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We now have Obama and Cameron bellicosely threatening serious repercussions for the Syrian government if it was found to be responsible for the chemical attack against civilians. Strangely they have not expressed any such similar threats against the Syrian rebel force if they were found to be the culprits. In May Turkish media reported the arrest of Syrian “rebels” in possession of sarin nerve gas. Also in May, UN official Carla Del Ponte reported that there was “strong, concrete” evidence that sarin had been used by the US/UK backed rebels. Al Qaeda In Iraq, allies of Al Nusra boasted of possessing chemical weapons and being prepared to use them and have indeed used them.
The evidence so far for the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government is second-hand and comes from a biased source.
Why would Assad invite United Nations chemical weapons inspectors to Syria, then launch a chemical weapons attack against women and children on the very day they arrive, just miles from where they are staying?
Why would Assad use them against women and children against with nothing to gain instead of against the Syrian Free Army troops?
On Aug. 19, in Ghouta, more than 50 local opposition fighters laid down their arms and switched sides. A few prominent local leaders widely associated with the opposition went on Syrian TV. They denounced the jihadists and their crimes against the local population, and stressed that the Assad administration was the real guardian of the people and their interests. The last thing the Assad would do is commit atrocities against the Ghouta area and the local population which had just changed sides so dramatically. At Khan al Assal the scene of another chemical attack rebels attacked and executed 120 villagers and soldiers there - the motive being possibly to destroy evidence and witnesses and hinder the UN inspection .
Syria’s allies Russia and Iran have expressed their doubts about the governments culpability.
Paula Vanninen, director of Verifin, the Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention. “At the moment, I am not totally convinced because the people that are helping them are without any protective clothing and without any respirators. In a real case, they would also be contaminated and would also be having symptoms.”
Steve Johnson, a leading researcher on the effects of hazardous material exposure at England’s Cranfield University who has worked with Britain’s Ministry of Defense on chemical warfare issues, agrees that “from the details we have seen so far, a large number of casualties over a wide area would mean quite a pervasive dispersal. With that level of chemical agent, you would expect to see a lot of contamination on the casualties coming in, and it would affect those treating them who are not properly protected. We are not seeing that here.” He also said “There are, within some of the videos, examples which seem a little hyper-real, and almost as if they’ve been set up. Which is not to say that they are fake but it does cause some concern. Some of the people with foaming, the foam seems to be too white, too pure, and not consistent with the sort of internal injury you might expect to see, which you’d expect to be bloodier or yellower.”
Gwyn Winfield, editor of CBRNe World magazine, which specialises in chemical weapons issues, said the evidence did not suggest that the chemicals used were of the weapons-grade that the Syrian army possesses in its stockpiles. “We’re not seeing reports that doctors and nurses… are becoming fatalities, so that would suggest that the toxicity of it isn’t what we would consider military sarin. It may well be that it is a lower-grade.”
Dan Kaszeta, a former officer of the U.S. Army’s Chemical Corps and a leading private consultant, pointed out a number of details absent from the footage so far: “None of the people treating the casualties or photographing them are wearing any sort of chemical-warfare protective gear and despite that, none of them seem to be harmed.” This would seem to rule out most types of military-grade chemical weapons, including the vast majority of nerve gases, since these substances would not evaporate immediately, especially if they were used in sufficient quantities to kill hundreds of people, but rather leave a level of contamination on clothes and bodies which would harm anyone coming in unprotected contact with them in the hours after an attack. In addition, he says that “there are none of the other signs you would expect to see in the aftermath of a chemical attack, such as intermediate levels of casualties, severe visual problems, vomiting and loss of bowel control.”
John Hart, head of the Chemical and Biological Security Project at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said he had not seen the telltale evidence in the eyes of the victims that would be compelling evidence of chemical weapons use. “Of the videos that I’ve seen for the last few hours, none of them show pinpoint pupils… this would indicate exposure to organophosphorus nerve agents.”
Chemical and biological weapons researcher Jean Pascal Zanders said that the footage appears to show victims of asphyxiation, which is not consistent with the use of mustard gas or the nerve agents VX or sarin: “I’m deliberately not using the term chemical weapons here,” he said, adding that the use of “industrial toxicants” was a more likely explanation.
“MSF [Médecins Sans Frontières Doctors Without Borders]can neither scientifically confirm the cause of these symptoms nor establish who is responsible for the attack,” said Dr. Janssens. “However, the reported symptoms of the patients, in addition to the epidemiological pattern of the events—characterized by the massive influx of patients in a short period of time, the origin of the patients, and the contamination of medical and first aid workers—strongly indicate mass exposure to a neurotoxic agent.
So my amateur conclusion is that it was elements within the SFA who deployed home-made chemical weapons to discredit Assad and justify US/UK intervention. Hague required little convincing to apportion blame without waiting for any evidence. The press and media have performed their role admirably of not raising questions and uncritically accepting and relaying US/UK propaganda while challenging Syrian government explanations.


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Bait and switch
According to The Dallas Morning News and its City Hall reporting staff, the news on the Trinity River project over the last three months has been quite exciting. The city, according to the News, has decided to build an even bigger and better lake downtown than previously anticipated. The toll road project along the river has been expanded. Best of all, Dallas may have an opportunity soon to build all new bridges over the river downtown.
What the News never quite says in these reports--a form of coded signals to the cognoscenti--is that 1) the dream of a lavish recreational facility downtown may already be dead, and, simultaneously, 2) the project's overall cost to the city may be escalating by the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Environmentalists and critics of the program say the Morning News' reporting on the project is an attempt to spin the following realities:
The huge $1.2 billion project to rebuild the Trinity River flood plain through downtown and southern Dallas is basically pulling apart at the seams--a disintegration that begins deep in the "design" of this enormous project. The problem, they say, is that the vision of a flood-control project with parks and amenities downtown directly conflicts with the thing the downtown power-brokers really want--a new highway to skirt downtown.
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The promised 33-acre lake downtown--a centerpiece of the public-relations campaign leading up to last May's bond vote--was scrapped last month amid pronouncements that a tiny lake just wouldn't be good enough for Dallas. Mayor Ron Kirk said he thought it was worth waiting and spending more money--$70 million instead of the $12 million voters approved last May--in order to give Dallas a really first-class lake.
But the critics say the lake was scrapped because the city is beginning to realize there is no room at all for a true "lake" in the scheme. No lake at all.
The reason for that, they say, is that the toll road project is going to make flooding much worse along the river corridor. The only way the city and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be able to correct that problem will be to turn the river bottom into a big, broad, straight-running tree-less ditch.
"When they talk about building a bigger and better lake or lakes," said Ned Fritz of the Texas Committee on Natural Resources, "they're really talking about building what I have called 'conveyance basins.'"
English translation: "Conveyance basins" would be broad ditches designed to lower the water level, to make up for the amount the water will be raised when they build a new freeway standing in the river channel.
And what would be wrong with "conveyance basins" for lakes? Couldn't you swim and fish in a conveyance basin?
"They will have to keep them very shallow, in order to move floodwater through them," Fritz said.
To show what shallow conveyance basins will wind up looking like, Joanne Hill, a well-known recycling authority and member of Friends of the Trinity River, points to the area near the Corinth Street bridge, which she calls "Big Silt Island."
"They just cleared that part of the channel a year ago, and it's already got this huge island of silt in it with trees already growing in the silt, all of which will have to be cleared out at some point at enormous cost."
Another huge change in the picture--presented a month ago by the Morning News as if it were a minor wrinkle--is in the amount of money Dallas taxpayers will have to come up with to pay for the new toll road around downtown Dallas. When voters approved the $246 million Trinity bond program last May, they had been told that $84 million of the bond money would pay for the city's share of the toll road.
But a recent report by the North Texas Tollway Authority revealed that the city might have to come up with an additional $250 million--more than the entire Trinity River bond package, which was the largest bond package of its type in the history of the city.
The city might have to come up with that kind of money because the aesthetically pleasing causeway/boulevard sold to voters before the May election is a financial loser. No one would use it because it would be too slow and wouldn't go where people want to go. Basically, the tollway authority was telling the city someone would have to pay up front to compensate for the money the authority won't make in tolls.
If the tollway is going to cost someone an additional $250 million because no one wants to use it, that will represent an increase of more than 60 percent in the cost of the entire road project, originally slated at $394 million.
Another solution, of course, would be to allow the Tollway Authority to build a different kind of road--a great big, roaring, multi-lane, limited-access, traditional freeway right down both sides of the river with cars and trucks and everything else. That way, the authority's study said, the city might only have to come up with an additional $160 million.
The Dallas City Council--public-policy academy that it is--has responded so far by saying it hopes the state Department of Transportation will pick up the extra cost of the toll road. Then the council said it wanted to have a very serious debate on what kinds of billboards that would be allowed along the new freeway.
Charles Tucker, director of transportation planning and development for the Dallas district of the Transportation Department, says the agency may share some of the cost of the project. He says the amount hasn't been determined yet: "TxDOT is the final rung of the ladder. After the North Texas Tollway Authority and the city have put in their share, then TxDOT will pick up whatever we can."
Tucker says the state agency has to get a certain amount of bang for its buck in order to put money into a project. It can't spend tax dollars for roads if the roads don't relieve congestion. Both he and Dallas district engineer Jay Nelson declined to speculate on what the state might be willing to kick in for a road that gets relatively little use.
One of the stranger, therefore more intriguing, Morning News reports on the river in recent months was a Sunday piece November 29 by City Hall reporter Robert Ingrassia, under the headline, "Thinking big for their bridges." The gist of the story was that the Trinity River project was providing the city with a marvelous opportunity to rebuild all of the major spans across the river near downtown.
The article opened with references to the Brooklyn Bridge and the Golden Gate and included bubbly quotes from people in the bridge-building industry about the wonderful new bridges that Dallas now has a chance to build across the Trinity. Nowhere did the story explain why the river project should require the city to take on even more hundreds of millions in unanticipated debt for new bridges.
According to Fritz, that story is the best evidence yet that the city has been forced to jettison the whole idea of lakes in favor of a series of shallow silt-catching basins to keep the water down below the existing levees.
"They had started out by saying they were talking about lakes between the bridges that wouldn't affect the bridges themselves," Fritz said. "But if the conveyance basins go under the bridges, they will undermine the standing strength of the bridge pillars, and all of that will have to be rebuilt or replaced."
Hundreds of millions of dollars more.
Based on the pronouncements so far from City Hall, and in strict accordance with the party line first floated in Ingrassia's Morning News story, this enormous new cost will be marketed to the public as a beautification project. Specifically, the public will be told Dallas needs a "signature" bridge downtown--that is, a decorated bridge, made to look like a modern version of the Ponte Vechio in Florence or the Tower Bridge in London.
The animosity between proponents and critics of the project remains personal and intense. Some of the project's toughest critics, including Mary Vogelson of the League of Women Voters, are cautiously hopeful that the arrival on the scene of new City Manager Ted Benavides may help.
"I think he has more skills at dealing with people than [former City Manager John] Ware did, and that at least will be better," Vogelson said, "although it may be bad for people like me. It may just mean he'll be better able to help the mayor get his way than Ware was."
But the basic conviction of people who have opposed the project from the beginning is that the entire scheme is based on a carefully manipulated, deliberate lie. It's not about parks, they say. It's not even about flood control. It's all for the road, and the rest is there to fool the suckers. The best proof it's a lie, the critics say, has been the unwillingness of the Corps of Engineers to even look at what building a highway in the river bottom does to flood control.
The justification for the Trinity River project has been that it will improve flood control in downtown Dallas. The agency primarily charged with that job is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
After the bond election last May, when the corps finally released its environmental impact study of the project and asked for public comment, the central objection critics raised was that the corps had not even looked at the flood-control implications of building a freeway in the river. Since then, foes of the river project have made it clear they intend to sue the corps if the impact statement is not altered to take the toll road into account when a final version is released.
The corps had promised its final impact statement this month. Corps spokesman Ron Ruffennach now says, "It looks as if the report will not likely be available to the public until mid- to late January."
Ruffennach concedes that questions raised by the critics are the reason the corps is having such a hard time getting its final impact statement published. "It seems a lot of questions were raised during the comment phase, and we're having to do some work to get them all answered."
Fritz says the failure of the Corps to study the impact of building a highway in the river is the central flaw causing the whole project to split at the seams now.
What is really going on now behind the scenes, critics claim, is a hurry-up redesign of the whole project to make it work in terms of flood-protection, along with a massive PR campaign, led by the News, to prepare the public for a doubling or tripling of the local cost of the whole project.
City Manager Ted Benavides says neither of those things is happening. Asked if there was any re-engineering of the project under way to accommodate the toll road, Benavides said, "I'm not aware of that."
But the critics do believe there is a re-design taking place, made necessary by the earlier duplicity of the Corps of Engineers on the subject of putting the toll road in the river.
"This is my opinion," Fritz says, "but what it comes down to is that we were misled. There was no mention in the Corps' draft environmental impact statement of the effect the tollway project would have between the existing levees. This amounts to an absolute misleading of the public by the Corps of Engineers.
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domain: news


text:
Towanda Public library cuts hours by 24 percent
TOWANDA - Due to a lack of available funds, the Towanda Public Library is cutting the hours it is open by 24 percent, the library's treasurer said.
The cut in hours follows a "drastic" reduction this year in the amount the library is spending on new items for its collection, including books, DVDs, and audio books, said Ruth Tonachel, treasurer of the library.
The cuts are stemming mostly from the reductions in state funding for the library that have taken place in the last several years and the difficulty in raising funds to pay for the renovation of the library-owned Carriage House, where the Towanda Public Library's children's library opened last year, according to trustees of the library.
Rising expenses and the lack of financial support provided to the library by most of the municipalities it serves are also bringing financial pressure on the library, the trustees said.
"The last couple of years, the library has operated at a loss," which is forcing the library to cut its expenses, Tonachel said. "(Cutting library hours) is not something we wanted to do."
On Nov. 26, the number of hours that the Towanda Public Library's main library is open each week will be reduced from 54 to 41, a 24 percent reduction, Tonachel said.
Under the library's new schedule, the library will no longer be open on Fridays, she said.
In addition, the Towanda Public Library's main library will now close at 5 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, instead of at 8 p.m., said Stephanie Grohol, desk librarian.
While the main library's hours are being reduced, the number of hours that the Carriage House Children's Library is open each week is being raised from 27 to 32, effective Nov. 26, said Katie Patton, children's librarian.
"We're trying to get the schedules (of the two libraries) lined up more with each other," Tonachel said, explaining why the hours of the children's library are being increased.
The main financial problem facing the Towanda Public Library is a cut in state funding for the library, which has declined over the last several years from $47,000 per year to $22,000 per year, said Marshall Dawsey, president of the library's board of trustees.
Compounding the problem is the fact that the library spent over $150,000 from its endowment fund to pay for the renovations of the carriage house behind the library, so that the children's library could open there, Tonachel said.
While the library had hoped to restore the endowment fund by raising an equal amount from the community, those fund-raising efforts have raised less than $30,000, she said.
And to fill funding gaps in the library's $160,000 annual operating budget over the last several years - this year the gap will reach $40,000 or $50,000 - the library has had to tap the principal of its endowment fund even more, she said.
"The children's library is a beautiful facility," Tonachel said. "Kids love it. It (the renovations that allowed the children's library to open) were well worth doing. But if we continue to (draw money from the principal of the endowment fund), in a few short years it (the endowment fund) won't be there anymore."
And at that point, there would have to be further cuts made in the library's expenditures, Dawsey said.
Despite the financial problems facing the library, the library did receive a piece of good financial news recently.
This year, a Towanda resident died, leaving a large amount of funds in trust for the library and other charitable organizations and agencies, Dawsey said.
The trust fund has been invested, and the annual income from the investments will be distributed to the library and to the other charitable organizations, he said.
The amount of investment income that will be distributed to the library from the trust fund is estimated to be approximately $20,000 per year, which will fill roughly half of the annual $40,000 to $50,000 funding gap in the library's operating budget, Dawsey said.
"The (money left in trust) will help significantly," Dawsey said. "I think it (the revenue from the trust fund) will start coming to the library next year."
The revenue from the trust fund would allow the hours that the library is open each week to be raised to at least 45, which is the minimum number required by the state, he said. But it would not allow all of the hours to be restored, he said.
The library will also be launching a fund-raising campaign in December to try to increase the size of its endowment fund, he said.
If the library could increase its endowment fund to the level it was at in the past, so that it was generating $20,000 a year in investment income for the library, the library would probably be able to restore all of the hours that are being cut at this time, Dawsey said.
The Towanda Public Library has received a waiver from the state that allows the its main library to be open only 41 hours per week, Tonachel said. However, that waiver only runs through the end of 2013, at which time the library would have to be open at least 45 hours per week, she said.
"Our donations, gifts and memorials need to increase greatly to take care of this operating deficit," said Nancy Lindstrom, a trustee of the library.
One of the main reasons why the Towanda Public Library has an operating deficit is that it is not receiving enough funds from the municipalities it serves, Lindstrom said.
Those municipalities decide on their own how much to contribute to the library, she said.
Towanda Borough levies a library tax on its residents, which raises $18,000 a year for the library, and Wysox, Towanda and North Towanda townships also make contributions toward the library, according to Lindstrom and Marshall.
But the contributions of the three townships are "nowhere equal to the amount the borough contributes," she said.
There are five or six townships in the library's service area that contribute nothing at all to the library, Dawsey said.
Due to a lack of funding, in 2012 the Towanda Public Library has been spending less than half of what it did the previous year on books and other materials for its collection, Tonachel said.
The Towanda Public Library's new schedule is:
- Monday, Wednesday and Saturday: open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Tuesday and Thursday: open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Closed Friday and Sunday
The Carriage House Children's Library's new schedule is:
- Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday: open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Tuesday and Thursday: open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Closed Friday and Sunday
(Please note: the Children's Library is closed from 12 noon to 1 p.m. daily for lunch)
James Loewenstein can be reached at (570) 265-1633; or email: firstname.lastname@example.org.


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domain: medical


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domain: entertainment


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Contains Wheat and Their Derivatives,Cereals and Their Derivatives,Milk and its derivates. May contain Eggs and their derivates,Soybean and its Derivatives,Tree Nuts and Their Derivatives.
Actual product packaging and materials may contain additional and/or different ingredient, nutritional, or proper usage information than the information displayed on our website. ...
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ReviewsAverage Customer Rating5(20)5(20)4(0)3(0)2(0)1(0)

domain: food


Q. The Desktop icon that usually sits in the Taskbar next to the Start button has disappeared. How can I get it back?
A. I understand your concern: That little icon is one of the most useful tools in the Windows Taskbar. When you click on it, you’re taken right to the Desktop. To replace it, you must create what’s called an .scf file.
However, you cannot create the file in Word. You must use a pure text application such as Notepad or WordPad. To open either, click on Start, Programs, Accessories, and then open either word processor and create a new document, typing in the following lines:
Now save the file as Show Desktop.scf in the C:WindowsSystem folder if you’re using Windows 98 or Windows Me, or in the WinntSystem32 folder if you’re using Windows NT 4 or Windows 2000 (this assumes you’ve installed Windows to those default folders).
By the way, make sure Notepad or WordPad doesn’t add an extra .txt extension to the filename, as is its wont. If it does, remove it so the file is called Show Desktop.scf.
Now create a shortcut to the file by locating the file in Explorer and right-clicking on it. Choose Create Shortcut from the pop-up menu and copy the shortcut to the folder C:WindowsApplication DataMicrosoftInternet ExplorerQuick Launch if you’re using Windows 98/Me, or to WinntSystem32 if you’re using Windows NT 4/2000.
The Show Desktop icon should then automatically appear in your Taskbar. If it doesn’t, rename the shortcut you just created to Desktop.
If you don’t want to go through all those steps, there is a keyboard command to get to the Desktop: Click on the key with the Windows logo and D.


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Morphine can more than double the duration of pain and amplify its severity in the long term, according to new international research on its effects as a painkiller.
But the study team, which included researchers from Colorado, South Australia and China, has also discovered how to switch off this pain-amplifying mechanism, offering hope for millions of pain sufferers world wide.
Author of the study and University of Adelaide Research Associate Dr Peter Grace says the results, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), further question the use of opioid-based painkillers and treatments.
“Prior studies have looked at the effect morphine has on pain sensitivity short term, but in this study we looked at the weeks and months after morphine use,” Grace says.
“What we found is that the opioid painkiller activates spinal immune cells, causing a further inflammatory response.”
“The pain is effectively transitioned to a chronic state, making the pain itself both more severe and longer lasting.”
The research team found that rats with chronic nerve pain that had been treated with morphine for just five days experienced prolonged pain sensitivity than their control group counterparts.
“This extended period of chronic pain has followed from just five days of treatment with morphine, which in itself is very significant,” Grace says.
The study was led by Professor Linda Watkins at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Chronic pain affects 10% of the world’s population, about 60 million people, with estimates of closer to 20–25% in some countries.
Grace, who is also a research assistant professor with the University of Colorado Boulder, says the study has huge implications for the treatment of pain worldwide.
“Our results add weight to the growing body of science suggesting that treatment with opioids such as morphine may in fact be a contributor to people’s chronic pain,” Grace says.
“It means we need a more sophisticated approach.”
The research team discovered a way of switching off this pain-amplifying mechanism using a new technology known as Designer Receptor Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADD).
By using DREADD, researchers were able to isolate the spinal immune cells and prove their involvement in this response to opiate use.
“Importantly, we’ve also been able to block the two main receptors involved in this immune response, including Toll-Like receptor 4 (TLR4) and another one called P2X7R, which have both been separately indicated in chronic pain before,” Grace says.
“By blocking these receptors, we’re preventing the immune response from kicking in, enabling the painkilling benefits of morphine to be delivered without resulting in further chronic pain.”
Grace says chronic pain sufferers could take opiate-based medicine as well as the receptor-blocking drugs to reduce likelihood of long-term effects.
“It means they would need to take two drugs instead of one – they would still be able to use morphine or other opiate-based drugs as well as the additional drug.”
Novel drugs are currently undergoing testing and are not expected to be on the market for 10 years.
Grace says the team would like to further investigate how broad the receptor-blocking drug is and whether it has similar effects for other opiate-based drugs such as oxycodone and fentanyl, and for other types of chronic pain including low back pain.
– Alannah James


Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) told Newsmax on Sunday that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is nothing more than a “front man,” adding that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “still rules with an iron fist.”
After Jim Jordan was elected Speaker-Designate on Friday, Speaker Pro Tem @PatrickMcHenry made us take Saturday off, Sunday off, and now MONDAY OFF!
The Swamp is trying to delay a vote on the House floor as long as possible, hoping conservatives will move backward to Kevin… pic.twitter.com/Z9SjqiNRz0
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) October 15, 2023
Gaetz’s colorful commentary came in response to questions about public sparring between Republicans that has many Americans questioning whether their party is fracturing at the most inopportune of times.
Earlier this month, Gaetz filed a motion to vacate Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as House Speaker. As a handful of Republicans and more Democrats joined him in the ousting, he celebrated his success by vacating that office.
Now, the race to elect a new Speaker is on, and Gaetz hasn’t shied away from making sure his followers on the right know what he deems to be the truth about Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
Backing up his claim, Gaetz said of Pelosi and the House Democrats, “She’s still the one in charge of that conference…I mean, Hakeem Jeffries is the frontman, but the person who’s really calling the shots among the Democrats is Nancy Pelosi.”
Pelosi stepped down from her role as speaker when the Democrats lost their House majority back in 2022. A special election in the weeks following resulted in McCarthy taking the mantle. But it was Jeffries who led the House Democrats as minority leader in the next Congressional session.
Gaetz shared his concerns with Newsmax that the Republicans who delayed the vote for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) did so as a power play in an attempt to get McCarthy back in the House seat.
The GOP base want Speaker Jim Jordan.
But the Establishment Republicans don’t want to vote for America First speaker.
Rep. Mike Rogers is openly talking about making a deal with Democrats rather than vote for Jordan.
Rogers is the same guy who was trying to fight Matt Gaetz… pic.twitter.com/x2a9v6nNNW
— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) October 14, 2023
Gaetz said, “ We should not go backward with Kevin McCarthy…We should go forward with Jim Jordan.”
20 Republicans are ready to block Jim Jordan as Speaker of the House. There has been no House Speaker since Kevin McCarthy was ousted by Matt Gaetz and Nancy Mace. Hakeem Jeffries and the House Democrats remain ready to find a bipartisan path forward.pic.twitter.com/xfBzzvNnqO
— Tony – Resistance (@TonyHussein4) October 16, 2023
Gaetz has continued to throw his support behind Jordan. The Trump-backed candidate was Gaetz’s pick back in January before McCarthy scored the nomination, too.
Jordan is reportedly close to securing the vote, but many are arguing he still has work to do.


text:
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1/2 Photos of Chili Con Carne (Cooks Country)
2 hrs 30 mins
This is a pretty simple, but delicious chili that surprised us both and has replaced our prior favorite which was a slightly more labor-intensive chili from Cook's Illustrated. Avocado and cheese are optional garnishes. The chili is really good by itself, but was amazing smothering my favorite food, a baked potato!
Units: US | Metric
Serving Size: 1 (480 g)
Servings Per Recipe: 6
The following items or measurements are not included:
chipotle chiles in adobo
corn muffin mix


text:
The DESPRO project and Decentralisation have a great story to share that comes from the Shumska AH in the Ternopil Oblast. This hromada takes care of each resident and, as the locals say, “it will always be this way, because our hromada is fully equipped for this”. Decentralisation has indeed enabled the hromada to pursue an appropriate social policy, not to mention other benefits. Physically challenged people and children with special education needs enjoy the utmost attention of the municipal authorities now. The social taxi service and the inclusive resource centre are among the initiatives implemented by the Shumska AH that have made life brighter for many of its residents.
You can find more information in the video:
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07 May 2021
Сьогодні у селі Медвин Білоцерківського району поліцейському офіцеру громади Куделі Артуру Олександровичу вручили...
28 April 2021
On December, 29, 2017 an ASC was opened in the Chemerovetska hromada of the Khmelnytskyi oblast, supported by the...

domain: sociology


text:
Nearly one in five companies surveyed (17 percent) say they have concrete plans to relocate at least some of their China-based operations to other countries. Although 88 percent of these corporations say that they originally chose China for its lower labor costs, they are finding that cheaper labor and tax benefits have made alternative locations more attractive. Among these corporations, Vietnam is the top alternative to China, according to 63 percent of this group, while 37 percent say India is their first choice.If the surveyed companies are representative, this gives some startling numbers for the trend described in my earlier post.
Among all respondents, when asked to compare China to alternate countries, they cited lower labor costs in those other countries as the largest differentiator, at 3.7 out of a scale of 5, indicating that China's reputation as a source of cheap manufacturing labor is diminishing.
The flight of sweatshops, as I and many others have said, may not be a disaster, but simply a part of positive long-term change for China's workers--China is banking on the growth of higher-skilled, higher-paying jobs filling the gap. But in the short-term, it is important to slow this drift or local officials in China may panic and dig in their feet on enforcement of ANY labor laws---not just the Labor Contract Law---and future pro-labor reforms may be delayed, including efforts to beef up the ACFTU.
The Asia Floor Wage Campaign presents one possible method for preventing investment flight (see the Campaign's still-under-construction website). Vietnam may be interested in agreeing to sharing a few basic labor conditions with China, if only in order to cool down Vietnamese workers, who have launched a wave of brave wildcat strikes. But how serious would Vietnam really be? Or Cambodia? Or India?
There may be other avenues. An argument could actually be made for companies staying from a business perspective. Besides higher labor costs, the Booz Allen / AmCham report notes, "staff retention is also a major concern" for firms in China "with 33 percent of respondents citing it as a reason for lost competitiveness."
The Fair Labor Association's Auret van Heerden notes the same problem and makes the obvious conclusion in a Newsweek interview:
Sure, you're going to have to register a lot of workers now, pay the minimum wage, give benefits. But this will lead to a much more stable and productive workplace. Before, in some places we've seen 100 percent labor turnover per year. We've never captured the costs that entails in training. Firms have been bleeding ridiculous amounts of money because they've had such an unstable workforce.Now, I'm not one for bending over backwards to justify everything through this lens---that's a sure way of painting yourself into a corner. But it seems that companies who aren't too caught up in the whole cowboy-capitalist-in-a-new-lawless-land ethos might be interested.


text:
Taking Preventative Action
3.4 Continuing Impact of Tobacco Smoking
The adverse health impacts of tobacco smoking are well known: smoking significantly raises the risk of cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, cancers of the respiratory, digestive and reproductive organs, and premature births. Despite this, approximately three million Australian adults smoke daily.
While the prevalence of smoking in Australia has gradually declined over a long period (as shown in Figure 2), smoking remains one of the leading causes of preventable disease and premature mortality among Australians:
- smoking is responsible for over seven per cent of the total burden of disease in Australia;
- tobacco use caused more than 15,000 deaths in 2003; and
- the total quantifiable costs of smoking to the economy, including the costs associated with loss of life were estimated to be greater than $31 billion in 2004–05.
Figure 2: Daily smokers , population aged 14 years and over , 1985–2007
Source: AIHW, 2008
Almost half of Indigenous Australians smoke daily, compared with one in six of all adult Australians. Smoking is currently the cause of 20 per cent of deaths among Indigenous Australians. Figure 3 shows a comparison of smoking rates across a number of population groups.
Figure 3: Smoking rates in Australia for selected population groups
Source: Public Health Information Development Unit, 2010, various data sources all from late-2000’s.
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text:
15 servings of freeze dried red bell peppers. One of the most versatile veggies we have, bell peppers can easily be added to breakfast, lunch, and dinner recipes, or enjoyed on their own as a healthy snack.
We really loved the sausage crumbles. Made sausage gravy with biscuits and used it for pizza toppings. It was wonderful either way.
Wow. It was a wonderful surprise!. Tastes great and a perfect texture.
Wow I can't believe there was so much food way more than their competitors.
You can rehydrate them or eat them striaght out of the bag. This is 100% natural. It's just blueberries. The texture is amazing. They melt in your mouth. They're crunchy like a chip but tast just like a blueberry. I'm so impressed! These are amazing!


text:
Pet Focus: Midnight Rocker - Miss Kitty’s Cat House
Midnight Rocker is a 7- to 9-year-old declawed male with beautiful jet black, short hair. His owner passed away and a friend and neighbor was looking after him, but had another cat and could not keep him. Midnight is friendly and does not mind being picked up. He is a sweetie and a great cat. Come and meet this good-looking boy at Miss Kitty’s Cat House, 302 N. Alarcon St., Prescott, on adoption days from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays or call 928-445-5411 for an appointment to see him. Stop by PetSmart (next to Costco) to see all of our cute little kittens from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays. You can see all of our cats and kittens available for adoption on Petfinder and Facebook.

domain: pet


text:
Mariel didn't know the answer to that question, only that she had to find somewhere to stay for the night. Probably longer. What a dilemma: There she was, a well-paid doctor, homeless. Temporarily homeless, but still homeless.
Luckily, she had a stash of napkins in the car's glove compartment. At a red light she grabbed a handful to wipe her tears and blow her nose. A quick glance at the wallet in her purse calmed her somewhat. Debit card, American Express, Visa. Good. She had her pick as to where she would stay as long as the hotel had an available room.
Because she couldn't go back to Tom. And she couldn't—wouldn't—go back to Russell's.
Larkin was alive. Mariel knew that should have been a joyous discovery, once the shock of it died down. There she'd stood, a real-life, flesh-and-blood woman. As beautiful as ever, no sign of having been shot brutally and then cast to the sea in hopes of making her whole. Which, evidently, had worked after all.
And…strapped to her back was Larkin's baby. Russell's child.
Mariel sobbed into a napkin, gripping the steering wheel tighter with her other hand. It did no good to be so emotional while behind the wheel, but it couldn't be helped, could it? One moment she was in bed with Russell. Kissing him again…holding him…enjoying the heat of his body pressing against hers as they made love.
That night, she'd become his again. Whatever spell Tom had cast over her had been broken. The love she'd had for Russell had never died; she knew that now. It had only cooled, been dormant. But it had come alive full-force that night with the strength of ten hurricanes.
And then Larkin, Russell's present wife, had returned.
There was a little motel, a cheap one, right off the interstate, about five miles down. That'd be good. It was frequented mostly by truckers…and men cheating on their wives, she noted with irony. No one from the hospital would see her there. She didn't want to see anyone she knew tonight.
She didn't want to have to explain herself.
"I'm not a bad person," she said in a whisper, sounding like a confused child. "I'm not. Not a bad person."
But she was a hybrid. She had changed, and not for the better.
There was a loud popping sound that startled her, making Mariel let out a yelp. She grasped the wheel in both hands to steady the car.
Great! Now she had a flat. Was there no end to that night's fun? She lifted her foot off the accelerator, just managing to keep the car from veering into a tree.
It was totally out of character for her—but hell, then again, so was having sex with another woman's husband—but she cursed as she got out of the car, leaving her purse in the passenger seat. In her frustration she kicked the driver's side door and cried harder.
Larkin was alive. How was she supposed to have known that? Had she thought for one moment that Larkin was alive, she would never have slept with Russell Varon.
The man who had been her husband…until she left him for Tom. Tom—the man who had turned her into this, this thing that she now was.
Turning, she leaned against the car door and cried. She brought her cell phone out of her pocket, staring at it glumly for some seconds.
Who could she call? Not Russell. She'd caused enough trouble for him in one day, hadn't she? Certainly not Dave. Once Dave got wind of what had happened, he'd hate her, and rightfully so.
No! Not rightfully. She reminded herself again that she hadn't known Larkin was alive. She'd thought, as everyone else had, that Larkin was dead.
Such surprises. Grace was alive.
And now Larkin.
Mariel wiped her nose with the damp napkin.
AAA. She could call them. That was a relief, considering the only other person she could have called was Tom. Something else she couldn't do, she thought ruefully.
Straightening up, she looked out at the woods. That had to be her imagination. The wind, combined with the sound of planes flying overhead. And hadn't she also heard the low rumble of thunder in the distance?
Mariel swore again. She had come to hate thunder. Thunder, lightning, anything having to do with rain, she had learned to hate.
Her heart began to beat fiercely with that rise of adrenaline coursing through her. Was that the low growl of an animal? Or some psychopath toying with her?
"Who's there?" she demanded in a steady voice.
Listening intently, she heard the sound of thunder again. The wind rustling through the trees. No answer came to her.
How far was she from help? She remembered seeing a diner on the side of the road, one of those in that old-fashioned style, within several yards of a gas station. That had been maybe two or three miles ago. In a half hour, give or take some minutes, she could walk back there and find help.
The sudden ring of her cell phone made her jump. Quickly, she flipped it open and frowned.
The number coming across the screen was unfamiliar to her.
"Hello?" she greeted the caller anxiously.
"Good evening, Dr. Underlay. You seem…distressed."
Her breaths were coming faster as she pushed away from the car and looked around. "Who is this?"
This wasn't an accident. Her tire blowing out had been on purpose.
This was a trap.
"You know, Mariel, it's not very nice," the male voice on the other line informed her calmly, tauntingly, "stealing another woman's man like that. Especially when the man is…well, an inferior human. Russell Varon is so very inferior to your current husband, Tom."
She ignored his attempt to embarrass her. "I'm one of you. What do you want?"
His chuckle was light. "How convenient of you to remember you're one of us now. You were changed, Mariel, but you were never one of us. You had one foot in this world and one in ours. Ultimately, you belonged to neither world."
"What do you want?" she asked, her voice rising in anger.
The answer came in a detached tone that was chilling: " Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.' "
Shakespeare. Mariel couldn't remember where it was from—Hamlet or Macbeth—but the words frightened her and sent her walking fast, away from her car and toward the road.
Then, like a dark angel, a figure lighted to the ground several feet in front of her. Gasping, she dropped the phone and stared, at a momentary lost for words.
MARLINS. The man in front of her, with his head bowed, wore a Marlins baseball cap. But then he raised his head and glared at her, and she remembered at once that this was no man, no human at all.
"Don't be afraid, Dr. Underlay," it told her. "I'm here to set you free…"
The sun had set and the starless sky was darkening on the deep August night. Grace Underlay had been training—actually, brushing up on the skills she would be needing when they overtook the inhabitants of the earth, skills that included shooting—but now she was making her way to the shore.
Sure enough, her sentinels had been correct. That was Larkin, with her baby in the pouch strapped to her back, returning to the remote key on the small motorboat.
Grace was tired, but she quickened her gait nonetheless to meet her second-in-command as she secured the boat to land. Larkin hadn't appeared to recognize her at first, which slightly amused Grace. That made sense, since she rarely wore jeans and had cut her hair in a style that was short, manageable and, on her, gave her a rather wild, appealing look.
"Where'd you run off to?" she asked. "You didn't tell anyone and I was worried about you."
"Oh…I think you can guess where I went." Larkin wasn't being argumentative; if anything, she came across as embarrassed.
Grace didn't play games with her. "Oh. Well…how was the reunion?"
"Not good. I should have listened to you. I wouldn't feel like I do right now." Forcing a smile, Larkin accepted a sisterly hug from her. "He was with her, Grace."
"I see." She didn't have to ask who the woman with Varon was; Grace instinctively knew. She also understood that if Mariel had been with Russell, then she hadn't been with Tom. But her friendship with Larkin Groves, and her affection for her, made her stop short of feeling triumphant.
"She gets around, that girl," she said.
The comment made Larkin laugh, though somewhat sadly. "Anyway, I'm sorry I disappeared on you that way."
"It's all right. You're free to go where you wish. You're not a prisoner here, Larkin."
That wasn't 100 The Truth, of course. Yet Grace had surprised herself with the desire that, where she was concerned, it was.
"Still, you worried about me. It won't happen again." Larkin walked slowly with her toward the compound. The baby reached out a tiny hand and Grace caught it tenderly, smiling. "But if you don't mind, I—I need to—"
"You need to be alone. Of course. I understand. I'll have supper sent to your room."
"I'm not very hungry."
"I can imagine, but try to eat a little something, Larkin. You'll need your strength. And you're nursing Jenny. You need to take care of yourself."
Reluctantly, Larkin nodded. "You know something, Grace? I know you'll think it's stupid, but I still love him. No matter what I saw tonight, no matter how badly he hurt me, I still love Russell."
"I don't think that's stupid at all." Grace spoke from her heart.
Larkin looked almost afraid as she spoke her next words. "I love him so much, I don't know if—if I can really…"
"Go and rest, honey. You had your heart broken tonight. We can talk about this in the morning. 'Kay?"
I don't know if I can really destroy him. That was what Larkin had meant to say, but the words had fought her. Grace understood that fully.
Especially because the full scope of her mission had finally become clear to her, and that it entailed destroying Tom and Kira if they continued to rebel. That wasn't to say that she would surrender, either; if there was a way, any way at all, to persuade Kira or hide her somewhere safe until her daughter could be convinced that this was all for the best, Grace would do it. That was a secret, something she wasn't making known, though she believed she could trust Larkin Groves with it.
Kira, she would attempt to save, if it meant losing her own life. Tom, on the other hand, was a lost cause. She couldn't save him, and even if she could, he would refuse her help.
And the reality of that, despite how much she tried to tell herself she didn't care, tore at her heart.
Grace lingered, watching Larkin disappear into the compound. The young woman was more devastated than she was letting on. Grace would have to give her time, a little space to heal.
From the distance came the sound of a motor. An approaching boat.
Drawing her .45 from its holster, she turned and headed back toward the beach. The intruder—she could make him out once the boat was close enough—was Russell Varon. He was in his park ranger uniform, though his shirt was unbuttoned. The wind ruffling his dark, wavy hair gave him an untamed appearance.
That insolent bastard! He'd spotted her and was glaring right back at her. Grace returned insolence with insolence, greeting him with a smirk…and a raised weapon aimed directly at him. She wouldn't think twice about shooting him, either, so he would be well advised not to test her.
"Men!" she scoffed under her breath. "Ever hear of calling before you barge in, guys?"

domain: literature


text:
IT chiefs need to prepare their applications now for a surge in downloads
After spending many years trying to stifle the growth of online music downloading, the major record labels appear to have finally acknowledged the distribution potential of the internet.
The success of Apple Computer's online music store iTunes, which sold more than five million tracks in just eight weeks after it launched in April, has persuaded music giants such as Warner and EMI that the internet can drive rather than harm CD sales.
"The iTunes Music Store is changing the way people buy music," said Steve Jobs, chief executive at Apple.
"Selling five million songs in the first eight weeks has far surpassed our expectations, and clearly illustrates that many customers are hungry for a legal way to acquire their music online."
The success of iTunes has spurred everyone in the music industry to search for a similar online system, said Roger Ames, chairman and chief executive officer at Warner Music Group.
"Apple has shown the music industry, artists and consumers that there is a successful and easy way of legally distributing and obtaining music over the Internet," he said.
By the end of the year, US consumers will be able to buy music from as many as six new legitimate online services backed by the major labels and technology giants such as Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL, and Europe is not far behind.
In one of the most high-profile moves this side of the Atlantic, EMI recently revealed ambitious plans to offer more than 140,000 of its tracks online to European consumers.
More than 20 online music retailers, including HMV, Freeserve and MSN, have signed up to the scheme, which will enable consumers to burn tracks on to CD-Roms, copy tracks on to portable players and buy singles before they are released in stores.
Analysts said the backing of the major labels will boost legal downloading, but argued that industry co-operation is vital if online music is to fulfil its potential.
"The problem at the moment is that the different record labels are doing different things, which just causes problems for users wanting to download a range of music," said Adrian Drodz, managing analyst at Datamonitor. "They will have to get together at some point. We have seen this happen with the film studios in the US, though, which is a good benchmark."
The imminent online moves would seem to mark a sea change in the attitude of the major record labels, which have largely concentrated their efforts on closing down free peer-to-peer downloading services, such as Napster and Kazaa.
However, while research by polling firm Nielsen revealed that 71% of those using file-sharing services regularly buy music online or in the high street, the music industry continues to clamp down on these services and their users.
The latest move has seen industry trade body the Recording Industry Association of America threatening individual file swappers with lawsuits.
The RIAA last week said it will use software that can scan peer-to-peer networks for copyrighted material and download the suspect files while also capturing the date and time of the download as evidence.
Additional information obtained from the systems hosting the files will lead the RIAA to the file swapper's ISP.
Those ISPs will then be served with subpoenas under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, requiring them to divulge the name and address of the individuals hosting the files.
Individuals found swapping copyrighted material could face legal action from the RIAA in the form of civil lawsuits and even criminal prosecution, according to the association.
"We cannot stand by while piracy takes a devastating toll on artists, musicians, songwriters, retailers and everyone in the music industry," it said.
Some US government officials think punishments should go even further. Last week, Republican Senator Orrin Hatch said he wanted to develop technology which would remotely destroy the computers of people who download music tracks illegally.
No matter how Draconian the outlook of governments and the music industry bodies, however, usage figures suggest that many free downloading services will continue to exist. Kazaa, for example, has had 250 million music downloads in the past year.
But, despite the continued availability of these free services, consumers would be prepared to pay for music and other online content as long as "micropayment" services are easily available, Drodz said.
"There needs to be consolidation as there are too many different micropayment strategies in Europe at the moment," he said.
"Having so many different services defeats the point of micropayments, which are supposed to make paying for online content flexible and easy."
Selling content for less than £5 is not usually viable for online service providers because of credit card charges, but micropayment services were supposed to alleviate this problem by allowing consumers to spend as little as 5p. However, take-up has not been widespread, largely because of a lack of awareness from consumers, Drodz said.
"Micropayments have not been pushed enough which is a shame because there are some good services out there," he said.
"BT has a service which allows you to put your details in once and then not have to worry about it again."
Under the BT "Click and Buy" scheme, consumers pay on a monthly basis, either by adding to their landline bill or as a separate account.
Another key technology that IT chiefs in the music industry will have to consider once legal downloading schemes are running is Digital Rights Management software, which ensures content cannot be replicated for free. This is set to be an increasingly popular application in the coming years, as reflected by Microsoft's recent $250m investment in the software.
A similar application to DRM is the Global Release Identifier, an electronic version of the Universal Product Code barcode scheme used to identify CDs and other physical products.
Grid, created by the International Federation of Phonographic Industry, is designed to track each time a record company, online retailer or distributor sells a track or group of tracks, thereby ensuring artists are properly compensated.
After years of procrastinating it has taken a company from the technology sector to show the music industry that the internet can be a valuable sales channel.
This reflects the growing importance of IT within the industry and the way companies such as Warner and EMI use technology will be a key competitive differentiator in the years to come.
IT's download duties
What will the emergence of legal downloading services mean for IT directors in the music industry?
- They will have to ensure their websites are able to accept micropayment services, which allow consumers to spend between 5p and £5 online l Implement a tracking system, such as the Global Release Identifier, will allow the publisher to ensure artists are compensated
- Add digital rights management software on tracks so music cannot be passed freely to third parties.

domain: economics


text:
Actress, Moyo Lawal in Vampire Mood
Nollywood actress, Moyo Lawal, truly derives pleasure in what she knows how to do best which is acting and she is ever ready to take up any role given to her.
Recently, the actress shared a fierce looking picture of herself having that vampire kind of look as she is set to give her role another epic interpretation.
The actress has been the toast of many producers as she has been getting lots of movie scripts which has been keeping her busy and that is because she is really worth every penny.
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- Actress Peggy Ovire Marks Her Birthday With Stunning New Photos
- Singer, Paul Okoye Teaches Son Music Production
- Singer, Flavour Nabania under Fire for Kissing Daughter

domain: celebrity


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NIA recently released an RFA for a new HCS Research Collaboratory focused on AD/ADRD, RFA-AG-19-009.
“The purpose of this FOA is to solicit applications for the AD/ADRD Health Care Systems Research Collaboratory (“Collaboratory,” henceforth) to improve care for persons with dementia (PWD) and their caregivers through health systems. Health and long-term systems for this FOA are defined broadly and include organizations providing care across settings to include primary and specialty outpatient care, acute inpatient care, skilled nursing and other rehabilitation facilities, residential long-term care, and home and community-based services. Organizations may be traditional health care systems (e.g., health maintenance organizations, or HMOs), health insurance companies, managed care plans, home health care providers, memory clinics, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, outpatient clinics, federally-designated health centers, hospitals, and other providers of acute and long-term care. The Collaboratory will: 1) serve as a national resource to promote development of pragmatic trials and demonstration projects to improve care and health outcomes for PWD and their caregivers; 2) support pilot pragmatic trials within the Collaboratory; 3) develop and disseminate technical and policy guidelines and best practices for effectively conducting AD/ADRD research studies in partnership with health care systems; 4) work collaboratively with researchers to provide technical support for scaling up pilot studies; and 5) disseminate best practices for engaging stakeholders, conducting ethical research in the special circumstances of dementia care, and involving long-term and acute-care providers.”
All applications are due September 6, 2018, by 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization. All types of non-AIDS applications allowed for this funding opportunity announcement are due on this date.
No late applications will be accepted for this Funding Opportunity Announcement.
Applicants are encouraged to apply early to allow adequate time to make any corrections to errors found in the application during the submission process by the due date.
To learn more, visit the NIH grants posting.


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I am so excited to share the news about this series. I read Love’s Forbidden Flower a few weeks ago at the request of the author. I fell in love with the book. I was amazed at how she took such a controversial topic and exposed the real question about love. Who are we to put limits on who a person is supposed to love. Laws cannot and should not dictate our hearts and who we love.
She wrote Love’s Erotic Flower as a short novella to fill the gap of time between Love’s Forbidden Flower and Time’s Forbidden Flower. This novella lets the reader see the transition that Lily and Donovan made after their father died in the first book. It could be a stand alone read, but I highly recommend that you read the first book along with the novella in advance of the second book which is scheduled to be released soon.
In the novella, she lets you see how their love is explored and acted upon. It is humorous, sincere and very well written. Diane once again shows us her outstanding talent at taking a taboo topic and making us see the real issue………..LOVE.
I have had the honor of reading the second book, you won’t want to miss out on it. It closes the story for Lily and Donovan and leaves you with the answers you have had during the story. The ending is what I classify as a OMG moment when you fully understand what had happen in their lives that lead them to where they are now.
Diane does such a wonderful job giving you the pieces to this story as you go, but she doesn’t draw you a map. This isn’t a book you can predict the ending to half way through. Oh you might think you have the answers and know what is going to happen, but it is at those times she changes the questions and you start all over again. What I love most about this series is that the topic alone could turn many readers off. I only hope that the book falls into the hands of readers who can look past the surface and see the real truth to the story.
Do we as society have the right to tell someone they can’t love another person because of title, relation or to establish comfort in society? Do we have the right to tell a person they have to ignore their heart and live in a loveless marriage because that is what is acceptable? Yes this is a story of two siblings who were lied to, abused and mistreated by not only society but their own parents. I walked away feeling like I need to examine how I personally feel about others rights to love who they love. A heart can’t be controlled, it can be held hostage, it can be manipulated but it will continue to love who it loves.
I am so proud of Diane for taking the step out of the box and writing such a wonderful series. Starting today you can get the novella Love’s Erotic Flower free at Amazon. Make sure you go pick it up and buy Love’s Forbidden Flower while you are there.
Love’s Forbidden Flower Summary
*** Please note: This is a New Adult Romance novel involving two siblings who struggle with their emotions. This is not a work of erotica.***
The heart cares not what society forbids.
Lily nurtures a secret love for a flawless man—the one who is her soul mate. Donovan is gorgeous, charismatic, and delights in all of Lily’s talents and quirks. Their innate knowledge of each other is almost telepathic. Together they interlock like fine threads creating luxurious silk.
But society dictates this picture-perfect adoration is the ghastliest of all possibilities.
As Lily embarks on a quest for the romance the heavens intended, her suitor turns reluctant. Desperate to uncover why Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hiding decayed from a tender-hearted gentleman into a ferociously self-serving, cocky bastard, Lily is prepared for battle when it comes to the salvation of her soul mate. However, Donovan traps Lily in a mental game of chess, leaving her to question his sanity. When Lily’s revelations about Donovan’s destructive alter ego lead to an inconceivable truth, can she help Donovan survive fate’s cruel joke?
Impassioned, witty, and deeply moving, Love’s Forbidden Flower is filled with stunning controversies that will forever haunt your heart.
Love’s Erotic Flower Summary
Society’s torch only illuminates our path.Very disturbing or somewhat intriguing? That is the question Donovan asks himself over his soul mate’s latest idea for bedroom antics. Undecided, he enters into a bet. If Lily wins, Donovan will become a willing participant in an unsettling new adventure. If she loses… Well, does Donovan really want her to lose?
Love’s Erotic Flower is an erotic, stand-alone, short story featuring the characters from the controversial New Adult Romance novel, Love’s Forbidden Flower. This piece is approximately 8000 words.

domain: library


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- Sep 16, 2010
Was that the Damian McDonald Memorial?Originally Posted by Rider123 .
Was put in the Cat 4/Junior U17 bunch but I was technically only racing against the Cat 4's. There were only about 6 other Cat 4's that I had to worry about (15 U17's.)
First 26km was pretty flat and although I told myself to sit in under we hit the climb, adrenaline got the better of me and I did try to go with a couple of moves. Made the other Cat 4 riders in the bunch chase which was good.
We hit the climb and a couple of U17's went off the front. I followed and the other Cat 4's all went. About half-way in, I could see that there was only 1 other Cat 4 left, with maybe 4-5 U17's in our group. We were going hard up the hill, I was putting out ~300W for ~10-15 mins. As soon as I saw as the last Cat 4 rider dropped, I moved onto the front, drove it for the remaining 2-3km to the top. I knew I needed a decent gap and a group to latch onto as I was by far the lightest Cat 4 rider and was no chance of soloing 40km to the finish. At the top of the hill, there was an U17 maybe 500m ahead, and me driving a group of 3 other U17s with all Cat 4 riders behind us.
As soon as we got to the top, the other 3 U17's came around me and they descended the mountain like mad men. I know I'm not the best descender (triathlete), but jeez these guys were flying around the hair-pin bends.
Luckily for me, one of the U17 riders didn't quite make it to the front and so he waited for me to work together at the end of the 15km descent. We swapped turns and picked up a couple of dropped Cat 2-3 riders from previous bunches. We rolled turns for the last 15km and I was starting to hurt. Just kept looking back to make sure none of the other Cat 4's were catching up and doing my best to stay with the group. Lasted 12km before I blew up and rode the last 3 km by myself, anxiously looking over my shoulder.
Rode to the finish line and got the win! The end result was a 3-minute gap to the next 3 Cat 4 riders who battled it out in the sprint.

domain: sports


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Saysusie is back!
It's good to see that you are back! How was your vacation? Was it in one of those tropical-type spots? I can't wait to leave on my vacation next week.
I've been wanting to ask you something. At our public library, I found a book in the catalog written by someone named Susie with a last name that began with SAY. Unfortunately, the book itself was not in the stacks. By any chance, were you that author?
My vacation was, indeed, one of those tropical spots. St. Thomas Virgin Islands. Beautiful warm warter, so clear that you can see the coral and the the fishes without having to put your head in the water. I am a water fanatic, so I snorkel, scuba, swim, and ski. The sun is fierce and taking precautions was a full time endeavor, but well worth it.
I love the heat and I love the humidity...I just have no tolerance for mosquitos, but they seem to love me :?
I have written several short stories, Sci-Fi and Murder Mysteries, which have been published. But, I've never used a nom de plume...so the chances are that the book was not written by me. I use my real name (Carlotta Diggs) on all of my works
Thank You for the "welcome back"..I always miss my family here and am always so glad to be back!!
Peace and Blessings
Sounds like a great vacation! I'm so glad you had a great time. You deserved it!
Thank You Missy! :lol:
I did enjoy myself!
I'm glad to hear that you had a good time! Welcome back!
Thank You ILoveHistory.....
I missed all of you and am glad to be back :lol:
Someone asked me why I was a cyclops and I couldn't give a good answer, other than Conrad thought it was appropriate :lol: .
So, Rudy changed it for me (lol)
I've been absent a while as well, just haven't gotten around to visiting. I have been feeling relatively good - no major flares - and working too much.... I'll try to be a bit more present in the future....this group has such a wonderful presence in my life!
I thought I'd check out your writing, as I enjoy sci fi, so I googled your name - found your music instead. You have such a beautiful voice!
Thank You So Much Hatlady and I am SOOOOOO happy to see you back with us again. You were missed!! I am happy to hear that you have been relatively healthy with no major flares and that you are able to work (albeit too hard - lol).
My written works have been out of print for a very long time. They were published in three of Alfred Hitchcock's mystery magazines back in the late 60's. I've tried to get copies of those old magazines with almost no success. So, the chances of anyone being able to find or read my works are slim to none. I did earn a little bit of money :lol:
I am, however, currently working on several stories that I plan to submit to the magazine. I will keep everyone posted!
Again....It is so good to have you back. I bet you are really sporting a lot of hats in this heat wave that we are having now. Everytime I buy a new hat, I think of you :lol:
Peace and Blessings

domain: hobby


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The role of collagen XIII in B-cell lymphoma development, and characterization of its biosynthesis and tissue distribution
1University of Oulu, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Biomedicine, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
2University of Oulu, Biocenter Oulu
3University of Oulu, Center for Cell Matrix Research
|Online Access:||PDF Full Text (PDF, 1.6 MB)|
|Persistent link:|| http://urn.fi/urn:isbn:9789514289583
|Publish Date:|| 2008-11-25
|Thesis type:||Doctoral Dissertation
|Defence Note:||Academic dissertation to be presented, with the assent of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Oulu, for public defence in Auditorium 101 A of the Faculty of Medicine (Aapistie 5 A), on December 5th, 2008, at 10 a.m.
Associate Professor Marion Gordon
Docent Jarmo Käpylä
Collagen XIII belongs to the subgroup of collagenous transmembrane proteins. It has a wide tissue distribution and has been localized to many sites of cell-matrix and cell-cell interaction in tissues.
Biochemical and in silico analyses of collagen XIII and other collagenous transmembrane proteins revealed that the biosynthesis of this structurally varied group is characterized by a coiled-coil motif following the transmembrane domain, and these trimerization domains appear to be associated with each of the collagenous domains. The collagen XIII trimer was shown to have an interchain disulfide bond at the junction of the NC1 and COL1 domains, and several other collagenous transmembrane proteins have a pair of cysteines in the same location. Furthermore, furin cleavage at the NC1 domain can be expected in most of the proteins.
Mice heterozygous for the Col13a1del transgene, encoding a mutant collagen XIII, developed clonal mature B-cell lineage lymphomas originating in the mesenteric lymph node (MLN). The incidence of disease in conventionally reared mice was 2-fold higher than for mice raised in a specific pathogen-free facility. The lymphomas often associated with large populations of macrophages and T cells. Lymphomas expressed little if any collagen XIII, suggesting that the effect of the mutation was B-cell extrinsic and likely to be associated with collagen XIII-positive tissues drained by the MLN. Studies of the small intestines of transgenic mice showed highly abnormal subepithelial basement membranes (BM), associated with heightened expression of genes involved in immune responses. These findings suggest that collagen XIII-dependent maintenance of the intestinal BM is a critical determinant of cancer susceptibility.
Collagen XIII exhibited a wide tissue distribution at the protein level, and the most intense expression was found in lung. Tissues contained 1-4 collagen XIII polypeptides, their size ranging between 78 and 102 kDa. Collagen XIII staining was detected in a restricted set of blood vessels in the liver, pancreas, adrenal gland, epididymis and brain. Moreover, Col13a1del transgene expression in the absence of endogenous collagen XIII proved to be deleterious for mouse embryonal development, leading to early fetal mortality.
Acta Universitatis Ouluensis. D, Medica
© University of Oulu, 2008. This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.

domain: biology


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Mother confesses to poisoning three children in Multan
A woman Friday confessed to killing her three children through poisoning due to poverty in Multan.
According to 24NewsHD TV Channel, the female accused, Sameera Bibi was a resident of Hamidpur Kanura, Multan, and poisoned her children with the help of her husband, Khadim Hussain yesterday (Thursday).
The husband and wife duo had poisoned their children over poverty.
According to Superintendent Police (SP) Cantt Kamran Amir, after the killing of children, Khadim Hussain also got depressed by his act and took the poison himself and died on the spot.
Sameera Bibi was arrested by the Multan police on the doubts raised by the brothers of Khadim Hussain.
SP Kamran Amir said the accused, Sameera Bibi, has confessed before the Multan police.
Multan Police also found a poisonous solution of medicine from the backyard of Sameera Bibi’s House in Hamidpur on her indications and sent it to a forensic laboratory as proof of the crime.
Anyhow, Superintendent Police (SP) Cantt Kamran Amir has given a clean chit to a quack named Dr. Saleem for his involvement in the case.


KATHMANDU — Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Tuesday went by Tribhuvan University Cricket Stadium in Kirtipur to encourage Nepali cricket team players.
Likewise, nearly 17,000 audiences have already reached the ground while many others are seen thronging there. The audiences are chanting phrase ‘Nepal Nepal’ with national flag on hand.
The Nepali team has witnessed slight change today. Sagar Pun is in team in place of Raju Rijal and Binod Bhandari is given the responsibility of wicket keeper.
Today’s Nepali team comprises Paras Khadka, Gyanendra Malla, Sharad Bheswakar, Shakti Gauchan, Basanta Regmi, Sompal Kami, Binod Bhandari, Rajesh Pulami Magar, Sagar Pun, Naresh Budhaer and Sandeep Lamichhane.
Earlier Nepal had made a superb start while defeating Namibia by 5 wickets in the first match of third round under the championship on last Saturday.
With this win Nepal’s dream to participate in the World Cup Cricket Selection to be held in Bangladesh in 2018 is alive.
Nirmala Panta rape, murder case : Locals protest after wrong suspect paraded
BHIMDUTTANAGAR — Locals who were protesting against the rape and murder of Nirmala Panta of Kanchanpur’s Bhimdatta Municipality, have enforced shutdown in Bhimduttanagar Bazaar on Tuesday, protesting police’s failure to reveal facts behind the murder of 13-year-old girl and parading wrong suspect on Monday.
The District Police Office, organising a press conference on Monday,had made public Dilip Singh Bista (41), of Baghphanta, Bhimdatta Municipality-19 as Nirmala’s murderer.
Locals have shut down the market area stating that police were not being able to make public the true murderer(s) as they are not convinced by the findings of police citing that Bista was mentally unsound, according to the District Police Office.
Transportation has also been halted.
Bista, a resident of Khanna Chauraha area in Bhimdutta Municipality-19, was apprehended near the scene of crime on Sunday, according to police.
Police making public the wrong suspect has infuriated the locals and fueled the protest.
The agitators including various civil society organisations and human rights defenders have been picketing the District Administration Office and staging rally on the street mounting pressure on the police to reveal the facts behind the heinous crime.
Meanwhile, it had been learnt that police have fired rounds of teargas shells to contain the agitated mob.
Nirmala was found murdered in a sugarcane field on July 27, a day after she had gone to her friend’s home to get a notebook.Follow @gorkhapost


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Minimally Invasive Surgery
Minimally invasive surgery lowers the amount of surgical incisions in order to cause less trauma to your body. Providing one of the most comprehensive minimally invasive surgical programs in the area, Tri-County is proud to offer convenient, first-class care close to home. Read on to find out more about minimally invasive surgery at TCHC, or click to find out about our general surgery capabilities.
Tri-Surgical Care at Tri-County Health Care offers a full range of minimally invasive procedures which provide the care our patients need close to home, so they can focus on healing.
The benefits of minimally invasive surgery are many. Patients often return home the same day and can expect a 2-3 week recovery period. Benefits include:
- Less pain
- Quicker recovery
- Shorter hospital stays
- Less scarring
Visit the list of minimally invasive procedures offered at Tri-County Health Care below. Ask you physician in minimally invasive surgery may be an option for you.
Before you come in for a surgery, be sure to click here to learn some tips on how to prep for surgery.
Meet our dedicated providers below:
Jennifer Arnhold, M.D., OB/GYN
David Kloss, M.D., FACS
Timothy Monson, M.D., MBA, FACS
Along with diagnostic laparoscopy, we provide the following minimally invasive procedures:
- LINX procedure
- Tubal ligations
- Pelvic organ prolapse surgery
- Endometrial ablation
- Adhesion lysis
- Vein ablation
- Breast biopsy
- Sentinel lymph node biopsy
- Hernia repair
- Nissen fundoplication
- Colon resection
Conditions which may also be candidates for minimally invasive surgery include:
- Ovarian cysts
- Bowel conditions
If you have an upcoming surgical procedure, ask your physician if there is a minimally invasive procedure appropriate for you.
Anesthesia services at Tri-County Health Care are provided by three certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs), and coverage is provided for all scheduled procedures and a 24-hour on-call basis. Anesthesia care is provided to patients of all ages, from newborns to seniors. Surgical anesthesia services include general, spinal and epidural anesthesia; various regional blocks as well as monitored anesthesia care (MAC sedation). In addition to surgical anesthesia, CRNAs provide:
- Resuscitation care in trauma and cardiac/respiratory codes
- MAC sedation for MRI/CT scans as needed (e.g., in case of claustrophobia)
- MAC sedation/analgesia for selected ER procedures (e.g., in pediatrics and dislocated joints)
- MAC sedation for upper GI endoscopy and colonoscopy
- Epidurals/Intrathecals for labor and delivery
- PICC lines
- Consultative services for pain management
- Regional blocks for orthopedic cases
- IV starts
Anesthesia care is provided in a safe and modern environment with state-of-the-art anesthesia machines and monitors. The newer BIS monitor is also available for monitoring the depth of anesthesia to assist in preventing recall under anesthesia. Each CRNA is certified bi-annually by the Council on Recertification of Nurse Anesthetists and maintains certification in adult and pediatric advanced cardiac life support and neonatal resuscitation.
Meet our dedicated staff:
Wendy Gravelle, CRNA
Joe Kreklau, CRNA
Keith Nelson, CRNA
Rachael Spear, CRNA


Susan Collins’ Approval Rating Continues to Plummet in New Poll
When Donald Trump was elected President, many Liberals held out hope that Susan Collins would be willing to stand up to him. The Maine senator, while a Republican, had to that point developed a reputation as a moderating voice willing to buck the party line.
And she did at times, voting against Trump’s repeal of the Affordable Care Act. More often that not, though, she has sided with Trump on things like the Brett Kavanaugh nomination and the President’s impeachment trial. According to a new poll from the Bangor Daily News, voters are not happy with her recent choices.
When asked why she was voting to acquit the President in February, she responded, “I hope the President has learned his lesson but we will have to see. It’s important that Congressional oversight will still be there and the President has said he does not like having the fact that he was impeached on his resume.”
The Bangor Daily News reports:
“The poll showed a further drop in approval for Republican Sen. Susan Collins since last fall, from 42 percent to 37 percent, while the share of voters who disapproved of her performance climbed to 52 percent, though her approval rating with Republican voters continued to rise. Independent Sen. Angus King remained popular, with 59 percent of voters approving of his performance.”
Democrats see the Maine seat as a major 2020 target. Collins will be squaring off in 2020 against Democratic candidate Sara Gideon. A poll conducted in March of 2020 showed Gideon with a 4 point lead over the incumbent senator.


This year’s campaign incorporates audio, visual and delectable treats to promote thoughtfulness on public transport
The Land Transport Authority kickstarted the Graciousness on Public Transport Campaign in 2009 to promote thoughtful acts and behaviour such as giving up seats, queuing in an orderly manner, and moving in for a more pleasant commute on public transport. Such gracious and considerate behaviour is embodied by The Thoughtful Bunch (Stand-up Stacey, Move-In Martin, Give-Way Glenda, Bag-Down Benny and Hush-Hush Hannah), ambassadors of our Graciousness Campaign for close to a decade
“It feels good to be Thoughtful!”
2. A thoughtful act can brighten up one’s day and generate feel-good vibes of positivity and joy. This year, the Graciousness on Public Transport Campaign 2023 “It feels good to be Thoughtful” invites commuters to celebrate the amazing feeling of being thoughtful. Launched by Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment & Ministry of Transport, Mr Baey Yam Keng earlier today, the Campaign wants to inspire commuters to be thoughtful during their daily commutes by contextualising the feel-good feelings they will enjoy for being gracious through the five senses.
3. In partnership with the Public Transport Operators, Public Transport Council (PTC) and Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM), the Campaign features a new series of Thoughtful Bunch visuals to encourage commuters to be gracious on their public transport journeys. These new vibrant visuals will be rolled out across public transport nodes, including sheltered walkways, MRT stations and on selected buses.