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Big birder soars to new record for number of species spotted
It was a Big Year for Seattleite Marv Breece. In fact, it was a big Big Year.
Big Year is the name for a competition in which a birder tries to see as many species as possible in one calendar year in a given geographical area.
Breece was about to set what was believed to be a record Big Year for Washington. He saw 359 species in the state last year, a feat that flabbergasted many in the Washington's growing birding community.
"Those of us who have participated in this game realize the extraordinary feat Marv has accomplished," wrote Andy Stepniewski, one of the state's premiere birders, in a recent message to an online birding discussion group known as "Tweeters." And that was two weeks ago when Breece had 355, which he assumed would be all he would see for the year.
On his monomaniacal journey, Breece, 51, rode stomach-turning waves 35 miles off the coast, staked out marshes and saltwater beaches, and prowled snowy mountain peaks. He roamed the dark forests of Western Washington and the sagebrush deserts of the eastern side.
And he birded right up until there was not a ray of light left in the year, calling it quits about 5 p.m. yesterday as he drove back from the Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge in Wahkiakum County, where he had added the last bird to his list. It was a black phoebe, a rare visitor to the state.
Besides determination and time, it took knowledge, planning, skill, luck -- and lots of gasoline. Breece estimates he drove "25,000 birding miles" last year in his Subaru station wagon. It also took networking with other birders, which has gotten a lot easier with Tweeters -- there are about 900 people on the discussion group list -- and the Internet.
Nobody is quite agreed on the previous record, thought to be in the low 340s, but there seems to be little disagreement that Breece is the champion -- and by a large margin.
The theoretical maximum for a Washington Big Year is roughly 450, the total number of species on the state's carefully screened official "checklist" of birds that have ever been seen in the state.
But some of those have been spotted only once -- sometimes decades ago. Others may be seen only every few years at limited places or times. And still others are here regularly, but are nevertheless hard to find.
"Most people plateau at around 280 or 300," says Stepniewski, manager of a Yakima-area fruit packing company. In 2000, none of the five birders who submitted Washington Big Year numbers to the American Birding Association got over 300.
"Beyond 300, you're giving up serious chunks of time to this pursuit and ignoring probably your job, your family and your mortgage and all these other things that keep us busy," Stepniewski said.
The truly amazing thing, he said, is that Breece has a full-time job. He sells promotional items for trade shows, giveaways and corporate gifts.
The good-humored, modest Breece attributes his success to luck, help from others, an extraordinary year for uncommon birds in the state, and the fact that he's single.
"It takes total commitment," Breece said. "There are people who have birded longer than I have; they're much better birders than I am, but they're married."
Breece, a Fremont resident, birded every weekend last year except for two when he was out of state. He also spent a week's vacation traveling the state looking for birds.
Breece doesn't regret one moment of his Big Year, but he added: "I couldn't do this again two years in a row. It's just too expensive in terms of energy and gasoline."
Stepniewski remembers running into Breece last year at Grand Coulee.
"He had just come from Spokane that morning. That afternoon, he was over in Western Washington watching the tropical kingbird with Gene (Hunn)" of Seattle, another of the state's leading birders, Stepniewski said.
About 382 species were believed to have been seen in the state last year. That means that Breece spotted 94 percent of the birds that were seen by anybody in the state last year.
Breece said he's been birding about 25 years, but got serious about it about five years ago, when he found himself "going out more and more and meeting some wonderful people in the field. It's infectious." He particularly salutes Ken Knittle of Monroe, publisher with his wife, Laurie Knittle, of a birding newsletter called Washington Birder.
"He gave me a lot of good tips. He knows the state extremely well," Breece said. Knittle racked up 274 species on his 2000 Big Year list. Stepniewski scoffs at Breece's suggestion that luck played a big part.
"I'm sure he did a vast amount of preparatory work to know where to be at the right time to get 80 percent of the birds he got," Stepniewski said.
At the beginning of last year, Breece created a spreadsheet with a list of all Washington birds that he could expect to find if he looked for them. For each one, he noted the earliest possible month he could find that bird, so that if he didn't get the bird that month, he'd have other opportunities later. Each month, he had a list of birds to go after.
"It really is a strategy in time management," Breece said, citing the elusive white-tailed ptarmigan, a ground bird whose plumage blends well with its surroundings and that is found at Mount Rainier, Mount Baker and other places above the tree line.
"I looked for that bird six times (last) year. If I had looked 20 times, I probably could have found it. But it's expensive (in time). You just have to say I didn't get that one. That's the way it goes."
Last year got off to a spectacular start in January when Breece was on an $85 pelagic boat trip for birders out of Westport. Suddenly, another birder yelled out: "Short-tailed albatross!" The whoops went up after the seabird slowly glided directly over the boat and then disappeared.
"Everybody got a good look at it," Breece said. "There was genuine excitement."
Breece thinks that was only the second sighting in decades in Washington. The short-tailed albatross used to be one of the most common birds in the north Pacific Rim. But between the late 1800s and early 1930s, the species was hunted to near extinction. By 1950, they were nesting on only one island near Japan. But the bird is now slowly recovering, with about 1,000 birds believed to exist in the world.
Breece said he had to work hard -- in nighttime darkness -- to get all 15 of the owls on the state list, especially the northern hawk owl, boreal owl and snowy owl. The hawk owl and snowy owl are infrequent visitors to the state, while the boreal is resident but challenging to find.
During his Big Year, Breece saw 10 species that were lifetime firsts for him: the short-tailed albatross, mountain plover, white ibis, Laysan albatross, short-tailed shearwater, Arctic loon, boreal owl, manx shearwater, yellow-throated warbler and hoary redpoll. He saw 28 species that he had never before seen in Washington.
But Breece said the "ticks" -- birding lingo for ticking a species seen off a list -- aren't the main thing for him.
The best thing about his Big Year, he says, is the vast gain in his knowledge and appreciation of birds. And he saw a bull moose, deer, elk, beaver, muskrats, weasels and coyotes.
"I learned a whole lot about where the birds are, about their movements, about their behaviors," he said. "I enjoy observing the birds. There are those who don't care to learn and just want the tick. I really wouldn't want to be counted among those."
Stepniewski, who reached 337 during his Big Year several years ago, agrees wholeheartedly.
"To undertake this exercise is a great experience in learning about the bird life in any region," he said.
One of the things serious birders learn is that habitat is disappearing, he said. "Those of us who do this seriously are all conservationists. This (Big Year) is just a way of making it just a little bit pleasurable and competitive."
Breece's closest competitors last year appeared to be Hunn, whose list was around 348 species, and Bainbridge Island teacher George Gerdts, who was around 346.
In a Tweeters posting, Hunn called these results "by far the best state year lists we've ever tallied and beyond my imaginings."
Of Breece, Stepniewski said, "I suspect the record will stand for some time."


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Delhi: Framing a painting, with the cameraThursday, March 09, 2017
New Delhi, March 9 -- What inspires you? Pat comes the reply: "Art." Fashion photographer Rohit Chawla's response is reflected in The Inspired Frame, an exhibition that opens today in Delhi. The show will feature over 30 selected photographs from Chawla's previous series-Free Da!, Klimt: The Sequel and Tribute To Raja Ravi Varma, a tribute to Frida Kahlo, Gustav Klimt and Raja Ravi Varma (in that order), for which Chawla reconstructed tableaux and compositions to present life-like experiences of the seminal artists' paintings. The show also draws from a previous Chawla series that was inspired by miniature portraits done during the British Raj. Chawla was clear that he wanted to stay true to the painter's vision. "I started on this journey four-five years ago. I wanted to refocus attention on these great artists. And I must admit it wasn't easy at all," he says. Every detail mattered. "Take the Ravi Varma series, for instance. Designer Tarun (Tahiliani), who was looking after the clothes, did extensive research. If the sari was 9m in the painting, he made a 9m sari; if the tanpura was 6ft long, we created a 6ft one," says Chawla, adding: "A painter can paint, but I didn't have the luxury of a brush. The jewels had to be created, the garments had to be created; a painting has a woman sitting on a marble, so that marble seat had to be created." He was assisted by master-craftsman Manoranjan Mukherjee, who created the props, the accessories and the iconic sets. The challenge was bigger when it came to Austrian symbolist painter Klimt. "He's all about excess and layering, which is the opposite of my minimalistic, graphic style of work. I did it as an exercise to see whether I could do it. And boy, what a challenge it was. For recreating The Kiss, we made thousands of paper flowers. In the portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer (I), I virtually had to put (actor) Chitrangda (Singh) inside her Plaster of Paris dress. Klimt's garments cannot be made, they have to be sculpted," says the lensman, who recently celebrated his 50th birthday. For the Kahlo series, Chawla made the artist's self-portraits his own by blending her Mexican sartorial style with Indian prints with the help of designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee. "I asked him to improvise and create a colourful, harmonious mix. From the choice of clothes, jewellery and hairstyles, we worked on everything," he says. The miniature series features writer-hotelier Aman Nath, puppeteer Dadi Pudumjee, Tahiliani and the late Francis Wacziarg, co-founder of Neemrana hotels-"all slipped into the 'king for a day' feeling in the lavish costumes by Tahiliani himself". Each image, he says, "took a certain discipline, technical finesse. I didn't use any Photoshop. It's all a labour of love."The Inspired Frame will be on view from 10-18March, 11am-7pm, at Bikaner House, Pandara Road. Limited-edition prints are available for sale. Prices start from Rs1.5 lakh. The exhibition will travel to Mumbai in April and Bengaluru in May.


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Kamlesh Shah has seen a lot of ups and downs during his 28 years as a Chicago independent pharmacy owner.
But the last few months have been unlike anything he's experienced.
"The way it is going … there is no way we can sustain our business," said Shah, owner of B&K Drug, located inside a Humboldt Park medical clinic.
Pharmacies across Illinois are feeling the squeeze with the expansion of Medicaid managed care, in which private insurers administer Medicaid benefits for the state.
Because Medicaid managed care organizations reimburse pharmacies for medications at lower rates than traditional Medicaid, some independent pharmacies worry they'll go out of business, leaving fewer options for consumers, especially in areas without many drugstores.
Gov. Bruce Rauner recently expanded the state's Medicaid managed care program to 80 percent of Illinois residents on Medicaid as part of a bigger overhaul of the program. That means pharmacies with large numbers of customers on Medicaid may feel the effects of lower reimbursement rates. The rates affect all pharmacies who serve Medicaid managed care customers, but larger chains might be able to better weather the the change, some say.
Lawmakers are considering a bipartisan bill that would require Medicaid managed care organizations to boost the amounts they pay pharmacies. Opponents of the bill, however, say raising those rates would increase overall costs to the state without significantly helping people on Medicaid. The bill has passed the House and is awaiting hearing the Senate.
One of the goals of Rauner's revamp of Medicaid managed care was to help save the state money. Attempts to reach Rauner's office for comment were unsuccessful. But John Hoffman, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services said in an email, "Fixing higher prices for one major part of health care would increase program expenses and could limit the ability to offer other vital treatment options to our members."
Increasing the rates paid to pharmacies could cost the Medicaid program, which is funded by the state and federal government, an additional $150 million to $200 million, said Samantha Olds Frey, executive director of the Illinois Association of Medicaid Health Plans, which opposes the bill.
"It increases the cost and investment without enough impact on the people who rely on the program," she said, noting that any additional money should be put into areas where it's more needed, such as behavioral health, dentistry and pediatrics.
She said her group values independent pharmacies and would like to meet with them to come up with a different solution.
A separate industry group said passing the bill would grant a "blank check" to Illinois independent drugstores by removing incentives for them to dispense less expensive drugs to patients.
"This legislation pads the profit margins of independent drugstores at a time when consumers are concerned about rising health costs, and the state faces serious budget challenges," the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association said in a statement. The association represents pharmacy benefit managers, which act as middlemen between pharmacies and insurers.
Owners of independent pharmacies, however, say the lower rates are making it difficult for them to survive and provide a valuable service to people who may not have a lot of other options.
Wole Adeoye, a former Decatur pharmacy owner, said the lower rates drove him out business in 2016. He said he spent $75,000 of his own retirement money to try to stay open but was ultimately forced to close after 17 years in business.
"Instead of creating jobs we are killing jobs," Adeoye said. "We take good care of our customers, and that is what is so painful."
Consumers in rural areas might be left in a lurch if their independent pharmacies are forced to close or cut back on services, said Garth Reynolds, executive director of the Illinois Pharmacists Association.
Andy Hudson estimates his pharmacy, Hudson Drug Shop in rural Paxton, will make $106,000 less in profit during the next year because of the lower rates. In light of that, the pharmacy might have to re-examine its program that delivers medications to customers as far as 20 miles away, he said.
"There are a lot of people who aren't able to drive 20 miles to get their prescriptions, and we help them," said Hudson whose family has owned the pharmacy for 68 years.
Reynolds, with the Illinois Pharmacists Association, said larger operations might have more ability to spread losses from lower reimbursement rates.
A spokesman for Walgreens, headquartered in Deerfield, declined comment.
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Reynolds and other pharmacy owners question who's really seeing the savings from the lower reimbursement rates.
B&K Drug's Shah said it is independent pharmacies like his that are losing out. "If I'm not taking in even enough money to survive myself and pay the rent then one day we'll have to make a tough decision," he said.
Twitter @lschencker


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Bernie is 18 months now. We will be travelling yet again for our summer vacation. It should be better now. The first time was to the same destination and it was chaotic. The turbulence when landing did not help our already confused situation. Bernie cried to desperation. this time around I have learn't a few tricks:
Book the aisle and the window seat
I know this sounds weird. However, every time we booked these two seats, there was no other passenger in the middle seat. This will allow free movement of the baby especially for a super active baby like Bernie. More so, we get to use the extra seat for the baby bag since it can be hectic reaching to the compartment often. The aisle seat is also important when it comes to the diaper clock. In case you do not get both of them, go for the aisle seat. It allows for easy movement when you have to soothe the little one or even walk out.
Pack enough snacks
Do not depend on the plane's baby food. The advantage of packing your own baby snacks is that you get to choose what your baby loves most. For instance, during our recent flight to the Faroe Islands, the plane did not provide or even offer anything for Bernie. We always use Atlantic airways. Here is their website in case you decide to visit the unspoiled most beautiful place in the world, the Faroe Islands. https://www.atlantic.fo/en/ .During our trip to Kenya,however, Qatar airways http://www.qatarairways.com/us/en/onboard-experience.page was very baby friendly. In spite of us packing our own baby snacks, they also provided plenty. It depends on individual airlines.
In regard to packing snacks, ensure you pack them in disposable ziplock bags. They take less space on your carry on. Furthermore, ensure you pack mostly dry snacks like corn, crackers and fruits. Do not forget to pack your snacks as well.
A hungry mum is an angry mum
Pack his favorite toys on the baby carry on
We have always forgotten to bring Bernie's toys with us. This turned out really tough for us. An 18 month old baby will get bored really fast. They need constant entertainment by either using the toys or you have to play the toy. Bernie was bored with Mr. Potato provided by Qatar Airways and I was his truck, baa baa black sheep, moo moo cow, oink oink pig and the rest for almost six hours from Doha to Copenhagen. This was so draining for both of us that he fell asleep immediately we landed. One more tip on his toys, ensure you don't bring a noisy one. You don't wanna play the alarm for the sleeping passengers with the shakers.
Pack his favorite book
A book can be a great distraction to switch between the toys. If the baby has a favourite one the better. In case you are into the routine of reading before bed, this could serve as a reminder to his night time routine which will lead to him falling asleep faster.
How to deal with the turbulence
Have you ever sat down with a baby yelling his lungs out for about 10 minutes? Those have been the longest ten minutes of my life. In spite the many times we have flown with him, it seems to be new every time. It is advised to breast feed the baby during the take off as well as landing. This sounds so easy until he doesn't take neither the breast nor the bottle. However, during our recent trip from the Islands, we managed to keep him occupied with his favourite song , itsy bitsy spider. Rógvi came up with another tip where he put a wet tissue in the disposable glasses and covered Bernie's ears. It worked at first or rather until we were almost landing. The best way to deal with turbulence from my experience, is to keep the baby distracted.
Dress the baby in layers
Airplanes can either be warm or cold. If the baby is dressed in layers the better for the cold times. If it's a warm day, then you just reduce the amount of clothing. I often dress Bernie in very soft and comfortable attire for travelling. Often times, a pair of soft pants and a short sleeve onesie is enough. I usually carry the jacket by hand or dress him in it.
Pack a back pack as opposed to the traditional diaper bag
A back pack is easy to carry while holding the baby's hands or even strolling him. They are easier to pack as well since most of them come with smaller toiletry bags where you can put in a diaper and wipes for the immediate use. It also occupies lesser space in case you don't get an extra seat. I make good use of the outer pockets where I ensure I pack a diaper and a small pack of wipes. The details of the baby bag include about ten extra diapers because accidents do happen,the snacks, extra change of clothes, a thin blanket, the toys, the book and the basic baby stuff.
Avoid long lay overs
We had a seven hour lay over at Doha, not to mention missing the lay over tour bus which mean't being stranded at the airport for 7 hours. Thing is, we did not check how long the lay over was on the return journey. We assumed it would be the same time as when we booked. This was a long seven hours of sleep deprived parents with a less than one year baby who needed constant attention. To make the matters worse, he was so fatigued to sleep on the return plane. You do not want to be a victim. Ensure you have checked the details of your ticket. Second, a shorter lay over is just enough. You only need enough time to change the diaper, freshen up, feed, stretch and you are set to go.
In conclusion, just be as relaxed as possible to avoid stressing the baby. Don't forget to smile to the little one as well.
If you have more tips share on the comment box below.


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25. November
Football isn't everything. Really. And it really doesn't matter that you lost last week. Sorry if you'd nearly forgotten and I've just reminded you about it. But the truth is, it probably matters less to you that we were English, and more that you lost to an Italian. Again.
But, as I said, football isn't everything. So, leaving the beautiful game aside, where do we two countries stand on other things? On culture for example. Is one better than the other? Or, more specifically, how does your 2008 Berlin compare to our 2008 London?
I'm a Londoner. I live in the cultural metropolis, but I'm over here for two weeks to check up on you Berliners. Partly it's because I'm a bit worried that you are the cause of a creative brain drain. Artists, musicians and up-and-coming creatives are deserting us for you so much so that I've heard some journalists at Time Out, the celebrated London magazine, calling Berlin the new East London. But it's also partly because I'm curious about what makes this city and its citizens tick and how you compare to us.
So, my plan to get the full picture of Berlin - to get under the skin of the city - is to run a self-experiment. I'm going to go out every night and day to some event or other - theatre, art show, performance event, gig, club, movie, whatever - in an attempt to understand what's going on here and compare it to London. It will be a cultural marathon. On Monday night I saw "Cleansed" at the Schaubühne, and tonight I am going to "Pazar" a German-Turkish film in Kreuzberg. I'll give you my observations on them tomorrow. But I'd also like your help. If you've any ideas of what I should be seeing please email me here: email@example.com.
And alongside this Cultural Project, I will also be running the Sausage Experiment.
I'm with you Germans on the sausage. It has to be one of the most excellent manifestations of meat known to man. In fact, I can't think of a culture that doesn't have at its centre both alcohol and the sausage. The Spanish have Chorizo; Algeria the spicy Merguez; we British have the breakfast Chipolata or Black Pudding, but you Germans have the Frankfurter, Thüringer Bratwurst, Nürnberger Bratwurst, Bockwurst, Wienerle, Bayrische Weißwurst, Debrecziner, Landjäger and Currywurst. If there are any others that I should know about, please tell me...
So as well as the theatres, the operas, the concerts and the art galleries, I'm going to visit a butcher and sample your sausages daily. And perhaps as I get to know each one, the sausage will become my measure, my cultural barometer and I will be able to say that the Sarah Kane show, "Gesäubert", that I saw last night at the Shaubühne was rather like a Currywurst, an acquired taste, difficult to digest, but extremely provocative.
26. November
First, thanks. Thanks for all your emails. Among them there was a cryptic message from Artists Anonymous as the self-declared pulse-keepers of Berlin and brilliant suggestions from many others of you with some great things to do - thanks Frank for the Knacker tip! Do, please, keep the emails coming. And I now have Shantel & Bukovina Club Orkestar on my menu for next wednesday (thanks Tanja),
Katharina emailed that she saw Quentin Tarantino at Monsieur Vuong, the Vietnamese restaurant on Alte Schönhauser - a restaurant I should apparently visit. Has anyone else spotted the blood-and-guts director here? Put a comment below or drop me a line (email@example.com) if you have and we can see if HE is getting the full Berlin experience too.
Thanks, too, to Sunny_M for the Sucuk sausage suggestion. More on that later...
So, my first cultural fix here was Cleansed by Sarah Kane at the Shaubühne on Monday. Before you attack me for seeing a play by an English writer, directed by an Australian and staged at a theatre that sometimes has English subtitles, let me tell you that you Germans have almost adopted Kane - she's more popular here in Germany than the UK. Why is that exactly? The design was excellent, the acting brilliant and the subject matter grim: mutilation, tongues cut out, castration, heroin injected into an eye, full nudity and sex with the dead. In England we'd be warned about that stuff before going into the theatre. Signs would be put up. But here there was no notice telling us that those easily shocked might be offended and I like that. It gave the play a stronger punch with the unexpected brutality. I like that lack of protection that you Berliners offer. It's healthy.
And I can tell you, too, that I am really enjoying walking the Berlin streets without being spied on by the CCTV cameras 24 hours a day. In London they're a plague - there's one for every 14 people - and I've really noticed already how free it feels not to have them poking at you from every corner.
Now to more a serious subject. The sausage. The Turkish Sucuk otherwise known as Knoblauchwurst is Rindfleisch, slightly salty and a little oily. The short, squat sausage comes from the town of Afyon, but I tried it in the area of Berlin that I understand is called Little Istanbul. It was sliced thin, served on a bed of bread with salad and a sharp sauce and was delicious. It was, too, the perfect appetizer for a brilliant movie, Pazar (der Markt) that opened at the Babylon cinema in Kreuzberg last night. It's a German film, a Turkish story and directed by the Englishman Ben Hopkins. Am I catching a trend of cultural multinationalism here in Berlin? So, if I can give you readers a piece of advice: go and see it. It's excellent. And even better with a Sucuk in your stomach.
27. November
Frank emailed me and said "als weitere Wurstsorte soll hier die KNACKER genannt werden" and Patricia's email told me to try the Fleischerei Staroske. That wasn't hard. It's right by the Tagesspiegel offices on Potsdammer Strasse. Of course, she must have known that. How thoughtful.
Anyway, I went into Staroske's and asked if they had any Knackers. "How should I eat it?" I asked. However you like, the friendly woman butcher replied. "What, even raw?" "Yes. You can bake it or fry it - or eat it raw if you want to." Now, that sounded a bit odd to me, and I didn't want to take the risk. So after my long day of culture I came back to my flat and I fried it. It gave off a lovely smokey smell, not, I hasten to say, because I had burned it. It was salty. Chewy. Better without mustard than with. It seemed tough at first, but had a mysterious, homely flavour and that made me think that it was bit like Berlin.
Siegfried's email said if I could get a ticket I should try to see Sasha Waltz and her dance group perform Jagden und Formen at Radial System V. I had not heard of her, but quickly became aware that she is revered here. And the building looked stunning from my quick google research, so that's what I did.
So I made my way to the former water pumping station. It's impressive and industrial and, dramatically, right on the river. Smaller, but a bit I suppose like London's Tate Modern or the Roundhouse in Camden which is an old train shed. Both capitals use old industry buildings for the new arts industry.
I could feel an anticipation in this audience. And while I was waiting to go in two very kind Berliners started talking to me. Someone left a comment asking me to observe your Berliner "Freundlichkeit". I have had nothing but "Freundlichkeit" so far. And this couple, who it turned out were Tagesspiegel readers of course, were charming and friendly. They even found me after the show to ask me what I thought of it.
The show was super. I'm no dance critic, but this performance really packed a punch. It was so dynamic. Bodies leaping through the air, rolling on the stage and a full orchestra playing the score which at one point left their seats and joined in the dance. It was a total integration of dance, theatre, music and art. "That was a highpoint," my new friends said to me afterwards. And It certainly was extraordinary.
Thanks again for all your emails. I'm trying to reply - and I'm still trying to work out what I'm doing tonight. It was supposed to be films at Arsenal. Anyone got any better ideas? Email me. Now I'm off to the butchers again...
28. November
One thing I've noticed as I walk the streets of your city is that the little fellows who tell you when you can walk at the traffic lights change from bald-headed men to ones with hats on. This may be an obvious thing for you, but it's unusual for me. Someone told me that the chaps with hats are the ones in what was East Berlin. A relic of the DDR. It's funny, because you observe this mild trace of the past - and they help me to locate myself and imagine what it was like to live in the east when people weren't free. It's a lovely and subtle difference to London - a gentle historical reminder in the traffic lights. The Wall no longer exists but the mark of you crossing what was the border is now defined by little green men.
Muriel had emailed me to say that the Volksbühne theatre was "ein absolutes Muss in Berlin" and that the play Der Selbstmörder was having its final performance. So I rushed there after wolfing down some bread, some delicious Köln beer and two Landjäger sausages at a lovely little pub on Potsdamer Straße.
The Volksbühne seems to me a little more obviously FSU (that is Former Soviet Union) than the pedestrian traffic lights. With its grand staircases, chandeliers, mirrors and slightly out-of-date decor the building spoke with an almost old-fashioned accent. But in contrast the audience was extremely young - teenagers and twentysomethings very ready to laugh at what was on stage. I was surprised. I can't think of a similar theatrical institution in London - or one that attracts such an audience. In London there has been a bit of a crisis that the theatre only attracts the middle-class and older people. Of course there are exceptions, but generally that's the case. But here was a full house of people without grey hair.
I wish I could say I understood the play. But I didn't. It was a spectacle though. At one stage the whole cast (a huge chorus) invaded the auditorium and scrambled over the chairs. And one actor gave a speech from the back of the theatre through a megaphone. It was striking and exciting - but a bit bewildering for me with my little German.
The taxi driver who took me home said Volksbühne is very popular with the kids. She (yes, she - there's a difference too, you don't see many women taxi drivers in London) said that some of the shows were almost like "splatter". I took it that she meant horror with blood and stuff. She then told me how much Mitte had changed and said I should visit an old squat called Tacheles. Does anyone know anything about it? Is it worth a visit? Email me (email@example.com) to tell me if it is.
Thanks for all your tips again - my list of things to do is growing all the time and includes a trip to the Blutwurst maker on Karl-Marx-Platz in Neukölln thanks to your suggestions. See you tomorrow!
29. November
According to some comments on Thursday's piece I am a cultural imperialist. My English presence in the city is, apparently, a dying gasp of British and US influence.
Do I detect here a sense of insecurity or a desire of these Berliners to close the city off from the outside world again? Is this a sign of a reluctance to lay the city open and share it with those who have an interest in the place? Or is it simply hostility to the English - who one reader seems to suggest are just like the Americans?
I haven't found this to be a typical view in my journeys around the town, in and out of concert halls, cafes and, of course, butcher shops, but maybe it lies there under the surface. A reluctance to mix. Surely a place benefits from diversity and is made stronger by a difference of views and cultures.
London thrives on its multicultural mix. It is the city of a thousand languages where you hear Arabic on Edgware Road, African music in Tottenham, and you can pay for a beer in Roupees in Southall. Perhaps you guys, 20 years later, are still just getting properly acquainted with your other half - some of you west Berliners seem a little critical even perhaps hostile about the easterners - and you're not quite ready to open up to the rest of us.
So when I was told by a tipster about Worldtronics at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt that had Pakistani music from Faisal Gill mixed with some Berlin-resident DJs, I thought I could find out how such a culture clash would be received. The event wasn't that well attended, but the audience was very enthusiastic although hardly at all Asian. If this had been in London it would have brought out the expatriate community in force. One of the things I love to do in London is to go to an Algerian or African or international concert, because you get to see another slice of the city - the different people you share it with. Berlin offered an appreciative but largely European audience.
Thanks Matina for suggesting the Rum Trader on Fasanenstraße. I dashed over there after Faisal Gill's music to catch the Salvation Army playing some Christmas carols. The music was warm and the place welcoming - and smokey. It's one of the few places in Berlin to get around the smoking ban, apparently. But the most unusual and perhaps most Berlinish thing I've done so far was to follow Ralf and Jan's advice and stand on Warschauer Brücke for an hour between 10-12 and peoplewatch. It wasn't culture in a direct way but watching all the young clubbers on their way out for a night out was a sociological glimpse of a real Berlin, I think.
Blimey, it was cold, though. I thought the Bockwurst would warm me up but found I could hardly eat it. Am I the only one to think that this sausage is just a bit too fatty?
30. November
Zoo station is a little bit famous beyond Berlin. Even as far as London. It was the main location for the film Christiane F which is one of the few German movies to really break through to the English people; The Lives of Others, Tough Enough (Knallhart) and The Baader-Meinhof Complex being more recent ones picked up by UK audiences and which perhaps signify a renaissance in German cinema.
Anyway, I arrived at Zoo station and thought about Christiane F. and tried to spot the locations. It didn't look like it had done in the film (unsurprisingly, it was over 20 years ago). But it made me wonder why there had been such a heroin problem in the city at that time. Anyone have any ideas? And does it still exist here to the same extent? What happened to Christiane F., by the way?
I was on my way to Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche to hear some Bach. What would we do without Bach? Even I, who like some good old hard-guitar rock'n'roll, find something magical in his music. This concert was short but sweet. Only Kantate 132 "Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn!" and in the modern church next to the bombed ruined it had a very soothing effect. So soothing, in fact, that it worked a bit like a lullaby on me. After five days of hard culture, treading the pavements and eating more sausages in a week than most sensible people should have in a year, Johann Sebastian placed a calming hand on my shoulder and let me rest. Thanks Sabine for the tip.
I walked out of the church in a cloud of music and then nearly had a heart attack. Don't worry, it wasn't the wurst-effect. No. I thought a bomb had gone off nearby. After all the years of the IRA and now al-Qaeda in London I'm always a bit on the alert for an act of terrorism. I guess you don't have that feeling so much here. The bang though was overhead and I looked up to see a stunning firework display. Very pretty against the ruin and above all the Christmas market stalls. You can't beat fireworks for simple joy. To calm myself down I had a cup of a powerful hot drink from a stall where they poured rum over a huge lump of sugar into a large bowl of wine and set light to it. I have to hand it to you Germans for inventive ways with alcohol. And sausages.
Jessica sent me an email titled "blutwurstbruder" and told me to go the Blutwurstmanufaktur in Neukoln. What a tip. The Fleischermeister Marcus Benser hand makes more than 60 different kinds of sausage here - and he gave me some hot Blutwurst with Sauerkraut. I've now learned the word "lecker" and fully apply it to his sausages. It was warm, rich, restoring - a bit like the Bach concert actually.
Thanks CCTV (great name!), brenda and others for your comments and concerns for my health! I might take your advice on having a vegetarian sausage. Anyone know where I can get a good one of those? Please leave a comment or any thoughts you might have below.
1. December
Remember I commended your city for the few surveillance cameras it had? Well recently I've felt them constantly following me. OK, so it was by choice and I can't complain. ZDF read Der Tagesspiegel too and asked if they could go with me on my journeys, so I've had a camera crew at my side. Actually, it's quite nice to have the company.
I learned something too about your difficult past. One of the crew was from the former East and had tried to escape in 1988. He was caught and imprisoned for a year. The wall came down a few months after his release.
As I was walking through the Mauerpark fleamarket in Prenzlauer Berg, he showed me the point where he had tried to climb over the wall with a ladder (how brave is that?) and told me that the strip of grass that now looked like a park had been patrolled by guard dogs. I can't think of a London equivalent to that. That's unique Berlin history - still living.
I love fleamarkets. They say so much about a city. You get to see what people are getting rid of, and a slice of social history is revealed in the junk. Old East German hoover bags stuffed in a box, record players and, I think, Russian cameras. And a stack of documents from 1942 with Nazi swastikas on the front. You wouldn't see them in Portobello market.
In London the whole idea of the plucky British in the Blitz is celebrated in a museum down by London bridge. And then there are Winston Churchill's war rooms too. The British define their identity to some degree by looking back to the war. It's not necessarily a good idea. You can't ignore the Nazi past in Berlin, there are bullet holes in the walls. But I thought how different the approach is to remembering the war here and what it means for German identity.
There's an identity crisis going on in Britain at the moment. Constant questions these days about what "Britishness" is, what it means. Especially when we seem to be producing a few terrorists. People point back to the "Blitz spirit" as a way to describe who we are (funny how they choose that instead of the slave trade) but it's so far away now it's hard to say that it's relevant.
I visited a relic of the war that embraced some beauty. You call it a bunker, but it's a building above ground - for us a bunker is underground. Anyway, the bunker was a shelter from the bombs in 1942, then a Red Army prison, then a store for tropical fruit (called the banana bunker) and after that a sex and techno club. Now it's a private gallery and houses 20% of the Boros collection. The collector used to be in advertising - so it has parallel with London's Saatchi gallery, I guess. You have to make an appointment to look inside and view the fine modern art spread over five floors of a concrete building with no windows. If you haven't been, book yourself in.
It was good to look at stimulating art, but my head's beginning to feel stuffed full of culture. My stomach too is beginning to feel a bit stuffed with wurst. Yesterday it was an Imbissstuben-Rostbratwurst in a roll - so hot that it burned my mouth. Bad sausage day.
If you want to see me in your city, then watch Heute Journal this Tuesday night on ZDF.
Thanks to you all again for your lovely emails and comments. Till tomorrow!
2. December
I saw a bike today. Actually, I saw hundreds of bikes today, because you Berliners use them a lot. I've nearly learned to stop stepping into the cycle lane, thinking it's the pavement, and getting knocked down. The bike I'm talking about was owned by DB and you could pay to use it and leave it wherever you like. What a good idea.
I'm not sure the DB bike would work in London for three reasons. One, the streets are pretty dangerous and full of traffic, there are a few cycle lanes, but not enough - and they're in the road not on the pavement. Two, most Londoners are pretty lazy. Three, there seems to be an addiction to stealing bikes in London - and if they can't steal them, they vandalise them. Londoners buy new bikes and then try to disguise them, making them look old and rubbish by spraying them with paint, or wrapping them in tape. You lock your bike up with three locks and then come back to it to find the saddle gone. I mean, can there really be a black market for stolen saddles? Does that happen in Berlin? I haven't seen any saddleless bikes here yet...
I went to the edge of Neukölln yesterday to meet a German artist called Sabine Kacunko, who kindly invited me to tea. She makes big pictures of nature and then destroys them with bacteria. They're beautiful. She's not from Berlin, but recently moved here and made me realise that it's not just east London artists flocking here, but artists in general. She said she heard English voices more and more in that area. Melanie emailed me to say the same thing. If you know any London artists who've moved here, let me know (email@example.com). I want to talk to them. Thanks too to Hermann, Martina and Susanne who all tipped Yellow Lounge. I was astounded. It's hosted at Berghain and it's classical music only. Besides DJ Canisius spinning Beethoven and Steve Reich, which gave me gänsehaut, there was also a live performance from the dramatic Patricia Petibon (Soprano) and spirited Susan Manoff (Piano) who captivated the "clubbers". Again, an unusually young as well as varied audience who were relaxed - some lying down with glasses of red wine in front of the huge speaker stacks.
This, no doubt, could happen in London, but I'm not sure it would be so well attended (they sometimes have as many as 1000 people coming to this event). But classical music in a brutal concrete ex-DDR building? That felt uniquely Berlin.
Weisswurst. Wissen Sie es? I don't think it really suits the city nor could it be matched to the Yellow Lounge, it's a bit too big and boastful. It certainly isn't subtle. But that doesn't make it bad. It is perhaps, the white chocolate of the sausage world. Full of energy and a kind of sweetness, not to everyone's taste, but it does grow on you. Unlike white chocolate, it's good with mustard. Thanks Bavarian Sabine J for suggesting it. Oh, and don't forget to watch Heute Journal tonight... ZDF has been following me around lately.
3. December
Five less-good things about Berlin:
1. Dog shit on the streets. There might be gangs of weapon-dogs in London, but even the knife-wielding thugs seem to clean up their waste...
2. The weather. Even by London standards it isn't good.
3. Bad use of the escalators on the U-bahn. Can I tell you that it all works much more smoothly if you stand on the right hand side if you're not walking? Then those of us in a hurry can pass by.
4. The new plan for the Palace Square. Berliners, what's with your nostalgic kitsch?
5. Did I mention the weather?
I'm still liking Berlin though. And felt I needed to dig down to it roots. So while Quentin Tarantino, my spies tell me, films his pulpy fiction in Cafe Einstein Stefanie offered to show me around the Deutsches Historisches Museum. In an hour I went from the Romans to the DDR and the east's vote for the CDU to reunify Germany. I felt dizzy by the end.
I stayed on Unter den Linden for the rest of the day. I dipped into the new temporary gallery - wow what a great space - to see Candice Breitz's video art, bought a Pinkel sausage from Schlemmermeyer in Galeria Kaufhof at Alexanderplatz (on Melanie's suggestion), and went to the Staatsoper to see Peter Ruzicka's Hölderlin.
I found the opera impossible. I couldn't understand what was going on (and that was just the English synopsis I read in the programme). The music was like torture. Ruzicka might be highly regarded, but I couldn't bear it. I felt that I had to go to an opera while I was in Berlin - none of you had recommended it. I should listen to you more closely. And as far as the opera house goes, the lobby was more impressive than the auditorium - or, indeed the show inside it.
And as far as the Palace Square goes, the temporary gallery is more interesting than the crazy plans you have to build a bad wedding cake there. I know you've got loads of modern buildings here and you might not want another one, but that new architectural plan looks dreadful. I think you'll actually really regret getting rid of what was there. Mind you, Prince Charles would probably approve, if that's what you're after.
Melanie emailed me to say there was nothing in the world like a Pinkel. She also explained its unfortunate name. It was tasty to start with and seemed like a good idea, but after a few bites I felt it a bit oily and there were things in there I couldn't recognise. Was it cabbage? Cabbage? Inside a sausage? Mmmmnnn, "seemed like a good idea to start with, but full of things that shouldn't be there" - sounds a bit like the Palace Square.
4. December
It's suddenly dawned on me that I can't fit it all in. All your fantastic tips - still coming! - suggesting everything from chocolate shops in Gendarmenmarkt to swimming pools on the river, from the best doner kebab in Kreuzberg to seven different shades of Currywurst to the Bohemian pubs in Charlottenburg. I'm never going to be able to do it all before I leave on Sunday. I'm going to have to come back - that's if you'll have me after my complaints.
I had two sausages today, one before the match and one after. Yes, my friends, I went to the football. What better barometer of a city's culture than watching one of the city's teams? Last night I sort of saw two. OK, so Galatasaray are Istanbul, but the Berliner Turks had turned out in force - and yellow and red outnumbered Hertha's white and blue by about three to one in the 65,000 crowd.
Standing in the queue to go into the stadium a number of Turkish fans - recognising my hat from the TV piece or my picture from this website - shouted out to me "Willkommen in Berlin, English Guest!". How friendly. I was going to ask them their views on the "palace project" but thought better of it. Instead, I had a halal hotdog. Say what you like about the Frankfurter, but a hot sausage in the cold can really, as we say in English, hit the spot. Which is more than Hertha could do - hit the spot I mean.
Thank God I don't support the team or I'd be crying now. I'm not a football critic, but even I could see the many missed chances. But then, the referee seemed only to have eyes for the hands of Hertha and not Galatarasay in the penalty box. The Hertha chants were pretty impressive - as was the coordintated jumping up and down from the home team's end. And I suppose that the playful taunts between the Herthas and the Turks on the S-Bahn there and back and the fun feeling all around said more about multiculture here than anything else I've seen so far. It wasn't so much the football, but society at play here. I'm sure there must be tensions too, but I coudn't see any last night, just a city's different sectors competing but united in the beautiful game.
My feet became blocks of ice - even the warming atmosphere of the grand Olympic stadium, complete with Turkish fireworks, couldn't thaw them. No, the thing that restarted my central heating system was the Kohlwurst Im Ring. I ignored advice to boil it (I still can't get my head around that), and fried it. There was no messing with this sausage. It was upfront, fat, filling and hot. Goal.
5. December
Five less good things about London. After giving your city a bit of a hard time the other day, and then feeling a little bit homesick, I turned my mind to London and remembered a few things that I don't like about it:
1. Gangs of hooded youths who are so concerned about "respect" they're killing each other - and some of the rest of us - to get it.
2. The cost of everything, but especially the rents which are very high - a single flat is at least £200 a week.
3. Litter. Pretty much everywhere. It seems too much for some people to look after their environment and put their rubbish in a bin. That's partly because there were, for a long time, so few bins (still none in the tube stations) - they were good bomb holders, you see. Now human beings do that. But that's another issue...
4. Fried chicken takeaways. Where the hooded youth go and a lot of the litter comes from.
5. A mayor who seems to think it's better to be funny than to care about climate change. And some of the Londoners who put him in charge.
6. That the lovely pubs are dying, being bought and changed into flats (with expensive rents of course).
Actually these were six things and I could go on. Five isn't enough. I go back there soon and I'm going to miss Berlin. Because you Berliners really know how to party. Shantel and the Bucovina Club Orkestar shouted from the stage of the Admiralspalast that there were no passports for music, no visas for music and proved it by playing a boundary-blurring mix of Gypsy, brass band rebel-rousing rocking tunes. Thanks to all of you who said I should go. The crowd went crazy, invaded the stage, drank and sang along.
Of course you'd see the same kind of enthusiasm in London but there were some interesting differences. No way would Shantel leave the stage and surf the crowd like he did last night - security wouldn't let him. No way would the audience be able to invade the stage in such huge numbers like they did - security wouldn't let it.
I had rushed there after seeing a great dance piece as part of the Tanz Nacht festival at the old BVG building. Wilhelm Groener's Hotel Hassler was stunning. One thing I've noticed, that differs from London, is that audiences here seem more attentive to the piece on stage, more connected to it. The show was packed out and couldn't have differed more from Shantel's gig. Seeing the two things side by side was a good display of the city's many cultural sides. I'm feeling the effects of my marathon now, but I've still just got enough stamina to take in a little more culture.
Regarding the sausages, though, I think I'm reaching the limit. My skin is almost feeling as stuffed as one. I enjoyed the Krakauer with its subtle hint of cumin. And, to my shame, I have yet to eat a Currywurst. I'm nervous about upsetting you guys with my choice. Whichever one I select I'm sure will be the wrong one, should I get it from Wittys, KaDeWe, Curry36, Kudamm 195, Konnopke's or the one in Alt-Buckow in Neukoelln? And should I have it "mit darm" or "ohne darm"?
6. December
I've noticed that you Germans have a thing about bread. You like to talk about it, you like to discuss where you buy it and, of course you like to eat it. So the last leg of my cultural marathon addresses the Berlin crust.
I am reliably told by Ludwig that the Schrippen is a poor version of a roll. It's made with water instead of milk and in Heidelberg, where Ludwig was born, they only ate Schrippen on Saturdays. When he moved to Berlin, he emails me, he noticed that Schrippen were eaten all the time. Perhaps this is a sign that in the past Berlin was poor and its citizens had to make do with second-rate breadrolls - and then grew to like them like that.
But it doesn't stop there. West Berlin Schrippen are different from East Berlin ones - and the east ones are increasingly hard to find. Like other things, the East Berlin schrippen were smaller and less sweet.
But there exists in Prenzlauer Berg on the corner of Kuglerstr. and Varnhagenstr. a small bakery that works a little like a time machine back to the DDR. It sells smaller, less sweet Schrippen and is a humble place with a rather eccentric pricing structure. Items have the unusual tags of 0,66€ and the sign for the bakery with its old typography and red letters hangs forlornly in the window. They serve you your bread and rolls in a little red Plastikbrotkörbchen, from the DDR period says Ludwig. I ate a schrippen and rather liked it. But it wasn't as nice as the pancake [Pfankuchen]. Why you Berliners stubbornly call a doughnut a pancake is beyond me.
The Musiker Klause on Torstraße hasn't changed, the mullet-haired barman tells me, since he began working there 25 years ago. It's stuffed with Beatles memorabilia and he plays, records, yes records, of John, Paul, George and Ringo from behind the bar. It was, I suppose, like being back in the USSR, boys.
The Alt-Berlin Bierstube on Münzstraße was like walking into a London pub 20 years ago: the decor, the chatty barmaid, the thick clouds of smoke hanging in the air. In a way I quite like the smoking. It stops the terrible divisions of groups of friends with half of them standing outside in the cold puffing on cigarettes while the rest sit inside drinking. But, then I hate it too, for the obvious health reasons and because even now my clothes smell of fags. I am really struggling to understand your no smoking "law". It seems as if no one really gives a damn - which confounds your stereotype of being rigourously law-abiding folk.
The plan after that pub was to go clubbing to Berghain, Maria or Tape - all good tips from you. But after the past two weeks of culture and a day of time travelling back to the DDR I could hardly walk, let alone stand in a queue. So I hope you'll forgive me if I tell you that I went home and munched on a Grobe bratwurst and typed this for you.
It's not a time machine that's going to get me home, but the Sunday morning flight to Heathrow, and then I'm going to send you my last thoughts on Berlin on Monday morning. Bis später.
8. December
You know after you've done some exercise, and you've pushed it harder, perhaps, than you should have done and your muscles hurt? I think your word for it is "Muskelkater". Well, after running my cultural marathon in your capital, I have a kind of Muskelkater in my brain after all that stimulation. And not just my brain. This marathon was physically demanding too. My shoulders, legs, body and mind have been well and truly stretched by my two-week experience in Berlin.
I have run from Wedding to Friedrichstrasse from seeing a snatch of modern dance that went on all night, to partying into the small hours to Shantel's Gypsy brass band. I've worn the soles of my shoes thin treading the streets, I've translated - even with my bad German - the lyrics of US punk songs for an East German taxi driver while rushing from a Pakistani concert to watching the tides of young people crossing Warachauer Brucke on their way out for a night of clubbing. I've heard Beethoven in mega-decibels in Berghain been moved by a Turkish film with German subtitles in Kreuzberg, seen and talked to several butchers, one of them a knight of sausage making, observed the friendly rivalry of Berlin Turks and Hertha fans - and although I haven't written about it I've had some delicious doner kebabs.
But what have I learned? I've learned that, compared to London, your city seems small, but has grand vision. That all sorts of people - especially artists - are flocking to you. That here a certain kind of freedom is valued, creativity lourishes, and if you Berliners have strong ideas about things you also have a soft, and sometimes hidden, friendliness. And that you can't control your dogs.
As I sped back from Paddington in a black taxi, dodging the red buses in London's bright sunlight, I thought of the Currywurst I had eaten (I won't tell you where I had it - ohne darm - so as not to start a fight) but it was the last thing I did in Berlin. The poet Matthias Koeppel, who sent me a lovely book of poems about Sausages, says that wurst is the strongest and most beautiful word in the language. I can't comment. But the subtle, mixed, proud, gritty and satisfying meal seemed to me for a moment to sum up Berlin.
And I have to say, as an endnote, I could not have done what I did without you. Your friendly emails and mostly friendly comments, your suggestions and tips and your own observations have helped me map your city with culture and compare it to my own. Thank you for everything.
We've had fun, though, haven't we? But all good things must come to an end - except, of course, the sausage which has two.


text:
Darren Acton grasped the highest accolade any footballer can receive when he was installed as Players' Player of the Year at Nun-eaton Borough's annual presentation dinner at Hinckley's Island Hotel last night.
The goalkeeper, who also carried off the supporters' prize, has enjoyed a superb season between the posts for the Manor Park club and his efforts are a major factor why Boro are in the play-offs and still harbouring promotion to the Conference.
Manager Roger Ashby, who chose the outstanding former Coventry City midfielder Mark Noon as his top player this term, admitted it was a toss-up between the youngster and Acton for his award.
"Darren's been brilliant," he said. "You can count on one hand the mistakes he has made. He takes crosses, is a superb shot-stopper and kicks well.
"He has all the skills a good keeper needs. Defensively we have done really well and I believe it's having a keeper of his quality behind them that's given the side confidence and self belief.
"The back four know if anything gets through there's a great chance Darren will be there to keep them out."
Ashby added: "But the reason I chose Mark was because he has overcome the disappointment of being released by Coventry City and showed great resilience and determination to make his mark at this level.
"He admits he struggled to adapt to Nationwide North football in the early days but has come to terms with the qualities required.
"The lad has skill, application and work ethic to play at a far higher level but for the time being he's doing fantastic for Nuneaton Borough and should we achieve promotion he'll be a big asset."
Teenager goal ace David Blenkinsopp took the youth player honours while full-back Chris Tullin was voted reserve team player of the year and Stuart Whittaker collected the clubman trophy.
The Supporters Club presented Terry Angus - now back in the first-team defence -with a special new award for his outstanding achievements for the club during his six-year stay at Manor Park


text:
Registered: 1 month ago
Rehabilitation Centers Rehabilitation is a medical term that defines a person's process of regaining lost capabilities. When successful, it allows the patient to recover from debilitating injury. Rehabilitation services can also be used to solve more than just physical problems. Various organizations or rehabilitation centers work towards rehabilitating individuals suffering from alcoholism, drug addiction and mental diseases. Some rehabilitation centers are actively involved in the rehabilitation of prisoners, prostitutes and destitute children. A lot of research is done to identify the factors underlying these addictions. Rehabilitation centers use different methods to treat different patients. There are plenty of treatment methods to choose from. Treatments are customized according to a patient's illness and history. The time required for rehabilitation may vary from person to person. Outpatient treatment programs are helpful for patients in the initial stages of addiction. A patient with a long history of an affliction usually requires more time and specialized treatment. Such a patient may require attending an inpatient residential program that offers around-the-clock treatment in a residential community of counselors and other patients. Saints Joachim and Anne Nursing Home Review at a rehabilitation center exhibit peculiar symptoms like violent tempers, bizarre behavior, loss of appetite and unexplained weight gain or loss. However, all those who exhibit such symptoms may not be addicts. They may be suffering from low self-esteem and a lack of positive outlook towards life. Hence, psychology plays a great role in rehabilitation. It is also very important to keep the patients away from friends and surroundings that may perpetuate their addiction. Hence, it is advisable not to select a rehabilitation center situated close to the patient's home. Money also plays a vital role in such treatments. Patience, on the part of both the individual and his relatives, is also a very important factor. Rehabilitation centers play a vital role in helping a patient rediscover himself. It is important for a patient and his relatives to consider a rehabilitation home as a place to begin a new phase in life.
Website: http://saints-joachim-and-anne-nursing-and-rehabilitation-center.xyz
Topics Started: 0
Replies Created: 0
Forum Role: Participant


text:
Builders' Forum Archives
Re: another question
Posted by ray on Apr 18, 2005
i look forward to posting pics. It still seems a long way off though. I find this situation a little irritating. The kayak looks finished, it looks usable. I have never been good with finishing touches. Its a real test of patience. All i really want to do is go paddling.
thanks to everyone who has helped
In Response to: Re: another question by Steve Miller on Apr 17, 2005
No Replies.


text:
In screening for suicide risk, Facebook takes on tricky public health role
A police officer on the late shift in an Ohio town recently received an unusual call from Facebook.
That day, a woman wrote a Facebook post saying she was walking home and intended to kill herself when she got there, according to a police report on the case. Facebook called to warn the Police Department about the suicide threat.
The officer quickly located the woman, but she denied having suicidal thoughts, the police report said. Even so, the officer believed she might harm herself and told the woman that she must go to a hospital — either voluntarily or in police custody. He ultimately drove her to a hospital for a mental health checkup, an evaluation prompted by Facebook's intervention. (Some details of the case have been withheld for privacy reasons.)
Police stations from Massachusetts to Mumbai have received similar alerts from Facebook over the past 18 months as part of what is most likely the world's largest suicide threat screening and alert program. The social network increased the effort after several people live-streamed their suicides on Facebook Live in early 2017. It now utilizes both algorithms and user reports to flag possible suicide threats.
Facebook's rise as a global arbiter of mental distress puts the social network in a tricky position at a time when it is under investigation for privacy lapses by regulators in the United States, Canada and the European Union — as well as facing heightened scrutiny for failing to respond quickly to election interference and ethnic hatred campaigns on its site. Even as CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apologized for improper harvesting of user data, the Menlo Park company grappled recently with fresh revelations about special data-sharing deals with tech companies.
The anti-suicide campaign gives Facebook an opportunity to frame its work as a good-news story. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among people ages 15 to 29 worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Some mental health experts and police officials said Facebook had aided officers in locating and stopping people who were clearly about to harm themselves.
Facebook has algorithms that scan the posts, comments and videos of users in the United States and other countries for indications of immediate suicide risk. When a post is flagged, by the technology or a user, it moves to human reviewers at the company, who can call local law enforcement.
"In the last year, we've helped first responders quickly reach around 3,500 people globally who needed help," Zuckerberg wrote in a November post.
If you need help
If you have thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or go to www.speakingofsuicide.com/resources.
But other mental health experts said Facebook's calls to police could also cause harm — such as unintentionally precipitating suicide, compelling nonsuicidal people to undergo psychiatric evaluations, or prompting arrests or shootings.
And, they said, it is unclear whether the company's approach is accurate, effective or safe. Facebook said that, for privacy reasons, it did not track the outcomes of its calls to police. And it has not disclosed exactly how its reviewers decide whether to call emergency responders. Facebook, critics said, has assumed the authority of a public health agency while protecting its process as if it were a corporate secret.
"It's hard to know what Facebook is actually picking up on, what they are actually acting on, and are they giving the appropriate response to the appropriate risk," said Dr. John Torous, director of the digital psychiatry division at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. "It's black box medicine."
Facebook said it worked with suicide prevention experts to develop a comprehensive program to quickly connect users in distress with friends and send them contact information for help lines. It said experts also helped train dedicated Facebook teams, who have experience in law enforcement and crisis response, to review the most urgent cases. Those reviewers contact emergency services only in a minority of cases, when users appear at imminent risk of serious self-harm, the company said.
"While our efforts are not perfect, we have decided to err on the side of providing people who need help with resources as soon as possible," Emily Cain, a Facebook spokeswoman, said in a statement.
In a September post, Facebook described how it had developed a pattern recognition system to automatically score certain user posts and comments for likelihood of suicidal thoughts. The system automatically escalates high-scoring posts, as well as posts submitted by concerned users, to specially trained reviewers.
"Facebook has always been way ahead of the pack," said John Draper, director of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, "not only in suicide prevention, but in taking an extra step toward innovation and engaging us with really intelligent and forward-thinking approaches." (Vibrant Emotional Health, the nonprofit group administering the Lifeline, has advised and received funding from Facebook.)
Facebook said its suicide risk scoring system worked worldwide in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic — except for in the European Union, where data protection laws restrict the collection of personal details like health information. To opt out, people can stop posting on Facebook or delete their Facebook accounts.
In one case in May, a Facebook representative helped police officers in Rock Hill, S.C., locate a man who was streaming a suicide attempt on Facebook Live. On a recording of the call to the police station, the Facebook representative described the background in the video — trees, a street sign — to a police operator and provided the latitude and longitude of the man's phone.
The Police Department credited Facebook with helping officers track down the man, who tried to flee and was taken to a hospital.
"Two people called the police that night, but they couldn't tell us where he was," said Courtney Davis, a Rock Hill police telecommunications operator, who fielded the call from Facebook. "Facebook could."
The Police Department in Mashpee, Mass., had a different experience. Just before 5:16 a.m. Aug. 23, 2017, a Mashpee police dispatcher received a call from a neighboring Police Department about a man who was streaming his suicide on Facebook Live. Officers arrived at the man's home a few minutes later, but by the time they got to him, he no longer had a pulse, according to police records.
At 6:09 a.m., the report said, a Facebook representative called to alert police to the suicide threat.
Scott W. Carline, chief of the Mashpee Police Department, declined to comment. But he said of Facebook, "I'd like to see them improve upon the suicide prevention tools they have in place to identify warning signs that could potentially become fatal."
Facebook's Cain said that, in some cases, help unfortunately did not arrive in time. "We really feel for those people and their loved ones when that occurs," she said.
The fourth case, in May 2017, involved a teenager in Macon, Ga., who was streaming a suicide attempt. Facebook called police after officers had already found the teenager at her home, a spokeswoman for the Bibb County sheriff's office said. The teen survived the attempt.
Some health researchers are also trying to predict suicide risk, but they are using more transparent methodology and collecting evidence on the results.
In a forthcoming article in a Yale law journal, Mason Marks, a health law scholar, argues that Facebook's suicide risk scoring software, along with its calls to police that may lead to mandatory psychiatric evaluations, constitutes the practice of medicine. He says government agencies should regulate the program, requiring Facebook to produce safety and effectiveness evidence.
"In this climate in which trust in Facebook is really eroding, it concerns me that Facebook is just saying, 'Trust us here,'" said Marks, a fellow at Yale Law School and New York University School of Law.
Facebook's Cain disagreed that the program amounted to health screening. "These are complex issues," she said, "which is why we have been working closely with experts."
Natasha Singer is a New York Times writer.


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Living life one day at a time as best I can, the best way I can.
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This is 30
Turning 30 is a big thing, it feels like any other day, but it's a new chapter in your life. It's a time when society expects you to have achieved so much and for you to have found your "place". The big 3.0. has been a daunting prospect for me, someone who never...
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Saudi Arabia's September crude oil exports fell 3 percent to 6.67 million barrels per day (bpd) from 6.88 million bpd in August, official data showed on Monday.
September crude output fell by 660,000 bpd to 9.129 million bpd, figures from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed.
Crude stocks fell by 20.27 million bpd to 152.48 million bpd while domestic refinery crude throughput rose by 10,000 bpd to 2.584 million bpd, the data showed.
Drone and missile attacks on September 14 on two Saudi Arabian oil facilities, Abqaiq and Khurais, temporarily knocked out more than half the Kingdom's output.
The US blamed Iran for sponsoring the attacks, however, Tehran denies the claim.
Following the attacks, Saudi Arabia managed to maintain supplies to customers partly by drawing from its huge oil inventories.
Saudi Arabia and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) provide monthly export figures to the JODI which publishes them on its website.
Meanwhile, OPEC'S share of India's oil imports fell to 73 percent in October, its lowest monthly share since at least 2011, tanker data from sources showed.
India, which usually imports about 80 percent of its needs from OPEC, has been diversifying its sources of oil as local refiners have upgraded plants to process cheaper crude grades.
India, the world's third-biggest oil importer, shipped in 4.56 million bpd of oil in October, about 3.3 percent less compared with a year ago, data showed.
OPEC's share of India's imports in September was about 81 percent although total volumes were lower, as the South Asian nation cut imports to a three-year low due to maintenance at some refineries.
OPEC oil output dipped to an eight-year low in September after attacks on Saudi oil plants led to production cuts, a Reuters survey showed.
India shipped in a record 336,000 bpd of US oil in October, about 7.5 percent of total imports, data showed. The United States was Indian's fourth-biggest supplier in October.
India's fuel demand in October declined by 1.4 percent from a year earlier, and its diesel consumption fell by the steepest in about three years.
Meanwhile, Brent crude futures were down 26 cents, or 0.42 percent, at $62.18 a barrel.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped 32 cents or 0.56 percent to $56.73 a barrel, slipping further away from an eight-week high hit last Friday when hopes for the trade deal rose.
Oil futures gained nearly 2 percent on Friday as comments from a top US official raised optimism for a US-China trade deal, but worries about increasing crude supplies capped prices.
The 16-month trade war between the US and China, the world's two biggest economies and oil consumers, has slowed growth around the world and prompted analysts to lower forecasts for oil demand, raising concerns that a supply glut could develop in 2020.
OPEC said on Thursday it expected demand for its oil to fall in 2020, supporting a view among market participants that there is a case for the group and other producers like Russia, OPEC+, to maintain limits on production that were introduced to cope with a supply glut.
OPEC and its allies are expected to discuss output policy at a meeting on Dec. 5-6 in Vienna. Their existing production deal runs until March.


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Oakland, Berkeley, And East Bay News, Events, Restaurants, Music, & Arts
The City of Oakland is mulling negotiations to hand over management of the Oakland Ice Center to the San Jose Sharks, which would go a long way toward giving the team a monopoly on ice rink operations in the East Bay.
Such a development might be cool for the legions of new skaters the Sharks group claims it can attract to the perennially struggling two-rink complex by painting its hockey-stick-chomping mascot at center ice. And on the outside of the rink. And on the boards. And probably several other places to boot. But it would be a costly switch for Oakland's roughly 650 adult league hockey players, who would end up paying through their broken noses.
The Sharks are predicting a 37 percent increase in revenues at Oakland Ice, nearly all of it on the backs of hockey players. Recreational hockey is already prohibitively expensive for some would-be players. At Oakland Ice, a season of twenty games plus playoffs now costs $515 per person most teams carrying around ten players, plus a goalie. "Sharks Ice at Oakland" would charge a flat team rate of $7,900 per season, meaning either that individuals will have to fork over a lot more, or teams will need to pile on the new players, resulting in less ice time for everyone (in hockey, each line consists of five players plus the goalie, who traditionally plays for free.) Under the Sharks' proposal, actual time on the ice would cost at least $65 per hour per player enough, as it were, to score a decent seat at a Sharks game.
The Sharks' facility-management arm, San Jose Arena Management, thinks players will pay the higher rates. It is confident of this because, well, local skaters have few options. The Sharks already runs Logitech Ice in San Jose and Sharks Ice in Fremont, which charge similar prices. The team is also in talks with Pleasanton officials to build a behemoth four-surface rink, which will very likely put the aging, single-surface Dublin Iceland out of business. Berkeley Iceland closes next month, and if Oakland Ice goes to the Sharks, they will have snapped up the last available East Bay rink.
Or, in the official Oakland staff-reportese: "This means that options for adult hockey players in the Bay Area appear to be somewhat limited, giving OIC management more pricing discretion."
Claudia Cappio runs Oakland's Community and Economic Development Agency, which analyzed and ranked the proposals to run the rink. In her view, more Sharks-owned rinks would be good for Oakland and ice enthusiasts everywhere. "It will give them economies of scale to really do great things," she said. "They'll have a critical mass of things to do in the East Bay."
The Sharks management team, however, resorted to a power play to muscle its way into the top negotiation slot. Indeed, in a report released last October, CEDA staffers recommended that the city deal with the Sharks' rival, Virginia-based Rink Management Services Corporation, which is the country's largest manager of recreational ice rinks. They ranked San Jose a distant second, only slightly ahead of Iceoplex, which currently manages Oakland Ice.
The staff liked almost everything about Rink Management's proposal, from its extensive experience to its careful plan to attract those Oaklanders for whom skating was never a consideration. The company has met with Oakland church leaders, the Girl Scouts, the YMCA, and managers from Big Brothers Big Sisters. Tom Hillgrove, Rink Management's president, predicted his group could bring more than twenty thousand kids to the rink in its three-year management reign. His company predicts a modest revenue increase. "I'm not saying we're not going to go up [in price]," he said. "We just don't think it's right to go from $5,000 to $7,900."
But at an October meeting of the Council Community and Economic Development Committee, city leaders, responding to "concerns that were raised by SJAM representatives," asked Cappio's staff to collect more information on those two bidders. "It was obvious that we had to correct some information, that there had been some inaccuracies," Cappio said.
The Sharks' concerns were wide-ranging. SJAM officials complained about the way their bid was evaluated charging, among other things, that one staffer was biased because he had children who skated at Oakland Ice, and that staff did not properly appreciate the "overriding importance of brand recognition." They also criticized the rival proposal, nit-picking its financial package and labeling Rink Management as a marketing "unknown."
Hillgrove said he was puzzled by the Sharks' aggressive tactics. "Clearly in the municipal rink operation environment, we have a lot more experience," he said. "But they seem pretty hell-bent on it. They're pulling the stops out. Lobbyists and all that."
All's fair in the competitive process, according to Cappio. "In a good game, you're going to do what you can to make yourself the better candidate," she said.
After meeting with the Sharks in early January, CEDA staff declared that RMSC "still ranked higher, but by a smaller margin." But when they brought that recommendation back to the committee on January 23, council members ordered the staff to draw up a plan for negotiations with San Jose.
The City Council was set to vote on exclusive talks with the Sharks last week, but Hillgrove stepped in, asking councilmembers to hold off on voting so he could attend their February 20 meeting and plead his company's case. "[The Sharks] said, as the core of their presentation, 'It's our intention to extend our brand,'" Hillgrove said. "How does that benefit the City of Oakland?"
Despite the Sharks' rosy revenue predictions, the city's decision may ultimately hinge on its inbred fear of losing money. Which perhaps isn't so unreasonable, given the Ice Center's shaky history. The developers who built Oakland Ice in 1996 defaulted on their city loans after the rink had been open just three months, forcing the redevelopment agency to take over the complex. Iceoplex took over management in 2000, but has struggled to turn a profit for the city. The center lost $70,000 from June 2004 to June 2005, and scraped out only minuscule gains the following fiscal year.
Add to the financial struggles a problematic parking situation. The Oakland School for the Arts moved in across the street last year, taking up most of the rink's free parking and forcing skaters to park in expensive hourly garages nearby. Both issues gave the city reason to be cautious. Basically, Cappio and her staff looked at a lot of other ice rinks and discovered they don't make money. "We did not want to get too confident," she said. "We're in the position of wanting to make sure the council doesn't go too overboard on some wild projection."
Under the Sharks' proposal, if the rink brings in less than $200,000 in annual revenue far below the predictions of both bidders the failure would cost the city less than under the Rink Management proposal. If, on the other hand, revenue is anywhere near San Jose's targets, the city would get less than under the rival plan.
In effect, city staffers are betting that neither bidder will succeed, and for that reason, they're recommending the Sharks.
At the rink on Sunday morning, hockey players in the over-forty league most of whom, judging by their play, had a reason for asking to remain anonymous called the fee increase outrageous and suggested there might be an exodus. One half-undressed skater from the B-league's Jokers thumbed his orange sweater, swigged his beer, and asked to speak generally for his team.
"The members would like to say they're unhappy about the price change," he said. "And if we have to bring our lobbying power to bear ..."
He trailed off there, no doubt pondering the upcoming hip-check to his pocketbook.
Full disclosure: The author plays hockey in Dublin; his father plays at Oakland Ice.
Contact the author of this piece, send a letter to the editor, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.
News - October 26, 4:00 AM
News - October 22, 3:09 PM
News - October 22, 4:00 AM
News - October 21, 1:32 PM


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By Philip van Doorn, MarketWatch
Getty Images, Bloomberg
After four straight days of market declines, with no way of knowing how long the coronavirus will stifle the world economy, investors are understandably thinking about safety. But the notion that shares of big consumer-staples companies are the safest plays is easily turned on its head.
"The valuations on anything 'low-risk' are really stratospheric, and that creates risk," according to Charles Lemonides, founder, chief investment officer and portfolio manager at ValueWorks LLC, an investment-management firm with $197 million in assets under management and based in New York.
The risk of 'low-risk'
During an interview on Feb. 25, Lemonides named Clorox /zigman2/quotes/206443229/composite CLX +0.66% , Church & Dwight /zigman2/quotes/203816376/composite CHD +1.01% and Procter & Gamble /zigman2/quotes/202894679/composite PG +0.66% as examples of venerable consumer-staples companies with high stock valuations.
As this table shows, forward price-to-earnings valuations have stretched over the past year. Before the four-day decline that began on Feb. 20, the S&P 500's /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX +0.34% forward P/E valuation was at its highest level since May 2002.
|Forward P/E ratio
|Forward P/E ratio - year ago
|Total return - 1 year through Feb. 25
|Clorox Co.
|/zigman2/quotes/206443229/composite CLX
|Church & Dwight Co.
|/zigman2/quotes/203816376/composite CHD
|Procter & Gamble Co.
|/zigman2/quotes/202894679/composite PG
|/zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX
|Source: FactSet
Lemonides said that if an investor is starting out at these high valuations, "if everything goes right, you may not lose money in a year and a half, but if anything goes wrong ... you can go to 20 times earnings from 25, and that is a big decline."
Things that can go wrong include "a hiccup in earnings," increasing costs or capacity constraints, he said.
I do not know what to do about [the coronavirus] as an investor, except to hold securities that will turn out fine regardless of what happens.
Charles Lemonides, founder, chief investment officer and portfolio manager at ValueWorks LLC
Lemonides summed up two risks for expensive consumer-staples stocks:
• Earnings decline because of a specific problem. Kraft Heinz /zigman2/quotes/203625533/composite KHC +0.45% is an excellent, if extreme, example. The stock declined steadily from June 2017 through May 2019 as the company struggled to adjust to changing consumer tastes. The stock now trades for 11.4 times consensus earnings estimates among analysts polled by FactSet, after trading for a forward P/E as high as 27.8 in April 2015.
• Earnings become lumpy. "You can go from a perceived very steady earnings stream to a bumpier stream, and the multiple goes from 25 to 16 or 13. So trying to find safety in those names is a very risky strategy," Lemonides said.
The ValueWorks hedge fund run by Lemonides has a short position in Church & Dwight. Lemonides said he had previously shorted Clorox when it traded for 29 times forward earnings, and covered the position at 22 times earnings.
Coronavirus, other unknowns and better defense
Lemonides called the coronavirus a "tremendous wild card" for investors. It's easy to point out that the flu infects millions of people each year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that in the U.S. alone, the flu has led to between 9 million and 45 million illnesses and between 12,000 and 61,000 deaths annuall y since 2010.
Not to make light of the coronavirus tragedy, but those flu numbers dwarf the coronavirus infection and death counts that are causing so much disruption right now. But the quick spread of the virus and the resulting measures being taken have caused a decline in production, especially in China. We simply don't know how long this will continue or how dramatically it will affect particular companies.
ValueWorks LLC
"I do not know what to do about it as an investor, except to hold securities that will turn out fine regardless of what happens," Lemonides said. He cited stocks he believes are set up for good returns over the next two years for different reasons:


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Mountain Song Festival is committed to being an environmental-friendly event and they are succeeding. The Projects Group of the Pisgah Sierra Club met with John Felty, organizer of the festival on October 23, 2017, in Brevard. John told us they had 15 bags of trash with 7500 attendees over 3 days. Wow! Let's break that down in household terms.
That is the equivalent of a household of 2 creating 1.5 bags of trash a year.
How do they do it? They make it a priority. They make it easy. They make it fun.
Recycling fun? You bet.
The Projects Group is working to develop a best-practices report to help those in our community model after those who are already a success. We are looking for ways to be a positive force for change in the community. Maybe we can be a roving group who helps others implement best practices of others in our community? Maybe you will see us at a new recycling station at your favorite community event!
By the way, we are always looking for new members. Please let us know if you would like to join our Sierra Club Projects group!


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Thomas Kexel (1942 – 2007)
Thomas A. Kexel, age 65, a resident of Racine, died Tuesday, December 11, 2007 at Froedert Memorial Hospital.
Thomas was born on February 28, 1942 to Clarence and Catherine (Flock) Kexel in Racine.
He enlisted in the United States Army and was stationed in Germany.
Thomas married Kathe Lange on November 11, 1971 in Japan.
He worked and lived in Japan for six years. He graduated with a B.A. in History from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. He taught English as a second language at Gateway Technical Institute.
Thomas was actively involved in the Racine Community, including the Racine Unified School Board, OIC, The Racine Literacy Council, United Way, The Racine Library Board, and the Racine Sister Cities Council.
He is survived by his wife Kathe; daughter Kela Kexel; surrogate daughter Camille Clark; son Torin (Alice) Kexel. He is also survived by his mother Catherine Kexel; three sisters Carole Pfaff, Sue (Roger) Hays, and Kathy Kexel; two brothers Ken Kexel, Mike Kexel as well as extended family.
He is preceded in death by his father Clarence; and dear friends Alexis Borbouse and Glen Lovelace.
A Memorial Service will be held on Friday, December 14, 2007 at 5:00PM at Olympia Brown Unitarian Universalist Church in Racine. Visitation will be held on Friday at the church from 4:00 PM until the time of service. In lieu of flowers, memorials to the family would be appreciated with charities to be designated at a later date.
The family wishes to express special gratitude to those that gave so much of themselves in Tom?s times of need. Thank you to Raylene Vernatat, Phil Little, Mark Kinzelman, Oliver Hayward, Dwayne Olsen, Dick Kinch, Jeff Cummins, The Neighborhood Gang, and many others.


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Apoya el Fondo de Becas Karen Berg. Aprende más
Fecha de publicación:
Febrero 21, 2019
Fecha de grabación: Febrero 9, 2019
Join Michael in this Third Meal lesson of Terumah, as he reveals how we can awaken our heart so all the wisdom and direction we need for bringing Light in the world will come to us.
One of the major spiritual connections kabbalists make on the Sabbath is the reading of a weekly Bible portion. These consciousness lectures present lessons on each week's portion to elevate our consciousness and create awareness of the spiritual energy and gifts that are available through the reading of a Torah Scroll. With greater awareness and an awakened consciousness, we can connect to the Light revealed each week and use it as support in our ongoing spiritual work.


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RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman met Sigmar Gabriel, Germany's former foreign minister, in Riyadh on Tuesday. The two men discussed a number of matters of common interest.
Also present at the meeting were Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Minister of Commerce and Investment Dr. Majid Al-Qasabi, and Jorg Ranau, the German ambassador to the Kingdom.


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I have been searching for my perfect nude lip colour for a while and the latest purchase on my hunt was the Maybelline Color Drama Velvet Lip Pencil in the shade 'Nude Perfection'. A lot of bloggers have been talking about these a a dupe for the NARS Velvet Lip Pencils, I don't own these so I can't compare, but if they are similar I don't think I would spend my money.
The packaging is nice and simple, a black pencil with white writing and the shade at the bottom makes it easy to see which colour you are picking up.
The pencil is quite short and the chubby pencil makes me think it might be difficult to find a sharpener.The actual product is quite soft, so it can break quite easily (as I have already discovered).
The shade is my favourite thing about the product. it is a lovely brown based nude that I think would suit a lot of people. Below is a swatch of the colour:
The major downside to the product is how dry it feels on your lips. The pencil does have a matte finish so it wasn't unexpected, but it was drier than other matte products I have used. I wore this colour for a 5 hour shift and by the end my lips were so dry and the product had settled into the lines on my lips. Maybe this could be helped by applying lip balm before using the pencil.
Overall I wasn't completely impressed with the Maybelline Velvet Lip Pencil. The colour is nice but the dryness of the product and the fact that it would be difficult to sharpen would put me off buying it again. The search for my perfect nude continues…
Overall Rating- 5/10
The Maybelline Velvet Lip Pencils cost £4.99 and are available to buy online or instore at Boots or Superdrug.


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Price: $21.00
Quantity: 1 available
Book Condition: Near Fine
Never read, has edge spot. Text in English and Hebrew - 144 pages in Hebrew; 24 pages in English. Includes anti-semitic Themes, Essays, Media Coverage on anti-Semitism throughout the world
Title: The Jewish Media and Anti-Semitism: the Unending Struggle - Kesher
Categories: JUDAISM, Jewish History,
Publisher: The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Center for the Media of the Jewish People: 2003
Binding: Softcover
Book Condition: Near Fine
Item: 1.00 Item
Seller ID: 15168
Keywords: History Anti-semitism Anti-semitism Jewish Media Jewish Media Der Schild H. G. Wells And Judaism The Invisible Man Eleanor Roosevelt And Judaism Raphael Vago,