text:
So Justin Bieber Invited Four Girls To His Hotel Room Then The Police Were Called
Is it too late now for him to say sorry?
by Wenn.com | Dec 10, 2015
Police officers were called to Justin Bieber's luxury hotel in London on Sunday after a female fan stormed out of his room after getting into an argument with another girl.
The "Sorry" singer went to London to perform at the Capital FM Jingle Bell Ball, and Justin took four young women back to his room at the Rosewood hotel following an after party at the Tape nightclub.
An altercation erupted between two of the girls in the early hours of Monday morning and one stormed out of the room and began making a scene in the reception area, so police were called to investigate the disturbance.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police tells Britain's The Sun newspaper, "Police were called at approximately 06:15 hours on Monday to a hotel in High Holborn following concerns for the welfare of a female who was at the venue.
"Officers attended and it was established that the female was safe and well. There were no offences committed."
Justin left the hotel shortly after the incident to take a flight on a private jet. A source tells the newspaper, "Justin had done nothing wrong but his team went into panic mode... His team whisked him into a car and took him straight to Luton airport, where his plane was waiting... He was in the air and heading home to Canada by half past eight [in the morning]."
Justin flew to his native Canada so he could perform a special acoustic concert in Toronto that evening to raise money for the Stratford House of Blessing, which provides food and clothing to those in need in his native Stratford, Ontario.
"It's really good to be home," Justin told the crowd. "You guys are special, very special... I think this is the best crowd I've ever been a part of. I'm having a great time up here tonight."
Justin's mother Pattie Mallette used the food bank when she was struggling to raise the pop star on her own following her split from his dad Jeremy.
justin bieber,


Models Liv at Storm, Xanthe at The Squad, Roman at PRM, Xing at People File, and Jethro at Supa. Hair Sophie Jane Anderson. Make-Up Samanta Falcone. Set Design Alice Jacobs. Photographer Assistant Nicolas Ruivo. Styling Assistant Lisa de Chiree. Casting Gabrielle Lawrence at People File.
Xing wears dress by Louis Vuitton. Vintage collar from Cenci. Tights by Trasparenze from UK Tights. Roman wears turtleneck by John Smedley. Jacket by Ermenegildo Zegna. Brooch by Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello.
Left: Xanthe wears blouse by Alexis Mabille. Dress by Just Cavalli. Brooch stylist's own. Right: Liv wears dress by Paco Rabanne. Tights by Oroblu from UK Tights. Shoes by Repetto.
Left: Xanthe wears blouse by Alexis Mabille. Dress by Just Cavalli. Right: Xanthe wears blouse by Alexis Mabille. Dress by Bottega Veneta.
Left: Xanthe wears blouse by Alexis Mabille. Right: Roman wears turtleneck by Prada.
Left: Roman wears turtleneck by Prada. Sweater vest by Acne Studios. Pants by Marni. Right: Xanthe wears blouse by Alexis Mabille. Dress by Bottega Veneta. Shoes by Bora Aksu.
Xanthe wears blouse by Alexis Mabille. Dress by Bottega Veneta. Shoes by Bora Aksu. Liv wears top and dress by Paco Rabanne. Skirt by Ryan Lo. Tights by Oroblu from UK Tights. Shoes by Repetto. Xing wears dress by Louis Vuitton. Vintage collar from Cenci. Tights by Trasparenze from UK Tights. Shoes by Repetto.
Jethro wears top by Wooyoungmi. Jacket and pants by Louis Vuitton. Roman wears turtleneck by Prada. Sweater vest by Acne Studios. Pants by Marni. Shoes by Ermenegildo Zegna. Liv wears dress By Miu Miu. Tights by Oroblu from UK Tights. Shoes by Repetto.
Left: Xanthe wears dress by Gucci. Shoes by Bora Aksu. Right: Xing wears dress by Valentino. Tights by Trasparenze from UK Tights. Shoes by Repetto.
Liv wears top and dress by Paco Rabanne. Skirt by Ryan Lo. Tights by Oroblu from UK Tights.
Xing wears blouse by Alice + Olivia. Dress by Miu Miu. Roman wears turtleneck by Prada. Sweater Vest by Acne Studios. Pants by Marni. Shoes by Ermenegildo Zegna. Liv wears dress by Miu Miu. Tights by Oroblu from UK Tights. Shoes by Repetto.
Left: Xing wears vintage collar from Cenci. Xanthe wears blouse by Alexis Mabille. Xing wears vintage collar from Cenci. Roman wears turtleneck by John Smedley. Jacket by Ermenegildo Zegna. Right: Jethro wears turtleneck by John Smedley. Jacket and pants by Ermenegildo Zegna. Boots by Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello. Xanthe wears blouse by Alexis Mabille. Dress by Bottega Veneta. Shoes by Bora Aksu. Liv wears top and dress by Paco Rabanne. Skirt by Ryan Lo. Tights by Oroblu from UK Tights. Shoes by Repetto.
Left: Xing wears dress by Louis Vuitton. Vintage collar from Cenci. Tights by Trasparenze from UK Tights. Shoes by Repetto. Right: Xanthe wears blouse by Alexis Mabille. Dress by Just Cavalli.


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Q: Unit testing angular intercept Is this even possible?
I can mock $httpBackend, and the intercept is called during $httpBackend.flush(); but I cannot get hold of it. So my intercept function changes the state of $rootScope, but even that does not help, because it does so both on request and on response -- and all I get is the state after response.
Is there a way to check the state of $rootScope after request? Is there a way to check the state of config, which is the input parameter?
Here is the code:
// application
//
angular.module('myApp',[]);
//
// controller
//
var myApp = angular.module('myApp');
myApp.controller('FooCtrl', ['$scope', '$http', function ($scope, _$http_) {
    var $http = _$http_;
    $scope.onSubmit = function() {
        var config = {method: 'post', url: '/foo.py', data: 'bar', myProp: 'request'};
        $http(config).success(function(result) {
        }).error(function(data) {
            $scope.error = data;
        });
    };
}]);
//
// service
//
var fooService = angular.module('FooService', ['ngResource']);

fooService.factory('FooIntercept', function ($q, $window, $log, $rootScope) {
    return {
        request: function (config) {
            $rootScope.myProp = config.myProp;
            config.headers = config.headers || {};
            config.headers.Authorization = 'Session ' + $window.sessionStorage.sessionId;
            return config;
        },
        response: function(response) {
            if($rootScope.myProp) {
                $rootScope.myProp = 'response';
            }
            return response;
        },
        responseError : function(response) {
            if($rootScope.myProp) {
                $rootScope.myProp = 'error';
            }

            var errorMessage = response.config.errorMessage;
            if(errorMessage) {
                $window.alert(errorMessage);
            }

            return $q.reject(response);
        }
    };
});

fooService.config(function($httpProvider){
    $httpProvider.interceptors.push('FooIntercept');
});
//
// test
//
describe('trying to mock httpBackend', function() {
    var $controller;
    var $httpBackend;
    var $rootScope;

    beforeEach(module('myApp'));
    beforeEach(module('FooService'));

    beforeEach(inject(function ($injector) {
        $controller = $injector.get('$controller');
        $httpBackend = $injector.get('$httpBackend');
        $rootScope = $injector.get('$rootScope');
    }));

    afterEach(function() {
        $httpBackend.verifyNoOutstandingExpectation();
        $httpBackend.verifyNoOutstandingRequest();
    });

    it('not so simple...', function() {
        var ctrl = $controller('FooCtrl', {'$scope':$rootScope});
        expect($rootScope.onSubmit).toBeDefined();
        $httpBackend.expectPOST('/foo.py', 'bar').respond({UserName: 'Fred', serverAddress: 'foo'});
        $rootScope.onSubmit();
        $httpBackend.flush();
        expect($rootScope.myProp).toBe('request');
    });
});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Roller skate into the night under the Houston skyline at the Rink: Rolling at Discovery Green. Jam to music with family or friends as you swirl and smile on a Friday night.
FUNfetti Fridays continue weekly through Friday, April 19, 2019.
Visitors may bring their own four-wheel or in-line skates. They're also encouraged to bring their own safety gear.
Tickets are $10 regular admission; plus $4 for skate rentals. Order tickets online in advance and get admission plus skate rentals for $12.


text:
Posts made in December 2019
Above, not a dog food, but not a perfect diet either. (Photo source: Instagram)
Change of heart: Vets say dogs' cardiac problems are linked to grain-free food
Debbie Turner remembers the shock when a veterinary specialist said her beloved dog, Kanga Lu, had severe heart damage. NBC News reports. For weeks, Kanga had been experiencing odd symptoms— including fatigue, breathing problems and what her local vet assumed were seizures. But now Turner was being told that the Maltese-Chihuahua mix was in late-stage heart failure. The seizures, it turned out, had been fainting spells.
"So I'm sitting with what I thought was a healthy six-year-old dog that was having minor seizures, and now I find out she might only have three months to live," said Turner, 66, of Orlando, Florida.
She was heartsick and it turned out that something she had done out of love for her pet–buying what she believed to be the very best commercially available food—was doing the damage.
The first question the specialist had asked Turner when she brought in Kanga—whose blood pressure had skyrocketed—was, "Do you feed her grain-free dog food?" The answer was yes.
NBC News is now reporting that Turner is one of a growing list of pet owners whose healthy sounding dog food may have somehow led to a serious heart problem in their pets called dilated cardiomyopathy.
The Food and Drug Administration last year announced a possible link between the condition, which can cause heart failure; and grain-free pet foods, which replace grains with ingredients like peas, lentils ,or potatoes.
By April, the agency said that it had received 524 reports of 560 dogs and 14 cats diagnosed with DCM that appeared to be related to diet. In June, the FDA took the unusual step of listing the 16 brands of dog food—among them, such popular brands as Blue Buffalo, Natural Balance, NutriSource, Nutro, and Rachael Ray Nutrish—nder investigation.
It's still not known exactly how certain pet foods may be damaging pet hearts, but researchers have found some clues. Possible culprits include deficiencies in certain compounds necessary for heart health, as well as diets with exotic ingredients.
In dogs and cats developing DCM, the "walls of the heart become thin, and its ability to pump blood decreases," Dr. Bruce Kornreich, a veterinary cardiologist and director of the feline health center at the Veterinary College of Cornell told NBC News. "If this continues, your pet can end up with chronic heart failure."
DCM is a known genetic issue for certain large breeds of dogs, including great Danes, German shepherds, and Doberman pincers. But when the FDA and veterinarians around the country started to see dogs of all sizes developing this kind of heart damage several years ago, they grew alarmed.
The number of cases of DCM are likely to rise, experts say.
"We continue to see dogs coming into our hospital affected by this problem," Dr. Lisa Freeman, a veterinary nutritionist and professor at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, told the network news outlet. "It's not going away."
Unfortunately, Freeman said, the solution is probably not going to be a simple one, and the suspect foods are not just those described as "grain free." She and others are now investigating a broader class of foods, dubbed "BEG" foods: ones that are made by boutique companies, contain exotic ingredients, or are grain-free.
The FDA echoes Freeman's concerns about a complex solution. "At this time, it is not clear what it is about some diets that may be connected to DCM in dogs, but FDA believes it may be multi-factorial," said Monique Richards, an FDA spokesperson. "There are multiple possible causes of DCM."
Research contact: @NBCNews
This entry was posted in Lifestyle and tagged 16 brands, and Rachael Ray Nutrish, Blue Buffalo, Cardiac problems, cats, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, Dilated cardiomyopathy, Dr. Bruce Kornreich, Dr. Lisa Freeman, Exotic ingredients, FDA, Grain-free dog food, Heart failure, Natural Balance, NBC News, NutriSource, Nutro, Too, Veterinary College of Cornell on December 31, 2019 by Poll-Vaulter.
the Beetle became history on December 31 at midnight. (Photo source: Volkswagen/Beetle Instagram)
Going out with a bang-up ad campaign: VW bids farewell to the Beetle on New Year's Eve
Volkswagen is saying goodbye to the Beetle during the last moments of 2019 with a little help from a Beatles song, actor Kevin Bacon, the late pop artist Andy Warhol, and Bravo's Andy Cohen, Advertising Age reports.
A nostalgia-laden animated ad called "The Last Mile" will get a significant push during New Year's Eve TV programming, with airings on ABC, CNN, as well as digital billboard buys on Times Square. The spot, by Johannes Leonardo, depicts the iconic car's role in the life of a man who is shown growing old with the Beetle, which ended production earlier this year after a run that began in the 1930s. Along the way, the ad works in references to the Beetle's outsized role in pop culture.
The soundtrack—a rendition of the Beatle's "Let it Be" sung by Chicago-area children's choir Pro Musica Youth Chorus—is a nod to the car's appearance on the Abbey Road album cover, Ad Age notes.
Bacon appears in animated form as Ren, the Beetle-driving character he played in the 1984 movie Footloose. An animated version of Warhol quickly appears (at the 1:01 mark, snapping a photo of the Beetle) in a nod to a painting the pop artist did of the car.
The ad also includes a reference to VW's classic "Think Small" and "Lemon" ad campaigns from the 1960s by the agency Doyle Dane Bernbach.
Cohen appears at the 1:03 mark, on the receiving end of a "punch buggy"—the old road trip game that calls for a punch on the arm upon spotting a Beetle. The Bravo personality will co-host CNN's New Year's Eve coverage. He teased the ad on Instagram with a paid post encouraging followers to post pictures of their own Beetles, the news outlet said..
It's part of a larger influencer campaign that will include postings from other Beetle enthusiasts. The TV ad will also run during NBC's January 1 coverage of the National Hockey League's "Winter Classic;" as well as during college football programming, including the Sugar Bowl and Rose Bowl.
Research contact: @adage
This entry was posted in Business and tagged Ad campaign, Advertising Age, Andy Warhol, Beatle's Let It Be, Bravo's Andy Cohen, Footloose, Johannes Leonardo, Kevin Bacon, Pro Musica Youth Chorus, Riding into history, Volkswagen Beetle on December 31, 2019 by Poll-Vaulter.
Above, Chelsea Clinton (left) and President Donald Trump, (Photo: source brigitte_de)
Team Trump interrogated EU aides to find out who 'liked' a Chelsea Clinton tweet
On the evening of July 10, 2017, staffers at the U.S. embassy in Brussels—the official office of the ambassador to the European Union—received an odd call from the seventh floor of the State Department back in Washington, D.C., The Daily Beast reports.
The office of then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was irate. Someone in Brussels with access to the mission's Twitter account had liked the wrong tweet. It had set off alarm bells inside the Beltway.
And it wasn't just any tweet. It was one written by Chelsea Clinton and sent to @realDonaldTrump in a public spat that soon trended on the Internet.
That week, Trump had drawn criticism for his decision to let his daughter, Ivanka, fill his seat at the G-20 meeting of top economic powers in Hamburg, Germany, The Daily Beast notes.
After days of the pile-on, Trump took to Twitter on the morning of July 10 to claim his decision to have Ivanka represent the United States at the G-20 was "very standard" and that Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany agreed.
However—no more than 15 minutes later—he switched his tone, and began attacking Clinton, as well as the press. Clinton shot back: "It would never have occurred to my mother or my father to ask me. Were you giving our country away? Hoping not."
Her tweet garnered more than half a million likes—including one from the account for the U.S. mission to the European Union, The Daily Beast reports.
And according to an exclusive report by the news outlet, that single "like" from within the administration kickstarted a weeks-long investigation, prompted by the secretary's office, into exactly whom at the Brussels mission had access to the Twitter account and had hit "like" on Clinton's tweet.
At least ten people were interviewed about whether they, as administrators of the account, had mistakenly or deliberately pressed the "like" button. All of them denied it, sources told The Daily Beast.
One individual familiar with the exchanges said the secretary of state's top managers in Washington "wanted blood" and called Brussels numerous times demanding the name of the culprit.
U.S. officials in Belgium were never able to give Tillerson's office a name and soon after, the embassy restructured the Twitter account and limited access to just two individuals.
The concern from the secretary's office over social-media messaging continued after Tillerson and into the era of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, two U.S. officials at American embassies overseas told the news outlet.
The micromanaging is still causing headaches for staffers and officials at top American outposts who are trying to navigate the task of pleasing both the State Department and the White House simultaneously—a mission that at times requires two completely different strategies, those sources said.
It is unclear if Trump—who is famously thin-skinned about criticism or even mean tweets from prominent critics—himself was aware of this intra-administration kerfuffle over the Clinton tweet, but some of his lieutenants certainly were.
One former aide commented, "[The Chelsea Clinton incident] was another little thing that fueled suspicions [within the administration] and reminded…officials in the White House that there were a lot of people … who clearly hated Donald Trump."
However, amid all the paranoia that surface after the exchange, one inescapable truth surfaced: It would hardly be the only time—and it certainly will not be the last—when the State Department bends itself out of shape over anti-Trump activity on Twitter.
Research contact: @thedailybeast
This entry was posted in Politics and tagged 'Liked' a chelsea clinto post to @donaldTrump, 'Wanted blood', @realdonaldTrump, Esclusive, EU aides, Internet blew up, Never found out, Still problems with tone of tweets, Ten people at US mission asked if they liked tweet, The Daily Beast, Then Secretary of State Rexd Tillerson was furious on December 31, 2019 by Poll-Vaulter.
Photo source: Virgin Pure
Thirsty for knowledge: Hydration may impact cognition in older women
A new study conducted at Pennsylvania State University suggests that both dehydration and overhydration may impact cognitive function in older women.
For the study, Penn State researchers investigated whether hydration levels and water intake among older adults was linked to their scores on several tests designed to measure cognition. They found that, among women, lower hydration levels were associated with lower scores on a task designed to measure motor speed, sustained attention, and working memory. No such link was found for men.
"The study gives us clues about how hydration and related drinking habits relate to cognition in older adults," said Dr. Hilary Bethancourt, a postdoctoral scholar in biobehavioral health and first author on the study. "This is important because older adults already face increased risk of cognitive decline with advancing age and are often less likely than younger adults to meet daily recommendations on water intake."
Dr. Asher Rosinger, director of the Water, Health and Nutrition Lab at Penn State, said the researchers found similar results when the participants were overhydrated.
"We found a trend suggesting overhydration may be just as detrimental to cognitive performance as dehydration for older adults," said Rosinger, who was senior author on the study. "Because of this, being in the 'sweet spot' of hydration seems to be best for cognitive function, especially for tasks requiring sustained attention."
Rosinger said the findings suggest older adults may want to pay close attention to their hydration status, by both consuming enough liquids to avoid dehydration as well as ensuring adequate electrolyte balance to avoid overhydration.
"Because older adults may not necessarily feel thirsty when their body is reaching a state of underhydration and may be taking diuretics that can increase salt excretion, it is important for older adults and their physicians to better understand the symptoms of being both under- and overhydrated," said Rosinger.
Researchers have long suspected that dehydration may have an effect on cognitive performance. However, previous studies have largely focused on young, healthy people who are dehydrated after exercise and/or being in the heat.
Bethancourt said that because exercise and elevated ambient and body temperatures can have their own, independent effects on cognition, she and the other researchers were interested in the effects of day-to-day hydration status in the absence of exercise or heat stress, especially among older adults.
"As we age, our water reserves decline due to reductions in muscle mass, our kidneys become less effective at retaining water, and hormonal signals that trigger thirst and motivate water intake become blunted," Bethancourt said. "Therefore, we felt like it was particularly important to look at cognitive performance in relation to hydration status and water intake among older adults, who may be underhydrated on a regular basis."
For the study, the researchers evaluated data from the Centers for Disease Control's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, in which they looked at a nationally representative sample of 1,271 women and 1,235 men ages 60 and older.
Participants gave blood samples and reported all foods and drinks they had consumed the previous day. The researchers calculated hydration status based on concentrations of sodium, potassium, glucose, and urea nitrogen in participants' blood. Total water intake was measured as the combined liquid and moisture from all beverages and foods.
The subjects also completed three tasks designed to measure different aspects of cognition, with the first two measuring verbal recall and verbal fluency, respectively.
A final task measured processing speed, sustained attention, and working memory. Participants were given a list of symbols, each matched with a number between one and nine. They were then given a list of numbers one through nine in random order and asked to draw the corresponding symbol for as many numbers as possible within two minutes.
Bethancourt said that when they first plotted the average test scores across different levels of hydration status and water intake, there appeared to be a distinct trend toward higher test scores in relation to adequate hydration and/or meeting recommended water intake. However, much of that was explained by other factors.
"Once we accounted for age, education, hours of sleep, physical activity level, and diabetes status—and analyzed the data separately for men and women— the associations with hydration status and water intake were diminished," Bethancourt said. "A trend toward lower scores on the number-symbol test among women who were categorized as either underhydrated or overhydrated was the most prominent finding that remained after we accounted for other influential factors."
The study has been published in the European Journal of Nutritiion.
Research contact: @penn_state
This entry was posted in Lifestyle and tagged Affects performance, Blood samples, CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Cognitive function, Dehydration and Overhydration, Dr. Asher Rosinger, Dr. Hilary Bethancourt, Less sustained attention, Less working memory, May not necessarily feel thirsty, Not found in men, Pennsylvania State University, Slower motor speed, Tasks assigned on December 30, 2019 by Poll-Vaulter.
A customer considers the possibilities. (Photo source: Instagram/23andMe)
Pentagon memo warns that DNA kits pose 'personal and operational risks'
The Pentagon is advising members of the military not to use consumer DNA kits—saying the information collected by private companies could pose a security risk, according to a memo co-signed by the Defense Department's top intelligence official, Yahoo News has exclusively reported.
A growing number of companies—among them, 23andMe, Ancestry, and MyHeritage—sell testing kits that provide consumers with a DNA profile, if they send in a cheek swab or saliva sample. They claim that their DNA profile offer insights into the buyer's ancestry and possible medical risks—and even can even identify previously unknown family members.
The boom in popularity of such kits has raised ethical and legal issues, since some companies have shared this data with law enforcement, or sold it to third parties. Yahoo notes. But the latest to express its concerns publicly is the Defense Department.
"Exposing sensitive genetic information to outside parties poses personal and operational risks to Service members," says the December 20 memo signed by Joseph D. Kernan, the undersecretary of defense for Intelligence, and James N. Stewart, the assistant secretary of defense for Manpower.
The memo — which says that some DNA kit companies have been targeting military personnel with discounts — appears to have been distributed widely within the Defense Department. The memo was obtained by Yahoo News.
"These [direct-to-consumer] genetic tests are largely unregulated and could expose personal and genetic information, and potentially create unintended security consequences and increased risk to the joint force and mission," states the memo.
The memo provides few details on how genetic profiles could endanger security, other than noting that potential "inaccuracies" in health information could pose a risk to military personnel, who are required to report medical issues. Most of the health reports provided by DNA companies typically pertain to medical risks, such as a predisposition to cancer, rather than diagnosing a condition.
Research contact: @YahooNews
This entry was posted in Business and tagged 23andMe, Ancestry, Cheek swab, Create security risk, Defense Department, DNA profile, DNA tests, Expose personal and genetic information, James Stewart, Joseph Kernan, Memo, MyHeritage, Pentagon, Saliva sample, Unregegulated, Yahoo News on December 30, 2019 by Poll-Vaulter.
Above, Yale Forensic Psychologist Brandy X. Lee (left) and President Donald Trump. (Photo source: Salon)
Yale psychiatrist: Pelosi 'has the right' to submit Trump to an 'involuntary evaluation'
Ya think? Bandy X. Lee, a professor of Forensic Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine who also serves as president of the World Mental Health Coalition, is again sounding the alarm about President Donald Trump's mental health—and warning that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not doing enough to respond to the danger it poses, Salon reports.
Lee actually began warning about the dangers posed by the president's mental health before his election. She then edited the book, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President and convened a conference on the president's mental health at Yale shortly after the president's inauguration.
In addition, she recently joined psychiatrists across the country in calling for the House Judiciary Committee to convene a panel of mental health experts to weigh in on the ongoing impeachment proceedings.
Worried by the tone and content of President Trump's tweets, Lee has gone so far as to "translate" some of them on her own Twitter feed, which she described to Salon as a "public service." Lee said she wants her "translations" to help readers see past Trump's efforts to muddle reality with his "negative influence."
She recently "translated" Trump's scorching six-page letter to Pelosi in a Medium post.— noting that the president had accused the speaker of trying to "steal the election" ahead of the House vote to impeach him.
Arguing that the letter effectively served as a "confession," Lee said that Trump's letter was an example of the president projecting his own motives onto Pelosi. But Lee warned that Pelosi has not done enough to respond to the president.
"As a coworker, she has the right to have him submit to an involuntary evaluation, but she has not," Lee told Salon. "Anyone can call 911 to report someone who seems dangerous, and family members are the most typical ones to do so. But so can coworkers, and even passersby on the street. The law dictates who can determine right to treatment, or civil commitment, and in all 50 U.S. states this includes a psychiatrist.
While Lee told Salon that Pelosi's strategy of withholding the articles of impeachment from the Senate has been effective, she also warned that the delay risks making Trump even more dangerous.
"I am beginning to believe that a mental health hold, which we have tried to avoid, will become inevitable," Lee said.
Among the most troubling symptoms? "First, Lee told Salon, he is highly unwell, which I am glad many finally seem to see now. More specifically, you can tell how unwell he is by the degree he cannot deviate from his defenses: mainly, denial and projection. We often say he is "doubling down." A truly sick person will be unable to show any tolerance of ambiguity, doubt or flexibility in thinking. The letter, like his lengthy interviews or his chronic tweeting over years, is unable to show any variation from the characteristic rigidity of pathology.
She noted, "Some people will dispute the ethics of disclosing what I see, and my response is: danger. We are legally bound to break patient confidentiality for safety reasons, and a president is not even a patient."
Research contact: @Salon
This entry was posted in Politics and tagged 'Translations', 6-page letter, Dangerous, Forensic Psychiatrist Bandy X Lee of Yale School of Medicine, House Judiciary Committeee, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Medium, Mental health experts, Mental health hold, President Donald Trump, Salon, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, Twitter feed, World Mental Health Coalition on December 30, 2019 by Poll-Vaulter.
Photo source: 'Lord of the Rings The Return of the King' from Sun Media.
Let your hair down: Amazon's 'Lord of the Rings' TV sequel is casting very hirsute actors
If you have hair in places where most people don't, you might have a shot at a role on a television series! The casting agents behind Amazon's coming Lord of the Rings production are seeking "hairy, hairy people" with "wrinkles and lots of them, please" to play orcs, who are the foot soldiers of the Dark Lords' armies, according to a report by Canoe.
The new show—which already is one of the most highly anticipated series in the production pipeline—has already received its season two renewal, Tom's Guide reports, although there's no official premiere date yet for season one.
There's no such thing as a bad hair day on this set: The Independent reports that a casting call said potential actors could be super short (under 5 feet) or super tall (think: 6-foot-5) with unique "character faces" and "hairy, hairy people of all ages and ethnicities."
It continues: "HAIR HAIR HAIR – if you have natural red hair, white hair, or lots and lots of freckles."
In addition, the casting agents would be open to "stocky, mean-looking bikers" and circus performers "who can juggle, Canoe says.
Truck driver Justin Smith told The Wall Street Journal that he answered the casting call—emphasizing that he' "perfect," because "I've got more than missing teeth; I've got none. I'm short,and I've got red hair." Smith is still waiting for an audition callback.
Set as a prequel to the film series, the TV show will star Joseph Mawle, Markella Kavenagh, and Ema Horvath. Mawle—likely most well-known for playing Benjen Stark on HBO's Game of Thrones—will have a starring role, Variety confirmed in October.
Research contact: @Canoe
This entry was posted in Lifestyle and tagged Amazon, Bikers, Canoe, Hair, Hair in places most people don't, HBO's Game of Thrones, Joseph Mawle, Jugglers, Lord of the Rings, The Independent, Tom's Guide, Variety, Very short or very tall on December 27, 2019 by Poll-Vaulter.
'Peloton Husband' Sean Hunter gave his real-life girlfriend the bike for Christmas. (Photo source: Instagram)
Pedal pusher: 'Peloton husband' gives real-life girlfriend an exercise bike for Christmas
Some people just love "feeling the burn"—even if that extends beyond muscles to public opinion. In fact, the much-maligned Peloton Husband featured in the company's polarizing holiday commercial isn't back-pedaling on his choice of gift, according to a report by The Chicago Tribune/TNS.
After he was skewered for inflicting the Peloton bike on his reluctant-seeming "wife" in the viral ad—which attracted widespread criticism for being sexist and culturally insensitive—on Christmas Day, he gave his real-life girlfriend one of the exercise bikes.
"Here's hoping this goes over better the second time. … Merry Christmas to my actual girlfriend (pls don't leave me)," actor Sean Hunter, a.k.a. @pelotonhusband, wrote Wednesdaym, December 25, on Instagram—sharing a picture of himself and his girlfriend posing with the pricey bike.
The Vancouver, Canada-based elementary school teacher defended himself in Psychology Today when the ad went viral and he and his costar, Monica Ruiz, were roasted on social media.
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing. My five seconds of air time created an array of malicious feedback that is all associated with my face. My friend texted me today declaring that I'm 'a symbol of the patriarchy,'" Hunter said. "As my face continues to be screen shot online, I wonder what repercussions will come back to me."
Only some of that criticism cycled back after his Christmas Day reveal, with feedback calling out the real-life gift as a Peloton-backed publicity stunt and others praising his levity for bringing the narrative full circle.
Although Peloton defended the "The Gift That Gives Back" spot as a way "to celebrate that fitness and wellness journey," the company said it was "disappointed in how some have misinterpreted this commercial."
On Thursday, however, it endorsed Hunter's gifting idea, commenting on his post, "Looks like a successful Christmas gift to us! We hope you love it, and we're so glad you're a part of the Peloton family!"
Meanwhile, Ruiz blamed her brief but nervous smile in the ad for kick-starting the controversy earlier this month. "I think it was my fault. My eyebrows looked worried, I guess?" Ruiz said on the "Today" show. "People were like, 'She looks scared!'" she said, laughing. "I'm telling you, it was my face. That was the problem. And it just exploded from there."
Ruiz fared a little better than her costar did amid the backlash. The actress was commissioned by Ryan Reynolds' Aviation Gin company for a follow-up ad spoofing her Peloton appearance and has landed a gig on CBS' daytime drama The Bold and the Beautiful.
Research contact: @chicagotribune
This entry was posted in Business and tagged Instagram, Monica Ruiz, Peloton, Real-life girlfriend gifted with a Peloton for Xmas, Roasted on social media, Ryan Reynolds' gin company Aviation Gin, Sean Hunter AKA @peloton husband, The Bold and the Beautiful, The Chicago Tribune, Today show, Tribune News Service on December 27, 2019 by Poll-Vaulter.
Above, President Donald Trump. (Photo source: Express Co. UK)
Trump retweets article that 'outs' impeachment whistleblower
On December 26, Donald Trump retweeted an article that had appeared in the Washington Examiner earlier this month—allegedly revealing the name of "the whistleblower" who had filed a complaint about the president's dealings with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The whistleblower made his or her report after a July 25 phone call between the U.S. and Ukraine leaders, during which Trump purportedly extorted Zelensky—withholding nearly $400 million in congressionally approved military aid and a White House meeting until Zelensky agreed to publicly announce an investigation into the 2016 election; as well as into dealings in Ukraine by Democratic candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
According to a report by Mediaite, the Thursday night email represented the first time that Trump had exposed the name of the whistleblower in any manner.
Trump apparently was "goaded" into retweeting the Washington Examiner story after the whistleblower's attorney, Mark Zaid, slammed Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) for her attacks on the informant and called on her to step down from the Senate whistleblower caucus.
When the president's reelection team, known as the Trump War Room, jumped in to defend Blackburn, Trump also took to Twitter.
Now, there is bound to blowback for Trump. Several conservative outlets to date have identified the person alleged to be the whistleblower. No major news organization has yet reported the name.
Angry tweets from Americans followed the president's revelation—many asking for another article of impeachment to be drafted for his "outing" of the whistleblower.
Research contact: @Mediaite
This entry was posted in Politics and tagged Americans asking for another article of impeachment to be derafted, Attorney Mark Zaid, Extortion, Had whistleblower's name in headline, Joe Biden and son Huntr, July 25 phone call, Mediaite, No other major news outlet has published name yet, President Donald Trump, Publicly announce investigation, Retweet, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), Trump War Room, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, Washington Examiner, Withheld $400M in aid on December 27, 2019 by Poll-Vaulter.
Sick puppies: CDC probes outbreak of illnesses linked to pet stores
Like all forms of love, "puppy love" occasionally can lead to malaise—even in the true, physical sense. In fact, more than two dozen people have been sickened by bacteria linked to pet store puppies, with the germs resistant to first-line antibiotics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced and NBC News has reported.
The agency is investigating the outbreak of Campylobacter jejuni in 13 states–with 30 cases reported as of December 17.. Four people had to be hospitalized, but no one has died. The illnesses have been reported throughout the year, with patients ranging in age from 8 months to 70 years.
In interviews, ill people answered questions about the foods they ate and any animal contact in the week before they became ill. Ninety-nine percent of people reported contact with a puppy in the week before illness started, and 87% reported they had contact with a puppy from Petland stores, or had contact with a person who became sick after contact with a puppy from a Petland store. Twenty-five ill people worked at Petland stores.
The bacteria is closely related to germs that infected more than 100 people during a 2016–2018 Campylobacter outbreak, which was also linked to pet store puppies, the CDC said.
In a statement, Petland noted that more than one-third of the 2019 cases have been found in people living in places where it doesn't have stores.
The Chillicothe, Ohio-based chain of pet stores—which has over 130 locations nationwide—said,"Petland takes the health and welfare of our employees, our customers and our pets very seriously." "Since an earlier outbreak in 2016, in which no specific source of infection was identified, Petland has implemented all recommended protocols from federal and state animal and public health officials to prevent human and puppy illness."
Campylobacter causes 1.5 million illnesses each year in the United States, according to the CDC. Symptoms include diarrhea that's often bloody, fever and stomach cramps. The illness usually lasts about a week and most people recover without having to take antibiotics.
Most cases involve contaminated food, so animal-associated illnesses are rare in comparison to food poisoning episodes, Dr. Jeanette O'Quin, a clinical assistant professor at Ohio State University's College of Veterinary Medicine, told NBC News.
Pet stores can contain a perfect storm of risk factors for the animal-related outbreaks to happen, she said: Puppies from different breeding kennels get mixed together; they're usually housed in close proximity to each other; and they're often stressed, so they're more likely to get sick and easily spread the illness.
People can get sick by accidentally ingesting the bacteria in the stool of an infected animal—petting a puppy and then putting an unwashed hand into their mouth, for example. The animal doesn't have to look sick for it to shed the bacteria in its stool.
The best prevention is basic hygiene, NBC News reports. People should always wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water after touching a puppy or dog, after handling their food, and after cleaning up after them, the CDC advised.
O'Quin also urged pet owners to pick up dog waste regularly so that it didn't accumulate in their yards, and bathe dogs recently bought from a group setting or those who have soiled their fur.
"Preventing is where we can have the most impact," O'Quin said.
This entry was posted in Lifestyle and tagged 13 states, Bacteria, Camplylobacter, CDC, First-line antibiotic resistance, NBC News, Pet store puppies, Petland, Touch puppy and then put hand in mouth, Wash new puppies on December 25, 2019 by Poll-Vaulter.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Two of Suave's favorite artists – Erykah Badu and Mos Def – paying tribute to Suave's favorite city, New Orleans!
Posted on 01/16/2012, in Funk, Hip Hop, Jazz, Soul, Videos and tagged Erykah Badu, Mark Ronson, Mos Def, New Orleans, Ziggaboo Modeliste. Bookmark the permalink.	Leave a comment.


Wow, already completed week 26... time is flying. Still trying to shake that cold, but its mild - so i'm doing my best not to get others sick and to get rid of the stuffy and runny nose.
I also found a bunch of 1/4 sliced watermelon, while it is more expensive overall - i can be assured its GOOD watermelon - so my craving is complete :) And i'm definitely growing. I'll post pictures later this week!
I was sick all last week, and with how poorly I slept because of that alone, I can't imagine getting sick while also being pregnant. I hope you feel better soon!


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Opinions /
The Delay in Drupal 8: A Bad Sign?
June 23, 2015 at 3:18 pm By SauravRoy
Haven't thought about Drupal in a while? You're not alone. But you might be surprised to know that even though the juggernaut that is WordPress is still #1, Drupal is #2.
And sure, WordPress is bigger by a factor of 20, but ignoring that fact completely, Drupal is still important. It is still the go to open-source CMS for anything that is more complicated than a blog.
About a week ago, Drupal.org released 7.38 and 6.36, and it leaves us with one important question, where is Drupal 8? Websites and blogs have been chatting about the release here and there, but apart from some hints, Drupal 8 is still in pre-beta.
Most CMS aficionados know that you don't update your site to the latest version of Drupal until there is about 18 months for the modules to catch up. But at this rate if they launch it soon, we're looking at 2017 before most users will start to install Drupal 8. And according to just about everyone, Drupal has been on a steady decline since 2011. Drupal 8 is slated to be more inclusive, more PHP native and less confusing for everyday users. Which means it could be prime for a comeback.
However, if the coders who are working on it don't release it into production soon, it could spell the end for Drupal. It will still have it's loyal users, but it will never give WordPress a run for it's money just like in the old days. Drupal has a major advantage in that it remains true to the open source aspect of what it represents, where as WordPress is a real company.
So I guess we'll continue to sit patiently.
[CLOSED] Template Monster Giveaway
Internet Explorer 11: What's New and a Bit More


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About Compilation
=================

Debug and Release
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- Typically *Release* mode is used to run multiple binaries simultaneously for collecting the data. Speed matters.
- *Debug* mode is used for inspecting/debugging the codebase. You can stop at breakpoint and check values of vars.

Few points to notice:

1. In `TypeDef.h`, the ``MAC_DEBUG_PATH`` need to be toggled for configuring the path when you switch from debug mode and release mode.

2. Remember to toggle the *Release/Debug* Config in **AppCode**.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Q: With Excel Dynamic Arrays, is it possible to spill across merged cells? [I'm trying to follow the guidance about answering one's own question, but I'm not 100% sure I'm doing it right]
With Excel Dynamic Arrays, is there a way, when spilling across merged cells, to avoid #SPILL! errors such as is described in #SPILL! error - Spill into merged cell on support.microsoft.com, where they show this:

The SORT() function in F2 is failing to spill properly because one of the cells in the spill rage, F6 is merged with another, F7. The proposed solution is to either unmerge the cells causing the problem, or move the dynamic array to somewhere else where there is no obstructing merge.
Isn't there a better way?

A: Why yes, I believe there may well be a better way! (Again, see comments from the one and only JeffA.)
I actually first ran into this by accident a couple of years or so ago, and then a few times since, but I've never been able to figure out exactly how I was doing it. Until now.
And it's really simple; all you do is make sure you apply the merged format after inserting the formula causing the #SPILL! error.
Here is the Microsoft support example again. I've removed gridlines and added some borders to make clear where the offending merge is:

Now here it is once more, but just to the right, in I2:J11, you'll see that I have replicated the same format as is in F2:G11, including the merge that is causing the problem. I've done that for one reason only: to let me copy that format to my clipboard. And in fact as you're looking at it, I have just selected I2:J11 and done that Copy.

OK, so having done the Copy, I then select cell F2 (if you want, you can select the whole range, F2:G11, but selecting F2 is sufficient) and I do a Paste Special->Formatting. And here is the result:

You can see that the #SPILL! error has gone, and the SORT(D2:D11) formula in F2 is spilling nicely.
I've checked this on up to date versions of Excel within a Microsoft 365 subscription on:

*

*Mac OS: Excel version 16.68 (22110602), and

*Windows 11: Excel version 2211 Build 16.0.15822.20000

I've also checked it in a couple of scenarios different to the one above. To me, that one is a bit contrived; it seems kinda daft to have the situation where spilling was obstructed by only a single merge in a range of cells that was otherwise free of merges. (It is, of course, just the illustration Microsoft chose for their article, so fair enough.) But I regularly run into the spill problem in the real world when handling imported data tables with headers so long I have to use "Wrap Text". In that situation, the spill problem means that if I want to have the headers as spilling arrays, I have to tolerate very "high" rows (i.e. their row height is huge), when I would much rather keep the rows a standard height and merge the long headers across multiple rows. This method lets me do that.
But anyway, it is worth pointing out that while the above method does indeed work, it seems to be a wee bit fragile. For example, if, after getting the thing to that final working state I was to simply select cell F2, place my cursor to the right of the SORT() formula, and hit ENTER, then the #SPILL! error would return, despite me having made no real changes to anything. And then, even weirder, if I were to do a simple 'Undo', that would not remove the error. To do that I would, once again, have to copy the pre-formatted range in I2:J11, and then Paste Special->Formatting it back into F2 as I did before.
Finally, I have a couple of "followup" questions  -- and this is what I would have asked in the first place, prior to reading Atwood's "answer your own question" comment:

*

*Can anyone confirm that the above method does actually work?

*Can anyone suggest why it works (especially given that Microsoft's position seems to be that you cannot do what I believe this method lets you do)?


New Issue! Thank you so much to all of you who were so patient....& happy May Day to all of you!
from "A Slip of the Pencil and We Begin to Draw a Passage"
and Happy birthday, Turntable & Blue Light, 3 years!
Of Coldplay, bagpipes, and obscure shouty music from dismal places.
Most people go to great lengths to conceal their prejudices, and I'm no exception. Bias, therefore, is often like some gastrointestinal disorder: The only evidence there is of it is an occasional noxious emission you try furiously to deny. But I'm going to confess a prejudice I have, because I am trying, with every ounce of open-mindedness and liberality I possess, to rise above it. Okay, here goes. I've always hated hipsters.
Kool-Aid, Band-Aids and Dig! Craze: How the Brian Jonestown Massacre can Rock! Your! World!
As I was watching an Of Montreal show in Los Angeles some months ago, I was inspired with a concept for a film. A space rock opera, wherein groovy interstellar musicians flew their astral bodies around distant solar systems in search of the Eternal Vibration that creates colorful harmonious orgies of reality.


For those foreign nationals who are inadmissible to the U.S. under INA §212 (e.g. due to unlawful presence or for a past criminal conviction) and who are seeking to enter the U.S. with an immigrant visa and/or adjust their status from within the U.S., they must file Form I-601, Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility, with the appropriate agency and have it approved prior to being approved for their permanent resident status. In order to be approved for this waiver, an applicant must establish that his or her U.S. citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident spouse or child will suffer extreme hardship if the applicant is denied entry into the U.S. as an immigrant or adjustment of his or her status to that of a lawful permanent resident.
Extreme hardship is a statutory requirement for several of the inadmissibility waivers, including the INA § 212(h) waiver for certain criminal grounds; the INA § 212(i) fraud and misrepresentation waiver; and the INA § 212(a)(9)(B)(v) waiver of unlawful presence ground of inadmissibility.
The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) stated that extreme hardship depends on the facts and circumstances of each case. In general, extreme hardship is defined as being beyond the ordinary hardship of being separated from an immediate relative.
The following is a nonexhaustive list of hardship factors enumerated by the BIA: The age of the applicant; the age of the qualifying relatives; the applicant's length of residence in the U.S. over the statutory minimum; the applicant's ties, both to the U.S. and his or her home country; the health of the applicant and qualifying relatives; the applicant's financial status; any disruption in education opportunities; and adverse psychological impact of deportation.
Conversely, the BIA has stated that the following factors, taken alone, will not establish extreme hardship: birth of a United States citizen child; significant reduction in the foreign national's standard of living; difficulty in readjusting to life in native country; and lower quality medical or educational facilities in native country.
For our clients, our firm first thoroughly reviews their background (U.S. immigration and criminal) to confirm that the the client truly does need an immigrant waiver before they can obtain their immigrant visa or adjust their status to a permanent resident. For those clients that do require a waiver, we have detailed conversations with the client and their family to explore any and all hardships that the qualifying relative(s) would experience if they were unable to obtain their immigrate to the U.S. We then prepare a detailed list of documents and information that the client and their family should gather in support of the waiver application, including drafting their own personal statements which we review prior to finalizing. Our firm then prepares the legal brief in support of the waiver application which outlines the client's background and the applicable grounds of inadmissibility, thoroughly explains the hardships involved in the client's case, and the relevant case law. We then submit ensure that the application packet is properly submitted to the adjudicating agency and monitor it for adjudication.


The new linear, two-storey school extension accommodates eight classrooms, school administration rooms, a break hall and a multi-purpose room. The extension supplements the serial arrangement of the already existing buildings of the primary school with kindergarten, sports hall and municipal administration facilities in an overall comb-shaped structure.
By positioning the long rectangular construction parallel to the adjacent busy local road, the existing buildings and outside spaces are shielded from sound emissions. The sports hall is linked to the original school structure through a two-storey entrance hall with adjoining indoor break area and multi-purpose room. Mobile walls allow the rooms to be enlarged to a big, multi-functional space for school and public events.
Room-height glazing on the ground floor permits a free view of the existing structures from the entrance area, resulting in a subtle dialogue between "old and new". The classrooms in the upper storey of the elongated building are oriented towards the new schoolyard and fitted with soundproof windows on the street side. Natural and emission-free cross ventilation as well as additional daylighting are facilitated by ventilation slits in the façade and saw-tooth skylights positioned towards the quiet inner courtyard.
The strong red colour of the façade of the new construction emphasises the significance of the school as a public building and, in context with the town hall, symbolically marks the centre of Neuried.


Description Edging into popularity as skate hockey gets hot: It's fun, it's fast and it's a first. It's street hockey and now enthusiasts will have the opportunity to test their skills against the best in the first Bauer Street Skate Festival Sunday (April 26th) at Foothills Fashion Mall, Fort Collins, Colorado. Denny Dwyer (l.) maneuvers around goalie Randy Fitzgerald.


We believe in limited edition fair trade clothing because each moment is special and so should be the style we wear. A style for the beautiful rebels living in all of us of alternative flavor. Our collections of clothing, jewelry and accessories of unique style and design are manufactured during several years of traveling.
We curate a jewelry collection that contains our own silver and stones designs, shell/ wood and bone sculpted in Bali mixed with brass or silver and few other pieces carefully selected in our travels. Our jewelry and accessories collection enhances & further defines our concept of style where we mix exquisite, intricate pieces of designer jewelry with simple yet chic pieces or tribal and sacred geometry favorites.
For our Pret-a-Porter pieces we used rayon, cotton or bamboo organic fabrics with lycra that are ideal for dancing/yoga offering comfort and freedom of movement which we combined with our trademark prints. We aim to be sustainable and make our production in fairtrade using natural and organic fabric. We also created a limited edition collection of one of a kind funky, unique pieces or psychedelic printed style pieces such as optical illusion print weaved carefully in combination with solid colors. We offer unique, handmade leather halters, pouches and belts.


LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - September 11, 2008) - WritingRoom.com -- an online community for aspiring writers to engage, share, encourage and appraise each other's work -- is thrilled to announce their first Discovered Author, Kayla Meyers. WritingRoom was immediately struck by Meyers' economy of language, sensitivity, and humanity. A depth and intelligence in her work made Kayla an obvious choice for WritingRoom's first Discovered Author.
Kayla Meyers' literary debut, "The Butterfly Paperweight: A Collection of Poems & Short Stories," is as sensitive and inspiring as the writer herself.
Part of what makes Kayla Meyers such a fascinating new voice, beyond the uniqueness of her style, is the writer herself: At the young age of 19, Kayla knows something about suffering and struggle -- knowledge and nuances that inform the steady pages of "The Butterfly Paperweight."
After enduring an unfathomable 36 surgeries due to Spina Bifida, Kayla Meyers has managed to turn adversity into art, spinning some of the most provocative short stories and creating powerful poems that sing, startle, as well as sail -- characteristics of some of the finest writers of our time.
"The Butterfly Paperweight: A Collection of Poems and Short Stories" is published by PublishingRoom.com. "The Butterfly Paperweight" will be available in the PublishingRoom bookstore and online at Amazon and BN September 2008.


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One of the famous courtyards of the École normale supérieure, rue d'Ulm à Paris, which Emmanuel Macron never attended. Wikipedia
French PM announces appointment of 'ambassador for LGBT + rights'
The French Prime Minister has warned: "The battle of mentalities is not yet won." Élisabeth Borne announced on Thursday, August 4 that an "ambassador for LGBT + rights" would be appointed "before the end of the year" and that a fund of 3 million euros would be created to finance new LGBT + centers.
Published: August 7, 2022, 12:00 pm
Thoughts on the impeachment of a French president
Artist charged after 'anti-Semitic' mural of Macron as globalist puppet
Macron admits but misrepresents foreign violent crime in Paris
French NATO soldiers in Romania hungry, freezing, overrun by rats
The head of government spoke during a visit to the LGBT + center in Orléans, on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the repeal of the offense of homosexuality in France.
The ambassador for LGBT+ rights "will coordinate the action of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs for the protection against discrimination and the promotion of LGBT+ rights and will carry the voice of France," according to Borne. This will include defending "the universal decriminalization of homosexuality and transidentity".
The Prime Minister also praised "the exemplary work of LGBT+ associations and centers," which are "identifiable and accessible entry points for many people who do not know where to turn". Last year, these centers "helped nearly 6 000 people all over our country," she insisted, stating that "anti-LGBT+ hatred continues to exclude, hurt and even sometimes kill".
The Jean-Michel Macron-Trogneux affair
The appointment of the "ambassador" should be viewed against the backdrop of the Jean-Michel Trogneux affair which continues to occupy many conversations in the most perfect silence in the subsidized media. The investigation by Xavier Poussard and Faits & Documents, in which he demonstrated with the necessary rigor that the biography of France's First Lady is a complete forgery, has increased the distance between the official "narrative" and these indisputable facts.
A reporter from Le Courrier des Stratèges recounted how he had organized a dinner at home and, to his great surprise, the six guests he had invited for the evening (and who did not know each other) "spontaneously talked about the details revealed by Xavier Poussard on the private life of Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron".
His guests were "all convinced that Macron's power is based on a logic of permanent lies". The lie has become so institutional that France "has split into two worlds: those who govern and lie, those who obey and suffer the lie".
Of course, lying has always been part of politics. With democracy declining however, the political lie is no longer invented for expediency but has become a veritable industry.
Macron, a fake created by billionaires looking for a puppet?
The image being cultivated of Emmanuel Macron is that of a genius. He is presented as normalien (a graduate of the very prestigious École normale supérieure), an honors graduate in philosophy, doctor of philosophy, novelist, precocious theater actor, and other nonsense. But Macron is nothing of the sort. He is neither normalien, nor an honors graduate, nor doctor of anything and he failed at the École normale supérieure.
Instead, Macron's taste for lies and his appetite for personal grandeur raise many questions. Those who advise Macron have certainly not measured the consequences of their silence.
The real reason for appointing an "LGBTQ+ ambassador" by his embattled administration is therefore gradually taking shape: Sexual orientation has become a condition for membership in power networks.
In the absence of a clear answer to the legitimate questions of public opinion, convictions are hardening that ordinary people are being taken for fools.


Last week I read an article in The Guardian about a neuroscientist and his two decades of studying sleep. The salient points of the article (for me) include a drop of 70% in your cancer-fighting killer cells and a much greater risk of Alzheimer and Dementia for those who consistently get too little sleep. That, and the fact that the less you sleep on a consistent basis, the less capacity your brain has to perform the "scrubbing" operations it needs to in order to keep your brain clear of amyloid deposits. And you can't ever get that capacity back. It just keeps getting worse.
Will science eventually figure out some way to scrub out those deposits and restore our "brain-cleaning" abilites? Maybe. I dare say that if they do though, it'll come with trade-offs in the form of side effects that are potentially as harmful, which is how most medicine often ends up working. Thing is, they might not too, or maybe not in time for me personally to benefit from it.
In any case, better to prevent as many health problems as possible, rather than count on medical science to "save" us later, methinks.
I've been getting 4.5 hours of sleep per night for…well, several years, at least. According to the article, anything less than 7 hours is considered sleep-deprived, and your brain doesn't even start that deep cleaning until you're in the last part of the 4th consecutive sleep cycle (so, the end of 6 hours). 7.5 hours would be 5 sleep cycles, which is optimal for brain health, so the article suggests.
How much damage have I already done? Hard to say…but probably a lot. When I read the article, I decided I needed to take action immediately – as in, that very night.
It took me longer than I care to admit to figure out how to rearrange my evening and morning schedules so I could still have some writing time, and yet get 6 hours of sleep. Those of you who already sleep 6 or 8 hours are probably wondering why it's so difficult, but both my mornings and evenings are on a very tight schedule, and in between is the workday. I only really have an hour every evening of "free time", which I spend watching TV with my husband. Everything else is scheduled by default, from dinner to dog walking to cleaning the kitchen at night and dog care/getting ready for work in the morning.
We all have priorities, of course, and I've chosen to make health a big one of mine. So things like cooking dinner (from scratch) 4-5 nights a week, walking the dogs (which is also one of my workouts) and ten minutes of yoga every morning are important to me, and need to stay priorities. Spending that time with my husband is too. Which means the only negotiable thing left is…writing. And I only had an hour every evening and half an hour in the morning scheduled for that.
So, I started looking at everything I do and trying to figure out how to make it tighter. More efficient. I managed to consolidate some things into little snippets of quarter hours here and there between other things. I banked on the fact that sleeping more would enable me to get going faster in the mornings so I wouldn't need the time I normally do just to "wake my brain up" (20 minutes). I banked on the fact that more sleep would equal more motivation, and stacked my schedule tighter. And I figured out how I could get to sleep by 12:30am (to bed earlier…12:30 is the time I have to be asleep by) and get up at 6:30am most days and still have an hour of writing time most nights. Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays are all anomalies…I'll have to shorten my writing time on Monday night to get up earlier to make the Tues staff meeting (have to be at work an hour earlier than normal). Friday nights are normally my "business hours" for publishing, and now those have to be cut short by a couple of hours due to needing to sleep 6 full hours before I get up to feed the dogs, and I'll have to figure something out for Saturday nights too, since that's my manicure night and I'm normally up very late (sometimes 4am).
Making the decision to sleep for 6 hours is hard for me on a lot of levels, but one of those is that late at night, when everyone else is sleeping and the house is quiet is my favorite time of "day". I'm an introvert, and I need time alone, and that's really the only time I can be guaranteed that no one will need anything from me for hours at a time. Friday and Saturday nights when I would stay up until the wee hours of the morning, by myself, just getting stuff done or doing things specifically for me…it's a very relaxing, rejuvenating time. Giving that up is difficult, and stressful. I'll need to figure out how to get some of that "me time" back when everyone is awake. But if that were easy, I'd have done it quite awhile ago.
And of course I need to figure out how to get the business-y stuff I was doing late Friday nights done at other times, and how to get my manicure done in less time so I can get to bed earlier on Sat nights. Both are still works in progress. I tried finishing up marketing/promo stuff this past Saturday morning after I got up (since I was up earlier due to the new sleep schedule), but just getting up earlier doesn't make me more able to function in the morning – I'm still a night person, and my brain still doesn't really "work" before 9 or 10am – no amount of sleep is going to help that. Those are hard-wired parts of my personality, so it'll take some time to work the weekend schedule around the dogs and husband and everything else so I can still keep up with bookkeeping and marketing and all the other non-writing book-related tasks that need to be done. I failed this Saturday night/Sunday morning, and was up until 4am again. I still got 6 hours of sleep, but it wasn't consecutive – there was a half-hour "up" time in the middle to feed the dogs and let them out. But now I have a whole week to figure out how to get my Saturday nights more consolidated.
I should mention that this past Weds, Thurs and Friday were some of the most clear-headed days I can remember having in a long time. Good focus both at work and later at home, no brain fog, I didn't need that extra 20 minutes in the morning just to get my brain to function…it was a definite improvement on all levels. So while I can certainly "function" on 4.5 hours of sleep, I'm operating on a serious mental deficit there that I didn't even recognize in myself until I made the change and paid attention. Kind of scary, when you think about it.
If you've been reading here long-term, you'll know that a few years back, I burned out on most everything due to "stuff" going on that just made all the stuff I wanted and needed to do so overwhelming that I just sort of dropped everything unnecessary, including writing, and did the bare minimums to get by while life was all crazy-like. Part of it was changes happening rapidly and all at once, and part was a mid-life crisis that I'm only now really able to acknowledge for what it was (because no one wants to admit to something like that, really).
Thing is, I persevered, got through it without embarrassing myself too terribly much and without causing to much havoc, and now find myself in a much healthier state of mind (still very pensive and "what if?" centric, but that's normal for me). And suddenly wanting to pick up where I left off, but with new priorities that keep me from just diving in head first (and also keep me physically/mentally healthier, so they need to stay).
There are so, so many things I want to do. My main source of frustration in life – the thing that beats me up more than anything else in this world, is that I simply cannot do everything I want to do, all at once. Not even a little at a time, because there are just too many "little at a time" things to schedule. It's just not physically possible.
So I try to prioritize, and that sort of works, but there are still too many things on my "priority list". And pretty soon I'm only doing one or two things, and fantasizing about doing the other things, and knowing that there just isn't enough time or energy to fit it all in.
It's damn depressing. And it's also the ultimate unsolvable puzzle. Which makes my whole brain just cringe, because that's what it *does* all day, every day, at work, at home, and everywhere else. I solve problems. I fix things. I find a way to make whatever needs to happen, happen.
I can't fix the fact that I'm human. That time and space are limited. That I am interested in way too many things, and far too curious for my own mental health.
Even if I were willing to change my current priorities, I still couldn't fit everything I want to do into my life. And even as it is now, with the few things I'm prioritizing, I don't feel like I have enough time to give them. I want more writing time. More reading time. More workout time. More cooking time. More organizing and cleaning time.
But in order to do even that many things, I have to compromise, and give all of them less time than they really need just so they get "some" time.
There's no happy ending to this, I'm afraid. No diagrams or schedules or 30-days-without-sleep cleanse that could solve this particular problem.
And that, for me, is the most frustrating thing about life.
I've been pretty overwhelmed/stressed out lately – work, writing, personal stuff, you name it. I have a bad habit of overestimating my…not abilities, exactly, but rather the amount of stuff I'm able to get done in a specific time period. I knew it was out of hand, and that I was pretty much just past the "burnt out" line, but it was really driven home during a trip to our local art museum this past weekend.
We went to see one of Monet's Iris paintings, which is here until December. You have to understand, I love moseying around museums and such, so I knew I was in trouble (generally speaking) when upon entering the museum, I was so focused on our goal that I was ready to skip the permanent collection and go see what we'd come to see, and then maybe make a quick pass at anything else that looked interesting.
I was in hyper-efficiency mode, which is the mode I have to operate in most days just to get everything done that I want and/or need to get done. Not the appropriate mode for a trip to the museum, and certainly not the mode I want to be in for looking at/appreciating artwork. I was annoyed with myself for immediately jumping to the most efficient way to complete our goal when we didn't even need a plan at all other than "go enjoy the museum".
We did go through the permanent collection, which gave me time to relax and remember that we could enjoy the whole museum and still meet our goal without getting all "control-freak" about it. Just take it one exhibit at a time, and eventually we'd see what we came to see, and a whole lot more besides. We had the luxury of not being on any sort of schedule whatsoever, and while the Monet piece was exquisite, the other exhibits were amazing as well. It would have been a travesty to skip them, or even to see them yet not be "in the moment" enough to truly take them in.
Near the end of our time there, we were browsing through the "for sale" gallery and I was sort of mentally bemoaning the lack of ability to afford some of the work I'd have liked to bring home, and I noticed that one of my old art professors had some work up for sale there. "Mindfulness" is becoming trendy again, and I remember that about him – he was always teaching mindfulness – be in the moment, every moment. Don't focus on the past or future, just be present here and now.
It's a good way to live, overall. Obviously some planning is not a bad thing, but I tend to get rather attached to my plans, and then when they don't go the way I've envisioned (which is often), it creates more stress. And I've been relying so heavily on my plans going the way I want them to that I over-schedule (or rather, just pack things in so tight that there's no room for deviation), which creates even more stress. None of which allows me to live in the moment, because I've created a lifestyle where I am always behind, and can't hope to ever catch up – it's a self-perpetuating cycle.
There is no room for being mindful and living in the moment when you're always three steps ahead in your mind, and five steps behind "on the schedule".
The natural thing then is to step back, clear out the calendar/to-do list and start over, leaving room for deviation and enjoying life moment-to-moment. One thing at a time. Ironically, that also stresses me out, because there really isn't much on my list that I genuinely don't want to do. On the contrary, I have many varied interests that cover all aspects of my life from work to writing to hobbies to personal stuff, and I want to *do them all*. Which is why my schedule is so tight in the first place – I don't want to give anything up, so I try to cram as much stuff in as possible.
Alas, I have to choose. Prioritize. And realize that there is no way I can possibly ever do and experience everything I want to in life, but especially not all at once. I can't learn and do everything I want to for work projects all in the space of a few weeks, or even a few months. I can't write all the books I want to write in the space of a few months or years. I can't work on all the hobbies I want to within a week, or a month, or maybe not even this year.
It's a little depressing, and a lot annoying, but there simply isn't time. And trying to do "all the things" is just going to drive me crazy and stress me out. Knowing I can't do all the things, and that I have to pare down and prioritize stresses me out too. It's a major source of angst in my life, and I wish I could say that I've figured out a way to make it easier, but I'm still working on it. Letting go of something we really want is difficult, especially when the only thing holding us back is the other stuff we want to do. A rather glorious dilemma, when you think about it.
One thing at a time. One. Thing. At. A. Time.
Today is Labor Day here in the US, in honor of the labor unions who fought for safe working conditions and fair wages back when there were no laws against working your employees literally to death for pennies. My situation isn't nearly so dramatic (obviously), but it is kind of ironic that I'm basically acting as a slave-driver to myself, pushing hard enough to hurt my physical and mental health while not paying myself nearly enough to offset the damage.
I have a few things I need to work on today (since it's a holiday and I'm at home), and more than a few that I should work on, but one of the things I'm definitely going to make time for is going over my to-do lists and the calendar and revamping my plans into something more manageable on all fronts. Something that leaves time for being in the moment, even when things go awry and my plans are pushed aside for other things. I won't be able to alleviate all the stress right away due to various obligations I have to others, but I can at least start to take some of the pressure off.
Flame & Stone will be out later this month. Good stuff!
I saw a meme on FB last week (yes, I know, we all saw at least several) that was talking about how a heart attack feels for women (which is often much different than what a man feels). Towards the end, it was noted that one of the leading causes of heart attacks in women is actually stress, rather than something like high cholesterol (so one shouldn't assume they aren't having a heart attack just because they have low cholesterol).
For me, stress is a control thing. I get stressed when I feel like I can't control some part(s) of my life. I get even more stressed when I want something or want to do something that will require me to give up something else that's important to me – which is an issue of selfishness colluding with my control-freak nature. It's one of my worst personality traits, I think, but it's fostered by that innocent little statement that "we can have it all" if we just work hard enough.
Honestly – no, we can't. Life is a series of decisions that require give and take, and a day only has so much time in it (same amount for everyone, obviously). The decisions we make determine how our life progresses, but unless you have very small goals/very few interests, it really isn't possible to have "it all". Facing that particular realization has been…a bit difficult for me. One might even say stressful.
One thing I always forget is just how much a good 20 minute exercise session can help. It's good for my body, of course, but more than that, I find it extremely mentally clarifying. It doesn't take much time, but it does require the decision to make it a priority, which pushes something else out of the way. It's very important though, and without it, I have little chance of making good choices in other areas of my life.. Funny how that works.
I've been doing a lot of re-prioritization lately…deciding what's truly important and what can either be dialed back, or let go of altogether. It's not an easy process, but it's necessary, and once it's done, I'll be happier for it. Obviously working out has to be a priority, as does writing, and from there, things get a little gray for me. But I'll figure it out. It seems like I go through one of these cycles every few years, and it's just something that has to be re-evaluated as we grow and change.
Change stresses me out…and not changing can too. Weird how that works. I'm just glad that my personal cycle of change seems to be dialing back down to "low" again. Stress is a waste of time…and apparently, bad for my arteries too.
If you're interested in some of the changes I'm making on the writing/publishing front, check out The Writer's Desk (formerly The Drafting Desk) for this week's writing/publishing report.


text:
Orphnaeus brevilabiatus is een duizendpotensoort uit de familie van de Oryidae. De wetenschappelijke naam van de soort is voor het eerst geldig gepubliceerd in 1845 door Newport.

Geophilomorpha

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia