The German government admitted Tuesday that its spy agencies still maintain contact with members of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), which orchestrated a failed coup attempt in Turkey in 2016. Responding to a question in Parliament submitted by the opposition Left Party, the government confirmed Berlin's ongoing talks and cooperation with U.S.-based Fetullah Gülen's shadowy group and his followers, who are often referred to as Gülenists. But Berlin declined to provide any information about these contacts, arguing that doing so could reveal sources and undermine the functional capability of the spy agencies, referring to the country's foreign intelligence agency the BND and domestic intelligence agency the BfV.
Left Party lawmaker Ulla Jelpke sharply criticized the government for hiding information from Parliament and stressed that Berlin's continued talks with FETÖ, mainly through its intelligence organizations, were an alarming development. "It very much looks like the German government wants to keep its contacts with the Gülen network to have influence in a post-Erdoğan Turkey. Until then, German intelligence organizations would like to benefit from the confidential information acquired by this movement through a decadeslong campaign to infiltrate state institutions and through illegal eavesdropping," she said. FETÖ-linked groups, often referred to as Gülenists in Germany, have long denied having a hidden agenda or pursuing any political goals and claim that they were only working for interreligious dialogue, education and cultural projects.
But court cases in Turkey have revealed that FETÖ and its leaders have built a secretive hierarchical structure and managed to infiltrate the key institutions of the military, police and judiciary to take control of the state. FETÖ is classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its failed coup attempt in 2016 left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured. The German government's tolerance toward the group and its reluctance to extradite key FETÖ suspects to Turkey including ex-generals, bureaucrats or prosecutors involved in plots against the democratically elected government has been a major source of tension between Berlin and Ankara in recent years. Since the 1990s, Gülenists have managed to build a large network in Germany, and the group claims to have around 70,000 followers in the country. Around 14,000 people with suspected ties to FETÖ have also arrived in the country after the failed coup attempt in Turkey, according to local reports.


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Trish Stratus to present 2020 Slammy Award
TrishStratus.com December 21, 2020
The SLAMMYS are back! And Trish Stratus will be among the presenters this year.
Trish will present the SLAMMY Award for Female Superstar of the Year.
The nominees are:
- Sasha Banks
- Becky Lynch
- Charlotte Flair
Watch on WWE Network and WWE social media platforms this Wednesday morning, Dec. 23 at 10am ET.
« Prev story Next story »

domain: news


Disclosure just dropped another new single! They surprised fans earlier this year with the incredible summer ready song “Ultimatum” and have just returned for more. This time around they’ve dropped off the fresh new song “Moonlight” that picks up right where they left off, showing off their infectious house instrumental.
“Moonlight was written and arranged at Guy’s house, sampling Swedish acapella group ‘The Real Group’s’ cover of the classic “When I Fall In Love.” We wanted to bring some Disclosure deep house chords and basslines to the forefront…” – Disclosure
This new one delivers the classic Disclosure sound we love highlighting their incredible production abilities. There’s yet to be any information about a album or tour but we’re hoping these new songs mean there’s something coming from the brotherly duo soon. Enjoy!


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Heavy winds fan flames as wildfire forces evacuations in Cape Town
CA, 20 Apr 2021
Firefighters faced heavy winds as they battled a wildfire in Cape Town, South Africa, on Monday though officials said the fire was “largely under control.”
Heavy smoke could be seen for kilometres and some roads were closed due to the fire. Students at a nearby university were forced to evacuate the area.
Authorities are investigating whether the fire was started deliberately. The city confirmed in a statement that one person had been taken into custody for questioning.
For more info, please go to http://www.globalnews.ca
Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: http://bit.ly/20fcXDc
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#CapeTown #Wildfire #GlobalNews


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Almond Pastries Pistachio
Sicilian spreadable Pistachio sweet cream By Fiasconaro and D&G. - 180 g
(€77.78 / kg)
Sweet spreadable cream with Sicilian Pistachio 180g By Fiasconaro signed Dolce & Gabbana
From the fusion of Sicilian pastry by Fiasconaro and the high fashion of Dolce & Gabbana, a luscious soft cream spread with Sicilian Pistachio, packaged in a colorful decorated D&G cardboard box. D&G shopper included!
Pack of 180 g
Site protected with encrypted connection.
Fast shipping and two or three days delivery in all Europe.
Immediate replacement or refund always guaranteed.
180 g Sweet spreadable cream with Pistachio from Sicily by Fiasconaro signed Dolce & Gabbana
From the encounter between the confectionery art of Fiasconaro and the creativity of Dolce & Gabbana, a delicious recipe to satisfy the most refined palates with the flavors of Sicily.
A soft spread Sicilian Pistachio cream packaged in an elegant Dolce & Gabbana jar. Colorful and elegant green packaging, in full D&G style with decorative motifs of the cart and characters from the Opera dei Pupi.
And in addition to its colorful packaging, to make your gift idea unique and fashionable, even a shopper decorated with the same design that characterizes the entire Fiasconaro and D&G line.
Net weight 180g
Ingredients: sugar, pistachio (Pistacia vera)(22%), vegetables oil and fats (sunflower oil, cocoa butter, safflower), powdered skimmed milk, whey powder, emulsifier: soy lecithin; natural flavourings, colouring agent (curcumin, chlorophyll crupic), salt. May contain traces of nuts and lupin flour,
- Provincia di produzione
- Zona di produzione:
- Vedi descrizione.
- Peso Netto
- 180 grammi.
Liliana C. published the 04/08/2023 following an order made on 30/06/2023
Miglior pistacchio provato
Giuseppe L. published the 10/07/2023 following an order made on 01/07/2023
Consegna veloce, consegnato in perfette condizioni, molte grazie
Natalia S. published the 30/11/2022 following an order made on 19/11/2022
Luigia S. published the 08/04/2022 following an order made on 01/04/2022
Anonymous customer published the 17/03/2022 following an order made on 09/03/2022
Anonymous customer published the 09/01/2022 following an order made on 12/12/2021
Dò 5 stelle sulla fiducia,avendolo già assaggiato altre volte, questo è un regalo di natale
Anonymous customer published the 16/12/2021 following an order made on 09/12/2021
Anonymous customer published the 13/12/2021 following an order made on 06/12/2021
Anonymous customer published the 09/12/2021 following an order made on 11/11/2021
Il vero Pistacchio!!! Buonisssimo!!!
Anonymous customer published the 06/12/2021 following an order made on 06/11/2021
Pistachio (Pistacia vera) (22%), vegetable oils and fats (sunflower, cocoa butter, safflower), skimmed milk powder, whey powder, emulsifier: soy lecithin, natural flavors, dyes (curcumin, cupric chlorophyll ), salt. It may contain traces of other nuts and / or lupine.
Nutrition facts / 100 g
|Energy||557 kcal - 2333|

domain: food


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Welcome to Cap-Chat City ! This place is situated in Québec,its population is about 1484 peoples.The latitude of Cap-Chat City are 49.083333, and Longitude are -66.683333.The Town of Sainte-Anne-des-Monts Airport is the primary international airport located in "Route de l'Aéroport, Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, QC G4V 2X7, Canada". It is the busiest international air passenger gateway in Canada.
|Town of Sainte-Anne-des-Monts Airport||Route de l'Aéroport, Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, QC G4V 2X7, Canada||Québec|
|Ste-Anne-des-Monts NDB K7||Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, QC G4V 1H5, Canada||Québec|
|Matane Airport||Matane, QC G4W 1V8, Canada||Québec|
|aerogare aeroport de Matane||175 Route de l'Aéroport, Matane, QC G4W 7G4, Canada||Québec|
|Matane NDB ME 216||Matane, QC, Canada||Québec|
|Sept-Îles Airport||1000 E Boulevard Laure, Sept-Îles, QC G4R 4K2, Canada||Québec|
|Aeroport De Mont-Joli||875 Route de l’Aéroport Mont-Joli, Mont-Joli, QC G5H 4A4, Canada||Québec|
Mycitylocator is the most powerful website in all over the world which can facilitate the people of all the nations who want to explore the world, locate our city and their important aspects.This website gives the world wide gazetteer through Google Maps, the most searchable engine.It can also be provide the world continents, countries and their cities.So this is the best opportunity to locate the city through Mycitylocator.com and enjoy your time to explore the world!
Copyright Mycitylocator.com © 2018. All Rights Reserved

domain: geography


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LUGANSK, Ukraine, July 29, 2011 (AFP) - Eighteen miners died and another 20 were missing Friday in two separate accidents at coal mines in the east of Ukraine, an industrial region notorious for its mining safety record.
At least 16 miners were killed instantly as a result of an explosion at the Sukhodolskaya-Vostochnaya coal mine in the eastern Lugansk region early Friday, the emergencies ministry said.
Another three workers received burns and other injuries and were hospitalised, it said. One of the injured died later of his wounds.
"The fate of nine miners remains unknown," said the Kiev-based emergencies ministry in a statement, adding that a total of 28 people were working at the pit when the explosion occurred at 1:57 am Friday.
The Lugansk regional administration, citing preliminary information, said the accident was caused by a methane explosion, which has caused most of the country's past mining disasters.
In a separate accident in Makiyivka mine in the neighbouring Donetsk region, one person was killed, three hospitalised and 11 were missing, the emergencies ministry said.
The ministry said the 70 metre-high (230 feet) mine headframe, which is used to lower miners down into the mine and bring them up again, collapsed.
President Viktor Yanukovych interrupted his vacation and was expected at the Lugansk mine, which is part of the Krasnodonugol mining company, his spokeswoman Darya Chepak told AFP.
He also cancelled plans to attend the Formula 1 Power Boat Grand Prix near Kiev, his administration said.
Ukraine's Energy Minister Yury Boiko earlier arrived at the mine to personally take charge of the rescue operation.
An official with Group Metinvest, a private holding that includes the company operating the mine, said the Sukhodolskaya-Vostochnaya mine had modern equipment but was one of the most dangerous coal mines in the country as it had high levels of methane and had experienced accidents in the past.
"The company spent huge money to upgrade it," he told AFP on condition of anonymity. "But the mine is incredibly dangerous."
Albina Kosheleva, the Lugansk regional administration spokeswoman, also said the mine boasted modern equipment and the safety procedures there were at a "decent level."
The Group Metinvest official said families of the miners killed in the blast would each receive one million hryvnias ($125,000).
Dmitry Kalitventsev, leader of a local miners' trade union, expressed fears the rescue teams would find more dead.
"Even though there are reports of 16 dead, it is most likely that all of them died," he told AFP, referring to the missing workers.
Deadly accidents are frequent in the Ukrainian mines, most of which are located in the country's industrial eastern region. Many of the mines are underfunded and poorly equipped, while safety violations are rife.
In the worst accident of its kind in the country's post-Soviet history, more than 100 miners were killed in an explosion in 2007 at the Zasyadko mine, one of the three biggest in Ukraine.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent a telegram to his Ukrainian counterpart Yanukovych, expressing "sincere condolences" over the loss of life at the Lugansk region mine.


Chris Mullin made a smart trade to acquire North Carolina forward Brandan Wright, but it’s unlikely that will be enough for the Warriors to make a significant improvement next season. Wright has undeniable talent, but he’s played only one year of collegiate ball.
The Warriors introduced Wright and Stephane Lasme to the media Monday (Marco Belinelli, the Warriors’ 18th overall pick, is playing in Italy).
I asked Warriors coach Don Nelson if Wright had a serious chance of being part of his rotation next season.
“That’s up to him,” Nellie said. “He’s got some skills you can’t teach, but he’s only 19. We’re taking him to Las Vegas tomorrow [for the summer league] to start to teach him the difference between pro ball and collegiate ball.”
There’s no question Wright fits Nelson’s system because he’s tall (6-foot-9), though frightfully thin (205 pounds), rebounds and runs the floor well.
“I was excited when I heard I was going to the Warriors,” he said, “because, coming from Carolina, I like to run.”
But the Warriors haven’t had much immediate success from their young draftees recently. Andris Biedrins, only 18 when he was drafted in 2004, didn’t have much of an impact until last season. Patrick O’Bryant, their first-round pick last year at age 20, spent most of the year in the developmental league.
The only young player who showed much as a rookie was Monta Ellis, who was drafted out of high school but turned 20 in October of his rookie season.
One reason to think Wright may be an exception to that pattern: Nelson was heavily involved in picking him. Though Mullin emphasized in a media meeting before the draft that “We have a lot of eyes looking at this,” there is no question that the most important eyes belonged to him and Nelson.
The two think alike.
“We don’t even have to talk about it,” Mullin said. “We’ll be looking at players and we’ll come up with the same conclusions independently.”
The fact that Nelson is so heavily involved at this point should quell any lingering doubts that he’ll return as coach next season. That was always a phony issue anyway.
Think about it. The Warriors had just come off a crushing loss in the playoffs. Normally, the papers and airwaves would have been full of post-mortems, which would not have been flattering to the Warriors’ players. When Nellie hinted that he might not return, the focus switched to him.
Well, nobody ever said Nelson was dumb.
Nobody says that about Mullin, either. After a shaky start, he has become very sure-footed with his deals, including the last one.
It’s not easy for the Warriors, competing in the loaded Western Conference, and it got more difficult as Portland and Seattle drafted Greg Oden and Kevin Durant, respectively.
Mullin is very close-mouthed about his moves — his big trades have all come as a surprise, though he’s worked on them for some time — but my intuition tells me he’s working hard to pull off another one before the season.
Getting Wright was a good move for the future.
“We think he can be a star,” Nelson said.
But there will be an inevitable learning curve for him, and perhaps a nutritional-strength program sohe can add weight and muscle. More moves will be needed for the Warriors to become serious contenders.
Without any more moves, are the Warriors better?
Share your comments below.


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Voter Turnout in Phase 4
As per the news in fourth phase of election at Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Bihar, UP and Srinagar the average voting percentage is 57% (need more participation), while West Bengal report highest voters turnout with 75% voting, in Srinagar only 24% voters used their franchisee. Haryana recorded 63% voting, and 50% voting is reported in Rajasthan. Punjab has seen turnout of 65% voters and in Bihar only 37% come to select their representatives. In Srinagar voting percentage is better than previous elections.
Some cases of violence reported in these phase but overall phase - IV voting is peaceful. In Rajasthan some violence and booth capturing is reported.

domain: sociology


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Discover our hand drawn and illustrated sticker collection, with unique themes and designs. Decorate your bullet journals, bujo, art journal, scrapbook, junk journals, planners, and more! Printed on Premium Matte, vinyl Paper.
How delightful! 💖 @ydxart got creative with noissue Stamp by pairing it with custom Cards and using it to brand kraft envelopes. Equipped with a soy based ink pad, it marks porous surfaces without toxic chemicals for about 10,000 impressions. ✔ Here are the creative ways to use one for small business branding! 🤗

domain: artistic


The online gambling market is fast on the increase and with the introduction of new technologies, here are technologies already in use that will…
Look, we get it. Building a car isn’t easy. But when a manufacturer’s been doing it for couple of decades, you’d think they would’ve learned most of the really hard lessons.
By that stage, they should, after all, have all the right ingredients in place. The design teams should’ve figured out the company’s identity, the engineers should know what they are and are not capable of and the assembly lines should be running pretty much as smoothly as they possibly can.
The thing is, everyone is bound to hit the odd rough patch. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done before things sometimes just go sideways.
Read more on Motorburn.


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8BitDo is releasing a wired version of its Pro 2 controller for Xbox consoles and PC on December 8th, 2021. It’s nearly identical in terms of features to the Bluetooth wireless model that my colleague Sam Byford reviewed, which supports Switch, mobile, and other platforms. Though, this new Xbox model’s wired-only connection means that it’s cheaper at $44.99. You can preorder it now.
This Pro 2 is clad in black, with an Xbox home button in its middle. Yet, in addition to all of the other Xbox-specific buttons you’re probably expecting (share, menu, view), it has 8BitDo’s other two buttons near the analog sticks, which can be remapped to your liking in its Ultimate Software app available on iOS and Android. Additionally, there are two buttons on the back of the Pro 2’s grips that can be mapped as you see fit. Through the app, you can also customize vibration, trigger, and stick sensitivity, as well as make a shortcut to adjust volume.
You might be wondering how this wired controller is able to communicate wirelessly with your phone. 8BitDo told The Verge that the Pro 2 for Xbox has a Bluetooth chip inside, which allows it to connect to your phone for the purposes of remapping the controls. However, the functionality ends there. The company said that it is not compatible with other systems wirelessly.
This controller seems to be made for people who aren’t married to the analog stick arrangement of Microsoft’s Xbox controller. This one’s stick layout is more similar to a PlayStation controller, though all of the necessary Xbox buttons are here. There’s also a 3.5mm port for audio passthrough if you have headphones or a headset to connect.
It’d be ideal if the Xbox-flavored Pro 2 was wireless, but $45 for a customizable wired controller seems like a good value. Given that 8BitDo’s build quality is usually higher than many other third-party accessory makers, this might make for a nice companion to your official Xbox wireless controller or as a replacement.

domain: hobby


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Sky has a new show TV show under the name of The Big Idea, claimed to be the UK’s largest-ever search to discover the next great British invention or business idea (with the winner pocketing £100,000 to carry it off). Vodafone is sponsoring it – and has taken this ideal marketing opportunity to launch new small business tariffs, starting from £22 per month.
Vodafone has research claiming just under 33 per cent of the population is considering setting up a company in the next five years – which makes you wonder where the staff will come from. But it also shows you the market for business-friendly tariffs. Vodafone’s Small Business Plan starts at £22 per month and offers inclusive free calls between company handsets, mobile email for £5 per month, price plan reviews and the option to switch plans regularly. There’s also ‘same advisor’ business support.
The company is also offering mobile access to a range of tools helpful to anyone starting up a business. For more information, check out the Vodafone business pages.


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Man pleads guilty to setting Paynesville mobile home fire that killed daughter
ST. CLOUD — A former Paynesville man pleaded guilty Monday to setting a fire in a mobile home that killed his daughter, according to court records.
John Sean Newport, 48, pleaded guilty to one felony count of second-degree unintentional murder, while committing a felony, on the day his trial was scheduled to begin. Judge Shan Wang presided.
Court records show the plea hearing took place at 1 p.m. Newport admitted to aggravating factors, a statement from the Stearns County Attorney's Office said. The joint plea agreement calls for 18 years in prison, which is an upward departure from sentencing guidelines.
A jury trial was scheduled to begin Monday for Newport, and potential jurors were called in to fill out questionnaires, according to court administration.
According to the criminal complaint against Newport, officers were sent to a Paynesville mobile home just before 7 p.m. July 23, 2019 after Jamey Newport, 22, called 911 and stated someone was dumping gasoline inside the mobile home and was going to start a fire.
Jamey Newport began screaming for help and said she could not get out, according to the complaint. A Paynesville Police officer arrived on scene and attempted to enter the home but was unable to.
The officer noticed John Newport appeared to try to enter the home through the front door and then through the window, according to the criminal complaint. The officer restrained Newport for safety.
The Paynesville Fire Department worked to put out the fire, and life-saving measures were performed on Jamey Newport after she was taken out of the home. She was pronounced dead at the Paynesville hospital.
Evidence of fuel was found inside the home. A gas can, normally found outside near a lawn mower, was found inside near the front door. A lighter was found on the ground outside the home.
Officers also discovered a Facebook post where John Newport "expressed his intent to burn down the mobile home," according to the criminal complaint.
An attorney representing Newport did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
He is scheduled to be sentenced July 2.
Clairissa Baker is the public safety watchdog reporter for the St. Cloud Times. Reach her at 320-255-8740 or email@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @ClairissaBaker.
Support local journalism. Subscribe to sctimes.com today.


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One of my JBL SR4722x boxes lost the 12" woofer. I tore it apart and battery tested the speaker (2206hpl is 8 ohm). It made a noise, so I suspected the crossover. Checked the solder joints and all looked well. I touched them up anyway, still no low end. So I chesked the resistance of the driver...1.9 ohms. I think the vc is shorted.
I ran sound for a too loud Metal band a couple of weeks ago and I think that did it. I run 2 of these a side powered by PLX 3602's over 2 SR4718x Subs per side powered by IPR3000's. I gotta quit doing other bands. When my band plays thru it, this system kicks loud and clean.


I do not know who owners of the 2 supermarkets are, but Italy has enough financial difficulties and if they expect IMF to help out, they better reconsider unless the Italian government corrects the situation. It will not look for Italy.
Australia's most dangerous Islamic State operative killed in U.S. strike (AP)
from the article: N.Y. activists: Siege on Gaza isn't sweet, boycott Max Brenner
Musa Abu Marzouk says Cairo responded swiftly to a Hamas request to restore calm at the border, after a night of Israeli air strikes responding to shooting attacks at Israeli soldiers.04:42 05.05.16 | 4 comments
Trump's adviser Jason Greenblatt promised to 'create a different tone in Europe and around the world.'21:46 04.05.16 | 0 comments
Ephraim Apter, who later fought in a number of Israel's wars and became a rich businessman, doesn't know if he could have done what the Bonczaks did.00:01 04.05.16 | 0 comments


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The Coordinated Intake Worker works under the governors office MIECHV program to provide a single-point of entry for families seeking home-visiting services and connections to other community resources.
Groups meet once a month via ZOOM.
The Governors Office of Early Childhood Development Start Early, formally known as The Ounce of Prevention Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV) Comprehensive Behavioral Health Center Coordinated Intake
Other Information of Interest
IGROW is the Illinois symbol for quality evidence-based home visiting services to expectant parents and families with new babies and young children. IGROW offers evidence based, intensive services that: 1. Promotes family self-sufficiency. 2. Has a positive effect on parenting. 3. Reduces child maltreatment 4. Increases kindergarten readiness. 5. Promotes parent-child attachment. 6. Provide developmental screening. 7. Provide linkage to community resources and services such as: medical providers, WIC, DHS, DCFS, CHASI, shelters, pantries, childcare, utility assistance, community events, Intergovernmental Grants, Violence Prevention, Housing Authority, Mental Health, Employment, and Education.


CubeSat Project: Lesson 1
The miniaturisation of satellites such as CubeSat provides new access to space technologies for a wide range of applications at a significantly reduced cost.
Satellites are used for a range of functions such as monitoring land use, and can carry a range of payloads including cameras and GPS and how it can help our lives and the community. Miniaturized satellites for space research, such as CubeSats, are of small size and mass and use commercial off-the-shelf components for its electronics and sensors.
Access Prior Knowledge ( 5 mins)
Look at provided images of sputnik, modern satellite and Hubble. Which one(s) of these are satellites?
Students should recognise that all are satellites as should give a good indication of students understanding what a satellite is. The Landsat 8 image has been chosen to be less obvious as a satellite, but the image on page 2 puts it in context.
New Information Presented
Outline of program including balloon launch
Uses of satellites in particular Australia – remote sensing
Introductory Power point presentation – click enable content (note: internet connection required for embedded Youtube videos. If your school normally blocks Youtube, then either ask for a temporary unblock for:
Yoyo Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3qYjzmgOdY ;
space chair link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6PSbUl_68k;
ESA Copernicus Earth Observation – Video file
View presentation, preferable in groups or 3 to 4 students, and complete question sheet in relation to presentation (20 mins)
One or more groups could present findings about the payloads aboard the CubeSat and what information they can provide – photos. (10 min)


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OK, deep breath... I have finally worked up the guts to post the last part of this mini-series. I'm sorry it has taken so long even though it has been more or less finished for a while, although this last part was especially difficult and important for me. Hopefully I won't have to change the rating. Thank you again for the reviews. I don't own MSCL.
Angela passed her driver's license to the officer behind the bulletproof glass. He checked her name off a list, then waved her through a steel door. Once through the first door, she put her bag and packages on a conveyor belt so they could be X-rayed as she passed through the metal detector, then she was patted down by another officer. When they were satisfied that she wasn't armed or carrying any contraband, she was led into a room with several tables and chairs. A few other people were already occupying some of the tables when she came in. Moments later, a young woman in a red prison jumpsuit was escorted into the room with two guards. When she saw Angela, her face broke into a broad grin.
"Angelika! About time!" she exclaimed excitedly, as though no time had passed. She threw her arms around Angela but was quickly pulled off by the guards. "Easy, easy," she said with a throaty laugh, "I won't touch her again."
"Rayanne," Angela said, smiling broadly at her friend. "I'm sorry it's been so long."
"Yeah yeah, you're busy saving the kids, I get it," she said, as they both moved towards the tables and chairs. "What did you bring me?" she smiled endearingly.
"Cupcakes, candy, toiletries, eyeliner, underwear, socks, coffee," Angela said. "Hope I didn't miss anything."
"Ah, what a wonderful friend," Rayanne sighed with pleasure. "Well, you might as well give it to the guards now, they'll dole it out to me later. But can I have a cupcake now?" she beamed again, this time at the guards. One of them nodded their assent and Angela opened the box and let her friend choose a cupcake. She studied her as Rayanne fussed over the box. Despite the fact that she had been in prison now for almost two years, Rayanne still seemed youthful and carefree, exactly as she had been in high school.
"Mmm, that is almost better than sex," she moaned, taking a bite of the cupcake. "I say almost, because sex is probably what I miss the most." She winked knowingly at Angela, completely unconcerned by the presence of the guards behind them. "Women aren't really my style, although almost anything looks good eventually."
"Rayanne!" Angela wasn't sure why she felt like blushing.
"What?" Rayanne was unfazed. "It gets boring in here." She licked her fingers. "I miss men. That's probably the worst thing about being in here."
"Do you have a better idea of when you'll be up for parole?" Angela asked.
"Few more years yet," Rayanne waved her hand dismissively. "Enough about me, babe, I want to hear about you. How's Rickie? He writes me, but it's been getting more sporadic lately, so I assume it means he's found a new man."
"He's great. He's still in Miami, and yes, he's with Blake. He says it's love. He wants to come see you the next time he's in town."
"Ah Enrique, ever the hopeless romantic. I'm glad he's happy… I understand why people don't want to come see me," Rayanne said. "I mean, federal penitentiary, hardly the most glamourous place for a reunion." Her tone was light, but Angela thought she could detect a hint of sadness in her eyes. She wished that she could put her arms around her friend, she wished that she could have stopped Rayanne from taking that trip up to Canada to smuggle drugs back through the border… It was all so stupid and pointless, and now her life would never be the same. Every time she tried to talk to her about it, her friend seemed a bit flippant, as if she refused to grasp the significance of it all, but it was probably a coping mechanism as well. There was no point in bringing it up every time they saw each other.
"He'll come," Angela said, and meant it.
"What about Cherski and Shane? Did those two get married yet or what?"
"They got engaged a couple of weeks ago, actually," Angela began tentatively. "I went home for their engagement party, under false pretenses of course. Sharon didn't even tell me about it herself, she made my mom do the dirty work."
"Good girl," Rayanne chuckled. "You would've gone no matter what though, admit it."
"I guess," Angela admitted, "but I really didn't want to…"
"Did Shane freak out when he saw you?"
"Did he ever," Angela shook her head at the memory. "As soon as I walked in the door, he was like, 'What the hell is she doing here?' and Sharon made a huge fuss, saying that I was her oldest friend and of course I was invited, you get the picture."
Rayanne was laughing at the image. "What a gong show," she said gleefully. "I wish that I could've been there. Nobody expected those two to hook up in high school, or that it would last."
"I know… He really loves her though. And he's changed a lot because of her. I'll give him that."
"Alright, don't keep me in suspense for any longer… Was Catalano there? Did he throw himself at your feet and beg you to give him another chance?"
"No, that's not what happened at all…"
"Don't worry about Shane, he just gets overprotective, you know how it is," Sharon whispered, rubbing Angela's arm.
"Wow, I guess I really hurt him, huh?" Angela said quietly, more to herself than to her friend. She turned to her then. "Sharon, you don't need to baby-sit me, tonight is about your engagement, not about my stupid failed relationship."
"You're my oldest friend. Who else would I be hanging out with? I never see you anymore."
"So how does it feel to be engaged?" Angela asked, attempting to focus on her friend's happiness rather than her own feelings at the moment.
"It's so exciting!" Sharon exclaimed, sipping from her champagne. "I know that Shane is not the guy that most people pictured me ending up with, myself included, but he just loves me so much and he's been so supportive. When I went away for college, he made it clear that he wanted to be with me, even when we took that break."
"Are you glad you guys took a break?" Angela asked, remembering her friend's mixed feelings during that time.
"Looking back now, yeah. I was terrified that I was making the biggest mistake of my life, but part of me really needed to see what life was like without him. I mean, besides Kyle, he was pretty much my only boyfriend."
"That's all I wanted with Jordan too, but clearly it backfired," Angela mused. "I ended up realizing that I'd made the worst mistake, and now two years have gone by."
Sharon smiled, as if she had a secret. "You know… he might be coming tonight! I mean, he didn't give Shane a straight answer, but I think he'll show up."
Angela had her suspicions, but hearing this information from Sharon made her stomach flip. "What am I supposed to say? 'I've made the worst mistake of my life and I want you back'?" She took a sip of champagne.
"How about you start with 'Hello'?" Sharon giggled.
The evening wore on, and Angela had a decent time with Sharon's various relatives and friends from college. It was nice to see her mother socializing too. Rayanne's absence weighed heavily on Angela's heart – she could just picture her telling outrageous stories about Sharon and Shane from high school, having too much champagne, flirting with the male cousins and uncles. Part of her missed the way things had been, so many years before, when they were all young and carefree but too immature to realize what they had.
"Honey, why don't you grab our coats while I say goodbye to Camille and Andy," Patti suggested at the end of the evening. Angela was happy to run upstairs for a moment. She was mostly relieved that Jordan had not shown up, but a part of her was disappointed as well. It had been two years since she'd seen him last, and she still cared about how he was doing. She knew that his career was taking off, judging from the photos in the various magazines she occasionally saw with his name credited to them. Although she could appreciate his artistic visions, she never caught any glimpses of the man behind the camera. Was he happy? Had he forgiven her?
She located their coats from the pile on the bed. As she was about to step out of the bedroom, she heard a knock at the front door, followed by excited male voices. She felt shivers go down her spine, and she knew that Jordan had arrived. She hesitated, then made her way out of the room and into the hallway. It seemed silly, but she didn't want him to see her right away – she hoped that she could observe him for a moment before he noticed her.
She crept out to the staircase and peered out at the foyer. She felt stupid, but she couldn't seem to make herself walk out confidently. When her eyes fell on him, she almost couldn't hold back a gasp. The last two years had treated him well – his hair was short and spiky, she could see muscles in his chest and shoulders moving under his clothes, and he had the faint trace of stubble on his jaw. He looked more beautiful than she remembered, if that were even possible.
As if sensing her presence, he looked up at the top of the stairs and his eyes fell on her. Her pulse quickened and she forced her lips into a smile, hoping that she didn't look too awkward. A hint of a smile started to graze his lips. At that exact moment, the door behind him opened and a tall, striking blonde stepped into the house, encircling his wrist possessively with her fingers. He turned to look at the blonde, who was as poised and stunning as a model, and the moment between them was broken.
"So Catalano showed up with a date?" Rayanne asked, bringing them back to the moment.
"Oh, I don't think she was just a date," Angela said sadly.
"Did you ask?"
"What was I supposed to say? 'Excuse me, but are you and Jordan more than sex buddies?'" she looked back at her friend, whose expression was blank. "Rayanne! No way!"
"Well how did you know then?" Rayanne asked. "Where was your proof?"
"I don't know how to explain it… just the way they looked at each other, the way she wrapped her fingers around his wrist, like he was totally hers or something…"
"Was she wearing an engagement ring?" her friend asked bluntly.
"No," Angela was embarrassed to admit that she'd noticed.
"Well fair game then," Rayanne said, shrugging her shoulders.
"I could never…"
"Look sweets, I have to go," Rayanne motioned at the clock overhead. "Time's up. But thanks for coming to see me. It means the world, you know that." They both got up simultaneously and Rayanne leaned in to kiss Angela's cheek. "I love you, old friend," she said.
"I love you too Rayanne," Angela said, kissing her back.
"And if I know anything, so does Catalano, even after all this time." Rayanne let out another throaty chuckle. She turned, holding her arms out so the guards could lead her out. "Don't be a stranger!"
"I won't," Angela promised. Yet she still felt guilty being able to walk away while her friend was left behind.
It was raining hard as Angela got off at her subway stop. Her car was in the shop and she had just worked a fourteen-hour day in an attempt to catch up on the work she missed from the long week-end she'd taken to go home. It took almost all her energy just to trudge back to her brownstone and up the stairs into the lobby, and she was soaked by the time she got there. Cursing herself for not being better prepared for the New York weather, she unlocked the front door of the building and paused at the short row of mailboxes in the lobby, debating whether to even bother checking her mail today. She just wanted to go upstairs and take a hot bath. At the last moment, she quickly unlocked the box and grabbed the letters that were inside.
Reflexively, she started looking through the mail as she made her way upstairs. Probably all bills, she thought as she unlocked the door to her apartment and heard the phone ringing. She tossed the mail into a bowl on the hallway table meant just for that purpose and lunged for the phone.
"Hello? Oh hi Dad," she said, adjusting the phone against her ear. Over the years, especially after her father moved to Chicago to open a chain of restaurants and she settled in New York, she had seen him less and less. Part of her felt guilty, but part of her felt that the distance between them was justifiable. She didn't think she could ever forgive him for tearing their family apart – simple as that. For a few years, he continued to make an effort and Angela, predictably, was ambivalent. She kept things civil mostly for Danielle's benefit, but she still felt a hard knot of resentment every time she thought of him.
"Sweetie, I hate to call you like this, but…" his voice sounded flat yet unsteady, as if he had been crying.
"What's wrong? Is it Danielle?" her voice rose and her heart picked up speed.
"It's – yeah - She's in the hospital…"
"Is she okay?" Angela could feel a sickly sensation forming in the pit of her stomach.
"I don't really know what happened, she was out with some friends, and she passed out and had a seizure or something. They couldn't wake her up, so they took her to the Emergency room. She'd probably been drinking, I don't know what else…" he took a shaky breath, stifling a sob.
"Oh my god…" she also took a breath, but it didn't seem to be working. "Had she seemed okay to you the last time you saw her?"
"I guess, but you know her, she's good at hiding everything."
"That's what Mom said too," Angela said hollowly. "Anyway, I'll get on the first flight out there. Which hospital?"
"Northwestern Memorial. I'll call your mom."
"Okay. I'll see you in a few hours."
Grimly, she hung up the phone and quickly started to pack.
Angela hugged her father at the hospital. She realized then how much she missed him, and the way things had been, so long ago. She wished that she wasn't angry anymore.
"Danielle looks like she has a bit of pneumonia, and she's really sleepy right now. The drug screen only found alcohol and a prescription drug her psychiatrist gave her, so they say she'll be alright once it works its way out of her system," her dad was saying. "I called your mom, and she's on her way out here too."
"Oh thank God Danielle's okay," Angela breathed. "Can I see her now?"
"I think they'll let us see her quickly, but just to warn you, she's really out of it. The doctors said it could take a few days before she's herself again."
They took the elevator up to Danielle's room, making small talk on the way up. It struck Angela that her father was lonely and probably worked so much to fill that space. He'd left Three Rivers because there was nothing to keep him there – a failed marriage, another failed relationship, a restaurant that was successful but nevertheless underappreciated. Her uncle Neil had moved out west and she never saw him at all anymore, and they mostly chatted about him.
Angela went into her sister's hospital room and immediately burst into tears. She felt a mixture of relief, of fear, of sadness – so many things at once. Her sister was sleeping, nasal prongs in her nose, IVs running, cardiac monitoring beeping reassuringly.
"Hi little sis," she said, squeezing Danielle's hand. "You gave us quite the scare." She felt her father's hand on her shoulder and she turned around to smile at him. "I'll be right here until you wake up."
Patti arrived a short time later, and Angela watched her parents greet each other with trepidation. She didn't know how long it had been since they had seen each other, but she always admired her mother for trying to make things work until it was obvious they just couldn't anymore. Patti was civil, allowing Graham to kiss her on the cheek, but it was clear that her main concern was her youngest daughter.
They sat together in Danielle's room and watched the dawn break. It was the first time they had all been together like this in almost seven years.
Danielle slept and slept. Angela and each of her parents took turns in the room when someone needed to eat or stretch their legs, never wanting to miss when she might open her eyes and assure them all that she would be alright. Although the doctors had come by again to check on her and again told the family that Danielle would make a full recovery, there was an unspoken understanding that no one would feel reassured until she opened her eyes. Angela felt too wired on caffeine and worry to sleep.
In the evening of the next day, she was on "coffee duty" and had just come back when she saw someone talking to her mom in the hallway outside Danielle's room. His back was to her, but the way he was leaning against the wall made her recognize him instantly. She didn't know why he was here or how he had found her. She only knew that she had never been so glad to see anyone in all her life.
"Hey," she said, coming up to them as if it were no big deal, as if Jordan Catalano showed up at the hospital in Chicago every day.
"Hey," he said, looking at her with concern. "You need to sleep," he added, as if no time had passed. "I bet you haven't left the hospital this whole time, have you?"
She shook her head, feeling the tears start to well up again. "My sister needs me. She might wake up any minute."
"You need to sleep," he repeated, more firmly this time. "Where are you staying? I'll take you there."
"I don't know… I was supposed to stay at my dad's maybe, but we never really talked about it, since my mom's in town now too, as you can see. Just take me to a hotel somewhere and I can crash for a few hours. I don't feel like going to my dad's."
Patti nodded. "You go ahead. You've been amazing as it is. I'll see you in the morning. Thanks Jordan." Angela protested but her mother was insistent and all but pushed them into the elevator. Angela wondered, for a fleeting moment, whether her mother wanted to be alone with her father, or if she thought that sending them off together would lead to some kind of reconciliation. Both thoughts made her smile, despite the situation.
They stood outside the front doors and hailed a cab.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" Angela asked as they got into a cab. "Not that I'm not glad to see you or anything, just totally surprised especially since the last time I saw you, you were with this gorgeous blonde." She realized that she was nervous. After running into him at Shane and Sharon's engagement party that night, now almost two weeks ago, she had made a hasty exit with Patti, stopping only to exchange the briefest of hellos.
"Sax Chicago, please," Jordan said to the driver. He turned to face her. "Well, hello to you too." He smiled, leaned towards her and kissed her cheek. She felt a spark where his lips touched her skin.
"Sorry, I've just been so stressed out and worried."
"No worries, I get it." He paused. "Did you get my note?"
"What note?" She thought of the stack of mail she'd tossed onto the hallway table.
"Never mind, it's not important now… Shane told me where you were."
Patti must have told Camille Cherski where she was going, who obviously told Sharon, who then told Shane.
"What? Really? I thought Shane hated me."
"He doesn't hate you. He's just had to listen to me whine about you for years." He took her hand gently in his. "I've been thinking about you since I saw you that night."
"Really?" It was the second time he had surprised her already.
"I'm not gonna lie, part of me was tempted to skip the party, but I knew Shane would kill me. And a bigger part of me just… needed to see you, needed to see if there was… anything left… between us." He put his lips against her ear. "I hope it wasn't all one-sided."
"It wasn't," Angela admitted.
When they got to the hotel, she tried to check in to her own room, but he insisted that he had a big suite with a fold-out cot and he would leave her alone so she could sleep. She realized that he'd gotten the suite likely hoping they could spend some time together, and that realization only made her want him more, although it felt almost wrong to want him so badly while her sister was in the hospital and he potentially had a girlfriend.
"I'll sleep over there," he gestured at the cot, which was in its own little alcove off the main bedroom. "You take the bed. You won't even know I'm here."
"Jordan, that is so nice," she said, although she was a tiny bit disappointed that he was being such a gentleman. He definitely had a girlfriend.
"I can't believe you're here," he was saying, looking at her. "It's been so long. You look great."
"I do not! I am so sleep deprived," she said.
"Whatever…" he leaned against the dresser, looked at her again. "Do you want something to drink?"
"I'll have whatever you're having."
"Overpriced hotel room wine it is," he said, flashing her a smile. He opened the bottle and poured them both drinks. They clinked their glasses together awkwardly, although Angela didn't know what they were toasting for. The wine felt smooth as it went down her throat.
"Wow, I really needed that," she said, finally feeling the stresses of the last two days beginning to take their toll. "And I really need a shower… did I just say that out loud? Excuse my manners."
"No problem," he laughed. "Bathroom's right in there. I'll order you a robe from room service."
"Thank you," she said gratefully as she shut the door. It had been two days since she'd slept or showered and the hot water felt unbelievable. For the first time, the realization truly dawned on her: Jordan Catalano had come to Chicago to find her. After two years. And he was sitting in the next room. She realized suddenly that she didn't know what to do. She knew what she wanted to do, but the possibility of rejection scared her so badly that she felt frozen. What if he just wanted to be civil for the sakes of their friends, who were getting married that summer?
She took her time, washing her hair, thinking to herself. The more she thought, the more it was clear: she still loved him. She still wanted him. And she was still afraid of hurting them both. Yet part of her was even more afraid of letting him go again, without letting him know exactly how she felt. It was one thing if he no longer felt the same way about her, but it was quite another if he never heard the truth and she let him walk away again.
Taking a deep breath, she turned the water off and stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around herself. She squeezed the water out of her hair and quickly ran her fingers through it so it didn't look like a total mess. She took another deep breath and swung the door open.
He lay sprawled across the bed, examining a sheet of tiny proofs with a loupe. When he heard her come out of the bathroom, he looked up and smiled.
"Hey," he said softly. "Come here, I want to show you something." He beckoned her over, then moved aside so she could sit beside him on the bed. Conscious of the fact that she was wearing nothing but a towel, she poured herself another glass of wine, which she quickly gulped down. She realized how silly she was acting and willed herself to relax as she settled in beside him on the bed. He handed her the sheet of proofs and the loupe so she could take a look.
"Oh my god, you did Shane and Sharon's engagement photos?" she couldn't help but smile in delight.
"Yeah," he smiled sheepishly. "They both know I don't normally do that kind of thing, but I think they turned out alright."
"They're beautiful," Angela sighed. "Look at how happy Sharon looks here, she's glowing. And they look so in love here… on the swings. Did you take those in the city park?"
He nodded, his eyes searching hers.
"They're so lucky," she mused. Unable to face the intensity of his gaze any longer, she dropped her eyes back down to the photos.
"We were that lucky once… we just didn't know it," he said quietly.
"Really? Do you think so?" she turned to look at him and what she saw there threatened to make her cry.
"I know it," he said. "Then I fucked it up."
"I was to blame too," she said. "I pushed you away because I didn't trust you…"
"How could you trust me when I left you high and dry in senior year? And then I was always on the road?"
"It was tough," she admitted, "but knowing what I know now, I would have tried harder."
"I should have never let you go," he said, turning to face her. "Just like you asked me to that night."
She felt a little twinge in her heart, realizing he remembered exactly what she'd said that night, all those years ago.
"I miss you…" she whispered. "From the moment I let you walk out my door, I regretted letting you go."
"You know, for about a year, I kept seeing you everywhere," he said, looking into her eyes with the same intensity that always made shivers go down her spine. "It felt like I was waking up from the same bad dream, day after day. Every morning I would remember what happened, and I would want to see you or touch you so bad, but I couldn't."
"Jordan, I'm sorry…" she whispered.
"But at the same time, it was like, I finally understood… what you must have gone through, when I left that first time, and then every time after that."
She kissed him gently before he could say anything else, it just seemed wrong to do otherwise. He reciprocated eagerly, holding her face between his hands. She felt her senses heightening, each touch like an electric spark. She pulled at the buttons of his shirt, stopping only so she could touch and kiss the skin underneath. He moaned and kissed his way down her neck, between her collarbones, his hands cupping her breasts. She felt the towel fall away, the only barrier between them, as he left a trail of kisses down her body, stopping to tease each nipple and then he slowly made his way between her legs. She was wet already, and she almost cried out as his lips found her sensitive spot. It didn't take long for her to find her release, and she felt herself truly let go in a way she had never been able to before.
"I want you right now," she said, propping herself on her elbows, feeling slightly dizzy from the magnitude of the orgasm he had given her. She watched him remove the rest of his clothes as though she were in a stupor – too slowly, it seemed – and then he stopped. She realized that he was probably looking for a condom, and without any success, it seemed.
"Check my purse," she said, feeling strangely emboldened. "I probably have condoms in there."
He held up an entire strip of condoms, an amused look on his face.
"I'm a social worker," she shrugged.
"The hottest one I've ever seen… And I know from experience." He winked.
Her body was practically begging as he finally eased his way inside of her, thrusting gently at first, testing her readiness, then he began to move more forcefully inside of her. She arched herself towards him and put her arms around his neck, drawing his mouth closer to hers. It wasn't long before she could feel the waves washing over her again and she gave in, aware that he was also nearing his peak. Soon, they were sprawled out and laughing on the bed, both aware of the intensity their bodies had just shared.
"Wow," he gasped. "That was hot."
"I want you again," she said.
"Just give me a sec," he said, but she lunged for him and teased him with her mouth until he was ready again.
Unable to keep their hands off each other, they made love until sleep overcame them both.
When Angela opened her eyes, it was light out and she didn't know where she was. She rolled over and her eyes fell on Jordan Catalano, sleeping beside her, and she gasped out loud. It hadn't been a dream. All the things they had done to each other came rushing back to her immediately and she felt mildly nauseous. Yes, he admitted that he still had feelings for her, as did she, but he had a girlfriend, as far as she knew. She had never intentionally taken something that wasn't hers before. The alcohol and the lack of food and sleep had been a bad mix.
"What have I done?" she whispered, sitting up and swinging her feet over to the side of the bed. She couldn't shake the guilty feelings as she quickly showered and dressed, washing last night off of herself.
"Where are you going, babe?" she heard him ask sleepily as she opened the door.
"Back to the hospital. My mom called," she lied, and that piqued her guilt more.
"Wait for me, I'll go back with you," he offered, rubbing his eyes.
"No, it's fine, I should get going right away. I'll talk to you later," she said, and hastily shut the door. She all but ran to the elevator and down to the lobby, where she hailed a taxi to the hospital. She stopped to pick up coffee and muffins for herself and her parents and made her way up to Danielle's room. To her delight, Danielle was sitting up in bed, feeding herself what looked like porridge, while her parents sat in chairs beside her.
"I'm so sorry Mom and Dad," she was saying, grimacing at her unsteady hands. She had IVs in both hands. "Oh and Angela, I'm sorry too," she said, looking up as her older sister walked into the room.
"Danielle! You're up! Why on earth are you apologizing?" Angela wanted to know, distributing the coffee to her parents, who actually seemed calm in each other's presence.
"I'm sorry for freaking everyone out. I swear that I didn't try to kill myself. I am like the farthest thing from suicidal, seriously." Danielle spooned some of the food into her mouth and made a face. "This is nasty."
"Well tell us what happened, honey," Patti urged, as Angela gave her sister a blueberry muffin.
"Oh thanks Ange, so much better…" Danielle started to break the top of the muffin off. "Well, clearly I never drink, because otherwise I would've known that the antidepressant I'm on doesn't mix well with alcohol. I thought that a couple of glasses of wine wouldn't hurt – I'd just had a big test and we were just unwinding. Before I knew it, I wound up here."
"You're too young to drink," Angela chided her gently, suspecting that her little sister had had more than just a couple of drinks. Danielle rolled her eyes and smiled. "And I really hope they changed your prescription."
"They will," Patti spoke up. "It's been on hold until she starts to feel better."
"You gave us such a scare," Angela's voice shook. "I don't know if I should strangle you or hug you."
"I swear that I wasn't trying to hurt myself! I've had a lot of problems, but I don't want to die. My life is just starting to get good again!" Danielle exclaimed. "Now hug me, please!" She held out her arms and Angela squeezed her tightly, thankful that her sister and her family were here.
"Well, thank God your dad's here in Chicago," Patti said, exchanging a small smile with him.
"Well I wasn't much use," Graham admitted. "Thank your friends for bringing you to the hospital."
"I'm going to be okay, right?" Danielle asked tentatively.
"You're going to be fine, sweetheart," Patti said soothingly. "You just have a bit of aspiration pneumonia, so you're getting antibiotics until it clears up. You'll be back at school in no time."
"Good, 'cause I don't want to fall behind even more and be like twenty-five when I graduate or something." Angela didn't know if it was Brian Krakow's early influence, but Danielle was an aspiring Chemistry major at Northwestern. Angela was glad that she'd been able to talk her into graduating from high school – university so far was mostly looking like a positive experience for her, aside from the setback in freshman year that cost her the semester.
The Chases spent the morning chatting excitedly, and for a while it almost felt like old times, before the divorce. Angela knew it was just that everyone was so relieved that Danielle was going to get better, then they would go back to their busy lives again.
"What the – are you guys back together or something?" Danielle asked, looking towards the doorway.
All eyes turned to the door, where Jordan Catalano leaned as only he could.
"No," Angela said flatly.
"Jordan, hello," Patti greeted him.
"Hi everyone." He looked at them all, but his eyes rested on Angela. "Danielle, I'm glad that you're feeling better. Um, do you mind if I steal Angela for a minute?"
"I'll be right back," Angela said, excusing herself into the hallway with him.
"Oh my god, what is he doing here?" she could hear Danielle asking as she left the room. "Total high school flashback."
"What's up?" she asked when they were in the hallway, crossing her arms.
"You left like a bat out of hell this morning. What's up with that?" he asked.
"Nothing." She averted his eyes.
"I don't believe you."
"I don't feel like talking about it here," she said, turning her head sideways.
"Angela, what the hell? I thought last night meant something to you."
"Will you keep your voice down? My family is like, right there," she snapped, looking at him again.
"I don't get you," he said, frustrated. "I thought we had something... real."
"What about your girlfriend?" Angela blurted out. "Don't you have something real with her?"
"You know, the tall blonde you brought to Sharon and Shane's engagement?"
"That's what this is about?"
"Look, I have never aspired to be a home-wrecker and I wasn't intending to start now-"
"Angela, I don't have a girlfriend," Jordan said firmly. "I told her that things weren't going to work out between us."
"That was like, not even two weeks ago," Angela said disbelievingly.
"As soon as I saw you, I knew it was over between Morgan – that's her name - and me. I had to try with you again. Not that things were serious between us to begin with – Morgan and me, I mean."
"Did you bring her to try and make me jealous?" Angela asked.
Jordan shrugged. "Maybe subconsciously… I was like… destroyed when you and I broke up the last time. I was nervous about running into you again. So I'm sorry that I wasn't more upfront about this whole thing."
"I was totally jealous seeing you with someone else. She's a knockout," Angela admitted.
Jordan reached over and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear: "She's not you."
She crossed to the little hallway table where she had tossed her mail so carelessly just a few days ago and looked through the pile. There it was, the note he had sent but in her haste to get to Chicago, she was only now seeing it for the first time:
I can't stop thinking about you. Will you please call me so we can at least talk?
So this was it... my big labour of love. I wanted to leave it cautiously optimistic. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed bringing it to life. Finishing this fic makes me sad because it feels like the end of something, even though I am still dying to write and I feel there are still so many stories to tell, especially of the years in between and maybe the future. I hope that you were also able to see that the title alludes not only to Angela and Jordan but to the many things that all of the characters had and eventually lost or were permanently altered, including their relationships with each other and different aspects of the world around them - even material objects. I wanted to show that life changes people and takes them to places they never expected, but that there can still be grace and that is all part of the human condition. Thank you for your support!

domain: literature


text:
Ro- Musculoskeletal Pain Lab
Glutamate Receptor/TRP channels
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- JY Ro, JS Lee, and Y Zhang (2009) Activation of TRPV1 and TRPA1 leads to muscle nociception and mechanical hyperalgesia. Pain 144: 270-7.
- YH Chun, D Frank, JS Lee, Y Zhang, Q Auh, JY Ro (2008) Peripheral AMPA receptors contribute to muscle nociception and c-fos activation. Neurosci Res 62: 97-104.
- JS Lee and JY Ro (2007) Differential regulation of excitatory amino acid receptor subunits following masseter inflammation in trigeminal ganglia. Neurosci Lett. 421:91-95.
- JS Lee and JY Ro (2007) Peripheral metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 mediates mechanical hypersensitivity of craniofacial muscle tissue via the PKC dependent mechanisms. Neuroscience 146(1):375-83.
- JY Ro, NF Capra, JS Lee, R Masri, and YH Chun, YH (2007) Mechanisms involved in the hypertonic saline-induced muscle nociception and c-Fos like immunoreactivity in rat brainstem neurons. European Journal of Pain 11: 398-405
- JY Ro and NF Capra (2006) Assessing mechanical sensitivity of masseter muscle in lightly anesthetized rats: A model for craniofacial muscle hyperalgesia. Neurosci Res 56: 119-123.
- JY Ro, M Nies, and Y Zhang (2005) The role of peripehral NMDA receptors in muscle hyperalgesia. NeuroReport 16:485-489.
- JY Ro (2005) Bite Force Measurement in Awake Rats: A Behavioral Model for Persistent Orofacial Muscle Pain and Hyperalgesia. J. Orofacial Pain 19:159-167.
- NF Capra and JY Ro (2004) Human and animal experimental models of acute and chronic muscle pain: intramuscular algesic injection. Pain 110: 3-7.
- M Nies, and JY Ro (2004) Bite force measurements in awake rats. Brain Res. Protocols 12: 180-185.
- JY Ro, NF Capra, and R Masri (2004) Contribution of peripheral N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors to c-fos expression in the trigeminal spinal nucleus following acute masseteric inflammation. Neuroscience 123: 213-219.
- JY Ro (2003) Contribution of central and peripheral NMDA receptors in craniofacial muscle nociception and edema formation Brain Res. 979: 78-84.
- JY Ro, A Harriott, U Crouse, and NF Capra (2003) Innocuous jaw movements increase c-fos expression in trigeminal sensory nuclei produced by masseter muscle inflammation. Pain 104:539-548.
- JY Ro, NF Capra, and R Masri (2003) Development of a behavioral assessment of craniofacial muscle pain in lightly anesthetized rats. Pain 104: 179-185
Sex Differences in Pain and Analgesia
- JL Saloman, K Niu, and JY Ro (2011) Activation of peripheral delta-opioid receptors leads to anti-hyperalgesic responses in the masseter muscle of male and female rats. Neuroscience, 190:379-85
- K Niu, J Saloman, Y Zhang and JY Ro (2011) Sex differences in the contribution of ATP-sensitive K(+) channels in trigeminal ganglia under an acute muscle pain condition. Neuroscience, 180: 344-352.
- K Niu and JY Ro (2011) Cytokine levels during masseter inflammation in male and female rats. Neurosci Lett, 487: 223-227.
- S Nunez, JS Lee, Y Zhang Y, G Bai and JY Ro (2007) Role of peripheral μ-opioid receptors in inflammatory orofacial muscle pain. Neuroscience 146(3):1346-54.
Nitric Oxide and Pain
- YH Chun, JS Lee, Q Auh and JY Ro (2011) Masseter inflammation differentially regulates three nitric oxide synthases in the subnucleus caudalis (Vc) of the trigeminal sensory nuclear complex. Archives of Oral Biology,
- JS Lee, Y Zhang, and JY Ro (2008) Involvement of neuronal, inducible, and endothelia nitric oxide synthases in capsaicin-induced muscle hypersensitivity. European Journal of Pain, 13: 924-8.
- JY Ro, JS Lee, NF Capra and Y Zhang (2007) Role of soluble guanylate cyclase in the trigeminal subnucleus caudalis in capsaicin-induced muscle hypersensitivity Brain Research, 1184: 141-148
Trigeminal and Cortical Sensory Processing
- EP Gardner, JY Ro, KS Babu, S Ghosh (2007) Neurophysiology of prehension. II. Response diversity in primary somatosensory (S-I) and motor (M-I) cortices. Journal of Neurophysiol. 97(2):1656-70.
- EP Gardner, KS Babu, SD Reitzen, S Ghosh, AM Brown, J Chen, AL Hall, M Herzlinger, JB Kohlenstein, and JY Ro (2007) Neurophysiology of prehension: I. Posterior parietal cortex and object-oriented hand behaviors. Journal of Neurophysiol. 97(1):387-406.
- R Masri, NF Capra, JY Ro and D Dessem (2006) Classification of muscle spindle afferents innervating the masseter muscle in rats. Archives of Oral Biology 51: 740-747.
- R Masri, JY Ro, and NF Capra (2005) The effects of experimental muscle pain on amplitude and velocity sensitivity of jaw closing muscle spindle afferents. Brain Res 1050: 138-47.
- JY Ro, Y Zhang, and M Nies (2005) Substance P does not play a critical role in neurogenic inflammation in the rat masseter muscle. Brain Res 1047: 38-44
- JY Ro, P Svensson, and NF Capra (2002). Effects of experimental muscle pain on electromyographic activity of masticatory muscles in anesthetized rats. Muscle & Nerve 25: 576-584.
- EP Gardner, DY Debowy, JY Ro, S Ghosh, KS Babu (2002) Sensory monitoring of prehension in the parietal lobe: a study using digital video. Behav. Brain Res. 135:213-224.
- JY Ro and NF Capra (2001) Modulation of jaw muscle spindle activity following intramuscular injections with hypertonic saline. Pain 92:117-127.
- DY Debowy, JY Ro, S Gosh, and EP Gardner (2001) Comparison of neuronal firing rates in somatosensory and posterior parietal cortex during prehension. Exp. Brain Res. 137:269-291.
- JY Ro, DY Debowy, S Ghosh, and EP Gardner (2000) Depression of neuronal firing rates in somatosensory and posterior parietal cortex during prehension. Exp. Brain Res. 135:1-11
- NF Capra, and JY Ro (2000) Experimental muscle pain produces central modulation of proprioceptive signals arising from jaw muscle spindles. Pain 86: 151-162.
- JY Ro and NF Capra (1999) Physiological evidence for caudal projections on jaw muscle spindle afferents. Exp. Brain Res. 128: 425-434.
- JY Ro and NF Capra (1999) Evidence for subnucleus interpolaris in craniofacial muscle pain mechanisms demonstrated by intramuscular injections with saline. Brain Res. 842:166-183.
- EP Gardner, JY Ro, DY Debowy, and S Ghosh (1999) Facilitation of neuronal activity in sensorimotor cortex during prehension. Exp. Brain Res. 127:329-354.
- JY Ro, DY Debowy, S Lu, S Ghosh, and EP Gardner (1998). Digital video: A tool for correlating neuronal firing patterns with hand motor behavior. J Neurosci Meth 82: 215-231.
- JY Ro and NF Capra (1995). Encoding of jaw movements by central trigeminal neurons with cutaneous receptive fields. Exp. Brain Res. 104: 363-375.
- JY Ro and NF Capra (1994). Receptive field properties of trigeminothalamic neurons in the rostral trigeminal sensory nuclei of cats. Somatosen. and Mot. Res. 12: 119-130.
- NF Capra, JY Ro, and TD Wax (1994). Physiological identification of movement-related neurons in the spinal trigeminal nucleus of cats. Somatosen. and Mot. Res. 11: 77-88.

domain: medical


Americans love violent TV, right?
Well, according to conclusions drawn by Joseph Weaver and Barbara Wilson of Indiana University from a study of 400 college students, it's not the violence, but the action that pulls us in.
They edited episodes of such high-adrenaline shows as "24," "Oz" and "The Shield" so that one version kept the graphic content, another kept the action but toned done the blood and guts, and a third trimmed the violence down.
Surprise: The viewers of the less-violent versions liked the shows more than those that were more graphic. More info on the study here.
Does this surprise you at all? Is television too violent not just for kids, but for adult enjoyment? Have you ever gotten to a point where you shut off a program because violence took it beyond your entertainment comfort level?


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With this month’s issue, The New Criterion commences its tenth year of publication. It seems an appropriate moment in which to cast a glance over a decade that has witnessed historic changes of the greatest magnitude in culture and politics both at home and abroad, and this—in part, and with a focus on culture—is what we have set out to do in this Special Anniversary Issue.
In articles on a diverse range of subjects, from the fate that has overtaken the writing of history, the vicissitudes of literary life in America, the culture of classical music, and the conception of the art museum as a cultural institution, to the way certain figures from the past—among them, Nietzsche, Rimbaud, and T. E. Lawrence—continue to exert a significant influence on the present, we have made this an occasion to re-examine some of the major intellectual and cultural developments of this tumultuous period. In addition to these more or less topical articles, we are also including the usual number of essays, reviews, and poems that stand apart from the disfiguring conflicts that now beset our cultural and political life. This is the largest single issue of The New Criterion we have published, and we offer it to our readers as both a summary of what we have come to stand for in this embattled decade and as an earnest of our future endeavors.
In many respects, especially in political developments that have lately taken place abroad, this has been a thrilling decade. In the period that began with the election of Ronald Reagan and culminated in the Gulf War and its aftermath eleven years later, we have witnessed the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, the destruction of Communism’s political and moral legitimacy in Western Europe for politicians and intellectuals as well as for the public, and its agonizing death throes in the Soviet Union itself. We have also seen the United States re-emerge as the beacon of freedom and hope for all of the oppressed people of the world. This fateful turn of history, which is as much an event in the moral life of civilization as it is a political victory against the power of totalitarian tyranny, occurred a lot sooner than most of us had any reason to expect. Yet it was not a quick or easy or painless victory for those on both sides of the Iron Curtain who had worked so long and so hard and sacrificed so much, which for many meant their lives, for such an outcome, while little dreaming that it would finally be achieved before the end of the century that had been dominated by the atrocious enemies of freedom.
In our euphoria over the death of Communism, moreover, it should also be remembered that this was what the difficult and divisive years of Cold War struggle had always been about.
In our euphoria over the death of Communism, moreover, it should also be remembered that this was what the difficult and divisive years of Cold War struggle had always been about. This was what the much maligned champions of the anti-Communist crusade in the Western democracies had always sought to obtain with their pleas for adequate defense budgets, their uphill battles for an informed and intelligent foreign policy, and their steadfast resistance to the many ways in which our Communist adversaries had manipulated the intellectual and cultural life of the West to serve their own interests. For the Cold War was always as much a war of ideas as it was a contest for military superiority, and it was a war of ideas in which many talented people in the West—people of intellectual influence and great cultural renown—fought on the side of the political enemy. That, too, should not be forgotten in the wake of this costly and hard-won victory.
It will always be a mark of moral and intellectual dishonor for the West that in this historic and protracted encounter with the adversaries of freedom and democracy so many of our most gifted writers, artists, scientists, and intellectuals were more energetically engaged in opposing our own political institutions and the ideas essential to their survival than in questioning either the lethal political doctrines that were designed to destroy them or the elaborate edifice of cultural mendacity that was spawned by the Communist movement for the express purpose of bringing down the democratic societies of the West.
Indeed, it must never be forgotten that in the epic struggle between freedom and tyranny in the twentieth century, a large part of the intelligentsia in the West supported the interests of tyranny against the beleaguered defenders of democracy. Already some of the figures who loomed so large in the Cold War period—Jean-Paul Sartre, Bertolt Brecht, Graham Greene, and Bertrand Russell, among others, not to mention their less gifted but no less “committed” American counterparts—have begun to look permanently compromised and discredited because of the vocal and programmatic support they gave to some of the most despicable political regimes of our time, or indeed of any time. Future generations will—if we are lucky, anyway—marvel that it was not the Western defenders of Communist tyranny who suffered so conspicuously from censure and opprobrium in the Cold War period but those who took up the anti-Communist cause.
What keeps the memory of this vast moral forfeiture so painfully alive even today, in the face of Communism’s historic debacle, is the dark legacy which this record of intellectual loyalty to anti-democratic ideologies has left us to grapple with in the last decade of this century.
How this political legacy will be negotiated in the Soviet Union, and whether it can be sufficiently neutralized for democratic institutions to take root in a society and in a culture that has little experience of them, remains a question not likely to be given a definitive answer for some years to come. All that we may be certain of is that the fall of Communism does not lead automatically to the triumph of democracy.
It is not only in societies newly emerging from the long night of totalitarian rule, however, that the legacy of intellectual loyalty to anti-democratic ideologies poses an immense threat to free institutions. The democratic societies of the West have proved in recent years to be acutely vulnerable to the insidious influence of this legacy, which in the United States has lately asserted its influence in the form of a virulent cultural revolution.
It is indeed one of the ghastly historical ironies of this last decade of the twentieth century that at the very moment when a counter-revolution of enormous force and consequence has been sweeping through Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the name of freedom and democracy, an anti-democratic cultural revolution of immense destructive effect has acquired in the United States so great a momentum and so large a measure of intellectual respectability that it has already taken possession of huge and crucial areas of our social, cultural, and intellectual life, and is now well on its way to transforming the institutions of political life as well.
This is a cultural revolution that is now being fiercely waged in the classrooms of our schools and universities, in our arts institutions and in our mass media, in our private foundations and in all those agencies of government that directly impinge on social policy and cultural programming. It is a cultural revolution that has already resulted in an abridgment of free speech and the corruption of public debate, and as we recently saw in Senator Kennedy’s ruthless and successful campaign to oppose the nomination of Professor Carol Iannone to a place on the National Council on the Humanities, its consequences are now making themselves felt in the highest levels of the Federal government.
In the course of the last decade this cultural revolution has acquired new labels and new agendas, of which the movement that goes by the name of “multiculturalism” is no doubt the most capacious and the most lethal, but the essential lineaments of this revolutionary impulse have been apparent for some years now, and so have been its disastrous effects on education, on the arts and humanities, and on the entire tenor of moral debate and political argument in our society. It is a cultural revolution that has succeeded in making race, gender, and class the touchstones governing every question that concerns the life and thought of the nation, which means that it has succeeded in undermining the very principles upon which our nation was founded.
It was in large part to address and to oppose the terrible consequences of this cultural revolution that The New Criterion was launched in 1982. It was our purpose from the outset to sound an alarm about the direction in which this revolution was heading while at the same time providing within the means available to us a critical forum where the life of high culture could be pursued without fear of the kind of political intimidation and intellectual coercion that were already well established, even then, in so many institutions of our cultural life. It was inevitable that we would be accused of exaggerating the threat that this cultural revolution had already made manifest, yet in retrospect it now seems to us that we woefully understated both the size of the threat and the scale of the destruction that had already occurred. In an editorial statement for our inaugural issue, we wrote as follows:
A very large part of the reason for this sad state of affairs is, frankly, political. We are still living in the aftermath of the insidious assault on mind that was one of the most repulsive features of the radical movement of the Sixties. The cultural consequences of this leftward turn in our political life have been far graver than is commonly supposed. In everything from the writing of textbooks to the reviewing of trade books, from the introduction of kitsch into the museums to the decline of literacy in the schools to the corruption of scholarly research, the effect on the life of culture has been ongoing and catastrophic. Yet the subject is one that has scarcely been studied. It would probably take the combined talents of a Gibbon and a Tocqueville to tell the whole shabby story on the requisite scale, but one does not have to be a genius to recognize some of the more egregious results of this flight from intelligence and intellectual scruple. The cultural landscape is littered with its casualties and debris.
Yet if we compare these observations with the recent reflections of Paul Oskar Kristeller, one of our greatest living scholars in the humanities, we are in a position to measure the still greater losses our cultural and intellectual life has suffered in the course of a decade. In a lecture called “A Life of Learning” that was sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies and published in the Summer 1991 issue of The American Scholar, Professor Kristeller spoke as follows about our current situation:
We have witnessed what amounts to a cultural revolution, comparable to the one in China if not worse, and whereas the Chinese have to some extent overcome their cultural revolution, I see many signs that ours is getting worse all the time, and no indication that it will be overcome in the foreseeable future. One sign of our situation is the low level of our public and even of our academic discussions. The frequent disregard for facts or evidence, of rational discourse and arguments, and even of consistency, is appalling, and name-calling is often used as a substitute for a reasonable discussion. Every interest group demands immediate action in favor of its own goals and easily resorts to noisy demonstrations or even to violence. What we need is a careful examination of all pertinent facts and arguments, followed by a rational decision that may be a fair compromise between the groups and interests involved. Instead of recognizing that along with many problems that we cannot solve (at least at the present) there is a solid core of knowledge to which we should hold on and which should set a limit to our arbitrary thoughts and actions, we encounter a pervasive kind of skepticism or relativism that claims that any opinion is as good or justified as any other. Every statement made before the last five years or before the latest fad is considered hopelessly antiquated, and “traditional scholarship” has become a term of opprobrium.
I do not know what the future will bring, and my expectations are rather grim, not only for our education and scholarship, but also for our economic, legal, and political future.
Professor Kristeller’s reflections are all the more poignant and resonant when we recall that he is one of the most illustrious members of the generation of German scholars who came to this country to escape the consequences of an earlier cultural revolution—Hitler’s.
It is also worth pointing out, as still another measure of our current situation, that the very organization which sponsored Professor Kristeller’s lecture—the American Council of Learned Societies—had already joined in the attack on what he calls “traditional scholarship” by the time he came to give his lecture. The pamphlet published by the American Council in 1989 under the title Speaking for the Humanities is itself a doctrinaire defense of the intellectual practices so eloquently decried in this account of “A Life of Learning.”
In the political upheavals of the Sixties, we were promised by the leaders of the radical intellectual Left a “long march through the institutions” that would revolutionize our culture and our society. With its unmistakably Maoist associations, this promise—or threat—of a “long march” that would sweep away the foundations of Western democratic society sounded at the time almost too extreme and too chilling to be taken entirely seriously, yet the radical Left has succeeded in mounting the cultural revolution it promised us, and its doctrines have now, a quarter of a century later, become institutionalized in the academy, in the arts, and in many other vital centers of our national life. As the counter-revolution proceeds abroad, the cultural revolution at home leaves us an intellectually crippled society, and it remains to be seen whether this ghastly historical irony will prove to be a permanent historical tragedy.
This article originally appeared in The New Criterion, Volume 10 Number 1, on page 1
Copyright © 2023 The New Criterion | www.newcriterion.com

domain: library


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Take a look at this little 4"x4" mixed media on canvas piece! It's for a Visual Encylopedia. Each artist was given a word to represent. Can you guess what my word is?
Details about this project coming soon!
My well-traveled Mardi Gras mask is on the Mask Festival wall at the third annual Dulcepalloza show at the Neutra! See the work in this large group show that's up through the 15th of September. Show is curated by Dulce Stein.

domain: entertainment


Ala. lawmakers tighten rules for abortion clinics
The state House voted 68-21 late Tuesday to give final passage to the Women's Health and Safety Act.
Join the discussion below, or Read more at Athens Banner-Herald.
#1 Apr 4, 2013
More fundietard asshattery!
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Sony WH-1000XM4 noise cancelling headphones launched at $350, to arrive in India in September 2020
The much-awaited noise cancelling headphones from Sony – Sony WH-1000XM4 – were launched late evening on Thursday. Priced at $350 (about Rs 26,200), the Sony WH-1000XM4 is the flagship headset in Sony's wireless headphone range, and the successor to the popular Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones.
The much-awaited noise cancelling headphones from Sony – Sony WH-1000XM4 – were launched late evening on Thursday. Priced at $350 (about Rs 26,200), the Sony WH-1000XM4 is the flagship headset in Sony's wireless headphone range, and the successor to the popular Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones. The new Sony headphones go on sale in global markets in August 2020 and are up for pre-order now.
Sony has been bringing its products to India quite late as compared to global markets. But, it plans to change that with the Sony WH-1000XM4, scheduled to launch in India in September 2020. The headset competes against Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, Shure Aonic 50, and Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless headphones.
Sony WH-1000XM4 price
The Sony WH-1000XM4 are priced at $350. However, the company has been pricing its products quite aggressively in India. So, it will be interesting to see what the eventual India pricing is. As mentioned, the product will be launched in the country in September 2020.
Sony WH-1000XM4 specifications and features
The Sony WH-1000XM4 features a similar design to its predecessor, and are powered by the same QN1 noise cancelling processor. The headphones have support for gesture controls on the outer part and have features such as adaptive sound controls, wear detection, and a claimed battery life of over 30 hours per charge with active noise cancellation on.
The Sony WH-1000XM4 can be controlled and customised through the Sony Headphones Connect app, available for Android and iOS. The app allows users to customise the noise cancellation, set up adaptive sound controls, and adjust other settings such as the equaliser and sound modes.
The headphones also support Sony's own 360 Reality Audio format for spatial sound. The headphones come with 40mm hybrid drivers and support Sony's LDAC codec but no aptX support.
Get Latest Business News, Stock Market Updates and Videos; Check your tax outgo through Income Tax Calculator and save money through our Personal Finance coverage. Check Business Breaking News Live on Zee Business Twitter and Facebook. Subscribe on YouTube.


The television industry’s most loved and controversial show Bigg Boss is set for its 16 seasons, which will air in October this year. According to rumors, the Bigg Boss 16 confirmed competitors include TV stars Shivin Narang, Vivian Dsena, TikTok sensation Faisal Shaikh, Lock Up winner Munawar Faruqui, and Lock Up winner Munawar Faruqui. Vishal Pandey, an actor and internet sensation who is well-known for his viral videos, is another name to add to this list.
According to recent rumors, Vishal will appear on the Salman Khan-hosted program. According to a source familiar with the situation, Vishal may sign up for the competition and would “soon be shown on television entering the Bigg Boss 16 house,” according to the source. However, neither the performer nor the producers have formally confirmed this as of yet.
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For the uninitiated, Vishal Pandey is well-known for his popular videos and for costarring in Bollywood films with Aamir Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Jacqueline Fernandez, and other top actors. The content creator is most known for his band Teen Tigada and has more than 10 million Instagram followers. He has produced many successful songs, including Khwahish, Rabba Mujhe Ishq, and Sunne Sunne.
The show is also considering other well-known actors like Poonam Pandey, Jannat Zubair, Kanika Mann, Saisha Shinde, Prachi Desai, and Deepika Singh. Salman Khan would reportedly demand a staggering Rs. 1000 crore to host the performance this year. Tejasswi Prakash, who played Tejas in Naagin 6, won Bigg Boss 15 in the meantime.
For more such exciting and fresh updates on Television, OTT, Bollywood, and Hollywood, stay tuned to Cine Talkers. Also follow us on our social media pages including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.


text:
These delectable chocolate covered Oreo cookie cakes make the perfect party favors! Start by choosing either a brown milk chocolate
base or a white chocolate base in a variety of colors. Customize each cute little cake by selecting colors ...
This simple and elegant little flower basket is covered in ivory cloth and makes a stunning symbolic addition to your
ceremony. The petal basket features a satin knot to represent your love and commitment to one another. Use it ...
These delicious wintery Oreo cookies can transform your holiday party into a truly special event. Dipped in white chocolate and
fashioned into the shape of a variety of designs, these custom creations are the perfect addition to a holiday ...
We believe in celebrating life - every occasion, every milestone, every laugh, smile and tear. We know that sharing these moments makes them extra special, and we want to be there to help you celebrate life, one event at a time.


text:
Grief, by Oscar Gustave Rejlander, 1864
One of the problems some teens face is the death of parents, which deeply affects the survivors' moods, attitudes and general outlook on life. The reason I know is that my mother recently died of lung disease.
Being a teen or a young child, it is hard to see your parent suffer through so much pain and misery. It is very hard to adjust to new way of living without a parent, not knowing what to do.
People tell you to stay strong, but itís hard to when so many things are going through your mind. Death is a natural thing of life, but when a loved one dies it's like a nightmare that you havenít awakened from yet.
When my mother died in April of 2005, it affected me tremendously and I felt like I had nothing left in my life. When I went to school I couldnít concentrate and my grades were really low. People kept telling me sheís in better place now, but there wasnít much I could say at that time.
Many deaths have happened during my life so far. Aafter my mother died, my cousin died 2 months later and soon my other cousin and two aunties followed. Now the woman that took care of me after my mother died is very sick with leukemia.
If you are suffering with these kinds of things in your life it is always good to be very expressive in how you feel, you can write poetry, play sports, dance or talk to some body about how you feel.
Keeping emotions bottled up inside just affects you more and more. It's always good to cry; it frees the soul, so donít be ashamed to cry because that just expresses yourself more. You can always talk to your departed loved onse as if they are still there in your presence and tell them that you miss them and you wish they were with you.
It is very hard to live without a parent or even a loved one that has left. If you know anyone who is going through this, let them know that they will be okay. Help them through this hard time in their life and let them know that you are there for them.
If you have a loved one who is about to pass, do what you can now and tell them how much you love them and how much you appreciate what they have done for you. Express your feelings to them and help them in anyway possible that you can so you donít regret the time you didnít spend with them when they're gone.


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Liar’s Poker is one of those books one of your friends strongly urges you to read. A short little book, the recommendation I got from Bill Howe, my Canadian Intel colleague in Europe, was that it was a hilarious read. And so it was. It reads like Animal House. Michael Lewis also recently wrote The Big Short, his analysis of the 2008 financial meltdown. Liar’s Poker has been described as a comedy, and The Big Short as a tragedy, which seems very apt to me if you have heard Michael discuss both books. Many may know Michael best for his recent success with Moneyball.
Four senior executives from the Belfast office of international accountancy firm KPMG have been arrested on tax evasion charges. KPMG acknowledged in a press release that four of its top executives in Northern Ireland were arrested Wednesday.
Canada is routinely cited as a boring backwater in financial services that has none of the scandals plaguing the rest of the industry. But in an extraordinary investigative report on The National, CBC’s Ian Hanomansing revealed an ongoing Canada Revenue Agency investigation, and a looming criminal investigation into KPMG Canada’s Isle of Man tax “haven” scheme reserved for its wealthiest clients. The report names names. Current Canadian government ministers are also implicated in apparent conflicts of interest.
For most people, pleading guilty to a felony means they will very likely land in prison, lose their job and forfeit their right to vote.
But when five of the world’s biggest banks plead guilty to an array of antitrust and fraud charges as soon as next week, life will go on, probably without much of a hiccup.
The Justice Department is preparing to announce that Barclays, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and the Royal Bank of Scotland will collectively pay several billion dollars and plead guilty to criminal antitrust violations for rigging the price of foreign currencies, according to people briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Most if not all of the pleas are expected to come from the banks’ holding companies, the people said — a first for Wall Street giants that until now have had only subsidiaries or their biggest banking units plead guilty.

domain: law


text:
- Paul Smith Dawson Optical Round Glasses
Paul Smith Dawson Optical Round Glasses
The Dawson, is a contemporary, easy-wearing metal pantos with a unisex fit. Featuring new enameled Artist Stripe branding and enamel colour detailing on internal temples. Patterned rim wire and ‘P’ nosepads give added touches. New flat temples give a slimline look for the wearer, whilst giving extra detail from above.
Matte Gold, Dark Brown and Silver and Shiny Copper give a masculine colour palette.
- Handmade in Italy
- Custom metal core featuring etched Paul Smith stripe
- Signature temple tip shape taken from the Paul Smith 'P'
- Signature inlaid gold 'P' logo detail on each temple tip
- Paul Smith logo detail on internal temple
|Arm Length (mm)||140|
|Bridge Width (mm)||18|