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A Cannabis Odyssey: To Smoke or Not To Smoke by Lester Grinspoon
This entry was posted on Monday, April 20th, 2009 at marijuana-uses.com
Every age has its peculiar folly and if Charles Mackay, the author of the 19th century classic, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds were alive today he would surely see "cannabinophobia" as a popular delusion along with the "tulipmania" and "witch hunts" of earlier ages. I believe that we are now at the cusp of this particular popular delusion which to date has been responsible for the arrest of over twelve million US citizens. I also believe that future historians will look at this epoch and recognize it as another instance of the "madness of crowds." Many readers of this Web site have already arrived at this understanding, but for some of us enlightenment came later than we would have wished. Consistent with the goal of my Uses of Marijuana Project of encouraging users to write about their involvement with cannabis, I thought I would share something of my cannabis enlightenment, a story that now spans a third of a century.
In every life there occur seminal events that modify the seemingly established trajectory of one's personal history. For me, three of the four big ones were, in chronological order, the decision to go to medical school, the extraordinary good fortune of meeting the woman I married, and the gift of children. The fourth was my improbable encounter with cannabis, an event that divided my life into two eras; the before cannabis era, and the cannabis era (my son David refers to these phases of my life as BC and AD for before cannabis and after dope). My cannabis era began to unfold in 1967. As the senior author of a book on schizophrenia, I found myself with what I estimated would be two to three relatively free months before my co-authors would finish their chapters. Because I had become concerned that so many young people were using the terribly dangerous drug marijuana, I decided to use the time to review the medical literature so that I could write a reasonably objective and scientifically sound paper on the harmfulness of this substance. Young people were ignoring the warnings of the government, but perhaps some would seriously consider a well-documented review of the available data. So I began my systematic review of the medical and scientific literature bearing on the toxicity — mental and physical — of marijuana. It never occurred to me then that there were other dimensions of this drug that warranted exploration.
During my initial foray into this literature I discovered, to my astonishment, that I had to seriously question what I believed I knew about cannabis. As I began to appreciate that what I thought I understood was largely based on myths, old and new, I realized how little my training in science and medicine had protected me against this misinformation. I had become not just a victim of a disinformation campaign, but because I was a physician, one of its agents as well. Believing that I should share my skepticism about the established understanding of marijuana, I wrote a long paper that was published in the now-defunct International Journal of Psychiatry; a shorter version was published as the lead article in the December 1969 issue of Scientific American. In these papers I questioned whether the almost ubiquitous belief that marijuana was an exceedingly harmful drug was supported by substantial data to be found in the scientific and medical literature. While there was little reaction to the paper published in the psychiatric journal, there was much interest in the Scientific American article.
Within a week of the appearance of the article, I received a visit from the associate director of the Harvard University Press, who suggested that I consider writing a book on marijuana. I found the idea both attractive and daunting. The subject was worthy of a book-length exposition, and I would have a reason to deepen my exploration of this fascinating and harmful misunderstanding. And there was another reason, perhaps the most compelling of all. The one aspect of my work that interested my twelve-year old son Danny was my study of marijuana. His illness began in July of 1967, just about the time I had decided to learn about the dangers of marijuana. He was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia, and his prognosis was, of course, grave. He was both excited and pleased when I told him that I had decided to write a book on marijuana.
A few weeks later I learned that the Board of Syndics of the Harvard University Press had rejected the book proposal as too controversial. Until that moment I was unaware of the existence of this board, which must approve every book published by the Press. An image of the Rembrandt painting "Syndics of the Cloth Guild" came to mind: a group of serious-looking, longhaired men sitting around a table, exuding caution and conservatism. I was disappointed but not surprised that they rejected this proposal; it was the first instance of academic resistance to my work in this area. I could have signed on immediately with a trade publisher that offered the prospect of selling more books. But I believed that a conservative, prestigious press would lend more credibility to a book that promised to be quite controversial. The director of the press was undaunted; he believed that he could persuade the Syndics to reverse their decision. And so he did.
It turned out to be a much bigger project than I had anticipated. I found that I had more than the medical and scientific literature to review. Because so much of the misinformation and myths about this drug had their origins in the gaudy writings of the French Romantic Literary Movement, I felt compelled to examine the works of Théophile Gautier, Charles Baudelaire, and other members of Le Club des Haschischins, as well as those of Bayard Taylor and Fitz Hugh Ludlow. It was fascinating to learn that much of the mythology about cannabis that was being promulgated by the US government had its origins in these writings. It is difficult to imagine that Harry Anslinger (our first drug tsar) was directly familiar with these 19th-century authors, but clearly some of their hyperbolic descriptions of the cannabis experience, largely products of effusive imagination under the influence of copious amounts of hashish, are echoed almost a century later in the "teachings" of Harry Anslinger.
I had come to understand that marijuana was not addicting in the usual, rather vague understanding of that word, but I certainly got hooked on learning about it. I was fascinated by my growing understanding of how little I actually knew about this drug, and even more so by the many false beliefs I had held with such conviction. It soon dawned on me that I, like most other Americans, had been brainwashed, that I was a part of this madness of the crowd. And the more I learned about cannabis, the more it seemed to be capable of providing experiences which would be worth exploring personally sometime in the future. In the meantime, I felt like an explorer sailing an inaccurately and inadequately mapped ocean. Where earlier cartographers had found many shoals, I found few; where others found barren and dangerous islands, I saw lands that looked increasingly interesting as I drew closer. The clearer the view, the greater the temptation to land and make a direct exploration, but I reminded myself that the point of this trip was to chart the ledges and shoals, not to explore forbidden lands to look for riches. Long before I decided to land, more than a year after the publication of Marihuana Reconsidered in 1971, it had become inescapably clear that while marijuana was not harmless, its harmfulness lay not so much in any inherent psychopharmacological property of the drug but in the social and legal consequences of our firmly held misbeliefs.
After the publication of Marihuana Reconsidered I was often asked about my personal experience with cannabis. Some questioners were skeptical when I replied that I had never used it: " What, you wrote a book about marijuana and you never experienced it!" The implication was that inexperience would invalidate my claim to expertise. I would defensively respond, "I have written a book on schizophrenia and I have never experienced that." It was not until some years later that I realized that there was validity to this criticism of my lack of personal experience with cannabis. Especially in the later phases of this research and writing, I had flirted with the idea of trying marijuana, not because I believed at that time that it would inform my work, but because it appeared to be such an interesting experience. I decided against it out of fear that it would compromise my goal of producing as objective a statement as I could. Of course the further I pursued the subject the more I realized how difficult, if not impossible, it would be to produce a truly neutral and objective statement. But I was not about to add to this difficulty by personally exploring marijuana at this time even though the temptation to do so became greater as I learned more about it.
I had another reason for postponing personal experience with cannabis. If the book were successful, I expected to be called as an expert witness before legislative committees and in courtrooms. I correctly anticipated that some of my interrogators would want to know whether I had ever used cannabis, and I wanted to be able to deny it so as to preserve at least the appearance of objectivity. In the beginning I did not believe this question unfair. It seemed to me to be no different from other questions about my credentials. But I soon learned that when it was asked, it was almost always put by a legislator, lawyer, judge, or media person who was hostile to the suggestion that cannabis might not be as harmful as he firmly believed. It became increasingly clear that the question was asked, not in the spirit of learning more about the context of my understanding of this drug, but rather in the hope that I would answer affirmatively and that this would discredit my testimony. More than a year after the publication of the book I was testifying before a legislative committee when a senator who had already revealed his hostility asked, "Doctor, have you ever used marijuana?" Perhaps because I was irritated by the hostility reflected in his previous questions and his sneering tone of voice, I replied, "Senator, I will be glad to answer that question if you will first tell me whether if I answer your question affirmatively, you will consider me a more or less credible witness?" The senator, visibly upset by my response, angrily told me that I was being impertinent and left the hearing room. That was the moment that I decided that the time had come.
Later that week Betsy and I went to a party in Cambridge where we knew that some guests would be smoking marijuana. Ever since a review of Marihuana Reconsidered had appeared on the front page of the New York Times Book Review (under the banner, "The best dope on pot so far") people had been offering us marijuana, and we had been politely and often a little apologetically declining it. Those guests who knew of our previously resolute abstemiousness were surprised when we decided to join them. We were cautious, as cannabis-naive people should be, as we inhaled our first tokes ever. Shortly afterward my first and only unpleasant cannabis experience began. A lit joint was passed around a small circle and we took turns inhaling big, noisy puffs and holding them in for a few seconds. One by one the others said they had had enough and waved off the passing joint; they were high, or at least claimed to be. I asked Betsy, "Do you feel anything?"
"Not a thing!"
"Neither do I."
We were disappointed. We had been looking forward to this initiation for several years. I had come to expect so much from the experience, from the magical possibilities of this subtly altered state of consciousness — and now nothing! I began to wonder; was this all there was to it? Was my acceptance of the claims of cannabis aficionados just as naive as my earlier belief in the propaganda disseminated by the Harry Anslinger truth squad and its descendants? Could it be true that all I had accomplished in over three years of intensive research was to swing the pendulum of my gullibility from one extreme to the other? Soon my disappointment gave way to a palpable level of anxiety. Was it possible that I had spent all this time studying what must be for some people an enormously persuasive placebo? Would not the author of a book that took as a basic premise that marijuana is a real drug be considered fraudulent? I tried to reassure myself. I reminded myself that I had, after all, carefully explained to the reader that many if not most people do not get high the first time they use marijuana.
At that time I believed that the anxiety I experienced that night was generated by a precipitous loss of confidence in my newly arrived-at understanding of cannabis, an unshakable belief that after more than three years of hard work, I had gotten it wrong and as a consequence had misled a lot of people — certainly sufficient grounds for a good dose of anxiety. It was not until much later, both chronologically and in my experience with "stoned thinking", that I began to question that explanation. It occurred to me only years later while I was smoking cannabis that I might have actually achieved a high that first night, an "anxiety high," not the kind I had expected. This was certainly not impossible; a small percentage of people who use cannabis for the first time experience some degree of anxiety. There are even a few people who always get anxious when they use marijuana. Among the Rastafarians of Jamaica, these folks are considered slightly deviant but are understandably excused with the expression, "He don't have a head for ganja!"
This was not a problem with my head, for a week or so later we smoked cannabis and again neither Betsy nor I noticed any change in our states of consciousness that would even remotely suggest that we were high. Thankfully, however, I was not the least bit anxious this time — only disappointed again. Finally, on our third attempt, we were able to reach the promised high. Our awareness of having at last crossed the threshold arrived gradually. The first thing I noticed, within a few minutes of smoking, was the music; it was "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." This music was not unfamiliar to me, as it was a favorite of my children, who constantly filled the house with the sound of the Beatles, the Grateful Dead and other popular rock bands of the time. They frequently urged me to get my "head out of classical music and try listening to rock." It was impossible not to listen to rock when they were growing up, but it was possible for me, as it was for many parents of my generation, not to hear it. On that evening I did "hear" it. It was for me a rhythmic implosion, a fascinating new musical experience! It was the opening of new musical vistas, which I have with the help of my sons continued to explore to this very day. A year later, I related this story to John Lennon and Yoko Ono, with whom I was having dinner. (I was to appear the next day as an expert witness at the Immigration and Naturalization Service hearings that Attorney General John Mitchell had engineered as a way of getting them out of the country on marijuana charges after they became involved in anti-Vietnam War activities.) I told John of this experience and how cannabis appeared to make it possible for me to "hear" his music for the first time in much the same way that Allen Ginsberg reported that he had "seen" Cézanne for the first time when he purposely smoked cannabis before setting out for the Museum of Modern Art. John was quick to reply that I had experienced only one facet of what marijuana could do for music, that he thought it could be very helpful for composing and making music as well as listening to it.
In my next recollection of that evening, Betsy and I and another couple were standing in the kitchen in a circle, each of us in turn taking bites out of a Napoleon. There was much hilarity as each bite forced the viscous material between the layers to move laterally and threaten to drip on the floor. It seemed a riotous way to share a Napoleon. But the most memorable part of the kitchen experience was the taste of the Napoleon. None of us had ever, "in our whole lives", eaten such an exquisite Napoleon! "Mary, where in the world did you find these Napoleons?" "Oh, I've had their Napoleons before and they never tasted like this!" It was gradually dawning on me that something unusual was happening; could it be that we were experiencing our first cannabis high?
We drove home very cautiously. In fact, one of the observations I made on the way home was how comfortable I, an habitual turnpike left-laner, was in the right-hand lane with all those cars zipping past me. It seemed like a very long time before we arrived home. Not that we were in a rush — the ride was very pleasant. Time passed even more slowly between our arrival and our going to bed, but once we did, we knew with certainty that we had finally been able to achieve a marijuana high. And that marked the beginning of the experiential facet of my cannabis era, a development that furthered my education about the many uses of this remarkable drug.
I was 44 years old in1972 when I experienced this first marijuana high. Because I have found it both so useful and benign I have used it ever since. I have used it as a recreational drug, as a medicine, and as an enhancer of some capacities. Almost everyone knows something of its usefulness as a recreational substance, growing numbers of people are becoming familiar with its medical utility, but only practiced cannabis users appreciate some of the other ways in which it can be useful. It has been so useful to me that I cannot help but wonder how much difference it would have made had I begun to use it at a younger age. Because it has been so helpful in arriving at some important decisions and understandings, it is tempting to think that it might have helped me to avoid some "before cannabis era" bad decisions. In fact, now, when I have an important problem to solve or decision to make, I invariably avail myself of the opportunity to think about it both stoned and straight.
I cannot possibly convey the breadth of things it helps me to appreciate, to think about, to gain new insights into. But I would like to share several not too personal instances. For example, let me tell you about the worst career choice I have ever made; it was my decision to apply to the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute as a candidate for training in psychoanalysis. I began this training, which was enormously costly in both time and money, in 1960 and graduated seven years later. Although I developed some skepticism about certain facets of psychoanalytic theory during training, it was not sufficient to dull the enthusiasm with which I began treating patients psychoanalytically in 1967 (coincidentally, the same year I began to study cannabis). It was not until about the mid '70s that my emerging skepticism about the therapeutic effectiveness of psychoanalysis began to get uncomfortable. This discomfort was catalyzed by cannabis. On those evenings when I smoke marijuana it provides, among other things, an invitation to review significant ideas, events and interactions of the day; my work with patients is invariably on that agenda. This cannabis review-of-the-day is almost always self-critical, often harshly so, and the parameters within which the critique occurs are inexplicably enlarged. My psychotherapy patients, patients who sat opposite me and who could share eye contact and free verbal exchange, always appeared to be making better progress than my psychoanalytic patients. I was generally satisfied with my work with the former, and invariably at first impatient and later unhappy with the lack of progress made by patients on the couch. There is little doubt that it was the cumulative effect of these stoned self-critiques that finally, in 1980, compelled me to make the decision not to accept any new psychoanalytic patients. The subsequent decision to resign from the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute was very difficult, a little like deciding to get a divorce after more than a decade of marriage. But I have no doubt that it was the only way I could deal with this growing discomfort and rectify what was now clearly seen as a mistake. Some of my former psychoanalyst colleagues might believe, among other things, that I have merely traded my involvement in what I considered a macro-delusional system for immersion in an inverse micro version. Such a possibility notwithstanding, I am indebted to cannabis for the help it provided me in achieving the clarity necessary to arrive at this most difficult decision.
Cannabis can also be used as a catalyst to the generation of new ideas. Experienced cannabis users know that under its influence new ideas flow more readily than they do in the straight state. They also understand that some are good and others are bad ideas; sorting them out is best done while straight. In the absence of an agenda, the ideas are generated randomly or as close or distant associations to conversation, reading, or some perceptual experience. It is sometimes worthwhile to have a stoned go at trying to solve a particular problem. An illustration comes to mind. In 1980, during my tenure as Chairperson of the Scientific Program Committee of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) I "invented" and then edited the first three volumes of the Annual Review of Psychiatry, a large book which is still published yearly by the APA. Mindful of how much money this annual publication was earning for the APA, the chief of our sub-department of psychiatry asked me to put my "thinking-cap" on and come up with a way for the Harvard Department of Psychiatry to supplement its shrinking budget. Taking his request seriously, I smoked that night for the express purpose of trying to generate relevant ideas. Within days, at a meeting in the Dean's office, it was agreed that the idea I arrived at that evening would be pursued — the publication of a monthly mental health letter. The first edition of The Harvard Mental Health Letter appeared in July 1984 and it soon achieved considerable success as an esteemed mental health publication and a steady source of income to the Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry. Would the idea have come or come as easily in a straight state? Maybe.
All through the seemingly endless heated discourse on cannabis in this country over the last three decades, little has been said or written about its many uses. The overwhelming preponderance of funding, research, writing, political activity, and legislation have been centered on the question of its harmfulness. The 65 year old debate, which has relatively recently included discussion of its usefulness and safety as a medicine, has never been concerned with its non-medicinal uses; it is always limited to the question of how harmful it is and how a society should deal with the harm it is alleged to cause. It is estimated that 76 million Americans have used cannabis and more than 10 million use it regularly. They use it in the face of risks that range from opprobrium to imprisonment. From the time I began my studies of marijuana, 12 million citizens of this country have been arrested for marijuana offenses. The number of annual marijuana arrests is increasing, and in 2000 over 734,000 people were arrested on marijuana charges, 88 percent of them for possession. Because the government allows confiscation of property in drug cases, many have lost valued possessions ranging from automobiles to homes. Most have to undertake expensive legal defenses and some have served or will serve time in prison. Unless we are prepared to believe that all these people are driven by uncontrollable "Reefer Madness" craving, we must conclude that they find something in the experience attractive and useful. And yet there is very little open exploration of these uses with the growing exception of its value as a medicine. Even here, government officials want to mute the discussion out of a fear expressed by the chief of the Public Health Service when in 1992 he discontinued the only legal avenue to medicinal marijuana: "If it is perceived that the Public Health Service is going around giving marijuana to folks, there would be a perception that this stuff can't be so bad… it gives a bad signal." The government has, until very recently, refused to acknowledge that cannabis has any value, even medicinal, but there are millions of citizens who have discovered through their own experience that it has a large variety of uses they consider valuable and that the health costs are minimal.
This large population of marijuana users is a subculture, one that has been present in this country since the 1960s. Three decades ago it was an open, vocal, active, and articulate culture on and off the campus. Today it is silent and largely hidden because most users, understandably, do not want to stand up and be counted. They have more than the law to fear. Urine testing is now a fact of life in corporate America; a positive test result can lead, at the very least, to a stint in a "drug treatment" program, and at most, to the loss of a job, career destruction, even imprisonment. Users are very mindful of this minefield, and most find ways around it. Even more pervasive and in some ways more pernicious is the stigmatization attached to cannabis use. Young people often experience little of this, at least among their friends. But as they grow older and move into increasingly responsible and visible positions they become much more guarded. Many believe, correctly, that colleagues would regard them as deviant if they knew. This stigmatization is abetted by the media, which have created and perpetrated a stereotyped image of "potheads" as young, hirsute, slovenly dressed ne'er-do-wells or disreputable, irresponsible, and socially marginal hedonists who use marijuana only to hang out and party. One reason for the fierce resistance to marijuana is the fear that it will somehow taint middle-class society with the "pothead" culture.
There is no denying that many, especially young people, use marijuana primarily for "partying and hanging out" in the same way that many more use beer. And most non-users, until they become aware of its medical value, believe that smoking to party and hang out pretty much defines the limits of its usefulness. This stereotype is powerful, and reactions ranging from puzzlement to outrage greet claims that this party drug could be useful as medicine or for any other purposes. People who make claims about its usefulness run the risk of being derided as vestigial hippies. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that most people who use cannabis do so behind drawn curtains, alone or with others who share some appreciation of its value.
It is unfortunate that those who, from personal experience, are aware of its usefulness are so reluctant to be public about it. I believe it would be good for the country if more people in business, academic and professional worlds were known to be marijuana users. The government has been able to pursue its policies of persecution and prosecution largely because of the widespread false belief that cannabis smokers are either irresponsible and socially marginal people or adolescents who "experiment", learn their lesson, and abandon all use of the drug. That lie is unfortunately perpetuated when those who know better remain silent. It's time to let the truth come out. Just as the gay and lesbian out-of-the-closet movement has done so much to decrease the level of homophobia in this country, when the many people of substance and accomplishment who use cannabis "come out", it will contribute much to the diminution of cannabinophobia.
Not many well-known people are identified as users of cannabis. A few politicians have been outed by their enemies (one went so far as to claim that he did not inhale), and some would-be political appointments have failed because of a history of marijuana use. Occasionally a screen star, musician or professional athlete is arrested for possession. Aside from Allen Ginsberg, some popular musicians, and a few notables from the Beat and hippie movements, few people in the public eye have voluntarily acknowledged cannabis use. Except for one well-known scientist, the physicist Richard Feynman, academics have been most cautious. Feynman, by courageously acknowledging his ongoing use of marijuana, won the respect and appreciation of many and the enmity of others. Fear of "coming out" is, of course, not without foundation. As long as the present stereotyped understanding of marijuana use and its effects continues to prevail, anyone who acknowledges using it will risk being taken less seriously from then on. It is thought that potheads could not possibly be considered mature, serious, responsible, and credible. Yet only those who actually use cannabis can teach us how useful it is.
There was a time not so long ago when it was generally assumed that any use of marijuana was "merely recreational." This was certainly true at the time I wrote Marihuana Reconsidered. The chapter on marijuana as medicine (The Place of Cannabis and Medicine) was concerned with past (19th and early 20th century) and potential uses; there was no overt and little covert use of cannabis as a medicine at that time. Now, there are many thousands of patients who use cannabis medicinally. And as the ranks of these patients grow, so does the number of people who observe for themselves how relatively benign this substance is. Seventy-four percent of Americans presently believe that cannabis should be made available as a medicine; very few people would have held this belief in 1971. Currently it is generally thought that there are two generic categories of marijuana use: recreational and medical. But in fact many uses do not fit into these categories without stretching their boundaries to the point of distortion; they fall into a third category, one that is more diverse and for that reason difficult to label. It includes such disparate uses as the magnification of pleasure in a host of activities ranging from dining to sex, the increased ability to hear music and see works of art, and the ways in which it appears to catalyze new ideas, insights and creativity, to name a few. Furthermore, at its edges, which are fuzzy, there is some conflation with both medicine and recreation. Yet, the preponderance of these uses falls into this broad and distinctive third category that I call enhancement. This is the class of uses which is generally the least appreciated or understood by non-cannabis users. It is also the case that some people who use or who have used marijuana may not be aware of some if not most of the enhancement possibilities.
One category of cannabis utility that we have studied is its usefulness as a medicine. Because there is not at this time a systematic clinical literature on the medicinal uses of cannabis, James B. Bakalar and I asked patients to share their experiences with cannabis as a medicine for our book, Marihuana, the Forbidden Medicine (Yale University Press, 1993, 1997). We supplemented these anecdotal patient accounts with our own clinical experience and what we could glean from the medical literature. Anecdotal evidence is not as persuasive as that from double-blind placebo controlled studies, the more scientifically sound modern medical approach to the safety and efficacy of new therapeutics. As the results of such studies become available we may be compelled to modify our estimate of the clinical usefulness of cannabis. At this time, however, it is difficult to imagine that future studies will subtract much from the clinical experience-driven perception that cannabis is a remarkably versatile medicine with relatively little toxicity.
It is my intention to roughly follow the same format in the Uses of Marijuana Project (www.marijuana-uses.com). While I will attempt to illuminate the various uses of cannabis through literary accounts and by sharing some of my own experiences, the prime source of what I hope will be a fairly comprehensive understanding of the uses of this versatile drug will come from contemporary users. Some will identify themselves; others will prefer to remain anonymous for reasons that have already been noted. Either way, I hope to present enough information about the witness to put his or her account into a meaningful context. Unlike medicinal use, which will eventually be fitted with scientific costume, an understanding of those uses which fall into the category of enhancement will probably always be based on anecdotal accounts; it is unlikely that marijuana's capacity for the enhancement of sexual pleasure, for example, will ever be the subject of a modern scientific (double-blind placebo-controlled) study. However, if this ethnographic method is successful we should be able to provide a reasonably proximate picture of the varieties and value of cannabis use in contemporary society. And in so doing, we cannabis users can make a significant contribution to the demise of cannabinophobia, one of our age's most damaging popular delusions.
In the meantime, Betsy and I are gradually being given the opportunity to explore another dimension of the ways in which cannabis can be valuable; we are discovering its usefulness in the task of achieving reconciliation with the aging process, including coming to terms with the inevitable physical and emotional aches, deficits and losses. Cannabis also enhances our appreciation of the time we have, now that we are both emeritus, to enjoy our children, grandchildren and friends, literature, music and travel, and our daily walks in the New England woods. Of still more importance, it helps us to realize the wisdom of Robert Browning's words,
"Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be…"
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On the one hand I have had some truly amazing experiences as a genealogist - a talks tour in British Columbia and Vancouver Island, as well as a superb trip to a conference in Springfield, Illinois, and I have also had three more guide books published (Discover Scottish Church Records, 2nd ed, A Decade of Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, and A Beginner's Guide to British and Irish Genealogy), which I am pleased to say have been selling well. In addition, I have taught four more Pharos courses, and had a lot of fun along the way, so thanks to those who signed up and participated, and have also carried out some extraordinary case work as a genealogist, including the two biggest commissions I have ever been asked to work on since I started over a decade ago, which have taken several months to work through. On top of that, various articles of mine have been published, and I've given a few talks locally - including a great Irish day down in Lancashire recently - an immense amount of fun.
On a personal front, I've continued to make progress on my own family history, including some exciting connections and progress made through AncestryDNA - and in the last two weeks have even managed to tidy my office out, which tends to happen as often as the census. Miracles do happen....!
Elsewhere, away from the genealogy sphere, I was one of many who as a team helped our local MSP Kenny Gibson to win his election campaign in May here in North Ayrshire, Scotland, and just for good measure, I started to work for Kenny in August as a parliamentary researcher, for one day a week, which has been a fascinating experience. I've also been out campaigning a lot this year, to try to amend plans for a commercial forest that is being imposed quite literally on our doorstep in Largs, to try to help save the Ardrossan ferry service to Arran, and to help raise awareness of the WASPI women's pensions campaign in North Ayrshire. So I've been juggling a heck of a lot this year, and have been all the more enthused for it - variety is most definitely the spice of life.
My wife also set herself the goal of running two half marathons in Manchester and Glasgow, which she successfully achieved - a huge thanks to GENES Blog readers who helped her to raise just under £700 for two local causes here in Largs. And most importantly, my eldest son Calum got some great results in his National 5 exams, although was stunned to initially get a C for History, which is his favourite subject. We appealed the mark, and were delighted when they agreed that they had got it wrong, and upgraded him to a B for the subject. He put his heart and soul into the exams, and it paid off - well done wee man!
There have been some major down sides, however. Brexit was something I campaigned hard against, and although we were more than successful on that front here in Scotland (62% voted to remain in the EU), I now find myself, and my kids, on the point of having our EU citizenship and rights stripped from us because we lost on a UK level.
Or at least I would have done, if the result hadn't prompted me at long last to apply for Irish passports for the three of us (my wife already has one), allowing us all to now have dual nationality. I should add that there was actually a lot more to this decision than Brexit, which merely acted as a final catalyst - I had already been thinking about it quite seriously for a couple of years purely from an identity perspective, something that was most definitely the product of fifteen years of genealogy research. Ultimately though, the fact that my kids have two Irish parents, and have been EU citizens since birth, is not something I intend to have them deprived of.
My boys actually travelled to Ireland this week for the first time on their Irish passports, and took great pleasure in sharing their new status with their cousins over in Kilkenny! If there has been a benefit from Brexit, it has ironically been the collapse in the value of Sterling, meaning that if you live overseas and wish to employ the services of a genealogist here in the UK, or even to visit yourself, your money will go quite a bit further than it would have six months ago, a situation I suspect will continue for a while.
The other major kick in the teeth, and I say this as someone who does not do the concept of celebrity, was the death of Carrie Fisher. She was an exception. I was that seven year old boy who fell in love with Princess Leia whilst at school in Plymouth in 1977, and to see such a beloved character come back to our screens after all this time, only to have her removed from us again so quickly forever, was gut wrenching, not least because of the death of her mother just a day later. It was quite a downer to end the year on, but New Year's Day is the big reset button, time to move on to the next chapter of our collective existence!
So to Don and Gerald, Donna and Ed, to Pattie, Pat and Al, Marjorie, Eunice and all in BC; to Paul, Cyndi and cohort in the US, to the Unlock the Past Team in Oz, to all my genie chums and colleagues in Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales, and to all my fellow Europeans, a resounding
Bliadhna Mhath Ùr / Athbhliain Faoi Mhaise Daoibh
Happy New Year!
Here's a few more pics from throughout the year!
For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Beginner's Guide to British and Irish Genealogy, A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

subset: commoncrawl


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Tai chi and qi gong (say "chee goong") are traditional Chinese movement exercises. They are based on two ideas:
Tai chi is a series of movements done either very slowly or quickly to help move the body's chi. People use tai chi as a way to combine meditation and movement and to improve and maintain health.
Qi gong involves different movements that may be done in different orders. Some common qi gong movements include raising and lowering the arms, moving the head from side to side, and gently rubbing the ears, feet, and hands.
People may use tai chi and qi gong to improve posture, balance, coordination, endurance, and flexibility and to maintain good health and quality of life.
As with any physical activity, people who perform tai chi or qi gong may experience muscle strains or sprains. Gentle stretching before a tai chi or qi gong session can prevent most injuries.
In most cases, you can safely use tai chi or qi gong alongside conventional medical treatments.
Always tell your doctor if you are using an alternative therapy or if you are thinking about combining an alternative therapy with your conventional medical treatment. It may not be safe to forgo your conventional medical treatment and rely only on an alternative therapy.
Current as of: June 5, 2023
Author: Healthwise Staff
Clinical Review BoardAll Healthwise education is reviewed by a team that includes physicians, nurses, advanced practitioners, registered dieticians, and other healthcare professionals.
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. Learn how we develop our content.
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Blade-Tech ECLIPSE Single Magazine Carrier - For GLOCK 43
The Blade-Tech Total Eclipse Mag Pouch is the ultimate in low profile carry. The pouch is designed to fit close to the body, with a curved structure that eliminates pressure points and increases comfort. A flared mag pouch rim facilitates easy draw for a tactical advantage and acts as a guide for smooth holstering. Built-in retention is held in the lower portion of the mag pouch to ensure your mag is secured in place yet easy to draw when needed. Quick-E-Loops provide you with grab and go capability, making this design perfect for daily use. When it comes to the ultimate in everyday low profile carry, the Total Eclipse Mag Pouch has you covered.
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She was "sexy", but "too much hard work." I'm a regular Fox & Friends viewer (mostly in protest of the other insipid morning programs like Today and Good Morning America) so over the years I've gotten to know Gretchen Carlson pretty well. Stuck between Steve and Brian she always seemed a prudish scold with an irritating, self-righteous demeanor that I simply put up with because I figured some people in the Fox audience actually liked her persona. It was obvious that Steve and Brian did not, but they were stuck with her like so many talking heads and had to make the best of it - which they did. Besides, she was no worse than any of the other women on morning show TV - I mean, you're only going to find a certain kind of person to do this kind of work and that kind of person is the Gretchen Carlson kind. Then, one day, she was gone and replaced by Elisabeth Hasselbeck and the F&F ratings began to climb, and climb and climb - in two months view
Isn't it rich? The Keeper of the Clown Bell is a semi-secret society dedicated to exposing the clowns in our midst. Ring Loud, Ring Often!


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The Description File, named ReadMe, is aimed to provide all necessary information to locate the catalogue (authors, title, references, summary, etc...) and to interpret its contents by automatic procedures.
An example of the ReadMe file of the catalogue I/221
is given in the
The description file contains the following parts:
There are three categories of keywords:
This description contains a plain ascii text; special symbols are written with the the following conventions shared with data-base:
The structure for this list must follow the following template:
Objects: -------------------------------------------------- RA (equinox) DE Name(s) -------------------------------------------------- hh mm ss.s +dd mm ss Name1 = Name1 --------------------------------------------------
The header line (the one with RA, DE, and the equinox) should be aligned with the data, in order to give a measure of the starting byte of the object designations (names).
When each object in this list is related to a file, the name of this file can be put within brackets at the end of each line, as for instance in catalogue J/MNRAS/301/1031.
See also: J/A+AS/97/729 : O-rich stars in 1-20um range http://machine/description.html : Detailed Description
The description is presented as a five-column table with the following elements:


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Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff named TJ Jackson as the children's co-guardian who will now share responsibilities for raising the siblings, who range in ages from 10 to 15.
The judge made the ruling after considering a letter submitted by singer Diana Ross, who was named in Michael Jackson's will as a potential guardian, and a letter presented by cousins of the singer who sought a delay in the appointment. Debra Jackson and her son Anthony urged Beckloff to delay his ruling, saying they were concerned that family matriarch Katherine Jackson was being coerced. The pair said they had been ostracized from the family and that the children may not be as excited about TJ Jackson's appointment as has been presented to the judge. But Beckloff noted that all three children have said they consent to the co-guardianship, and that an independent investigation he ordered showed they "have a very strong, loving relationship with TJ Jackson." He urged TJ Jackson to consider allowing the cousins to visit the family, but said there was no reason to delay. The appointment means that Katherine Jackson, 82, and TJ Jackson, 34, will share responsibilities for raising the children. If one of them is no longer able to serve, the other would become the children's sole guardian. TJ Jackson smiled as he entered the courtroom wearing a dark suit and tie and spoke only briefly to exchange pleasantries with the judge at the start of the hearing. He appeared calm afterward, but was escorted in and out of the courthouse by deputies and did not speak with reporters. Debra and Anthony Jackson also declined comment after the hearing, merely confirming their names and relationship to the family. Their letter and one submitted by Diana Ross were not filed with the court and will not be made public, court officials said. Katherine Jackson's attorney, Sandra Ribera, disputed their claims that her client is being improperly influenced. "Mrs. Jackson is well informed," she said. "Mrs. Jackson is a strong woman who cannot be influenced by anyone when it comes to decisions about these children." TJ Jackson was appointed a temporary guardian last month when Katherine Jackson was incommunicado during a stay at an Arizona spa with relatives. Beckloff has said Katherine Jackson is doing a great job raising Prince, Paris and Blanket Jackson, but noted that having a co-guardian will allow for continuity in their lives if she is no longer able to serve. TJ Jackson was a relative unknown to the public before the recent rift in the family. He performs in a band called 3T along with his brothers and was close to his uncle, Michael, before the pop star died in June 2009 at age 50. TJ Jackson is a cousin of the children and has remained close to them in the years since the singer's death. Wednesday's hearing had been expected to be a legal formality and although Beckloff made time to hear the cousins' grievances, the judge didn't waver in his view that the co-guardianship arrangement was appropriate. He noted that it is frequently employed in other cases. The mother of the two eldest children, Deborah Rowe, has indicated she is comfortable with the arrangement. Michael Jackson's youngest son, Blanket, was born to a surrogate and the mother's identity has never been revealed.Michael Jackson nephew appointed co-guardian
By 6abc
LOS ANGELES (AP) - August 22, 2012
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The winner of the fantastic prize kindly donated by Artful INKables is Teresa G!
Congratulations, please email Caz with your details! True Random Number Generator Min: 1 Max: 104Result: 70 Powered by RANDOM.ORG
Challenge 66 - Wheely Good Fun!
This week we want to see some wheels on your creation!
Our sponsor this week is Marlene - A Lil' Bit of Me
Many of the regulars here on CCT will have seen Marlene's fabulous work when she was on the DT, well now she is an Independent Stampin' Up Demonstrator. So if you are in the UK she can help you with all your SU needs...
Here is a picture of this weeks prize...
We are joined again by the fabulous Wendy of Wendy's Little Blog.
Here are the amazingly talented Design Team's cards, just love the images they have all chosen this week for this theme! Just click on their names to go right to their blogs!
We are still using Mister Linky, so I have disabled comments. Please leave a direct link to the card you have created. Also can you please make sure your link is left before 8pm next Wednesday to be included in the prize draw!


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Kestis - Version 1
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We do not offer returns on our products as they are handcrafted to order and made specifically for each customer. Should there be an issue with the products function and it is covered under our warranty , we will be glad to service or replace the product at our discretion. In the event that we accidentally ship you the wrong item, of course we will take care of getting you the item you ordered and take care of all shipping charges incurred in making it right.
We can ship to virtually any address in the world. Note that there are restrictions on some products, and some products cannot be shipped to international destinations.
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Please also note that the shipping rates for many items we sell are weight-based. The weight of any such item can be found on its detail page. To reflect the policies of the shipping companies we use, all weights will be rounded up to the next full pound.
All Vader's Vault products valued at $100 or greater will be automatically insured. This means that all 'Sabers' sold here will be insured automatically. Trust us, if you ever need it, you'll be glad you had it, and so will we. The last thing we want to do is eat something because the shipping carrier lost or damaged it, and we're pretty sure you, as the customer, don't want to be out any money.


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The yellow line on this map shows where NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity has driven from the place where it landed in January 2004 -- inside Eagle crater, at the upper left end of the track -- to a point about 2.2 miles (3.5 kilometers) away from reaching the rim of Endeavour crater.
Endeavour crater has been the rover team's destination for Opportunity since the rover finished exploring Victoria crater in August 2008. Endeavour, with a diameter of about 14 miles (22 kilometers), offers access to older geological deposits than any Opportunity has seen before.
In honor of Opportunity's rover twin, the team has chosen "Spirit Point" as the informal name for the site on Endeavour's rim targeted for Opportunity's arrival at Endeavour. Spirit, which worked halfway around Mars from Opportunity for more than six years, ended communication in March 2010.
Opportunity reached the point in its traverse indicated on this map on the 2,609th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (May 27, 2011). By that sol, Opportunity had driven a total of 18.58 miles (29.9 kilometers). By Sol 2619 (June 6, 2011) it had driven an additional 0.19 mile (0.32 kilometer).
The western rim of Endeavour has a series of ridges. Spirit Point is the southern edge of a ridge called "Cape York." Farther south on the rim, a ridge called "Cape Tribulation" offers exposures identified from orbit as clay minerals.
The base map is a mosaic of images from the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It is used by rover team member Larry Crumpler of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque, for showing the regional context of Opportunity's traverse.
Opportunity and Spirit completed their three-month prime missions in April 2004 and continued operations in bonus extended missions. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reached Mars in 2006, completed its prime mission in 2010, and is also working in an extended mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, built and operates the orbiter's Context Camera.


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Papers presented at the 1st European Lung Cancer Conference, jointly organized by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) in Geneva, Switzerland highlight emerging evidence that common viruses may contribute to the development of lung cancer.
Experts agree that smoking is by far the most important factor that contributes to lung cancer development. But other factors can play a role in some cases.
In one report at the conference (Abstract No. 124PD; Friday 25th April, 09:50) Dr. Arash Rezazadeh and colleagues from the University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA, describe the results of a study on 23 lung cancer samples from patients in Kentucky.
The researchers found six samples that tested positive for the presence of human papilloma virus (HPV), the virus that also causes many cases of cervical cancer. One was later shown to be a cervical cancer that had spread to the lungs.
Of the remaining 5 virus-positive samples, two were HPV type 16, two were HPV type 11 and one was HPV type 22. "The fact that five out of 22 non-small-cell lung cancer samples were HPV-positive supports the assumption that HPV contributes to the development of non-small-cell lung cancer," the authors say.
All the patients in this study were also smokers, Dr. Rezazadeh notes. "We think HPV has a role as a co-carcinogen which increases the risk of cancer in a smoking population," he says.
In another paper (Abstract No. 125PD; Friday 25th April, 09:50), Israeli researchers suggest that measles virus may also be a factor in some lung cancers. Their study included 65 patients with non-small-cell lung cancer, of whom more than half had evidence of measles virus in tissue samples taken from their cancer.
"Measles virus is a ubiquitous human virus that may be involved in the pathogenesis of lung cancer," says lead author Prof. Samuel Ariad from Soroka Medical Center in Beer Sheva, Israel. "Most likely, it acts in modifying the effect of other carcinogens and not as a causative factor by itself."
Journal of Thoracic Oncology


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Steve "Doom" Fassbinder is a bad-ass adventurer who combines mountain biking, rock climbing, and pack rafting to explore deep into desert, mountain, and coastal wilds. His trips require the sort of endurance and suffering that tend to either leave you in awe or scratching your head wondering why. Steve and I talked about his motivations to keep pushing his personal limits, as well as how he got into this sort of adventuring in the first place, his proudest moments, balancing risk and reward, teaching the next generation of adventurers, and a whole lot more.
Our theme music is by Will McKindley Ward.
Photo credit: Andrew Burr
If you like the podcast please rate it iTunes, subscribe, share it on social media, and make a pledge at The Bicycle Story Patreon.


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MySpace previews an entirely redesigned site with a new video.
Sept. 25, 2012 — -- The headline might say it all. And it's really not a cute pun: Justin Timberlake is really bringing sexy back to MySpace, or at least that's how it looks from a new teaser video.
Late on Monday night Timberlake tweeted: "THIS IS MYSPACE vimeo.com/myspace/the-ne…#NEWMYSPACE."
The link took his followers to a preview video the New My Space, which brings an entirely new design to the outdated social network. The video shows a very clean looking interface, similar to Pinterest in design, with lots of white space and photos, with pages that now scroll horizontally rather than vertically.
The video also reveals that users can now use MySpace, one of the original key social networks, to connect to the networks that overtook it, including Facebook and Twitter. It appears you can bring over your photos and videos to the service, update your Facebook and Twitter statuses right from the new MySpace, as well as find your friends from those other services.
There is also a heavy music component, with radio and playlist sharing. The demo highlights that MySpace is a great way for musical artists, like Timberlake, to stay in touch with fans. One portion shows him sharing his new song with some of his biggest fans.
In 2011, Specific Media and Timberlake bought MySpace from News Corp. for $35 million. News Corp. had purchased MySpace for $580 million six years prior to that. "There's a need for a place where fans can go to interact with their favorite entertainers, listen to music, watch videos, share and discover cool stuff and just connect. Myspace has the potential to be that place," Timberlake said at the time.
The demo looks slick and very, very attractive, but is it too late for MySpace to capture the hearts and clicks of social media users?
"It takes more for a social network to succeed than a pretty face, it needs faces to populate it," Michael Gartenberg, Gartner Research Director, told ABC News. "Given the traction Facebook has with consumers and the center of gravity it has achieved, MySpace would have to offer a very compelling reason to get users who have abandoned the site to return and entice new users."
The new.myspace.com site doesn't reveal when the site will be available to the public. Anyone can sign up for an invite to the site and the company promises to send an "invite very soon."
MySpace did not respond to ABC News' immediate request for comment.


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Thursday, October 13, 2016
[Video] RushBilli (@Ristakerbully) Ft. Bigga Rankin + Thr33 - Been Thru
New Orleans, LA; Buried Treasures artist, Rushbilli is back on WORLDSTAR with the premiere of his video "Been Thru", featuring Bigga Rankin and Thr33. This video is off of Rushbilli's mixtape "Goldrush", which has brought us various singles and videos. Currently, Rushbilli's single "I'm That Guy" featuring Boosie and Kief Brown has hit radio waves as his movement is continuously growing. Support Rushbilli by watching his video, downloading his mixtape, and requesting his single.
Connect w/ Rushbilli:
Twitter: @Ristakerbully
Instagram: Rushbilli
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Office 2013 Public Preview: Office On Demand
If you're familiar with Windows 8, you know that one of the most incredible things about this new Windows is that it can install from scratch in as little as 15 minutes and can perform a full system reset in about 7 minutes. But what if told you that Office 2013 is even faster? That you can trigger a web-based install of Office 2013 and start using any one of the applications in under two minutes? It sounds incredible, I know. But it's true.
July 16, 2012
If you're familiar with Windows 8, you know that one of the most incredible things about this new Windows is that it can install from scratch in as little as 15 minutes and can perform a full system reset in about 7 minutes. But what if told you that Office 2013 is even faster? That you can trigger a web-based install of Office 2013 and start using any one of the applications in under two minutes? It sounds incredible, I know. But it's true.
The key to this engineering feat is a new feature called Office On Demand. It's really an improved version of the Click-To-Run technologies Microsoft employed in Office 2010, and like Click-To-Run, it uses Microsoft virtualization technologies and Internet streaming to blast Office onto your PC at speeds that will leave your head spinning.
Click-To-Run was pretty quick, too, of course, but it had some issues. Because of the underlying use of Microsoft's Application Virtualization (App-V) technologies, it dumped weird App-V vestiges on the user's PC, like a virtual Q: drive in File Explorer that was required for the virtual environment under which Office actually ran. Office On Demand, however, uses the latest App-V technologies, which removes the need for a virtual drive and provides a more seamless experience.
Microsoft also had issues delivering true Aero-style applications virtually in the past, but with the move to flatter, Metro-like UIs in both Windows 8 and Office 2013, these new applications are not visually any different than they would be if installed locally. (And yes, purists/Luddites are of course welcome to install the final version of Office 2013 the old fashioned way.)
Of course, Office On Demand still uses virtualization technologies. And while the Q: drive is gone, the one area in which I've seen Office 2013 expose its virtualization underbelly is that there is no file system support for new Office documents. So while you may be used to right-clicking in a folder (or on the desktop) and choosing, say, New, Word Document from the context menu, those choices are not available with Office 2013. (On a clean install. If you install Office 2013 side-by-side with a previous Office version, those commands will still be present.)
Niggling issues aside, Office On Demand, like Click-To-Run, is mostly about advantages. And there are many.
Because you are really installing Office 2013 into a virtualized environment with Office On Demand, you can run Office 2013 next to an existing Office version. This is good for testing purposes, of course, and will help you get up to speed with Office 2013 in a way that doesn't stomp out whatever familiar Office version you were using. New to this version, I'm told, is the ability to run Outlook 2013 side by side with a previous Outlook version, too, something that wasn't possible previously. (I've not tested this.)
Office On Demand is fast. Really, really fast. From the moment you click the Install software link on the Office preview web site to the moment at which you can actually run any full-featured Office application you choose to use is roughly one minute and thirty seconds. Over wireless. In fact, the slowest parts are the handful of times you actually have to interact with the installer, including a bit where you pick a background pattern.
Office On Demand is also smart. When you get to that minute and a half mark of the install, Setup will jauntily inform you that it's wrapping things up but that you're free to just start using Office if you'd like. That wrapping up bit does take several minutes—still about 1/10th the time of a traditional Office install, by the way—but to test it, just run your favorite Office application. You'll see a little note in the splash window about it streaming necessary features—see? Smart—and then it just starts up, literally single digit seconds later. This is contented sigh stuff, people.
Microsoft points to other advantages of this system—its low impact on system resources, its relatively tiny use of disk space, and so on—but you know what? This is all just icing on the cake. I've been doing mammoth, monolithic installs of Office 2010 "slipstreamed" with a service pack—and let's face it, there's nothing "slipstreamed" there at all, these updates just install manually after Office and then still need to be updated with a massive Windows Update dump afterwards—and comparing Office On Demand to that little charade is like night and day. It's like comparing the ecological impact of a Cadillac Escalade to a bicycle.
Put simply, Office On Demand is awesome.
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-- TomDecatur, GeorgiaUSA
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We believe that customer service is not only about resolving problems, but making sure that our customers are completely satisfied with our resolution. We also believe that it is important that the customer be fully aware of our pricing structure, our service terms and related policies, before signing up for service with us. There are never any hidden fees with our services.


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FFIEC Authentication Guidance , Governance & Risk Management , Risk Assessments
FFIEC Cyber Tool Needs Urgent Revamp
Tool Fails to Adequately Assess Banks' Cybersecurity RisksThe Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council's new Cybersecurity Assessment Tool needs to be redesigned - and the sooner, the better.
See Also: 5 Requirements for Modern DLP
The current design of the tool, also known as CAT, sets institutions up for cyber-risk assessment failure. That's because the tool doesn't take into account the unique cybersecurity risks banking institutions face. And users aren't offered any opportunity to explain why they have or have not complied with specific categories and subcategories included in the tool's questions.
But banking executives say they're hopeful the FFIEC will be receptive to the industry's desire for a second version of the tool to be released by midyear. For now, none of the federal banking agencies that make up the FFIEC are saying what we might expect to see after a second comment period closes Jan. 15.
The FFIEC would be wise to carefully consider the feedback it receives, and then use that feedback to make significant and meaningful changes to the tool - without delay (see Will FFIEC Revamp Cyber Assessment Tool?).
The fact that the FFIEC is accepting a second wave of comments could very well be an indication that some changes to the tool are, indeed, on the way.
Needed Changes
Mike Wyffels, chief technology officer of QCR Holdings, a $2 billion company that owns four banking institutions, says the tool feels more like a "checkbox" exercise than an interactive assessment tool.
"Some questions are difficult to answer because you may do some things for a particular question but not others," Wyffels says. "You have to weigh your response to either a 'yes' or a 'no.' Those types of questions require more follow-up and explanation for internal and external audiences to understand the scope with which you do or don't do certain things."
Instead, Wyffels suggests the tool should focus on an institution's cybersecurity maturity and provide guidance about cybersecurity controls that could be implemented based on the institution's overall risk posture.
Avivah Litan, a financial fraud and cybersecurity analyst at consultancy Gartner, agrees, contends the FFIEC's Cybersecurity Assessment Tool is too rigid, leaving little room for banks to adequately assess their actual cybersecurity risks.
The tool's yes-and-no question-and-answer format leaves no room for banks and credit unions to provide open-ended responses that could better explain their current levels of cybersecurity maturity, says John Carlson, vice chairman of the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council, which represents the interests of large and midsize U.S. banking institutions, stock exchanges, card networks and banking associations.
The FSSCC in September sent a letter to the FFIEC requesting a re-evaluation of the tool.
Now Carlson and many others say they are hopeful that banking regulators will go back to the drawing board and collaborate more closely with the industry on version 2.0 of the tool.
"The fundamental challenge that bankers face is that the tool is being used in the examination process," Carlson tells me. "The tool is encouraging more awareness and dialogue involving board involvement, risk assessment, security maturity and an institution's risk appetite. But we'd recommend an increased level of participation in future iterations of the tool to provide additional value to the financial sector."
Too Soon for Regulatory Exams
Over the course of the last two weeks, I've been told by numerous sources that regulatory examiners are using the tool in their routine IT examination processes.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the lead agency for the FFIEC, acknowledged: "The OCC has started to use the tool as part of our examinations of our national banks and federal savings associations."
The OCC says it plans to use the tool to "better measure the risk and assess the preparedness of individual institutions," and then take that information to help develop future supervisory guidance related to cybersecurity.
But that use for the tool was never mentioned when the FFIEC released it last summer. The tool was promoted as being a "voluntary" cybersecurity asset that could help banking institutions self-assess their cybersecurity risk.
Using the tool now as part of examinations is unfair to banks and credit unions because it's obvious that the tool needs some major refinements.
It's critical for the FFIEC to work more closely with the industry to develop a new version of the tool that actually helps banks and credit unions improve their cybersecurity postures. Right now, however, the tool seems more like an unneeded addition of yet another checkbox approach to compliance.


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Healthcare Industry News: Meniscus Implant
News Release - December 3, 2012
Active Implants Corporation Announces Appointment of New President
European Office Established in The NetherlandsMEMPHIS, Tenn.--(Healthcare Sales & Marketing Network)--Active Implants Corporation (AIC) has appointed international med-tech veteran Lex R. Giltaij, MD MBA as President and Chief Operating Officer. The Company also announced the establishment of its subsidiary's international headquarters in The Netherlands, from which Dr. Giltaij will direct operations for the Company. The Company will focus on completing clinical studies of the NUsurface® Meniscus Implant, a novel treatment for pain and disability arising from osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee.
Dr. Giltaij brings more than 20 year of experience in successfully introducing innovative orthopaedic devices to international markets. He held senior executive positions in Stryker Benelux and Stryker Biotech, building their respective businesses in The Benelux and Europe. Dr. Giltaij was responsible for creating the international market for the X-STOP® Interspinous Implant for St. Francis Medical Technologies and ran its European subsidiary. St. Francis Medical Technologies was acquired by Kyphon in a $725 million transaction in 2004. Subsequently, he established a direct sales effort and a distribution presence in Europe, China, the Middle-East, South-Africa and Russia for Pioneer Surgical Technology.
"I am thrilled and honored with this fabulous opportunity to work with the highly talented, experienced and motivated Active Implants team and to guide the Company's efforts to revolutionize the treatment of OA knee pain. This is a huge clinical problem and surgeons are currently without satisfactory options to treat a significant number patients suffering from OA who are too young to be candidates for a knee replacement surgery," said Dr. Giltaij.
"We welcome Lex's experience and leadership to the AIC Team," stated Chairman of the Board & CEO Henry Klyce. "His results-oriented approach and ability to think strategically will play a pivotal role in the future of the Company. Locating our subsidiary's headquarters in The Netherlands will help us achieve our strategic vision and allow us to introduce the NUsurface® Meniscus Implant into international markets, which is increasingly recognized as a valuable step to help ensure the successful launch of a new medical device in the U.S.," stated Mr. Klyce. Mr. Klyce also stated that the Company's Clinical & Regulatory functions will remain in Memphis, its U.S. corporate headquarters.
AIC is collaborating with leading surgeons from Germany, Belgium, Italy and Israel to conduct its controlled, multi-center Trial of the NUsurface® Meniscus Implant for use in early onset osteoarthritis patients. The NUsurface® Meniscus Implant meets the needs of an underserved patient population that represents an estimated annual worldwide market of over $2 Billion.
Active Implants Corporation is a privately held Delaware corporation formed in June 2004. The Company's core technology is intended to introduce orthopedic implant solutions that better integrate with the natural biomechanics of the musculoskeletal system.
Source: Active Implants
Issuer of this News Release is solely responsible for its
Please address inquiries directly to the issuing company.


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Every branch big with it,
Bent every twig with it;
Every fork like a white web-foot;
Every street and pavement mute:
Some flakes have lost their way, and grope back upward when
Meeting those meandering down they turn and descend again.
The palings are glued together like a wall,
And there is no waft of wind with the fleecy fall.
A sparrow enters the tree,
Whereon immediately
A snow-lump thrice his own slight size
Descends on him and showers his head and eye
And overturns him,
And near inurns him,
And lights on a nether twig, when its brush
Starts off a volley of other lodging lumps with a rush.
The steps are a blanched slope,
Up which, with feeble hope,
A black cat comes, wide-eyed and thin;
And we take him in.
This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on December 24, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.


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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
Resource type | Dissertation |
Title(s) | The Fatty Acid Profile of the Initial Oral Biofilm: Characterization and Modification |
Alternative title(s) | Das Fettsäureprofil des Initialen Oralen Biofilms: Charakterisierung und Modifikation |
DOI | 10.48548/pubdata-453 |
Handle | 20.500.14123/488 |
Creator | Reich, Marco 0000-0001-9341-5931 |
Referee | Kümmerer, Klaus 0000-0003-2027-6488 118066382 Hannig, Christian Scheringer, Martin 1089322461 |
Advisor | Kümmerer, Klaus 0000-0003-2027-6488 118066382 |
Abstract | Despite the great progress that has been made in the prophylaxis of oral diseases over the past decades, dental caries and periodontal diseases remain major challenges in the field of dentistry. Biofilm formation on dental hard tissues is strongly associated with the etiology of these oral diseases. Therefore, the process of bioadhesion and biofilm formation on tooth surfaces is of particular interest for dental research. The first stage of bioadhesion on dental surfaces is the formation of the pellicle layer. This mainly acellular film, composed largely of adsorbed proteins, glycoproteins, and lipids, is distinguished from the microbial biofilm (plaque). As the interface between teeth and the oral environment, the pellicle plays a key role in the maintenance of oral health and is of great physiological and pathophysiological importance. On the one hand, the pellicle shows protective properties for the underlying dental hard tissues. On the other hand, it also serves as the basis for dental plaque and therefore, for the development of oral diseases such as caries and periodontitis. Hydrophobic interactions, which are governed by lipophilic substances, are of high relevance for bacterial adherence. Therefore, pellicle lipids, which are a significant constituent of this biological structure, are an interesting target for dental research, as they could modulate oral surfaces, influence microbial interactions, and potentially impede bacterial adherence. Compared to the extensive work on the pellicle´s ultrastructure and protein/amino acid composition, little attention has been given to its lipid profile. Knowledge of the lipid composition of the pellicle may provide insight into several oral pathological states, including caries, dental erosion, and periodontal disease processes and could contribute to novel approaches in preventive dentistry. The principle aim of this thesis was the comprehensive characterization of the fatty acid (FA) profile of the in situ formed pellicle layer. This includes the influence of pellicle maturation on the FA profile as well as intra- and interindividual differences. Furthermore, investigations on the effect of rinses with edible oils on the pellicle´s FA composition were a focus of this work. For these purposes, an analytical method based on a combination of innovative specimen generation and convenient sample preparation with sensitive mass spectrometric analysis was successfully developed and comprehensively validated within this thesis. Pellicle samples were formed in situ on bovine enamel slabs mounted on individual upper jaw splints. After a comprehensive sample preparation, gas chromatography coupled with electron impact ionization mass spectrometry (GC-EI/MS) was used in order to characterize qualitatively and quantitatively a wide range of FA (C12-C24). The individual FA profiles of pellicle and saliva samples collected from ten research participants were investigated. The relative FA profiles of the pellicle samples gained from the different subjects were very similar, whereas the amount of FAs showed significant interindividual variability. Compared to the pellicle´s characteristic FA profile, higher proportions of unsaturated FAs were detected in the saliva samples, highlighting that FAs available in saliva are not adsorbed equivalently to the pellicle layer. This, in turn, shows that pellicle formation is a highly selective process that does not correlate directly with salivary composition. Additionally, pellicle samples collected after 3, 30, 60, 120, and 240 min of intraoral exposure were analyzed. It could be shown that pellicle maturation has only a minor impact on the FA composition. However, the FA content increased substantially with increasing oral exposure time. Modifying the pellicle´s lipid composition by using edible oils as a mouthwash could alter the physicochemical characteristics of the pellicle and strengthen its protective properties by delaying bacterial adhesion. Therefore, the impact of rinses with safflower oil on the pellicle´s FA composition was determined. The application of rinses with safflower oil resulted in an accumulation of its specific FAs in the pellicle, thus representing a possibility for modifying the pellicle´s lipid profile. The present work is the first to apply a validated method that combines in situ pellicle formation, sample preparation, and the comprehensive determination of FAs via a sensitive analytical method. The results provide valuable information regarding the pellicle´s FA composition which closes an existing knowledge gap in pellicle research. A broader knowledge of the lipid composition of the pellicle contributes to the understanding of oral bioadhesion processes and may help facilitate novel approaches in preventive dentistry. |
Language | English |
Keywords | Lipids; Fatty Acids; Biofilm; Zahnschmelz |
Date of defense | 2016-01-29 |
Year of publication in PubData | 2016 |
Publishing type | First publication |
Date issued | 2016-03-09 |
Creation context | Research |
Granting Institution | Leuphana Universität Lüneburg |
Published by | Medien- und Informationszentrum, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg |
Files in This Item:
File | Size | Format | |
Kumulative_Dissertation_Marco_Reich.pdf License: Nutzung nach Urheberrecht open-access | 6.74 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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created October 1, 2004 · complexity basic · author Pim Snel · version 6.0
When you set foldmethod
to something like indent
or syntax
, which defines folds as soon as you open the file, all folds are closed by default. If you set the foldlevel
to a high setting, files are always loaded with opened folds. For example, you could put the settings below in your vimrc
set foldmethod=indent set foldlevel=20
This is not ideal, however, as the foldlevel
option is local to the window, and additionally gets modified every time you use a command that adjusts the fold level, like zm
, zr
, and their friends.
A better method is to set the foldlevel
whenever you load a buffer into a window. You could use autocommands for this, but there is a built-in option that does this for you automatically:
set foldlevelstart=20
This is much closer to an optimal solution, but one problem remains: even with the foldlevelstart
option, it will take several iterations of the zm
command to hide any of a file if you have set the foldlevel
high enough. To fix this, you need to use autocmds. For example, to open all folds for a list of file types, but only up to the maximum fold level so that zm
and related commands work right away, you could do the following:
" Note, perl automatically sets foldmethod in the syntax file autocmd Syntax c,cpp,vim,xml,html,xhtml setlocal foldmethod=syntax autocmd Syntax c,cpp,vim,xml,html,xhtml,perl normal zR
Tweak the event and filetypes matched to your liking.
You could use a combination of this method and the foldlevelstart
option to get just enough fold levels open on certain filetypes, but default to having them all open for files which are not of one of your chosen types.
See also[]
- Folding presents an overview of how to use folding


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Electrostatically Actuated Cantilever
Application ID: 444
The elastic cantilever beam is one of the elementary structures used in MEMS designs. This model shows the bending of a cantilever beam under an applied electrostatic load. The model solves the deformation of the beam under an applied voltage.
This model example illustrates applications of this type that would nominally be built using the following products:
however, additional products may be required to completely define and model it. Furthermore, this example may also be defined and modeled using components from the following product combinations:
The combination of COMSOL® products required to model your application depends on several factors and may include boundary conditions, material properties, physics interfaces, and part libraries. Particular functionality may be common to several products. To determine the right combination of products for your modeling needs, review the Specification Chart and make use of a free evaluation license. The COMSOL Sales and Support teams are available for answering any questions you may have regarding this.