text:
Citoxlab Corporate Identity Evolution
Over seven years ago, (spring 2011), the Citoxlab Group was created after the acquisition of LAB by CiT. At that time, our Citoxlab logo was designed with Citox in blue and LAB in red. Since then, Citoxlab has acquired AccelLAB in Canada (2016) and more recently, Xenometrics in the USA (2017).
Following the successful integration of these acquisitions, we are now updating our brand identity with a new logo and colour.
The new logo is less complex, easier to read and remember. It aims to embody our overall corporate image, the Group being composed of companies that have joined us at different times.
Citoxlab increases dog and minipig capacity at the French site
Soon after increasing our capacity in Canada, Citoxlab is now investing further in our Evreux, France site, expanding the non-Rodent unit, thereby increasing our global capacity to meet industry demands.
The facility will be fully compliant with European housing regulations (2010/63), with preconfigured add-ons, allowing for the complete performance of multiple readout studies whilst enhancing animal well-being. This building will be coupled to a new surgery room, resulting in improved processes and overall study performance.
As the number of programs supported has significantly increased since 2015, and particularly in 2017, this capacity adjustment was necessary to allow us to continue to meet the needs of our clients' aggressive drug development programs. "With a projected demand for 2018 again on the increase, and Citoxlab entering into further strategic partnerships, it was necessary to adjust our production capacity. This is part of a much larger upscaling program to the benefit of our clients and partners." said Jean-François Le Bigot, Chairman and CEO of the group.
With this expansion, Citoxlab-France will increase capacity by 40%. The new building will be opened in late Q3-2018.
Acquisition of the Siemens Acuson SC2000 ultrasound system at AccelLAB – a great tool for structural heart studies
AccelLAB, a company member of the Citoxlab Group, has solid expertise in structural heart research, working with multiple models such as aortic and tricuspid valve replacement and mitral valve repair. Classic two dimensional CT and echocardiography imaging, volume and flow measurements were always an important part of these procedures' success.
With the recent acquisition of the Siemens Acuson SC2000 ultrasound system, AccelLAB can now offer live 3D imaging capabilities, both with ICE (Intra-Cardiac Echocardiography) and TEE (Transesophagial Echocardiography) modalities. The live 3D imaging provides the interventional team with a much better and clearer view of the structures, devices and dynamic blood flow during procedures, not to mention spectacular renditions of the implanted device for scientific communications and teaching purposes.
This system is equipped with all of the cardiac analysis modes and a color doppler. It allows for more automated, precise and efficient calculation tools such as volume LV analysis, automated left ventricular and left atrial border detection, along with efficient exporting and reporting capacities. It is equipped with the velocity vector imaging technology (speckle tracking) which provides a reliable and detailed analysis of the regional myocardial muscle function and motion mechanics, with markers such as the velocity, strain and strain rate, ejection fraction and volume. While this system is mostly used for echocardiography, it is a complete and flexible system to cover most ultrasound imaging related needs with various probes.
Evaluating the use of minipigs as a model for preclinical CNS safety pharmacology
The use of minipigs as a surrogate model for the human condition has long been considered in preclinical research, due in large part to the numerous similarities between human and porcine anatomy, physiology and biochemistry. The use of minipigs within the safety pharmacology arena has increased rapidly in recent decades, beyond traditional skin and dermal toxicity studies, to include cardiovascular and respiratory safety programs. Since minipigs share a high degree of similarity to the human brain anatomy, development and physiology, the interest in the use of minipigs as a model species has also been suggested for central nervous system (CNS) safety testing. Unfortunately, the incorporation of minipigs into CNS safety programs has been limited, in part by the absence of information on minipig CNS function. Accordingly, Citoxlab North America has begun to characterize the minipig CNS through numerous in vitro and in vivo tests in an attempt to highlight the utility of this model species for safety testing. In vitro electrophysiological assessment of seizure liability within the minipig hippocampus has uncovered the usefulness of minipig brain tissue in early drug safety assessments. Characterization of minipig sleep architecture (through electroencephalography, electromyography and electrooculography) has provided support for the use of the minipig as a non-clinical model for polysomnography and evaluation of drug-induced effects on sleep architecture. Intrathecal/epidural dosing as well as cerebrospinal fluid collection studies highlight that the anatomical characteristics of the minipig facilitate the use of the species for assessment of blood-brain barrier permeability and CNS distribution. Together, these studies help to elucidate the role and usefulness of the minipigs in CNS safety testing.
Bioanalysis of large molecule therapeutics by LC-MS/MS at atlanbio
The focus on development and advancement of large molecule therapeutics is changing the composition of pharmaceutical pipelines. Such biologics or large molecules (LM's) include polymers of amino acids (peptides, poly-peptides and proteins including antibodies), oligonucleotides and many endogenous biomarkers with molecular weights above 1000 Da.
Until recently, the primary bioanalytical approach was via classic "gold standard" ligand-binding immunoassay (LBA) techniques. LBA's have inherent challenges including the need to produce specific antibody reagents which can greatly increase the lead time and cost for assay development, and often reoccur during the lifecycle of the assay when these critical reagent lots change and require additional qualification.
The use of LC-MS/MS to quantify these complex molecules eliminates the need to generate specific antibodies while yielding similar levels of detection (especially with immunocapture; hybrid LBA/LC-MS/MS) along with additional advantages of a larger dynamic range without significant cross-reaction interference. Further, the LC-MS/MS approach allows for a multiplex assay with simultaneous analysis of several molecules and an increase in throughput.
To meet the needs of our clients and the proliferation of large molecule therapeutic portfolios, atlanbio is pleased to welcome Dr. Jordane Biarc who will lead our LM LC-MS/MS team and drive the expansion of these services.
Jordane obtained her Ph.D (Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology) at Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg, France and has considerable industry experience in biomarker and drug quantitation, and the analysis of proteins/peptide by mass spectrometry.
Avian toxicology and reproduction studies
Avian toxicity and reproduction studies are required for registration of agrochemical products where avian exposure is a potential risk. They are also required for environmental biocides, biopesticides and pharmaceutical/veterinary products where environmental persistence is considered to be a potential risk. These studies provide data on acute toxicity and/or reproductive effects in birds, for substances and mixtures administered orally via gavage, drinking water or in diet.
Citoxlab Hungary is a leader in the field of laboratory avian toxicology. Expert staff with over 14 years of avian experience provide advice and assure high quality study design and performance for our clients. We conduct screening studies, preliminary studies and full GLP studies to meet the needs of our clients, with expert analytical support.
The test species generally used is the Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). This standard species for avian ecotoxicological studies is available all-year round (non-seasonal egg-laying) so studies can be planned and performed rapidly. For the US EPA, the Northern Bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus) is often the species of choice. For other regulatory objectives, the Mallard Duck (Anas platyrhynchos) is sometimes required, and we have reliable suppliers for these seasonal species.
In our state-of-the-art avian facility, our pens exceed the latest EU animal welfare standards of 1m2 for each pair of quail. We are one of the most experienced EU facilities for quail reproductive toxicology studies.
The avian reproduction study is the only routinely performed regulatory study which is a specific test for reproductive performance of non-mammalian terrestrial vertebrates. The study is a standard part of testing packages for agrochemical products and can also be a testing requirement for biocides, REACH, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Avian reproduction studies are performed at our facility according to recommendations in the OECD Guidelines for testing of chemicals (Section 2: Effects on Biotic Systems. No.206; Avian Reproduction Test (1984) Avian reproduction toxicity test Draft Guideline October 1998) in compliance with Good Laboratory Practices.
Our reference data can be valuable for the interpretation of study results. They compare well with published data and also demonstrate the general health and good reproductive performance of Japanese quail in our facility.
Krisztina Sipos, M.Sc. – Principal Scientist, Ecotoxicology, Krisztina graduated in chemistry and ecology at the University of Veszprém and her thesis was on acute toxicity to honey bees.
She started work at Citoxlab Hungary in May 2003 as a technician in the Ecotoxicology department. In 2005, she became an assistant scientist, and in 2007 was promoted to Study Director. In 2012, she was promoted to Senior Study Director, and since 2015 has been a Principal Scientist.
Krisztina has conducted more than 900 ecotoxicology studies (aquatic toxicology, ready biodegradability, activated sludge, avian acute and reproductive toxicology, acute and chronic earthworm, non-target anthropods and honey bees). She was involved in five collaborative poster presentations at annual meetings and has been a member of the Society of Hungarian Toxicologists since 2004. Her current responsibility is to lead our Ecotoxicology service, coordinating and mentoring the Ecotoxicology Group.
Citoxlab now offering services in drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters genotyping
One third of the pharmacogenomics biomarkers used in drug development in the US are related to genetic polymorphism of enzymes involved in drug metabolism. Indeed, many of these enzymes are genetically polymorphic. Consequently, the metabolic capacity of individuals may differ depending on an individual's genotype. For example, drugs may be metabolized more slowly in individuals who are carriers of a genetic polymorphism that results in decreased activity of a given enzyme, which can lead to adverse drug reactions and therapeutic failure. This is why investigating the polymorphisms in genes' encoding for Drug Metabolism Enzymes and drug Transporters (DMET) is used to provide significant information during clinical research, by predicting the impact of an individual's genetic variations on metabolic capacity, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. This brings us one step closer to the vision of pharmacogenetics, by helping to avoid adverse drug responses and increasing treatment efficacy.
Using Affymetrix DMET arrays to genotype healthy donors and patients, Citoxlab genomics laboratory now offers the analysis of drug metabolizing and transporter genetic variations analysis. These arrays permit the analysis of a comprehensive and relevant genetic content, including 1,936 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), copy number and indel markers across the 231 genes involved in drug transport and metabolism. The performance of our analyses on a set of reference samples provided by Affymetrix, showed an extremely high concordance with the reference genotypes (higher than 99.95%).
This new service, offered in compliance with Good Clinical Practices, completes our comprehensive bioanalytical, biomarker and immunogenicity services as our clients transition from preclinical to clinical programs.


text: Learn more about the watercolor texture overlay paintings I made to give a more organic look to Dreamside's digitally-painted art. You can use a similar technique to get cool graphic effects with all sorts of different textures. Try it with crayons, pencils, even a collage. Digital art gives us a pretty expansive toolset for experimentation. Let's see what you can come up with!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Friend's Email:
Subject: I have found a CD that I think you would enjoy
|Norah Jones
Not Too Late
Genres: Folk, Pop, Broadway & Vocalists
Larger Image
Listen to Samples
CD Details
Similar CDs
Similarly Requested CDs
Member CD Reviews
Judy F. (Judy) from JACKSONVILLE, FL
Reviewed on 5/13/2010...
Well, first let me say that I really enjoy listening to Norah Jones' music and this CD does not disappoint. The CD contains a variety of types of songs including pop and a little country. I love it.
2 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.
Susan C. from MEMPHIS, TN
Reviewed on 2/13/2007...
This is a great album ... only reason I have one to trade is that I accidently ordered two and rather than trying to return one, I'm going to trade it.
2 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.
Suzanne B. (SuzyB) from NORTHPORT, NY
Reviewed on 2/2/2007...
Jazzy, original, vintage Nora.
2 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.


text:
Coens' 'True Grit' grittier, better than the 1969 version
In Charles Portis' most famous novel, True Grit from 1968, his unadorned prose describes Rooster Cogburn as a "pitiless man who loves to pull a cork." The reclusive writer, now 77, is the subject of a short feature on the Blu-ray edition of Joel and Ethan Coen's recent adaptation of the story.
True Grit had famously been made into a film in 1969 by veteran Western director Henry Hathaway. It starred John Wayne, who won a best-actor Oscar as the hard-drinking U.S. marshal. The new version hews more closely to the spare poetry of Portis' work. Jeff Bridges plays Cogburn, hired by 14-year-old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld in a memorable debut) to settle accounts after her rancher father was gunned down by one of his hands, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin).
Scripture-quoting Mattie has the seriousness and fire of a young religious fanatic, and Rooster's tales of dispatching bad men convince her that he is a man of "true grit.". Mattie and the lawman head off to Indian country looking for Chaney. They are joined by a rather prissy Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf (Matt Damon) who calls himself "LaBeef" and is in it for the reward money.
Film Westerns have always been used as metaphors for whatever the director or studio wanted. Wayne's True Grit harks back to a simplistic good-guy/bad-guy approach.
Today, Mattie's righteous words have a different ring. The new True Grit is a rousing old-fashioned Western while giving us a picture of the Old West through a modern prism.
When Wayne played Rooster, he was playing John Wayne, whose image meant something on American screens for more than 30 years. No one should underestimate that.
But Bridges is an actor's actor; his Rooster captures the larger-than-life Western hero.
Besides the Portis piece, there are a number of other interesting features on the new disc, including segments on costumes, guns of the era and the cinematography of Roger Deakins.
True Grit retails for $29.99 or $39.99 on Blu-ray.


text:
New Studio LABS Created - Announces 'Astalon: Tears Of The Earth' For This Year/ Stephen Crane
Matt Kap, who previously released Castle in the Darkness has opened a new studio - LABS - and announced their first game Astalon: Tears of Earth which will be releasing later this year.
According to the blog post we'll have to wait a bit longer for details, but we do have this blurb about the game - "Three explorers wander through a post-apocalyptic desert to find a way to save the people in their village. A dark, twisted tower has been pushed up from the depths of the Earth... but does it hold the answers they seek?"
Subscribe on Youtube!


text:
Out on The Town: Whiskey and Doughnuts
Whiskey. Doughnuts. Enuf said!
After the Five Points Jazz Festival, I ventured to the McNichols Building for the 5th Annual Whiskey Throwdown and Doughnut Showdown.
Given the interest in the event, there were two times slots available and I selected the latter. Upon walking into the building, you were greeted and immersed in a whiskey and doughnut wonderland! Doughnut decorations, doughnut table settings, doughnut puzzles…even doughnut cornhole! Oh my! I'm not a whiskey drinker, but whiskey was flowing throughout the venue alongside the doughnuts.
As far as doughnuts go, Lamar's Doughnuts and Habit Doughnuts were my favorites. Lamar's Doughnuts are a Denver staple and you now get them delivered via drone! Habit Doughnuts served a yummy Grand Marnier doughnut.
For us non-Whiskey drinking folks, there were several other vendors providing samples of various libations. However, one of the biggest hits of the evening (aka the longest line) was Ol' Major, bacon bourbon! The distributors even provided bacon flavored salt in order to take a shot! Yum! Another one of my favorite drinks came from Punching Mule, a canned Moscow Mule which tastes exactly like a mule mixed at a bar! I ran to the store near my place and picked up a four-pack immediately.
In sum, this was a fun and tasty event. The proceeds supported Minds Matter of Denver, an organization that provides mentoring to college-boundstudents from low socioeconomic backgrounds. I'll gladly return in 2018!


text:
Client Services Director
Mark looks after the needs of several of PPL Insights' clients, advising on and designing bespoke research solutions that meet their business and project objectives. His directorial responsibilities extend to managing the sensory department plus two consumer project teams. He is a huge advocate of the combined use of consumer research and sensory profiling to better understand consumer responses and help product developers improve their products.
He joined PPL Insights in 2008 and has over 30 years food and drink industry experience from both the client and agency sides. The first 12 years of his career were spent at the Milk Marketing Board and Dairy Crest before becoming an Independent Market Research Consultant working with a variety of food companies, industry bodies and research agencies. Prior to joining PPL Insights, Mark was a Director at MSTS.
Mark's experience covers most food and drink markets, as well as personal care sectors such as toothpaste, mouthwash, deodorants and toilet tissue.
Mark is a Certified Member of the Market Research Society and has a degree in Economics & Geography. He is a long suffering West Ham supporter and fills any spare time that family life allows by making and painting models and entering them into major national and international competitions.


text:
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Molly my little tripod pooch
i'm going to miss my smelly couch buddy so much!!
yup. i'm kissing my molly.
8 comments:
- Life With Dogs said...
I just ♥ tripods - they can teach a lot of us how to be happy in the face of adversity....
- July 28, 2010 at 12:25 PM
- Lauren M. Davis Folk Art! said...
I am so truly sorry!!!!! Molly is a precious, I know she will be okay with her new housing with the lady that will care for her. If you can go visit her that would so good too!!! Do you think she could care for her for awhile until later on you got a place where dogs were allowed? Please don't be sad, I'm sorry!!! I send you much comfort and love!!!!
I'll never understand why there is not more options for people with pets as far as housing goes!! Pets are like people to me and I don't know why places don't understand that too. They will say that its because they make a mess or ruin things but Hey theres plently of humans that make worse messes of a place than a pet could ever. I totally would feel the same way like wanting to hide her there. Right now were I am living I am not able to have anymore pets and it is very hard for me to deal with. I hope to be able to move to a place soon where I can have lots of dogs and cats.
- July 29, 2010 at 5:43 AM
- Lauren M. Davis Folk Art! said...
~Sending Hugs and Love~ Lauren
- July 29, 2010 at 5:43 AM
- Princess Samantha said...
XoXo!!! =) Send my kisses to Molly too.... =)
Whenever i saw the three legged dog in my neighbourhood, I think of Molly Sue. They are even the same color but different gender
- July 31, 2010 at 12:11 AM
- meowmeowmans said...
I'm really sad for you. :(
But if she can't stay with you, I am glad to hear Molly will be going to a place where she is well-loved.
Hang in there, okay?
- July 31, 2010 at 2:44 AM
- Bobby said...
It is sad that you can not keep Molly with you,
I am sure she will be well cared for.
- August 1, 2010 at 4:02 AM
- havetailwillwag said...
isn't my molly the cutest? she is so so sweet. really! i may be biased but she really gives me such a warm fuzzy feeling.
- August 2, 2010 at 1:31 AM
- galatea. said...
aaawww i love these photos you guys look soo cute! xx
- August 2, 2010 at 7:39 PM


text:
Huntington's disease is an inherited disorder that results in the death of brain cells, which consequently causes uncontrollable movements and serious cognitive problems (1). It has been estimated that about 3 to 7 in 100,000 people of European descent are diagnosed with Huntington's disease. Despite the fact that there is currently no cure for Huntington's disease, gene therapy has shown some encouraging results and is expected to improve the quality of life for patients with this genetic disorder (1).
A Neurological Disease
Even though Huntington's disease was first described in 1872, then known as Huntington's chorea, its cause has only recently been discovered (2). A gene mutation (inherited from the parents in almost all cases) in either of the two alleles is enough to cause the disorder. This autosomal dominant mutation affects the structure of the expressed Huntington protein (HTT).
The role of the HTT protein is not yet fully understood. However, science has shown that it is involved in many metabolic pathways, ensuring that it interacts with a vast number of other proteins. Studies have also proposed that HTT is crucially responsible for neuronal transcription and neurogenesis, and that it performs a very important role in embryonic development (3).
The phenotypic alteration of the HTT protein occurs due to the expansion of the cytosine-adenine-guanine triplet (CAG) that repeats in the gene, leading to the synthesis of the abnormal protein. While twenty-six or fewer CAG repeats is considered normal, patients with Huntington's disease have many more repeats, which results in a defective gene (3).
The misfolded protein can affect cells in different areas of the brain, such as the neostriatum, the hypothalamus, and the cerebellum, among others. Aggregation of the mutated HTT protein unavoidably forms inclusion bodies that disrupt the normal neuronal networks, resulting in many alterations and progressing to dementia and other severe pathological complications (4). Technology that is used to measure protein interactions has revealed that the mutated HTT gene also interacts with caspase (an enzyme that catalyzes apoptosis) and alters its normal functioning. In addition, it interferes with the activity of chaperone proteins that assist protein folding (4).
As Huntington's disease progresses, the symptoms often worsen. Some symptoms, in the initial phase, are similar to the ones manifested by patients with Parkinson's disease. Slight uncontrollable movements are followed by many psychomotor complications. Although HTT is primarily found in the brain, its expression occurs in all cells. Thus, abnormalities in peripheral tissues — like muscle atrophy, osteoporosis, and cardiac failure — can also take place (1).
Gene Therapy: A Promissory Future
Life expectancy for patients with this all-consuming disease ranges from about 15 to 20 years after diagnosis. As there is no known cure for Huntington's disease, countless treatments and therapies are being employed and tested to palliate the signs and symptoms (5). Tetrabenazine, which works as a dopamine-depleting agent, is undoubtedly the most popular medication administered to reduce the psychomotor complications. Neuroleptic drugs are also employed in patients with high tolerance to tetrabenazine (5).
Application of gene therapy to some neurological disorders is rapidly growing. Research is focused on developing small RNA fragments that can be used to suppress dominant-negative genes (6). Alternative routes and vectors to specifically distribute the transgene in the brain or the affected tissues are also being studied. Although there have been positive results in animals, finding the right vectors for humans still represents a major challenge (6).
Gene therapy AMT-130, which consists of an adeno-associated virus carrying an artificial microRNA, has achieved preclinical proof-of-concept. More efforts need to be made in order to develop a suitable treatment (7).
Undoubtedly, gene therapy is no longer given the backseat in the treatment world and appears to be the front-running solution to many neurological disorders like Huntington's disease.
- https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/huntington-disease#synonyms
- https://www.huntingtonsnsw.org.au/information/hd-facts/history
- Chaganti S, McCusker E, Loy C.. What do we know about Late Onset Huntington's Disease?. J Huntingtons Dis. 2017; 6(2): 95–103. Published online 2017 Jun 30. doi: 10.3233/JHD-170247
- Mason R, Giorgini F. Modeling Huntington Disease in Yeast. Prion. 2011 Oct-Dec; 5(4): 269–276. Published online Oct-Dec 2011. doi: 10.4161/pri.5.4.18005
- Southwell A, Patterson P. Gene Therapy in Mouse Models of Huntington Disease. Neuroscientist. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 Jul 7. Published in final edited form as: Neuroscientist. 2011 Apr; 17(2): 153–162. doi: 10.1177/1073858410386236
- Simonato M, et al. Progress in gene therapy for neurological disorders. Nat Rev Neurol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2014 Jan 31. Published in final edited form as:Nat Rev Neurol. 2013 May; 9(5): 277–291. Published online 2013 Apr 23. doi: 10.1038/nrneurol.2013.56
- Aguiar S, Van Der Gaag B, Loy C. RNAi mechanisms in Huntington's disease therapy: siRNA versus shRNA. J Huntingtons Dis. 2017; 6(2): 95–103. Published online 2017 Jun 30. doi: 10.3233/JHD-170247


text:
The whole adventure begins when Digory and Polly find themselves in eccentric Uncle Andrew's secret study. But when Uncle Andrew tricks Polly into touching the magic ring, she vanishes into the Other World. Digory is aghast, and determines immediately to go in search of her, Not only does he find Polly but together they listened to Aslan's song as he creates the enchanted world of Narnia, full of sun, trees, flowers, grass and animals.
My first finished book for 2018.
I'm not new to the land of Narnia but all I know of it was from watching The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. It was quite interesting learning about how Narnia came to be, and the origin of the wardrobe itself.
My husband bought me the entire series for Christmas so I have a lot of C. S. Lewis ahead of me.
The Magician's Nephew pretty much revolved around Digory who, in this story, is the magician's nephew. This is also the first time we ever see of the evil witch, and Aslan.
It was through Digory's uncle (and his persistence) that he and his friend Polly was able to witness, albeit accidentally, the birth of Narnia. This is one of my favorite parts of the book because of how Lewis illustrated Narnia's beginning through words. Something came from nothing and that is mesmerizing to me.
Another thing I enjoyed about this book is the test of character Digory had to go through. Given a task and knowing certain aspects of it could help his mother get better, he went ahead and only did what he was supposed to do. He almost deviated and I was rooting for him to stay focused.
It was a great way to get reacquainted again with Narnia after a few years. A few adaptations have been released from this series and I'm looking forward to watching those again after reading the series to see the differences between them.
*This post contains affiliate links.


text:
The cosy and spacious apartments of our Apart Hotel Mountain Living are furnished comfortably and are all equipped with a shower and/or a bath tub, toilet, hairdryer, TV and a balcony with a breathtaking view on the mountains of the Ortles group and on the lake of San Valentino.
Whether you enjoy your active holiday in South Tyrol alone, in two or together with friends and family our rooms and apartments next to the idyllic lake of San Valentino offer space for relaxing and pleasant hours after an adventurous skiing or biking day in the upper Val Venosta valley!
Our apartments contain laundry and towels, in the kitchen you can find dishes, cutlery and drinking glasses.
Alle unsere Appartements bekommen neue, exklusive und moderne Küchen, u. a. mit Spülmaschine und neuen Kochfeldern.
Kochkomfort und Wohlfühlambiente im Mountain Living
Apartment (31 m²) with a double bed and a sofa bed, balcony, kitchenette, bathroom, TV, hairdryer and safe.
Apartment (40 m²) with a double bed and a sofa bed, balcony, kitchenette, bathroom, TV, hairdryer and safe.
Apartment (40 m²) with a separated bedroom, living area with a sofa couch an a kitchenette, bathroom, TV, hairdryer and safe.
Apartment (40 m²) with partly separated bedroom, living area with a sofa bed, high stage with a double room (access through a ladder), balcony, kitchenette, bathroom, TV, safe and hairdryer.
Apartment (70 m²) with two separated bedrooms, living area with a sofa bed for two people, kitchenette with a dishwasher, two separated balconies, bathroom, TV, hairdryer and safe.
All the pictures and floor plan are only examples, small variations are therefore possible.
Pure cycling enjoyment in the Venosta valley! One week cycling holiday including two days free use of cycles or e-bikes included, worth €80.00 per person.
Enjoy seven days but pay for only six!
One free cheese tasting included (cheese from local pastures only) and a local Check Out gift


text:
Family, desire, faith and ability are determining factors in the Simmons family's journey to build their family the way they wanted it. From meeting with a MI social worker to determining that an adopting from Russia would better fit their family, John Simmons takes readers on a roller coaster ride that has twists, turns and even loops! With four sons, they wanted a daughter and what seemed to them to be a simple idea came to cause John and his family to take a look at their beliefs. John tells this story from his perspective and it feels as if you're part of his family. From having to face questions like what if the girl you decide on has a sibling and to how many children are they willing and able to adopt. It's heart wrenching as they have to leave children behind and heart warming as they bond with the new additions to their family.
There are several reasons I absolutely loved this book. John tells the story from the heart and it shows. He shares his thoughts, feelings and actions without apology. He gives the good, the bad and the in between. Just because you've brought your child home doesn't mean things are wonderful and he explains some of the problems with international adoption and some of the things those children bring with them. This is a feel good story but it's also realistic and isn't always sweetness and light. This gives it an impact that is unquestionable and will have you thinking about it for days or months to come.
If you've ever considered adoption, especially an overseas adoption, read this book. If you love kids, read this book. If you just want a good story, read this book. And, what is better is the profits from this book is going into a fund to help those who age out of these impoverished orphanages.
At the end of this story is a what happens next which is an organization was set up to help those who age out. And, another book is coming to share this wonderful family's experiences with the teens they made part of their family. I can't wait!
The true story about family, friends, life and other things that don't make sense.
Venture deep into the heart-warming-and heart-wrenching-world of international adoption as John Simmons family's personal quest to rescue five children from impoverished rural Russian orphanage. To Sing Frogs recounts the Simmons family's journey to discover the true meaning of family, while nurturing Sarah, adopted at age five, through the inner turmoil of survivor's guilt, having left so many of her closest friends behind at the orphanage.


text:
Dear Pat
Here at ChiBus, we decided to create a new advice column so that Booth students could submit anonymous questions for whatever troubled them. Funds are tight at ChiBus, so we hired Pat Duffy, a seasoned career coach seeking to rebuild a somewhat tarnished reputation in the advice community.
Dear Pat,
I am a first year student interested in both Marketing and Entrepreneurship. I find some aspects of Marketing fascinating, particularly how I can leverage Booth's data driven approach. However, there is something about Entrepreneurship that is really exciting. Long term, I really want to focus on developing my understanding for the customer so I can focus on building a fashion start-up I've had in mind for a long time. Tell me Pat, should I work in Marketing to develop a solid marketing framework, or should I simply get entrepreneurial experience by working on a startup out of school? -Confused Student, Class of 2017
Listen up. You gotta put your big boy/girl pants on and recruit for Investment Banking. Do you want to make shit happen? I'm talking deals. I'm talking working on some M&A, checking your bank account in a year, and then buying some sweet massage chair from Brookstone for your German Shepherd because you just don't give a shit. Do you want to buy a Tesla one day or just try to sell them? I think the answer is clear, just check out the $130,000 SUV Tesla they released last week. Pulling up to your son's lacrosse practice in that electric beauty would make all the other parents look like the schmucks that they are.
Dear Pat,
I am a first year student, and I feel awkward during corporate events. I don't know when to introduce myself into crop circles, or what a smart question to ask is. I guess, in a way, I'm struggling to find the confidence and don't know if I belong. How can I better prepare myself for these events to give the appearance of confidence and competence? Do I need to have an elevator pitch? - Awkward, Class of 2017
As my hero, Charles Darwin, was fond of saying, "The fit survive and the meek move in with Grandma." You have to shed your feelings of insecurity and think back to the African savannah. Do lions feel awkward or rehearse an elevator pitch?
Be a lion.
Dear Pat,
I am a second year with two full-time offers. I'm really excited about both, but need to make a choice soon. One has everything I want out of a job- everything is perfect except the compensation is pretty low for an MBA out of Booth. The other one pays 30% higher, but really feels like the firm culture isn't a good fit for me. What do I do? -Indecisive, Class of 2016
How is this even a question? If you want great culture, eat Chobani yogurt. If you want a career, follow the money. The invisible hand should really be slapping you across the face right now.


text:
The ZIMBABWE Situation
Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.
Back to Index
Zimbabwe Moves to Import Large Quantities of Food
Zimbabwe seen to need SA food, but who pays?
British journalists deported from Zimbabwe
Mugabe Reshuffles Cabinet After Disputed Election
Only a Few Can Afford Life-prolonging AIDS Drugs
A royal mess
Zimbabwe sends out warnings over Marburg
Lindsey Hilsum pities a post-Mugabe Zimbabwe
When you're up against a total onslaught, you need fighter jets
Once thriving Zimbabwe in ruins
Independence celebrations should be low key
IMF urges Zimbabwe to tackle economic problems
SA studying reports on poll irregularities
JAG Open Letters Forum No. 359
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Zimbabwe Moves to Import Large Quantities of Food
By Peta Thornycroft
15 April 2005
Zimbabwe's food crisis is worsening and the government has formed a task
force to handle the crisis. Sources say the government will appeal for food
donations from the international community.
The Grain Marketing Board, Zimbabwe's only legal grain trader, has around
88,000 tons of stored maize, according to statistics submitted to the
government and has ordered 150,000 tons from South Africa, according to
grain suppliers there.
Also contributing to shortages are planting delays. According to the
Zimbabwe Farmers Union, which represents more than 100,000 small-scale
farmers, unavailability of seed maize, late availability of fertilizer and
lack of power for plowing contributing to a diminished crop.
As a result, Zimbabwe's maize deficit is expected to be about 1 million
tons, and about 700,000 tons will have to be imported before the next
harvest in a year's time.
Though the government has not confirmed it because they say they are still
estimating the size of this year's crop, analysts say it will likely
authorize an international appeal for food aid in June.
Last year President Robert Mugabe suggested that Zimbabwe was on the road to
self-sufficency. He told the international community that Zimbabweans had
grown 2.4 million tons of maize and the population would choke if donors
continued to provide food.
Since the collapse of commercial agriculture in 2001, which impacted heavily
on peasant farmers, western countries, through the World Food Program and
US/AID provided food for up to 5.5 million people, or nearly half the
population until late last year.
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Zimbabwe seen to need SA food, but who pays?
April 15, 2005, 19:45
Drought and poor seed distribution may force Zimbabwe to import more South
African food, traders say, but many doubt whether President Robert Mugabe's
government has the money. Aid workers say this year's drought would have cut
the staple maize crop anyway, while Mugabe's critics say chaotic seizures of
white-owned farms over the past five years have left the nation's
once-thriving farm sector in ruins.
"Even in the commercial areas it would have been bad," said one aid worker.
"But those guys would have had irrigation. There could be real suffering
this year." Some wonder if Zimbabwe's food needs might be funded by China or
Iran both wooed as part of Mugabe's "Look East" policy aimed at developing
new friends for a government widely reviled in the West. "We don't know
where they will get the money from," said another aid worker. "(Iranian
President Mohammad) Khatami was in Zimbabwe recently, so we wonder if it's
someone like that."
With state-supplied seeds and fertilisers arriving late or not at all, some
aid workers say Zimbabwe's overall maize crop could be as little as 300 000
to 700 000 tonnes well short of the 1.8 million tonnes they say the country
needs, and estimates of a one million-tonne 2004 crop. South Africa on the
other hand is expecting its best harvest in over a decade after good rain,
but much of the rest of the region also faces shortages after late-season
droughts destroyed much of the crop in Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique,
leaving South Africa the only regional source for grain.
Some traders say the rest of southern Africa may need as much as 1.5 million
tonnes of South African maize to stave off starvation in a region where the
HIV/Aids pandemic has left many weakened and unable to farm. Zambia, Malawi,
Mozambique and the kingdoms of Swaziland and Lesotho can either buy the food
themselves or ask for food aid, but no one knows how Zimbabwe will meet its
shortfall. - Reuters
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Globe and Mail, Canada
British journalists deported from Zimbabwe
Friday, April 15, 2005 Updated at 12:14 PM EST
Associated Press
Harare - A judge acquitted two British journalists Friday of overstaying
their visas and ordered them deported following their arrest while covering
Zimbabwe's disputed March 31 parliamentary elections.
On Thursday, Sunday Telegraph reporters Toby Harnden and Julian Simmonds
were acquitted of the more serious charge of working as journalists without
accreditation, an offense that carries a two-year prison term.
They entered Zimbabwe on March 20 from Zambia and were given seven-day
tourist visas. In his ruling Friday, Magistrate Never Diza said it was
unclear whether Mr. Harnden and Mr. Simmonds were told when their visas
expired, as no date was marked in their passports.
"The accused will get the benefit of the doubt," he said.
Mr. Harnden said they were looking forward to returning to Britain and
seeing their families and "getting on with their lives."
"We feel very pleased that justice was done in the court today," he said in
a telephone interview. "We have been declared 'prohibited persons' and we
are going to get on the first possible flight out of the country."
President Robert Mugabe's government had held Mr. Harnden, 35, and Mr.
Simmonds, 45, in jail until Wednesday under a special order prohibiting
their release on bail. They were held first in police cells, then at a
Harare prison.
Zimbabwe's Media Commission accredited more than 200 foreign-based
journalists to cover the elections but said it refused 50 others because
they or their news organizations were said to be hostile to Mr. Mugabe's
A Swedish journalist who took time out from covering the election to
investigate the effects of Mr. Mugabe's seizure of 5,000 white-owned farms
lost his accreditation and was deported.
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Mugabe Reshuffles Cabinet After Disputed Election
Fri Apr 15, 2005 04:10 PM ET
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe on Friday reshuffled
his cabinet in the wake of last month's disputed parliamentary election,
putting a couple new faces into key posts but retaining most of the old
Mugabe appointed former ambassador to Britain Simbarashe Mumbengegwi as
foreign minister, while the key post of information minister went to
Tichaona Jokonya, a former ambassador to the United Nations and most
recently chief executive of Zimbabwe's state tourism body.
Acting Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa, who has helped slow the country's
economic slide since taking up the job last year, was allowed to keep his
Former Speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa, once seen as Mugabe's
preferred successor but sidelined in a ruling party power struggle late last
year, was given a relatively low-profile job as minister for rural housing
and social amenities.
Mugabe, 81, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, has been
battling a severe political and economic crisis over the last five years
which many critics blame on his policies. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party swept 78
seats of the 120 seats contested in the March 31 elections while the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won just 41 seats -- 16 down
on its 2000 performance.
One seat went to an independent candidate, former Information Minister
Jonathan Moyo.
But a further 30 seats in the 150-member house reserved for presidential
appointees and traditional chiefs ensured ZANU-PF got a two-thirds majority.
The MDC has charged ZANU-PF with widespread electoral fraud, allegations
that are backed by major Western governments but dismissed by most African
observer missions who gave the poll high marks.
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Only a Few Can Afford Life-prolonging AIDS Drugs
Eunice Mafundikwa
HARARE, Apr 15 (IPS) - Emily Muronda, 55, spent seven months in hospital in
2003. She had been down with AIDS-related complications, which saw her in
and out of the hospital, that year. Muronda's ailments included
tuberculosis, severe vaginal thrush and pneumonia.
On her doctor's advice, Muronda, a widow, had her CD4 counted to measure the
strength of her immune system. As her doctor had expected, her count was a
mere 52. Because her count was less than 200 she was immediately put on
life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs).
''To many people, including my own relatives, I am a moving ghost. I look at
myself in the mirror every morning and I do not believe my eyes. I am here
today because of ARVs,'' she said, delightfully.
Muronda is among thousands of Zimbabweans who can afford private medical
insurance. For a minimal charge, a person living with HIV can access ARVs
through schemes organised by his or her insurer.
CIMAS insurance, one of the pioneer medical aid schemes, to make ARVs
locally accessible, charges less than a dollar for its members seeking to
access ARVs. The drugs cost between 24 dollars and 57 dollars for generics
and the price is higher for branded versions.
Martin Dumba, a seasonal worker at a tobacco firm in Zimbabwe's capital
Harare, has developed AIDS. His family continues to watch his health
deteriorate with each day that passes. ''The best we can do is pray that the
pain eases. We have been to hospital and they discharged him without any
medicine,'' said his wife Molly, who is also living with HIV. ''We heard
that some people are being given AIDS drugs. But when we asked at Harare
Central Hospital we were told they are no longer signing on new people.''
Dumba's story reflects the plight of the majority of Zimbabweans whose
government has publicly admitted that the country's health delivery system
has collapsed. The government has appealed to the private sector to assist
people living with HIV/AIDS.
Half of the 12,000 Zimbabweans on ARVs are doing so through the private
sector, while the rest are on the public scheme introduced three years ago.
Due to the continued deterioration of Zimbabwe's economy, most people have
had to sign off medical insurance. Medical insurance charges range from just
below 16 dollars for a basic cover to almost 161 dollars for the top of the
range cover per person per month.
The majority of workers, especially those absorbed by the informal sector,
cannot afford medical insurance.
''The government is most grateful to the private sector initiative of making
ARVs accessible to our people,'' Dr. Owen Mugurungi, head of the AIDS and TB
programme at the ministry of health and child welfare, told IPS.
Under the public initiative, Mugurungi said a person is put on ARVs if his
or her CD4 count is less than 200 or is showing clinical signs, such as
meningitis, of having developed AIDS.
A private laboratory charges almost 161 dollars to have a CD4 count check,
making it inaccessible to the majority of the people who need the treatment.
''This alone is very prohibitive and we call on the government to do
something about it if at all they are serious about rolling out ARVs to all
that need them,'' said Jonathan Musiiwa, a counselor with The Centre, a
hospice for people living with HIV and AIDS.
Despite the low statistics of Zimbabweans on ARVs, Mugurungi is encouraged
by the progress the government has made in making the drugs available to the
ordinary persons.
''We moved from a figure of 2,000 last year to the present 12,000 on ARVs
although half of this figure are people on the private sector scheme,'' he
said. ''Our problems gave us an opportunity to be more focused and support
national issues. Not many countries, even those receiving foreign grants,
can achieve what we have achieved with very little resources.''
Zimbabwe, considered by Britain and the United States as a ''rogue'' state,
has not received any donor support, including from the Global Fund
Initiative. The Fund told IPS at the World AIDS Conference in the Thai
capital Bangkok last July that the political context in which Zimbabwe finds
itself made the country ineligible to receive the funds, a position which
outraged human rights campaigners in and outside Zimbabwe. Ironically, the
theme for the Bangkok conference was 'Access for All'.
Mugurungi said all Zimbabwe's urban hospitals were now in a position to
dispense ARVs and that work was in progress to bring the more than 50
district hospitals to the same level.
The massive brain drain of nurses and doctors, said Mugurungi, had also had
an impact on the ARV initiative.
''ARVs are no ordinary drugs. They need to be dispensed by trained personnel
and currently this is where our focus is. We will not have any nurse dish
out these drugs,'' he said.
Mugurungi is delighted by Zimbabwe's progress. ''I am proud to say we have
one of the most sustainable ARV rollout programmes in the region, simply
because we are financing the initiative with local funds. We do not have the
problem of planning beyond the grant like most countries.''
Except South Africa, most of the countries in the 13-member Southern African
Development Community (SADC) such as Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania
and Lesotho supplement their national budgets with donor funding to purchase
In Zimbabwe, support to the ARV public sector roll out plan comes from the
national budget and the National AIDS Trust Fund, set up with resources from
a statutory five percent levy on the workers' tax.
Jacqueline Bataringaya, a consultant on HIV and AIDS with Oxfam-America, an
international charity, called for improved health delivery service to levels
where it can absorb the stress imposed by HIV and AIDS. ''Otherwise we may
as well not talk about ARVs roll out,'' she said.
She said the 3 x 5 WHO target, three million people on ARVs in Africa by
2005, would remain a dream if the health aspects of the HIV and AIDS
epidemic were not given attention. ''The piece meal approach will not work.
This is why we have been defeated by HIV and AIDS. Most of the time we are
not looking at the total picture,'' she said, referring the difficulties of
attaining the UN World Health Organisation's (WHO's) 3x5 target.
Marian Gotha, HIV/AIDS programme officer at Oxfam-America, said: ''There is
a lot of talk of ARVs in the media and I am afraid this debate has not
filtered to the ordinary people in the village.''
''There is also need to intensify training to all levels of health workers
because we do not want a situation where people come from the cities with
ARVs and the health authorities at the rural health point do not know how to
administer them. The other challenge is to strengthen food security. We
cannot pump ARVs into empty stomachs,'' she told IPS in an interview.
Faith Phiri, a vendor at a flea market in Harare, told IPS: ''What we know
is that there is no cure for AIDS and that is why hospitals send people with
AIDS to die at home. If there is medicine that can help people with HIV, I
am sure then it goes to the rich people only.''
Ignorance about ARVs is widespread in Zimbabwe, even among the elite. ''I
don't know about a government initiative to make ARVs accessible. I know
that medical aid societies have programmes on ARVs but again I don't know
how someone can sign on. I think it is the responsibility of employers to
ensure that their workers have access to such information. People are dying
like flies in the banking sector,'' Ralph Muduku, a bank teller in Harare,
told IPS. (END/2005)
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Financial Times
A royal mess
By Tom de Castella
Published: April 15 2005 18:25 | Last updated: April 15 2005 18:25
At what point do journalists working in the shadow of a repressive regime
give up? There will be a few people asking themselves that question in today's
Zimbabwe. Another rigged victory for Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party - this
time by a landslide that gives him the power to change the constitution and
select his successor as president - is disastrous for most Zimbabweans. For
objective journalism it is a catastrophe.
If things were not depressing enough, last week came the state media's
triumphalist coverage of Mugabe's appearance at the Pope's funeral - and
that handshake. Just at a time when the independent press had the Zimbabwe
Electoral Commission on the ropes over the discrepancy between turnout and
party results, Prince Charles changed the news agenda with an absent-minded
squeeze of tyrannical flesh.
The future is bleak, then. But that has been the case for some time -over
the past 18 months more than 70 journalists have been arrested and four
newspapers forced to close. Many foreign correspondents have been deported,
and at the time of going to press, two Sunday Telegraph journalists were on
trial for entering Zimbabwe without accreditation and overstaying their
visas. They could be jailed for two years.
Welshman Ncube, a constitutional lawyer and secretary-general of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), says Mugabe has been clever
with the media. Just as he has allowed parts of the judiciary to remain
independent, preserving a semblance of legitimacy, he has tolerated a degree
of dissent from the press. "You can have your weeklies - the Independent and
the Standard - because they are not seen as influencing the mass of the
people," Ncube says. "But an independent media in the sense of mass
circulation daily papers? Forget it, it's not possible as long as this
dictatorship's in place."
Mugabe's media manipulation reached its apogee in the hands of former
information minister Professor Jonathan Moyo. "Prof" is hated by journalists
for his ruthless remoulding of the media, and mocked for his comical tirades
on state television. In January he was sacked after he angered Mugabe by
secretly plotting against Zanu-PF's old guard. But the structures and laws
he put in place live on: above all, the Access to Information and Protection
of Privacy Act (AIPPA), which requires newspapers to be licensed and every
journalist to be accredited. It also bans the publication of "falsehoods",
which includes news that is "prejudicial against the state". It was AIPPA
that finished off the Daily News, a newspaper that had become a morning
fixture for young, urban Zimbabweans.
In most countries the idea that one newspaper can determine a nation's fate
would be melodramatic and unwelcome. But in Zimbabwe this idea was plausible
and hopeful. The Daily News launched in March 1999 and was soon selling more
than 100,000 copies a day, far more than any other paper, and two or three
times that of the state's flagship, The Herald. Five years later it was shut
down by the government. Since then, most of the 167 journalists have left
the country or turned freelance. Only a skeleton online service survives.
The Daily News arrived in the same year the MDC was set up and the fortunes
of the two have been closely linked. Without a daily paper willing to give
it space, the MDC will always struggle to get its message across. It did
succeed in mobilising people during the election campaign but in between
polls it struggles to remain visible and fight off Zanu-PF's crude
misinformation machine.
Propaganda is everywhere in the state media and can sound bizarre to
foreigners, such as the Sunday News' headline "Zanu PF tsunami buries MDC".
An analysis piece in December's Herald shows the nature of political
coverage: "The MDC used the resentment against the escalating prices and
shortages of basic commodities as its launch pad. It was thus couched in
violence and went on to base its whole campaign on the transient politics of
the stomach, the strategy being economic sabotage to ensure the continuation
of protest votes."
That chilling phrase - "the transient politics of the stomach" - in a
country where thousands are starving because of Mugabe's fast-track land
resettlement programme, says it all. Meanwhile, television schedules are
interspersed with scenes of happy peasants hoeing fields in time to
traditional music with lyrics written by government ministers.
In this war on truth, the journalists of the independent press must man the
trenches. Vincent Kahiya, editor of the weekly Independent, was arrested
twice last year, the first time for a story about Mugabe's holiday to
Malaysia. He and his colleagues were jailed for two nights in a cell with 30
others, a blocked toilet, no blankets and no room to sleep. In January,
after a year of uncertainty and numerous court visits, they were taken off
remand as the state had failed to produce a case. Kahiya says arrest,
imprisonment and legal harassment, rather than prosecution, are the
government's tools. "All independent journalists have had to become
paralegals," he says. Many others say this results in self-censorship.
There is hope. Last month a court ordered the government's media commission
to license the Daily News to start publishing again. Whether the commission
honours this, and whether the paper can repeat its past heroics with a staff
of fewer than 30 journalists, remains to be seen. The miracle is that
despite everything Mugabe's regime has done, Zimbabwe's independent
journalists show no signs of giving up.
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Source: Agence France-Presse (AFP)
Date: 15 Apr 2005
Zimbabwe sends out warnings over Marburg
HARARE, April 15 (AFP) - Zimbabwe is urging public hospitals and border
officials to take "appropriate measures" following the outbreak of the
deadly Ebola-like Marburg virus that has claimed more than 200 lives in
Angola, an official said Friday.
"We have alerted our institutions in all the provinces that they should take
appropriate measures so that we avoid having the virus in the country,"
Health Ministry spokesman Bright Mpofu told AFP.
"We have advised officials to tighten the screening process at all entry
points so that suspected cases are quarantined and we are now in the process
of alerting the public through various media."
Mpofu appealed to all Zimbabweans be vigilant in the face of the threat
posed by the deadly virus.
"It's not the responsibility of the government alone to protect our
citizens," he said. "It is everyone's responsibility."
Zimbabwe has not recorded any case of the deadly virus.
The Marburg virus, whose exact origin is unknown and for which there is no
cure, spreads through contact with bodily fluids such as blood, excrement,
vomit, saliva, sweat and tears, but can be contained with relatively simple
hygenic precautions, according to experts.
The oubreak in Angola has overtaken an earlier outbreak in the Democratic
Republic of Congo as the largest ever recorded of the virus, first detected
in 1967 when German laboratory workers in Marburg, were infected by monkeys
from Uganda.
Copyright (c) 2005 Agence France-Presse
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Comment from The New Statesman (UK), 15 April
Lindsey Hilsum pities a post-Mugabe Zimbabwe
Dictators always ensure that what follows their rule will be worse. After
Mugabe dies, South Africa will have anarchy and warlordism on its border,
writes Lindsey Hilsum
The elections in Zimbabwe were like a bad film sequel. The plot was
predictable and the characters repeated what they'd said in part one, so we
shuffled out of the cinema before the end. Violence makes good TV, unlike
arithmetic, and the Zimbabwean government knew that the media would lose
interest if the argument came down to number-crunching when the poll was
over - which is why it is worth re-examining the concluding scene. By the
time Robert Mugabe was playing his bit part in the Pope's funeral, the final
polling figures for the 120 contested parliamentary seats had been
announced. The opposition MDC won just 41 - a loss of 16 - while Mugabe's
Zanu PF party had 78, up from its previous 63. Add on the 30 MPs that the
president appoints, and Zanu PF has an unassailable two-thirds majority.
So how did the party do it? Before the election, the opposition complained
that the voters' register was inflated with as many as two million "ghost
voters". The "ghosts", it seems, voted in the period between the point at
which the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announced the number of votes cast
in a particular constituency, and the moment the same commission declared
the result. For example, in Manyame constituency, just outside Harare, the
commission first announced that 14,812 people had voted. The MDC candidate
won 8,312 votes, which should have made her the winner. But at the end of
the day, the number of votes cast suddenly rocketed to 24,303. A majority of
the 9,491 extra votes went to the Zanu PF candidate (who happened to be
President Mugabe's nephew). So he won, after all. A similar pattern was
repeated in 29 other constituencies. The electoral commission chairman,
George Chiweshe (a retired colonel), denied any rigging, saying that the
initial totals given for votes cast were merely "updates from people on the
ground which had not been verified". After the discrepancy was noted, it
took him a week to come up with this explanation.
On election day, I watched as voters patiently queued at polling stations in
the farming lands of Marondera East. The following day, it was announced
that the defence minister, Sydney Sekeramayi, who won the seat by only 38
votes in the 2000 elections, had increased his majority to 9,126. Again, the
number of voters shot up from the 25,193 initially announced, to 29,935. A
South African election monitor told us that he had been ejected from a local
polling station, and had to fight his way back in. None the less, the South
African government endorsed the election, and observers from neighbouring
African countries declared it "peaceful, credible, well managed and
transparent". Sources close to the South African government say Mugabe
agreed to limit violence on the understanding that the election would be
deemed sufficiently free and fair. The EU and the US, both relying on
resident diplomats, said it was rigged - but so what? Sanctions and travel
bans have angered Mugabe, but they haven't made him change his policies.
What will happen now? Nothing. The opposition's 39 legal challenges to the
2000 parliamentary results languish in court; none has been resolved. This
time the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, said it would not go "the
legal route", but he has not indicated any alternative, leaving the
impression that he is weak and paralysed. The country is not on the verge of
an uprising: most Zimbabweans I met felt powerless. "We have become a
bantustan," wrote a friend in a despairing e-mail. "South Africa panders to
our leaders, and we provide them with cheap labour." The reaction of
President Thabo Mbeki provides an uneasy contrast to President Olusegun
Obasanjo of Nigeria. When Togo's leader, Gnassingbe Eyadema, died at the age
of 69 in February, Obasanjo acted swiftly to condemn an army-backed takeover
by Eyadema's son. Sanctions were imposed, arms twisted, and within three
weeks he had stood down to make way for elections.
Eventually Mugabe, who is 81, will also die. His chosen successor appears to
be Joyce Mujuru, a Zanu PF functionary whose main distinction is being
married to a guerrilla leader from the struggle against white rule in the
1970s. It seems unlikely that she could retain the loyalty of the ruling
party, let alone reunite the country. Dictators always ensure that what
follows their rule is worse: "Apres moi le deluge." Mbeki says - with some
justification - that it is ridiculous for the outside world to care so much
about Zimbabwe and not about the Democratic Republic of Congo, where more
than two million have died in a decade of civil war. But after Mugabe,
dissent among the Zimbabwean armed forces could turn to anarchy, and
factional rivalry to warlordism. Today, it's an argument over numbers, but
tomorrow Mbeki may have a much bigger problem on his border.
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Comment from The Cape Times (SA), 15 April
When you're up against a total onslaught, you need fighter jets
By John Scott
'So why do you need fighter jets?" I asked Solly Malinga, who is usually
willing to give me the inside story on events in Zimbabwe, because I always
report him faithfully. That country has just taken delivery of six K-8
fighter-jet training aircraft from China, each costing about $20 million,
with another six to come. President Mugabe says they will prepare pilots for
war. "You heard what our president said," said Solly. "We have enemies on
all sides. If they try anything, we'll bomb them to smithereens." "Such as
whom?" "The British imperialists for a start. Now that we have beaten them
in the election, they may want to invade Zimbabwe, re-colonise us and give
the whites back their land. The RAF should know that we will be waiting for
them, once we have trained our pilots. They mustn't think we'll welcome them
with open arms, just because our president shook Prince Charles's hand.
We're ready for Bush, too. We won't be a walk-over like Iraq."
"It's highly unlikely that the Brits will want whip up the winds of change
again, Solly. They were so relieved to get rid of Zimbabwe in the first
place that Maggie Thatcher gave you some Hawk fighters, in case you needed
to defend yourself against somebody. As for Bush, you're quite safe. You
haven't got any oil he might be interested in, not even in some of your
service stations." "Then there are the remaining 20 000 whites who still
haven't learnt their lesson and think they can go on living in Zimbabwe,"
said Solly. "We have to wage what our president calls the Chimurenga or
freedom war against them." "Not with fighter aircraft, surely?" "If you want
to see people get off the land in double-quick time, just do a couple of
strafing runs," said Solly. "It will finally get rid of the stragglers."
"Still, it seems a lot of money to spend on arms when millions of your
people are starving." "At least they will die grateful, because they are
free," said Solly. "Which reminds me, that's another thing we need the jets
for, to stop refugees returning. We don't want people back who left simply
because they were hungry. Cosatu will also think twice before trying to
cross the border again, to see what's happening. They'll be dive-bombed,
that's what will be happening." "I didn't realise your fighter jets would be
so busy," I said. "That's not the end of it," said Solly. "Morgan
Tsvangirai, Archbishop Pius Ncube and their mob are talking of a mass
people's uprising against the government. Well, we've got news for them, in
the shape of six shiny little babies warming up their engines on the
runway." "Surely not," I said. "When you're up against a total onslaught,
you must be prepared to take extreme measures," said Solly. "PW Botha taught
us that."
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Mail and Guardian
Once thriving Zimbabwe in ruins
15 April 2005 07:59
advertisementA quarter of a century after independence, the
Chimurenga -- or freedom struggle -- is still part of Zimbabwean life.
President Robert Mugabe continues to make use of this heroic
period in the young country's history to lend legitimacy to his rule.
The pictures of those days are ever-present on the state-run
television broadcaster. Zimbabwe celebrates 25 years of independence on
April 18 -- and on that date Mugabe marks 25 years as the most powerful man
in the country.
Then Mugabe was a hero of the freedom struggle, a founding
father on whom the hopes of the world for reconciliation between black and
white rested.
The old regime dominated by Ian Smith for decades handed power
back to Britain formally for a brief period. The subsequent lowering of the
Union Jack in Harare was intended to symbolise the end of the colonial era.
Zimbabwe was a model, achieving the highest economic growth rate
and the highest level of education in Africa under Mugabe in his early
A quarter of a century later, the country is a mere shadow of
its former self -- "an outpost of tyranny" as United States Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice has called it.
Zimbabwe has been run into the ground, last year suffering an
inflation rate of 600% and an unemployment rate that estimates put at 80%.
The change in the country's affairs came with the new
millennium. In 2000 a credible opposition began to contest Mugabe's rule.
The president used the tried and tested methods to fight it off.
The white farmers were targeted to distract attention from a
costly military adventure in the Democratic Republic of Congo and faltering
land reform.
Mugabe has driven about 4 000 white landowners from their land,
handing their productive farms to people within his own circle and party
The consequences have been catastrophic. The nation, justifiably
proud of the educational standards it had achieved, was forced to watch as
its most competent people abandoned the country in droves.
Where once Zimbabwe exported food to neighbouring countries, the
shortages of essentials are now an everyday reality.
The days when Zimbabwe's constitution was seen as a model for
the continent are gone. Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has found ways to make any
utterances against the regime extremely dangerous.
The corrupt and violent government keeps itself in power through
terror and intimidation. Since its victory in the April elections, which
were overshadowed by allegations of fraud, Zanu-PF is in full control.
With its majority now above two-thirds, the party can change the
Constitution at will.
The disillusioned and lethargic majority of the population has
long since tired of Mugabe's rhetoric about a new Chimurenga.
Zimbabweans are poorer than they were at independence. Average
life expectancy has crashed by 20 years down to 33, but the president
continues strong at 81.
Many are hoping that nature will take its course. Others point
to an alleged power struggle within the party that could open the way for a
credible opposition.
Even if this happens, Zimbabweans will have to be patient. South
African economists believe 10 years will be needed to restore the
crisis-ridden country to some kind of normality. - Sapa-DPA
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Daily News online edition
Independence celebrations should be low key
Date: 15-Apr, 2005
INDEPENDENCE Day, next Monday, ought to be celebrated with little of
the extravagance or extravaganza of ten or even 15 years ago. There is an
incurable tendency among politicians in Zanu PF to pretend that everything
is going smoothly while the reality is that the country is a veritable rut.
An example is the performance of the economy, if it is still valid to
measure this by the strength of a country's currency against the major
currencies of the world. As of this week, you could buy Z$15 000 with one US
dollar. If Dr Gideon Gono insists that this indicates how successfully his
turnaround programme is performing, then we should all feel sorry for the
In fact, evidence is slowly mounting that even President Robert Mugabe
may be labouring under the misapprehension that the people in general are as
ecstatic with his rule as the alleged Zanu PF victory of the 31 March
election seems to have indicated.
He must have heard the joke about the death of the Pope, God and
himself, not to mention the joke about him canvassing to succeed John Paul
II by donating computers to the Vatican. A president who is loved and
respected by his people does not easily become the butt of such dirty jokes.
He must know that more people in Zimbabwe believe the 31 March
election was rigged than believe it was totally free and fair.
People believe they are not getting as much from independence as they
expected 25 years ago. There are fewer jobs, fewer chances of educational
advancement, fewer chances of obtaining first-class health delivery service,
fewer chances of obtaining housing at an affordable price and even fewer
chances of buying food at an affordable price.
That the people voted for Zanu PF on the basis that they wanted to
"fix" Tony Blair is turning to be so much fiction. Even President Thabo
Mbeki has now said his government is "investigating" reports that the
elections were indeed flawed.
Most of this is going to be an embarrassment to Mugabe, who is saddled
with so many sycophants that there is no guarantee anybody is telling him
the truth. Yet even he, experienced politician that he is, ought to be aware
that it would be incredible for his party to win so overwhelmingly strictly
on the basis of its shoddy performance in the last five years.
Independence celebrations cannot be lavish, for this would be another
act of self-delusion.
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Daily News online edition
IMF urges Zimbabwe to tackle economic problems
Date: 15-Apr, 2005
WASHINGTON -- With parliamentary elections over in Zimbabwe, a senior
International Monetary Fund (IMF) official said yesterday it was time for
the government to pay ttention to repairing its economy.
President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party scored a massive
victory at the March 31 poll, which has been disputed by the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Zimbabwe is about US$306 million in
arrears to the IMF, which has stopped lending to the government and is
considering expelling it from its ranks at a time when the country is
struggling with its worst economic crisis since independence in 1980.
"The authorities know they need to implement one comprehensive
programme that revives economic activity in Zimbabwe. With the election
over, now is the time to move in that direction," Siddharth Tiwari, a deputy
director in the IMF's Africa department, said at a news conference before
the start of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington.
Donors and investors have largely deserted the country due to the
country's reform policy in which white-owned farms were seized for
distribution to the poor, concerns about human rights abuses, a lack of rule
of law and uncertainty about property rights.
Gross domestic product tumbled between 2000 and 2003 as agricultural,
mining and manufacturing output fell, inflation soared to around 600 percent
and the country faced chronic shortages of food, fuel and medicine.
In February the IMF gave Zimbabwe six months to increase its debt
repayments and introduce policies to begin its economic healing. The board
acknowledged some steps the government had taken to turn the economy around,
but said it was not enough. Introducing structural policies and improving
the investment climate were key to revive the economy, Tiwari said.
"From the commitments we have, they have the desire to move in that
direction," he added. Tiwari said donors would likely not return to Zimbabwe
until the government addressed its economic policies.
"There are a lot of multilateral institutions and bilateral countries
willing to help, but (Zimbabwe) needs to move first," he added. - Reuters
Back to the Top
Back to Index
Daily News online edition
SA studying reports on poll irregularities
Date: 15-Apr, 2005
JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki has denied press
reports that he had found Zimbabwe's recent elections to be free and fair
and said his government will investigate new reports which detail serious
Mbeki told parliament on Thursday that his government would study the
reports from both Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) and the independent Zimbabwe Electoral Support
Network. They would then address whatever issues are raised.
He welcomed the MDC move to challenge the poll results in the
Electoral Court and said the South African government's final verdict would
depend on the outcome of the case.
Mbeki said he had never suggested that there had been no violations of
the Southern African Development Community guidelines, but had said he knew
of no actions that were "planned" that would render the elections not free
or fair.
Answering a question from Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon during
presidential question time, Mbeki indicated that in spite of a declaration
from cabinet on Wednesday that the election was a credible expression of
Zimbabweans' will, there was still space to find that the election was not
free or fair
Mbeki also said South Africa's policy towards its beleaguered
neighbour would remain unchanged. "We have insisted for some time that the
solution lies in the hands of Zimbabweans and we will persist with that
position," he said.
Observers said his replies revealed that Mbeki had communicated
closely with MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai before and after the poll.
Back to the Top
Back to Index
JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE OPEN LETTER FORUM, 15th April 2005 OLF No. 359
Please send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to:
with subject line "For: Open Letter Forum".
Thought of the Day:
"You choose - the past or the future. Pick one and stick with it" (from
the film, Message In A Bottle).
- Paving the way for SA: Zimbabwe: a lost case? - Martin Fick
- Re: Gerry Whitehead's letter (OLF 358) - Catherine Cockroft
LETTER 1: SA - ZW - A LOST CASE?, received 13.4.2005
by Martin Fick
Dear JAG
Go for it! You are right, no-one cares. The fact is people all think they
do. Saying it straight helps bring people to the crossroads and acknowledge
their position.
Without the facts one cannot take a position on an issue at all, and
actually everyone can continue feeling cozy and self righteous when you
don't know and are not confronted with the facts. This is about facts. It
is about being aware of what is really happening.
Smell the roses indeed. Thats why a message like this one by Eddie Cross
needs to be heard, especially by South Africans who maintain that it
"Cannot happen here."
Zim was a maginificent country, and whether people smell roses or cowdung,
it's still a sad situation. We have all lost something precious as a
Martin Fick
"If you are kind, people will accuse you of selfish motives - be kind
anyway. If you are successful, you will win both false friends and real
enemies - succeed anyway. What you spend years building, someone may
destroy overnight - build anyway. The good you do today, most people will
forget - do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may not
be enough - Give your best anyway. In the final analysis, it is between you
and God. It was never between you and them anyway."
Mother Teresa.
By Catherine Cockroft
Dear Jag
I agee entirely with Gerry's sentiments and share with you all a quote
attributed to Brian Raftopoulos which appeared in the Independent's
Opinion, which is worth taking note of:
"the lesson has to be learnt that politics is not out there for other
people to engage in; that if people retreat into their personal and family
lives, and ignore their loss of rights and liberties for long enough, then
the realities of such repressive encroachments will follow them into their
particular retreats".
Cathrine Cockcroft
JAG Hotlines:
+263 (011) 205 374 If you are in trouble or need advice,
please don't hesitate to contact us -
we're here to help!
+263 (04) 799 410 Office Lines
Back to the Top
Back to Index


text:
A combination of casual and cold weather chic, our velvet cut Jog Pant is the cool sister to the basic sweat pant.
A signature Kamali cut in an awesome material! The Jog Pant in velvet is a refined version of its basic sweat sister. Cut for the active lifestyle, it has a slightly relaxed leg and is styled with elastic bands at the ankle for that essential jogger look.
Please reference the size chart to select the best fit for your gender and measurements.
Brand: SWEATS
Style Code:
Burgundy: ST4277VE026054


text:
I picked up the great new Snowman Bundle of digi's, and I created this card with him.
I tried taking a photo of the card at an angle, to catch all the sparkle and glitter I had added with my Stickles! :)
I used SVGCuts.com Salimah's Square Cards file for the card base. I have it cut for a 5x5 overall card size.I've been practicing coloring in images with my PSE program, which is what I did with this snowman image. I then added some Stickles on "everything"! I cut three snowflake shapes out, using the SCAL Library of Shapes, (lots of Stickles on these, too!), and used some rhinestone brads to attach them to the card. The sentiment is something I made on PSE, and then printed and cut to fit my card. I was intending to give it away as a freebie, but I did not save it to the right resolution, and it prints a bit blurred. Sorry.....maybe the next one I do will be a freebie!
Thanks for checking out my card today! It felt good to be back in the craft room for a few uninterrupted hours! :) I'm hoping for several more this week!
Happy Crafting, everyone!


text:
We're rounding up a few of our favorite strategy video games on Android for the deep thinkers out there. Beginning with high hits like Kingdoms at Conflict, and with massive success tales like Conflict of Clans, Clash Royale, Increase Seaside, Sport of Warfare, Castle Clash and plenty of others, it comes as no surprise that strategy video games are huge enterprise.
Medieval Video games – Fight on your birthright as the true King or Queen of the mobile hit Throne: Kingdom at Battle, or be part of thousands and thousands of warlords in the fan-favorite Stormfall: Age of Struggle on your browser, also referred to as Stormfall: Rise of Balur on cellular.
Online Technique Browser Games convey the veteran strategy style to the Internet age, and allow everybody to expertise a mixture of basic and progressive gameplay with out downloading anything to their laptop. Worthy Alternative: In terms of large battles, solely Planetary Annihilation can match Complete Battle games. The sad reality though is that Paradox video games have gotten kind of cookie cutterish.
Worthy Alternative: EVE On-line is an MMO and never a method recreation, however if you want to command an area fleet, it is still an awesome different. We provide free flash games in many various genres: on-line shooting games, online puzzle games, online conflict video games, free on-line automobile video games, free online hidden object games and dozens more.
But now that Aspyr remastered the sport and brought it to modern occasions, Homeworld seems simply pretty much as good as some other trendy strategy game. Beautiful graphics, destructible environments and rag doll physics make Firm of Heroes one of the most intricately designed RTS games on the checklist.


text:
One of our favorite Christmas songs is George Strait's "Christmas Cookies." Do you know it? The lyrics tell the story of a man who loves the cookies his wife bakes so much that he can't stop eating them. It sounds like little Isaiah Fisher, the son of Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher, might follow suit.
Carrie shared a pair of pictures on her Instagram page and said that she and her "little man" made Christmas cookies. And while many families do this every year, she admits, "I actually don't think I've ever made Christmas cookies before, but this will definitely be a new tradition in the Fisher household!"
RELATED: Carrie Underwood describes her biggest food-related dilemma with son Isaiah
From the looks of those pictures, you'd never know that Carrie had never done any holiday cookie baking before. That is a solid Christmas tree sugar cookie under all of that frosting. And sugar. And candy dots.
Yes, Carrie also reveals, "Newsflash: Isaiah likes frosting (shocker)! 🎄"
Yeah, buddy. Same!
And hey, a second glance at that photo and we see the little paw of either Ace or Penny probably waiting for a cookie crumb or candy dot to hit the floor. Their turf, their food, you know?
OK, Carrie — time to write your own song about your holiday treats like George's "Christmas Cookies" or Clint Black's "Milk and Cookies."
Actually, can we vote for an entire holiday album from the Oklahoma country girl? That would make a lovely Christmas gift for fans!
RELATED: Carrie Underwood shares what makes her feel like a "better mom" to son Isaiah
We haven't heard much from Carrie since she broke her wrist in November after taking a tumble down the steps in front of her house. We do know that the injury required surgery and that husband Mike, who was out of town on a hunting trip, immediately flew back home to help care for his wife and their son, who will celebrate his third birthday at the end of February. But we're happy to see that it looks like she's doing better now.
We're also happy to see Carrie as a four time-nominee in this year's Rare Country Awards! Carrie is nominated for Female Artist, Story of the Year, Opry Moment with Reba McEntire and Duet of the Year with Keith Urban in the Rare Country Awards, and it's up to you to decide the winners. Vote now through Dec. 13 at RareCountryAwards.com. Winners will be revealed during a livestreamed concert event on Dec. 14 in Nashville.


text:
News: New Pixies Song, 'Bagboy'
Chris Scalzo
Well, that was fast. Kim Deal leaves the band and no sooner than a week later, the Pixies have released a new single, Bagboy. It's believed that Kim was the reason there was no new album, her concerns being that a potential sub par effort may sully their legacy.
And maybe she's right.
But I don't care. I'm just glad to hear new music from the Pixies. I'd much rather chance a disappointing album, then have them continue on as just a touring greatest band.
The track was recorded last October, but there's no news on whether there's an album's worth of material out there. And who would replace Kim in the group? I think the smart money is on Charles' wife Violet Clark. She can sound like Kim vocally, and she plays bass as well. Perhaps it's better to hire a session musician, and keep marriage and work separate? Only time will tell...
You can download the song from their site for free here! So take a listen and let us know what you think!


text:
Home Improvement
3 Common Mistakes That Homeowners Do with Their Dryers
Dryers nowadays have a lot of sophisticated features that make homeowners' lives a lot easier. However, several consumers are making basic mistakes that affect how they function. Although there are a lot of dryer repair services in Millcreek, it's always important to know how you can properly maintain your dryer to ensure that it'll last for years. Here are some of the most common mistakes that people do with their dryers.
Neglecting to prepare clothes for drying
You have to check the pockets thoroughly for any coins or pens. Most of these things may leak on your clothes and can destroy their color. You should also be extra careful with sharp objects such as paper clips because this might damage the inside of the dryer.
Not sorting the clothes
Don't just push everything in the dryer. You have to sort your clothes the same way that you do when you wash them. Don't dry sweaters with rough fabric such as jeans, as this could cause some pilling. Also, a black cotton shirt may shrink if you choose high heat, so it's better to dry it in cooler temperature.
Neglecting to take care of the vent pipe
You always have to check your dryer vent pipe if there is an accumulation of lint. Any lint build-up can affect the airflow and your dryer's efficiency and may even cause dryer fires. Experts recommend cleaning the dryer vent pipes every 6 to 12 months or depending on how often you use it.
These are just some of the most common mistakes that you have to avoid to maintain your dryer. Keep in mind that properly maintaining your appliances is important if you want to make them last longer.


text:
|Eldredge Ragsdale hard at work
Many of the spring crops including the various lettuces and radishes have been harvested. Various beans and other summer vegetables have been planted in their place. The bush cucumbers are two inches high and will soon be climbing the space-saving trellises.
Visitors to the garden have been signing-in at the information box and taking the educational hand-outs home with them. Stop by and see us anytime you are in the neighborhood!


text:
These whole grain muffins are packed with nutrients and taste without the guilt. I took a basic recipe and replaced the refined sugar with maple syrup and substituted applesauce for the butter. I also used spelt flour instead of whole wheat flour, so they're light and fluffy-not dense like a regular bran muffin. Adding Alaska blueberries and cranberries along with pecans loads them with lots of antioxidants and flavor, making these muffins a wholesome breakfast on-the-go or a healthy mid-day snack. ~Audrey
1 cup All Bran cereal (original)
2/3 cup boiling water
1-2/3 cup spelt flour
1/3 cup corn flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups oat bran
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup pure maple syrup
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups oat bran
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup pure maple syrup
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup applesauce
cranberries and blueberries
cranberries and blueberries
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Pour boiling water over All Bran cereal and set aside.
Sift together spelt flour, corn flour, baking soda,
baking powder and salt.
baking powder and salt.
Mix oat bran, wet All Bran cereal, eggs, maple syrup,
buttermilk and applesauce.
buttermilk and applesauce.
Combine sifted ingredients with wet ingredients.
Stir until everything is combined. Don't over mix.
It should look like cake batter.
It should look like cake batter.
Place pecan pieces on the bottom of greased muffin pan.
Fill 3/4 way with batter, add some blueberries and cranberries.
Top with a spoonful of batter and a sprinkling of pecan pieces.
Bake for 15-18 minutes.
I used frozen berries I picked last summer.
You can use either fresh or frozen berries, it doesn't really matter.
Enjoy warm, right out of the oven.
Makes 2 dozen wonderful muffins.
Makes 2 dozen wonderful muffins.
Alaska cranberries, full of antioxidants and pure goodness.
Wild Alaska blueberries.


text:
Are you a peg on or peg off kind of person? Do you keep your pegs in a neat basket or apron and take them off the line when you bring the laundry, or do your pegs go straight back on? Which is easier?
I vary between the two. Right now I'm going through a 'peg on' stage. But one day I'll probably think it will be easier to keep them in my peg apron.
My nanna was a peg on person, but her daughters are definitely pegs off. Which are you?
And isn't 'peg' a stupid word once you start to repeat it frequently.


text:
I currently live in Cape Town.
I'm originally from the Eastern Cape and was born in 1980.
I speak the following languages: English, Sotho and Xhosa
I have a passion for nursing and taking care of people, especially old people.
I see myself as a patient, loyal and easygoing person. I show a lot of empathy towards others.
In 2015 I completed a One Year "Health Care Assistant" Course with Theory as well as practical experience in a private hospital and old age home.
In 2016 I started working as a CareChamp.
I previously also completed a course in Emergency Care, level 1.
I don't talk a lot but I'm a good listener.
In my free time I like to take my daughters out or play games with them.


text:
Minimum Grade Policy
Tools for making sure you are meeting minimum grade and GPA requirements:
1. A complete list of all courses defined as major-required for ANSC
3. Summary chart of Minimum Grade Requirements broken down by when students entered major
|Gen-Ed requirements
|Major Requirements
|Minimum GPA requirement
|Already in ANSC Spring 2016 or before
|D- is passing
|D- is passing, but still must have a cumulative 2.0 to graduate
|2.0 cumulative GPA required to graduate, 2.0 cumulative in all major requirements
|Students already at UMD who changed to ANSC from another major after end of Spring 2016 schedule adjustment
|D- is passing, except when using major required courses to satisfy Gen Ed. Requirements
|D- is passing if earned Summer I 2016 or before, Summer II or later a C- is required
|2.0 cumulative GPA required to graduate, 2.0 cumulative in all major requirements.
|Students entering UMD for the first time Fall 2016 or later (transfer students, first-time freshmen, etc)
|D- is passing, except when using major required courses to satisfy Gen Ed. Requirements or for Academic Writing (AW) requirement.
|C- required for all coursework, even if taken before entering UMD
|2.0 cumulative GPA required to graduate, 2.0 cumulative in all major requirements.
**Note that for ALL COHORTS, the previous minimum grade requirements for other departments still apply. For example, the majority of courses in the college of CMNS, (including all courses in BCHM, BSCI, CHEM, PHYS) currently already require students to earn a C- or better in prerequisites to move on to the next course in a series.
FSAW: Gen Ed Fundamental Studies Academic Writing Requirement (ENGL101): All students who completed Academic Writing in Fall 2017 and beyond must earn a C- or better. This is the policy for all USM schools and Maryland community colleges. Students who completed Academic Writing prior to Fall 2017 (either current or transfer students) need to earn a D- or better.
Minimum Grade Policy (reflects same information as chart):
ANSC Students enrolled in ANSC PRIOR to (and during) Spring 2016
Students who were already enrolled in the ANSC major under the old minimum grade policy (Spring 2016 and before) will continue under the old policy.
ANSC Students enrolled in ANSC AFTER Spring 2016
Beginning summer term II 2016, students entering ANSC must earn a C- or better in all major required courses, including ANSC courses and required supporting courses in other departments.
Under the new policy:
- Students will not be able to register for courses without having completed all required prerequisites, including meeting minimum grades.
- Students will still need a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 in all major required courses to graduate.
- A D- will be considered passing for General Education requirements, except when using major required courses to satisfy Gen Ed. requirements. For example, BSCI223 (General Microbiology) is a major required course that also satisfies an I-series requirement. Students will need to earn a C- or better in this course for it to be creditable towards the ANSC major under our new policy.
External Transfer Students Enrolled Summer Session II 2016 and AFTER
Implementation of this policy will start with summer term II 2016 and will be different for current UMD students compared to external transfer students.
- Through Summer Term I 2016, a D- in ANSC required courses will still be considered creditable towards completion of the ANSC major for all currently enrolled students at UMD, including both current students in the major and those who are in other majors who plan to complete an internal transfer to ANSC.
- External transfer students starting in ANSC in the fall of 2016 will have to have earned a C- or better in all ANSC required courses for those courses to count towards completion of this major. Effectively, this means that new transfer students to ANSC will have all of their coursework evaluated under the new C- policy as the spring admissions process has already been completed.


text:
The Victorian branch of the Liberal Party has taken court action against its biggest donor, in a fight for access to a multi-million-dollar fund.
The Cormack Foundation was established by senior Liberals in 1988 with $15 million in proceeds from the sale of radio station 3XY.
Since then, its coffers have swollen to more than $68 million.
The Liberal Party in Victoria launched legal action over control of the funds, taking the matter to the Federal Court.
State president Michael Kroger told the court the foundation was set up to benefit the Liberal Party, but had autonomy and independence from it.
"We made requests for donations, we accepted what they gave us, sometimes unhappily," he said.
However, he maintained the foundation was established with two of the three shareholders holding the shares in trust for the Liberal Party.
Mr Kroger told the court he objected when he found out the Cormack Foundation was making donations to other political parties, seeking to defeat the Turnbull Liberal government.
Foundation financing Liberal-friendly causes
Mr Kroger told the court he learned in December 2016 that some of the Cormack directors believed they held its assets for advancing libertarian causes, not solely for the benefit of the Liberal Party.
However, lawyers for the Cormack Foundation argued it had donated $1.7 million to the Institute of Public Affairs while Mr Kroger was at its helm, suggesting he was aware its generosity was not limited to the Liberal Party.
Mr Kroger said the foundation had distributed money to like-minded causes.
"I don't consider those organisations as hostile to the Liberal Party," he said.
"They are a free-enterprise-aligned think tank. We are a free-enterprise-aligned party."
Tide has gone out on Liberal members
Asked about Liberal Party membership at the time of the 3XY sale, Mr Kroger told the court there were between 18,000 to 22,000 members in 1988.
"Regrettably, the tide has gone out," he said.
He said there were now about 10,000 paid members of the party in Victoria, with another 3,000 pending or yet to pay.
"We did buy a software system under a previous director, Mr Mantach, that's caused us some trouble," he said.
"But I believe they're accurate."
Former state director Damien Mantach was jailed in 2016 for stealing more than $1.5 million from the party.
The Federal court case between the Liberals and the Cormack Foundation is set to continue for four days.


text:
I love these pancakes because you can customize then anyway you would like. I tried plain, blueberry, dark chocolate-cinnamon and maple bacon. All combinations were tasty and my family and friends loved dipping them in warm maple syrup. These are fun for the kids and also great to serve to company at breakfast or brunch.
Mini Pancake Muffins
3 cups All-purpose Flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
3 Tablespoons Sugar
3/4 teaspoons Salt
2-1/2 cups Milk
1 Tablespoon White Vinegar
2 whole Eggs
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
4 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
Blueberries (optional)
Warm Syrup, For Serving
Preparation Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Sift together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Set aside.
Stir together the milk and vinegar and let it sit for 1 minute. Whisk in eggs and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and wet ingredients, then stir in melted butter. If batter is too thick, stir in a little milk.
Spray a mini-muffin pan generously with baking spray. Fill cups 2/3 full. If using blueberries, drop 2 to 3 blueberries into each cup.
Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Let sit in the pan for 1 to 2 minutes, then turn them out of the pan. (Use a small knife if any are stubborn.)
Serve warm with warm syrup!
**425 will result in crisper edges. For a softer muffin, bake at 400 for 11 minutes.