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Environmental Exposure Risks in Reproductive Health
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A growing body of evidence suggests that preconception and prenatal exposure to certain environmental toxins can impact fetal development adversely and lead to potentially long-lasting health effects. However, most reproductive health providers are not trained in environmental health and do not have the tools to counsel patients on this topic.
A team of researchers, led by Sheela Sathyanarayana, MD, MPH, of Seattle Children's Research Institute, have created a guide outlining exposure risks and reduction tips (see below) for some of the most common environmental toxins. The clinical opinion, "Environmental exposures: how to counsel preconception and prenatal patients in the clinical setting," was published in advance online in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
"Reproductive health providers have an important role to play in counseling women on environmental health risks," said Dr. Sathyanarayana of Seattle Children's Research Institute and an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington. "Providers can be knowledgeable about these issues and empower patients to make positive decisions to reduce exposure and to prevent adverse health impacts to both mother and fetus."
Reproductive health care providers should share these tips and more scientific information with women who want to become pregnant or who are pregnant.
Remove your shoes at the door of your home to avoid tracking in pollutants.
Decrease consumption of processed and canned foods.
Avoid the use of plastics with recycling codes #3, #4 and #7.
Don't use chemical tick and flea collars or dips for pets.
The guidelines include evidence-based recommendations on how to talk with patients about environmental toxins like lead, mercury, pesticides and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA), which is used in a variety of products including canned food linings and cash register receipts. It also includes resources for each toxin area, outlining an easy and consistent way to deliver these important messages to women and their partners.
The guidelines contain helpful information for patients, too. "Women and their partners should be aware that pregnancy is an important time for development, that environmental chemicals can cause harm to a developing fetus, and that this topic is important to discuss with health care providers," said Dr. Sathyanarayana. "There are simple ways to reduce exposures to lead, mercury, pesticides and endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as BPA by following the guidelines we have outlined," she said.
Dr. Sathyanarayana's co-authors include: Susan Buchanan, MD, MPH, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health; Tanya Dailey, MD, Alpert Medical School of Brown University; and Judith Focareta, MED, RN, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC.
"Environmental exposures: how to counsel preconception and prenatal patients in the clinical setting": http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002937812001512?v=s5(The uncorrected, original manuscript is currently available for reference).
See the Environmental exposures slideshow
Environmental Exposures: Tips for Reproductive Health Care Providers, Preconception and Prenatal Women
Risk factors: Exposure can come from eating fish, contact with quicksilver, and use of skin-lightening creams. Exposure during pregnancy can lead to adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes that include lower IQ, poor language and motor development.
Reducing exposure: Pregnant, preconception and breastfeeding women should follow U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state-specific fish consumption guidelines. Avoid shark, swordfish, king mackerel, tile fish and large tuna.
Resources: http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/oehas/fish/fishchart.htm, http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/guide.asp
Risk factors: Risk factors for exposure include recent immigration to the U.S., occupational exposure, imported cosmetics, and renovating or remodeling a home built before 1970. Lead is neurotoxic to a developing fetus.
Reducing exposure: Never eat nonfood items (clay, soil, pottery or paint chips); avoid jobs or hobbies that may involve lead exposure; stay away from repair, repainting, renovation and remodeling work conducted in homes built before 1978; eat a balanced diet with adequate intakes of iron and calcium; avoid cosmetics, food additives and medicines imported from overseas; and remove shoes at the door to prevent tracking in lead and other pollutants.
Resources: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/publications/leadandpregnancy2010.pdf, http://www.aapcc.org/dnn/AAPCC/FindLocalPoisonCenters.aspx
Risk factors: Exposure can come from eating some produce and from using pesticides in your home or on your pets. Exposure to pesticides in pregnancy has been shown to increase risk of intrauterine growth retardation, congenital anomalies, leukemia and poor performance on neurodevelopmental testing.
Reducing exposure: Do not use chemical tick and flea collars or dips; avoid application of pesticides indoors and outdoors; consider buying organic produce when possible; wash all fruits and vegetables before eating; and remove shoes at the door.
Resources: http://www.ewg.org/foodnews (focus on the "Dirty Dozen," a list of the 12 most contaminated products published by the Environmental Working Group, http://www.spcpweb.org/resources/#factsheets
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals
Risk factors: Human prenatal phthalate exposure is associated with changes in male reproductive anatomy and behavioral changes primarily in young girls. Animal studies suggest prenatal exposure to BPA is associated with obesity, reproductive abnormalities and neurodevelopmental abnormalities in offspring. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals mimic or antagonize the effects of hormones in the endocrine system and can cause adverse health effects that can be passed on to future generations.
Reducing exposure: Decrease consumption of processed foods; increase fresh and/or frozen foods; reduce consumption of canned foods; avoid use of plastics with recycled codes #3, #4 and #7; be careful when removing old carpet because padding may contain chemicals; and use a vacuum machine fitted with a HEPA filter to get rid of dust that may contain chemicals.
Resources: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/news/sya/sya-bpa, http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp9-c1-b.pdf, http://www.epa.gov/oppt/pbde/
At the forefront of pediatric medical research, Seattle Children's Research Institute is setting new standards in pediatric care and finding new cures for childhood diseases. Internationally recognized scientists and physicians at the Research Institute are advancing new discoveries in cancer, genetics, immunology, pathology, infectious disease, injury prevention and bioethics. With Seattle Children's Hospital and Seattle Children's Hospital Foundation, the Research Institute brings together the best minds in pediatric research to provide patients with the best care possible. Children's serves as the primary teaching, clinical and research site for the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, which consistently ranks as one of the best pediatric departments in the country. For more information, visit http://www.seattlechildrens.org/research.
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HAMMONTON - A local man and a Pennsauken woman face drug charges after a raid here by the Atlantic County Regional SWAT Team.
Investigators found more than an ounce of suspected crystal methamphetamine and about a pound of marijuana at the home of 65-year-old Gene Restuccio, according to the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office.
Restuccio and Jessica Paolini, 35, of Pennsauken, were charged with possession of the drugs, as well as possession with the intent to distribute, the prosecutor's office said.
Restuccio also was charged with possession of a firearm while committing a drug crime.
Police recovered two shotguns, one of them loaded, and several hundred rounds of ammunition from the home on the 1000 block of Reading Avenue, the prosecutor's office said.
The Jan. 17 raid followed an investigation by the newly formed High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force, Atlantic City Division, the prosecutor's office said.


Alimentary Health has been selected as a finalist in the 2015 The US-Ireland Research Innovation Awards. These prestigious awards recognise excellence and showcase the very best in research innovation in Ireland as a result of US foreign direct investment.
Developed by the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland and the Royal Irish Academy, these awards acclaim exemplary ideas, originating in Ireland, which have made a social and economic impact through research innovation in meeting market needs.
Alimentary Health was shortlisted for its global innovation specifically, the 35624™ culture. The 35624™ culture is a unique strain of the Bifidobacterium infantis family. It is a specialised patented precision bacterial culture (PrecisionBiotic®) developed by Irish and US scientists in Ireland. This unique technology, available over-the-counter is sold by Alimentary Health in Ireland as Alflorex® and by Procter & Gamble in North America as Align®. 'Align' is the first successful product launch for P&G in the probiotic category and has already received the 'Gold Edison Award for Best New Product in 2010' in the US. Furthermore, despite being on the market only 1 year in Ireland, 'Alflorex®' was awarded 'Best Irish Pharmacy Product 2015' by Irish Pharmacies.
"It is a tremendous honour for the Alimentary Health team to have been selected as a finalist for such an esteemed scientific innovation award. There was strong competition this year from a number of high-profile organisations, so being selected as an SME category finalist is indeed a significant achievement. Alimentary Health's roots are in research. Since the start we have continued to invest heavily in research. In 2003, when the company was young, we saw the value of this and co-invested with Government to establish the APC Microbiome Institute in Cork as foundation industry partner, and we continue this involvement today. This commitment to research and innovation has provided Alimentary Health with a rich pipeline of new products which we plan to bring to a global market over the next three years".


CAROLYN THEODORE BURTANSKI stood in nothing but her socks and underpants and stared at the white smoke spilling its way up the wall of her storage closet. The smoke came out in burps and trickles, liquid-like, rising along a thick gray wire toward an electrical box. At first sight, awe rose in her heart, which spoke to the glory and presence of God, a pillar of smoke here in her closet, but then a familiar pang sliced through the glimmer. Judgment—Carolyn lifted a trembling hand to her mouth, the closet filling with the smell of molten wire—this is most certainly judgment.
Before finding fire in her closet, Carolyn drowsed on the couch with her journal on her breast. A cold cup of tea rested on a plate she'd painted as a girl—horse faces—and the plate lay on the bare wooden floor. She'd started awake to the sound of pops and knocks and hisses near the entryway. It was morning, which meant a time for prayer and journaling, especially in a new house with strange cupboards and mirrors and smells. Duty and diligence, her father would have said, were what mattered in this sinful life. Diligence and duty to the Lord would carry her through this time of great transition. She liked least the mirrors in her new home, the way the lighting or tint made the wisp of gray in her temples somehow more blatant, in the same way the smoke seemed blatant as it climbed the wall of her closet. She could change the mirrors. She could change anything she liked now that Father was gone. But now this smoke.
Carolyn first thought the noise was someone tapping on her door, which made her sit very quickly upright from her repose on the couch. She'd met no one in this new town but the postman and the woman at the gas station—a girl really, with a ring jabbed through her left nostril, who had poked at her phone while Carolyn paid with exact change for two yellow apples, a gallon of whole milk, and a box of Honey Nut Cheerios, the last an extravagance that filled Carolyn's heart with guilt. Unsweetened Cheerios were perfectly adequate for sinners. That is what Father would have said, and Scripture said it, too, in the letters of John. Confess your sin! This verse spoke of believers, not unbelievers, which meant that even Carolyn still needed forgiveness every minute of every day because of the total depravity inside her.
Carolyn had nearly brought the Cheerios back to the store to be freed of such guilt. Her shoes ground the grit on the pavement, reminding her of the time her father made her return a pair of bright blue plastic hoop earrings that made her feel alive. Father spurned them as "adornment," which was in Scripture, too. Carolyn swallowed deeply, reassured herself, and strode with her cereal and apples away from the store and that old way of living.
This was a new town, with new thoughts. New life was here for her. Father was glorified in heaven now, and Carolyn was determined to enter a time of rebirth, a renaissance as full-fleshed as a tiger lily. She had sold the home where she lived with Father, moved twenty miles down the highway, bought a two-bedroom home—optimism was key, she knew—and had already begun practicing her freedom by performing her duty and diligence to the Lord wearing nothing but her underpants and socks.
She felt guilty as she slipped out of her jeans and blouse and lounged on the couch with her Bible and tea and journal, her clean-shaven legs, her flattened breasts. But how wonderful it was to lie on a couch half naked while praying. It felt dangerous and liberating not to hide oneself from the Lord, and to eat sweetened cereal for breakfast—two bowls of it. She would no longer hide behind fig leaves. She was tired of fig leaves. She even tried slipping out of her underpants too, but the thought became horrible. It felt like nearly losing one's footing at the edge of some deep chasm, the surge of fire piling up in her veins.
Everything about the last four weeks felt both beautiful and horrible, carrying both blessing and pang. The postman in town, for instance, had seemed perfectly nice, but a motorcycle was the only vehicle parked outside the small office, which meant it belonged to him. Carolyn felt moved to disapprove of the vehicle's large exhaust pipes, shining and thick and chromed in the sunlight, the hard curves of them, their blatant openings. But the postman did have clean teeth and clean nails on his ringless hands, which displayed diligence, and she forgave him the extravagance of his motorcycle just as she would forgive herself, as God forgave. Carolyn promised herself she would work toward nakedness before the Lord, a resolution which reassured her for the present. She prayed and journaled and dozed.
In her underpants and socks, Carolyn was crouching near the front door to peep through the eyehole when she heard the hisses behind her in the coat closet. She spun and pressed her back against a cold smooth wall. It sounded like there was an animal inside the closet, a raccoon perhaps, scratching and nosing its way between emptied cardboard moving boxes. Had it gotten in during the move, or prior to? She terrified herself with the thought of unpacking a box expecting books and horse plates and finding a live raccoon. Carolyn was perfectly unprepared to deal with wildlife—she was alone and half bare, although her socks were quite thick. She pictured a raccoon, its pin-like teeth clenched on the floppy toe of her thick sock, and immediately looked around for something to cover herself with, rooting through the half-unpacked boxes in the living room. Father would have wept and fasted if he'd seen her today, praying half dressed, uncovered, her open mouth pressed scandalously into a musty couch cushion with her rump in the air, talking to God as if he were an intimate, as if she had nothing to hide.
She missed her father's presence now, his certainty. She'd acquiesced to his leadership for thirty-six years of life. The closest hissed again. She missed his strength. Carolyn found herself wondering what Father would have her do about this noise in the closet, and then she did a thing that startled her out of her panic: she caught herself turning toward the empty house to call out Father's name, to ask him what to do. She clamped her mouth shut, angered by her lack of resolve, and dropped the red blazer she'd dug from a cardboard box.
"No," she said loudly, lifting her chin and turning slowly to point the breasts God gave her at the closet door. "What would the father do." She proclaimed it as fact, because she already knew the answer. Oh yes, she would turn over this new leaf, this new bloom of triumph and change. The closet knocked and popped and hissed. Carolyn narrowed her eyes at it, balled a white-knuckled fist. "Get behind me, Satan," she declared. "I am an indwelt daughter of the living God." And then she strode boldly forward, expecting a raccoon, and yanked open the closet door to pillars of smoke, and awe, and then waves of judgment.
The house on fire was new to her, but the oldest in the neighborhood. It was a small brick home with two wooden additions. The realtor said the oldest stone core of it, now the kitchen and adjoining washroom, once a served as the entrance cottage to a tunnel used in the Underground Railroad. Carolyn enjoyed that idea very much. The house had good energy, good vibes—which was not something her former church would approve of doctrinally, this talk about vibes or spirit or feelings—but the well-planted little home possessed a hum in its bones that spoke of liberation and safety in this cosmos. The walls of the brick portion were a foot and a half thick, solid and well mortared. The exterior was painted cream, with black shutters and wild hedges of fiercely blue hydrangeas bursting messily around the windowsills.
The home's old hum, along with its hydrangeas, let Carolyn know she was home before she even crossed the threshold. She took only one slow walk through the empty rooms, taking in the echoes of its wooden floors and arches, its small kitchen with a tiny, use-worn oven, a single bedroom with dappled shadows on the old and fragrant wallpaper. And that was enough. Carolyn tucked her shoulders back and strutted out the door, feigning nonchalance as she turned to the realtor before letting herself back into her car.
"Please offer the sellers eighty-five percent of their asking price," she told the woman in heels and pantsuit. Carolyn had read in a magazine that eighty-five percent was a confident but not offensive offer, particularly if buying from her positon of advantage. "That is a cash offer," Carolyn said, and then quickly exhaled and let herself down into the seat of her Camry and locked herself in its silence while the realtor thumbed her phone by her car. The hydrangeas spoke again to Carolyn from the border planting. They supplicated themselves in the breeze, heavy on their stems, wet with hunger and worship. That blue, she thought. The hue carried both blessing and pain. She couldn't take her eyes off of it. She would paint the entire interior, walls, cupboards, cups—everything—to match the hunger and hope of those terrifying hydrangeas.
When Carolyn was a girl, before her mother passed when she was ten, she used to sit in church between her mother and father and look out the pointed stained-glass windows, over the heads of the congregants, over the heads of the glassy and angular depictions of saints, out toward the blue and free and noble heavens. She watched the endlessness of it and felt tremendously loved. God called his creation good. And God had made her. She felt his delight. She'd doze between her parents, and then her father would nudge her gently, or squeeze her knee, and she'd wake and smile up at him—caught in the act but uncondemned—and her father would smooth her hair and pull her close. She loved the smell of her daddy's jacket, the way it carried intimacy and protection in its lemony starch, its earthy musk.
When mother died, the nearness ceased. Carolyn had thought it through many times, imagined describing her father's change to imaginary confidants, but the last twenty-six years of her life could really be summed up in a single phrase—a lack of nearness—a diminishing father, and with him, a diminishing God. Love became duty. Joy became assent. Intimacy became diligence. Church replaced God. But her father was dutiful to her, she would remind her imagined confidants, and he was diligent, and many fathers have done worse by their daughters.
But the last twenty years could also be described as hunger. There was more to existence than piety and potlucks and saddened prayers. Thees and thous. Who desires to be spoken to in such a way? Carolyn felt hungry for the sky in the same way those hydrangeas hungered for it, the knowledge of presence and intimacy, the cosmos indwelt, children flowers reflecting the heavens. In bed alone, in her early teens, she'd read about a Jesus who held children in his lap and ate fish with friends and made wine and drank wine and promised feasts. She could not find a single instance in the entire New Testament of Jesus asking his disciples to keep their distance, or not to talk to boys who smoked cigarettes or were Methodist.
Once, when Carolyn was thirteen, she climbed the scaly trunk of a wintering apple tree that grew behind her mother's emptied horse stables. It was her mother who taught her to paint with watercolors, and on teacups and plates. Carolyn always painted the horses blue, their black and somber eyes and strong broad foreheads carrying a knowledge of something greater than horseflesh and apples. They were more than they were. They knew who made them. They had something terrible and beautiful inside that sky blue and ocean blue seemed more capable of expressing. Carolyn sat in the cold tree and blew breath into the frozen air. She watched crystals spill across the drifts in the stable. Her nose grew cold and she placed her mittens there. Her mittens collected frost from her breath. She sat in the tree, trying to remember her mother's voice as they painted plates and teacups together. She couldn't remember it.
Instead, she recalled a nearly faded memory of a time she felt filled by the presence of the Holy Spirit while lying in bed. She had said to God that night in the darkness, I love you, do you love me back, and then her body began to literally quake with joy. It came from outside her. It wasn't her joy. It was his. It was him. She remembered kicking her feet under her blankets, she felt so happy and certain of this God called Abba. The experience persisted for over an hour, and as it faded, Carolyn felt what she could only describe in later years as the exhaustion of joy, this deep gladness that seamlessly folded itself into sleep. She felt like a little girl version Moses, when he came off that mountain and glowed. Carolyn never again felt that degree of nearness, of oneness, but she later came to view it as an anchoring experience. No matter how dutiful and cold she would be taught to feel in coming years, she could do no other than believe she might feel that presence again, that God was real and that he delighted in her. She sat in the apple tree until her fingers could stand the cold no longer.
Five minutes later, she warmed her fingers in the kitchen and asked her father a question.
Her father stiffened in his chair, and Carolyn immediately began to cry. It was a shameful question, far too forthright, but the shame spurred her on. She couldn't stop. She brought up the verses she'd read under her covers at night. The verse about there being no condemnation for those in Jesus. The verse about reckoning oneself dead to sin. The verses about freedom and love. The verses about grave clothes, and Lazarus, and prodigal sons given rings and robes. The verse about God calling us his children. The verse about God delighting to give us good things of the Spirit. The verse about the Spirit of God abiding with us and living inside of us. The verse about how it's no longer we who live but Christ living in us. The verse about the angel of the Lord coming down and proclaiming with glory and power that flattened the shepherds—behold, good news of great joy!
Carolyn's fingers and face didn't feel cold anymore. They felt hot. "Why aren't we happy, Daddy? Why is no one happy? Why is church so awful?" The kitchen floor shook as she stomped her feet, her face wet with tears, the lamplight blurry. Silence came over the room. That last thing was the worst, but it was what she most wanted to say. The church claimed Scripture was true, but also seemed to keep its distance from it. Oh, they served, and were diligent and dutiful, but they were like dry bones inside, clattering around on tiptoes and offering frightened, faithless prayers. Carolyn recalled a great uncle rubbing the snout of a beagle into a pile of its own droppings, to remind the poor creature of what it had done wrong. But the look of shame on the dog's face showed little recognition of the deed itself. The lesson it learned that day was that it was unloved, unclean, and would remain so forever. Carolyn was often made to feel that way in church by the people she loved most.
Carolyn's father's chair squeaked as he leaned forward, which made her aware of how still he'd been sitting, how long she'd been holding her breath. Her father bent low in the kitchen, his balding forehead glinting in the light. It was nighttime outside, an hour or two after Saturday dinner, pork chops and cottage cheese and canned peaches. For a moment Carolyn thought she saw in him a glimmer of his old self, thought she saw a glint of wetness in his eyes. How she wished she could embrace him then! How she wanted him to embrace her back, tell her she was loved, wrap her in the smell of his plaid shirt. But as soon as it came, the glimmer faded, and he grinned his false grin instead, the one that formed not too long after her mother died, the grin that only made her feel obligated to smile back at him.
"Carolyn, what do you mean, If?" he asked.
She rarely called him Daddy since Mom died. That it came out surprised them both, but her father quickly swallowed it back and grinned again.
"What do you mean, If God is good?" he said, and then he gently squeezed her shoulder, smiled his tightlipped smile, and sat upright again as if he'd said something comforting or corrective or true. Carolyn felt lonelier than ever in her life. It was terrifying in its depth. There was nothing beneath her. So she grinned for him, excused herself, and covered her shame under her quilts upstairs in her darkened room. She didn't remember falling asleep, but the next morning a cold gray sun seeped through her window. She stared at the grayness for two straight hours, then rose and dressed for church. She never spoke to her father of her hopes in the Lord again. Perhaps he was right. The Scriptures spoke of suffering too, although she could never bring herself to fully believe that a distant and starving heart was the kind of suffering the Apostle Paul had in mind.
The realtor knocked on the window of Carolyn's Camry. The woman had blonde highlights and very red lips. She smelled like gum and cigarettes. Carolyn rolled down her window.
"What did they say?" Carolyn asked.
Carolyn looked at the hydrangeas again. Those flowers dripped with knowledge and power. They knew what they were, who made them, what they were for. They were sensual and bold and lovely as the sky that fed them. A handful of bees drunkenly pressed themselves into cone after cone. Carolyn felt stung by her hunger to sink into such life, drip with the waters of it all. She clenched her fists around her steering wheel. She took a deep breath. She refused to ever again be less than a sky-colored flower.
"Forgive me, Father, but I've sold your house," she whispered.
"Come again?" asked the realtor, lifting a pant leg to scratch at her calf.
Three days later, after negotiating confidently to keep the small oven, Carolyn moved in, locked the unfamiliar doors of the empty home, and fell on her face with her arms outstretched on the dusty wooden floors.
"I live here now," she said to the beams and stones and tunnels.
When Carolyn Theodore Burtanski rushed from her home dressed in underpants, socks, and a red church blazer, she could already hear the sirens of the volunteer fire department coming from two blocks away. The sidewalk felt as hard and cold as judgment itself. The fire had come so fast, so definitively, first the smoke spilling up the wall, the smell of something molten, and then a hiss and pop of flame bursting from where the wire entered the brick wall. It reminded Carolyn of a Roman candle, a firework popping to pieces inside her closet filled with empty boxes. The firemen would later tell her that if the wall hadn't been solid brick, and if the wire hadn't decided to catch fire right in the center of all that inflammable mass—they called it an arc fire, which was hotter than the surface of the sun—then they'd be having a different conversation. That's how one fireman phrased it, "a different conversation," which struck Carolyn as very familiar and friendly, in its way. The men never even had to use their hoses. When the lead volunteer fireman smiled at her from beneath his black helmet, his brown and reflective striped collar pulled high, Carolyn recognized him as the postman with the motorcycle. It was his white teeth that made her remember him, and then his hands.
As she stood in her socks with her blazer hugged tightly around her middle—her body shivering in the sunlight, which the postman said was just the adrenaline and that it would pass—Carolyn caught him stealing a furtive glance at her bare legs, everything from the hips down that the blazer didn't cover. His glance wasn't a leer, though. It struck her as something he couldn't help doing, which made her want to laugh. She'd seen a flash of guilt in his eyes as he looked at her legs, and she recognized it as such because she knew hunger and guilt so well. A breeze pushed the smell of the man's jacket her way.
"Hey, Bobby," said a man emerging from the front door with an axe in one gloved hand and a short section of molten electrical wire in the other. The man was red-faced and breathing heavily, like he'd been working mighty hard on something and was pleased to announce he was finished. He stood on the front stoop, blue hydrangeas swaying on either side of him. He held the wire up in the sunlight as if it were a fish or a serpent he'd caught.
"Welded herself shut from the air," he said, and Carolyn could only assume he was talking about the fire in some way, although she found herself pulling her jacket more tightly around her body. "She's fused solid." And then, still dangling the serpent in the air, he turned to Carolyn and smiled. "You're mighty lucky, ma'am. These arc fires are terrible hot." And with that he dropped the fused bit of wire on the concrete at the base of the steps and waddled back inside.
Carolyn looked at the wire. It did look snake-like, with its frayed and open jaws, its metallic scaly middle. It lay there, uncoiled and broken and dead. And looking at the lifeless coil, with the hydrangeas bowing over it as if to sprinkle it with something, Carolyn realized she was already free. She had trouble understanding why. It came from outside of herself, but she felt it inside too. It may have been the adrenaline, but her whole body hummed from her socks to her hips to her chest and neck. She felt like a lightning rod, indwelt with power, aware of something terribly beautiful inside its frame. She felt safe. She felt explosive and dangerously free. She felt like laughing out loud.
The postman turned to her with a clipboard in his hand. Bobby—his name was Bobby—and she would call him that from this moment forward, for the rest of their life together. She knew somehow, even at that moment, that she and Bobby would become lovers, would marry, that her womb would grow taut like a flower bud and then spill life into the bedrooms of this little stone house surrounded by hydrangeas. It would be a baby boy, and then a baby girl, and then perhaps another boy.
Bobby produced a clipboard and pen and asked Carolyn for her insurance information.
She stared at the coil of wire prayed over by the blue flowers. She felt herself buzz and sway. She would confess to Bobby that she had no insurance. And he would be taken aback. No insurance? he'd ask, lifting his eyebrows, and she would shake her head and say, No, no insurance. I paid with cash. I forgot insurance. And he would remove his helmet and whistle at the luck she had today, and then he would smile that smile filled with clean white teeth, would start to laugh, and she with him. They would be deep, aching belly laughs. Their laugher would stir the bees from the flowers, shake the bones of the house.
And then she would ask for Bobby to take her for a ride, immediately, on his motorcycle, she in her socks and blazer and he in his fire helmet. And he would take her. And the motor would rumble and the pistons would hiss and the exhaust would burp and pop as the bike careened over hills between pastures and woods, Carolyn's blazer snapping behind her like a bright red cape. And neither of them would stop laughing for the entire ride. And in the evening he would bring her home to her anointed cottage and tip his fire helmet toward her and blush in the streetlight, and she would skip up the steps and lock herself in the darkness and strip off her clothes in the entryway.
She would tear open the closet door and lock herself inside the darkness smelling of smoke and ash, hidden door behind door. She would bow her face toward the floor and forgive her father, press her hands and mouth against the grit of scorched plaster scattered across the hardwood.
And she would pray. And the bones of the floor would pop and tremble, and the darkness would hiss and steam, and she would see her father, younger now with a new coat, and he'd be laughing too, laughing with the wife of his youth, glorified and holy and free. And Jesus would be there, laughing and clapping his hands. And Carolyn would know who she was. And her breasts and womb would tremble with power, and the more she worshipped and pressed her face to the floor, the higher her rump would lift, high and blue in the darkness like the flank of a battle horse, every part of her made by God and for God, shameless, righteous, uncondemned, indwelt, rising and opening upward like the maw of a flower overcome by power and light and glory and assurance.
Abba, she would say to the floor, the plaster crumbs sticking to the wet of her lips.
Abba, she would say, Abba, Abba, just tasting the sweetness of that word until the wallpapered closet swirled with baptism and everything became fireball, fireball, fireball.
"Ma'am?" said Bobby, lowering his face into the path of her reverie.
Carolyn blinked in the light, hugged her blazer to herself.
Carolyn lifted a trembling hand to her mouth and let her lips quiver with gladness. She looked at this man, the hydrangeas, felt the serpents falling away and the love pounding inside of her.
Miriam Cohen talks with Andrew Graff about this story here.


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Obama Restricts Police Departments from Acquiring Military-Style Weapons
The order bans police departments from obtaining armored vehicles, grenade launchers and high-caliber weapons from the federal government
By Taylor Lewis	· May 18, 2015 October 27, 2020
The White House announced today that it would begin regulating the federal distribution of certain assault weapons to police departments across the nation, effective immediately.
The new ban will prohibit departments from obtaining grenade launchers, armored vehicles, bayonets and high-caliber weapons. Additionally, certain items such as riot gear and explosives can only be obtained if police can provide the necessary certification.
"We've seen how militarized gear sometimes gives people a feeling like they are an occupying force as opposed to a part of the community there to protect them," Obama said during a speech today in New Jersey. "Some equipment made for the battlefield is not appropriate for local police departments."
In recent months, people have criticized the militarization of police departments, particularly since the high-profiled killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Freddie Gray among others. After protests started sweeping the country demanding justice for the slain men, many police departments began using military-grade weapons to stave off the demonstrations.
The regulation of weapons is President Obama's latest move in attempting to reform police departments. In December, he ordered a 21st Century Task Force, a team responsible for outlining a list of steps to reestablish trust between communities and law enforcement agencies. Earlier this year, Obama also announced a budget of $75 million to equip police departments with 50,000 body cameras.
"We are, without a doubt, sitting at a defining moment in American policing," said Ronald Davis, director of the Department of Justices' Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, on a press call yesterday before the announcement. "We have a unique opportunity to redefine policing in our democracy, to ensure that public safety becomes more than the absence of crime, but it must also include a presence for justice."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
10 Times K-Pop Groups Starred In Their Own Cheesy Movies And K-Dramas
Have you seen Super Junior's feature film?
1. GOT7 – Dream Knight
GOT7 starred in this 12-episode high school drama as "dream knights", keychain plushies that turn human in order to protect the girl they love. If you've ever wondered what it would be like to have seven dreamy knights by your side, then this show is for you.
2. Stray Kids – What If You Are A JYP Entertainment's Trainee?
In August, JYP Entertainment and Dingo K-Drama released a 10-minute film starring the members of Stray Kids. This K-Drama short follows a fictional female trainee named Kim Dingo during her first day at JYP Entertainment. Throughout the movie, Kim Dingo struggles to keep her fangirl feels under wraps as she runs into the handsome Stray Kids members.
3. Super Junior – Attack on the Pin-Up Boys
In 2007, Super Junior starred in this comedy about flower boy students who suddenly find themselves under attack (via flying bags of poop). The members band together to find out who the next flower boy target will be, in the hopes of stopping it before it happens. If you're in the mood for wacky comedy and Super Junior antics, then this one is for you!
4. BIGBANG's parodies
The BIGBANG members have always had a great sense of humour, but they really took it to the next level when they starred in a series of K-Drama parodies, dressed as the original characters…
…even the female ones!
BIGBANG did parodies for 4 popular K-Dramas between 2009 and 2011: The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince, Beethoven Virus, Boys Over Flowers, and Secret Garden.
In each parody, the members were determined to do the original justice by staying true to the plot, even if that meant doing kiss scenes!
5. ASTRO – To Be Continued
In 2015, ASTRO starred in their own 12-episode K-Drama, To Be Continued. At the peak of their popularity, ASTRO is mysteriously transported back into time to relive the day before their debut. Why? You'll have to watch it to find out!
6. EXO – EXO Next Door
In 2015, EXO gave fans the gift of EXO Next Door, starring actress Moon Ga-young and several EXO members. The story follows a shy 23-year-old girl who ends up living next door to her favourite K-Pop group, EXO. Chanyeol, D.O., Baekhyun, and Sehun move into her neighbourhood, in the hopes of taking a break from the spotlight. They hire this superfan as a house cleaner and, according to the laws of K-Drama, this inevitably leads to complicated love triangles.
This web drama became so popular that it was re-edited into a film version and sold to overseas buyers at the 68th Cannes Film Market.
7. SF9 and AOA – Click Your Heart
Click Your Heart is the first ever choose your own ending drama. This interactive high school romance stars AOA's Mina and SF9's Rowoon, Dawon, Chanhee, and Juho. Mina's character is a lovable transfer student who starts receiving attention from four different, yet equally charming, male students. Who will she end up with? It's up to viewers!
8. KARA – "Secret Love"
In 2014, KARA released this 5-episode romance drama. Each episode stars one of KARA's members and tells a different love story. This mini-drama covers first love, breakups, unrequited love, and more, so be sure to check this one out if you're in the mood for romance!
9. Jumping Girl
This full-fledged, 15-episode romantic drama stars a cast of K-Pop stars from various groups: Hana (formerly of Secret), f(x)'s Luna, and Block B's B-Bomb and U-Kwon. It tells the story of an ordinary woman who becomes the victim of a public witch hunt after being mistaken for a sasaeng fan.
10. TWICE – Descendants of the Sun parody
BIGBANG isn't the only idol group who loves their parodies. TWICE once starred in a parody that recreated scenes from the mega-hit Descendants of the Sun.


A lucky participant will discover a petite prize within their slice. Not only will he be crowned "king", our treat will include a certificate for one's own Trois et Trois dinner to be enjoyed at another time. Who knows, you may be king for a day.


Those are Real aren't they?….
Finally….the answer!…you love candles…you love the glow…the flickering the flame makes as it dances on the wall….you hate the smoke…the fear that it will get knocked over…Every year we hear about candle fires…especially around the holiday season…well with these BRAND NEW Flickering candles the worries are gone. Using today's technology they have a bright LED bulb within, to create a warm glow, this bulb reflects up to the small "Imitation Flame" that moves and dances as if real. Great for homes with pets…children…elderly…even those hard to get at spaces where a real candle would never work. They are equipped with a timer so you can turn them on and forget them. Running off of two inexpensive AA batteries they will bring you years of enjoyment. Sale price starts at just 28.99! Available in three popular sizes. Weddings…Christmas…window displays….the uses are endless! Candles UNDER the tree….on the window by the draperies….


Inside the Actor's Studio: Cuba Gooding Jr on Bravo at 8:00pm ET. I know this was all filmed and scheduled long ago, but since I just mentioned Mr. Gooding Jr. last night, I'm having a weird moment here.
Powerless on NBC at 8:30pm ET. Series premiere. This is a sitcom set in the DC Universe that tackles how ordinary people adapt to living in a world with superheroes. I like the premise, we'll see how they do with execution.
Superior Donuts on CBS at 8:30pm ET. Series premiere. This is a show about an old white guy who owns a donut shop, and he hires a new employee who's a young black guy. Literally, that is the extent of all the promos I've seen. Judd Hirsch plays the old white guy, Jermaine Fowler plays the new employee, and Katey Sagal really needs to bug her husband to write her a new role already.
How to Get Away with Murder on ABC at 10:00pm ET.
People Just Do Nothing on Viceland at 10:30pm ET. Series premiere. Going to let you in on a not quite secret: this series is on Netflix. I even checked to make sure it hadn't been pulled, but nope, still there. If you were a fan of the British version of The Office but wished it was about people even more pathetic and delusional, this will be right up your alley.


text:
How to Play the Harmonica
How to Read Harmonica Sheet Music
Learn how to read sheet music for the harmonica from music teacher Marcus Milius in this Howcast video.
"Hi, my name is Marcus Milius. I play harmonica. I got a degree at the University of Southern California, a Bachelor's of Music, in Jazz Studies - Chromatic Harmonica. I play and teach harmonica here in New York City, and I'm happy to show you what I do.
Reading sheet music on the harmonica can be complicated, but very worthwhile, because there's a limited amount of tablature out there. If you're reading on the harmonica, you want to be looking for sheet music that's for other treble instruments. So, you're reading treble clef concert pitch. Not B flat like a trumpet or clarinet, but concert pitch. So, that would be vocal sheet music, flute sheet music and violin sheet music, that all shares about the same range. Anything that goes below middle C, you might run out of the range. But basically, you are required to know the notes on each harmonica and the notes on a staff.
So, the lines are going to be E,G,B,D,F and the notes and the spaces are F,A,C,E. So, you'll need to find the equivalent notes on the harmonica and match them up to what's on the page. Hole number 4, blow on the harmonica is C, a 4 draw D, 5 blow E, 5 draw F, 6 blow G, 6 draw A, 7 draw B and 7 blow C. So, anytime you see a C, you want to be playing a C on the harmonica.
Same goes for the chromatic. Hole number 1 would be C blow, hole number 1 draw D, hole number 2 blow E, hole number 2 draw F, hole number 3 blow is G, hole number 3 draw is A, hole number 4 draw is B. And then I move up to hole number 5 blow for C.
So, you simply need to match up the notes on the harmonica with the notes on the page. If there are notes outside of the key, you will need to bend on the diatonic harmonica or use overblows. For the chromatic harmonica, pressing in the slide will simply give you the sharps or flats. You'll need to do a lot further studying. And any background maybe in sight singing and referring to the pitches as Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do, and in fixed Do or movable Do will help you a lot, especially on the diatonic harmonica to navigate through reading sheet music on the harmonica."
How to Play a Diatonic Harmonica
How to Play the Song "Amazing Grace" on Harmonica
How to Play the Song "Wade in the Water" on Harmonica
How to Play the Song "Oh! Susanna" on Harmonica
How to Play "When the Saints Go Marching In" on Harmonica
How to Read Harmonica Tabs
How to Play the Harmonica in the Key of C
How to Play Major vs. Minor Keys on Harmonica
How to Play the Harmonica with Marcus Milius
How to Beatbox on the Harmonica
How to Play Blues on the Harmonica
How to Play a Harmonica Solo
How to Play a Chromatic Harmonica
Different Types of Harmonicas
How to Play Harmonica in Different Keys
How to Play Chord Vamps & Basic Train Rhythm on Harmonica
How to Play 12 Bar Blues on Harmonica
How to Play Harmonica in the Key of A
How to Play Notes on a Harmonica
How to Buy a Harmonica


Last comment by chetan6669 6 days ago.
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CD1: 3. Où est ma tête?
All of Pink Martini's French songs from its entire discography collected on one compilation.
"Non Ouais" includes some of this "little orchestra's" biggest international hits, including "Sympathique (Je ne veux pas travailler)", nominated for Song of the Year in France. Featuring special appearances by French stars Georges Moustaki and Philippe Katerine.


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text:
Lakers end skid vs. woeful Wizards
All smiles after an all-too-rare victory, Kobe Bryant got a locker-room visit from Attorney General Eric Holder, who wanted to know how the Los Angeles Lakers' point-guard-by-default was holding up.
''I'm beat up,'' replied Bryant, who sat at his locker with a cold pack on his bothersome back, wraps on both knees and feet in a plastic tub filled with water and ice. ''Trucking along, though.''
Straining to work out the kinks in an offense coach Mike D'Antoni compared to dancing with two left feet, the Lakers ended a four-game losing streak by holding off the worst-in-the-NBA Washington Wizards 102-96 on Friday night, thanks in large part to Bryant's 30 points and seven assists, along with Jodie Meeks' 24 points.
''We're not there yet, we're not even close. We're not close to being a good team,'' said D'Antoni, who at one point stomped his foot in anger at his 10-14 club. ''But can you build on it? I hope so.''
He also called his players ''lackadaisical'' and ''lethargic.''
Bryant made only 9 of 29 shots, and he took one particularly painful tumble to the court, but his performance also included one real highlight-reel play. With a little under 1 1/2 minutes left, he sneaked in from the 3-point arc to tip in a missed free throw by Dwight Howard, who was 4 for 8 at the line and finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
''All night, I'm missing easy shots left and right, and I have no idea how that one went in,'' Bryant said.
Howard kiddingly called it ''a set play ... called `12 Miss,''' a reference to his uniform number.
He and Bryant appeared to get into a heated exchange on court during a break in the action; Howard said they were discussing defensive strategy after a breakdown.
A night after joking about wanting to face the Washington Generals, the Harlem Globetrotters' longtime foils, Bryant almost got more than his team could handle against the Wizards.
Led by reserve Cartier Martin's season-high 21 points, Washington led by as many nine points in the first half and, after trailing by as many 16 in the second, closed to 92-89 on Nene's free throws with 5 1/2 minutes left in the game.
But Howard made a jump hook, and then, with 4 1/2 minutes remaining, Martell Webster was called for a foul on Bryant on a 3-point attempt, even though a replay appeared to show no contact.
''Controversial call. ... I don't agree with it,'' said Webster, who scored 17 points.
Said Wizards coach Randy Wittman: ''I thought there were some very questionable calls down the stretch, but those things tend to do that - go their way.''
Bryant made all three free throws, and the Lakers were on their way, awkward offense and all.
Before tipoff, D'Antoni offered a less-than-flattering description of his team's choreography.
''Every good offense is a rhythm, and our rhythm is offbeat right now,'' D'Antoni said. ''It's like we've got two left shoes, trying to dance.''
D'Antoni had his players do a film session and walkthrough at a ballroom at their hotel.
''I felt like we had a pretty good feel of how Mike, today at morning brunch, kind of communicated how he wanted the offense to flow. Moving the ball, and if you have a shot, take it. If not, continue to let the ball hop,'' Bryant said. ''We got the message. We did a pretty good job of it. That's why you saw Meeks have a big game.''
Neither of these teams is whole at the moment. The Lakers are still without Steve Nash and Pau Gasol, and Jordan Hill sat out Friday with back spasms. The Wizards have been without point guard John Wall, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 draft, all season, and they're also missing forwards Trevor Ariza and Trevor Booker, along with point guard A.J. Price, at the moment.
A pair of 10-0 runs by Los Angeles in the third quarter appeared to put the outcome beyond doubt.
The second spurt included eight consecutive points from Bryant, who hit a pair of free throws, a 12-foot step-back jumper - with 4 minutes left in the quarter, it was Bryant's first field goal since the final 10 seconds of the opening period - a 17-foot pull-up jumper, and then a tap-in off an alley-oop pass that made it 78-64.
On that last play, Bryant got knocked to the court. He stayed down on the baseline for a few moments, then moved around gingerly for a bit.
He stayed in, however, and kept scoring.
Afterward - and before his moment with Holder - Bryant was asked if he was excited about his team's, um, one-game winning streak.
''I am, actually,'' Bryant said with a loud laugh. ''I am. I am. I'm very, very happy to win one ... game.''
Notes: Nene also had 17 points for the Wizards. ... Minus Gasol and Hill, D'Antoni gave F Devin Ebanks his first start of the season. Ebanks had eight points, five rebounds and five fouls in 27 minutes. ... Wall can ''ramp things up'' as he recovers from a stress injury to his left knee cap, Wittman said, but there's still no specific timetable for his return. Wall was re-examined in New York by Dr. David Altchek, who said Wall is showing improvement but that there is still some irritation in the knee. Altchek said Wall has been treated with three lubricating injections.


Through its Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird updates, Google's making it even harder for site owners and bloggers to get quality incoming links. Having links from more popular websites carry more weight than less popular sites. Monitoring tools are a huge part of ensuring only quality links are connected to your site, and give you an easy way to remove any negative or potentially harmful ones. With that said, proper SEO does take a lot of work, requires a large set of skills, and takes time. But, by investing in SEO now, and allocating the proper time and resources to it, you can begin to create serious, long-term value for your business. Thus, taking advantage of the huge potential of traffic and sales from organic search. Whether you migrate to HTTPS for SEO or security, it's now evident that using HTTPS is quickly becoming a necessity for most websites.
Look at any forums, blogs, message boards or other chat services you might be using. In many of these environments, it is acceptable for users to give contact information and even drop links to their websites, as long as they do it in a certain way. Optimizing a blog is very similar to optimizing a website, and optimizing a blog post similar to optimizing a web page. But depending on the blogging service or software you use, the results may look somewhat different. Keyword mapping involves hierarchically classifying the keywords pertinent to your website by intent, relevance and significance, then segmenting them still further into groups and subgroups. The aim is to reach a point where each keyword you use can be closely associated with a single, specific page on your website, which should contain content that closely matches the keyword. Putting your individuality and personality across throughout the off-site SEO process (outreach emails, guest posts, social shares, etc.) makes others more likely to engage with you. Craft your unique selling proposition (USP) based on your own personality and the way you can best solve your customers' problems. Write locally oriented content: It's one of the best things you can do to improve local rankings.
Having a news section on your site is a really good idea. It gives you the opportunity to fit in lots of keywords and it means you are regularly updating your website (which the search engines look favourably on). Having a blog on your site is good for the same reasons; plus if you are focusing on specific keywords you can write a post around them. Much of digital marketing has revolved around getting found by search engines and coming up within the first page of the SERPs when writing for the internet, break up your paragraphs as often as possible. Lots of white space makes reading text on mobile phones a heck of a lot easier (more than half of most websites' traffic comes from mobile), and clearly formatted articles are used as a Google ranking signal. SEO in Goole is here. Google's looking for original text on a subject matter that explores the concept that the page is about, rather than meets keyword relevance standards of yesteryear. In the race to get as many high quality backlinks as possible, many marketers and webmasters forget about Wikipedia. It's definitely one of the most overlooked opportunities when it comes to building a strong backlink profile for your site.
We asked an SEO Specialist, Gaz Hall, for his thoughts on the matter: "While developing your mobile site, you'll have three options: responsive design, dynamic serving and a separate site on a subdomain. Google prefers responsive design. This way, you have one site that adapts to the device it's used on." Today, queries don't just return a list of ten blue, ordered links. They return results with images, videos, profile pictures, and all manner of meta data that help searchers choose the best result. Does the content add an enormous amount of value or is it thin and veiled in an attempt to merely rank for a keyword? Is the content unique? You can't skimp on quality. Not today. Directories categorize your blog based on its content. You can get extra traffic from these directories since your blog can be found in many relevant sub categories. They also provide links to your blog (some of them do follow backlinks) so it can boost your ranking in search engines. Remember, it takes 20 years to build a reputation and only five minutes to ruin it.
Both Search Console and Google Analytics have a huge range of features to help you sift through your website data and figure out how your site is performing, and you'll find a variety of resources online, particularly from Google, to help you unlock their valuable features. The truth is that links are still the most important component of the search algorithm. No matter how useful its content may be, a site without links is far less likely to rank highly in organic search results. Google may penalize specific tactics, but they will never penalize quality. Creating infographics that give detailed information about your niche is another great way to build links. People using your infographics will be required to place a link to your site (where they obtained the infographic), thus giving you an easy backlink from a site relevant to your niche. There are a number of tools that let you check how many links are pointing to a site and what the authority of those pages are. Unfortunately none of them are perfect — the only way to know what links are pointing to your site is to have crawled those pages.
No-follow links are approximately the standard, yet there are modes and spaces to obtain a do-follow link entirely free. It's all about website analytics — a powerful tool that gives you a full-picture analysis of how your website is doing online, and insight into areas that can use improvement. Services like Google Analytics give you a full-picture view of your site's success with detailed statistics about a website's traffic, visitors, conversions and sales. Take a moment to consider some of the most popular websites you already have links going to on your own website. Is it possible for you to post content on any of these? You could be building Back Links leading from those popular websites that hundreds of thousands or even millions of other people regularly use. Bing has a partnership with Facebook that allows it to access data on user behavior on Facebook and use that to influence rankings and the presentation of its search results. Until Google get their act together, unethical and spammy SEO techniques (black hat SEO) will always exist.


much love, illy: and the winner of the "Win a Date with Peeta" giveaway is...drum roll, pls!!
and the winner of the "Win a Date with Peeta" giveaway is...drum roll, pls!!
i wish it was a "win a date giveaway" with Peeta.
i probably would have entered myself.
and i'm sure Ryan won't mind.
so natalie, shoot me an email (muchloveill[at]gmail[dot]com) so we can set you up on this date with Peeta, er...i mean, send you your very own copy of The Hunger Games!
i expect a full book review upon reading it.
and for those that didn't win, puh-lease go out and get your own copy.
i'd give one away to everyone.
this series is such a must-read. enjoy!


text:
City Of Angels - The Distillers
New look for the website - do you like it??? :-)
See that picture on the front of the page? Yeah, it was that kind of night @ the Cheyenne Saloon. Hamm's beer on tap and Newcastle by the gallon kept us all in a glorious spirit, and the music / performance of Pentagram will forever be imbedded into my brain as one of the inadvertently funniest things I've ever seen in my Life! LOL That Singer with the Marty Feldman eyes, I dunno, there was just something about him... That Dude has seen some things man... LOL It was a fantastic night made all the more better with all the good friends that came out and made it so. Pigasus just fucking killed it, performing the only non-Metal set of the night and setting the standard for high energy Rock and Roll bands to excel to. And they all do it while smoking cigarettes! :-) Dead Neon were just in-fucking-credible and I stood directly in front of the band grinning like an idiot at the onslaught of noise they were just scattering in random directions all around the nearly empty Cheyenne Saloon. Yeah, the turnout was piss poor to say the least, but that didn't stop any of the bands playing from giving it their all. I dunno, I like 'small, intimate' gigs. You can have more silly fun with your Friends that way. Special Thanks to 21 Strong for the hook up on discount tickets to get in. And would someone tell Demon Lung to stop playing those Black Sabbath covers? Their original material is soooooo good standing out on it's own that those covers aren't even necessary.
Seattle... enough said.
Friday night @ Artifice was fun, if only for the free birthday cake and cheap booze they serve up there nightly. The fucking Naked City Romeos turned the place on it's ear and gave it a good sloppy drunk fucking and spanked it in the ass when it was through, serving up an impressive serving of kick ass Punk Rock & Roll that made a Believer out of me. They were most excellent! Same with The People's Whiskey. Why those guys aren't a bigger band in the Scene is beyond me. They're really good and they have a great drummer. It's all about the Drummer you know! ;-) The Fremonts were the Fremonts, playing a countrified set of Rock tunes that would make people like Waylon Jennings or Buck Owens proud, but I just wasn't feeling it. Spent the majority of their set watching Ruckus play that new, cool looking bass of his. People dug them though, and one of the Birthday boys got up and sang a tune with them. Fun stuff. It was like a Birthday party celebration for 3 different people up in there, so the free booze was flowing and the free cake was being eaten! LOL Despite all the Drama at the end of the night, I was having a fun time! Didn't I look like I was? Didn't I look Happy, even if just for a moment? hahahaha
For some reason I keep ending up @ Vamp'd on Thurs., hanging out with my 2 favorite waitresses ever, Ashley & Josette, checking out the Board of Fare at Local Band Thursday Nights. SOMEBODY told the Management there that I could get the word out about getting Local Punk Band night going on there instead, so I mentioned that I would let people out there know that if you're in a Punk Band and would like to play @ Vamp'd on Thurs. nights for $50 and some drink tickets, contact me by clicking here and I'll send you the guys cell phone number. Of course, you could probably go down there and talk to the people yourself, but that would require initiative, now wouldn't it?
Speaking of new places for bands to play, ya know Danny, the Prince of Pinche Drummers who plays for Pigasus, has a regular job that involves slinging suds down @ the Bikini Bar on Spring Mountain, located where the old Sand Dollar Blues bar used to be. He's got the hip Rock and Roll crowd hanging out down there being cool, and he's gonna start booking bands to play there as well so again, if you're in a band and you're looking to have more then 2 or 3 options as far as places to play go, then hit up his Facebook page by clicking here and talk to him about bringing down DA ROCK! to the Bikini Bar. :-)
The sun is coming up, so I should probably get to sleep. I got band practice with S.F.T. later on today, because I'm helping them out with their lack of drummer thing since their old drummer just moved away. I'm playing the Agnostic Front gig with them, so if you'd like to come out and see us play well gee, that would be swell! LOL Pretty quiet and easy weekend coming up. Green Jelly is playing with The Vermin @ Vamp'd on Friday, then Surrounded By Thieves and the Naked City Romeos are playing out in Hendertucky on Saturday, and the Legendary Diamondhead are playing @ the Bunkhouse on Sunday. See? Nice and easy weekend. Somewhere along the way the liver abuse has got to end, right? Right? ;-)
Feeling brave? Head out to Hendertucky on Saturday to see this gig! LOL


Papua New Guinea is a destination that will whet your appetite and offer an experience like no other in the world. One of the world's least explored destinations, it is a paradise waiting to be discovered and photographed.
Papua New Guinea has some of the worlds most fascinating and exotic bird species. The virtually untouched forests come alive with the immense sights and sounds of various bird species, while more than twenty species of dazzling birds-of-paradise display their iridescent colors and elaborate plumes in one of the most astonishing exhibits of the natural world.
This is a Papua New Guinea photographic tour par excellence that explores the region's diverse and exquisite habitats and array for awe-inspiring cultures. In Mount Hagen, we will witness tribal dances that mimic the fabulous birds-of-paradise, adorning themselves with elaborate head plumes of the exotic birds that grace this mystical island.
The Mount Hagen Cultural Show is one of the largest cultural events in Papua New Guinea, and one that needs to be experienced. Various native tribal dance groups gather together to celebrate their particular cultural heritage in conjunction with one another. This is a breath-taking showcase of distinct cultures, dance and music coming together with the intention to peacefully share their traditions.


text:
Who's News: 12/3/21
News Who's News
by staff November 29, 2021 65
YOUNG PLAYWRIGHT
Cardiff student Ana Cabrera will be part of the festival of Plays by Young Writers, from Jan. 22 to Feb. 13, with both an in-person screening and online streaming of the filmed performances. The Festival features winning scripts from the California Young Playwrights Contest. Cabrera wrote "Petunia" while attending San Dieguito Academy. A semi-finalist in last year's contest, Cabrera has taken part in multiple Playwrights Project camps in collaboration with New Village Arts. In "Petunia," a flower with roots on both sides of the Mexico and U.S. border journeys to find her place in the world.
BUSINESS WOMAN FINALIST
Encinitas Chamber of Commerce member Michelle Gonzalez of True Care is a finalist for Business Women of the Year award. Each year, the San Diego Business Journal recognizes dynamic women business leaders who have contributed significantly to San Diego's workplaces and communities. Just as COVID-19 was spreading, Gonzalez was appointed president and CEO of TrueCare, a nonprofit health care provider for the underserved in North San Diego and South Riverside Counties. She took the reins and navigated every aspect of this changing healthcare crisis while expanding services to help care for the underserved during a critical time.
MASK UPDATE
Encinitas Community and Senior Center Mask Policy has been updated. As of Nov. 22, masks are no longer required at the Community and Senior Center for those who are fully vaccinated. This is in accordance with the San Diego County Department of Public Health's COVID-19 Guidance. Per this same guidance, masks will continue to be required for unvaccinated individuals.
Cal State San Marcos Women's Basketball redshirt sophomore Jordan Vasquez was prolific in the paint in the Cougars' opening week of the season, and named the CCAA Women's Basketball Player of the Week for Nov. 21.
SUCCESSFUL FUNDRAISER
The La Costa 35 Athletic Club, a local nonprofit organization, raised more than $41,000 at its 10th annual Texas Hold 'Em Poker Tournament on Nov. 13, benefiting the Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad.
LOSSAN HONORED
The Los Angeles – San Diego – San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency which oversees the Amtrak® Pacific Surfliner® service, was honored with two AdWheel Grand Awards by the American Public Transportation Association. The AdWheel Awards recognize the "best of the best" in marketing and communications within the public transportation industry. Grand Award winners are selected from the first-place winners within a category.
WORK ON RECYCLING
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released the 2021 National Recycling Strategy to tackle recycling challenges facing the nation and to create a stronger, more resilient, and cost-effective municipal solid waste recycling system. This year, California alone has invested $270 million in new recycling infrastructure and programs. The 2021 strategy is also the first time EPA's recycling approach will address the climate impacts of producing, using, and disposing of materials. More information at epa.gov/recyclingstrategy/national-recycling-strategy-part-one-series-building-circular-economy-join-effort.
CLOTHES AND MORE
Devonfield Publishing, in Rancho Santa Fe, announces the Britfield product line based on its book series "Britfield & the Lost Crown." The Britfield tartan has the Royal Britfield Crest colors, navy, almond, and crimson, with a clothing line, including cashmere scarfs, hats, and shirts. For details, email [email protected].
Dec. 8 is the Roman Catholic Feast of the Immaculate Conception and Buddhist: Bodhi Day when Buddhists commemorate Buddha's enlightenment. Dec. 21 is the Pagan and Wiccan Yule at sundown on the winter solstice. Dec. 25 is Christian Christmas – the birthday of Jesus and Dec. 26 is the Roman Catholic Feast of St. Stephen, also called Boxing Day.
Cardiff teen named a winner of statewide playwrights contest December 2, 2021
Classical Academy students post experiences of… July 21, 2020
Teachers union files lawsuit against San Dieguito… December 21, 2020
Weekly Crime Reports: Encinitas, Del Mar, Solana Beach
Lick the Plate: Creativity, cuisine thrive at Oceanside's Communal


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You are Here: Home » News » Can you hear the Thunder?
Can you hear the Thunder?
Date published: 29 October 2008
GOAL attack Charlotte Beenham in action. Picture Frank Williams
FOURTEEN games into the season and Oldham Athletic are already battling for a promotion play-off spot.
But the season has only just started for another bunch of Oldham sporting stars who are hoping to take their league by storm. Reporter Karen Doherty went along to their first match to find out more.
SCREAMING fans, high octane action, rockin' music, and Sky Sports. Welcome to the Superleague . . . Netball Superleague that is!
If your image of the sport is a girls' game without the excitement and glamour of football, basketball or rugby — then think again.
The atmosphere at Castle Leisure Centre, Bury, was electric as Northern Thunder launched the 2008/9 season of netball's equivalent of the football Premier League — with Oldham grabbing its share of the limelight live on Sky Sports.
The North-West outfit is coached by the borough's respected netball stalwart Mike Greenwood, director of coaching for Lancashire, former England under 19s coach, and coach of Oldham: the North-West's only premier league division one team.
Captain Karen Greig, vice captain Kerry Almond, Helen Browne and Michelle Carroll all live in Oldham while ten of the 15-strong squad have played for Oldham.
They went into the first league match of the season last Thursday as underdogs: pundit and ex-England player Tracey Neville (sister of footballers Gary and Phil) predicted a thrashing by star-studded Team Northumbria. In the end they were beaten 49-51 in a thriller which kept the 500-strong, sell-out crowd on the edge of their seats.
There was a party atmosphere as fans ratcheted up the volume, youngsters danced to the music between quarters and mascots signed autographs. Thousands more watched on TV.
They couldn't have hoped for a more exciting game and Mike said: "It was party time. The atmosphere was great, the noise was brilliant — it is just what you want from a sporting occasion.
"It is what the spectators want to see and the last quarter was nail biting."
If the popularity of netball is news to you then it is worth knowing that more than one million girls and women play it in the UK and 20 million globally.
Matches at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester sold out and Superleague sponsors The Co-operative are campaigning for it to become an Olympic sport.
Skilful and fast, Sky Sports realised what all the fuss is about when it started covering the Superleague in November, 2006. Northern Thunder finished bottom last season with only one win but Mike's son, also called Mike, and Debbie Hallas, who own Oldham-based company Netball UK, have now taken over the franchise.
They have invested substantial money and built links with companies and the county associations. The team have also moved their home games to Castle; Bury and surrounding areas such as Oldham are a netball heartland.
Mike has rejoined as coach of the team which he took to the then Supercup final a few seasons ago and admits that Thunder does not have the Australian stars or current England players of other teams.
Like many football managers, he is putting his faith in the young players who pushed Northumbria all the way.
"Because of where we were last year we do not get the girls who want to come to Northern Thunder. We are relying on local girls," explained Mike.
"We have got some very young players in the squad, we have got a great set up and we have just got to wait for the players to come through. There is no quick fix."
Come on down!
On Saturday Northern Thunder lost again, this time 78-54 to Team Bath, a side crammed with England players.
Their next home game is at 4pm on Saturday against Brunel Hurricanes at the Castle Leisure Centre, Bury.
Tickets costs £8, £5 under 16s and £22 family from 0161 626 3936 or visit www.thundernetball.com
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A Associação Atlética Universitária Concórdia, também referida como AAU UnC Concórdia  é um clube feminino de handebol, com sede em Concórdia, Santa Catarina. Atualmente, o Concórdia participa da Liga Nacional de Handebol Feminino, tendo sido vencedor nas edições de 2013, 2017 e 2018, e vice-campeão em 2012, 2014 e 2015.

Além disso, a equipe conquistou o Sul/Centro-Americano de Handebol em 2019 e recebeu o direito de disputar o IHF Women's Super Globe, organizado pela Federação Internacional de Handebol (IHF), onde ficou na terceira colocação.

Títulos
Liga Nacional de Handebol Feminino (3): 2013, 2017, 2018
Sul/Centro-Americano de Handebol Feminino (1): 2019

Campanhas de destaque
Liga Nacional de Handebol Feminino (vice-campeã, 3): 2012, 2014, 2015
IHF Women's Super Globe (terceiro lugar): 2019

Equipe atual
Dados atualizados em dezembro de 2019.

Goleiras
 1  Luciane Verona
 20  Maite Lima Dias
Extremas
Direita
 7  Aline Bieger
 14  Agda Pereira
 15  Ana Luiza Aguiar
Esquerda
 10  Barbarah Monteiro
 88  Jamily Felix
Pivôs
 2  Nadyne Morcineck
 6  Sabrina Fiore

Armadoras
Esquerda
 3  Eduarda Engel
 13  Talita Carneiro
 19  Amanda Caetano
 22  Francieli Sothe
Central
 99  Tauani Schneider
Direita
 4  Daise Oliveira
 73  Juliane Pereira

Clubes de handebol do Brasil
Esporte de Concórdia
Fundações em Santa Catarina em 2005

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Home -> Astronomy News -> Audio Visual -> Nebra Sky Disk
TOPIC: Nebra Sky Disk
RE: Nebra Sky Disk
Nebra Sky Disk
`I measured the angle and it was 82 degrees`
Curious golden curve
The Sun ship
`It was important to know where the metal came from`
Audio from the HORIZON program aired on BBC2, 20 June 2006, about the Nebra Sky Disk.
NEBRA3.wmv (3,257KB, sry, only as Wmv file)
Date: Mar 1 02:16 2006
Date: Feb 28 13:21 2006
The 3,600 year old Sky Disk of Nebra is the world's oldest image of the cosmos.
It caused a world-wide sensation when it was brought to the attention of the German public in 2002, having been discovered at Mittelberg in the state of Saxony-Anhalt two years earlier.
A group of German scientists has deciphered the meaning of one of the most spectacular archaeological discoveries in recent years: The mystery-shrouded sky disc of Nebra was used as an advanced astronomical clock.
The purpose of the sky disc of Nebra dating from 1600 BC is no longer a matter of speculation.
A group of German scholars who studied this archaeological gem has discovered evidence, which suggests that the disc was used as a complex astronomical clock for the harmonization of solar and lunar calendars.
The disc maps 32 stars, including the Pleiades, as they appear in reference to a local mountain on the horizon, the Brocken. The Mittelberg ('Central Hill') enclosure is oriented in such a way that the sun seems to set every equinox behind the Brocken, the highest peak of the Harz mountains. The nearby Ziegelroda forest is said to contain around 1,000 barrows.
The 252 metre high Mittelberg hill in the Forest is 180km southwest of Berlin.
Since the Mittelberg is near the German town of Nebra, the star map has been dubbed the "Nebra Disc."
"This is a clear expansion of what we knew about the meaning and function of the sky disc" - archaeologist Harald Meller.
Unlike the solar calendar, which indicates the position of the earth as it revolves around the sun, the lunar calendar is based on the phases of the moon. A lunar year is eleven days shorter than the solar year because 12 synodic months, or 12 returns of the moon to the new phase, take only 354 days.
The sky disc of Nebra was used to determine if and when a thirteenth month -- the so-called intercalary month -- should be added to a lunar year to keep the lunar calendar in sync with the seasons.
"The functioning of this clock was probably known to a very small group of people" - Harald Meller.
The 32-centimeter-wide (12-inch) bronze disc that weighs about 2 kilograms, with gold-leaf appliqués representing the sun, the moon, and the stars is the oldest visual representation of the cosmos known to date. A cluster of seven dots has previously been interpreted as the Pleiades constellation as it appeared 3,600 years ago.
The explanation of the disc's purpose sheds new light on the astronomical knowledge and abilities of the Bronze Age people, who used a combination of solar and lunar calendars as important indicators for agricultural seasons and passage of time.
"The sensation lies in the fact that the Bronze Age people managed to harmonize the solar and lunar years. We never thought they would have managed that" - Harald Meller.
According to astronomer Wolfhard Schlosser of the Rurh University at Bochum, the Bronze Age sky gazers already knew what the Babylonians would describe only a thousand years later.
"Whether this was a local discovery, or whether the knowledge came from afar, is still not clear" - Wolfhard Schlosser .
Ever since the disc was discovered within a pit inside a Bronze Age ringwall, archaeologists and astronomers have been puzzled by the shape of the moon as it appears on the disc.
It may have been used to time plantings and harvests.
On the left and right sides are two long arcs. These span about 80 degrees each. The difference between sunrise on the summer solstice and on the winter solstice is 82.7 degrees at this latitude, as is the difference between the sunsets on the two solstices. The two arcs are said to represent the portions of the horizon where the sun rises during the year. (The gold coating on the left arc, representing sunset, has fallen off and is lost).
Between the two arcs are a full circle and a crescent. The crescent obviously represents a crescent moon, while the large circle may be the sun or a full moon. (The gold on the sun/full moon circle is damaged). In the background are 23 stars dotted in an apparently random pattern, and one group of seven stars which is said to represent the Pleiades star cluster (the Seven Sisters or M45). X-Rays indicate that under the gold of the right arc are two more stars, so it is likely that the two arcs were added some time after the other features.
"I wanted to explain the thickness of the crescent on the sky disc of Nebra because it is not a new moon phase" - Ralph Hansen, Hamburg astronomer .
In his quest to explain why the Nebra astronomers created a sky map with a four or five days old moon on it, Hansen consulted the "Mul-Apin" collection of Babylonian documents from the 7th and 6th centuries B.C.
These cuneiform writings represent, according to Hansen, a compendium of "astronomic knowledge from the earliest times." They also contain a calculation rule for the crescent that looks strikingly similar to the one from Nebra.
According to the ancient Babylonian rule, a thirteenth month should only be added to the lunar calendar only when one sees the constellation of the moon and the Pleiades exactly as they appear on the Nebra sky disc.
The disc was originally smeared with rotten eggs. These would have caused a chemical reaction on its bronze surface, which would have turned the disc's background a deep violet colour simulating a night sky out of which the gold-embossed stars would have shone.
The third arc on the disk is also highly interesting. The ancients did not understand how the sun could set in the west and end up in the cast the next morning. Representations of a disk in a ship, from Bronze Age Egypt and Scandinavia, reveal an age-old belief that a ship carried the sun across the night sky. The Nebra disk is the first evidence of such a faith in central Europe.
The sky disc of Nebra was found near Europe's oldest observatory in Goseck.
It is a solar observatory built ca 4900 BCE.
Nearby excavations of wood-and-clay houses have turned up a variety of grains and evidence of domesticated goats, sheep, pigs and cows. Farmers reached this part of the world some 500 years before they built the solar observatory. Although these earliest Neolithic agriculturists most likely measured only the sun's movements, over millennia they came to quantify the lunar cycle and the positions of constellations.
The Bronze Age astronomers would hold the Nebra clock against the sky and observe the position of the celestial objects. The intercalary month was inserted when what they saw in the sky corresponded to the map on the disc they were holding in their hands. This happened every two to three years.
But the German researchers also discovered that in the 400 years that the disc was in use, its status had evolved. The perforations on the edge of the object as well as a ship that was later added to the map suggest that the knowledge about the lunar calendar's shortage of days was lost along the way.
"That means, that in the end the disk became a cult object" - Harald Meller.
The disc was found on July 4, 1999 from two convicted grave robbers. In February, 2002 it was bought along with two swords, two axes, chisels and armlets, from art fencers in a police operation in Switzerland.
Position: Latitude: 51.283810N Longitude: 11.519860E
The place where the Nebra skydisk was found was surrounded by a wall and a ditch with a diameter of 150 to 160 m. Only a few centimetres height remain today. There are two more walls and ditches at the eastern and western side. It's estimated that the original height of the walls was 1.5 m, the ditches were 2.5 m wide and 1.2 m deep.
The Official Nebra Sky Disc website
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In Silico Biology 5, 0040 (2005); ©2005, Bioinformation Systems e.V.
We present an algorithm to detect remote homology, which arises through circular permutation and discontinuous domains. It is also helpful in detecting small domain proteins that are characterized by few conserved residues. The input to the algorithm is a set of multiply aligned protein sequence profiles. This method, coded as FASSM, examines the sequence conservation and positions of protein family signatures or motifs for the annotation of protein sequences and to facilitate the analysis of their domains. The overall coverage of FASSM is 93% in comparison to other validation tools like HMM and IMPALA. The method is especially useful for difficult relationships such as discontinuous domains during whole-genome surveys and is demonstrated to perform accurate family associations at sequence identities as low as 15%.


I am not ready to let go of summer floral's yet. I thought I'd make a bold statement with the following nail art to really emphasise this point.
I seen the following nails on Pinterest by @nails_by_cindy and knew I just had to recreate complete with a tutorial for you guys - I cant believe how easy and beautiful they are.
After I completed this manicure, I started thinking I could add nail caviar or glitter but I really think in this case that less is more and the bright colours do all the talking for themselves without added extras like caviar or glitter.
I started off by painting all of my nails with Go Into The Light. Once that was completely dry, I started working on the flowers. The flowers may look really intricate, but I promise its just about mixing and blending the colours.
For my index finger and the pink flower, I added a border with Sugar And Spice and filled the centre in with Snow Me White. Using both polishes and a tiny but of nail polish remover, I started blending the 2 colours. By using polish remover, it makes it really runny and easy to mix. To finish off, I added I Brake For Manicures to the centre.
For the orange flowers on my index and middle fingers, I started off with a border of Fear & Desire and filled in the centre with Sunshine. Again, just blending the 2 colours with remover. Again, I added the centre with I Brake For Manicures.
For the pink flower on my ring finger, I added a border of Snow Me White, and the inside was achieved with Pinch Of Punch. Same, for the yellow on my pinkie finger - border of Snow Me White and filled in with Sunshine. Both have centres of I Brake For Manicures.
For the blue flowers on my middle and ring fingers - I filmed the tutorial for this one. I made the outline with Dream Stream and filled the centre in with Too Cool To Tango and Blinding Blue. Finally, for the blue flower on my pinkie finger, its exactly the same as above except the border is Malibu. I finished off by adding I Brake For Manicures to the centre and a thick coat of Seche Vite.


text:
Factbox-UK food supply faces COVID, post-Brexit disruption
By James Davey, Kate Holton
LONDON (Reuters) - France's move to block freight from the United Kingdom following the discovery of a much more virulent strain of the coronavirus has shone a light on Britain's food supply.
FILE PHOTO: Fruit is displayed for sale inside a supermarket in London, Britain August 7, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
The 200 billion pound ($273 billion) food and grocery market had already been preparing for the end of the Brexit transition period on Dec. 31 when deliveries from the European Union will be disrupted, whether or not a trade deal is agreed.
Below is a summary of the market and some of the issues it is facing:
The EU is the UK's largest trading partner, accounting for nearly one third of the country's food, but in January a much higher proportion of fruit and vegetables is imported from the EU relative to the summer.
For example, the UK sources 85% of its tomatoes from the EU in January, falling to 30% by June in the UK growing season, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
Sainsbury's, Britain's second-biggest supermarket, said on Monday that gaps would start to appear on supermarket shelves within days if transport ties with mainland Europe were not quickly restored.
STOCKPILING, LAST-MINUTE BUYING AND PANIC BUYING
In preparation for all eventualities on Jan. 1, the supermarket groups, independent retailers and wholesale firms have been increasing their stocks of tins, toilet rolls and other longer life products.
The move, also being mirrored by manufacturing groups and construction firms, had already pushed up the price of freight deliveries in recent weeks as firms struggled to meet the huge demand to bring goods into the country before the year-end.
The suspension of trade plus the post-Jan. 1 disruption will be most keenly felt in the fruit and vegetable sector. Sainsbury's said it was looking for alternative transport for produce sourced from Europe. Air cargo is one alternative option but it is again much more expensive.
The discovery of the new strain of the novel coronavirus has also disrupted the Christmas plans of millions of British people, with those living in London and surrounding areas ordered to stay at home and not travel over the festive period.
Large queues snaked around Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, Aldi and Lidl stores in London, according to Reuters reporters, as shoppers had to rethink their plans.
Retailers will be hoping to avoid the panic buying that gripped the country earlier this year when shelves were stripped bare before the first national lockdown.
The BRC and supermarket groups have both warned that if Britain leaves the bloc without a free trade deal the imposition of tariffs would force them to raise prices to mitigate the additional costs.
Under Britain's new tariff schedule, which would apply from Jan. 1 if a deal is not agreed, 85% of foods imported from the EU would face tariffs of more than 5%, the BRC said.
Tesco has said consumers should expect price rises of between 3% and 5%. The UK government has disputed those figures, saying the impact would be less than 2%.
MAJOR PLAYERS
The four major players in the UK food market are industry leader Tesco with a 27% share, Sainsbury's with 15.7%, Walmart owned Asda with 14.1% and Morrisons with 10.3%, the latest data from market researcher Kantar shows.
Over the last decade German-owned discounters Aldi and Lidl have steadily won share from the traditional "big four" and together now have 13.9%.
Reporting by James Davey and Kate Holton