text:
Health knowledge made personal
Symptoms Of Arthritis
Please enter a search word or phrase.
The search word cannot have more than 100 characteres.
Questions & Answers
Symptoms Of Arthritis - Questions & Answers
Ask a Question
Can symptoms of arthritis be caused by omeprazole
Jul 13 2010 12:10pm
could Vioxx have caused long term muscle weakness and arthritis type symptoms?
Mar 15 2009 12:14am
Should I be concerned about MS or other conditions or are these symptoms all related to arthritis.
Feb 03 2009 6:15am
cold symptoms and psoriatic arthritis are these related?
Oct 22 2010 8:40am
are similar to flu and allergy sympt ...
Oct 22 2010 9:23am
Is there a relationship between Portuguese man of war stings, arthritis & prostate symptoms?
Mar 31 2010 2:32pm
I have rheumatoid arthritis. I also am concerned that I have significant symptoms of narcolepsy. Can these two auto-immune dis
Aug 28 2009 8:51am
big toe hurts, swollen and nail no longer growing. I have arthritis and a bone spur but swelling & nail symptom is new.
Jan 19 2010 1:52pm
what medication can I take for early signs of arthritis. I have hemagromitosis
Jul 06 2010 9:30pm
morning left leg knee ache
Dec 26 2008 9:02pm
nurses know what's good for you
Aug 23 2008 3:21pm
... ssure exerted on the joints provides an excellent exercise to relieve arthritis
. Also, the stress relief associated with yoga loosens muscles that tigh ...
Aug 23 2008 3:21pm
1-10 of 3910
symptoms of arthritis
Symptoms of Arthritis in Feet
symptoms of arthritis in hands
symptoms of arthritis in fingers
symptoms of arthritis in the hands
symptom of arthritis of the sesamoid bone
Mild arthritis symptoms
Psoriatic arthritis symptoms
hip arthritis symptoms
back arthritis symptoms
What Are The Symptoms Of Arthritis
Pain Is Not A Symptom Of Arthritis, Pain Causes Arthritis: New Study
Signs & Symptoms of Arthritis
Tomatoes, Potatoes May Aggravate Arthritis Symptoms
Basilar joint arthritis symptoms - Basilar Joint Arthritis Over view
Does Weather Affect Arthritis Symptoms?
Arthritis Symptoms Improved Through Meditation
Rheumatoid Arthritis Symptoms
Rain, Rain Go Away! The Effects of Weather and Rheumatoid Arthritis Symptoms
Video Health Stories
Advertise With Us
See all the
latest blog posts.
Salmonella Nutrition Bars
Children Staph Infection
How to Reduce LDL
Life Expectancy Emphysema
Itchy Swollen Eyelids
Bone Density Medications
Causes of Swelling
Pregnancy Brown Discharge
Sore Neck Glands
Itchy Rash on Arms
Itchy Throat Cough
Pinched Nerve Neck Symptoms
Burning Sensation During Urination
Blood Clots During Period
Swollen Lymph Node Armpit
Causes of Lump
Causes of Itching
Swollen Lymph Nodes Groin
Signs of Pregnancy Before Missed Period
Causes of Rash
Coughing Up Phlegm
Enlarged Groin Lymph Nodes
Early Pregnancy Brown Discharge
Gillian Barre Syndrome
Sore Throat Body Aches
Symptoms of Swelling
Side Effects of Flu Shot
Find a Counselor
Wellsphere does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
See additional information.
Copyright © 2014 Remedy Health Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

domain: medical


text:
Over 13.21 lakh children in the age group of 12 to 14 years will be administered the COVID-19 vaccine in Chhattisgarh in a drive that begins on March 16, an official from the State Health Department said on Tuesday, March 15. All the necessary preparations have been made to administer the Corbevax vaccine to 13,21,286 children in the age group, said Dr Priyanka Shukla, the state nodal officer for COVID-19 vaccination and Director of the National Health Mission.
The second dose of the vaccine will be administered to eligible children four weeks after they have taken their first jab. Vaccination officers of all the districts have been oriented on this, she said. Eligible beneficiaries can register themselves on the CoWIN app to get vaccinated, the official said.
The Centre, on March 14, also announced that all people above the age of 60 can get the booster (precautionary) dose. Previously, only those with comordibities were allowed to take the extra dose. Senior citizens who have completed 39 weeks after their second dose can take the third dose of the same COVID-19 vaccine previously given at the nearest vaccination centre by registering themselves on the CoWIN app, Shukla said.
At present, more than 1.64 lakh vaccine doses are available in the state, the official said. Over 1.73 crore people have taken both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine so far in the state, while 11,16,786 children in the age group of 15 to 18 years have also been vaccinated, Dr Shukla said.


text:
The year 2017 will be a green year because PANTONE 15-0343 Greenery has been declared Colour of the Year by the colour institute that has a big influence on fashionistas and interior designers.
This refreshing, revitalizing and vibrant green is a symbol of new beginnings, and the lushness of the outdoors. You can give the interior a quick update with Anthurium cut flowers in lovely greens.
«Greenery bursts forth in 2017 to provide us with the reassurance we yearn for amid a tumultuous social and political environment,» says Leatrice Eiseman, the executive director of the Pantone Colour Institute, in a statement.
The busier we are, the more we want to be surrounded by nature, according to Pantone. This need is reflected in the rise of green in our daily lives. Flowers and plants are the interior accessories that best fulfil this need nowadays so they should never be missing from the home.
The Colour of the Year gives a boost
Take advantage of the popularity of PANTONE 15-0343 Greenery. We have already selected a few products that fit perfectly with this new colour trend.
Midori Improved in different bouquets and solo
The Anthurium cut flower, Midori improved® cheers up every interior with her fresh apple green colour. This modern flower with her fresh, energetic look combines well with all sorts of colours.
Lemona and Marysia
Lemona ® has a slightly softer yellow/green colour that makes it easy to combine with other colours such as the vibrant Pantone Greenery colour.
Choose multiple colour tones that combine well with Greenery, such as flowers like Midori Improved with Lemona and Marysia®, a soft yellow Anthurium flower with an elegant shape.

domain: design


text:
Bostonia is published in print three times a year and updated weekly on the web.
Clifford Backman hardly looks like a pirate in his red sweater vest, tie, and rolled-up sleeves—not even an eyepatch in sight. Yet this affable College of Arts & Sciences scholar is addressing a lecture hall full of students about the maritime marauders of the 17th century. More than that, he’s using autobiographical nuggets to help illuminate the topic.
Pirates, the reading assignment for today’s class contends, were merely capitalist entrepreneurs, acting as we all do out of rational, economic self-interest. Backman, an associate professor of history, isn’t buying that theory. Humans don’t necessarily make rational choices, he says, citing how he chose a college solely because his girlfriend went there, only to lose her to a Minneapolis newscaster. The irrationality of following her struck Backman when he browsed a local electronics store, where “the son of a bitch was on all 65 televisions.”
Don’t believe everything you read is one valuable lesson offered in Backman’s The History of Piracy. For the record, he’s heard his fill of arrrhh maties from students who’ve taken his course, and yes, several donned pirate costumes for the first class this semester. But Backman, a specialist in late medieval Mediterranean society, says there’s academic oomph to this topic, movies and Treasure Island knockoffs notwithstanding. He does devote the last class to modern, digital piracy, “simply because the students have asked.”
“Piracy is as old as commerce,” he says, and today it’s big commerce—$16 billion a year, primarily in the Indian Ocean and the China Sea, according to him. It’s also newsworthy, as the occasional story on Somali pirate kidnappings attests. (A Vanity Fair headline about that topic in 2009 proclaimed “a new age of piracy.”) Long John Silver’s real-life counterparts also can claim a role in spurring several historic developments, such as the rise of the British Empire’s naval superiority. Pirates supported by the British government, such as Sir Francis Drake, “would simply mug the Spanish on their way back” with gold from the New World, learning maritime skills in the process, Backman says.
Open to all undergraduates, the course was first offered last fall, he says, after the history department chair, facing a drop in history enrollments, “asked me to come up with a sexy new course. I offered him four or five. And he said, ‘Go with pirates.’”
Good call: Backman had to raise the class cap several times to accommodate the 101 students who signed up this semester. (He’ll teach it again in the fall.) Clearly, the topic appeals to a generation reared on Johnny Depp’s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
School of Management students comprise a third of the class, making this day’s economics-argued reading especially relevant. Backman’s skepticism about the author’s argument that capitalism and rational choice best explain piracy doesn’t merely reflect his wandering in electronics stores. From Moses Henriques, who plundered gold-laden Spanish ships in the 1600s to avenge Jewish victims of the Inquisition, to escaped African slaves with no other way to survive in the Caribbean, pirates often had motives other than rational profit-seeking—and anyway, profits were hardly guaranteed in this line of work, the professor says. (The following week’s reading would treat piracy from a Marxist perspective, he alerts the class.)
That state-sanctioned pirates were tools used by nations against rivals has been the most startling revelation for history major Allison Guarino (CAS’16). “Piracy wasn’t just necessarily for people who were the outcasts of society,” she says after class. “Nobility was actually interested in becoming part of the piracy.”
Backman believes our piracy obsession reflects a cultural appreciation for outlaws, a release valve from the regimented 9-to-5 structure of daily life. Yet he hopes to impart one big lesson: “Piracy is not cool.” The syllabus announces his view, promising that one class theme will ask, why “do we delight in the adventures of these particular murderers and thugs?”
The other thing he hopes to teach students is that “piracy is a constant in human history. It’s as prevalent today as it ever was,” probably because globalization has boosted maritime trade and the opportunities for theft on the high seas. Also, it’s surprisingly easy to stop a ship with just a small boat, a grenade launcher, and a few pirates. About two years ago, Somali pirates stopped and boarded what they thought was a merchant ship. “It was actually a military ship that belonged to Holland,” says Backman. The startled pirates did a 180 and fled—but had proved that even an armed cruiser can be brought to a standstill.

domain: news


text:
Racine man accused of breaking into gas station to steal beer
RACINE -- 47-year-old Perry Brooks is charged with burglary of a building after allegedly breaking into the JD Petroleum gas station on 16th St. in Racine. Police say fresh footprints in the snow led them straight to Brook's home.
According to the criminal complaint, Brooks allegedly threw a stone in at the gas station's front window in order to gain entry. Police report Brooks only stole an unknown amount of beer from the gas station, which is worth far less than the glass window he allegedly broke before entering.
Racine police arrived on the scene and noticed fresh prints in the snow leading away from the gas station. Officers followed the prints to a home on the 1600 block of Morton Ave. Officers attempted to make contact with someone inside the house, but no one was home.
Gas station employees identified the person they saw on surveillance as Goldie, also known as Perry Brooks. Police advised employees to notify them the next time they saw Brooks near the store. This happened a week later.
As police arrested Brooks walking away from the gas station, they found about 10 oz. of marijuana on Brooks. The criminal complaint says Brooks told police he paid $50 for the marijuana. This resulted in an additional charge of possession with intent to deliver or manufacture THC.
If convicted of burglary, criminal damage to property, and possession of marijuana, Brooks could face up to 16 years and nine months in jail.

domain: law


Oppo has announced the first 5G smartphone in the K-series. The Oppo K7 5G which is the successor to the last year’s k5. Currently, the smartphone has been launched in China but there’s no word when it will be launched outside of China. Let’s take a look at the price, specifications of the Oppo K7 5G.
The Oppo K7 5G is built around 6.4” Full HD+ (1,080 x 2,400 pixels) AMOLED display. The display comes with 20:9 aspect ratio, waterdrop notch and fingerprint reader underneath.
Around the back, the device flaunts “sunrise” design, vertical camera arrangement and typical “Oppo” branding.
In terms of optics, the K7 5G offers a quad camera setup. The setup is equipped with 48MP primary sensor, 8MP secondary sensor, 2MP macro sensor and 2MP depth unit. For selfies and video calling, there’s a 32MP selfie camera.
Under the hood, the handset packs an octa-core Snapdragon 765G SoC paired with Adreno 620 as its GPU. Similarly, it Is teamed with 8GB of RAM and two storage option are available: 128GB and 256GB.
Further, Oppo has prioritized performance over camera. The HyperBoost 3.0 will provide better gaming experience. The phone comes with Link Boost that uses both 5G network and Wi-Fi connection for better connection.
On software front, it boots on ColorOS 7 based on Android 10.
The Oppo K7 5G packs a 4,025mAh battery that draws a power through a USB-C. It supports 30W fast charging.
Oppo k7 5G Key Specifications.
- Body: 160.3 x 74.3 x 8 mm, 180 g
- Display: 6.4 inches, AMOLED, 430 nits (typ)
- Resolution: 1080 x 2400 pixels, 20:9 ratio
- Glass Protection: Corning Gorilla Glass 5
- Processor: Qualcomm SM7250 Snapdragon 765G 5G (7 nm)
- CPU: Octa-core (1×2.4 GHz Kryo 475 Prime & 1×2.2 GHz Kryo 475 Gold & 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 475 Silver)
- GPU: Adreno 620
- Storage & RAM: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM
- OS: Android 10, ColorOS 7
- Rear Camera:
- Quad Cameras
- Primary: 48 MP, f/1.7, 26mm (wide), 1/2.0″, 0.8µm, PDAF
- Ultrawide: 8 MP, f/2.2, 13mm (ultrawide), 1/4.0″, 1.12µm
- Monochrome: 2 MP B/W, f/2.4, 1/5.0″, 1.75µm
- Depth: 2 MP, f/2.4
- Quad Cameras
- Front Camera: 32 MP, f/2.0, 26mm (wide), 1/2.8″, 0.8µm
- Video Resolution:
- Front: [email protected]
- Audio: Loudspeakers, 3.5mm headphone jack
- Security: Fingerprint (under display, optical), Software based Face Unlock
- Connectivity: 5G, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS (A dual-band A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS), NFC, Infrared, USB Type-C 2.0
- Battery: Li-Po 4025 mAh
- Fast charging 30W,
- VOOC 4.0
- Colors: Moonlight Black, Pearl White, Blue, Blue/Red
Price and Availability in Nepal
The K7 5G is available in four color including Flowing Cloud, Flow Flame, Sea Night and Mystery Black in China through JD.com. The base variant with 128GB storage goes for CNY 1,999. Whereas, the 256GB variant will ship for CNY 2,299.
Oppo hasn’t shared any information on international availability. And looking back, Oppo hasn’t launch the predecessor K5 in Nepalese market. Thus, it is unclear if Oppo K7 will be available in Nepal. If it does, the base variant (128GB) will set your back around Rs. 38,000 and 256GB will cost you around Rs. 43,000.


text: That head tilt! Gibson is handsome male Norwegian Elk Hound. He is very rare dog to find in rescue. He is good with kids and dogs and he is house broken. Gibson is overly smart, loyal and loving. This boy is all of these things and so much more and he is going to make someone the best family pet! His adoption fee is $350. We can not ship or hold dogs. He is neutered/vaccinated/vet checked/micro-chipped and comes with 30 days of free pet insurance. Come down and meet him at AZDA! 2201 S. 19th Ave. Phoenix 85009 open daily 11-6 pm.

domain: pet


text:
Security token platform tZERO, which has tried to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, has cut staff and salaries as it hunts for more capital.
- In an otherwise upbeat company update Wednesday, CEO Saum Noursalehi said tZERO had "significantly reduced" its cash burn rate by 45% year on year.
- Savings came from cuts to legal costs and staff; remaining senior staff took salary cuts in return for company equity.
- Board members are now compensated only in equity; Noursalehi said he reduced his own salary by 60%.
- "This underscores just how much I, and others, believe in our mission," he wrote, adding that development work for the tZERO platform was mostly complete.
- tZERO is now preparing for another capital raise, Noursalehi confirmed, though he didn't disclose a funding target.
- A majority-owned subsidiary of U.S. online retailer Overstock, tZERO raised $134 million in an initial coin offering in 2018, short of its $250 million target.
- Chinese fund GoldenSands Capital pledged to lead a $374.55 million round for tZERO in 2018 but this was knocked down to a $5 million investment in April 2020.
- In the note Wednesday, Noursalehi claimed tZERO dominated the security token space, accounting for 95% of token trading volume and 80% of the dollar value.
- But the tZERO platform only has three broker-dealers and two security tokens – a third token, for real estate in Aspen, Colo., will be listed soon.
The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG.


text:
Having false memories (remembering things slightly or a lot different from how they really happened) is very common for everybody, but recently, scientists have concluded that we all benefit somehow from them. According to Medical News Today, the Association for Psychological Science published in its journal, Current Directions in Psychological Science, a paper on what the benefits of false memories are.
“False memories are a natural outcropping of memory in general”, psychologist Mark L. Howe says. Even though remembering things any other way but the real way they happened might be a trigger of worries, it is not necessarily a sign of an illness. All sane people have false memories and according to the scientists at Lancaster University in England, it is a part of our adaptation skills throughout the history of human kind. The incorrect memories, also referred here [in the paper published] as illusions, may have played a crucial role in our ancestor’s survival. “The animal that goes to a favorite food-foraging location and sees signs that a predator was there – but not the predator itself – may be on guard the next time”, Howe explains and continues: “But the creature that falsely remembers the predator was actually there might be even more cautious”.
Our memory is a psychological process, not a logical one. This means that there will always be errors in the perceiving, encoding and stocking the information we get from the external factors. Its main purpose is “to extract meaning from experience” and the illusions help that process. However, an excess of false memories can raise the suspicion of a mental illness, which must be brought before a doctor in order to examine it and set a diagnosis, if necessary.
The point that the study wants to make is that “just because a memory is false doesn’t make it bad”. False memories have the same impact on our behavior as real memories, as our brain does not distinguish between them. Thus, they could enhance our self-esteem, our level of tolerating some actions that we falsely remember as “not so bad”, our social skills and so on. False memories can also help in problem solving and in getting a better perspective on past events.

domain: psychology


text:
- LIST Party dress
LIST Party dress
- Made In Italy Item made in Italy, synonymous with quality and design creativity.
- Product Info Composition: 85% Viscose, 15% Wool - +
- Composition: 85% Viscose, 15% Wool
- Details: crêpe, floral design, round collar, sleeveless, lacing, no pockets, unlined, rear closure, zip closure, flared style
- Product code: 34646176AL
Similar to list party dress
MOSCHINO CHEAPANDCHIC Party dress is on sale!
Sejour Floral Fit & Flare Dress (Plus Size) is on sale!


text:
So thrilled to share today’s engagement session with you! Meredith and I go way, way back to when she was in about 5th or 6th grade when I was in college leading her girls small group! It’s been so fun to watch her grow up, go off to college, meet and date Alex, and now to be a part of her wedding day as her wedding photographer! For this session we ventured out to Mt. Laurel, a fun little community on the outskirts of Birmingham. I had a blast getting to know Alex, getting to watch these two interact, and let’s be honest… getting my Alabama football updates from Alex’s phone all along the way! 😉 #rolltide
Mere and Alex, I’m so excited for y’all and can’t wait to see where the Lord takes you on this journey of marriage. Looking forward to your gorgeous May wedding at The Barn at Shady Lane!
Big shout out to my girl, Kelsey Weeks (who was in that small group too!) for assisting me on this shoot!

domain: artistic


This product is no longer in stock
Warning: Last items in stock!
Apple Watch Series 5You’ve never seen a watch like this.This watch has a display that never sleeps.With the new Always-On...
Amazfit GTREndurance transition, design returnLuxurious metal ceramic technology 1| Retina display 24/7 | AI automatically detects...
Slim. Beautiful. Strong. Featuring a double crown AMOLED screen and lightweight design, this watch is classy and sleek. Pair that with...
20MP + 12MP Dual camera | 20MP Front camera Ultra-thin design | Snapdragon 660 AIE
Wider field of view
18:9 aspect ratio
5.99" FHD+ large display
Display form and function
2.5D Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5 display
The optimal drop-resistant, high-resolution touchscreen experience.
Smoother control & Flagship-level performance
Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 660 AIE processor
14nm FinFET processor exhibits high performance and consumes less power
Adreno™ 512 high perfromance GPU generates life-like visuals
Up to 2.2Ghz for consistently robust performance
A phone that works smarter for you
Android One*** phones have the latest AI-powered innovations from Google*** built in.
That means they can auto-adjust to your needs and help get things done
more easily throughout your day.
• Finger Print Sensor
• Ambient light sensor
• Hall sensor
• Proximity sensor
|2||$197.49||Up to $25.00|
|3||$192.99||Up to $51.00|
|4||$191.24||Up to $75.00|
|5||$189.99||Up to $100.00|
|Possibility to return||No|
|Length of warranty||12 months at the producer's / supplier's|
|Delivery time from||10|
|The time of delivery to||20|
|Processing time for warranty service from||6 weeks|
|Processing time for warranty repair to||12 weeks|
No customer questions for the moment.
Lengh of the product warranty of the product you can find in tab named "More information"
Speak for yourself with the Ultra Vision Leica Penta Camera by capturing photos and videos anytime and anywhere you want....
Redmi Note 8 Pro64 million four liquid cooling game core Eight highlights that people love64 million four photos...
HUAWEI Mate 30 Pro Specifications Product SupportRethink PossibilitiesThe breakthrough of visual boundaries, the exploration...


text:
Nearly 60 years since he first appeared in an advertisement, Kool-Aid man is finally breaking through the digital wall to a new CGI-look. Oooooooh yeah!
Kool-Aid Man was first introduced as a crudely animated "Pitcher Man" in 1954. Eventually, the animation evolved into a man in weird pitcher costume. The script of each commercial was comically identical:
Kid 1: I'm hot and thirsty.
Kid 2: This is a job for Kool-Aid.
Kids 1 and 2 in unison: Hey, Kool-Aid!
Then, the giant, unweildy pitcher would awkwardly burst through all sorts of different barriers to save the day.
For example he would crash through a recently painted picket fence...
...an absurdly thin ceiling...
...or a backyard shed.
The new CGI Kool-Aid man has a much more realistic look than the weird dude in a costume (if a giant pitcher can be said to be realistic). It also means that advertising agencies can do more with Kool-Aid Man. Whereas before he could only just jump around and wave arms foolishly, Kraft can now actually develop Kool-Aid Man's personality. According to the release, he's on his way to some riveting adventures:
The print and television campaigns, geared toward moms, offers insight into Kool-Aid Man's personality and a first glimpse into his daily life: trying to decide which of his 22 flavor "outfits" to wear, working out at the gym, buying flowers and interacting with neighbors, and of course, breaking through walls.
Phew, thank god, they're gonna let him keep busting through walls. [PRNewswire via NPR]

domain: entertainment


text:
Sweet Potato Biscuits
1 1/2 cwhole wheat flour
1/2 cunbleached white flour
2 tspbaking powder
1/3 capple juice
1 csweet potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed
1/3 cfinely chopped walnuts or pecans
How to Make Sweet Potato Biscuits
- Preheat oven to 425.
- In a mixing bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder and salt.
- Work in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
- Add apple juice, potato, honey and nuts and work until it resembles a soft dough.
- Turn dough out onto a well-floured board and knead enough extra flour to make the dough lose its stickiness.
- With floured hands, divide dough into 16 equal parts.
- Shape into small balls and arrange on a lightly oiled cookie sheet, patting them down a bit to flatten them.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.
- Serve hot with Creamy Mushroom Soup.

domain: food


text:
There are many benefits available when working with hearing loss clinics in Calgary.
Too many people quietly let hearing loss rob them of their quality of life. They stop going out with friends and family. They stop speaking on the telephone. They limit in-person conversations simply because it’s so frustrating not to be able to hear well. It doesn’t have to be that way. Hearing loss clinics in South Calgary can offer a wide range of solutions to this problem.
One way that a hearing loss clinic can help is through an in-depth, professional hearing assessment. This will include a full examination of your ear health, as well as a discussion of your physical health, past illnesses and more in an effort to determine the underlying cause of the hearing loss. In some instances, the hearing loss isn’t due to eardrum damage and can be reversed with the right treatments and steps.
If your hearing loss is due to damage to your eardrum, hearing loss clinics in South Calgary can provide additional help. After an exhaustive assessment and several important auditory tests, they can present you with a detailed outlook on your hearing loss and provide guidance on choosing the right hearing aids for your individual needs.
If hearing aids are determined to the right solution, a full, detailed demonstration will be provided, followed by a custom fitting and programming session once you’ve decided on a model.
At Pindrop, we’re proud to be counted among the hearing loss clinics in South Calgary offering in-depth hearing assessments and professional guidance when choosing the right solution. Call us today at 403-278-0244 to schedule an assessment or to learn more about hearing aids available that will work with your individual needs.
Please fill out form to request an appointment at one of our twelve locations.


text:
UPDATE 20/09/18: KISS have formally announced their farewell tour.
18 years after KISS’ first farewell tour, bassist Gene Simmons has confirmed that the end of the band is on the way, admitting that the group “can’t keep doing this forever.”
A couple of months ago, we noted how a US trademark application had been made under KISS’ name for the phrase ‘The End Of The Road,’ indicating that Gene Simmons’ previous comments about the band breaking up may have been right on the money.
Now, speaking to Chicago’s Sun Times, Gene Simmons has admitted that the group’s farewell tour might be coming sooner than you think.
“There will be [a farewell tour] at some point,” Simmons admitted. “We can’t keep doing this forever. We are the hardest-working band in show business. If [Mick] Jagger stepped into my Dragon Boots he couldn’t last a half hour.”
Gene Simmons went on to note that the group “doesn’t want to stay on stage a day longer than when we feel valid. … Remember we introduced ourselves as ‘When you wanted the best you got the best, the hottest band in the world.’ Not we ‘used to be’ the best.”
Blabbermouth have also noted that despite Simmons’ penchant for trademarking almost everything, he reportedly had no involvement in the application to trademark ‘The End Of The Road.’ “I had nothing to do with that,” he said at the time. “I really don’t know who stuck it on there, and I don’t know if it’s a fan or somebody in the band. I would tell you the truth. I literally don’t know anything about it.”
However, it soon came to light that it was actually Paul Stanley who had made the application. “It’s not the first trademark that’s been filed. I thought it was a terrific name, and I was surprised nobody had used it before,” Stanley explained. “I wanted to make sure that when we used it, and there will be a time that we do, I imagine – I wanted to be sure that we own it and it’s ours.”
“When it’s my time, I want to go out in style, and I want to go out guns blazing. So, when I came up with this idea, I thought let’s make sure we tie this up.”
Some folks might remember how back in 2000, KISS began what was supposed to be their final tour before they would break up, with the tour serving as a way to “put KISS out of its misery”. Following 142 shows over the course of 13 months, the band played their last show in Canberra in March of 2001, before announcing in 2002 that they weren’t actually retiring.
In the meantime though, there’s bound to be a mini KISS reunion of sorts when Ace Frehley supports Gene Simmons on his upcoming Aussie tour this August.
As to whether or not we’ll be seeing a (legitimate) farewell tour from KISS remains to be seen, but at this stage, it seems as though we’re getting closer and closer to one of rock’s most theatrical bands calling it quits for good.
Check out KISS’ ‘Rock And Roll All Nite’:
Gene Simmons Australian Tour 2018
Tuesday, August 28th
Entertainment Centre Theatre, Adelaide, SA
Thursday, August 30th
Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne, VIC
Friday, August 31st
Enmore Theatre, Sydney, NSW
Saturday, September 1st
Tivoli Centre, Brisbane, QLD


text:
Popular Accommodations in Ronda
Vacation rentals with free cancellation
Vacation Rentals in Ronda
Pet-friendly Vacation Rentals
Vacation Rentals with Pool
Vacation Rentals with Internet
Find Vacation Rentals in Ronda
- Rock plateau with gorge Tajo de Ronda
- White village of Andalusia
- Moorish lanes
- Magnificent bridge Puente Nueva
- Mondragon Palace
Most popular in Ronda
Prices and availability
Fincas in Ronda
Between the Moorish facades of the white village you will find a fabulous finca or vacation rental on the breathtaking rock plateau. Not far from the cultural monuments you live in romantic alleys of the old town and profit from short footpaths to the restaurants and bars of the city. Some of the luxurious accommodations offer you first-class extras such as a pool, fireplace, garden or barbecue area. Away from the hustle and bustle, you can rent a wonderful vacation rental in the west near the Sierra de Grazalema National Park or in the northern hinterland of the Costa del Sol. Here you can enjoy the peace and quiet in the countryside and an unforgettable view of the mountains.
Holiday in Ronda
Location and orientation
About 67 kilometres west of the provincial capital Málaga and 35 kilometres north of the coast Costa del Sol lies the small town Ronda. Between the Sierra de las Nieves and Sierra de Grazalema National Parks, the municipality covers 481 square kilometres. This makes Ronda one of the largest towns in the region, built by the Moors between the 8th and 15th centuries. The white facades of the houses, which radiate at 723 metres above sea level, are outstanding.
Two works by the American writer Ernest Hemingway play in Ronda.
Top 3 travel tips
The Puente Nuevo, translated New Bridge, is a landmark of Ronda. It connects the old town (Ciudad Vieja) with the new town (El Mercadillo) and forms a path over the deep gorge of the town. Of the three bridges in total, it is an architectural masterpiece that has shaped the townscape since the year before.2. Matadors in impressive scenery
Since 1783, the bullring (Plaza de Toros de Ronda) has been enthroned in the new town in Spanish baroque style. Bullfights were already held on this site before construction began. Today there is room for 6,000 spectators in the stands. Visitors can visit the arena daily free of charge or for an entrance fee during the days of battle.3. On the trail of Islamic rulers
One of the main attractions of Ronda is the Mondragon Palace. Already in the early 14th century he was the residence of the Moorish king Abomelic I. Marble columns, Renaissance elements, elaborately designed gardens and an inner courtyard adorn the building. The museum of the city's history is also located on the middle floor.
FAQs: Vacation Rentals in Ronda
Our data shows that Ronda has an average price of $169.40 per night, a relatively high one under the cities in Spain.
Those who want to save as much as possible travel to Ronda in January, March, and February, the cheapest months of the year, with average prices of $146.98, $149.73, and $153.5 per night, respectively, based on data collected in 2020.
In 2020, the month that showed the highest annual average prices in Ronda was June, with an average price of $197.33 per night. This was followed by May, with an average of $187.32, and December, with $185.14.
It is recommended that you book your stay well in advance when visiting Ronda, as only 45% of our properties are usually available throughout the year.
The months that offer the most accommodation options are, on average, January (with an availability of 63%), March (58%), and December (54%), according to the trends observed in 2020.
The month with the highest average booked rental figures is August (only 24.4% of properties were available on average in 2020). Followed by July (29.25%), and October (39.4%).
In Ronda we have an extensive catalogue of around 440 properties, with options for all tastes, thanks to our 17 local and international providers.

domain: geography


text:
From Our Editors
Stop by El Taco Loco in Murphys for a quick and tasty bite to eat. When the weather is nice, hurry to El Taco Loco to grab a spot on the patio. The restaurant is about as noisy as it gets — plan for booming speakers and chatty crowds everywhere.
Carry-out is also available for those who prefer to enjoy this restaurant's cooking from the comfort of their own home.
El Taco Loco has easy parking nearby for diners who wish to drive.
Dining out doesn't have to be an expensive luxury, and El Taco Loco serves deliciousness that everyone can afford.


text:
3d photo crystal USA is the foremost source online for 3d laser gifts, picture cubes and other 3d photo accessories. Offering you a perfect 3d photo gift at extremely reasonable prices, we offer quality 3d laser gifts at remarkably competitive prices. Our services are backed by our years of industry experience. We make special offers for our most valued customers. If you are one among the numerous customers and have not yet explored our huge collection of 3d photo accessories and crystal gifts, don’t worry!
You can browse and shop with your choices right from our home. Everything you require is just a click away. Feel like a celebrity by getting one of our highly admired crystal photo cubes. Transform your photos into magnificent images with our 3d photo crystal cubes. Feel like an artist by creating beautiful works of art with our 3d photo paintbrush and paintbrushes crystallasergifts.com.
Enhance your professional image with our 3d photo crystal photo frames and plaques. Transform your personal photos into gorgeous masterpieces with our 3d photo crystals. Engrave messages and memories in the elegant gold plating of our high-end photo crystal gifts. Choose among our wide range of 3d laser gifts for women, men, kids, sports, business and educational fans.
Select from our stunning collection of 3d picture frame accessories and get them delivered to your doorstep. Whether it is a birthday or anniversary present, a wedding gift or promotional giveaway item, 3d picture frame gifts are a great way to wow your loved ones with your love and care. Feel like a celebrity by having one of our high quality 3d photo frames personalized with your picture. Your picture will be surrounded by a 3d effect for a lifetime with us 3dlasergifts.com.
Transform your home with our range of stylish 3d photo crystals. Choose from our collection of exquisite 3d photo crystals. The effect of 3d photo crystals include sparkling sparkle, frosted crystal effect and multi hued shimmering. Impart your cherished memories on any occasion by using our unique collection of 3d photo crystal gifts. Transform your home with our wide range of 3d photo crystals and get your cherished memories immortalized.
Transform your office with our unique range of 3d photo jewelry items. Choose from our collection of stylish 3d photo jewelry items. You can also shop for 3d photo crystal charms and pendants for all the loved ones. 3d photo crystal jewelry helps you to enhance your style quotient and flaunt your contemporary style statement.
Give a special touch to your birthday party with our range of 3d birthday party gifts. Choose from our wide collection of 3d balloons, 3d wall decorations and 3d wall murals. 3d balloons add a whimsical dimension to your celebrations. Similarly, 3d wall murals are a good option to liven up a dull room 3dgifts.com.
Give the best looking presents to your friends and family. Make your special moments memorable with our wide range of 3d photo gifts. 3d photo paintbrush is the perfect gift to transform an ordinary photo into fantastic images. Choose from our wide range of 3d photo paints and 3d photo paint brushes to celebrate your life with passion and abandon.
3d photo magnets are a unique and cost effective way to adorn your notebook and motivate you to take that important call. 3d photo magnets make a bold statement and leave a mark. You can add your photos to your own 3d magnet by inserting them through our photo paper. 3d photo magnets can be personalized with names and messages. It’s a unique and cost effective way to show your love and affection.
3d photo jewelry is the ultimate option to flaunt your love and creativity on a whole new level. 3d jewelry allows you to express your inner thoughts and ideas with beautiful 3d jewelry items. 3d photo jewelry gifts make a perfect gift for all occasions.
3d jewelry is the perfect option to compliment your style, personality and sense of style. With 3d jewelry, you can display your creativity and elegance in style. You can choose from a wide range of 3d jewelry items like bracelets, rings, earrings and more. You can also get 3d picture frames that can display your favorite photos. 3d photo frames are available in various sizes and shapes to suit everyone’s taste.
3d laser photo paints let you express yourself using your photos. 3d photo paints enable you to print high quality photographs using your own digital photos or photographs and then use them as a canvas for your own artwork. 3d photo paints lets you print photos or photographs, which are perfect for gifts. 3d photo paints enable you to personalize your own photos with photographs you choose. 3d photo paints are perfect for gifting ideas for occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries, Christmas, Easter and other holidays.


Lechner Racing takes first victory of the Supercup season at Silverstone
After a strong qualifying on saturday under challenging conditions with a couple of rain phases former Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East Champion Clemens Schmid (Austria) was able to secure Pole Position for the race in Silverstone.
With a gap of 0:01.309 to Connor de Phillippi (USA), who qualified on P2, Schmid put together a perfect lap on the last seconds of the session.
Following this strong performance Schmid went on to take a start to finish victory on the race on sunday, fending of the attacks of the current Championship leader Kuba Giermaziak (Poland) for the whole 13 laps.
'Fantastic job - that was a really pleasant surprise. Clemens showed a flawless performance, both in the Qualifying and today during the race. This victory means a lot to me and my team: to celebrate a victory in the motherland of motorsports with an Austrian driver that we trained in the Walter Lechner Racing Academy is of special significance - the hard work paid off,' Team Principal Walter Lechner summarized the weekend.
After the double-victory in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany at Norisring of Michael Ammermüller and the Supercup win at Silverstone Lechner Racing now hopes to take the momentum of three race wins in two weeks to the upcoming race event.
The next round of the Porsche Supercup will be from 18 - 20 July at Hockenheimring, Germany.


Nightrage – “The Venomous” Exclusive Song StreamFriday, 16th December 2016
We are currently streaming “The Venomous,” the first single from multi-national melodic death metal force Nightrage. The song comes from the band’s forthcoming album of the same name, which is due for a March 31, 2017, release via Despotz Records. The album was recorded at Zero Gravity Studios in Athens with producer Terry Nikas.
Says the band about “The Venomous”: “‘The Venomous’ tells a tale of extinction: dealing with the failure of mankind and how we as human beings are racing towards our own demise. The track introduces two new members to the fold, Magnus Söderman (guitars) and drummer, Lawrence Dinamarca who join Marios Iliopoulos (guitars), Ronnie Nyman (vocals) and Anders Hammer (bass).”


text:
Two Duncan Dynamics gymnasts are heading to the Western Canadian Gymnastics Championships in Alberta early next month, including one who is hoping to hold on to her first-place result from a year ago.
Darby McIntyre and Micaylla Broadway are headed to the big meet on May 1 and 2, being held this year in Okotoks, Alberta. This is the third time to Westerns for both, who attended the 2014 meet in Saskatchewan together.
Last year, McIntyre finished first allaround in the level 5 novice competition, first on floor and second on vault, and her Team BC group took first in the team event, while Broadway competed at the national level.
This year, they are both competing in the level 5 open division.
"I want to maintain my rankings from last year," McIntyre said. "I really hope to go to nationals next year."
"I want to stick all my events and do the best I can," Broadway said.
Both girls qualified for Westerns through the Twisters Invitational in Abbotsford. McIntyre placed first all-around at the Twisters Invitational, first on both vault and floor, and second on bars, while Broadway was second all-around, first on bars, third on beam and fourth on floor.


text:
Hi everyone, welcome to our Suggested Listening posting for this week!
Our Suggested Listening postings focus on the music of the past, with a few new songs mixed in for good measure.
Suggested Listening postings come out weekly, on Fridays, and next Suggested Listening posting will be out on Friday, August 21, 2020.
1,000 Years Before I Met You by Sylvie Simmons (Genre: Rock, Singer-Songwriter)
From her new album Blue On Blue (2020).
Do-Re-Mi by Tom Rush (Genre: Folk, Blues, Pop-Rock)
A sixties update on the great Woody Guthrie tune!
From Tom Rush’s fourth album simply titled Tom Rush (1965).
Full Fathom Five (2020) by Will Todd with the Bach Choir, David Hill conducting (Genre: Classical, Easy Listening):
Lovely, ethereal music; perfect for weekend relaxation!
From the new album Lights, Stories, Noise, Dreams, Love, Noodles.
The Jumpin’ Jive (1981) by Joe Jackson (Piano, Pop-Rock, Jazz etc.)
From Jackson’s swinging album Jumpin’ Jive; on which he pays and plays tribute to the great jazz artists Louis Jordan and Cab Calloway.
Bonus – the great Cab Calloway playing the same song, one he co-wrote!
The Jumpin’ Jive by Cab Calloway
Deep Summer In The Deep South (2020) by Rumor (Genre: Americana, Country)
From her new album Nashville Tears; and I have to say, it has been pretty hot in the Southern Tier this summer too!
Moonlight Serenade by The Glenn Miller Orchestra
A mellow big band classic!
Roots Theme by Quincy Jones (Genre: Soundtrack, Americana, jazz etc.)
From the soundtrack to the original 1970s Roots mini-series.
Suite Judy Blue Eyes by Crosby, Stills & Nash (genre: Singer-Songwriter, Vocal, Folk-Rock)
Recorded live at the original Woodstock.
Too Many People (1971) by Paul McCartney & Wings (Genre: Rock, Classic Rock):
From Paul’s second solo album Ram (1971)
Who Rescued Who (2020) by Kathleen Edwards (Genre: Rock, Folk/Country):
A love song to dogs!
From her new album Total Freedom (2020).
The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits by Joel Whitburn
Online Catalog Links:
The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD, etc.
The Digital Catalog (OverDrive)
The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos.
ABOUT LIBRARY APPS: Libby & RBDigital:
You can access digital library content on PCs, Macs and mobile devices. For mobile devices simply download the Libby and/or the RBDigital app, to check out eBooks, downloadable audiobooks and on-demand magazines, from your app store to get started. If you have questions call the library at 607-936-3713 and one of our tech coaches will be happy to assist you.
Tech Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

domain: library


text:
The internationally celebrated historian and TV presenter Niall Ferguson has broken up with his wife of 16 years after a string of adulterous affairs.
The 45-year-old Harvard professor has left former newspaper editor Susan Douglas, with whom he has three children, for his mistress, the Somalian-born feminist Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Ms. Hirsi Ali, 40, is a lawyer and former Dutch MP who wrote the script for a controversial film that criticised Islam and resulted in the assassination of its director. She is currently living under police protection in America.
Professor Ferguson, whose books, television programmes and work with financial hedge funds earn an estimated £5million a year, is understood to have been in a relationship with Ms Hirsi Ali since last summer.
Today, The Mail on Sunday can reveal how Ferguson’s philandering behaviour – described by one confidante as ‘more akin to a Premiership footballer’s louche ways than an esteemed professor’s’ – wrecked his marriage to Ms Douglas, one of Tory leader David Cameron’s closest friends, a leading member of the Tory ‘A-list’ of potential parliamentary candidates and a former Fleet Street editor.
Ferguson ‘cheated eight times in five years’
Ferguson, who also has high-level links to the Tory Party, with a seat on the board of the Right-wing think-tank the Centre for Policy Studies, has been seen with Ms Hirsi Ali at a number of high-profile events over recent months.
Just two weeks ago they attended the
Jaipur Literary Festival in India where they were photographed kissing in the opulent surroundings of the spectacular Diggi Palace.
Ms Hirsi Ali had been flown to the event secretly. She has been the subject of threats from Muslim extremists since writing the script for the movie Submission, which was critical of Islam.
When its director, Theo Van Gogh, was shot dead in an Amsterdam street in 2004, a death threat against Ms Hirsi Ali was pinned to his chest. Since then she has lived in safe houses in Washington and New York under constant armed protection.
Previously Ms Hirsi Ali lived in seclusion and under police protection in the Netherlands. She fled from Africa to Amsterdam in 1992 where she obtained political asylum.
[ad#Google Adsense (336×280)]
Ms Hirsi Ali, who became involved in politics and feminist issues including criticising the practice of female circumcision, which she underwent as a child, claimed she was fleeing Africa to escape an arranged marriage.
She works as a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think-tank.
The pair are understood to have met at Time magazine’s prestigious 100 Most Influential People In The World party in New York last May. Ferguson and Ms Hirsi Ali, who have both been on the list, were introduced by Belinda Luscombe, the magazine’s art editor.
The flamboyant Ms Hirsi Ali, who was dressed in an eye-catching cobalt-blue cocktail dress, immediately captivated Ferguson, who was photographed with his arm around her waist.
Ms Luscombe, a friend of Ms Hirsi Ali, said: ‘I think that is where they met for the first time. In all the years I have known Ayaan, she’s never had a boyfriend. She’s gorgeous, but with a fatwa, it’s tricky to find guys.’
According to sources within Ferguson’s influential circle of academic friends, he has made no secret of his relationship with Ms Hirsi Ali.
The British historian Sir Alistair Horne, with whom he is currently writing the authorised biography of Henry Kissinger, is said to know about the affair, as does Mr Kissinger. However a spokesman for the statesman declined to comment yesterday.
‘It’s rather awkward because both Sue and Niall know Henry and his wife Nancy, neither of whom can understand why Niall has been bringing women other than his wife to private dinners,’ said a source Ferguson, whose books include the bestsellers The Ascent Of Money, which was made into a Channel 4 TV series, and Empire And Colossus, for which he received a £500,000 advance, confessed his adulterous affair to Ms Douglas last summer.
‘He eventually told Sue and said how wonderful Ayaan was and how much he loved her,’ said a friend. ‘Sue tried to save the marriage and flew to Manhattan to be with Niall in November.’
Ms Douglas, who is seven years older than her husband, has met Ms Hirsi Ali on a number of occasions.
Sources close to Ferguson, who was a professor at Oxford before moving to Harvard, say that he has consulted lawyers in the States, while Ms Douglas plans to file for divorce and has consulted a London-based law firm.
It is not the first time that Ferguson has been unfaithful. He has cheated on his wife eight times over the past five years, according to one family friend, and five of these affairs have apparently taken place over the past 18 months.
‘Sue is incredibly strong and resilient,’ says a friend. ‘She has always met life’s challenges head-on and with a sense of humour and perspective.
Inevitably she manages to discover an upside to even the toughest situations. She has been prepared to forgive Niall’s infidelities over the past two or three years because she so passionately believes in keeping the family together.’
The couple have two sons aged 14 and nine, and a 13-year-old daughter. In addition to their properties in Boston and Oxfordshire, they also have a holiday home in Wales.
According to members of his circle in Boston, Ferguson has said that his marriage has run its course and is insisting the split is mutual. Ms Douglas however, has made it clear that she wanted to fight for her marriage.
Now it is over, she may claim she is entitled to half of her
husband’s fortune, having financed much of his early career and raised their three children.
While he is keen to advise others how to spend their fortunes, Ferguson isn’t enthusiastic when it comes to parting with his own cash. In a recent interview he admitted: ‘I intensely dislike spending money, which means that I love big conferences where somebody else pays for everything… I am definitely a saver. Staying in cash seems like quite a good idea at the moment.’
Ferguson, who used to shop at Oxfam in the Eighties when he was a struggling junior academic, has also admitted: ‘I am in debt overall but that is because I am married to a spender. And all our debts are set against assets, in other words, our three houses.’
Given Ferguson’s high profile and the couple’s connections in the media, political and academic worlds, the divorce will be one of the most spectacular of the coming year.
The separation is likely to affect both of their political careers, as each enjoys close links with the Conservative party, which has been focusing heavily on the promotion of marriage.
Ferguson is on the board of the Centre for Policy Studies,
the leading Right-wing think-tank, and works as an unofficial adviser to Mr Cameron, in particular on how to promote ‘Britishness’.
He also worked as an adviser to John McCain at the beginning of his election campaign before quitting to support his rival, Barack Obama. He is considered a leading expert on foreign affairs and once described himself as an ‘ardent Thatcherite’ but now calls himself a ‘liberal fundamentalist’.
He is seen as a contentious figure in literary circles, prompting one rival historian to declare: ‘He has the kind of face you want to punch.’
Party’s rising stars, and is on the A-list of aspiring Parliamentary candidates. She is said to be in the running to contest the Tory stronghold of Stratford-upon-Avon at the next General Election. It is understood that Henry Kissinger wrote an endorsement to Mr Cameron which helped secure her place on the prestigious list.
A friend who has known Ms Douglas for many years said last night: ‘It just seems sad that, despite all the lessons of history, Niall has set himself off in pursuit of some liberal idea of individual freedom and appears hellbent on breaking up his family. God knows how Ayaan thinks her feminist views square with her current conduct with Niall.
‘For Sue’s part, I think she is stunned at how a man who is possessed of one of the world’s foremost intellects can suddenly, in his 40s, start conducting a private life in a manner more akin to that of a Premiership footballer than a professor. Her main concern is to make sure that the children are fully supported and protected through all this.’
Although Ferguson is now the famous name in the marriage, Ms Douglas was the breadwinner during the early years of their relationship. Ferguson comes from a modest background. His father was an NHS doctor and his mother a teacher, and the family lived in a high-rise apartment in Glasgow. As a student at Magdalen College, Oxford, he was once so penniless he bought a wedding ring on his credit card and sold it to a pawn shop to raise some cash.
When he moved to London he started a career as a journalist, and wrote for the Daily Mail under Ms Douglas, who was an executive editor at the time. At The Sunday Times and as editor of the Sunday Express, she later became one of the most powerful women in Fleet Street.
In 1992, Ferguson returned to Oxford to write a history of the Rothschild dynasty and two years later he and Ms Douglas were married.
In 1995, a year after their wedding, Ms Douglas reached the apex of her career when she edited the Sunday Express. In 2002, she was appointed president of new business at magazine publishers Condé Nast before moving to PFD talent agency where she worked as a consultant.
Then in 2006 she suffered a serious riding accident at the couple’s holiday home in Wales. She fell from her horse and was airlifted to hospital where tests showed serious brain damage and internal bleeding.
Ferguson cut short a book tour of America to be with his wife and helped her on the road to recovery.
‘I couldn’t bear being away,’ he said at the time. He also dedicated his book Ascent Of Money to his wife, saying: ‘In the time that this book was written, my wife Susan fought her way back from a severe accident and other reverses. To her and to our children, I owe the biggest debt.’
By this stage he had moved to America, having accepted a chair in history at Harvard. It was then that he also started advising some of the world’s leading hedge-fund managers and forged a close friendship with the banking heir Nat Rothschild.
‘There was a point when it was not impossible for me to get $100,000 for a one-hour speech at some extravagant hedge-fund manager conference in an exotic location,’ Ferguson recalled. While he lived a jet-set lifestyle, his wife stayed at home with the children. Ferguson travelled home every three weeks, but the marriage suffered.
Says a friend: ‘Niall has a fair few enemies who feel he has got above his station, but Sue always stood by him. The marriage was fine for 13 years, then when Niall went to America, it all started to go wrong.’
Last night Ms Douglas, who was at the couple’s Oxfordshire home, declined to comment.
And when asked about her affair with Ferguson, Ms Hirsi Ali said: ‘I’m sorry, I am really not going to comment about that.’
Ferguson also declined to comment.
Source: Daily Mail


Pat Metheny - Pat Metheny Group, Noa, The Orb, Steve Reich, Charlie Haden, Joni Mitchell, Dave Holland, John Scofield, Herbie Hancock, Jaco Pastorius, Jack DeJohnette, Jim Hall, Michael Brecker, Gary Burton, Paul Bley, Pedro Aznar, Dewey Redman, Ornette Coleman, Lyle Mays, Santana, Mark Egan, Chick Corea, Christian McBride, Ben Williams, Billy Higgins, Roy Haynes, Pino Daniele
American jazz/pop/Latin/jazz-fusion guitarist Pat Metheny turns 59 today. He was born 8-12 in 1954. He's worked solo and with his group Pat Metheny Group as well as backed many including David Bowie (This Is Not America).
Guy Le Querrec (1997), Jazz à Juan. 28ème Festival International de Jazz Antibes-Juan les Pins. Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Alpes-Maritimes. Pat METHENY (guitare) - USA The Pat Metheny Group : Pat METHENY (guitare), Lyle MAYS (piano), Steve RODBY (basse), Paul WERTICO (batterie), Armando MARCAL (percussions), David BLAMIRES (chant), Mark LEDFORD (chant, trompette).


text:
As unbelievable as it must sound, the topic of breakfast conversation on my first ever morning in Kathmandu, April 18, 2015, was earthquakes. I had arrived at midnight at the home of Raphaelle, a young woman who is half Nepali and half French, to meet my climbing partner: our mutual friend Aymeric Clouet.
I spent the meal brushing off my rusty French and sharing bread, mangoes, and Nepali bananas with Aymeric; his wife, Pauline; their daughter, Margeaux, then age 2; Raphaelle; and a few of Raphaelle’s French friends who were living in Kathmandu.
Toward the end of the meal, Pauline spoke of how, according to seismologists, Nepal was long overdue for a big earthquake.
She said, “I worry about it every trip.”
We finished our mangoes, and Aymeric and I took off to deal with logistics in Kathmandu. The next day we rode in a jeep to Syabrubesi, a gateway village into the Langtang Valley, where our destination was Kyanjin Gompa, the highest village in the valley at 3,860 meters. For the approach we were joined by Pinju, a kind and shy Nepali whom Pauline, a trekking guide, had worked with many times. She had hired him to help carry Margeaux, who was too young to hike all day yet.
In Syabrubesi, where a few hotels and shops mark the end of the road, Aymeric’s friend Gualboo ran out into the street, shouting, smiling, and waving. Aymeric, a mountain guide, had stayed in Gualboo’s lodge in Kyanjin Gompa the year before while climbing in the Langtang Valley. Gualboo, who had hiked down to buy supplies in Syabrubesi, had built the Holyland Guesthouse just two years earlier.
On April 20, we were finally walking—through lush, temperate jungle and past numerous small villages. The next day Aymeric, Gualboo, and I temporarily parted ways with Pauline, Margeaux, and Pinju. While the three of us hiked directly up toward Kyanjin Gompa, Pauline was to spend a couple more days on the approach, to play it safe with Margeaux’s acclimatization.
Along the way, I got to know Gualboo and learned more about the Langtang Valley. He had lived there all his life and told us that the past winter had produced the biggest snowfalls he’d ever seen. Well over a hundred yaks died in avalanches, and a few times he’d had to exit his lodge from a second-story window, walk around, and dig out the front door. In Langtang, the largest village in the valley, with 300 to 400 residents and 55 hotels and guesthouses, we saw homes with the windows blasted out, the uphill sides of the buildings still plastered with snow from the last major avalanche, just two or three weeks earlier. Aymeric had heard about Nepal’s huge post-winter snowpack a week before our departure, and we added skis to our luggage at the last minute. Ski mountaineering is a more fun way to acclimatize than just walking, and we were happy to see the mountains loaded with so much more snow than normal. It wouldn’t turn out to be the blessing we thought.
We stopped in Langtang village for lunch, and Gualboo, who’d grown up there, chatted with friends. We stopped by a dairy farm to buy a kilo of yak cheese, and on our way out of town waited so that Gualboo could visit with his father.
A couple of hours later, we reached Kyanjin Gompa, where a handful of lodges catering to foreign trekkers perch on a grassy bluff, with open views of glaciers and high summits. Soon we were drinking tea in the dining room of Gualboo’s guesthouse, and were introduced to Gualboo’s wife, Lopsang. Their three shy, beautiful daughters, aged 9, 11, and 13, giggled as I struggled to pronounce their names. They were due to depart in about a week for school in Dunche. Gualboo’s son was already in school in Kathmandu.
We took it easy the next two days—walking, organizing our gear, and ski-touring—to adjust to the altitude. We skinned and booted to a little sub-summit at 4,900 meters across the valley, with views of Langtang Lirung, the 7,200-meter beast immediately above the villages of Kyanjin Gompa and Langtang. Returning to Gualboo’s lodge, we found Pauline, Pinju, and Margeaux just arriving. While I spent the afternoon nursing an altitude headache, tiny Margeaux ran around gleefully.
On April 25, Aymeric and I woke up at dawn, crossed the river, and booted uphill with our skis. The day was grey and misty, the valley socked in. After a few hours of exercise, we were still in fog and the snow wasn’t softening, so we skied down early and were back at the lodge before most people had even woken up. We sat outside eating bread and yak cheese, and were back in our cozy sleeping bags by about 9 a.m.
I woke up from a nap around 11:40, put on a jacket and shoes, and went downstairs to find Aymeric, Pauline, and Margeaux in the dining room for lunch. When the shaking started, it took us only a second or two to realize what was going on. We ran out of the lodge, Aymeric with Margeaux in his arms.
People were darting out of buildings, and at first we all just stood in the open spaces. Although a few of the newest buildings were sounder, many were made of stacked granite blocks, with minimal cement in between; all around us, these blocks began falling to the ground. My instinct was to get out of the village, away from the collapsing buildings, and it seemed like everyone pretty simultaneously started walking and running toward the grassy plateau at the east end of the village.
I was just about past the last buildings, almost into the meadow, when I glanced back and saw a humongous mass of snow descending through the cloud layer. None of us had heard it over the noise of collapsing buildings and people screaming, nor seen it because of the thick cloud ceiling. I have seen many big avalanches in Alaska and Pakistan, with ice falling down thousands of meters and powder clouds that travel several kilometers across flat terrain, but nothing even remotely on this scale. The avalanche roaring down through the clouds and across the moraine seemed to be 300 to 400 meters tall, and moving extremely fast. I could tell from the shape and movement that it was a powder cloud—not the solid debris of rock and ice—but the speed and size were nonetheless terrifying.
I pointed and yelled, and because I was in the mode of thinking in French, “Regarde!” (“Look!”) is what came out. Almost no one around me spoke French, but people turned to see, and within a moment everyone was screaming and running. I lost track of Pauline and Aymeric with Margeaux. I simply started running as fast as I could across the meadow, away from the avalanche.
The powder cloud was upon me halfway across the plateau, and I crouched down on my elbows and knees. At first I thought it would be all right. I’ve been in many other powder clouds, where tents blow around and snow packs into crannies, but normally they look much fiercer than they are. The wind was thick with snow, and I pulled my hood down past my face, creating a little pocket in which to breathe. Within a few seconds, there was so much snow in the air that it blocked out all light—it truly went pitch dark. I could feel snow accumulating around me, against the sides of my body. Now I was scared.
The gusting increased, and despite desperately trying to crouch in place, I started to be pushed across the meadow. I had only been pushed for a few seconds and meters when the real blast hit—an incredibly powerful pressure wave, in another league from the worst winds I’ve ever felt in Patagonia. I have no idea what the wind’s actual velocity was, but I can say with confidence that a Subaru wagon would have been blown away like a leaf. In an instant I was airborne, body limp, ragdolling through space.
OK, this is it. This is the avalanche I die in.
I estimate that I was blown a horizontal distance of 30 to 40 meters. I flew off the edge of the plateau, landed partway down the now snow-covered, bushy/grassy slope below, and slid about 60 meters farther, down to the valley floor. I came out covered with bruises and scrapes, with pulled muscles and a subluxed shoulder, but the only impact I distinctly remember is my head hitting the ground—hard, but fortunately not on a rock.
I’d barely rolled to a stop when I leapt up and started running, fearing a debris wave or more avalanches. Within a hundred meters I slowed to a brisk walk, and followed the tracks of a yak that was leaving copious amounts of blood on the white snow. I looked anxiously over my shoulder every couple of seconds for signs of more avalanches. Somewhere near the middle of the valley floor, which I figured to be the safest compromise between the steep terrain on both sides, I stopped to look around. A Nepali man stood beside me. For a couple of minutes we stared into each other’s face, shaking and hyperventilating, neither even trying to speak.
I shook out my hair, which was matted with about 10 centimeters of snow, then shook the snow out of my clothes, and finally from my shoes, which had miraculously stayed on. I could tell that my neck was hurt, but my body seemed mostly to be working fine. In less than a minute, the powder cloud had deposited snow 20 to 30 centimeters deep across the whole valley, terrain that had all been bare grass. Later a Cambridge glaciologist would tell me that the solid debris of the settled avalanche
was 50 meters thick across the entire upper portion of the glacier—an unheard-of mass to come down all at once.
People appeared atop the hill above, yelling and gesturing to us. The Nepali man started walking back toward the village. I hesitated to head in the direction the avalanche had come from, but after a few minutes, I started back, too.
Partway up the hill, I saw Aymeric peering down from the meadow. He ran down to me, his face blasted with dirt.
His first gasped word was just the expletive, “Putain!” but he quickly followed with, “Ça-va?” (“Are you OK?”)
“Oui,” I said. “Je pense. J’ai mal au cou.” (“Yes, I think. But I’ve hurt my neck.”)
I at least seemed to be OK enough. Aymeric gestured to me to help carry two injured Nepali men up the hill. About six other people had been blown off the meadow the same way I was, but not all had fared as well. One Nepali man was bleeding significantly from his head. Another had injured his back and couldn’t walk. A Korean woman had broken her leg.
At the edge of the village, I regrouped with Aymeric, Pauline, and Margeaux. Upon seeing the avalanche, they’d wisely hidden behind some stone walls rather than try to run. Thus they had been blasted with snow and wind, but were protected. Had Aymeric been crouched out in the meadow with me when the blast hit, I can’t imagine that Margeaux would have made it through.
The village had been hit by a double-whammy. In the earthquake, the stone buildings fared poorly, while the wooden structures held fairly well. Then, in the avalanche, what was left of the stone structures fared well, while less dense materials crumpled or blew away. Down in the valley floor lay pieces of corrugated metal, plywood boards, and other detritus. Luckily, none had hit me in the air. Many roofs had blown off buildings. Every steel post in the barbed-wire fence encircling the village helicopter pad had been flattened.
We discussed our course of action. Using some corrugated metal and other scavenged building materials, Aymeric and I built a bivouac against the downhill side of a boulder, hoping for some protection from avalanches. (We avoided taking shelter in what was left of the buildings, for fear of aftershocks.) Here in the Himalaya, wearing just the clothes we’d had on indoors, we were entering what could be a prolonged survival situation. Aymeric and I took turns dashing into Gualboo’s destroyed lodge to collect what we could, while the other person waited outside, ready to yell at the first sign of an aftershock. We figured the lookout would notice any shaking sooner than the person rummaging through the lodge. The interior was filled with snow, broken wood, and granite blocks from the collapsed ceiling. Most of our gear was cached in a closet, fortunately still intact; we grabbed sleeping bags, foam pads, boots, gloves, clothes, a stove, some food, headlamps, and the satellite phone.
Gualboo, Lopsang, and their daughters were all fine; I don’t know where they’d sheltered. Pinju had huddled in Gualboo’s kitchen, a separate building from the lodge. The kitchen fared well in the earthquake because it was built almost entirely from wood, and again in the avalanche because it was in the lee of the two-story lodge. Some people in Kyanjin Gompa quickly started hiking down-valley; a few hours later, the first of them returned from Langtang. I was standing with Gualboo outside his lodge when the news arrived.
The village of Langtang had been obliterated by the debris of a cataclysmic avalanche, with hundreds killed and only a dozen-odd survivors. Gualboo’s home and business in Kyanjin Gompa had already been destroyed. Now he and Lopsang learned that their parents, their siblings, their cousins, aunts and uncles, their friends … had all died. They screamed and wailed, the tears streaming down their faces. I will never forget witnessing such pain.
That night, none of us managed to sleep in our boulder lean-to, except perhaps for Margeaux. Pinju slept in Gualboo’s kitchen. A German woman who had been out on a day hike took shelter with us, as she had no camping equipment. We all sat in sleeping bags with our backs against the boulder. I kept my helmet on, and we placed our most critical gear in places we thought safest if another avalanche hit. It snowed most of the night. There were several aftershocks, and every time we were silent, hearts pounding, listening for the next avalanche. The aftershocks, some minor and some intense, continued for days. Every time, people screamed and ran to find shelter from any avalanches; I did too. During one aftershock, I was leaning against the downhill side of a huge granite boulder that felt as though it were floating and bobbing on liquid. In the end, there were no more avalanches; all the slopes in the Langtang Valley that could go must have cut loose during the first earthquake.
The day after the avalanche, Aymeric and I recovered more of our gear, including our two bivouac tents, which we set up behind a larger boulder in the meadow. Gualboo’s family, along with most of the Kyanjin Gompa residents, decided that the safest spot was a group of house-sized boulders just west of the village, and set up a communal camp there.
I ended up spending four nights in Kyanjin Gompa after the avalanche, although I can only tell by looking through the dates on my photos. Events seem a blur. On April 27, Aymeric and I went on a mission for drinking water. The village gets its water from a stream several kilometers away, carried in via a large-diameter plastic pipe that traverses the hillsides. The earthquake and avalanche had clearly damaged the pipe, and no water was arriving. We traced the pipe up- valley, and at first labored to reconnect separated sections. Eventually, we realized that we needed materials and tools. We hiked to the water source, counting the breaks so that we could tell the Kyanjin Gompa residents. On our way back, we stumbled upon a smaller-diameter pipe that was still largely intact. We connected a few sections, and were pleasantly surprised to see water flowing to the village again.
Using the satellite phone I’d brought, I called friends and family back in North America, and they were overwhelmingly helpful in planning options for me to return. Aymeric and Pauline made similar calls to France. Soon word spread that I had a satellite phone, and I became a sort of village telephone booth. Some of the calls, those that I prioritized, were for rescue logistics—various residents of Kyanjin Gompa called the Nepali Army, describing the number of injured people and the degree of devastation, and asking for aid and helicopter evacuations. The majority of the calls were people calling family members. For hours each day, I stood in the meadow while people waited their turns, holding scraps of paper scribbled with phone numbers. The process was often frustrating, as in addition to the usual difficulties of using satellite phones in mountainous areas (the calls rarely last more than a few minutes before the signal is lost), most of the Nepali phone numbers we were calling were not working, presumably because phone lines were damaged all over. When the calls went through, they were usually emotional. People cried for joy to hear that faraway relatives were OK. People cried in grief when relaying the news to relatives in Kathmandu that almost everyone in Langtang had died.
The first helicopter arrived in Kyanjin Gompa just a few hours after the avalanche. It was a private helicopter, called to rescue an Indian woman who’d been on a day hike when the earthquake hit. Her leg had been broken and her husband killed by rockfall. It was right for her to be one of the first evacuated, but unfortunately the helicopter took no one else. The second helicopter, also private, arrived on the morning of April 26. Aymeric, Pauline, and I, standing about a hundred meters away, expected injured people to be loaded up, but watched in disbelief as three uninjured tourists climbed aboard—with their luggage. The three had hardly gotten inside when the helicopter was swarmed by Nepali men wielding rocks and sticks. After some tense moments, the tourists climbed out, and the Nepali men started ferrying injured people onboard. It was one of the only times during the whole experience that I cried.
The Nepali Army soon assumed control of all the helicopters in Nepal, including privately owned ones, and took the class politics out of rescue operations. The army evacuated whoever was in need, Nepali or foreign, and charged no one.
By the afternoon of April 28, all of the injured had been evacuated from Kyanjin Gompa, and then Aymeric, Pauline, and Margeaux were a priority. The situation had been stressful enough for me—I can only imagine how it was to care for a small child amid the chaos. At 5:45 p.m., a helicopter was suddenly audible, and only a minute later we saw it coming in. Gualboo, who had been in contact with the Nepali Army, yelled to Aymeric and Pauline to run and get on. Although they had prepared, it was extremely last-minute, and they dropped everything to make it aboard, with Margeaux in their arms.
Pinju and I, along with three Japanese climbers and one Nepali man, boarded a helicopter on the morning of April 29. We flew to Dunche, the closest town of significant size, where the Nepali Army had set up a refugee camp. In the next couple hours, the army flew several more helicopter flights to and from the Langtang Valley, and evacuated, as far as I could tell, everyone who wanted to go. The road from Dunche toward Kathmandu had been destroyed by landslides, and many foreigners had already been waiting in Dunche for four days, hopeful of a helicopter ride to Kathmandu. Neither Pinju nor I wanted to sit and wait there. Fortunately, I ran into a Nepali man, Pratap, whom I’d befriended in Kyanjin Gompa. We had talked about hiking out together, and now he said he was walking toward Kathmandu and asked if we’d like to come. A few hours after landing in Dunche, we started walking south: Pinju, myself, Pratap, a Canadian named Jim Campbell (who was in Kyanjin Gompa during the avalanche, hiked to Langtang, and was evacuated from there), and about seven other Nepalis who lived in Kathmandu.
Oddly enough, the journey from Dunche to Kathmandu is my fondest memory from the trip. We hiked through mountainous villages in a rare moment when there were no cars on the road. Decades ago, these villages had been connected only by footpaths, and now walking between them felt like a glimpse of the past. Our group developed a camaraderie. We’d shared a very intense experience, and were happy to be heading home.
Near the end of our hike to Kalikasthan, the road made a long switchback to lose elevation. We veered off and cut the switchback on a steep path that has probably been in use for hundreds of years. I don’t think anyone made a conscious decision, but we all started running down the trail, and when we arrived in Kalikasthan everyone was sweating, smiling, and complaining of sore legs. The next day our ragtag group from Kyanjin Gompa made it to Kathmandu, traveling in the back of a pickup truck and then a bus. Sitting in the back when the bus went over a big bump, I was thrown in the air, and felt a horrible crack in my neck when I crashed back down. For a stunned moment I thought my neck was broken. I soon realized that I could still move, but that the neck injury I’d sustained was clearly more serious than strained muscles.
Hiking from Dunche to Kalikasthan, we had seen many collapsed buildings, but the extent of the damage there and in Kathmandu was nothing compared to the Langtang Valley. In Kathmandu, I went to the US embassy and logged on to the internet. Surprisingly, I’d already been quoted in a few media pieces—words sourced from my sat-phone calls, it appeared. It was of course a “telephone game,” and the information was understandably inaccurate, but I was uncomfortable with accounts
claiming I’d stayed behind to help others; I had simply not wanted to occupy a helicopter seat before all the injured were evacuated.
After returning to the United States, I only got one X-ray, to rule out fractures in my neck. I probably should have done more to rehabilitate, but I had very basic health insurance and little money. Nearly seven years later, I still have lingering injuries in my neck and shoulder. A few weeks after the earthquake, back in Squamish, where I lived at the time, I was relaxing on the couch when I heard a rumbling noise and froze, my heart pounding and body wracked with adrenaline, certain I was in another earthquake. I was about to run out of the building when I realized the sound was only the kids in the neighboring apartment running down the stairs. The PTSD was to dissipate slowly.
Still, I didn’t suffer career-ending injuries, and I didn’t die. I didn’t lose my family and friends, or my home. I was lucky: that Aymeric and I descended early from skiing that day, saving us from being swallowed by massive avalanches; that I woke from my nap a few minutes before the earthquake struck and my sleeping bag was pounded by granite blocks; and that I survived being hurled by the pressure wave. I’m just one person, a survivor, who was witness to a disaster. The Langtang Valley was the worst-hit part of Nepal during the Gorkha earthquake, and the avalanche that obliterated Langtang village was the most destructive in Nepal. That single avalanche killed at least 243 people, mercifully most probably in a matter of seconds.
Originally from Seattle, Colin Haley is a professional alpine climber now based in Chamonix, France.
From Spring 2022


text:
I recently bought my first Ford F150 this summer and at the suggestion of the dealer I decided on the 3.5L V6 EcoBoost…and I’m glad I did. With only about 4000 miles on the engine and an, as yet unmarred, new paintjob, my Dad, two friends and I decided to take the F150 on a hunting trip into Colorado from my home in Texas. After what my truck was able to do, I can tell you that I will keep this truck as long as it will keep rolling.
The 3000 mile trip ranged from sea-level Texas, over 12095 ft. Independence Pass in the Rockies to 6000 ft. north-western Colorado. Towing a 2000 lb. horse trailer with enough gear to support four guys on a 2 week hunting trip, we went from 90 degree weather at home to the low 20s in camp. In fact it was so cold that it turned into an impromptu camper. My Dad is 82 and has heart and lung problems so he has trouble sleeping lying down as it makes his lungs fill up with fluid. It was simply too cold for him to sleep with the rest of us inside the horse trailer so he ended up sleeping in the truck every night with the engine running to keep the heat going.
On our 5th day we decided to go scout nearby Juniper Mountain for good hunting spots. There was only one road going up the 7874 ft. mountain so it was time for me to engage the 4WD which made it easily up and over the mountain. You would think this might be the end of my story but it isn’t. No sooner did we get off the mountain than my Dad started getting pain in his chest and arm. He had a heart attack out in the middle-of-nowhere so I sped him 30 miles down the highway to the nearest town and hospital at 100 mph. He had to be medevac’d to Grand Junction, CO for an angioplasty so I was left to go back to camp and gather up the guys, pack our stuff and head out ahead of the big snowstorm that was on its way in. We made it to Grand Junction in the rain but ahead of the snow and linked back up with Dad. Thank God he was all right. After the doctor released him, we loaded up and began the drive home, over snowy, treacherous Red Mountain Pass at 11000 ft. Fortunately the roads were not yet icy, but getting down off the mountain late in the evening through thick fog and worrying about Dad was probably one of the most frightening drives I’ve ever made. The last day took us back through New Mexico with the storm dumping snow all over I-40 until we finally rolled into Texas and my driveway at midnight.
It was an exhausting trip but I know now I can count on my truck through just about anything.


text: Enjoy a colorful new version of "Crossy Road" here in this game Barbie: Virtual World. Lead our protagonist to go through safely along some very busy roads. Watch out for fast moving trains and cars. Collect stars, stay away from the water and get ready for a few challenges! Have fun playing this game here at Y8.com!

domain: game


text:
Congolese forward Tresor Mputu Mabi has claimed he is ready for a move to Europe, with Tottenham Hotspur long-term admirers.
The TP Mazembe captain wasn’t prepared to leave the club without delivering a trophy, but with Mazembe defeating Nigerian side, Heartland in the African Champions League, the attacker has declared his interest in moving to the big time.
Mputu Mabi is one of the most highly-rated and highest-paid players in Africa at the current time and has long been linked with a large number of top European sides.
He had however refused to leave until he helped bring silverware to Congolese outfit, TP Mazembe.
He told BBC Sport, “I promised the team that I wouldn’t leave before winning a cup and now I’ve managed to do this.
“Now that I have delivered the cup to the president of TP Mazembe, for sure I’m free to move now, because I’ve completed my mission.”
Have something to tell us about this article?


text:
Moody weighs in on an abortion waiting period ruling and a proposed insurance special session
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said lawmakers should take steps to address the state's struggling insurance industry.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody told reporters she supports lawmakers addressing the state's troubled insurance industry. She also said she's proud of the outcome of a years-long battle surrounding an abortion law.
Moody made her comment during an event celebrating the Special Olympics.
After 7 years of legal battles, a Leon County judge has approved a law that requires people seeking an abortion to wait 24 hours after an initial visit with a doctor.
Moody thinks that policy make sense.
"I believe informed consent, a measured ability to consider such a decision in one's life, is extremely important. So I thought this was important legislation to defend," Moody said.
Following the ruling, the law now goes into effect. Plaintiffs say they're looking into options to appeal the ruling.
Moody also said, while the issue is outside her "scope of duty," she believes lawmakers should take steps to address the state's struggling insurance industry.
"I think this is something that has to be addressed by our policymakers. It is an important issue. I can tell you it is something that is brought to my attention during my travels across Florida," Moody said.
In recent months several property insurance companies have shuttered or been declared insolvent.
Senator Jeff Brandes, (R-St. Petersburg) issued an official call Friday for a special session on the subject. By Monday he said he had support from more than the required 20% of the legislature to trigger a poll of all lawmakers. Under state rules, the Florida Secretary of State has a week from that point to complete the poll. If three-fifths of both chambers agree to the special session, if could be scheduled as early as May.
Copyright 2022 WFSU. To see more, visit WFSU.


A New York Times article recently by Mark Landler reports on a letter signed and sent by 51 State Department officers urging the U.S. Government to use military action against the Syrian government and its president, Bashar Al-Assad, to force him to “stop ... violations of a cease-fire in the country’s five-year-old civil war.” The letter was sent in the State Department’s “dissent channel,” but also was leaked to the press.
Several people have asked me what the “dissent channel” in the State Department is, and the significance of 51 Department employees sending the letter.
As defined in the Foreign Affairs Manual, the dissent channel is a way for Foreign Service Officers to “bring dissenting or alternative views on substantive foreign policy issues ... to the attention of the Secretary of State and other senior State Department officials in a manner which protects the author from any penalty, reprisal, or recrimination.” As might be supposed, it dates from the Vietnam War, when officers on the ground and close to the action felt powerless to influence what they saw as flawed policy.
In 28 years working in the Foreign Service, including the Department of State and U.S. Information Agency, I knew of the dissent channel being used maybe a handful of times, but never knew it to have influenced U.S. policy. Not to say it didn’t, only that it’s not an automatic trigger to changing policy from the bottom up.
I also can’t recall it ever having been used by so large a group of Foreign Service Officers. One lone voice, perhaps, or a small group of FSOs working in a specific country and wanting to signal to the Secretary their concern about policy there. To have a dissent channel message signed by 51 Foreign Service Officers, including our last ambassador to Syria, signals “deep rifts and lingering frustration within the administration over how to deal with a war that has killed more than 400,000 people,” according to the Times’ report. In addition to the large number of dead, of course, millions of Syrians have fled to Europe and the U.S. to escape the fighting at home.
One of the cautions with forcing regime change in a country like Syria is we can’t know in advance who replaces the ousted leadership. Hillary Clinton’s proud boast about Libyan president Muammer Gaddafi “we came, we saw, he died” is an outstanding example of regime change that went badly wrong. Libya is now a failed state: a country with a weak central government and several strong tribal leaders vying for primacy. Secretary John Kerry doesn’t want to repeat that in Syria, nor does his boss, President Obama.
The problem is, as pointed out in the recent dissent letter, the current situation is bad and getting worse, causing enormous suffering.
Two noteworthy features of this message were the large number of signers and the fact it was leaked to the New York Times. Leaking puts this letter in an entirely different category and appears to be a sort of end run around the administration. Keeping policy disagreements inside the system allows different views to be aired without becoming a sideshow. The drafters of this letter apparently thought their views were not getting fair consideration, so they tried to get more voices involved.
Given our President’s history of avoiding difficult decisions I don’t think much will come of this. I fully expect many more lives will be lost and the chaos will spill into neighboring countries. Regrettable for sure, but understandable after our bad experience in Libya.
Fred LaSor is a retired Foreign Service Officer living in the Carson Valley.


Independent wealth managers in Canada are seeing an influx of new clients and assets as do-it-yourself investors and small business owners search for professional advice during volatile times.
Last month, Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management opened 2,593 client accounts as stock markets plunged amid the novel coronavirus outbreak. That was up from 1,995 account openings in February.
Despite the market volatility, the surge in new account openings contributed to the firm’s net new assets growing by 127 per cent for the year to date, compared to the same period in 2019.
Stuart Raftus, president of Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management – Canada, said the flow of new money, which does not include assets brought in by clients of advisers recruited to join the firm, comes from several sources including DIY investors, robo-adviser clients and existing clients consolidating more of their assets under one roof. The firm has $20-billion in assets under administration in Canada.
“From the outside looking in, people may think things have ground to a halt in the wealth channel but our activity level remains quite high and our new account openings are up quite significantly,” said Mr. Raftus, who is also the chief administrative officer at Canaccord Genuity Group Inc.
The shift towards advice comes at a time when Canadian mutual fund managers saw more than $14-billion in net redemptions in March, as the novel coronavirus clobbered global equity markets and panicked investors began to sell.
“There is a lot of fear out there during these uncertain times and it forces clients to start asking questions,” said Greg Pollock, CEO of Advocis, an industry association for financial advisers in Canada. “Once they take a closer look at their own situation they begin to realize they want to add or enhance certain aspects to their financial plan.”
Surprisingly, Mr. Pollock said, many clients still have an appetite for risky products. Advisers are also dealing with investors looking for advice on buying opportunities as markets trade well below all-time highs.
For Assante Wealth Management, a subsidiary of CI Financial Inc. with $43-billion in assets under administration, a recent increase in client referrals has come from small business owners looking for financial advice during the economic standstill brought on by COVID-19.
“Referrals tend to spike in periods of market volatility when clients flock to advice channels, particularly when they don’t have trusted advice in the marketplace,” said Sean Etherington, president of Assante.
While Assante’s overall AUA dropped by approximately 12 per cent at the end of March, mainly due to market volatility, the firm has continued to bring in new investment dollars and clients, Mr. Etherington said.
Net sales were up 44 per cent for the first quarter, ending March 31, momentum that Mr. Etherington said has continued throughout April.
The increase in account openings is similar to a surge advisers saw after the 2008 credit crisis, he added, when the company experienced the most account openings in its history.
“I suspect we will see the same type of result coming out of this crisis,” he said. “We are keenly aware that there are many Canadians who are not well advised or who have been severely affected by the economic impact of this pandemic.”
In addition to business owners who are seeking information on how to navigate government relief programs, the firm has also received calls from individuals wanting to review or set up financial plans. This group includes people looking for advice on investments, RRIF payments, and will and estate planning. Some also have questions about how to support international and local pandemic efforts.
Along with an increase in new clients, wealth managers continue to see strong recruitment activity, resulting in advisers jumping firms and moving over millions of dollars in client assets during the crisis.
Winnipeg-based Wellington-Altus Private Wealth Inc. has been aggressively recruiting since it first opened its doors four years ago. When co-founders Charlie Spiring and Shaun Hauser launched the independent wealth manager, they announced plans to hit $10-billion in assets by the spring of 2020.
The company, which recently hired a full-time recruiter in Ontario, has been poaching high-end adviser teams from competitors and added more than $350-million in new assets in the first three months of 2020.
As a result, Mr. Spiring and Mr. Hauser’s ambitious plans hit target ahead of schedule -- just before the coronavirus pandemic hit North America. Assets under management grew to $12.4-billion in mid-February. Now, after March’s market downturn, the total is just above $10-billion.
As the country went into lockdown last month, the firm added another $200-million adviser team, and has an additional $3-billion worth of teams in the “pipeline” ready to join later this year, said Mr. Hauser, who’s president of Wellington-Altus.
“Some advisers have pushed back the date they move because they want to have stability in their books right now,” he said. “But the smoke is starting to rise on the recruiting front again and soon that will turn into fire.”
Be smart with your money. Get the latest investing insights delivered right to your inbox three times a week, with the Globe Investor newsletter. Sign up today.


text:
Italian developer, Salvatore Leggiero, unveils plans for the Bitcoin Tower, an hotel chain in Dubai that combines blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, and material sustainability. It will offer guests the opportunity to earn interest on their suite rentals.
Leggiero envisions a hotel chain that embraces cutting-edge technologies like blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) and prioritizes material sustainability. The project aims to celebrate bitcoin’s (BTC) significance, prominence, and values.
The team claims that its unique approach to pricing and guest experience sets this hotel chain apart. Leggiero explained that the rental price of a suite would be considered a form of staking cryptocurrency, allowing guests to earn an annual percentage yield (APY) on their investment.
Dubai fostering crypto adoption
Dubai, known for its progressive mindset and innovative spirit, continues to push the boundaries of technological advancement. With its vision of becoming a smart city, Dubai aims to leverage cutting-edge technologies to build a sustainable and efficient urban environment.
As part of this vision, the city embraces blockchain and cryptocurrencies, recognizing their potential to revolutionize various sectors of its economy. It aligns with Dubai’s broader strategy of becoming a global technological hub.
The city recognizes the transformative power of these technologies and aims to integrate them into its existing infrastructure. By adopting blockchain, Dubai seeks to enhance transparency, security, and efficiency in finance, supply chain management, and real estate sectors.
The Bitcoin Tower encapsulates Dubai’s vision for a sustainable and technologically advanced future. By prioritizing material sustainability, the hotel chain will contribute to Dubai’s efforts in environmental conservation. Integrating blockchain and artificial intelligence will also elevate the guest experience to new heights, allowing for seamless interactions, personalized services, and enhanced security.
This visionary project will undoubtedly captivate the imaginations of both cryptocurrency enthusiasts and technology buffs worldwide.