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Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia in Taif, Saudi Arabia: A Retrospective Study
Abdullah Khayat, Abdullah Thomali, Anas Assiri, Mohammad Qurashi
Keywords: primary ciliary dyskinesia, immotile-cilia syndrome, kartagener syndrome, bronchiectasis, taif
Primary ciliary dyskinesia, also known as immotile-cilia syndrome, is a rare genetic disease that is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner, unfortunately there are no studies for primary ciliary dyskinesia in Taif region, yet much is still lacking in terms of identifying the different characteristics of this disease. In this paper, we aim to briefly cover those studies published about primary ciliary dyskinesia in Taif region, as well as to provide recommendations and guidelines for future studies.
This is a retrospective chart review study that was conducted by reviewing the case records of children attending primary care in one of the children's hospitals in Taif city. Children diagnosed with bronchiectasis with primary ciliary dyskinesia were included in the study. Children with other respiratory diseases were excluded from the study. The bronchiectasis diagnosis was made using a high-resolution chest computed tomography scan.
A total of 10 patients were included in the study with a mean age of 4.3 ± 2.9 years. Gender had even distribution with five males and five females. It was observed that six patients had bronchopulmonary manifestations in which five patients showed asthma and one patient had pnuemopathies. The bronchopulmonary manifestations were comparatively observed more in female patients (50%) where only one of the male patients had such manifestations (p=0.010).
Rhinosinusitis is found to be a major clinical manifestation in primary ciliary dyskinesia patients and the prevalence of other bronchopulmonary manifestations. The management of primary ciliary dyskinesia has become challenging and in future primary ciliary dyskinesia studies in diagnosis management should utilize more collaborative partnerships between different healthcare disciplinaries.
Bronchiectasis is a chronic progressive lung disease affecting the airways, and it still remains one of the most neglected respiratory diseases among children (1). Epidemiological data show that the incidence of bronchiectasis has increased over the past years, and this may create a substantial healthcare burden on the parents and health sector (2). Some of the causes of bronchiectasis include Cystic fibrosis, Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, Alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency, Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), Autoimmune/connective tissue diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, Systemic Lupus Erythematous), Aspiration, Inflammatory bowel diseases, Congenital malformations such as Williams–Campbell syndrome (bronchomalacia), Mounier-Kuhn syndrome (tracheobronchomegaly) and lung sequestration, Humoral immunodeficiency and postinfectious (pneumonia, Bordetella pertussis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, nontuberculous mycobacteria) (3-8). Among these causes, Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD) is one of the main causes of bronchiectasis, a rare genetic disorder with an autosomal recessive trait that causes defects in the cilia structure leading to dysfunction in the mucociliary clearance (9).
The mean incidence of PCD in bronchiectasis cases varies from 2.0-10.3%, and the estimated overall incidence is reported to be 1 per 10,000–20,000 births (10, 11). The inadequacy in the diagnostic methods used often makes it difficult to estimate the prevalence of PCD (12). In patients with PCD, the cilia cells lining in the nasopharynx, middle ear, paranasal sinuses, the lower respiratory tract, and the reproductive tract are disordered and dysfunctional, leading to its clinical manifestations. In children with PCD, symptoms often appear at birth or after some weeks, which is characterized by respiratory distress, abnormalities in chest x-ray, atelectasis in particular, and hypoxia (13, 14). In a newborn child, Continuous rhinorrhea, respiratory distress, or neonatal pneumonia could increase the suspicion of the presence of PCD (13), whereas, in childhood, the symptoms often include chronic productive cough, atypical asthma unresponsive to treatment, rhinosinusitis, idiopathic, bronchiectasis and recurrent otitis (15). The clinical phenotype of PCD is very wide irrespective of any age, and in children, it is often challenging to recognize respiratory exacerbations even when they have a persistent wet cough. In healthy children, most of the symptoms or signs of respiratory diseases are very common, and this makes the diagnosis of PCD often difficult, which is usually made beyond infancy or childhood that may delay the start of appropriate treatment (16, 17). The main respiratory manifestation in PCD patients usually consists of recurrent to chromic upper and lower respiratory tract infections that often get complicated with bronchiectasis as they get older (18).
It is reasonable to assume that the prevalence of bronchiectasis due to PCD might be variable and local data would be required to define national health policy priorities in Saudi Arabia. So far, no epidemiological data have been conducted in the Taif region in inpatient and outpatient hospital settings. In addition, the co-existence of bronchiectasis with other obstructive pulmonary diseases, such as asthma and other pulmonary diseases, might hinder the precise assessment of bronchiectasis epidemiology; by now, no studies have evaluated prevalence and incidence in a population of patients with only bronchiectasis and no concomitant diagnosis of other chronic respiratory diseases. This study aims to estimate the prevalence and causes of bronchiectasis due to PCD in the Taif region in the children followed up by primary care physicians.
This is a retrospective chart review study that was conducted by reviewing the case records of children attending primary care in one of the children's hospitals in Taif city. Children diagnosed with bronchiectasis with PCD were included in the study. Children with other respiratory diseases were excluded from the study. The bronchiectasis diagnosis was made using a high-resolution chest computed tomography (CT) scan. A convenience sampling method was used to collect the data based on the availability during the study period (October 2020- March 2021).
A standardized proforma was used to collect the information from the case records, which recorded the children's age, gender, and data on conditions associated with bronchiectasis, including bronchopulmonary manifestations, ENT events, presence of complete situs inversus and Incomplete situs inversus, dextrocardia, Urogenital events, sensory impairment, and Family history respiratory disorders. All the collected information was tabulated on a Microsoft Excel sheet and transferred to IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences, Version 23 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) for analysis. Descriptive statistics in the form of frequencies and percentages using suitable tables and figures were used to represent categorical data.
In this hospital based retrospective study we included 10 children who attended the hospital due to bronchiectasis with PCD. The mean age of the patients was found to be 4.3 ± 2.9 years and the gender distribution showed that 50% (n=5) were males and 50% (n=5) were females. It was observed that 60% (n=6) had bronchopulmonary manifestations in which 5 patients showed asthma and 1 patient had pnuemopathies. The bronchopulmonary manifestations were comparatively more observed in female patients (50%) where only one of the male patients had such manifestations (p=0.010) (Table 1, Figure 1).
Figure 1. Bronchopulmonary manifestation (n=10)
The prevalence of Rhinosinusitis was found in 50% (n=5) of the patients, which didn't show any statistically significant association with gender of the patients (p=0.527). The prevalence of other ENT events showed that 3 patients had history of Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (neonatal RDS) and one patient had polydactyly. Out of 10 patients one male patient had shown Complete situs inversus and there were no incomplete situs inversus reported. Dextrocardia was present in one male patient and two male patients showed urogenital events, which was mild hydronephrosis and polycystic kidney (p=0.114). When we assessed the family history of any respiratory or ENT events in child's parents it was found that 3 patients reported Rhinosinusitis and one patient had Asthma (Table 1).
Table 1: Prevalence of causes and events based on gender of the patient
Bronchopulmonary manifestations
Other ENT Events
Complete situs inversus
Incomplete situs inversus
Urogenital events
Family history of Respiratory/ENT disorders
ENT: ear, nose and throat, N: numbers, * Statsitically significant
In infants with PCD, the abnormal ciliary function could gradually lead to respiratory distress, which leads to persistent wet cough, rhinosinusitis, and bronchiectasis (18). In our study, half of the patients had rhinosinusitis, and this may lead to stasis and bacterial colonization that commonly include bacteria such Streptococcus pneumonia, Moraxella catarrhalis, Haemophilus influenzae non–type b, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus (19). Genetic studies show that more than 35 cilia-related genes have proven to cause PCD, and experts have the opinion that there are more genes to be discovered for this disorder (20, 21). Thus, minimizing exposure to these respiratory infections and pathogens is crucial in these children when visiting hospitals, schools, or daycare settings. When monitoring PCD in children, the clinical outcomes should give the physician or pediatrician an insight into the patient's current status compared with the previous assessment of the disease's status. The clinician could look into various clinical outcomes such as mortality, exacerbation rate, admission rates in hospitals, growth outcomes (anthropometric measurements of the child, bioelectrical impedance analysis), lung function (Lung Clearance Index, plethysmography, Spirometry), and using age-appropriate questionnaires such as QOL-PCD (22-24).
The current study findings show that only one patient had chronic situs inversus. It is often said that patients having these situs abnormalities have Kartagener syndrome, a triad of chronic sinusitis dextrocardia with situs inversus and bronchiectasis (25). In our study, dextrocardia was present in one patient, and the same patient had chronic sinusitis, which suggests that the patient may have Kartagener syndrome. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is considered a co-morbidity in patients with bronchiectasis, which is often associated with marked bronchial inflammation, frequent pathogenic colonization, and severe airway obstruction (26).
The diagnosis of PCD is often a complex and challenging process due to its clinical and genetic heterogeneity. The diagnosis is often confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for a classic PCD ultra-structural ciliary defect or biallelic mutations in an already identified PCD gene, which again depends on age criteria (27, 28). In the management of PCD, the main aim should be to recover or maintain lung function, which depends on mucus clearance, respiratory infection prevention, and effective antibiotic therapy for bacterial infections (29). The management is usually symptomatic and depends on specific conditions associated with PCD. In PCD patients, Otitis media (OME) with effusion is a universal finding, and the management of OME is often controversial. Studies have demonstrated that ventilation tube insertion is effective in improving hearing and achieving a dry ear (30, 31). But recent evidence shows that ventilation tubes offer no advantages and could lead to persistent mucous discharge and also could predispose to chronic otorrhoea (16). In PCD patients, chronic sinusitis symptoms are lifelong, and it is the focal point of all respiratory infections. Long-term combinational therapy of antibiotics and steroid nasal sprays could control sinusitis in most PCD cases (32, 33). Even though maintenance therapy using antibiotics has shown clinical effectiveness, it could lead to antibiotic resistance development. Another common finding in PCD patients is Nasal polyposis, and the prevalence of approximately 30% has been reported (34). This condition's treatment involves a combination of medical therapy using corticosteroids and surgical measures after patient assessment (34, 35). In patients with bronchiectasis, antibiotic therapy depending upon the isolated organisms could give symptomatic relief. In some patients, a lobectomy is a therapeutic option; some experts have the opinion that it is rarely needed due to the reasons that the basal defective mechanism is diffuse and is not limited to lobes of the lungs (36). Our study poses some limitations. Firstly, the sample size we included was insufficient for drawing enough conclusions for the prevalence of many risk factors. Secondly, this research was conducted in a single center may have called for bias. A multi-center study involving more patients with PCD is further needed to verify the current findings.
In conclusion, Rhinosinusitis is found to be a major clinical manifestation in PCD patients and the prevalence of other bronchopulmonary manifestations such as asthma and pnuemopathies are not uncommon in PCD patients. The diagnosis and management of PCD in bronchiectasis in patients depends on the clinical presentation and associated comorbidities. Due to the lack clinical trials, the management of PCD has become challenging and in future PCD studies in diagnosis management should utilize more collaborative partnerships between different disciplinarians and countries.
The study was approved by Taif University Institutional Review Board (IRB) and all data was collected assuring complete confidentiality of the patient's personal information. All methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations Declaration of Helsinki.


As a teacher there are many things we need to document daily. How little or how much documentation you do is up to you, but I have personally found that a few minutes of documentation each day has saved me a great deal of time in the long run. Here are ten tips to help you with teacher documentation.
Looking to increase your documentation right now? Then you're going to LOVE this documentation resource! It includes over 120 different forms to help you document everything your classroom all year long.
Here I will give you a few examples of when documentation has saved me time. Hopefully these will inspire you to start documenting more or remind you why you document so much in the first place.
Little Susie is struggling in your classroom. You want to refer her for additional help, whether that is through Title I services, RtI, special education, or another program your school has in place. However, save yourself some time!
Start keeping sample worksheets that Susie has completed in class. Take notes as to the different strategies you are using in class (proximity, extended time on assignments, tests read aloud, shortened assignments, etc).
These types of things are often addressed at initial meetings. If you can show your colleagues and Susie's family that you have done everything you can think of to help her out, you might be able to move the process along and get Susie the help she needs sooner – rather than being told to go back into your classroom to try such-and-such strategy for a month before another meeting can be held.
(Or perhaps you will have to try more strategies, but if nothing else – you've shown the parents and your colleagues how dedicated you are to this student. Everyone will be appreciative of your help.) This is probably the area of teacher documentation that I have used most! You can get documentation forms for this in my Teacher Documentation resource.
If you suspect something inappropriate is going on with a child at home – document it. I once taught a child who would come to school sluggish and incredibly "off". We're not talking about just missing a little shut eye, but rather something much bigger. It's hard to guess what might be going on.
I always call the guardians right away to see if they notice the same thing, but it's nice to start documenting this behavior. This way you can tell parents exactly when things are occurring, or you have records to show other agencies if you realize there are bigger issues going on. My Documentation Resource includes the super simple form I used to track concerns like this.
You have communicated with parents a great deal all year. Suddenly at an end of year parent-teacher conference a parent starts yelling and tells you that you never told them their child was struggling. Your principal comes in and tries to smooth things over.
You have a coworker who is flat out rude to you. Rather than go into the teachers' lounge and start griping, write it down. This does two things – 1) it prevents you from sharing the negativity around your building and feeding it more and 2) it allows you to have documentation to take to your principal if something like this is fairly continuous.
While some people may see this as tattling, we tell our students to tell us if someone is being bullied. Shouldn't we as professionals be treated the same way?
There's a form for this included in my Teacher Documentation resource. Click here to see it now!
You've been asked to perform extra duties (and perhaps you're even getting paid to do them). Document each time you act on this extra assignment. Whether you had a brief conversation in the hallway, sent an e-mail to the entire staff, or simply shared an idea or lesson – document it.
This will allow you the documentation you need to show you've done your part with due diligence. This also often comes in handy when teacher evaluation time rolls around! You can "show off" and prove all that you've done by pulling up the record you've been keeping. You can check out my entire teacher documentation system here!
Covering the standards. This seems to be a hot issue lately, and obviously we all want to ensure we've covered every standard so our students can be the best they can be. Make sure you document this. And by no means does this have to be fancy! I document standards in the simplest way possible.
At the beginning of each year I print out the standards I am responsible for covering. After I write my lesson plans each week, I take 20-30 minutes to write the standard down by the appropriate lessons. Next to the standards in my book, I write down the date/s that it will be covered. This way I can tell in a glance what area/s I still need to focus on, and I can show it to my supervisor, other teacher, or parents to let them know exactly where I'm at.
I include standard documentation pages in my Teacher Documentation binder. You can check it out here.
Behaviors. No one is perfect. Students are going to act up. Do you have a way of documenting this behavior? You need to. How can you sit in front of this child's parents and tell them their child is misbehaving if you have no records to prove it?
In cases of extreme behavior, I've actually made little calendars specifically for one child. I will write down the exact time and location where the event took place. This is great to take with me to special education meetings, and it gives me an idea if there are "trigger" times or areas for this particular child.
Student retention or additional services request. I've had students who consistently need help with assignments. While there's not a problem with helping students with some assignments or parts of assignments, there comes a point where students must work independently and show you that they can do the work on their own.
When I have children who rely too much on me, I make a simply box around their grade in my gradebook. (Yes, I'm old school and still keep a paper/pencil gradebook. I just can't totally go online just yet!) Each quarter I can easily count up the "boxes" and tell parents, administrators, special ed staff, or other school personnel exactly how many assignments the student received help with.
This documentation can be used to prove why retention may be beneficial, to show that a student is struggling (or refuses to) work independently, or simply needs additional support to be successful.
Late work. Some students will never turn in a missing assignment. Then there are others who are continuously fighting the battle of getting items turned in. Figure out some sort of documentation system to keep track of all the late assignments a student has.
I simply put a little "L" by each late assignment in my paper/pencil grade book. Many online gradebooks also give you the option of marking the assignment as late. This way I can look at the student's family and tell them exactly how many late assignments their child has. This has proved beneficial more times than not for me, particularly for those few chronic offenders.
Save e-mails! I used to teach special education. I can't lie – my first year was rough! I didn't understand what I needed to do, paperwork felt like it was always suffocating me, and I had to ask my Special Education Director for a LOT of help! She was extremely patient with me, but I know I was getting on her nerves pretty quickly.
I quickly realized that in saving e-mails she sent me I quickly did two things for myself – 1) I kept from having to bug her with the same question over and over when I was overwhelmed and 2) I was able to pull her answers up when state agencies or administration came in and asked me why I did things a certain way. So I saved us both the time and headache of asking basically the same questions repeatedly and I also had justification for my actions when the "big wigs" wanted to know what I was doing.
Do I over document? Maybe. However, I like to have all my ducks in a row and I don't want to be caught unprepared!
Now I know these may seem a bit extreme to some people, but with the new teacher evaluations going around I feel it's time for us to stick up for ourselves and show our administrators who are evaluating us just how much we do in a day. Many of them are well aware of how hard we work, but others can be oblivious. Documentation will show them just how much work we do. And it can certainly save you a job in extreme circumstances! Make these ten teacher documentation tips part of your every day routine.
How do you do this? Figure out which tip is most important. Start doing it immediately! When it feels like you have that under control, choose the next one of importance. Continue until all the types of documentation you need to do are second nature. You can get better at this! I was not an expert overnight, but it got to the point where all of these types of teacher documentation came naturally to me.
Looking to increase your documentation right now? Then you're going to LOVE this documentation resource! It includes over 120 different forms to help you document everything your classroom all year long. Click through to check it out now!
I'm glad you wrote this post because my New Year's resolution for 2014 and onward *hopefully, is to be regular with my daily documentations.
I am a new teacher and I haven't done well with documentation so far. I am glad you posted this. How do you keep all of this together?
This is such an important topic. Documentation has saved my bacon more times than I can count. Great examples of how and when to document too, Heather. Happy New Year!
Marta – Honestly, sometimes I wonder that myself! I have a parent/family communication log near my desk that I track regularly. This is the one thing that I absolutely MUST track regularly. Each year I take the forms for that particular year, bind them together, and save them.
Thankfully I don't do every single one of these on a regular basis. When I had a challenging coworker, I kept a diary at home. This way no student ever got into it!
When I've had challenging student issues come up, I've kept those in another folder in my e-mail inbox as e-mails I sent to myself. Although I quickly realized that I was running out of space, so I simply started a Word document that I kept saved on he server (for my eyes only!) with all of the information I received from Child Protection Services, chats with my administrator, and any "different" activity that arose with that child.
Honestly, I feel there's no "right" way to track. Decide what works best for you. I'm a paper/pencil AND electronic type of gal – so I've got items scattered here, there, and everywhere! It's not the most ideal system, but to me the important part is that I have a system in place!
I agree with these, but I had 187 students last year and saw 99 one day and 88 the next. Next year we are going back to 7 period day and I am going to have 201 students every day. Keeping documentation on all of these kids is going to be impossible.
Documentation of RTI?? There is a huge push for that since I work in a focus district. How do you keep track of interventions? ?
I find using the One Note to store documentation very handy. You can create one notebook called documentation and within that add tabs for each area you want to document. It is a user friendly platform and folders can be shared with admin or RTI teams so that multiple people can read and add comments as needed. You can still keep notebooks "for your eyes only" by not sending invitations to others and "locking" the content. My school has used this for the past three years for all types of forms, even team level year long plans and resources. Since my laptop goes home with me, and to all meetings having all the documentation in one place is ideal.
I have had students tell horroble lies. What has helped me each and every time is the consistent documentation that I keep on students.
I use the snipping tool to grab a screenshot of any email needed, mostly parent communication, and paste the image into a word doc specific to that child. It is quicker than any other method I have used in 17 years and I can easily enlarge, print, whatever. Very helpful when you end up with 62 pages of communication with one helicopter parent!
Oh girl! That is a great idea, but I'm so sad you had to come up with this "trick" due to 60+ pages of communication. Stay strong!
I love this article! Document, document, document. I appreciate you sharing this with us. I will try and implement this asap because it is need to stay ahead of the game. Teachers are overworked and underpaid for ALL the things that we have to do during the course of the day and after we go home. A teachers work is never done, but we continue because it is our passion.
Great tips. I document merit awards given out to students. That way I can be sure I get around to each child during the semester at least twice. I write the reason for the merit, hopefully that student won't always get an award for the same reason.
Thank you for your post. I taught in K-12 for 31 years and now Im an adjunct professor. I wouLdnt believe that i would have to develop documentation tracking Systems for students in collEge. The documentation that I kept this year heLped me when I met with my supervisor. It is not only in The documenting but also in how to organize this information.
I'm at the point where I believe we need to document anything and everything. Or at least sometimes it seems that way! I documented like crazy as a teacher, as an administrator, and even now as a stay at home mom of two and business owner. It never ends! HA! But it DOES give me peace of mind to know that I'm tracking various aspects of my life to look back on if needed. And yes – organization is HUGE! I actually have a HUGE documentation resource in the works, so check back to learn more about it when I'm able to get it posted. (Hopefully before back to school season, but we'll see…) Thanks for your comment!


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text:
A Associação Académica de Maputo, geralmente conhecida como Académica, é um clube desportivo de Maputo, Moçambique. Tem equipas de futebol, hóquei em patins, basquetebol e voleibol.
Utiliza o Complexo Desportivo Altenor Pereira no campus da Universidade Eduardo Mondlane.

Ligações externas
 Página da Académica de Maputo no Facebook

Maputo
Clubes de futebol de Moçambique
Clubes de hóquei em patins de Moçambique

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Asklepius: Challenges, Additions & Greekery
Photo Credit: Andrew Kaplowitz
Some time ago Asklepius was made up of a pair of talented musicians, but when they met another – they knew his skills and insight could not be ignored. With that, Justin and Matt combined forces with Dave, and Asklepius took their sound to the next level. Today, they have a new record out and talked to us all about 'Relative to a Mood,' Greek mythology, and so much more in this back and forth.
Kendra: You got your start back in late 2016. Was a creative outlet your response to the election results around that time?
Justin: Though none of us were happy with the election of Trump, we didn't form this group as a reaction to the political climate of the United States. Around that time, I had just gotten back from spending four months – pretty much off the grid – in New Mexico working at Ghost Ranch as a Youth Programming Coordinator. Shortly after, Matt moved back to Detroit from the Lansing area, and we started jamming again at my studio space at the Russell Industrial Center.
Matt and I have had several music projects since we met in middle school so Asklepius was just a natural progression of that relationship. Some of the songs on our first EP – 'Rapture, Circulation, and Lullaby' – are old songs we resurrected and reworked from our former project, Penny Arcade Peepshow. For me, this project is more of an extension of my spiritual life rather than of my political beliefs – not to say that those things can't overlap, but that was not the initial intention when we began this project.
Kendra: Since then you've dropped two EPs. How do you feel you've each grown as musicians from 'Four Shadows The Past' to 'Relative to a Mood"' Or rather, what has been your musical "Metamorphosis?"
Justin: First and foremost, adding Dave on bass has been a huge "Metamorphosis" for our sound. As a duo comprised of piano and drums, adding a bassist just made sense. Dave helped to round out our sound, and his addition also freed me to experiment more with the keys. I utilize a loop pedal, so before Dave joined, I would have to double up on bass and melody, which often muddied our sound – and not in a good way – during live performances. Now, our sound is much clearer, driving, and rhythmic; the shapes we create have more definition.
You should be able to hear those distinct differences between the two EPs – 'Relative to a Mood' is much more upbeat, high-energy, and a little less ethereal. Also, we have a better grasp of our sound. As I stated previously, we used old material as the basis for 'Four Shadows the Past,' which was great soil to sprout from – but now with Dave and these new songs, I feel our sonic identity is being solidified, and we are blossoming as a group. But I do want us to continue to transform and adapt moving forward; it's cool we are developing our signature aesthetic, but I don't want that to hinder us from experimenting with new ideas moving forward. I commonly use the tag line "We are a Myth / a Song / a Lyric that is Ever-Evolving" and that to me is the essence of what Asklepius is and always will be.
Dave: Every time that I've joined a new band, I've always reinvented aspects of my identity as a bassist. Whether that means details in rhythm, or the use of effects pedals, or little licks – catchphrases if you will – I tear down and evolve a bit. Over a longer story arc, this has meant moving into a garage rock band and thumping it out after playing more blues and funk when I lived in Cincinnati – or upon moving to Chicago finding myself in a noise oriented free-playing project. Wildly different genres when one focuses on the details of making something that sounds tight and cohesive.
So moving into Asklepius, I was faced with the additional, and new, challenge of writing parts to songs that were already finished. Other times, there is simply a part that someone else already put together, stitching it into the fabric of a piece of music. In learning the songs off of 'Four Shadows the Past,' I had to respect what had already been said on that record while also adding to it. Reflecting on the process is interesting in the sense that I became a session musician. Most of the time when a band is forming, everyone finds their role and space within the sound of the group organically. That's the only way I had previously done that. So now when we play the old songs live, they still sound the same but bigger.
And the timing was fantastic. The songs for the new EP were in development at the time so I got to do both the learning and the new writing simultaneously. With the new material, I could carve a little space out for myself and influence the direction a little bit. I still took a back seat role in a lot of ways of being new to the band; we were still figuring out the mesh after all. At certain points, that ran us directly into walls. For example, the end of 'Ascension' flips from a 4:4 to a 5:4 time signature. As an untrained musician, I never really counted time before. I just played groove. So in a basement on the eastside of Detroit, we had to slow it down and get me comfortable with that. I more or less synthesized the old groove player and the new counting player by keeping the time with some dancing!
Kendra: For Dave, what do you feel you added to the overall audible aesthetic of this record? For those not in the know – this is Dave's first release with the band.
Dave: I love this question. 'Foreshadows the Past' to me has a very cinematic sound. As in, it could literally score a great black and white, indie drama. At least that's what a lot of the material evokes as an image for me. There is a crispness in two percussion instruments in duet with each other. It's delicate. The bass, given the nature of being in a low register and a stringed instrument, has a lot of mud to it. One does not typically get feedback with drums and keys, but you sure can with the bass. Ask any sound engineer: the bass is one of the harder instruments to contain in a live environment. The science of it is fascinating. So that is the underlying way that I have impacted the sound of the group. There is now a bottom that swings and swells, and in a good way provides a "bull in a china shop" kind of chaos; it is robust.
On 'Relative to a Mood,' the music has more force. I push Matt in different ways than Justin does. It's the fundamental conversation of a rhythm section. Add to that my different influences and ideas that weren't there before inform our playing in new ways. "Jubilation," for example, had an entirely different feel to the opening section. It was softer and moved through a chord sequence. When I jumped in, I drove the song in pace and intensity with a single chord tonal center and a dancer's swing. This is the sound of energy.
Additionally, I give Justin a counter melody. He already creates his loops and essentially has a melodic conversation with himself – a healthy and productive one I might add! But now, there is the opportunity to be free from the restrictions of only setting a loop to achieve the advancement of a musical idea. The end section of "Jubilation" best demonstrates this point. Justin and I take turns contouring the melody. I push up to walk the line down and then he scoops it from the bottom to take it back up to home. So the ways that this happens on the new EP are a lot richer and dynamic than on the previous one.
Kendra: Greek history fans probably already recognized Asklepius as the god of medicine. Not me, I got a D in that class as Disney's 'Hercules' is not the best way to study for a final exam. Anyways, why that particular god?
Justin: This question is deep, but I will attempt to keep my answer somewhat short. I am a huge mythology nerd, and I wanted this project to have a name with epic resonance – one to reflect what our sound would be. At first, I was leaning toward Dionysus but strayed away from that deity for a few reasons: 1. Matt and I had gone through – and in many ways were still going through – a Dionysian phase in our young lives, which can be a lot of fun, but also quite destructive and unhealthy. I wanted this new project to be a shift away from that madness, excess, and ecstasy into something more uplifting and positive; 2. Art has always been a healing process for me. By the end of 2016, I was already a few years into a focused medicine path, and I was ushering in a complete transformation of my life. I wanted this project to embody that and reinforce the new direction my life was taking; 3. Asklepius is known as a necromancer, one who can raise people from the dead. First off, that's just badass, but it also has a deeper meaning in regards to the band's history, we literally resurrected old songs from a lost time to birth this new project. We also use my grandfather's (Joe Groppuso) paintings as our cover art. He is my eternal muse and the ancestor who watches over my life and creative endeavors. With everything we create, his spirit is there!
Kendra: Usually, this is where I ask people what they have planned in the coming months but with the world in a strange place right now, plans aren't as concrete as they typically are. You can go ahead and let us know what you have tentatively planned but can you also share a song that never fails to get you through when the world around you feels like a mess?
Justin: We have a couple more music videos in the works as well as two singles we finished while recording 'Relative to a Mood.' This should be enough material to last us through the remainder of the year, which is exciting! We are very fortunate to be sitting on this material given the uncertain situation we find ourselves in. The two singles are another leap in our sound; the two of them together have this Yin-Yang vibe. Other than that, we're hoping that live shows will start back up again sometime soon(ish). We are getting to a new point with our live show that is exciting, and we would love to bring it to the world; touring is definitely the next step for us, but that is up in the air till the state of the world settles. We will probably spend the rest of the year writing a lot of new material and evolving our sound. We already have 3-4 pieces that we are currently fleshing out, and some little pieces that are slowly but surely taking form. You might even hear singing, chanting, and spoken word in our future songs! We are indeed mixing up a lot of powerful medicine for your soul.
Dave: Plans don't exist right now. Things still change daily as Detroit has been hit hard by this pandemic. I live in one of the worst zip codes in terms of the outbreak, and my primary income comes from dine-in restaurant work – that future is looking bleak right now. The number of times that I've had to tell myself or a friend "one day at a time" is ridiculous. It's a stressful environment, to say the least. So in the backdrop of all that, there is plenty of time to promote and release the new EP. When we were making it over the course of the last year, we noticed how many moments sounded like pure joy. Putting that feeling out there at this time I think honors our intent as a band.
As for a song, one I keep coming back to is Rage Against the Machine's cover of "Maggie's Farm." Specifically the line "I've got a head full of ideas that are driving me insane." There is just something so complete in the context of the lyrics and the sound on that track. And then that in and of itself is just as complete in the context of what's going on all around me. It's as close to perfection as I'm going to get in terms of aurally and narratively responding to the anger and sadness and helplessness that I've felt for myself and so many others frequently in my very isolated quarantine.
Matt: For tough times, I listen to "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate" by the Flaming Lips. I find the song calming and the lyrics make me realize that everything will be just peachy keen.
Public Speaking: Articulated Intentional Sounds
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Gary Boyd may refer to:

Gary Boyd (baseball) (born 1946), American baseball player
Gary Boyd (golfer) (born 1986), British golfer
Gary Boyd (sailor) (born 1972), Australian sailor


If you are trying to bring more mindfulness into your life but you worry about not having enough time for doing that, I have some great ideas for you. Below you will find a list of one-minute mindfulness activities, which can be easily added to your busy day.
All you need is 60 seconds and the promise to yourself that for those seconds you will just be present in the moment. There are many ways to slow down your hectic life and empty your mind. These mindfulness techniques can help you relieve stress and bring calm to your life while escaping the automatic mode.
The most important thing is to truly feel this short moment and to do your best to free your mind for a few seconds without any judgment. Be kind to yourself and embrace these seconds of mindfulness.
So whenever you fill that you could use a mindful break during the day and realign your life, just grab the list below and pick one of the activities to try for one minute.
Practice any breathing technique for 60 seconds. Your goal would be to have no other thoughts and the only thing to focus on is your breath. There are many breathing techniques, which will slowly bring you to the present moment and clear your mind. They are powerful and they are quite easy to apply.
Just hit the pause button on your daily tasks and start your timer for mindful breathing.
Can you count the number of thoughts you have right now? I am sure I can't because there are always new thoughts popping in my mind while losing track of others. It feels like a crowded highway inside the mind. Trying to let all the thoughts fade away and clear the path in front of you can feel liberating. It gives you time to connect with yourself.
For a minute try to just observe your thoughts and imagine blowing them away like bubbles.
Sometimes there is a thought in the back of our mind, which is always there, making us feel guilty of something or just bringing negative vibes. Holding on to these type of thoughts is not serving us in any way. Just try to acknowledge one of these thoughts and allow yourself to let it go. Forgive if there is anything to forgive and just decide that it is time to declutter your mind and let it go.
We smile whenever we are happy but our mind can also react to smiling the other way around. You can just trick your mind into feeling good if you smile. Go in front of a mirror and just smile at your own reflection. You will feel the power of your own kindness coming back to you.
Sometimes we just need a bit of inspiration. Choose a topic and look for motivational quotes related to it. Choose a quote, read it and fully absorb its meaning. It is a simple exercise but it has a lot of power.
Physical activities are always recommended for a healthy life. Walking can as well help to extract you from all the activities you have during the day. Just get up from your desk and practice some mindful walking. Leave behind what you were doing and enjoy the minute of walking.
We each have our own little cup of joy during the day. It can be a cup of tea, coffee or even simply water. Whenever you are going to prepare this little treat just be there in the moment. Feel the smell, enjoy the preparation and feel the taste. These simple things can bring you to the present moment in just a few seconds. If you have a bit more time, you can even try a short tea meditation.
Stress and overwhelm can make our muscles tense and even painful. Try some simple stretches, get up from your chair and give some love to your muscles. There are many ways to practice stretching but the most important thing is to just listen to your body and do the movements that feel good to you. Be mindful of every move and relax into every stretch.
A "mantra" is a sacred group of words in Sanskrit believed by practitioners to have psychological and spiritual powers. Mantra meditation helps to induce an altered state of consciousness.
One of my favorites is "Om mani padme hum".
The meaning of this mantra is difficult to explain because it has many meanings. Here is one explanation from Dalai Lama: "It is very good to recite the mantra Om mani padme hum, but while you are doing it, you should be thinking on its meaning, for the meaning of the six syllables is great and vast …. The first, OM … symbolizes the practitioner's impure body, speech, and mind; it also symbolizes the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha…. The path is indicated by the next four syllables. MANI, meaning jewel, symbolizes the … altruistic intention to become enlightened, compassionate and loving…. The two syllables, PADME, meaning lotus, symbolize wisdom…. Purity must be achieved by an indivisible unity of method and wisdom, symbolized by the final syllable HUM, which indicates indivisibility". Read more about it here.
Any time of the day is a good time for these. You just need to take action, practice them and you will see how in time they can help you become more mindful.
You can create some reminders for yourself to not forget and get lost in the activities of your busy day. After a while, they will become a habit and it will feel more natural to include them throughout your day. Practicing these one-minute mindful activities can help you shift your perspective on your day.


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Big Moe's Diner, the 1950's-style American diner, has chosen London Designer Outlet in Wembley Park as the place to open its second London restaurant. The new diner will be opposite both Handmade Burger Co, which has extended its lease by a further five years, and the recently opened 14,125-sq ft JRC Global Buffet. In what will be its first store, Greek bakery and patisserie, Opa, has also signed to join the line up while Prezzo has refurbished and extended its unit.
LDO is London's original outlet centre, blending retail, f&b, leisure and residential within an urban setting. The scheme has seen continuous sales growth since it opened in October 2013.
LDO is managed by Realm on behalf of Quintain, the developer transforming Wembley Park.


After all, Reiki is a complementary therapy so complements rather than is an alternative to medical aid. Lastly, have a face to face with them beforehand to see if you think they will suit you, and ask what you can expect in a treatment.
Both Reiki and massage are systems of natural healing that focus on body energy, and today Reiki massage is a common and effective treatment. If you've ever had a great massage, you understand how you can feel both relaxed and invigorated at the same time.


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WWII German Nazi Tag Der Deutschen Seefahrt 1935 Tinnie
Early Militaria (Pre 1861)
Civil War (1861 - 1865)
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Militaria 1920-1938
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WWII US Army Air Corps Theater Made Silk CBI Patch China Burma India
Item #: VF2109
Click on an image to enlarge
WWII US Army Air Corps theater made shoulder patch for the CBI or the China Burma India theater. This metal insignia on silk with a linen backing is in excellent condition and has never been on a uniform
U.S. Strategy for China
In 1941 the U.S. made a series of decisions to support China in its war with Japan. Lend Lease funds began to flow because President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced the defense of China to be vital to the defense of the United States. Over the summer, as Japan moved south into French Indo-China, the U.S., Britain and the Netherlands slapped an oil embargo on Japan, cutting off 90% of its supplies. Japan did cut off overland supplies to China through Burma. China could be supplied only by flying over the Himalaya mountains ("The Hump") from India, or capturing territory in Burma and building a new road--the Ledo Road.
Japan was overextended. Its naval base could not defend its conquests, and its industrial base could not beef up the navy. To cut off China from Allied aid, it went into Burma, captured Rangoon on March 8, 1942, cutting the Burma Road lifeline to China. Moving north the Japanese took Tounggoo, Burma, then captured Lashio in upper Burma on April 29. The British, primarily concerned with India, looked to Burma as the main theater of action against Japan and wanted Chinese troops to fight there. The United States conjured up visions of millions of Chinese soldiers who would hold the Japanese then throw them back, while providing close-in airbases for a systematic firebombing of Japanese cities. The overland supply route from India to China had to go through Burma. Chiang realized it was all fantasy. On the other hand there were vast sums of American dollars available if he collaborated. He did so and managed to feed his starving soldiers, but they were so poorly equipped and led that offensive operations against the Japanese in China were impossible. However, Chiang did release two Chinese armies for action in Burma under Stilwell. They were smashed by the Japanese and Stilwell, on foot, barely escaped to India; the recovery of Burma and construction of the Ledo Road to supply China via Burma became an obsession for Stilwell.
Allied Command structure
U.S. and Allied Land forces
US forces in the CBI were grouped together for administrative purposes under the command of General Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell. However, unlike other combat theaters, for example the European Theater of Operations, the CBI was never a "theater of operations" and did not have an overall operational command structure. Initially U.S. land units were split between those who came under the operational command of the India Command under General Sir Archibald Wavell, as the Commander-in-Chief in India, and those in China, which (technically at least) were commanded by Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek, as the Supreme Allied Commander in China. However, Stilwell often broke the chain of command and communicated directly with the US Joint Chiefs of Staff on operational matters. This continued after the formation of the South East Asia Command (SEAC) and the appointment of Admiral Lord Mountbatten as Supreme Allied Commander.
When joint allied command was agreed upon, it was decided that the senior position should be held by a member of the British military because the British dominated Allied operations on the South-East Asian Theatre by weight of numbers (in much the same way as the US did in the Pacific Theater of Operations). Admiral Lord Mountbatten was appointed as the Supreme Allied Commander of South-East Asia forces in October 1943.
Gen. Stilwell, who also had operational command of the Northern Combat Area Command (NCAC), a US-Chinese formation, was to report in theory to Gen. George Giffard — commander of Eleventh Army Group — so that NCAC and the British Fourteenth Army, under the command of General William Slim, could be co-ordinated. However, in practice, Gen. Stillwell never agreed to this arrangement. Stilwell was able to do this because of his multiple positions within complex command structures, including especially his simultaneous positions of Deputy Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia, and Chief of Staff to Chinese leader Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek. As SEAC's deputy leader, Stilwell was Giffard's superior, but as operational commander of NCAC, Giffard was Stilwell's superior. As the two men did not get on, this inevitably lead to conflict and confusion.
Stilwell, however, bitterly resisted [taking orders from Giffard] ... To watch Stilwell, when hard pressed, shift his opposition from one of the several strong-points he held by virtue of his numerous Allied, American and Chinese offices, to another was a lesson in mobile offensive-defence.
—William Slim
Eventually at a SEAC meeting to sort out the chain of command for NCAC, Stilwell astonished everyone by saying "I am prepared to come under General Slim's operational control until I get to Kamaing". Although far from ideal, this compromise was accepted.
Although Gen. Stilwell was the control and co-ordinating point for all command activity in the theater, his assumption of personal direction of the advance of the Chinese Ledo forces into north Burma in late 1943 meant that he was often out of touch with both his own headquarters and with the over-all situation.
Not until late 1944, after Stilwell was recalled to Washington, was the chain of command clarified. His overall role, and the CBI command, was then split among three people: Lt Gen. Raymond Wheeler became Deputy Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia; Major-General Albert Wedemeyer became Chief of Staff to Chiang, and commander of US Forces, China Theater (USFCT). Lt Gen. Daniel Sultan was promoted, from deputy commander of CBI to commander of US Forces, India-Burma Theater (USFIBT) and commander of the NCAC. The 11th Army Group was redesignated Allied Land Forces South East Asia (ALFSEA), and NCAC was decisively placed under this formation. However, by the time the last phase of the Burma Campaign began in earnest, NCAC had become irrelevant, and it was dissolved in early 1945.
U.S. Army and Allied Air Forces
1944 Army Air Forces recruiting ad featuring the 14th Air Force 341st Bombardment Group (Medium)
After consultation among the Allied governments, Air Command South-East Asia was formed in November 1943 to control all allied air forces in the theater, with Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Peirse as Commander-in-chief Under Peirse's deputy, USAAF Major General George E. Stratemeyer, Eastern Air Command (EAC) was organized in 1943 to control Allied air operations in Burma, with headquarters in Calcutta. Unlike the strained relations and confusion encountered in coordinating Allied ground force commands, air force operations in the CBI proceeded relatively smoothly. Relations improved even further after new U.S. military aid began arriving, together with capable USAAF officers such as Brigadier General William D. Old of CGI Troop Carrier Command, and Col. Philip Cochran and Col John R. Alison of the 1st Air Commando Group. Within Eastern Air Command, Air Marshal Sir John Baldwin commanded the Third Tactical Air Force, originally formed to provide close air support to the Fourteenth Army. Baldwin was later succeeded by Air Marshal Sir Alec Coryton. U.S. Brigadier-General Howard C. Davidson and later Air Commodore F. J. W. Mellersh commanded the Strategic Air Force. In the new command, various units of the Royal Air Force and the U.S. Tenth Army Air Force worked side-by-side. In the autumn of 1943 SEAAC had 48 R.A.F. and 17 U.S.A.A.F. squadrons; by the following May, the figures had risen to 64 and 28, respectively.
At Eastern Air Command, Gen. Stratemeyer had a status comparable to that of Stilwell. Coordinating the efforts of the various allied air components while maintaining relations with diverse command structures proved a daunting task. Part of Stratemeyer's command, the Tenth Air Force, had been integrated with the RAF Third Tactical Air Force in India in December 1943 and was tasked with a number of roles in support of a variety of allied forces. Another component, the USAAF Fourteenth Air Force in China, was actually under the jurisdiction of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek as theater commander. Although the China-Buma-India operations of the USAAF's Air Transport Command received its assignments of tonnage from Stratemeyer as Stilwell's deputy, organizational control of the ATC remained in Washington, D.C.
In the spring of 1944, with the arrival of command B-29's in the theater, another factor would be added to air force operations. XX Bomber Command of the Twentieth Air Force was tasked with the strategic bombing of Japan under Operation Matterhorn, and reported directly to the JCS in Washington, D.C. However, XX Bomber Command remained totally dependent on Eastern Air Command for supplies, bases, ground staff, and infrastructure support.
After a period of reshuffling, Eastern Air Command's air operations began to show results. In August 1944, Admiral Mountbatten noted in a press conference that EAC fighter missions had practically swept the Japanese air force from Burmese skies. Between the formation of SEAAC in November 1943, and the middle of August 1944, American and British forces operating in Burma destroyed or damaged more than 700 Japanese aircraft with a further 100 aircraft probably destroyed. This achievement considerably reduced dangers to Air Transport Command cargo planes flying in support of the Hump airlift operation. By May 1944, EAC resupply missions in support of the Allied ground offensive had carried 70,000 tons of supplies and transported a total of 93,000 men, including 25,500 casualties evacuated from the battle areas. These figures did not include tonnage flown in the Hump airlift missions to China.
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Early Addition: America Has Fallen Behind Rest Of World On Toilet Innovations
Mike Sierra
Trump continued his war with the judicial system by demanding that Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg recuse themselves from any cases involving him.
A regional field director for Bernie Sanders' campaign based in Michigan has been fired after his private Twitter account shitposting was revealed.
Hank Azaria explained once and for all why he won't be playing Apu on The Simpsons anymore: "I have tremendous pride in doing the show. And the character of Apu was done with love and pride and the best of intentions. My message is, things can be down with really good intentions and have negative consequences."
A truck driver who fatally struck a 3-year-old in Harlem last year is blaming the child's death on the boy's mother: "It's being made out like I did something wrong, I did not," he said. "The mother should have had the child in her hand."
Why is America so far behind in the toilet innovations wars?
Harvey Weinstein was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center instead of Rikers Island as a "precautionary measure" after his guilty verdict yesterday.
Related Companies, the real estate concern run by Trump supporter Stephen Ross, has signed an agreement with Amtrak to pursue a cheap federal loan for the second half of Hudson Yards.
Wired explains how Silicon Valley ruined work culture.
Conservative megadonor Rebekah Mercer is no longer on the board of trustees of the American Museum of Natural History.
This man has come up with a nifty spaghetti lifehack.
Lots of exciting new music announcements today: listen to new singles from forthcoming albums by baroque pop geniuses The Magnetic Fields, art-pop group Perfume Genius, and London producer Kelly Lee Owens.
And finally, look at this kook:
Ben Yakas was born and raised in New York, and has worked for Gothamist for over a decade, and WNYC for four years, covering literally everything. He has hung out with Dan Smith (who will teach you guitar), but still has yet to have a guitar lesson with him.


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Reasons why majority of casino brands achieved super status
A majority of casino brands became big brands and achieved super-status after they've completed mergers between brands. These mergers had a significant impact on the industry and have sustained the industry most especially in this pandemic era. These mergers have sustained many brands that the pandemic hit hard and helped a lot of casinos, most especially land-based casinos, to maintain business and rake in profits even though it is not as much as it used to be anymore.
You can keep reading this article to find out more about these mergers and how they have helped sustain these casinos making some profit in this era of online gambling.
Successful mergers in online casino history
Barstool Sports and Penn National Gaming
Talking about acquisitions and mergers wouldn't be complete without mentioning the Barstool Sports and Penn National Gaming merger. Barstool Sports is a firm dedicated to creating sports content while Penn National Gaming is a big gambling company in North America that focuses on online and land-based casino games offering both sports and casino betting.
Penn Nation Gaming increased its portfolio acquired 36% of Barstool Sports for $163 million. Penn National Gaming also has the right to up their shares to fifty per cent by paying an additional $62 million. This merger allowed the casino outfit to use the media platform to generate traffic for its sports bet application and casino. They have even gone as far as launching Barstool Sportsbook.
Away from this, it must be stressed that mergers are often aimed at providing great gaming conditions to meet players' needs. Casino777 remains one of the best gambling platforms with many casino games from different game developers.
GVC and Bet.pt
This is another good example of a merger. The GVC and Bet.pt merger proved to be another successful merger that has been pushing the business. GVC, which rebranded into Entain, is a popular gambling operator with two big betting businesses in the UK and is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
GVC looking to break into the Iberian area acquired Bet.pt as part of its plans. Bet.pt before its acquisition was a big sports betting platform in the Portuguese betting industry and has reached the peak of the industry successfully. With its successful performance in 2020 coupled with GVC's interest in the market opportunities, GVC was able to acquire Bet.pt for $57 million
William Hill and 888 Holdings
Other mergers in the industry didn't create as much sensation as the merger of these two big market giants. The deal between these two international giants was the topic of discussion as they purchased the British operator's non-US business for $3 Billion.
Under this deal, 888 Holdings had the right to use the bookmaker's brand everywhere except the US as Caesars Entertainment owned William Hill business portfolio in the US. 888 representatives have decided to keep the retail shop's businesses due to their stability and profitability and focus on online services. They believe the betting shops are popular and arecrucial parts of the business.
888 Holding hopes that its merger with William Hill will help it endure any regulatory charges that come up.
Flutter Entertainment and FanDuel
Flutter's interest in acquiring FanDuel started in 2018 when it purchased 58% of FanDuel stake. This became a major acquisition for Flutter. In 2020, Flutter continued to spread its wings over the American business by increasing its FanDuel shares to 95% leaving 5% for the brand's parent Boyd Gaming. The worth of this deal was pinned at $4.2 Billion and since the acquisition, FanDuel's value has increased to $11.2 Billion.
According to Flutter's CEO, acquiring FanDuel was fuelled by their desire to increase their share in the US market
Even though 2021 hasn't ended, this year has been a big year for acquisition in the industry. Many companies and casino operators will still merge to expand their reach in the US and UK markets. These acquisition signals that market participants should be ready for further alliances.
How to make your Instagram profile famous?


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Skills and Development
My Review: Creed
December 23, 2015 Chris White
Photo: Chris White
Time to step back into the world of Rocky Balboa – well, sort of.
Ryan Coogler's Creed follows Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) and his quest to become a world boxing champion. Adonis had a tough upbringing. The film opens at a juvenile detention facility where a young Adonis is doing time. After Adonis is involved in a fight in juvie, a lady named Mary Anne Creed (Phylicia Rashad) takes him in and raises him. The film fast forwards 17 years when we see a grown-up Adonis taking part in boxing matches in Mexico while working a desk job in Los Angeles. Unhappy, Adonis decides to quit his job, leave his home and move to Philadelphia to pursue his dream. Why Philly? His father was none other than Apollo Creed, champion boxer and friend/rival to Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone). Adonis finds Rocky in Philly, who's now retired from boxing and owns his a restaurant. The two strike up a friendship, culminating in Rocky training him. Turns out that friendship would mean so much more for the both of them.
In full disclosure, I've only seen bits and pieces of the Rocky films coming into Creed. But that's okay because this film takes on its own identity. Creed is undoubtedly a more gritty and intense film than any in the Rocky franchise. At its core, however, is the principle of family. The importance of having family around you whether that "family" is a friend, a significant other, what have you. For example, the film juxtaposed two people – Adonis and Rocky – who have experienced major loss in their respective lives. We learn that Apollo's death in a boxing match against Rocky (as seen in Rocky IV) came before Adonis was born. Adonis wants nothing more than to follow in his late father's footsteps. As for Rocky, he doesn't have much family left and many of his friends have since passed away. He's not involved with boxing anymore which, you can tell, takes a toll on him. The two are brought together through miraculous circumstances and find this ideal of "family" in each other. That was what I liked most about the film. My only knock was it did have some cheesy moments, like the ending for example. In an effort to not spoil it, the ending pays homage to the Rocky films of yesteryear and I was torn as to whether it was good or cheesy. Go see the film and you'll see what I'm talking about. All in all, Creed was definitely enjoyable to watch. No doubt, a dark horse in the Golden Globes and Oscars races this season.
I Give It A: B
Check Out The Trailer Here
Tagged Film Reviews, Movies, Opinion
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First and foremost, this is my first article apart from my introduction. Some of my content will include stuff like this, I will try not to be too niche when writing content and hope everyone can enjoy what I write!
IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE, I ADVISE YOU STOP READING DUE TO SPOILERS!
That being said, it is a must-watch show with three parts adapted so far!
This particular article will be touching base upon the first episode of the second half of the third part of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure - Stardust Crusaders.
The first thing that catches my eye is the new opening.
For me, the show has some of the best opening themes I've seen in any show. (They aren't bad to work out to either.) This seasons opening was at first, sub-par to the other season; until it grew on me. It came as such a surprise when I watched it another time, the music seemed to flow better for me, the transitions made more sense, and above all of that; the EXTREMELY subtle foreshadowing.
The series itself is quite old; by now, many people have caught up through the manga (basically means a Japanese comic) and already know what will happen next. The real beauty is how well they will adapt this series. That being said, with someone like me who has already read through this part, it is actually astounding that they can fit as many hints as they did. They aren't necessarily spoiling the season, it is mostly discreet hints of the future, I was very impressed.
That's enough about the opening; I can go on, but we need to get on with the actual episode!
The episode itself went with pacing that I liked; just getting right into the action after a little bit of calm down time. They introduced the sixth main character of the story arc, Iggy, a disobedient dog with The Fool as its stand. My only gripe with this character was the fact that the barks sounded too human, which will be understandable, it just bothered me a little bit. They begin the adventure by taking a memorable picture together. (Oh, the feels.) And almost immediately after they set the tone of the threats that they will face next; and in this episode, it showed. The first enemy they are now facing seems to not even be able to be defeated by the initial main cast. After all of the overwhelming action, they send us off into the soothing ending theme, Last Train Home by Pat Metheny Group.


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Govt. will reduce food imports, says DPM
LocalApril 14, 2018April 14, 2018 at 7:19 am Theo Sealy
Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest speaks to Eyewitness News reporter Theo Sealy at the Agri-Business Expo on Friday.
The government intends to drastically decrease the amount of agricultural imports to the country by "growing, processing, marketing and exporting our own food", Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest revealed Friday at the opening of the 2018 Agri-Business Expo.
The three-day event is being hosted at the Gladstone Road Agricultural Complex.
Government statistics indicate that The Bahamas currently imports 92 per cent of its agricultural food products from overseas.
The deputy prime minister confirmed yesterday that the government is committed to put a dent in the number.
"Government's long-term goal is to drastically reduce our reliance on imports," Turnquest said.
"We want to see farming communities in our country prosper and grow to be able to contribute even more to our national economy."
Turnquest noted that the government has already taken steps to improve the mailboat service between the capital and Family Islands, which he said, will open the door for better transportation of goods between all islands.
He said that the government is also assessing packaging house operations to ensure that it is able to meet the modernized demand of the market.
"I am also happy to announce that the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources is taking steps to streamline its agencies so that responsibilities are properly assigned in compliance with the legal framework," he said.
"I look forward to the improvements that will accrue from our expected advances in product development, research and technology, that will cause us to be able to expand our processing capacity. In order to create the conditions for lasting food and nutrition security, we must ensure a sustainable planned food programme."
Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources Renward Wells echoed the deputy prime minister's sentiments.
"We must encourage potential agribusiness entrepreneurs, raise the level of appreciation form Bahamian-grown and processed products and commodities, while ensuring that essential linkages are made between the agriculture, education, marine resources and tourism sectors," Wells said.
"This expo provides an opportunity for them to showcase the agricultural products they have tended and grown. I also believe that this expo will significantly contribute to us achieving these goals."
About Theo Sealy
View all posts by Theo Sealy →


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The Centre for European Reform (CER) is a London-based think tank that focuses on matters of European integration. It is a prominent source of ideas and commentary in debates about a wide range of EU-related issues, both in the United Kingdom and in the European Union. In 2021 it was ranking 58th among the top think tanks worldwide (non-US) in the Global Go To Think Tank Index Report published by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program.

Background and activity

CER was founded in 1996. Charles Grant, a journalist at The Economist, left his position there in 1998 to work at CER on a full-time basis, and has led the organization since then.

See also
 Bruegel (think tank)
 Centre for European Policy Studies
 European Policy Centre

Notes

European integration think tanks
Political and economic think tanks based in Europe
Think tanks based in the United Kingdom
Think tanks established in 1996


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What Is Art, Anyway? IRWIN Answers With Hugo Ball's Reply at the Cabaret Voltaire
"What Is Art Hugo Ball" is an exhibition by IRWIN at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zürich which was scheduled to open on April 20.
Methodius Zlatanov, depicted here, is the Metropolitan for the United States and Canada of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. I have no idea whether he actually read from his "Die Energie des Unaussprechbaren: Gebete für H.B." I must presume that my readership will recognize the famous photograph of Hugo Ball reading at the Cabaret Voltaire, which he is holding in lieu of a more traditional icon such as the thoroughly customary ones on the iconostasis behind him. (I shall refrain from exegesis of the functions of the icon in Eastern Christianity.)
I'm hoping to track down more details on all of this because Hugo Ball's eventual embrace of Byzantine Christianity as well as Dadaism and IRWIN's dryly witty and paradoxical repetition of moments of modernism are both topics with which I have been intimately involved since I began my career as an art critic.
N.S.K. passports were issued during IRWIN's visit to the Atlanta Olympics, and many of my colleagues are passport holders of the first state in time rather than space. I have been a fan of N.S.K., IRWIN, and Slovenia for many years now though I am highly unlikely ever to encounter any of them again in whatever future remains to me.
It is curious that this exhibition should appear at just this moment in time.
The German original of the more or less translated document below can be found at http://www.cabaretvoltaire.ch/aktuell/aktuell.php?ID=179
What is art Hugo Ball
The Slovenian artist group IRWIN presents the exhibition "What is Art Hugo Ball" dealing with with Ball's book, "Byzantine Christianity" and illuminated with a Dada Byzantine Orthodox Gnosticism.
IRWIN was called at its founding in the early 80's Rrose Irwin Sélavy, marking their relation to the work of the most radical and most famous representative of Dada, Marcel Duchamp. IRWIN is working with selected and existing images - symbols, figures and compositions - on a similar principle to the one with which Duchamp dealt with the cylinder dryer, the urinal basin or the front wheel of a bicycle. The hallmark of IRWIN are sedate large frames in which they present works that are often not by themselves. One such work is the famous icon of Suprematism, the Black Square by Kazimir Malevich (1913). IRWIN explores with him the function of art, using icons that are not only images but also ritual instruments. They have now reached the founders of Dada and say: What is art with Hugo Ball. Hugo Ball and his "Byzantine Christianity" connects IRWIN to the Orthodox icon and gives Dada the same function as the icon as Hugo Ball understood this, as a Gnostic experience.
At the opening of the exhibition "What is art Hugo Ball" the Orthodox Christian Metropolitan of Macedonia, Bishop Methodius Zlatanov, travels to Zürich to read poems from his series: "The energy of the unspeakable: Prayer for HB."
Posted by littlejoke at 10:09 AM
meetings with remarkable men and women, semi-revised
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What Is Art, Anyway? IRWIN Answers With Hugo Ball'...
Pandra Williams: An Experiment Succeeds at Kiang G...


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Shocking : Coronavirus cases in India – Nearly 70,000 cases reported in last 24 hours
Daily Coronavirus India Tracker
Coronavirus cases in India : The daily number of positive coronavirus cases is increasing significantly. In the last 24 hours, India has reported nearly 70,000 cases.
More than 9 lakh tests were conducted yesterday, and 69,652 tested positive for the virus. This is the highest number of tests to be conducted in a day. Per million, around 23,000 samples have been tested till date. More than 3.2 crore tests have been conducted in the country till date. India's caseload is about to cross the 3-million mark, as the cases have reached 2.8 million.
Nearly a thousand deaths due to the virus were also reported yesterday. With 977 virus related deaths reported in the last one day, the total number of deaths in the country have reached 53,866. Despite this huge surge, the positivity rate has gone down, and is below 8% now.
The number of recoveries has crossed the 2 million mark, which has upped the recovery rate of the country to 73%. The number of active cases stands around 6.86 lakhs.
The states which saw a major spike in the number of coronavirus cases are, Maharashtra (9011 cases), Andhra Pradesh (8065), Karnataka (7201), Tamil Nadu (6384), Uttar Pradesh (5620). These states are the worst affected due to the pandemic in India.
Coronavirus cases in India : The states with the highest number of active cases
Maharashtra- 1,60,728 active cases
Andhra Pradesh- 86,725 active cases
Karnataka- 81,113 active cases
Tamil Nadu- 53,155 active cases
According to a recent study, almost one in four Indians has been exposed to the coronavirus, and has antibodies. If the study is credible, then this could be a good thing as the development of herd immunity in the country can further help lower the positivity rate. However, it is a long road ahead to achieve that.
The mortality rate which was 2.2%, is now down to 1.9%. Higher recovery rates and lower mortality rate can indicate us reaching different levels of the pandemic. There also needs to be a fall in the positivity rate, and cases per day to indicate that the country is out of the woods, and is on the road to recovery.
Coronavirus cases in India : What is happening globally?
World-wide there are around 2.2 crore coronavirus cases, and more than 7.8 lakh people have died due to the virus. The United States has retained its position as the worst hit coronavirus country in the world. The country has over 5.5 million coronavirus cases, and 173k deaths.
There has been a rise in coronavirus cases in New Zealand, which was a while ago free from the clutches of the virus. New Zealand has been reporting just a little over 10 cases per day, and the situation seems to be under control by PM Jacinda Arden.
In European countries such as Germany, France, and Spain, a resurgence of the virus has been witnessed in the recent past. European countries are again implementing restrictions to avoid another deadly outbreak.
Read all our articles on Delhi Coronavirus Update here


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Element of the Month - Bismuth
The key facts
Greetings, and welcome to the third installment of a regular feature on the Radleys blog – the Element of the Month.
To choose our element of the month, we used a random number generator to produce a figure between 1 and 118 – the current number of elements in the periodic table. This month, we drew the number 83, which makes bismuth our third element of the month.
Bismuth – The Key Facts
Bismuth is a chemical element with symbol Bi and atomic number 83. It is one of the few elements whose liquid state has a higher density than its solid state.
Almost twice as abundant as gold in the earth's crust, bismuth is a brittle metal, silvery white in colour when it is freshly produced, and often seen with a pink tinge due to surface oxidation once in contact with air. Bismuth crystals are truly stunning, as the varying layers of oxidation disturb the light wavelengths that reflect on its surface, creating a veritable rainbow of colours.
Although rather alien-looking, you may be surprised to know that you may, in fact, have either ingested, worn, or used bismuth before. Read on to find out more…
Fascinating Facts About Bismuth
1. Bismuth was one of the first metals to be discovered, although often confused with lead or tin, with which it shares similar physical properties. It wasn't until 1753 that Claude Geoffroy identified it as a separate element.
2. Bismuth is the single most naturally diamagnetic element or metal: this can be tested out at home with this simple home science project that enables you to levitate a magnet:
3. Bismuth crystals grow in oddly beautiful, staircase-shaped formations as the result of a greater growth rate on the outside edges than on the inside edges.
4. With a low melting point of just above 271 degrees Celsius, bismuth crystals can be grown at home on the stove:
5. Bismuth was long considered to be the heaviest stable element in the periodic table. However, in 2003, scientists discovered that it is weakly radioactive: bismuth-209 (its only primordial isotope) has a half-life more than a billion times longer than the estimated age of the universe.
6. With extremely low levels of toxicity for a heavy metal, bismuth is used in a number of pharmaceuticals, such as antidiarrhoeal medicines like Pepto-Bismol. It can also be used to treat eye infections (Bibrocathol) or peptic ulcers (with a combination of bismuth subsalicylate and bismuth subcitrate)
7. In ancient Egypt, a bismuth compound named bismoclite was used for cosmetic purposes and, in fact, still is in certain eye shadows, hair sprays, and nail polishes, as its crystal form resembles nacre of pearl.
8. Due to its unusually low toxicity levels, bismuth has increasingly been used as a replacement for lead in pencils and bullets.
So, that's bismuth – a substance that's denser as a liquid than as a solid and our third Element of the Month.
If you want to learn more about Bismuth, click here to watch a short video by The University of Nottingham.
Come back next month, when we'll be raving about rhodium.


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Q: prevent iPad4 from sleeping while music plays - was working in iPad 3 & 2 I have a music player app for iPad which was first created for iPad 2, then iPad 3 and is now being used on iPad 4's.
It used to work as follows: If the music was playing, the screen would dim but it would not go to sleep. This no longer works on iPad4. Anyone have any ideas on how to make this work for iPad 4? I know I can set "idleTimerDisabled" and maybe set the brightness, but I would prefer the screen to dim on its own.
Any tips or clues would be greatly appreciated.
UInt32 sessionCategory = kAudioSessionCategory_MediaPlayback;
    AudioSessionSetProperty (
        kAudioSessionProperty_AudioCategory,
        sizeof (sessionCategory),
        &sessionCategory
    );
    AudioSessionSetActive(true);

// setup so app does not lock - screen fades to dark
// ***** iPad must be plugged into a power source ***
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] beginReceivingRemoteControlEvents];
[self becomeFirstResponder];

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Q: 3.5mm earphone media keys on Windows? I have Sennheiser CX 5.00G earphones (the Android version) which I use for my daily music purposes.
Is there any way to make Windows 10 grab the button presses and parse them as media keys?
I'm totally fine with having to find/write/fidget with 3rd party software or even having to write my own C# application to do this if the driver supports it and there is a way to hook into it.

A: Some newer laptops can detect the 4 pin jack by default. I know that on MacBooks, this feature does work.
If You have a microphone input on your PC, than You can get this working with an Y adapter like this:

This will convert the 4 pin jack of your headset into two 3 pin jacks.
Just google Smartphone Headset to PC Adapter


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 
Althus Bar
The oldest bar in Zug reopens on Friday
Althus Bar 07/24/2020
Not many people realise that the Althus Bar on the Landsgemeindeplatz in Zug was actually the very first bar in the canton of Zug, and was opened by Martha Christen in 1954. (see box). The renovated bar will now be re-opening on Friday, July 4th.
Eric Bourgeois, a French-Canadian who has been living in Zug for four years, had the dream of running his own restaurant, and was immediately captivated by the history and down-town location. Together with a team of 5 people, he has spent the last few months renovating the bar and kitchen areas, and has his own very clear ideas of how he wants to run the business.
"I'd like to combine the old and the traditional with many new gastro ideas from all over the world", he says. "From what I have heard and read, Martha Christen made this place into a real meeting spot at the time. We want to bring this community spirit back to the Althus Bar." And he also believes in supporting local arts and crafts. This can be seen from the magnificent wooden bar, shaped by a local craftsman using French Oak from Sattel, the table, which were made by the team, and the wide range of craft beers from all over Switzerland. Even the sanitary facilities in the bar have been given a special touch, with an ice hockey theme for the men and an attractive Zug cherry blossom design for the ladies (see photo).
A special Althus-brewed beer and a selection of local wines and spirits will also be offered. A total of eight Swiss-made draught beers are available, including Eisbock, Kreuzmühle or Bachweg Brewing from Zug. One close collaboration is with Eisbock who have been working together with Eric to offer a house-brew, known as the "Althus NAME ME Pilsner". It does not yet have a real name, and there will be a competition in July to give this beverage a suitable title. Visitors can write their suggestions on the blackboard by the bar, with a prize for the best name. "Every guest will be invited to become a member, and will be allowed to deposit their favourite glass with us, and will receive a reservation number, which they can simply mention on the next visit," adds Eric. The glasses will be hung up by the bar. As a member, guests would also be exclusively invited to events, such as brewing beer or cooking together.
"We will focus on local products and cook a variety of dishes that will be inspired by both Swiss and international cuisine," says Eric, who comes from a farming family and thereby appreciates local and fresh products. Guests will find regional offers and fresh ingredients, mixed together with seasonal elements, as well as popular favourites, all prepared by the talented chef, Pascal Germann. To underline the contribution of local producers, some of their portraits will be hung above the bar. "When serving the food, we can immediately explain who is behind the food, and the steps it took to bring the products to the table."
"We are aiming for a homely atmosphere," says Eric Bourgeois, and there will even be some ways to keep old and young entertained, including board games.
The building in which the Althus bar is located is more than 400 years old, and he and his team are looking forward to breathing some new life into this historic square.
Martha Christen, who was originally from Stans, was an enterprising woman for her time. At thr age of 21, she ran the Cafè Ticino in Zug from 1946, but she really wanted to open it as a bar, as there were none in whole canton of Zug at that time. Despite opposition from local officials, she finally won her case at the Federal Court, and the Althus bar opened in 1954. She succeeded in turning the bar into a popular meeting spot for locals, and continued to run the bar until 1998. She then lived in the old town of Zug and the Herti retirement centre, and passed way in 2016.
 Category News EN
Oktoberfest @ Althus – Saturday 18th September – 2pm to 2am!
Oldest bar in Zug open soon to take your orders
News EN
Oktoberfest is back at Althus! Bring your Lederhosen & Dirndl and we will bring the…
 bourge
Following the ongoing renovation work, guests will have the opportunity to visit Zug's first and…
 Althus Bar
  
Landsgemeindeplatz 8
6300, Zug, Switzerland
© 2020 Althus Bar.
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