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- Benefits of Silk Filled Pillow:
- Protecting cervical vertebra
If you sleep eight hours a day, one third of your life accompany with pillow. Do you often have the following problems? Is cervical vertebra pain, acid, stiff? Listless work? Is your sleep difficult, shallow, short, many dreams and easy to be awaken? Please pay attention to your pillow. If choice of pillow is improper, the consequence is very serious! 38% of patients with cervical spondylosis in the world was caused by improper pillows! Orose pillow has scientific designs with the high quality of mulberry silk that is soft and comfortable. Orose pillow is close to skin with antibacterial properties, which can effectively protect your head, neck, and give you a healthy sleep.
- Antibacterial and anti-mite
Do you know your pillow may hide thousands of mite! During sleep, the sweat, grease and accidentally flow saliva can seep into the pillow and offer the good development conditions for millions of mites, and breed mites! And mulberry silk has effective natural properties of antibacterial anti-mite. It has certain curative effect for skin diseases. Skin care makse sure that you get healthy and comfortable sleep!
- Beauty, anti-wrinkle, and health care
Night is the best opportunity for skin to repair itself. Mulberry silk contains 12 kinds of amino acids which are beneficial to the human body, and it can promote vitality of skin cells and prevent hardening of the arteries. The long-term using can prevent skin aging. At the same time, silk has good permeability to be breathable and moisture, and it can be constantly temperature comfortable, balance water vapor flow, but not dry. And it can reach the effect of cosmetic wrinkle resistant. Silk contains a substance called "hydrophilic side amino acid", which can absorb moisture in the air and rule out. So it has auxiliary curative effect on rheumatism and arthritis.
- Prevent static electricity and reduce dust adsorption
Static electricity can adsorb tiny dust and scurfy, the pillow core is dirty over time. And silk protein is a poor conductor of electricity, so it is not easy to generate static electricity. And it can reduce dust adsorption and maintain the clean and sanitation of pillow core for a long time.
- Care Instruction:
- Machine-washable in lukewarm water (30°C) on most gentle cycle available.
- Minimize spin time.Hang dry if possible.
- Tumble dry on a cool setting if using drying machine. Avoid drying for extended period of time.
- Use neutral or special detergent for silk, such as Tenestar.
- Iron when slightly damp using a cool setting. Always iron on the inside.
- Delivery & Returns:
- Free Shipping On Orders Over $40
- 45-Day Free Returns
- P.O. Boxes and military addresses (APO, FPO) can be delivered.
Really soft!!! review by Steven Stout on 7/1/2019
Really soft!!!
Smooth, cool, comfortable review by Kevin on 6/19/2019
Smooth, cool, comfortable.
Amazing review by Fanny on 6/13/2019
This feels like a lovely pillow to hug and drop your face into.
Firm, Cool, and Comfy review by Adam on 6/5/2019
Super soft filling
Small zipper that stays closed
Pillow is soft yet firm enough to not let head sink
Firm and comfy review by Aunt on 5/29/2019
This fits fine in a pillowcase and is very smooth, not lumpy. It gives me lots of support without being too hard or too high.
My favorite pillow ever review by Joel B. Brenner on 4/24/2019
Best pillow I have ever used, and I have tried many. Used a fully silk one but it was too hard. This one has some fluff which makes it much more comfortable. I sleep mostly on stomach and it works great, also comfortable on side and on back.
Comfortable and Allergy Relieving review by L. Columbus on 4/23/2019
My wife loves this pillow. She and I both suffer from allergies and this pillow seems to help significantly. Apparently pure silk is a natural anti-allergy agent and is also resistant to mites. The pillow is very well made and comfortable.
Luxurious review by Gill on 4/19/2019
It has a very soft feel, but holds its shape very well.
Great Pillow, I Really Like It!! review by Audrey on 4/16/2019
This is a very soft and very comfortable pillow, I've slept excellent using this for the last 2 weeks. I'm using this with the same companies silk pillow case and the combination is awesome.
It came well packaged and there was no chemical smell etc.
Luxurious review by Michael on 4/12/2019
This really does feel luxurious!
Soft review by Nini on 4/11/2019
The OROSE Silk Filled Pillow is so soft and very comfortable.
silk works great if both cover and filling are silk review by pk on 3/28/2019
bought more than one size. the toddler was perfect for me - just a little smaller than a standard and just a little thinner (which i love). The standard was good - just a little too thick for me. the queen was too thick for sleeping, but works well as a back pillow for reading. I am a side sleeper. this is my 6th or 7th brand of a silk pillow for me. only the kumi cocoon is better, but it is 6 times more expensive.
Write Your Own Review
- What is the difference between silk and satin?
- 1. Silk is a type of natural fabric made from silkworm cocoons, while satin is a weave, which means that there are in fact SATIN SILK, although it's safe to say that 99% of the satin products sold on the market at low prices are not made with silk, but with polyester instead.
- 2. Usually, Satin pillowcases which haven't mentioned silk are pillowcases made from some non-silk fabrics. They are much cheaper than silk pillowcases.
- 3. 100% mulberry silk pillowcases can be made of satin weave or charmeuse weave, silk fabric will bring people huge health benefits, while synthetic satin is rougher.
Sleep in the SPA?
Silk is a kind of ecological pollution-free natural fibers. With fiber and other processed products irreplaceable unique properties and incomparable exuberant vitality. Consumers will silk as the "source" of beauty. So, what are the advantages of silk products?
Long-term keep hair style
Silk protein is a poor conductor of electricity, so it does not produce static electricity. And it also won't gather dust caused by. It can be clean all the time, it can also effectively keep the hair style not disorder at the same time.
Suitable for skin and resist allergy, good for sweet sleep
Silk is highly similar to keratin protein's structure in human body, which is widely used to make artificial blood vessels and artificial skin. And it will not produce allergy.
Humidity-absorbing and breathable
Moisture absorption of silk is 1.5 times than cotton. Silk protein contains hydrophilic factor such as amino acids. Their porous features make the water molecular diffuse easily, so silk can absorb or emit water molecules.


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Gathering and Worship, 4-6 pm, Rose City Park Presbyterian Church's Chapel
1907 NE 45th Ave., Portland, OR 97213;
Contact Pastor Brett Webb-Mitchell, 919-444-9111; email@example.com
Dear Refugees, Displaced Persons, Pathfinder, Pilgrim, Family Members, and Friends,
Welcome to a newly designed email newsletter! We are trying some new things with this newsletter, and invite your feedback, as we think of creative ways of sharing the ins and outs of life as a growing and changing Community of Pilgrim.
This week's focus is Acts 2:1-21, a Scripture passage read on Pentecost! This is typically referred to as the "Birthday of the Church!" and the color of the day is red, so please wear something red this coming Sunday. And there is no doubt that Luke's word-imagery, used in describing the presence of the Holy Spirit descending upon the masses, is incredible—then, and now. There are three parts of this holy fiasco: to begin, there is the "rush of a violent wind". Next is the divided tongues, "as if fire," with a tongue resting upon each person. Finally, there is the Spirit, causing each person to speak in a tongue or language, unlike their own. The question we will explore this week is simple: do we still believe God acts like this, blowing like a violent wind through closed doors and setting our heads on fire…a God who can change us, both individually and communally? Or is God tired and old, someone who listens to our prayer requests, but not able to change lives?
Sat., May 19, 2018, 6-9 pm, Dinner at Tom Galey and Lee Ellis' home for ASL Interpreters;
Sun., May 20, 2018, 10 am, Pentecost! Worship at Rose City Park Presbyterian Church, Pastor Brett preaching;
Sunday, May 20, 2018, 4-6 pm, Gathering and Worship of Community of Pilgrims with Tom Letts, our Church Coach, visiting. Pentecost! We are also going to witness and celebrate the baptism of Kathy Fukuyama! Wear something red!
Thursday, May 24, 2018, 7-9 pm, Steering Team Meeting, Kathy Fukuyama's home.
Sunday, June 17, 2018, 11 am, Portland Pride March, details TBD; give Kathy Fukuyama your t-shirt size Sun., May 20, to order shirts!
A Poem
Pentecost, by Malcolm Guite:
Today we feel the wind beneath our wings
Today the hidden fountain flows and plays
Today the church draws breath at last and sings
As every flame becomes a Tongue of praise.
This is the feast of fire, air, and water
Poured out and breathed and kindled into earth.
The earth herself awakens to her maker
And is translated out of death to birth.
The right words come today in their right order
And every word spells freedom and release
Today the gospel crosses every border
All tongues are loosened by the Prince of Peace
Today the lost are found in His translation.
Whose mother-tongue is Love, in every nation.
Buen Camino!
Pastors Brett & Chris
Rev. Dr. Brett Webb-Mitchell (919) 444-9111; firstname.lastname@example.com Rev. Chris Dungan (503) 724-7060; email@example.com

subset: commoncrawl


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About Zencare
Zencare is a small women-led team doing big things in the mental health world - we are a marketplace that helps thousands of professionals and students find their ideal talk therapist. Zencare started as a solution to a common problem: it's really difficult to find a therapist online. Zencare streamlines the process and empowers therapy-seekers through up-to-date availability and insurance information, introductory videos, and a vetted network to ensure quality care.
User Outreach Strategist: Marketing + Events + Partnerships
Zencare is looking for an enthusiastic mental health advocate to join its Growth team and become our User Outreach Strategist! Your goal is to reach as may prospective therapy seekers as possible who might benefit from learning about Zencare. You will own end-to-end responsibility for referral-driven user acquisition, from high level strategy through implementation and results tracking. Your main responsibilities will entail marketing, events, and partnerships.
Business Development & Therapist Outreach Lead
Zencare is looking for an enthusiastic Therapist Outreach Lead to join our Business Development team, the driving force in company growth and revenue! We work tirelessly to build and enhance relationships with therapists who share our mission of increasing access to quality mental health care. You will drive exploratory conversations with potential therapist members, use your business acumen to identify how Zencare could help their practices grow, and successfully position the Zencare value proposition. You will also research prospective therapists, create outreach strategies, and identify new outreach opportunities. You will be the "human face" of Zencare to potential new members. This is a great way to get into business development as a highly valued member of a small, mission-driven, women-led health tech company!
More info and how to apply here.
Gen Z Insights - Applications due ASAP
Want to research exciting new markets, redesign old products, or work on other business development initiatives?
At Gen Z Insights, you'll have the opportunity to join a small team working term-time with top startups to dream up new solutions to big problems. It's perfect for getting work experience while you're still in school.
Gen Z Insights was cofounded by undergraduates with work experience spanning venture capital, finance, and software engineering. Stephanie Guo (Harvard '18) worked in investment banking at J.P. Morgan and cofounded a Thiel Fellowship Finalist augmented reality surgical imaging startup; Jessica Zhao (Harvard '18) has extensive data science experience and worked in infrastructure investing at Macquarie.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, but the sooner you apply, the sooner you can get started! To join the team, check out: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe2xDOgnEFA-Ms72w5OyyKODG_kPobRwEeHUaFSEbgQ7TF3KQ/viewform?usp=sf_link.
Upon completion, you should receive an email from us confirming your submission and informing you of the next step of the process -- Please email any questions or comments to email@example.com.


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Email Contacts
Aim and Scope
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Letters is a peer reviewed journal that provides a stage for the quality work globally.Bioinformatics relates to several scientific disciplines and it is an interdisciplinary research field that combines biology, computer science, mathematics and statistics into a broad-based field that will have profound impacts on all fields of biological sciences. The main stress of the journal is on basic bioinformatics research methods, tool development, performance evaluation and their applications in biology. Journal covers the most originals evolution and developments, research issues and solutions in bioinformatics and computational biology and their implementations for the betterment of the respective field.
The BCBL covers Following area: -
- Databases, bio-grid, system biology
- Bio-ontology and data mining, DNA assembly, clustering, mapping
- Biomedical image processing, modelling and simulation
- Computational genomics/proteomics
- Silico technology:high performance computing, computational intelligence.
- Telemedicine
- E-health
- Gene expression, microarrays, identification, annotation
- Genetic algorithms, fuzzy logic, neural networks, data visualization
- Hidden Markov models, machine learning, support vector machines
- Molecular evolution, phylogeny
- modelling, simulation, sequence analysis
- Parallel algorithms/architectures, computational structural biology
- Phylogeny reconstruction algorithms, physiome, protein structure prediction
- Signaling/computational biomedical data engineering
- Sequence assembly, search, alignment
- Simulated annealing, stochastic grammars,, statistical analysis


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We offer a wide range of solutions for your eCommerce website. From custom solutions to cloud platforms to off-the-shelf solutions, we deliver fully integrated eCommerce websites in no time.
Like traditional stores, online stores need to be organized, efficient and they should make a good first impression. We can help you set up your own eCommerce store which, will not only be great for customer experience but will also be easy for you to manage catalog, inventory and track sales.
We have immense experience in working with all major SaaS-based platforms for eCommerce. We have delivered websites on Shopify and BigCommerce with pre-made and custom themes.
We have worked with specialized solutions written in PHP and .NET such as WooCommerce, Magento, NopCommerce, OsCommerce, and many more. We can develop custom plugins to provide the functionalities that meet your requirements.
Often, due to the nature of the business or your own requirements, both off-the-shelf CMSes and Cloud solutions do not work. With experience, we can create robust, custom solutions which will fit the bill.
With more and more people opting for online payments, it is important that businesses focus on safe and secure payment methods. We can help you integrate your online store with a payment gateway of your choice.
Your online store needs to connect with a lot of services in order to provide a great user experience. We can help you integrate third-party services for Courier tracking, Marketing automation, or your own custom inventory management system.
We put a lot of effort into communicating your own USP to the customers. Be it products, customer service, or overall experience.
We train you and your team for using the system so that you don't have to rely on others and start servicing your customers from the get-go.
We study your requirements and suggest you the best possible solution to help you start your online store quickly. We help you to arrive at the key business-centric decisions with full transparency and knowledge sharing.
With our experience, we are able to offer a wide variety of solutions which are flexible, robust, and cost-effective. We offer fully integrated solutions including SEO, PPC, Analytics, and Email Marketing which can enhance overall customer experience for your online store.
We are a team of dedicated professionals. We approach our work with a curious mindset. We constantly learn and unlearn to help you create a better digital experience for your customers.
Team of Engineering Professionals
Years of combined experience
Average Age


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Roofing in Austin – Affordable Roof Replacement At Reach
If your roof is starting to show some signs of severe roofing damage or deterioration, you should contact an expert roofer here in Austin, TX to conduct a roof inspection. A professional roofing contractor can easily evaluate your roofing system and advise the most efficient roofing solution, including a roof replacement process.
When it comes to Austin, TX roofing concerns, particularly involving a roof replacement, homeowners and business owners turn to Dustin Johnson Exteriors & Roofing for help. We have been in the roofing industry for more than two decades now, and we managed to handle various roofing projects both for residential and commercial properties here in Austin, TX.
With over 20 years of experience, we have managed to improve our services as well as the roofing materials and equipment we use to serve you best. When we perform a roof replacement for your property, we always see to it that we deliver the best quality roofing services and materials.
In order to do so, we always provide our Austin roofers and project managers with the latest roofing equipment for a prompt, efficient, and seamless roofing service. To complement the materials and equipment we utilize, we also provide our personnel with up-skill trainings to enhance their skills and specialized roofing knowledge, allowing them to be on top of every procedure involved in a roof replacement project here in Austin, Texas. Check What Others Are Saying About Our Services!
Complete Roof Replacement Expert You Can Trust
An Overview of Our Roof Replacement Process
Similar to any other undertaking, careful planning, meeting, and constant communication is always observed by our team of roofers and project managers when performing any roofing project. When it comes to a roof replacement, whether a partial or complete roof replacement, we always see to it that our processes and standards are consistently followed. And some of these processes are highlighted below.
Pre-Construction Meeting: Since we work as a team for the success of any roofing project, we always conduct a pre-construction meeting in order to confirm the necessary elements and processes needed during and even after the actual roof replacement process.
Acquire Building Permits: As a sign of our professional integrity and obedience to the law, Dustin Johnson Exteriors & Roofing always see to it that the necessary requirement and permits are obtained. Hence, meeting all the local building codes, while preventing unnecessary expenses for corrective construction of your roof.
Check Delivery of Materials: Since we want to do things right at the first try, we always make sure that the materials delivered are the ones you have requested. This will allow our team of roofers to start and proceed on the roof replacement schedule.
Confirm Weather Forecast: We always see to it that we are on top of potential weather disturbances that may cause water damage during the construction phase. Hence, allowing us to make the necessary adjustments and arriving at the best time for roof replacement.
Why You Should Hire Us For Roof Replacement
The success of Dustin Johnson Exteriors & Roofing in the past decades is highly reflected in the quality of roofing services we deliver to property owners here in Austin, Texas. When it comes to roof replacement, we always see to it that we get the job done right upon the first try. We always adhere to the industry standard for safety and quality and listen to our clients in order to satisfy their requests. Apart from that, we are highly sought roofing contractor here in Austin, TX because:
We Are Professional & Honest
We Provide Inspection & Estimate
We Only Make Use of High-Quality Roofing Materials
We Provide Warranty & Financing Options
Get In Touch With Us
If you desire the best quality roof replacement result for your property, you should contact Dustin Johnson Exteriors & Roofing today. Call us at (512) 337-2661 to know more of our services, or visit us at 901 S MoPac, Expy building 1, #300, Austin, TX 78746 for a personal consultation.
You may also follow us on our Dustin Johnson Exteriors & Roofing Facebook Page, Dustin Johnson Exteriors & Roofing Twitter & Dustin Johnson Exteriors & Roofing Instagram Accounts. Contact us today!


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I'm starting to toy with the idea of not taking a break and just piling myself straight into the next round of riding and racing.
Tomorrow is the Austral, next week is the GMBC Crazy 6 hour and in just under 7 months the Warny rolls round again.
The question is, will I be faster on October 13 if I take 2-6 weeks off now, or if I start my prep now?
D: 17.3km
A: 55m
PMPW: 94kg


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Home | Archive | About | SubscribePrevious
(If you're reading this, I promise this post is not about you. Well it is, but only in the sense that you are part of my life, and your existence is filtered through my experience and distilled into this post.)
Relationships are not a performance. That's probably obvious to you. It's not obvious to me. I can't blame TV and books for this one, because I think there's plenty of media that could have taught me this lesson, I just didn't watch or read any of it. In the stuff I watched, relationships were about rapport. They were about that one friend in your group of friends that you could yes-and forever and by the grace of your synchronicity get the whole group laughing. I got used to thinking of relationships in terms of how they would play out on screen. What would it look like to the viewer if that cute girl who laughs at my jokes agreed to middle-school-date me?
I remember in college grabbing lunch with my roommate's friend and her boyfriend. And they did bits. "How long have you been together?" "Four months," "three months." "See, she starts counting from our first kiss. But I start counting from-" and then she jokingly got mad at him. They were fully committed to their sitcom couple schtick. But even to inexperienced little me it seemed weirdly rehearsed. It wasn't fake, exactly, it was just a weird on-the-nose cliche. Like they acted that way in public because they knew it would play well, and they sort of thought that's what couples were supposed to be like.
But I shouldn't have to care how my relationship with someone will play on screen, I should be able to just say, "I like spending time with you. You wanna make out some more even though it's gross?" I don't want to have to think about what's sensible. I don't care what it looks like. I want to be defiant. Because the truth is that real relationships are more about what happens offscreen, in strangely intimate private walks in hallways and when waiting for food to arrive.
I am guilty of picturing my life from the third person. Wondering what will be written in my Wikipedia article. What things that I'm doing will matter and what won't even get a footnote? What names from my life will link to other Wikipedia pages? How will critics divide up the periods of my life? And I am guilty of prioritizing those onscreen moments over the offscreen ones. Guilty of posing for photos. It's true. I get distracted when there's a new person in the group for me to impress. I get in my head about when they're going to find out that I'm funny, and how they're going to find out that I'm a musician. I even get in my head about how to not make it seem like I'm trying to show off that I'm a funny musician. And I am guilty of worrying about how my relationships portray me. I'm guilty of developing crushes on people because we perform well together. I'm guilty of not dating people who make me happy because I don't think they're impressive enough to show off.
Showmanship mandates that you do certain things on stage. You meet your performing partner's jokes halfway. You look at them like you're the proudest you've ever been. You talk about them like their your best friend. But that doesn't mean you have a good relationship with them. It just means you have showmanship. And though this has never stopped me, seeing who you have onscreen chemistry with might not be the best way to decide who you want to date in real life. Your relationship is supposed to be yours. You're not supposed to have to worry about how other people are going to see it. So she's tall and you're short. So he's younger and you're older. So what? You're not the royal goddamn family, and your relationship doesn't belong to the people.
I woke up at 12:00 PM and I had a job interview at 1:00. I had planned to wake up much earlier to groom myself and practice answering interview questions, but I ended up hitting snooze for four hours. I may have consciously hit the snooze button multiple times, but the logical decision-making part of my brain remained unconscious until I actually looked at the clock. Realizing I didn't have that extra time to prepare, I began to panic.
I had a choice to make. I had enough time to either throw on a suit and dangerously drive to my destination, or skip the interview entirely and coddle myself in bed. Since I was already feeling anxious, I convinced myself to choose the latter. I thought that rushing to the interview would only make me even more anxious. If I showed up all disheveled, I probably would not have been too convincing of a job candidate. I also convinced myself that staying in bed equated to self-compassion; something about the maternal warmth of my mattress and comforter communicated love and security to me. Since I was panicking, I stayed in bed and committed to making myself as warm and cozy as humanly possible.
At first I thought about putting on pajamas (I was in my boxers). "Ugh, but the journey to the dresser will be unbearably cold," I thought. "I will just lie here and try to suffer through it." On the word 'suffer,' I remembered that the reason I was staying in bed in the first place—and not going to the job interview—was because I needed to practice loving myself. I had to love myself enough to go out into the Ice Age and get some warm, fuzzy clothes. I assumed the brave parent role and fought for my inner child; I trudged through that brisky two feet between my bed and dresser and scavenged for some damn PJs. I succeeded and congratulated myself for working hard.
I got back in my bed wearing a hoodie, pajama pants, and thermal socks (I'm also amazed that these exist), and then I re-wrapped myself in my baby-burrito position. My skin began to warm up, but my bones remained frozen. What a disaster. I got what I deserved; instead of taking time to perfect myself for the interview, I put all of my effort into attaining the perfect body temperature, and I was somehow messing that up too.
Here I had a flashback to when I was eight-years old, in a similar state of cold, tired, and anxious. I was lying on my living room couch—wrapped in hella blankets and PJs—when my dad came into the room and put his hand on my forehead. "John, you're burnin up," he said. "I think you might have a fever. You need to take those blankets off now." He went to the kitchen and came back with two full Kirkland water bottles. "Strip down to your boxers. I'm going to put these cold bottles on you to cool you down and break your fever."
That was the most fucked up thing I had ever heard. Eight-year-old me silently thought something along the lines of, "Why on Earth would I do that? What is the medical basis for this? The blankets and clothes are helping me warm up, isn't this what I need?" But I didn't argue with my father; I complied because my young mind was convinced that Dad knew what was best. So I got nearly naked and let him place the cold plastic on my forehead, neck, chest, and armpits.
This was the first time I truly felt the gravity of the phrase "Life is unfair." I shivered violently and renounced my faith in God. I wouldn't wish this torture upon my worst enemy. After a few painful minutes, I began to sweat for some reason. "It worked," my dad said. "Sweating means your fever broke." At this point, I didn't know whether to be thankful or upset that my Dad 'saved me' from something that I didn't know was hurting me. I thought I was doing alright before he came along and ruined my snuggle sesh.
Thanks to the internet, I now know that putting ice cold anything on a person with a fever can make their chills even worse. What my dad did technically wasn't the 'right' thing to do, but I guess it solved my problem. I'm not bitter about the situation, but I think it may have had some impact on how I've dealt with problems throughout my life. I became more critical of my own desires; whenever I wanted something that I didn't consider productive, I'd ask myself, "Do I want this because it'll make me feel good, or is something else going on that I'm not addressing or realizing?" I relied on other people's advice and opinions most of the time, because apparently relying on my own intuition nearly got me killed (or at least that's what my eight-year-old mind rationalized).
Flash forward to my adultish self (twenty-three) lying in bed, trying to sleep through my job interview. The psychoanalytical part of my brain hypothesized that my father had negatively reinforced my capacity to take care of myself. I began to question everything—"How am I supposed to love myself? Am I supposed to provide myself security or 'Do the Right Thing?' Am I supposed to be kind to myself or face the world cold and unequipped?"
Are there answers to these questions? Well, only I can be the judge of when I need to either work harder or give myself a break. I have to listen to my intuition sometimes. Do I have a good enough intuition to make the right decisions all the time? Probably not. But I'm never going to learn anything unless I make some of my own decisions. In this story, I actually decided to get out of bed, but not for the job interview. After calming myself down in bed for a bit, I grabbed my guitar and wrote a song. I felt quite relieved.
One could argue that skipping a job interview is inherently a bad idea, but whatever. I was fresh out of college and I already had a part-time job as a private music tutor. I applied for this new job solely because I thought I was supposed to get a full-time job right away; many of my post-graduate peers were either going to grad school or starting their careers. I thought that if I didn't work full-time like everyone else, they would all think I was a failure. Looking back, I realized that the pressure to please other people made me anxious, not the interview itself. So here I am now, still only a few months out of college, doing things that I enjoy: I'm recording an album with my close friends, scoring a soundtrack for a play, revisiting an old hobby that I've abandoned (writing stories), and teaching bright young minds about the wonders of music. I don't need to work nine-to-five at the moment. I'm alive and happy with the decisions I'm making.
"There is a magic button, and if you were to push it, then from that moment on nobody would experience the tingly feeling they get when they see someone attractive ever again. They would still be able to recognize attractive features, but that specific sensation would be lost forever.
Do you push the button?"
I read this question aloud from a laminated card to the circle of people gathered around the snack table at a meetup in Berkeley and grabbed a handful of chips from the open party-sized bag.
"Obviously yes," I said after a short pause.
"Why obviously?"
"Because it would help solve a lot of inequality. I feel like people are often discriminated against for not being attractive," I explained. "They have to work extra hard to get others to trust them, have worse outcomes when tried for crimes, and have a harder time making friends and finding romantic partners. And most of the world also acts like this isn't true. They prefer the comfortable lie that the only thing that matters is what's on the inside, and if your heart is beautiful then people will see that beauty. But I don't think that's really the case."
An older man to my right jumped in: "is eliminating inequality a good thing in and of itself though? And isn't removing the tingly feeling of seeing someone attractive explicitly limiting the best of us, rather than trying to bring others up to that level? I could see pushing a button that made everyone extremely attractive, but this is closer to taking away attractiveness altogether."
"I guess I feel like the amount of suffering that would be eased by pushing the button outweighs the suffering brought on by the extra work attractive people now have to do to be liked."
"But," he objected, "it's not just about suffering. I have an intuition that there is something uniquely valuable about that tingly feeling. Sort of like how humans appreciate beauty in art and music, and this is agreed upon as something that is specific to humans and very special. Taking that away would be like taking away the shiver you get when a song connects with you just the right way."
A girl across the table added, "would you push the button if it meant that nobody would ever experience the tingly feeling they get when they hear a beautiful voice?"
This was par for the course at a meetup for readers of the philosophy blog SlateStarCodex. I made a mental note about how much I loved talking about questions like this, and the particular discussion styles that marked people who were especially good at it -- patterns like the ability to ask questions in analogous forms, and the ability to cut straight to the root of disagreements.
"I guess not," I admitted.
"Is that just because you feel like the amount of inequality resulting from variation in voices is not as much as the amount of inequality resulting from variation in attractiveness?" she asked.
"That would be consistent, but actually now I'm just questioning my initial instinct to push the first button. Maybe I wouldn't."
The older man grabbed an Oreo. "But do you think inequality is wrong in principle? Let's suppose everyone in the world starts out looking exactly as attractive as each other, and then one day someone is born who is 10% more attractive. Are we morally obligated to do everything we can to make them less attractive?"
I frowned. "Well… not in that case, but if you add in the fact that there are limited resources and all of those people are in competition with each other -- a competition in which being attractive helps you -- then I don't think it's a stretch to say that the inequality leads to unneeded suffering. Like, let's say an extremely attractive woman is born who all the men then decide they want to compete to woo. They all end up spending all this extra energy on the competition that would have otherwise been spent doing important things which now don't get done, so society suffers in that way, first of all. And then there's competition among the women where they all want to be more attractive now that the benefits have been made so obvious, so they start spending their time trying to get men to want to woo them, so again society suffers. And then the world gradually sorts itself into one that is divided into stratas of attractiveness where life is best for those who are the most attractive. And now if someone is born who is 10% less attractive than the mode then they've been forced into this lower class and denied privileges they would have had if attractiveness didn't matter so much."
I looked around the circle to see nods of agreement and picked up another card. This one read "what is your craziest sexual fantasy?"
The argument that there is something uniquely valuable about the tingly feeling of seeing someone attractive is interesting. It's not unlike the feeling I get when I hear beautiful music, or see a beautiful painting. I wouldn't push a button that got rid of those feelings. I wouldn't push a button that stopped us from feeling love.
Societies tend to produce a lot of art once they hit a threshold of being able to keep people fed and safe. Some people go so far as to say that things like art, music, and love are what give life meaning, that the point of modern society is that it gives us leisure time to do with what we please. Born of this school of thought is the advice that you should follow your dreams. Do something you're passionate about and you'll never work a day in your life. And reactionarily, the counter-advice, keep your passions separate from your job. Be passionate about your hobbies, but pick a job with security that you're good at and that makes you money.
Even so, for many of us with job security and generous wages, the allure of following our dreams still tinges every discussion of the future. "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" I'm not sure. Either I will have followed my dreams by then, or I will still be doing what I'm doing, and not finding it unenjoyable, because how could such a cushy life ever be unenjoyable, but also markedly noticing that even though this isn't bad, it still is not my passion.
One friend jokes about quitting his consulting job to found a startup. Another travels the world, "funemployed." One friend leaves a big tech company to pursue stand-up comedy. I see a video of his set on Facebook later -- he's hilarious. Then I go to work and help build a product that a billion people use, with my teammates who are basically the smartest and most conscientious people I know. And at the end of the day I have a jam session with a bassist who used to play music professionally before deciding that having his career be music was slowly draining his passion for music. When I grab dinner with him later and tell him that in 5 years I will have tried doing music as a job he considers it for a moment and says, "given what I know about you, I actually think you would really enjoy that." I think back to what one of my high school teachers once said about a career in music: "you have to love it enough to risk hating it." I think about what I would be risking if I did leave my job.
Passion does weird things. It can make it seem admirable to leave a well paying and impactful job for a cheap apartment near an arts scene. Romantic, even. If I tell you that a successful CEO stepped down from his position at 35, you are confused until I mention that he's really passionate about charity work and hopes to shift his focus to doing more of that. Following your passion is kind of like the ultimate justification for doing anything, especially things that involve a lot of sacrifice. And maybe this is rightly so -- what else could possibly pull you away from your good-enough life to try out a maybe-better-but-maybe-worse alternative?
Or, more realistically, it's a maybe-better-but-probably-worse alternative. At least for the musicians, artists, and stand-ups. Only a tiny fraction of us ever achieve conventional success. Of those who are able to make a living doing what we love, even fewer get mega-star levels of fame. And of those who do get famous, many will never have as positive an impact on the world as I can have doing software engineering on a billion-user product. If I fix a 911 call issue, that's a billion people who now have more reliable emergency services. If in addition to that I donate 10% of my income to effective charities, that's 3+ lives saved annually. Most doctors don't save that many lives in a year, and their job is literally to save lives.
But, of course, there are worthwhile goals other than the ones which do the most good. If your moral compass points another way, as Emerson would argue, you'd best follow that compass, because at the end of the day the only person to account for your life is you. So maybe the answer is, as Dan Harmon says, to only do it if you could spend your whole life doing it without ever "making it," and you would still be happy and feel like that was a worthwhile life. But that's less practical advice and more just a way to calibrate your expectations. If you're doing it to get famous, you're probably going to burn out before you get famous. In other words, if you really have enough passion to fuel a lifetime of work, Harmon says go for it. In a way, looking for a career related to your passion is a natural consequence of that passion itself.
So let's say you have a magic button. If you push it, then from that moment on, nobody will experience passion ever again. They would still be able to honestly evaluate their skills and appreciate well executed art, but the specific feeling of drive that leads people to make stupid decisions would be lost forever. They would finally be able to plan for their futures in realistic ways, weighing the low percent chance of success with the safety of a conventional career.
Do you push the button?
Content warning: some talk of sex and consent
I am allowed to want sex. This is for some reason really hard for me to get into my dumb head. But I think it might still be true.
I'm not prude and not afraid of revealing things about myself when directly asked. I think in general I'm even pro-sex. But still something deep inside me feels like wanting sex is bad because sometimes people force other people into having it, and it's hard to imagine someone enthusiastically consenting to having sex with me. I know this is not a reasoned position, but cut me some slack because it took me a long time to even realize that there is this thing inside me.
I've said before that the first time I heard the phrase "Asian fetish" I sort of knew instinctively that it didn't refer to attraction to Asian men, only women. (Maybe you could point out odd counterexamples but I think by and large this is still true.) I also recently realized that I sort of in general by default assume that people are grossed out by the idea of physical intimacy with me. Even when I was in elementary school I felt so bad for girls who were forced to hold my hand because we happened to be standing next to each other in a circle in gym class. I've always felt inwardly like all touch from me must be secretly unwanted, and this often keeps me from hugging and kissing people.
Sex feels good physically, and it also makes me feel desirable and useful. Desirable because it generally involves a partner to act as evidence that there are people who find me attractive enough to fuck, and useful because that partner also often gets something out of it.
Also, "allowed to want sex" sounds a lot like I think I'm entitled to sex. I think that's related to why it's so hard for me to get it into my dumb head.


text:
A dating app that reduces the chance of harassment? The expert: I really like the idea of this app because it creates a safe environment for women online.It's also the perfect opportunity for women to take control. I find that women are more cautious when it comes to initiating contact but this could be the perfect way to eradicate the 'damsel in distress' attitude, where women are seen as 'needing a man' to take the lead.
The only downside is that my ex-boyfriend lives nearby so it's like he's literally always on my radar.And if you've still feel hesitant about swiping right, more celebrities than you think have used their phones in pursuit of love.If it's good enough for Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Lily Allen, Matthew Perry and Hilary Duff, well, it's good enough for you.While you're usually all about female empowerment, you're not wearing the right shoes to chase him down the street to exchange numbers, or you know, tell him he's The One?Dejected, you can't help but think Mr Right is now untraceable - there goes your happy ever after.


text: This is a diagram of several Bible verses, which run, in the RSV, "More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us." (Romans 5:3-5) It's kind of a hardcore, suck-it-up kind of verse, but I like it anyway. It's one of those ones I tend to remember when things go wrong (although when things go really really wrong, it also makes a handy hammer to beat myself over the head with: I apparently need more suffering or I'm never going to develop any character, much less hope.).


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Journals » PLOS Medicine » Antiretroviral Therapy for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons: A Call for Equity
Posted date: 2014-06-10 21:00:00
Tags: None
Citation: Mendelsohn JB, Spiegel P, Schilperoord M, Cornier N, Ross DA (2014) Antiretroviral Therapy for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons: A Call for Equity. PLoS Med 11(6): e1001643. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001643
Published: June 10, 2014
Copyright: © 2014 Mendelsohn et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: Financial support was provided by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Doctoral Research Award, Priority Announcement for HIV/AIDS #200710IDB), the Parkes Foundation (PhD Grant Fund), the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (Research Training Support Grant), and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). UNHCR, but not the other funding agencies, assisted in study design, interpretation of results, and drafting of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Abbreviations: ART, antiretroviral therapy; IDP, internally displaced person; NSP, National Strategic Plan; PLHIV, people living with HIV and AIDS; UNHCR, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Provenance: Commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
For people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV), treatment with antiretroviral therapy (ART) can result in viral suppression, prolonged life expectancy, and reduced HIV transmission [1]–[3]. To realize these benefits, PLHIV require regular access to medications and supportive services. Within conflict-affected settings, there are unique challenges to providing, accessing, and adhering to ART [4],[5]. An estimated 1.5 billion people live in countries impacted by violent conflict and 45.2 million are forcibly displaced as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, and/or human rights violations [6],[7]. In 2006, 1.8 million PLHIV were affected by conflict, disaster, or displacement. Half of countries (7/15) with the largest number of PLHIV were affected by a major conflict between 2002 and 2006 [8]. Conflict-affected persons reside in areas of recent or active conflict, or in a post-conflict camp, urban, or rural setting, and may be accorded an official status depending on their situation [9],[10]. Refugee status is available to individuals with "a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his/her nationality and is unable or unwilling (owing to such fear) to avail him/herself of the protection of that country" [11]. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are citizens who have "been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border" [12]. A protracted refugee situation occurs when >25,000 refugees of the same nationality have been in exile for ≥5 years. At the end of 2012, 6.4 million refugees, or 61% of the global total of 10.5 million, lived in a protracted situation [7]. In the post-emergency phase of forced displacement, refugees and IDPs live in relatively "stable" settings, meaning that exceptional measures are no longer required to remove threats to life or well-being [13]. Here, we synthesize norms of practice with evidence on the impact of ART programs in stable settings, including our own experiences delivering and evaluating ART as part of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) mandate. We then propose operational recommendations for improving HIV treatment outcomes among refugees and IDPs in stable settings. Moral, legal, and public health principles, in combination with recent evidence, provide a clear rationale for sustainable treatment provision and adequate support for refugees and IDPs.
Debates over the merits of providing ART to refugees and IDPs have echoed earlier discussions on treatment scale-up in resource-constrained settings [14]. Four main arguments support the provision of ART to these groups: (1) the evidence for clinical benefit, reduced transmission, and cost-effectiveness supports the scaling-up of treatment to all in need [15],[16]; (2) where scarcity exists, principles of fairness should be applied uniformly to allocation of treatment [17],[18]; (3) the right to health, including the principle of access to essential medicines, clearly articulates a rationale for providing access to life-saving interventions for PLHIV [19]–[21]; and (4) the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees enshrines a principle of equity whereby hosting countries should provide refugees with a similar standard of medical care to the standard that is routinely available to host nationals [11],[12].
In practice, however, countries do not uniformly provide access to ART within their borders [22], and international assistance can be slow in reaching these groups. Compared with unaffected countries, conflict-affected countries received less than half of the funds provided through overseas development assistance (ODA) for reproductive health services in the period 2006–2008 [23]. Funding cycles are also temporary. Funding provided for refugees and local populations by the World Bank through the Great Lakes Initiative on AIDS for refugees and surrounding host populations recently ended, leading to a resource gap. Given budget pressures, national governments may give preferential treatment to nationals and/or non-minorities. Funds provided by the major donors such as Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund), and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) are less likely to find groups who are excluded from national funding proposals, an omission that is more likely to occur when such marginalized groups are also excluded from HIV National Strategic Plans (NSPs). Of NSPs issued in the ten year period from 1998 to 2008 by African countries, only 52% and 43% mentioned refugees and IDPs, respectively [24],[25].
Evidence of effectiveness is needed to support arguments for scaling-up treatment and support. Findings from studies conducted among refugees and IDPs showed that 87%–99.5% of clients studied had achieved ≥95% adherence and positive treatment outcomes, as measured by survival and CD4 gains [26]. However, outside of high-income settings, very few published studies have used virologic outcomes to assess program performance. One study that compared citizens with "foreigners" who relocated to Johannesburg found higher levels of viral suppression among the displaced group (76% versus 58%, p = 0.02) [27].
Our direct experience comes from delivering and evaluating ART programs as part of UNHCR's mandate to protect refugees. We conducted two evaluations using virologic outcomes in two stable refugee settings (Table 1). In a stable urban setting (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), similar proportions of refugees and host nationals accessing treatment from a shared clinic achieved viral suppression (83% overall), while proportions adhering to treatment were similar according to pharmacy refill records and self-reports [28]. In a stable refugee camp (Kakuma, Kenya), considerably lower proportions (50% overall) of both groups on treatment for ≥25 weeks were virologically suppressed [29]. This discrepancy may have been due to unverified adherence lapses, background levels of drug resistance, or high ambient medication storage temperatures [29]. These evaluations, in combination with evidence from other settings, suggest that treatment outcomes among stable refugees or IDPs, and host nationals, are similar when treatment and support is accessed from a shared clinic. Therefore, similar levels of viral suppression should be expected, although more challenging settings will require more intensive and specialized support for all population groups. Even in stable settings, disruptions may still occur. During the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya, an otherwise stable setting, people on ART appeared to have difficulties locating and/or taking their treatment. During this period of instability, 16% of clients on ART interrupted their treatment, as compared with 10% during a stable comparison period, and mortality rates increased [30],[31]. In stable settings at increased risk for disruption, the potential negative effects of treatment interruptions may be lessened if the period of disruption is short, there are strong contingency plans in place for ensuring continuing access to treatment, and people on ART have been educated on how to best manage their treatment in these challenging circumstances.
Despite the challenges, there is now general agreement on the public health, humanitarian, and human rights arguments that support access to ART for refugees and IDPs when clinically indicated [32]–[35]. To this end, donors, health care workers, and hosting countries should collaborate on strategies for expanding access and providing the necessary supportive services. On the basis of our experiences implementing ART interventions for refugees and IDPs in stable post-conflict settings, our own rigorous evaluations of two such programs, and the experiences of others in this area, we have proposed a set of operational recommendations in support of ART programs for refugees and IDPs situated in stable settings (Table 2). These recommendations are intended to complement WHO's new consolidated guidelines on the use of antiretroviral drugs [36].
Table 2. Recommendations for provision of antiretroviral therapy to refugees and IDPs in stable settings.doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001643.t002
First, treatment should be offered to all refugees and IDPs who meet national guidelines (Recommendation 1). Despite the known effectiveness of ART, some governments may be reluctant to provide it to these groups owing to a misplaced belief that starting or continuing them on treatment may make it difficult for them to return home and that ART may serve as a pull factor, drawing additional refugee claimants to the country. However, the majority of hosting countries (88%) provide equitable access to ART for refugees and IDPs, UNHCR has not noted such a pull factor [37], and international humanitarian law entitles refugees to equitable access. IDPs should clearly benefit from inclusion in their national HIV programs. Scaling-up of HIV counseling and testing so all who are eligible are given a chance to initiate ART at the optimal time will save lives and reduce costs by increasing survival and reducing HIV transmission [2],[3],[38]. Appropriate measures must be taken to ensure that key populations (e.g., men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, transgender persons, and sex workers) within refugee, IDP, and host national groups also receive equitable access to treatment and testing.
ART should be available in convenient locations through decentralized networks of clinics and pharmacies (Recommendation 2) or delivered directly to clients who are unable to access the medications themselves (Recommendation 3). Dosing instructions that are designed and proven to be universally understood should be provided with each medication refill (Recommendation 4). In areas with extreme ambient temperatures, drug stocks should be stored carefully and within the temperature ranges suggested by manufacturers (Recommendation 5).
Adherence monitoring and support is crucial for achieving consistent treatment outcomes and can help to avoid costly treatment failures. Viral load testing should be used to diagnose or confirm treatment failures (Recommendation 6) and may be done on an annual basis or as often as resources will permit. Pharmacy-based and self-reported measures should also be used to routinely monitor adherence (Recommendation 8). Although adherence self-reports may overestimate adherence, they have diagnostic value, are easy to implement in clinical settings, and can help to complement pharmacy refill measures when the period between refills is lengthy or if the pharmacy data is inconsistently recorded. Both measures are consistent with previous recommendations and are associated with virologic outcomes [39]–[41].
Community health and counseling teams who are sensitized to gender, ethnic, and linguistic challenges should be mobilized (Recommendation 9). Interventions that employ mobile phone text messaging, enhanced counseling and peer-support should be pilot-tested among refugees and IDPs to assess acceptability and effectiveness [42]–[44]. Addressing travel distances to clinics and transportation costs are crucial as longer travel times and higher costs may increase the likelihood of treatment interruptions [45]–[47]. Peer-support groups for both clients and health care providers can facilitate troubleshooting of local challenges (Recommendation 10). Refugees and IDPs may travel to re-unite with family in host countries, repatriate to their home country, or resettle to a new country. Even in stable settings, proper preparations for the possibility of onward displacement are important to include in programming and will serve the dual purpose of preparing people on treatment for sudden, unexpected instability (Recommendation 11). [48] As barriers to accessing treatment and supportive services sometimes include fear of detention by law enforcement officials during routine transit in urban and rural settings, interventions are needed to increase awareness among law enforcement officials of the rights accorded to refugees, asylum-seekers, and IDPs (Recommendation 12) [49].
As treatment guidelines change, new regimens will need to be stocked and distributed. Measures should be taken to avoid situations where stock-outs or the threat of stock-outs lead to forced alteration of ART refill schedules. Remote pharmacies and clinics (e.g., refugee camps) are advised to allow a transitional overlap of between the discontinuation of an old regimen and the implementation of a new regimen (Recommendation 13). There is a lack of integration, in general, between HIV and other programs including TB services; clinical settings serving refugees and IDPs are no different [50]. Diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis should therefore be integrated with HIV services (Recommendation 14).
Host countries are advised to include specific results-oriented interventions for refugees and IDPs in their NSPs, Global Fund, and PEPFAR proposals (Recommendation 15). These proposals should identify a plan for equitable access to ART and which agencies will be responsible for program delivery [51]. Regional initiatives can facilitate partnerships in treatment management by providing a framework for assisting those who move within a country or across an international border, while helping to monitor and distinguish clients who are successfully re-integrated into treatment programs elsewhere from those who have been lost to follow-up. By engaging in partnerships with humanitarian organizations, governments can leverage international funds for the benefit of their own citizens as well as the groups they are hosting (Recommendation 16) [52]. Finally, there is a continuing need for additional evidence. As the majority of research has been conducted among adult refugees and IDPs, there is a need for research among children and young people [53],[54]. As past studies among refugees and IDPs have largely focused on short-term outcomes, prospective cohort studies or intervention studies with virologic endpoints are needed. We are not aware of any data on rates of acquired or transmitted drug resistance among these groups (Recommendation 17).
Overall, this set of recommendations will face a range of implementation barriers including resource constraints and coordination challenges among stakeholders. However, these improvements will be necessary if sustainable treatment outcomes are to be achieved among refugees and IDPs who live in stable settings.
Given recent evidence and the moral, legal, and public health arguments, refugees and IDPs situated in stable settings should have equitable access to HIV treatment and supportive services. Despite encouraging treatment outcomes among these groups across a range of settings, considerable challenges persist. Programs that are not achieving high levels of success should serve as a call for intervention, not exclusion. Few would rationally argue that challenges to providing life-saving treatment should be addressed by denying access. Since antiretroviral therapy can help prevent onward transmission of HIV to sexual partners [2], it is in the enlightened self-interest of governments that host refugees and IDPs to support programs that serve all populations within their borders to the highest possible standard.
Analyzed the data: JBM PS MS NC DAR. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: PS MS NC. Wrote the first draft of the manuscript: JBM. Contributed to the writing of the manuscript: JBM PS MS NC DAR. ICMJE criteria for authorship read and met: JBM PS MS NC DAR. Agree with manuscript results and conclusions: JBM PS MS NC DAR. Developed the idea for the paper: JBM PS DAR. All authors read, commented on, and approved the final manuscript.
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whims + space with Pamella Heikel/
Pamella and I talk about how to get quiet and really hear when "whims" come in. And how, maybe "whim" is a word that doesn't quite work for us. In the space between our thoughts, in "the gap," that's when we recognize that receiving is happening. This is where we clear the space to plug in.
For Pam, routine helps. "In routine, there is freedom." And then, angels sang.
Catch up with everything Pamella is up to on her Facebook page. She does face-to-face meditation, qigong, and other soul-centred energy work. Also, a little bird told me that there may be some workshop-length projects on the horizon!
Be sure to watch through and see my visual plug for the best chai in Edmonton—and perhaps, the entire world!


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Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology (한국해양공학회지)
- Volume 27 Issue 3
- /
- Pages.73-78
- /
- 2013
- /
- 1225-0767(pISSN)
- /
- 2287-6715(eISSN)
DOI QR Code
Flow-Turbine Interaction CFD Analysis for Performance Evaluation of Vertical Axis Tidal Current Turbines (II)
- Received : 2013.03.19
- Accepted : 2013.06.10
- Published : 2013.06.30
CFD (computational fluid dynamics) analyses that considered the dynamic interaction effects between the flow and a turbine were performed to evaluate the power output characteristics of two representative vertical-axis tidal-current turbines: an H-type Darrieus turbine and Gorlov helical turbine (GHT). For this purpose, a commercial CFD code, Star-CCM+, was utilized, and the power output characteristic were investigated in relation to the scale ratio using the relation between the Reynolds number and the lift-to-drag ratio. It was found that the power coefficients were significantly reduced when the scaled model turbine was used, especially when the Reynolds number was lower than
Flow-turbine interaction analysis;Computational fluid dynamics;Vertical axis tidal current turbine;H-type darrieus turbine;Gorlov helical turbine
- Gorlov, A.M., 1995. The Helical Turbine: a New Idea for Lowhead Hydropower. Hydro Rev., 14(5) 44-50.
- Hyun, B.S., Choi, D.H., Han, J.S., Jin, J.Y., 2012. Performance Analysis and Design of Vertical Axis Tidal Stream Turbine. Journal of Shipping and Ocean Engineering, 2, 191-200.
- Jung, H.J., Rhee, S.H., Song, M., Hyun, B.S., 2009. A Numerical Study of Unsteady Flow around a Vertical Axis Turbine for Tidal Current Energy Conversion. Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environmental Engineering, 12(1), 9-14.
- Kim, J.M., Han, D.H. Chung, H., 2012, Field test for 100kW floating tidal power system. Proceedings of the Asian Wave and Tidal Energy Conference 2012.
- Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI), 2011. Development of Utilization Technique for Tide and Tidal Current Energy. Final Report Submitted to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.
- Kroo, I., 2007. Applied Aerodynamics:A Digital Textbook. Desktop Aeronautics, Inc.
- Li, Y., Calisala, S.M., 2010. Modeling of Twin-turbine Systems with Vertical Axis Tidal Current Turbines: Part I-Power output. Ocean Engineering, 37(7), 627-637 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2010.01.006
- Shiono, M., Suzuki, K., Kiho, S., 2000. An Experimental Study of the Characteristics of a Darrieus Turbine for Tidal Power Generation. Electronic Engineering in Japan, 132(3), 781-787.
- Yi, J.-H., Oh, S.-H., Park, J.-S., Lee, K.-S., Lee, S.-Y., 2013. Flow- Turbine Interaction CFD Analysis for Performance Evaluation of Vertical Axis Tidal Current Turbines (I). Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology, 27(3), 67-72.
Cited by
- Flow-Turbine Interaction CFD Analysis for Performance Evaluation of Vertical Axis Tidal Current Turbines (I) vol.27, pp.3, 2013, https://doi.org/10.5574/KSOE.2013.27.3.067


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Plan hopes to reduce transmission infection rate to under 5% by 2020
China has pledged to offer free screening and treatment for HIV/AIDS and two other kinds of infectious diseases to pregnant women to control their transmission from mother to fetus."We decided to carry out a plan to prevent the transmission of AIDS, syphilis and hepatitis-B from mother to fetus by offering free screening services and comprehensive intervention treatment," according to a 2015 work plan announced by the National Health and Family Planning Commission on Tuesday.
The plan said that HIV-positive pregnant women would receive free anti-virus treatment at qualified medical and health institutes.
Medical and health organizations should provide confidential but quality antenatal and birth care to infected pregnant women, and encourage natural birth instead of through a cesarean section, read the plan.
"Proper medical treatment during pregnancy is important if an infected woman wants to have natural birth. After giving birth, both the mother and child still need to take prescription medication to reduce the transmission rate," Shao Yiming, an AIDS expert at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Global Times.
Medical and health organizations should instruct the mothers to avoid breast-feeding and provide early tests for the HIV virus and anti-bodies as well as free anti-viral treatment to the newborn, the plan added.
The plan likewise encourages medical and health organizations at different levels to provide HIV/AIDS, syphilis and hepatitis-B education and offer professional consultations.
An increasing number of fertile women in China have been infected with HIV/AIDS and syphilis mainly through sexual transmission, which poses a serious challenge to preventing mother-to-fetus transmission, the National Health and Family Planning Commission said.
Meanwhile, the mother-to-child transmission rate of HIV/AIDS has slowly been dropping, while the congenital syphilis rate has remained at a high level in recent years due to the inadequate management of a floating population, delayed virus testing for pregnant women and limited prevention methods, according to the commission.
The work plan vows to expand prevention work to all cities and counties in China by the end of 2015, reduce the rate of mother-to-fetus transmission of HIV/AIDS to below 5 percent by 2020 and reduce the rate of babies born with syphilis to below 15 out of 100,000 live babies by the end of 2020.
Offering comprehensive intervention treatment to infected pregnant women and their children could minimize the transmission rate from mother to fetus and improve their health and quality of life, the plan explained.
Preventing the transmission of the diseases from mother to fetus is important to reduce the death rate of pregnant women and children under 5 years old and increase the population quality at birth, the commission said.
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Arizona assistant coach Mark Phelps will miss two games and forward Keanu Pinder will miss the Wildcats' opener Friday against NAU because of violations of NCAA rules, the school announced.
Phelps will also be suspended for UA's game against UMBC on Sunday and a total of five days. UA said his suspension is not related to the ongoing federal investigation into college basketball.
Pinder is scheduled to return Sunday, UA said, without mentioning if his issue was related to the federal investigation.
The suspensions mean a total of seven eligible UA team members will not be involved with Friday's season opener: Phelps, Pinder, assistant coach Book Richardson (federal charges), Dylan Smith (team violation), Brandon Randolph (possibly because of a concussion), Rawle Alkins (broken foot), Kory Jones (ACL).
Richardson was arrested on federal bribery and fraud charges on Sept. 26, and the school has moved to fire him. UA head coach Sean Miller has consistently declined to comment on the situation, except to say he supports the investigation and has worked for years to run things under NCAA rules.
In a Sept. 26 federal complaint, Richardson was alleged to have taken $20,000 and funneling at least most of it to five-star point guard Jahvon Quinerly, who committed to the Wildcats but has since decommitted.
The complaint also quoted a sports agent saying that a current UA player has been paid, and that he has easy access to UA's normally closed practices. The complaint also quoted a shoe company rep saying Arizona offered five-star Florida forward Nassir Little $150,000.
In addition, the federal complaint alleges that a then-UA assistant coach other than Richardson exchanged two telephone calls with a financial advisor who later played a role in a scheme to pay players via coaches the day after two UA coaches met with the advisor in Las Vegas during the Pac-12 Tournament.
The only Arizona coach on last year's staff who is no longer on it is Joe Pasternack, who left his position as UA associate head coach to become the head coach of UC Santa Barbara.
Brandon Williams signed his scholarship papers for Arizona, becoming the Wildcats' first confirmed addition to the recruiting class of 2018 (though signing the non-binding papers gives him an out if NCAA sanctions hit Arizona).
Officially a Wildcat❗Can't wait🖊🐻🔽#SigningDay #UnFinishedBusiness— Brandon Williams (@TheeBWill) November 10, 2017


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United Football Academy
(for players aged 8rs – 12 yrs)
The United Football Academy will commence immediately following the upcoming school holidays with a start date of Monday 15 October 2018. It will run until December 2018 and will be on both Monday and Wednesday night 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm and will be coached by FFA accredited coaches. The cost of participating in the UFA is $550, and an option to undertake a payment plan is available upon request.
Further details outlining the academy will be advised in the coming weeks, however, registrations are now open on the My Football Club website myfootballclub.com.au If you have any questions then please don't hesitate to contact one of our coaches/officials listed below.
This is a fantastic opportunity to continue your football development in a fun environment.
|Vice President
|Stan Mitchell
|Youth Development Officer
|Steve Kunovec
|Nicolle Sullivan


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Q&A recap: Politicians debate rumours, slurs and innuendo
And later there was this, from Jones as he tried to hose down the duelling panellists from Labor, Tanya Plibersek, and the Greens, Richard Di Natale: "Both of you pause," he insisted, as close to exasperated as Jones allows himself in the midst of considerable provocation.
"Excuse me," he said. "Put you both on pause."
Yes, please.
If only.
Q&A traversed the national discourse, as is its obligation.
Unfortunately it bumped up against… the national discourse, as mostly set by those two fine contributors to the national discourse, Barnaby Joyce and Michaelia Cash.
And a worse national discourse you could not hope to bump up against.
It began with the opening question: "My question is about rumours."
The questioner went on to ask about "slurs and innuendos", and continued: "It sets a really poor example for our young people. Some of whom have been subjected to outrageous rumours in cyberspace and sometimes with really tragic consequences. What's the panel's view about this slide in standards and how can our politicians set a better example?"
Oh, how we laughed!
Or might have laughed, if there was a possibility of this question being received by a credible answer.
Plibersek ventured: "Well, we can set a better example by not doing it."
This was right and true, but the nation processes this stuff through the prism of regular recent visits to the national footwear factory, otherwise known as Federal Parliament: if the shoe was on the other foot.
And the national footwear factory has long provided evidence that the shoe fits both feet, and that claiming the moral high ground is a recipe for tripping over a well-sized shoe.
The government representative on the panel, Angus Taylor, had the unfortunate task of being the government representative on the panel.
This included such tasks as explaining both Barnaby Joyce and Michaelia Cash.
Taylor, who exudes the conviction of a faulty can of hairspray, did the worst with what he had in his arsenal.
Of Cash's appalling turn against unnamed staffers in Bill Shorten's office, he opened with this: "And it came from a strong woman who has been a very good mentor to many women in her career."
"Hooray for Michaelia Cash," said nobody watching.
Later came the audience question: "I was wondering, how can the government say it opposes bullying when they are continually slandering and stabbing each other? How can they say it's wrong when they practice it?"
Jones: "Angus, this must be a widespread feeling out in the community? It's come from a young senior school person there."
Taylor: "Max, you ask a fair question. And sometimes the parliament doesn't behave as it should, as I said earlier. But I think the vast majority of the work that is done in the parliament is done in a respectful way. And it should be."
And yet, wondered Tony Jones: "Is this the time now for the coach of the team… the PM in this case, to pull the team together and sit them down and say, 'This has got to stop'?"
Taylor: "But there's been no shortage of incidents of bullying from the other side of politics at times. We've seen that from the union movement."
In other words, no.
The argy-bargy continued.
Plibersek and Di Natale went to-and-fro, confirming that the fight for political support is at least as fierce between centre-left and somewhat-centre-left as it is between vaguely left and somewhat right and somewhat right and extremely right.
The panel collisions between Labor and Green were more heated than anything produced by clashes between Labor and Liberal.
Jones had to intervene in another stoush, warning: "I'm still the moderator".
And to Taylor, on the Adani mine project, he said: "You'd be against the Greens completely and partly against Labor because they haven't decided?"
Taylor: "I'll tell you what's fascinating…"
Plibersek: "It's not true we haven't decided. You can't keep saying that."
Taylor: "Let me finish, Tanya. What's so fascinating about what we're watching here is the showdown tells us everything about the great challenge for the modern Labor Party. Which is on the one hand they have an inner-city educated elite that they've got to appeal to, who are typically increasingly becoming the domain of the Greens.
"And then on the other hand they have to win the traditional working-class Labor voters in places like Townsville, in the regional cities and centres. The problem, Tanya…"
The mansplain went on.
Plibersek responded: "We're actually trying to govern for the whole country. I'll tell you what, Angus, why is it that the Liberals won't run a candidate in Batman? Because they want the Greens to win. Ask yourself, why do the Liberals want the Greens to win? Ask yourself."
Di Natale: "Because we're great."
Oh, how we laughed.
Yes, he was joking - but there was Australian politics circa 2018 summed up in a nutshell.
Because we're great.
And we laughed and laughed, and then we stopped.


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Read the latest blog articles of Kathryn Lovewell; her thoughts, feelings, and insights.
Yoga Bliss!
I have returned home from the most exquisite yoga class. I was listening to Jon Kabat Zinn's book Full Catastrophe Living last week where he eloquently reminded me of the benefits of Hatha Yoga. I was very fortunate to learn Hatha Yoga at a young age. My grandparents taught me and practised with me whenever .. read more
Exploring Parenting & Teaching Parallels
Next Monday I launch my first book "Every Teacher Matters – Inspiring Well-being through Mindfulness" I've been asked repeatedly if it's useful for parents. Yes is the answer! As a mum of 3 boys, I have been using the techniques ever since they were little – to help me and to help them cope with .. read more
The Education Debates Begin!
What do you think school is for? What do you believe should be taught in schools? Last night respected speakers on Education came together to debate what school is fundamentally for. It was a superb evening of conflicting opinions about what is important for a child. Views varied – academia vs vocational; age dependent academic .. read more
Out of your Control or Out of Control?
So many things are out of your control. The best laid plans and all that… You can be the most organised teacher and lay down contingency plans for seemingly every eventually you think humanly possible and still something happens that you simply could not have foreseen. The challenge is how you cope with and manage .. read more
Fun & Frolicking!
Just a little reminder to have fun! The wedding was, as I imagined a beautiful (and wet) day. I had lots of fun. I danced my heart out and had lots of fun dancing with friends that I love. Today I feel blessed, satisfied and content. I gave myself permission to have fun, let my .. read more
Wellies Wedding!
I'm up in Gloucestershire for a friend's wedding today. The ceremony and celebrations will be in the middle of a field. Needless to say, it has not been and is not "ideal" weather. The summer of 2012 has been a wash out. As I gaze out of the window all I see is a flat .. read more
End of Term Tension
By the end of term exhaustion levels are so high, that tempers tend to flare and tolerance levels are low – on the part of students as well as the teachers. I was supporting a group of teachers in a specialist autism school yesterday where the school is undergoing radical restructuring. Not only are the .. read more


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The holiday season is almost here and that means that it's time again for my annual gift guide: the Bookish Gift Guide 2017! The list below contains gift ideas that are perfect for a bibliophile. Gifts have been categorized according to possible budgets. Hovering on the image will give you a link where you can buy the item. Happy browsing!
Which item is your favorite? Comment below!


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Completed RPG Wood Furniture Tavern Inn
SamuraiJack, in Kickstarter
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ALA News
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03/07/2014 - 15:05
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03/26/2014 - 08:43
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03/04/2014 - 17:33
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The BI (Business Intelligence) realty for most organizations is difficulty in using the system, fragmented information, inflexible, and costly. So, it is important to have a robust reporting services which helps in providing business insights leading to a better, faster, more relevant decisions.
CES helps in meeting the BI challenges by providing various reporting services thereby creating more business value, empowering users, reducing complexity, and organizing BI to become more effective.


text:
First, a disclaimer: My work schedule has just gotten fairly crazy, and it looks like it might stay like that for a while. So, for the time being, I'm planning on publishing new blog posts at night instead of in the mornings. This gives me a bit longer to work on them and takes some of the stress away. Ok, now on to the fun stuff.
Today, I spent the better portion of the day driving around the Mississippi River Delta. It's truly a unique part of the country & brimming with hidden gems. From seemingly forgotten rail lines to historic graveyards you can find culture everywhere you look.
Also, farm-fresh eggs brighten any dreary day. Dad scored these from a guy he works with. When he came home, Dad hesitantly told me I might not like them. Why? Because they're all different sizes and colors. Dad was expecting uniform brown eggs – I had to convince him that the different colors and sizes was completely normal. 😉


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Opposition to East Lantau Metropolis
Launched: 12 October 2018
The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, has ignored the public objections to the reclamation. In this year's policy address, the " Lantau Tomorrow" vision confirms the implementation of the 'East Lantau Metropolis'. This is a massive reclamation project creating a 1,700 hectares artificial islands in between Kau Yi Chau, Hei Ling Chau and Peng Chau. The scale is the largest reclamation project in Hong Kong's history and creates an irreversible impact on the future of Hong Kong. In addition, the Government needs to construct roads connecting the artificial islands to Kennedy Town, Kwai Kwai Tsing, Tuen Mun, Tung Chung and South Lantau. The entire project is estimated to cost at least HK$1 trillion.
To: Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Mrs. Carrie Lam
We oppose "Lantau Tomorrow" and call for:
The Chief Executive to immediately withdraw the plan, and to pragmatically solve the short-term housing supply by prioritizing land and allocation problems in Hong Kong;
The legislators to firmly oppose tthis big white elephant project and the related funding.


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Strings in tension strain
Against powerful posts and
Await their calling.
Vibrating, they speak,
The sound echoes out across
All of space and time.
Too tense, and they break.
Too slack, and naught is produced.
Balance is the key.
I read a phenomenal statement last night.
A piano can have as many as 236 strings. Each string is under a tension of 160-200 pounds. In a regular piano, this translates to 18 tons. In a concert grand, it is close to 30 tons.1
Even a violin is subjected to 50 pounds of tension across its delicate frame.2
But tension alone does not produce music; these strings must move to create sound. Combine tension and motion, and you produce something that must be seen to be believed. Here is the vibration of a violin string in slow motion.
You don't have to search for very long before finding articles full of gnarly equations on the physics of vibration, harmonics, and the Helmholtz corner (here's an equation-free article on the bowing of a violin and another, aptly named "Why is the violin so hard to play?"). It came as no surprise then to find that physicist Richard Feynman had turned his keen mind to piano tuning. Feynman's letter to his piano tuner can be found here. I hope the tuner could read equations.3
We can all be grateful for the technical wizardry of Stradivarius and Guarneri and Babcock's cast-iron frames that would have kept Liszt from wrecking his pianos, but let's turn again to the music that can be coaxed from these taut strings.
I hope you will enjoy Joshua Bell and Jeremy Denk playing the fourth movement of Franck's Sonata in A Major for Violin and Piano.
- http://www.piano.christophersmit.com/strings.html
- http://physicscentral.com/explore/action/fiddle.cfm
- http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic726013.files/Piano%20tuning.pdf
Image attribution: Piano strings, photo by Alan Levine from Strawberry, United States (Music Strings) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Piano_strings_6.jpg


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Clapham Junction redevelopment
Metro Shopping Fund have big plans for Clapham Junction station. Or rather, they have big plans for the pokey shopping centre that currently forms the main entrance, since that's the bit they own.
The first thing they're going to do is build a new station entrance further west that connects to the footbridge (the thick white line on the masterplan) rather than the subway (the thin line), and the entrance on the north side will be similarly relocated to a new building. The subway will then be for interchange only, which is the reverse of the current situation.
This is mostly a good thing, since the footbridge is much wider than the subway, but it'll be a longer walk for pretty much everyone. Network Rail will be simultaneously upgrading the footbridge with new stairs and new lifts (first photo), and I'm told they're thinking about realigning the southern boundary, so the currently very curvy platforms that side (second photo) can be straightened out.
Once the entrance is moved, the shopping centre site will be free for redevelopment, and the plan is to flatten the entire block (third photo) and put up two 39 storey towers and a new shopping centre.
The model shown above is on display in a big green portakabin in the shopping centre car park for the next few days. Opening times here.


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Puri Jagannadh to Launch Heroine's Sister
Star director Puri Jagannadh is currently occupied with Varun Tej's Loafer. Puri announced in past that he will be introducing Ishan, the son of Mahatma fame Producer CR Manohar in his next that he titled 'Rogue'. Latest buzz about Puri's Rogue is that he will be launching a heroine's sister in Tollywood. Neha Sharma was introduced to Tollywood by Puri Jagannadh with Ram Charan's debut film Chiruta movie. Now, the director is gearing up to launch Neha's sister, Aisha Sharma to Telugu film industry. Aisha is a popular model and has been face of Lakme, apart from several other brands. Sources say that Aisha Sharma is almost confirmed as lead actress in Rogue movie and shoot will begin soon. Official announcement on the same is awaited.
Tags : Aisha Sharmamodel aisha sharma in tollywoodNeha's sisterPuri Jagannadh to Launch Heroine's SisterPuri's Rogue


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Welcome to Camps Bay
Welcome one and all to the new CampsBay.Com – and thanks for visiting. My name is Bradley Moore, founder of this business which we started on the 11th of the 11th, 1997.
This is the first time I am writing a blog/magazine article and I am sure I will get better at it over time. It is my intention to keep you updated with everything Camps Bay and also with our company, CampsBay.Com.
We want to share our projects with you and would really appreciate any feedback that will help us to provide you with what you want.
CampsBay.Com Reloaded
This is the new version of CampsBay.Com – the 2011 version, and it is our intention to keep this website at the forefront of web technology. We have tried to update our previous design numerous times over the years and have always ended up re-designing the re-design. From here onwards, we intend making all updates public and gauging from your comments what would be best to spend time on.
We have settled on the current design and think it is a clean and simple site to use. If you have any suggestions for us to make your life easier while using this site – please let us know, all contact details are at the bottom of every page.
Take a look at our old designs which we found on the wayback machine – these are not in chronological order and some have not captured all the images from the designs of old.
Old and New Services
You will find that our accommodation guide is extremely comprehensive and up to date (rates can change at the last minute so it is best to enquire – especially during these recessionary times)
We will also be adding quite a few other services over the coming weeks, each of these will be highlighted in its own article. Whilst this is happening, the pages that are not yet ready will notify you that we are updating.
Again, welcome to everyone – enjoy yourselves – and if you have any questions, comments, feedback or ideas for improvement, PLEASE let us know.
Best Regards
Bradley Moore
Founder of CampsBay.Com
+27 72 3100 488