text:
Burl reviews First Blood! (1982)
Ha ha and hambones, it's Burl, here with a review of the good Rambo picture! Yes, that would be the first one, and its general solidity as a motion picture, especially as compared to the other entries in this series - ha ha, and in particular the last one, Rambo: Last Blood - is evinced by its title, which does not contain the name Rambo at all, but is the simple and succinct First Blood!
Sylvester Stallone, who later returned to the mountains in Cliffhanger, is as ever the star, the profoundly damaged Green Beret John Rambo! He's out for a stroll, looking for an old army buddy, and is dismayed to find that his friend has died from the cancer, thanks of course to the Agent Orange he inhaled back in 'Nam! Rambo then makes his way to a nearby mountain town and runs into a big bear of a sheriff played by Brian Dennehy from Ants! and F/X and Best Seller! Well, the next thing you know, the sheriff is power trippin', Rambo is flashbackin' to his wartime torture days, and deputies are a-flyin' left and right and Rambo's out the door and away into the mountains!
The scene with him beating up all the deputies is pretty satisfying, I must say, and later, when the meanest deputy of them all, played by Jack Starrett, who directed The Losers and Race with the Devil, plummets from a helicopter from which he's shooting at Rambo, we get even more satisfaction! Then the whole gang of deputies is wounded by Rambo and his forest traps, and that's pretty all right too! This gang of bozos is played by a gallery of familiar faces, like Bill McKinney from Cannonball, Chris Mulkey from Quiet Cool, Michael Talbott from Vacation, John McLiam from Sleeper, with good old Alf Humphries from My Bloody Valentine as the goofball cop and David Caruso from Without Warning as the nice-guy rookie!
But Dennehy's Sheriff Teasle - ha ha! - is the biggest bozo of all, increasingly bent on getting the mumbly, misunderstood ex-soldier despite the fact that he, Teasle, was the one who started it by not letting Rambo eat lunch in his town! Richard Crenna from Summer Rental and Un Flic appears as Rambo's old commander, and regales Dennehy with tales of the things Rambo could eat that would make a billy goat puke! Soon the National Guard is called in, and Rambo makes his way back to town and begins a campaign of gunfire and blowups! And despite the explosions and the flying bullets and the crashing cars, the only one who ever gets killed is that nasty deputy who fell from the helicopter!
It's a fair action meller and a pleasantly cathartic exercise for viewers who are not much enamoured of the police forces in America! In that sense it's a lot more relevant than the later Rambic exercises in commie-blasting, ha ha! It's solidly directed by an old pro, and Rambo's teary breakdown scene near the end is affecting! Plus, like Stallone's later Cobra it's a stealth Christmas picture, as evidenced by the sad desktop trees on view in the police station! I give First Blood two and a half grimy canvas ponchos!
Labels: 1980s, action, cop, drama, mountain, small town
Burl reviews A Christmas Story! (1983)
Ho ho, it's Burl, here to review a seasonal classic for you! It's a Christmas picture from Bob Clark, and I know what you're thinking: Black Christmas, right? Ha ha, no! I've already reviewed that one! This is Bob's other twinkle-light extravaganza, the well-beloved cornball nostalgia-comedy A Christmas Story!
You all know the story, because, ha ha, there is no story! Well, I suppose there is: a boy in 1940s Cleveland desperately wants a BB rifle for Christmas, but encounters resistance from all the authority figures around him, and even from Santa himself! Purfling the edges of this narrative are all the details of schoolboy life in a mid-century December: weirdly obsessive fathers, annoying little brothers, neighbourhood bullies, triple-dog dares among chums, radio giveaway gimmicks, and so forth!
Our hero is Ralphie, a bespectacled cherubim played by Peter Billingsley from Death Valley! It's of critical importance that he convince his mom, played by Melinda Dillon from Staying Together, that the Red Ryder repeater is a necessary toy, and that there will be no accidental de-oculation! Dad, or rather The Old Man, is played by Darren McGavin from Raw Deal and Dead Heat, and indeed he is an old man, in fact perhaps a touch too old so to be playing this character; but then he does such a darn good job in the role that any such complaint is moot!
The Christmas season is ever-present, and all the attendant rituals are checked off: the buying of the tree, the visit to Santa and his elves! There's a freewheeling structure reminiscent of Kenny and Co., and in many cases it's the non holiday-specific segments which linger longest in the memory! Ha ha, the triple dog dare at the flagpole, for example, or Ralphie's beatdown of the dreaded Scut Farkus, or his accidental cry of "Fudge!", or, of course, the whole saga of the leg lamp! Ha ha, I need hardly go into further detail on these or any other episode in the picture, as it will no doubt be playing on a loop this Christmas day on some network or other!
This being in essence a Canadian movie, there are some familiar northland faces in the cast! Ralphie's teacher, Miss Shields, is played by Tedde Moore whom we may recall from Rip-Off and Rolling Vengeance, and the Christmas tree man is none other than Les Carlson from Videodrome, The Dead Zone, and even some non-Cronenberg pictures! The whole thing has an appropriately fog-filtered Norman Rockwell look courtesy of cinematographer Reg Morris, who shot Bells and all sorts of other pictures!
I could have done without the Chinese restaurant scene at the end, or at least without the singing, but otherwise the movie goes down like a smooth nog! It's funny here and heartwarming there, and sometimes it's just there, playing on your TV, but it remains a repeatedly watchable holiday candy cane crunch, and I think, low-key as it is, Bob Clark really pulled something off here, and only a year after he made Porky's too! I give A Christmas Story three strangled cries of "Notafinga!"
Labels: 1980s, Canada, Christmas, comedy, family, kids, period piece, winter
Burl reviews Tampopo! (1985)
Noodle-slurpers, hello, it's Burl! Ha ha, when I was a younger man, working in a video store in the late 80s and early 90s, there were certain movies of which I was aware, and which I knew were supposed to be good, but which were so ubiquitously on the shelves that they became a sort of wallpaper, and I never watched them! Many of these were the sort of 80s international or independent popular favourites that would have played in art houses to sweet acclaim - ha ha, I guess something like My Dinner With André or maybe Babette's Feast would be other examples of this sort of movie! But the one I'm talking about today is quite simply Tampopo!
Well, I recently caught up with it, and while I'd always known is was a quirky film that mixed together genres the way its characters mix together broth, I wasn't aware of just how eccentric and culturally specific it was! I found these elements quite delightful, and at times the episodic surreality of the thing reminded me a bit of something like Holy Motors!
And like Holy Motors, this is a movie that's highly aware it's a movie! Ha ha! It begins in a cinema, with a white-suited gangster type, played by Kôji Yakusho from such great Kiyoshi Kurosawa pictures as Cure and Charisma, who upbraids fellow patrons for eating noisy chips, and then discovers and addresses the camera to issue a similar admonishment and to talk about the autobiographical "movie" one sees of one's life at the moment of death! Then the story proper begins: two truck drivers, one an older, taciturn cowboy Goro, played by Tsutomu Yamazaki, known for his appearances in such Kurosawa pictures as High and Low, the other a younger fellow in white called Gun, essayed by none other than Ken Watanabe from Godzilla, stop for ramen in a little restaurant run by a widow named Tampopo, played by Nobuko Miyamoto, the Taxing Woman herself!
But Tampopo's ramen is unsatisfactory, and so Goro and Gun embark on a quest to help the flustered woman perfect her cooking and turn her struggling business into an all-time blockbuster of a noodle shop! As in The Magnificent Seven, or, more properly, The Seven Samurai, they gather together a group of experts, all men, to help not just with the ramen recipe but with renovating the shop and refining every detail of Tampopo's hospitality strategy! Meanwhile Goro and Tampopo seem destined from the beginning to be together, but their budding romance is remarkably tentative!
Well, that's the main tree trunk of the plot, but branching off it regularly throughout the picture are food-centric vignettes, sometimes involving the gangster in white, at other times featuring total strangers: a group of executives scandalized by their junior's independence, for instance, or an old lady with pinchyfingers gone a-marketing! Some of these are moral tales, others fables, and sometimes they're just filmed jokes in the manner of If You Don't Stop It…. You'll Go Blind!!! I must say I particularly liked a digression involving a gang of hobo gastronomes, and I think you'll like that bit of the movie too!
With the exception of a scene showing the slaughter of a turtle, which I most certainly didn't like, it's mostly a very delightful a study of kindness and generosity between humans! But it has some sharp edges too, along with punchfights, low-key pictorial beauty, and a touch of bohankie too, making it in sum a good, heady brew of noodles and broth! The attention paid to detail, and the gorgeousness of the comestibles on view add still further to the pleasures of the whole! Ha ha, it's an invigorating filmic experience, and I give Tampopo three shared egg yolks!
Labels: 1980s, comedy, eccentric, erotic, food, Japan, romance
Burl reviews Corpse Eaters! (1974)
Ha ha, I'm not crazy, I'm no-o-o-ot! No, ha ha, I'm Burl, here with a movie review that might make you think I am crazy! But, just as a character in the movie itself screechily claims at the end of the picture, I'm not! I'm no-o-o-ot! The movie is real, and it is called Corpse Eaters!
This is one of those little regional zombie pictures of the early 1970s, very much in the same category as something like Garden of the Dead or Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things! For that matter, I guess it's a pretty direct, if badly mutated, offspring of Night of the Living Dead, itself a penny-poor regional zombie picture, but one pulled off with a lot more professionalism and flair than Corpse Eaters! Ha ha! But I certainly don't mean to imply that Corpse Eaters is entirely lacking in charm and zombie interest - no sir, it most certainly has a measure of that!
The story takes place somewhere near the mining community of Sudbury, Ontario, and features characters with Canadian accents so thick they sound Irish! Initial scenes are set at the Happy Halo Funeral Home, where a scruffy old grump runs the show, but doesn't think much of his customers! He seems to have a real grudge against dead people in fact, which is bad, because he works with them every day! In any case, a mustachioed corpse comes in who needs some special facial reconstruction work done, and as his mortician gets to work, the Happy Halo owner strolls around his boneyard, musing nasty thoughts in voice-over!
Ha ha, dissolve to the lake, and to a little hard-boating action! A little gang of pals, including Ritchie (whom I didn't realize until later was the corpse delivered to the Happy Halo in the opening scenes), zoom about in their watercraft, then repair to the shore to guzzle a little Molson Ex and engage in bohankie! Well, one of the couples does at least, which is to say Ritchie and his good-time gal Julie; the other pair, a fiveheaded hoser called Alan and his perpetually grouchy girlfriend Lisa, can only watch this sloppy, beer-soaked bohankie from the sidelines! Before too long, and over the strenuous, and as it turns out, well-justified objections of Lisa, the quartet end up in a remote graveyard, hiding from the rain in a handy crypt!
Ritchie is keen on enacting a satanic ritual he learned from his uncle, and this is where it all goes pear-shaped! Zombies unearth themselves and come to put a biting on the foursome! Julie is quickly overwhelmed and the flaky-skinned cadavers have a good old belly-munch; Ritchie, the fool who caused it all with his hocus-pocus and mumbo-jumbo, catches a heavy biting, and the other two drag him to the car (a Challenger or a Cougar from about 1970 - I couldn't tell which in the grainy 16mm murk, but it was sure sweet!) and drive him to the hospital! Ha ha! But nothing the medicos do can help Richie, and he ends up at the Happy Halo, as Lisa meanwhile endures terrible zombie nightmares and is consoled in the most jerkish, responsibility-dodging manner possible by the gormless Alan!
The Happy Halo man, deep in his cups, is startled by noises, and when he sees a zombie pulling out a guy's eyeballs, his mind simply snaps! There's no real conclusion to the story save the funeral home director being roughed up by orderlies (and, charmingly, you can actually hear one of the actors apologize during this scene - ha ha someone must have accidentally stepped on someone else's foot) and left in a room all strait-jacketed up and howling that he's not crazy! He's no-o-o-ot!
Well, after 57 minutes of crude but heartfelt Sudbury moviemaking, the picture ends with the viewer's goodwill intact! Ha ha, that's an achievement in itself, and one worth celebrating! Corpse Eaters is not a film for everyone, and the little gimmick of the warning siren and the barfing man, meant to signal an upcoming sequence of grotesque and sickening gore, is not required for those who might be enthusiastic to make its acquaintance! If it's a diamond in the rough, there's an awful lot of rough, but those who might appreciate it most definitely will! Ha ha! I give Corpse Eaters two Evinrude outboards!


API Nitrite Test Kit's are available from Swell UK so you can take charge of the potentially dangerous Nitrite levels in your freshwater or marine aquarium. Up to 90 tests can be performed with each kit, giving you accurate readings each time so you can take action if nitrite levels get too high.
Nitrites are formed as ammonia is broken down. Toxic and potentially lethal to fish, they can quickly pollute the water and suffocate plants and fish.
API's Nitrite Test Kit is equipped to carry out 180 tests, and can be used in both fresh and salt water aquariums. The test can read levels between 0 and 5ppm.
The test works quickly to give you an accurate reading.
Remember to order before 3pm to receive your order the next working day - and if your order is over £50 then delivery is free!
See previous comment about service.
Great test kit, easy to use!


text:
San Juan del Puerto, Florida
San Juan del Puerto was a Spanish Franciscan mission founded before 1587 on Fort George Island, near the mouth of the St. Johns River in what is now Jacksonville, Florida. It was founded to serve the Saturiwa, a Timucua tribe who lived around the mouth of the St. Johns. It was organized by separating them into nine smaller villages. It has an important place in the study of the Timucua, as the place where Francisco Pareja undertook his work on the Timucua language.
Historical marker about the mission
Duval County, Florida, USA
30°25′N 81°26′W / 30.41°N 81.43°W / 30.41; -81.43
Florida Historic Site
Mission of San Juan del Puerto Archeological Site
Nearest city
6.8 acres (2.8 ha)
Location of San Juan del Puerto in Florida
The Saturiwa were one of the chiefdoms of the Mocama, the Timucua-speaking people who lived in the coastal areas of what is now northern Florida and southeastern Georgia.[2] The Saturiwa were allied with the French of Fort Caroline, and were thus initially hostile to the Spanish – who ousted the French colonists from the Florida coast in 1565. However, the Saturiwa soon made peace with the Spaniards, and Misión San Juan was founded near their main town on Fort George Island prior to 1587.
This became one of the three principal missions in what the Spanish called the Mocama Province, together with San Pedro de Mocama (to the Tacatacuru) on Cumberland Island and Santa Maria de Sena between them on Amelia Island.[3][4]
Father Francisco Pareja worked at this mission and at San Pedro de Mocama. He devised a system of writing for Timucuan[5] and taught some of the Mocama. In 1612, he printed a catechism in Spanish and Timucua, the first book printed in an indigenous language of the Americas.[6]
After 1650, Guale refugees from the next chiefdom to the north along the (present-day) Georgia coast were settled at the mission.
The Spanish abandoned the mission around 1702, partly in response to raids from Native Americans and allied English colonists from South Carolina during Queen Anne's War.
Spanish missions in Florida
St. Johns County - history
^ John E. Worth (1998). The Timucuan Chiefdoms of Spanish Florida: Resistance and destruction. University Press of Florida. p. xiii. ISBN 978-0-8130-1575-0.
^ John E. Worth (4 February 2007). The Struggle for the Georgia Coast. University of Alabama Press. p. 196. ISBN 978-0-8173-5411-4.
^ Ashley, p. 135.
^ Jerald T. Milanich (14 August 1996). Timucua. VNR AG. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-55786-488-8.
^ William C. Sturtevant (1978). Handbook of North American Indians: Languages. Government Printing Office. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-16-048774-3.
Ashley, Keith H. (2009). "Straddling the Florida-Georgia State Line: Ceramic Chronology of the St. Marys Region (AD 1400–1700)". In Kathleen Deagan and David Hurst Thomas, From Santa Elena to St. Augustine: Indigenous Ceramic Variability (A.D. 1400-1700), pp. 125–139. New York : American Museum of Natural History
McEwan, Bonnie G., Ed. (1993) The Spanish Missions of La Florida. University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-1232-5 Pp. 98, 330.
Coordinates: 30°25′N 81°26′W / 30.41°N 81.43°W / 30.41; -81.43
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=San_Juan_del_Puerto,_Florida&oldid=831922910"

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Celcuity Presents Updated Results of Phase 1b Study of Gedatolisib in Patients with Advanced Breast Cancer at the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium
Celcuity Inc.
High response rates and encouraging median progression free survival rates were observed in patients regardless of PIK3CA mutation status
Median progression free survival (PFS) of 42.3 months was reported for patients who were treatment naïve in the advanced setting
MINNEAPOLIS, MN / ACCESSWIRE / December 9, 2022 / Celcuity Inc. (Nasdaq:CELC), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on development of targeted therapies for oncology, today announced that updated results from a Phase 1b trial evaluating gedatolisib were presented during a Spotlight Poster Discussion at the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).
The presentation reported updated efficacy and safety data and sub-group analysis by PIK3CA mutation status in the four expansion arms of the Phase 1b study. Additional analysis of efficacy results from patients who were treatment-naïve in the advanced setting was also performed.
"The comparable efficacy reported in patients with and without PIK3CA mutations is very encouraging. We believe these results reflect gedatolisib's unique mechanism of action," said Brian Sullivan, Celcuity's Chief Executive Officer and co-founder. "We are also very encouraged by the median PFS of 42.3 months reported for patients with advanced disease who were treatment naïve. These results compare favorably to published data for current standard-of-care regimens for patients with advanced disease who are treatment naïve. The results warrant further evaluation of gedatolisib in combination with a CDK4/6 inhibitor and endocrine therapy in early line settings, including first-line, neoadjuvant, or adjuvant indications."
A trial-in-progress poster describing Celcuity's Phase 3 clinical trial, VIKTORIA-1, was also presented at SABCS. This poster and the poster presenting updated Phase 1b results are available on the publications page of the Celcuity website.
Phase 1b Study Design and Results
Patients with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer were treated with gedatolisib combined with the CDK4/6 inhibitor, palbociclib, and endocrine therapy (either fulvestrant or letrozole). This study included two dose escalation and four dose expansion arms and enrolled a total of 138 patients. Preliminary efficacy and safety results were presented in 2021 (Layman 2021). Updates presented at the 2022 SABCS included efficacy results for patient sub-groups in the four expansion arms according to their PIK3CA mutation status (see Table 1).
Table 1: B2151009 Efficacy Summary
Escalation Arms
(N=103)
Expansion Arm
Prior Therapy
CDKi-naive
2L+
2L/3L
CDKi-pretreated
n (full, evaluable)
Study Treatment
(gedatolisib dosing)
P + L + G
P + F + G
(3 wks on / 1 off)
ORR1 (evaluable)
mPFS2 , months
(range)
(16.9, NR)
(7.6, 38.3)
(3.3, 7.5)
PFS % at 12 months2
PIK3CA Status
81% 2,3
75%2
PFS % at 12 months 2
(1) Response evaluable analysis set per RECIST v1.1 including uPR; (2) full analysis set; (3) Baseline PIK3CA mutation status missing for one patient; (4) Median follow-up = 33.1 months. 1L= first line, 2L= second line; MT= PIK3CA mutation; NR = Not reached; ORR, objective response rate; PFS, progression free survival; WT=wild type
Additional updates included efficacy results for the 41 patients in the study who did not receive prior therapy for advanced disease. In this combined group of treatment-naïve patients from Escalation Arm A and Expansion Arm A, median PFS was 42.3 months. Treatment discontinuation due to treatment related adverse events was 6.5% in Arm A, 15.4% in Arm B, 9.4% in Arm C and 3.7% in Arm D. Further details on baseline patient characteristics were also included.
About Gedatolisib
Gedatolisib is a potent, reversible dual inhibitor that selectively targets all Class I PI3K isoforms and mTOR. Its mechanism of action and pharmacokinetic properties are highly differentiated from other currently approved and investigational therapies that target PI3K or mTOR alone or together. Inhibiting all four Class I PI3K isoforms and mTOR limits the potential development of drug resistance compared with isoform-specific PI3K or mTOR specific inhibitors. A robust response rate and a manageable side effect profile were reported for the Phase 1b clinical trial that evaluated gedatolisib in combination with palbociclib and endocrine therapy in patients with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer.
About Celcuity
Celcuity is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on development of targeted therapies for treatment of multiple solid tumor indications. The company's lead therapeutic candidate is gedatolisib, a potent, reversible dual inhibitor that selectively targets all Class 1 PI3K isoforms and mTOR. Its mechanism of action and pharmacokinetic properties are highly differentiated from other currently approved and investigational therapies that target PI3K or mTOR alone or together. A Phase 3 clinical trial, VIKTORIA-1, evaluating gedatolisib in combination with fulvestrant with or without palbociclib in patients with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer is currently enrolling patients. More detailed information about the VIKTORIA-1 study can be found at ClinicalTrials.gov . The company's CELsignia companion diagnostic platform is uniquely able to analyze live patient tumor cells to identify new groups of cancer patients likely to benefit from already approved targeted therapies. Celcuity is headquartered in Minneapolis. Further information about Celcuity can be found at Celcuity.com . Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter .
This press release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements" including, but not limited to, the timing of initiating and enrolling patients in, and receiving results from, clinical trials, such as Celcuity's Phase 3 VIKTORIA-1 clinical trial, the expected or potential results from any ongoing, planned or potential clinical trials, expectations with respect to the potential efficacy of gedatolisib in various patient types alone or in combination with other treatments, and any other expectations with respect to gedatolisib and its CELsignia platform. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," "intends" or "continue," and other similar expressions that are predictions of or indicate future events and future trends, or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties, and conditions, many of which are beyond the control of Celcuity. These include, but are not limited to, those risks set forth in the Risk Factors section in Celcuity's Quarterly Report for the period ended September 30, 2022 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 10, 2022. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Celcuity undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this press release, except as required by law
Brian Sullivan, bsullivan@celcuity.com
Vicky Hahne, vhahne@celcuity.com
ICR Westwicke
Robert Uhl, robert.uhl@westwicke.com
SOURCE: Celcuity Inc.
https://www.accesswire.com/731101/Celcuity-Presents-Updated-Results-of-Phase-1b-Study-of-Gedatolisib-in-Patients-with-Advanced-Breast-Cancer-at-the-2022-San-Antonio-Breast-Cancer-Symposium
Vulnerable woman dead in flat for three years was 'abandoned', say family
FiscalNote Announces Acquisition of Dragonfly, a Leading Geopolitical Data and Security Intelligence Company for Business Risk Decision-Makers at Blue-Chip Organizations Around the World
Laura Winham was found in a 'mummified and skeletal state' by her brother in May 2021.
WASHINGTON, January 27, 2023--FiscalNote Announces Acquisition of Dragonfly, a Leading Geopolitical Data & Security Intelligence Company for Decision-Makers at Global Companies
Rochdale issued new shares in November in a bid to attract new investment.
China and Spain have risen up the chart while the US and Cyprus have fallen.
To listen to Goldman Sachs Group Inc chief executive David Solomon, the bank is doing "great," while skeptical investors wonder what comes next. Days after Goldman reported disappointing profits that sent shares tumbling 6%, and months after it stepped back from a money-losing foray into Main Street banking, Solomon sat for an interview with Reuters in Davos, Switzerland where he highlighted the firm's hits -- and downplayed its misses. He then reeled off Goldman's growth numbers: average revenues up 44% over a three-year period, a 39% jump in book value per share since 2019 that outpaced peers and a bigger dividend than rivals.
Does The 'Me Too' Movement Need A Reintroduction?
Tarana Burke and her squad are still doing the work — but it's taking on new meaning in 2023, especially for Black women.
For more than a few Chiefs veterans, playing for championships is why they signed in KC
The Chiefs organization has become accustomed to winning. But for some players on the roster, it's a new and refreshing feeling.
US Housing Market Full-Year 2022 & Softwood Lumber Prices January 2023
Full-year 2022 US housing starts and new home sales data has been released and while the dampening effects of rising mortgage rates remain, the numbers for December show a slight uptick. In 2022 the US began building 1.55 million homes, just a -3% drop from full-year 2021. Single-family starts in 2022 totalled 1.01 million, down -10.6% from the previous year.
US productivity is stalling out and employees are less willing to 'engage in hustle culture,' as 1 in 5 Americans admit to doing the 'bare minimum'
Is it the key to better mental health? Or just plain lazy?
Applied UV, Inc. Retains Legal Counsel to Investigate Potential Illegal Naked Short Selling
MOUNT VERNON, N.Y., January 27, 2023--Applied UV, Inc. (Nasdaq CM: AUVI) ("Applied UV" or the "Company"), a global technology leader that applies the power of narrow-range ultraviolet light ("UVC") and catalytic bioconversion technology for air purification, today announced that it has engaged the services of Herrick, Feinstein LLP to investigate potential illegal short selling of the Company's stock.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will host a summit at the White House on Friday to speed up the removal of lead pipes across America - an issue she has previously called a public health crisis. Harris will be joined by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan, along with other representatives from state and local government, water utilities, labor leaders, NGOs, and the private sector, a White House official said.
Why billboards urging Chiefs to 'change the name and stop the chop' return for playoffs
Two Kansas City groups continue to protest the Chiefs' use of Native American imagery in the team name and cheer.
Podcast: National signing day should be quiet for Miami. Here's why that's a good thing
National signing day could be quiet for Miami and that's a good thing.
Uni-Select Inc. - Details for 2022 Fourth Quarter Results Conference Webcast
Uni-Select Inc. (TSX: UNS) will release results for its fourth quarter of fiscal year 2022, ended December 31, 2022, on Friday, February 17, 2023 before the markets open. Management will host a conference call to discuss results and answer questions at 8:00 AM Eastern Time.
X-energy UK and Cavendish Nuclear Convene British Suppliers to Support Early Deployment of Advanced Small Modular Reactors
ROCKVILLE, Md. & BRISTOL, England, January 27, 2023--X-Energy Reactor Company, LLC ("X-energy" or the "Company"), a leading developer of advanced small modular nuclear reactors and fuel technology for clean energy generation, announced that more than 70 British engineering, construction and manufacturing companies this week joined X-energy UK Holdings, a wholly owned subsidiary of X-energy, and deployment partner Cavendish Nuclear, part of Babcock International group, for a program of presentati
/R E M I N D E R -- Media Advisory - Prime Minister's itinerary for Friday, January 27, 2023/
Note: All times local
How the Bengals (inadvertently) helped prep Patrick Mahomes for this week's adversity
Patrick Mahomes will have to make some adjustments with his injury. But the Bengals already warned him of this.
The sleek new pilot's watch will set you back $9,400.
Origin Materials Announces Mechanical Completion of Origin 1 Manufacturing Plant
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif., January 27, 2023--Origin Materials, Inc. ("Origin," "Origin Materials," or the "Company") (NASDAQ: ORGN, ORGNW), the world's leading carbon negative materials company with a mission to enable the world's transition to sustainable materials, today announced the mechanical completion of Origin 1, the Company's first commercial manufacturing plant, in-line with the previously disclosed timeline.
Postmedia's slow bleed of information disrespects media workers
Unifor is disappointed and frustrated that Postmedia has largely kept the union and media workers hanging with a slow bleed of information that has provided no real clarity to workers about what jobs are on the chopping block.


illiterate Electorate: McCain: Old. Crippled. Ready.
I love it: Cindy McLame gets a pass on being a drug addict and stealing from her own nonprofit to support the habit, and the MSM picks on Michelle Obama. Priceless!


Print Industry Parental Leave: How Will It Affect Employers?
Home >> News >> Print Industry Parental Leave: How Will It Affect Employers?
On March 13, 2013,	Posted by Ian ,	In News,	By employers,Parental leave,Print Industry ,	With Comments Off on Print Industry Parental Leave: How Will It Affect Employers?
The reality is those who think these proposals are going to have a dramatic impact for the print industry, whether positive or negative, are probably well off the mark.
For women there is the opportunity to go back to work earlier if their partner chooses to take print industry parental leave to provide child care but, realistically, the probable loss in the partner's earnings would be at least as much as paying for child care so there is unlikely to have a significant impact.
Print Industry Parental Leave: What Changes?
The big changes are for fathers, but again I can't see a big shift in behaviour in the print industry. The right for parents to share 52 weeks print industry parental leave between them is likely to be the most controversial but again I can't see it having a major impact for purely economic reasons let alone the cultural shift. There will be a new statutory payment which is likely to be equivalent to maternity / paternity pay, currently £135.45 per week. This is massively below minimum wage let alone the average earnings in the print sector. I just doesn't make any sense to assume that droves of fathers in the print industry will suddenly decide to stay at home for months to look after their new born children. Beyond this fathers are already entitled to 2 weeks ordinary paternity leave and up to 26 weeks addition paternity leave, if the mother returns to work, which experience tells us they aren't taking.
I'm not against fathers having a more active role; I think fathers and children benefit hugely from greater paternal involvement; it just doesn't seem realistic. Other than isolated examples the worst case is that employers may find a few male employees wish to take a bit longer than the 2 weeks ordinary paternity leave they are currently entitled to. However bearing in mind the lack of take up for Additional Paternity leave its unlikely.
It is disappointing to see legislation proposed to provide the right to unpaid leave for two antenatal appointments. There are lots of Print industry employers who are flexible enough to allow fathers print industry parental leave anyway. Clearly if someone on shift has a machine to run its not so straight forward to take so time off, but our experience is that typically shifts can be swapped and cover provided and it just doesn't become an issue.
The bottom line, as with the right to flexible working, is that in Print industry employers where there is a reasonable culture, and it is the majority, there is little to fear. Where there is recognition from both sides that a bit of give and take is good for employees and employers; morale and motivation are high and a positive, flexible workforce pull out the stops when necessary these changes will have little impact.


Chocolate Cream Whoopie Pies - Now....you're cooking!
Try these for a special Valentine's Day treat! I have been seeing a lot of recipes for Whoopie Pies lately, so I decided to make some. Most of the recipes called for shortening, and I am not a big fan of baked goods with shortening, so I finally found some recipes using butter that I was able to modify to my liking.
Melt chocolate in microwave and set aside to cool.
In beater bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs. Stir in vanilla and melted chocolate.
In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk.
Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and drop spoonfuls of dough 2 inches apart onto parchment.
Bake at 375 degrees F for about 8-13 minutes (depending on the size you made the cookies) until edges are set.
Cool 2 minutes and then remove to rack to cool completely.
Filling: beat butter, marshmallow cream and icing sugar together until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla.
Spread filling on one cookie and top with a second cookie.
I used a 1½ tablespoon cookie scoop to make the cookies and the recipe yielded 30 individual cookies for 15 whoopie pies. It took about 12 or 13 minutes to bake them. This made really big dessert size "pies". 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie would still make a good sized treat.


text:
Yogi Bhajan's Adi Shakti Shaktimans and Shaktis
by Gursant Singh , Yuba City California USA, Wednesday, April 28, 2010, 07:25 (4283 days ago)
edited by Gursant Singh, Friday, May 07, 2010, 19:54
The following is taken from "Sikhism and Tantric Yoga" by Dr. Trilochan Singh.
Yogi Bhajan's Adi Shakti Shaktimans And
Shaktis in the Light of Sikh Doctrines
Visit to Los Angeles Headquarters in 3HO
A few years ago a friend gave me two copies of Yogi Bhajan's official Journal, Beads of Truth. One of them, an earlier issue, contained the following note: "After more than a year with no name, the day of the Summer Solstice, June 21, 1970, Jules Buccier's garage was converted at 8802 Melrose, Los Angeles into an Ashram which was baptized 'Guru Ram Das Ashram.' Yogi Bhajan considers Guru Ram Das as his personal Guru. Yogi Bhajan married 15 couples in Santa Fe that afternoon." This ashram is now located at 1620 Preuss Road, Los Angeles.
The second copy of Beads of Truth contained a lovely picture of a teenage American girl, in Sikh dress, playing flute in front of the Taj Mahal in Agra. In the caption her name was given as Ramdas Kaur. It was this charming girl, now wife of an elderly attorney, Ram Das Singh, who came to escort me from the house of Dr Amarjit Singh Marwah. With her was a gentle quiet person, Harjiwan Singh, who drove the car while Ramdas Kaur, sitting with me in the back seat, started a lively discussion during the 40 minute drive. Even though I did not agree with many things which she repeated quite seriously exactly as she had been taught, I was greatly impressed by her sincerity, her genuine interest in Sikhism, and her passionate zeal for spiritual knowledge of Sikhism.
At the ashram I was greeted by Niranjan Kaur, Shakti Parwha and three male leaders, Ram Das Singh, Vikram Singh (who performs good Kirtan) and Baba Singh Richards. There were other young and deeply religious and devout girls, namely, Kiranjot Kaur, Sopurkh Kaur, Mahatma Kaur, Gurdarshan Kaur, Sat Siri Kaur and Sooriya Kaur who stood apart at some distance as second class hard-working underlings of the ashram. Throughout our talks they stood patiently, listened intently and waited anxiously to serve and only to serve. Apart from Shakti Parwha every young lady was bubbling with joy and sincere affection.
While Niranjan Kaur and Ramdas Kaur spoke with gracious humility and friendliness, and the three men sat maintaining the calm and silence of Buddha, Shakti Parwha posed and acted like an Egyptian Priestess talking to an alien visitor to her 3HO temple. Out of all the women folk there, this aging Priestess of the ashram alone had put on cosmetics, powder, cream and a little lipstick, while all others had natural radiance of the devout and meditative faces.
This was the second major ashram I had visited, the first one which I visited being the Ahimsa Ashram of 3H0 in Washington. There was one thing clear about the system and the managerial structure which Yogi Bhajan had set up. Some of the heads of bigger ashrams acted as mini-Yogi Bhajans; some more haughty and vain than he is and others gentler and saner than he. Some of these mini-Yogi Bhajans were talented businessmen, intellectuals and musicians, mostly Jews by birth and training. Added to these is a very talented and in many ways loyal, unthinking secretarial staff, called Siri Singh Sahib, Yogi Bhajan's Secretarial staff, namely Premka (formerly Pamela Levinson), Sat Simrin Kaur (Susan), Hari Har Kaur, Black Krishna with the most beautiful white soul, Niranjan Kaur with something Italian about her whom I have already mentioned. In their three or four hourly duty on His Holiness Yogi Bhajan, these talented girls who are supposed to remain unmarried, give charm and dignity to 3HO organizations, but I am constrained to think that Yogi Bhajan could have made much better use of them than keeping them busy massaging his feet and legs, and rubbing his hands and shoulders, and at best writing egomaniac letters and articles for his journals against his reasonable critics, and against those who refuse to accept his brand techniques.
According to published honorifics in the Beads of Truth, Yogi Bhajan is called the Spiritual Guide (Guru in Indian terminology) of the 3HO Cult while Shakti Parwha, who was first a waitress in a restaurant, and then a helper in Dr Judith M Tyberg's East-West Cultural Center, and through a process which will be described in a subsequent chapter, is now no less than the Spiritual Mother of 3HO Cult Followers. How many of the inmates of Yogi Bhajan's organization really consider her Spiritual. and adore her as Mother is questionable. The very mention of her name privately to the inmates of the ashram brings a broad meaningful smile on their faces, a smile that tries not to burst into laughter. What ceremony was actually performed when she along with Yogi Bhajan were installed as Spiritual Father and Mother of the 3HO Organization, I really do not know, and perhaps no one knows.
Throughout her talks with me Shakti Parwha tried to impose herself as my Spiritual Mother also. She perhaps did not know that one who has accepted Guru Gobind Singh as his spiritual Father and Mata Sahib Devi as his spiritual Mother cannot even think of paying any formal reverence to such cheap spiritual fathers and mothers. It is quite possible that Sikh leaders like Hukam Singh, Gurcharan Singh Taura, and Mohinder Singh, who have shown callous disregard of Sikh principles and doctrines, accepted her as their Spiritual Mother or even much more, but to expect the same senseless reactions from me was to expect too much. But I just wonder whether the Polish-born writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, living in India, had such an intimate knowledge of cult mothers, when she wrote her book How I Became a Holy Mother. While Shakti Parwha was talking about 3HO techniques and spiritual tricks about which I actually had considerable firsthand knowledge, the three men sat there listening without comment like dutiful school boys, as if they were not supposed to talk.
A few days earlier I had read the following note on Shakti Parwha's built-in divinity in the Beads of Truth, 1973: "The day following the end of Tantric, the period of silence was officially over. The day was spent for receiving Shakti Parwha (3HO spiritual Mother) as she was to arrive from Los Angeles Headquarters late that afternoon. Hundreds of Shaktis (3HO girls) dressed in their whitest clothes formed two lines to make a pathway for Shakti Parwha to pass through. At the front of her were all the Shaktis holding baskets of flowers. The stage was elaborately decorated with flowers, fluffy skins and a huge painted sign welcoming our Divine Mother." Beads of Truth and Sikh Dharma Brotherhood Journal of 3HO are full of such senseless praise and vain glorification of 3HO superman Yogi Bhajan, distinguished for his huge Mughal style diamond rings, and this Divine Mother, Shakti Parwha.
Said Shakti Parwha in a patronizing tone, "You are a scholar and religious man. You should have come straight to our place which is so very suitable for you. Why are you staying with those worldly Sikhs who are drunks, and undesirable and have nothing in common with your style of living?" I was taken aback with this question, but it clearly revealed the incurably haughty demeanor of the Divine Mother of 3HO. I answered the question with a counter question, saying, "When you great worthies of 3HO go to India you discreetly avoid saints, theologians, seers and scholars and always rush to Chandigarh to have a good time and seek publicity with our characterless ministers of a corrupt anti-Sikh government, every member of which is known to be a drunk and depraved as far as religious morality is concerned. Our elections have shown how much they are respected for their character by our people. You also seek receptions, specially arranged by your stooges in Delhi, from characterless Capitalists and the worst drunks of Chemsfard Club I have ever known in Delhi. May I know why? Besides, if you people claim to be the holiest of the holy, what have I to do with you? My place as a Writer and a very insignificant Sikh of Guru Nanak—Guru Gobind Singh is with the sinners, the down-trodden and the lowliest of the low, to know their problems and help them as best as I can. I am happy with them and would like to stay with them." Shakti Parwha graciously smiled and then said to me very proudly, "Yogi Bhajan, the only Maha Tantric living in the world, has given us a technique of meditation," which she presumed was unknown to Yogis as well as Sikhs, and was secretly revealed only to the inmates of 3HO ashrams. She suggested that I should also learn it, and thereby she wanted to recruit me as Yogi Bhajan's and her spiritual son, a 3HO Shaktiman. I did not oblige her. I told her that I have spent a lifetime with very eminent saints and mystics, and have learnt and practiced all techniques as best as I could in my 25 years of close association with them. "Sikhism," I said, "was one great Path [gadi-rah: well channelized path) on which Kirtan (singing divine songs), recitation of scriptures, simrin (contemplation), service, charity, scholarship, all work equally well. No one path, no one technique is exclusively supreme. The techniques of inner contemplation are intuitively revealed by the grace of God to those who sincerely move on as sincere pilgrims. Saints and mystics guide people according to their intellectual and spiritual ability, stage by stage. They do not make a mechanical display of techniques as is done in 3HO."
Thus for all the two hours I was in the ashram, besides showing me some well-furnished empty rooms, Shakti Parwha, the spiritual Mother of 3HO, tried to pour down my throat her Master's technique of vibrating my Pituitary glands and Pineal glands, which according to their stupid and rattleheaded Kundalini theories is Dasam Duar (Tenth Seat of Consciousness mentioned in Sikh Scriptures), but my glands controlling my patience were no doubt seriously disturbed. Fortunately for me, lunch was announced.
It is only at lunch I found an opportunity to talk to the underlings who work and sweat for the ashram for long hours during the day and night, leaving them so exhausted and empty-headed that the only thing that their sleepy minds are left to receive after 3 or 4 hours of sleep are the Oracular commands of their Maha Tantric Master or Mini Masters called the Heads of ashrams. They are supposed to listen but they cannot question either the Maha Tantric or the Mini-Masters. They must believe and act.
Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh's Life and Writings
Almost everyone in the ashram had read most of my book but they had a passionate liking for my Guru Tegh Bahadur's Biography and Autobiography of Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh. I was told by some American Sikhs earlier that the day Bhai Randhir Singh's Autobiography appeared in the ashrams it caught the imagination of the American readers like wildfire and everyone was eager to read it during their spare time. At lunch Vikram Singh, who can perform Kirtan beautifully, suggested that I should translate more books of Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh and also write the lives of other eminent Sikh saints like Sant Attar Singh. He particularly asked me to translate Rangle Sajjan of Bhai Randhir Singh. I am however translating Anhad Shabad and Dasam Duar, a classic on Sikh mysticism by Bhai Randhir Singh. This clearly indicated that American Sikhs who have caught the spirit of Sikhism care little for Tantric Yoga. They have a genuine interest in Sikhism, its social and spiritual traditions. There may be others who are interested only in Yoga as a profession; and yet some others who have found some financial security in the organization may be interested only in the commercial side of the adventure. They were however eager to have better and better translations of Gurbani. The existing translations of Guru Granth disappointed them very much. They now know S.G.P.C. to be a good for nothing organization which had not produced even twenty-page pamphlets on the Founders of the Golden Temple out of their 3 crore budget, but have become experts on the art of wasting it and draining it in irreligious pursuits. No girl and no gentleman in the ashram showed the slightest interest in Yogi Bhajan's Kundalini Yoga, and some even whispered that they detested it. Some young people in the ashram wanted to ask some serious questions on Sikh mysticism and history, but I was hustled out for a visit to a restaurant and small Brass factory manufacturing beds. It has been the experience of many visitors earlier that whoever visits 3HO is not free to hold any informal discussions with anyone, but is made to feel that he must move about and talk as he is asked to do or quit. That is what the three leaders Hukam Singh, Gurcharan Singh Taura and Mahinder Singh (S.G.P.C. Office bearers) did.
Just before leaving the ashram I took the liberty to examine some paintings. The paintings of the Gurus were excellent. There is one particular picture of Yogi Bhajan, the importance of which in 3HO theology will be discussed in the next chapter. There was one charming picture of Bibi Inderjeet Kaur, wife of Yogi Bhajan, in which she looked as gloomy and unhappy as she is in real life of 3HO fairyland, where everyone should have white dress and white turban, except she. But there were two pictures that were disturbing and threw considerable light on the perverse Tantric doctrines of Yogi Bhajan. One was a painting of Chandi (Ambica) called Adi Shakti. Shakti Parwha explained Adi Shakti as supreme Being and when she was telling me this, she was making a false statement. The official 3HO interpretation of Adi Shakti is given in numerous articles published in Beads of Truth, which we shall be quoting.
The other picture was the Khalsa symbol Khanda with two swords around it. The Khanda (double-edged sword) within this symbol was replaced by a picture of an American woman with Sari-like robes. The woman is called Adi Shakti. I saw this published in the Beads of Truth in London and have already commented on it in my book, The Turban and the Sword of the Sikhs. I told Shakti Parwha that this is the most sacrilegious misrepresentation of our sacred symbol. As usual she dismissed my opinion as unimportant.1
Shiva Shakti Concepts in Sikhism
Before I comment on Yogi Bhajan's concept of Adi Shakti and his Sex Tantric interpretation of Shaktiman and Shakti, I would briefly like to explain what Shiva and Shakti mean in authentic Indian tradition and what Shiva Shakti mean in Sikh theology and mysticism. I wrote a paper for Punjabi University on the subject from which I will quote extensively.
Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) writes, "All that is manifest is Power" (Shakti). Power implies a Power Holder (Shaktiman). There is no Power Holder without Power, or Power without Power Holder. The Power Holder is Shiva. Power is Shakti, the Great Mother (Maya) of the Universe. There is no Shiva without Shakti or Shakti without Shiva. The two as they are are one in themselves. In theology this Pure Consciousness is Shiva, and His Power (Shakti) who as She is in Her Formless Self is one with Him. She is the great Devi, the Mother of the Universe who as the Life-Force resides in man's body in its lowest center at the base of the spine just as Shiva is realized in the highest brain center."2 Yogi Bhajan according to his Tantric teachings calls the male members of his ashram Shaktimans and the female members Shaktis, because he appears to be incapable of thinking above the physical plane like all materialist Tantrics.
In one school of Hinduism the worship of Shiva and Shakti has been carried to the highest of worship of Shiva as God and Shakti as divine Mother (Durga, Uma, Ambica) and by the other school to the most degrading concepts and practices of the Shaktas (the Tantrics). In Sikhism they have distinct and well-defined meaning. They correspond to the metaphysical concepts of purusha and prakriti of Samkhya. In the Hindu Bhakti schools Shiva and Shakti have become Rama and Sita, Krishna and Radha, Narayana and Lakshmi. Shiva is the universal Male and Shakti is the universal Female. The fertile mind of Hindu linguistic punditary has actually coined 1008 names for Shiva and Shakti each.
In what is known as the realistic schools of Hinduism, Shakti "whose slender waist, bending beneath the burden of the ripe fruit of her breasts, swells into jeweled hips, heavy with the promise of infinite maternities," is represented by the female principle yoni (female organ) and Shiva by the male principle semen or phallus, Thus in Hindu eroticism, Shiva Shakti are two polar principles revolving around sex. The Vamacaris expect to attain identification with Shiva and Shakti through ritual indulgence in wine and sexual union. The Kutarnava Tantra (VIII 107) even insists that "union with God can be attained only through sexual union." The Guhyasamaja Tantra says, "No one can succeed in attaining perfection by employing difficult vexing operations but perfection can be gained by satisfying all of one's desires." The Sikh Gurus condemned these Tantrics as atheists, epicureans and called them Shaktas, the perverts. Plato wanted these people to be kept in prison for life. (Laws Bk X).
In Sikhism, Shiva symbolized divine Intelligence, Wisdom, pure consciousness within the limits of three modes of existence and this side of the Transcendent State, while Shakti is the cosmic energy manifest as sensuous power at the human plane. On the pure physical and mental plane Shakti is delusion, darkness, and ignorance. Guru Arjan says:
A Sikh ever recites Gurbani (Guru's Hymns), He imbibes the Spirit of God in his heart; The Eternal Light has illumined my inner being (Shiva) And Shakti: the doubts, delusion and darkness is dispelled.
Adi Granth, Guru Arjan, p 1238
Listen O Yogi, he who has not performed any yogic feats,
nor done any acts of formal purity and piety, nor wears
any rosary, he receives from the True Enlightener
the Eternal Light— Shiv- Jyoti, when in his ears
he receives the spiritual awakening through divine Name
as mantra.
Adi Granth, Guru Nanak, Prabhati
Thou hast created both ends of human existence O Lord,
Shiva and Shakti pervades in between, Shakti, darkness and delusion suffers defeat
against Shiva Light Such is the Will of God.
Adi Granth, Maru 1096
Shiva has eliminated Shakti And darkness has been dispelled.
Adi Granth, Nanak, Gaudi p 163
God Himself created Shiva and Shakti,
And operated them through His Will.
The Hindus adore Shiva and Shakti as gods and goddesses, and seek in them various types of religious and emotional worship. Sikhism totally rejects this concept of Shiva and Shakti. In Sikhism Shakti is delusion, and darkness of the lower senses, while Shiva is divine Wisdom and illumined Spirit, this side of the Transcendent State. Bhai Gurdas says, "It is from the confluence of Shiva Shakti that Nature was Created by God." (Var 2, 19) "Only when the seeker goes beyond the Shiva-Shakti consciousness of inner exaltation can a Gurmukh (Enlightened one) reach the Unity of mental concentration on the One Supreme Being in transcendent state." (Var 6, 6) Thus in Sikhism a man must go beyond Shakti and Shiva consciousness. Shiva and Shakti consciousness keeps a man within the three modes of existence, tamas, rajas, and sattva; while the aim of life in Sikh mysticism is to reach the turiya, the Fourth State.
Yogi Bhajan's Concept of Shakti and Shaktiman
We have studied Arthur Avalon's concept of Shakti and Shaktiman as Being and Consciousness, as Power and Power Holder. We have also studied the Sikh conception of Shakti and Shiva. Here is what Yogi Bhajan says about his concept of Shakti and Shaktiman in Beads of Truth, Summer 1972: "A man regardless of how great he be, if he is impotent, he will be beaten by a woman, an in and out business. That will only bring you failure, pain and frustration. Whenever you have to think about a woman, think about her 72 hours earlier than you need her. She must be raised to the optimum point. Man represents the sun, and woman is the reflection of the sun, the moon. She does not shine without the sun's light. The Shakti (woman) must be breathing through her left nostril and the Shaktiman (man) through the right. When union takes place under these circumstances and the vibratory effect of the environment is calm and quiet, in that constancy the awareness happens and man can be with God.
"When your sun aura merges with a woman of a negative moon aura, and she does it only because she feels she has to, she will suck out all your psychic energy. A man must wear underwear at all times. Even it is important when bathing, because the hot and cold water affects the testicles, and they should have support at this time. The contraction and expansion, the movement there, is very important. With your nostrils breathing, you will find the movement underneath happening too. They are interconnected. Some times the mental mind is clogged up. No physical co-habitation may take place if the environment is not secure; there is no perfect peace and you have no actually absolute success of love play. The three roots, garlic, ginger and onion, will maintain you through the time and through the age. Turmeric should also be included in your diet. When you have completed the union the man should take a warm drink of milk, honey, ginger and sesame seeds. No cold drink or a shower should be taken at least for an hour." (Yogi Bhajan: Beads of Truth, Hints to Shaktimans p 34)
For Yogi Bhajan Shaktiman is the man who is his camp follower and Shakti is the woman of 3HO. They can acquire ecstasy, awareness, calm, peace and be with God if they indulge in sexual intercourse exactly in the manner prescribed by the Maha Tantric and take the necessary recipes, starting of course 72 hours earlier. Hukam Singh, Gurcharan Singh Taura, and Mahinder Singh also visited a similar Summer Solstice a year or two later. I wonder if they tried these recipes and this thrilling short-cut to ecstasy and God. We shall be quoting more of these Kundalini techniques of achieving ecstasy and God in the next chapter.
Yogi Bhajan's Concept of Adi Shakti
When a Sikh comes to 3HO Ashram, Los Angeles, he is told that the Durga picture or even Adi Shakti as they conceive it is another name of God. They use it in their English translation of Ardasa (congregational prayer). (See Peace Lagoon p 219) The Ardasa begins: "After first worshiping the Adi Shakti, the Primal Power ..." I have already mentioned that in the Ashram hall there is a picture of Chandi which is called Adi Shakti, and even the Khanda, the double edged sword has been replaced in another picture, which was also printed on the title page of Beads of Truth, Winter Solstice 1973, by a woman's picture called Bhagvati, or Shakti. The Sikh visitors are told that a drug addict Mexican artist drew it as symbol of Adi Shakti and they are not worshiping it. But the American followers of Yogi Bhajan are asked to worship it in a particular way and for a particular purpose. This duplicity of giving one explanation to the Sikhs and another to his American followers who are told that the Indian Sikhs are all fallen Sikhs not worth their association is practiced in many spheres of their activities.
In Beads of Truth, January 1972, page 20, is printed the picture of Chandi riding a tiger, and the caption is Adi Shakti. We are giving the exact reprint of the picture. (See Figure 1 ) Alongside this picture is given the interpretation as follows:
Adi Shakti
Adi Shakti is the Mother Energy of the Universe. Adi means first and Shakti means Energy. Shakti is represented as a woman for it is from woman that we are born and it is from this Energy that the Universe is born. She has eight arms, four to bless, and four to take care of us. The Chakra is symbolic of the flow of energy, the conch shell is the infinite sound current, the lotus is sweetness, and the palm is peace. The trident is the trinity of the Creator (Generator, Organizer and Destroyer), the bow and arrow is one pointedness, the sword is Truth, and the hammer is discipline. The Maha Shakti mantra praises these 8 qualities of the great Shakti:
Gobinday, Mukanday, Udaray, Aparay Har-ing, Kar-ing, Nirnamai, Akamai
Beads of Truth Jan 1972, p 20
See Figure 2
Sacrilegious Misuse of Verse 94 and 95 of the
Jap of Guru Gobind Singh in Praise of Goddess Chandi
It is clear from the aforementioned quotations and pictures from Yogi Bhajan's Beads of Truth that:
1) Adi Shakti to him and his followers means Chandi whose picture is worshiped in the ashram and is placed side by side with those of the Sikh Gurus.
2) This Devi is praised and glorified with what Yogi Bhajan calls the Maha Shakti or Maha Tantra Ashtang mantra.
3) This Ashtang mantra or Maha Shakti mantra is nothing but verse 94 and 95 of Guru Gobind Singh's Jap which were written by Guru Gobind Singh in praise of the Supreme Being and not in praise of Chandi as alleged by Yogi Bhajan and taught to his American followers as Chandi mantra. These verses are:
Gobinde, Mukande;
Udare, Apare
Lord God, Liberator
Merciful, Infinite.
Hari-am, Kari-am
Nir-Name, A-Kame.
Destroyer, Creator,
Nameless, Desireless
Guru Gobind Singh Jap 94, 95
Yogi Bhajan and his followers as taught by him, unashamedly use these verses as Ashtang Mantra to glorify Chandi, which is an insult to Guru Gobind Singh, and his morning prayer, which is also one of the prayers used in baptism ceremony. In the first verse of Jap Sahib Guru Gobind Singh is very clear that the whole of Jap is in praise of the Almighty and infinite God and a refutation of any belief in gods and goddesses:
Marks and symbols, caste and class, Or lineage God hath none;
His form and hue, shape and garb
Cannot be described by anyone.
Immovable is His Being.
Self luminous, He shines in His splendor,
Limitless is His Power.
He is the King of kings, the Lordly Indra
Of countless Indras; the supreme Sovereign
Of the three worlds of gods, men and demons;
Nay, even the grass blades of the woodland
Say, "He is Infinite, He is Infinite."
O Lord, who can count Thy names?
Thy Names relating Thy deeds I will state,
Through Thy wisdom and grace.
Guru Gobind Singh, Jap 1
Guru Gobind Singh clearly states that he is relating the Names of the Infinite and Supreme Being, and Yogi Bhajan has arbitrarily picked up verses 94 and 95 out of this composition of 199 verses and presented them as Ashtang Mantra or Maha Shakti Mantra in praise of goddess Chandi. The fact that Yogi Bhajan can be unscrupulous enough to do such a thing is no surprise to me, but what surprises me is that the Jathedar of Akal Takhat, and the S.G.P.C. Executive have been misled by the Hukam Singh—Gurcharan Singh Taura— Mahinder Singh clique to give, as it is alleged by him, the title of Siri Singh Sahib to Yogi Bhajan about which we have to say much more in subsequent chapters.
Sacrilegious Distortion of the Khalsa Insignia: Khanda
We give below a picture of the Khalsa Insignia and its interpretation as accepted by Sikh history and tradition: (Figure 3)
"In the center of this Insignia of the Khalsa is the Two-Edged Sword which symbolizes the Creative Power of God which controls the destiny of the whole universe. It is the Sovereign Power over life and death. One edge of the Sword symbolizes divine Justice, which chastises and punishes the wicked oppressors; the other edge symbolizes Freedom, and Authority governed by moral and spiritual values. On the outside of the Two-Edged Sword we can see two swords:
1) On the left is the Sword of Spiritual Sovereignty (Piri);
2) On the right is the Sword of Political Sovereignty. There must always be a balance between the two, and this balance is emphasized by a circle inside. This circle is what is called a Chakra. The Chakra is a symbol of all embracing Divine Manifestation, including everything and wanting nothing, without beginning or end neither first nor last, timeless Absolute. It is the symbol of oneness, of Unity of Justice, Humanity and Immortality. Almost all Sikh warriors used to wear it in the eighteenth century. It is still worn by Sikh soldiers of the Sikh Regiment in the Indian army. The Chakra which was worn by the great martyr Baba Dip Singh (d 1757 A.D.) is still preserved in the sanctum sanctorium of the Akal Takhat. On it is inscribed the Mul Mantra (the Proem of Sikh Scriptures) and that is what it symbolizes."3
In Figure 4 the reader can see Yogi Bhajan's version of the Khalsa Insignia. This was printed by him in Beads of Truth, Winter Solstice 1973, both on the Title page and page 5. The Double-Edged Sword of the Khalsa Insignia has been replaced by a picture of a beautiful American woman wearing Indian Sari and robes. Yogi Bhajan's obsession with women is singular. He wishes to impose sex and women even where it is a sacrilegious act to do so. This is a typical instance. This picture also takes a place of pride in the 3HO ashram. He calls it the Jantra of his goddess Bhagvati, Chandi. He says on page 5 of this issue, "Her Jantra (defined in the footnote as mandala or the picture representing the mantra) is the two sources of God protracting you. The center of the world, it rolls on a two-edged sword of the being, the meditation and positivity. Bhagvati, the Shakti, All Shaktis, the Infinity. And every mantra must have a Jantra and this is her Jantra, that is her being, these are her feathers." The Editors in the footnote on page 5 make it clear that these are for them the inspired words of Yogi Bhajan. Yogi's speech is given alongside, in which he says, "I am told, 75,000 people in Los Angeles alone, you know who do not know how to relate to a woman, period. And there are an equal number of women who do not know how to relate to a man. I have great sympathy for perversion. When somebody hates woman, I know, it is the total solid mountain of frustration. When one hates to relate, then he becomes totally angry and he cannot relate." (Beads of Truth, Winter 1973, p 5)
For Yogi Bhajan the Khalsa Symbol is now a Juntra of his goddess Bhagvati, that is Chandi. And he unashamedly connects it with women and sex, with lust and perversion. These Maha Tantric and perverted interpretations and distortions of the Khalsa Symbols may suit Yogi Bhajan's dollar-catching postures, but it is the worst and most shameful contamination of the ideals and principles of Guru Gobind Singh. This Tantric cult adopted as a bait to American craze for the miraculous and the sensational is the antithesis of Sikhism and condemned throughout the Sikh scriptures as Sakata Mat (Creed of the Shakti Cult). Sikhs are asked by the Gurus in Adi Granth not to associate with such people and to run away from the very evil sight of people who think and act like that. It is a standing shame to the whole Sikh community that all this Tantric nonsense is being poured down the throat of innocent American seekers of Truth in the name of Sikhism, and this is being done by him after assuming the titles of Siri Singh Sahib and unacknowledged authority over the Sikhs in the Western Hemisphere.
In this very issue of Beads of Truth, one also finds flattering pictures of Sant Gurmukh Singh, Sardar Inderjeet Singh (Chairman: Punjab Sindh Bank) and that incurably corrupt Secretary of S.G.P.C, Mahinder Singh. I can imagine Mahinder Singh and his S.G.P.C. bosses, who do not know a word of English, accepting everything they are shown and given in print, and blindly compromising and overlooking all the un-Sikhlike Shakti-Cult Tantra practices, but I find it hard to believe that Sardar Inderjeet Singh, and Sant Gurmukh Singh should rally behind these people and their anti-Sikh practices.
My visit to 3HO headquarters, even though a guided tour, revealed (1) that the inner working of Yogi Bhajan's multi-faced Organization has as its core, Durga (Adi Shakti worship); (2) it has its own Shakti and Shaktiman theories which are revealed in the light of Sikhism; (3) Yogi Bhajan has made sacrilegious use of hymns of Guru Gobind Singh's Jap; and (4) he has given a sacrilegious interpretation of the Khalsa Insignia, the Khanda. All these errors are revealed in the light of factual truth about them in Sikh theology and mysticism.
1. Shakti Parwha, Ramdas Kaur, Niranjan Kaur took me to their Brass factory manufacturing beds and their Restaurant where I took tea and a delicious strawberry pastry prepared by a Japanese girl who had started working that day. And then all three ladies took me to Dr Amarjit Singh Marwah's clinic where Ms Theda Parmer was waiting for me.
3. Trilochan Singh, Turban and Sword of the Sikhs, Chap 6.


FINAL DECISION: A fascinating story of a woman breaking the mold that society and to a large extent herself. A story of second chances and breaking the mold, this story which is about "regular" people provides a viewpoint often not seen in historical romances. The romance is not the primary focus of the story but rather the heroine's personal journey.
THE STORY: Daisy Witlaw has dreams of being more than a flower shopgirl and so she decides to enter a competition where the winner will get funds to support a new business. She knows that the judges will never choose her as the winner, but when the man from her recent past offers to help her refine her presentation, she agrees. Crash loved Daisy but when he realized that his unsavory connections were an embarrassment to her their short romance ended. Now the two are working together and perhaps getting to understand themselves and one another better.
OPINION: I found this little story fascinating because of Daisy's struggle with discrimination and her own mental limitations because of society's view of her place. Her desire for more, for something different, for her hopes and dreams was a good story. I also liked how Crash supports her and helps her to break that final barrier. Why only four stars then? For me, the romance was lacking. It was more an intellectual romance that a deeply emotional one. I prefer romances that delve into the emotional connection between the characters. In this novella, the story is more Daisy's personal journey with the romance as a part of that journey but not the focus. I enjoyed the novella and it is a good addition to the Worth series as it ties up these secondary characters' stories.
CONNECTED BOOKS: HER EVERY WISH is book 1.5 in The Worth Saga. It can be read as a standalone.
STAR RATING: I give this novella 4 stars.
This entry was posted in Reviews and tagged Courtney Milan, Historical, Worth Saga by Sheila. Bookmark the permalink.


text:
Uber: Two top executives leave in leadership 'reshuffle'
AFP Uber's chief operating officer and chief marketing officer have stepped down following a leadership reshuffle at the ride-hailing app. The decision comes nearly a month after a shaky start to Uber's listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Uber then posted a $1bn loss last month, despite strong revenue growth. Rebecca Messina - who joined as head of marketing nine months ago - has also stepped aside, with marketing operations set to be combined with Uber's policy and communications and policy team, led by Jill Hazelbaker. "It's a double-edged sword for him, because it's going to put that much more pressure on the success of Uber riding on his shoulders."
Make a complaint about Uber by viewing their customer service contacts.


Choix de: Hühnerfleisch ou Schweinefleisch.
Choix de: mit Cheeeeesy im Rand, mit Ananas, mit Bolognesesauce, mit Broccoli, mit Champignons et plus.
Choix de: mit Rigatoni, mit Spaghetti, mit Tagliatelle ou mit Tortellini.
Choix de: mit Essig und Öl, mit hausgemachtem Dressing ou ohne Dressing.
Every dish is served with a noodle type of your choice.
Choix de: mit BBQ-Sauce, mit Currysauce ou ohne Sauce.
All meat dishes are either chicken or pork and are served with fried potatoes and a salad.
All dishes are served with fried potatoes and a salad.
Choix de: mit Knoblauchsauce, mit Kräutersauce ou ohne Sauce .


I looooove fur hats as well! I'm totally with you... a big russian fur hat it is! :) I've been looking for the perfect vintage one.
So have you gotten your Russian hat yet? You must post a pic when you do!
How did you know??!! I got it yesterday at H & M. Pic coming soon!


The University of Edinburgh has a commitment to promote and facilitate the conduct of research ethics and integrity. Information about this commitment is available from the College's research ethics framework web page which provides additional information on other policies and advice.
The College of Science and Engineering has adopted the UK Research Integrity Office's Code of Practice for Research and the Concordat to Support Research Integrity, embedding those in School-specific policies. The College has developed a Research Ethics and Integrity framework that suits its disciplines.
In practice, the seven academic Schools are responsible for implementing those guidelines at a local level. Please see the College's Research Ethics and Integrity website for more information.The College also provides an on line ethics and integrity training programme.
In line with this Research ethics framework the School of GeoSciences attaches great importance to addressing the ethical implications of all research activities carried out by its members, be they undergraduates, postgraduates or academic members of staff. Attention to the ethical and legal implications of research for researchers, research subjects, sponsors and collaborators is an intrinsic part of good research practice.
The School has an Ethics Assessment Form (Part 1: the First Pass Assessment and Part 2: the Ethics Assessment form) and two sets of Ethics Guidance Notes (for Self Assessment and a Full Ethics Assessment) to help researchers anticipate issues that might arise in their research. Beyond the form, the school policy on research ethics emphasises improving ethical awareness as part of a broader collaborative commitment to cultivating professional research training. For example, undergraduate and postgraduate students undertaking ethics reviews of their research proposals are supported by class-based discussions of ethics and/or mentoring from their supervisors. Similarly, academic members of staff can use the Ethics Committee as a sounding board and resource for their applications. And, of course, all researchers have access to this web information, which seeks to provide details on ethics background and procedure, as well as access to relevant forms. This pro-active approach is designed to anticipate and offset problems and heighten awareness of ethical issues at the very outset of the research design process.
The School Ethics process requires you to complete an Ethics Assessment Form and refer to the one or both sets of Ethics Guidance Notes for further information. If your research involves human subjects or is work in sensitive environments it is likely that you will be required to fill out the assessment as a Full Ethical Assessment.
To whom do these Procedures apply?
The School ethics procedures apply to any person in the School of GeoSciences who conducts advanced research, and includes academics, emeritus staff, teaching staff, undergraduate honours students, postgraduates (Masters and PhD), visiting or adjunct scholars, fellows and chairs, paid and unpaid research associates and assistants, whether acting as a principal investigator, a junior collaborator or in some other capacity.


text:
People from Hammersmith, London, England:
More Birth Place Choices
Alfie Evan Allen
Hammersmith, London, England, UK
TV series Game of Thrones. Movie The Other Boleyn Girl
Caroline Bliss
Caroli Gatehouse
Movies The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill. Role of Miss Moneypenny
Educated Rapper
The Brainiac
Group UTFO. Song Roxanne, Roxanne
Frederick Samson Robert Morice Fox
Movie The Riot Club
actor, hall of fame
Hugh John Mungo Grant
Movies The Rewrite, Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral, About a Boy, Music and Lyrics, Love Actually, Bridget Jones's Diary, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. London Avenue of Stars.
singer, tv
Lily Rose Beatrice Allen
Songs Smile, LDN. Album Alright, Still. Hosts her own BBC Three talk TV show Lily Allen and Friends
actor, singer, producer, hall of fame
Roger Harry Daltrey
Pisces ♓ - the Fish - people born February 20 through March 20
Band The Who. TV show Rude Awakening. Kennedy Center Honors 2008. Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame 2003. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 1990 as a member of The Who.
UK Music Hall of Fame 2005 as a member of The Who.
Rosamund Mary Elizabeth Pike
Movies Gone Girl, Die Another Day, Fracture, Pride & Prejudice, Jack Reacher, Doom, The Big Year, A Private War. Role of Bond Girl Miranda Frost in movie Die Another Day
actor, writer, producer, comedy
Sacha Noam Baron Cohen
husband of
Older than Isla Fisher by 4 years.
Last name is Baron Cohen. Movie Borat
Sophia Crawford
stunts, actor, martial arts
Sophia Matilda Crawford
Stunt double for Buffy and others involving martial arts. TV Series Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
actor, Broadway
Toby Edward Heslewood Jones
Height 5' 5". Voice role of Dobby in movies Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. TV series Wayward Pines. Movies The Man Who Knew Infinity, The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Snow White and the Huntsman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Finding Neverland
Edward Thomas Hardy
TV miniseries Band of Brothers. Movies The Revenant, Inception, Warrior, Lawless, The Dark Knight Rises


text:
Bonnie Castillo is the executive director of National Nurses United and of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee. Castillo also held the positions of CNA/NNOC director of government relations and NNU director of health and safety. She has been with CNA/NNOC for almost two decades in a number of capacities, working her way up into the leadership of the organization from her early days as a registered nurse member who helped to unionize her facility, to staff and then lead organizer, to a director, and now to her current position as executive director. Castillo was named to the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world for the year 2020. In January 2021, Castillo was named to The Nation annual honor roll, which recognizes progressive activists and leaders who helped keep hope alive and set the groundwork for transformational change in 2021.

References

1960 births
American women nurses
American trade union leaders
Living people
National Nurses United
American nurses
American women trade unionists
California State University, Sacramento alumni
21st-century American women

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Looking for a USED Profile Minter?
Farley Laserlab is a world leader in the fields of CNC plasma cutting, oxy cutting, laser cutting and drilling machines. Farley Laserlab have been supplying CNC laser and plasma cutting machines to the industry for over 30 years.
Looking to Purchase a New FARLEY LASERLAB Profile Minter?
Procurement Centre (Thailand) Co., Ltd.


text:
Q: How do object-relational databases store their data? Relational databases store information in the form of related tables. I assume that, in turn, object-relational databases may also store information in the form of tables with an additional binary data field, that stores the entire object. Such an approach will allow both making quick selections and obtaining ready-made objects without the need to construct them.
Can someone explain how data is stored in object-relational databases?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Steve Turner will present works by Jonas Lund, Camilo Restrepo, Rafaël Rozendaal, Michael Staniak and Yung Jake when it exhibits at the CODE Art Fair for the first time.
Jonas Lund will present an illuminated digital painting from his New Now series. Lund programmed an algorithm that analyzed hundreds of images of his past paintings to generate new optimized content. Printed on fluorescent plexiglass and back-lit by LED frames, they represent several years of Lund's research into the factors that make a work successful.
Camilo Restrepo will present a large-scale drawing that is inspired by his lifelong proximity to the epicenter of drug-related violence in Colombia. A Land Reform 9 is comprised of individual sheets of paper that were torn from the artist's drawing book, crudely taped together, drawn upon in ink and water-soluble pigments; damaged by violent streams of water; and then reconfigured, repaired and reworked. The drawing is covered in collaged newspaper clippings and cartoon-like characters that are based on the aliases of narco traffickers as reported daily in Colombian newspapers.
Rafaël Rozendaal will present two lenticular paintings. Rozendaal first rose to prominence when he created websites that functioned solely as works of art. These websites, which reside somewhere between painting and animation, could only be acquired by collectors if they agreed to host them. Seeking to extend the imagery of his websites, Rozendaal began making lenticular paintings that appear static when seen from a fixed point, yet become animated revealing new colors and dimensions when a viewer moves.
Michael Staniak will present a painting that appears to be digitally printed but is actually created entirely by hand. He drew gestures similar to those one might make while using a touchscreen device into casting compound and then painted luminous shades of green, blue and yellow to create the illusion of a flat surface that glows like a computer screen.
Yung Jake will present a new painting that consists of found metal fused with a powder-coated steel panel on which he has both painted and printed symbols of his online and offline worlds. The central image is a 3D-rendered twisted Fiji Water that relates to the artist's interest in contemporary lifestyle and branding, social interactions and consumption habits.
Jonas Lund (born 1984, Linköping, Sweden) creates paintings, sculpture, installations and new media works that utilize data from his studies of art world trends and behavior. He earned an MA at Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam (2013) and a BFA at Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam (2009). He had solo exhibitions at Showroom MAMA, Rotterdam (2013) and Steve Turner (2014, 2015) and has had work included in numerous group exhibitions including at Eyebeam, New York; New Museum, New York, The Moving Museum, Istanbul; and Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven.
Camilo Restrepo (born 1973, Medellín, Colombia), earned an MFA from CalArts (2013) and a masters degree in aesthetics from the National University of Colombia (2008). He has had three solo shows at Steve Turner (2013, 2014 & 2015); ARCO Madrid (2015); Untitled, Miami Beach (2013); Galería Santa Fe, Bogotá (2011); Casa Tres Patios, Medellín (2010); Galería de la Oficina, Medellín (2010) and LA Galería, Bogotá (2009). In 2010, Restrepo was nominated for the Premio Luis Caballero, the most important prize in Colombia for artists over 35.
Rafaël Rozendaal (born 1980, Amsterdam) has had solo exhibitions at Steve Turner, Los Angeles (2012, 2014 & 2016); Spencer Brownstone, New York (2010), TSCA Gallery, Tokyo (2010 & 2016), Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam (2010) and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2006). His works were presented on a dozen screens in Times Square (2015); on the world's largest LED screen in Seoul Square (2012, curated by Lauren Cornell) and have been included in the Internet Pavillion at the Venice Biennial (2009) and the Valencia Biennial (2005). He also participated in Maps for the 21st Century at the DLD Conference in Munich (2012, curated by Johannes Fricke & Hans Ulrich Obrist).
Michael Staniak (born 1982, Melbourne) earned a BFA and an MFA from the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne. He has had solo exhibitions at Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis (2015); Annarumma Gallery, Naples (2015); and Steve Turner, Los Angeles (2014 & 2015). His work has been included in group shows at The Moving Museum, Istanbul (2014) and Kunsthalle Vienna (2014 & 2015). The Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis will publish a monograph later this year.
Established on the Internet in 2011, Yung Jake earned a BFA at CalArts in 2012. He is best known for his rap videos that integrate the worlds of hip-hop, technology, social media and contemporary art. Datamosh (2011) parodied the trend in music video of datamoshing (a digital technique that distorts images) while playing to a contemporary digital art audience. In E.m-bed.de/d (2012), he commented on the pursuit of Internet fame. Since 2014, Yung Jake has developed a series of paintings that combine the permanence of steel with the ephemerality of new media. Yung Jake has had three solo shows with Steve Turner (2014, 2016) and a solo project at Art Berlin Contemporary (2014) and Art Brussels (2016). His work has been screened at Sundance (2013) and he has performed in Los Angeles at the Hammer Museum and REDCAT (2013); Museum of Contemporary Art (2014), J. Paul Getty Museum (2015) and in New York at MoMA (2016). He will have a solo exhibition at Zona Maco, Mexico City in 2017.


Great product for customers who prefer to purchase from a lab that is controlled and governed by official Canadian standards.
Testosterone Propionate was the first steroid to be synthesized, and it remains the gold standard of all steroids. Test Prop is one of the more popular testosterone forms used the world over and one of the more popular anabolic androgenic steroids of all time. Through its use the individual can expect to see increases in lean tissue and strength, decreased body fat due to improved metabolic function as well as a greater ability for healing and recovery.


I was on prozac for 12 yrs and found out it was madee with fluoride and quit.
I have been medication free for 6 months now but gained 35 pounds and have all the classic hypothyroid symptoms with immense dry brittle hair, hair loss, sensitive to hot and cold, and extreme fatigue. I have not gone to a Dr yet because My dr only prescribes synthroid.
I have a reverse osmosis water filter and use fluoride free toothpaste for about 3 months now and am on a nonsugar, nonflour diet with 1 hr cardio exercise a day plus long walks and have not lost a single pound.
I even contemplated going back on prozac to lose the weight. I ordered nutrimeds porcine thyroid and gradually upped my dose to 4 a day. I have crazy hot flashes so i dont know if that means its working?
Please refer to Iodine Pills which sets out the amount of iodine to be taken either in the liquid Lugols form or the pill form called Iodoral> or perhap Iodine Supplements where I have made comments on all the various types of supplementation and detoxification products I have used.
I suggest you also review Mercury Detox which lists various natural products you can use for detoxification.
Keep me informed how you do. OK?


text:
https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/James-Walker-Bound-A-senior-with-disabilities-13772366.php
James Walker: Bound? A senior with disabilities heads west
By James Walker
Published 9:05 pm EDT, Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Photo: Catherine Avalone / Hearst Connecticut Media
Every now and then, I like to write about a guy with a disability who lives in Seymour and draws attention to the difficulty people with disabilities have getting around trying to live a normal life.
But it appears this is the last time I will write about Joseph Luciano. The Seymour resident informed me some weeks ago he was trying to get into a community where people with disabilities are not daily challenged to accomplish simple things.
And on Tuesday, he made it official. He is leaving Wednesday morning and flying to Rapid City, S.D., where he will live in a community designed for people with disabilities and be near his children and grandchildren.
"My sons live in Rapid City, just minutes from my 'Galaxy' ADA apartment for senior disabled," he said. "I will see grandchildren I never saw before."
As it is with Joe, his leaving is bittersweet for me.
I am happy he is going someplace where life will be easier for him and his wife and he will be closer to other family members.
But for me, the eight years Joe lived in Seymour is a grim reminder what it is like to be stricken with a disability and then handicapped by a law that intends high morality and compassion but in reality takes decades to come into compliance.
I don't know why I chose Joe to highlight the challenges that people with disabilities face. I think it is because despite having a stroke and being confined to a wheelchair, he continued to fight the good fight for the State of Connecticut to honor the Americans with Disabilities Act.
I just liked his spunk, his can-do attitude. His refusal to let a left hook from life keep him out of the ring.
He is me in a wheelchair: fiery in his beliefs with his dukes up to defend his equal rights as an American.
A trained musician, he was a pianist who had played classical music and jazz in concerts 25 times a year before a stroke took his left hand.
And he was inspiring as he led the charge from his wheelchair, a solitary figure firing off photos and letters to show the barriers he faced on a daily basis to politicians, advocates and media.
He has been, to put it politely, a pain in the butt — and I can't say he hasn't made me and probably many others grit our teeth.
But he was an underdog fighting back and he did get some things done, such as changes to the entryway into his apartment complex to make it easier to access.
"And I am leaving an apartment with a kitchen that is accessible for people (who) like to cook," he said. Joe said his advocacy led to lower counters and grill range, along with grab bars, among other changes.
And it is those little changes that can make a big difference.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 19 percent of the residents in Connecticut have some type of disability. Ten percent of them have serious mobility issues and a little more than 6 percent are unable to shop or visit the doctor's office on their own.
So for Joe, it wasn't just about him, even though he says he never got the support he needed.
"Some neighbors love me; some loved to hate and mock me (even Seymour police)," he wrote in an email. "Except for some members of the Center for Disability Rights (in West Haven) that included chief advocate & executive director Marc Anthony Galluci Esq., nobody ever got behind me."
Joe's struggle leads to many questions about our society and our allegiance to those hit with a life-changing medical event that could befall any of us as we grow older. Exactly what do we want and expect from society? What are our responsibilities as a people?
The CDC reports that among other things, people with disabilities feel like they're ignored and made to feel like they're slowing people down.
But in researching this column, I found the No. 1 "want" from people with disabilities is for other people to stop feeling like they need to be pitied or that life is impossible for them to enjoy or succeed in their goals.
It isn't their disability that is impossible to them but our inability to provide what they need to have a successful life within that disability. Maybe the answer is to design more accessible livable communities for people with disabilities and representatives that will help make that happen.
Joe's situation is a lot better than many of our citizens who have disabilities here in Connecticut. He has been hell on wheels but even wheels go flat and sometimes a patch job won't do.
He said he is "retiring from advocacy" because it will no longer be necessary in his new home. Instead, he intends to use his time to mentor music students and attend more church services.
So long, Joe. You didn't get all you wanted but you sure let them know, you were here.
Bound? A senior with disabilities heads west.
Brookfield restaurant resolves ADA dispute


… you come upon a rusty steel treasure along the old road, the somewhat famous and almost twin steel bridges, that cross the natural channel of the Verdigris, which is now called Bird Creek. The first of these steel "twins" was built in 1936, the second was added in 1957 to handle the increase in traffic. The newer of the bridges (which ironically, appeared more rusty at the time of my visit in 2008) is a few feet wider. So, maybe they're just brothers, not twins.
By the way, my picture was taken after I crossed the bridge, meaning I was looking eastbound. Traffic moves quickly through this straight stretch of 4-lane, so use caution if you stop to admire the old structures.
The McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System abruptly ends at the Port of Catoosa, just north of the Route 66 bridges that cross the Verdigris River. The Port of Catoosa is one of the most inland ocean port in the United States (and as far as I can tell, the most inland ice-freeport). The McCKARNS runs for 445 miles, connecting Catoosa to the Gulf of Mexico, and the rest of the water-covered world.
Before the first of these two steel bridges were built across the Verdigris River in 1936, Old Route 66 crossed the river just to the north. A fragment of the old road crosses the new one, just west of the twin bridges. If you're fanatical about following every inch of the old alignment, get a good guidebook–but keep in mind, the 4-lane OK 66 was also once designated as an official alignment of Route 66.
Exactly one mile beyond the twin bridges, you'll find another famous icon of the old road: the Catoosa Whale. The giant concrete structure stands in the middle of a small lake.
… and right up to the smiling mouth of the Catoosa Blue Whale.
There are different accounts of how the Blue Whale came into existence, but the one posted on the Oklahoma Route 66 Association's website appears most reliable. Back in the early 1970's, Hugh and Zelta Davis developed a pond on their property into a water park. When the kids demanded some sort of jumping platform, Hugh came up with the idea of the whale, but kept the plans a secret from his wife. He spent nearly $2,000 building the Blue Whale, and went through 126 sacks of concrete. Once it was all done, he presented his creation to Zelta on their wedding anniversary. Their roadside business closed in 1980; the whale started showing its age and the grounds grew wild. But the community wouldn't think of letting their local landmark fade away. Volunteers (even the governor) have shown up on numerous occasions to restore the whale, keeping it coated with paint, and even sprucing up the area surrounding the lake, making a nice park.
There's a hidden area inside the whale's head! Climb up a ladder, and you can crawl around inside this "attic" space, peering out the tiny windows that surround the whale's head. Instantly, I was at least 20 years younger.
And I didn't just feel like a kid again, I felt like I was back in the 1970's. The Catoosa Blue Whale is something that would never be built today. I'm not saying it's unsafe, I'm saying it's 1970's safe. Kids in the 70's survived unharmed, even without bicycle helmets and knee pads, and even though they rode in the front seat of a car with no airbags. Likewise, some uncovered steel rebar, rickety wood floors, and ladders without railings wouldn't have killed them, either. Yes, the whale is plenty safe, thank you very much.
After playing around in the head of the whale for a few minutes, some other people arrived at the park, and I decided I'd better start acting like an adult again.
Once you climb down from the head, you can walk out to the whale's tail, and climb up onto what once served as a diving platform (swimming is no longer allowed at this swimming hole).
The view from the tail is great, but it is a little dizzying standing here, on a small platform, surrounded by water, with no railings. Darn it! I'm back in the 21st century again, worrying about things that could go wrong.
… since both genders have their own likeness of the whale.
If you're seeking out Will Rogers plaques along the old road, you'll find one here at the Blue Whale. The sign tells of Fort Spunky, a mail relay station that once stood nearby, serving the Old Star mail route before the Civil War. The Catoosa Post Office was founded after the war, with an uncle of Will Rogers serving as postmaster.


text:
Alien: Isolation DLC Safe Haven introduces the "Salvage Challenge"
By Andy Chalk
The good news in Save Haven, the third Alien: Isolation DLC pack that launched today on Steam, is that you've found the one safe room on Sevastopol Station. The bad news is that you can't stay there. Such is life for Hughes, the Sevastopol Communications Manager and new playable character, who must navigate the perils of the "Salvage Challenge" if he wants to get out alive.
Things, inevitably, gets worse: The new Salvage mode map is twice as large as any previous Survivor mode map, and you'll have to complete a series of ten tasks in order to clear a path to escape. Best of all, you only get one life, and if you blow it, you're returned to your last saved challenge, with your final score and position on the leaderboards penalized accordingly. Completing challenges unlocks rewards and points, and those points can be traded for a save slot, but again, your score will suffer.
Safe Haven is the third of five planned DLC packs for Alien: Isolation, which as you'll recall is a pretty good game—and by "pretty good," I mean "Game of the Year" around these parts. It goes for $8 on Steam, and is also available as part of the Alien: Isolation season pass.
Andy Chalk
Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.
I'm instantly hooked on this colony sim where you build a town on the ocean
The Day Before developers now say the launch delay was planned before the Steam takedown