The basic idea of string theory is that all fundamental particles are not really pointlike, but rather tiny vibrating strings. We only perceive them as pointlike because we are with our current technology too far away to see that they are actually string.
Different particles correspond to different vibration modes. In this sense the hope is to understand the observed spectrum of elementary particles.
Ron Maimon, What is a brief formulation of string theory?
www.superstringtheory.com - "The official String Theory website"
String theory, for vacua with non-compact dimensions, 'predicts' gravity and at least one neutral scalar, the dilaton, antisymmetric tensors of different ranks and usually also charged matter, and supersymmetry (see for instance ). A Comment on Continuous Spin Representations of the Poincar´e Group and Perturbative String Theory by Anamarıa Font et. al.
The need to accommodate handedness in the weak interaction thus becomes an acid test of all putative theories of everything. The Application of this test to superstring theory produced a remarkable result. The original twenty-six-dimensional string theory was unique: the string was a featureless line wiggling around in twenty-six-dimensional space. But the transformation of the twenty-six dimensional string into the ten-dimensional string with supersymmetry is far from unique; the sixteen dimensions rolled up in the internal structure of the string can be rolled up in an enormous number of ways. This is a matter of straightforward geometry, just as it was for the rolling up of the extra dimensions of eleven dimensional supergravity theories to get the required four-dimensional world. If the aim is to find a unique theory of everything, in the form of a special ten-dimensional string theory preferred to all others, this abundance of possibilities does not look promising. But at this point came the second great advance of 1984. Of all the possible ten-dimensional string theories. Green and Schwarz Were able to find only one that could accommodate handedness in the interactions without breaking down. This seemingly unique theory was given the cryptic designation SO(32), which arose from the mathematicians' enumeration scheme for all the geometrical ways of rolling up sixteen of the twenty-six dimensions of the original string to get a ten-dimensional superstring. For the happy result that out of all the mathematically possible super string theories only one had the capacity for handedness, physi cists could only thank, once again, the gods of mathematics. It Was a striking faa, all the more striking for being quite inexplicable. There was no reason why a theory of formerly twenty-six dimensional strings wrapped into ten dimensions and incorporating supersymmetry in a certain specific way should turn out to be the only theory possible. The whole thing was a gift to physics from the world of pure mathematics, an answer to Einstein's Desire to know whether "God had any choice in the creation ofthe world." The answer, it seemed, was. No: God had to use theSO(32) string in ten dimensions, just like the rest of us. This moment of perfea fulfillment was sadly brief. A little later,a second string theory, the equally cryptic Eg x Eg, was also found to be able to accommodate handedness, thereby passing the same acid test. There was a story going around physics departments at the time that Richard Feynman had been quite enamored of string theory when he heard about Schwarz's and Green's result,but that when he heard that two such theories were possible he consigned the whole enterprise to the growing junk heap of would-be theories of everything. Despite Feynman's skepticism,however, string theories have not proliferated. For most physicists it remains an astonishing fact, impossible to ignore, that an elementary application of geometrical laws should selea only two theories from the multitude of possibilities. When so remarkable a result comes with such unanticipated force into the minds of theoretical physicists, must we not accept that something out of the ordinary has been discovered? How can superstring theory not be the foundation for a theory of everything? At this point, however, the difficulties of the "top-down"approach to doing physics can no longer be skirted. We should review briefly what has brought us to this juncture in theoretical physics. The demi-uniqueness of string theories arises from the application of general principles: any string theory is free of infinities of the sort that have to be "renormalized" away in quantum electrodynamics and the other point-particle quantum theories; of string theories, only the twenty-six-dimensional one is free of faster-han-light phenomena; this theory contains only bosons,but can be reduced to a ten-dimensional superstring theory that contains both fermions and bosons, related by supersymmetry;this reduction can be be done in an enormous number of ways>but of all these only the SO(32) and Eg x Eg ten-dimensional strings successfully accommodate interactions with handedness.Finally, superstring theories contain bosons with two units of spin, which can be identified with gravitons, allowing the possibility of a connection to a quantum theory of gravity and thence to a classical theory of gravity resembling general relativity. These are all desirable and perhaps essential characteristics, qualities that any theory of everything must, at a minimum, possess. But where's the real physics in this? Where are the quarks and electrons; the strong, weak, and electromagnetic interactions; the slight asymmetry between matter and antimatter that fills our universe with protons but keeps antiprotons out? What is missing, so far, is a precise account of how the ten-dimensional superstring, the presumed basis of a theory of everything, reproduces the world we see around us.
The superstring theory is ten-dimensional but must, of course,be brought down to four dimensions before we can make use ofit. Six dimensions therefore have to be rolled up into a small,compact, concealed geometry. We are getting used to this, and it comes as no surprise to learn that there are ways of doing it. But There are lots of ways of doing it. There is nothing in any part of string theory, so far as anyone knows, that makes a four-dimensional world special: the superstring itself is quite happy living in ten dimensions, and left to its own devices would stay there; it can be "compactified''—that is, six of its dimensions can be rolled up to yield an apparently four-dimensional world—but it could just as easily be compactified to make a three-dimensional world,or an eight-dimensional world. Superstring theory does not naturally make a four-dimensional world; physicists have to compel it to do so. And even after so compelling it, they find that there are tens of thousands of ways of rolling up six dimensions, with nothing to suggest one way over another. Here again, so far as we know, physicists have to do the choosing.
Next problem: superstring theory contains, in the form of string vibrations, lots of particles, which will eventually be identified with the quarks and the gluons, the neutrinos, the electron and muon, the photon and W and Z and Higgs bosons, and so on. But All the superstring particles are, in their pristine form, massless.We know how to give mass to massless particles, of course; that is what the Higgs mechanism is for. So mass can be provided where it is needed, and used to break the supersymmetry of the supe string so that fermions and bosons do not all come out in identical pairs. Then the Higgs mechanism must be used again, to break the symmetry between the strong and the electroweak interactions,and again to break the symmetry between the weak and electromagnetic interactions. Finally, there will emerge the world we want, the world we happen to find ourselves in.
4one to get from there to here, from ten-dimensional perfect symmetry to four-dimensional confusion, must be done by the physicists. The superstring theory itself is silent on that issue; it does not say how it should be broken up and disguised to meet your particular needs. Superstring theory may be a perfect, unique creation, a singular piece of mathematics. But it contains, appar ently, the makings of a million different imperfect worlds, all equally possible. So far, physicists have no idea what specific ornamentation must be added to superstring theory to create the real world, let alone why that ornamentation rather than some other is preferred by nature.


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Home / Cricket / Shubman Gill equals Babar Azam's record of most ru..
Shubman Gill equals Babar Azam's record of most runs in 3 matches ODI series
Gill's 112-run innings in Indore matched Pakistan skipper Babar Azam's record for the most number of runs in a three-match ODI series
Shubman Gill playing an ODI for India earlier this year. (Image Credits: Twitter/BCCI)
By Kshitij Ojha | Jan 24, 2023 | 2 Min Read
Shubman Gill continued his blistering run with his fourth ODI century in the series' third match against New Zealand on Tuesday. Gill is already the top-scoring hitter in the three-match assignment, having scored 208 and 40 not out in the first two games. Gill's 112-run innings in Indore matched Pakistan skipper Babar Azam's record for the most number of runs in a three-match ODI series.
During a 212-run opening partnership at almost eight runs per over, India appeared to be on track for the first 500 ODI runs. Two double-centuries in innings didn't seem out of the question either, with Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill reaching their hundreds in the 26th over. However, once the slower balls began to grip, New Zealand's bowlers improved their analysis, allowing India to score 173 for 8 in the final 24 overs.
Read more: SA20: Squads and broadcasting details for the inaugural season
Only the 2nd batter to achieve the feat
Until he was surpassed by the young India opener, Babar held the record for scoring the most runs (360) in a three-match ODI series. Gill needed 113 runs to break the Pakistan legend's record, but he was out for 112. From the other end of the pitch, India skipper Rohit Sharma provided unwavering support to Gill, the opening batter. Rohit, who hadn't struck an ODI tonne in three years, also surpassed the three-figure mark with his 30th ODI hundred. However, Rohit was unable to continue his trek and had to return to 101.
What may have aided New Zealand's return was that India's entering batters attempted to bat in a way that would do honour to the start, taking risks that the slowed-down pitch may not have warranted. For Rohit and Gill, the first 26 minutes flew by. By that point, they'd hit 22 fours and 10 sixes. When they batted, they noticed that the pitch was too flat, the ground was too narrow, and the outfield was too rapid. Mis-hits flew for sixes, as they flicked from outside off and hit sixes without even hitting the pitch of the ball. The majority of the shots, though, were perfectly timed.
The 23-year-old Gill is only the second hitter in ODI history to score more than 350 runs in a three-match series. Following Gill on the list are Imrul Kayes of Bangladesh (349), Quinton de Kock of South Africa (342), and Martin Guptill of New Zealand (330). Gill appeared to be on track for another double-hundred, but his stay did not last long after the triple-digit score was reached. Blair Tickner dismissed the opener for 112 off 78 balls. However, by the time both Rohit and Gill had left, India had comfortably scored over 200 runs.
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VIRGINIA BEACH — Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story will participate in the annual anti-terrorism force protection exercise Citadel Shield-Solid Curtain 2019 Feb. 4-15.
CS/SC 19 is conducted by Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces and Commander, Navy Installations Command on all continental United States Navy installations.
The annual exercise is designed to enhance the readiness of Navy security forces and ensure seamless interoperability among the commands, other services, and agency partners, according to a news release from the Navy.
Exercise CS/SC 19 is not in response to any specific threat, but is a regularly scheduled exercise, the Navy said.
Residents in the vicinity of JEBLCFS may see increased military activity and possible traffic and pedestrian congestion associated with the exercise.
In addition, residents may hear increased use of the installations emergency announcing system associated with the exercise.
Measures have been taken to minimize disruptions within local communities and to normal base operations, but there may be times when the exercise causes increased traffic around bases or delays in base access.
Advanced coordination has taken place with local law enforcement and first responders.
The Navy is still in the process of determining the times of the exercises taking place, they said.


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Diese Tabelle zeigt den Medaillenspiegel der Leichtathletik-Weltmeisterschaften 2003 in Paris. Die Platzierungen sind nach der Anzahl der gewonnenen Goldmedaillen sortiert, gefolgt von der Anzahl der Silber- und Bronzemedaillen (lexikographische Ordnung). Weisen zwei oder mehr Länder eine identische Medaillenbilanz auf, werden sie alphabetisch geordnet auf dem gleichen Rang geführt.

2003
Medaillenspiegel

fr:Championnats du monde d'athlétisme 2001/Tableau des médailles

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


After reading about little-visited Great Basin National Park in the SouthWest Airlines magazine, Vanessa and I set out to drive there from Arizona for a hike. We went on a two-day hike through Baker and Johnson lakes, and then a day-hike to Wheeler Glacier before heading home through Bryce Canyon National Park.
Enroute to Great Basin, via the Joshua Trees, and Las Vegas and Pioche, NV.
The overnight hike to Baker and Johnson Lakes.
We stayed in a hotel in Baker, NV with some cliff swallows then went on a day hike into Wheeler Glacier.
Driving through Bryce Canyon and the really cool Cottonwood Canyon in the Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monument.


Yupo paper is fun to try with watercolor and ink as the paint will make very interesting textures while drying on that type of paper, that makes it ideal to start a painting with an abstract background.
You can paint directly on the Yupo paper or mount it on board before painting. I chose to mount it on board.
I basically used the same technique I use when mounted regular watercolor paper on board, click here to see how to mount watercolor paper on board.
The paper is mounted on the board with gel medium.
Once the medium had time to dry (about one day), trim the sides of the board with a cutter.
You should get a very neat surface ready to be painted on.
Brush the paint to spread it all over the yupo paper.
Your background will look something like this once dry.
Now, relax and look at the background and try to see recognizable shapes that fit what you would like to paint. Here I wanted to paint flowers, so I am looking for blooms and leaves shapes. Outline the shapes you see with a graphite pencil. Graphite works well on Yupo paper and produces a very crisp line.
If you are painting flowers, try to connect a few of them with stems and add a few leaves.
Paint all the negative space with white acrylic and let dry.
Adding designs with markers, pen and ink.
Then you can start to add details to the shapes you have left with color, here with a Sharpie white oil marker.
Graphite works so well on Yupo paper that you can also use it to add designs and patterns.
You can also paint on top of those designs, here with diluted ink.
Graphite can be used to color the area.
Have you tried mixed media on yupo paper, did you like it?


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Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, THE
FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, THE(director: Anthony Mann; screenwriters: Ben Barzman/Basilio Franchina/Philip Yordan; cinematographer: Robert Krasker; editor: Robert Lawrence; cast: Sophia Loren (Lucilla), Stephen Boyd (Livius), Alec Guinness (Marcus Aurelius), Christopher Plummer (Commodus), James Mason (Timonides), Anthony Quayle (Verulus), John Ireland (Ballomar), Mel Ferrer (Cleander), Omar Sharif (Sohamus), Andrew Keir (Polybius); Runtime: 187; Samuel Bronston; 1964)
"An above average epic, whose main drawback is the three hours it takes to span the Roman history of the second century."
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
An above average epic, whose main drawback is the three hours it takes to span the Roman history of the second century. Yet the length of the film will prove to be somewhat of an advantage as the slow development of the story draws out the inner workings of how the Empire politically operated, and this couldn't have been done as effectively if it was shortened too much.
Anthony Mann picked up a copy of Edward Gibbon's "The Decline of the Roman Empire" in a London bookshop and went to producer Samuel Bronston and told him this would make a swell picture. The two collaborated on another epic "El Cid" with very satisfactory results, so Bronston gave the green light for the project. The script was given an intelligent treatment especially through the efforts of screenwriter Philip Yordan, who wisely emphasized the political intrigues going on behind the throne. Will Durant was called in as a consultant to make this story as accurate as possible for a Hollywood film. One can appreciate that this version of the Roman Empire is a more salutary one than most others, including the recently released "Gladiator." The only problem was a financial one for the producer, as the fickle public was too tired of seeing epics and failed to provide this film with the box office clout it needed to meet costs. The result was that this film virtually put Bronston out of business as a producer, he didn't return to producing until 1971.
The story starts with the current Caesar, Marcus Aurelius (Alex Guiness), who is in poor health and is waiting to die. He chooses as his successor his victorious general from his campaign in the North, against the Barbarians, Livius (Stephen Boyd), instead of his wayward son, Commodus (Plummer). Livius has some doubts about taking this responsible job and talks to Caesar and then to Commodus about his concerns. But some inner circle members of Marcus's court decide that it's time to put the philosopher emperor to sleep for good. They get the blind Cleander (Mel Ferrer) to feed the poison half of an apple to Caesar. The inner circle feels relieved to have one of their own kind, Commodus, take the throne. He is someone who will keep them entrenched in power. But Commodus is devastated that his father didn't choose him to be emperor and so once on the throne he decides to ignore all of his father's plans to reform the Roman Empire and obtain peace with the East and with the North, the only two factions in the world that are not under the rule of the Roman Empire.
As the picture starts, a narrator mentions there are two things that are important to note about the Roman Empire: Its rise and its fall. He goes on to say that there is not one single reason it rose or fell, but there were many causes–it was not so much an event as a process taking place over a long period of time. The film will take you up to the beginning of the fall leaving you with the understanding that the Empire fell because it lost its integrity, that the army and the crown could be bought with gold and that the people didn't believe in its principles anymore. The film makes some glaring attempts to compare the Roman Empire with the modern world and its current problems.
This magnificent film is truly a big-budget spectacle, shot in Ultra-Panavision. It is entertaining in spots, though suffering overall from too many tedious scenes that go on for far too long. It suffers the fate of most epics, its story and characterizations are too sweeping and generalized and they can't provide an intimacy that is needed. But what is even more fatal is that it fails to live up to the mythic proportions required to tell such a story, that despite all the splendor invested in its production the film still feels top heavy and too literate.
Christopher Plummer is a grand villain. His evil is cloaked in ordinary human desires and a display of egomania. A slight curling smile that creases his lips and slowly widens when he is made the next Caesar says it all, as he will lead his subjects down a path of wanton destruction. James Mason as Timonides, the adviser to Marcus Aurelius and then to Livius, is the voice of hope. He's an ex-slave, a Greek, who is now a teacher and a scholar. His call for peace and brotherhood pits him against the forces of Commodus. Mason, as usual, gives a solid performance.
The reason Commodus was not selected by his father is because of his evil nature and that he's a party animal, loving the gladiator games more than anything else. His father's words prove to be prescient, as his doubts about him as a leader are proven to be correct. Commodus turns out to be a ruthless despot, not understanding his father's desire for a new Rome of peace and for the Empire to incorporate people of diverse backgrounds and of all colors into it. Because of his foolish actions he causes an uprising against his rule, which will lead eventually to the fall of Rome at the hands of the Barbarians.
Lucilla (Sophia Loren) is the sister he could never get along with. She is hopelessly in love with Livius. But before her father was poisoned he arranged for her a loveless political marriage with the king of Armenia (Omar), so Rome could have an ally in the East. She obediently followed his wishes, and spends most of the film pining for the love of Livius. Their love story and Livius' duel with Commodus, provide the film with its Hollywood touches.
What impressed me most about the epic was that in showing the Empire in all its pomp and riches, there is still a restraint as it casts a light on the Empire's tired pragmatism and lack of imagination. It is truly an Empire dying from within due to its decadence and cancerous turmoil and constant warfare, and we can feel this in the penetrating action scenes and in the colorful sets.
REVIEWED ON 7/4/2000 GRADE: B
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ
SHEBA, BABY
CORRUPTED, THE
Copyright 2019 - Dennis Schwartz Reviews


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Unplanned pregnancy and subsequent psychological distress in partnered women: a cross-sectional study of the role of relationship quality and wider social support
Katherine Barton1,
Maggie Redshaw2,
Maria A. Quigley2 &
Claire Carson ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5490-699X2
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth volume 17, Article number: 44 (2017) Cite this article
Research into the impact of unintended pregnancy on the wellbeing of women tends to focus on pregnancies ending in either termination or lone motherhood. Unintended pregnancy is common in partnered women, but little is known about the association between unintended pregnancy and postpartum affective disorders, such as depression and anxiety in this group. Poor relationship quality and lack of social support are considered risk factors for psychological distress (PD). We examined the association between unplanned motherhood and subsequent PD in partnered women, for whom evidence is sparse, accounting for the role of relationship quality and social support.
Data for 12,462 partnered mothers were drawn from the first survey of Millennium Cohort Study, completed at 9 months postpartum. Women reported whether their baby was planned, and how they felt when they discovered that they were pregnant. Pregnancy intention is categorised as "planned", "unplanned/happy", "unplanned/ambivalent" and "unplanned/unhappy". PD was assessed using the modified 9-item Rutter Malaise Inventory. Social support was measured by a composite score for perceived support, and a measure of actual support from friends and family. Relationship quality was assessed using a modified Golombok-Rust Inventory of Marital State. The effect of pregnancy intention on the odds of PD at 9 months was estimated, adjusting for potential confounding factors. All analyses were weighted for response and design effects.
In total 32.8%(weighted) (4343/12462) of mothers reported an unplanned pregnancy: 23.3 wt% (3087) of mothers felt happy, 3.5 wt% (475) ambivalent, and 6.0 wt% (781) unhappy upon discovery. Unplanned pregnancy was associated with a significantly increased odds of PD compared to planned (OR 1.73 (95%CI: 1.53, 1.95)). This was more pronounced among women who reported negative or ambivalent feelings in early pregnancy (OR 2.72 (95%CI:2.17, 3.41) and 2.56 (95%CI:1.95, 3.34), respectively), than those who reported positive feelings (OR 1.39 (95%CI:1.21, 1.60)). Adjustment for relationship quality, in particular, reduced odds of PD after unplanned pregnancy (e.g. from 2.19 (95%C: 1.74, 2.74) to 1.63 (95% CI: 1.29, 2.07 in the unplanned, unhappy group compared to the planned).
A third of partnered mothers reported that their pregnancy was unintended, yet this group is under-researched. Unplanned motherhood was associated with increased risk of PD at 9 months postpartum, particularly among women who felt unhappy or ambivalent at the start. The roles of relationship quality and social support require further investigation, as possible means to intervene and improve maternal wellbeing.
Definitions of pregnancy intention are used interchangeably and are often subjective. "Unplanned" is a widely applied term attributed to a variety of circumstances of pregnancy.[1] Unplanned pregnancies can be broken down by varying degrees of pregnancy intention (e.g. mistimed versus unwanted conceptions) or by the mother's emotional reaction to the pregnancy (e.g. happy, ambivalent or unhappy).[2, 3] For this reason, newer measures of pregnancy intention attempt to capture the complex nature of this concept by treating planning status as a continuum.[1] Unplanned pregnancy is common worldwide; it is estimated that approximately 30 million births occurred globally after unplanned pregnancy in 2012.[4] Such pregnancies can result in adverse health outcomes for both mother and child [5, 6].
Although unplanned pregnancy is often associated single motherhood, prevalence is high among women who are cohabiting or married. The US National Survey of Family Growth found that in 2006–2010, approximately 23% of pregnancies occurring in marriage were unplanned, as were approximately 51% of those occurring amongst cohabiting mothers [2]. Similarly, the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles in Great Britain found that approximately 5% and 18% of married and cohabiting mothers respectively, described their pregnancy as unplanned [7], and a further 19% of married mothers and 34% of cohabiting mothers stated that they felt "ambivalent" about their pregnancy [7]. These results highlight that unplanned pregnancy occurs in a substantial number of married/cohabiting couples in the developed world.
At the population level in the UK, teen mothers constitute a small minority of all pregnancies [8], and a greater number of women in their late 20s and 30s become mothers after an unplanned pregnancy than do teenagers.[7] Despite this, research into the impact of unplanned pregnancy among partnered and non-teen mothers is sparse. Some researchers have examined the progression of unplanned pregnancies in mixed populations of both partnered and single mothers. [5, 6] As a result, short-term sequelae of such pregnancies, such as later presentation for prenatal care [6], are assumed to be common among both partnered and single mothers. However, the lack of research into partnered mothers specifically, means that the manner in which unplanned pregnancies progress in this population is not well understood. Given the impact that lone parenthood has on women's wellbeing, any effect of unplanned parenthood in partnered women is likely to be masked in an analysis that combines single and partnered women. Postpartum mental health is an example of one such area in which research is lacking among partnered mothers. There is little evidence available as to if and how an unplanned pregnancy may affect the mental health of partnered women in the first year after giving birth.
Psychological distress (PD) can be defined as a state of emotional suffering characterised by symptoms of depression and anxiety,[9] and may encompass depression, anxiety and low mood. Maternal depression and anxiety are known to have negative consequences for the mother, family relationships,[10] and her child,[11] and are an important facet of postpartum health. It could be hypothesised that the disruption to life caused by an unplanned conception carried to live delivery may increase likelihood of PD. However, evidence for any such association remains equivocal, [12, 13] particularly in partnered women.
Maternal wellbeing may be influenced by her own characteristics (education, age, socioeconomic status) [14] as well as her experience of pregnancy and birth (such as emergency delivery, or preterm birth) [15]. In addition, adverse health behaviours such as smoking and alcohol are more prevalent among women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy [7], and are associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms.
Mothers reporting unplanned pregnancy may also experience poorer quality relationships with partners, and may receive lower levels of social support relative to those who planned their pregnancy.[5, 16] Higher levels of marital conflict and lower participation of the child's father in childcare are reported, for example.[5] A survey of German mothers found those reporting the lowest levels of social support in the first trimester also had the lowest proportion of pregnancies described as planned at this time point.[16] Factors associated with poor relationship quality and low levels of social support have each been shown previously to be significantly associated with risk of depressive symptoms postpartum.[17–19] Furthermore, lack of support from family and friends has been shown to act as a link between stressful life events and depression/anxiety postpartum.[20] It could thus be hypothesised that poorer relationship quality and lower levels of social support will influence the relationship between unplanned pregnancy and PD.
Using data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, this study examines the relationship between unplanned pregnancy in partnered mothers and PD at 9 months postpartum, taking into account the influence of key covariates including relationship quality and social support.
Millennium cohort study
The Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) is a nationally representative UK-based prospective cohort study tracking the lives of infants born to 18,552 families between 2000 and 2002. The first survey was conducted when the index child was 9 months old, on average. The MCS used Electoral Wards as the primary sampling unit and was stratified by country, and by level of deprivation. In England the wards were stratified by ethnic minority population (wards with >25% Black or Minority Ethnic group make up this stratum), by deprivation (poorest 25% wards by child poverty index make up the deprived stratum, while all other wards are considered advantaged stratum). In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland only deprivation was used for stratification. Within each of the selected wards, families or carers of a random sample of children from the child benefit register were contacted. [21, 22]. The response rate was 82%, and 99% of main respondents were the birth mother of the cohort baby. Interviews gathered data on circumstances of pregnancy and birth, sociodemographic characteristics of the family and parents' psychological adjustment to the presence of a new child. Analyses were restricted to natural mothers of the cohort child who were married or cohabiting with a partner at the birth of their child and at 9 months postpartum, and who had complete data available on pregnancy planning, outcome and key covariates.
Pregnancy intention
Pregnancy intention was assessed in two ways – all analyses were completed using maternal report of pregnancy planning (planned/unplanned) as the main exposure. Next mother's stated pregnancy intention and her self-reported feelings when she found out she was pregnant were combined in order to place her into a category of intention status as follows: "Planned" (stated the pregnancy was planned); "unplanned, happy" (stated the pregnancy was a surprise and recalled being happy/very happy upon discovery of pregnancy); "unplanned, ambivalent" (stated the pregnancy was unplanned and they "were not bothered either way") and "unplanned, unhappy" (stated the pregnancy was a surprise and recalled being unhappy/very unhappy upon discovery of pregnancy).
Measures of psychological distress, relationship quality and social support
Maternal psychological distress (PD) was assessed using the 9-item modified version of the Rutter Malaise Inventory [23, 24], where a score of ≥4 indicated the participant was exhibiting symptoms of PD. Items include questions such as: "Do you often feel miserable and depressed?", "Do you often get into a violent rage?", "Do you often get worried about things?", and were answered yes or no. The scale has been used in a number of cohort studies, and was developed to achieve a reliability (Cronbach's alpha) of at least 0.70 [24].
Relationship quality was assessed using a modified 7 item version of the Golombok Rust Inventory of Marital State (GRIMS) score [24, 25], which includes questions on different aspects of the partnership (e.g. "my husband/partner doesn't listen to me", "my husband/partner is usually sensitive to and aware of my needs", "we can always make up quickly after an argument") assessed on a 5-point Likert scale (strongly agree to strongly disagree) and summed to produce an overall score (Cronbach's alpha 0.85). Those who responded "can't say" or "don't know" to any item were excluded.
Perceived social support was assessed using several questions in the survey, where mothers were asked to indicate on a 5 point likert scale if they agreed or disagreed with the following statements: "There are other parents I can talk to about my experiences", "I have no one to share my feelings with" (emotional support) and "If I had financial problems, I know my family would help if they could" (practical support availability). Social contact (as a proxy for support) was evidenced in ('Sees friends or family once a week or more', answered 'yes/no') and was analysed as a binary variable.
The characteristics of the different pregnancy intention groups were described and compared using chi-squared tests. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of PD at 9 months postpartum in mothers reporting unplanned pregnancies relative to planned pregnancies, controlling for potential confounders. Variables were adjusted for in several stages due to the large number of potential confounders, as follows:
Sociodemographic Variables: Maternal age (years), Education level (highest level of academic or vocational education, equivalent to National Vocational Qualifications: degree or higher (NVQ 4/5), school qualifications at 18 (NVQ 3), school qualifications at end of compulsory schooling (NVQ1/2), none or overseas qualifications only), ethnicity (Black and Minority Ethnic group/not BME), household socioeconomic status (highest National Statistics Socioeconomic Classification, according to current or last known job of woman and her partner, and grouped as Professional/Managerial, Intermediate, Routine/Manual, long-term unemployed and never-worked).
Pregnancy-Related Variables: Firstborn child, smoked during pregnancy (none/gave up/kept smoking), gestation at which pregnancy was confirmed (weeks), preterm birth (<37weeks), delivery method (normal vaginal/instrumental/planned c-section/emergency c-section), multiple birth.
Relationship quality (measured as described above).
Social support (measured as described above).
At each stage, variables were included in the final model if they were associated with the outcome (p < 0.05), after adjustment for all other variables in that model. The final model comprised those that were significant in each of the 4 separate models. All analyses were completed using STATA 14.0 [19], first examining the effect of pregnancy planning (planned/unplanned) and then of intention (planned/happy/ambivalent/unhappy). Geographical clustering and disproportionate stratification of the sample included in MCS permitted adequate representation of all four UK countries, disadvantaged areas and areas of England with a higher population of ethnic minorities [21] (20). Descriptive and logistic regression analyses used weights to account for the stratified clustered nature of the data and non-response [22] (21). Reported percentages means, odd ratios and confidence intervals are weighted, and frequencies are unweighted.
Characteristics of partnered mothers reporting unintended pregnancy
12,462 partnered women were included in the analysis; the characteristics of the study population are shown in Table 1. 33% of mothers reported their pregnancy as unplanned (23% reported a positive response to the pregnancy, 6% reported a negative response, and 4% reported ambivalence). Compared to the planned pregnancies, mothers reporting unplanned pregnancy tended to be younger, of lower SES and had fewer qualifications. A smaller proportion of women in the unplanned group were first time mothers, and a higher proportion smoked prior to pregnancy and did not give up cigarettes while pregnant. Women reporting an unplanned pregnancy were also less likely to be married and, on average, had a lower relationship quality score and poorer support, than the mothers reporting a planned pregnancy.
Table 1 Characteristics of partnered mothers, according to pregnancy intention. True counts and weighted proportions and means are shown
When the unplanned pregnancy group were divided by their response to finding out about their pregnancy, there were distinct differences between the groups. A greater proportion of those who reported that they were happy when they found out they were expecting a baby were first time mothers (43.7%, compared to 28.8% in ambivalent and 24.1% in unhappy groups). They were also more likely to be in the highest SES group, and to have higher qualifications, than the women who reported feeling ambivalent or unhappy (although not as high as the planned group, see Table 1). The mothers in the ambivalent group were the youngest, on average, and had the lowest SES and educational attainment. This group also had the highest proportion of BME women, and the lowest proportion of married women. Among the women who reported that their pregnancy was unplanned, more of those who reported feeling unhappy were pregnant with a second or subsequent child.
The unplanned, ambivalent and unplanned, unhappy groups were more likely to report poor social support, and more limited social contact than the planned group. The ambivalent and unhappy groups also had lower relationship quality scores at 9 months post-partum.
Pregnancy intention and psychological distress at 9 months postpartum
The prevalence of psychological distress (PD) at 9 months was 11.6% overall. The prevalence was lowest in the mothers reporting a planned pregnancy (9.6%), and increased in the unplanned groups, from 13.0% in those who reported a positive reaction when they found out that they were pregnant, to 21.4% in those who reported ambivalent feelings, and 22.4% in those who reported negative feelings.
The unadjusted analysis suggests that compared to the planned group, women who experienced an unplanned pregnancy were 1.73 (95%CI: 1.53, 1.95) times more likely to exhibit signs of PD at 9 months post-partum (see Table 2). The association was most pronounced among those who had a negative response when they found out they were pregnant (OR 2.72 (95%CI: 2.17, 3.41)). After adjusting for confounding of socioeconomic, demographic and pregnancy-related factors, the association was reduced but remained significant in all groups. Odds of PD at 9 months for those women reporting unplanned pregnancies were 1.47 (1.30, 1.66) times those of women who described their pregnancy as planned. The odds of PD were highest in those reporting being unhappy about their pregnancy, at 2.19 (95%CI: 1.74, 2.74).
Table 2 The association between pregnancy intention and subsequent psychological distress in partnered women, OR (95% Confidence Interval)
The role of relationship quality and wider social support
Adjustment for relationship quality and perceived social support reduced the OR further. The association between pregnancy intention and PD was no longer statistically significant in the unplanned, happy group (ORadj 1.13 (95%CI: 0.97, 1.32), but remained significant in the ambivalent and unhappy groups, who were around 1.5 times more likely to experience PD at 9 months than the planned group, even after adjusting for the effect of relationship quality and social support.
Previous research has reported prevalence of unplanned pregnancy in new mothers in the UK to be 41% [26]. Here we find that even when restricting to partnered mothers, approximately 1 in 3 report their pregnancy as unplanned (23% reported positive feelings about the unplanned pregnancy, 4% ambivalent feeling and 6% had a negative response). Consistent with previous research, mothers reporting unplanned pregnancies tended to be in more disadvantaged groups and to report lower levels of relationship quality and social support. In many cases, these effects were particularly pronounced in those reporting ambivalent or negative feelings about their unplanned pregnancy.
There was a clear increased risk of psychological distress (PD) at 9 months postpartum after unplanned pregnancy that remained after adjustment for confounders, and the effect was more marked for the mothers who reported feeling ambivalent or negative when they realised that they were pregnant, than for those who felt happy or very happy at that time. Analysis of the roles of relationship quality and levels of wider social support suggest that these factors play an important role in the association between pregnancy intention and later symptoms of psychological distress.
Pregnancy intention and psychological distress
Unplanned pregnancy among partnered mothers was associated with an increased risk of PD at 9 months postpartum, relative to a planned pregnancy: OR 1.22, 1.96 and 2.19 for "unplanned/positive", "unplanned/ambivalent" and "unplanned/negative" groups, respectively, after adjustment for sociodemographic, economic and pregnancy-related factors. This is consistent with the existing literature [12, 14]. The stress associated with the transition into parenthood [14] may be exacerbated in cases of unplanned pregnancy by factors relating to socioeconomic position, such as the increased financial pressures of a new child, and psychological readiness for motherhood. Little research exists to examine the impact of unplanned pregnancy on the lives of partnered mothers, specifically. Single motherhood is strongly associated with reporting a pregnancy as unintended or mistimed [7], and so in studies that include both single and partnered women the substantial impact of lone parenting on women's wellbeing can mask more subtle effects. Findings of the present study demonstrate that a strong association remains between unplanned pregnancy and PD, even after the effects of single motherhood are removed.
Relationship quality
Among partnered mothers, factors such as postpartum marital closeness [17], partner support and occurrence of interpersonal violence [19] are significantly associated with risk of depressive symptoms in the postpartum period, demonstrating the importance of a good quality relationship to the mental health of partnered mothers. Adjustment for relationship quality reduced the odds of PD, suggesting that this plays a significant role in the association between unplanned pregnancy and development of PD. As well as practical assistance, a stable relationship may increase resilience and aid the mother's development of coping mechanisms in the transition to an unplanned parenthood. Unplanned pregnancy may have a detrimental impact on the quality of the partner relationship, increasing the risk of psychological distress in this group.
Research into the roles of perceived and actual support after unplanned pregnancy is limited. In this study population, women who described their pregnancy as unplanned reported lower levels of perceived support and less frequent contact with friends and family, particularly in the case of those reporting ambivalent or negative feelings around their unplanned pregnancy. Adjustment for perceived support reduced the odds of PD after unplanned pregnancy, further emphasising the potential role it plays in the association between the unplanned pregnancy and PD. Perceived support is well-established as a major predictive factor for postpartum affective disorders, but literature on actual support is less consistent [19]. However, its buffering role has been demonstrated in a range of high-stress contexts [10]. Such support may decrease feelings of isolation and reduce the impact of stressful events on an individual's life [27].
Few studies to date have examined the impact of unplanned pregnancy on subsequent wellbeing in partnered mothers, a group who represent a significant proportion of all unplanned pregnancies. Use of the MCS population provides a large sample of women who had a baby after an unplanned pregnancy, and permits generalisation of findings to partnered mothers across the UK. Key potential confounding factors were included in the analysis.
A number of limitations must be considered. Retrospective ascertainment of pregnancy intention may be affected by post-hoc rationalization [28]. However, it has been reported that collecting data on pregnancy intention in this way does not affect estimates of either number or consequences of unintended births [29]. We analysed women who reported feeling happy about their unplanned pregnancy separately from those who said that they felt negative or ambivalent when they realised that they were pregnant, to explore the impact that underlying desire for a child may have on PD after an unplanned conception. However, this classification was based on asking mothers to recall their emotional response which may be affected by current mood or depressive symptoms. To mitigate against the potential impact of current mood, we also analysed all 'unplanned' pregnancies together, which did not take feelings about the pregnancy into account – and the significant association with PD was evident. While the data used here are approximately 15 years old, unplanned pregnancy remains a common occurrence in the UK. Cultural changes around single parenthood may (perhaps) have influenced the impact of an unplanned pregnancy for single women since the data were collected, but it is difficult to see what societal changes will have altered the psychological impact unintended motherhood among partnered women. We therefore believe these results continue to be generalizable to partnered women.
MCS used a slightly modified version of the GRIMS questions to assess relationship quality, offering an option of "can't say" as a response which was not part of the original instrument design. The <1.5% of women who responded in this way were coded to 'missing' for the individual components of GRIMS; 6% of women were excluded because they had one or more items missing for the GRIMS. If this response is associated with negative outcomes, then we may have underestimated the prevalence of poor relationship quality. This would serve to underestimate any observed effect between pregnancy intention and PD.
The data analysed here are cross-sectional and therefore represent a snapshot of the study participants' lives when their babies were 9 months old, on average. As a consequence, these results apply to women's wellbeing at around 9 month postpartum and associations between pregnancy intention and PD at different times may vary. Past history of psychiatric illness is a risk factor for postpartum depression [10]. Depending on the timing of previous episodes, a prior history of psychiatric disorders might affect the intention to get pregnant, or consistency of contraceptive use [30], well as social support and relationship quality during pregnancy and after delivery. The majority of couples who were married or cohabiting at the birth of their child remained in these groups at 9 months, there were insufficient numbers to assess the impact of changing relationship status (e.g. cohabiting to married). Data were not available to allow us to assess the quality of partner relationship or mental health prior to or during pregnancy, so we could not investigate this further.
Relationship quality and social support were treated and interpreted here as confounding factors. However, this could be a simplification of the complex inter-relationships between psychological wellbeing, relationship quality, social support and pregnancy intention. It could be postulated that relationship quality and social support in fact act as mediating or moderating factors in this relationship, given that each has been previously shown to be associated with reporting a pregnancy as unplanned and with PD postpartum [5, 16–19]. The exact roles of relationship quality and social support in this association thus require further research in order to disentangle these complex relationships and determine their specific pathways at work.
The present study found that partnered mothers reporting unplanned pregnancies represent a large proportion of all births and are at a significantly increased risk of PD at 9 months postpartum. This group also tend to report poorer relationship quality and lower levels of social support, both of which appear to drive the observed association but do not fully explain it. The effect is more marked among women who reported a negative or ambivalent response to finding out they were pregnant. Further research into the role of relationship quality and social support is needed to confirm their role in the development of PD in this group. Women who experience an unplanned pregnancy, even in a stable partnership, may benefit from more post-natal follow-up, particularly if they have limited support.
BME:
Black or Minority Ethnic group
GRIMS:
Golombok Rust Inventory of Marital State
MCS:
NVQ:
National Vocational Qualification
Odds ratio
Psychological Distress
SES:
wt%:
Weighted percentage
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The authors would like to acknowledge the MCS team for collecting and providing data for use in this study, and thank the families who participated in MCS.
CC is funded by an MRC Career Development Award.
Our study was a secondary analysis of publicly available Millennium Cohort Study datasets that had been deposited in the UK Data Archive (https://www.ukdataservice.ac.uk/). Further information on the MCS, including the original questionnaires, is available from the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at the Institute of Education (http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/).
The study was conceived by CC and KB. KB conducted the initial data analysis, with support from CC. KB, CC, MR and MAQ all had input into the interpretation and presentation of results. KB drafted the initial manuscript. All authors read the drafts, offered revisions and approved the final manuscript.
Our study was a secondary analysis of MCS datasets, and so no further ethical approval was required. Ethical approval to conduct the original study was granted by the South West (MREC/01/6/19), London (MREC/03/2/022), London (05/MRE02/46) and Northern/Yorkshire (07/MRE03/32) Multi-Centre Medical Research Ethics Committees.
MSc student, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Old Road Campus, Oxford, OX3 7LF, UK
Katherine Barton
National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Old Road Campus, Oxford, OX3 7LF, UK
Maggie Redshaw, Maria A. Quigley & Claire Carson
Maggie Redshaw
Maria A. Quigley
Claire Carson
Correspondence to Claire Carson.
Barton, K., Redshaw, M., Quigley, M.A. et al. Unplanned pregnancy and subsequent psychological distress in partnered women: a cross-sectional study of the role of relationship quality and wider social support. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 17, 44 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-017-1223-x
Unintended pregnancy


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Leroy Howard Parker Sr.
Leroy Howard Parker Sr. died unexpectedly Jan. 18, 2010, at his home in Waldoboro. He was born Dec. 1, 1965, in Rockland, a son of Howard and Sarah Parker. Leroy grew up in Waldoboro and attended local schools. He owned and operated Riverside Builders in Waldoboro. He worked at Bath Iron Works for seven years, many of which he was a lead man. He also enjoyed lobstering with his father-in-law, Keith Simmons. ...
Leroy Howard Parker Sr. died unexpectedly Jan. 18, 2010, at his home in Waldoboro.
He was born Dec. 1, 1965, in Rockland, a son of Howard and Sarah Parker.
Leroy grew up in Waldoboro and attended local schools.
He owned and operated Riverside Builders in Waldoboro. He worked at Bath Iron Works for seven years, many of which he was a lead man. He also enjoyed lobstering with his father-in-law, Keith Simmons.
Leroy enjoyed hunting, fishing and gardening as well as other outdoor activities. He was very proud of the 8-point, 246-pound deer he shot. He had a passion for woodworking. He was creative and with his artistic abilities, he made one-of-a kind coffee tables and many other one-of-a-kind items. He would use his wood burning skills to create beautiful designs on tabletops, cabinets and various other projects. He also enjoyed building clam hods and birdhouses.
Leroy had three children whom he absolutely adored. He also had two stepchildren who he considered as his own; in fact he was so close with Kaylee she called him Daddy Roy.
One of his favorite things to do was spend time with his dog Allee. She was his pride and joy, his confidant, and his best friend.
He was predeceased by his son, Johnathan H. Parker, and his mother, Sarah Hoch Parker.
He is survived by his wife, Karena Parker of Waldoboro; his son, Leroy H. Parker Jr. of St. George; his daughter, Bridget Parker and her fiancee, Lyle Morris, of St. George; his stepchildren, Desiree Reed of Waldoboro and Kaylee Reed of Waldoboro; his grandchildren, Ahlivia Morris of St. George and Garrett Prior of St. George; his sister, Mary Collamore and her husband, Clint, of Waldoboro; his brother, George Parker and his wife, Pam, of Fairfield; his father, Howard Parker of Waldoboro; his niece, Katie Collamore of Waldoboro; his nephew, C.J. Collamore of Warren; and his dog.
A celebration of his life will be held at 1 p.m., Monday, Jan. 25 at Hall Funeral Home, 949 Main St. in Waldoboro.
Arrangements are with the Hall Funeral Home in Waldoboro.
Local restaurants semifinalists for James Beard awards
Music Reviews: Marillion's 'Holidays in Eden' expanded
Farolyn A. Young notice


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Law Enforcement Source: Officer Involved Shooting At CenturyLink Center
Greg Atoms
centurylink center, facebook
UPDATE: A law enforcement source tells KEEL News that the situation revolves around an officer involved shooting. The source indicated that the police are investigating a death at the CenturyLink Center.
The Louisiana State Police released a statement this afternoon that indicated there was a struggle between a suspect and a Bossier City Police Officer. Their statement reads:
"The officer made contact with the subject and a struggle occurred. During the altercation, the subject was shot."
The State Police also say the incident stemmed from a carjacking in the CenturyLink Center parking lot. Witnesses say they saw a Bossier City work truck smashed in one of the parking lots when police had sectioned off the area as a crime scene.
Original Story: A large police presence has been at the CenturyLink Center for most of the afternoon. Whatever is happening started just before 1 pm and is continuing at the moment. The entire parking lot is seemingly being marked as a crime scene. From the road, lookers on can see what appears to be a city truck crashed into a tree as well as a large number of Bossier City Police, Bossier Parish Sheriff's Deputies, State Police and emergency vehicles. At this time, no official statement on what is happening has been released.
However, KEEL has been told by multiple sources that the incident is related to a high speed chase and possible officer involved shooting. What we're hearing through anonymous tips is that a suspect allegedly wrecked a stolen vehicle and attempted to steal another. We're also hearing that during the attempt to steal a second vehicle, the alleged suspect and police had an altercation resulting in the suspect being shot and wounded.
Again, those reports are unconfirmed by Bossier City Police or any other agency on scene. At this time, KEEL is waiting for an official statement from law enforcement involved in the incident.
This is a developing story and we will keep you posted with updates as we get them.
Filed Under: bossier city, Bossier City Police, Crime, shooting


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We're slightly over the halfway point in Rise of the Tomb Raider, which means, if TR2013 is any indication, that it's about time for things to start to get supernatural and weird. The game does not—spoilers!—disappoint.
When we return to Lara in the archive tunnels beneath the Cathedral, we find her staring into a dark tunnel, remarking to herself that "I don't know what I've gotten myself into here. Something else dwells in the darkness." As Lara proceeds, there are weird screams and noises coming from below. She starts to gag on "That smell… burned alive." (Well, that's something to look out for, then.) One of the burned men is still alive, and after scaring the crap out of me, he begs for death. (Okay, dude. I shoot him—nothing good can come of leaving him alive, since he's not going to be rescued by Trinity, and I'm pretty sure he's going to die anyway, if the eyeless guy from the train station is any indication.) Lara asks, "Who could have done this?" A deep, echoing voice that isn't understandable booms something incoherent, and Lara asks, "What the hell is that?" (Pretty sure the answer is "the Deathless" and the language is either Byzantine or unearthly.)
Lara then spots jars of Greek Fire and wonders if "they can still burn." (Of course they can. And since that's the only way forward…) They explode, clearing the path. Beyond, Lara finds another journal from Decius (a Byzantine follower of the Prophet) which explicitly connects the Vatican with Trinity, saying that "the Knights of the Order of Trinity…have come to silence the Prophet—to quell his blasphemy and eradicate our movement." Evil Vatican minions—my favorite.
There are jars of Greek Fire everywhere in the next chamber, and hooks on the ceiling for Lara to swing from. This makes me extremely nervous. I can't help but feel that I'm going to have to use them to kill some nasty somethings. I don't like nasty somethings. There are also baskets of health berries. That does not help to make me feel any better. As Lara skirts the room, she begins to approach an altar and a cutscene takes over.
On the altar is a twelve-sided artifact that seems to be glowing from the inside. Lara looks up at the hole in the roof and the massive storm outside. She picks up the Atlas (seriously? Didn't you ever watch Indiana Jones, girl?), just as a grenade bounces across the floor. (Oh, so I'm going to have to kill Trinity. Better than some scary creepy things.) Two rooms of Trinity soldiers, then a long cave-like tunnel down into the water (dear god, more water… although at least since I've gotten to the geothermal valley I'm no longer nearly as concerned about hypothermia).
When she surfaces, there is a Trinity soldier who says, "Freeze! Hand over the Atlas," immediately before being run through by a sword and falling—with his fuel tanks—on top of Lara and sending her to the bottom. She shoves him off, grabs his re-breather (yay! I now have a rebreather!), and continues on. The water above her is now on fire (so of course she can't go back up to see what it was that ran him through), so she has to proceed through the flooded tunnels underwater until she comes to an exit.
In the next chamber, as Lara approaches one of the exits, the shadow of a Trinity soldier appears, and then he's skewered by something, which backs away. (That's not creepy at all. So why, exactly, have I decided to go where the bad things happened? No idea, but I am.) There are Trinity, but nothing else. There's also a ceiling trap, just like the ones back in Syria, which I'd forgotten about, so I may have actually yelled "Shit!" out loud. Or maybe that was just Lara.
Lara has to knock down a statue of the Prophet in order to exit (that seems… blasphemous). When she does, some really creepy armored Byzantine guys show up, and one of them gestures toward her in a way that very clearly says "kill her," although he totally sounds like Jabba the Hut, so I'm having a really hard time taking it seriously. Time to run, jump, swing, etc. As she's leaving, Jonah (yep, Jonah, who she'd left on the side of the mountain with explicit instructions not to come after her… even though we all knew he was going to anyway) radios her, asking, "Lara! Lara are you up there?" and is very excited that she's still alive, laughing and calling her "Little bird! You're alive! I knew it!" Jacob's people found Jonah "half-dead out on the tundra" and brought him in.
Below the cliff where Lara emerges is one of the tombs that required the re-breather, which Lara now has, so of course I'm going to go there first.
Well, this tomb is… different. There is a whirlpool and pumping water from something that alternates between grates–the Byzantine water (naturally) version of that stupid piston trap that's in every science fiction movie ever and fire trap in every Indiana Jones movie. Across that is a Base Camp [Whirlpool Sanctuary], a "scrollcase, inlaid with ivory and gems" that has been used to store herbs. There's also a trap on the way out.
Inside, she finds a journal from a citizen of Kitezh: "The dead choke the rivers. Our children's blood is spilled on the valley floor. We live, but with what? Our city entombed? Our sons and daughters murdered? Is it courage to go on, or madness? Those who fell know peace, now. When will we?" The despair here resonates–the stories of refugees coming out of war-torn countries: Syria, especially, making the origins of the Remnants all the more poignant in the aftermath of American resistance to Syrian refugees (something not yet in the mainstream media when the game was in production, although it was being talked about in Europe), but also Darfur, the Sudan, Nigeria, Iraq, Palestine. Syria, too, has been at war for years, although the debates raging among governors, presidents, prime ministers, and senators now, with the Presidential election on the horizon, has that nation's name, above all others, on the minds of American and European citizens.
The "tomb" is a bathhouse, but Lara notices that there are "So many dead. What happened here? No other sign of violence…" There is another journal, from a woman, who says that "We cannot leave our children to rot beneath the sun, but there are too many graves to dig, and the earth is hard." Does this mean they put them in a flooded bathhouse? (Yes) The codex here is on mountaineering, which will let Lara speed up her climbing.
Oddly, I feel a little bad about leaving the bathhouse dry… like I've violated a grave, which is marginally insane, since I'm playing TOMB RAIDER for the love of Pete, of COURSE I'm violating graves. That's the whole premise behind the game. But I can't cut the ropes I put up, so I have no choice.
Since I'm taking my time meeting Jacob, Jonah, and Sofia, all of them radio me to make sure I'm still alive and remind me what I'm supposed to me doing. It's okay, guys, I got this. I know how games work.
As Lara runs up the hill, there is a group of Remnants praying in Greek at a gravesite. One of them is a man holding an infant. I don't speak Greek (and the game doesn't translate: "Agios a Theos…Agios profe'te's… Agios athanatos… eleison imas"), but it sounds like a prayer to God (I recognize "eleison" from Catholic church). It almost seems as though the child's mother is the one being buried, but I couldn't tell you why that occurs to me. Either way, the scene is moving in the same way that the journal in the bathhouse was moving–this is a depiction of the consequences of war, the consequences of religious extremism and intolerance, families torn apart, people dying, people grieving… It's this last that is most often left out of games; we see people killed, and then their bodies disappear cleanly into the digital ground or lay about for us to loot or even kick (to play with their ragdoll physics), but we rarely see the aftermath of all that death for the living, in the same way that our movies and even our news media focus on the gore and the cold, brutal statistics, but don't often show us the aftermath unless it's of our own soldiers, brought home in boxes covered with sanitary flags. I have a good deal of respect for this game for taking the time to remind us that war is about terror and grief as much as it is blood and violence.
We left Lara last staring into a hole in the side of a mountain staircase with the ominous warning from Jacob that it is crawling…


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FUTURE [Will the trend continue? Integral by 2050?] »
CHALLENGES [Can the forces of push/pull help us let go of our resistance to developing to Integral and Spiritual consciousness?]
It sounds so easy; we just ride the stage escalator to Integral and Spiritual – to peace and happiness. Actually, like the birth of a child, the birth of a new stage requires blood, sweat and tears.
Today we have terrorism, famine, AIDS, genocide, war, racists, judgmental fundamentalists, greedy executives, avaricious corporations, environmental rape, global warming, huge wealth inequalities, angry gangs and poverty even in rich countries — as well as angry tree huggers, social activists, and anti-globalists.
Globalization itself, which I suggest will increase global wealth and help reduce these problems, causes enormous disruptions and changes: lost jobs in America; the inner turmoil in values when a Chinese peasant moves to a city; the sense of betrayal and frustration of the Islamic middle east; or the use of modern technology to murder tribal rivals or even blackmail the world.
The Pull and Push Forces that can help the transition.
Change always incurs pain and stress. People do not let go of their established ideas or positions easily. It took centuries of blood for democracy to replace autocracy in Europe. But there are some forces that can help with the transition.
The mystics say mankind connects heaven and earth. To open to a new stage we can benefit from both these forces:
1) Push from below. Growth in consciousness is supported by the ratchet effect of external manifestations like technology and economics that stabilize a culture and resists us falling back into earlier ways of thinking.
2) Pull from above. The attractive pull of our Source (God if you will) for opening to greater creativity and compassion (the evolutionary force).
Let us look at three major challenges and how these forces are helping us meet them:
Inequality. On a purely economic "push from below" basis, inequality is recognized as underutilizing the creativity of a country's people and dragging down its productivity and growth. The pull of spirit can be seen in a general rise in compassion for the world's disadvantaged.
Environment. For the first time in history, we are working at the world level to help the environment. Besides the push of economics and survival concerns, many people are starting to care, not just about all the world's people, but about all the world's creatures and about the planet as a whole ecosystem — about Gaia. This is a huge shift from prior times. (Hopefully we will take action before the water level rises above our heads!)
Conflict. It is difficult to go to war with someone you trade or work with. No countries that have McDonald's franchises have ever gone to war (almost). A few years ago, the possible loss of outsourcing funds silenced an atomic shoving match between India and Pakistan.
In places like India or Malaysia or South Korea or Latin America many of these problems have been alleviated in the last half-century. So it is certainly possible they can be resolved elsewhere in the next half-century.
Increased communications and trade has pushed us to expand our concept of "who is human" and allowed us to open more to our natural compassion for other people.
Biggest Challenge. Our biggest challenge in giving birth to the Integral and Spiritual stages will be in relaxing and opening our own consciousness — stretching of our tightly protected world views and habitual egoic patterns.
Any change causes pain, but resistance to change exacerbates it enormously. For example, on a daily basis I try to help recovering alcoholics and others (and myself) who are suffering (and causing others to suffer) because of their resistance to what has already happened in their world — to what "is". They complain "My parents did not raise me right" or "Nasty people have done bad things that threaten my safety and happiness" or "My boss is mean" or "People don't recycle" or "Life (or spouse or government or globalization) is unfair."
We clutch our self righteous judgments painfully to our heart — defending them with all the fury of our fearful ego and habitual childhood patterns of behavior.
My goal is to help these folks (and myself) release their clutched fist and soften and expand their rigid egoic box — to let some space in for their center core of peace and power (some call it God). Then they can act with power and compassion instead of with fear and anger.
What is true on a personal level is also true on a global level. There is a tremendous opportunity for each of us to expand our view.
If we are an ecologist, humanist, moralist, or spiritual seeker, we can open more to the push from below. We can recognize that we will never have peace if Mexicans are so poor they risk their lives to get a green card; that an Indian engineer or a Chinese laborer or a Indonesian textile worker has as much of a right for a job as an Irish engineer or a Detroit laborer or an African-American textile worker; that the technology led green revolution has given billions of us the gift of life; and that globalization has given Indians, Chinese, and other people in the developing world the right to escape extreme poverty and pursue happiness. [A few environmentalists have already heard this call — to become pro-technology, pro-growth, pro-human.]
If we are a globalist, technologist, scientist, or executive we can open more to the pull from above. We can realize that treating workers better and being more open and transparent can pay off in profits and improved corporate health; that we can all cooperate in saving the planet; and that each of us has heard the call of spirit — in a sunset or a redwood cathedral or a child's smile. [Transparent companies and mindful neuroscientists are a wonderful start.]
If we are a fundamentalist of any faith, we will have the toughest job and the greatest opportunity: opening both to below, to the benefits of science, technology, and globalization and to above, to a direct experience of compassionate spirit.
It is my fervent hope that we can make this revolutionary transition without the bloodshed of earlier ones; that we will indeed open our minds to a new world view; that:
The responsible people in rich countries will respond to the opening of labor markets in China and India by re-training their own workers, not clinging to low skill jobs better done by (temporarily) lower cost Asians.
Our governments, pushed by citizens and NGO's, will keep the playing fields fair and level and protect our environment from global meltdown.
The powerful, as they develop to Integral-Rational, will keep the peace and nourish global prosperity, while respecting people and cultures at all earlier stages.
And we will all open our consciousness to a new more compassionate way of experiencing life and each other.


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VIVA L'ARTISTE (article first published : 2007-06-11)
The week-long Viva L'Artiste showcase at Le Domaine in Hillcrest, Durban from June 11 to 17 aims to highlight South Africa's rich and varied artistic heritage, while acknowledging the work of established artists and encouraging further development among younger ones.
Says Twane Palmer, Marketing Manager of Le Domaine and one of the key organisers of the showcase: "The concept behind Viva L'Artiste is clear: to celebrate the immense energy and beauty of the national art scene. Much is planned for the festival, from an exhibition of works by 35 leading South African artists and up-and-coming school talent, to dance performances by KZN's Flatfoot Dance Company and popular music performances."
Palmer and company have set about creating a week-long programme designed to suit the tastes and preferences of the discerning art lover in KZN. Much of this planning has involved joining forces with art experts such as Berea resident Sandy Batchelor, who runs a project called Art at Home and has been instrumental in providing a platform for local artists to showcase their work.
Says Batchelor: "Through Art at Home, which has seen me empty my home over the years to provide a space in which artists can exhibit and sell their work, I have come to work with a number of gifted local artists, and am indeed excited about the prospect of celebrating their creative talents - together with the rest of the province - through this inaugural Viva L'Artiste showcase."
Batchelor has commissioned 35 artists to display at least five of their latest works during Viva L'Artiste. The R15 million Club de Vie recreational facility at Le Domaine will be turned into an impressive gallery space showcasing more than 150 works by these 35 artists. They include oil painter Angie Arbuthnot of Kloof, renowned art instructor Robin Townsend, Rani Pillay of Glenwood, Margit Gregory-Pretorius, who calls Africa her greatest influence, Zimbabwean-born Nicky Chovuchovu of Berea, Judy Wentzel, who owns the Judy Wentzel Gallery in Durban North, Tim van Vuuren of George, Renee van der Spuy, who boasts 40 years painting experience, watercolour painter Anne Cleveland and Lesley Magwood Fraser of Kloof, who is renowned for her nude figure studies. Their styles are diverse and their inspiration equally so.
It is also hoped that from the proceeds of professional artworks sold during the exhibition, 10% will benefit another development project close to the heart of the organisers. The local Focus on iThemba organisation is an accredited non-profit Public Benefit Organisation offering educational and life skills training for families and cluster foster care homes in the Hillcrest area. It was born out of the vision of Danie van den Heever, a Durban businessman, and Jim Daly, President and CEO of Focus on the Family in the USA. Proceeds from sales of art during Viva L'Artiste will be used by Focus on iThemba to build additional facilities and buildings in support of their extensive work.
But even the growth of art cannot be sustained without grassroots development. Says Pascale Chandler, renowned owner of the Pascale Chandler School of Art: "It is also important to showcase developing learners' artistic expression with that of mature and established artists. This fusion does not happen often enough."
As such the organisers of Viva L'Artiste are also including a schools art competition to coincide with Youth Day on Saturday 16th June. The competition is open to pupils in Grades 10, 11 and 12 across the province and will include an exhibition of all entries throughout the week-long festival at Le Domaine. Palmer is hopeful that it will be supported by outlying schools which have gifted pupils for whom such opportunities may be few and far between. "It is the opportunity for young artists to achieve recognition for their work and to gain exposure to life as an accomplished artist," she says.
Adds Chandler: "Art at school level is often marginalised and learners are not given the platform to evolve and develop a critical position in art production and cultural identity. This is a wonderful opportunity for them to do just that."
Pascale Chandler will be joined by other highly respected adjudicators including Nathi Gumede, curator of the KZNSA Gallery and Nonto Ntombela, curator of the DUT Gallery, in selecting the most deserving pupils at a gala awards evening on Youth Day, the final day of the Viva L'Artiste festival. The seven main categories are Watercolour, Pastels, Oils, Sculpture, Crayons, Charcoal and Mixed Media, and pupils may also choose to enter more than one category.
In addition to visual art, Viva L'Artiste will also include a selection of performance works to be showcased in the Le Domaine Amphitheatre. Participating groups and individuals include KZN's Flatfoot Dance Company and much-loved music stars Amor Vittone, Heinz Winckler and Anke, who will be performing at the Gala Evening on June 16 2007.
Entrance to the Viva L'Artiste art exhibitions will be free and open to the public, while special evening activities will be used to raise funds for Highway Hospice, with tickets ranging from R20.00 to R120.00 per person. These include a performance of "Isigqi Sasemzansi" by the Flatfoot Dance Company on the evening of Tuesday 12th June, a Nana Mouskouri concert by songstress Arina de Wit on Wednesday 13th June, a light classical performance by local musicians Thabo and Chizano on Thursday 14th June, a variety show featuring Arina de Wit on Friday 15th June and the afore-mentioned Gala Evening at R120.00 per person on Saturday 16th June. Traditional South African fare will be sold and served throughout the festival days. Ticket prices for the evening events include limited cheese and wine, while a more lavish Cheese and Wine event will accompany the Gala Evening on Saturday 16th June, for patrons to mingle with like-minded art lovers, friends and family.
Through its support of local artistic development, Viva L'Artiste may well grow into a highlight on the provincial and national arts calendar, for both local artists and lovers of art in all its glorious forms.
To book for any of the special evening activities and support Hospice, contact Heather of Hospice on 031 208 6110. For more information on Viva L'Artiste, contact Twane Palmer on 031 716 8027 or email twane@ledom.co.za Also visit www.ledom.co.za


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Technology News »
Microsoft Office 2013 To Be Launched January 29th
Author Topic: Microsoft Office 2013 To Be Launched January 29th (Read 475 times)
Microsoft has confirmed that it will launch Office 2013 on January the 29th.
According to a tweet from the Office team, and a #Timeto365 campaign/hashtag which was seen via Winbeta.org, it can now be confirmed that it is no longer a rumour that the Windows maker is "launching" the new Microsoft Office a.k.a Office 2013 on Tuesday in Bryant Park, New York and it would be generally available via retail channels.
Microsoft released Office 2013 to manufacturing on October 11, 2012. The company made the final bits available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers, as well as volume-licencing customers, before the end of last year. Recently, Microsoft made $10 versions of the final Office 2013 bits available to volume licencees with Software Assurance as part of its Home Use Programme.
Microsoft officials have been saying for a couple of months that a particular IT company planned to make the final bits commercially available in the first calendar quarter of 2013.
The company already has taken the wraps off some of its Office 2013 SKUs, and will be pushing a new, subscription-centric version of Office that it has named Office 365 Home Premium.
Unlike the other Office 365 SKUs, the Home Premium version isn't a Microsoft-hosted version of Office. Instead, it's downloadable, locally installable versions of the Office 2013 products for which users will be charged a monthly or annual "rental" fee. For that subscription fee, users will have the right to install Office 2013 and/or the Office for Mac 2011 SKUs on up to five PCs and Macs in total.
Microsoft officials also have said that the "real" Office 365 update should be available around the time of the client launch. Microsoft officials have been prepping the company's reseller/integrator partners for the Office 365 refresh for the past couple of weeks.
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