text:
Tiffany's Birthday
I was lucky enough to see my old friend, Steve Delahoyde, this weekend. And, it made me realize I never posted this video we had done together. Steve directed and I wrote, and Paul Thomas stole the show with his pitch-perfect reaction shots.
So, yeah, I hope you enjoy it.
Q-tips Fine Print
I recently discovered the fine print on the back of a package of Q-tips Cotton Swabs.
I don't know if you've ever looked closely at the packaging for Q-tips. Probably not. That's fine. But, it very clearly states that you should never use Q-tips inside your ear canal. Even though it seems like that's exactly what they were originally designed for. Because, it turns out misuse of Q-tips poses a danger of rupturing your eardrum.
Fortunately, there are helpful, illustrated suggestions for other possible uses. For instance, you can use Q-tips to apply make-up... Or you can use them to swab a baby's nostrils... Or you can clean your computer keyboard...
And then, in very tiny (5-point type) pale blue letters, it reads:
Or you can go ahead and use them in your ears. Nobody's looking. It's fine. I mean, who are we kidding, right? Let's not play these games.
Wait, are you seriously considering not use Q-tips in your ear canals? Have you ever used a Q-tip? It's like... I don't know how to say this. It's like… y'know when you've been wearing condoms for a couple of years, and then things start to get serious with someone, and you both decide to go on the pill and stop using a condom? It's fucking amazing! Oh my god, it just feels right. Like this is what we're put on this Earth to do. It's the same with Q-tips.
Not that we here at Q-tips' parent corporation Unilever want you to stop using condoms. Keep using condoms, you guys. Especially any of you teenagers out there. Because that shit can ruin your life. No glove no love, kids.
But, you know, once you've been in a committed relationship for a while, and you've both gotten tested, and you both agree to what you'll do if somebody gets pregnant…
Anyway, Q-tips---that's a low risk game for such a high level reward. Seriously, try this: Go a week without using a Q-tip, and then when you finally use one, try not to moan with pleasure. You can't. You cannot not moan with pleasure. These for sure go in your ears.
We're just saying that you shouldn't be a doof about it. Don't use Q-tips inside a commuter train bathroom. Or, don't use them while walking through a revolving door. Or on a trampoline. But, you know, other than that, you should be fine.
So, yeah, go ahead. Ear city. Just don't tell them FDA we told you to, because they're about two complaints away from crawling up our asses on this one. It almost makes you want to vote Libertarian, if only those guys weren't such weird gun freaks.
Q-tips: Like sex without a condom.
And, that's exactly what it says in the fine print on the back Q-tips brand cotton swabs. You can go to the drugstore and see for yourself. Crazy right?
Light Bulb Question
How many French Canadians does it take to screw in a light bulb?
No seriously, how many? Because I've got about 380 light bulbs out in my Quebec convention center, and I want to know how many maintenance men or women I need to hire for short-term contract work.
I need these light bulbs changed in the next couple of hours, because an entire trainload of rabbis, priests, and imams will be arriving soon for an interfaith conference on urban redevelopment. If the main hall doesn't have enough light, where am I supposed to have them wait---some bar somewhere? Can you imagine all those disparate holy men walking into a drinking establishment?
There's a spacious fried chicken place across the road, but I doubt it meets dietary restriction laws.
Shoot, you know there are some people who can handle all this logistical stress much better than me. For instance, take my wife…
Party Planning Meeting
Um, hi you guys. This is my first time running a meeting, so bear with me.
How do I call this to order? Do I just say, "I call this meeting to order" or something? Wait, before I do that, is everybody here? Where's Jimmy? There he is. Hi, Jimmy, how'm I doing so far? Ha ha, just kidding.
Let me just look over Robert's Rules of Order quick to see how I call a meeting to … Alright, now somebody is handing me a note. That's exciting! I don't know why I'm narrating everything that's happening. I think I'm just a little nervous.
Okay, well according to this note, party planning committee meetings do not need to run by parliamentary procedure, which is good, because that was making my stomach turn over with anxiety.
Speaking of which, I brought in bags of potato chips for everybody. I hope you guys like salt and vinegar style. They're the giant bags from Costco, and I didn't remember plates, so just pass them around. Sorry if they're a little crushed from my backpack.
Beth, you're not taking any potato chips? That's not very team-player of you. There you go. Really dig around in their for some chips.
Alright, the first order of business is team-building exercises. At first, I thought the party planning committee could maybe go through a ropes course together, but I priced it out, and that would eat up our entire cake budget for the year. So, then I thought we could maybe do a backrub circle instead.
Everybody scoot your chairs into a circle, and we'll all give each other backrubs. Don't worry; it's a circle. Nobody's gonna get stuck not getting a backrub.
Pardon me? Yes, I guess our hands are a little greasy from the chips. In my rush to plan this planning meeting, I forgot to bring napkins. That's on me. I had some panicky stomach issues this morning, and I don't want to get into specifics, but let me say three words---broken softserve machine. That's all I'll say.
Wait, fourth word---explosive.
But, I take your point. No backrubs today. Somebody write down that we're tabling the backrub circle until next month. Who's our committee secretary? No one? Somebody write down that we need to elect a secretary at the next meeting.
Alright, great meeting, you guys! Really looking forward to more of these. If anybody thinks of any party or cake-related ideas, you can find me in my cubicle.
I hereby call this meeting officially dismissed to be adjourned.
Tired Today
A list of reasons as to why I might seem a little run down today:
- It's raining, and I'm never my best when it rains.
- I had a weird dream last night about a staring contest with a goat. Very disturbing.
- There might be some slight anemia issues around my all-bagel diet.
- Last night, there was a marathon of some Sy Fy Network show from Canada. I don't remember the name or storyline, but for some reason, I need to watch seven hours of it.
- After the marathon, I decided I should investigate starting a tumblr.
- There are a lot of tumblrs about cute puppies.
- My wife suffers from night pudgilism, which means she sits up and punches me like an old-timey boxer with a handlebar mustache.
- I drank four glasses of ice tea right before bed.
- A garbage truck idled outside my window at 5am. That shit is garbage.
- I had to get up early before somebody ate the last bagel. (Meaning me. I'm a sleep eater, which is very unsatisfying.)
- I didn't get my cup of coffee this morning, because somebody broke the coffee pot. (Me.)
- The trains were really crowded, so I didn't have room for my usual 8am nap.
- A bunch of other stupid reasons, which are stupid.
- Sorry, I'm a little grumpy from lack of sleep.
Goodnight, everybody. Oh wait, what? It's only 5:37 pm? And, they're showing Terminator 2: Judgement Day on AMC tonight at 11pm? Well, I guess I have to stay up for that.
Good luck, everyone who has to deal with me tomorrow. You poopbuttheads.
Madame Tussauds
Dear Madame Tussauds,
Good afternoon, or possibly good morning. I'm not sure when you'll be reading this. I recently toured your world-famous wax museum in Times Squares, and I am writing to lodge a complaint.
For the most part, your wax museum is amazing, and its lifelike depictions of celebrities are unmatched. Your Justin Bieber, your Jennifer Lopez, your Robert Pattinson---they all look just exactly as primped and vacant as their real-life counterparts. I mean, my goodness, you can almost smell the desperate, ever-diminishing creativity coming off the Lady Gaga statue.
Historical figures, too. I have never personally met President Roosevelt, but if his sculpture is anywhere near as accurate as the booty on your Kim Kardashian … well, bravo.
That said, I must take umbrage [word of the day!] with your wax sculpture of supermodel/television hostess/national treasure Tyra Banks.
First off, where is the smizing? I don't see any smizing. Do you even know what smizing is? Apparently not, because you failed to include Tyra Banks' patented smize. It means "to smile with one's eyes." It's her signature look, yet somehow you fell short of capturing it.
Also, the pose? Standard red carpet hand-on-hip? You clearly have never seen Tyra demonstrating her innovative "broken doll" poses to the contestants on her reality television show America's Next Top Model. If you had, there is no possible way you would have chosen such a bland posture.
Not to say Tyra looks any less amazing on the red carpet than in a fashion shoot. Her hand-on-hip pose is still very impressive.
But, aside from these problems with the outward appearance of your Tyra wax figure, I feel you've failed to capture her true essence, her je ne sais quoi.
Where is the life? The charisma? Where are the millions of fans Tyra has helped with her daily talk show? You couldn't have sculpted a few adoring women sitting at her feet, gazing up in admiration? The least you could have shown was a mound of fan mail thanking Tyra for her cellulite tips or her bravery in taking out her weave that one time.
What about Harvard paraphernalia? Tyra is attending Harvard Business School classes, which you would have known if you had watched the CBS Sunday Morning interview with her. Yet, I don't see any mention of Harvard Business School in your sculpture. I'm sure Harvard Business School would be happy to mail you a Harvard branded t-shirt or tote bag, especially because this is certainly the real deal and not at all some sort of promotional stunt on the part of Harvard University. Why, I've never heard of them courting celebrity students before.
In summation, please create a new Tyra Banks statue from scratch. This time, with more attention to the true star power of its subject. Give it the kind of careful detail you'd give a head of state or an OT Level 3 scientologist. Thank you.
Tyra Banks™
Advice On Writing
A lot of people will give you advice on writing.
Some say you must sit in the center of a perfectly quiet room wearing noise-canceling headphones and horse blinders to be a writer. Just you and your Royal Underwood typewriter and a maybe a cat missing one eye.
Others say you must stand in the middle of bustling Grand Central Station, nude except for a suit and tie and shoes, also underwear, shirt, and socks. They tell you you'll need a number two Eberhard Faber Blackwing pencils and a standard 6" by 9" Steno pad. And, as a writer, you need to smoke a cigarette while eating a donut.
Still other people tell you you require only a laptop and a comfy four-poster bed. They tell you to drink green tea and listen to soothing music about our vaginas, surrounding yourself with photos of frolicking African children. At noon, take a break to do yoga and create abstract expressionistic pottery that represents your writer's soul. Only then will you be a true writer.
Others tell you to go out into the world to find something to write about. They say you should fight forest fires and parachute into war zones and impregnate a Brazilian prostitute. Better yet, be that Brazilian prostitute who starts forest fires in protest of man's futile nothingness. Only then will you be a writer.
Some say you need to be born a writer. Writing can't be taught; it is a question struggling inside you, yearning to make its way out of your fingertips. What is that question? Probably some weird Freudian stuff about boobs and poop.
Others say a writer must drink his or her way into writing--be it wine or ale or absinthe. Preferably absinthe, because it will fuck you up. They say you need to expand your mind with drugs and spirit-animal walks and autoerotic asphyxiation. Then they raise their eyebrows suggestively and nod toward the room in back that smells like candles and leather. That's when you notice they have a creepy mustache.
Others say a writer must be a performer. You must speak the words fire before you can understand them. Take improvisational comedy classes and perform at poetry slams. Find a group of like-minded writers and spend long hours screaming at each other for never having watched The Wire. Spend every waking moment going to shows and not writing. That is how you become a writer.
Some say to bare your soul, to reveal every tiny detail about your childhood and hopes and fears and dreams and past loves and past bosses and number of orgasms and religious crises and adventures abroad and teenage pranks and health scares and gameshow failures. They say that writing is truth, and truth is life, and we must share every detail in order to writer.
Some people say all that. People are assholes, though. So, I don't know---do whatever you want. Personally, I think you should go back to school to be an insurance actuary. But, what do I know? I'm just your father who loves you and wants what's best for you.
[sigh] Go ask your mother.
Wedding Gift Ideas
In honor of the royal wedding, I've decided to list off my favorite wedding gifts to give/receive.
Because, let's face it, wedding registries are weird and transactional. That's why you're allowed up to a year from the day of the wedding to think of something awesome. At that point, of course, you can give up trying and just buy the one pickle fork and one corn-on-the-cob holder left on the registry.
But, that all changes right here and right now, goddamnit! Because, you've got me on your side. And, besides being the World's Greatest Wedding Dancer, I'm also in the top ten wedding gifters. Fine, top twenty.
My favorite wedding gifts are:
An ice cream maker, which provides a helpful scapegoat to explain the post-wedding weight gain.
A large silver salad bowl. Have you ever eaten two pints of homemade ice cream out of a silver bowl? It makes you feel powerful.
Monogramed Slap Chop. Obviously.
An ornate picture frame to make any picture look beautiful, even the one of that doggy-looking flower girl. Jesus Christ, I hope she grows into those ears.
Some bullshit shaped like a heart. Honestly, this can be whatever.
A croquet set, unless the bride and groom are the kind of jerks who don't like croquet, which are the worst kind of jerks.
A pet parrot! It's the gift that keeps on giving. Responsibility. For eighty years.
Silver candlesticks. They're not just for murder. You can use them to hold candles as well.
A KitchenAid mixer says to the couple, "Here's hoping that one day you'll have a kitchen big enough to store all this useless shit."
A crystal vase. With proper pronunciation, please. We're not animals.
A marble cheese tray. I take cheese far too seriously to serve it on some granite bullshit. Or wood, ugh.
Rosewood salad tongs. Salad-based gifts are like the life preserver you throw the couple during their post-wedding ice cream and cheese binges.
Ziplock baggies. C'mon, admit it---pretty useful.
Superglue. To repair that glass the groom accidentally stepped on at the end of the ceremony. I hope he wasn't too embarrassed.
A gift certificate to a crib store. Thanks, Mom, we get it. WE GET IT ALREADY!
Matching aprons. Adorable! No wait, too adorable. Gross. Nevermind.
Something the groom might like. I'm just kidding.
Facebook Comments
Listen everyone, I want to thank all of you for your helpful, well-thought-out comments on my Facebook post. They were not at all weird or off-topic.
I mean, I guess I never did get an answer to my request for a restaurant recommendation, but there was a lot of good back-and-forth.
For instance, Brett's suggestion that "Eating out is for pussies. Bwwaaaa!" was super helpful. How's life, Brett? You're wife had her baby, right?
The many comments discussing dining out versus buying into a farm share were certainly lively. Clearly there are a lot of strong feelings on both sides of the aisle. I hope nobody's feelings were hurt. Especially by Dave's anti-composting jokes. I'm sure it was all in jest. Dave, are you and Darcy talking again?
Thank you to Paul, who went to all the trouble of listing restaurants with poor health inspection grades. Scary stuff.
In a way, though, that was kind of the opposite of what I was asking. I wanted to know what restaurant I should go to, not which ones I shouldn't. But still, a lot of food safety concerns to process there. Thanks.
Many of you "liked" my initial question but didn't offer any restaurant recommendations. (For some reason, this was especially true amongst my former co-workers.) Did you think it was a hypothetical question or maybe mine was a philosophical craving? I really just wanted to know where to eat.
I do think we made a lot of progress on the Presidential birth certificate thing. As Samantha, the weird motivational speaker lady I met only once at a friend-of-a-friend's party pointed out, it's sad that the President had to address it.
And, while I understand Tariq's point that words like "sad" and "unfortunate" serve to weaken the focus on this being an issue of race and power dynamics in modern America, I think we can all agree that we are all upset by it in line with whatever societal context we bring to our understanding of the issue.
So, thanks for all the feedback on my Facebook post this morning. 108 comments sure are a lot. Once again, though, does anybody know a place in midtown where Colleen and I can grab a sandwich after work?
Really try to stick to the theme of sandwiches for these future comments. Thanks.
Tapestry Return
Excuse me. Yes, I need to return this seventeenth century French tapestry I purchased earlier today from your auction house. It has a mustard stain on it.
Look, right here by the winged dog... gryphon, sure, I knew that. Right here by the gryphon's tail, there's a big splotch of yellow mustard. At first I thought it was a pond reflecting the sunset or something. But, see, look closely. It's still wet, and it smells like mustard. It's definitely mustard.
I don't see how you could, in good conscience, sell such an expensive item with a flaw like that. Setting aside the piece's historical significance, including the border-thingy you guys talked up during the sale. Strapwork cartouches, that's right. Strapwork cartouches.
Yes, I am sure the mustard was there when I bought it! Why would I have paid $242,000 for a tapestry with mustard on it? That's a lot of money. I could buy 121,000 hot dogs for that. You know, at the hot dog cart right outside.
Or, I could have gotten 60,500 hot dog lunch specials that include a bag of potato chips and a can of ginger ale, which I think is a pretty good value for one's money. Unlike this tapestry.
This is a travesty---not just for me, but for the tapestry, itself. Don't you people care about the historical significance of this ... I forget, is it French or Flemish? This French tapestry. Look, it's got a lion and a deer sleeping beside each other. That's a beautiful sentiment sullied by your incompetence. If only all lions and deer slept together, the world would be a better place.
Pardon me? Mustard on my tie? OH MAN!!! Your stupid tapestry got mustard on my tie! This is one of my favorite ties, and now you've gotten mustard all over it with your dumb, mustardy tapestry.
Do you know how much I paid for this tie? I don't remember, but it was a lot. Especially at Filene's Basement, where I normally find better deals on ties. But, I paid more for this one, because it had ducks on it.
This will not stand, sir. I demand that you return the check I wrote for this tapestry. It's the one post-dated for next week, when I have a chance to move around some accounts. Not that the details of my personal injury claim money are any business of yours! Just give me back my check, and you can have your stained tapestry.
I'm washing my hands of this entire affair.
Seriously, do you have a bathroom where I can wash my hands? They're all sticky from relish.


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Two Cents, Sept. 13, 2005
September 13, 2005
In the Sept. 6 paper, the Tribune opinion said that we should ride our bicycles to the convenience store or any other place. Well, I tried to ride my bicycle in Evans, and there are absolutely no roads with bike paths. So it scares you half to death to ride your bicycle in Evans. I'm sorry, but I can't ride my bike. — Jackie, Evans
I agree that Greeley residents should take a stand for lower gas prices. So should our city council members. Why haven't they acted? They need to cap gas prices in Greeley. Stop this gouging. Our city council needs to act now. — Bill, Greeley
Why does Greeley need two ice rinks? We're building the Ice Haus and then another at the old Warnoco. But now we have no roller-skating rink. What are these kids supposed to do? — Becky, Greeley
What is the state going to do to Greeley-Evans School District 6? Close all the schools, take over and run the schools?Take away state funding so the schools will do even worse?Hire all new staff yearly — superintendents, principals, teachers, etc.? Is that what they will do to bring the scores up. — Marvin, Greeley
On Hurricane Katrina
A short quiz on Katrina. Where was President Bush when Katrina entered New Orleans? On vacation. Where? Crawford, Texas. Where is Louisiana? East of Texas. Where did Bush go to first after Katrina? Answer: Washington, D.C. If Louisiana is approximately 300 miles away, why fly to Washington? If my children were in New Orleans and I couldn't locate them and had access like the president to transportation, I would have been in New Orleans that Monday. — Mary, Greeley
Recommended Stories For You
All you folks out there that are blaming George Bush for what's happening in Louisiana:If you will look up the laws and stuff that go with this debacle down there, you will find that the state must ask the federal government for help. The state of Louisiana did not, so don't put the load on Bush's shoulders. Put it on the Democratic leaders of the state of Louisiana. — George, Pierce
People calling in and blaming President Bush must be hard of hearing. First, Bush did not cause the hurricane. Second, he didn't have anything to do with the corruption in the city of New Orleans. The Democrats of Louisiana have been corrupt. The city and the state are to be blamed for what happened. I am very proud of our president. — Chris, Greeley
This is a shame. United we should stand. The other countries are helping us instead of Bush or the head of FEMA. It's a crying shame. It's too sad. I think it just has to do with racism. — Mary, Greeley
Let's spread some of that blame around. Let's blame the Democratic mayor down there who had access to all the school buses that he could have gotten out. Let's put a little bit of blame onto the Louisiana governor who was out of state and didn't even come back. Let's make it a little fair. — Betty, Greeley
President Bush should send all our men back home where they belong and quit worrying about other countries. He doesn't even doing anything for his own country. He should be worrying about Hurricane Katrina and take care of the people there. Instead of working with everybody else he should work with his own people in the United States. — Dee, Greeley

subset: commoncrawl


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The song which refused to come together until the eleventh hour, I desperately wanted to include this song on the album, but I wasn't happy
with the lyrics until a final re-write days before the first recording session. When Gary and Scott arrived on day one of the bed track session,
I had 9 recorded demos for them to listen to, but even Darren hadn't heard 'Too' yet, so I handed the guys a chart of the chord changes and played/sang
them the song at the piano. Gary said 'cool' and rushed to the drums, Scott nodded his head as he picked up his bass, and we dove into the song.
A few takes later, and we had the track recorded as a trio, and moved on to the next song. This was definitely the song that we had the most fun recording, especially the vocal session with Ian Tanner, Amoy Levy and Nicole Sinclair. They really
poured on the sugar...
Even before I had wrestled the song into submission, I was so in love with the song that I was prepared to go ahead with recording the backing tracks,
though that would have meant pressuring myself to fix the lyrics just in time to record the vocals.
The song is about the extreme pressure from our society to be perfect, especially the pressure on women to have the perfect physical appearance.


text:
I have a game I like to play during movies. Not all movies mind you, not even boring movies, although I do find I play it more there. Just movies that tend to fall outside of the simple good guy/bad guy structure. The game is simple, and it leads to some odd places now and then.
I impose a classic Hero/Villain structure upon the movie.
I decide who is the hero, by the simple expedient of "they're the one we spend the most time with" and impose a villain with the criteria "they're the one who is the most antagonistic over all to our hero" and away we go. I don't allow that a movie has man against the elements, or he's really struggling against himself or whatever. Nope, there is a good guy and a bad guy. Yes, in pure story telling terms I'm breaking down and over simplifying things, but it's my watching experience and I can do what I want inside my own head. I've got a lot of processing power in my bean, if I don't occupy it with trivialities; I turn back to evil again.
Take something like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Is there a hero? Well, yeah, Raoul Duke is the hero. It's told in first person, he has to be the hero. So who is the bad guy? Well, the antagonist he spends the most time with of course. Dr. Gonzo is about a villainous as you can get, when you start to look at it that way. He is a demon that Raoul has brought along with him on this trip. Less so in the book than in Gilliam's movie, but he is still portrayed this way in the film and that's what we're talking about.
You can change the dynamic of a movie when you start to watch it like this, because a villain is supposed to be evil. Once you've got it in your head that say Joe Pesci is the villain of Casino, that movie has an entirely different vibe to it, as it becomes the tale of a gangster deliberately screwing over a man he calls his friend, instead of inadvertently doing it. Yes, you've got to wonder how well he's doing it, seeing how he turns out, but he could be doing it is the point.
Now of course, there is the opposite side of the game. Not exactly taking a movie that has a traditional good guy/bad guy structure and pretending there isn't one, but looking at it from the other guy's point of view. Let's take Rollerball, for example. Flipped over like that, you have the tale of a tired and worried executive, trying to get on with the business of running the world for the benefit of all involved, and this prima donna sports star keeps screwing things up. Not only is he screwing things up, but he's doing so for no better reason than his own self aggrandizement. It's not always easy to do, because some actors play up being the bad guy too much. Anything where James Earl Jones plays the baddie is easily adapted to this idea, because he always played the bad guy as if he were the good guy.
Sometimes, these are the only things standing between people being able to enjoy a movie, and having to listen to me bitch about how substandard a movie is and how it fails on every step of the Bechdel Test. Most movies fail to pass that one, so it's a depressingly easy go-to.


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Nursery Rhymes & Poems 4+
English & Hindi Rhymes
Shreyes Kejariwal
- Free
The Nursery Rhymes App is a collection of different poems, a great source of fun and an educational tool, especially for preschoolers and toddlers. The app has a collection of the favorite Nursery Rhymes/songs that a kid would enjoy. The audio format of the rhymes allows kids to remember it easily and quickly. This is the best form of entertainment for children and an intelligent tool to teach kids the simplest things in life.
Partial List of English Rhymes included in the app that entertains your little one:
-Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
- Baa Baa Black Sheep
- Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Turn Around
- Incy Wincy Spider
- One Two Three Four
- I Am A Little Teapot
- One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
- Open Shut Them, Give A Little Clap.
- Row Row Row Your Boat
- Hickory Dickory Dock
- When All The Cows Were Sleeping
- My Jack In The Box
- Clap Your Hand, Clap Your Hand
- Machli Jal Ki Raani Hai (Hindi)
- Chanda Mama Door ke Pue Pakaaye Gur Ke (Hindi)
- I'm Dancing Christmas Tree
- Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
- We Wish You A Merry Christmas
- Its Your Happy Birthday
The display on the screen helps your child to read and learn faster hence increasing the vocabulary of your child. With a beautifully laid out UI, the Nursery Rhymes App offers entertainment and a fun learning experience for your little one. It is an all-in-one collection of English and Hindi poems for preschoolers.
Nursery Rhymes App is the best companion for your toddler. Being the guardian of your kid, the app helps you find delightful, charming, interesting कविता for your little ones. Kids just love the app as they can Read and Sing along their favorite nursery rhymes. It is a smartphone application that helps to listen and learn famous playgroup songs with appealing background screens. The app is intended to give children an interesting and interactive experience; it can make them busy for a while when they are annoying. It is a perfect place to learn basic concepts such as numbers, colors and more.
This app can be used by Parents, Teachers and Kids for learning & teaching new rhymes – making the learning process fun and entertaining. Besides English poems, the App also contains popular poems in Hindi. Kids love listening to nursery rhymes rendered in popular tunes. Sing along kid's favorite songs with Nursery Rhymes Apps.
Come join, learn and have fun with Nursery Rhymes and Poems App and have a magical experience. Each and every song in this app has a message to convey and a lesson to learn. It is a fun way to motivate your kid's English learning process. Download now! And playfully teach your children today's best and popular nursery rhymes!
What's New
Version 3.0.2
- Improved Popup messages.
- UI Improvement and bug fixes.
- Provider
- Shreyes Kejariwal
- Size
- Category
- Education
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
- Languages
- Age Rating
- 4+
- Copyright
- © 2017 Likeapps Mobi
- Price
- Free
Family Sharing
Up to six family members will be able to use this app with Family Sharing enabled.


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Rare antique silver vesta box in the form of a whistle
Dealer Contact Info
Ian Burton Antique Clocks
Tel: 07785 114800
Rare antique silver vesta box or match safe in the form of a whistle.
Circa 1875.
This is a working whistle.
There is no spring closer, as in a conventional vesta, it is a push fit and closes well.
The suspension ring is on a rotating ring.
Weighs 22.4 grams.
Silver Birmingham hallmarks...
Original URL:


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Emjoi® Rechargeable Micro-Pedi Tornado Professional Kit Description
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On the morning before Zach's marriage proposal to Gracie, we celebrated another sweet couple. It was the bridal shower of Zach's sister, Stephanie. Grace has been best friends with Stephanie since we moved here 10+ years ago. Grace was touched when Stephanie asked her to stand beside her as her maid of honor. Who knew that a year later Grace would be on a journey of becoming a sister-in-law to her sister-in-love!
Four best friends and soon-to-be sisters!
It was a beautiful celebration of a beautiful bride and we had a wonderful time celebrating with friends.
Later that day Zach bent down on one knee to declare his love to Grace and invite her to officially become a Tame.
Only a few days passed before the happy couple had set a date and we found ourselves jumping into wedding plans.
Grace will be an October bride.
Knowing that our local craft supply store, Pat Catans, was going out of business, I suggested we take a drive over there to see if we could find any needed supplies while everything was 50% off. After Braden was dropped of for school, and Rusty and Tyler were settled into their online classes, the girls and I headed out for a girls-only excursion.
Before we left for the day we prayed for a fruitful day full of emotional healing and mother/daughter bonding, as well as inexpensive finds for Gracie's upcoming nuptials.
God was beyond gracious and the day was filled to overflowing with His blessings! It was a day full of tender mercies.
What began as a trip to Pat Catan's wedding aisle with the hope of some good finds, became a day of retail therapy, long overdue bonding with my girls, God leading us to unbelievable deals, and a huge chunk of wedding shopping taken care of.
We started at Pat Catans and soon discovered that the wedding aisle was not where we were going to find decorations for the reception. The the crystals and white silks did not align with Gracie's vision of her wedding reception. Once we exited that section of the store, however, we discovered treasures galore and 2 hours of shopping (and four full shopping carts later) we had 90% of the reception decor purchased and loaded in the car.
Our next stop was Salvation Army where God's grace continued to rain down upon us in the form of reception decor, a graduation dress for Molly, as well as her shoes for prom.
By this point in the day the hour was drawing near for us to return home to meet Braden's school bus. On a spur on the moment, last minute decision we decided to make one last, quick stop at a dress shop we were passing that advertised all their wedding dresses for $100, as part of their going out of business sale.
We went inside just for the fun of it, not expecting to find anything. There were 10 wedding dresses left on the rack. Grace picked four to try on, and lo and behold, found her wedding dress. It wasn't anything like the dress she had imagined liking but as soon as she put in on we all knew that it was the one. Alterations will need to be made but we couldn't believe we were walking out of the wedding boutique with a $1200 dress for only $100.
Molly also found her maid of honor dress while we were there. It is perfectly Molly, and only cost $20, marked down from $250.
For an investment of $550 God blessed us with an abundance of wedding shopping done and taken care of, in preparation for Grace and Zach's big day!
It was a day full of blessings on many fronts and I came home feeling lighter…
No, it wasn't just the result of a lighter wallet!
My to-do list was shorter, the heaviness of worry I have been shouldering was lifted, and my spirit was lighter thanks to the day filled with laughter and joyful creativity that I got to share with my daughters.
With just four hours of retail therapy with my girls and I had recaptured the joy of this season of life that has escaped me these last few weeks.
Here's to all the beautiful brides-to-be!


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|Aboriginal flag (Photo credit: UNE Photos)
To the best of knowledge the Bundjalung Nation Aboriginal people from the East Coast of Australia, the Far North Coast of New South Wales and South East Queensland area, are the only ones whose dream time stories talk about arriving in Australia from elsewhere. They came from the land "at the centre of the world" when a massive catastrophe destroyed it. They are the First Light Peoples.
|IMG 4316 The Aboriginal Flag (Photo credit: Images @ Melonpopzdropz)
BundjalungThe Bundjalung people are a large Aboriginal nation, a federation of a number of groups of clans which occupy the land from Grafton on the Clarence river of northern New South Wales north to the town of Ipswich and the Beaudesert, and west of there to Warwick (Geyen) in southern Queensland, and down around the other side of the Great Dividing Range through Tabulam (Jubulum) and back to Grafton.
In the north, Bundjalung Nation shares a border with Yuggera Nation and Barrunggam Nation; to the east the Tasman Sea (Pacific Ocean); to the south Gumbaynggirr Nation; and to the west it borders Ngarabal Nation.
In pre-colonial times, Bundjalung Nation encompassed some of the richest hunting and fishing grounds anywhere on the Australian continent. According to the oral traditions of the Bundjalung People, these areas were first settled by the Three Brothers and their descendants.
The names of the 15 tribal groups comprising the Bundjalung Nation are Aragwal, Banbai, Birbai, Galiabal, Gidabal, Gumbainggeri, Jigara, Jugambal, Jugumbir, Jungai, Minjungbal, Ngacu, Ngamba, Thungutti and Widjabal. (No mention here of the Geyen Peoples near Warwick)??
|English: The Rainbow Train in Heritage Park, Lismore, Australia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
|(Goanna Headland at sunset taken by me at Evans Head in December 2009) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This event is related through the legend of "The Three Brothers (Bundjalung Nation)
Indigenous nation boundaries appear to have been based on the natural geographic phenomena of mountains, rivers and creeks. The territory of the Bundjalung Nation which encompasses the Upper Clarence, extends from the eastern Richmond Range to the south; the north bank of the Clarence River to the south-east; the south bank of the Logan River to the north and the foothills of the Great Dividing Range to the west (Olley, 1995).
|Photo taken in 2005 of Main Beach Evans Head from Razorback Lookout on Goanna Headland (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Dreamtime Stories
Australian Aborigines' outlook on the universe and man is shaped by a remarkable conception known as Dreaming. A central meaning of The Dreaming is that of a sacred, heroic time long ago when man and nature came to be as they are; but neither 'time' nor 'history' as we understand them is involved in this meaning.
An Aboriginal man may call his totem, or the place from which his spirit came, his Dreaming. He may also explain the existence of a custom, or law of life, as causally due to the Dreaming, indicating the Dreaming is a complex of meanings. (Stanner, 1979)
The Dreaming is many things in one. Among them, a kind of narrative of things that once happened; a kind of charter of things that still happen; and a kind of logos or principle of order transcending everything significant for Aboriginal man (Stanner, 1979). As the subject of many Dreamtime stories involve the creation of natural landforms by ancestral beings, these landforms which remain today are considered culturally significant to Indigenous communities.
There are various references by different Aboriginal communities to the legend of the Three Brothers who were the ancestors of the Aboriginal people who came across the sea and landed on the east coast (Heron, 1993; McBryde, 1974; & Gonda, 1983).
In the Bundjalung region there is a strong tradition that the brothers made their first landing by canoe at Yamba.
The grandmother of the three brothers went into the bush to gather wild yams; she could not be found when the brothers prepared to sail northward, and was therefore left behind.
She arrived back at the beach and found that they had gone and cursed them for leaving her behind. At the next landing at Evans Head, one of the brothers was sent back to find her, then together, they returned to Evans Head to the rest of the family.
As the family grew, discontentment set in. The brothers decided to move to different areas and take their families with them. One brother stayed at Evans Head, the second brother moved further north, whilst the third brother moved inland. (Heron, pers. comm. 15/2/1999).
The arrangement of the landscape is understood in Aboriginal terms as the actions of ancestral beings in the Creation era:
The relationship with animals started with the Dreamtime and helped shape the land. At the centre of the Bundjalung beliefs is the battle between the Goanna and the Snake. They formed the Evans River as they fought, and the Headland was formed by them (Heron, 1996).
Another Dreamtime story explains the significance of Nimbin Rocks and how its name was derived. The following account is taken from Nayutah & Finlay (1988, p8):
The name Nimbin, is probably derived from the little spirit man, Nyimbunji. The rocks are associated with this little man who has great supernatural powers.
The Nyimbunji from this area was a very strong and powerful man who ruled the land for miles around. He had more power than other men in the whole area. When the people wanted more food or rain or any other substance which they lacked, they would go to the Nyimbunji. He was not only powerful but also generous, wise and kind.
He would visit the tribal areas to make sure everyone was all right and to see that they were following the rules and laws.
The name Ballina is derived from the Aboriginal term bullen-bullen, meaning tournament, of which many are believed to have been held there and are often referred to in Aboriginal mythology.
Various legends tell of a balugan, or hero, leaving home to travel to the coast intending to try his fighting prowess at a tournament (Steele, 1984).
Another legend associated with the Three Brothers states that the beautiful daughters of the brother who moved inland came over the mountains to Ballina to visit their kinsmen once a year. The daughters are said to be hidden in the dust storms that blow for two or three days in September (Steele, 1984)
A Dreamtime story surrounds a small island near Cabbage Tree Island.Opposite Wyrallah is Amphlett's Lagoon, the abode of an evil spirit (darangen); the people feared to go near it at night.
It is said that this island was a djurebil inhabited by a spirit who caused women to have babies. A woman desiring a baby would camp under a cabbage-tree palm; if she wanted twins or triplets she would camp under a palm that had two or three heads (Steele, 1984).
At a distance of six kilometres north-west of Amphlett's Lagoon is a pine capped hill called Parrot's Nest, but known to the Aboriginal as Goorambil, meaning pine tree. On its summit there was a stone arrangement, the djurebil of the hoop pine, which was owned by the Wyrallah clan. A particular pine tree on this site was used for sorcery; a leaf plucked from the tree would be pointed at an enemy, which would cause blood to run out of the enemy's mouth.
In former times the owner of the djurebil used to go to the top of Parrot's Nest once a year to maintain the stone arrangement and perform dances or incantations. Since this is no longer done, some people believe that the evil spirits are out of control and will harm anybody who approaches (Steele, 1984).
Lismore was also an important centre with a number of legendary associations.
The spring at Wilson Park became a djurebil and it was forbidden to touch the water that flowed from it.A sacred spring at Lismore features in a legend concerning a gaungan (heroine) and a balugan (hero) who fell in love, even though they had been promised in marriage to others; they ran away, and were pursued by the heroine's father with his hunting dogs.
To gain speed the father changed himself into a kangaroo, which was his "other self" in the Dreamtime. His giant leaps caused springs to arise wherever he landed, one at North Lismore, another at St Vincent's Hospital and a third at Wilson Park where he caught the couple and forgave them (Steele, 1984).
Other djurebil in the Lismore area include a spring at North Lismore, which was a djurebil for the echidna (Bunninj).
Another was a possum djurebil, referred to in a legend by Lyle Roberts, a member of the Wyrallah clan.
This djurebil was a tree containing many possums and it was owned by a young man. His uncle stole the tree and carried it away, but one of the possums escaped and told the young man. The young man retaliated by drowning his uncle in the river (Steele, 1984).A wind legend is connected with a djurebil near Roseberry.
The legend tells of a man following a very big bandicoot, which ran into a hole. The man followed the bandicoot into the hole and travelled along underground until he came to the place where the big wind is shut up under the earth.
The wind djurebil is at a place called Bululgun, where there is a stone covering a hole. It is said that if the stone is lifted a cyclone will ensue (Steele, 1984).
A lagoon in the township of Woodenbong is associated with a djurebil for guruman (kangaroo). Although several versions exist for this legend, they all agree that a balugan (hero) lived at The Glen, where the Mount Lindsay Highway crosses the state border.
His aunt insisted on holding the kangaroo net during a hunt, but a big kangaroo hopped away dragging the net and the aunt with him. Wherever the kangaroo rested, a swamp or lagoon formed, until he finally landed near the sawmill in Woodenbong, at the lagoon known as "Bainmabal". The kangaroo and the aunt became spirits living in the lagoon, and the aunt is now a derangan (ogress) (Steele, 1984).
The djurebil for nguram (sleep) is near Mount Lindesay, and has to do with sorcery, as the various meanings of the word nguram suggest.
The legend associated with this djurebil tells of a balugan who feasted on grubs from the pine tree, and then fell into a deep sleep from which he never awoke. At the site are stones representing the balugan and the grubs, and five other stones standing upright in a row.
To cast a spell, the sorcerer would strike the ground beside the standing stones with a sheet of ti-tree bark to partially awaken the balugan. He would then tell the balugan how much sleep to inflict on his enemies. Ti-tree bark was used for making blankets for sleeping, the word for Ti-tree was jalgumbun, derived from jali (tree) and ngumban (blanket); thus the Ti-tree was a "blanket-tree".
Jalgumbun was also the name of Mount Lindesay (Steele, 1984).
There is a legend which explains how Ti-trees came to grow on the ranges of this district.
Another legend explains the steps on the side of Mount Lindesay and also hints as to why this mountain was called Jalgumbun. The mountain was once a tree on which a man climbed with a vine to get honey, cutting foot-holes with his stone axe. During the night the tree grew into a mountain and the foot-holes can still be seen on its side (Steele, 1984).
A legend surrounds the rock now known as Glennie's Chair near Mount Lindesay.
A young boy and his grandmother were travelling to the seaside from the flat lands of the west; as they passed Mount Lindesay the boy kept stopping at Grass-trees to collect gum which he chewed.
The Border Ranges were infested with nimbun (ogres) and derangan (ogresses) who objected to strangers taking liberties with the rocks and plants on the mountains. A nimbun on Mount Lindesay, who lived deep inside the mountain, speared the boy and turned him into a rock (Glennie's Chair) (Steele, 1984).
Nooloigah was a great warrior and hunter in the budjeram (dreamtime), and the Nooloigah myth cycle is centred on the Old Bonalbo area. Several fragments of the legends have been published, and their main topographical interest may be summarised as follows (Steele, 1984):
- Nooloigah owned Haystack Mountain which was also known as Nooloigah.
- He established a bora ring ground on top of the mountain;
- this was "One of the last initiation grounds to be used by the Bandjalang People".
Post Contact
- His body and his head became two rocks on the eastern side of the mountain.
In 1770, Captain James Cook sailed past the coast and named the most prominent coastal features that he saw. These are Cape Byron, Mount Warning and Point Danger; however the Aborigines had already named many areas and landscape features long before European arrival eg. Mount Warning was known as Wollumbin, which means 'cloud catcher' (RACAC, 1996.
|Official portrait of Captain James Cook (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
unprotected, many of which were destroyed or degraded as a result of cattle grazing and cedar getting activities which began in the 1840's.
The cedar getter's harvested easily accessible trees along the river first, then ventured into the Big Scrub. Bundjalung people and Aboriginals from other nations regularly used both these areas when travelling to inter-nation gatherings. As a result, the Big Scrub contained many culturally significant sites, which were destroyed.
TRESPASSERS on their OWN THEIR SACRED LANDS
The Land Act of 1861 regulated the sale or leasing of crown lands in NSW. This resulted in hunting grounds and places of cultural, spiritual, and ritual significance being fenced off and destroyed by farming practices (Oakes, 1979). Local Aborigines soon became 'bewildered trespassers on their hereditary lands (Oakes, 1979).
In the late 1950's the government made steps to abandon the policy of segregation and the Board made moves to integrate Aboriginals with non-Aboriginals.
In 1974 local Bundjalung people held a conference at Evans Head and passed two motions unanimously. The first motion was the decision to approach the government and seek funding to engage a linguist to record the Bundjalung language and the second was to seek funding to employ an anthropologist to gather details of their culture. The aim of both motions was to record and keep alive the local Aboriginal culture and their language for the younger generations (Oakes, 1979).
Aboriginal Sites - Introduction
Aboriginals have lived in the area for at least 45,000 + years. Many traces of their occupation remain as Aboriginal Sites. An Aboriginal site is any place, which has the remains of prehistoric occupation, or is of contemporary significance to the Aboriginal community.
Although many Aboriginal sites have been lost over time as a result of European settlement and natural environmental factors (eg. weathering of rock art), the Upper Clarence is rich in existing Aboriginal sites, which are of great cultural value and importance to Aboriginal peoples.
Aboriginal sites range from large shell middens, which represent campsites, usually associated with lakes and rivers, to natural landforms that were created by Dreamtime ancestors or are associated with them.
Aboriginal sites are found in towns, on beaches, along riverbanks and tracks, on open plains and in dense forests. Different environments and different Aboriginal practices produce different types of sites.
|Aboriginal rock paintings (Photo credit: Peter Nijenhuis)
In many instances these sites have been deliberately destroyed or desecrated through development. Those sites, which remain, require recognition and protection to preserve the Aboriginal Heritage of the region.
Site Profiles
In general, Aboriginal Communities identify the following as sites of significance (Gungil Jindibah Centre, 1996)
Art sites Increase sites
Axe grinding grooves Initiation grounds
Burial sites Middens/Open middens
Camp sites Natural fossil bed
Carved trees Natural mythological sites
Caves and overhangs and rock shelters Ovens/mounds
Contact sites eg. Massacres Quarry sites
Dreaming tracks: land and sky Scarred trees
Fertility sites Stone arrangements
Fish Traps Totem sites (including birth sites)
Fishing and hunting areas Water Holes, Waterfalls, Springs and Wells
Art Sites
Art sites depict sacred information as well as serving to indicate local species, tribal boundaries and are considered to be a form of written documentation. Art sites include engravings, paintings and drawings that are generally found on rock surfaces but may also be found as body art and ground art. All art sites are considered significant and in some circumstances sacred .
Axe Grinding Grooves
|Aboriginal Burial Poles (Photo credit: thievingjoker)
Camp Sites
Some campsites are significant because of their traditional and historic use. They provide evidence (including physical remains) of the places where Aboriginal ancestors lived for thousands of years prior to the European invasion. They are associated with spiritual beliefs and some are classified by their use. The sites are also culturally, historically and archaeologically significant.
Surviving relics commonly associated with Aboriginal camp sites include: cooking ovens, seed grinding dishes, middens and scatters of various stone artifacts derived from tool making. The physical boundaries of campsites can sometimes be extensive, reflecting the social organization of the camp.
Caves and Overhangs and rock shelters
Contact sites
Massacre sites are an important part of Australian history. They represent the struggles and atrocities Aborigine's had to endure. Missions and Reserves where Aboriginal people were held under Government Protection Policies are known as incarceration sites. Many missions and reserves are considered significant to present day communities as they have historical graveyards. Other missions and reserves have special significance as they represent the places where present day Aboriginal peoples' grandparents and great grandparents grew up.
Dreaming Tracks: Land & Sky
Dreaming tracks link sites across the land and sky to each other, and are significant in themselves. Dreaming tracks trace the movements of ancestors as they journeyed across the land and sky . Local examples include Jiggi's route, the route taken through the McPherson Range for trade and ceremonial purposes, and the track followed by the weeun from Nimbin to the coast.
Fertility sites
Aboriginal women would go to fertility sites to enhance their ability to become pregnant. Pregnant women also used fertility sites if they were suffering from any gynaecological problems that might inhibit the growth of their unborn child or if there were problems during childbirth. Special rituals
were performed at these sites by the women Elders to ensure fertility and healthy childbirth. Goat Island near Cabbage Tree Island is a fertility site.
Aboriginal men also had their own fertility sites, which are associated with men's initiation ceremonies. Fertility sites can comprise a body of water, specific vegetation types (e.g. cabbage tree palms, or stands of tree ferns) caves, particular rock formations and a variety of other places within the natural landscape.
Fish Traps
Fish traps are another representation of the technological use of the natural environment. They are considered important for educational purposes and a when oral history relates an association with an ancestor they are considered sacred. They are found mainly along the coast and in some inland areas associated with river beds.
Fishing and Hunting Areas
Many Aboriginal people still eat bush foods. Hunting and fishing areas need to be maintained for the continuing health of Aboriginal communities. Reports on accounts of food gathering opportunities available to local Aborigines indicate that the streams, rainforests and eucalyptus forests provide the main sources of food and raw materials.
Increase Sites
Increase sites (or Djurbihl) are associated with a particular plant or animal species, or climatic condition (eg. rain) At increase sites, ceremonies were performed to ensure an increase, or continuance of a particular species or climatic condition. They are linked to many totemic associations and are considered sacred as only initiated people can perform the rituals for increase. (Heron, unpublished)
Increase sites vary in degree of significance to Aboriginal people. Such variance is dependent on the context in which the site exists within that particular cultural landscape. However, to Aboriginal people, all sites are considered significant because they are proof of occupancy by the traditional owners and the inheritance to their descendants.
Ceremonial Grounds and Initiation Areas
Ceremonial Grounds are sites where initiation ceremonies, marriage alliance ceremonies, tribal meetings and other important social functions were held. They are places of great significance to Aboriginal people.
The Bora
The full extent of a bora ground encompasses the surrounding lands and water points. They also include the camps where young initiates prepared for rituals and ceremonies. Initiation areas can include bora grounds, caves overhangs, bodies of water, rock formations (both natural and modified), natural formations (hills, mountains, valleys) and surrounding land.
|Western Kurrajong Tree used for Aboriginal Marriages at Bundjalung National Park NSW (Photo credit: Wikipedia
Middens are usually located along the coastline and within estuarine areas. Open middens may also be found further inland where groups returning from the coast have stopped to feast on pipis and oysters gathered earlier.
These vary in size depending upon the conditions of preservation and location. Middens are predominantly composed of edible shellfish species but may also contain animal and plant remains and charcoal from cooking fires. In addition, some middens contain human remains and as such are considered very significant places.
|Aboriginal midden
(Photo credit: Matthew L Stevens)
Natural Mythological Sites
Natural mythological sites are the spiritual, visual and physical cultural landscape. Associated with this cultural landscape are the legends of Aboriginal ancestors, their lives, travels, laws and lore. These places are the foundation of Aboriginal cultural beliefs and religion. These sites can be seen in every part of the land, water and sky. They include headlands, bodies of water, mountains, rock formations, star formations, or as an assemblage of several natural formations.
These sites also show the technological use of the environment. Ovens show how Aboriginal people employed various cooking methods . Often the only remaining feature is a cluster of heat retainers (rocks, clay balls or broken up termite mounds), which are placed at the bottom of the cooking oven. This can indicate the depth of erosion that has occurred over time.
Cooking oven remains provide excellent opportunities for scientific dating with some thousands of years old.
Quarry Sites
Quarry sites can either consist of stone, ochre or clay deposits used for the manufacture of tools, art material, ritual and ceremonial objects, medicine and other cultural material and are considered significant from an archaeological and anthropological perspective.
Scarred Trees
Scarred trees are formed when sheets of bark are removed using stone axes or a heavy rock with a sharp edge. Steel axes were sometimes used during European times and it is possible to distinguish between the two types of cutting tools used (Heron, unpublished). The sheets of bark were used to construct various tools including: shields, canoes and coolamans. Bark sheets were also used for hut construction.
The bark was never totally removed, allowing the bark to regrow. In time, the bark regrowth of the scar will completely close, leaving a 'surgical' scar. Less recognizable scarred trees are those which contain 'toe hold" scar's created when deep cuts are made up the tree to allow people to climb and gather food. Scars found are still considered significant to Aboriginal people and require protection.
Stone Arrangements
All stone arrangements are considered sacred. They may be either natural formations or modified by humans. Stone arrangements are generally associated with sacred rituals as well as being boundary markers for tribal lands. They can be found in various forms such as cairns, circles or other geometric patterns. Many are linked with totemic associations and/or particular groups' Dreamings and ancestry.
Totem Sites
Totemic spiritual associations relate to every plant and animal within the surrounding natural environment. Every family has a totem, which connects them to their existence. Totem sites are sacred and should not be interfered with (only family groups have information about their particular totem site and information regarding these places would not be divulged unless the site was under the immediate threat of development). Birth sites are closely associated with totem sites. A person's place of birth is connected with their dreaming and as such is considered significant.
Waterholes, Waterfalls, Springs and Wells
Waterholes, springs and wells have many uses and all are considered significant, as water is the essence of all life. Water is an important part of many rituals and some water holes are considered more sacred than others.
Laws Relating to Aboriginal Sites -The National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974
Aboriginal sites and relics are primarily cared for under the National Parks and Wildlife Act. This act provides statutory protection for all Aboriginal relics and for all Aboriginal places.
It is illegal to disturb, damage, deface or destroy a relic or Aboriginal Place. If you find a site you should report it to the Director NPWS and the Local Aboriginal Land Council.
Both Local Aboriginal Land Councils (LALC's) and NPWS have Aboriginal sites officers that will inspect and assess proposed activities sites or areas. Contact them if you are aware of or think you have located an Aboriginal site.
Aboriginal sites in New South Wales are not the basis for a land-rights claim. NPWS and the Aboriginal community are interested in recording and preserving sites, not in interfering with the rights of landholders
|English: Mt warning at sunset (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
There are a number of culturally significant sites on the North Coast and within the Upper Clarence. Information regarding sites, whether they are sacred or significant and the level of protection given can be obtained by contacting the LALC in your local area or NSW National Parks and Wildlife Services.
Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Values on the North Coast and within the Upper Clarence
The following document was prepared from material written by Ron Heron & Bill Walker, with minor additions & alterations by Terry Moody
Mother = wuthoong
Father -marmung
Grandfather nguthung
Grandmother barbinge
Elder woman middung gun
Sister nunarng
Brother bunarm
Uncle go-ung
Aunty ngudoonje
God Marmung gulli
River bulloon
Mountain doogun
Carpet snake yumbar
Snake ngoonjbear
Possum gooyarnj
Goanna ngumarhl
Koala boodabee
Turtle binging
Fish jullum
Eel jarjunje
Cat fish wugginje
Frog juddarnje
Stories boothudum
Kangaroo goodaman
Vocabulary and expressionsGreetings and Classroom Language
How are you today ? Jingee walla with a byarn?
We are good Booglebear ngullingarnge
Sit down and listen Yerna gungullair
See you later Nyarlan boobin
Goodnight Boogle jooginje
This is Mr Walker, he is an Elder Goodjingjarng mulla dundeegum
Our land Ngullingnar jugoon
We are from here Googinar judda ngulligarnje
Is, this is, I am, the, they, this, that is - mulla
E.g. this is a snake
ngoonjbear mulla
Proper Nouns
Mt Warning Woollumbin
Mt Barney Gulla Gujin
Mt Lindsay Jullgum Boonge
Nimbin Rocks Nyimboonje
Tooloom Falls Dooloomi
Bonalbo Bunawlbu
Big jaydda
Small bijung guy
Sleepy ngoodarm bil
Slippery guddarl
Shallow bulloom
Wide wulloong
Tall good dard
E.g. the snake is slippery
ngoonjbear guddarl
Interview with Gerry Bostock http://www.valeriebarrow.com/Interview-Gerry-Bostok.pdf
"Gerry, Can you tell me how the Koorie people think about the thought of star people existing?
"Well I don"t know - it depends on the group. But with the Bundjalungs, my people, it is our belief that we came from the stars. Then of course the people you have in Western Australia, called the Wandjinan also had that belief.
"Yes", he nods his head wisely, "There are heaps of Aboriginal people whose beliefs are based on coming from the stars. Like David Uniapon who talks about the legend of the Pleiades of the Bundjalung Tribe.
Then so do the Hopi Indians talk about coming from the Pleiades. Some anthropologists have done work in looking for a connection with Australia and the Hopi Indians, but it hasn"t been proved yet."
I interject, "Maybe that is connected with the land supposed to have all been joined together at some stage."
"There is a group of indigenous Africans who talk about the dark star and black holes, in Sirius? They have used that story in their Dreaming and their lessons about the solar system since forever – yet it was only recently discovered by NASA."
"Gerry, I have recently watched a video about the Sphinx in Egypt questioning its true age and they brought up the subject of a face that looks like a Sphinx that is on Mars and that there is a race of aboriginals in Africa that say they came from Mars, which I thought was interesting.
The African native does seem to be a different root race, from the Australian Aborigine and yet they could be likened to the American Native Indian couldn"t they – there does seem to be a similarity there?"
"Yes, well scientists had to come up with a new sort of term, they came up with the Australoid because they had Negroid, Caucasoid, Mongoloid. So the Australoid was used specifically to describe the Australian Aboriginal, I think the native American Indian fall into the Polynesian type, with the slightly Asiatic look.
With the new DNA testing machinery that scientists now have it has been found that every human has at least a small amount of Aborigine DNA within them."
"That works out with our story doesn"t it Gerry - that the human began here and went out around the world from here?"
"Yeah, and that is the Aboriginal viewpoint. That we started here, and our race began here - they didn"t come here from another place on Earth, as anthropologists would have you believe.
My personal point of view is, the anthropologists are coming from their `Christian" view point believing humans began in Eden and that is Ethiopia -the humans then came down around the world. But we say well there was a dual evolution involved. They say evolution began in Africa but we say no, it started here with us."
"You spoke about the famous aboriginal David Uniapon. Is he saying that he believes star peoples were ancestors, or is that from the Dreaming stories?" I ask.
"It"s from the Dreaming stories. If you have a look on the fifty-dollar note you will see David"s likeness and his inventions portrayed on it, like the cross blade shear and designs of a helicopter based on Leonardo De Vinci"s designs.
He spoke Greek and Latin and translated Aboriginal Stories into Greek and Latin. David also had a pet invention of perpetual motion, that nobody wanted to know about, which is a great shame."
"Gerry, David Uniapon also tells the Dreaming stories of animals coming to this Earth from the stars is that right?"
"Yes, well they came from - they were created by Baiame, by Wollumbin, or by whatever Deity was in a particular area. In some areas the Deity was a man and in some place it was a women.
So for instance at the top end of Australia you have the creator as Warramelangi who is a female who had dilly bags around her neck to collect oysters and fish. She came out of the sea and mud formed around her feet and so she was able to form a landmass. That tells the story of how she went down as far as Melangi in Northern Territory creating the landscape as she went. In fact that is covered by one of the first documentaries that I was involved in called, "The Land My Mother."
In other places like New South Wales and other parts of Queensland as well, they talk about Baiame and Baiame is a sky hero. Now Baiame would come to Earth from up there to teach the clever fellas how to fly, and so when some one was being trained in the magic arts, they were being visited from another world."
"Gerry, we saw balls of elemental lights at a friend"s property and believe we were looking at fairies playing on the water. The digital camera showed photos of wisps of energy looking like large angelic beings standing there also. Are they what Aborigine would call min min lights?"
"Yeah, I have seen them caught on a digital camera and if they are bright you can see into them and see geometrical patterns. In some Aborigine ceremonies you can see balls of Light, and there are so many it is like sitting in a bubble bath.
"My first memory of anything like that was when I was about 3 or 4 years old and Grandma took me to the water"s edge at night to show me the Ghost Fisherman. It was a red light floating on the water - zig zagging across the water.
She said "See that, that"s the ghost fisherman, he is looking for souls. They are dead finish. Don"t come down to the water at night by yourself.
"In my healings I use the colour red light going through the crystal that enhances the healing energy. It shatters lumps in people - it is good for scattering the energy. It softens the lump and disperses it."
"Gerry, in the Western world people speak of seeing angels, do the Aborigine people see angels or something like that?"
"No, basically it is Light - Spirit is Light and that is why min min Lights are accepted as Spirit people. It depends on the training of how you see Spirit. You might see a Being such as Jesus but that is how some would recognize the energy, of how your brain transforms it into an image that you would recognize the energy."
"Yes, that would be like different countries having a different language explaining the same thing. I understand that Gerry."
The delicious aroma of the curry dinner John was cooking called to us to stop – it was time to eat.
While Gerry was visiting I suggested that we try a regression to which he agreed. We knew already that he had the memory of being a star person going into the water at Broken Bay and dying there. We wanted to see if he could remember any more.
I asked him to go back to the time of where he was at his home planet. The one they had to leave.
He said, "The sun wasn't yellow – it was blue, with blue rays." He said, "Mikhail was from this planet. That the blue energy was what he saw when he gave healing's. I think it was Venus.
He then proceeded to describe being back on the starship. They wore cloaks of different colours that had collars that stood up high around and half way up the back of the head. They don't have hair. They had very large black eyes, no eyelids as such. They had an inscrutable look – an expression that the Chinese have. Like the eyes are half closed and they slant. "
"Do they still have the long face?"
"Yes. He listened to them speaking and found the language very similar to the Pentecostals. He felt that the ship was from a different time span as if they had projected them there.
Its like there are three distinct races of people. Like they're our type - no hair, slanted eyes, long faces. I get the feeling hair grew after eating the blue light. He remembered it was more important for the race to leave their planet for the sake of their young. The other two races were Draconian and Lizard like."
. . . . . . And she is a weaver too.Nine-year-old Lauren Jarrett was playing with her six siblings when a car came rolling down the dirt track to her family's Glenreagh home.
Stolen Generation woman's journey to healing.


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The chemokine receptor CCR5 and to a lesser extent CCR3 and CCR2b have been shown to serve as coreceptors for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) entry into blood- or tissue-derived macrophages. Therefore, we examined the expression of the chemokine receptors CCR1, CCR2b, CCR3, CCR5, and CXCR4 as RNAs or as membrane-expressed antigens in monocytes maturing into macrophages and correlated these results with the susceptibility of macrophages to HIV-1 infection, as measured by their concentrations of extracellular p24 antigen and levels of intracellular HIV DNA by quantitative PCR. There was little change in levels of CCR1, CCR2b, and CCR5 RNAs. CCR3 RNA and surface antigen were undetectable throughout maturation of adherent monocytes over 10 days. CXCR4 RNA and membrane antigen were strongly expressed in newly adherent monocytes, but their levels declined at day 7. The amounts of CCR5 RNA remained stable, but the amounts of CCR5 antigen increased from undetectable to peak levels at day 7 and then declined slightly at day 10. Levels of susceptibility to laboratory (HIV-1BaL) and clinical strains of HIV-1 showed parallel kinetics, peaking at day 7 and then decreasing at days 10 to 14. The concordance of levels of HIV DNA and p24 antigen suggested that the changes in susceptibility with monocyte maturation were at or immediately after entry and correlated well with CCR5 expression and inversely with CXCR4 expression.
The chemokine receptor CCR5 was recently identified as the major coreceptor for the entry of non-syncytium-inducing (NSI) human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) strains into primary CD4 lymphocytes and macrophages but not into T-cell lines (1, 11, 15). These data were supported by the relative refractoriness to HIV infection of CD4 lymphocytes from patients who are homozygous for the CCR5 Δ32 mutation (10, 21, 27, 39). In contrast, T-cell-line-tropic strains of HIV-1 use the chemokine receptor CXCR4 as an entry coreceptor (17) while dual-tropic strains can use both CCR5 and CXCR4 (14, 43). These findings correlate with inhibition of infection of T-cell lines with SI isolates by the natural ligand for CXCR4, SDF1 (3, 33), and also by the inhibition of infection of primary lymphocytes or macrophages with NSI HIV strains by the β-chemokines RANTES, MIP1β, and MIP1α, all of which bind to CCR5 (8).
HIV binds to CCR5 and CXCR4 via gp120, especially its V3 loop, which has been previously described to determine lymphocyte/macrophage tropism (6, 22, 42). Studies of chimeric chemokine receptors suggest that macrophage and dual-tropic HIV strains may differ in their relative affinities for the amino-terminal and extracellular domains of CCR5 (2, 12, 37). SI strains appear to bind to the extracellular domains of CXCR4. In addition, different strains of HIV appear to bind to different amino acids within the extracellular domains of CCR5 (13). Binding of gp120 to CCR5 is enhanced by prior binding to CD4 (46, 47). Furthermore, laboratory-adapted strains appear to be able to bind to CD4 and thence probably to chemokine receptors with higher affinities than clinical strains (25).
However, some clinical or laboratory-adapted HIV strains, including the dual-tropic strain 89.6, also use other chemokine coreceptors, either CCR3, CCR2b (5, 7, 14), or other orphan coreceptors, in addition to CCR5 for entry into primary T lymphocytes and blood-derived macrophages.
In addition, the chemokine receptors used during HIV entry of blood-derived and some tissue macrophages differ. For example CCR3 appears to be as important as CCR5 for entry into microglial cells (20).
The role of CCR5 and to a lesser extent CCR3 and CCR2b as HIV coreceptors for infection of blood-derived macrophages by most clinical and laboratory strains raises the question of whether differences in the susceptibilities of maturing monocytes to HIV-1 infection are determined by differential levels of expression of this coreceptor. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that increasing permissiveness of differentiating monocytes to productive infection with M-tropic HIV-1 is related to changes in levels of expression of CCR5 or other chemokine receptors such as CCR1, CCR2b, CCR3, and CXCR4.
Heparinized peripheral blood was obtained from healthy HIV-seronegative donors. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were separated from blood by density gradient sedimentation on Ficoll-Paque (Pharmacia, Uppsala, Sweden). Monocytes were separated by countercurrent elutriation as previously described (30). The fractions containing monocytes were collected, and contaminating lymphocytes were depleted by complement-dependent lysis with monoclonal anti-CD3 antibody (OKT3; Ortho Diagnostics, Raritan, N.J.). Residual contamination with T lymphocytes in this population was <1% as determined by flow cytometry with anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody. More than 96% of the cells were nonspecific esterase positive. Monocytes were either used immediately after isolation (day 0) or cultured on 24-well tissue culture plates for 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 days at 37°C and 5% CO2. Cells were then used for infection with NSI HIV-1 isolates, RNA extraction, or flow cytometry.
Cells were infected with low-number-passage clinical isolate WM1101 and the laboratory macrophage-tropic strain HIV-1BaL, which was obtained from the National Institutes of Health AIDS Research and Reference Reagent Program. Infectivities of HIV isolates were quantified by calculation of their 50% tissue culture infective doses in phytohemagglutinin-stimulated PBMCs. Monocytes were inoculated with cell-free HIV isolates at 105 cpm of reverse transcriptase (RT) activity per ml (105 tissue culture infective doses per ml on PBMCs and at a multiplicity of infection of 0.025/cell) and allowed to adsorb for 4 h before complete aspiration of medium, washing, and addition of fresh medium. Cultures were replenished with fresh medium every three days, and culture supernatants were stored for quantification of HIV p24 antigen with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit (Organon Teknika, Sydney, Australia). The limit of detection of HIV p24 antigen was 12 pg/ml. Virus inocula which were used in DNA experiments were first filtered through a 0.22-μm-pore-size filter (Millex-GS; Millipore, Bedford, Mass.) and then treated with DNase (20 μg/ml) for 1 h at room temperature in the presence of 10 mM MgCl2 to decontaminate the inoculum of HIV-1 DNA. Cell cultures were treated with zidovudine (20 mM) for 30 min at 37°C to control for de novo DNA synthesis. Cell lysate preparation and PCR conditions were as previously described (30). Primers M667 (49) and gag1 (30) were used to amplify a 320-bp region extending from the R region within the 5′ long terminal repeat to the gag region, representing full-length or nearly full-length HIV-1 cDNA. Primers M667 and AA55 (49) were also used to amplify a 140-bp region flanking the R and U3 regions of the 5′ long terminal repeat, representing the sequence of the initiation product of HIV reverse transcription. Hot PCR was used to increase sensitivity where M667 was 5′ end labeled with [γ32P]ATP, and then the modified M667 was added to the PCR mixture at a ratio to cold primer of 1:2. Samples were subjected to 30 cycles of amplification as follows: 1 min at 95°C, 2 min at 60°C, and 3 min at 72°C with a final extension at 72°C for 7 min. Concurrent reactions were also performed with primers PCO3 and PCO4 (38) to amplify a 110-bp DNA fragment of the human β-globin gene to ensure that equivalent amounts of DNA were used in each sample reaction. HIV DNA standards were prepared from 8E5 cells (18), containing one integrated copy of HIV-1 DNA per cell, and PBMCs were used to optimize cell number. Amplified products were run on an agarose gel, dried, exposed to X-ray film for 6 h, and autoradiographed.
To study the RNA expression of CCR1, CCR2b, CCR3, CCR5, and CXCR4 in differentiating monocytes (0, 1, 3, and 7 days postadherence), RT-PCR was performed on these cultures with oligonucleotide primer pairs specific for each chemokine receptor. Briefly, total RNA was isolated with Trizol reagents and 2 μg was used for cDNA synthesis with Superscript II RNase H-reverse transcriptase (Life Technologies/Gibco-BRL, Melbourne, Australia) and oligo(dT) primer (Boehringer, Mannheim, Germany) at 42°C for 1 h. One-tenth of this product was used as a template for PCR amplification withTaq polymerase (Perkin-Elmer, Sydney, Australia). PCR was carried out for 30 cycles at 94°C for 1 min, 55°C for 2 min, and 72°C for 2 min. The primer pairs used in RT-PCR were CCR1 (296 bp) (sense, TGGAAACTCCAAACACCACAG; antisense, CCCAGTCATCCTTCAACTTG) (32), CCR2b (351 bp) (sense, CCAACGAGAGCGGTGAAGAAGTC; antisense, GCCAAAATAACCGATGTGATA) (48), CCR3 (539 bp) (sense, TGACAACCTCACTAGATACAGTTG; antisense, CTCTTCAAACAACTCTTCAGTCTC) (36), CCR5 (280 bp) (sense, AATAATTGCAGTAGCTCTAACAGG; antisense, TTGAGTCCGTGTCACAAGCCC) (40), CXCR4 (381 bp) (sense, TGACTCCATGAAGGAACCCTG; antisense, CTTGGCCTCTGACTGTTGGTG) (26), and GAPDH (196 bp) (sense, ATGGAGAAGGCTGGGGCTC; antisense, AAGTTGTCATGGATGACCTTG) (19).
Flow cytometry was carried out to examine the cell surface expression of CCR3, CCR5, CXCR4, and CD4 in differentiating monocytes (days 0, 1, 5, and 10 after adherence). After cells were removed from the plastic surface with 5 mM EDTA in phosphate-buffered saline, they were washed twice with cold fluorescence-activated cell sorter buffer containing 1% fetal bovine serum and 0.01% sodium azide in phosphate-buffered saline and then resuspended in 50 μl of human serum and labeled with specific antibody as previously described (29). Cells were examined with a Becton Dickinson (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) FACScan flow cytometer. Monoclonal antibodies to CCR3 (7B11) and CCR5 (2F9) were obtained from LeukoSite Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.), and monoclonal antibody to CXCR4 (12G5) (16) was purchased from R & D Systems (Minneapolis, Minn.). Monoclonal antibody to CD4 (Q4120) was a gift from Q. Sattentau (Inserm, Paris, France), and anti-Leu-M3 (CD14) phycoerythrin conjugate and anti-Leu3a fluorescein isothiocyanate conjugate were purchased from Becton Dickinson.
Monocytes differentiating into macrophages (i.e., monocyte-derived macrophages [MDM]) over 7 days of adherence to plastic became increasingly permissive to productive infection with a laboratory-adapted (BaL) and a clinical (NSI) strain of HIV, as shown by levels of extracellular HIV p24 antigen (Fig.1A) and particle-associated reverse transcription (data not shown). A corresponding increase in HIV DNA was also observed by using quantitative sensitive hot PCR and primers to detect the full-length cDNAs (Fig. 1B, first gel) or the initiation products (Fig. 1B, third gel) of HIV reverse transcription. These results demonstrate clearly that restriction of both tropism and the level of productive infection in fresh uncultured monocytes occurs mainly at the level of entry (or uncoating). This confirms previous reports from our own group and other groups demonstrating that tropism of laboratory-adapted (34, 44) and clinical (4) isolates increases with monocyte maturation. The use of highly sensitive hot PCR supports the notion that this increased tropism restricts HIV entry into monocytes rather than restricting the spread of HIV from infected foci as a result of the occasional permissiveness of monocytes. Furthermore, susceptibility to productive infection of MDM reached a peak at approximately 7 days of adherence (Fig. 1). Infection of 10- and 14-day (data not shown)-old MDM resulted in lower levels of HIV p24 antigen (Fig. 1A) and DNA (data not shown). At day 7 the cells were also susceptible to infection with a greater number of clinical isolates and the mean level of extracellular p24 antigen was greatest (31).
The expression of chemokine receptors (CCR1, CCR2b, CCR3, CCR5, and CXCR4) in differentiating monocytes was determined by measuring the specific levels of expression of mRNA or surface membrane antigen by semiquantitative RT-PCR or flow cytometry, respectively. In three different donors of blood monocytes, mRNAs for CCR1, CCR2b, CCR5, and CXCR4 were detected in both freshly isolated monocytes and differentiated macrophages (Fig. 2). CCR3 RNA was below the detectable level in all donors. CCR1 mRNA expression was relatively higher than that of other coreceptors and constant, irrespective of the stage of cell differentiation. CCR2b RNA expression in monocytes was variable between donors but showed a significant and consistent decline as cell differentiation proceeded at 7 days of adherence (Fig. 2). Whether this change is also reflected in the production of cell surface antigen is clarified when specific monoclonal antibodies become available. The CCR5 transcript was detected in fresh monocytes, with a slight increase at day 1 of monocyte adherence, and its level then remained constant to day 7 (Fig.2). In addition, the levels of expression of CXCR4 (fusin) RNA were relatively high in fresh and newly adherent (day 1) monocytes but declined significantly when cells differentiated into MDM at day 7 of adherence (Fig. 2). Residual T-cell contamination in freshly isolated monocytes was <1%, as determined by flow cytometry with anti-CD3 antibody, and 86% of monocytes were stained with monoclonal antibody against CD14. The identities of all CCR transcripts were confirmed by DNA sequencing of the PCR products (data not shown). RNA preparations without reverse transcriptase were used in PCR analysis and shown consistently to be negative for chemokine receptors and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) DNA (Fig. 2).
The levels of expression of CCR3, CCR5, and CXCR4 on cell surfaces at different stages of differentiation were then examined by flow cytometry with monoclonal antibodies against these coreceptors. The expression of CCR5 on cell surfaces significantly increased as monocytes matured to MDM over 1 to 7 days (Fig.3, second row). In repeated experiments, surface CCR5 was not detected immediately after monocyte isolation but increased progressively from day 1 and was maximal at day 5, plateauing until day 7, and then decreased to lower levels at days 10 to 14 of adherence (Fig. 3, second row). This decrease in CCR5 surface expression of MDM was also correlated with a decrease in CCR5 RNA (data not shown) and a decrease in the susceptibility of MDM to productive infection at the same time points (Fig. 1A). CXCR4 membrane expression was relatively high at the early stage of monocyte maturation (days 0 to 3) and then decreased during the later stages of maturation (7 days after adherence) (Fig. 3, third row). These results correlated well with mRNA levels quantified by RT-PCR and Northern analysis (data not shown). CCR3 surface antigen expression was not detectable in monocytes or MDM (Fig. 3, first row), as was expected from the results with CCR3 mRNA. The level of CD4 expression (Fig. 3, fourth row) declined after initial monocyte adherence and then was slowly upregulated, as previously reported by us and others (9, 23), but it correlated neither with permissiveness of monocytes to infection nor with CCR5 expression. In addition, we have now examined CCR5 expression on maturing monocytes in more than the three cases mentioned above, verifying the results shown in Fig. 3 but also demonstrating that there was variability in the levels of expression of CCR5 on MDM on days 3 to 5 which was quite considerable (three- to fivefold) and which was independent of the CCR5Δ32 heterozygous states of individuals (data not shown). Despite this variability in levels of CCR5 expression, there was always a significant increase during maturation from an undetectable level at day 0. Furthermore, monocyte maturation or activation was induced with macrophage colony-stimulating factor over 3 days of culture. Surface expression of CCR5 was upregulated by 35% ± 6% (mean ± standard deviation), while CXCR4 was downregulated by 20% ± 3%, a pattern similar to that observed with differentiation by adherence to plastic.
Therefore, the level of expression of CCR5, as a major coreceptor, corresponded well to increasing permissiveness for infection by NSI viruses at early stages of monocyte maturation (1 to 7 days after adherence) and then with a decrease in productive infection at later stages of maturation (10 to 14 days). The significance of the CXCR4 decline (which appears to be inversely proportional to the rise in CCR5) is not yet clear. Freshly isolated monocytes express significant levels of CXCR4 on their membranes and bind SDF1α but are still refractory to infection with SI isolates. Therefore, it appears that CCR5 but not CXCR4 is functional as an HIV coreceptor in blood monocytes, perhaps because of differences in the association of CXCR4 (28) with CD4 or conformational differences in the coreceptors of lymphocyte and monocyte membranes.
In this in vitro system, β-chemokine production in monocyte/macrophage cultures was influenced by three different stimuli. Initial plating of monocytes and culture manipulation resulted in a temporary surge of β-chemokine production to levels of 1 to 4 ng/ml, such that production of RANTES, MIP1α, and MIP1β by cultured monocytes peaked at 1 day after adherence and then declined to undetectable levels at day 3 and thereafter. HIV infection itself can specifically upregulate β-chemokine expression in monocytes and MDM, reaching levels four- to sixfold higher than those found in uninfected cultures (24). Similarly, it has been demonstrated that β-chemokine expression is enhanced in lymph nodes of HIV-infected patients (45) and in in vitro-infected MDM (41). Hence, there was no simple relationship between endogenous chemokine levels and the relative refractoriness of monocytes to HIV infection.
The above-described data supports the notion that increasing expression of CCR5 antigen on monocytes maturing into macrophages may account for at least a significant component of the inhanced susceptibility of MDM to infection with M-tropic HIV-1 isolates. Furthermore, it has been shown that monocyte susceptibility to HIV-1 infection increased despite declining expression of the CD4 receptor during the first day of adherence in blood monocytes (9, 23). However, other chemokine receptors may also be involved in this mechanism, as a recent study has suggested that at least one other unidentified coreceptor may be active in MDM, especially where infection with M-tropic isolates cannot be determined solely by utilization of CCR5 (5). As reagents for the other coreceptors become available, similar studies of expression on maturing monocytes will be necessary, as will determination of the chemokine receptor utilization of the infecting HIV strains used in such studies.
We thank the Australian National Centre for HIV Virology Research and the National Health and Medical Research Council for great support.
We thank LeukoSite Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.) for kindly providing us with antibodies to CCR3 and CCR5 and Q. Sattentau (Inserm) for antibody to CD4. We also thank Claire Wolczak for the preparation of the manuscript.
- Received 13 June 1997.
- Accepted 24 September 1997.
- Copyright © 1998 American Society for Microbiology


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Life-long Revelstoke resident Karen Powers is taking a step into the political ring with a run for council.
"I care about Revelstoke and I think we need a change for the better and to move forward," she told the Times Review last week.
She announced her candidacy earlier in the summer and the I caught up with her last week.
Powers is the owner of Conversations, the cafe on Mackenzie Avenue that is popular with an older crowd. She has also worked for CP Rail, Selkirk Cedar and the Peaks Lodge, giving her experience in almost all facets of Revelstoke's economy.
She was born in Revelstoke and has two children in their mid-20s who also live here.
She wants to bring her experience to the council table, and bring a focus on growing the economy.
"I feel that we need to — and everybody says the same thing — we have to move forward in industry and tourism and diversify what we have in Revelstoke," she said. "We have potential to grow in a positive way and we just have to attract industry into Revelstoke for higher paying jobs rather than just minimum wage jobs."
She talked about introducing tax incentives to attract new businesses and encourage existing ones to expand. "Perhaps there's other ways we can help the businesses to grow, to make it worth their while to come here," she said. "It can't just be the beauty of the mountains. That will keep them here."
Her vision is that of a community that works together, something she feels the community has lost.
She said her customers, many of whom spend quite a bit of time at her cafe talking about local issues, tell her the city needs change in order to grow. Infrastructure issues like the Big Eddy Waterworks will have to be addressed.
While she is not part of any community organizations, she said does what she can to help out, such as promoting the vintage car show.
"This is my hometown," she said. "My children want to live here. I've never ever thought of moving, so I want to be part of looking after where I live."


text: How to Conquer Student Loan Debt The average four-year college graduate typically leaves campus with at least $23,000 of student loan debt according to FinAid. Combined with the difficult job market and average starting salary for a recent graduate with a bachelor degree of just $40,000, overcoming student loan debt may seem impossible. Telhio offers the following tips to help recent grads effectively navigate their student loan debt. Know your loans and your grace period. It is important to keep track of the lender, balance, and repayment status of each of your student loans. Different loans have different grace periods, or how long after leaving school before you have to make your first payment.Pick the right repayment option. When your federal loans come due, your loan payments will automatically be based on a standard 10-year repayment plan. If the standard plan is going to be hard for you to manage, work with your lender to find an alternative plan.Remember that you have options. If you are having trouble making payments, don't panic. Whether it is due to unemployment, health problems, or going back to school, there are legitimate ways to postpone your federal loans.Stay out of trouble! Ignoring your student loans has serious consequences that can last a lifetime. Not paying can lead to delinquency and default, which can dramatically impact your ability to acquire loans later in life.Lower your principal if you can. When you make a loan payment, it covers any late fees first, then interest, and finally the principal. If you can afford to pay more than your required monthly payment, you can lower your principal, which will reduce the amount of interest you pay over the life of the loan.Payoff the most expensive loan first. If you are considering paying off or paying down one or more of your loans ahead of schedule, or trying to reduce the principal, start with the one that has the highest interest rate.Loan forgiveness. These are various programs that will forgive all or some of your federal student loans if you work in certain fields. Public servants, teachers, nurses, and AmeriCorps and Peace Corps volunteers are all loan forgiveness career opportunities. www.FinAid.org has more information about loan forgiveness. *Tips provided by the Project on Student DebtReturn to the news archive


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It is looking like the battle of the Manchester clubs as both teams went on fire to displace their opponents this weekend. Howard Kendall (Former Everton Manager who died before the match) was a great manager but alas! it was Man Utd who paid a better tribute with the thrashing of Everton in their own backyard.
Wayne Rooney scored his first goal at Goodison Park since 2007 as Manchester United and Morgan Schneiderlin's first competitive goal for United in the 18th minute gave them the lead before Ander Herrera headed in a second just four minutes later.
David de Gea also continued his fine recent form with strong reaction saves to deny Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley as United weathered an early storm in the second half.
Man Utd now seat 2nd with 19 pts, 2 pts behind league leaders Man City who has 21 pts. The defending champions Chelsea trail behind with 10 points. Barring chelsea, It looks like Game On between the Manchester clubs who have been the only side to topple each other on spot #1 of the premier league this season.
Overall, it was a good wakeup for Man Utd after their 3-0 defeat to Arsenal.
Louis Van Gaal speaking after the match "I'm very happy with my players' response and very proud of the performance" says Louis van Gaal. "I hope it's the start of many victories. If I have to mention one name, it would be Herrera," says van Gaal. "He played well and made a big contribution to our goals."