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In the supposed ‘post-racial’ age of the 21st century, Paul Beatty, through his prize winning novel The Sellout, urges us to reconsider the racial state of American society. The reintroduction of segregation to the small town of Dickens (based on modern day Compton) by the novel’s protagonist, Me, and his position as a slaveowner (albeit forcibly), bring him before the American Supreme Court, charged with serious offences. These ‘racist’ acts – perpetrated by a black man – which are seemingly unthinkable in our post-Civil Rights age, force us, as contemporary readers, to face up to the ways in which blatant, or more subtle forms of racism are rampant now, in what is often misleadingly construed as a racially idyllic and open-minded age.
As Me lies with a bleeding gunshot wound, in the care of a sympathetic deputy sheriff, he states that the reason his strivings for a new and better Dickens have been quite literally shot down is that he ‘whispered racist in a post-racial world’ (Beatty 262). In order to examine the position of race in contemporary society, I believe that Beatty sets up collective and individual goals of utopia in and through his characters.
By setting up and subsequently dismantling these utopias – all of which have a focus on the experience of ‘blackness’ – Beatty assures us that the notion of ‘post-race’ is nonsensical, exposing that at their very essence they are permeated by issues of race. Beatty strays away from engaging with the ‘Orwellian dystopic’ (‘Introduction’) that he observes in many contemporary satires, however. It is not the ‘laugh or else’ (‘Introduction’) position that Beatty takes, but the laugh because. His notions of the unreachable utopia are more tied to the absurdity of ‘post-race’ than its menace.
William Cross Jr.’s paper on black identity ‘The Negro-To-Black Conversion Experience’ features heavily, in a reimagined form credited to F.K Me, towards the end of the text. Beatty sets the text up as a psychological experiment from its very beginning, however. F.K’s stages of blackness are labelled ‘Neophyte Negro’ (Beatty 275) (the negro ‘afraid of his own blackness’ (Beatty 275)), ‘Captial B Black’ (‘heightened awareness of race’ (Beatty 275)), and ‘Race Transcendentalism’ (Beatty 275) (‘collective consciousness that fights oppression and seeks serenity’ (Beatty 277)). It seems that no matter which character we speak of in The Sellout, they flit between stages; all seeking for the serenity and utopia spoken of in stage three.
The utopia imagined by F.K is one in which his son, and subsequently the black nations, prove his psychological studies to be correct, and therefore meaningful. Me states, ‘If there is a heaven worth the effort that people to get there, then I hope for my father’s sake there’s a celestial psychology journal’ (Beatty 36). When his efforts to create the idealised black man out of Me fail, Me is considered ‘A statistically insignificant son who’d shattered his hopes for me and the black race’ (Beatty 34). F.K is later shot arbitrarily by the police (mirroring the experience of many black men) having never seen his dreams fulfilled. This is when the idea of the utopia initially fails, and is revealed to us within the first few pages. F.K, then, is the uttermost example of a black individual with an unreachable utopia.
Take the notion of blackness put forward by the Dum Dum Donut Intellectuals. The group, and the donut shop, can be considered literal utopias for its members. The building has utopian value as ‘the only non-Latino or black-owned business that wasn’t burned and pillaged in the riots’ (Beatty 45).
With the death of founder, F.K, the dynamic of this group changes – ‘Since my father’s death, the Dum Dum Donut Intellectuals had devolved into a group of star-struck, middle-class, black out-of-towners and academics who met bimonthly to fawn of the semi famous Foy Cheshire.’ (Beatty 93). Even if they have nothing to contribute, or outright disagree with the standpoints of the group, individuals are present, standing quietly in the corner, or munching on donuts. The idea of an African-American group that meets to talk solely of their past and future development appeals to even the most base members of society (aka King Cuz) as a utopia of sorts. The group eventually stop meeting, however, and even this dream of ‘revoultion’ (Beatty 45) seemingly dies.
Me’s literal utopia can be found on the farm (as can be said of many Dickens’s inhabitants), and he strives to make the entirety of Dickens a utopia by the means of segregation – ‘I agonised over my satsumas and segregation. How do you grow the world’s most water sensitive citrus tree in monsoon conditions? How do you racially segregate an already segregated school?’ (Beatty 165).
Whilst he watches the fruit come to full growth, reinstating segregation in Dickens, although seemingly fruitful in regards to academic work, ultimately results in Me being shot and dragged in front of the Supreme Court. The satsumas are separate from racial issues, the utopian dream for Dickens is not. Here lies the fundamental difference. As Astrada notes, ‘the realities of pre- and post-segregation Dickens (as defined by the “white’s only” sign) are by objective standards the same (if defined by poverty, demographic segregation, and disenfranchisement)’ (115).
Cross’s theory held under the terms that African-American peoples ‘have been liberated, psychologically speaking, despite continued oppression’ (14). Notably, he rewrote his theory multiple times in the years following its publication, rendering it, as Beatty states, ‘less tied to gender, less tied to a nationalist sense of black consciousness… [and] the essay became weirdly less about race as he adjusted it’ (Jackson) – yet it is still ultimately about race. It is this continued oppression in the 21st century, not altogether far removed from the 1970s in which Cross wrote, that I believe renders it acceptable for Beatty to satirise the idea of the ‘post-racial’ age. His characters may be liberated, but their achievable utopias are limited to those outside of racial issues.
Astrada, Scott. ‘Home and Dwelling: Re-Examining Race and Identity Through Octavia Butler’s Kindred and Paul Beatty’s The Sellout’. Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy. Vol XXV, No 1 (2017), pp. 105-120.
Beatty, Paul. The Sellout. Oneworld: London, 2015.
Beatty, Paul. ’Introduction’. Hokum: An Anthology of African-American Humor, edited by Paul Beatty, Bloomsbury, 2006, pp. 1-12.
Cross, William E.. ’The Negro-to-Black Conversion Experience’. Black World 20.9 (1971), pp.13–27.
Fruit Town Brims – Rap Dictionary – Google Search, https://goo.gl/images/apq2kp
Jackson, Chris. ‘Our Thing: An Interview with Paul Beatty’. The Paris Review. May 7, 2015, https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/05/07/our-thing-an-interview-with-paul-beatty/


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Between the Outsound Festival and other things going on here at CatSynth, we barely had time to squeeze in Weekend Cat Blogging.
I returned home briefly last night between various events to rest for a moment and of course to spend a few minutes Luna. With camera already in hand and made a few photos of Luna near our favorite glass-and-metal table. It caught a bit of blue in the reflection, and inspired me to make this image with everything but the blue reduced to grayscale:
Later that evening, I encountered some feline themed art:
This is a moment from a 3D film/video by Kerry Laitala that was screened last night at SOMArts. I did not see the kitten featured on the exhibition website, though. I will have a review of the full event at SOMArts soon.
Aside from brief excursions in photography and visual art, the last few days have been dominated by music. For each of the groups I am working with, wehave compositions that we print on paper and then read during rehearsals and performances. It is a lot of work.
But is sheet music tasty?
On the subject of tasty treats, our friends Kashim, Othello, Salome and Astrid are hosting special edition of WCB dedicated to Sher, who passed away unexpectedly two years ago. In addition to being a dedicated and supportive member of Weekend Cat Blogging, she was also a food blogger who published many recipes which I have used over the last few years. We will go back to the archives and try some more as soon as things calm down a bit and we have time for luxuries like well-prepared home-cooked meals.
Weekend Cat Blogging #267: In honor of Sher is hosted by Kashim, Othello, Salome and Astrid at PaulChens Foodblog?!.
The Carnival of the Cats will be up today at When Cats Attack!.
And the Friday Ark is at the modulator

domain: artistic


Zurich, Switzerland – Credit Suisse, one of the world’s leading financial institutions, has announced the launch of a new sustainable investing program designed to help clients align their investments with their values.
The program, called “Sustainable Investing Solutions,” offers a range of investment options that take into account environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. These factors are integrated into the investment process to provide clients with a better understanding of the impact of their investments on the world around them.
“We are proud to introduce this new program, which is a reflection of our commitment to sustainable investing,” said Thomas Gottstein, CEO of Credit Suisse. “We believe that by integrating ESG factors into our investment process, we can create value for our clients while also contributing to a more sustainable future.”
The program offers a variety of investment strategies, including passive and active management, as well as customized solutions for clients with specific ESG requirements. The investment options cover a range of asset classes, including equities, fixed income, and alternatives.
The launch of this program comes as the demand for sustainable investing continues to grow. According to a recent survey by the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance, the global sustainable investment market grew by 15% in 2020, reaching a total of $35.3 trillion in assets under management.
“We recognize that sustainable investing is no longer a niche market,” said Marisa Drew, CEO of Credit Suisse’s Impact Advisory and Finance Department. “Investors are increasingly looking to align their investments with their values, and we are here to help them achieve that goal.”
Credit Suisse’s Sustainable Investing Solutions program is now available to clients worldwide. The program is part of Credit Suisse’s broader commitment to sustainability, which includes reducing its own carbon footprint and supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.


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A ticket to the ‘Hair of the Dog Pup Crawl includes dedicated doggy snacks and pawsecco for the pampered pooches, a ‘Hair of the Dog’ t-shirt, exclusive offers and games and prizes throughout the night.
Founder of Dog Furiendly, Adele Pember, said: “Our four-legged friends have a very important place in our day-to-day lives as companions and family members. This is the perfect opportunity to share a night on the town with their pooch.”
“We’re so excited to host this new experience and have collaborated with our favourite dog friendly bars across Cardiff.”
With only 30 tickets available, the Pup Crawl is set to sell out fast. So be sure to book your ticket today!

domain: entertainment


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Municipal police patrols near the refugee centre in the Bulgarian capital city’s Ovcha Kupel area have been stepped up after complaints from residents of nearby housing complained of feeling threatened, Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandukova said on January 14 2016.
Fandukova told a city council meeting that she had received a letter from a resident of the neighbourhood living in flats opposite the refugee centre, describing “filth and fear” and saying that Ovcha Kupel was like “Cologne at New Year”.
This was a reference to large-scale sexual assaults on women in the German city on the night of December 31, the alleged perpetrators being identified in reports as mainly of North African and Middle Eastern origin, said to be migrants.
Fandukova said that she fully understood the concerns of people living in the area. She said that three years ago, she had underlined her misgivings about having refugee centres in the capital city.
She said that she received reports on the situation in the area daily.
Fandukova said that another “risk zone” was the area around the Women’s Market, Maria Louisa Boulevard and Lion Bridge. There was also a permanent police presence in that area, with gendarmerie patrols, at her insistence.
She said that a meeting had been held with the head of Sofia’s criminal investigation department at which measures to be taken by the police had been discussed.
Local media reports said that refugees at the centre in Ovcha Kupel were subject to a flexible system which allowed them to go out, go shopping and use local internet clubs. Residents had complained that people at the centre were a source of noise and got involved in fights, and the residents added that they were concerned about their own safety.
(Photo: Ben Melrose/V Photo Agency)

domain: news


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Published on November 1st, 2015 | by admin
WIN 1 OF 3 COPIES OF THE ENFIELD HAUNTING ON DVD
ENFIELD HAUNTING IS OUT ON DVD & DIGITAL NOVEMBER 18
Inspired by the world’s most documented poltergeist incident, The Enfield Haunting – adapted from Guy Lyon Playfair’s book “This House is Haunted,” is a chilling, three-part drama series based on the terrifying and bizarre real events that took place at an ordinary house in 1977. At the heart of the story is Janet Hodgson, an 11 year-old girl terrorized by the paranormal activity permeating every room… or so she’d like everyone to believe; especially Maurice Grosse, the doting researcher who goes to great lengths to protect her from the strange, dark forces in hopes of making peace with his own daughter’s untimely death.

domain: library


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Click the description to link to the Eastsuffolk website and see all the documents currently available.
SC expiry date and
Determination date 2019
|1 Millstones, Mill Field||Erection of ancillary building in garden of domestic dwelling||DC/19/1847/FUL||30th May; 1st July|
|Heritage Hut, The Green||DC/19/1584/FUL||5th June; 4th July|
|Site south of Redmay, Lodge Road||
|20th June; 27th June|
|Elphinston Corner, Stocks Lane||DC/19/1680/FUL||11th June; 18th June|

domain: history


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How leaders can tackle microaggressions in the workplace starting with #MyNameIs
4th July 2017 21 seconds read
Green Park’s efforts to support its workers set it apart from many companies and they were recently profiled as part of a wider piece of inclusive workpalces in The Guardian. Some of the ways Green Park ensures it’s staff are provided for include offering free access to 24-hour counselling hotlines, training in-house mental health first aiders and ensuring senior members of the business champion diversity and inclusion.
This article appeared in The Guardian on 03/07/2017. Read it here: http://bit.ly/2sDsW3m


Newsletter and Technical Publications
Freshwater Management Series No. 10
Managing Urban Sewage
An Introductory Guide for Decision-makers
VIII. Optimizing Resource Efficiency
A. Utilization of Reclaimed Water
One of the key policies now being considered by many cities is to optimize the use of
abundant, high-quality effluent from treatment plants, recognizing that this is an important
water resource. For example, in 1984, a water recycling centre was established in Tokyo to
provide water recycling services using rapid sand filtration and chlorination to produce a
recycled effluent for toilet flushing in 25 high-rise buildings. The recycled water in this
application is charged at a rate lower than that for conventional city water. Area-wide recycling
using advanced wastewater treatment is an option that can be considered in areas where
large-scale urban development projects are planned.
B. Utilization of Sludge
There are a number of useful by-products that can be derived from municipal sewage sludge,
- Concrete products made from sludge ash, such as reinforced-concrete pipes
- Lightweight aggregate made from sludge ash to replace natural aggregate used in
water-permeable bricks and building construction materials
- Compressed baked blocks, based on press and burn technology whereby the pressed
molded sludge ash is burned at a temperature of about 1050 degrees Celsius to manufacture
durable interlocking bricks that it can be used as for pavement and park landscaping.
- Sludge melted slag where the sludge is heated up to 1500 °C, the organic matter is
decomposed and burnt, and the remaining inorganic matter is melted to a liquid state.
When cooled and solidified, this melted inorganic matter, referred to as sludge melted
slag, has half the volume of sludge ash and is highly stable with no dissolution of
heavy metals contained in the slag. Several uses for sludge melted slag have been
investigated, including its use in road bed or construction materials.
All of these applications make use of a valuable resource that would otherwise be wasted.
C. Utilization of Wastewater Heat
In most cities, the temperature wastewater is lower in summer and higher in winter than the
ambient atmospheric temperature. This characteristic of wastewater can be used as a heat
source for cooling and heating which can contribute to energy savings and associated reductions
in air pollution. Since the use of wastewater for heating and cooling does not involve the
construction of a cooling tower, it is also serves as a way of avoiding unnecessary noise.
D. Pretreatment Requirements for Industrial Wastewater
To preserve both the function and physical structure of the public sewer system, as well as to
ensure the quality of the water that runs through public water bodies, factories and other
establishments should not permitted to directly pump wastewater containing toxic substances
into the public sewer system. Before discharging wastewater into the system, these
stakeholders should be required to treat the wastewater so that it conforms with predetermined
water quality standards (sewage effluent standards).
In some cities, sewer use bylaws and ordinances have been developed prohibiting factories
and businesses using the public sewer system from discharging wastewater that does not
satisfy acceptable pretreatment standards. In most of these cities, the local sewage department
provides guidance for appropriate wastewater quality control, monitors the wastewater
pretreatment systems of factories and businesses, by conducting regular performance
It should also be noted that the pre-treatment of some industrial effluents can provide
significant economic benefits as a result of resource recovery and reuse.
The ongoing financing of sewage infrastructure is a significant challenge. In most cities, a local
public utility is responsible for the establishment of a financial accounting system. By separating
capital accounting from revenue accounting, the local utility is able to analyze the effectiveness
of management and promote incremental improvement in the operation of the system.
In most cities, the sources of revenue for the construction of sewage facilities are often
national subsidies, bonds, and funds appropriated from general tax revenues. In some cases,
national subsidies are provided for the construction of pumping stations, trunk sewers, and
treatment plants. In addition to national subsidies, a major portion of the capital expenditure
is paid by bonds and other long term borrowing of funds, with the remainder of the funds
coming from revenues derived as income obtained from user fees. The main items of revenue
expenditure are maintenance and management, depreciation and interest payments. Although
expenditures on wastewater treatment are usually paid by users in the form of service charges,
expenditures on stormwater runoff are usually supported by general tax revenues.
How Sewage Treatment Works (PDF)


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The book «When Breath Becomes Air» is one of the most popular bestsellers in the world. The author of the book is Paul Kalanithi. In the nonfiction section of the book firmly in the lead of Paul Kalaniti When Breath Becomes Air, which has received high marks among critics. Best-selling author is no longer alive. He died in the midst of working on the book in March 2015 at the age of 36 years.
Paul Kalaniti – a successful neurosurgeon. When he learned that he had cancer of the fourth degree, he could not believe it. But it turned out that it is – a harsh reality. It would seem that doctors need to be covered by such a degree of cancer, because they often undergo a medical examination.
However, fate decided otherwise. In the face of emergency and imminent death Kalaniti doctor says that is our life, that it important and what – tinsel and trash. For what is worth living. The book is not a grain of tearfulness and false pathos. But she just plowed reader. Especially captures readers what Paul thinks of a person’s life is very wide, revealing absolutely every aspect. Artwork Kalaniti certainly over time will go down in the classics of philosophy and literature.
Get ready to change their outlook!
This item is no longer available on EPUBLIB as we received request for deletion from copy right holder

domain: literature


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In addition to cultural activities and excursions, Venice can offer its guests numerous ways of interesting pastime. Harry's Bar is one of the most popular nightlife destinations in the city. For many years the club has remained a favorite destination of international celebrities. Fans of gambling are recommended not to forget to visit Casino Municipale, which was opened in 1930. The casino is located in a beautiful historic building and is one of the most important tourist attractions.
Beach lovers should certainly move their feet to the Lido Island. This is a magnificent place with beautiful beaches. Here you will find various sports equipment rentals and diving schools. The island is also the location of the most luxurious hotels and spas. This place will be surely appreciated by fans of extra quality rest. Each year late August is the time of an internationally famous event as the island becomes the location of Venetian Film Festival. The festival traditionally attracts celebrities of world-class and fans of modern cinema.
Jazz fans should definitely visit Goldoni Theater, the stage of which regularly becomes the location of performances by well-known musical groups. Fans of energetic dances will also like their rest in Venice as the city has several cool nightclubs. The most popular disco in the city is called Casanova.

domain: travel


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Variety is the spice of life, so how will we season our garden this year? I’ve been very happy with Romano and Blue Lake bush beans and believe I’ll try Improve Wax for a new yellow one. Shumway’s is the catalog I’m ordering from, along with Nichol’s and Johnny’s.
Detroit Red is the standard beet variety, but I’ll try a packet variety, but I’ll try a packet of Cosby’s Egyptian, an early flat type. I was not impressed with last year’s Forona carrot-shaped beet, or with Blue Lagoon beans, either.
Chieftan Savoy is the late cabbage I’ll be planting in July. I am going to banish brassicas in the spring garden again this year. It worked well to break the insects’ life cycles by not growing cabbage and broccoli last spring.
I’ve asked the Monroe County Coop to get me 10 pounds of G-90 sweet corn seed without the pink poison on it. As an organic grower, I don’t want to put Captan on our garden, even in small amounts. Jubilee and Frosty are the other sweet corn varieties I’ll try. Goliath silo corn claims to grow 50 tons of organic matter per acre, five times as much as regular corn. I’ll buy five pounds and see if it really has that much more foddler, and turn cattle in on it in August.
Danvers half-long, Health-master, Nelson, and Scarlet Rantes are the carrots we’ll be growing. I’m going to try Autumn King for a fall carrot.
I used to grow National Pickling cucumbers, and I think I’ll give them a chance this year. Poinsettia 76 is the dark green slicer we enjoyed last year and will repeat with again. French Swiss is the chard I grow, here in America.
Harris Model is our parsnip choice this year, and a small packet of All-American to see if they are the sweetest or not. Our choice for kohl-rabi is Early Vienna.
Our customers love lettuce, so we grow all kinds: Simpson Elite, Paris Island cos, Winter Denistz, Red Sails, Prizehead, Buttercrunch, Freckles, Oak Leaf, Deer Tongue, and Lollo rossa. For leeks, we’ll experiment with Kilima.
Nichol’s sold me on Oriental Giant Spinach, which is supposed to be triple size. We shall see. I’m interested to see if Cornell’s Bush Delicata will produce more. Table Queen is our best acorn squash, and we save our own butternut seed.
I finally decided on tried and true Connecticut Field and Small Sugarpie pumpkins. I save some of our neighbor’s Tennessee pumpkins and will grow them out, too. I’m waiting until late June to plant, though, maybe they’ll follow the garlic crop.
Peas were easy. Five pounds each of Sugar Snap and Oregon Giant will go around the perimeter of the new garden. I ordered legume inoculant, also I can insure the presence of the beneficial, nitrogen producing bacteria or the pea roots.
California Wonder red and yellow peppers will come again and also a new one called ace Big Chili were quite prolific for and Anaheim type and I’m going to give Italia a try for a bulls horn pepper. Jalapeno and Cayenne will be hot enough for us, and some sweet bananas for a little zest.
For the watermelon patch, I ordered Rattlesnake, Crimson Sweet, Charleston Grey and Sugar Baby, all ones I’ve had success with before. Cantaloupe seed I save from year to year, as we do with pinto beans, Kale, and a few other vegetables.
Our zucchinis pooped out on us last year, so I’m going to stick with Costata Romanesca, a light green zucchini that produced better. Straightneck yellow and Scallop patty pans will round out the summer squash patch.
Tomatoes for 2002: Park’s Whopper, Goliath, Sensation, Celebrity, and Big Beef for slicers, and Sun Gold for a dynamite cherry. We have a few Bradley and Oxheart seeds saved of these heirloom varieties.
For the fall garden, I ordered Wong Bok, Blues and lettucy Chinese cabbages, Mei Qing and Joi Choi bok choy, Golden self-balancing celery, Garden Rocket arugula and Italian wild arugula, Georgia collards, komatsuma, Tat Soi, and mizuna. A few new ones, for me, are Red Mustard and Melokhiya, the latter being the most widely consumed vegetable in Egypt. I’d never heard of it before.
Parsley varieties are Green River and Italian Giant. Basil, dill, and chamomile will give us a nice herb garden along with the perennials thyme and oregano.
The flower beds will host our own zinnias, poppies, and marigolds, along with some new varieties, too. Sunflowers are a big hit and this year we’ll try Moulin Rouge, Infrared, Provence, Santa Fe, Crimson, and Yellow Thrillers. For zinnias: Benary’s Giant, State Fair, and Persian Carpet, and for marigolds, Red Metamorph, developed by Alan Kapuler from Seeds of Change.
A light dusting of snow gave us enough for a few snowballs today. Cool weather and a warm fire make ordering the seeds welcome winter ritual. Soon, we’ll be sprinkling our gardens with a variety of seeds.

domain: hobby


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If your accredited museums is interested in the acquisition or a possible gifting by the Alton Tobey Collection to your museum of any painting that you feel would enhance your collection, you are cordially invited to contact us. For museums, galleries and art or educational organizations who may be interested, a retrospective exhibition of Tobey's paintings that is being created will be available in 2009.
Original paintings from the collection are currently available for purchase direct from the estate of the artist for a limited time only. An illustrated book on Tobey is also planned for this coming year, which will also be a catalog of the exhibition. Museum exhibition directors, art collectors, dealers and galleries who may be interested are invited to contact us directly for details by email, or by phone to 212-260-9240.
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All copy & images on this website copyright � Alton Tobey 2004 et al.
No part of this site may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publishers.


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The Union Public Safety Department reported the following arrests:
— April Dawn Worthy, 28, of 101 Hampton Avenue, Union, was charged with driving under suspension around 9:30 p.m. Mar. 3.
The Union Public Safety Department reported the following incidents:
— A resident of Industrial Park Road, Union, reported on March 3 that someone had been using her social security number. The case was turned over to investigations.
— An employee of 1st Franklin Financial, located at 310 North Duncan Bypass, Union, reported on March 3 that someone had deposited counterfeit money. The employee realized he had a counterfeit $20 bill when he tried to deposit it at Arthur State Bank. The money was brought to 1st Franklin between 8 a.m.-1 p.m. March 3. The case was turned over to investigations.
The Union County Sheriff’s Office reported the following arrests:
— Andrea Gregory Roberts, 33, of 522 Mt. Tabor Church Road, Union, was charged with third-degree assault and battery and resisting arrest around 7:50 p.m. Mar. 3.
— Tammy Ivey Lawson, 29, of 120 Fairforest Heights, Lockhart, was charged with driving under suspension around 12:35 p.m. Mar. 3.
The Union County Sheriff’s Office reported the following incidents:
— The owner of a property on Times Blvd., Union, reported on Feb. 28 that someone cut a fence on the property some time between Jan. 28-Feb. 28 in what appeared to be an attempt to gain access to the property.
— A resident of Mt. Joy Church Road, Jonesville, reported on March 3 that his vehicle was vandalized. Officer observed what appeared to be red spray paint on the rear windshield, trunk, hood and doors of the vehicle. Damages were valued at $1,500. The case was sent to investigations.

domain: law


ArcticShark – a groundbreaking new unmanned aerial system designed to collect the world’s most sophisticated atmospheric data in the Arctic – will undergo flight testing at Pendleton UAS Test Range. Testing began February 27.
To be owned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and managed by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility, a DOE national scientific user facility, the ArcticShark will eventually be equipped with more than a dozen different instruments designed to record the most sophisticated measurements ever gathered about Earth’s atmosphere and thus help scientists better understand one of the most sensitive regions of the planet.
With a wingspan of 22 feet and a gross takeoff weight of 625 pounds, the ArcticShark, an unmanned aerial system (UAS), can fly up to 15,000 feet and has a maximum speed of 75 miles per hour. Flight testing and pilot training of the ArcticShark at Pendleton is expected to take place almost daily from Feb. 27 through March 17. The UAS is scheduled to begin field research in Alaska starting in 2018.


A Major New Bylaw is Coming to Mississauga
Published April 17, 2018 at 8:40 pm
In early April, on one of the windiest days of the year, a number of experts and Mississauga residents gathered in a spacious room at the Living Arts Centre to discuss a brand new bylaw that, if created and passed, will work to ensure Mississauga’s existing–and decidedly precious–rental stock is protected.
The protection of the city’s rental stock is important, especially when considering the fact that Daniel’s rental-only Skyrise Rental Residence–a high-rise built in 2016–was the first rental-exclusive building to come to the city in 20 years.
Now that the city is actively tackling and working to implement its Making Room for the Middle: A Housing Strategy for Mississauga plan, it’s focusing on maintaining and protecting its existing stock of more affordable (for middle income earners who make between $57,000 and $103,000 per year, to be clear) rental units.
The proposed rental housing bylaw could protect existing rental units in a number of ways.
A range of options were put forward at the presentation, including establishing a bylaw under the Municipal Act, requiring a special permit to convert or demolish existing rental units, establishing a demolition control bylaw to go along with the rental protection bylaw, relying on the Residential Tenancies Act and encouraging new rental supply.
In Mississauga, the rental situation is not ideal. While new condo units (many of which are rented out by private landlords) are being constructed, rental-only buildings are rarely built. In fact, three quarters of the city’s rental stock was built before 1970 (with these buildings boasting 80 units per building, on average).
As of 2017, the city has a vacancy rate of 0.9 per cent (a healthy rate is 3 per cent). This means that there are simply not enough rental units on the market. The city also tends to lose rental units fairly frequently. During the presentation, the city said it loses about 75 rental units a year (equivalent to one building).
As for how the city loses rental units, the suites are typically lost through conversion (when the rental unit is sold off as a condo suite) or demolition. And while the loss of 75 units might not sound like much, the pattern itself is concerning–and it’s safe to assume that more units could be lost as more developers seek out building opportunities along the LRT route in the Hurontario corridor.
In fact, the LRT could make the area–particularly the more working class Cooksville area–so attractive to developers that the neighbourhood could quickly become a hotspot for luxury residences. If the corridor starts to gentrify, it’s plausible that existing rental stock could be torn down to make way for more costly housing.
At the presentation, the city pointed out the obvious–that it needs a range of housing options for residents and that rental housing is crucially important.
Under the Municipal Act, the city can establish a bylaw to protect rental housing. This bylaw would require developers to seek out additional permits to convert or demolish rental units.
As for how it would work, the bylaw would apply for conversions or demolitions of rental units in cases where there are six units or more, when vacancy rates are less than 3 per cent and in situations where rents are below $2,500 a month.
In cases of conversion, units will have to be maintained as rental for 20 years, with cash-in-lieu of retention. So rentals can be converted to condos, but with caveats in place to maintain rental stock.
As far as demolitions go, the bylaw would state that units must be replaced on one to one basis on or off-site. Cash in lieu will be available when replacement is not possible. Exemptions to this rule would apply when non-residential units are being demolished.
The city is also hoping to encourage the development of new rental units. It is exploring implementing reduced tax rates to encourage the construction of new rental buildings. It also mentioned the Tower Renewal Partnership, a program that is advocating for the rehabilitation and renewal of old rental buildings.
While residents were invited to the public meeting to learn more about the proposed bylaw, discussion tended to revolve around increases in rent prices (which the city cannot do much, if anything, to resolve or address unilaterally) and disputes between landlords and tenants (which are typically managed by provincial authorities, not municipal ones).
One woman asked city and Region of Peel officials how she’ll be protected if her landlord decides to evict her without reason, prompting experts to answer that the province does not allow landlords to simply remove paying tenants arbitrarily unless they themselves are moving into the unit.
Other attendees, which included landlords and developers, asked why it’s often so difficult to develop new rental stock in the first place.
“Stopping rental-to-condo conversion and rental property demolition is just a band-aid. You’re addressing symptoms but the issues are infinitely more deep-rooted than that,” a resident who goes by the name “cseepe” wrote on the city’s Have Your Say website.
“Why are few if any rental properties being built? Why were there more purpose-built rental properties constructed in 1972 alone than in the sum total of all the units built in the 25 years after that?”
Other attendees expressed anger at the housing climate in general, offering unconfirmed anecdotes about friends and family members reportedly being evicted by intimidating landlords for complaining about smoking or noise violations committed by other tenants or residents. Others asked that private landlords not to be allowed to increase rental rates following unit renovations (a rent control issue under provincial jurisdiction).
Interestingly enough, the province has addressed expanding rent control to buildings constructed after 1991 through its somewhat controversial (but decently effective, based on the fairly moderate and balanced year-over-year price declines the housing market has experienced since March 2017) Fair Housing Plan.
Last year, the province also proposed the Rental Fairness Act, 2017, for rent control reform and eviction protections to help keep rentals affordable for all residential buildings. So while Ontario’s Fair Housing Plan covers expanding rent control, the Rental Fairness Act would specifically address rising rental costs by expanding rent control to all private rental units, including those occupied on or after November 1, 1991.
But confusion about which level of government is responsible for what aside, the city has been proactive in working to preserve and protect rental units.
Especially since they’re all many people can afford.
“I rent my apartment and rely on apartment rentals as I can’t physically afford to own in this market,” user Ktuhlin wrote on Have Your Say.
“If my apartment was to be some to condos I would be left homeless and probably have to rent some closet condo for $1,800 a month.”
It’ll be interesting to see what happens going forward.insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies


text:
No doubt, people have had trouble listening for thousands of years. Sure, while modern technology makes it easy to multi-task (and thereby decrease focus on the primary task at hand), I have a feeling the cave people were as easily distracted by a future hunt as you are by your wondering what you will make for dinner tonight or what emails came in since you started reading this. With the historical as well as current struggle in mind, here are three core elements to effective listening and how it can improve fundraising:
- Hear what the person is saying
- Stay Focused
- Help the Donor
1 – Hear What The Person Is Saying.
- Put aside your own agenda, your pre-conceived notions about the person, your assumptions about how they will respond and your own personal biases.
- Watch for nonverbal clues about what the person is truly saying.
- Ask questions to clarify and ensure an accurate translation.
- Confirm what you are hearing by briefly summarizing what you heard
2 – Stay Focused. Easier said than done. It means that when you walk into a meeting you are only thinking about this particular conversation and the person in front of you. Here are a few tips:
- Release all of your other thoughts.
- Jot down any notes about subjects that are distracting so you won’t worry about losing your train of thought or re-gaining your thread of the conversation later.
- Don’t let yourself daydream. The update will come in or it won’t.
- Remember that if you can’t focus on raising money, the donor has no incentive to stay focused on donating money.
3 – Help the Donor. This does not mean putting words or ideas into the person’s mouth. Instead:
- Avoid distracting comments.
- Do not interrupt.
- Do not change the subject unless you intend to for a reason.
- Do not finish a donor’s sentence.
- Avoid distracting actions.
- Do not fidget.
- Do not slump.
- Do not nod after each sentence.
- Offer words of advice or help only when the donor is interrupted by another source or has lost their train of thought.
- Maintain eye contact.
This list of suggestions is can be helpful in many aspects of our life (in addition to how it can improve fundraising.) Try using this as a guide before a family dinner and see if it changes the conversation.
Listening is something that we all think we know how to do but few of us truly do well. Succeed and you will see the rewards.
** This article was originally published in September 2010 and updated and republished in March 2017.

domain: psychology


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In areas without iodine deficiency the common causes of chronic hypothyroidism are autoimmune thyroid disease, thyroidectomy, radiotherapy (both radioiodine therapy and external beam radiotherapy congenital disorders and disorders of thyroid hormone metabolism.Most papillary thyroid cancer patients will undergo a total thyroidectomy. With the total removal of the thyroid gland, your body can no longer naturally produce thyroid hormones. Thyroid hormones are essential because they control your body's metabolism.
Subjects were free of thyroid cancer and had no evidence of any residual thyroid function. These patients were compared to a group of 3875 patients with normal thyroid function despite benign thyroid nodules less than 2 cm in size.Levothyroxine monotherapy cannot guarantee euthyroidism in all athyreotic patients. PLoS One 2011:6:e22552. Epub August 1, 2011. SUMMARY OF THE STUDY This was a study of 1811 patients (1530 women and 281 men) who became hypothyroid following a total thyroidectomy for thyroid cancer and were receiving hormone replacement with T4 alone.
BACKGROUND Thyroxine (T4) is the main hormone secreted by the thyroid gland. It is converted to the active hormone T3 in other cells in the body, most commonly in the liver, kidney and in the cells where thyroid hormone works.A morning cortisol less than 100 nmol/L always indicates the need for ongoing steroid replacement. Results greater than 500 nmol/L indicate adequate reserve and values in between may require provocation tests.
If the patient discovers they have missed one (or more) doses they can take the missed doses in conjunction with their usual dose over the next few days. The absorption of thyroxine may be reduced by cholestyramine, colestipol, aluminium hydroxide, ferrous sulfate and possibly fibre.Variable daily dosing removes the need for patients to cut thyroxine tablets. Problems If taken correctly, thyroxine should enable patients to lead a normal life. However, there are some common problems which can affect management.
Secondary hypothyroidism occurs with some pituitary and hypothalamic diseases. Diagnosis. Patients may not present with the typical clinical features of hypothyroidism. They may have vague symptoms such as tiredness. The diagnosis can be made by finding a persistently elevated serum concentration of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH).DESIGN : Prospective study. All patients were initiated on 100 g levothyroxine and titrated to within the reference range for TSH and free T4. Correlations to height, weight, age, lean body mass (LBM body surface area (BSA) and body mass index (BMI) were calculated.
Thyroxine dose Thyroxine has a half-life of 7-10 days but a much longer biological effect. Once-daily dosing is appropriate. The dose is dependent on body weight and age. Children require larger doses of thyroxine per kg body weight than adults who require approximately 1.6 microgram/kg/day.RESULTS : Correlations were seen between levothyroxine dose and patient age (r-0.346, P 0.01 bodyweight (r0.296, P 0.01 LBM (r0.312, P 0.01 BSA (r0.319, P 0.01) and BMI (r0.172, P 0.05).
For example, 100 microgram/day (700 microgram/week) may be inadequate to control the TSH but 125 microgram/day (875 microgram/week) may be too much. A dose of 800 microgram/week can be taken as 100 microgram/day five days a week and 150 microgram/day two days a week.Moreover, there was a wide range of variability in the T3/T4 ratios in T4-treated patients suggesting a wide range in peripheral T3 levels in different individuals. In fact, more than 20 of the T4-treated patients did not maintain FT3 and FT4 levels in normal range despite normal TSH levels.
Concerns regarding the bioavailability of different preparations are not relevant in Australia. Thyroxine tablets should be kept dry and cool and in their original container. 3 Recent advice to refrigerate thyroxine tablets increases the likelihood of moisture causing deterioration in the medication.The use of lithium and iodine-containing preparations (such as amiodarone) can cause a drug-induced hypothyroidism. Providing patients with a copy of the laboratory results which confirm their need for thyroxine often proves helpful for the patient and future treating doctors.
Monitoring and dose adjustment In primary hypothyroidism the TSH alone can be used to monitor therapy. The aim should be to maintain the TSH at the lower end of the normal range ( mIU/L).Both T4 and T3 are important in maintaining normal metabolic function. In individuals with normal thyroid function, 10-15 of the daily T3 production comes from the thyroid gland. In patients who have no functioning thyroid (ie are hypothyroid the absence of T3 production by the thyroid can be overcome by maintaining higher circulating T4 levels.
Replacement therapy means the goal is a TSH in the normal range and is the usual therapy. Suppressive therapy means that the goal is a TSH below the normal range and is used in thyroid cancer patients to prevent growth of any remaining cancer cells.At the start of treatment a patient does not need measurement of their TSH until they have been on their predicted dose of thyroxine for 4-6 weeks (unless symptoms of thyrotoxicosis dictate otherwise).
INTRODUCTION AND AIM: New entities, such as 'subclinical' over- and undersubstitution, are easily diagnosed after thyroid surgery due to improved testing methods, and the incidence of thyroidectomy with lifelong hormone substitution is increasing.Worsening symptoms of coronary disease or heart failure should be controlled before increasing the dose of thyroxine and a dose reduction may be necessary while cardiac disease is stabilised. For patients between these two extremes, a starting dose of 50 microgram/day is reasonable.
5 Drug-induced hypothyroidism Lithium and iodine are the common causes of drug-induced hypothyroidism. Amiodarone, iodine-containing contrast media and kelp tablets are common sources of large doses of iodine. All forms of drug-induced hypothyroidism will usually resolve on withdrawal of the drug.Animal thyroid medications are made from dried out pig thyroid glands. Some patients prefer these natural alternatives to their synthetic counterparts because they assume these drugs are the safest treatment. However, many doctors believe that synthetic thyroid hormones are the bestand safestoption.
There is no proven benefit in adding liothyronine to the treatment of patients who have persistent symptoms despite taking thyroxine. Secondary hypothyroidism If there is pituitary or hypothalamic disease, TSH is unreliable for diagnosing and monitoring thyroid function and fT4 should be used instead.It is helpful to consider if the patient's symptoms are likely to be due to hypothyroidism before prescribing thyroxine and to tell them if you suspect that some of their symptoms are unlikely to respond.
It is extremely important to consider cortisol deficiency before starting treatment with thyroxine in patients with pituitary and hypothalamic disease as its use will speed the metabolism of cortisol and can induce an adrenal crisis.The present study identifies a subgroup of hypothyroid patients, namely those whose thyroid was surgically removed who do not have normal FT4 and FT3 levels despite normal TSH levels on T4 alone.
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS STUDY? Hypothyroid patients are typically treated with T4 alone. A number of studies have demonstrated that T4 alone is sufficient for the majority of hypothyroid patients.Thyroid surgery is the first-line of treatment for papillary thyroid cancer (also known as papillary thyroid carcinoma). In most cases, you will need to take thyroid hormone replacement therapy to manage hypothyroidism after surgery.
When the thyroxine dose is in the range of 100-200 microgram/day, variable daily dosing may be necessary to achieve euthyroidism. Considering the total weekly dose is helpful when changing the dose.2 Most adults will maintain euthyroidism with a dose of thyroxine of 100-200 microgram/day. There may be a decline in thyroxine requirements in the elderly. Both brands of thyroxine currently available in Australia come from the same supplier and are identical.
Lifelong thyroxine therapy relieves symptoms and restores 'normal' thyroid function. Commencing thyroxine can aggravate cardiac disease but is relatively free of adverse effects. The concentration of thyroid stimulating hormone is used to monitor therapy.OBJECTIVE : Optimal thyroxine replacement following total thyroidectomy is critical to avoid symptoms of hypothyroidism. The aim of this study was to determine the best formula to determine the initiated replacement dose of levothyroxine immediately following total thyroidectomy.

domain: biology


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On July 31st Elvis flew to Las Vegas and the rehearsals continued for three days, including the backing-vocalists, starting on August 4th at the International Hotel’s Convention Centre. (Several songs from August 4 were featured as Bonus Tracks on the FTD ‘One Night In Vegas’)
On August 7th key rehearsals started on the showroom’s main stage with Joe Guercio and orchestra working with Elvis for the first time. Some of these, with Elvis in his red shirt, were also featured in the movie ‘That's The Way It Is’.
Now updated with YOUR COMMENTS plus reaction from FTD producer Ernst Jørgensen - See Below
Finally on August 10th, the very day of the Opening Show, there was a complete Dress Rehearsal in the Showroom before the single Dinner Show opening performance.
RCA were there to professionally record the first six concerts for the film’s soundtrack plus future album release and so tested their set-up and microphone levels by recording the majority of the dress rehearsal.
Knowing that none of this was going to be used for actual release they did not record any between-song on stage discussions and only started their multi-track recorder once Elvis had kicked off on a new song.
This means that almost every song they recorded was missing the first few bars or more of the song.
(as shown by the tape Legend below)
The cover is a basic digipack - a mini booklet would have been a nice bonus. And I am not sure why Elvis' bright RED shirt has become a purple shirt on the front cover (see right).
The FTD basic sleeve notes do however informs us that …
"The performances were all recorded on a 16-track tape machine, but almost all intros were missing.
We have reconstructed the opening of these performances using the best suitable recordings of these songs."
Two of the songs that were basically complete ‘Sweet Caroline’ and ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’’ were eventually released on the excellent 1998 ‘Elvis Aron Presley’ Silver box-set. Until now the rest of the recordings have remained unreleased except for the on the Bilko label bootleg ‘Hang Loose’ where the audio came from a pretty good cassette copy of the RCA tapes.
The new FTD ‘Stage Rehearsal’ finally releases this brilliant, RCA taped performance over 40 years after it was recorded, also adding 6 interesting Bonus Songs of other non-professionally recorded rehearsals of later years.
The REAL DELIGHT of this release is that the ever-dependable audio engineer Vic Anesini (The Complete Masters, Close Up, The Wonder Of You) has worked his audio magic in remixing and re-mastering the RCA multi-track tapes. They sound fantastic. The later Bonus Songs – sadly only of cassette quality - are also a fabulous addition to any fan’s collection.
The REAL DISSAPOINTMENT of this release is that the brief given to Vic Anesini was to repair and re-edit the 1970 rehearsals to give them a "more professional" feel.
While this includes fixing the missing intros, it has also meant fading-down Elvis’ off-beat comments or in some instances even editing out Elvis’ rehearsal comments completely! Plus the crazy idea of splicing two very enjoyable rough ‘Polk Salad Annie’ rehearsals together to create one smoother, not-so-crazy, version!
The final terrible mistake is the addition of audience applause to two songs. After all, removing the audience reaction from an on-stage performance would ruin a live recording so why add audience applause to a rehearsal release? It also destroys the required ambience.
IF these tracks were being assembled for another SONY mainstream public box-set such as ‘Close Up’ or ‘Today Tomorrow and Forever’ (perhaps they were?) then this could be forgivable and understandable.
However as a Fan Club Collectors’ release – where we pay good money to hear the real Elvis warts and all - this make no sense.
Of course this was the serious Dress Rehearsal on Vegas Opening Night so the variation in Elvis’ or the band’s performances are going to be slight. But if you want the professional "live-on-stage version" one only has to listen to the RCA live show recorded just a few hours later. ('One Night In Vegas')
Having got the hard facts out of the way, there is no doubting that the FANTASTIC sound of this dress rehearsal somewhat makes up for the let-downs and there are some real treats along the way especially with the Bonus Songs.
On previous releases, the old bootleg ‘Hang Loose’ was a muddled audio mix and of mono cassette quality. The Silver EAP box-set version of the two tracks ‘You Don't Have To Say You Love Me’ and ‘Sweet Caroline’ were also very narrow audio-mixes and somewhat strange with James Burton on the left channel and the orchestra rather absent. These new mixes and remastering by Vic Anesini really shine in comparison.
Every CD needs an introductory statement to set the scene. Whether it be a killer lead-in single or for a live concert CD the 2001 introduction and audience applause. Similarly this Rehearsal CD desperately needs the first track to explain that it is A Rehearsal. The old bootleg Hang Loose did this well choosing the loosest, roughest "Poke A Little Sock Salad Annie" as the lead in track.
Perhaps some of Elvis’ studio dialogue with the band from the RCA July 24th rehearsals could even have been used as a prelude to set-the-scene! For instance the chatting before the July 24th ‘Sweet Caroline’ tryout - where Elvis sings one line of ‘Love Me Tender’ and whistles the tune of Sweet Caroline while Ronnie Tutt sets up his drums and then Elvis chats to Glen Hardin. It is short and sweet, but in less than 1 minute we are totally aware that we are listing to "A Rehearsal".
Here FTD unfortunately do the opposite and choose a note-perfect ‘You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me’ for the first track which is almost identical to the later evening’s concert version – but minus the audience applause and interaction. While it sounds truly splendid, it just doesn’t sound like a Stage Rehearsal. It’s almost disappointing that they don’t clap at the end!
From the same session it would have been better to use ‘You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'’ #2 where Elvis at the beginning says, "Is it back there? .. Why don’t you hold the bass right here?"- which helps inform the listener, and again sets the scene, that it IS a rehearsal. Sadly these appropriate comments from the original recording have been faded down in this FTD release. At the end Elvis also commented to everyone "There you go!" It’s a nice touch.
Then again for history’s sake, since this is a Collectors label, why not present the songs in the exact order they were rehearsed as shown on the tape legend?
(Shown below, thanks to Keith Flynn - see his fabulous Recording Sessions website here)
‘I Just Can't Help Believing’ – follows and while I applaud Vic Anesini for fixing up MOST of the missing intros (the splices are hard to hear) this ‘I Just Can't Help Believing’ rehearsal is completely spoilt when the audience suddenly starts applauding as Elvis sings the intro! With the first track being almost too perfect for a rehearsal and the audience suddenly clapping on the start of the second song the reality of it being a Stage Rehearsal is totally spoilt.
However, ANY version of ‘I Just Can't Help Believing’ is delicious to hear – and the audio quality here is beautiful. However this track would have been just fine with a fade-up at the start, only 40 seconds of the intro were missed. Elvis does mess with the lyrics a little at the start singing, "this time the bird is going to stay", but after that Elvis keeps it relatively serious. Like several of these featured rehearsals, Elvis never recorded this gorgeous track in the studio so this is fabulous to hear in this pristine (no audience) quality.
It is also interesting to compare it to the different arrangement & faster tempo version recorded at the July 29 MGM rehearsal (FTD The Way It Was). This version is without the Charlie Hodge duet-vocal and Elvis delightfully sings a long with the orchestra solo. On the middle break Elvis notes, "You all come in… one of those ridiculous things" and enthuses Jerry Scheff, "Play it Jerry", these are all nice "rehearsal" touches. Elvis sings the vocal very delicately without having to play to the audience and this is a great addition to our collection.
‘Something’ – All the production disasters are at the start of this CD as the third track also starts off with audience applause! It’s just so wrong. The rehearsal recording actually starts 10 seconds in with Elvis singing "attracts me like no other Mother" – but here we don’t join the real rehearsal until the following line. Once again this was a song Elvis never recorded for release in the studio and so this multi-track recording is the best we will ever have. Without performing to the audience Elvis again sings it very delicately and slowly - and it is a beautiful version. It is a shame that RCA did not catch the start of the performance as this would have been a great album track, the band gets it right and no further takes were needed.
At the end of the real rehearsal Elvis says a nice "Alrighty, alrighty" knowing that they had got it perfect. Disappointingly FTD leaves off this cute Elvis comment from this release.
The earlier August 4th rehearsal of ‘Something’ from FTD’s ‘The Way It Was’ is also intriguing in that Elvis’ phrasing is very different from this later final arrangement but it was a pretty poor quality. Good to compare.
‘Sweet Caroline’ – RCA got this track recorded from the beginning, hence its release on the Silver box-set. At the start Elvis comments to the band "Not me!" but this has been faded down here. Another song that Elvis never recorded for release in the studio and this multi-track recording is a very fine attempt. Elvis gets the slight giggles towards the start but overall it is a very strong performance and interesting for Elvis using different phrasing from what he would do in concert. Never one of my favourite Elvis tracks but this is one of my preferred versions. A nice addition in this quality.
‘Polk Salad Annie’ – While this has an appropriately rough-rehearsal feel there has been some major editing going on here to try and clean it up for this release. The original rehearsal tape had two versions – the roughest being infamously called ‘Polk A Little Sock Salad’ on the bootleg.
Here the two rehearsal versions have been spliced together to create a fake track. As a collectors’ release it is so unnecessary since Elvis’ original jokey off-the-cuff statements were neither defamatory nor rude.
Here Vic Anesini has tried to remove Elvis’ rather whacky comments like "Made the alligators turn queen" and "Spiteful, overweight old woman" @1.40 by fading out Elvis’ microphone track. However this not only reduces the "rehearsal" feeling but in any case you can still hear Elvis’ comments and laughter pretty clearly since they bleeding through the other microphones in the background!
The positives about this version are the great powerful driving sound and the fact that Elvis is having fun and really laughing along the way including crazy new lines like @3.05 "Cos her Daddy didn’t have no brain".
The #2 rehearsal from the original tape ended with some powerful Elvis chanting with the band on the final playout along with him stating at the end, "Damn right cousin!" but again that has been shamefully missed from this FTD.
From here on in however things do improve …
‘You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' (Vs.1) – A superb version with a fabulous mix and Elvis imparting pure emotion as only he could - listen out for his delicious "uuumm" @3.00. The rehearsal feel is not missed this time as he comments "Get me some lights" in the middle of the song. A very, very fine version.
‘I've Lost You’ – A delightful version but one that takes Elvis a while to warm up to. You can hear some slight background chatter from Elvis’ friends and Elvis giggles at moments, creating audio-feedback as he leans towards the speakers. Elvis was a little under-rehearsed for this trickily paced song (he still messed it up in the Opening Night’s show - see ‘One Night In Vegas’) and here he is unsure of the lyrics and pacing.
Another rehearsal was attempted (see below) but Elvis wasn’t concentrating, laughs throughout and it stops after just 2 minutes. This time FTD were right to leave out the second attempt.
‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ – Sadly over 2 minutes was missed from the start of this rehearsal recording but luckily the intro edit from the Opening Night works very well here.
However a comment from Elvis, "What you gonna do?" @2.50 has again been faded out to the background. Elvis sings the song very carefully in this rehearsal with less power than he would use on stage, almost sliding through the lyrics. It is a great rehearsal for everyone on stage and as Elvis notes at the end, "Damn right, son!"
‘Patch It Up’ – Only a few seconds was missed from the start here and this version ROCKS! The audio is great to crank up loud and the vocal mix with the Sweet Inspirations is just right. James Burton’s chicken-pickin’ guitar is excellent and the orchestra brass section gets a good work-out on this dress-rehearsal. Elvis is obviously in the mood and it is a cracker version although there was obviously no audience to play to.
‘Can't Help Falling In Love’ – It is interesting to hear the edit here which actually works pretty well. Elvis starts out sounding end-of-the-show tired (since the start is taken from the Opening Night) but recovers as the rehearsal edit kicks in, "Like a river flows" onwards. Since Elvis ended every show with this song it is fascinating that he even decided to rehearse it. The power ending without the usual crowd applause is cute.
‘You Don't Have To Say You Love Me’ Vs.2 – Another version, but this time Elvis plays with the words at the start, "and now you’ve hit the hay"! The band and orchestra are tight while Elvis takes them through their paces. Very short & sweet Elvis ends this time joking, "Damn right, cousin".
‘You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'’ Vs.2 – Again some of Elvis’ spontaneous comments have been faded down in an unnecessary attempt to make the performance more stage-worthy, even though they still bleed through in the background! Elvis says, "is it back there?" @00.20 and to Jerry Scheff, "why don’t you hold the bass right here?" @00.38 both of which have been removed which is a shame as they do impart that rehearsal feel. Otherwise Elvis puts his soul into another very strong vocal and his voice is well-balanced against the Sweets call & response. For that and the clarity of the mix it is a lovely version – listen out for Elvis’ fabulous intake of breath @3.40!
The six 1972 and 1973 bonus songs that end this CD are of a completely different calibre. This time unfortunately they were only recorded on a low-fidelity cassette recorder - BUT they really are rehearsals in the true sense. Two songs have never been officially released before, while others like 1972 tryouts of ‘Any Day Now’ and ‘True Love Travels On A Gravel Road’ are a revelation. These are a delight to have, albeit in pretty poor audio that might disappoint a few fans.
‘Any Day Now’ Aug. 2 1972 – Part of this Vegas Showroom rehearsal has been out on bootleg before but not in this improved audio quality (even if it is still off low-quality cassette). It is unbelievable that Elvis was rehearsing this great 1969 Memphis song for his 1972 shows, especially as he didn’t rehearse it for his 1969 or 1970 shows. This is a true Gem! Although previous on bootleg in poor quality, this extended unreleased rehearsal is quite spectacular! Elvis tells the band "A little too fast" towards the start while the final-section has Elvis enjoying a previously unheard second run-through, working out the "don’t fly away my beautiful bird" ending. If only this had been recorded in multi-track! A great addition to our collections.
‘True Love Travels On A Gravel Road’ Aug. 3 1972 – "Charlie get back over here, they are doing everything right. You stay over here, you tree-trunk looking bastard!" Elvis jokes at the start. Another 1969 track that Elvis had never sung live and here it has a wonderful soulful feel. Elvis even makes a "Dear Georgie" crack! Again a stage rehearsal with full orchestra, one wonders how much more might be on this 1972 tape. This version is taken nice and slowly with Elvis’ vocal working perfectly with the J.D. Sumner & the Stamps backing-vocals. Elvis puts an amazing emphasis on the line "and hearts are in danger" @03.40. A truly fascinating 5 minutes albeit in low-fi quality. What a shame these two American Studio songs never made Elvis’ set-list as they would have been a worthy update.
‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ Aug. 3 1972 - Only a few lines that last just 30 seconds. Elvis apparently sang this song once in 1972 on April 19 1972 in Albuquerque and listening to this mini August run-through with JD Sumner is fascinating as, in the end, Elvis would not use it in concert until a year later. While Elvis sang this a couple of times live since releasing it in 1971 it wouldn’t be until the Las Vegas 1973 Summer Season that Elvis then featured this song in almost every performance.
‘Fever’ Aug. 3 1972 - While most fans know Elvis’ classic live version of ‘Fever’ from the Aloha concerts it is somewhat surprising to learn that Elvis performed this delicious ‘Elvis Is Back’ song over forty times in 1972! Even more surprising is that only one live 1972 version has ever been officially released so far, on FTD’s ‘Summer Festival’.
Elvis added this song to his set-list for the 1972 Vegas August season, so while hearing the rehearsal here is perhaps nothing new, this is an insight into Elvis adding this "brand new" song to his stage show! The tape is unfortunately missing the first part as it starts at the third verse "Romeo loved Juliet" but it is obvious that Elvis is having some fun running this through oldie and that it would be great addition to the shows. Elvis would perform it live for the first time (since 1961) two nights later August 5, 1972 Opening Night.
‘Portrait Of My Love’ Aug. 3 1972 – This starts with a delightfully impromptu "Gentleman & ladies, I have to go and so I bid you an affectionate…" followed by Glen D Hardin joining in on some clever blues riff getting Elvis to sing along. It is a classic moment that leads into the delightfully spontaneous jam on ‘Portrait Of My Love’ sounding much better than the previous bootlegged versions. Elvis would have probably been familiar with the version by Steve Lawrence who took the single into the US top ten in 1961 and who also performed on the Steve Allen TV show.
Great to have this finally released officially, this is one song that will be new to most Elvis fans, as is the final song on this album.
‘I'm Leavin' It All Up To You’ Jan. 25 1973 – A US number one smash for ‘Dale and Grace’ back in late 1963. Elvis included the song twice in his February 1972 Vegas shows but unfortunately before RCA managed to set-up their recording equipment for the possible ‘Standing Room Only’ live album. Here, nearly a year later, Elvis tries it out in rehearsal and it’s another spontaneous Elvis moment, luckily captured in pretty good sound – the best quality bonus track here. The tape fades as Elvis suggests a try out of ‘Faded Love’. A very fine ending to this collection.
|NOTE: I need to note that I was the first reviewer to spot what fantastic work audio engineer Vic Anesini could bring to Elvis’ musical legacy (‘Close Up’ and onwards) and have highly praised every release he has been involved with so far. He even managed to remix a somewhat tired Elvis performance of August 13th 1970 (the final TTWII concert) into a marvelous FTD release ‘The Wonder Of You’. It is therefore with somewhat a heavy heart that I have to state that his meticulous work here has watered-down the spontaneity of the Elvis "rehearsal" experience, which is surely not the point of a CD called "Stage Rehearsal"?
Overall Verdict: This big surprise here is that the FTD Collectors’ label could mess around with and ultimately spoil what longtime collectors have always known as a fascinating 1970 Stage Rehearsal. On a big positive, the multi-track audio quality is magnificent, the majority of the fixed song introductions work and you can certainly enjoy loud on a great Hi-Fi set up. However a large part of the "Rehearsal" feel has been removed – as well as the bad error of judgement adding obvious audience applause to two tracks. The second surprise however is what a joy the low-fi Bonus songs bring to this rehearsal compilation. While any new multi-track recordings of Elvis are brilliant to have I would only recommend this one to collectors with a few reservations.
CLICK HERE and have YOUR SAY - Do you think EIN has been to harsh with this review? What do you think of this new rehearsal show?
SUGGESTED FIX – To create a more enjoyable rehearsal experience from this CD.
Firstly fade out the added audience applause at the start of ‘I Just Can't Help Believing’ and ‘Something’ – it is easy to do with most CD software.
Secondly place a looser more "rehearsal’ sounding track at the start to set the scene for instance ‘You Don't Have To Say You Love Me’ Version 2.
This time there is no doubt that collectors will not be throwing away their bootleg warts-and-all ‘Hang Loose’ version of the same night despite the audio remastering.
Review by Piers Beagley.
-Copyright EIN August 2011
EIN Website content © Copyright the Elvis Information Network.
He said he knows there's a group of people who want everything start to finish, without cuts or changes. In fact, he said, "I understand; I sympathize with that."
But he said they try to make each disc an enjoyable listening experience, and they viewed the missing openings as a "problem." The careful matching of the live versions was the solution they found, and, he said, the leftover audience applause was an unfortunate side effect but could not be mixed out.
My follow-up question was going to be whether, in hindsight, he would do it the same way again. But his final remark that "It’s totally acceptable for us if people criticize us for it, but that doesn’t mean we agree with all the criticism" seemed answer enough.
Gems such as any day now, true love travels, portrait of my love, leaving it all up to you, twelfth of never are appreciated now. If only they would have been appreciated then an elvis would have left the oldies on fans turntables at home. He needed to. Grow as an entertainer an artist. Should have dumped the colonel parker September 3rd 73 hired a guy like Steve Binder to repair his career as an actor an entertainer. If only.....hearing this cd reminds us of how fantastic Elvis was!!! I miss him.
There are flaws included on this cd but overall this cd does not disappoint.
Buy it and enjoy the treats! A satisfied fan.
What is going on with FTD? Their publicity made this rehearsal release sound like a such great update of the old poor souding bootleg Hang Loose. Having played it I am so dissapointed. The added crowd clapping totally messes up the feeling of a elvis and band rehearsal. This could have been FTD's best release of the year as it was such a great list of songs he rehearsed and the Bonus tracks sure are good. What a mess it turned out to be. Thanks for the edit idea to correct it, I will try it wehn I have time.


text: I look forward through the unknown, to seek out who I may be. Other then just being a girlfriend, a sister, a daughter or a woman. 25 years have passed and I feel like I stand in one place. All I see are the same footprints of my size 8 shoes. Behind me I see the people who and support and love me and as I look on not knowing what the future may bring I hold my hand to my chest and let my heart guid me in the right direction.


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Andrea and I have been a lot together already in Cancun, we went to Xplor, Xenses and now we even visited Tulum. Tulum is an ancient Mayan city, build aroun the year 1200 (however the earliest enscription is from around 500 AD. There are many tour operators that offer a guided tour, with a pick up from your hotel. Visiting this ancient Mayan site is well worth it.
Located in the south of Riviera Maya, Tulum is a very pretty place. You can clearly notice that you are in the middle of the Jungle. Luckily we had our tour guide helping us find the way. We entered Tulum at one of the side entrances and the stretching field of old royal temples was amazing. The ancient city is located very close to the beach as well.
Tulum (Mayan for wall or trench) actual name might have been Zama, which means city of Dawn. During our time there it was quite busy with a lot of tourist. I think it is still not back on the old level though. We could make some good pictures.
One big mistake we made was to leave the area earlier (you can’t come back). To visit a nearby beach. The beach was beautiful however we wished we stayed longer in Tulum.
One thing we also noticed was that due to tourism, buying stuff is way more expensive than in other places. Sometimes you will pay 3 to 4 times more than usual. So be careful here. Also don’t go on pictures with people holding animals (monkeys, snakes, lizards). By paying those persons money, you are keeping this animal abuse intact.
Other than that, we had a very fun day, I am really glad I saw an ancient Mayan city. Hope you like this blog! Please leave a comment. Thanks!

domain: geography


Super reforms now law! Impact of the changes on Government and NFP employers
With the Federal Government having secured the passage of its superannuation reform package it is time for employers to consider what this will mean in practice.
This session will address the following items:
- So, what ended up getting legislated?
- Of the changes, what will impact me on a day to basis?
- 10% rule abolished! How will this affect salary sacrificing?
- Q & A - what queries am I likely to receive from my employees?
CPD Points: 1.5 hours
Senior Tax Trainer/SMSF Specialist Advisor


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Rep. Barbara Lee: Returning the HIV Spotlight to the Bay Area
This podcast was produced and published by CSIS.
In this episode, Andrew Schwartz interviews Congresswoman Barbara Lee. She represents California’s 13th district, which includes the city of Oakland, and is the co-founder and co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus. Rep. Lee tells Andrew how critically important it is that the International AIDS Conference is returning to the Bay Area after 30 years.

domain: politics


Matt Prater, Broncos kicker, gets special-teams award despite throwing world's worst pass
Bronco Talk's Jon Heath on Matt Prater being named AFC special teams player of the week after a game in which his pass during a fake field goal went hilariously awry.
Coyote Gulch: Greeley has enough water to get through the winter.
Denver Egotist on this weekend's Bordo Bello skatedeck art show. Rollin', rollin', rollin'.


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It’s nearing the holidays, and while I’m excited I find myself thinking constantly of other events in the near future.
The start of the Chinese laundry in addition to cloak and dagger’s manhattan dinner are preoccupying most of my time, but I’m also thinking to September and my long term trip to Vietnam and Southeast Asia. I can’t begin to explain just how elated and relieved I am to know where I’ll be next fall. From here, it seems like a while away, but as I’ve realized quite recently, time flies when you’re looking forward to something. I miss the heat, the routine, and the familial aspects that I experienced last May, and thus I think I’ve acquired that feeling of wanderlust.
I can’t help but wonder where I’ll head after my stint in Vietnam– there’s a part of me that would love to go to Spain and Scandinavia, to experience in short what they have to offer. Also, I suppose anything to prolong my return to the States is a beneficial thing too. Hopefully, between now and September, I can get away one more time, only to appease the consuming feeling of wanderlust that I’ve been plagued with since my journey to Korea 3 years ago.


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Stay at a central hotel in Copenhagen
Are you coming to Copenhagen and looking for a good and central hotel in Copenhagen? Choose Arp-Hansen’s 71 Nyhavn Hotel for an experience beyond the ordinary. Read more about the hotel on this page and book directly in the online calendar.
Enjoy a taste of Copenhagen’s history at 71 Nyhavn Hotel
71 Nyhavn Hotel is one of Copenhagen’s most traditional hotels. The hotel is located in Nyhavn – Copenhagen’s old harbour. Today, Nyhavn is a place where both Copenhageners and tourists gather to enjoy the sunshine, drink a draught beer or eat an ice cream, but in the early 1800s Nyhavn served as an important part of Copenhagen’s harbour, where ships docked from the Far East and around the world. 71 Nyhavn Hotel is located in two of Nyhavn’s original warehouse buildings that date back to the early 1800s.
Back then, the warehouses were used to store spices imported from Indochina, but today the warehouses form the setting for one of Copenhagen’s most atmospheric hotels. The hotel has been continuously restored with respect for the history of the buildings, and the original beams of Pomeranian pine are still a prominent feature throughout the hotel’s design. No two of the hotel’s rooms are alike, but they are all decorated in a maritime style with respect for the hotel’s location and history. However, the hotel also offers modern facilities such as flat-screen TV and free wireless Internet.
Choosing to stay at 71 Nyhavn Hotel in Copenhagen provides you with a of taste of Copenhagen’s history as a harbour town, while the hotel’s prime location gives you the best possible base for exploring modern and dynamic Copenhagen.
Explore the area around Nyhavn
If you visit Copenhagen during the summer, Nyhavn is a classic place to visit for both locals and tourists. Copenhageners gather in Nyhavn at one of the many restaurants, or if there are no spaces left, they sit directly on the quay, and just enjoy a spot in the sun. From here, it is not far to many of the city’s plentiful shopping opportunities – Magasin department store is just a 5-minute walk from Nyhavn, and Strøget, the pedestrian shopping street with its many cosy side streets, also starts here.
If you are more into culture than shopping, you can find several of the city’s major museums in the area, including the National Museum of Art, which has a large collection of modern art. Book your stay at 71 Nyhavn Hotel on this page and look forward to exploring Denmark’s beautiful capital.


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A Local's View of Osoyoos: Annina Hoffmeister, Owner of doLci Deli & Catering Company
For 25 years, pastries, cakes and sweets have been my life. I grew up in a small ski resort village in the Swiss Alps and when I was a young girl, I was mesmerized by the beautiful cake and dessert displays in the window of the local bakery. Little did I know that this image […]
For 25 years, pastries, cakes and sweets have been my life. I grew up in a small ski resort village in the Swiss Alps and when I was a young girl, I was mesmerized by the beautiful cake and dessert displays in the window of the local bakery. Little did I know that this image would influence the rest of my life.
After receiving a diploma in Baking and Pastry Arts from the Swiss National Konditorei School, I perfected my craft in Switzerland before moving to the South Okanagan with my late husband, Jörg in 1997. Canada’s wide open spaces, rich wilderness and a sense of opportunity lured us across the Atlantic and for the past 16 years, while I’ve lived on a farm about 36km east of Osoyoos.
Motto: Live the sweet life
Surrounded by rocky, semi-arid mountains and dry grasslands, the town of Osoyoos sits on the shore of stunning Osoyoos Lake. With sandy beaches dotting its shoreline, warm Osoyoos Lake is perfect for swimming, boating, jet skiing and water sports. Throughout the valley, orchards soak in the hot sun and fruit stands display colourful peaches, apples, nectarines, cherries, plums, apricots, cherries, pears and more. The vineyards blanket the hillsides between Osoyoos and Oliver like a rich tapestry – it is spectacular. The Black Sage Bench and the Golden Mile, along with some of Canada’s best wineries are here in this sun drenched valley.
As experienced pastry chefs, cake artisans and chocolatiers, Jörg and I opened doLci Deli & Catering Company here in Osoyoos in 2005. At the café, we serve homemade pastries, organic, fair trade coffee and tea, delicious breakfasts, soups from scratch and sandwiches made with our house-smoked meat. Surrounded by grapevines and rustling trees, the patio has become a quiet sanctuary. Visitors come here to enjoy lunch with a glass of local wine or start their day with a steaming latte and a banana Nutella crepe or a house-smoked bacon and egg ciabatta.
At doLci Deli we’re known for our home-cured, house-smoked meats, including our Osoyoos apple wood smoked bacon, prosciutto, house-rubbed pulled pork, smoked beef and bundnerfleisch (which is lean beef cured like prosciutto). For the perfect picnic, you can choose from an extensive selection of cheeses, meats and mouthwatering baked goodies. Dine in and try the Reuben (house-smoked beef, Emmental Swiss cheese and sauerkraut) or the Club Panini (smoked bacon and turkey), which are some of our most popular sandwiches.
Behind the scenes at the café, we are often busy catering anniversaries, weddings, winery openings and many other memorable events in the local community. We always use fresh, seasonal, local produce and strive for impeccable presentation. We take real pride in our hors d’oeuvres and sensational desserts making sure they look as good as they taste.
In the evening after work, I love riding home on my motorcycle, winding my way up the mountain, taking in the bird’s eye view of Osoyoos and the sparkling lake. It is the best ride ever. I also enjoy cruising through the vineyards along the quiet, country roads between Osoyoos and Oliver. The scenery here is magnificent. While summer in the Okanagan is amazing, I find that spring and autumn in Osoyoos are blissfully peaceful.
Osoyoos is home to some of the kindest, most amazing people I have ever met. It seems like everyone knows everyone. While sometimes that can be overwhelming, it is also a blessing. If you need people’s support, the locals really come together. From a business perspective, we couldn’t have chosen a better place to open doLci.
In many ways, the eye-catching displays I saw as a girl in the window of my hometown’s bakery influenced my path in life. Becoming a pastry and cake chef lead me to meeting the man I married and our shared passion for the culinary and baking arts brought us to Osoyoos to open doLci Deli. I love making people happy by serving them incredible food and this unwavering passion continues to inspire and motivate me. I see myself pleasing palates in the South Okanagan for many years to come.


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Posted on September 10th, 2020
Over the next several months, the National Empowerment Center will be offering several webinars on approaches to youth leadership in peer-run organizations.
Our first webinar in the series is scheduled for Wednesday, September 30th, at 4:30pm Eastern.
Wednesday, September 30th, 2020
4:00 – 6:30 pm ET
Revolutionizing Young Adult Peer Support: Empowerment, Advocacy, & Leadership
This presentation will discuss the components of Young Adult Peer Support as they currently exist and efforts to revolutionize the work. Topics that will be discussed include understanding how to connect to young adults as a social class, how to promote and foster leadership among young adults, and how to properly advocate with youth and young adults.
Shayn McDonald, Young Adult Advocacy Coordinator, Kiva Centers
Shayn is a Certified Peer Specialist who has been a part of the Zia Young Adult Access Center team since August of 2018. Their passion lies in expanding awareness around the diversity of human experiences and believes that every person is deserving of community and self-determined support. Their lived experience within the mental health system motivates them to continue supporting people actively going through it. They are an advocate for young adult and queer communities, and actively seek to highlight and address the impact of trauma and systemic oppression with the intention of creating greater change. Shayn has given presentations at high schools, colleges, provider agencies, and conferences in multiple states.
Vesper Moore, Senior Director of Organizational Equity and Young Adult Supports, Kiva Centers
Vesper Moore, the Senior Director of Organizational Equity and Young Adult Supports, has been integral in creating a community grounded in the idea that young adults are a social class of people. Vesper is an activist, trainer, and writer. They have been a part of the Kiva Centers for several years. Vesper has been the recipient of many awards in relation to social justice and diversity and has been the keynote speaker at several international conferences. Vesper as an instructor has taught at various universities, organizations and community spaces in Massachusetts. They have been at the forefront of legislative reform in regard to shifting the societal paradigm from “mental health” to natural human experience. Vesper as a survivor concentrates on building social movements and public knowledge to create system and policy change. Vesper enjoys late 80s and early 90s goth fashion, music, and film.
Moderator: Shira Collings
Youth Coordinator, National Empowerment Center

domain: sociology


Editor's note: Jim Stafford will file daily reports about Oklahoma's presence at the four-day BIO International convention this week in Boston.
BOSTON — Bryan Fuller described the opportunities that greeted him at the 2012 BIO International Convention here this week as “huge” Monday morning before beginning a series of partnering meetings that carried deep into the afternoon.
“This place, the meetings that we have scheduled could be a real boon to us in terms of revenue coming in to grow the company,” said Fuller, founder and CEO of Oklahoma City-based DermaMedics.
A former University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center scientist, Fuller founded DermaMedics after discovering a compound in his laboratory that provided protection to the skin from radiation and laser burns, rashes and other skin conditions.
DermaMedics now markets a full line of skin care products exclusively through medical professionals such as doctor's offices and clinics in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Arizona and Colorado. The company employs 14 people, half of them in sales.
The 20 partnering meetings Fuller lined up over a three-day period bring potential partners to expand DermaMedics sales to Canada, Asia, Europe and even into the pet-care industry.
“The biggest challenge for a startup is marketing,” Fuller said. “If you are a company that is going to build products and sell them yourself, that's a huge marketing challenge and that's where you need this type of interaction.”
80 members in group
In fact, Fuller was reluctant to join the Oklahoma contingent at the BIO show when first approached about the possibility.
“I'm so busy; I'm really the only management in the company right now,” he said.
Continue reading this story on the...
MORE FROM NEWSOK
By the numbers
2012 BIO International Convention
3 Areas within the Oklahoma exhibition space devoted to partnering meetings
4 No. of days the BIO 2012 exhibition hall at the Boston Convention Center will be open
55 No. of partnering sessions on agenda in Oklahoma booth during four days of show
86 No. of people in Oklahoma delegation.
809 Oklahoma booth number on the floor of the Boston Convention Center
2,000 Size in square feet of Oklahoma booth.
15,000+ No. of people expected to attend the convention


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LAKE FOREST, ILL. (Aug. 31, 2:05 p.m. ET) — Pharmaceutical and medical device company Hospira Inc. has received a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration because the audible alarms on some of the infusion pumps made at its plant in La Aurora de Heredia, Costa Rica, are still experiencing problems despite manufacturing changes made to the pumps after their initial recall 18 months ago.
The warning letter — received Aug. 22 and acknowledged in an Aug. 28 filing that the Lake Forest, Ill., company made with the Securities and Exchange Commission — said that the infusion pumps and intravascular administrative sets made at the plant do not conform with the agency's current “good manufacturing practice requirements.”
Some of the violations cited by the FDA were:
• Failure to take the necessary steps to prevent that audible alarm problem for recurring,
• Failure to identify the actions needed to correct and prevent recurrence of nonconforming product and other quality problems,
• Failure to implement and record changes in methods and procedures needed to correct and prevent identified quality problems,
• Failure to establish adequate procedures for acceptance of incoming products,
• Failure to keep adequate records of the devices it makes,
• Failure to evaluate suppliers, contractors, and consultants on the basis of their ability to meet specified requirements,
• Failure to maintain device record histories.
The Costa Rica plant in question makes infusion pumps and intravascular administrative sets sold under the names Symbiq, Plum, Gemstar, and Lifecare PCA. The warning letter does not restrict any production or shipping from the plant.
The warning letter came after FDA felt Hospira had not properly addressed issues that the FDA brought to the company's attention after a four-day inspection of the plant in mid-April.
Hospira has 15 business days from the receipt of the letter—-or until Sept. 13—to apprise FDA, in writing, of the specific steps it has taken to correct the noted violations and to explain how it plans to prevent these violations, or similar violations, from occurring again.
“The company takes this matter seriously and intends to respond fully, and in a timely manner, to the FDA's warning letter,” said Hospira in its SEC filing.
The focal point of the FDA investigation is a Plum-branded infusion pump made at the plant that was subject to a product recall in February 2011 because of problems with the audio alarm.
“The original piezo alarm ... was redesigned with new specifications to correct defective components on the piezoelectric assembly and provided a new part number effective November 11, 2011,” said the letter. “[But] in March of 2012, your firm received multiple complaints of no audible alarms on Plum devices after the supplier corrective action was initiated.”
“The corrective action was to implement changes to the printed circuit board and piezo alarm and have the supplier ... perform Highly Accelerated Stress Surveillance (HASS) testing,” said the FDA letter. “Since implementation of the corrective actions, 50 lots of the redesigned piezo alarm were received by your firm. However, there was no documented inspection or testing of this critical component. Additionally, Hospira did not have any records of HASS testing results.”
In addition, the FDA letter noted that Hospira further initiated a separate recall last September on Plum-branded infusion pumps “to correct an unrestricted free-flow condition.”
“An investigation was conducted and corrective actions were implemented by Hospira to ensure that proper installation of the regulator closure (source of the failure) was completed during manufacturing,” said the FDA letter. “During review of the regulator closure installation [during the FDA inspection in April], the investigator noted an obsolete instruction in ... mechanism assembly i nstructions ... to insert the regulator closer with a flat-head screw driver [when] the correct action ... calls for the regulator closer to be installed using a force gauge with an applied force of 20-25 pounds.”
In addition, those instructions, said the FDA, call for “a visual inspection after installation of the regulator closure.
“During the observation of the regulator closure installation, the investigator noted that the visual inspection did not occur,” said the warning letter. “Your firm did not provide documented evidence that the visual inspection is being performed in the manufacturing process.”


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On this episode of Global National: The man tasked with leading Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout has stepped down. Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin was suddenly removed from his role on Friday, pending the results of a military police investigation into sexual misconduct. As Abigail Bimman reports, Fortin is the latest high profile military member to be accused.
The push to get COVID-19 vaccines in arms ramped up across the Greater Toronto Area on Saturday with clinics taking place at the Toronto Zoo, The Aga Khan Museum, and even overnight in Mississauga, Ont. As Katherine Ward reports, some medical experts say the percentage of people vaccinated is not the only metric to be considered when it comes to reopening the economy.
In the U.S., new COVID-19 guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that allows fully vaccinated Americans to go maskless while indoors has sparked a sea of confusion. As Jennifer Johnson reports, not everyone’s ready to trust the honour system.
Plus, Israel struck the Gaza Strip with yet more airstrikes, destroying a building that housed The Associated Press and other international media outlets. Crystal Goomansingh reports on the mounting pressure on the international community to help find a peaceful solution.
And as nurses continue to play a pivotal role in Canada’s fight against COVID-19, staff shortages have forced many nurses to work even longer, stressful hours. Ross Lord looks at the efforts underway to entice more people to stay in the demanding profession.
For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca
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