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A great believer in doing the work to get the work done, bag designer and fiber artist Myrna Giesbrecht has developed a routine to balance the nitty gritty of running a business with the need to create original, one-of-a-kind art bags that are the core of her business. Each bag is a new canvas for Myrna’s textile creations, and she both plans and experiments until the work is finished. But she doesn’t let the process overwhelm her. Myrna is disciplined in maintaining both studio and office time to help her creative business grow.
How did you find yourself on an artist’s path? Always there? Lightbulb moment? Dragged kicking and screaming? Evolving?
It has been an evolutionary path. I sat down at a sewing machine in my grade eight home economics class and fell in love. Even though I’ve tried other art forms, I always come back to textiles and have explored them in different ways over time, ending up here. It seems I breathe in fabric.
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How has your work changed over time?
The biggest shift has been from being product oriented to being process oriented. At the beginning, I was making a thing and then I reached a point where I didn’t need more things. I needed the energy and engagement of another creative journey. That’s when my current step-by-step process took over.
Why bags? How does that medium best express what you want to communicate through your art?
Life shifted for so many of us with the pandemic. I found myself asking “what next” and bags met the criteria of what I was looking for. The question became “why not bags”? It could have been any other form.
On a personal level, I chose art bags because they are one-at-a-time, one-of-a-kind pieces that people won’t find anywhere else. I really dislike cookie cutter repetition and yet the endless way to fill the same form fascinates me. That combination works well with bags.
I’m also prolific. I need somewhere for the things I make to go, otherwise too much stuff overwhelms me and I start to stutter. Selling handbags seemed more doable than other options. I think of them as a practical luxury.
I chose bag making as a business because it sits at the intersection of garment construction, quilting, surface design and organic creativity, all of which I enjoy. In addition, I enjoy designing, organizing, writing, experimenting, teaching, sharing and especially supporting and encouraging the creativity of others.
Where do you find your inspiration for your designs?
Although it is influenced by whatever is going on in life around me, most of my work is driven by curiosity and questions like how can I and what if. That drive relates to filling the form but also to developing the form. With my bag designs, I deliberately create simple shapes that I can fill in endless ways using the skills I’ve developed… or that my student has developed. My goal is to utilize the most efficient path to the most engaging result, my hands moving with ease and my mind bubbling with creativity
What do you do differently? What is your signature that makes your work stand out as yours?
There is nothing particularly unique about the work I do so the result doesn’t necessarily scream “Myrna made this” unless you know me quite well. What is less common is the path I follow from beginning to end. I start with something and let it evolve step-by-step until the piece says it’s finished. When I begin, I may or may not know what I am making and along the way it could shift significantly. When I am finished, I may keep the piece, or I might immediately take it apart and decide which bits of potential to put back in stash for a later journey.
What do you do to develop your skills? How do you get better at what you do?
I believe that we learn to do by doing, so the biggest way I develop my skills is through practice. Although it can still be hard at times to push myself into unknown territory, just trying the idea that is tickling, to see what happens, is one of the greatest lessons I’ve learned. I won’t know until I try so why not try. In the process, the thing that I’m making has become less precious which in turn has led to braver creativity. When I can take a workshop with an artist I admire, I do. I also read lots of books and watch videos. I find it helpful to explore different mediums like painting and collage and then transfer what is applicable.
When it comes to creating, are you more of a planner or an improviser?
Over the forty-eight years I’ve been sewing, I’ve evolved from a planner into an improviser and now I can’t imagine working any other way. A predictable format bores me. I started working in an evolving, step-by-step manner in 2004 and it has become my favorite way to work.
How do you manage your creative time? Do you schedule start and stop times? Or work only when inspired?
Creativity has been my career in one form or another for most of my adult life. The hardest aspect has been to maintain balance between my personal creativity and my business creativity. They have different energy. I spend an hour on personal creativity every morning, after coffee and before beginning the workday… or the weekend. That self-care time makes the day go better and I don’t have to figure out when to fit it into my schedule. It’s right at the beginning.
Do you have a dedicated space for creating? If so, what does it look like?
My current studio is 13’ x 14’ with a six-foot closet where I set up my office. It’s the master bedroom of the townhouse with a huge window overlooking the trees in the back yard. The light is fabulous and when I open the window, I can hear the birds and the creek below.
How does your studio organization contribute to your work process?
If I’m counting correctly, this is my nineteenth studio. I’ve moved a lot. I organized each in the same way with a designated amount of space per item – this much space for fabric, this much for books, this much for thread, and so on. My goal is 80% full to allow for flow. This approach not only keeps my stash under control, but it stops me from feeling overwhelmed by too much stuff and allows me to remain open to ideas. I typically sort my studio three or four times a year to reconnect with the potential I already have stashed and remove what’s no longer useful.
What are the indispensable tools and materials in your studio? How do they improve your work?
In the past year, I’ve replaced both my serger and sewing machine. They were over thirty years old and the quality of what’s available now is not at all comparable – especially with the Bernina sewing machine, which I can’t seem to let go of yet. It’s currently in another repair shop and I’m hoping for a permanent fix this time. In the past, the machine wouldn’t have been the first tool that came to mind, but it definitely is now. I’ve always had a back-up sewing machine and a second iron in case one breaks in the middle of a project. I can’t work without either of them.
What is your favorite lesser-known tool for your trade? Have you taken something designed for another use and repurposed it for your studio?
One of my favorite mark making tools for surface design is a pastry blender.
Do you use a sketchbook or journal? How does that help your work develop?
I have journaled every day for about thirty years with a focus on personal development rather than art, but I know it contributes in an indirect way. I don’t have a sketchbook and I don’t take notes or plan projects in detail. However, I have a general idea in my head that I work forward from and that opens endless avenues of expression that I find fun! I like enough of a boundary to guide my work and not so many rules that I’m paralyzed.
What plays in the background while you work? Silence? Music, audiobooks, podcasts, movies? If so, what kind?
Silence in the colder months; the sound of the creek in the warmer ones and – surprisingly – just recently I started listening to podcasts with handwork. I don’t know if that’s an experimental thing or if it will stick.
What was the biggest challenge that you encountered on your creative journey? What did you learn from it?
One of the biggest challenges has been that things do not work out as planned… more often than I’d like… for the project, product or business, and sometimes they go very sideways. With lots of practice, I have learned how to be flexible and how to re-evaluate and pivot. At the same time, I’ve gotten to know myself better and identify where I chose to be flexible and where I’ll stand firm. That learning is certainly informing my current business.
Do you think that creativity comes naturally to people, or do you think creativity is a skill that people can learn?
I believe we are all creative and that we exhibit our creativity in different ways. That kind of thinking can feel like a condescending pat on the head when you’re not producing the work you want to produce, so speaking about myself specifically, I don’t think I’m practically talented. I know I have a solid work ethic, am incredibly curious and can’t live without making in my life. Because of that, I have learned to do the work by doing the work, and over time I’ve gotten much better to the point where it looks like talent to some and is encouraging to others. Quotes like “hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard” comforted and encouraged me along the way.
Tell us about your website. What do you hope people will gain by visiting?
The underlying goal behind the articles on my blog and the videos on my YouTube channel is to support and encourage the creativity of others by sharing what I know and what I’m learning. Both give me a forum for doing that. I also want to connect with other creative people who love what I love.
Do you lecture or teach workshops? How can students/organizers get in touch with you to schedule an event?
Bags by Myrna is less than a year old. There has been a tremendous amount to learn and it’s taking more time than I’d hoped, which is so normal that I wonder why I hoped differently. It’s coming along great and that’s exciting. Along with the YouTube channel and the blog, I am developing on-line and in-person workshops as well as PDF patterns. I love to teach. It’s something I’ve really missed over the past years and am excited to return to. You can contact me through my website at www.bagsbymyrna.com or via email at [email protected].
Interview with Myrna Giesbrecht posted November 2022
Browse through more inspiring stories and projects about bag making.

domain: artistic


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Arvada, CO’s Series 2003 Bonds Is Raised To ‘AAA’
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services raised its underlying rating (SPUR) on Arvada, Colo.’s series 2003 sales and use tax refunding revenue bonds to ‘AAA’ from ‘AA+’ based on continued sales tax revenue growth, which has led to improved debt service coverage levels. In addition, Standard & Poor’s assigned its ‘AAA’ long-term rating, with a stable outlook, to the city’s sales and use tax refunding revenue bonds series 2009.
The series 2009 bonds are secured by a 3% sales tax pledge. Legal provisions include, in our view, a very strong additional bonds test requiring 3x maximum annual future debt service, and the creation of a three-pronged reserve fund in the event the city does not receive net pledged revenues in the amount of at least equal to 300% of the combined maximum annual debt service (MADS). Bond proceeds will be used to refund the city’s outstanding series 1998 and series 1999 sales tax bonds. The series 2009 bonds are subordinate to the series 2003 bonds.
The rating reflects our view of the city’s very strong 10x combined MADS; very strong legal provisions with an additional bonds test requiring at least 3x MADS coverage; historically strong sales and use tax revenue growth; and a stable and diverse economy, coupled with strong wealth and income indicators.
“We believe the city’s stable and diverse economy will enable the city to maintain its continued sales tax revenue growth,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Li H. Yang.
Located in Jefferson County just eight miles outside of Denver, the city enjoys a stable and diverse economy, which is characterized by, in our view, very strong wealth and income levels.

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|By Business Wire||
|November 7, 2012 04:00 PM EST||
IntriCon Corporation (NASDAQ: IIN), a designer, developer, manufacturer and distributor of miniature and micro-miniature body-worn devices, today announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2012.
For the 2012 third quarter, the company reported net sales of $14.9 million, an increase of 7.4 percent from the prior-year period. IntriCon had net income of $217,000, or $0.04 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $(489,000), or $(0.09) per diluted share, for the 2011 third quarter. Included in 2012 third-quarter results was a one-time gain of $822,000, or $0.14 per diluted share, from the previously disclosed sale of the company’s 50-percent ownership interest in Global Coils, to its Switzerland-based joint venture partner, Audemars SA.
“There were encouraging developments across all of our businesses in the third quarter,” said Mark S. Gorder, president and chief executive officer of IntriCon. “Professional audio posted record sales that were up 53.4 percent over the 2011 third quarter as strong demand continued for securities products domestically and headset products internationally.
“On the medical front, we increased sales over the prior-year period with our largest medical customer, Medtronic. And in hearing health, hi HealthInnovations, a UnitedHealth Group Company, expanded its innovative hearing aid program to more than 26 million people enrolled in its employer-sponsored and individual health benefit plans. Hearing health sales, though, declined 6.9 percent over the prior year, primarily due to an expected pause in orders from hi HealthInnovations and continued softness in the conventional hearing health market.”
As a percentage of 2012 third-quarter sales, healthcare-related revenue (hearing health and medical combined) totaled 67.7 percent (30.6 percent hearing health and 37.1 percent medical), with professional audio communications at 32.3 percent. This compares to 2011 healthcare-related revenue of 77.3 percent (35.3 percent hearing health and 42.0 percent medical), with professional audio communications at 22.7 percent.
Gross profit margins were down slightly to 21.6 percent from 22.2 percent in the prior-year third quarter. The decline was primarily due to higher cost of goods sold, stemming from increased manufacturing infrastructure costs in Singapore and Indonesia.
“The infrastructure in Singapore and Indonesia has positioned IntriCon well for additional low-cost labor intensive opportunities,” said Gorder. “As we transfer select labor-intensive programs to these locations, we believe we will be more cost competitive as a whole, and we expect to experience margin improvement.”
IntriCon reduced its operating expenses in the third quarter, despite higher sales.
For the 2012 nine-month period, IntriCon reported net sales of $47.3 million and net income of $377,000, or $0.06 per diluted share. This is up from 2011 net sales of $41.6 million and a net loss of $(1.1 million), or $(0.19) per diluted share. Hearing health sales rose 17.4 percent over the prior-year nine months, with medical and professional audio up 4.7 percent and 24.2 percent, respectively. Included in 2012 nine-month results was the one-time gain of $822,000, or $0.14 per diluted share, from the Global Coils sale.
As a percentage of 2012 nine-month sales, healthcare-related revenue (hearing health and medical combined) totaled 76.5 percent (38.8 percent hearing health and 37.7 percent medical), with professional audio communications at 23.5 percent. This compares to 2011 healthcare-related revenue of 78.5 percent (37.6 percent hearing health and 40.9 percent medical), with professional audio communications at 21.5 percent.
Gross profit margins for the 2012 nine months were 23.4 percent, up from 22.4 percent in the prior-year period, primarily due to volume increases, partially offset by increased manufacturing infrastructure in Singapore and Indonesia.
According to Gorder, “As previously disclosed, we’ve satisfied hi HealthInnovations’ initial product ramp-up needs for 2012. In the near-term, we expect minimal new orders; however, we continue to be optimistic about the long-term prospects of this program.
“We are encouraged by hi HealthInnovations’ progress building the necessary infrastructure to provide high-quality, affordable hearing healthcare to their customers. UnitedHealthcare recently announced that it is making hi HealthInnovations' high-tech, custom-programmed hearing aids available at a discounted price to more than 26 million people enrolled in its employer-sponsored and individual health benefit plans. We believe this will drive significant growth for IntriCon in 2013, specifically in the second half of the year.”
IntriCon recently introduced its new Audion6™, a six-channel hearing aid amplifier, and the Lumen™ 1000 wireless hearing system at the 57th annual International Congress of Hearing Aid Acousticians in Germany. Audion6 is a feature-rich amplifier designed to fit a wide array of applications. In addition to multiple compression channels, the amplifier has a complete set of proven adaptive features which greatly improve the user experience.
Lumen 1000 is a next-generation, wireless hearing system within IntriCon’s existing Lumen product family. Lumen 1000 incorporates the company’s intuitive Physiolink™ wireless technology to allow clear communication. With flexStrem™, voiceStream™, linkStream™, and callStream™ accessories, the device can wirelessly stream music, television, audio or a companion’s voice—making it significantly more versatile and effective than traditional hearing devices. IntriCon also believes this technology and functionality holds great potential in the non-traditional hearing health market.
Within its medical business, year over year sales were down slightly in the third quarter. Said Gorder, “We experienced a temporary slowdown in medical growth in the third quarter. This was primarily due to order timing and customer inventory management. We’re already seeing medical sales rebound, and we expect them to strengthen in the fourth quarter to levels consistent with the first half of the year.
“The shift to small and lightweight, advanced body-worn medical devices continues. Our core technology and product offerings have the proven ability to connect patients and caregivers in non-traditional ways, which positions us to help our customers and their patients. Furthermore, we intend to focus more capital and resources in sales and marketing to expand our reach to other large medical device and healthcare companies that we are not doing business with today. ”
On the cardiac front, IntriCon is delivering demo units of its two FDA-approved wireless cardiac diagnostic monitoring devices—Centauri™ and Sirona™— to targeted customers. The company continues to anticipate these products will generate initial revenue in the fourth quarter and ramp-up in 2013.
Third-quarter professional audio communications sales were very strong, up more than 50 percent from the prior-year period. The company continues delivery on its significant contract with the Singapore government, providing technically advanced headsets to be worn in difficult listening environments. This contract will run through the end of 2012. In addition, IntriCon has seen steady growth in its securities business.
Concluded Gorder, “We remain steadfast in our goals for 2012: developing new core technologies while enhancing existing ones; securing additional market-changing relationships with leaders in the healthcare industry; expanding and driving efficiencies at our international manufacturing facilities; increasing our sales and marketing resources; and driving profitability.”
Conference Call Today
As previously announced, the company will hold an investment community conference call today, Wednesday, November 7, 2012, beginning at 4:00 p.m. CT. Mark Gorder, president and chief executive officer, and Scott Longval, chief financial officer, will review third-quarter performance and discuss the company’s strategies. To join the conference call, dial: 1-888-549-7880 (international 1-480-629-9643) and provide the conference identification number 4571342 to the operator.
A replay of the conference call will be available one hour after the call ends through 11:59 p.m. CT on Tuesday, November 13, 2012. To access the replay, dial 1-800-406-7325 (international 1-303-590-3030) and enter access code: 4571342.
About IntriCon Corporation
Headquartered in Arden Hills, Minn., IntriCon Corporation designs, develops and manufactures miniature and micro-miniature body-worn devices. These advanced products help medical, healthcare and professional communications companies meet the rising demand for smaller, more intelligent and better connected devices. IntriCon has facilities in the United States, Asia and Europe. The company’s common stock trades under the symbol “IIN” on the NASDAQ Global Market. For more information about IntriCon, visit www.intricon.com.
Statements made in this release and in IntriCon’s other public filings and releases that are not historical facts or that include forward-looking terminology are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements may be affected by known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are beyond IntriCon’s control, and may cause IntriCon’s actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results, performance and achievements expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors are detailed from time to time in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011. The company disclaims any intent or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, regardless of whether new information becomes available, future developments occur or otherwise.
|Consolidated Condensed Statements of Operations|
|(in thousands, except per share data)|
|Three Months Ended||Nine Months Ended|
|September 30,||September 30,||September 30,||September 30,|
|Cost of sales||11,679||10,789||36,209||32,261|
|Sales and marketing||734||734||2,363||2,422|
|General and administrative||1,504||1,486||4,744||4,382|
|Research and development||1,243||1,326||3,513||3,600|
|Total operating expenses||3,481||3,546||10,620||10,404|
|Operating income (loss)||(256||)||(462||)||439||(1,081||)|
|Equity in income (loss) of partnerships||(39||)||(12||)||(77||)||317|
|Gain on sale of investment in partnership||822||--||822||--|
|Other (loss) expense||(36||)||69||(64||)||32|
|Income (loss) before income taxes||281||(549||)||532||(1,163||)|
|Income tax expense (benefit)||64||(60||)||155||(90||)|
|Net income (loss)||$||217||$||(489||)||$||377||$||(1,073||)|
|Net income (loss) per share:|
|Average shares outstanding:|
|Consolidated Condensed Balance Sheets|
|(in thousands, except per share data)|
|Accounts receivable, less allowance for doubtful accounts||8,295||8,545|
|Refundable income taxes||--||82|
|Other current assets||1,074||652|
|Total current assets||22,142||21,658|
|Machinery and equipment||40,547||39,170|
|Less: Accumulated depreciation||33,563||32,164|
|Net machinery and equipment||6,984||7,006|
|Investment in partnerships||812||1,283|
|Other assets, net||1,268||1,074|
|Checks written in excess of cash||
|Current maturities of long-term debt||3,225||2,883|
|Accrued salaries, wages and commissions||2,134||1,617|
|Other accrued liabilities||2,422||1,907|
|Total current liabilities||13,581||13,451|
|Long-term debt, less current maturities||7,530||8,217|
|Other postretirement benefit obligations||670||685|
|Accrued pension liabilities||415||431|
|Other long-term liabilities||139||115|
|Commitments and contingencies|
|Common stock, $1.00 par value per share; 20,000 shares authorized; 5,680 and 5,646 shares issued outstanding at September 30, 2012 and December 31, 2011, respectively||
|Additional paid-in capital||15,669||15,259|
|Accumulated other comprehensive loss||(389||)||(390||)|
|Total shareholders' equity||18,268||17,446|
|Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity||$||40,915||$||40,730|
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D.C. United forward Fabián Espíndola is expected to miss six weeks with a strained medial collateral ligament in his right knee.
Before there was Brazil, there was College Park.
A year ago at this time the U.S. Open Cup was it for D.C. United. With only two wins in league play through mid-June a good Cup run was all United could hope for.
D.C. United's bid for a new stadium at Buzzards Point in Southeast D.C. is still working its way through the approval stage.


text:
Thousands of ringtones on Audiko.net! All you need is to download a free The Bran Flakes ringtones for your iPhone or mobile. Cut your favorite tune from your favorite video - You Can Do Most Anything, The Sidewalk Song, Dance Of The Sugarsnap Fairy, or any other track. Then download the prepared The Bran Flakes ringtones to your mobile, and enjoy MASHUP music by The Bran Flakes every time your phone rings. If you adore MASHUP or maybe Happy and Indie Pop music, then you will probably like cassetteboy, , or as well. For all who want a free The Bran Flakes ringtone, we also recommend listening to Indie Rock, Comedy, and Noise. Depending on a phone model, you can receive your tune both in the MP3 and m4a formats, supported by both mobile phones and iPhones. Just select a track, and choose free The Bran Flakes ringtones download option.
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The Bran Flakes
9 Feb 2009


text:
GREAT JOB goes out to JAVONYA PETERSON for being selected as a "First Team All-Region Scholar Athlete!" Javonya represents an elite group of only 35 Football and 35 Spirit participants in the Pop Warner Southeastern Region. She will be honored at the Southeast Region Scholar Banquet being held at the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel, in Orlando, Florida on April 20, 2013.
In addition to this exceptional accolade, Javonya has also been chosen to be a "National First Team All-American Scholar." As a member of this team she represents the top 70 athletes nationwide in her grade. For this accomplishment Javonya will be honored at the "53rd Annual Pop Warner Little Scholars, All-American Weekend" being held in Boston, Massachusetts on May 24-25. Congratulations Javonya on this very prestigious accomplishment, you represent the Jaguars well!


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Taking place at Jalan Klang Lama, the video of a Volvo SUV slamming into a Myvi went viral on social media, not only because the SUV driver drove against traffic, but is allegedly under the influence of drugs when doing so.
The incident, which took place around 6.30 pm, saw the SUV driver slamming into an oncoming Myvi. Upon hitting the vehicle, the SUV continued its trajectory, relentlessly hitting the Myvi oblivious to the safety of the lady in the Myvi.
Angry at the sight, several road users helped the lady in need by attempting to stop the SUV driver.
Shouts of ‘stop!’ and instructions for the lady driver to get out of her vehicle, in fear of further mishaps taking place due to the SUV driver’s insistence of not leaving his vehicle, took place during the scene.
In a follow up, both drivers have been called by the police for investigation at the Kuala Lumpur Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Department.
According to ACP Zulkefly Yahya, the SUV driver’s urine test turned out positive for drugs and the case is now investigated under Section 42(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987 for dangerous driving as well as the Dangerous Drugs Act for drug abuse.
Let’s hope that incidences like this do not repeat itself in the near future.

domain: law


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Lucknow: On Thursday, accused BJP leader Uma Bharti appeared in person before a special court trial in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case.
The Babri Masjid was demolished in December, 1992 by “kar sevaks” who asserted that the mosque in Ayodhya was built on the spot of an ancient Ram temple.
The court is in the process of recording the statements of the 32 accused under section 313 of the CrPC (power to examine the accused), a phase in the trial where examination of prosecution witnesses is carried out.
The lawyers of the other accused BJP veterans L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Kalyan Singh informed the CBI court on Wednesday that they prefer to appear in trials through video conferencing.
Justice S K Yadav had given a choice to the accused who are yet to record their statements, asking them to provide their addresses so that arrangements can be made for video conferencing.
BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj appeared in the court, denying that he conspired in the demolition of the mosque.
“The accused who have not submitted their addresses and have also not appeared in court so far for recording their statement are directed to appear before it on June 18,” the judge said.
The court has been conducting regular proceedings in order to conclude the trial by August 31, as directed by the Supreme Court.


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Here’s a makeover of the traditional Middle Eastern ‘Hummus’ (a thick paste or spread made from ground chickpeas, tahini or powdered sesame seeds, olive oil, lemon, and garlic). Besides giving it’s pretty pink colour, beetroot also gives vitamin C, fiber and essential minerals to this version of Hummus.
Serve Beetroot Hummus as an appetizer with pita bread. It’s also a great spread for sandwiches. I absolutely love and can have it at any time of the day with lots of extra virgin olive oil.
Here’s the easy recipe for you all;
Preparation Time 30-35 minutes
Grinding Time 3-5 minutes
Main Ingredients Chickpeas, Beetroot, Tahini (or powdered sesame seeds) & Olive Oil
Main Equipment Grinder
Course Condiment/Side dish
Level Of Grinding Medium to High
- Chickpeas 1 1/2 cup (soaked overnight or for 7-8 hours and boiled to soft)
- Chickpea Stock 1/2 cup
- Beetroot 1 medium-size (diced)
- Tahini 1/2 cup (or 1/2 cup roasted and powdered white sesame seeds)
- Olive Oil 1/2 cup (add more if required)
- Red Chilli Powder 1/2 teaspoon
- Black Pepper Powder 1/2 teaspoon
- Cumin Powder 1/2 teaspoon
- Garlic 3 cloves
- Coriander Leaves a few sprigs
- Lemon Juice 1 tablespoon
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil for serving
- Salt to taste
Preheat the oven. Lay parchment/baking paper on a baking tray. Put beetroot pieces on it and sprinkle some salt and olive oil. Roast it in the oven at 200 C for 30-35 minutes or till they become soft.
Alternatively, roast the beetroots sprinkled with salt and olive oil on a pan at low flame till they become soft. I roasted them in the oven.Step 2
Grind boiled chickpeas, roasted beetroots, 1/2 cup chickpea stock, coriander, garlic, lemon juice, salt, all the spices, tahini (or powdered sesame seeds) and olive oil to a smooth paste. (Add more olive oil or chickpea stock if the mix is slightly thick.)
To serve, put in a serving bowl, make a small well in the middle (as shown in the photo) and put some extra virgin olive oil in it. Relish it with pita bread or breadsticks.
Beetroot Hummus can be stored in a refrigerator easily for 4-5 days. It’s a great spread for Sandwiches too. You can also have it along side any main-course or starter dish.
Sharing it at Angie’s Fiesta Friday No. 163.
[PS: Add a teaspoon of olive oil and mix every time you serve. It tastes absolutely delicious.]

domain: food


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Stink bug moms appear to carefully choose the color of their eggs.
A female Podisus maculiventris stink bug can lay eggs in a range of colors from pale yellow to black. P. maculiventris moms control the color of the eggs they lay, seemingly pairing darker eggs with darker surfaces, researchers report July 23 in Current Biology.
Eggs laid on the top surface of leaves were over two times darker, on average, than those laid on a leaf’s pale, top-lit underside, the researchers report. They found that darker eggs protected developing stink bugs from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays, which are probably most intense on a leaf’s sun-exposed top surface. P. maculiventris seems to visually assess a surface to determine how dark its eggs should be. It’s still a mystery what chemical the stink bugs use to darken their eggs; the scientists were surprised to discover that the eggs weren’t colored with the compound melanin, which produces most dark color in insects.
The scientists say this is the first time an animal has been shown to control the color of its eggs at will.

domain: chemistry


Detroit, MI (SportsNetwork.com) - Tyler Johnson capped a wild late-game sequence with his second goal of the contest 2:25 into overtime, and Tampa Bay stole a 3-2 victory over Detroit to even their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at two games apiece.
The Lightning trailed 2-0 with less than six minutes to play in regulation, but battled back to force extra time on goals 1:17 apart thanks to a score and assist from Johnson.
Once in the overtime period, Tampa broke out 3-on-1 with Ondrej Palat pushing the puck ahead to Victor Hedman on the right wing. He froze Red Wings defender Kyle Quincey and pulled Petr Mrazek out of position at the right side before Johnson slid home his cross-ice dish.
"I thought they stole this game," Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock said. "We made some mistakes that they capitalize on."
Palat recorded the other goal for the Lightning, who can wrest the series edge from their Atlantic Division rivals back home in Game 5 on Saturday.
Ben Bishop recovered from a miscue to record a 22-save decision.
"Everyone knew the job that had to be done, and they went out and did it," Lightning head coach John Cooper said. "I couldn't be more proud of them."
Gustav Nyquist and Joakim Andersson tallied for the Red Wings, while Mrazek took the loss despite stopping 26 pucks.
Tampa closed within one at the tail end of a 4-on-4, as Johnson outraced Detroit forward Darren Helm up the left wing and flipped a shot over Mrazek and under the crossbar with 5:26 to play.
Just 77 seconds later, the game was tied when Palat drove the net and tapped in a Johnson lead pass for a 2-2 game.
The Wings finally broke through at 5:42 of the second period. Justin Abdelkader intercepted a clear on the left-wing boards and shuttled the puck across to Henrik Zetterberg on the right wing, and his touch pass back to Nyquist found the back of the net.
Despite failing to click with a 5-on-3 and both ends of a one-man advantage as Cedric Paquette and Bishop were called for infractions 1:21 apart a short time later, Detroit eventually took a 2-0 lead on a fluke play.
Bishop mishandled an Andersson shot with his glove, and the carom deflected off Tampa defenseman Jason Garrison, then the crossbar and the tip of Bishop's stick before sliding across the goal line at 14:24.
Johnson's winner was the Lightning's first playoff overtime goal since Vincent Lecavalier tallied at 6:19 of the extra period for a 3-2 win over Washington in Game 2 of an Eastern semifinal on May 1, 2011 ... Tampa Bay failed to score on Mrazek for 119 minutes, 4 seconds before Johnson's first goal of the contest ... Red Wings center Luke Glendening left the game after suffering an injury to his right hand. The club revealed after the contest that doctors stitched up the wound and he will be ready for Game 5.


The Summit: Snowbird’s Hidden Peak
Location: 9385 S Snowbird Center Dr, Snowbird, UT 84092
Date of Completion: December 2016
Contracting Company: Layton Construction
Project Manager: Christopher Joyal
The project has a 1200A 480V 3Phase service. A 250KW Generator provide emergency power for both life safety and critical equipment. We provided power and connections to a complete micro water plant in the basement mechanical room to provide potable water to the facility. An electric fire pump was required.
The project is unique due to its location. Construction on the top of an 11,000’ peak posed several logistical issues for man and material. The crews arrived at the site via the tram except for when it was down for maintenance. While the tram was being maintained, the crews rode the Peruvian Gulch high speed quad chair lift, then were ferried through the snow in snow cats to the peak. This trip would take about an hour each direction.
Materials were delivered to the site by the tram, or articulating 6X6 2.5 ton trucks or helicopter. The tram took the majority of the small, incidental materials. The large trucks carried the large equipment and pallets to site up a steep narrow switchback dirt path. At times the turns were so tight, not even a pick up could make the switchback. The trucks would have to back up or down to the next switchback. There were several of these tight turns along the 75 min drive from Snowbird Center to the site in the large haul trucks. The helicopter was used early in the spring when the mountain path was blocked by snow. Even with receiving less snow than typical the winter prior, Snow cats still had be to used to clear the snow to get the mountain road open in early June.
The weather at 11,000 feet elevation can be quite unpredictable. We had to work through high winds, driving rain, lightning and snow storms. Several times the project was closed temporarily due to safety concerns during these conditions. The project illustrates that we can do difficult things in difficult locations.


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Back in 2003, Other Press—one of the most interesting independent presses out there—brought out a book about Walt Disney entitled The Perfect American by Peter Stephan Jungk and translated from the Germany by Michael Hofmann.
I remember hearing about this book from my friend Blake Radcliffe (which, I still maintain, would be a fantastic porn star name . . . Blake Radcliffe and Lexy Spry . . .) when he worked at Other Press. It sounds pretty interesting—the novel focuses on the last few months of crazy Walt Disney’s crazy Walt Disney life (his delusions of immortality, EPCOT as Utopia, etc.) from the point of view of Wilhelm Dantine, a cartoonist who worked for Disney on Sleeping Beauty.
Unfortunately, I never got around to reading this (sorry Blake!), but I’m planning on getting to it soon, since Other Press just brought out a paperback edition to celebrate the new Philip Glass opera version that just premiered in Madrid.
From the New York Times:
Peter Stephan Jungk’s novel The Perfect American is a surreal, meditative, episodic account of the last days of Walt Disney.
It seems at first glance to be an ideal source for an opera by Philip Glass, whose surreal, meditative, episodic explorations of the lives of famous men — always men — have formed the bulk of his prodigious operatic output. [. . .]
At the fourth performance on Wednesday, the subtle, moody score, at war between its propulsive and serene impulses, felt more than equal in quality to the festive occasion. While criticisms of Mr. Glass’s music as cookie-cutter have always been misguided, The Perfect American finds him in especially unpredictable form, experimenting with sonorities, textures and pacing.
Led by the Glass veteran Dennis Russell Davies with careful attention to both its underlying pulse and its twists of temperament, the opera opens with an ominous, low murmur punctuated by sharp, syncopated percussion snaps. The sound gradually expands through the orchestra and warms into something that, under Mr. Davies, has more gentle swing than the relentless forward motion generally associated with Mr. Glass.
The music often seems devised to trail off, to run out of steam as it expresses Disney’s struggle with the cancer from which he died in 1966 at 65. But there is nothing exhausted about its inventiveness. Simultaneously eclectic and cohesive, the score incorporates strange, fractured brass fanfares out of Janacek’s Makropulos Case and lilting, seductive rhythms that feel almost foxtrotty, like a misty echo of the 1930s.
Here’s a promo video from Teatro Real:
Too bad I’m not planning a trip to Madrid any time soon . . . At least I can read the book.
And since I LOVE Rework: Philip Glass Remixed album that just came out, and SUPER LOVE Dan Deacon, here’s his contribution, “Alight Spiral Snip.”
Founded in 1960 by such creative pioneers as George Perec, Raymond Queneau and Italo Calvino, the Oulipo, shorthand for Ouvroir de littérature potentielle, came about in when a group of writers and mathematicians sought constraints to find new structures and. . .
There’s little to say about a series of prose poems that willfully refuse to identify pronoun antecedents. Or perhaps there are a million things. The poems in Morse, My Deaf Friend— the chapbook by Miloš Djurdjević published by Ugly Duckling. . .
The Crimson Thread of Abandon is the first collection of short fiction available in English by the prolific Japanese writer and all-around avant-garde trickster Terayama Shūji, who died in 1983 at the age of 47. This collection would be important. . .
Last year, NYRB Classics introduced English-language readers to Catalan writer Josep Pla with Peter Bush’s translation of The Gray Notebook. In that book, Pla wrote about life in Spain during an influenza outbreak soon after World War I, when. . .
“Your bile is stagnant, you see sorrow in everything, you are drenched in melancholy,” my friend the doctor said.
bq. “Isn’t melancholy something from previous centuries? Isn’t some vaccine against it yet, hasn’t medicine taken care of it yet?” I. . .
What to make of Vano and Niko, the English translation of Erlom Akhvlediani’s work of the same name, as well as the two other short books that comprise a sort of trilogy? Quick searches will inform the curious reader that. . .
The opening of Jón Gnarr’s novel/memoir The Indian is a playful bit of extravagant ego, telling the traditional story of creation, where the “Let there be light!” moment is also the moment of his birth on January 2nd, 1967. Then. . .
Mahasweta Devi is not only one of the most prolific Bengali authors, but she’s also an important activist. In fact, for Devi, the two seem to go together. As you can probably tell from the titles, she writes about women. . .
The prolific Spanish author Benito Pérez Galdós wrote his short novel, Tristana, during the closing years of the nineteenth century, a time when very few options were available to women of limited financial means who did not want a husband.. . .
Pedro Zarraluki’s The History of Silence (trans. Nick Caistor and Lorenza García) begins with the narrator and his wife, Irene, setting out to write a book about silence, itself called The History of Silence: “This is the story of how. . .


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- 1 What is a midnight snack?
- 2 Why do they call it a midnight snack?
- 3 What time is midnight snack?
- 4 Whats a late-night snack called?
- 5 What should I eat at 2am?
- 6 Should I go to bed hungry?
- 7 What do you call a meal at 2 am?
- 8 What do we call when we eat at night?
- 9 What is it called when you eat at midnight?
- 10 Is it OK to eat at 2am?
- 11 Why is midnight snacking bad for you?
- 12 What should I eat to lose belly fat overnight?
- 13 What does it mean when you get hungry at night?
- 14 Is a drink considered a snack?
What is a midnight snack?
Whole, minimally processed foods like berries, kiwis, goji berries, edamame, pistachios, oatmeal, plain yogurt and eggs make easy, tasty and healthy late-night snacks. Many of these foods even contain sleep-supportive compounds, including tryptophan, serotonin, melatonin, magnesium and calcium.
Why do they call it a midnight snack?
Eating snacks at night has become a habit dating back to our ancestors. Back in the day, people would eat huge meals at night in order store energy during a famine. This habit has now been brought down to us in the form of midnight snacking.
What time is midnight snack?
Midnight snack is served at midnight.
Whats a late-night snack called?
Midnight snacks are called midnight snacks. –
What should I eat at 2am?
23 Healthy Midnight Snacks for Late Night Snacking
- Hummus and Whole Grain Crackers or Veggies. We knew there was a reason we loved chickpeas.
- Low-Fat Greek Yogurt and Fruit.
- A Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich.
- Pumpkin Seeds.
- Bananas and Peanut Butter.
- A Handful of Nuts.
Should I go to bed hungry?
Going to bed hungry can be safe as long as you’re eating a well-balanced diet throughout the day. Avoiding late-night snacks or meals can actually help avoid weight gain and an increased BMI. If you’re so hungry that you can’t go to bed, you can eat foods that are easy to digest and promote sleep.
What do you call a meal at 2 am?
Brunch originated in England in the late 1800s, and in the 1930s became popular in the United States. Elevenses (also called “morning tea”) – light snack and drink taken in the late morning after breakfast and before lunch.
What do we call when we eat at night?
A light or informal evening meal. Around 6pm-7pm. The main meal of the day, eaten either in the middle of the day or in the evening. Usually when people say ” dinner “, they mean an evening meal, around 7pm-9pm.
What is it called when you eat at midnight?
Night eating syndrome (NES) is a condition that combines overeating at night with sleep problems. With NES, you eat a lot after dinner, have trouble sleeping, and eat when you wake up at night.
Is it OK to eat at 2am?
Physiologically, calories don’t count for more at night. You won’t gain weight by merely eating later if you eat within your daily calorie needs. Still, studies show that nighttime eaters typically make poorer food choices and eat more calories, which can lead to weight gain.
Why is midnight snacking bad for you?
Unfortunately, yes. Late-night eating has been linked to a number of health concerns, from weight gain to severe acid reflux. Plus, calories consumed at bedtime are way more likely to be stored as fat.
What should I eat to lose belly fat overnight?
Include nuts as evening snacks to lose stomach fat. Nuts and seeds are high in fiber, protein and monounsaturated fats, which are good stomach filling fats. Include nuts like almonds, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts and peanuts. To consider it as a healthy snack pick a handful or two tablespoons of nuts and seeds.
What does it mean when you get hungry at night?
Nighttime eating may be the result of overly restricted daytime food intake, leading to ravenous hunger at night. It may also be caused by habit or boredom. However, nighttime eating has also been linked to some eating disorders, including binge eating disorder and night eating syndrome ( 1, 2, 3 ).
Is a drink considered a snack?
Beverages, such as coffee, are not generally considered snacks although they may be consumed along with or in lieu of snack foods. A snack eaten shortly before going to bed or during the night may be called a “bedtime snack “, “late night snack “, or “midnight snack “.

domain: health


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Investing in a ducted reverse cycle air conditioning system offers many benefits, including energy efficiency, year-round comfort, and reliable performance. Our units come from trusted brands such as Daikin and Fujitsu, ensuring that you receive the highest quality product available on the market.
Templestowe Heating & Cooling offers comprehensive maintenance and servicing options to ensure that your ducted reverse cycle air conditioning system operates at its best throughout the year. Our experts will conduct regular maintenance and cleaning to ensure that your system is free from dust and allergens, and to identify and repair any potential issues.
If you experience any issues with your ducted reverse cycle air conditioning system, our skilled technicians will be there to provide fast and reliable repairs. We understand that a breakdown can be a frustrating and inconvenient experience, which is why we aim to provide fast and effective repairs that will have your system up and running again in no time.
For all your ducted reverse cycle air conditioning needs, Templestowe Heating & Cooling is here to help. Contact us today to schedule an installation, maintenance, or repair appointment, or to receive a competitive quote.
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text:
Les Cheneaux Landing Resort is 35 miles N.E. of the Mackinac Bridge in the beautiful Les Cheneaux Islands. Our family oriented resort offers two, three and four bedroom cabins with sandy beach, docks, sand beach volleyball court, basketball court and boat & kayak rental.
Located on the Les Cheneaux ("Snows") Channel we are protected by Marquette Island allowing boats of all sizes to enjoy the scenic channels and bays. This is a good fishing area for perch, northern pike, smallmouth bass, herring, salmon and a variety of pan fish.
Visit the picturesque towns of Cedarville and Hessel and enjoy excursions to nearby tourist attractions such as Mackinac Island, the Soo Locks, Tahquamenon Falls, along with several nearby casinos and golf courses. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

domain: travel


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A powerful fellow, a noted bruiser, was hired by the surveyors to carry the instrument, with a view to its protection against all assailants; but one day an equally powerful fellow, a St. Helen's collier, who was the cock of the walk in his neighbourhood, made up to the theodolite carrier to wrest it from him by sheer force. A battle took place, the collier was soundly pummelled, the natives poured in volleys of stones upon the surveyors and their instruments, and the theodolite was smashed to pieces.
It may readily be conceived that a survey made in the face of such opposition would necessarily be very incomplete; but the surveyors did their best, and when they found they could proceed no further at St. Helen's, they proceeded round Chat Moss to Hiliffe to try the ground there. Their proceedings at that place excited the same degree of surprise amongst the villagers, who turned out in a body to watch them, and appeared perfectly bewildered. The Moss was so soft, in consequence of the wetness of the season, that it was impossible to enter upon it; and the party very shortly retraced their steps, and stationed themselves for a short time at the Three Swans at Eardley. There they began an intermediate survey of a branch tramroad between St. Helen's and the Mersey; and after about a month's labour, when the wet weather set in, the survey was suspended until the following spring
In the meantime public meetings had been got up by Mr. Sandars in several of the principal towns of the district, on the subject of the proposed tramway. One was held in the Exchange at Liverpool, and another in the George Hotel, Warrington, at which Mr. Sandars, Mr. Moss, and Mr. James appeared as the advocates of the measure, which, however, did not as yet meet with any degree of general support. But the subject was thus brought prominently
was very much wonificent uses
under notice, and only wanted time to enable it to work its way in public estimation.
About the middle of the year 1821, Mr. James, having heard of Stephenson's engines, which were reported to him as being more efficient than any locomotives that had yet been constructed, determined to go down to Killingworth to inspect them in person. He was not so fortunate as to meet Mr. Stephenson on that occasion ; but he examined his locomotive at work, and was very much struck by its power and efficiency. He saw at a glance the magnificent uses to which it might be applied. “Here,” said he, “is an engine that will, before long, effect a complete revolution in society.” Returning to Moreton-in-the-Marsh, he wrote to Mr. Losh (Stephenson's partner in the patent) expressing his admiration of the Killingworth engine. “ It is,” said he, “the greatest wonder of the age, and the forerunner, as I firmly believe, of the most important changes in the internal communications of the kingdom.” Mr. Losh invited him again to visit Killingworth, for the purpose of having an interview with Mr. Stephenson on the subject of the locomotive. Accordingly, in September of the same year, accompanied by his two sons, he met Mr. Losh at Newcastle; they proceeded together to Killingworth, where Mr. Stephenson met them; and taking them to where the locomotive was working, he invited them to mount. The uncouth and extraordinary appearance of the machine, as it came snorting along, was somewhat alarming to the youths, who expressed their fears lest it should burst; and they were with some difficulty induced to mount.
The locomotive went through its usual performances, dragging a heavy load of coal waggons at about six miles an hour with apparent ease, at which Mr. James expressed his extreme satisfaction, and declared to Mr. Losh his opinion that Stephenson “ was the greatest practical genius of the age,” and that, “if he developed the full powers of that engine (the locomotive), his fame in the world would rank equal to that of Watt.” Mr. James, who had long been an advocate of the locomotive system, was confirmed in his views by the performances of the Killingworth engine; and informing Stephenson and Losh of the survey of the proposed tramroad between Liverpool and Manchester, upon which he had been engaged, he did not hesitate to state that he would henceforward advocate the adoption of a locomotive railroad instead of the tramroad which had originally been proposed.
As Mr. James's influence amongst persons of influence was considerable, and he was particularly identified with the more important railway projects of the day, Stephenson and Losh were naturally desirous of enlisting his good services on behalf of their patent locomotive. As yet it had proved comparatively unproductive. The Hetton Railway was the only line, in addition to the Killingworth, on which they had then a prospect of getting their engines introduced. Although Stephenson had virtually solved the problem of the locomotive, and demonstrated its profitable employment as a tractive power on railroads, neither he nor Mr. Losh were able to write up and advocate the invention so as to ensure its more extensive adoption. This they believed Mr. James might be able effectually to do for them. With this object, they proposed to give him an interest in their patent, in exchange for his services in this way; and accordingly, by a deed, dated the 1st September, 1821, they assigned to Mr. James one fourth of the profits which might be derived from the use of their patent locomotive for railroads on any lines which might be constructed south of a line drawn across England from Liverpool to Hull, the deed setting forth that this assignment of profits was made in consideration of Mr. James giving “his recommendation and best Coap. xv.] LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER LINE.
assistance” towards the use of the patent locomotive on all such railways.
Mr. James's first recommendation did not prove successful. He endeavoured to introduce the locomotive upon the Moreton-on-Marsh Railway; but Mr. Rastrick, who was the engineer of the line, was so much opposed to its use that Mr. James failed in carrying his point, and he consequently gave up all further connection with that company. In the following year (1822) he wrote to Mr. Losh from Boswell Court, as to a locomotive which he wished to get from Mr. Stephenson for the working of the Croydon and Merstham Railroad, but against which Mr. Stephenson had dissuaded him, as the cast-iron plates were not calculated to bear the weight of the engine, and the result could only bring the locomotive into disrepute. Mr. James was, however, very anxious to have the engine introduced on some railway in the south of England. “I can appreciate,” he said, “ Mr. Stephenson's objections to use his engine on this defective road; but years will elapse, and the patent may expire, before we can get a new road in the south for his engine if this plan is not embraced.” Mr. James at the same time intimated that he was busy with the plans and sections of the Liverpool line, which would furnish a proper opportunity for the introduction of the engine “ for the conveyance of passengers and light goods with the utmost dispatch” between that town and Manchester. By the following year, he added, he hoped to have four bills before Parliament for railroads 150 miles in length, the surveys of which were completed.
The survey of the Liverpool and Manchester line was proceeded with early in 1822, Mr. Padley conducting the work under the superintendence of Mr. Francis Giles. The people of the locality still offered every possible resistance to their proceedings; and the surveyors were, on several occasions, driven off the ground by force. They were under the necessity of proceeding with their work in the early dawn, before the inhabitants were astir. Chat Moss was surveyed by placing hurdles on the bog; and thus with great difficulty, a very imperfect survey of the proposed line was at length effected.
Mr. James, however, failed to produce the plans and estimates for the session of 1823; but he sent in to the promoters of the line his preliminary report on the survey of investigation, in which he stated “ that from their commencement the works may be completed in eighteen months, on a capital not exceeding 100,0001., but the parliamentary survey and estimates will state the sums at which contractors will be found to execute the work.” Mr. James was repeatedly pressed to supply the necessary plans and estimates ; but though he made many promises, he failed to perform any of them. And thus the parliamentary session of 1824 was lost also.
Indeed, the time seems to have been not yet fully come for the adoption of the railway. The projectors found that the line, as laid out, would provoke a powerful opposition in Parliament; and the local support which they had received was not such as to justify them in proceeding in the face of such opposition. The project therefore slept for a time, but it was not lost sight of. Mr. Sandars continued to agitate the question, and he shortly found the number of his supporters was such as to enable him again to take the field with a better prospect of success.


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What is adoptive immunotherapy?
Adoptive immunotherapy involves the use of tumor vaccines made from autologous or allogeneic tumor-associated antigens. Specific purified tumor antigens can be made more immunogenic by attachment to carrier proteins (adjuvants).
How does adoptive cell transfer work?
What is Adoptive Cell Transfer Therapy? Adoptive cell transfer therapy, or ACT, includes a number of different types of immunotherapy treatments. They all use immune cells that are grown in the lab to large numbers followed by administering them to the body to fight the cancer.
What is the success rate of car T cell therapy?
That was three years ago, and the cancer still hasn’ t returned. The CAR T – cell therapy success rate is about 30% to 40% for lasting remission, with no additional treatment , according to Michael Bishop, MD, director of UChicago Medicine’s cellular therapy program.
What is TCR T cell therapy?
TCR – T cells are genetically engineered TCR products that can recognize specific antigens. The core goal behind TCR – T cell technology is to directly modify TCR binding to tumor antigens. The affinity of human TCRs to these antigens is relatively low, which makes it impossible to recognize and kill tumors effectively.
How is immunotherapy done?
Immunotherapy is treatment that uses certain parts of a person’s immune system to fight diseases such as cancer. This can be done in a couple of ways: Stimulating, or boosting, the natural defenses of your immune system so it works harder or smarter to find and attack cancer cells.
What is an example of active immunotherapy?
Active immunotherapy is a type of immunotherapy that aims to stimulate the host’s immune system or a specific immune response to a disease or pathogen and is most commonly used in cancer treatments. Cytokines.
|Cytokines||Ig, Interferons, TNF|
|Chemokines||CXC, CC, CX3C, XC|
|Interleukins||IL-2, IL-7, 1L-10, 1L-12|
How long does a car t take to work?
Infusion: The infusion of CAR -T cells typically takes 30 to 90 minutes . However, plan for the infusion visit to take up to six hours to allow for care before and after the infusion.
How are T cells engineered?
The therapy requires drawing blood from patients and separating out the T cells . Next, using a disarmed virus, the T cells are genetically engineered to produce receptors on their surface called chimeric antigen receptors, or CARs.
How many T cell receptors do T cells have?
There are approximately 105 TCRs expressed on the surface of a cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL), and it has been suggested that engagement of anywhere from 3–400 TCRs per cell may suffice for CTL activation (42, 7, 3).
What cancers does car t treat?
The FDA has approved CAR T-cell therapy for adult patients with certain types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma including aggressive, relapsed or refractory diffuse large B cell lymphoma , primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma , high grade B-cell lymphoma , transformed follicular lymphoma , and mantle cell lymphoma ; and for children
HOW MUCH DOES CAR T cells cost?
By some estimates, CAR T-cell therapy can cost as much as $375,000 for a one-time treatment, depending upon the cancer type and treatment regimen. That estimate does not include hospital stays and other related expenses.
Who is eligible for T cell therapy?
CAR T – cell therapy is only approved to treat two groups of people with certain types of cancer: Children and young adults up to age 25 with precursor B- cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) that hasn’ t gotten better with treatment or that’s come back after treatment.
What does the T stand for in T cells?
What is oncology cell therapy?
Cellular therapies are designed to improve the immune system’s ability to fight cancer . Manufacturing them involves collecting a specific set of cells from the blood, modifying them to produce a more vigorous attack on a patient’s cancer cells , and then reinjecting them into the patient.
What is immune cell therapy?
Immune therapy is a new class of cancer treatment designed to boost or enhance the body’s immune system to more efficiently target and destroy cancerous cells . Many experts believe that immunotherapy represents the most promising new cancer treatment since the development of chemotherapy.

domain: medical


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Why this page is here
As I am beginning to understand, my ability to empathize with others is related to the amount I can empathize with myself. How much I can empathize with myself is reflective of the amount of empathy I receive from others.
If this is universally true, then one can say we all need empathy in order to empathize. The amount that need to receive empathy is met, in all of us, is related to how much we can empathize with others.
Your participation in these projects will help meet that need. Each one is unique and speaks to a certain need I believe we all share, universally. The universality of the needs in these projects is why I believe they are meant to be participatory.
I invite you to participate if you recognize the need I am expressing from my heart.
A video that describes what sort of empathy I need in these projects can be found here.
QUILTING FOR CAROLINE
Quilting for Caroline is an album about true Empathy, one that is based in giving from the heart.
I need people who wish to be part of this story to respond in this same kind of empathy. Everything that is sent is accepted, but only send something when it feels to you that you have accomplished this kind of empathy.
You are invited to send in any expression of that empathy, be it photos, art, a sample to include in the recording, or anything else that reflects your empathy.

domain: psychology


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CANCELED: Sovereignty and Self-Governance in the Seneca Nation of Indians
**This lecture has been canceled.**
Since the Kaswentha (Two Row Wampum) treaty with the Dutch in 1613, the Seneca Nation of Indians and their fellow Haudenosaunee nations have struggled to maintain their identity and sovereignty over their lands in New York. Among Native American nations, they have a unique status in that the United States in the 1784 Treaty of Fort Stanwix recognized them as sovereign nations on equal standing with the new United States of America, a status reaffirmed in the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua. Nonetheless, for almost 240 years both New York and the U.S. government have worked to dispossess the Seneca of their land, their nationhood, and their identity. This panel will look at the Seneca Nation of Indians today, and the challenges and opportunities it faces in the future, through the lens of nation sovereignty and self-governance.

domain: library


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A Reading Group Guide for The Earthsea Cycle
By Ursula K. Le Guin About the Earthsea Cycle
Earthsea is a fictional realm originally created by Ursula K. Le Guin for her short story "The Word of Unbinding," published in 1964. Earthsea became the setting for six books, beginning with A Wizard of Earthsea,
and continuing with The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, Tales from Earthsea,
and The Other Wind.
All are set in the world of Earthsea. Each novel in the series has received a prestigious literary award, including the 1969 Boston Globe –Horn Book
Award for Fiction and the 1979 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award for A Wizard of Earthsea,
the 1972 Newbery Honor for The Tombs of Atuan,
the 1973 National Book Award for Children's Books for The Farthest Shore,
the 1990 Nebula Award for Best Novel for Tehanu,
and the 2002 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel for The Other Wind. Book 1: A Wizard of Earthsea About the Book
Ged, the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, was called Sparrowhawk in his reckless youth. Hungry for power and knowledge, Sparrowhawk tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance. Prereading Activities
Introduce readers to the concept of the Bildungsroman,
or coming-of-age story, and examples with which they may be familiar, such as Catcher in the Rye
and David Copperfield.
Explain characteristics of the Bildungsroman
story and ask readers to identify them in the course of reading the novel.
Taoist philosophy is represented in all the books of the Earthsea cycle. Have students use print and electronic resources to research the origins of Taoist philosophy, its fundamental characteristics, and influences. Discussion Questions
1. How would you describe Ged's personality based on his actions and the descriptions?
2. How would you describe the style in which the story is written?
3. What do you think Ogion means when he says, "[T]o keep dark the mind of the mageborn, that is a dangerous thing"?
4. How would you describe the setting of the story? What kind of world is it?
5. What is the first lesson Ogion wants to teach Ged, and why is it the most important?
6. What does Ged's question about the use of fourfoil reveal about his personality? What point is Ogion trying to make when he asks Ged, "What, after all, is the use of you? or of myself? Is Gont Mountain useful, or the Open Sea?"
7. How would you describe Ogion? What is Ogion's philosophy about magic? What does Ged find surprising about him?
8. What do Ged's actions and decisions further reveal about his personality?
9. What do you think of what the man in the town of Thwil says to Ged, "The wise don't need to ask, the fool asks in vain"?
10. How is the appearance of the School's door appropriate, given that it is a school for wizards? How is it representative of themes expressed in the story and in the lessons Ogion has taught Ged? Why must Ged tell the doorkeeper his true name to gain entrance to the School?
11. Why do you think Lord Nemmerle has Ged read Ogion's letter himself?
12. What is Ged's reaction to what the Master Hand tells him? What do you think the Master Hand mean when he says, "To light a candle is to cast a shadow"?
13. How would you describe Jasper? What are some examples of things Jasper does and says that make Ged angry or envious?
14. Why do you think the otak/hoeg is attracted to Ged?
15. How does Ged try to overcome his anger and envy toward Jasper, and his fear about certain spells of Summoning?
16. What does Jasper say that makes Ged decide to challenge him?
17. What changes does Ged notice when he reads the runes in the Book of Summoning in the darkness?
18. Why do you think Nemmerle sacrifices his life to save Ged?
19. Why is Gensher unwilling to accept Ged's fealty?
20. What is Gensher's explanation for why Ged's spell went wrong?
21. Why does Ged want to be alone? What future does he have in mind for himself?
22. What is the gift Vetch gives to Ged? What is the significance of his act?
23. What do you think the Master Summoner means when he says, "[T]he truth is that as a man's real power grows and his knowledge widens, ever the way he can follow grows narrower: until at last he chooses nothing, but does only and wholly what he must do?"
24. Why do you think Ged must ask the Master Doorkeeper's name to win his freedom from the School—what lesson does this teach?
25. How does Ged feel about his assignment to go to Low Torning?
26. What effect does the world of the dead have upon Ged?
27. How is Ged brought back to consciousness? What effect does this have on his thinking?
28. What does Ged learn from his failure to save Ioeth?
29. What is the significance of Ged's decision to go to Pendor to confront the dragons?
30. How does Yevaud try to manipulate Ged? What does Ged's reaction to Yevaud's offer reveal about his character? What does he learn from his encounter with Yevaud?
31. What signs tell Ged that his shadow is not far from him?
32. Why do you think Le Guin decided to keep Ged from returning to Roke?
33. How would you describe the man who tells Ged to go to the Court of the Terrenon. What does the man say and do that is suspicious? How does the man react to Ged's suspicion? Why does Ged decide to take his advice?
34. What does the gebbeth do to Skiorh? Why does it lead Ged out into the desert before confronting him?
35. Why do you think the gebbeth is unable to catch Ged, even when he tires and can no longer run?
36. Why are Lord Benderesk and Lady Serret so hospitable to Ged? What is odd and suspicious about the Court of the Terrenon?
37. Why is Ged unable to "see things plainly" in the tower-keep?
38. What does Serret reveal about the powers of the Terrenon?
39. Why does Serret not believe Ged when he says he fears the Terrenon?
40. What do you think Serret means when she says: "He who throws away his power is filled sometimes with a far greater power"?
41. Why is the Terrenon unable to capture Ged's will?
42. Why is Ged unable to turn back into his human form? Why do you think he flies to Gont rather than Roke?
43. What does Ogion say that contradicts what Gensher told Ged? How do you think the shadow knew Ged's name? What advice does Ogion give him, and why?
44. Why does Ged want to meet the shadow on the sea rather than on land?
45. Why do you think the shadow turns and flees when Ged pursues it? Why doesn't it attack him when he is lying helpless on the beach?
46. How do the man and woman on the cay react to Ged? Why don’t they want to leave the island?
47. What does Ged's treatment of the man and woman reveal about his character?
48. What is ironic about the way the shadow tricks Ged into crashing into the rocks?
49. What effect does grabbing and holding the shadow have on Ged? What does he realize about his task after this?
50. What strange thing happens to Ged on Vemish? What explanation do you have for this phenomenon?
51. Why does Ged at first refuse to let Estarriol accompany him, and how does Estarriol persuade Ged to let him come? Why is it appropriate that Estarriol should be there?
52. What happened to Jasper? Why do you think he left Roke?
53. What possible future does Ged see that frightens him?
54. What explanations do Ged and Estarriol have for the strange behavior of the shadow—for its taking Ged’s form and its inability to defeat Ged by speaking his name?
55. According to Ged, what is the fundamental difference between summoning light and summoning an object? Why is it that summoning light does not upset Equilibrium, yet summoning an object does?
56. Why do Ged and Estarriol avoid using magic on this final voyage?
57. What brief vision does Ged have about where he will meet the shadow?
58. What fears does Estarriol have about their voyage?
59. What is your interpretation of the way in which Ged defeats the shadow?
60. How would you describe the place where Ged meets the shadow? How does it come into existence, and why does it suddenly disappear?
61. Were you surprised by what happens when Ged confronts the shadow? Would you say that his realization is true of all human experience?
62. What is the meaning of the lines quoted from the Creation of Éa:
"Only in silence the word, only in dark the light, only in dying life: bright the hawk's flight on the dying sky"? How do these lines relate to the story? Postreading Activities and Questions
1. Identify three examples of foreshadowing in the story.
2. Create profiles of the major characters in the novel: Sparrowhawk/Ged, Ogion, Vetch/Estarriol, Jasper, Ged’s shadow, and Lady Serret. What facts about each one are important to the story?
3. What are the main themes and messages of the story? Discuss how the characters, setting, and plot help develop these themes.
4. What aspect(s) of the story do you like best? Discuss why you find them appealing. Why is this world called Earthsea? How would you describe it? Why do you think LeGuin chose to set her story in such a world?
5. The language of A Wizard of Earthsea
is often poetic. Comment on three sentences that you find particularly beautiful or moving. In what ways is a writer or artist like a wizard?
6. Compare the evil of the shadow with the evil of Terrenon. Are they evil in the same way? How do they differ? Book 2: The Tombs of Atuan About the Book
In this second novel in the Earthsea series, Tenar is chosen as high priestess to the ancient and nameless Powers of the Earth, and everything is taken from her—home, family, possessions, even her name. She is now known only as Arha, the Eaten One, and guards the shadowy, labyrinthine Tombs of Atuan. Then a wizard, Ged Sparrowhawk, comes to steal the Tombs’ greatest hidden treasure, the Ring of Erreth-Akbe. Tenar’s duty is to protect the Ring, but Ged possesses the light of magic and tales of a world that Tenar has never known. Will Tenar risk everything to escape from the darkness that has become her domain? Discussion Questions
1. What do the priestesses mean when they say of Tenar: "Let her be eaten!"?
2. What does it mean when the girl is transformed from Tenar to the Eaten One?
3. How was Arha chosen?
4. How would you describe Arha's life in the Place of the Tombs of Atuan?
5. What is Penthe's relationship with Arha?
6. Why does Arha continue to be frustrated even after crossing into womanhood?
7. How does Manan show Arha new ways of seeing?
8. Why does Kossil fear the tombs?
9. Who are the prisoners in the tombs? For what reasons are they imprisoned?
10. What does Kossil say Arha will learn?
11. What does Arha find herself in agreement about with Penthe? What is it about Penthe's words that frighten Arha?
12. Why does Arha return to the cavern day after day?
13. What does Thar tell Arha about the labyrinth?
14. What is the Ring of Erreth-Akbe?
15. What is Kossil's view of the Wizards of the West?
16. How does Arha feel about Kossil's "unfaith"?
17. Why is Arha conflicted over how to deal with the intruder?
18. What is Sparrowhawk's purpose in coming to the Tombs of Atuan?
19. What does Arha mean when she says: "You know everything, wizard. But I know one thing—the one true thing!" What is the “one true thing”?
20. Why does Arha let Sparrowhawk live?
21. Why does Arha bring Sparrowhawk to the Undertomb?
22. What is the significance of Arha's dream of the birds?
23. When Arha says: "The gods are dead, the gods are dead," what is Sparrowhawk's response?
24. Why can't Sparrowhawk tell Tenar how he found her name?
25. How does Tenar's decision to go with Sparrowhawk set them both free?
26. What does Ged tell Tenar when she says: "The evil must be paid for. I am not free"?
27. The wizard, Ged, explains to Tenar that the Nameless Ones are
the Tombs of Atuan, and cannot leave the Place. Why does Le Guin limit the dwellings of the dark powers to a single location in her fantasy world?
28. Le Guin emphasizes the Equilibrium of dark and light forces throughout the Earthsea Cycle. Does Le Guin justify Ged's argument that the dark powers should not be "denied or forgotten?" Why must they be equal with the light powers? How do the sentences that describe the small evils that exist in the world add to this argument?
29. Why does Le Guin make her dark forces nameless in a world where magic and power revolve around names?
30. Why do you think Le Guin describes the dark powers as "holy Powers"? Book 3: The Farthest Shore About the Book
In this third book in the Earthsea series, darkness threatens to overtake Earthsea: the world and its wizards are losing their magic. But Ged Sparrowhawk—Archmage, wizard, and dragonlord—is determined to discover the source of this devastating loss. Aided by Enlad’s young prince, Arren, Ged embarks on a treacherous journey that will test their strength and will. To restore magic, the two warriors must venture to the farthest reaches of their world—and even beyond the realm of death. Discussion Questions
1. Sparrowhawk says to Arren: "When I was young, I had to choose between the life of being and the life of doing. And I leapt at the latter like a trout to a fly. But each deed you do, each act, binds you to itself and to its consequences, and makes you act again and yet again. Then very seldom do you come upon a space, a time like this, between act and act, when you may stop and simply be. Or wonder who, after all, you are." What prompts Sparrowhawk to share this with Arren? Why does Arren find it so surprising?
2. Who is the only creature capable of upsetting the great Balance and what is the cause?
3. Why do you think Le Guin italicizes the sentence, "Infinite are the arguments of mages . . . .
"? What might she be trying to create or set up with this statement?
4. When Arren asks if dragons do great evil, Sparrowhawk replies, "Who am I, to judge the acts of dragons? . . . They are wiser than men are. It is with them as with dreams, Arren. We men dream dreams, we work magic, we do good, we do evil. The dragons do not dream. They are dreams. They do not work magic: it is their substance, their being. They do not do; they are". What do you think Sparrowhawk means when he says dragons are dreams? What is it that makes dragons wiser than men? How is this view of dragons different from how they are depicted in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit
or other fantasy stories?
5. What do Arren and Sparrowhawk find to be wrong with Hort Town?
6. What do you think Sparrowhawk means when he says of Hare, "For all his craft in sorcery, he has never seen the way before him, seeing only himself"?
7. Why does Arren look upon Sparrowhawk "with love, but also with fear"? What is the great gift of childhood?
8. What had Arren hoped was the reason for Sparrowhawk choosing him for the voyage?
9. What do you think Le Guin means when she writes: "To be one's self is a rare thing and a great one"? How does the idea of being one's self play out in the rest of the novel?
10. Why would Sparrowhawk consider immortality evil? Why is death a necessity?
11. What do Arren and Ged find on the Dry Land? How does Arren feel about what he sees?
12. Who is Cob and why does he refuse Ged's offer to give him death?
13. What is revealed in The Deed of Ged? Book 4: Tehanu About the Book
Years before, Tenar and Ged had escaped together from the sinister Tombs of Atuan—she, an isolated young priestess, and he, a powerful wizard. Now she is a farmer's widow, having chosen for herself the simple pleasures of an ordinary life. And he is a broken old man, mourning the powers lost to him not by choice. A lifetime ago, they helped each other at a time of darkness and danger. Now they must join forces again, to help another—the physically and emotionally scarred child whose own destiny remains to be revealed. Discussion Questions
1. What has become of Tenar since leaving the Tombs of Atuan?
2. Why does Ogion send for Goha?
3. What do you think Goha means when she says she doesn't know what a wizard is but does know what one does?
4. What does Goha tell Therru about Ogion?
5. What are the disturbing rumors heard about the art of magic?
6. What does Ogion say has happened to Ged?
7. What does Ogion say about Therru?
8. Who will Ogion be known as in death?
9. How has Therru changed since coming with Tenar to Ogion's?
10. Why does Tenar wonder if fear is the bond she has with Therru?
11. Who does Tenar encounter on Gont Mountain?
12. What is the gebbeth?
13. What is Aunty Moss's reply to Tenar's question about what is wrong with men?
14. Who has Arren become?
15. What is significant about Therru staring at Ged?
16. What keeps Tenar from leaving Ogion's house?
17. What promise does Tenar make to Ged?
18. Why does Tenar resist Beech's suggestion about Therru?
19. What is Tenar's response to Ged's remark that no woman can be archmage?
20. What do you think will become of Ged, Tenar, and Therru? Book 5: Tales from Earthsea About the Book
The tales of this book, as Ursula K. Le Guin writes in her foreword, explore or extend the world established by her first four Earthsea novels. Yet each tale stands on its own. "The Finder," a novella set a few hundred years before A Wizard of Earthsea,
presents a dark and troubled Archipelago and reveals how the school on Roke came to be. "The Bones of the Earth" features the wizards who taught the wizard who first taught Ged, and it demonstrates how humility, if great enough, can rein in an earthquake. "Darkrose and Diamond" is a delightful story of young courtship showing that sometimes wizards can pursue alternative careers. "On the High Marsh," from the brief but eventful time of Ged as Archmage of Earthsea, tells of the love of power—and of the power of love. "Dragonfly" shows how a woman, determined enough, can break the glass ceiling of male magedom. Taking place shortly after the last Earthsea novel, it also provides a bridge—a dragon bridge—to the next Earthsea novel, The Other Wind.
The author concludes this collection with an essay about Earthsea's history, people, languages, literature, and magic, and provides two new maps of Earthsea. Discussion Questions
1. "The Finder," is a novella that tells the story of Otter/Medra and the origins of the school of magic upon the "Isle of the Wise," the island of Roke. The story is set about three centuries before the time of Ged. "The Finder" tells of a dark and deeply troubled Archipelago and a time when magic and the wielders of magic were feared and mistrusted. How is this story important to understanding the history and mythology of Earthsea?
2. "The Bones of the Earth" is set on the island of Gont where Ged was born. The story centers on an old, stubborn wizard named Dulse and his apprentice, the mage Ogion, who will become Ged's first teacher in sorcery. How does this story depict a wizard's life? How does the story serve to further illuminate Ogion's character?
3. In what way does the romantic tale, "Darkrose and Diamond," show that wizards can choose to follow an alternative path to becoming one of the "people of power"?
4. In what way does "On the High Marsh" contrast the love of power and the power of love? How does this story explore the theme of redemption?
5. How does "Dragonfly" function as a link between the novels Tehanu
and The Other Wind?
In what way does the story show that even the greatest of the ruling mages of Earthsea is fallible and prone to errors of judgment?
6. In what ways are the stories and essays in this collection a reinterpretation of the world of Earthsea as it was depicted in the first four novels? Book 6: The Other Wind About the Book
The sorcerer Alder fears sleep. He dreams of the land of death, of his wife who died young and longs to return to him so much that she kissed him across the low stone wall that separates our world from the Dry Land—where the grass is withered, the stars never move, and lovers pass without knowing each other. The dead are pulling Alder to them at night. Through him they may free themselves and invade Earthsea. Alder seeks advice from Ged, once Archmage. Ged tells him to go to Tenar, Tehanu, and the young king at Havnor. They are joined by amber-eyed Irian, a fierce dragon able to assume the shape of a woman. The threat can be confronted only in the Immanent Grove on Roke, the holiest place in the world, and there the king, hero, sage, wizard, and dragon make a last stand. Discussion Questions
1. Why did the Lord Patterner send Alder to Sparrowhawk?
2. What is Alder's training and abilities in magic?
3. What demands are the dragons making of King Lebannen?
4. What are the emissaries of the High King of the Kargs asking of King Lebannen?
5. Why does Tehanu agree to accompany the King on a mission to parley with the dragons?
6. What is at the root of the unbalancing of Earthsea?
7. What does Tenar mean when she says Tehanu is "the child of many and none"?
8. How is Tehanu freed from the burden of her childhood injury?
9. How is the spell that created the Dry Land broken?
10. In what ways is a new world order born in Earthsea?
11. How would you describe the roles of Sparrowhawk and Tenar in this story?
12. What do you think will become of Tehanu?
13. Identify examples of how the theme of reconciliation is addressed in this story. Print Resources
Bernardo, Susan M. and Graham J. Murphy. Ursula K. Le Guin: A Critical Companion.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006.
Cadden, Mike. Ursula K. Le Guin Beyond Genre: Fiction for Children and Adults.
New York, NY: Routledge, 2005. Web Resources
Coyote's Song: The Teaching Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin, Richard D. Erlich, SFRA, 2007. http://www.sfra.org/Coyote/CoyoteHome.htm
Ursula K. Le Guin’s Web Site
www.earthseaseries.com This guide was written by Edward T. Sullivan, a librarian and writer.
This guide has been provided by Simon & Schuster for classroom, library, and reading group use. It may be reproduced in its entirety or excerpted for these purposes.

domain: literature