperative Complications [ Time Frame: 1 week ]Difficulty removing the bandage lens, the bandage lens has fallen out, graft dislocation
- Number of Tylenol #3 tablets required [ Time Frame: 1 week ]
|Estimated Enrollment:
|Study Start Date:
|October 2010
|Estimated Study Completion Date:
|October 2011
|Estimated Primary Completion Date:
|October 2010 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
|Assigned Interventions
Active Comparator: Patch
The operative eye will be patched.
Procedure: Patch or bandage contact lens
Patients will be given a patch or a bandage contact lens at the conclusion of pterygium excision surgery.
Experimental: Bandage Contact Lens
The operative eye will have a bandage contact lens
Procedure: Patch or bandage contact lens
Patients will be given a patch or a bandage contact lens at the conclusion of pterygium excision surgery.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|19 Years and older (Adult, Senior)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
- Primary pterygium (no previous surgeries or radiotherapy) requiring excision due to ocular discomfort or disruption in vision
- Size of pterygium greater than 2.5 mm over the cornea (pterygia smaller than this do not result in much postoperative eye pain)
- Ability to understand the nature of the procedure and to complete all measurement requirements
- Adults (age greater than 18)
Exclusion Criteria:
- Ocular surface disease apart from pterygium (such as severe dry eye, corneal disease, scarring from previous infection, radiotherapy, inflammatory diseases or trauma)
- Patients who have had previous ocular surface surgery
- Contraindications to local anesthetics (such as known allergy)
- Pregnancy (as the risk to the fetus with the use of topical antibiotic drops and local anesthetics are not known)
- Patients already on systemic analgesics for any other reason (such as rheumatoid arthritis)
- Allergy to codeine (in order to standardize the systemic analgesic used so that we can compare the effect of bandage contact lens versus 24 hour patching)
Contacts and Locations
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below. For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01249235
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01249235
|Contact: Allan Slomovic, MD
|Canada, Ontario
|Toronto Western Hospital, University of Toronto
|Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5T 2S8
|Contact: Sonia Yeung, MD firstname.lastname@example.com
Sponsors and Collaborators
University Health Network, Toronto
|Principal Investigator:
|Allan Slomovic, MD
|Toronto Western Hospital, University of Toronto
More Information
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017
|Responsible Party:
|Allan Slomovic, Toronto Western Hospital, University of Toronto
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01249235 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|Study First Received:
|November 22, 2010
|Last Updated:
|November 24, 2010
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Conjunctival Diseases
Eye Diseases
Sensory System Agents
Peripheral Nervous System Agents
Physiological Effects of Drugs
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017


text:
Click here to downloadour 2014 Catalogue
Prices on this website include gift wrapping and packaging but exclude delivery and VAT.
A collection of stylish gifts, accessories, games and mementos for at home, the office or for those lazy days at the Polo Lawns or Wimbledon. Choose from our heritage range of stately picture frames or scented candles, silver adorned crystal barware, and a selection of classic games or even design your own unique celebration cracker.


text:
THE family of a grandfather found dead in a Cwmbran canal yesterday paid tribute to "a gentle and sociable"
The body of retired security officer Michael James Phelps was found in the canal on September 15, just a fewdays after his 75th birthday. His family believe he drowned.
His twin brother, Alexander, spoke about his brother's life and his involvement in the local church.
Mr Phelps said: "We were born in Blaina, but Mike moved to Croesycelliog and then Pontnewydd.
"He went to Llanyrafon secondary school, and worked as a security officer in Cwmbran for years.
"I live in Bradford-upon- Avon, but in the last couple of years we had seen a lot more of him.
"We would go on day trips to local historical sites. He was very knowledgeable about all the churches and castles in the Gwent area.
"He was a very, very gentle man, with a very nice sense of humour.
"He was very sociable, but church was his main interest.
"He was the verger at Holy Trinity in Pontnewydd, where he also rang the bells."
Sister-in-law Molly Phelps said: "He loved getting out and about, we had been down just a few days before to celebrate their birthday. We had visited a local manor house. We usually speak to him on the telephone too, so we didn't understand why he wasn't answering the phone until we heard what had happened.
"Michael had a good sense of humour, and his own unique way of looking at the world."
Mr Phelps had been married twice, and had one daughter, Mary, and three stepchildren.
His daughter died when his only granddaughter was young, and his second wife, Yvonne, died a couple of years ago.
Granddaughter Jessica Gunningham said: "He loved his dog Molly and he loved walking, even though he had glaucoma and his balance wasn't the best. He would walk for miles."
Pontnewydd councillor Stuart Ashley said: "I knew him well to talk to and it was a great shock when I heard. He was very much a part of the community through his work at the church."
Mr Phelps' funeral will be held next Thursday at Holy Trinity Church in Pontnewydd, Cwmbran.
Mr Phelps' death is not being treated as suspicious.
An inquest into his death is due to be held, the Gwent Coroner's Office said.


text:
Congrats Anthem!
'); var yuipath = 'clientscript/yui'; var yuicombopath = ''; var remoteyui = false; } else // Load Rest of YUI remotely (where possible) { var yuipath = 'http://yui.yahooapis.com/2.9.0/build'; var yuicombopath = 'http://yui.yahooapis.com/combo'; var remoteyui = true; if (!yuicombopath) { document.write('
Congrats Anthem!
Congrats Anthem! My wife said at 9 lbs you'd better be damn nice to your wife......
Congrats dude...
Haggard's Blog: Can't Buy a Basket. Covering the highs and lows of the NBL
My son was 9 lbs 6 oz. Naturally, as well. Plus the labor took so long that the epidural was long gone from her system. I think I need to order some flowers for Mother's Day.
My girls were 10 lbs 10 oz, but that was combined - twins - and they were c-section a month early.
Kids are fun. I miss the baby stage a little. But they are fun at every age.
You're caught up in the Internet / you think it's such a great asset / but you're wrong, wrong, wrong
All that fiber optic gear / still cannot take away the fear / like an island song
- Jimmy Buffett
our future PF?
I promise you....he'll decide he prefers lacrosse.
Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.


text:
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.
Prevent a wardrobe malfunction (or debacle, at the very least) with this handsome pair of vintage button cufflinks. Each cufflink sports a genuine uniform button from the Reading Railroad––yes, the one from Monopoly. Just slip 'em into place, and you're equipped to gesture wildly, conduct a symphony, or give the most eloquent of high-fives.
- Soldered to a silver-plated cufflink base.
- Measures 5/8" in diameter.
- Arrives in a gift box.
This product ships from the maker within 7 days, via USPS
If you're not happy with this item for any reason, you may return it for a full refund within 14 days.


text:
Get an overview of this hotelHotel within 10 minutes of Euston, King's Cross
Collecting Nectar Points
Special Offer: Book by 2 August 2017 and collect double Nectar points!
Simply enter your Nectar card number when you check out. Your points will be credited 35 days after you return from your trip.
*Terms and conditions apply.
Popular property highlights
Literary district
The 4-star Ambassadors Bloomsbury is in the literary district of Bloomsbury, 5 minutes from Euston Station, King's Cross St. Pancras Station (Eurostar Terminal), and Russell Square tube station. The British Museum is less than a mile away.
Italian restaurant
The hotel's restaurant, Number Twelve, serves modern Italian cuisine at affordable prices. Amenities include a 24-hour fitness facility, meeting and conference rooms, and flexible space for weddings and other events. Free WiFi is available throughout the hotel.
Free WiFi
Guestrooms at Ambassadors Bloomsbury offer Hypnos mattresses. TVs come with satellite channels. Complimentary wireless Internet access is also provided.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!Opens in a new window
Ambassadors Bloomsbury
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
The modern Ambassadors Bloomsbury hotel is located in the literary district of Bloomsbury, central London. Major transportation hubs including Euston Station, King's Cross St. Pancras Station, and Russell Square Tube station are just a 5-minute walk away.
Ambassadors Bloomsbury features Number Twelve, a restaurant and bar, serving Italian fusion dishes featuring locally sourced ingredients. A gourmet breakfast offering a variety of hot and cold items is available, and room service is provided around the clock.
This London hotel offers a 24-hour fitness facility, and complimentary amenities include wireless Internet access throughout the hotel and newspapers in the lobby. The hotel provides 24-hour concierge services, multilingual staff, and a safe-deposit box at the front desk. Dry cleaning/laundry services are available (surcharge). Five accessible rooms are available.
Ambassadors Bloomsbury is a smoke-free property.
- Concierge services
- Bar/lounge
- Restaurant
- Breakfast available (surcharge)
- Conference space
- Total number of rooms - 100
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- 24-hour front desk
- Multilingual staff
- Number of floors - 6
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Laundry facilities
- Elevator/lift
- Wedding services
- Free newspapers in lobby
- 24-hour fitness facilities
- Free WiFi
- Luggage storage
- Tours/ticket assistance
- Meeting rooms 7
- Year Built 1908
- Smoke-free property
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
Family Friendly Amenities
- Free Wi-Fi
- Laundry facilities
- In-room childcare (surcharge)
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Room Amenities
- Premium bedding
- Room service (24 hours)
- In-room climate control (air conditioning)
- Air conditioning
- Coffee/tea maker
- Free bottled water
- Daily housekeeping
- Hair dryer
- Shower only
- In-room childcare (surcharge)
- In-room safe (laptop compatible)
- Iron/ironing board (on request)
- Desk
- Hypo-allergenic bedding available
- Free newspaper
- Private bathroom
- Satellite TV service
- Free WiFi
Where to Eat
Number Twelve - Modern Italian fusion restaurant and bar serving affordable dishes sourced from fresh, local seasonal produce. Open for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, bar food, and dinner, as well as private dining and parties.
Breakfast, available for an additional fee, includes a selection of fresh cut fruits, cheese and meat platters, pastries, yogurts, and smoothies, as well as a selection of hot breakfast items.
If you have requests for specific accessibility needs, please note them at check-out when you book your room.
- In-room accessibility
- Roll-in shower
- Accessible bathroom
Hotel Policies
Check-in time starts at 3 PM
Check-out time is noon
Payment types
Children and extra beds
- Children are welcome.
- Rollaway/extra beds are not available.
- Cribs (infant beds) are not available.
- Pets not allowed
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy.
- No onsite parking is available.
Optional extras
- Fee for full breakfast: GBP 14 per person (approximately)
Hotel Name
- Ambassadors Bloomsbury
- Ambassadors Hotel
- Ambassadors Hotel Bloomsbury
- Bloomsbury Ambassadors
- Ambassadors Bloomsbury Hotel London
- Ambassadors Bloomsbury London, England
- Ambassadors Hotel London
- Ambassadors Bloomsbury Hotel


text:
I've listened to a lot of really bad music with screaming in it. You hear them all the time at mass metal concerts; really bad bands that just scream and rip guitar riffs while maintaining none of the intrinsic value that makes hardcore great. I had a somewhat similar expectation going into Modern Life is War, but I was pleasantly surprised. The album Fever Hunting has a lot of political songs and deep lyrics. One of the songs on their album, "Media Cunt", is about how the struggle of being true to oneself versus the pressure of the media. The graphic title isn't offensive; it makes a point.
Another thing I like about the album was how smoothly one song flowed to the other. It's easy to tell that this album was meant to be listened to as an album, an old school aspect of music that's classic and shows a lot of musical talent. If the whole album has to flow smoothly, it's more of an art form and takes a lot more work, rather than just putting out an album with a few singles and bad songs throughout the rest of the album. "Old Fears, New Frontiers" flows smoothly into the beginning of the next track on the CD "Health, Wealth, and Peace."
Finally, the instrumental work of the band is coherent and flows with the lyrics very well. The guitar riffs are catchy and the drums compliment the fast-paced hard attitude of hardcore music. Even when the songs are slower, the progressions of guitar notes and catchy drum bits keep the listener engaged. Overall, the album was a very good introductory experience to hardcore punk. I had never listened to this genre before this CD, but comparing it to what I like about similar genres like metal, I'd be more than willing to listen to more stuff like this.


text:
LONDON Gap Inc. announced that it has launched its dedicated European e-commerce site for Gap and Banana Republic (www.gap.eu and www.bananarepublic.eu). Following the initial launch for UK consumers, the company said it plans to offer shipping to customers in an additional nine countries this fall, including Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.
Stephen Sunnucks, president of Gap Inc. Europe, commented: "I'm thrilled to launch gap.eu and bananarepublic.eu. We put a lot of research and time into building a dedicated UK e-commerce platform. We established a local distribution center to enable us to offer an exceptional customer experience within the UK and establish the foundation to expand online shopping to more European countries this fall."
The sites will provide a faster, easier shopping experience for customers, with reliable, convenient, local shipping where there are no hidden charges or fees, according to the company.