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When Alternative Medicine Kills
I saw one of the most disturbing things of my career recently — and that is really saying something.
This was a young woman, barely out of her teens, who presented with a tumor in her distal femur, by the knee. This was not a new diagnosis — it had first been noted in January or so, and diagnosed as a Primary B-Cell Lymphoma. By now, the tumor was absolutely huge, and she came to the ER in agonizing pain. Her physical exam was just amazing. The poor thing's knee (or more precisely, the area just above the knee) was entirely consumed by this massive, hard, immobile mass about the size of a soccer ball. She could not move the knee; it was frozen in a mid-flexed position. She hadn't been able to walk for months. The lower leg was swollen and red due to blood clots, and the worst of the pain she was having seemed due to compression of the nerves passing behind the knee. It was like something you see out of the third world, or historic medical textbooks. I have never seen its like before.
So we got her pain managed, of course, and I sat down to talk to her and her family.
What I learned was even more amazing. The patient had been seen by the finest oncologists in the region upon diagnosis. They had all recommended the standard treatment of a combined regimen of chemotherapy and radiation. She had, however, steadfastly refused this treatment. She preferred, she said, the "Gerson Protocol." This is, she continued, "a way for the body to heal itself with a combination of detoxification and boosting the immune system."
In a less grave situation I might have laughed and asked "So how's that working for ya?" As it was, the tears from her only partially-controlled pain took any humor out of the situation. She was very frustrated that the Gerson therapy wasn't working yet, but she did not perceive this as a failure of the treatment. Her theory was that the severity of her uncontrolled pain was keeping her immune system suppressed and preventing it from working. If, she hoped, she could just get her pain under control, she would finally start to get better.
I spent a lot of time with this young lady. Listening as well as explaining. She was dead set against chemo, which to her mind was equated with the "toxins" which had caused her cancer in the first place. She wrote off the oncologists as pushing chemo "because that's all they know how to do, and it never works." She had, in fact, burnt all the bridges with the various oncologists who had treated her, and was now left with only a pain specialist and a primary care doctor trying to do what little they could for her. She was equally frustrated by doctors in general, who "won't do anything to help me."
I could see why she felt that way; when a patient refuses the only possible effective treatment, there is not really much we can do to help her.
I did what I could. I talked to both her doctors, and I called a new oncologist. The oncologist, a wonderful man, promised to make time to see her in his clinic, even fully forewarned of the "baggage" she would be bringing with her. She was happy to receive the referral, though I warned her that the new oncologist would be recommending more-or-less standard treatments. Ultimately, she went home and I was left to reflect on the futility of the situation and the absolute wickedness of the charlatans and hucksters out there who promote this sort of thinking. From the late Dr Gerson, to his modern-day counterparts Andrew Wakefield and Jenny McCarthy.
Most woo is harmless — but that's because most woo is directed at chronic, ill-defined, or otherwise incurable conditions. Think chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia. Wave a magnet at somebody, get them to do a lot of enemas and go on a special diet, and you get to write a book and go on Oprah and collect a lot of money. If the subjects of the "magical thinking medicine" think they are better from the intervention, then so much the better.
But the really pernicious thing about allowing fantasy medical theories and treatments into the mainstream is that when they gain enough credence among the masses, they will tend to be used in place of real medical treatments that work. Like vaccines. Even the anti-vaxxers have a limited and indirect harm — of the many thousands of children who go unvaccinated, only a very few get measles and even fewer die. It's a real harm, but one which is easy to miss if you're not affected personally. But when woo supplants real medicine against lethal diseases that actually have effective treatments, the harm is so much more severe and so apparent that it cannot be left unrecognized. Because of the practitioners of "alternative" medical treatments who irresponsibly and dishonestly teach people to distrust medicine and embrace unscientific treatments, this young woman is enduring incalculable pain, and may well lose her life.
It's sad, and it's an outrage.
*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*


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The SEC Coaches Preseason All-SEC team is announced, and to what should be no great surprise, Florida, LSU, Alabama and Georgia have the most selections.
I've got no idea why Julio Jones is a unanimous pick while A.J. Green isn't, but I guess that makes me even with the coaches, who, in flailing around with their quarterback votes after Tebow and Snead, obviously have no idea about the next best candidate. They came up with this tie for third-team: Stephen Garcia and Mike Hartline.
That's a sad thing when Wally Hall's list makes more sense.

subset: commoncrawl


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Planned Parenthood of Texas — in the wake of a massive budget crisis — has raised eyebrows by turning down a $500,000 donation from noted feminist Tucker Max. Based on the way Team Mr. Max, Esq. explains it, you'd think that the family planning organization snobbishly turned its nose up at a sincere Good Deed from a guy just trying to be Nice because the Nice Guy happens to be a guy who writes about sex and partying. But Tucker Max's rejected donation wasn't brought on by a swelling sense of altruism and personal responsibility — it was the latest in his ongoing series of attempts to use Planned Parenthood to get attention for himself.
Ryan Holiday, a media consultant who works with Tucker Max, took to Forbes today to lament Planned Parenthood of Texas' decision to reject a half million dollar donation from the writer/speaker/professional asshole. According to Holiday, the idea to give to Planned Parenthood of Texas sprang up organically over an email exchange earlier this year. Max wrote him an email that read,
Ryan, I have a huge tax burden this year. I can reduce it with a large donation to charity, but I want to promote my new book at the same time. Can you come up with something cool that does both?
Holiday wrote that his response "stunned" Tucker Max... but it was just so crazy that it might work!
What if you gave a bunch of money to Planned Parenthood and they named a clinic after you? They need donors, it'd be awesome and you'd get a ton of positive press out of it for a change.
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A capital idea! The gentlemen agreed before shaking hands, adjusting their top hats, and lighting their pipes. Win-win! Planned Parenthood of Texas gets money! Tucker Max gets a building named after him! What a stroke of genius!
Except Holiday can't take credit for the idea at all, nor was Tucker Max "stunned" by the brilliance of it — unless Tucker Max has recently been afflicted with a tragic mental condition that has erased all of his memories from the past year. In fact, Max's camp has been trying to give money to three different Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country since last summer, according to a representative from Planned Parenthood. His agent, a guy by the name of Ian Claudius, had been making those calls, and always requested that the organization repay Max's largesse in the form of endorsements or building naming rights, and each affiliate has turned him down on the grounds that what Max wants in exchange for his gifts violates the organization's gifts policy. UPDATE: Ryan Holiday has reached out to me to clarify that the Planned Parenthood donation was indeed his idea.
The family planning organization's reasoning for the rejections is simple: They want no part in providing publicity to a guy who, by all accounts, appears to sort of hate Planned Parenthood. Last July, he tweeted, "Planned Parenthood would be cooler if it was a giant flight of stairs, w/someone pushing girls down, like a water park slide #FF @PPact." And just a couple weeks ago, on March 14, he said, "In South Florida. This place is awful. Shitty design, slutty whores & no culture, like a giant Planned Parenthood waiting room." LOL. Thinking sexually active women are sluts! Is this guy transgressive and edgy or what?! (He's deleted both of those Tweets since the Forbes story posted, apparently in an attempt to retroactively make himself look like less of a shamelessly self-promoting dick attempting to use an organization that promotes the health of poor women to help him sell books and/or rehabilitate his image.)
According to the organization's gift policy, "Planned Parenthood reserves the right to decline offers of gifts and grants that may be discriminatory, are for purposes outside of our mission, or are too difficult to administer." The naked publicity whoring by a guy who refers to a clinic's patients as "sluts" likely falls under that category.
But Ryan Holiday, he of the brilliant and totally spontaneous and totally recent idea that Tucker Max should give so much money to Planned Parenthood that they have to name a clinic after him, claims that the offer to give a gift was well-received initially, and that Max had scheduled a lunch with the CEO of Planned Parenthood's North Texas affiliate. But then, the organization called him to let him know that they were sorry, but they just couldn't accept his gift. Holiday declares that Planned Parenthood's decision is a matter of "self-righteousness."
As a marketer, it was one of the stupidest and most depressing things I've ever seen. This would have been a win-win-win-win situation. Cut a check, keep a clinic open. Rehabilitate some of Tucker's PR. Reduce a tax burden. Encourage other donors. And most importantly: Help women keep access to vital reproductive services. But nope. So I tell this story not simply to call out Planned Parenthood-though they deserve it and more. Tucker wasn't trying to make a fool of them with the donation I set up, but they acted like one anyway.
Yeah, sorry, but that's not the case. Max's PR team has been pestering Planned Parenthood about naming rights and other donor perks in an attempt to use a women's health clinic to garner publicity for a misogynist writer for almost a year to no avail, and now that Team Max didn't get their way, they're attempting to leverage a poorly executed rejection of funds for publicity. Both actions are totally fucked up, not to mention dishonest. Planned Parenthood's Texas affiliate should have coordinated the rejection of funds in a more efficient way and just denied Max's publicist outright rather than giving him any sort of run-around, and if Tucker Max were offering his donation with no strings attached, without ulterior motives benefitting his own image and publicity, this would be a different matter. But Planned Parenthood is under no obligation to help someone like Max enhance his image or sell books; they don't owe Tucker Max an abortion clinic.


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coal tar Topical
Related Posts "coal tar Topical":
kole tarCommonly used brand name(s)
In the U.S.Betatar Gel Cutar Emulsion Denorex DHS Tar Doak Tar Duplex T Fototar Ionil-T Plus Medotar MG 217 Neutrogena T/Derm Neutrogena T/Gel
In CanadaEstar Liquor Carbonis Detergens Psorigel Spectro Tar Skin Wash Tar Distillate
Available Dosage Forms:Liquid Shampoo Lotion Solution Cream Gel/Jelly Soap Kit Ointment Bar Foam Emulsion
Therapeutic Class: KeratolyticUses For coal tar
Coal tar is used to treat eczema, psoriasis, seborrheic dermatitis, and other skin disorders.
Some of these preparations are available only with your doctor's prescription.Before Using coal tar
In deciding to use a medicine, the risks of taking the medicine must be weighed against the good it will do. This is a decision you and your doctor will make. For coal tar, the following should be considered:Allergies
Tell your doctor if you have ever had any unusual or allergic reaction to coal tar or any other medicines. Also tell your health care professional if you have any other types of allergies, such as to foods, dyes, preservatives, or animals. For non-prescription products, read the label or package ingredients carefully.Pediatric
Coal tar products should not be used on infants, unless otherwise directed by your doctor. Studies on coal tar have been done only in adult patients, and there is no specific information comparing use of coal tar in children with use in other age groups.Geriatric
Many medicines have not been studied specifically in older people. Therefore, it may not be known whether they work exactly the same way they do in younger adults or if they cause different side effects or problems in older people. There is no specific information comparing use of coal tar in the elderly with use in other age groups.Breast Feeding
Studies in women suggest that this medication poses minimal risk to the infant when used during breastfeeding.Interactions with Medicines
Although certain medicines should not be used together at all, in other cases two different medicines may be used together even if an interaction might occur. In these cases, your doctor may want to change the dose, or other precautions may be necessary. Tell your healthcare professional if you are taking any other prescription or nonprescription (over-the-counter [OTC]) medicine.Interactions with Food/Tobacco/Alcohol
Certain medicines should not be used at or around the time of eating food or eating certain types of food since interactions may occur. Using alcohol or tobacco with certain medicines may also cause interactions to occur. Discuss with your healthcare professional the use of your medicine with food, alcohol, or tobacco.Proper Use of coal tar
Use coal tar only as directed. Do not use more of it and do not use it more often than recommended on the label, unless otherwise directed by your doctor. To do so may increase the chance of side effects.
After applying coal tar, protect the treated area from direct sunlight and do not use a sunlamp for 72 hours, unless otherwise directed by your doctor, since a severe reaction may occur. Also, make sure you have removed all the coal tar medicine from your skin before you go back into direct sunlight or use a sunlamp.
Do not apply coal tar to infected, blistered, raw, or oozing areas of the skin.
Keep coal tar away from the eyes. If you should accidentally get some in your eyes, flush them thoroughly with water at once.
To use the cream or ointment form of coal tar:Apply enough medicine to cover the affected area, and rub in gently.
To use the gel form of coal tar:Apply enough gel to cover the affected area, and rub in gently. Allow the gel to remain on the affected area for 5 minutes, then remove excess gel by patting with a clean tissue.
To use the shampoo form of coal tar:Wet the scalp and hair with lukewarm water. Apply a generous amount of shampoo and rub into the scalp, then rinse. Apply the shampoo again, working up a rich lather, and allow to remain on the scalp for 5 minutes. Then rinse thoroughly.
To use the nonshampoo liquid form of coal tar:Some of these preparations are to be applied directly to dry or wet skin, some are to be added to lukewarm bath water, and some may be applied directly to dry or wet skin or added to lukewarm bath water. Make sure you know exactly how you should use coal tar. If you have any questions about this, check with your health care professional. If coal tar is to be applied directly to the skin, apply enough to cover the affected area, and rub in gently. Some of these preparations contain alcohol and are flammable. Do not use near heat, near open flame, or while smoking. Dosing
The dose of coal tar will be different for different patients. Follow your doctor's orders or the directions on the label. The following information includes only the average doses of coal tar. If your dose is different, do not change it unless your doctor tells you to do so.
The amount of medicine that you take depends on the strength of the medicine. Also, the number of doses you take each day, the time allowed between doses, and the length of time you take the medicine depend on the medical problem for which you are using the medicine.For eczema, psoriasis, seborrheic dermatitis, and other skin disorders: For cleansing bar dosage form: Adults—Use one or two times a day, or as directed by your doctor. Children—Use and dose must be determined by your doctor. For cream dosage form: Adults—Apply to the affected area(s) of the skin up to four times a day. Children—Use and dose must be determined by your doctor. For gel dosage form: Adults—Apply to the affected area(s) of the skin one or two times a day. Children—Use and dose must be determined by your doctor. For lotion dosage form: Adults—Apply directly to the affected area(s) of the skin or use as a bath, hand or foot soak, or as a hair rinse, depending on the product. Children—Use and dose must be determined by your doctor. For ointment dosage form: Adults—Apply to the affected area(s) of the skin two or three times a day. Children—Use and dose must be determined by your doctor. For shampoo dosage form: Adults—Use once a day to once a week or as directed by your doctor. Children—Use and dose must be determined by your doctor. For topical solution dosage form: Adults—Apply to wet the skin or scalp, or use as a bath, depending on the product. Children—Use and dose must be determined by your doctor. For topical suspension dosage form: Adults—Use as a bath. Children—Use and dose must be determined by your doctor. Missed Dose
If you miss a dose of coal tar, apply it as soon as possible. However, if it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and go back to your regular dosing schedule.Storage
Store the medicine in a closed container at room temperature, away from heat, moisture, and direct light. Keep from freezing.
Keep out of the reach of children.
Do not keep outdated medicine or medicine no longer needed.Precautions While Using coal tar
If coal tar is used on the scalp, it may temporarily discolor blond, bleached, or tinted hair.
Coal tar may stain the skin or clothing. Avoid getting it on your clothing. The stain on the skin will wear off after you stop using the medicine.coal tar Side Effects
In animal studies, coal tar has been shown to increase the chance of skin cancer.
Along with its needed effects, a medicine may cause some unwanted effects. Although not all of these side effects may occur, if they do occur they may need medical attention.
Check with your doctor as soon as possible if any of the following side effects occur:Rare Skin irritation not present before use of coal tar skin rash
Some side effects may occur that usually do not need medical attention. These side effects may go away during treatment as your body adjusts to the medicine. Also, your health care professional may be able to tell you about ways to prevent or reduce some of these side effects. Check with your health care professional if any of the following side effects continue or are bothersome or if you have any questions about them:More common Stinging (mild)—especially for gel and solution dosage forms
Other side effects not listed may also occur in some patients. If you notice any other effects, check with your healthcare professional.
Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to the FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.
See also: coal tar Topical side effects (in more detail)
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We don't mean we have been testing the #microbrew beer before the Brewskis and Brats on September 1st! We have beautiful lights up along the old pillars that let folks know, "We are back open! Come on in! All are welcome at the Deerfield Inn!"
First Paul removed the turf and soil and scooped out the most perfect trenches. Passers-by stopped to peer into them. People seem to love holes in the ground.
Then Caleb and Steve came by to bend and install piping and electricity leads to the lights – stage lights with a narrow but brilliant beam.
They all shoveled back in the dirt, and Paul and his sidekick Watson tamped back and watered the sod.
The lights went on as dusk fell, and guests arrived out of the blue, so to speak, having seen the Champney's sign lit up.
Thank you, gentlemen, for the wonderful job you did, for being so efficient and so cheerful in the heat of the day.
Thank you, Watson, for your great assistance in your on-site supervisory capacity.


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Bioshock Infinite is a story about choices and their consequences, relationships, manipulation, the trousers of time, and how people react to terrible things. It's also about a finger that is far more significant than it seems.
Bioshock Infinite is equal parts drama, horror, and The Outer Limits, spiced with flashbacks, flashforwards and Disney-Princess moments and littered with foreshadowings for those of you keeping score at home. And then, there's the other stuff.
All of this is punctuated with violence. Not just any violence, but visceral, gory, ridiculous violence – The Evil Dead (1981) sort of violence, punctuating the story like a series of hand-crafted parodic set-pieces. Jarring, overdone, outré, overly-gamey, and yet, for all my distaste for the intricately-crafted bloodbaths of this single-path shooter, it remains that it is arguably vital to the core of the story.


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NEW YORK — A New York judge has ordered three men who pleaded guilty to smuggling South African rock lobsters to the U.S. to pay the South African government nearly $30 million in restitution.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Friday the $29.5 million in restitution is the largest sum ever ordered under the Lacey Act. That law makes it a crime to import illegally obtained fish, wildlife or plants into the U.S.
Defendants Arnold Bengis, David Bengis and Jeffrey Noll will get credit for $7 million already paid in another case. The men were charged in 2003 with importing lobster harvested in violation of South African law and pleaded guilty the following year.
The restitution was ordered after the government successfully appealed a judge's ruling that restitution was not available.


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Monks move in to new Buddhist temple in Raynham
The Thai Buddhist monks in their saffron robes have moved from the unassuming little farmhouse that was their home since 2006 into the completed portion of the white and golden temple that has risen high above the houses in this tree-lined New England neighborhood.
"Many, many people have come to visit to learn the Thai language, Thai dance and Thai music," said the Ven. Mongkol Kuakool, head monk at Wat Nawamintararachutis, also known as the NMR Meditation Center, at 382 South Street East.
And a steady stream of neighbors has stopped by to get a peek inside the structure, which will be the largest Thai Buddhist temple outside of Bangkok and sits in sharp contrast to the yellow clapboard house and the animal hospital that flank it.
Last Thursday, visitors included neighbor Mary Jo Mattson of Pine Hill Estates and her friend Kathleen Hart.
"I've been watching it be built. It's so spectacular," Mattson said.
It was their first time inside and they received a warm welcome when they knocked on the door of the one small section currently being occupied on what is still a construction site filled with workers in hardhats.
The monks moved in to the new temple in late September and the farmhouse that had been their home near the front right side of the property has since been demolished.
In all, seven monks and three visiting teachers call the new temple home. They have set up a small prayer room with Buddhas in a case, tiny compared to the giant bronze Buddha that will be the centerpiece of the third floor temple. The monks and their guests leave their shoes at the door, walking around the linoleum and carpeted floors barefoot.
Hart said her friend has been emailing her photos updating her on the construction project.
When she visited last winter, she took a walk one night and suddenly came upon it.
"When I came to the end of the street, it was uplit in the snow. It was so beautiful, I thought I was having a vision," Hart said.
On their visit, the head monk happened to be on the ground floor and gave them an impromptu lesson on Buddhism sitting around a modest dining table.
Mattson, who works in human resources and has taken up meditation in the past couple of years, said it was more than she could have hoped for.
"It's such a good energy," Mattson said.
"Medicine heals your body and meditation heals your mind and spirit," the head monk said.
Richard Cook, a retired engineer from Hingham who volunteered to work on the permitting process on behalf of the temple, said the grand opening will likely be in June.
"There is a lot of site work to do, but for all practical purposes, the exterior work is done. The major portion of the work to be completed is the interior," said Cook, whose wife is a member of the temple.


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Aomori Prefectural Federation of Democratic Medical Institutions
Significanlty reduced travel time and cost, and eliminating the danger of driving on snow. Higher committee member attendence can lead to wider medical use.
Motivation for Installation
The Aomori Prefectural Federation of Democratic Medical Institutions holds regular meetings with hospital administrators and physicians twice a month, but there have been many concerns. First, travelling to the meeting site imposed a safety risk. In Aomori Prefecture, major urban areas are scattered, so some people had to drive about two and half hours to the meeting site. Driving on roads that are thickly covered with snow in winter is especially dangerous, thus raising the concern for driving safety. Driving also increases fatigue. Since board meetings often lasted from early evening until late at night on a weekday, many hours of driving could affect the work of the participants on the following day. Thus, many people requested improvements in the way the meetings were held. Although the head office of the Federation paid compensation and travelling expenses to people attending the meeting, reducing expenses by improving operations was a priority issue. In view of this, the Federation began considering the installation of an HD Visual Communications System in order to efficiently hold meetings without requiring people to travel to distant locations.
The Federation of Democratic Medical Institutions is one of Japan's leading organisations of medical institutions and has about 20 member institutions in Aomori Prefecture. It is devoted to helping physicians and nurses achieve non-discriminating, integrated medical services so that everyone can receive safe and reliable medical treatment and nursing care at anytime, anywhere. To prevent the collapse of regional medical services, the Federation focuses on increasing the number of doctors and nurses, with the cooperation of many medical professionals and local residents. The Federation is presently planning to increase the number of connected bases from the current three in order to hold meetings more efficiently in the future.
System Selection Points
In addition to the high-quality images and sound of the HD Visual Communications System, a proposal for a reliable IP-VPN line plan that featured both economy and ease of system introduction was a key point in the installation decision. We held a total of three demonstrations. In the last two demonstrations, we actually set up the system and connected three Federation bases as requested by the Federation. In the final demonstration, a regular board meeting was held using the HD Visual Communications System. This demonstration created such a strong impact that they made the decision to install the system on the spot. By proposing a communication line plan with the cooperation of a specialist partner, we were able to quickly suggest a suitable scheme to meet the customer's requirements.
Installation Effects
By connecting three bases, the HD Visual Communications System has successfully achieved significant reductions in the time and cost of travelling by car. In addition, it has minimised the safety risk of driving on snow-covered roads in winter. The HD Visual Communications System has eliminated the need for participants to take business trips to attend not only the regular board meeting but also many committee meetings, thus facilitating the adjustment of participant schedules and increasing attendance. Presently, the HD Visual Communications System is effectively used in meetings that are voluntarily held by young doctors and trainee doctors. It is also used in specialised meetings of doctors at different hospitals. As such, the system is used for highly diverse applications.
System Configuration and Operation


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Last night I had a dream where I would be aware of having only a 200 pesos bill in my pocket, that being the last money left with me at the time. I was with my family in a restaurant and I would still be quite sure about being able to pay for the bill, or at least help with some money. I would notice how I was very aware of what everyone was asking and in one moment I would see my partner taking the offer drinking 'some' of my father's beverage, and all I could consider in that moment is how one drink cost a quarter of the 200 pesos, and because he would drink the whole thing in 3 seconds I would get so angry at him for being inconsiderate, for not realizing that then my father would have to get another drink and then it would take all the money away.
The shocking point however is how I reacted towards my partner in such situation which involved a lot of cursing and flipping fingers and generally wanting him to feel bad or notice that 'he had done an inconsiderate thing' by drinking that. Yet, right after I would be in my own possession towards him in that moment I would realize how I had not said or done any of that to him before, and realized that the damage was done: I could not revert back to a moment before all of that where I could have stopped myself from justifying my anger at him and the situation. In my dream I realized how things could spiral out from there on, on how I had been essentially so disrespectful toward him in that moment, breaking into 'uncharted territory' from there on due to allowing myself to express myself to him that way. I felt regretful as well.
I woke up with this experience of 'being angry at him' lol, but of course I brought myself back to earth and realized it was MY dream, my creation and so what exists in my mind and what could possibly be a reality if I allowed it to become just that. It frightened me, because I saw how in one moment so many consequences would ensue and even if right after I wished I 'hadn't done that/said that' it was done, truly felt regret yet of course in the dream I didn't go into analyzing the situation. So here I go.
First of all it seems odd how if I knew I had little money left, still try and go to restaurants or even attempt to invite others and pay the bill for it. This is a point of defined 'empowerment' as well where I have enjoyed doing this with my family and having the ability to 'invite them' as well, which to me it just makes sense considering the many times they have invited me as well. However obviously, if I was in such precarious situation as in having little to no money left, I would not go out to restaurants, not pretend I can manage. I can see there's the point of ego as 'pride' in maybe wanting to hide the fact that 'I'm broke' at their eyes yet be tense throughout the whole situation, because I would not have wanted to be in the position to have to spend more just because of adding one last drink to the bill.
I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to define an experience of going out to restaurants and invite others as in paying the bill myself as 'empowering' and something I gladly do, wherein I would then prevent myself from being open and clear to others about my financial situation and explain why I cannot attend to a restaurant or pay for the bill due to having little to no money left, which is what I see makes sense to do in such situations and not have the 'restaurant' or reunion be centered around 'going out' but family reunions and 'going outs' don't always have to relate to eating out/ paying somewhere to eat/drink something while it could be done at home as well, this is in consideration to be considerate of money spending when there are no sources of income, and not perceive it as a 'missing out' or a 'lesser' experience if I cannot afford something any longer.
I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to slightly charge the experience within me of being able to afford paying a meal in a restaurant for others and myself, which is a point of perceived 'empowerment' which certainly can be done when there is sufficient money and income, however if one's situation changes, adjustments have to be made and such kind of unnecessary expenses have to be cut, instead of me trying to 'keep the show going' at the eyes of others, while knowing well in the situation in the dream that I was compromising my 'last moneys' in order to give a pleasure/moment to others to enjoy, or what I perceive to be 'enjoyment' or expressing some kind of 'gratefulness', when in fact enjoyment and gratefulness can be expressed in so many other ways that don't involve having to 'go out to restaurants' only as what I've lived throughout my life within the family scenario.
In this it is to realize that it is not limiting myself when no longer being able to afford such things if having no income, but rather be considerate about the situation instead of wanting to 'pull it through' and compromising my basic livelihood.
Another aspect here is how I allowed myself to get to that point of only having 200 pesos on my pocket. It is interesting because in the morning today I saw this picture on social media about how if you have 10 dollars in your bank account, you have more than the 75% of the world, which is ridiculous that we've allowed ourselves to get to this point of most of the world living in poverty while being in a world that sufficiently caters for everyone. So there are various factors that lead to having no money, but within my personal situation and environment/context, it IS possible to make money therefore here within the dream context and as a possible scenario that exists in all of our lives
I forgive myself that I accepted and allowed myself to get to a position of poverty, which is a form of disregard, lack of self responsibility, apathy, not putting myself out there in terms of knocking doors and looking at the many possibilities that still exist in this world to make money, having no judgment to particular activities or job situations, but realizing that I cannot allow myself to get to such point of seeing 'the last drops' of my money go and do nothing about it, therefore
I forgive myself that I accepted and allowed myself to neglect my financial situation of my dream and take that into consideration within my current experience where I am living of savings and definitely require to make sure I don't spend money unnecessarily or waste it in 'going outs' that are not really necessary for me to 'live.' In this
I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to slowly but surely allow the 'fear of ending with no money' to be in the back of my head and creeping in as a constant 'variable' in my day to day situations, wherein I can see that it can affect the way that I live and interact with others, which should NOT be so, because in this it is about me first establishing clear accounting with myself, looking at what is it that is essentially needed, the basic points of livelihood that I require to cover in joint expenses and take responsibility for that part that corresponds to me. In this I realize that I do have to 'give up' more unnecessary expenses not because of 'fearing' not having money, but simply being realistic about current financial situation and ensuring I am not placing myself in a dire situation just because of 'squandering' the current possibilities.
And ultimately in this, what matters is that I would not have to 'restrain' myself in all aspects if I start creating other possibilities for income as well, which is where I have to move myself to and start planning where and how I can continue making money to live without worrying about 'eventually depleting my source of money' and this is my point of self responsibility.
I forgive myself that I accepted and allowed myself to become angry, tense, anxious, absolutely possessed with the miser experience at the same time when judging what my partner did in the dream about the drink and blame him as 'inconsiderate' when in fact that was me only venting and exerting my own neglect, lack of consideration and responsibility to my own life, my own financial situation and in this realizing that there are moments where bit by bit I start getting 'stingy' about money due to not having a continuous source of income.
In this I see that the financial aspect when sharing expenses with another and at the same time when placing oneself in this 'comfortable' position with money and then having that 'comfort' point change to a position of precariousness can change the way we behave toward others and essentially 'the worst of us' can come out when in that survival mode.
I forgive myself that I accepted and allowed myself to be so ashamed of myself in that moment when realizing what I had done as in doing all the cursing, yelling, flipping fingers and venting out my own anger towards another, because in the 'shame' of course we don't see the actual starting point of it all, which is how in that dream situation I allowed myself to get to that position of 'having the last drop' of money and doing nothing at all about it, which is unacceptable and it is unacceptable that I would dare to see another as 'the problem' in that moment, which is such a common way to miss out MY responsibility in it all.
I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to define me as someone that is 'unconditional' when it comes to 'sharing' which means sharing of my money when paying something for others and link this to a 'sign of appreciation' when it is part of the programming at home where any given money was to be considered a sign of love, appreciation, gratitude, care and even recognition as a 'prize' for doing something 'good', when in fact these words mean so much more than just 'money' and can be lived in so many more ways than just 'giving money' or 'paying' things for others.
I realize that if I do enjoy being able to live in a comfortable manner and even at times be able to 'share it with others', then there's two options: either I get a sufficient source of income to continue doing this in a moderate manner, or rather explain my situation, stop compromising myself and rather live these words as care, love, appreciation, gratitude towards others not by 'paying' for things or 'inviting out' but rather by assisting them in their lives in what I consider I can, such as sharing or providing some personal support, be with them in times when we can chat/ be up to date with each other, do something together that doesn't require any consumption of sorts or 'going outs' as in eating out etc. and so also challenge that programming that has been so ingrained throughout my life in terms of 'going to restaurants' and seeing that as a point of luxury, comfort and ways to interact with others better, because in reality, I first have to assess the financial situation in order to fulfill such 'ideals' and if it is not possible, then rather redefine the 'gatherings' to something else, where I have also come to realize that it is part of those 'illusions' I've hold on to as if they were part of 'my lifestyle' throughout my life, but I do know of people that would rarely ever do this in their lives and could live without it, which enabled me to see how I have conditioned myself to believe this is part of the 'rites' of socializing, when it doesn't have to be the 'only' way to go out and socialize in any case.
Last Sunday for example instead of going out to a restaurant, we rather went to eat at my parents' house and spend much less money by doing so than keeping the 'outings' program in place, and it was as enjoyable as well because the interaction and 'getting together' shouldn't be defined by 'what one eats' or 'where' and 'how much it costs' at all, when the same can be done/prepared/cooked with much less money anyways.
In this I recognize that it is not like I will say NO to all outings in restaurants, but certainly be much more moderate about it and be considerate of not squandering money within such habit. Which leads me to the point of how I was also justifying these expenses in saying that 'I am in turn also supporting the economy in my locality' and assisting others to 'get a better wage' with going to places and leaving tips and whatnot, however this is 'ok' if one has the money to do it, but it is silly to compromise one's own livelihood just to keep 'benefiting others' and be left with nothing oneself.
And then comes the anger point which I mean, I have talked about it many, many times. And it was cool to face this rather uncomfortable and – to say the least – regrettable situation in my dream where my own lack of responsibility to my financial situation led me to essentially ruin or if not create a faux pas with my partner in doing something that I immediately regretted to have been said and done toward him. It really sucked the moment that in the dream I realized: what have you done? You can't go back and undo that, he will forever remember this that you just did and said to him. And this has to do with previous situations where I also allowed myself to be possessed in certain situations also due to familiar contexts and traditions or 'politics' that my partner would not be used to, and that I essentially blew things out of proportion against him at the very beginning of our relationship and only later on did I admit to see that it was My 'religion' of how things should be that was the problem, and how I did not communicate about it beforehand and how I made it such a big deal in my mind and exerted that anger toward him as well. That was talked about and it took me to recognize my own 'religion' of what I believed he should have done that caused the problem, while him also admitting to aspects of his participation to work with, which has actually worked fine.
However in the dream due to the financial 'strain' and situation I was in and not communicating about it with others, but keep it to myself and just 'venting out' the consequence of my problem, I would create another rift in my relationship with others because of this precarious situation I created for myself.
When waking up and realizing I was carrying the experience of the dream, I cleared myself up by forgiving myself for having allowed myself to get so angry at my partner in the dream, for judging him for generally 'drinking things too fast' because I equate this to 'money' only, and in general create this scenario in the dream to test myself 'who would I be' in such situation of poverty.
So, what I could see is that surely being in that ultimate state of having almost no money left at all, does make one go into 'overdrive' in survival, which can be by all means first of all prevented. However the point of 'instant possession' upon living the consequences is also preventable, wherein in the dream I could have taken a moment to stabilize myself, not keep feeding the 'fears of not having money' or the judgments on how anything eaten/drank equated to more money on the bill and so becoming angry at consuming in itself, and so preventing me from getting so possessed in this rage, anger about money that one can say or do things that one will regret a moment afterward. I have to remind myself that no matter how 'difficult' a situation might be, I cannot blame others for it, I cannot use another as a 'punching bag' for it and seeing others as 'the problem' when in fact it is all self-created.
In an ultimate situation if I had to walk the 'aftermath' of that situation in the dream, I would explain my own anger about my situation, how I didn't take responsibility for my experience and allowed myself to exert it out and ask for forgiveness to the other person, after having forgiven myself for being so neglectful towards myself and my personal responsibility in relation to money. It is also interesting that even if it was 'just a dream' I could not just see it as 'just that' because it felt such a real possibility for me in all aspects that I considered the importance of aligning this point so that I can prevent most of the situation by changing definitions of 'outings' with others from now on, in relation to family gatherings, going out for the sake of 'paying for others and supporting them through my consumption' and rather be realistic about my financial situation.
In this I realize that it is not a 'missing out' because one defines what one makes of any situation or experience, so I stop defining 'comfort' and 'pleasure' and 'gratitude' and 'enjoyment' and even 'sharing' with others just through what money can do. And many times to be honest the process of 'going out' becomes more of a ritual than an actual enjoyment, so I can decide to suggest other ways and even 'change the ways' that it usually goes wherein we can all save up money and realize that it is not always necessary to spend in order to show care or live enjoyment or any other aspect like that.
So what can I learn from the dream in retrospect is: how to prevent getting to a point of lacking money, how to prevent myself from affecting my relationships with others by remaining in a position of 'pride' and not seek out for ways to make money or support from others, how to stop defining experiences of 'empowerment' related to money only, how to live appreciation, care, joy, gratefulness and sharing in ways that don't involve 'paying' for something to someone else as an 'expression of care' because I can decide to change that, how I can prevent myself from blaming others and getting in an exertion of my own anger towards myself and use others as my 'valve of escape' for that emotional experience.
Ultimately of course we should prevent ALL of humanity from ever having to be in a precarious situation, of having no money/no food/ no shelter and having no possible way to get an income and step out of survival mode. We need to guarantee everyone's wellbeing if we want to prevent people getting possessed in such a dysfunctional mind state of accumulated problems and experiences related to money that lead to the worst of the worst in our society: from mental illness, to domestic violence, addictions, blaming governments and neglecting our personal and collective responsibility in this system.
In relation to the comment, We can make a difference if we all place ourselves in the shoes of situations like the one that ¾ of the population in this world are living in and decide to stop creating obstacles for us to live in a dignified manner, it really starts with us and empowering each other not only with money, but with skills and abilities to be able to contribute back into society and so be genuinely proud of creating a world we can live in without worries of ever going poor again, it's up to us to remove for every person that possibility of only having 10 dollars in their pockets or even only 'a bit more' of that, no one wants to live in such poverty, so why should we allow the majority of this world do go through that?
Please check out this great series that supports with this process:
Making Do With Less – The Soul of Money
Learn more about this and Join in:
- 7 Year Journey To Life Process : People Sharing their Processes of Self-Forgiveness and Self-Correction
- Desteni
- Desteni Articles
- Destonians
- Desteni I Process
- Agreement/Redefining Relationship Course
- Desteni Forum : Discuss and share with us
- Desteni Wiki
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- Creation's Journey to Life
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You are currently browsing the daily archive for July 4, 2011.
As I searched for something else in the 2007-08 foto galleries, I found shots of vessels long gone . . . . I know where specifically some are and see them regularly bearing a new name, a couple here in general I know where they are although I'm unable to picture them, yet others . . . I have nary a clue. One or two here I spotted maybe only once. Today seems an opportune time to bring these to light. If anyone has recent pics, please send them. Unless otherwise stated, all fotos were taken in the sixth boro, which itself has changed in . . . 3 or 4 years . . . or more accurately–land, people, water–is always in flux.
Like Baltic Sea.
Curtis Reinauer (and
Dean … no Franklin)
Little Toot (foto taken in Point Pleasant, NJ),
Francis Turecamo (taken in Waterford, NY),
Eileen McAllister and Responder . . . still with the boom reel,
and finally, the elusive basil barge . . . .
And if you're feeling generous and flush today, how about we support the PortSide Summer Youth Employment program . . .? Click the icon upper left for info.
Except for the basil barge, all fotos taken a few years back by Will Van Dorp.
In the elusive but deadly department, "ghost bombs" near the VZ bridge???


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Anritsu and Bluetest continue collaboration by updating integrated OTA solution with their latest product offerings
Following the successful launch of world's first LTE 3CC Carrier Aggregation OTA measurement solution in December last year, Bluetest and Anritsu now take the next step together with the integration of the brand new Anritsu Radio Communication Analyzer MT8821C and Bluetest's recently released 5th generation OTA Reverberation Test System RTS65.
The MT8821C is the successor to the popular MT8820C and enables up to four carriers with MIMO to be generated in a one box solution while retaining code and RF compatibility with MT8820C. This backwards compatibility enables the MT8821C and hence also the joint test solution to immediately support all the commonly used communication standards such as: LTE FDD and TDD including LTE-Advanced, W-CDMA (HSPA, HSPA+), CDMA (EV-DO), TD-SCDMA and GSM (GPRS/EDGE). The LTE carrier aggregation solution currently supports: • DL CA: 2CC and 3CC (4CC planned for future release) • UL CA: 2CC
Bluetest's 5th generation RTS65 reverberation test system and Flow software platform were introduced in April this year and introduce a new level of user friendliness, flexibility and innovative solutions to increase lab productivity. The new system includes a built-in measurement computer as well as a touch screen interface for easy control and monitoring of the measurements.
"Our joint customers really appreciate the close collaboration between Anritsu and Bluetest that enables them to directly after the introduction of the new test and measurement products fully enjoy the strengths of the integrated test solution", says Bluetest's product manager Klas Arvidsson. Anritsu's wireless specialist Francois Ortolan adds; "For us it was obvious that we needed to provide Bluetest with access to the MT8821C to facilitate a smooth migration to the latest technology for OTA testing and that Bluetest also took the opportunity to include support for our 2CC UL CA functionality at the same time."
The Anritsu MT8821C is also supported by Bluetest's previous generation of reverberation test system consisting of the RTS60 and Bluetest Measurement Suite.
Company profile: Anritsu
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Exploring the Edible Planet 2 - Nature is happiness2019-03-26
Reported by the United Nations Environment Programme, the need to feed a growing number of people globally has led to more land being converted to cropland. If the current trends of unsustainable land use continue, nearly the size of Brazil of natural land may be degraded by 2050. In responses to the land degradation, people from Taiwan and Hong Kong determined to find a possible solution to save our planet— back to nature!
Exploring the Edible Planet II
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How to feed a hungry world? Imagine in 35 years, we have 2.5 billion more mouths - an extra China and India combined - to take care of. What makes the task more challenging is our world already has one billion chronically hungry people, less arable land to develop, unpredictable climate change disrupting farm production, overfishing and growing water shortages in the mix. Luckily, researchers, scientists and bright minds in search of sustainable food sources are convinced that we only need to adjust our taste buds to get stomach full. The food plates in three decades might not look like the same as we have today, however, they are promised to be as tasty, nutritional and healthy as always, if not more. Kannie Chung, a native Hong Kong foodie, sets out on a food adventure, spots on a street in Cuba, Holland, North America, Demark, Vietnam, China & Hong Kong to meet radical thinkers and producers of food, who have been experimenting to convert plastic into food, visiting seed bank to preserve old crop plant varieties, exploring how a synthetic meat, the world's costliest burger made it on to the plate, etc. Let's follow Kannie's footprints, finding an innovative ideas, turning today's inedible into tomorrow's delicacy.


text: The topic of the dissertation, entitled ´Cross-national evaluation of the sources of anti-trafficking enforcement´, is highly relevant from the perspectives of global governance and human rights protection. This thesis aims to provide a quantitative, cross-nationally comparative, longitudinal and multilevel study of the drivers and hindrances of national governments´ anti-trafficking measures. In this research, both macro-level determinants of anti-trafficking enforcement and micro-level foundations of human trafficking are explored. In the manuscript, large-N comparative research examines how characteristics of countries interact with people´s attitudes towards violence to better understand what creates environments that are more or less supportive of governments´ anti-trafficking efforts. The results presented in the thesis speak not only in favor of studying this topic systematically and cross-nationally, addressing existing gaps in the literature but also in favor of combining macro- and micro-level evidence for developing more effective policy responses against human trafficking.


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The agency charged with building a high-speed rail system between San Francisco and Los Angeles violated state law when it awarded contracts for information-technology services without going through the mandatory bidding process, according to a report released Tuesday by State Auditor Elaine Howle.
The audit is a follow-up to the Bureau of State Audits' April 2010 report, a scathing survey titled "High-Speed Rail Authority: It Risks Delays or an Incomplete System Because of Inadequate Planning, Weak Oversight, and Lax Contract Management." The new audit offers a mixed picture of the $98.5 billion project. While it credits the California High-Speed Rail Authority with implementing four of the previous audit's nine recommendations from last year, it also faults the agency for lax contract management and a flawed business plan.
Among the report's most damning findings is its conclusion that the authority engaged in "inappropriate contracting practices" involving information-technology services. The agency split its $3.1 million IT contract into 13 individual contracts with one vendor, the company Paperless Knowledge, and awarded these contracts to the vendor without obtaining proper bids, the audit found. The State Contract Manual, the report notes, "expressly forbids agencies from splitting contracts to avoid competitive bidding requirements and purchasing thresholds for any series of related services that would normally be combined and bid as one job."
"As a result of the Authority's actions, we believe that it violated the prohibitions set forth in the 'State Contracting Manual.' Further, the nature of the problems we discovered suggests that the Authority needs to significantly improve its internal controls to ensure that it effectively manages its contracts," the report states.
In its response to the audit, the authority stated that it will develop procedures to detect and prevent contract splitting and that it has already "significantly revised the contract administration manual to ensure more effective management of the contract management process." It is also holding discussions with California Technology Agency (as the office of the state's Chief Information Officer is called) about possible service options.
"To the extent that services cannot be obtained through the California Technology Agency the Authority will obtain needed services through the appropriate procurement process," the authority's response states. "In addition, the Authority is reviewing current IT agreements to determine what if any can be canceled immediately."
The auditor's findings have prompted the state's Department of General Services to take a fresh look at the authority's IT contracts. The department, which oversees information-technology procurements, had approved the authority's proposal to noncompetitively award six of its IT contracts to the same provider. Even so, the report notes, the authority entered into these contracts before it had received the approval and it allegedly agreed to terms that were longer than what was approved by General Services.
Fred Klass, director of the Department of General Services (DGS), wrote in a letter to Howle that his department would conduct its audit of the rail authority's procurement process by Jan. 1, 2013.
"The DGS will contact the Authority to confirm that appropriate actions are being taken to competitively bid the services," Klass wrote. "As part of this process, the DGS will ensure that all services that cannot be fully justified as separate and distinct will be combined into one contract."
The authority's failure to follow state regulations about bidding is one of many deficiencies the audit uncovered in its survey of the agency's contract management. The audit paints a picture of a severely understaffed state agency that is struggling to keep track of its contractors, who outnumber the rail authority's staff by a factor of about 25 to 1. As of last August, the authority had only 21.5 filled positions and more than 500 contractors.
The agency's reliance on contractors, some of whom may have conflicts of interest in this project, further compromise its ability to effectively oversee the project, the report found. It particularly hinders the authority's ability to be involved in the project's risk-management process, a problem that the auditor had also identified in her 2010 report.
"The Authority's current organizational structure places the largest portion of the program's planning, construction, and most importantly, oversight in the hands of contractors who may not have the best interests of the State as their primary motivation," the report states. "As a result, the Authority lacks assurance that the program is implemented in a way that best serves the public."
For example, the audit found more than 50 errors or inconsistencies in the progress reports submitted by the agency's contracted program manager, the firm Parsons Brinckerhoff. The firm has more than 100 full-time-equivalent employees working on the project and is charged with providing day-to-day management for the project and overseeing subcontracts managing regional segments of the proposed line, according to the audit. But the audit found that the reports from the program manager "were often inaccurate and that at times the Program Manager misinformed the Authority about the speed with which contractors for each region -- called regional contractors -- performed tasks."
In some cases, the program manager "altered dates to make it appear that the regional contractors would perform work either more or less quickly than they estimated they could in their progress reports," the audit states. The lack of accurate reports "has compromised the quality of the information the Authority relies on."
The audit also reaffirms some of the scathing findings from other nonpartisan agencies, including the Legislative Analyst's Office and the rail authority's Peer Review Committee. All three agencies found major flaws in the rail authority's business plan, including questionable ridership projections and a reliance on federal funds that may never show up. It concludes that the "program's funding situation has become increasingly risky."
On the question of ridership, the audit gives the rail authority some credit for including more information about its methodology in the latest business plan than in the prior version. But the audit also states that "the Authority's process for overseeing the development of the model lacked transparency, which may raise concern about the model's credibility." For example, the peer-review group charged with reviewing the authority's ridership projections was selected by the agency's CEO Roelof van Ark -- a fact that undermined the panel's independent status.
"By handpicking the ridership review group, the chief executive officer may have inadvertently raised concerns about the objectivity of the members," the report states.
The audit's findings echo similar concerns from a growing number of critics of the increasingly controversial project. The Palo Alto City Council has consistently disputed the rail authority's financial and ridership figures, as has the local rail-watchdog group, Californians Advocating Responsible Rail Design.
The Palo Alto council also took the dramatic step last December of adopting as the city's official position a call for legislators to terminate the project.


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PITTSBURGH (AP) – Of all the heartbreaking images from Friday's massacre at a Connecticut elementary school, one in particular gripped Alice Del Vecchio, an assistant professor at Slippery Rock University.
It was that of a grieving father, telling an interviewer how his now deceased 6-year-old daughter had only recently learned to read but already was sharing stories with her younger siblings. That's when the idea hit her.
In the coming weeks, Del Vecchio, with help from what she hopes will be a legion of volunteers, is encouraging people across the nation to buy a children's book, read it to their child and then donate it to a school, a library or other child-serving organization where they live.
'What better way to celebrate young readers who were killed than to give the gift of reading to others,' said Del Vecchio, 59, who directs a program at Slippery Rock for students planning on careers in nonprofit management and community service.
'That's what first-graders do,' she said. 'They learn to read.'
Del Vecchio said that like many others, she wanted to do something following the deaths of 20 first-graders and six employees inside Sandy Hook Elementary School in what was the second-worst school shooting in U.S. history. Only she initially did not know what made sense.
She decided that a book drive would be one small way to pay tribute to the first-graders, their families and the teachers and staff in Newtown, Conn., who tried to protect the young victims and paid with their lives.
Although the idea is only a couple days old, the 'We Can Read' project has begun to attract interest as word spreads online among campuses and organizations involved in training community service professionals. A number of Slippery Rock students have pledged to participate, said Del Vecchio, and she has heard from faculty at Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Mo., the University of San Diego and the University of Central Florida.
Some planning to attend this year's gathering of the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance on Jan. 2-5 in Atlanta are expected to bring books that will be donated in that community, said Michael Cruz, president of the national alliance that is headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., and prepares students to work in the nonprofit sector.
At Slippery Rock, where students are on winter break, a handful of books have trickled in to room 107 of the Spotts World Culture Building since emails went out on campus. That's fine, said Del Vecchio, but rather than create a campus warehouse of books she hopes individuals will sign on to coordinate similar 'We Can Read' drives in their own communities and deliver the books to places there.
Those interested in participating are asked to send an email to srustudentnonprofitalliance(at)gmail.com and then follow up with how many books were collected and their destination, so a Valentine's Day letter can be sent to Sandy Hook with the drive's results, Del Vecchio said.
It's hard to predict the extent to which the drive will resonate, said Del Vecchio, an assistant professor in the department of professional studies and director of its nonprofit management program.
But she said attempts to make sense of an act so horrific against young innocents is stirring strong emotions around the nation and world.
'Even if you've never been a parent or a teacher, you learned how to read,' she said. 'You remember sitting on somebody's lap and feeling safe. And then the first time you could read the story all by yourself, remember how excited you were.'
She herself has donated two titles, including 'Thomas' Snowsuit,' a book by Robert Munsch about the ordeal involved in getting ready to play in the snow. 'That was my son's favorite when he was young,' she said.
Other titles collected so far include 'The Brave Little Toaster,' "Blueberries for Sal' and 'Daisy Comes Home.'
The campus effort will be organized by the Student Nonprofit Alliance at Slippery Rock, and books collected in the region will be sent to child service organizations such as Head Start, day care centers, elementary schools and libraries.
Since Slippery Rock's winter break runs until Jan. 28, books are being accepted through Dec. 24 and then again from Jan. 28 through Feb. 3, the university said. Del Vecchio said sending the letter for Valentine's Day is important.
'Everybody is thinking about Newtown now,' she said. 'But in two months the people there might need to know people still remember.'
___ Online: http://bit.ly/ZOLgpc
___ Information from: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, http://www.post-gazette.com


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Foster + Partners reports
Foster + Partners and Buro Happold joint venture has been appointed to design four stations along a new high speed railway line in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which will link the cities of Makkah and Madinah via Jeddah. The Haramain High-speed Railway (HHR) is a major infrastructure project, conceived to forge new social and economic links by dramatically cutting journey times between the cities in western Saudi Arabia and by providing a new transport option for many of the pilgrims making the journey to the religious cities of Makkah and Madinah.
SOURCE: Foster + Partners
Technorati Tags: foster + partners, buro happold, JV, saudi arabia, jeddah, makkah, madinah


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Suzette Martinez Standring: Prayer, post-Katrina style
On my way to the French Quarter, my West African cabdriver shared a surprising insight into prayer.
The summer solstice found me in New Orleans where the air is once again alive with music. It's hard to believe that just three years ago, Hurricane Katrina and the flooding from shattered levees displaced thousands of people. The wiped out communities in the Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish are slowly rebuilding house by house.
But New Orleans' beauty has re-emerged, much like a grime-free Sistine Chapel. Amid its once again busy and bustling streets there is something more. Everyday folks talk a lot about God and gratitude.
When asked, my cabdriver, 47-year-old Isaac Lindsay, shared a tale of his family's survival during Katrina.
"It blew the roof off my house and my home was flooded," he told me.
"What happened?" I asked.
He and his wife, Monica, 41, had emigrated from West Africa around 1999 to join his cousin in Gretna. Isaac drove a cab in New Orleans and Monica worked as a licensed vocational nurse.
During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the couple fled by car to Baton Rouge with their three children, Priscilla, Jacqueline and Isaac Jr., then ages 9, 6 and 3.
More bad news greeted them upon their arrival. They could only stay for four days. Isaac tried to locate other housing but found nothing. Thousands of flood victims were seeking refuge. Home damage and reports of looting prevented them from returning to Gretna.
Their short stay in Baton Rouge was almost at an end when a chance viewing of the news sparked hope. CNN had posted telephone numbers from families willing to take in Katrina victims. Isaac made a call to a family in Texas.
Greg Bird, a 37-year-old computer analyst, his wife, Michelle, and children Ryan, Brice and Marlene, (then ages 7, 4 and 2) opened their home. The Birds even offered to come to New Orleans to pick them up. But the Lindsays had a working car, so the two families met in Dallas and caravanned to the Bird's home in Fort Worth. Despite his desperation, Isaac wondered how it would work out – a black family suddenly moving into a white household.
"I never took a risk of living with someone I didn't know before," said Isaac.
But faith was their common bond. Both families were Christian and believed that its true practice transcended all barriers, including race.
"It was like we knew them for years. They became our friends right then and there and made us feel so at home. My wife kept saying, 'This is God's work,'" Isaac said.
In Fort Worth, the Birds belonged to the Church of Christ, from which came an outpouring of help. Later, when the Lindsays moved into their own apartment, new church friends provided furnishings.
"We stayed with the Birds for a month and half. My wife is an LVN and she found work quickly. My family is still living in Fort Worth, but I wanted to come back to New Orleans and get our home in order," said Isaac, who has flown to Texas every three weeks to be with his family for the last year and half.
"So what do you think the spiritual lesson was in all of this?" I asked, half expecting to hear something about the goodness of people, or transcending racial barriers or even how God directs our lives in miraculous ways.
But his answer was about faith and surrender.
"I used to think I was a Christian, but I now realize I was a 'casual Christian.'" Isaac said.
Confused, I asked, "How so?"
"I always used to pray for things. And if I didn't get things right away, I'd start to doubt God and my faith would get shaky," he said.
But facing homelessness in Baton Rouge changed the way he prayed.
"It was the first time I was praying unselfishly, that his will be done, whatever happened. We were on knees praying to do his will, whatever it is. And an hour later, that's when we saw the telephone numbers on CNN," Isaac said.
Our cab turned onto Royal Street toward my hotel in the French Quarter. It's obvious Isaac loves this city so much. The rebuilding of his Gretna home is nearly complete, and his family soon can return. It's been three years.
But now his wife and kids love Fort Worth and want him to move there.
"What are you going to do?" I asked.
"I'm going to have to pray about it," he said, smiling.
E-mail Suzette Standring at firstname.lastname@example.com. She is the author of "The Art of Column Writing." Visit http://www.readsuzette.com


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Wales assistant coach Rob Howley is wary of in-form England half-backs Danny Care and Owen Farrell ahead of the neighbours' make-or-break clash next weekend.
Scrum-half Care and England number 10 Farrell have proved influential performers behind England's push to land the RBS 6 Nations title this season.
Wales are next up at Twickenham in eight days' time - a game that is set to keep one country's championship hopes alive and end the other's.
And former Wales and British and Irish Lions scrum-half Howley has been impressed by what he has seen from two of England's key tactical controllers.
"I think they are two fantastic players," he said.
"Their ability to make individual decisions, they've got a great combination between them and they complement each other.
"Danny Care is a key player. He is instrumental when he plays for Harlequins in terms of the speed and tempo he brings to the game.
"His ability to implement a good kicking game is really important to England and his ability to speed up the game. He brings other players into the game.
"Care brings a zest and an energy and a tempo to the England game. He certainly brings the forwards into the game and asks questions around that guard and defensive line.
"We just have to be on our wits because defensively we were really good against France. But Care, as well as Owen's running game, can certainly ask a lot more questions.
"Having worked with Owen Farrell, his kick-pass-run decision-making is very good. He has obviously got a great kicking game."
Wales centre Jonathan Davies, meanwhile, looks to be closing in on a possible return next week.
Davies has seen just 40 minutes of competitive action since suffering a torn pectoral muscle during Wales' Millennium Stadium loss to South Africa four months ago.
But he will feature for the Scarlets in their RaboDirect PRO12 appointment with Munster today, when Wales' coaching staff will closely monitor his progress.
Davies, Scott Williams, Cory Allen, Owen Williams and Ashley Beck were midfield options all unavailable to Wales boss Warren Gatland for the title-reviving victory over France a week ago, and wing George North was moved to outside centre alongside Jamie Roberts.
A fully-fit Davies firing on all cylinders, though, would undoubtedly enhance Welsh prospects of stalling England's title bid and keep the reigning champions on course for a record third successive Six Nations crown.
Lock Alun-Wyn Jones, meanwhile, has not yet resumed training after missing the France game due to a foot infection. His absence meant a first Test start for the Scarlets' Jake Ball.
"We hope he will be able to train on Saturday morning and next week, so we will see how he is," Howley added.
"We were disappointed to lose him just before the France game, but he had been on antibiotics throughout the week. His well-being is fine, so we will just wait and see."


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"We're here today to announce the first synthetic cell," said genetic pioneer Craig Venter at a press conference held on Thursday at Washington, D.C.'s Newseum. "This is the first self-replicating cell we've had on the planet whose parent is a computer."
Venter called his work the culmination of a "15-year quest." He was flanked by a team of scientists from the Maryland-based J. Craig Venter Institute, including Daniel Gibson, Clyde Hutchinson and Nobel laureate Hamilton Smith. Venter is best known for his work in mapping the human genome a decade ago. Details of this breakthrough, the last in a three-step process, will be published in the journal Science. Two years ago, the team chemically synthesized a bacterial genome. Next, they successfully transplanted the genome of one bacterium into another bacterium. Now, they have combined those two steps, "starting with a digital code in a computer, building the chromosome from four bottles of chemicals, assembling that chromosome in yeast and transplanting it into a recipient bacterial cell," Venter explained.
The scientists did not create a synthetic genome from scratch, though that is their ultimate goal. Instead, they copied an existing genome from the simple bacterium Mycoplasma mycoides. They wrote out its entire genetic code as a digital computer file. Using a biochemical alphabet of adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine—the building blocks of DNA—they translated the computer file into many small pieces of chemical DNA, stitching those together until they had a synthetic copy of the entire genome, with minor changes. The manmade genome "booted up" the new cell and produced daughter cells through replication—more than 1 billion to date. That original colony is now in a freezer in Maryland awaiting regeneration.
Venter hesitates to call his creation a new species, even though he removed 14 genes from the original M. mycoides. Instead, the team gave their new strain a name that, aptly, sounds like a computer software program: M. mycoides JCVI-syn1.0. To make the manmade distinguishable from the natural, they imbedded DNA sequences that "watermark" the synthetic genome. Venter would not reveal the secret behind the code, but hinted that "this is the first species to have its own website encoded in its genetic code." Other watermarks spell out complete sentences, including a quote by the physicist Richard Feynman: "What I cannot build, I cannot understand."
More From Popular Mechanics
Now that they've figured out how to create a synthetic cell, Venter and company hope to apply it to useful technologies, such as fuel production or environmental cleanup. The majority of the $40 million spent on the project to date has come from Venter's for-profit San Diego-based company, Synthetic Genomics. Venter said his company is working with Exxon Mobile to develop a new strain of algae that captures carbon dioxide and uses it to make diesel fuel. He has funding from the National Institutes of Health to develop a future flu vaccine. One benefit of synthetic biology is speed. "Instead of taking weeks to months, teams might be able to make them in less than 24 hours." This might also help create vaccines for viruses that rapidly evolve, like the virus that causes the common cold.
Eric Gaucher, who runs a synthetic biology lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology, calls the Venter Institute's breakthrough "extremely new and extraordinarily valuable." He has never worked with Venter or his scientists, but he is familiar with their research and is helpful in putting this find into context: "When Monsanto sells Roundup-ready soy beans, all they've done is inserted one or two genes into the soybean genome to allow that plant to be resistant to a particular drug, called glyphosate. A researcher like Jay Keasling [a leading UCal Berkeley synthetic biologist, who has altered a strain of bacteria to produce a malaria drug] has gone a step further. He's said he will engineer an organism, but he's not going to just do it with one or two genes, he's going to do it with a whole pathway of genes." The Venter Institute has said, "Let's no longer think about one gene or two genes or a five-gene pathway. We can now do whatever we want to do with a genome. It exponentially expands what others have been able to do."
Creating synthetic life brings up difficult moral and ethical questions, as well as more practical concerns about the potential misuse of this new technology. At the press conference, Venter was quick to point out "the extensive work we have done asking for ethical reviews—pushing the envelope on that side as well as the technical side." They acknowledge that this technology could be used as a shortcut to creating a harmful pathogen, one a terrorist group might otherwise have to find in nature or steal from a government-controlled lab. They are looking into safeguard measures, such as a screening process for anyone trying to order DNA that could be used to synthesize a pathogen. Venter says he has briefed the White House and along with the research has tried to "push policy issues in parallel."
"This is as much a philosophical advance as it is an advance in science," he says. Indeed, the larger-than-life Venter seemed humbled by the implications of this achievement. "This has changed my views about how life works."
Logan Ward is a contributing editor to Popular Mechanics and author of See You in a Hundred Years. For more on Ward's adventures with 19th century technology, visit his website here.


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The Svedka Vodka female robot ads are frequently seen in open – and not so open – air advertising galleries: billboards, buses, bus stop shelters, phone booths, and subway stations.
A common technique of liquor advertising is Pavlovian conditioning with the use of images of scantily-clad women as the primary stimulus. In close proximity to the affable young lady will be a picture of a bottle of an alcoholic beverage. In the same way that attention is drawn to the ad, the excitement will then link to the brand. Through this training, the consumer prefers a certain product.
Competition presents an immediate complication. How do you get men to look at your bikini girl poster in a public space filled with images of similar free spirits? One way that advertisers attempt to make the images increasingly interesting is by decreasing the clothing. The Cabana Cachaça magazine ad model's high heels and a tan line demonstrate that there is a limit to this sequence. And in the interest of the safety of pedestrians – if not the public morals laws – outdoor advertisers must stop the display of skin at some point well before this reductio ad somethingorother is reached. Standing head and shoulders (and with nearly every other part of their gleaming anatomy) over all rivals, the Svedka bot girls are the solution to this problem. Since stainless steel women don't wear clothes, nobody will be shocked by any amount of exposed sheet metal – but the idea comes through all the same.
There are other advantages, too. No one seems to mind a metal Ms. being treated as a sex object. After all, a robot is an object. And with metallic grey skin (plus just a hint of rouge or a blush signaling attraction) basically the same color as the Svedka bottle, the fembot is not just associated with the product. The feminine machine essentially is the goddess or spirit of the brand, dea ex machina.
I do see a drawback to the pinup girl liquor ads. Much marketing is based on either faulty polls or the faulty interpretation of polls. As their surveys show men making the overwhelming majority of alcoholic beverage purchases, the companies use "cheesecake" ads. The error is in failing to realize that men do what women tell them to do. If a wife or girlfriend sends a man to the liquor store to fetch a bottle of rum, gin, scotch, or wine, no landscape full of ruby-lipped robots will convince him to do anything else. And if is to be vodka and orange, how can a significant other be expected to invite Svedka?
stops at the margin, the unconscious will fill in the blanks.


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But the hornets darn sure were mad at me.
I couldn't help but smile today as I heard Dr. Al Mohler give his 'seminary' report to our convention. Similar to Paige Patterson yesterday, Al's speech sounded more like the announcer at a World Wrestling Federation event whipping the crowd into a frenzy before the fight than a report by the erudite seminary President that he is. The messengers heard no statistics, no reports on new academic degrees or programs, and no financial information. What we did hear was how Southern Baptist messengers have absolutely no idea what we did last night in adopting the Executive Committee statement on the BFM 2000. I wonder if I am the only one who is just a little bit insulted at the suggestion SBC messengers are not smart enough to know what we are voting on. I, again, encourage everyone to watch the tape of the debate (I love the Internet).
There can be ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT messengers KNEW EXACTLY what they were voting on. Just like the hornets on my front porch, the reason some SBC leaders are mad is not because they didn't realize it wasn't 'their' porch when they started building their theological nests, they are upset because someone had the gall to knock them off the porch intentionally and without apology, telling them they had built their nest on the wrong porch. Seminary Presidents don't dictate 'de facto' what the convention believes by orchestrating the adoption of policies and guidelines that reflect their own theological shibboleths at institutions that they themselves guide (or worse, at those agencies they don't guide). Last night, the convention declared that our cooperation in missions and ministry revolves around the only consensus confession our convention has adopted - the Baptist Faith and Message. If you wish your doctrinal policies to be narrower and tighter at your agency, Mr. President, then get our approval. If you have great reasons for doing so - like hiring a seminary professor - we'll approve, but we won't be excluding people for disagreements over doctrinal matters not addressed by the BFM without full convention approval.
While walking back to the hotel I asked an older gentleman if he had heard Dr. Mohler's and Dr. Patterson's speeches to our convention. I think the gentleman's response indicated he was thinking in terms of the efficiency of his hearing aid rather than his presence in the arena because he responded, "I couldn't help but hear them. I had to turn down my hearing aid cause they were shoutin' so loud."
I admire Dr. Mohler. Like Al, I am personally reformed in my theology. We send students from our church to his seminary to receive the finest theological education in the land. I respect his theological acumen, passion and love for Christ. But today, Al Mohler showed me another side to his personality. He seemed angry. He seemed defiant. He seemed like his ego had been bruised. "How dare YOU tell ME what I can and cannot do."
According to Al, the motion passed last year at the Executive Committee (without debate or dissent), and adopted by SBC messengers last night, is the end of the Southern Baptist Convention as we know it, unless he and others do something about it. Joining Al as the guardians of the SBC are Paige Patterson, President of SWBTS, Richard Land, President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and Chuck Kelly, President of New Orleans Theological Seminary.
These four men, led by Dr. Mohler today, thumbed their collective nose (Editors note: I changed the original analogy, desiring a little more grace here), "We do not care that you have told us the Baptist Faith and Message is the only consensus confession of the Southern Baptist Convention and is sufficient to guide us. We will draft any confessional statement, policy or guideline we desire because the hiring of seminary professors is critical to the future health of the SBC and the Baptist Faith and Message 'does not say enough' doctrinally to give us good hiring policies and guidelines."
Paige Patterson has already recommended to friends the disbanding of the SBC Executive Committee. Chuck Kelley said last night the adoption of the Executive Statement would have no effect on his institution and Richard Land has already angrily chastized two gracious SBC theologians who wrote an excellent book on grace and unity around the essentials and freedom in diversity on the nonessentials - a book given to all registered messengers in our SBC packet. The messages of these four men might best be considered like the pronouncements of the Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse. They are not like the horsement in Revelation in terms of their persons or character (for we all know them to be fine Christian men), but their messages are those of death and destruction to the SBC if the messengers collective will wins out.
Famine, pestilence, disease and death. According to these four men, we are now ruined as a Convention. But is that not silly? What is it that scares these men? Read carefully again the motion that the entire Southern Baptist Convention adopted by a convincing majority on Tuesday night.
"The Baptist Faith and Message is neither a creed, nor a complete statement of our faith, nor final and infallible; nevertheless, we further acknowledge that it is the only consensus statement of doctrinal beliefs approved by the Southern Baptist Convention and such is sufficient in its current form to guide trustees in their establishment of policies and practices of entities of the Convention."
It reminds me of a little kid who gets scared because someone's in the room, only to have the light turned on and see it's Grandma.
There Is A Simple Solution That Nobody Wishes To Discuss
The convention has simply said, "If you wish to have doctrinal standards or guidelines that EXCEED the Baptist Faith and Message, simply GET convention approval!"
How easy is that? If Al Mohler wishes his seminary to be a Calvinistic seminary, which it is, and demands all professors be Calvinistic in their soteriology, which he does, then simply bring the Abstract of Principles to the Convention and articulate why we need a Calvistic theological seminary in the SBC. And you know what? The convention will approve. The Abstract, I guarantee you, will NOT be voted down as an additional institutional confession to the BFM 2000 --- for SOUTHERN SEMINARY. Frankly, I believe it can be shown that the convention has already affirmed its approval of the Abstract as the guiding confessional statement, above and beyond the BFM, for SOUTHERN Seminary
But, just as I listened to Al Mohler and Paige Patterson debate Calvinism at last year's Pastor's Conference and saw profound disagreement between the two men, if we were to attempt to get the Abstract as the additional institutional doctrinal confession at SOUTHWESTERN -- well then, Katy, bar the door! You talk about fireworks. The convention will look like New York Harbor on the night of July 4th.
There are SIX seminaries. For heaven's sake, one seminary may wish to ADD TO her doctrinal preciseness by adopting a confessional statement that holds to a particular interpretation on the gifts, that ALLOWS the seminary to hire continuationist Baptist professors like Dr. Sam Storms or C.J. Mahaney. For heaven's sake, Dr. Mahaney speaks for an entire week during campus revival at Southern, but because he speaks in tongues, and Dr. Mohler and Dr. Patterson demand that their trustees pass policies that prohibit tongues, they can't teach at Southern or Southwestern (or anyone like them). FINE -- bring those NEW doctrinal guidelines that go beyond the Southern Baptist Convention's Baptist Faith and Message to the convention during YOUR SEMINARY REPORT -- and let us as convention messengers vote to allow your institution to adopt this ADDITIONAL confession. We will when you explain to us WHY you need this at your seminary.
If we don't particularly like the narrow theological bent of your seminary, we very well may go to Golden Gate or Southeastern or somewhere else that doesn't adhere to those new doctrinal standards that exceed the BFM 2000 that your board, with convention approval, has adopted. We are not restricting you in any way from basing policies or guidelines on doctrinal interpretations of issues that are not addressed in the BFM 2000 -- get your trustees to adopt them and bring them to the convention for appropriate rationalization, debate and eventual implementation.
There's room enough in the SBC for six seminaries to disagree on matters of soteriology, ecclesiology, eschatology, etc . . . . Again, BE AS DOCTRINALLY PRECISE AS YOU DESIRE TO BE AND BRING YOUR ADDITIONAL CONFESSION TO THE SBC FOR APPROVAL!!
We'll honor it.
The Difference Between Seminaries and Convention Wide Agencies
There are six seminaries. ONE International Mission Board. There are six seminaries. ONE North American Mission Board. There are six seminaries. ONE Lifeway.
The Baptist Faith and Message is sufficient as the doctrinal standard for those agencies that represent EVERY Southern Baptist Church in our convention. Here is some helpful advice for the four men I've mentioned in this post - men I respect, but have no problem telling where they err in logic.
(1). You are the President of your agency alone, nobody else's.
(2). Don't try to tell us who is Southern Baptist and who isn't, the BFM does that.
(3). Add to the BFM all your heart desires for your institutional confession, we'll listen to your impassioned pleas for why you need the doctrinal preciseness, and approve it at our SBC with your well reasoned and well presented arguments.
(4). If we add to your institutional confession it does not mean a change in the general consensus confession that forms the basis of our cooperation -- the BFM.
(5). We don't want you demanding anyone be a Calvinist, or a Landmark, or a cessationist, or a continuationist, etc . . . We want freedom to cooperate while disagreeing on these issues.
(6). Keep your hands off the IMB and NAMB by demanding they reflect your personal, doctrinal shibboleths.
(7). Realize that the sheep are getting smarter.
We do quite well cooperating around the essentials of the faith, granting liberty in the non-essentials of the faith, and charity in all things.
That's who we are as the cooperating convention known as the SBC.
In His Grace,
Wade Burleson