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One hour prior to oocyte retrieval, both men and women once more answered ‘the effects away from infertility’ survey. Females scored somewhat greater than men on thoughts of rage, fury, stress, depression and you may powerlessness. not, the new suggest rates had been reasonable, appearing that all of your own visitors had couple embarrassing thoughts (Dining table IV).
Private responses 14 days after the maternity test (third aspect occasion)
Two weeks following maternity decide https://www.datingranking.net/de/sugar-momma-sites/ to try, all of the players responded ‘the effects away from infertility’ questionnaire for the 3rd time. Here, the outcome is actually displayed by themselves for those who hit otherwise performed maybe not get to a clinical maternity.
Gents and ladies in the pregnant category claimed a substantially highest level of victory, delight, happiness and you will pleasure than simply men and women in the maybe not pregnant category. Women and men in the not expecting category reported rather healthier attitude off powerlessness. Feamales in the not pregnant classification experienced more shame, anger, anger, separation and you may despair compared to women in the newest expecting category (Table IV).
Gender variations had been plus available at the next aspect. Female scored rather greater than people regarding the not expecting class concerning outrage, nervousness, depression, powerlessness and you will outrage and lower into feeling of victory. About expecting category, girls obtained rather more than people in regards to the nervousness and powerlessness (Table IV).
An exemplory instance of the introduction of women’s and you will men’s room responses during the procedure months. Analysis in this figure try explanations of solutions so you’re able to items in ‘the effects away from infertility’ survey in advance of, during and after cures considering sex and you may split up according to people that performed and you will failed to get pregnant.
An exemplory instance of the introduction of women’s and men’s responses throughout the procedure months. Study inside figure was explanations regarding responses in order to belongings in ‘the consequences of infertility’ survey prior to, during and after therapy predicated on intercourse and you can split up based on those who performed and you may don’t become pregnant.
The ladies throughout the perhaps not pregnant class believed a whole lot more guilt, separation, despair and you can powerlessness and less achievements, happiness, delight, confidence and satisfaction after than in the past procedures. Brand new boys throughout the perhaps not expecting group sensed alot more rage, stress, powerlessness and you may reduced contentment, happiness, fulfillment and you will control just after cures. Women that are pregnant thought far more success and you can reduced fury and fury after cures, and you can boys regarding the expecting group thought decreased outrage after than before cures (Dining table V).
View of the brand new marital relationship ahead of, after and during medication
Men felt to a higher degree than women that childlessness had caused problems in the marriage both before treatment (P < 0.0001) and during treatment (borderline significant P = 0.0507), but there was no difference after treatment in either the pregnant group or the not pregnant group.
A beneficial bulk (?90%) replied ‘not in the all’ to your matter ‘Are you willing to find it much harder to speak with both today than in the past childlessness turned an essential point?’
There have been zero high variations (P-viewpoints ranging from 0.14 and step one.00) between group either in brand new pregnant category and/or not pregnant classification within the methods to all the questions ‘You think that mate understood how you feel and you can considering emotional support?’ and you will ‘You think you knew their wife or husband’s thinking and offered mental help?’ Most believed they knew and may even assistance per most other, in ?20% of one’s couples, sometimes her or the son or both replied ‘no’ to the questions, plus ladies in the fresh expecting class compared to the brand new perhaps not expecting class gave a terrible respond to. There have been no extreme differences between this new expecting and never expecting teams in remedies for practical question ‘Exactly how did brand new infertility procedures processes connect with their experience of your own spouse?’ (Desk VI). The majority responded that the medication had inspired the relationship that have its spouse on top for the cures both in the newest pregnant therefore the not expecting class. More individuals regarding not expecting category replied adversely.

domain: medical


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Quote of the Day
an admirable concern to keep lines open to writing in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and America.
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Between Here and There
ISBN: 978 1 857545 58 6
Categories: 21st Century, Irish, Women
Imprint: Carcanet Poetry
Published: November 2001
215 x 135 x 6 mm
Publisher: Carcanet Press
From 'Preface'to Between Here and There
My voice slipped overboard and made it ashore
the day I fished on the sea of Japan
within sight of a nuclear reactor.
At first sight I didn't notice -
my flexible throat full of a foreign language
and my attention on the poison of the puffer fish...
In her second book of poems Sinead Morrissey's worlds grow more diverse, encompassing the Orient, the Antipodes, America and an Ireland which recent history has changed and yet not deeply, a country observed through eyes that travel and time have made clear, dispassionate and disabused.
Between Here and There answers the question where Sinead Morrissey has been since the publication of There Was Fire in Vancouver in 1996. Back in her native Belfast after several years abroad, she has produced a long-awaited second collection strung between four continents. These poems, which constitute a radical departure from her earlier work, move between the surreal artscapes of the American South West, the effects of global warming on a lake outside Auckland, and the graves of miscarried babies in Japan, to the difficulties attendant on the peace process in Northern Ireland and the instability of the devolved Assembly. Robust, surprising and technically accomplished, Between Here and There builds towards the critically-acclaimed Japanese sequence featured in New Poetries II. Avoiding the better-travelled paths of the Zen / Haiku traditions in Western poetry, Morrissey instead explores a world of heavy industry, environmental damage, disaffected schoolchildren and a traditional village culture vibrant with raw sexual energy.
Awards won by Sinead Morrissey Winner, 2017 The Forward Prize for Best Collection (On Balance) Winner, 2017 Poetry Book Society Choice (On Balance) Winner, 2009 T.S Eliot Prize
(The State of the Prisons) Winner, 2014 Irish Times Poetry Now Award
(Parallax) Short-listed, 2013 Forward Prize for Best Collection (Parallax) Joint winner, 2005 Michael Hartnett Award for Poetry
(The State of the Prisons) Short-listed, 2005 T.S. Eliot Prize
(The State of the Prisons) Winner, 2002 Rupert and Eithne Strong Award
(Between Here and There) Winner, 2002 MaCaulay Fellowship
Short-listed, 2002 T.S. Eliot Prize
(Between Here and There) Winner, 1996 An Eric Gregory Award
(There Was Fire In Vancouver) Winner, 1990 Patrick Kavanagh Award Short-listed, 2005 Irish Times Poetry Prize
(The State of the Prisons) Short-listed, 2005 John Llewellyn Rhys Commonwealth Literature Prize
(The State of the Prisons) Winner, 2005 Poetry Book Society Recommendation
(The State of the Prisons) Winner, 2007 Lannan Literary Fellowship
Winner, 2013 T S Eliot Prize for Poetry (Parallax) Winner, 2009 Poetry Book Society Choice
(Through the Square Window)
Praise for Sinead Morrissey 'Morrissey's clarity and confidence mean that On Balance approaches each of her subjects with great fluency and command' The Irish Times 'The outstanding poet of her generation.'
Stephen Knight, Independent 'In a year of brilliantly themed collections, the judges were unanimous in choosing Sinéad Morrissey's Parallax as the winner. Politically, historically and personally ambitious, expressed in beautifully turned language, her book is as many-angled and any-angled as its title suggests.'
Ian Duhig, Chair of the 2013 T S Eliot Prize Judges 'One of the most gifted of yet another generation of talented Irish poets.'
The Independent on Sunday.
We thank the Arts Council England for their support and assistance in this interactive Project.
This website ©2000-2017 Carcanet Press Ltd

domain: geography


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A Clear Message from World Citizens to COP15 Politicians
Saturday, the 26th of September 2009, 38 countries on 5 continents participated in the first global citizen consultation under the headline: World Wide Views on Global Warming. The topic was global climate change and the message from the citizens to the political negotiators was clear: We do not have time to wait any longer!In Denmark citizens from all over the country spent their Saturday at Copenhagen City Hall, where the Danish citizen meeting took place. Citizens in Denmark answered the same questions as they did in
Bangladesh, Canada, China, Mozambique, and all the other countries that participated. One of the clearest statements from all countries deals with urgency: 90% of the citizens answered that it is urgent that the
political leaders reach a global agreement at COP15.
Ms. Connie Hedegaard, host of COP15 and Danish Minister of Climate and Energy, said: ”World Wide Views has given us politicians a unique insight into the views of ordinary citizens from all corners of the world on the climate crisis. And it is a strong signal to the politicians, when citizens all over the world agree that action is urgent. It underlines the importance of reaching a good and ambitious agreement in Copenhagen this December.”
Drastic Demands from Citizens to CO2 Reductions
In all types of countries, rich and poor as well as new growing economies, there was a majority in favour of a higher level of ambitions regarding CO2 reductions, than what you could see in the political discussions at the that moment. Politicians talked about a CO2 reduction just below 25%, but a remarkable majority in rich countries and new growing economies said that they themselves should reduce emissions by 25-40% or more. The same tendency was clear when looking at questions on how much the global temperature can rise; politicians talked about setting the limit at maximum 2 degrees Celsius. But 52% of the responding citizens went as far as to say that the limit should be lowered even further.
In their own words
World Wide Views on Global Warming was so far the largest citizen consultation, and the Danish Board of Technology was behind it. Citizens responded to 12 questions on future climate policy, and all results are
available on results.wwviews.org. Here you can also see the recommendations that the citizens wrote at the end of each meeting. In Denmark the recommendation to the politicians said: “Reduce greenhouse gasses NOW! Make sure that all countries accede to an agreement about reducing greenhouse gasses. Strengthen research on sustainable energy sources. Introduce taxes on fossil fuel. Taxes should go to a global climate fund.” See recommendation from all countries here.
In the forthcoming weeks, the global result from the 38 citizen meetings was analyzed and collected in a report, which was handed over to politicians in Copenhagen on November 19, 2009. And even though the
results were addressed to political leaders, who participated in COP15 December 2009, politicians at all political levels will be able to use them in their work towards a better environment:
Mr. Klaus Bondam, Mayor of the Technical and Environmental Administration in Copenhagen and host of the
Danish meeting, said: “It is important for me to get the opportunity to know what citizens feel and think about our climate. All of us have to contribute to finding solutions to climate challenges; only then can we make a difference. With the result from World Wide Views, we politicians have a clear message on which way they wish to go. And I will forward that message to my colleagues all over the world.”
You find the Danish results as well as global results on here
Press release, 27th. sept. 2009
See photos and videos from the participating countries on (Username:
WWVpress, password: 269pressDown)
For any further information, contact to participating citizens, and questions, please contact:
Camilla Jensen from Nissen & Co. on e-mail: email@example.com or phone: 33 36 30 20 / 6061 7216
Jørgen Madsen from The Danish Board of Technology on e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org or phone: 3078 5168
Attached picture: Ms. Connie Hedegaard initiating the Danish meeting
(Photographer: Jakob Carlsen),
Citizens deliberating intensely in India (Photographer: World Wide Views on Global Warming)
Last update: 20-03-2013
Ms. Connie Hedegaard, host of COP15 and Danish Minister of Climate and Energy, is opening the Danish WWViews-meeting.
A WWViews-meeting in India similar to all the other 45 meetings in 38 countries.

domain: news


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A short time back, on a cold but clear Sunday morning, I set out to do a long run. For all sorts of reasons, I’d decided I wanted to run for somewhere between two and two-and-a-half hours. I wasn’t overly concerned how fast I went, but I was interested to see what sort of pace I could sustain, and how long I could sustain it for.
I eventually settled on a route that followed the river path of the Thames from my home in Richmond-upon-Thames (well, technically I live in Ham, but Richmond-upon-Thames always sounds posher…) down through Kingston-upon-Thames to Hampton Court, where I’d cross the river, and headed up through Teddington and Twickenham to Richmond. At which point I’d cross back across the Thames and head back down the other side of it to my house.
About one hour and ten minutes into my run I was about halfway through my route, on the Thames path between Hampton Court Palace and Teddington, busily trying not to make a fool of myself downing an energy gel while running, when my Garmin GPS running watch beeped. And it wasn’t the good sort of beep, either – the beep that comes when you’ve reached whatever ‘lap’ you’ve set it to (normally one kilometre or mile, depending what sort of race/training I’m doing). No, this was the prolonged loud annoying beep that’s accompanied by a big box popping up on the display bearing the dreaded words: LOW BATTERY.
Now, this certainly wasn’t the first time I’ve been out running when my Garmin has started beeping battery warnings. It’s happened a few time, and it’s always quite annoying. Firstly, because that big ‘LOW BATTERY’ box stays on your screen until you press a button to make it disappear – but when you’re running, it’s actually quite tricky making sure you press the right button, and not accidentally stop timing, turn the light on or make your watch do some other crazy thing you didn’t previously know it could do.
It’s also annoying because you never really know how long you’ve got until the low battery becomes no battery, and the watch just stops working. It’s like when the fuel light comes on in your car, and you have to sort of guesstimate how long you’ve got before you run out of petrol. But while running, obviously.
Previously, I’ve been fortunate enough that my watch has only ever started beeping low battery warnings on relatively short training runs – the sort where it doesn’t really matter if it stops working or not. But on this occasion I was just over halfway into a long training run, where I was absolutely interested in how long I’d run for and how far I’d travelled. If my watch battery completely ran out, I wouldn’t know for sure. And, worse, I’d probably lose the data for the run so far.
So what to do? Well, there were two options. I could have detoured from my route and headed home sooner, which would have ruined my running distance goal, but would have at least allowed me to pretty much guaranteed I could finish the run before the battery was finished.
That option didn’t really appeal though: so option two it was. And that meant gamely pressing on, keeping my fingers crossed that I’d make it to the end of my planned run with enough battery for my GPS watch to keep working.
So that’s what I did, although it was somewhat distracting – not only because the LOW BATTERY warning screen and accompanying beep kept popping up on the screen at regular intervals, but also because I found myself gazing at my watch more intently than usual, trying to remember the finer details of my time, distance and pace, just in case the screen suddenly went blank. Like searching for a petrol station when your fuel light has been on for a good 30 miles or so, it was genuinely quite nerve wrecking.
But I made it though: just. When I went to plug my Garmin in to charge after the run, the display said it had 1% battery remaining. Close!
Of course, there’s a third reason that being distracted by my GPS running watch being low on battery is really very annoying – and that’s because the only person I’ve got to blame is myself, for forgetting to charge the thing before setting out on a long run…
Part of the problem is that my Garmin is now three years old or so, and as with many electronic devices the battery life just isn’t as good as it used to be. But that’s no real excuse for just forgetting to charge the thing.
Still, it could be worse: I could have forgotten to put it on altogether. Which is exactly what happened to me for a 10k race recently. More of which soon…
Having taken part in it for the first time last year, I’m a big fan of the Cabbage Patch 10. The award-winning Cabbage Patch 10, this is: it won the Race of the Year (non-London Marathon edition) price in last year’s, er, prestigious Atters Goes Running Awards. So, to put it in a far less pretentious way, the Cabbage Patch 10 is one of my favourite races.
Because of that, I was quick to sign up for this year’s event – I did so months ago, not long after entries had opened. After all, this is an event that starts next to my office and runs past my house. It really is my local run, and one I didn’t want to miss out on.
That said, I didn’t actually know until quite recently that I’d actually be able to take part. In a classic case of ‘far worse problems to have’, I had to go to a work event in Shanghai, China last week (I’m not mentioning this just to show off, honest…), which involved flying on Sunday October 15 – the date of the 2017 Cabbage Patch 10.
In a classic case of good news/bad news, the company sorting the travel were unable to get us on the planned flight, a lunchtime British Airways departure that would have had me schlepping round Heathrow Terminal Five around the time I should have been pounding the streets of Twickenham, Kingston-upon-Thames and Richmond.
Instead, I ended up heading to Shanghai on a late evening Air France flight (with a quick stopover in Paris Charles de Galle). That meant I missed out on several hours of potential sightseeing time in Shanghai – but, brilliantly, meant I had plenty of time to take in the Cabbage Patch 10 before I’d have to leave for Heathrow.
So, at 10am last Sunday, I found myself in the huddle of runners massed on Church Street in Twickenham, waiting until being called onto the High Street for the 10am start. It was an utterly beautiful day for it, with weather than felt more like late summer than mid-October. If anything, it might have been a little too warm for the conditions – but complaining about the heat in October seems like an utterly, utterly churlish thing to do.
As with last year, the race was brilliantly organisers, wonderfully well marshalled and superbly run. As with last year, my local knowledge seemed to help, complete with the novelty of running literally past my front door at the halfway point. And, as with last year, I probably got suckered into going a little bit fast in the early part of the race, paying for that slightly in the second half.
My least favourite part of the Cabbage Patch 10 – in fact, the only part I don’t like, really – is the artificially steep rise from Richmond riverside up to cross Richmond Bridge. It involves a short, sharp climb that just utterly breaks your rhythm and really makes your legs ache. As with last year, I made it up, but it broke my stride and I dropped a chunk of time over the next mile or so trying to regain my pacing.
That slight pace dip contributed to me feeling ‘happy-but-a-little-frustrated’ at the finish of a race, for the second week in a row. The weekend before this year’s Cabbage Patch 10, I’d come within seconds of breaking my half-marathon PB on the Royal Parks Half. On the Patch I was eight seconds slower than I’d been the previous year – when I’d set my ten-mile PB.
Two weeks. Two races. Two PBs missed by a combined total of 11 seconds or so. Boo.
Still, it’s churlish to complain when the margins are that tight, and when the races are so fun and well organisers. And, heck, you can’t really complain about missing a PB by eight seconds when, for several weeks, I didn’t think I’d actually be able to take part.
Plus, it meant I slept extra-well on that overnight flight to Shanghai…
I signed up for two races this week. Now, that’s nothing too unusual in itself: I take part in quite a lot of races. But there was something that was quite odd about the two races I signed up for: they’re both in October. It’s February. October is, like, eight months away.
Now, I’m rarely the most organised person. I’m not much of a forward planner; it takes me some work to map out a three-month marathon training plan, for example. So it’s a little out of character for me to be plotting out my running eight months ahead.
It also strikes me as slightly odd. Eight months is some time away. Lots of things can change between now and then. It’s quite possible that other commitments – work, family, that sort of thing – might arise for the two weekends in October I’ve just shelled out money to enter races on. So why have I signed up so early?
Because, if I want the chance of taking part in those races, I have to.
Here’s the thing. Running is a popular activity. Lots of people run. And lots of people who run like to take part in races. Some races are particularly well-regarded and popular. But any race can only accept a certain number of entries. If more people want to take part in the race than there are places in that race, you have a classic case of supply and demand economics.
This isn’t a problem with most races. There are lots of races, and the bulk of the them don’t fill up their places: many offer on-the-day entries, if you’re so inclined. The trouble is that, without a lot of research, you often never know which will sell out and which won’t.
Finding out a race you want to do is sold out can be incredibly disappointing. Last year, I ran the Hampton Court Palace Half Marathon in March, and very much enjoyed it. Having survived this year’s Houston Marathon, I figured I’d tackle it again this year. But, by the time I decided I’d actually be up for a mid-March half, it had sold out. Rats.
If you’re a race organiser, having more people want to do your event than can actually start it is a lovely problem to have. And those race organisers have found different ways to cope.
One of the races I signed up for this week is the Cabbage Patch 10, a very enjoyable ten-mile race based in Twickenham (and, of course, the winner of my award for the best race I did in 2016 that wasn’t the London Marathon). It’s a popular event: its been going for 35 years, Mo Farah is a previous winner and, in my experience, extremely well-organised. Plus, the course is a flat, fast and fun loop around the River Thames, heading from Twickenham down to Kingston and back via Richmond.
The event didn’t run in 2015 because it’s regular date clashed with the Rugby World Cup, which used nearby Twickenham Stadium heavily. And when it returned last year, demand was such that it sold out months before the start.
Doubtless aware of such demand, organisers opened the entries on February 14 – eight months before the October 15 race date. It’s a first come, first served entry system: entries will stay open until all the places are filled.
Organisers advertised the date entries opened at last year’s event, and have plugged it multiple times on their social media feeds. Which means that people who did the race last year, or are interested in it, will likely be made aware entries are on sale. People like me. And those people then have the chance to enter early, when they know they can get a place.
There’s clearly demand, too: there have been almost 400 entries in the first two days. And, again, this is for a race in October!
The other race I’ve signed up for this week is a bit more complicated. That would be the Royal Parks Half Marathon, which takes place in central London in mid-October. This is the tenth year the race has been held, and it’s predictably popular, since it offers a very rare chance to run through the streets of London on closed roads (there’s another way to do that but, well, it involves running a marathon…).
With demand greatly outstripping supply, the Royal Parks Half uses an online ballot system. The ballot is open to entries for a week or so, and then about a week later people are told if they got in or not. People who secure a place then have a week or so to pay up. If they don’t, they lose their place, which gets redistributed in a second ballot.
Reading about the event, it seemed a fun race and a good chance for a second run round the streets of London. I was tempted, but unsure: did I really want to commit to a half-marathon in October already? What if I found some other running challenge for that time that seemed more fun?
With the ballot about to close, I made the decision to put an entry in. After all, the odds were likely against me getting a place, and not having to pay up to enter the ballot (that was an option, giving slightly better odds to get a place through dint of being entered into the second ballot) meant that it didn’t cost me anything to try. And it was probably academic. After all, the odds were likely against me.
And guess what?
I got in.
Suddenly, my hypothetical musings about whether I wanted to commit to a relatively expensive half-marathon in London in October wasn’t so hypothetical. I had a week to either pay up, or lose my chance. And the race is a week before the Cabbage Patch 10, which I really wanted to do again. That’s quite a lot of race mileage in the space of seven days. Perhaps I should pick one. But… both are tempting. What to do, what to do…
As my credit card bill will tell you, I paid up for both.
So now, it’s a bit weird. I have no real idea what I’m doing for much of the rest of the year. I haven’t planned my holidays, breaks, work events, family gatherings much beyond the next few weeks. And yet I know that, health permitting, I’ll likely be tackling two races on back-to-back weekends in mid-October. You know, in eight months time.
And given that most races don’t offer refunds or deferrals if you can’t run, it’s a bit of a gamble. I’m paying up now, and just having to hope that, come October, I’ll actually be able to take part in both events. If not, I’ll be out of pocket.
Frankly, it seems a bit daft. But, as my Hampton Court Palace Half Marathon experience showed me, it’s the sort of thing you have to do if you want to be sure of a place in a popular race you really want to do.
And, well, it’s hard to think of a better solution. And, hey, if nothing else I can now tell you what I’m likely to be doing on two weekends in mid-October…
Oh, and I’ll just add this: you’ve missed the ballot for the Royal Parks Half but, as I write, entries are still available for the Cabbage Patch 10. So, if you think you possibly, definitely, absolutely might just be free on October 15, I’ll suggest you head here and enter. You know, while there are still places available…
With three days to go until the Chevron Houston Marathon, I did my final proper training run this morning (I’ll likely have a ‘shakedown’ outing the day before the race, but that’s purely to get my legs moving).
So far, my marathon training programme has taken me to some varied locations. I’ve tackled busy city half-marathons on the streets of Bristol, in the south west of England, and Houston, Texas. I’ve set a new 10k PB around Castle Combe Race Circuit in Wiltshire, and scored a first class win on the roads near Sam Houston Race Park in Texas. I’ve done long training runs on the seafront and country lanes of my hometown of Clevedon in Somerset, and also while dodging deer around Richmond Park near my home in greater London.
So it almost seemed fitting to do my final training run in a new location: along the seawall of Galveston, Texas. Well, why not?
The opportunity arose to spend a few days away from my brother’s place during my extended holiday/family visit/marathon-running trip to Texas, and hitting the coast seemed a great plan. So we decamped for a night to a seafront hotel on Galveston, the historic island and city on the Gulf Coast south of Houston.
That meant I could go for a morning run along the seawall, which is pretty much the perfect place for a final marathon training run. Why? Because it’s flat, wide and straight. In other words, as long as you can trust yourself not to run in a straight line, there’s very little risk of hitting, tripping or injuring yourself. And that’s what you want in a final training run, really.
The weather (yes, I’m already writing about the weather again…) helped: it was a beautiful warm morning, with clear blue skies. Well, apart from one thing: there was quite the sea breeze coming in from the Gulf of Mexico. It wasn’t the sort of crosswind that really causes problems while running – in fact, it helped keep me cool in the Texan warmth – but it did hamper long-range visibility a bit, with a haze of sea water being blown across the seawall.
Still, it was a lovely place for a run – and definitely warmer than the last time I ran along a seawall, when I went for a short run in the days after Christmas while visiting my dad in Burnham-on-Sea. There’s plenty to recommend the Somerset coast as a tourist destination, but I can attest that the Gulf of Mexico in mid-January is far more pleasant than the Bristol Channel in late December…
After a morning and lunch in Galveston (I opted for a turkey chilli with corn cake and rice, which ticked a lot of pre-run marathon dining boxes), we headed back inland to Houston for one more night away from the family. So now I’m staying downtown, within walking distance of the Convention Centre that will host the Houston Marathon expo tomorrow.
A late afternoon walk was a great chance for an early sample of the build-up for the big race. And the drive in even featured a course preview – the road to our hotel took us along the final stretch of the marathon route. There was even a late detour because the road we tried to drive along was actually shut due to the finish arch being built on it…
— James Attwood (@Atters_J) January 12, 2017
While that caused an unplanned detour, at least it means I’ve seen the finish line now. It’s going to be a lot harder to get to on Sunday when I won’t see it until I’ve done 26.2 miles of running…
One of the fun things about taking part in races is the chance to run in places you might never otherwise visit. Just this year alone, I’ve raced around a agricultural research facility in Kent, along a river trail near the town of Ware (Ware? Where? etc), and up a ridiculously steep Cornish hill.
But sometimes, it’s quite fun to do a race somewhere you know pretty well. So this weekend I stuck close to home and competed in the Cabbage Patch 10, which started and finishes in Twickenham. It’s a race with a pretty storied history (it dates back to 1982, and previous winners include some bloke called Mo Farah…) – and I know pretty much every inch of the ten-mile course.
Every inch? Oh yes. Consider the following (a working knowledge of the geography of the London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames will help you here, but the point should be clear enough if not):
The Cabbage Patch 10 is named after a pub called – surprise! – the Cabbage Patch. It’s the pub located right next door to my office in Twickenham.
The race starts in Twickenham town centre, and the first mile or so of the course is down a road that follows the course of the River Thames to Teddington Lock – the road I walk along to and from work every day.
When it nears Teddington Lock, and the footbridge I walk across every day, the race passes the old Teddington Studios site, where my office used to be based (it’s now a big pile of rubble, soon-to-be stupidly overpriced luxury flats).
After that, the race heads follows the course of the Thames down to Hampton Wick – home of a curry house I used to frequent on a depressingly regular basis in my portly pre-running days.
Shortly after Hampton Wick, the route crosses the Thames on Kingston Bridge, passing through Kingston-upon-Thames, the nearest big shopping area to my home.
It then follows the other side of the river back up to Ham, using roads and footpaths I run along most weeks. At half-distance the race hits Riverside Drive in Ham, a long road with a big, wide footpath which I run along at least a couple of times a week.
At one point in Ham, the Cabbage Patch 10 route literally goes past my bedroom window. Like, right past. Like, look across and think ‘I could still be in bed there’ close.
From there, the route passes Ham House and heads up to Richmond-upon-Thames on roads I run and walk along frequently.
It then crosses Richmond Bridge, before moving back onto the River Thames towpath on the Twickenham side of the river – a section of footpath I use if I do an evening run from my office.
Finally, the race heads back to Twickenham – finishing back to the town I work in.
See? I don’t think there’s an inch of the ten-mile route I haven’t run, walked or driven along multiple times. It’s just a shame that my house if at the halfway point. If they could shift the start five miles or so, it would be perfect (for me, if nobody else).
That can be both a good and bad thing. On the negative side, that whole thing about familiarity breeding contempt can be true – it’s hard to distract yourself from the pain of pushing out a quick ten-miler by admiring the scenery when you know the scenery so well.
But on the plus side, local knowledge does help. I knew the bits of the course that were rough and smooth, the bits of the course where there were likely to be puddles and mud, and the painful place where there were sharp turns or sudden steep inclines.
And it would seem that familiarity paid off. I set myself a target pace that matched my previous quickest ten-mile PB, and tried to discipline myself to sticking to it early on when I could have gone faster. There was a bit of a late-race wobble just after Richmond Bridge – the sharp slope from the river path to cross the bridge was a leg-aching jolt that really broke my stride – but I kept to it and was able to put in a strong sprint finish (using my local knowledge not to start my push on side street with a treacherously broken-up pavement).
The result? A new ten-mile PB – by full-on 30 seconds. Which was… great, but wholly unexpected. And encouraging, since a lot of that time came with a strong push in the final mile.
Was my quick time down to local knowledge, or just a fast, flat course and me rounding into ten-mile fitness at the start of my marathon build-up? Unknown.
But I’m convinced the local knowledge was a big help – not least because I knew exactly where in Twickenham town centre to go for a great post-run coffee and cake…
This weekend I’m sticking close to home, and competing in the Ranelagh Harriers Richmond 10k. It’s one of my favourite races, and handily local – the route goes past my house twice. Oh, and the reward for finishing is a mug, which I heartily approve of.
Today I received the traditional race information email, which contained what is (to me, at least) an interesting detail: my race number. And for this Sunday’s outing, I’ll be number 27.
Why so interesting? Well, a few reasons. As a motorsport fan, I’ve always been interested in the use of car numbers, especially in categories such as NASCAR. Certain race numbers become synonymous with certain drivers. I’m fascinated by the various ways different series assign race numbers.
My motorsport interest means the number 27 has a particular resonance: for most Formula One fans that number is inextricably linked to Ferrari – and in particular Gilles Villeneuve. So getting to run with a big 27 pinned on my chest (once I eventually stop faffing and get it on there…) is pretty cool.
It’s perhaps because the number 27 resonates with me as a motorsport fan that I realised another interesting details: Sunday’s event will be the third I’ve done in just over a year with 27 as my race number. Which seems pretty remarkable, really.
After all, most of the races I’ve entered attract several hundred competitors – and often more. So what are the odds of being given the same number three times?
Well, it isn’t quite as utterly random as it seems. The results for the three events I’ve been given number 27 for (aside from Sunday’s race, the other two are the 2015 Fullers Thames Towpath Ten and the 2015 Kington Ten Miles) are all done by the same timing company. As best I can tell, that firm assigns race numbers in alphabetical order. My surname is Attwood, so I’m always likely to have a fairly low number.
Assuming those events attract a roughly similar amount of entries with a roughly even spread of surnames, it makes sense that my race numbers are always going to be pretty close to each other.
Still, with that said, having the same number three times on three different events? It still seems… unlikely. I’m sure I could do some great statistical analysis to work out exactly how likely or unlikely it was, but I’m really not very good at maths and statistical analysis and that sort of thing.
Anyway, whether it’s an amazing coincidence or not, I’ll continue to be fascinated by race numbers, and how they’re assigned. The most popular seem to be either alphabetical, or simply by order of entry. Some events also assign certain numbers to certain categories (for example, the Wokingham Half Marathon assigned 1-2999 for men, and 3001-4500 for ladies). The bigger event, the more complex it gets. Seriously, just look through the London Marathon race information and read the section on how numbers are assigned. Fascinating!
My interest in race numbers perhaps explains why I’ve kept all of the numbers from all the races I’ve done – except one (ironically, one of the three in which I was 27), which I posted to my niece in America for complex reasons that don’t need exploring at this juncture.
So I can tell you that the number for my first race (the 2014 Wedding Day 7k in Bushy Park) was 20. I did the event again in 2015, and this time was number 19.
The lowest race number I’ve been given is 10 (on the 2014 Castle Combe Chilly 10k). Again, that event assigned number in alphabetical order. A year later they changed the system and used different groups of numbers for different parts of the event (it ran alongside a triathlon), so I was number 2010.
The highest race number I’ve been given is 47,812. Perhaps unsurprisingly, that was on the biggest race I’ve ever done, the London Marathon. Notably, there weren’t actually 47,812 runners taking part – it’s all to do with how they dish out their numbers.
Oh, and there’s another interesting coincidental oddity revealed in my stack of race numbers. I’ve done the Richmond Park 10k quite a few times. Numbers for that race, as best I can tell, are assigned in order of entry, rather than alphabetically. And somehow I’ve been given number 90 twice on that event. Perhaps I somehow just enter events at the same time before each race…
What does any of this mean? No idea. Probably nothing. After all, they’re just race numbers. They’re only there to help identify you. They don’t actually mean anything. But I find it interesting.
Then again, that might well just be me…


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Differentiation of follicular helper T cells by salivary gland epithelial cells in primary Sjögren's syndrome.
Gong Y-Z., Nititham J., Taylor K., Miceli-Richard C., Sordet C., Wachsmann D., Bahram S., Georgel P., Criswell LA., Sibilia J., Mariette X., Alsaleh G., Gottenberg J-E.
Follicular helper T cells (Tfh), which play a pivotal role in B cell activation and differentiation in lymphoid structures, secrete IL-21 whose augmented secretion is a hallmark of several autoimmune diseases. To decipher the cellular and molecular interactions occurring in salivary glands of patients suffering from primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS), we investigated whether salivary gland epithelial cells (SGECs) were capable to induce Tfh differentiation. Co-cultures of naïve CD4(+) T cells and SGECs from both patients with pSS and controls were performed. Here, we report that IL-6 and ICOSL expression by SGECs contributes to naïve CD4(+) T differentiation into Tfh cells, as evidenced by their acquisition of a specific phenotype, characterized by Bcl-6, ICOS and CXCR5 expression and IL-21 secretion, but also but by their main functional feature: the capacity to enhance B lymphocytes survival. We demonstrated an increase of serum IL-21 with systemic activity. Finally, we analyzed the potential occurrence of a genetic association between IL-21 or IL-21R gene polymorphisms and pSS or elevated IL-21 secretion. This study, which demonstrates a direct induction of Tfh differentiation by SGECs, emphasizes a yet unknown pathogenic role of SGECs and suggests that Tfh and IL-21 might be relevant biomarkers and/or therapeutic targets in primary Sjögren's syndrome.

domain: biology


From eating like cavemen to redneck sketti, we're taking a look back at some of the biggest food happenings of 2012.
12. Singapore Serves Mashed Potatoes...From A Vending Machine?
The internet was abuzz when a photo of a mashed potato vending machine surfaced. Eventually, the viral picture was traced to a 7-Eleven in Singapore, where a rep confirms the Maggi-based machines are "quite popular." For just $1, you can get a healthy squirt of instant mashed potatoes and some questionable-looking chicken gravy.
We're all in.
11. Now Trending: Cavemen, Paleo Diet Popularized
The newest fad to hit the diet scene this year claims to combat modern illnesses like obesity, diabetes and heart disease by returning to a pre-civilization, hunter-gatherer style diet. That means more grass-fed pasture raised meats, fish, fruit and vegetables and no grains, legumes, dairy, refined sugar, refined salt or processed oils.
10. The Distinction of Twinkies...Maybe
Last month, Hostess Brands, the company behind such beloved treats as Twinkies, Ho Hos, and Wonder Bread, announced it was taking the initial steps to closing down operations for good.
But wait! Not so fast... News outlets are now reporting that major retailers like Wal-Mart and Kroger are interested in buying the company. This means Hostess treats could be resurrected just in time for Easter. On the third day, the Twinkie rose again...
9. Presidential Election Food Polls
This year's hottest news item was the Presidential election. But there was no need to watch the election results to see who won; you could just follow the Edible Polls. From red and blue cheeses at the Park Hyatt in D.C., to the 7-Eleven Coffee Cup Challenge, everybody was trying to predict the upcoming election. And it seems they were mostly right -- both challenges favored blue.
8. Jamie Oliver And The Pink Slime Social Media Firestorm (By the way, this my new band name.)
Pink slime is the lean finely textured beef and boneless lean beef trimmings that is used as a filler in ground beef products. In April 2011, Jamie Oliver criticized the use of pink slime in food supply and school lunches in an episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.
In March of this year, ABC News brought it back into the limelight by running a series of controversial reports on the product's safety and health issues. As a result, there was a social media uproar, along with a couple of ongoing defamation lawsuits against ABC, Jamie Oliver, Diane Sawyer and more.
7. Go Go Juice Enters Our Vocabulary
Honey Boo Boo Child and her family of self-proclaimed rednecks warmed our hearts and simultaneously scared the shit out of us first on Toddler's and Tiara's and then with the premiere season of TLC's Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.
While most of the family's crazy antics are harmless, we can't say the same for pumping a six-year-old with Pixie Sticks and Go Go Juice -- a mixture of Mountain Dew and Red Bull -- before pageants. The move sparked outrage among the public and allegations of child abuse.
6. Gestation Stalls To Be Phased Out By Major Chains
In the latest victory for animal rights organizations, McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, and Subway are among the companies pledging to eliminate pork gestation crates, which confine animals during the breeding and birthing process. U.S. branches of McDonald's are vowing to undertake a 10-yr phase out plan. In addition, Dunkin Donuts and several other companies have committed to use cage-free eggs.
5. Paula Deen Reveals She's A Diabetic...And A Hyprocrite
Although Paula Deen was diagnosed with type-2 diabetes years ago, she waited until January to go public. Coincidentally, she also happened to have just lined up a lucrative diabetes drug endorsement deal with Novo Nordisk .
The queen of butter was widely criticized for the move and labeled a hypocrite for promoting fattening, sugar-laden foods (like her kinda-sounds-gross-but-I-kinda-wanna-try chocolate cheese fudge) while hiding the disease.
4. Everyone's Loco For Doritos Locos
Taco Bell understands its fan base. This year, the company launched Doritos Locos Tacos, their basic beef taco, but with a nacho-cheese-flavored Doritos shell. And of course, it sold in record-breaking numbers, becoming the chain's most popular product with other 100 million sold in just 10 weeks.
Even our own Christine Uticone couldn't resist reviewing them.
3. Guy Fieri's Restaurant Destroyed In The Press; Pete Wells' Review Goes Viral
New York Times dining critic Pete Wells gave Guy Fieri's newest restaurant, Guy's American Kitchen and Bar, a scathing review, starting off the piece by asking him, "have you eaten at your new restaurant in Times Square?"
The review, written entirely in question-form, is kind of hilarious.
"When you saw the burger described as "Guy's Pat LaFrieda custom blend, all-natural Creekstone Farm Black Angus beef patty, LTOP (lettuce, tomato, onion + pickle), SMC (super-melty-cheese) and a slathering of Donkey Sauce on garlic-buttered brioche," did your mind touch the void for a minute?...Were you struck by how very far from awesome the Awesome Pretzel Chicken Tenders are?"
Coincidentally, Guy didn't think it was very funny, claiming the critic had "another agenda" when he wrote his review. Despite the public bashing, it turns out irony-seeking diners are flocking to Times Square to get a taste of Flavor Town.
2. Foie Gras Banned In California
This year, the foie gras controversy continued as California banned the use of the product, the creation of which involves the force-feeding of birds to deposit large amounts of fat in the liver of ducks and geese, in July.
Suppliers immediately halted shipment to the state, the biggest market for foie gras in the U.S., but several restaurants continued to serve the dish, stocking up on the product pre-ban and asserting that foie gras can be made humanely.
1. Chick-Fil-A Vs. Gay Rights
In the biggest clusterfuckup of the year, Chick-Fil-A COO Dan Cathy made a series of public comments opposing same-sex marriage, spawning wide-spread public reaction and media coverage. Cathy's comments, along with the outing of the company's millions in donations to political organizations that oppose LGBT rights, prompted protests, boycotts, and counter-rallies across the country. Not surprisingly, even Sarah Palin got in on the action, right here in the Woodlands. Chick-Fil-A has since pledged to re-evaluate anti-gay funding and stay away from political commentary.
Thanks 2012, it was...interesting. Here's to less hate, an equal amount of controversy and more mashed potatoes in 2013.


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Hangzhou, 1st February: Alibaba Group, the leading e-commerce provider in China has agreed to purchase a 33% stake in Ant Small and Micro Financial Services Group Company (Ant Financial).
Under the terms of the agreement, Alibaba will acquire newly issued equity from Ant Financial in exchange for certain intellectual property rights owned by Alibaba exclusive related to Ant Financial. After completion, Ant Financial will terminate paying Alibaba royalty and technology service fees. There will be no cash impact on Alibaba following the closing of the transaction.
Daniel Zhang, Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group, said, “This transaction is a significant step for Alibaba to enhance our long-term strategic relationship with Ant Financial as we continue to pursue our mission to make it easy to do business anywhere. Importantly, an equity stake in Ant Financial enables Alibaba and our shareholders to participate in the future growth of the financial technology sector, as well as the benefits of user growth and improved customer experience.”
Source: Alibaba Group press release


There’s something overwhelmingly tangible about the trickling synth lines that dominate Suzanne Ciani’s new single, as if you could reach into your speakers and feel them drop, delicately and unpredictably upon your outstretched fingers. This, along with another, equally brilliant track from Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, are the lead singles from a forthcoming 30-track ambient compilation that’s been pulled together by Coldcut and features contributions from Ryuichi Sakamoto, Sigur Rós, Skee Mask, Helena Hauff and loads more which on paper at least, looks like it’s going to be rather magnificent. You can check out the full tracklist at the Bandcamp link, below, and bask in the glory of Morning Spring while you do.
I honestly struggle to write about drone tracks in any meaningful way other than variations of “this is overwhelmingly beautiful/dark/powerful”, and the same goes for this brilliant 8 minute piece from Swedish composer LEHNBERG, so just listen to it and let it completely take you away from whatever mundane task you’re likely caught up in.
Traumprinz is back, with a new alias, and another epic 3 hour drop of music. lost in dreams is the latest collection from the anonymous producer and follows last year’s double DJ Metatron / The Phantasy release, which, even though there were unquestionably some gems in there, I didn’t rate quite as highly as most of their previous work. lost is dreams is an absolute masterpiece though, reminiscent of his dj healer set from a few years back. It is truly remarkable that someone this talented has completely removed their ‘self’ from their art, and delivers such an insane amount of incredible music without ever feeling the need to revel in the glory that would inevitably come from unmasking themselves. Long may it continue.
I remember a time when the mere mention of PC Music could illicit conflicting moans – of either rapturous pleasure or abject despair – from people I had previously thought were fairly aligned on what they considered Good Music. What feels like decades later but what in reality is probably only a few years, a quite brilliant album from caro♡ (the lead singer of Planet 1999 which was PC Music’s first full band signee), has flown relatively under the radar, which is a shame as it’s a really joyful thing, with enough glossy cartoonish bounce to satisfy the PC purists, and enough genuinely thoughtful and subtle moments to stop anyone getting too angry about it. drop in the ocean is definitely one of the calmer moments, evoking Selected Ambient Works Volume II-era Aphex, albeit backed up with some dappled, shoegazey beats.
Poulson Sq. are Anthony Fiumara and Mathijs Leeuwis – a duo formed as a mutual love of ambient music; specifically creating rich sonic tapestries packed full of the kind of repeating patterns often found in nature. Their latest single is Kosmic Headroom which was created from a combination of pedal steel guitar, Buchla Music Easel, tapedecks, analog effects and field recordings, the resulting track being effortlessly beautiful, with subtle manipulations and variations echoing the fractal shifting of a twilight landscape.
The title track from French producer Franck Zaragoza aka Ocoeur’s forthcoming album, Connections is warm, compelling and packs a real emotional wallop: a gorgeous slice of ambient IDM with shifting, skeletal beats and encompassing pads that slowly give way to a softly triumphant piano line. Ocoeur is a completely new artist to me, but I’ll be diving headlong into the LP when it drops tomorrow.
It’s Friday right, so really I should be posting something party-appropriate to soundtrack your #bignightout but I now live in Devon so instead here’s a short ambient piano track complete with birdsong: perfect for watching the sun go down over some rolling fields or gently lapping beachside waves.
Unheard Delia was originally released as an exclusive vinyl with Electronic Sound alongside Peel’s cover feature back in March, but it landed on streaming platforms today so thought it was worth highlighting. It includes extracts from an interview with pioneering BBC Radiophonic Workshop artist Delia Derbyshire conducted by writer Jo Hutton in early 2000, around 18 months before Delia died, and consist of lovely, gentle washes of synth overlaid with Delia passionately talking about everything from her production techniques to how her music was often considered “too sophisticated for the BBC 2 audience”, and is completely mesmerising.
At 86 years of age, Shirley Collins is still creating music brimming with life, vibrancy and hope. Her new EP Crowlink includes spoken-word poetry, ambient, glistening new-age synths and deep, earthy folk, dragging seemingly ancient tales into the present and creating something deeply personal and intimate yet entirely relatable and accessible. Crowlink is a thing of timeless, transportive beauty, and deserves your immediate attention.
Magic is the new single from producer, singer and songwriter Kat Kitka, an utterly engrossing, haunting beautiful piece of music that pretty much completely defies description (but here goes). Folk, spoken word, ambient and ethereal pop are are dissected and reassembled alongside hugely evocative field recordings, resulting in a five minute track unlike anything else I’ve heard this year. The Kate Bush vibes are strong with this, which isn’t something I say lightly. Highly recommended.


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Bulgarians Part of Offshore Scandal, Unprecedented Leaks ShowBusiness | April 5, 2013, Friday // 08:01| views
Jean-Jacques Augier, a close friend of the French President and treasurer for his presidential election campaign, has invested in offshore businesses in the Cayman Islands. Photo by www.europe1.fr
Bulgarians are among the more than 100 000 people around the world, who sought utmost secrecy in offshore tax havens.
The information was reported by the Bulgarian National Radio, but no names have been disclosed so far.
The list includes acting European politicians and dictators of impoverished countries.
One of them, it has emerged, is Jean-Jacques Augier, a close friend of French President Francois Hollande and treasurer for his presidential election campaign. Augier had invested in offshore businesses in the Cayman Islands.
The daughters of the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliev, also own offshore firms, controlled by one of Aliev's closest friends. Olga, the spouse of Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, Igor Shuvalov, has made the list as well.
The European Commission declined commenting on the scandalous information.
He told Le Monde that he did not have "either a personal bank account in the Caymans or any personal direct investment in that territory." He said he invested in the company through a holding that runs all his Chinese business interests. "The investment in International Bookstores appears in company records. Nothing is illegal."
It was reported Thursday that the Washington, D.C.-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has received nearly 30 years of data entries, emails and other confidential details from 10 offshore havens around the world in what is believed to be one of the largest ever leaks of financial data.
Nearly forty media outlets in 35 other countries have also been involved, but not Bulgaria.
The files contain information on over 120 000 offshore entities - including shell corporations and legal structures known as trusts - involving people in over 170 countries.
The leak amounts to 260 gigabytes of data, or 162 times larger than the US State Department cables published by WikiLeaks in 2010.
"What we found as we started digging in the records is a pretty extensive collection of dodgy characters: Wall Street fraudsters, Ponzi schemers, figures connected to organized crime, to arms dealing, money launderers," said Michael Hudson, a senior editor at the ICIJ, as cited by CBC.
"We just found a lot of folks involved in questionable or outright illegal activities."
There was also plenty of information related to legal offshore dealings. Offshore investments aren't illicit as long as they are not used to evade taxes or launder money.
In many cases, the leaked documents expose insider details of how agents would incorporate companies in Caribbean and South Pacific micro-states on behalf of wealthy clients, then assign front people called "nominees" to serve, on paper, as directors and shareholders for the corporations - disguising the companies' true owners.
Often the companies were set up through intermediary law and accounting firms, as well, adding a further layer of anonymity for investors.
Sometimes these methods were used by figures with known links to organized crime, arms dealers and ex-mercenaries. In other instances, documents reveal tax dodgers funneling money offshore, beyond the eyes and arms of their nation's treasury.
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Geology and Environmental Geosciences
College of Charleston
Website Content Contributions
Darwin and the Galapagos Islands part of Introductory Courses:Activities
In this assignment the students read the Chapter 17 "Galapagos Archipelago" from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin, and they examine a website about the Galapagos Islands. The students answer two ...
Evolution of Whales part of Introductory Courses:Activities
The students read two articles on the evolution of whales and search the web. The students' writing assignment requires them to outline the evolution of whales using major fossil finds. Students start with ...
Earth History part of Introductory Courses:Courses
An overview of the 4.5 billion-year history of our planet as revealed by analysis and interpretation of the geologic and paleontologic record preserved in rocks of the earth's crust.
History of Life part of Introductory Courses:Courses
This Honor's Geology Class provides an overview of the origin and evolution life. The course uses geological and paleontological methods to help the student appreciate scientific approaches to testing and ...


Fatima Whitbread burst into tears when telling her I’m A Celebrity… South Africa campmates about her traumatic background.
The Olympic javelin thrower is one of the prominent faces who has returned to the reality show after originally starring on it in 2011.
at a preview of tonight’s programme, she can be seen crying as she recalls her childhood at a children’s home.
‘In the children’s home when we were kids, we always had an assigned job and we were always in that routine,’ she said when chatting to Helen Flanagan and Carol Vorderman.
‘I had two people in my life, Corrie and Auntie Ray. Auntie Ray was an East End girl. I’d be really sad when she went off duty. One day I decided to pick all the daffodils and knock on her door and ask her, “Will you be my mum?”
‘And she said, “Fats, I’ve got to be mum to all you kids, so I can’t always be here”.’
Beginning to cry, Fatima then explained that she ‘taught me a lot about looking after the other kids and how you give, and you receive.
‘You’ve got to have a star in every child’s life.’
Later in the episode she shared there had been ‘a lot of history I had forgotten about in my life’.
‘When I spoke about it, it brought it all back to the surface again and brought a tear to my eye.’
Fatima said on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins last year that she was abandoned as a newborn and ‘left to die’ in a London home.
‘A neighbour heard that baby crying for a couple of days and didn’t see anyone coming or going, so she reported it,’ she said.
‘The police obviously came along, banged the door down, rescued the baby and it got taken into hospital, where I stayed for six months.’
She went on to say that she spent the first 14 years of her life in orphanages.
‘I didn’t have any visits, I didn’t have any birthday cards or anything to indicate that there was anybody out there,’ she recalled.
After being adopted by the family of Margaret Whitbread, a javelin coach, Fatima then took up the sport, which she has called her ‘saviour’.
I’m A Celebrity… South Africa continues tonight at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.


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The Peak District is a fantastic destination for families. It’s a great place to be active and explore the...
Whist staying in a holiday cottage visit picturesque Ledbury. Tucked away in southeastern Herefordshire, close to the borders with both Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, is a handsome country town, which, with its half-timbered houses and bustling weekly markets, has something quintessentially ‘Olde-England’ about it.
Ensure to make your first stop the Tourist Office; apart from the advice on days out and family fun, the superb, half-timbered building, set high on stilts, is worth a visit in its own right. The diminutive Butcher’s Row House Museum houses a collection of Victoriana, whilst Tinsmith’s is worth seeking out. Once the place to take pots or pans to be repaired, this charming building has had new life breathed into it, and now is a thriving centre for bespoke textiles, vintage goods and for showcasing the local arts and crafts scene. Visit the Heritage Centre; after admiring the lovely black and white houses in Ledbury and the surrounding area, this is the place to try your own hand at a spot of timber framing.
Close to town, the delightfully-named village of Much Marcle is home to Hellens, a thirteenth century home and gardens, packed with stories and secrets straight out of the history books. A knot garden and newly laid labyrinth will keep children entertained, whilst Weston’s Cider Mill also makes a great family day out. See the cider production in process, from planting to pouring, and enjoy dray rides, the Traditional and Rare Breeds Farm, gardens, children’s playground and tearooms. Locally, fairytale Eastnor Castle, Deer Park & Arboretum, is a must, set in a stunning area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the Malvern Hills. The arboretum is a splendid sight, the Knight’s maze and children’s trails through the grounds are great for younger visitors and the castle interior, brimful of Italian fine art works, mediaeval suits of armour and intricate tapestries, is filled with treasures.
Why not take a look at our self catering cottages in the Heart of England?
Are you on the phone to our call centre? Your Customer ID is: rb7iur04


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When it is 11 in the AM and the only thing to do on a Saturday is get that cup of tea outdoors and spot shapes in the clouds that go by. Or try make a tune out of that bee buzzing by.
My balcony is small, but it’s still the place I love to have my cuppa chai. There’s a lovely terra cotta pot holder, or base if I could call it that. It’s my pot holder, lamp holder and at times a base for a little tea table. I just use different “table tops” to keep tea, or coffee time, fresh. Trays in wood, ceramic, metal… they all make fine table tops. Contemplating using a slightly larger top, with 2 small seats to make a table for two for a cosy dinner.
This hand painted yellow ‘peetam’ (low table) is from Bimba, The Art Hut. Colors to cheer any mood!

domain: hobby


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Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced Tuesday that the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency will expand the state’s COVID Relief Mortgage and Rental Assistance Grant Program in order to offer support to a greater number of landlords and renters.
Wolf also issued an executive order earlier this week postponing the application deadline for the program to Nov. 4.
The changes most notably altered the regulations around the program’s monthly cap that had previously required landlords to forgive rent over $750 per tenant. While this cap will still exist, landlords now have the option to enter into repayment agreements with tenants to recover any outstanding balances. This stipulation initially deterred many landlords from applying to the program, leading the program to help fewer renters than intended.
“We cannot allow thousands of families to become homeless because of the pandemic,” Wolf said in a news release on Tuesday. “Improving the program and giving people more time to apply will help families to stay in their homes. That will reduce the strain on social services and help landlords to pay their mortgages.”
Pennsylvania received $3.9 billion as part of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security act, $175 million of which Wolf allocated for rental and mortgage assistance. Wolf’s legislature specifically apportioned $150 million to rental assistance and $25 million to mortgage assistance.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that an extensive application process also discouraged tenants from taking advantage of the state’s program. Only $9.6 million of the $150 million in rental assistance had been distributed by the end of September, the Inquirer reported. The federal CARES Act requires that all funding be paid out by the end of November.
“These changes will let more people get rental assistance and avoid eviction,” Wolf said. “Now more than ever, all Pennsylvanians need and deserve an affordable and safe place to live.”

domain: finance


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Mark Zuckerberg isn’t a great ambassador for the metaverse.
Meta’s CEO kicked off another round of controversy with a screenshot celebrating the launch of Horizon Worlds, the company’s AR/VR metaverse platform, in France and Spain. Shot in the style of a selfie, it shows a poorly detailed rendition of Zuckerberg’s avatar staring past the camera. Crude 3D models of national landmarks sit behind him on a generic green landscape.
“It was a horrific PR move to put out those photos,” says Stu Richards (a.k.a. Meta Mike), partner success lead at GigLabs and cdofounder of Versed.
Meta’s metaverse hype leads to real-world backlash
Zuckerberg’s virtual selfie quickly went viral across numerous social media accounts. A tweet by user @ordinarytings, which claimed Horizon Worlds is “surely dying in the dark,” led the charge with more than 31,000 likes and over 4,500 quote tweets or retweets.
It’s not unusual for a tech CEO to receive a thrashing on Twitter, but the scale of the response–boosted by Mashable, The Daily Dot, and Kotaku–was suffocating. It’s hard to mount any defense of Meta’s ugly, simplistic screenshot. “I think the response is fair,” says Richards. “I’ve not been super impressed by what they’ve put out.”
Clearly, Zuckerberg’s post did not go as planned. But this raises the question: why?
“If they’re going to use game tech to build a VR game platform that’s supposed to be a cross between a Roblox-style UGC platform and a social MMO, maybe they should have people who have experience.”
—Rafael Brown, Symbol Zero
Rafael Brown, CEO of metaverse event company Symbol Zero and former game designer, thinks the company’s metaverse issues are rooted in difficulty keeping up with the level of fidelity common in the game industry.
“Facebook is out of touch with game-style software-development practices and expectations on art direction and character/avatar development,” says Brown. “Keep in mind their other internal projects like Quill, et cetera, that they’ve jettisoned and lost [staff over].”
Brown points out that Meta’s avatars have changed numerous times since the company’s purchase of VR hardware maker Oculus in 2014. These changes can be witnessed in other, past controversies, such as Zuckerberg’s ill-advised AR tour of Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria. The avatars used then are different from today’s and radically different from the ghostlike avatars shown by Oculus in 2016.
This is how the Oculus avatars looked in 2016.www.youtube.com
There are other signs of instability. Meta’s VP of Horizon, Vivek Sharma, recently said he’s leaving the company for “a new opportunity.” Days later, the company announced it will shut down the Facebook Gaming app, a competitor to Amazon’s live-streaming platform Twitch, which eliminates an important avenue Meta could use to reach users.
“All I wonder is, if they’re going to use game tech to build a VR game platform that’s supposed to be a cross between a Roblox-style UGC platform and a social MMO, maybe they should have people who have experience,” says Brown. “They really need better art direction, technical art direction, game direction, and tools direction.”
Where does Meta go from here?
Zuckerberg tried to quell criticism with a follow-up post about a planned update to avatar graphics. It’s an improvement, to be sure. But the real glimmer of hope was shown at Siggraph, a computer graphics conference held in August of 2022.
A group of researchers from Reality Labs, Meta’s AR/VR research division, showed a paper titled “Authentic Volumetric Avatars from a Phone Scan,” which describes how smartphone photos with depth-of-field data can be paired with machine learning to achieve sharp, photorealistic results with accurate real-time facial animation. The detailed expressions shown by researchers at Reality Labs stands in stark contrast to the current state of Horizon Worlds’ avatars.
This video, demonstrating authentic volumetric avatars from a phone scan, was shown at Siggraph 2022.www.youtube.com
Richards notes that Meta’s current mainstream headset, the Meta Quest 2, may be partially responsible for the Horizon Worlds’ limitations. “[Meta is] building out tech that will have the mechanics in place to better focus on things like expression,” says Richards—but the affordable Quest 2 opted not to include sensors that can gauge users’ expression or track their eyes. “They’re trying to create adoption first. Once that happens is when they’ll focus more on integrating features.”
Meta might be ready to turn that corner with a headset to be announced at Oculus Connect 2022. While most details remain under wraps, Zuckerberg offered an early overview of its features during a recent interview on The Joe Rogan Experience.
Zuckerberg said the upcoming, yet unnamed headset will offer “the ability to now have eye contact in virtual reality, have your face be tracked so that your avatar is not just this still thing, if you smile, or you frown, or you pout, whatever your expression is, to have that actually in real time translate to your avatar.” His remarks sound a lot like what's already been shown at Siggraph and in other, earlier Meta research demos.
This could silence critiques of Horizon Worlds’ awkward, stilted graphical style—though only if it works as advertised.
- What Can the Metaverse Learn From Second Life? - IEEE Spectrum ›
- The Metaverse Needs Standards, Too - IEEE Spectrum ›


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Suganya Subramaniyan is a famous actress, Fashion model and social media influencer. As an actress she appeared in many Tamil music videos as well as in many short films. She is very popular in social media she has almost 71K followers on Instagram.
Date of Birth
Tanjore, Tamil Nadu, India
Zodiac sign / Sun sign
Nimisha Nidhu and Saranya Anbu
St. Joseph’s Girls Higher Secondary School, Mannargudi
University of Delhi
Parisutham Institute of Technology & Science, Tanjore
Relationship & more
She used to acting and dancing in her old days. After that she started working in some short films. She made her official acting debut in 2019 with the very good short film “Hello November”. She is very good dancer. Along with acting dancing is also her first priority. She love dancing since her childhood. She appeared in many short music videos. She was featured in music album video named “Un Perai” by this she gaing many fan following. After appeared in short film “Hello November” in 2019 she started acting in many other short films. In 2020 she was featured in other short film named “Shawarma” and in 2021 She did acting in tamil short movie “Adangapidaari”.
Apart from acting and dancing she is social media influencer. As a social media influencer she often shoots advertisements for promotion of various brands.
She is engineering graduate and certified Software Tester. She is currently working as a Software Test Engineer in multinational company Amazon in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. IMDB
Some unknown facts about
She is Saree lover and often seen a saree in her instagram posts and in many occasion. She also mentioned that in her instagram bio.
She is very good Badminton playes and used to play in her free times.
She loves dancing and listening music.
She has almost 71k followers in Instagram.
Apart from acting, dancing she also love Swimming.
She works in a MNC Amazon as a Software test engineer.

domain: celebrity


Circelli’s hard work rewarded with good breaks
Published 6:00 pm, Sunday, March 7, 2010
Collin Circelli scored the type of goal on Saturday night against Laredo that could alternately be described as luck and skill. Circelli’s power-play goal late in the third period against Laredo not only tied the game but provided the Odessa Jackalopes with some needed momentum in a game where swings were common.
But it’s also been the type of goal that Circelli has put in a bunch of times this season. Yes, it did bounce off a Laredo player and the goaltender into the net, but Circelli’s mindset of just keep putting pucks on the net while playing on front of the net during a power play paid dividends.
Odessa will go for its third straight win at 7 p.m. today against Rapid City at the Ector County Coliseum.
“He didn’t get lucky bounces because he pays the price,” Jacks coach Paul Gillis said. “He goes and stands in front of the net in areas where some guys don’t want to stand. If you are going to stand there you are going to get opportunities. What may appear like a lucky bounce, really for him comes from a lot of hard work and paying the price.”
Circelli’s hard work has not gone unnoticed by his teammates, coaches or opponents, and he has been become a key component on a Jacks team and power play that ranks among the best in the league.
Circelli has scored 31 goals this season, and 15, nearly half, have come with the extra attacker and is tied for second on the team with Jeff Pierce.
It’s all part of what has been a career year, points wise, for the Jacks forward. Circelli has already eclipsed his points total from a year ago, and has scored at least one point in the last four games.
“Coach has been putting me in situations where I can succeed, and I’m getting some good playing time with some good players as well,” Circelli said. “That helps out with good chemistry with my linemates.”
Circelli has been the center on a line that includes Jeff Pierce and Sebastien Thinel, and on a team where Gillis can mix and match lines, this threesome has stayed intact through this year and much of last year.
And the production of the trio has been obvious. Along with Circelli’s points, Pierce has 54 points and Thinel is among the league leaders in scoring with 87 points.
“It definitely helps when you know where your linemates are going to be,” Circelli said.


text:
This is going to be fun. I am going to start out with a “how to make a chicken stock” and you all are going to add ingredients to the soup to make the final recipe. Please
Start with a very large pot, 12 qts if you have it. We are going to make a lot of soup to freeze for later.
add 2 gal (8 qts) of filtered water. If you don’t have a pot that large, fill the one you have about 1/2-2/3 full of water
Add at least 1 whole chicken. Fryer or a roaster. I’d pick a roaster because they are larger.
Bring the pot to a boil then reduce to a fast simmer for at least 2 hours.
The chicken should fall off the bone. Remove chicken from pot and reserve, pulling the bones from the carcass and throwing them away.
Continue to reduce the stock.
1. (jughandle would add) Salt and pepper to taste
2. (Darlene would add) 2 carrots, 2 celery and 1 onion, diced then sauteed in olive oil before adding. This is known as a mirepoix of veggies.
3. (Mittie would like to add) fresh thyme & tarragon. If you have a herb garden pick a few stems and strip the leaves into the liquid. If you don’t like stuff floating around in your soup (I really don’t know why), you can do a bouquet garnie which is just a fancy name for wrapping your herbs in a piece of cheese cloth so it can be removed later.
4. Thank you Mittie, it is smelling good now.
5. What we should do now is to remove all the solids from the broth
- first cool the broth to room temp or cool enough to handle
- then strain out the solids with a strainer or cheese cloth
- put the strained broth into a large bowl or pot and put into the refrigerator
- the next morning the chicken fat will be solid on the surface
- skim or ladle off the fat.
- You now have a great chicken stock/broth to use in the following recipes
- you can also freeze in plastic bags or bowls for later use
6. Darlene wants to make a Tortilla soup from the chicken stock. (please click on the link for the recipe)
7. Jughandle wants to make Italian Wedding Soup (please click on the link for the recipe)

domain: food


China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force’s long speculated induction of a twin seat variant of its J-20 fighter jet has finally been confirmed by new leaked footage, with the prototype reportedly carrying out taxing tests and having yet to make its first flight. The J-20 entered service in 2017 as the first fifth generation fighter jet in the world developed outside the United States, and as a competitor to the U.S. Air Force’s F-22 Raptor air superiority fighter. Both were designed to maximise effectiveness in air to air combat with attributes including a high operational altitude, high speed, high manoeuvrability, long range, high weapons payload, a large sensor suite and a twin engine configuration. Like the F-22, the J-20 was designed with a radar evading stealth profile to improve its survivability by making it particularly difficult to lock on to for enemy radars.
While the F-22 was initially intended to be developed into a twin seat fighter, and eventually also a strike fighter as the FB-22, these programs were cancelled when production of the fighter was prematurely terminated in 2011 as a result of the fighter’s extremely high lifetime costs. Where the U.S. was unable to develop the Raptor further, China appears to have ambitious plans for the J-20 which will take the design well ahead of its rivals. According to recent reports from Chinese state media outlet CCTV, these include development into both strike and electronic attack jets for the PLA Air Force. Also planned is the integration of a range of new technologies from artificial intelligence to WS-15 next generation engines. An improved version of the single seat J-20, the J-20B, notably entered production in mid-2020 although the exact capabilities and features that will have remain unknown. The design has already improved considerably since entering service in 2017, with the most recent variants to enter service designated J-20A and using improved engines.
Chinese military aviation industries lead the world in their experience in modifying high performance airframes into specialised derivatives. Examples include the J-11B airframe, from which was derived the J-16 with next-generation features such as stealth coatings as well as the addition of a second seat. The J-16 in turn was developed into an electronic attack jet, the J-16D, which was unveiled in September 2020. J-16 pilots have attested to the important advantages that a twin seat configuration provides over single seat fighters from the same generation. The J-15 carrier based heavyweight fighter, also derived from the J-11B, has similarly been developed into an electronic attack aircraft, the J-15D, which also includes the addition of a second seat. The JH-7 strike fighter and H-6 bomber widely used by the PLA Navy have also been developed into electronic attack platforms – with the latter also developed into ballistic missile carrying strike bombers.
Considering the J-20’s advanced performance specifications and versatility it was long expected that the airframe would also be be adapted into new variants and derivatives to fulfil additional roles in much the same way as its fourth generation predecessors. The development of a twin seat variant is an important step in this direction, and without further modifications allows the aircraft to be used for training fifth generation fighter pilots in a way no other fifth generation aircraft in the world can. A twin seat configuration is vital for any strike or electronic attack aircraft, allowing it to carry a weapons systems officer responsible either for delivering complex electronic attacks or for designating ground targets and operating air to ground weaponry. This can be done simultaneously while the pilot in the first seat flies the aircraft and engages enemy aircraft with air to air munitions.
The J-20’s development into a twin seat variant is highly symbolic of China’s rapid development to become a leading aerial power, one which is likely to have a far wider range of fifth generation fighters in service than any other country. With the United States having cancelled the F-22’s many ambitious successors, and with Russia’s Su-57 being produced on a small scale with specialised variants being primarily for export, China may well be in a position to take the lead in this field. The capabilities and armaments of specialised J-20 derivatives, and exactly what kind of roles a twin seat J-20 variant is intended to be modified to fulfil, remain to be seen.


text:
A project by Various & Gould in collaboration with Colonial Neighbours (SAVVY Contemporary)
Rethinking heritage August–October 2021
Performative process: paper molding of the Bismarck statue
02.-21.08.2021 daily 9:00–17:00
Bismarck Momument in Tiergarten, Berlin
Using a technique related to papier-mâché, the artists duo Various & Gould temporarily conceals and molds the Bismarck Monument (1901 by Reinhold Begas) with multiple layers of paper.
Bismarck knocked off his pedestal
Bismarck Momument in Tiergarten, Berlin
Various & Gould's working process will be accompanied by an artistic intervention by Daniela Medina Poch and Juan Pablo García Sosa.
On the last day of work at the statue, the paper form will be opened and taken down from the pedestal. You are very welcome to visit us during this process: Come by, have a look at the work, exchange ideas with us about these interventions and ways on how to approach colonial heritage!
Open Monument Day
Performance with the paper cast
With Jumoke Adeyanju, Natisa Exocé Kasongo, Thomias Radin, and Maxime Rogron alias Delawhere
Nettelbeckplatz, Reinickendorfer Str. 110, 13347 Berlin
On the Open Monument Day, we invite you to an urban performance in which the paper cast of the monument will be transformed. The site of the performance is another public square that carries a history of violence in its name: Nettelbeckplatz, which commemorates the colonial propagandist and slave trader Joachim Nettelbeck.
Workshops with schools
In artistic and creative workshops, we will work with pupils on remembering, history, colonialism and racism.
"A Place in the Sun" & its long shadows | Closing Event
SAVVY Contemporary, Reinickendorfer Str. 17, 13347 Berlin
With Josephine Apraku, Jumoke Adeyanju, Fernande Bodo, and Hanaby, moderated by Lynhan Balatbat-Helbock & the premiere of the project's documentary by Frederic Leitzke
To close the Berlin chapter, we invite you to an exchange with performances, lectures and conversations about interdisciplinary experiences and strategies in dealing with colonial heritage.
A participatory project in public space knocking colonial figures off their pedestal and shifting the shadows of past and present.
Even though more and more European countries are beginning to come to terms with their colonial history, deep shadows dominate their commemorative culture. Formerly colonizing and colonized countries are linked by a complex, violent past that reverberates to the present day. The art project "Monumental Shadows" explores commemorative culture and deals with artworks and monuments that continue to inscribe colonial history in public space.
In a combination of artistic collaboration, thematic debate, and public discussion, the project makes visible connection between colonialism and contemporary racism. Within the framework of "Monumental Shadows", the artists are planning a series of seven artistic paper casts of monuments in Europe. Against the historical background of the Berlin "Congo Conference" (1884/85), these monuments have a connection to European colonialism in Africa. Today they are located in countries that were significantly involved in the conference and continue to benefit from it to the present day. The selected monuments and the historical figures associated with them are still positively portrayed or even glorified in the historiography of their respective countries (and beyond). By honoring them through public monuments, the colonial exploitation and imperialist atrocities for which they are responsible are concealed, downplayed, or glossed over. On the one hand, their part in colonialism lies in the shadows for large sections of society, while on the other hand, their actions still cast a shadow over the lives of many people.
The aim of the project is to demonumentalize these monuments by symbolically knocking them off their pedestals and charging them with new meanings. In the visual design of the cover, we address the respective monument and its colonial history. Through the lightness and malleability of the paper, their transience becomes visible.
Subsequently, the resulting molds are performatively deformed in "Ver-Formances" through which they become tangible. This shows: History is not static, and we are all part of it. Our concern is to break the power of white narrative on colonialism by proposing a change of perspective. In doing so, it is important to stop reproducing the Eurocentric views and narratives. It is long overdue to bring more light and attention to the historiographies and narratives of People of Color, which have often been silenced and ignored until now. A society critical of colonialism and racism can only emerge with their voices as integral parts of a collective commemorative culture.
The project was initiated by the artist duo Various & Gould and is developed in collaboration with Colonial Neighbours, a long-term project of SAVVY Contemporary.
Various & Gould
The Berlin based artist duo Various & Gould works in close collaboration since 2005. After studying at the Berlin-Weissensee School of Art (KHB), the artists graduated under the tutelage of Prof Alex Jordan (Grapus collective) in 2010. Various & Gould are known for constantly reinventing themselves. Whilst methods of screen-printing and collage are their speciality, their art can also emerge in a public performance or an installation as they like crossing borders and do not stick to a certain medium. Various & Gould often deal with socially prominent themes such as work, migration, gender, death, religion or the financial crisis in a playful, intuitive manner.
Colonial Neighbors is a long-term project by SAVVY Contemporary in Berlin. It is a participatory archive and research project which invites international artists, historians, cultural scholars, curators and other activists to engage with German colonial history and its aftermath in the present.
Artistic Direction Various & Gould
Curation Lynhan Balatbat-Helbock
Project Management Britt Janina Heinker
Curatorial Assistance Lili Somogyi, Antonio Pedro Mendes
Production Assistance Billy Fowo, Sagal Farah, Jörg-Peter Schulze, Alina Kologriwaja
Management Lema Sikod
Communication Anna Jäger
Accessibility Annika Hirsekorn
Simple Language Christina Stark
Design Juan Pablo García Sossa
Photo Documentation Raisa Galofre
Video Documentation Frederic Leitzke (editude pictures), Florian Lampersberger
Support The project is funded by the Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa des Landes Berlin and the Berlin Projektfonds Urbane Praxis, with kind support by Zapf Umzüge.

domain: artistic


text:
More Gayot in the Media
TO THE INTERVIEW (Aired October 26th 2008)
Read and listen to the interview of August 24th 2008
Read and listen to the interview of January 5th 2008
Read and listen to the interview of March 17th 2007
Read and listen to the interview of December 2nd 2006
Read and listen to the interview of October 28th 2006
On October 26, 2008, live at The 13th Annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival at Disneyland Resort in Orlando, chef Jamie Gwen caught up with Sophie Gayot in Los Angeles. During the course of the phone interview, the pair discussed GAYOT.com’s recently released Annual Restaurant Issue.
In the face of current economic problems, Sophie offered listeners a few of her favorite picks from a list of the Top 40 Cheap Eats in the U.S., where inexpensive prices have not compromised the quality of the cuisine. An overview of this year’s culinary achievements, the Restaurant Issue also includes the Top 40 Restaurants in the U.S. as well as the country’s Top 10 New Restaurants.
Check out Jamie Gwen's cookbooks, Bountiful Buffets and Good Food for Good Times, and add some spice to your next dinner party.
is the list of restaurants that were mentioned during the show:
more events, see our Los
Angeles What's Going On page.
Check out the 2014 edition of GAYOT's Annual Restaurant Issue, which features the Top 40 Restaurants in the U.S., Rising Chefs and more.
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text:
Construction of a building meant for student accommodation was going on in front of the new Pregnancy Help office in Parnell, Auckland.
It is not a stretch to imagine that some of the organisation’s future clients would be coming from the building.
Pregnancy Help, an organisation that provides practical help to pregnant women who find themselves without family support, recently moved from an Auckland CBD office to the fringe of the city.
The new office located at 46 D Stanley St, Parnell was blessed by Auxiliary Bishop Michael Gielen on November 13.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Pregnancy Help coordinator Julia McFadden said of the new office. “It’s bright. It’s airy. It’s very handy to the university and the students. And it’s very handy to the bus and railway stations.”
In the past year, the organisation has seen over 1250 clients and provided 190 maternity garments to mums.
They have also given out 8760 baby garments, 85 bassinets, 229 reusable nappies and 2579 disposable nappies and 1500 items of bassinet bedding.
A growing number of clients are overseas university students who are facing unplanned pregnancies.
Student pregnancy support worker Hilda Tan-Morais said the Covid-19 lockdowns proved very challenging for them.
“A lot of the pregnant women, of course, were locked down in their homes. They were frantically sending us emails. We had volunteers going to their homes delivering things when we were able to. During the time that we were not able to, we had to place online orders that were sent directly to their homes,” she said.
But more than the physical needs, the women were also coping with mental and emotional stress.
“We were doing mainly phone calls and e-mails. We were also counselling over the phone. It was helpful but not as much as a face-to-face consultation would have been,” Mrs Tan-Morais said.
As the lockdown restriction eased, some of the stress lightened. But Mrs McFadden said the need for help escalated as people lost their jobs.
Pregnancy Help is an organisation supported by the Auckland Diocese’s Catholic Caring Foundation. Auckland Bishop Patrick Dunn’s mother, June, was among the founding members of the group.
The practical support offered by Pregnancy Help includes clothes, furniture and transport to appointments as well as accompaniment.
“We take them on that journey going through their pregnancy, finding them midwives, etc., and anything pertaining to being pregnant,” Mrs McFadden said.

domain: sociology


text:
Markets are bouncing around. The Big Money has slowed.
Lucas presents, Be in the 1% with Outlier Stocks.
Big Money activity appears to be shifting.
Join us to talk outlier stocks and the current climate.
This virtual event will be presented on Wednesday September 16, 2020 at 10:40AM ET. Click the image below to register for free.

domain: economics


What is AES?
Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) is a technique for analyzing the element constituting the sample surface, its composition, and chemical bonding state by irradiating a focused electron beam on the sample surface, and measuring the kinetic energy of the Auger electrons emitted from the sample surface. Since the Auger electron energy emitted from the sample has a value specific to the element, the element on the sample surface can be identified by measuring the electron energy. Since Auger electrons lose energy as they pass through a sample, the analysis target for Auger spectroscopy is limited to several nms from the sample surface.
The irradiated electron beam can be focused to 5 nm or less, allowing for an ultra-microscopic area of the sample to be analyzed.
Excitation source (FE electron gun)
The excitation source used for Auger electron spectroscopy is the same heated Field Emission (FE) electron source used for SEM. The FE electron source focuses the electron beam diameter on the sample to 5 nm or less, enabling high current density.
In order to analyze microscopic areas 5 nm or smaller, the electron beam must be applied steadily and continuously at one area of the sample. For that reason, Auger spectrometers measuring microscopic areas are equipped with enclosures that shut out vibrations from external sounds (sound pressure) and temperature changes.
Detection system (Electron gun coaxial CMA electron analyzer)
The Cylindrical Mirror Analyzer (CMA) electron analyzer used as the Auger electron energy analyzer can be equipped with an electron gun along its central axis. By using this coaxial electron gun with the CMA electron analyzer, emitted Auger electrons can be detected from 360 degrees around the sample, enabling measurement of samples with uneven and complex shapes without shadows.
Charge compensation mechanism (argon ion neutralization)
Auger electron spectroscopy uses negatively charged electrons in the incident beam, so a negative charge builds up in the measurement location when measuring insulators and it must be neutralized. By irradiating the measurement location with low-speed argon ions (positive charge) from the argon ion gun, the charge on the sample can be eliminated, enabling Auger measurement on insulators.
a) SEM image showing intense charge build up when ion neutralization is not utilized.
b) SEM image when ion neutralization is utilized.
Depth profile analysis (argon ion gun)
Since the information depth measurable with Auger electrons is in the range of several nms from the surface, when the surface contamination layer is thick, or when evaluating a deeper area, ion sputtering is used to perform surface etching. An element composition depth profile can be obtained from the spectrum information gained through alternating between sputtering and measurement. Depth profiles are used for film thickness evaluation of samples with a multilayer structure and cause analysis for discoloration/corrosion of metal. Argon (Ar) ions are generally used for Auger depth profile analysis.