text:
A Q. and A. with a fellow Bloodhound author
Following on from yesterday’s post, Sarah Stephens is a fellow Bloodhound author whom I have also not met in person. I am hoping to review her book on the blog later this month.
What is the title of your novel? Briefly, what is it about?
My latest thriller is The Good Life. It focuses on Kate and Calvin, a married couple traveling to a luxury resort in Costa Rica to rekindle their marriage. After an evening of partying with another couple at the resort ends in tragedy, Kate must unravel a mystery that threatens to reveal secrets she’s been hiding for years—from her husband, her family, and herself.
I also have four other thrillers: Isolation, The Anniversary, It Was Always You, and A Flash of Red.
Why did you decide to write in the crime genre?
I’m a developmental psychologist and my teaching at Penn State University focuses a great deal on healthy development for children and families. In my writing, I like to explore the darker side of the human experience, since my other work examines the more joyful pieces of life.
And what inspired you to start writing this book?
We were deep into lockdown here in the States, and I wanted to transport myself to somewhere bright, full of luxury, and warmer climes. My husband and I honeymooned in Costa Rica many years ago (and I should mention that our trip was much less eventful than Kate and Calvin’s!), and the story for The Good Life evolved from imaginings I had of specific places we visited during our travels.
What do you find most challenging about writing fiction? And what do you find most rewarding?
The biggest challenge is the blank page and getting over your inner critic. Once I get started, I find the process deeply enjoyable. Living with characters you create and transporting yourself to a different place and set of experiences is a fun reprieve from life’s normal challenges.
Are you working on another novel now? If so (without giving too much away) can you say what it is about?
I am! It’s another thriller. It focuses on a young professor who crashes weddings to pick up one-night stands. One of her lovers ends up dead, and intrigue and danger ensue as she works to prove her innocence.
What do you like to read yourself? Are there other crime fiction writers you admire? Aside from crime writers, who are your favourite authors?
My beloved P D James is forever a touchstone for me. I love everything she’s written, and go back to her novels often. I enjoy almost any psychological thriller, especially those by Gilly Macmillan, Fiona Barton, and Ruth Ware. Recently, I finished The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris and highly recommend it.
Three great librarians and what makes them tick
This month I shall be lucky enough to give talks at four Lincolnshire libraries: Horncastle, Mablethorpe, Long Sutton and Sleaford. The first two are on Thursday. In the first instance they were arranged by Lynne Kershaw, who has welcomed me to Gainsborough Library several times. When I was last there I asked Lynne and her colleagues to describe what it means to be a librarian.
On 24th May, it was my privilege to be invited to give a talk on crime fiction at Gainsborough Library in North Lincolnshire. I had visited the library before and was looking forward to the warm welcome that the librarians, Lynne, Fabi and Jill, always provide.
Between them they have devoted fifty-one years to the library (Lynne has worked there for twenty-six years, Fabi for nineteen and Jill, seven). I asked them what inspires them. What makes them so committed to their jobs?
They said they love reading and books, being with people and helping those who use the library. They are much more than advisers about and dispensers of books: their patrons confide in them and often need their support to help sort out problems.
“There’s a lady who’s been using the library for a long time who told us she had been bereaved. She was very lonely and needed to get more activities into her life. We put her in touch with people who could help her. Now the only free day she has is Tuesday.”
These librarians are particularly devoted to helping children. “We want to inspire people to read. It’s a real joy when children want to come in and choose books to read. There are still many families who have no books at home.”
The library has set up a writing group of a special kind. Led by a journalist, it aims to provide therapy for people who are depressed or suffering from a disability. And many people who visit the library regularly come to use the computers. Being able to access computers has become a crucial element of all library services since applications for government benefits switched to online. Often people who are entitled to benefits don’t have computers of their own and, quite frequently as a result, they don’t know how to use them. The librarians have had some training in assisting with this, but the technology is always changing and it’s sometimes hard to keep up with it. A ‘computer buddy’ therefore offers sessions in the library on Mondays and Tuesdays. The library is made available to other groups and societies who want to use it, too.
Lynne, who is the library manager, said that her mum used to bring her to Gainsborough Library when she was very small – she thinks from the age of seven. Recalling what the library was like then, she remembers that all the books were catalogued in card index files and there was always an old bloke smoking a pipe who had come in to read the newspapers. (The library has kept its collection of old newspapers.) After she left school, she worked in a bank; then, when she had her first child, she looked for a job in the library and has been working there ever since.
They organise as many events as they can cope with. ‘My’ event was obviously about crime fiction. Many events are intended to keep children reading: they were preparing for a sequence of Platinum Jubilee events when I was there. They will also launch a Summer Reading Challenge, which will last for six weeks. A separate event is planned for each week and children are encouraged to read six books in the period. Each time they read two books, they receive a prize, and a certificate when the challenge finishes.
Despite all this activity – and very hard work – the librarians say that it is sometimes difficult to explain how librarians and libraries add value. They are continually having to justify their existence to the government and others who scrutinise the (relatively modest) costs of running a public library service. “It’s hard to define qualitative work.”
As an author, I can say librarians have certainly added shed loads of value for me – and, I’m sure, for other authors, too. It’s not just the joy of being welcomed to a place where my novels are really appreciated or the buzz of being invited to talk about writing – though both are of course important – it’s achieving the holy grail of being able to interact with readers in the flesh, of having the chance to ask them what they like to read, who their favourite authors are and what they think of individual books. In my experience, readers pull no punches – but they are also amazingly generous. The amount of time they are prepared to spend on reading my books and afterwards thinking and talking about them is truly humbling. It may sound trite to say it, but readers are the lifeblood of writing; and authors would attract far fewer readers if librarians did not devote every day to promoting their books.
The influencer: Linda Hill, founder of Linda’s Book Bag
Linda Hill founded Linda’s Book Bag in February 2015 and has never looked back, rapidly becoming one of the most influential blog-based reviewers in the country.
As to how she built up her huge following, she says:
“I went on to Twitter and followed all the authors I knew, then searched for publicists and publishers. I put out a few reviews and quite soon I was asked to do a blog tour. It just grew from there – people started sending me books and requesting review space on the blog. It snowballed after the lockdowns. During the first one, I was receiving 200 emails a day. It’s even escalated since then – I’ve just been out to meet someone for coffee and when I got back there were seventy-four new messages waiting for me.”
Linda always refuses payment for anything connected with Linda’s Book Bag (she is a guest reviewer for My Weekly and does accept payment for that). She says she doesn’t want to be paid because her aim is not to act as an advertiser: it would compromise her own morality and she would find it distasteful. She does not, however, give bad reviews. “I can’t read everything I’m sent – nine books arrived this week. It’s wonderful to get a book through the post, but that doesn’t mean I’ve promised to praise it. If I read – or start to read – a book I don’t like, I contact the person who sent it to me and say it’s not for me.”
Once she has met or reviewed an author, Linda often keeps in touch with them. “Lots have become friends – I’ve been to their homes and they’ve been to mine. One of the things I most like about the book community – I mean the genuine book community, people who really love books and writing – is how mutually supportive it is.”
She has only had a couple of negative experiences over the past seven years. One author sent her a book to arrange a book tour and she discovered the book had been ‘completely stolen’ from another author. The author ‘disappeared completely’. And sometimes people who contact her are ‘not as polite as they could be’ – they may take it as a given that she will want to read and review their books.
As well as running her blog, Linda is one of the organisers of the Deepings Literary Festival, now in its third year. The original plan was for it to take place every two years, but the 2020 and 2021 events had to be cancelled owing to COVID restrictions. The festival took place this year, so the next one will be in 2024.
“In the first year I was asked to interview Alison Brice. Planning interviews takes much longer than people realise. I spend several hours researching and writing the questions. I write out the whole script – just so I can get it straight in my head, and, for the last festival, in case I went down with COVID, so someone else could take over.”
Asked if she writes herself, Linda says that she has published more than twenty tutor resource books for Hodder Education. She started her working career as an English teacher and then became an Ofsted inspector. She also set up her own business running independent projects – for example, an event in the Millennium Dome. She was in demand straight away. “The first year I went independent, I had ten free days, including weekends.” She has been encouraged to write by others and once entered a competition run by Simon and Schuster that involved writing the first few chapters of a novel. “They said they’d like to see the rest, which didn’t exist, so I wrote 55,000 words in the space of two weeks! Unsurprisingly, their verdict was that it had promise, but it wasn’t for them.” However, although she has a ‘story in her head’, Linda says she has no burning desire to write. She wants to do other things, including the Book Bag and travel. She and her husband Steve are prodigious travellers and have been from “Antarctica to Zambia, Australia to Zimbabwe.”
Linda grew up in Wood Newton, which at the time boasted a pub and a shop and a solitary telephone box. She was a late reader, not learning to read properly until she was eight, when she first acquired a pair of spectacles and realised that “all those black marks on the pages mean something.” Thomas Hardy is her favourite writer from the classics. Among her modern favourites are Carol Lovekin, Chris Whitaker and, for crime, M W Craven, to whom goes the distinction of being the only writer whose entire series of books she has read. She says her tastes in writing are eclectic – she reads most types of fiction, except SF, Fantasy and Horror.
Asked what advice she would give to new authors, Linda says:
“When you’re contacting reviewers or other people on social media, don’t just launch in with ‘Here’s my book; buy it!’ Build up a following by following authors of books similar to your own. Support other authors. Organise a blog tour – it’s like undertaking a physical tour of bookshops. Take part in social media regularly – not necessarily by writing a lot, but by constantly reminding people you are there. Join Facebook groups – the Crime Book Club, Book Connections. Interact with people. Create relationships and build them up. Be brave: approach local libraries and radio stations. Be prepared to put yourself out there – I know this is hard for some authors.”
The author’s journey: Fraser Massey, established journalist and aspiring crime writer
Fraser Massey has recently completed Whitechapel Messiah, a crime thriller yet to find a publisher. Written in the first person, it’s about an ambitious news reporter who needs to learn that there are grim consequences for not telling the whole truth when writing headline-grabbing front page stories. The protagonist’s misrepresentation of what happened in a street battle between police and protestors in Whitechapel, where a woman died while being arrested, provokes further riots across the country causing widescale destruction and more deaths. To try to put things right, he investigates the reasons for the woman’s death and finds himself infiltrating a sinister religious cult who believe they’ve found the new Messiah.
Fraser is a journalist by profession. He studied Communications at the University of Sunderland and has worked for several regional and national newspapers, including stints as a feature writer for The Times and as a showbiz reporter on the Daily Mirror, as well as writing a weekly column for three years on the Radio Times. He loves books and says his flat is groaning at the seams. His favourite bookshop is Goldsboro Books in London’s Covent Garden.
Because he wanted to try to write fiction, Fraser enrolled in a course run by the Guardian with the strap line ‘Learn to write a crime novel in a weekend’. He says that, unsurprisingly, he didn’t achieve this improbable feat, but the course gave him a taste for learning more, so he studied on the MA in Creative Writing course offered by City University in London. To gain the award he had to write a whole novel. This was his first attempt at completing a full-length work of fiction and it was proficient enough not only to qualify for the MA but also to attract the attention of several agents.
But none followed up on their initial interest. A slush-pile reader for one agency later explained to him that his choice of genre for that book – it was a western – probably counted against him. “Westerns are so notoriously difficult to sell in Britain that most bookshops don’t even have a shelf displaying them,” he was told.
To avoid making the same mistake twice, he enrolled on a short course run by Curtis Brown, the well-known literary agency, hoping to learn how to write a more commercially appealing novel. It was while there he began writing Whitechapel Messiah.
While the book was still in its early stages, an early draft of it was shortlisted for the Capital Crime Festival New Voices award, although on the night the prizes were handed out it was pipped at the post.
Encouraged by this near success, Fraser decided that entering competitions were the way forward if he wanted to get noticed as a writer (which is how I came into contact with him – I have run several Nanowrimo competitions on behalf of publishers).
Challenged on the value of creative writing courses – opinion on these seems to be polarised, with some people thinking they are indispensable and others disliking them – Fraser says they have been useful to him. They have taught him how to read books as a writer, to learn from other authors. At present, he is reading the works of female writers, to study how they describe women – and men, too. Reading other novelists – he reads at least one book a week – has also helped him to write dialogue. For the City course, he was given a book to study and a number to call to interview the author – and he got Lee Child! He says Child was very helpful – although he did tell him to abandon the creative writing course and “learn how to do it yourself” (much to the annoyance of the tutor!).
As I am familiar with Fraser’s writing, I offered the criticism that sometimes the prose is surprisingly inaccurate for someone who has earned their living from writing. He agreed and said that one of the hazards of journalism is that the journalist gets the story down as quickly as possible and then passes it to a sub-editor for polishing. He has therefore developed a few bad habits that he is now trying to eradicate.
Fraser has many tips to offer other would-be crime writers. Here are his top 5:
- Join a writers’ group. It’s good to have people around you to offer advice when you run into problems; and anyway writing is otherwise too solitary an occupation.
- Focus on structure. If your plot doesn’t run smoothly, you run the risk of readers’ getting bored and giving up on your book. As Mickey Spillane said, “Nobody reads a book to get to the middle.”
- Find regular time in your day to devote to writing. This includes time to revise what you’ve written today and to think about what you’re going to write tomorrow.
- The crime novelist Claire McGowan taught me: “Premise (the fundamental idea behind your plot and its unique selling point) is the most important thing in publishing today.” I won’t even start writing another book until I’ve worked out a cracking premise first.
- Writing a good synopsis is one of the most daunting tasks. Next time, I’m going to map out the synopsis before I sit down to write a word of chapter one.
This is all great advice. Each one of these tips involves exercising good discipline as a writer. It’s easy to jump too soon into the actual writing: as Fraser says, “Writing is the bit I enjoy most, so I don’t want to be distracted by having to worry whether my plot works when I’m immersing myself in the narrative voice.”
If you are a publisher and interested in taking a look at Fraser’s novel, please contact me at firstname.lastname@example.org .
Tomorrow the post will be by rights expert Lynette Owen, on how authors should approach copyright.
Richard Reynolds: the pure genius
As John Aubrey, the seventeenth century polymath, bibliophile – and bookseller – observed, “to read a book is demanding, for one must stay awake; to write a book is more demanding, for one must stay awake and think; but to sell a book – ah, that is a work of pure genius!”
I’m starting this series of celebratory posts with a piece about Richard Reynolds, the undisputed doyen of crime booksellers. Why begin with a bookseller? Because without the services of the bookseller, the entire creative process that concludes with the finished book would be pointless. Bookselling is an art under-rated by everyone who has not practised it.
Richard began his working life in September 1976 as a ‘classical music consultant’ at Hardman Radio in Manchester. He loved reading and would trawl new and secondhand bookshops and market stalls in the city. In early 1980 he spotted a job advert in Jardine’s bookshop, applied for it and began his bookselling career a few months later. In 1981, he was appointed buyer for the sports section at the famous Heffer’s bookshop in Cambridge, progressing to travel and biography and then to the literature department, which boasted an impressive twenty-five standard book ‘drops’ (book cases).
Richard’s manager knew he was a crime fiction buff and encouraged him to use a small space under the ledge near to the stairs to develop a crime fiction section. As sales took off, crime was promoted to more prestigious areas in the shop.
Heffer’s is famous for its crime fiction events. Richard explains that these began in a small way in 1990 with Bodies in the Bookshop. Heffer’s put on “a wonderful display of crime fiction titles and ephemera on the platform halfway down the central staircase. Penguin Crime Classics sponsored a competition: the winner to supply the scream in Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. I still have the poster! Heffer’s first crime fiction catalogue was produced at the same time. Five authors came to sign books on the last Saturday of the month: Colin Dexter, Lindsay Davis, Reginald Hill, Minette Walters and Michael Dibdin.”
Sixty authors took part in the last of these events, for which, for seventeen years, Richard compiled the catalogues. He still receives ‘heartening’ requests for copies from readers trying to fill gaps in their collections. As the numbers of authors increased, what had been a single annual event became three separate ones: What’s Your Poison, Murder under the Mistletoe and Murder Will Out, now organised by events manager Kate Fleet.
Since the COVID restrictions were lifted, events have resumed but been smaller: a launch party for After Agatha, by Sally Cline, Kate Rhodes in conversation with Sarah Vaughan about her book Reputation, and a launch party (with jazz quartet!) for Peter Morfoot’s Essence of Murder. On June 23rd, Financial Times reviewer Barry Forshaw and Kate Rhodes will discuss Simenon: The Man, The Books, The Films and The Devil’s Table, the fifth of Kate’s Scilly Islands series.
Richard finds it very difficult to name an individual crime writer as his favourite. During lockdown, he re-read the whole Scilly Isles series, as well as books by Nicola Upson, Rennie Airth, Barry Maitland and Charles Todd. In 2019, as he approached his fortieth year as a bookseller, he compiled his personal list of 100 Favourite Crime Novels. If pushed to choose he says his favourite book would be The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and his favourite author Agatha Christie.
Richard is still a bookseller, but he now combines this with editorial and publishing activities. This began when he suggested to Penguin Random House which authors they should reissue under the Vintage Crime imprint. He has acted in a similar capacity for Ostara Books, Oleander Press and Clerical Crime and assisted with the publication of six Gold Age titles under Oleander Press’s Oreon imprint. More reissues are planned in the coming months.
He says he is grateful to his wife, Sally, for tolerating a house full of books! His small attic study is stacked high with collections of Penguin Green Crime, Gollancz yellow jackets, Golden Age titles, Cambridgeshire crime fiction, translated crime fiction, historical whodunnits, much recent detective fiction, a substantial collection of crime reference books and… and… and..!
Musing on his career, he says, “I suppose specialising in crime fiction is like being paid to pursue a hobby. Badgering publishers to re-publish good authors is a privilege. I enjoy working out the best fit between the author and the publisher. I serve as chairman of the CWA Gold Dagger Award for best crime novel of the year, for which there have been 260 submissions this year, making it hard to create the long list. The winner will be announced on 29th June.”
For aspiring booksellers, he offers the following message: “The late John Cheshire, a chatty, encouraging and supportive Heffer’s shop manager, told me not to spend my small salary on books but instead ask reps for proof/reading copies so that I could help publicise them. I have kept to that advice – and I’d like to thank all the reps and publishers who’ve kindly kept me supplied with reading material. And it’s important for booksellers to keep on reading ephemera about books: articles, reviews, blogs, information on publishers’ and authors’ websites.”
Asked what his advice to someone just starting out on a crime fiction writing career would be, he says that as writing is a solitary occupation it is important to chat to local booksellers and meet other authors, especially at events or festivals such as Crimefest and the Harrogate International Festival or one of the many good smaller festivals that now exist. It’s also a good idea to attend other writers’ launch parties, read widely – and try not to overwrite! Having some bookmarks printed is an inexpensive way of getting noticed – it’s easy to underestimate how useful they can be.
As an author, I am inexpressibly grateful to Richard and all the booksellers who make it their life’s work to support writing and reading. He is a man who practises sheer genius every day! If he were still alive, I know John Aubrey would be the first to agree.
Tomorrow’s post will be about an aspiring crime fiction writer, Fraser Massey, who is already a distinguished journalist.
Eight months in Fiji: how Heather’s COVID year changed her life
I thought my readers would be interested in the post below. It tells the story of how Heather Anderson, whom I worked with during my ‘day job’ trip to Australia in 2019, was marooned in Fiji after the country was locked down because of COVID and had to stay there for almost nine months. I think it is an extraordinary story of resilience and creative thinking. Heather’s achievement while exiled from her family was immense – and, as she says herself, the experience will have changed her forever. I’m sure you will be as impressed as I am!
No one will forget last year, the ‘COVID year’. Most people worked – are in fact still working – from home, and many have found ingenious workarounds to enable them to carry on almost as normal. Few, however, can claim to have experienced new adventures in 2020, the year when monochrome surroundings and hugely reduced personal interaction became the norm.
Heather Anderson, Cambridge Academic’s Sales Support Consultant in Australia and New Zealand, has an entirely different story to tell. Heather planned a five-day visit to Fiji in March… and ended up staying for more than eight months, trapped by the country’s lockdown as the pandemic reached Australia and the Pacific region.
Shortly after Heather arrived in Fiji, COVID infections in the region began to escalate, but Fiji itself was still clear of the disease. Its government therefore made a swift decision to close its borders, largely because the village lifestyle of the Fijian people would make social distancing, self-isolation and quarantining impossible. This decision was not taken lightly: inevitably there was a huge economic price to pay, as the country depends solely on tourism. However, the initiative worked: Fiji continued to be COVID-free for nearly the entire time Heather was there. Just a few cases arrived from overseas during June, an outbreak that was contained by quarantining those infected.
The Australian government organised one repatriation flight, in April, but Heather did not hear of it until it was fully booked. Every month for almost nine months, she booked herself on a scheduled flight home that eventually was cancelled. She finally reached home – she lives on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland – on 6th December 2020, following a repatriation flight to Brisbane and quarantine.
Heather continued to do her job for the whole time she was away. Because the visit she had planned was so short, initially she had not intended to take her laptop and other working tools with her, but changed her mind at 3 a.m. on the morning of the outward flight. Once she realised she would be marooned in Fiji, she managed to purchase a WiFi modem and set up her ‘office’ in a village on Viti Levu, the ‘Coral Coast’.
She explained her situation to some of her librarian customers and some already knew, from discussions with her colleagues. She is grateful to them for the support she received: she says they were very empathetic; most of them checked on her each week, sending funny jokes, video snips or just supportive notes.
Michael Cowley, the Sales Director of Cambridge Academic in Australia, contacted Heather regularly to check on her wellbeing and she continued to join weekly video calls with the Cambridge HE/Library team: “My direct academic team in Australia were wonderfully supportive and showed so much care and compassion, which was really great. That got me through the working weeks.”
Despite all the remote support she was able to channel, Heather found it extremely difficult to adjust to the knowledge that she would be detained in Fiji indefinitely, even though she was also very aware that others in the world were suffering more because of the pandemic. At first, time dragged when she wasn’t working, but then she realised she could be of huge practical help to the islanders, who had lost their jobs. Heather takes up the story.
“I got involved in raising funds for the youth in the area I was staying. Their parents had all lost their jobs, because they worked in tourism and they were really struggling to feed the children and get them back to school. The picture of me below, in the Fijian jumba (it is red), was taken at the main fundraising event. Altogether we raised $25,000FJD for the young people, which was an enormous help in taking pressure off their parents.”
Enforced exile and collapse of the local economy was not all Heather and the islanders had to contend with:
“During April we were hit by a Category 5 Cyclone, which wiped out all the plantations these families were relying on for food and money – they had hoped to sell their produce at the markets – so the fund-raiser really helped raise hopes and gave immediate relief.”
Heather is an inveterate animal lover – she particularly likes penguins! – and spent the rest of her spare time on animal welfare:
“I fed all the dogs in the village every day for over eight months. In partnership with Animals Fiji, I also ran an
animal de-sexing clinic to help the many stray and starving dogs on the island. I also ran mini-education sessions for the kids and adults in the village, to give them basic tips on how to care for their animals and how to carry on feeding them after I left. I am now sending monthly payments to those families to purchase extra food for the animals they own and pay for basic medicine to cope with fleas, ticks and worms.”
Heather says that one of her main ‘positives’ was that she lost weight rapidly while she was in Fiji – almost sixteen kilos altogether. She thinks it was mainly the result of eating ‘clean’, simple foods and walking on rough terrain, especially sand dunes. Taking up fishing also entailed a lot of walking.
“The Government imposed military curfews for the entire time I was there, which was unnerving at first but seemed to work well. Most people obeyed them. For several months, the curfew lasted from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. every night, then the restrictions were gradually eased, so it was running from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. by the time I left.
“I really tried to keep positive and busy, but deep down I was struggling every day. I knew my husband, at home in Australia, was unwell. Each month my hopes were raised that I would be able to fly home and every time the flight was cancelled. I felt very fragile when I was told that I might not be able to leave Fiji until mid-March 2021.
“Just after I received this shattering news, my cousin sent me a list of repatriation flights which I hadn’t been told about, even though I had registered for absolutely every aid I possibly could. I shall be forever grateful to my cousin for giving me the heads up! I phoned immediately, to learn that there were only twenty seats available on a flight arranged for November 22nd and all had been taken. I explained how long I had been away and begged to be allowed on the flight. I boarded it as passenger twenty-one! I had two days to put everything straight and get to the airport.
“When I was finally on the plane, mask on and no one either side of me, I cried and cried: more tears than I thought possible. Finally, after months of trying and failing to go home, I was on my way.
“As soon as I the plane landed in Australia everyone on the flight was sent to a quarantine centre, so I had made it home only to find myself in ‘prison’ for fourteen long days. It wasn’t a major setback in the scheme of things, but I found those fourteen days the hardest of all. “2020 has taught me so much. I am stronger than I ever gave myself credit for and I appreciate all the little things in life. I know now that kindness and open hearts will get you through almost anything. Material things truly are overrated. I was in a place where people barely had enough to eat, but the love and support of the families I knew and the smiles on the beautiful kids’ faces were riches of a much more worthwhile kind.”
[I wrote this post for the Cambridge University Press blog and it is with permission from CUP that I am also publishing it here.]
One writer looking back… lots of writers looking forwards!
At first light yesterday, I travelled to Spalding High School, my own former school, to which I had returned only once previously since leaving the sixth form. I received a wonderful welcome from Adrian Isted, the newly-appointed Head of English, who began the day’s activities by showing me round the school.
First stop was the office of the headteacher, Mrs. Michele Anderson, who is also fairly new to the school. She was fascinated to hear a little more from me about Mrs. Jeanne Driver, the first married headteacher at the school, who was its leader throughout my school career. Born Jeanne Ouseley, she lived at 10, High Street, a large house of several storeys situated near the River Welland in Spalding. Part of this house was divided into flats and there were usually several other teachers living there, as well as two of my fellow sixth formers, Cheryl Ouseley and Elizabeth Davies, both of whom were her nieces. They called her ‘Auntie Jeanne’, a name that the rest of the sixth form also used affectionately, if unofficially. Mrs. Driver was one of several strong women who influenced me as a girl. She had a strong sense of duty and an even stronger work ethic. We found some of the things she said highly amusing (for example, ‘I stand up whenever I hear the national anthem, even if I’m in the bath.’). Sometimes she took the notion of duty to an extreme. I remember she told us that when her husband, who had been in ill health for some time, finally died, she finished marking a set of books before setting in train the preparations for his funeral. But her influence has lasted all my life.
The school has been added to, but otherwise is little changed. I suppose the thing that struck me most yesterday is how it seems to have shrunk. The corridors seemed longer, the stairways steeper, the ceilings higher when I first attended it as an eleven-year-old, then for only a part of the school week – pupils belonging to the first two school years still spent most of their time at the old school building in London Road, the first home of Spalding High School when it was established in 1920 on the site of its predecessor, the privately-owned ‘Welland Academy for Young Ladies’. (The present school building was completed in 1959, but the London Road property continued to be used by younger pupils for more than twenty years afterwards.) The assembly hall still boasts its luxurious but absurdly impractical parquet floor.
In my day it doubled up as a gym (there is now a separate sports hall) and we were obliged to do PE barefoot, which we all hated, so that the floor wouldn’t become scuffed by gym shoes. The same grand piano stands in the corner, to the left of the stage. In the corridor outside the headteacher’s office are several group photographs taken of all the teachers and pupils at intervals during the school’s history. After some searching, I was able to discover myself on one of these – and I could also name all the other girls in my form and most of the teachers.
After the tour, I was interviewed by Eleanor Toal and Holly Hetherington for High Quarterly, the school’s completely online magazine (which is streets ahead of the drab, dark-red-covered printed production of my youth). Eleanor, the e-zine’s editor, also writes articles for the Spalding Guardian, carrying on the long-standing relationship between the school and the local newspaper. Eleanor and Holly (who edits Gardening and Food in the mag) knew they were going to be asked to interview me only very shortly before we met, because the intended interviewer was ill, but I wouldn’t have known if they hadn’t told me. I was much struck by the sensitivity and perspicacity of their questions and enjoyed answering them.
After lunch, I talked to sixth form English students about how to get published. Jean Hodge, who reports on cultural affairs for the Spalding Guardian, also attended and joined in. It was quite an exciting occasion, because it also took the first steps towards setting up a short-story competition that the Great British Bookshop has agreed to sponsor at the High School. Adrian and his colleagues and I will choose the best ten or twelve stories submitted to be published in a single volume at The Great British Bookshop’s expense. Winners will each receive a free copy of the book, which will then go on sale in TGBB’s extensive distribution network. I’ll be writing more about the competition in this blog very shortly.
I completed my day at the school with a writers’ workshop for Years 7, 8 and 9 students. The participants explored some of the key elements of crime fiction (they proved to be very well read) and collaborated to put some of those into practice. Their discussion illustrated their excellent grasp of linguistic and literary effects and the results were amazing! Nearly all of these students bought one of my books at the end of the session; some bought all three. Thank you!
I can’t conclude this post without saying that a remarkable library now exists at Spalding High School. The library is housed in the same room that I knew, but what a difference in the stock! The emphasis is on supplying students with books to read for pleasure. It’s a place of relaxation and also a place where students can go to work in groups. There’s none of the shushing and grim looks that any talking in the library produced when I was a schoolgirl and all the dusty old Latin grammars and ancient editions of Gray’s Anatomy have been disappeared. Hats off in particular to Kirsty Lees, the School Librarian and Learning Resources Manager, and to her team. The school knows how lucky it is to have them and to be able to enjoy the warm and inviting place (complete with crime scene rug featuring a splayed body) that they have turned it into.
It’s almost impossible for me to thank all the people who made this day so special. I’m deeply grateful to Michele Anderson for making it possible; to Adrian Isted and Kirsty, for making it happen; to Eleanor and Holly, for giving me such a delightful interview; to Jean Hodge, for all her support for Sausage Hall both at this event and elsewhere and, especially, to all the students whom I met yesterday, who were such a joy to work with and who were so keen to develop their own writing. Thank you all!
Strong links in the chain to ‘Sausage Hall’, to be published Nov. 17th 2014
I am extremely grateful to you, the readers of this blog, both those of you whom I’ve met in person and those from countries around the world whom I’ve met ‘virtually’, for the huge welcome that you have given Sausage Hall. Thank you very much indeed.
As many of you know, Sausage Hall will be published next Monday, November 17th. My wonderful publishers, Chris and Jen Hamilton-Emery at Salt Publishing,
their equally stellar PR consultant, Tabitha Pelly, Faber (which now represents Salt titles) and my bookselling and librarian friends have combined to make happen a series of celebration events.
The first of these is today, Thursday November 13th, when Nicola Gilroy will be interviewing me live on Radio Lincolnshire at 14.05. I hope that you will be able to listen; if not, I think the interview will be on iPlayer for twenty-four hours after broadcast.
Monday November 17th is a very special day indeed. I’m spending much of it at Spalding High School,
where I was once a student (Facebook doesn’t know this, having inexplicably assigned me to Wycliffe Senior School and Sixth Form College! I don’t intend to disabuse it!). I’m giving a young writers’ workshop and talking about how I came to write Sausage Hall, but first of all I’m being taken on a tour of the school by Adrian Isted, the present Head of English. I’m really looking forward to this, and especially to meeting the students.
Also on November 17th, in the evening, Bookmark, Spalding’s very distinguished bookshop,
is hosting the official launch event. This will begin at 19.00. I’m delighted to be able to announce that it is being sponsored by Adams and Harlow, the pork butchers, who will supply sausage-themed canapés. Wine will also be served. As well as signing copies of Sausage Hall, I’ll be giving some readings and talking about all the DI Yates novels. I’d like to offer my thanks in advance to Christine Hanson and Sam Buckley, who have supported all the novels as they’ve been published. In conjunction with Spalding Guardian, they’ve also arranged a DI Yates competition, the prizes for which will be four sets of the DI Yates titles.
On November 18th, I’m travelling to Walkers Books in Stamford,
where I’ll be signing copies of Sausage Hall and talking about it informally between 11.00 and 13.00. I’d like to thank Tim Walker and Jenny Pugh for all their support. More about this may be found here.
Wednesday November 19th finds me back at wonderful Wakefield One, where Alison Cassels has organised Tea at Sausage Hall, an informal talk-and-signing session, with refreshments, that will start at 14.30. Regular readers will know that Wakefield One has been a particularly magnificent supporter of mine. Books will be supplied by Richard Knowles of Rickaro Books, another staunch supporter.
There is more about Tea at Sausage Hall here. If you live in the Wakefield area or are visiting, it would be great to see you at this event.
On Thursday November 20th the Waterstones bookshop in Covent Garden is giving a London launch event. As Adams and Harlow are sponsoring this, too, there will be sausages as well as wine! This reading and signing session will begin at 19.00 and continue until the shop closes. It has already attracted a large audience, so it should be quite a party! The store’s brilliant manager, Jen Shenton, and I would be delighted to see you there. More information can be found here.
And Friday 21st November? At present, nothing is planned, so this will be a rest day… but I’m open to offers!
The writer and her blog: Dr Lucy Robinson
I’ve been in Brighton for most of this week, attending the academic bookselling and publishing conference for which I’ve been organising the speaker programme for the past fourteen years. I shall eventually write about the whole of this conference, but in a different forum and for a different audience: I don’t think that a detailed account of the present hot topics in academic publishing would greatly appeal to most of the readers of this blog! However, I do think – and hope – that you’ll be interested in the following account of the comments made by Dr Lucy Robinson, lecturer in Modern History at the University of Sussex and published historian, during a fascinating panel session for authors that took place on the first day of the conference.
Lucy said that there was sometimes a tension between writing her blog and writing her book (she has already published a book with Manchester University Press and is currently working on another). Sometimes, she almost feels that there is a competition going on between them and wonders which is the right way to go: should she focus more on the book or concentrate on the blog? But she also said that a smart author could create a ‘virtuous circle’ in which the blog could feed creatively into the book.
She said that she disseminates her research via a number of social networks, but at the same time wants to publish her history of the 1980s in a conventional publishing format. She explained that the challenges facing a contemporary historian are different from those that a historian of, say, the early modern period has to address. For the latter, the main difficulty lies in getting his or her hands on the small amount of material that now survives. Lucy’s challenge is that her material is ‘everywhere’ and that it is important to tell a version of everyone’s story, down to, for example, the cakes that people in the ’80s made or ate. The format that she uses is therefore to a large extent the product of the particular time that she writes about. To organise the material in a conventional book with the same effectiveness that the digital format allows is difficult. Nevertheless, she wants to see her work in both formats.
One of her reasons for this is that, although she values the internet as a medium, she also loves books. Another is that, for an academic, getting a book published by a recognised publisher is an ‘esteem marker’. Academic careers depend upon producing ‘globally significant research in academic form.’ The object is to influence others – fellow academics, researchers, students – to do or think something differently as a result of the research. This goal of impact cannot be achieved unless the research has been published in a traditional, authenticated format. This does not mean that she does not value the blog, however. She said that “the blog helps you to keep up-to-date. It allows you to change your mind. It is little. It is safe. I can best describe it as a way of being ecological with your work: then you can write it up in your book afterwards to give the work authority.”
She added that writers are now on a journey and it is a tricky one. Social networking enables a sort of autobiographical build-up of identity. Parallel to this is the other persona of the academic writing the book, ‘saying clever stuff and selling it to people.’ She repeated that there is a tension there. One of the audience asked her why the print output of her work was so important to her. She replied that she simply wanted to write a book called ‘The History of the 1980s’.
I found this really interesting, because I think that fiction writers often experience the same kind of dichotomy. We, too, value both formats; most of us also seek validation via the printed word. We understand the value of reaching our readers online, via social networking and blogs, and we don’t begrudge the time and effort spent producing work for them to consume free of charge, work that we hope that they will enjoy. There can be few greater rewards for a writer than to gain a following of loyal online readers who are under no compulsion to read our work but nevertheless return to it time and again because they appreciate it. At the same time, most of us also want to write more formally and there can be few writers who don’t mind whether or not they are paid for their formal creative output. Payment is itself a kind of validation. I said this to Lucy over a cup of tea after her presentation and also mentioned that, for me, there was the further dilemma of not having the energy – or, sometimes, merely the ‘bandwidth’ – to write both blog and book and do the day job as well. She agreed, and said that, although for the conference she had distilled her experiences as an academic writer, many of the things of which she spoke had come from the world of fiction writing originally. Academic writers had picked up on some of the digital initiatives that fiction writers had developed and adapted them to their own writing.
Food for thought, and fascinating, I hope you’ll agree. Lucy’s blog may be found here. I hope that perhaps she will become an occasional visitor to this blog now. I’d also welcome comments from other writers who would like to join this debate.
Barry Forshaw, @CrimeTimeUK, interviews Christina James
Today, I’m honoured to be given space on Barry Forshaw’s CrimeTime site. He has interviewed me about myself and Almost Love. Very many thanks, Barry! 🙂
Follow CrimeTime on Twitter
Visit the CrimeTime site!


Hello N1M followers -
I have been writing and preparing to record some new music but wonder often if my sound is outdated given my influences. Who are some of the cool artists and great sounds you are listening to today? I won't be recording any rap or heavy metal, so you can leave those recommendations out. :) What instrumentation appeals to you? I'm looking to you, the listeners, the fans, the music aficionados, to tell me what appeals to you. I would like to do something different that captures my style and yet brings something fresh to the table that could sit in comfort on Spotify, Google Play, YouTube, any of those streaming stations!
Thanks for your feedback!
I would like to send out a Thank You to all of you for listening to my music and sharing it with friends and family and whoever. The song has moved up the ranks and seems to be somewhat popular. I could not do it without your support and appreciation. So, I wanted to let you know how much it means to me. I am working on some new music including a Christmas song, but don't anticipate anything happening until 2022. It's been a very tough year as I lost my Dad, a love and a best friend. But still music is in my heart and soul and I will keep playing until I cannot anymore. thanks for being there and listening!
3 years ago
It's been a long time. How is everyone managing through the COVID mess!? Hope everyone has found some peace and solitude through these times and heard some great music worth sharing!
Thanks for all the listeners out there who continue to send kind messages and encouraging remarks. I have written some new music these past few months. As soon as things ease up a little and I can spend more time with my fellow musicians to start tracking, I hope to get some new music out there!
Thanks again for listening! Peace and God bless!
6 years ago
Many of you have been so very kind and have reached out to express your enjoyment of the music. I can't tell you enough how much that means to me.
I am going to ask a small favor of you now. If the music is moving you to send me the kind notes and thoughts you have shared, perhaps you could share some thoughts as a review on the sites where people are looking to purchase music: ITunes, Amazon, CD Baby...
Here are a few of the links where you can find my music online. I hope you will find more songs in the collection that you enjoy, maybe purchase some music, or if nothing else share with others where you heard the music, the song that gripped you, and why others may be interested in experiencing.
Thank you everyone! The best advertisement is still word of mouth! We just have more tools to help spread the word! I hope you'll help to spread the word! God bless!
7 years ago
I have a new CD available (finally) which can be purchased through CD Baby digitally or you can order the actual CD. They are working on the digital distribution with all of their partners (Itunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc) so you can watch out for the release there or you can order now from CD Baby at (expired link). There are many talented players on this disc from the area here. I could not have done the CD without their talents.
I hope you will enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed making the CD. It's been a long time coming.
Thanks for your love, kindness and support.
ps: Here is one of the tracks off the new CD
Thank you for your appreciation and interest in my music. I've received several very kind emails from many of you and they are much appreciated. You are the people who keep us working to write more and rehearse more and put out more music! It's a tedious process, for me at least... I rely upon the time and talent of musicians in the area, some friends, some acquaintances, but they all devote their time toward a vision I have for the song.
My third CD is inching ever closer. I had a great session Sunday afternoon, tonight I meet with a singer to go over some backup vocals and later tonight with my great friend and guitar player, Craig Counts (who you'll be hearing more of on this CD), we'll be tracking guitar on one of the new songs "So Much Love.' Thursday, I have the great Vladimir Esponosa putting down his great Latin percussion on some songs and Melissa Mesko will join Brittany Sparks for some beautiful harmonies! It takes a great team effort and willingness and devotion to put schedules and talents and an appreciation toward the final product together. It makes it all the more special when we get feedback from listeners like you. So, I just wanted to express a great big THANK YOU for all of your nice words - hoping to release the CD in the next 2-3 months! Stay tuned!
I am fairly new to to NumberOneMusic so I wanted to just say thanks to everyone for the support and making me feel welcome! I'm working on a 3rd CD which I hope to have finished in the coming months.
I am also trying to find venues for the band to perform and yes, we are certainly interested in international travel. Most importantly though, I'm just glad you are enjoying the music. It makes it all the more worthwhile. Here is another song (with video) that will be coming out on the next CD. Thanks again!
N1M © 2003—2024
Jonathan barker has no Merchandise yet.
United States, Virginia, Roanoke, 19 Salem Ave SE, 24011
Chaos Mountain Brewery
United States, Virginia, Callaway, 3135 Dillons Mill Rd, 24067
United States, Virginia, Roanoke, 206A Market St SE, 24011
JB Band Wagon
Mojo Cover only


text:
The exciting news is that capsaicin has been shown to reduce the incidence of colorectal tumors in mice.
Rodents are used in many medical studies due to having similar reactions to various stimuli as humans.
This is how it is thought to work.
When capsaicin is administered to mice, a receptor in their intestinal wall is activated in a chronic manner, and this process seems to spawn a reaction that radically lowers the incidence of tumors, as well as increasing their lifespan.
Pretty cool, huh?
The process works this way.
The receptor is called TRPV1. This receptor is central to a reaction to inflammation and painful stimuli.
Heat and acidity are some of the things that it reacts against, as well as what the body considers “spiciness”.
Yes, the “heat” that we perceive comes from hot peppers also triggers this response, since these sorts of things can actually hurt us in the right concentrations.
Think bee venom, here. It is known that small inoculations of bee venom cause the body to form a defense. Well, this wouldn’t be the only kind of positive outcome to a limited exposure to what could be a harmful chemical.
So TRPV1 initiates the response to capsaicin.
Now, TRPV1 is also released by epithelial cells that line the intestinal tract.
See where we’re going here?
TRPV1 is activated by an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which binds to the actual epidermal growth factor. This surface protein which binds itself to the EGF causes the growth of the epithelial cells that line the intestine. Whenever you have lots of cell growth, then mutations in new cells cause cancers. Intestinal cells are replaced every 4-6 days, sot hat’s a lot of cell growth going on. It’s actually amazing that intestinal cancers aren’t even more prevalent.
So, while a certain healthy level of EGFR is needed for normal cell growth, too much can cause more problems.
TRPV1 is activated by the EGFR and stops the positive feedback loop, or slows it. Since capsaicin causes an increase in TRPV1, it is assumed that capsaicin can slow the rate of epithelial cell creation and gene mutations, thus lowering the incidence of tumor development.
Whew, what a mouthful.
So, while not proven completely in humans, this can be a good sign for chili heads and spicy food lovers.
Even if it were proven, it doesn’t mean that every spicy food lover would be protected, as some people have a higher incidence of being affected by such things and those genetics would be stronger.
There are plenty of chili heads that have unfortunately been killed by bowel cancer, but, this is still a promising development and the observations can lead to medicines that could work much better than mere spicy foods.
Such is the world of disease research.
So, stay motivated, my friends, and keep eating spicy. (or take a supplement)
It can’t hurt you.

domain: medical


Is Choo still Ranger?
Last year, Choo gave every Rangers minor-league player $1,000 and also donated money to COVID recovery efforts in Korea. Even though he’s going to Korea to play, he still plans to live permanently in Texas.
What is Shin Soo Choo salary?
20 million USD (2016)
Is Shin Soo Choo good?
An All-Star in 2018, Choo has racked up 218 homers and 157 stolen bases over a 16-year career. Choo hit . 264 with 21 homers in 2018, earning his lone big league All-Star appearance. He followed it up by hitting a career-best 24 homers in ’19, while swiping 15 bases — his most since stealing 20 for the Reds in ’13.
How old is Shin Soo?
39 years (July 13, 1982)
Is Shin-Soo Choo still a Texas Ranger?
Shin-Soo Choo was productive for the Texas Rangers, and now heads back home. It’s effectively the end of an era in Texas Rangers baseball, as Shin-Soo Choo takes his talents back overseas.
Where is Shin-Soo Choo now?
SSG Landers#17 / Right fielder
Shin-Soo Choo/Current teams
Did Shin-Soo Choo retire?
Choo didn’t seem to be ready to retire after 2020, but it seems that no major league deals developed, and so he will be spending 2021 playing in his native South Korea, where he is revered.
Did Shin Soo Choo retire?
Where is Shin Soo Choo now?
Is Shin-Soo Choo married?
Won Mi Ham. 2004
What number is Shin Soo Choo?
17SSG Landers / Right fielder
What is Shin Soo?
Shinsu (신수 (神水), shinsoo, literally “divine water”) is a substance native to lifeforms within the Tower.
When did Shin Soo Choo reach base for the first time?
In 2018, Choo earned a selection to his first career Major League Baseball All-Star Game. During that season, he safely reached base in 52 consecutive games, the longest such single-season streak in Texas Rangers history.
What did Shin Soo Choo donate to the Rangers?
Rangers designated hitter Shin-Soo Choo has decided to donate $1,000 to each of the club’s nearly 200 minor leaguers, per a report from Naver Sports in Choo’s native South Korea ( link in Korean ). Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News confirms the story and has more on Choo’s donation.
Why is Shin Soo Choo on the injured list?
Choo has been slow to recover from his hand injury, according to manager Chris Woodward, T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reports. With just two weeks left in the regular season, it’s looking possible that we’ve seen the last of Choo in 2020. He landed on the injured list earlier this week with a sprained right hand.
How much money is Shin Soo Choo owed?
Choo is owed $21MM in 2020 — the final season of his current contract. Texas has explored trading him in the past and could look to trade a left-handed-hitting outfielder this winter, though Choo’s contract, lack of defensive value and this surgery won’t make him easy to move.


text:
This week we’re checking out the Mammoth bass from Atelier Kraken. “Tentacle-crafted” in France by luthier Guillaume “Muche” Buguet and Vincent Clerc, the stunning bass has aluminum inlays along its ash body including a detailed engraving of the Kraken that extends over the neck pickup.
Rob van den Broek put together two classic bass designs to create the Brooks Telebird. The builder, who is a Gibson aficionado, combined the body of a Thunderbird with the neck and pickup Fender Telecaster bass.
Luthier Frank Deimel of Deimel Guitarworks recently shared photos of this version of his Firestar Bass, for which he seems to have pulled out all the stops. Aside from the Hipshot tremolo system, the three-pickup design has more than meets the eye.
This week we’re taking a look at the Thirty, a short scale bass from Marceau Guitars. Sporting a 30-inch scale and flexible options, the bass offers plenty of versatility.
This week we’re checking out the Hummingbird-RF6PZ-FL from Ramsay Musical Instruments. The six-string, fretless lefty has a jaw-dropping layered and chambered body with a solid top veneer.
This week we’re checking out a bass from builder Adam Dolan of Dolan Custom Guitars. The UK-based luthier has been crafting his instruments for around three years, but his Proteus Legacy makes it look like he’s been at it for much longer.
This week we’re checking out a unique acoustic bass guitar built by luthier Oliver Jaggi called the BrummBass. Jaggi, who is a third-generation Swiss craftsman, created the bass around functional design elements.
Years ago, we kicked off the Bass of the Week series by featuring the Little Guitar Works Torzal Standard bass. The company has changed its name to Torzal Guitars, but they’re still creating amazing instruments. This week we’re checking out their new Hybrid Bass.
This week we’re checking out a funky and cool bass built by Jeremy Kirsch called the Sirena Modelo Uno. The four-stringer takes its design cues from similarly funky vintage basses.
This week we’re checking out an amazing RetroMod 4 from Kohlman Bassworks. This particular bass was built by luthier Chris Kohlman for bassist Mike Gardner and features an intricate matching top and fingerboard.

domain: design


text:
10 Super Tasty Cannabis Recipes
Edibles are one of the most amazing ways to consume cannabis. Whether it’s a simple brownie or a more complex, full-course cannabis meal, there’s just something special about the experience. For some, discovering new edibles is as easy as strolling down to the local dispensary and making a selection. However, for those of us who still live in less-than-legal states, these ten edible recipes are the perfect tool to enhance any cannabis culinary skills.
1. Walnut Brownies
Brownies are a staple in the edible world. Perfecting these sweet treats takes more practice than you might think, but once the formula is nailed down, there’s nothing better than a warm, gooey brownie, followed by a mellow, body high. Get the full recipe
2. Special Vegan Stir Fry
If you’re looking for a healthy, full-proof recipe that can be easily substituted to fit seasonal ingredients in, look no further. This vegan stir fry takes just minutes to make but will leave consumers lifted for hours to follow.
For those scorching hot summer nights, when cooking seems like the worst idea possible, pull this one out and indulge in a light meal, with a heavy effect.
3. Italian Cannabis Dressing
Sometimes we want a simple cannabis-infused meal without all the prep and cook time many recipes require. This simple Italian Cannabis Dressing can be stored for up to two weeks after preparation and is the ideal way to dress up a boring salad.
4. Matcha Sugar Cookies
Matcha seems to be all the rage right now. From teas, to breads, to infused cookies, the green tea powder has found its way into our hearts and it’s likely we’ll see more recipes featuring the beneficial ingredient for years to come.
These sugar cookies are the perfect, on-topic, trendy edible to serve at your next book club meeting or tea party.
5. Cannabis Chicken Salad
Who could turn down a good chicken salad? The creamy sauce and plump pieces of chicken are so mouthwatering; truly, the only way to enhance this perfect food is with a little cannabis. Take a midday break from the hustle and bustle of work and enjoy this lunchtime favorite.
6. Peaches & Cannabis Popsicles
For those hot summer months, what could be better than a cool, cannabis treat? Nothing! These popsicles are a game changer when it comes to edibles. They’re super simple to make, but pack a powerful punch of flavor and THC. For the next picnic or late-night bonfire, skip the apple pie and make these instead.
7. CannaGuac Tacos
Taco Tuesdays will never be the same after these CannaGuac Tacos are introduced. With cannabis featured in more than one of the taco’s components, not only will they satisfy hunger, they’ll seriously satisfy a high, too.
8. Not’cho Cheese Dip
This cheese dip is the perfect companion for the CannaGuac Tacos and adds another layer of THC to the menu. While the dip could simply be used as an additional topping, don’t let the flavorful sauce go unappreciated. It’s great on nachos, pretzels, crackers and pretty much everything else imaginable.
9. Strawberry Sauce
Versatile enough to use in everything from smoothies to salads, this Strawberry Sauce is the perfect way to work a little cannabis into any meal.
10. Creamy Broccoli and Cheese Soup
Has there ever been any food more perfect than Creamy Broccoli and Cheese Soup? No, the answer is, no. The only problem with this delectable dinner is knowing when enough is enough and not over-medicating.
(Click here for full article including links to recipes)

domain: food


text:
Now that I'm a mom, I don't understand the bm that abandon their kids to live with their dad and sm. & continue to have more kids with another man. I could not imagine not seeing my kid for weeks and months I would go crazy. What goes through these bm heads to make them think choosing to not be a parent to their kid is okay?
This steplife is not for the weak. We all endure so much and still do our best for these kids. We love unconditionally. We carry our families on our backs with little to no appreciation or recognition. We are the glue that holds our families together. Some of us are the only hope the stepkids have because their parents checked out on them.
I feel for the stepparents that have to deal with the reprocussions of the kids that are mentally messed up from their parents splitting , or having one or both parents who are not present physically and emotionally.
So there’s a show called “pug a ring on it” on OWN. If you have seen it what’s your opinion on Chè and Michael’s relationship and her views on his son moving in? Everyone is bashing Chè, but as a stepparent , I understand where she is coming from a little, bit I do believe she should move on before it’s too late if her emotions are that strong about it . Sometimes in steplife, it is not that the stepparent does not like/want to bond with the stepchild, it’s more complicated and most of the time it is the child’s bio parent(s) that make the situation difficult.
Am I wrong for not wanting to watch SS4 overnight while my Boyfriend goes to another state 10 hours away to go kick it with his music career friends ? I feel like if his week to have his son he needs to be there for him primarily. The kid has even come to me saying he's sad because he always spends time with me and not his dad when he's here. I'm also heavily pregnant so it's hard to chase a toddler around especially one I did not birth. Not saying that matters but I havnt got the first hand experience of giving birth yet and raising a child of my own yet until my baby is born.

domain: sociology


text:
This week NW Brown & Co's Chief Investment Officer, Jason Butler, looks back at markets over the past year.
Points of View: Global Markets
Following a poor final quarter of 2018, during which many indices fell by around 15-20% peak-to-trough, equity markets enjoyed a strong 2019 with the FTSE All-share delivering a total return for the year of 19%.
As is often the case, this strong performance was set against a backdrop of concern. In particular, the markets spent much of the year worrying about the US-China trade tensions and the possibility that a global economic slowdown could turn into a broad-based recession. However, central banks responded supportively, cutting interest rates and re-starting quantitative easing in some regions, and mounting evidence now supports the view that trade tensions are easing and the global economy is not about to fall into recession.
For its part, the UK starts the year on a more stable political footing following the surprisingly strong majority won by the Conservative party at the recent general election. Having said this, political risk still remains – the UK is now set to leave the EU on 31 January and markets will begin to speculate what sort of trade deal will be negotiated by the end of the transition period on 31 December.
Looking forward, we continue to think that equities will outperform cash and bonds over the long term. Having said this, we think investors should prepare themselves for equity returns that will probably be lower and more volatile in the coming decade compared to the last. This is primarily because the economic and valuation starting point is less attractive but also because we expect geopolitical risks to remain high. As a result, equity investors will need to be patient – lower returns and higher volatility are not ideal but are manageable when accompanied with a long term time horizon.
For over 200 years, we’ve been working with our clients to support their wealth needs. By getting to know you and your family, we’re perfectly placed to adapt as your needs change over time, which is just one of the reasons many of our clients have trusted us for generations.

domain: news


Common wisdom tells us that the more people are insured, the more preventative care happens, the less complex and expensive illness we treat, and so the less we have to spend on healthcare overall.
This logic was a large part of the rationale for the Affordable Care Act. As President Obama said in his 2009 address to Congress, “There’s no reason we shouldn’t be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse. That makes sense, it saves money, and it saves lives.”
Interestingly, that's all wrong.
As the New York Times recently reported, "There’s strong evidence from a variety of sources that people who have health insurance spend more on medical care than people who don’t. It also turns out that almost all preventive health care costs more than it saves." Jonathan Gruver, an MIT Economist, goes on to explain: “It’s a nice thing to think, and it seems like it should be true, but I don’t know of any evidence that preventive care actually saves money,”Long story short, good preventative care saves money for individual patients. It doesn't, however, save money overall since it costs more to help everyone avoid the disease than it does to treat the few people who would have ended up getting it. Plus, as we've explored in other posts, the newly insured also tend to place a burden on providers and hospital systems, since these patients tend to be sicker than average.
So if treating complex illness is expensive, and preventing illness is expensive, is there any way that we can be active about saving money as providers and administrators?
Yes. I think there are a few things to keep in mind, even as it can seem discouraging when the "right" thing (preventative care) doesn't ultimately save costs to the overall system.
First, medical providers often know what the best course of treatment is for an individual patient (even with a healthy consideration of costs), even if the population-level design can be murkier. Plus, as the New York Times reports, cost savings do happen when providers are able to make sure that work isn't duplicated or wasted. For instance, medical collaboration can keep patients from falling between the cracks during transitions. And telemedicine can decrease overall costs in a hospital system, decrease length of stay, and improve readmissions. Dr. Brent C. James affirms that this type of measure can decrease costs, calling it the “do it right the first time" approach.
To explore how telemedicine decreases costs and improves care, click here:


text:
Serangan Surf Introductory Diving
Please read it before booking・・・Terms & Conditions for Diving >>
|Serangan Surf Introductory Diving||Special Price|
|Hotel transfer, Local diving guide, Diving equipment, Lunch (for 2 dive),Rental towel, Using facility, Mineral water, International insurance (Age 7-65 Medical, Disability, Death: Max. Rp.250,000,000)|
|The diving company regulate waiting time on land if you ride on air plane after diving.
You cannot join diving if you do not complete the waiting time, so please check your flight schedule before booking.
★Experience Diving 1 dive / Wait 12 hours after diving
★Experience Diving 2 dives / Wait 18 hours after diving
|・Booking with over 2 persons|
Move to dive point
Instructor always support your dive

domain: travel


text:
JPEGMAFIA and Orville Peck bond over tour life strife in the latest installment of Peggy's HTBAR series.
Watch unabashed Carly Rae Jepsen stan JPEGMAFIA covering "Call Me Maybe" live from Glasgow, Scotland.
The best songs of this week, from JPEGMAFIA, Grimes, Perfume Genius, 100 gecs, Ms Nina, Bladee, Kelly Lee Owens, Young Nudy and more.
JPEGMAFIA shares a new one-off track and video, "BALD!"
JPEGMAFIA appears to have canceled an appearance at Intersect, the Las Vegas music festival sponsored by Amazon Web Services.
In the latest installment of Top Five, JPEGMAFIA lists his top five white people, including Jim Carrey, Hilary Duff, Batman, and more.
Watch a new video from JPEGMAFIA's latest album, All My Heroes Are Cornballs.
The festival reportedly did not tell The Black Madonna that it was a collaboration with Amazon.
Danny Brown’s fifth album is out now on Warp.
“3 Tearz” is another cut from Danny Brown’s
'Atrocity Exhibition' follow-up 'uknowhatimsayin¿'
On his new album, All My Heroes Are Cornballs, JPEGMAFIA masters the art of pulling all his best qualities into one delightful piece of work.
JPEGMAFIA interpolates TLC on his new record.

domain: artistic


text:
Don’t want to spend days traveling all across the state to taste grapes from some of Washington’s most celebrated growing areas and Washington State Vineyards? We have it all here for you within an easy drive.
While climates of individual Washington wine regions differ dramatically, Western Washington, with its moderate climate and lack of extreme temperature swings is an ideal place in which to make wine.
Since the Puget Sound area produces only about 1% of the states’ wine grape harvests nearly all the winemakers in Western Washington bring a large portion of their grapes in from the arid growing regions a few hours away in the eastern half of the state.
A recent report from Wine Press Northwest Magazine listed their top ten rated vineyards in Washington State. Listed below are some of the many vineyards that supply the various Olympic Peninsula Wineries with premium grapes. Those vineyards with a star (*) are from this list of the top ten.
We want to thank all the dedicated growers, locally and around the state, for their outstanding contributions to our own wines and their continued commitment to premium wine growing in Washington State.
|*||Bacchus Vineyards||Columbia Valley||Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon||Harbinger Winery|
|*||Bacchus Vineyards||Columbia Valley||Merlot, Cabernet Franc||Olympic Cellars|
|Coventry Vale||Columbia Valley||Reisling||Olympic Cellars|
|*||Dionysus Vineyards||Columbia Valley||Cabernet Sauvignon||Olympic Cellars|
|*||Sagemoor Vineyards||Columbia Valley||Syrah||Harbinger Winery|
|*||Sagemoor Vineyards||Columbia Valley||Syrah||Olympic Cellars|
|*||Stillwater Creek Vineyard||Columbia Valley||Chardonnay||Harbinger Winery|
|Alder Ridge Vineyards||Horse Heaven Hills||Zinfandel||Olympic Cellars|
|*||Champoux||Horse Heaven Hills||Cabernet Sauvignon||Camaraderie Cellars|
|*||Champoux||Horse Heaven Hills||Cabernet Sauvignon, Lemberger||FairWinds Winery|
|*||Champoux||Horse Heaven Hills||Cabernet Sauvignon, Lemberger, Chardonnay||Olympic Cellars|
|Dungeness Bay||Puget Sound||Madeline Angevine, Siegerrebe||Olympic Cellars|
|Olympic Cellars – Vineyard||Puget Sound||Madeline Angevine, Siegerrebe||Olympic Cellars|
|Judkins Inland Desert||Rattlesnake Hills||Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot||FairWinds Winery|
|Two Coyote||Rattlesnake Hills||Tempranillo||Camaraderie Cellars|
|Two Coyote||Rattlesnake Hills||Grenache, Mouvedre, Viognier||Harbinger Winery|
|Artz Vineyard||Red Mountain||Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc||Camaraderie Cellars|
|*||Ciel du Cheval||Red Mountain||Viognier, Rousanne, Syrah||Olympic Cellars|
|*||Milbrandt Vineyard||Wahluke Slope||Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot||Camaraderie Cellars|
|Wahluke Slope Vineyard||Wahluke Slope||Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah||Harbinger Winery|
|Ash Hollow||Walla Walla||Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot||Harbinger Winery|
|*||Boushey Vineyard||Yakima Valley||Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Petit Verdot||Olympic Cellars|
|Chandler Reach||Yakima Valley||Cabernet Franc, Merlot||Camaraderie Cellars|
|Crawford Vineyard||Yakima Valley||Malbec, Viognier||Camaraderie Cellars|
|Meek Vineyard||Yakima Valley||Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec||Camaraderie Cellars|
|Olmstead||Yakima Valley||Gewurztrraminer||FairWinds Winery|

domain: geography


text:
Please get in touch if there is anything you’d like to talk about or have any ideas you’d like to run by me.
Would love to hear from you.
Acrylic Artwork blue board Castle Castle Bridge city countryside Cow face fire flames fury girl hustle bustle jersey large New York New York City street scene NYC Painting Painting. City at night portrait red reflections scene Times Square at night. Tokyo Warwick Castle water wave woodland
Copyright © 2020 WARWICKSHIRE ART


text:
The report highlighted an immediate goal of supporting tourism investment on the Great Ocean Road. Photo: Simon O'Dwyer
Chinese tourists are spending a billion dollars a year in Victoria with Asia the major focus for the state's tourism growth.
The state government's new tourism blueprint estimates between now and 2021, two-thirds of the growth in tourism spending will come from international markets, with a strong focus on attracting visitors from China, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The new strategy aims to "provide a range of experiences and an environment that supports the aspirations and culture of strong growth economies such as China, India and Indonesia".
International tourists on average spend more than interstate tourists and locals on holiday in Victoria and the Chinese already make up the biggest number of international tourists to Victoria.
Despite Victoria's popularity, Tourism Minister Louise Asher, said only 3 per cent of Chinese tourists spent a night outside of Melbourne. Ms Asher said opening up private development in national parks would encourage more Chinese tourists to holiday outside of Melbourne.
"I'm hoping that we can get an environmentally sensitive, clearly low rise, classy accommodation venue for regional Victoria," she said.
"One of the priorities is getting that spread [of tourists] into regional Victoria and we need to make sure as part of that there is the complete tourism experience and we think a development in a national park will add to that," she said.
The report highlighted an immediate goal of supporting tourism investment on the Great Ocean Road. But Matt Ruchel, executive director of the Victorian National Parks Association, said there was no need to develop national parks to achieve increased tourism yield.
"It is much better off focusing on development outside of parks supporting regional communities," he said. "It is smokescreen, the international tourism argument, for development in parks - there is absolutely no need to do it."
Victoria's 2020 tourism strategy will also see stage two of the "Play Melbourne" marketing campaign encouraging interstate visitors "to take a chance, roll the dice and see where it leads you" in Melbourne.
"You can go to Sydney and look at the lovely Sydney Harbour and you can go to Queensland and look at the Great Barrier Reef … you can go to central Australia and look at Ayers Rock … but you come to Melbourne to do things," Ms Asher said.
Melbourne attracts 4.2 million interstate visitors a year, the highest of all Australian capital cities.
The new tourism report highlighted the rapid growth in the use of the internet, including social media, for booking and planning.
In 2012, 71 per cent of international overnight visitors used the internet for research and 53 per cent booked at least one component of their trip online.
The report noted only 48 per cent of Victorian tourism operators had online booking capability with instant confirmation available for consumers.


text:
|Previous Section||Index||Home Page|
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what reports she has received on disturbances to public order during the parade by the 1st Battalion of The Royal Anglian Regiment at Barking on 15 June 2010.
Nick Herbert [holding answer 22 June 2010]: The Metropolitan police inform me there were three arrests for public order offences during the parade by the 1st Battalion of the Royal Anglican Regiment in Barking on 15 June.
Mr Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her estimate is of the cost to the public purse of proposed reductions in numbers of non-front-line staff in her Department and its agencies.
Nick Herbert: We do not yet have a precise estimate of the reductions in non-front-line staff which will be needed this year. But we will be seeking to minimise the costs of those reductions, by using, in the first instance, recruitment freezes and normal turnover.
Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her policy is on the use by Ministers in her Department of cars allocated from (a) her Department's pool and (b) the Government car pool which are manufactured in the UK; whether Ministers in her Department are entitled to request the use of a car manufactured in the UK; and if she will make a statement.
Nick Herbert: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mike Penning) on 14 June 2010, Official Report, column 290W.
Mr Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many convictions for serious offences attributable to evidence held on the National DNA database there have been since the database's inception.
However, data are available on the number of detections in which a DNA match was available. Table 1 shows the number of serious crimes detected in which a DNA match was available for each year from 2005-06 to 2008-09. Data are not available for earlier years.
The figures do not include: additional detections where an offender admits further offences following a detection for which a DNA match was available; or crimes detected as a result of one-off speculative searches of the NDNAD or from comparing DNA profiles in a forensic laboratory, procedures which are used mainly in the investigation of serious crimes such as murder and rape. Consequently, the figures provided in Table 1 under-represent the overall contribution of DNA matches to the detection of serious crimes such as murder and rape. It is also important to note that convictions are obtained through integrated criminal investigation, not through DNA evidence alone.
|Detections of crimes in which a DNA match was available|
|Serious crime categories||2005-06||2006-07||2007-08||2008-09|
1. A 'detection' means that the crime was cleared up and a DNA match was available.
2. The police data on forensic activity uses 12 broad crime categories.
3. The five crime categories listed above broadly equate to 'serious crime'.
4. The other seven categories of the forensic activity data (not shown) broadly equate to less serious crime e.g. burglary, vehicle offences, criminal damage, drugs offences etc.
5. The table gives data only for 'Detections in which a DNA match is available'. It does not include 'Additional detections where an offender admits further offences following a detection for which a DNA match was available'.
6 The 'Other violent offences' category of the forensic activity data include violence offences both with injury and with no injury. In the Recorded Crime Statistics, approx half of the crimes in the category 'Violence against the Person' (excluding homicide) are violence offences with no injury. It is likely that a similar proportion of the 'Other violent offences' category of the forensic activity data shown above are also offences with no injury.
Police data on forensic activity and detections
James Brokenshire: The Government are committed to tackling drug and alcohol related crime wherever it occurs. Based upon the Coalition Programme for Government, a cross-department review of drugs policy is underway.
UK drug laws already provide the opportunity for criminal justice interventions with problem drug misusers to contribute to reducing drug misuse and drug-related crime. We will conduct a full review of sentencing policy to ensure that it is effective in deterring crime, protecting the public, punishing offenders and cutting reoffending. In particular, we will ensure that sentencing for drug use helps offenders come off drugs. In addition, we will explore alternative forms of secure, treatment-based accommodation for drugs offenders.
As clearly set out in the Coalition Agreement, we will also introduce a system of temporary bans on new emerging 'legal highs' to protect the public, especially young people, from drug harms and to combat unscrupulous manufacturers and suppliers who target young people In the Coalition Agreement the Government set out a clear programme of reform around alcohol licensing to tackle the crime and antisocial behaviour that is too often associated with binge drinking in the night-time economy. In particular, the Government set out six specific commitments. The Government will:
overhaul the Licensing Act to give local authorities and the police much stronger powers to remove licences from, or refuse to grant licences to, any premises that are causing problems;
allow councils and the police to shut down permanently any shop or bar found to be persistently selling alcohol to children;
double the maximum fine for under-age alcohol sales to £20,000;
permit local councils to charge more for late-night licences to pay for additional policing;
ban the sale of alcohol below cost price;
review alcohol taxation and pricing to ensure it tackles binge drinking without unfairly penalising responsible drinkers, pubs and important local industries.
Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for student visas were (a) granted and (b) refused in 2009; and how many such applications from each country of origin have been (i) granted and (ii) refused in 2010 to date.
Damian Green: The total number of student visas(1) issued and refused in 2009 was 303,635 and 104,536, respectively. The number of student visas issued and refused in the first Quarter of 2010 by nationality of the applicant is shown in the following table:
|Student visa applications: Main applicants January to March 2010|
|Next Section||Index||Home Page|

domain: law


Tiffany & Co.’s Vision & Virtuosity jewellery exhibition in Shanghai is the Best way to connect with next generation of Chinese consumers
Inspired by Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers, this new high jewellery line melds together the language of love with precious gems.
Critics are wondering if it’s a good idea for Gucci to get into the highly competitive jewellery segment but Christie’s Maharajas & Mughal Jewellery auction records exemplify why smart brands should enter the market
A perfect creation stemming from the seamless amalgation of precious stones, eastern mythical inspiration and dedicated craftsmanship
Pre-empt the most anticipated film festival by feasting your eyes on Chopard’s Red Carpet Collection for the Cannes FIlm Festival 2019
Botswana’s state-owned Okavango Diamond Company unveiled the biggest blue diamond ever discovered in the Southern Africa country and it’s truly a rare gem


text:
In its Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule for 2023, CMS rejected a proposal to make facility payments for office-based ophthalmic surgeries. The following is a summary of this and other key points in the ruling.
Office-based payments. In response to requests to create an office-based payment for cataract surgery, MIGS, vitrectomy, and other ocular surgery procedures, CMS stated it heard concerns about the services’ being furnished in nonfacility settings. The CMS Final Rule stated, “We appreciate commenters’ perspectives regarding their experience and concerns for Cataract and Retinal Surgeries being furnished as office-based surgery (OBS). As we continue to consider how and where these services are furnished, and whether they are typically furnished in different settings, information such as the comments provided by these and other commenters are [sic] helpful. Based upon commenters’ feedback, we have concerns about these services being furnished in nonfacility settings. It is also unclear whether these services are routinely being furnished outside of facility settings. CMS will continue to evaluate whether these services are being furnished in nonfacility settings and will consider establishing nonfacility values for these services at that time.”1
The Outpatient Ophthalmic Surgery Society (OOSS) submitted comments to CMS objecting to office-based cataract surgery reimbursement and expressed support for the CMS Final Rule. OOSS called it a “victory for our patients and our [ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs)].”
In a separate news release, iOR Partners, a developer and manager of office-based suites, stated that it remains hopeful CMS will consider establishing nonfacility codes in the future: “The OBS movement achieved a key milestone as CMS recognized OBS as an alternative option for cataract, glaucoma, and retinal eye surgeries with its inclusion in the 2023 proposed rule. Most importantly, the agency stated in the final rule that they will continue to evaluate these procedures in the nonfacility setting and consider establishing nonfacility codes in the future. … Changes in health care take time. The movement toward OBS may be long and arduous, but it is in motion and accelerating. The magnitude of supportive comments collected by CMS indicates that change is happening.”
iOR Partners operates more than 80 office-based suites in the United States and said it will continue to advocate for CMS to develop a consensus-driven plan to provide payment for ophthalmic OBS procedures with key stakeholders.
Conversion factor. CMS’ Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule also calls for the conversion factor—used to determine provider reimbursement in traditional Medicare—to drop to $33.06, or 4.47% from the $34.61 factor for 2022. In a news release, CMS said the conversion factor decrease accounts for budget neutrality adjustments required by law, which will be 0% next year, and the expiration of the 3% supplemental increase to physician fee schedule payments.
Payment rate regulation. CMS also issued its final 2023 payment rate regulation for hospital outpatient departments and ASCs. Under the final rule, ASC payment rates will be updated by 3.8% in 2023 based on the projected hospital market basket percentage increase of 4.1%. This is reduced by 0.3% for productivity adjustment.
According to OOSS, CMS previously agreed that, for the period of 2019 to 2023, it would update ASC payment rates by the Hospital Market Basket rather than the Consumer Price Index-Urban. Under the policy, ASCs have received the same updates as hospitals, subject to certain adjustments. OOSS, which lobbied for the change to the Hospital Market Basket method, provided a representative sample of the proposed rates for various eye care procedures and how they compare to 2022 (see Table). Overall, the CMS payment rate policies will affect approximately 3,500 hospitals and 6,000 ASCs. According to OOSS, other parts of the CMS Final ASC Payment Rule include the following:
- The mandatory adoption of ASC-11, Cataracts: Improvement in Patient’s Visual Function within 90 Days Following Cataract Surgery will be suspended;
- Omidria (phenylephrine and ketorolac intraocular solution 1%/0.3%, Rayner) and Dextenza (dexamethasone ophthalmic insert 0.4 mg, Ocular Therapeutix) will continue to be paid for separately in the ASC under the agency’s nonopioid pain management program; and
- ASCs that implant lenses that have secured new technology IOL status will receive an additional $50 in facility reimbursement.
1. Department of Health and Human Services, CMS. Accessed November 4, 2022. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.cms.gov/files/


text:
Dua Lipa ascended into the air while performing her latest single, “Levitating”, at Sunday night’s AMAs.
Dua joined in on the star-studded ceremony to deliver her cosmic performance from London’s Royal Albert Hall.
— Pop Crave (@PopCraveMusic) November 23, 2020
The “New Rules” singer wore a sparkling blue minidress as she danced to the catchy track.
The song culminated with the 25-year-old literally levitating above the stage.
The AMAs performance lineup also included Katy Perry, Bad Bunny with Jhay Cortez, Billie Eilish, BTS, Jennifer Lopez, Lil Baby, Megan Thee Stallion and Shawn Mendes.
Broadcast live from The Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles, the AMAs will be seen in more than 200 countries and territories around the world.


text:
You never know where you'll find a Carlow nurse. Meet Trista Globosky '12, BSN and hear her story.
Carlow University Nursing Degrees
BE MEANINGFULLY DIFFERENT IN YOUR NURSING CAREER
Choose a nursing program with a respectable reputation. As a Carlow graduate, you will be well prepared to hit the ground running as a nurse. See for yourself: In 2017 and 2018, Carlow graduates in the pre-licensure BSN program achieved a 100% pass rate on the NCLEX exam. Carlow can now claim the highest NCLEX pass rates in southwestern Pennsylvania for five consecutive years!
Not only will you be equipped with the knowledge you need begin or advance your nursing career, but you will also receive a top-notch education from a school with a rich history of nursing innovation. Carlow’s Department of Nursing has been educating nurses since 1948—that’s well over 50 years of nursing education! This tradition continues today as part of Carlow’s College of Health and Wellness.
Nurses who graduate from Carlow’s nursing programs are ready to care for the sick and promote and maintain the highest possible levels of health and wellness, by caring for the whole person, family, and community. Are you ready to make a difference in healthcare? Request more information today.
Find Your Nursing Degree
Nursing Program Highlights
- Fully and partially online programs available
- Options for traditional, transfer, and adult students
- Availability on all campuses
If you'd like to learn more about our undergraduate nursing program, let us know!
Genevieve Szekely, BSN '14


text:
The gem of the North must be Suchitoto. Set amidst beautiful rolling countryside on the shores of Lago de Suchitlan, Suchitoto is a charming colonial town with a small and welcoming community.
It offers some of the finest examples of colonial architecture in the country. Life in Suchitoto is content and quiet. During the war Suchitoto experienced only a brief spell of bitter fighting when it became the base to fight the guerrillas and uproot them from their mountain strongholds.
Today visitors can explore the surrounding countryside and can hear the stories from the former guerrillas themselves as well as visit the Añil (indigo) workshops that have been producing the dye in this region for centuries. On the northern border with Guatemala and Honduras, Montecristo National Park is a thriving cloud forest, full of rare wildlife, birds and orchids.