text:
Reflex Native Instant Whey 909g - Chocolate
Key Features
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Another big difference between other standard whey products and Instant Whey is the standard inclusion of very special Digezyme enzymes and Lactospore pro-biotics. Digezyme enzymes have been extensively studied and shown to enhance protein digestion, whilst Lactospore pro-biotics, similar to those found in yoghurt, provide for a healthier gut.
Instant Whey uses preferentially selected batches of whey protein chosen specifically for higher levels of protein, lower levels of fat and lower levels of carbs. It also supplies biological fractions like Glycomacropeptide, Immunoglobulin, Lactoferrin, Lactoperoxidase and more!
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|Free UK Delivery?
|Recommended Use: Mix 25g (approximately two level 25cc measures) with 300ml water or skimmed milk in a shaker or blender. Consume 2-3 servings daily. Do not exceed the stated dose.
|Ingredients: Protein blend (cross flow micro filtered whey protein isolate, ultra filtered whey protein concentrate, Muscle Drive (hydrolysed whey protein (degree of hydrolysis 30%))), flavouring substances, natural colourings (cocoa (chocolate flavours only), betanin (strawberry & raspberry flavours only), beta carotene (banana and vanilla flavours only), anthocyanin (raspberry flavour only)), malic acid (raspberry flavour only), artificial sweeteners (acesulfame k, sucralose), Digezyme enzyme complex (amylase, protease, cellulase, lactase, lipase), emulsifier (soya lecithin), Lactospore probiotics (bacillus coagulans).
|Nutritional Breakdown Per Serving
|Energy kJ 417 kcal 99 Protein 20g Carbohydrate 1.5g of which sugars 1.5g Fat 5.5g 1.4g of which saturates 1.4g Fibre <0.1g Sodium 50mg Lactose 1.5g Digezyme 40mg (digestive enzymes) Lactospore probiotics 50,000,000 spores
Delivery and Return Details
Free Delivery:
Free delivery to mainland GB addresses on orders over £99 are by either a parcel courier or a pallet courier. See below for further information.
Standard Timescales:
Expected delivery is within 3-7 business days.
One Man Pallet Delivery:
Expected delivery is 3 - 5 business days. All deliveries are made Monday - Friday between 7am and 6pm. These are kerbside only. We advise having two bodies available to help the courier with larger or heavy deliveries. Please note, Powerhouse Fitness advise against one man delivery for larger or heavy orders.
Express Delivery:
Order before 3pm for delivery within 48 hours. Available on selected products only and subject to availability. Friday after 3pm, Saturday and Sunday orders will normally be delivered on a Tuesday.
Two Man/Ground Floor Delivery: (Up to a maximum of 350kgs)
This service is available on larger orders or premium priced products. You will be called to book a delivery day in advance. Subject to suitable and safe access, the couriers will place the product into a ground floor room of your choice.
Parcel Delivery:
All parcels will require a signature.
Please note: Any installations ordered during the month of December will be carried out in January 2019. Installations are a two-man service and are booked with you in advance. Installations are normally within 10-14 working days.
Life Fitness Install is UK mainland only
Commercial/Business Orders Delivery:
For commercial gyms/studios please call the sales team to discuss delivery and installation options.
Delivery times can increase during busy periods of the year. Please call to confirm current lead times if you require a quicker or dated delivery.
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Delayed Delivery
If you are looking for an extended delivery time or to delay the dispatch of your order please call us as charges may apply.


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subset: commoncrawl


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All people with asthma should receive a written asthma action plan to guide their self-management efforts.
Many patients have difficulty recalling instructions for care that are given by their health care provider. A written asthma action plan (AAP) provides instruction and information on how to self-manage one's asthma daily, including taking medications appropriately, and identifying and avoiding exposure to allergens and irritants that can bring about asthma symptoms. In addition, the AAP provides information on how to recognize and handle worsening asthma, and when, how, and who to contact in an emergency.
AAPs should be easy for patients and their families to understand and presented in a format that encourages self-management. In addition, AAPs serve as the vehicle of coordination across multiple caregivers and as a linking mechanism between community and clinical sites. For children, these plans should be made simple and easy for schools, school nurses, and school-based health centers to use. Communicating the policies that guide use of AAPs at various points of care will reinforce their use.
Last Updated January 2013
Download or order print copies
Download or order print copies
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Price tags on the top law schools in America have reached epic proportions.
For those of us who can't afford to pay $50,000 a year or more, the National Jurist has compiled its sixth annual list of the Best Value Law Schools.
This year's Best Value rankings take into account the following: tuition (25 percent of the score), cost of living expenses (10 percent), average indebtedness upon graduation (15 percent), the percentage of graduates who got a job (35 percent), and bar passage rates (15 percent).
As a disclaimer, it's important to note that several schools have recently been called out on incorrectly reporting their debt data, Above the Law has pointed out.
It's still interesting to see the rankings since National Jurist took other factors into account like tuition and graduates' chances of getting a job.
So is it worth paying over $50,000 per year to attend Cornell, Columbia or Harvard, or will these ten "value" schools do?


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Everyone has a crazy story about a life-changing moment. None is crazier than Shep Gordon's.
A Long Island native who went to the State University of New York at Buffalo, he moved to Los Angeles for a job as a probation officer in 1968. As a long-haired hippie working in the correctional system, he lasted one day.
Here's where the story gets fuzzy.
In "Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon," the documentary that is the directorial debut of Mike Myers, he remembers almost immediately after leaving his job checking into the Landmark Hotel in Hollywood. Having talked to people since then, Gordon thinks he might have misremembered: "I have been piecing it together. Chronologically, it probably happened over a month or six weeks."
Either way, Gordon finds himself at the Landmark (now the Highland Gardens Hotel) getting high in his room one night when he hears a woman scream by the pool. Thinking she's in trouble, he tries to pull the guy she's with away from her. She punches him.
The next day he runs into the couple at the pool. She's Janis Joplin. He's Jimi Hendrix. They become friends. The legendary guitarist eventually suggests that Gordon, who was dealing drugs to make a living, become a manager of a rock band and introduced him to Alice Cooper.
"I didn't even know what a manager was," says Gordon, who adds he wasn't even into music that much. More than 45 years later, he is still managing Cooper, and along the way built an empire, managing musical acts like Teddy Pendergrass, Luther Vandross and Anne Murray, producing films like "Kiss of the Spider Woman" and creating the celebrity chef craze. (Somebody had to.) Then there was an extravagant playboy lifestyle of cars and mansions and supermodels.
Today, the semiretired Gordon, with good friend Cooper his only client, lives a much quieter life on Maui. A Buddhist and devotee of the Dalai Lama, he likes to practice the culinary skills. Over the years, he managed Emeril Lagasse, Wolfgang Puck and Roger Verge.
While they were food celebrities, the chefs were underpaid until Gordon began to figure out how to market them. "Get the money" was his mantra when it came to his clients.
The superagent says he turned down Myers when the actor-writer first brought up the idea of the documentary. "I didn't really want to look back," says Gordon. "To me, there are no good sides to fame. I don't need to monetize my name. I don't make a living off of how many people buy tickets for me."
The two had met under adversarial conditions when Myers was making "Wayne's World." Since, they become close friends and Myers calls him "a perfect combination of Brian Epstein, Marshall McLuhan and Mr. Magoo."
Gordon believed what he did was always about "protecting the artist. That's what mattered. I felt my job was to create a picture frame for their art form that explains what they did and not let that frame be corrupted by committees."
He adds that he never enjoyed the film or music businesses: "Way too many people making decisions."
In the film, Michael Douglas, Sylvester Stallone, Lagasse, Tom Arnold, former NBA coach Don Nelson and others tell stories about Gordon — both his generosity and his outrageousness. The agent wasn't afraid to use guerrilla tactics to get his clients noticed. During a concert in Toronto in 1969, Gordon tossed a live chicken onstage while Cooper was performing. The rocker in turn threw it into the crowd, where the bird was torn, giving Cooper a reputation as a bloody chicken killer.
Gordon admits he enjoyed "the Barnum & Bailey stuff" of his job. He tells a story of a wild college prank he pulled that had the city of Buffalo fooled. "It was first time I realized you can create culture," he says.
Today, he probably wouldn't be so quick to toss a chicken. Maybe cook one instead.
Among those in "Supermensch" giving testament to the kindness of Gordon are the now-grown children of an ex-girlfriend's grandchildren. When their mother died at a young age, the agent volunteered to help care for them. A bachelor with no children of his own, Gordon now considers them his family.
But none of this would have happened had Gordon not checked into the Landmark.
"I'm sure it would have been a completely different life," says Gordon about that extraordinary turn of events. "I'm not sure what it would have been, but it was completely by chance."


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Healthy kidneys filter waste from the blood, producing urine which normally flows only one direction: down the ureters and into the bladder. When something is wrong with the connection between the ureter and the bladder, the urine may flow back up (reflux) from the bladder to the ureters and at times to the kidneys.
If you have had vesicoureteral reflux as a child, there is a chance that your children will have the condition. In addition, if one of your children has it, his or her brothers and sisters may also have the condition, too.
Infrequent or incomplete urination, as well as constipation, are also associated with vesicoureteral reflux in children. Frequent urinary tract infections (UTIs) may indicate the presence of vesicoureteral reflux.


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Covergirl: The red + blue + white stars brought the Dukes of Hazzard to mind, which I guess is somewhat appropriate as Wonder Woman wears even less clothing to fight evil than Daisy wore to wait tables.
Re: the cowboy, looking quickly, I thought perhaps Jonah Hex was making a guest appearance, but that would be too much crossy-crossy for one issue.
Ramble: We've gone from believing Medusa to be a covert and nefarious organization snaking its way into the creepy crawly Gotham underworld, to the realization that Medusa is one being, ironically and appropriately statuesque. I like that she began as a broad, big concept and ends as a single self. The narrowing pleases.
The devil on my right shoulder enjoyed Medusa's evil plans coming to fruition, while the angel on my left got verklempt during the Pegasus section. (My left shoulder angel bears a striking resemblance to Linda Richman.)
I don't usually tear up during a comic book, but Pegasus grabbed me. His abused body, with violent holes where his marvelous wings once were, saddened me nearly to the point of tears. Wonder Woman too: After she grants him mercy via slicing Pegasus degraded head off with her merciful sword she sheds a superheroic droplet.
I don't need to say the art rocked. Rolled. Ruled. But I will say it because I aim for 500 words with these posts and I'm only at 228.
Now I'll say f*** the word count and end with an awesome image, my favorite in the book. I could have used these ladies on my team in junior high when the boys called me fish eyes and mocked my aristocratic high forehead.


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Scientists analyze Hurricane Ike's effects on waterways, fish contamination
A long-term environmental research project being conducted at the University of Houston may offer important information about the effects of Hurricane Ike on pollution levels and help regulators determine whether existing fish-consumption advisories remain appropriate.
With this year's storm season under way, the UH engineering team's project is entering a new phase as participants collect and analyze fresh samples from Galveston Bay and related waterways.
Cullen College of Engineering professor Hanadi Rifai, who has studied pollution in Houston-area bodies of water in partnership with both state and federal authorities since 2001, is leading the team.
"Our work with the Galveston Bay system started in the early '90s with funding from the EPA Galveston Bay National Estuary Program," said Rifai, whose team helped write the first "State of the Bay" report identifying the environmental challenges facing the estuary.
"We have since focused on POPs, or persistent organic pollutants, which include dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. We have a unique opportunity this year to study the effect of Hurricane Ike on these pollutants, particularly in the water and sediment of the estuary, so we are gathering a one-of-its-kind data set for the 'after' condition that we can compare to our pre-Ike 2008 data set," Rifai said. "The results will be enlightening from an environmental impact perspective of hurricanes on natural resources such as Galveston Bay."
As part of the Environmental Protection Agency's Total Maximum Daily Load Program, the team has been creating sophisticated models to help determine how much pollution a body of water is taking in and where that pollution is coming from. The team has upwards of 50 monitoring sites, Rifai said, and it looks for pollutants in sediment, water and tissue.
"The EPA has asked the states to come up with water bodies that do not meet Clean Water Act standards and with ways to address the problem," Rifai said. "For the first few years, we looked at dioxins, and now we're also looking at PCBs in every body of water in the Houston metro area, all the way to upper Galveston Bay. We're focused on past and current industrial pollutants."
Dioxins are primarily byproducts resulting from paper mills, industrial waste incineration and water purification processes, but they also result from natural sources like forest fires in much smaller quantities. Rifai said her team believes the majority of dioxins found locally today are from historical sources.
Meanwhile, PCBs, whose manufacture was banned in 1979, long were used as coolants and lubricants in electrical transformers and capacitors. Why they persist today in local waterways and seafood remains something of a mystery, Rifai said.
"Now, what we find with the PCBs, and what's got people worried, is, if indeed it's historical from before the ban, you would see it in the sediment," she explained. "But, we're actually seeing the patterns have shifted, as if there are some new sources of PCBs. Since the 1990s, we've had so much growth and industrial activity kicking back up that there might be some new material coming in."
What those new sources are remains unclear, Rifai said, and materials that were manufactured with PCBs before the ban may still be in use.
"Historically with PCBs, if you've made a million transformers, you didn't have to destroy them. You use them up till they die," she said, adding that many outdated transformers were ruined by Hurricane Ike.
In July 2008, the Texas Department of State Health Services issued an advisory for Galveston Bay, Chocolate Bay, East Bay, West Bay, Trinity Bay and contiguous waters, saying consumers should limit intake of spotted seatrout, also known as speckled trout, and gafttop catfish to no more than one 8-ounce meal a month. Furthermore, children, women who are nursing, pregnant or who may become pregnant are to have none. Long-term consumption of both dioxins and PCBs is believed to cause numerous health effects, including cancer.
"The problem is that these compounds are what is called 'bioaccumulative.' Once they get in the food chain, they accumulate - you cannot synthesize them," Rifai said. "A lot of the impacts of those compounds are subtle. They might be neurologic; they might be developmental. They're the kinds of things that do not show up for quite a while."
The inclusion of new species in the advisories, Rifai said, has many implications, because commercial and recreational fishing is a $100-plus million industry annually. But, when her team was asked by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to do its own assessment of the state health department findings last year, the results were what Rifai expected.
"We told them that we thought the data was valid. We actually merged it with our data, and it was very consistent with what we see," she said. "We looked carefully at what was done, and, at the end of the day, I wasn't surprised."
While the industrial history of Houston is amazing, Rifai said, residents and officials are dealing with the repercussions of it now and will continue to for a long time, especially in coastal communities.
"You have to balance the protection of the resource with the need for development and growth," she said. "You also have to think about areas really vulnerable to these extreme events, like hurricanes."
She notes, however, that industrial partners have been critically important to her team's work.
"I'll tell you, industry in this area has come a long way. They really realize that they live in a community, ought to give back to the community and ought to work with the community. What's good for the water is going to be good for everyone around the water."
Source: University of Houston (news : web)
Explore further


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[Pages 143-144]
By Boris Ulman, Son of Leah and Zelig
Translated by Eilat Gordin Levitan
Some individuals from our city have already recounted the story of the murders of Zelig Ulman and the members of his family at the hands of the Nazis. Zelig's son Boris was saved by chance, since he wasn't home at the time of the killings.
This is Boris' story.
While my family was murdered, the Germans searched for me. They did not find me since I was hidden at Leib Sherman' house. Many people were afraid to give us a place to hide because the police had informed the community that anyone who would dare to give us a shelter would be killed along with his entire family.
On the day they massacred the Jews of Braslav, I was at home. At a very early morning hour Hirsh Fridman came running to my house and screamed, We must escape, they are killing everyone! Once again I ran to Leib Shermans' house and hid in the basement hideout that Leib had made for his family. After some time passed, we checked outside; I came out of the hiding with Nehamka Sherman. We saw wagons filled with bodies of young women who only the day before had been sent to Slobodaka to clean the army buildings. We also saw Moshe-Baruch being led by the police officer Kizlo. We returned to the hiding spot. The next day we heard an announcement in Yiddish by a Jew from the city of Druya (his name might have been Reiboish). Following the orders of the Germans, he ran between the houses and called out for the people in hiding to come out. The day of the massacre was over and the Germans had promised that they wouldn't kill any more people.
We went outside. I met with Leib Zeif with his two children, the Friedman family and others. Police hurried us along and ordered us to go to the Folk Shul to register our names. Nehamka and I feared the registration. We ran away to the cemetery and we hid there for a long time. Afterwards we left in the direction of Opsa. On the way we encountered some local farmers. They were afraid to give us shelter, but they gave us food and told us that in Opsa there were still some Jews. We were in Opsa some time, and from there we moved to Vidz. Along with many Jews from the Svencian area, we were all forced on to a train. After some time we found out that the train was headed for Ponar (We knew by then that it was the killing field for most Jews from the Vilna area).
When the train arrived in Vilna on the way to Ponar, a few of us were able to jump off and run away. We had no choice but to hide in the Vilna ghetto. In the ghetto we started to organize an underground unit and were able to collect some weapons.
Here I must write some words about the heroics and bravery of Tevka Bilak, a beloved young man of our town, who like me had run from the train that would have led us to the killing field of Ponar. Together we arrived at the Vilna ghetto and I was near him on the day he attempted to smuggle a weapon into the ghetto and was caught by the ghetto police. He was interrogated and they beat him violently trying to get information about others in the unit. He refused to say a word! Even Ganes, the leader of the ghetto, could not believe how brave he was. They beat him to death.
Since we had no money to buy weapons, we (together with the Fogel brothers) decided to make a business out of smuggling weapons and the like to the ghetto. Many Jews wanted weapons and paid good money to those who would risk their life getting them. One day we were to meet in a hidden place with a Jew and deliver a pistol to him. At the meeting, Jewish police descended upon us. I succeeded in escaping but the two brothers were caught and sent to jail. After some days our unit was able to escape from the ghetto into the forests. On the way to the area where the partisans had a camp, we had to find food. We had no choice but to show our weapons to farmers in the area and order them to give us food. They went to the Germans and told them about us. We had to split into two groups and flee.
Eventually our unit encountered a Russian partisan unit, but they confiscated our weapons and sent us to a family camp in the woods where other Jews were also placed. (Hidden camps were set up in the forest for Jews who escaped from the Nazis)
After some time the partisan commanders arrived at the camp and took Motka Vishkin and I as fighters in their unit. At the beginning, our group had only seven people but within a short time our numbers expanded to 120 fighters. We were able to take some revenge for the killings of our dear family and friends. We blew up many German trains and we participated in many actions against the collaborators. We excelled in these missions and we were recognized for our bravery and received many medals and awards. We also helped Jewish families who were hiding in the family camps in the forests.
It is my desire to say something of Abrashka Ulman, a son of our city. He was able to escape from the ghetto of Braslav on the day of the massacre. On the way to Slobodoka he was caught by three police officers. He wrestled with them with all his force and without a weapon he killed two of them and only the third succeeded in shooting and killing him.
My wife Tonya was hidden for three months with a Polish family by the name of Nidobiddeski, despite the fact that one of their family members was a police officer in the ghetto of Braslav. The liberation of the area by the Red Army took place in the summer of 1944. As soon as we met the Red Army, Motka and I traveled to Braslav. We found others who had survived; amongst them were Mendel Maron and Mishka Fisher.
My order was to guard the German POWs in the shtetl of Postov, but after two weeks I volunteered for the Red Army and I served there until 1949.
Family members who perished;
Matle Ulman was born to Zelik and Liza Leah
Manya Ulman was born to Zelik and Liza Leah
|Boris Ulman (first on the right) with a group of partisans
Translator note
I received an email from the family of Boris asking me to translate the chapter.
Here is some of what they said; Hello my name is Jeremy Schulman and Boris was my wife's grandfather. He passed away last year .
Thank you very much for translating this. I am actually sitting next to his wife ( Boris'widow Tonya) and she appreciates your help. Your work shall be rewarded as someone who will never forget what they did to our people .
Boris Ulman was born in Braslav on 2 May 1924
He passed away in Atlanta on 18 Feb 2006
JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of
the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material
for verification.
JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.
Braslaw, Belarus Yizkor Book Project JewishGen Home Page
Copyright © 1999-2019 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 16 Jun 2019 by LA


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Be your own interior designer. Our wooden chandelier is the perfect accent to any room or nursery. This beautiful piece features a chestnut shaped base and four scroll shaped arms. The finely crackled antique finish with contrasting trim makes this chandelier truly special. Individual colors can be chosen for both the base and the accent. Tailored fabric shades, trimmed with coordinating French braid add the crowning touch. Choose from our array of styles or send us in your own fabric and we will design it just for you.
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Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009 04:46 pm
Eerie ensemble
Halloween evening at Sangamon Auditorium mixes holiday fun with fantastic music. The Illinois Symphony Orchestra plays the spooky soundtrack to the 1921 feature film, Nosferatu, projected above the orchestra. Dress in your Halloween best to compete in the costume contest. Grab your treat as Dancing with the MONSters makes the audience scream with laughter.
Halloween Pops
Saturday, Oct. 31
Sangamon Auditorium, UIS


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Carrot Cake Seed & Nut Muffins (& Bread)
This is a twist on the base recipe – Seeded Nut Bread. Adding warm cooking spices like cinnamon and ginger, shredded carrots and sweet raisins turns it into a delicious Carrot Cake Seed & Nut Muffin. Like the base recipe, I call it a seeded nut bread or muffin, since there is no wheat grain – just seeds and nuts.


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Looks like you are using an old version of Internet Explorer - Please update your browser
Computer animations on the Discovery Channel were quite misleading about how Ardi (Ardipethicus ramidus) walked. Dr. Mark Blais, a podiatrist, explains.
No results found in .
Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.


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On the phone from Tallahassee, Fla., Katina Smith and Minnie Pearl Thomas made it clear they would do anything for the chance to confront some unforgiving New Jersey weather on Super Bowl Sunday. If they could, they would pay top dollar for the top row of MetLife Stadium to watch Smith's son and Thomas' grandson, Demaryius, catch passes from Peyton Manning while being covered by Richard Sherman.
But Smith, Inmate No. 89426-020, and Thomas, Inmate No. 89378-020, have no choice but to settle for their room-temperature seats in front of a community TV inside the low-security Federal Correctional Institution that houses them. They will watch the Denver Broncos play the Seattle Seahawks with dozens of fellow female inmates, many of them wearing T-shirts carrying Demaryius' number, 88, and some wearing his number and initials on their cheeks.
"It will be a bittersweet situation," Smith said Monday night. "Sweet that my son made it to this point, and bitter that I'm not there to celebrate this time in his life."
They are convicted drug traffickers, Katina and Minnie Pearl, and you'd never know it by talking to them and measuring their yes-sir, no-sir approach for close to an hour. Some 15 years after the cops stormed their Georgia home and busted their crack cocaine operation while 11-year-old Demaryius lay terrified in his bed, Katina and Minnie Pearl serve as mentors and role models among the 1,116 women incarcerated in the FCI. According to Edith Barefoot, the facility's public information officer, Demaryius' mother and grandmother are so respectful of staff and so committed to their jobs and classes, and to the betterment of younger inmates, that they've been granted preferred housing as a reward.
They bunk together, the grandmother rising early to work as a clerk, the mother to work in the commissary, from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., five days a week, before attending church or exercise class.
Demaryius visits when he can, and talks to them all of the time by phone. They already have called him this week, and plan to call again before kickoff Sunday.
The conversations help get the women through their day, and for Smith, so does the prospect of a release to a halfway house on Christmas 2016 -- Demaryius' 29th birthday. Minnie Pearl, 57, stands as a three-time drug offender and the chief maker and seller of the crack cocaine, leaving her with no such reprieve. On the FCI website, her listed release date reads:
"I had four kids and didn't have the means to make ends meet," Minnie Pearl said. "My husband and I were separated, and I just couldn't get the things that they needed, that I wanted them to have, like the other kids. I know I shouldn't have done it, but I did it anyway.
"That was an entirely different person. That person was mean, hateful, she didn't care, she was boastful, but she's none of that anymore. She's a totally different person."
The kind of person, and grandmother, worthy of the forgiveness Demaryius ultimately granted Minnie Pearl and her daughter.
"I am a woman of integrity," Minnie Pearl said. She explained that she has a rock-solid reputation among the officers and inmates alike, that she was entrusted to serve as a companion on another woman's suicide watch, and that her daughter joined her in the cause of making Demaryius proud.
"We don't want his peers to see us acting out of order in no kind of way," Minnie Pearl said. "We want to uphold a certain standard."
The Demaryius Thomas standard. Raised by an aunt and uncle after his mother's arrest, and after his father realized his life in the Army made full-time parenting impossible, Demaryius grew into a world-class wide receiver who doesn't believe in trash talk, and who has never put himself on the wrong side of the law.
"It's been a blessing to watch him evolve," Smith said. "I don't want to sound too boastful, but I'm a very proud mother. He had the choice of taking the wrong path or the right path, and he chose the right path even though he had all those negative situations around him."
In the wake of her February 2000 conviction, Smith could tell through her son's body language on visits, and through his lack of engagement on the phone, that he felt betrayed by her. Young Demaryius had asked her to stop dealing drugs, had shared a nightmare he'd had of her being hauled off to jail, and she didn't heed his warnings.
As the cops broke through her door in the early morning hours of March 15, 1999, Smith was jolted from her sleep by what she called "a big boom." Demaryius and his two sisters were in their bedrooms, and Minnie Pearl said it was "very scary waking up to infrared lights and screaming."
Smith asked the police if she could at least walk her children to their school bus, free of handcuffs, and the police obliged. She kissed her kids on their foreheads, assured them she loved them, and told them to look out for each other.
Smith would reject the prosecution's offer of a reduced sentence in exchange for her testimony against Minnie Pearl, and ended up with 20 years. "I couldn't live with myself if I was the reason my mom was in prison," Smith said. "At the same time I let my kids get raised by someone else. It was a no-win situation for me."
And one Minnie Pearl tried to manage for her.
"She's very loyal," she said of her daughter. "But I told her many times that she could talk, that she could testify."
All these years later, Smith doesn't regret her decision. She only regrets the fact that her son -- the child she gave birth to as a 16-year-old child herself -- grew up without her, and that she never saw him play high school, college or professional football.
Except on the prison TV. When Tim Tebow threw that touchdown pass to Demaryius to beat Pittsburgh in a playoff game, Smith said she was screaming so loudly that other inmates had to calm her down. Denver's AFC Championship Game victory over New England was met with a similar response.
Smith expects as many as 50 women to gather around their dormitory TV to watch Demaryius play in the Super Bowl, with at least a few carrying pompoms. Of course Minnie Pearl will be there, too. She still believes that somehow, some way, she'll be paroled out of her life sentence in time to see Demaryius play in the NFL. But just in case, she'll find a way to will herself into the MetLife stands.
"It's like I'm in the stadium when I'm watching," Minnie Pearl said. "I go there. I'm not there, but I take myself there. I visualize. ... I don't have the words to explain it."
Just knowing that his mother and grandmother will be watching, Demaryius said Monday, inspires him to "try to go out and play my best because I always know they can talk about it to the people in the jailhouse." Smith said she had called him while he was attending Georgia Tech for the purpose of explaining everything that had gone down, for the purpose of apologizing and reconnecting and asking for forgiveness. This is why the good son now wants to play what he called "the game of his life."
But before he gets the chance to play his inspired brand of football against Sherman's Seahawks, Demaryius will get a phone call from his mother. She always calls on the morning of game day. She always tells him to find a way to stay healthy, and to not be too hard on himself if he makes a mistake. She always prays with him, too, sometimes quoting from Scripture.
The call this Sunday likely will be more emotional than most. It's the Super Bowl, after all, an event tailor-made for a loving parent.
"I won't be there in the stands," Smith said. "I won't be able to look at his face, to kiss him, to tell him how proud I am."
She'll stay warm on Super Bowl Sunday at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee instead, and it's a damn shame. Like her own mom, Katina Smith would much rather freeze on February's answer to Mother's Day at MetLife.


text:
Set of fifty artificial eyes, Liverpool, England, 1900-1940
Have you read Roald Dahl's The Twits? If so, you'll know Mrs Twit, a very memorable glass eye wearer. Except she was not always wearing it – like the time she put it in Mr Twit's beer glass to frighten him. But what was it really like to choose and wear an artificial eye? In the early 1900s your eye surgeon would send you to an optician, or an ocularist – someone who specialized in making and fitting prosthetic eyes. You'd have to pay for the eye, so what would be the most important factor in your choice? You'd probably go for a combination of comfort, natural appearance, and match to your skin tone and other eye. Why were they laid out in a box like this? Ocularists had to compete for customers, and wanted to impress both the buyer and the surgeons who sent them there. Demonstrating their wide range of stock – or craftsmanship for custom-made eyes – was essential for making a sale. Ocularists also made home visits so that you could try them on in private. Artificial eyes are now free on the UK's National Health Service. The shops and mail order services have closed. Today technicians and eye fitters work together to produce a perfectly matched prosthetic eye made from a special hardwearing plastic. The boxes of glass eyes are now museum objects, but imagine the fun Mrs Twit could have had with them.
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Glossary: ophthalmology
The branch of medicine dealing with the diseases and surgery of the visual pathways (usually the eyes or the brain).
Glossary: artificial eye
A curved disk of opaque glass or plastic, containing an imitation iris and pupil in the centre, inserted beneath the eyelids and supported by the orbital contents after evisceration or enucleation; it may be ready-made (stock) or custom-made


text:
Good Morning,
we have a PrimeTest 300 PAT, and just recently it stopped automatically defaulting to the next new Asset ID prior to conducting a new test.
Tried searching congiuration and setup menues without success.
How do we set the Asset ID to automatically increment to next available 'new' number?
We have been able to use it this way in the past, and when testing a previously tagged item, just overrite the code suggested, which would then default to the next 'new' number.
Please help!


text:
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GRIEFSHARE support group meets from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays at First Baptist Church, 1985 Gum Branch Road for adults grieving the loss of a loved one. Register at 910-455-2700.
HAPPENINGS DEADLINE: Churches, clubs, civic groups and other nonprofit organizations can publicize their activities free in the Area Happenings and Church Happenings columns. All announcements must be submitted in writing, e-mail or fax. Notices may be mailed to The Daily News at P.O. Box 196, Jacksonville, NC 28541-0196, e-mailed to firstname.lastname@example.com, fax to 910-353-7316 or hand-delivered to the newsroom at The Daily News, 724 Bell Fork Road. Information is due by noon at least three days before the event.


text:
- This event has passed.
Brazos Valley Farmers Market
March 30 @ 8:00 am - 12:00 pm
An event every week that begins at 8:00am on Saturday, repeating indefinitely
Event Navigation
The Brazos Valley Farmers' Market is the place to be for the freshest produce in town. All produce is grown locally, from friends and neighbors you know and trust. We also sell eggs, jellies and jams, honey, herbs, garden crafts. 21 St between Main St. and Bryan Ave, in North Downtown Bryan.


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Videoscopic Versus Open Inguinal Lymphadenectomy for Cancer
|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: NCT01526486
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : February 6, 2012
Last Update Posted : May 6, 2015
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
Patients with melanoma, some other rare skin cancers, and some cancers of the penis and scrotum can have their cancer spread to the lymph nodes in the upper part of the leg, called the groin. Medically, this area is called the inguinal area. At present, for melanomas and skin cancers this type of spread is usually found with a special test called a "sentinel lymph node biopsy". This procedure can find spread of even a few cells in a single lymph node—allowing the treating doctor to find the spread very early.
Treatment for patients with skin cancer in the lymph nodes in this area is to remove all of the lymph nodes in this area. In patients with cancers of the penis and scrotum who do hot have any evidence of cancer having spread either by physical examination or by radiology tests, the lymph nodes in this area are removed to check and see if there is cancer in them. This is called staging.
At present, the standard way to remove all of the lymph nodes in the groin is by a large incision, approximately 8-10 inches in length. For patients who have this operation, there is a very high incidence of infection after surgery: as many as 50% as patients can have a problem after surgery. These infections range from a low grade skin infection needing oral antibiotics to deep infections requiring the wound to be opened and occasionally needing readmission to the hospital and antibiotics given via the vein.
With the advent of new technology and new equipment, the ability to perform this procedure through small incisions away from the groin and further down the leg has become possible. This procedure has never been performed routinely nor compared side by side to the standard open approach. The investigators propose to perform this protocol in two phases.
The investigators have performed procedures in 20 groins to this point and have confirmed the number of lymph nodes and visually verified that the procedure is identical to the open procedure. The investigators performed these procedures in order to insure that the investigators were offering an equivalent option regardless of which procedure the patient is randomized to.
The study will involve the randomization of patients undergoing the procedure. The investigators will randomize the next 110 patients in a 2:1 fashion (two people will get the videoscopic procedure for every one who gets the open procedure) until 73 patients are included in the video arm and 37 in the open arm. Outcomes including recurrence rate, duration of drain requirements, and incidence of lymphedema will be followed. Patients will be followed using standard of care processes, including regular office visits, physical exams, and radiographic imaging, when indicated. Patients will be followed for 5 years.
|Condition or disease
|Melanoma Merkel Cell Carcinoma Squamous Cell Carcinoma Penile Carcinoma Urethral Carcinoma Extramammary Paget's Disease Scrotal Carcinoma Anal Cancer Vulvar Cancer Skin Cancer Lymphadenopathy
|Procedure: Videoscopic procedure Procedure: Open, traditional approach
|Not Applicable
Show Detailed Description
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Actual Enrollment :
|29 participants
|Intervention Model:
|Parallel Assignment
|None (Open Label)
|Primary Purpose:
|Official Title:
|Videoscopic Versus Open Inguinal Lymphadenectomy for Sentinel Node Positive Cutaneous Malignancies and Genitourinary Staging Procedures
|Study Start Date :
|June 2009
|Actual Primary Completion Date :
|February 2013
|Actual Study Completion Date :
|February 2013
Experimental: Videoscopic (Minimally invasive)
Patients in this arm will have the procedure done through the three port minimally invasive approach.
Procedure: Videoscopic procedure
Minimally invasive, three port approach, (using a laparoscope to perform a procedure previously performed through open surgery).
Active Comparator: Open (traditional approach)
Patients in this arm will have the traditional, open approach in conjunction with a sartorius muscle transposition.
Procedure: Open, traditional approach
Open surgical procedure, with sartorius muscle transfer.
- Complication profile [ Time Frame: 30 days ]The primary objective is to assess wound infection, wound dehiscence and other wound complications.
- Length of stay [ Time Frame: 1- 7 days ]Hospital length of stay.
- Lymphedema [ Time Frame: 5 years ]Assessment of lymphedema will be determined in all patients to identify if there is a difference in all patients undergoing either videoscopic or open inguinal lymphadenectomy.
- Nodal yield [ Time Frame: 5-7 days post procedure ]This will characterize, as a surrogate of completeness of surgery, the number of nodes retrieved at the surgical procedure via either approach.
- Readmission [ Time Frame: 30 days ]To assess differences in readmission rates between the two groups.
- Oncologic outcomes--survival [ Time Frame: 5 years ]Recurrence free and overall survival will be measured in patients undergoing the procedure to determine if the procedure impacts survival at all.
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 80 Years (Adult, Older Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
- Patients will be considered for this study if they are between age 18 and 80
- Patients have either metastatic melanoma or merkel cell carcinoma diagnosed by sentinel lymph node biopsy or are candidates for a staging procedure for either a penile or scrotal carcinoma
Exclusion Criteria:
- Patients with unresectable metastatic disease
- Patients who are pregnant or lactating
- Patients with prohibitive cardiac or pulmonary comorbidities
- Patients with other contraindications for general anesthesia as determined by the anesthesia preoperative evaluation will not be considered enrolled in the trial although they may undergo randomization prior to exclusion from surgery
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): NCT01526486
|United States, Georgia
|Emory University Hospital-Winship Cancer Institute
|Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 30322
|Principal Investigator:
|Keith Delman, MD
|Emory University
Additional Information:
|Responsible Party:
|Keith A Delman, MD, Associate Professor of Surgery, Emory University
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01526486 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
WCI1585-08 ( Other Identifier: Winship Cancer Institute )
|First Posted:
|February 6, 2012 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|May 6, 2015
|Last Verified:
|May 2015
lymph nodes
groin dissection
skin cancer
penile cancer
urethral cancer
scrotal cancer
Paget's disease
Carcinoma, Merkel Cell
Skin Neoplasms
Anus Neoplasms
Vulvar Neoplasms
Paget Disease, Extramammary
Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial
Neoplasms by Histologic Type
Neuroendocrine Tumors
Neuroectodermal Tumors
Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal
Neoplasms, Nerve Tissue
Nevi and Melanomas
Neoplasms by Site
Skin Diseases
Rectal Neoplasms
Colorectal Neoplasms
Intestinal Neoplasms
Gastrointestinal Neoplasms
Digestive System Neoplasms
Digestive System Diseases
Gastrointestinal Diseases
Intestinal Diseases
Anus Diseases
Rectal Diseases
Genital Neoplasms, Female
Urogenital Neoplasms


text:
Well, no, we probably can't. But President Obama might be well advised to try.
Republicans are currently trying to force the White House into approving the pipeline. Nebraska's Governor recently flip-flopped and supported Keystone, saying now that he trusts TransCanada to do the necessary environmental work to protect the state's econoloigcally sensitive Sandhill region. In response, the State Department has delayed making the decision until March. All the politics here seem to be about putting the onus on the other guy, which is hardly a recipe for good policy, but seems to be pretty much all the Republicans are capable of doing nowadays. It's policy formulation as ping-pong.
Environmentalists hate the project because they fear that allowing the development of tar sands will keep the world hooked on fossil fuels. There is something to be said for this, but at the end of the day, I fear that just saying no doesn't move the discussion any further and makes the environmental movement look like Luddites.
Instead, the administration's policy should be that it will approve Keystone XL if and when a comprehensive climate change policy is in place. If fossil fuels have to pay the price of the damage that they cause — whether through a carbon tax, some sort of cap-and-trade system, or through a Federal Implementation Policy promulgated by the EPA — then Keystone can and should proceed under the same rules that everyone else has to abide by.
So it's a clear offer to the Republicans: I will approve Keystone as part of a comprehensive federal climate policy. If I have to go it alone through authority given to me in the Clean Air Act and Massachusetts v. EPA, then I will. Of course, we can do this a lot faster through legislation. The ball is in your court.


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I remember when
Posted 05 February 2013 - 12:18 AM
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Posted 05 February 2013 - 12:38 AM
ascendance is just not the same
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3x glad 1x r1 logics
Posted 05 February 2013 - 12:40 AM
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Posted 05 February 2013 - 12:47 AM
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Posted 05 February 2013 - 01:01 AM
I remember when armor value mattered. If a warrior wanted to do real pressure they had to 5 stack sunder armor and ask a partner to keep inner fire removed.
I remember when bursting required good timing, kiting, and coordination from team mates. If someone on your team died, you weren't interrupting properly.
I remember in season 1 when every mage switched from pom frost bolt spec to water elemental, and shatter combos were by far the coolest thing in the game.
I remember when librams and totems added a little bit of customization to certain abilities - that was pretty cool.
I remember mounts having a 3 second cast time.
I remember studying Sck's (you newer kids won't know who this is, best paladin to ever play the game) videos for hours every day for weeks to the point where I knew every single global he was going to use, and I knew the lyrics to all of the songs in them.
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Posted 05 February 2013 - 01:32 AM
your signature proves you are a tryhard shit paladin
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Posted 05 February 2013 - 02:10 AM
teams only having water if they had a mage on their team
darkmoon cards that resurrect you in the arena
paladin neck and conc aura reducing duration of silence to like 50%
fel dom being a key part of the game
long games
dying fast being 5+ globals
wintrading not being a massive part of the game
having intuitive numbers for damage and hp
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Posted 05 February 2013 - 02:46 AM
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Posted 05 February 2013 - 02:47 AM
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Blud 1 - 2900+ Multi Comp : http://www.warcraftm...w.php?id=196599
Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/Bludtv
[20:54:44] Alexis Jagger: they'll just laugh at me in lfr
[20:54:45] Alexis Jagger: i don't even know
Posted 05 February 2013 - 02:58 AM
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Posted 05 February 2013 - 03:01 AM
Also, I remember Megatf's guides on this website (when the community actually made an effort to put out free instructional content).
I remember when Megatf was rank 1 in every bracket in s4, he made a long multi page post on how terrible hunters were on the WoW forums, and he got banned for trolling.
I remember Serrennia drama
I remember when the top players actually competed with each other instead of making a few giant 5s teams on backwater bgs to get everyone rank 1
I remember the Five Fx
I remember the first tournaments were 5v5
I remember when there were 3s tournaments every couple months.
I remember the tournament realm being high pop
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Posted 05 February 2013 - 03:07 AM
I remember playing a non-human rogue in Wrath/BC. Pre-vanish or lose before the game starts
i remember going for top 4 on s2 tourney realm and pre-vanishing HAD to be done
i remember buying white/gray weapons and armor from random vendors in towns until i found out what the auction house was
Edited by phishy, 05 February 2013 - 03:11 AM.
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Posted 05 February 2013 - 03:24 AM
I remember- PoM Pyro on my Mage and 1 shotting people.
I remember- When hitting 2200 was a HUGE deal because it meant you got all the gear <3
I remember- multi day AV's. Fuck that reinforcements count
I remember- The community. the fucking community. Where it was ALWAYS server vs server. that was all that was available. EVERYONE knew who you were if u were good.
I remember- having fun with this PoS game. WTB Vanilla back
I remember- hahah i was 7 and i was playing my level 11 rogue vs a level 11 paladin and was confused as to how i lost the duel because i had two swords and he had one.
I remember- Playing for fun with people you actually built relationships with over the internet. you actually got to know the people because you played with the same people every day
I remember- Playing my rogue and having raid groups set up just for windfury totem.
I remember- Druids having treants and tree form
I remember- when bubble for paladins did something
I remember- a game i think we all want back.. this game has gone to shit.. i was young.. maybe 7-9ish with Vanilla and TBC but i remember it so well. I could go one for hours. That was when the game was fun. thats when the true competition came out. Thats when this game was at a prime time.
Now? there is nothing. I have quit the game and said fuck it. there is nothing left. WTB vanilla back. it may seem simple but it was damn fun and anyone who played back then wont argue with that fact.
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Posted 05 February 2013 - 03:41 AM
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Posted 05 February 2013 - 04:01 AM
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Posted 05 February 2013 - 04:09 AM
Dueling in IF was also one of my favorite things I missed along with skirmishes.
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Posted 05 February 2013 - 04:35 AM
Wasn't that like S6 or S7? DK rogue priest combat rogue FOK spamming while DK solo's something ROFL.
Nobody remembers Fan of Knives spam?
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Best signatures on entire website.
Posted 05 February 2013 - 04:47 AM
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Posted 05 February 2013 - 04:52 AM
Nobody remembers Fan of Knives spam?
We try to forget.
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Posted 05 February 2013 - 06:12 AM
Serrenia lololololol
Holy fuck now there's some memories.
Remember Wowriot?
Edited by fant0m8, 05 February 2013 - 06:12 AM.
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text:
Personal Note: A faithful reader has suggested a song she feels fits the trilogy, and after hearing it I think she's supremely right. "Come On, Get Higher" by Matt Nathanson.
My brain has been somewhat catastrophic of late. I'm not sure if it's timing, or schedules, or simply my body detoxing from giving up caffeine for Lent (I'm not Catholic, but I really like the idea of sacrificing something you dearly love as a testament of faith, both to God and to others).
I've considered writing about multiple subjects, including doing a book review, more backstage glimpses into how I write, and a few sort or mental one-liners, sort of a "Fire Sale" of random statements.
Unfortunately, I can't get my thoughts together the last couple of days. I really want to edit but find myself unable to get into my groove. That BUGS me. My husband would say it's a discipline thing. He's a Vulcan; he's big on self-control. He could be right, but maybe not.
So, tonight I'm waiting until all sonlings are in bed and then I'm going to tuck in, as it were. We'll see how it all turns out.
Walking On Water
Personal Note: A faithful reader has suggested a song she feels fits the trilogy, and after hearing it I think she's supremely right. "Come On, Get Higher" by Matt Nathanson.
Identity Hidden For Your Protection
Because otherwise you might be tempted to ask me where my friend, 'Ms. Maddy' teaches and go punch out a few lights before giving her a hug, and while admirable, it'd probably get her fired.
A glipse of life from the other side of the mirror, readers; in many more ways than one.
Mad Hot Math
Zazu and A Zigga Zig Ahhh
Personal Notes: For whatever reason, Ben likes the 'z' sound best and so most of the time when he babbles it sound like he's singing "Wannabe" to the toucan from The Lion King. Secondly I gave up caffeine for Lent. That means no coffee, regular tea, no chocolate, and most sodas. And that's just off the top of my head. Draw your own conclusions about that.
Now, onto business. Let's assume you've decided to write something longer, a novella or or perhaps a full-blown novel. Let's also assume, like me, that you are known for not finishing your random, out-of-your-mind schemes (watercolors, anyone? Knitting? Collage?) and you are aware that you drop most projects right in the middle because you get bored with them. What do you do to keep that from happening to your new literary endeavor?
I suggest analyzing your likes and dislikes. Look through your time and figure out what activities or treats you find yourself going back to again and again. Granted, snowboarding might not be the best example (snow, after it stops being fluffy is wet, and I have yet to discover a paper or electronic that likes 'wet') but try to think of something portable and weather-friendly. Now, see if you can adapt that to writing time. If you prefer your atmosphere you're more likely to return to it.
Secondly, for some it helps to have a very set routine. Me, I can't really get the mojo flowing unless it's completely dark except for one small lamp and the computer screen. I also need a hot drink and a glass of water. Food's bad, though. During initial creation (writing the very first draft) I stick to movie scores and other instrumentals that way lyrics don't bug me, but I still have a sound that moves me forward. After the first draft I develop a playlist and let it repeat as long as I'm editing.
You, however, may be the exact opposite. I stay in a small, dark room because the outdoors and I kind of hate each other, plus I'm a little ADD, so I need the dark to keep distractions to a minimum (if I can't see it I can't be distracted by it). Also, the music, coming from the tiny computer speakers right my the monitor/keyboard keep the back half of my brain busy while focusing the rest right toward my objective.
If you like Nature, or light, or anything else that might make me cringe, do THAT. My formula won't be yours. The point is, with a little careful study, you can find out what makes you stick with something and then make it work for your writing.
Me? It was wanting to rub it in my (usually very nice) husband's face when he laughed about me never finishing anything. *evil grin*
Have You Hugged Your Memories Today?
Personal Note: I use "Sweet Italian Creme" creamer from one of the bigger brands (red cap??) in my coffee until around eight in the evening. If I have coffee after that I switch to a frou-frou Vanilla or Mocha Capp because they keep my brain on and remind me of hot chocolate.
One of the cliches of writing is that phrase 'Write what you know', which--while very good advice--sounds like a Top Ten list of things newbie writers take as gospel (yes, I'm a newbie; let's not rub that in, shall we?).
But think of it this way, if you don't know your subject matter you'll just end up sounding like a pompous idiot. Do you want to sound like a pompous idiot? No? Well, alright then, you've got alternatives.
1. You can do exhaustive research on your subject (I keep getting mental pictures of rolling landscapes in Scotland when I think about this), adapt your new-found knowledge to your own personal style, and then let the result pour out of you. When done right this is an excellent option and I plan on taking it on one day.
2. Write what you know, i.e. something you're already pretty familiar with. Take stock of all the things that make you who you are and then find the universal truth about all of them that everyone else experiences as well. What are the hardships you've suffered, the joys you've been blessed with, the mysterious you finally understood one day? What about those things connect you, the individual, with THEM, the rest of the people in the world?
I'll tell you why I chose to write YA novels, and I'll try not to babble. That's not a guarantee, just a promise to make the effort.
- For one, out of all the stages of life, I've always liked adolescence best; before I got to be a teen, after I grew out of teendom, and yes, even while I was one. I connect pretty well with young adults because I remember and if there's one area in my life where I don't have to work at being empathetic, feeling for those kids is it. Plus, I like talking to teens; if I can't pinpoint why something isn't working that sweet braintrust of mine will tell me!
- The novels are fantasy-based because--if nothing else--I am a hardcore, to the marrow, "gimme, gimme, gimme" dreamer. I know the paranormal elements of fairy tales aren't real, I'm not delusional, but I still love them. I want a person who holds the world in his hand but has enough humility and grace not to let his position rule him.
- And last, the love story. My first series has carries the prevailing message that love conquers all. Why? Because I believe it. John and Paul, whether you reference the Beatles or the apostles, had it right; All you need is love, baby. Romantic love, familial love, agape love, strength and sacrifice to do what is best, be what is best, for those you love.
And so I remember. I take myself back and I think about what teenage me would have thought, felt, done about teenage him (of course there's a him!) and I apply it to a character, in her own words, with her own maturity level (Joss is so much more mature than I was), and her own characteristics.
If I didn't have those memories, I wouldn't know, you know?
OMGOSH! Someone Get Me a Cape!
Just found my mail to find the following in my inbox. It was written to a teen who test reads for me and who is a writer herself. DAY MADE!!
"Today at school, we had to take the [standardized writing assessment]*. The prompt I got to write about was one person that was an influence on my life. I picked you. Yep, that's right! You got a whole essay written about you. It looked like a "4" to me. 4 being the best score you can make- 1 being the lowest. Five paragraphs long. I felt cool, too. All the other people that got that prompt wrote about their mom."
*Details muddled to protect the author. AND SHE GOT A GOOD GRADE, SO THERE!
This is why I do it. I'd forgotten for a few minutes today. Also, I feel very . . . humbled and honored.
Don't Pick At It, You'll Just Make It Worse!
Personal Tidbit: You can get my favorite socks here. They are massive amounts of rainbowy-striped goodness.
Guys, right now the likelihood of breaking into the writing biz looks bleak. Not only is the recession forcing everyone from publishers and huge retail book chains to literary agencies of all sizes into scaling down but now it seems all those other people--the ones who've never tried writing before--are getting laid off, and a lot of them decided, "Hey, I can add to my income and use this extra time to write that book like I always wanted."
It's difficult not to resent these people because they're stacking the already-insane odds even higher against 'real' writers (what makes someone a real writer as opposed to a delusional one is an existential debate for another day). Agents' slushpiles are growing by leaps and bounds, making it harder for them to find the diamonds in the rough. It's also irritating because the message seems to be, "writing is so easy a laid-off cave man can do it", which is insulting to people who consider writing the main career calling in their lives.
When I heard about this the mental image of a factory amidst a union strike came into my mind, and those 'new writers' were the replacement workers--the 'scabs', if you will--breaking through the picket lines. Only of course we of the original workforce, the ones who have always been doing this job, aren't on strike. We're just being struck.
So, the new challenge is seeing around the ungracious feelings and in finding something that gives you hope regardless of the current standing of the book business.
Here's to your success!
I'm Not Nice, I Just Have Manners
Personal Note: I really hope I'm missing something in Kelly Clarkson's new song, "My Life Would Suck Without You", because if not, WHAT A HORRIBLE MESSAGE!!! Girls, your lives will totally NOT SUCK without a boy, I don't care how awesome he is.
Whew! Now that's out of my system, to the point of this blog post. The chances are good that if you're reading this you've never actually met me which might make it more difficult to believe that I am NOT a nice person. Trust me on this one, I'm not. I'm selfish and lazy, and a lot of other completely horrible things. Socially awkward, impatient, judgemental, insecure, and sarcastic (maybe that one's not sooo bad) to name a few.
But I do have a great deal of this little thing called 'respect for others' and it goes a long way to make it seem like I'm a nice person. So let's talk about manners and respect as they pertain to the soul-eating steps of breaking into the writing business.
First off, remember how when you were a kid, a student, and you saw your teacher outside the confines of your school. If you're still a student, even better; you're more fresh for this analogy. So weird! Your teacher--for all intents and purposes--seemed to be an actual human, and stranger still, a human with at least something of a life. You couldn't quite put the two entities, your teacher and the person before you, together. Now, take that 'alternate reality' feeling and apply it to your concept of 'Literary Agent'. Yeah, somewhere on the other side of that inbox you just mailed a query to there is an actual human with a life outside of office hours. You didn't mail your query to a program. You mailed it to an individual with personal tastes, preferences, and dislikes. Be mindful of that. When you query an agent take the time to research him or him. Not only does it clear you of a major hurdle (not following submission guidelines=instant rejection) but it helps you better understand the fit you might have with the agent. Plus a little initiative is bound to go a long way. If you think of them as human they are more likely to do the same with you
Secondly, I am quickly learning that this business is no different than many others in that it is absolutely flooded with resources such as 'how to's' and insider info (the kind that might get you published, not arrested). But one of the biggies is 'connectivity'. Simply put, who you know, or even better who knows you. You've got to get your name out there, in the business public's eye. Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, all fantastic. But you can't virtually gang-bang them. There's an etiquette. Don't cyber-stalk an agent to the point he or she is considering a restraining order. Don't get up in faces. Don't be clingy. Remember, these are people who are spending their time and energy to get a job done well and what time you take from them better be worthwhile and contribute something of value, otherwise you will get a reputation as 'best avoided'.
And last but not least, if you wouldn't use that kind of language with your mother, don't use it with a potential connection. The agent will appreciate it, and your Mama will be proud of you.
It's a Good Day to have been born with a Great Name
Personal note: Paramore's "Fences" is totally big-band-swinging around and around in my head. Dig it.
You might have wandered over here from one of a few places, and more than likely I've had pretty much the same name at all of them. There's a fantastic reason for this.
Simply put, my name's my name. I was born with it. Hades, actually I was conceived with it. My dad once said to my mother something like, "Dear, one day we'll have a daughter, and we'll name her 'Amethyst Greye'," and my mother replied something like "Wonderful! And we can call her 'Amy' for short . . . but first we have to get married."
I put an end to the 'Amy' nonsense at the age of twelve. 'Amy' was the most popular girl's name the year I came into the world and therefore much too common for an original individual such as myself.
My mother is pretty sure the 'Greye' comes from my father's biggest literary obsession, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Remember, Gandalf started out as 'Gandalf the Grey'. Dad threw on an extra 'e' to make it more feminine, and there you have it.
I like to think--even though he passed away when I was four--my dad somehow knew I would grow up to be someone who needed an outstanding name and that's why he obliged.
Amethyst Greye Alexander. Doesn't it sound like it'd be right at home on the cover of novels?
ALSO! Please look to your left at the heading entitled 'Declarations'. That, my friends, is my triumph over technology for today. Every time you refresh this page you get another favorite quote of mine randomly displayed. Only ten right now, but I have evil plans!
Agent, forgive me for I have penned . . .
I've followed a few agents on Twitter for a few weeks now and I have to say, just those tiny, 140 character glimpses into their jobs have made me much more sympathetic to what they go through in a day. As a writer, I understand how a rejected book proposal feels from this side of the monitor, how it feels impersonal, invalidating, and other nasty things. And I knew--somewhere in the back of my mind, behind a dusty window--that agents had to slog through a pile of unusable projects, hoping to find one with the right fit, but it hadn't really hit me.
Wow, people. Just wow. The other day I watched as three agents actually had a race to see who could get through the emails in her inbox the quickest . . . two were still up at two A.M., and the other one was crowing with joy that her number was under fifty. Because that was something she hadn't seen in forever.
On another occasion one of the chronicled the last fifteen or so, whether she rejected or asked for more, and why. Two thirds of the submissions hadn't even tried to follow the clearly listed requirements for proposals to this agent. That really surprised me; if you're asking this person to take a chance on you I'd expect you to research that person as much as possible and follow any guidance to a T. It's COMMON SENSE, people.
And last, another agent, who seems very, very personable, rejected a manuscript proposal only to have the rejectee write back to her with a nasty insult, I assume because that person is a childish brat and can't be bothered to react in a more mature fashion.
So, when I get back to sending out novel submissions you can bet I'll be doing it with a whole added perspective, one of sincere respect for the person who is willing to put him or herself out there like that.
Seriously kids, learn from this.
Less Rockin', More Sockin'
Personal tidbit of the day: Gimme a second, I've got to steal a pair of my husband's socks.
I write (so far) for what people in the biz would call the 'young adult' or 'teen' audience and the funny part is knowing a lot of teens who themselves are writers. So, for those kids I give a few really general pointers that some wonderful people have given me over the last six months or so (credit will follow the main post).
In no particular order:
- It's a time-saver just to start out writing your manuscript in the formatting parameters you're going to end up with. That usually means 1-inch margins all around, double-spaced (a line-width between each line of text), a font like Times New Roman or Arial in the 12 point size. In black. Cutesy colors usually annoy readers.
- Passive Voice. If you have a sentence that uses I was/they were/we were/she is or any other similar conjugation of a being verb see if you can replace the 'passive' being verb ('I am') with a stronger, more specific verb. Ex. "I was laughing like a hyena," becomes "I laughed like a hyena," and makes 'I' the active noun in the sentence. I learned this the hard way.
- Always make sure your verb tenses agree. Past, present, future? Pick one and stick with it.
- Use adverbs (words that end in -ly. Happily, worriedly, arrogantly, etc.) as little as possible. You can usually figure out a way to reword the sentence using the adverb as another part of speech and the statement will sound stronger for it, you can change the dialogue to reflect the emotion. Adverbs often come off as a sort of prosaic cop-out. This comes from a recovering adverb addict.
- Think about your audience as you write.* This might have been my biggest problem. I'm a hardcore word geek so my vocab sometimes explodes in a burst of syllables. Treading the line between introducing new vocab and not going overboard is tough, but possible. Research helps (especially if you're writing something historical--your readers will appreciate the authentic feel of era-appropriate language).
And that's my Top Five Tip Starter Kit for Young Writers. I know it's common sense to most people who work with books, but for those just starting out these are things I think it helps a ton to know on the outset.
Thanks primarily go to Robb Grindstaff, Alexandra Marrell, and one of the most helpful-post-people you will ever read, Michelle Witte
*I actually have a pretty funny story about that. When another writer friend and I become famous we're going to tell the world about it. . . and the world will totally laught at us. Erm, I mean WITH, totally laugh WITH us. o.0
Have You Seen This Writer?
Valentine's Day is a GREAT excuse for not working on your book. Your birthday is another. Together they make quite a pair. But what do you do if you want to work on your book but you just can't get into your groove? What if you're stuck?
I am soooo stuck. There's a transistional scene in Silver I have to rework, and it's kicking my rear end. I've been staring at it (or avoiding eye-contact with it) for at least four days. I'll start writing it one way only to be disgusted with that, change directions, and have no idea where I'm going.
What helps us with these boulders? A good mocha capaccino? My warm sweater? Surely my "writer" playlist contributes a little (right now I'm hearing U2's "Trip Through Your Wires"; I'm such a B-sides lover). But what can I do to really get things percolating?
The most frustrating thing is that I can't ask you for tips because everyone is totally different. Your tricks probably wouldn't help me, or mine you. I suppose I will just have to suck it up and growl (internally, of course) until the story comes back to me.
So, here's to hoping Tristan, Joss, and Drew feel like talking. After all, it is Valentine's Day.
And my birthday.
If Lost (Or Stolen) Please Return To:
I have noticed a trend with the current series. It happens to every major character in one or another book--sometimes more than one--and even happens with me on occasion.
All of us have lost our ever-loving minds. Some might argue that the characters' minds are stolen, considering how their minds come to be lost (i.e. their author decides it's time for them to lose it), but all the same, the brain flies the coop and is temporarily unavailable for consultation.
In my case, of course the loss is caused by one of two things:
- The classic "Internal Struggle", wherein I argue with myself over the quality of writing, if the characters' actions are realistic, or some other thing.
- The classic "External Struggle", wherein I try really, really hard not to kill anyone in my house for not giving me half an hour, just thirty consecutive minutes, to stare at my monitor until the former struggle resolves itself.
Trust me, the characters' loss of all logical sense is much more entertaining than mine . . . and usually less explosive. I have all sorts of variations of 'lost your/her/his/my/their mind/s' running around those books by now finding them should play out sort of like a verbal Where's Waldo?
Meantime, personal factoid of the day? I like vanilla much better when it comes to coffee or ice cream, but I can eat my weight in truffles.
Have now kicked technology's butt all over Hades and half of Georgia. COMMENTS WORK!
By way of introduction . . .
Yes, my name really is Amethyst Greye and has been since birth; before, actually.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way, here are some other significant things about me:
- I've got three young sons and they are all very pretty because their dad, AKA my firefighter husband, gave them gorgeous eyes with lashes that go on for miles.
- I'm turning thirty-one on Valentine's Day this year, but no one believes it, least of all me.
- I have a pin that says, "If the house burns down, remember your priorities; save my books". I'm not even kidding.
- I'm a little darker than you'd think upon meeting me. I mean in personality. In skin tone I resemble Casper.
- I love being there for young people who just really need someone older to ask about the tough stuff. I can't stress this enough.
Oh, and did I mention I'm a writer? I am indeed, a writer. To read the first chapter of the first novel, Silver*, in the Dionadir trilogy, just follow this yellow brick road here . . .
*Working title
Movers, Shakers, and the Ones Who Just Squee With Joy
Congratulations, you fell into the hole with me! We get to scramble our way back out together! But don't worry, Ben's finished blessing his Cheerios and is onto bigger prayers, so I feel like we've got a good chance of making it!
In the meantime, if you are having trouble sending up a smoke signal there are only about four billion other ways to find me. I'll restrain myself and give you three.
- Amethyst Greye via Twitter
- Email is beautiful, isn't it? email@example.com
- Silver's Facebook Account
I check all of these daily, usually multiple times.


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The Road to Women's Suffrage
"Things that seem possible, reasonable, understandable, even logical in hindsight often seem quite impossible, unrealistic, nonsensical, and illogical when we are looking ahead to them. In hindsight we can see how everything fell into place and that it was quite natural, even reasonable, that it would happen ... Inevitable in hindsight and impossible in foresight. Between impossibility and possibility, there is a door, the door of hope. And the possibility of history's transformation lies through that door."
—Jim Wallis, The Soul of Politics
It was just 90 years ago that, with the passage of the 19th amendment, women in the United States gained the right to vote. It was a victory more than seventy years in the making (the movement for women's suffrage began in earnest at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention).
For decades, it seemed a nearly impossible struggle. Women (and some men) were beaten, jailed, and ridiculed for their protests.
Advocates of women's suffrage first began to see successes in their communities and at the state level. By the time the 19th Amendment was ratified, dozens of states, concentrated in the Western U.S., had passed some version of suffrage for women.
Still, the struggle was not over. Though the amendment was ratified by enough states to become federal law, a number of states failed to ratify it for decades more: Virgina, and Alabama in the 1950s; Florida and South Carolina in 1969; and Georgia, Louisiana, and North Carolina in 1970. Mississippi was the final state to formally ratify the amendment, in 1984.
In our fast-paced world, it's easy to become frustrated when progress is slow or change isn't immediately visible. The following photo essay honors the tireless stamina and patience of the suffragettes.
To view the photo essay, click here.


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The total reach of radio in the fourth-quarter of 2018 was 93%. This is an increase of 4% from the previous period, which means that 307,000 more individuals listened to radio than in the previous quarter. The fourth quarter radio audience measurement covers all listening from 1st October to 31st December 2018.
Given an upsurge in promotional activities, pricing is becoming an increasingly crucial factor for both retailers and manufacturers to consider in their go-to-market strategy. This webinar will help listeners understand what has been happening in KSA and UAE in the last couple of years when it comes to price and promotions—and the impact of those changes on the market. It also covers recommendations on what manufacturers and retailers can do to improve market performance and operating results.
E-commerce is becoming an important factor in further driving fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) growth across major markets globally. View our webinar to explore the framework of 10 key drivers for e-commerce success and which combination of drivers are importance based on their respective markets.
For the last decade or so, Millennials have been the generation that every brand has sought to engage as their spending power has grown. With this generation now past teenage years, however, digital advertisers are shifting their focus to the succeeding generation, Generation Z or Gen Z.
In addition to being hyper connected and digitally driven, Millennials are focused on personal experiences. And for many, those experiences happen away from home. Notably, Millennials are very interested in travel—and shopping along their journeys.
In addition to being hyper connected and digitally driven, Millennials are focused on personal experiences. And for many, those experiences happen away from home. Notably, Millennials are very interested in travel. In fact, they travel more than any other generation, including Baby Boomers.
When it comes to the most-valued loyalty-program benefits, monetary incentives top the list in every region. However, creating meaningful differentiation requires offering more than generic deals, and thinking beyond monetary perks can help brands stand out.
As a consumer group, Millennials are just starting to flex their spending power, which will grow significantly in the coming years. While they're years from fully establishing themselves, they're already having a marked impact on the global consumer landscape.
To find out how much attitudes about finances differ by age, we asked Gen Z, Millennial, Gen X, Baby Boomer and Silent Generation respondents about their saving strategies and debt decisions. It turns out that no matter the age, most of us need sound financial advice.
We asked Millennials, Generation Xers and Baby Boomers around the world to tell us how satisfied they are with everything about their jobs. Across a sample of respondents from 60 countries who said they are currently employed, satisfaction levels highlight workplace trends worth paying attention to.
To better understand how younger respondents view the importance of dietary considerations, we asked six Millennials from different parts of the globe to explain how their eating habits differ from those of their parents.
With young consumers starting families and older consumers heading for retirement, it's common knowledge that lifestyles differ depending on our age. And in today's world of changing technology, the stereotypical gaps between the ages can seem even larger. But which stereotypes are really the truth and which are just perception? Are we really so different or do "we" have in fact a great deal in common?
Our outlook on life is often shared with others who have similar traits—and age is no exception. But many of today's consumers are bucking yesterday's preconceived generational notions. In fact, many older people are embracing a more technology-driven world, and sizeable numbers of younger people are turning to more traditional values.
Despite the fact that Millennials are coming of age in one of the most difficult economic climates in the past 100 years, a recent Nielsen global online study found that they continue to be most willing to pay extra for sustainable offerings—almost three-out-of-four respondents in the latest findings, up from approximately half in 2014.
Whether watching TV, checking emails, or flipping through a magazine, it seems like everywhere we look there's an opportunity for advertisers to connect with us, earn our trust and deliver their message. So has all this media proliferation watered down the resonance of their messages?
As the media landscape evolves, so too do the sources consumers use to find out about new products. Globally, shoppers' reliance on earned media is growing while their attention toward some paid media sources are declining.
Globally, consumers largely favor TV as the device of choice for watching video programming. However, there are a few regional and generational differences in how we watch.
What are today's Future Talent—students close to graduating or college-educated, newly working professionals—looking for when seeking employment or making purchases? A recent study on corporate reputation explores the factors these young future leaders consider.
Despite our best intentions to eat healthily, the contents of our shopping carts don't always align with our objectives. And when we look around the globe, not everyone places health attributes atop their list of important considerations when they shop for food.


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Timothy M. "Tim" Gunn (born July 29, 1953) is an American fashion consultant and television personality. He was on the faculty of Parsons The New School for Design from 1982 to 2007 and was chair of fashion design at the school from August 2000 to March 2007, after which he joined Liz Claiborne as its chief creative officer. He is well-known as on-air mentor to designers on the reality television program Project Runway. Gunn's popularity on Project Runway led to his spin-off show, Bravo's Tim Gunn's Guide to Style, as well as his book A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style.
Gunn was born and raised in Washington, D.C. His father, George William Gunn, was an FBI agent during the administration of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Gunn was a champion swimmer throughout high school, and later attended the Corcoran College of Art and Design, receiving a BFA in sculpture.
According to a video Gunn created for the It Gets Better project, he attempted to commit suicide at the age of 17 by swallowing over 100 pills.


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USA Today Sports' Jeff Zillgitt and Sam Amick break down Game 1 of the Finals between Heat and Spurs, which involved stifling temperatures and a cramping LeBron James.
SAN ANTONIO — If you didn't know any better, you may have thought that R.C. Buford was guilty of a premature celebration Thursday night.
But that wasn't champagne soaking through the blue shirt of the San Antonio Spurs general manager as he walked so briskly through the humid AT&T Center halls. It was sweat.
No one wanted to give the broken air conditioning an official assist in San Antonio's 110-95 vs. the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, but there's simply no denying that all this perspiration may ultimately lead to a Spurs parade. Yes, they all had to play through it, that near-90-degree temperature on the floor that had all the fans, well, fanning and left the place feeling like your local sauna.
GAME 1: Duncan scorches Heat
POP: Hopes Spurs pay bills quick
But only one superstar went down amid all this mechanical madness, and LeBron James sitting out late because of leg cramps meant the home-court edge was the Spurs' to be had even more than before.
It's never a good sign for the NBA when league officials have to be added to the postgame news conference lineup, yet there was Rod Thorn, the league's president of basketball operations, explaining it all afterward on this most surreal of nights.
"Once the game starts, it's in the hands of the referees," Thorn said. "Had the referees felt at any time or had I felt at any time — I was sitting the second row midcourt — were such that the game shouldn't be continued, then they would have come over and said something to me. Never did, I never said anything to them regarding the fact that the game should be cancelled. You know, again, in live sporting events, sometimes things transpire that you don't expect."
GALLERY: Top shots from the NBA Finals
He fully expects to building to be cool again by Sunday's Game 2, but that does nothing to help a Heat team that was without its best player in the most crucial of moments. James only played 34 of the final 451 seconds, and the Heat found themselves undermanned and overwhelmed as they were outscored 26-9 in the final 7 minutes, 31 seconds of play.
The Heat refused to take the conspiracy theory route, but guard Dwyane Wade wasn't afraid to offer a metaphorical eye roll about the sheer absursity of this freon faux pas. It's one thing to play in these kinds of conditions when you're a youngster running on the nearest black top, yet quite another when it's the world's biggest basketball stage.
"Yeah, a little bit," Wade told USA TODAY Sports when asked if he was frustrated by the technical difficulties. "It's the NBA Finals. You don't want to deal with nothing like that. You already have a tough job ahead of you, trying to beat this team on their home floor. It is what it is, man.
"Obviously when it's that hot, cramping is an issue. It could be a big issue. Guys get lightheaded as well. Obviously LeBron went down, but we're lucky more guys didn't go down. The conditions weren't what you would like to play in. But like you said, both teams did it. Both teams played in it. ... We had a chance to win, and we just didn't."
LIVE BLOG: Re-live memorable Game 1
NBA FINALS: Schedule, TV info, analysis
James had spoken more candidly in the heat of the moment. With ABC's microphones picking his voice up on the sideline, he said, "They're trying to smoke us out of here." For Wade's part, it took him back to his Marquette days.
"I've been in a few (hot games like this)," Wade continued. "At Marquette, we'd practice in our gym, they called it 'The Old Gym," and it had no AC. You had fans at each end of the court. It was that hot. That's what you do growing up. You get to the NBA, and everything is taken care of."
Not the sort of nostalgia either team was looking for.
"You didn't know what was going on," Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said. "At a point, we would go to the bench and I would see cold towels everywhere and I didn't realize back then. Then when we went to the locker room at halftime, whew, we were sweating more in the locker room than on the court and when we came back it was tough.
"But, you know, it happens. It's the same heat for both, and we did OK. We moved the ball and I don't think we turned the ball over because of the temperature or the heat, so I don't think it was a big factor. I don't know if LeBron's situation was — this was the reason for that. I don't think we suffered as much."
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich took the whole situation in stride just like the rest of them. He paid even closer attention than normal to the level of his players' proverbial gas tanks, shuttling them in and out in a way that somehow avoided a James-like disaster for his side.
"It was probably tough on both teams," Popovich said. "Players were pretty dead. So we tried to get guys in and out a little bit more than we usually do. Kind of screws up the rhythm a little bit but it was mighty hot out there."
Jokes ensued, of course. From Buford on down, the Spurs had every reason to celebrate with a smile.
"I think everybody got a little tired or dehydrated for sure," he continued. "I'm sure that both teams are going to be happy that we have a couple of days before the next game and hopefully we can pay our bills."
Sam Amick is an NBA insider for USA TODAY Sports. Send him your thoughts on Twitter at @sam_amick.
GALLERY: 8 defining factors for the Finals (other than ACs)


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