Speaking of Albania, there was a sad little item the other day in the Cedar Lounge Revolution's continuing series of 'Left Archive' posts, viz. Communist Party of Ireland (Marxist-Leninist), Red Patriot, August 1982 (including Communiqué of the Central Committee of the CPI (M-L) on the Occasion of the Party's 12th Anniversary).
The Albanian connection is that the CPI(M-L) had been Ireland's main (only?) Mao-line Communist Party, with an international orientation towards two countries – the People's Republic of China and Enver Hoxha's Albania. Nixon's visit to China in 1971 led the relationship to get a bit strained, with the Albanians accusing their ally of revisionist tendencies. The death of the Great Helmsman in 1976, followed by an official visit to Beijing by the arch-revisionist Tito, led to an outright break (Nixon was bad enough, but this…!). In reaction, Albania declared itself the only Marxist-Leninist state in the world and China, understandably, turned off the aid tap. The Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) split in this period, with a pro-Albanian minority forming the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist), who we met earlier. (Update 3/7/10 Many thanks to running dog in comments, who pointed out that this is wrong in every particular. The Bainsite RCPB(M-L) (Wikipedia) was founded separately from Reg Birch's CPB(M-L), initially as the CPE(M-L); the RCPB's current Web site (yes, they're still going) translates the name of the party into Welsh, which may explain the name change. The CPB(M-L) in fact went with Albania as well. See also running dog's second comment, which came in while I was typing this update(!).) The Communist Party of Ireland (Marxist-Leninist), on the other hand, also went with Albania, although not without having to expel a couple of dissident factions.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, like its precursor, was big but not that big, a success but not yet a phenomenon. While we're aware now of the continuing and repeated elements in successive books – the relationships, the Sorting Hat, the compulsory Quidditch – it's actually quite surprising, coming back to Chamber of Secrets, to see how little it had in common with the first book. Harry's parents don't figure at all, for example, and Voldemort only appears in the form of a Horcmagical object (more of that later). What it does have in common with Philosopher's Stone is a plot consisting mostly of increasing suspense (cranked up really high this time round), resolved in a fast-paced action scene that doesn't make any sense at all – not even after Dumbledore has explained it.
I began my review of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by challenging J.K. Rowling's indignant denial that the book was "light and fluffy". Chamber of Secrets certainly isn't light and fluffy in any obvious way; the mood's gloomy and oppressive, with the first stirrings of that "everyone hates Harry" paranoid atmosphere which dominates the later books. The monster-movie horrors of the climactic big fight are undercut by the sheer daftness of the plotting – it's hard to care about a life-and-death struggle which the author seems to be making up as she goes along. But some of the plot twists along the way are genuinely grim (Dumbledore suspended, Hagrid sent to Azkaban, Hermione in a coma…).
– and begins to write, like le Guin or Pullman or even Tolkien, about real people who really get hurt? Yes and No – but mainly No. I don't know how I'm going to assess the fifth and six books when I wade thrread them again, but my sense is that the books never quite get free of fantasy (in that weightless, narcissistic sense of the word). This is a strength as well as a weakness – it leads to a kind of restless, unsatisfied chewing-over of the conditions of fantasy, as if Rowling felt compelled to prove that it can't work but couldn't quite bear to abandon it. But it does mean that, thematically, the books are more or less variations on a master-theme. It also means that Harry isn't likely ever to make it out into the real world, where lots of desires are impossible and lots of broken things can't be mended – not even to the extent that Ged or Frodo manage it.
I suggested before that Philosopher's Stone posed three questions about fantasy. First, is the hero superhuman, or is he at some level one of us – is he Sam Gamgee or Elrond, or somewhere in between? (Not that there's necessarily a straight line from one to the other; Philip Pullman plotted some unsettling variants on this scale in the Amber Spyglass.) Second, does the hero's special nature enable him to get whatever he wants, or will the world quietly, pointlessly get in the way? Third, does the hero have an infallible moral compass – are his friends good and his enemies evil? In that book, the answer to the third question was a definite "maybe", while the second got a quiet but unambiguous No: Harry's parents are dead and will stay that way. The answer to the first question was least satisfactory; the unenchanted human race is represented by the ghastly Dursleys, in comparison with whom Harry is simply loaded with midichlorians (and better looking with it).
All three questions are explored to considerably better effect in Chamber of Secrets than in the first book. The Dursleys are still ghastly, right enough, and there is still that slightly queasy adoption-fantasy sense that the Weasleys represent Harry's real family, but this time round the wizard/Muggle divide doesn't pass without authorial reflection. The issue is foregrounded through the revelation of the darker side of the Slytherin worldview, with Malfoy's use of 'Mudblood' as a term of abuse for Hermione (Harry's own parentage is thoroughly wizardly, of course). Slytherin was introduced in the first book as the house for cunning folk [who] use any means to achieve their ends (in the deathless words of the Sorting Hat) – and a house which might well suit Harry himself (who certainly isn't noted for adherence to the rules). But all we really found out about Slytherin kids was that they tended to be ghastly over-privileged snobs, and that (according to the normally trustworthy Hagrid) there's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. Incidentally, this untroubled mapping of the school onto the world at large is significant; at least, it's another sign that, when we enter Hogwarts, we're in the domain of fantasy. Rowling has said that, while she was planning the first book, I sat down and I created 40 kids who enter Harry's year … I got 40 pretty fleshed-out characters (more details here); she doesn't seem to have felt the need to draw any maps of the wizards' world. Setting aside the question of whether the parallel British wizard society could possibly be sustainable on a birth-rate of 40 per year, you've got to wonder if Voldemort had any following outside Britain – and if not, why not.
In any case, it's in Chamber of Secrets that we learn about Slytherin's volkisch streak, and this in turn affects the way we think about Harry's superior wizardliness. If Harry has something special about him – if the hero is endowed with superhuman qualities which lift him above our mundane level – then his gift can't be something he was born with, or at least not something he could have been predicted to be born with. It's no accident that the same book that introduces 'Mudbloods' also introduces 'Squibs', the unfavoured non-magical offspring of magical parents. (And there must be a hell of a lot of Squibs, unless the Weasleys are really way out on the right tail of the philoprogenitive curve – 40 per year, after all… They'd hardly need a Ministry of Magic, surely – a Greater Hogsmeade District Council would be ample. But never mind.) Hermione and Filch are both sports – magical ability comes and goes, and ultimately can't be predicted from a person's parentage or their external appearance. Magic itself is still pretty special – and the relationship between the magical world and ours isn't any clearer in this book. Still, the disavowal of any idea of wizards as a separate caste does something to undo – or at least pull against – the sense that there's a gulf of effortless superiority dividing Harry from the Dursleys, and other Muggles.
'Why,' demanded Ron, seizing her timetable, 'have you outlined all Lockhart's lessons in little hearts?' Hermione snatched the timetable back, blushing furiously.
Like Malvolio, Lockhart is at once a figure of fun and an annoyance, and his comeuppance is just as thorough as Malvolio's. The final twist of the plot sees him deprived of his memory, the very faculty that enabled him to stitch together the character he made of himself. As a result he's deprived of all significance, sidelined and reduced to an amiable childlike state. It's interesting that the book where Lockhart does his turn also sees the first appearance of a much more significant figure, Cornelius Fudge. In this respect Chamber of Secrets foreshadows the third book, in which the theme that Lockhart embodies in comic form is taken up in earnest by Fudge: this man may be complacent, self-seeking and incompetent, but people believe him – people who wouldn't, necessarily, believe you. There is stuff out there that's unavoidably in the way, stuff that you just have to work round; there are people out there who will get in the way, without necessarily being evil. Thematically, Lockhart is part 'omnipotence' and part 'moral compass'; in both respects this book moves on from the first one in some interesting ways.
'Voldemort put a bit of himself in me?' Harry said, thunderstruck.
By the time we reach the end of book six we know all about how, and why, "Voldemort put a bit of himself in me". (Settle down at the back there. This is family reading.) For now we're left with a revelation that complements the revelation at the end of the first book. There's something about Harry which protects him from evil, and which derives from his mother's self-sacrifice to save him from Voldemort. But there's also something about him which derives from Voldemort's attack itself; the implication is that this will tend to draw him back towards Voldemort and destruction, like a delayed-action homing device.
The extent to which these motifs represent moral complexity, or fictional maturity, is debatable. As I wrote in the context of the first book, it's arguable that Rowling is only going to leave the safety of comfort-zone fantasy for the equal and opposite safety of the discomfort zone – a fictional world whose heroes can be relied on to be powerless, unheroic, misguided and doomed. Lily's shielding love and Voldemort's contaminating Horcrinfluence are both all too compatible with a vision of Harry as an impotent plaything of fate, suffering horribly for his failure to attain the proper level of fantasy heroism. Whether they're also compatible with Harry living in a real world – albeit a real world with magic – is much more debatable.
As a genre, fantasy has something in common with utopian fiction. Utopias begin with a challenge – Let's say that everyone's happy – and then set about answering the questions that challenge provokes. The interest of a utopia is precisely which questions the author believes need to be answered: is it "Who will do the dirty jobs?" or "What about men?", "What about the idlers?" or "What about aggression?"? The way these questions are answered – and the way they're framed in the first place – tells us what the utopia is about, what drives it and sustains it – and by implication tells a story about what matters to us, in our world.
Fantasy fiction works a similar trick, at a less exalted – or perhaps simply a less programmatic – level. Let's say that there are these people who are not like us… and let's say they can get whatever they want… and let's say that there are good people and bad people, and the bad people are really easy to identify… I think that something like this set of assumptions lurks behind a lot of fantasy fiction, a kind of unacknowledged comfort zone that the narrative quietly hankers for. The skill of fantasy is then to pull against the tug of wish-fulfilment and play with these assumptions, thinking about their implications and their limits, working out whether people could actually live with them – and if so, how. And, again, the specific questions that get asked ("what about death?", "what about science?", "what about pride?") tell us what the fantasy is about – and, for the author, what matters in the world out here.
That's just a blurb, but I think the books are heavily involved with this weightless, comfort-zone version of fantasy – and that it accounts for a lot of what's most disappointing about them. By which I mean, most of what isn't plot or character, and some of what is. From the first chapter of Philosopher's Stone, we're encouraged to invest in Harry as a boy who has survived real traumas and will face more – "The boy who lived", with all that that phrase implies. Yet Harry's surroundings are pure wish-fulfilment. In an interview a while ago, J.K. Rowling said that she'd acquired an instant fan base among enthusiasts for boarding school education and believers in magic[k], and that she had no interest in either topic except as a fictional device. I thought at the time that this was an extraordinary admission – it's hard to imagine Anthony Buckeridge or Geoffrey Willans disclaiming any interest in schools. But then, Hogwarts isn't like any other school – even Linbury Court or St custard's. Those schools are described with an odd combination of quaint specificity and fantastical exuberance, which echoes the collision between childhood creativity and institutional routine. There are things you must and mustn't do, places you must and mustn't go, people you must respect and obey and avoid; how it all fits together is for you to find out – or imagine, in curlicues of private mythology. There's little of this about Hogwarts: the exuberance is all in the real magical trappings of the school, while the quaint specifics are all perfectly logical. As a school, Hogwarts is identifiable as a fantasy above all because it makes sense – there are things the teachers would rather not share with Harry and friends, but there's nothing that in principle they couldn't understand. Even the Jennings books are truer to the limits and the mysteries of childhood experience.
As for magic, to say that magic is real at Hogwarts isn't to say much more than that wishes come true there. Rowling's bluff scepticism about magic outside fiction contrasts oddly with peers like Ursula le Guin or Philip Pullman. Le Guin has always taken at least as much interest in fictional ethnography as in plotting, while Pullman concludes "His Dark Materials" by saying that magic is real, here, now – it's just that in our world it's called shamanism or the I Ching. Set against Ged's trances or Lyra's reading of the alethiometer – or even the solemn, meticulous cod-Tolkien of something like Christopher Paolini's Eragon series – spells like "Expelliarmus" or "Wingardium Leviosa" seem like awfully thin stuff. (Perhaps in the seventh book there'll be some explanation of why spells are written in something that looks like Latin but isn't. Or perhaps not.) There are odd moments when both the magic and the school setting come to life – think of Neville's trouble with passwords or Hermione's "Wingardium Levio-sah!" – but they're all too rare.
Despite all this – and despite a writing style in serious need of fluff removal – the books remain interesting, in large part because they do think about the implications and limits of fantasy. What's particularly interesting is the way that the three themes outlined above recur from book to book, sometimes being waved away in one book and chewed over more seriously in its successor.
In this respect, it has to be said, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone doesn't begin well. One of the key questions on the frontier between fantasy-as-speculation and fantasy-as-wish-fulfilment concerns the status of other people. To put it bluntly, are they real – specifically, are they as real as me? The fantasy setting offers plenty of opportunities to answer this in the negative, by allowing the reader to identify with the exceptional characters rather than the mere ordinary real people. Consequently, from an egalitarian perspective, many fantasy narratives are marred by either Tory paternalism (use your gifts to serve the less fortunate) or fascism (you have been raised up as a leader). Both Pullman and le Guin find ways around this trap. (It's worth noting that Tolkien avoided it completely, by vesting paranormal powers in divine beings and consecrated objects – and dissociating heroism from both.) Rowling walks straight into it, in the opening words of the first book.
Perfectly normal, thank you very much – reading that last phrase I can just see Michael Palin in a flat cap and Terry Jones in a skirt and a hat with cherries on top. It's a caricature of a certain kind of English middle-class normality, so broadly drawn that it hardly qualifies as satire and – by 1997 – very tired. The Dursleys, in short, are unreal from the word go – even before the relentless accumulation of negative character traits that follow in the next four chapters. They are the worst surrogate parents Harry could possibly have had, the least deserving of any kind of respect, consideration or reciprocity. The wizard/Muggle distinction gets more interesting in later books, but as far as Philosopher's Stone is concerned the Muggles par excellence are the Dursleys in all their grotesquerie. Which means that the people who matter are the people who are not like us – or at least, not like them, those boring ordinary people who go to work and watch TV. Score one for wish-fulfilment.
To be presented with an image of our desires – and to sit before it, entranced – is quite a good image of the spectacle, as the situationists conceived it. It's also a horribly telling critique of comfort-zone fantasy, that place where considerations of what is real or even possible don't apply. It's just a shame that the Mirror of Erised chapter is also the set-up for a really awful with-one-bound plot device (not to mention being one more example of Rowling's tin ear for language).
The other big question is that of distinguishing between good people and bad people – or rather, between 'good and bad' and 'friendly and unfriendly' – or rather, between he's a bad man and I don't like him – or rather, between he's a bad man and he doesn't like me. (This last one is quite a lot to ask of a twelve-year-old; unsurprisingly, it's a bit beyond Ron right to the end of this book. But then, that's what Ron's for.) As that awkward statement and restatement might suggest, this is a question that Philosopher's Stone chews over thoroughly; it's not what the book's about, but it's the main running theme. As you'll know if you've read this far, we're talking about Snape here (with whose help this theme will run and run). By the end of the book Harry has learned that Snape genuinely hates him; that he had some reason for hating Harry's father, if not Harry himself; that, despite all this, Snape didn't actually want Harry dead, and had in fact saved his life; and that somebody else was trying to kill him. It's a shocking and persuasive demonstration of the difference between 'evil' (will kill hero if possible) and 'unfriendly' (will mark hero's homework unfairly, but will save hero's life if necessary). It's only a partial break with comfort-zone fantasy; it's still assumed that 'evil' and 'death of hero' imply each other, which clearly isn't necessarily so (couldn't Snape hate Harry enough to kill him, without necessarily being in league with the forces of evil? come to that, couldn't the forces of evil do their evil work without Harry's death being involved?) But it is a partial break – a tear in the fabric of the comfort zone – and more, and worse, will follow.
And what the book's about? Love; specifically, Lily's love for Harry, which saved his life and continues to protect him from Voldemort.
Did he clearly die to try and protect Harry specifically given a clear choice? No. It's a subtle distinction and there's slightly more to it than that but that's most of the answer.
Love as self-sacrifice – or rather, self-sacrifice as love, as a gesture of love so powerful that it enfolds the loved one forever after. This is a fantasy, but it's a mother's fantasy, not a child's. It's also rather morbid, and makes me wonder what's in store for Harry's emotional development. The other implication of that phrase "the boy who lived" is that the remainder of Harry's life is a postscript to his first encounter with Voldemort, or at best a working-out of unfinished business. I wonder if Rowling is going to allow Harry at least to think about adulthood, and leave his mother's sacrificial embrace behind – or will he always be the boy who had been loved? We know now that he's never going to get together with that nice Hermione Grainger, but is anybody going to stay the course – or get the chance?
This doesn't sound like an important question – it sounds like I'm reducing fantasy to a soap opera plot, and taking that more seriously than it deserves. But it is important, because it brings us back to the nature of fantasy. The other side of comfort-zone fantasy is the fantasy of a world where the hero is special because he's marked out for destruction, he can't get anything he wants and the difference between good and evil equals the difference between him and everyone else. Call it the fantasy of the discomfort zone. It's an unrewarding, masochistic style of fantasy, but no less popular for that. Let Harry's life be a vapour trail that streaks from one self-immolating explosion to another, and the only progress we will have made is from weightless comfort to ungrounded discomfort. Tolkien, le Guin, Pullman – all of them have faced up to the idea of a fantasy-figure embarking on a life after fantasy, and in the process drawn attention to what their fantasies were really about (humility and pride, death and fear, desire and science). I hope Rowling can do likewise.
This kind of thing is partly a by-product of evangelism being banned in China. Partly also it's because the thought of 1.3 billion hellbound souls just gets evangelical sap rising. It's a particular obsession in the US. None other than Henry Luce said that the great mission of the United States was to Christianize China.
Apparently more recent editions bowdlerise the first line to "O'er lands both near and far", which dodges the point rather neatly.
I don't know if hearing that hymn at a formative age had anything to do with it, but a friend's younger brother later got religion in a big way and trained as a missionary. I was slightly startled by this, but much more so by his first posting, which was to a village in India. (No, look… they've got a religion, they've had it for ages and they seem quite happy with it… and I mean, different religions, they're all different, kind of, different pathways to the same… obviously you think Christianity's the best pathway and I respect that, but…) Still, it's not often these days that you get the chance to meet someone with a different mental universe, so I suppose we should be glad that the evangelical Christians are around.
The thinking here is, obviously, that the Jews won't convert until the second coming of Christ and the end of the world.
But then came Zionism – Christian Zionism, in particular. (Regina Sharif's Non-Jewish Zionism is terrific on this, if you can get hold of it.) For evangelical Christians, the rise of Christian Zionism meant that the Jews weren't available for conversion any more, even in imagination. (Another church-going memory is of a visiting preacher praying for "thy people Israel", who were having a bit of trouble in Lebanon at the time. I was taken aback – didn't our status as Christians rather depend on the Jews losing the franchise? – but apparently this kind of eschatological double-vision is quite common in some quarters.) The enthusiasm of parts of the American Right for Nationalist China – their willingness to give the Kuomintang practical as well as financial support, and to withhold recognition from the People's Republic until long after the game was up – has always intrigued me; it'd be interesting to see if the KMT fan base had much overlap with the Christian Zionist lobby. Perhaps, in the American evangelical imagination, Luce's vision of the conversion of the Chinese took the place of the conversion of the Jews – although, the American evangelical imagination being what it is, it was seen not as an ineffably distant prospect but as a project to be brought about as soon as possible. Lucky Chinese.
Back in the early seventies a couple of forward-looking sixth-formers at my school booked a series of acts, with varying degrees of success; Hatfield and the North were very nearly booked at one stage, but they ended up with Keith Christmas. I always wanted to be like those sixth-formers, but by the time I got there respect had given way to derision; they shouted at me in the corridors, in other words. (They called me 'Medusa', which was literate at least.) Anyway, Keith Christmas was pretty good; he could certainly bring off the long hair. The Albion Dance Band (as they then were) were also good, although I'd been hanging around all day with the people doing set-up and was out of my head on London Pride by the time they came on. And then there was Ivor Cutler, who disappointed some by not bringing his harmonium and disappointed me slightly by giving half a set to Phyllis April King (as she then was). I was prepared for the writing, as one of my sisters had left a copy of Cockadoodledon't! at home. The writing was good.
But Ivor Cutler is dead.
Years later I saw Ivor Cutler again; at least, it was either him or an elderly man of medium height who was determined to look as much like Ivor Cutler as possible. Our paths crossed on a bridge over the Thames – one of those railway bridges with the fenced-in pedestrian section to one side. (Blackfriars, Waterloo, I don't know.) I contemplated saying something but rapidly realised that I didn't have anything more cogent to say than "Hey, you're that Ivor Cutler, aren't you?". (Unlike my sister, I had never purchased any of his works.) I didn't say anything.
He has left a gap. The gap has many shapes; one of them is this. That's a good gap.
Nobody I know ever buys a volume of poetry.
Modern poets aren't saying anything anyone wants to read. Pop music has pushed poetry into obscurity. The only people who buy poetry are students, forced to do so for their courses, Eng Lit graduates, and people who themselves write poetry.
Well, all right – Ellis isn't actually wrong as such. (I'm a folk singer and, in a small way, a performance poet; I'd gone along that night primarily to do one of my own pieces, and was pleasantly surprised that Colin's work was actually worth listening to and reading.) But isn't this a bit like saying 'the only people who read blogs are people who themselves write blogs'? In other words, even if it's true, is it a problem?
I used to take poetry very seriously indeed; I used to aspire to be another Browning – or Tennyson at a pinch – with my poems appearing in the broadsheets and my collections selling the way celebrity biographies do now. Perhaps needless to say, I used to look on the poets who actually achieved success and gained a wide audience – from Pam Ayres right up to John Cooper Clarke – with the grestest of disdain: performance poetry? what would that be? It came as a disappointment to realise that, by and large, poetry was read by people who read poetry magazines: the conversation that was conducted in poems was no longer happening in the mainstream press, and the sheer brute genius of my poetry wasn't going to make it happen there. But the point is – the point always is – to find where there's a conversation happening and see if you can contribute to it. If you want poetic conversations, you can find them; they may not look like you expect them to, though.
The sheriff's men, and sunlight sweats the slug.
The bailiff bears the Bell, the Bell, away.
How should I love and I so young?
And so it ends. I don't know if it's a fragment of a longer piece; I certainly don't know what it's 'about'. It is an extraordinary piece of writing: a kind of verbal stained-glass window pieced together out of luminous, resonant images, and written almost entirely in the kind of poetically heightened language which has always seemed archaic but never actually been in common use ("pass us my robes, love, it's time I was off to lay the lily and the rose"). Perhaps it's about a girl being given in marriage and seeing herself as property being confiscated from her family home. Or perhaps that's an over-intellectual reading, and it's simply 'about' the lily and the rose, silver and gold, the window and the sun – and the sad alliterative fall of the bailiff bearing the bell away.
It's beautiful, either way. And it's another way in to what Lowell was trying to do with that poem, it seems to me: to write something that could carry both types of workload, functioning as a constellation of luminous images and at the same time as a critique of rural property relations. An exercise, as Ellis said, but an interesting one – and a reminder of how political good writing can be (and vice versa).


SPB wants to win again with a bilingual !
Moone Moonu Varthai (aka) Moone Moonu Varthai is a Tamil movie with production by Capital Film Works, SP Charan, direction by Madhumitha M, cinematography by Srinivasan Venkatesh, editing by Kiran Kanti. The cast of Moone Moonu Varthai (aka) Moone Moonu Varthai includes Arjun Chidambaram, Aditi Chengappa.


Brad Dutton from Hamilton, New Zealand is the our new Racer of the Fortnight.
Brad works as a Part & Accessories Manager at Rollos Marine , based in Hamilton NZ – a family business owned by Brad's parents.
Brad competes in a number of classes as a driver, observer and skier. He is looking to go to the 2011 worlds as an observer in Women's F2 & Junior Girls.
Brad has a number of titles and championships under his belt, they include: NZ National, North Island & Series Champion at Under 13, Under 16 and Under 19 level as a skier. NZ National and Series Champion as an observer in Under 13 Boys, Under 19 Girls, Ladies Open and Ladies F2 in the last 2 seasons. Went to the Worlds in 2003 as a Junior and gained a podium in round 4 and 4th overall. Come 2nd 3 times in the 100 Miler – The worlds longest circuit ski race.
Winning the Trans Tasman Challenge as team captain against Victoria in Australia.
Skiing the NZ Bridge to Bridge behind Aussie boat Noizworks with Cara Johincke, going the quickest i've ever been.
Gaining a worlds medal in the 2003 Worlds when i got 3rd in Junior Boys in Round 4.
Winning the Karen Cartmer Memorial Trophy for Outstanding Contribution to Ski Racing in NZ.
The NZ Bridge to Bridge is probably the most special to me because it is in my backyard and my parents business sponsor the race and has been a big part of my life for many years.
The 100 Miler is probably my favourite circuit race held at the Blue Lakes in Rotorua – such a picture perfect venue and such a gruelling race.
Is there a race or title that you want to win most ? Why?
The 100 Miler(been 2nd 3 times and 3rd twice) because it is the longest most gruelling race we have here in NZ and possibly the worlds.
At the moment I am not skiing as much but still try to do a bit of training – mainly Mountain Biking and a bit of social skiing, planking etc. Did a lot more gym work when i was skiing competitively all the time.
Be Humble in victory and defeat and let your skiing do the talking. Ski Racing is 90% mental.
Its not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog.


Yes, today is my birthday and this is my 100th post! Which makes me wonder two things...#1 how did I get so old? and #2 how did it take me so long to reach 100 posts. But in honor of my birthday (and 100th post) I wanted to give a present (since I got such awesome ones), so I decided to give away one of my most recent springy charts, your choice. #1 Spring ABC's by Lizzie Kate #2 Peep also by Lizzie Kate or #3 Are you my Mother? by Bent Creek. So leave a comment and I will pick a winner on April 1st.
For my birthday I went on a little shopping spree this morning at my LNS. I was missing a bunch of threads I needed for all my crazy January challenge projects. And the sweetest part is boyfriend said the spree got to be one of my surprise b-day presents. He also took the day off work to spend the afternoon with me digging our new sunflower garden out back, and arrived home last night with a gorgeous strawberry cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory, so I have been well spoiled for my birthday. My big present though I got two weeks ago, which was tickets to go see the musical "Wicked", it was amazing. And for the first time I got to sit on the ground floor of our local auditorium. I have seen other shows there, but always from the cheaper 2nd or even 3rd floor balconies. Now I don't know if I can go back to the cheap seats. It was such a great show, and a wonderful date night for us.
Ok, so enough gushing about sweet boyfriend and back to x-stitch. The above little pillow was just finished this week. It is out of Cross-Stitch and Needlework magazine from May 2009. I picked up the magazine at our local book sale they have at the fairgrounds every February. I go every year, and it is so exciting finding old crafty magazines and books for a dollar each. I always go home with bags full of books.
I hope everyone is as happy as I am on my birthday, and has a wonderful weekend ahead.
So this is another Lizzie Kate, "Peep", finished for my spring shelf. Is it weird how much pleasure it gave me to see it was a limited edition chart, and I have #1113 out of like 1400. I normally don't buy kits, but this one was so cute, and quick to stitch. This border fabric I found at Jo-Anns for 40% off already for Easter sales. And the ric-rack came from Hobby Lobby (which normally is not my first choice for sewing stuff, but they do have a nice selection of ribbons and trim).
And another shot of our neighborhood wildlife. Yesterday afternoon there were 6 of them perched on top of our tame ones cage. Of course by the time I fumbled my camera out they took off. I think some of them must have started out tame and were escapees. It is amazing how close a few of them will let me get. Hope everyone has a great weekend ahead. I will be trying to get my spring garden in the ground, before it reaches 100 degrees and boiling here in Arizona.
So when all else fails my answer is to ask/plead/beg with my mom. I was so frustrated with trying to sew on the eyelet trim to this little pillow, that I finally stuffed it all in a ziploc bag and said "FORGET IT!". I then turned my ziploc bag of failure over to my mother. Bless her, she didn't laugh when she had to rip out multiple rows of tangled thread. Nor did she question why I was using red bobbin thread with white top thread (sheer laziness). My mom is of the generation where sewing was a necessity and not just a hobby to learn. Sewing to her is a skill for mending/making things, not just for creativity. So this, what was a mountain of impossible for me, was simple as pie for her. Thanks MOM!
And this is my spring shelf. I mentioned it a few posts back, how I wanted to fill the towel bar with ornaments. And I have, just in time for spring, with a little help from mom of course.
This is the only one of my spring ornaments finished by my own hand. Prairie Schooler, I think the name of the chart is "Bunnies & Chicks". I outlined the border of it with little white seed beads. This has been hiding in my "done but not done" box since 2 springs ago, so I am glad to have it out and displayed for this year.
Lizzie Kate "Happy Spring". I love her smaller patterns for ornaments. I have Spring Crazy and the Fall Crazy charts. Below is also a Lizzie Kate.
And this is Bent Creek "Are you my Mother?". The circle mat around it was custom made by me with some scrap booking papers and a very sharp craft knife. I laugh at the frame. After my last post bragging about how I find such cute frames at Goodwill I bought this one for $1.50 at Goodwill thinking how hard it is to find square frames. So I get it home and turn it over to pop the back off of it, only to find an orange clearance sticker on the back saying it was sold for .99 cents at IKEA. I'm counting the .50 cent mark up as the gas I saved from not driving to IKEA.
So if you have read my blog for a while now, you may know I often shop for my frames at Goodwill and other assorted thrift/consignment stores. I love finding something unique for a good deal (ok I admit I really really like the thrill of finding a good deal). And I have found some pretty cool frames there. But also while browsing I normally find at least one piece of stitchery among the assorted "artwork". And I always feel a little sad to see someone's hard work and time and love donated away. Especially the ones that have some loving inscription on the back. I try and restrict myself from buying ones I wouldn't actually hang in my home (strangers birth sampler from 1982--yes those ones). But anything else is fair game, and I have actually found alot of ones I would have stitched myself, recent designs from designers I have even heard of. So here is my tour de Goodwill. None of these have been stitched by me, but all have found a place in my home. The one on top is a Bent Creek design, done in 2000 for someone named Kris. Very nice frame and matting, as are most of the ones I discover.
This one I am not sure you would call it cross stitch, maybe more embroidery. It's done on a cloth like material, but isn't stamped. The stitches are HUGE. The centers of the flowers are all french knots, dozens and dozens of tiny french knots. This piece measures about 3 feet tall, and I love that it has a bird for each season. No inscription on the back of this one.
This one was done in 1987 for "Grandma and Grandpa from Sandy". No idea who the designer was, but love the pinks of it.
This one is obviously a Shepherd's Bush design, I love the light green frame with it.
Another huge one, professionally framed and matted. This one is about 2ftx 2ft. The colors are a little dated, but bright and cheery none the less.
These two are I think Sweetheart Tree? Very intricate stitching and beading, and beautiful frames on both. I definitely would have stitched these ones myself if I had seen them finished. Some designs are just "Meh" when you see the chart, but once you see them stitched they are "wows". That's how this designer is for me.
And this last one was stitched in 1988. It is about two 2 1/2 feet wide. Thanks to my assistant my oldest daughter for so patiently holding up all my "found" cross stitch. Hopefully if I raise her with a love of crafting none of my stuff will ever see the inside of Goodwill.


Help Meadowview "BUY THE BOG", tomorrow May 5th only!!!!
Tomorrow, May 5, is YOUR day to make a big difference in pitcher plant conservation by donating to Meadowview on the Community GIVE. The Community Give is a one day fund raising event for local non-profits in the Fredericksburg, VA region and is hosted by the Community Foundation of the Rappahannock River Region. Our goal this year is to raise $100,000 to both pay off the remaining $43K note on the Wilson tract and to purchase the M. Latka tract on the Central Virginia Preserve. Can you help with this effort? We are working on buying, protecting and restoring a series of connected properties to complete the Central VA Preserve to ensure protection of the rare northern-most pitcher plant bog in Virginia, a state threatened species (New Jersey Rush), a globally rare gravel bog, and to expand the Duff McDuff Green Jr. Birding and Wildlife Trail.
Please help us to "Buy the Bog" and ensure a future for these incredible plants.
The more money we raise, and the greater number of folks that donate money, make us eligible for CONSIDERABLE cash prizes which will benefit our conservation efforts. Each unique gift of $25 or more makes us eligible for these prizes.
bf9f4517e2e080d54b60-5d042625d2497788a3e4942b0dcedc70.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/cfrrr-1397854291.8001-icon-smallbutmighty.png "Small but Mighty" - $1,000 to the nonprofit that receive the most unique gifts during the following time periods. To qualify, the nonprofit must be operated entirely by volunteers OR have no more than 1 fulltime employee.
bf9f4517e2e080d54b60-5d042625d2497788a3e4942b0dcedc70.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/cfrrr-1397854313.6175-icon-thehoneywellcharitablefundgoldenticket.png The Honeywell Charitable Fund "Golden Ticket" - $500 "Golden Tickets" to two nonprofits that are drawn hourly and at random for 24 hours. To qualify, the nonprofit must receive at least one unique gift during the hour.
bf9f4517e2e080d54b60-5d042625d2497788a3e4942b0dcedc70.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/cfrrr-1397854431.9887-icon-thenoplacelikehome-carolinecounty.png "No Place like Home" Prizes - $1,500 to the 5 nonprofits that receive the most unique gifts from each of the localities that make up the Rappahannock River region. Prizes awarded based on the zip code of the donor.
Please let me know if you have any questions and I look forward to your conservation donation on May 5 during the Community GIVE!
Please help protect the headwaters of the Meadowview Central VA Preserve!!!


Rent a Dumpster in 94151 Now!
Simply give us a call and we will answer any questions you may have about the 94151 dumpster rental procedure, allowed materials, size you may need, etc.
Our roll off containers can usually be delivered in 94151 the day after you place your order. Make sure to call us early to ensure timely delivery.
The smallest size roll off dumpster usually available is 10 yards. This container will hold about 10 cubic yards of waste and debris, which is approximately equivalent to 3 to 5 pickup truck loads of waste. This dumpster is an excellent option for small-scale jobs, such as modest house cleanouts.
Other examples of jobs that a 10 yard container would function nicely for include: A garage, shed or loft cleanout A 250 square foot deck removal 2,000 to 2,500 square feet of single layer roofing shingles A small kitchen or bathroom remodeling job Concrete or dirt removal Getting rid of junk Be aware that weight restrictions for the containers are enforced, thus exceeding the weight limit will incur additional costs. The normal weight limit for a 10 yard bin is 1 to 3 tons (2,000 to 6,000 pounds).
A 10 yard bin will help you take care of little jobs round the house. When you have a bigger job coming up, take a look at some bigger containers too.
It's possible for you to put most kinds of debris into a dumpster rental in 94151. There are, however, some exclusions. For instance, you cannot put substances into a dumpster. That includes motor oil, paints, solvents, automotive fluids, pesticides, and cleaning agents. Electronics and batteries are also prohibited. If something poses an environmental danger, you likely cannot place it in a dumpster. Get in touch with your rental company if you are uncertain.
Certain forms of acceptable debris, however, may require additional fees. In the event you plan to throw away used tires, mattresses, or appliances, you need to ask the rental company whether you are required to pay another fee. Adding these to your dumpster may cost anywhere from $25 to $100, depending on the item.
If you need to rent a dumpster in 94151, you will find that prices vary considerably from state to state and city to city. One means to get actual quotes for the service you need will be to call a local dumpster business and ask regarding their prices. You can even request a quote online on some sites. These sites may also contain full online service that's always open. On these sites, you can choose, schedule and cover your service whenever it's convenient for you.
Factors that affect the price of the container contain landfill fees (higher in certain places than others) as well as the size of the container you select. You also need to consider transportation costs as well as the kind of debris you will be setting into your container.
Price quotes for dumpster rental in 94151 commonly contain the following: the size of the container, the kind of debris involved, the base price for the dumpster, how much weight is included in the estimate, a specified rental period and delivery and pickup fees.
Renting a 40 yard dumpster will get you a container that holds about 40 cubic yards of waste. Dumpster sizes and dimensions are not totally conventional from company to company, but common measurements for a 40 yard container are 22 feet long by 8 feet wide by 8 feet high. This is the largest size that most dumpster businesses commonly rent, so it is perfect for large residential projects as well as for commercial and industrial use.
In case you're seeking to rent a dumpster in 94151, one of your main considerations is going to be price. There are generally two pricing options available when renting a dumpster in 94151. Flat rate is pricing determined by the size of the dumpster, not the amount of material you put in it. Per ton pricing will charge you based on the weight you need hauled.
One kind of pricing structure is not always more expensive than the other. Should you know just how much material you have to throw away, you might get a better deal with per short ton pricing. On the other hand, flat rate pricing is able to help you keep a limitation on prices when you're dealing with unknown weights. Whether you consistently rent dumpsters for work or just need a one-time rental for a job round the house, you want to look around to find the best rental prices predicated on your own needs.
2. Give you and also the rental business lots of time. It is best to call ahead at least a week or two before you need the dumpster. If you try to schedule an appointment sooner than that, you might have a small variety.
3. Keep in touch with all the rental business. If anything changes in your program, contact the firm as soon as possible to tell them. This way you can adjust the appointment as needed without limiting your choices.
Virtually all roll of dumpsters have exactly the same width (normally eight feet). That makes it feasible for companies to use the same trucks to transport a wide variety of dumpsters. When you see a dumpster's measurements, Thus , you can assume that they refer to depth and span. You may even see dumpster sizes recorded by yards. This actually refers to square yards that measure the dumpster's volume.
In the event you're coordinating a large commercial job, then you'll likely need a 40-yard dumpster or bigger. Substantial house renovations may demand a 30-yard dumpster, but most smaller home repairs only want 20-yard or even 10-yard dumpsters. Speak to an expert in case you want more advice on deciding on a dumpster size that matches your project.
When you rent a roll off dumpster, you may be tempted to throw anything and everything inside. Common items that folks generally dispose of in a dumpster comprise solid waste material and most routine household and building waste, together with tree limbs and landscaping debris. They can also be utilized for company and commercial cleanouts, home renovations, getting rid of trash when you're moving to another house, larger landscaping jobs and much more.
A record of things you CAn't set in a roll off dumpster includes paints and solvents, automotive fluids, pesticides, chemicals, electronics and batteries. If you try to contain these items, you will probably end up getting an additional fee. Other items that will undoubtedly incur an additional fee include tires, mattresses and appliances. Additional heavy materials are also not permitted; items that are too heavy may surpass government transfer regulations and be unsafe to haul.


Kung-Fu Master! streaming: where to watch online?
A lonely 40-year old woman finds herself shattering taboos by falling in love with the 14-year old Julien – but is it romance, or a desperate attempt to turn back time in the face of middle age?
Currently you are able to watch "Kung-Fu Master!" streaming on Kanopy, Fandor or rent it on Amazon Video online.


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Athlete Integrity
S4A Team Program
S4A Coaches Program
S4A Tournament Program
Expert Witness Expertise
Public Speaking + Education
Katherine Starr
S4A Team Program.
An Amateur Sports Program That IS Safe for Athletes
Sports teams that have policies and procedures in place allow for concerns of abuse to be addressed in a timely fashion. The #1 problem for athlete abuse is figuring out who has the POWER and JURISDICTION to do something about it. Becoming a Safe4Athletes teams puts the power back in the hands of the athletes. It is very important for every team to emphasize to their coaches, athletes, employees, volunteers, and parents that athlete safety and welfare policies do not imply distrust and are not intended to portray coaches or others as "villains." Similarly, athlete safety and welfare policies restrict the actions and behaviors of coaches and others in order to maximize the possibility that we will be able to protect program participants from the harm caused by one person with malicious intent.
S4A Team Model
To ensure integrity, a Safe4Athletes Team commits to doing four things:
ADOPT POLICIES that (a) require criminal background checks for coaches, volunteers, and others before they are permitted to work directly with children and (b) clearly define prohibited conduct in a detailed way, from poor instruction or supervision practices and bullying behaviors, to more serious allegations of professional misconduct such as sexual harassment, or physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. Coaches, employees, and volunteers sign a code of conduct agreement acknowledging having read and understanding their obligation to adhere to the policy.
EDUCATE TEAM COACHES, ATHLETES, AND VOLUNTEERS about these inappropriate behaviors and the existence of a team conduct policy that must be followed.
Appointment of Athlete
Welfare Advocates (AWA)
APPOINT two parents or other volunteers as ATHLETE WELFARE ADVOCATES (AWA) TO ASSIST TEAM ATHLETES. Athletes are often afraid of confronting more powerful coaches or even their own parents when faced with a distressing situation. The AWA distributes educational materials and invites athletes to call or email to schedule a confidential conversation if they need help handling any situation that makes them feel uncomfortable or unsafe.
Accountability Measures
Establish and implement the following appropriate procedures that will restore a safe environment if misconduct occurs:
Availability of an Athlete Welfare Advocate to meet in a confidential and supportive environment to assist the athlete (and/or parents) in identifying and addressing the concern.
Immediately correct any hostile environment or situation that threatens the safety and well-being of participants.
If appropriate in the case of minor transgressions, the Athlete Welfare Advocate works with the team president to resolve the situation to the satisfaction of the affected athlete (and his/her parents) or initiate a formal complaint.
In more serious situations, temporarily suspend the coach or other individual accused of misconduct for the duration of the complaint process that includes the following elements:
The AWA represents or accompanies the athlete who is never required to confront her/his alleged abuser.
The accused is given notice of all charges.
The team appoints an impartial Fact Finder to interview all parties.
The accused receives a full hearing and the opportunity to submit a detailed written statement to the Fact Finder.
The Fact Finder presents the facts and recommendations, including the statements of the accused, the complainant, and all witnesses to an Ethics Panel that determines if team policy was violated and, if necessary, imposes appropriate sanctions.
The team reports any coach or volunteer determined to have committed serious misconduct and whose employment or affiliation with the team was terminated to the team's national sports governing body (NGB), with a request to revoke the individual's membership and the ability to coach or to be affiliated with all NGB member teams.
Athlete Welfare Advocate
As a Safe4Athletes Team, the coaches, amateur athletes, and parents are all interconnected with a Safe4Athletes Athlete Welfare Advocate (AWA) at the core, who is on-site working to ensure accountability of the program. When a challenge is presented, the Athlete Welfare Advocate works with S4A's internal staff to remedy the situation on a local, state, and national level efficiently to defer further escalation.
The role of the AWA is to act on behalf of the athlete to ensure the athlete's safety, always considering the imbalance of power between participants and adults (coaches and others) who are in positions of authority, NOT a person whose role is to protect the team or its employees. S4A prefers to have two Athlete Welfare Advocates on-site, giving athletes a choice of a person they are most comfortable in speaking with about sensitive topics. The team should consider having both a male and female AWA.
Integrity Guidelines for an Athlete Welfare Advocate
Child-Friendly, Victim-Friendly Listener. The AWA should be someone who understands "child friendly" communication and is approachable.
Confidant. If the athlete wishes to have his or her name kept confidential, then only the AWA knows his/her identity, and the AWA represents the athlete in any meetings with the Fact Finder.
Independent. In order to maintain a position of independence, the AWA should not be a member of the board of directors of the team or serve the team in any other capacity.
AWAs are important people for athletes to rely on when they need help thinking through and talking about stressful situations. Teams should care about the safety and welfare of all participants and hope that any athlete who may be the victim of abuse — whether it is sexual, bullying, harassment or other improper misconduct by a coach, peer, parent, volunteer or staff member — feels safe enough to speak to an AWA. With this athlete assistance focus in mind, the AWA must be open to gaining the confidence of the athlete and developing a trusting relationship that will encourage factual, honest, and open dialogue. The AWA needs to keep in mind that they are the advocate for the athlete and their purpose is to hear the concern and then act on behalf of the athlete by working with others on the team to develop a resolution.
Do you want to become an Athlete Welfare Advocate or want to become a Safe4Athletes Team?
Pricing + Value
Local-Based Policies and Procedures for all types of sports and teams to adopt
Provide training to Athlete Welfare Advocate via monthly Zoom calls.
Online Readiness Tool Kit (Checklist of deliverables to become a S4A Team).
Safe4Athletes support for issues that arise for athletes, parents, and Athlete Welfare Advocates.
Walk point of contact through policies from start of issue through to resolution.
Provide recommendations based on the facts provided.
Pricing tiers based on team* size
Implementation fee/maintenance Fee (Yearly) $500.00 per team (regardless of size)
100 Athletes and Below
$15 per athlete
101-250 Athletes
Above 250 Athletes
*Colleges and high schools (Public or Private) structured pricing based on request.
Safe4Athletes has policies, procedures, and educational materials that teams can use to implement a Safe4Athletes program.
USE OF SAFE4ATHLETES LOGO AND SAFE ENVIRONMENT STATEMENT
Teams that adopt these policies and procedures are asked to use the Safe4Athletes logo and advocacy statement on their website and printed materials.
Empowering Athletes to Win from Within
We foster safe, abuse-free, and positive environments that reinforce integrity in sport. Contact Us
Subscribe to S4A Emails
© Safe4Athletes 2021. All Rights Reserved.

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Cases reported "Latex Hypersensitivity"
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1/67. Latex allergy in an orthognathic patient and implications for clinical management.
A 19-year-old girl with mild asthma had had 16 months of orthodontic treatment as part of the joint orthodontic/orthognathic approach to her 9.5 mm overjet. At the time of banding her second molars she developed latex protein allergy as a reaction to the operator's non-sterile powdered latex gloves. She also gave a history of allergy to other substances as well as of eczema. The patient was confirmed as allergic to latex protein by radioallergosorbent test (RAST) for IgE, requiring precautions be taken during further orthodontic procedures as well as during the subsequent orthognathic surgery for the underlying Class II skeletal pattern. ( info)
2/67. Contact urticaria to the MCU-2A/P gas mask.
A case of contact urticaria to the silicone rubber in the MCU-2A/P gas mask is presented. Contact urticaria is a type I hypersensitivity reaction mediated by immunoglobulin e that usually manifests as localized erythema, edema, pruritus, and urticarial plaques. It can also cause systemic reactions, including anaphylaxis. Allergic reactions to silicone rubber have been increasingly reported and are of importance in medical and military personnel. The implication of such a diagnosis in an active duty military member is significant because the individual cannot be worldwide-qualified. The correct diagnosis of allergic skin reactions to personal protective gear is critical to maintaining a strong fighting force and protecting military personnel from potentially life-threatening allergic reactions. ( info)
3/67. Latex allergy in atopic children.
The incidence of positive circulating specific immunoglobulin e (IgE) antibodies to latex and evidence of clinical latex sensitivity appears to be increasing since its first description in 1979. Although heightened medical awareness may be a factor, exposure to latex products, particularly rubber gloves, has increased since the discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (hiv). Atopic individuals are at greater risk of developing latex sensitivity. We identified seven children with atopic eczema who were known to have clinically significant latex allergy and examined the relationship of prior exposure to latex gloves. All children had significant serum levels of specific IgE to latex. Before developing clinical symptoms of latex allergy, all had been exposed to latex in the form of gloves during either inpatient or outpatient treatments of their skin. Exposure of atopic individuals to latex gloves could be a major risk factor for sensitization and could increase the incidence of serious reactions. ( info)
4/67. Latex anaphylaxis causing heart block: role of ranitidine.
PURPOSE: Treatment with H2 receptor antagonists may cause the heart to be more susceptible to atrioventricular conduction delay when exposed to an overwhelming insult by histamine released during an anaphylactic reaction. We present the case of a woman, pretreated with ranitidine, who developed 3:1 heart block secondary to latex anaphylaxis. We propose that H2 antagonist premedication alone in patients susceptible to anaphylaxis increases their risk of heart block. CLINICAL FEATURES: A 38 yr old obese woman with cervical cancer presented for a radical hysterectomy. Systems review yielded a history of sleep apnea, orthopnea, gastroesophageal reflux, and sciatica. Medications included preoperative ranitidine, 150 mg. There was no history of atopy or allergy. Following general anesthesia induction, at the onset of the surgical procedure the patient developed a severe anaphylactic reaction which was heralded by the onset of 3:1 heart block, with decreases in SpO2, P(ET)CO2 and a decrease in systolic blood pressure to 45 mmHg. This was diagnosed as a possible latex reaction and treated using epinephrine boluses and infusion, fluids, 50 mg diphenhydramine, 50 mg ranitidine and 100 mg hydrocortisone. Following a 48 hr stay in the ICU the patient made an uneventful recovery. Allergy testing with intradermal latex injection and increased plasma tryptase levels confirmed a latex anaphylaxis. CONCLUSION: The use of H2 antagonists alone as a prophylaxis for gastroesophageal reflux may increase the risk of heart block in patients who develop anaphylaxis. ( info)
5/67. Glucocorticosteroid treatment for cerebrospinal fluid eosinophilia in a patient with ventriculoperitonial shunt.
BACKGROUND: cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) eosinophilia commonly occurs in patients with ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunts and is associated with shunt complications such as obstruction or infection. Glucocorticosteroids (GCS) are effective in reducing eosinophilia and eosinophils in skin, nasal mucosa, and airway epithelium. Effects of GCS on CSF eosinophils has not been reported. OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate glucocorticosteroid effects on the CSF eosinophil levels and to propose that GCS may be used as a therapeutic agent for CSF eosinophilia. RESULT: A case report of a patient with congenital hydrocephalus and a VP shunt developed CSF eosinophilia associated with latex allergy and shunt malfunction. Daily treatment with 2 mg/kg of methylprednisolone was associated with reduced peripheral eosinophilia and slightly reduced CSF eosinophil counts. pulse methylprednisolone, 15 mg/kg, was associated with complete reduction of CSF eosinophils and prolonged VP shunt survival. CONCLUSION: Systemic glucocorticosteroids effectively reduce CSF eosinophils. Glucocorticosteroids may be beneficial for treatment of CSF eosinophilia associated with VP shunt malfunction. ( info)
6/67. latex hypersensitivity in a child with diabetes.
BACKGROUND: A 6-year-old girl who was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus 20 months previously developed erythematous, raised lesions at the site of her insulin injections. The reactions occurred when isophane and lispro insulin were administered individually or combined but not when insulin was obtained from the bottle after the septum had been removed. OBJECTIVES: To describe latex hypersensitivity in a child with diabetes and to review the literature. DESIGN: Case report. RESULTS: Findings from intradermal testing confirmed latex hypersensitivity. A change to insulin administration by insulin pen decreased the frequency of the reactions. CONCLUSION: latex hypersensitivity should be considered in children with type 1 diabetes who develop local reactions to insulin injections. ( info)
7/67. Allergy to local anaesthetic: the importance of thorough investigation.
A case report is presented which highlights the importance of a good history in arriving at the correct diagnosis in cases where allergy to local anaesthetic is suspected. Management of the patient is discussed and the topic of 'adverse reaction' briefly reviewed. ( info)
8/67. Current perspectives on the perioperative management of the latex-allergic patient.
The increasing incidence of latex allergy necessitates thorough preanesthetic screening for risk factors, which will be delineated in this article, that are associated with latex allergy. The pathophysiology, epidemiology, and testing procedures for latex allergy will be reviewed. This case report will illustrate the management of a patient who was found to be latex-sensitive during surgery and the management of intraoperative anaphylaxis is provided. Safe perioperative care can be provided for latex-sensitive patients if latex avoidance techniques are used consistently. ( info)
9/67. Management of the latex hypersensitive patient in the endodontic office.
This case report documents the treatment of an endodontic patient who experienced a type 1 hypersensitivity reaction to latex. The dental, medical, and environmental aspects of treating latex allergic patients are reviewed. Because gutta-percha and latex rubber are similar compounds, the possible cross-reactivity of these materials is discussed. ( info)
10/67. Sudden bronchospasm on intubation: latex anaphylaxis?
I present a case of a patient with a history of cerebral palsy and asthma, living in a group home, who developed acute onset bronchospasm immediately after intubation. The patient developed hypotension 5 minutes after intubation. The bronchospasm lasted 20 minutes, and the case was complicated further by continued hypotension and a pneumothorax. A diagnosis of latex-mediated anaphylaxis was made in the intensive care unit after immunoglobin E (IgE), serum tryptase, and latex-specific IgE antibody were shown to be markedly elevated. This case report demonstrates that immediate onset of bronchospasm on intubation of an asthmatic patient is not always an asthma attack, and that other causes of bronchospasm should be considered in the differential diagnosis. patients with a history of atopy, including those with a history of asthma, have an increased risk of developing latex sensitivity. It is important to remember that more than one etiology may be responsible for this kind of bronchospasm, and that it may be difficult to differentiate between multiple etiologies of bronchospasm. ( info)
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December 29 - New Years Confetti - Make some spiral-cut chandeliers.
January 5 - This Little Light of Mine - Small glass jars are turned into candle holders with mod podge and tissue paper.
December 12 - Aurora Borealis Part One - With paint and glue, create some Aurora on heavy card stock.
December 19 - Aurora Borealis Part Two - Finish up your Northern Lights painting with silhouettes of trees, mountains and more.
January 26 - Swiftly Tilting Planets - Make brilliant spinning worlds with paint and glow-in-the-dark glue.


Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 is compatible with Public Mobile GSM, Public Mobile HSDPA and Public Mobile LTE.
To configure Public Mobile APN settings with Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 follow below steps.
For Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0, when you type Public Mobile APN settings, make sure you enter APN settings in correct case. For example, if you are entering Public Mobile Internet & MMS APN settings make sure you enter APN as sp.mb.com and not as SP.MB.COM or Sp.mb.com.
Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 is compatible with below network frequencies of Public Mobile. MediaPad T2 7.0 has variants BGO-DL09 and BGO-L03.
Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 has modal variants BGO-DL09 and BGO-L03.
Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 supports Public Mobile 2G on GSM 850 MHz and 1900 MHz.
Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 BGO-DL09 supports Public Mobile 3G on HSDPA 850 MHz and 1900 MHz.
Compatibility of Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 with Public Mobile 4G depends on the modal variants BGO-DL09 and BGO-L03.
Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 BGO-DL09 does not support Public Mobile 4G LTE.
Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 BGO-L03 supports Public Mobile 4G on LTE Band 4 1700/2100 MHz.
Overall compatibililty of Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 with Public Mobile is 100%. The compatibility of Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 with Public Mobile, or the Public Mobile network support on Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 we have explained here is only a technical specification match between Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 and Public Mobile network. Even Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 is listed as compatible here, Public Mobile network can still disallow (sometimes) Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 in their network using IMEI ranges. Therefore, this only explains if Public Mobile allows Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 in their network, whether Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 will work properly or not, in which bands Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 will work on Public Mobile and the network performance between Public Mobile and Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0. To check if Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 is really allowed in Public Mobile network please contact Public Mobile support. Do not use this website to decide to buy Huawei MediaPad T2 7.0 to use on Public Mobile.


GABON'S EDEN aims to promote the "Destination Gabon" and to make discover it to the lovers of nature and the ecotourism, the adventurers and all those who adore the encounters with other people. GABON'S EDEN is oriented towards ecotourism and sustainable tourism that is ecologically sustainable in the long term, economically viable and socially equitable by the profit of the local populations. For this reason, we rely on hotel partners, restaurateurs, transporters, guides and operators of leisure activities able to offer visitors of Gabon quality services.


The Open Frame Touch Monitors, OFX Series, provide an industrial-grade, plug-and-play, complete touch display solution. Multiple video inputs and a USB-connected multi-touch capacitive sensor allow for easy set-up and straight-forward operation. Two mounting options; rear VESA and adjustable side flanges, maximize installation options. The light-weight, powder-coated aluminum enclosure has the fit and finish of a custom product with the strength and durability to protect your investment for years of worry-free operation.
For custom inquiries, technical information, or even just questions about touch display technology, contact us today!
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HomeNewsTaraba Govt To Sell Off 'Africa's Top' Tea-producing Company
Taraba Govt To Sell Off 'Africa's Top' Tea-producing Company
The Taraba State government said it has concluded plans to sell off Taraba Beverages Nigeria Ltd, the producers of Mambilla Highland Tea, to private investors.
Ezikiel Iliya, the Managing Director of the Taraba Investment and Property Development, disclosed this on Wednesday while speaking to newsmen in Jalingo. He explained that the function of the agency was to build government corporations and transfer them to private investors.
This development is coming barely ten days after the Bauchi State government announced its concluded plan to hand over the ownership of Zaranda International Hotels and five other companies in the state to private entities. This decision was greeted with public criticism, especially from the opposition.
READ: Zaranda Privatisation: What You Need To Know
According to research, the Beverages Company Ltd, which produces Mambilla Highland Tea, is one of Africa's largest green tea sourcing companies, handling over 1.5 million kilos of tea annually. It is located at Kakara, Sardauna Local Government of the state.
However, Iliya added that more of the state's companies will be privatized to build new ones. According to him, privatisation is the most common policy that can sustain any public business, stressing that the intention of the state government was to privatise its shares and equity to develop more companies.
"We are not selling the company in its entirety but to transfer ownership structure from the government to private individuals," he said.
READ: Despite N36.3 Billion In Releases, Gembu-Serti Road In Taraba Still 'A Death Trap'
He added that 75 per cent of shares would be sold off while 25 per cent would still be owned by the Taraba State government. Iliya noted that the state government will ensure it hands over the company to worthy entities to ensure its sustainability.
Iliya also announced that the repairs on the Green House, producers of Taraba Vegetables, had begun, in preparation for its privatisation.
Mambilla Highland Tea
Taraba Beverages Nigeria Ltd
Taraba state
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Takata Airbag Recall Expands Dramatically
Chris Haak/04 May, 16/1171/0
Today, the NHTSA ordered that the Takata airbag recall expand from approximately 29 million vehicles to add another 35 to 40 million more. There are so many vehicles now included in the Takata recall that the repairs will basically have to be triaged. Older cars in hot, humid climates will be the first to be repaired starting this month, with newer cars in cooler climates potentially not being repaired until December 2019.
Anyone following the car business over the past few years is aware of the huge damage that Takata's defective airbag inflation modules are wreaking on the auto industry. Takata, the Japan-based supplier of airbag modules for many automakers, but most notably Honda, Ford, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, General Motors, Nissan and Fiat-Chrysler, now has problems with Jaguar-Land Rover, Tesla, and Fisker airbags as well.
The background is that Takata used ammonium nitrate as the propellant in the recalled airbags (you may recall that the Oklahoma City bombers used the same explosive). Ammonium nitrate is unstable, particularly when in humid environments where there are temperature fluctuations – you know, like the American South. The recalled airbags have no desiccant (drying agent), and the defect will appear between 6 and 25 years after the airbag's manufacture. When the defect does appear, "Such degradation can cause the propellant to burn too quickly, rupturing the inflator module and sending shrapnel through the air bag and into the vehicle occupants."
So far the defective airbags have been linked to 10 deaths and more than 100 injuries in the U.S.
This will be the largest, most complex recall in U.S. history. And, it could get even bigger. Takata has another airbag design that uses ammonium nitrate as a propellant, but with a chemical desiccant added. While no deaths or injuries have yet been linked to that airbag design, Takata must prove that particular airbag design is safe by the end of 2019, or face a complete recall of all ammonium nitrate-powered inflators. That would be about 85 million inflators in the U.S., or about five years' worth of U.S. market car sales.
Takata's competitors have found a bit of a silver lining in its troubles; they are getting more than 90% of the orders to replace the defective Takata modules. Takata may have to declare bankruptcy, or at least have its toxic airbag-supplier business declare bankruptcy, to avoid insolvency.
Consumers can find complete information about the Takata airbag recall at http://www.safercar.gov/rs/takata.
airbagNHTSARecallTakata
Volkswagen Reaches Tentative Settlement on Diesel...
GM and Lyft Will Partner to Test Self-Driving...
Honda Will Invest $2.75B in GM's Cruise...
Chris is FMA's Founder and Editor-in-Chief. He has a lifelong love of everything automotive, having grown up as the son of a car dealer. Chris spent the past decade writing for, managing, and eventually owning Autosavant before selling the site to pursue other interests. A married father of two sons, Chris is also in the process of indoctrinating them into the world of cars and trucks.


"I Don't Want Pity: Anthem for a Gay Conservative."
As we kick off Pride Month, David will provide his insights into the liberal "Gay, Inc." agenda, and their relentless hatred for all things conservative.
Hold on to your rainbow-colored feather boas - this is gonna be one fiery month for Log Cabin OC as we take on the intolerant, religion-bashing left!
David Benkof is a columnist and political analyst who has written more than 200 essays for The Daily Caller and other publications. Among his notable Daily Caller essays are "Stop Calling Mike Pence Homophobic" and "Face It, Gays: Trump Is Our Friend." A conservative Republican, his interests include American politics, Jewish affairs, LGBT issues, education, and musical theater.


Reverend Wade Marvin Cox, 74, passed away February 8, 2019, at Lower Cape Fear Hospice Home.
Funeral services will be held 2:00 p.m. Tuesday at George Brothers Funeral Service. The burial will follow at Lakeview Memorial Park.
Reverend Cox was born January 29, 1945, in Guilford County to the late George and Annie Rickman Cox. He was formerly employed with United Transmission. He served several churches as pastor, retiring from Forest Lawn Baptist Church in Danville, Virginia. He was preceded in death by his wife, Susan McGillis Drake Cox.
He is survived by his son, Johnnie Cox (Brenda) of McLeansville; his daughter, Sarah Cox Hall (Wayne) of Wilmington; grandson, Kevin Sneed; nine step grandchildren, seventeen step great grandchildren and fourteen step great great grandchildren and his brothers, Dennis Cox, Elzan Cox (Connie) and Maynard Cox (Linda).


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Research Saturday
Ep 185 | 5.29.21
EtterSilent: a popular, versatile maldoc builder.
Guest Brandon Hoffman of Intel 471 joins Dave Bittner to share his team's research "EtterSilent: the underground's new favorite maldoc builder". The cybercrime underground often mimics behaviors that we see in everyday facets of life. Intel 471's latest discovery is an example of one of these patterns: when a product takes off in the marketplace, users will rush to obtain it and find unique ways to use it in order to fit their needs.
The latest "product" is a malicious document builder, known in the underground as "EtterSilent," that Intel 471 has seen leveraged by various cybercrime groups. As it has grown in popularity, it has constantly been updated in order to avoid detection. Used in conjunction with other forms of malware, it's a prime example of how ease of use and a concentration of skill sets leads to a commoditization of the cybercrime economy.
The research can be found here:
EtterSilent: the underground's new favorite maldoc builder
Podcast Info
Dave Bittner, is a security podcast host and one of the founders at CyberWire. He's a creator, producer, videographer, actor, experimenter, and entrepreneur. He's had a long career in the worlds of television, journalism and media production, and is one of the pioneers of non-linear editing and digital storytelling.
Follow Dave Bittner
Schedule: Saturdays
Creator: CyberWire, Inc.
Juniper Networks challenges the status quo with products, solutions and services that transform the economics of networking. Our team co-innovates with our customers and partners to deliver automated, scalable and secure networks with agility, performance and value. Additional information can be found at Juniper Networks.
Tanium provides unified endpoint management and security trusted by the world's most sophisticated organizations to help them confidently manage performance, address threats, and ensure compliance. Learn more.


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Business Ethics and the Brazilian Reality
August 3, 2018 February 23, 2021 Elize Jacinto Matos
Business ethics has been gaining strength since the 1960s, after various scandals
involving fraud, corruption, bribes and bad behavior, showing the need to rethink the
organizational practices, which are also charged by society. Corporate ethics include a
set of organizational principles, values, and norms that can be derived from individuals,
organizational statements, or the legal system, which primarily guide both individual
behavior and collective behavior in the organizational environment (FERREL;
FRAEDRICH; FERREL; 2013).
Business ethics can also be understood as a representation of norms and values
that are effectively dominant in a company, being a kind of social contract where
members behave in a harmonious way, considering each other's interests. It is important
to make it clear that within this context the organization works to increase the quality of
life of people in all dimensions, not only considering profitability, but also the human
aspect, considering the efficiency associated with responsibility and social commitment
(LEISINGER; SCHIMIT; 2001).
Addressing business ethics in the Brazilian reality presents several challenges,
since the data are scarce and incomplete, demonstrating the need for a more intense
reflection on the subject and how this ethics results in an impact that surpasses the
organizational environment. Cornacchione and Klaus (2017) emphasize that to do
business in Brazil requires a complete understanding of what the business ethics culture means in the country and how it is related to the threats and opportunities inherent in the
Brazilian business environment, highlighting the private and public connection, since
there are several economic crises arising from corruption scandals and ethical
deviations.
Even with the apparent progress noted in recent years, the shift from a
traditionally paternalistic, personalistic, corporate culture marked by impunity is not a
simple and automatic process. The adoption of codes of conduct has been inefficient in
the goal of transforming Brazilian business culture, typically characterized by
concentration of power, personal loyalty and attempt to reduce conflicts. It is still placed
in this ethical business context, the "brazilian way" that is present in social and
corporate behavior, making it difficult to develop a more professional and ethical
business culture, both in private and public companies, which ends up harming a
consistent national growth (CORNACCHIONE; KLAUS; 2017).
The search for higher ethical standards in the Brazilian business environment is
accompanied by skepticism and uncertainty, as this pattern began to reproduce only
after demands from international partners or buyers, resulting in a mobilization by
marketing and corporate reputation. Unfortunately, ethics are not valued by a large
number of companies operating in Brazil. Many may try to promote and highlight it in
the company's list of values, but corporate actions prove that ethics is not a value to be
pursued and used daily in organizational practices (BOWATER, 2015).
BOWATER, D. Brazil's continuing corruption problem. 2015, Disponível em:
Acesso em: 12/06/2018.
CORNACCHIONE, E and KLAUS, L. Ethical Business Culture in Brazil:
Advantages and Obstacles of National Jeitinho. 2017. Disponível em: < https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/ethical-business-cultures-in-emerging- markets/ethical-business-culture-in-brazil/42D5013BA562D6FEC765AF078E14B6A4 > Acesso em: 08/06/2018.
FERRELL, O. C., FRAEDRICH, J. & FERRELL, L. Business Ethics: Ethical
Decision Making and Cases . (10ª ed.). Cengage Learning, 2013.
LEISINGER, K. M. & SCHMITT, K. Ética empresarial: Responsabilidade global e
gerenciamento moderno. Petrópolis, RJ: Vozes, 2001.
The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the AdmEthics Group
Tagged brazilian way, business, business ethics, corrupção, corruption, ética empresarial, jeitinho brasileiro
Elize Jacinto Matos
AdmEthics´s aproved articles in journals and events
A possibility of alignment between ethics and finance
January 10, 2023 January 10, 2023 Gabriela Borges Pacheco
Reflections on the use of AI
December 27, 2022 January 2, 2023 Marcello B. Zappellini
Remembering Rawls
Tagged desigualdade, justice, liberdade, rawls, social justice
December 20, 2022 December 20, 2022 Maria Clara F. D. Costa Ames
Principles of AI Ethics and the Ethics of Virtues
Tagged artificial intelligence, virtue ethics


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Home»Accessories»Nintendo Switch Lite: Compact, Affordable, Longer Battery Life, Available From September 20
Nintendo Switch Lite: Compact, Affordable, Longer Battery Life, Available From September 20
Ankeet Solanki July 11, 2019 Leave a comment
The Nintendo Switch Lite price is only $199, about $100 cheaper than the flagship version of the switch. Switch Lite will come in a variety of bright colors, of course, compatible with all Switch games before.
Of course affordable, but Switch Lite will have such impossible things: it doesn't feature HD Rumble (Nintendo's vibration tech for controllers) or an IR motion camera. Since the controllers are not removable and this console is handheld-only, motion controls won't work. It also doesn't ship with a set of Joy-Con controllers or a dock, it can't be used in tabletop or dock mode, in other words, Switch Lite is handheld console only, not hybrid console.
The differences are not significant compared to when playing the game on the Switch. At the same time, because the Switch Lite has 2 sides attached Joycon so the feeling of holding will be much more comfortable than the flagship model. The buttons layout as well as the navigation buttons like D-pad will be the same as the original, but not separated into four buttons as on the Switch.
Nintendo said Switch Lite also improved in terms of battery life thanks to the use of a more energy-efficient chip, combined with no need for a separate battery for the two joycon. Nintendo Switch Lite features a smaller 5.5-inch screen and its dimensions are 3.6 inches width, 8.2 inches length, and 0.55 inches depth. The Switch Lite weighs around 290 grams, which is about 90gl grams lighter than the Switch with Joy-Con controllers attached.
The Switch Lite will still have the same performance as the Switch, will still connect to accessories such as Joy Con, Switch Pro, Poke Ball Plus and more. Of course, there will still be Wifi, Bluetooth, NFC, and built-in gyroscope.
Nintendo Switch Lite will come in three basic colors: Yellow, Gray, and Turquoise. There will also be two special editions for Pokemon Sword and Shield and will be available from September 20.
Tags Nintendo Nintendo Switch Nintendo Switch Lite
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It took just one phone call from Coach Garth Brennan to former staffer, Trevor Gillmeister, to get him down to the TFH High Performance Centre to pass on some tips to his young troops.
Gillmeister was a former defensive coach at the club and was present at Titans training today, passing on tips to the squad ahead of the clash against the Cowboys.
Back rower Will Matthews was at the club when 'the axe' was a permanent fixture and was happy to see him again.
"It was good to see him, good to have him back around the group," Matthews said.
Both prop forward Jack Stockwell and halfback Ash Taylor are still young and eager to learn so both were quick to jump in at the end of the session for a few extras.
"He's a legend of the game both as a player and his coaching style," Taylor said.


Welcome to your online Visceral Manipulation study group!
Hi...I'm Dr. Mariotti and I am pleased to announce that over the next FOUR years I will be offering a series of 6-month Online / 3-day Hands-On study groups.
This first study group is a thorax study group. The next one will launch in September 2016 and will be a pelvis study group. After that, in September 2017 I will launch an abdomen study group that focuses on the superficial abdominal organs. In September 2018 I will launch an abdomen study group that focuses on the deeper abdominal organs.
Each study group will be specific to the organs and tissues you learned in the core curriculum through the Barral Institute.
In addition to these more comprehensive study groups I will continue to offer 2-day Hands-On study groups for those not wanting to make the commitment to the 6-month group.
The pre-requisites to be involved in this exciting new study group model is completion of the level of training specific to each group as well as having completed LT1 (Listening Techniques level 1) through the Barral Institute.
NOTE: Due to travel and financial constraints of some who are practicing in remote areas you have the option to participate in the Online portion only or the combined package of Online / Hands-On format.
First, as manual therapists we can all benefit from a more precise understanding of anatomy. So, over the next 6 months I will be enhancing and expanding your understanding of the anatomy of each of the organs you have already studied in your Barral VM class.
Second, the online format provides us an incredible opportunity to connect with one another in a unique way that goes beyond what we are able to do physically. Each of us has very busy schedules and our lives are full of many things that can make it a challenge for some of us to travel long distances in order to engage in a study group.
I know that some of you live in remote areas, which can make it difficult for you to feel connected to your visceral colleagues.
We all know what it feels like when we take a class, or show up at a convention where all your like-minded colleagues are gathered with a single purpose, and focused attention. We are there to learn and grow as practitioners, and network as professionals.
This is the goal of the new online VM study group; to create a community of like-minded VM practitioners, to help you grow in your understanding of how visceral manipulation can be integrated into your practices in the very fabric of your lives.
Another goal of this new online visceral manipulation study model, if you so choose, is to prepare you for VM certification through the Barral Institute.
At the end of each online course you will have the option to meet for three days of hands-on work where you will refine your listening skills as well as your use of the JP Barral's techniques in a way that is truly unique.
We will take it one step at a time and you can take it at your own pace.
The VM study group consist of 7 modules. Each of the first six modules will be focused on a specific organ. They are organized in a logical sequence that will help guide you from the more superficial to the deep, from the more superior to inferior organs and structures. Each module builds on the previous module. Therefore, you will need to complete the modules in sequence before moving to the next module.
Within each module there are 5 units.
I will provide you with an overview of what you can expect to learn from this particular module.
You will read my chapter regarding that specific modules target organ. Just as with everything what you are able to achieve from this experience will be directly related to what you put into it. After reading and studying each chapter you will have a better understanding of the embryology, anatomy, physiology, and pathology of each particular organ. This will only serve to enhance your clinical practice and integration of Barral's visceral manipulation.
You will read an article from the medical literature that I believe will be of interest to you. After you read the article you will be able to read my review of the article. For those of you who are especially interested in reading scientific journal articles this unit will be of particular interest to you. I have also chosen a few select additional articles you might find interesting to read.
You will have the opportunity to listen to a recorded layered palpation where I will guide you through the various layers of tissue and structures associated with that module's organ. They are, in essence, "visceral meditations".
Each "visceral meditation" is set to soothing music, the goal of which is to help enhance your learning as it balances the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. This allows you to listen and feel through the various layers without a lot of mental chatter.
Give yourself permission to feel everything! Some of these are very subtle layers of tissue and require you to use your wonderful ability to visualize. If you struggle feeling a structure please, do not get stressed by this but play and allow yourself the space to feel… even when you doubt yourself. Allow yourself the space to feel things completely new and different.
The first time you listen to a track do so with an anatomy book in front you. Visualize and imagine your hand feeling these various tissues. Then, the second time you go through this experience do so with your hand on a person.
Most importantly, have fun with this!
I will provide you with an overview of the module, what you have learned, as well as a quiz designed to check your understanding as well as inspire you to fill in any gaps in your understanding.
In my introduction to each unit I will be giving you some assignments to complete. These assignments will be from the Netter Anatomy Coloring Book (2nd Edition). There are numerous anatomy coloring books on the market but this one stands out among them all. These assignments will stimulate your learning process and provide you with a fun way of learning anatomy and physiology.
You can purchase the Netter Anatomy Coloring Book (2nd Edition) on Amazon (CLICK ME).
How will you benefit from this experience?
At the end of these six months you will have a greater understanding of the organs and tissues you are working with. This will translate into greater precision in your manual therapy practice and greater benefit to your patients.
Each month I will provide you with a current research article, which I will review. I will also provide you with a few others for your reading pleasure.
You will choose an article of your choice and write a short review of this article.
You will have online access to the notes and lab steps that you can refer to any time you are in need of more support.
Each month, after studying the material, you will take an online quiz to check your understanding of the material.
This will enhance your palpation skills.
You will have online access to one of my recordings of me guiding you through a layered palpation / visualization of each organ and it's surrounding tissues and layers. This will enhance your palpation skills.
Over the course of the next few years I will be offering a study group for each of the 4 levels of visceral manipulation study. If you choose to subscribe to each of these, as they are offered, and you successfully complete each level, you will have the option of joining a 3-day practical the successful completion of which will result in your BI techniques certification. Of course this is dependent upon your application for certification through the Barral Institute.


This words of wisdom talks about surrender, christ-likeness, Christian walk.
Our business in life consists solely in keeping ourselves in the dispositions which allow God to act. There will surely be progress so long as we do not put our spoke in God's wheels, as the saying is, in order to have our own way.
Love is the sole standard where God is concerned. Provided we come back to Him, the past is entirely blotted out. A great sinner who by contrition and penance has arrived at the same degree of love as a just man, has exactly the same value in God's sight. This is the meaning of the Redemption, which makes the marred work of creation even more beautiful than it was before. To think otherwise would be to lessen the work of Christ. At the foot of the cross St. John stood on one side, St. Mary Magdalene on the other - on the same level!