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A Fly in Amber
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by Jacqueline West
A creaking sound, like thick glass cracking, came from the half-frozen stream below us. Terèsa's pole had broken through. My cousin lay on her stomach on the bank, where the willow's dead fronds swayed over her body and down to the water like a curtain of whips.
"I did it!" she called. Her voice carried down the hard trough of the stream, cracking the icy night with its ring. We were not supposed to be out in the dark, clambering over the banks at the edge of the deep woods.
"Sssh!" I whispered. "Someone will hear."
"They won't," said Terèsa, pulling herself up. She turned her flushed face toward me, and I could see the bits of dry leaves tangled in her hair.
"You can go first," she offered appeasingly. "Just lay on your cloak, and you won't get dirty."
I handed Terèsa the burning lamp. Everything nearby went suddenly dark, with only Terèsa's face glowing in the night beside me like a small familiar moon.
"Go on, Lenka," she said impatiently.
I lay down on my thick wool cloak on the bank, shivering, feeling bare without it. Then on my hands I crawled carefully to the edge, where the frozen soil made a sharp drop and the willow fronds brushed gently over my body. I could just glimpse the black water beneath its cloudy skin of ice and see the small hole that Terèsa had made, glinting like a wet mirror in the starlight.
The grandmothers in our village said that anyone who went at night to a place where a willow tree touched running water could see his fate reflected there, in the spot where the willow's shadow fell. It was Terèsa who had made the plan, urged me out of my bed after Christmas dinner when everyone else was deep asleep, heavy and tired with sausage and potatoes, wine and cake.
"Don't you want to know?" she had asked me, while uncles and aunts started to snore in their seats. "Grandma Neva says she did it as a girl, and saw the face of a handsome young horseman, so she recognized Grandpa Lukas the first time she met him, and she knew he was the husband for her."
But I was not sure. What if I should see horrible things in my future, things I could not prevent or delay – sickness, slow and painful death, our family's home spouting with white fire while tethered animals shrieked from the barn and my brothers sobbed and hid in the house? What if I saw nothing at all?
As I lay on my stomach on the frozen bank, my hair falling down with the willow fronds, I could see only a wet black hole. Then Terèsa stepped closer, and the fire of the lamp turned the broken sheen to gold. The fire flickered, the water stilled. I saw my own face, my pointed chin and dark eyebrows, the reflected lamp bobbing like a lure above me. Then the lamplight tightened and changed. It became a warm fire in a brick fireplace. I saw a cozy room around it, bits of crockery, needlepoint over the mantlepiece. Instead of my reflected face, I looked down and saw my own hands, and they were the creased, knobby hands of a very old woman, busily knitting a bit of pink wool.
I sat up so suddenly that one of my palms nearly slipped over the edge of the bank. I pulled my cloak tight around me.
"What did you see?" asked Terèsa, crouching down so that her bright round face was level with mine. "Did it work? Could you see something?"
I took a deep breath, forcing my heart to slow. Then I gave Terèsa the calmest smile that I could manage.
"Yes, I saw," I told my cousin. "I am going to live to be a very old woman, and I will have a cozy little cottage of my own. I was knitting something next to a fireplace – probably something for my dozens of grandchildren."
Terèsa's eyes looked like wet beads in the dark.
"My turn," she said. "You hold the lantern. And stand back – it won't work if you're looking in as well."
Terèsa crawled eagerly under the willow. Her hair looked almost white in the starlight, though her body was mostly hidden from me by the willow's rippling branches. I held up the lamp so that its beam fell over the ridge of the quietly rustling stream.
For several moments Terèsa lay still. Then she sat up with such a gasp that I nearly dropped the lamp, making its wick bounce and recover. She would not meet my eyes when I knelt on the cold dirt beside her.
"What is it, Terèsa? Tell me."
"My God, Lenka, my God…" Terèsa's pale eyes darted over my shoulder, through the trees, toward the moon, like panicking birds.
"I saw– " she began, "I saw the church, and the procession walking in, all the girls in white, and the flowers everywhere. It was very dim, like candlelight. And then, I saw – oh, God! – I saw myself lying on a bier on the altar. And I didn't look old, I didn't look any different. Lenka, I'm frightened! What should we do?"
Then Terèsa hid her face in her hands and made an awful sobbing sound. I stood up, wanting to run away from this black knife wound of a river until I was back between four walls, near a fire that chased away the dark from every corner. But as I stood there, I noticed that that between her fingers, Terèsa's face was dry.
An iciness crept up inside of me, like the cold of the night had finally reached my heart.
When we were small, only seven or eight years old, Terèsa terrified the whole family by pretending to be horribly ill. She and I had been eating wild mushrooms in the forest, and when we came home, Terèsa told her mother that she had eaten something that tasted strange, a funny kind of kozàr with a white cap and yellow ridges, and that now her stomach hurt, her throat was closing, she could barely breathe. For a week Terèsa writhed in her bed while her mother rushed around in a frenzy, never eating, sleeping in the chair beside Terèsa's pillow only when her puffy eyes sealed shut by themselves. When Terèsa recovered, just in time for the summer festival, Aunt Mària gave lavish gifts of thanks to our church of Saint Vaclav, and Uncle Jan sent for colored silk ribbons from the city to tie the braids of his precious little girl.
Two years passed before Terèsa told me the truth, giggling, as we sat together in the hayloft. Her parents went on believing the story of her narrow escape, but I never quite believed her again.
A few years later, Terèsa told all of the cousins about a víla woman whom she often visited in the forest, and about how she had once been rescued from a wolf pack by a prince hunting in the frozen meadows.
Now I looked down at my cousin, shivering on the bank, still making the harsh rasping sound of sobs. My heart was like a garnet.
"Are you sure of what you saw? You said that the light was dim."
"It was, but the candles were all around the bier, so the light was brighter there. I could see my face."
"Maybe you weren't dead, only sick or sleeping."
"Then why was I on the altar? Why were priests praying over me?"
"Did you see your mother or father, or anyone else you knew? If it was really your funeral, you would have recognized other people there. Maybe it was just someone who looked like you."
Terèsa dropped her hands from her face. Her cheeks were still dry, but her eyes had a wild look. She stared at me, her mouth hanging open, taking hard, shallow breaths that made her shoulders shake.
"Lenka, I know what I saw. Help me. What should I do?"
I looked down at my cousin's face, pale as carved bone under the moon. She was nothing like me. I felt the ice around my heart melting, ever so slightly, and knelt down again on the frozen bank.
"Don't be afraid, Terèsa. Maybe it was only a trick of the water, and it will never come true at all. We can pray that it be wrong. We could even go to Father Krocek tomorrow and ask for his help."
"No, we can't." Terèsa shook her head rapidly. "He would say it was a sin, scrying in the water like witches." She sighed. "Let's go home. I am frozen through."
Terèsa stood up, her shoulders limp. She felt very small as I wrapped my arm around her, pulling my own cloak over her shoulder.
"It will be all right," I promised.
Terèsa was silent, but nodded very slightly. We walked without speaking along the dark bank. The moon limned the bare trees and dead grass with silver, shrubs rattled bony twigs in the faint chill wind.
I wondered what Terèsa's death would mean for our family, if it would truly come. There would be the surge of visits, the friends and relatives stretching the walls of our houses, the sharp excitement of a change in our routine. Guiltily, I realized that I was looking forward to it, like the fractional moment before pain comes, when the leather is still zinging through the air.
We came to the narrow place along the riverbed where we crossed back and forth from the village side. A path was trampled through the copse, and by the dim light we could find it only by spotting a darker trench through the shadows.
Terèsa pulled away from my arm, took three running steps, and leapt over the stream. The edge of her cloak swirled playfully in the wind. She turned to smile back over the bank at me.
"At least we know I won't be dying here," she laughed, running her hand through a tangle in her hair.
I did not answer. I ran and leaped from a few practiced paces, pointing my mind at the jump, and nothing else.
"You should have seen your face!" Terèsa said when I had landed and fallen into step behind her. "Oh, Lenka, you are so dramatic, so serious. Always believing the worst."
"So you didn't see any of what you said?"
"No, not truly. I'm sorry. I just wondered what you would do. And you were so funny!" Terèsa began to giggle again. Her laughter sounded like the little icicles that fell from our roof and broke on the stone stoop.
"If it was a lie, then what did you really see?" I asked.
"It wasn't a lie, I was just pretending. What I actually saw was so dull, it wasn't even worth telling."
"What did you really see?" I repeated.
Terèsa sighed sulkily, brushing away a long twig that hung over our path.
"Just a meadow, full of flowers. It could have been anywhere. I could have been anywhere, or anyone. I'm not even sure that I was there. It was only a meadow, and the sun, and the grass. Such dull visions for both of us!" she sighed. "Oh well. At least sneaking out here at night was an adventure."
The lights in the village were dim and few. Painted shutters were sealed tight, and snow muffled the empty roads.
The garden behind Uncle Jan's house was thick with color in summertime, but now it looked like an unused room, with white sheets draped over the furnishings. Terèsa jumped from the garden wall onto the sloping roof of the kitchen, then climbed up to the peak where she could reach the ledge of her own bedroom window.
Safely inside, she turned and waved down at me from between the shutters. "Good night!" she whispered. "Have beautiful dreams!"
During the short walk to my own home, and even after, when I lay in my warm bed, I thought of Terèsa's story, the lie she made from that broken pool under the willow. I knew that by morning my anger would cool, like an ember pulled out of the heart of a fire, but just then I hated my cousin and the way she played with our hearts and our fears. At the same time, it was a relief to know that her fate was no more exciting than mine – that our realities were much the same, and it was only Terèsa's imagination that left mine behind.
Spring came to our country like a quiet breath, the first that one hears on awaking from sleep. Goslings hatched, the first lambs were born, fruits showed their pale heads between unfurling leaves. Terèsa and I went often to the woods when the morning chores were done, though we never went back to the willow bank. We believed there was nothing more to see.
We brought our baskets and gathered mushrooms or fallen nuts from the damp forest moss. Terèsa never let the task grow dull; sometimes we were treasure-seekers, and the nutshells were rubies from the hoard of Frumuşeaua, or we were soldiers under siege on Bíla Hora, finding food to survive while we held the holy ground.
One warm morning, we were playing fairy maidens, gathering berries to make our sacred wine. I was afraid we were growing too old for the violet crowns Terèsa wove while I diligently searched for blackberries, but the wreaths did look lovely against our hair, and the faint scent of the flowers was sweet.
"I'm going just a bit farther," Terèsa called from the other side of a thorny patch. "I think I see a bed of wood lilies."
Terèsa scampered off, leaving her empty basket rocking on the grass beside me.
If Terèsa had been born an animal, and not an ordinary village girl, she would have been a starling. I watched her hair glint and vanish between the mossy trees. I think I would have been a horse; sturdy, strong, four hooves planted firmly in the earth. I went on picking the blackberries, my sleeves rolled up and my bare forearms growing scraped and raw between the thick thorns.
I had known Terèsa since my earliest memories. Our houses were only two streets apart; our fathers the only sons of Papa Lukas. She seemed to have existed before my life began, even though I was the older by three months. She was a part of myself, of my body, like a climbing vine, or the knobby growths that sprout and swell under the bark of trees.
There was a sudden crash from the bracken. My first sensation was fear for Terèsa, picturing her falling, a rotten branch cracked beneath her, or dropping into a hollow hidden in the growth. I froze, listening for her scream. Instead a flood of black sheep came barreling through the copse behind me. They surged around me, knocking over my basket. I watched helplessly as their hooves trampled my berries into a shiny paste.
"Hie, hie!" called a voice nearby, and a young man came leaping over the berry hedge, vaulting with the long oak rod he held in one hand. Seeing me, he stopped abruptly but breathing hard from his run. He was quite tall and broad-shouldered, with curling brown hair that fell over his forehead like wild grapevine.
I was acutely aware of myself as he stared back at me, of my rolled up sleeves and berry-stained arms, my loose hair and my ridiculous wreath of violets. I pulled the crown from my head hurriedly, and felt pink heat starting to rise in my cheeks. A small smile float over the shepherd's sharp-featured face just before he noticed my overturned basket and the mound of trampled blackberries.
"I am so sorry," he said, and his voice was deep. "I've ruined all of your work. I let my mind wander for a moment, and by the time I realized it, my flock had run into the woods."
"It's all right," I said, reaching for the basket at the same moment as he, so that his rough palm brushed my hand. We both jerked back, embarrassed. Then the shepherd reached again for the basket and handed it to me.
"Thank you," I said. "They are only wild blackberries – not so great a loss as a whole herd of sheep."
"Yes…" The shepherd hesitated, looking off where the sheep had gone. I could see that he wanted to chase after them, but felt that he should not leave me in the same sudden way that we had met.
"Let me help you gather them," I said, looking up into his eyes. They were a shade of greenish-gold, and they met my gaze directly.
"No, I could not ask that," he began, but I bolted out of the wood's edge after the flock, and I heard the shepherd laugh behind me as he tried to match my speed.
Soon, both panting, laughing, my basket dropped somewhere in the long grass, we came together behind the collected sheep, who quieted, returning to their grazing.
"You run like no girl I've ever seen," said the shepherd, smiling at me. "Are you really some forest spirit, here to help irresponsible shepherds?"
I laughed again. "No, just a village girl covered in blackberry juice. My name is Lenka."
"Mine's Jiri," said the shepherd. "My family has a farm over that hill. I don't usually let the sheep wander so far from home. But today I am glad that I did."
I felt the flush burning my cheeks again, and had to turn away from his bright eyes in his sun-darkened skin, his sharp square jaw, his smile.
"Lenka!" came a shout from the woods.
I saw Terèsa appear, stumbling out of the shadows with her empty basket, several white lilies added to the violet crown that had slipped crookedly down over one ear. Her desperate expression made me smile. She was out of place, ridiculous.
"I'm here," I called, waving one arm.
Jiri turned to squint in her direction. I saw Terèsa pause for a moment as she noticed the young man beside me, but the moment was short, and she rushed toward us again, not smiling.
"Terèsa, this is Jiri," I said as she approached. Terèsa was panting and smudged with dirt; for once she did not seem lovely to me. "His family lives on a farm near here. Terèsa is my cousin from the village."
"Hello," said Jiri. Terèsa stared and did not answer.
Jiri turned his green eyes back to mine. "You must let me walk you part way home," he said. "My sheep are so quiet and obedient with you. You've cast some forest-spirit spell on them."
We set off together over the curve of the hillside. A sweet smell rose from the warm flower tops. The sun flashed on the rippling grass, and its glint seemed to me to be the same color of golden-green as Jiri's eyes.
Jiri and I walked ahead, our eyes fixed on the horizon when they were not on each other. I could not feel my feet on the ground; I was light as milkweed held in the breeze.
"My father would like me to go to the city and study to become a lawyer or a magistrate, but I don't want to leave the farm," Jiri was saying. "I love the work, the sun, the soil, even the winter when the barn is warm and the cold stays outside. I think my father is beginning to see that I am meant to follow after him. I can't leave this for some stuffy office." He spread his arm out over the field that rolled to our feet like a spun gold sea.
"Lenka," panted Terèsa behind us. "I am so glad that I found you. I nearly got lost in the wood and couldn't see you or hear you anywhere. I almost stumbled into a bear's den, I think, before I found my way out."
I glanced over my shoulder, but did not answer. Jiri looked at Terèsa and then at me, and then resumed his speech.
"All that I need to make me happy is a home of my own near here and someday a family of my own to fill it."
Jiri smiled at me again. My heart was like a bird trapped inside my ribs. I stole a quick glance at Terèsa. She looked angry, her face pinched and pale.
"I love this land, too," I said to Jiri. "My father's house is in the village, but my Grandfather was a farmer. His farm was the most beautiful place in the world. It was always full of lambs and ducklings and growing things."
One black sheep darted to the right and Jiri drove her back to the flock. I watched his graceful, sturdy movements.
Then there was a sharp shriek behind us.
Jiri and I turned, startled. Terèsa lay crumpled on the ground, her face twisted in pain, her white skirts spread artfully out around her.
"I've twisted my ankle!" she gasped. "I wasn't watching, and I stepped into a hole, maybe an animal's burrow." She reached cautiously toward her ankle and winced.
Jiri was at her side in a moment. "Can you stand?" he asked, pulling her gently to her feet, one arm wrapped around her shoulders to steady her. I watched his arms press against her skin. A hot coal rose and stuck in my throat.
"I'm not sure," whispered Terèsa, and gave a whimper as she set her foot delicately on the ground.
"Don't try to walk," said Jiri, looking with concern at Terèsa. "That could make it worse. I think I should carry you as far as the village."
"Oh, no – I couldn't…." protested Terèsa weakly, but Jiri had already swooped one arm behind Terèsa's knees, and with the other around her shoulders, had quickly lifted her up.
"Lenka – would you mind watching the flock?" asked Jiri, darting a distracted look at me over Terèsa's head. There was nothing I could do but take the long stick from his hand and dash back and forth, chasing the wandering ewes back into a clump while Jiri moved ahead with long straight strides.
I struggled to keep close behind, where I could catch strands of their conversation, but then a ewe would veer off course, and I had to follow. Still, the scraps of talk that I could hear made my blood turn to steam inside of me.
"I'm sure I must be too heavy for you to carry all the way to the village." Terèsa's voice was higher than usual, and breathier, coy as an unfolding rosebud.
"Not at all," said Jiri. "I carry a hurt sheep for miles sometimes, and you can't weigh much more than one of my ewes."
Over Jiri's shoulder, Terèsa's blond hair glinted in the sunlight. She shook her head, and her hair sparkled like dewy grass. I could hear her gratified giggle.
"Of course, I wouldn't carry you slung around my shoulders." I could see just the edge of Jiri's smile as he turned to look down at Terèsa's face.
"It must be hard work to be a shepherd – you are so sturdy and strong."
Terèsa's words choked me like a mouthful of sugar. But Jiri only settled his shoulders a bit farther back and raised my cousin higher in his arms. Her left hand, wrapped around his neck, toyed gently with the rolled sleeve of his shirt.
That was all of their talk that I could grasp. Jiri walked fast, without looking back. Now and then Terèsa's laugh would trail toward me like a string of jingling silver bells as I plodded along behind the sheep.
Her hand on his shoulder. Her weight in his arms. Her face close enough to feel the breath that rose up warm from his body. Worst of all, the surety I felt that Terèsa's ankle was no more hurt than mine, but that by the time we reached the village, her ploy in Jiri's eyes would be a turn of fate, a story to tell to their children's children.
When I came to the village edge, Jiri and Terèsa were so far beyond me that I could not even hear the distant hum of their voices. I watched from the slope of the bridge, surrounded by his restive sheep, as Jiri turned toward Uncle Jan's house and moved through the garden to the stoop. The front door was opened from inside; Jiri, with Terèsa still in his arms, stepped through and was swallowed by shadow.
I knew that inside Aunt Mària would be exclaiming over her poor injured daughter and the handsome shepherd who had rescued her and rushing to the kitchen to boil coffee, uncover cakes, invite the young hero to stay for supper.
And I, driving Jiri's sheep into Uncle Jan's yard, latched the gate and walked down the path to my own house, where the long years unfolded before me, suddenly as blank as a snowy field.
By early summer, everything was prepared.
Terèsa and Aunt Mària had baked twenty-five cakes with gifts of eggs from every neighbor. Uncle Jan had killed the fattest pig, and the gown was ready, made of layered lace sent all the way from Praha. The beer was bought, the tables borrowed; linen canopies flapped over Uncle's garden like great undulant wings.
On the day before the wedding, Terèsa begged me to come to the meadow and help her gather wildflowers to cover the tables. The afternoon was warm and lovely. A few small clouds drifted over the blue sky, and the long grasses swayed and bowed around us as we dragged our light summer skirts over the fields.
Terèsa was overflowing with excitement; every glowing detail was related and reexamined: the food, her clothes, her handsome bridegroom.
"Papa has hired a quintet from Brno to come and play for the dancing. And we'll dance and dance and dance until dawn! Jiri is such a good dancer, I love to dance with his arms wrapped around me. And Mama is giving me her garnet brooch to wear on my bodice and to keep as her gift…."
I pulled up a clump of bellflowers with my fist, and its roots came easily free of the dirt, the pale, tuberous ends extending, empty, like arthritic fingers. The air around me was still.
"It is a beautiful brooch," I said.
Terèsa's face glowed pink and gold as she smiled upward toward the sun.
"It's been in Mama's family for three hundred years, you know. It belonged to the princess Kryspek, who gave it to my great-great-great-grandmother before she died."
"No, it didn't," I said softly, so softly that Terèsa heard nothing, and I could barely hear myself over the quiet rush of the grasses.
Terèsa ran a few steps past me and gave a leap that made her skirt billow like linen on the line. "I am so happy, Lenka! I am going to go and be the mistress of a great farm, and the most handsome man in the world will be my husband, and someday he will be a rich farmer, and we will have ten horses and three hundred sheep and own all the land from here to the horizon!"
Teresa twirled around on one toe. Her skirts surrounded her like petals. The flowers went flying out of her basket and landed limply on the carpet of grass. She did not notice, but bent down to break fresh blossoms from their stems.
"Jiri's mother has been so kind. She has stitched five tablecloths for us, all with embroidered edges…."
Terèsa's lips went on moving, a smile still baring her little white teeth, but I could no longer hear her. The air had frozen, become like a rock, and I could barely press my weight through it as I took a step closer to my cousin. A high-pitched drone surrounded me, followed me, as though a great wasp was caught in my hair.
Terèsa's hands flashed and darted, flitting like wings as they broke the long stems. Her smile was fixed, pinned, permanent. She was still talking. Her cheeks were deep red.
The thick air clung to my skirt like hands. I thought that I would have to crawl that last foot, drag myself by my fingernails. My shadow touched the side of Terèsa's face, but she did not turn to look at me until my hands were around her throat and my thumbs were pressing down.
Then her eyes fixed on my face. Her smile fell into a croaking gash, a snaking wet tongue between blue lips. Her hands clawed and scraped my wrists.
The windpipe under my thumbs collapsed, denting like fruit. Bird bones, I thought. Hollow, like straw; flimsy and weak and so easily broken.
My family left the village for shame. Many miles away, Papa bought an old farm with a small brick kitchen built behind. They made this my place and locked me in. Twice a day, a stout old woman brings me food on a tray. She used to be a pretty girl with blond hair like straw and little pearl teeth. Sometimes I wonder whether my parents are still alive.
I sit before a cheerful fire and watch my needles loop the wool that they left for me long ago. I knit a shawl. Then I unravel it.
My hands have divots and troughs and bumps that I can read like the face of a slow clock. I am lucky. I am an old horse that they will let die in a comfortable stall. My life has been long.
This entry was posted on Saturday, November 1st, 2008 at 12:00 am	and is filed under Fantasy, November 2008. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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If you're worried about the state of the country, or the world, these poems won't offer much reassurance. But giving comfort or solace isn't really the point.
Fatimah Asghar's poem "If They Should Come for Us" was featured by the New York Times as one of five poems selected to be part of their political poetry sampler called "Poems of Resistance: A Primer." Other poets in the sampler include Alex Dimitrov, Jane Hirshfield, Maggie Smith, and Javier Zamora.
Ocean Vuong was also mentioned in a seperate New York Times article "American Poets, Refusing to Go Gentle, Rage Against the Right" about political poetry in the United States.


'The Making a Match project will work with socially isolated people aged 50+ living in LS16 and LS17. They aim to find out what activities and interests their clients would like to get involved with and match them up with another like-minded person so that they can build a friendship around their shared activity.
Delivered by MAECare in partnership with OPAL. Designing opportunities around the philosophy that services should find out what is important to isolated older people and build on that rather than expecting them to fit into services that already exist.


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Review of Gender and Violence in Historical and Contemporary Perspectives: an international conference held at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Written by Laura Clancy
By Mary Edwards (PhD Student, University College Cork, Ireland)
While violence is undoubtedly a powerful tool in the oppression of any group, the manifestation of violence is not always obvious. It is multifarious in nature and never more so than when it is used to oppress persons as a consequence of their gender. At the end September this year, Dr Jyoti Atwal (Jawaharlal Nehru University) and Dr Iris Fleßenkämper (University of Münster) organized an international conference on "Gender and Violence in Historical and Contemporary Perspectives". Participants at this event explored both obvious and incredibly subtle forms of gender violence. As I was awarded a 2015 Ailsa McKay Travel Grant (a bursary available to PhD student members of the FWSA who require support to attend a conference), which alleviated my flight costs, I was fortunate enough to travel to Jawaharlal Nehru University to participate in this event. In what follows I provide a brief overview of the themes and issues addressed.
The religious or ideological sanctioning of violence against women has a long history. Dr R. Mahalakshimi (Jawaharlal Nehru University) exposed how patriarchal norms are affirmed in the Periya Puranam, via its presentation of violence against women as the expression of "devotional zeal." The beliefs that furnished the (now illegal) ritual of Sati – the immolation of a widow on her husband's funeral pyre or suicide shortly after his death – were explored, along with their continued relevance to gender studies today by Dr Jyoti Atwal (Jawaharlal Nehru University). Professor Adelheid Herrmann-Pfandt (University of Marburg) critically analysed representations of historically "permissible" forms of violence in Indian culture (including female infanticide and foeticide, childhood and "holy" prostitution, rape, and "honour" killing) in Bollywood films and questioned the solutions they offer for this problem. Dr Deepra Dandekar (University of Heidelberg) spoke on "Muslim Personal Land and the Islamic Feminist Challenge in South Asia" and identified some of the challenges faced by Muslim Feminist movements in their efforts to reconcile their political agendas with their religious practice today.
Shame was exposed to not only play a vital role in the coercion of women into accepting physical violence, and even engaging in practices like Sati, the feeling of shame itself, as experienced by persons of any "despised" gender, indicates the presence of psychological violence. Just as a physical injury weakens the body, shame undermines the integrity of the person as well as making them more likely to resign themselves to their maltreatment in a society that labels them "inferior." Manju Ludwig (University of Heidelberg) investigated the stigma and shame associated with "deviant" male sexualities in colonial India. Dr Renate Syed (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich) highlighted a 2500-year history of discrimination against Hijras (persons considered to belong to the "third gender") in India. Finally, the idea that shame could be interpreted as "manifest" in the physically weaker female body was explored by Dr Susmita Dasgupta (Independent Scholar), in relation to recent violent assaults on women and, in particular, to the brutal case of the rape and murder of Nirbhaya by five men in 2012.
Belonging to both a despised gender and a minority group was exposed as a dangerous combination since, when two different species of discrimination come together and reinforce one another, this can generate highly complex violent structures. Professor Nilika Mehrotra (Jawaharlal Nehru University) presented "Violence Against Women with Disabilities: Ethnographic Reflections". Professor Vivek Kumar (Jawaharlal Nehru University) and Dr Sarbeswar Sahoo (Indian Institute of Technology Delhi) attempted to unpick the structures of violence faced by Dalit (low caste) and Adiavasi (tribal) women, respectively. The unfortunate "overdetermination" of violence in cases such as these often has the double-consequence of presenting violence as destiny to the victim and rendering the structure of this violence extremely difficult to unpick for those who aim to help them. Dr Moira Dustin (Equality and Diversity Research Network, Brighton) spoke about this difficulty in the context of the development strategies to prevent violence against minoritised women in the UK, within broader policy agendas. Specifically, Dustin called attention to problematic practice of lumping various acts of violence against female minorities in the UK under the umbrella of "honour crime", despite a wealth of evidence showing that instances of honour killing, forced marriage, and female genital mutilation, for example, each have unique structures and require different strategies to counter them. The danger of the "honour killing umbrella" was also picked up by Professor Bhagwan Josh (Jawaharlal Nehru University), in his presentation on "Marriage and Violence among the Punjabi Immigrants in Canada". Josh argued that, despite the public perception, so-called "honour killing" is not the only form of violence perpetuated against Indian women and he examined two other forms: the spousal murder of women in migrant communities and the related phenomena of "deserted brides". Though these forms of violence may have some connection to the notion of "female honour," they are by no means reducible it.
This point was reaffirmed by Professor Anuradha Banerjee's presentation on "Women Home Makers: Causes and Consequences of Domestic Violence among Married Women in India". One in five married women in India suffers physical abuse at the hands of their husband and Banerjee's focus was to reveal the trends and patterns associated with this statistic. Unsurprisingly, women with "least education and poor family background" are more likely to be victims of domestic violence. More alarming, however, is the finding that "women who enjoy more autonomy (financial, mobility and decision-making)" are also more likely to be abused. Banerjee connects these findings to the refusal of some male members of society to "accept women as their equal counterparts" and highlighted the importance of men's role in the prevention of violence against women.
The colonization of India gave rise to new, nuanced forms of gender violence. Dr Bodh Prakash (University of Delhi) in a paper titled "Gender, Violence, and Resistance in Partition Narratives" relayed narratives of women who had, by various means, come into contact with "the enemy" during the riots preceding the Partition of India in 1947. The narratives of these female survivors reveal how, after the riots ended, they were either rejected or treated as "impure" by their families. This constituted a further violence done unto them, as they were denied their right to heal from the previous violence. Dr Judith Becker (Institute for European History, Mainz) used the example of the Basel Mission in South India to demonstrate how certain gendered norms were imposed upon the native people of India from without and how, in certain cases, religion was (mis)used in order to excuse acts of violence inflicted on the native people by the Missionaries. Dr Felicity Jensz (University of Münster) focused on the way colonial subjects were represented in publications made by German Missionaries during the 19th century. In particular, Jensz highlighted the portrayal of the "helpless brown woman" in need of rescue by the "white man" and argued that the "self-assumed ability" of missionaries to speak on the behalf Indian women was an act of epistemic violence.
Dr Iris Fleßenkämper (University of Münster) and I both spoke about different forms of intimate partner violence. Fleßenkämper considered the uncommon (or certainly less documented) case of a wife physically abusing her husband through an analysis of a divorce case brought before the marriage court of the Protestant County of Lippein in 1682. Fleßenkämper challenged the assumption often made by historians that violence is "a man's business" whilst also constructing a profile of a wife who felt driven toward violence. My paper discussed the problematic representation of intimate partner violence in E.L. James's Fifty Shades of Grey and argued that, though a work of fiction, this book has the potential to harm real women if its readers uncritically incorporate certain beliefs (that are required for engagement with this text) into their real-world belief systems. Both these presentations, in different ways, suggest that the alleged "ownership" of physical violence by persons of a discriminated gender, rather than "empowering" them, may merely be symptomatic of their embeddedness in an already violent system. The fact that gender-based violence can be systematic, all-pervasive, and presented as a means to independence was highlighted by Dr Christa Wichterich (University of Kassel) in her paper on "Gender-Based Violence of Economic Globalization in Contemporary India: An Intersectional Approach to Gender and Violence." Here, Wichterich traced the large-scale exploitation of women in the industrial sector in India, she examined; how they have been enticed into providing cheap labour for fabric companies, targeted by high-interest loan-sharks, used and manipulated by the growing surrogacy trade today.
Nasrine Gross (founder of the Roqia Center for Women's Rights in Kabul) shared some of her experience from working in her education Center that specializes in teaching couples literacy classes. Gross spoke in detail about the horror and violence women face everyday in Afghanistan and she asked: how can people be motivated to escape the violence that surrounds them if they do not even recognize their situation as unjust? Gross's proposed solution to this question is: education. Education provides people with the tools to identify violence as violence, to recognise it as unjust, and to imagine circumstances in which things are different. Gross's insight on this matter bears upon the issue of gender violence generally.
If there is to be hope of ending gender violence, it will not do to attend only to its most obvious presentations; when its victims are hospitalized, beaten, violated, septic as a result of hack "circumcisions", or dead, it is too late. We can inoculate against diseases that are invisible to the naked eye and far less selective in their victims, why do we still fail to protect so many victims of this social disease? Since ignorance blinds us to its movements, better education is required as a first step toward safeguarding potential victims, before it is too late. Of course, major governmental investments and more resources in local communities are urgently needed to address this global issue but, as it is imperative to know what to do with funding and resources (as Dustin's paper illustrated so well), education must necessarily come first. Gender and Violence in Historical and Contemporary Perspectives illuminated many discrete and subtle forms of gender violence, brought others into higher resolution, and indicated where more research is needed. I felt truly honoured to be part of this important event and it is my deepest wish that the research showcased here continues to progress; toward identifying and determining how best to prevent all forms gender violence.
Posted in Event Reviews, Reviews
About the Author: Laura Clancy
View all posts by Laura Clancy
Previous Entry Review of Migrants in the City: New Dynamics of Migration in Urban Settings Conference
Next Entry Review of Fat Sex: New Directions in Theory and Activism, edited by Helen Hester and Caroline Walters

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
<?php
defined('BASEPATH') OR exit('No direct script access allowed');

class Pwarna extends CI_Controller {

	function __construct()
    {
        parent::__construct();
        if (!$this->ion_auth->logged_in()) {//cek login ga?
            redirect('login','refresh');
        }else{
            if (!$this->ion_auth->in_group('members')) {//cek admin ga?
                redirect('login','refresh');
            }
        }
        //$this->load->model('Model_Pwarna');
    }

	public function index()
	{
		$data['aktif']       ='Pengaturan';
        $data['title']       ='Admin Panel';
        $data['judul']       ='Warna';
        $data['sub_judul']   ='Pengaturan Warna';
        //$data['table_title'] ='BrajaMarketindo BH';
        $data['judul_menu']  ='Braja Marketindo';
        $data['nama_jln']    ='Jl.Lotus Timur, Jakasetia, Jawa Barat';
        $data['content']     = 'warna/warna_form';
        //$data['record']      = $this->Model_Pdasar->getpdasar();
        $this->load->view('dashboard', $data);

	}

	public function simpan(){
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
package org.ovirt.engine.api.resource;

import javax.ws.rs.Consumes;
import javax.ws.rs.DELETE;
import javax.ws.rs.GET;
import javax.ws.rs.POST;
import javax.ws.rs.Path;
import javax.ws.rs.PathParam;
import javax.ws.rs.Produces;
import javax.ws.rs.core.Response;

import org.ovirt.engine.api.model.Action;
import org.ovirt.engine.api.model.Actionable;
import org.ovirt.engine.api.model.StorageDomain;

@Produces({ApiMediaType.APPLICATION_XML, ApiMediaType.APPLICATION_JSON, ApiMediaType.APPLICATION_X_YAML})
public interface AttachedStorageDomainResource {
    @GET
    StorageDomain get();

    @DELETE
    Response remove();

    @Path("{action: (activate|deactivate)}/{oid}")
    ActionResource getActionSubresource(@PathParam("action") String action, @PathParam("oid") String oid);

    @POST
    @Consumes({ApiMediaType.APPLICATION_XML, ApiMediaType.APPLICATION_JSON, ApiMediaType.APPLICATION_X_YAML})
    @Actionable
    @Path("activate")
    Response activate(Action action);

    @POST
    @Consumes({ApiMediaType.APPLICATION_XML, ApiMediaType.APPLICATION_JSON, ApiMediaType.APPLICATION_X_YAML})
    @Actionable
    @Path("deactivate")
    Response deactivate(Action action);

    @Path("disks")
    DisksResource getDisksResource();
}


SPECIAL NOTE 1: There is a short cut for some students.
Dual Enrollment, Running Start, or similar programs.
SPECIAL NOTE 2: There may be a short cut to a diploma for some of you.
"A secondary school student who has satisfactorily completed the freshman year in an accredited degree-granting institution of higher education may receive a diploma from the school...although the student does not meet all diploma requirements in this rule. Such decisions shall be at the discretion of the superintendent of the school unit, in accordance with the policies of the school board." What does this mean?
NARHS can use this provision to the advantage of some of our upper level and more capable students. Students who have earned the equivalent of one full year of college credit can be awarded a NARHS high school diploma without fulfilling all of the other course requirements. They simply complete the NARHS Registration Form, pay the Graduation Year tuition, and supply us with an official transcript from the colleges verifying their credits. The number of credits needed may vary, depending on the college from which they are issued. NARHS will decide what is needed for the student to prove that he or she completed the equivalent of their "Freshman Year of college." Please call the business office for more details on this provision.


The CData ADO.NET Provider for Splunk gives developers the power to easily connect .NET applications to Splunk data. The Splunk Data Provider makes this Splunk data look like SQL tables in your applications.
DataBind to Splunk using standard Visual Studio wizards.
The Splunk ADO.NET Provider offers the most natural way to access Splunk data from any .NET application. Simply use Splunk Data Provider objects to connect and access data just as you would access any traditional database. You will be able to use the Splunk Data Provider through Visual Studio Server Explorer, in code through familiar classes, and in data controls like DataGridView, GridView, DataSet, etc.
The Splunk Data Provider wraps the complexity of accessing Splunk services in an easy-to-integrate, fully managed ADO.NET Data Provider. Applications then access Splunk through the Splunk Data Provider with simple Transact-SQL.
The CData ADO.NET Provider for Splunk hides the complexity of accessing data and provides additional powerful security features, smart caching, batching, socket management, and more.
The Splunk Data Provider has the same ADO.NET architecture as the native .NET data providers for SQL Server and OLEDB, including SplunkConnection, SplunkCommand, SplunkAdapter, SplunkDataReader, SplunkDataSource, SplunkParameter, etc. Because of this you can now access Splunk data in an easy, familiar way.
Splunk Data Provider goes beyond read-only functionality to deliver full support for Create, Read, Update, and Delete operations (CRUD). Your end-users can interact with the data presented by the Splunk Data Provider as easily as interacting with a database table.


Brenton Tarrant has been charged with 50 counts of murder and 39 counts of attempted murder.
Australian Brenton Tarrant is due to appear in court tomorrow.
One MP had wanted to stall the legislation but missed his chance when he arrived late after spending too long explaining his plan to the media.
An Irish expert explains how the "psychological autopsy" carried out after a terror attack differs depending on who the suspect is.
A three-year-old boy is the youngest known victim of the mass shooting.
Queensland Senator Fraser Anning drew international condemnation for his comments.
49 people were killed in the attacks on two mosques in Christchurch yesterday.
Forty-nine people were killed in shootings at two mosques in Christchurch yesterday.
Martin said that some of this anti-Islamic sentiment came from publications "purporting to be of Catholic inspiration".
Four people are in custody, including an Australian citizen described as a 'right-wing terrorist'.
The victims included five teenagers who attended the secondary school.
A number of police officers were also injured in the gun spree.
Police with riot shields flooded the area and arrested the assailant.
In April, the authorities were called after Long was "somewhat irate, acting a little irrationally" at his home.
The gunman, who is among the dead, has been named as Ian David Long.
The gunman died by suicide at the scene, police said.
The incident happened in Jacksonville, Florida earlier today.
He quickly dropped to the ground and peacefully surrendered to a sheriff's deputy.
Fifty-eight people died in the mass shooting.
A 17-year-old boy has been charged with capital murder.
Stephen Paddock killed 58 people and injured hundreds more on 1 October 2017.
17-year-old Matin Azizi-Yarand spent more than $1,400 (€1,170) buying weapons and tactical gear.
James Shaw wrestled with the gunman who killed four in a Tennessee diner.
Noor Salman, 31, began sobbing with joy when she was found not guilty.
Students have called on the US President to tighten gun controls.
Trump has come under intensifying pressure to act after 17 people were killed last week.
The US President has criticised the FBI for failing to heed signs which could have prevented the shooting.
Nikolas Cruz has admitted to shooting dead 17 people at his former school.
Survivors have described the moment they heard the first shots ring out.
Police said Cruz had recently posted "very disturbing" messages on social media.
Amy O'Connor talks to the sister of Kathy Kendrick, one of 16 victims of a Christmas massacre in Arkansas 30 years ago.
The incident on 1 October was the deadliest mass shooting in US history.
Families were back in court today – last year a lawsuit was thrown out of court.
Devin Patrick Kelley was reported missing in June 2012 from a psychiatric facility where he had been sent ahead of an assault conviction.
The ages of those killed ranges from five to 72.
The local was uninjured during the incident.
The arsenal of weapons in Stephen Paddock's hotel room was like something "out of a movie", police said.


If you or a loved one suffered injuries as a result of medical malpractice in Maryland, contact Snyder Law Group today.
If you are considering filing a medical malpractice lawsuit in the state of Maryland, it is good to be informed about what the laws and regulations are. Medical Malpractice cases are some of the most complex, so it is good to be as prepared as you can. Here are some of the medical malpractice laws in Maryland.
In every state, there is a limited time period for you to file a lawsuit before it becomes invalid. In Maryland, claims must be filed within the shorter of five years of the date that the malpractice occurred or three years of discovering the injury. Minors on the other hand have until their twenty-first birthday to file a lawsuit for an injury which occurred when they were a minor. If you are bringing on a wrongful death lawsuit, you have three years from the date when the person passed away to file your case. These rules can become confusing and there may be exceptions to them, so you should always discuss these issues with an attorney.
You have 90 days within filing your malpractice statement of claim to file a certificate of merit and report from a medical expert. This is basically a certificate that states the injury you sustained, the alleged breach of the standard of care of the doctor's part, and it must conclude that the doctor's negligence is what led to your injuries. The defendant in the case must also file a certificate that suggests that the plaintiff's merit is incorrect. Arbitration is suggested to both parties, however if one party does not want to go that route, the case goes directly to a lawsuit.
In a medical malpractice case, you must always have a medical expert take the stand to testify that your injuries were in fact a result of the doctor's negligence. In Maryland, a qualified expert is a licensed professional that is knowledgeable in the standard of care in the field of the person who you filed a claim against.
Maryland follows the law of contributory negligence, which says that if the plaintiff contributed in any way to their injuries, no compensation can be received. Damages are also capped in Maryland, meaning there is a maximum that you can receive.
This entry was posted on Friday, May 4th, 2018 at 1:57 pm. Both comments and pings are currently closed.


Was the resurrection of Jesus fiction or fact, a hoax or history? Don't decide before hearing the evidence! In this stand alone Easter Sunday sermon we'll cover four pieces of crucial evidence that inspire faith in the reality of the resurrection.


During MIPIM, an overall impressive international property event hosted in Cannes for the 25th consecutive year last week, what struck me the most was a statement by one of Bearing's partners who works with real estate development since the mid 80s. This sole event, he said, is enough to provide him with a year's worth of work.
I visited the event together with my colleague Jorgen Eriksson and for me it it was the first time.
Hosted by Reed MIDEM and held annually in March, MIPIM brings together all the key actors of the real estate business, including city Mayors, regional and municipal governments, investors, property developers, and service providers, offering unrivalled access to the greatest number of development projects and sources of capital worldwide.
It is one of the largest real estate shows, including an exhibition area, networking events and expert-led conference sessions. Investors, developers, end-users, architects, hotel groups, public authorities, and property associations meet in Cannes for an intense week of networking, matchmaking and development of international business relations.
MIPIM is a place for exploration of the most rewarding development projects worldwide from 93 countries and gaining insight into the latest trends from leading industry experts. Presence of 2,225 exhibiting companies provides visitors with opportunity to make new contacts and identify potential partners from over 1,280 developers and 300 local authorities. It is also a place of unparalleled opportunity to promote one's business on a global stage, gain international exposure for projects and showcase solutions to 21,000 professionals, including 4,500 investors, 3,000 CEOs and chairmen, and 430 attending journalists. Its 200+ key industry speakers come from some of the world's prominent institutions and organisations such as the OECD, The European Commission, Harvard Business School, Eurocities, Allianz, Axa Real Estate, GDF Suez, Amundi, American Bar Association, RICS and many others.
MIPIM is not only an international marketplace for creating dialogue between a variety of real estate professionals, generating new ideas and sealing contracts and partnerships, but also an indicator of global market trends. As the world changes, the real estate industry is entering a new era and facing major contemporary challenges such as: the shift of geographical powers, acceleration of time, tensions on financial markets, increasing empowerment of world citizens and growing environmental regulations.
At this year's event in Cannes, Dr. Mahdi Mokrane, Head of Research & Strategy with LaSalle Investment Management, has presented main challenges and opportunities to look out for in 2014. The challenges include economic growth below capacity, normalization of monetary policies, high prices and low yields in gateway cities, and rising flows of debt and equity. On the other hand, the opportunities include harvest gains from core assets, improving fundamentals, and NOI growth.


text:
Home » News » New Drug Stops Alzheimer's — in Mice
New Drug Stops Alzheimer's — in Mice
Scientists at the Salk Institute report they have developed a new drug that holds potential for halting the mental decline associated with Alzheimer's disease. In a study, the drug, known as JI47, improved memory and prevented brain damage in mice.
The study is published in the journal PLoS One.
"J147 enhances memory in both normal and Alzheimer's mice and also protects the brain from the loss of synaptic connections," said David Schubert, Ph.D., the head of Salk's Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory. "No drugs on the market for Alzheimer's have both of these properties."
Although it is yet unknown whether the compound will prove safe and effective in humans, the Salk researchers' say their results suggest the drug is promising for treatment of people with Alzheimer's.
As many as 5.4 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's, according to the National Institutes of Health. More than 16 million will have the disease by 2050, according to Alzheimer's Association estimates, resulting in medical costs of over $1 trillion per year.
The disease is devastating as individuals experience a steady, irreversible decline in brain function. Memory loss advances until a person is unable to perform simple tasks such as eating and talking. Ultimately, the disease is fatal.
Experts say Alzheimer's is linked to aging and typically appears after age 60, although a small percentage of families carry a genetic risk for earlier onset. Among the top 10 causes of death, Alzheimer's is the only one without a way to prevent, cure or slow disease progression.
In the current trial, Schubert and his colleagues developed an innovative strategy of using living neurons grown in laboratory dishes to test whether or not new synthetic compounds were effective at protecting the brain cells against several pathologies associated with brain aging.
Based on the test results from each chemical iteration of the lead compound, which was originally developed for treatment of stroke and traumatic brain injury, they were able to alter its chemical structure to make a much more potent Alzheimer's drug.
"Alzheimer's is a complex disease, but most drug development in the pharmaceutical world has focused on a single aspect of the disease–the amyloid pathway," said Marguerite Prior, Ph.D., a research associate in Schubert's lab, who led the project along with Qi Chen, Ph.D., a former Salk postdoctoral researcher.
"In contrast, by testing these compounds in living cell cultures, we can determine what they do against a range of age-related problems and select the best candidate that addresses multiple aspects of the disease, not just one."
The Salk researchers tested J147 as an oral medication in mice and discovered it prevented cognitive decline in animals with Alzheimer's and that mice and rats treated with the drug produced more of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) — a molecule that protects neurons from toxic insults, helps new neurons grow and connect with other brain cells, and is involved in memory formation.
Because of the broad ability of J147 to protect nerve cells, the researchers believe that it may also be effective for treating other neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), as well as stroke.
Source: Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Sad elderly woman photo by shutterstock.
Nauert PhD, R. (2018). New Drug Stops Alzheimer's — in Mice. Psych Central. Retrieved on January 19, 2020, from https://psychcentral.com/news/2011/12/16/new-drug-stops-alzheimers-in-mice/32673.html
Last updated: 8 Aug 2018 (Originally: 16 Dec 2011)
Diagnosis Symptoms Causes Treatment Fact Sheet Caregivers Library Resources


This post was sponsored by a variety of the shops listed below.
About the shop: I'm not going to lie, when I got the above pictured items in the mail, I cried – literal tears. I mean, how beautiful is it to have Blake's tiny name (that she wrote) on an ornament and a tie clip. This is what their shop is all about; customization and personalization. They create beautiful jewelry that means something. You can literally preserve memories on a piece of jewelry, whether it be your Grandma's writing, your writing, Blake's whatever. It's special.
The deal: 25% off their entire site! Go to site for details.
About the shop: What I love the most about Talking out of Turn is the fact that they have such a big selection of items, for everyone. No joke – they have everything from drink glasses/water bottles to stationary, art and bags. You are for sure bound to find something for well, everyone in this shop. I personally LOVE their desk sets and have the pink one! It's so cute.
The deal: 50% off their entire site with other goodies and deals! Go to site for details.
About the shop: Here's your one stop shop for all the guys in your life. They have grooming items and kits, knives, drinking items, coffee, tie squares, men's jewelry. Seriously all the things. A few of my favorite items are for sure the Beard oils, bow ties and wallets/leather selection.You can literally shop for every guy in your life here (your Dad, husband, brother, all the people). There's so many things to choose from and you hit basically every personality type.
About the shop: You guys know we are big ShapeMags fans and I include them basically every, year. They're so good and just a perfect present for a wide age group of both boys and girls. They have tons of sets to choose from and their black Friday deals are good this year on three of their ShapeMag sets! If you're not familiar – they're like building blocks, but magnetic and you can make tons of different things with them. Blake loves them and has for about a year and a half now!
The deal: Starting tomorrow; this set is $49.99 instead of $119!
About the shop: I have loved White Loft for like five years now and owned at least three growth charts from her. She makes the most beautiful growth charts you've ever seen. They're durable, they unique and she has a ton of different styles to hit basically every house style type! You can personalize them, leave them blank and there's wood, burlap and canvas ones to choose from!
The deal: 25% off your total purchase with the code "ONLYOAKES" through tomorrow!!
About the shop: If you're not familiar with Little Poppy co, get familiar 😉 HA! I'm about to make you familiar. It's the best bow subscription ever – seriously we've been members since Blake was a tiny babe and haven't stopped once. You get three bows every month straight to your door for $11.99/month! Unless you're new and it's black Friday 😉 Then you get the deal below. Seriously though their bows are beautiful, they last and you can choose clips or headbands! They also have bows you can add onto each month for special occasions or just because. Oh and did I mention they have Mama ones and tiny dresses now too?
About the shop: I love LetterCraft! They make the most fun wood items! They have everything from ornaments, state items to famous faces and custom pieces. This would be the perfect present for someone that loves personalization and memorabilia. The craftsmanship is absolutely stunning and honestly, I'm just so impressed and it's a fun, unique gift! I love the state pieces especially!
The deal: 50% off state ornaments, head to site for details.
The deal: Code is "BFOAKES" for 25% off any multi-month subscription. Sale runs 11/23 – 11/26 at 11:59pm PST. May not be combined with other offers.
Love the growth charts for sure!!


Rural people eat less nutritious food , get less exercise and are more often obese that our urban counterparts. However, what gets less attention is the power of community in molding individual behavior.
The Center For Rural Affairs recent report - Healthy Communities-Healthy People (http://files.cfra.org/pdf/Healthy-Communities-Healthy-People.pdf ) - examines practical examples of initiatives involving grocery stores, local governments, schools, churches, and libraries that could help build the rural environments that assist individual behaviors that lead to longer, healthier lives.
Sadly, the health care reform debate has not focused enough on community-based initiatives to encourage healthier lifestyles among individuals, families and communities. The health care reform legislation approved by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee of the U.S Senate contains a provision to provide grants to communities to implement wellness and health promotion initiatives, which should be included in the final version of health care reform legislation.
However, many rural communities lack the resources for full-time staff to seek out federal grants, and, as a result, miss out on public funding because they are unaware of opportunities. To make sure funds are targeted to the communities most in need, the report proposes that "circuit riders" should actively engage underserved, rural communities with public health concerns by going to them with information, financial assistance and a commitment to help.
Federal policy can assist rural Americans in creating healthier lifestyles by funding community initiatives that create, improve, or maintain an infrastructure that supports preventative behaviors like eating right and exercising.


With over half of employee recognition platforms use cash reward (about 62%), it is no wonder that money is on people's mind when deciding an employee recognition system.
So far, Recognize has provided a point-based system. A video game-like environment is a softer approach to motivating recognition. However, money is far more important in the workplace. Workers want gifts for helping their company's profits.
We see that at Recognize, and are looking into ways to providing monetary reward in recognitions. We are not yet ready to reveal how this will play out, but at the moment we see an attachment to recognitions that includes a valued reward.
Adding rewards to recognitions will continue to evolve at Recognize. We are considering Bit Coin for Recognize. Imagine a platform where you can deposit bit coins and attach bit coin gifts to professional recognitions. Users can later cash out the bit coins with a third party.
Recognize wants to steer clear of direct cash rewards. People are found to work harder for non-cash rewards, than for cash rewards. You can read the study here.
We hope people internalize the social currency of points and their recognition stats. A high recognition score shows a professional is liked and performs well. Nevertheless, adding a gift here and there can't hurt.
This entry was posted in company on June 14, 2013 by Alex Grande.


Welcome to Betta Ferrendelli Books. Thank you for taking the time to search me out on the Web and coming to visit my site. Though it continues to be a work in progress, you will already find lots of good information—with much more to come.
A little bit about me professionally ... In addition to becoming a published author in July 2012, I have written professionally for newspapers and magazines since 1989. I have worked at newspapers in Denver, Seattle and Albuquerque. I have been writing for a healthcare magazine since June 2011. As a journalist, I have won more than two dozen writing awards, including two national awards for excellence in editorial writing.
Personally, I have always loved the outdoors and have always been into sports especially tennis, running, hiking and swimming. I love skiing as well, but I don't like being cold, so I spent more time on golf courses than ski slopes. I also enjoy traveling.
Thank you again for taking the time to research Betta Ferrendelli Books and your support! Don't forget, you can follow me on Twitter and 'like' me on facebook. Keep Reading!
in Albuquerque, New Mexico in February 2013.


Wills & Trusts – Green and Kahn P.L.
Many times, when people have children, buy a home or experience the passing of a loved one, the topic of an estate plan will come up. A properly crafted estate plan is one of the most important things you can do to provide stability for your loved ones when you are gone.
A will is a written direction controlling the disposition of property at death. The laws of each state set the formal requirements for a legal will. Wills are required to be admitted to court after death and track the lengthy probate process.
A Trust is similar to a will in the sense that it documents your wishes regarding the distribution of assets. It is often a much more efficient process for your loved ones after your passing. A properly drafted Trust will allow your beneficiaries to avoid the probate proceedings saving your family time and money.
When the time comes to have this very important conversation, you should be guided by a professional with the proper experience to help you achieve your goals. An estate plan prepared by a skilled lawyer will allow you to rest assured that when you are not around, your loved ones will be taken care of. If you fail to make a will or a trust (this is called dying "intestate") your assets will be distributed according to a formula set by law. Such tools as Powers of Attorney, living wills, designations of healthcare surrogates will aid in the crafting of the final plan. Also, please be aware that if you fail to make the proper plans, the inheritance statute will determine who gets your property, not you.
Our approach at Green and Kahn P.L. is comprehensive and personalized to each individual situation. The first step to creating a will or trust is by scheduling a time to review the particulars of your situation. Contact us today and let's get the conversation started.


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Important Links (English)
Sexual Health Hub
Get Out Quickly
Sex positive parenting
When we talk about sexual health, we don't often associate this topic with babies and kids, but we should. As a parent or caregiver, we want our children to grow up healthy and happy, and that includes their sexual health and wellbeing. Sex-positiveSex positive parenting can help us prioritize our children's sexual health, a key part of health, and ensure we teach our kids about gender and sexuality.
Sex positive parenting: What does it mean?
Some people may be worried about the "sex" part in "sex positive." What does being sex positive as a parent mean? Does it mean encouraging children or teenagers to have sex? Or exposing them to inappropriate materials or topics? Don't worry, because that's not what it means!
Sex positive parenting is teaching — in age and developmentally appropriate ways – that learning about bodies, relationships, and , eventually, sexuality is a natural, normal, and healthy part of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. This means educating ourselves, so we are able to bring important conversations into our homes about topics like consent, body safety, gender norms, gender identity, intimacy, and healthy relationships. It means answering questions from our kids when they come up (or prompting them when they don't) and becoming a trusted go-to educator and resource for our children. It means offering them the opportunity to practice setting boundaries, communicating with others, and cultivating a positive body image.
We are all sexual beings from the moment we're born. We know that sexual health and wellbeing are vital to living a full life. Being a sex positive parent means knowing that our children will become autonomous adults with their own gender identities, gender expressions, and sexualities. This is why it is important to prepare and support them as they learn how to stay healthy while they grow into who they are. Providing this support to our children is a lifelong process. Conversations start early and continue throughout the years with age-appropriate explanations and skills building opportunities.
What's sex negativity? What's sex positivity? To bring the idea of sex positivity in our parenting, it's important that we have a good understanding of what it means. Sex -positivity is a concept that was created as a response to a sex negative understanding of sexuality. Click here to read more about those two super important ideas. In short:
Sex negativity is the belief we have, consciously or not, that sex is harmful, shameful, gross, disgusting, or sinful and so, can only be ok if its controlled by strict norms. This understanding of sexuality has deep historical roots in Western culture and cultures impacted by the West's colonial legacy.
Sex positivity considers sexuality as a natural, normal, healthy, and pleasurable part of being alive, of being human. Sex-positivity means having positive and respectful attitudes about sex and sexuality.
Sex positivity and raising children
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines sexual health as a state of physical, mental, and social wellbeing in relation to sexuality. For this to be possible, we need a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, and we need the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences free of coercion, discrimination, and violence.
By talking to our kids about sexuality and everything that feeds into it – in age appropriate ways – we are laying crucial foundations to foster that wellbeing throughout their lives, and we are nurturing a positive and respectful approach to sexuality for children to grow up to live healthy lives and thrive.
Sex positive parenting means moving away from "the talk" as a one-time awkward thing we must check off our list and, instead, normalize talking about gender and sexuality in our homes, working to become trusted sources of information and support in the process.
Exploring your values
Our values, assumptions, and beliefs shape how we think and talk about things and they inform how we treat others. The ideas we have, consciously or not, on gender, sexuality, relationships, bodies and family life have a direct impact on how we parent. Some of our opinions and views can have positive consequences, while others can be more negative and harmful—whether we see it or not or want it or not.
It can be helpful to take a good look at what we have been raised to see as "common sense" or "the norm" (for example, that "a family is made up of a mom, a dad, and their biological kids" or that "boys can only be in love with girls"). This can help us to challenge the boxes in which we try to fit people, including our children.
By evaluating our values and challenging what we have been told is "normal", we take the first and most important step in creating space to talk about sexuality and gender in a way that leaves space for our children to see the diversity of experiences that exist in the world and to grow into their authentic selves. Reflecting on our values can help us figure out why we may be uncomfortable with conversations about sex, bodies, or gender, and why we might be surprised, concerned or angry when we see, for example, a boy in a dress or someone whose gender presentation is confusing to us.
Get curious! Tips and questions about yourself
Get curious about those moments when you feel uncomfortable/defensive/dismissive about certain people or experiences that challenge how you understand the world and people. Grow your self-awareness so you can recognize when those feelings come up and understand better what you think and do as a result. The following questions can help you get deeper into that thinking:
Ask yourself: What values and beliefs about sex, sexuality, and gender did you grow up with? Where did these values come from and how have they changed over time? How might these values be different for different people depending on who they are or their life context?
Ask yourself: How have your own experiences with gender, sex, and sexuality shaped how you view those things? What are significant experiences that may have had a deep impact on your own beliefs and values? How have people treated you specifically because of how you express your gender? How do you feel about how you're "supposed" to look like and be? Is it a comfortable experience or not always?
Ask yourself: What was your family culture like? Did your family culture openly talk about emotions? About bodies? Sexuality? What did privacy mean? What was easy or difficult to talk about?
Ask yourself: Have you ever judged someone for their sexual behaviours or choices? Their gender presentation? Have you ever asked yourself what provoked those feelings?
Ask yourself: Do you usually try to think of different points of view when you talk about an important topic like reproduction or family? For example, if you talk about how to make babies, how would your friends who had fertility assistance feel? Or your child's classmate who has two moms or two dads? The trans man in your office who is pregnant? Your young gay son who really hopes to have a family one day?
This is an invitation: Get curious about your language and how you think the words or expressions you use could make people feel included or excluded, supported or shamed, seen or judged.
Getting curious and reflecting on those questions can help identify some thoughts and beliefs we carry around, often without even noticing, and get us to think critically about them. This can help prepare us for the awkward moments that come with making sex, body, and gender questions fair game in our family. Most importantly, it makes space for our children to learn from us in ways that don't put them into boxes or communicate sex negative values.
What are our rights and our children's rights?
When it comes to children's education, health, and well-being, the issue of parental authority and parental rights often comes up. It is important to know our rights and to understand how they interact with the rights of others, including the rights of our children.
Parental authority falls under family law and refers to parents' rights and responsibilities toward their children from the minute they are born until they turn 18. Under their parental authority, parents make decisions that affect their children's wellbeing. This means that parents do have rights when it comes to making decisions regarding a child's education, healthcare, and religion, among other important things.
Parental rights can be limited when it is justified to do so. Parental rights may be balanced against other considerations, such as human rights and the best interests of the children and young people involved. Parental rights cannot and should not be pitted against the health and rights of young people, as if it is a zero sum game. In the end, it comes down to this: parental rights are important and must be supported, but must not win over the human rights of young people, including but not limited to the rights to health, information, and non-discrimination.
We must see our children as rights holders, too. What does this mean? Our children have a right to health and this right has long been understood as an "inclusive" right. That means the right to health is protected against obvious breaches or human rights violations, like denying a child access to healthcare, but it also includes a wide range of rights and freedoms that are key to good health outcomes, such as the right to non-discrimination, to access health-related education and information, and to freedom from harmful traditional practices. The right to health is more than just the absence of human rights violations; it requires that all the conditions are in place for a young person to exercise this right, such as access to education and information.
Our children rely on us to see their rights upheld. Making sure they are given the information they need throughout their childhood to make important decisions for themselves so they can be healthy and thrive is one way to make sure we are upholding their human rights.
Abigail Curlew, Ten Ways Parents Can Be Supportive of Their Transgender Child in a Transphobic World: https://medium.com/@abigail.curlew/ten-ways-parents-can-be-supportive-of-their-transgender-child-in-a-transphobic-world-92276db2bc3e?fbclid=IwAR31hiZ2zDDtEPiK-esV82UdCAG3WuaXT9 TGHoxcyWd4nIMthz6vL6Zb2k
Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, Beyond the Basics: A resource for educators on sexuality and sexual health: https://www.actioncanadashr.org/beyondthebasics/
AMAZE – Age Appropriate Info on Puberty for Tweens and Their Parent: https://amaze.org/
SHORE Centre –The Answer Box https://www.shorecentre.ca/teachers/
The Centre for Sexuality: https://www.centreforsexuality.ca/
Options for Sexual Health: Sexual and reproductive health and care and education: https://www.optionsforsexualhealth.org/
Airial Clark, The Sex positive Parent: http://thesexpositiveparent.com/
Visible Child: https://visiblechild.wordpress.com/
EGALE Canada Human Rights Trust: https://egale.ca/
Cory Silverberg: https://www.corysilverberg.com
Everyday Girl Dad: https://everdaygirldad.myshopify.com/
Dr. Nadine Thornhill, Ed.D: http://www.nadinethornhill.com/
BK Chan, Educator on Emotional Intelligence, Diversity and Sexuality: http://www.fluidexchange.org/
A Mighty Girl, The World's Largest Collection of Books and Movies for Smart, Confident and Courageous Girls: https://www.amightygirl.com
Kind Space, A Space for LGBTTQ+ Communities in Ottawa: http://kindspace.ca/
Sexual Health Lunenburg County's Sextionary: http://www.sexualhealthlunenburg.com/resources/sextionary-2/
SERC, For Parents and Caregivers - Sexual Development: http://serc.mb.ca/sexual-health-info/for-parents-caregivers/child-sexual-development/
Video – "Winnipeg Talks: Talking to your kids about sex and sexuality mini workshop, SERC": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4lLCZIZVGs&feature=youtu.be
Saskatchewan Prevention Initiative, It's Easier Than You Think: Tips for talking with your kids about sexual health - Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yPLRlTFwmk
Booklet: https://skprevention.ca/resource-catalogue/sexual-health/its-easier-than-you-think-parent-tips/
Saskatchewan Prevention Institute, Messages for Parents:
Birth to Two Years: https://skprevention.ca/resource-catalogue/sexual-health/messages-for-parents-birth-to-two-years/
Two to Five Years https://skprevention.ca/resource-catalogue/sexual-health/messages-for-parents-two-to-five-years/
Five Years to Eight Years: https://skprevention.ca/resource-catalogue/sexual-health/messages-for-parents-five-to-eight-years/
Nine to Twelve Years: https://skprevention.ca/resource-catalogue/sexual-health/messages-for-parents-nine-to-twelve-years/
Thirteen to Sixteen Years: https://skprevention.ca/resource-catalogue/sexual-health/messages-for-parents-thirteen-to-sixteen-years/
Saskatchewan Prevention Institute, Building Healthy Relationships: Yes, that includes dating relationships! (Booklet): https://skprevention.ca/resource-catalogue/sexual-health/building-healthy-relationships-yes-that-includes-dating-relationships/
Saskatchewan Prevention Institute, Tips for Talking With Your Child How to Build Healthy Relationships (Booklet): https://skprevention.ca/resource-catalogue/sexual-health/tips-for-talking-with-your-child-how-to-build-healthy-relationships-including-dating-relationships/
Saskatchewan Prevention Institute, Tips for Talking With Your Students How to Build Healthy Relationships (Information Sheet): https://skprevention.ca/resource-catalogue/pregnancy/tips-for-talking-with-your-students-how-to-build-healthy-relationships-including-dating-relationships/
Sex positive parenting: why does it matter?
Important definitions
Become sex positive parents in 12 easy steps!
Feedback or changes to Hub content
Do you see an error or change? Information about sexual and reproductive health is always evolving, so if you have new information to share, or notice a change, please let us know here or by email to [email protected].
For information about sexual and reproductive health, including pregnancy options, and for referrals to clinics and hospitals that provide reproductive health services, including abortion, anywhere in Canada, please call the confidential 24-hour toll-free information and referral line.
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Movements we're a part of
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Self-medicating and increase in substance use.
Be aware and mindful of your thoughts, feelings, physiological changes in your body and any emotions you might be experiencing.
Use visual reminders to stay connected with yourself and appreciate your positives (e.g., photos; flowers).
Put negative thoughts, worries and stressors into perspective and take a broader approach to better evaluate them, identify your resources, learning and strengths to help you make healthier decisions and move forward.
Focus on what you have control over. Take time to appreciate yourself and your hard work. Look at your positives and remind yourself that you don't have full control over most outcomes.
Accept that pain and suffering are part of life and you don't always have a lot of control.
Keep in mind that your emotional boundaries will likely change over time.
Maintain your compassion, connection and empathy without overly taking on someone else's pain or suffering or tragedy.


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Women's Equality Hartford
with Cindy Wolfe Boynton on the CT Chapter of the National Organization of Women
https://comcastnewsmakers.com:443/Videos/2019/7/24/Women's-Equality-Hartford
Connecticut is typically pro-women and supports gender equality. CT Chapter of the National Organization for Women's Cindy Wolfe Boynton discusses fighting for women's personal, professional and political empowerment throughout the state and nation.
Hosted by: Eric Clemons Produced by: Western New England Newsmakers Team
#Connecticut #General Interest
Other videos hosted by Eric Clemons
How FoodShare Identifies Communities Disproportionately Impacted By The Pandemic
Most folks seeking Connecticut Foodshare services during the pandemic were new faces. Foodshare's Institute for Hunger Research and Solutions is working to identify areas of the highest need in order to provide food more equitably. Katie Martin explains.
Food, Shelter, Safety, Disaster Relief: How The Salvation Army Helps Communities...
Food, Shelter, Safety, Disaster Relief: How The Salvation Army Helps Communities in Need.
Sheltering the homeless, feeding the hungry, protecting the vulnerable; The Salvation Army Southern New England Divisional Commander, Major Debra Ashcraft, discusses the work they do to identify community challenges and provide critical services.
This Nature Center Home to Nearly 20 Birds of Prey Including Owls and Hawks
Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center is known for rescue and rehabilitating wild birds of prey including owls and hawks. Nature Center Executive Director Davnet Conway discusses preserving the natural environment for wildlife as well as educational programs.
From Educational Programs to Public Sails Aboard The Onrust
The Onrust, a re-creation of the vessel Adriaen Block built in 1614, hosted at the Connecticut River Museum provides youth educational programs and public sails. Executive Director, Jennifer Carlson talks about the significance of the historic vessel.
Tackling the Rise in Food Insecurity, Housing Instability and Basic Needs
"Fifty percent of the people coming through the line had never needed to rely on that kind of service before". United Way of New Haven President and CEO, Jennifer Heath, talks a rise in food insecurity caused by the pandemic as well as other basic needs.
Impact of COVID on Social and Emotional Learning
Boys and Girls Club of West Springfield Executive Director, Dan D'Angelo discusses impacts of the pandemic on youth, work around social and emotional learning, updates to the computer lab; including Macs, 3D printers, Chromebooks and growing back numbers.
Feeding the Food Insecure in CT
Foodshare recently merged with the Connecticut Food Bank, both are long time food in the state- leading the fight to end hunger in CT. President and CEO, Jason Jakubowski, joins Newsmakers to discuss the extent of food insecurity in the state.
How This Connecticut Organization is Transforming Lives
Living in poverty, being homeless, not having fresh nutritious foods or not having a job. Chrysalis Center provides wrap around services for these critical issues facing the community. Adria Giordano shares about resources help break this cycle.
Navigating Obstacles Women and their Children Face
YWCA New Britain Executive Dir., Tracey Madden-Hennessy, talks the many services for women, especially those with children under the age of eight including childcare, education, teen program, sexual assault crisis services and other women focused issues.


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Interview with Freemelt's newly appointed CEO
Nasdaq First North-listed Freemelt is watched by Redeye, which specializes in innovative and fast-growing Nordic companies. Freemelt is a high-tech growth company whose groundbreaking solution creates new conditions for rapid growth in 3D printing. The company's protected technology – which has already begun to be sold – takes 3D printing to a new level and provides new conditions for printing products in a cost-effective way and to an even and high quality that was previously impossible.
Redeye has interviewed Freemelt's new CEO Daniel Gidlund who talks about his background and why he has taken the step to Freemelt. Redeye is doing commissioned analysis for Freemelt.
Link to interview: https://youtu.be/rXJ5nyvUWz8
Follow Freemelt: https://www.redeye.se/company/freemelt
Daniel Gidlund, CEO
daniel.gidlund@freemelt.com
Freemelt is a high-tech company whose ground-breaking solution creates new opportunities for rapid growth in 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing. The company's protected technology enables cost-effective printing to a consistent and high quality. By choosing an open-source solution, the conditions are created for strong growth and expansion towards manufacturing markets. Freemelt was founded in 2017, is listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Markets, has 34 employees, head office in Gothenburg and a manufacturing unit in Linköping. Read more at www.freemelt.com.
CEO Daniel Gidlund
Interview with Freemelt's newly appointed CEO
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Beyoncé's Spanish Single Set to Dominate the World
Beyoncé dominates the world stage with her singles
It feels like global superstar Beyoncé certainly has the Midas touch. The American singing sensation has spent the better part of a decade releasing smash hits, but one market in particular proved to be resistant to her musical charm; the Spanish language market.
It looks like this could all change soon though as Beyoncé recently released her new single Mi Gente (My People); a remix to raise funds for the victims of the recent hurricane in Puerto Rico and people from the other affected areas in the Caribbean. The single will also support the victims of the Mexican earthquake.
This fact alone would be enough to send Beyoncé into the Spanish mainstream – not that she was ever considered an unknown – and it comes on the heels of the Spanish song Despacito becoming the most streamed song in history.
Music experts believe that Beyoncé singing in Spanish will inspire more Latino singers to go back to their native language rather than writing and releasing songs in English.
Forbes predicts that Mi Gente is set to become a smash hit around the world, helping to spread the vibrant Spanish language to a wide global audience.
Beyoncé is set to add a touch of her own magic to the party – ensuring that the Spanish language will cement itself squarely into the minds of many musical fans across the world and boosting the popularity of learning Spanish as a second language in the process.
Labels: Beyoncé's, Dominate, Single, Spanish, World
Survey Shows Choosing the Right Supermarket in Spain saves Up to €3,000
The cost of living in Spain is still
considerably cheaper than Northern Europe
The price differences between the cheapest and most expensive supermarkets in Spain could be as much as €3,013 per year for some regions according to a new consumer group study.
If you're shopping at Alcampo – the cheapest Spanish supermarket chain – in Madrid, then you could be spending an average of €2,850 a year to feed your family; much less than the €7,329 per year you would be spending with Sanchez Romero; the most expensive supermarket chain.
The survey was performed by the Organization for Consumers and Users (OCU) and it found that the average disparity between the cheapest and most expensive stores in Spain is €909 per year.
Madrid and Barcelona are where the most expensive Spanish supermarkets can be found, with the city of Granada in Andalucía is home to the cheapest; the Dani Supermarket of Melchor Almagro Street, which is beloved by students for the cheap prices. Alcampo in Vigo is the second-cheapest Spanish supermarket, followed by an additional three Dani chains in Granada.
The city of Granada has the distinction of being the cheapest city in Spain for grocery shopping. The average shopping bill is around €4,051 per year for the city. The figure could be lower if more people stuck with Dani, but the OCU analysis wished to paint a broad and realistic picture of Spanish grocery prices.
The data analysed over 164,000 prices across 1,137 stores across Spain, covering 233 different products in total including fresh food, hygiene commodities, and drugs. There's less choice in the smaller cities, making Crudad Real and Segovia two of the most expensive Spanish cities.
The cheapest chains after Alcampo were Mercadona, Simply Market, Carrefour, Maxi Dia, Eroski, and Lidl. Mercadona was the cheapest option for around half of all the Spanish cities in the study.
El Corte Ingles, Carrefour Express, and Supercor were some of the more expensive chains.
The data from the OCU shows that the German supermarket chain Lidl increased their prices by 4.3% compared to last year – the highest such increase in Spain – while Lupa, BM Urban, and Mas y Mas dropped their prices by between 2 and 3% compared to last year.
Labels: €3, 000, Choosing, Right, saves, Shows, Spain, Supermarket, survey
Spanish Property Puts a Price on the Feel-Good Factor
Spain has been recovering from its worst crisis since Franco day
and continues to do well in all sectors.
The raw data and the statistics gleaned from it might be effective for showing the strength of particular trends, but less tangible emotions come into play with things as life-altering as purchasing Spanish property.
When analysing the most recent positive data for Spanish property from last month, the leading property consultant of Knight Frank mentioned that what they called the "feel-good factor" had quite the positive impact on both the prices and amount of sales of property in Spain.
But just what is the "feel-good factor"? Is it possible to measure it? Or could it be considered the general sense of excitement about the current state of the Spanish economy?
Think about the last time you took a great holiday. You might not remember how much you spent, when your flight was, or even which hotel you stayed at. What you will remember though is how warm the sun was and how that made you feel; how you were relaxed when you felt the sand between your toes, and the wonder of al fresco dining with a warm evening breeze.
The Spanish property sector is being washed with similar positive waves. There's no doubt that rising house prices, increased sales volume, and interest in property from home and abroad underpins the overall positive vibe, but there's a real sense that it's Spain's time to shine under all the hard data.
There are some problems in the country of course, but Spain is certainly beaming after spending about a decade as the poor man of Europe. The effects are starting to spread to the Spaniards themselves, who now have more job security and better pay than they've seen in over a decade. Even the average holidaymaker and homebuyer is benefiting, as they have a wealth of choice, affordability, and quality waiting for them in Spain.
The summer may have ended for much of Europe now, but the sun is still shining – both figuratively and literally – across Spain and it looks like it's not about to set any time soon.
Labels: Factor, Feel-Good, Price, property, Spanish
Mortgage Approvals Increase 33% in Spain in Summer
The banks in Spain are slowly relaxing there rules and giving
mortgages again
The latest data from the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) shows that mortgage approvals during July increased 32.9% compared to the same month in 2016.
The data shows that some 24,863 home mortgages in total were granted across Spain in one single month. The average value of the mortgages also increased 3.8% year-over-year to €119, 613.
Overall Spanish banks loaned out a total of €2.97 billion in July, an 38% increase on the July of last year.
Things get interesting when comparing it to the month of June, as mortgage approvals dropped 15.8% in July compared to June. The likely cause for this is that July is the peak of the holiday season, when many potential buyers are focusing on spending time on the beach rather than spending their money on investments.
Andalucía in the Costa del Sol saw the most home mortgages granted, as 4,577 mortgages were approved in July. This was ahead of Madrid and Catalonia, which saw a respective 4,379 and 4,348 mortgages approved.
The popularity of Andalucía is kept high thanks to places such as Marbella, which has become one of the most popular choices for second homes in Spain. British, Irish, German, and Scandinavian buyers alike can't get enough of the area.
It looks like the uncertainty of an independence "referendum" has done nothing to deter investors in Catalonia. The real estate consultancy firm Sotheby's International Realty said that they have seen record sales in Catalonia as it appears investors are not nervous at all about the potential secession of the region.
Idealista collated data for house prices in Barcelona that showed the average property in the city has increased in value by 9.2% across 2017, which is another sign that politics is having little to no effect on investment.
One thing is clear, buying property in Spain continues to be very popular.
Labels: 33%, Approvals, increase, Mortgage, Spain, Summer
Beyoncé's Spanish Single Set to Dominate the World...
Survey Shows Choosing the Right Supermarket in Spa...
Spanish Property Puts a Price on the Feel-Good Fac...
Mortgage Approvals Increase 33% in Spain in Summer...


Human carbonyl reductase overexpression in the heart advances the development of doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity in transgenic mice.
Doxorubicinol (dxol) is the major metabolite formed in the hearts of cancer patients being treated with the widely used chemotherapeutic agent, doxorubicin (dox). The well-documented cardiomyopathy associated with dox treatment has been studied in vitro and ex vivo providing evidence that the C-13 hydroxy metabolite, dxol, might play a key role in the development of dox-induced cardiotoxicity. In this report, we have developed transgenic mice with heart-specific expression of human carbonyl reductase (HCBR), an enzyme that metabolizes dox to dxol. Dox was rapidly converted to dxol in the hearts of the transgenic expressers, which led to advanced development of both acute and chronic cardiotoxicity. Acute cardiotoxicity was evident by a 60% increase in serum creatine kinase activity and a 5-fold increase in cardiac damage measured by electron microscopy. Myofibril degeneration was the major damage observed in acute dox toxicity. Electrocardiograph telemetry, survival data, and electron microscopy were monitored during chronic dox-induced cardiotoxicity. HCBR expressers developed cardiotoxicity 6-7 weeks before the nonexpressers. The HCBR expressers survived for 5 weeks compared with 12 weeks for the controls. Electrocardiograph profiles and necropsies showed the cause of death to be the development of cardiomyopathies leading to congestive heart failure. Levels of dxol were four times higher in the HCBR expresser hearts than in the nonexpressers. Electron microscopy data showed swelling and major structural damage of the mitochondria in the HCBR expressers. These data demonstrate that the C-13 hydroxy metabolite of dox advances the development of dox-induced cardiotoxicity in an in vivo system and suggest that heart carbonyl reductase activity may contribute to dox-induced cardiotoxicity in humans.
1509783 - Cheyne-stokes respiration in congestive heart failure.
Department of Biology, Beckman Research Institute at the City of Hope, Duarte, CA 91010, USA.