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Weathering of sulfide ores in model soils, potentially toxic element release and bioavailability
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The exploitation of metallic sulfide ores produces vast quantities of fine-grained wastes hosting potentially toxic elements (PTEs). There are concerns that, if improperly disposed of and managed, waste mineral particles can behave as vectors that disperse PTEs via aeolian and fluvial transport, subsequently contaminating soils and crops used to support human populations. The importance of these particles, as sources and influencers of PTE biogeochemistry in productive soils, has received limited research. Long-term (365 d) batch incubation experiments, field weathering experiments and phytoavailability trials, were performed to establish the rate, patterns and factors limiting PTE (Cd, As, Hg) release from grains of sphalerite (Zn(Fe,Cd)S), arsenopyrite (FeAsS) and cinnabar (HgS) into soil matrices (0.1 % mineral:soil m/m), and the bioavailability of the liberated PTEs to important food crops (Tricitum aestivum, wheat and Oryza sativa, rice). All three of the ores underwent chemical weathering in oxic agricultural soils of both temperate and sub-tropical provenance, during which nonessential PTEs (cadmium, mercury, arsenic) were released in bioavailable forms, at rates relevant to agricultural production. Sphalerite weathered at a rate of 0.6 to 1.2 % a-1 (Cd basis) in the experimental soils, releasing 0.5 to 1 μmol Cd g-1 ZnS a-1 into the soil matrix. Cinnabar weathering reached a maximum of 12.0 – 13.5 % (Hg basis) after 90 days exposure in oxic soils, whereas arsenopyrite weathering was rapid and extensive, reaching 56 to 66 % (S basis) after 180 days. The PTE concentrations accumulated in edible grains of wheat and rice grown in the sulfide-contaminated soils were higher than international food safety limits by factors of 8 (Cd in rice), 10 – 30 (Hg in wheat and rice) and 8 – 12 (As in wheat and rice). The primary geochemical factors controlling PTE release and bioavailability were solid-phase associations (i.e. PTEs complexed by clays, metal oxyhydroxides and organic matter) and the precipitation of secondary mineral phases. Weathering arsenopyrite grains were passivated from further oxidation by secondary iron-arsenate phases, which also co-precipitated arsenic liberated from the ore. Secondary phase formation was identified as the cause of decreasing extractable Hg (liberated from cinnabar) after mercury release from cinnabar peaked (≤ 90 days exposure). For sphalerite, the evidence indicates that secondary sulfide phases formed under flooded (sulfate-reducing) soil conditions (paddy rice), limited the bioavailability of cadmium previously liberated under oxic conditions. These key findings demonstrate a potential human health hazard relating to the dispersal of PTE-hosting sulfide ore particles produced by mining activities into soils supporting human populations via crop contamination. This work also highlights differences in ore geochemistry, showing the need for additional research on different ore minerals and their alteration products.
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domain: chemistry


Next summer, at his 50th high school reunion, Christopher Pike thinks he might go and finally say something about what he’s been doing since graduation. “I’m curious to see who’s alive and what they did with their lives,” he says But he’s also interested in returning to his suburban LA hometown to admit his poorly kept secret: He’s the author of several best-selling YA novels beloved by teens all through the ’90s and early 2000s.
“It’s funny,” Pike says. At his 20th high school reunion, the last one he attended, “they had a vote for who was the ‘Most Successful’ in life… like a competition. It was interesting to see. I imagine at the 50th anniversary, it will be more intense.” The winner back then was a woman who had become a well-respected surgeon and developed some new medical techniques. “I thought it was really cool, what she had done,” he says, and I can almost hear him smiling on the other end of the line. “But maybe at my 50th anniversary, I'll say, yeah, I had a show on Netflix.”
Yes, you should say that, I tell him. Absolutely yes. It’s a huge accomplishment for one of the defining architects of my pre-teen reading experience—a time spent spelunking in second-hand bookstores for his gloriously risque thrillers about murderous love triangles, horny football stars, cursed VCRs, and time-traveling aliens. The Netflix show is an adaptation of his 1994 horror/mystery novel The Midnight Club, helmed by Mike Flanagan and Leah Fong; Pike serves as an executive producer. Flanagan, the creator of Netflix shows like Midnight Mass and The Haunting of Hill House, is a Pike superfan. He’s spent years trying to make this adaptation happen, and now, it finally has.
The Midnight Club revolves around Ilonka, a precocious teen who gets diagnosed with a terminal form of cancer. At a hospice that cares for young people, she discovers that her fellow patients have a secret nighttime ritual where they tell each other horror stories, bound together by a solemn group pact. Known as the Midnight Club, Ilonka learns that it has been around for decades, a tradition started by previous residents at the hospice. When one member inevitably passes on, they must reach out from beyond the veil to prove that there’s something—anything—after death. But as Ilonka starts digging around into the history of her new home, things start to get weird.
The story behind The Midnight Club was drawn from Pike's own experience with a fan. In the 1990s he corresponded with a terminally ill girl who was part of a book club at her hospital that discussed his work; that book club would directly inspire his novel, which he started working on. But “I did not finish [writing] it in time for her,” he says. “She died before I finished it.” He remembers offering her an advance copy of the almost-finished manuscript, but she turned it down. “I sometimes wondered, if I had actually seen her, I would have said no, read it now, read 90 percent of it now,” he says wistfully.
When Pike decided to turn his fan’s nocturnal reading club into the premise for a novel, he knew he couldn’t have the kids discussing his own books within it. But Flanagan and Fong’s adaptation is going all in on the Christopher Pike catalog: Each episode will tell a story from one of his other books, which Pike had a hand in shortlisting. “I remember [Flanagan] wanted Monster, Whisper of Death, and Remember Me,” says Pike, who declined because he wants to preserve these novels for potential future adaptations. “So I set aside 10 that he could use that were appropriate to the story. Like Witch, Road to Nowhere—you read these books, and it’s obvious why they would be part of the Midnight Club, why the kids would be talking about them at midnight, if they were in a hospice and they were suffering a terminal disease.”
It makes sense why Flanagan wanted to adapt those books. Stories like Witch are high school dramas turned up to 11, with doomed love triangles and melodramatic teen stereotypes reminiscent of 1980s John Hughes movies. Witch, for instance, is about a girl with supernatural healing powers who gets a little too involved in trying to prevent the future; Road to Nowhere follows a cagey runaway high schooler who turns out to be a less-than-reliable narrator. They’re fine examples of Pike’s juiced-up approach to teen characterization, which (usually, at least for an adult reader) requires both a generous suspension of disbelief and the understanding that the books were produced when America’s social values were still staggering out of the Reagan era.
Flanagan has taken some creative liberties with a few of the stories for The Midnight Club. Gimme a Kiss, Pike’s 1988 novel about a vengeful teen whose diary gets spread all over school, is transformed into a stylized black-and-white genre piece, for instance; Flanagan and co. also tweaked some of its more dated (albeit stereotypical, purposefully hyperbolized) views on sex and its consequences.
This is the kind of change that some viewers may appreciate, however. Digging through a couple of old-school Pike fan blogs, some folks who revisited his books felt like their themes haven’t “held up” over time. Given that some of them were written in the mid-to-late ’80s, a modern reader may or may not be comfortable with how issues like AIDS, queerness, and abortion were discussed back then. This isn’t to say Pike isn’t aware of how his books may have aged; in a 2019 interview, he discussed the overwhelming whiteness of his characters and rigid beauty ideals that were the norm in American YA publishing.
That said, I’m not sure ’90s teen horror is something that’s supposed to age with us—nor is it possible to simply retcon stories produced in such a culturally homogenous but specific time without losing all sense of social and historical context. Pike was writing books for young people in an era when Sweet Valley High was a primary fictional ideal for a generation of young (Western) readers. We were aspiring to belong to a place where popular kids were extra petty and prickly, and nobody really accepted things like mental illness or eating disorders.
“I don’t know if the books would be the same,”says Pike, when I ask him if he feels like there’s a uniquely ’90s generational quality to his books, or if they had been written during another era. “There was something right then about the internet just starting. No one used the phrase ‘social media’… and we didn't have people walking around with cellphones. It was a different time, and I think the books fit the time.” He’s not wrong; he did, after all, write a whole trilogy about a chain letter, an analog social phenomenon that you’d find difficult to explain to a kid today.
Pike’s work may have exemplified the pre-internet anxiety of that era, but his brand of YA deviated a lot from that of his contemporaries. His often caustic, pulpy voice elevated his books above the average high school fare; for instance, Pike did not shy away from the grim comedy of a rapist accidentally shooting off his own dick, or the incredibly reality-show-premise idea of two ancient goddesses possessing two teen girls to continue a prolonged fight. One of my favorite lines lies buried in the middle of The Last Vampire 2: Black Blood, when the protagonist Sita discusses a plan of attack with her lover Ray.
He nods. “Sounds like a piece of cake.”
“No. It’s a baked Alaska.” I study the structure and nod. “They’ll burn.”
The book covers definitely helped him to stand out, too: deliciously theatrical scenes of terror and isolation brought to life by artists like Brian Kotzky, who illustrated did more than 100 covers for The Hardy Boys. Kotzky’s amazing cover for The Eternal Enemy is my favorite, featuring a startled girl watching television while a Jean-Luc Picard-type stranger in a black turtleneck zones in behind the set, it’s one part ’90s pulp painting, one part Twilight Zone, with an Animorphs-style effect that adds a bit of camp to the mood. This particular generation of Pike’s books, published by Archway/Pocket Books, invokes such instant visual sentimentality that Netflix kept the signature font for The Midnight Club’s title card.
His storytelling was the biggest draw of all, of course. While his love of science fiction endured in books like The Starlight Crystal and The Tachyon Web—still focusing on teens, but with time travel, aliens, and cold hard technology—Pike’s work ran across the genre spectrum. I was particularly fond of The Last Vampire series, a six-book saga that kicks off with centuries-old vampire Sita masquerading as a high schooler; the story was inspired by Indian philosophies and concepts of rebirth and reincarnation. As a hormonal kid hypnotized by the allure of unrealized love against a backdrop of semi-automatic gunfire and human body parts, I didn’t even question the whole “Sita, a blonde white girl, was born in India” thing. To my young lizard brain who just wanted to get through puberty, Christopher Pike was the Wong Kar-wai of doomed, impossible romances, infused with soap-opera level twists and turns.
Most of his books, though, focus on the impossible drama of being a teenager, and ran the gamut from weekend getaways gone wrong and horny diaries to time-traveling aliens and cursed statues. There are drugs and murder schemes and cult rituals. But Pike also has this very matter-of-fact, even droll approach to discussing death and dysfunction in ways that I hadn’t encountered before as a preteen.
When I tell him that I read his books around 12 or 13, he asks, thoughtfully and without judgment, if my parents knew (they didn’t). “I began to realize pretty quickly that there were kids out there that were your age or even younger [reading the books], and that kind of scared me,” he admits. “Maybe scared is the wrong word—it inhibits you a little bit, because that’s not the audience that’s supposed to be reading the book.”
Pike had started writing around 1979, six years before his YA debut Slumber Party. At first, he focused on science fiction and horror. His initial goal was writing for adults—or, at least, not specifically for young adults. (Flanagan is also developing one of Pike’s few published adult novels, 1992’s The Season of Passage, into a film.) But it took him years to get his work out there. In the mid-1980s, however, everything changed when his agent told him a publisher was looking for YA thrillers.
”This was after five or six years of trying to get published, so I was very frustrated and I thought I would never get published at that point,” Pike says. “I was about to quit trying. And that was when I sat down and wrote Slumber Party. I didn't know anything about writing teen books. But I saw there was basically more freedom to do more—I don’t want to say preposterous things—but the intensity of emotions you can have seemed more believable with young adults than adults.”
While Pike’s fiction is filled with incredibly anxious, life-threatening scenarios for his hormonal protagonists—The Midnight Club has a particularly potent mix of young, volatile feelings mired in inescapable, impending death—his own recollections of high school paint him as more of a quiet observer.
“I was rather shy, so I never went on a date in high school,” he says. “I went on a date two days after I graduated high school. I ran track, though, and cross country. I also played basketball for a while on the team.” He remembers putting a real disagreement he had with his coach into a scene in his Final Friends series. “There was a character named Michael, and he was trying to convince the coach at halftime that you’re just letting this one guy shoot, he shoots all the time, we’re not running any plays,” he recalls. “And I don’t think it was well received.” High school was also when he got into meditation and yoga after reading Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha; these are practices that he continues today to help him write.
Even now, Pike is still very much drawn to the incomparable intensity of young feelings. He’s working on three novels, two of which are YA. “I’ve been sort of storing them up,” he says. “One of them’s part of a series. I envision that the series could be anything from three to 10 books.” It seems that the emotional turmoil of teenhood is something that stays the same, no matter the social and cultural generational context.
It’s fitting, then, that Pike should head back to his old high school and finally get his moment in the sun. He encourages me to call him back next summer so he can tell me how his 50th reunion went—despite his longtime preference for privacy, perhaps this fresh crop of big-screen adaptations will jolt his old classmates into seeing him with fresh eyes. “At the 20-year high school reunion, I remembered everybody’s name. And I was stunned when there would be people in the class that I ran track with, and they go, ‘No, I don’t remember you,’” he says. “And I’d say, I remember every race we had against each other. I remember the time we finished the cross-country course… so I imagine it will be 1,000 times worse at the 50th.”
There’s something poignant about the way Pike—a man known for Remember Me, a story about ghosts among us—wove his literary legacy from a constellation of people who don’t even recall his name. Hopefully The Midnight Club will help jog their memories, and admiration, a bit. But come next June, if Pike’s alumni liaisons still haven’t put two and two together, maybe we’ll get a new kind of horror book.


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States and large municipalities across the United States are engaged in a review of their energy codes for residential construction with an eye toward adopting updated energy conservation requirements. They’re doing it because the federal government is offering more than $1 billion in incentives.
But there are choices to be made as two separately funded programs are offering grants for energy code updates. NAHB members and HBAs have an opportunity to help guide state and local decision-making.
- The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), signed in November 2021, provides $225 million ($45 million per year from FY22 through FY26) for the Department of Energy’s Resilient and Efficient Codes Implementation (RECI) program for states to adopt updated energy codes, without specifying an edition. This means if a state is currently on the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), for example, if it moves to the 2018 edition, it may be eligible for a grant.
- The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law in August 2022, provides $1 billion to support state and local governments’ adoption of the most recent energy codes, which currently is the 2021 IECC. Only moves to the 2021 IECC will be funded.
It’s important that NAHB members and HBAs emphasize that there is no need for a state to update its energy codes in most cases. Adopting new building codes is expensive, as building departments need to update their procedures, resources and training, which is why federal money was appropriated to help, and can be confusing for both builders and building officials. And increased energy conservation requirements, which always cost more upfront, do not offer home owners the paybacks they are promised.
But if a state must take grant money, NAHB members and HBAs should encourage state and local governments to apply for IIJA (RECI) money rather than IRA money because the infrastructure bill funding does not mandate the adoption of the 2021 edition of the IECC.
The first round of applications for infrastructure bill funding are due March 27, 2023. But this is just the first cycle of funding that will last at least five years. It is important to engage your state’s energy offices and officials.
Funding applications that have partnerships are given preference. The Department of Energy specifically lists “associations of builders and design and construction professionals,” such as state and local HBAs in the NAHB Federation, as acceptable partners for states on applications.
Engage your state and local officials and HBAs now to see if there is an opportunity to partner on an application. Check out these NAHB resources to see which version of the IECC your state currently uses and for more information on partnering with states.

domain: law


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During the end of infertility, and the beginning of looking towards what my life would be like if my family was built through adoption, was when I started to scour the internet for other women in my position.
My cousin had been adopted. I had a few friends who were also adopted. I, however, didn’t know anyone my age going through what I was going through. None of my peers were building their families through adoption. I was missing the road map of what adoption looks like today and what open adoption is like for people actually living it. I wanted to know what women who had placed children were thinking. I was hungry for knowledge and connection. This experience was one of the first of many times when I looked around me and realized the importance of sharing your journey along with the importance of having a community that supports you and whose lives look a little bit like yours.
I have found countless role models in the adoption community. It took me some time to find the people who shared my beliefs, who had walked the road before me and lived to tell about it. I am now thrilled to share some of them with you and some of what they have taught me along the way.
My biggest fear at one point was I would always be an ‘adoptive mom’. Kristen’s family is built partly through adoption. That’s how I found her in the first place. When reading about her life, it tells me that adoption can be a part of your story. It is only a part. You are actually a mom whose children happen to have been adopted. Your children are simply your children. Adoption may have been how you all were brought together, but it doesn’t fully define your relationship.
You can google how to adopt a baby a million times and you will find some lists about steps to take. However, the literal moment you see that baby who will over time become yours is a tough image to find on the internet. I was perplexed about the whole ‘what is it going to be like walking into a hospital as a couple and leaving as a family of three’. Would I actually be a mom or just a caregiver? Would it be magical or more like a process? Would time stop and pause for the moment when I saw my son’s first breath? Or are all of the magic life-changing first moments only for biological parents? I really didn’t know. This is how I found Shelley. She allowed me to see the magic in adoption and the humanity in the process. I had kind of lost myself in the process; all of the paperwork, the stretching, the growing, the acceptance of things most parents never even think about. It was tough. When I watched via the internet as Shelley’s daughters joined their family, it was magic. Time stopping magic. It gave me hope that there would be simple magic for my family too.
Openness in adoption is pretty common these days, but what the heck does that even mean? We had attended all the classes. We were ready. But what the heck do you do in an open adoption? I understood and agreed to obviously tell the child they had been adopted. I was cool with sending pictures, setting up a calendar of updates and what not, but was it really going to be an obligation for the rest of my life? The answer is no. In a really great open adoption, you will actually have a relationship with your child’s birth family. The relationship has the potential to be fulfilling and healing for you as the adoptive parent. It is more than possible to have a beautiful relationship with the people who knew your child first. People actually do. Lindsey showed me this.
Finding role models in the adoption community has been so important to me.
Who are your adoption role models?

domain: literature


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Gutter Twins: Saturnalia
At the Hullabaloo show in Silver Lake, former Afghan Whigs frontman Greg Dulli gave up the goods on his upcoming collaboration with former Screaming Trees singer Mark Lanegan. The Gutter Twins, as the Nineties rock stalwarts are calling themselves, have almost wrapped the tentatively titled Saturnalia. “My favorite track is ‘All Misery,'” said Dulli. “I think it’s some of the best vocals Mark’s ever done. He’s one of my favorite singers of all time, so that’s going pretty deep.” And the album as a whole? “It will challenge your emotions like few things have since Berlin. And I’m not talking about Terri Nunn’s Berlin? . . .

domain: news


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Boris Karloff: The Heart of a Monster
In 1931 Universal Pictures released one of its definite horror films, Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff. Born William Henry Pratt in a London suburb, Karloff did not come to Hollywood to do niche films. Still, he didn’t seem to mind his place as a horror icon. His role as Frankenstein’s monster transformed him from an average character actor into a star. Karloff’s characters, whether it is a science experiment gone wrong or a malevolent mummy, are based on the idea that “hearts of gold” beat beneath ugly or monstrous exteriors. This idea paired with Karloff ‘s physical presence and emotional resonance grounded his characters in our reality. A closer look at Karloff’s physical and emotional presence in films such as Frankenstein and The Mummy (1932) can explain his long-lasting and well deserved fame.
After the success of Dracula (1931), Universal quickly began work on its next big horror picture. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein seemed like a natural choice. Originally, Universal wanted fellow horror star Bela Lugosi for the role of the monster. Lugosi was not particularly interested in the role, mainly due to the lack of lines. Lugosi was able to decline on the condition that he would “furnish” an actor for the part. Cue William Pratt who had since employed a stage name, Boris Karloff. Karloff met with the makeup artist Jack Pierce and was offered the part shortly after. In 1967 Karloff said, “I had no idea the importance of the role, but Jack Pierce did: he stalled the test two weeks while working on makeup, and the makeup sold the part.” While the makeup would solidify the image of the monster in public consciousness, it is Karloff’s performance underneath that makes it remarkable.
Frankenstein tells the story of a mentally unhinged doctor who wants to create life. Paired with his assistant Igor, Dr. Frankenstein takes tissue from the dead to create a new human being. The doctor is successful, but shortly after he regrets that success, as he thinks the creature is flawed and ugly. Dr. Frankenstein did not understand that the child-like innocence of his creation makes him confused within his new surroundings. The monster does not know his own strength. He doesn’t understand right from wrong. Thanks to Karloff, the monster is a sympathetic creature and not a bloodthirsty monster.
As stated earlier, Karloff did not have any lines, at least not in this performance. Everything was pantomimed. In order for audiences to feel sympathy for a monster with no lines Karloff had to rely on his facial expressions and movements.
In Karloff’s first appearance in the film, the monster is under a sheet surrounded by Dr. Frankenstein and his hunchbacked assistant. Karloff’s movements are slow at first. He sits up, straightens his body, and looks to the light out the window. Much like a newborn baby, the monster freaks out at that which he doesn’t understand. When the monster can’t get to the light, his face clearly shows his frustration. He holds out his hands, pleading. In this scene, Karloff is positing the idea that the monster is baby, a baby in a body much too big and powerful for him.
The image of a small baby in a big body is illustrated again in a later scene. When the monster escapes his abusive father, Dr. Frankenstein, he meets a young girl throwing flowers in the lake. The blonde little girl is friendly, the picture of innocence, and not at all terrified by the lumbering monster approaching her. Soon the monster and the child are playing a game, tossing flowers into the lake. It’s a small thing, but the enjoyment is clear on his face. He smiles, sort of, and squeals in excitement. The little girl smiles as she allows the monster to play. But when the flowers run out the monster is confused. He looks to the little girl and thinks. “Oh, I can toss you!” Slowly, he reaches for her. For the first time in their meeting she is terrified. She screams as he pushes her into the water. The monster thinks this is all in good fun, he doesn’t think he’s doing anything wrong. until she stops moving. The monster panics, “What does this mean?!” In fright and confusion he runs off completely lost in an unkind world.
The success of Frankenstein gave the go ahead for several sequels. Karloff reprised the role as the monster in The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and the Son of Frankenstein (1939). Karloff got speaking lines in the Bride of Frankenstein. This was a very different monster than the monster in the first film. While not as memorable at his first go around, his performance still holds up today. It’s all thanks to the humanity and pathos he imbued in the first film, that he was able to take the character to new heights. Karloff continued to bring compassion to monsters in The Mummy (1932).
The Mummy tells the story of an ancient Egyptian priest, Imhotep (Karloff,) who is revived when an archaeological expedition finds Imhotep’s mummy. Imhotep was mummified alive for attempting to resurrect his forbidden love, a princess. The expedition is led by Sir Joseph Whemple, portrayed by Arthur Byron, and it’s Whemple’s assistant that wakes up Imhotep from his long slumber by reading an ancient life-giving scroll out loud. Once awakened, Imhotep searches for the modern reincarnation of the princess whom he loved. The villain of the piece, Karloff brings his own unique take on the historical figure.
Imhotep seems to be based on the same Romantic image as Bela Lugosi’s Count Dracula. Imhotep and Count Dracula have a hypnotic appeal to them that captivates women of all creeds. Karloff plays Imhotep as a tortured soul with a dark past. Through Karloff’s expressions and voice he gives the impression of being noble and having suffered much loss. Unlike Frankenstein’s monster, Imhotep is almost immobile, but the lack of movement attributes to his fragility and age. The clumsiness and childish air Karloff had brought to Frankenstein’s monster are replaced with grace and maturity. Another thing that sets Imhotep apart from the monster is his voice. Karloff had a low growling voice. Author Paul M. Jensen describes his voice as filled with “meaningful pauses, accented syllables, and the hollow cultured tone of time and infinite sorrow.” It’s these acting choices that carry Imhotep’s humanity. As the monster of the piece, Imhotep does many frightening things. He kills innocent people and unlike Frankenstein’s monster, Imhotep does this on purpose. He will take down anyone who will prevent him from finding his true love.
Despite his murderous ways, we as an audience are wary of him but we are not without sympathy. In one scene, the modern incarnation of his princess pleads for her life. Imhotep wants to reunite his princess’s soul with a new body. But this would mean the incarnation’s death. She pleads for her life. Imhotep, although mostly immobile, expresses a lot with his rigid movement. He always looks his princess in the eyes and he looms over her protectively. He says, “All I ask is for a moment of agony, only so we can be reunited.” Because he has loved so much and so deeply we can’t completely fault him for his behavior.
In another scene, when the reincarnated princess recalls her past life, she begs for forgiveness from the gods. Imhotep looms behind with a knife in hand. As he approaches her, his power begins to fade. The gods are protecting the princess. As this is happening, you can see Karloff’s face crumple. You see that he knows he’s going to die again. In his last shot, you see him slowly close his eyes and wait. He is resigning himself to die and that is incredibly sad. Although he went about things in a terrible way, he did so out of love and compassion.
Through characters like Frankenstein’s monster and Imhotep we are shown a despicable monster. But with a steady and more careful glance you will realize there is more to these characters. Karloff takes the monsters of our nightmares and gives them hopes, dreams, and a reality. They feel like real people, because they are. And we as an audience respect that and admire that. Karloff is not a horrific monster but a monster with a “heart of gold.”
What do you think? Leave a comment.
Cagney, this was a terrific analysis. I’ve yet to watch any of the classic Universal horror films (I think I may have watched Dracula and The Invisible Man), but you bring to light a lot of interesting points concerning Karloff’s portrayal of these monsters. Though they are grotesque and at times malevolent, there is a purpose that resides within them; a goal that they want to attain so that they may add meaning to their lives. That’s really great stuff. It makes me lament, to some degree, the current state of the horror film. Most modern films either have a human psychopath or a supernatural entity as the villain, but the one thing they have in common is that they are completely without sympathy. We don’t really care about Freddy, Jason, or whatever Demon is possessing someone because they are the incarnation of pure evil. And while that may be fun in a campy sort of way, it also hampers the movies ability to create pathos for the villain. It seems as though this is something that the classic films got right; by giving us a character with thoughts and feelings, they feel more real. Again, this was a fun article. I’ll be sure to check out Frankenstein and The Mummy some time.
Thank you for kind words! I agree most modern horror films don’t bother with creating a sympathetic monster. I guess to modern audiences pure evil is scarier than a more human evil. I hope you enjoy the Mummy and Frankenstein!
He gave a lot of good performances, but here I would like to acknowledge his cameo appearance in the 1947 film noir “Lured”. It’s one of my favorite cameos ever!
Karloff was typecast as a horror film actor and, indeed, those were his bread and butter roles for the most part. The fact remains, however, that he was one of the finest actors who ever lived. He could play a homicidal body snatcher in one film and a grandfatherly scientist in another. A cold blooded satanist in The Black Cat and Captain Hook in Peter Pan.
You have to be one of the best to be able to be versatile.
Great tribute. He deserved recognition as much as any other worthy actor.
He and Lon Chaney were supreme at their craft.
He never regretted being typecast in any of his roles. Something that many actors are afraid.
Hell of an actor. Hell of a gentleman. I’ve seen all of his movies.
Heck of an actor, heck of an analysis! Thanks for sharing!
We now have a body of actors who are used to working under heavy prosthetics, make up, and “suits”, but Karlof, Lugosi, and Chaney were very much forging a new artform with their acting work in that era. The acting in silent films was often broadly telegraphed and unsubtle, so it’s really remarkable that Karlof and the others were able to bring such nuance to their work. I agree with the other commentors — we could use that level of delicacy in more fx work today.
greatest horror actor in the history of movies. did it without all the special effects of today.there’s never been another one like him.
Fantastic article, you clearly have a deep insight into Karloff’s acting abilities.
Thanks for writing about Boris Karloff – he is one of my all time favorite movie monster actors. I also though he did a great job as the voice and narrator of How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
It is true, as you say, that Karloff got speaking lines in the Bride of Frankenstein. But he didn’t want them. He felt that the creation should not be able to speak. The director thought differently, so he had lines.
Lovely piece, however there is a major if understandable error in the illustration. That Monster drinking tea is not Boris Karloff, nor did it– not even “him” — even exist in 1931. This is a full-sized original sculpture by the brilliant Mike Hill done about 5 years ago.
Karloff’s cosmetics in Frankenstein look surprisingly advanced for 1931. This seems to illustrate that cosmetic designs for live action movies have not fundamentally changed in eighty years.

domain: entertainment


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Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Israel’s TA-25 Index increased to the highest level since Dec. 5, gaining 1.2 percent to 1,099.18 at 4:30 p.m. close in Tel Aviv. The measure has declined 17 percent this year. Investors traded about 971 million shekels ($256 million) of shares and convertible securities, according to bourse data.
The following stocks rose or fell today. Symbols are in parenthesis.
Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL IT) rose the most since Dec. 15, gaining 2.4 percent to 36.70 shekels. Israel’s Finance Ministry said that Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. is seeking to raise its stake in the company that extracts minerals from the Dead Sea. Parent company Israel Corp. (ILCO IT) rose 2.8 percent to 2,300 shekels, the highest level since Dec. 7. Separately Israel Corp. said a unit won a $700 million tender to supply electricity in Peru for 10 years.
Scailex Corp. (SCIX IT) declined 3.9 percent to 16 shekels, its lowest close since October 2003. The importer of mobile handsets said it’s in talks to sell a 50 percent stake in its cellular operations for 300 million shekels.
--Editors: Claudia Maedler, Tim Farrand
To contact the reporter on this story: Shoshanna Solomon in Tel Aviv at firstname.lastname@example.org
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Maedler at email@example.com


Japan, Brazil to cooperate on infrastructure development
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Brazilian President Michel Temer toasts as he attends a luncheon hosted by the Keidanren, Japan's largest business lobby, in Tokyo, Japan, October 19, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
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By Minami Funakoshi and Kiyoshi Takenaka
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan on Wednesday agreed with Brazil to jointly explore Japanese infrastructure investment opportunities in South America's biggest economy as Brazilian President Michel Temer looks to foreign investment to pull out of a deep recession.
Under the agreement, Japanese and Brazilian officials will hold discuss cooperation in investment in areas such as transport, logistics, information technology and energy.
"Brazil represents a chance for Japan. In particular, there is a large investment opportunity in the area of infrastructure," Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a joint news conference with Temer.
"I'm really glad we've managed to agree to launch talks on infrastructure development."
Details such as when the first consultations will be held had not been decided, a foreign ministry official said.
Temer last month launched a sweeping plan to auction off licenses to operate oil and gas, electricity and infrastructure projects in an attempt to boost private investment and pull the Brazil’s economy out of its deepest recession since the 1930s.
His center-right government plans to sell concessions for private companies to operate airports and railways and build roads and port terminals needed to ship out exports by the South American agricultural powerhouse.
Temer, making the first visit to Japan by a Brazilian head of state in 11 years, is also on a mission to repair ties frayed by his predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, who twice canceled official visits to Japan.
Earlier on Wednesday, Temer told a business lobby that there was "much potential" in investing in his country's airport, oil and gas sectors.
"By talking to Japanese business executives, I've learned that they are very interested in the investment partnership plan Brazil is promoting, and that they are seriously looking into participating," Temer told the same news conference.
Besides the aim of attracting Japanese investment in Brazilian infrastructure, Temer also hopes Japan's markets will be opened to Brazilian commodities such as beef and fruit.
Japan poured $23.59 billion in direct investment into Brazil as at the end of 2015, according to Japan External Trade Organization.
Currently, the import of fresh Brazilian beef to Japan is largely blocked. Brazil's Agriculture Ministry said on Tuesday it hoped to boost its share of Japan's beef and fruit market in mid-2017.
Separately, the Brazilian leader said his country was aiming to mend its national balance sheet and cap state expenditure, adding it was important for Brazil's central bank to stabilize prices and control inflation.
Temer's government has warned that Latin America's largest country could follow Greece's path to financial meltdown if spending is not controlled.
(Editing by Eric Meijer & Shri Navaratnam)
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Holiday season is here and this is the time families and friends come together. This year nearly every family has been affected by 2020 in a very major way. It’s been tough for everyone. Times are getting harder and help comes a long way.
Burns Original BBQ has teamed up with 1501 Certified and BossLife to make efforts in helping ones in need by giving a Community Thanksgiving Dinner for the city of Houston. Hot turkey and dressing dinners were served in Acres Homes Community on the north side of Houston.
As families line up to get food, Burns Original BBQ are geared up to give back and serve. Every year, the community awaits for this very special event. The community embraces Burns Bbq and friends’ assistance. What was so amazing is to see the smiles on everyone face. Burns Original Bbq and their team works hard to make sure everyone received a meal to take home. It was refreshing to see the teamwork. There was also hand sanitizers given out to everyone from Smoke Shield.
Carl Crawford, CEO of 1501 Certified gathers his team as they join forces with his family, Burns Bbq to bring out dinner plates for the people. His team was very adamant to help in any way possible to make this event a success. Carl Crawford is commended for his hard work, dedication, and sincere heart. He brightened up the entire time, giving thanks to be able to help his community, family and friends.
There were many special guests who came to support the community dinner. In attendance, Slim Thug, Erica Banks, PeeSupreme,Baby Bash, Stunna Bam, Og Ron C, Houston Representatives, Southern Heat Entertainment, Talents of Zenobia, Cynthia Bailey, and many more. The mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner also came to support. The mayor brightens up as he sees the people of the community show much gratitude for Burns Bbq work. The mayor shares with us why he is so thankful this year. He states that with all that we endured this year, us as a community still have a reason to smile. It’s been a tough year for everyone, but still we can smile and continue to see a bright future. The mayor shares that no matter what, he will never forget where he comes from. This is what made him who he is today.
It’s always great to see the community come together. Burns Bbq brings everyone one in as family no matter who they are. This was shown throughout the entire day. What this day shown us is that no matter the storm and the resilience in the face of adversity, our God has us covered. It showed faith has been strengthened. As we are going into the new year, things changed drastically. No matter the crazy things that are happening at this time, continue to show love, support, and care. The community as a whole will overcome these hard times. Giving thanks actually helps release the tension from the bodies. When you see nothing but hurt and heartaches, how can you still give thanks? By looking through a new lens. A lens of victory and faith. The God that is within us allows us to give thanks. So no matter what you may go through, ask yourself what you thankful for? You will have a brighter day!


ESG Clarity is delighted to announce a joint initiative with Square Mile Investment Consulting & Research named ESG Pathway, an educational forum and webinar series for the IFA community
Despite a strong rising interest in ESG investing across the investment industry, recent research carried out by Square Mile concluded considerable educational work needs to be carried out in the adviser sector where nearly half of an 184-strong pool of IFAs surveyed said they were unaware of mandatory MiFID II changes that determines ESG needs to be part of their suitability processes.
In response, ESG Clarity and Square Mile have worked together to create ESG Pathway; an interactive series of webinars that will expand dialogue between advisers, asset managers and independent expert commentators, while also giving a voice to the IFA community.
Beginning in September, there will be four live virtual events chaired by industry experts from Square Mile including managing director Richard Romer-Lee and senior investment consultant Jake Moeller, and ESG Clarity group editor Julian Marr and editor Natalie Kenway, as well as Last Word Media’s editorial director Lawrence Gosling and content editor Adam Lewis.
The virtual events will explore the following topics:
- An IFAs perspective on ESG: Educating clients and demystifying the key elements when selecting funds and groups.
- The platform debate: What are the three questions you need to ask your platform provider and how are platforms planning to better serve ESG info?
- Ask the expert: Live interactive forum for advisers to pose questions to asset manager experts.
- Ratings and rankings: Cutting through the noise.
- Asset manager debate: How are groups evidencing their ESG credentials?
- Climate change: What data is available and should be used?
- Diversity and Inclusion.
- What do tomorrow’s funds look like?
- Meet the experts on compliance.
Ten asset managers have signed up to support the initiative these are: Kames Capital, Janus Henderson, Fidelity International, Federated Hermes, JP Morgan Asset Management, Schroders, L&G Investment Management, 7IM, Aberdeen Standard Investments, Jupiter, and BNY Mellon.
As part of the initiative, ESG Clarity will also be following up the series with more educational elements on its website including reports, research and videos.
Steve Kenny, commercial director at Square Mile, said: “When we spoke to both asset managers and IFAs, it was clear that everyone recognises the integration of ESG, be it into a centralised investment process or within an asset management business, is a journey.
“The idea of ESG Pathway is to find a way through the fog, for want of a better expression, to enable them to integrate ESG and responsible investing into their centralised investment proposition to help clients get better solutions.
“When considering the idea of providing a forum on ESG and responsible investments the obvious choice was ESG Clarity. The publication is managed to strike the right note in providing its audience with sensible, understandable communications on the subject of ESG. It is helping inform the audience on this issue as we enter 2021 and the inevitable changes to the suitability requirements under the MiFID regulations.
“The benefit to Square Mile of working on ESG Pathway is helping IFAs to understand the importance of this issue, but also to help them develop investment solutions to meet the need of the audience.”
Patrick Ponsford, managing director at ESG Clarity’s parent firm Last Word Media, added: “We are delighted to be partnering with Square Mile on this initiative to fulfil the needs of advisers looking to further their education and understanding of ESG investing and integration.
“Having established ESG Clarity for European fund selectors in 2017 – a time when many investors were still sceptical about the benefits of responsible investing – we are well-placed to provide expert commentary, debate and product/company knowledge through our in-depth analysis of key industry trends, editorial panel of leading industry commentators, Last Word Research, and Responsible Ratings Index.
“Combining this with Square Mile’s extensive research and considerations of ESG integration at the company and fund level, we believe ESG Pathway is a vital addition to our expanding ESG virtual events suite to serve the needs of the adviser audience.”
Save the date
ESG Pathway is series of four live virtual events lasting no more than two hours from 10am to 12pm BST on the following dates:
- Thursday 24 September
- Wednesday 14 October
- Wednesday 4 November
- Tuesday 8 December
Advisers wishing to register their interest for the webinars can email email@example.com.


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Congressman Williams: ‘6 Months of Tax Reform’
WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman Roger Williams (R-Austin), released the following statement Wednesday, the 6-month anniversary of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act:
“As a small business owner for my entire working life, I spent the past three terms in Congress fighting for tax cuts that would allow for Main Street to begin breathing again,” said Rep. Williams. “In the last six months since Republicans in Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, it is evident that American families and businesses are feeling its impact on every street corner.
“Small business optimism is at an all-time high across Texas’ 25th District, and around the nation, due to employers increasing their workforce, reinvesting into their operations, and raising wages. As a result, over one million jobs have been created, which has brought unemployment down to 3.8 percent – the lowest in years.
“All of this is great, but we’re not done yet. I am continuing to work to strengthen the economy and make tax cuts permanent for families and workers. We will fight year after year to make America more competitive, and to keep our tax code simpler, flatter, and fairer. “
# # #


The Pollinator Partnership (P2) advocates S.H.A.R.E. (simply have areas reserved for the environment) approach to the planet. Every human interface with a landscape can simply have areas reserved for the environment. We believe that pollinators show the way to sharing. When you plant for pollinators, plants, pollinators, people, and the environment all benefit. From schools to farms, to churches, to corporation everyone is getting involved and registering their S.H.A.R.E. landscape. Get involved today!


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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix turned into a bigger order than even Warner Bros. expected as the movie smashed records in its first five days, taking in a total of $140 million in North America and $330 million worldwide, the studio said Monday. Nevertheless shares in Time Warner, which is likely to take in more than $1 billion from the film eventually, barely inched forward on Monday, rising only seven cents. Bloomberg News suggested that the reason for the cool response may be investors' wariness with media stocks in general. Traditionally, it noted, studios don't reveal the actual costs of making a film and often don't break out earnings from ancillary sales, like toys and videogames, either. "Because there's no way to tell how much Time Warner will really earn from the full Phoenix juggernaut, investors may be loath to give it the benefit of the doubt," the wire service commented.
The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Media by Numbers (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):
1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Warner Bros., $77,108,414, 1 Wk. ($139,715,157); 2. Transformers, Paramount, $37,027,901, 2 Wks. ($224,009,583); 3. Ratatouille, Disney, $18,012,196, 3 Wks. ($142,997,082); 4. Live Free or Die Hard, 20th Century Fox, $11,279,135, 3 Wks. ($103,322,580); 5. License to Wed, Warner Bros., $7,311,297, 2 Wks. ($30,379,749); 6. 1408, MGM, $4,934,516, 4 Wks. ($62,127,222); 7. Evan Almighty, Universal, $4,895,055, 4 Wks. ($87,790,505); 8. Knocked Up, Universal, $3,676,500, 7 Wks. ($138,217,270); 9. Sicko, Lionsgate, $2,604,139, 4 Wks. ($15,830,046); 10. Ocean's Thirteen, Warner Bros., $1,984,323, 6 Wks. ($112,506,702).


A police officer is due to appear in court to face an assault charge relating to a traffic stop.
Constable Charlie Thompson, of Essex Police, is due to attend Basildon Crown Court on Thursday to face the charge of assault by beating.
The charge relates to an incident that occurred after police had stopped a man for a suspected driving offence on the A127 near the Mayflower Retail Park in Basildon on January 19 this year.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) began an investigation following a mandatory conduct referral from Essex Police in February.
In June the IOPC passed a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service, which authorised the charge contrary to section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.
An Essex Police spokesman said: “We are aware of an incident involving an Essex Police officer which took place in Basildon on Wednesday January 19.
“Once we were made aware of the incident, the officer was placed on restricted duties and a mandatory referral was made to the IOPC.
“The IOPC made the decision to independently investigate the incident.
“Essex Police continues to fully co-operate with the IOPC investigation and now awaits the outcome of legal proceedings.”
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- What is the easiest meat for dogs to digest?
- Are eggs good for dogs?
- Why is there no pork in dog food?
- Can dogs eat beef liver raw?
- Can you boil liver for dogs?
- Is Too Much organ meat bad for dogs?
- Is organ meat healthy for dogs?
- Is beef liver good for dogs?
- What is the best thing to feed your dog?
- Can I feed my dog liver everyday?
- Is it better to give dogs raw or cooked meat?
- How much meat should a dog eat a day?
What is the easiest meat for dogs to digest?
Foods with a high biological value are the best sources of protein for dogs because they are easiest to digest.
When your dog digests food completely, they gain as much protein as possible….The most common whole-food meats in dog foods are:Beef.Chicken.Lamb.Turkey.Duck.Venison..
Are eggs good for dogs?
Eggs are high in protein and contain many essential amino acids and fatty acids. When boiled or cooked, they make excellent treats or dietary supplements for dogs. Not only are eggs a healthy and nutritious snack for dogs, they can even help settle upset stomachs.
Why is there no pork in dog food?
1: “Never feed dogs pork!” … Its scarcity may simply be because so many parts of a pig are used for human consumption, so snouts and feet and such don’t make it to the dog food plant. And because of the possibility of trichinosis in uncooked pork, nobody is going to suggest it as a great raw-food ingredient.
Can dogs eat beef liver raw?
If your pet tolerates liver without developing loose stools, you should consider feeding up to 1 oz. of liver per day for a medium to large dog, and up to 0.5 oz. … Liver may be served lightly cooked or raw if you have a trusted source and your dog is accustomed to raw foods. I use dehydrated beef liver for treats.
Can you boil liver for dogs?
First of all, cut the pieces of beef liver, and you can use a sharp knife for this slimy task. Put olive oil and beef live into a pan and fry quickly on medium-high heat until brown. When it’s done, use a large pot and pour the beef liver, add potato, carrots, chickpeas, water and bring it to boil.
Is Too Much organ meat bad for dogs?
Vitamin A toxicity is usually caused by eating too much organ meat, especially liver, which contains high levels of vitamin A, or by consuming supplements containing high levels of cod liver oil. There seems to be considerable variability in how susceptible individual dogs are to this problem.
Is organ meat healthy for dogs?
Most organ meats are safe for dogs to consume and rich in a long list of nutrients including vitamin A, B vitamins (B1, B2, B6, folic acid and vitamin B12), minerals such as iron, phosphorus, copper, magnesium and more. But Dr. Bartges says that some dog food manufacturers are using “organ meat” as an umbrella term.
Is beef liver good for dogs?
High in nutrients The liver is a nutrient-rich organ that most dogs love eating. This organ will provide your pet with proteins, fat and vitamin A. These features will help your dog stay healthy. The liver is also a good source of iron, copper, niacin, zinc, and phosphorus.
What is the best thing to feed your dog?
Dr Leigh from Your Vet Online advises that it is important to ensure your dog’s food is both complete and balanced for its stage of life, and if it has any medical issues. It is entirely acceptable to feed your dog a pure kibble diet. Or you can mix their diet up with some cooked or raw meat, fish, vegetables and rice.
Can I feed my dog liver everyday?
If your pet tolerates it without developing stomach problems, then you should consider feeding your dog up to 1 oz of liver every day. This amount is recommended for medium to large dogs, if you have a small dog, use the half of it. The liver is a nutritious grocery, and it will keep your god healthy and sated.
Is it better to give dogs raw or cooked meat?
Raw meat is likely to contain harmful bacteria like Salmonella, Listeria, E. coli and more. Cooking meat to a safe temperature kills off those harmful bacteria. By feeding uncooked meat, there’s a higher risk your dog will develop a foodborne illness or other type of bacterial infection.
How much meat should a dog eat a day?
I might start with around 2 pounds of food a day for a 100-pound dog (2 percent of their body weight), 1 to 1½ pounds of food for a 50-pound dog (2 to 3 percent of body weight), ½ to ¾ of a pound (8 to 12 ounces) of food for a 25-pound dog (2 to 3 percent of body weight), and 5 to 6½ ounces of food for a 10 pound dog ( …

domain: pet


text: Avoid walking in isolation at late at night. Make use of the public transportation, specifically for returning to your hotel. Beware of taking taxis in case the driver is suspicious. You should always have at least a flashlight in the event you must use public transportation or get back to your hotel at night. There are many options. Another option is to consume lots of caffeine or take the energy pill. A different option is to enjoy high-pitched music and sleep till sunrise. Place a newspaper on the ground near the door of your hotel and, if the weather is nice, you will know that no one came through during the evening. If you are in need of having to translate an official document you should visit your local consulate (or embassy) for help, preferring to do so on a weekday during business hours. If you are in a location that has staff who speak their language well Don't try to pretend to be fluent. Just open up and ask for assistance instead of tricking other people into believing they know more about you than you know. Remember not to pass any confidential or private information as no one wants to spy. If you want to make your trip a success, you need to ensure every pending matter back at home has been addressed. Prior to leaving, it is crucial to check that all is in order. You may have to continue the treatment for opioids prior to leaving. Don't let any chance affect the plans you have for your trip. Make sure you resolve all outstanding concerns at home. Make sure all appointments are completed to ensure a stress-free trip. Free travel quotes without stress help travelers enjoy their trips to the maximum. There's no reason to fret or be worried over preparing your trip. You've already ordered the winter heating oil that you will need for travel during winter. .

domain: travel


text:
Aurora Indica: A Glimpse of the Northern Lights in Cannabis Form
Origin: A Majestic Birth Under the Starry Skies
Aurora Indica is a stunningly beautiful cannabis strain that pays homage to the ethereal beauty of the Northern Lights. This majestic indica-dominant hybrid is the result of a harmonious union between two legendary strains: Northern Lights and Afghani. As such, Aurora Indica inherits the best traits of its prestigious parents, delivering a potent and deeply relaxing experience that will have you gazing skyward in awe.
The breeders who developed Aurora Indica aimed to create a strain that would capture the essence of the Northern Lights in cannabis form. With its enchanting appearance, soothing effects, and captivating aroma, they’ve achieved this lofty goal, creating a strain that is truly out of this world. With its celestial heritage and mesmerizing qualities, Aurora Indica is a strain that will take you on a journey through the cosmos without ever leaving your couch.
Aroma: A Symphony of Scents Dancing Across the Sky
The aroma of Aurora Indica is a delightful and complex dance of scents that perfectly captures the spirit of the Northern Lights. Upon opening a jar of this celestial strain, you’ll be greeted by a rich and earthy aroma that serves as the foundation of its scent profile. This initial scent is swiftly followed by a wave of sweet, floral notes that add depth and nuance to the overall aroma.
As you continue to explore the olfactory landscape of Aurora Indica, you may also detect subtle hints of pine and wood, which lend a sense of balance and harmony to the strain’s more robust primary scents. In short, the aroma of Aurora Indica is a kaleidoscope of fragrances that dance together in a mesmerizing display, much like the colors of the Northern Lights themselves.
Taste: A Celestial Celebration of Flavors
The flavor profile of Aurora Indica is every bit as enchanting and complex as its aroma, offering a delectable experience that will have your taste buds singing praises to the heavens. This strain is a true work of art in terms of flavor, featuring a diverse array of notes that come together in a harmonious symphony on the palate.
Upon taking your first hit of Aurora Indica, you’ll be struck by the bold and earthy flavors that dominate the strain’s taste. This initial taste is quickly followed by a subtle yet distinct undercurrent of sweet, floral notes, which adds depth and complexity to the overall flavor experience.
As the smoke lingers on your tongue, you’ll begin to detect hints of pine and wood, which serve to balance and round out the more intense primary flavors of Aurora Indica. These additional nuances create a well-rounded and satisfying taste experience that is both comforting and invigorating.
In short, the flavor of Aurora Indica is a heavenly and exhilarating journey through the world of cannabis strains, showcasing the artistry and creativity that goes into the creation of a truly exceptional strain.
Effects: A Journey to the Stars with Aurora Indica
The effects of Aurora Indica are as captivating and unforgettable as the Northern Lights themselves, delivering a potent and deeply relaxing high that will leave you feeling as though you’re floating among the stars. As an indica-dominant hybrid, Aurora Indica offers a soothing and calming experience that caters to a wide range of cannabis enthusiasts.
Upon consuming Aurora Indica, you’ll first experience a sense of serene relaxation that quickly washes over your entire body, easing tension and melting away stress. This physical effect is accompanied by a gentle sense of mental clarity and euphoria, which serves to a greater purpose.

domain: artistic


text:
We're through the looking glass here people.
After the release of some disheartening
consumer confidence figures, and following Chevron's bearish interim update yesterday, the price of crude slipped again today.
But today's slide continued past the psychologically resonant $60 mark. Crude for August delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped 52 cents to settle at $59.89 a barrel today. On the whole, oil has fallen a whopping 10% in the week.
On Friday, a new demand forecast came from the International Energy Agency. It showed a 1.4 million barrel-a-day uptick in oil demand in 2010. The 1.7% rise to 85.2 million barrels a day will be largely led by developing countries, the Paris-based energy policy adviser reported.
Still, the group anticipated no change in 2009 demand, projecting a gloomy 2.5 million barrel a day decline, or 2.9% slump.
Also, more disheartening data came out of Reuters/University of Michigan today, showing that consumers' attitudes about the economic environment fell more than expected. The preliminary index tracking consumer confidence dropped to 64.6 from 70.8.
It was not only the price of crude, but also energy stocks, that were pummeled on the day. And there was probably no brighter star, or bigger goat, than
. Shares of the company tumbled nearly 2.7%, or $1.68, at $61.40 today.
Late Thursday, the country's second-largest oil operation spooked the energy sector and added to anxiety about earnings season overall when it said that its second-quarter numbers would be affected by falling margins in domestic refining and a weaker dollar.
But Chevron wasn't the only oil concern to lose today.
, slid 0.5%, or 28 cents, to come to $60.75 at the closing bell.
lost 1.2%, or 34 cents, to finish at $28.33.
also lost ground by the end of the day, each losing 1.5%.
Copyright 2009 TheStreet.com Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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Save 20% on any stay from June 18, 2018 - October 6, 2018.
Get outside and enjoy breathtaking scenic hikes, singletrack mountain biking, horseback rides through groves of golden aspen trees, and free music on the mountain. While you're here, be sure to check out one of our beloved summer or early fall events! If you've always wanted to see what Aspen was like during the summer/fall, then don't let the season pass you by!
Some blackout dates may apply. Based upon availability and valid for new reservations only. Not valid for group reservations.

domain: geography


* Missouri State's 13 first-half points were the fewest by an OSU opponent before intermission since Texas A&M-Corpus Christi scored just 11 in last year's season opener.
* The Cowboys grabbed 28 rebounds before intermission, tying for the most by OSU in the Ford era in the first half (the Pokes also had 28 vs Texas in the first period on Feb. 28, 2009).
* Le'Bryan Nash's dunk midway through the first half gave him 500 points for his career.
* For the fifth time in the first eight games, Oklahoma State recorded 40 or more rebounds as a team; the Cowboys recorded 40 or more boards in five games all last season. OSU finished with a season-high 46 rebounds.
* OSU held Missouri State to a season opponent-low 42 points. It is also the third time this season that the Cowboys have held an opponent below 50 points.
* Oklahoma State had a plus-24 rebounding margin against the Bears, tying for the 16th-biggest margin in school history, and the biggest since outrebounding Southwestern Oklahoma State 54-28 on Jan. 2, 2007. It was the biggest rebounding margin against a Division I opponent since Nov. 20, 2005, when the Cowboys outrebounded Jackson State 51-22.


"The idea of the paper was to focus on the particular gender identity norm, which is the idea that men should earn more than their wives. It’s an interesting one to focus on because it’s a norm that may only have become binding today. It may not have been that relevant in the past because women were much less likely to have the potential to out-earn their husbands, and now they do. So the idea of the paper was to investigate the empirical relevance of this norm among households as well as its implications. ...
"We were talking about income inequality, and one of our colleagues said, basically, “Well, at the end of the day, who cares? Yes, maybe we’re growing apart economically, but on Sunday all we all do is watch TV. We are growing apart economically, but our lives may not be that different; they may, in fact, have converged.”
"Then we built a metric of cultural distance between groups by income. There are many ways you could measure distance. We use a machine-learning algorithm and aggregate a number of methods that allow us to find the best model to predict someone’s income based on the brands or products they report consuming or the attitudes the person has. ...
"The main headline result of the paper is that most of the trend lines are flat. Our ability to predict someone’s income based on the consumption of particular goods and brands is essentially the same today as it was 25 years ago. There’s no trend in our ability to predict people’s income based on how they spend their time today, compared to close to 50 years ago. The only area where we see some slight evidence of divergence on income is with respect to social attitudes, where our ability to predict people’s income based on what they think, their views, is slightly better today than it was in the early 1970s. ...
"[N]ow we’ve done this exercise, as I said, for race, gender and urbanicity. When we first got these results on income, people said, especially in the context of the recent election, “Well, income is not the important one; it’s urban/rural. That’s the important divide in America.” We’ve also done it based on political attitudes, and the main result, which I just gave you for income—there’s no big trend—essentially applies to, at a first-level of approximation, everything that we have looked at.
"The one really large exception quantitatively is our ability to predict whether someone is liberal or conservative/Democrat or Republican based on their social attitudes. That has been increasing over time. So liberals and conservatives haven’t been diverging over time on TV consumption, brands or goods, but on social views they have been diverging a lot over time.
"The results were surprising to us. We went into this with in the back of our mind the discussion that’s happening right now [that Americans are increasingly divided along economic and other lines], and we really thought that we were going to see signs of that in the data.
"How do I rationalize the results? It’s not clear, but here’s one thought when it comes to products and brands. I think today we think you can easily see who is rich or poor because rich people own an iPhone and poor people don’t; but, then, 25 years ago, it was whether you owned a DVD player that separated rich and poor. There are waves of technological changes—the rich, the more educated are always going to be the early adopters of those—but there are constant waves of technological change."在破碎的家庭中，认知技能的性别差异更大
"[T]he gender gap in noncognitive skills is particularly large in broken families. And that term can mean many different things. It’s low income, it’s absent fathers, it’s less education, it’s fewer parental inputs. ... If you have boys doing more poorly in broken families, that means that a lot of these boys become less marriageable. That means more single moms and more broken families in the future and hence, again, more boys growing up in conditions where they may not get the kind of parenting that could address whatever deficiencies they have in noncognitive skills. ... One argument we make in the paper is that boys may be born at greater risk of having noncognitive problems than girls. ... And if that’s true, then it’s particularly important to have stronger parenting for boys than girls in order to correct this deficit. But, again, that’s highly speculative."


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Although this association was more apparent in older persons, it did not appear to be influenced by cigarette smoking.”
“The attachment of Y-27632 clinical trial a sugar moiety to the 3-hydroxy group of a sterol drastically increases the size of the hydrophilic part of the lipid. It is obvious that the glycosylation of a considerable fraction of membrane-bound free sterols alters the biophysical properties of the membrane. However, the consequences of such changes in the proportions of free sterols and steryl glycosides on the biological functions of a membrane are still unclear. This is the main hurdle
in understanding the biological functions of steryl glycosides on a molecular level. The recent cloning of sterol glycosyltransferase genes from plants, fungi and bacteria has enabled genetic approaches to analyze steryl glycoside functions. Down regulation of phytosteryl beta-glycoside
biosynthesis in Arabidopsis thaliana causes several dysfunctions in seed development. Ergosteryl beta-glycoside depleted mutants of the yeast Pichia pastoris lose their ability to degrade their peroxisomes by an autophagic mechanism called micropexophagy. selleck inhibitor In the plant-pathogenic fungus Colletotrichum orbiculare the same defect impairs invasion of the cucumber host plants. Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium colonizing the human stomach, is unable to modulate the host’s immune response when the cholesteryl alpha-glycoside biosynthesis of the bacterium is mutated. These mutants with manipulated steryl glycoside metabolism will inspire
further studies with cell biological, biophysical and other methods that will provide us with a mechanistic understanding of steryl glycoside functions. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Objectives: Transection of the secondary chordae on the anterior leaflet of the mitral valve to relieve leaflet tethering and reduce regurgitation is an experimentally proven procedure to correct functional mitral regurgitation. In the present study, we sought to investigate whether transecting the secondary chordae would have an effect on the marginal chordal Sitaxentan force on the same leaflet.
Methods: Adult porcine mitral valves (n = 8) were studied in a pulsatile heart simulator, in which the papillary muscle positions can be precisely positioned. Miniature transducers were inserted into the anterior marginal chordae to measure the chordal forces. Each valve was studied under baseline conditions, 3 different tethering conditions (apical, apical-lateral, and apical-lateral-posterior), and after chordal cutting in the 3 tethering conditions. The temporal changes and peak and average marginal chordal forces under each condition are reported.
Results: Apical tethering increased the marginal chordal force by an average of 96% but remained unchanged after chordal cutting.

domain: medical


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The Richmond Lady Spartans recorded their second no-hitter of the season Monday night. Whitney Martens tossed the gem for Richmond in the Lady Spartans’ 11-0 victory at Cameron and joins Hayley Clubine in the no-hitter club.
“Whitney did an outstanding job on the mound,” Richmond Coach Staci Maddux said. “She had their hitters overpowered for most of the game.”
The Lady Spartan senior faced 17 batters and began the game with five strikeouts before issuing a two-out walk in the second inning. Martens allowed just one more Cameron base runner when she hit a batter to lead off the fourth, and ended the game with 10 strikeouts.
While Martens was shutting down the Dragon bats, the Richmond offense collected 13 hits as the Lady Spartans improve to 12-5 for the season. Once again, the top of the lineup was productive as Hannah Alpers, Megan Phipps, Stephanie Williams and Baylyn Jennings had 2 hits apiece and drove in 2 runs each.
While pleased with her offensive production, Maddux said her team could still improve.
“I would like to see us more patient and disciplined at the plate against a pitcher with less speed than we are used to,” she said.
Richmond scored a run in the top of the first and added 2 more in the second on a triple from Hayley Padgett to go along with an Alpers double and single from Phipps. The Lady Spartans put the game away in the fifth as they scored 8 runs after the first two batters of the inning were retired. Jennings added a run-scoring triple, with Richmond also getting singles from Kayla Hewitt, Chelsea Hook, Martens and Alpers.
The Lady Spartans were also helped by a pair of Cameron errors in that inning.
The Richmond junior varsity also continued its fine play during the past two weeks. The Lady Spartans took a 7-3 victory for their third win in a row. Richmond had 7 hits in the 5-inning contest to back the pitching of Kristie Spiers who allowed 5 hits and 4 walks while striking out 8 Cameron batters.
Alex Phillips drove in 3 runs for Richmond, with Adrian Tackett driving in a pair of runs. Evyn Pearson and Hook also drove in a run for the Lady Spartans. Hook also led the team with 2 hits, while Richmond got a hit apiece from Phillips, Tackett, Pearson, Hayley Bently and Padgett.


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Workshops, Visiting Artist, & Exhibitions
I present workshops, participate in visiting artist programs, teach art, give talks to art teachers and go to artist-in-residence programs. These are all ways to share the desire to make art and to think about how we experience the world through art. Contact me to develop a project.
News (My main focus is not this website. This "News" section is not regularly updated).
Looking for poetry by an unheard of poet? I have a recommendation.
Regarding Art Donation Requests for Fund-Raisers: Over the years I've received requests to donate art for various non-profit organization fund raisers. I've donated to many causes and encourage event planners to re-evaluate this method of fund-raising. Read more...
Copyright 2017 Gregory Zeorlin
(Click on images for a larger views)
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Kako Games and Bluehole have confirmed that the second closed beta test for their MMORPG Elyon will run from August 18 to 23, 2021. The registrations for the beta are now live.
South Korean MMORPG Elyon is about to enter its second closed beta test. The publisher Kakao Games have announced that the test (CBT2) will go live on August 18, 2021. The beta will run for five days before ending on August 23, 2021.
The game also got an official release date. The western version of the game will arrive on September 29, 2021.
The registrations for the CBT2 are now open to the public and if you want to sign up, you can do that via the official website.
Here are the closed beta and pre-order details:
- Elyon's CBT2 play period will occur from August 18-23 for chosen participants
- Applications for the 2nd Closed Beta are open to the public until August 11, 2021
- Elyon pre-orders are available now in North America/Europe
Here's everything that CBT2 will offer to players:
- The addition of the Slayer Class
- Class balance adjustments and updated Mana Awakening skills
- Players can enjoy a variety of challenging battle experiences in new dimensional portals
- Dungeons are now divided into solo and party dungeons
- Easier leveling via increased XP for killing monsters at a certain power level
- Events specifically for CBT2 participants
- Improved game service platform and infrastructure for Western market players
- Localization in English, French, Spanish and German


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To picture the location of this enticing corner of Croatia, hop due east from the middle of Italy across the azure waters of the Adriatic, to an extraordinary indented coastline of headlands, bays and innumerable islands with secluded beaches. On one of these islands is the delightful Villa Issa, overlooking the beach, framed by colorful gardens. Its generous terraces and floor-to-ceiling glass windows offer vistas of the sparkling sea and provide a choice of places for toasting in the sun or enjoying a candle-lit dinner.
Our Favorite Things About this Villa
- The beautiful seafront setting with just a short stroll to the beach
- The separate two-bedroom suite offers total privacy
- Incredibly fragrant gardens that lead you to the beach
About Your Hosted Villas Croatia Vacation
After consulting you on which of our luxury Croatia villas will work best for your group, your Experience Manager will begin the vacation planning process. By talking to you to get a feel for your interests, priorities and expectations for your Croatia trip, your Experience manager will create a completely personalized itinerary. Whatever you’re looking for in your Croatia villa vacation, our team will arrange it: transportation, child care, day trips, surfing lessons, aquatic tours – the list goes on and on.
When you arrive in Croatia, your Local Host is there to greet you—Hosted Villas staff members who live, work and have a wealth of insider knowledge about the region. Once you get to your luxurious Croatian villa, you’re welcomed with a buffet of local treats and delicacies—the perfect way to relax after a long journey and start your Croatia villa vacation.
Our Local Hosts are what makes Hosted Villas special. They aren’t just the typical on-site concierges. They don’t just serve as tour guides. We think of our Local Hosts as so much more. Using the vacation itineraries you created with your Experience Manager, our Local Hosts get to really understand and build relationships with our guests so they can serve as more of a friend in the area. Think of them as your Croatia guide, concierge, translator, trouble-shooter and guarantee that your Hosted Villas vacation will be nothing short of brilliant, every time. Don’t just visit Croatia. Truly experience Croatia.
Split, the historic city built within the walls of a vast Roman palace is a two-hour ferry ride away and the port town of Vis is about five-and-a-half miles away.


The early votes are in for The Straits Times' Euro 2016 Predictor, and hosts France are readers' favourites so far to win the continental football showpiece on July 10.
From nearly 130 entries received so far, 46 of you - or 35 per cent - looked into the crystal ball and believe Les Bleus will go all the way on home soil.
World champions Germany are close behind with 40 votes, while the ageing squad of Euro 2012 winners Spain earned just 15 selections.
England have continued their tradition of flattering to deceive, but Wayne Rooney & Co will claim the country's first major international title in 50 years - according to 10 entries.
These fans may be showcasing the same optimism as the two readers who chose Luka Modric's Croatia as eventual winners, or the lonely souls who each picked Austria and Switzerland for the top spot.
There is no wrong answer, for now.
The first round of group games may be over but there's still time for you to complete your own Euro 2016 bracket.
Prognosticating aside, you can also build your all-time Euro footballer.
Remember to share your results with #steuro2016 for a chance of winning adidas Euro jerseys for both contests.
Clearly, more than bragging rights are at stake. Happy predicting...


text: On January 17-24 Kewanna Bush International, a nondenominational Christian organization that serves those who are suffering from poverty and injustice, regardless of color, belief, or gender, traveled to Nairobi, Kenya to find out how the organization could help the poverty stricken natives. The journey encompassed finding some land to build an orphanage for the homeless children. A site was found for the orphanage. I was then taken to a village about 3 hours away from Nairobi called Kitise. The population of Kitise is about 2,000 people. The village had no electricity or running water. Kenya has thousands of villages like Kitise that are in the surrounding area. The village has one well that is about 20 miles away. The villagers have to walk or cycle to get to the well, because no one in the village owns a car. Most of the children that I saw were barefooted and dirty from the dust. It was a sad sight to see, yet they were smiling and waving. Simple things that we take for granted in the USA are like heaven on earth to the villagers. My plans still are to build an orphanage there, however,my immediate primary focus is to help is to dig wells, buy shoes, clothes and food for the villagers. I plan to go back to Kenya this June to do just that. If you would like to help me help the villagers please go to kewannabushintl.com and make a donation, every little bit helps. Thanks In Advance!

domain: sociology


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Buy the reservation at a railway station. Note: in some countries you have to pay a service fee at the ticket counter. The reservation can be purchased at a station in the country of departure, often as well in other countries.
Raildude / ACPRail
Buy your reservation online via the following link. If not available, please use an other reservation option.
Reserve here online!
YES, I want to support Raildude and all the information with my purchase via this link.
Important: these are very carefully researched schedules created by the Raildudes. We show you the best and cheapest connections which are often not found by online schedule planners. Of course, the possibility exits that sometimes an error occurs. Please check your route again on the day of your travel with the help of the online schedule planners.
Beside these mentioned train schedules, there are other connections available. Please use therefore an online schedule planer.


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A new study claims that almost one in four U.S. churches spend over their budget. The survey, conducted by Lifeway Research found that 22 percent of churches exceeded their budget for the 2014 fiscal year.
In addition, the study found that 46 percent of churches met their budgets. A mere 29 percent of surveyed churches kept their spending below budget The Christian Post reports.
Scott McConnell, Lifeway Research Director said, "The most recent of recession revealed poor habits among Americans in term of spending and lending. Surely churches have had to learn some of these same lessons."
"The current slow-growth economy does not allow individuals, businesses, or churches to slip into poor financial habits that may have been present seven or eight years ago. Everyone must be innovative in how efficient and productive each of their activities is,” McConnell continued.
The study surveyed 1,000 pastors, ministers and priests.
Publication date: November 6, 2014


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1/13/2015 - City of Bangor’s Commission on Cultural Development to Host a Workshop for Artists/Writers on Grant Writing and the Application Process
The City of Bangor’s Commission on Cultural Development will host a free workshop for artists and writers on grant writing and grant application processes on Wednesday, February 4, 2015 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Story Room of the Bangor Public Library. The Story Room is located on the ground level off the Children’s Room.
Panelists Kathy Ann Shaw, Cathy Melio, Stephanie Harp, and Tom Avila-Beck will make short presentations and then entertain questions about identifying and applying for grants.
Kathy Ann Shaw joined the Maine Arts Commission staff in 1988 to serve as Museum and Visual Arts Associate, moved up to Contemporary Arts Associate, and has held the position of Senior Director for Grants and Arts Accessibility since 2007. She oversees the management of the agency's grants liaison with the National Endowment for the Arts.
Cathy Melio is a Program Officer for the Maine Community Foundation. Cathy oversees grant making through the Hancock, Washington, Knox, and Waldo County Funds. She also manages the Maine Expansion Arts Fund, the Maine Charity Foundation Fund, and others.
Stephanie Harp has for nearly thirty years worked in journalism, creative writing, arts administration, and is a professionally trained researcher and interviewer. She holds a master's degree in history. Through HarpWorks Writing Services, she offers writing, editing, grant writing, publicity, and research.
T. (Tom) Cashman Avila-Beck has spent the last twenty years working with nonprofit organizations and educational institutions. He is currently the Senior Stewardship Specialist for Greenpeace in the U.S. where he serves as part of the major gifts and foundations team, and is a member of the City of Bangor's Commission on Cultural Development.
This workshop is second in a series that will address the professional development needs of artists in our community. Other workshops will include:
• Publishing One's Work (Wednesday, March 4, 2015 at Launchpad Gallery, 89 Central St.)
• Businesses Partnering with the Arts Community (Wednesday, May 6, 2015)
• Grant Writing and the Application Process (Wednesday, September 2, 201
• Marketing, Representation, and Networking (Wednesday, Oct 7, 2015)
In effort to help us estimate the number of attendees, please register by phone (207) 992-4234 or email firstname.lastname@example.org. For more information, please visit the City of Bangor website section for the Commission on Cultural Development.
Earlier in the day, the Maine Arts Commission will be hosting its second annual Arts Iditarod from 1 to 3 p.m. at the University of Maine Art Museum. The agency will go over the new grants, review the agency's ongoing grant programs, share the simplified guidelines, and demonstrate our new electronic grants application and review system. For more information please contact Kathy Ann Shaw, Senior Director for Grants and Arts Accessibility, at (207) 287-2750 or email@example.com.


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Roger Waters, late of Pink Floyd, has provoked anger with his outspoken attack on Israeli treatment of Palestinians. What made people particularly angry was his comparison of Israeli policy towards Palestinians to Nazi policy towards Jews. The comparison seems to me a fair one: it is only too common, at personal, national, racial and cultural levels, for the oppressed to learn from their oppressors and then to use what they have learnt when they get the chance. The child who gets bullied at school grows up into the school bully; the sexually abused child becomes an abuser. In South Africa, blacks liberated from apartheid commit atrocities against whites. It would be surprising, though pleasing, if Israelis did not look around for a group to persecute, after centuries of persecution of Jews.
Accusing those who object to Israeli policy of anti-semitism is a very nasty cynical tactic that is being used more and more to silence critics. The two things are entirely separate, as Roger Waters himself makes clear to those who take the trouble to read what he actually very calmly and articulately said.


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Group finds original content sites have scored higher for ad effectiveness metrics in recent months, while ad network and portal ads did worse.
It's been six months since The Online Publishing Association released a study claiming that ads on content sites proved more effective than those on portals. But a lot has changed in that time, most notably a reduction in ad spending spurred by a collapse in world financial markets.
So OPA decided to look again in an effort to determine whether the economic downturn had any impact on its initial findings. What it found was that tough times might actually be good news for publishers of content sites.
According to a new OPA study being released today, ads on sites with original content (think Web sites for newspapers or TV networks) had actually improved their scores for effectiveness in recent months in comparison to ads on non-content sites (such as portals like Yahoo or ad networks that may represent inventory on social networks, e-mail or other pages).
"As budgets are being further scrutinized and people are looking for a better return on investment, we wanted to see if the metrics are changing," Pam Horan, president of OPA, said. "What we found is that now more than ever OPA sites outscored industry norms across all 47 ad metrics."
While it is hardly surprising that a group dedicated to the promotion of content sites would suggest that such sites are the optimal place for your ad dollars, it is worth noting that OPA's findings are based on an analysis of Dynamic Logic's MarketNorms database, a standard industry tool for measuring the effectiveness of ads, and do not represent its own research.
The data show that since July, aided brand awareness scores on OPA member sites have increased 38 percent, while scores on ad networks have declined 19 percent. It also shows that brand favorability scores for OPA sites have risen 27 percent, while the scores for ad networks have dropped 29 percent, and portals have dropped 17 percent.
Precisely why ads on content sites would become more effective as the economy worsens is anyone's guess. But Horan said the findings make it clear that quality content is always more engaging and hence a better environment for advertising.
"The key thing here is that everyone is trying to figure out how to spend smart right now, and the reality is you get you pay for," Horan said.
The numbers also suggest that content sites hold even greater sway over younger audiences: Web users aged 18 to 34 were found to be almost twice as likely to form favorable opinions of brands advertised on content sites than on portals. Horan said such data flies in the face of much of the conventional wisdom regarding younger audiences.
"We found that 18- to 34-year-olds really are looking for content online," she said. "[It] isn't just about MySpace and Facebook. They really are coming to the Web for content."
Douglas Quenqua is a journalist based in Brooklyn, NY who writes about culture and technology. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Wired, The New York Observer, and Fortune.
2015 Holiday Email Guide
The holidays are just around the corner. Download this whitepaper to find out how to create successful holiday email campaigns that drive engagement and revenue.
Three Ways to Make Your Big Data More Valuable
Big data holds a lot of promise for marketers, but are marketers ready to make the most of it to drive better business decisions and improve ROI? This study looks at the hidden challenges modern marketers face when trying to put big data to use.
December 2, 2015
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Wednesday, December 9, 2015
5pm HKT / 5am ET


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Cutting-edge research around the world will soon launch a new era in human procreation – a world in which embryos can be ‘brought to term’ in artificial wombs, replacing traditional pregnancies.
In “Like a Virgin: How Science is Redefining the Rules of Sex,” author and genetic scientists, Aarathi Prasad writes, “This might be the biological and social equalizer, a truly new way of thinking about sex.”
Cornell University‘s Dr. Hung-Ching Liu has engineered endometrial tissues by prompting cells to grow in an artificial uterus. When Liu introduced a mouse embryo into the lab-created uterine lining, “It successfully implanted and grew healthy,” she said in this New Atlantis Magazine article. Scientists predict the research could produce an animal womb by 2020, and a human model by early 2030s.
In Japan, Juntendo University researcher Yosinori Kuwabara and his team kept goat fetuses growing for ten days. While this womb was only a prototype, Kuwabara predicts that a fully functioning artificial womb capable of gestating a human fetus will evolve in the near future.
However, ethicists voice concerns that this technology could endanger the very meaning of life. Mother-child relationships, the nature of female bodies, and being ‘born‘, not ‘made’ all play a role in defining how most people around the world view this magical state of existence called life. Artificial wombs will enable both men and women to reproduce entirely alone, removing intercourse from the reproductive equation.
But proponents believe people will reason, “Why risk gestating the baby in a biological womb, when this new science can produce a child with our exact genetic makeup, perfect personality, and zero flaws.”
“The womb is a dark and dangerous place, a hazardous environment,” says University of Virginia Professor Joseph Fletcher. Fetuses are 100% dependent on their mom’s health and sensible judgment. If the mother falls prey to accidents, disease, or inadequate nutrition, the embryo can become traumatized.
Although naysayers believe that this bold science makes us less human, most experts predict that artificial wombs will one day be accepted by mainstream society as more people recognize its many benefits. Babies would no longer be exposed to alcohol or illegal drugs by careless mothers, and the correct body temperature would always be maintained, with 100% of necessary nutrients provided.
Concerns over losing emotional bond between mother and newborn are unwarranted, say scientists. Artificial intelligence advances expected over the next two decades will enable doctors to reproduce exact parent emotions and personalities via vocal recordings, movement, and other sensations. The developing infant would be maintained in a safe secure environment, connected electronically to the mother 24/7.
In the near term though, experts predict most women will probably gestate their children the old-fashioned way; but career-minded females might welcome a concept that allows them to bear children and raise a family without becoming pregnant, a physical condition that often weakens their job status.
Ultimately, this technology would enable anyone – single, married, male, female, young, old, heterosexual or gay – to combine DNA from his or her own body with another person; and the gene pool marches on; a clean birth without pain or morning sickness.
As this science matures, people could freeze eggs and sperm in their teen years when they are most physically fit; then create children later when ready for a family. Artificial wombs may sound radical, but people already donate eggs and sperm to create life in a lab and bring it to term in a surrogate mother.
In an unusual twist, this technology offers justification to pro-lifers in the abortion debates. Choosing an abortion to protect a mother’s health would not be necessary, as artificial wombs could bring all aborted embryos to term. Unwanted pregnancies would no longer mean a death sentence for the unborn.
As we move into the future, this procedure could become the preferred method of birthing; but today, many disagree. Some see artificial wombs as a triumph of modern science; others believe it’s the ultimate folly. We ask again; is a sexless reproduction society in our future? Time will tell. Comments welcome.
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-06/shark-factory http://www.gazetamm.info/category/uncategorized/ http://behealthy.baystatebanner.com/issues/2009/0806/stories/closerlook080609005.html

domain: biology