text:
ANH-USA and Trade Groups Meet with FDA on New Supplement Guidance
Agency begins its promised rewrite after a massive grassroots letter-writing campaign.
Last week ANH-USA, together with a number of supplement industry trade associations, met with the US Food and Drug Administration to discuss their promised revision of the FDA's draft guidance for New Dietary Ingredients (NDIs) which, in ordinary English, means dietary supplements developed since 1994.
As you know, the guidance was originally released in July of 2011, and immediately faced a firestorm of criticism from consumers, natural health advocates, the supplement industry, and Congress. FDA took what was supposed to be a notification process for new supplements and turned it into a de facto pre-market approval system with so many absurd restrictions and arbitrary rules that it would have forced a large number of products off the market, denying you access. It would also have resulted in over $1 billion of lost industry revenue, and cost over 100,000 Americans their jobs now—and far more jobs in the future.
In June, after a massive grassroots letter-writing campaign, congressional leaders persuaded FDA to withdraw the guidance and start over—a startling reversal from the agency's previous intransigence on the subject. Last Tuesday's meeting was constructive—and significant in that it was the first time a group representing natural health and consumer activists had been invited to be at the table.
One main focus of the meeting was how the FDA would distinguish between old dietary ingredients (ODIs) and new ones. At issue is whether the FDA will agree with the supplement industry and the natural health community that many of the supplements used by consumers today should be considered ODIs and thus not subject to the new onerous regulations (currently being re-written) that threaten access to supplements.
This is a concern for consumers for many reasons. To take just one example, when a supplement is considered an NDI, drug companies, under some circumstances, are able to develop synthetic version of natural ingredients and then petition the FDA to remove the nutritional supplement versions of the ingredient from the market. This is what happened with pyridoxamine, one of the most bioavailable and best natural forms of vitamin B6—the supplement industry thought it was a grandfathered ODI and didn't file an NDI notification, but the FDA ruled that it was an NDI. Now the natural supplement form of pyridoxamine is no longer available.
A second issue discussed was the creation of an official list of grandfathered ingredients, which currently does not exist. Should such a list be created? The concern is that FDA may determine that the list is static and any ingredient not on the list is by default an NDI. We don't want the list to be used as a hammer by the FDA to go after industry and ultimately deny consumers access to safe supplements.
Then there's the "chemically altered" question. Supplements that have been chemically altered, even if they were originally marketed before DSHEA was passed, become NDIs. But FDA's definition of "chemically altered" is very broad. It may include a change in the manufacturing process—and there have been many such changes in the past eighteen years!
Many of these manufacturing processes do not chemically alter a supplement, just make it safer and better by taking advantage of new technologies. Since the purpose of the NDI notification process is to ensure safety, FDA shouldn't freeze-frame the technology to 1994, but should instead allow for improvements—all the more so since the FDA is issuing guidance eighteen years after it was required by Congress.
Our meeting did not decide any of these issues. But as the consumer representative at the meeting, we were able to represent you and express these points strongly. With your help and that of Congress, especially the appropriations committee that controls FDA's purse strings, we will finally win this battle, no matter how long it takes.
49 responses to "ANH-USA and Trade Groups Meet with FDA on New Supplement Guidance"
Kevin Lawrence says:
The issues listed above are very good, reasonable and required I believe. As usual, most of the companies like mine, are desirous of the FDA doing its job to keep adulterated and misbranded products off the shelf as well as unfounded claims. We jsut need to teach FDA how to define such products and quit with the obvious Rx drug mfr lobby intent to wipe out the industry. It's really gotten old over the last 30 years. FDA, grow up, put some mature individuals with the consumer needs at heart in charge here and above all, enforce the protection mandate you already have!! That would be great! Quit beinig a Rx pawn looking for the destruction of consumer safety, freedom of choice and employment opportunity. In short grow up and grow some sensibility, maturity and awareness.
Lisa Pruitt says:
It seems as though the FDA has something against supplements and that we continually have to fight this attitude.
It's just not an attitude of helping us to be healthy. It's an attitude of control.
greenchili says:
Attention Ms. Deborah Ray:
I've Retinitis Pigmentosa and therefore cannot use prescription drugs to enhance sexual performance like normal men can do. Read fine print on Viagra, Cialis, etc. and you will find that they don't recommend these drugs for people wtih RP.
I've found other ways through dietary supplements to increase performance. Thanks to Senator Richard Durbin, I no longer have access to Andro which was a good dietary supplement for me.
THE FDA IS DISCRIMINATING AGAINST THE HANDICAP WITH THEIR ANTI-DIETARY SUPPLEMENT POLICIES AS I'M LEGALLY BLIND WITH THE RP. My case can be used as an example to get the FDA to back off and maybe someone in the Senate like Senator Orrin Hatch should modify the 1974 "Handicap Act" to allow for my access to ALL existing dietary supplements without any restrictions from the FDA as I'm using other supplements to slow down the vision loss, i.e. 15,000 I.U. Vitamin A (palmitate).
I know that I can't sue the FDA, HOWEVER, if Big Pharma (the group who is actually running the FDA), in particular the ones who makes and sells Viagra and Cialis may be sued IF they are made aware of the fact that I've improved my sex life with dietary supplements and they are warned to back off my access to dietary supplements since I can't use their prescription drugs. I am retired and I have plenty of time to deal with a lawsuit, especially since they are discriminating against ME.
Ms. Ray, I'm just giving the Alliance other options that may work, especially if you feel like you've hit the wall. I'm asking you to keep me in mind, just in case you feel you're not making adequate progress. Thank you for your service and your valuable time.
Rick Bendera says:
Great work. Hopefully you can include Spermine and Spermidine in your discussions. Known for over 400 years and essential for health cell development and found in most foods, this bioidentical formula seems to be a mystery to the FDA. What is most important is they get rid of the word they use for everything. That word is adult rated.
I would hope that the FDA would take heavy consideration into account for the concerns of the consumer, natural health advocates and Congress. We should not be denied access to any supplements due to ridiculous restrictions & rules not to mention the aftermath of loss of industry revenue & even more – the loss of American jobs.
I am however, glad to see that the FDA withdrew guidance & agreed to start over. I see more fairness given by allowing natural health & consumer activists to the table at these meetings. I am so glad to have their representation & hope that their input will make the difference in resolving the issues still of deep concern to all of us consumers.
Buck Crosby says:
I hope this signals progress and not just more stonewalling , the feds favorite tactic .
Emily Dale says:
I am nearly 87 years of age, and healthy because I take no pharmaceuticals, but instead am prescribed vitamin/mineral/herbal supplements by my holistic M.D. based on the results of tests that determine the levels of nutrients and minerals in my body. My income is near poverty level, but I manage to purchase these, plus a diet of organic foods, which I eat twice daily. I am grateful for the nutrient industry and all those connected with it, and I spread the word to all with whom I am in contact. I am also an activist with regards to GMO opposition, as well as involved in a committee which establishes organic community gardens around my city, including one on which we are now in process of establishing at the independent living senior complex of nearly 500 apartments to provide healthy vegetables to the aged whose choice otherwise is WalMart.
Calvin Hayes says:
What is the plan for pyridoxamine?
Are you asking for it to be available again to the public?
Otherwise, this has been great news!
We will continue to heed the call.
Earl Hillard says:
Thanks for representing we consumers at the meeting and future meetings. I want easy access to the organic supplements that I need and do not want the restrictions or prohibitions earlier put forth by the FDA.
Audrey Gorr says:
Just when some Drs. are finally realizing how important supplements are we have tofight the
Drug Companies who influence the FDA. Thank you for watching out for our health.
I depend on supplements a lot.
Robert Cruder says:
It sounds like the supplement industry is making progress but it has traitors within.
Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), previously a friend of the entire supplement industry has introduced a bill to not only ban the prodution and sale of a wide variety of muscle-building supplements but also to make their mere posession a felony offense.
That long-expired bottle in the back of your freezer that had been legally purchased could mean long jail time for you or for a loved one.
Senator Hatch apparently has the support of supplement companies in his home state of Utah.
The bill contains a specific exception for herbal products even if they are similar in both chemical structure and physiological effect to the banned supplements.
Our industry has allowed the FDA and DEA to "divide and conquer". Herbal producers in Utah are prepared to toss the producers of synthetics "under the bus", perhaps to eliminate competition or perhaps as a sacrificial lamb in the hope that regulators will be satisfied.
Only fools would believe that the FDA and DEA can ever be satisfied!
When they come for the herbal producers as well, who would be left to come to their defense?
See : http://www.supplementcounsel.com/blog/the-new-designer-steroid-bill-and-you-questions-and-answers-with-rick-collins
danuta says:
Thank YOU for all you hard work!!!!!
Dr. Michael L Goebel says:
The best thing the FDA can do to ensure safety to consumers is to dissolve that agency ASAP!
Raul Ruiz says:
Stop the greed.
To deny a person the god given right to ingest a natural ingredient vs taking the chemically altered
equivalent is total and complete insanity–
That is the problem with GMO's and now this —
I want and I along with others have the right to consume what we want period
Karin Pine says:
Thank you. From the bottom of my gut.
Lyn D says:
The FDA has no argument with regard to supplements as it has, and continues to approve synthetic drugs, far more undertested and dangerous than the supplements they'd have us believe are potentially dangerous. The whole thing is about money and nothing more.
2¢ worth says:
These so-called advocates are nothing but gangsters in high places.. I don't care how fair they write their manifesto, it will always be abused and eventually used (by these same watchers) against us.. Keep me informed as to what these bottom feeders are trying to choke down our throats and I'll keep signing my name on those petitions that will show them that we are watching their snake like attempts to put one over us just to profit them and their masters. All of them should be immediately fired and all perks taken away then let's see how they fair with big pharma once they get sick and can't afford prescription drugs. Pathetic wimps..
GILLES MARIN says:
Thank you and congratulation for taking action with the FDA!
Margaret Sullivan says:
Thank you so much for your careful research and reporting. I only wish there were a way to warn more people about how bad this situation is and how the FDA is just a revolving door for the Washington people who want to destroy our food safety and promote the horrors of GMOs.
Gertrude Lamb says:
My state Rep, Mr. Michaud, responded to my earlier personalized form letter, provided by ANH-USA, with the biggest mess of double-talk I ever had to read. His bottom line was that supplements must be supervised. WHY? Free market has done a better–and safer–job until now than Pharma ever did with FDA "supervision".
And the bottom line on the article above seems to be, "Our meeting did not decide any of these issues."
FDA's willingness to rewrite is no mystery–FDA had already agreed to that after Orrin Hatch, holder of part of FDA's purse strings, leaned on FDA. But he didn't back FDA off from turning the law upside down–all he managed to get was just a short time extension. FDA doesn't at all mind a six months' extension–for patented adult drugs to be studied on children (strictly to extend patents, not for FDA approval or pediatric use). It is clear that nothing has changed in the game plan to restrict Pharma's only real competitor, the supplements industry. Look at Pyridoxamine–wiped out on the supplements front, sold now only through a Pharma version–and that tells the tale of what lies ahead. Wipe out supplements. In steps Pharma. Market monopoly. Buried among the rubble of the recent meeting is the fact that FDA has no right to re-interpret any laws passed by Congress–nor to set terms such as the despicable "1994" rule or what shall be considered Old vs New for supplements–at all. Because supplements are nutrients and therefore outside FDA's area of control–or they were, the last two times Congress backed off FDA on its attempts to grab control over them–and why would FDA keep trying to grab control? Money, market monopoly, and only Pharma–which pays such exorbitant sums to FDA and thus to Government–will be left standing.
If FDA has its way–will anyone donate so I can flee the country? Supplements are the sole reason I am free of ischemia and angina, and out of a wheelchair, with no oxygen tank and no bypass surgery and able to spell ordinary words again. And not lying in bed all day from constant spine and joint pain. I don't want to go back to that. Maybe everyone could send a dollar a vote to name the stray cat I just took in. Probably some of you think I am joking…
They don't mind listening to us blow hot air. It didn't change a thing, did it!
Dee Cota says:
I am 71 years old and have been a vegetarian for 40 years. I make all my food from scratch, because most packaged or pre-made food has chemicals, dyes, additives, preservatives, GMO's and other things I can't even pronounce. I have taken vitamens and supplements for 40 years to
give me the benefit of the nutrition I may not be getting from my diet. I am very helthy for my age.
Before I became a vegetarian I took the time to study nutrition and learned that it was necessary to
supplement my diet with the proper vitamens, which have done, without any ill effects. In my opinion the FDA and those that want to regulate vitamens need to spend more time regulating the
drugs that kill more people than vitamens. In the past and even to this day, I have taken massive
doses of Vitamen C, Vitamen E,A and D for a week without harming myself.
I hope that my freedom to take vitamens in my future will not be jeopardized with unnecessary rules and regulations that could hinder my over all health.
maurice rothman says:
Gentlemen:
It is a known fact and on public record that the FDA takes orders from the pharaceutical industry, since it depends moneywise on the pharmaceutical industry. Its obvious why the FDA does what it does; supplements hurt the "bottom line of the drug iindustry. THIS "FACT is outrageous to say the leleast and should be "exposed" Also the prestigious New England Journal of Medicines articles exposing the failure of the medical system and its "buddies" also be exposed! The media is controlled by the $$$ it gets from advertising that the drug companies use to sell their products especially CBS's 60 minute program.
Slowly but surely our socalled democracy is eroding like the climate change that's happening worldwide; denied by those who have the heads buried deeply in the sands of deceit!
Aware citizens must use every means at their disposal; our media system is controlled from top to bottom what remains so far is the internet; however politicians also work not for us but for the special interests, there are exceptions of course, some pols are honest if you can find them? The American citizen refused to give the nomination to the representative from Texas, he was "just too honest" he told the truth which most egos hate to hear! why? who knows people are a mystery to themselves as well as to others! They love to vote for the best liar since tthey lie to themselves constantly' its called "being in denial" a very common traiit for egos in general!
Havent found one ego who did not lie,, perhaps honest ones do exist somewhere certainly not on our planet thats for sure!
We need honest representation for our country to function and exist; we dont have that now; that is so evident that a bonafide idiot would know that!
That is why our congress is loaded with bonafide idiots who dont care as long as their pockets are filled with the green stuff! A very sorry state, but then the Romans, Greeks, and all of the great powers of the past, went throuigh the "same process" they allowed their egos to get away "with murder" its no pun its the truth! They also depreciated their currency etc. we are on the same track of course, its just a question of time before we do two things at the same time, "implode and explode, a truly remarkable "feat" and we are all on the "front road" waiting to see it happen!
Power in the wrong hands in time of course, destroys civilizations, ours as said, is in the process of experiencing…
FDA should be renamed the Federal Death Administration or perhaps the Food and Drug Abomination. Any organization or person that prohibits the acquisition of naturally occurring substances which aid in healing and/or provide nutritional value should be rendered null and void… frankly speaking they are in my book. No jurisdiction. What a travesty of humanity we've let these organizations become. I'm sure there are some good people there but ill guided no doubt.
gary berlind says:
Dr. Paul Blake, N.D. says:
Well done, thank you so much.
Doc Blake
dave connors says:
But watch out for underhanded tricks, etc.! Get everything the FDA verbnally says it will do that is propitious in writing with signatures sworn under penalty of perjury! I am not joking! dc
Marvin Lewis says:
FDA has a history of showing anti consumer bias. This prediliction to making small business suffer under unneccessary and abusive burdens echoes the FDA past practices.
Cynthia Miller says:
The FDA should not be messing with natural substances at all. Most prescription medicines are very bad; there are many people in this country who react very badly even to small doses of just about all prescription medicines; I am one of those people. However, I can take natural supplements without severe reactions. There is already too much government control in this country for medicines and many other issues. Yet, products that you know will harm you are allowed to be given to people who don't know better. I don't go to the doctor often because I know that I will be worse off; I know that the drug companies, the law makers, and the FDA are all dipping out of the same under the table money pots; it is time for this to stop and be truly concerned with the welfare of the people in this country instead of payloa.
Awesome 🙂 Also, I have access to pyridoxamine…
Dr. Judith Sutherland says:
I appreciate the work you are doing to protect our rights as citizens to manage our own health. I have been taking nutraceuticals for 30 years and have reversed health problems by judiciously evaluating and treating them through nutition, exercise and vitamins/herbals.
Thank you for raising the consciousness of all us about the threats to our health choice freedoms.
Thank you for the update. I was aware of the B6 debacle. Hope the people prevail this time not the profit ONLY Pharma and their puppet FDA and the Politicians who support these no commonsense policies.
Christine Hagsdorn says:
Thank you for your ongoing work to monitor the FDA, protect the rights of consumers and the products we want and need. These issues can become so convoluted it boggles the mind but your explanations are clear and to the point so a "lay" person, like myself, can understand the issues. Keep up the good work!
L. Woods says:
It is amazing to me that the FDA has so much power to do evil in the guise of protecting. Often all that is being protected is the pockets of big pharma and the healthcare industry. To the FDA, please don't take us for fools. We have THE RIGHT to care for ourselves the way we see best. Get out of our pocketbooks! Get out of our healthcare choices!
Thank you ANH for your tireless efforts to make sure we continue to be allowed to make informed healthy choices about our supplements, please keep up the good fight!
Scott Segal says:
The FDA is best left out of the supplement business. They now allow many FDA approved drugs that are known to be toxic. I would rather be in control of what I put in my body.
Maria McCan says:
Thank you so much ANH USA for always fighting for us when it comes to natural supplements and our right to take as we choose. As an avid supplement supporter, I appreciate all the work that organizations such as yours do to protect our rights. The FDA is such a joke. We all know that some members on the board of FDA, are the very people that invest in the pharmaceutical companies. Talk about being objective. Ha! They have no clue as to what supplements can do for good overall health. Its because of the supplements that I take daily, that I feel as good as I do. My husband is a chiropractic physician and practices extensive nutrition for overall wellness, so we truly realize the importance of what you do, since it affects our scope of practice. Its well documented that supplements over time do prevent diseases. Its because of the FDA constantly approving genetically modified products and foods and other known harmful ingredients that cause disease and illness.
Thank You, Maria
C.J. Gacioch RN. RHIA says:
Thanks for your persistence and tolerance. Please keep up the good work, we need you to do combat with the FDA. In my opinion they don't have our best interests unless it pads their pockets. They need a complete overhaul as far as i am concerned. Just because the drug companies don't make huge profits on supplements is no reason to micro manage them. The drugs that do make the market are frought with bad reports, incomplete analyses etc. Go for it and may God bless your endeavors.
I would not trust them as far as I could throw them and that's NOT far!!
b d fowler says:
I believe FDA's only role should be to determine if a food or drug is safe to be consumed. If a process to manufacture the food/drug then makes it UNSAFE, then go from there. "Truth in advertiising", so to speak, should be addressed by a completely separate branch of government. I question whether FDA is another sell-out group which panders to the highest bidder. I increasingly suspect the FDA is another government branch which is a tool for big money groups, and isn't concerned enough for the rights and freedom of the consumer to judge how to meet needs and desires.
michelle wood says:
Thank you ANH for persistently and courageously fighting this cause.
Kathryn Azhar says:
Watch Out! When a govt agency charts a couse of action, an inconvenience like a grass roots campaign will not divert them from their "destroy America" mission. I DO think that this is their goal because its the only explanation that explains their behavior. The rewrite will not be significantly better. Stopping their excesses will now require permanent vigilence on everybody's part.
Cheryl MallonBond- says:
Thank you so much for all your efforts on behalf of all of us consumers of Natural supplements. The loopholes the FDA tries to let pass is nothing less than criminal. With mounting pressure from Big Pharma it is clear the FDA is "in bed" with them, looking to protect THEM, & not the consumers/public that they are SUPPOSED to be advocating/protecting. The lies & the whitewash continue!
kenneth robedeau says:
Thank you for being our watch dog, and if you need help with letters , emails or calls we will be more than happy to supply them,keep up the good FIGHT!!!
Douglas Michie Johnson says:
I haven't had a common cold that lasted over two days since Linus Pauling published on Vitamin C in 1965. I take substantially more than the RDA, and tremor every time the FDA gets on a regulatory rampage. We should get rid of them and their revolving door with big pharma.
Tim Moore L.Ac. says:
The FDA is the spokes person (lapdog) for "Big Pharma" ie. big drug companies intent on removing natural therapeutics from the American public. All the actions are a thinly veiled attempt to carry out their coup d'etat against the natural supplement industry. A cursory exam of their ( FDA's) actions will demonstrate that fact.Herbs and the therapuetic use of dietary supplements are effective options for many conditions ; treated both at home and as office visits to conventional Western MD'S. MD's recieve no training in their use and stand both naked and ineffectual in the attempt to both discredit then control the use of dietary supplements. Western medicine (not scientific investigation) and Big Pharma should be denied the opportunity to control the use of Traditional Medicines,herbals,vitamins ,etc.
As a general consumer of quality supplements from reputable sources, I applaud and strongly support all your efforts to keep these products from the NDI classification by the FDA. Speaking from my own personal experience, my health and overall condition have improved so significantly over the past 15 years that people now seek out my advice on how I stay so young. On a daily basis, I consume approximately 30 different supplements, all backed by significant research to show the value of each purported benefit. I track my energy level, my lean body mass, my mental acuity, my dexterity, and more. I am now in my mid-sixties with no need for any drugs that deliver so many negative long lasting side effects. I once had arthritec pains in many of my joints but no longer. Naturally, it takes more than supplementation for the complete transformation. You have heard it all before but it also requires a good diet of hormone free natural foods, strength training (not stressing
As a general consumer of quality supplements from reputable sources, I applaud and strongly support all your efforts to keep these products from the NDI classification by the FDA. Speaking from my own personal experience, my health and overall condition have improved so significantly over the past 15 years that people now seek out my advice on how I stay so young. On a daily basis, I consume approximately 30 different supplements, all backed by significant research to show the value of each purported benefit. I track my energy level, my lean body mass, my mental acuity, my dexterity, and more. I am now in my mid-sixties with no need for any drugs that deliver so many negative long lasting side effects. I once had arthritic pains in many of my joints but no longer. Naturally, it takes more than supplementation for the complete transformation. You have heard it all before but it also requires a good diet of hormone free natural foods, strength training, and hormone balancing. Doing it all is so easy now. It is so comforting knowing that I will not be a burden on the health care system or my family in life. Please keep up the good work.
Karen McBride says:
I see the FDAs move as just another step toward implementing the codex alimentarius. We must be vigilant in stopping them from negating our access to quality foods and supplements. Thank you ANH-USA for all your good work.
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Day2 Akihabra, Meiji Temple, Other assorted things.
Gallery » Japan! 2004 » Day2 Akihabra, Meiji Temple, Other assorted things.
waiting forever for people to walk out of a shot I wanted to take, I spied this group. Love the hats!


text:
World says goodbye to Muhammad Ali
This story was first published June 10, 2016
Andrew Wolfson, and Chris Kenning
With millions watching from around the world – and 15,000 at the KFC Yum! Center – a president, a comedian, clergy from four faiths and family and friends on Friday gave a final farewell to Louisville's Muhammad Ali, the three-time heavyweight champion who was hailed as a fighter for freedom and messenger of love and peace.
President Bill Clinton saluted him as a "universal soldier for humanity."
Billy Crystal said he was like a "Shakespeare or Mozart or Picasso, who comes along only once in a thousand years."
And President Barack Obama, in a message delivered by a senior aide, said he "showed how a descendant of slaves could become 'king of the world' and help inspire a skinny kid with a funny last name to have the audacity to think he could be anything – even the president of the United States."
The three-hour ceremony was part prayer meeting, part political rally and part comedy club.
Friend John Ramsey described how he watched with Ali at ringside during the 2000 Olympics as an American won a fight – and how Ali insisted on going to the locker room afterward to cheer up the loser.
"We got in the car afterward and I told Ali, 'You're the Greatest,' " Ramsey recalled. "And he turned to me and said, 'Tell me something I don't know.' "
Crystal recalled how Ali "was funny, he was beautiful, he was the most perfect athlete in the world – and those were his own words."
But the actor and comedian said Ali also gave young people someone to look up to when he stood up against the Vietnam War after other leaders – Malcolm X, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Bobby Kennedy were killed.
And Crystal recalled that when Ali invited him to go running one morning on a golf course, and Crystal said he couldn't go because the club didn't admit Jewish members. Ali told him he'd never run there again.
Memorable quotes from Ali funeral service
The ceremony began with prayers from the Quran, the sacred text of Ali's Muslim faith, and it was moderated by an imam from Memphis.
But the ecumenical service featured messages from a Catholic priest, two rabbis and the leaders of two Indian tribes.
The start of the service was delayed by an hour and it went on for more than an hour longer than scheduled. Crystal, who wears a beard and mustache, joked that it went on so long he was clean-shaven when it started.
Amid chants of "Ali! Ali! Ali," the first speaker, the Rev. Kevin Cosby, senior pastor of St. Stephen Baptist Church in Louisville, described Ali as a "silver-tongued poet" who led African Americans to a new identity.
"Before James Brown said I'm black and I'm proud," Cosby said, "Muhammad Ali said I'm black and I'm pretty.
"He dared to love black people at a time black people had difficulty loving themselves. He dared to love America's most unloved race. And he loved us all and we loved him because we knew he loved us, whether … you lived in the penthouse or the projects … or came from Morehouse or no house."
Obama was attending his daughter Malia's high school graduation, but senior aide Valerie Jarrett read a message that recalled how Ali, in 1980, at the end of his career, was the underdog against Larry Holmes, and in the end, the odds-makers were right.
Obama said that a sportswriter afterward asked a restroom attendant if he bet on the fight. The man, elderly and black, said he bet on Ali. Asked why, the man said: 'Because he's Muhammad Ali, and I owe the man for giving me my dignity."
Obama said: "The man we celebrate today is not just a boxer or poet or agitator or man of peace. He was not just a Muslim or a black man or a resident of Louisville. He was Muhammad Ali. He was bigger and brighter and more influential than just about anyone of his era. And yes, he was pretty too.
"You couldn't have made him up."
Celebrities in attendance reportedly included Arnold Schwarzenegger, rapper Common, former NFL Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, actor and director Spike Lee, football star Jim Brown, soccer star David Beckham and actress-comedian Whoopi Goldberg.
Clinton, whose voice was raspy and who didn't use up his allotted 20 minutes, recalled how when he was president he "cried like a baby" when he watched a trembling Ali light the Olympic flame at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
But Clinton said Ali was never "imprisoned" by his disease.
"He never wasted a day feeling sorry for himself," Clinton said. "With his free spirit, he made his life bigger, not smaller. He was a free man of faith, and he shared the gifts we all have."
Louisville returns love Ali showed city, world
Crystal, who like broadcaster Bryant Gumbel and Clinton were asked by Ali to speak at his funeral, recalled how he was virtually unknown when he was invited to speak at a dinner in Ali's honor.
"He looked at me with an expression that said, " 'What is Joel Grey doing here?' "
Crystal recalled how he launched into an imitation of cocksure announcer Howard Cosell, then of Ali himself – both of which he repeated at the service.
"I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark," Crystal said.
He said Ali called him "little brother" and that they became great friends. He told how Ali – the "most famous Muslim in the world – once came to a synagogue to help him raise money for a performing arts program in Israel in which Israelis and Palestinians and Muslim artists work together on the stage.
"It doesn't happen without him," Crystal said.
Finally, Crystal recalled how they were sitting together at Cosell's funeral in 1995 when Ali whispered to him, " 'Do you think he is wearing his hairpiece?' "
"I said 'no' and Ali asked me, 'Well how is God going to recognize him?' "
"Don't worry," Crystal said he told Ali, "Once he opens his mouth, he'll know."
Crystal called Ali "a silent messenger of peace who taught us that life becomes better when you build bridges, not walls."
"He is gone but will never die," Crystal said. "He was my big brother."
Reporter Andrew Wolfson can be reached at (502) 582-7189 or awolfson@courier-journal.com

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


8 mm) in separating common building blocks (uracil, 5-bromo-3-cyanopyridine, HATU, 2-hydroxycinnamic acid and phenyl acetic acid) used in the synthesis of APIs and in separating a mixture of water-soluble vitamins (nicotinamide, thiamine and nicotinic acid).
Another set of common building blocks--phenyl acetic acid, trans-2-hydroxycinnamic acid, uracil, HATU and 5-bromo-3-cyanopyridine-were separated using gradient conditions 1% to 20% B over 15 min (A: MeOH:H20:H2SO4 (95:5: 0.
05-M H2SO4 in the mobile phase helped decrease the retention time of HATU and 5-bromo-3-cyanopyridine by 4 min.


At 37, she is a refugee struggling to survive in a foreign country she hates.
She told Vogue Arabia, "It's an everyday assault. Every day, a part of your identity is threatened, demonized, and vilified."
Oh that poor woman. We should rescue her.
She also said, "[The nation's leader] is tapping into an ugly part of our society and freeing its ugliness."
We should liberate her from that country she is forced to live in.
She also said, "It's been a challenge to try to figure out how to continue the inclusion; how to show up every day and make sure that people who identify with all the marginalized identities I carry, feel represented."
My heart is broken by her words.
We must end her nightmare.
Send the Navy SEALs in to take Democrat Congresswoman Ilhan Omar back to her native Somalia as quick as possible.


Fitch Ratings has affirmed The Netherlands' Long-Term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) at 'AAA'. The Rating Outlooks on both Long-term ratings is Stable. Fitch has simultaneously affirmed The Netherlands' country ceiling at 'AAA' and its Short-term foreign currency IDR at 'F1+'.
The Netherlands' sovereign ratings are underpinned by its flexible, diversified, high-valued and competitive economy as well as current account surpluses and positive net international investment position. The credit profile also benefits from strong domestic institutions, a track record of sound budgetary management and historically broad public and political consensus in support of fiscal discipline.
Despite the fall of the government in April and pending general elections, the minority coalition and three-opposition parties were able to secure agreement on a deficit-reduction plan in line with the Netherlands' commitments under the Stability and Growth Pact. This has eased concerns that there would be a prolonged period without a credible plan to ensure that the budget deficit is brought below 3% of GDP consistent with stabilising the government debt to GDP ratio.
The Stable Rating Outlook reflects Fitch's assessment that the Netherlands 'AAA' status remains resilient to the eurozone crisis despite the recent increase in policy risks, a weaker fiscal adjustment and the additional government debt incurred by the Dutch government's contribution to eurozone rescue funds and 'bail-out' programmes in 2011.
Nonetheless, a dramatic worsening of the eurozone crisis could have a severe adverse impact on the Netherlands' small and open economy and potentially bring downward pressure on the rating.
Furthermore, there is significant uncertainty around the medium-term fiscal outlook. Policy risk has increased following the collapse of the ruling coalition in April 2012. In the context of the eurozone crisis, the increase in policy risk this year is a negative development.
The Dutch economy is already slowing markedly. It has contracted for three consecutive quarters and Fitch expects it to contract by 0.7% for the whole of 2012, on the back of a weakening of both domestic and external demand. The return to recession will have an adverse effect on government spending and receipts.
While this year's deficit will be in excess of the 3% Maastricht reference value, it is not inconsistent with the Netherlands' current 'AAA' rating. In Fitch's view, the deterioration in public finances remains more than offset by the solid economic fundamentals. Moreover, Fitch expects that the additional consolidation measures agreed under the five-party agreement (the "budget agreement") following the fall of the government will help reducing the deficit below 3% by 2013.
Fitch's projections assume full implementation of the measures agreed under the budget agreement in April 2012. Fitch's baseline is that the election outcome will not disrupt the medium-term objective of fiscal policy, which is to realise a balanced central government budget and stabilise the public debt ratio. Should post-election fiscal policy significantly deviate from this baseline, this could have negative rating implications.
The Netherlands' fiscal credibility is an important rating factor. The government collapse back in April 2012 did increase uncertainty around the fiscal outlook. Fitch has taken the view that the budget agreement has signalled that a broad political consensus around fiscal policy still exists. Nevertheless, a key challenge facing a new government following elections in September will be to set out a credible multi-year fiscal consolidation programme that incorporates the impact of aging and what is likely to be period of prolonged low economic growth.
The banking sector is overall sound and has limited exposures to troubled eurozone economies limiting the macro-financial risks arising from the crisis. Nevertheless, weak domestic economic activity is constraining banks' profitability. The banks' heavy reliance on confidence-sensitive wholesale funding implies that risks remain, particularly at a time of heightened financial volatility.
Over the medium-term, the Dutch economy faces a number of challenges as the housing market adjustment constrains private consumption and an ageing population puts pressure on the public finances. Past pension reforms, such as disincentives to early retirement and changing the basis of pension payments from final to average salaries, have already had an impact. However, further measures (a rise in retirement age) are also part of the budget agreement and appear necessary to ease the pressure on pension funds' coverage ratios.


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Day Trips Tokyo
The 3,776 m high Mount Fuji is the highest mountain in the country and the symbol of Japan. On clear days you can even see the volcanic cone from Tokyo. The volcano Fuji-san broke out for the last time in 1776. If you want to climb the Fuji, you can get there by bus until the tree line, you should plan at least one overnight stay. For the ascent you will need about 4-6 hours, depending on your fitness. The descent is much faster. The ascent of the Fuji summit is easiest between July and August, then the mountain huts are open and the transport to Mount Fuji is easily possible through a wide range transport options. In the other months, only experienced climbers should venture the ascent, as one has to fight with ice and snow.
How to get to Mount Fuji?
From Tokyo (west side Shinjuku Station) buses from Fujikyu and Keio go directly to Mount Fuji. From Shinjuku station trains run to cities close to Mount Fuji. The Chuo Line goes to Otsuki, where you change to the Fujikyu Line, which goes to Kawaguchiko.
Fujikyu: http://bus-en.fujikyu.co.jp/
Keio: https://highway-buses.jp/
About 35 kilometers north of Tokyo lies the suburb Kawagoe. The 350,000-inhabitant town is also called "Little Edo" because it has preserved entire streets with historic buildings from the 19th century. Edo is the old name of Tokyo and the houses of Kawagoe look like Tokyo was still a city of wooden houses. Old Edo disappeared in 1923 when the great earthquake destroyed the city. Kawagoe is famous for its Kura houses, dark wood storage and commercial buildings with thick mud walls. Kawagoe then served as the military and supply post of Edo. Today Kawagoe is a popular weekend destination of Tokyo. The landmark of Kawagoe is the bell tower Toki no Kane on Kanetsuki Dori. Another attraction is the Kawagoe Castle, built in 1457, and close to the City Museum. Hon-Kawagoe Station can be reached by train in about 30 minutes from Tokyo-Ikebukuro. The historic center of Kawagoe is about 1 kilometer to the north of the train station.
About 30 km south of Tokyo is the coastal town of Kamakura. Kamakura is famous for the Great Buddha. The 13.5 m high bronze statue of the Daibutsu was erected in 1252 in the Kotoku-in temple. Between 1192 and 1333 Kamakura was the political and military center of Japan, but the capital remained Kyoto with the residence of the emperor. In addition to the Great Buddha, there are many beautiful temples in the wooded mountains around Kamakura. Kamakura's most famous temples include the Engakuji with a tooth of Buddha, the divorce temple Tokeiji, where women could live as nuns when they separated from their husbands, the hydrangea temple Meigetsu (Ajisai Temple), the Kenchoji built in the style the chinese Song Dynasty, the city's main sanctuary Hachimangu Shrine, the largest Kannon statue in wood can be found at the Hase-Kannon Temple, Zuisenji has a beautiful Zen Garden and the Hokokuji a bamboo forest. Kamakura has around 180,000 inhabitants and can be explored on foot.
How to get from Tokyo to Kamakura?
The Yokosuka Line goes from Tokyo Central Station to Kamakura in about an hour.
Kotoku-in, Kamakura
A Japanese proverb reads, "Never say magnificently before you've seen Nikko." The temple complex in Nikko was built in 1634 by Iemitsu Tokugawa as a tomb for his grandfather Ieyasu Tokugawa. Ieyasu was the founder of the Tokugawa dynasty uniting Japan. He wanted to be buried in Nikko (Sunlight) as Tosho-Daigongen (Great Rebirth of Buddha Lighting the East). His grandson Iemitsu fulfilled his wish. Iemitsu went down in history as a the rouler who started Japan's isolation policy and for 200 years the contact with foreign countries was interrupted. 15,000 craftsmen from all over Japan came to Nikko to build these temples. The wood carvings painted in color or decorated with gold leaf are striking. The best known motif are the three wise monkeys who hold their mouths, ears and eyes. They do not want to say, hear or see anything bad. (Tosho-gu shrine)
Nikko's attractions include the red Shinkyo Bridge over the Daiya River, Tosho-gu Shrine with Ieyasu Tokugawa's Ashes in a Treasure Tower, and Taiyuin-byo Shrine, the Mausoleum of Iemitsu Tokugawa.
How to get from Tokyo to Nikko?
You can take the Shinkansen to Utsunomiya and change here to the Nikko-Line. At the Asakusa station in Tokyo there is a fast train called SPACIA operated by the Tobu-Line to Nikko, which takes about 2 hours.
http://www.tobu.co.jp/foreign/en/
Map daytrips from Tokyo
Gardens »
Fukuoka »
Himeji »
Hiroshima »
Kyoto »
Nagasaki »
Naoshima »
Osaka »
Travel Guide Tokyo
Excursions around Tokyo
Popular day trips around Tokyo including Mount Fuji, Kamakura, Nikko and Kawagoe.


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I never had a pedal before, so I think that I must not talk about it, but it seems to me as a great pedal, very versatile.
It Does this cool wee wah sound that makes me want to go whooooo!
The housing is surprisingly sturdy in comparison with other Behringer pedals: this wah is definitely well built and reliable. But the sound just falls short of what you expect: there is practically no sweep at all, so you can't get low "oow"s and high "aah"s on the same setting. Still, this pedal is very reasonable for its price.
Its a working, universal wah.
I don't really know how to use a wah, like, at all, so its a great wah for a player who can't use wah very well.
Not a great wah sound (which doesn't make it necessarily bad), but a really great value. It is a nicely built pedal and I ended up using it very little as a wah pedal and a whole lot as an expression pedal.
Bad Pedal. Avoid if you can.
I was thinking this pedal is a mess... Until I spend some time seting up the Q knob and boost level.
Note this is the only wah I've used extensively. It can be set in whatever way I want. I like how simple it is. Having a switchless wah is the only way to go in my book. The leds make it easier to use as well. I'd buy it again.
Is a pedal that simulates the sound of the Dunlop DB-01 Dimebag Cry Baby From Hell, the Dimebag Darell's signature wah pedal. The settings found on the internet for this pedal can also be used for the behringer pedal.
This pedal is just like a Dunlop Cry-Baby, except it has some extra features. The boost is amazing for solos and it has fine tuning and a sweep adjustment knob. It is also priced cheaper than other Wahs.
A wah pedal you should give a try!
You actualy get a lot for your money! Fully customable 535Q-like (or should I say, the DB-01?) pedal, with added optical control (for those, like me, who hate to engage a wah pedal in the toe-down position). The construction quality isn't amazing, though. I guess that comes with the price tag... Mine in particular had a rocking "side-to-side" issue with the pedal itself (the part where you actually put your foot on and move back and forth). I found that sometimes it didn't disengage when I removed the foot. But that was something very easily fixed by fitting a pressure washer on the side.
Summing up, it is a very good pedal! Give it a try, you might be surprised!
Realy like me, for the versatility and the simple it is. Is an amasing pedal.
this was pedal is absolutely amazing!!!!


Having been introduced to all this software in a short space of time I messed about, playing with little clips and images, but desperately needed a proper project. During a trip to London with my family, the idea came in a split second when Roo became bored with his colouring book (most people get bored near Peterborough). The idea isn't arty, or even clever and original, but it seemed to fulfil most requirements. Moreover it would only be short (my original aim was for it to be 225 – not 300 - seconds long) and it wouldn't rely on dialogue, making it popular with competition judges and foreign audiences. Nevertheless, it was about to take up 12 months of my life!
The film combines live action with CGI (computer generated images). The computer bit is (fairly) easy, but shooting the real stuff and then to merge it in post-production was to prove tricky.
The first job was to design a craft. It was important not to use a readily available "Star Wars" X-wing fighter (copyright and legal reasons). I already had the idea for some variable swing-wing geometry to allow the craft to pass under a bridge. Now, nearly two years on, I think the craft could have been better, but nevertheless it still took about two months to model, add textures, colours, materials and 'maps' (paintings or drawings effectively 'stuck' on the model to create panels, stains, rust etc).
Ideas were developed, and little scenarios started to form in my mind. These were quickly jotted down into short, sometimes half a page shot lists. These were word pictures, instead of a conventional storyboard. If I had been working with a large crew I think pictures would have been essential; but these were simply, for me, an "aide-memoir".
Words also allow for some flexibility on location. With a storyboard we all tend to spend so much time concentrating on making it look like the little drawing that we tend to miss the obvious, and sometimes beautiful, solutions staring into our viewfinder!
It was, however, important to remember practical limitations. 'Proper' filming on a train is only allowed under certain circumstances. Trackside access is not allowed at all! I found a couple of spots north of York where I could get a camera fairly close to the track without trespassing.
A fundamental element of the film was speed. I wanted some shots of a train hurtling along at 150mph, with the camera "crabbing" (tracking sideways) alongside. I studied maps, and drove all over Yorkshire looking for a suitable stretch of road adjacent to a railway track. Finally, after no success, I realised the solution lay in the computer.
Despite appearances, very little was shot on a train. (Clever viewers will also spot the train interior is not even a 225 train). We used a small, discrete handycam for the 6 shots on a train, boarding at York, getting off at the next station and then returning. Sunday lunchtime was quietist.
Most of the train interiors were shot in my bedroom, where we had control over lights, sound and camera movements.
Not surprisingly, there were interminable retakes shooting a child looking at non-existent spacecraft, through a non-existent window from a non-existent train. Tempers were often frayed. There was much shouting and tears -me mainly. Roo (7 at the time) did well and persevered.
The trackside shots exploited the idea that trains are basically the same at the front and back. Therefore it's possible to use one shot four times (normal, played backwards, mirror flipped, and mirror flipped / played backwards). These shots could be varied by adding trees, signals, bridges and tunnels later.
It was often difficult to frame a shot for an object that didn't yet exist. Composition in the original camera shot would often have to be 'clumsy' so that once the object (usually a flying spacecraft) was added, the results would appear natural – as if the cameraman was shooting an object that was actually there. It sounds obvious, but is quite tricky to achieve, as I'm sure we all instinctively want to frame a shot 'correctly'.
'Backgrounds' were shot from a car window as my wife drove us along a dual carriageway. Stretches of flat, uninterrupted road were chosen to match the other 'real' film locations. Once again, these could be flipped or reversed to fulfil a variety of applications.
My background is 16mm film, and I always yearn for the film 'look'. I shoot with a variable shutter usually set to 50th second (film exposure speed at 25fps). The problem usually involves the conflict between wanting 'blurry' but realistic shots, which look arty but which consequently are very difficult to align with the CGIs.
I also shot dozens of pics of locomotives, carriages, train details etc. These were to be the basis of much of the modelling maps for the CGI trains. These were shot with a high definition digital still camera, and imported into Photoshop for manipulation. (Maps are photographs or patterns which are applied to a digital model – a bit like wallpapering –and help to create an authentic look).
Whenever shooting, it was always important to make notes of the perspective, height of the camera and the position of the vanishing point. A laser tape was used to measure distances to the track. All this information is essential when aligning the CGI model with real life. I found that accuracy within 0.1degree was necessary(!) otherwise it started to look wrong.
It was also important to check for continuity of direction (both inside and outside the train). Remember, we could always spin and flip the train during the edit. We do 'cross-the-line' occasionally, but there are always editing tricks to make it less noticeable. More critical was continuity of weather, sunshine, sky, etc.
Roo wore a trendy khaki shirt over a white tee shirt (and we bought several identical sets in case any were damaged). Khaki proved very similar to the green screen, so colour separation was very tricky. In retrospect I should have shot with a blue screen (but I didn't have one) or used a different shirt (but we'd already begun shooting before the problem became apparent).


rocking paper & scissors: totally over it!
i am officially over being single! sick of missing out on the fun stuff my friends do with their couple-y friends while i'm sitting home. sick of not holding hands! and def sick of having a love-y dude in my life! to rememdy this situation i am making myself go out tonight even though it's rainy and i look like this ---> today and i am joining match.com. yeah, that's right. i said it! i was looking through and there are actually some cute guys on there, my kind of cute even.
so, tonight when i get home from work i'm scrapping for a couple of hours, refreshing my makeup and heading out with business cards to write 7th grade style love notes on the back of in hand. not that anyone really wants to smooch me in glasses and yucky hair, haha. i just need to actually be around people!
Never doubt your 'hot' factor, woman!!! Some guys dig it and trust me, that's what you want. I guy that thinks your hot even when you don't think you are. Good luck and keep us posted. Funny thing, Mr Wonderful is probably closer than you think.
ps. My girlfriend joined match.com meet a cutie-patootie fireman and recently got engaged. Dream big mama!
oh hush. you know you look cute! Especially rocking those fab glasses!!
I love this idea. And I want to hear all about last night. Some hot dude is just around the corner rounder. Trust it.
"Just around the corner rounder" Nat slays me. Sorry tangent. Love you, go out, have fun, then call me and tell me all about it so that I can live vicariously through you.
You look so cute in your glasses with your hair pulled back!!!! Hope you had fun and so want to hear about the love notes!!!
GO girl! You rock with your glasses... and i'm sure they'll be some super funky dude there to pass love notes too.
i want those glasses! so don't talk.
You are so DAMN CUTE...stop it!!!
...by the way...when are you moving to Utah?
you look totally hot in those glasses!! Work it girl!
well i think you are a sweetheart and ur gorgeous so i have no idea whts up with the guys in america!


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Aboutjornk2020-01-16T06:51:31+00:00
What was once a balanced co-existence between wildlife and pastoralists has shifted in recent years. Today, population growth, changing social values and structures and climate change impacts are causing increased pressures, resource scarcity and conflict. We're trying to restore an ecologically and economically thriving landscape that supports both people and wildlife, and is resilient to future stress from climate change and human population growth.
Landscapes and Livelihoods at Risk
Comprising roughly 3 million hectares, the northern rangelands cover the heart of Tanzania's Great Rift Valley, spanning across some of Africa's most recognized landscapes – Tarangire and Lake Manyara National Parks, Lake Natron and the Simanjiro Plains. The savannah rangelands support the livelihoods of resident pastoralists as well as small groups of unique hunter-gatherer communities such as the Hadzabe and Akie. These grasslands are central to the regional economy, and are ecologically significant to migratory wildlife.
Today, increased pressures such as human population growth, competing land use interests and resource limitations are threatening this landscape and the people and wildlife that depend on it. Insecure land and resource rights and weak local governance institutions are fueling the problem. Farmland is rapidly replacing and fragmenting rangeland, resulting in pastoralists and hunter gatherers as well as wildlife losing access to the land and resources they depend on. Livelihoods, cultures and biodiversity are being degraded and lost, with serious implications for the tourism industry as well as the livestock sector, both of which depend on the continued coexistence of people, wildlife, and cattle in these rangelands.
The Northern Tanzania Rangelands Initiative (NTRI) is a collaborative effort comprised of multiple, diverse organizations, which seeks to reverse current trends and permanently protect this landscape, for the benefit of people and nature.
The challenges we face
A brighter future through collaboration
In northern Tanzania, we have a tremendous opportunity to protect, transform and inspire real change. Conservation and development organizations have been working in this landscape for many years. However, there is little coordination between sectors; no true sense for other actor's skills and strengths; no shared vision that addresses the whole; and scarce, dated or unreliable landscape level data about human well-being, livestock and wildlife. We believe that if we can improve collaboration between actors in northern Tanzania, we have a massive opportunity to permanently protect this system for people and nature. In order to encourage collaboration and enhance coordination among the area's many actors, and to have greater and necessary impact, organizations have joined forces to form the Northern Tanzania Rangelands Initiative (NTRI).
NTRI provides a platform enabling the sum of the parts to be greater than the individual efforts. We believe that by implementing an integrated development and conservation approach that empowers local people, improves resource tenure, improves the benefit flow from sustainably managed resources and ensures that the matrix of government and community lands are better managed, we will be able to protect the critical livestock and wildlife dispersal, movement and grazing areas for generations to come.
Solutions for a brighter future
NTRI through its partners provides a comprehensive set of solutions to problems of resource tenure, and the continuing obstruction of critical livestock and wildlife movement areas. NTRI can only address this by also addressing effects of climate change on local communities, the need for increased protection of elephants and predators, and the limited economic incentives from pastoralism and tourism. NTRI's combined set of strategies includes a focus on increasing incentives for particular land and conservation practices, livelihood diversification to mitigate risks associated with climate change and an increasing dependency on agriculture, while improving food security.
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News, UK Work Permit
These 30+ Jobs Will Help South Africans Move to the UK
Posted on Sep 17, 2019 Sep 17, 2019 by Lisa Aspeling
Brexit has brought some seismic shifts to the United Kingdom's (UK) immigration policies. One of the changes the UK government will be implementing shortly is an expansion of the Shortage Occupation List (SOL), which means that South Africans whose career paths match the SOL jobs, may find it easier to qualify to live and work in the UK.
According to these new changes on the horizon, it's not only foreign workers who will benefit from changes to legislation.
Businessman walking in a busy London street
Immigration Minister, Seema Kennedy, said that giving British-based businesses access to the brightest and best global talent is a key priority for the UK government.
"That is why we have made it easier for employers to hire the skilled workers, such as vets and web designers, that this country needs to flourish," she said.
Ryan Rennison, managing director of UK immigration company, Move Up, said, "UK employers are also set to benefit hugely from the expanded SOL list because if the job they need to fill is listed on the SOL they are exempt from completing a Resident Labour Market Test (RLMT)".
An RLMT is a test that proves to the UK government that the UK employer has tried to recruit UK citizens for a specific role. However, the test is not required when hiring for a job listed on the SOL.
Rennison added, "Access to a worldwide talent base will only help UK businesses gain a significant competitive edge over both local and global competitors. From my perspective, it's a brilliant move".
Shot of London's famous skyscrapers including 'the Gherkin', Aviva and Tower 42 in the heart of its financial district.
According to Rennison, if a job title is on the SOL at any point during the five years leading to a settlement in the UK, the applicant will not have to fulfil the minimum income threshold currently set at £35,000 per annum.
Another advantage for South Africans hoping to move to the UK based on meeting the SOL criteria is that their visa application fees will be lower than the fees for some of the other Tier 2 visa applications. This includes the fees for visas for all dependants linked to the main visa applicant.
New job titles
According to the UK government, the following Tier 2 job titles are soon expected to be added to the Shortage Occupation List:
Biological scientists and biochemists;
Civil engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, design and development engineers, production and process engineers, engineering professionals;
IT business analysts, architects and system designers;
Programmers and software development professionals, web design and development professionals;
Medical practitioners, psychologists, veterinarians, medical radiographers, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists;
Nurses;
Secondary education teachers in the subjects of maths, physics, science, computer science and Mandarin;
Architects;
Social workers;
Paramedics;
Some dancers, choreographers and musicians;
Graphic designers;
Some jobs in the welding trades.
Young business woman in Canary Wharf area in London
Rennison cautioned South Africans that these Tier 2 job titles are not on the Shortage Occupation List just yet, but that the UK government will be confirming the list of occupations sometime in November 2019.
Get in touch with our consultants to discuss your UK visa options. Simply visit our Contact page to choose your preferred method of communication.
This entry was posted in News, UK Work Permit and tagged brexit, finding work, jobs, work permits.
Lisa Aspeling
Lisa is an unapologetic anglophile and Move Up's marketing strategist. When she's not dreaming about getting her own British Passport she researches and writes about all things related to UK visas, British lifestyle, culture and tourism.
TLS Tracking: Disrupted
Harry, Meghan and Archie Arrive in Cape Town


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Martin Damm and Cyril Suk, the two-time defending champions, successfully defended their title, by defeating Lars Burgsmüller and Daniel Vacek 6–3, 6–7(7–9), 6–3 in the final.

Seeds

Draw

Draw

References

External links
 Official results archive (ATP)
 Official results archive (ITF)

Rosmalen Grass Court Championships
2004 ATP Tour

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Alissa Finerman
Los Angeles Executive Coach and Gallup Certified StrengthsFinder Coach, Speaker and Author
Strengths Coaching
Living in Your Top 1%
Top 1% Tips
Living in Your Top 1% Interview Series with Jenni Luke – Resilience is Built From Confidence
April 26, 2012 By Alissa Finerman Leave a Comment
The goal of the "Living in Your Top 1%" interview series is to break down the qualities of people who excel and to show that you can be successful and achieve personal greatness from any starting point in your life. The interview series looks at people from all different careers and industries. Some names will be familiar and others may not. The purpose is to understand and borrow from the "best practices" of winners to develop a roadmap to YOUR TOP 1%. We will share a new story each month.
This month's guest is Jenni Luke, CEO of Step Up Women's Network, a nonprofit, professional membership organization based in Los Angeles. In this role, she leads one of the most sought-after women's groups in the country in its second decade of service. Overseeing Step Up's offices in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, Jenni directs the organization's objective of helping women and girls reach their potential.
Jenni and Step Up have been featured in numerous media outlets, including Inc., Real Simple, W, CBS Moneywatch, Yahoo! and The Huffington Post. She is also a regular workplace contributor to MariaShriver.com. She was selected as one of 2012's 100 Remarkable Women by ClaudiaChan.com. I met Jenni at a breakfast in LA at the Viceroy Hotel and was impressed with her focus, passion, and authenticity. This is a woman and organization that is truly making a difference.
Alissa Finerman: What's the most important strength you possess that allows you to excel in your role?
Jenni Luke: Building consensus through open and honest communication. I may not get a unanimous endorsement of a direction I want to lead us in, but I always try to include all of the voices that want to be heard. I want to understand the full picture before making decisions.
AF: What does success mean to you?
JL: When I align everything in my life around my core values it makes everything I do have meaning, which makes me feel very successful!
AF: What motivates you on a daily basis to keep going?
JL: Back in college my sister sent me one of those 'you must fill this out and send it to 10 friends immediately or you will have bad luck for life' emails. The one question that struck me was 'What is the worst thing that could happen to you?' The answer that came immediately to me was 'Not living up to my potential.' I'm motivated to live up to my own potential and help others recognize theirs.
AF: Step Up is a unique organization in that it has a very clear and passionate vision and implements these powerful ideas into action. You make change happen. What role do goals play for the organization and can you share a few sentences about the goal setting process?
JL: Whenever you are trying to create impact – whether getting underserved teen girls to graduate high school and go on to college or by growing the number of women taking advantage of our member programs – you have to measure your efforts to determine if you're reaching your goals. As an organization that is moving from start-up to growth, we tend to set aggressive goals and are very focused on reporting progress against them. Our goal-setting process includes input from our board of directors on down to every staff member. It is always a balance between what we need to achieve and what we hope to achieve. Given that our mission is so motivating, we set high goals and stretch to do all we can to meet them. If we don't meet a goal, we assess why and apply it back to our work. If we do meet a goal, we assess why and try to duplicate it. We always share practices across our organization to make sure we're supporting all efforts. Goals, progress and impact are a constant conversation.
AF: What are some of the challenges you have overcome in building Step Up Women's Network?
JL: I think what makes Step Up's story so remarkable is that we were a volunteer- run organization from 1998-2006. Our volunteer board members devoted hours and hours of their time to keep the mission moving forward. Since 2006, we've grown tremendously and inevitably, that evolution has meant change. With professional staff and programs for women and girls running in three cities, maintaining a grassroots feel is sometimes a challenge. We strive to maintain the core values of Step Up while continuing to grow to serve more women and girls.
AF: Step Up truly makes a difference in the lives of so many underserved girls (not women). How do you do this?
JL: Step Up is dedicated to igniting women and girls to fulfill their potential. Step Up creates and implements impactful after-school and weekend programs that empower teen girls from under-resourced communities to be confident, college-bound, and career-ready; propels professional women through connections, collaborations, and continuous development; and inspires its network to invest in the future success of girls through mentorship and financial support. It is this combination of the women and girls that differentiates us from other organizations and is having tremendous impact.
AF: What are some of the most meaningful accomplishments for Step Up?
JL: We are incredibly proud that in 2010 and 2011, 100% of Step Up seniors graduated high school and were accepted to college. The vast majority of these girls were the first in their family to go to college and often were the first in their family to graduate high school. The key to achieving this is by first giving the girls a foundation of confidence and then turning that motivation into action around college and career exploration. You can't be what you can't see. Introducing our Step Up teens to our Step Up women is like watching magic happen.
AF: You meet so many women during the year from women who hold senior level positions to teenagers in need, what are some of the themes you see for people who excel?
JL: We did a study of our teen programs with pro bono support from Deloitte. After interviewing educators and our alumnae alike, the number one common trait they highlighted as necessary to success was resilience. This is specific to our group of girls from underserved communities who have a lot to overcome. But I think it applies to everyone. Resilience is built from confidence. You can't be effective at anything without belief in yourself.
To learn more about Jenni Luke and Step Up Women's Network, please visit their website.
About Alissa
The "Living in Your Top 1%" interview series is presented by Alissa Finerman, a Business/Life Coach, motivational speaker, and author of the book, "Living in Your Top 1%: Nine Essential Rituals to Achieve Your Ultimate Life Goals" which is available on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. She has an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley. To learn more please visit, AlissaFinerman.com and Facebook.com/AlissaFinermantop1.com.
Filed Under: Interview Series: Living in YOUR Top 1% Tagged With: change, inspiration for women, make a difference, Maria Shriver, resilience, Step Up Women's Network
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To contact Alissa about executive coaching, presenting a seminar for your team, leadership consulting or inviting her to speak at an upcoming event/conference, please email: Alissa@FinermanLiving.com
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Wall of Separation BLOG
Interfaith College Students Care About Church-State Separation
Aug 07, 2018 by Emily Midyette
"We desperately need a separation of church and state!"
"Religion should not be tied into government…"
"The Muslim Ban jeopardizes religious freedom in American."
I was pleasantly surprised by the calls for church-state separation I heard while attending Interfaith Youth Core's Interfaith Leadership Institute in Chicago this weekend. I had expected fruitful conversations about interfaith cooperation on college campuses but found that my peers brought their passion for social change and Americans United's mission as well.
The Interfaith Leadership Institute (ILI) is a yearly training for college students and staff interested in building religiously diverse communities on their campus. This year's ILI was the largest in history with over 100 institutes of higher education represented by more than 400 attendees. I attended the conference with representatives of the Center for Spiritual and Religious Life at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, where I am a student.
Eboo Patel, founder of Interfaith Youth Core and author of two books, kicked off the conference with powerful words on why America needs interfaith cooperation. This country was not built to be dominated by one religion; it was built to be religiously pluralistic. Patel reminded attendees that citizens of all faiths (as well as those who don't believe in religion at all) contribute to our nation: "If you love this country and contribute to it, then you belong to it and it belongs to you." Therefore, these communities need to work together to push the nation forward.
During the conference, trainings were offered to students and staff. I participated in the storytelling training, which was geared toward first-time attendees. Telling stories about personal experiences is an effective way to build understanding between people of different religious identities and is an important tool for interfaith work. Over the course of the weekend, 25 students worked with trainers to build their own story to share with the group.
On the final day, we had a storytelling session. I found that similar themes popped up in the stories told by my fellow group members. The first was LGBTQ+ discrimination. Some attendees spoke of how they had been taught homophobia but discovered acceptance while others recounted their own experiences of being chastised in the name of religious dogma. During my internship at AU, I've learned through AU's Protect Thy Neighbor project about the myriad ways some people are trying to use religion to justify discrimination. My own story recounted my personal experience with religious discrimination at my Oregon high school.
The second theme was discrimination against religious minorities. Hindu, Muslim and Wiccan attendees told their experiences of being verbally attacked because of their faith. These stories reflected many others I've heard at AU, especially in connection with President Donald Trump's Muslim ban emboldening discrimination against Muslims, other religious minorities and people of color, In fact, two of AU's student essay contest winners wrote about their experiences with discrimination. All of these stories drove home why AU's work is essential.
The wall of separation protects all religious (and non-religious) identities in America. It prevents one religion from becoming government sponsored and gaining a legal right to discriminate against LGBTQ+ individuals and religious minorities. While AU fights for legal protection, interfaith leaders are working to change the culture of intolerance in the United States.
College students care about church-state separation. The growing interfaith movement communicates that young people are reaching across religious and philosophical boundaries to fight discrimination together. As the Trump administration works to promote an officially "Christian America," interfaith college students recognize the value of religious diversity and are willing to fight for it.
Young people interested in joining the movement to protect religious freedom should check out AU's Students for Church/State Separation.
Religious Minorities' Rights
youth advocacy
Students for Church-State Separation


On Monday evening, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, one of fashion's most prolific – and enigmatic – women, Carine Roitfeld, talked candidly to Klaud Biesenbach, director of MoMa's PS1.
On The September Issue, "it had something missing, it was about business and not creativity. I think it was a bit sad.


Home / Work With CollectorVision Games!
We're always looking for new programmers & talented artists!
From Atari 2600 to Modern Consoles!
Got a game you want us to publish?
We're already working with over 15 different programmers!
Most importantly, we're easy to work with!
If you are interested, drop us a mail and we will talk about opportunities offered to you.


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Costa Rica not planning to require negative test for entry
'Recovering together' is primary 2021 goal for Costa Rica Tourism Board
Costa Rica not currently planning vaccine requirement for entry
Costa Rica's 'La Sele' unveils uniforms inspired by biodiversity
American Airlines eliminates international change fees, including on flights to Costa Rica
Costa Rican Paul Chaplet finishes Round 1 of the Masters
The Tico Times April 7, 2016 April 7, 2016
Costa Rica's Paul Chaplet, 16, became the second youngest golfer to ever participate in the Masters Tournament. (Alberto Font/The Tico Times)
Costa Rica's Paul Chaplet had some understandable hiccups Thursday as he became the first Tico to ever take part in the Masters, golf's most important annual tournament.
The 16-year-old high school student from Santa Ana finished in last place in the opening round of competition in Augusta, Georgia with an 11-over-par day. It was a tough showing for the young golfer, with half of his holes ending in bogey or double-bogey.
Even still, Chaplet made history Thursday as the second youngest player ever included in the Masters field, and the first Central American in the storied tournament.
Wishing 2015 #USKidsGolf Teen World Champion Paul Chaplet (and all our alumni!) all the best in this week's #Masters pic.twitter.com/PZG6nt2Ty4
— U.S. Kids Golf (@USKidsGolfFDN) April 7, 2016
Chaplet struggled with his putting throughout the first round. He missed a few short puts on par and birdie tries that continued to push him back in the standings. His toughest holes came on the par-5 hole 8, where he finished with 7 strokes, and the notoriously difficult hole 10 where he double bogeyed as well.
The 16-year-old nearly birdied on hole 14 but left his third-stroke put a few feet short of the hole before converting the par put. On hole 17 he had another great opportunity to find his first birdie but left the put just one foot right of the hole, settling for another par.
The son of French immigrants to Costa Rica, Chaplet never even picked up a club until he was 10 years old, making his rapid ascent to golf's grandest stage all the more remarkable. He will tee off tomorrow at 6:53 a.m. Costa Rica time alongside group mates Tom O'Meara of the U.S. and Sweden's David Lingmerth.
After the first round, last year's winner Jordan Spieth tops the leaderboard with a score of 6-under-par.
Costa Rica's Paul Chaplet to tee off at Junior World Golf Championships
Costa Rica's golf phenom Paul Chaplet prepares for moment on the sport's biggest stage
Costa Rica's Paul Chaplet misses cut for Round 3 of Masters
costa rica golfmaster's tournamentpaul chapletyoungest players in master's
Tire mosquito trap could boost Zika control
Costa Rican man sentenced to 50 years in prison for murder of Argentine singer Facundo Cabral
'Multilateralism is back!' How Costa Rica's leaders celebrated U.S. inauguration
Alejandro Zúñiga - January 20, 2021
Costa Rican leaders on Wednesday congratulated Joe Biden as he was sworn in as the 46th President of the United…
Current flights to Costa Rica: SJO and LIR
These are the airlines and routes currently flying to Costa Rica. The flight information was provided by the operators of…
Joe Biden sworn in as new U.S. President
AFP - January 20, 2021
US President Joe Biden called for "unity" and pledged to be a president for "all Americans" at his inauguration in…
Alejandro Zúñiga - Jan 20, 2021
AFP - Jan 20, 2021
Death toll rises to 58 due to liquor adulterated with methanol
The Tico Times - Jan 20, 2021
Panama to receive reduced first batch of Pfizer vaccines


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/ Home / Press office / Chez Paulette brings splash of stardom to the 2015 Plymouth International Book Festival
Chez Paulette brings splash of stardom to the 2015 Plymouth International Book Festival
Functioning coffee shop is part of a drive to increase the social side of festival, now in its fourth year
Mr Alan Williams
Media & Communications Officer
Communication Services (External Relations)
The replica of a café frequented by Hollywood's finest in the 1950s and 60s will be greeting audiences at the 2015 Plymouth International Book Festival.
The Chez Paulette is a new feature for the fourth annual festival, and will be open for business at Plymouth University at several points during its run from October 15-22.
It will be complemented by a functioning bar in the University's performing arts building, The House, as part of a drive to increase the social side of the event.
Organised through a partnership of Plymouth University, Peninsula Arts, Literature Works and Plymouth City Council, and supported by Arts Council England, the festival aims to unite local and global authors and audiences.
The 2015 festival will feature bestselling authors Judy Finnigan, Simon Scarrow and Matt Haig. They will be joined by writer and musician John Hegley, Thurston Moore, co-founder of experimental rock band Sonic Youth, comedian and actress Helen Lederer, refugee campaigner Bidisha and whisky connoisseur Ian Buxton.
Bertel Martin, Director of the Plymouth International Book Festival, said:
"Writing and reading might be considered by many to be solitary pursuits, but meeting like-minded people and having the chance to chat about something that inspires you only heightens the enjoyment. The Chez Paulette will be an amazing and atmospheric place to do that, and we are hoping it will be a great meeting place for people to mull over their literary passions."
The original Chez Paulette was based on Los Angeles' Sunset Strip and was renowned as a bohemian hangout for actors, directors, writers and flamenco guitarists.
It was run by Max Lewin, whose daughter Dr Anya Lewin is an Associate Professor in Art and Moving Image at the University, and this is the second time the model of it will have wowed city audiences having been built for an artist film and exhibition in 2013.
Max emigrated with his family from Berlin just before the second world war, but his cafe was so popular with the stars that it was chosen to appear in hit detective show 77 Sunset Strip, with Max playing himself as the genial owner.
Its celebrity clientele included screen icons Jack Nicholson, James Dean, Rita Heyworth, Marlene Dietrich, Dennis Hopper, Bobby Darin, and Marlon Brando, who helped keep the place open in 1958 by constantly coming in until it was known as the hip place to be.
Dr Lewin said:
"My father was a great story-teller, and while I grew up hearing about the Chez Paulette, you could never be sure about all the tales he told. My father said he first met Marlon Brando while working in the art department at Paramount Studios, and that he (Brando) persuaded him to keep the café open. But it wasn't until I saw it printed in a newspaper column of the time that I realised it was actually true."
The Plymouth International Book Festival is back once again, bringing words and books to life across Plymouth. Organised through a partnership of Plymouth University, Peninsula Arts, Literature Works (the literature development agency for the South West) and Plymouth City Council, it will unite local and global authors in a celebration of writing and reading for everyone to enjoy.
This 2015 programme includes exciting, new novels from bestselling authors Simon Scarrow and Judy Finnigan, stimulating non-fiction from Bidisha, spoken word from the always entertaining John Hegley, and a Writing For Radio workshop from the multi-talented Paul Dodgson and Edson Burton.
Also this year, we not only have some of the greatest literary talents of our time, but an opportunity to meet before or after events and mull over your literary passions and experiences. You'll be able to relax in our 1950s-style café, Chez Paulette, and for the first time, we have events programmed in The House – Plymouth University's performing arts building.
While the majority of the festival events will take place at Plymouth University, a number of city organisations are also putting on related literary events. These include the Counter – Artists' Book Fair at Karst, a book binding and illustration workshop at Plymouth College of Art, reading events for young people provided by Plymouth Library Services, the Flash Fiction Slam at The Athenaeum and other book events at PCQ Arts and Flameworks.
We would like to thank Arts Council England for once again supporting the festival, The Duke of Cornwall Hotel for looking after our writers and Waterstones for providing the festival bookshop.
View the Plymouth International Book Festival 2015 Brochure
Authors who took part in the Plymouth International Book Festival in 2015
Every year the festival attracts a wealth of talent from across the literary world. Find out who took part in the 2015 festival.
Learn more about 2015's authors
Plymouth International Book Festival
theartsinstitute@plymouth.ac.uk
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Plymouth-International-Book-Festival/100647946652728
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Latest News • Sports
Women's Tennis Team Red-Hot Entering Final Stretch
Griffin Aseltine
Standing at 11-3 with eight matches left to play, the PLNU women's tennis team is off to its best start in seven years. After beginning 2-2 with a highlight win over a Division I school in UC Irvine, the team went on a 9-1 run, including an active five-game winning streak, to reach the current state they are at now.
Team chemistry always tends to play a role in success, whether it be pushing each other through a tough stretch, or igniting a winning streak. For the women's tennis team, it's no different.
"Outside of the court, we're really supportive to each other," said senior Carolina Cuevas Bucio. "In doubles, we know how to play with our partners. We all practice with each other and we don't have a preference."
According to senior Nikki Newell, who has been with the team her entire college career, one noteworthy aspect of the team's season is being able to find success against teams that aren't as familiar.
"I feel like a lot of the schools we've been playing, we haven't been playing in previous years," said Newell. "And we've been doing really well, so it's looking up."
Along with UC Irvine, another unfamiliar foe that the team defeated was Biola, a new member of the PacWest. The team will also face new opponents in Arizona Christian and Emory, as well as a second matchup against Biola at home.
Postseason play appears to be in this team's future, but whether or not a conference title can be claimed is another question. There is confidence, however, that the team has a change.
"I feel like if our team goes in feeling super pumped, ready, spirited and focused," said freshman Madison McKay. "And we're all supporting each other, then there's nothing that's stopping us."
NFL Award Predictions
Men's Basketball Maintains Undefeated Winning Streak And Head Coach Shares His Vision
Olympic Bobsledder Uses Fame for Philanthropy at Green Beret Fundraiser
Is Religious Diversity Naz-Approved?


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Virginia Tech researchers study the relationship between the indoor environment, health
Published Monday, Jul. 24, 2017, 7:02 am
When we consider how indoor environments influence our health, we often think first of how those environments change our lifestyle, encouraging us to be more sedentary or less social. But there's another way our time indoors affects our biology: by determining what substances we come in contact with.
In a paper published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, researchers at Virginia Tech introduce a conceptual engineering model for studying how the indoor environment influences the "exposome."
"The exposome is the aggregate of all the chemicals, microbes, and radiation you're exposed to in the water you drink, the food you eat, the air you breathe, and objects you touch," said Linsey Marr, a professor of civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering and an author of the paper. "It's everything your body comes in contact with."
In the indoor, or "built" environment, design; building materials; heating, cooling, and ventilation systems; plumbing — even factors like the choice of hand soap — all affect that set of exposures.
Understanding those influences is a step toward eventually designing buildings that have a positive impact on human health.
The research team has also founded an interdisciplinary center within the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science to tackle these questions. Called the ICTAS Center for Science and Engineering of the Exposome, the group includes Amy Pruden, the W. Thomas Rice Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Marc Edwards, the Charles P. Lunsford Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a University Distinguished Professor; professor of civil and environmental engineering Peter Vikesland; Marr; and research scientists Dongjuan Dai and A.J. Prussin.
"We're trying to raise some of the fundamental questions that we need to address when we look at the exposome of the built environment," said Prussin, the center's associate director.
The Centers for Disease Control estimate that environmental factors may be responsible for up to 90 percent of human disease. For most Americans, who spend about 90 percent of their time indoors, the environment likely to have the biggest health impact is the one created by buildings like offices and homes, where the exposome is very different than it is outside.
In their paper, the researchers describe the indoor exposome in terms of chemicals, particles, and microbes in the air, in drinking water, or on surfaces. And they emphasize that one of the keys to studying the exposome accurately is to recognize that these substances and exposure routes are interdependent.
When we breathe in dust, we also acquire the microbes and chemicals clinging to those particles. Disinfectants added to drinking water to alter its microbial communities also create chemical byproducts.
And while it's usually clear whether a substance enters your body from the air, the water, or a surface, the path it takes to get to that point of contact can be complex.
Substances in the water can be aerosolized into the air, and then settle on surfaces; particles resting on surfaces can be blown into the air or washed into the water.
For example, Legionella is a pathogen found in potable water, but the human exposure route is airborne: The bacteria cause disease when aerosolized water droplets are breathed in.
"It's not simple; we cannot simply focus on the water issue," said Dai, the paper's lead author. "The water and the air actually influence each other."
Engineering controls can alter the exposome and improve health — radon mitigation systems are one common example. But before engineers can determine which plumbing materials or ventilation systems or types of paint are most beneficial, they must identify precisely how each of those things influences the indoor exposome, and the health impact of that change.
The growing recognition of the significant impact of the environment on human health parallels the advent of germ theory in the late 19th century, when the connection between microbial pathogens and human disease won widespread acceptance.
But investigating the connection between health and the exposome is more complicated. Instead of identifying a single pathogen responsible for a specific disease, researchers must consider a network of thousands of interrelated exposures and their combined contributions to conditions like asthma and obesity, complex conditions in their own right with dozens of potential causes.
Scientists and engineers with different backgrounds will need to work together to tease apart that web of influences.
"The exposome problem, by its nature, requires an interdisciplinary collaborative approach," Marr said. "No one person has enough expertise to tackle the whole thing."
The exposome center brings together experts in environmental engineering working on microbial communities, drinking-water quality, airborne pollutants, and other specialties.
The group's research symposium in the spring attracted faculty and students from an even wider range of fields, including English and history.
This kind of interdisciplinary collaboration will be one of the keys to untangling the complex influence of the indoor exposome on human health. Another will be finding ways to deal with the huge amounts of data generated by tracking indoor exposures and health metrics for large populations.
But the rapid development of data science and proliferation of sensors, such as those in smartphones and watches, may give researchers the tools to first measure and then reveal that complexity.
In addition, the researchers say, involving citizens in the research process may be one way to address the exposome problem.
"In order to get some of these large data sets, we're really going to need a lot of citizen scientists out there," Prussin said.