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Posts Tagged 'crooked Indian agent'
In response to a post on Facebook by Anu Marwah on April 25, 2018 at 11/143 ground floor, Shivalik Road, Malviya Nagar, New Delhi 110017 India Tel:
This post may not interest most of you but if you have time and want to know what really happened on my recent trip to India from Feb. to March, 2018, have a read and see my side of the story. There are always two-sides to every story. I feel compelled to put this down on Facebook social media just like Anu Marwah did on her Facebook page slandering me. Many people on my page that know me personally, are aware that I can sometimes be a bit rough around the edges but when it comes to friendship, I always give my best; 100%. I have a good heart and believe loyalty is the number one thing in any friendship. However, I do speak my mind especially when I get screwed and defamed by a so-called freelance Indian agent from Delhi. I will not just stand by and let that person get away without a fight.
Anu Marwah smoking in Corbett National Park with cigarette in hand…!
When you fork out over U.S. $13,000 for a month and six extra days for a scheduled trip to just three of India's tiger sites (Corbett, Kanha and Bandhavgarh), a crocodile/gharial site (Chambal River near Agra), dinosaur fossil beds (Gujarat), and finally the Taj Mahal (Agra), you would expect the best possible service regardless of any shortcomings, especially when your agent is supposed to be a close friend.
Having known Anu Marwah since 2014, we developed a working relationship that steadily got more expensive and prone to problems in the management of my trips. But I overlooked these minor problems for the most part. In 2015, I visited twice that year and went to various tiger reserves around the country (the management and trip was excellent the first year). I then made a trip in 2016 (OK), 2017 (fair) and finally 2018 which turned into a disaster as far as I'm concerned as I have outlined below. I could see the degradation of my trips as the years went by but still tried to believe she was legitimate and straight forward because we were suppose, to be friends.
Close-up of Marwah…!
In her post shown below, she has made such trivial and childless remarks like I was difficult to handle, and others such as me calling her sweet driver 'Rasheed', gay, impotent and a lady boy, and then said I got angry at our naturalist 'Doogla' (not sure about the spelling) over his quick departure when we got back to Ramnagar town after a four-day safari in Corbett. We had planned a dinner but that was cancelled by Anu who had her own agenda. insignificant nonsense to say the least.
Then she says I was drunk in the park but the simple fact is: drinking alcohol is forbidden and being diabetic, I don't hardly drink. I may be old and forgetful but I am not a drunk. The driver, naturalist and I were always jousting and teasing each other as good friends do, and I have known both of these guys since 2015; we were close. She goes on to say I was acting like a god and yelling profanities at park officials (I would not have got in any park if I had done that) which is false. She also continually argued with me near the end saying my equipment (Nikon) was not as good as her equipment (Canon), and I decided to ignore these attacks by her. Her remarks and arguments were absolute nonsense.
Then she says I abused her friend, the owner of a resort in Uttarakhand for not being there when I arrived. However, he was already gone the day before I got there and he knew I was arriving. Come to find out, his father is not well. We are friends on FB after several trips to his lodge so I just surmised he would be there. I gave his lodge good marks on Trip Advisor. Marwah was not even present so how does she know I got upset at him? Again, just another presumption, hearsay and lie by her.
Then she accuses me of having a fit on a Spice Jet flight down to Jabalpur over poor service. I had already told her that I absolutely did not want to use this airline due to some very poor service on previous flights. But this year, she put me on anyway and I did not realize until it was too late which was my own fault for not checking more closely. But how can she accuse me of having a fit on the flight when she was not there? Just another fabrication by a real liar and con artist.
She then goes on to say we were tardy in paying her for the 2018 trip. Come to find out, her name was misspelled from the very beginning in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 as my daughter used the same banking service from the start. But this year, some sharp-eyed clerk at her own bank caught the misspelling and stopped payment. She then blamed my daughter for holding back the money. I got very perturbed at her over this. We always payed our debts to her even though we may have been a bit slow at times. She became more expensive as the years progressed and I failed to address this being my own fault. However, she had no problem taking our money and became extremely upset when it was late on the last payment for the 2018 trip. This simple problem shows how selfish and greedy she really is, and that she cares only about the money.
It really goes downhill from here. Marwah has never been to Thailand and knows nothing about my life here. She made several accusations that I was unpopular and that I got thrown out of a park. I've been working with the Department of National Parks here for over 20 years and I am well respected as one of Thailand's top wildlife photographers, author of three wildlife photography books dedicated to Thailand's Royal Family, and a journalist for the Bangkok Post. I will probably write and publish this whole fiasco in the newspaper which goes all over the world so that the news can get out there. I can enter and work in any national park or wildlife sanctuary throughout the country. Furthermore, I'm working on my forth book about Thailand, India and Africa for the new King, Rama 10th coming out next year. Her statements are pure defamation, rubbish and hearsay, and are not true.
Then it gets really low when she tries to discredit me with my wife and daughter by saying Marwah went out of her way shopping for me to buy a 'Saree' for my 'lady friend' as she calls it but had no idea of my relationship with my friend here. I have known Natasha (La) in Thailand for 35 years. Marwah asked me several times if she was a girl friend and I said no. In fact, my wife knows both La and her husband, Rod. This is simply just another lie by Marwah. When we were still friends, she was glad to help me out and had no problem buying the Saree for my friend. I gave her $100 U.S. but never got any change when she said there was (about $20) left. She thinks she can cause a big rift between me and my family. They don't believe Marwah at all because my wife met her when she arrived in Delhi and knew then that she was slippery. But this is how low she will go to get back at me. Absolutely non-professional and vindictive.
To understand how bad Marwah really is, we need to go back to 2014-2015-2016 when she and a so-called Jason Fernandes from Mumbai were running 'Wilderness Uncut' where they ripped off quite a few clients and hotel owners. Most people in India in the know are well aware of their behavior. They quickly made a name for themselves. Fernandes was caught smoking cigarettes in Kanha Tiger Reserve which is illegal and was eventually banned from entering many national parks around the country because of his bad behavior that went viral on the Net. They split up and she went into hiding. Furthermore, she continues to smoke in all the parks she now visits as I have seen her on many occasions (see the photo of her in Corbett) but some how has the guards in her pocket, and usually slips off into a woman's toilet or behind a building. At the end of the day, she is addicted to this nasty habit and this is how she operates breaking and evading the Forest Department law.
Close-up of a cigarette in the hand of Marwah while in Corbett when no one was around…!
My recommendation: if you want to visit India to see tigers, use a reputable guide service that specializes in this package and there are many that are registered with the government. Stay away from free-lancers and self-proclaimed agents (unless you really know them) to avoid problems. They do not have to answer to anyone or government tourist agency. This is my finale statement about this very bad individual and her behavior as a so-called Indian free-lance wildlife photography agent from Delhi named Anu Marwah…!!
Her post can be found on her Facebook page on April 25th, 2018
Calling the attention of friends and colleagues in the wildlife travel trade. This note goes out to everyone who has ever had to deal with difficult and unreasonable clients.
The phrase "The customer is always right" was originally coined in 1909 by Harry Gordon Selfridge, and is dated, there are many journals published which prove beyond doubt that "the customer is not always right"
This is WRT to a now former client of mine Mr Lawrence Bruce Kekule. I am writing this to highlight how even a service provider can be wronged by a client and the customer is not always right and a may be we as Indian stretch ours selves a little too much to cater to foreigners and take the "Atithi Devo Bhava" a little too seriously.
This individual has always been difficult to handle , however he has taken things a little too far and probably operates on the assumption that since he is a client he has the loudest voice. Bordering Narcissism as a personality trait , he's rude, constantly makes derogatory remarks about India and its people, constantly complains about people he has had a falling out with and the list of such individuals is never ending.
1stly he insisted I make bookings for his trip stating he shall make payments shortly. Which owing to the long standing association with him I did.
2ndly on landing in India on 15th Feb he assured me his daughter would be making the remaining payments in a days time. The payment were delayed and i was told they were having difficulties making the payment. Almost 20 days into his 30 day long trip on 3rd of March, on following up i was assured the payment was done. On the 30th and last day of the original trip 15th March i was informed by my bank that they have received a transfer with my name spelled wrongly and hence they would not be able to process the same.
Inspite of this I not only let his trip go on seamlessly without having received 50% of the amount due but also had to face embarrassing follow up's by vendors and I paid out of my pocket to ensure the vendors did not suffer and also to protect my payment track record because of this delay. While the daughter has been apologetic this gentleman decided to blame it on me and the receiving bank for this. Anyone who is aware of how NET BANKING works would know who enters the name.
3rdly not only was I now doing his trip without payment i was asked to extend his trip by another 5 days to go visit the Taj. The itinerary with inclusions was shared with the daughter as well as the client. However he chose to blame me for not providing services which were never even part of the agreed itinerary. In this case a guide for the Taj, which in his words "just a quick visit, takes some photos to tick it off my bucket list". He hired a guide himself, was careless with his camera and ended up losing a lens. Every individual is responsible for their own personal belongings however he decided to blame me for the loss.
4thly Owing to the long standing association i had mentioned to him on a casual FB chat that I would TRY and join him for a few days in the Bandhavgarh leg of his trip however i would confirm that only on his arrival in India. Which i informed him that since Bandhavgarh would not be possible I had made arrangements to accompany him to Corbett instead, which I did and also went to Bandhavgarhjust to please the guy. This again was never part of the inclusion or agreed upon in the itinerary, but a friendly gesture from my end. This individual however doesn't understand niceties and claims i Abandoned him.
As a service provider i went way beyond my KRA,
1. shopping for dresses for his lady friends in thailand,
2.giving him my camera and lens to shoot when both his camera batteries were discharged during an important sighting, as he was too drunk the previous night to do the bare basic checks any photographer would.
3.Put up with his constant abuse of our country and its people his fav term "Bloody Indians".
4. Having to pacify my driver in corbett, when this individual constantly kept calling him Gay, impotent and even a lady boy.
5. Storing his luggage and dirty laundry at home while he travelled.
6. giving him my alternate number sim card so that he could be in touch with family as his ph wasnt not working in india, which he conveniently never returned and told me it fell down the toilet.
Such people can never be pleased and always seek to find faults in others for their own shortcomings. In fact on a phone conversation on the 21st of March his daughter asked me how i managed to put up with him for so many years as he has never had a cordial working relationship with anyone which lasted more than a few months or a year. I have been informed that he has had several arguments and fights with people in the wildlife community in Thailand and is highly unpopular and as recent as a few months ago he was thrown out of Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary by the Park Director, who he calls a "Flat Chested Lesbian"
In the past too several instances of his rude erratic and insolent behaviour has cropped up where he has used the most fowl language possible and on being shown proof how he was wrong his only respond would be "oh well" I have ignore and put up with this just because he was a customer.
1. Lost his passport , got a new one, did not inform me , asked me to book his park tickets. When stopped at the park gates for the ID mismatch, starts throwing a fit yelling profanities.
2. Doesnt read emails and itineraries, for a certain NP he was informed in written that the camera fee needs to be paid directly at the gate, conveniently forgets, yells at the guide, says he is being fleeced and cheated, and when shown the mail sent to him goes silent, no apologies, not a word.
3. Throws a fit when a Spice Jet Attendant didnt get him a glass of water the 1st time he asked for it. Complains and blames me that the flight to Jabalpur is an ATR(I DO NOT RUN THE AVIATION MINISTRY OR THE AIRLINE ) ????
5. Abused a Lodge owner for not being around at the lodge to meet him, when they never even agreed on a date and time to meet up.
6. Got angry at his naturalist who spent 4 days at Dhikala with him for not joining him at the Resort at Ramnagar for drinks, because the Naturalist son was unwell and as a father after being away from home for 4 days his priority was the son not the drinks.
I could go on and on but i guess you see the behaviour pattern.
We as service providers always tend to treat clients with utmost care and go above and beyond whats required of us, however being nice and polite should not be taken as sign of weakness. A customer is not always right and with the messed up world we live in more often than not such Abrasive characters do turn up who operate on the assumption Customer is god and need to be called out for it.


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Study of Cell Phone SMS Messages for Prevention of Maternal to Child Transmission of HIV
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01157442
Recruitment Status : Unknown
Verified July 2010 by University of Manitoba.
Recruitment status was: Recruiting
First Posted : July 7, 2010
Last Update Posted : March 23, 2011
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
Optimal development of sustainable health systems must use locally relevant infrastructure. Mobile phone technology, driven primarily by local market forces rather than foreign assistance, is spreading rapidly through African communities to improve people's personal and business communications. Here, the investigators propose using a structured mobile phone communications system for prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV (PMTCT). The system is designed to improve antenatal linkage to care, provide reminders to take PMTCT medications, and improve post-natal support and follow-up, even when mothers deliver at home. In addition to benefits in PMTCT related outcomes, this model allows evaluation of the intervention in a public health setting with the ultimate goal of advancing regional health systems development. The overall goal of of the study is to assess if mobile phones and SMS text messages can be used to help improve prevention of maternal to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV services by strengthening health systems.
Specific objectives are:
1. To determine if mobile phone SMS text messages can demonstrate an improvement in compliance with a known intervention ( use of nevirapine) for PMTCT, demonstrated by:
1a) improved antenatal care attendance (greater than 4 visits)
1b) increased usage of nevirapine in labour (from 60% to at least 70%)
1c) earlier identification and treatment of HIV positive infants
1d) increased postpartum care for HIV positive mothers
1e) acceptability of cell phone SMS text messages transmission of information among HIV positive women
2. To demonstrate that mobile phone technology can be used as an effective tool to strengthen PMTCT health information systems at the facility level by: 2a) determining factors that constrain or promote the use of cell phone technology to strengthen PMTCT health information systems from the perspective of patients, health care providers and policy makers 2b) determining how cell phones can be used as a tool to generate equity statistics for PMTCT programs and formulate equity orientated PMTCT policies 2c) determine if early involvement of policy makers in the study improves knowledge translation
|Condition or disease
|HIV Infections
|Behavioral: cell phone sms text messaging
|Not Applicable
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Estimated Enrollment :
|856 participants
|Intervention Model:
|Single Group Assignment
|None (Open Label)
|Primary Purpose:
|Official Title:
|Harnessing Mobile Phone Usage for HIV and Horizontal Health Systems Improvement: PMTCT
|Study Start Date :
|July 2010
|Estimated Primary Completion Date :
|December 2011
|Estimated Study Completion Date :
|March 2012
Experimental: cell phone sms messages
The experimental arm will receive the cell phone SMS text messaging intervention.
Behavioral: cell phone sms text messaging
At enrollment a study nurse will send the intervention group a weekly SMS message reminding them to attend antenatal care. Starting at 36 weeks gestational age, an automated bulk SMS management system, will send the intervention group 3 SMS text messages (using non descript slogans) each week by proxy reminding them to take their nevirapine in labor. From time of delivery to 6 weeks postpartum the women will aslo receive 3 SMS messages per week reminding them to attend their 6 week checkup and 6 week infant visit.Upon receiving these messages women in the intervention group can text back if they have any concerns or questions. These women would then receive phone calls from the study nurse triaged according to the women's needs.
No Intervention: Control
The control group will receive the standard of care but no SMS text messages.
- increased nevirapine uptake in labour in pregnant HIV positive women from 60% to 70% [ Time Frame: At time of delivery and/or postpartum visit ]
- HIV positive rates in infants born to mothers in the study [ Time Frame: assessed at birth, 6 weeks and 3 months of age ]
- number of antenatal care visits [ Time Frame: assessed at time of 6 week postpartum visit ]
- earlier identification and treatment of HIV positive infants [ Time Frame: at 6 week infant visit ]
- acceptability fo smsm messages for PMTCT related care [ Time Frame: at 6 week postpartum visit ]
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years to 49 Years (Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
Women will be eligible to participate if they:
- are pregnant with a singleton pregnancy,
- attend care at Pumwani Maternity Hospital,
- are HIV positive,
- have never had a preterm birth (before 37 weeks),
- are planning to reside in Nairobi for at least 6 months post delivery,
- live within 15 km of PMH,
- have basic literacy skills in Kiswahili or English,
- are willing to be contacted for follow up and have their own cell phone or regular access to their partners' cell phone (partners must be aware of their HIV status).
Exclusion Criteria:
- Women who are pregnant and attend care at Pumwani Maternity Hospital who are not HIV positive,
- Women who have had a preterm birth,
- Women who are not planning to reside in Nairobi for at least 6 months post delivery,
- Women who do not live within 15 km of PMH,
- Women who do not have basic literacy skills in English or Kiswahili
- Women who are not willing to be contacted for follow up,
- Women who do not have their own cell phone or regular access to their partner's cell phone and
- Women whose partner's are not aware of their HIV status.
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT01157442
|Contact: Joshua Kimani, MD
|Contact: Lisa S Avery, MD
|1-204 272 3150
|Pumwani Maternity Hospital
|Nairobi, Kenya
|Contact: Mary Gichuhi email@example.com
|Principal Investigator:
|Joshua Kimani, MD
|University of Manitoba and University of Nairobi
|Principal Investigator:
|Peter Cherutich, MD
|Ministry of Health, NASCOP Kenya
|Study Director:
|Mary Gichuihi, Masters
|University of Nairobi
|Responsible Party:
|Dr. Joshua Kimani, University of Manitoba and UNiversity of Nairobi
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01157442 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|First Posted:
|July 7, 2010 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|March 23, 2011
|Last Verified:
|July 2010
prevention of maternal to child transmission of HIV
access to antenatal care
HIV Infections
Lentivirus Infections
Retroviridae Infections
RNA Virus Infections
Virus Diseases
Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral
Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes
Immune System Diseases

subset: commoncrawl


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"Horse Herd Behavior and Yielding Softly"
by Buck Brannaman
"Being a horse vet is a very dangerous job," Buck Brannaman said, a truth the famed horse trainer confirmed with a show of hands of veterinarians who had sustained career-related injuries—and those were just the ones without chronic shoulder or arm injuries. But helping horse-owning clients understand horses' herd behavior and mentality, and encouraging them to handle their animals accordingly, can improve this picture, better equipping horse, owner, and to vet handle any problem that might arise.
Brannaman addressed a standing-room-only audience as the keynote speaker at the 2013 American Association of Equine Practitioners' Convention, held Dec. 7-11 in Nashville, Tenn., where he sought to motivate and inspire the several-thousand veterinarians in attendance.
He began by emphasizing that horse owners tend to select their veterinarians by how well they get along with the horses, but they often seem to forget that even in the best of circumstances, a horse that is unprepared for the unexpected can be difficult for anyone to work with, no matter how professional or skilled the individual might be. He stressed, "Horse owners must prepare their horses for the unthinkable." It is not enough for a horse to cooperate when everything is going right; he must also be cooperative enough to facilitate a thorough veterinary exam and to accept procedures that may induce some degree of discomfort or restraint.
Brannaman offered horse behavior insights based on his own experience:
"As much as we like to anthropomorphize, horses process things in one way—
they do it the way things work in a herd. In other words, they behave the way they see
other horses behave." Brannaman said that if a horse could vocalize his thoughts,
the animal might consider aloud, "Do I move his feet, or do I move mine?"
Watching the horses' feet and movement are keys to understanding their behavior.
For example, he noted that we've all seen horses milling around in a herd, something he says horses use to test which horse will be the first to move. A dominant horse might push another to move first either by body postures or by more aggressive and ferocious attacks. When the less dominant horse escapes, he feels relief and the dominant horse quits putting on the pressure. Once the herd hierarchy has been sorted out, the dominant horse may only need to lean towards other horses to achieve the desired response. This concept can be a powerful tool for people to use in horse training.
"Preparation," Brannaman insists, "starts with halter breaking." The handler should begin this process by establishing a "bubble" around himself that the horse will respect when he's asked to move forward.
Echoing the sentiments of his mentor, Ray Hunt, he said, "You need to go through the feet to get to the head." He kept referring to "moving the horse with a feel," using gentle pressure to keep the horses' feet within an imaginary rectangle. , which contains lots of "exit doors." So, when a horse has to cope with anything, such as a veterinarian, farrier, crowd, or flapping scary things, the human "operating all four quarters of the horse" must shut all these exit doors. "The horse must go forward and be soft, and the hindquarters and forequarters must be able to move right or left with the horse in a good frame of mind," he added. "When all the pressure is gone," he says, "the horse finds a peaceful place."
Another important issue Buck described is the tendency for horse owners to pressure veterinarians to find something physically "wrong" with a horse when, in fact, the problem they are experiencing is typically a behavioral problem. Brannaman said he is brutally honest in his clinics, admitting , "I don't make people cry, but I'll help 'em to," While that sparked a laugh, he recognizes that the truth is sometimes hard to swallow, and it's important for horse owners to open their minds to another perspective on their horses' undesirable behavior.
Also important to understanding the roots to a behavior issue, Brannaman's quipped, "You need to know what happened before what happened happened."
Summing it up, Brannaman said owners need to train their horses to yield softly to their humans and not to yield out of fear. Establishing this foundation of a working relationship means the horse is prepared to be more receptive and responsive to care and direction during to any crisis, veterinary or otherwise.


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Mission Offerings
Gifts to the CBF Global Missions Offering are accepted all year. Money given to the Global Missions Offering of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship helps to support field personnel abroad as well as those at home. CBF makes no distinction between field personnel serving in North America and those in other countries.
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VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has told Polish prosecutors that its former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, under investigation for alleged sex abuse, is covered by diplomatic immunity and that the Vatican doesn't extradite its citizens, Polish officials said in the latest development in an embarrassing case for the Holy See.
Polish Archbishop Josef Wesolowski is the highest-ranking Vatican official to be investigated for alleged sex abuse, and his case has raised questions about whether the Vatican, by removing him from Dominican jurisdiction, was protecting him and placing its own investigations ahead of that of authorities in the Caribbean nation.
The Holy See recalled Wesolowski on Aug. 21 and relieved him of his job after the archbishop of Santo Domingo, Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez, told Pope Francis in July about rumors that Wesolowski had sexually abused teenage boys in the Dominican Republic. Dominican authorities subsequently opened an investigation, but haven't charged him.
Poland, too, has opened an investigation into Wesolowski and a friend and fellow Polish priest.
Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi has denied Rome was shielding Wesolowski and that the Vatican was cooperating with the investigations while conducting its own probes.
The spokesman for Warsaw's provincial prosecutor's office, Przemyslaw Nowak, told The Associated Press that Polish prosecutors had recently asked the Vatican for information about Wesolowski's legal status as part of its own investigation. He said the Vatican had confirmed that Wesolowski is a citizen of the Vatican city state, that the Vatican doesn't extradite its citizens and that as a nuncio, or Holy See ambassador, Wesolowski enjoys full diplomatic immunity.
Lombardi confirmed Saturday that the Vatican's embassy in Warsaw had responded to the request, though he declined to confirm the legal principles Nowak said were outlined in the letter. Lombardi as well as Nowak stressed that the Polish were not seeking Wesolowski's extradition but merely information about his legal status.
Lombardi did confirm that Wesolowski was being investigated by two separate Vatican tribunals for alleged canonical crimes and violations of the Vatican city state's criminal code. Canon law convictions can result in being defrocked; convictions in the Vatican's civil tribunals can carry jail terms.
The criminal code was updated last summer to criminalize sexual violence against children. Lombardi said it would be up to legal experts to determine if the new law can be applied retroactively, or if the Vatican's previous laws would cover Wesolowski's case. Sexual crimes did exist in the previous law, but in a general form in the archaic code as a crime against "good customs."
That two Vatican entities are investigating Wesolowski suggests that he has remained inside the Vatican ever since his recall. The Vatican has refused to say where he is, provide information about whether he has a lawyer or how he has responded to the accusations.
The case is particularly problematic for the Vatican since Wesolowski was a representative of the pope, accused of grave crimes that the Holy See has previously sought to distance itself from by blaming the worldwide sex abuse scandal on wayward priests and their bishops who failed to discipline them. The Wesolowski case is also delicate because he was both ordained a priest and bishop by his Polish countryman, Pope John Paul II, who will be made a saint in April.
Associated Press writer Monika Scislowska contributed to this story from Warsaw.
Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield


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SW Merino Worsted - SCROLL
SW Merino Worsted - SCROLL
100% Superwash Merino Wool
4 plies
218 yards / 200 meters
100 grams
Worsted weight
US 6-8 / 4-5mm
Hand wash or machine wash gentle cycle / Dry flat
SCROLL - tan, ecru, grey, streaks and speckles of muted aqua, grey/violet, pink, brown, grey, blue
This is a soft, smooth, and springy worsted weight yarn.
Additional Information:
SHIPPING - USA: $7 flat rate for 2 or more skeins - ships via Priority Mail. If you order one skein, you will be issued a refund of $3.00 and your order will ship First Class Mail. Please allow up to 24 hours for your refund to be processed.
SHIPPING - INTERNATIONAL: First Class International Mail. Canada: first skein is $9.50, each additional is $2.50. Elsewhere: first skein is $12.75, each additional is $3.25. See policies page for more information.
Due to the nature of hand dyed yarn, each skein is unique. If you are using more than one skein in a project, you can blend the differences by alternating skeins every couple of rows. The helical knitting technique is also a good way to blend skeins.
I do my best to represent the colorways as accurately as possible and always photograph the yarn in natural light, however, screens do vary in color portrayal. If you have questions about colorways, feel free to ask before making a purchase.


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Raiders rookie QB Terrelle Pryor appealed his five-game suspension today, and since the same League that handed down his punishment presided over the 80-minute hearing, what do you think the odds are it will be reduced? Yeah, I think it's zero as well.
And the thing that kills me about this whole story is NFL commissioner Roger Goodell denying that he was trying to carry over the five-game suspension the NCAA handed down on Pryor before he decided to turn pro:
Goodell has said he never consulted with the NCAA over Pryor's punishment.
Of course he didn't consult with the NCAA about Pryor's punishment. Their stance on it was already out in the open for everyone to see: Five games, which is the exact same sentence Goodell decided upon. Goodell thinks you're stupid enough to buy that he didn't blindly follow the NCAA's lead. It's become a pattern with the commissioner, who routinely tries (and fails) to get the general public to buy his obvious BS.
The easy way to defend Goodell for suspending Pryor is to say that the NFL is a private entity, and as such it has the right to suspend Pryor (and his former coach Jim Tressel, for that matter, who got a six-game sentence from the Colts, with the Ginger Hammer playing all macho and saying he would have done it himself if Bill Polian hadn't) if it felt he had done something to "tarnish the shield," as Goodell is fond of saying.
But that argument has a major hole. The NFL may be a private entity in theory, but its stadiums are built using public funds and it's been fortunate enough to evade most rightful antitrust claims against it for the duration of its existence.
And the NFL doesn't really care about Pryor damaging the league's image. Would you stop watching football if you knew they didn't suspend Pryor, who was punished for little more than getting some money and selling some trinkets? No. Of course you wouldn't. Only an idiot would be that righteous.
In fact, Pryor got suspended while other current pros like Kenny Britt were allowed to play despite multiple offseason arrests, something that is a much more legitimate threat to the image of the sport.
Pryor was suspended not because of anything he did, but because Goodell was eager to placate the NCAA, which operates as the NFL's free farm system. That's the beginning and end of it.
The NCAA hilariously tries to maintain the illusion of amateurism, so it suspends guys like Pryor for doing things that, on their surface, are utterly harmless. It does this so it can generate enough public outrage about player malfeasance to continue to profit mightily off of players without them seeing a fair share of the revenue.
The NFL, pleased that the NCAA will develop players and develop the brand image of those players without asking the NFL for help, is more than happy to be complicit in this sham and goes ahead and follows the NCAA's lead. Even though, in the real world, this kind of carryover would never happen.
In terms of Pryor's career, this suspension means little. He wasn't going to play in these games anyway. But as a precedent, it's important, because it shows just how slavishly the NFL will carry the water for the NCAA, a body everyone knows is incompetent and corrupt. If the NFL really wanted to protect their image, they'd overturn the ruling and tell the NCAA to get their house in order. Don't hold your breath.


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When you have a seizure with a loss of consciousness
(unconsciousness), it is very obvious. When you are unconscious, you are not
aware of what is going on and are not able to respond in your normal ways to
things that happen to you.
Some types of seizures, such as partial or absence seizures, do not
usually cause you to lose consciousness. The first few times you have partial or
absence seizures, you (or a witness to the seizure) may assume that you are
overly tired or stressed. When you have the same symptom again, you may realize
that your symptom may be caused by a problem in your brain.
Seizure disorders are classified according to the area of the brain
that is affected by the seizure. There are 2 main types of seizures.
Call your doctor to schedule a checkup if you have had symptoms that
you think may be caused by seizures. Avoid activities (such as driving,
operating machinery, climbing a ladder, or swimming) that may cause injury to
yourself or others until you have been checked by your doctor.
Last Revised:
August 25, 2011
Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
William H. Blahd, Jr., MD, FACEP - Emergency Medicine & H. Michael O'Connor, MD - Emergency Medicine
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
© 1995-2012 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.


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Registration can be made
by email – firstname.lastname@example.com
by post, 611 Military Road, Mosman 2088,
by phone 02 9969 4911
by fax 02 9969 7929
or in person.
If you book more than any four classes, pay 50% deposit now and final payment will be due one week prior to each class.
If you book more than six classes, you may bring a friend to one of the classes as my guest. This class must be selected when you book.
Subscribe to our newsletter and you will be advised of last minute class vacancies.
Click here to subscribe
What would you like us to do? Which chefs would you like to hear from? Email us your suggestions at firstname.lastname@example.com
Available from Accoutrement.
Check MOSMAN 2088 MAGAZINE for more recipes from Accoutrement every month.
Baba Ghanouj – SERVES 3
1 large cooked eggplant (aubergine), roasted, grilled or smoked
120g (4oz) walnuts, soaked overnight in cold water
1/4 cup mint leaves
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 lemon, juiced
60ml (2fl oz) extra virgin olive oil
Salt and black pepper, to taste
6 whole baby squid
1/3 cup (80ml/2 1/2 fl oz) olive oil
2 tablespoons dukkah
1 punnet coriander (cilantro) cress, trimmed and chopped
1 punnet chard cress, trimmed and chopped
1 punnet baby mache, trimmed and chopped
2 tablespoons dukkah dressing
To make the baba ghanouj, chop up the eggplant and place in a food processor with the walnuts, mint, garlic, lemon juice and process until blended. With the motor still running add the oil and 1/4 cup of warm water until smooth. Season.
Score the baby squid with a sharp knife and combine in a bowl with lemon juice, garlic, olive oil and dukkah, cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Grill (broil) the squid on a barbecue (grill) for 1-2 minutes on each side.
Spoon some of the baba ghanouj onto each plate and place the hot cooked squid on top, accompany with the chopped herbs and drizzle with the dukkah dressing. Serve immediately.
Citrus Salad – MAKES 6 CUPS
1 grapefruit
1 lemon
2 oranges
2 limes
1 cup water
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon orange blossom water
1 tablespoon prepared saffron
2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves
Zest the fruits, taking care to only remove the peel and not the white pith as this is bitter.
Wash the zest.
Place the fruit in the fridge until needed.
In a saucepan, boil the water, sugar and zest. Lower the heat and simmer to reduce the liquid to the thickness of warm runny honey, being careful not to burn the sugar.
Add the orange blossom water and saffron. Stir for one minute and take off the heat and leave to cool down.
Chill for two hours.
Peel the citrus fruits completely, removing all the pith and then carefully separate the fruit into segments.
Place the segments in to a glass bowl and combine with the chilled sauce.
Garnish with mint leaves.


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Welcome to Meerut Development Authority
Meerut Development Authority (MDA) is the principal agency of the Government of Uttar Pradesh responsible for taking ahead the tradition of planned and sustainable development of Meerut.
Meerut Development Authority is responsible for preparation and implementation of master plan for the city. It takes up infrastructural and basic amenity development for Meerut besides environment conservation and development of rural areas around the mother city.
The aims and objectives of Meerut Development Authority are far reaching both in their short term and long term planning. The Meerut Development Authority plans to reduce population congestion is primary objective. A plan to have restricted individuals per hectare has been proposed. With the purpose of limiting the population of Union Territory of Delhi and maintaing a steady pace of development, national capital region has been conceptualized with parts of Haryana, Rajasthan and U.P. with Delhi being at the centre.


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Amber Beierle and Rachael Robertson say they'll be the first in line if Idaho starts issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Friday.
They've tried before – the couple was denied a license just six months ago in Boise – but now they have the federal court on their side. US district magistrate judge Candy Dale ruled in their favor and in favor of three other Idaho couples Tuesday evening, finding the state's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.
They were joined by their fellow plaintiffs and attorneys in front of the federal courthouse Tuesday evening, celebrating the win with champagne, family and friends.
"The first person I called when I got the news was my mom, and she said 'I'm so proud of you Amby,'" Beierle said, holding back tears. "I don't think people understand what that means to native Idahoans who love this state and want to stay in this state but who want to be heard. It feels amazing."
Dale said the state must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples starting at 9am Friday. Governor CL "Butch" Otter already has said he intends to appeal the case, meaning an appellate court could still put the weddings on hold.
The four couples filed the lawsuit against Otter and Ada County clerk Chris Rich challenging the marriage ban in November. The other couples are Sue Latta and Traci Ehlers; Lori and Sharene Watsen; and Shelia Robertson and Andrea Altmayer.
Latta and Ehlers married in 2008 in California, and the Watsens married in 2011 in New York. Both couples have children and say Idaho wrongly treats Ehlers as a legal stranger to her grandchildren and requires Lori Watsen to obtain a new power of attorney every six months so she can have legal authority to consent to medical treatment for her son. Altmayer and Sheila Roberston were also denied a marriage license in Idaho last year.
"We won," Latta said, holding the hand of her wife, Ehlers. "After arguing in court [last week] there was nothing clearer in my brain, we had a valid legal argument."
The governor vowed to appeal the ruling, citing the state's constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Earlier this week he notified the federal magistrate judge that if he loses the case, he may try to appeal directly to the US supreme court, instead of going first through the 9th US circuit court of appeals.
"In 2006, the people of Idaho exercised their fundamental right, reaffirming that marriage is the union of a man and a woman," he said in a statement Tuesday. "Today's decision, while disappointing, is a small setback in a long-term battle that will end at the US supreme court.
"I am firmly committed to upholding the will of the people and defending our constitution."
In her ruling, Dale said neither tradition nor majority opinion trumps the fact that marriage is a fundamental right of all citizens.
"The Plaintiffs are entitled to extraordinary remedies because of their extraordinary injuries," Dale wrote. "Idaho's Marriage Laws withhold from them a profound and personal choice, one that most can take for granted. By doing so, Idaho's Marriage laws deny same-sex couples the economic, practical, emotional and spiritual benefits of marriage, relegating each couple to a stigmatized, second-class status. Plaintiffs suffer these injuries not because they are unqualified to marry, start a family, or grow old together, but because of who they are and whom they love."
Dale said that a legal marriage impacts the day-to-day life of a spouse in many ways.
"From the deathbed to the tax form, property rights to parental rights, the witness stand to the probate court, the legal status of 'spouse' provides unique and undeniably important protections," Dale wrote.
The judge also rejected Otter's claims that same-sex marriage harms kids by encouraging marriages that aren't focused primarily on children.
If Idaho's marriage laws are indeed designed to improve child welfare, they are both grossly over-inclusive – because they give protections and resources to couples who can't or won't procreate — and dramatically under-inclusive – because they deny protections and resources to children of homosexual parents, Dale said.
Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said he would consult with the governor on the state's appeal.
Last year the US supreme court ruled that a law forbidding the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages was unconstitutional. Since then, lower-court judges have repeatedly cited the decision when striking down same-sex marriage bans that were enacted after Massachusetts started recognizing gay marriages in 2004.
In addition to Idaho, federal or state judges in Oklahoma, Virginia, Michigan, Texas, Utah and Arkansas have recently found those state bans to be unconstitutional. Judges have also ordered Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee to recognize same-sex marriages from other states.


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If you've read some of our previous blog posts you know we have been fans of the work of Tin Man Games for a while. They produce gamebook apps that are wonderful digital versions of the Choose Your Own Adventure and Fighting Fantasy books of my '80s childhood.
Well, Tin Man Games has teamed up with one of the original creators of those fighting fantasy books, Steve Jackson (not to be confused with the other Steve Jackson) and they have just released the second title in the Fighting Fantasy Apps series, called House of Hell.
House of Hell sounds just like the good old days: horror, blood, dice rolling and decision making.
"Taking refuge in the infamous House of Hell has to be the worst mistake of your life! The dangers of the torrential storm outside are nothing compared to the blood-curdling adventures that await you inside. Who knows how many hapless wanderers like yourself have perished within its gruesome walls? Be warned! Tonight is going to be a night to remember..."
You can download it for iOS and Android over at the website.


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The U.S. consumer is powering ahead at what could be the best levels since the financial crisis, despite economic headwinds and uncertainty in Washington.
The February increase in retail sales of 1.1 percent was nearly double what many economists expected, and now they see economic growth at a better-than-expected pace in the first quarter. Retail sales rose the most in five months even with higher taxes and rising gasoline prices.
Mesirow Financial economist Diane Swonk says a lot of the credit for a more confident consumer goes to the improvement in housing and rising home prices.


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BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Dual-sport athlete Elizabeth Bromirski has been named the Southern Athletic Association Woman of the Year, the league office announced today.
Bromirski, a senior from Somerville, Ala., has proven herself over the past four seasons to be a consummate Division III student-athlete. A standout in both women's basketball and track and field, she won honors in both, collecting First-Team All-SAA awards in basketball this past season, and also winning the conference high jump titles in 2012 (when BSC was a member of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Association) and 2014. She also finished runner-up in the high jump in 2013 and runner up in the long jump in 2014.
"I have been so blessed this year with accomplishments, and I am so honored to bring this award back to BSC," Bromirski said. "I could not have done it without the support of my parents, coaches, fiancé, friends, training staff, and of course my BSC family. I am so excited and thankful for this honor."
Bromirski also excelled in the classroom, earning Phi Beta Kappa honors this spring. She has been a member of the Dean's List six times, is a Mortar Board member, member of Omicron Delta Kappa and Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Societies, and has received the Greensboro Scholarship and W.P. Maxwell Scholarship. In the community, Bromirski is a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee where she served as president in 2013-14, and a volunteer at The Exceptional Foundation all four years on campus. Her work with The Exceptional Foundation benefits individuals with special needs and she also found time to volunteer with Piper Place, a program that serves individuals with severe mental illness.
"Elizabeth Bromirski exemplifies the highest qualities of scholarship, athletic ability, service, and leadership and we are so proud of her for winning the prestigious SAA Woman of the Year award, and bringing honor to Birmingham-Southern College," Athletic Director Joe Dean, Jr., said.
Bromirski will graduate from Birmingham-Southern this weekend with a double major in religion and psychology and with a 3.82 grade point average.
About the SAA Man and Woman of the Year awards:
In a joint effort to honor the Southern Athletic Association's most elite student-athletes, Summit Management Corporation and the SAA partnered last fall to create the annual SAA Man and Woman of the Year. The awards, selected by a committee comprised of Summit Management and SAA representatives, are given to the senior class male and female nominees who best exemplify traits of leadership, character, athletic and academic success.
The criteria for SAA Man and Woman of the Year nominees included that they must be a senior with no eligibility remaining, they must have been named either First or Second Team All-SAA in the sport in which in the participated during their athletic careers, and they must have qualified for the SAA Academic Honor Roll during their tenure as a student-athlete. Additionally, SAA Man and Woman of the Year candidates are expected to be involved in their local community in some meaningful way.


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Toyota Land Cruiser U-Joint Replacement Cost
Know what price you should pay to get your vehicle fixed.
What is a universal joint?
A universal joint is a joint that is bolted or welded onto a shaft, and allows that shaft to rotate, even when bending. In rear wheel drive and four-wheel drive vehicles, they allow the suspension to travel without breaking the drive shaft.
How does the universal joint work?
By attaching a four-way hinge between two shafts, the two shafts can move independently of one another, in all directions, and the power from one of the shaft can be transferred to the other end of the shaft, even while the shaft is bent. This allows the drive shaft, and some axles, to connect two components that are not in fixed positions relative to each other.
What are the symptoms related to a bad universal joint?
Commonly, vibrations that increase with vehicle speed, and a rapid chirping noise are very evident when a universal joint (U-joint) fails. The chirping and vibration may change intensity as the vehicle passes over bumps in the road. As the problem progresses, the drive shaft may make a loud clunk anytime the vehicle is put into reverse or drive. Vibrations, and wobbling will eventually lead to leaky seals on the transmission tail shaft, or transfer case. When the U-joint has reached total failure, it may bind and break, which can allow the drive shaft to fall off the vehicle while driving.
Can I drive with a universal joint problem?
It is not recommended to drive with a failing universal joint. Every time the universal joint squeaks, is a chance it can bind and break. If driving the vehicle must be done, slow speeds and light acceleration are recommended. The universal joint should not be left unattended and in operation for any extended period of time, as failure will occur, and damage to the vehicle is possible.
How often do universal joints need to be replaced?
Universal joints can have a lengthy service life if properly maintained, and 100,000 miles is not at all unreasonable to expect. U-joints to fail prematurely, most commonly as a result of vehicle abuse, collisions, lack of maintenance, and dry-rot of the rubber lip seal.
How are universal joint issues diagnosed?
When a U-joint is making noise, the entire driveline must be inspected to determine the noisy joint. The noisy universal joint will feel loose compared to the others, and may even have visible movement. The transmission or transfer case seal nearest the U-joint may also be leaking, and the carrier bearing, if equipped, may be worn.
U-Joint Replacement Cost Estimates
The average cost for a U-Joint Replacement is between $480 and $509 but can vary from car to car.
How is a universal joint replaced?
The faulty universal joint is replaced as an individual component, or by replacing the entire drive shaft. Vehicles with non-serviceable universal joints will require driveshaft replacement. Serviceable u-joints require removing retaining clips, and sliding one side of the joint out of the yokes at a time. The new universal joint slips in, and is help by retaining clips. If the transmission of transfer case seal requires replacement, the drive shaft is easily removed, and installed.
RepairPal Recommendations for universal joint issues
We recommend using OEM quality or better when selecting universal joints. These parts tend to be inexpensive, and are vital to the smooth operation of your vehicle. Purchasing low quality universal joints may lead to repeating this repair.
What to look out for when dealing with universal joint issues
If the universal joint binds and breaks, when it falls from the transmission, transmission fluid will be lost quickly from the tail shaft, and the engine will rev higher than expected. This can result in transmission damage, and can be prevented by repairing the issue soon after it is noticed.
Can I replace the universal joint myself?
Universal joint replacement can be accomplished with a few tools, and a little mechanical experience. If removal and installation procedures of a universal joint are not followed strictly, damage to the needle bearings may lead to failure. If the U-joint requires replacement of the entire drive shaft, a professional service may be able to replace only the universal joint to save parts costs.
- Repair shops in Sterling, VA
- Repair shops in Dulles, VA
- Repair shops in Leesburg, VA
- Repair shops in Herndon, VA


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Mitt tax release puzzles strategists
Mitt Romney's decision to release tax information he'd said was off the table revives an issue seven weeks before Election Day that had finally faded from view, and it could give Democrats new fodder for their caricature of Romney as a secretive businessman.
Republicans are hopeful a piece of the information released Friday that he'd always promised — Romney's full 2011 tax return — adds little to change the story. Voters already know that Romney is rich — now they know his effective tax rate was 14.1 percent last year.
Story Continued Below
( Also on POLITICO: See and download Romney's 2011 tax return)
Yet even without the new releases, polls showed Democrats have successfully branded Romney as an out-of-touch rich guy linked to a questionable web of international financial dealings. Releasing additional years worth of tax returns probably wouldn't help Romney reverse that perception, if that's even possible at this point.
It was the summary of 20 additional years worth of data, providing tax rate averages but no income information, that could raise more questions.
( Also on POLITICO: Romney releases 2011 tax returns)
"My initial reaction to it is, once again, the Romney campaign wants the worst of both worlds," said Democratic strategist Jonathan Prince. "All the summary does is raise lots of questions on what the summary hides. At the same time, it completely left everyone hungry for more. … (And) they're conceding that (that) information is somewhat relevant to being asked for and they're also continuing to hide it. It's not like they're trying to have it both ways — they're trying to lose it both ways."
Romney's aides said the decision was made to release the summary information after Romney told an interviewer a few weeks ago that he would have to go back and look up his effective tax rate over the past 10 years.
"He went back and checked, and then stated that in the last 10 years, he has never paid less than 13 percent of his income in taxes," the aide said. "Following that, he decided to go ahead and release this summary information covering the last 20 years."
The idea, one source close to Romney's campaign said, was to quell what aides believe would be a constant request for information about the former Bain Capital head's personal finances.
Romney has been adamant throughout the 2012 election that he would not release what the Democrats have demanded. Indeed, during the Republican primaries, he resisted releasing the 2010 tax return his GOP opponents called for. (Under pressure, Romney relented.)
Democrats have exploited the issue for months, most famously when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made the claim, without offering any proof, that a former Bain investor told him Romney didn't pay taxes for multiple years. And Democrats have repeatedly pointed out that Romney released multiple years of returns when he was vetted by Sen. John McCain in 2008 as a vice presidential nominee.
McCain, in a statement put out by the campaign Friday, said it was time for people to move on to issues the country cares about. They mostly had, since the party conventions at the end of the summer.


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Recent News
October 09, 2013
OxyElite Pro: Health Advisory - Acute Hepatitis Illness Cases Linked To Product Use
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services received information regarding a health advisory for dietary supplement product labeled as OxyElite Pro.
OxyElite Pro is distributed by USPlabs LLC of Dallas, Texas, and is sold nation-wide through a wide range of distribution channels, including the internet and retail stores that sell dietary supplements.
Symptoms of all types of hepatitis are similar and can include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dark urine, clay or gray-colored bowel movements, joint pain, yellow eyes and jaundice.
The full advisory can be found at www.fda.gov/Food/RecallsOutbreaksEmergencies/Outbreaks/ucm370849.htm.


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Rand Paul pulls plug on nearly 13-hour filibuster
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul staged the longest talking filibuster in recent Senate memory from Wednesday into early Thursday, railing with his colleagues for more than 12 hours against what they called the danger of drone strikes to U.S. citizens on American soil.
In seizing control of the Senate, a bloc of conservatives led by the libertarian Paul successfully pushed a potential vote to confirm President Barack Obama's nominee to run the CIA off the day's agenda.
Story Continued Below
Paul began speaking at 11:47 a.m. on Wednesday and finally yielded the floor at about 12:39 a.m. Thursday, having stayed inside the Senate chamber and on his feet for that entire time.
"I would try to go another 12 hours and try to break Strom Thurmond's record, but there are some limits to filibustering and I am going to have to go take care of one of those here," Paul said.
Immediately after he finished, Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois introduced a motion to end debate on the nomination of John Brennan to run the CIA.
( PHOTOS: The longest filibusters in history)
Speaking to reporters afterward, Paul said he hadn't done much preparation for what turned into a rare marathon talkfest.
"Well the weird thing is that we didn't really have a plan," he said. "We showed up this morning thinking [the Brennan] debate was going to be tomorrow... I hadn't planned on it. I didn't wear my most comfortable shoes or anything. I would have worn different shoes."
He did use some strategy: "I went to the candy drawer a lot of times, and I didn't drink much water, so I need some water," he said. A spokeswoman said Paul had not taken a steam bath as Thurmond had for his record-setting 24-hour filibuster.
"I'm very tired," he acknowledged. "My legs hurt, my feet hurt, everything hurts."
Paul's gambit initially surprised the Senate, many members of which had been prepared to vote to confirm Brennan to take over the spy agency earlier Wednesday. But as the day wore on, several of Paul's colleagues — as well as one Democrat — joined him to attack the Obama administration for its refusal to positively rule out the use of drones against Americans in the U.S. or to disclose more information about drones.
By nightfall, Paul's effort had gained the support of more of his colleagues, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. They joined him on the floor and used up chunks of time with quotes from Ronald Reagan, Shakespeare, and in the case of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, "The Godfather" and rapper Jay-Z.
( PHOTOS: The senators who spoke during the filibuster)
Just short of the 12-hour mark, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called via Twitter for "all Republican US senators" to join the filibuster.
So, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin gave a speech as much about the dysfunctional Senate and the dangers of the national debt as about drone policy. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said that the essential issue of liberty shouldn't divide the political parties. Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona told Paul "the question you've asked is totally right and proper." And so on.


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New Worlds of Adoption: Contact Between Adoptive & Birth Families: What Works?
Growing numbers of adoptions involve some form of contact between the child's adoptive family and birth relatives. This has become especially common in domestic infant adoptions, but it is also a key consideration in adoptions from the public child welfare system, and increasingly in international adoptions. This year's "New Worlds of Adoption" conference will highlight research-based practice and policy relating to contact between a child's birth and adoptive families.
Topics include:
- Clinical practice issues and mediation relating to contact
Contact issues in domestic infant, child welfare, and intercountry adoptions
Legal aspects of communication agreements between adoptive and birth parents
Research perspectives and findings relating to contact
The role of social media in searching and contact
First-hand accounts of young adults, adoptive parents, and birth parents involved in contact
Presenters include: Marla Allisan Susan Ayers-Lopez, Amanda Baden, Mary Beek, Judy Cockerton, Janie Cravens, Rachel Farr, Janice Goldwater, Harold Grotevant, Christopher Langelier, Ruth McRoy, Jenae Neiderhiser, Elsbeth Neil, Susan Ogden, Joyce, Maguire Pavao, Adam Pertman, Susan Livingston Smith, Emma Ward, Gretchen Miller Wrobel
Registration Info:
Fees: INCLUDES: Coffee and tea (morning) and lunch (noon) Wi-Fi access will be available.
PLEASE NOTE: Prices increase by $35 after March 28th. Cancellations received before April 5th will receive a full refund, minus a $35 processing fee. There are no refunds for cancellations received after April 5th. Registration closes April 5th. Students rate is only available to full time students (ID required.) Senior rate 65+ (ID required.)
Both Days
General - $195
Student & Senior - $95
One Day
General - $145
Student & Senior - $60
5 Social Work CEUs per day - $50 per day
Registration Info: umass.edu/adoptionconference OR: facebook.com/RuddAdoptionResearchProgram


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Food & Drink
Despite bad press and travel warnings, Mexico tourism holds its own
By Emanuella Grinberg, CNN • Updated 9th March 2012
View Gallery
6 Pictures
"Mexico on the 17th woohoo!"
"On a jet plane. Bye bye USA. Hello Mexico."
"Last day in Mexico ... I could so live here ..."
Judging from social media, not everyone is avoiding Mexico this spring break. And, despite a steady stream of bad press and travel warnings, Mexico is counting on a good year for tourism.
Image problem notwithstanding, Mexico has been the top foreign country visited by Americans for more than two decades. Mexico welcomed more than 16 million Americans in 1990,
according to the Department of Commerce's Office of Travel and Tourism Industries
. With a few periods of fluctuation in between, that number reached 20 million in 2010, the latest year for which data is available from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
"When you hear about swine flu and the drug war and see grisly photos and stories that go along with them, people look at the country on a whole through that light," said Lonely Planet writer Richard Reid, who has been to Mexico 15 times in his 43 years. "That's not always an accurate representation of the entire country."
The Mexico Tourism Board estimates that 52 million domestic and international tourists will visit the southeastern part of the country in 2012, thanks to growing numbers of visitors from emerging markets and aggressive public relations campaigns to counter the perception that Mexico is unsafe.
The southeast consists of resort areas such as Cancun, Cozumel and Playa del Carmen, as well as Mayan cultural destinations, a key area of focus for the tourist board in 2012. Analysts say efforts to direct tourists to the southeast reflect the experience of most visitors to the country who stay away from areas in northern Mexico plagued by cartel-related violence.
"While there are security concerns in certain areas in the country, particularly in the north, travel to traditional tourist destinations along the Mayan Riviera remain safe," said Miguel Salazar of the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington.
The U.S. State Department issued a travel warning to Americans to avoid all but essential travel to all or parts of 14 of 31 Mexican states. No advisory is in effect for Yucatan, Quintana Roo or Campeche, states that make up the Yucatan Peninsula, or for that matter, Mexico City, the nation's capital.
"The fact that tourist destinations along the Mayan Riviera still remain safe is further underscored by the State Department's most recent travel warnings, which shows that not all of Mexico is experiencing increased violence as a result of efforts to confront organized crime," Salazar said.
That success might not be evident in the news that comes out of Mexico, but the numbers tell a different story: A record-breaking 22.67 million international visitors arrived in 2011, representing a 2% increase from 2010, according to figures provided by the Mexico Tourism Board.
That's not to say that bad things don't happen outside the hot zones. In February,
22 Carnival Cruise Lines passengers
were robbed of valuables and their passports during a shore excursion in the Mexico seaside resort of Puerto Vallarta in the state of Jalisco.
The State Department warning advises travelers to defer nonessential travel to areas of Jalisco that border the states of Michoacán and Zacatecas. It also recommends exercising caution when traveling at night outside of cities elsewhere in the state.
Mexico travel warnings add caution to the annual spring break pilgrimage south of the border.
Mexico Tourism Board's Rodolfo Lopez Negrete says tourists should not be afraid to visit Mexico after recent robberies.
The tour was driving on a remote highway about 15 kilometers (about 9.3 miles) outside Puerto Vallarta when an individual held them up, Rodolfo Lopez Negrete, chief operating officer of the Mexico Tourism Board, told CNN.
"I can assure this is an isolated, rare incident that shouldn't have happened," he said. "But at same time, I have to tell you that this is something that could happen anywhere else in the world."
Putting things in context is a large part of Negrete's modus operandi. While many rushed to interpret the
State Department's recent expanded travel warning
as a blow to Mexico, Lopez Negrete said he welcomed the extent to which it pinpointed areas to avoid with specific descriptions and a map and highlighted others where no travel warning was in effect.
And while the State Department's travel warning puts Mexico in the company of Syria, Libya and North Korea, none of those countries is described by the State Department as a place where "millions of U.S. citizens safely visit" for study, tourism and business.
"We try to put things within the proper context of making sure people understand that if there are problems in certain pockets of the country, that doesn't mean the major resort destinations and city center destinations are in danger," Lopez Negrete said.
"Mexico is a very large country, the size of western Europe, so it's unfair to paint Mexico with such a massively broad stroke," Lopez Negrete said in a phone call this week from Germany, where he was representing Mexico in ITB Berlin, the world's biggest travel trade show.
It was a sentiment he would repeat later in the week in response to the Texas Department of Public Safety's blanket
warning against spring break travel to Mexico
, citing drug cartel violence and criminal activity.
Texas officials highlighted an increase in murders of U.S. citizens in Mexico and other violent crime concerns.
"The Mexican government has made great strides battling the cartels, and we commend their continued commitment to making Mexico a safer place to live and visit," Texas DPS Director Steven C. McCraw said in a statement. "However, drug cartel violence and other criminal activity represent a significant safety threat, even in some resort areas."
This is the third year in a row that Texas has issued the warning, prompting allegations from the World Travel and Tourism Council that it was a ploy to encourage domestic tourism,
according to Mexican news outlet Notimex
. Last year's announcement prompted similar reaction, with several leading American tourism groups
urging Texas to downgrade the warning to an advisory
"We want to caution consumers against overgeneralizing -- taking isolated events and applying them to the whole country," said Lisa Simon, president of tour operator trade group, NTA.
"Mexico is a beautiful destination with incredible adventure and cultural experiences available. We advise Americans to travel with professional tour operators, because they know what's happening in specific areas of the country and can provide safe and secure travel arrangements."
American travel to Mexico has fluctuated over the past few years, coinciding with an overall decline in international travel during the recession, according to U.S. Department of Commerce numbers. Figures from the Mexico Tourism Board indicate that the number of American visitors dropped by 3% overall in 2011. But they consider it a promising sign the number of American visitors in the last four months of 2011 was up 10.6% compared with 2010.
The fluctuations prompted Mexico to woo new visitors from outside the United States by building relationships in emerging markets and easing the visa application process with online portals, Lopez Negrete said. Those efforts paid off in record-breaking numbers for 2011, with the biggest growth from emerging markets such as Brazil (66%), Russia (55%) and China (30%).
Those gains tend to be overshadowed by media coverage of cartel-related violence and occasional acts of violence toward tourists. Lopez Negrete acknowledges that parts of Mexico should be avoided, which is why the tourism board has focused efforts on driving visitors to southern Mexico with an emphasis on the "mundo Maya," or the Mayan world, and gastronomy tours.
The timing couldn't be better with doomsday travel ramping up ahead of the alleged Mayan prophecy of the apocalypse. But Lopez Negrete says the push is about diversifying Mexico's appeal.
Mexico's indigenous roots and UNESCO-honored cuisine have always been a big part of its culture, he said. Again, it seems to be a matter of changing perceptions.
"We see a great opportunity to share a part of our culture that many visitors don't normally see," he said. "For those who've been to Mexico before, it's a chance to see the country in a new light."
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Dr. Dobb's contributing editor Mike Riley recently had an opportunity to talk with Joe Duffy, lead developer and architect for Microsoft's Parallel Extensions to .NET, and author of Concurrent Programming on Windows.
Q: Joe, what are the biggest challenges facing Windows developers seeking to upgrade their legacy code to multicore environments?
A: Dealing with side-effects.
Most programs on Windows are imperative + shared-memory, which means that data structures are typically mutable. This is the legacy we inherit from our C-programming heritage and has only been encouraged by the gradual shift to OOP which encapsulates and hides that mutability. Finding compute-bound regions of code that would benefit from parallelism is also quite challenging. A simple for-each loop might be doing a lot of work, and thus is a strong candidate for parallelism. But it may also have subtle effects on its environment that make parallelism impossible (e.g., loop-carried dependencies) or very tricky (e.g. thread-unsafe updates to objects accessible within the loop). It's not always obvious which is the case.
This is a tangled web. Imagine you've found a costly loop you want to parallelize, but can't because it contains side-effects. Papering over the effects with locks can, with patience and great care, lead to safety, but even when done right comes at a performance penalty. The cost and risk are high, and the benefit is marginalized. Writing efficient parallel code really does demand an alternative style of programming that mixes functional and imperative programming in a way that our languages currently don't provide in a first-class way. This is why a 900-page book on the subject is necessary. Those who figure it out can be rewarded handsomely -- with 4x, 8x, 16x, performance improvements -- but the task must be undertaken with great care.
Q: How long do you expect the programming technology to be as simple as a check box in a language's compiler options (i.e., check a "Optimize for multi-core systems" similar to the way "Compile for 64-bit systems" works today)?
A: We're a long way away from that. The key, I think, is abstraction. Somebody in the stack will always have to worry about the hard problems I mention above. Over time, however, languages and frameworks will help higher level developers write "the right" code by default. Having people write more declarative programs will enable smarter compilers and runtimes to parallelize, provided the declarative syntax side-steps the side-effects problem. For example, PLINQ in .NET 4.0 is highly parallel because developers express problems in terms of bulk-data operations. MATLAB and logic solvers can parallelize because programs are declarative and not operational. The trend towards DSLs [Domain-Specific Languages] will broaden the impact of declarative programming.
Q: Which of the 16 chapters in your book was the most challenging to write? Why?
A: Each was challenging for its own reasons. Chapter 13, "Data and Task Parallelism," was hard because it's the money chapter. Ultimately, that's the one that helps people to write parallel code on today's Windows OS, with today's C++ or .NET Framework, on today's generation of multiprocessors. The rest of the book was a collection of many useful facts. But Chapter 13 tries to steer people towards a set of best practices for writing parallel code.
Q: What is the most exciting real-world parallel programming application you have seen using the Parallel Extension to .NET? Do you expect these extensions to simply be part of the main .NET Framework in future .NET releases?
A: An MSR team internally uses PLINQ as part of a more holistic distributed parallel programming model. They use very similar techniques to PLINQ internally to distribute LINQ queries to nodes in a cluster, and then once on a node in the cluster they parallelize using PLINQ (and indirectly TPL). They call their project DryadLINQ, and have a public website where you can learn more.. I'm very excited about this project, because it shows that the same programming model (LINQ) can scale horizontally + vertically at once. You get interactive access to terabytes and terabytes of data, which only distributed + local parallelism can give you. This is a glimpse of the future of commoditized parallelism.
There have also been several simulations with impressive visualizations (e.g., graphics, stock market modeling, health-care analysis). These are great because they demonstrate why we still need a desktop PC and can't just rely on the cloud for everything.
As to whether PLINQ, TPL, and the other components in Parallel Extensions to the .NET Framework will show up in .NET sometime, you bet. They are shipping in Visual Studio 10, a.k.a. .NET Framework 4.0. We also have a set of new C++ components too, including some more extensibility points for custom schedulers than you'll find in .NET. Check out http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/concurrency/ for more information, including links to our team blogs.
Q: Where can interested readers go on the web to learn more about your book, Concurrent Programming on Windows, as well as your thoughts on parallel application development in general?
A: They can start with my blog. From there, they can find a sample chapter from my book and random musings on the state of concurrency. I also recorded a Channel9 interview recently where I discuss the future of programming languages in lieu of the concurrency problem.


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Our mission is "To promote innovation that enhances student learning and university business."
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A First Test for Republicans
Republicans' hands have been strengthened by a wave of voter angst about big-spending and business-as-usual in Washington, D.C. But have they landed on their limited-government feet? The first test of that question comes next Tuesday.
That's when Senate Republicans will likely vote on a proposal to bar themselves from requesting earmarks. Last year, House Republicans adopted that policy for themselves the day after House Democrats limited their earmarking to non-profits and government bodies.
The Senate Republican earmark ban is championed by Tea Party favorite Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). Its strongest opponent is Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Senator McConnell may have won his race in 2008 thanks to bringing home the bacon, but politics seem to have changed since then. Earmarker extraordinaire Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) was bounced out of his office despite larding his district and state with federal pork.
McConnell's own state may have changed, too. Witness the election of Rand Paul (without McConnell's help). Paul supports the earmark ban.
McConnell has framed his opposition to the earmark ban as an argument for preserving Congress' "discretion"---that is, its authority over the spending of federal dollars. Without earmarks, the administration will decide where the money is spent. But there's a pretty long list of things McConnell could work for if he wants to defend Congress' prerogatives, such as:
- Forcing the administration to be transparent about the grants it doles out.
- Limiting or eliminating the administration's grant-making and spending discretion.
- Withdrawing all the other massive delegations of authority that Congress has given to the executive branch.
- Reducing spending and cutting taxes so that spending discretion is where it should be: with the taxpayers who earned the money in the first place.
Earmarks are not a huge part of the federal budget, but that does not militate against ending them. Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) calls them a "gateway drug to federal spending addiction," which is a folksy way of talking about the political science of "log-rolling." Former member of Congress Joe Scarborough (R-Fla.), who has seen it first-hand, talks in this clip about how House and Senate leaders use earmarks to buy votes on legislation they want to get passed.
If earmarks go away as a tool for wheeling-and-dealing in Congress, members and senators will be less likely to sell out the country as a whole with bloated spending bills and Rube-Goldberg regulatory projects for the benefit of some local interest or campaign contributor.
I'll be speaking next Monday at a Hill event on earmark transparency. The vote in the Senate Republican Conference is Tuesday. It's a secret ballot, so any senator who doesn't trumpet his or her support of the earmark ban almost certainly opposes it and supports the practice of earmarking.


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Notes about Evernote/
In late March, Kasey and Nick from Evernote came to Calgary to shoot a video about how I use Evernote to run UPPERCASE magazine. If you're not familiar with the service, Evernote's slogan "Remember everything" sums it up. With online, desktop and mobile access, you can create and categorize notes. Anything that you want quick and easy access to, from receipts to saved web images to writing to lists to audio notes, you can save to Evernote. There's a detailed post on their blog about how I use the service. The tool has been invaluable to me (I've been using it since issue #2) and I urge you to give it a try. It's free, though I use the premium version for increased storage and other useful features.
A few notes about the video:
0:03 My necklace is by Urban Legend. We're featuring jeweller Kateri Morton in issue #15.
0:05 Stockist The Daily Globe on 17th Avenue in Calgary
0:11 Scissor print by regular contributor Alanna Cavanagh
0:15 We moved the couch so that you can see the bookcase behind me.
0:16 I found this typewriter in my back alley in 2006. (I painted it orange.)
0:17 Flea market score: $10 typewriter! Works perfectly.
0:19 Ebay score: 1947 Hermes typewriter poster by Herbert Luepin, flea market paint-by-number kitten.
0:20 This doggie is Scooter, photo by Christine Edwards.
0:23 Yes, more typewriters!
0:35 That's Eleanor. If you have questions about subscriptions or the online shop, she answers them!
0:55 I love my big big monitor. A must-have for publication designers.
0:58 That's The Shatner Show, the first book I published. 76 illustrators interpret the life and career of Canadian icon William Shatner.
1:05 Windchimes by Ceeglass, featured in issue #13.
1:20 Crayon cover by Diem Chau.
1:23 That's my storage space in the lower level of Art Central. Yes, I do heavy lifting, too.
1:38 For non-Calgarians, that's Stephen Avenue, a pedestrian street a block from my studio. I'm trying to walk purposefully and not look at the camera.
1:38 Astute viewers will note that I took a really weird route to get into Art Central, but a scenic one!
1:50 Eleanor and I are discussing the felt pennants we've ordered to coincide with issue #14. From The People's Pennant, more details on this coming soon...
2:07 Shoutout to Anthropologie!
2:11 When we went to The Daily Globe to shoot, UPPERCASE contributor Nikki Sheppy just happened to be there. Another serendipitous moment for UPPERCASE magazine.


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An upcoming Congressional report suggests that NASA satellites have been hacked four times in recent years, possibly by people involved with the Chinese military. NASA isn't confirming all of that - but they do admit "suspicious events" have occurred.
Talking Points Memo's Carl Franzen has published an email from NASA Public Affairs Officer Trent J. Perotto, in which he addressed the congressional report's claims that an unknown party hacked and gained operational control of two NASA earth observation satellites, Terra AM-1 and Landsat-7 (pictured above). Here's part of Perotto's statement:
NASA experienced two suspicious events with the Terra spacecraft in the summer and fall of 2008. We can confirm that there was no manipulation of data, no commands were successfully sent to the satellite, and no data was captured. NASA notified the Department of Defense, which is responsible for investigating any attempted interference with satellite operations.
Perotto declined to discuss the incidents with Landsat-7 on the grounds that that satellite was built by NASA for the US Geological Survey, and that organization now has sole responsibility for the satellite. Perotto also did not address the report's claims that "the attacks bore hallmarks of the Chinese military, or someone affiliated with the inner-workings of the Chinese military." However, he did stress that NASA has taken steps to increase its security and guard against future threats.
For more details, do check out the original report over at Talking Points Memo. For more on the Terra satellite itself, check out NASA's site.
Image by NASA.


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British wrestling is returning to the small screen for a new 10-part series on ITV, filmed at the Preston Guild Hall.
The series will air on Saturday evenings in front of a live audience, 30 years after the original World Of Sport wrestling ended.
It follows a one-off special which aired on ITV on New Year's Eve.
Richard Simkin, head of operations at Preston Guild Hall said: "We're delighted to have been chosen as the venue for this momentous event.
"We know there is an appetite for wrestling here and that the audiences in Preston will create a wonderful atmosphere for both the wrestlers and their fans.
"It's fantastic to be back on ITV for the third time this year following the Ladbrokes World Grand Prix Snooker and A Night of Championship Boxing. My team and I are working hard to bring back top sporting events to the city and we're proud to be able to add this calibre of event to our programme here at Preston Guild Hall."
Between 1965 and 1985, WOS Wrestling became a British institution, creating legendary stars such as Big Daddy, Mick McManus and Rollerball Rocco. This new series is now hoping to create even bigger stars of the very best from today's UK wrestling scene.
ITV said that the new show, WOS Wrestling, "will feature the very best of today's wrestlers from the current red-hot UK wrestling scene".
ITV Studios Manchester director of entertainment Tom Mclennan said: "Britain's wrestling scene is thriving and there has never been a better time to bring it back to ITV after a gap of 30 years."
The show is expected to kick off in late spring or summer this year.


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The 2014 Orientale Lumen Conference, which took place in Washington D.C. from June 23rd through the 26th, focused on Ecumenical Dimensions of Marriage. The event was sponsored by the Society of St. John Chrysostom, the Orientale Lumen Foundation, and Eastern Christian Publications, and speakers included Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia, Archimandrite Robert Taft, SJ, Archpriest Peter Galadza, Father Patrick Viscuso, Father John Beal, Sr. Vassa Larin, and Solon and Marianna Patterson. Click here to visit the Orientale Lumen Foundation store.
June 2014


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You can install latest Ubuntu Linux 8.04 under Windows Vista / XP without creating a new parition with a new tool called Wubi. It is a Ubuntu installer for Windows users that will bring you into the Linux world with a single click. Wubi allows you to install and uninstall Ubuntu easily. This blog post covers basic installation:
With the latest release of the popular Linux-based operating system, Ubuntu Hardy Heron, the installation process just got easier for Windows users who wish to try out an alternative to Vista or XP. Even .NET developers who are looking out on trying the Mono project (the .NET platform for Linux-based operating systems) can benefit from it. All this is possible thanks to a little Windows utility called Wubi, which is an installer for Ubuntu.


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10 February 2012
Benito vs. the Cocktail: The Admiral Benbow
There are good hotels, affordable but clean motels, and places that are a little sketchy but sometimes the only option when there's a big convention in town or you just need a few hours of shuteye before getting back on I-40 heading toward one of the coasts. There are the places that show up on the news for various criminal activity, and then there's the Admiral Benbow. By the 1980s it was a haven for all sorts of weird, sad crime. If you had a friend who called in tears and needed a ride home at two in the morning, it wouldn't be too much of a surprise to find him at the Admiral Benbow, missing his car, wallet, and most of his pride.
It was the site of the 1986 Memphis Trousers Affair, in which former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser was found in the lobby wearing nothing but a towel, and confused as to where his pants were.
This is an older and somewhat obscure cocktail, but it contains classic ingredients and proportions. You're supposed to use Plymouth Gin, but in tribute to the Inn I went a little downmarket with a regular domestic gin.
The Admiral Benbow Cocktail
2 oz. Plymouth Gin
½ oz. Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice
1 oz. Dry White Vermouth
Garnish with Citrus Peel and Maraschino Cherry
Combine everything but the garnish in a cocktail mixer with ice. I tried one shaken and one stirred, and found that I preferred the cloudy appearance of the shaken version. Reminded me a bit of some bad motels I've stayed in across the country where you get a glass of water from the tap and it has to settle for a few minutes before it's no longer cloudy.
The cocktail has a nice balance of elements, though the lime juice covers up most of the vermouth. Sort of a very tart martini, and while it won't be in the main rotation, I think I'll come back to it every once in a while. The stories alone are worth it.
3 comments:
- fredric koeppel said...
that Admiral Benbow was a nice, funky garish part of the urban landscape in Memphis, now one more parking lot.
the crowning touch on the Malcolm Fraser story is that he wasn;t even staying at the Benbow; he was actually staying at the Peabody, but got lured to the Benbow in an assignation that went awry.
- 11 February, 2012 06:43
- Benito said...
Many strange stories in Memphis... As I mentioned on Facebook when I originally talked about the cocktail, no movie set here has ever been as bizarre as some of the real things that happen.
I have no personal memory of the Fraser story, but when I read about it years later I immediately thought his presence here in 1986 was in some way connected to the 1985 Memphis in May tribute to Australia. 1986 was Japan, and I can remember doing all sorts of neat things those two years in connection with the festival. It was something that we looked forward to for months.
This year, I had to go to the website to even see which country we're celebrating this year. The Philippines is a good choice, and I'm hoping for some interesting food opportunities.
- 11 February, 2012 08:59
- fredric koeppel said...
The Commercial Appeal used to send a reporter and a photog to the honored country for the whole month of March. Then it was shortened to three weeks, then two weeks, then the trip was eliminated. Except for the BBQ festival, Sunset Symphony and the Beale Street music fest, Memphis in May is of little consequence to the newspaper or even the city, it seems.
I was lucky enough to be sent to China in 1987 and France in 1990.
- 12 February, 2012 15:22