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Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research
Print version ISSN 0100-879XOn-line version ISSN 1414-431X
Braz J Med Biol Res vol.34 no.2 Ribeirão Preto Feb. 2001
Braz J Med Biol Res, February 2001, Volume 34(2) 155-163
Neurodevelopmental risk factors in schizophrenia
M.I. Lobato1, P. Belmonte-de-Abreu2, D. Knijnik2, B. Teruchkin1, E. Ghisolfi1 and A. Henriques2
1Serviço de Psiquiatria, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil
2Departamento de Psiquiatria, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil
Correspondence and Footnotes
The authors review environmental and neurodevelopmental risk factors for schizophrenic disorders, with emphasis on minor physical anomalies, particularly craniofacial anomalies and dermatoglyphic variations. The high prevalence of these anomalies among schizophrenic subjects supports the neurodevelopmental theory of the etiology of schizophrenia, since they suggest either genetically or epigenetically controlled faulty embryonic development of structures of ectodermal origin like brain and skin. This may disturb neurodevelopment that in turn may cause these subjects to be at increased risk for the development of schizophrenia and related disorders. The precise confirmation of this theory, at least in some cases, will provide further understanding of these illnesses, allowing easy and inexpensive identification of subjects at risk and providing guidelines for the development of new pharmacological interventions for early treatment and even for primary prevention of the illness.
Key words: schizophrenia, neurodevelopmental disorder, risk factors
Despite many technical and medical advances over the past ten years, at the end of the Decade of the Brain schizophrenia is still a personal and family disaster. Research over the past few decades has demonstrated with increasing frequency the presence of brain lesions dating back to early brain development (1). This has resulted in a change in the concept of schizophrenia from a disease of the mind to a disease of the brain. This neurodevelopmental model is not a new concept. In fact, it is a reconsideration of the XIX century's concept about a precocious psychotic condition preceding a "secondary dementia" (2) that affects adults from 18 to 24 years, particularly men, with associated cognitive impairment early in the course of the disease.
Here we review the main evidence for the neurodevelopmental theory of schizophrenia. The articles for this review were selected through a systematic literature search of Medline from 1994-1999. The key words used were "schizophrenia", "neurodevelopmental", and "risk factors". The criteria for selection of the articles were systematic assessment using DSM-III-IV criteria, case-control design, and adequate description of index and comparison cases. Additional papers from citations of these articles were also included according to the same criteria.
Evidence for association of neurodevelopmental abnormalities with the course of schizophrenia
Neurodevelopmental disorders such as speech retardation and reading and/or motor disabilities are usually non-progressive and appear during the first decade of life. Cerebral morphologic alterations include microcephaly, hydrocephalus, abnormal cell migration and asymmetry of specific brain regions (3). The schizophrenias have many characteristics of neurodevelopmental disorders, although, because of their many different clinical presentations, there is often great difficulty in making any general statement about this group of disorders. If we consider the neurodevelopmental theory in schizophrenia, it is reasonable to presume that the morbid process is present in a latent state and that the lesion(s) and some neurodevelopmental abnormalities could be observed before diagnosis. Although most prospective studies that have looked for neurodevelopmental abnormalities in schizophrenia before diagnosis report negative results, some did detect subtle behavior and intellectual abnormalities as possible "predictors of risk" for the development of schizophrenia (4). These findings, however, are inconsistent, raising doubts about the neurodevelopmental theory (3,4).
A persistent question can be raised. If the initial lesion occurs in early neurodevelopment, why would the disease become clinically manifest usually at the end of adolescence? A possible explanation is the occurrence of some maturational processes throughout adolescence that modulate psychosis (2). It is known that the human brain reaches approximately adult size during the early school years, and that this growth seems to be affected by the increase of gray matter volume as opposed to white matter volume (2,3,5). It is also known that the fine tuning of neuronal connections and the selective reduction of cerebral structures occurs during early cerebral maturation. A genetic alteration in some maturational mechanisms, such as "cortical pruning", expressed during adolescence can explain the delay between initial lesion and illness onset (2,5). According to some authors (3), most schizophrenic patients display a clinical picture that fits the neurodegenerative model better than the neurodevelopmental model. It consists of a decline in function of previously healthy persons, progresses over months or years with exacerbations and remissions and higher or lower expression of psychotic and/or negative symptoms, with only a small group of patients returning to the premorbid state (3). Complete remission of schizophrenia is not often seen in patients diagnosed according to rigorous diagnostic criteria.
Neuropathological evidence
An important issue for the neurodevelopmental theory is the failure of major early studies to detect gliosis (considering gliosis as the evidence of a brain reaction to afterbirth insults, producing "glial scars") (3). Cerebral abnormalities in the absence of gliosis may probably indicate abnormalities of fetal cerebral development instead of neurodegeneration (3). Some neuropathological studies have failed to detect evidence of gliosis (1), but others have described it in subcortical and periventricular areas. During cerebral development, neuronal proliferation occurs in ventricular and subventricular zones, with cortical cells migrating through radially aligned glial fibers to the final positions. Therefore, reduction or derangement of the neurons in the cortical areas would be an indication of cerebral development abnormalities (2,5).
There is evidence that schizophrenic brains are approximately 5-8% lighter and 4% smaller than healthy controls (2,6). Nelson et al. (7), in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) meta-analysis study, demonstrated a positive association between schizophrenia and the reduction of the bilateral hippocampus and, probably, amygdala. Akbarian et al. (8) found a reduction in neurons expressing NADPH-diaphorase in more external cortical layers and an excess in the inferior layers of white matter of the frontal and temporal cortex of schizophrenics. Several other studies of chronic institutionalized patients demonstrated a reduction of total cerebral weight, hemispheric volume, cortical volume and gray matter size, together with ventricular enlargement, suggesting that brain changes could be risk factors, rather than "causal" factors (3,9). Gur et al. (10), using MRI measurements, found a reduction in gray matter volume in chronic and neuroleptic-naive schizophrenic patients, also indicating a developmental process. Ventricular enlargement is also found in several genetic and neurodevelopmental diseases, and in 15 to 30% of schizophrenic patients (3). Many studies have reported higher ventricular brain ratios in schizophrenic patients compared to controls (11), and there is also evidence that the enlargement is present before the onset of the disease and is not progressive (12).
According to Stevens (3) and others (9,11), in spite of demonstrating smaller ventricular brain ratio differences than reported in previous studies, this finding still is of unquestionable value for the understanding of the disease and for the demonstration of disease heterogeneity.
Chronological markers
The chronological markers of neuroembryogenesis refer to anthropometric characteristics that reflect a prenatal insult. The most studied anthropometric markers in schizophrenia are minor physical anomalies (MPA) and dermatoglyphic marks (DM). Several other psychiatric disorders show association with MPA and DM (e.g., childhood hyperkinetic syndrome, autism and behavioral childhood disturbances). MPA found in the cephalic area, hands, and feet can indicate a neurodevelopmental problem dating back to the first gestational quarter. DM consists of digital and palmar line alterations and indicates second-trimester developmental problems (13-17).
The rationale underlying the association of MPA/DM and disturbed neurogenesis is based on the fact that each of these organs originates from the same primordial tissue. The neural tube develops from the primitive ectoderm, with the ventricular system and cerebral tissues originating from the neural tube lumen. As a case in point, retinoic acid excess or deficit in the first trimester can simultaneously affect both neuronal migration and cortical subplate development and non-neuronal surface ectoderm formation (18). Such maldevelopment can result in craniofacial abnormalities, particularly of the eyes and ears, as well as surface epidermal anomalies, such as altered dermatoglyphic lines and extranumerary nipples (2,18).
Dermatoglyphic marks
Dermatoglyphs is the term used to describe epidermal lines of the skin of digital pulps, palm of the hands and feet. Epidermal lines are already well developed around the second trimester, but the process is not concluded until the last trimester. Once complete, the lines remain unchanged until the end of an individual's life, except for growth in size (19). In 1939, DM have been described in Down syndrome patients (17). Later, in 1966, unusual DM were summarized in 68 clinical diseases, including chromosomal aberrations, monogenic diseases, and also diseases of uncertain genetic origin, including congenital heart disease, psoriasis, and alterations due to toxic environmental factors such as thalidomide and rubella (20-22). Neurological and epidermal tissues share some common aspects of development such as similar ectodermal origin, rapid development during the second trimester of gestation and susceptibility to neuronal growth factor. Cerebral and epidermal growth are both influenced by hormones like testosterone, in both sexes, during dermatoglyphic development. It is well known that epidermal growth factor stimulates astrocyte division after the beginning of differentiation of glial cells at 12 weeks of gestation and that these emerging glial cells have an important role in blood-brain barrier definition (23). DM become especially interesting in the study of association of problems of cerebral development involving several neurological disorders in twins discordant for schizophrenia. These include hippocampal-amygdala complex reduction, ventricular dilatation and high scores of neurological alterations in the affected twins. This evidence has encouraged the search for environmental factors acting as "genotypic liberators" (19,24-27). Bracha (25), in a study of monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia, confirmed changes in dermatoglyphic counts, such as had previously been described in schizophrenic patients, providing further evidence of some deleterious effects around the sixth month of pregnancy leading to simultaneous neurologic and dermatologic abnormalities. It is important to point out that monozygotic and dizygotic twins do not necessarily share the same prenatal environment. One of the great determinants of the prenatal environment is the placenta. Approximately a third of monozygotic twins and all dizygotic twins are dichorionic. Davis et al. (19) proposed that variations in twin placentations also account for differences in twin concordance, even for schizophrenia, when it is considered that prenatal infections play a role in its etiology (19,25,28,29).
Minor physical anomalies
Individual physical alterations are not very important from a clinical or cosmetic point of view, and it is acknowledged that normal people can have one to four of these anomalies. An excessive number of MPAs, however, is associated with several childhood behavioral problems and suggests genetic neurodevelopmental influences. Waldrop et al. (30) elaborated a scale for 18 different abnormalities associated with the first trimester of development involving head, hands and feet. These include low ear implantation, hypertelorism, high-arched palate and microcephalus, among others. Several neurological disorders like epilepsy, mental retardation and learning disabilities are associated with the presence of these anomalies. Studies comparing schizophrenic patients with normal controls also found an excess of MPAs in schizophrenics (15,16). In a study correlating MPAs with Wechsler Scale performance a strong correlation of MPAs with lower verbal IQ and poor premorbid adjustment was observed (16). The authors suggest that this finding can indicate first-trimester insults leading simultaneously to MPAs and neurological abnormalities and consequently to impaired social adaptation and, perhaps, schizophrenia (16).
In any speculation about the role of MPA in schizophrenia, it is important to keep in mind that MPAs are nonspecific predictors of potential psychopathology in schizophrenia, evidencing disruption of normal first- and second-trimester gestation. Green et al. (15), in a non-controlled study, found MPAs associated with early onset of illness (before age 18). A later study comparing patients with schizophrenic and bipolar disease and family controls found increased prevalence of MPAs among schizophrenic patients, confirming previous associations of these markers with earlier age of onset and lower premorbid adjustment. The authors suggest that MPA may be predominantly associated with congenital rather than genetically determined cases of schizophrenia, linking prenatal insults to increased risk for schizophrenia (15). However, at least one study has demonstrated high rates of MPAs in the relatives of schizophrenic probands, suggesting a genetic association (18).
Risk factors
Countless factors have been associated with increased risk for schizophrenia, including maternal malnutrition or intoxication, infections, obstetric complications, maternal stress, in addition to different genetic factors. The genetic factors are the most robust of all, contributing 30 to 40% of the agreement observed in monozygotic twins (31). This partial agreement in monozygotic twins provides additional support to the most accepted hypothesis of a multifactorial synergism in a threshold model for schizophrenia (32-42).
Obstetric complications
There are several lines of evidence suggesting that obstetric complications are important risk factors for at least some types of schizophrenia. The concept of obstetric complications is, however, broad enough to allow different meanings. It represents a variety of different somatic deviations with probably different risks for schizophrenia (38). Schizophrenic patients at high genetic risk with a history of serious childbirth complications, anoxia, secondary hemorrhage and birth complications are at increased risk to display enlarged third ventricle, periventricular damage, and prevalence of negative symptoms (43). Geddes (44), in a meta-analysis of 12 studies looking for complications of pregnancy and labor in 700 schizophrenics and 635 controls, found a significant association between schizophrenia and premature rupture of membranes, gestational age less than 37 weeks and use of resuscitation or of an incubator. They also found a borderline association with forceps delivery and birth weight lower than 2,500 g.
Some obstetric complications originate during the prenatal period, and several authors have suggested that this might well be a consequence, rather than a cause of the disease, indicating that fetuses at higher genetic risk for schizophrenia with intrauterine damage are at increased risk for asphyxia and anomalous presentations, in the same way as malformed fetuses (45). Jones et al. (46), in a North Finland 28-year cohort study, found associations between low birth weight (defined as less than 2,500 g) combined with prematurity (less than 37 weeks) and later schizophrenia, also indicating problems in fetal development. McNeil and Cantor-Graae (47) did not find support for this association in a recent study comparing schizophrenic, discordant and concordant monozygotic twins for schizophrenia and individuals at genetic risk. They suggested that complications occurring at labor-delivery do not represent an epiphenomenal consequence of preexisting fetal abnormality and are rather an etiological factor.
Some studies have suggested a possible connection between obstetric complications and ventricular enlargement but others have failed to confirm it (2). It has also been suggested that males are more sensitive to obstetric complications than females, probably due to differences in timing of cerebral maturation (43,45).
Maternal nutrition
There is increased evidence concerning the association of nutritional factors and schizophrenia. Brown et al. (35), in a recent review, concluded that the effects of food deprivation are compatible with increased rates of schizophrenia and that food deprivation causes adverse neurodevelopmental effects. To explain the small impact on frequency distribution in countries with endemic famine they emphasized the fact that in these countries chronic malnutrition is often accompanied by other long-standing health and social problems such as infections and poor prenatal and postnatal care. This, in turn, could decrease the chances of survival of fetuses and newborns until the age of risk for schizophrenia. The authors also suggest that deficiency of specific nutrients causing neural tube defects have been reported even in countries with adequate food supplies. Susser and Lin (48), in a retrospective study of a Dutch population submitted to food deprivation during the winter of 1944-45, found a larger number of psychiatric admissions for schizophrenia 20 years later, suggesting that food deprivation during pregnancy increased the risk for schizophrenia.
In spite of these observations, the only definitive evidence is the association of lowered ingestion of folic acid during the first trimester of pregnancy with an increased risk for neural tube defects (spina bifida, hydrocephalus, anencephaly). Evidence relating nutritional deprivation in utero to subsequent schizophrenia can be considered to be a strong argument favoring the retinoid theory of schizophrenia developed by Goodman (18,49).
Epidemiological studies in temperate countries have pointed to the increased prevalence of births of schizophrenics in late winter and early spring. Similar, but less pronounced increases have been reported for bipolar disorder, but not for neurotic or personality disorders. Fanãnas et al. (50) have suggested that higher rates of winter and spring births could result from seasonal variation of parental procreational habits that may be age and class associated, but not associated with variables related to the disease itself. However, subsequent studies failed to confirm this explanation (51).
Much evidence links seasonal atmosphere changes with fetal damage, growth retardation and increased risk for schizophrenia (38). Environmental factors suggesting the association of birth seasonality with schizophrenia include infectious agents, nutritional factors and environmental temperature changes during childbirth. Crow (52) argued for an interaction of these factors with genetic ones. Among these factors, prenatal viruses are among the most common explanations.
Many infectious diseases show a seasonal pattern, with typical peaks of incidence. Rubella, for example, peaks in the autumn, following maternal infection during spring (peak season for adult rubella). The seasonality for anencephaly, congenital abnormalities and mental retardation is explained in the same way. However, seasonal changes or any other environmental changes contributing to the etiology of schizophrenia may not necessarily occur during the prenatal period (38). All the above-mentioned factors provide clues pointing to altered biochemistry in schizophrenia. This happens in primates mainly because of the maturational delay of the central nervous system (CNS), with brain development continuing into early and late childhood. This results in several critical periods over many months and years after birth. This long developmental timetable contributes to the chance of increased CNS vulnerability to negative environmental effects.
Infectious diseases
Several epidemiological studies have shown that maternal exposure to influenza virus or other viruses during the second trimester of gestation is associated with increased incidence of schizophrenia later in adulthood. There is still controversy about the role of viruses in the etiology of schizophrenia. This is due to the lack of direct evidence for this association, which could be demonstrated by the identification of an antiviral antibody or virus itself in serum, fluid or cerebral tissue of schizophrenic patients. An additional difficulty in the confirmation of this theory derives from the long period of time from gestational exposure to outcome (20 or 30 years later) (32-34,36,43,53-56).
Wright and Murray (57) reviewed the association of prenatal influenza and autoimmunity in schizophrenia. The authors cited Esquirol who, in 1838, noticed "epidemics" of psychotic disorders he called "insanity" involving large numbers of individuals. Also, Kraeplin described a "precocious" insanity and hypothesized that infections "in developmental years" could have some causal role. This idea was later reinforced by the endemic nature of several bacterial infections at the beginning of this century, like syphilis, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, cholera and influenza after the 1917 epidemic (52,57). Still, the mechanism of viral CNS damage has not been well described. It is known that several neurotrophic viruses like influenza, Epstein-Barr or cytomegalovirus can cross the blood-brain barrier. In the case of influenza this can occur through the expression of capsular neuraminidase that alters "sialic moiety acids", enzymes of neural adhesion molecules that regulate neuronal migration during neuroembryogenesis (38,57). It is also possible that maternal virus antibodies act as fetal anti-cerebral antibodies, since these antibodies are known to cross the placenta. It is also possible that some unspecific factors of infection like fever or anoxia could account for CNS pathology (38).
Recent population studies evaluating the influenza epidemics of 1954, 1957 and 1959 in Australia and Japan have revealed positive associations between gestational exposure to virus and later schizophrenia. The Japanese study found an increased risk for female schizophrenia. McGrath et al. (54) suggested a difference related to the month of viral exposure (excess of male schizophrenia births 4 months after inception of the 1954 epidemic and of female births 5 months after the 1957 epidemic, with no association in the 1959 epidemic) (53,54).
A factor confounding a viral causation may be the maternal use of analgesics to treat viral infection during gestation. Use of analgesics has been associated with increased risk of anencephaly and other congenital CNS defects. Acetylsalicylic acid is a potent anticoagulant that can increase fetal brain hemorrhages. The association between decreased aspirin use in Finland and Scandinavia in the sixties and reduced incidence of schizophrenia later in the 1990's (38) still needs confirmation by additional studies.
Final considerations
The present review shows that in a large number of cases of schizophrenia there is consistent evidence supporting a combined effect of genetic and congenital factors generating neurodevelopmental abnormalities. These, in turn, could lower the threshold for schizophrenia through several biochemical and physiologic mechanisms, with faulty "thalamic filtering", lowering "buffering capacity" for stress control, and other feedback mechanisms for environmental adjustment. More detailed tests of this theory using various combinations of specific risk factors invoking the threshold model of schizophrenia are needed to describe the full range of neurodevelopmental abnormalities in the disease. Neuronal migration abnormalities in schizophrenia have been associated with maternal famine (48), and more recently with retinoid dysregulation (18,49). A precise identification of these mechanisms under the neurodevelopmental theory of schizophrenia would allow a better understanding of the physiopathology and biochemistry of the disease and also permit a better risk assessment and early intervention in different stages of the disorder. Furthermore, understanding causation in schizophrenia could provide avenues for specific interventions for high-risk subjects and preventive correction of altered nutritional or biochemical defects. This is the case in possible retinoid cascade dysregulation (18,49) and in altered expression of phospholipids (58) or ectoenzymes (5'-nucleotidase) (59). These possibilities, if confirmed according to the neurodevelopmental theory of schizophrenia and related illnesses, would pave the road for specific and potent treatments for these catastrophic disorders.
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We thank Ann Goodman for the careful review and suggestions.
Address for correspondence: M.I. Lobato, Rua Vasco da Gama, 1301/401, 90420-112 Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Research supported by CNPq (No. 138121/96-6). Received August 11, 1999. Accepted November 22, 2000.


text:
Hi, i just set up my own multi-touch table in the FTIR way.
I found there is a virtual keyboard for users to type with their fingers in many videos. I am wondering that it is a program created by themselves or it is a program we can download directly…
So can anybody give me a hint where to find a virtual keyboard?

subset: commoncrawl


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They Walk Amongst Us
In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings a wise person, after hours of discussion, said; "they walk among us"! Those four words said it all; the harsh reality of a complex world.
So was the case in Tucson. Tragic; to all appearances the Congresswoman was a laudable individual, serious, committed and worthy of respect. The situation, a tragedy enfolded with courage, as is so often the case. It was unfortunately followed by disheartening predictability.
We "knew" political agendas would intrude; the temptation too rich to avoid. We "knew" dusty proposals would seek new life opportunistically justified by senseless violence; rejected policy revived by tragedy; "see I told you so". A few more rules, more regulation or another law will, somehow, cure the reality of disturbed individuals living in their very own alternate universe.
Want to focus on the problem, start here!
True story of a close friend recently involved in a personal conflict was subjected to: subtly intimidating e-mail, voice mail, ongoing "drive-bys", visits to the place of business and spray painting of a car with slurs. It was getting crazy, was time to seek a restraining order. No way! You can only get a restraining order after the second incidence of violent engagement. Yes indeed, that's the rule. The logic here, I surmise, is that if you're going to do violence you should make it count the first time? Want to fix it? Apply some common sense to aberrant behavior and law enforcements responsibility to engage it on a common sense basis that does not depend on a second violent engagement.
The search for responsible parties has wandered far and wide, talk radio, the "other" party, the absence of this or that law. "We have to do 'something'!" All of it an affront to our collective intelligence as the arguments grow more transparently political by the day with no sign of a let up.
We accept the idea that it is nearly impossible to stop a committed single terrorist but cannot stretch that logic to cover disturbed individuals. It simply defies logical common sense, thus the transparent shallowness of partisan calls for "solutions" where there is no solution available to Washington. Limit speech, limit guns, limit opponents, bring back the Fairness Doctrine. A New York Times columnist (Paul Krugman) saw no reason to wait for factual clarification before setting out in search of his opponents. One wonders if Rep. Giffords would be appalled; from what we know of her she likely would be.
The violence in Tucson on Saturday has many attempting to paint America with that broad brush. The proper context is that we went through an election cycle, an election and a transfer of power that was essentially free of violence. We saw mass demonstrations, also violence free, passionately expressed opinions, again violence free. Those who identify the Tucson tragedy as representative of America diminish us and themselves. Those who would politicize the situation, left or right, ignore the realities of mental dysfunction. They ignore the value of common sense and the grassroots failures that lead to this manner of situation.
Many, including the Sheriff in Tucson pine for the "good old days" that he grew up in; it was a different country back then", he said. Those would be the good old days of the two Kennedy assignations, or perhaps the assignations of Martin Luthur King and Malcolm X? The Chicago riots perhaps, the SDS and domestic terrorism or urban riots that spread from New York to Los Angeles?
The fact is that disturbed individuals "walk among us". It's not political, to twist it so is the height of intellectual dysfunction. Perhaps we could have a law to correct that?


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8 days and counting down to my LAST chemo treatment! You'd think I would be jumping for joy, but instead I am crying at the drop of a hat. Emotion is at the edge of my eyes and tears flow like April showers. Sometimes at a simple thought, sometimes for no reason at all. Sometimes I ask myself if I will really ever feel like cancer is "over". Looming worry is always tip-toeing in my shadow. 8 more months of infusion treatments over the course of the next year, scans scheduled and follow ups…when can I call myself a survivor? Some say I should claim it NOW, but I still fee like I am in the fight.
Physically, fatigue drags me through my day. I sleep a lot, both at night and with several naps during the day. Simple tasks, such as walking to get the mail just a few hundred feet down the driveway, takes effort. My fingernails now all feel like they have been hit with a hammer at the tips and are tender to the touch. Still, I don't have any nausea and am cooking dinners again, which I enjoy. All those days of laying on the couch and watching Food Network after chemo have inspired me! 🙂 Still, I wake up every day with no hair and that image alone brings me to tears.
Curtis was home from college this past weekend ,and as he packed up his things to travel back, he asked me to sew a hole in his pants. I quickly did so and he packed them tightly into his duffle bag with a "thanks mom". There I was, crying like a baby and remembering the years and years of darning their socks or fixing a torn sleeve when they were little….thinking now of how grown up he is and that he is leaving home again.
They tell me that chemo will induce an early menopause, and many of my chemo friends are cursing the hot flashes and night sweats in their 30's and 40's, which I have not experienced yet. The emotional ride is what I seem to be having right now. Mascara running off of my three remaining eyelashes every day…I guess if I never have the 'other' I will be elated!! I am w-a-y too young for that!
Spring is here and Easter is next Sunday. Birds are chirping and flowers blooming. Signs of new life and fresh beginnings remind me that change is coming. Sometimes these are just happy tears that God knows my inner thoughts and desire for a brighter day. I must believe that it is coming.


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Variance in Fracture Risk: Where you live may affect your bone density and chances of osteoporosis
Bordeaux, France, March 21, 2012 – The International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) Group on Epidemiology and Quality of Life, has published in the journal Osteoporosis International, an extensive study of region-specific hip fracture risk and 10-year likelihood of a major fragility fracture has revealed a remarkable geographic differences in risk of fracture. Researchers indicate that even with the elimination of outlying data and potential errors in the data collection, there is as much as a tenfold difference in risk of hip fracture and general fracture probability between regions. The goal of this research project was to compile and cross-reference the largest amount of bone density/hip fracture risk data, then look for commonalities in variance to better understand the disease state. Data from 63 countries was compiled. Hip fractures were the preferred statistic by country as opposed to other osteoporotic fractures, as hip fractures are most commonly treated in hospitals and clinics, where other fractures are at times ignored making them a less reliable point of analysis. Hip fractures are also more costly and contribute to mortality in individuals over the age of 50, more so than the other osteoporotic fractures. The study found the lowest incidence of hip fracture was found in Tunisia and in Ecuador, whereas the highest incidence was found in northern Europe specifically Denmark and Norway. Rates were proportional for men and women, with women having the higher rate in every country other than Russia. Here the women were at moderate risk, and men were at high risk of fracture.
There is a burden on the global health care system as well as economy of countries who employ workers over the age of 50, as fragility fractures affect approximately one in every 3 women and one in every 5 men in this age category. The map seen below shows variance in Fracture Risk, hip fracture incidence for both genders, in color-coding.
The interactive/more detailed map can be found on the International Osteoporosis Foundation website at http://www.iofbonehealth.org


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Mark your calendars for an awesome show of inter-stellar ambiance that I put together at Hollow Earth Radio where I've been volunteering. Don't worry if you're not in Seattle - you can tune in to the station online to stream the live sets! Check out the Facebook Event and the bands' websites below.
**This just in - Hair and Space Museum have graciously accepted an invitation to join us for a performance on 10/22 with the rest of the bands!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Megabats, Panabrite, Secret Colors + *Hair & Space Museum Just Added!* at Hollow Earth Radio 10/22
Posted by dj slow at 12:52 PM
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Zach Braff
I've been studying the art of caricature lately and reading through Tom Richmond's fantastic book, The Mad Art of Caricature. It's fascinating, not because it's hard to do (which it is), but because it's so hard to do WELL. I see a lot of people whose artistry is fantastic, but the caricature itself is lacking. They seem to think that a good caricature is basically what you would get if you put a photograph of a person under a thin layer of rippling water. Either that, or just make them look really freaky and distorted. That's not the point. A good caricature plays off of the way that the brain naturally works - focusing on certain distinctive features of a person that differentiates them from every other person, and emphasizing it. I feel like I've been getting better, but it's taking a lot of work. I want to get to the point where I feel comfortable doing live caricatures, but man, that's a lot of pressure. The only way to get there is through a lot of practice! (and Tom's book helps a lot too).


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320,000 Customer Passwords Stolen from Time Warner
Last week, Time Warner announced that the email addresses and passwords of nearly 320,000 subscribers may have been stolen. The FBI notified Time Warner of the data theft, and the company does not yet know if any other information has been compromised.
The company has found no proof that its systems were breached. Instead, they believe this leak may have resulted from attacks on companies that store Time Warner customer information. Malware downloaded by customers from phishing attacks may also be to blame.
Customers are being notified via email and direct mail to change their passwords.
"We're contacting customers who could potentially be affected so they can take precautions, including changing their password to a strong, unique alternative," a TWC spokesman said. "Additionally, through our website we provide several tips for how to navigate the Web more carefully and how to avoid phishing schemes."
The attack seems to center on subscribers to Time Warner's Roadrunner service, so customers with email addresses ending in rr.com are most at risk, according to NBC News. Roadrunner customers can change their password on the Roadrunner Password Reset Tool page.
In November, Comcast reset the passwords for almost 200,000 customers after the information was discovered on the black market. The breach was blamed on phishing attacks that tricked Comcast customers into providing their passwords.
Unlike cyberattacks that find security holes to steal customer data, phishing relies on tricking customers into clicking links or downloading files from emails that look legitimate.


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Countess Elizabeth Bathory-Nadasdy
Description: The real story behind the Countess by Mathew Amaral.
Categories: Historical References
The criminal does not make beauty; he himself is the
authentic beauty. ---JEAN PAUL SARTRE.
There is a book by Valentine Penrose which documents the life
of a real and unusual character: the Countess Bathory, murderer of
more than six hundred young girls. The Countess Bathory's sexual
perversion and her madness are so obvious that Valentine Penrose
disregards them and concentrates instead on the convulsive beauty
of the character.
It is not easy to show this sort of beauty. Valentine Penrose,
however, succeeded because she played admirably with the aesthetic
value of this lugubrious story. She inscribes the underground
kingdom of Erzebet Bathory within the walls of her torture chamber,
and the chamber within her medieval castle. Here the sinister
beauty of nocturnal creatures is summed up in this silent lady of
legendary paleness, mad eyes, and hair the sumptuous colour of
A well-known philosopher includes cries in the category of
silence - cries, moans, curses, form 'a silent substance'. The
substance of this underworld is evil. Sitting on her throne, the
countess watches the tortures and listens to the cries. Her old and
horrible maids are wordless figures that bring in fire, knives,
needles, irons; they torture the girls, and later bury them. With
their iron and knives, these two old women are themselves the
instruments of a possession. This dark ceremony has a single silent
...among red laughter of glistening lips and monstrous
gestures of mechanical women.---RENE DAUMAL.
There was once in Nuremberg a famous automaton known as the
Iron Maiden. The Countess Bathory bought a copy for her torture
chamber in Csejthe Castle. This clock work doll was of the size and
colour of a human creature. Naked, painted, covered in jewels, with
blond hair that reached down to the ground, it had a mechanical
device that allowed it to curve its lips into a smile, and to move
its eyes.
The Countess, sitting on her throne, watches.
For the Maiden to spring into action it is necessary to touch
some of the precious stones in its necklace. It responds
immediately with horrible creaking sounds and very slowly lifts its
white arms which close in a perfect embrace around whatever happens
to be next to it - in this case, a girl. The automaton holds her in
its arms and now no one will be able to uncouple the living body
from the body of iron, both equally beautiful. Suddenly the painted
breasts of the Iron Maiden open, and five daggers appear that
pierce her struggling companion whose hair is as long as its own.
Once the sacrifice is over another stone in the necklace is
touched: the arms drop, the smile and the eyes fall shut, and the
murderess becomes once again the Maiden, motionless in its coffin.
He is standing. And he is standing as absolutely and
definitely as if he were sitting.---WITOLD GOMBROWICZ.
The road is covered in snow and, inside the coach, the sombre
lady wrapped in furs feels bored. Suddenly she calls out the name
of one of the girls in her train. The girl is brought to her: The
Countess bites her frantically and sticks needles in her flesh. A
while later the procession abandons the wounded girl in the snow.
The girl tries to run away. She is pursued, captured and pulled
back into the coach. A little further along the road they halt: the
Countess has ordered cold water. Now the girl is naked, standing in
the snow. Night has fallen. A circle of torches surrounds her, held
out by impassive footmen. They pour water over the body and the
water turns to ice. (The Countess observes this from inside the
coach.) The girl attempts one last slight gesture, trying to move
closer to the torches - the only source of warmth. More water is
poured over her, and there she remains, forever standing, upright,
...scarlet and black wounds burst upon the splendid
flesh. --- ARTHUR RIMBAUD
Lined with knives and adorned with sharp iron blades, it can
hold one human body, and can be lifted by means of a pulley. The
ceremony of the cage takes place in this manner:
Dorko the maid drags in by the hair a naked young girl, shuts
her up in the cage and lifts it high into the air. The Lady of
These Ruins appears, a sleepwalker in white. Slowly and silently
she sits upon a footstool placed underneath the contraption.
A red-hot poker in her hand, Dorko taunts the prisoner who,
drawing back (and this is the ingenuity of the cage) stabs herself
against the sharp irons while her blood falls upon the pale woman
who dispassionately receives it, her eyes fixed on nothing, as in
a daze. When the lady recovers from the trance, she slowly leaves
the room. There have been two transformations: her white dress sis
now red, and where a girl once stood a corpse now lies.
Unblemished fruit, untouched by worm or frost, whose
firm, polished skin cries out to be bitten! ---
Except for a few baroque refinements - like the Iron Maiden,
death by water, or the cage - the Countess restricted herself to a
monotonously classic style of torture that can be summed up as
Several tall, beautiful, strong girls were selected - their
ages had to be between 12 and 18 - and dragged into the torture
chamber where, dressed in white upon her throne, the countess
awaited them. After binding their hands, the servants would whip
the girls until the skin of their bodies ripped and they became a
mass of swollen wounds; then the servants would burn them with red-
hot pokers; cut their fingers with scissors or shears; pierce their
wounds; stab them with daggers (if the Countess grew tired of
hearing the cries they would sew their mouths up; if one of the
girls fainted too soon they would revive her by burning paper
soaked in oil between her legs). The blood spurted like fountains
and the white dress of the nocturnal lady would turn red. So red,
that she would have to go up to her room and change (what would she
think about during this brief intermission?). The walls and the
ceiling of the chamber would also turn red.
Not always would the lady remain idle while the others busied
themselves around her. Sometimes she would lend a hand, and then,
impetuously, tear at the flesh - in the most sensitive places -
with tiny silver pincers; or she would stick needles, cut the skin
between the fingers, press red-hot spoons and irons against the
soles of the feet, use the whip (once, during one of her
excursions, she ordered her servants to hold up a girl who had just
died and kept on whipping her even though she was dead); she also
murdered several by means of icy water (using a method invented by
Darvulia, the witches; it consisted of plunging a girl into
freezing water and leaving her there overnight). Finally, when she
was sick, she would have the girls brought to her bedside and she
would bite them.
During her erotic seizures she would hurl blasphemous insults
at her victims. Blasphemous insults and cries like the baying of a
she-wolf were her means of expression as she stalked, in a passion,
the gloomy rooms. But nothing was more ghastly than her laugh. (I
recapitulate: the medieval castle, the torture chamber, the tender
young girls, the old and horrible servants, the beautiful madwoman
laughing in a wicked ecstasy provoked by the suffering of others.)
Her last words, before letting herself fall into a final faint,
would be: 'More, ever more, harder, harder!'
Not always was the day innocent, the night guilty. During the
morning or the afternoon, young seamstresses would bring dresses
for the Countess, and this would lead to innumerable scenes of
cruelty. Without exception, Dorko would find mistakes in the sewing
and would select two or three guilty victims (at this point the
Countess's doleful eyes would glisten). The punishment of the
seamstresses - and of the young maids in general - would vary. If
the Countess happened to be in one of her rare good moods, Dorko
would simply strip the victims who would continue to work, naked,
under the Countess's eyes, in large rooms full of black cats. The
girls bore this painless punishment in agonizing amazement, because
they never believed it to be possible. Darkly, they must have felt
terribly humiliated because their nakedness forced them into a
kind of animal world, a feeling heightened by the fully clothed
'human' presence of the Countess, watching them. This scene led me
to think of Death - Death as in old allegories, as in the Dance of
Death. To strip naked is a prerogative of Death; another is the
incessant watching over the creatures it has dispossessed. But
there is more: sexual climax forces us into death-like gestures and
expressions (gasping and writhing as in agony, cries and moans of
paroxysm). If the sexual act implies a sort of death, Erzebet
Bathory needed the visible, elementary, coarse death, to succeed in
dying that other phantom death we call orgasm. But, who is Death?
A figure that harrows and wastes wherever and however it pleases.
This is also a possible description of the Countess Bathory. Never
did anyone wish so hard not to grow old; I mean, to die. That is
why, perhaps, she acted and played the role of Death. Because, how
can Death possibly die?
Let us return to the seamstresses and the maids. If Erzebet
woke up wrothful, she would not be satisfied with her tableaux
vivants, but:
To the one who had stolen a coin she would repay with the same
coin... red-hot, which the girl had to hold tight in her hand.
To the one who had talked during working hours, the Countess
herself would sew her mouth shut, or otherwise would open her mouth
and stretch it until the lips tore.
She also used the poker with which she would indiscriminately
burn cheeks, breasts, tongues...
When the punishments took place din Erzebet's chamber, at
nighttime, it was necessary to spread large quantities of ashes
around her bed, to allow the noble lady to cross without
difficulties the vast pools of blood.
And cold madness wandered aimlessly about the house.---
The name of Bathory - in the power of which Erzebet believed,
as if it were an extraordinary talisman - was an illustrious one
from the very early days of the Hungarian Empire. It was not by
chance that the family coat-of-arms displayed the teeth of a wolf,
because the Bathory were cruel, fearless, and lustful. The many
marriages that took place between blood relations contributed,
perhaps, to the hereditary aberrations and diseases: epilepsy,
gout, lust. It is not at all unlikely that Erzebet herself was an
epileptic: she seemed possessed by seizures as unexpected as her
terrible migraines and pains int he eyes (which she conjured away
by placing a wounded pigeon, still alive, on her forehead).
The Countess's family was not unworthy of its ancestral fame.
Her uncle Istvan, for instance, was so utterly mad that he would
mistake summer for winter, and would have himself drawn in a sleigh
along the burning sands that were, in his mind, roads covered with
snow. Or consider her cousin Gabor, whose incestuous passion was
reciprocated by his sister's. But the most charming of all was the
celebrated aunt Klara. She had four husbands (the first two
perished by her hand) and died a melodramatic death: she was caught
in the arms of a casual acquaintance by her lover, a Turkish Pasha:
the intruder was roasted on a spit and aunt Klara was raped (if
this verb may be used in her respect) by the entire Turkish
garrison. This however did not cause her death: on the contrary,
her rapists - tired perhaps of having heir way with her - finally
had to stab her. She used to pick up her lovers along the Hungarian
roads, and would not mind sprawling on a bed where she had
previously slaughtered one of her female attendants.
By the time the Countess reached the age of forty, the Bathory
had diminished or consumed themselves either through madness or
through death. They became almost sensible, thereby losing the
interest they had until then provoked in Erzebet.
When the warrior took me in his arms felt the fire of
pleasure... ---THE ANGLO-SAXON ELEGY (VIII CEN.)
In 1575, at the age of fifteen, Erzebet married Ferencz
Nadasdy, a soldier of great courage. This simple soul never found
out that the lady who inspired him with a certain love tinged by
fear was in fact a monster. He would come to her in the brief
respites between battles, drenched in horse-sweat and blood - the
norms of hygiene had not yet been firmly established - and this
probably stirred the emotions of the delicate Erzebet, always
dressed in rich cloths and perfumed with costly scents.
One day, walking through the castle gardens, Nadasdy saw a
naked girl tied to a tree. She was covered in honey: flies and ants
crawled all over her, and she was sobbing. The Countess explained
that the girl was purging the sin of having stolen some fruit.
Nadasdy laughed candidly, as if she had told him a joke.
The soldier would not allow anyone to bother him with stories
about his wife, stories of bites, needles, etc. A serious mistake:
even as a newly-wed, during those crises whose formula was the
Bathory's secret, Erzebet would prick her servants with long
needles; and when, felled by her terrible migraines, she was forced
to lie in bed, she would gnaw their shoulders and chew on the bits
of flesh she had been able to extract. As if by magic, the girl's
shrieks would soothe her pain.
But all this is child's play - a young girl's play. During her
husband's life she never committed murder.
Everything is mirror! ---OCTAVIO PAZ
The Countess would spend her days in front of her large dark
mirror; a famous mirror she had designed herself. It was so
comfortable that it even had supports on which to lean one's arms,
so as to be able to stand for many hours in front of it without
feeling tired. We can suppose that while believing she had designed
a mirror, Erzebet had in fact designed the plans for her lair. And
now we can understand why only the most grippingly sad music of her
gypsy orchestra, or dangerous hunting parties, or the violent
perfume of the magic herbs in the witch's hut or - above all - the
cellars flooded with human blood, could spark something resembling
life in her perfect face. Because no one has more thirst for earth,
for blood,and for ferocious sexuality than the creatures who
inhabit cold mirrors. And on the subject of mirrors: the rumours
concerning her alleged homosexuality were never confirmed. Was this
allegation unconscious, or, on the contrary, did she accept it
naturally, as simply another right to which she was entitled?
Essentially she lived deep within an exclusively female world.
There were only women during her nights of crime. And a few details
are obviously revealing: for instance, int he torture chamber,
during the moments of greatest tension, she herself used to plunge
a burning candle into the sex of her victim. There are also
testimonies which speak of less solitary pleasures. One of the
servants said during the trial than an aristocratic and mysterious
lady dressed as a young man would visit the Countess. On one
occasion she saw them together, torturing a girl. But we do not
know whether they shared any pleasures other than the sadistic
More on the theme of the mirror: even though we are not
concerned with explaining this sinister figure, it is necessary to
dwell on the fact that she suffered from that sixteenth-century
sickness: melancholia.
An unchangeable colour rules over the melancholic: his
dwelling is a space the colour of mourning. Nothing happens in it.
No one intrudes. It is a bare stage where the inert I is assisted
by the I suffering from that inertia. The latter wishes to free the
former, but all efforts fail, as Theseus would have failed had he
been not only himself, but also the Minotaur; to kill him then, he
would have had to kill himself. But there are fleeting remedies:
sexual pleasures, for instance, can, for a brief moment, obliterate
the silent gallery of echoes and mirrors that constitutes the
melancholic soul. Even more: they can illuminate the funeral
chamber and transform it into a sort of musical box with gaily-
coloured figurines that sing and dance deliciously. Afterwards,
when the music winds down, the soul will return to immobility and
silence. The music box is not a gratuitous comparison. Melancholia
is, I believe, a musical problem: a dissonance, a change in rhythm.
While on the outside everything happens with the vertiginous rhythm
of a cataract, on the inside is the exhausted adagio of drops of
water falling from time to tired time. For this reason the outside,
seen from the melancholic inside, appears absurd and unreal, and
constitutes 'the farce we must all play'. But for an instant -
because of a wild music, or a drug, or the sexual act carried to a
climax - the very slow rhythm of the melancholic soul does not only
rise to that of the outside world: it overtakes it with an
ineffably blissful exorbitance, and the soul then thrills animated
by delirious new energies.
The melancholic soul sees Time as suspended before and after
the fatally ephemeral violence. And yet the truth is that time is
never suspended, but it grows as slowly as the fingernails of the
dead. Between two silences or two deaths, the prodigious, brief
moment of speed takes on the various forms of lust: from an
innocent intoxication to sexual perversions and even murder.
I think of Erzebet Bathory and her nights whose rhythms are
measured by the cries of adolescent girls. I see a portrait of the
Countess: the sombre and beautiful lady resembles the allegories of
Melancholia represented in old engravings. I also recall that in
her time, a melancholic person was a person possessed by the Devil.
...who kills the sun in order to install the reign of
darkest night.---ANTONIN ARTAUD
Erzebet's greatest obsession had always been to keep old age
at bay, at any cost. Her total devotion to the arts of black magic
was aimed at preserving - intact for all eternity - the 'sweet
bird' of her youth. The magical herbs, the incantations, the
amulets, even the blood baths had, in her eyes, a medicinal
function: to immobilize her beauty in order to become, for ever and
ever, a dream of stone. She always lived surrounded by talismans.
In her years of crime she chose one single talisman which contained
an ancient and filthy parchment on which was written in special
ink, a prayer for her own personal use. She carried it close to her
heart, underneath her costly dresses, and in the midst of a
celebration, she would touch it surreptitiously. I translate the
Help me, oh Isten; and you also, all-powerful cloud. Protect
me, Erzebet, and grant me long life. Oh cloud, I am in danger. Send
me ninety cats, for you are the supreme mistress of cats. Order
them to assemble here from all their dwelling-places; from the
mountains, from the waters, from the rivers, from the gutters and
from the oceans. Tell them to come quickly and bite the heart of
______ and also the heart of _____ and of _____. And to also bite
and rip the heart of Megyery, the Red. And keep Erzebet from all
The blanks were to be filled with the names of those whose
hearts she wanted bitten.
In 1604 Erzebet became a widow and met Darvulia. Darvulia was
exactly like the woodland witch who frightens us in children's
tales. Very old, irascible, always surrounded by black cats,
Darvulia fully responded to Erzebet's fascination: within the
Countess's eyes the witch found a new version of the evil powers
buried in the poisons of the forest and in the coldness of the
moon. Darvulia's black magic wrought itself in the Countess's black
silence. She initiated her to even crueller games; she taught her
to look upon death, and the meaning of looking upon death. She
incited her to seek death and blood in a literal sense: that is, to
love them for their own sake, without fear.
If you go bathing, Juanilla, tell me to what baths you
go.---CANCIONERO OF UPSALA
This rumor existed: since the arrival of Darvulia, the
Countess, in order to preserve her comeliness, took baths of human
blood. True: Darvulia, being a witch, believed in the invigorating
powers of the 'human fluid'. She proclaimed the merits of young
girls' blood - especially if they were virgins - to vanquish the
demon of senility, and the Countess accepted the treatment as
meekly as if it had been a salt bath. Therefore, in the torture
chamber, Dorko applied herself to slicing veins and arteries; the
blood was collected in pitchers and, when the victims were bled
dry, Dorko would pour the red warm liquid over the body of the
waiting Countess - ever so quiet, ever so white, ever so erect,
ever so silent.
In spite of her unchangeable beauty, Time inflicted upon her
some of the vulgar signs of its passing. Towards 1610 Darvulia
mysteriously disappeared and Erzebet, almost fifty, complained to
her new witch about the uselessness of the blood baths. In fact,
more than complain, she threatened to kill her if she did not stop
at once the encroaching and execrable signs of old age. The witch
argued that Darvulia's method had not worked because plebeian blood
had been used. She assured - or prophesied - that changing the
colour of the blood, using blue blood instead of red, would ensure
the fast retreat of old age. Here began the hunt for the daughters
of gentlemen. To attract them, Erzebet's minions would argue that
he Lady of Csejthe, alone in her lonely castle, could not resign
herself to her solitude. And how to banish solitude? Filling the
dark halls with young girls of good families who, in exchange for
happy company, would receive lessons in fine manners and learn how
to behave exquisitely in society. A fortnight later, of the twenty-
five 'pupils' who had hurried to become aristocrats, only two were
left: one died some time later, bled white; the other managed to
take her life.
The stone walk is paved with dark cries.---PIERRE-JEAN
A castle of grey stones, few windows, square towers,
underground mazes; a castle high upon a cliff, a hillside of dry
windblown weeds, of woods full of white beasts in winter and dark
beasts in summer; a castle that Erzebet Bathory loved for the
doleful silence of its walls which muffled every cry.
The Countess's room, cold and badly lit by a lamp of jasmine
oil, reeked of blood, and the cellars reeked of dead bodies. Had
she wanted to, she could have carried out her work in broad
daylight and murdered the girls under the sun, but she was
fascinated by the gloom of her dungeon. The gloom which matched so
keenly her terrible eroticism of stone, snow, and walls. She loved
her maze-shaped dungeon, the archetypical hell of our fears; the
viscous, insecure space where we are unprotected and can get lost.
What did she do with all of her days and nights, there, in the
loneliness of Csejthe? Of her nights we know something. During the
day, the Countess would not leave the side of her two old servants,
two creatures escaped from a painting by Goya: the dirty,
malodorous, incredibly ugly and perverse Dorko and Jo Ilona. They
would try to amuse her with domestic tales to which she paid no
attention, and yet she needed the continuous and abominable
chatter. Another way of passing time was to contemplate her jewels,
to look at herself in her famous mirror, to change her dresses
fifteen times a day. Gifted with a great practical sense, she saw
to it that the underground cellars were always well supplied; she
also concerned herself with her daughters' future - her daughters
who always lived so far away from her; she administered her fortune
with intelligence; and she occupied herself with all the little
details that rule the profane order of our lives.
...the law, cold and aloof by its very nature, has no
access to the passions that might justify the cruel act
of murder.---SADE
For six years the Countess murdered with impunity. During
those years there had been countless rumours about her. But the
name of Bathory, not only illustrious but also diligently protected
by the Hapsburgs, frightened her possible accusers.
Towards 1610 the king had in his hands the most sinister
reports - together with proofs - concerning the Countess. After
much hesitation he decided to act. He ordered the powerful Thurzo,
Count Palatine, to investigate the tragic events at Csejthe and to
punish the guilty parties.
At the head of a contingent of armed men, Thurzo arrived
unannounced at the castle. In the cellar, cluttered with the
remains of the previous night's bloody ceremony, he found a
beautiful mangled corpse and two young girls who lay dying. But
that was not all. He smelt the smell of the dead; he saw the walls
splattered with blood; he saw the Iron Maiden, the cage, the
instruments of torture, bowls of dried blood, the cells - and in
one of them a group of girls who were waiting their turn to die and
who told him that after many days of fasting they had been served
roast flesh that had once belonged to the bodies of their
The Countess, without denying Thurzo's accusations, declared
that these acts were all within her rights as a noble woman of
ancient lineage. To which the Count Palatine replied: 'Countess, I
condemn you to life imprisonment within your castle walls.'
Deep in his heart, Thurzo must have told himself that the
Countess should be beheaded, but such an exemplary punishment would
have been frowned upon, because it affected not only the Bathory
family, but also the nobility in general. In the meantime, a
notebook was found int he Countess's room, filled with the names
and descriptions of her 610 victims in her handwriting. The
followers of Erzebet, when brought before the judge, confessed to
unthinkable deeds, and perished on the stake.
Around her the prison grew. The doors and windows of her room
were walled up; only a small opening was left in one of the walls
to allow her to receive her food. And when everything was ready,
four gallows were erected on the four corners of the castle to
indicate that within those walls lived a creature condemned to
In this way she lived for three years, almost wasting away
with cold and hunger. She never showed the slightest sign of
repentance. She never understood why she had been condemned. On
August 21, 1614, a contemporary historian wrote: 'She died at dawn,
abandoned by everyone.'
She was never afraid, she never trembled. And no compassion,
no sympathy or admiration may be felt for her. Only a certain
astonishment at the enormity of the horror, a fascination with a
white dress that turns red, with the imagination of a silence
starred with cries in which everything reflects an unacceptable
Like Sade in his writings, and Gilles de Rais in his crimes,
the Countess Bathory reached beyond all limits the uttermost pit of
unfettered passions. She is yet another proof that the absolute
freedom of the human creature is horrible.
-----translated by Alberto Manguel.
Link to this article: Select all
[url=https://d2mods.info/forum/kb/viewarticle?a=294&sid=40410f2d465d54d635b3cd3b9be01362]Knowledge Base - Countess Elizabeth Bathory-Nadasdy[/url]


text:
I am attempting to set up a server that has a static IP address and I want to register a domain name to point to it. Having always used shared hosting in the past, I am unsure what to tell my domain to point at.
Do I just put the IP for the A record and delete the name server records?


text:
Merry Christmas!
LoveSove.com – Where Love-Sove Begins
Hey Chatty! LOVE the cardinal...my favorite bird!
Good Morning Sandie!!
Have a wonderful almost sunny day!!
love ya!
I agree with that video. It's Christmas. Have a great day.
I love pictures of cardinals in the wintertime :)
Hi Sandie! Hope your day is delightful. Little cardinal looks peaceful and happy.
And Merry CHRISTMAS! Susan
It is called CHRISTmas!
Happy Sunday and hope your day is wonderful and MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Wishing you a wonderful day!
hugs, Linda
The cardinal is beautiful. Surrounded by love at Christmas or any time of year is wonderful
Sunday is the Lord's Day. I spend it worshiping him by going to church and learning about the deep love that he had for all of us.
Love that cardinal picture. :-))))))
Hope your Sunday is a wonderful one!
I love seeing the bright red cardinals in the wintertime. They really brighten up a dreary, gray day. And then when it snows, they are so pretty against the white!
Have a wonderful day!
SWEET, Now have a great day. I know you are having and gonna have a great Christmas season!!!
Hugs from Florida
Awwww, cute cardinal!
Happy Sunday, Sandie!
Have a wonderful Sunday!!
Loved the Red Cardinal my friend. Sending blessings to you on this nearly Christmas Sunday!
The Happy Holiday thing is just ridiculous!!! The day is specifically to celebrate Christ's birthday, so there would be no holiday without that.
I LOVE that first picture, it's just beautiful:@)
Your research is our gift...
Thank you, my friend!
Hi Sandie! I just love coming here to visit. Thank you for taking the time to put together these lovely Sunday gifts!
Blessings of peace to you!!
Merry Christmas to you :) xoxoxoxo
So glad to know that "Christmas With a Capital C" is one of your favorites!...I LOVE, LOVE LOVE it!!!...:)JP
Hello! I love the cardinal with all the pretty lights around it. What a pretty Christmas card that would make. Hope you have a nice week ahead. :)
You know I don't think I've ever seen a cardinal in real life here. But sure enjoyed your picture of it Sandie!
Pretty Bird!!! A nice looking Santa for a cartoon caracter too.
Thank you, so uplifting, Hugs, Ginger
Thanks for the smiles. (I have a little ceramic bird that looks exactly like the one in the picture at the top. )
Blessings to you - Marsha
Hey Sandie,
That is an exceptional idea to celebrate Christmas every single day in December with Chatty's style. Your songs, a good sense of humour, thoughts, quotes, spicy flavours, photos, and other things bright up the readers' lives with your lovely ways, Sandie.
Thank you, my sweet dear friend, for being the way you are, just a super friend, Sandie!
You always bright up my days.
Have a fantastic week!
Thank you for visiting my sites, and writing to me, sweetheart!
God may always touch your life with many blessings, and those you love. All the Best in All Seasons,
Poet Starry Dawn.
Neat Cardinal picture.
Lovely cardinal! Thank you~
I love the Christ-mas smiles you're sharing. And the funnies, and the gifts. I haven't made brittle in years...sooooo.
Sorry I haven't been around.
I love the Christ-mas smiles you're sharing. And the funnies, and the gifts. I haven't made brittle in years...sooooo.
Sorry I haven't been around.
Can you believe Christmas is just around the corner? Amazing! Have a good week my friend!
xo Catherine
Beautiful, and sending you loads of love right back...
Hi Sandie, I like your idea of Celebrating Chatty Style. Good for you! Love the cardinal too.
oh yes..and Merry Christmas to you!!
And to YOU!!! Last year I had a cardinal tree in my dining room! You would have loved it!
Your holiday Post was most enjoyable to read.
Hugs, Rose
happy holidays dear, sorry i haven't been around. fighting pain and depression.
Good mornin Sandie. I am so honored you followed my site. I thought I had already done so here. But, had not.
But, I have done so now. I get so excited whenever I get a new follower.
Well I am off to get my tree finished house clean. Our 3 year old great grandson is coming to spend the week. It's been a long time since I kept one that little an entire week....pray for us!!
Happy week!:-)
I am enjoying your chatty style of celebrating :)
nice to see this
ख्वाहिश तो ना थी किसी से दिल लगाने की..मगर जब किस्मत में ही दर्द लिखा था.. तो मोहब्बत कैसे ना होती।Top Sad Shayari 2017
What is Valentine's Day? St Valentine's Day is an annual festival to celebrate romantic love, friendship and admiration. Every year on 14 February people celebrate this day by sending messages of love and affection to partners, family and friends. Couples send Valentine's Day cards and flowers and spend special time together to honour their love for each other.
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A website where you can get all kinds of online offers, discounts and Your favorite messages in Hindi and English (Friendship,romantic, Shayari,Funny)
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Hindi Shayari


text:
Palashi in present day West Bengal is a small town which derives its name from Polash– the Bengali name for the red flower, popularly known as flame of the forest- which once abounded in that region. Anglicised as Plassey, that obscure little town was the scene of a seemingly insignificant battle, but one whose outcome changed the course of India's history. The effects of that battle are felt to this day.
This is the story of how it happened.
Bengal in 1757
The re-conquest of Calcutta in February 1757 followed by the humiliating treaty that the British imposed on Siraj ud Daula, the nawab of Bengal, greatly diminished the prestige of the already unpopular nawab while proportionately increasing the fear and awe in which the British were held.
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Clive, member of the governing council at Calcutta, followed up the victory against the nawab's army by raiding the French settlement in Chandan Nagar and, in effect, rendering the French incapable of ever challenging British arms in India.
An Uneasy Peace
Mir Jafar- grand uncle of Siraj ud Daula and one of the most influential people in the kingdom- had ample reason to dislike the nawab, as we have seen earlier. Siraj, with his increasingly fickle behaviour after the humiliation at the hands of the British in February 1757 left courtiers- especially Mir Jafar- even more fearful of his caprices.
The British, who already had designs on the nawab, sought to exploit the prevailing atmosphere of fear and suspicion. On the instructions of Clive, William Watts- the British waqeel (representative) at the nawab's court- started cultivating a friendly relationship with Mir Jafar.
The British were hardly alone in the game of conspiracies. Siraj, who had blown hot and blown cold after the humiliation of February, had taken umbrage when Clive had dispatched a detachment of troops to pursue French soldiers and officials, who had escaped during the siege of Chandan Nagar and taken refuge in Bihar. He angrily served an ultimatum to Watts on 20th April instructing the British not to disturb the French any further or else end all diplomatic relations and recall their waqeel to Calcutta.
The British did neither, much to the chagrin of Siraj. The desire to get rid of the other was intense and mutual. It was just a matter of time before things would come to a head.
Conspiracy in the Air
On 23rd April 1757, the British received a proposal from an officer named Yar Lutf Khan to overthrew the nawab with his support and name him as the new nawab. In exchange he offered to enter into any engagements which the English should stipulate for the advantage of their affairs. He was almost certainly acting on behalf of the Seths, a family of prosperous traders whose backing had propelled Alivardi Khan- the previous nawab- to the throne.
The Seths had been sidelined by Siraj, losing the position of influence they had enjoyed under his grandfather. If that was not bad enough, Siraj's increasingly capricious and insecure behaviour gave them every reason to fear that he could at any time turn against anyone who could possibly hurt him. To make things worse, they had sustained a massive loss when the French- to whom they had lent large sums of money- had been driven out by the British. Siraj had done nothing to help them recover their losses.
The British, consequent to the ultimatum served on them by Siraj, were already contemplating overthrowing him. They now had the backing of the Seths who, strangely enough, had not definitely named the would-be successor to Siraj. The very next day came a communication from Khwaja Petrus, an Armenian merchant close to the nawab. This one came from a much higher source.
Mir Jafar, who had every reason to hate and fear Siraj, had sent a proposal through Petrus to dethrone the nawab. Not only did he offer wholehearted support, but he also named several high ranking officials who were part of the conspiracy. He called upon the company to suggest their terms. For good measure, he also advised soothing the nawab's fraying nerves with every appearance of peace until the preparations were complete.
The British were already weighing similar offers from other quarters. The sheer seniority of Mir Jafar left little doubt as to who would be their most valuable ally. They lost little time in proposing their terms, which included:
- Mir Jafar to confirm all the grants and privileges allowed by Siraj ud Daula to the company
- Mir Jafar to enter into an offensive and defensive alliance with the British.
- All Frenchmen in Bengal with their Factories and goods to be delivered up to the British. The French never to be permitted to resettle in the three Provinces (Bengal, Bihar and Orrisa).
- East India Company to receive 100 lakhs tor the loss sustained by the destruction of Calcutta and for the expenses of the war.
- The Company to receive the zamindari of the country south of Calcutta between the River and the Salt Lakes as far as Culpee.
Mir Jafar did not give an immediate reply as he had to first consult Rai Durlabh, the nawab's treasurer who commanded most of the army. A conspiracy to overthrow the nawab would be futile without the support of the treasurer. On 4th June 1757, William Watts was informed that Rai Durlabh and Mir Jafar had agreed to the terms of the committee.
Deadly Games
The plan now firmly in place, William Watson started planning his escape from the clutches of Siraj. On 12th June he and two companions, under the pretext of going out to the countryside on a hunt, made their escape and joined Clive and his forces, who were camped at Khulna (in present day Bangladesh).
In the meanwhile, Siraj ud Daula, who had received information of the brewing conspiracy from the French, sprung into action. Knowing how badly he needed the support of his senior officers, he personally called on Mir Jafar and sought reconciliation. Jafar, who had no reason to trust the young man, promised to be true to the nawab, even as he was sharpening the knives.
Siraj, satisfied that he had the support of his grand uncle, now set out to carry out his long held desire to get rid of the British. He joined his troops who were camped in a place called Palasi (Anglicised as Plassey). On 23rd June, the two armies came face to face- the nawab's army far outnumbering the forces of the East India Company. On paper it should have been a no-contest.
Unknown to him, the nawab was in for a nasty surprise.
The Battle of Plassey
On the morning of 23rd June, Siraj ud Daula took his head at the vanguard of a 15,000 strong force. Supporting the vanguard were the forces of Mir Jafar, Rai Durlabh and Yar Lutf Khan, all three of whom were in the conspiracy. Not a shot would be fired by their troops.
Another factor which favoured the British was the fact that they were protected from cannon fire by the Laksha Bag– a grove of 100,000 trees which they had occupied. The only effective alternative was hand to hand combat which, given the forested terrain, would have entailed severe casualties. Whether it was to avoid unnecessary casualties or due to the uncertain morale of his troops, Siraj desisted from ordering an all-out assault on the British.
An indecisive cannonade lasted several hours until a heavy shower in the afternoon damaged the gunpowder, resulting in a slackening of fire from the nawab's side. Sensing an opening, Major Killpatrick unilaterally launched an assault- sending word to Robert Clive, who was temporarily away from action to get some much needed rest, having given instructions not to go on the offensive until night time. Clive was at first dismayed when he received the intimation. His first instinct was to instruct Killpatrick to retake position. However, soon realising that it was impossible to do so, he reversed his orders.
By then morale in the nawab's camp was at rock bottom. No one quite knew who was fighting and who was not. Worse still, Siraj's army had lost Mir Madan, one of the most senior officers. The confusion plus the damage to the gunpowder had completely sapped the morale of the nawab's forces, who fell apart amidst scenes of utter chaos.
Realising that the war was lost, Siraj ud Daula hastily retreated from the battle field. Clive and Killpatrick had won the day.
- Siraj ud Daula headed off to Bhagwangola (in present day Murshidabad district of West Bengal) in disguise. By a cruel twist of fate, he was recognised by an enemy who happened to be present purely by coincidence, who had him arrested.
- Mir Jafar was crowned the new nawab. He would be dismissed by the company in 1760, before being reinstated in July 1763. He remained in power until his death in January 1765, aged 73
- An estimated £ 4.5 million was paid by Mir Jafar to the East India Company and to private individuals who had sustained losses due to the sacking of Calcutta in June 1756
- Siraj ud Daula was murdered in captivity on 2nd July 1757
- The victory effectively rendered the British the masters of a vast territory, bigger than any European country
- The victory at Plassey, following a similar success in the south a few years earlier, laid the foundation of the British empire in India
- The defeat of the French at Chandan Nagar, followed by the final defeat at Vandivasai (Wandiwash) in 1760 ensured that the British would have no rivals for power in India
- The name Mir Jafar remains, to this day, a byword for a traitor in eastern India
- Robert Orme, A History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan from the year 1745, Volume II, The Strand, London (1813)
- S.C. Hill, Bengal in 1756-57, John Murray, London (1905)


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|Useful Information
ILCA Class Rules
|Upcoming Events
|2018 February ExCom Minutes
|Friday, 16 March 2018 21:30
ILCA-NA Executive Committee
Meeting Minutes
February 12, 2018
The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm EST. In attendance were: John Long, Eric Reitinger, Andy Roy, Jerelyn Biehl and Sherri Campbell.
1.The minutes from December 11, 2017 call were approved as distributed.
2. Office Report
3. Old Business
a.ILCA Website: Sherri is in touch with Randolph at the ILCA and they are willing to host a new website. A new URL and template home has been set up, but we will need to create the content for that page and all other content. Discussion of earmarking the recent builder plaque fees received ($4,000) toward looking to hire someone to create this content. Andy Roy made a motion to approve this. All agreed.
4. Any other Business - none
Meeting adjourned at 7:21 pm
Next call: Monday – March 12, 2018


text:
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Guidance Documents Public Notification & Guidance Language Other Than English is Predominantly Spoken
Language Other Than English is Predominantly Spoken
Information about the percentage of people speaking languages other than English in a given area is available by accessing census information on http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html. By entering a zip code of interest, one can access data on those who "Speak a Language Other than English at Home". One can either enter a specific address or find a link for a map under the "Social Characteristics" section. The map tool allows "zooming in" on a particularly area of town revealing census tract information in the vicinity of the site of interest. The information is based on 2000 Census data.
The Department anticipates that most remediating parties are already aware of whether a language other than English is predominantly spoken in the neighborhoods surrounding their sites. Existing business and community signs can usually identify neighborhoods where a language other than English is spoken. If the person responsible for conducting the remediation is unsure whether property owners and tenants predominantly speak a language other than English, they should contact the municipality for information.
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