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Sharyl Attkisson is back, and she's flogging a new-old antivaccine conspiracy theory
Orac January 9, 2019 79 Comments
If there's one thing I've learned about antivaccine tropes and conspiracy theories over 14 years of blogging, it's that there's never really anything new under the sun. The pseudoscience and misinformation rarely changes, and each new conspiracy theory tends to be a variation on a theme of existing antivaccine conspiracy theories. I was reminded of this over the weekend when I became aware of a report being flogged on antivaccine websites by a journalist named Sharyl Attkisson that purports to show that a prominent scientist who was a government expert witness actually believed that vaccine can cause autism in some cases but that his views were "covered up." Sound familiar?
Since around 2014 when I first recognized a recurring pattern, I've referred to the central conspiracy of the antivaccine movement, which I now like to nickname, in essence, "They knew." (Or mauybe it should be, "THEY KNEW!!!!!!!") The "they" in the "they knew" conspiracy theory is, of course one or more of the following: the CDC, FDA, big pharma, the government, public health authorities, or pretty much anyone who has anything to do with vaccines. The idea behind the conspiracy theory is that "they" knew (and know) that vaccines cause autism and "they" have covered it up. The "CDC whistleblower" conspiracy theory resonated so much among antivaxers and even became the basis of an antivaccine propaganda movie and fake news because it basically posited the existence of a "whistleblower" at the CDC who was supposedly saying that the CDC covered up data linking the MMR vaccine to autism. (It didn't, and not even the CDC whistleblower himself appears to believe the spin, although some credulous journalists did.)
That brings us to the latest variation on "they knew," which is being peddled by the aforementioned Sharyl Attkisson. She's a journalist about whom I've been writing on and off at least since 2007. Yes, I'm referring to Sharyl Attkisson, who recently published a report The Vaccine Debate on Full Measure , her weekly Sunday news program allegedly focusing on "investigative, original and accountability reporting." The report alleges that two U.S. Department of Justice attorneys, Vincent Matanoski and Lynn Ricciardella, who represented the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP), otherwise known as the "Vaccine Court", in the Omnibus Autism Proceedings (OAP). In essence, it is a rehash of the charges made in October by antivaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Rolf Hazlehurst, a father who thought his child was injured by vaccines and took his case to the Vaccine Court as part of the Autism Omnibus proceedings, that a "top government expert" was "silenced," all (of course) to make sure the government won its case and no admission that vaccines cause autism would be forthcoming.
A little background: The Autism Omnibus
Unless you've been following the antivaccine movement a long time, you probably don't know what the Autism Omnibus proceedings were, given that the cases that were part of the Omnibus were decided in 2009 and 2010. I wrote about these proceedings several times while they were going on, characterizing it as the "mercury militia going to court." Basically, the Autism Omnibus came about because in the late 1990s and early 2000s, thousands of petitions for "vaccine injury" in which vaccines were claimed to have caused autism were being submitted to the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NCVIP) for adjudication by the Vaccine Court. Indeed, the number reached ~5,400. To handle this large number of claims, the Office of Special Masters (OSM) held a number of meetings in 2002 between attorneys who represented many of the autism petitioners (there were and are attorneys who specialize in this and represent a large number of clients), and the counsel for the Secretary of Health and Human Services, who was the defendant in these cases. Unlike the way that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. describes it, as a system mandated by the Special Masters, in reality, as Dorit Rubinstein Reiss describes it, the petitioners' representatives proposed a system to process the large number of cases efficiently. Here it is from Cedillo vs. HHS:
They [the petitioners' attorneys] proposed that the OSM utilize a two- step procedure: first, conduct an inquiry into the general causation issue involved in these cases– i.e., whether the vaccinations in question can cause autism and/or similar disorders, and if so in what circumstances– and then, second, apply the evidence obtained in that general inquiry to the individual cases. They proposed that a team of petitioners' lawyers be selected to represent the interests of the autism petitioners during the course of the general causation inquiry. They proposed that the proceeding begin with a lengthy period of discovery concerning the general causation issue, followed by a designation of experts for each side, an evidentiary hearing, and finally a ruling on the general causation issue by a special master. Then, the evidence concerning the general causation issue, obtained as a result of the general proceeding, would be applied to the individual cases.
Now, it needs to be understood that the Vaccine Court in essence bends over backwards to accommodate petitioners. For example, petitioners need to support a hypothesis of causation, a proposed biological mechanism by which vaccines caused the harm for which they are seeking compensation. Now here's the thing. They don't need to provide the same level of scientific evidence as they would in a regular court; they just have to suggest a mechanism and convince the court that it is a plausible mechanism, and, let me tell you, "plausible" can have a pretty wide definition. For example, the Vaccine Court once compensated a complainant for sudden infant death syndrome, even though there is no evidence that vaccines cause SIDS and evidence that vaccines might even be protective against it.
Now, at the time there were two general ideas that antivaxers had about vaccines and autism. The first was that the MMR causes autism (the Andrew Wakefield branch of the antivaccine movement). The second was the idea that the mercury in thimerosal used as a preservative in vaccines before 2002 causes autism (the Mark and David Geier or "mercury militia" branch of the antivaccine movement). The OSM therefore agreed to hold hearings that would address the 5,400 cases through six test cases that would test three hypotheses of how vaccines could cause autism:
Did the mercury in thimerosal used as a preservative in vaccines cause autism?
Did the MMR vaccine cause autism?
Did a combination of MMR and thimerosal cause autism?
These test cases were chosen by the petitioners' representatives as the very best cases, the most convincing cases, that they had among the 5,400 petitioners, the thought being that if the very best cases couldn't prevail then none of the others would. Also, as Dorit noted, the second question was not examined, as the evidence for MMR causing autism was included in the third question., and the issue of whether the combination could cause autism was the first question examined. Finally, I can't help but point out how I noted at the time just how bad the science was that the lawyers for the petitioners had chosen as the test cases. (Yes, it was really bad, given that it was the usual antivax crackpots who were chosen by the petitioners' attorneys as "expert witnesses.") U.S. Rep. Dan Burton, who was the friend of antivaxers in Congress at the time, even tried to weigh in to influence the proceedings.
In early 2009. the decisions on the first three test cases, in which the question of whether a combination of the MMR and thimerosal causes autism, were announced and in all cases the Vaccine Court rejected the petitioners' claims. IN 2010, the decisions of the remaining test cases, which dealt with MMR alone, were announced and were also negative. Rolf Hazlehurst's son Yates was a complainant in the first group of test cases, ruled on in 2009.
A little more background: Dr. Andrew Zimmerman
One last bit of background: At the time that the Autism Omnibus cases were being adjudicated, the Special Masters compensated the family of a girl named Hannah Poling for vaccine injury that the antivax movement tried to paint as the government "admitting" that vaccines cause autism when it wasn't anything of the sort. This is the origin of the "mitochondrial autism" idea of causation. Hannah Poling had a mitochondrial disease ultimately found to be due to a point mutation in the gene for the 16S ribosomal RNA (T2387C). Mitochondrial disorders are rare genetic disorders that can make a child prone to developing encephalopathy in response to fever or stress. The idea that antivaxers used in the case was, basically that vaccines caused a stress in these children that led to encephalopathy that led to autism. Never mind that encephalopathy ≠ autism. (Basic science never stopped antivaxers.) Never mind that a fever from an actual disease is far more of a risk to a child with a mitochondrial disorder than any vaccine.
Actually, I lied. One more last bit of background: Dr. Andrew Zimmerman, the expert about whom the conspiracy theory is about, is a pediatric neurologist who examined Hannah Poling and later with her father, in a dubious bit of ethics, wrote up a case report of Hannah's regression. I wrote about it all ten year ago, and since then it has become gospel among a certain faction of antivaxers that the Poling case is slam-dunk evidence that autism is a mitochondrial disease and that vaccines can trigger it.
On to Sharyl Attkisson's antivaccine propaganda!
One disadvantage of how antivaccine claims keep recurring is that when they recur after such a long period of time it requires a lot of explanation. Here we are, though. Let's look at Attkisson's story:
Now here's the claim:
Today we investigate one of the biggest medical controversies of our time: vaccines. There's little dispute about this much– vaccines save many lives, and rarely, they injure or kill. A special federal vaccine court has paid out billions for injuries from brain damage to death. But not for the form of brain injury we call autism. Now—we have remarkable new information: a respected pro-vaccine medical expert used by the federal government to debunk the vaccine-autism link, says vaccines can cause autism after all. He claims he told that to government officials long ago, but they kept it secret.
See why I call this a variant of the "they knew" conspiracy theory, a.k.a. the central conspiracy theory of the antivaccine movement? Here it comes:
In 2007, Yates' case and nearly all the other vaccine autism claims lost. The decision was based largely on the expert opinion of this man, Dr. Andrew Zimmerman, a world-renowned pediatric neurologist shown here at a lecture.
Dr. Zimmerman was the government's top expert witness and had testified that vaccines didn't cause autism. The debate was declared over.
But now Dr. Zimmerman has provided remarkable new information. He claims that during the vaccine hearings all those years ago, he privately told government lawyers that vaccines can, and did cause autism in some children. That turnabout from the government's own chief medical expert stood to change everything about the vaccine-autism debate. If the public were to find out.
I can't help but note that it was in 2009 when Yates Hazlehurst's case was decided, but who cares about accuracy if it just "feels" right? (OK, I'll be nice and concede that the first three Omnibus cases were argued in 2007.) That bit aside, this claim sounds damning, but in reality there's a lot less there than meets the eye. Why? Well, the most important reason is that it's a huge exaggeration to claim that the Special Masters' rulings in the Hazlehurst case and other test cases was "based largely on the expert opinion of this man, Dr. Andrew Zimmerman" is a such a massive overstatement of his importance to the case as to be risible in the extreme. There was lots of other evidence and several other experts. Indeed, Dr. Zimmerman didn't even testify! He did provide a written opinion, as did other experts. If you want to get an idea of how much weight was given to Dr. Zimmerman's opinion, just read Cedillo vs. HHS, specifically, this footnote:
Another pediatric neurologist with extensive experience with autism, Dr. Andrew Zimmerman, also filed an expert report for respondent. (Ex. FF.) Dr. Zimmerman stated the opinion that the evidence does not support the proposition that the MMR vaccine can cause autism. (Ex. FF, p. 4.) Thus, Dr. Zimmerman's report certainly supports the result that I have reached in this case. However, because he did not testify at the evidentiary hearing, his opinion has been far less important than that of the respondent's experts who did testify, in leading to my conclusion.
Now, don't get me wrong. Dr. Zimmerman's submitted opinion certainly helped the government defend its case, but notice how Sharyl Attkisson's claim rests on grossly inflating his importance in persuading the Vaccine Court to reject the claims made on behalf of the children making up the test cases. As for the decision in Hazlehurst vs. HHS, the decision is 203 pages long, and the only mention of Zimmerman is in a list of experts who submitted reports and this:
As a pediatric neurologist with a particular research interest in autism and with considerable clinical experience with autistic children, Dr. Zimmerman opined that "there is no scientific basis for a connection" between the MMR vaccination, mercury intoxication, and autism. Cedillo Ex. FF at 2, 4 (Dr. Zimmerman's report).
The undersigned has reviewed and considered the filed reports from these experts and finds that the opinions of the experts lend support to the conclusions reached in this decision. In reaching the conclusions set forth in this decision, however, the undersigned relies more heavily on the testimony and reports of the experts who were observed and heard during the hearings.
Double ouch.
So you can see why my first reaction to Attkisson's report was: So what? Who cares? Even if everything Attkisson says is true, it doesn't change the correctness of the rulings for the Autism Omnibus test cases, and the removal of Dr. Zimmerman's expert report would not have changed the outcome of the Autism Omnibus Proceedings. Moreover, Dr. Zimmerman was only asked to comment on the questions before the Special Masters as part of the Autism Omnibus Proceedings: MMR, thimerosal, or a combination of the two as potential causes for autism.
Of course, key to the whole conspiracy theory is that Dr. Zimmerman was supposed to testify for HHS but in his affidavit claims that, after he told the government lawyers that he thought that there might be some exceptions to the lack of causation, namely in the case of mitochondrial diseases, he was told his testimony was no longer necessary. Whether that's true or not, who knows? Let's assume that it's basically true. The government was under no obligation to bring up new hypotheses of causation, and if the government lawyers thought that putting Dr. Zimmerman on the stand might leave him open to a potentially embarrassing cross examination it wasn't unreasonable to pull him as an expert witness. One can argue over whether it was appropriate to use his expert opinion, although there's no evidence that Zimmerman changed his opinion on the core issues in the Autism Omnibus: thimerosal or a combination of thimerosal and MMR vaccine. Dorit discusses this issue in detail here. The bottom line: Maybe the DOJ shouldn't have used Dr. Zimmerman's printed expert opinion, but it wouldn't have mattered to the outcome either way. I agree that it wouldn't have mattered. Dr. Zimmerman's opinion was a pretty tiny contributor to the ultimate decision.
I also note that antivaxers appear to have "gotten to" Dr. Zimmerman:
Hazlehurst discovered that later when Dr. Zimmerman evaluated Yates as a teenager. That's when he partnered with vaccine safety advocate Robert F. Kennedy, Junior—who has a voice condition.
Kennedy: This was one of the most consequential frauds, arguably in human history.
Kennedy was instrumental in convincing Dr. Zimmerman to document his remarkable claim of the government covering up his true expert opinion on vaccines and autism.
One of the most consequential frauds in human history? Seriously, RFK, Jr.? You really need to share what you've been smoking. It's been clear for some time that Dr. Zimmerman, having been flirting with the antivaccine movement because of his involvement with the Hannah Poling case, was susceptible to the blandishments of an antivaccine propagandist like RFK, Jr. Now he's finally gone "all in." Or maybe not. He might have produced an affadavit, but he won't go as far as to appear on a propaganda piece disguised as a "news report" or to let anyone else interview him publicly. It can't be because he's afraid of "inconvenient" questions from a journalist. Attkisson won't offer any because she's all in as far as antivaccine conspiracies go. So it must be because he doesn't want to be tainted by association. It could also be that he's regretting giving in to RFK, Jr., who, if my reading between the lines is any indication, probably badgered him to "go public." It's the same sort of thing that happened to the "CDC whistleblower" William Thompson, who, after having spilled his guts (and grievances against various high ranking CDC officials and scientists) for months to Brian Hooker, went totally silent and lawyered up after Andrew Wakefield found out about the recordings and went public with them. Since then, antivaxers have been claiming that "the man" got to him. Maybe something like that is in progress here.
After all, if you lay down with dogs, you might get fleas. Wait a minute. I should never have compared RFK, Jr. and antivaxers to dogs. I love dogs. My wife and I foster litters of puppies from time to time. Dogs are loyal, loving, and intelligent. Sorry, dogs.
Sharyl Attkisson: Spewing antivaccine nonsense since at least 2007
One thing I've noticed about the reaction to this story is that far too many people seem to think that Sharyl Attkisson is a reputable journalist. I know better. True, her background was reputable. She was a correspondent for CBS News for over two decades before she resigned in 2014, believing that CBS News had a "liberal bias" and wasn't giving sufficient credence and coverage to anti-Obama conspiracy theories, such as Benghazi. I'm not sure what happened to her, because until the early 2000s at least, anyway, she seemed to be a talented investigative journalist and has won several awards for her reporting. Then something happened between maybe 2000 and 2010 and she evolved into the crank that we know now, the one unhappy that CBS News wasn't covering every anti-Obama conspiracy theory with the enthusiasm that she wanted to, the one who came to believe pretty much every antivaccine trope.
I first became aware of her antivaccine proclivities in 2007, when she wrote an op-ed that was published on the CBS News website that I deconstructed in amazement at the level of antivaccine crankery exhibited. I mean, seriously. It as RFK-level antivax.
Since then, evidence of Attkisson's antivaccine beliefs has been abundant. For instance, in 2008 she published a hit piece on Paul Offit, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child By Two, and the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. That same year, she appeared (to me and several others, at least) to be collaborating quietly with the antivaccine propagandists at Age of Autism to attack Voices for Vaccines after it complained about the hit piece publicly. Then, in 2009, she did a fawning puff piece on antivaccine icon Andrew Wakefield. Indeed, the number of examples of her antivaccine propaganda are too numerous to list, but I do like to mention how she likes to report credulously on particularly bad antivaccine studies and periodically try to convince people that vaccines cause autism.
Oh, and Attkisson also once included me on her list of the top 10 astoturfers, much to my amusement.
Arguably Attkisson's most egregious behavior with respect to favorably reporting on antivaxers came in 2013, when she did a story on Alex Spourdalakis, an autistic teen who was murdered by his mother, lying by omission about Andrew Wakefield's involvement in the case. This case was tragic and complex and is too difficult to discuss in depth here (although you can read my typical detailed deconstruction if you are so inclined, a deconstruction that led an antivaxer to complain to my employers), but it became a cause célèbre among antivaxers as portraying the "horrors of autism." Left out of Attkisson's reporting was the involvement of Andrew Wakefield, who made a video appeal to help Alex because he was due to be transferred to a longterm psychiatric care facility, where he would, it appears, no longer receive the "autism biomed" quackery to which his mother had been subjecting him.
Attkisson is a victim of crank magnetism as well. It's not just vaccines or anti-Obama conspiracy theories. It's breast cancer quackery. It's the dubious claims that gadolinium used as contrast agents for MRI scans are killing people, including Chuck Norris' wife. It's so much more.
Finally, this new "report" is nothing new. Attkisson's been flogging the Hannah Poling case ever since it hit the news. So it's not surprising that she'd do it again. As much as she and RFK Jr. are trying to paint this as some horrific conspiracy to hide the evidence that vaccines cause autism and deny the petitioners of the Autism Omnibus their just compensation, there's really even less here than there is in the CDC whistleblower conspiracy theory, which isn't much. All we have is one witness who, a decade after Autism Omnibus, became somehow convinced that the government lawyers had done him wrong by deciding they didn't want him to testify and whose importance to the case was nowhere near as critical as it is being portrayed by RFK Jr. and Sharyl Attkisson. Basically, through the Hannah Poling case, he came to believe (erroneously) that mitochondrial disease + vaccines = autism and appears to want vindication, to achieve which he's now going public with his grievance. In the end, it's really pathetic.
In the end, Attkisson's piece is yet more evidence that in the antivaccine universe there is nothing truly new under the sun. There is new bogus science, but it's almost always a variation of common existing antivaccine pseudoscience, particularly "toxins" and "too many too soon." There are new conspiracy theories, but they are basically all variations on a theme, particularly variations of the central conspiracy theory of the antivaccine movement, while the same old conspiracy theories keep popping up every couple of years, just with new twists added.
Unfortunately, now there is an ecosystem of TV stations that will air "reports" like Sharyl Attkisson's report as actual news:
As long as the mainstream media continues to refer to this as a "debate" or "controversy" and as long as they portray #antivax organizations as legitimate thoughtful or caring entities, #vaccine rates will decline and lives will be endangered #VaccinesWork https://t.co/vM4UDB90nI
— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) January 7, 2019
Through her promotion of antivaccine conspiracy theories, Sharyl Attkisson was, is, and will continue to be a danger to children and public health.
CategoriesAntivaccine nonsense, Bad science, Medicine, Politics, Popular culture, Television
TagsAndrew Zimmerman, antivaccine, Autism Omnibus, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Rolf Hazlehurst, Sharyl Attkisson, vaccines, Yates Hazlehurst
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Dorit Reiss January 9, 2019 at 10:28 am
At least Attkisson's misrepresentations can cause less damage from Sinclaire than when she was at CBS, which was clearly mainstream and gave her cover. I hope.
Mike Morris January 9, 2019 at 11:20 am
Sinclair has purchased enough stations in all major markets to be quite a threat still.
Denice Walter January 9, 2019 at 5:50 pm
A while ago, I heard Sinclair described as being most frequently in more conservative areas, not major cities. Being unable to find said article, I instead consulted their website ( sbgi.) and discovered a map and listings ( which was a bitch to scroll through because of logos) and found that there is a tendency towards smaller, redder places ( none in NYC, LA, SF, Chicago, Boston, Detroit) BUT there were stations in Washington, DC, Baltimore, Portland ( both), Seattle. Unfortunately, SBGI clustered in a few markets where there may be no other options.
The reason I heard this originally was because they were making their stations broadcast particular opinion pieces which were rather awful and rightist. So I guess Sharyl may fit in.
Orac January 10, 2019 at 7:36 am
John Oliver did a whole main segment on Sinclair and the sorts of editorials it forces its stations to air during their local news.
https://youtu.be/GvtNyOzGogc
Paul Ramirez April 29, 2019 at 6:47 pm
This page is of person who is obviously in the back pocket of big pharma all you do is get paid to represent their point of view I completely doubt everything you say in don't believe you sorry.
Julian Frost April 30, 2019 at 4:08 am
The Pharma Shill Gambit is boring and worn out. Orac's identity is perhaps the worst kept secret on the internet. If you'd clicked on the "Who is Orac" link up top, you'd learn his real name. Ad hominem attacks just show the weakness of your position.
Michael J. Dochniak (MJD) January 9, 2019 at 10:59 am
Orac writes,
Dogs are loyal, loving, and intelligent.
MJD says,
I respectfully disagree. I once had a dog who jumped on an end table to chew (i.e. destroy) a Minnesota High School Hockey ticket; championship game. A bit of advice, always wash your hands after lunch to avoid contaminating priceless items because some dogs are self serving and rude.
kcauqasiiksrog January 9, 2019 at 11:16 am
Much like our "humble" host, yes?
Mike Stevens January 9, 2019 at 3:19 pm
MJD, I think your dog showed great intelligence and initiative.
Terrie January 9, 2019 at 4:13 pm
Certainly more than MJD did. I know 10 year olds who have figured out "Don't leave things where the dog can get them."
doritmi January 9, 2019 at 11:35 am
RFK jr. is not a vaccine safety advocate. He has done nothing for vaccine safety. He just tries to scare people from vaccinating.
Dangerous Bacon January 9, 2019 at 12:55 pm
Relevant quotes:
"We believe it is much better to immunize with DTaP than risk infection with highly inflammatory and potentially damaging community-acquired pertussis (in children with a mitochondrial disorder)."
Andrew ZImmerman
"…the MMR vaccine has been temporally associated, if rarely, with regressions — with regression in AMD and other mitochondrial disease when given in the second year. Doubtless some of these regressions are coincidental, since the usual age for giving the MMR falls within the typical window of vulnerability for AMD regression."
"I do think that — that there was much information — misinformation brought about by Dr. Wakefield and it's — this has set the field back. I think that — that we — we have worked very hard to try to reassure the public and I agree with doing that because I am very supportive of vaccinations, immunizations in general."
https://vaxopedia.org/tag/richard-kelley/
I'll bet Attkisson's video does not cite these remarks by Dr. Zimmerman.*
*For confirmation, I need to wait until my stomach is a little more settled before subjecting myself to another deranged antivax video.
Orac January 9, 2019 at 1:44 pm
Well, you could always read the transcript over at the Full Measure website. 😉
Roberto January 16, 2019 at 5:47 pm
To call RFK Jr an "antivaccine propagandist" is completely misleading as he has had his children vaccinated multiple times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=131&v=KzIgqQPrqpc
Orac January 16, 2019 at 6:43 pm
Silly boy. RFK'S youngest child is around 18, his second youngest around 21. By the time he emerged as an antivaxer even his youngest child had likely an all—or nearly all—recommended vaccines. Nope, not buying that defense.🙄
Chris January 16, 2019 at 6:55 pm
Plus, like any "good" Kennedy the care of the children was the duty of their mothers. He probably did not notice until the youngest was in elementary school.
Dangerous Bacon January 9, 2019 at 2:17 pm
That just means two tablespoons of Pepto-Bismol instead of four.
Julian Frost January 9, 2019 at 2:36 pm
[T]he form of brain injury we call autism.
Comments like this make me want to do violent injury to antivaxxers. To them, we're subhumans.
JustaTech January 9, 2019 at 3:11 pm
A friend of mine ended up in a Twitter thread with Sharyl and was so proud of himself that he might be able to convince a fence-sitter. He was pretty surprised by how very, very far down the anti-vax rabbit hole she is. (He only knew of her as "the person who hosts an opinion show I won't watch".)
(Of course I sent him here for specifics.)
Attkisson blocked me on Twitter for having repeatedly corrected her misinformation.
Science Mom January 10, 2019 at 7:32 am
She blocks anyone critical of her loony conspiracies. She's a coward.
Bob demarcosa February 1, 2019 at 11:25 pm
Orac, if vaccines are safe, why are there not double blind inert placebo safety tests done, if they're safe, why do they contain known neurotoxins? If they are safe, why do the inserts to the vaccine list potentially fatal and or serious neurological complications. If they're safe, why can you not sue the manufacturer of the vaccines. If they're safe, why has vaccine court paid billions out in damages? If they're safe, why is research Surely you can't be so blind as to not recognize that the pharmaceutical companies list serious side effects in the inserts, and safety studies before they're are released into the markets last DAYS, let alone years like medicines do. It seems like you are blinded by your own intelligence. You can't inject neurotoxins into the bloodstream are safe for the brain. Check out this recent study of the dangers found from the Hep B vaccine vaccinepapers.org/wp-content/uploads/BCGhepB-vaccines.pdf
More and more research is showing there are adverse side effects, yet the majority of healthcare is silent about it. It's like a repeat of doctors recommending smoking
Julian Frost February 2, 2019 at 6:46 am
Wow, what an impressive number of fallacies in such a small space.
why are there not double blind inert placebo safety tests done[?]
These have been done.
…why do they contain known neurotoxins?
What neurotoxins are in vaccines? And remember, the dose makes the poison.
If they're safe, why can you not sue the manufacturer of the vaccines[?]
You can sue the manufacturers for defects in the manufacturing process.
If they're safe, why has vaccine court paid billions out in damages?
Compare the number of doses issued to the amount of money paid out. It's less than a dollar for every vaccination.
Surely you can't be so blind as to not recognize that the pharmaceutical companies list serious side effects in the inserts…
Argument by Package Insert. Every adverse event recorded during trials must be reported and listed on vaccine package inserts, regardless of whether or not the vaccine caused it, or even could have caused it.
…safety studies before they're are released into the markets last DAYS, let alone years like medicines do.
False.
As for your cite from "Vaccine Papers", are you shitting me?
More and more research is showing there are adverse side effects…
You didn't cite any of this "research", just a blogpost from a known antivaccine site.
If, on the off chance you're not a post and run troll, when you come back, bring the data.
Chris February 2, 2019 at 11:05 am
Bob: "why do they contain known neurotoxins…"
Please tell me which "neurotoxin" is more potent than either tetanospan or the diphtheria toxin? Do you really think a kid would do better fighting those versus getting a DTaP vaccine?
Then post that PubMed indexed researcher by reputable qualified researchers not on the Dwoskin payroll. Warning: do not ever link to "vaccinepapers" unless you like being laughed at.
hundovir January 9, 2019 at 3:28 pm
"…there's never really anything new under the sun."
Yes, I can't claim 14 years of reading this blog – more like 2 or 3 years, but it's noticeable that people still repeatedly chime in with, e.g. the "but it worked for me" approach. In other words, they have no idea of how medical claims in particular, and scientific claims in general, are validated – statistical inspection, eliminating confounding variables etc etc. (I confess that I have no expertise myself in this – just this and similar blogs plus Ben Goldacre's wonderful "Bad Science – I'm a humanities grad.)
Is it possible (and/or desirable) to have some sort of "pinned post" which lays out why such anecdotal claims won't get very far? Some sort of "before you post, read this" sort of thing? Just a thought.
rs January 9, 2019 at 7:41 pm
They won't read it. They only come here to kooksplain to us.
TBruce January 9, 2019 at 4:59 pm
Attkisson is a ludicrous joke. She is notorious for ranting about the Obama administration hacking her computer in retaliation for her criticism, proving this by uploading a video of text being deleted from her word processor, presumably by Obama's minions . On watching it, it was obvious that the problem was a stuck delete key. The video, of course, is now gone.
https://www.vox.com/2014/10/31/7140247/the-right-is-convinced-obama-hacked-sharyl-attkisson-over-benghazi
In reference to Attkisson's reporting on the Alex Spourdalakis case: the 2013 CBS segment included footage of pediatric gastroenterologist Arthur Krigsman, a former colleague of Andrew Wakefield who also latched on to the measles-vaccine-virus-association-with-autistic-enterocolitis idea.
There was a 2010 article ballyhooing a clinical study Krigsman et al did (and presented at a conference, purporting to show a high rate of measles vaccine virus recovery from G.I. biopsy samples in autistic kids, thus allegedly backing up Wakefield).
"Serious intestinal inflammations were found in some of the autistic children and biopsies of gut tissue were performed on 82 of them. Of these, 70 are said to have shown evidence of the measles virus, which so far has been confirmed in 14 cases by more stringent DNA tests.
Of the handful of results that the researchers have got so far, all the measles viruses are vaccine strain and none are wild measles.This suggests that the study done earlier by Dr Wakefield and published in 1998 may becorrect."
https://www.foodsmatter.com/asd_autism/autism_causes/research/new_study_mmr_autism.html
The report notes that the study had yet to be submitted to a journal for peer review and publication. A check of PubMed reveals no such published study (the most recent research publication co-authored by Krigsman was in 2016, outlining a possible blood test for an inflammatory bowel disease-associated set of genetic markers that the authors thought could prove useful for early autism diagnosis and/or diagnosis of autism-related G.I. issues).
Reality January 9, 2019 at 6:58 pm
Do I smell the foul odor of Andrew Wakefield all over this "story"?
I'm just speculating but it would not surprise me if the rumoured "VaxXed 2 Electric Boogaloo" is essentially a 90 minute redo of VaxXed only with the "CDC Whistleblower Konspiracee" replaced by the "NVICP Whistleblower Konspiracee" subbing Andrew Zimmerman for William Thompson.
It seems strangely "coincidental" that RFK, Jr. and Sharyl Attkisson, two of the more influential anti-vaccine cultists due to the platforms available to them for preaching their dangerous delusions, would make an issue of this minutia.
My bet is they are in close contact with Andy Wakefraud and Polly Tommey, etc. and have been made aware that this will be the next thrust of the ongoing grifting anti-vaccine fraud. Being the useful idiots they are, they are now laying the groundwork and seeding the Astroturf™ in preparation for Andy's next money making anti-vax scam.
I think you may be onto something there Reality.
Orac January 10, 2019 at 10:12 am
A distinct possibility…
Reality January 10, 2019 at 12:51 pm
Just in case I'm keeping these takedowns at my fingertips:
This Orac article:
https://respectfulinsolence.com/2019/01/09/sharyl-attkisson-is-back/
Dorit's takedown mentioned above by Orac:
https://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/anti-vaccine-activists-revive-hannah-poling-case/
Dr. Vincent Iannelli's takedown:
https://vaxopedia.org/2018/10/18/alleged-fraud-in-the-vaccine-court-omnibus-autism-proceedings/
A 2009 exposition of Zimmerman's position on the Poling case on Matt Carey's Left Brain /Right Brain:
https://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2009/03/24/andrew-zimmerman-finally-speaks/
One merely has to Gaggel " "Andrew Zimmerman" Autism Omnibus " to see the long list of anti-vax culties who are or have flogged this idiotic piece of minutia:
Bob Sears
Dull Bigtwig
JB Handley
RFK, Jr. (I may just start calling him "Junior")
Ague of Autism
The Gnat
GreenMed disInfo
Hulda Clark Timmy Bolen Report
Alt-med grifter Ty Bollinger
etc., etc., etc.
Of course a long list of sheep in the anti-vax cult doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot due to the incestuous nature of that cult and the incessant sharing of DNA that goes on due to a lack of actual facts, news, and information.
Nonetheless this does smell of a Wakefraud "manufactroversy" (h/t to Dr. David Gorski).
Chris Preston January 11, 2019 at 5:54 am
The fact that the whole anti-vax loonsphere repeats the same conspiracy theory is simply evidence of: 1) their incestuous nature; 2) their lack of real evidence; and 3) the need to compete for the same small number of followers.
Keith Bell January 10, 2019 at 1:34 pm
Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson: 1
Orac the Sterile: Zero
When will The Sterile and his impudent gang acknowledge there is plenty pf biological plausibility for vaccine-induced autism?
https://twitter.com/ClinicalImmuno/status/1061200232971673603?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Eprofile%3AClinicalImmuno&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alliedacademies.org%2Ftimely-topics-in-clinical-immunology%2F&fbclid=IwAR2RXacykWcnKQrSAAW8MLKSYtLdnDpRH6UlMq0jwmPYDhUgbA6YFzDvk6Q
Science Mom January 10, 2019 at 2:38 pm
When actual evidence is provided Bellend.
Reality January 10, 2019 at 3:14 pm
Yeah, yeah. Sure, sure.
When VaxXed 2 Electric Boogaloo comes out be sure to buy 100 tickets even if you don't plan on attending just to line Andy's pockets stick it to the man, Ma-aan!
You saw how successful Quaxxed The First was at convincing TPTB to legislate against vaccines (/sarc)… and as a side benefit Andy and Polly made a tidy sum from the terminally credulous anti-vaccine death cultists.
Let the begging begin!
Christopher Hickie January 10, 2019 at 5:59 pm
Right up there with the plausibility that you shart Skittles, pal. Autism is genetic.
Oh [email protected]@K, Keith Bell sells unapproved tests and supplements through his gutccubDOTcom web site. QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK
Sure, right after you produce the PubMed indexed studies by reputable qualified researchers (not Doshi) that any vaccine on the present American pediatric schedule causes more seizures than the disease.
In the mean time, try to catch up with modern autism research: https://sparkforautism.org/portal/page/autism-research/
sirhcton January 10, 2019 at 5:52 pm
You are going to have to do better than that, if you really want to approach Mr. Six-Degrees-of-Separation Conspiracies' level of thinking.
Shelly January 10, 2019 at 1:11 am
Veering off topic a little:
Don't know if you have discussed this previously but I just dipped into AOA after a long absence. Did you know that vaccines cause type 1 diabetes? No I didn't either. Occasional commentor to this blog Mr Arumugham has put out a paper claiming that (as far as I can tell, cause he uses a lot of big words) that bovine milk in vaccines causes (or is is some way related to) T1DM.
Don't know He rationalises the vastly variable age of onset of T1DM, since I've seen patients whose age at onset ranged from 8 to late 30's and I am not an endocrine/diabetic nurse.
JustaTech January 10, 2019 at 5:09 pm
Oh noooo! You mentioned milk! Now he's gonna come back an yell at us all again about the imaginary milk in vaccines causing allergies.
But yeah, that's silly. It's as silly as all the other times he tried to convince us of this.
My half-baked hypothesis is that vinu was once kicked by a cow (or pee'd on, maybe) and he's developed a thing about it.
Smut Clyde January 10, 2019 at 4:37 am
If it's not too early to go off-topic, I only just discovered that Stephanie Seneff has boarded the bleach-enema scamwagon.
Apparently bleach destroys glyphosate, so it must be good for whatever ails you.
Renate January 10, 2019 at 7:25 am
Fire destroys poisonous plants, so it must be good for whatever ails you. :O
Science Mom January 10, 2019 at 11:24 am
Seneff has really gone off the deep end as if that weren't apparent before this.
Can't understand why a place like MIT would let such an dangerously deluded person work there.
Denice Walter January 10, 2019 at 2:30 pm
I imagine they keep her for the same reason Berkeley is stuck with… I mean, KEEPS Peter Duesberg.
-btw- I just read material on both of these mavericks on Wikipedia and other sources. Oh wow oh wow.
Interestingly, even a natural health website says she hasn't the background to prognosticate on health and they're woo themselves! So bad even woo-meisters avoid her.
Narad January 13, 2019 at 2:33 am
I presume staff have the same intellectual freedom privileges as bona fide academics. That doesn't mean CSAIL has to host her shit.
Stephanie Seneff is an equal opportunity crankster. No crank idea seems to be too cranky for her. Her series of art forms in Entropy demonstrated that she could hold half a dozen completely contradictory causes of autism in her head at the same time.
Apparently bleach destroys glyphosate
This is before they are loaded onto the dirigibles that take the glyphosate to the brain, I take it.
Dangerous Bacon January 10, 2019 at 12:12 pm
For those of you aching to go on the next Conspira-Sea cruise (their website says the next one is TBA), fear not – you can sail with like-minded loonies on the Flat Earth Cruise!!
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jan/09/flat-earth-cruise-nautical-navigation?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=fb_us&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1lau5SjVPbrlPFj_lzE_01a1yNwUgqZaX-0_aJvgfSyj5rrsE6c6INPQ0#Echobox=1547104574
No word on if Andrew Wakefield* will be a guest lecturer.
*or Stephen Curry.
Rising to the bait here: what happens when the Flat-Earth folks watch the horizon as they move out to sea? Will they just deny it? Will they be scared they'll fall off the edge?
Not entirely OT….
A major announcement that may be of interest to various minions commenting on this thread:
PRN will now feature a voice mail number ( 862- 800-6805) where you can leave a message/ question for any of the hosts at PRN. Today, Null answers a few callers about how to argue with doctors about vaccines, legal tactics to avoid vaccines, offers medical advice and speaks with a participant who was healed his retreat ( 30 minutes in- end)- thus, he may not have cured gangrene after all.
I imagine that a few of Orac's minions could think of intriguing questions for the woo-meister such as:
– if you're so brilliant and a great athlete, why didn't you get scholarships to major universities instead of going to Dodgy U?
– who are all of these guys you've cured of hiv/ aids? ( claims earlier in the show)
– why are all of the celebrities you boast of knowing or treating DEAD?
– how can you advise people about where to live to avoid the effects of climate change when one of your estates was nearly swept off the map last year by a storm?
– where did you study psychology and art?
I'm sure that Dangerous Bacon, Narad, Julian**, Reality, Eric, Chris, Dorit, Dr Chris, ChrisP**, Science Mom, Smutty**, JP and others could think of questions that would reveal both his level of expertise and MO.
I can't : my voice may be too identifiable ( I had training and sound like a fucking announcer)
** who may be out of phone range unfortunately
I had training and sound like a fucking announcer
They have announcers for that now? Is it play-by-play or just color commentary?
Denice Walter January 13, 2019 at 11:36 am
I even tried out for side-line commentary on Game of Thrones but they let the actors narrate instead.
But SRSLY, amongst the Dirty Dozen named above, you might contribute much to PRN's question line. Maybe ask how those vegan cats are doing.
Our length-of-string-between-two-tin-cans form of telephony works perfectly well for local communication but we have not managed to make it work internationally.
I think that their lines only work for US and Canada. They have call-in and voice mail separately.
If not, go ahead. You might be the best possible caller in the universe for these wankers. But they'd never replay you for the audience. unless you're sneaky enough.
rs January 13, 2019 at 12:08 pm
You need an 11 dimension string and non-locality to make it work.
Stewart Lyman January 10, 2019 at 7:01 pm
Thanks for covering this in such great detail. Some of us weren't there when this all happened 10 plus years ago, and don't have the background info to be able to defend this stuff against the anti-vaxx crowd. Now I have the details to share with folks and I can properly refute this.
Here's another piece I'm sure Orac the Sterile and his impudent herd would prefer to ignore:
"Intriguingly, the negative effects of DTP vaccine are strongest for girls and that's a pattern we've seen for all the non-live vaccines. So, for all six non-live vaccines, we've seen that they have very strong negative non-specific effects in females, and we haven't got a clue why yet."
"But when we tested what had happened when the DTP vaccine was introduced in Guinea-Bissau, we were very surprised. In spite of protecting against the diseases, DTP-vaccinated children had fivefold higher mortality than children who didn't receive the vaccine."
https://theconversation.com/vaccines-have-health-effects-beyond-protecting-against-target-diseases-106383?
Note: let's discuss sexual differences in microbiota responsible for immune response to DTP vaccine.
An old study on a vaccine not used in the USA anymore and in one of poorest countries on this planet. Why do you think the conditions in Guinea-Bissau is comparable to the USA, Canada, and the UK. For a bunch who like to claim diseases went down due to clean water and sanitation, it is odd that you think it is useful to bring up a country good percentage do not have access to safe water: https://www.unicef.org/guineabissau_wes.pdf
By the way, where is that PubMed indexed study by reputable qualified researchers that the MMR vaccine used in the USA since 1978 causes more seizures than measles?
John Altimus April 19, 2019 at 11:43 pm
People who get seizures from measles or the MMR obviously have immune issues.
Chris, do you have any evidence that shows the number of seizures caused by both infections?
If the MMR causes a seizure, that person shouldn't have been vaccinated.
How can we spot people who will be injured by MMR before they are vaccinated?
Chris April 20, 2019 at 11:47 am
Cute way to blame the victim.
"Chris, do you have any evidence that shows the number of seizures caused by both infections"
Here is the evidence for you:
The Clinical Significance of Measles: A Review
That is known as a summary. It has references to the studies it is based on at the end.
You tell us.
Don't miss the new TEDx talk:
doritmi January 16, 2019 at 6:51 pm
The question of non-specific effects of vaccines is not new and the WHO studied it for years. The general consensus of the WHO is that there is not enough evidence that DTP is connected to non-specific increase in mortality – because of limits of the studies – to justify a change in policy.
http://www.globe-network.org/sites/default/files/en/network/resource/2.terry-nolan-the-who-review-of-the-non-specific-effects-of-vaccination_0.pdf
This group is using a small, limited data set, 30 years old, in a specific country with specific and many confounding factors. They can continue to try and convince the expertss that their findings are valid. Until they do, this does not really change the picture or conclusions.
Baiscally, experts consider that there is not good data for their claims about DTP.
And note, by the way, that the other side of their claims is that live vaccines improve results. How does that fit your attempt to claim vaccines are bad, or are you going to just ignore that?
Oh boy, TEDX, the uncurated, un-challenged, anyone-can-say-anything version of TED! There was a TEDX talk by a guy who claimed he could transplant a human head. Even said he had a patient all lined up who needed his head on another body. The guy hadn't even gotten his "method" to work in mice.
So yeah, I'm not even going to bother looking at a video from TEDX. And I wouldn't look at it even if I thought I might agree with it. Do you have a published, peer-reviewed, non-predatory journal paper on this topic? That, I will consider. The chin-mic version of "man shouts at cloud"? Not so much.
So, Keith, when do you plan to move your family to Guinea-Bissau?
So which bacteria protects against diphtheria, Keith?
What is the mechanism of action by which a gut bacteria protect against a respiratory infection?
(Test-based explanations only please; video doesn't work for me. Thanks!)
squirrelelite January 16, 2019 at 9:24 pm
That Aaby study gets mentioned a lot. I was curious about the number of subjects and how many actually died.
Fortunately the text is available for free.
There were 553 vaccinated and 149 non-vaccinated.
If I read the numbers correctly, Table 2/analysis 1 shows 18 vaccinated and 5 unvaccinated who died which works out to 3.25% vs 3.36% if you don't weight for person-years followed.
Table 3/analysis 2 which included all children in the cohort showed 32 deaths vs 10 or 5.79% vs 6.71%. So in both cases a higher percentage of the unvaccinated actually died.
And all six odds ratios range from below 1.0 to above 1.0. So the risk, although higher, is not significant.
I'd appreciate some input from those of you who are more familiar with these statistical analyses.
But it looks like this is mainly an artifact of how long the children were followed.
That paper is super confusingly written. And I'm a little unclear on why this data from the 1980's is only getting written up now? Or was it written up back in the day and this is a re-analysis?
Dr. Andrew Zimmerman: A useful idiot for the antivaccine movement - RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE January 17, 2019 at 6:00 am
[…] Sharyl Attkisson is back, and she's flogging a new-old antivaccine conspiracy theory January 9, 2019 […]
Dingo199 January 17, 2019 at 9:07 am
Not sure if this new statement from Zimmerman has been commented on…
https://twitter.com/UMassMedical/status/1085574740255883264?s=20
doritmi January 17, 2019 at 9:15 am
Orac addressed it in this further post: https://respectfulinsolence.com/2019/01/17/zimmerman-useful-idiot-for-antivaxers/#comment-404154
You haven't read today's post yet, have you?
FBN January 17, 2019 at 1:55 pm
Atkinson used to be a regular on various Fox shows that find conspiracies everywhere. That's all you need to know about her.
Peter Gøtzsche and the antivaxers - RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE February 25, 2019 at 3:01 am
[…] conspiracy theory" of the "the CDC knew how bad vaccines are" variety. It's nonsense, of course, as all of Sharyl Attkisson's conspiracy theories are, and is rooted in the claims of a […]
Antivaxers inundate the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting - RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE February 28, 2019 at 1:34 pm
[…] the Andrew Zimmerman "confession" being flogged by antivaccine "journalist" Sharyl Attkisson. It's not a good sign when I'm more up on the latest antivax conspiracy theories than […]
Dr. Edward Fogarty's antivaccine rant: Where's my paper bag again? - RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE March 4, 2019 at 10:46 am
[…] Oh, and Dr. Fogarty believes that the useful idiot to the antivaccine movement, Dr. Andrew Zimmerman, is actually on to something, rather than being part of a silly conspiracy theory cooked up by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and antivaccine journalist Sharyl Attkisson. […]
Connecticut Rep. Josh Elliott: Unintentional false balance about vaccines in a legislative forum - RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE March 19, 2019 at 12:01 am
[…] that vaccines cause autism, with the help of antivaccine reporter turned Alex Jones wannabe, Sharyl Attkisson, and a useful idiot. Let's just put it this way. RFK Jr. has formed not just one but two […]


A two-vehicle accident on the A90 has caused massive tailbacks north-bound going towards Aberdeen.
Police Scotland received a call at 8am this morning (Tuesday, July 8) and attended the scene. An ambulance was also in attendance near the Portlethen flyover.
A Police Scotland spokesperson confirmed that the roads are now clear, but there is still tailbacks as traffic returns to normal.
There were no serious injuries in the accident, but one slight injury was reported.


text:
Список флагов муниципальных образований Приморского края Российской Федерации.

На 1 января 2020 года в Приморском крае насчитывалось 148 муниципальных образований — 12 городских округов, 3 муниципальных округа, 19 муниципальных районов, 22 городских поселения и 92 сельских поселения.

Флаги городских округов

Флаги муниципальных округов

Флаги муниципальных районов

Флаги городских поселений

Флаги сельских поселений

Упразднённые флаги

Флаги упразднённых МО

Примечания

Приморский

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Extend gratitude beyond platitudes
You know that blur of movement on Christmas morning when children meet presents and presents meet children, scraps of wrapping paper fly into the air and float down, confetti-style, all over the living room? Five minutes later, the presents are all unwrapped, the children sit panting, and everyone wonders what to do next.
It does not happen in the Harford household. For the past few years we have had a rule: you cannot unwrap the next present until you have written a thank-you note for the last one.
At first, this was merely my inner economist thinking about efficient incentives. I want my children to write thank-you letters and this generally requires some kind of bribe. At Christmas, that is easy: we are surrounded by gift-wrapped bribes. Using the next gift to incentivise the previous thank-you letter is an idea so elegant I am surprised it is not ubiquitous.
I then realised that this system had unexpected benefits. It forced us to slow down, to look seriously at each gift, to think about what was good about it, and to reflect on the giver. Gratitude as a chore became replaced by gratitude as a mindful counting of blessings.
The practice of gratitude is fashionable; some people advocate a daily gratitude journal as a way to get a quick shot of happiness. Robert Emmons, who studies gratitude, complains of the spread of "gratitude lite", the sense of gratitude as an easy means to an end. He is the author of books including Gratitude Works! A 21-Day Program for Creating Emotional Prosperity (US) (UK), so perhaps he should take some ownership of this trend. But I know what he means about treating gratitude as a mere tool.
Gratitude is, after all, a complex thing. There is gratitude as mindfulness: noticing something good in the world. There is gratitude as politeness: remembering to say thank you to the shop assistant, even if you cannot be bothered to make eye contact. There is gratitude as reciprocity: writers from Adam Smith to Seneca underlined the idea of gratitude as a partial repayment of a debt.
A Catholic friend of mine says that gratitude is hard, like forgiveness. That seems true, when it is an attempt to find the silver lining to a lowering cloud. But gratitude often is, or should be, a simple matter of counting blessings in a world where there are many to count.
Violence and disease are rarer; most people are richer, healthier, and better educated than ever. There are still evils in the world, but not as many as 100 years ago. Why should gratitude be hard?
Nevertheless, it is. There are practical reasons why we pay more attention to what is difficult than what is easy. Problems require solving; non-problems do not. Psychologists call this "the headwinds / tailwinds asymmetry" inspired by the observation that a cyclist never notices when the wind is at her back. So being grateful requires some attention to what we easily ignore.
Mr Emmons has intensively studied the practice of keeping a gratitude journal, and he says that it is worth sticking with the habit, which gets easier. But rather than simply jotting down the same gratitude platitudes each evening, I've been thinking about expanding both the depth and the breadth of my thanks.
On depth, consider a study conducted by psychologists Martin Seligman, Tracy Steen, Nansook Park and Christopher Peterson. Participants were asked to write a letter expressing gratitude "to someone who had been especially kind to them but had never been properly thanked". Then — this is the squirm-inducing bit — they hand-delivered the letter, read it to the recipient, and had a conversation. The warm glow of this process, for the letter writer, lasted for weeks. I have never hand-delivered such a letter. But I have written one, and it is a powerful experience.
As for breadth, expressions of gratitude are often about or directed to the usual subjects: family and friends, nice weather, good health. It is worth thinking more broadly — as did AJ Jacobs, author of Thanks A Thousand (US) (UK). He started by trying to be mindful of all the people around the world who contributed to the food he enjoyed, saying a sort of secular grace before each meal. But — challenged by one of his children — he decided to go much further, seeking out the many people who contributed to his morning coffee, and thanking them on the phone or in person.
Thanking the barista was easy, but he went on to thank the coffee taster, the lid designer, the pest control expert at the coffee warehouse, the farmers who grew the beans, the steel workers who made the pulping machine, the workers at the reservoir that was the source of the water, and about 1,000 others.
Writing a thoughtful thank-you letter when someone sends you a present requires far less imagination. It is the most elementary expression of gratitude. Still, it is not a bad place to start.
Written for and first published in the Financial Times on 28 Dec 2018.
My new podcast is "Cautionary Tales" [Apple] [Spotify] [Stitcher]
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TRICHY: Asking students to take challenges in their career to navigate themselves towards ocean of opportunities, M M Murugappan, executive chairman, Murugappa Group asked students to have a vision for self.
He was speaking at the seventh annual convocation of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Trichy on Saturday. He asked students to lead the world by fighting against global issues. During his address, he gave three mantras of success - never underestimate anyone, learning to learn and building long-lasting relationships.
For the first-time candidates were awarded degree of MBA as per the IIM Act. So far students were awarded diploma in Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGPM) and the Post Graduate Programme in Business Management (PGPBM). A total of 169 candidates from postgraduate programme in management (PGPM) and 41 from post graduate programme in business management (PGPBM) were awarded with degrees.
Jalaj Dani, chairman, board of governors, IIM-Trichy appreciated the government's move to provide autonomy to the institute and mentioned that the autonomy would promote innovation in pedagogy.
The director, IIM-Trichy, Bhimraya Metri said in his academic year 2018-2019 report that various corporates have trusted the institute's pedagogy and as a result summer internship and final placement saw a tremendous growth.
Deepesh Agarwal received chairpersons' gold medal for securing first rank in of PGPM. Jagtap Sachin Suresh received directors' gold medal for securing second rank in PGPM. Similarly, Jeyesh Jeykhar J S received chairman's gold medal for securing first rank in PGPBM and KVV Raghavan received directors gold medal for securing second rank in PGPBM.


WHAT IS GDS AND ARE YOU AT RISK?
Do you have GDS (Goat Delusional Syndrome)? There is no known cure. We don't know how this disease is contracted, the level of contageousness, and very few, if any, approach a full recovery. There are many documented cases of people remaining without symptoms for years, only to have the disease return after many years of not keeping goats. So "WHAT IS GDS AND ARE YOU AT RISK"?
1. Frequent and ongoing conversations with one or more goats.
3. Over-sensitivity and over-protectiveness (i.e., taking offense when someone refers to goats as mere livestock).
4. Periodic insomnia due to worry about goats - walking out to the barn after midnight just to "check on things."
5. Considering Christmas presents and/or treats for "special goats."
1. Hugging and kissing goats - even BUCKS.
2. Addressing goats with terms of endearment (i.e., sugar, sweetie, honey, baby).
3. Eating only half an apple and pretending you're full - just so you can share the remainder with a goat.
4. Remembering every goats birthday without referring to a calendar or registration papers - AND expecting everyone else in the family to share in your excitement at the goats birthday party.
5. Spending an inordinate amount of time at Internet goat sites and e-mailing perfect strangers about your goats.
6. Canceling vacations because of goats.
7. Missing church because a goat is due to deliver.
8. Buying a bigger farm or ranch so you can buy more goats.
9. Buying goats on credit - putting goats on lay-away - saving for months to buy a single goat.
10. Taking a second job or second mortgage to support your goat habit.
11. Joining a 12 Step Program or support group because of your goat addiction.
12. Insisting that family holiday gatherings are at your farm/ranch because you can't bear the thought of the goats being alone for the holidays.
13. And finally, trying to find decorative uses for goat berries - such as painting and stringing them like cranberries for your Christmas tree.
Written by Debbie Whittle and posted on several e-group lists.


text:
Iannarone announces second race for Portland mayor
Jim Redden
Community activist finished in third place with 22,831 votes in 2016 primary election.
Community activist Sarah Iannarone announced she is running for Portland mayor on Tuesday, June 9.
"I'm very excited to announce my candidacy for Mayor," said Iannarone in a prepared statement. "Portlanders have seen the inability of our establishment politicians to move the needle on our housing crisis, to lead in averting climate catastrophe, or to restore trust between the community and law enforcement. I'm looking forward to spending the next ten months speaking with Portlanders across the city about their priorities and how a people-powered campaign to elect a policy wonk turned community organizer will help us stick up for all of the people in our Portland."
Mayor Ted Wheeler has told the Portland Tribune he will run for reelection.
Iannarone is a former small business owner who previously managed the First Stop Portland program at Portland State University. She currently teaches at the Wayfinding Academy in St. Johns.
In her announcement, Iannarone said she intends to take advantage of the city's newly established Open and Accountable Elections public campaign financing program. In exchange for limiting contributions to $250, her campaign will receive a 6-to-1 match for the first $50 of each contribution. To qualify, Iannarone must raise at least $5,000 from 500 Portlanders.
"I want to be accountable to every community member from Portsmouth to Powellhurst-Gilbert, Montavilla to Multnomah Village," said Iannarone. "Instead of letting our agenda be set by wealthy, entrenched corporate interests, we'll be participating in the city's innovative new campaign finance program to ensure we hear from everyday Portlanders across the city, not just those who can buy access to City Hall with big checks."
Iannarone ran for mayor in 2016 and finished in third place with 22,831 votes.
The announcement included a two-minute video that includes her criticisms of Mayor Ted Wheeler's adminstration so far. You can view it at https://youtu.be/oEykgGxe_tY.


text:
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The Gallery is located in the centre of Conwy just off the High Street behind Plas Mawr
Royal Cambrian Academy
Nearby Attractions Royal Cambrian Academy - The Gallery is located in the centre of Conwy just off the High Street behind Plas Mawr. The nearest train station is at Llandudno Junction, 3km f...... Plas Mawr - Possibly the best preserved Elizabethan townhouse in Great Britain. Built by Robert Wynn between 1576 and 1585, it dominates the town with its gatehou...... The Harbour Gallery - ...... Harbour Gallery - ...... Lancaster Square - Lancaster Square is the town square in the medieval town of Conwy, Conwy County, North Wales. Lancaster Square is host to several events and festivals...... Potters Gallery - The Potters' Gallery opened in 2003 in the medieval town of Conwy. It is a co-operative, organised and run by members of "North Wales Potters" t...... Galleon Fish and Chip Shop - The Galleon Fish and Chip Shop stands on the corner at the bottom of High Street in Conwy, North Wales. If you are paying a visit to the World Heritag...... Conwy Town Walls - Conwy Town Walls surround the town of Conwy and are located on the banks of the River Conwy in North Wales. Conwy Castle and the town walls were buil...... Aberconwy House - This is the only medieval merchant's house in Conwy to have survived the turbulent history of the walled town over nearly six centuries. Furnished roo...... St Mary's Parish Church Conwy - St Mary and All Saints Church is the parish Church of the town of Conwy. St Mary's was founded in the 12th Century as the abbey church of the Cisterci......
Find more Art Galleries or attractions in Wales Go to attractions in Wales listed by town Go to tourist attractions Map of Wales Sitemap
Walesdirectory.co.uk, where you can find where to go, what to see, and where to stay in Wales.
Add your attraction to our directory of Art Galleries, or update an existing listing.
Holiday Cottages in Conwy
Hotels in Conwy
You may make an instant secure room or cottage reservation close to this attraction. Room and cottage availability and rates are confirmed online prior to booking. Simply click through to the hotel or cottage page, choose a suitable property, check availabilty, including dates of stay, to confirm the exact room rate and reserve the accommodation.
Destination: Conwy
Nearby Cottages
BRYN-Y-MOR
Sleeps - 6
Pets - Yes
Distance - 1.74
ASH COTTAGE
OAKLEIGH COTTAGE
Pets - No
TYN LLIDIART
LLYSFAEN, NR COLWYN BAY
Holiday Home Conwy 5065
SeaHaven Cottage
Cregyn Gleision


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text:
class DailyMailerPreview < ActionMailer::Preview

  # Preview this email at http://localhost:3000/rails/mailers/daily_mailer/digest
  def digest
    DailyMailer.digest
  end

end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Franklin Street is a fully-integrated commercial real estate company that primarily conducts business in Florida and Georgia. Based in Tampa, the firm offers a complement of services under one roof: real estate investment, tenant and landlord rep, insurance, management, capital, and valuations. Franklin Street has closed more than $2 billion in real estate deals since opening for business in 2006 and has been named a Best Company to Work for by the Tampa Bay Business Journal and it's CEO, Andrew Wright, has been named The Best Boss to Work For by Real Estate Forum magazine.
Franklin Street is a full-service commercial real estate company based in Florida. BoardroomPR handles a large-scale media relations campaign across the state that includes coverage in Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando and South Florida. Boardroom works closely with the internal communications team as well as the various brokers and agents to continually promote new deals. Through this continuous stream of media coverage, Boardroom was able to help Franklin Street gain brand awareness and increase their business.


I exchange words, sounds and games for varying amounts of money. My journalistic areas of interest include incredibly strange YouTube children's videos, incipient nuclear annihilation, open source software, cybersecurity and computer hardware.
My copy is accurate, clean and reliably on time. I'm also an experienced editor and project manager, with bonus skills in audio and video production.
You can find me talking about old games on Twitter and making new ones on itch.io and Mighty Owlbear.
For weird fiction and cosmic horror of dubious merit and statistically significant body counts, see elsewhere on this site.
For comissions, tips, interview requests, press releases or anything else you might need me for, please email kg@wyrdsmith.co.uk.
News, review and feature content has appeared in online and print publications including the UK edition of WIRED (as a contributing editor) and its WIRED Awake daily newsletter, the Raspberry Pi Foundation's MagPi and Wireframe magazines, Trusted Reviews, Linux Journal, Rock Paper Shotgun, Cloud Pro, IT Pro, Expert Reviews, Roads & Kingdoms, Shifting Grounds, ComputerActive, Custom PC, Bit-Tech.net, Computer Buyer and PC Zone.
Advertising copywriting clients include help4IT, Nuance Communications, Dennis Publishing, Conde Nast, Kaspersky Lab, Dell, BT, Microsoft and Asus.
Video production and presentation for the Big Box PC Game Collectors.
Fiction publications include Deeper Roots, Rowan and Burning Stars (recommended in Ellen Datlow's Best Horror of the Year 7) for The Lovecraft eZine.
Releases include Eight characters, a number, and a happy ending (a parser text adventure developed in Quest), The Road to Adventure (an adventure gamebook developed in Twine to accompany a tutorial in issue 64 of The MagPi) and Winter's Heart (a Twine text and graphics narrative piece).
Current projects include Deck of Bards' Wolf at the Door, where I'm responsible for developing and implementing audio systems, creating ambient sounds and working with other team members to produce and appropriately place music.
Wrote and edited descriptive content for core site features, produced articles and maintained forum areas on this niche social network startup.
Construction of basic & custom computer systems for the consumer market.
Worked to exacting deadlines and word counts to produce game and software reviews for an American audience.


text:
(+34) 633 783 073 info@malagaairporttransfers.com
Meeting Procedure
Malaga´s Inland Villages
by Andy Crawford | Apr 3, 2019 | Area reviews
Frigiliana is a Spanish town in the district of Axarquía located in the Natural Park of Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama, so their environment is privileged for lovers nature and that of trekking.
Its white houses, traditional cuisine and its Moorish past of narrow streets and passages make Frigiliana one of the favourite enclaves of those seeking to enjoy their holiday with all five senses. This town owns the purest popular architectural province of Arab origin and received the 1st National Award for Beautification of the Towns of Spain in 1982.
It is noteworthy that the British community residing in Frigiliana, as well as throughout the Axarquía, is very large.
IN FRIGILIANA YOU CANNOT MISS
The Palacio de los Condes (Palace of Condes) of Frigiliana, popularly known as 'El Ingenio', is a Renaissance mansion of the XVI century. It is currently the factory of molasses Nuestra Señora del Carmen (Our Lady of Carmen), the only traditional factory of this product that runs in Europe. In its facade, the decoration paintings with geometric motifs are highlighted. It was built partly with materials from the Moorish castle, which can be seen in the stones of its facade.
Getting close to the Tourist Office of Frigiliana, you will see Casa del Apero, which also houses the town library and the Archaeological Museum. It was built in the eighteenth century and initially was attached to ""El Ingenio"". Within the Archaeological Museum we can find a skull of the Neolithic, Phoenician vessels or Moorish dagger.
The church of San Antonio is the most prominent monument of Frigiliana. It was built in the XVII century in Renaissance style almost entirely. In the temple, there is a sculpture of San Anton of XVIII century made of polychrome wood. In the entrance porch, there is the choir, with a crown of rococo style, and on its main façade, you can see a shield of Bishop Fray Alonso de Santo Tomas.
Another monument worth visiting is the chapel of Santo Cristo de la Caña. The building dates from the XVIII century and has a revered size of neo-baroque style 'Ecce Homo'.
We can also find in Frigiliana, the remains of the Arab castle of Lizar. It is located on the top of the town and dates from the IX century .
Alameda is a key stop on the 'El Tempranillo' Route. A crossroads since ancient times, this town in the Antequera region takes you back to the bandit era when you visit, creating an experience that combines culture, tradition and romanticism.
In addition, Alameda possesses interesting archaeological sites and a lagoon that has been declared a nature reserve. All of which provide temptation for lovers of outdoor activities. To recover, what better than the trying the succulent cuisine of the inland town in the Málaga province?
MUST SEE SIGHTS IN ALAMEDA
Alameda houses the mausoleum of the famous bandit José María "El Tempranillo". You can see it in the courtyard on the church of the Inmaculada Concepción. This one of the most remarkable buildings in the town. Construction work started in the 18th century and it possesses three dressing rooms. Amongst all of its works of art, a statue of Christ on the cross and a valuable collection of oil paintings stand out.
Roman Thermal Baths dating back to the 1st and 3rd century A.D are one of the other cultural treasures of Alameda. They have been declared a National Monument and a Site of Cultural Interest.
A Topic Center allows us to know the function of these old baths.
However, the presence of man in these lands dates back thousands of years, as testified by Alameda's Chalcolithic Necropolis, a complex of artificial caves created between the years 2500 to 2000 B.C. In its pits, lithic, ceramic and skeletal remains have been discovered.
In order to get a first hand look at the lives and customs of the country folk and merchants of the region, Alameda has a Museo de Antiguos Aperos and a Centro Temático del Campo Andaluz.
When you are In the centre of town you can also see the Fuente de la Placeta built in the 18th century. It has becomes one of the town"s symbols.
Malaga Airport Transfers can transfer you from Malaga Airport to these Beautiful towns and villages or even from where you are staying on the coast.
Beware of Unlicensed Minibus Companies
We are a bricks and mortar company. We are contactable day and night. We are not agents. We do not outsource to other companys.
Malaga Airport Transfers S.L.
Calle Camelia, Urb Adelfas S/N Bloque 7
Benalmadena,
info@malagaairporttransfers.com
We are a family run UK business delivering a professional service along the Costa del Sol, Spain.
We use English speaking experienced drivers with clean licenses, we operate as a fully licensed Spanish S.L. company.
Copyright 2018 by MAT S.L.


The warm, clean scent of sandalwood is one of our favorites for cleansing the air after cooking or setting the mood at home. This one is a collaboration between Hasami and Nippon Kodo, one of the oldest Japanese producers of incense that trace their origin back to 1575. Made using only the highest quality ingredients, Nippon Kodo's incense has a strong, natural scent that lingers in the air long after the incense has finished burning.
Pairs with our brass ball incense holder.


Imagine 45,000 students in seeker Bible studies with their Christian mates. That's what Uncover is all about!
The vision is simple: every CU member introducing three friends to Jesus. But how do you put that into practice? What resources are available? How can you motivate people? Download our guide to making the most of this amazing set of resources.


EVA High Density Shore A45 – Value Foam Inc.
High Density EVA base materials forms well under high temperature as the base materials for foot orthotics or lining materials for orthotic devices. It increases work efficiency and reduces fabrication time by offering easy grinding property and reducing molding time. Available colors in Black, White.
SKU: VFEVA124501;VFEVA124503. Category: EVA. Tag: EVA.


Cliff was out drinking at the golf club all night.
He was concerned that he might be too drunk as to not wake his wife when he got home.
When he got up to leave, he fell flat on his face.
Cliff tried to stand again, but to no avail. He fell flat on his face again.
So, he decided to crawl outside and get some fresh air, to see whether that would sober him up.
Once outside, he stood up and, sure enough, fell flat on his face.
So, being practical, he crawled all the way home.
When he got to the door, he stood up yet again, but fell flat on his face.
He crawled through the door into his bedroom.
When he reached his bed, he tried once more to stand upright.
This time he managed to pull himself to his feet but fell into bed.
Cliff was sound asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
'Why would you say that?' he complained innocently.


Allan Leighton has been described as the best connected man in the business world.
In November 2000 he left Asda and developed a new work ethic 'Going Plural' as he took on non-executive positions in a string of high profile companies.
Allan is currently the Chairman of The Co-operative Group, a position he started in 2015. He is also Chairman of Entertainment One Ltd, Wagamama, Canal & River Trust and the testing and certification company, Element Ltd.
He has and continues to hold a number of high profile posts from being Deputy Chairman of Selfridges & Co, and Non Executive Director of BSkyB Group plc. He was on the board of Dyson and was a non-executive director of lastminute.com.
Allan Leighton's book On Leadership "Practical Wisdom From The People Who Know" was published by Random House. At publication, it was the best selling business book in the UK. World Business called it a profoundly hopeful read informed by the almost palpable joy Leighton feels in inspiring and leading others. Chris Blackhurst Business Editor of the Evening Standard said it was ''The best management book I've read in a long while''.
His second book was released in 2011 "Tough Calls: Making the right decisions in difficult times".
Find out how to book Allan Leighton as the motivational & inspirational speaker for your next event by calling SpeakOut! on 020 8914 8966 or clicking the button below.


→ Lorch, B., Agarwal, S., & Farid, H. (2019). Forensic Reconstruction of Severely Degraded License Plates. In Society for Imaging Science & Technology (Eds.), Electronic Imaging. Burlingame, CA, US.
→ Lorch, B., Berger, M., Hornegger, J., & Maier, A. (2015). Projection and Reconstruction-Based Noise Filtering Methods in Cone Beam CT. In Bildverarbeitung für die Medizin 2015 (pp. 59-64). Lübeck.


According to Giving USA 2017: The Annual Report on Philanthropy, Americans set a new giving record in 2016, contributing $390.05 billion to a wide range of nonprofit organizations. This outcome is remarkable, if more modest than some anticipated, as there were fewer mega-gifts of more than $200 million and bequests dropped 9.0 percent in current dollars. While the 2016 growth rate in total giving—2.7 percent in current dollars—was below the five-year average, the results reflect broad-based philanthropic support in smaller amounts that culminated in a record year of giving.
August 4, 2016, Chicago, IL: Campbell & Company, a national philanthropic consulting firm, is celebrating its 40th anniversary of serving the nonprofit sector.


Temperatures in Europe are soaring close to their highest ever. 48 degrees Celsius is the current record, set in the Greek capital Athens back in 1977. This weekend's continental heatwave is expected to smash the all-time high. Hot air from Africa's baking Spain and Portugal in the Iberian peninsula. Record-breaking temperatures have been recorded in eight Portuguese towns - and there's a widespread red alert for wildfires. In Spain, heat stroke killed at least three men. Heatwave warnings have been issued in 41 of the 50 Spanish provinces where temperatures are expected to soar to 44 degrees. The scorching temperatures show no sign of falling. So, apart from climate change, what's the cause?


Mr Espen Lim has been providing quality A Level Maths tuition in Singapore and A Level Physics tuition in Singapore for more than 18 years. Mr Lim, a mechanical engineering graduate with previous experience teaching in a junior college, gave personal home tuition for about 10 years before moving on to group tuition, capped to a class size of eight students.
Between 2013 and 2018, he tutored more than 300 students from various junior colleges. 96% of those students achieved As and Bs in their A-level examinations. He has also been featured in MyPaper, The Straits Times and The New Paper.


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SHE MAKES MERYL & ME NERVOUS AT LUNCH
By Andrea Peyser
April 20, 1999 | 4:00am
SO THIS is what successful women do.
Hillary "Don't Mention Bill" Clinton and Donna "Don't Even Think Giuliani" Hanover lunched at the Waldorf yesterday along with legions of sister bottle-blondes in shoulder pads.
This proved three things about women:
1. When herded into large groups, females invariably get fed pastel-colored food.
2. The proof of a woman's "success," whether in media, politics or weird marriage, is her unceasing ability to attend tedious, four-hour, self-congratulatory luncheons.
3. This working girl clearly is a colossal loser. Deadlines looming, editors howling, I had to skip out somewhere between the beige skinless chicken breast and golden peach surprise.
The polls say New York is getting tired of Hillary Clinton. But Monica Lewinsky's ex-boyfriend's wife seems never to tire of the town Democratic candidates like to view as The Big Piggy Bank.
And why not? The last time Hillary came to the Waldorf, some magazine handed her an award in honor of her unsuccessful plot to engineer huge government programs aimed at raising your children.
This time, the woman famous for her failed social policies, ridiculous husband and heartbroken daughter came to give an award to her pet TV interviewer, Katie Couric.
Amid a day spent zigzagging pointlessly through Gotham, this may have seemed a safe place for Mrs. Clinton to cool her heels for several interminable hours – Schmoozing with Mike Nichols! Air-kissing with Meryl Streep!
But in what may be an indication of what she'll find should she actually run for the Senate, Hillary's presence at the so-called Matrix awards seemed to make the assembled luncheon throng a bit, well … nervous.
The biggest laugh was of the day was earned by Meryl Streep. For some reason unfathomable even to her, the actress who props up her books with Oscars yesterday won a plaque naming her an outstanding Woman in Communications.
Referring to some movie she made whose name escapes me, but definitely co-starred Kevin Bacon, Meryl said:
"Once, when I was playing a leader down an expedition of white water … " suddenly, Streep's eyes darted in the direction of Mrs. Clinton.
"Not that Whitewater!" Streep nearly shrieked.
My favorite Hillary barb, though, came from filmmaker and former Post reporter Nora Ephron, who told Hillary she wants to see her elected as U.S. senator from New York, in part, because, "You can live here, and you're never gonna have to wear a turquoise jacket again."
Finally Hillary, who always adopts a cold, "Don't mess with me" speaking style when under duress, rose to the microphone and talked for several, uncomfortable minutes about Couric's bravery following her husband's death.
"She got through that trial in a public way," said Hillary, "not sharing her feelings … but with a mission."
And suddenly, it seemed as if Hillary were talking not about Couric, but herself.
Hillary's mission, it seems, has turned from political to personal.
She wants to stay in our faces. To tease and taunt New York, a city that has absolutely no use for a scratched-and-dented former First Lady.
She wants us to think, for as long as she can pull it off, that she's tough enough to stick us out. That somehow we'll get stuck with her. And God help us then.
She's making me as nervous as Meryl Streep.
CITY BARES DISCOUNT GUIDE FOR 50+ DINERS


text:
Cymindis alternans es una especie de escarabajo de la familia Carabidae.

Distribución geográfica
Es endémico de la península ibérica (España y Portugal).

Referencias

Enlaces externos

alternans
Coleópteros de la península ibérica
Animales descritos en 1837


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Religion-sensitization courses should be compulsory not only for civil servants and municipal councillors, but also university administrators, MPs and policy-makers
(Petaling Jaya, Sunday):The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Dr. Maximus Ongkili must be commended for his proposal that civil servants and municipal councillors need to undergo "religion sensitization" training so that they can better deal with problems faced by non-Muslims. (New Sunday Times 30.10.05)
Ongkili, who has special responsibility over the National Unity Department and chairs the Parliamentary Select Committee on National Unity, was commenting on a statement of the Christian Federation of Malaysia urging the Government to address issues related to non-Muslims, including sectarian divisions, the impinging of an alternative legal system on rights guaranteed by the Federal Constitution and ethnic discrimination in public and private sectors.
I will go one step further, making religion-sensitization courses compulsory not only for civil servants and municipal councillors, but also for university administrators, Members of Parliament and policy-makers to make them realize that Malaysia is a plural society of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures.
The need for such broader religion-sensitization was illustrated by two incidents in Parliament last week, demonstrating that religion-insensitivity in a multi-religious nation is becoming an increasingly vexing problem, when it has infected even the highest legislative and political chamber in the land.
In the first instance, during the winding-up of the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Nazri Aziz during the committee stage debate of the 2006 Budget last Wednesday , the parliamentary jester Badruddin Amirulddin (Jerai – BN) had questioned why the two non-Muslim female staff members were given the option to decide whether to wear the tudung inside the Chamber.
In the previous week, the two non-Muslim female staff members entered the Parliament chamber in tudung and the MP for Batu Gajah, Fong Po Kuan had immediately stood up to ask whether there was a compulsory rule requiring non-Muslim female staff to wear the tudung when on official duties inside the Chamber.
The Parliament Speaker, Ramli Ngah, who was in the Chair, clarified that there was no such compulsory rule and that it was up to the non-Muslim female parliamentary staff to decide whether or not to wear the tudung.
After this clarification, the two non-Muslim women parliamentary staff members were seen without the tudung when they entered the chamber.
The second instance involved the case of International Islamic University (IIU) law graduate, Foo Yueh Jiin, 25, who was barred from attending the IIU convocation for her second-upper honours law degree on August 30, 2005 because of her objection to the compulsory IIU dress code to don the tudung.
When Fong Po Kuan, herself a law graduate from IIU, raised the same issue in Parliament in 2003 and recounted her experience when she was forced to don the tudung against her will at her convocation in 1997, the then Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education, Dr. Mahadzhir Mohd Khir gave the categorical assurance that non-Muslim students in IIU were encouraged but not compelled to don the tudung.
It would appear that the IIU Senate had subsequently in 2004 introduced the rule on the compulsory donning of tudung for non-Muslim for the IIU convocation in clear disregard of the parliamentary undertaking by the Education Ministry and the fact that Malaysia is a nation with citizens from diverse ethnicity, religions, languages and cultures.
While defending the compulsory rule on tudung for the IIU convocation, Ongkili undertook to discuss the matter with the IIU Senate and authorities in view of the strong objections to the compulsory tudung rule expressed in Parliament, which was regarded as insensitive to non-Muslim Malaysians with regard to their different religions, customs and ways of life.
There were however UMNO MPs who objected strongly to any approach reflecting greater sensitivities to the diverse religions, customs and ways of life in Malaysia – whether in allowing non-Muslim parliamentary staff to have the option to decide whether to don the tudung or to reconsider the compulsory IIU rule on tudung for IIU convocations.
There was even one UMNO MP who said that asking non-Muslims to have the option to decide whether to don tudung was most insensitive in itself!
This led me to ask Barisan Nasional MPs whether in future they would want to see MCA, Gerakan, MIC and non-Muslim Barisan Nasional women MPs to compulsorily don the tudung in Parliament, to be followed later by DAP women MPs!
The case of Foo Yueh Jiing has sparked a debate among lawyers as well as the larger society on both the constitutionality and propriety of compulsory tudung requirements in plural Malaysia and whether the IIU was setting a bad example of corporate citizenship in being insensitive to the feelings of non-Muslim Malaysians by imposing the compulsory tudung rule.
Nobody doubts that the IIU is an International Islamic University in Malaysia, which is fully accepted and respected, but IIU in turn cannot disregard the fact that it is a public institution in a plural Malaysia which must be fully cognizant of its responsibility to set a good example of respecting the sensitivities of non-Muslim Malaysians.
The IIU Senate and authorities should review its compulsory tudung rule for its convocation and make the necessary amendments to fully respect the sensitivities of non-Muslim Malaysians who are its students and graduates.
I will convene a parliamentary roundtable on "Religion sensitization" in Parliament in the second week of November. I will invite Ongkili, all political parties, religions, public institutions particularly IIUM and concerned NGOs to come together to reach a consensus on religion sensitization.


Christian joined August Equity in 2014 with responsibility for new and existing investments in the Healthcare and Education sectors. Before August Equity, Christian spent three years at Terra Firma working on investments in the energy, healthcare, infrastructure and retail sectors.
His current board seats include Orbis Education and Care, Dental Partners, Fosters Funeral Directors and The Dermatology Partnership. Christian holds a MEng in Engineering, Economics and Management from the University of Oxford.


Changes in "Bill vs Paid" Law - GAY, JACKSON & McNALLY, L.L.P.
In North Carolina, victims in auto accidents can be legally awarded financial recovery by courts. NC personal injury lawyers are a source of information and guidance through this sometimes confusing process. In 2011, the laws regarding accident claims changed. The new laws have the potential to limit the financial award the accident victim can receive, based on the amount and type of medical or other insurances the victim has. This new process certainly requires skilled Wake County attorneys to ensure that the victim is represented fairly in NC court.
In the old version of the NC law, an auto accident victim could seek a financial award for the full amount of money that was billed to them by their medical providers or the businesses that did repair work on the damaged car. In addition, the victim could seek to receive compensation for lost wages or other issues such as pain and suffering. The new law will limit the amount of the claim to only what the victim paid out of pocket to the medical providers. This amount is determined not by the victim but by the various insurance companies involved. The bill was introduced in North Carolina in order to limit the amount of damages a victim could claim in court.
This new bill is potentially a major source of hardship for the victim. If the victim has health insurance, the victim will essentially be penalized and receive a lower amount of money in their court settlement. The victim is required by law to disclose how much they were paid by their insurer for a particular medical treatment, as well as how much was originally billed. This new law penalizes the victim by disregarding the amount of money paid over the years in insurance payments by the victim—these payments contribute to the lower rate that the medical providers accept, thereby lowering the payout by the insurance companies to the victim.
North Carolina personal injury attorneys are extremely helpful in these types of court proceedings. The newly passed bill in NC can severely limit the amount of damages awarded to the victim. Working with an attorney can help victims understand their options in court and also helps to protect as much as the claim as possible. The new law has made it more difficult for insured North Carolina drivers to receive an appropriate amount of financial compensation in an accident, and NC lawyers are an important source of information and guidance to help victims recover as much as they can.


Education: Bachelors Degree in Social Work from Illinois State University and her Masters degree in Social Work from California State University, Long Beach. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.
Client Base: Jacki has worked in a variety of private and public settings within the social services field, including private nonprofit child welfare, the Department of Children and Family Services in Los Angeles County, the Department of Human Services in Illinois - Early Intervention Program, and private outpatient practice. Jacki has worked with a variety of populations, spanning the developmental lifespan, including children and adults with developmental disabilities; foster and adoptive youth; children and adults suffering from depression and anxiety; children and adults with autism spectrum disorder and ADHD; and people challenged with various transitions within their lives.
Therapeutic Approach: Jacki works with clients using an ecological approach, incorporating systems theory throughout her practice. She believes people are affected by myriad systems in their lives (family, community, society). With effective treatment, clients can acknowledge and address mental, emotional and behavioral issues that impact their everyday routines, regaining function and control as well as finding joy in their lives. Taking a strength-based approach, clients can feel empowered to enhance those parts of their lives that are going well, as well as recognize those areas that require change.


Min Gyung thinks that money will bring happiness and love into her life. She is a very materialistic woman and sets out to find the kind of love that she thinks will make her happy.
Min Gyung is a man who is not on the fast track in succeeding in life but he is content that he has found the woman in his dreams.
This TV series revolves around a materialistic woman and a man with a pure heart who fall in love.
Money is the single-minded pursuit of Min Gyung and she constantly thinks about how to get more of it. So she is determined to marry a rich man and thinks that working as a stewardess will give her a better chance in finding Mr. Moneybags. She is attracted to any man who is rich. As she reaches her late twenties, she makes up her mind to get married to a rich guy within three months.