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Write-a-thon Story #3: The Unicorn
bohemianonrye	Uncategorized	 July 14, 2013 19 Minutes
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It was a clear, cold night when the animal jumped in front of Sloane's car.
There were so many ways that her mind tried to grasp the appearance of it – a sheet, a wedding dress, a snowstorm – and the fact that she couldn't place the shape may have been why she didn't let her foot off the accelerator. But when it stopped and turned on such delicate legs at her, bottomless mountain pond eyes catching hers with a passive apathy and not hinting even at curiosity in the last moment, she wasn't able to hit the brakes until she was upon it.
The car struck it with a sound like it had hit a cloud.
As Sloane sat in the driver's seat of her truck, breaths coming shallowly in small, quivering puffs, she almost didn't get out of the car. The lack of a crash or even a sound thud made her wonder if she had scared herself awake from a dream, some midnight illusion. Not that she had been asleep, of course, but so late at night it's easy for the mind to wander and then to startle oneself back to paying attention. But Emory was barking furiously, nose shivering like it might jump off his snout, and she figured better to take a second and look than risk a ticket for leaving an animal in the road.
She slipped Emory's leash on, knowing that if she left the beagle in the car he might get excited and lock her out or tear the seat up in his excitement. There was no other traffic on the back road leading into the city, and she could make out the outline of it jutting from the river like an electric castle. She hadn't wanted to drive out to Mary's house so late, but she insisted that they have dinner before signing the divorce papers. She wanted so much for them to stay…comfortable.
They got to talking over dessert. Mary wanted to know all about some freak show in town, some traveling carnival or something. She wanted to know if she wanted to see it with her.
Maybe if she hadn't had such a large glass of red wine, Sloane thought she might not have laughed so hard she spit bloody tears on her tablecloth. "You want to set up a date after I sign the death certificate to our marriage? I don't know if you're being a cold bitch or if you're just stupid."
Mary cried like she always did – huge, like an actress, flailing and sobbing. Sloane put her arms around her and tried to play along. She told her again that she forgave her for sleeping with her friend from the finance department, and she pretended to be sorry for what she said. They didn't say much after that, and Emory chose the lull in excitement to scratch at the door.
"You love that dog more than you ever loved me." Sloane looked back at her and there must have been some pain there because Mary's eyes showed a half-moon of triumph. Sloane found herself smiling when she agreed and stomped out on the porch.
Now here she was, bent over this…thing she had hit. She cussed at the cold night. That glass of wine really was too big.
The heat from the body and the car made the whole world smoke. She put her hand down on the tiny white flank, surprised that she almost dwarfed it, and shuddered at the soft whistle of a keen the thing made, like the fading memory of a song. Emory snuffed its ear, and Sloane was about to bat him away when his hand froze above the creature's single, shining horn.
Sloane hadn't been to church in years, but she found she was crossing herself.
Holy ghost.
As she hauled the thing into her truck bed, she realized there was no blood, not marking the road and not soaking into the raggedy blanket she used to cover it. It was no heavier than a child, and the smell on her hands reminded her of linens and grandmothers and lilacs. Emory rolled on his side next to it, one paw over the animal's back, his muzzle resting near the slender neck. The look in the dog's eyes told him that he wouldn't be moved, so Sloane got back into the truck alone.
Every movement on the road made Sloane jump a little after that. Each driver who locked their sight with hers made her look away with a guilty paranoia, like they suspected the holy cargo she was carrying. Twice they stopped when she had taken a curve a little too quick, and twice she moved to the back and lifted an inch of that blanket. And twice she touched that horn with the tip of one finger, to remind her that she wasn't dreaming.
If she stayed too long, Emory would growl. The sound was so foreign she figured it better than to test him, so she would be the one with her tail between her legs, slinking back to the ignition.
When Sloane got to her apartment building, she saw someone standing out front. It was Roger, her band's bass player, with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He threw it on the sidewalk as she got out. "Dude, where the fuck have you been? We were supposed to practice an hour ago."
"Look, man, you knew I was going out to Mary's tonight. Get out of my face." She stood between him and back of the truck, uncertain how close she should let him get to the…whatever it was in the back.
His expression softened just slightly under his blonde bangs, and he raised a hand to push the mess of hair out of his face, trying to cool down. Sloane took the moment to glance at her watch. She had actually stood him up for closer to two hours, but what difference did it make? "I thought you all were just going to sign the papers and be done with it. It's not like you can stand being around her."
"She wanted to have dinner. It's not like we have any gigs we're practicing for, anyway." Guilt hit her almost as soon as the words came out. "Sorry. It's just been a rough night, okay?"
Roger held onto his case a little tighter. "At least some of us are making a fucking effort instead of locking ourselves away, crying our little dyke tears for some bitch who-"
The thunderstorm that had been growing in her gut exploded, then, and Sloane took a swing at him. Her fist hit his cheek, and the bass hit the sidewalk with a discordant crack. He came back at her with a right cross that grazed her temple, and then as she was reeling, he tackled her hard. The wind knocked out of her, she wheezed as he picked her up by the lapels of her flannel and slammed her into the ground. "What's your problem, man? I wait here for you, and you come back and give me shit."
At first, all she could see was white, and then the night sky came back into focus.
"I said I was sorry," she finally said, sense accompanying the oxygen in her lungs. "Get off me, you dick."
Looking up into his face, past his leather jacket and torn up jeans, Sloane realized that this was the closest to a friendship she would probably ever get. "No. Thanks."
He arched his back and looked at her truck. In her clearing senses, Sloane picked up the sound of Emory yodeling. The other parts of the night came back hard, like another punch. "Dude, your dog is freaking out," Roger said as he stood up, pulling Sloane up with him.
"Yeah, about that…" She prayed that she wasn't making yet another mistake. "I need your help with something."
About twenty minutes later, Sloane and Roger stood over the tub in her studio apartment. The unicorn – it was Roger who said it first, practically screamed it, in fact – fit into it perfectly, its thin legs tucking up under itself like a deer. Fur the color of starlight seemed sickly under the flickering bare bulb that hung near the mirror.
Emory sat next to the tub, resting his head on the toilet seat lid. Now and then, his tail would thump against the grimy linoleum, and he would look up at Sloane, waiting for her to move it again.
"What are you going to do with it, dude?"
Sloane let go a low whistle. "I have no clue. I mean, I hit it with my car, it might not even last long."
Roger turned his head, squinting. "He…She…uh…it looks okay, you know. For something so small that you slammed into with that hunk of junk."
"Yeah, there's no blood or anything, but look." She pointed down at its back legs. There were bulges just under the snowy surface. "Emory busted his leg a few years back going down the stairs, and it looked a lot like that."
"You could call a vet."
"And tell them what, dumb ass? 'Yeah, so I hit a unicorn with my car, could you come out and take a look at it'?"
Roger shoved her hard. "Look, man, it was just an idea. I don't know what to do with it, okay?"
Sloane pressed her hand against her face. It felt like she had been sweating all night. "I know, I know. Let's just go to practice. There's nothing I can do with it tonight either way, right? Come on. Emory, you too."
The dog – who would usually follow along with Sloane wherever she went, whether she actually called him by name or not – didn't even stir from his spot on the floor.
"Emory," she said, more firmly than she had had to in a long time. "Come."
He whined and lay down.
Sloane picked her guitar up and headed for the door. "Fine. Forget it."
They met with the other guys and had practice, and Sloane wasn't sure if maybe it was just because of how bad the rest of the night had been but…they sounded pretty good. Better than they had in a long time, in fact. Even Jonas, who usually showed up a little high and a lot crappy, playing the drums like he was three with a spoon and some pans. "Good job tonight," she said to him as they cleaned up. "I guess things are going well with that chick who moved in."
"Mika. Thanks. Yeah, I don't know, I just felt really 'in it' tonight, you know?"
Roger cut in as he wrapped an electric chord between his hand and elbow. "Well, keep feeling 'in it' like that, and we might actually get back to the Garage."
The Garage was a small club and bar in the southside. They had been getting consistent gigs a year before but had been cut out after the management changed. "We just want a newer sound," the new owner said over the phone. "Kids want to hear electronics and keyboards these days, not punk."
Roger had evidently gone into a screaming tirade about differences in musical genres for so long and with so much cursing that the man on the other end had to eventually hang up. Sloane didn't really blame him; she had made the same mistake once, getting him started, and she had to hang up, too.
They went out for drinks after that, and she was approached by a mousy girl in a floral-print sundress. She had curly, short hair the color of honey, and her voice was sweet when she said that her name was Hazel. But it wasn't just her cute face that made Sloane stare longer than she should have. Two long, bony protrusions came out of her back. They moved with her, like wings…or at least like what wings might look like, if they were plucked. Bleached.
"Do you want to touch them?"
Sloane nodded, her mouth dry. They felt smooth and cool, satin and ivory and magic. Magical. "Wow."
"Do you want to come back to my place?" Hazel asked. "You look like you've had a rough night. We could have a couple of drinks."
She was startled by how much like Mary she looked when she said that, and she hated saying, "No, sorry, Not tonight. I'm…uh…I'm coming out of something really rough right now."
Sloane waited for her to roll her eyes and walk away or even pout, but instead Hazel took her hand in her tiny, pale one and wrote her number down on Sloane's palm. "For when things are a bit more smooth. Okay?"
When she got home, a bit too warm and a bit too top-heavy, she crashed without looking in the bathroom again. Her bed – a mattress on the floor covered in laundry of all matter of sizes, shapes and varying degrees of cleanliness – was a surprisingly comfortable cloud, and it was the best sleep she had in months.
The next afternoon, when her eyes opened, she didn't move her head or look to the window. She expected the unhappy afterbirth from a night of drinking. Her phone buzzed from the cluttered coffee table Roger had constructed for her out of several pieces of wood and two cinder blocks. Lying on her back, it went to voicemail.
When Sloane finally ventured to sit up, it was unencumbered by hangover or headache. She stretched, ready for it to strike like a viper awoken, but it never did. She wandered over to the corner where she had her tiny fridge and hotplate, pulling out a carton of eggs and orange juice. Where had those come from? She hadn't gone grocery shopping since before Mary moved out, sustaining herself entirely on the Chinese take-out place on 52nd and an occasional trip to the gas station.
Jonas had stayed over after practice last week. Maybe he left them…
After a quick lunch, she poured some dog food into a bowl and took it into the bathroom. Emory hadn't moved, his ears still resting on the floor, glassy black eyes looking up at her. She glanced into the tub, and the unicorn was still there. She wasn't certain, but she thought that it looked a bit less luminescent, like dirty, street-side snow instead of the flawless white of the night before. And had it fit into the tub that well, last night?
Emory whined.
Knock, knock, knock.
Sloane put down the fender she was tuning and wandered to the door. There was no face on the other side of the door, just a mess of hair. She only knew one other person who was that short, and for a second, she didn't move, didn't touch the door knob. Finally, she twisted it, leaving the chain latched.
The sliver of Mary on the other side of the paint-chipped, heavy old door smiled, tight-lipped. "I was in the city and thought I'd stop by. I left a message on your phone."
Right, the voicemail. She hadn't checked it yet. "Right. So you stopped by. Great. Can I do something for you?"
The thin, pressed lips seemed to cave in further, and Sloane could see the hint of her teeth, chewing. "You left last night without…you know."
"Saying goodbye?"
Her ex-wife lifted an envelope. "Signing the papers."
After a second, Sloane closed the door to let the chain loose, opening it again to usher Mary in without a word. "Wow," Mary said, sitting on the old couch, another curbside-find that Roger had brought by a year ago. "It looks good in here, Sloane. Really."
"Thanks." She almost told her that she had just cleaned it, had finished finding out what clothes were clean and which were dirty five minutes before she knocked. She wanted to gloat about how she had swept and taken a few rags to the windows. But if she said all that, she might have ended up wanting to tell her about the unicorn in the bathroom, so she didn't say anything else.
"Sloane…I wasn't fair to you last night. I invited you out there, and then I was a…I was terrible to you. I'm sorry."
Sloane picked at a frayed hole in her jeans. "Yeah, I was nasty, too. It's okay." After a too-long pause, she reached out towards the envelope, but Mary didn't let go.
When her lips parted, she barely whispered, "I thought…"
Sloane didn't let go, but she didn't pull any harder either. "What?"
"Could we try again?"
Mary spoke louder, but her voice was untouched by anger, free of any malice or manipulation. "This…all of it…it was my idea and I think I changed my mind and I can't imagine spending my life without you. I want us to do this again. We don't have to live together yet. I just don't want to nail the coffin shut, you know?"
Now it was Sloane's turn to feel tense, to feel her face pulling in protectively. She got ready for her to laugh and say she was kidding, to tell her to sign the papers so she could go out on a date. "What about what's-her-name. At work. Who you…"
"No, baby. No. She was a temp. She's gone. I don't even have her phone number."
"What if you did?"
"I don't want to be with her. I want you." Mary pulled at the envelope so she could cover Sloane's hand with hers. The soft skin moved over the calluses from night after night of frets and playing away the pain. "You're my wife."
Sloane let go of the papers but didn't pull away. And when they kissed on the couch, a soft, hesitant reconciliation, she didn't pull back then, either.
After Mary left, Sloane finally checked her messages.
The other was from Roger. They didn't have a gig.
They had two.
"Hey, man, there's some guy outside looking for you."
Sloane looked up from the speaker she was trying to get working. Jonas was twirling his drumsticks in one hand, and she recognized the nervous tick. "Yeah? What does he want?"
"I don't know, but he said he has to talk to you."
"You know we're going back on in five. Can it wait?"
"I don't think so. I don't know. He just said he has to talk to you, okay?"
Sloane rolled her eyes and got up. When she headed outside, she could tell immediately who Jonas had been talking to. He had a shock of red hair and a face like a car accident. His muscles bulged under the dirty wife-beater, and she tried on a smile. He refused to afford her the same courtesy. "Sloane." His voice was dirty, sharp, a hunk of dangerous metal.
"Yeah. A fan of the band? Can I give you an autograph or something?" She reached out her hand, a peace offering. When he took it, he squeezed so hard she thought it might break. She tried to pull out of his hold but to no avail.
"Have something of mine," he growled. The way there wasn't any question in what he said made her feel sick. She thought of the bathroom, the thing in the tub. "Want it back."
"I don't know what you're talking about." She finally reached out and shoved his chest with her hand. "Back off."
The man let go of her but only took a half-step back. Within a second, he stepped forward until she had her back to the brick wall of the club, two freckled hands on her shoulders. "Could be easy," he growled. Then, he ground his knuckles against her bones in such a way that she cried out. She kneed him in the groin, waited for him to double over, but nothing happened. "Could be hard."
For a second, just as she thought the pain was going to be too much, something in her asked why she was doing this. Why she didn't just tell him that, yes, she had what he was looking for, that he could have it back. And just as quickly, her subconscious knew why: it was the reason Mary had shown up, that the band was booked solid for the next month, that things were looking good for the first time in recent memory.
Suddenly, Sloane caught the sight of a bottle coming down in a fast, nasty arch. It broke against the guy's face, blood and beer pouring from his skull. He let her go, and another set of hands pulled her back. Roger's rage was deafening, burning white in his face and in the knuckles that were holding her back. "Fuck off, asshole, before I call the cops."
Under the red of his hair and the blood, Sloane shook when she realized that he looked barely affected. "Not over," he said in a frighteningly stable tone as he turned and walked away down the alley, one hand flicking the liquid off his face like it was just sweat.
"What was that all about?"
"He knew." She took what was supposed to be a steadying breath. It didn't help. "He knew, Roger. About the unicorn."
"You should come back to my place."
"No. It's fine. I'm fine."
"Sloane, come on, man."
"I said I'm fine. I could have handled it. He just was…" Not being able to find an adequate excuse made her madder, and she yelled, "I don't need any help. Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for the set?"
Roger's mood changed, a page flipping suddenly on his face to reveal a wolfish grin. He pulled a card out of his jacket pocket and handed it to her. "Check it out."
The adrenaline that was easing off became swept up in the rush of shocked delight. Eggshell white and professional printing gave the name, address and phone number of Docile Tones Music Group.
A week later, the unicorn had, in fact, gotten smaller. Now, it was only the size of a large dog. Emory still wasn't eating. "He's healthy," the vet had told her after several tests. "He's young, there's no physical reason he isn't eating. Have you tried changing his food?"
When they finished recording, Sloane had seen cats bigger than the unicorn. She started force-feeding Emory supplements. "You don't seem really with it tonight, dude," Roger told her after they had been working on a song for an hour. She kept missing chords because she was so exhausted from staying up with the dog.
"Sorry." Then, she muttered, "Not like it matters. We could suck and we'd still be successful."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing. Forget it."
When they got back from touring, the unicorn could be held to her like a rabbit. When Sloane started packing up her things, preparing to move out to Mary's house, she found Emory in her walk-in closet adjacent to the bathroom. He was cold, stiff, on his side.
Just as she was becoming completely undone, there was a knock on the door. She answered it. There was a giant man, dark and silent as death. In the lonely hallway, he cast a long shadow and it grew out from his feet in a way that was almost organic. "You have something of mine," he said.
She sobbed, unable to hold it back, a terrible explosion in a minefield of grief. "I'm sorry."
He lifted one hand to his face, rubbing the thin black beard. "I sent two before me to try to get it out of you. One to seduce, the other to coerce. You recognize the worth of a unicorn. I can respect that."
Sloane wished she could stop crying, and more than that, she wished he would just take the thing and leave. He regarded her like a scientist studying the behavior of an animal. "Knowing what you know now, and all that you've gained…would you say it was worth it?"
All she could think of was Emory.
Emory, who was there when Mary told her about the affair.
Emory, who would come up to meet her when she came home from another bad practice.
Emory, who curled up at the foot of her bed, within arm's reach when she had drunk too much and needed to sleep it off.
Emory.
What had she done?
"No," she said. "If I could have him back, I would give it all up."
"Have you not gotten everything you could want? Fame, fortune, the stuff of kings and the greatest bards and…"
Sloane crossed the room and threw open the door. She gathered the unicorn up in the blanket, now too large and mostly hanging to the floor around the small creature. She held it out to him. "I don't want any of it. Please, just…bring him back."
"What makes you think I can do such a thing?" He took the tiny bundle.
Through the tears, she actually laughed a bit. "You send me an angel and a devil and you expect me to believe you can't heal a dog?"
"Fair. Give me your hand."
She did. He drew back a bit of the blanket and ran the horn – now barely more than a needle – through her finger. Sloane shrunk back as blood dripped from the wound, tiny drops marking the wooden floor. For how small it was, it felt like her hand was on fire.
The last thing she saw was the little unicorn – a dusty creature with blood on its horn – regard her with an expression that was endless and eternal, and she slipped away.
"What's your problem, man? I wait here for you, and you come back and give me shit."
Roger was on top of her, a gash on his face. She had hit him – she knew it because her fist ached – but…why?
Emory licked her face. Where was she? She had been somewhere else…had he knocked her into the ground that hard? "Sorry," she said. "I…uh…what were we talking about?"
"Come on, stop dicking around. You're fine."
"Then get off already."
"Okay, okay. Don't take another swing at me, Sloane. I'm serious."
She sat up. Starbursts went off in her vision, and there was this feeling in the back of her head, like she was going to say something and had then forgotten. Like a story or a dream was on the tip of her tongue and now it was gone.
"So are we going to practice or what?"
Sloane blinked and scratched Emory behind the ears. He seemed really excited, but she wasn't sure why. "What?"
"Practice," he said, drawing out the word. "You know, you play guitar and I play bass and Jonas pretends to play the drums."
"Right, sorry. Just a second, I have to get something out of the back."
She walked over behind the truck. She couldn't actually think of what she was expecting to be there, because the only thing was an old blanket. It looked like it had been thrown back there. Not wanting to seem like she was losing it, she picked it up and folded it up. Emory whined, and she could swear there was a smell there, something more than the metallic, oily grime scent of the truck.
Something soft, sweet, and then short-lived.
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Axl Hazarika VEVO says:
I absolutely love your site.. Very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself?
Please reply back as I'm hoping to create my own website and would love to learn where you got this from or just what the theme is named. Kudos!
bohemianonrye says:
Thank you so much! I am using Coraline, a WordPress theme. However, the banner photo is one I took at the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, PA.
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Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole vs Amoxicillin Ups Hyperkalemia Risk
Natasha Persaud
Absolute hyperkalemia risk increased significantly with decreasing estimated glomerular filtration rate in patients treated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole vs amoxicillin. Credit: Getty Images.
Antibiotic treatment with oral trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole rather than amoxicillin is associated with a more than 3-fold higher risk of a hospital encounter with hyperkalemia, especially among patients with nondialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease.
The finding is from a population-based cohort study of adults aged 66 years and older in Ontario, Canada. Investigators compared 58,999 matched pairs of outpatients initiating oral trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole vs oral amoxicillin from 2008 to 2020. Median prescription duration for both antibiotics was 7 days.
The primary outcome, an emergency department visit or hospital admission with hyperkalemia (defined as serum potassium level of 5.5 mmol/L or greater) within 14 days, occurred in a higher proportion of patients treated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole vs amoxicillin: 0.46% vs 0.14%, Y. Joseph Hwang, MD, MSc, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues reported in Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole recipients had a significant 3.4-fold increased relative risk of a hospital encounter with hyperkalemia.
In trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole vs amoxicillin recipients, the absolute difference in hyperkalemia risk increased significantly with decreasing estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR; in mL/min/1.73 m2), from 0.12% among those with an eGFR of 60 or higher to 0.42%, 0.85%, and 1.45% among those with an eGFR of 45-59, 30-44, and less than 30, respectively. The absolute risk of hyperkalemia was higher in men than women.
Among trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole recipients with an eGFR less than 30, 62.5% received a daily dose that was higher than appropriate. According to the investigators, an appropriate daily dose of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole is 160 mg or less for patients with an eGFR of 15-29 and 80 mg or less for patients with an eGFR less than 15 not on dialysis.
The investigators also found that the risk of a hospital encounter with acute kidney injury (AKI) was 3.2-fold higher among the trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole than amoxicillin group. The risk of all-cause hospitalization was 1.4-fold higher for the trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole group.
Dr Hwang's team recommended that clinicians consider alternate, non-renally cleared antibiotics guided when treating patients with chronic kidney disease or prescribe an appropriate dose of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole with monitoring.
Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole is mostly excreted through the kidneys, and it can cause hyperkalemia by reducing potassium excretion. Amoxicillin is not associated with hyperkalemia.
Hwang YJ, Muanda FT, McArthur E, et al. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and the risk of a hospital encounter with hyperkalemia: a matched population-based cohort study. Nephrol Dial Transplant. Published online October 7, 2022. doi:10.1093/ndt/gfac282
This article originally appeared on Renal and Urology News
Acute Kidney Injury Antibiotics Chronic Kidney Disease Hyperkalemia Oncology Urinary Tract Infection
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Entering the Holistic Coalition of the Willing (HoliCOW) gallery-store in Crossroads, Cebu City is like walking into a Cebuano furniture museum. Its high ceilings, ambient lighting, and background music are all curated to bring attention to the high quality furniture pieces and accessories on display.
Though the pieces look like they belong in international furniture showrooms, everything for sale is handmade by Filipinos, for Filipinos. Such is the storytelling power of Kae Batiquin, HoliCOW's communications officer.
One could say Kae was born into the Cebuano furniture business. As a child, she would spend summers working at Design Ventures Cebu, Inc., her Aunt Debbie and Uncle Gus Palao's furniture company.
"I'd sit outside with the painters, watch them do their thing, and they'd teach me how to do it." Several summers later, she started to get paid for every piece she worked on.
Coming from a family of furniture makers and lawyers, Kae took up creative writing and literature in college. Both were pre-law courses she could take while also indulging in her love for reading.
The discipline and passion she felt as a child resurfaced during college, so she returned home to do marketing for Design Ventures instead of pursuing a law degree after graduation.
The written and visual storytelling prowess of Kae's marketing campaigns won Design Ventures the Mugna Award for Best Promotional Materials four years in a row. The award category was cancelled during its fifth year, as it seemed no one could match what she was doing.
Meanwhile, HoliCOW's story began in 2011, when five furniture companies discussed how to best recover from the export slump plaguing the Cebu furniture industry. "We realized we had to focus on our primary strength, which was design. Cebu is so small compared to the rest of the world, yet we made a name for ourselves in furniture design using natural materials," Kae shares.
In 2015, they opened HoliCOW, a gallery-store where visitors could admire and buy high quality Cebuano furniture.
HoliCOW sets itself apart from regular furniture stores through their commitment to sustainability, trace-ability, and community. They believe Cebuano furniture making should be sustainable, and that other people should sustain it in a positive way. One way they do this is through cross-industry collaborations with government and non-government organizations.
"When the Department of Trade and Industry, for example, says this town or community is ready for a design intervention..when they already have basic accounting and inventory skills, and know how to deal with their raw materials…that's where we come in and start developing furniture pieces and accessories with them," Kae explains.
HoliCOW develops products in tangent with the lifestyles of the communities they work with. For instance, they have a weaving community where women bring home prototypes and raw materials, so they can weave products during their free time. They then bring the finished products back to the studio for quality checking.
"Although we now debut [Cebuano] furniture in the local market, we still export and hold them in export standard,. Product corrections, product shelving, and new product development are all part and parcel of the hard work we do," Kae shares.
Since opening, HoliCOW has been continuously adjusting to the domestic market. Cebuano furniture makers traditionally made furniture for huge spaces like hotels and villas, as the export market demanded. Now, they make pieces that are more functional and can fit in small spaces.
Today, the HoliCOW gallery-store features folding tables one can set aside, ottomans that double as storage, nesting tables one can push in, cheese trays one can hang on the wall, among dozens of other of small, functional pieces for urban living in the Philippines.
Learn more about HoliCOW's story here, and gather some furniture ideas for your dream home with Avida Land.


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De Windmotor Britswerd is een voormalige poldermolen nabij het Friese dorp Britswerd, dat in de Nederlandse gemeente Súdwest-Fryslân ligt.

De molen was een kleine Amerikaanse windmotor van het merk Record met een windrad van 18 bladen, die rond 1925 werd gebouwd. Hij stond ongeveer een kilometer ten zuiden van het dorp nabij de Oosterwierumeroudvaart. De rotor windmotor is tussen 1995 en 2004 verdwenen; het restant is in 2013 gesloopt. Slechts de betonnen fundering is nog aanwezig.

Zie ook
 Windmotoren in Friesland

Bouwwerk in Súdwest-Fryslân
Voormalige molen in Friesland
Poldermolen
Britswerd

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


We are excited to be launching Show My Homework, an online tool to help you keep track of your child's homework. Show My Homework will allow you to see the details of the tasks your child has been set and their deadlines.
It may be helpful to know that Show My Homework Apps are available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android devices.
Your child will receive an envelope during the w/c 28th January with login details to your personal account, which is linked to your child's homework calendar where you will be able to see your child's To-do List and any homework that is overdue.
We'll be launching Show My Homework from the start of February and we hope that this service will provide parents with a deeper insight into the homework your child receives. More importantly, we hope that it will improve your child's organisation, time-management and help them to keep on top of their workload.
If you'd like to get in touch with the school or provide feedback, please contact me.
Click on the logo above to access Show my Homework.


The EnableHistory property enables or disables the metabase history feature. Setting this property to true enables metabase history. Setting the MaxHistoryFiles property to 0 (zero) effectively disables the metabase history feature. For more information, see Configuring the Metabase History Feature in IIS 6.0.
If this property is set to false when EnableEditWhileRunning Metabase Property is set to true, IIS will write a warning to the event log and reset this property to true.


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Quality of Produce is Better when Eating Locally Grown Food
Farmers market shoppers say quality of produce is better
It seems as if everyone is talking about eating food grown locally these days. The number of farmers markets in the U.S. increased 54 percent between 2008 and 2011, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The National Restaurant Association says that menus featuring locally produced fruit, vegetables, meat, seafood, and wine are among the hottest trends this year. And sections just for local food are sprouting up in big-box stores and supermarkets. The growing movement has even inspired a new word: "locavore," meaning someone who prefers food that hasn't moved a long distance to market. But does eating this way automatically mean that you're eating healthier? Here's a quick look at this trend.
Best and worst supermarkets
Top restaurant chains
Is it more nutritious?
Eating a balanced diet that includes plenty of produce has been linked to numerous health benefits, so it makes sense that buying food from nearby farms is a healthy move. A review of 16 studies in the March 2010 Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that farmers markets have the potential to increase access to produce and lead to more healthful eating, especially in certain communities. But the authors said that more well-designed studies are needed to establish a definitive connection.
One thing that's clear is that fresh food tends to have more nutrients than food that was picked days or weeks ago, says Michael Pollan, author of "Food Rules: An Eater's Manual" (Penguin, 2009).
Does it taste better?
Surveys conducted at farmers markets have found that people tend to shop there because they think the food is of higher quality and tastes better. For example, a recent survey conducted at a farmers market in Brownsville, Texas, found that more than 80 percent of shoppers said the produce was better than what they found at other places they shopped. More than half said they ate more fruit and vegetables as a result of shopping at the market.
Is local the same as organic?
No. But some vendors might have organic certification and others might follow organic practices, such as minimizing the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides, and raising animals humanely and without antibiotics and growth hormones, says Brad Masi, an instructor in environmental studies at Oberlin College in Ohio. The gold standard is to buy both local and organic.
Bottom line. While the jury is still out on the specific health benefits of eating locally produced food, there's no question that choosing a bounty of fresh, unprocessed food is better for you than, say, grabbing a prepared meal high in sodium and fat from the freezer aisle of a supermarket. And everyone can benefit from eating more fruit and vegetables, the cornerstone of most farmers markets. If you don't have one nearby or a local food section at your grocery store, consider joining a community supported agriculture program, or CSA.
This article first appeared in the newsletter Consumer Reports on Health.
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2009 Tahoe Q4 ~ Fish / Ski ~ Mercruiser 3.0L I/O ~ VERY low hour fresh water boat!!!
2009 TAHOE Q4 SKI / FISH WITH A MERCRUISER 3.0L 4 CYL 135HP INBOARD / OUTBOARD MOTOR ~ POWER STEERING ~ TROLLING MOTOR & ONBOARD CHARGER ~ AM/FM CD PLAYER ~ BIMINI TOP ~ TRAILER HAS A SWING AWAY TONGUE ~ THIS BOAT IS IN "LIKE NEW " CONDITION WITH VERY LOW HOURS & NEVER BEEN IN SALT WATER!!!


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10 Medical Robots That Could Change Healthcare
From microbots that scrape plaque from arteries to personal assistant robots that help care for patients, medical robots are transforming the face of healthcare.
Michelle McNickle
Associate Editor of InformationWeek Healthcare
Robots aren't new to healthcare. Remember the da Vinci Surgical System, the surgical assistant the FDA approved back in 2000? Since then, the system has conducted more than 20,000 surgeries and has paved the way for robotic advancements in healthcare. In fact, vendors have introduced a number of new robots to better provide care to remote patients, help with various physical therapies and -- similar to the da Vinci system -- help perform surgery.
For example, Magnetic Microbots are a group of tiny robots used in various operations, such as removing plaque from a patient's arteries or helping with ocular conditions and disease screenings. Other robotic advancements are used to better the day-to-day lives of patients, helping them eat, like the Bestic Arm, or helping a patient regain her ability to walk, like many of Toyota's Healthcare Assistants.
"In the next few years, thousands of 'service robots' are expected to enter the healthcare sector -- picture R2-D2 from Star Wars carrying a tray of medications or a load of laundry down hospital corridors," according to a recent article from The Wall Street Journal. "Fewer than 1,000 of these blue-collar robots currently roam about hospitals, but those numbers are expected to grow quickly."
And that's no surprise considering the mounting financial difficulties the industry faces. Robots like the Aethon TUG can complete the work of three full-time employees, yet it "costs less than one full-time employee," according to the company. The TUG acts as a distribution system to move through hospital corridors, elevators and departments to make either scheduled or on-demand deliveries. Swisslog's RoboCourier, a similar delivery system, helps eliminate human work and completes tasks with the push of a button.
"This new robotic breed is boasting features increasingly found in smartphones, gaming consoles and other consumer electronics, from advanced sensors and motion detectors to powerful microprocessors and voice activation. The service robots are self-aware, intelligent and able to navigate changing environments, even chaotic hospital settings," according to the WSJ.
Outside the hospital setting, caregivers use robots to enhance telemedicine and care for those restricted to their homes. The Vasteras Giraff, for instance, is a two-way call system similar to Skype and is used by doctors to communicate with the elderly. A PC, camera and monitor control the robot.
Click through to see 10 medical robots that have the potential to transform healthcare.
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Q: Looking for software simimar to Cam Scanner I have a lot of pictures from an historical archive. I need to crop them and to flatten them or to apply some perspective. Also, I'm looking for a software that allows me to work this with a great volume of images and then export them to PDF, something like the Cam Scanner app does automatically. Such apps works greath, but I'm looking for a similar software that works on my PC.

A: ImageMagick from the default Ubuntu repositories can batch resize images quite easily. It can also correct the proportions between the width and height of a batch of images to produce a batch of images that all have identical proportions. All this can be done in ImageMagick with simple one line commands.
The biggest problem that you face is cropping the images to content to remove white space surrounding the images. Sometimes crop to content works and sometimes crop to content leaves white space remaining on one or more sides of the image. Worse than that is that crop to content produces an image that looks deceptively cropped at 100% zoom, but when you zoom in on the image you can see that one or more sides of the image haven't been cropped accurately and the image still has white borders that can make the edges of an image look raggedy. There's no better way to get an accurately cropped image than to zoom in on the image in GIMP and move the cut lines of the crop tool right at the edges of the image.
There is also a potential problem with batch importing images to PDF. Depending on how the images were made two or more identically sized images may appear to be different sizes in a PDF document unless you scale some of the images to fit. For this reason I like to use GIMP to convert .png images to single page PDFs and then concatenate all the pages into one merged PDF document with PDF Chain from the default Ubuntu repositories. If the merged PDF document looks OK then I accept it, otherwise I can scale the PDF pages which are all still open in GIMP so that they all look exactly the same size in the concatenated PDF document. It's possible to measure the relative scale of two images in a PDF document down to a resolution of one pixel using the Screen Ruler app from the default Ubuntu repositories.
All of these programs work great in Ubuntu. The only potential problem is that GIMP's performance is slower on computers that have low-end GPU specs. Conversely GIMP's performance is faster on computers that have high-end GPU specs.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


I've been kinda crazy busy the last while. Most of the work I've done has not printed yet. Here's some more Motor Trend art which is always fun for me. After reading Harry's post I looked at the my old Swamp Thing copies. Bernie Wrightson made my head rock.
That is the coolest snake head I've ever seen!
Great stuff, particularly the espresso machine, and great idea. And oh the colors. Love hearing about the early years of so many artists like yourself that I admire and seeing that we all share very common beginnings, getting lost in our drawings, having such a love for these artists that we would mark the day that new issues came out and then ride our ten speeds down to-Krauzer's, in my case. I have to tell you Doug that you were/are one of these guys that I saw as at the top right about when I was graduating art school, though we are probably close in age. Along with Matt Mahurin, Brad Holland, etc. I remember seeing your work at a small gallery downtown along with a few others I don't recall. Was it the Illustration Gallery? Your work has just as much life now as then-as evident in that espresso piece. Some people would get complacent with success.
The hand in the espresso image is so solid. Doug, have you seen Wrightson's illustrated Frankenstein book?
So cool, Doug! The Benz image feels like an amusement park ride I would definitely want to try. It also makes me think of kids' crazy board games. I think its awesome that you get such energy into your pieces. Also, the Bernie Wrightson Frankenstein book is pretty amazing. If I recall correctly, its $30 for the hardbound, but its a beautiful book. Wrightson's style in the book is very Franklin Booth, so you may want to check him out as well?
Alex, thanks. It was fun designing that snake. The head has influences of a car body shape I like. Harry, thanks as well for your complimentary recollections. Also, it was the Illustration Gallery on East 11th. Pam Somers ran the gallery. She went on into working in book publishing, great lady. Kyle, I have seen the Frankenstein book. He also drew the most impressive werewolf to that date(April-May issue 1973) for the Swamp Thing series.
Great stuff, Doug. I love the snake and the texture on the rail, it looks an Alloy Fiber or something. It would make an awesome bike frame. I also collected comic books as a kid and saved my entire collection. Last winter I had a leak in my attic that I didn't know about and it ruined a bunch of them including a perfect copy of Ironman #1, be careful where you store your collectibles.
I remember standing at the round comic stand at the little market for hours, checking out every comic, making my decision to spend 25 cents on one 80 Page Giant or two 12-cent comics. Meanwhile, my friend perfected a technique of placing his school books down on the stack of Playboys and picking up the top issue with his books on the way out.
I'd like mine electric, hold the gas, please. That's a snake head like no other!
Chris, I've been a fan of Bernie Wrightson for decades. Also the work of Joe Kubert, Alex Toth, Jack the-one-and-only Kirby ...... on and on. And thats just in the world of comics. Richard, I wanted to represent the metal gard rails morphing from snake scales in a simple stylized form. The Nurburgring is getting old, and strangely it has a lot of graffiti all over the track surface. Paul, ah those magazines were always on the top row at the back of the stand so as to make it difficult to reach. Cathleen, cappuccino or espresso?...2 shots?
Just great from concept to finish.
digging the volume of that snake.
Doug, I like my coffe light and sweet and made just right.
Sorry for the double post there Doug, I meant to say you made it just right. Love the Snake Track Doug!! I dont know if you recall these but TYCO Toys race sets use to come with snake tracks. They were bendable and everything. Ahh, they 80s man..pretty cool stuff back then.
Oh, yes Kirby and Toth are amazing. I buy the Essential Marvel trades just to see Kirby's art without color. Great stuff. Also, Sidebar Nation did a tribute podcast to Toth recently. Haven't listened to it yet, but they are huge Toth fans and have access to lots of his peers and colleagues including Mark chiarello. Thought you may be interested.
Mark, no I didn't see the TYCO track. Does sound pretty cool. Chris, thanks for the heads up on the podcast. I'll definitely look into it.
Doug!... I've been a quiet follower for sometime, and just wanted to send my regards on your work. I work in graphic arts and web- and back in college I started keeping up with Pacific-West area illustrators... Definitely glad I'm keeping track of your work. Your Volkswagen series never leaves my mind. Glad I found your blog! Take care.


The Itel A51 (like the Itel A12 & Itel A13) is a Spreadtrum SC7731 powered phone which ships with Android 6 Marshmallow. It however doesn't have an impressive battery bank like its cousin the Itel IT1516 Plus which spots a 5000 mAh battery. Lets take a quick look at some important specs of the Itel A51.
The Itel A51 is a low end (budget) smartphone and is thus best suited for light usage; the 2700 mAh battery is testament to that. The 1 GB RAM it spots is still the highest being featured on Itel phones at the moment, same as its 16 GB ROM (the Itel P51 spots the same combo). Its extra 0.5 inches screen (compared to the 5.0″ spotted on the Itel A12 was compensated for by a 300 mAh increase in battery compared to the A12's 2400 mAh (good move by Itel at least).
The Spreadtrum SC7731 Chip & Quad-core 1.3 GHz Processor combo isn't much but should do just fine if you know how to optimize (manage low storage space & RAM errors). The picture and video quality from the 5.0 MP Back & 2.0 MP Front cameras won't be too impressive so keep your expectations low.


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Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Q&A About Vaccine Safety
Written by David Mills — Updated on August 22, 2018
The Chairman of the World Mercury Project talks to Healthline about autism, and how the dangers of vaccinations are covered up by scientists and the government.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the chairman of the World Mercury Project.
The nonprofit organization's goal is to "ban all uses of mercury on a global level."
The group states that mercury is the second most toxic element on Earth and can cause inflammation in brain tissue. That inflammation has been connected to autism, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, and other ailments.
The group says mercury is released into the air by coal-fired power plants and can be found in our food supply.
Mercury is also in thimerosal, a preservative that in the past was used in some but not all childhood vaccines. The ingredient was removed as a safety precaution in 2003.
Thimerosal is still used in flu and tetanus shots.
Officials at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) say thimerosal is safe to use as a preservative in vaccines, but Kennedy and others aren't convinced.
They point out that flu shots are given to pregnant women as well as children.
The group feels strongly enough about the issue that they held a press conference last month and offered a $100,000 reward to anyone who can present a peer-reviewed study that proves that thimerosal is safe.
Healthline has taken a look at both sides of the vaccination debate in a detailed article.
As part of that research, Healthline talked with Kennedy about his concerns. Here are excerpts from that half-hour interview.
Healthline: Why is this issue so important to you?
Kennedy: I was litigating and managing around 30 cases against coal-fired power plants, principally focusing on mercury emissions. I had learned a lot about mercury toxicity. I was going around the country speaking on the issue and I began running into women who would tell me that if I was truly interested in mercury exposures to children that I needed to look at thimerosal in vaccines … As I began reading the science, I was struck by the huge delta between what the actual science said and how it was being presented by the press and the public health regulators … It made me angry that they were continuing the practice of injecting children with neurotoxins.
Healthline: It seems that there is an element in here of fighting against big business. It seems that you could compare this to what the sugar and the tobacco industry did with science.
Kennedy: Sugar, tobacco, the carbon industry. They all did this.
Healthline: Do you see a similarity here?
Kennedy: It's very similar. This is really almost identical to the global warming debate because you have all the independent science … saying there is an effect. In other words, that carbon is warming the globe and with neurodevelopment disorders [that] mercury in vaccines are causing [them]. Then you have a small [amount] of industry-created science … that purportedly exonerates thimerosal and is really designed and written by industry scientists … and it appears on the CDC's website. But the science is weak and fraudulent … We brought to our press conference 321 studies … 240 studies on neurological effects other than autism and 81 studies indicating a link to autism. We could not find a single study that says thimerosal was safe … What the CDC tells you is not science. What The New York Times reports is not science. And what your doctor tells you is not science … If you look at [studies] done by research scientists you will find a mountain of studies that support my position and very, very few studies that dispute me.
Healthline: What about vaccines in general? Would you agree that the vast majority of science says vaccines in general are safe?
Kennedy: It's not my expertise. I don't think there is any study you can do that would say that particular thing. I think you'd have to look vaccine by vaccine.
Healthline: It seems your main concern is the flu shot, which is given to children and pregnant woman. Is that your focus?
Kennedy: It's being given to children at 6 months and it's being given to pregnant women. So, today the exposure a child suffers is probably the greatest in history. If you give a flu shot to a woman who is one or two months pregnant, that child could be getting thousands of times of exposure levels to mercury.
Healthline: You're talking about a pretty big cover-up or conspiracy here. Do you really think those agencies are in cahoots? That there's all this corruption within the industry? Because that's what it would take to pull this off?
Kennedy: The CDC has systemically [within its vaccine branch] ordered its scientists to destroy data, to manipulate data, to massage it, to dump it in garbage cans [if it uncovers] links between development diseases and vaccines. Do I think everyone at the CDC is corrupt? Of course not. There is a tiny handful of corrupt scientists and leaders … The rest of the public health community is not part of any conspiracy, but it has [become part of] the orthodoxy. It's the same as the pedophile scandal in the Catholic Church … There was a tiny handful of corrupt priests, but the entire church — the bishops, the cardinals, the Vatican, and the other priests — and the prosecutors and the press and the police … told themselves it was more important to protect the institution even though it was injuring the children it was supposed to be protecting. The scandal and silence went on for years before it was exposed.
Healthline: Why would this handful [of CDC employees] do this?
Kennedy: [When information on thimerosal reached CDC officials]they said that if we come clean about this, not only are we going to get sued, but the vaccine companies are going to get sued, and they won't be able to make any vaccines. I think there was a worry … that if they told the truth, that the American people would lose faith and the institution would be so badly injured that maybe it would create even bigger problems with public health … It's not completely selfish … There was a genuine concern that this could destroy the whole program and they had to clean it up.
Healthline: Are you worried at all that some of the antivaccination campaigns … could do just that? That they could harm the overall vaccine industry and cause harm to public health?
Kennedy: I don't see how they can do that because Congress has now passed a law that makes it virtually impossible to sue a vaccine company.
Healthline: Taking this a little broader, do you worry at all that some of the vaccine safety concerns from people might feed into the antiscience mood that seems to be building in the country and that includes climate change?
Kennedy: I'm trying to fight that trend and get people to pay attention to real science. There's so much scientific illiteracy, especially in the press. The press doesn't read science … They just parrot what the CDC tells them. Is there any other arena where the press thinks it's OK to just parrot what a government official tells them?
Healthline: There's something folks on the other side have said … They think a lot of this is fueled by parents who understandably just want an answer, just something to blame, for their kids' autism. What would be your response to that?
Kennedy: They are dismissing the stories of tens of thousands that saw the same thing happen to their children … What are the chances they all made up the same story? … If this is not caused by mercury, then find out what it is and get rid of it.
Healthline News Fact-Checking Standards
The Healthline News team is committed to delivering content that adheres to the highest editorial standards for accuracy, sourcing, and objective analysis. Every news article is thoroughly fact-checked by members of our Integrity Network. Furthermore, we have a zero-tolerance policy regarding any level of plagiarism or malicious intent from our writers and contributors.
All Healthline News articles adhere to the following standards:
All referenced studies and research papers must be from reputable and relevant peer-reviewed journals or academic associations.
All studies, quotes, and statistics used in a news article must link to or reference the original source. The article must also clearly indicate why any statistics presented are relevant.
All content related to new treatments, drugs, procedures, and so on must clearly describe availability, pricing, side effects, treatment target (e.g., HER2+), known interactions, and off-label use, if appropriate.
All news articles must include original commentary from at least two qualified sources with appropriate credentials and links to relevant associations or published works.
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All news articles must include appropriate background information and context for the specific condition or topic.
The Debate Over Vaccine Safety Is Far from Over
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Flu Shot: Learn the Side Effects
Medically reviewed by Dena Westphalen, Pharm.D.
The flu vaccine, which typically comes as a shot or nasal spray, can reduce your chances of getting the flu by as much as 60 percent. Flu shot side…
How Effective Is the Flu Vaccine?
Medically reviewed by Cameron White, M.D., MPH
Flu vaccine effectiveness changes from year to year due to several factors such as viral evolution and what subtype of influenza is predominant in a…
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In the midst of a rough flu season, federal officials say a newly reformulated nasal spray will be back on the shelves for the 2018–19 season.
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Everyone over 12 can is eligible to get a Pfizer or Moderna booster shots 5 months after their initial COVID-19 vaccination.
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While Moderna has a slight edge over Pfizer, both vaccines prove to be extremely effective, especially in the prevention of severe disease…
Is the Flu Shot Worth It? Vaccine and Mortality Rates, State by State
Medically reviewed by Meredith Goodwin, MD, FAAFP
During the 2018-2019 flu season, 169 million seasonal flu vaccines were distributed. The vaccine coverage rate for people 6 months and older was 49%…
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The AstraZeneca vaccine Vaxzevria is a vaccine against COVID-19. It's not yet approved for use in the United States. We explain how it works and more.
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Even if you were extremely vocal about your hesitancy to get a COVID-19 vaccine in the past, changing your mind doesn't make you a hypocrite, it…
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Thirty-five years after playing the iconic role of Jeanie in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," actor Jennifer Grey is encouraging everyone to learn a thing…


Ag Committee is set to start a series of farm bill hearings next Wednesday.
It appears the next farm bill will be led by decisions made in the U.S. Senate. Senator Mike Johanns, R-Neb., who is a former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, points out that is very unusual. Typically the House writes the farm bill and the Senate may do some fine-tuning. Work is already progressing in the Senate as the Senate Agriculture Committee begins a series of farm bill hearings next Wednesday, Feb. 15.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., recently announced the schedule of Senate farm bill hearings. Wednesday's will focus on energy and economic growth in rural America. Two weeks later on Wednesday, Feb. 28, conservation will be examined. Healthy food initiatives as well as local production and nutrition will be the focus of the hearing on Wednesday, Mar. 14. The series of hearings will wrap up on, Wednesday, Mar. 21 as the panel looks at risk management and commodities as they relate to the 2012 Farm Bill.
Witnesses, times and other specific hearing details have yet to be announced. Senate Agriculture Committee hearings are available for viewing on the Committee website at ag.senate.gov.
According to Johanns, he has a sense that they could get a majority to pass a bill out of committee, maybe even much stronger than a majority.
This session of the House features a lot of new members, and Johanns says creating a farm bill is kind of a unique process that will present a special set of challenges for the new members.
Right now, 83% of the farm bill is focused on food stamps, the SNAP program, free and reduced lunch at schools, and the WIC program. The remaining 17% of the bill affects agriculture. As Senator Johanns puts it, the farm programs are really a footnote anymore, and on two out of three of the programs, you're not paying anything because farm prices have been good.


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Continuing Education Courses > Acupressure for Optimal Pelvic Health - Remote Course > Acupressure for Optimal Pelvic Health - Remote Course - February 4-5 2023
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Image retrieved from Pixabay courtesy of KaiMiano
Acupressure for Optimal Pelvic Health
Over the last several decades there has been a rising interest in complementary holistic medicine and Acupressure has come forth as an effective therapeutic modality for symptom management in Western healthcare. Acupressure is an Eastern treatment modality that combines massage and features of acupuncture dating almost 3000 years ago1. It's a technique used to release blocked Qi by applying finger pressure to points on meridians2. It is considered a form of acupuncture in which fingers, thumbs, and elbows are used to stimulate the body's acupuncture points3. It has also been described as a form of bodywork based on traditional Chinese meridian theory in which acupuncture points are pressed to stimulate the flow of energy or Qi4. Acupressure is widely considered to be a noninvasive, low cost, and efficient complementary alternative medical approach to alleviate pain. The application of pressure to points located along the energy meridians of the body have been established and utilized in Traditional Chinese Medicine6. These acupoints are thought to exert certain psychologic, neurologic, and immunologic effects to balance optimum physiologic and psychologic functions6. This continuing education course is a two-day seminar that offers participants an evidence-based perspective on the application of Acupressure for evaluating and treating a host of pelvic health conditions including bowel, bladder and pelvic pain issues. The course explores a brief history of Acupressure, its roots in Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and presents current evidence that supports the use of complementary and alternative medicine as an adjunct to western medicine. TCM concepts of Meridian theory and energy channels are presented with scientific evidence of Acupoints transmitting energy through interstitial connective tissue with potentially powerful integrative applications through multiple systems.
Feb 4, 2023 8:00 AM America/Los_Angeles


A current compilation of international facts and information about geography, populations, government, economy, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues.
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AAPT homepage with information to support physics teachers including professional development opportunities, resources, awards, and more.
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An online collection of reference materials by the Merriam-Webster company including a dictionary & thesaurus, an encyclopedia, and more.
A center of educational data collection and processing that is associated with U.S. Department of Education and The Institute of Educational Sciences.
Dedicated to the advancement of science education the NSTA membership includes includes science teachers, science supervisors, administrators, scientists, business and industry representatives, and others involved in and committed to science education.


Its hard to believe that two months has come and gone! This weekend we took some photos. The babies were blessed and it was just a really special time. I feel like these past two month have been a slice of heaven on earth.


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On This Day In History John Balliols Claim To The Scottish Throne Was
On this day in history - John Balliol's claim to the Scottish throne was recognised
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John Balliol's claim to the Scottish throne was officially recognised by England's King Edward I on 17 November 1292. ...
John Balliol's claim to the Scottish throne was officially recognised by England's King Edward I and a panel of Scottish auditors on 17 November 1292 at Berwick Castle.
Thirteen candidates had petitioned Edward I for their right to the Scottish throne following the death of Princess Margaret in 1290. Edward believed that Balliol would be one of the easiest candidates to influence, and so granted him the throne. Balliol abdicated in 1296 and after imprisonment in the Tower of London, was allowed to live out the rest of his life in France.
John Balliol timeline
1249 - John Balliol born in Scotland or County Durham
1284 - Balliol attends a parliament accepting Margaret of Norway as heiress of King Alexander III of Scotland
17 November 1292 - Balliol's claim to the throne officially recognised
30 November 1292 - Balliol inaugurated at Scone
10 July 1296 - Balliol abdicates and is stripped of the Arms of Scotland
July 1299 - Released from prison in the Tower of London and flees to France
c 25 November 1314 - Death of Balliol in France.


For years we have supplied anchor bolts to customers for a variety of uses. We stock a wide range of anchor bolts, but have recently started to supply "bi-metal" anchor bolts, which are A4 stainless steel. These bolts are self-tapping and come with a hardened carbon steel tip, they are coated and self-lubricating for easier and quicker cutting action into base material.
Manufactured by JCP construction products and known as the "Ankerbolt-bi metal (A4) it comes with a flange head and countersunk heads for use with drill diameters from 6, 8, 10 and 12 mm. The countersunk heads utilise a T40 Torx drive. There are different requirements dependent on whether the bolts are anchored into non cracked or cracked concrete.
Firstly position the fixture and drill correct diameter hole to correct depth.
Blow out the dust and drilling debris from the hole.
Tighten with torque wrench to recommended torque.
We also sell the standard anchor bolts, with a variety of uses, from anchoring gun safes to the wall (yes really) to a fencing contractor who uses our bolts to anchor the fence posts into concrete flags.
Through bolts in a number of different materials as well as wire hangers.
Socket bolts, hook bolt and eye hooks and sleeve anchors.
Chemical anchors, using injection resins, such as epoxy, vinylester, Epoxy Acrylate and polyester (plus styrene free).
The usual injection tools and accessories, with cleaning brushes, blow out pumps and mesh sleeves.
All the anchors to work with the chemical anchors.
To view the whole of the range or to search for technical specifications go to www.jcpfixings.co.uk .


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We work together with our customers in order to find the best solution in every case.
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Rice, Onions, Chopped Tomatoes (Tomato, Tomato Juice, Citric Acid (Acidity Regulator)), Cream (Milk), Chicken (10%), Vegetable Oil (Rapeseed), Tomato Puree, Yoghurt (Milk), Korma Curry Paste (Vegetable Oil (Rapeseed), Water, Desiccated Coconut, Sugar, Concentrated Tomato Puree, Salt, Ginger, Garlic, Coriander, Cumin, Onion Powder, Turmeric, Paprika, Cornflour, Spices (Contains Mustard), Acetic Acid, Lactic Acid, Dried Coriander Leaf), Sugar, Cornflour, Garlic, Chilli.
Remove the Oxygen Absorber* (Sachet) from inside the pouch, then follow the instructions on the reverse of the food bag. Add boiling water to just above internal fill line 5 (380ml), stir the contents and then close the bag and wait 5-8 minutes for the food to re-hydrate.


I enjoyed this thriller that could be tomorrow's headlines. I am not much of a conspiracy theory buff but Krapf has crafted a plausible plot rooted in the current atmosphere of hate. She has combined the fear of a pandemic with the determination of a few wealthy men to eradicate a segment of America's society. Add the incentive of political aspirations and the result is a dangerous but very possible future.
I liked Darcy as the heroine. She is one gutsy girl. An ex-FBI agent, she has the skills and connections to pursue an investigation where others fail. But she is not all toughness as she has a big soft spot in her heart for her faithful dog. I like how Darcy's character was pitted against a San Francisco police detective who hates her. They seem to have a history that proves he a jerk, something he confirms it in this novel.
This is the first novel I have read in this series and I was a bit confused at the beginning. Kapf writes from a universal omniscient point of view. Readers are introduced to a number of characters in a variety of situations early on. They all come together as the novel progresses but I would have rather that the various plot elements be introduced at a slower pace. Once I figured out how all the people and their actions were related, I enjoyed following Darcy and the suspense she experienced.
I recommend this novel to those who enjoy a thriller based on cutting edge vaccine experiments. Add wealthy and powerful men who want to purify their society and you have the makings of a good thriller.
Catch Up With Our Author On: Website , Twitter , & Facebook !
Click here to view the Genocide by Pat Krapf Book Tour Participants.


The MAGNET Global Network, with member agencies across five different continents, provides agency owners and executive-level leaders the opportunity to learn, share and grow in a confidential and non-competitive environment.
"…our success lies in our emphasis on face-to-face, executive level meetings held three times per year—a significant differentiator from other agency networks."
Our success lies in our emphasis on face-to- face, executive level meetings held three times per year—a significant differentiator from other agency networks. The frequency of our meetings, held in easy-to- reach locations around the globe, helps build strong bonds and personal friendships among members who thrive on seeing one another succeed. Between meetings, connections continue as we reach out to one another for advice and provide learning opportunities for agency staff members via MAGNET online workshops and professional seminars.
To be the best that we can be, MAGNET carefully focuses everything we do on supporting one of what we call the "3 Cs." By continually delivering community, content and commerce, we know that all our members from around the globe are assured valuable benefit from their membership in MAGNET.
MAGNET agency founders and executives are bound by trust, openly sharing our successes and setbacks. We are friends helping friends, with a goal of making us smarter, better leaders.
MAGNET meetings feature presentations and discussions touching on every aspect of running a successful, independent ad agency. Beyond the ownership level, MAGNET offers a full annual calendar of professional development opportunities for staffers in all disciplines.
MAGNET agencies frequently collaborate and joint venture. We combine our individual skill sets and geographies to unlock revenue opportunities— domestically and globally.
Don't take our word for it, listen to what some of our members have to say about being part of MAGNET Global Network.


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Exploring With Josh Wiki – Wiki, Net Worth, Girlfriend
Exploring With Josh is an American YouTuber,recognized for posting video blogs on his channel which are based on explorations of abandoned places and buildings like schools, banks, theme parks and other exciting locations. The best thing about the videos is that they turn out to be horrifying sometimes, thus making them even more interesting to watch! The YouTuber also has a side channel titled 'JustJoshing' that he employs for posting gaming videos. Coming to his social media popularity, Exploring With Josh is doing a remarkable job. He has more than 4 million subscribers on his eponymous YouTube channel and over 210K subscribers on his gaming channel.His real full name is not known and so his actual identity is still anonymous.
You are watching: Exploring with josh wiki
Exploring With Josh launched his main YouTube channel in 2013. He initially created this channel for his dancing videos. However, he later decided to publish explorations on it. The first video that he posted on this channel was "Florida Session". After this, more such videos followed. Today, the channel has almost everything when it comes to exploring abandoned places and buildings. Irrespective of whether it's a park, school, cave or an old building, if you love watching exploration videos, this channel is for you!
The YouTuber has explored abandoned buildings across the world in nations like Japan, Germany, the US, and Hong Kong. His experiences as a wide traveller make his videos extremely fascinating to watch. Some of the videos that one simply shouldn't miss are "(Abandoned School) Satanic Ritual Part 2 Ghost Slams Door Shut' and "Abandoned MILLIONAIRES Family Mansion". His video "Abandoned federal gold exchange Bank (Found Vault ) PART 1' is amongst the most popular ones on the channel. This video has earned more than 14 million views till date.
One of the most recent videos on this channel is titled "Abandoned TRAP House – Found Drug Dealers Hideout". Published on June 2, 2018, this video has over 150k views as of now. Besides these, the other uploads on the channel are also worth-watching.
See more: A History Of Everything Including You, A History Of Everything, Including You
Coming to the YouTuber's second channel, this channel titled "JustJoshing" was created in 2015. The channel features a few gaming videos. Exploring With Josh is also famous on Instagram where he has garnered over 167k followers.
See more: Cheap Flights To Detroit From Boston To Detroit, Cheap Flights From Detroit To Boston
Exploring With Josh was born on March 20, 1993 in Rhode Island, United States. He has two brothers. As a child, he developed an interest in dancing. There is no information available on the web regarding his family and educational background. Besides being a social media personality, he is a break-dancer and photographer as well.
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Foremost, there is some prep work you can do ahead of time to ensure the installation appointment goes well. Make sure the area where the air conditioning system will be located is clear. This includes an open path so the installers don't come across obstacles when transporting the equipment to the final spot. This includes clearing the yard of any tools, toys, sticks and leaves.
One benefit of partnering with Abilene Air-Tech Inc on your air conditioning installation is that our experts will take the time to walk you through your new system. We encourage you ask as many questions as you want during the installation. We realize how large of an investment this is and how important the air conditioner is to your home comfort. Once the system is installed, the technician will conduct testing to make sure it's operating correctly. We'll show you all the features of your new system and provide recommendations on how to reach the optimum efficiency.
While the technician will highlight the features, we recommend that you take the time to look through the owner's manual to become more familiar with your system. And place your manual in a safe place for future reference.
Our team is ready to help, whether you have questions about your air conditioner after it has been installed or you simply need to arrange routine maintenance to make sure it continues to run correctly–you can count on us. Give the experts at Abilene Air-Tech Inc a call at 325-200-4667 to make sure you are ready for the warmer weather!


The transgender activist had tweeted a month ago that "voting won't change anything."
Chelsea Manning lost her bid for a U.S. Senate seat from Maryland on Tuesday, as incumbent Ben Cardin defeated her and six other challengers in the state's Democratic primary.
Manning drew national attention when she filed in January to run against the 74-year-old Cardin.
The 30-year-old government whistleblower and former intelligence analyst began her race with some momentum, but her campaign stalled in recent weeks as appearances and fundraising declined, The Washington Post reported.
Cardin, long a fixture on the Maryland political scene, is a heavy favorite to win a third Senate term in November's general election in the strongly Democratic state.
Manning, in her campaign, called for abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency months before it was put in the spotlight by President Donald Trump's since-rescinded policy of cracking down on undocumented immigrants by separating parents from their children at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Manning, a former Army private, pleaded guilty in 2013 to leaking more than 700,000 government files to WikiLeaks. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison, but was released in May 2017 after former President Barack Obama commuted her sentence in January of that year, just as he was leaving office.
She became a symbol of transgender rights while in jail when she went on a hunger strike to protest officials who denied her request for gender confirmation treatment. Manning, who was assigned male at birth and transitioned during her imprisonment, ended her strike after the Army complied with her request.
This story has been updated with a concession statement from Manning.


iSpeak cards enable LEP individuals to ask for an interpreter. They also help employees identify the need for an interpreter and the language spoken by an LEP individual.
Find the card in your language below, print it, and then bring it with you the next time your visit the City of Houston.


Dusit Thani Maldives was an active participant at the recent road show held in 3 major cities of Australia. The "Dive into Maldives" was held in the iconic Sea Life Aquariums of Sydney Melbourne and Perth. The roadshow which was held from 23rd May to 2nd June highlighted the essence of Maldives' marine life.
In addition to Dusit Thani Maldives, 9 other companies from the Maldives tourism industry participated in this event which was organised by Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC).
The event initiated by MMPRC is known to have provided a great opportunity for B2B networking amongst the participants and the Australian travel agents. Having unique selling points of the Maldives resorts emphasised and varied media opportunities explored, which resulted in new accounts being solicited.
The Director of Sales & Marketing, Dusit Thani Maldives, Thanos Lionsatos said "We received a buoyant response from the attendees of the Australian Roadshow and we are confident that this will go a long way in fostering outbound travel from Australia, enhancing the business prospects of Dusit Thani Maldives and helping us better meet the needs of this market".
Dusit Thani Maldives is also known to have sponsored the event's raffle draws with three gift vouchers entitling the winners to a three-night stay at the resort, inclusives of breakfast for two.
To make Australia a vital source market for the resort, Dusit Thani Maldives continues to strengthen its ties with the Australian travel industry.
Located on Mudhdhoo Island in Baa Atoll, the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve – Dusit Thani Maldives, takes a breathtaking 40 minutes seaplane ride from the International airport and minutes away by speedboat from the new domestic airport.


Tanaka et al. from the IMS Miyoshi General Hospital published a study were motor evoked potential monitoring was performed during 484 neurosurgical operations for patients without definitive preoperative motor palsy including 325 spinal operations, 102 cerebral aneurysmal operations, and 57 brain tumor operations, all monitored by transcranial stimulation, and 34 brain tumor operations monitored under direct cortical stimulation. To exclude the effects of muscle relaxants on MEP, the compound muscle action potential (CMAP), measured immediately after transcranial stimulation or direct cortical stimulation at supramaximal stimulation of the peripheral nerve, was used for normalization. The cutoff points, sensitivity, and specificity of MEP recorded during neurosurgery were examined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses and categorized according to the type of operation and stimulation.
In spinal operations under transcranial stimulation, amplitude reduction of 77.9% and 80.6% as cutoff points for motor palsy with and without CMAP normalization, respectively, provided a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 96.8% and 96.5%. In aneurysmal operations under transcranial stimulation, cutoff points of 70.7% and 69.6% offered specificities of 95.2% and 95.7% with and without CMAP normalization, respectively. The sensitivities for both were 100%. In brain tumor operations under direct stimulation, cutoff points were 83.5% and 86.3% with or without CMAP normalization, respectively, and the sensitivity and specificity for both were 100%.
An amplitude decrease of 80% in brain tumor operations, 75% in spinal operations, and 70% in aneurysmal operations should be used as the cutoff points 1).
In 2013, the following intraoperative MEP recommendations was made on the basis of current evidence and expert opinion: (1) Acquisition and interpretation should be done by qualified personnel. (2) The methods are sufficiently safe using appropriate precautions. (3) MEPs are an established practice option for cortical and subcortical mapping and for monitoring during surgeries risking motor injury in the brain, brainstem, spinal cord or facial nerve. (4) Intravenous anesthesia usually consisting of propofol and opioid is optimal for muscle MEPs. (5) Interpretation should consider limitations and confounding factors. (6) D-wave warning criteria consider amplitude reduction having no confounding factor explanation: >50% for intramedullary spinal cord tumor surgery, and >30-40% for peri-Rolandic surgery. (7) Muscle MEP warning criteria are tailored to the type of surgery and based on deterioration clearly exceeding variability with no confounding factor explanation. Disappearance is always a major criterion. Marked amplitude reduction, acute threshold elevation or morphology simplification could be additional minor or moderate spinal cord monitoring criteria depending on the type of surgery and the program's technique and experience. Major criteria for supratentorial, brainstem or facial nerve monitoring include >50% amplitude reduction when warranted by sufficient preceding response stability. Future advances could modify these recommendations 2).
In 2006 the same author published Intraoperative motor evoked potential monitoring: overview and update 3).
In 2000 Kakimoto et al., reviewed the experiences of intraoperative motor evoked potentials (MEPs) monitoring for 115 operations on the spine or spinal cord. They observed compound muscle action potentials from bilateral anterior tibial muscles by electrical transcranial stimulation of the motor cortex under general anesthesia induced and maintained with intravenous anesthetics (ketamine, propofol, or droperidol), fentanyl, and 50% nitrous oxide. Partial neuromuscular blockade was obtained with continuous infusion of vecuronium. MEPs were recorded bilaterally in 91 cases (79%) and laterally in 18 cases (16%). Postoperative deterioration of motor function was observed in 2 cases and amplitude of MEPs decreased more than 50% of control values in both cases. Intraoperative monitoring of MEPs might be a reliable indicator of spinal cord motor function 4).
Nagle et al., in 1996 reviewed the results of motor evoked potential (MEP) and somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) monitoring during 116 operations on the spine or spinal cord. We monitored MEPs by electrically stimulating the spinal cord and recording compound muscle action potentials from lower extremity muscles and monitored SEPs by stimulating posterior tibial or peroneal nerves and recording both cortical and subcortical evoked potentials. We maintained anesthesia with an N2O/O2/opioid technique supplemented with a halogenated inhalational agent and maintained partial neuromuscular blockade using a vecuronium infusion. Both MEPs and SEPs could be recorded in 99 cases (85%). Neither MEPs nor SEPs were recorded in eight patients, all of whom had preexisting severe myelopathies. Only SEPs could be recorded in two patients, and only MEPs were obtained in seven cases. Deterioration of evoked potentials occurred during nine operations (8%). In eight cases, both SEPs and MEPs deteriorated; in one case, only MEPs deteriorated. In four cases, the changes in the monitored signals led to major alterations in the surgery. We believe that optimal monitoring during spinal surgery requires recording both SEPs and MEPs. This provides independent verification of spinal cord integrity using two parallel but independent systems, and also allows detection of the occasional insults that selectively affect either motor or sensory systems 5).
Tanaka S, Akimoto J, Hashimoto R, Takanashi J, Oka H. Cutoff Points, Sensitivities, and Specificities of Intraoperative Motor-Evoked Potential Monitoring Determined Using Receiver Operating Characteristic Analysis. J Neurol Surg A Cent Eur Neurosurg. 2018 Dec 24. doi: 10.1055/s-0038-1676623. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 30583304.
Macdonald DB, Skinner S, Shils J, Yingling C; American Society of Neurophysiological Monitoring. Intraoperative motor evoked potential monitoring – a position statement by the American Society of Neurophysiological Monitoring. Clin Neurophysiol. 2013 Dec;124(12):2291-316. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2013.07.025. Epub 2013 Sep 18. Review. PubMed PMID: 24055297.
Macdonald DB. Intraoperative motor evoked potential monitoring: overview and update. J Clin Monit Comput. 2006 Oct;20(5):347-77. Epub 2006 Jul 11. Review. PubMed PMID: 16832580.
Kakimoto M, Inoue S, Sakamoto T, Kawaguchi M, Kitaguchi K, Furuya H. [Intraoperative motor evoked potential monitoring: a review of 115 cases]. Masui. 2000 Mar;49(3):240-4. Japanese. PubMed PMID: 10752314.
Nagle KJ, Emerson RG, Adams DC, Heyer EJ, Roye DP, Schwab FJ, Weidenbaum M, McCormick P, Pile-Spellman J, Stein BM, Farcy JP, Gallo EJ, Dowling KC, Turner CA. Intraoperative monitoring of motor evoked potentials: a review of 116 cases. Neurology. 1996 Oct;47(4):999-1004. Review. PubMed PMID: 8857734.


There's a way to reach the FOMO Millenials (and others) before they land themselves in that proverbial foxhole. The way to do that is through joy.
The fear is that when we turn to God, all the good and fun things we used to do will be taken away. We'll be sour-faced saints, sitting in Church for hours at a time being bored out of our brains, turning down every party invitation, and never having a raucous Friday night again. For some, that might be what Christianity looks like, but not for us!
me on fire with faith, and I wanted to give him my absolute best. In Catholic terms, as far as I knew, that meant entering religious life.
For a couple of years I attended campus ministry meetings for wanna-be nuns and priests, and my weekends were often scheduled with "come and see" retreats at various religious communities.
And then I met a guy. . . .
This guy, David, was different from others I had dated. He loved life, he loved God, and he knew God wanted him to be a father.
Please join me for the rest at Praying with Grace.


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Dillon Francis Says 'Magic Is Real' with New Mixtape
Jared "JSkolie" Skolnick
Photo Credit: Thomas Falcone
Unicorns and rainbows are the theme of the day for Dillon Francis' 'Magic Is Real' and it comes with a dose of silliness from the scene's biggest goofball.
We don't know how he does it, but Dillon Francis manages to infuse humor and sarcasm into literally everything he does. From song titles, lyrics, and videos, to the name of his IDGAFOS label to, well, everything that has to do with Gerald; he manages to make fans chuckle and smile at every turn. Now, he's delivered his latest offering up for the masses to make us all smiles, the Magic Is Real mixtape.
The Magic Is Real mixtape has been slowly teased with several singles already released including "GO OFF (Nuthin' 2 It)" and the amazing music video that goes with this track. When that single was released, it seemed that the mixtape would take a more traditional house style. Yet with the rest of the tracks now released, it's clear that Francis can't quite help himself from keeping with his recent Moombahton style.
It's also clear that he can't quite help himself from planting his tongue firmly inside his cheek in everything he does.
In fact, I'm sure fans would be openly disappointed if he ever started taking himself seriously. The chuckle-headed persona that Francis has crafted is deliberate, successful, and actual quite intelligent when you scratch beneath the surface. When he played a supporting role in Vice's "What Would Diplo Do?" I'd argue that he overshadowed James Van Der Beek playing Diplo. And what would our social media feeds look like without a regular dose of Gerald?!? So here's to you, Dillon, and all the ridiculous things you do to keep it fresh!
Stream or download Magic Is Real now from your platform of choice!
Stream Dillon Francis – Magic is Real on Spotify:
Dillon Francis – Magic is Real – Tracklist:
Salsabahton (Shake That Booty) [w/ Nitti Gritti]
Barely Breathing [feat. Vera Hotsauce]
Bomboclat (Light It Up) [feat. Bunji Garlin]
Bawdy [feat. TV Noise & Big Freedia]
GO OFF (Nuthin' 2 It)
Still Not Butter
Connect with Dillon Francis on Social Media:
Jared, aka JSkolie, was introduced to electronic music in the 1990's by way of Orbital. He raved in parks and fields in South Florida where the entirety of the production was a DJ in a box truck. Now living in NYC, he attended his first Above & Beyond show in 2016 and his life has never been the same. Jared has been energized by the Trance community and its PLUR ethos. He is a supporter of harm reduction and is a DanceSafe volunteer. Jared enjoys endurance events and has danced for 12-hours straight while often recovering from raves with bike rides just as long. Or longer.
Recently From Jared "JSkolie"
Gryffin and KSHMR to Headline Lunar New Year Events In NYC
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Long time no update! The last month has been slow at HexenWorld HQ. HexenTourney turned out to be quite small this year. The winner of the tournament was KUBA18i. In the next week I plan to start working on QuakeSMS again and bring the code into near perfection. If you would like to recieve SMS or email updates when a player joins a Hexen II/HexenWorld server, please send me your information via the contact section. You have the option to choose between SMS text message or email and can opt out at any time.