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SAMJ: South African Medical Journal
On-line version ISSN 2078-5135
Print version ISSN 0256-9574
SAMJ, S. Afr. med. j. vol.101 n.3 Pretoria Mar. 2011
Is universal coverage via social health insurance financially feasible in Swaziland?
Inke MathauerI; Laurent MusangoII; Sibusiso SibandzeIII; Khosi MthethwaIV; Guy CarrinV
IMSc, PhD. Department of Health Systems Financing, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
IIMD, MPH, PhD. Health Financing and Social Protection/Cluster of Health Systems and Services, World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, Inter-country Support Team, Central Africa, Libreville, Gabon
IIIMSc, formerly in Planning Unit, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Swaziland. East, Central and Southern African Health Community, Arusha, Tanzania
IVMSc. World Health Organization, Swaziland Country Office
VMSc, PhD. Department of Economics, University of Antwerp, Belgium
OBJECTIVE: The Government of Swaziland decided to explore the feasibility of social health insurance (SHI) in order to enhance universal access to health services. We assess the financial feasibility of a possible SHI scheme in Swaziland. The SHI scenario presented is one that mobilises resources additional to the maintained Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW) budget. It is designed to increase prepayment, enhance overall health financing equity, finance quality improvements in health care, and eventually cover the entire population.
METHODS: The financial feasibility assessment consists of calculating and projecting revenues and expenditures of the SHI scheme from 2008 to 2018. SimIns, a health insurance simulation software, was used. Quantitative data from government and other sources and qualitative data from discussions with health financing stakeholders were gathered. Policy assumptions were jointly developed with and agreed upon by a MOHSW team.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: SHI would take up an increasing proportion of total health expenditure over the simulation period and become the dominant health financing mechanism. In principle, and on the basis of the assumed policy variables, universal coverage could be reached within 6 years through the implementation of an SHI scheme based on a mix of contributory and tax financing. Contribution rates for formal sector employees would amount to 7% of salaries and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare budget would need to be maintained. Government health expenditure including social health insurance would increase from 6% in 2008 to 11% in 2018.
For most African countries universal coverage for health remains an important challenge, with millions of households struggling with high out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures for health services. Broadly speaking, tax-based health financing and social health insurance (SHI) are among the mechanisms that can be used to scale up financial risk protection. Significant improvement in tax-based funding has been difficult, while SHI - understood as coverage for all, based on contributions from workers, employees and employers as well as subsidies for those unable to contribute - has so far not been widely implemented in sub-Saharan Africa, and experience with SHI is limited. Yet several African countries wish to move towards universal coverage. One option is the expansion of their existing health insurance schemes for civil servants and/or formal sector employees in order to cover larger parts of the population. Other countries are investigating the feasibility of a new SHI scheme.1
The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW) of Swaziland has investigated the option of an SHI scheme through a feasibility assessment, in the pursuit of addressing strong requests by civil servants to provide health insurance for them as well as providing coverage for other population groups. Swaziland's population is approximately 1 million, with 48% being classified as very poor (2001 data, latest available estimation),2 and the country has a very high HIV prevalence rate of 24.3% for adults aged 15 -49 (2007 data); 42% of those with advanced HIV/AIDS infection are covered by antiretroviral therapy (ART).3 Overall, government health care provision is organised via districts, but with little decentralisation, and it is considered of insufficient quality. Current total health expenditure per capita is estimated at US$151 (at exchange rate 7.79 emalangeni, 2008 average); 65% is tax-financed, whereas 35% is private health expenditure. The latter includes private health insurance (6%), OOP expenditure (15%), funding from non-profit institutions (9%), and other (5%).4 Private health insurance is well established, particularly among formal sector employees, with an estimated 6% of the working population having an insurance plan.5 It is noteworthy that general government expenditure on health as a share of general government expenditure is relatively low (6% in 2008)6 and is thus far below the 15% goal of the Abuja Declaration.
This article discusses the results and implications of the financial feasibility assessment of a potential SHI scheme for Swaziland. This is a first and important step for a government to take in assessing wider feasibility issues of an SHI scheme, including technical, organisational and political feasibility and implementation capacity.
The SHI scenario presented is that of an SHI scheme that mobilises resources additional to the maintained MOHSW budget (adjusted for real gross domestic product growth and inflation). It is designed to: (i) increase prepayment via SHI contributions; (ii) enhance overall health financing equity; and (iii) eventually cover the entire population within 6 years, all being entitled to the same defined benefit package, including outpatient and inpatient care at government, mission and private sector facilities with varying levels of co-payments. Formal sector employees and pensioners are to pay a fixed contribution, while informal sector workers, most of whom are exempted, contribute a flat amount.
An SHI financial feasibility assessment examines whether both household contributions and available government resources for health are sufficient and sustainable and whether and how they can eventually be expanded under an SHI policy to reach universal coverage. The financial feasibility assessment consists of calculating and projecting revenues and expenditures of the SHI scheme from 2008 (baseline year) to 2018 (year 10). SimIns, a health insurance simulation software, is used.7 SimIns calculates projected health insurance expenditure by multiplying: (i) projected numbers of insured members; (ii) their projected health service utilisation rates; and (iii) the projected costs of the health services (i.e. remuneration rates paid to providers) included in the benefit package.
It derives projected revenues by multiplying: (i) projected numbers of insured members by (iv) their respective contributions set.
Some of these variables are derived from country statistics, while some are agreed-upon key policy assumptions relating to the health insurance design explained below. For the data collection process, discussions with stakeholders in the health financing system (ministries, health providers, private health insurance schemes, potential beneficiaries of an SHI) provided information on views, needs and priorities with respect to the key SHI design issues. Subsequently, the policy assumptions were jointly developed with and agreed upon by a MOHSW team. Quantitative data were collected from the MOHSW, church health sector facilities, Statistical Bureau, and other data sources. Rather than propose a unique plan, sensitivity analyses were made to provide a range of projections by varying key variables of the scenario.5
Input variables, policy assumptions and projection results
Input variables
Table I presents the input variables based on country statistics and estimations/interpolations.5
Table II summarises the SimIns variables that express revenue and expenditure-related policy assumptions about the insurance design, i.e. coverage and contribution rates, benefit package composition, unit costs (as provider remuneration rates) and co-payment rates, with more explanations in the text below.
Unit costs are based on a top-down costing study for government health facilities undertaken by the authors (for further methodological explanations see Mathauer et al.5), on comparisons with user charges and reimbursement rates for the private sector5 and data on referrals to South Africa.13 With this method, all services currently provided at government and mission facilities would be part of the benefit package. However, a positive list of health services would eventually need to be established. Current utilisation rates are calculated based on data from MOHSW.14 An assumed price elasticity of demand of -0.32, an estimation available from an earlier study in Swaziland,15 was applied to project an increase in utilisation due to SHI coverage, lower co-payment rates under the SHI scheme, and increased health service quality. Small co-payments were considered necessary to enhance rational consumption of health services.
ART is currently largely financed through donors, and it is assumed in this scenario that scaling up ART coverage will be matched with sufficient funding. Stakeholder discussions therefore concluded that ART would not be integrated in the SHI benefit package.
The identified need to improve quality of care is simulated by increases in real remuneration rates by 40% for health services provided in government and NGO/mission health facilities which would be realised at the end of the first 6 years of the projection period. This reflects the objective to allocate additional funds into the health system to give policy-makers the financial means to put in place concrete quality improvement measures, including the placement of sufficient and skilled staff and investments in infrastructure and supply systems.
Private health sector co-payment rates under the SHI scheme are set at an overall higher level than at government and non-governmental organisation (NGO)/mission health facilities. This reflects the difference in average unit costs between government NGO/mission health services on the one hand and private sector health services on the other. In addition to health service expenditure, administration costs and reserve payments must be taken into account; these are estimated to be 10% and 4% of total annual SHI expenditure, respectively.
For the principal insured member from the informal sector and his/her on average 2.33 covered dependants, the MOHSW team considered the following policy assumptions as affordable: (i) flat contribution rates would be set at about 70% of the current average OOP expenditure for health; and (ii) co-payments would be much smaller than currently in place (based on inflation-adjusted 2001 household survey data on OOP health expenditure).2 In view of the presumed decrease in the poverty rate, the assumption of the MOHSW team was that by year 6, 40% of all informal sector workers (i.e. 23% of the total population) would need to be exempted from contributions and co-payments. Exemption rules could build upon existing community targeting mechanisms to be further developed for this purpose.5 Coverage expansion into the informal sector could move along occupational groups (Table II).
Projection results
Fig. 1 depicts the gradual extension of population coverage until universal coverage is reached within 6 years. Table III presents the financial situation of the SHI fund and the MOHSW (details of the simulation results available from the first author).
SHI revenue and expenditure for all curative care incurred by its members are shown in Table III, revealing a financial gap (line 5). It increases substantially over the projection period and would exist beyond the projection period, but it would not be expected to grow wider under the above assumptions. This gap is of no surprise. The contribution rates are set at levels that are too modest compared with the SHI average benefit package costs per person, and also in light of the high dependency ratio (lines 8 and 9). In addition, 23% of the population are exempted from paying contributions and co-payments in this scenario. There is some degree of cross-subsidisation by the better-off employees whose average contributions exceed their average health care costs. However, it has also been assumed that resources from MOHSW are used to ensure and finance delivery of the SHI benefit package to the exempted and low-income members and thus to meet the financial gap. Furthermore, during the transition process to universal coverage, more MOHSW resources will remain for the ministry administration and preventive/promotive health care (line 7).
Discussion - implications of the SHI policy scenario
Structure of total health expenditure
Fig. 2 shows the resulting structure of total health expenditure of this SHI policy scenario.
It is clear that SHI (dotted and striped area) would take up an increasing proportion of total health expenditure over the simulation period and become the dominant health financing mechanism. Much of the SHI expenditure would be financed by government subsidies (supposedly from the MOHSW budget for curative care - striped area).
For lack of data, any residual private health expenditure (e.g. on private health insurance, self-treatment, payments to traditional healers) is not considered here. Total government health expenditure including SHI expenditure would thus increase to 11% of total government expenditure in 2018, up from 6% in 2008 (estimates based on 2008 data4,6).
Equity in access and health financing
This SHI scenario is designed with the goal of achieving universal coverage over 6 years. It would contribute considerably to achieving equity in access and health financing. Everyone would be eventually covered with the same access to the same benefit package. Contributions are related to capacity to pay, in that government/ formal sector employees and pensioners pay the same proportion of their salary, the exception being the flat contributions of the informal sector workers. The very poor, 23% of the total population, would be exempted from paying contributions and co-payments. OOP expenditure would be substantially reduced, particularly for the poor, once covered by the SHI scheme. Many low-income workers from the formal and informal sectors and civil servants of lower grades would pay no more for health care than before. In fact, their current OOP expenditure would be turned into prepayment.
Potential role of private health insurance
The design of this SHI scheme is more comprehensive and equitable than a medical aid scheme strictly for civil servants, which would provide financial risk protection to a small population group only. The same holds for private health insurance, which is only affordable to the better-off. Yet, in the case of a SHI scheme, there would be a new role for the (already existing) private health insurance companies, namely offering top-up plans to cover health and health-related services above the standard benefit package (e.g. private hospital rooms with more amenities, better food, non-essential health care such as acne treatment, access to a wider range of health services in South Africa). The opting-out option, i.e. allowing people to purchase private health insurance plans instead of being a member of the SHI scheme, is not recommendable, as the solidarity principle would be undermined. Establishing a permanent stand-alone medical aid scheme for civil servants would unfavourably affect the feasibility of a SHI scheme for the remaining population.
Conclusions and policy lessons
In principle, and on the basis of the assumed policy variables, universal (100%) population coverage could be reached within 6 years through implementing an SHI scheme based on a mix of contributory financing and government subsidies. However, the MOHSW budget would need to be maintained. Such a financing scheme is much more comprehensive and equitable than other proposals, such as a medical aid scheme for civil servants only or the existing private health insurance plans for high-income earners.
The SimIns tool constitutes an appropriate starting point to reflect on the feasibility of a SHI. The financial projections are based on estimated input variables and assumed policy variables that must be further reviewed, adjusted and refined over the projection period in line with the actual developments. Likewise, a continued stakeholder consensus building is required for a further fine-tuning of policy assumptions and decisions. This would serve to strengthen the validity of the financial feasibility results.
We emphasise again that a financial projection scenario is only one part of an SHI feasibility assessment. A technical and overall capacity assessment as well as an analysis of political feasibility and commitment is equally relevant. It requires that legislation and the institutional and organisational structure must be put in place. It is also requires willingness on the part of formal private-sector employees and civil servants to accept the solidarity principle and to contribute according to capacity to pay. Additional important challenges include achieving a substantial and relatively quick quality improvement, including sufficient and skilled staff, infrastructure upgrading and better supply systems; building up of the administrative capacity required for the operation of an SHI scheme; and providing information and awareness raising for the population to foster the understanding of the principles of SHI with its advantages as well as challenges. A social dialogue on SHI aimed at building widespread consensus would also be needed.
This article contains the views of the authors only and does not represent the decisions or the stated policies of affiliated organisations. There are no conflicts of interest.
1. Carrin G, Doetinchem O, Kirigia J, Mathauer I, Musango L. Social health insurance: how feasible is its expansion in the African region? DevIssues 2008;10(2). http://www.iss.nl/DevISSues/Articles/Social-health-insurance-how-feasible-is-its-expansion-in-the-African-region (accessed 15 January 2010). [ Links ]
2. Government of Swaziland. Swaziland Household Income and Expenditure Survey. Mbabane: Central Statistical Office, 2001. [ Links ]
3. World Health Organization. WHO Health Statistics. Geneva: WHO, 2009 [ Links ]
4. World Health Organization. National Health Accounts Estimates Up To 2008 for Swaziland. Geneva: WHO, 2010. [ Links ]
5. Mathauer I, Musango L, Carrin G, Mthethwa K. Feasibility assessment and financial projection results for a social health insurance scheme in Swaziland: Exploring possible options. Technical Mission Report. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2008. [ Links ]
6. Kingdom of Swaziland. Budget Estimates for the Years from 1st April 2007 to 31st March 2010. Mbabane: KOS, 2007. [ Links ]
7. World Health Organization and GTZ. SimIns Health Insurance Simulation Model. Geneva: WHO and Eschborn: GTZ, Software Syynx GmbH, Authors: Guy Carrin and Chris James, 2005. [ Links ]
8. Central Statistical Office (CSO). Mbabane: Central Statistical Office. [ Links ]
9. Ministry of Employment and Enterprise. Employment Survey. Mbabane: Ministry of Employment and Enterprise, 2006. [ Links ]
10. Government of Swaziland. Report on the actuarial valuation of the public service pension fund for statutory reporting purposes. Pension Fund: Mbabane, 2007. [ Links ]
11. Ministry of Public Service and Information. Establishment Circular Number 6 of 2007: Cost of Living Adjustment for 2007/8 and Housing Allowance Adjustment. Mbabane: MOPSI, 2007. [ Links ]
12. Ministry of Public Service and Information. Overview of Wage Increases among Civil Servants over the Past 5 Years. Mbabane: MOPSI, mimeo, 2008. [ Links ]
13. Kistnasamy B, Picazo O. Swaziland's Funding of Medical Referrals Abroad: Assessment of the Two Schemes and Options for Improvement. World Bank: East and Southern Africa Office, 2007. [ Links ]
14. Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. Utilization data taken from the Health Management Information System. Mbabane: MOHSW, 2007. [ Links ]
15. Yoder RA. Are people willing and able to pay for health services? Soc Sci Med 1989;29:35-42. [ Links ]
Accepted 17 September 2010.
Corresponding author: I Mathauer (firstname.lastname@example.com)


text:
"When you become a parent," a friend of mine told me when I was about 8 months pregnant with Ruby, "your whole life starts to revolve around sleep. Well, also poop. Poop is important, too. But really, it's mostly all about sleep. I used to fantasize about sex – places to try, positions to try. Now I fantasize about places to nap and positions to nap in."
"Whatever," I told her. "I am already not sleeping. It's not like it could get worse."
God, I was stupid.
Seven years later, and all I think about is sleep. Pre-kids, I adored Daylight Saving Time. It was a sure sign that spring was coming, and I giddily turned the clocks ahead and shed my wintertime hermit behavior and was suddenly all about dining outside, hiking outside after work, maximizing as much of that wonderful late sunlight as I could manage. During college, when my earliest class was at 11, having to wake up at a time that felt a whole hour earlier to my body had no real effect. Once I started having to get up for an office job in my early 20s, it was a little bit rougher, but it was totally worth it for all the glorious sun! But now that I have kids, ugh, Daylight Saving Time can just go straight to hell.
This year, Daylight Saving Time came on the heels of a 10-day school break for Ruby, so we were off our normal schedule anyway, and the early wakeup felt extra-brutal. When I shook Ruby awake at technically-7-but-really-felt-like-6 a.m. on Monday, she immediately started moaning and then began vigorously kicking while whining/keening, "I don't want pajamas on my leeeeeegggggssss!" I left her in this furious fugue state and stumbled my bleary-eyed way into the kitchen to make breakfast for her and coffee for me, and when I came back into her room with a Toaster Strudel as a peace offering, she was calm again but just looked up at me with pleading eyes and said: "It can't possibly be time to wake up. I am pretty sure I just went to sleep."
By this point in the week, she has sort of kind of adjusted to the new time, but I haven't because Georgia is absolutely refusing to cooperate.
Normal babies, I think, go to sleep at like 7:30, right? And sleep through the night? Not Georgia. (She is, yes, comparatively, my good sleeper, but Ruby is so terrible that a meth-fueled lemur would actually be a better sleeper than she is.) We have tried putting Georgia to sleep at 8 or 9 at night, but she invariably wakes up at 4 a.m. ready to start the day. If, however, we don't put her down until 10, she will sleep until 8. I have no idea why putting her down at 8 or 9 at night doesn't result in her sleeping till 6 or 7, but I promise you that we have tried every combination, and her body chemistry is just set to sleep from 10 to 8. Sometimes, as during the week Ruby was on school break over Mardi Gras, Georgia would stay up even later and sleep in later – though never, ever earlier. And so Sunday night, the clock said 11:30 p.m., and Georgia was only just starting to rub her eyes and look sleepy. The next morning, I tried to wake her up early in hopes of resetting her internal clock, but she just wasn't having it. She was still sleeping when I left for work; my mom, who watches her during the day, texted me that she slept until 10. She has not yet gone to sleep before 11 all week, although I guess tonight could finally be the night…
As for the extra daylight, I wish I could enjoy it more, but with the lack of sleep, we are all so crabby that it hardly matters.
Yesterday on a car ride to the drugstore, an exhausted and unusually unpleasant Ruby bitched and moaned about absolutely everything under the (still-shining) sun. She was mad because I was making her wear shoes into the store even though she has "very sensitive feet." She was mad that a week ago I had bought her a plastic pig full of candy but really she was just now realizing that she had wanted the plastic cow full of candy. She was mad that last week, when I bought her an iced tea at PJ's, they didn't put enough honey in. She was mad that Easter was still so far away. She was mad that her birthday was so close to Christmas. She was mad about something rude her camp counselor said to her two summers ago.
Finally, with a deep sigh, she said, "Mom, can you turn the heat off? It's making my lips chapped."
"OK," I said, "I just had it on because I'm kind of chilly."
"Ugh," she said. "I am, too! But you don't see me complaining!"
At that point, I just had to laugh.
Even when I am tired, even when my kids are tired and bratty and downright nocturnal, they still brighten my days more than any hour of sunshine could.
It's true that my life does now revolve largely around sleep (and yes, also poop), and it is also true that I sometimes long for those days when I would come home from work with no one to answer to but the dog and I could sit on a patio drinking wine with my friends all night – but even so, I know I didn't have this kind of richness in my life back then.
The advice I give to women who are 8 months pregnant is a little different than what my friend gave me. "Good luck," I tell pregnant friends. "It is really hard, and it might suck a lot at first. But it is also really so much fun."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Joel Ewanick, the outspoken Chief Marketing Officer of General Motors, has resigned from the auto maker effective immediately.
Ewanick's departure is a surprise ending to a two year tenure where Ewanick made as much news as GM's change in marketing. In an official statement, GM said, "Joel failed to meet the expectations the company has of its employees." When asked to expand on how Ewanick failed, a spokesperson for General Motors declined to elaborate.
Ewanick leaves GM less than two years after he was promoted to the position of Global Chief Marketing Officer. During his tenure he ruffled feathers inside and outside of GM for making bold moves and comments.
Most notably, earlier this year when Ewanick said GM would pull $10 million in advertising from Facebook because the auto maker questioned the effectiveness of direct ads on the social network. The decision to announce pulling ads just days before the Facebook IPO baffled many people. Ewanick later said the comments were not meant to send a message to Facebook investors or to hurt the company's IPO.
GM executives say Ewanick's departure is not related to any of the controversy surrounding the Facebook advertising decision of comments.
Ewanick is replaced on an interim basis by Alan Batey, GM's current V.P. Of U.S. Sales. When GM hired Ewanick away from Hyundai two years ago it was considered a coup. Now, the man brought in to shake up how GM presents itself is the latest executive to leave the company.
By CNBC's Phil LeBeau


text: SALT LAKE CITY (AP) A federal judge in Utah has ordered an FBI agent to court next month to respond to allegations that he tampered with a witness who backed out of testifying in a trial about Oklahoma City bombing videos.Utah lawyer Jesse Trentadue told U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups this week that former government operative John Matthews decided not to testify after the FBI agent contacted him and pressured him not to do so.Attorney Kathryn Wyer said Thursday that the FBI in Utah gave her a much different version of events. Wyer said John Matthews reached out to the agency to ask how he could get out of testifying.Waddoups says the allegation is too serious to ignore. He set a court date of Aug. 25 for the agent to testify.


text:
Port and Aviation Security Bills Pass House
(WASHINGTON) – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed five Homeland Security bills. The legislation will help the Department of Homeland Security protect our nation's ports and foster better aviation security policy. Two of these bills were sponsored by Committee Democrats.
The "Aviation Security Stakeholder Participation Act of 2011" (H.R. 1447) was sponsored by Committee on Homeland Security Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS). This bill would, for the first time, authorize the Aviation Security Advisory Committee (ASAC) in law and ensure that there is a forum for travel industry stakeholders to impact Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security regulations and policies. The bill directs the TSA Administrator to appoint the committee's members and establish three targeted working groups to address special security challenges in: air cargo, general aviation, and perimeter security.
The "Securing Maritime Activities through Risk–based Targeting for Port Security Act" (or SMART Port Security Act – H.R. 4251), includes legislative language based on Ranking Member Thompson's "TWIC Program Act" (H.R. 1105). At section 206, this comprehensive maritime would relieve the Nation's port and transportation workers from the requirement of renewing their 5-year TWIC cards, starting in October 2012, given that DHS has not implemented a biometric reader rule to ensure that workers who present these credential are matched with the cards.
The "Gauging American Port Security Act" (or GAPS Act – H.R. 4005), was sponsored by Rep. Janice Hahn (D-CA). This bill directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to conduct a study and report to Congress on gaps in port security in the United States and a plan to address them.
Congressman Thompson released the below statement supporting the bills: "As all of us have a stake in securing our Nation, my Aviation Security Advisory Committee bill will ensure that the stakeholders who are expected to comply with the policies and procedures developed by TSA have a seat at the table. Then we can be confident that TSA policies are both effective from a security standpoint and address the economic and commercial realities of our Nation's airports." "The SMART Port Act is rooted in not only the improvements to the TWIC program but also what it seeks to do to improve coordination and cooperation between DHS' maritime components and strengthen procurement practices. This bill is the result of bipartisan efforts to strengthen the security of America's ports and waterways and ensure the Department of Homeland Security's maritime security efforts are as effective and efficient as practicable." "Enactment of the GAPS Act will help ensure that our limited security resources can be targeted to those threats that put our ports at greatest risk. Our Nation's ports are as diverse as the people they serve and the importance of this infrastructure to the global supply chain cannot be overstated."
Full Statement Supporting the Aviation Security Stakeholder Participation Act
Full Statement Supporting the SMART Port Security Act
Full Statement Supports the GAPS Act
The five bills considered are H.R. 4251, H.R. 4005, H.R. 1447, H.R. 5843, H.R. 3173
The bills were debated on Tuesday.
# # #
Media Contact: Adam Comis at (202) 225-9978
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text:
European Medicines Agency reviews treatment recommendations for Fabrazyme
The European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has reviewed its previous recommendations on the use of Fabrazyme (agalsidase beta) during the ongoing supply shortage. This was triggered by an increase in reported adverse events in patients treated with the lower dose of Fabrazyme that has been introduced during the shortage.
Fabrazyme is used to treat the rare, inherited enzyme-deficiency disorder Fabry disease. Temporary treatment recommendations to manage patients relying on this medicine have been in place since the start of the supply shortage and have been regularly updated.
The CHMP is now recommending that physicians switch back to prescribing the full dose of Fabrazyme according to the authorised product information, depending on the availability of enzyme replacement therapy and the severity of the disease.
In making their recommendation, the Committee took the outcome of a consensus group of experts in Fabry disease into account. The group met twice in October 2010, and included physicians with experience in Fabry disease and patient representatives working together to prioritise patients with Fabry disease during the ongoing supply shortage. The Committee also looked at spontaneous reports of adverse events and data from the Fabry registry.
The CHMP noted that since the introduction of a lower dose of Fabrazyme in June 2009, there has been a steady increase in the number of reported adverse events, matching the increase in the number of patients on the lower dose. At first, most of the events were pain-related, soon followed by reports of events affecting the heart, the central nervous system and the kidneys. This pattern suggests a progression of Fabry disease. Recently, a decrease in number of reported adverse events has been observed, which reflects the fact that more patients have either been switched to Replagal or have started receiving a full dose of Fabrazyme again. Despite this, the Committee observed that a subgroup of patients seems to be doing well on the lower Fabrazyme dose.
The CHMP also noted that monitoring plasma or urine GL-3 levels does not appear to add value to the clinical management of the patients while on a lower dose.
The updated CHMP temporary treatment recommendations for Fabrazyme are as follows:
- Patients who require enzyme replacement therapy for Fabry disease should be prescribed the authorised dose of either Fabrazyme (1.0 mg/kg once every two weeks) or Replagal (0.2 mg/kg once every two weeks).
- Low doses of Fabrazyme should be limited to those patients who are stable and prefer to remain on a low dose.
- Patients and prescribers are advised that a deterioration of the condition has been observed in patients on the lower dose. Pain, cardiac manifestations and deafness are the usual manifestations of Fabry disease progression.
These recommendations do not change the currently approved product information for Fabrazyme.
The supply shortage of Fabrazyme began in June 2009 and was caused by a series of manufacturing problems at the production site in Allston Landing, in the United States of America. Because the current productivity at Allston Landing is still lower than expected, supply of Fabrazyme will not return to normal before the second half of 2011, according to Genzyme.
The CHMP remains concerned about the continued supply shortages of Genzyme's medicines and is closely monitoring the implementation of their improvement measures to prevent similar manufacturing and quality problems in the future.
The Agency will make further updates as appropriate.
- The CHMP assessment report on the supply shortage of Fabrazyme between June 2009 and September 2010 will be published on the European Medicines Agency's website shortly.
- The treatment recommendations of the consensus group of the experts in Fabry disease are in line with the currently authorised product information of Fabrazyme, and will be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal
- The previous treatment recommendations of the CHMP for Fabrazyme were made on 6 July 2010, following continued supply shortage.
- Initially, the supply shortage for Fabrazyme was caused by the shutting down of Genzyme's production site in Allston Landing, in the United States of America, for the sanitisation of the bioreactors due to a viral contamination.


text:
NAFTA among many other 'Regional Trade Agreements' i.e., special Free Trade relationships between countries have formed the basis of neo-colonialism, a transnational plutonomy horror show that we all buy into the moment that we think that progress is a cool idea to pursue for ourselves and our nation, but never care to ponder at what cost. We bought the lie and now have to get Self Honest about what we have all accepted and allowed in our attempt to become rich and powerful. Our demise has been directly created by our own Greed – yet, there is certainly a way out of it.
Continuing from:
307. CapitalismUS: Pursuit of Happiness
308. Might Makes Right: CapitalismUS
- 309. Equal Distribution of Power
- 310. The Illusion of Power – Self Forgiveness
- 311. You Want 'All The Power'?
- 312. Are Rebellion and War the Same?
- 313: Good, Evil and Power
- 314. How does Rebelling support Corporations?
- 318. Government in Equal Money Capitalism
- 319. Political Power in Equal Money Capitalism
- 320. Economic Power in Equal Money Capitalism
- 321.Political vs. Economic Power –EMC
- 323.Hegemony and Equal Money Capitalism
- 324. Democracy and Equal Money Capitalism
- 315. Rights and Equal Money Capitalism
In my country, México, in 1994 we became part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the US and Canada. I can only remember the crisis of the subsequent years experienced by people that had engaged in housing mortgages adopting an 'upgraded lifestyle' that became impossible to sustain, eventually losing the house, becoming sick out of the amount of stress it represented to keep paying the bills, dying and passing on the debt of a house they no longer inhabited to their children. People sought ways to make money through counterfeits and robberies that affected my family, and consequently myself existing in a constant fear of realizing that our house was suddenly not ours and that unless we pay the bank, we would have to get out of it. This intermixed with the fear of a civil war with the Insurrection of the Zapatistas wherein I experienced the fear of war for the first time in my 7 years of age, which never happened, but nonetheless it was proof to know that there was something profoundly wrong going on when my currency went from being 1000 pesos to 1 peso and believing that the only change was a 'simplification' to avoid all those zeros next to it, because that's how we were taught to adopt the new currency rate.
México became part of the GATT the year I was born in 1986, and managed to follow all the 'right steps' toward becoming part of the 'great league' of the developed economies i.e. adopting free trade in an attempt to become more powerful by being an ally with our northern neighbor(s). These were 'good housekeeping' measures acknowledged by the IMF as a potential candidate for a new 'openness' of the Mexican market such as implementing de jure Fixed Exchange Rate, Deregulation of Privatization – which meant getting rid of the State Owned Enterprises which had created the well known 'Mexican Miracle' from the 1940's – 1970's and privatization, introducing Capital Market Integration. However, such measures imposed overnight during Carlos Salinas' term in office were absolute speculative measures wherein the capital influx that was suddenly being invested in Mexico – due to apparently successfully living the Market Fundamentalism of liberalizing everything – lead to a growing interest on our 'under developed economy.' Yet, the money was obviously well spent by our 'authorities' and according to an apparent 'lack of coordination' with the US, we had a 'liberalization miscarriage' that caused the eventual downfall where the weakness of national reserves were hidden from the international panorama –IMF / U.S. – and our currency devalued –some say – 50% in December 1994. This lead to an ultimate 'bailout' from our impending doom offered by no one else than Mr. CapitalismUS, which was 'offered' in the form of the NAFTA that meant having 'special relationships' with the US and Canada, liberalizing trade which is another form of Imperialism where the hegemon of the coalition dominates the 'weaker ones,' and so the downfall of our nation began, not that it had been 'great' after the 70's either.
The effects of 'Free Trade' in this country have been devastating as in any other country in the world that suffers the same Free Market disease, we were pushed to be the Hands that provide cheap labor to those that have the capital – U.S. – this also meant sending 10% of our population to the US to make a better living when seeing the rural agriculture camps being owned by corporations, forcing them out of the place with no further reason other than having better plans for their fields. Mexicans have ended up working in jobs that were Not preferred by Americans, while facing illegal treatment that is another form of calling a dehumanization that became part of an immigrants manhunt that continues till this day, not to mention the racial discrimination that is paired with the African Americans and any other race that is not 'purely white' in America. Yet the remittances on a yearly basis have been 'great' to our economy which is what justifies the massive social problem that immigration represents, not to mention that people truly would like to come back home, and some are now coming back upon the impending doom that the U.S. is currently facing, which will inevitably also affect ourselves.
The same goes for people in the fields, in rural areas owned throughout generations by 'indigenous people' whose crops are systematically owned by the corporations that 'distribute' their products while paying them nothing for the amount of work, dedication and physical strain that such work implies. It is heartbreaking to see them, indigenous people that were once self sufficient living in the tranquility of the mountains now having to be selling candies and puffed Disney toys in traffic lights, becoming maids or even worse renting themselves to panhandle on the streets. It is also schizophrenic to know that we got the Richest man in the world living here, and currently I am able to connect to the internet thanks to his telecom enterprises; we all wanted progress and 'be a first world country,' but never specified under which terms and conditions.
We export the best quality food and products there, so what we get at a popular level is 'second class' type of foods, selling our natural resources like oil to be refined and turned to gas there only to be brought back to be sold at a higher price, just because we don't have the means to do the refined process, in other words, too expensive apparently. We have great resources and people willing to work, but when wages are significantly lower than our northern neighbor, our intellectuals and educated ones, people that could make a difference in the country, go and live abroad to have a 'high quality lifestyle' that is only achievable to a minority in this country.
We have been continually existing in a fraudulent government just as any other nation while multinationals get all forms of subsidies to make business here, which is an ever growing presence in our day to day living, becoming so used to this fast food lifestyle that any remembrance of what was the world like before McDonald's seems like an old past that most people would not dare to go back to, because: we 'embraced' our progress, we liked our 'Americanized' way of living, and so wrought our own demise. Our once state owned industries are now privatized, we bit the apple of seeking a superior status in our economy and the effects are half of the population existing in poverty, with massive Drug "Free Trade", cheap labor, immigration and resources being sold to benefit our Northern neighbors. Yet, we have all complied to this 'lifestyle' of fast foods, images and worshipping the American Dream that is sustained by a feeble to non existent structure of psychological power embedded in a currency that remains as our exchange rate for practical trading purposes. I've heard a thousand and one great ideas to better our country, but our uncomfortable neighbor stands in the way of any form of sovereignty and frankly, I would not be able to trust our own government with such 'power' either, we have to become part of it too.
I've witnessed the effects from being a psychological 'impaired' society that is apparently incapable of 'ever' being equal to our Northern neighbor, we will always remain the slave labor force that 'knows nothing' and is easily sold for a sense of comfort and cheap quality goods that 'make our day' worth living for. It is a permanent 'under development' economy that has to sell its integrity to remain within the illusion of 'peace and progress,' which is also non existent due to the massive illegal gun trade as a result of our 'War on Drugs' to eradicate a problem that stems from having been psychologically 'owned' throughout over 500 centuries. The world has not changed at all, capitalism is Imperialism with the same tactics that lead Great Britain to become a Hegemon, later on leading the way to the US in our exact full circle historical resemblance of the Roman Empire and its 'peripherals,' but nonetheless the Empire must come to an end, and it's already happening.
This is a sum up of what selling our soul to the devil in the name of success means and NAFTA was the act that consolidated this. However this can be applied to virtually any other nation that is coerced to form part of these treaties through a 'diplomatic' way or through the use of force i.e. wars. The latest introduction of Monsanto in our nation is just another necessary move to eradicate the traditional agriculture that has been existent for thousands of years, a certain move toward the end of any form of sovereignty left upon our most important source of food, corn. People are devastated, but we also became complacent to vote off our rights to be politically aware of how this entire crime against life took form in the shape of our progress and economic development. We are all paying the price for it and certainly, we're not the only ones.
It is only through political democratic means that we can decide to create a new order in our world that is not based on hegemonic powers deciding over a nation's economy and trade. The solutions at this stage is to understand that when we comply to ideas of happiness, success, an 'American Dream' that is absolutely only a ghost of the past that once was, we are complying to sell out our lives and resources for another experience of a lifestyle that is never 'enough' for anyone. The solution resides within each one of us becoming 1+to the political force that is yet to emerge, a decision to become active participants in the matters that rule our every day living. We have to stop being so enthralled with our personal endeavors for success in a machinery that leads to a certain death and instead give meaning and purpose to our lives through becoming the generation that stands up all around the world, to place an end to the oppressors and the oppressed, to stop looking at 'progress' with eyes of benevolent interventions and instead realize the psychological and physical imperialism and imposition that these treaties represent.
We are the cause these treaties have been signed, because we've accepted the idea of greed as a normal thing in our human psyche, it is not and the effects of our disease have been rotting the foundations of our human nature that has never in fact lived in absolute integrity with each other, nature, animals, plants in order to create a system that honors each other in an absolute Equalized conviviality and coexistence. Do we care to know that our products are the result of slave labor? Do we care to know that the environment is being destroyed so that we can have our 'progress'? Acknowledging these facts as true upon personal investigation is a matter of self responsibility, which I suggest taking into consideration with an open awareness of how we are the ones that have created this global crisis that no one will be able to escape from. We rather stand up and become the solution to implement an honorable way to live and create a system that values life and not an experience of 'having more.'
The decentralization of power in the hands of a few will result in an empowerment to the people. I would like to see children being born knowing that they won't have to work on the streets with their parents selling toys made in China to make a living, but will be able to live in a dignified comfortable home in 'rural areas' where education and all the necessary living services will be available, learning the necessary skills to become an active contributor to generate a common well being that will no longer be sold to any form of 'external buyer' that 'pays well' at the cost of having no other alternative but working instead of studying.
It will be great to realize that people won't have to leave their homes and families seeking 'the American dream,' but can remain at home empowering their own communities with production and trade, that will enable educating and raising their children to become equally wise with practical skills that should be remunerated equally to any other 'executive' in the corporate world that will still exist, but will be coexisting as an equal working force wherein we will learn how to live self forgiveness for the past – and instead support each other to leave it behind and embrace a new cooperation between individuals upon the realization that there is no need to sell our best products to an uncomfortable neighbor, and instead live of what is produced at a local level, which will improve the quality of our lives and the relationship with the environment significantly.
We will be able to self forgive a past of colonialism and hunching down to others that we've perceived are 'superior to us' as the ever present inferiority when compared to 'the rest of the first world' and instead, engage in a collective responsibility to ensure that we equalize our ability to educate ourselves to those in first world nations, because we can create the necessary conditions to create such well being if we dare to let go of delusions of grandeur for one and for all, and realize them for the spells and dreams that they always were. Instead, we'll learn how to value life in Equality, the only cure to our delusional greed.
Place your questions as the Equal Money Forum and Equal Money Capitalism at Quora
Visit the Group Capitalism vs. Equal Money group on Facebook.
Read the Equal Money Wiki
Read Economist's Journey to Life
The Case of Inverted Totalitarianism in the Hands of the Human's Head: DAY 185
Capitalism – The Joke is on us – Food Labelling – Day 323
Fear of Equality, Part 4 03/10/2013
Fear of Equality, Part 5. 03/12/2013
Why People Fear Equality, Part 3 03/06/2013
Fear of Equality, Part 2. 03/03/2013
Fear of Equality, Part 1. 03/02/2013
Day 8: The Justice of Money
Day 98: The Psychology of Crimes against Life: Why does Separation and Inequality exist?
How significant is our memory in making "us" who we are?
Day 320: Awareness and Conception in Practical Enlightenment
The Consciousness Possession of Spirit: DAY 317
Suggested material:
Human Resources: Social Engineering in the 20th Century
The Century of the Self
Chris Hedges on the work of Sheldon Wolin, 17 May 2011
How Corporations Destroyed American Democracy -Chris Hedges
Capitalism Hits the Fan – Richard Wolff
Bill Moyers and Chris Hedges on Capitalism's 'Sacrifice Zones' on …


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"But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Matt. 18:6
Rob Bell is still causing great harm to many, and it would be good for him to heed the above passage. After I listened to a recent interview on Premier Christian Radio (and all I needed really was to listen to the first minute) a few things came to mind. First, what were they thinking when the leadership of the Church of the Nazarene came up with the "brilliant idea" of having Rob Bell as the main speaker at a pastor's retreat at Point Loma Nazarene University? See this post-retreat report on Bell's visit, written by a PLNU alumnus. You would think they had enough information about Mr. Bell and would have summarily rejected any thought of having him speak to Nazarene pastors. Welcoming false teachers seems to be a continuing trend at Nazarene schools, as PLNU had Donald Miller for the pastor's retreat this year (see slide show).
What good can a heretic bring to the table at a pastor's seminar? And why do some of Bell's books turn up as resource materials in theology courses (1)? Why is Rob Bell considered a good source within a denomination that says it believes in holiness? What he teaches is far from holiness. What is the attraction by "mature" college theology teachers and church pastors to this man's obvious heretical ramblings?
Rob Bell, who is no longer a pastor, has been a toxic influence for quite a few years now, in the Church of the Nazarene and in practically every evangelical denomination. His error filled NOOMA video series has been popular with pastors who have used them for Sunday School classes, and during weekly "Bible studies." What gets into the minds of these leaders who are constantly turning to the most popular books and using them for "Bible study", and setting aside the Bible, only to use an occasional reference to a scripture passage? In any case, why do they continue to insist that Rob Bell is a good resource for Christians in learning how to grow and walk in the Lord?
Rob Bell, I suppose to his credit, is now openly declaring his affirmation of the gay lifestyle, that gay marriage is good, and in this interview, he even gets a bit hot about it and uses a cuss word to express his outrage against Christians who continue to hold the line and preach the word of God as it is written- not as Bell wants it to mean, or as Rob Bell seems to think that Scripture is no longer relevant in the area of homosexuality. Have you noticed that some pastors dance around the issue and seem to be very afraid of stating their position on this, whether they are for or against gay marriage, or that they cannot answer a question as to whether homosexuality is a sin? I urge you to ask your pastor where he stands on this matter of homosexuality, gay marriage and sin. It may not be as obvious as you think.
According to Rob Bell, it is more important to stay attuned to the cultural shifts in society and go with the flow, rather than be a hardliner about what Holy Scripture speaks to us concerning human sexual relations and sin. To Bell, the Bible is just no longer relevant in this day and age, and so he chooses to ignore its plain teaching in favor of what he prefers, what he feels seems right.
This is the same Rob Bell we have know for years believes the following also, so there is no excuse:
– The Bible is a human product, not a product of divine fiat
– Bell is really a universalist, who believes that eventually all will go to heaven
– He rejects the doctrine of original sin
– Rejects the notion of penal substitution
– Rejects the idea that Scripture alone will answer all questions
– Rejects Scriptural teaching of the reality of heaven for the saved, and hell as an eternal place of punishment for the unrepentant.
– Questions the virgin birth
– Bell also promotes contemplative spirituality
– Bell endorses heretics such as Marcus Borg, who denies the atonement and the doctrine of the cross
Rob Bell misses so many points in the Bible that are so easily understood, it's a wonder he was a pastor for so long. Now he is trying to make his mark in Hollywood, and has charged $500 for small groups of people to meet with him for two days of … teaching and discussion. But we already know what Rob Bell is teaching, and for $500 why would any reasonable Christian want to spend two days with Bell just to get error filled theology? All he is preaching is the religion of man.
I feel sorry for Rob Bell, and he needs to come to repentance for what he is doing and teaching to countless many people. I also feel sorry for those who are still using his materials, especially undiscerning pastors who have been deceived by all this emergent church garbage. Rob Bell has probably caused more damage to the Nazarene and other denominations that we will ever know, and we know that God reserves a bit of extra judgment on those who are charged with the responsibility of teaching others.
Will Rob Bell continue to appear at pastor's seminars? Has the leadership in the Church of the Nazarene come to their senses yet? What about other gay affirming emergent church heretics like Brian McLaren, whose books you will find in various theology course lists at Nazarene universities. What about gay affirming chaplains in the Nazarene universities? Why are they being enabled to preach this new concept of "homosexual Christians."
A final word for Rob Bell and all others in his camp, including pastors who are affirming that homosexuality is okay, and who are having fellowship with sinners as if they were not sinners, and who are not preaching the whole counsel of God on this matter. Take warning:
"Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep." 2 Peter 2:2-3
Additional Resources:
Review of Love Wins, by Matt Slick
Video: Rob Bell Promotes Homosexual Marriage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLC-EdQvSgo
Rob Bell and His "Christian Universalism"
(1) Northwest Nazarene University
PRTH6980 Topics in Spiritual Formation (MDivSF, MASF)
- Bell, Rob. *Velvet Elvis. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005. (ISBN 978-0310263456)
- Chalke, Steve. *The Lost Message of Jesus. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004. (ISBN 978-0310248828)
- McLaren, Brian D. *A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative . . . Unfinished Christian. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004. (ISBN 978-0310257479)
- Miller, Donald. *A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009. (ISBN 978-0785213062)
- Willard, Dallas. *The Divine Conspiracy. San Francisco: HarperOne, 1998. (ISBN 978-0060693336)
Also: Nazarene Theological Seminary
Bell, Rob. *Velvet Elvis. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005. (ISBN 978-0310263456)


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10 March
From Tolkien Gateway
Events that occurred on 10 March
On Earth[edit]
- 1950 - J.R.R. Tolkien writes Letters 125 and 126.
- 1950 - Stephen Oliver is born.
- 1963 - Voice actor Steve Staley is born.
- 1981 - Amon Hen 49 is published.
- 2004 - "Siege of Gondor", the eighth set in The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game is released.
- 2007 - "The One Ring Celebration 2007" in Burbank, California.
- 2008 - The Lord of the Rings is elected "Best Foreign Book of All Time" in the Netherlands.
In Arda[edit]
- Borondir and his companion depart from Minas Tirith in search of the Éothéod.
- The Great Signal.
- The Dawnless Day.
- Frodo, Sam and Gollum pass the Cross-roads, and see the Morgul-host set forth, towards Minas Tirith.
- The Muster of Rohan takes place. The Rohirrim ride from Harrowdale.
- Faramir is rescued by Gandalf and Imrahil outside the gates of the City. He meets Pippin and reports to Denethor.
- Aragorn, leading the Dead Men and the Grey Company, crosses the river Ringló.
- An army of Orcs from the Morannon takes Cair Andros and passes into Anórien.


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Can Notre Dame Upset Heavily Favored Alabama?
Philadelphia, PA – Not only is Alabama looking to win its third national title in four years, but a victory over Notre Dame will give the Crimson Tide the most back-to-back championships (three) in history.
Alabama, currently tied with Oklahoma at two apiece, finished No. 1 in 1964 and 1965, and 1978 and 1979, while the Sooners held the top spot in 1955 and 1956, and then again in 1974 and 1975.
Overall, Alabama leads Oklahoma by one national title (8-7) and only one other school has won more championships than the Sooners - Notre Dame. Ironically, the Fighting Irish are tied with Alabama with eight national titles so this game is not only for bragging rights in 2012 but also for all-time.
Most experts think Alabama will easily defeat the Fighting Irish since the Crimson Tide are favored by 9.5 to 10.5 points, depending on which book is used. The key question in this one is: Should Alabama be giving so many points to Notre Dame?
The Irish have beaten nine other clubs that have reached the postseason and it could have been 10 if the Miami (Fla.) Hurricanes did not impose a bowl ban on themselves. On the other hand, Alabama has played just seven bowl-bound squads winning six, with an average margin of victory of 16 points.
However, after the Tide demolished the first four clubs by an average score of 37-9, they defeated the other three by an average score of 26-25. It's true the final three teams were top-notch squads (LSU, Texas A&M and Georgia) but so is Notre Dame.
The Irish have played one of the toughest schedules in the country and have escaped unscathed. Defensively, they ranked No. 1 in Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) play allowing just 10.3 points per game.
Alabama finished second in scoring defense, just behind Notre Dame, at 10.7 ppg. Nevertheless, the Irish were No. 1 in rushing touchdowns allowed with two while the Tide were tied for sixth with nine. (The two teams wound up tied for fourth in passing touchdowns allowed with seven.)
Do not expect many points (or total yards for that matter) in this contest as: (1) both clubs are dominant against the run and (2) both teams use the run to set up the pass. Alabama runs the ball almost 64 percent of the time while Notre Dame does so at a 58 percent clip.
Alabama has the slight edge offensively, especially at quarterback, as A.J. McCarron has thrown 26 touchdown passes compared to just three interceptions. However, all three picks have come in the last four games. Notre Dame's Everett Golson holds an 11-5 touchdown/interception ratio and his inexperience in a big game could come back to bite the Irish.
Still, despite Alabama's edge in experience, there is no reason the Tide should be favored by 10 points. In fact, the only reason they are giving the Irish such a large figure is due to the fact their power number was so much higher than Notre Dame's total before the season began.
Notre Dame has a great chance of winning this game outright.
Take the Irish plus 10 points and under 41.5 points.
Oklahoma meets up with a familiar foe in Arlington as Texas A&M is the opponent in the 2012 Cotton Bowl.
The Sooners are actually getting points for just the fifth time in bowl action since 2000. They lost both straight-up and against-the-spread in the BCS Championship Game to Florida a few years back but they won the other three games outright. On the other side, Texas A&M is 2-7 both SU and ATS in its last nine bowl games.
The Aggies sport the Heisman Trophy winner in Johnny Manziel. Nonetheless, Oklahoma allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete just 51 percent of their passes for fewer than 200 yards per game. Moreover, the Sooners' defense gave up only nine passing touchdowns the entire season.
Oklahoma has owned the Aggies with eight SU wins the last nine seasons and four ATS victories over the last five. Look for another SU and ATS win in the Cotton Bowl.
Take Oklahoma plus three points.
There are no two-star plays.
There are no one-star plays.
Including bowl games through Dec. 29, my overall record is 101-88-5 after going 8-3 so far in postseason play. The five-star plays stand at 10-8-2, the three- star selections are now 26-27-1, the two-star picks are 36-32-1 and the one- star plays are 29-21-1.
As a reminder, five-star plays are when my personal plays coincide with my power rating plays (games with at least a five-point differential between my line and the actual line). The three-star choices are my personal picks, the two-star plays are the games the power rating system picks and the one-star plays are my personal secondary selections.
1) Oregon, 109; 2) Alabama, 108; 3) Georgia, 104.5; 4) Texas A&M, 104; 5) Florida State, 99.5; 6-T) Notre Dame, Kansas State and South Carolina, 99; 9) Stanford, 98.5; 10-T) Clemson and Oklahoma, 98; 12) Oklahoma State, 97.5
(The Top 12 is not a reflection of a given team's won-loss record. It is based on power ratings used to predict spreads for the upcoming week. At the beginning of the season, all 124 FBS teams are assigned a power number, which changes on a week-to-week basis depending on the results of the previous week.)


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I love this Orange Chicken Recipe; it is absolutely delicious! Before we start cooking, did you know that Orange Chicken is a dish of American-Chinese origin? There are claims that this recipe originally came from Hunan (a province in china) and was modified when brought here in North America for the purpose of adapting to the American palate.
In my opinion, Panda Express makes the best Orange Chicken. Though it is a fast food chain, most of their dishes are far better than the ones served in restaurants.
This is not the original Orange Chicken Recipe of Panda Express but rather a regular variation similar to the one's served in Chinese buffets ( just added green onions to make it more appealing). I also minimized the ingredients to make this a budget friendly Orange Chicken Recipe fit for those who want to practice a frugal way of living. I will try to make our future recipes as budget friendly as possible so please stay tuned.
Please tell me what you think of this Orange Chicken Recipe. Your comments are greatly appreciated.
Try this delicious dish and let me know what you think.
Watch the Video on How to Cook Orange Chicken
Orange Chicken Recipe
- 2 lbs boneless chicken breast cubed
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 raw egg beaten
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- Cooking oil
- 1 1/2 cup water
- 4 tablespoons orange juice
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/4 cup vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- 1/2 cup green onions finely chopped
- In a container, put-in the flour, salt, and ground black pepper then mix well
- Dip the chicken on the beaten egg mixture and place inside the container (where the flour, salt, and pepper are)
- Close the container and shake until the chicken is evenly coated with the flour mixture
- Deep fry the chicken for about 7 minutes or until the color turns golden brown. Set aside
- In a pan, put-in the water, soy sauce, vinegar, and orange juice then bring to a boil
- Add the garlic and simmer for 5 minutes
- Add the sugar and and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes
- Put-in the green onions and cornstarch (diluted in 2 tbsp of water) then mix well
- Add the deep-fried chicken on pan and cook until sauce nearly evaporates
- Serve hot. Share and Enjoy!


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Photo courtesy of Joel Giltner
Photo courtesy Beth Partin
Ever wanted to know what it's like to be a jammer in roller derby? Broomfield filmmaker Todd Bradley's "3D Derby" literally places you in the point-of-view of a jammer — the position responsible for scoring points by lapping other players.
The film was shot as part of the Real D GoPro 3D Salon Shootout, hosted by Boulder Community Media at the Boulder International Film Fest. His short film picked up first place at a screening last weekend.
Participants were given GoPro 3D cameras to use and a week to film and produce a short 3-D film that incorporated certain elements, such as the BIFF logo, a two-wheeled vehicle and the line from Easy Rider, "Dude means nice guy. Dude means a regular sort of person."
Bradley immediately thought of enlisting University of Colorado-Boulder film graduate and jammer Yvonne Phan (a.k.a. "To Infinity and Yvonne," a.k.a., "TInY") to strap on the camera. GoPro specializes in cameras that can be worn while doing extreme sports, and Phan had experience using one while shooting her senior thesis, "This is Roller Derby," which, with more than 100,000 views, is possibly the most-watched roller derby film.
Since 3-D requires two cameras, her helmet was a bit heavier and kept falling over Phan's eyes during the game, so she was constantly having to re-adjust. She wore the camera during an actual bout against Duke City Derby from Albuquerque, so it wasn't possible to hold up the game and there were no re-shoots, but the footage came off quite well. She also still managed to score 12 points and win the game.
Since the cameras' mics were enclosed in plastic casing, Bradley was worried about the audio and had Phan wear a wireless mic, but the sound proved more than adequate for the film — particularly when Phan took a good hit.
Bradley felt he was onto something when he had people watch a cut with 3D glasses and they kept flinching at each collision.
After seeing the finished video, one of her teammates commented, "Now I'm scared for you even more," Phan said.
Working with the 3D technology proved the most difficult, as the film — shot from two separate cameras — had to be merged then rendered into 3D with software provided by the contest.
"Everyone had trouble with the technology," Bradley said.
He had to re-cut the whole film and re-submit it when he found out it was supposed to be rendered to be seen with polarized glasses rather than the traditional red-blue. (Some films had to be watched with the glasses upside down.)
The award was selected by audience participation, which ended up becoming a bit of a Florida recount situation, Bradley said. First of all, there were six films, and the ballots had only the numbers one through five (actually, five to one since they were in descending order), and it wasn't clear which movie was which.
The numbers turned out to be a rating scale, and as the votes were counted there was some protest over the confusion. The Denver Roller Dolls, for whom Phan skates with the Bruising Altitude traveling team, thought Bradley's film was the best, and the fact that Dolls made up like two-thirds of the audience seemed to suggest Bradley was a lock.
Finally, the judge simply declared Bradley the winner and awarded Best Student Film to a Fairview High School team led by Stefan Codrescu.
"I got the award, I can't complain," Bradley chuckled. "I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth."
For his prize, Bradley got a small, square "bronze, aluminum and stainless steel sculpture" by Bill Vielehr — part of his "Human Glyph" series. It looks kind of like a small paperweight with ant tunnels running through it.
"I wish it had a hole so I could wear it as a necklace," Bradley said.
The other part of the prize is a GoPro camera.
Bradley discovered roller derby after reading about the Denver Roller Dolls in the Broomfield Enterprise. Bradley and his wife, Beth Partin, went to a bout at the 1stBank Center and were hooked. They bought season tickets, and eventually Bradley wanted to get involved. So he started filming bouts and scrimmages. He began working on a larger documentary project, which evolved into a weekly web video "Derbyverse."
"It's an interview with a player, a ref, a fan," Bradley said, all the characters who make up Derby. The videos are posted at the electronic magazine derbylife (derbylife.com) .
Bradley also sold his house in Broomfield and took a trip across the country, staying in different cities. He planned to make a documentary of each of the places he stayed, but ended up gathering interviews from roller girls around the country.
Anywhere he goes now, Bradley said, he can find a couch to crash on.
The Roller Dolls have so many players they just added a fifth team, which feed All-Star road teams. Last year, they place third in the world at the Women's Flat Track Derby Association championships. Their new season starts March 23 at the 1stBankCenter.


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Founded in 1948, the club, later known as The Municipal Bond Women's Club of New York, is a registered 501(C)(6) professional society located in New York with its first address at One Exchange Plaza, 55 Broadway, New York 22, NY. Their website describes the club as follows:
In 1948, eight businesswomen founded "The Municipal Bond women's Club of New York", in order to foster association among women engaged in the Municipal Bond Business. Providing information about the marketplace as well as forum for members to exchange career advice, this organization is a source of counsel, support, and camaraderie for women working in a field that is constantly changing.
The Museum of American Finance archives contain the club's correspondence and documents from 1948 to 1961 relating to:
Among the newspaper clippings in the collection, is one from the New York Herald Tribune of May 3, 1949 with the headline "Record Attendance at United States Steel Annual Meeting". One photo shows Wilma Soss clad in Victorian garb addressing the board chairman. Mrs. Soss was noted for pressing the cause women a voice in corporate America as stockholders and board members. She continued to attend annual meetings of major corporations, often interrupting their agendas until the year of her death 1986 at the age of 86. The collection also contains a copy of a New York Sun article of May 8, 1949 which describes her activities and goals.


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Police are asking federal investigators to help determine whether more than a dozen shootings in less than a month along Kansas City-area roads and highways are connected.
Three drivers have been wounded by gunfire as they drove along area highways, many in an area called the Grandview Triangle, where three interstate highways intersect.
Ten of the 13 shootings happened in Kansas City, including Sunday evening when a 57-year-old man was eastbound on Interstate 470 when he was shot in the left calf.
The other three shootings were in the suburbs of Leawood, Kan., Blue Springs, Mo., and Lee's Summit, Mo.
Police spokesman Tye Grant says Chief Darryl Forté met with FBI officials on Monday and has asked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to discuss the case.


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According to recent news reports, Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who leaked documents revealing the scope of the National Security Agency's surveillance program, has applied for political asylum in at least twenty-one countries. Though his applications have not been made public, Snowden has received at least three offers of asylum: from Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The proffered grounds for these asylum grants have varied from Bolivian President Evo Morales, who presented it as a "fair protest" for preventing his presidential airplane from entering the airspace of several European countries; to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who saw a need to protect "the young American" against "persecution from the empire"; to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who remained vague on the details.
None of these explanations bears much relation to international refugee law, which, though rarely an arm's length from politics, does require some rigorous legal analysis. To be fair, each country has the right to grant asylum based on their own domestic law, which may be more generous than international refugee law standards. (Though the terms "asylum" and "refugee status" are often used interchangeably, in the United States, the former technically refers to domestic law and the latter to international law.) But given the legitimacy that the international legal standards might afford a claim like Snowden's, it's worth attempting a more thorough analysis of his asylum claim.
The 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees defines a refugee as a person who has a "well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country." Snowden might fit within the "political opinion" category or a "particular social group" of whistleblowers. The central question is whether he risks persecution at the hands of the U.S. government on account of his membership in that category. (While Snowden might argue that his prosecution is political, the argument that he engaged in civil disobedience and therefore should expect to defend himself in court is more compelling.)
The U.S. government would argue that Snowden faces prosecution for criminal actions — and that prosecution is different from persecution. But prosecution can cross the line into persecution for several reasons, including if punishment is unreasonably severe. So far, the three espionage charges filed against Snowden carry penalties of fines and up to 10 years in prison. That seems insufficient under international standards to make out a claim of persecution. It's possible that, as Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg suggested, Snowden could face solitary confinement, which might meet the definition of persecution.
But what happens if, as several senators have suggested he should be, Snowden is charged with treason? I'm not an expert on the law of treason, but the important point is that treason is punishable by death. In the Soering v. United Kingdom decision, the European Court of Human Rights determined that Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, prohibited the extradition to the United States of a German national charged with capital murder in Virginia. In other words, the risk of the death penalty could well rise to the level of persecution under international refugee law. Even though the treason case against Snowden appears weak, he may face enough of a risk to turn a weak asylum claim into a legitimate one.
(cross-posted on Concurring Opinions) (photo credit)


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Message Board
Shawn P. Madison Message Board
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Madison has written!
Author Madison's Book Reviews
Guarder Lore
Novel Books, April 2002, 300 pp. ISBN 193169673x The U.E.N. (United Earthian Nations) was formed in 2045 to defeat the United Soviet States which rose out of the ashes of the Soviet Union. The USS was intent on global domination and its failure to achieve its goal is due in large part to the guardian squadron, a block pps unit of soldiers trained to think and act outside the box. On any planet, in any situation, when someone threatens the peace,...
The Guarder Factor
Novel, 2003, 269 pp. ISBN: 1591051827 The United Earthian Nations Judiciary Board observes the recording of the deadly intensity of the pirate assault on the large super cargo-liner. This was not just another incident over the SouthWestern Corporate Grid-Sector as has frequently occurred over the past four E-years. The ship carrying advanced military weapons was destroyed. The board sends two Guarder Squadron members rather than the FlightForc...


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This altitude determination process works by measuring the time that a pulse of light takes to leave the spacecraft, reflect off of the ground, and return to MOLA's collecting mirror. By multiplying the reflection time by the speed of light, scientists will be able to calculate Surveyor's altitude above the local terrain to within 30 meters (98 feet) or better.
As the spacecraft flies above hills, valleys, craters, and other surface features, its altitude above the ground will constantly change. A combination of MOLA data with images from the camera will allow scientists to construct a detailed topographical atlas of the planet. Such maps will help in the understanding of the geological forces that shaped Mars.


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Thinking Inside the Box
March 9th, 2009 | by Carol Egan | Published in Cover Story, Features, Mar. 2009, Multimedia | 6 Comments
Artwork photos by Hal Lum and Paul Kodama, courtesy of the University of Hawaiʻi Art Gallery.
Art Gallery Director Lisa Yoshihara's office on the second floor of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Art Building was dominated by boxes of all shapes and various materials.
The one thing they had in common: all were small, only slightly larger than an ordinary shoebox. "They began trickling in since August, and now we're getting about 12 a day," said Yoshihara three days shy of a Thanksgiving 2008 deadline for artists to submit their work for the highly popular International Shoebox Sculpture Exhibition.
Yoshihara is excited despite the clutter. "This is my first Shoebox exhibition as gallery director, but in 1985 I was a student here. I submitted my piece," she recalls. It was selected for inclusion by the guest jurors, Israeli experimental artist Yaacov Agam, Japanese sculptor Kazuo Kadonaga and abstract American sculptor Jackie Winsor.
The triennial Shoebox event marks its 10th exhibition March 1 through April 9 at the University of Hawaiʻi Art Gallery before going on the road.
The idea of presenting three-dimensional art in such a small format was the brainchild of Department of Art and Art History Professors Fred Roster and Mamoru Sato in collaboration with then gallery Director Tom Klobe.
"It's challenging getting contemporary sculpture out here because of the cost of shipping," Sato says.
Mounting large pieces is also a challenge. To bring the work of sculptors from around the world to Hawaiʻi, they devised a show that featured pieces of limited size.
Approached with the idea, Klobe was extremely excited. "Right away I said, 'Let's try to make it into a traveling show because there was such a need.' I sent out 75 letters of inquiry to museums and galleries and received 25 responses. We could only accommodate 10 of those."
"We were getting work from all over, including from some big name sculptors," recalls Sato. "We were very pleasantly surprised by the response."
There were about 100 artists in the first show in 1982, including about 15 foreign artists. By the 8th show, half the entries were international Klobe says.
The founders initially invited a group of outside jurors to Honolulu to select from the submissions. Since the 4th exhibition, the jury has been in-house.
Artists are asked to submit a resume and up to 10 images of their work. The gallery director, Professors Roster and Sato and additional members of the art faculty—this year glass artist Rick Mills and ceramicist Suzanne Wolfe—select the works for the exhibit.
Recent exhibitions have consisted of works by both selected and invited artists. This year's mix of approximately 140 artists slightly favors the latter category.
Works from founders Sato and Roster will be included along with pieces from other UH faculty members (Gaye Chan, Peter Chamberlain, Mary Babcock, Brad Evan Taylor, Maile Andrade), art lecturer Shigeru Miyamoto and UH alumni.
This year's group also features international artists such as Bernard Calet of France, Sari Limatta of Finland and Wu Ming of China.
Selected artists work in a variety of media including carved wood, cast metal and blown glass. Past works have included woven fiber, paper maché, found objects, feathers, even human hair.
To mount the ambitious and popular show, Yoshihara draws upon graduate and undergraduate students from her art department course on exhibition design and gallery management and employs work-study students.
"We pride ourselves in that the work we do here is really driven by our students," she says. Thanks to the Gulab and Indru Watumull Grant for Museum Studies in the Arts, two students gain professional experience as exhibition coordinator and catalogue designer.
Additional support is provided by UH Mānoa's College of Arts and Humanities, the Hawaiʻi State Foundation on Culture and the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
After the Mānoa showing, about 80 works from the show will travel to Hilo (May 3 to June 14), and then Seoul; Oxford, Miss.; Ellensburg, Wash.; Carson, Calif.; Baton Rouge, La.; and Murray, Ky. It will be on the road until 2011.
"This show is our calling card because it travels with the name of the University of Hawaiʻi on it," Yoshihara says.
Previous Shoebox Exhibitions have been presented in museums and galleries in Taiwan, Guam, Japan, Canada, Mexico and throughout the United States.
While many of the works will be offered for sale, they will not be delivered to the buyers until they complete the tour.
Meanwhile Yoshihara will be focusing on number 11. "As soon as this one closes, I'm already collecting submissions for the next one," she says.
Tags: art, Art Gallery, UH Manoa, Vol. 34 No. 1


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Mrs. Hanson was a pretty, somewhat faded woman of forty, who sold corsets and girdles, travelling out of Chicago. For many years her territory had swung around through Toledo, Lima, Springfield, Columbus, Indianapolis, and Fort Wayne, and her transfer to the Iowa-Kansas-Missouri district was a promotion, for her firm was more strongly entrenched west of the Ohio.
Eastward, she had known her clientele chattily and had often been offered a drink or a cigarette in the buyer's office after business was concluded. But she soon found that in her new district things were different. Not only was she never asked if she would like to smoke but several times her own inquiry as to whether anyone would mind was answered half apologetically with "It's not that I mind, but it has a bad influence on the employees."
"Oh, of course, I understand."
Smoking meant a lot to her sometimes. She worked very hard and it had some ability to rest and relax her psychologically. She was a widow and she had no close relatives to write to in the evenings, and more than one moving picture a week hurt her eyes, so smoking had come to be an important punctuation mark in the long sentence of a day on the road.
The last week of her first trip on the new circuit found her in Kansas City. It was mid-August and she felt somewhat lonely among all her new contacts, so she was delighted to find at the outer desk of one firm a woman she had known in Chicago. She sat down before having herself announced and in the course of the conversation found out a little about the man she was going to see.
"Will he mind if I smoke?"
"What? My God, yes!" her friend said. "He's given money to support the law against it."
"Oh. Well, I'm grateful for the advice—more than grateful."
"You better watch it everywhere around here," her friend said. "Especially with the men over fifty. The ones who weren't in the war. A man told me that nobody who was in the war would ever object to anyone smoking."
But at her very next stop Mrs. Hanson ran into the exception. He seemed a pleasant young man but his eyes fixed with so much fascination on the cigarette that she was tapping on her thumbnail that she put it away. She was rewarded when he asked her to lunch and during the hour she obtained a considerable order.
Afterward, he insisted on driving her to her next appointment, though she had intended to spot a hotel in the vicinity and take a few puffs in the washroom.
It was one of those days full of waiting—everyone was busy, was late, and it seemed that when the clients did appear they were the sort of hatchet-faced men who did not like other people's self-indulgence, or they were women willingly or unwillingly committed to the ideas of these men.
She hadn't smoked since breakfast and she suddenly realized that that was why she felt a vague dissatisfaction at the end of each call, no matter how successful it had been in a business way.
She would say, "We think we cover a different field. It's all rubber and canvas, of course, but we do manage to put them together in a different way. A thirty-per-cent increase in national advertising in one year tells its own story."
And to herself she was thinking, If I could just get three puffs I could sell old-fashioned whalebone.
She had one more store to visit now but her appointment was not for half an hour. That was just time to go to her hotel but, as there was no taxi in sight, she walked along the street, thinking, Perhaps I ought to give up cigarettes. I'm getting to be a drug fiend.
Before her, she saw the Catholic cathedral. It seemed very tall, and suddenly she had an inspiration: if so much incense had gone up in the spires to God, a little smoke in the vestibule would make no difference. How could the Good Lord care if a tired woman took a few puffs in the vestibule?
Nevertheless, though she was not a Catholic, the thought offended her. Was it so important that she have her cigarette, when it might offend a lot of other people, too?
Still. He wouldn't mind, she thought persistently. In His days, they hadn't even discovered tobacco. . . .
She went into the church; the vestibule was dark, and she felt for a match in the bag she carried but there weren't any.
I'll go and get a light from one of their candles, she thought.
The darkness of the nave was broken only by a splash of light in one corner. She walked up the aisle toward the white blur, and found that it was not made by candles and, in any case, it was about to go out—an old man was on the point of extinguishing a last oil lamp.
"These are votive offerings," he said. "We put them out at night. We think it means more to the people who give them to save them for next day than it would to keep them burning all night."
"I see."
He struck out the last one. There was no light left in the cathedral now, save an electric chandelier high overhead and the ever-burning lamp in front of the Sacrament.
"Good night," the sexton said.
"Good night."
"I guess you came here to pray."
"Yes, I did."
He went out into the sacristy. Mrs. Hanson knelt down and prayed.
It had been a long time since she had prayed. She scarcely knew what to pray for, so she prayed for her employer, and for the clients in Des Moines and Kansas City. When she had finished praying, she knelt up. An image of the Madonna gazed down upon her from a niche, six feet above her head.
Vaguely she regarded it. Then she got up from her knees and sank back wearily in the corner of the pew. In her imagination, the Virgin came down, like in the play "The Miracle," and took her place and sold corsets and girdles for her and was tired, just as she was. Then for a few minutes Mrs. Hanson must have slept.
She awoke at the realization that something had changed, and gradually she perceived that there was a familiar scent that was not incense in the air and that her fingers smarted. Then she realized that the cigarette she held in her hand was alight—was burning.
Still too drowsy to think, she took a puff to keep the flame alive. Then she looked up at the Madonna's vague niche in the half-darkness.
"Thank you for the light," she said.
That didn't seem quite enough, so she got down on her knees, the smoke twisting up from the cigarette between her fingers.
"Thank you very much for the light," she said. ♦


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We've been critical of Github on this blog before. And the problems we talked about before — specifically, sexual harassment and structurelessness — haven't necessarily been resolved.
Nonetheless, I want to recognize an individual engineer at Github for our occasional "cookie of the week" feature, Jake Boxer.
Harassers who are part of the ongoing Gamergate coordinated harassment campaign created a repository on Github to coordinate their harassment efforts, and when @nexxylove reported this, Jake responded promptly by removing the repository.
I'm giving a little piece of the cookie to Jake's employer, as well. Jake did not feel that he had to consult their legal team or wait a week for a response, or start a lengthy internal discussion about whether the repository was appropriate. He did not show any fear that if he removed the repository promptly, he would be criticized for supposedly targeting a group to marginalize their free speech. I can infer from this that Github, whatever its flaws (and there are many), is a company that will support an employee acting to stop the abuse of their resources for a purpose that doesn't further the interests of the company.
Jake recognized that he would be able to do what he did while facing relatively few consequences, and in light of that, chose to use his privileged position for good:
Have a cookie, Jake!
Edited to add, November 10, 2014: It has come to my attention that Github doesn't deserve even the qualified praise that I gave them in this article, as per a comment on my blog from Joe Wreschnig, who summarizes the chain of events as "[Github's] reporting process is an ineffective black hole and they were aware their service was being used to facilitate abuse for a full month before a single employee bothered to do anything." Jake Boxer gets all the credit for this one.


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On that beautiful summer's evening in 2009, after a day spent exploring London's Docklands, I came across this near the West India Quay DLR station.
St. Peter's Barge claims to be London's only floating church, but for me it could have been the world's only as far as I was concerned. For till then I had not seen or come across anything like this and have not till date. 🙂
The fine print revealed that the floating church had a crèche for children, personalised prayer service as well as the terms and conditions for hiring the barge for 'Christian occasions'. I was really disappointed to find no one around as I would have loved to know see more of this church.
Have you ever come across something like this? If yes, please do share your memories and experience in the comments section.
PS: The photograph does not really convey the floating nature of the barge and I apologise for that. When I took the photograph, I had no idea that I would be blogging about it in the future. 😉