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Home News The Fort Worth Doctor Changing the Conversation on Vaccines
The Fort Worth Doctor Changing the Conversation on Vaccines
A study published by the Public Library of Science recently deemed Fort Worth a national hotspot, where outbreaks of disease are likely to happen because of the city's large number of unvaccinated children.
by Shilo Urban
Dr. Jason V. Terk is on a mission to change that. "We're seeing outbreaks of diseases that are scary," warns Terk, a pediatrician and distinguished consultant with Cook Children's Physician Network. "People like me who are keeping an eye on public health - we're ringing the warning bell right now. Serious outbreaks of disease are likely to happen. People are going to get sick, and some people are going to die. And that's a preventable tragedy."
Bad things are already happening. A measles outbreak in the Pacific Northwest this year has sickened 68 people and counting, the vast majority of which have been unvaccinated children. Measles hit closer to home in 2018 with an outbreak in Ellis County that affected six. It's a worrisome trend. In 2000, measles was considered eradicated from the U.S. - but that was before the rise of the anti-vaxxer movement, social media and fake news. Today, measles cases have increased by more than 30 percent worldwide since 2016.
"This is a dangerous disease, and people die from it," continues Terk. "It is the most contagious thing that we would ever deal with. People are worried about Ebola being contagious? This is much more contagious than Ebola." Unlike cold and flu viruses, which spread on respiratory droplets, measles is a true airborne contagion. If someone with the disease enters a room, the air becomes filled with measles virus particles - and it can stay that way for up to two hours. Anyone who enters the space during that time who has not received the measles vaccine has a 90 percent chance of getting sick. "It is exceptionally contagious," he says, "It spreads very, very quickly."
Terk's passion for vaccine advocacy infuses every word that he speaks. The pediatrician began his practice around the same time that Dr. Andrew Wakefield published the infamous study that fraudulently linked immunization and autism with falsified data. The study has since been retracted and debunked numerous times. Wakefield lost his license after a tribunal found proof of 36 counts of dishonesty and the abuse of developmentally delayed children.
"It was really the beginning of the resurgence of anti-vaccine sentiment in this country," Terk says. "I began to get a sense that vaccines were something that we couldn't necessarily assume people were going to accept and understood also that we needed some advocacy to support what vaccines do for our patients, as well as society at large."
Terk is very active in Austin on vaccine issues and makes regular trips to speak with legislators. He serves on the Texas Medical Association (TMA) Council on Legislation and on the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Federal Government Affairs. He also works with TMA's Be Wise – Immunize program and is the former president of the Texas Pediatric Society.
"Vaccines are incredibly important," he affirms. "Second only to modern sanitation, they are the most important public health achievement that we've had happen in the last 100 years. They've saved so many lives and prevented so many serious illnesses from happening. If you don't have people standing up and advocating for vaccines, then more preventable illnesses and deaths occur. So, that's why I decided to become a vaccine advocate."
Long before Terk picked up the flag for vaccines, he took an interest in medicine while helping out with emergencies at his father's veterinary office. Later, at Jesuit College Preparatory School, the teenager was assigned to Parkland Hospital to complete the requirement for 100 hours of community service. "That's where I felt that pull toward wanting to do human medicine and take care of people. I felt like it was something that I could focus my idealism into. From that point going forward, I was pretty much set on becoming a physician."
Terk's path became clear during his pediatrics rotation in medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. "I really connected with kids in that rotation, and I realized that taking care of children was what I wanted to do." He completed his residency at the prestigious Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and began practicing in Keller at Cook Children's Pediatrics.
The doctor has maintained his idealism and passion throughout his 23-year career. "I'm really blessed that every day I go to work, I get to do something that I love to do and that I know is meaningful not only to me, but to the people that I'm working with." Patients that were newborns when he launched his practice two decades ago are now beginning to graduate from it. "I've been able to witness them literally from birth to becoming an adult, and to have had a small part in that is really a privilege."
And the babies keep coming. Terk's practice welcomes two to five newborns every week. "It keeps me busy," he says. He also stays busy with his own family, which includes his wife of 24 years and two boys. His youngest is a junior at Keller High School, and his oldest is at Auburn University. Being a parent has enhanced his role as a pediatrician immensely.
"One of the challenges [of being a pediatrician] is understanding that depending on the age and developmental stage of your patient, you're going to have to approach that individual in a certain way that may be completely different from another child. You have to understand who your patient is and how to engage them in a way that me, the parent and the child get the most out of the visit." From infants and toddlers to tweens and teens, Terk must adapt his communication style to fit different age groups throughout the day. "I think if you've been a parent, you understand that how you interface with your child is going to evolve over time. I do that every day, depending on which door I'm walking into at the office."
Being a pediatrician has also helped Terk in his role as a father, but he still struggles with many of the same challenges that all parents face. "I might have a pretty good amount of medical knowledge and understanding about child development and parenting, but it doesn't mean that I don't have my own challenges as a parent … I like to joke to my parents in my practice that I probably have more power in their homes than my own," he laughs. "My wife reserves the right to listen to me or not."
For his adolescent patients, Terk is leading the charge to improve the adoption of a new vaccine that was introduced in 2006. It's a vaccine for an incurable viral infection that causes six different types of cancer - but only 33 percent of Texas teens are getting it.
Spread by kissing and sexual activity, human papillomavirus (HPV) is extremely common. Four out of five people will be infected at some point during their lifetime. Many will never show symptoms or realize that they have HPV. While most infections go away on their own within two years, some will mutate into cancers: cervical, vulvar, vaginal, anal, penile and oropharyngeal (middle throat) cancer. Cervical cancer kills 300,000 women per year worldwide, including more than 4,000 in the U.S. - and HPV is found in about 99 percent of cervical cancers, according to the National Cervical Cancer Coalition.
HPV's dramatic association with cervical cancer has positioned it as a concern for women's health. But the rates of oropharyngeal cancer in men have risen more than 300 percent in recent decades, and it's now the most common HPV-related cancer. "We are seeing an epidemic of cancers related to HPV infection, particularly males in their 30s and 40s," Terk says. "We've not seen the worst of it yet."
While Tarrant County's low immunization rates for childhood diseases like measles are headline news, the area's HPV vaccination rates are far lower. The vaccine works best when it's given to patients at age 11 or 12, before any kind of sexual activity occurs - even kissing. But most parents prefer to believe that their child will not touch anyone sexually until the night of their wedding, and HPV is seen as a sexually transmitted infection (STI).
"It's a mistake to think of HPV infection in the context of other STIs like syphilis and gonorrhea and chlamydia, which in the baseball analogy of sex, you have to hit a triple or a home run to get," Terk explains. "But first and second bases are covered with HPV. So, if you can imagine your child having some sort of making-out activity before they get married - which is much likely - then they're at risk for getting HPV infection. You cannot prevent it by virtue of your own good choices when 80 percent of our kids will become infected with the types of HPV that can cause cancer."
Pediatricians themselves bear some of the responsibility for low HPV vaccination rates. It's a stealthy virus that causes cancers 20 to 30 years after infection, long after pediatric patients have aged out. Pediatricians don't take care of the consequences of HPV, so they have no personal experience with the diseases that the vaccine would prevent. Moreover, talking about HPV with young patients and their parents is just … awkward.
"Some physicians who see adolescents may find it difficult to have frank conversations about sex. We like having positive relationships with the parents of our patients, and many in the past have avoided difficult conversations, perceiving that a parent may be hesitant about the HPV vaccine. So, it's been a little bit of an uphill battle," Terk says. "More research has come out that underscores how important an affirmative and unequivocal recommendation is for providing HPV vaccination. More physicians have come to understand that and have adjusted their approach so that more tweens and teens can get this important cancer-preventing vaccine. We've certainly done that at Cook Children's."
Terk has led the way. He spearheaded a quality improvement initiative in 2017 aimed at greater provision of the HPV vaccine across Cook Children's 27 primary care practices. Since then, they've seen significant progress, so much so that their recent HPV vaccination data was flagged by the state because it was so high. "They couldn't believe how well we were doing," Terk says.
"The bottom line for me is that I never want a patient of mine to get sick now, or later as an adult, from something we could have or should have prevented. That is the reason I decided to work on HPV vaccination. It's my worst nightmare as a pediatrician to imagine a former patient of mine developing a cancer that should have been prevented with the HPV vaccine. I really want to do everything that I can to give my patients what they need so they can be healthy and safe and well adults."
Vaccines engender healthy adults. But more and more parents are choosing not to immunize their children across the country and especially in Texas. State law was changed in 2003 to allow for personal-belief exemptions, which are also known as nonmedical exemptions or conscientious exemptions. Now, Texas is one of 18 states that let parents disregard the legal requirement for seven childhood vaccinations, including measles. Almost 60,000 public school students across Texas have opted out - and that number does not include private schools or home schools.
Fort Worth is one of the biggest offenders. It was singled out as one of the top 15 cities in America with the largest number of nonmedical exemptors in a 2018 study by PLOS Medicine. Plano, Austin and Houston also made the cut. In Tarrant County, 1.45 percent of students had conscientious exemptions in the 2017-2018 school year, a rate that has almost doubled in the past six years.
"We have our own unique culture here in Tarrant County," observes Terk. "This is where the West begins, and it's a fairly conservative area with a large population. We may have a larger number of people around here who object to mandates to vaccinate than in other places. When those like-minded people who may be less likely to vaccinate create communities within neighborhoods, schools and churches, then outbreaks of diseases like measles become more likely. Birds of a feather flock together."
In 1900, before the widespread adoption of vaccines, 16 out of every 100 children in America died from disease before the age of 5. It's a shocking statistic, but facts aren't enough to persuade groups like Texans for Vaccine Choice. Based in Terk's hometown of Keller, the anti-vaxx organization isn't just fighting for the freedom to skip childhood vaccines - but also to keep other parents from knowing that they did. The group opposes legislation like the Parents" Right to Know bill, an effort to provide campus-level data about the percentage of exemptors at every school.
"Parents of children who are immune-compromised or who have cancer need to know this information. Not because they want to "out" people, but because they need to understand the risks and make informed choices for their children," clarifies Terk. Children with compromised immune systems or cancer cannot be given vaccines. Neither can any infant less than 12 months old. Both groups are at far greater risk from fatal complications from diseases like measles. "The individual choice that someone might make when it comes to vaccines doesn't have just individual consequences - it has consequences for all of us. If people decide that they're going to do something that increases risk for the rest of us, then that's not right," Terk implores. "It's not an imaginary risk. It's a real one."
Personal-belief exemptions by definition rely on personal beliefs. All the scientific data in the world has no effect on belief-based objections to vaccines, which by their nature resist revision by factual evidence. That's why experts like Terk are learning to connect with anti-vaxxer parents not with more data, but by considering each person's unique moral foundation.
Morality is often seen in black or white, right or wrong. But morality takes on distinct nuances in different cultures. For example, Americans tend to value individualism highly while many Asian cultures place greater worth on community cohesion. The Moral Foundations Theory attempts to account for this variance. First proposed by social psychologists Johnathan Haidt and Jesse Graham, the theory was popularized in Haidt's 2012 bestseller, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion.
The theory proposes that morality is based on six foundations: Care, Fairness, Loyalty, Authority, Sanctity and Liberty. Depending on which cultural group you belong to, each moral foundation will carry a different weight for you. The authors" research showed striking evidence of this difference in America's three main political ideologies: libertarians, liberals and conservatives.
It's pretty obvious that for libertarians, Liberty is by far the most important foundation. For liberals, Care and Fairness are dominant. Conservatives are equally sensitive to all six moral principles, which gives the impression (to liberals) that they don't place enough value on Care and Fairness. Meanwhile, conservatives see liberals as excessively concerned with Care and Fairness to the exclusion of equally important ideas like Loyalty and Liberty.
With differing moral foundations, each side perceives the other not only as having bad opinions - but of being morally wrong. That's why it's surprising that liberals and conservatives espouse anti-vaccine beliefs at similar rates. According to a 2015 study by the Pew Research Center, 10 percent of conservatives and 12 percent of liberals believe that childhood vaccines are unsafe. But the emotions behind those belief-based objections are very different.
"If you have someone with a libertarian-oriented worldview, then talking to them about the benefit of vaccinating themselves and their kid to protect the rest of society is not going to work," Terk explains. Instead, you must appeal to their sense of freedom: "Don't allow disease to infringe upon the liberty of living your life in a healthy way." Care-focused parents may respond to calls for compassion for disease victims" suffering, while Loyalty-focused parents react better when urged to protect their community and their country.
"This is about understanding where your patient is coming from or where your parent is coming from," adds Terk. "My job as a pediatrician is to make sure that my patient is properly protected from diseases that can kill or disable them. So, if I can appeal to someone in a way that resonates with them, then that makes me more effective in performing my mission as a pediatrician as I partner with the parent to guide the child into healthy adulthood."
Terk is hopeful that parents will make the right choices when it comes to vaccines - but he is not resting for a moment on his mission to keep kids healthy. "We're all in this together, even if we'd like to think that we are islands unto ourselves," he says. "When it comes to vaccines, we need to take care of ourselves. In doing that, we'll take care of the rest of us, too.
"Remember the sound of the bell that I am ringing right now."
photos by Olaf Growald
Cover Story FWTXmag Vaccinations


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Home / phrases / Phrase: Definition & Types
Grammar / phrases
Phrase: Definition & Types
What is a Phrase?
Types of Phrases:
Generally, there are eight types of phrases,
Noun Phrase:
We can understand by the help of examples,
Verb Phrase:
Examples of verb phrases with the sentence:
Prepositional Phrase:
Gerund Phrase:
Infinitive Phrase:
Participle Phrase:
Examples of Participle phrases with the sentence:
Appositive Phrase:
Absolute Phrase:
In the English Language, a phrase is simply a union of two or more than two words that also functions as a noun, that does not have any finite verb or a subject.
It does not contain any clause elements like subject, verb, and object of a preposition and a noun, pronoun, verb, or adverb.
Phrases can act as a part of speech as the words of a phrase act together as a single grammatical unit to function in a sentence, but it does not stand alone as a sentence.
The length of the phrase can be at least two words. It combines to make some clauses and sentences.
Noun Phrase
Verb Phrase
Prepositional Phrase
Gerund Phrase
Infinitive Phrase
Participle Phrase
Appositive Phrase and
Absolute Phrase.
Out of which there are three types of Verbal Phrases:
Infinitive Phrase and
Participle Phrase.
A phrase is called a noun phrase where it consists of a noun (head noun) or a pronoun along with its modifiers.
Nouns like people, places, things, animals, or ideas come in a sentence with a single modifier or more modifiers.
The teacher is coming to the classroom.
Here, "the teacher" and "to the classroom" are noun phrases, where "the" and "to the" are modifiers, and "teacher" and "classroom" are head nouns respectively.
This was a movie as old as time.
Her husband is a public servant.
Split some water on the flowerpots.
I always wanted to buy a car.
A verb phrase is a combination of verbs (main verb and helping verbs) that may be in numbers that are together working in a sentence.
It also contains its modifiers and adverbs, which are used to change the meaning of the verb phrase.
Was running behind.
Has caught.
Had gone.
Will have forgotten.
We had not played any games since yesterday.
Here, "had not played" is a verb phrase where "had" is a modifier and "played" is the main verb.
The car is blowing away very far away in the tornado.
She has left her puppy on the road.
The cloth will have been flying high in the sky.
I have been coming to your wedding anniversary.
The prepositional phrase is a combination of words that contain words like a preposition; the rest part called the object of a sentence includes a noun or a pronoun.
This phrase begins with a prepositional word, and the word can also perform functions like a noun, adjective, or adverb respectively.
An adjective can also be used in between the preposition and the object in prepositional phrases and then it modifies a noun or a pronoun of a sentence.
The computer is placed on the table.
Here, "on the table" is a prepositional phrase that starts with a prepositional word "on", and rest is the object of a sentence.
We are about to reach our destination.
The man is running against the train.
The train was left before its time
He is swimming below the surface.
The gerund phrase is a type of verbal phrase or a noun phrase that begins with a gerund (functions as a noun).
It contains a gerund, modifiers, and the object of a sentence.
Simply, we can say that a gerund is a verbal word that ends with -ing (the present participle), and acts as a subject, object, a noun, or a complement too in a sentence.
Crawling down the stairs is dangerous.
Here, "Crawling down the stairs" is a gerund phrase where, "crawling" is a gerund that functions as a noun, and "down the stairs" is an object.
Shining of the sun is like a pearl up from the ocean.
Falling from the bicycle makes him injured.
Unboxing the gift wrapper quickly without damaging it is also an art.
Playing cards on the train is a real fun while travelling.
An infinitive phrase is a phrase of the noun which starts with an infinitive verb and also consist
Modifiers.
An infinitive phrase is a type of verbal phrase.
To crawl in the whole room.
Here, "to crawl" is an infinitive verb in an infinitive phrase and rest is a modifier or an object.
To work in the middle of something.
To donate some charity is a good thing. (subject)
They have decided to go for a long drive at night. (direct object)
She took leave to complete her assignments at home.
A participle phrase is a type of verbal phrase that begins with a verb and that verb is either in past participle form or in a present participle form along with a modifier.
Traveling on the bus.
Something is fishy.
Stood on a chair.
Washed nicely, the entire room is shining.
Here, "washed nicely" is a participle phrase where washed is a participle in past participle form and nicely is a modifier.
The frog, hidden over all summer, finally came up in the rainy season.
We keep moving forward till we reach our destination.
Around a couple of minutes, the police chasing the thief were out of sight from the highway.
The coach is coaching continuously the same move to their students.
An Appositive phrase is a better option to provide any additional data in any sentence.
It is a phrase that changes the name of a noun or a pronoun and defines it in another way.
This phrase contains one or more than one word in it.
My favorite bike, Harley Davidson, has an awesome sound.
Here, "my favorite bike" is an Appositive phrase that gives additive details of the bike of the speaker/subject.
He owned a supercar car, an Austin Martin, which is very costly.
Our major project, a renewable energy resource machine, has successfully registered.
My girlfriend, the soulmate of my life, is going to be my wife very soon.
His grandfather, Sir Don Bradman, is a well-known industrialist in Asia.
An absolute phrase is a phrase where the subject is present, but there is an absence of the verb, and hence this phrase is not stand alone.
An absolute phrase contains a subject and a modifier (most probably a participle), but the absence of a verb in it.
An absolute phrase is very difficult to recognize from any sentence.
Sometimes, it requires adding conjunction and rebuilding the participle to the finite verb.
The bike slipped down, most of the people frightened away.
Here, "the bike slipping down" is an absolute phrase.
The race finished, my friend came first.
Let us enjoy the movie. The movie started finally.
Each student, their faces relieved, and looking happy, enjoyed after the exams.
The book inside the bag, he reached in the library.
Tense Chart: Basic Rules Examples & Formula
Subordinate Clause Types and Examples
Parts of Speech Types & Examples
Use of 'Will and Shall'
Simple Present Tense: Definition, Examples, Rules & Formula

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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[Randy Barnett, July 21, 2007 at 12:03am] Trackbacks
More Good Summer TV:
I just finished watching the new series Mad Men on AMC — a show about advertising executives on Madison Avenue in 1960. It is well worth trying. Well written, gorgeously photographed, paced and scored in the style of cinema rather than TV. No doubt, the American Movie Channel required this for their first network series. As the description from the website says, it is from the executive producer and writer of The Sopranos and it shows. One more thing. Don't expect pap. It is obviously going to explore the issues of race, sexism, and antisemitism that was simmering just beneath the surface in 1960. I hope the show does not get too preachy — it has that potential, but the first episode at least did not succumb. Oh yes, unlike Sharon Gless in Burn Notice, the whole cast inhales and exhales copious amount of smoke. It is about a subject other than cops and lawyers, and it is going to be very sexy.
Here is the description:
What you are, what you want, what you love doesn't matter. It's all about how you sell it. From AMC and the Emmy® Award-winning executive producer and writer of "The Sopranos" Matthew Weiner, comes MAD MEN, a provocative new primetime drama about how to sell the truth. Set in 1960 New York, the daring new series is about the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising, an ego-driven world where key players make an art of the sell while their private world gets sold. The 13-episode, one-hour original program produced by Lionsgate premieres Thursday, July 19 at 10 PM | 9C.
Created, executive produced and written by Weiner, the drama series stars Jon Hamm (We Were Soldiers), Elisabeth Moss ("The West Wing"), Vincent Kartheiser ("Angel"), January Jones (We Are Marshall) and Christina Hendricks ("Kevin Hill"), and guest stars John Slattery ("Desperate Housewives"), Rosemarie DeWitt ("Standoff"), Talia Balsam (All the Kings Men) and legendary stage and screen star Robert Morse ("How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying"). Michael Gladis ("Third Watch"), Aaron Staton ("The Nanny Diaries"), Rich Sommer ("The Devil Wears Prada"), Maggie Siff ("Michael Clayton") and Bryan Batt ("La Cage Aux Folles") round out the cast.
The Setting: In 1960, advertising agencies were an all-powerful influence on the masses. Personal and professional manipulation and sexual exploits defined the workplace and closed the deals. The high profile Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency created advertising campaigns – from cigarettes to political candidates — better than anyone. It was a time of great ferment. Women had barely begun to come into their own. Librium and birth control were on the move. Ethics in the workplace, smoke-free environments, sexual harassment and ethnic diversity were workshops of the future.
The Premise: The series depicts the sexual exploits and social mores of this most innovative yet ruthless profession, while taking an unflinching look at the ad-men who shaped the hopes and dreams of Americans on a daily basis.
The Players: The series revolves around the conflicted world of Don Draper (Hamm), the biggest ad man (and ladies man) in the business, and his colleagues at the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency. As Don makes the plays in the boardroom and the bedroom, he struggles to stay a step ahead of the rapidly changing times and the young executives nipping at his heels. The series also depicts authentically the roles of men and women in this era while exploring the true human nature beneath the guise of 1960 traditional family values.
You can catch the premier episode several times between now and Thursday. Here's the schedule. And you can watch a sneak preview of premier episode here, but it does not convey fully how the show feels as it unfolds.
PS: I am almost caught up with my Tivo'd episodes of Rescue Me. It is off the scale this season. I really don't know how writers can write like that. And it takes real actors to deliver these lines so naturally, like its real. Here's a little treat for fans of the show, which looks like it was made with scenes from season one (but if you have not seen the show, you can't judge it from this video, which selects "action" clips, not the dialog that makes this show great):
Update: Rewatching the video I see scenes from other seasons. And there was just not that amount of fisticuffs in one season.
Good Summer TV:


Sleek precision-cut trousers are a necessity for every woman's wardrobe. Cue this ash-blue crepe Lacerta design: the perfect way to anchor streamlined looks, they're cut to fall into smooth, slender legs that are free from adornment, and complete with belt loops and a concealed fastening. Wear yours as base to new-season looks when your mood permits.


Then, during the annual Brookshire football tournament, his eyes meet those of a rival player across the field and a spark flares between them, one neither boy can deny. Adam is everything Davey longs to be - confident, popular, comfortable with his sexuality. Davey aches to explore their connection, to discover where it might lead, but how can he follow his heart and risk rejection by his teammates, the closest thing to friends he has ever known?


One of the abandoned buildings on Hollis Avenue near 203rd Street where, it was rumored, the city considered creating a homeless shelter.
Councilman I. Daneek Miller's district has the most homeless shelters in Queens — the 10th most in the entire city — and, for a while, many thought another one was on the way.
Rumors circulated around Miller's southeast Queens district that the city planned to transform six recently renovated buildings on Hollis Avenue between 202nd and 204th streets in Hollis into a homeless shelter for men. The city has since openly announced plans to build instead housing for veterans and seniors.
Even so, the rumor triggered outrage in the community that the city would think of creating another shelter in the district at a site within a three-block radius of numerous schools, day care centers, churches, a public library and a playground. It also served as a reminder to Miller that the city's "fair share" policy — which requires the supposedly equitable placement of homeless shelters, waste processing centers and other municipal service facilities citywide — is flawed and needs a major overhaul.
According to Miller, 53 percent of homeless shelters are within 10 of the city's 51 community districts; four community districts also handle 80 percent of the city's permitted waste capacity.
To that end, Miller called on the city pass a "fair share reform package" designed to have more of the city share more of the municipal burdens. The package includes the Community Notification Act (Intro. 906), which requires the city to properly notify a community where it intends to provide housing at social service facilities; the Waste Equity Bill (Intro. 495), which mandates that the city more fairly distribute solid waste management facilities across the entire city; and Intro. 886, which calls on the city to develop an environmental justice plan that includes forming a committee to examine and remediate various environmental concerns in the city.
Miller made the call on the same day Queens Community Board 12 members rallied on the steps of City Hall calling for city to adopt its resolution that would place a moratorium on creating new homeless shelters in their district.


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OPPO named smartphone partner of League of Legends esports
Riot Games has announced a multi-year partnership with OPPO to be the official global smartphone partner for League of Legends esports international events.
The partnership will include The World Championship, Mid-Season Invitational, All-Star Event and will run till 2024.
"Esports is a fast-growing sport globally, and League of Legends has become a lifestyle of many young people in recent years," said, Brian Shen, OPPO Vice President and President of Global Marketing. "As a consumer-centered brand, OPPO always seeks the right way to communicate with young people, our target audience. This is a great move for Riot and OPPO; the partnership will allow us to continue to strengthen our bond with the young as we join them in celebrating the victory of each game."
Starting with the 2019 World Championship, OPPO has announced the following activations:
MVP Presented by OPPO: OPPO will celebrate the most winning performance for the most critical matches of the season.
OPPO Cam: During the broadcasts of the World Championship, the OPPO Cam will bring millions of fans tuning in closer to the biggest competition of the esports season. From cosplay to behind-the-scenes look-ins, the OPPO Cam will allow fans watching from around the world to look in on the live event experience.
Welcome to the Rift: OPPO will spotlight teams making their inaugural appearance at Worlds, allowing fans an inside look at the next League of Legend rising stars.
Fans will have a chance to win a trip with behind-the-scenes access to the World Championship.
"OPPO's commitment to design and innovation are cornerstones in everything they do, and we are thrilled to have them bring their pioneering spirit to our global sport and fanbase," said, Naz Aletaha, Head of Global Esports Business Development and Partnerships for Riot Games. "To be OPPO's first esports league partner is a powerful testament to the resonance of League of Legends esports, and we look forward to collaborating together to celebrate the sport, our fans, and the love of the game."
The League of Legends World Championship will officially kick off on October 2nd with the Play-In Stage and finish on November 10th with the Grand Finals. The first match of the tournament will be Clutch Gaming vs Unicorns of Love starting at 12PM GMT.
Make sure to check out our full break down of all the groups here.


Offering thousands of interesting destinations to choose from, USA is where everything is in abundance from diversity, nature and adventure to entertainment and food. Whether you are heading off to a big city to take on the streets or to a hike in the world's most beautiful canyons, national parks or beaches, you will be able to find what you need.
Holidays in the US usually begin with the Big Apple, New York. Hailed as one of the most beautiful, vibrant and exciting cities in the world, New York still lives up to the hype. It seduces visitors from all over the world with high rise buildings, secret speakeasy bars, inviting strangers and ever changing art scene.
But it's not just New York. Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Miami, Boston, Portland, San Francisco are all incredible cities filled with entertainment waiting to be discovered. Each of them is a metropolis brewing with culture, food and adventure. USA is also a country of road trips, open skies, flat highways surrounded by mountains or desert, and enormous forests.
Depending on where you are going, America's weather changes drastically from North to South. The weather is generally warm and ideal beginning May and travellers can enjoy being outside for the entirety of their trip. However it might still rain in some cities. Summer can be very hot in cities especially in mid-country but coast cities or states that have national parks are cooler.
Winter is quite cold up North, and in New York, it might be a bad surprise when it snows. The best times to visit the USA are in spring, early summer and early autumn, when the weather is pleasant. However, summer can get very humid in the east coast and north, so it is best to enjoy the sun in West coast. It is advised to avoid the summer heat when visiting Grand Canyon in Arizona.
For a summer holiday the best time to visit the USA is during the Indian summer in California, which is from mid-September to mid-October.
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Right Holidays: We are an accredited travel agency operating since 2005 and our aim is to offer great quality for great prices. Our agents will work with you to make sure you get the everything you need from your holiday.


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Henry James Thoms (16 November 1896–1970) was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Crystal Palace, Derby County and Hartlepools United.

References

1896 births
1970 deaths
English footballers
Association football midfielders
English Football League players
Hartlepool United F.C. players
Derby County F.C. players
Crystal Palace F.C. players
Glentoran F.C. players

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Home zzz-Archive Reviews Where the Money Is
Where the Money Is
by Kent Williams
Paul Newman must be tired of critics reviewing his age instead of his performances. Or maybe he's just tired. At 75, the guy's certainly earned a rest, and yet he keeps popping up every year or so, often as an old codger who's still got a little fire going in those dying embers. In Where the Money Is, Newman's a bank robber who's faked a stroke in order to get transferred from a prison into a nursing home, and when the movie opens it appears Father Time has finally caught up with him. Strapped in a wheelchair, a blanket wrapped around his legs, he sits there with his head pitched to one side, his mouth drooping and his hand curled like a claw. Is this what has become of Fast Eddie, we ask ourselves. Of Hud? Of Cool Hand Luke? Of Butch Cassidy? Not for long. Linda Fiorentino plays a nurse who senses there's something going on behind those vacant blue eyes, and before you know it these two have planned a heist. Then the nurse's husband, played by Dermot Mulroney, gets added to the team. A caper comedy, Where the Money Is suggests that sometimes you need to rob a bank just to liven up your life a little bit, and what better way to go about it than to get some pointers from the guy who pulled off The Sting? I only wish the movie lived up to its modest expectations. The story came from E. Max Frye, who once handed Jonathan Demme Something Wild, but this script is a tame piece of work, something mild. The heist itself is like stealing candy from a baby who didn't want the candy anyway. Director Marek Kanievska has spent the last decade or so doing TV commercials, and he tries to trick up the movie's predictable narrative with oblique camera angles and cameos by old people who are just so darn cute. But no one's been given anything to play, and Kanievska never gets the right comedic tone going; it's as if the movie itself suffered from tired blood. Even a scene where Fiorentino mounts Newman in his wheelchair, which might have been given a Russ Meyer-ish jiggle, has a weightiness that suggests Kanievska was afraid of offending Newman's dignity. But what of Fiorentino's dignity? The woman who prowled through The Last Seduction like a panther in heat is barely allowed to work up a sweat; she's been declawed.
Here's hoping Where the Money Is isn't Newman's swan song. If Kirk Douglas can keep working after his real stroke, surely Newman can keep working after his fake one, but he needs to find a script that builds on the movies he's made instead of robbing them blind.


My kids play at Charlotte Soccer Academy and as they develop their game, I've been reflecting on my time as a professional soccer player. What advice would have been helpful to me as I played over the years?
Here are a few tips that I'm sharing with my kids that could be helpful to any player during their soccer career.
Train all out, all the time. I didn't save it for game days. Training hard can actually help you be better on game days because you are physically and mentally accustomed to giving it your all.
Make mistakes. Yes, I really did say that. Making mistakes allows you to get better. Too many times, I didn't want to make mistakes so I played it safe as opposed to taking chances and learning from them. I didn't make enough mistakes as a player.
Fuel your body. Soccer is an extremely demanding game with little to no breaks. Proper nutrition is key to maintaining performance. Stay hydrated and fuel your body with a proper mix of carbs, protein and healthy fats before and after games. I always kept an extra water bottle and healthy snacks on me for quick grab and go options.
Be on the lookout for burnout. I myself was a soccer junkie, I played all the time – at one point playing on four teams at once. Many players today are similar, taking on extra playing sessions and incorporating additional cross-training. Some players are built for this and love it, but others aren't. If you notice your child acting more tired or losing their excitement for the sport it might be time to back down and take a little break.


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"No Baseball Beyond This Point"
Posted on November 3, 2016 by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess
Baseball is over.
The World Series went seven exciting games, which is as much baseball as one can have. A World Series only promises you four games, so to have the Series go the full seven – and an extra inning last night to boot! – is like taking two brownies from the buffet table. Sure, you know you were only supposed to take one, but the second one was so delicious.
Congratulations to the Chicago Cubs who won their first World Series since 1908. It took a rain delay and an extra inning, but Cubs fans, no more sad-faces from you, you're winners now.
And, chin up, Cleveland. You gave it your best.
(The Orioles haven't been to a World Series in 33 years.)
And, thank you, Mother Nature for raining on Cleveland at midnight slowing down Game 7 even more. Baseball fans were exhausted, but a bunch of them were also reading my post from earlier this season that explained how long baseball rain delays last. (Short answer: Until it stops raining.)
So, now what? The brownies are gone and what are you going to do with yourself until baseball comes around again?
(Oh, I know, you freakish baseball nerds … the off-season calendar is loaded with stuff. Free agency and qualifying offers and the Rule 5 Draft and GM Meetings and the Winter Meetings and the awards, from Gold Gloves to Cy Youngs to MVPs. But, you know that's not baseball. That's just stuff.)
It's only been a few hours. I miss baseball already.
(And, brownies. I could really use a brownie right now.)
(And, a good strong cup of coffee.)
Photo: 2016. © The Baseball Bloggess
This entry was posted in Baseball and tagged Chicago Cubs, photography, Post-Season, Rain Delay, World Series by Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess. Bookmark the permalink.
21 thoughts on ""No Baseball Beyond This Point""
Jim Johnson on November 3, 2016 at 9:40 am said:
Just two brownies? Thank you, Cubs… another sports achievement to cross off my bucket list.
Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess on November 3, 2016 at 2:22 pm said:
I think I need to bake brownies for all of Cleveland. They're no World Series trophy, but they'd still be delicious.
Gloria on November 3, 2016 at 10:32 am said:
I think the Cubs should thank heaven for the rain! It gave them the breather they needed. It was a heart wrenching outcome for Cleveland, but a wonderful Series between two strong, well-matched teams. So, Bloggess, how many days until spring training starts?
Depending on the team, it's 106 days until pitchers and catchers report … not that I'm counting. (I'm counting.)
Sharon Klotz on November 3, 2016 at 11:48 am said:
Brownies – nope it was the whole chocolate cake, with gooey ganache and sprinkles!
It will be a very long time for Chicago to let this one go! and who didn't love their catchy tune?!
The Cubbies have the World Series to enjoy, I think it's Cleveland that has earned the brownies. Nothing says, "It'll be ok little buckaroos," like a pan of just-baked brownies!
K Taylor on November 3, 2016 at 11:48 am said:
Holy cripes, can you believe that game?! The only thing that could've added any more excitement would've been Michael Barrett, my old beloved catcher, showing up and punching someone in the lip. When Kris Bryant smiled and put his hand on that ball for the last out, I actually (truly) fell off my couch. I think I'm still in shock.
Jackie, The Baseball Bloggess on November 4, 2016 at 8:54 am said:
I got a little tear-y eyed by it all … and now that Eddie Vedder "Someday We'll Go All The Way" song is stuck in my head.
It was a messy, fun Series, wasn't it? :)
johnbrownson on November 3, 2016 at 2:53 pm said:
Maybe this defines me as less than a "real" Baseball fan, but my season pretty much ended when the Giants were eliminated. I mean, it was nice, that those other guys were still playing, even though I didn't much care which of them won the marbles, and it was great that Fox Sports broadcasts the World Series, so I could watch the games from my cable-less home, but when your gut's not really in it, because your guys have gone home, it becomes kind of an empty, meaningless experience. Of course, as Woody Allen once said, about sex without love, "As empty, meaningless experiences go, it ain't bad".
In any case, it's all over now, and we enter the Dark Time, during which we snatch, greedily, at any scraps of news, about our team, or Baseball in general. I suspect that several iconic (or nearly iconic) Giants players are going to pack their bags, this offseason, and seek new employment. That's always a little painful, but it's good for us to be reminded that, just because it's our religion, doesn't also mean it's not a cold-hearted business, when it comes to it.
Now, the "Suits" take the field, and until April, we get to watch them play their game- often with different rules and goals. Still, it's Baseball, and until April, it will have to do. That, and blogs like yours. Thanks.
I agree … the cold-hearted business part of the game sort of sullies it all. And, it was always that at its core … a cold-hearted business.
It was interesting to watch Game 7 and see how stricken the Cubs and Indians fans were throughout the ups and downs of the game, and I thought, "I'm lucky, I just get to enjoy the game and not worry who wins or loses." (Which is what I say every October.)
I'll dream of spring, too … and all the possibilities it will bring. :)
T. Wayne on November 3, 2016 at 8:49 pm said:
Yes, the season is over. But this was fun to watch. A sarcastic shout out must go the MLB Network, for being the first place to remind me that the last team to win Game 6 and Game 7 of the World Series on the road to win the thing were the "We Are Family" Pirates of 1979. So, the postseason began and ended with bad Oriole vibes. Your mention of our relatively piddly 33 year drought between championships was also a wee bit painful to remember too.
Despite that, I enjoyed watching this World Series. I am something of a baseball softy, so when I saw those Cub fans tearing up and expressing their long-suppressed happiness that their team finally got the job done, I teared up a little. Baseball was the game I first loved, and it was also the game that gave me my first cry. I've seen the Ravens win two Super Bowls, and I can't remember shedding a tear for either victory. Happy as all get out, sure, but tears of joy, no. The Orioles make the playoffs in 2012 after wandering in loserville for a mere half-decade? Waterworks.
Baseball is such a great sport, full of drama (and last night's game did not lack for drama, especially late). It allows us to second-guess managerial moves (or non-moves), bemoan sloppy play that leads to unearned runs, and rue bad pitching from starters and relievers (especially the ones on your own team). And yet, it draws me every year, and it doesn't even have to be the Orioles; I'll watch any two teams just because I love the game.
Whew. That was a blog post. Maybe I should have saved that for my own blog…so sorry for rambling on…
You said it better than I could. I admit … that stupid Eddie Vedder song made me tear up. It was nice to see Chicagoans respond with such happiness — I love the wall where people were signing the names of their friends and family who didn't live to see the day when the Cubbies won. And, yes, that made me tear up a little, too.
There's something warm and nostalgic and pure and simple about baseball, isn't there? When the world get stupid and angry and mean … baseball is just there. It's a comfort. The grass is green and the game makes sense, when nothing else in the world seems to.
Yes, those 1979 references were not lost on me either. But, that's ok. We'll look back at those silly references and laugh and laugh next October, right? When the Orioles break their 33-year drought.
T. Wayne on November 4, 2016 at 8:47 am said:
Re-reading my comment, my reference to the Orioles making the 2012 postseason should have said decade and a half, not half-decade. Guess I was emotionally caught up. Lol
I knew what you meant … :)
obxmikeb on November 4, 2016 at 6:10 am said:
Let's go Nats! I miss baseball. :(
I felt a little pang for Nationals fans throughout the post-season this year, because between every inning there was that funny T-Mobile ad with Bryce Harper talking about watching his post-season "bomb." And, I thought, Nats fans probably don't need to see that every 15 minutes.
Wendy Weir on November 5, 2016 at 8:40 am said:
Cheers to a strong off-season for you! I finished my #baseballmom blog summer with what I felt was my walk-off, and I would consider the same of your post here. Nice work. ⚾
Thanks, Wendy … I'm behind on reading your blogs, but now with the off-season, I am going to catch up … :)
Pingback: Soft Eyes – A Joyful Process
Minoring In Baseball on November 9, 2016 at 11:27 pm said:
The World Series was amazing! Both teams and fans made it one to remember for sure. We look forward to college ball in February (that just sounds cold, though…), but have hockey and wrestling to get us by until then. I can't even sit down to put on socks without taking a spear for close-line from Brian…
Yes, college baseball with snow flurries is a real thing. :)


The area of Lobden is typical rugged Pennine moorland, scarred with the marks of previous industry mainly the mining of coal, large shale patch's and large sink holes remain. This area is now used for many outdoor pursuits. At 1025ft at its highest point Lobden golf club is set in the west of the moorland a tough windy 9 hole course.
Lobden and Brown Wardle There are 31 products.


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Experts fear e-cigarettes fuel teen addiction
Packets of cigarettes/FILE
US, Feb 15 – E-cigarettes can be an effective tool for smokers aiming to kick their tobacco habit, but officials fear the devices are also creating nicotine addiction among adolescents.
"E-cigarettes show tremendous promise as a tool for helping smokers who don't respond to other approaches for quitting smoking," Wilson Compton, deputy director of the US National Institute on Drug Abuse, said Friday, during a presentation with other health officials.
"What concerns us is very recent data from the US showing surprising high rates of e-cigarette use by teenagers," he said, speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in California.
A recent annual survey of more than 40,000 US high school students showed that in the last month, 8.7 percent of 14-year-olds had used the battery-operated devices that deliver vaporized nicotine into an aerosol inhaled by the user.
And the number only increased with age: 16.2 percent of 16-year-olds and 17.1 percent of 18-year-olds had done the same.
"That's a concern because this may be a unique and new pathway to nicotine exposure," Compton said.
In recent months, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that use of e-cigarettes by young non-smokers had tripled from 2011 to 2013, and warned that nicotine can affect brain development in teenagers.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in April proposed restrictions on the country's $2-billion e-cigarette industry, such as requiring sellers to enforce a minimum age.
– 'Far less dangerous' –
"Nicotine can be harmful to the growing brain, so it's best if young people avoid it," said Deborah Arnott, head of Britain-based nonprofit Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).
"But if they're going to experiment, it's better to use e-cigarettes, as vaping is far less dangerous than smoking and much less addictive," she said.
"So far in the UK and the US, smoking rates are going down more than e-cigarette use is growing. This would not be the case if vaping really were a gateway into smoking," Arnott added.
In the study of 40,000 US teenagers, only four percent of 14-year-olds, seven percent of 16-year-olds and 14 percent of 18-year-olds had smoked real cigarettes in the last month.
E-cigarettes play an important role in helping users quit or reduce smoking, according to the latest research published in December by the Cochrane Collaboration, an independent, international organization that evaluates medical research.
The group conducted two studies showing that around nine percent of those using e-cigarettes were able to stop smoking for at least a year, while only four percent of those who used placebo e-cigarettes were able to.
Among those who were unable to quit smoking, 36 percent of those using e-cigarettes were able to cut their tobacco consumption by half, compared to 28 percent in the placebo group.
"There are likely public health benefits from e-cigarettes if they provide a pathway for smokers to give up tobacco use," said Roy Harrison, professor of environmental health at Britain's University of Birmingham.
"There is evidence that this can happen, and little doubt that e-cigarettes are much less harmful to the smoker than tobacco," he said.
"However, if adolescents who have never used tobacco take up e-cigarette use, this is a matter of profound concern as they are deliberately exposing themselves to a highly addictive substance."
E-cigarettes have 10 times carcinogens
Florida widow wins $23.6bn in RJ Reynolds tobacco payout
US judge orders tobacco firms to admit they lied
Top US doctor urges 'aggressive' steps against e-cigarettes
Obama in 'excellent' health, says doctor
Beijing smokebusters to go on patrol
Hong Kong battles to kick the ketamine habit
Bungling British hitmen jailed for life for killing teen


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While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Feb 22
Dr Anthony Fauci said it was too soon to pinpoint when the United States might reach herd immunity. PHOTO: AFP
https://str.sg/JHDY
Americans may still need masks to fight Covid-19 in 2022: Fauci
Americans may still need to wear masks in 2022 even as the country relaxes other restrictions to combat Covid-19, Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said on Sunday.
While daily infection rates are coming down dramatically, thousands of Americans still die every day from the virus, and less than 15 per cent of the US population has been vaccinated against it.
US President Joe Biden is trying to accelerate the campaign to vaccinate most American adults as local governments clamour for more doses to prevent the highly contagious illness that has claimed nearly 500,000 lives in the United States.
Dr Fauci, Biden's top medical adviser, told CNN that the approaching deaths tally was "a terrible historic milestone in the history of this country".
UN nuclear watchdog strikes deal with Iran to cushion coming blow of slashed access
The UN nuclear watchdog said on Sunday it had struck a deal with Iran to cushion the blow of steps Teheran plans to take this week that include ending snap inspections, with both sides agreeing to keep "necessary" monitoring for up to three months.
The announcement by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi, made at Vienna airport after a weekend trip to Iran, confirmed that Teheran would go ahead with its plan to slash cooperation with the agency on Tuesday (Feb 23).
Iran has been gradually breaching terms of a 2015 nuclear pact with world powers since the United States, under former President Donald Trump, withdrew in 2018 and reimposed sanctions.
India's Maharashtra state imposes new Covid-19 lockdowns in some areas
India's western Maharashtra state, home to the country's financial hub Mumbai, said on Sunday it would impose new coronavirus-related restrictions in four districts, amid concerns about a second wave and slow vaccine rollout.
India, with a population of about 1.4 billion, has reported 10.9 million confirmed coronavirus infections, the world's second highest after the United States, and 156,212 deaths.
It has vaccinated about 11 million people since mid-January.
New Zealand to push for tariff-free trade of Covid-19 essential goods at Apec forum
New Zealand will use its platform as host of an Asia-Pacific trade group in coming months to seek a global approach to coronavirus vaccinations that would eliminate tariffs on goods needed to fight Covid-19.
Amid concerns that smaller nations may be left behind in vaccinating their populations, New Zealand - one of the most successful countries in curbing the pandemic - will make the proposals at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum, which it will host virtually this year.
"Our message is that to deal with a global pandemic like this we need more global participation," said Vangelis Vitalis, New Zealand's deputy secretary for trade and economy, who chairs the Apec2021 Senior Officials' Meeting.
Football: Sterling strikes early as leaders Man City sink Arsenal
Manchester City moved a step closer to the Premier League title as Raheem Sterling's early goal gave the runaway leaders a 1-0 win against Arsenal on Sunday.
Pep Guardiola's side made it 18 successive victories in all competitions thanks to Sterling's second-minute header at the Emirates Stadium.
With 13 games left, City are 10 points clear of second-placed Leicester, who had closed the gap to seven with a 2-1 win at Aston Villa earlier on Sunday.


而這個"你", 並不一定是白皮膚的, 不用花錢去美(漂)白, 也不用病到臉白的, 重點是在"說外語", 和膚色無關的, 呵呵….
引此推論, 您在北京的國際會議展覽中心的遭遇, 太概是因為你用以聊天的, 是尊貴的大國語言, 而不是粗鄙的外語了! 既然尊貴, 當然就得好看的站好了!
you mean same observation as Tyo?
to me, 踎 is just fine as long as the street is not too crowded. also eating on public transport is just fine to me as long as it's clean and light.


Book Update: The things that we are told to make us happy is a total lie. I feel so used. Ok, not really. But, I read about this cool term called "hedonistic adaption" which explains so much! So, hedonism is that term we forgot from high school that is a school of thought where pleasure is the only good. A hedonist strives for as much pleasure as possible. Hedonistic adaptation is what happens when we get what we want that we thought would make us happy…. and usually it really doesn't make us happy in the long run. For example, most people believe getting married will make them eternally happier. The studies show that most people are back to their same happiness mindset after 2 years of being married as they were before they were married. So, basically these circumstances (the raise, the bigger house, the new job) do not make us much happier for very long. You always go back to your overall happy set point. Of course, where would our species be if we just settled for what we have?
There is a bonus to this! I thought it was awful, but actually there is a good flip side. If you have something bad happen to you, then you go back to your happy set point even after the bad event. Cool, huh? Let's make some chocolate mousse cups to celebrate.
Recipe: I tried a couple ways to make these chocolate cups and the second time was the charm. It didn't take as much time as I thought it would. The first layer of chocolate took about 20 minutes to do. The second layer took 10-12 minutes. There is a lot of rest time and a LOT of creativity to be had with this method. You could use milk chocolate instead of semi-sweet and fill them with peanut butter. You could use dark chocolate instead. You could fill them with all kinds of yummy things!
*Or you could make stabilized chocolate whipped cream: 1/2 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder, 1/2 tsp espresso powder, 2 cups heavy cream, 2 Tb cold water, 1 tsp unflavored gelatin, 1 tsp vanilla, and 2-3 oz (1/2-3/4 cup) powdered sugar. Combine cocoa, espresso powder and cream and fridge for 30 minutes; Sprinkle gelatin in water and let absorb; combine water and gelatin for 5 minutes, microwave for 8 seconds and cool to room temperature; whip cream and vanilla until thick, with mixer on medium pour gelatin in on the side of the bowl, stop mixer and add powdered sugar; beat to medium peaks.
*Or make your own chocolate mousse from scratch.
2. First, get everything set up so you are ready to go. Have your pastry brush and spoon sitting on a paper towel.
3. Pour 1″ of water into the bottom pot and begin to boil. Bring it down to barely a simmer (about medium-low). Then, put your second pot on top. Pour a little over half (7-8 ounces or so) of the chocolate chips into the double boiler to begin melting. Stir and melt.
4. Once melted, turn your heat down to very low or off to keep the chocolate from getting too hot.
5. Spoon 1-2 tsp. of chocolate into the liner. Brush it up the sides with a pastry brush. Make sure you get all the way up to the top and make sure the bottom is covered. Place it back into the muffin pan and repeat for all of them.
6. Turn off your pots and just let it sit if you can. I just used what chocolate I had left in the pot for the next round (which was barely anything at all). Put the chocolate cups into the fridge for at least 30-60 minutes.
7. Once the chocolate cups are solid, turn your double boiler back on and begin to melt the rest of the bag of chocolate chips (4-5 ounces).
8. Again, once the chocolate is melted feel free to turn the burners off in order to keep the chocolate from getting too hot.
9. Take your spoon and pour in about 1 tsp. of chocolate this time into each cup. Carefully, brush up the sides. The chocolate cup will melt a little in your hand. This is okay. Just keep on chugging and hold it carefully. Do this for all of your cups. Do a final check of your cups in some good lighting to make sure that you covered ALL the surfaces well.
10. Pop them in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. I left mine in overnight.
11. Wash your hands in cool water and dry them. Try to keep your hands cool if you can. Remove the chocolate cups from the pan one at a time to keep them cold. Now remove the paper liner. At first, it comes off in tiny pieces. Just keep chugging. Eventually it will come off in a great big piece off of the side and then another big piece will fall off of the bottom. Place your cups on a platter if serving soon, or place them in a 9×13 that can be put in the fridge.
12. Once the wrappers are all off of the cups, you can fill them!
13. To make the Wildtree mousse: Just mix your mix and whipped cream/cool whip together. Pipe it into the cups or spoon it. Then feel free to decorate with raspberries, chocolate chips, chocolate shavings, etc.
The cups will act like chocolate chips – they will stay fine at room temperature and melt at body temperature. If you want to make them 3 days ahead of time, that is just fine! I would keep them in the fridge or freezer.
I want to make these chocolate cups.


Lameness in beef and dairy cattle is responsible for economic losses and has significant animal welfare implications. It has been proposed that early treatment with analgesics not only reduces acute pain but also leads to reduced long-term sensitization. Fifty-three cattle (309–954 kg body weight [BW], mean: 656 kg) with musculoskeletal lameness were scored for lameness and inflammation, then randomly assigned to a single oral treatment with meloxicam oral suspension (MOS) (28 animals) at 1 mg/kg or saline at 1 mL/15 kg BW. Lameness and inflammation were reevaluated 3 days after treatment, and 26 of 28 (92.8%) MOS-treated animals had a reduced lameness score, while only three of 25 control animals had a reduced lameness score. MOS was effective in treating musculoskeletal disease in cattle. In an accompanying residue depletion study, 22 lactating Holstein cows (BW: 553–927 kg, mean: 713 kg) were used in the study. All 22 animals received MOS at the dose of 1 mg/kg BW once. Milk (500 mL sample from the full milking volume) was collected at approximately 48, 72, 96, and 120 hours after the treatment. Samples were subjected to in vitro analysis for quantification of meloxicam by liquid chromatography and mass spectroscopy. The mean meloxicam concentration at 48 and 72 hours were 30.75 and 2.82 ng/mL, respectively. The meloxicam milk concentration was below the limit of quantification (1 ng/mL) in 15 of 22 animals at 96 hours and in 22 of 22 animals at 120 hours. The milk meloxicam levels in all animals were below the maximum residue limit (Canada: 35 ng/mL; Europe: 15 ng/mL) at the 72-hour sampling.


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Me and Cedric Price
Memory Bank at the Architectural Association gives a fond and very personal insight into the 'cultivated maverick'
Cedric Price's image, with customary cigar, looms large over the Memory Bank installation of filmed interviews about Price and his work. Credit: Valerie Bennett
Many years ago in pursuit of a quirky architectural news story, I rang Cedric Price to ask him about a take-away cup he'd designed for the Crowbar café in London. Shamefully, I then knew little of the man or the work, but he treated my rather frivolous questions with more seriousness and consideration than they probably deserved. I rather regret that this was my only interaction with him, especially after listening to the rich reminiscences of others in the Memory Bank installation at the Architectural Association.
Staged to coincide with the publication of the new book Cedric Price Works 1952-2003: A Forward-minded Retrospective by Samantha Hardingham, this installation is deceptively engrossing despite the rather spartan presentation. It consists of a dozen or so small monitors and headphones, each screening an interview with a friend or collaborator of Price. A couple of large-scale images of Price and a few drawings adorn the walls.
Listening to this installation isn't something that can rushed. It rewards with a fascinating insight into the personality and work of Price and what he meant to those close to him. And although references to key visionary projects such as the Fun Palace, the Potteries Thinkbelt, and Magnet pepper the reminiscences, the interviewees are full of great anecdotes about everything from Price's legendary alcohol-fuelled breakfast meetings to his retreat – a phone-free white room at the top of his office known as East Grinstead where Price went to escape distraction.
Samantha Hardingham's recollections are particularly illuminating. She describes him as a 'crescendo of paradoxes' who was ebullient, fun and spontaneous but at the same time deceptively organised, with a strictly compartmentalised way of organising his day and activities. She discusses his fascination with people, and his interest in architecture being human-centric rather than form-centric. It was particularly important to him that architecture could delight and uplift and, above all, act as an enabler.
Memory Bank installation of filmed interviews about Price and his work. Credit: Valerie Bennett.
The Memory Bank installation coincides with the publication of Cedric Price Works 1952-2003: A Forward-minded Retrospective by Samantha Hardingham (co-published by the Architectural Association and the Canadian Centre for Architecture).
On the question of whether Price would have wanted to build more than he did she is sure that he would, and that there were always very good reasons why so many projects failed to be realised. Others offer different views. Will Alsop, who once worked for Price, thought that he didn't really want to build, recalling his distinct lack of interest in questions of detail and building regulations.
'He wasn't afraid of building. He was just not very interested in building. What he was interested in were the ideas behind a building,' says Paul Finch, who knew Price for several decades and warmly describes their regular meetings.
Price was, he says, a curiosity who was difficult to categorise. While he influenced and still influences architects, he was never part of a particular gang. Instead, he was a 'cultivated maverick'.
Serpentine Galleries artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist remembers how meetings with Price were like 'going on a walk with him through his ideas'. And what ideas they were – he was particularly taken with a concept for giant umbrellas that pop up out of drains to cover the street when it rains.
'The last thing he'd want is that we worship him,' says Architectural Association director Brett Steele, who talks of Price's 50 year 'hidden career' of architectural discovery. Though fond, this installation doesn't do that. But it certainly whets the appetite to learn more about Price's thinking and projects, and thankfully Hardingham's new book can help with just that, providing a retrospective of a half-century of Price's provocative and thoughtful works.
Memory Bank by Jan Nauta and Victor Vroegindeweij, until 29 October, Front Members' Room, 36 Bedford Square, London; coinciding with the publication of Cedric Price Works 1952-2003: A Forward-minded Retrospective by Samantha Hardingham (co-published by the Architectural Association and the Canadian Centre for Architecture) Architectural Association. Available at ribabookshops.com
Designing & building it
Samantha Hardingham


23 August 2017, anti-abortion movement is marching on the streets of Moscow praying for an end of abortions. 40 Days For Life is a voluntary based movement which cause is to end abortions trough praying and fasting. They believe that life begins at conception and it is upon God`s will. The movement has started in the USA, but has expanded its representations worldwide.
Based in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Spain the "For Life" movement operates in Europe, mostly with the support of the church and even some support by the government. They also organize worldwide initiatives called festivals like the one in Moscow, to promote their 40 days campaigns of praying and fasting by "groundbreaking, coordinated international mobilization", as they call it.
Abortion is one of the commonly threated topics when it comes to religion and freedom of choice. Even though abortion is never clearly mentioned in the Bible, it is accepted as a violation against God`s will and the creation as God`s act. The ethics and morality behind the act of abortion related to the legal status of the fetus (is it a person, hence is abortion an act of murder) can also be related to some extend to the religion, because all laws of God are based on moral values.
Most countries in Europe allow abortion during the first trimester and under specific circumstances after it. Malta is the only exception where abortions are fully banned by law. In Ireland abortion is illegal as well, except of the cases where the woman`s life is endangered due to the pregnancy. Among former soviet countries Poland has the less liberal provisions. It has very strict abortion laws which allow abortion only when there is a risk to the life or health of the woman, when the pregnancy is a result of a criminal act (the criminal act has to be confirmed by a prosecutor), or when the fetus has serious malformations. Last year the Polish government, reinforced by the Catholic Church, tried to impose a full ban of abortions, but it did not succeed, after women`s groups and human rights movements strongly opposed this proposal by numerous protests all over the country.
The variety of abortion legislation is based on socioeconomic implications, but also is widely impacted by the influence of the church, meaning that more religious societies are opposing abortion stronger than others.
In any case it is inevitable to mention the right of a woman to choose freely. Article 16 of The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women provides for the freedom of reproductive choice granting the same rights to women and men "to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights".


While Milan was easy to pack into a day, Venice is a city that'll take several to explore. It's one of few places where getting lost should be mandatory — with every twist and turn, I'd stumble onto a sight more charming than the next, whether it was a picturesque footbridge or an artist at work. Whatever your itinerary may be, I highly recommend tossing the map and letting the vaporetti and your feet take the lead.
Grand Canal: It's the biggest waterway in Venice and certainly the busiest. While not nearly as romantic as the tinier, less popular corridors, the Grand Canal is home to the marvelous palazzos built by Venetian nobles between the 13th and 17th centuries. To get a closer view of the architecture, catch the number one vaperetto (a public ferry) at the train station and that'll take you up the entire stretch, under the Rialto Bridge to the Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square). I bought one of the tourist travel cards with unlimited rides during my stay and loved hopping on and off the different ferry lines.
Piazza San Marco: The most impressive view of St. Mark's Square is actually from above. Weave your way through the crowds — and there'll be a big one, many of them playing with the pigeons (why?!) — over to the bell tower and take the elevator up to the observatory. From there, you'll be able to capture stunning 360-degree views of the entire city and lagoon.
Burano: If you have time to hop over to one of the surrounding islands, make the lovely Burano a priority over the rest. It takes less than an hour to get there by vaperetto and spend the afternoon meandering through streets lined with technicolor houses. There's a lace museum and a church there too, but the main draw for me was definitely the rainbow homes.
Gelateria Nico: The location of this ice cream shop, right along the Grand Canal, screams tourist trap, but the gelato here was by far the best I had on my trip. To this day, whenever I crave gelato, I think back to the scoops I had at Nico, especially the pistachio, which was just so deliciously nutty and dreamy.
Osteria Ca D'Oro: Known by locals as Alla Vedova, this quaint family-run restaurant is known for meatballs, but not the dense spaghetti toppers we typically think of — the specialty here are juicy, breadcrumb-crusted polpettes that arrive hot and crunchy. The pastas are just as good, like the nero di seppia (squid ink, a Venetian classic) and the surprise hit of the night, an incredible vegetable and shrimp lasagna.
Trattoria al Gatto Nero: Book a canalside seat if you can. It's the perfect setting for stellar seafood dishes that include a terrific spaghetti with clams and the Burano-style risotto cooked with fish from the lagoon. The rice dish isn't as Instagram-worthy, but definitely the more memorable of the bunch.
Tagged with gelato, italian, pasta.
February 3, 2015 by Patty Lee.


The goal of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Initiative is to bring together all AI work conducted at AUT, from undergraduate and postgraduate study to industry and community collaborations.
In this section you'll find details about AI research projects and groups, our staff and partners, and opportunities for AI study and learning through seminars and conferences.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the current technological revolution in the world. A recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that AI will significantly increase the GDP of the world – up to 26% for China, 16% for the USA, and 10% for countries like New Zealand. AI is expected to change the professional activities of millions, threatening thousands of traditional jobs and creating job opportunities in new exciting areas.
Stephen Hawking said: "AI could be either the best or the worst thing ever to happen to humanity". Professor Nikola Kasabov's view is that it will be neither, and perhaps in 20 years' time, AI will become a common tool just as spread sheets are now. Regardless of the views, there are currently many activities world-wide and also starting in NZ that address both technological and societal issues of AI. Companies are in a race to develop new AI technologies in order to keep their competitive edge. Hence, AUT as a university promoting new technologies and innovation, and embracing the motto "for the changing world", is leading the response to this technological revolution.
Professor Nikola Kasabov, one of the co-founders of the AUT AI Initiative, gave a Gibbon's lecture in 2017 titled 'From Aristotle to Deep Learning Machines' that provides a broad overview over the development of AI over the last 2500 years.
This book presents background knowledge and new generic methods for spiking neural networks, evolving spiking neural networks and brain-inspired spiking neural networks.
Find out about upcoming events including seminars, workshops and conferences.


An innovative new indoor adventure centre may be coming to Manchester! Plans have been submitted for "Project Canyon" to be created near Manchester's Trafford Centre. Activities would include indoor canoeing, canyoning, caving, deepwater surfing, zip wires, ice and rock climbing.
Urban Legacies have submitted a full planning application to Trafford Council to convert part of the DW Sports & Fitness Centre building next to the Chill Factore ski slope for this exciting new development.
An accompanying design and access statement by architect Benoy said: "Project Canyon is designed to become one of the most exciting all-year-round leisure and activity destinations."
Trafford Council has set a determination deadline of 8 March 2017 for the proposals.


Utah. Providing one of the most scenic watercourses in America, Zion National Park's Virgin River wends its way through miles of picturesque canyons. Here, the colors of autumn enhance the scene looking toward the distinctive peak known as The Watchman in the distance. To 42" on the long side. Click on this preview image for a full-screen view.


While we may be using the Chinese Year of the Dog as an excuse to spoil our fur babies, we thought it would be interesting to share some interesting facts about this much celebrated New Year.
Did you know that the Chinese New Year is celebrated by more than 20% of the world. This is the most important holiday in China and to Chinese people.
In China, you'll hear it being called chunjie (春节), or the Spring Festival. It's still very wintry, but the holiday marks the end of the coldest days. People welcome spring and what it brings along: planting and harvests, new beginnings and fresh starts.


text:
Abou Abdallah Mohammed ibn Abdallah ibn Issa ibn Mohammed ibn Ibrahim al-Mourri al-Ilbiri (en ) plus connu sous le nom d'Ibn Abi Zamanine (en ), est un juriste (faqîh), traditionniste (mouhaddith) et exégète (moufassir) andalou du  du calendrier hégirien ( du calendrier julien).

Origines
Bien que Miguel Casiri considère qu'il soit né à Almería et  à Cordoue, l'opinion communément admise est qu'il est né en 324 AH (936 du calendrier julien) à  au sein d'une famille berbère dont les ancêtres venaient de Ténès.

D'après le qadi Iyyad, il appartient à la tribu zénète des Nefzaoua, connu pour son implication dans la conquête musulmane de la péninsule Ibérique.

Formation
Il commence son apprentissage des sciences religieuses auprès de son père Abdallah et d'autres érudits (ouléma) de sa ville natale d', avant de partir pour Pechina puis Cordoue, où il côtoie certaines des plus grandes sommités de son époque.

Travaux
Bien installé à Cordoue comme juriste (faqîh) malikite, il est l'auteur de plusieurs ouvrages religieux dont une douzaine nous sont parvenus. Parmi ces derniers on peut notamment citer le Livre des jugements choisis (), l'Exegèse d'Ibn Abi Zamanine () ou encore .

Dans ses travaux sur la croyance (aqidah), il développe des positions similaires à celle de l'imam Ahmad et de l'école atharite, notamment en ce qui concerne la nature de la parole divine.

Élèves
Parmi ses disciples, on peut notamment citer ,  et .

Bibliographie

Naissance en 936
Date de décès incertaine (XIe siècle)
Ouléma malikite
Commentateur du hadith
Poète d'Al-Andalus
Personnalité liée à Cordoue
Personnalité berbère du Xe siècle
Personnalité du haut Moyen Âge par nom
Faqîh du haut Moyen Âge
Poète du Xe siècle
Juriste du Xe siècle
Poète du haut Moyen Âge


Located within minutes of downtown Houston, Buffalo Bayou Park is a 160-acre, 2.3-mile long public space that has been subjected to years of neglect. Surrounded on both sides by high-use thoroughfares, the park was also difficult for nearby neighborhoods to access. In 2010, the Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP) received a $30 million grant from the Kinder Foundation, which served as a fundraising catalyst for the park's revitalization. In 2012, under the leadership of the BBP Board and President Anne Olson, collaborative partners including the City of Houston, the Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD), and a variety of non-profit organizations, design firms, and community groups began reconstruction of the park. With the foundation grant, as well as an additional $23 million from private donations and $5 million donated from the HCFCD, the BBP has been transforming the park by upgrading walking and biking trails, adding pedestrian bridges to adjacent neighborhoods, and restoring the natural landscape and bayou channel. Completion of the transformation of Buffalo Bayou Park is slated for June of 2015, a redevelopment which will make the park easy to access for neighboring communities and complement the cityscape of Houston with the nature of the bayou.
Anne has been president of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership since 1995. Along with the BBP board and staff, which includes Buffalo Bayou Park Project Manager Guy Hagstette and Director of PR and Events Trudi Smith, Anne has orchestrated the enhancement of the bayou channel and the surrounding green space by working with a diverse group of government leaders, design specialists, and community and environmental advocates. Anne has helped attract over $150 million in contributions to BBP initiatives with nearly $58 million – including the Kinder Foundation gift – raised specifically for the Buffalo Bayou Park's restoration. Under her leadership, the BBP has received numerous national, state, and local planning and urban design awards, such as the 2009 American Society of Landscape Architects Award of Excellence.
For nearly twenty years, Anne, the BBP board, and staff have directed a series of initiatives that have enhanced the bayou's amenities while at the same time preserving and cultivating its ecosystem. Anne first learned about the potential to redevelop the bayou while serving as Executive Director of the Greater East End Chamber of Commerce. She recognized that the bayou had not been restored in the part of town she represented; thus, the Chamber and the BBP jointly developed and published a master plan to revitalize the East Sector of the bayou. During this time, Anne became the President of BBP.
Originally from upstate New York, Anne moved to Texas to work as Director of Public Relations for the Houston Public Library. During her five-year tenure in Houston's East End Chamber of Commerce, she became familiar with the various neighborhoods and communities around the bayou. As BBP President, Anne has kept in contact with these community leaders, some of whom are now elected city council members. Throughout her time with the BBP, Anne has built longstanding relationships and communicated future park objectives with government officials, non-profit leaders, private donors, and city residents: "It's reaching out to as many people as you can." She has demonstrated her capacity to leverage these networks in order to advance the BBP's initiatives. For example, Anne had previously worked with urban planner Guy Hagstette, when he served as Director of Planning and Capital Projects for the Downtown Management District and Director of Urban Design under then-Mayor of Houston Bill White. Anne recognized Guy's breadth of experience as an urban planner and architect and, in 2012, hired him to serve as Consultant and Buffalo Bayou Park Project Manager. With the help of individuals like Guy, Anne has been able to broaden and strengthen support between the BBP and community leaders in Houston.
Anne's project management and public relations skills have been essential for the massive and multi-partied undertaking of outreach required as BBP President. In managing the various public work projects of the BBP, Anne has made sure that each key stakeholder across different sectors is represented in the decision-making process. Anne cites a diverse board, with members that include government, foundation leaders, environmental conservationists, neighborhood representatives, and real estate developers. Anne's fundraising and networking skills also have been essential in her position.
Anne has built trust and fostered cross-sector understanding of the park's revitalization by establishing stakeholder groups with a diverse set of members. There was a concerted effort from the BBP to hold numerous community meetings before the initial stage of the park's revitalization in order "to get everyone's input." The BBP Board of Directors exemplifies this diversity of perspectives: there are representatives of major foundations, community leaders, conservationists, and high-level real estate developers – each with term limits that keeps the organization fresh. Another example is Buffalo Bayou Park's environmental advisory committee, which has representatives from the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, the Katy Prairie Conservancy, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the Sierra Club.
In 2006, the BBP had successfully completed its renovation of the Sabine-to-Bagby Promenade, which is along the bayou but closer to downtown. At the same time, the Kinder Foundation had spearheaded the development of Discovery Green, a public park adjacent to the downtown convention center. The BBP's well-received reception of the transformed promenade excited philanthropists Rich and Nancy Kinder, and a connection was born. After two years of preparatory meetings, in 2010 the Kinder Foundation offered an unprecedented $30 million grant to the BBP in order to revitalize Buffalo Bayou Park. This large catalyst gift stimulated private and public funding for the remaining $28 million required for the park's redevelopment. The BBP's Campaign Committee was able to initiate connections with major foundations, corporate funders and private sponsors for sizable financial contributions, and direct mail campaigns to Houston residents simultaneously raised awareness and essential capital. Anne cites that the fundraising campaign is now in a "very public stage." Through direct mail, the BBP has raised almost $400,000. People can pay $125 for their name on a plaque or $5000 for the designation of a park bench.
The revitalization of Buffalo Bayou Park required extensive community outreach and teamwork among various parties in order to ensure the public space equally met each group's needs. For example, the BBP arranged meetings to hear feedback from and address the concerns of the jogging community, the bike community, and several different civic groups. After meeting with design specialists to discuss ideas for the park's redevelopment, BBP representatives went back to meet with community groups to hear their points of view. Furthermore, once the park construction had begun, the BBP invited community members on walking tours to better understand the revitalization process every step of the way.
Along with the BBP's concerted efforts in community outreach and discussion, the organization has ensured open communication about the park's redevelopment through the use of up-to-date and interactive web-based information. BBP hired the design and communications firm, CORE Design Studio, to develop a special microsite on the BBP's website devoted entirely on keeping the public informed. This site also featured a forum for Houstonians to express their thoughts and concerns about the park's transformation. BBP consulted with the software firm Pariveda Solutions, which generated the Buffalo Bayou Guide's mobile application, displaying a user-friendly map of park trails, updates about construction, and in-depth information about park and other Buffalo Bayou features. The app offers details about park recreation activities, public art installations, and locations of famous gravesites in Glenwood Cemetery.
The BBP's Organizational and Strategic Plan Committee monitors the organization's five-year plan to ensure goals are met on a timely basis. The Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) initiated its own plan for the bayou channel's restoration in order to control erosion and reinforce bank stability. The two parties have worked in tandem. The park's redevelopment projects were built from the ground up: the HCFCD has worked on channel realignment and created flood benches for the bayou, while the BBP has coordinated the construction of footpaths, pedestrian bridges, and amenities such as a Nature Playground, an area for kids to enjoy the park's natural environment.
A playground is under construction that will be finished in the fall of 2015.
A dog park near Studemont Street and Allen Parkway is set for completion in December of 2015. The dog park will include pavilions and two ponds for pets to cool off on a hot summer day.
The multi-purpose private event space, The Dunlavy, is planned for development overlooking the bayou and Lost Lake. The venue will offer different cuisines of Houston restaurants run by Clark Cooper Concepts.
HCFCD has completed its restoration of the bayou channel and banks by removing silt and re-grading the bayou's slopes. With a gentler gradation on both sides of the channel, the bayou can serve as launch areas for canoes and kayaks.
Katy Prairie Conservancy is reintroducing native landscapes that will restore ecological diversity in the park while helping to control erosion. Fifty percent of the park's lawn will be replaced with meadows of wild flowers and native grasses.
Stephen Korns and L'Observatoire/Halie Light International have designed the park's innovative lighting treatments that correspond to the lunar calendar. As the moon wanes, the park's accent lighting changes from blue to white; as the moon waxes, the colors change from white to blue.