text:
10 Unusual Places to Go Camping in Australia
Aus/Pacific, Australia, Holidays
Are you up for a camping trip and in need of travel inspiration? With more than 7.6 million square kilometres to discover, Australia is truly the outdoor enthusiast's heaven. You are spoilt for choice when it comes to unique, memorable travel experiences.
To help narrow down your destination options, we have listed our top 10 picks of unusual places to go camping in Australia. Ready? Here we go!
The Northernmost Point – "The Tip" in Cape York, QLD is located 1,000 kilometres north of Cairns. Apart from being the northernmost point of Australia's mainland, the region is also popular as the ultimate 4WD adventure spot, and for a good reason.
To get to "The Tip", you need to drive through rough terrain (hence the 4WD), cross through crocodile – inhabited rivers and trek through rocks. The trip is well worth the effort – you can trust us on that.
The Tip Cape York – Image by Ian Cochrane
The Southernmost Point– What makes the "The Prom" or South Wilsons Promontory, VIC an unusual camping destination is the amount of effort it takes to get there. Only the most dedicated of campers and selfie-takers brave the almost two-day hike to take snapshots of the coveted sign that says: "The Most Southernly Point of the Australia Mainland".
South Post Sign Wilsons – Image by freeaussiestock.com
The Easternmost Point– The Cape Byron Lighthouse in Cape Byron, NSW marks the "most easterly point in Australian mainland". The lighthouse, still being used today, is one of the most famous landmarks in the country. You may also want to check out the former lighthouse keeper's home in the Maritime Museum during your visit.
Easternmost Point – Image by ozbeaches.com.au
The Westernmost Point– What makes Steep Point in Edel Land, WA unusual as a camping destination is the fact that not a lot of people can "just go there." Steep Point can only be reached by either boat or 4WD. If you are down for some 4WD self-driving, you are most likely to have the area to yourself.
Be informed though, that camping in the area requires a permit, so you need to plan weeks before you leave.
The Highest Point– If you want to take that selfie at the very top of Australia, hiking to the peak of Mount Kosciuszko is the way to do it. If you are visiting for the first time, don't be shy to ask for help and directions from the locals or fellow hikers. At the end of the day, you can set up camp in one of the many campsites in Mount Kosciuszko National Park.
Highest Point – Image by Tatters via flickr.com
The Lowest Point – Lake Eyre is where you can find Australia's lowest natural point. It is also the largest saltwater lake in the country. What makes this an unusual camping spot is the lake is almost never full, even during rainy season. Certainly, a unique place to set up camp, yes?
Lowest Point- Image by Ian Cochrane via flickr.com
The Pinkest Lake– Pink Lake is officially Spencer Lake and is one of the three pink – hued lakes in Western Australia. The pink colour is caused by algae that produce a rosy chemical that protects it from the sun's rays. There are many campsites in nearby Esperance that you can spend the night in after making the trip to the lake.
Pinkest Lake – Image by Australia.com
The Bluest Lake– The Blue Lake in Mount Gambier is famous for its cobalt-blue colour. It is one of the last two remaining crater lakes in Mount Gambier and is the location of the last volcanic eruption in Australia.
Bluest Lake – Image by Australia.com
The Most Haunted– If you are a history buff, Port Arthur is home to the country's strictest prison. The prison settlement in Port Arthur was also known to be inescapable because it is surrounded by (allegedly) shark-infested waters. Today though, Port Arthur Historic Site is more than just the country's best-preserved prison, it is the most haunted. So, if you're looking for that unique twist for your camping trip, this is the place to go. Most Haunted – Image by Eli Duke via flickr.com
The Most Out of this World– The Pinnacles at Nambung National Park in WA is about the closest you can get to a trip to Mars. The vast landscape, the jagged rock formations, the bright yellow sand is enough to make your feel you are in another planet.
The Pinnacles desert an Namboung National Park. Western Australia, 2012.
Author Bio: When she is not road tripping around Australia and writing about, Nicole Anderson enjoys spending afternoons relaxing in her own inflatable spa, with a glass of wine in one hand, and the TV remote in another. She is a travel writer by day and part mermaid (who loves therapeutic portable hot tubs) by night.
Previous post4 up-and-coming places in the UK to visit
Next postCancun: Perfect Honeymoon Destination
Top family outing ideas in Sydney
Families are one of the best things we can be gifted with and nothing can beat the fun times we get with our near and dear ones. Be it beaches...
Solvang: California's Little Denmark
Kathleen Curry and Geoff Griffin
Join Travel Brigade for out radio podcast episode in Solvang, a California town that feels like it's in the middle of...
Visiting Rome in One Weekend
What to See With Limited Time in the Historic City Though Rome merits an extended visit, it's possible-with a basic plan, some energy, and a...
Why Travel France? – France Tourist...
rakesh jha
France is the country that receives over 82 million tourists each year and this number exceeds the total population of country. This makes France the...
Penniless in Sydney, Australia
Hiking, Hippies and Hobbits: Welcome to Hogsback
Best of Glacier Country Tourism


Five healthcare executives including hospital leaders Gary Mecklenburg and Ronald Spaeth stand to collect part of the approximately $210 million that Select Medical Holdings Corp. is paying to buy Regency Hospital Co., in which they are all part owners. But company officials are mum on how the money will be distributed.
Mecklenburg is the former chairman of the American Hospital Association and former president and CEO of Northwestern Memorial HealthCare. Spaeth, a former AHA board member, was a longtime Chicago-area hospital CEO and president of the Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Foundation.
The Regency sale agreement, which was made public through SEC filings, says the other individual sellers besides Mecklenburg and Spaeth are: George Bruton, a vice president and founding member of Alpharetta, Ga.-based Regency; Anne Mullendore, a senior vice president and founding member of Regency; and Rod Laughlin, a founder and longtime president of Regency who today is vice president of development.
The deal to buy Regency was announced last month (June 28, p. 8). The other seller included in the deal is Chicago-based private equity firm Waud Capital Partners, which formed Regency along with Laughlin in 2001 to operate long-term acute-care hospitals. The records do not disclose how proceeds of the sale will be distributed among the principals.
Regency is the second Waud-owned company of which Mecklenburg was chairman to be sold off to investors this year. He was, and remains, chairman of the Canton, Ohio-based Hospitalist Management Group, which provides outsourced hospitalist physician management. HMG was sold to another private equity firm in April under undisclosed terms.
Mecklenburg is an executive partner at Waud Capital Partners, the private equity firm that controls Regency as part of a portfolio that also includes a petroleum company, a pharmaceutical research group and a litigation outsourcing firm. Mecklenburg also serves as chairman of the board at Regency.
Reeve Waud , the founder and managing partner of Waud Capital, is an unpaid member of the board of directors of the Northwestern Memorial Foundation, according to tax filings of the charitable hospital foundation.
Mecklenburg retired in 2006 from Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, the corporate parent of 873-bed Northwestern Memorial Hospital, an academic medical center in Chicago. Mecklenburg today also serves as a director of medical equipment supplier Becton, Dickinson & Co., the Franklin Lakes, N.J.-based firm widely known by its brand name, BD.
Spaeth was president and CEO of Highland Park (Ill.) Hospital from 1983 through 2002 before he became president of the Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Foundation. His other past roles include serving on the board of directors of the AHA and the board of commissioners of the Joint Commission, as well as a current role as a director at Stericycle, a medical waste disposal company based in Lake Forest, Ill.


text:
Today's Stichomancy for Cameron Diaz
The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lay Morals by Robert Louis Stevenson:
found Nance alone; and, laying by some of his reserve, talked before her rather than to her of his destiny, character and hopes. To Nance these interviews were but a doubtful privilege. At times he would seem to take a pleasure in her presence, to consult her gravely, to hear and to discuss her counsels; at times even, but these were rare and brief, he would talk of herself, praise the qualities that she possessed, touch indulgently on her defects, and lend her books to read and even examine her upon her reading; but far more often he would fall into a half unconsciousness, put her a question and then answer it himself, drop into the veiled
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne:
public, when they pay. Ten copecks a word, whenever you like, sir!"
Michael was about to reply to this strange clerk that he had no message to send, that he only implored a little bread and water, when the door of the house was again thrown open.
Thinking that it was invaded by Tartars, Michael made ready to leap out of the window, when two men only en- tered the room who had nothing of the Tartar soldier about them. One of them held a dispatch, written in pencil, in his hand, and, passing the other, he hurried up to the wicket
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Finished by H. Rider Haggard:
Now it was after this event that I saw Zikali and begged him to let us go. I found him triumphant and yet strangely disturbed and, as I thought, more apprehensive than I had ever seen him.
"So, Zikali," I said, "if what I hear is true, you have had your way and destroyed the Zulu people. Now you should be happy."
"Is man ever happy, Macumazahn, when he has gained that which he sought for years? The two out there sigh and are sad because they cannot be married after their own white fashion, though what there is to keep them apart I do not know. Well, in time they will be married, only to find that they are not so happy as they thought they would be. Oh! a day will come when they will talk
Support Facade!
Copyright 1993-2020 Facade. All rights reserved. Copying any image or other content on Facade is strictly prohibited. The services of Facade are provided for entertainment purposes only. Please view our Privacy Policy and our Terms and Conditions of Use. Hosting by Entertainment Earth.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Fiona Millward has worked throughout the UK and abroad as a dancer, teacher and choreographer since 1985 and values immensely the alchemy of collaboration that underpins these various roles. She relishes working in different capacities, whether as performer, rehearsal director, choreographic assistant or project lead, and with artists such as Deborah Hay, Gill Clarke, Rosemary Lee, Alex Howard, Darrell Jones, Charlie Morrissey, Victoria Marks, Fin Walker, Erica Stanton, Yael Flexer, and Stephen Koplowitz. In 2001 Fiona was recipient of a joint three year National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) Fellowship for her work with the professional training programme Independent Dance, which she co-directed alongside Gill Clarke from 1996-2011, and continued with Gitta Wigro until 2015. She is a Certified Rolfer™ with practices in Oxford, Bristol and Weston Super Mare.


"SingularisIT cloud servers are delivering us not only a performance advantage but also a cost advantage. Dealing with a boutique service provider has been a pleasant experience compared to the larger managed service providers.
Semon and his team were a pleasure to deal with from the initial contact all the way through going live into production. No pressures and everything was very transparent.
Blue Star Gas depends on the reliability and performance of SingularisIT to run its business and they have delivered on every promise. It is a great comfort to know we have a business partner in Singularis IT that is in tune with our business goals and objectives."
"As a leading provider of business intelligence solutions for the downstream petroleum industry, the predictable implementation of our software platform in its many forms, as well as its uptime reliability remains critical to achieving our continued success.
With our partnership and support of the highly technical resources of SingularisIT, we are able to provide to our clients what appears to them as a seamless implementation of our software solution, which is very reliant on the effective hosting of and access to our warehouses, coupled with successful connectivity to multiple source systems across the country.
"As a software company with products that are processing vast amount of data, we needed something impossible. On one hand, we required an elastic scalability and operational convenience of a large cloud provider. On the other hand, we demanded highest performance and personalized services of a high-end data center.
SingularisIT has met all our demands and delivered an efficient solution for our development, processing, and operational needs. The level of reliability, security, and support fully matches our expectations. Collaboration with SingularisIT is one of the cornerstones of our company's strategic development and growth."
That is how I would sum up our experience with SingularisIT. In my 30+ years of experience with IT firms, I have never worked with a company as organized, helpful, pleasant, knowledgeable, and successful in exceeding my expectations as SingularisIT.
It started with our conversion in 2016. We were quickly approaching the holidays, and while we wanted to convert during our slower season. Had anything gone wrong, I would have been working over the holidays which would have definitely dampened my spirit. Fortunately, for the first time ever, as a result of the excellent support provided by SingularisIT, I can say that we had zero issues and I did not have to work over Thanksgiving!
Since then, the team has been responsive, provided insights and leadership in areas I know nothing about, helpful, and over all seem invested in making sure we can do our job and stay on budget.
I am fortunate to have been referred to them and grateful to have made the decision to work with them.
"We have been working with SingularisIT for nearly a year and could not be more pleased with the relationship! This organization is not a vendor; they are a partner in the truest sense of the word.
Here's a great example: we recently made a decision to bring on a new software development partner to assist us with some strategic re-platforming opportunities. Semon and Brennan insisted they be involved in early discussions including the kickoff meeting in order to ensure alignment with both strategic direction and tactical infrastructure needs.
This approach has led to a seamless operation from a continuous integration/continuous deployment perspective. My software developers can focus on developing the new system rather than worrying about configuration of the necessary infrastructure.
"We rely on the knowledge of the SingularisIT team to address our current needs, as well as provide accurate projections of future needs to ensure our infrastructure is built to grow with us. Their response time is always incredibly timely on any support needs.


text:
LAM aims to apply methylation cancer testing to blood
The cancer blood testing company Laboratory for Advanced Medicine is ready to compete on price, which might be necessary in a market already thronged with products.
One of the potential flaws of liquid biopsy tests that rely on the detection of tumour DNA in a patient's blood is that the tumour has to grow to a sufficient size to shed appreciable quantities of genetic material, making detection at an early, relatively treatable stage of disease that much harder.
Laboratory for Advanced Medicine, or LAM, reckons it has found a better way. Its IvyGene tests work by detecting methylation levels of DNA, a gene expression marker that correlates with cancer and can be picked up at an earlier stage.
"Methylation may be telling the immune system not to kill the tumour," says Richard Brand, LAM's chief financial officer. "That's just a hypothesis – we don't know that for sure. But we do know that methylation is prevalent at elevated levels, even when the tumour's beginning."
There are certainly precedents for this technique, notably Exact Sciences' highly successful Cologuard colorectal cancer test (Promotion deal is huge boost for Exact – but Pfizer must deliver, August 23, 2018). But this assesses DNA methylation in stool samples, not blood.
LAM's cancer tests have posted promising data on accuracy. At the AACR meeting last month the company's liver cancer panel showed an overall sensitivity of 95% and specificity of 97.5%. Its breast cancer test had overall sensitivity of 89% and specificity of 96%, and its colorectal cancer test 93% sensitivity and 100% specificity.
For comparison, Exact claims sensitivity of 92% and specificity of 87% for its colorectal cancer test.
LAM's liver cancer test has recently gone on sale in the US under Clia certification. It is the company's second marketed product, its first being the IvyGene Core Test, a basic form of a pan-cancer liquid biopsy.
"Our first product on the market is a pan-cancer test which has clinical utility but is not good enough to detect the tissue of origin," Mr Brand says. It is therefore only useful for patients who are already suspected to have a specific type of cancer.
"We have sales for that service," Mr Brand says. "But where we're focusing going forward is cancer-specific tests, and over time we will have 10 or 12 of these; and we will bundle those into a really rock-solid pan-cancer test, which would say that the patient has cancer and be able to detect the tissue of origin."
That's the company's goal. In the meantime it is pursuing these single-cancer tests. The IvyGene Liver Test ought to be particularly useful for US patients who have cirrhosis, many of whom go on to develop liver cancer. Current guidelines call for cirrhosis patients to be evaluated by ultrasound every six months, but accuracy for ultrasound as a means of detecting hepatic cancer is under 77%. Mr Brand says the more accurate IvyGene Liver Test is appealing to doctors.
The test is also on sale in China, where LAM is focusing on patients who have hepatitis – a similar strategy to that of the company's fellow liver cancer test maker Oncimmune (Deals and data in the offing for Oncimmune, April 25, 2019).
Going on the LAM
Last year LAM had sales of $1.5m, Mr Brand says, all of which came from the IvyGene Core Test, then its only product. The group was not spending heavily on sales and marketing at the time, he adds – but now LAM has raised some additional capital and will, for the first time, have a budget for active commercialisation.
"The good news is we know that people will buy the service and pay out of pocket even without any sort of marketing," Mr Brand says. The tests cost $400, he says, and LAM is in discussions with payers to seek reimbursement. A study to demonstrate the tests' economic benefit to payers is expected to report in the next nine months.
LAM is also keenly aware that Clia certification might soon no longer be enough to keep the tests on the market in the US, and has trials under way that could allow full FDA approval as well as potentially boosting sales.
But cancer blood testing is a red-hot area of device development right now, and LAM will have to cope with an ever-increasing number of potential competitors.
"We're preparing for the eventuality that price may be important, in the minds of the governments, the payers and the regulators," Mr Brand says. The group has a five-year plan to reduce the cost of its tests dramatically so it can be responsive to either competitive pressures or payers' demands.
The lure of the liquid biopsy is strong, and LAM is close to concluding its first funding round involving institutional investors; so far it has raised a little over $70m, all from mega-high-net-worth family offices. This could help usher its breast and colorectal tests onto the market. Then it will be over to the group's sales and marketing efforts.
Laboratory for Advanced Medicine
Oncocyte banks on a new kind of liquid biopsy
Thrive emerges with cash, a cancer blood test, and a plan
Deals and data in the offing for Oncimmune
Interview – Aiming for a new Angle on liquid biopsy


text:
Homeowner tased but he fires back!
Your home should be your castle. You should feel safe and secure in your own home. Unfortunately, there are others who feel they can break in and steal from you. For one would be robber in Arizona he got more than he bargined for. Thankfully, the homeowner had a gun and was able to use it after being tased by the robber. To this day, I do not understand why criminals think its ok to steal what others work hard for. Especially, today when Americans are more apt to protect themselves and their property with fire power. Get a job, work for what you earn. It just may save your life! Crime does not pay. A taser isn't much of a match against a firearm!
"A home invasion suspect was shot and killed after allegedly tasing a homeowner in Kingman, Arizona, around 7:30 p.m. Saturday night."
"According to 3TV/CBS 5, the homeowner said the suspect "got into the house and robbed him." Mohave County Sheriff's Office deputies said the suspect tased the homeowner "several times" while in the house, but at some point, the homeowner was able to retrieve a gun and fatally wound the suspect."


text:
Karl Kim presents to the United States Indonesia Society in Jakarta
Dr. Karl Kim, Executive Director for the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center (NDPTC) at the University of Hawaii recently gave a speech ... Read More
UH Faculty Received By Sultan of Tidore
Dr. Karl Kim, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning and Executive Director of the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center at the University of Hawaii, met with the Sultan of Tidore... Read More
NDPTC presents at the Vigilant Guard/PACOM Event
Mr. Ray Tsuchiyama, Deputy Director, and Mr. Owen Shieh, Weather and Climate Program Manager at the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center ... Read More
Mr. Ray Tsuchiyama has been named deputy director of the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center (NDPTC)
Ray Tsuchiyama has been named deputy director of the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center... Read More
UH disaster preparedness center featured on Discovery Channel
Innovations with Ed Begley, Jr. will showcase the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center (NDPTC) at the University of Hawaii.... Read More
NDPTC Establishes Inaugural Joint Science Internship for Pacific Resilience and Security (JSIPRS)
This summer, the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center (NDPTC) is hosting its inaugural annual Joint Science Internship for Pacific Resilience and Security... Read More
Custom version of Coastal Community Resilience is delivered at Cape May
A Custom version of Coastal Community Resilience is delivered at Cape May on May 7, 2015... Read More
NDPTC have discussions with Delegates from India through the U.S. State Department
The National Disaster Preparedness Training Center hosted a roundtable discussion at the UH East-West Center with a delegation of business and government officials from India through a U.S. State Department program. ... Read More
HURRIPLAN delivered to architects at the 2015 AIA National Convention
Over 40 architects from across the country participated in a custom one-day delivery of PER-306: HURRIPLAN: Resilient Building Design for Coastal Communities at the AIA National Convention in Atlanta... Read More