Dara Palmer’s Major Drama
“Dara’s larger-than-life personality and true-to-life middle grade issues command center stage until the curtain falls.” —School Library Journal, Starred Review
Dara Palmer is destined to be a star, and she’s writing herself the role of a lifetime.
Dara longs for stardom—but when she isn’t cast in her middle school’s production of The Sound of Music, she get suspicious. It can’t be because she’s not the best. She was born to be a famous movie star. It must because she’s adopted from Cambodia and doesn’t look like a typical fraulein. (That’s German for girl.)
So irrepressible Dara comes up with a genius plan to shake up the school: write a play about her own life. Then she’ll have to be the star.
Praise for Dream On, Amber:
A Booklist 2015 Top 10 First Novels for Youth
A Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2015
“[This] novel is a charmer…While its humor and illustrations lend it Wimpy Kid appeal, its emotional depth makes it stand out from the pack.”—Booklist Starred review
“A gutsy girl in a laugh-out-loud book that navigates tough issues with finesse.” —Kirkus Starred review
“Amber’s effervescent and opinionated narration captivates from the start.” —Publishers Weekly Starred review
“By turns playful and poignant, in both style and substance, this coming-of-age novel will hook readers from the first page to the last.” —School Library Journal Starred review
From Raina Telgemeier, the #1 New York Times bestselling, multiple Eisner Award-winning author of Smile…
Harry Brodribb Irving was a British stage actor and actor-manager; the eldest son of Sir…
Greek Drama
In power, passion, and the brilliant display of moral conflict, the drama of ancient Greece…
Drama Free
"All the World's a Stage"—What Part Will You Play? You know what drama is...in your…
Home Sweet Drama
In Home Sweet Drama, if the girls have learned anything, it’s that only the strong…
LaJill Hunt's wildly successful first novel entertains readers with the tale of a woman who…
← Sleeping Beauty: A Moment to Remember Stone Fox →


Leo Costa
Sometimes you just gotta say screw it, let's go eat!
Developing a proper habit and mindset that can endure a kick-ass weight training regimen that produces results forever. Certainly, for those in which this ideal applies, this is utopia. The reality of this, however, is so far off the spectrum, it cannot be seen with the naked eye.
And yet for the hardcore athlete/ real bodybuilder/ or those with a death wish, it doesn't matter, because we will toil away, day in, day out, beating the crap out of our body, damned or doomed to defy the laws of physiology. We are those who are incessant about knowing everything about training. We eat, breathe and live it, hell we read everything in site and then some, even if it's in a foreign language.
We will ask the infinite amount of questions to the point of absurdity, just to find the magic bullet that will produce sick results beyond belief. But this still isn't good enough, because we need to go to the next level and try everything we've learned, because there's no better way than the first-hand experience. Now it gets really good, because suddenly after thousands of hours and reps in the gym we start getting results, which to us looks and feels like the utopia we imagine.
This is when the fire in our belly really ignites. Hell, our whole body is on fire. The intensity of our training just continues to increase, scarily. The weight training sessions that were once hard to get through look like child's play compared to how we train now. Now every workout is harder than the next.
Your now certain not only do you see utopia, you are convinced you're in it, and then from one day to the next, it happens. You wake up, psyched for your upcoming training session, then all of a sudden the energy leaves your body like someone reached in your body and ripped out every last bit. Holy shit you think, I gotta go train. All of a sudden you don't want to. What the hell, yesterday you were a bull in a china closet, and today you're a wimp in pampers.
You feel so damn guilty because you know you should be in the gym kicking ass and taking name's, but by now you know it ain't gonna happen. But here's the truth, when you really train with this kind of unrelenting intensity, although mentally you want to hit the gym, physically, whether you know it or not, your body needs rest. When this happens, and it shouldn't happen very often, you gotta just say screw it, and go eat, rest, and enjoy the hell out of it, minus the guilt trip of course. No worries, tomorrow will be back soon enough for you to get back to your kick-ass workout.
Your trainer is probably confusing the hell out of your body
When and why you should cycle your supplement regimen...


RIDLEY SCOTT ASSOCIATES DOES SAINSBURY'S CHRISTMAS 2013
Sainsbury's say their Christmas campaign for 2013 is the boldest project they've done. Do you think it has outdone the others as this year's ultimate yuletide tearjerker?
The idea behind the campaign is simple, but one that viewers have found to be the most moving. Sainbury’s teamed up with production company Ridley Scott Associates to create a heartfelt Christmas campaign that was filmed by people around the UK and directed by Oscar-winning director, Kevin MacDonald (Marley, The Last King of Scotland, Touching the Void).
“Christmas In A Day” premiered as a three and a half minute trailer on UK television on 13 November, made up of a carefully edited patchwork of home videos shot last year - including a man planning his Christmas roast on a spreadsheet, families waking up enthusiastically to presents and three children desperately missing their father who is stationed in Afghanistan… (just watch it).
Can people’s amateur videos be this touching? To one of their Facebook followers who asked if those featured were actors, Sainbury’s assured that “there are no actors in our Christmas In a Day film. All the clips were sourced from real people, sharing their Christmas experience”.
Some 360 hours of footage was submitted by 114 families all over the UK, which was then created into a film over 14 months. Sainsbury’s will release the full 47-minute film on 29 November on their YouTube channel.
The festive campaign is a nod to “Life In A Day,” a docu-drama crowdsourced from YouTube submissions, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011. It was produced by Ridley Scott and also directed by Kevin MacDonald.
“MacDonald's film, captures a true look at what Christmas in Britain is really like today,” says RSA Films.
“The result, Christmas In A Day, is a beautiful and moving document created from over 360 hours of festive footage submitted by people from all over the UK.”
Mark Given, Head of Brand Communications at Sainsbury's says it is the boldest project they have done.
“We wanted to capture this richness and diversity and lift the lid on how Britain really celebrates Christmas.
“To show real Christmas rather than an airbrushed, picture perfect version that few people can really identify with.
“We took a deliberately experimental attitude to the project. Kevin had total creative freedom and we accepted that there was no way of knowing what the end result would be or what we would do with it.”
Video Sainsbury's "Christmas in a Day, Full Length Trailer" produced by Ridley Scott Associates and Scott Free Films and directed by Kevin MacDonald (Rogue Films)
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You might like: Ridley Scott: rediscover the iconic director's sci-fi ads | Editor's Blog Christmas 2013 ad round-up


Meghan's entourage for her trip to Morocco is missing one important person
By Samantha Stewart| 5 months ago
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have flown in to Casablanca ahead of their three-day royal tour in Morocco. Meghan, who is due to give birth in just two months, is travelling with an entourage of nine people, however there's one important figure absent.
Her royal squad includes two assistant private secretaries, three communications team members, a digital officer, a programme coordinator, a logistics coordinator and a hairdresser.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex is welcomed by British Ambassador to Morocco (Getty)
Noticeably missing from the group is a doctor for the heavily pregnant duchess – someone you’re likely to want by your side when you’re a heavily pregnant woman. However, according to official sources "medical provisions have been made" for the weekend trip.
The couple will be staying at a royal residence in in the North African country as guests of Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, who they will have a meeting with on Monday afternoon. During the short trip, Meghan and Harry will also be travelling to Asni, a town in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, just outside the capital of Rabat.
There's no doctor in the royal entourage (Getty)
Here they will be welcomed with a performance of traditional music at a boarding school for teenage girls, built by charity Education for All, an organisation which promotes education for girls living in rural regions. The Duchess will also experience a traditional Moroccan henna ceremony.
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive at Casablanca Airport (Getty)
The tour comes just a few days after Meghan returned to the UK from New York with Amal Clooney following her lush baby shower. The private jet had been paid for by Clooney, who was also returning to the UK.
Meghan's baby shower saw the Duchess jet to New York for five days to celebrate the upcoming birth of her first child with a group of 20 of her closest friends. The event took place at the $104,000 per night penthouse suite at the Upper East Side hotel, The Mark.
A handy guide to the friends Meghan's been hanging out with in New York
Meghan Markle Baby


Home » All » This House of Grief by Helen Garner
This House of Grief by Helen Garner
Posted by Ms A on October 13, 2014 in All, Book Club Fodder | Leave a comment
In September this year, an apparently loving father from Lockhardt, NSW shot his wife and three children before killing himself. This incomprehensible tragedy sent shockwaves across the country and left us all scratching for an explanation. By pure co-incidence, Helen Garner’s second non-fiction book based on a case involving a father facing murder charges for drowning his three sons in 2005 hit the shelves. Call me sad but I just couldn’t help but want to know more.
Just like her most recent non-fiction novel (Joe Cinque’s Consolation) Garner has in impressive track record of presenting facts with the flair of a fiction writer. In this book she had me hooked from the outset with the harrowing details of the 2008 trial of Robert Farquharson from the small country town of Winchelsa, Victoria. After his wife pulled the pin on their marriage, Robert moved in with his widowed father and did his best to get on with his life. Although grieving, no one could have foreseen what he did on Father’s Day 2005 when he drove his car into a freezing dam with his three sons (aged 2, 7 and 10) in the back. He escaped the sinking car unscathed and left the three boys to drown.
For this book, Garner sat through seven weeks of evidence in the Supreme Court of Victoria which included painful testimonials, boring technicalities and grizzly, drawn out reconstructions of the scene. All she wanted was an explanation. She was as conscientious as anyone present in terms of the facts presented but also managed to weave in her own doubts and observations on the evidence presented. While the barristers were interrogating witnesses in the box, she was watching for the the way they held their heads during the breaks. Her descriptions of the daily rhythms and tensions of the room are so humble and uncomplicated and set a reflective backdrop to the protocols and technicalities of the judicial process.
When I first picked up this book, I assumed the title “This House of Grief” was referring to the Farquharson family home but when I read back through the dedication, I realised it was a reference to the courthouse itself and you can see why. This is painstakingly constructed and very sad story with no happy ending. As a conscientious observer of human nature, I enjoyed the re-telling of this case through Garner’s eyes where technical details are secondary and human frailties and motives tell all. I only wish she had been able to unearth an explanation.
← The Children Act by Ian McEwan The Mandarin Code by Steve Lewis and Chris Uhlmann →


Powaqqatsi
Last updated by Darren on 03 July 2009
Powaqqatsi, Godfrey Reggio's sequel to Koyaanisqatsi , Released in 1988, 99 minutes.
Powaqqatsi is the second part of Godfrey Reggio's Qatsi trilogy.
Powaqqatsi concentrates on people of the developing world. Images from Brazil, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Nepal, and Peru make the film a good contrast to Koyaanisqatsi. Powaqqatsi concentrates more on people and less on their creations or surroundings than in Koyaanisqatsi.
The images are beautiful and show the people of the developing world in a great way. The different colours found in South America, Asia and Africa are more vivid when shown in films such as Powaqqatsi. The insight into the everyday lives of these people is excellent. Powaqqatsi nearly puts you close enough to smell the cooking food, fresh fish and nearby fires.
Powaqqatsi shows groups of people and their movements well, perhaps better than any of the other films such as Baraka or Koyaanisqatsi. People and their crafts are well show in Powaqqatsi. The daily lives of many religions are made clearer. Powaqqatsi overlaps in places with Koyaanisqatsi. The very long shot of the passing railway freight train is very reminiscent of Koyaanisqatsi. The images of crowded city streets remind me of Baraka.
Buy Powaqqatsi if you like Baraka and Koyaanisqatsi.
"Where KOYAANISQATSI dealt with the imbalance between nature and modern society, POWAQQATSI is a celebration of the human-scale endeavor the craftsmanship, spiritual worship, labor and creativity that defines a particular culture. It's also a celebration of rareness - the delicate beauty in the eyes of an Indian child, the richness of a tapestry woven in Katmandu - and yet an observation of how these societies move to a universal drumbeat."
Serra Pelada, Para , Brazil
No suggestion
Serra Pelada, Brazil
Serra Pelada, Para State, Brazil. As well as the others pictures before.
Gold Mine in Brasil
1 other suggestions
Hunting for food and goods in Mumbai garbage dump.
Rice Terraces in the Philippines: Ifugao Province, Cordillera Region
bhaktapur, nepal (descriped as walking route 2 in the lonley planet - but/and ???
Thar desert, Rajasthan, India
¿Verán esos ojos el futuro?
cambodja (from siem riep to battambang by boat)
Varanasi (Benares)
These womans are from Cusco, Peru.
She may be a cusquenian woman, in the sunday market of Pisac.
Camel fair, Pushkar, Rajasthan, India
Prayer wheel, containing inside millions of rolls of prayer paper.
Butterlamp offerings.
Have you seen the Moon?
This is Swayambhu in Nepal/
The biggest stupa of Nepal, Bodnath, Nepal
Island of Taquile, Lake Titicaca - Peru http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taquile_Island
Island of Tacquile, Lake Titicaca - Peru
Island of Tacquile, lake Titicaca - Peru see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Taquile_festiva
Train carrying coal to the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Eiffel Tower?
time will tell, the rich man's heaven is the poor man's hell...
This is the view out of a "Pater Noster" Lift, probably in Germany or Austria.
The image is easily recognizable as Hong Kong's distinctively-shaped Cross Harbour Tunnel, the first
Varanasi India /burning ghats
This is one of the double decker electric trams running through Central in Hong Kong.
somewhere in Peru
The Wailing wall, Jerusalem
These girls are schoolgirls from Peru.
the kathedral in the city of berlin
Raw sewage being dumped in a bay; Hong Kong in the background.
CGI stock footage of USA and Soviet missiles above Earth
This is a shot of a Boeing 707 taking off from the now-demolished Kai Tak Airport in Kowloon Bay, Ho
new territories, hong kong. i guess.
Calcutta (Kolkata)
Russi - Sibir
Cuzco, Peru
Northsouth: Life on the Edge (USA working title)
Directed and Produced by Godfrey Reggio.
Produced by Mel Lawrence & Lawrence Taub.
Edited by Iris Cahn & Alton Walpole.
Music by Philip Glass.


On the Set of No Offence with Saira Choudhry
We're on the set of the third series of Channel 4's hit crime drama No Offence. Chatting with key cast about the upcoming run.
Read our chat with Joanna Scanlan
Read our Chat with Alexandra Roach
Read Our chat with series newcomer Lisa Mcgrillis
Read our chat with Elaine Cassidy
Read our chat with Will Mellor
I'm on the set of Channel 4's No Offence as the cast film scenes for the third series. Saira Choudhry sits before us with her lunch on her lap having been whisked away to perform press duties but any vain attempts to actually eat it are soon forgotten.
She plays the confident and brassy PC Tegan Thompson and we need to know if she's still going to be a force? "Yes, she's still a force! She's got a lot this series and I'm really happy about it. I'm also really happy I get to work with my daughter. Leah is playing a teenage girl who has a goat! She auditioned about three weeks ago. She's only done one job before this so it's a massive thing for her. I feel blessed being able to work in the same scene, Not many actors get that in a lifetime. We've not shot the scene yet but I'm a great lover of animals so it should be fine!" Yes, it's the goat scene crime drama never knew it needed. Let's just say, you won't want to miss it.
Acting is obviously in the family blood. "I've got my own drama school called 'TV Talent'. It's for kids in Manchester and they come in a do some supporting artist work in one of the episodes. It was great for them to spend a day on set and experience what it's like. it was a great day for everyone. I got so many messages from parents and children saying how brilliant it was to experience it and meet the cast."
What's in store for Tegan this year? "My relationship with Stuart is still going, that's always up and down and we have some issues that go on as well. I think they work because they're such opposite energies and they don't work for the same reason. Tegan probably needs to give Stuart a bit of a break! She's hard on him but I think he likes it!" Away from romance, is there fun to be had on the mean streets? "I've got some really exciting stuff for episode six which I'm really looking forward to. Tegan gets into a bit of danger. It's probably one of the biggest challenges I've faced in my career. I'm really excited about it, there's some really heavy stuff. The action stuff is what I love most to be honest. The fast cars and chasing criminals around. it's exciting."
What do you like about playing Tegan? "Her strength, she's very good at her job. I like the fact she's quite feisty. Sometimes she says things without thinking. She's very ambitious and looks up to Deering because she's such a force. Tegan sees herself as a younger version, someone who's going to grow into that."
The series is notorious for being open-minded and brave, do you feel that's missing from most television? "I think this show offers diversity. I don't think it pigeonholes anybody or goes into stereotypes. We need to be more open-minded and just see people as people and represent that as well. I think this show does. When I first got into acting I got asked to do these roles that were stereotypical Asian girls. I was totally against it because for one I'm mixed race, my mum's Irish and my dad's Indian. That in itself was an experience, my whole life was like East Is East! I refuse to do that and I think it's our responsibility as actors, writers and producers to show the real world how it is."
"I was at college when I had Leah and I took a couple of years out and went back to uni because I thought it was never going to stop me doing what I was going to do. i went back to uni and did a course on TV and radio and then realised I wanted to be in front of the camera so I left there and went to a place called 'Manchester School Of Acting' for six months and got an audition for Hollyoaks which was my first job and I was there for three years! I can still say it's a great training ground."
She went on to form her drama school when leaving Hollyoaks. "I was twenty-five but playing fifteen-year-olds! I used to get a load of teenagers following me around the supermarket asking "how did u get in telly?!" I thought there's a demand for this, people want to know. I hired the local leisure centre and was absolutely inundated. I started to really enjoy it so opened one up on the other side of Manchester and there's now six. Whenever I'm not filming I will be there to teach but our drama school is all about creating confidence. It's not all about acting, it's about them believing in themselves."
Shooting locally certainly brings an air of nostalgia as Saira is one of the only main cast members who doesn't need to put on an accent. "This is a brilliant job for me as I only live ten minutes from here. I get to work for five months and go home to my life which I think is important. .Location filming to me is quite special as it's in Manchester. It might be where I've been to college, where I first went for a drink or near a friends house. I remember shooting on a market in series two and I went to that market when I was eight with my Nana, I never thought at eight I'd be shooting here. It felt special."
Is police work something you could see yourself doing? "The police do an amazing job and risk their lives every day and we don't really think about that. I'm not that brave. A lot of our supporting artists are either still in the police or ex-police and they tell us everything we need to know. They do it a lot better than me though. I remember when I first put the uniform on in series 1 I felt like G.I. Jane but now when I put it on it's like putting on Tegan's skin. It just feels right." We leave Saira to have a second attempt at lunch before putting Tegan's skin back on.
No Offence returns Thursday 13th September 9.00pm on Channel 4
Labels: Channel 4, interviews, No Offence, Previews, UK drama series


Clean Lignin
Industrial Alcohol
June 20, 2017 Jonathan Sherwood Press Release
Sweetwater Energy Announces Dr. Markus Buehler of MIT as newest Board Member
Sweetwater Energy, Inc., a Rochester NY-based renewable bioproducts producer, announced today that Dr Markus Buehler, the McAfee Professor of Engineering and Head of Department, Civil and Environmental Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has become the newest member of Sweetwater’s board of directors. Dr. Buehler also directs MIT’s Laboratory for Atomistic and Molecular Mechanics (LAMM). Following undergraduate studies in Chemical Engineering at the University of Stuttgart, and earning a Master’s Studies in Engineering Mechanics at Michigan Tech, he received a Ph.D. in Chemistry (Materials Science) from the University of Stuttgart. After postdoctoral work at Caltech, he joined the faculty of MIT in 2006 and rose through the ranks of Assistant Professor and Associate Professor to full Professor. Dr. Buehler will be using his expertise in materials science to lead exploration in advanced technology, new markets and products for Sweetwater’s clean cellulosic sugars and Ultra-lignin™.
“Sweetwater Energy is delighted that Dr. Markus Buehler, one of the world’s pre-eminent researchers and thought leaders in lignin and materials science, has enthusistiacally agreed to join our Board of Directors and lead our efforts in the development of advanced technology and sustainable products”, says Arunas Chesonis, Chairman and CEO at Sweetwater.
In his research, Dr. Buehler pursues new modeling, design and manufacturing approaches for advanced sustainable materials that offer a wide range of controllable properties from the nanoscale to macroscale. With his background in nanomaterials, Professor Buehler will be able to not only explore new products pathways, but also help Sweetwater’s engineers improve the quality of its lignin for many high value markets. Dr. Buehler has published more than 320 scholarly articles on multiscale materials and authored several monographs. His most recent book “Biomateriomics” presents a new paradigm for the analysis of materials and structures to devise sustainable technologies using a mathematical categorization approach that connects insights from disparate fields, such as biology and materials science, to music and language.
“I’m very excited to join the Board of Directors at Sweetwater Energy. The work accomplished to date at Sweetwater, and that which we will accomplish together, has the potential to truly change our planet as we bring renewable and sustainable carbon technology products to market that successfully compete with products hitherto derived from petroleum,” says Dr. Markus Buehler of MIT.
Dr. Buehler has received a large number of awards and recognitions, including Harold E. Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award for exceptional distinction in teaching, research or scholarship, the highest honor bestowed on young MIT faculty. Other major awards include the Alfred Noble Prize, the Leonardo da Vinci Award, the Thomas J. R. Hughes Young Investigator Award, and a number of other recognitions from professional societies. He is also a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award, the United States Air Force Young Investigator Award, the Navy Young Investigator Award, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award, as well as the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), which is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their careers. He was an invitee to several National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering Symposia and has delivered several plenary lectures at this forum. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and NANOSMAT Society. In 2016, he was awarded the Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology.
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Sweetwoods Named as Biofuels Digest’s #7 Cellulosic Project in the World
Watch “Sweetwoods Explained in 3 Minutes” Video
Sweetwater Moves Headquarters to Eastman Business Park
Sweetwater CFO Keith Wilson Becomes Ubiquitous Energy CEO
SWEETWOODS Consortium brings together 9 European bio-innovation oriented stakeholders
ABOUT SWEETWATER ENERGY
Sweetwater Energy uses a unique technology for producing low-cost sugars and clean lignin from multiple non-food plant materials to help meet the modern world's increasing bioenergy and biochemical demand.
Sweetwater has a comprehensive intellectual property portfolio of issued and pending patents. Sweetwater's highly efficient technology and process allows the company to produce very high quality sugars and unique, clean, non-sulphonated lignin fiber. Extensive testing with multiple third-party companies has proven that both our sugars and lignin shine as platform feedstocks for many final products.
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7 More Adoptions A Day is All We Need
Someone made a misleading statement on our Facebook page the other day, and I'd like to set the record straight. This page has been known to say that Long Beach could be No Kill in 3 months if the right programs were in place. Don't get us wrong - we don't mean half-heartedly put in place, done in half-measures or done only here and there. (That's the current practice). We mean FULLY put in place, vigorously pursued with a STRONG and KNOWLEDGEABLE leader, using data that is readily available or gatherable to inform staff practices.
We stand by that claim. Here's why:
LBACS killed 1662 animals last year. That means that in order to save all of those animals, LBACS would need to do approximately 7 more adoptions per day each day that the shelter is open than they currently do.
That number may even be slightly lower since some small percentage of the animals at LBACS are truly incurable or unable to be helped medically.
Now - let's look at the population of Long Beach. Approximately 500,000 people live in Long Beach.
In a city the size of Long Beach, it is absolutely, beyond the shadow of a doubt, completely feasible for a City agency with more than $4 million budget at its disposal to do 7 more adoptions per day than they are currently doing.
LBACS doesn't have an animal INTAKE problem; it has an animal ADOPTION problem. LBACS simply does not maximize its ability to do adoptions. It doesn't have a lifesaving culture at the higher levels of management, and the lower levels of staff and volunteers are left scrambling.
Sacramento has a lifesaving culture with a knowledgeable leader who makes lifesaving a priority and pushes hard for it each and every day she wakes up and goes to work.
Austin has a lifesaving culture - same situation as Sacramento, but their lifesaving plan is codified by a city ordinance (Bravo, Austin - that will save animals' lives for decades to come).
Washoe County, NV has a lifesaving culture -
Petaluma, CA has a lifesaving culture -
Pike County, KY has a lifesaving culture -
Jefferson County, OH has a lifesaving culture -
The list goes on and on.
So - don't let it be said that we can't go No Kill in LB and do so immediately.
We can.
But we don't. And Ted Stevens has set as his goal for the coming year to "shoot for under a thousand" euthanasias. That is NOT the mindset we need in our city shelter. Life-affirming is what we need. We need to shoot for 1662 lives SAVED, not lives killed.
That's why people need to raise awareness of what's going on at the Long Beach shelter. Even as we wait for the Audit to happen, there is no guarantee that it will result in change (more on this in a later post).
Please write to your city council member and tell them you want a STRONG adoption program that is separate from SpcaLA at the Long Beach shelter.
Contact info for LB City Council is here: https://goo.gl/y7QqpF
They NEED our help.


Speaking of readings, the first thing to know is that there actually are two different types of Tarot readings: question readings and open readings. In question readings, you are addressing a specific question. Tarot is not intended to answer specific yes or no questions. Most say it also shouldn't be used to make decisions, but instead should be used as a guide to help you make the decision yourself. For this reason, the way a question is stated is very important. Tarot reader and teacher Joan Bunning gives this advice:
I work for the highest good, consider myself a child of God, and believe in a Higher Power; therefore, I wouldn’t attract this type of energy. I’m not that keen to call them “bad spirits,” as I’d rather refer to them as spirits that exist at a lower vibration and dwell in the lower spheres of the Spirit World. They’re just farther away from the Divine Source, so it will take longer for them to reach a higher level.
By comparing various decks from different time periods, tarot-card enthusiasts can identify the evolution of certain illustrations. “For example,” says Matthews, “the modern version of the hermit with the lantern, you’ll find that that was an hourglass and he was Saturn or Chronos, the keeper of time. You can see how that translates with the Tarot Bolognese meaning of delay or blockage. It was about time moving slowly, though that’s not used as a modern meaning much now.”
“When we used to send telegrams, each word costs money,” Matthews explains, “so you’d have to send very few words like, ‘Big baby. Mother well. Come to hospital.’ And you’d get the gist of it. I read cards in a very similar way—starting from a few general keywords and making sense of them by filling in the words that are missing. This isn’t the tarot style of reading where you project things, like, ‘I can see that you’ve recently had a great disappointment. Mercury is in retrograde and da da da.’ A cartomantic reading is much more straightforward and pragmatic, for example, ‘Your wife will eat tomatoes and fall off the roof and die horribly.’ It’s a direct way of reading, a pre-New Age way of reading.”
Brigit Esselmont is the author of the #1 Amazon best-selling books the Ultimate Guide to Tarot Card Meanings and the Biddy Tarot Planner, and the brand new book and Tarot deck, Everyday Tarot. A professional Tarot reader for more than 20 years, Brigit founded Biddy Tarot in 1999, where each year more than 4.5 million people (like you!) are inspired to live more mindful and enlightened lives, using the Tarot as a guide.
An experiment conducted by the British Psychological Society in 2005 suggests that under the controlled condition of the experiment, people who claimed to be professional mediums do not demonstrate the mediumistic ability. In the experiment, mediums were assigned to work the participants chosen to be "sitters." The mediums claimed to contact the deceased who were related to the sitters. The research gather the numbers of the statements made and have the sitters rate the accuracy of the statements. The readings that were considered to be somewhat accurate by the sitters were very generalized, and the ones that were considered inaccurate were the ones that were very specific.[193]
Most card readers recognize that the associations and preconceptions of the person being read for are just as important as the actual drawings on the cards: Divination cards offer a way to project certain ideas, whether subconscious or not, and to toy with potential outcomes for important decisions. Thus, like scenes from a picture book, the best illustrations typically offer clear visions of their subjects with an open-ended quality, as though the action is unfolding before you.
Each Reading will assist you with the choices that you are choosing in and for your life's path and Soul Life Purpose, recognizing your inner wisdom, and identifying and assisting with the energetic cyclical patterns, axioms, e~motions, and illusions that we choose that are being invited to be shifted which will gift you with the Absoulute Love, Inner Peace, Bliss, Spiritual Oneness, and all that you so desire for your Life Experience. While offering an overview of the soul's path in this Life Experience, each reading also focuses on soul resonance cycle patterns within your Life Experience in the moment and your life choices and why on a soulful resonance that you have chosen these choices with regard to your life and with regard to such matters as relationships, career, geographic location, family and business matters. If you have been asking for clarity about your life path, or would like to connect more deeply with the Spiritual Soul BEing that you are, then this is the reading that will gift you this experience. Many souls have expressed to me receiving major shifts of consciousness and healing during these Spiritual Channeled Soul Readings.
St. John Paul II opens up Fides et Ratio extolling the complementarity of faith and reason; they are “like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.”[v] Every Catholic isn’t expected to get an advanced degree in theology, but each one of us has to understand what we believe. St. Peter reminds us to “always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).
Even the earliest known tarot decks weren’t designed with mysticism in mind; they were actually meant for playing a game similar to modern-day bridge. Wealthy families in Italy commissioned expensive, artist-made decks known as “carte da trionfi” or “cards of triumph.” These cards were marked with suits of cups, swords, coins, and polo sticks (eventually changed to staves or wands), and courts consisting of a king and two male underlings. Tarot cards later incorporated queens, trumps (the wild cards unique to tarot), and the Fool to this system, for a complete deck that usually totaled 78 cards. Today, the suit cards are commonly called the Minor Arcana, while trump cards are known as the Major Arcana.
In a reading, for instance, if you are skeptical, the messages might not be quite as clear as they could be if you were more open-minded. If you are fearful or angry, this low mental energy could inhibit the clarity of the messages. If you are on medication or abusing drugs or alcohol, your mental and emotional clarity could also affect the clarity of the messages.
In contrast, the meanings in other decks are particularly difficult to decipher, like the infamous Thoth tarot developed by Aleister Crowley, notorious for his involvement with various cults and experimentation with recreational drugs and so-called “sex magick.” Completed in 1943, the Thoth deck was illustrated by Lady Frieda Harris and incorporated a range of occult and scientific symbols, inspiring many modern decks. As Wolf explains, “with the rise of the divination market in the 20th century, more liberties were taken, and the imagery evolved into increasingly personal artistic statements, both in content and style of execution.”
A Spiritual Reading is a session in which we connect with your energy and channel information that may come from our Spirit guides, Angels, or helper souls. We can also connect to your Akashic Record, which is comparable to the “Library of Your Soul.” It includes all of your lives – past, present, and future. We can connect and find out what your soul purpose is in this life, we can see which souls traveled with you to this life those that have accompanied you in other lives (soul mates), and we can ask if there is anything that can help you on your path to overcome and understand the lessons you chose to face in this life.
One frequent obstacle with spiritual reading is the question of where to start. There are so many writings of saints, magisterial documents, and enough devotional books and pamphlets to fill a library. Choosing what kind of books to read should have a multi-pronged approach, depending on each individual. I think a great way to organize it is an adaptation of St. John Paul II’s recommendations in Pastores Dabo Vobis. The encyclical was on the training of priests, and he called attention to four basic areas of formation: human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral. Even though most of us aren’t ordained priests, we can still apply this to our spiritual reading habits. Good spiritual reads will ideally aid us in all four of those elements—or at least focus on one or two.
It is most likely connected to a previous life in which there is a lesson that must be learned and overcome. Are you ever drawn to something that you can’t explain? A country? A profession? A life mission? These may be connected to a past life. We can help you understand your past so you can move forward with a renewed passion and understanding of your life’s purpose.
Tarot card readings have long surpassed the chintzy, neon “Fortune Teller” sign store front stereotype, which gives tarot a bad name and should be avoided. Scholarly research indicates that the cards originated in Italy in the 1500s where they were used as a game, called Tarocchi, by the very wealthy. They weren’t interpreted for spiritual divination until the 18th century. There are tarot schools where you can study and huge communities with thousands of Tarosophists who meet online and at conventions around the world.
Do compose your emotions and appearance to hide any revealing information about yourself. Your facial expression, style of dress, personal mannerisms, and emotional outbursts can tell a psychic, especially a false one, a great deal about you to make it look like she knows all these things from a paranormal reading, when in fact, she is merely interpreting your physical appearance or reactions.
A medium that has been screened over several months by the University of Arizona's VERITAS Research Program, and has agreed to uphold a code of spiritual ethics as well as hold a strong commitment to the values of scientific mediumship research. An Integrative Research Medium has undergone several stages of questionnaires, interviews, and tests; participated in training in grief psychology, afterlife science, and human subjects research; and demonstrated a strong ability to report accurate and specific information during double-blinded test readings. In January of 2008, Joanne was invited to continue to participate as a Certified Research Medium in the new mediumship research program, under the direction of Dr. Julie Beischel at the Windbridge Institute for Applied Research in Human Potential.
After giving me short and pretty generic readings, she would allude to more specific stuff that she'd be happy to tell me if I paid more. I obliged one time to this "upgrade" and yeah, it got slightly more specific. She mentioned an issue with an aunt, which could apply to anyone, but definitely applies to me. She mentioned some incorrect stuff about my parents. Then she tried to bait me one more time into paying more for more information and an energy healing. I declined, paid via credit card, and left.
Heart Reading is a miracle tool used to achieve a more thorough understanding of others. This tool can help you improve any relationship, such as between a husband and wife, difficulties in communication with parents, children, friends, employers, co-workers, or anyone else in your life. If you wonder if a person would be an honest and suitabbyle partner in business or a faithful and caring soul mate in love, this is the direct line to the truth inside of their heart.
Jump up ^ Joseph Jastrow. (1935). Patience Worth: An Alter Ego in Wish and Wisdom: Episodes in the Vagaries of Belief. D. Appleton-Century Company. pp. 78–92. Lyon Sprague de Camp. (1966). Spirits, Stars, and Spells. New York: Canaveral. p. 247. Robert Goldenson. (1973). Mysteries of the Mind: The Drama of Human Behavior. Doubleday. pp. 44–53. Milbourne Christopher. (1970). ESP, Seers and Psychics. New York: Crowell. pp. 128–29
"Pull a card and put it under your pillow at night. Let the energy of that card seep into your dreams," she said. "Wake up in the morning; observe the card. Read about what its different meanings are. Is it the major arcana or minor? Is it connected to one of the elements - fire (wands), water (cups), air (swords), or earth (pentacles)? Then notice during the day what happens that might have been a sign from the cards. It's pretty cool when you start connecting the messages."
The word tarot and German Tarock derive from the Italian tarocchi, the origin of which is uncertain but taroch was used as a synonym for foolishness in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.[2][3] The decks were known exclusively as trionfi during the fifteenth century. The new name first appeared in Brescia around 1502 as tarocho.[4] During the 16th century, a new game played with a standard deck but sharing a very similar name (trionfa) was quickly becoming popular. This coincided with the older game being renamed tarocchi.[1] In modern Italian, the singular term is tarocco, which, as a noun, means a type of blood orange, and, as an adjective, means 'fake, counterfeit'.
In English-speaking countries, where these games are not played, tarot cards are used primarily for divinatory purposes, usually using specially designed packs.[1] The cards are traced by some occult writers to ancient Egypt or the Kabbalah but there is no documented evidence of such origins or of the usage of tarot for divination before the 18th century.[1]


April 27, 1994: Change comes to South Africa
Frederik de Klerk & Nelson Mandela at the World…
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Considering Obama's Legacy: The Washington Post Virtual Museum
The legacy of Arthur Ashe extends beyond his tennis accomplishments…
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Celebrating Earth Day 2016
Today, we celebrate Earth Day, an annual celebration of…
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Celebrating This Year's Pulitzer Prize Winners
Image courtesy of Pulitzer.org The winners of the 2016…
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The Effects of New Discrimination Laws in Mississippi and North Carolina
A couple of weeks ago, disappointing news arose out of Mississippi…
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Volunteer Heroes
In keeping with the spirit of National Volunteer Week in…
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Celebrating National Volunteer Week
Yesterday marked the beginning of National Volunteer Week,…
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From the Salt March to Civil Rights
One often hears the names Mohandas Gandhi and Martin…
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Gender Equality in Tennis: 1 Step Forward, 2 Steps Back
Photo by Beth Wilson for Tennis Connected via Flickr It…
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More than Just a Good Player: Paul Teasley's Personal Recollection of Arthur Ashe in 1967
Detail of the graphic on Teasley's ball boy shirt Today…
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The Fall Out from Sharapova's Positive Drug Test
When Maria Sharapova called a last-minute press conference…
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International Women's Day 2016: #PledgeforParity
© www.internationalwomensday.com Today, March 8th, marks…
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Remembering Bud Collins
© Jhoetzl at en.wikipedia On Friday, March 4, Bud Collins,…
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The Enduring Legacy of Andrew Young
Photograph by Warren K. Leffler Martin Luther King,…
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More than Just Words: Barbara Jordan's Strong Politics
Photo by Thomas J. O'Halloran. Photo by Warren K.…
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Behind the Scenes: The Work of Augustus Hawkins
Augustus Hawkins' congressional portrait Hawkins in…
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Public Defender: Shirley Chisholm's Lonely Battle
Shirley Chisholm in 1965. The next profile for…
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The Bold Strokes of Edward Brooke
Senator Edward Brooke with President Lyndon B. Johnson…
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The Mixed Legacy of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. with President Lyndon B. Johnson…
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Oscar Stanton De Priest's Lonely Fight
A campaign button for De Priest Our next profile…
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Joel-Peter Witkin: From the Studio
@ Catherine Edelman Gallery
Opening Friday, May 3rd, from 5PM - 8PM
On view through Wednesday, July 3rd
After more than 31 years in River North, Catherine Edelman Gallery is relocating to 1637 W. Chicago Ave., in the growing West Town gallery district. We are thrilled to inaugurate our new space with Joel-Peter Witkin: From the Studio. The exhibition will feature more than 25 photographs, 80 drawings, as well as sketchbooks and journals, darkroom tools and cameras, letters and contact sheets, offering viewers a glimpse inside the mind of one of the true masters of photography. The exhibition will also be showcasing a newly filmed documentary about Witkin’s life, art, and legacy, created by Catherine Edelman and filmmaker Ben Kolak (Scrappers Film Group).
For more than 60 years, Joel-Peter Witkin has stayed true to his mission: to create photographs that show the beauty of marginalized people by placing them into art referential tableaus, often laced with Catholic overtones. His work features hermaphrodites, post and pre-op individuals, and people born with physical abnormalities. In his eyes, all people are beautiful, regardless of societal norms.
Much has been written about Joel-Peter Witkin. With more than 25 monographs dedicated to his work, there is no denying his importance in the art world. Recently, Witkin revealed he was diagnosed with dementia. As he approaches his 80th birthday, he graciously agreed to speak with Catherine Edelman about the disease, and the effect it has had on his creativity and life. Catherine spent two days in his home/studio in Albuquerque with filmmaker Ben Kolak (Scrappers Film Group), talking with him about his life, his art, his legacy, his views on God, and what he hopes he has contributed to photography. A short film called From the Studio will be presented alongside some of his most well known works including The Kiss, Siamese Twins, Harvest, Bee Boy and Woman Once a Bird, as well as new work including A Mermaid’s Tale, the last photograph he was able to make before the onset of dementia, which has left him unable to create art. CEG is honored to recreate the set of A Mermaid’s Tale in one of its galleries, which includes the painted backdrop, shells, and objects that formed the making of this amazing photograph.
Tags: Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, From the Studio, Joel-Peter Witkin, West Town


Statistics for occurrence #1 of “Upton” in text disc, book 1 of Epictetus, Discourses:
... Upton
OF all the faculties (except that which I shall soon mention), you will find not one which is capable of contemplating itself, a...
Max. Freq.
Min. Freq.
† Upton (Texas, United States) 10 10 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (Canada) 58 58 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (United Kingdom) 28 28 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (Massachusetts, United States) 4 0 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (United Kingdom) 2 2 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (California, United States) 0 0 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (Georgia, United States) 0 0 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (Illinois, United States) 0 0 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (Indiana, United States) 0 0 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (Kentucky, United States) 0 0 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (Maine, United States) 0 0 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (Mississippi, United States) 0 0 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (Missouri, United States) 0 0 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (New Jersey, United States) 0 0 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (New Mexico, United States) 0 0 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (North Carolina, United States) 0 0 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (Ohio, United States) 0 0 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (Pennsylvania, United States) 0 0 0 0 0 user votes
† Upton (Texas, United States) 0 0 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (Utah, United States) 0 0 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (West Virginia, United States) 0 0 0 0 0 user votes
Upton (Wyoming, United States) 0 0 0 0 0 user votes
† This entity has been selected by the automated classifier as the most likely match in this context. It may or may not be the correct match.


Medvedev shocks Djokovic to reach Monte Carlo semis
Associated PressApr 19, 2019, 12:52 PM EDT
MONACO – An erratic Novak Djokovic suffered a surprise 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 defeat against Daniil Medvedev in the Monte Carlo Masters quarterfinals Friday.
The 10th-seeded Russian was appearing in the last eight of a Masters tournament for the first time but was not overawed. In fact, it was the top-ranked Djokovic who made the most mistakes. The two-time champion looked out of sorts in tricky conditions and produced 47 unforced errors.
“On a windy day like today, conditions are changing every game,” Djokovic said. “It’s tough to find rhythm and he doesn’t give you much rhythm. He was very patient and played well tactically.”
After failing to serve out the match, when his Serbian opponent broke back to 5-2 down, Medvedev broke for the fifth time to seal a memorable victory.
Djokovic double-faulted at 30-30 to give Medvedev his first match point and a backhand winner secured a first win against his top-ranked rival at the fourth attempt, and a first victory against a No. 1.
“It was amazing,” Medvedev said. “He played worse than before and I am gaining more experience. He was not so good in the first set and made a lot of mistakes.”
Medvedev twice had his thighs massaged during changeovers in the third set. “Cramp didn’t affect my game,” he said.
The 23-year-old Monaco resident next faces the unseeded Dusan Lajovic, who also reached a Masters semi for the first time when he beat Italian qualifier Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 7-5.
Lajovic has not dropped a set at the clay-court event and is more surprised than anybody.
“I didn’t expect this. I was sick before the tournament and taking antibiotics,” the 28-year-old Serb said. “But it’s the best week of my career.”
The same goes for the 23-year-old Medvedev, who is ranked 14 and is chasing a fifth career title.
He had lost the three previous matches against Djokovic, including a tough four-setter in the fourth round of this year’s Australian Open.
“In Australia he was at his best, but I made him run for his win there,” said Medvedev.
Djokovic won that tournament to secure a third straight Grand Slam title and 15th overall, moving two behind Nadal and five adrift of Roger Federer’s record haul of 20.
But Djokovic has now failed to reach the last four in three straight tournaments, after also falling short at Indian Wells and Miami.
“I am lacking that determination to go for shots on some points,” he said.
At times it looked like Djokovic would take control and he clinched the second set with two aces. But his shot-making was below its usual high standards and his drop shot rarely worked.
Nadal has won at Monte Carlo a record 11 times. The second-ranked Spaniard plays the unseeded Guido Pella of Argentina later.
The other match is between No. 9 Borna Coric of Croatia and No.13 Fabio Fognini of Italy.


Facing a difficult health choice? Decision aids can help.
by User Not Found
The McMaster Optimal Aging Portal now features patient decision aids to help support older adults and caregivers with important decisions involving their health care.
Patient decision aids are tools that help people become involved in decision making by making explicit the decision that needs to be made, providing information about the options and outcomes and by clarifying personal values.
The patient decision aids featured on the Portal are drawn from the decision aids database maintained by Professor Dawn Stacey at the University of Ottawa. They are vetted by the Portal research team and profiled based on their relevance to specific health topics.
Visitors to the Portal can find decision aids supporting prevention and treatment decisions for cancer, depression, end of life care and heart health, to name a few topics.
“Decision aids help people learn what options are available as well as the pros and cons of each,” says Dr. Stacey. “Patients are then better prepared to ask questions, play a more active role in their treatment and know what they can realistically expect in terms of benefits and possible side effects.”
Look for decision aids on the Portal by browsing by health topics here and then filter your results by content type. Not all health topics have associated decision aids available.
New Partnership with the Alzheimer Society of Ontario
by Lori Mosca
Hamilton, ON – April 10, 2017 - McMaster University has partnered with the Alzheimer Society of Ontario to support people living with dementia and their caregivers by ensuring they have access to the evidence-based health information featured on the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal.
The McMaster Optimal Aging Portal is a website developed by McMaster University to provide public access to evidence-based information about prevalent seniors’ conditions and health concerns. The content is presented in a consumer-friendly format and is based on the latest systematically reviewed research evidence.
“Dementia remains one of the most popular topics of interest on the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal,” says Dr. Parminder Raina, a Specialist in Geroscience at McMaster University and one of the Portal Leads. “Our resources provide clarity on common questions and challenges that people with dementia and their caregivers are facing. And dementia is just one of many health topics featured on the Portal.”
With a shared commitment to improving the quality of life for those living with dementia, the partnership will focus on providing Ontarians with evidence-based information about dementia and other common conditions affecting the health and well-being our aging population.
“Along with providing services across Ontario and funding research, it is our mission to provide current and useful information about Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Education is a key component to what we do." Shawn Paron, Chief Development and Marketing Officer, Alzheimer Society of Ontario.
For more information about the Alzheimer Society of Ontario please visit: alzheimer.ca/en/on. Follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
McMaster University launches the French version of the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal – a unique website that supports healthy aging with evidence-based information
Hamilton, ON – February 7, 2017 - As a leading Canadian authority on the study of aging, McMaster University created the highly acclaimed McMaster Optimal Aging Portal in 2014 as a unique online health resource that supports the healthy aging goals of Canada’s growing senior population. The research team behind the Portal is now announcing the launch of French version of the Portal which can be found at www.mcmastervieillissementoptimal.org.
“We’ve seen great success with the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal thus far, including an expanding global audience as well as powerful endorsements from government officials and healthcare professionals who are encouraging older adults and their caregivers to visit this useful resource,” says Parminder Raina, scientific director of the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging. “We are proud to bring this invaluable health content to Francophone audiences in Canada and beyond.”
Provincial Minister of Seniors Affairs Dipika Damerla notes: “The French-language version of the Optimal Aging Portal is an invaluable health resource for Francophones in Ontario and across the country. Congratulations to McMaster University for your thought leadership in connecting aging research with the critical health concerns of Canadian seniors.”
Elizabeth Allard, President of the The Ontario Federation of Francophone Seniors and Retirees (known as Fédération des aînés et des retraités francophones de l'Ontario (FARFO) in French) adds: “We congratulate and thank McMaster University for its research on optimal aging and for creating a Portal on this theme. The French version of the Portal is appreciated two-fold, as Francophones will be able to make informed decisions about their health and will also be made aware of the various social aspects of aging.”
As the Internet is overflowing with health-related websites, what sets the Portal apart is its emphasis on providing the best available research evidence in a relatable way, so visitors can make informed health decisions and important lifestyle changes that influence optimal aging.
The Portal content includes Blog Posts, which are short articles written by trusted experts to support healthy aging; Web Resource Ratings, which evaluate free online health resources based on a five-star rating scale; and Evidence Summaries which summarize – in plain language – the key messages from recent high-quality scientific evidence. The Portal also features a weekly ‘Hitting the Headlines’ column that connects aging news headlines with related research evidence.
Three world-class McMaster research databases and consultations with aging experts from across the country inform all of the Portal’s health content. In 2017, the Portal will be expanding the topic coverage beyond health considerations to include additional evidence-based content about the social aspects of aging.
“With the continual growth in the number of older adults in Canada, one of our most pressing health and social policy issues is the support and care of our aging population,” says Raina. “Our goal with the Portal is to reach as many people as possible.”
He said the Portal team would like to thank the Quebec Network for Research on Aging, a thematic Network funded by the Fonds de Recherche du Québec –Santé for French translation support, as well as the CHUM (Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal) where the network’s director, Pierette Gaudreau is based.
For more information, or to book an interview, please contact:
Jillian D’Archi, Lead, Marketing & Public Relations - McMaster Optimal Aging Portal
darchij@mcmaster.ca | 416.458.0645
Going for Gold As We Age
Event: Public Talk
Date of Recording: Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Sponsors: Funded by McMaster University's Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative.
It's time to look at aging from a new perspective. What's your podium going to be?
On Tuesday, October 4th, Olympic Champion, Mark Tewksbury, Debbie Muir, one of Canada's greatest coaches, and Dr. Jennifer Heisz from McMaster University delivered an engaging talk about the benefits of exercise and social engagement for optimal aging and tips for setting goals and creating a winning mindset to help us achieve gold as we age!
McMaster Optimal Aging Portal and the YMCA team up to promote healthy aging
by The McMaster Optimal Aging Portal Communications Team
(June 30, 2016) - Hamilton, ON - The McMaster Optimal Aging Portal and the YMCA of Hamilton/ Burlington/Brantford have partnered to help Canadians stay healthy, active and engaged as they grow older. The partnership marks an important alliance inspired by a shared commitment to ensuring Canadians have access to the highest-quality health information to foster healthy communities.
The partnership is an extension of the LiveWell Community Health Partnership between Hamilton Health Sciences, the YMCA of Hamilton/Burlington/Brantford and McMaster University. Livewell designs, delivers and evaluates chronic disease self-management programs and has had over 2500 participants to date.
“The YMCA works with members across a wide range of ages with various health concerns. Our partnership with the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal will focus on connecting older adults to resources that will help them independently manage their conditions beyond our on-site programs,” says Genevieve Hladysh, Senior Manager at the YMCA Hamilton/Burlington/Brantford. “We encourage our members to visit the Portal for credible information to help them age well.”
The Portal:
Puts the research into context: Blog Posts include commentary on what the scientific research on a topic actually means and why good science matters.
Makes sense of the science: Experts identify key messages from scientific research that’s relevant and ready to be acted on.
Provides information you can trust: There are many free online health resources out there, but it’s hard to know which are worth a closer look based on evidence. The Portal uses explicit criteria to assess and rate other free online seniors’ health resources – as well as in the development of its own featured content.
“Community partnerships with like-minded organizations are a key component to raising awareness about this critical resource throughout Canada,” says Dr. John Lavis, Director of the McMaster Health Forum and one of the Portal Leads. “We look forward to working with the YMCA’s staff and members to support our aging population.”
Mental Health Matters: Depression and Anxiety in Older Adults
by McMaster Health Forum
Date of recording: Wednesday June 8, 2016
Mental health issues impose an enormous disease burden on societies across the world with depression alone affecting 350 million people globally. It is estimated that one in ten Canadian adults will experience major depression at some time in their lives. For older adults living in institutions, the rate of anxiety and depression increases significantly. The social stigma around mental illnesses presents a serious barrier, not only to diagnosis and treatment but also to acceptance in the community.
Michael Landsberg, host of TSN’s Off The Record and well-known mental health advocate, and Dr. Doug Oliver, a family physician with a passion for supporting the physical and mental health of older adults, engaged in an open discussion on depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges facing older adults on Wednesday, June 8, 2016.
Click here to watch other past events.
The science of Alzheimer’s: where are we going?
Date of recording: September 22, 2015
Sponsors: Funded by McMaster University’s Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative.
Partners: This public talk was organized by the McMaster Health Forum in collaboration with the Alzheimer Society of Canada, Alzheimer’s Disease International and the MedicAlert Foundation Canada.
Details: Alzheimer's disease is estimated to account for 60–70% of the 47.5 million cases of dementia worldwide. It is one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people and has been recognized by the World Health Organization as a public health priority. Despite the increased focus on this disease, many questions remain unanswered. Jay Ingram, one of Canada’s best-known and most popular science personalities, and Dr. Christopher Patterson, an expert on the diagnosis and treatment of dementia, delivered an engaging and informative talk examining the latest research into risks, prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Follow the discussion on Twitter via
Follow @Mac_AgingNews and @MacHealthForum
Wearable Technologies and Optimal Aging
Date of recording: May 21, 2015
Details: The popularity of wearable technologies has grown rapidly over the past few years, but the impact of these devices on health and healthcare remain uncertain. Join Nora Young and Dr. Anthony Levinson as they discuss the impact of wearable technologies on optimal aging and their potential for the future. Follow the discussion on Twitter at #MacAging.
Follow @Mac_AgingNews and @MacHealthForum.
Active Living: How to Form Healthy Habits for Optimal Aging
Date: June 3, 2015.
Details: Physical activity at all ages is essential to healthy aging. Despite the growing awareness of the health dangers of our modern sedentary lifestyles, keeping active can be a challenge. Join BodyBreak’s Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod as they discuss the benefits of, and simple strategies to form habits for healthy, active aging. All are welcome to attend this free public event, which will include an opportunity for audience questions. Follow the discussion on Twitter at #MacAging.
Breast cancer screening: making sense of the evidence
Date of recording: March 25, 2015
Details: We know that breast cancer screening (mammography) can identify breast cancer early, but at what cost? Join us on March 25 as Dr. Jonathan Sussman and Dr. Cathy Risdon discuss the latest evidence on breast cancer screening and reflect on the impact this evidence has on their interactions with patients. All are welcome to attend this free public event, which will include an opportunity for audience questions. Follow the discussion on Twitter at #MacAging. Follow @Mac_AgingNews and @MacHealthForum.
What we eat: Nutrition as the foundation to healthy aging
Date of recording: Thursday, January 22, 2015
Details: Good nutrition is essential to aging well. Much of the malnutrition that occurs in long-term care is preventable, attributed to the eating environment, food quality and the ability to access food. Join Heather Keller, a leader in research on nutrition and aging, as she shares her views on these issues and how we can provide a better foundation to healthy aging.
Alzheimer’s disease caregiving: Health effects and treatment strategies
Date of recording: Tuesday, December 9, 2014, 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Sponsors: McMaster University’s Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative; Ontario Association of Community Care Access Centres; Gilbrea Centre for Studies in Aging
Details: Supporting caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease is imperative given that they face significant challenges, including high emotional stress, severe fatigue, depression, and/or experience social isolation. Join Richard Schulz, a leader in research about the health effects of caregiving, as he shares his views on how we can better support caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Who cares? Preparing the system and the caregiver for what lies ahead
Date of recording: Monday, December 8, 2014, 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Details: With the number of people over the age of 65 expected to double in the next 20 years and family and friends providing 80% of home care in Canada, it is critical to prepare both our system and caregivers to meet the challenges ahead. Join Janice Keefe, a leader in research about caregiving policy and practice, continuing care policy and projecting the needs of older Canadians in the future, as she shares her views and insights about how to address these and other challenges related to preparing for what’s needed to care for older Canadians.
There is no place like home: Providing alternatives to hospital care
Date of recording: Tuesday, November 25, 2014, 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Sponsors: McMaster University's Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative; Ontario Association of Community Care Access Centres
Details: Dr. Graham Ellis, a geriatrician from Scotland, describes the successful 'hospital-at-home' service that he's been leading for the past three years. The service has been successful in allowing more patients to be cared for at home rather than in hospital, with services provided by a team of nurses, doctors, social care staff and other health providers.
Sod 70: Using research evidence to push the problems of aging to our 90s
Sponsors: McMaster University's Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative; MedicAlert Foundation of Canada
Details: How do we make the right health decisions today to improve the quality of our lives as we age? Sir Muir Gray, a leading authority from the United Kingdom on how we can use research evidence to push the problems of aging to our 90s, will share insights to empower us to make informed decisions about our health. In this talk he draws upon more than 40 years of working in the medical field including his work on the The 70 Plus programme which is designed to support people who are 70 or older to maintain and improve their health.
Disruption, peer to peer healthcare, creativity and YouTube: How to fail well in patient engagement
Date of recording: Monday, October 27, 2014, 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Sponsors: McMaster's Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative; MedicAlert Foundation of Canada
Details: Mike Evans, a Toronto family physician whose YouTube videos about health have been viewed more than 10 million times, talks about the changing landscape in how patients and healthcare professionals interact, and the impact technology has made on the way consumers seek out health information.
Knowing what's best: Discover how the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal does your homework
Event: Webinar
Date of recording: Tuesday, October 21, 2014, 3:00 - 4:00 PM
Details: This public webinar was conducted by McMaster professor Maureen Dobbins, who explains the Web Resource Ratings feature of the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal. This feature involves finding and evaluating hundreds of online resources about health and aging, to help you determine which ones are based on scientific evidence and useful to you.
No home care priority without appropriate financing: Canada has to move
Details: Réjean Hébert, a former minister of health and social services for Quebec and founding scientific director of the Institute of Aging at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, will draw on insights from his extensive research and recent political experience to discuss the need for governments to find a way to finance home care and to ensure older adults have access to a variety of options for appropriate types of care, when they need it.
Healthy aging: Learn how to use the McMaster Optimal Aging Portal
Date of recording: Wednesday, October 15, 2014, 3:00 - 4:00 PM
Details: The newly launched McMaster Optimal Aging Portal provides trusted information on how to stay healthy, active and engaged as we grow older. A public webinar by Anthony Levinson, a McMaster associate professor who led the design of this new website, will demonstrate how to efficiently use the Portal to find scientific-based evidence, written in consumer-friendly language, that can be helpful to your personal situation.
Thinking Ahead: Do celebrities do more good than harm with their medical advice?
Event: Panel discussion
Date: Thursday, April 3, 2014, 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Partners: McMaster University's Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative
Sponsors: Labarge Charitable Foundation
Details: Celebrities often use their status to support or refute health advice. Those claims can be either beneficial or harmful, depending on whether they are based on quality research evidence. This panel discussion was moderated by Julia Belluz a journalist who previously wrote for Maclean's and the Medical Post. The panel was made up of medical professionals and journalists, discussing whether celebrity health claims do more good than hard. Full details available here.
Thinking Ahead: Will extended and second careers become the norm?
Date of event/recording: Wednesday, April 2, 2014, 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Details: This public panel discussion moderated by Steve Paikin, anchor and senior editor of TVO's The Agenda with Steve Paikin, included five panellists: Sherry Cooper, former chief economist and executive vice-president of Bank of Montreal; Parminder Raina, McMaster researcher leading the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging; Samir Sinha, director of geriatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital and Provincial Lead of the Ontario’s Seniors Strategy; Ian Thomas, singer, songwriter, actor and author; and Brian Williams, sports broadcaster for CTV and TSN.
Neuroculture, memory and the aging brain: Sociological reflections on cognitive health
Date of talk/recording: Tuesday, January 14, 2014, 5:30 - 7:00 PM
Sponsors: Labarge Optimal Aging Initiative at McMaster University
Details: Stephen Katz is Professor of Sociology at Trent University. He is author of Disciplining Old Age and Cultural Aging: Life Course, Lifestyle and Senior Worlds, along with numerous book chapters and articles on the sociology of aging. His current research is on the cultural aspects of memory and will be part of a new book on Age, Mind and Self in Later Life. In 2009 he received the prestigious Trent University Distinguished Research Award for his work in critical aging studies.


Emancipation Day in Jamaica
Loop News Created : 1 August 2018 Jamaica News
The 'Redemption Song' monument at the main entrance of Emancipation Park in Kingston, Jamaica.
Emancipation Day was reinstated as a Public Holiday by Prime Minister PJ Patterson in Jamaica in 1998 after a six year campaign led by the late Professor Rex Nettleford.
It was discontinued as a holiday when Jamaica gained independence from Britain in 1962. However at that time it was not an official national holiday.
The holiday is more than just a welcome break from work when one can lounge around and relax in preparation for the Independence Day weekend. For Jamaicans of African descent, the day is a very important date in their history as a people as it represents the time when their forebears were ‘freed’ from the shackles of chattel slavery.
Emancipation Day is also celebrated in most other English speaking Caribbean countries and also in the French speaking countries of Martinique and Guadeloupe. The United States of America, Canada and South Africa also recognize the day.
Related article :Emancipate Yourself Quiz: Test your knowledge of the past
August 1, 1834 marked the date when all children under six years of age were deemed to be free, but all other slaves were deemed to be apprentices and forced to work 40 hours per week without pay as compensation to their owners. Full ‘freedom’ was not given to the slaves until four years later in 1838.
In Jamaica, people would traditionally keep vigils on July 31 and at midnight church bells would ring out and drums played in parks and public squares to re-enact the first moments of freedom for enslaved Africans. On Emancipation Day, there was a re-enactment of the reading of the Emancipation Declaration in town centres especially in Spanish Town which was the country’s capital when the Emancipation Act was passed in 1838.
Emancipation Park was opened on the eve of Emancipation Day, July 31 in 2002 and is named in commemoration of Emancipation Day. In 2003, the 11-foot bronze sculpture, Redemption Song, by Jamaican Laura Facey, was unveiled at the main entrance of the park. The sculpture comprises a male and female statue gazing to the skies – symbolic of their triumphant rise from the horrors of slavery. Facey said she was inspired by the words of National Hero Marcus Garvey and later reggae legend Bob Marley, "none but ourselves can free our minds".
Related article :Emancipation monuments of the Caribbean
The first country in the world to commemorate Emancipation Day as a national holiday was Trinidad and Tobago, which did so in 1985. It was brought on stream to replace Columbus Discovery Day which commemorated the arrival of the European explorer at Moruga on July 31, 1498.
For the latest news, download our app at http://bit.ly/GetALoopJM for Android; and at http://bit.ly/GetiLoopJM for IoS.
PJ Patterson
Laura Facey
Hillel Academy apologises for controversial slavery assignment
National Heroes busts unveiled at Emancipation Park
Take monuments down! - Don’t revere historical wrongs, says Sir Hilary


Marvel wanted Mel Gibson to play Thor's Dad but he turned down the role
By Amon Warmann 2016-05-27T10:42:59.147Z News
For most actors, a key role in a Marvel movie is not something you pass on. Back in 2010 however, that wasn't something Mel Gibson was particularly interested in.
Speaking with The Guardian at the Cannes Film Festival, Gibson revealed that he could have joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe long ago; “Yeah, [I was approached] a long time ago to play Thor’s dad. But I didn’t do it”.
While it’s fun to ponder what a Mel Gibson Odin might have looked like, Anthony Hopkins has left an indelible mark on the role. This isn’t to say that Gibson isn’t a fan of superhero cinema though; "Some are good. Some are kind of funny … ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’ Or the first ‘Iron Man.’ And some of them are just like [retreads]. I mean you can watch them do Spider-Man five times…”
“It’s a different kind of business these days”, Gibson continued. “I think all films are suffering from people not being able to now open them with their name. You used to get more variety of stories, films and performances. You had more of a chance of a profound film experience. But that’s not gone. I think that has been relegated to the independent world – but they have to do it twice as fast for half the money”.
Gibson is 100% correct about how the business has changed; Back in the good old days names like Schwarzenegger and Stallone were enough to open a movie, whereas nowadays it's all about brands like Marvel. It would be interesting to see how Gibson fares in a comic book movie though, whether he's on camera or behind it.
Directed by Taika Waititi and starring Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Jaimie Alexander, Tessa Thompson, Jeff Goldblum, Cate Blanchett, Karl Urban, and Mark Ruffalo, Thor: Ragnarok will be released in UK cinemas on October 27, 2017 before opening in US theatres on November 3, 2017.
Images: Lionsgate