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Melting Mama
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Posts in category: Gastric Banding
From NYT – Why WLS Works When Diets Don't
by Melting Mama with No Comment Gastric Band, Lap Band SurgeryGastric BandingLegacyWeight Loss Peers.WLS Success Stories.WLS Support
Don't shoot the messenger, I'm sharing this for my blog's historical reference because it's AMAZING INFORMATION — and even if you "don't agree," because it's not your experience, it's science!
Via New York Times - https://nyti.ms/2kBVirc
"Bariatric surgery is probably the most effective intervention we have in health care," says Laurie K. Twells, a clinical epidemiologist at Memorial University of Newfoundland. She bases this bold claim on her experience with seriously obese patients and a detailed analysis of the best studies yet done showing weight-loss surgery's ability to reverse the often devastating effects of being extremely overweight on health and quality of life.
"I haven't come across a patient yet who wouldn't recommend it," Dr. Twells said in an interview. "Most say they wish they'd done it 10 years sooner." She explained that the overwhelming majority of patients who undergo bariatric surgery have spent many years trying — and failing — to lose weight and keep it off. And the reason is not a lack of willpower.
"These patients have lost hundreds of pounds over and over again," Dr. Twells said. "The weight that it takes them one year to lose is typically back in two months," often because a body with longstanding obesity defends itself against weight loss by drastically reducing its metabolic rate, an effect not seen after bariatric surgery, which permanently changes the contours of the digestive tract.
In reviewing studies that followed patients for five to 25 years after weight-loss surgery, Dr. Twells and colleagues found major long-lasting benefits to the patients' health and quality of life. Matched with comparable patients who did not have surgery, those who did fared much better physically, emotionally and socially. They rated themselves as healthier and were less likely to report problems with mobility, pain, daily activities, social interactions and feelings of depression and anxiety, among other factors that can compromise well-being.
Equally important are the undeniable medical benefits of surgically induced weight loss. They include normalizing blood sugar, blood pressure and blood lipid levels and curing sleep apnea. Although bariatric surgery cannot cure Type 2 diabetes, it nearly always puts the disease into remission and slows or prevents the life-threatening damage it can cause to the heart and blood vessels.
Even in the small percentage of patients who ultimately lose little weight after surgery, significant metabolic benefits persist, according to findings at the Cleveland Clinic. In a study of 31 obese diabetic patients who had not lost a lot of excess weight five to nine years after surgery, a "modest" weight loss of just 5 to 10 percent resulted in a reduction of cardiovascular risk factors and blood sugar abnormalities, Dr. Stacy Brethauer and colleagues reported.
For the two most popular surgical techniques — the gastric bypass and the gastric sleeve — "the metabolic benefits are independent of weight loss," Dr. Brethauer said in an interview. Both methods permanently reduce the size of the stomach. However, the gastric band procedure, which is reversible, lacks these benefits unless patients achieve and maintain significant weight loss, he said.
Furthermore, as a study last year of 2,500 surgical patients at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Durham, N.C., found, those who underwent bariatric surgery had lower overall death rates up to 14 years later than comparable patients who did not have weight-loss surgery.
Experts in the field regard the reluctance of some medical insurers, including Medicaid programs in many states, to cover the cost of bariatric surgery as a penny-wise, pound-foolish position. Failing to reverse extreme obesity can end up costing far more per patient than the typical $30,000 price tag of bariatric surgery — sometimes even millions of dollars more.
Counter to popular impressions that most people treated surgically regain most or all the weight they lose initially, the latest long-term research has shown otherwise. In a decade-long follow-up of 1,787 veterans who underwent gastric bypass, a mere 3.4 percent returned to within 5 percent of their initial weight 10 years later. This finding is especially meaningful because the researchers at the V.A. center in Durham were able to keep track of 82 percent of gastric bypass patients, a task too challenging for most clinics.
The study, by Matthew L. Maciejewski and colleagues published in August in JAMA Surgery, found that 10 years later, more than 70 percent of surgical patients lost more than 20 percent of their starting weight, and about 40 percent had lost more than 30 percent. Gastric bypass, an operation called Roux-en-Y, resulted in a somewhat greater weight loss at 10 years than the newer gastric sleeve surgery and significantly more than the adjustable gastric band (Lap-Band) surgery, which "has fallen out of favor in the last two or three years," Dr. Maciejewski said.
Bariatric surgery, regardless of the method used, is also much safer nowadays than it was even a decade ago, said Dr. Jon C. Gould, a surgeon at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee who wrote a commentary on the V.A. study. However, he noted, the surgery is "vastly underutilized," to the detriment of patients' health and the nation's health care costs.
"Less than 1 percent who would qualify for bariatric surgery are actually getting it," Dr. Gould said. "Although the vast majority have health coverage, insurance companies and many Medicaid programs put it out of reach for most people by demanding that they already have several obesity-related health conditions and are taking a slew of medications to control them."
For example, he said, to be covered for bariatric surgery, Wisconsin Medicaid requires that a person with dangerously high blood pressure has to be taking three or more medications for it and still not have a normal pressure.
He cited a further deterrent to bariatric surgery: "a perception that it's dangerous and doesn't work," beliefs countered by the research findings cited above. Most of the surgeries are now done laparoscopically through tiny incisions.
Given the well-documented safety and effectiveness of bariatric surgery, it is now increasingly being performed in people whose obesity is less severe — those with a body mass index (B.M.I.) of 35 or perhaps even less — but who have a metabolic disorder like Type 2 diabetes related to their weight.
In recent years, the profession has promoted what Dr. Gould calls "centers of excellence," where 100 or more bariatric operations are usually done in a year. Practitioners at these centers "learn from experience, share their knowledge and push for quality improvements," he said.
Dr. Gould suggested that people interested in bariatric surgery seek out programs that have been jointly accredited by the American College of Surgeons and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, which have combined forces to promote quality control.
While experts agree that money would be better spent on prevention than treatment, Dr. Twells pointed out that "we have yet to find a way to prevent obesity, and people whose health is compromised by their weight deserve to be treated by the most effective method we have."
Forget #WLS – just exercise 4-6 hours a day says Dr. Huizenga
Bariatric surgery may improve pregnancy outcomes – mostly
HEYYYYY #RosieO'Donnell The View – Lap band is "antiquated" Band Bashing and Hating
by Melting Mama with No Comment Bitch, Moan, Complain.CelebrityCelebrity Weight Loss.Gastric Band, Lap Band SurgeryGastric Banding
Via – The View & Rosie.com
Chris Christie in the news: The New Jersey Governor was recently seen at a GOP fundraiser showing off his 85 lb. weight loss from last year's lap-band surgery. Whoopi said at first he said his weight was no one's business. Nicollethinks if Chris Christie wants to run for President his health is everyone's business as he has to have the stamina for the job. Nicolle is a big fan of Chris Christie and observed that even Republicans who don't want him to become president should "want our field to be as populated as possible, ruling people in not out." Rosie O didn't think Governor Christie chose the right kind of weight loss surgery. She said lap band is "antiquated" and in half the cases it has to be removed. She recommended people who are interested in weight loss surgery do the research and choose what works best for them.
Hey ROSIE – you gots a HATER.
She thinks you WATCH HER CHANNEL. Check it. She sells coaching for regainers because bands work. Riiiiiight? Heyyyyyy.
I don't get it. I just. don't. get. it.
Lap Band Loans – Finance Your Weight Loss Surgery New From Apollo Endosurgery – And I qualify! GO MM.
by Melting Mama with No Comment Advertising, Commercialism, PR, etc.Apollo EndosurgeryGastric BandingLap Band
I should preface this press release with my opinion because it dragged my sorry butt out of the not-posting-to-my-blog-corner to share it. (Don't ask.)
Because I am the Bariatric Bad Girl with the dissenting opinion that is screaming on the inside NOT TO FINANCE A DAMNED THING LET AND LAWD BABY JESUS NOT A GASTRIC BAND.
Call Suze Orman. Ask her what she thinks about financing a gastric band.
Via American Healthcare Funding – (NOT AN AD. I SWEAR.)
Loan terms up to 60 months
Rates starting at 7.00% (Starting APR for best borrrowers)
If it is anything like a car loan — you are not a best borrower. Go get your free credit score first. That 7.0% APR will jump to 12 – 20++% and HEY, look, you're paying $800.00 a month for, your weight loss!
Have you paid for weight loss before, how much per month?
Then please look at the rates of success in the Lapband in the time it will take you to pay off your loan.
Long-term outcomes after bariatric surgery: fifteen-year follow-up of adjustable gastric banding and a systematic review of the bariatric surgical literature.
Sustained weight loss after gastric banding revision for pouch-related problems.
"But, Beth, I've got to lose weight For My Health! Lap-Band Surgery Is My Last Option!"
Fair enough. I understand. I totally do. I have lived the roux en y gastric bypass weight loss surgery lifestyle for ten years and four months. I am married to a roux en y gastric bypass patient. We have, collectively twenty years of bypassed-belly between us. Add his family members, thirty years of gastric bypass experience. I will tell you anything that you want to know, and it is not all good. I am not your typical WEIGHT LOSS MADE THE WORLD GLITTERY AND SHINY BLOGGER.
I can validate that urgency of wanting to do anything it takes to get the weight gone, even paying $$$.$$ per month to do so, because (for many!) it is desperation.
You know, for what it is worth I understand the feeling because of the MARKETING check this out – "LAGB is the least invasive surgical option among bariatric weight loss procedures. LAP-BAND® Adjustable Gastric Banding System, the number one brand in the category, remains the only bariatric weight reduction surgical procedure approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for people with a BMI of at least 30 with one or more obesity-related comorbid conditions."
I qualify for a LapBand, Apollo, in approximately less than three BMI points, at my lowest adult weight. That there is some smart marketing. Apollo could totally band my ass in three points. That is me, adding back bagels with butter and quitting my gym habit, and I am a revolving credit account JUST. LIKE. THAT.
This is my "I qualify for a band face."
Do you realize HOW many adults that qualifies? I wear a size 8.
No. I am sorry and I reserve the right to say it.
I can understand the desire, put me back in my size 28W and I would likely be signing the loan documents right now. Ten years of history and watching the weight loss community has changed that.
Please talk to MANY long-term band patients first and long term debtors as well because both have lots to share with you. I am not a band patient, I only speak to patients on a support level and I can only imagine the frustration of those whom will now have the added stab of a monthly incurred payment along with any potential band failures. Again, please talk to current banded patients, revisals, removals, and such.
For some, it may be the right decision. Talk it over with patients, family, friends, your therapist, get a good support group.
PR below in full — Not my PR. They don't pay me. They might pay others.
(Business Wire)
Apollo Endosurgery, Inc., a leader in minimally invasive endoscopic surgical products for bariatric and gastrointestinal procedures, today announced the company has partnered with American Healthcare Lending to offer affordable financing for the LAP-BAND® System to increase patient access to the weight loss solution. The patient financing service is part of Apollo Endosurgery's ongoing efforts to provide physicians and patients with high quality services and support beyond the LAP-BAND® procedure. The LAP-BAND® System is FDA approved for weight reduction for people with a body mass index (BMI) of at least 40 kg/m2 and is the only FDA approved device for weight reduction for people with a BMI of 30 kg/m2 or greater and one or more weight-related health problem.
"There are millions of people struggling to lose 30 or more pounds on their own who are eligible for the LAP-BAND® System but do not qualify for healthcare insurance coverage for weight loss treatments due to their BMI," said Dennis McWilliams, President and Chief Commercial Officer of Apollo Endosurgery. "Weight loss with the LAP-BAND® System is about more than just a procedure. This is why we are working with innovative companies, like American Healthcare Lending, to provide the best services and support to our physicians and patients throughout the weight loss journey."
"Studies show that obese patients spend significantly more money on healthcare costs each year than non-obese patients as well as have an increased chance of developing other conditions, like diabetes and heart disease, that can impact their quality of life," said Vafa Shayani, MD, FACS, FASMBS, Chairman of Surgery, Medical Director of Bariatric Surgery at Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital and Vice President of the Illinois Association of Bariatric Surgeons. "Patients with a lower BMI are often not covered for any weight loss treatment options, despite the health and economic benefits. By investing in their health with the LAP-BAND® System, patients have the opportunity to finally achieve their weight loss goals, allowing them to live a healthier life by avoiding potential health concerns as well as reduce their healthcare costs associated with obesity."
The Apollo Endosurgery and American Healthcare Lending partnership was designed to offer a financing service that is beneficial to both physicians and patients. American Healthcare Lending has assisted over 300,000 individuals in obtaining over $5 billion in loans. In partnership with Apollo Endosurgery, American Healthcare Lending is now offering patients low monthly payment plans to cover the cost of LAP-BAND® System procedures and aftercare, including deductibles, self-pays, and co-pays. Patients can be pre-qualified for a loan in two minutes or less by visiting www.lapband.com orwww.americanhealthcarelending.com/lapbandloan/.
Once a patient is pre-qualified for a loan through American Healthcare Lending, the program also provides assistance in finding a physician offering the procedure that is engaged with the financing service. Physicians who are enrolled in the LAP-BAND® financing program benefit by having only one low annual fee of $2,990, regardless of how many of their patients utilize the financing service, rather than paying a merchant fee of up to 8% per loan, which is standard with other financing programs.
About Apollo Endosurgery, Inc.
Apollo Endosurgery, Inc. is a leader in minimally invasive endoscopic surgical products for bariatric and gastrointestinal procedures. Apollo Endosurgery was cofounded with the Apollo Group, a unique collaboration of physicians from the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins University, Medical University of South Carolina, the University of Texas Medical Branch and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. This collaboration developed a broad portfolio of patents in the field of endoscopic surgery that became the foundation of Apollo Endosurgery. For more information regarding Apollo Endosurgery, go to: www.apolloendo.com and follow us @Apollo_Endo.
APOLLO ENDOSURGERY and LAP-BAND are worldwide trademarks or registered trademarks of Apollo Endosurgery, Inc.
About LAP-BAND® System
In a LAGB procedure, a band is placed around the upper part of the stomach. As the band inflates, it shrinks the size of the stomach. This helps individuals reduce the amount of food intake and slows emptying into the lower stomach. This helps individuals feel full sooner, stay full longer and reduce hunger urge.
The LAP-BAND® System was acquired in late 2013 by Apollo Endosurgery, Inc. of Austin, Texas, from Allergan, Inc.
Warnings: The LAP-BAND® System is a long-term implant. Explant and replacement surgery may be required. Patients who become pregnant or severely ill or who require more extensive nutrition may require deflation of their bands. Adverse Events: Placement of the LAP-BAND System is major surgery and, as with any surgery, death can occur. Possible complications include the risks associated with the medications and methods used during surgery, the risks associated with any surgical procedures, and the patient's ability to tolerate a foreign object implanted in the body. Band slippage, erosion and deflation, reflux, obstruction of the stomach, dilation of the esophagus, infection, or nausea and vomiting may occur. Reoperation may be required. Rapid weight loss may result in complications that may require additional surgery. Deflation of the band may require additional surgery. Deflation of the band may alleviate excessively rapid weight loss or esophageal dilation.
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/2085568#ixzz38x9xQ4O7
All Of Me – PBS Independent Lens
by Melting Mama with No Comment FilmGastric Band, Lap Band SurgeryGastric BandingGastric BypassGastric SleeveGastric SleeversHelping Others.Psychological IssuesWeight Loss Surgery
OAC members were included in the "All of Me" documentary film about women on the journey with weight. Show times: http://t.co/CYPTKBpSw3
— OAC (@ObesityAction) March 15, 2014
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/all-of-me/
Chris Christie Joins Team WLS – gets a band! (Got a band, months ago!)
by Melting Mama with 3 Comments Gastric BandingWLS Success Stories.WLS Support
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has come to the dark side.
He got banded. Go him. Good for him.
New York Post –
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie secretly underwent lap-band stomach surgery to aggressively slim down for the sake of his wife and kids, he revealed to The Post last night.
The Garden State governor agreed to the operation at the urging of family and friends after turning 50 last September. He told The Post he was thinking of his four kids and how it was time to start improving his health when he decided to have the procedure.
"I've struggled with this issue for 20 years," he said. "For me, this is about turning 50 and looking at my children and wanting to be there for them."
He also insisted that, contrary to what observers may say, the effort to slim down was not motivated by thoughts of a presidential bid.
"It's so much more important than that," he said.
Christie checked in to a surgery center on Feb. 16. A source said he registered under a false name.
The operation included placing a silicone tube around the top of his stomach, where it restricts the amount of food he can eat at one time and makes him feel fuller, faster.
"A week or two ago, I went to a steakhouse and ordered a steak and ate about a third of it and I was full," he said of his newly tamed appetite. He declined to say how much he lost, but sources said he has already shed nearly 40 pounds.
Christie has struggled with his weight for decades. He sometimes jokes about it, while other times, it's a sensitive topic. Insiders said it was the only thing keeping the straight-talking executive from higher office.
Despite Christie's denials, political fund-raisers say that the surgery is a clear sign that he's going to join the 2016 race — and will do whatever it takes to win.
"This means he's running for president. He's showing people he can get his weight in control. It was the one thing holding him back," a top political donor told The Post.
Sources said Christie didn't make the decision lightly — he even had private conversations about the operation with once-rotund Jet coach Rex Ryan.
Ryan lost about 100 pounds — down from a massive 350 — after he had the same procedure done in 2010.
Christie has never revealed his weight, but estimates have run from about 300 to 350 pounds.
He hired the same ace laparoscopic and bariatric surgeon as Ryan — Dr. George Fielding, head of NYU Medical Center's Weight Management Program.
New Jersey Gov. Christie has stomach surgery as part of weight-loss plan – NYPOST.com
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/chris_cuts_waist_oAUDrJ8Sm1fY6awWgFY6nN#ixzz2SbUfkYFX
Report: Some money in Lap-Band settlement to pay for billboards on weight-loss surgery risks
2013 WLS Awards Announcements
Katie Jay Keynote Speaking at Southcoast Center for Weight Loss – Video
by Melting Mama with No Comment Addiction, Transfer Addiction, etc.AlcoholGastric Band, Lap Band SurgeryGastric BandingGastric BypassGastric SleeveGivingGood Does GoodHealth.Helping Others.Inspirational, motivational, etc.Life in GeneralMotivationWLS Success Stories.WLS Support
Katie Jay of www.nawls.com was the keynote speaker at an event at Southcoast Center for Weight Loss in Wareham, MA yesterday.
She is amazing.
Thank you, Katie.
Here we are –
150 patients returned to the Southcoast Center for Weight Loss Saturday for a reunion as the group marked its own milestone: 3,500 patients since Dr. Rayford Kruger launched the unit nine years ago.It is now the largest and busiest bariatric surgery program in New England, with three surgeons who perform about 650 procedures at Wareham's Tobey Hospital a year.
Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Perioperative Nutritional, Metabolic, and Nonsurgical Support of the Bariatric Surgery Patient – 2013 Update
Obesity Help Announces Keynote Speaker for 2013 National Conference
Apathy and failure
Gastric Bypass Supplements to Attend Bariatric Patient Reunion
by Melting Mama with 4 Comments Advertising, Commercialism, PR, etc.Gastric Band, Lap Band SurgeryGastric BandingLap BandSurgical Weight Loss Methods.Weight Loss SurgeryWLS Complications.WLS Horror Stories.WLS RevisionWLS Success Stories.
AP – Report: Some money in Lap-Band settlement to pay for billboards on weight-loss surgery risks
LOS ANGELES — A company that promoted Lap-Band weight-loss surgery has agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle a false-advertising lawsuit, with some of the money going to billboards warning the public about the risks of weight-loss surgery, a newspaper reported Thursday.
From 2009 to 2011, five patients died after Lap-Band surgeries at clinics affiliated with the 1-800-GET-THIN ad campaign, according to the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/11knLBS ).
The proposed settlement still needs the approval of Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Kenneth Freeman, who asked attorneys at a hearing Thursday to provide more information and resubmit their settlement motion before he gives the deal his OK.
Relatives of two of the dead patients, Ana Renteria and Laura Faitro, filed the lawsuit as a class action in 2011.
The lawsuit sought damages from several companies and two brothers, Michael and Julian Omidi, who court documents said owned and managed Top Surgeons, a weight-loss business.
John Hueston, an attorney for the Omidis, said the settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing.
"Under the agreement, our clients … are dismissed without any admission of liability, and made no contribution whatsoever to the settlements," Hueston said in a statement cited by the Times.
A lawyer for the surgery centers, Konrad Trope, said the action against the facilities was dismissed without admission of liability or financial penalty.
The proposed settlement will be paid only by Top Surgeons, one of the companies behind the GET-THIN operation, the newspaper said. The company did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press.
The lawsuits and other public documents showed that 1-800-GET-THIN was a marketing company that steered patients to a network of outpatient clinics, where thousands of weight-loss surgeries were performed.
The company used dozens of billboards — along with ads on television, radio and the Internet — to promote Lap-Band weight-loss surgery.
Some of the suits alleged that the clinics put profits above patient safety, employing physicians who were unqualified and allowing surgeries to be performed in unsanitary conditions, the Times said.
The proposed deal calls for $100,000 to be spent on billboard advertising throughout Southern California "intended to explain the risks of weight-loss surgery." The agreement does not specify the language to be used in the ads but says it must be approved by the court.
Regain After Weight Loss Surgery.
Study – Expectations for weight loss and willingness to accept risk among patients seeking weight loss surgery.
Imagining WLS? Weight loss surgery hypnosis?
Weight-Loss Surgery's Weird Alcoholism Risk (It's not weird.)
No long-term cost savings with weight loss surgery
Allergan might sell off LapBand Arm – Surprised?
by Melting Mama with No Comment AllerganFDAGastric Band, Lap Band SurgeryGastric BandingLap BandMalpracticeObesity.Surgical Weight Loss Methods.
Allergan is considering selling out its Lap-Band arm of weight loss surgical devices — after a rapid decline in sales and huge public perception fail. Shocking, right? Uh, no.
Mini Squee – #YWMconvention #OAC
by Melting Mama with No Comment AdvocacyChildhood ObesityConferencesEventsFundraisingGastric Band, Lap Band SurgeryGastric BandingGastric SleeveGivingGood Does GoodHealth.Helping Others.Inspirational, motivational, etc.MotivationOACObesity.Paying it ForwardPsychological IssuesSupport GroupsWeight Loss Peers.WLS Success Stories.WLS Support
On October 27th, 2012, during the Obesity Action Coalition "Your Weight Matters" Event at the Hilton Anatole, there will be another first: the first annual OAC Awards!
Your friendly blogger was nominated in one of these categories, and I am thankful to you for that. Thank you. And, really, thank you.
I will be present at the events, dinner, ceremony, and of course the Walk From Obesity with at least $6000.00 in donations from Team MM + BBGC.
Have I mentioned that there is still time to donate to Team MM + BBGC and I do not see your donation in yet?
Go ahead, I will wait for you!
Thank you – and see you there?
There is still time to register for the OAC event!
Do. not. miss. it.
Join the OAC event on Facebook!
About the OAC Awards –
The following awards will be presented during the OAC Inaugural Your Weight Matters National Convention:
OAC Advocate of the Year - This award is given to the OAC Member who has lead the charge in taking on National, local and state advocacy issues. This individual should be a tireless advocate to advance the cause of fighting obesity and the individual affected by obesity.
Community Leader of the Year - This award is given to an individual who continually works in their community to advance the cause of fighting obesity. The recipient should be an individual who actively engages their community or with their constituency in spreading awareness of obesity and encourages others to get involved in activities that further the mission of the OAC.
Outstanding Membership Recruitment by an OAC Member - This award is designated for the individual OAC member who is an active membership recruiter in the OAC. The individual is a regular membership promoter and continually encourages membership in the OAC.
Outstanding Membership Recruitment by a Physician - This award is given to the Sponsored Membership Program participant (physician) that has recruited the most new members in the OAC in the 12 months prior to the Convention month. The recipient of the award has encouraged membership in the OAC by purchasing it on behalf of the patient.
Bias Buster of the Year - The OAC's Bias Buster of the Year is awarded to the individual who has lead the charge to put the OAC on path to effect change in mindsets, policies and public perception of weight bias. This individual is both proactive and reactive in responding to weight bias issues and is an example to others on how to get involved as a Bias Buster.
OAC Member of the Year - This is the OAC's highest honor and is awarded to an OAC member who goes above and beyond to help the OAC in its efforts to achieve its mission and goals. This individual is an exemplary OAC member and continually represents the OAC in impacting the obesity epidemic.
The Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) is set to host a ground-breaking educational convention on weight and health, the Inaugural "Your Weight Matters" National Convention. Join them in Dallas, October 25-28 for this ground-breaking Convention that will answer all your questions about weight and health! For more information, please visit www.YWMConvention.com.
Woman Suffers from Lap Band Surgery Gone Wrong – Wernicke's Disease
by Melting Mama with No Comment Gastric Band, Lap Band SurgeryGastric BandingLap BandSurgical Weight Loss Methods.WLS Complications.WLS Horror Stories.
Neurological diseases sometimes occur (if very rarely) triggered in part by a weight loss surgical procedure for various reasons — some avoidable — some not, please don't hate. (Says she who developed a cognitive disorder and intractible epilepsy after weight loss surgery. Be kind.) The woman in the following story developed Wernicke's Disease after gastric banding surgery in 2009.
Wernicke's disease occurs at times with persistent vomiting after WLS, a study in Neurology (2007) states that in a review of cases a "majority of the patients (25 of the 32) had vomiting as a risk factor, and 21 had the classic Wernicke's triad of confusion, ataxia, and nystagmus. Other symptoms seen in these patients included optic neuropathy, papilledema, deafness, seizures, asterixis (bilateral) flapping tremor of the hands and wrist, weakness, and sensory and motor neuropathies."
A small number of cases, patients who undergo weight reduction surgery may develop Wernicke's encephalopathy, marked by confusion and problems with movement and eye control.
The cause is a thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency and, if detected, can be easily corrected with dietary supplements. Untreated, it can be fatal and cause severe neurologic morbidity.
Woman Suffers from Lap Band Surgery Gone Wrong – Video at the link
Shacka says she suffers from multiple health issues because of a lap band surgery she had in California back in 2009. It went horribly wrong. And since then her independence is gone and her life has never been the same.
"At some point, I say I don't know what my life is supposed to be like now. Like, where am I supposed to go? Where do I fit in?," said Shacka.
But what is lap band surgery?
"They're a weight loss surgery where this band is placed around the top part of the stomach. The bands have a balloon on the inside on the inner surface and through adjustments in clinic, the balloon can be tightened or loosened and help people feel full on a smaller amount of food," said M.D. Corrigan McBride of the Nebraska Medical Center.
Officials from the Nebraska Medical Center say health issues with weight are a common factor for patients battling weight gain and obesity.
"There's a certain percentage of patients that it's just not the right weight loss tool for them and they will elect to have the bands removed and converted to a different surgery," said McBride.
"I said I can't do this anymore, I need to go to the hospital. This is not right, I'm still throwing up. And finally I went in, and by then I had double vision and that's a sign of neurological disease," said Shacka.
Shacka also suffers from Wernicke disease—a form of brain damage. She says this was a result of her surgery. Through years of therapy, learning how to walk, speak and use her hands again, Shacka says her journey to better health isn't over.
"I beat the odds twice. They told me I would be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life…and I'm walking. They told me I would never do steps again, I went up four flights of steps with one physical therapist. So I beat the odds and I need more additional help," said Shacka.
But through this traumatic experience, Shacka says she sees the bright side of it all.
"I met some wonderful, wonderful angels who've helped me to know what life is about. I can't take that back and I would have never gotten it if I wouldn't have gotten sick," she said.
And her fight to spread awareness about the risks of lap band surgery keeps her motivated.
"You don't give up, and I'm not going to give up. And I guess this is my way of not giving up and living life," she said.
Shacka plans to sue the doctors in California that did the surgery. She's had some financial struggles raising enough money to hire a lawyer, but finally met that goal. Now, she is trying to raise enough money to receive therapy and more medical treatment at Mayo Clinic.
Clin Nutr. 2000 Oct;19(5):371-3. Wernicke's syndrome after bariatric surgery.
BaroNova? April 24, 2019
It's crazy to think… February 27, 2019
My daughter's pre-op update February 27, 2019
Weight Loss Surgery Changes the Way Our Bodies Sense Food February 7, 2019
Gastric bypass surgery causes type 2 diabetes to go into remission in most patients February 7, 2019
© 2021 Melting Mama. All rights reserved.


text:
Home Music Music Release Music Release: Justin Timberlake - Filthy "served a peculiar taste."
Music Release: Justin Timberlake - Filthy "served a peculiar taste."
Etan Musni 4:59 PM Music, Music Release
Song Title: Filthy
Artist: Justin Timberlake
Album: Man Of The Woods
The anticipated return of Justin Timberlake via Filthy received mixed reviews from music pundits. While the single release and album announcement is a timely publicity - which he doesn't need to be honest - prior his Super Bowl Half Time performance.
Filthy served a peculiar taste in terms of what one would expect from Justin Timberlake. the tune is definitely not a booming bop like Can't Stop The Feeling nor it is not a slick R&B banger like Mirrors. But the peculiarity of Filthy is also its quirk. It may be a polarizing but it is a grower.
Filthy at its best is a funky, pop tune. But it doesn't rest on a vintage funk. It somehow elevates and adapts itself to a current sound. Imagine Prince meets Bruno Mars and the end result is an absolute solid track. The production is quite compelling and while it may not have the usual hooks and catchy rhythm, it is undeniably a grower.
Music Release: Justin Timberlake - Filthy "served a peculiar taste." Reviewed by Etan Musni on 4:59 PM Rating: 5
Music Music Release
Etan Musni
Music Release

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Spencer Gregg is a board-certified physician of internal medicine. He is the director of the Student Health Center and a clinical assistant professor of medicine in the Graduate School of Medicine. He received his undergraduate degree in biology from Carson-Newman College and his Master of Business Administration and Doctor of Medicine degrees from the University of Tennessee.
Topics of expertise: Internal medicine and primary care, college health and wellness, and healthcare administration.


The hit BBC show's 72-year-old judge announced yesterday he was quitting setting up a grudge match between the two pros.
STRICTLY Come Dancing professionals Anton Du Beke and Brendan Cole are in a bitter behind-the-scenes battle to replace departing Len Goodman.
The hit BBC show's 72-year-old head judge announced yesterday he was quitting after this year's series, setting up a grudge match between the two pros.
The Sun can reveal Anton, 49, believes he has the backing of Len himself and Sir Bruce Forsyth for the high profile gig.
But Brendan, 40, thinks he has the right experience after being a judge on the New Zealand version of the show. A Strictly source revealed: "Anton and Brendan have been with Strictly from the start and have been waiting for this opportunity.
"Anton initially wanted to take over from Brucie when he quit as presenter. He doesn't want to miss out on a big opportunity to join the judges.
Beeb insiders believe they are the most likely options to join Bruno Tonioli, Craig Revel Horwood and Darcey Bussell. The source added: "They're very knowledgeable and are popular with loyal fans.
"Of course the bosses will look at all the options and would consider bringing in another woman.
Ladbrokes yesterday made Anton 2/1 favourite for the role, with Brendan at 20/1.
Other former pros Karen Hardy, Ian Waite and Erin Boag are also thought to be in the running, alongside former judge Arlene Phillips, former winner Tom Chambers and It Takes Two presenter Zoe Ball.
After yesterday's announcement Len said: "This adventure began when I was 60 and now I've reached my 70s, I've decided after this year it's time to hand the role of head judge to someone else.
The 14th series of the show begins in September, with Laura Whitmore, Louise Redknapp, Daisy Lowe and The Sun's legal columnist Judge Rinder.
LEN Goodman is set to move to LA after a £750,000-a-series offer to return to Dancing with the Stars.
He quit the US version of Strictly in August to spend more time with his grandson. But the show struggled and producers want him back.
In 2014 he did both shows and was on a plane 44 hours a week.
Accounts filed by Len's Pleasurable Pursuits show he has banked £3.3million, up £900,000 in a year.


text:
Q: Java print protobuf object of unknown type Consider that I have byte array - byte[] which represent some kind of serialized protobuf object. Is there any way to print it to output, something like
1: 123
2: Jhon
3: Doe
4: 0

Where 1 is int field, 2 and 3 are strings and 4 is boolen
TextFormat.print requires me to provide concrete Builder of protobuf object, which I do not know.

A: Define a type EmptyMessage like:
message EmptyMessage {
  // nothing
}

Now parse your message as EmptyMessage, then call toString() on it.
Why does this work? Well, consider that it is backwards-compatible to add fields to a message type. When you add a field, then send a message using that field to an old program that wasn't build with knowledge of the field, then the field is treated as as "unknown field". Unknown fields are printed as number / value pairs. Now, if you start with EmptyMessage and add fields, you can obviously get any other message. Therefore, all message types are "backwards-compatible" with EmptyMessage. Therefore, any message can be parsed as EmptyMessage to treat all the fields as unknown fields.

A: if we can make the assumption that the fields are all primitive types (i.e. not sub-messages) then you should be able to loop through all the fields very simply -
for(Entry<FieldDescriptor, Object> entry : msg.getAllFields().entrySet())
{
    if(entry.getValue() != null)
        System.out.println(entry.getKey().getName() + ": " + entry.getValue().toString());
    else
    System.out.println(entry.getKey().toString() + ": null");
}

However, I am pretty sure that protobuf objects properly implement the toString() method, so I think you should be able to simply call
protoObj.toString()

to get a string representation of the protobuf object.
For more info, take a look at:
https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/reference/java/com/google/protobuf/GeneratedMessage.ExtendableMessage#getAllFields%28%29

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
YURI ANTONOV: "DON'T TELL ME" FORGIVE "!
For more than 40 years, people know, love and sing songs of Yuri Antonov. Pretty solid creative experience by today's standards. Such popularity is worth a lot. As, however, and…
Interesting music facts
YURI ANTONOV: "DON'T TELL ME" FORGIVE "!
WORLD OF MOTHER: "SINGING IS FIRST OF ALL!"
ADRIANO CHELENTANO: "IN THE SOUL I AM A CHOCKER"
Composer Alexander Pakhmutova
Alexandra Pakhmutova is a popularly respected and beloved composer. Her works have become a symbol of the Soviet era. Now it is impossible to imagine the culture of the country…
Demis Roussos, performer of melodic love songs, is known to the whole world as the "Greek nightingale". The popularity of a loving singer is equated to the popularity of the…
« DARK PASSION OF HOPE OF MEYHER-GRANOVSKAYA
BEAUTY "ON THE DISTRICT" NASTY KAMENSKY »
Demis Roussos, performer of melodic love songs, is known to the whole world as the "Greek nightingale". The popularity of a loving singer is equated to the popularity of the Pope himself. And what is surprising? After all, he is Demis Roussos.
Confidence in your strength
The son of Greek parents, George and Olga, was born on June 15, 1946 in Alexandria. The boy's father was a successful Greek architect, and the Artemios Venturis Rusos family in Egypt did not live in misery. From early childhood, he simply immersed himself in folk music, which was spiced with Byzantine and Arabic motifs. Artemios often sang various melodies and eventually decided to join the choir of the Greek Byzantine Church. So began his solo career. During the five years spent in the choir, he studied musical theory, learned to play the guitar and trumpet. This was during the years of the Suez crisis. More recently, a prosperous family was forced to emigrate to Greece.
Then the seventeen-year-old Demis thought only about music, and this drove his mother to despair, because she hoped to give the young man to the best school of Athens. singer Demis RoussosNo Demis paid little attention to the mother's reproaches and instructions, and without hesitation, in 1963 created his first group, Idols. The team consisted of his cousin Joe and three other familiar guys. Roussos played guitar and bass, besides he worked on vocals. To make a living, they performed in a small cabaret.
One day, the soloist asked him to sing one or two songs during a concert while he was resting. Artemios accepted the offer, performed the classic song "The House Of The Rising Sun" and Percy Slage's hit song "When A Man Loves A Woman". The audience was fascinated, and since then every night he has been asked to sing again and again.
Demis Roussos first contract
Since then, the group and performances have become an integral part of his life. The meeting with Vangelis Papazanasio and Lukas Sideras was a turning point in his musical career. That was in 1966. Vangelis wrote a song specifically for the voice of Demis. Singer Demis Roussos. After that, he began to sing in the group more and more. However, soon the young musicians Demis, Lucas and Vangelis realized that a career can only be made outside of Greece. And in 1968, Demis Roussos formed a new group We Five, where he himself became a soloist. They decided to leave Greece to "conquer the world."
Lucas and Demis boarded a train and went to London. Vangelis was supposed to join them a few days later. But fate decided otherwise. When they arrived at Dover without working contracts, customs officers at the English border found photos and recordings in their baggage and quickly realized the true intentions of the young people.
Plans had to change, and in a matter of urgency. And they decided to go to Paris, where unrest was already brewing due to violent clashes between the police and students. Every day the money became less and less, and only registration could save them. Having learned that an international music conference is being held in the French capital, organized by the company Phonogram, the musicians decide to meet with its leaders.
A ruthless contract was signed for six years. But they had no choice, singer Demis Russobebez contract no one agreed to record them. They worked in the basement on four square meters, and it was there that Vangelis was born the song "Rain and Tears" to the verses of Boris Bergman.
There was only one record, and that one under rather strange circumstances. It would seem their dream finally came true. But the next day the studio closed due to a general strike. Demis and his buddies were not particularly upset about this. A few weeks later, "Rain and Tears" took first place in the charts. And the proposals for the speeches fell on the group like a horn of plenty.
Weekly engagement in the famous Olympia concert hall, then all summer in clubs in the South of France. The popularity grew and with it the number of records sold, helped by the fantastic voice of Demis Roussos. Famous producer Lou Reisner became their Godfather and gave the group the name Aphrodite's Child.
Demis RoussosAphrodite's Child
At this time, Demis married a girl named Monique. The daughter Emily was born and life seemed to Demis cloudless. But Vangelis was unhappy. He wanted to write more serious music that could stand against the English and American music markets. Vangelis wanted to stop the trip and devote all the time working in the studio. The embodiment of this desire was the recording of the album "666". It was a critical moment for the band: after three months of costly recording, the music company panicked. The group break became inevitable after the quarrel of Vangelis and Lucas. Vangelis was left alone, but a year later he finished the album, which was later called the masterpiece of the classics.
Solos career Roussos
To Demis, as the leader of the ex-band, the record company provided a chance to become singer Demis Rossossolny.
Posted in drove his mother to despair, recordings in their baggage
times of swing conversation deviated from became too late had a daughter rough music combined on stage you will be rewarded almost more famous Chopin etudes planned two songs different countries were lifelong teacher what was happening nature is sensitive Classical music includes winning the International dime a dozen which they lived greatest experts foreign leading spirituals and gospels hidden remarkable colorful relationship was not easy write bad songs who played with experienced musicians also intelligible way pleasure of music Scientists write music agricultural sector has singer went to Leningrad Lev Oshanin giving a special sensuality firmly fixed information carriers both rather short brain reacts egoism and start listening someone is evaluating hide behind the distortion people whose nature i poor animals was released under piano sonatas of Beethoven
Elvis Presley was able to fulfill the great American dream - a slum boy became a millionaire. Although many did not even know what was hidden under a beautiful image.…
information carriers who played with Chopin etudes giving a special sensuality piano sonatas of Beethoven combined on stage planned two songs egoism and start listening different countries were Lev Oshanin dime a dozen what was happening agricultural sector has became too late Classical music includes hidden remarkable colorful intelligible way write music you will be rewarded almost more famous both rather short relationship was not easy people whose nature i poor animals lifelong teacher spirituals and gospels experienced musicians also hide behind the distortion which they lived winning the International greatest experts firmly fixed singer went to Leningrad brain reacts rough music nature is sensitive conversation deviated from had a daughter foreign leading was released under times of swing write bad songs someone is evaluating pleasure of music Scientists
MUSIC OF MUSICIAN NICCOLO PAGANINI
One of the most prominent personalities of the musical history of Niccolò Paganini, despite his rather demonic appearance, has never lacked fans. He was not even 20 when a rich…


text:
It's official: Kind won't run for governor
By Diana Marrero of the Journal Sentinel
Published on: 9/24/2009
Rep. Ron Kind (D-La Crosse) has decided not to run for governor of Wisconsin next year, his congressional campaign has confirmed.
Kind has good reasons to try to stay in Congress, said Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
"The governor's race doesn't look like a sure thing for any of the candidates," he said, noting that Kind would run the risk of ending his political career if he left his House seat and then lost the governor's race.
Staying in the House, Franklin said, would be the "perfect bargaining chip with the House leadership" to gain a better committee assignment or more influence in the legislative process. Kind, who has served in the House since 1996, is a member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. Gaining seniority on the committee would place him closer to gaining a subcommittee chairmanship in the future.
Kind's decision places the spotlight once again on Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who is considering another gubernatorial run but has not made an official announcement.
Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton so far is the only Democrat who has announced an intention to run for governor. Two Republicans are already in the race: Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and former Rep. Mark Neumann.


Fine. Fine DJ. Knopf 1997 1st American Edition Bright pages. with photo illustrated sections. Deckled inside page edges. HEAVY ITEM.
Like New. Size: 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall; Stated First American Edition, Near Fine/Very Good, text looks new and unread and yet someone went in and underlined a sentence on page 11 and a sentence on page 105, NO age toning, boards look clean new & undamaged likewise, dust jacket NOT price-clipped, dj shows ordinary mild shelf and edge wear.
Very Good. Size: 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall; Stated First American Edition, no print line, clean and unmarked, NO age toning, interior looks on the newer side maybe unread or read very little, a couple little spots of soiling on edge of text block, dust jacket NOT price-clipped, tiny closed tear at bottom front edge of dj, in the same place bottom edge of front board shows a tiny ding and cut, overall Very Good/Good Plus condition.
Very good in very good dust jacket. A short gift inscription on half-title page by previous owner. Glued binding. Paper over boards. 893 pg. Audience: General/trade. Book is straight with strong binding and clean text. First American Edition 1997.


text:
A former officer told 911 his girlfriend shot herself. Now he's charged with tampering with evidence
Updated: 11:38 AM CDT Sep 9, 2020
Michelle Bandur
DOCUMENTS MICHELLE. WELL, JULIAN DAVID DOUGLAS COUNTY. SHERIFF'S INVESTIGATORS SAID THEY NOTICED QUOTE IN CONSISTENCIES IN THE BLOOD EVIDENCE FOUND NEAR THE BODY OF CRAIG WHEESHES GIRLFRIEND. AND NOW AS WE SAID TWO YEARS LATER, HE FACES A FELONY AND WE CAUTION SOME OF THE DETAILS YOU'RE ABOUT TO HEAR ARE DISTURBING. A FORMER POLICE OFFICER FINDS HIMSELF ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LAW. ONCE AGAIN. KETV NEWSWATCH 7 IS THE ONLY CAMERA AT THE DOUGLAS COUNTY JAIL WHEN CRAIG WHICH IS ARRESTED TUESDAY AFTERNOON, THE 54 YEAR OLD WHO WAS ON THE BELLEVUE POLICE FORCE FOR TWO DECADES NOW CHARGED WITH FELONY TAMPERING WITH EVIDENCE AND THE AUGUST 2008 TEEN SHOOTING DEATH OF HIS GIRLFRIEND CARRIE BROWN ACCORDING TO THE COURT AFFIDAVIT WHEN AN INTOXICATED WHEESH CALLED 911 FROM THEIR HOME AT AND L STREETS. HE IDENTIFIED HIMSELF AS A POLICE OFFICER AND SAID QUOTE MY GIRLFRIEND IS LIKE LIKE SHOT HERSELF AND QUOTE. I'M IN SO MUCH TROUBLE A FIREFIGHTER FOUND BROWN AND EMERGENCY DISPATCHER ON THE FLOOR IN THE MASTER BEDROOM WITH A GUNSHOT WOUND TO HER FACE FORENSICS SHOWED HER TIME OF DEATH WAS 45 MINUTES PRIOR TO WHEESHES EMERGENCY CALL AND THAT A NEIGHBOR SAID HE SAW WHEESH SITTING CALMLY IN THE GARAGE TEN MINUTES BEFORE THAT CALL. OUTLINED IN COURT DOCUMENTS WHAT THEY CALL INCONSISTENCIES THERE WAS A LARGE POOL OF BLOOD ON THE BED, BUT RESPONDER FOUND HER BODY ON THE FLOOR INVESTIGATORS BELIEVE HER BODY WAS MOVED AFTER SHE DIED BECAUSE OF THE BLOOD SMEARED ON HER THIGHS THE HANDGUN FOUND IN HER HAND WAS COVERED IN BLOOD, BUT HER HAND WAS NOT SUBSTANTIALLY COATED WITH BLOOD NOR THE CARPET AREA SURROUNDING THE GUN INVESTIGATORS CALLED THIS EVIDENCE POST BLOODSHED EVENT SEEN MANIPULATION. THEY FOUND BROWNS BLOOD ON THE BATHROOM MEDICINE CABINET A JEWELRY CLEANER CONTAINER WITH BROWNS WEDDING AND ENGAGEMENT RINGS INSIDE INVESTIGATORS BELIEVE THE RINGS WERE REMOVED AFTER THE SHOOTING. THEY FOUND HER BLOOD ON THE BASEMENT STAIRS RAILING HOSE AND HOSE REEL. THEY DID NOT FIND HER BLOOD ON WHEESH OR HIS CLOTHES, BUT THEY DID FIND WHEESHES WET CLOTHING IN THE WASHING MACHINE CLOSE NEIGHBORS SAY HE HAD BEEN WEARING EARLIER IN THE DAY DEPUTIES FIRST ARRESTED WISH FOR ASSAULTING A FIREFIGHTER AND POLICE OFFICER THE NIGHT OF THE SHOOTING CALLING HIM COM
Craig Wiech turned himself into Douglas County Corrections on Tuesday afternoon, two years after his girlfriend's shooting death.Prosecutors charged Wiech, 54, with felony tampering with evidence in the Aug. 26, 2018, death of Carrie Brown.Douglas County sheriff's investigators outlined the case in a court affidavit, citing inconsistencies in the evidence.The documents show an intoxicated Wiech called 911 from the couple's home at 189th and L Streets. He identified himself as a police officer and said, "My girlfriend, is, like, like, shot herself" and "I'm in so much trouble."Blood alcohol tests show his blood alcohol content was .112%. The legal limit to drive a car is below .08%.Two firefighters found Brown, an emergency dispatcher, on the floor in the master bedroom, with a gunshot wound to her face. Forensics showed her time of death was 45 minutes prior to Wiech's emergency call and that a neighbor said he saw Wiech sitting calmly in the garage 10 minutes before the call.The firefighters said there was a large pool of coagulated blood on the bed, but they found Brown on the floor. They said she showed signs of rigor mortis and was cold to the touch.The affidavit said blood transfer in an apparent smear pattern was noted on the front of the body's thighs, causing investigators to suspect the body was moved after the bloodshed event. The blood appeared to have dried. The handgun, which belonged to Wiech, was completely covered with and full of blood. The hand resting on the gun was not substantially coated with blood, nor was the carpet area surrounding the gun. They said the inconsistencies further indicate post-bloodshed event scene manipulation.Investigators said they found Brown's blood on the medicine cabinet and a jewelry cleaner container inside the cabinet. Inside the container, Brown's wedding and engagement rings with her and Wiech's blood on them. They said they believe the rings were removed after she died. They also found Brown's blood on the hose, hose reel, and basement stairs railing.In the laundry room, they found wet clothing in the washing machine, which investigators determined to be the same clothing Wiech wore before the shooting. Investigators did not find Brown's blood on Wiech or the clothes he was wearing when responders arrived on scene.Deputies said Wiech was combative, belligerent and uncooperative and tried to strike a firefighter. He also hit a police officer in the chest. They arrested him that night and those charges are pending.He is expected to appear before a judge Wednesday for the tampering charge.
Craig Wiech turned himself into Douglas County Corrections on Tuesday afternoon, two years after his girlfriend's shooting death.
Prosecutors charged Wiech, 54, with felony tampering with evidence in the Aug. 26, 2018, death of Carrie Brown.
Douglas County sheriff's investigators outlined the case in a court affidavit, citing inconsistencies in the evidence.
The documents show an intoxicated Wiech called 911 from the couple's home at 189th and L Streets. He identified himself as a police officer and said, "My girlfriend, is, like, like, shot herself" and "I'm in so much trouble."
Blood alcohol tests show his blood alcohol content was .112%. The legal limit to drive a car is below .08%.
Two firefighters found Brown, an emergency dispatcher, on the floor in the master bedroom, with a gunshot wound to her face. Forensics showed her time of death was 45 minutes prior to Wiech's emergency call and that a neighbor said he saw Wiech sitting calmly in the garage 10 minutes before the call.
The firefighters said there was a large pool of coagulated blood on the bed, but they found Brown on the floor. They said she showed signs of rigor mortis and was cold to the touch.
The affidavit said blood transfer in an apparent smear pattern was noted on the front of the body's thighs, causing investigators to suspect the body was moved after the bloodshed event. The blood appeared to have dried.
The handgun, which belonged to Wiech, was completely covered with and full of blood. The hand resting on the gun was not substantially coated with blood, nor was the carpet area surrounding the gun. They said the inconsistencies further indicate post-bloodshed event scene manipulation.
Investigators said they found Brown's blood on the medicine cabinet and a jewelry cleaner container inside the cabinet. Inside the container, Brown's wedding and engagement rings with her and Wiech's blood on them. They said they believe the rings were removed after she died.
They also found Brown's blood on the hose, hose reel, and basement stairs railing.
In the laundry room, they found wet clothing in the washing machine, which investigators determined to be the same clothing Wiech wore before the shooting. Investigators did not find Brown's blood on Wiech or the clothes he was wearing when responders arrived on scene.
Deputies said Wiech was combative, belligerent and uncooperative and tried to strike a firefighter. He also hit a police officer in the chest. They arrested him that night and those charges are pending.
He is expected to appear before a judge Wednesday for the tampering charge.


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text:
The U.K. is set to fall well short of flu vaccine uptake targets
by Nick Paul Taylor |
Jan 29, 2014 7:09am
Last summer the United Kingdom set primary care physicians the ambitious target of vaccinating 75% of high-risk patients against influenza. The short notice and scale of the goal--which represents a 50% increase in one winter--caused consternation among physicians who said it would take a miracle to achieve. Now it appears no miracle occurred and the U.K. will miss its target.
In two of the high-risk groups targeted for vaccinations--the over 65s and pregnant women--uptake was actually lower as of January 19 than at the same point last year. No group has passed the 75% goal, with uptake among pregnant women failing to even hit 40%. Uptake among two and three-year-olds--who are excluded from the 75% target--is also languishing around 40%, despite AstraZeneca's ($AZN) nasal spray Fluenz being added to the childhood immunization plan.
Primary care physicians--known in the U.K. as general practitioners (GPs)--have defended their role in the failure. "GPs have done their very best to contact their patients, many practices opened on convenient times like weekends, but still we have not achieved good and desirable influenza immunization rates," Dr. George Kassianos, who leads the Royal College of General Practitioners' immunization group, told physician trade publication GP.
Kassianos called on the U.K. Department of Health to run a sustained media campaign to increase awareness of the flu vaccine and who it can help most. Efforts to increase uptake among frontline health workers have achieved some success, with 53% receiving the vaccine by the end of 2013. Last year only 44% of staff received the vaccine, OnMedica reports. Since starting the Flu Fighter campaign for the 2011/12 influenza season uptake among health workers has increased by more than 50%.
- read the GP article
- here's the OnMedica piece
- check out the data (PDF)
Nick Paul Taylor


text:
Although often associated with both Pop Art and Abstract Expressionism, Jim Dine did not identify with a specific movement, producing a vast oeuvre of paintings, drawings, works on paper, sculpture, poetry, and performances. Emerging as a pioneer (together with Allan Kaprow, Claes Oldenburg, and Robert Whitman) of New York's Happenings of the 1960s, Dine would carry the spontaneous energy of this movement throughout his style, which emphasized the exploration of everyday life. Personally significant objects were Dine's primary motifs, as in his iconic series of hearts and robes. He championed a return to figuration after a period of more concept-dominated works, and is considered an important figure in Neo-Dada and a forerunner of Neo-Expressionism. "The figure is still the only thing I have faith in in terms of how much emotion it's charged with and how much subject matter is there," he once said.
Double Venus in the Sky at Night
Color lithograph and screenprint on William Morris Nonesuch
41.25 x 30.25 inches (sheet)
Publisher, Pace Editions, New York, NY
Catalog raisonné, D'Oench & Feinberg 166
Edition of 50 plus 6 artist proofs
Signed, numbered and dated in pencil
Untitled (Single Venus)
Woodcut relief on Okawara paper
52.5 x 37 inches (sheet)
Publisher, Angeles Press, Los Angeles, CA
Edition of 10 plus 3 proofs


At present Nico is still a student. Since a few years he keeps very busy with Linux, he also takes part in a number of Open Source Projects.
In an ANSI compatible terminal (like xterm, rxvt, konsole ...) text may be shown in colors different from black/white. This article will demonstrate text in bold or in color.
In real life every Linux user gets to face the Bash. At first glance that looks very boring, but there are many possibilities to give one's shell the personal touch. Colored enhancement of the shell prompt make the shell unique as well as better legible.
In my description I will refer to the Bash shell. The escape sequences may differ between terminals, for this text I am using an ANSI terminal.
Setting of shell colors happens in the personal configuration file of the bash ~/.bashrc or in the global configuration file /etc/bashrc. The appearance of the prompt is being set with the PS1 variable in bashrc.
This stands for user@ current_directory $, which is the normal shell prompt most Linux users are familiar with.
To add a personal touch by coloring the prompt we are using escape sequences. An escape sequence is a control instruction which orders the shell to execute a specific step. An escape sequence usually begins with ESC (thus the name). In the shell chown as ^[. This way of writing needs a bit getting used to, \033 accomplishes the same (ESC is ascii 27 decimal = 33 octal).
To enter an escape sequence directly into the shell we have to precede it with crtl-v: CTRL-v ESC.
I am going to explain the colors of the shell with an example prompt.
\033 starts the escape sequence, with [ we are beginning the color definition. The following 0 specifies default font width. Other possibilities for this I am going to introduce later. The string will be enclosed in \[ and \] to prevent the text of the escape sequence from showing up in the display of the shell and taking too much space.
Next we are choosing the color of the foreground (in this case 32, which is green). The background color 40 stands for black. To prevent the text after the prompt from being green, we are closing the escape sequence with \033[0m, which is the default color of the shell. For the foreground as well as the background 8 colors are available.
Choices: red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan and white. The color codes for this are 30 (black), 31 (red), 32 (green), 33 (yellow), 34 (blue), 35 ( magenta), 36 (cyan), 37 (white).
Setting the background colors follows the same scheme, but instead of the first digit '3' we are using '4', like 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47.
As previously mentioned, the '0' after the first escape sequence is the default color setting for the text of the shell prompt. For the text properties the following values make sense: 0, 1, 22, 4, 24, 5, 25, 7, 27 with the following meaning: default, bold, not bold, underlined, not underlined, blinking and not blinking, invers, not invers.
With the help of the following short script we can have a look at the color combinations.
The ability to set colors in the shell is not only useful to create a more beautiful shell prompt but may also be beneficial for the programming of a program for the console.
For every use of colors the use of libraries such as slang or ncurses would be necessary, this would greatly inflate the size of the binary file. Ncurses has the advantage of being more or less independant from the type of terminal.
Another useful escape sequence is printf("\033[2J"), it has the same effect like system(clear) but the header file unistd.h can be left off.
With printf("\033[1K") we can delete a line.
If we would like to get a colorful, good legible confirmation of the successful start of the init scripts of /etc/init.d instead of simply '.' we may accomplish that again with an escape sequence.
start)  echo -n "Starting periodic command scheduler: cron"
echo "\[ \033[1;34;40m[ \033[1;32;40mOk \033[1;34;40m]\033[0m\]"
Applying these settings to all init scripts is very time consuming, except we are using the escape sequence \033 - since Ctrl-v which is not interpreted as a character.


text:
All Articles Music Theory & Education
The Clarinet Is A Unique Instrument To Use When Orchestrating. Here's Why.
Hollin Jones on Tue, March 26th 0 comments
The design, evolution and range of the clarinet make it a fascinating instrument to play and score with. Here, Thomas Goss shows you exactly why that is the case.
Orchestrating music requires a good understanding of a range of different instruments, often across multiple genres like string, brass and woodwind. One of the instruments that plays a big part in many orchestrations is the clarinet and in this video from the course Orchestration 104: Clarinets, Saxophones and Bassoons, Thomas Goss reveals what it is about the clarinet's character and range that make it so appealing.
Orchestration 104: Clarinets, Saxophones and Bassoons
Thomas explains how the design of the clarinet, its reed and body, inform its sound. He also shows you why the range of the clarinet makes it as versatile and expressive as the flute - and particularly good for composers to work with. You'll get practical examples and excerpts that demonstrate why the clarinet is such a versatile instrument. Be sure to check out the full course for more on the clarinet and also on saxophones and bassoons, each with their own specific characters. It's perfect for players, producers and composers of all levels.
Watch the course Orchestration 104: Clarinets, Saxophones and Bassoons in the Ask.Audio Academy | macProVideo | Ask.Video
Hollin Jones
Hollin Jones was classically trained as a piano player but found the lure of blues and jazz too much to resist. Graduating from bands to composition then production, he relishes the chance to play anything with keys. A sometime lecturer in videographics, music production and photography post production, Hollin has been a freelance writer on music technology and Apple topics for well over a decade, along the way publishing several books on audio software. He has been lead writer at a number of prominent music and technology publications. As well as consultancy, full-time journalism, video production and professional photography, he occasionally plays Hammond, Rhodes and other keys for people who ask nicely. Hollin is Contributing Editor at Ask.Audio.
1. Studying Clarinets, Saxophones, & Bassoons
2. Introduction to the Clarinet
3. Clarinet: Character and Technical Range
4. Clarinet: Orchestral Role
5. The A and B-flat Clarinets
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Review: RØDECaster Pro
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Review: Drum Fury
Here's Why The Flute Is The Most Expressive Wind Instrument
Do you want to learn Clarinets, Saxophones and Bassoons?


text:
BEA 2010
My trip report for Book Expo America 2010:
I talked to a LOT of people.
Yep, that just about sums it up. :)
Book Expo America (known as BEA) is a convention for booksellers. Publishers have booths, and booksellers, librarians, teachers, authors, illustrators, bloggers, agents, and others wander between them and talk about books. In a word, it is AWESOME.
This year's convention lasted either two days or two months, I'm not sure which. I walked into the Javits Center in NYC at 7am, and when I came out in the evening, it was suddenly 90+ degrees. It felt exactly as if I'd entered the convention center in May and emerged in August. (Not impossible. You do lose track of time in there.)
In actuality, my BEA Adventure lasted almost a week. Monday night was a party at Books of Wonder. Tuesday night was the Association of Booksellers for Children "not-a-dinner" event. Wednesday was... actually, Wednesday felt like three days. It started with the Children's Authors Breakfast, it continued with exploring the exhibit floor, and it ended with 3 different parties around Manhattan. Thursday included a meeting with my agent, more prowling through the exhibit hall and talking to people, and then the long schlep home with three bags stuffed with books.
I also brought home a quote from Richard Peck's speech at the Wednesday breakfast: "The only way to write is by the light of the bridges burning behind you."
From the context of the speech, he didn't mean burning bridges in the sense of alienating people. (That's never a good idea, IMHO.) He meant it in the sense of making career choices. If you want to be a writer, you have to choose NOT to be a lot of other things. You have to burn the bridge that could lead you to a life as a... I don't know.... insert other career goal here.
On one hand, I think that statement is less true about being a writer than being, say, a neurosurgeon or an astronaut. You can have a day job and be a writer. You can also have one career and then become a writer as a second career, or vice versa.
But on the other hand... Everyone has twenty-four hours a day, and every time you choose how to spend those hours, you are also choosing how NOT to spend them.
For me, the writer bridge is the only one that I ever wanted to cross. And I'm happy for the light of the other burning bridges -- it keeps me from tripping over my feet as I walk across. But I'm curious what you guys think of that quote. Do you think it's true?
Labels: ABC, Appearances, BEA
posted by Sarah Beth Durst @ 10:52 PM 7 comments
Today is my birthday. (Well, technically yesterday, since it's after midnight... but I digress...)
I love birthdays. And not just because I can wear a "birthday princess" crown (which I totally put on this morning and then pretended to forget that I was still wearing it for the rest of the day -- "oh, silly me, is this still on?").
And not just because I can eat Carvel ice cream cake. (No birthday is complete without Carvel ice cream cake -- this is actually a tradition to the point of being a superstition with me. I am half convinced that I will not age if I don't eat the cake, which come to think of it may not be such a terrible thing... hmm...)
I love birthdays because it means lots of hugs and kisses and phone calls from the people that I love.
And I won't deny it: birthdays also mean presents. To be clear, it's not that I care about getting stuff. I don't. What I like is the thought behind a clever present. "It's the thought that counts" is not a cliche. Well, yes, it's a total cliche, but it's TRUE.
Awesome Gift #1
It started with a box.
Husband said, "Don't look in the box in the closet."
I didn't.
But I did open the closet door just to see what kind of box I wasn't looking in. (This was totally legit because looking "at" a box is not the same as looking "in" the box, right?) Well, I was looking at a BIG box. Way too big to hold a book. Way too big to be wrapped. He'd cleverly covered it with a bed sheet.
Predictably, this became all I could think about for the last two days, leading to many reenactments of the classic DUNE moment:
"What's in the box?"
"Pain."
I failed to guess what was in the box. Unicorn? No. Dragon? No. Griffin? No. Gryphon-spelled-fancy? No. But as it turns out, I was pretty close. It was a magical present.
This morning (my birthday morning), out came the box. Here's what it held:
And here, after a few hours of assembly that included (oddly enough) a sledgehammer, this is what it transformed into:
My very own wishing well! How perfect is that? For one thing... INTO THE WILD! For another... my husband knows how much I love to make wishes. During our vacation in Disney World, I made a point of visiting the wishing well next to Cinderella's castle just so I could make a few wishes at the well.
Anyway, we placed this wishing well next to our very own Wild (a completely overgrown hill), and I'm planning to plant lots of flowers all around it. Also, I'm planning to make lots of wishes. Already started, in fact.
First wish in the well: 100 unicorns.
Second wish in the well: enough food for 100 unicorns.
Third wish... can't tell you that or it might not come true. (I'm okay with jinxing the unicorn wish. I have no idea where I'd put a herd that size. Things are already crowded enough around here with all the gryphons.)
Okay, this next gift wasn't a birthday present. It was a thank-you present, but I'm going to tell you about it anyway because it was awesome (and the timing was close enough to pass for a birthday present)...
Last March, I did a virtual school visit to Randall Middle School in Lithia, Florida. It turned out to be one of my all-time favorite visits. When the video conference kicked in, I saw the best sight: 65+ kids all wearing golden crowns and waving magic wands at me.
All the kids had fantastic questions, and the hour flew by so fast that I think I made them late for their next class. I closed out the video conference thinking, "Wow, really cool."
I'd now like to amend that to say, "WOW, REALLY COOL!" Randall Middle School students (led by their fabulous media specialist Darlene Meginnis) deserve all caps. This week, a giant box arrived for me. In it was a T-shirt from their book club, three of my very own magic wands (which I promptly used to turn my husband into a frog -- don't worry; he got better), and a wonderful collage that included the cover art from Into the Wild, a picture of their library, and a poem written by one of the students. On the frame's matte, all the students had added notes in gold ink. I absolutely treasure it.
How awesome is that? So awesome. Thank you to Darlene and the students at RMS! You guys rock!
Labels: Birthdays, Gifts, Randall Middle School, Wishing Wells
posted by Sarah Beth Durst @ 12:41 AM 12 comments
Nebula Awards Weekend 2010
I'm writing this in the airport en route home from Nebula Awards Weekend, held this year in Cocoa Beach, Florida. My novel ICE was nominated for SFWA's Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy.
You want to know the best part of being nominated for an award from SFWA (the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America)?
Free unicorn.
Once you arrive at the event, you are spirited away to a secret room, which you must access by aligning a series of steampunk-esque locks. You are then asked a series of questions, ranging from "What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?" to "Would you like jam tomorrow or jam yesterday?" If you answer correctly, you may proceed. If you fail, you are dropped into the Pit of Eternal Stench (or the Great Pit of Carkoon on Tatooine, depending on your preference, which you stated during the registration process, along with your beef, fish, or veggie choice for the banquet). If you succeed, you are presented with your unicorn.
As I write this, mine is attempting to bust his way out of my carry-on luggage. I'm hoping my unicorn will fit under the seat in front of me. If he doesn't... well, I don't relish the idea of explaining to the flight attendant why the overhead bin is full of unicorn poop.
Okay, okay, there was no secret room or unicorn-as-swag. But there was a space shuttle launch, which is as awesome as a unicorn. (In fact, I think that should be NASA's new motto: "Space, as awesome as unicorns.") The awards weekend (aka the Nebs) was planned to coincide with the third-to-last space shuttle launch, the final flight of the shuttle Atlantis. Launches are visible from Cocoa Beach.
I nearly missed the launch due to the tremendous traffic -- everyone else in the state of Florida was also attempting to drive to the coast to see the launch. But I arrived at the hotel ten minutes before launch, dropped my suitcase at the front desk, and booked it out to the beach.
Lots of people were already there. All of them were standing (as if that would bring you closer to the shuttle than sitting) and looking north. Kind of looked like everyone was waiting for an alien invasion.
At precisely 2:20, I saw a fat firecracker rise above the palm trees and hotels to the north. I was pretty sure it wasn't the shuttle because I thought that the water tanks in the distance were the launch pads. (Not so much.) Also, I'd expected applause or a collective "oooh" from the watchers. (Everyone was busy taking photos.) But I figured out reasonably quickly that fireworks aren't that fat. This was a long fat orange flame followed by billowing white smoke.
It looked like the orange fire was giving birth to a huge cloud snake. After a while, the snake ended, but you could still see the shuttle as a white dot. Eventually, it vanished, and the snake slowly coiled in on itself and drifted away.
Really magical.
Cloud Snake
Before the launch, I'd noticed a group of people near me were wearing SFWA Nebula Awards Weekend name tags. I was too shy to say hello at first, but I reminded myself that I'd earned my unicorn (so to speak) and introduced myself. I spent the remainder of the weekend in pretty much constant conversation.
Really, the best part of the Nebs is talking to all the people. The science fiction and fantasy community is filled with some of the nicest, friendliest, smartest, funniest, and most interesting people that I've ever met. *waves at everyone*
Each evening had a great event. On Friday night, there was the mass book signing, followed by the ceremony to honor the nominees. For the book signing, I was seated between Allen Steele and Peter J. Heck. (Does anyone have the photo of me at the signing with Allen in which he is wearing glow-in-the-dark vampire fangs, courtesy of Lucienne Diver?)
For the ceremony, the nominees were called on stage by Russell Davis (current SFWA president) and given a special pin and certificate by Neal Barrett, Jr. (this year's author emeritus).
Later that night, I discovered that if you press the pin and spin around, it will open a portal to another dimension.
Totally kidding. The portal goes to Schenectady.
The Pin
On Saturday night, there was the Awards Banquet. Honestly, I wasn't the slightest bit nervous until I walked into that banquet hall. Once I was inside, I promptly started imagining that either (A) I'd win and forget to thank my husband, who is the heart and soul of everything I do, and then have to spend the next several decades trying to win something again so that I could have a do-over, or (B) my dress would inexplicably fall off.
Which reminds me... the DRESS. As is now a tradition, here is the requisite slightly-tilted self-portrait of me in a purdy dress:
I even wore makeup for the occasion (which is shocking considering that I can count on one hand the number of times that I've worn makeup).
Also wore my polar bear necklace.
Best dressed for the night goes to Mary Robinette Kowal who wore an Oscar red-carpet-worthy gown, James Marrow who wore Godzilla slippers, and Bud Sparhawk who wore all his Nebula pins as buttons on his tux.
The event itself was extremely cool. Lots of wonderful speeches. Catherynne Valente, who won the Andre Norton Award, gave a particularly lovely speech about how this book was like a fairy tale, saving her at a time when she needed saving, but how she never expected a glass slipper at the end of it. Connie Willis gave a very funny and sweet introduction to Joe Haldeman, the Grand Master. David Levine showed fantastic photos of his two weeks inside a Mars simulation. And Allen Steele kept everything moving as toastmaster.
The Banquet
But my favorite moment (other than when Tom Doyle announced the nominees for the Andre Norton Award -- totally felt like the Oscars!!!) was when Eugie Foster won for novelette. She and her husband Matthew were sitting next to me for the banquet, and the absolute stunned joy on her face when her name was called... and the look of love and pride on her husband's face... I totally got tears in my eyes. The two of them were radiating joy.
Eugie and Matthew Foster
My favorite line of the night was after the banquet, after Paolo Bacigalupi had won the Nebula for Best Novel, he said, "I'm embarrassed to be this happy." Like Eugie, he was radiating happiness. He was even still smiling the next morning, despite total lack of sleep.
My favorite non-awards-related time of the convention was drinking pina coladas at the outside bar with Laura Anne Gilman with a view of the ocean in front of us and a very stubborn yellow butterfly behind us.
And my favorite totally unrelated to SFWA or the Nebulas moments were my two morning walks down this beach:
Lastly, my favorite take-away from the event... I came away from the weekend feeling inspired to write, write, write! So thank you, SFWA. You're all awesome. And the unicorn is great too.
Labels: Ice, Nebula Awards, Nebula Awards Weekend, SFWA, Space Shuttle, Unicorns
Boston Authors Club Award Ceremony
So I'm driving down the Mass Pike, heading back from Boston, and my cell phone rings.
BROTHER: Hey.
ME: I'm so sorry that I didn't get to see you! Really short trip.
BROTHER: Where are you?
ME: Driving on the Mass Pike.
BROTHER: Where on the Mass Pike?
ME: Near the Framingham rest stop. Where are you?
BROTHER: On the Mass Pike. Are you in between some 18-wheelers?
ME: Um, yes. Closest one is called Iron Mountain.
BROTHER: I'm five cars behind you.
So we both turn off at the rest stop and have a mini family reunion right there in the parking lot. It was so lucky as to be nearly freaky.
Also by crazy coincidence, earlier that day, while walking around Newbery Street, I heard someone call my name, turned, and saw my cousin, whom I hadn't seen in years.
Either Massachusetts is suddenly a LOT smaller than it used to be, or I was having a very lucky day.
I'm voting the latter because the reason I was in Massachusetts at all that day was to receive this:
ICE was named a 2010 Finalist for the Boston Authors Club Award for Young Readers!!! And now I have this lovely certificate to prove it!
The ceremony was held in the Boston Public Library, which was cool because BPL is one of my favorite libraries. When I lived in Somerville, I used to fill up giant bags of books and nearly break my back hauling them home on the T. Somehow it never occurred to me while I was in the library that I'd have to lug the books home...
It was a really lovely ceremony. The members of the judging committee took turns introducing each book and explaining why they had chosen it, and then several of us talked about why/how we'd written our books. The honored books covered quite a wide range (see list below or click here) -- nonfiction, poetry, and a short story collection, in addition to novels spanning various genres -- and it was fascinating to hear how the different books came to be. I love hearing about other writers' processes.
In case you're curious, here is approximately what I said:
Thank you so much! This really, really means a lot to me.
ICE is a novel that's very close to my heart. I wrote it as a love letter to my husband. It's about true love. Not the fairy-tale love-at-first-sight kind of love where the girl dances with the prince and he doesn't bother to find out anything about her other than her shoe size... but it's about real love, the kind of love where you face the world united as a team, where you'd go beyond the ends of the earth for your love.
One of the reasons that I write fantasy is that it allows you to explore themes like true love in an extreme sort of way. You can explore what sort of person, what sort of relationship would lead a person to literally go east of the sun and west of the moon, beyond the known world.
Another reason that I write fantasy is pure wish fulfillment. I want to ride a talking polar bear! Through writing, I can experience things that aren't actually possible. Growing up, I was the kid who always wanted something magical to happen. I was always searching for dragon's eggs in the backyard or waiting for the portrait in the hall to speak. Every year for much, much too long, I would put on my wish list for Santa: magic wand. (Though I have to say, I still think this was more practical than my brother, who at age six, would put Ferrari on the theory that he could just save it until he was sixteen.)
The third reason that I write fantasy is because I believe that fantasy literature is a very important kind of literature. It directly fulfills what I see as one of the primary purposes of books, which is: escape. To take you someplace else, someplace you will never go, could never go. To let you live inside the skin of someone who is utterly unlike you.
I think that being a writer is the closest you can get in this world to being a wizard. You... we... try to cast spells. You try to create this kind of telepathy where you put your dream into the head of someone you have never met and will never meet: you try to create a shared dream. You shape the reader's imagination. You take them on a journey.
ICE took me on a journey to the Arctic. I've never actually been to the Arctic. I'm a lousy traveler. I always overpack. I don't like to be too hot or too cold. I hate bugs. But I've always thought of the Arctic as a magical, dangerous, beautiful place, and by writing this book, I got to go there.
I did a TON of research for this book. I read nature guides, explorer memoirs, polar bear books, everything I could get my hands on. I think I can safely say that I am the only person I know who owns a North Slope Barrow dialect Inupiaq to English dictionary. At one point, I could tell you what kind of lichen were on the rocks that Cassie would walk past as she trekked across the Arctic. I could tell you where the sun would be on a particular day at a particular time at a particular latitude. It varies that far north, you know. In the middle of summer, at the top of the world, the sun just circles above the horizon all day and all night.
I learned details like if you cry in the Arctic, your eyelashes will freeze and break off, and I got to explore what that would do to a person's character, learning to hold that emotion in. And things like if you walk across the ice of the Arctic, you're walking over frozen sea, not land, and any minute, the ice could shift and drop you into water that could kill you in fifteen minutes -- how that would affect a person.
One of my favorite things about being a writer is that it is the ultimate in armchair traveling. I got to travel vicariously with Cassie.
I'd like to thank you for traveling with me. Thank you for liking ICE. And thank you for this wonderful honor!
And after we all spoke, we ate sandwiches. :) All in all, it was a lovely, lucky day.
If you're a member of the Boston Authors Club and you're reading this, thank you so much for giving me such a nice memory along with such a wonderful honor! And if you're my father and you're reading this (hi, Dad!), thank you so much for coming! It really meant a lot to have you there. Lastly, if you're one of the other authors who was honored on Thursday, congratulations!!!
THE BOSTON AUTHORS CLUB BOOK AWARDS
YOUNG READERS BOOK AWARDS
First Prize:
Jacqueline Davies for LOST
Pat Lowery Collins for HIDDEN VOICES
Sarah Beth Durst for ICE
Francisco X. Stork for MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD
Highly Recommended Titles:
Pam Bachorz for CANDOR
Liza Ketchum for NEWSGIRL
Glenna Lang & Marjory Wunsch for GENIUS OF COMMON SENSE
Grace Lin for WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON
TRADE BOOK AWARDS
Julia Ward Howe Prize:
Nancy Rappaport for IN HER WAKE
Jay Mathews for WORK HARD; BE NICE
Ann Snodgrass for FIELDS ACROSS WHICH NO BIRDS FLY
Tracy Winn for MRS. SOMEBODY SOMEBODY
Janice Y. K. Lee for THE PIANO TEACHER
Ben Mezrich for ACCIDENTAL BILLIONAIRES
Matthew Pearl for THE LAST DICKENS
Francine Prose for ANNE FRANK
John J. Ronan for MARROWBONE LANE
Labels: Awards, Boston, Boston Authors Club
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