Have you considered joining a Learning Circle to connect with global peers?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiopWUDBJHONowmsNlEAmxinVzK8n1IC-6SiPNjFz5e5kdoyVK0UvifTRzDafn24zAfdLVgcIKiHNVWiBBsjheaz9Mpy0QnNGJGZDZN46JkzUmMEa905xibexFeKp_X32xG348zsaXngq0/s1600-h/image%25255B4%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHEldgJS4d8EXmQuaRCtgHyqwl02_LMH51iP4p_upcEvBj5FaqasFMgcVHKHTJF5RfbQzz3VpEJfDs81-u4atxA-BGIaLXZfFoeSM_SDUDeXekOFcO6CX4CWbCiofasytyN9Mj4jdkfX8/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="240" /></a></div><br /><em>SchoolNet is a volunteer supporter and promoter of iEARN and we would like to give this project from iEARN some prominence since it will greatly benefit our  SchoolNet members. It is a call for participation in learning circles  - a project we have always supported. The original post can be found </em><a href="http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=782836154ac18a36600ab48e7&id=5e5828630f&e=61edfa72f2"><em>here</em></a><em>.</em><br /><em><br /></em><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Global Collaboration Made Easy!</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looking for a way to connect your students with global peers?  <strong>Sign up by January 22nd</strong> for the January 30 - May 25 session of iEARN Learning Circles.</span>  <br /><strong><br /></strong><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What is a Learning Circle?</span></strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Learning Circles are highly interactive, project-based partnerships among a small number of schools located throughout the world. Over 15 weeks, you and your students will have a chance to work with a small number of classrooms from around the world on a Learning Circle theme of your choice.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The structure of a Learning Circle comes from its design of phases. The first phase, "Getting Ready" at the start of the course, prepares you for participation in the project. In the following phases you get to know other circle members and progress to working together under your selected theme, but with your own curriculum. Your circle closes with each classroom presenting a final product that demonstrates the quality of learning that has taken place. Learn more about <a href="http://www.iearn.org/circles">Learning Circles</a>.</span><br /><strong><br /></strong><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How to sign up</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Registration deadline has been extended to January 22. Sign up now before all spots are filled.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To participate in an iEARN Learning Circle, educators must first be <strong><a href="http://collaborate.iearn.org/">registered in iEARN</a></strong>, and then login to the iEARN Collaboration Centre and fill out the <strong><a href="http://collaborate.iearn.org/space-11">January 30 - May 25, 2013 Learning Circles Placement Form</a></strong>.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The direct URL for Learning Circle registration form is <a href="http://collaborate.iearn.org/space-11/join">http://collaborate.iearn.org/space-11/join</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Teachers’ Guide</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipOT8RNruIB3SWy90Sh9ZswwCLgr1I7MK2CHZCIemifgWZ0JtE4j9hLa15wdDL1SSyzI3wn_Xx12PHNOT11xi7LhauW8H9G1Qk9YBk4l7m58EVptu33bMNbG7hetgs5HkVBd7xTy9QVSw/s1600/iEARN+Teachers'+Guide.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="62" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipOT8RNruIB3SWy90Sh9ZswwCLgr1I7MK2CHZCIemifgWZ0JtE4j9hLa15wdDL1SSyzI3wn_Xx12PHNOT11xi7LhauW8H9G1Qk9YBk4l7m58EVptu33bMNbG7hetgs5HkVBd7xTy9QVSw/s400/iEARN+Teachers'+Guide.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In addition to hands-on support throughout the session, educators have access to a comprehensive <strong><a href="http://www.iearn.org/circles/lcguide/">Learning Circles Teachers Guide</a></strong> to lead them through all the steps of participating in an iEARN Learning Circle.</span></div>

Collaboration Have you considered joining a Learning Circle to connect with global peers?

SchoolNet is a volunteer supporter and promoter of iEARN and we would like to give this project from iEARN some prominence since it will gre...

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People I've Had Enough Of

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />Hola y’all! Man, some people are really getting on my nerves lately. Here’s a short list of the people who are pissing me off the most right now…<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX7BbWMg334K5NBgS03qE0qx1kdivybtnR9iODf3BdizB2OVifBHNHl4V_BrOqEUjM5Xl8SQNucY9rNVvM-3eDVKFd49n4EVJXp6BXfwUe3j8uEIV0092aj0oAgRSnDJ8HiH5H9Hfczww/s1600/Angry+Man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX7BbWMg334K5NBgS03qE0qx1kdivybtnR9iODf3BdizB2OVifBHNHl4V_BrOqEUjM5Xl8SQNucY9rNVvM-3eDVKFd49n4EVJXp6BXfwUe3j8uEIV0092aj0oAgRSnDJ8HiH5H9Hfczww/s320/Angry+Man.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>- People on Twitter who tweet about something awesome but don’t link to it. Cause linking to it is anti-hipster or something. Every day I see shit like this:<br /><br />“OMG! Dr. Peter Wankmeoffer has written an amazing article on Gawker about the scourge of decency laws! You should read it!”<br />If it’s so freaking amazing then link to it! What’s even worse is if you go to Dr. Wankmeoffer’s Twitter page you’ll see that he’s RT’d all the people who have heaped praise on him, but not any links to his own damn article.<br /><br />- Gorgeous women who post amazingly gorgeous pics of themselves on Social Media and say things like “Ugh! I’m such a mess today!” or “I can’t find any good pics of myself.” Jesus this is so annoying. I know! I know! I can’t say anything to them because they’re all suffering from bad self-esteem caused by skinny hot chicks on the cover of magazines and shit. So, I just let it go even though it pisses me the hell off.<br /><br />- People who use their phone for virtually everything social media related but bitch about its limitations. I saw a report from CES about a watch that will notify you that you have email. The lady showing the watch off said “This way you don’t have to go to the trouble of getting your phone out if it isn’t an urgent email.” Really? Now it’s too much effort to check your phone? It’s bad enough that all these people tweet me with “Hey, can you email me that link you just tweeted? I’m on my phone” because they’re too freaking lazy to open the laptop sitting next to them.<br /><br />- Anne Hathaway’s pretentious short hair. Enough already! Let your hair grow back out and stop taking yourself so God-Damned seriously.<br /><br />- People debating the $1 Trillion Dollar Coin. Yeah, it might be a silly idea, but basically it’s a silly response to straight up irresponsible assholes in Congress. Worst of all are the people claiming that the government would have to mint a coin the side of the Empire State Building. Uh, you might notice that the $20 bill isn’t 20 times bigger than the $1 bill. Also, it didn’t take $100 worth of material to make a $100 moron.<br /><br />And what about all the mint it would take to “mint a coin that size?” Would there be any left over for the Mint Juleps at the Kentucky Derby? Would the government use so much mint that they created a supply shortage that resulted in a huge increase in the price of mint? Nobody thought of that DID THEY? <br /><br />- People who take it personally when I don’t like what or who they like. This one has always mystified me. Do you really think it’s necessary for us ALL to like the same music, movies, TV shows, etc…? How boring would that be? It just amazes me how many people get upset when I make a truthful statement like “Taylor Swift sucks.” There are always people who respond with something like “Well, I guess you think I suck too because I like her.”<br /><br />No, I think your taste in music sucks, it’s not the same thing.<br /><br />- Delusional sports fans who think that the only way their team ever loses a game is because the “refs cheated” or the refs were “out to get them.” Just take your ass whippings like grown-ups and shut up people!<br /><br />Oh and by the way …. You had NOTHING to do with YOUR team’s win so stop taking personal credit for it.<br /><br />Same goes to Southeastern Conference fans. Alabama’s BCS Championship is NOT yours, it’s theirs. If you’re a fan of another SEC school and you are celebrating Bama’s win because your team is in the same conference, you are a fucking moron.<br /><br />I could go on, and on, and on. But, I won’t.<br /><br />Jayman<br /><a href="mailto:Jayman3768@gmail.com">Jayman3768@gmail.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.twitter.com/jayman_iws" target="_blank">@Jayman_IWS </a><br /><br /></div>

People I've Had Enough Of

Hola y’all! Man, some people are really getting on my nerves lately. Here’s a short list of the people who are pissing me off the most right...

Read more »

Hypochondria - An Inside Look - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">When The New York Times called, inquiring if I might pen a few words "from the horse's mouth" about hypochondria, I confess I was taken aback. What light could I possibly shed on this type of crackpot behavior since, contrary to popular belief, I am not a hypochondriac but a totally different genus of crackpot?</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">What I am is an alarmist, which is in the same ballpark as the hypochondriac or, should I say, the same emergency room. Still there is a fundamental difference. I don't experience imaginary maladies — my maladies are real.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">What distinguishes my hysteria is that at the appearance of the mildest symptom, let's say chapped lips, I instantly leap to the conclusion that the chapped lips indicate a brain tumor. Or maybe lung cancer. In one instance I thought it was Mad Cow.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The point is, I am always certain I've come down with something life threatening. It matters little that few people are ever found dead of chapped lips. Every minor ache or pain sends me to a doctor's office in need of reassurance that my latest allergy will not require a heart transplant, or that I have misdiagnosed my hives and it's not possible for a human being to contract elm blight.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Unfortunately, my wife bears the brunt of these pathological dramas. Like the time I awoke at 3 a.m. with a spot on my neck that to me clearly had the earmarks of a melanoma. That it turned out to be a hickey was confirmed only later at the hospital after much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Sitting at an ungodly hour in the emergency room where my wife tried to talk me down, I was making my way through the five stages of grief and was up to either "denial" or "bargaining" when a young resident fixed me with a rather supercilious eye and said sarcastically, "Your hickey is benign."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">But why should I live in such constant terror? I take great care of myself. I have a personal trainer who has me up to 50 push-ups a month, and combined with my knee bends and situps, I can now press the 100-pound barbell over my head with only minimal tearing of my stomach wall. I never smoke and I watch what I eat, carefully avoiding any foods that give pleasure. (Basically, I adhere to the Mediterranean diet of olive oil, nuts, figs and goat cheese, and except for the occasional impulse to become a rug salesman, it works.) In addition to yearly physicals I get all available vaccines and inoculations, making me immune to everything from Whipple's disease to the Andromeda strain.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">As far as vitamins go, if I take a few with each meal, over time I can usually get in quite a lot before the latest study confirms they're worthless. Regarding medications, I'm flexible but prudent because while it's true antibiotics kill bad bacteria, I'm always afraid they'll kill my good bacteria, not to mention my pheromones, and then I won't give off any sexual vibes in a crowded elevator.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">It's also true that when I leave the house to go for a stroll in Central Park or to Starbucks for a latte I might just pick up a quick cardiogram or CT scan prophylactically. My wife calls this nonsense and says that in the end it's all genetic. My parents both lived to ripe old ages but absolutely refused to pass their genes to me as they believed an inheritance often spoils the child.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Even when the results of my yearly checkup show perfect health, how can I relax knowing that the minute I leave the doctor's office something may start growing in me and, by the time a full year rolls around, my chest X-ray will look like a Jackson Pollock? Incidentally, this relentless preoccupation with health has made me quite the amateur medical expert. Not that I don't make an occasional mistake — but what doctor doesn't? For example, I once convinced a woman who experienced a mild ringing in her ears that she had the flesh-eating bacteria, and another time I pronounced a man dead who had simply dozed off in a chair.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">But what's this obsession with personal vulnerability? When I panic over symptoms that require no more than an aspirin or a little calamine lotion, what is it I'm really frightened of? My best guess is dying. I have always had an animal fear of death, a fate I rank second only to having to sit through a rock concert. My wife tries to be consoling about mortality and assures me that death is a natural part of life, and that we all die sooner or later. Oddly this news, whispered into my ear at 3 a.m., causes me to leap screaming from the bed, snap on every light in the house and play my recording of "The Stars and Stripes Forever" at top volume till the sun comes up.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">I sometimes imagine that death might be more tolerable if I passed away in my sleep, although the reality is, no form of dying is acceptable to me with the possible exception of being kicked to death by a pair of scantily clad cocktail waitresses.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Perhaps if I were a religious person, which I am not, although I sometimes do have the intimation that we all may be part of something larger — like a Ponzi scheme. A great Spanish philosopher wrote that all humans long for "the eternal persistence of consciousness." Not an easy state to maintain, especially when you're dining with people who keep talking about their children.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">And yet, there are worse things than death. Many of them playing at a theater near you. For instance, I would not like to survive a stroke and for the rest of my life talk out of the side of my mouth like a racetrack tout. I would also not like to go into a coma, to lie in a hospital bed where I'm not dead but can't even blink my eyes and signal the nurse to switch the channel from Fox News. And incidentally, who's to say the nurse isn't one of those angel of death crazies who hates to see people suffer and fills my intravenous glucose bag with Exxon regular.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Worse than death, too, is to be on life support listening to my loved ones in a heated debate over whether to terminate me and hear my wife say, "I think we can pull the plug, it's been 15 minutes and we'll be late for our dinner reservation."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">What worries me most is winding up a vegetable — any vegetable, and that includes corn, which under happier circumstances I rather like. And yet is it really so great to live forever? Sometimes in the news I see features about certain tall people who reside in snow-capped regions where a whole village population lives to 140 or so. Of course all they ever eat is yogurt, and when they finally do die they are not embalmed but pasteurized. And don't forget these healthy people walk everyplace because try getting a cab in the Himalayas. I mean do I really want to pass my days in some remote place where the main entertainment is seeing which guy in town can lift the ox highest with his bare hands?</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Summing up, there are two distinct groups, hypochondriacs and alarmists. Both suffer in their own ways, and traits of one group may overlap the other, but whether you're a hypochondriac or an alarmist, at this point in time, either is probably better than being a Republican.</p><nyt_author_id style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><div class="authorIdentification" style="margin-bottom: 2.8em; "><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 15px !important; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: italic; ">Woody Allen is a filmmaker, actor and writer.</div></div></nyt_author_id></div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/opinion/sunday/hypochondria-an-inside-look.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/opinion/sunday/hypochondria-an-inside-look.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Hypochondria - An Inside Look - NYTimes.com

When The New York Times called, inquiring if I might pen a few words "from the horse's mouth" about hypochondria, I confess I ...

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Book of the Moment: Building Seagram

The importance of Mies van der Rohe's Seagram Building (1958) to Manhattan, modern architecture and the 20th century city is undeniable. So the upcoming release of Phyllis Lambert's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300167679"><i>Building Seagram</i></a> from <a href="http://yalebooks.co.uk/display.asp?K=9780300167672">Yale University Press</a> (Spring 2013) is a highly anticipated one. <br /><br /><img alt="lambert-seagram.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/lambert-seagram.jpg" title="Building Seagram" /><br />[Photo on right: <i>Philip Johnson, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Phyllis Lambert in front of an image of the model for the Seagram building, New York, 1955. Photographer unknown. Fonds Phyllis Lambert, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal. © United Press International.</i> | photo <a href="http://www.grahamfoundation.org/grantees/4906-building-seagram">source</a>] <br /><br />From the <a href="http://www.cca.qc.ca/">CCA</a>:<br /><blockquote>Lambert was a 27-year-old artist living in Paris when her father Samuel Bronfman, founder of the Seagram distillery, asked her to take over the search for an architect to design his company’s headquarters in New York. Lambert in turn made the cogent decision to commission the pioneering modern master Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969), in collaboration with Philip Johnson (1906-2005). The resulting Seagram Building, completed in 1958, is an indisputable icon of twentieth-century architecture, 38 stories of elegant bronze and glass set back from New York City’s Park Avenue. In her role as patron, and Director of Planning for the project, Lambert had singlehandedly changed the face of American urban architecture. "<i>Building Seagram</i> represents what has always been the focus of my practice: architecture as a major socio-economic manifestation in society," explained Lambert.<br /><br />The culmination of more than a decade of research by Lambert, <i>Building Seagram</i> tells the story not just of this important building, but of the culture of post-WWII design, including the significant part corporate patronage played in the era’s real estate development, and of the project’s substantial role in shaping landmark legislation and zoning laws in New York City. Lambert provides an unprecedented personal history of her experience managing the project, as well as of the working relationship between van der Rohe and Johnson and Johnson’s under- recognized contributions to lighting design, and offers a detailed scholarly assessment of the design and construction process and the building’s cultural legacy.</blockquote>

Book of the Moment: Building Seagram

The importance of Mies van der Rohe's Seagram Building (1958) to Manhattan, modern architecture and the 20th century city is undeniable....

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Think Thin

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Think Thin</u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bjCOmbgAFWs/UPM_KQoVBfI/AAAAAAAAFBg/UbWJkt4f_ss/s1600/think+thin+samplers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bjCOmbgAFWs/UPM_KQoVBfI/AAAAAAAAFBg/UbWJkt4f_ss/s200/think+thin+samplers.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whether you are lifting weights, preparing for a marathon, swimming or biking you do need a snack that is healthy and nutritious to give you the boost you need.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thinkproducts.com/">Think Thin</a> believes in good energy and weight wellness and portable nutrition.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Going out for a run and need a snack that's quick and easy?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Take along a Think Thin bar with you along with some water and you are good to go!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Want something crunchy and nutty?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then try their fruit and nut bar.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So many choices to choose from I know!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Chocolate Fudge: </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qas8pALvfu4/UPM-w0OQCTI/AAAAAAAAFBY/XePh19fvPWI/s1600/Think+thin+chocolate+fudge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qas8pALvfu4/UPM-w0OQCTI/AAAAAAAAFBY/XePh19fvPWI/s200/Think+thin+chocolate+fudge.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Craving a brownie and don't want to undo your day of eating healthy?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then reach for a luscious Chocolate fudge bar!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So good and tastes just like a brownie. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fudge center dipped right into creamy milk chocolate.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Divine Mini Dark Chocolate Coconut:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">whoever loves coconut and chocolate you will love this!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Doesn't taste like a protein bar at all!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tastes just like a candy bar and it's amazing!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I loved it!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The chocolate was smooth and the coconut was sweet but not too sweet.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Chocolate Toffee Nut bites:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Luscious chocolate with the sweet taste of toffee and nutty crunch of peanuts.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I love how it's portion controlled because sometimes with sweets I can get carried away, but not with Think Thin bites!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Brownie Crunch:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Great chocolate taste with added crunch from a rice crispy like consistency.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's like a chocolate coated cereal!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Want to learn more about their products?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Check them out online.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Or look for them in at your local retailers. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thinkproducts.com/">http://thinkproducts.com/</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/thinkproducts?sk=wall">https://www.facebook.com/thinkproducts?sk=wall</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/thinkproducts"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">https://twitter.com/thinkproducts</span></a></div><br />

Think Thin

Think Thin Whether you are lifting weights, preparing for a marathon, swimming or biking you do need a snack that is healthy and nutritious ...

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Lego Key West

<p>A few Key West landmarks including Hemingway's House and the southernmost Point made out of Lego.</p><div class='separator' style='clear: both; text-align: center;'> <a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBkmOLVuCb8yYc38Xml-rMaVg2kCYTUUowBnbtUcF9ZKp5a0pSfRruK2rBDzjTCY73BfTWbswC0DPD3nZn80hEREip0LdEfguJxrn_P9CRUKdpJRrz88mFtFtPQv5z5MAydDjib-SaS3Y/s1600/3369_549782155032113_582921414_n.jpeg' imageanchor='1' style='margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBkmOLVuCb8yYc38Xml-rMaVg2kCYTUUowBnbtUcF9ZKp5a0pSfRruK2rBDzjTCY73BfTWbswC0DPD3nZn80hEREip0LdEfguJxrn_P9CRUKdpJRrz88mFtFtPQv5z5MAydDjib-SaS3Y/s400/3369_549782155032113_582921414_n.jpeg" /> </a> </div>

Lego Key West

A few Key West landmarks including Hemingway's House and the southernmost Point made out of Lego.

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Manna Bread Review and Giveaway!

<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>The winner is Jennie Sanderson!!</u></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Manna Bread</u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was sent these wonderful healthy and hearty breads to review and would love to share my review with you all.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So here it goes. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Have you ever read the ingredients on a package of bread and thought to yourself what is this and most importantly is it safe?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You don't have to worry about all of those chemicals at all with <a href="http://www.mannaorganicbakery.com/">Manna Bread</a> because their products are gluten free, yeast free, vegan and it's sprouted.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They are a family operated and owned company that believes in the very best of ingredients made to offer us a daily dose of healthy goodness.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These breads are also organic!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What's sprouted? </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's more cake- like and denser  in texture and free of oils, salts, no leavening agents and sweeteners.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Great thing about these breads is that they are sold in the freezer section so you don't have to worry about them turning moldy and expiring before you eat them.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">High in protein and fiber. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They have tons of products ranging from sourdough, gluten free, and sprouted breads.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They even have trail mix!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Multi grain Flax Seed:</u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_KoPYOH71bc/UPMsD-TCONI/AAAAAAAAE_Q/vLHNNZQBf5o/s1600/multigrain+flaxseed+manna+bread.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_KoPYOH71bc/UPMsD-TCONI/AAAAAAAAE_Q/vLHNNZQBf5o/s200/multigrain+flaxseed+manna+bread.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-paYEuPTHKAA/UPMsKYD4oOI/AAAAAAAAE_Y/yw1I9MDV9HQ/s1600/grilled+cheese+manna+style.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-paYEuPTHKAA/UPMsKYD4oOI/AAAAAAAAE_Y/yw1I9MDV9HQ/s200/grilled+cheese+manna+style.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tons of flavor and a bit different from your average Multi grain bread it's made with flax seed and so good.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was having soup for dinner one night and it needed something along with the soup so I popped a slice of this wonderful hearty bread in the toaster.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then I added some Melt buttery spread on it.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was so good!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I loved the texture and taste especially along with soup it was great!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was the perfect dinner for a cold night.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yesterday for lunch I had a grilled cheese and made it with the bread, so delicious and it didn't get all soggy that some other breads do.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don't you just hate soggy sandwiches? </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know it's gross, but not with Manna Bread at all!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was crunchy, cheesy and so good!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Fruit & Nut</u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iyr3MY0De0o/UPMt94EoiEI/AAAAAAAAFAE/62JkJOGrrc8/s1600/Fruitandnut+manna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iyr3MY0De0o/UPMt94EoiEI/AAAAAAAAFAE/62JkJOGrrc8/s200/Fruitandnut+manna.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Made with sprouted wheat kernels, dates,raisins,almonds,cinnamon,cashews,hazelnuts, oatmeal and nutmeg.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">First bite of this bread I was in love. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To me it tasted like a cinnamon raisin type of bread with nuts in them. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I loved the juicy and plump raisins and the sweetness of cinnamon and nutmeg baked right into this delicious bread.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The morning I tried it I made some eggs and come on now we need a side of something right?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whether it's some fruit or bread.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So I opened the bread and cut two small pieces and it didn't need any butter or anything, except coffee!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Today for a snack I had added some almond butter on it and it was amazing!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's so delicious even the kids would eat it!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Sun seed </u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Made with sunflower seeds!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wow never tried anything like it before in my life.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was a bit different.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I would suggest adding some almond butter on it with a little honey and raisins!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Makes a quick and healthy snack!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Cinnamon Date</u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I loved it! </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sweet but not too sweet and had great taste to it.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Great with a cup of coffee or with some Almond Butter on it!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><u>Giveaway</u></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span><br /><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1.What changes have you made to live a healthy lifestyle? </span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Want an extra entry? </span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><div style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>2. Follow my blog.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>3.Then also follow me via Twitter, here. https://twitter.com/kelli_bliss </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>4. then tweet about the giveaway and make sure you use #MannaBread</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>5. leave me a link here to your tweet.<br /><br />One Winner will win a box of four breads of their choice. </div></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Interested in buying their products? </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Check them out here!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/MannaOrganics">https://twitter.com/MannaOrganics</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mannaorganicbakery.com/ver.php/mod/cat_catalogo/Products">http://www.mannaorganicbakery.com/ver.php/mod/cat_catalogo/Products</a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/MannaOrganics"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">https://www.facebook.com/MannaOrganics</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>

Manna Bread Review and Giveaway!

The winner is Jennie Sanderson!! Manna Bread I was sent these wonderful healthy and hearty breads to review and would love to share my revie...

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BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (BIH): STAGNATION AND TURBULENCE ON THE HORIZON

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font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRMgdt4pS5EZWVz5oDG8WGa2fB9s5Yvzgv-GaXSgJOySm9xJq3q-6xyU-tV2vpWL60aptag8LoWqCGyaAbCWHU4ioxrO5Rg5i_9s4xzg35IllJXPV-L-8vVVBtJAlNBDiJDLF8vSvJb-Ui/s1600/timthumb.php.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRMgdt4pS5EZWVz5oDG8WGa2fB9s5Yvzgv-GaXSgJOySm9xJq3q-6xyU-tV2vpWL60aptag8LoWqCGyaAbCWHU4ioxrO5Rg5i_9s4xzg35IllJXPV-L-8vVVBtJAlNBDiJDLF8vSvJb-Ui/s400/timthumb.php.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">HISTORIC POPULATION CENSUS SCHEDULED FOR 2013, UNLIKELY TO BE CONDUCTED IN TIME </span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 1;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See related article: <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/bosnia-and-herzegovinas-internal-twist.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/bosnia-and-herzegovinas-internal-twist.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">  </span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">With no sign of any end to political infighting, major moves on corruption, economic reform or accelerating the EU integration process appear unlikely.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Solving export problems before CROATIA joins the EU, getting closer to submitting an EU membership application, addressing a chronic lack of money, resolving the reconstruction of the Federation entity government and fight against the corruption are the major issues facing BOSNIA in 2013.<br />Much work is needed also in preparation for the historic population and household census, which has not been conducted since 1991, as well as in figuring out how to improve the everyday life of citizens hit by worsening unemployment and higher prices of food. <br /><br />World Bank projections for next year say all countries in the region need more intensive reforms to reduce public debt and accelerate reforms in the public sector, investment climate and labour markets.<br /><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">EXPECT GROWTH IN 2013 IN THE REGION: LOWEST BOSNIA 0.5 PER CENT AND HIGHEST, KOSOVO 3.3 PER CENT</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Since BIH state government was restructured in the last quarter of 2012, it has to demonstrate its functionality in 2013 after the turbulence over changing ministers consumed much of the energy that could have been used in focusing on more important issues. <br />All in all, experts are not optimistic about 2013, and either expects the pattern of the previous year to be repeated – meaning nothing major will happen – or some expect only slow progress in some fields. A World Bank report in December said it expected sluggish growth in the 2013 in the region, with the lowest growth in BIH, of 0.5 per cent, and fastest is expected in KOSOVO, 3.3 per cent.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYY2y_9l5qU6ohkvyx4wGzCRI6WVZpkryIj6Y3UCEBgvDvPeZuFBmyoB3tLWEtEHtLDfe4UQJjE7Wzk5a12yYvKWPtUwuvoXNiJhr1Nyhjt4Pj693cgoYIuq9BCnr3VkIydfWbsSg1wm8u/s1600/fy07_bosnia_dem2002_393_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYY2y_9l5qU6ohkvyx4wGzCRI6WVZpkryIj6Y3UCEBgvDvPeZuFBmyoB3tLWEtEHtLDfe4UQJjE7Wzk5a12yYvKWPtUwuvoXNiJhr1Nyhjt4Pj693cgoYIuq9BCnr3VkIydfWbsSg1wm8u/s400/fy07_bosnia_dem2002_393_1.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />“Unemployment has become a massive social crisis, which is unlikely to abate until the return of more robust, labor-absorbing growth,” the report said referring to BIH among other countries.<br />The rapid increase in food prices during the summer of 2012 drew attention around the world as well as in BIH.<br />“Food is a significant share of household spending,” the same report said, “particularly for some of the most vulnerable groups, so that even small increases could make life difficult for large numbers of households.”<br />“Other possible price rises, such as for energy, might compound the strains on their budgets,” the Bank said.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ALBANIA AND BOSNIA MOST VULNERABLE</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /><br />In the region, ALBANIA and BIH are potentially most vulnerable because of the higher share of food in household budgets there, and their greater reliance on grain imports. SERBIA, as a grain exporter, may be less vulnerable. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See also: <b>"GREATER ALBANIA"</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/greater-albania-united-states-project.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/greater-albania-united-states-project.html</a><br /><br />One fact holding BIH back from returning to growth are its debts, and the fact that the country relies heavily on external demand for recovery. <br /><br />“The two entities in BIH should continue efforts to improve the targeting of their safety nets and<br /> make benefit administration efficient and transparent,” the report said on BIH. <br /><br />Budgets for 2013 in both entities, the SERB-LED REPUBLIKA SRPSKA and BOSNIAK-CROAT FEDERATION, were set higher than the previous year's, reflecting a need to pay off loans taken to fill budgets in previous years. <br />The REPUBLIKA SRPSKA (RS) budget for 2013 was set at 994 million euro, a little higher than the 2012 budget of 925 million euro. The FBIH budget was set at 1.13 billion euro, almost 11 per cent more than in the previous year.<br /><br />The expansions of both budgets are to be covered by a fresh IMF loan to BIH of 405 million euro, spread over two years.<br />The loan was presented as a success by both entity governments, which said that as a result both entities will function over the next year. But long-term solutions are still not in sight.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi__pXePZYgDPRM66xEuLfyw5cOHyD3-ser60LnYwX42VmaA1-qc_znUqsXQfU53OSMwcAcFKkjmfStJHmSXJCnWDH6HdBWFANv9YDGYEID-4hiI3LBBLu2aI4amU5rMFZ91eQz6j2ow7qb/s1600/1sarajevo-zima-noc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi__pXePZYgDPRM66xEuLfyw5cOHyD3-ser60LnYwX42VmaA1-qc_znUqsXQfU53OSMwcAcFKkjmfStJHmSXJCnWDH6HdBWFANv9YDGYEID-4hiI3LBBLu2aI4amU5rMFZ91eQz6j2ow7qb/s400/1sarajevo-zima-noc.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sarajevo</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: blue;"><b>POLITICAL DEALS: </b></span><br /><br />The political scene will be marked by continuing uncertainty. While the state government changed a few ministers at the end of 2012 following a change in the ruling coalition, attempts to change the Federation entity government along the same lines will continue in 2013. <br />The most negative situation that BIH could face next year in terms of politics is political stagnations due to lack of solutions to pending problems. Thus BIH is a hostage of this situation, instigated by political elites. Nevertheless certain issues might move ahead in the country, like the reconstruction of the Federation, announced for the start of 2013.<br />Apart from the announced reconstruction of the Federation entity, which currently comprises ten CANTONS, whose huge administrations cost a lot of money, getting closer to the EUROPEAN UNION also will be on the agenda.<br /><br />But since the EU “Road Map” given to BIH in June in Brussels, work on it has barely started.<br />The Road Map contains an obligation on BIH to implement the 2009 Sejdic-Finci ruling by the EUROPEAN Court of Human Rights. This told BIH to change its constitution to allow ethnic minorities to run for top posts currently reserved for the three largest ethnic groups, SERBS, BOSNIAKS (MUSLIMS) AND CROATS.<br />Other EU conditions are the creation of a functional coordination mechanism that would define and distribute all the obligations and authorities of all institutions in the country during the EU process.<br /><br /><span style="color: blue;"><b>BOSNIA MAY FORMALLY GET CLOSER TO THE EU IN 2013</b>.</span><br /><br />There seems a trend that EU criteria are not being respected and there are even compromises over EUROPEAN standards and regulations, a tendency which could delay EU membership process even further.<br />EUROPEAN UNIONS messages, “whatever local politicians agree to is acceptable” have ended up with the agreement of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, and the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, which focus only on keeping the two parties in power. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See: <span style="color: blue;"><b>BIH INTERNAL TWIST</b></span><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/bosnia-and-herzegovinas-internal-twist.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/bosnia-and-herzegovinas-internal-twist.html</a></span></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />The SDP-SNSD agreement appears to be the answer of the ruling structures to the problematic situation of public finances. According many experts their agreement is only focused on deepening debt without development.<br />Current dept ridden politics will have devastating long-term consequences for budgets filled with foreign money used to pay off old debts. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See: <span style="color: blue;"><b>U<span style="font-size: large;">NDER THE CLAWS OF THE IMF</span></b></span><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/cyprus-under-claws-of-imf.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/cyprus-under-claws-of-imf.html</a><br /><br />In terms of EU integration the EU should become more serious in its approach to BIH and more decisive in its relationship with the authorities. The EU should renew its mechanism of conditioning, instead of agreeing to the destructive compromises of ruling structures, which don't have the process of EU integration at heart.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See: <span style="color: blue;"><b>BOSNIA "CURSED" BY EU?  </b></span><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/08/bosnia-cursed-by-european-union-eu.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/08/bosnia-cursed-by-european-union-eu.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/bosnia-european-unions-stepchild.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/bosnia-european-unions-stepchild.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/bosnia-suffers-from-unresolved-issues.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/bosnia-suffers-from-unresolved-issues.html</a></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /><span style="color: blue;"><b>CORRUPTION STILL ENDEMIC:</b></span><br /><br />Another long-term problem is corruption. Transparency International Bosnia stated that no serious steps in fighting corruption is imminent over the next year, because of laws being changed and agreed on only by political elites and not in parliaments.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See also: <span style="color: blue;"><b>CRIME AND CORRUPTION AND TH<span style="font-size: large;">E POLITICAL SYSTEM</span></b></span>  </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/09/crime-corruption-and-political-system.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/09/crime-corruption-and-political-system.html</a>(Part 1)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/09/crime-corruption-and-political-system_7.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/09/crime-corruption-and-political-system_7.html</a>(Part 2) <br /><br />Leaders of ruling parties in BIH have developed a practice of agreeing on laws outside institutional gatherings and then implementing the results through their parties in governments and parliaments. Subsequently the institutions which implement laws do not correspond to reality, thus delaying political progress in a country which is already considered to be in a “political coma”. </span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Is seems highly unlikely to see any major corruption prosecutions in the near future, since most such cases have remained untouched for years. The list of corruption cases is long and processing them is unlikely until such time BIH, like SERBIA, receives a list of cases by the EU, which it needs to solve and prosecute in order to curb in corruption.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">As the countries of the region slowly but surely head towards EU membership, with CROATIA joining the union mid 2013, BIH is struggling to factor in this change.<br />Once CROATIA joins the EU it will close its borders to all BIH products that are not certified according to EU rules, which will hit dairy producers who export a significant part of their product to CROATIA.<br /><br />BIH does not yet have certified laboratories to help BIH producers continue exporting to CROATIA. It has assured only two Border Inspection Posts where products can be checked which is not enough for all products from BIH.<br />Although CROATIA planned to start closing the border to non-certified products from January 1, it has recently extended the date to July 1 – the day of joining the EU, so that BIH institutions have time to focus on solving the issue in order not to encounter large numbers of layoffs in BIH dairy industry.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">CENSUS DELAY?</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /><br />The 2013 is also planned as the year of census, the first head count in 22 years.<br />In December, the International Monitoring Commission, which oversaw the conduct of the October 2012 test census, recommended that the census be postponed for six months, stating BIH was not technically ready, but BIH authorities still did not decide whether to do so. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Article adapted by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring from </span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Elvira M. Jukic</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF5TdbCmSGMPdNu8YrQ0LPa09PA3BcYWy89jCQFzyzZoLqxa-eDneudR1RwnDgeh7nrFu9mr6wsQQuZAcH72GbX_gs1tl54B69DrhW6lT4JntUa2QwRAyUmygVicwNFmuBTehdKA5N281g/s1600/bih_ekonomska_sloboda_2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF5TdbCmSGMPdNu8YrQ0LPa09PA3BcYWy89jCQFzyzZoLqxa-eDneudR1RwnDgeh7nrFu9mr6wsQQuZAcH72GbX_gs1tl54B69DrhW6lT4JntUa2QwRAyUmygVicwNFmuBTehdKA5N281g/s400/bih_ekonomska_sloboda_2012.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">BIH ECONOMICS<span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-size: large;">-</span></span> FACTS AND<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>FIGURES</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true" DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99" LatentStyleCount="267"> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/> 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QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Normale Tabelle"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">BOSNIA STILL HAS NOT SECURED NECESSARY CONDITIONS FOR SAFE AND LONG-TERM FOREIGN INVESTMENT</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">MANUFACTURING MOST INTERESTING TO FOREIGN INVESTORS</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Foreign investors in 2011 invested EURO 313 million in BOSNIA (BIH), in CROATIA more than EURO 1 billion, and in SERBIA around EURO 1.5 billion</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">If judged according to total funds invested 2011 in BIH, it can be concluded that the country still has not secured necessary conditions and atmosphere for safe and long-term investment by potential investors in the country and abroad.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">According to research by the BiH Statistical Agency, the total amount paid for investments in 2011 in BiH approaches 4.5 billion KM (Convertible Mark </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://coinmill.com/BAM_calculator.html">http://coinmill.com/BAM_calculator.html</a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">), which in relation to 2010 represents an increase of 0.1 percent.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">According to the same source, 2011, the greatest numbers of investments were recorded in the Federation of BiH, which could encourage citizens of that entity, but not those of the entire country. Of the total investments made in BiH in 2011, 66.94 percent were in FBiH, 31.8 percent in RS, and 1.26 percent in Brcko district.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: blue;"><b>BRCKO DISTRICT </b></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">(</span> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br%C4%8Dko_District">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br%C4%8Dko_District</a>)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">According to the BiH Statistical Agency, in 2011 actual investment in fixed assets of legal persons or business entities fell.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The value of total investment in fixed assets of legal entities in BiH in 2011 amounts to a little more than 4 billion KM, which compared to 2010, represents a reduction by 0.41 percent.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Total investment in new fixed assets in 2011 amounted to nearly 3.9 billion KM - compared to 2010 an increase of 0.2 percent.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">As in previous years, the greatest investment in BiH was noted in the manufacturing sector.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJxQXb8kn7zqFw7CTYy5E_-DH4_GwC9J7Tdo7F-deTm7IqgG4lX1LNcCgwD1tAqYMrWggbRfhT5KrRdNfdQocax_ypNKsmNfonOEV1ptyOulnAlcMs0nMT8YKrExWD1cvCOby2GiqQLFSI/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJxQXb8kn7zqFw7CTYy5E_-DH4_GwC9J7Tdo7F-deTm7IqgG4lX1LNcCgwD1tAqYMrWggbRfhT5KrRdNfdQocax_ypNKsmNfonOEV1ptyOulnAlcMs0nMT8YKrExWD1cvCOby2GiqQLFSI/s320/images.jpg" width="271" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The biggest investment in total, considered according to investors in 2011, was noted in the manufacturing sector at 17.12 percent, followed by wholesale and retail at 16.53 percent, and transport, storage, and linkage at 15.58 percent.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">By investors, the greatest share in gross fixed capital in 2011 was in the manufacturing industry at 16.93 percent, transport, storage, and linkage at 16.03 percent, and wholesale and retail at 15.48 percent.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">On the other hand, according to the Central Bank, in BiH from May 1994 to December 2010, total direct foreign investment was EURO 4.5 billion.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">WHEN IT COMES TO FOREIGN INVESTMENT, AS OF 2010 AUSTRIA WAS THE LARGEST INVESTOR.</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">According to previously published data covering the period between May 1994 and December 2010, AUSTRIA was the largest investor in BiH, with a total amount of EURO 960 million, followed by SERBIA at EURO 878 million.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">TURKEY IN CLOSE PURSUIT </span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">According to economic analysts, there is also increased interest from TURKEY in recent years, which is now among the five largest investors in BiH. In past years, TURKISH companies have invested in a limestone mine "crown" in Lukavac for close to 6 million KM, the company Sisecam Soda in Lukavac at about 8 million KM, and a somewhat smaller amount recorded for the oil company Turkoil. It is assumed that TURKEY in the future will invest much more in the economy of BiH.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See Historic background on AUSTRIA’S and TURKISH interests in BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA:</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> <a href="http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/bosnian_crisis.htm">http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/bosnian_crisis.htm</a></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">  </span></i></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">LARGEST INVESTOR IN BIH: SERBIA</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The countries with the largest number of investors in BIH in 2012 were SERBIA (50.21 percent), LUXEMBOURG (28.87 percent), HOLLAND (25.11 percent), SAUDI ARABIA (10.65 percent), </span><i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">(See: 6 part document on Saudis Wahabbism in BIH at  </span></i><i><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/wahhabism-in-bosnia-herzegovina.html"><span style="color: blue;">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/wahhabism-in-bosnia-herzegovina.html</span></a>)</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">and TURKEY (9.91 percent).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The amount of investment largely depends on the ease of doing business in a country, and it is reflected in the World Bank's annual "Doing Business" report, according to which BIH in 2012 is ranked 125th of 183 countries.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">That the position of BIH has not changed shows in the previous years when BIH in 2009 was in 119th place, and the year before in 116th.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In 2011, foreign investors invested EURO 313 million. CROATIA last year received more than EURO 1 billion in foreign investment, while SERBIA in only eight months in 2011 received around EURO 1.2 billion.</span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Related articles on BIH</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">:  </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/08/bosnia-cursed-by-european-union-eu.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/08/bosnia-cursed-by-european-union-eu.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/bosnia-european-unions-stepchild.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/bosnia-european-unions-stepchild.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/bosnia-suffers-from-unresolved-issues.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/bosnia-suffers-from-unresolved-issues.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/ethnic-rift-key-hindrance-to-bosnias.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/ethnic-rift-key-hindrance-to-bosnias.html</a></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/bosnia-2012.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/bosnia-2012.html</a></span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (BIH): STAGNATION AND TURBULENCE ON THE HORIZON

HISTORIC POPULATION CENSUS SCHEDULED FOR 2013, UNLIKELY TO BE CONDUCTED IN TIME  See related article: http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.a...

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