At 10 a.m. on May 26, 2009, the California Supreme Court upheld the legality of Proposition 8, an amendment to the state constitution passed by 52.24% of the voters in 2008 which states, "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."
After it passed, the proposition was immediately challenged in court by gay marriage proponents, and six months later the California Supreme Court, in a lopsided 6-1 decision, issued a long-awaited ruling which affirmed that the voters had the right to amend the constitution. In anger, gay marriage supporters held protest rallies around the state (and around the country as well), the largest being in San Francisco, the epicenter of the gay rights movement. This page is a report on that rally.
The court actually issued a split decision, because at the same time, it affirmed the permanence and legality of all those same-sex marriages that had been performed in California during that brief period when it was legal. But this minor victory was overshadowed by the pre-emptive banning of all future same-sex marriages.
That is, at least until 2010, when gay marriage proponents have already promised a new proposition re-amending the state constitution to allow same-sex marriages. And if that fails, in 2012, and again in 2014, and so on until it finally passes. At which point, gay marriage opponents have promised a re-run of Proposition 8...and back and forth until the end of time, or until California voters out of sheer weariness vote to ban marriage altogether, gay or straight.
But we may not need to wait that long, because a federal lawsuit has already been filed seeking not only to overturn Proposition 8 in the United States Supreme Court but also thereby to make gay marriage legal nationwide, permanently.
One last note: I myself have no problem with the concept of gay marriage, and voted "No" on Prop. 8 -- which means that for the first time in quite a while, I agreed with the protesters I was covering. At least in theory. Because even though I personally am OK with gay marriage, I value the principles of democracy even more, and if the will of the people is to amend the state constitution, then that is their right -- and I feel it would have set a terrible precedent to throw out the results of a statewide election just because the losing side didn't like the results. Even if I was on that losing side. So, although I would have preferred that Prop. 8 lost, I accept the reality that it passed, and think it's an exercise in pointlessness to hold an election rally after the election is long over and decided.
But so much for politics. Let's get to the pictures!
Many of the messages accused Proposition 8 voters of "intolerance," "hate" (or "H8" as it was often spelled) and of being religious fundamentalists. Luckily for us, intolerance is this man's bitch, so we can rest easy, secure in the knowledge that he has things under control.
This sign summarized the entire rally: Fuck 8. Since the election was long over, and the state Supreme Court had already ruled, there was nothing left to advocate, nothing left to do -- except vent rage at losing. Fuck! 8! Grrrrrr!
Y'know, I can't believe it either. Perhaps it's time to do something a little less futile?
Protesting: The best way to undermine your own message.
In fact, a great many of the signs and protesters were, in my opinion, counter-productive. For example, this woman is "Too gay to pay taxes." In what way does it help the cause of gay marriage to announce that you plan to cheat on your taxes as a form of protest?
If the goal is to make gay marriage appear acceptable to the mainstream, is it really a good strategy to dress in full tranny regalia at the rally?
And is it wise to wear a ball-gag and nun's habit to show how you're "just like everyone else"?
Note to self: Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to display X-rated gay porn alongside my "No on 8" buttons.
The Mormon Church supported Prop. 8, and donated money to its campaign. And everyone knows that the best way to endear yourself to an opponent and convert them to your position is to say "kiss my ass." Works every time!
When the march passed by a Marriott hotel, some of the protesters began yelling, "Marriott's owned by Mormons!" The point being, you should boycott Marriott, since Mormons are anti-gay marriage.
After viewing this sign, many Mormons realized the error of their ways and became supporters of same-sex marriage.
Other forms of sharia are presumably OK.
Finally, someone had an effective protest message.
The crowd first gathered at San Francisco's City Hall. Various celebrities gave speeches, but I could neither see nor hear them (not that I particularly care what celebrities have to say anyway).
By 6pm the rally had swelled to thousands of people. I'm no good at estimating crowd sizes, so I'm not going to even venture a guess as to the exact number.
Later, we all went on a march through the city. Rumors had swirled ahead of time of a possible riot in the works, but hundreds of police escorted the march every step of the way, putting the kibosh on any planned extra-legal antics.
(Earlier in the day, shortly after the ruling was announced, there was a sit-down rally at which many people were arrested for blocking traffic.)
Gay is the new Black?
The primary legal and social argument at the rally was to draw a close comparison between the civil rights movement of the '50s and the gay marriage movement of today; or, as this sign (and many similar signs) put it,
"Gay is the new Black!"
The goal is to position gay-marriage advocates as the defenders of civil rights, and to drag race into the discussion -- the implication being, the same type of racist bigots who opposed civil rights for Blacks 50 years ago are now opposing marriages for gays.
Everywhere I turned, the same comparison was being made, either overtly, or implied. Or, in this case, sarcastic.
But hold on a minute. One of the main points of the civil rights movement was to guarantee that Black people have the right to vote, to get rid of Jim Crow laws which denied Blacks participation in the election process.
So, which side in this argument is trying to deny Black people the right to vote? When you consider that Black Californians overwhelmingly voted in favor of Proposition 8 (70% Yes vs. 30% No), not to mention that Hispanics also voted to ban gay marriage, whereas only white voters (by a narrow margin) voted against Prop. 8, one reaches a devastating conclusion: The white people at this rally are now trying to take away from minorities the power to vote. One could just as validly reverse the protesters' narrative and say that white Californians didn't like how the minorities voted, so the whites are trying to cancel the election and get their way by any means possible -- which entails negating the votes of Blacks and Hispanics. (Notice how 99% of the protest participants depicted in these pictures are white.)
Of course, the gay marriage post-election advocates don't like this narrative. Not one bit. And although I myself voted against Prop. 8, I am not joining in the move to have the election overturned -- which is why I distinguish "gay marriage post-election advocates" and "people at the protest" from gay marriage supporters in general.
I tagged along and eavesdropped on other reporters interviewing passersby; while most of the white interviewees were in favor of gay marriage, whenever a reporter interviewed a Black or Hispanic onlooker, most were unapologetic in their opposition to gay marriage. Which confirms the findings of the opinion polls published after the election.
This video shows another good example of the dynamic: An Hispanic man passing by on a bicycle found himself caught in the rally, and when it was revealed that he opposed same-sex marriages, he got into a ferocious argument with some white gay marriage supporters, who began screaming at him.
In the middle of the rally, I noticed this traffic divider which said: "STATE LAW: YIELD TO..." Is the divider trying to tell us something?
Communists co-opting the gay marriage movement?
Another significant aspect of the rally which I noticed is that communist and socialist groups of all types had moved in and were adopting new messages to appeal to gay marriage supporters.
Richard Becker, one of the leaders of the communist group ANSWER, personally handed out hundreds of pre-printed signs to protesters. (Sorry about the blurry picture.) Notice how ANSWER has created a new spin-off group, "Fight4Equality.org," to disguise their true nature and to lure in unsuspecting potential converts. A standard tactic used by far-left groups trying to co-opt new movements.
The Revolutionary Communist Party were on hand as well, joining in with the crowd's anti-religion sentiment by promoting a quote from their exiled leader Bob Avakian.
They moved up so that their huge banner dominated part of the rally. And once again, any attempt to "mainstream" the gay marriage movement is ruinously undermined by radical groups imposing extreme messages on the crowd. The oldest story in the book.
Other extremist groups joined the co-option by calling for "revolution" -- the exact word to turn off most voters.
Capitalism, blah blah blah, socialist revolution. Got the message.
And as if on cue, to confirm the worst suspicions of the average American, another socialist group announced that "Marriage is only the beginning."
This photo is for all those preachers who like to claim that gay marriage is the first step on the road to people marrying animals.... "Only the beginning" indeed!
After a few more rallies like this, I'd wager that gay marriage has no chance whatsoever in a 2010 statewide election.
At least one of the communists had a sense of humor!
The rest of photos pretty much speak for themselves, so I'll present them as a gallery with no captions. Sometimes, captions just get in the way!


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2611 V Street
Sacramento, CA 95818 | (916) 451-1489
The Good Stuff produces 3-5 flavors of jams and marmalades each season, using in-season fruit from local farmers or neighborhood trees. All products are made using this organic produce within days of its harvest. Jams and marmalades contain only fresh fruit, organic cane sugar, spices, and in a few cases a bit of liqueur for flavor. Everything is made in small batches to ensure the finest flavors.
The Good Stuff is involved in many community events and educational activities, such as Day on the Farm at Soil Born Farms to teach, demonstrate and bring awareness about the health benefits of seasonal, organic and healthy eating. We also volunteer to help with canning at Soil Born Farms to create wholesome canned foods for the staff to use in their cooking and food demos. Each season, they preserve several batches of jam and marmalade exclusively for Harvest Sacramento, using gleaned fruit and volunteer labor. Janet also teaches preserving classes at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op. The Good Stuff donates 5% of their sales to Soil Born Farms Urban Agriculture and Education Project.

domain: agronomy


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Dewar’s And #UNRAVEL Put A Modern Spin On An Old Tradition
Dewar’s and #UNRAVEL are joining forces to create a marvelous combination of storytelling, music, and scotch malt whisky. #UNRAVEL is a collaboration between FOUND and Aidan Moffat – a Scottish Album of the Year Award winner. Aidan wrote 10 short stories for this project. The writings were created to be sound-tracked by FOUND’s 160 musical compositions. Much like the frequently altering mood of a narrated story, the #UNRAVEL sounds are constantly changing along the way. They depend upon the atmosphere’s mood, hour of the day, audience size, local weather, and even opinions being transcribed on Twitter.
Dewar’s is currently creating an #UNRAVEL inspired, limited edition, single cast whisky. This restores an old-fashioned tradition, in which friends gather late into the evening to drink and share stories with each other. Listening to #UNRAVEL and drinking Dewar’s whisky? That sounds like a picture-perfect night.
For more Dewar’s content, head to Facebook.
You should follow Thought Catalog on Twitter here.
A | A | A
I cannot see the middle of a relationship at the beginning, but I can see the end from the middle. I know that there will be an end. There has to be. This is just a stop on the road.
I could walk to Celebrate Brooklyn all summer along. I’d learn how to start running. I’d eat meals of happy chickens at the commune across the street.
Kush got me selfie o’clock twitpic.com/ff3880
Don’t kill anybody. There might be a time in your 20s when you encounter a situation where you’re like, man, I could totally get away with killing this person. Police wouldn’t have a motive. No one would ever know.

domain: entertainment


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‘Units will come up on police premises for better protection’
Acting on the Supreme Court’s direction to States to set up ‘safe houses’ for couples facing threats for marrying outside caste or religion, the Madhya Pradesh police have decided to set up such units across the 53 districts.
“There is nothing honourable in honour killing. Rather, it is a dishonourable act,” said Anvesh Manglam, Additional Director General of Police (Crime Against Women and Children).
Stating that a proposal was sent to the State government for the construction of composite buildings having the units, he said: “The top floor of the building, on police premises, will have safe houses dedicated to individuals or couples requiring protection. The other floors will have regular police offices so that there is security round-the-clock.”
The number of ‘safe houses’ will vary with each district’s requirement. “If the local police comes to know of a person or a couple facing threats of honour killing or the likelihood of such a threat, they’ll consider such cases based on the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court,” said Mr. Manglam. The court, in March last year, had directed States to not only provide protection and logistics to couples facing threats during their weddings, but also accommodate them in ‘safe houses’ for at least the first year of marriage.
Though the couples, provided free accommodation, would automatically be covered under the respective District Legal Service Authority for legal-aid, said Mr. Manglam, their subsistence may be provided for by other departmentsas the area doesn’t fall under the purview of the police.
Source: Read Full Article

domain: news


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This week Focus on the Family joined a coalition effort led by Alliance Defending Freedom, calling on the U.S. Senate to protect people of faith and traditional marriage by rejecting H.R. 8404, the deceptively titled “Respect for Marriage Act.”
The Act is a calculated political move to discriminate against people of faith who support God’s design for marriage.
This legislation was rushed through the House last week and passed by a vote of 267 to 157 without any public hearings.
Proponents of the measure say they are codifying same-sex marriage under federal law, but according to the coalition letter sent to the Senate this week, the Act “is an attack on millions of Americans, particularly people of faith, who believe marriage is between one man and one woman….”
Signatories of the letter say that the measure would do much more than codify same-sex marriage under federal law; it would attempt to “shut down any disagreement, silencing those with the long-held conviction that marriage between one man and one woman is essential to human flourishing….”
Three significant areas of concern noted in the letter are:
- The bill would require that federal law recognize any definition of marriage a state recognizes. This could include plural marriages, open marriages, marriages with minors, marriages with relatives, or any new definition of marriage a state decides to recognize. This would impact federal law regarding benefits, marriage, and rights of parents and children.
- This Act would give activist groups the right to sue religious organizations, businesses, and even individuals because of their sincerely held religious belief that marriage is between one man and one woman when they participate in a joint activity with the government. Some joint activities include faith-based foster care providers, religious social service organizations, and any religious organizations that contract with the government to provide a service.
- The IRS could use this measure which requires recognition of same-sex marriage, to remove tax-exempt status from religious organizations that believe marriage is between one man and one woman.
In addition to Focus on the Family and Alliance Defending Freedom, other signatories to the coalition letter include many national and state organizations such as Heritage Foundation, Family Research Council, Samaritan’s Purse, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Family Policy Alliance, Ethics & Public Policy Center, Concerned Women for America, First Liberty Institute, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Colson Center for Christian Worldview, Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University, and many state policy groups. The complete list of signatories may be found here.
H.R. 8404 could be voted on in the Senate as soon as this week, and there may be enough votes to pass it.
The bill’s broad and unnecessary language threatens the rights of millions of religious Americans and we must act to stop its passage in the Senate.
It is critical to contact Republican senators and urge them to protect marriage and defeat this dangerous bill.
Contact your senators today and tell them to vote “NO” on H.R. 8404.
Photo from Shutterstock.

domain: sociology


Latest posts by Mariella Moon (see all)
- Efficiency Matrix Non-rechargeable Battery Charger Review - July 1, 2009
- Parrot Zikmu Wireless Speakers - December 20, 2008
- Logitech V450 Laser Cordless Mouse for Notebooks - December 20, 2008
A rumor floating around that the T-Mobile G1 has multi-touch capability hidden in there somewhere is rumor no longer. A developer has hacked the underlying code of the Android OS to show us that the G1 can indeed be further developed to have multi-touch capabilities.


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Central Minnesota man arrested with gun after alleged domestic assault
ALDRICH, Minn. - An armed man here was taken into custody by the Wadena County Sheriff's Office after a report that he was involved in a domestic disturbance and then walked into a wooded area with a gun on Monday.
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domain: law


Rebrand Boeing 737 Max Planes Recommends US President
US President Donald Trump has publicly recommended Boeing to "rebrand" its troubled 737 Max planes after two fatal crashes led to the indefinite global grounding of the model and widespread criticism against the company.
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed the morning of March 10 after taking off from Addis Ababa on its way to Nairobi, Kenya, killing all 157 people onboard. Lion Air Flight 610 plunged into the Java Sea in Indonesia in October 2018, killing all its 189 people.
The US government was one of the last in the world to ground the Boeing planes after dozens of other nations banned them amid growing pressure from lawmakers and airline labor unions to suspend flights.
Boeing and the FAA said they are working on an upgrade of the 737 Max software to deal with that safety feature. Some US airlines have extended flight cancellations into mid-August, with an expectation that the plane will be re-certified to fly before that deadline.
Earlier Monday, first daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump paid tribute to the victims of the Ethiopian Air crash during a visit to Addis Ababa.


CANNON Instrument Company
About CANNON Instrument
Viscosity measuring instruments and Tanaka flash, cloud and pour point testers. Proprietary products include manual and automatic glass capillary viscometers, rotational viscometers, specialized instruments for ASTM/SAE lubricant testing, -30°C to +200°C constant temperature baths, and viscosity and flash point standards. The Cannon PolyVISC is intended for automatic measuring of dilute polymer solution relative viscosity. The Cannon CAV-2000 and CAV-2200 are designed for high throughput automated viscosity testing of oils, petroleum derivatives and additives to ASTM D 445 precision requirements.
- Focus : Manufacturer
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We may be hitting the home-stretch of summer, but it’s not too late to get some herb and vegetable plants growing, indoors or out. In fact, August is a particularly good time to sow seeds for fall harvest.
According to Colleen Vanderlinden, author of Edible Gardening for the Midwest, the following plants can be started now (for fall harvest) in most climates: Arugula, beets, beans, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, collard greens, kale, lettuce, leeks, radishes, spinach and winter squash. You can direct-sow these vegetable seeds (plant them directly in an outdoor garden), or start seeds indoors for transplanting to a garden (be it in your yard or on your fire escape, porch, rooftop—even a sunny windowsill) after they sprout. More


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US President Donald Trump threatened Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani with consequences the likes of which few throughout history have suffered before,” in a tweet.
Tweeting in nearly all capital letters late at night in the United States, Mr Trump respondent to President Rouhani’s threats, saying the US is “no longer a country that will stand for your demented words of violence and death”.
He finished the tweet with “be cautious!”
Earlier, Iran’s president warned Mr Trump against provoking his country, while indicating peace between the two nations might still be possible.
Mr Trump this year pulled the US out of the international deal meant to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon and ordered increased American sanctions.
Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency quoted Mr Rouhani as warning Mr Trump on Sunday: “Do not play with the lion’s tail or else you will regret it.”
Mr Trump has suggested Iranian leaders are “going to call me and say ‘let’s make a deal'”, but Iran has rejected talks.
Mr Rouhani suggested peace was still possible and said: “America must understand well that peace with Iran is the mother of all of peace, and war with Iran is the mother of all wars.”
source: The National


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Episode 6: "Early Noble Harvest"
Tina has found her spring mood, and unleashes her well known enthusiasm and lovely cooking at the incredible Skokloster castle.
Episode 6: “Early Noble Harvest”
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domain: food


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This article, originally published by Al Zucaro on BocaWatch.org, is preserved for historical purposes by Massive Impressions Online Marketing in Boca Raton.
If there are questions or concerns with the content please e-mail email@example.com.
I walk our beautiful city everyday. Walkers see a place in an intimate way that you will never experience in a car. I would like to share some of my walking observations.
First and foremost are the fantastic workers both public and private who work their magic in the morning hours maintaining and cleaning the parks and shopping centers. We all appreciate our pristine environment but I don’t think we appreciate what that entails.
I think we can all agree that everyone who comes to Florida drives up and down A1A looking at the ocean and coastal sights. However, there is nothing along A1A that directs drivers, potential customers, to head west on Palmetto Park Road to have lunch, browse shops or further explore our city.
The curious visitors don’t know if our downtown is up Camino, Palmetto or Spanish River. I know A1A is a County Road and might have some restrictions as far as signage, but surely we can find some way to direct folks to the downtown in support of our small business owners.
Once on Palmetto Park Road drivers need further directions to both Mizner Park and Royal Palm Plaza at Mizner Blvd. On numerous occasions drivers have stopped me for directions to Mizner Park.
They have come east down Palmetto Park Road and when they see the ocean they realized they somehow missed the downtown. Confused drivers cruise our Riviera neighborhood east of the intracoastal to turn around. I’ve also had this experience while walking along Palmetto Park Road.
Let’s make downtown more visitors friendly. I suggest we also need signage for people coming downtown from the west.
Also, when you walk north through the Sanborn Square Archway on NE 1st Street, you can see and are drawn to Mizner Park when you reach the end. However, when you walk from Mizner Park through the Sanborn Square Archway heading south you will experience an “is that all there is” moment. You hit a virtual dead end.
The median is blocked with bushes and there is no direction of where to go – or even if there is a reason to go forward. Putting some signs or directions at the southern arch will help with the walkablity between Royal Palm Place and Mizner Park.
I understand the city is considering working with a consulting firm on “Way Finding” signage and parking in Downtown. I am hopeful. We choose to live in Boca Raton; it’s not a place one simply settles for to lay down roots.
I look forward to other readers’ observations on the little things that have or can make a difference in our hometown.
This problem will always exist for Boca’s downtown because the layout of it is so disjointed and not cohesive at all.
IMO The Meridian at one north ocean building should not of been a condo but it should have been a hotel. I feel this would have helped solve some of the problems you mention in the article.
Not everyone is as lucky as Delray Beach who has one single road from I95 all the way to A1A in a perfect grid pattern with low height restrictions in place on development.
On March 27, 2017, the CRA approved a work order for a consultant to evaluate way-finding sign options for the downtown.
Also, A1A is a state road.
Thank you for the information Tony.
I agree with you Barbara. When I first moved to Boca Raton I was surprised that there was no place to “hang out” after an evening meal like there is in Delray Beach or Deerfield. I was used to going back and forth to the beach on Palmetto Park Road and there were no restaurants or bars on the corner by A1A, I didn’t see people browsing or walking at night and never brought guests to dinner in Boca. It took a few months before we discovered Mizner Park and the restaurants in Royal Palm Place. When I have taken people to Mizner, sometimes they will call me later on and ask where it is because they had trouble finding it again.Signs, pretty maps or sidewalk bricks with markings would be a great improvement.
Thank you for your comment Cat. Love your suggestions. I am sure there are other residents and visitors out there with similar experiences and would love to hear ideas they might have.
Good article Barbara. My wife and I also walk daily in the downtown and agree with your observations. Key to enhancing the walking experience is to make it enjoyable. While there are some common elements of enjoyable that we can all agree on, e.g., safety, residents and visitors most likely would define enjoyable in many different ways. The challenge to the city is to identify the elements of enjoyable walking common to most residents and visitors, plan and implement them and then set out a course of continuous improvement on top of these elements.
Sanborn Square is an interesting case. The city invested heavily to enhance the infrastructure on NE 1st Ave to make it more enjoyable for walking. They removed curbs, installed pavers and added optional bollards for blocking vehicle access. The problem is that vehicles are allowed to park on the street and the bollards are never used. It is not an enjoyable walking experience. The investment was wasted. The concept of continuous improvement was not practiced after the elements of enjoyable walking were implemented.
The need for signage to help tourists and visitors enjoy all that downtown Boca has to offer is certainly a welcome idea.
However, the need to hire so called expert’s to do this needs more debate (IMHO ). Those who have commented above as well as City paid staff and others can accomplish the same without spending tens of thousands of dollars to do so?
Parking, historic locations, parks, waterfront vistas, restaurants and shopping all can have signage; along with the hopes not to create signage pollution. Many internationally accepted signs already exist – with just the need for local downtown unique logo or branding.
Perhaps, now with the focus of approving development after development slightly waning, City staff along with residents can identify these same needs ?
Simply, locals most likely know best.
Just a thought…

domain: geography


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Hopes of a more permanent relaxation of Britain’s tough Sunday trading laws appear to have been dashed.
The coalition Government had previously announced plans to relax Sunday trading regulations throughout the London Olympics. Some had hoped that the changes would be preserved permanently if proved successful.
However, Retail Week quotes business and enterprise minister Mark Prisk as saying that there are absolutely no plans” to extend the changes.
We’ve made this a one-off during a unique occasion,” he added. We felt it was an opportunity to do something special and we’ve made it clear in the legislation that once the final day is concluded the policy will be revoked.
We will have many visitors coming to the UK and not just London and we wanted to give retailers the flexibility for them and their staff to trade when they want. It will also give families the flexibility to shop when they want.
In some areas such as rural locations the extended trading hours won’t make a huge difference but it’s about enabling businesses.”
Currently the changes will come into effect on Sunday July 22nd and end on Sunday September 9th.
Present rules dictate than any retailers over 280 square metres are restricted to six hours of continuous trading on a Sunday between 10am and 6pm. During the Olympic period this will be extended to 12 hours.

domain: economics


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By Sara Warner
Acts of Gaiety explores the mirthful modes of political functionality through LGBT artists, activists, and collectives that experience encouraged and sustained lethal severe struggles for innovative switch. The publication explores antics resembling camp, kitsch, drag, guerrilla theater, zap activities, rallies, manifestos, pageants, and parades along extra ordinary kinds of "legitimate theater." opposed to queer theory's long-suffering romance with mourning and melancholia and a countrywide schedule that urges homosexuals to give up excitement in the event that they are looking to be taken heavily by means of mainstream society, Acts of Gaiety seeks to reanimate notions of "gaiety" as a political worth for LGBT activism.
The e-book mines the files of lesbian-feminist activism of the 1960s-70s, highlighting the outrageous gaiety that lay on the middle of the social and theatrical performances of the period and uncovering unique files lengthy considered misplaced. Juxtaposing ancient figures resembling Valerie Solanas and Jill Johnston with more moderen performers and activists (including Hothead Paisan, complain & Animal, and the 5 Lesbian Brothers), Warner indicates how reclaiming this mostly discarded and disavowed earlier elucidates probabilities for being and belonging. Acts of Gaiety explores the collectively informing histories of gayness as politics and as joie de vivre, in addition to the centrality of liveliness to queer functionality and protest.
Read or Download Acts of Gaiety: LGBT Performance and the Politics of Pleasure PDF
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Extra info for Acts of Gaiety: LGBT Performance and the Politics of Pleasure
The Stonewall uprising was a spontaneous but highly self-conscious performance event. Like all theatrical spectacles, acts of gaiety involve participants and observers. The spectators may be invited to join in the fun, as in the case of the Lavender Menace zap, or they may be the butt of the joke, as the police who raided the Stonewall Inn were. “For years I have heard people describe the event as angry and I suppose in a way it was,” recalled the late playwright Doric Wilson. But that was not the main emotion I remember experiencing that night.
To engage in gaiety is to create a pleasurable and empowering experience out of an event or situation that is hateful or painful. Through parody, satire, and physical comedy, sexual minorities survive by replaying tragedy as farce. In so doing, they make manifest the pleasure of politics and the politics of pleasure. Before exploring further ludic forms of lesbian dramaturgy, I want to chart a longer affective history, as acts of gaiety have played an important role in LGBT world-making projects for a century, if not longer.
Mart Crowley’s landmark play The Boys in the Band (1968), hailed by many as the first commercially successful play to offer a sympathetic depiction of gay male sexuality, centers around a group of closeted and self-loathing upper-middle-class men who rent a hustler for their friend Harold’s birthday party. Referred to only as Cowboy, this rough trade is treated as a piece of meat. Paid to be objectified, the hustler must suffer being openly mocked by the intellectually superior college graduates who contracted his services.


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Behind the Image
Street Sketch is an image that takes you off the beaten path and brings you a different kind of photograph. Although it looks like it’s a page from a comic book or graphic novel, this started out as an actual photograph taken while in Tokyo, Japan.
The street lights, the buildings, the people walking around the city getting ready to start their nights. It was all here, so much life in one photograph, which is why this is one image from my time in Japan that’s always stood out for me and always will.

domain: artistic


Posted on March 1, 2013
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning a rulemaking to expand its Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) program in March 2013. Will the oil and gas extraction sector be included in the program’s expansion?
As part of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), the TRI program gathers and makes public information about chemical and waste management activities at a wide variety of facilities. EPA touts TRI reporting as one mechanism to reduce the release of chemicals into the environment. It claims that the information gathered helps companies keep up with competitors’ efforts to reduce and recycle waste, and that the public dissemination of information can lead to citizen and EPA enforcement.
EPA considered including the oil and gas extraction sector in TRI in 1997, but decided against it due to technical issues in determining whether individual wells spread out over large geographic areas would be considered a “facility” under EPCRA. A petition filed by environmental groups claims these technical issues are resolved and points to the basin-level definition of facility in EPA’s greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting rule as an example of how oil and gas production operations can be aggregated. Meanwhile, the GHG reporting rule is still under administrative reconsideration and the definition of facility under that rule is a key point of contention between EPA and industry.
As recently as last week, EPA’s Inspector General “recommend[ed] that EPA develop and implement a comprehensive strategy for improving air emissions data for the oil and gas production sector.” If oil and gas production is included in TRI, how will it affect the sector? Will it be a way to get at chemical ingredients used in hydraulic fracturing that are otherwise protected from disclosure as trade secrets? Will the aggregation of data for TRI purposes spill over into air and waste permitting decisions? At a minimum, TRI would require industry to gather more information on chemicals, wastes and emissions and make it publicly available. Thus, industry should prepare for the corresponding public attention and regulation that may accompany TRI expansion.
Posted on December 13, 2012
On November 30, 2012, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) announced its proposal to list the Lesser Prairie Chicken (“LPC”) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”). The proposed rule resulted from a comprehensive 2011 settlement agreement approved by the D.C. Circuit in In re Endangered Species Act Section 4 Deadline Litigation 2011, whereby FWS agreed to review over 250 candidate species and make a determination as to each species whether to issue a proposed listing rule or to issue a finding that the listing is not warranted, over a six-year period. Under the ESA, an endangered species is one that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range, while a threatened species is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future. FWS will make a final determination on whether to list the LPC as threatened by September 30, 2013.
The LPC is found across a five-state span, including Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas, and Kansas. Activities identified by FWS as threats to the species include habitat loss, fragmentation, modification, and degradation within the species’ range. Other threats include land uses related to wind energy and transmission development. If FWS ultimately lists the LPC as a threatened species, energy industry operations that could potentially harm the species would be affected. Specifically, due to the species’ avoidance of tall, vertical objects, FWS has identified oil and gas wellheads and wind turbines as features that may cause habitat displacement for the bird. Section 9 of the ESA prohibits the “take” of a listed wildlife species by a private or public entity. Because “take” is defined quite broadly under the ESA, even activities that are not designed or intended to harm a species, but could do so indirectly, such as operation of these tall structures, could potentially constitute a violation.
Unlike endangered species, in regard to a species listed as threatened, FWS has the authority under ESA Section 4(d) to tailor the “take” prohibitions to the conservation needs of the species. The FWS may use its Section 4(d) authority to incentivize participation in conservation plans that will support recovery of the LPC. Additionally, there are conservation plans that may be entered into by energy companies before a species is listed under the ESA. Called Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances (“CCAAs”), these agreements, allow non-federal property owners to commit to implement voluntary conservation measures for a candidate species in return for regulatory assurances that additional conservation measures will not be required, and additional land, water, or resource use restrictions will not be imposed, should the species become listed in the future. Furthermore, the proactive conservation efforts performed through CCAAs may remove or reduce threats to the covered species, so that listing the species under the ESA may become unnecessary. CCAAs, therefore, provide a significant opportunity for a compliant energy company to potentially insulate itself from liability in the event the LPC is listed as threatened. CCAAs have been developed for the LPC in New Mexico and Texas, and Oklahoma, under the leadership of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, has submitted a CCAA to FWS for review. Notably, because the final listing determination for the LPC must be made September 30, 2013, time is of the essence for energy companies to consider entering into a CCAA.
See the FWS’s Proposed Listing
See the FWS’s News Release Regarding the Proposed Listing
See the FWS’s Facts Regarding the Proposed Listing
Posted on April 30, 2012
The oil and gas industry has lately been at the center of the debate over the scope and reach of the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”). (See, for example, an August 2011 blog by Pamela Giblin). Creative approaches will be needed to insulate against potential liability.
When the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia approved two settlements in multidistrict ESA litigation (MDL No. 2165) on September 9, 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) committed to, among other things, review over 250 candidate species and determine whether to issue a proposed listing rule or to issue a finding that listing is not warranted by the end of fiscal year 2016. Among those first on the list to be decided are species located in areas of significant oil and gas development and potentially impacted by oil and gas operations. For example, the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard (also known as the Sand Dune Lizard), a candidate species under the ESA, is known to exist in the energy-rich Permian Basin.
Once a species is listed as endangered or threatened, protective measures apply to the species and its habitat under Section 9 of the ESA. The ESA prohibits the possession, sale, import, and/or export of endangered species, as well as the “take” of a listed wildlife species by a private or public entity. Section 3 of the ESA defines the term “take” broadly to mean “harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct.” Even activities that are not designed or intended to harm a species, but that could do so indirectly, such as servicing a well, can constitute a take prohibited by the ESA. The ESA subjects any person who violates the statute or its implementing regulations to an array of civil and criminal sanctions.
A decision on whether or not to list the Sand Dune Lizard is due in June 2012. Thus, oil and gas companies operating in areas of lizard habitat, or where other candidate species may exist, need to be thinking proactively about the impacts of a listing. Some of the tools available to operators can be utilized in advance of listing and can provide important protections and assurances if the species is ultimately listed. One significant opportunity for an oil and gas company to potentially insulate itself from ESA liability is a conservation agreement.
Specifically, a Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (“CCAA”) is an agreement, whereby non-federal property owners commit to implement voluntary conservation measures for a candidate species, and in return receive regulatory assurances that additional conservation measures will not be required and additional land, water, or resource use restrictions will not be imposed should the species become listed in the future. Furthermore, the proactive conservation efforts performed through CCAAs may remove or reduce perceived threats to the covered species, so that FWS could determine that listing the species under the ESA is unnecessary.
For example, CCAAs have been developed for the Sand Dune Lizard in Texas and New Mexico, and the Lesser Prairie Chicken in New Mexico. Since assurances under these agreements are only available to operators and land owners who enroll before a species is listed, time is of the essence for projects or operations that may harm candidate species currently under evaluation, particularly the Sand Dune Lizard.
For oil and gas operators who fail to take any action, the listing of a candidate species affected by development as threatened or endangered could immediately bring their operations to a halt. FWS estimates that it could take as long as a year or more for an operator to obtain its own individual “take” permit. Thus, whether or not these species become listed is certainly something to keep an eye on for oil and gas operators and their counsel.


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Should a National Lottery be introduced in the Cayman Islands?
The perennial question which has been a feature of local discourse for years, especially in the political arena, is taking on added urgency this time around.
It’s time overdue for this long-running conversation to be resolved and we welcome the efforts of the Hon. Minister for Tourism and Transport, Kenneth Bryan, to have a public consultation on this matter.
A State lottery is a better bet by far than the unauthorised undercover gambling schemes that are a scourge to society.
Unlike state lotteries, their very business model is based on maximising the takings and profits for those behind the schemes - and behind the scenes.
There’s no openness, no accountability for the operators, and no safety net nor any recourse for the individuals and their families oftentimes forced into destitution by the sheer addiction of this uncontrolled sector.
The odds are woefully stacked against the players where one is ‘allowed’ to win at the expense of other punters. But the real winners reap their ill-gotten gains in the shadows, tax-free with no responsibility and no accountability...except for counting up their profits at the cost of society.
It’s criminal, leads to criminal activity, destroys lives, and is a menace to society - but immensely profitable to those running it.
However, it’s proven that banning any addictive pursuit without providing a beneficial alternative is itself a recipe for disaster.
People will always gamble. For some, the attraction and promise of a small ‘investment’ for a quick win are irresistible. And then it unhealthily spirals out of control with disastrous consequences.
But it doesn‘t have to be that way.
THE UK NATIONAL LOTTERY - A WINNING COMBINATION
There is a proven and beneficial way of disrupting the business model of illegal gambling.
A shining example is the UK’s National Lottery - a model which we suggest that Cayman emulates.
The modern UK National Lottery was launched in 1994 and from its history outlined on its website, it has been an impressive success.
“Making sure as much money as possible goes towards life-changing projects is incredibly important to us. In fact, it’s what we’re here for. For every ticket sold, a hefty slice of the money received goes to a huge variety of projects, both big and small – from repairing Scout huts to making Olympic and Paralympic champions. So, every time you play, the UK wins.”
That’s a winning proposition. It works in the UK and there’s no reason why it can’t and shouldn’t work in Cayman.
There’s just one proviso: It must be properly run.
The UK National Lottery is run by the country’s government-appointed Gambling Commission whose legal responsibilities are; ensuring that the interests of all players are protected, ensuring the Lottery is run with due propriety, and that returns to good causes are maximised.
Decisions on how and where funding is invested are made by 12 specialist organisations. These are chosen by Parliament for their knowledge and expertise to help ensure the money goes exactly where it’s needed.
Here are some other ‘winning’ results of the UK National It retains around just 1% of revenue in profit, while around 95% of total revenue goes back to winners and society. More so, we run one of the most cost-efficient major lotteries in Europe, with around 4% of total revenue spent on operating costs.
So far, over £47 million (KYD/CI 46.8 million) in individual prizes and funding for a range of worthwhile causes. The government also earns a ‘lottery duty’ from ticket sales.
In the year ending 31 March 2022, the National Lottery reports total ticket sales of £8,090.7 million (KYD/CI 7.9 million) that funds were shared as follows: Health, education, environment and charitable causes – 40%, Sport – 20%, Arts – 20%, and Heritage – 20%.
Individual winners have won up to £195 million (KYD/CI 194.3 million) - the highest single win to date - in a variety of games.
Key to all of this is the commitment of the UK National Lottery: “To keep players safe online, we use an in-house behavioural analytics model. This identifies at-risk players, enabling us to support them through targeted interventions.”
It’s a winning formula and if it can be done there, it can be done here. That’s why we endorse Min. Bryan’s public consultation into a Cayman National Lottery.
It’s more than just a numbers game. In the end, we all win.

domain: finance


We’re in the dawn of a new era in computing – Quantum Computing (QC), an approach based on the very spectacular and strange behavior of matter and energy governed by the laws of quantum physics. This amazing new direction promises the much-needed support for significant advancements in key areas like nitrogen fixation, carbon capture, materials science, and machine learning, to name just a few. There is a lot going on right now in QC with a lot of energy and money being invested by some of the largest players in IT.
Yet it’s not all straightforward and simple, and the promises are by no means certainties. Au contraire, the challenges posed by QC are monumental. They range from the physical building of quantum computers all the way to designing completely new and ground-breaking algorithms. The strange and counterintuitive behavior of quantum physics has a dramatic impact on the new kind of logic that we need to adopt to program quantum computers.
I have the amazing opportunity to discuss about the fascinating world of quantum algorithms at DevSum 2019. In my session, I’ll start with a brief introduction on QC and then I'll dive into a discussion about the challenges of coding in a world that is radically different from the one we’re used to. One particular twist that I'll take is analyzing the prospects of applying QC in Machine Learning, which will make the discussion even more interesting :)
Welcome to the strange and fascinating world of Quantum Computing!


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The V5 has been superseded by the Maxi Sky 2 ceiling hoist. It is now out of production but second hand units may still be available. Spare parts should be obtainable for a number of years.
The V5 Voyager Duo is a fixed ceiling lift which enables the caregiver to perform safe lifting with less effort during the transfer of patients with reduced mobility. The Voyager Duo has a lifting capacity of 220lb (100kg) and offers an option to change the initial lifting capacity to a higher capacity of 440lb (200kg). Therefore, the Voyager Duo can adapt to the various care requirements either at home or in retirement homes.
The Voyager Duo’s new ergonomic handset offers comfortable handling and ease-of-use. An industry standard approved waterproof casing (IPX7), as well as Newly-Designed touch pad, ensure years of reliable use. The new stretch resistant cable, which will retract to its original length, makes the new handset extremely user friendly.


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Complete genome sequence of a KI polyomavirus isolated from an otherwise healthy child with severe lower respiratory tract infection
Walter N. Dehority; Megan M. Eickman; Kurt C. Schwalm; Stephen M. Gross; Gary P. Schroth; Stephen A. Young; Darrell L. Dinwiddie
Author Information: Department of Pediatrics
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Abstract unavailable for this article.

domain: medical


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Impaired physical function and disability are common features in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (40). The development of powerful disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs has made it possible to improve control of disease activity and to reduce progression of joint damage and deformity, so that many patients are able to maintain an active life in the community. However, even in stable disease with minimal joint symptoms, most patients experience limitations of physical function, often leading to work disability (31).
Escalante and del Rincón's (5) hierarchical regression model of disability in RA accounted for 59% of the variance in RA disability by disease activity, joint inflammation, joint damage and pain, psychosocial factors, and demographics. However, their model did not assess the influence of muscle on disability in RA. Recently, Giles et al. (9) demonstrated a strong association between body composition in RA (low muscle mass and high percent body fat) and disability. The prevalence of muscle wasting, i.e., rheumatoid cachexia, is higher in patients with RA than in the general population (26,34), possibly because of the catabolic effect of proinflammatory cytokines (e.g., tumor necrosis factor) and the down-regulation of anabolic factors for muscle (e.g., insulin-like growth factor I) (19,20,34).
In addition, exercise training, which restores muscle mass, has been shown to substantially improve physical function and to reduce disability in patients with RA without increasing disease activity (4,20,21). Thus, encouragement to exercise has become part of routine rheumatology care, and more patients, especially those with milder, well-controlled disease, attend public gyms.
Extensive research has been conducted on the factors that determine muscle force production and muscle function in the healthy population and the adverse changes that occur in aging and disuse (25,37). A similar comprehensive assessment of the physiological characteristics of skeletal muscle in patients with RA is absent, which is surprising in view of the recent developments in RA treatment. Consequently, it is not known whether the catabolic effect of RA results in alterations in skeletal muscle properties; for example, muscle-specific force and architecture, which may then contribute to the reduced physical function in patients with RA.
Thus, the present study sought to investigate the properties of skeletal muscle in community-based patients with RA with controlled disease. Skeletal muscle-specific force, i.e., maximal isometric force per cross-sectional area of the muscle, concentric force, contractile properties, activation capacity, and architectural characteristics of the muscle are assessed. These results are presented alongside measures of body composition and physical function.
Twenty-three patients with a diagnosis of RA according to the American Rheumatism Association's 1987 revised criteria (2) were recruited from the rheumatology outpatient clinics of the local National Health Service Trust. These included a subset of patients who were found to be cachectic and were included in a separate analysis (22). Inclusion criteria were disease duration of at least 3 yr and stable disease activity (i.e., no flare or change in medication for the last 3 months). Exclusion criteria were the presence of any other catabolic disease, high-dose steroid therapy (i.e., >10 mg of prednisolone daily) or a recent steroid injection, and joint replacement or current pain or swelling in the right or left knee joints. The recruited RA patients were age- and sex-matched with 23 healthy volunteers. We initially recruited 25 patients but had to exclude 2: one participant did not attend for the assessment, and the other was tested but no matching healthy control was found. This led to a final number of 23 pairs. Written informed consent was given by all participants. The study was approved by the North Wales Health Authority Research Ethics Committee and was conducted in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
Involvement in the study necessitated two appointments for participants: the first for body composition measurements, physical function tests, and questionnaires; and the second for assessment of muscle size, strength, and activation.
The RA patients completed the modified Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity Index (18), a patient questionnaire assessing global disease activity during the past 6 months and current disease activity in terms of swollen and tender joints, arthritis pain, general health, and duration of morning stiffness, which scores from 0 = no disease activity to 10 = active disease. Antecubital venous blood was analyzed for erythrocyte sedimentation rate, a measure of systemic inflammation, in the Haematology Department of Gwynedd Hospital.
Body composition was assessed by whole-body dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy. In brief, on presentation at the laboratory, body mass was measured on a calibrated balance scale (Seca, Hamburg, Germany) in a standard way, with patients only in their underwear, barefoot, fasted, and voided (6). Whole-body DXA was then performed using a pencil-beam scanner (QDR1500; Hologic, Bedford, MA) to determine total and regional (left and right arm, left and right leg, trunk, and head) lean and fat masses. The combined lean mass of arms and legs, called appendicular lean mass (ALM), is a proxy measure of total body skeletal muscle mass (16). The bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy measure (Hydra 4200; Xitron Technologies, San Diego, CA) was used to ensure euhydration (8,21).
Physical function and quality of life
Physical function was assessed objectively with the 30-s chair sit-to-stand and 8-ft up-and-go lower-body function tests derived from the "Senior Fitness Test" by Rikli and Jones (33). In addition, the participants performed a 50-ft walk and a single-leg balance test (23). Subjective physical function was ascertained by the modified Health Assessment Questionnaire (mHAQ, scores 0-3), which includes questions on the individual's difficulty in performing various activities of daily living (31), and the 36-question Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), which provides a subjective evaluation of an individual's health status through questions on physical function, emotional health, and quality of life (14), with physical component summary scores of 22-59 and mental component summary scores of 11-62. Habitual physical activity was assessed by a questionnaire developed by Saltin and Grimby (35), which has previously been used in RA and aging populations (21,36). In this questionnaire, scores from 1 "being sedentary" to 4 "being involved in heavy physical activity" are given separately for occupational and recreational activities, providing a total score between 2 and 8.
Muscle strength and EMG.
After familiarization with the test procedures on the first laboratory visit, muscle strength and EMG were assessed during their second visit. For these, the participants sat upright on a Humac Norm isokinetic dynamometer (CSMI Medical Solutions, Stoughton, MA), with their right leg strapped to the dynamometer arm above the ankle with additional straps secured to prevent extraneous movement at the hips and shoulders. The hip angle was fixed at 90°. To assess maximal isometric knee extension and flexion torque (N·m), the knee joint angle was fixed at 70° from full leg extension, the optimum angle for force production by the quadriceps muscles (28).
After a set protocol of warm-up contractions, participants performed three rapid maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVC) of the knee extensors. When voluntary torque peaked, participants were asked to maintain their effort for 2-3 s. Participants then performed three rapid maximal isometric knee flexions. Feedback was provided to the participants through a real-time display of the muscle torque on a computer screen. There was at least a 1-min rest between each MVC to minimize fatigue, and verbal encouragement was given during each effort.
The contraction with the highest torque was used for analysis. The vastus lateralis (VL) muscle force was then calculated as representative of the quadriceps muscle group using established methods (32), which takes into account torque, patellar tendon moment arm length, and antagonist cocontraction torque estimated from EMG activity. Self-adhesive Ag/AgCl electrodes, 10 mm in diameter (Ambu, Ballerup, Denmark), placed over the VL and the long head of the biceps femoris (BF), recorded the root mean square of the raw EMG signal during the MVC.
BF antagonist cocontraction torque was calculated as follows:
- BF torque=(BF EMG during knee extension/BF EMG during knee flexion)×knee flexion torque (30).
Quadriceps force was calculated as follows:
- quadriceps force=(BF torque+knee extension torque)/estimated patellar tendon moment arm length (32).
The relative contribution of the VL to quadriceps force was assumed from previous data by Narici et al. (28).
Voluntary muscle activation capacity and contractile properties.
To detect deficits in muscle fiber recruitment, three additional MVC of the knee extensors were performed by participants with superimposed and postcontraction supramaximal double twitches. The twitches were applied percutaneously from a DSV Digitimer Stimulator (Digitimer Ltd., Hertfordshire, UK) over the proximal (anode) and distal (cathode) regions of the quadriceps muscles using rubber stimulation pads (38 × 89 mm and 76 × 127 mm; Versastim; Conmed, Utica, NY) (38). The strongest voluntary contraction was used for analysis. Voluntary activation capacity of the quadriceps muscle group was calculated as follows:
- voluntary activation (%)=(1−(superimposed doublet torque/post-MVC doublet torque)) × 100 (1,12).
A series of four supramaximal resting twitches was performed to assess contractile properties including peak torque, time to peak torque, and half-relaxation time (calculated from the mean of the second, third, and fourth twitches) (38).
Muscle volume, architecture, physiological cross-sectional area, and muscle-specific force.
To estimate muscle volume (VOL), VL muscle anatomical cross-sectional area (ACSA) was measured by ultrasonography at 25%, 50%, and 75% of the muscle length using a 7.5-MHz linear probe (MyLab50; Esaote, Firenze, Italy). The ultrasound probe was then placed along the VL to gain images of the muscle architecture at rest, which, in turn, were used to calculate physiological cross-sectional area (PCSA). Previous studies have shown this to be a reliable method (32) because PCSA takes into account muscle geometry (pennation angle θ and fiber fascicle length Lf) and is at right angles to the direction of the fiber fascicles. In contrast, using ACSA alone can result in overestimation and underestimation of muscle size because ACSA changes variably along the length of the muscle with training and detraining, respectively, with the most pronounced changes occurring in the midregion of a muscle (32). Using PCSA, therefore, provides a more accurate measure of muscle size for the assessment of the stress of a muscle because it will correctly relate the force developed along the fibers (28).
Pennation angle θ was defined as the angle of insertion of the fiber fascicle into the deep aponeurosis of the VL. Lf was calculated from θ and the muscle thickness (d, measured as the distance between the two aponeuroses of the VL) by the following equation: Lf = d/sinθ (17). PCSA was calculated as VOL/Lf, and specific force was calculated by normalizing VL force to VL PCSA. The estimation of Lf with this method is associated with an error of 2%-7% (7,27). After obtaining the resting ultrasound images of muscle architecture, the ultrasound probe was held in the same position during three maximal voluntary knee extension contractions to assess the extent of changes to θ and Lf between the contracted and the relaxed VL.
Concentric torque and velocity-specific power.
Participants then performed four maximal concentric contractions of the knee extensors at velocities of 50°·s−1 and 100°·s−1 to assess maximal concentric torque and velocity-specific power, calculated as follows:
- velocity-specific power = maximum torque generated at each velocity × velocity (rad).
Also assessed were the angle of maximum concentric torque and the concentric torque at 70° knee flexion.
To determine the sample size, statistical power was calculated for maximal voluntary isometric muscle force, a principal dependent variable, using the differences between young and middle-aged healthy individuals found by Onambele et al. (29). Assuming normal distribution, two groups, equal variance, common SD for each group, two-tailed test, α = 0.05, and power = 0.80, this analysis gave a requirement of 10 per group. Depending on normality of distribution of the data, we used either Student's paired t-test or Wilcoxon test to determine differences between the patients and the matched control group. All statistical analyses were performed by SPSS software version 14.0 (Chicago, IL). Values are presented as means ± SEM. Significance was accepted at the level P < 0.05, with a P of 0.05-0.10 considered a trend. Intraclass correlation coefficients were used to assess the reliability of the ultrasound measurements. The analysis of the ultrasonograms for θ, muscle depth, and VL ACSA was performed blinded on two separate occasions. Intraclass correlation coefficients were r = 0.81-0.95 on a subsample of 10 participants. Correlations between functional capacity and power produced during concentric MVC were calculated with simple regression analysis.
The 23 patients with RA were age- and sex-matched with 23 healthy controls (Table 1). All patients had stable disease, with mean Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease Activity Index score of 3.1 ± 0.3 (range = 1.0-5.4), indicating low disease activity. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate was 19.1 ± 2.5 mm·h−1 (range = 3-41 mm·h−1), representing normal levels for this age group or low-grade inflammation. Twelve patients (52%) were positive for rheumatoid factor. The average disease duration for patients was 12.9 ± 1.8 yr. Treatment for RA was as follows: 18 patients (78%) were taking methotrexate, 3 of them combined with an anti-tumor necrosis factor agent (2 with infliximab and 1 with adalimumab); 3 patients (13%) were taking sulfasalazine; 9 patients (39%) were taking nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs; and 6 patients (26%) were taking prednisolone (range of 1-10 mg daily, average dose of 7.3 mg).
A reduction of ALM by 1 kg (5.8%) was observed in the patient group compared with the controls, despite a tendency toward higher body mass index (by 4.4%) and body weight (by 2.5%; Table 1). Body fat was significantly higher in the patients (Table 1).
Physical activity and function.
As expected, objective physical function was reduced in the RA group relative to the matched healthy controls, that is, sit-to-stand by 10.5% (number of repetitions 12.6 ± 0.7 vs 14.0 ± 0.5, P = 0.09), 8-ft up-and-go by 17.3% (6.1 ± 0.3 vs 5.2 ± 0.2 s, P < 0.01), 50-ft walk by 25.3% (9.3 ± 0.5 vs 7.5 ± 0.3 s, P < 0.001), and one-leg standing balance by 27.0% (49.0 ± 5.0 vs 67.1 ± 4.9 s, P = 0.01; Fig. 1), as were the subjective measures of self-assessed physical function: mHAQ (0.64 ± 0.07 vs 0.11 ± 0.06, P < 0.001) and SF-36 physical component summary score (38.2 ± 1.9 vs 51.3 ± 1.1, P < 0.001). Similarly, patients scored lower on psychological quality of life factors with a mean SF-36 mental component summary score of 39.8 ± 1.5 compared with 44.2 ± 0.9 for the controls (P < 0.05). Both the RA and the control groups reported low habitual physical activity levels, although the healthy controls tended to be even more sedentary than the patients (Table 1).
Muscle-specific force and architecture.
Muscle physiology data are presented in Table 2. Compared with the healthy controls, the patients with RA had a smaller PCSA (by 13.9%, P < 0.05). Patients had a nonsignificant reduction of 6.0% in VL force compared with their controls (P = 0.35). Overall, specific force, calculated by normalizing VL force to VL PCSA, was not different between the groups (P = 0.40; Table 2).
In the RA group, resting θ was 12.5% less (P = 0.01) than that in the controls, whereas Lf tended to be longer by 12.1% (P = 0.06; Table 2). At maximal contraction, θ increased by 24.6% in the patient group and by 16.2% in the control group, and Lf decreased by 19.1% in the patients and 19.0% in the controls with no differences between the groups (P = 0.78 and P = 0.16, respectively).
Muscle contractile properties and voluntary activation capacity.
During electrical stimulation of the quadriceps at rest, peak torque, time to peak torque, and half-relaxation time were similar in the RA and the control groups (P = 0.68-0.99). In addition, no difference was found in voluntary muscle activation capacity between the groups (P = 0.86; Table 2).
Concentric torque and velocity-specific power.
RA and control groups were not different regarding their maximum concentric torque at 50°·s−1 and 100°·s−1 (P = 0.61 and P = 0.99, respectively) and velocity-specific power (P = 0.61 and P = 0.99, respectively; Table 2). Similarly, there was no difference in the angle of maximum torque and power at both speeds (P = 0.50 and P = 0.28, respectively; Table 2) and in the concentric torques measured at 70° of knee flexion (87.1 ± 7.1 vs 93.0 ± 7.8 N·m, P = 0.45 at 50°·s−1, and 65.3 ± 4.9 vs 69.5 ± 5.9 N·m, P = 0.43 at 100°·s−1; Fig. 2).
The present study demonstrates that in patients with stable RA, the physiological properties of skeletal muscle, including specific force, contractile properties, activation and concentric force, and power, are not compromised and thus not a likely contributor to reduced physical function in RA. This is important and encouraging information for rheumatology health professionals and sports scientists involved in designing exercise training for RA patients, and the results are a step forward in piecing together the jigsaw of interactions between muscle function and disability in RA.
In common with most RA patients, our patient cohort had impaired physical function, with the degree of impairment comparable to our previous findings (20,21). We could also confirm the typical aberrant body composition of RA patients with a tendency to reduced ALM (by 1 kg) and increased body fat (41.1% in RA vs 35.9% in non-RA), consistent with the findings of our previous studies (20,21) and those of others: Giles et al. (10) found ALM to be significantly reduced by 1.4 kg in men with RA compared with non-RA controls (n = 72 in each group) and a nonsignificant ALM reduction of 0.3 kg in women with RA compared with non-RA (n = 117 in each group) with concomitant significantly higher body fat percentage (42.1% in RA vs 38.7% in non-RA).
In accordance with the results on muscle mass and physical function, force production tended to be reduced in the RA group in the current study. We then assessed other factors intrinsic to muscle that influence physical function and established that muscle-specific force was preserved. In muscle physiology research, specific force (force per unit muscle) is the main determinant of the quality of a muscle. The unit of muscle can be given as volume, ACSA, or as PCSA, which takes into account the length of the fiber fascicles and their direction as determined by the pennation angle θ. PCSA has been shown to be a better predictor of intrinsic muscle force than ACSA or volume (28) because muscle force is dependent on the number of sarcomeres in parallel (more sarcomeres leads to a larger angle of insertion of fibers into the deep aponeurosis of the muscle and thus greater force) and on the number of sarcomeres in series (more sarcomeres leads to longer fiber fascicles and thus to increased velocity of contraction) (25). In our study, PCSA was significantly reduced in RA patients and was accompanied by minor changes in θ and Lf. Force normalized to PCSA (and ACSA and volume), however, did not reveal any change in specific force. The alterations in muscle architecture were small in absolute values and, therefore, probably not enough to have any functional consequence. This was further confirmed by the finding that the trend to a longer Lf did not lead to a change in contraction velocity measured with resting twitches, concentric torque, or velocity-specific power. Another explanation could be that the resting muscle architecture is less predictive of muscle function than the architecture of the contracted muscle, which, in our study, was not significantly different between patient and control groups, i.e., the minor changes that we found in resting θ were not present in the contracted muscle.
In the current study, the significant reduction of PCSA in the patient group compared with the control group corresponded to the lower muscle mass on DXA, whereas ACSA and VOL were not different between the groups. Unlike DXA or magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound cannot account for intramuscular fat. In the elderly, intramuscular fat and connective tissue are increased compared with young people (15). Thus, ACSA and volume measures alone might represent an overestimation of muscle content.
Our results are in contrast to findings in aging and disuse, where a disproportionate loss in muscle strength and, in consequence, lower specific force is a typical feature, and these are associated with reductions in Lf and θ (25). This suggests that the process of muscle loss in aging and disuse is different from the muscle loss that results from a chronic inflammatory condition like RA. The fact that Lf in our study tended to be longer rather than shorter in the patient group might represent an adaptation, possibly because of the alterations in tendon compliance, which warrant further investigation.
In keeping with the preserved specific force, we did not find any differences in other factors that affect muscle force and function, namely, activation capacity, antagonist cocontraction, and contractile properties. Muscle activation capacity is typically reduced in old age (24) and after prolonged disuse (37). Studies on knee osteoarthritis and joint replacement and after traumatic knee joint damage (13,39) have also found reductions in activation capacity. The observation that, in our study, activation capacity was not different between RA patients and matched healthy controls suggests that our patients' efforts were not inhibited by guarding, pain, or fatigue and that they had not lost the capacity to contract their muscles through disuse. In contrast, Bearne et al. (3) found muscle activation to be 8% lower in an RA compared with a control group. This disparity in results might be explained by their selecting patients with confirmed knee involvement and by the differences in age between their patient and control groups (patients were, on average, 6 yr older). In contrast, our patients did not have obvious knee involvement because those with knee pain or swelling were excluded, our patients had a low mHAQ score, and our groups were age-matched.
The statistical comparison of pairs matched for age and sex was important because of the wide age range of the participants and helped to exclude age-related differences in force production and other parameters. Similarly, we aimed to align the pairs for their habitual physical activity to avoid disparate effects of disuse between groups. If anything, the controls were even more sedentary than the patients in our study.
Despite the preserved specific force and the ability to recruit muscle fibers of our RA patients, their functional capacity was still significantly impaired. To fully understand the role of muscle in RA disability, further research is required, in particular, on tendon stiffness and characteristics at the cellular level such as myosin heavy chain distribution and intramuscular protein metabolism. To minimize extrinsic influences on muscle such as joint deformity or presence of a joint effusion that might lead to malalignment and thereby altered mechanics of the joints, we only included patients with stable disease and excluded those with knee swelling or pain. However, assessing physiological muscle characteristics in active RA pretreatment or in persistently active RA in patients who have not responded well to disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs would also be relevant, albeit difficult in view of the confounding factors of joint pain, swelling, fatigue, and disuse that accompany active RA.
In conclusion, this study highlights the fact that physiological muscle properties are preserved in patients with stable RA and thereby suggests that rheumatoid muscle has the potential to respond to physical training in a similar way that healthy muscle does. This is in accordance with the success that high-intensity exercise training studies have shown in increasing muscle quantity and strength in RA patients (11,20,21) and in the near-identical training responses (of strength, muscle mass, and fat mass) of RA patients and age-matched healthy controls performing the same training (11). With the properties of rheumatoid muscle being apt to respond to exercise training, the results of our study therefore promote the inclusion of exercise in the rehabilitation program for RA patients.
This work was supported by a grant from the North West Wales National Health Service Trust.
The authors thank Dr. Jeremy Jones for reviewing the manuscript.
The results of the present study do not constitute endorsement by the American College of Sports Medicine.
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