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It's not always a good idea for an artist to look backward. Things often look different in the cold light of the morning after, and much of what we try to say can rely heavily upon context. Plus if you've grown at all, it can be painful to look at your old work. Kind of like that haircut you had in high school or the tattoo you picked up in Daytona on Spring Break. But for me, revisiting these old songs has become something I never expected. It's become a bit of a healing process.
As creatives, we're made to give away what we have. But sometimes, especially when there's a demand, we can be tempted to dig deeper and deeper within ourselves to satisfy that demand. At first, you give away your best stuff: the cream of your crop. This is the stuff we're meant to give. This is the stuff we're proud of. When that runs out, you give your good stuff, your OK stuff, and your not-so-good stuff. Finally, you can start digging into the container itself and actually start giving parts of yourself away. The problem is that if you give too much of yourself away, you wake up one morning to discover that you've scraped the bottom of the barrel one too many times and now there's a leak. You look like yourself but there's no substance left – you feel as though you've become a bit of a ghost.
I knew something was wrong, but I didn't realize I was leaking until I tried to write a song. For weeks I came up from my office each day with almost nothing. When I showed my wife what I did have, she wanted to know why I'd written myself out of my songs: why didn't I use the terms "I" and "me" anymore (and hadn't for years actually). I realized the reason "I" wasn't in my songs anymore was because I wasn't in my songs. I had nothing to say. My well was a sandbox. I was dry as a bone. Real music comes from real life, and I didn't have much of one anymore. I'd become consumed with keeping a machine running so that I could keep the budget flush. I became involved in a process that I'd seen a hundred times. The business that is created to support a vision begins to drive the vision itself. This is when things start to feel plastic and disingenuous. This is when things start to suck. This is when I check out.
I realized the only way I was going to be able to live with myself and keep doing what I loved was to start from scratch and piece things back together one by one. This would prove to be a slow, painful process. So in the meantime, I thought it would be a great idea to rerelease my album from 2005: "The Song Inside The Sounds of Breaking Down."
We tracked most of this album in a 100-year-old wood shop and sold CDs out of my basement until 2008. After I signed with Integrity, the record label wanted to take the album off the market so it could be properly reintroduced to a larger audience (as they later did with "The Medicine," which was also recorded and released independently). Due to a number reasons (all frankly too boring to talk about on this blog), the album was never rereleased. For 4 years, there has hardly been a day that I didn't receive a MySpace message, Facebook post, Tweet, or email about this album. Now that I'm calling the shots again, I figured it would be a nice gesture to give all these people what they've been asking for for so long. (Plus we re-mixed it to make it sound the way we dreamed it could've sounded in 2005, and we added some extra stuff that I've wanted to put out for a while.)
The funny thing is, I thought I was rereleasing this album to give my new friends a chance to hear where our journey began (and kill some time while I figured out who I was again). But in the process, it also reminded me where and why I began. While I could still hear some of the immaturity in my writing from those days, there were moments that seemed to be perfectly relevant to where I am right now.
"Son of David, don't pass me by…Cause I'm naked, I'm poor and I'm blind" – Closer
"You and I meet on the shores of the broken…You swallow the ocean and I swallow my pride" – Ashes and Flames
"This body is a hole…My flesh one shallow grave…I am six feet below myself…And at my best I still deserve to die…But I'll be glorified in this ridiculous mess"- Setting Suns
"For the chance that I could know you now…I would bury my pride in the ground…Cause if I'm running then I don't know how …I'm ever gonna get back home" – Make You Move
"All of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory…And I realize just how beautiful you are and how great your affections are for me" – How He Loves
I've sung that line so many times that I forgot I wrote it. "How He Loves" was originally recorded on this album and it contains a 3rd verse that I don't do live. The song never really fit on "The Medicine." It was meant for this album. Most of these songs, like "How He Loves," were written from a place of being seriously "broke down." Wading through the ashes of yesterday but willing to move on. Knowing a little more about what lasts and what doesn't. A little better at differentiating between what's real and what's smoke. A little beat up but a lot wiser.
I'm technically a better writer now, but these are exactly the kinds of songs my heart needs to sing today. I hope they do something for your heart too. I'm glad you finally get to hear them.
To purchase a copy of The Song Inside The Sounds of Breaking Down Deluxe Reissue :: Remixed and Remastered or for fall tour date information please visit John Mark's website www.thejohnmark.com


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We'll Have No Whining or Sniveling…. Ah Really?
Well perhaps a little as everyone is entitled to a rant now and then. Why I believe I may even have posted one..or two..no just one …I think.
Assuming whining and sniveling gives us a chance to vent then I can only assume it then leads to a) feeling better b) the opportunity to perhaps diagnose the itch stuck in our craw, if that is where itches of this nature reside and c) do something about it.
As long as the W&S is not of the woe is me sort then it seems to be of a useful purpose or at least a non-malignant one. I believe that dipping into that pool of negativity too often can poison our creativity. Or at least mine.
Unless you are Rodney Dangerfield whose tales of woe brought chuckles combined with a few winces it is difficult to achieve satisfactory humor.
Occasionally folks will post a W&S on not getting Freshly Pressed and it is good to get that out of their systems so they can get back to writing their truly enjoyable blogs.
The nice thing about blogging is giving free expression to our thoughts, which come to think about it can be of a W&S nature and still be very entertaining. Nuts..I just shot down my whole premise.
Well I will just go on reading y'all if you just keep on writing!

subset: commoncrawl


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Manage Your Blog from Your Live Site
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Design a Stunning Blog
Your Wix Blog comes with 8 beautiful layouts to choose from. Whether you prefer a trendy postcard look or you're going for a more editorial style blog - there's something stunning for everyone. From your blog's settings, choose a layout for your blog feed that suits your style. For example, a tiled layout is popular for helping visitors easily discover more posts that interest them. Or, choose a classic single column layout that lets readers scroll down and see your post topi
Blog on the Go
With Wix Blog you can do everything from your phone: write posts, follow members, manage comments & more. After you publish simply go to your live site on mobile and log in with with your Wix account. Front row at a fashion show? Just ate the best pasta ever? Tell the world right away! You can post anywhere, anytime from your phone whenever inspiration strikes. Create new posts, edit existing ones, save drafts or publish - you can do it all, even when you're away from your d
Organize Your Blog With Categories
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Rainbow giant cous cous and spring Sussex lamb with mint sauce
A healthy way to enjoy a spring lamb dish with the family on a Sunday


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Next Media Animation (NMA): Inside The Wacky Taiwanese Animation Studio
If the name Next Media Animation, or NMA, doesn't ring a bell, then how about this: crazy Taiwanese animators. Chances are you've come across one of NMA's signature videos.
The animation studio broke out in 2009 with a surprisingly plausible computer-generated reenactment of the Tiger Woods scandal, which quickly went viral and planted a seed. A few months later, NMA set up offices in New York and began tackling global news, one animation at a time.
NMA takes hyperliteral to a new level, casting sports stars, Hollywood celebrities, and global politicians as laughable avatars in a world that resembles -- but does not quite replicate -- planet Earth.
The Taiwanese company succeeds, in part, because it can place a story in a whole new realm as it adapts the concept of parody journalism to the medium of animation.
Media lends itself to exaggerating, NMA head writer Christopher Vespoli told the International Business Times. Not necessarily the facts, but how we present them. We explain and entertain -- and if there is a moral, even better.
Vespoli scours the Internet each day to see what's trending and puts together a lineup. He selects stories that are lacking video footage like reports, case studies, celebrity gossip, or other things that need a visual.
The catalyst for these news animations was, 'Hey, we don't have any footage for this, let's animate it,' Vespoli said. We're taking a different spin or making a point -- broadening our idea of the real stories. If we have a news story like Charlie Sheen ransacking a hotel room, we have accounts of it, but what did that look like? Then again there are stories that there's a lot of video for, but maybe we take an unexpected angle on it.
Unexpected angles seem to be what draws viewers to NMA's work. Its ability to transport the news into an alternative universe where Steve Jobs is actually Darth Vadar and Tim Tebow flies like an angel keeps people wanting more.
NMA thrives on its videos -- where animals, humans, and objects comingle -- exploding across the Internet, becoming one of those You've got to see this! memes that fills inboxes and Facebook walls.
The NMA.tv site also has otherworldly weather girls that dance and tease while the weather for major U.S. cities appears on the screen as an afterthought.
They're highly trained meteorologists with Ph.D.s, Vespoli joked.
The weather girls, along with heavy sports coverage, fit in nicely with NMA's core demographic: males aged 18 to 50.
Writing the action, animation, and accompanying blog post happens in New York. Then, the content is sent to a team of roughly 300 animators in Taiwan. Each night, the company produces about 22 minutes of animation with each video taking about three hours to produce.
If it sounds impossibly fast, that's because it is. Vespoli said there could be anywhere from one to four writers, several storyboard artists, animators, a sound and motion-capture team, and a production manager who oversees the entire process.
There are tons of hands on it. When it leaves New York, the tree arms branch out.
NMA uses body motion-capture animation similar to that seen in films like Avatar or Spider-Man, with actors playing out versions of incidents where no footage exists.
In the world of animated news, NMA has cornered the market. There are plenty of satirical news sites out there like The Onion or programs like The Daily Show (which NMA collaborated with for a spoof on the Royal Wedding), but nobody else is animating the news to the degree Next Media is.
We're playing in the same space, but it's not really a competition, Vespoli said. I don't think there is a company out there doing quite what we're doing.
And people are taking notice. Next Media Animation produces original content for the likes of Spike TV, and it has built an international cult following with its string of increasingly surreal viral hits.
Mark Gongloff at the Wall Street Journal said: You know you have made it in the world today when you are immortalized in Taiwanese animation.
Next Media Animation has invented a new cartoon genre -- fantasy news for when the truth isn't out there, Richard Vine of The Guardian noted, while Andrew Leonard of Salon claimed, Cyberpunk tabloid journalism comes of age.
According to NMA's marketing rep Jenna Manula, its videos get, on average, roughly 1 million views a day -- no small feat for a company that started in the second half of 2009. It has a presence in 156 countries, although the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia remain the focal points outside of Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The animation studio is an offshoot of the Next Media organization, a giant pan-Asian company started in Hong Kong by Jimmy Lai. It's the largest publicly listed Chinese-language print media company and has always enjoyed blending entertainment and news.
What many people don't know is that Next Media has a more serious branch of hard-news animation called News Direct.
You see animation and you think it's just a cartoon, so that's the big hurdle we face in the West, Vespoli said. We hope to convince people that animation has a part in news sites. That's the heart of News Direct.
The goal for the future is to open people up to the medium of animation, he added. There is a stigma in the West that isn't there in Asia, so we want to break through and break that open.
While the hard news hasn't quite captured the public's imagination like the satire, the idea of watching animated news becomes less and less odd with each fanciful recreation from NMA.
What we get on TV is always the last bit of image, founder Lai said in an interview last year. What happened before that image is always missing.
Be it dancing condoms, rapping pandas, or saber-swinging moguls, NMA will be there to fill in the gaps.
Here's a look at five of NMA's most popular videos:
© Copyright IBTimes 2023. All rights reserved.


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My grandfather has lived through the deaths of nearly everybody he'e ever known over the years. He turns 80 years old this July.
We often chat about this very topic over vodka and tonic each time he makes his annual trip south to pay me a visit. I've come to terms with the reality that I'll be sitting in his seat decades from now sharing similar stories.
If it's not the recent passing of pop culture figures I've grown up with in some form or fashion, such as David Bowie or Prince, it's the moms and dads of friends who've been laying to rest for the final time over the past few months.


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Is Social Media to Blame for the Rise in Narcissism?
We're living in an increasingly narcissistic society.
Posted November 29, 2012 | Reviewed by Abigail Fagan
Studies are now showing what many of you may have suspected: We are living in an increasingly narcissistic society.
In a world where primetime television is dominated by a "reality" as false as the Kardashians' lashes, and people sit across dinner tables checking in on Facebook rather than having face-to-face conversations, this may not come as a surprise.
Much has been written about the rise of narcissism amongst millennials, the generation born in the 1980s and 1990s, a generation controversially dubbed "Generation Me" by Professor Jean M. Twenge in 2007. In her most recent work, The Narcissistic Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, Twenge (along with W. Keith Campbell) explains: "In data from 37,000 college students, narcissistic personality traits rose just as fast as obesity from the 1980s to the present." The comparison to obesity suggests that narcissism is another epidemic in America.
Perhaps more troubling, a handful of new studies comparing traits and life goals of young people in high school and college today with those of Gen-Xers and baby boomers at the same age, show an increase in extrinsic values rather than intrinsic values. Millennials are more likely to value money, image, and fame over community, affiliation, and self-acceptance.
So who's to blame for this generational increase in narcissism?
Can we pin the tail on Mark Zuckerberg and the advent of Facebook? Over the last couple of years, a plethora of research has been pouring in that makes connections between Facebook and narcissism. Studies are consistently finding that people who score higher on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory questionnaire tend to have more friends on Facebook, tag themselves more often in photos, and update their statuses more frequently. According to Laura Buffadi, a postdoctoral researcher at the Universidad de Dueto in Bilbao, Spain, "Narcissists use Facebook and other social networking sites because they believe others are interested in what they're doing, and they want others to know what they are doing."
In general, social media websites encourage self-promotion, as users generate all of the content. W. Keith Campbell explains that people often utilize Facebook "to look important, look special, and to gain attention and status and self-esteem." The trouble with this aspect of social networking is that nearly everyone presents an unrealistic portrait of themselves. Just as people select the most attractive photos of themselves to use as profile pictures, they tend to populate their newsfeeds with the most attractive bits of news about themselves.
Of course, this is not always the case, but the unrealistically sunny picture that so many social networkers paint can have a negative psychological effect on their friends or followers. Recent studies of undergraduates across the country have shown that "students who were more involved with Facebook were more likely to think other people's lives were happier and better." These heavy Facebook users were also more likely to negatively compare themselves to others and feel worse about themselves.
While Facebook is certainly a platform for narcissists, it is a mistake to assume that Facebook alone has caused this spike in narcissism. As researcher Shawn Bergman pointed out, "There is a significant amount of psychological research that shows that one's personality is fairly well-established by age 7." Given that Facebook's policy doesn't allow users to register until age 13, "the personality traits of typical users are fairly well-ingrained by the time they get on a social network."
The truth is the rise in narcissism among millennials may have less to do with our social networks online and more to do with our social networks at home. Throughout the last few decades, there has been an increase in parental coddling and the so-called "self-esteem" movement. Parents and teachers trying to instill a healthy sense of self-esteem in children by praising them lavishly often do more harm than good. In fact, studies show that children offered compliments for a skill they have not mastered or talents that they do not have are left feeling emptier and more insecure. Only when children are praised for real accomplishments are they able to build real self-esteem.
I have written previously about the fundamental differences of self-esteem vs. narcissism:
Self-esteem differs from narcissism in that it represents an attitude built on accomplishments we've mastered, values we've adhered to, and care we've shown toward others. Narcissism, conversely, is often based on a fear of failure or weakness, a focus on one's self, an unhealthy drive to be seen as the best, and a deep-seated insecurity and underlying feeling of inadequacy.
Narcissism Essential Reads
It is important to understand that narcissism stems from underlying feelings of inadequacy. Many children of the millennial generation were given form rather than substance, presents instead of presence, which leaves children feeling insecure. Empty praise causes children to feel entitled while lacking the true confidence necessary to feel good about themselves. Our society's shift towards instant gratification appears to be having a negative effect on our kids.
In our recent book The Self Under Siege, my father Dr. Robert Firestone and I write about the importance of parents encouraging their children to have a true sense of self. In order for children to feel secure and confident in themselves, it is essential for parents to distinguish emotional hunger from real love. Real parental love includes warmth, affection, and attunement to a child's needs, as well as offering the child guidance, direction, and control when appropriate. This type of love helps children develop real self-esteem rather than narcissistic personality traits.
While it is certain that online forms of communication and social networks do affect an individual's mental health, the solution to fostering a less narcissistic generation is to instill a healthy sense of true esteem offline before anyone is old enough to post their first status update. Only by being less self-obsessed and placing more value on personal relating can we impart these values to the next generation.
Read more from Dr. Lisa Firestone at PsychAlive.org.


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MED Prof Earns Drucker Award
Brian Jack redesigned hospital discharge procedures
The problem first came to Brian Jack's attention 10 years ago. The School of Medicine professor and chair of family medicine noticed that patients at Boston Medical Center (BMC), like patients at most hospitals, were leaving without a good understanding of how to care for themselves in the short term. Jack started to track the amount of time that nurses and doctors spent with patients before sending them home. The average was five minutes.
"Patients in the hospital are not at the top of their cognitive game," says Jack, explaining that sick, feverish, or sleep-deprived people are unlikely to comprehend first-time instructions about prescriptions or at-home care procedures.
Jack and his team found that nearly a third of patients experienced a medical setback after going home, and that one in five returned to the hospital within 30 days. That's when the team started brainstorming solutions and identified 11 areas that must be covered during each discharge—steps like making appointments for follow-up care, identifying and creating a plan for prescriptions, and educating patients about their diagnoses. That list formed the foundation of Project RED (Reengineered Discharge), a practice that has been shown to lower the rate of returns to the hospital in the month after discharge by 30 percent.
It also led, this fall, to Jack earning the Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation, a respected prize that has been given annually since 1991 to recognize existing programs that meet famous business guru Drucker's definition of innovation—"change that creates a new dimension of performance."
This year, 864 nonprofits applied for the award. Boston Medical Center officials nominated Jack's Project RED, and it won the top prize of $100,000, which he will accept on behalf of BMC at in a November ceremony in Vienna, Austria.
"Project RED is an example of the innovative work we do here to provide safe, effective care to the whole patient," says Kate Walsh, BMC president and CEO. "I am extremely proud of Dr. Jack, and the Project RED team, and pleased to see them honored with the Drucker Award for this creative approach to decreasing hospital readmissions."
These days, before leaving BMC, patients are given a personalized package of information, with details about prescriptions and follow-up appointments, exams, or stress tests color-coded on a calendar. The plan, Jack says, reads like a comic book, with big font sizes, multiple colors, and plenty of icons.
Initially, nurses were responsible for going over each part of the plan with patients, but after they found it was too time-consuming, Jack and Timothy Bickmore, a Northeastern University associate professor of computer and information science, designed a computer program with a virtual patient advocate named Louise, who methodically explains the plan to patients at the end of their hospital stay.
Critics might scoff at Louise's unpolished animation, but, Jack says, the point isn't to entertain. "Every time she talks to a patient, it's about their unique tailored information," he says. "Louise is still four to five years ahead of her time. That really is the future of health care."
And that future may have lower system-wide costs. A randomized trial performed in 2009 with 749 patients found a 30 percent lower rate of hospital use in the Project RED intervention group compared to those receiving the usual care one month after a patient's discharge. One readmission or ER visit was prevented for every seven RED participants. According to Jack's estimates, if readmission rates can be lowered from the current 20 percent to 15 percent over five years, that would save Medicare $17 billion and the private sector another $17 billion.
Project RED developed "at the right place, at the right time" in terms of federal public policy, Jack says. President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010, emphasizes efficiency, reducing hospital readmission rates, and increasing the quality of care and patient safety. Federal agencies are now pushing Project RED as an example among the top 10 best practices for reducing cost while maintaining quality, and Jack estimates that at least 500 hospitals have adopted his team's new discharge procedure so far.
"Many health care institutions are now studying and implementing Dr. Jack's Project RED strategies," says Karen Antman, MED dean and Medical Campus provost. "Clearly, reengineering discharge planning to keep patients safe is key to their recovery and to prevent unneeded readmissions."
While Jack relishes the national attention and awards Project RED has received, he has other things on his mind—like learning how to waltz and finding something to wear to a formal ball in Vienna.


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Story highlights
Forces go door to door in Hama telling people to evacuate before demolition begins, residents say
Bulldozers have razed 120 buildings and remain active in the area, a resident says
The district, which once had 30,000 people, was a hotbed for "peaceful and militant" opposition
The razings and intimidation of residents have "only fueled more anger," the resident adds
Syrian forces are uprooting thousands of people and then demolishing their homes in part of a flashpoint city that has been the center of an anti-government rebellion, according to residents there.
Tanks and bulldozers have been tearing down houses in the Mesha Alarbeen district of the city of Hama, the site of intense fighting during an uprising against the Syrian government.
The displacement and demolition has conjured fears of something that happened in the western city 30 years ago.
The Hama Massacre of 1982 is fresh in the minds of Syrians. Acting under orders from Hafez Assad – the father of the current Syrian president – the Syrian military brutally suppressed a revolt in Hama. Estimates of the number of casualties vary from 3,000 to 40,000. A 1983 Amnesty International report put the death toll on both sides as between 10,000 and 25,000.
Read more: Syrian children's horror stories released
Once again, Hama is a stronghold of anti-government activists who have roiled the country for the past 18 months. Security forces rolled in with tanks and bulldozers.
"So far they have razed 120 buildings," Osamah, a Hama resident who visited the neighborhood on Sunday, told CNN.
The neighborhood had been "the main gathering place" for those "peaceful and militant" who oppose President Bashar al-Assad's government, according to Osamah.
That is until last June, when the security forces decided to enter the district and completely take it over, several activists said.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported a "massive presence of terrorist armed gangs that threaten" the people of Hama. Other SANA articles referenced how security forces had found large amounts of weapons in the area.
Read more: Fresh attacks, but few answers in Syria
The government has consistently referred to anti-government forces as terrorists.
"The security forces started using artillery fire to shell several positions in the neighborhood," Abdallah – another resident – told CNN from Meshaa Alarbaeen.
"Some of the poorest people live here. The security forces targeted their homes indiscriminately. They really tried to make life impossible for the residents."
Read more: Syria explained: What you need to know
A few weeks ago, security forces allowed the bulldozers to enter the district.
Several amateur videos purportedly shot over the past two weeks support the activists' claims. They show bulldozers flattening entire blocks while operating under the watchful eyes of security forces.
Eyewitnesses said security force members have been going building-to-building asking people to evacuate their homes.
"Most of the residents have left their homes. The majority of them went to neighboring areas in the province. Some are still sleeping in the streets, and only a few of them remain in their homes," Abdallah said.
Another resident reached by phone Sunday said she's been living on the street, along with her two kids, for five days after her husband was detained by authorities and her home was burned. She did not want to be named for safety reasons.
Read more: Syrian novelist pens 100 days of horror
Some Shabiha – gangs loyal to the regime – resort to other extreme tactics to intimidate those who do not want to leave their homes.
"A few days ago, a regime loyalist gang stormed one of the activists' homes and brought out his wife, undressed her and made her stand on tank as it drove through the neighborhood," Khaled, an eyewitness told CNN.
Residents said the anti-government sentiment is only growing, even after the razing of homes and intimidation of residents.
"The government wants to deny the activists popular support through leveling Meshaa Alarbaeen," Osamah said. "But this incident has only fueled more anger here."


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Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
What is non-Hodgkin lymphoma?
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is a cancer in the lymphatic system. The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be about 70,000 new cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2013. Although NHL is among the most common cancers in childhood, more than 95 percent of cases occur in adults.
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma causes the cells in the lymphatic system to abnormally reproduce, eventually causing tumors to grow. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma cells can also spread to other organs.
There are several types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which are classified by what types of cells they start in and how quickly they spread.
What are the symptoms of non-Hodgkin lymphoma?
The following are the most common symptoms of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. However, symptoms can vary depending on where the lymphoma starts and what type it is, so each individual may experience symptoms differently. Symptoms may include:
Painless swelling of lymph nodes in neck, underarm, and/or groin
Night sweats
Weight loss
Itching of the skin
Recurring infections
Swelling in the abdomen
Swelling in the face and arms
Cough or shortness of breath
The symptoms of non-Hodgkin lymphoma may resemble other blood disorders or medical problems, such as influenza or other infections. In fact, many of these symptoms are more likely to be caused by something other than lymphoma. Always consult your doctor for a diagnosis.
What are the risk factors for non-Hodgkin lymphomas?
Suggested risk factors for non-Hodgkin lymphomas include the following:
Older age
Male gender
Immune system deficiency
Autoimmune diseases
Exposure to radiation
Exposure to chemicals such as benzene and herbicides
Organ transplantation
Infections with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus, or human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus (HTLV-1)
History of infectious mononucleosis (caused by an infection with the Epstein-Barr virus)
Infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacterium, which has been identified as a cause of stomach ulcers
How is non-Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosed?
In addition to a complete medical history and physical examination, diagnostic procedures for non-Hodgkin lymphoma may include the following:
Blood tests and other evaluation procedures
Lymph node biopsy. A procedure performed to remove tissue or cells from lymph nodes in the body for examination under a microscope. This test is needed to confirm a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Bone marrow aspiration and/or biopsy. A procedure that involves taking a small amount of bone marrow fluid (aspiration) and/or solid bone marrow tissue (called a core biopsy), usually from the hip bones, to be examined for the number, size, and maturity of blood cells and/or abnormal cells. This test may be done to see if the lymphoma has reached the bone marrow.
X-ray of the chest. A diagnostic test that uses invisible electromagnetic energy beams to produce images of internal tissues, bones, and organs onto film. This test is sometimes done to see if the lymphoma has spread to lymph nodes in the chest.
Computed tomography scan (also called a CT or CAT scan). A diagnostic imaging procedure that uses a combination of X-rays and computer technology to produce images (often called slices) of the body. A CT scan shows detailed images of any part of the body, including the bones, muscles, fat, and organs. CT scans are more detailed than general X-rays.
Magnetic resonance imaging (also called MRI). MRIs use radio waves and magnets. The energy from the radio waves creates patterns formed by different types of tissue and diseases. This produces detailed cross-sectional pictures that look like slices of the body. This test is helpful in examining your brain and spinal cord. Or, it may be used if the results of an X-ray or CT scan aren't entirely clear.
Ultrasound (also called sonography). A diagnostic imaging technique which uses high-frequency sound waves and a computer to create images of blood vessels, tissues, and organs. Ultrasounds are used to view internal organs as they function, and to assess blood flow through various vessels.
Positron emission tomography (PET). A type of nuclear medicine procedure. For this test, you get injected with a small amount of radioactive glucose. Then you lie still on a table that is pushed into the PET scanner, which rotates around you, taking pictures. Glucose use is a sign of active, quickly dividing cells, such as lymphoma. The images from a PET scan are not finely detailed like a CT or a MRI scan, but they can show areas of increased cellular activity anywhere in the body, even if they don't show up on other tests. Many medical centers now have machines that combine PET and CT scans (PET/CT scanners), which are able to compare the information from the PET scan with the detailed image of the CT scan.
Treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma
Specific treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma will be determined by your doctor based on:
Your age, overall health, and medical history
The type, location, and extent of the disease
Your tolerance for specific medications, procedures, or therapies
Expectations for the course of the disease
Your opinion or preference
Treatment may include:
Radiation therapy
Biologic (immune) therapy
Careful monitoring without active treatment until the lymphoma causes symptoms (for some slow-growing lymphomas)
High-dose chemotherapy with stem cell transplantation


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This weekend I bought new headphones for my iPhone at Mikey's Hook Up, one of our local computer stores here in Williamsburg. Everything was good until I saw their absolutely outrageous returns policy in their receipt.
Click to viewYou have to give them an oatmeal raisin cookie with no frosting for a return? Are they out of their fucking mind? Has the world gone completely bonkers and I didn't get the memo?
Stupid, stupid people. Everybody knows that oatmeal raisin cookies are way better with lemon-vanilla frosting. Oh, the infamy.


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I recently traveled to Europe to present at a few conferences. The Slovenia Oracle User Group (SIOUG) conducted an Oracle conference in Portoroz, a port city in Adriatic Sea.
Thanks to my friend Joze Senegacnik, I had wonderful time in Slovenia. We also visited the city of Venice while we were there. Of course, we all knew that Venice is the city of bridges—over a hundred small islands connected by bridges. But visiting Venice in person had a dramatic effect on us. We were mesmerized by the beauty, culture, and architecture, in particular the Basilica of St.Mark. Venice is indeed the Queen of the Adriatic.
Back to reality. I presented a few papers for the Dallas Oracle Users Group (DOUG) for their October tech meeting too. All these papers can be accessed following these links:
1. Performance specific new features in 11g
2. Battle of the nodes: RAC Performance myths
3. Cost Based Query Transformations
4. Performance tuning: Scientific approach to bottleneck identification
Also, if you are planning to attend the UKOUG Conference & Exhibition in December, please attend my presentation on "Cost based query transformation" on Thursday of that week.


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|Departure from Girona
|Arrival to Barcelona airport BCN
All departures leave from Girona´s central bus station, which is located next to the train station. The service operates all year around, except for 24, 26, 31 December and 1 January.
Girona bus station is well connected to the all the main towns in Girona province, such as Figueres, Roses and Lloret de Mar, as well as Barcelona airport.
Passengers should arrive at the airport for check-in at least 1 hour before their departure time. The bus company accepts no responsibility for failure to do so.
Girona Airport's official name is Girona Costa-Brava airport, but it is also known as Barcelona Girona Airport (GRO) and Gerona Airport (Spanish spelling).


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Tune in Thursday, May 8, at 6 p.m. EST, for Knockout Radio LIVE with TUF 19 fight winner Dhiego Lima and TUF 19 correspondent Mike King.
As always, Knockout Radio has the best giveaways, prizes, surprises, and celebrity guests!
The phone lines will be open from 6 to 8 p.m. EST on our NEW call-in number: 888-69-BUBBA (888-692-8222).
The radio show player goes live below from 6 to 8 p.m. EST. Refresh the page at that time to load the player.
Be sure to Follow @KnockoutRadio on Twitter.
Log-in to the chat room if you want to comment…
video chat provided by Tinychat


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Yes, Columbus didn't really discover anything, because there were already millions of people in America. Yes, others from Europe had been here before him.
And yes, he promoted slavery and thought there was nothing wrong with killing the natives and taking their land — But so did just about everyone back then.
Whenever we judge those in the past, I think it's important to look at them in relationship to their times. Those who were ahead of their time deserve much more respect than those who may have done great things in their time but did nothing to advance humanity in any way.
We must realize that taking over the natives and controlling them was how things were done. Europe held vast parts of Africa, India, and the east under their control, where the "sun never set" on their empire. That in no way makes it right.
Columbus was a product of his time. It's not like he said, "Let's exploit this new place I found and subjugate the natives," and then everyone said, "That's a terrible, evil idea!" No, they all said, "Hey, great! Just like we did to the natives in the Congo. More stuff for us!"
Slavery was a part of the history of the world for thousands of years before Columbus. He didn't invent it. The ancient Greeks, with their democracy and philosophy, thought that enslaving those conquered in wars of expansion was perfectly fine. The Bible has rules about slavery and those rules aren't "slavery is bad."
We can't hold everyone to today's standards. Jefferson and Washington, who proudly grace Mount Rushmore, had slaves. Lincoln would never have agreed to give women the right to vote. Do you think Teddy Roosevelt would have supported gay marriage?
Society advances. There were people who disagreed with Jefferson and Washington about slavery (notably Franklin and Adams). There were people in Lincoln's time who even advocated for woman's suffrage. There are always people ahead of the majority, pushing to make the world a better place.
Maybe in the future we will have provided some rights to dolphins and whales. Or maybe there will some other new right we haven't even considered today. I certainly wouldn't want someone 500 years from now calling us all evil and terrible for treating them so poorly.
Columbus is important not because he "discovered" a place where people already existed and had been visited by Europeans long before him. He is important because his "discovery" was a big turning point in the history of the world, for better or worse.
So when you judge Columbus, keep these thoughts in mind. So let's use Columbus Day not as a celebration of the subjugation of natives, but instead as a day to think about how far we've come and what roads lie ahead. Let's treat it as a day of contemplation, like Veteran's Day is supposed to be, where we learn from our mistakes.


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Regardless of what you believe or how you choose to celebrate, taking a moment once a year to take stock and say thanks is a wonderful thing. And after spending the last few months caring for a sick family member, it's a good time for me to reflect on the wonderful things in my life.
I'm thankful for…
1) All the projects I've been able to draft, revise, and complete (in some cases all three!) especially since my writing time of late has been drastically reduced. I've started or completed five short stories, and tinkered with a few more that haven't found homes. My short stories routinely make it to the second round at markets, which has built up my confidence in my work even though it doesn't always translate into sales.
2) The fact my story "Resonance" found a home in The Future Embodied anthology. Should be out sometime next year, and I can't wait!
3) My growing community of writers. I went to Worldcon this year and was thrilled to catch up with some of my friends from Taos Toolbox and meet new ones. I also just got back from Paradise Icon, a neo-pro writing workshop in Cedar Rapids (which you can read more about here), where I met more talented writers. The workshop was a great break from my caregiving obligations and provided me with some much-needed inspiration. If you are looking to expand your own community of writers, applications to the 2014 Taos Toolbox workshop open December 1st.
4) That my latest novel project will be in this year's Baker's Dozen Auction on the Miss Snark's First Victim's blog. Cross your fingers for me and see if you can guess which entry is mine!
5) My husband for supporting me in everything I do.
What are you thankful for this year? Happy Thanksgiving!


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Sunday, 03 February 2013 12:24 PM EST
Cameron has pledged his personal support for a gay marriage bill but many in his party and among his legislators oppose it on moral grounds and say the government has no mandate to push it through parliament.
As the bill is supported by Britain's two other main parties, opposition Labour and Conservative coalition partners the Liberal Democrats, it is in no danger of being defeated.
But a letter signed by 25 past and present chairmen of local Conservative associations was handed in to Cameron's Downing Street residence on Sunday afternoon by six of the signatories.
"We feel very strongly that the decision to bring this bill before parliament has been made without adequate debate or consultation with either the membership of the Conservative Party or with the country at large," the letter said.
It added: "Resignations from the party are beginning to multiply and we fear that, if enacted, this bill will lead to significant damage to the Conservative Party in the run-up to the 2015 election."
One Conservative association leader, Geoffrey Vero, said Cameron should have taken the issue more slowly.
"I think a number of Conservative supporters and voters will sit on their hands on the issue and that may well seriously affect David's opportunity to get re-elected in 2015," he told Sky TV. "We think that is a dangerous risk to take with your core supporters."
The proposals, due to come into effect in England and Wales in 2014, will also allow civil partners to convert their partnership to a marriage and enable married people to change their legal gender without having to end their union.
Usual rules requiring loyalty to the party line have been lifted for Tuesday's so-called "free" vote and political analysts say as many as half of the 303 Conservative MPs might vote against the bill or abstain.
The issue has sparked heated debate in Britain, particularly among faith groups, but 55 percent of British people support same-sex marriage, according to a YouGov poll in December.
YouGov President Peter Kellner said he did not believe gay marriage would figure prominently in the next election.
"It's not a big issue for the public but it could hit the reputation of the Conservative Party," he told BBC radio. "Cameron is signaling the modernity of the Conservatives but the public will see a divided party."
Gay marriage supporters say that while the existing civil partnerships for same-sex couples give the same legal rights as marriage, the distinction implies that they are inferior.
Cameron himself said two months ago: "I'm a massive supporter of marriage and I don't want gay people to be excluded from a great institution."
But the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches are both strongly opposed and the bill will not force them to conduct gay marriages.
Other religious groups, such as Quakers and liberal Jewish groups, could choose to marry gays, but under the proposals no individual minister would be compelled to wed a same-sex couple.
After the expected approval in the Commons on Tuesday, the bill will move to parliament's upper house, the House of Lords, which is expected to vote on it in May before the bill returns to the Commons for a second vote.
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- This event has passed.
Calgary Immigrant Women's Association (CIWA)
December 14, 2022 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Located at 200 138 4 Ave SE, CIWA partners with CLG to provide legal advice in Family and Immigration Law.
This clinic runs the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Wednesday of the month.
Call CIWA at 403-263-4414 to book an appointment.


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Dirty Jobs: Someone's got to clean up animal feces
Andrea Battin, zookeeper at Scidmore Park in Three Rivers, dirties her hands on a daily basis in an effort to ensure petting zoo customers have a quality experience.
The 25-year-old Michigan State graduate begins her day at 8 a.m. every day.
"I have to have all the animals fed and brushed before the customers arrive," Battin said. The petting zoo opens at noon.
Feeding and brushing the animals is a small portion of her preparations: Much of her morning is consumed by removing feces from the animals' living quarters.
With so many animals, cleaning feces becomes an integral part of the job.
Because the park offers pony rides, the living quarters inhabited by two ponies and two donkeys is cleaned every day before the visitors arrive.
And, as you can imagine, a barn inhabited by goats, sheep, an emu and a pig can become quite dirty.
In addition to shoveling the barn, Battin has to remove cobwebs from the barn ceiling and haul hay.
Scidmore Park is also inhabited by two white foxes whose cage has to be swept, poop-scooped and cleaned with bleach and water twice a week.
The white foxes also have a den that has to be cleaned. To do so, Battin must army crawl into the den with her shovel.
The bird cages are spot cleaned once per week and cleaned with bleach every other week.
The reptile cages are cleaned every week, and their feeding bowls are washed every day.
Battin also cleans algae. There are several connected ponds next to the park that accumulate algae, and it is Battin's job to stir it up.
But the job isn't just dirty -- it can be dangerous. Battin said she has been attacked by every animal at the zoo at least once.
Even though Battin's job has dirty components, her passion for the animals is unwavering, and she currently is expanding and improving the habitats of the white foxes and a bobcat.
Sturgis (Mich.) Journal


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The cocktail boom of recent years has us all reexamining ice, abandoning those cloudy crescents from the fridge for chunks that look like the Hope diamond and drive up the price of your drink accordingly. Ice is an ingredient as important to cocktails as fresh fruit juice or quality liquor, but have you ever wondered how it ended up in your drink in the first place?
In the early years of the Republic, many drinks were served hot, a holdover from British drinking culture that used warm beverages to ward off damp chills. This tradition held even in America's muggy summer heat, under the logic that warm drinks produced sweat that drew heat from the body. But like many of the cultural notions transplanted from Europe to America, the cocktail was entirely reinvented when America decided to put it on ice.
Ice in the young nation was kept year round in icehouses, but availability was often limited to the wealthy, particularly in warmer southern states. This all changed, however, when Boston businessman Frederic 'The Ice King' Tudor revolutionized the ice trade starting in 1806 after his brother remarked that they could probably make a lot of money by shipping ice from Massachusetts lakes and ponds to the Caribbean. Tudor's early attempts to cash in were disastrous—he suffered huge financial losses when much of the ice melted during the voyage (it does that in warm weather). Besides that, potential customers didn't really know what to do with the frozen stuff.
Tudor solved the first problem by packing his ice better and insulating it with sawdust, and by the 1830s he was selling ice in places as distant as India. He solved the second problem—demand from customers—with cocktails. Tudor's initial customers bought ice to preserve food and medicine, but he later branched out by selling ice to cafes and wealthy households so they could chill their drinks.
Shrewdly, Tudor gave away his first shipments for free, enticing customers with the novelty of slushy relief from the sun's glaring heat with cocktails such as the Smash. Not unlike a perverse ice-cream man building a customer base by handing out crack-laced sno-cones, Tudor started charging for the ice once people were hooked and he had built a monopoly in areas where he controlled the icehouses (and had paid off local officials.) Once people had tried icy-cold drinks, they could never be presented with them warm again, Tudor wrote.
Over the course of the 1800s, iced drinks caught on as technical improvements for harvesting, shipping, and storing ice brought its cost down and made it more widely available. America's booming frozen-water trade supplied ice to the world as it refined the formula for turning extravagant luxuries into necessities. Alongside slushy cocktails, Americans also developed a taste for ice cream, and German immigrants were able to make lager beer (which is fermented and conditioned at lower temperatures) all year long. The ice trade also transformed Tudor into one of America's earliest millionaires.
Tudor died in 1864, but a glimpse of the ice he helped make available to normal folk was offered in 1862, on the eve of the Gilded Age that saw American industry build cities to the sky and bring the national expanse together with railroads. That year famed bartender Jerry Thomas published The Bartenders Guide, which put into words for the first time many of the recipes for America's cocktails. Some were simple and others were extravagant, calling for fresh fruit and other ingredients that weren't always easy to obtain. But regardless of hard-to-find ingredients, the majority of the recipes called for ice.


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It's no secret that we're big fans ofVictoria JusticeSeventeenVictoriousVictoriaSeventeen
over here at . She's bubbly, fun, smart — and don't forget — majorly talented. We're going to get to see a little bit more of that talent next week, when the soundtrack comes out on August 2. sat down with to spill about everything from the music to her crush on — surprise! — a best friend's brother.
17: What's your favorite song on the soundtrack?
Victoria Justice: It's probably between "Freak the Freak Out" and "Best Friend's Brother", which is a song that I actually wrote for the show.
More From Seventeen
17: What's the story behind "Best Friend's Brother" — did you ever have a crush on a friend's brother?
VJ: When I was around 14 years old, in 8th grade, I had this crush on my best friend's brother. He was two years older than me. It was one of those things where I would go over her house and we would all play Halo 2 together and go swimming in the pool and stuff. I think we both had little crushes on each other, but it never went anywhere. If it had, it would have been really weird. I wouldn't have been willing to risk my friendship for dating her brother. Friendship is always more important.
17: Do you ever get nervous before you perform?
VJ: I definitely still get a little stressed out and nervous. There's a lot of pressure going on stage in front of all these people. It really is crazy though, because as soon as I get on stage in front of the crowd all of that goes out the window and all I care about is having fun and entertaining the crowd, and making sure they have a good time.
17: What do you do before you get out there, to calm your nerves?
VJ: I like to just chill and collect my thoughts and conserve my energy. That way when I finally have to get out there and perform I have a burst of energy. I just hang out backstage and breathe a lot.
Can't wait for the soundtrack? Listen to "Best Friend's Brother" here!
What's your favorite song from Victorious? Sound off in the comments!


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We'll Keep the Red Flag Flying
There is a flag flying over Washington and it's no longer the stars and stripes, but the same red flag that flies over Chicago. It's the red flag under whose shade misery and tyranny spreads while the band strikes up the same anthem over and over again. "Happy days are here again."
By Daniel Greenfield at Sultan Knish
Ever since FDR made it his campaign song in 1932 while running for office during the Great Depression, the unofficial anthem of the Democratic Party has been that Tin Pan Alley classic, "Happy Days are Here Again." But no matter how often the old Victor spun, it would not be until well after Roosevelt's death that happy days would be here again
Like Hope and Change, Happy Days are Here Again was a blandly optimistic and non-specific promise that good times were coming. Someday the happy days would arrive, an appropriate enough sentiment for a song whose pivotal moment came in the movie "Chasing Rainbows" where it was sung to reassure a cuckolded husband who is threatening to kill himself. And in an even more appropriate bit of symbolism, the actual movie footage of that moment is as lost as the happy times.
No matter how often the Democratic Party cheats on the American people, it can always break out a new rendition of "Happy Days are Here Again" to win them back. And even if the happy days never seem to actually arrive, the promise of "So long sad times" and "Howdy gay times" where "your troubles and cares are gone" is always a winner.
While the American Democratic Party may not have an official anthem, the British Labour Party does and its anthem, "The Red Flag" would be entirely appropriate for the new Democratic Party that no longer has anything in common with Thomas Jefferson or Andrew Jackson.
It might be awkward to imagine Harry Reid or Joe Manchin trying to make it through verses like, "The people's flag is deepest red" and the sonorous chorus, "Then raise the scarlet standard high /Within its shade we live and die/Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer/We'll keep the red flag flying here."
They would probably look almost as awkward singing it as Labour Party leader Ed Milliband does, but you could easily imagine Barack Obama and Valerie Jarrett belting it out. And that would be only right because while The Red Flag never gets around to mentioning Manchester, despite its popularity there, it does namecheck two cities. "In Moscow's vaults its hymns were sung/Chicago swells the surging throng."
These days red flag songs, once mandatory, are confined to all sorts of vaults in Moscow. The new Russian anthem is Putin's redress of the old Soviet one, with lyrics by the same composer. And the Soviet National Anthem, that secular hymn, has a familiar pedigree going back to the Anthem of the Bolshevik Party in 1938, which took its melody from "Life is better, Life is fun."
You might be forgiven for thinking that the Bolshevik Party had borrowed its melody from some Moscow musical, but that wasn't the case. "Life is better, Life is fun" was based on a statement by Stalin: "Life has become better, comrades. Life has become more fun." The year was 1935 and while it is impossible to know whether Comrade Stalin had decided to crib from the Democratic campaign of 1932, the theme was the same. So long sad times. Happy days were here again.
And just to remind everyone that happy days really were here again, Stalin began another round of brutal purges. A year earlier, Uncle Joe, as the Fireside Chatter liked to refer to one of the world's bloodiest mass murderers, had arranged for the murder of Sergei Kirov, who was everything that Stalin wasn't, and used the murder to begin a purge of anyone more popular than him, with the support of red flag wavers in Chicago, New York, London and Los Angeles.
Unlike Franklin, Stalin's idea of a campaign involved a lot of firing squads to properly soak the red flag in the deepest red, while the band played, "Life is better, Life is fun." After the purges were wrapped up, Stalin signed a pact with another red flag waver from Berlin. The Nazis and Communists might have disagreed on any number of things, but both of them had inherited the Jacobin fetish for painting a flag red with blood and then waving it while calling for more death.
While Moscow might have turned in its red card, Chicago's "surging throng" is still swelling the polls, and even though their shirts are purple, their fingers are red from the strain of repeat voting. If there is anywhere in the United States that the red flag has gone on flying, outside of Marin County, it's Chicago. In its shade, generations have lived and died, and now generations have begun living and dying in its shade across the country as the red flag keeps flying for another four years over D.C
The red flags of the post-modern, post-American, post-British, post-everything revolutionaries aren't usually as obvious as a gang of wealthy politicians staggering to a microphone once a year and belting out, "We'll keep the red flag flying here". It usually sounds more like the parody of that anthem, known somewhat sarcastically as the "Battle Hymn of the New Socialist Party,"
"White collar workers stand and cheer/The Labour government is here/We'll change the country bit by bit/So nobody will notice it." A policy of changing the country bit by bit so none of the workers who want their benefits notices that everything else they value is being dragged away to the rubbish heap while they sleep may be sneered at by the real reds, but it's worked quite effectively.
Tony Blair did a masterful job of changing Britain, leaving behind Neil Kinnock's threats to take the workers into the streets if the election did not go his way. (It did not. He did not.) Kinnock proved good enough for Joe Biden to plagiarize his biography from, but the future rested with a sensible left. A New Labour that would talk like technocrats while importing unprecedented number of immigrants to change the electoral balance of the country, so that the red flag would go on flying here, even if it was green and had a crescent and a pair of crossed swords in the middle.
Instead of the flying red flag, Tony Blair's New Labour used D:ream's "Things can only get better" as its election anthem, which despite a title that made it sound like another, "Happy Days are Here" or "Life is better, Life is fun" was more of a love song to a Labour messiah promising to cure "prejudice and greed".
"Walk my path/Wear my shoes/Talk like me/I'll be an angel," New Labour voters were promised and they fell for it. The age of the Me Generation PM was here and the new egotism resounded in lyrics like "Things can only get better/Can only get better/Now I've found you/(That means me)" that took both self-help and self-involvement to a whole new level. But British voters probably should have paid more attention to warning lyrics like, "I sometimes lose myself in me".
Bill Clinton was America's Tony Blair, but with enough Good Old Boy charm to leaven the false earnestness that led so many to hate Blair. If Blair was a liar pretending to be an honest man, Clinton was a liar pretending to be an honest man pretending to be a liar, a rotten sandwich of a paradox that you have to be a politician or an observer of them to properly appreciate. Like Blair, Clinton worked to change the country bit by bit, appealing to white collar workers and leaving the red flag in the trunk next to the road flares and the dynamite.
It's Chicago time now and the red flag is back. Talk of changing the country bit by bit is done. Now the country is being changed aggressively, every change a finger poke in the eye of the people who don't notice right what is in front of their faces. The cuckolding is no longer subtle. It's more out in the open than ever and the country is being bankrupted and the middle class is being wiped out to a rousing chorus of "Happy Days are Here Again", when an entire generation has come of age never knowing a time when happy days prevailed.
Whatever faults Kinnock and old Labour had, losing himself in himself wasn't one of them. But the Baby Boomer and Generation X leaders had the narcissistic habit of doing just that. Clinton and Blair both lost themselves in themselves and since then never appear to have found themselves again. And Barack Obama never lost himself in himself because he never stepped out of himself to begin with.
Obama marries the red flag radicalism of the old left with generational egotism to show us the spoiled brat as leader, the tyke born with a set of silver spoons in his mouth who not only waves the red flag, but who mistakes his shamelessness for political genius. Where Clinton limited his shamelessness to his personal life, for his Democratic successor, in the tradition of both the hard left and the fellowship of mirror gazers, the personal has always been political. To the Hope and Changer, the man is the office, the state is the man, and the whim is the national agenda
Stalin famously told his mother that he was the new Czar, transmuting collectivist revolution into the egotistical authoritarianism of one man. Obama has managed the same trick, merging revolutionary politics with his own brand until there is no longer a difference between the man and his revolution. FDR only promised happy days, but Obama has become the actual incarnation of hope, which may explain why there is no longer any hope to go around.
There is a flag flying over Washington and it's no longer the stars and stripes, but the same red flag that flies over Chicago. It's the red flag under whose shade misery and tyranny spreads while the band strikes up the same anthem over and over again. "Happy days are here again." Life is better, life is fun." "Things can only get better" and of course Obama's victory speech promise; "The best is yet to come."
It might have been more honest if he had instead admitted, "We'll keep the red flag flying here."
Daniel Greenfield is a blogger and columnist born in Israel and currently living in New York City. I am a contributing editor at Family Security Matters and a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center.
His columns appear at Family Security Matters , Right Side News and daily at the Canada Free Press, as well as at Act for America, Front Page Magazine and usACTIONnews.
Also please consider:
9/12 – the Manhattan attack that gave us Obama
The Progressive's Foundation of Lies
Mark Levin: Obama is a Marxist
Obama's "Fairness" is Pure Communism
Socialism Breeds Tyranny and Disparity
The Ant and The Grasshopper — An Allegory For The Country
America's Communist President
Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid
"Terminal State of Broken"
The Chicagoization of America
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I've just moved my blog over to Pelican, a static blog generator that takes in reStructuredText and spits out, well, this! I'm now using Disqus for commenting, too.
The main motivations for the move (apart from slightly better theming) were to escape dynamic-blog-land in favor of static-blog-land, while enabling a better commenting setup. Pelican+disqus looked like a great solution; we'll see how it goes!
One note -- rather than hack and slash my way through disqus's commenting system upload fail, I just attached all of the comments as "legacy comments" on old blog entries. Yeah, it sucks, sorry.


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Train route information Lokhvytsya - Kremenchuk
If you need to buy railway ticket Lokhvytsya Kremenchuk online on the website proizd.ua you have to specify departure date. When you visit our website in order to see train schedule between Lokhvytsya and Kremenchuk we want to remind you that train schedule changes periodically, so you have to double check it before your trip.
The distance between stations is 295 km, and the fastest train №760Д arrives in 7:00 hours. The slowest train is №760Д and it arrives in 7:00 hours. There are 2 trains which operate between Lokhvytsya and Kremenchuk. So far the most earliest train is №760Д and it departures at 10:50:00. And the latest one is №760Ш, it departures at 10:50:00.
Railway tickets sales for trains between Lokhvytsya and Kremenchuk starts 45 days in advance. If you buy them earlier then you have more chances to choose better seats. The less days you have before departure the less seats are available.


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**Warning: mild sexual reference near the end, one sexy posed pic
As you can imagine, in the days after Alex became angry with me, I had walked around in pure panic and utter beratement of myself for being completely inconsiderate of his feelings. My inexperience with relationships made me feel incredibly immature next to the man who was older than me, with two other girl friends in his past. I vowed I would do better, putting him first so I could be the best girl friend he had ever had.
Three days after we last spoke, Alex came on-line and profusely apologized for his outburst. After calling himself a bunch of names I won't repeat, he explained that he wasn't truly mad at me, but his father who had ruined the soccer trip for him and made him look like a "baby" to the rest of the team. Alex had been looking forward to the tournament as a means of getting away from his over protective father for a short while, and finally enjoy what was left of his high school experience. Yet his father had taken that away from him, by re arranging his vacation time to be a parent chaperone. Which meant he missed out on all the fun events scheduled off the field as his father made him stay in the hotel room unless they were eating or he was playing. He also said they argued; his father complained about missing work, while Alex reminded him he didn't have to come. His father had replied he didn't have a choice, for if he hadn't, Alex would have put himself in all kinds of trouble and just going on the trip itself was not safe in the first place. He said the trip had made him miserable and it was unfair to take it out on me.
I of course forgave him immediately, for I knew what it was like to have an over protective "father" ruining every chance of a real and happy life. We spent a great deal of time talking about that very thing and fantasizing about our futures. Fantasy turned more to reality and Alex once again renewed his idea for the two of us to be together. More than anything it was what I wanted, even though the idea also terrified me. We began to make plans and my fear, turned into determination.
I wrote it all down. A list in complete succession of how events were to unfold, then hid the stapled pages within my favourite book written by my father. The one book, I knew I would never be without. It was my most treasured item in the world, next to the photo album that contained all the pics of Jilly from the very first day I had met her.
First item on the list, was a sit down conversation with Sun and Jin. The day had turned into a beautiful, warm and sunny Fall afternoon and I asked them to sit with me on the deck while the toddlers slept. I was hoping the weather would lull them into a good and agreeable mood for what I was about to say.I wanted to appear confident and determined while I spoke.
"I've had a lot of time to think since Jilly's death. To evaluate my life and determine what I want my future to look like."
Jin looked at me with a nervous expression.
"Okay," he said. "In what regard?"
"All my life, you have told me the outside world is not safe and as such I will not be allowed to leave the island. If that is the case, then I want to make some changes to my life now."
Sun and Jin looked at one another."Such as," Jin asked.
"Such as, I don't want to complete my high school diploma." I raised my hand to stop them from interrupting. "Instead, I wish to switch to the All Skills program and finish my schooling that way. It makes no sense for me to be learning subjects that have no bearing on my life here. Yet, the All Skills program does. That way, you can both help me and supervise my education instead of dealing with on-line teachers. Plus, I can get that done within seven months if I work hard. Then I can focus on what I will do for the rest of my life; whether that be painting, sculpting or whatever else it may be."
"I'm not familiar with this All Skills program you are talking about, so I will need to look into the specifics. Will you still learn math and language?" Sun asked.
"No, but logic replaces math. I know that for sure."
"I don't know Jade. Learning Simlish is a very important part of your education," Jin said. "What if you choose to become a writer?"
"I don't want to be a writer. I have no interest in doing that," I replied.
"But you may, down the road," Sun said as she was getting up."Can you handle this Jin? I hear one of the babies crying."
Jin nodded, then turned back to me. "I think Sun is right, Jade. I know that isn't what you want to hear."
I took a large breath while I tried to keep my nerves calm. I was going to get my way, no matter what.
"Fine. How about a compromise then? I will enroll in the All Skills program and you can teach me Simlish."
"Jade, I don't exactly have the time-"
"But Jin think about it.If I don't have loads of homework to do all the time, then I can help around the house with chores and the babies. Surely one of you can help me with just one subject in return?" Please, please, please I was thinking in my head.
I could tell that idea stuck in his head, for he agreed to look into the program and within three days I was signed up ready to begin. I wanted to jump into everything at once, but it was Sun that suggested I start with two or three skills so I didn't begin to feel overwhelmed. I chose cooking
then handiness to start.
And I spent way more time reading skills books then I ever thought I would.Sometimes sitting way into the night just to get one done, but I was motivated to finish this program on time.
Sun and Jin really appreciated the extra time I had to spend with the todds, and even though I just tossed that in to the conversation to make sure I got my way, I found I really enjoyed being with them. I was able to teach Bonnie how to walk,while Jin taught Anna -who by the way took twice the amount of time to learn than her siblings. One full day plus a bit. She just kept sitting her butt down refusing to try.
The toddlers were a bunch of mischief makers, ……..like all the time! I never thought of our house as large, but with four toddlers, I found I was running from one room to the other to keep them out of trouble. For example, this one day Biscuit had an accident in my room and I found Bonnie playing in the puddle.
She was soaked from neck to knee in pee and was promptly tossed into the bath! Just…ewwwwww!
Anyway, I've gone all baby crazy and went completely off topic.
In between rushing to get all this work done, I spent whatever free time talking to Alex. He was my number one focus and everything else fell behind him. I never felt truly happy, till I saw his words on the screen encouraging me to keep striving for my goal to finish school. I wanted him to be proud of me. To be worthy of his love.
Travis had called me quite a bit since Alex had his outburst. Each and every time, I made some excuse as to why I couldn't talk being as abrupt as I could. I felt terrible for treating him this way, but I had made a promise to Alex and I had every intention of keeping that commitment to him.
He emailed me as well. I saw pics of him on their many adventures while they wrapped up their sailing tour. I was envious of all the places he was getting to go and the experiences they had. For example, here they stopped at a small island where they joined a protest against the government for trying to build a playground on an old toxic garbage dump site. I think I would have loved this, if I had been there.
If I didn't pick up the phone at all, he left messages and I felt more and more guilty as time passed. I really did enjoy talking to Travis during that two weeks Alex was gone and I felt I owed him an explanation as to why I had been so distant as of late. I had planned to send him an email, taking the time to word my thoughts carefully to lessen the sting of the news. But Travis called me while I was busy playing with the todds and without even thinking, I answered the phone, while still laughing at something cute the girls were doing together.
"Hey Jade! Finally she answers! You sound happy, so what's going on over there?" Travis asked chuckling himself.
Crap crap crap, now what. "Hi Travis. Just playing with the girls is all."
"What's new? I feel like we haven't talked forever! I have so much I have to tell you about my trip and where we are now."
"Nothing new," I replied. What was I going to say?
"Seriously? Nothing new in four weeks? C'mon Jade, what is up with you? I've missed chatting with you!"
It's now or never, I told myself then took a big breath for courage. "Look Travis, you can't call me anymore. Or email. Or text. I would like you to stop."
He was silent for a moment "I don't understand. Why? Why would you say that?" he stuttered out.
"I just can't talk to you anymore okay. It's, it's just how it has to be, so please-"
"Why? Why has to be? What changed in four weeks Jade? We always have such fun keeping in contact. Why now?"
I did not want to tell him why. Deep down it felt wrong to say it, but I didn't have another excuse or another lie to make him do as I asked. "Because I made a promise," I blurted out. "To Alex. I promised him I wouldn't talk to you anymore and I plan on keeping that promise. So please Travis! Just stop calling me."
"Jade, you can't be serious! You haven't even met the guy! Why are you letting him dictate your life? This is wrong and I won't stop trying to talk to you. Someone has to try and knock some sense into you."
"It doesn't matter that I haven't met him. I know him Travis. We talk about everything and I know his heart and the things he wants in life and who he wants to be someday." Now I was stuttering.
"Just words Jade! You are never going to meet him."
"That's not true!"
I swear I could hear the slip of my words ringing in the silence of the air.
"What do you mean Jade? What are you planning?"
"Nothing and I shouldn't have said that. This call has gone on longer than I wanted. I don't have to explain myself to you Travis! After all, you are just a voice on the phone or words on the screen now aren't you? Goodbye Travis!"
"No Jade, wait a minute. Please-" was all I heard before hitting end on the call. Then ten seconds later, the phone began to ring. I kept declining the call until finally I turned off my phone. I thought about throwing it in the ocean, but I really did need my phone for other things, so I walked to my room and placed it in my pants drawer under a pile of clothes. Out of site, out of mind they say. I went back to playing with the girls, but I was so unsettled that I had to take a walk.
As I walked Travis's words kept popping up in my head. "Why are you letting him dictate your life?" Question is, why are you also trying to dictate my life? Who are you Travis to say what I can and cannot do? Why couldn't anyone understand that no matter where I am, no matter how old I am, it's still my life for sim's sake. MY LIFE. Not theirs. Who are they to treat me like I am some puppet, made to speak and move as they wish? It wasn't until Alex had pointed this out to me, that I realized I was allowing exactly that. In a year I would be 18. Who was Jin to tell me, where I could and couldn't live? Go be a father to your own kids Jin and allow me to make my own choices.
Alex had taught me that I was a strong, intelligent and independent woman. I didn't believe it at first, but I did now and instead of dreading my life, I was looking forward to all of the possibilities. He was the best thing that had ever happened to me and I owed him everything as well. I would do anything for him, just to make him happy.
When I got back to the house, I heard the familiar ding on my computer and raced to open the screen. Alex had been waiting for me to come on-line for fifteen minutes and I chastised myself for making him wait. I knew the time he was able to get on-line was limited and I should have stayed closer to the computer.
I'm so sorry Alex! I went for a walk to calm my nerves and forgot the time.
Oh it's okay baby. I mean we have lost fifteen minutes now to chat, but I'm sure you feel bad and won't do it again.
I promise Alex, I will be more mindful of things.
I'm sure you will. Now tell me, why did you have to calm your nerves? Babies
driving you crazy again?
My heart began to pound as I realized I had made another slip of the tongue. I didn't want to tell him about my call with Travis, but I didn't want to lie either. He always seemed to sense when I wasn't telling him the truth. I was shaking as I held my hands over the keyboard deciding on what to type.
I got a call from Travis, Alex, and I'm so sorry but he has been calling and emailing non stop for like two or three weeks. I tried to ignore him, but it wasn't working, so I thought if I answered and told him I didn't want to talk to him anymore, it would finally end it. I know I promised I wouldn't talk to him again, but I just had to this one time. Do you forgive me?
I think you made the right decision, this time. Just as long as you keep your word to me. I can't have you acting like my last girlfriend who lied to me over and over again the last six months we were together. Only to find out, she was sleeping with another guy for the last month we were together. I won't go through that again. Do you understand?
Yes Alex. I do understand, completely. I would never cheat on you, not like that harlot you were dating.
Excuse me? You don't get to talk about one of my girl friends like that, got it? She was a wonderful girl and super hot in bed I might add. With her long, blond thick, wavy hair and that perfect ass…I get so f'ing hot just thinking about it. I'm hard right now.
I'm sorry Alex! You're right! That was rude and I will never do it again.
Alex didn't reply and my first thought was I had finally stepped over the line. I began to pace my room, stopping at my computer as I was about to pass it, calling out his name in type. I kept a keen eye on the ticking of the clock getting more worried as the minute added up. About four minutes later he replied.
I needed to take a moment to feel better but it's all good now. I know you won't do it again. But just as a reminder, perhaps you could send me another photo. Something sexy so I can get hot looking at you. Do you have any lingerie to wear for me?
Yes Alex.
Oh yes Alex. I can't wait to take this picture to make you happy.
That's my girl. I have to go but remember I, Love, You.
I signed off telling him I loved him too. Not only was I going to take him the best picture he had ever seen from one of his girlfriends, but I had a little surprise for him as well.
I was pretty proud of how it turned out. So was Alex, I must say, but I won't repeat what he said. Just know, he was definitely pleased!
However, Jin and Sun were surely not pleased as soon as they locked eyes on my hair.
"What have you done?" Jin yelled at me, then took a step back to take a big breath.
Sun firmly said "Jin," then stepped in between the two of us. "Wow Jade. That's uh, wow that is just something. What made you change your hair to blond?"
"I just wanted a change," I lied. "I like it. It makes me feel like a different person and that is what I need. To get over Jilly, you know." Then I purposely teared up, so they would feel sorry for me and forget about their displeasure.
"Oh Jade. I totally understand," Sun said. "It looks nice Jin. Doesn't it?" she said jerking her head towards me and giving Jin this look.
"Uhhhh, yeah. Totally like you are a new person," then he turned and walked away.
"Sooo, blond hair and well, I am seeing a lot of orange in your wardrobe lately. All done with the purple then?"
"Mmmm-hmm. Orange is my new favourite now. It's so bright and happy."
"So it's a whole new you then. Wow, changes all around. Okay then."
Sun just kept looking at me with this expectant look and I didn't know what she wanted me to say. "I, uh…..I'm going to make cookies now. Is that okay?"
"Oh, sure sure. Happy baking," then she headed into the nursery where Jin had retreated.
I was feeling pretty happy for my win….until I burnt my cookies. Sigh.
*Jade's sexy pose by…….. got to reload the game to look it up- T.B.A.
*Alex is a sim made by Funnyaa at TSR! ALEX
*Special thanks to R.O. for pre reading my gobbly-goop to check for accuracy!


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By Mike Pannone [email protected] All photos contained in this article were taken by Mike Pannone for DefenseReview.com, and are copyrighted. Mike Pannone and DefenseReview.com own the copyright on these photos. March 19, 2010 Here's my question for those that subscribe to the direct impingement fouling concept: I fired 2400 rounds of M193 through a 14.5" M4-type upper receiver from Bravo …Read More »
Tag Archives: mike pannone
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By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com All photos contained in this article were taken by DefenseReview.com, and are copyrighted. DefenseReview.com owns the copyright on these photos. The photos were shot with a Canon PowerShot S90 10-megapixel digital camera (still camera with video capability). February 23, 2010 DefenseReview plans to run two custom-built tactical AR carbines (AR-15 carbines) through …Read More »
An Operator's View of M4/M4A1 Carbine (and Tactical AR-15 Carbine) Malfunctions
By Mike Pannone June 15, 2009 In the early months of 2006 while I was helping to write and refine the curriculum of the Asymmetric Warfare Group's Combat Applications Training Course (CATC) I took it upon myself to research performance enhancements and reliability upgrades as an integral part of educating the soldier on how to maximize his M4/M4A1 carbine. The …Read More »
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Today, we're taking an important step to make it easier to manage the security of your Twitter experience – we are adding a user setting that lets you always use HTTPS when accessing Twitter.com. Using HTTPS for your favorite Internet services is particularly important when using them over unsecured WiFi connections.
For some time, users have been able to use Twitter via HTTPS by going to https://twitter.com. We've made it simpler for users to do this by adding the option to always use HTTPS.
To turn on HTTPS, go to your settings and check the box next to "Always use HTTPS," which is at the bottom of the page. This will improve the security of your account and better protect your information if you're using Twitter over an unsecured Internet connection, like a public WiFi network, where someone may be able to eavesdrop on your site activity. In the future, we hope to make HTTPS the default setting.
We've already made this setting the default for a number of clients and activities. In these cases, HTTPS is used whether or not you've enabled the "Always use HTTPS" setting:
There are also a few instances where turning on HTTPS in your settings does not force HTTPS. For example, when accessing Twitter from your mobile browser, you need to go to https://mobile.twitter.com to use HTTPS for now. We are working on a solution that will share the "Always use HTTPS" setting across twitter.com and mobile.twitter.com, so you don't have to think about which device you're using when you want to check Twitter. If you use a third-party application, you should check to see if that app offers HTTPS.


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Good news for casual dining in Uptown: recent months have seen the opening of McClure's BBQ and the reboot of Frankie & Johnny's.
The former is a welcome addition to the local barbecue scene, while the latter marks the return to form of a neighborhood favorite. Both are family- and budget-friendly options with a lot of appeal as we roll into the warmer months.
To open McClure's BBQ, owner Neil McClure built on his success with his Tuesday night pop-up at Dante's Kitchen, where he formerly worked as the general manager. Large plate glass windows look out over the corner of Bordeaux and Magazine streets, and the inside is furnished with surreally humorous art by Scott Guion.
A Lang smoker parked across Bordeaux Street serves as his pit, a concession to some nearby residents who had objected to the scent of smoky goodness.
"Barbecue has been my passion from the beginning, and the pop-up gave me a good platform to test things," McClure says. "My customers told me that I was good enough to do a brick-and-mortar rather than just once-a-week."
All smoking is done over firewood, no charcoal, and he burns through about a cord of pecan wood a week. "I'm probably influenced the most by Carolina style," says McClure, who grew up in Pensacola. "Though growing up in Florida we didn't really have a predominate style. There was a lot of straight-off-the-shelf KC Masterpiece and – God forbid – Kraft Barbecue Sauce."
McClure mixes his own "Creole" base rub, then fine-tunes it to complement each type of meat.
"What I vary the most from meat to meat is the salt and pepper content," he says. "Ribs I don't put any salt on. I do brine them a bit, but too much salt on a rib and it turns into ham. Whereas the chicken is an even spread, and the brisket is heavy on the pepper.
Texans would kill me for putting rub on it, but I think we do meat better here in New Orleans."
About his brisket – if you go, start with that. "Brisket is pretty much what set me off on my mission. Going to the Joint and eating my friend Pete (Breen's) brisket – I've never really been a brisket guy before. And I fell in love with it and then decided that I wanted to learn how to cook it. And learning how to cook it led to all of this."
McClure doesn't sauce anything, leaving that up to the customers. And that is one of McClure's big appeals: a selection of seven sauces representing various regional styles, including a mustard-based South Carolina style and a white Alabama-style that goes well with the smoked chicken. Kansas City, Texas and Memphis round out the tomato-based options. All are homemade and the NOLA East is entirely his own invention, a spicy concoction that includes hoisin and soy sauce in a nod to the Vietnamese community in the east.
For sides, try the coleslaw, which is vinegar-based and offers a sharp and refreshing complement to the smoky meat. The barbecue jambalaya is studded with tasty morsels of all the meats as well as some smoked vegetables tied together with a touch of the Kansas City sauce. And if the stewed greens are available, try them as well. You won't be disappointed.
Countless locals have fond memories of Frankie & Johnny's, the quintessential neighborhood seafood joint that feels like a little slice of Bucktown on Arabella Street. Recently the building's owners sold the restaurant (but not the property) to restaurateur Anthony Macaluso, who embarked on a top-to-bottom renovation. Along the way, Macaluso brought on business partner Woody Valls.
The restaurant maintains its original character, down to its checkered floor, but everything is brand-new. Booths were installed where there was once bench seating and the bar underwent a complete overhaul. Covered patio seating was added out front.
Other changes include a new oyster bar. "They never served raw oysters before, and that has been a tremendous success," Valls says. "We've been very fortunate in our oyster supplier who's providing us an excellent quality of oysters."
Parents might appreciate one other addition: the old downstairs office was gutted and made into a mini-arcade for kids. Squatting on the floor in there as well is a large cabinet safe. "Too heavy to move," Valls explains.
The menu itself was left essentially unchanged, including their famous fried green pepper rings and a few modest upgrades, such as tuna steak. The focus is on fried and boiled seafood, poor boys and plate lunches that vary by the day. These include Beef Stroganoff, chicken and dumplings, ham steak with yams and yellow rice, for example. Red beans and rice is served daily. In line with the arcade, a kid's menu is offered as well.
The bar menu has also been beefed up and now offers 14 draft beers along with a more substantive wine list. A weekday happy hour from 2 to 6 p.m. offers a discount on drinks and oysters.
So how was the re-launch received? "That was the most rewarding aspect of all this," Valls says. "So many people were happy as can be to have their iconic local neighborhood restaurant back. I for one was overwhelmed by the community's response," Valls says.
Ed. Note: A kitchen fire last month temporarily affected the availability of some menu offerings, especially fried items. You might want to check ahead.
On the Dot
Doughnut lovers rejoice! Mid-City favorite Blue Dot Donuts has expanded into Uptown, with a new location at 5236 Tchoupitoulas St. Stop by in the morning to admire their gleaming cases and fill a few boxes with their decadent offerings, including a wide array of cake-style donuts as well as multiple glazed, cream-filled and specialty items such as Red Velvet with Cream Cheese. Their signature Maple and Bacon Glazed Long Johns, above, are available as well.
Finding a favorite
McClure's BBQ
4800 Magazine St.
Lunch and dinner daily
Frankie & Johnny's
321 Arabella St.
Lunch and dinner daily
Blue Dot Donuts
4301 Canal St.
5236 Tchoupitoulas St.
Breakfast and lunch, Tuesdays-Sundays