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I love when couples really get into the creative design of their wedding, because frankly, that's why I even started doing what I do! I get such a buzz from finding that perfect combination of colours and textures and design elements that will work together, and converting trends into personal details that will resonate with the bride and groom and their families. Today's bride clearly shares this love because she had a comprehensive vision for the happy day she and her love Rob tied the knot, which included greenery, copper, warm tones, autumn details, soft candlelight, beautiful music, and great food. All the best stuff! And best of all, Cindy and Rob's family and friends got in on the action, adding that wonderful, creative, handmade touch to everything from ceremony to reception, and filling the space with pretty (and love!). So wonderful, and Summertown Pictures were there to take these lovely pics!
Love Story
In a barn, on a farm, in Grahamstown, almost a decade ago. It was a friend's 21st and Rob had made his way from Cape Town with a group of friends. At the time we were studying 900km apart. A year later, after I'd moved to CT (for work, not for him!) we reconnected, but weren't in the same province for long. Our relationship survived its fair share of long distance across continents and provinces. Love won!
The Proposal
Our story starts with a bracelet. Rob had given me a silver bracelet before he left for Canada on a gap year, only a few months into our relationship. This bracelet was a token to remember him and a reminder that he was coming back. He managed to steal it back after six years, and had it engraved with "Will you marry me". He whipped the bracelet out, whilst we were having a picnic. He had arranged to stay over at a beautiful lodge that evening and a surprise dinner with our families – it was perfect and unique. (My beautiful ring was in production, just two weeks short of completion – I guess he just couldn't wait!)
The Venue
Ah, choosing the venue was the easiest decision. I had a feeling about Orchards, before we even visited. Childhood memories of the farm where I grew up came flooding back as we arrived, and I knew immediately this was our venue. A very special country charm unique to KZN Midlands.
Wedding Style
Our overall vision was masses of GREENERY (theme decided in 2016 and coincidently Pantone 2017, winning!) and COPPER tones. Autumn warmth. Forest-like foliage. Flowers that look as though they've grown in the meadow. Creamy, rich champagne tones, vintage copper accents, rose gold sparkle. Bursts of burgundy through the use of berries and Persian carpets. Each chapter of the day was styled according to the unique charm of the room in which it was hosted. Our chapel exuded calm country serenity, with big windows overlooking Nguni meadows. Guests were welcomed with hanging floral hoops with assorted foliage and berries. A hanging installation of greenery with white flowers was suspended above us as we said "I do". Rustic wooden poles with leafy twigs hung against the walls. A bespoke R&C sign filled with foliage sat between two lanterns on a white piano. The ambience was soft piano sounds, and flickering lanterns. Post-ceremony, the party moved to the canape area, a farm-style rustic setting in an old stable, with wine barrels, hydrangeas and penny-gum in abundance. Vintage Persian rugs and mismatched teapots with pops of bold colour. A colourful South American band (Pan Latino) to match the atmosphere. A welcoming wine bar (my favourite) with many varietals and vintages served out of a vintage suitcase. Kegs of craft beer (his favourite) from Frontier Beer Co. The reception was candle-lit elegance. A warm, glittering ambience, with masses of floral beauty on hanging-installations holding filament light bulbs, with greenery dripping from the copper chandeliers. Masses of botanical beauty with rich colours on the tables, amongst mismatched copper vases and lanterns, and a roaming jazz musician to complement the mood.
Wedding Details
Sharing an excellent meal with friends and family is so important to us! Fat Aubergine were incredible, we are still receiving compliments on our food. The canapés, through to the mezze harvest board starters and lamb shank mains, were all served in perfect time and absolutely delicious! We had a sweetie buffet and selection of mini deserts made by family friends, with all our favourite treats, which was personal and made for great midnight munchies. Our cake, made by Eat with Love, which we cut after the ceremony, was polished off by our guests – it was also really YUM. Music is also very important to us, especially Rob. The music played for special moments was very carefully selected based on the meaning of the song and not just songs that are current and popular. We loved having a live music band at canapés, Pan Latino, sax player Chris Jensen during starters and finally Dave Ward from Top Jocks, to get the party started.
DIY Elements
Plenty! I shared my vision and mood board with my parents, who are both incredibly creative people and helped me see my vision through. My dad particularly was so invested in the DIY. He practised making suspended floral installations a year before at the engagement party, and practice made perfect! Whilst our florist and decor supplier did the reception venue, my family and close friends created the magic in the chapel and stables. The copper floral hoops were made by my dad and styled with flowers and berries by a family friend (a vision I had from the beginning, they were perfect!). Our wine bar was a vintage suitcase sourced from an auction, and my dad fibre-glassed the base so we could put ice blocks inside and fill it with my favourite selection of wine. I made a ribbon curtain for the lid in all our wedding colours: champagne, ivory, blush and burgundy. We also had crafted wooden elements, so wach table was decorated differently. My dad made the wooden flower boxes on some of the tables, using reclaimed Oregon ceiling boards. He also made our seating plan, using an old Victorian window frame sourced from the auction and restored for the wedding. We thanked our little page boys with DIY wooden boxes, personalised with their names and filled with fun stuff like bubbles, torches and treats! Other elements, not home-made, but sourced from local KZN Midlands auctions over 14 months, and turned into creative masterpieces: copper bowls, brass urns, and antique pots and vases. Persian carpets in all different shades, bringing warmth and vibrant colour. An old-school bicycle, restored and used to place baskets filled with hydrangeas.
The Dress
After trying on many dresses and never once getting close to that "I've found the one" feeling. I decided to consult Yolande Wortman, a very talented designer in Kloof, Durban. I didn't think I knew what I wanted, so I started with all the things I didn't want (I highly recommend this plan-of-action for anyone with decision making issues, like me). She worked with that and created my dream wedding dress! I loved the process of getting a dress made with Yolande; she is relaxed, creative, honest and kind – I trusted her completely. Each time I went for a fitting, it was a lovely surprise! She crafted a masterpiece with her unique flair and whimsical spirit. She created the dress on a champagne base, with layers of soft-flowing tulle, mesh dotted with pearls and ivory lace covered in glass beads. I finally experienced the breathtaking moment. Because I love the look of a trailing train but I didn't want to trip over it, Yolande (like a genius) made me the most beautiful long veil with a lace border, which was perfect. I loved wearing a veil – it was a touch of theatre. My florist Kerry made me a beautiful hairpiece of miniature roses and olive leaves. I loved my gorgeous statement teardrop earrings, by Honey Accessories. My shoes were from Spree, and clutch bag was a vintage gold clutch which belonged to my gran. I also wore my gran's engagement ring on my right hand and the cushions that the page boys carried were made using vintage lace from her wedding dress. I didn't realise just how special it is to incorporate such deep sentimental value into the day.
The Bridesmaids
They were amazing! Of my three beautiful bridesmaids, one was overseas and the other two were pregnant and would have teeny babies at the time of the wedding. This, both with the distance and the big baby bellies made fittings and selection of style a rather interesting challenge. I met with Chanelle Wright, after many emails sharing my ideas of styles and colours. I loved her whole attitude towards the process, she is warm, professional and so helpful. She created gorgeous, bespoke CW dresses; nudey-blush hammered satin slip dresses, with an ivory lace crop top. The style was flattering and cleverly designed with concealed elastic waistbands for the new moms who we couldn't measure until the very last minute. We complemented the subtle colours of the dresses with berry-coloured long velvet ribbons on the bouquets and burgundy lips and nails. They all wore different, stunning earrings from Honey Accessories. They looked gorgeous!
The Flowers
Ahh my magnificent flowers! The reception venue was styled by Kerry Dinkelman and the stables and chapel done by my creative mum and her friends. My brief to Kerry was to use flowers that look as though they had grown in the meadow, and autumn colours. She used predominantly white and blush flowers like lisianthus and lysmachia to complement the masses of greenery with pops of deep burgundy roses and autumn berries. She also surprised me with giant statement dahlias, blush-tinted tuberoses and adorable miniature green apples. The arrangements were full of flowers and complemented the copper, brass and cut glass decor and many flickering candles. I loved my bouquet! Kerry also managed to source some heather, in memory of my aunt Heather who has passed away just a few months before the wedding – it was special to honour her on my day.
Memorable Moments
So many! Wake up. Open curtains. BLUE SKY. Big sigh :) (The forecast was 15 degrees and thunder storms!) Standing at the entrance of the chapel with my dad, squeezing his arm tight and seeing the faces of everyone we love in one room and my soon-to-be husband ahead of me. Our saxophonist that we wanted for the evening canapés wasn't available; I was SO devastated. At some point whilst enjoying our starter harvest boards, out of nowhere this gorgeous saxophone music filled the air! It turns out, he had been in the area, called my parents earlier that day and planned this breathtaking surprise for Rob and I!
Proudly South African Details
Supporting local! My dad sourced 14 Chandeliers made in Clarens by a wrought-iron craftsman and sprayed them copper, to hang from the ceiling, draped in penny-gum and tiny fairy-lights. We also had lanterns made by the same supplier for the chapel and outside the reception – these proudly South African elements were magical! We walked out the chapel to Mango Groove, Special Star – a favourite song from my childhood!
Best Decision
I think I would go with the venue – this was the easiest and quickest decision we made. Every supplier we worked with was comfortable and excited to collaborate with Orchards. The time of year – April (South African autumn) was also a great call in terms of weather and beauty in the Midlands.
Advice for Future Brides & Grooms
- If you can, get a wedding video! The short film is great but having the raw footage of the speeches is great, as you can't take it all in on the day and watching the speeches again means you get to laugh and cry all over again. Our videographer, Steven Thistle, offered us the short film, and raw footage of the ceremony and speeches.
- Wear comfortable shoes, or have a second pair to pop on after the creative shoot. Make sure both plan A and B shoes are the same height!
- Wear lipstick! Consult with your makeup artist or trusted friend which lipstick to wear on the day and invest in a long-lasting, moisturising lippie to keep in your bag of essentials on the day.
- Colourful confetti makes for the best photos! Deep colours are gorgeous but be cautious of red roses, they can stain your dress.
- Bag of essentials: panado, bobby-pins, mints, trusted and tested lippie, powder, tissues, perfume.
- An idea: Keep your veil for a beautiful, whimsical baby net for your first child. A special reminder of your day.
- If you have an opportunity to attend a pre-marriage course, you should! We learnt so much about ourselves and each other, it really prompted us to ask questions we had never thought about before. It was fun!
- Personalised thank you-letters or emails after the wedding are so appreciated by the guests, and it's a small token that means a lot.
- Honeymoon for as long as you can and as long as budget allows. You deserve it, and you will need the break together!
Venue: Orchards Wedding Venue | Catering: Fat Aubergine | Photography: Summertown Pictures | Flowers, décor & bride's hairpiece: Kerry's Flowers & Decor | Second florist: Kerry Timmerman (decor sourced from Wilson's Wares) | Stationery: Wendy-Leigh Cousins | Video: Steven Thistle Films | Cake: Eat with Love | Bride's dress, veil & feather bolero: Yolande Wortmann | Bride's accessories: Honey Accessories (earrings) + Studio 39 Jewellery Design (rings) + Spree (shoes) | Hair & makeup: Juliet Martin for Nixon Makeup | Bridesmaids' dresses: Chanelle Wright | Groom's attire: Eurosuit (suits) + His Apparel (ties) + TM Lewin (shirts) | Hiring: Kerry's Flowers & Decor + Wilson's Wares | DJ: Dave Ward for Top Jocks | Entertainment: Pan Latino, Kech Sanchez + Chris Jensen


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Filters: Author is Biau, E. [Clear All Filters]
Synchronization by the hand: the sight of gestures modulates low-frequency activity in brain responses to continuous speech. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 9 Abstract. 2015.
Beat gestures modulate auditory integration in speech perception. Brain and Language. 124(2):143-152. Abstract. 2013.
Beat gestures and speech processing: When prosody extends to the speaker's hands. Department of Experimental and Health Sciences. :221. Abstract. 2015.


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Antarctica 2005
We had taken two cruises on P&O whilst still at work and thought we had got cruising out of our system but just after we retired in autumn 2004 I saw an advert in a local travel agent for a cruise to Antarctica over the new year. So plans to travel the Rockies by train were abandoned and we booked to go on MV Discovery sailing from Buenos Aires on the 29th of December 2004
To Buenos Aries
Packing for this cruise was a nightmare. Our earlier cruises had started from Southampton so there were no weight restrictions then, but now of course there were, and worse was that we had to pack waterproofs and wellies for our landings on Antarctica. This is in addition to our smart, casual and formal clothes. Still we manged to pack it all in and stay under weight.
Ready to go
Its a 14 hour flight with a break in Madrid to get to Buenos Aires (BA) so you are travelling for about 18 hours all told from when you start in a taxi in Salisbury. It was only a couple of days after Christmas with all that entails and so after the flight we were a bit crumpled when we arrived in BA airport to be bussed to MS Discovery which was lying in the harbour not far from the city centre. There were two even more crumpled old guys off our plane who were wandering about looking lost whilst we waited patiently to be processed. I pointed them out to Doreen with a denigrating remark or two about the sort of people you always see on cruises turning up at the wrong place or time and generally not being 'with it'. We were to see much more of these two, but we are getting ahead of ourselves.
Editorial note: most of this was written on my psion pda as it happened and I think its unpolished nature gives it an 'edge' so by and large I haven't changed anything except that looking at this again from nearly ten years on I have decided to mellow and disguise some of my descriptions of people.
None too pleasant start
Bath Travel had organised this trip which was to be escorted and we were to be taken by taxi to Heathrow as part of the deal but first I had to get the dogs to their kennel .... on the Isle of Wight. Its a long story but we hadn't got a kennel near Salisbury that we trusted and the IoW kennel couldn't take them until today. We had packed their requisites the night before but at 7am I asked "where are their vaccination certificates?" a frantic search ensued but not a trace, so at 7.15 I left with the plan that the kennels could phone our vet and the details could be sent over. About 20 minutes down the road I remembered our vet would be closed but luckily a minute later remembered that we had taken them with us to Ireland and they would be in the MH. So back to Salisbury picked up the certificates and caught a later ferry over. As luck would have it and by dint of ignoring normal IoW speeds and an ultra fast dog hand over I made it back on the booked return trip which was doubly lucky as they had no vacancies on later ones.
So there was plenty of time to be ready for the taxi which arrived promptly at 2pm. We were near Andover when the taxi driver's phone rang. After a short consultation with us we headed back to Salisbury and picked up another passenger for the same trip. As we were now on the opposite side of Salisbury he headed up to the A303. It was jammed up as far as the eye could see so we got a nice long look at Stonehenge in the fading sun. I regaled everyone with tales of sea sickness to get that out of the way before getting on board.
As I wrote this I had no idea if we would be in time at Heathrow we were now on the M3 and it was dark.
We made it in plenty of time and were met by Bath Travel and Discovery representatives. There were 79 of us from the UK so that will offset the rest of the ship being full of Americans. We had a couple of hours of purchasing opportunities which we resisted, Dixons is still rubbish even when air-side. We took off about 30 minutes late in our 757 but will arrive in Madrid 15 minutes early, they must have lawyers doing the schedules. Transit was smooth and hassle free and we left Madrid on time.
Factoid: Spain is an hour ahead of GMT, not an hour behind as it should be geographically.
Not much room in cattle class on an Iberia A340-600 though. Not much sleep either. I am too large, Doreen not bendy enough. However with the aid of B-movies, books, the iPod and the occasional Zzzzzz we made it through the night. Dinner was served at 1am GMT, which seemed unusual but was very welcome.
Day 2 29th December Buenos Aires
It is 0500 (Argentina time) 0800 (GMT) and 0900 (Spain) and we can see the sunrise from 30,000 feet, our body clocks are synchronised with the other passengers so 'queues are forming to use the latrines' - song quote, anyone know it?
We landed on time at BA - it was raining but a balmy 21 degrees. Getting to Discovery was disjointed, two buses and lots of lists, and we Brits seemed to have thinned out a little since Heathrow or perhaps that's a result of spreading out on the ship after being cooped up on the Airbus. The ship has to take reduced number of passengers in the Southern Ocean for safety reasons so it never seemed crowded (450 instead of 650). One disappointment was that we got on board at 10.30 (local) but our cabins won't be ready for another three hours. We could both do with a freshen up and a sleep as the above photos may show.
Discovery has a problem with one engine which is going to result in slower steaming, and as a result we are sailing late tonight, not tomorrow afternoon. We are in our small twin bedded cabin, (Ricardo our steward, is sorting it out into a double by tomorrow). The ship is much smaller than the P&O cruise ships, but looks much more like a ship than a floating hotel. It's now early evening, we've unpacked, had a sleep (Doreen), tea and cakes (me) and Ricardo has changed the sleeping arrangements. We've booked our Falklands tours and walked around the ship a bit but in general we've slobbed out. We went to watch an exhibition tango dance and a band before dinner.
Guess who we are sat with for dinner? Yes the two old chaps who we saw wandering in BA airport. Disaster. They are brothers, one I'll call 'F' is 85 and clearly not with it, ex RAF, when I told him about being involved with army aircraft he started asking me about Lysanders (a WWII aircraft). The other 'G' is in his 70's, neither are very well and both leave before the end of the meal.
Well your dinner companions can make or break a cruise, we had expected to be on a table for 6 and here we were on a table for 4 with two unwell geriatrics and we had exhausted our conversation after two courses.
After dinner we went on deck as we sailed out of BA into the river Plate on a clear still night.
Factoid: One thing we found out today is that Discovery is the original 'Love Boat' from the 70's USA TV series.
Day 3 30th December River Plate and S Atlantic
Woke to a scorching hot morning, still in the river Plate. We walked a mile together before breakfast then lifeboat drill, After an introduction to all the lecturers, zodiac 'drivers', beach master and ice master (he takes over amongst the icebergs) we went to the first lecture. This was by a young Argentinean girl, Gabriella who told us a little of the history of Argentina including the Falklands war and was very good. I am ashamed to say that one British red-neck (or should that be red nose) stomped out of her lecture when she mentioned Islas Malvinas.
Factoid: In one two week period Argentina had five different presidents.
Factoid: The river plate is 500km wide at its mouth.
We have been told that the plan is to go ashore at least three times but it will all be weather dependent. It seems such a long way to go if we are unable to land due to weather so we are a little down but hey if we weren't on this ship we would have zero chance of landing.
We sun bathed for an hour and saw an albatross and a large butterfly(!) before taking a light lunch and going to a sea bird lecture. It transpired that the albatross seen earlier was in fact a pelican. We were invited by an American lady to join her quiz team, selected by accent I think, certainly not for bird spotting skills. The team consists of three Americans; Bonnie, Dell and Roger and after the first day we are currently in joint first place. We should have no trouble in getting our team up to full strength by tomorrow for the cruise long quiz championship.
Still not knowing what to do about F and G we made our excuses and didn't go to the main restaurant tonight but went instead to a different restaurant on an upper deck where we had a really excellent six course meal and watched the sun set at 20.30.
The after dinner entertainment was a showcase of the acts on board. It was a a very impressive show given the size of the ship. There was a six piece 'orchestra' who gave us big band music, two singers/dancers and five dancers, the dance tutors (Latin-American champions of Romania) who did an exhibition dance (a samba I think), a singer pianist, a three piece string group and an excellent compere who was genuinely funny. We were also introduced to some more of the staff which included five 'Gentlemen Hosts' who are here primarily to dance with unattached ladies.
It lacked the 'big name' star of the larger cruise ships but they were all very good if a little scaled down - even the costumes for the female dancers were much smaller. 'I' decided that 'we' really like this little ship.
Factoid: Missed meals today include tea and supper.
Day 4 31st December New Year's Eve, South Atlantic.
Sunny and hot but cooler than yesterday. Cocktail of the day: Mimosa
I started my day with a mile walk at about 0700 (Doreen did hers at 15.00). Breakfast was salmon and scrambled eggs, for lunch I had trout and salad. Attended three lectures which can be summarised as Penguins, Rocks and Explorers. The first two were great the last a little stodgy, but on the whole the lecturers were a cut above those we had encountered on P&O. Went to the library and to the quiz, both of us are a little sunburnt. Today there was a large grasshopper on deck we are over 100 miles from land we are out of range of email.
Factoid Correction: An American lady said that this wasn't the actual 'Love Boat' but it was used as a stunt double when the real one was unavailable, but I found a history of liners in the library that said it was. Another American lady said that at the time the series raised concerns about morality and TV standards, but she said in comparison with what is now produced it would count as high art.
We have found that seven Americans who flew in from Atlanta arrived sans baggage. You can spot them they are wearing Discovery T shirts and shorts to dinner. Apart from that many of our cousins have a funny interpretation of the published dress code. Tonight is a formal one and I have seen a tweed jacket and some designer denims getting ready to meet the captain at his cocktail party. The guy I want to see dressed up weighs at least 25 stone.
There are a few children aboard. One lad seems to be hyperactive and he is running around or eating or both every time we see him. Apart from one time yesterday when he was being sick. There is as usual food available around the clock, again we missed tea, there were some iced biscuits in our cabin earlier but they seem to have disappeared, must warn Ricardo to look out for rodents.
I spent some time with the Maitre d' reorganising the dining arrangements, moving the four of us to a larger table and having 'M' and 'P' join us. (M was the lady we went back for in Salisbury.) That meant we didn't have to be too rude to F and G and just leave them. This worked well and there was even talk of the brothers going off to a party in one of the lady's cabins.
So all togged up and looking a little lobster-like after the sun we went to the cocktail party, gala dinner and new year's eve party. At midnight I kissed more Americans than Doreen thinks is strictly good for me. We had a great time, we had intended to stay up to 4am ships time to see the new year in, in Calgary, but by 2am it was mostly just drunken little huddles apart from the nightclub which was full of crew, and us.
Day 5 1st January New Year's Day, South Atlantic.
Again cooler but still strong sun wind now force 5-6 Sea state 'Moderate'.
I don't know why but I didn't write anything else for today(!), so I will use the space to describe some of our fellow passengers. I heard someone mention their 'Wince List' Some of these (not necessarily on our table) would have figured on every ones wince list.
M: she is S African probably in her 70's, very lively, has been accused of not having heard of old age but has a very unfortunate attitude to the waiters and other crew members who we meet.
P: travelling 1st class is rather large and takes rather a long time to say anything and its seldom interesting.
F: 85, wasn't well at the beginning but picked up and although a little diffident has a GSOH
G: as his brother improved he went downhill. Often seen at bar with LiR (see below). He said to me that he could get lost in a paper bag. Later proved it.
Obnoxious Texan (OT): Loud, been everywhere, done everything asks questions to demonstrate own knowledge takes flash photos during lectures and shows. All the time on his own - we think that is proof that Darwin was right.
Lady in Red (LiR): Youngish American with a very old liver. Got publicly banned from alcohol on the ship. Embarrassment personified.
Lamb Chop (LC): see day 14, also fell over in Tango restaurant, shame.
R and J: Nice couple from Hampshire we swapped Christmas cards for a while still send emails.
H: Bath travel director reserved but a very nice chap and very efficient really added to our enjoyment
Sourpuss: knows H, her expression could curdle milk.
B: lawyer, Nurse, Colonel in reserve, she doesn't cope with our accent well, or bother to listen much but otherwise great to know.
D: quiet (although she hinted at an earlier wild life) tall and pretty, one of our favourite Americans.
D and F: (and their parents) from Tasmania great fun and the only pair guaranteed to be still partying after us.
M: a baby, what we thought was sweet was, every time that her parents went in a zodiac there was the dance instructor with open arms to take M from her perents and deliver her up afterwards all without any protest from M.
J: a Canadian who joined our quiz team and single handed brought us low. He had the knack of sowing the seeds of doubt into all of our answers.
Day 6 2nd January The Falklands.
Awoke to find us amongst the Falkland Islands.
Slight cloud and distinctly chilly at 6am.
By the time we disembarked from the tender on West Point Island it was hot and most people stripped off a few layers before walking the mile or so to the Rockhopper penguin and Black-browed albatross rookeries. En-route we saw several of the in our opinion miss-named long-tailed Meadow Larks - why? Well they have a prominent crimson breast and a modest tail. We also saw the Cara Cara bird named for its call but looking like a cross between a hawk and a chicken. Cara Cara eat penguin chicks. Boo. We picked our way carefully down amongst the waist high tussocks and got as close as we were allowed to the birds (a few dozen feet in some cases).
It was a glorious morning, true we had some heavy showers but it was not unlike a British summer's day. On our way back we, along with most others, made our way to a small farmhouse where tea and home made cakes were served to everyone in shifts. Now we have a friend with family in West Falkland so the small world tale would have been if we had met up with them there, but it was not to be, the people doing the washing up knew them and offered to ring them, we didn't bother but to show appreciation dried up twenty or so sets of cups saucers and plates while we talked.
When we returned to the quay F&G arrived on the tender but got back on and came back to the ship because it looked like rain. They 'hadn't realised they could go ashore' until they noticed the ship was strangely empty. Bless.
Day 7 3rd January Stanley.
Sunny and very hot
Went ashore at Stanley before nine and on to a bus tour of Stanley with Marilyn as our guide. Although Scottish she had come to the Falklands in 1984 from Yorkshire she gave insights and comparisons that a a more established islander might not have. She was of course not there for the conflict but showed us beaches that were still mined.
Factoid: Civilian population of the Falklands is 2,900 all but 500 in Stanley. Military population around 1700.
We then wrote postcards in the Upland Goose Inn over a coffee, bought a souvenir or two and walked in the sunshine.
At noon we went on a tour of the nearby battlefields which was advertised as strenuous .... getting in and out of the bus was the most difficult bit. We went to Fitzroy (not Bluff Cove as often miss-reported) where the Royal Fleet Auxiliaries Sir Galahad and Tristram were bombed and Sir Galahad sunk, and stood for a while at the memorials to the Welsh Guards and RFA crew who died there. Unfortunately the OT is on this tour and sat not far away on the bus. He kept telling all who could do nothing else but listen, how the US would have fought all the battles differently and of course better.
Later we sailed away past Cape Pembroke Lighthouse and headed on South towards Antarctica and our big adventure. The trio did a brilliant before dinner concert marred only by the LiR trying to fondle the bass player.
Day 8 4th January Drake's Passage.
Foggy and Damp
For the first time for ages the Albatrosses storm Petrels etc that are normally at our stern weren't there. We were in Drake's passage and although there was a slight swell it was remarkably calm for this stormy area. We attended our mandatory safety and environmental briefings for our zodiac landings. We have to sign up to part of the Antarctic Treaty before being allowed to land. Some of the questions our cousins asked . "Will there be a sign saying Antarctica that we can get photographed next to", and this after being told that we shouldn't take anything with us apart from cameras and allowing for the fact that onshore trips were limited to about 45 minutes "can we take bottled water". B said to me afterwards do you know what is really sad about this, only the most intelligent 5% of my fellow countrymen take trips like this.
At about 11am we crossed the 'convergence' in the space of a mile or so the water temperature dropped by 5 or 6 degrees, you can almost see a line in the water, the colour changes too. Half an hour later I was on deck looking forward when a whale surfaced blowing about 200 metres away, it shallow dived and surfaced several more times as we overtook it and left it behind. It was probably a humpback but it was difficult to be sure, it did not break surface with its fluke as it dived. I did get one very fuzzy photo of a blow.
All through the day the fog and rain persisted though sometimes the visibility improved to a couple of miles. Gradually the swell increased as did the ship's roll. I found out later that the master did not deploy the stabilisers on the trip. They would have slowed us down by a couple of knots and with the reduced power from one engine this would have made our time shorter in Antarctica. Many people have now taken seasickness precautions, most Americans have patches stuck on behind their ears, others including Doreen are wearing wrist straps, I am drinking the cut price cocktail of the day. Its nowhere near as bad as the Scillonian going to the Scillies. The sick bags were on show in corridors by 6pm. We went to the cocktail making demonstration, bar staff demonstrated how to make them we demonstrated how to drink them.
Our quiz performance has deteriorated. We have gone from joint first to equal second to third, but we did beat the on-board entertainers today and heard the best answer to "who lived at Osborne House on the IoW" the answer from our Tasmanian friends was "Frank and Doreen".
Did a bit of dancing after dinner, my dancing skills improve as the ship rolls more, by midnight there were only a few other passengers around.
Day 9 5th January South Shetlands
Foggy only a few hundred yards visibility and ship still rolling. Cold.
Near the South Shetlands saw several whales, porpoising penguins etc. We had 30 mins of wonderful visibility seeing mountains and glaciers then a blizzard struck and we more or less stopped where we were for a couple of hours. At least one large snowman and snowball was made. We were unable to enter the culdera (a partially submerged volcano crater) at Deception Island because of the blizzard, so a plan was announced to sail East and through the Antarctic Sound to the Weddell sea and land at an Adelie penguin colony.
Then we came across two large tabular icebergs which we circled.
We were talking to R and J in the explorer bar when J pointed to a large blow nearby, we then saw the humped back and tail fluke signifying a deep dive. It was certainly a humpback (strength of blow, position of dorsal fin and display of fluke. No one had a camera!
Day 10 6th January Weddell Sea
Brilliant sunshine cold wind. Doreen has a slight cold.
Woke up off Paulet Island in the Weddell Sea, unfortunately after deploying the zodiacs the wind was found to be too strong and the landing plans were abandoned. Instead we had a fantastic cruise through small icebergs and 'bergy bits' in strong sunshine with over 40 knot katabatic winds. Katabatic winds are those formed by the temperature difference between the mountains to that at sea level with gravity pulling the heavier cold air down to the sea. I had my sunglasses blown off my face. A pod of seven or eight Minkes broke surface near the ship blowing and diving repeatedly very near the ship We saw lots of penguins some porpoising others resting on bergy bits. All this before 9.30am.
After looking at Hope bay where another cruise ship had just abandoned landing operations (70 knot winds) we went on towards an Argentinean base where we were told we couldn't land because they were about to start their yearly personnel exchange.
Its now 11am and a decision has been made to stop engines and drift with the small icebergs. We will board zodiacs for a close encounter with them. We are split into 4 groups, we (red group) went first to West Point Island so we are rostered last today. We dress up in our warm weather clothing and wellies and sit around getting some rays. If like me, your feet are big and your wellies agricultural, they will have consumed quite a bit of your aircraft weight allowance. I'm going to leave mine on the ship to make room for souvenirs on the way back. Some of the less able people are having difficulties with getting in and out of the zodiacs. Just before we are called an 80 year old woman fell into the sea she was plucked out immediately and has suffered no ill effects. (She got a cheer at dinner). At about 3pm we went to a nearby iceberg that had a hollow centre, without mishap and in full sunshine. There is no colour problem with these picture, old ice, because of the pressures it has been subjected to, looks blue. When small pieces of broken off ice is taken out of the water, it goes snap crackle and pop as the deeply pressurised air bubbles are liberated. We could hear it over the sound of our idling outboard.
In the evening we had a parka party on an open deck, fancy dress optional, most settled on a penguin theme. Lots of Brits and Aussies dressed up, most Americans didn't. Those that bothered, and we had no forewarning, so the costumes were very improvised, won prizes. The simplest thing was to wear your parka inside out then it looked like mess dress for a colourful regiment. There is no limit to what you can do by stealing your own bed sheets. I got fed up explaining my FCEK Irish connection T shirt to Americans but one grinning Aussie wanted to buy the T shirt off my back!
Before bed at around midnight we saw lots of penguins near the boat and a single humpback doing lots of dives
Day 11 7th Paradise Island and LeMaire Channel
Dull and Over cast 5 degrees C brightened up through the day but odd bits of snow.
Its 7.30 we are at Waterboat Point (Paradise Harbour) and the Zodiacs are being deployed, we are in the third group to go ashore . Going ashore is limited to no more than 100 people at a time and this is strictly controlled by the beach master. Also as you leave the ship your wellingtons are scrubbed and the same occurs as you land. This is all part of the deal with being allowed on to land in Antarctica. There are other restrictions; you mustn't walk right up to the penguins for instance, but if you stay still and quiet they will come right up to you - they don't have to sign up to the rules. It is a Chilean research station they all seem to be military personnel, but its just a few guys in a large wooden hut surrounded by penguin guano which is a light pinky/purple colour by the way, all that krill.
A fabulous morning. Gentoo penguins, an elephant seal, sheath bills plus an odd chinstrap, skua etc and the fin of an orca circling in the bay. Took short videos of Gentoos. We took the advice of the briefing and wandered away from the pack and sat on a rock. One Gentoo snuck right up on us whilst we were taking a picture of another.
It was only 45 minutes but wow. Getting back to the ship entailed waiting for wellingtons to be scrubbed again (all that penguin poo) and as we waited a crabeater seal floated by on a piece of ice, had he been eating crabs or was that penguin blood round his mouth?
Photo by R&J
It was the above photo that convinced me to get a better camera. Tea was a traditional chocoholics one, a feature of many cruises.
We steamed towards the LeMaire channel but it was iced up so turned back. Discovery is not ice hardened, after all she started out as a Caribbean cruise ship, so she's ok pushing through small bergy bits but gives a wide berth to anything more threatening. As we turned we saw a pod of Orcas, seven crabeater seals on a flow and a humpback diving in really good visibility. Generally a whale every half hour or so and people aren't bothering to get their cameras anymore. In fact if the cry 'Whale' goes up I'm inclined to shout 'what sort', I'm not getting up unless its at least a Blue.
Again a great before dinner concert by the trio and an excellent dinner but it was revealed that none of the rest on our table had gone ashore. G said he might have but thought he had to book and pay extra. Fancy coming half way around the world just to stay on the ship.
Day 12 8th January Half Moon and Deception Islands
Today will be our last day in Antarctica and its bright and a little warmer Doreen's cold under control.
Anchored in the bay at Half Moon island as I was on my mile walk at 6am, first group ashore was at 7am, we went at about 8.30. We saw Chinstrap penguins and Kelp gulls. The Chinstraps are nesting on the bare rock with little pebble nests and they are just out of pecking range from each other. Unfortunately this doesn't help any penguin traversing the area as they get pecked at from all sides. At one point I joined one of the science lecturers who was staring at a small patch of a moss like plant. She said she was guarding it as it was probably very old and scarce certainly all the rest of the rock around was bare. It was probably buried by snow and ice for ten months of the year and only survived by being on the edge of the penguin colony away from the sea and their normal routes. That way it got some fertiliser but didn't get worn away.
All to soon we were on our way with the zodiacs being loaded into the hold now more excursions being planned we had one more place to go however and this was Deception Island that we missed on the way in due to the blizzard. We went through the narrow entrance known as Neptune's bellows and into what remains of the volcano. It is still alive the last activity being in 1970. We saw Weddell seals and loads of penguins after sailing in a slow circle we made are way back through the bellows and set sail for Ushuaia at 3pm. Hit swells within the hour.
That afternoon was our worst quiz performance 8/20.
The Team
This was the night of the Captains Gala dinner - cocktail of the day was whisky sour I had quite a few of them before switching to single malts got to bed after 1am.
It was only three days in Antarctica but after a dodgy start we did our three zodiac trips and saw all we had expected to see.
Day 13 9th January Drake's Passage
In the middle of Drake's Passage by 7am I am a little hung over
Sea state is now rough but what is worse is the swell, by evening we had been pitching fore and aft with a twenty second period more or less constantly for ten hours. Eventually we both took seasickness tablets. Really worst quiz performance 7/20 and ended up 4th overall.
Having dinner in the yacht club as guests of some of our American friends. If you think I have been a bit hard on some of the Americans on this ship you should have heard what they had to say about the majority of them. By now we know people well enough for them to share the little scandals and ship board gossip. For example (and only if you promise not to tell a soul) one of couples we have met and who we thought perhaps were having a shipboard romance, it turns out they already knew each other from previous cruises and they take it in turns to book a cruise each year, that is the only time they meet and at least one of them is married, liaisons dangereus.
That night they took away our main baggage
Day 14 10th January Ushuaia and Buenos Aires.
Well arriving on the mainland of South America was the end of our Antarctic trip but our return was not without incident so read on if you want to see what happened next.
Early next morning we sailed up the Beagle channel to Ushuaia which is arguably the most southern city in the World to get our connecting flight to BA. We preboarded our aircraft whilst still on board Discovery and we had to get our boarding passes from the Carosel lounge needless to say we met F & G going in the wrong direction. They didn't know where the lounge was. Given that it was the largest indoor open space on the ship where all the lectures and all the entertainment took place, and where you mustered for going ashore this took them to a new level of ignorance. After we got our cards we had a few hours to spare on shore before lunch then leaving for the airport. We noticed several people taking food for the journey, after all there was a grave danger of missing a meal! This included one guy pocketing several lamb chops!
We passed by the Irish Bar which by extension must be the most southern one of those and spent some time in a museum before returning to the ship
As we got back we bumped into Belinda our lovely wine waitress. We had made a point of being especially nice to her, partly because our dining partners were so rude to all 'the servants' I think we did rather better on the complementry wine as a result. The owners/management have been meeting on board and some of the staff have had their contracts terminated but only the senior staff have been told as yet so the crew are wandering about not knowing if they are being paid off or returning to Antarctica tomorrow.
The flight to BA was uneventful and we arrived for a 30hr stop over in the capital. We were given rooms for the night in the Plaza Hotel in the centre and after a brief walk about looking at the Christmas bedecked shops went to sleep in spacious luxury.
Day 15 11th January Buenos Aires.
At some time, after we checked out of rooms and gathered in a day room which was allocated to our group, we were told that the airline had cancelled our original flight and rescheduled us for the next night. Good, another 24 hours here. Not that everyone was as pleased as us. I can't remember if we got our original rooms back but we got a room eventually. We were booked on a free coach trip anyway that day which gave us some of the cities highlights including the Duarte mausoleum where Eva Peron is buried. (By the way she may not be there any more, they keep moving her body after legal disputes). Maradonna's football club, and The Casa Rosa (where 'Don't Cry for me Argentina' is sung in the show and film). Later that evening we went to a Tango show.
Day 16 12th January Buenos Aries and flight home.
We spent the day walking around BA we visited the world famous Tortoni art nouveau cafe. Did a little shopping and then got on one of the buses to the airport. We bought our souvenir a cuddly penguin from the boat. Doreen however managed to buy a pair of leather boots well when in Argentina...
One of the little wrinkles with our rescheduled flight home was that from Madrid the group would be split up. We would be travelling in several different aircraft. H had a busy time getting people sorted on to the best flights for their personal circumstances. All we had to do was board the bus identify our luggage at BA airport take it through security and everything else would be managed for us. We were on the last bus, when we got out and got our luggage there was a woman in tears because there was no sign of her luggage. It turned out that someone on an earlier bus had collected her suitcase and taken it through security leaving their case behind. We met up with the fool in the departure lounge luckily he was going to London as well but on an earlier aircraft. Out of the goodness of her heart she checked in his luggage. When she met up with him in the departure lounge he was unrepentant and made some off hand remark about it throwing them together, she was not amused. A lady from our group volunteered to collect the suitcase in the baggage hall at Heathrow and wait for her to arrive. The bags were not similar at all. The bloke had been trying to attach himself to the unaccompanied females of our group on the cruise and some wondered whether he had done it on purpose.
Bath travel had coped with our rescheduled arrival and our taxi was there to whisk us back to Salisbury. Oh and why did Iberia cancel our flight it was so they could cram us all in one Jumbo rather than two smaller airbuses and I have to tell you crammed was the word, Doreen is 5ft tall and her knees were touching the seat in front.
Photo Gallery: Antarctica 2004/5
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Selective Licensing Will Create Ghettos
Back in February 2011 I wrote about this scheme in Oxford where the local council was making HMO licensing (hose of multiple occupation) mandatory for landlords and charging big fees for non compliance. You can read that post here
Now, just a few months on, and many councils around the UK plan to regulate HMO's in a similar fashion. The scheme to be rolled out is called Selective Licensing. In Manchester this has already caused an uproar from local landlords and the NLA ( National Landlord Association) have issued a protest against the scheme. Not only that, but the CML -Council Of Mortgage Lenders- agree with them.
Dropping Values
Landlords may find that their properties will go down in value as the scheme seeks to force landlords to license selected types of rental only, which many believe will create urban ghettos. And, I have to say, that after reading the reports, I would have to agree. Big fines will be levied for non compliance of the scheme, which brings me to the crux of the matter. It is estimated that fees will raise about £2m for the local council in Manchester.
So is it little more than a money making scheme then?
As a responsible landlord, if you pay the fees, and at some point in the future the scheme the scheme fails or is withdrawn, are they likely to refund your fees? Somehow I doubt it. As with many such schemes, councils show a staggering lack of knowledge about the area for which they set legislation. They see landlords as a source of untapped funds and go for the money angle without thinking through the entire problem from start to finish as a joined up idea.
Whilst many of these schemes are well intentioned, in most cases the poorly thought out nature of them will often make a bad situation much worse.Non compliance of the existing schemes has already led to 34 pending cases for consideration and a further 160 under investigation.
Bad Landlords Will Ignore Selective Licensing
The problem with these schemes is that they seek to regulate bad landlords for not keeping their houses in good repair etc. But are the bad landlords really going to bother complying with fines and fees? Pretty unlikely. All this does is make the good landlords pay up ( again) whilst the shoddy ones still go about their business in the same old fashion.
Mortgage providers do not like lending on properties in bad areas, because, they are concerned with the risk for the investment. Creating ghetto areas will devalue property hence making a bigger risk factor. Banks are less likely to lend in that area, which will further exacerbate the problem by driving the area down even further. Banks will refuse to take a risk on something that is likely to loose value.
RLA director Chris Town says:
"selective licensing officially identifies an area where there is low demand for property, usually with problem families and a history of anti-social behaviour, where nobody wants to live. No control is proposed for other types of occupier in mixed residential areas – such as tenants of housing associations, social housing, third party housing or owner-occupiers. So to single out private landlords shows grossly unfair double standards."
If you would like to join the protest about these schemes you can do so via Facebook and Twitter via the NLA. Other areas are not immune, the scheme is planned in Oxford, Milton Keynes, Manchester, Leeds, York and Newcastle and Portsmouth- so far. Councillors and senior officials within the scheme have already admitted that it has "so far had little impact against exploitative landlords."
During the last government, hardly any social housing stock was created and in Manchester for nearly 20 years. Last November was the first announcement of new social house building in West Gorton. 171 new houses were announced. This is the root of the problem, not bad landlords, who actually number so few.


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Fundamental analysis is used as an aid to successful investing and is a process of analysing the financial statements of a business (Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss, Cash-flow Statement), as well as creating ratios of some of the figures, to determine the financial health and assess the management of the business before making an investment by comparing the results with other businesses.
Fundamental analysis is the examination of the underlying forces that affect the well-being of the economy, industry groups, and companies. The goal is to forecast future price movements. It can also include looking at the industry level, by examination of supply and demand forces for the products offered. And it is good to also look at the national economy – economic data to assess the present and future growth of the economy. To forecast future stock prices, fundamental analysis combines these 3 – economic, industry, and company analysis to derive a stock's current fair value and forecast future value. If fair value is not equal to the current stock price, as it is in most cases, fundamental analysts will say that the stock is either over or under valued and the market price is expected ideally to move towards fair value.
Fundamental analysis attempts to determine the value of a company by analysing the financial data from the annual report and using other qualitative data about the company and the environment in which they operate. This value is often called 'intrinsic value'.
Fundamental analysis assumes that over the long term, a stock price will reflect the company's intrinsic value.
Definition – A sound fundamental definition comes from Investopedia. They define fundamental analysis as:
A method of evaluating a security that entails attempting to measure its intrinsic value by examining related economic, financial and other qualitative and quantitative factors. Fundamental analysts attempt to study everything that can affect the security's value, including macroeconomic factors (like the overall economy and industry conditions) and company-specific factors (like financial condition and management).
For further reading and an online video from Investopedia go to the fundamental analysis page. (from Australian Investors Association)
The Quantitative factors that are those capable of being measured or expressed in numerical terms, measures such as:
- Revenue and growth of Revenue from year to year
- Earning / Profit
- Assets
- Debts
These financial measures are commonly combined to produce fundamental or financial ratios that analysts can use to compare the company they are analysing to:
- Prior trading period results
- other companies in the same industry
- the overall market
Well-known Ratios include:
- Debt to Equity(DE)
- Return on Capital (ROC)
- Return on equity (ROE)
- Dividend yield
- Price to earnings ratio (PE)
The Qualitative factors are those that are not in numbers – more like assessments and opinions/evaluations. So they can be subjective, and may include:
- Management performance and experience
- Competitive advantage
- Business model
- Banding strength
Some of the Pros of fundamental analysis – can be objective (the quantitative parts), have a long-term focus, provide a guide/value
Some of the Cons include being subjective to our biases, the time involved to prepare/study, that market sentiment doesn't always follow our own reasoning, our assumptions, data looks back so future can easily change the outcome.
To re-cap – Fundamental analysis is used as an aid to successful investing and is a process of analysing the financial statements of a business (Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss, Cash-flow Statement), as well as creating ratios of some of the figures, to determine the financial health and assess the management of the business before making an investment
Want to learn the core issues of share investing? Our workshop "Navigate to Successful Share Investing" gives a 2.5 hour practical session to learn to easily understand Company Financial Statements, how to find healthy companies, what tools and ratios to use, work on examples, and also includes how to get better investment outcomes. Other Bonuses as well. Check the next one see Share WORKSHOP or call 0407 361 596


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How to Staff the Product Owner Role
by Deacon D.K. Wan | March 26, 2018 | Submit a Comment
The Product Owner is the sole person responsible for managing the Product Backlog, and maximizing the value of the product resulting from work of the Development Team. As agile delivery methods become mainstream and more organizations move to the product delivery model, the role of product owner is becoming increasingly important — but also harder to fill.
How to Staff the Product Owner Role
Analyst(s): David Norton | Deacon D.K Wan
Product Owners Must Care About the Full Application Life Cycle
Product owner is a high-profile role that requires a variety of "soft" skills and demonstrable business experience. Application leaders responsible for agile product delivery must therefore select product owners carefully to maximize business value and achieve desired outcomes.
Learn how to
- Ensure Product Owners Know Their Duties and Relationships and Communicate These to Other Stakeholders
- Expect Product Owners to Become Customer Champions and Entrepreneurs
- Require Product Owners to Care About the Entire Application Life Cycle
- Ensure Product Owners and All Stakeholders Understand Each Other
- Require Product Owners to Empathize With Customers and Show Entrepreneurship
- Match Product Owners to the Products They Will Deliver
Additional Resources
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Gartner's research helps you cut through the complexity and deliver the knowledge you need to make the right decisions quickly, and with confidence.Read Free Gartner Research
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text: Luca De Felice has achieved ESCP Europe Executive Master in Business Administration Diploma. ESCP Europe Executive MBA consists in a 18 months programme: 520 class hours and about 900 hours of individual and group preparation. This EMBA is ranked 15th in the World according to the "Financial Times EMBA Ranking 2010" and 1st in the World for Career Progress.


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The following is used with permission from taxfoundation.org
As vapor products have proliferated, debates over their public health implications have played out across the media and in health journals. Policymakers and citizens have expressed concern that electronic cigarettes may serve as a gateway to traditional tobacco products, particularly among minors.
Conversely, other health professionals and policymakers view vapor products as a viable smoking cessation method for some smokers, contributing to improvements in public health. A number of studies suggest that vapor products can play a significant role in harm reduction by reducing consumption of traditional cigarettes.
What can be stated with certainty is that vapor products differ sharply from traditional incinerated cigarettes in their construction, use, and health risks.
Traditional Cigarettes vs. Vapor Products: Health Risks
The adverse health effects of traditional incinerated cigarettes are well documented. Medical research stretching back at least to the 1960s has linked smoking to lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, and other health problems.
In 1968, the tobacco scientist R.L. Stedman listed 1,200 tobacco and smoke components; by 2009, Alan Rodgman and Thomas Perfetti had identified as many as 8,400, including carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, and ammonia. Some researchers have estimated that there are more than 100,000 chemicals in traditional incinerated cigarette smoke. Growing public awareness of the health implications of smoking contributed to a 50 percent drop in adult current smokers between 1965 and 2011.
Vapor products are generally found to have far fewer harmful chemicals in their composition. Two recent major literature review studies assess concerns about the risk profile of vapor products. The first, published in 2011, is by Zachary Cahn, a professor in the Department of Political Science at UC Berkeley, and Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor at the Boston University School of Public Health.
Their central finding is that "electronic cigarettes show tremendous promise in the fight against tobacco-related morbidity and mortality. By dramatically expanding the potential for harm reduction strategies to achieve substantial health gains, they may fundamentally alter the tobacco harm reduction debate."
Their review additionally addresses specific chemical concerns as well, with these appearing to be modest in comparison to chemicals in incinerated tobacco. Cahn and Siegel note "Other than TSNAs [tobacco-specific nitrosamines] and DEG [diethylene glycol], few, if any, chemicals at levels detected in electronic cigarettes raise serious health concerns." They caution that, in an absolute sense, e-cigarettes are not completely risk free, but they are a much better choice than traditional cigarettes.
Another major literature review was published in 2014 by Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos, a cardiologist and researcher at Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center in Athens, Greece, and Dr. Riccardo Polosa, Director of the Institute for Internal Medicine and Clinical Immunology of the University of Catania in Italy. Their paper reviews 97 studies that examined vapor products. Their overall findings were similar to Cahn and Seigel; that "some residual risk associated with [vapor] use may be present, but this is probably trivial compared with the devastating consequences of smoking."
According to Farsalinos and Polosa, "the vast majority of the >4000 chemicals present in tobacco smoke are completely absent from [vapor]."
Some have suggested that the levels of tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) in vapor products should be cause for concern. However, one study out of New Zealand finds that the levels of TSNAs in a particular brand of vapor cartridge "are 1200 times less than in the tobacco of 20 manufactured cigarettes".
Another independent review of an FDA report on the chemical components of vapor found that the amount of TSNAs reported was below the limits of quantification. In essence, the FDA and other researchers could not find anything more than trace amounts of TSNAs in e-cigarette vapor.
Vapor products have the potential to be a boon to public health by acting as a less risky alternative to traditional incinerated cigarettes. A recent article in the British Journal of General Practice found that for every million smokers who switched to vapor, 6,000 deaths could be prevented each year in the United Kingdom. Similar gains could be made in the United States, with 4.8 million deaths being prevented over 20 years using vapor products as a major part of a tobacco harm reduction plan.
A recent study out of Italy followed 300 smokers who were not intending to quit over a 12-month period as they switched to using e-cigarettes. By the end of the study, 8.7 percent of the participants ended up quitting smoking entirely, and 10.3 percent had reduced how much they smoked.
These and other findings have prompted the UK government to issue research conclusions around them. In August of 2015, Public Health England, housed in the British Department of Health, released a study finding that vapor products are 95 percent less harmful than cigarettes and should be promoted as a tobacco-cessation method.
While health research is promising, the vapor category is still new, and there have been some growing pains around how the federal government treats the products. In 2014, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its plan to extend regulatory authority to vapor products. The agency has had authority over traditional cigarette, roll-your-own tobacco, and smokeless tobacco for the last six years, and will extend its authority to vapor products after these plans have been finalized.
States have been less slow to act on vapor products, as a number of states have proposed or enacted taxes on vapor products. In the 2015 legislative session, at least 25 states and the District of Columbia considered legislation to tax vapor products, either as part of a budget proposal or as a stand-alone bill. Ultimately, Louisiana, Kansas, and the District of Columbia enacted such legislation, bringing the total number of states taxing vapor products to five. Additionally, Montgomery County, Maryland, and Cook County and the City of Chicago in Illinois enacted vapor taxes in 2015.
Minnesota and North Carolina began taxing vapor products in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Each of these enacted levies varies in structure and were put in place under different circumstances.
Minnesota was the first state to begin taxing vapor products. On October 22, 2012, the state's Department of Revenue issued a revenue notice stating that electronic cigarettes, as a "product containing, made, or derived from tobacco" and intended for consumption, fell under the definition of "other tobacco products," a tax category that in many states includes pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, and snuff. As a result, they are now taxed at the rate of 95 percent of their wholesale price. In addition to being the first state to tax vapor products, Minnesota remains the only state to do so administratively rather than legislatively.
North Carolina, the second state to tax vapor products, took a different approach. In 2014, the state legislature enacted legislation taxing vapor products at a rate of 5 cents per milliliter of nicotine fluid.
In the 2015 session, Kansas and Louisiana followed suit, adopting variations on the North Carolina approach of taxing by volume. Both states were prompted to impose vapor taxes to help close budget shortfalls; Kansas faced a deficit of nearly $600 million, while Louisiana stared down a $1.6 billion shortfall. Kansas passed the highest tax rate on e-liquid, taxing it at $0.20 per milliliter.
One of the principles of sound tax policy is neutrality, the idea that taxes should have equity across different activities so as not to favor one type of business or personal decision over another. Put another way, taxes are designed to raise revenue for government services, not micromanage choices.
In a strict application of this principle, all consumer products would be subject to a broad based consumption tax like a retail sales tax, and additional levies on tobacco, alcohol, and other "sins" have no place.
Some economists make exceptions for special circumstances where they can demonstrate a quantifiable negative externality, or side effect, of the use of a specific product. In the case of traditional incinerated cigarettes, these externalities are largely in the form of the social costs associated with the adverse health effects of smoking.
Frequent smokers tend to develop serious health problems, including lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and heart disease. Ultimately, many of the economic costs of these health problems are socialized through government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.
Tobacco taxes are sometimes justified by economists on these grounds, with cigarette taxes envisioned as a way to not only disincentivize smoking but also to help fund smoking prevention and public health programs. The theory goes that applying a tax to a product of exactly the same size as the externality would help users "internalize" the external costs of smoking.
Electronic cigarettes, with their lower risk profile, are likely to have less external costs associated with their use. Further, to the extent that smoking cessation is a stipulated goal of tobacco taxation, exposing vapor products, which many see as a promising cessation method, to such hefty tax rates as traditional tobacco would be counterproductive.
Entirely separate from externality theory, some would suggest that whatever the tax on traditional tobacco, the most important thing is that taxes on less risky activities are lower, so that users are incentivized, or "nudged," to make a switch to the less risky activity.
In practice, beyond efforts to internalize the costs of smoking or to shape risky decision making, cigarette taxes are frequently relied on as a politically expedient means of funding for unrelated programs. It is instructive to note that even money derived from tobacco settlements has rarely gone directly to smoking prevention.
Levying taxes on discrete products for general revenue purposes, rather than to deter use or cover specific costs associated with a product or its use, is poor tax policy because it does not conform to any of the aforementioned arguments for excise taxes. As noted tax policy commentator and George Washington University Law Professor David Brunori argues,
Education is a public good. It should be paid for with broad-based, generally applicable taxes. Schools should be important enough to be paid for with real taxes on income, sales, and property. Why foist the cost onto a minority — and given the demographics of those who smoke, a poor minority?
Vapor products are sufficiently new that states are just beginning to grapple with questions of if, and how, to tax them. Their apparent similarity to traditional cigarettes, despite significant areas of divergence, has complicated this debate.
But vapor products and traditional cigarettes work and are measured in fundamentally different ways, and as a result should not be taxed in the same way. Additionally, research demonstrates that vapor products are significantly less harmful than traditional cigarettes, and have potential to serve as a means of tobacco harm reduction.
A sound approach to the taxation of vapor products would avoid discriminating between disposable and rechargeable vapor products; it would avoid extending punitive tax rates from traditional cigarettes to vapor products, and would not hinder consumer opportunities for the use of vapor products as a method of smoking cessation.
Source: taxfoundation.org


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For Infernal Use Only: coverage on our oppositional actions at this weekend's ISSTD quack conference in Chicago
The Satanic Temple's Grey Faction campaign protested the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation anti-Satanist, delusion-mongering conference. More coverage to come:
"Protesters symbolically demonstrated the dysfunctional and harmful relationship between ISSTD therapists and their patients. The mission of the demonstration is to expose the ISSTD organization and instigators of pseudoscientific practices that have been directly connected to the harm of their patients. Today's protest action is intended to draw awareness to the issues surrounding pseudoscience Recovered Memory Therapy, Dissociative Identity Disorder, and the hazards of an insular therapeutic community self-policing against harmful practices against their own economic interests …"


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Whether fear itself can be feared?
Objection 1: It would seem that fear cannot be feared. For whatever is feared, is prevented from being lost, through fear thereof: thus a man who fears to lose his health, keeps it, through fearing its loss. If therefore a man be afraid of fear, he will keep himself from fear by being afraid: which seems absurd.
Objection 2: Further, fear is a kind of flight. But nothing flies from itself. Therefore fear cannot be the object of fear.
Objection 3: Further, fear is about the future. But fear is present to him that fears. Therefore it cannot be the object of his fear.
On the contrary, A man can love his own love, and can grieve at his own sorrow. Therefore, in like manner, he can fear his own fear.
I answer that, As stated above (A[3]), nothing can be an object of fear, save what is due to an extrinsic cause; but not that which ensues from our own will. Now fear partly arises from an extrinsic cause, and is partly subject to the will. It is due to an extrinsic cause, in so far as it is a passion resulting from the imagination of an imminent evil. In this sense it is possible for fear to be the object of fear, i.e. a man may fear lest he should be threatened by the necessity of fearing, through being assailed by some great evil. It is subject to the will, in so far as the lower appetite obeys reason; wherefore man is able to drive fear away. In this sense fear cannot be the object of fear, as Augustine says (QQ. 83, qu. 33). Lest, however, anyone make use of his arguments, in order to prove that fear cannot be at all be the object of fear, we must add a solution to the same.
Reply to Objection 1: Not every fear is identically the same; there are various fears according to the various objects of fear. Nothing, then, prevents a man from keeping himself from fearing one thing, by fearing another, so that the fear which he has preserves him from the fear which he has not.
Reply to Objection 2: Since fear of an imminent evil is not identical with the fear of the fear of imminent evil; it does not follow that a thing flies from itself, or that it is the same flight in both cases.
Reply to Objection 3: On account of the various kinds of fear already alluded to (ad 2) a man's present fear may have a future fear for its object.
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- Home
- Diagnostics
- NGS Panel Genomic
The Diagnostic Accuracy of Whole Genome Sequencing in an NGS Panel
The NGS Panel Genomic are Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) panels based on whole genome sequencing (WGS). The specific gene panels are chosen in the same way as the panels covered by a traditional, enrichment-based NGS product, using available scientific and medical evidence to select the panel containing the relevant genes/variants of clinical utility and validity.
The panels allow you to use your strong diagnostic hypothesis to reduce the cost relative to a straight WGS, while still benefitting from the power and upside of whole genome testing. WGS provides information on the entire genome for both coding and non-coding regions, while also providing additional information on mutations in regulatory regions and copy number variations (CNVs) with higher certainty compared with microarrays and whole exome sequencing (WES). WGS thus captures the broadest scope of genetic alterations causing a disease in one assay: single nucleotide variants (SNVs), small insertions and deletions (InDels), structural variants (SVs), including CNVs – providing the most comprehensive variant analysis in one genetic test.
NGS Panel Genomic are best suited for the confirmation of your clinical hypotheses when multiple clinical features do not fit a specific clinical diagnosis, but fall within the spectrum of well-established Mendelian conditions. Since they are based on WGS, which cover the complete genome, the NGS Panel Genomic can be quickly and cost effectively reflexed to WGS evaluation based on the original DNA sample and data with no resequencing needed. This reflex workflow decreases the time to results compared to sequential test ordering and consequently allows shortening the diagnostic journey.
About 70% of our comprehensive range of NGS panels are available as NGS Panel Genomic. Search for your panel choice and benefit from the highest diagnostic accuracy, fastest turnaround times, and cost savings.
Why Choose NGS Panel Genomic?
Why Choose NGS Panel Genomic?
The Diagnostic Accuracy of WGS
- Unmatched information by covering non- and coding regions and multivariant detection
- Increased coverage of the genic regions
- Higher accuracy of detecting CNVs and complex gene rearrangements
Faster Results and More Cost-effective than Sequential Orders
- Little loss of time with step wise analysis, with all raw data generated at one time
- Powered by WGS, all information related to the panel and phenotype is available in less than business 20 days
- Eliminates additional costs on step wise analysis like Del/Dup, follow up WES/WGS, or analysis of new genes associated with the phenotype when new information surfaces
Smart Solution Tailored to Your Patient's Needs
- Many panel compositions available
- Allows for screening of multiple potentially clinically relevant genes, and with maximum flexibility when reflex is chosen
- Reflex to WGS offers flexibility towards new gene discoveries or clinical demands
Easy and Cost-effective Reflex to WGS when Necessary
- First step is less expensive than WGS
- Easy reflex to evaluation of the full genome for cases with a negative panel outcome
- Cost effective for out of pocket payment and from payer perspective
Your CENTOGENE NGS Panel Options
|NGS Panel Genomic
|NGS Panel
|Turnaround time
*For male samples, panels including X-chromosomal genes will reach a lower coverage of ≥97% at ≥10x
Frequently Asked Questions
With NGS Panel Genomic, costs savings can be considerable when initial NGS results are negative. Unlike standard NGS Panel testing, NGS Panel Genomic includes analysis of the genomic data in greater breadth and depth ̶ including CNV, and offers follow up genome evaluation and reporting, and allows for analysis of new genes associated with the phenotype when new information surfaces.
How does NGS Panel Genomic increase the possibility of a positive result compared to other panel testing?
Mutations are typically found in the coding regions of the genome, but can also be present in non-coding and regulatory regions. Traditional NGS panel tests only target common gene and coding regions, and have additional limitations due to either design or complexity of coverage. NGS Panel Genomic is a flexible panel testing solution that can include the entire target region, coding and non-coding as needed, and will identify small and large CNV and other complex diseases causing mutations first time.
WES only targets the coding regions of a patient's genome while NGS Panel Genomic cover non- and coding region of the genes of interest. Compared to classic NGS panels, NGS Panel Genomic provides the highest information content and higher accuracy, saving cost and time as no additional analysis or data acquisition is required. In addition, the results can be revisited as new genes and mutations are identified which are linked to the patient's phenotype with no additional analysis, something not possible with a standard NGS panel testing.
NGS Genomic Panel – The Smart Analysis for Your Patient's Needs
|Turnaround time
|≤20 business days
|≤15 business days
NGS Panel Genomic – When is best suited?
- Confirmation of clinical hypotheses
- Multiple clinical features that do not fit a specific clinical diagnosis, but fall within the spectrum of well-established Mendelian conditions
- Very rare clinical presentations
- Because of either a single atypical finding or an unfamiliar combination of phenotypes