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Hydrogel News and Research
Team finds a way to removes GI device without using endoscopy
Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have potentially found a way to eliminate some of the endoscopic surgeries need to remove gastrointestinal (GI) medical devices.
Research could be starting point for wound dressings with 'built-in infection stoppers'
Infections are a dreaded threat that can have fatal consequences after an operation, in the treatment of wounds, and during tissue engineering.
Artificial ionic skin could lead to future advancements in wearable technology
University of Toronto Engineering researchers have developed a super-stretchy, transparent and self-powering sensor that records the complex sensations of human skin.
New hydrogel prevents and treats infections in wounds
Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have developed a new hydrogel based on the body's natural peptide defense.
Researchers show new potential path to improve bone-repair procedures
Researchers are moving closer to a new approach for improving spinal fusion procedures and repairing broken or defective bones that avoids an over-production of bone that commonly occurs in current treatments.
Brazilian researchers create hepatic organoids by 3D bioprinting
Using human blood cells, Brazilian researchers have succeeded in obtaining hepatic organoids ("mini-livers") that perform all of the liver's typical functions, such as producing vital proteins, storing vitamins, and secreting bile, among many others.
Biocompatible hydrogels could help heal wounds, deliver drugs and treat cancer
Hydrogels for healing, synthesized from the molecules up by Rice University bioengineers, are a few steps closer to the clinic.
Researchers develop 'scar in a dish' model to closely mimic progressive organ scarring
Every organ in the body is capable, to some extent, of repairing itself after an injury. As part of this process, scar tissue forms and then recedes to make room for normal tissue when healing is complete.
Researchers develop spray gel for frostbite injuries
Mountaineers and winter sports enthusiasts know the dangers of frostbite -- the tissue damage that can occur when extremities, such as the nose, ears, fingers and toes, are exposed to very cold temperatures. However, it can be difficult to get treated quickly in remote, snowbound areas.
Novel nanopipette pH biosensor could help with cancer diagnosis and treatment
Nanopipettes with zwitterionic membranes may offer improved monitoring of changes in pH surrounding living cells, which can indicate traits of invasive cancer cells and their response to treatment, report researchers at Kanazawa University in Nature Communications.
Genetically engineered living hydrogel material facilitates intestinal wound healing
About 1.6 million people in the US alone currently have lifelong and incurable Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, and 70,000 new cases are diagnosed in the USA each year.
Researchers develop new way of 3D printing soft biomaterials
A new way of 3D printing soft materials such as gels and collagens offers a major step forward in the manufacture of artificial medical implants.
Researchers are developing new therapy to counter the effects of traumatic brain injury
A blow to the head or powerful shock wave on the battlefield can cause immediate, significant damage to a person's skull and the tissue beneath it.
3D printer could help expedite repair or replace damaged tissues for injured warfighters
The ability to 3D print a variety of healthcare-related products in deployment zones would greatly benefit the nation's warfighters.
Researchers create first protein-engineered hydrogel
Imagine a perfectly biocompatible, protein-based drug delivery system durable enough to survive in the body for more than two weeks and capable of providing sustained medication release.
Researchers explore remodeling of cardiac tissues post-aortic valve replacement
University of Colorado Boulder engineers and faculty from the Consortium for Fibrosis Research & Translation at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have teamed up to develop biomaterial-based "mimics" of heart tissues to measure patients' responses to an aortic valve replacement procedure, offering new insight into the ways that cardiac tissue re-shapes itself post-surgery.
Traumatic brain injuries could be healed using peptide hydrogels
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) –– defined as a bump, blow or jolt to the head that disrupts normal brain function –– sent 2.5 million people in the U.S. to the emergency room in 2014, according to statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ultrafast 3D printing technique for artificial tissues
Scientists have come up with a very rapid 3D printing technique for producing the most complex tissue forms in hydrogels which are loaded with stem cells, and then generating the growth of blood vessels in the resulting tissue mass.
New bioprinting method takes just a few seconds to sculpt complex tissue shapes
Tissue engineers create artificial organs and tissues that can be used to develop and test new drugs, repair damaged tissue and even replace entire organs in the human body. However, current fabrication methods limit their ability to produce free-form shapes and achieve high cell viability.
Harnessing power of CRISPR to control behavior of DNA-responsive materials
The CRISPR-Cas system has become the go-to tool for researchers who study genes in an ever-growing list of organisms, and is being used to develop new gene therapies that potentially can correct a defect at a single nucleotide position of the vast reaches of the genome.


text:
Q: How does one prove $R \otimes_R A $ is isomorphic to $A$? Let $R$ be a commutative ring with identity. I would like to prove that $R \otimes_R A $ is isomorphic to $A$, where $A$ is a $R$-algebra.
How can I prove this?

A: Hint: try
$$f:R\otimes_RA\to A\;,\;\;f(r\otimes a):=ra$$
$$g:A\to R\otimes_RA\;,\;\;g(a):=1\otimes a$$

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The final concert for Jazz at Two series features Melanie Massell and Company. Melanie delights and entertains her audiences with her charm and charisma. An Atlanta native, she has been a featured performer at the Atlanta Jazz Festival and was nominated as "Outstanding Jazz Artist" at the Coca-Cola Music Awards and appeared at Atlanta Symphony Hall with the Atlanta Concert Band. She relocated to the Sarasota/Bradenton area in 2007 and has been performing in venues throughout the area with her vast repertoire of jazz, blues, country, soul, r&b, pop and Latin music. Joining her are Keith Carman, piano; John Lamb, bass; Johnnie Moore, drums. Unitarian Universalist Church, Fruitville Rd. Admission $10 – $20 and free for students. Friday April 12 from 2 -4 pm.


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WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE: Where, on the map, is YOUR Fantasy?
"Map Fantasy" is an umbrella term I use for the Fantasy subgenres of High Fantasy, Heroic Fantasy / Sword & Sorcery and Sword & Soul. If you ever see a book whose cover depicts a guy fighting a dragon, or a freakishly muscled warrior staring off into the distance as a buxom woman kneels at his feet, crack that mug (in Chicago, where I grew up, we call objects "mug") open and I bet the first thing you find in there is a map. You have just discovered a book of "Map Fantasy". Now, there are exceptions; my own Sword & Soul novel, Once Upon A Time in Afrika does not have a map (although it does have a glossary). So do not send me any rants or "I told you so"-s. If you still do, know that you are crazier than a mug (yep, we use it like that, too).
Genre is primarily a marketing tool that publishers use to attract a certain demographic of readers and brick-and-mortar bookstores (yes, some still exist) use to categorize books on their shelves. Secondarily, genre is convenient shorthand – based on typical tropes and themes – to tell readers what type of book they are about to read.
So, what are the tropes of Map Fantasy?
In general, Fantasy uses the magical or the spiritual as an element of setting or plot. Oh yeah, and people wield Big Ass Swords.
In High Fantasy, Elves, dwarves, Halflings and other non-human, albeit humanoid, races often abound and an epic quest is quite common. Of course, the recounting of this quest usually requires multiple books. The Lord of the Rings and the role-playing game, Dungeons and Dragons are examples.
Before The Lord of the Rings and High Fantasy, there was Heroic Fantasy, which began with the pulp hero, Conan, the Barbarian, whose "mighty thews" first appeared in Weird Tales magazine in 1932.
Back then, speculative fiction wasn't as clearly defined by genre and subgenre. Fantasy and horror often lay in the same bed, so Heroic Fantasy was bloody…very, very bloody and magic was – and often still is – wielded solely by the forces of "darkness".
Sword & Soul – African-inspired Map Fantasy – is less confined by tropes and can include elements of both Heroic and High Fantasy. Sword & Sorcery can be quite bloody and magic is often wielded by the forces of good and evil.
Let's examine these subgenres a bit closer and see how they are similar and how they differ.
Their Covers
Covers are an easy way to tell the subgenres apart.
On High Fantasy covers, look for men and women wielding swords and dressed in shining armor – women are usually dressed in the compulsory chainmail bra – and fire-breathing dragons, unicorns and electricity-wielding Lords of Darkness. You might also find a Castle, looming in the misty distance, or a wizard with a long, white beard and a pointy hat.
On Heroic Fantasy covers, you will find nearly naked men burying their axes and swords into the skulls of other bloody, mostly naked men, or into the pallid flesh of some creature that looks like it crawled out of the Devil's toilet. You will also find full-breasted, nearly naked women kneeling at the hero's feet, with her arms wrapped around his mighty thews. Oh, and as for those creatures that crawled out of the Devils toilet, those mugs usually have mighty thews, too.
On the covers of Sword & Soul novels, you may find the things you find on the covers of High and Heroic Fantasy, with one huge difference:
The hero will be Black.
The Effect of Saving, or Finding, a Mug
Whether saving a princess or finding nine powerful, magic rings, the heroes of High Fantasy will also save the world. High Fantasy is usually driven by its setting and the world is all-important.
Heroic Fantasy is less magnanimous. The effects are usually personal. If Conan saved the world, it'd be by accident, and he might curse Crom for allowing him to do so, because, in Heroic settings, the world isn't worth – or is beyond – saving. Heroic Fantasy is usually character-driven.
In Sword & Soul, the heroes are usually of higher morals than the heroes – or anti-heroes – of Heroic Fiction. They may – or may not be concerned with saving the world, but whether the characters or on a seafaring safari, wandering a vast continent, or battling for the hand of a princess in a grand tournament, they are, most certainly, character driven.
The Setting
In High Fantasy, the world – yes, the entire world – looks, smells, sounds and acts like Medieval Europe. The places of good are rolling shires and an occasional stony underworld ruled by dwarves as strong – and sometimes as hard – as the stone and ore they mine. Kings are brave and wise and the people are hardy and simple. Of course, there is a Dark Lord just waiting to pass a shadow over the land.
Heroic Fantasy is a bit more willing to experiment. Medieval Europe abounds, but there are also other earth-based societies on the fringes. These societies are usually barbarous, grimy wildernesses (how a wilderness can be grimy is beyond me), swarming with thieves, or exotic lands in which cultists make sacrifices to naked deer-headed goddesses or monstrosities that would make Cthulhu soil his knickers. Farms? Hell, agriculture? There is none. I guess plant-life has a hard time growing when it's watered with blood.
Sword & Soul is usually set in a city or village based on a real city or village found in ancient Africa. The people in the story are usually based on the real people who populated the real setting the story is based on. Thus, most writers of sword and soul are well-versed in history, or, since they are a lot who often communicate with each other and freely exchange information, they contact another writer who is well-versed in history, particularly African history.
Its Inhabitants
In High Fantasy, humans are generally the baseline. Humans can be bad or good, in league with the Dark Lord, ambitious, timid, brave, or cowardly. Basically, they're people. White people. Other non-human races exist and their existence is usually a stereotypical one. Dwarves are drunken, hardy louts who never forget a friend or enemy; Elves are usually arrogant and quite delicate, despite the fact they have lived, for eons, in the forest; Orcs are evil, stupid, dark-skinned brutes who are, most likely, servitors of the Dark Lord.
On occasion, one of the other humanoid races will "rise above" his or her stereotypical nature and act more human (i.e. more white). This "exceptional humanoid usually becomes the sidekick of the protagonist, eventually earning the respect of all and proving that all people can transcend their "lowly" upbringing.
Where High Fantasy stories usually veil their racist messages in the actions of its humanoid races, Heroic Fantasy shrugs its shoulders and screams "Who gives a crap?" as it openly embraces its racism and sexism. Jungle-residing cannibals, mysterious and treacherous "Orientals" and sexually insatiable witches are fodder for the mighty thewed heroes' swords, clubs, axes and penises. Non-humans are rare. If they do exist, they are usually monstrosities best left unnamed.
In Sword & Soul, humans are usually the baseline. However, non-humans also often exist and inhabit the world. These non-humans may be heroes, villains, or just weary travelers looking for a bed and a hot cup o' joe.
Monsters of various sorts exist in all three milieus. Vampires, demons, zombies and strange creatures, whose bodies are half in our world and half in some other world, roam the planet. In High Fantasy, monsters are varied and quite common. In Heroic Fantasy, monsters are usually less common and a lot meaner. In Sword & Soul, monsters are usually based on creatures from African folklore and are thus stranger – and often more frightening – to Western readers.
In High Fantasy, magic can be rare, like in The Lord of the Rings, or it can be so widespread that one has magical steeds and magical weapons and magical burger joints. Magic is used to heal the sick and feed the poor, or to infect the healthy with a plague and turn the poor into a shambling horde of zombies. It might be hereditary, or it might be learned from a wise old wizard or an arcane text.
In Heroic Fantasy, on the other hand, magic is usually rare, unpredictable, and is often evil. It is accessible to anyone who is willing to sell a bit of his or her soul to some demonic entity. In fact, Heroic Fantasy is often concerned with the triumph of the sword over sorcery.
In Sword & Soul, magic is linked more to the spiritual than to the arcane. Magic is usually the gift – or curse – of some god, or of some powerful ancestor. It can be as common as it is in High Fantasy, but is always more common than it is in Heroic Fantasy.
In High Fantasy, the protagonist is often marked by ancient prophecy to rise to greatness and to remove the shadow that blankets all the mountains and shires. Often, the hero is an ignorant farm-boy, who happens to live somewhere out of the Dark Lord's grasp. Usually, some town drunk or ne'er do well is secretly the person charged with protecting and teaching the boy when the time finally comes for the lad to take up his quest.
The hero of Heroic Fantasy is the anti-hero. The best of Heroic Fantasy's heroes lives by a code of honor, but will go against that code if need be. Taking a quest because it is "the right thing to do" is unheard of. Quests, in Heroic Fantasy, are taken for the money, or for sex, or for revenge.
In Sword & Soul, quests are taken for the reasons in both High Fantasy and Heroic Fantasy, but the hero is usually more like the heroes of High Fantasy in morality and more like the heroes of Heroic Fantasy in attitude.
We have already seen the Dark Lord throughout this work. Evil, in High Fantasy, is an ideal; a force that must be vanquished. The Dark Lord is an embodiment of that force, so he must also be destroyed. There are clear delineations of what is good and what is evil in High Fantasy; very black and white.
In Heroic Fantasy, the villain is usually just a tad bit more unpleasant than the hero. The hero, however does not wield magic and the villain does. He is not evil for evil's sake. The villain in Heroic Fantasy most likely wants power, or booty (money and the other booty), and figures the best way to get it is by sending his horde of undead warriors to acquire it for him. If you had a horde of undead warriors at your disposal, you just might do the same.
In Sword & Soul, good and evil is more complex. This is probably because, in most traditional African societies, good and evil is not really dealt with; appropriateness is. If bandits invade a hero's house and attempt to rape his mother, to do nothing, or to run and hide would be considered "evil", because it is an inappropriate act in regard to the situation. To kill them all would be considered appropriate, thus good. If our hero runs next door and kills one of the bandits' grandmother, then that would be considered inappropriate, thus evil. In Sword & Soul, the hero is often forced to deal with such complexities, which makes for some powerful storytelling.
Where do I get started?
By now, you are surely wondering where you can pick up some of these wonderful books to read (if not, you are crazier than a mug). While there are works from High and Heroic Fantasy that I enjoy – chief among them, Mad Shadows: The Weird Tales of Dorgo the Dowser by Joe Bonadonna, I have loved Sword & Soul since I sought it as a child while creating people that looked like me in the world of Dungeons and Dragons and finding Charles Saunders' Out of Africa article as a young man in Dragon Magazine (I did not know that Charles was Black back then) and I have grown to pen a Sword & Soul novel myself and several Sword and Soul short stories.
Thus, I give you a few must have titles to get you started:
Imaro, volumes 1 – 4 by Charles R. Saunders
Imaro is the tale of the titular outcast, wandering warrior and his search for a people and a community to call his own. Written by the Founding Father of Sword & Soul, Imaro is an exciting series that is often compared to the works of Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs, but, in my opinion, transcends all of the works of those authors and is some of the greatest writing in print.
Changa's Safari, volumes 1, 2 and 3 by Milton J. Davis
Driven from his homeland as a boy, Changa Diop travels the 15th Spice Trade world seeking wealth and adventure. Together with his companions and crew he crosses the Indian Ocean to fulfill his dreams and destiny. His dhows filled with the treasures of the East, Changa begins his journey home. But adventure waits with the winds, changing his fortunes and friendships in ways he could not have imagined.
Griots: A Sword & Soul Anthology by 14 Authors; Edited by Charles Saunders and Milton Davis
Fourteen writers; fourteen artists; one unforgettable anthology! In Griots, Davis and Saunders have gathered together fourteen stories, written by new and seasoned writers, to answer the question: What is Sword and Soul? Each story is accompanied by illustrations to give vision to the prose. A first of its kind, Griots is an anthology that lays the foundation and expands the definition of Sword and Soul.
Once Upon A Time in Afrika by Balogun Ojetade
Once Upon a Time in Afrika tells the story of a beautiful princess and her eager suitors. Desperate to marry off his beautiful but "tomboyish" daughter, Esuseeke, the Emperor of Oyo, consults the Oracle. The Oracle answers, telling the Emperor Esuseeke must marry the greatest warrior in all Onile (Afrika). To determine who is the greatest warrior, the Emperor hosts a grand martial arts tournament inviting warriors from all over the continent. Unknown to the warriors and spectators of the tournament a powerful evil is headed their way. Will the warriors band together against this evil?
"Magic and mayhem. Gods and glory. Witches and warriors. Once Upon a Time in Afrika has all this, and much more. It is Sword and Soul at its finest, casting a long shadow over the 'jungle lord' and 'lost city' motifs that have previously prevailed in fantasy fiction set in Africa"
-Charles R. Saunders, author of Imaro & Dossouye, creator of Sword and Soul
"Balogun Ojetade represents a powerful new voice in Sword and Soul. He's a master storyteller with an engaging, exciting style. Once Upon a Time in Afrika is well worth the read."
-Milton Davis, Author of the Meji duology and Changa's Safari Volume One and Two
Beneath the Shining Jewel by Balogun Ojetade
Beneath the Shining Jewel takes place in Ki Khanga's jewel city, Sati-Baa. Mba, a retired constable, is called back to active duty to deal with a situation that still haunts him twenty years later. Mba and a host of characters battle a scourge that once ravaged the city and may be poised to return. Beneath the Shining Jewel is both familiar and unique, combining African folklore with a good dose of horror and action adventure. Sword and Soul – African-inspired Heroic and Epic Fantasy – has been taken in a new and thrilling direction with Beneath the Shining Jewel, a tale that will have you riveted from beginning to end.
Posted by Balogun on November 8, 2012 in Adventure, Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror, Reviews, Short Story, Speculative Fiction, Supernatural, Thriller and tagged Beneath the Shining Jewel, Once Upon A Time in Afrika, sword and soul.
About Balogun
Balogun is the author of the bestselling Afrikan Martial Arts: Discovering the Warrior Within and screenwriter / producer / director of the films, A Single Link, Rite of Passage: Initiation and Rite of Passage: The Dentist of Westminster. He is one of the leading authorities on Steamfunk – a philosophy or style of writing that combines the African and / or African American culture and approach to life with that of the steampunk philosophy and / or steampunk fiction – and writes about it, the craft of writing, Sword & Soul and Steampunk in general, at https://chroniclesofharriet.com/. He is author of eight novels – the Steamfunk bestseller, MOSES: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman (Books 1 & 2); the Urban Science Fiction saga, Redeemer; the Sword & Soul epic, Once Upon A Time In Afrika; a Fight Fiction, New Pulp novella, Fist of Afrika; the gritty, Urban Superhero series, A Single Link and Wrath of the Siafu; the two-fisted Dieselfunk tale, The Scythe and the "Choose-Your-Own-Destiny"-style Young Adult novel, The Keys. Balogun is also contributing co-editor of two anthologies: Ki: Khanga: The Anthology and Steamfunk. Finally, Balogun is the Director and Fight Choreographer of the Steamfunk feature film, Rite of Passage, which he wrote based on the short story, Rite of Passage, by author Milton Davis and co-author of the award winning screenplay, Ngolo. You can reach him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Afrikan.Martial.Arts; on Twitter @Baba_Balogun and on Tumblr at www.tumblr.com/blog/blackspeculativefiction.
View all posts by Balogun »
projectshadowlondon says:
Point of curiosity: when you mention 'feminism' are you meaning 'sexism' or 'misogyny' in this instance? 😉
Balogun says:
I meant sexism. I have since edited that. Thanks, for pointing it out.
Thought so 🙂 No problem. It's a great summary I shall come back to.
ajhayes says:
Reblogged this on My Writing Life and commented:
Nice rundown of different subgenres in fantasy. Using this as a model, I take from each subgenre mentioned in my Good King Saga. I like to blur lines.
Amy Jane (Untangling Tales) says:
What absolutely delicious fun! I was just griping to a friend on Wednesday how it was difficult to run down a specific compare/contrast of High & Heroic fantasy, and here I find one by accident (searched MBTI w/ archetypes. Didn't find quite was I was looking for, but this was totally worth it). I'd never heard of Sword & Soul before, but especially with the Moral core distinction, it's a nice compromise close to what I've been looking for.
The funny (odd?) thing is that I didn't realize until I starting reading this post that I just recast a black male as my main character. I swapped my old MC for her husband. Being a prince he has more power/freedom to act allowing him to be a more pro-active MC. In all my novels (3 or 4, depending how you count– all unfinished) I have interracial marriages– It was a subconscious nod to my family's standard line that EVERY marriage is a cross-culture marriage– and my gig is that there's a whole lot more to a story after the wedding than before (i.e. 2/3 of the story comes after the couple gets together).
I love your designations here and plan to poke around the blog a bit more to see what else you have to say about the genre. Are you (or do you know others who are) willing to discuss ethnic (is that any better word than racial? Especially in fantasy novels, but even in real-life, I feel weird designating different skin-colors as different races. I mean, really? Orcs, Elves and Asians?) -specific elements as they pertain to the fantasy stories?
My story doesn't take place in Africa or anything like it, and includes a minority that is at times treated in a racist fashion– though not by anyone admirable. I'm white, and I live in a white-dominant culture, so I don't know how to write anyone's *ideal* of a racist-less society. But I think that's because I can't imagine a society where conflict exists that won't have conflict built on differences, even if they're just personality styles.
//Cutting off rant before it starts//
Anyway, if you have time, or know a patient resource I'd love the opportunity to pick a brain. Thanks!
Thanks, Amy Jane!
I am more than willing to discuss ethnicity / racism in fantasy fiction. In fact, I have dealt with those very topics a few times on this blog.
Just write what you know and what you enjoy. I don't deal with racism in everything I write; just when the mood hits me and I feel it is organic to the story. If you would like to discuss this further, my email addy is chroniclesofharriet@gmail.com.
Thanks so much! I'll try to craft a coherent email over the weekend. And I don't think I address racism (per se) in my writing, but that's why I'm curious for another opinion.
I think we often don't know what we don't know ;}
DO BLACK PEOPLE REALLY DO THIS STUFF? First, Steamfunk; Now, Rococoa! | chronicles of harriet says:
[…] Mahogany Masquerade: An Evening of Steamfunk and Film, I inquired about the era that sits between Sword and Soul – the subgenre of African-inspired epic and heroic fantasy that is usually set before […]
DO BLACK PEOPLE REALLY DO THIS STUFF? Black Steampunks and Steamfunkateers | chronicles of harriet says:
[…] Steamfunk! and author and / or publisher of seven other books, which are all masterful works of Sword and Soul – African inspired heroic and epic […]
STEAMPUNK & STEAMFUNK WRITERS, GET READY! Seeking your stories for a new anthology! | chronicles of harriet says:
[…] publisher of Sword & Soul, Steamfunk and Science Fiction, today announced that submissions are now being taken for the second […]
BLACK PULP: Fight Fiction with Funk! | chronicles of harriet says:
[…] I write speculative fiction – mainly Steamfunk, Urban Fantasy and Sword & Soul. […]
NO QUEENS IN AFRIKA: Women Rulers in Sword & Soul and other African-Inspired Fantasy | chronicles of harriet says:
[…] NO QUEENS IN AFRIKA: Women Rulers in Sword & Soul and other African-Inspired Fantasy […]
PSYCHOLOGY, SANKOFA AND SWORD & SOUL: The Coming of Ki-Khanga! | chronicles of harriet says:
[…] it was announced that we were discussing Fantasy and Science Fiction, the crowd of three hundred dwindled to […]
PSYCHOLOGY, SANKOFA AND SWORD & SOUL: Why We Need Fantasy and Folklore! | chronicles of harriet says:
smithaw50 says:
Thanks for this comprehensive list in pointing out the differences. As an aspiring fantasy writer, this was extremely helpful.
Beneath the Shining Jewel: Sword and Soul and Terror in Ki Khanga | Chronicles of Harriet says:
[…] In 2008 Charles also released Dossouye, a collection of stories about the first black woman in Sword and Soul and Sword and Sorcery. 2008 also saw the release of my first novel Meji, the first book of a two book saga that took […]
Sword and Soul meets Cyberfunk in the Beatdown! | Chronicles of Harriet says:
[…] the fight in THE BEATDOWN, the epic tale that brings together the very best in Sword and Soul and Gamelit/LitRPG! Available […]
Leave a Reply to BLACK PULP: Fight Fiction with Funk! | chronicles of harriet Cancel reply
A New Way to Play Ki Khanga!
The First Steamfunkateers Adventure Is Now Available!
Steamfunkateers, the Steamfunk Role Playing Game, is now available!
A Brand New Funk: Biofunk comes to Afrofuturism!
Afrofuturism meets Post-Apocalypse with Initiate 16!
Rococoa
Steamfunk
Urban Fiction
Airship Ambassador
Alicia McCalla: Fantasy, Futuristic, and Paranormal Stories In Color
Brass Goggles
Charles R. Saunders
Sepiachord
Silver Goggles
The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences
Wagadu
OTHER BLACKNIFICENCE!
Balogun
chroniclesofharriet.com
Roaring Lions Productions

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I'm no superhero. I can't fly, or walk through walls; can't shoot energy beams or control fire. But that's okay. The super part was never what made superheroes, heroes. And besides, they're gone. No more super. No more superheroes.
The supervillains, though, they're still out there. In many cases, the super is what made them villains.
So now it's up to the regular heroes, the everyman, to take them down. Not Everyman the superhero. He's gone, too. Changing faces didn't help him escape.
I've got a costume, now, just delivered. Private corporations are sponsoring people to become heroes. Maybe looking like I have superpowers will help. Maybe it won't. It's not terribly important. Either way, supervillains will be taken off the streets. I practically have superpowers anyway—my sponsor, like many others, has provided me with strange tech in the form of weapons. Augmented gauntlets and the like. My training included many things, many forms of combat, espionage, and a hundred other specializations. And I'm doing the right thing—after all, I got sponsored, didn't I?
I've picked my first target; the first supervillain to witness the long reach of the law in the form of vigilante justice. Technically outside the law, but justice doesn't need a permit.
I'm excited to see how I'll be able to do against these guys with my battle-tech, which just about puts me toe-to-toe with the supervillains in terms of combat ability. Before recently, vigilantes only had the resources they could find online. Now we're on even footing with those bastards.
The supervillain I've decided to go after calls himself The Iron Curtain. I'm guessing he's Russian. This guy doesn't discriminate between good guys and bad guys when it comes to who he beats on; apparently he thinks it's open season in Charlie County, or something. He hasn't been active for long, his first appearance being at the DiamondClear Bank fiasco last month, where he fought with Fortress over the contents of a certain vault, each trying to steal it from the other. It's a good thing supervillains never work together.
And now, it's time to go dish out some justice, full servings for everyone.
It's time to pull down The Iron Curtain. After this, he won't be getting any more encores.
Someone's got to do something; if that someone has to be me—so be it. The situation got out of hand before we'd ever even had a grasp on it.
No, I'm not invincible. But the power armor will help with that. And no, I can't punch through walls or electrocute someone at a distance. But the power armor will help with that too.
It seems like every other week there's a new supervillain on the streets, trying to knock the top villainous dog off his throne to claim the title of Charlie County's biggest and baddest. It's about time a superhero showed up. With my power armor, no one will be able to tell the difference. I'll be a superhero, for all intents and purposes. Mostly, the purpose of putting supervillains in jail. I'm sure the police won't like some vigilante stepping on their toes, but it can't be helped; they need the assistance, and I'm not going to leave that assistance ungiven.
Tonight, I make my debut—as the first superhero of Charlie County since the Tragedy. My target is the supervillain who took down The Iron Curtain about three weeks ago, stealing the contents of a government transport vehicle from the mad Russian. It's a good thing supervillains never work together. He said he was doing it in justice's name. The media dubbed him Injustice.
Now it's time for Charlie County's only superhero to take to the streets.
It's time for me to put a stop to Injustice.


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AIK Bandy er en bandyklub fra Solna, Sverige. Klubben blev grundlagt i 1905, og har vundet det svenske mesterskab i bandy for herrer i 1909, 1914 og 1931. For damer er det blevet femten mesterskaber: i 1988, 1990, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 2010, 2012 og 2014.

Kilder

Eksterne henvisninger
AIK Bandy

Bandyklubber i Sverige
Etableret i 1905

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


An elderly woman castes her vote with the assistance of family members and polling officers during the Municipal Corporation elections.
Devotees dance during the Jagannath Rath Yatra or the chariot festival of Lord Jagannath in Jammu.
Police Personnel attempt to control the clashes which erupted after the killing of a youth in Narbal as angry protesters continue to pelt stones at them in Srinagar.
Filipino fans of DC comics super heroes pose at the country's largest shopping mall during an attempt to establish a world record for the most number wearing their costumes, at suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama speaks to the media as he arrives to receive Archbishop Desmond Tutu at Kangra airport in Dharmsala.
Former cricket captain Sourav Ganguly with his wife Dona Ganguly (R) after casting their votes during Municipal Corporation elections in Kolkata.
A mail van of the postal department caught fire on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway near Rajiv Chowk in Gurgaon.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi waves to the large number of farmers gathered outside his residence in New Delhi.
Kannada activists protest against Tamilnadu government during the Karnataka Bandh in support of building a dam at Mekedaatu, in Bengaluru.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi being welcomed upon arrival after a three nation tour at Air Force station Palam, in New Delhi.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, BJP State President Subhash Barala (L) and Director General of Police Y P Singal (R) participating in Panchkula Marathon 2015 organised by Haryana Police in Panchkula.
Egyptian runners warm up before they participate in Cairos annual Half Marathon in the Heliopolis district in Cairo, Egypt.
A national libray employee shows the gold Nobel Prize medal awarded to the late novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez, on display at the National Library in Bogota, Colombia.
President Barack Obama departs after introducing poet laureate Elizabeth Alexander for a poetry reading in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington.
Investigators look over a tour bus involved in an accident with a tractor trailer, in Aurora, Colo. At least 11 people were injured, two of them critically, in the four-vehicle wreck that shut down Interstate 70 for several hours during a spring storm packing heavy rains and fog.
First lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden meet with Vet Center clients and staff during a visit to the facility in Silver Spring, Md.
West Indies' Jason Holder, left, plays a shot from the bowling of England's Stuart Broad, during the last day of their first cricket Test match at the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua, Antigua and Barbuda.
Lebanese children hold up placards in Arabic that read 'we are all Yemen, oh Gulf rulers,' as they listen to Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah during a rally titled 'in solidarity with oppressed Yemen' in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon.
Rafael Nadal of Spain plays a return to David Ferrer of Spain during their quarterfinal match of the Monte Carlo Tennis Masters tournament in Monaco.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe strikes a pose with members of Japan's girl pop unit 'Momoiro Clover Z' during the annual cherry blossoms viewing party hosted by Abe at Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden park in Tokyo.
Pope Francis presides the funeral service of late Cardinal Roberto Tucci, in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican.
A Nepalese Sherpa guide tries to make a phone call at Everest Base Camp in Nepal.


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Lee Mallory (born March 16, 1946 in San Mateo, California) is an American poet, editor and academic best known for hosting and performing monthly poetry readings in Orange County, California, for more than 20 years.

Early life and education
Growing up, Mallory lived for a time in Lebanon and Italy, as his father and stepfather were pilots and the family moved often, eventually settling in Newport Beach, California, when Mallory was a teenager. In 1964, he graduated from Newport Harbor High School.

In 1969, he obtained his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he became acquainted with poet Kenneth Rexroth. While at UC Santa Barbara, Mallory also became friends with the late poet Charles Bukowski. From 1970-'71, he attended graduate school, and taught English at the University of Bordeaux in France. He served three years in the U.S. Army, and afterward returned to Newport Beach and college and graduated with a master's degree in 1978 from California State University, Long Beach.

Career
In 1980, he was hired as a full-time professor by Santa Ana College, teaching English as a second language. In the late 1980s until 2012, he co-produced monthly poetry readings in Orange County.

Mallory rose to prominence with a book of poems in a limited first edition titled I Write Your Name, which was released in 1990 by Prometheus Press. It was followed by Full Moon, Empty Hands in 1994. Critics have dubbed Mallory the "love poet" and Newport Beach's "unofficial Poet Laureate."

A collection of Mallory's correspondence, reviews and related materials to and from a variety of poets and editors are housed at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library's Special Collections archives. Other works by Mallory are being preserved at the Santa Ana College Nealley Library.

In 2012, he retired from teaching 32 years at Santa Ana College, and moved in 2013 to Las Vegas. He has performed poetry in a variety of Las Vegas venues, including casinos, bars, coffee houses and libraries, which Mallory described to the southern Nevada NPR affiliate, KNPR News, as taking his performance poetry to the streets.

A year after arriving in the Las Vegas Valley, KNPR said about Mallory, "He's reaching out into the community to perform poetry and bring it to people who may never have thought about it before. In fact, he says, he wants to be the king of poetry in Las Vegas." Las Vegas CityLife wrote, "Recently transplanted from Orange County, where he reigned over the poetry scene and coordinated readings for two decades, Lee Mallory is wasting no time in establishing himself here." And the Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote, "... he moved to Las Vegas a year ago and is trying to reinvigorate the poetry community."

In August 2017, Mallory performed with blues rock musician Lisa Mac at the "Love Wins Again Benefit Show," a fundraiser for Opportunity Village, a nonprofit organization that services people with intellectual disabilities.

Awards
In 1998, Mallory was given a Distinguished Faculty Lecturer award from Santa Ana College. The college also gave him a Professional Achievement award in 1990. In 1992, 1998, 2006 and 2010, he was given Publications awards.

Personal life
Mallory and his former wife had two daughters, Natalee and Misty, the latter of whom was a fellow poet who committed suicide in 1999. She'd had an onset of mental illness and had difficulty coping with life on medication. She left a note that said she hoped her family would understand. Before her death, she was notified that a Laguna Beach publishing house would be releasing her first book of free-verse poems, which was published posthumously and edited by her father. The tragedy fueled Mallory's writing in part, he told the Los Angeles Times, because "Poetry endures." Misty's death also prompted her sister Natalee to write a suicide prevention grant for her master's dissertation at California State University, Long Beach on behalf of the Jacqueline Bogue Foundation in Orange County.

Poetry collections
 Now and Then: Collected Poems by Lee Mallory, Moon Tide Press, 2009 ().
 Bettin' on the Come, FarStarFire Press, 2002 ().
 Two Sides Now, FarStarFire Press (co-authored with Misty Mallory), 1999 ().
 Creativity and the Word, Rancho Santiago Community College District, 1998.
 Holiday Sheer, Inevitable Press, 1997.
 Full Moon, Empty Hands, Lightning Press, 1994 ().
 I Write Your Name, Prometheus Press, 1990.
 20 Times in the Same Place. An Anthology of Santa Barbara Poetry, Painted Cave Books, foreword by Kenneth Rexroth, edited by Lee Mallory, 1973.
 91739, Water Table Press, 1971.
 Oatmeal Candy, Water Table Press, 1970.
 Beach House Poems, Malpelo Press, 1969.

References

External links
 Las Vegas Sun, Op-Ed piece, "Discover the power of poetry," by Lee Mallory, April 28, 2014

1946 births
Living people
21st-century American poets
20th-century American poets
Educators from California
California State University, Long Beach alumni
Poets from California
University of California, Santa Barbara alumni
University of Bordeaux alumni
Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area
Newport Harbor High School alumni


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Tag: these
The Benefits of Online Games For Introverts
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Best Online Games for Everyone
The best online games come out as winners every single time. People play these games and enjoy themselves immensely. The developers are responsible for bringing out the best in the minds of people through different games that they have created over the past few years. However, if you want to be on top of the game, you need to download...


Objectives: Gain control of travel from an unmanaged environment with over 98% program adoption, assess current spending data and set savings benchmarks, provide enhanced dedicated support for travel to improve productivity and security including online tool launch, utilize control and data to secure preferred supplier benefits for air (hotel and car existed) to enhance savings targets and gain VIP benefits.
Challenges: Travelers felt they could do better on their own, centralized data and bench marking wasn't easily available to confirm or deny the opportunity to save, data wasn't easily available to provide to suppliers for preferred supplier agreement consideration, an incomplete and under-enforced travel policy opened the door for travel anarchy.
Key Actions and Results: Utilized back office data to secure spending benchmarks and set savings targets and strategies, developed preferred supplier strategy that secured discounts reducing the air budget by 3%, and valuable VIP benefits, rewrote and redeployed new policies and procedures for T&E with senior leadership mandate hitting 99% program adoption, reduced 1.5 million travel budget by $250,000, reduced average ticket price decreased from $591 to $459. Program in place since 1998.
Objectives: Convert rogue travelers to using the the managed travel program so that 99% program adoption was achieved, develop and launch multi-channel booking system (online and call in) that would attract all travelers to utilize the right policies and procedures within the systems to drive a ten percent savings and reach 70% online adoption by year two.
Challenges: Younger travelers avoided the existing travel system because they didn't have access to online functionality, staff travel booked outside of the system was significantly higher on average, non staff travelers were not managed within the system and their costs were also higher, volume from staff and non staff was not being leveraged within the established preferred supplier agreements reducing their potential results.
Results: Implemented online booking tool which was fully customized with established policies and procedures, promoted new program that included online booking to achieve the goal of 70% online adoption in year two, created systems to leverage the online tool for non staff travelers paid for by the Association which drove non staff program adoption to 90% and non staff online adoption to 70%, gained executive buy in, preferred supplier agreements provided 25% better benefit results back to the organization, annual savings of $177,106 in combined airfares and fees, average fee per transaction was reduced by 30% by driving online adoption.
Objectives: Ramp up a complete travel program for a fast moving Presidential campaign that must comply with federal election committee regulations, implement the right logistics at the last minute into areas where capacity is limited, make sure the management of T&E is an example of the quality management the candidate is known for. Utilize managed travel to win the election, ensure the system can pre-pay all components of travel as volunteers do not have company cards.
Challenges: Campaign management team does not have a great deal of time to develop the systems and they want to outsource. Staff is mostly volunteers and change daily, there is no history or existing volumes with which to negotiate card and travel supplier programs, communication to travelers on policies and procedures is difficult, some campaigns have a history of leaving unpaid invoices to suppliers, plans change rapidly, missteps can cost elections and bad PR, and campaigns operate around the clock.
Key Actions and Results: Developed campaign specific travel policies and procedures from scratch, created preferred supplier programs for all travel components that reduced costs and facilitated pre-payment, airfare secured was 28% below the national average, the established payment system earned points that were used for a benefit of over $250,000, data collection and reporting systems were developed to ensure FEC compliance, pre-payment systems for all travel components was handled by MacNair allowing the campaign travel team to focus on policy compliance and change management, and service team stayed one step ahead of the campaign trail.
Objectives: Provide road warriors with expert travel booking and value engineering support for travel to challenging locations in the world (Afghanistan, Iraq, Indonesia, Yemen, Malaysia), ensure FAR and contractual compliance with every reservations along with an audit trail, develop a disruption management and risk mitigation program to ensure traveler safety, develop a preferred supplier program to earn benefits on travel paid for by the company, improve cash flow with enhancements and consistentcy that would streamline expense processing.
Challenges: Highly trained agents that can value engineer FAR compliant reservations to unique places in the world are difficult to find and screen, yet were the key to success. Not all TMCs have the required expertise and tools for this niche market and knowing who they are and what they offer takes research, cash flow management for this business sector is a key element to profitability. Travelers were trying to manage their safety and health while on the road with a risk to the company and internal contract managers did not have a way to monitor the travel costs being incurred by their travelers (staff and consultants).
MacNair received a phone call from one of our employees, who was calling in a panic from Libya. She works at the Embassy in Tripoli. The situation in Libya was quickly becoming untenable, and she was searching for a way out. Her neighborhood in Tripoli was subject to heavy gunfire at night, and it was evident she was frightened. To further complicate the situation, she was trying to also evacuate her dog Zeus, a large German Sheppard that is known as the unofficial mascot of the Embassy. MacNair worked with us, through numerous late night and early morning phone calls and emails over the period of one week. Throughout all of the back and forth, changing and canceling of itineraries, bad cell phone connections and hastily written email communications, MacNair was the calm in the storm. Our employee ultimately made her way out of Libya via ferry chartered by the US Government, and MacNair arranged for her travel home from Malta with her dog. I feel like you went above and beyond the call of duty in how she handled this situation. You all provide us with unmatched service, and I am truly appreciative.".
Objectives: Develop a travel program that could be easily used and managed by staff and consultants, the latter of which represented over 50% of frequent travelers. Change the role of a full time staff member that was making reservations on various public sites to a role that handled VIP travel and travel management activities. Ensure the new system operated 24/7 and expertly handled travel disruption management. Ensure that the travel automation was integrated with expense automation and payment systems. Develop a more secure and efficient system to pre pay travel arrangements. Develop preferred supplier agreements that could reduce unreimbursed travel costs. Reduce expense reporting to enhance cash flow.
Challenges: Managing the confidence of the employee whose role was going to change. Assessing the ROI of making the systemic change, selecting the right technologies to integrate travel with expense and back office account and procedures. Current payment systems could not scale to reach the desired results. The company was fast growing with many distractions and when the assigned employee was unavailable the service levels dropped.
Key Actions and Results: Shared objectives and requirements with online and expense tools so that the customers could be part of the technological plan. Developed and customized online travel with Concur (the selected provider). Leveraged the Sabre Traveler Security Suite and our after hours team to better support travelers. Developed a virtual card payment system for secure pre paid supplier payments. Helped the organization understand how the travel employees role could transition and deliver value. Utilized combined data to establish a preferred supplier program that leveraged benefits and improved profits.
Objectives: Develop first time travel program for growing international law firm wanting high online adoption and superior VIP care. Leverage the company travel volume to secure earned benefits from suppliers that reduce administrative costs. Collect customer codes to speed reimbursement times.
Challenges: The partners were independent and their habits are hard to change. No preferred program in place and many in the organization had a bad impression about what Travel Agencies can provide and what a managed travel can do for them and their organization. A large volume of unused non refundable tickets wasted funds and were hard to gather and quantify.
Key Actions and Results: Recommended an automated travel and expense program update so that the overall benefits of the program change would be more impactful and harder to dismiss. Updated travel policies and procedures and customized the tools with the stated requirements. Launched a series of meet and greet trainings to drive service and program adoption and developed a recorded webinar of the program launch to re-use and distribute to those not in attendance. Implemented a VIP traveler program for partners. Collected spending data and then used the data to select the right travel partners and programs and created broadcast reporting to help finance reconcile the company card and speed reimbursements. Ensured that travelers had automated and manual ways to be reminded of the unused non refundable tickets available to reduce travel costs.
Objectives: To manage travel for the organization's speakers whom the Bureau had booked for events in a way that ensures the safe and comfortable arrival of their product to the event while keeping the buyer aware of arrival and departure information. Leverage the volume spent to secure a discount for travel that could be passed on to the Bureau's customers. Take responsive and professional care of famous individuals who have some unique requirements.
Challenges: Disruptions could keep the speaker from attending the event and the Bureau from fulfilling its obligation. The event sponsors want value and the travel cost can be a barrier to value. Speakers are accustomed to receiving great service and any less may have them utilizing their own sources. Event organizers need to know when the traveler will arrive and depart along with any changes.
Key Actions and Results: Assigned the most seasoned and discreet consultants to the project who could provide multiple changeable airfare options for VIPs (one agent's work ended up in a book written by one of the speakers as an example of great service). Customized communications systems were developed to keep the traveler and the event planner armed with data, a disruption management system was leveraged to avoid travel issues, and a cost reducing preferred supplier deal reduced the average ticket cost by 5%.
Objectives: Develop a first time travel program for a University who had a high volume of up front travel related to recruiting its initial staff. The program must accommodate travelers around the world, take advantage of any supplier opportunities possible for a first time organization, ensure that the recruit was comfortable so that they accepted the office by the university to take the new job, and evolve to handle on-going requirements.
Challenges: The University and its management team were new to the organization and travel and the program needed to be up and running in thirty days. Travel was required for thousands to a city where a an internationally renowned holiday was being celebrated. Selecting and integrating the TMC partners around the globe quickly. No history or credit record.
Key Actions and Results: Payment system established despite little credit history. Negotiated preferred supplier agreement with two top carriers reducing fares by 10%. Handled group travel managing project specific requirements and contracts. Developed booking and approval processing utilizing automation. Integrated global TMC program and version 1.0 of the program was ready in thirty days. Integrated policies and reporting with other TMCs.


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HRH The Earl Of Wessex Visits CCH
HRH The Earl of Wessex visited the globally significant Centre for Clinical Haematology at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham this week.
HRH was given a tour of the facility, which reopened in January 2018, to witness the impact the Centre has already had for patients, staff and on the global fight against the disease. A plaque was unveiled to commemorate the visit which was organised after the Centre had a £3.4m redevelopment to double its capacity for blood cancer patients, groundbreaking clinical trials and specialist research nurses in 2017.
The funds to ensure this transformational project was possible came from the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) which granted £2.4m towards the facility. The other £1m was raised by blood cancer charity Cure Leukaemia during 2017 through a combination of trust and foundation applications, major fundraising events and campaigns and generous donors.
Notable guests on the day included Laurie Dalrymple, Managing Director of Wolverhampton Wanderers after the club and its fans raised £110,000 towards Cure Leukaemia's Centre Appeal following the diagnosis of goalkeeper Carl Ikeme. Midlands Regional Chair of KPMG Karl Edge and Managing Director of Deutsche Bank Birmingham Paul Anderson also attended after the support of both companies helped Cure Leukaemia raise the required capital.
Many patients that have and continue to benefit from the Centre attended as well as representatives from Cure Leukaemia's key fundraisers and partners who all played their part in the raising the funds.
Former England, Wolves, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest footballer and blood cancer survivor Geoff Thomas this celebrates his 15thanniversary since he was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia and given just 3 months to live. Geoff first opened the Centre in 2006 and, with three other amateur cyclists Doug McKinnon, Hayden Groves and James Maltin, raised over £350,000 towards the Centre Appeal by cycling the epic 10,400km '3 Tours Challenge' in the summer of 2017. Geoff said:
"In 2003 I was diagnosed with blood cancer and the only available treatment was a gruelling stem cell transplant from my sister.
Thanks to the amazing work of Professor Craddock and his team at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital I am now cured. However, it became clear to me that many patients still die of blood cancer and I have devoted my life since then to increasing access to the breaking wave of new treatments through investment in clinical trials.
It's wonderful to see how this new facility at the QE will double the capacity for clinical trial delivery and hasten progress towards the eradication of blood cancer."
Cure Leukaemia Co-Founder Professor Charlie Craddock CBE said: "It has been an honour to welcome HRH to the Centre to show him the extraordinary progress that is being made in the fight against this disease."
"This Centre has, and continues to, play an increasingly important role in driving the delivery of practice changing clinical trials for blood cancer.
These connect patients to treatments they would not otherwise have seen and bring closer the day when we will have effective treatments for all blood cancer patients. At the same time, this has attracted inward investment from global pharmaceutical companies into the Birmingham Life Sciences Sector."
Chair of the GBSLEP Tim Pile said: "Today's visit by HRH The Earl of Wessex allowed us to highlight one of the region's real success stories in the life sciences sector.
"GBSLEP's support for the pioneering Centre for Clinical Haematology will provide a major boost to the local economy.
It is creating 75 new jobs and ensures that – by being at the forefront of innovation in global healthcare – Greater Birmingham's thriving life sciences sector remains attractive to investors, businesses and talented workers from across the globe."


Well, Lughnasadh climax (7th August) is almost upon us and it's Two Towers Day – the 216th day of the year. 16 being the number of the Tarot Tower.
216 is a code that, together with its factors and multiples, is written in many Ancient and modern mystical concepts and teachings across the world, and encoded in landscape and architectural forms as well; not least, originally, because of its association with the Precessional age of 2160 years, and its relationship to the 2160 miles diameter of the moon. Numbers like 72, 108, 144, 666 (6x6x6), for example. It is occasionally written in the form of letters and abbreviations too e.g. Tao, Tax, B.P., FOX, L.A.X., and B.A.F.. (U.S., by the way, is 119).
In 1964 the Gulf of Tonkin false flag took place.
38 days (11) prior to 11th September, which is 11 days prior to the Autumn (Fall) Equinox in 2001. This year the Equinox is on 23rd September.
It's the date that both the Queen Mother (1900) and Obama (1961) were hatched.
The day in 2002 (22) that Holly and Jessica were taken from Soham. It was a 16-date. That same day, the Commonwealth Games closing rite took place in Manchester, and Whiting who was convicted for Sarah Payne's abduction and murder, was knifed in prison.
..and the poetical genius, Percy Bysshe Shelley (who strongly resembles very much, facially, an exceptionally talented scribe I know, and suspect is a reincarnation of him, for more reasons than that) was born in 1792.
When August comes around the dates adding to four (13th, 22nd, 31st) bring significant incidents to impact this world, either on that date or for the future, often both.
I've talked of Sussex before, many times. It is, from my research and information, along with Buckinghamshire and the Devon/Somerset area, a main stronghold of dark occult activity in the UK. (and this piece even mentions Pulborough and Clapham Woods, two places that are associated with the disappearance and murder of Sarah Payne.
It's about more than the title but it's the one National Geographic have given it. Still, it's something I didn't know.
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