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Last week we showed you how NASA simulates space here on Earth, with everything from advanced virtual reality to monstrous thermal vacuum chambers. But all of that still can't prepare you for how an object, or an experiment, will behave in zero gravity. Sometimes you just have to fly.
Luckily, NASA doesn't have to spend millions sending prototypes into space just to see if they'll work. Much of that can be done a lot closer to the Earth's surface. The Reduced Gravity Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston is home to NASA's own flying, microgravity laboratory, "The Weightless Wonder." It's every bit as incredible as the name suggests.
Earlier this spring, Gizmodo got a call from Zach Barbeau, an engineering undergrad at Oklahoma State University. His team had been selected—with a handful of others from different colleges and universities—to fly their proposed experiments onboard NASA's famous zero gravity plane. They were allowed to invite one reporter. Did I want to go?
Did I ever.
NASA's high-flying Reduced Gravity program
NASA's Reduced Gravity Office has been an institution at the Johnson Space Center since 1959. It was used to support the Mercury missions, then Gemini, then Apollo, all the way through Skylab, the Shuttle program, and today's International Space Station initiatives.
During that time, the custom planes have made more than 100,000 microgravity dives to support the training and testing associated with these missions. A microgravity dive is a parabolic arc wherein the plane dives at the same speed at which you fall—so within the plane's enclosed cabin, it looks and feels like you're just floating. NASA calls their plane the Weightless Wonder.
For all intents and purposes, the planes NASA uses are off the shelf. For the last while they've been using a KC-135A turbojet, but I got especially lucky while I was there. The turbojet was having some problems, so instead they resurrected an older C-9, one of the original Weightless Wonders. The interior is slightly smaller than the KC, but boy does it provide a smooth ride.
The exteriors of these planes don't need to modified in any meaningful way. The stresses imparted onto the airframe during the dives and rapid climbs are all well within their designed tolerances. The real special sauce is on the inside. There are only about 20 seats, all of which are at the rear of the plane.
From there to the cockpit, it's all laboratory. Every surface of the lab—the floor, walls, and ceiling—are padded with what seem to be white gym mats. This greatly improves safety, because you are absolutely going to hit your head (and everything else) until you figure out what you're doing. Under the mats are intricate systems that allow you to bolt various items (palates full of lab experiments, for example) to the floor, so they won't float away.
The windows are all shuttered during flight, because the illusion of placidly floating is most definitely ruined if you can see that in actuality, you're falling out of the sky, and quickly. In lieu of windows, the cabin is outfitted with photographic lighting throughout, which provides a nice, even light.
I was brought in for the Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program's annual flight week. The RGEFP has been a part of the Reduced Gravity Office since 1995, and since then every year it's given students (and teachers) a chance to propose, design, build, test, and fly a microgravity experiment on a plane run by the Reduced Gravity Office. This is how it earned the moniker Microgravity University. This year NASA's guidelines were that the experiments should focus on improving human spaceflight, and I was coming along to see it in action.
What it feels like
Let me start with a confession. Experiencing zero gravity is literally my oldest dream. In first grade my best friend and I spent countless hours trying to make an "anti-gravity potion" out of various household products. We accidentally poisoned the tree in my front yard trying to make it levitate (sorry mum). We were going to grow up to be scientists and we were going to figure out how to make humans fly, weightless, at will.
So to say that I was excited about the possibility of experiencing zero gravity would be a gargantuan understatement. In fact, I refused to let myself believe that it was really happening until the plane actually took off. But let's back up. When it's finally your day to fly, it goes like this.
Starting at 0745 (that's military time, folks), teams have their mandatory flight day meetings and educations briefings with the flight crew. This is where final logistics are discussed and any last-minute problems are ironed out, if they can't be. If not, the experiment doesn't fly.
Then you get into your big, baggy flight suits, which have plenty of large pockets, mostly used for holding barf bags, so you can access them instantly, with either hand. Everyone is required to carry at least two. Some carry more. Only one person needed theirs on the day I flew, and the bags contained everything very neatly, thankfully.
At 0815 you have a half-hour medical briefing where you are told about the physiological effects of the parabolic flights. You are offered some airsickness medication. If you take it, your chances of getting sick during the flight are about 1 in 10. We were told that if you didn't want to take it, your chances of getting sick were more like 1 in 3.
Everybody took it.
One of the most surprising things we learned is that it isn't typically the zero-g dives that make people sick, it's the 1.8g assents. You feel your guts being pulled down into the floor, and more importantly, it has a strong effect on the fluids in your ears which affect your sense of balance, and that's what makes you nauseous.
We were told to not turn our heads quickly during ascent. Ideally, we shouldn't move at all. If we must turn it was recommended that we turn with our whole bodies, rather than just our heads. It was suggested that we lie flat on our backs. "One in ten… one in ten…" I kept thinking to myself. "Is it going to be me?"
And then it was time to go. I grabbed a pole-mounted GoPro Hero3+ and strapped a Sony Action Cam AS100V to my head. We got into a single file line, and then marched into the belly of the C-9.
We sat in standard aeroplane seats, we took off, and headed out over the Gulf of Mexico. When we'd reached our cruising altitude of 26,000 feet, we were given the all-clear to get up. The students headed to their projects (more on those in another post), bolted down to the floor, and made sure everything was ready. Many lay down on their backs. And then the pilot hit the throttle and we started to climb.
Oh what a feeling…
1.8gs are plenty intense. I opted to lean back against one of the padded walls of the C-9, but I could see why so many chose to lie down. I could feel the blood in my head being pulled down toward my feet. I lifted up my arm and it felt like a weight was tied to it.
And then the plane came over the top. The engine quieted. The extra weight was lifted off of my body... and then all of the weight was gone. I was still on the floor, but I was no longer pressing into it. I gave myself the tiniest little push, and before I knew it, I was flying.
I was filled with such a complete sense of wonder and joy that I almost burst into tears. I had never in my life felt anything like this. It was a moment I had been dreaming about for more than 30 years—for as long as I can remember—and it was even better than I had imagined.
It's also much harder to control than I imagined, despite having watched countless hours of footage of astronauts on the ISS. On Earth, if you sense you're off balance, you grab onto something, right? Well, I felt myself drifting off, so I grabbed onto a ceiling strap.Before I knew what was happening, I was flat on the ceiling, and NASA's crew was trying to pull me back down. Oops?
Twenty-five seconds later, and we were all back on the floor, beaming. All of the first time fliers were gut-laughing with ear-to-ear grins. There was a guy, roughly my age, from NASA JPL who just happened to be in town and was flying for the first time. He's the guy in the blue suit in the top video who looks like he's having the time of his life. That was how all of us felt. We couldn't believe that has just happened.
What's crazy is that there's no in-between time between 0g and 1.8g. You know how when you're riding your bike downhill, and you see you've got an uphill coming up, you try to use all that speed you've generated going downhill to help you start your next climb?
That's exactly how these parabolic dives work. They use the momentum they generate on the dive to take them right into the next ascent. It's much more energy efficient, but it also means that because you don't spend any time 1g, you never really get to reset, and it can start to feel overwhelming.
I happened to be in the lucky majority and I didn't get sick. This led me to be increasingly reckless as we went, and I would use our time spent at 1.8gs to crawl around and reposition myself to better see the different experiments. I even tried standing a couple times and man, you really feel it then. Instant quad-burn.
I had the opportunity to go inside the cockpit mid-flight. I stood behind the pilot, clutching the back of his seat as we climbed. It was the first time I could see out of the plane and it was much stranger to have contextual awareness. It wasn't just that I was heavy, I was heavy and climbing, staring straight up at the blue sky.
How zero-gravity parabolas work
The science behind the zero gravity dive is actually very simple. There is no magical way to create anti-gravity or to build a zero gravity room that is somehow immune to gravity's forces. So if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Parabolic dives are, in fact, a state of free-fall. You're basically sky diving; the only major difference is that you are in a fully enclosed space, so you can't hear or feel the wind rushing past you, and you can't see the rapidly approaching ground. You get that feeling in your stomach, like when you're on a roller coaster and you take that first big drop, but then your other senses tell you that no, you're not falling, you're just floating there.
But I promise you, you're falling. In fact, you're falling 8,000 to 9,000 feet per dive.
If you were watching a dive from the outside, this is what you'd see. The plane flies out over the Gulf of Mexico and reaches a cruising altitude of 26,000 feet. Then it starts to climb at full speed, roughly at a 45 to 52 degree nose-high angle.
Inside the plane everything gets heavy. This is because the plane is pulling roughly 1.8gs, or 180% percent of the Earth's normal gravity. That means that if you weigh 175 pounds (which I do), suddenly it feels like you weigh 315. It is a major difference. But then the plane goes over the top of its arc—as if it were summiting a hill and dropping straight down the other side—and suddenly it's diving nose-low and 45 degrees and you're weightless.
Basically, the dexterity of the pilots (and NASA's are the best in the business) keeps the plane diving at the exact speed at which you are falling. So, relative to you, it looks like everything is standing still, and you're just floating there. It's an intricate optical illusion.
The dive itself only lasts about 25 seconds, then the plane climbs again for a minute or so before heading back into its next dive. Repeat 30 times per flight, give or take. If you were to view it from far away it would like the plane were a rock skipping along an invisible lake.
When we nosed-over, I went totally weightless, while staring from the cockpit directly down at the ocean we were plummeting toward. It was thrilling. I wasn't strapped in, either, so as we were falling, I was doing my best to grab onto unimportant objects to steady myself and keep from crashing into the console in front of the pilots.
After 15 parabolas heading outward, the plane turns around, and you do 15 more heading back. It took the students one or two parabolas at the outset to get used to the feeling and enjoy themselves, and then they got down to work. The were incredibly focused given the extraordinary circumstances. But more on that in tomorrow's post.
After the standard 30 0g parabolic dives, we were given a little bonus. First we got to experience a lunar-gravity dive, which is one-sixth that of the Earth's. I did a pushup, and ended up on my feet. I gave a little jump and I gently floated up and then sank back down. It made me think of all those videos I'd seen of astronauts skipping along the surface of the Moon, except I wasn't weighed down by a heavy spacesuit and life-support system.
Finally, we got to do a Martian-gravity dive, which is one-third that of Earth's. It was such an interesting hybrid feeling. I could walk around, but everything felt so easy. I did some one-handed clap-pushups like they were nothing. If we ever do end up colonizing Mars, basketball games are going to be amazing.
All told, we were out and back in under two hours. It was something I'd waited for my whole life, and then it happened and was over so fast.
I'm not good with ranking things, but it's safe to say that my microgravity experience is solidly in my top-five all-time life experiences. Honestly, it's very possible that it's number one, bar none. I still get a thrill every time I think about it.
An Uncertain Future
Sadly, the future of the Reduced Gravity program is bleak. NASA is, after all, a government organisation, and politics and budget cuts can sometimes trump science.
NASA's is currently under significant pressure to use outside contractors as much as possible. Sometimes that makes really good sense; if it can buy a piece of hardware off the shelf rather than spend the money on R&D while they build it themselves, that's a huge cost savings, and that's good for everybody. This same thinking was applied to reduced gravity operations; there are commercial vendors out there (like Zero G Corp) that would be cheaper to use than NASA maintaining its own system. Or so it seemed.
And so in September of this year, the Reduced Gravity Office was shut down, and the Weightless Wonder was decommissioned. After 55 years of NASA-run reduced gravity operations, it was over.
And then it wasn't.
What happened? A sea of red tape. Stay with me here. NASA quickly realised that while the plan to use a commercial contractor for reduced gravity operations looked good on paper, there aren't any viable options out there. Yes, the aforementioned Zero G Corp has the planes, but NASA's requirements go far, far beyond having a plane that can simply do parabolic arcs.
First, there's the certification problem. Every time you bolt something to an aeroplane's frame, it must be re-certified by the FAA. You install a new experiment, you add or remove a single chair, and it counts as a new configuration. For a private company, that means having to pay to bring in an FAA engineer to inspect their fleet and to have them sign off on it every time. Not only would that be slower, but it would be more expensive.
In contrast, NASA is a federal organisation and has engineers on staff who have the power to check, approve, and certify every new configuration. It's faster, it's in house, and since these men and women are already on NASA's payroll, it's cheaper.
Equally important, NASA has an expansive list of experts on staff that it can call on for consultation. For example, one recent experiment involved studying the effects of microgravity on cerebrospinal fluid. That meant drilling a port into an actual, living human's skull and inserting a heart catheter into him. NASA had medical experts on hand to assist. Another experiment involved arc welding in microgravity. Good luck getting the FAA to sign off on the use of an arc welding torch, in flight, on a commercial jet.
And because the RGO has been doing this for so long, it's made a lot of mistakes and learned from them. "Some gasses mix differently in 1g verses 0g versus 2g," Del Rosso told us. "One of them may be extreme dangerous." That wouldn't be obvious to your average flight personnel. Again, the RGO isn't running a plane, it's running a laboratory that just happens to fly. You want experienced lab technicians, don't you?
Add in the fact that NASA pilots are often former fighter pilots and are typically the very best in the world, and the fact that as long as we are going to be exploring space we are going to need reduced gravity flying, and you have a lot of compelling reasons for keeping the RGO up and running.
And that's exactly what NASA found soon after the program was shut down. None of the current contractors out there could offer the same things that RGO does. And so, a few weeks ago Dom Del Rosso got a call from the higher ups. It was time to get the band back together.
Del Rosso, who was reassigned, is currently scrambling to reunite his team, get new people trained, get other people out of the new gigs they were reassigned to, and get the C-9 plane flight-ready by January, which is when they intend to resume operations.
The program has been guaranteed funding through at least 2015. NASA is making one last effort to find outside contractors who might be capable of taking over reduce gravity operations starting in 2016. If that happens, microgravity flights would be run out of NASA's Dryden base in California, and the Reduced Gravity Office would be closed for good.
The results of that final survey should come through in the next few weeks, but at this point, for all the reasons we mentioned above, it seems unlikely that they'll find viable contractor. If that's the case then the reduced gravity program will likely be extended for at least another few years, whereupon NASA will reassess again.
In the meantime, we'll be dreaming of another chance to fly.
Photo and video shot by Brent Rose with additional footage provided by NASA., edited by Nick Stango and Michael Hession.
Special thanks to everybody at NASA JSC for making this happen. The list of thank yous would take up pages, but for giving us access, and for being so generous with their time, we are extremely grateful to everyone there. Huge thanks also go to OSU Space Cowboys for inviting us in the first place.
Space Camp® is a registered trademark/service of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. This article and subsequent postings have not been written or endorsed by the U.S. Space & Rocket Center or Space Camp®. To visit the official space camp website, click here.


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Crew on board the HMNZS Leander enjoy a game of tug of war in the Indian Ocean. The Leander-class cruiser Leander was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1931 as HMS Leander. It became one of the Royal New Zealand Navy's main combat units when it succeeded the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy on 1 October 1941 (at which point its designation changed from 'HMS' to 'HMNZS'). One of New Zealand's biggest warships, Leander was also to become one of our most famous as it saw action in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
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This image Appears In 1 Article:
Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War, 1939-45: The Royal New Zealand Navy, 1956.
How to cite this page
'Tug of war on HMNZS Leander', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/tug-war-hmnzs-leander, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 20-Dec-2012

subset: commoncrawl


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"Fail to read parameters from Device" means that the software has lost connection to the device.
Some potential causes of this to occur could be:
- Server IP address has changed
- The device is in server mode and is pointed at the wrong server address
- The device IP address has changed
- IP conflict (two IP based products competing for the same IP lease)
- The device is unplugged from the network
- Device isn't powered on
How can you trouble shoot?
- Right click on the device and choose "Device Reconnect"
- Check to see if you can ping the device
- Launch The Command Prompt From The Run Window OR press Win+R on your keyboard > type in cmd > press enter
- Type ping followed by the IP address of your reader as shown:
- If you receive a reply from the reader as shown above, you can delete the device and search for it again in BioStar:
- If you can ping the device but you cannot find it in a BioStar search, see troubleshooting methods at:
- Check to see if the device is occupying a new IP address by running an arp -a search (the device will have a physical address beginning with 00-17-FC)
- Launch Command Prompt as explained in step 2.
- Type in "arp -a" as shown below and press enter:
- If you can identify the device at a new IP address, try searching for it again in BioStar:
- If you cannot ping the device, and you cannot find the device on the network:
- Find out if anything has changed in the network
- Check to make sure wiring has not been damaged
- Check to see if the switch or router that the device is plugged into can communicate back to the server


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An atrial myxoma (AM) is a primary cardiac tumor located in one of the atria of the heart. This benign neoplasm most frequently affects the left atrium.
Symptoms manifest due to limited heart function or even heart failure and thus include orthopnea and dyspnea, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, but also pulmonary edema, cough and hemoptysis. General fatigue is often reported in advanced cases. Fever and weight loss may be observed in one third of all cases. Abnormalities in blood count and blood chemistry do occur with a similar frequency and often affect patients with systemic symptoms. In this context, anemia, an increased sedimentation rate, globulinemia and an elevated level of C-reactive protein have been reported.
During clinical examination, a characteristic "tumor plop" heard in early diastole may point to the presence of a cardiac tumor [10]. Also, arrhythmias may be present and are possibly caused by invasion of the myocardium. This same process may reduce myocardial contractility or provoke heart block. Moreover, AM may cause pericardial effusion and possibly cardiac tamponade.
If non-cardiac tissues are affected either by invasion of the primary neoplasm or by development of metastases, additional symptoms may be observed. Symptoms may, for instance, mimic those present with bronchogenic carcinoma [11].
Tumor embolism is a frequent complication of AM and may lead to pulmonary embolism, cerebral infarction and other pathological conditions associated with embolism.
If patients present with the abovementioned symptoms or if other factors indicate the possibility of a cardiac tumor, an echocardiographic examination is usually realized. This non-invasive technique allows for the detection of cardiac tumors and for the determination of its location. Furthermore, heart action and blood flow can be assessed in an echocardiographic examination, which is of utmost importance due to the frequent mechanical complications arising with AM. It has been proposed that even the probability of tumor embolism may be predicted with echocardiography [12].
Of note, transesophageal echocardiograpy may be superior to transthoracic echocardiography and may reveal more conclusive results. Less intervening tissues may render the former technique more sensitive than the latter.
Although the findings obtained by echocardiography may hint at a certain type of tumor and thus its benignancy or malignancy, further diagnostic measures generally have to be taken in order to provide an accurate diagnosis. In this context, imaging techniques are most commonly applied. High resolution images of the heart may be obtained by magnetic resonance imaging as well as computed tomography. If available and not contraindicated, the former is often preferred because T1- and T2-weighted images may offer additional information regarding the structure and thus the type of the neoplasm. Positron emission tomography has also been successfully applied in cases of AM [13].
Whereas biopsies are standard operating procedures in other types of tumors, considerable risks are associated to transvenous biopsies of cardiac neoplasms. With regards to AM, the risk of tumor embolism may increase when a biopsy is conducted. Thus, if imaging techniques allow for a sufficiently certain diagnosis, AM do not usually require this type of confirmation. Other cardiac tumors may justify such procedures [14].
According to current knowledge, there are no conservative treatment options for AM. Drug therapy is only applied to alleviate certain symptoms associated with the presence of a cardiac neoplasm, e.g. to treat arrhythmias.
The tumor has to be surgically resected. During surgery, the neoplasm has to be handled with utmost care in order to avoid detachment of cells and subsequent tumor embolism or development of metastases. If at all possible, the AM has to be resected entirely. Therefor, a wider safety margin should be considered when removing the peduncle of the myxoma. If necessary, defects to the atrial walls are subsequently closed with an adequate patch or with parietal pericardium. Of note, laser photocoagulation of tumor cells possibly present in close proximity to the resected peduncle may help to decrease the necessary safety margin. During surgery, the atrioventricular valves should be carefully examined. If the AM provoked damage to these anatomical structures, an annuloplasty or prosthetic valve replacement may be required. The other chambers should be checked for possible metastases. In order to be able to do this, a biatrial approach is sometimes recommended.
The procedure is considered a safe surgery, with post-operative mortality amounting to about 2%. One in three patients that underwent AM resection presents atrial fibrillation after surgery [15]. Recurrences are rare and are generally associated with incomplete resection or rough handling of the tumor during surgery.
Follow-ups consist in biannual transthoracic echocardiographic examinations and mainly aim at detecting possible recurrences.
Complications arising with AM, e.g. pulmonary embolism and stroke, require the respective, adequate treatment.
Although AM are benign tumors, they may, however, cause mechanical interference with heart function and/or tumor embolism. Furthermore, neoplastic cells may reach other chambers of the heart or other organ systems and metastases may develop. In order to prevent these complications as well as sudden cardiac death, the AM needs to be surgically removed.
Upon successful tumor resection, the overall prognosis is very good. Risks of recurrence are augmented in patients showing familial AM and consequent genetic predisposition as well as in cases of inadequate resection or malignant degeneration [8].
Long-time survival has been estimated to be about 90% [9].
The majority of cases of AM is of unknown etiology. There is, however, a smaller share (less than 10%) of AM that occur with an increased incidence in certain families. This predisposition for AM is inherited with an autosomal dominant trait. Some patients suffering from familial AM show an increased overall risk for neoplasms, particularly for myxomas and endocrine tumors, and also present a spotty pigmentation of the skin. This symptom complex is known as Carney's complex [1] [2].
Primary cardiac tumors are rare. The overall prevalence of benign and malignant primary heart tumors has been estimated to range between 0.001% and 0.03% [3]. Other studies have reported prevalences of up to 0.3% [4]. Nevertheless, those studies agree in that benign primary cardiac tumors can be found more frequently than malignant neoplasms. Three out of four primary cardiac neoplasms are benign. Among benign tumors, myxomas are by far the most common ones and account for about 50% of the cases. Of note, these numbers refer to adults. In children, myxomas only account for about 15% of primary heart tumors. A genetic predisposition for cardiac myxomas can be detected in less than 10% of all cases. A cardiac myxoma may be the only clinical manifestation of such a genetic disorder, but this kind of tumor may also develop as one of several symptoms of more complex heritable diseases [4].
AM more frequently affect the left atrium, but can also be found in the right atrium. Myxomas may also develop in the ventricles, but the incidence of ventricular myxomas is considerably lower than the incidence of AM. With regards to ventricular myxomas, they are more frequently detected in the right ventricle.
For AM, the female-to-male ratio is 3:1 [5]. The majority of patients diagnosed with AM are between 40 and 60 years of age. These data have been confirmed in several studies, although there is one report from India that suggests the incidence of myxomas to peak before the age of 40 [6].
As has been mentioned before, most cases of AM are sporadic. The tumor does mainly affect the left atrium and only about 20% are detected in the right atrium. An AM is usually pedunculated and most patients develop solitary myxomas. However, multiple myxomas are often found in patients presenting a genetical predisposition to develop neoplasms. In these cases, myxomas can also more frequently be detected in the heart's ventricles.
AM are of gelatinous consistency and are composed of scattered mesenchymal cells within a mucopolysaccharide stroma. They are round, oval or polypoid, of white or yellowish to brown color and present a smooth, villous or friable surface. These neoplasms originate from the endocardium and although they can develop at different parts of the atrial wall, they are most commonly attached to the fossa ovalis of the atrial septum. AM may be of different size, but tumors measuring up to 15 cm in diameter have been described. Tumor growth is enhanced by cytokines and growth factors released by tumor cells themselves. The release of vascular endothelial growth factor, for instance, does promote angiogenesis and thus nutrient supply and growth of the AM [7]. There are, however, no reliable data regarding the growth rate of AM.
AM do mechanically interfere with cardiac function. Patients with AM manifest symptoms when tumors reach a certain size. Atrial fibrillation has been observed in a significant share of patients with large AM. For AM located in the left atrium, a diameter of 5 cm and a weight of about 70 g have been proposed as possible limits for asymptomatic cases. With regards to AM affecting the right atrium, symptoms develop even later.
The length of the tumor's peduncle determines its mobility. When mobile AM reach a certain size, they can prolapse into the respective ventricle. This is more frequently the case with polypoid tumors and may cause significant damage to the mitral or tricuspid valve structures. Further complications may arise from tumor embolism. Due to AM being an intravascular neoplasm, embolism occurs quite frequently. It has been estimated that tumor embolism occurs in up to 40% of all patients suffering from AM whereby the site of embolism varies with the location of the myxoma. Similar to what has been said about a possible prolapse into the ventricle, tumor embolism is more common with polypoid tumors. Also, AM with a villous or friable surface are said to provoke more frequent embolism [5]. Hemorrhages may occur, but have been reported less frequently.
Preventive measures can only be recommended to those suffering from known genetic predisposition for AM. These patients should be regularly examined in order to detect possible neoplasms early. Family members may benefit from genetic testing. Only if genetic mutations were inherited, routine screenings are necessary. No preventive measures are known for sporadic cases of AM.
Among primary cardiac neoplasms, benign tumors occur more frequently and myxoma account for approximately half of those benign tumors. Although they may develop in each of the four chambers of the heart, they are more often found in the atria, particularly in the left atrium.
Patients usually do not present any symptoms until the neoplasm reaches a critical size. At this point, the atrial myxoma (AM) will interfere significantly with the heart function and cause symptoms typically manifested in cases of heart failure, e.g. dyspnea, pulmonary edema and cough. Electrocardiographic exams are generally combined with imaging techniques to diagnose an AM. Biopsies are usually not required to confirm the diagnosis, since considerable risks are associated with the respective procedure. In cases of AM, these risks outweigh the possible benefits.
AM have to be surgically resected, conservative treatment is not an option. Drug therapy is limited to the treatment of complications arising from the presence of an intracardiac mass. Upon successful surgical removal, the prognosis is very good. Prognosis may, however, deteriorate when complications such as tumor embolism, formation of metastases and invasion of adjacent tissues occur.
An atrial myxoma (AM) is a benign tumor that originates from the endocardium, the inner layer of the heart. It develops in either one of the two atria which, in turn, constitute two of the four chambers of the heart.
An AM is a primary cardiac tumor, i.e. this neoplasm originates from cardiac tissue and is not a metastasis of other tumors. Whereas in some cases, AM may be attributed to genetic disorders that predispose affected patients for developing myxomas and/or other types of tumors, most cases of AM are sporadic. With regards to sporadic AM, no direct causes can be associated with the development of the tumor.
Initially, AM do not cause any symptoms. However, as soon as they reach a certain size, they may considerably interfere with heart function. Patients may then suffer from breathing difficulties, may even wake from breathing difficulties at night. In some cases, these respiratory problems only occur during exercise, in other cases they are present at rest. Cough and chest tightness may also be observed and go along with a blue discoloration of the skin and soft tissue swelling. Overall fatigue, fever and loss of weight are also possible manifestations of AM.
The physician may suspect the presence of an AM if the patient presents with the abovementioned symptoms and if he or she detects further hints upon auscultation, i.e. when he or she is listening to the heart's action with the stethoscope. Initial diagnosis is usually based on the results of an echocardiographic examination. This non-invasive technique allows for the detection of cardiac tumors and also enables the physician to assess possible obstructions of cardiovascular structures. Additional diagnostic imaging, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, angiography or combinations thereof, may be required to confirm the suspected diagnosis. If needed, blood tests will also be done.
The tumor has to be surgically removed. This surgery is considered a safe procedure and allows for an in situ evaluation of certain cardiac structures that may be damaged by the AM. If such damage is detected, it will be surgically repaired. Additional drug therapy may be required to alleviate symptoms associated with the AM. Recurrences are uncommon if the tumor can be removed completely.


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Book Best Rate is a worldwide leading provider of hotel booking with a passion to provide the most effective and user-friendly hotel booking experience. We are keen to offer accommodation with definitely the best price and optimum deal.
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Regardless of what you may think of his acting, Sean Connery has been a highly prominent figure in the celluloid landscape of the past 40 years in two particular manifestations. First, and most potently, as James Bond; second, as the embodiment of a certain kind of grizzled wisdom, of which perhaps the most notable is Indiana Jones's father. To have created two universally recognised archetypes in the course of a career is no mean feat, and one well worth investigating. Christopher Bray's book is just such an investigation, but it comes from an unexpected angle: that of unabashed adulation. Not, as Bray is at pains to point out, for the man Sean Connery, but for what his image as an actor embodies.
"I like watching Sean Connery. I like watching him move through a room. I like watching him sit down and cross his legs . . . I like the idea of a big, big man being so light on his feet." He acknowledges that this is partly because he wishes the same could be said of him – "average height, clumsy and heavy-footed" – and that this feeling is "I think, not very different from love." Bray is an eloquent and an inventive writer, and many are the ways in which he expresses his love: Connery is "a dead ringer for Michelangelo's David or Leonardo's Vitruvian man", he is possessed of an "angle-jawed beauty", is "an Adonis", his silky mobility "stretching upwards from the balls of his feet to peer out of a window like a dancer at full height, dipping gracefully down to his knees like a dying swan to booby-trap a wardrobe door".
Like all lovers, he believes that everyone sees his beloved as he does. "You can't be a child of the mid-60s . . . and not have given over several moments of your life to regretting the fact that you are not Sean Connery." No doubt there is something wrong with me, but, despite belonging to the designated target group, I do not feel this way about the greatest living Scot. The whole Bond phenomenon rather passed me by, in fact, which might also be thought to disqualify me from enjoyment of a book that sees its subject as quintessentially defined by the role with which he is most closely identified, and obsessively looks for possible allusions to that role in Connery's later work. Surprisingly, this proves not to be the case. Despite some egregious piffle about actors and acting – "they have to love themselves more than anyone else . . . they don't just want to be loved, they want to be loved by everybody, unconditionally, unconsciously" – Bray has written a compelling study of stardom and what it signifies, both to the star and to his followers. Such is the level of his engagement with Connery the on-screen phenomenon that at times it seems as if Bray is simply writing autobiography, but this is unavoidable given his conception of the intensely personal relationship between viewer and star.
He carefully charts the evolution of Tam Connery, working-class lad, Edinburgh scion of a family of Irish tinkers, sometime milkman, sailor, French-polisher, body-builder, underwear model, footballer, chorus boy, into the archetype of devil-may-care throwaway masculinity that has been such a lodestar in Bray's life. He notes the early theatre and TV work, the first clumsy steps in movies, the slow advance in technique and ease, rightly identifying the unremarkable comedy On the Fiddle as the first full-fledged manifestation of Connery's particular charisma. He records the actor's admirably diligent work on himself, eradicating the accent so strong that Millicent Martin at first took it to be Polish, reading Proust, Ibsen, Stanislavsky's My Life in Art.
In a piece of careful research, Bray demonstrates the influence on Connery of the great acting teacher, Yat Malmgren, who focused the Scotsman's natural physical freedom into the gracile ease and expressiveness so characteristic of his Bond. Bray is especially good on the physical aspects of Connery's art. He observes that "few actors have commanded the space around them as well as Connery . . . fewer have moved around confined areas as well as he . . . fewer still have his genius for grounding the fantastical with such nonchalant realism."
Bray's fascination with the physical existence of his hero extends to how much of his baldness Connery is prepared to reveal at any one time and the fluctuations of his waistline from film to film: he pores over these details like Louis XIV's courtiers examining the royal stools. This is because Connery matters a great deal to him: he is his surrogate, an emblematic figure whose physical and emotional evolutions pierce him in the way that a father's ageing shakes a son, as intimations of mortality. At one point, describing Connery's death in the little-known Family Business (1989), he cries "Which of us can quite conceive of a world without Sean Connery in it?" He faces up to it squarely: "Sean Connery will one day die. And, for a while at least, the world will make a little less sense."
Surprisingly, and despite his own rapturous descriptions of Connery's physical self – the number of times he describes him as the world's sexiest older man exceeded by the number of times he describes him as the world's sexiest middle-aged man, which is itself only exceeded by the number of times he describes him as the world's sexiest man – Bray is oddly disinclined to see any complexity in Connery's sexual persona, though it seems to have been present even from the early underwear modelling days (as a young actor, the walls of his flat were covered with photographs of himself posing). Bray writes of Connery's encounters with the anti-psychiatrist RD Laing (they dropped acid together), and of his later experiences with exponents of Reich's theory that all neuroses were products of blocked libido. Bray is briskly dismissive of Reich, although he tells us that Connery's work with Reichians continued to influence him for many years; he neglects, alas, to tells us in what way.
He notes the latent violence of Connery's Bond, particularly towards women, and also Diane Cilento's claims that during their marriage he hit her; Connery's refusal in more than one interview to condemn male violence towards women is acknowledged, though given no weight. Perhaps it is all part of the charm for Bray: in one of his many put-downs of Roger Moore as James Bond, he remarks how nostalgic Bond fans have been for Connery's "gloriously unreconstructed chauvinist manner", barking commands at a woman he has just had sex with.
Bray – a witty, elegant writer, with a penchant for mixing allusions to abstruse critical constructs (Kantian noumenon, Baudrillardian simulacra) with laddish phraseology which speaks of salaries somewhat "north of a million pounds" and Albert Finney's "dick-swinging" performance in Tom Jones – is keenly aware that the Bond films have contributed to what he calls "the infantilisation of cinema", but he cannot deny their centrality, and Connery's, to his own sense of self. "We are all in search of . . . completeness," he says, "and at least occasionally and momentarily we find it gazing at certain movie stars [who] body forth . . . a vision of a unified self on to which can be projected a million and one atomised fantasies." His book amounts to an exceptionally vivid and searching account of what it is to be a fan.
Simon Callow's My Life in Pieces: An Alternative Autobiography is published by Nick Hern.


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Cheesy Inihaw na Bangus15 - 20 mins 5 - 10 people
Take your classic inihaw na bangus and make it cheesy-creamier with Eden.
1 large, Bagus
1 large, Tomato, diced
1 large, Red onion, diced
3 pieces, Calamansi
1/2 tsp, Black pepper
1 tbsp, Ginger
2 tsp, Salt
1/2 cup, Eden Original, grated
Clean bangus and cut along the belly area. Rub salt inside the fish.
In a bowl, combine tomato, ginger, black pepper and Eden cheese. Stuff mixture inside the bangus.
Grill bangus for around 10-15 minutes per side.


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For Lease | Medical/Consulting rooms, Office/Showroom, Retail/Office, Retail/Shopping centres/Petrol stations, Sales showrooms/Bulky goods | 2/2A Haig Avenue, Georges Hall NSW 2198 | $2,700pm + GST
Ideally located on Haig Avenue in the Georges Hall Shops complex this space offers huge exposure to any business. Formally a doctors GP surgery for 30 years this premises is vacant due to retirement. Next door to the suburbs most popular cafe and across the road from the prestigious Georges River Grammar School this location is second to none.
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- Two consulting rooms
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- Long term lease availability if desired
This property is proudly listed by:
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9/69 The Mall
Bankstown NSW 2200
Agent Details
James Projcevski
Email Agent
Open for InspectionBy Appointment
Additional information
Property Type Medical/Consulting rooms, Office/Showroom, Retail/Office, Retail/Shopping centres/Petrol stations, Sales showrooms/Bulky goods
Property ID 41450120135
Street Address 2/2A Haig Avenue
Suburb Georges Hall
Postcode 2198
Price $2,700pm + GST
Land Area 54 sqm (approx)
Building Area 54 sqm (approx)
Date Available Now
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There you go, few days back I was just explaining the difference between Facebook and Twitter to one of my friend. I just explained my friend in short that, Twitter could be a Mini Diary of our life if we use it effectively & timely and Facebook will be the social tool to get connected with the friends for the life time.
I hope you all know why I said Twitter could be the Mini Diary of our life, yeh Twitter is so cool and tiny tool to share the updates instantly via mobile or PC or any other gadgets with just a click and people share their daily activities or updates or status etc. in time.
So how it could be a Mini Diary?
Can say its an online Mini Diary, with the available APIs once can grab all the tweets or conversations in Facebook in a single or multiple pages. You can even create your own online Mini Diary with these available APIs, that is what MyFameBook.net is doing. This service will grab all your tweets and conversation in Facebook via available APIs and selects the best of them to fill the 320 pages and prepares a book with a single tweet or status on each page.
Right now this service is available for Facebook called MyFameBook and Twitter called TweetNotebook, I hope once the Buzz is stable BuzzBook may also come into picture :)
With Famebook for Facebook you can create a unique and personal notebook in seconds. At the bottom of each page, you'll find 1 post from your Facebook-feed. If you want, you can include posts from your wittiest friends.
With TweetNotebook you can create a unique personal notebook or can call it as a Mini Diary in seconds. At the bottom of each page, you'll find 1 best top or popular tweet you've posted on twitter.
Try it out. Just connect with Facebook or Twitter and they'll automagically create your notebook. And then it's up to you to personalize your book as you wish.
But as Techcrunch pointed out, will there be some copyright issues here? Because here one can print the users pics, statuses etc. without their permission? – Sounds like being in Social communities is more dangerious these days – like we had some security issues in Google Buzz when it launched but it is in full control now.
If you ask me this will be a good service for the one who wants to present or gift this notebook to some best friend by including only their conversations, instead of others. Sounds cool right :)
So folks are you ready to get your Notebook?
Be Social? – Be Carefull :)
Let me know your opinion about this interesting service.


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The form of prints everyone is use to is the typical 2D prints, but have you ever heard of 3D printing? This new style of printing is a form of an additive manufactured technology where a three dimensional object, such as a wrench, is created by placing successive layers of powder and ink that solidifies. 3D printers are way faster, way more affordable and way easier to operate than any other additive manufacturing technologies. 3D printers can offer developers of products the capability to print assemblies and parts made from various materials with several physical and mechanical properties in one building process. With advanced 3D printing technologies, manufactures could create models that would be used as a product prototype.
Setting Your Domain with our Tight Designs Server
To set up your domain name on our server you must edit your name-server at your registry.
For GoDaddy registered domains go to this link to read instructions:
Click on:
Setting Nameservers for a Domain Name Registered with Us
read instructions.. your choice will be:
I have specific nameservers for my domains
In the spaces provided put the following info:
Marketing Graphics Toolkit for Custom Promotional Designs
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Tips to effectively use printed advertisements to increase R.O.I.
Today's new marketer knows how essential the Internet can be as a promotional avenue to raise leads and convert into consumers. They will comment about the needs of Search Engine Optimization and how info spreads via Social Media. In concept, I do concur that Online marketing is very useful, but I strongly believe that some "old school" forms of advertising is still an extremely powerful way to generate new leads. Ad placements with follow-up printed information can create a great a lasting impression you score on a prospect. The effect of printed advertisements all rely on where they are stationed. How you use them will influence the result.
A common misconception is that the more people you advertise to the more customers will be converted. Yes and No. You might get more customers, but the percentage would be extremely lower than if you targeted people interested in your product or service. You would waste more time and money to re-print and pass them out. A simple example: You wouldn't give a flyer advertising denture cleaners to a teenager, right? Even-though you might have a couple exceptions where that teenager might buy the product for their grandparents, the chances are slim and you have wasted material and time. This is why it's imperative to focus on the prospects who are genuinely interested in your product or service. If you do that, you will see a much great return on investment. Continue reading "Tips to effectively use printed advertisements to increase R.O.I."


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The official social platform for ConsimWorld
Played the always excellent Combat Commander at my Dads last night.
Played three scenarios from my recently acquired 'Paratroopers Battle Pack 1'.
And three cracking games they were although of course I neglected as usual to note names/details !
Usual swings of fortune especially in first game which looked like I had my Dads Fallschirmajger banged to rights with my US Airborne near Carentan but in last few hands the Krauts managed to swing things their way for a narrow win.
Second game (another Normandy based sceario) saw another close outcome but with my US guys coming out on top.
Third scenario was set in December in Bulge with both sides fighting over some downed air drop supplies.
An interesting and fun situation that seemed very even until I had a lucky double shot at a strong Kraut group killing them off and capturing couple of nearby suply drops to give me a clear points victory.
Great games with this superbly fun system.
Pics of games
Views: 118


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With the relived buzz for lake trout fishing, the progenitor of all metal lures is now back at the center of interest: the spoon has recovered its natural space, so Rapture offers an interesting solution in this set of three pieces.
This product qualifies for free shipping.
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The Meaning of the Wedding BandLeave a Comment
One simple circle, with a whole lot of history, symbolism and meaning. Do you know the meaning behind wedding rings and bands?
A circle has no end and no stopping point. It's a continuous movement. Sound familiar? A marriage is meant to have no end and no stopping point. It's meant to foster continuous movement and growth within your unity. The wedding band has become a symbol for eternity and an emblem to represent being together forever.
Straight to the heart
It's been said the vein in the fourth finger on the left hand leads directly to the heart. This is why it has become a common practice to wear the wedding rings on the fourth finger on the left hand. It rests on the quickest path to your heart.
A diamond is one of the hardest, strongest and most indestructible stones in the world. Again, sound familiar? The diamond has become a popular stone for wedding bands because it represents strength and can never be destroyed. Just like your forever love.
A wedding band will likely be one of the most important and symbolic possessions one may own. Regardless of the stone, the metals, the price or anything else, your wedding ring is a symbol of your love and devotion to your partner. Find a ring that makes your love feel complete, and one that every time you look at it, you remember how invaluable your love is.
Stop in at Tennies to browse our engagement & wedding collection.


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The Workshop community can help with your home improvement projects.
Solved! See most helpful response
Hey Pete,
We had a similar issue a few months back but it occurred when we turned our hot water on. Turned out there was an issue with a valve in our hot water service, which required a visit from a plumber... Hope you can find a solution to your water woes!
hi @ProjectPete
im no pro when it comes to plumbing - but had a similar issue. "water hammer". could be because there is too much water pressure and/or your pipes are not fixed properly. if you can get access to the pipes you can check it and use saddles to fix the pipe more securely.
if your pipes are secured you may need to consider getting a plumber in to reduce the pressure for you.
alernatively if it is not a mixer tap - you can get tap valves that help with this problem at most hardware stores.
Is it only happening with one set of taps?. ie. Is it just the taps that go into your washing machine or dishwasher for example?. That would be water hammer and easy fixed with some anti water hammer valves which just screw in between you tap head and connecting pipe.
If it is happening to all taps and if you have the traditional spindle tap handles, water hammer won't be the issue as you aren't shutting off the water flow quickly.
May pay to get under the house or in the roof and get someone to replicate the issue. Could very well be a loose pipe.
All else fails, call in a plumber.
So helpful, thank you for this post! I have this problem since I got my new LG front load washer, it is only for the start of a wash, then it is fine. Reading your post I understand what is happening & will check out these anti hammer valves at Bunnings.
Workshop is a friendly place to learn, get ideas and find inspiration for your home improvement projects


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Krishna AV Ltd (Krishna Tutors) aims to offer tailored and personalised private Home Tuition, Personal 'One to One' Tuition or Group Tuition for Mathematics, English and Gujarati.
Our tutors not only have a distinct ability to teach, but also have strong academic background and relevant tutoring skills. All our tutors undergo an enhanced DBS check and we make sure that all our tutors maintain and establish consistent and high level of academic standards that we then pass on to your child.
Krishna AV Ltd (Krishna Tutors) aims also understands that every individual student has his/ her own different challenges and learning aptitude and paces and therefore aim to offer each student personalised attention and and encouragement. Our tutors strive to handle all your queries with utmost care and sensitivity and and ensure to to aspire your child's academic progress.
Krishna Tutors (Krishna AV Ltd) has been incorporated recently in the year 2014 and are located at Wembley, London. The company is owned and run by its two directors and shareholders Miss. Vibhutiben Kanani and Mrs. Asmitaben Kanani who are well qualified and experienced tutors. Both are member of the Association of Teachers of Mathematics (ATM), membership numbers – Vibhutiben Kanani – 301724 and Asmtaben Kanani – 301723.


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Book Reviews
For me, the great collection of beer recipes in the second half, generously peppered with the personal stories of the brewers who make them, stands as the shining heart of this book. The raw brewing talent that is represented in this compendium is stunning and a testament to Jen's ability to connect with other brewers.
I was so thrilled to hear Jen Talley was selected to write this book for the Brewer's Association. Jen always struck me as someone who could create anything despite whatever barriers were in her way. Way back in the early days of craft brewing, instead of seeing brewing in a low-alcohol state as a constraint, Jen found creativity and flavor. Her sincere and loyal passion for low-proof and sessionable beers resonates through this book, which contains an immense breadth of knowledge, history, and brewing recipes shared by Jen's brewing colleagues and Jen herself. It is clear from this lovingly crafted book that every brewer should embrace the art of brewing session beers, if not for the challenge, then for the reward of being able to drink more than one and still enjoy oneself. Thanks Jen—I will have another!
A veteran of low-ABV 'session' brewing, Jen Talley brings an enormous amount of practical and technical information to this subject. It's obvious her time at Squatters Pub Brewery in Utah fostered respect for the art and soul of brewing beers under 4.0% ABV. As someone who has been at this business of brewing for over 20 years, I can honestly say this book provided some keen insights into the thought processes and execution behind these fickle beer styles. I guess you actually can teach an old dog new tricks. I for one cannot wait to share this information with my brewers.


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Sep 102012
September & October are big months for RvB – which is turning three on September 25th – and for Ganked, which begins its very own mid-life crisis on October 6th, when the 40th "official" Ganked roam will take place.
And my dear fleet mates, I am running out of ideas. So please vote in the poll you find in this post and let us see what can figure out. If we cannot, then its ferrari and tank top time I think.
What is your favourite Ganked theme?
- Arty Thrashers (31%, 59 Votes)
- Tier One Battlecruisers (23%, 44 Votes)
- Thorax Hulls (14%, 27 Votes)
- Frigate Hulls (13%, 24 Votes)
- Smarties & Lasers (10%, 20 Votes)
- ECM (6%, 11 Votes)
- Other (Please say in comments) (4%, 7 Votes)
Total Voters: 158
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While we anticipate the release of YMCMB's Caskey's upcoming mixtape Black Sheep, the rapper has kept fans fed with audio leaks and visual content. Yesterday he dropped an official music video for the cut "Sun Goes Down," and now we're following that up today with the official audio. If you missed the visuals though, we've included those below too.
The Mechanics handle the production on this dark track, appropriately as it's all about what happens when the sun sets. Caskey uses a non-chalant flow detailing, and at the same time giving us a warning, about nightlife in the streets.
Cop Black Sheep right here when it drops on November 11th.
Quotable Lyrics
When the sun go down
Streets ain't got no love for my crew
When you walk outside everybody gon' start to shoot
Ay ay, they told me keep that fire on me
I told them you preaching to the choir cuz


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"But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." 2 Corinthians 4:7
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Friday, March 29, 2013
Learning To Drive (Again)
Remember my "pre-missionary" list of skills to acquire? Well happy Friday to me.
I have a mental block regarding me and any piece machinery.
Driving a stick shift is something I avoided my whole life (even growing up on a farm).
While living in Mexico, I did learn a bit…
Here we go!
It may have been a bit overdramatic and possibly fed into my fear that I cannot learn to drive!
(CVE peeps, I love you!)
Okay, onto today.
This morning, Jon, The Littles and I spent some time on the open country roads.
It was surprisingly fun, although still a long way from perfection, I am no longer immobilized. We didn't even need neck braces. Although The Littles yell from the backseat encouraging words like, "We are tubing! Aah! Hold onto the rope!"
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
When Life Gives You Snow…
…on March 25th, you bundle up and head out. The bundling up part took The Littles and I so long that Daddio arrived home from work just as we were heading out. Win for the girls!
Setting out to make a snowman…
Little A almost gets squished…
Sitting on top of a very large snowball.
Little J preferred to slide down instead of holding still for a picture.
Jon's ambitiously sized snow creation was maybe a bit too much. The Littles really just wanted to slide.
New plan.
Goodbye snowman, time to build a slide
The Littles sat down in their "chairs" and ate snow while Jon worked and I tried to help.
Much better.
When life gives you snow, make a slide.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Blessings In This Weird Limbo Land
This past summer, Phil and Steph shared the wonderful news that they were expecting their first child. We were thrilled for them and the news…
Conversation swirled around me about due dates and stories of early pregnancy nausea and I realized that we would be in Ethiopia before the baby was born. Biting my lip to get through the moment without crying, I thought, "I hope baby is born early!"
After a few months, we heard the news, it was twins.
Our timeline for leaving for overseas has shifted and changed and we learned about a training that would hold us in the US until May. I am a heart divided. There is the part of me that just wants to get there, start our life there, see what God is going to do after our several years of seeking His direction, so anticipating our new life. In our trainings, we learn about how difficult the first few years are and how much stress we will be under. Let's just rip the band-aid off! Yet, here we sit, in this weird limbo-land, waiting on work permits, slowly putting things in suitcases, realizing, this may be the last snow I see in years (although I have had that thought about four too many times! Come on Spring!) and soaking up the sweetness of each moment that can be enjoyed with family, community, church and friends, never wanting to leave.
At Christmas time, the genders were revealed, two boys.
Look who we were able to welcome to the world.
Jordan and Seth. Two precious nephews.
They are intricately perfect.
Praising God with you Phil and Steph and so glad we are here. It makes all these changing plans worth it.
Friday, March 22, 2013
We have a jump on Easter, already celebrating with two families!
The Littles have been spoiled to the joys of Easter baskets and egg hunts. We are trying to teach the reason behind Easter. I thought we were getting it. While driving down the road I quizzed the Littles, "What do we celebrate at Easter?" Little A responded, "Umm…Christmas?"
What? You mean there is candy inside these eggs?!
I tried to bake the eggs based on a trick online, I wasn't totally impressed and probably won't do it again.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
A Shoe With A Story
It is easy for me to grow passionate about something and talk about it continually but then never actually do something.
Am I passionate about fair trade products? Absolutely. In word. Of course I don't want my love of chocolate to cause some small child to be in slavery. However, how often does that affect me? Do I think about that while standing in the candy aisle? Very rarely.
After reading When Helping Hurts, I wanted to make choices in lifestyle and the way I viewed others as responsibly as possible to empower change, not perpetuate a cycle. (If you have not read the book, I highly recommend it). Going back to the issue of teaching a man to fish, not just giving him one.
Needing new shoes, I was delighted when Cherise posted these links and have actually ordered two pairs of shoes.
"Sseko Designs is a sandal company based in Uganda. We make beautiful leather sandals with interchangeable fabric straps that can be styled in hundreds of ways…We believe that our stuff has a story and that every dollar you spend is a vote for the way you think the world should work."
Check out http://ssekodesigns.com to how this works! There are dozens of ways the sandals can be tied. You order one pair initially but can order as many additional straps as you would like. They are very high quality and seem to be really well.
On their website, there are easy tutorials to learn your favorite ties. You can even accessorize them.
The second set of shoes are handmade in Ethiopia!
Sole Rebels is a fair-trade company in Ethiopia.
Here is what they say about themselves on their website.
"At our core, we at soleRebels are creative artisans who aim to craft the coolest and most comfortable eco-friendly footwear. We do this by combining our heritage artisan crafts with modern design sensibilities, while pouring our creative selves into our shoes. The final result is that when our footwear is bought, the purchaser can SEE, FEEL, and enjoy all the elements of heart, soul, and creative craftsmanship that have gone into their construction."
They have many styles and I love them! My shoes were very high quality, well made and VERY comfortable. Not to mention, how fun is it to know your soles are recycled from old tire?
The downside is, because every pair is handmade and shipped from Ethiopia, it takes about 4 weeks for them to arrive to you.
I ordered "tootoos" but there are many styles to choose…
What fair trade items do you love?
Monday, March 18, 2013
A Donation, A Giveaway and Why It Matters
The ache is back.
The Littles rock the world of pretend play. While stirring food on the stove, I listened in as they played and their voices wafted into the kitchen.
"We don't have a mama and and daddy. Waa, nobody wants us, nobody loves us." They pretended they were orphans. Immediately stooping down, I asked, "Can I be your Mama?, I love you. Can Daddy by your daddy, forever?"
They smiled, melted into my arms and said, "You will be my Mama".
My mind is full of thoughts of the future, things we are learning, where we are heading and in the midst of it, the sorrow of the orphan that burdens me has grown silent. My brain can only handle so many things and when I allow myself to walk down the road of thinking of orphans, imagining my Littles being in an orphanage or worse, on the street, or worst of all, in slavery, my heart literally cannot bear it.
Hugging Little J, I envisioned her, now, having her "Gotcha Day" and my heart was flooded with ache at the pain she would feel, her insecurity, her fear at crossing the ocean with strangers and leaving EVERYTHING she knows.
I had strong yearning for future children, to spare them from the ouch, to wrap them in my arms and say, "I am so sorry for the long roads your little legs have walked. Can I be your forever Mama? Will you share your grief with our family and we together beg God for healing of your little heart?"
God sets the lonely in families, whether that is through prevention programs that enable birth moms to have the resources to keep their children or not die from preventable causes, grandparents who scoop up their grandchildren and go through parenting all over again, homes where children are placed while staying in their home culture, foster parents selflessly pouring themselves out, broken-hearted time after time after a child is moved and adoption, where an orphan becomes a son or daughter.
We rejoice for each life that is told in some way, "I love you. You are worth it."
Friends from church, Jarod and Molly, are adopting from Colombia and God can use us to carry out His plan of setting the lonely in families.
Yay, yay, yay a giveaway!
A great giveaway is going on over Emily's blog for the adoption of her niece/nephew. Some really incredible items have been donated by Molly's sisters.
You can donate at this site and enter the drawing.
Go to this post to see how you can be a part.
Friday, March 15, 2013
The TCK Tension
Third Culture Kids (TCKs) are defined as children (0-25 years) living outside of their birth parents passport country or home country.
This makes international adoptees in many situations, TCKs. The Littles are TCKs in some ways now, in that they look different, think alike to the family that currently surrounds them now. Because of their age at coming to the USA, they were not influenced heavily with an Ethiopian worldview but rather, have taken an American way of thinking. Without having to explicitly teach, kids pick up worldview and issues of importance in their "passport culture". Moving to Ethiopia, The Littles will continue to be TCKs and are actually called "hidden or invisible immigrants" in that they will look alike, think different from the culture into which we are moving.
Being a TCK is a deep blessing but it comes with a cost. I came across this post that concisely highlights some of these tensions and instead of reinventing the wheel, I would like you to read the informative post. 15 Things I Want to Tell My Third Culture Kids.
So many paradoxes in this post.
So insightful. So exciting. So sad. Such a blessing. So many fears. So much to look forward to.
Here is a wonderful resource on the blessings and obstacles of raising TCKs.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Sweet baby girl was born near the beginning of our training in Colorado and we finally made the trip to meet her! The day trip, though way to quick, was wonderful to catch up with family.
Will holding a newborn be enough to cure Jon's baby fever?
Leo woke up with just a bit of bed head. :)
The Littles had a bit of time to play with Charlie and Leo, not enough according to them.
They graciously shared their jeep…
Much to Little J's delight.
Before we rushed off, we tried to get a picture of the kiddos.
Notice the transformation…
Begging for smiles with little success.
Then using some
bribery positive reinforcement of chocolate if they smiled.
Little J wanted to do all she could to get that treat.
Hmm. Not sure what to do with a baby added in the grouping.
So fun to experience the blessings of nieces and nephews.


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Finding Home by Garrett Leigh
Riptide Publishing
Cover by: G.D. Leigh
Release Date: October 9, 2017
Read an Excerpt/Available for Purchase at Riptide Publishing
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host Garrett Leigh today on her Finding Home tour. We have a wonderful interview with the author and a giveaway to enter. Neither are to be missed!
~ A Memorable Interview with Garrett Leigh Talking About Writing Finding Home and It's Characters ~
- You write so movingly and here there's the main element of foster children, a gutwrencher of a topic. What prompted this element?
I was actually inspired to write Finding Home by a documentary I saw on BBC3 a few years ago. Ironically, I can't remember much about it now, but I found the notes it prompted a year later, and the story was still there.
- How much research did you have to do for this story and characters?
Not nearly enough at first. I had the characters down because they were very dear to my heart even in the early stages, but after checking with some sensitivity betas in the foster care system, I realised that I still had a lot of work to do. Assumptions I'd made didn't ring true anymore, and there was some significant rewriting.
- Was there ever a time you thought that you were getting too emotional as you wrote or is there such a thing?
There is never such a thing. If I don't connect with my characters, I'm wasting my time.
- What makes you decide to go down this particular narrative path?
Originally, the story was told entirely from Leo's POV, but Charlie had far more to say than I realised, so the dual POV came naturally.
- Is there something special you would want the readers to know about this story?
I wrote it for my daughter.
- I'm not usually drawn to young adult books but this one calls to me. What is different about this book from other young adult books?
I think perhaps that it's told in third person, rather than the first person/present tense we're used to in YA books. I enjoy books like that, but I wanted this book to be a little more reflective.
- How old are Leo and Lila when they're put into foster care?
Fifteen and five, though Lila has turned six by the time we meet her.
- I get the feeling that Leo's journey through this book will be heartbreaking. Will he fight letting Charlie in or welcome it?
Without giving too much away, Leo doesn't have much left to fight Charlie with. And he doesn't want to. Charlie is sweet and kind, and wonderful, and despite all Leo has been through—is still going through—he knows what a rare thing a boy like Charlie truly is.
- Does Charlie have his own darkness to conquer or is he the light to Leo's dark?
Charlie has his own demons, but he's had years of stability and love to build his resilience. He had a rough start in life, and he's quite a shy boy, but he has an emotional confidence that Leo is lacking. You'll see what I mean when you read it.
About Finding Home
How do you find a home when your heart is in ashes?
With their mum dead and their father on remand for her murder, Leo Hendry and his little sister, Lila, have nothing in the world but each other. Broken and burned, they're thrust into the foster care system. Leo shields Lila from the fake families and forced affection, until the Poulton household is the only place left to go.
Charlie de Sousa is used to other kids passing through the Poulton home, but there's never been anyone like his new foster brother. Leo's physical injuries are plain to see, but it's the pain in his eyes that draws Charlie in the most.
Day by day, they grow closer, but the darkness inside Leo consumes him. He rejects his foster parents, and when Charlie gets into trouble, Leo's attempt to protect him turns violent. When Leo loses control, no one can reach him—except Charlie. He desperately needs a family—a home—and only Charlie can show him the way.
Available now from Riptide Publishing.
About Garrett Leigh
Garrett Leigh is an award-winning British writer and book designer, currently working for Dreamspinner Press, Loose Id, Riptide Publishing, and Fox Love Press.
Garrett's debut novel, Slide, won Best Bisexual Debut at the 2014 Rainbow Book Awards, and her polyamorous novel, Misfits was a finalist in the 2016 LAMBDA awards.
When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible, all the while shouting at her menagerie of children and animals and attempting to tame her unruly and wonderful FOX.
Garrett is also an award winning cover artist, taking the silver medal at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in 2016. She designs for various publishing houses and independent authors at blackjazzdesign.com, and co-owns the specialist stock site moonstockphotography.com with renowned LGBTQA+ photographer Dan Burgess.
Social media:
- Website: http://garrettleigh.com
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/Garrett_Leigh
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/garrettleighbooks
- Cover art enquiries: email@example.com
To celebrate the release of Finding Home, one lucky winner will receive a $20 Riptide credit! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on October 14, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don't forget to leave your contact info!


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10 Of The Most Popular Nudist Beaches Around The World
1. Beach Cornelius, Italy
Cornelius beach in Italy is only a few kilometers away from some of the most popular beaches in the country. However, to get to it you need to make a little trip to go through a few hills and go through the tunnel. And you will find yourself in one of the most popular nude beache in Italy. A unique feature of Corniglia is that there are very few visiting tourists. Most of the half-naked people on the beach are local Italians.
2. Bellevue Beach, Denmark
During the summer, the water temperature in the waters of Denmark is much lower than in Italy. Seven meters long beach Bellevue making it one of the most popular nude beaches in the country. There is also a lifeguards to ensure the safety of bathers on the beach.
3. Valalta beach, Croatia
Valalta beach in Croatia is considered one of the best nudist beaches in Europe. The beach stretches a length of almost 3 kilometers and consists of fine sand. If you really want to enjoy topless on the beach in Europe, it is necessary to go to the beach Valalta. It is also a good option for those looking for a romantic getaway with your spouse or partner.
4. Moorea Beach, Nevada
Moorea Beach feature is that this beach is not on the sea but in the pool belongs to the hotel. Unlike some wild nudist beaches, Moorea Beach in Las Vegas is not only the beach. In addition it's resort and casino (after all, it's Las Vegas). Log in here is allowed only for adults and allows it to be topless at the resort and in the pool.
5. Vale Beach, Nevada
Vale Beach is located on the shore of Lake Tahoe. The beach is very beautiful and has many small caves and beautiful oases in the sand. Part of the beach is reserved for completely naked people, while in other places it is possible to sunbathe topless only.
6. Beach Leucate, France
Beach Leucate in France has one of the best sand on the beaches of the country, as well as estimated by some as one of the best nudist beaches in the world. Is a beach on the Mediterranean Sea.
7. Beach Vrik Beach, British Columbia
Vrik Beach is the most popular beach in Canada. Vrik Beach is not accessible by car. You have to walk to get to the beach.
8. The beach of Cap d'Agde, France
Cap d'Agde Beach was formerly known as the capital of nudism. Partly because the whole city is full of nudists. Here you can see naked people in restaurants, cafes, shops. Cap d'Agde is just a five-hour drive from Paris. In general, the beach of Cap d'Agde is one of the most popular nudist destinations in the world, tens of thousands of nudists come here every year.
9. Beach Montalivet, France
Perhaps the most popular topless beaches in France today is the beach Montalivet. This beach is considered the birthplace of nude beaches, it opened in 1950, and is still very popular. The beach is divided into two sections: one for parents with children, another for adults only.
10. Haulover Beach, FL
Haulover Beach is simply the most popular nude beach in America, and one of the most popular in the world. Hundreds of thousands of nudists come here every year. Located in the northern part of Miami, beach features a very warm climate and temperature. With a length of more than eight hundred meters, there are all conditions for a perfect naked rest.


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And I allegedly ate 2 cookies.
But you know, I'm not mad at it. I don't skip the gym that often and have been super dedicated, I'm still going tomorrow, and I'm going swing dancing tomorrow night. So I'll still technically have worked out 3 days this week, though 4 would've been nice. This weekend is my mom's birthday and then my bridal shower, so I don't anticipate much physical activity outside of lifting a fork to my mouth.
I'll be good though- I promise. Mostly because I have to tell all of you next week and then you'll stone me if I was too bad. ;) I'm teasing, but you will lovingly scold me. Which I'll need in the event I do gorge myself on crappy food.
Thankfully though, I don't tend to want crappy food as much anymore. I don't feel good when I eat it, my face breaks out, plus I have to confess my food sins on here. Why go through the bother??
So that's it. I hope we're still friends. Just for fun I'll post a super old picture of me. I think I was like 19?? Maaaaybe 20?
|Awwwww look at that baby face...
A Redhead
*Note: Hizzouse…?? I blame the cookie(s).


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Beibamboo kicks-off Preemie Awareness Month - 2018 with short, easy to remember points for parents of preemies while in NICU.
Who are Primary NICU
—World Health Organization (WHO)
"More than one in ten families have
a baby that was born prematurely."
Parent to Parent
As a parent, providing
—World Health Organization
"an estimated 15 million babies are born too early every year.
That is more than 1 in 10 babies."


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The Real IRA leaders found liable for Omagh bombing
- 2019-09-08
- 来源:澳门美高梅国际-Welcome√
The four leaders of the Real IRA who were today in a landmark civil case have long histories of involvement in violent republicanism. They are:
Michael McKevittMcKevitt founded the Real IRA in November 1997 following a major split within the Provisional IRA. At the time of the division over the latter's support for all-party peace talks in Northern Ireland, McKevitt was in charge of its terrorist arsenal. He is married to Bernadette Sands, a sister of the IRA hunger striker and republican icon Bobby Sands. McKevitt is currently serving a sentence for directing acts of terrorism in the Irish Republic.
Colm MurphyFrom South Armagh, Murphy was described in court as a "dedicated terrorist who has been an active participant in carrying on terrorist attacks over a long period". The judge said Murphy had originally been in the Continuity IRA in 1995 but acted as an "operations director" between it and the Real IRA in a series of attacks between 1997 and 1998 to destabilise the peace process.
Liam CampbellCampbell was introduced to FBI undercover agent David Rupert as a member of the Real IRA's seven-man army council. The judge said he was satisfied there was overwhelming and cogent evidence that he held a leadership role in the Real IRA at the time of the Omagh massacre. Campbell is currently fighting extradition to Lithuania, where he faces arms smuggling charges. He fell out with McKevitt over the latter's decision to declare a ceasefire from his prison cell in the republic's top security Portlaoise jail.
Seamus DalyFrom Dundalk in the Irish Republic, Daly was linked to the Real IRA bomb team via a mobile phone he was using on the day of the explosion. There was an "irresistible inference" that the phone was being used for terrorist purposes. Daly has already been named publicly – on the BBC's Panorama programme – for being linked to the plot to bomb Omagh.
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"Some people say Ferris Beuler meets Kill Bill, but that doesn't quite describe it all," says director Edgar Wright about his masterpiece. "I wanted it to feel kind of like a 13-year-old's brain exploding."
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is taking San Diego Comic Con by storm, and making avid fans out of anyone who is lucky enough to partake of its "epic epicness". With each showing, Wright convinces audiences of the fact that he is, indeed, a creative genius. Hit the jump for quotes from the cast and crew
At the press line on Friday, mastermind of the amazing graphic series, Bryan Lee O'Malley, said that he found absolutely no qualms with the way Wright portrayed the awesome adaptation. For such a devoted author to be stoked with the outcome of something that he had meticulously and passionately created really says a lot about the attention to detail Wright pays to his projects. The only thing O'Malley said that he wished he could have seen in the film was "more". "There are only like ten minutes of each ex and you want to see more because they are just so good!" When asked if they would make another movie, he said they would make twelve. If only he weren't being sarcastic.
All of the actors involved in the project seem to be absolutely smitten with the instant success of Scott Pilgrim. The film is being so well received at comic-con that it has quickly become one of the most anticipated events of the weekend. Needless to say, the hard work poured into the movie is extremely evident on all fronts.
"It feels amazing that I pulled it off" Michael Cera humbly commented on his role as Scott Pilgrim. According to Cera, the film's success was only possible because Edgar had them spend "a lot of time rehearsing and training and building up self confidence".
The starlet of the film, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who plays the alluring Ramona V. Flowers, admitted that preparing for the role was extremely demanding. "It was the hardest work I have ever had to do, but it was also the most fun I've ever had." According to Winstead, the role took months and months of physical training to prepare for, and included martial arts such as Kung Fu. Winstead joked that she no longer needs a bodyguard, because she can now reduce anyone to coins.
Regarding Wright's extremely precise directing style, Kieran Culkin, who plays Wallace Wells, explains "Edgar had a very specific idea of what he wanted." According to Culkin, Wright is a perfectionist who will do anything he has to in order to offer perfect direction, even if that means personally shooting mock scenes of himself with the stunt men. Wright says, "I'm a perfectionist but I hope I'm hardest on myself. I don't want to be hard on the cast, or anything. I just wanted to get it right."
Brandon Routh, who is no stranger to comic book movies, affirmed that he, too, loved working on this film specifically. "I'm really happy with everything. I really trusted Edgar to lead me and so I knew I had nothing to fear." Routh, known for his role as superman, plays Todd Ingram in this film, and will be playing Dylan Dog in another upcoming comic book adaptation. Although Routh claims that he would have no problem venturing out to other genres, he admits, "It's just part of my world, and its something that I love."
With the way things are going, audiences everywhere will be quickly lining up to add the Scott Pilgrim comics to their own personal collections. Even Jason Schwartzman, who portrays evil ex Gideon Gordon Graves, said that the passion and excitement Wright expressed about the project inspired him go out and buy the graphic novels for himself, before he knew that there would be a role in it for him.
Scott Pilgrim vs The World will be officially released August 13, 2010.
For more Comic-Con coverage, click here.


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Before the world of possibilities opened up to us by the wonders of modern technology and the internet, customer complaints involved a strongly-worded letter that went straight in the bin upon arrival or an arduous trip to shake fists at a nonchalant manager. These days, your customers are armed with a dangerous secret weapon: social media and they certainly aren't afraid to use it, which is what HM Revenue & Customs found out the hard way.
Hell hath no fury like a consumer scorned and when a disgruntled customer takes to social media to express their disdain, it can be pretty detrimental for a business of any size. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Google+ and Twitter are fast becoming the preferred method of communication between brands and customers, which is great for boosting online visibility and cultivating a digital reputation. However, with every silver lining comes a cloud and this time it's negative customer feedback.
Wherever you look there are people of all ages wandering around with their heads buried in their smartphones or clutching their precious tablets, which means they now have the ability to crush your business at the very touch of a button. All it takes is one app and 140 characters or less to tell the Twittersphere exactly what they think of you whether it's all good things or all bad. Scary, right? HMRC are amongst those who have fallen victim to the latter recently but it seems they might have had it coming.
HMRC keeps callers waiting even longer
You would think that after a whopping £900m investment into the department in 2012, HMRC might have even slightly improved its customer services but evidently not. Figures released last month demonstrated a dramatic increase in the time callers spend waiting to connect to a representative when calling the HMRC call centre.
In March of this year, the average wait length for customers trying to get through to an adviser was 14 minutes and 22 seconds, which is a substantial hike from the 2 minutes and 44 seconds that was spent waiting during the same time in 2014. So you can hardly blame the 1.1million customers who gave up and terminated the call before getting through to HMRC or those who took to Twitter to express their frustration.
Tweeters revolt against Revenue & Customs
Official figures have shown that the tax collection department was pelted with a rain of 11,500 negative tweets during the last 12 months from customers failing to receive the information they needed. Complaints regarding tax credits, income tax, National Insurance contributions and child benefits were the most covered issues and naturally, the busiest times for angry tweeters were January, June and July, ahead of self-assessment deadlines and the dreaded tax credit renewal date.
Citizens Advice CEO, Gillian Guy, said: "People are paying the price for not getting through to HMRC. From fines for not completing a tax return in time to under or overpayments for tax credits, people can be left out of pocket because they cannot speak to HMRC on the phone.
"There is already a clear demand to be able to speak to HMRC. With the rollout of Universal Credit and big changes to tax credits just around the corner this is only going to grow. HMRC needs to urgently address the problems many people are experiencing with phone lines."
Earlier this year, HMRC encouraged its customers to use Twitter to discuss their enquiries in an attempt to alleviate the pressure of its growing backlog of irate callers despite MPs dubbing the suggestion "laughable". Well, they certainly got what they asked for but perhaps not quite with the intended sentiment. Let's hope the new contingency plans HMRC has put in place to help rectify the call wait length situation brings about some positive online coverage because shining customer reviews are equally as powerful as bad reviews.


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The god-daughter of Carole Middleton claims she has been shunned by the family and accused the mother of the Duchess of Cambridge of becoming "too grand" to see them.
Joanne Callen, 33, claims the Middleton family and the Callens were once close friends who went on holidays together when their children were younger.
However, she claims that since the royal wedding three years ago Mrs Middleton, her godmother and cousin once removed, has stopped visiting and contacting some of her relatives. She also said they are upset that they have never seen Prince George.
Ms Callen, a recruitment consultant from a village near Watford, Herts, said she had always got on well with Mrs Middleton but felt in recent years that she and her family had been shunned.
She told The Mail on Sunday: "She behaves as if we are not good enough for her now – so she does not need to respond to us or have any care. At the end of the day, I'm not sure what the word god-daughter means any more."
Alison Callen, the mother of Joanne Callen, is a cousin of Carole Goldsmith – her maiden name – and was bridesmaid when she married Michael Middleton in 1980. Ms Callen, who is going against her family's wishes by speaking out about the alleged conflict, said Mrs Middleton no longer replies to invitations or attends family events.
She said: "We're not in her social circle. It's as if we are not good enough now and she's embarrassed by us. She is now even grander than the Queen."
Ms Callen said that her grandparents Ruth, 81, and Ivor, 86, of Ruislip, north-west London, had been let down twice by Mrs Middleton when she had promised they could meet the Duke and Duchess's son Prince George, who turned one last month.
She claims that Mrs Middleton had telephoned them last year to say a car would pick them up in a couple of weeks to collect them to meet Prince George but it had never arrived.
"I still feel sad thinking of them sitting there waiting for the call with a present all wrapped up waiting for them," Ms Callen added.
"Then Christmas came and it obviously wasn't going to happen. Our family is deeply saddened. There is no need to upset anybody. She should certainly have a good deal more respect for Ruth and Ivor."
The Callen family attended the royal wedding in 2011 but claim that when the Middletons were invited to the wedding of Ms Callen's younger sister last month they did not even respond to say they would not be there.
An invitation was sent to the Duchess of Cambridge at Kensington Palace, to which the palace apparently responded by saying she would be unable to attend.
The Middleton family could not be reached for comment yesterday.
A representative for the Duchess of Cambridge declined to comment.


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Apple is relied upon to spruce up its iPad Air lineup in March. The iPad Air 3 and iPad Mini 5 are very accepted to arrive that month.
The iPad Mini lineup is, similarly, set for recharge demonstrating Apple fans to see an iPad Mini 5 soon. In any case, hypotheses are guaranteeing that the iPad Mini 5 is changed and named as the iPad Pro Mini.
The iPad Air 3 is still anticipated paying little respect to reports that Apple has killed the iPad arrangement according to Value Walk. The customer hardware creature is declining to acknowledge that iPad Air is one among the uncovered Pro models.
Apple is ever known for being sharp in reducing thickness of its gadgets. In this manner, iPad Air 3 is relied upon to be 6mm inside and out. This equipment is the slimmest tablet ever uncovered by the organization if demonstrated genuine. Fans could envision Gold, Silver and Space Gray shading choices with an expansion of Rose Gold adaptation.
A 9.7-inch show with 2,048 x 1,536 determination is most likely to be held in the charged tablet PC. Apple Pencil bolster, an A9X chip, and a four-speaker sound framework are additionally included among the specs. Mac could roll the camera in the iPad Air 3 like the 9.7-inch iPad Pro.
The iPad Mini 5, on the opposite side, is a profoundly most loved and esteemed gadget arrangement for Apple. The iPad models will be uncovered in March according to reports in China. The declaration would incorporate the second era Apple Pencil.
The iPad Mini 5 is additionally asserted to be 5mm inside and out with 7000-arrangement aluminum utilized as a part of the Apple Watch go. This is for its solidness, lightweight and counteractive action of bowing.
A movable show, Smart Connector from the iPad Pro with a foldable screen for simple stockpiling is likely anticipated. What's more, the iPad Mini 5 will land with battery upgrade and three stockpiling variants.
According to DigiTimes, the 2017 iPads will be put off to the second 50% of the year regardless of March as the exceedingly anticipated period. Their extra parts are yet to be resolved.