News for today's 2018: 04/22/13

IWS Radio Exclusive!! We Have the Hand-Written Testimony of Dzhokar Tsarnaev !!

9:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKnWXzyIut2o8fyUhu0B__0JHj3AJrbr6t9RnpWWJBGI-u1bElg1VTC8IXI6W8wKsA8FDAGvgsy3iWN0sjIA9Q-qAj5aS45K5LX9sbLdVHvceRHfOh1vq22fZW4M3KCA6MjjAvsV8Swfk/s1600/silhouette-male+face+monkey+wrench.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKnWXzyIut2o8fyUhu0B__0JHj3AJrbr6t9RnpWWJBGI-u1bElg1VTC8IXI6W8wKsA8FDAGvgsy3iWN0sjIA9Q-qAj5aS45K5LX9sbLdVHvceRHfOh1vq22fZW4M3KCA6MjjAvsV8Swfk/s200/silhouette-male+face+monkey+wrench.jpg" width="161" /></a>Good Morning IWS readers.<br /><br />I am the singular and sub-rosa Clandestine Reporter, Troubleshooter, and Black Ops Man of Mystery for IWS Radio.<br /><br />I am unable to reveal neither my name nor my identity, but you can refer to me by my code name…Monkey Wrench.<br /><br />Some of you may know that yesterday, at 0945 hours at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, members of the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice interrogated alleged Boston Marathon Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.<br /><br />As Tsarnaev is yet unable to speak, the FBI and DOJ communicated back and forth with him using simple pen and paper.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I masqueraded myself as an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor, and weaseled my way into the top secret interview. What I found out was incredible and incredulous.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">What follows are pictures of the actual back and forth written questioning of 19 year old Dzhokar Tsarnaev…</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The first question, why did he and his brother choose to attack the Boston Marathon?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8srhjHuL5Vjdxz6-lC1BcpjCBQZMyspmMilKj_Jx0M3jIRDgDn3LXB0GqDaiJR5H35X64nV2tEnlDUeG2fSNUVfxVY8HVpojOYeVFbpjbDrkx2kE5m8sUueE3hjWEu3YFla9hOOtxbzw/s1600/003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8srhjHuL5Vjdxz6-lC1BcpjCBQZMyspmMilKj_Jx0M3jIRDgDn3LXB0GqDaiJR5H35X64nV2tEnlDUeG2fSNUVfxVY8HVpojOYeVFbpjbDrkx2kE5m8sUueE3hjWEu3YFla9hOOtxbzw/s400/003.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />Some prudish looking DOJ chick sporting a wool skirt and a hair bun, wanted to know if others were involved in their deadly attack...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD-dzwhUdo7ME8XZ4SRXNjuXH2mQjD4TuCSPEZjjUlWUbS4TwKlEWJhDID_MO9pQ7_Dd8VvYvBNpdWRGC7T5fDVLlqa0wjanLVfVrTrdTD_PyPL1G4_XKQYBGuTrvQznWe7XFzMzsE308/s1600/004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD-dzwhUdo7ME8XZ4SRXNjuXH2mQjD4TuCSPEZjjUlWUbS4TwKlEWJhDID_MO9pQ7_Dd8VvYvBNpdWRGC7T5fDVLlqa0wjanLVfVrTrdTD_PyPL1G4_XKQYBGuTrvQznWe7XFzMzsE308/s400/004.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Turning the tables on the U.S. law enforcement officers, Dzhokar fired back with a question of his own...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIJhGtpdqu-pYzqKGc_414Dw3y9_vNxl4aeAhY0cua8jupjnWpdR-gclYLbdY2Ek8mCXlAFG7F_AqenLlqB_E9aUdBVOikfiYpPU5pDmPSHP_TGMDjRkwsEZaBXsy45_FLdo_rry8bGls/s1600/008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIJhGtpdqu-pYzqKGc_414Dw3y9_vNxl4aeAhY0cua8jupjnWpdR-gclYLbdY2Ek8mCXlAFG7F_AqenLlqB_E9aUdBVOikfiYpPU5pDmPSHP_TGMDjRkwsEZaBXsy45_FLdo_rry8bGls/s400/008.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />Upon knowing that his food would be sent for, the agents shrewdly continued to calm Dzhokar down...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9yIPI72xK0M5Rn9M3p0C9npIRf6HX1XME6rZXaU1Qrma0Wxqjx_2Cu4KD1pALyuxLOJpOpNx1bVOtIZNACh1e9NdNZlJCXT0VlUeKT8HuPTy0ZwxC4z_KV1cySjUA9lX-BpzmU_oyRps/s1600/005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9yIPI72xK0M5Rn9M3p0C9npIRf6HX1XME6rZXaU1Qrma0Wxqjx_2Cu4KD1pALyuxLOJpOpNx1bVOtIZNACh1e9NdNZlJCXT0VlUeKT8HuPTy0ZwxC4z_KV1cySjUA9lX-BpzmU_oyRps/s400/005.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />Many want to know why a recently Naturalized U.S. citizen such as dead, older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev had come to hate America.  Neither the FBI nor Dzhokar disappointed...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY2GJYRGLBedz3WBsEjk7ZE6FoXOvq-bR2YnmxYTsmC_XGuj8cV_X61gQBuLqMX69L_4mDGLX04L4kKsLy-k_yozDMQCXHi4ZXQrg76bNxl4gEc6ixzLxKwtIkHxMW9XaC-1GTf4SWLAM/s1600/006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY2GJYRGLBedz3WBsEjk7ZE6FoXOvq-bR2YnmxYTsmC_XGuj8cV_X61gQBuLqMX69L_4mDGLX04L4kKsLy-k_yozDMQCXHi4ZXQrg76bNxl4gEc6ixzLxKwtIkHxMW9XaC-1GTf4SWLAM/s400/006.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The FBI as many others have wondered, did the apparently sweet and well-adapted Dzhokar get roped into this heinous act by his non-sexually satisfied brother Tamerlan Tsaraev..?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZEAdYA8LAFeaABvh85ZaQqkJDFNqq8TXPiyuYFQD5jmPrv0cUiuQ_34531Z3hEmGJ-CPNwnZ6eBLSyAfZUPDLA5C6NtPvuS1JKbdwVRDKIYA0_cxF5CFLWRn8QaqhI2GweBeEWu-Ee1A/s1600/009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZEAdYA8LAFeaABvh85ZaQqkJDFNqq8TXPiyuYFQD5jmPrv0cUiuQ_34531Z3hEmGJ-CPNwnZ6eBLSyAfZUPDLA5C6NtPvuS1JKbdwVRDKIYA0_cxF5CFLWRn8QaqhI2GweBeEWu-Ee1A/s400/009.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>And that was enough for authorities as they, at approximately 1450 Hours while Dzhokar was devouring a Wendy's double with cheese, pickles, and mayo, officially charged him with multiple capital offenses.<br /><br />And I?<br /><br />I disappeared into the tumultuous haze of the Boston skyline, hopped aboard a classified plane, and headed for an undisclosed hotbed of activity in an unnamed Sub-Saharan African country.<br /><br />That is my report for now, but fear not...I will report once again should you realize it or not.<br /><br />With justice on my mind, and a kevlar vest upon my chest,<br /><br /><i>Monkey Wrench</i><br /><br /><a href="mailto:mattmaniws@ymail.com">mattmaniws@ymail.com</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/MattMan_IWS" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">@mattman_iws</span></a></div><div><br /></div>Be sure to check out the I'm With Stupid podcast! <br /><br /><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.adobe.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="270" id="143577" name="143577" width="210"><param name="movie" value="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf?file=http://www.blogtalkradio.com%2Fim-with-stupid%2Fplay_list.xml%3Fitemcount%3D5&autostart=true&bufferlength=5&volume=80&corner=rounded&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/flashplayercallback.aspx" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="menu" value="false" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf" flashvars="file=http://www.blogtalkradio.com%2fim-with-stupid%2fplay_list.xml%3Fitemcount%3D5&autostart=true&shuffle=false&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/FlashPlayerCallback.aspx&width=210&height=270&volume=80&corner=rounded" width="210" height="270" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" wmode="transparent" menu="false" name="143577" id="143577" allowScriptAccess="always"></embed></object><br /><div style="font-size: 10px; text-align: center; width: 220px;">Listen to <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/">internet radio</a> with <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid">Im With Stupid</a> on Blog Talk Radio<br /><br /><br /></div></div>

IWS Radio Exclusive!! We Have the Hand-Written Testimony of Dzhokar Tsarnaev !!

Good Morning IWS readers. I am the singular and sub-rosa Clandestine Reporter, Troubleshooter, and Black Ops Man of Mystery for IWS Radio. I...

Nokia Phone with physical keyboard

7:22 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghiTqZT6TMvZOsO2ZocI3A6WaamH9ZS3mvL5_0oYxisTMxhpxN5WJTqU69UtNSoS_y-iewiGLahdmLRPLz1EOWUu-rTQ4LE8a71WDWHZAPCnVQNhmQqQJSV6Ttp190tzzxMqqDMWE1mKg/s1600/nokiakeyboard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghiTqZT6TMvZOsO2ZocI3A6WaamH9ZS3mvL5_0oYxisTMxhpxN5WJTqU69UtNSoS_y-iewiGLahdmLRPLz1EOWUu-rTQ4LE8a71WDWHZAPCnVQNhmQqQJSV6Ttp190tzzxMqqDMWE1mKg/s640/nokiakeyboard.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Nokia enhance own <b>lumia</b> series with physical keyboard phone . Its has yellow color with shining designing also its a first hardware keyboard phone in nokia windows phone.It will launch on April 24 -2013.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">On Wednesday morning at 7am GMT (8am UK time) we will be announcing something new, followed by a Q&A session with Neil Broadley from our Mobile Phones team and a special guest. said <a href="http://conversations.nokia.com/2013/04/22/whats-up-at-nokia/">Ian Delaney (conversations editor of nokia blog) </a></blockquote><br /><br /><br /></div>Published by <br /><a href="https://plus.google.com/109838201058606610638" rel="author">Narendra Saini</a></div>

jacob Nokia-Phone Nokia Phone with physical keyboard

Nokia enhance own lumia series with physical keyboard phone . Its has yellow color with shining designing also its a first hardware keyboar...

Getting crafty

1:53 PM Tukiyooo 0

Getting crafty

In the past I made a variety of cot quilts for my friends when they had babies. I haven't made one in over a year so I decided to start ...

30 days of writing #4: Have you spoken to your students about Online Safety/Digital Citizenship?

1:27 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flamingtext.com/" target="_top"><br /><img alt="Logo Design by FlamingText.com" border="0" src="http://blog.flamingtext.com/blog/2013/04/22/flamingtext_com_1366656308_948072740.png" title="Logo Design by FlamingText.com" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Logo Design by <a href="http://www.flamingtext.com/">FlamingText.com</a></span></i> </div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When practising online digital writing or digital storytelling it is useful to consider issues around online safety (or Digital Citizenship as it is called) especially when working with students. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Digital Writing</u>: the art and practice of preparing documents primarily by computer and often for online delivery.<br /><u>Digital Storytelling</u>: </span><span style="text-indent: -0.38in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Digital Storytelling refers to using digital tools for writing stories</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A consideration of online safety is always good place to start now that the world is becoming increasingly digital, and connectedness with others via social media grows.  The Internet is an incredible resource – one of the greatest inventions of mankind in my opinion -  but the main thing for anyone to realise is that once one starts working online they develop a digital footprint and an online reputation. Best is to keep it good right from the start.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So it is a good idea to now and again chat to your students about the significance of a ‘digital footprint’, including what things are appropriate to post online, how to protect your identity and ways to interact with others in an online space.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Useful informative blog posts about online safety</strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) Jacqui Murray has a whole list of useful sites for teaching <a href="http://askatechteacher.wordpress.com/great-websites-for-kids/digital-citizenship/">Digital Citizenship</a> to students of all ages. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2) For older students this post from Lisa Nielson has a useful infographic to look at <a href="http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/4-things-you-need-to-know-to-help-your.html">4 things you need to know to help your students manage their online reputation</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is really just an information post, but I would love it if you added any comments about this subject in the comment box below. </span></div></div></div></div>

30 Days of Writing 30 days of writing #4: Have you spoken to your students about Online Safety/Digital Citizenship?

Logo Design by FlamingText.com When practising online digital writing or digital storytelling it is useful to consider issues around online...

What's Tylenol Doing to Our Minds? - James Hamblin - The Atlantic

1:26 PM Tukiyooo 0

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; 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 active drug in Tylenol, acetaminophen, is one of the best medications we have for helping people in pain. It's also one the most commonly overdosed substances in the world and puts about 60,000 Americans in the hospital every year. Several hundred people in the U.S. will die in 2013 from liver failure after acetaminophen overdose.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; 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); ">Tylenol isn't addictive like narcotics, and the kids don't take it to get high, which lends it an air of benignity and social acceptance not otherwise afforded to many pain medications. When people overdose on pills like Vicodin or Percocet, though, which contain acetaminophen, it's that component that often does the most damage.</p><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; 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); width: 150px; float: left; margin: 0px 20px 10px 0px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 11px; text-align: left; display: block; "><font face="georgia, sans-serif"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpz4Q5RmgzK8caE77rI5u4tVGZP1Tcb3bwVaAuXTEKZlEjfQdYaLXQaSpGHbk38UsCwCpfl7IgMKWD_5RPq78Tl38xGgtoBcCdXit4FmLOqAiktYwgJik7vzghj54QWrz8IuE0rDHin4s/s1600/tylenol+inset+200-769597.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5869770181610856418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpz4Q5RmgzK8caE77rI5u4tVGZP1Tcb3bwVaAuXTEKZlEjfQdYaLXQaSpGHbk38UsCwCpfl7IgMKWD_5RPq78Tl38xGgtoBcCdXit4FmLOqAiktYwgJik7vzghj54QWrz8IuE0rDHin4s/s320/tylenol+inset+200-769597.jpg" /></a></font><font style="font-size: 0.8em; "><div style="text-align: right; ">kate*/flickr</div></font></div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; 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); ">Acetaminophen is also more accepted in that we don't think of Tylenol as altering our mental state. People can take it and still drive a car and go to work and remain fully present beings. But the more it's studied, the more it seems we may be overlooking subtle cognitive effects. In 2009, research showed that it seemed to <a href="http://www.livescience.com/5966-pain-pills-ease-hurt-feelings.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 89, 140); text-decoration: none; ">dull the pain of social rejection</a> -- sort of like alcohol or Xanax. The author of that study, Nathan DeWall at the University of Kentucky, said at that time, "Social pain, such as chronic loneliness, damages health as much as smoking and obesity."</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; 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); ">New research this week found that Tylenol altered the way subjects passed moral judgments. Psychologists used that as a proxy measure for personal distress, a relationship that has been previously demonstrated.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; 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); ">Daniel Randles and colleagues at the University of British Columbia write in the journal <i><a href="http://www.academia.edu/2057894/The_common_pain_of_surrealism_and_death_Acetaminophen_reduces_compensatory_affirmation_following_meaning_threats" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 89, 140); text-decoration: none; ">Psychological Science</a></i>, "The meaning-maintenance model posits that any violation of expectations leads to an affective experience that motivates compensatory affirmation. We explore whether the neural mechanism that responds to meaning threats can be inhibited by acetaminophen." Totally.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; 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); ">More plainly, "Physical pain and social rejection share a neural process and subjective component that are experienced as distress." That neural process has been traced to the same part of the brain. They figure that if you blunt one, you blunt both. As they <a href="http://www.livescience.com/5966-pain-pills-ease-hurt-feelings.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 89, 140); text-decoration: none; ">told LiveScience</a>, "When people feel overwhelmed with uncertainty in life or distressed by a lack of purpose, what they're feeling may actually be painful distress ... We think that Tylenol is blocking existential unease in the same way it prevents pain, because a similar neurological process is responsible for both types of distress."</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; 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); ">In this study, Randles' team gave 120 people either two extra-strength Tylenol or a placebo. They then primed them by asking half to write about what happens when we die (meant to invoke or replicate existential anxiety) and the other half to write about a control, non-existential topic (going to the dentist, meant to focus people on concrete things). The rationale was that "thinking about death is incompatible with everyday thoughts ... and that it leads to the same anxiety ... as frustrated social interactions or perceived incongruities." </p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; 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); ">Then all were asked how high they would set bond for a hypothetical person arrested for prostitution.</p><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; 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); width: 300px; float: right; margin: 15px 0px 15px 20px; font-size: 11px; line-height: 11px; text-align: left; display: block; "><div style="text-align: right; "><font face="georgia, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11px; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgig0EG2dR2TofgJL67Q5iTJFggWnZ3E7scsndjYx2Qh0ZXzl7i0DXXX9eTKoUkgsMZU0z4YJuRKvmNTFKmcBtKDKhI5fYobEgju3sEmdxbLzIZkPMcnRlL_sg7euG2PslQfrppJKGWbOU/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-04-18+at+11.41.33+AM-771713.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5869770189783129346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgig0EG2dR2TofgJL67Q5iTJFggWnZ3E7scsndjYx2Qh0ZXzl7i0DXXX9eTKoUkgsMZU0z4YJuRKvmNTFKmcBtKDKhI5fYobEgju3sEmdxbLzIZkPMcnRlL_sg7euG2PslQfrppJKGWbOU/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-04-18+at+11.41.33+AM-771713.png" /></a></font><font style="font-size: 0.8em; ">Randles et al, <em>Psychological Science</em></font></div><font style="font-size: 0.8em; "><hr class="last-child" style="border-width: 1px 0px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(216, 216, 216); "></font></div><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; 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); ">Among people who took the placebo pill, those who wrote about existential anxiety set much higher bail ($450) than those who wrote about the dentist ($300). But if they took Tylenol and wrote existentially, that sense of moral judgment seemed to be blunted. They set the same bond regardless of the priming.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; 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); ">Then in a similar, separate experiment, they primed the subjects by having them watch video clips. They either watched <em>The Simpsons</em> or a film by surrealistic neonoir writer/director David Lynch, in which <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jSBVo59j9U" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 89, 140); text-decoration: none; ">humans with rabbit heads wander an urban apartment muttering non sequiturs</a>. They then passed judgment on people arrested in a hockey riot. Again, the people in the existential mindset imposed harsh sanctions, but the people who'd watched <i>The Simpsons</i> were lenient. If they'd taken Tylenol first, though, the David Lynch-induced anxiety was apparently blunted. They recommended the same sanctions as the Simpsons-primed group.</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; 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); ">This all raises more questions than it answers. This study was small. The<a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&q=tylenol&oq=tylenol&gs_l=news-cc.3..43j0j43i53.2293.3211.0.3363.7.4.0.3.3.0.39.145.4.4.0...0.0...1ac.1.2U_bPbLPmIw" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 89, 140); text-decoration: none; ">headlines are grandiose</a>. The way people pass moral judgments is not necessarily indicative of their level of existential anxiety. But acetaminophen indeed appears to be affecting people's perspectives, which further muddies our already complex relationship to the drug. </p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; 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 Randles <a href="http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/04/17/acetaminophen-seems-to-ease-some-existential-fears/53821.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 89, 140); text-decoration: none; ">sees the value</a> of their findings, "For people who suffer from chronic anxiety, or are overly sensitive to uncertainty, this work may shed some light on what is happening and how their symptoms could be reduced."</p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 23px; 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; ">Even though these changes in judgment are abstract and seemingly for the better, inclining people to benevolence and forgiveness, what other cognitive effects of acetaminophen might we yet discover? For the millions who take acetaminophen on a semiregular basis unaware that it might be confounding their value system, as well as the artists whose livelihoods are contingent on their work invoking profound existential angst, the question is not just academic.</p></div><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/04/whats-tylenol-doing-to-our-minds/275101/">http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/04/whats-tylenol-doing-to-our-minds/275101/</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

What's Tylenol Doing to Our Minds? - James Hamblin - The Atlantic

The active drug in Tylenol, acetaminophen, is one of the best medications we have for helping people in pain. It's also one the most com...

Senior Reference Librarian and Instruction Coordinator - Fairfield University Library

12:14 PM Anonymous 0

<strong>Senior Reference Librarian and Instruction Coordinator -</strong> <strong><span style="color: #48286d;">Fairfield University Library</span></strong>.  We invite applications from creative, flexible, self-motivated  librarians with a strong public services commitment and a vision and  enthusiasm for teaching and technology to join collegial team. The  successful candidate will be hired at the Librarian II level. The  position may include occasional evening and weekend hours.  Responsibilities: Provides dynamic leadership in the development,  implementation, promotion, and assessment of the Library’s instruction  program. Creates and maintains web-based and print instructional  resources. Provides Reference Desk coverage. Participates in the Library  Liaison program. Requirements: MLS from ALA accredited program. Two or  more years professional academic reference department experience  required. Teaching experience using active learning techniques and  demonstrated ability to plan user education programs. Demonstrated  technological competencies. Must be self-directed, well organized, and  able to meet deadlines and multiple demands. Demonstrated ability to  communicate, both orally and in writing, with a variety of audiences.  Flexibility, creativity, energy, and ability to work in a changing  environment, and with colleagues in a goal-oriented library team. Highly  Desirable: Innovative application of web-based tools and software in  the design and delivery of instruction. Second Master’s degree in a  related field. To Apply: Submit letter of application, resume, and  telephone numbers/e-mail addresses of three references to JoAnn Garrity,  Administrative assistant, DiMenna-Nyselius Library, 1073 North Benson  Road, Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT 06824-5195, or directed  electronically to <a _fcksavedurl="mailto:librarian@fairfield.edu" href="mailto:librarian@fairfield.edu">librarian@fairfield.edu</a>. Preference given to applications received by <span style="color: red;">May 17, 2013</span>.  Fairfield University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action  Employer.  The salary exceeds the Connecticut Library Association  minimum.

Senior Reference Librarian and Instruction Coordinator - Fairfield University Library

Senior Reference Librarian and Instruction Coordinator - Fairfield University Library . We invite applications from creative, flexible, se...

Architects House Themselves

10:00 AM Tukiyooo 0

The current <a href="http://www.world-architects.com/en/emagazine/architecture-news">World-Architects eMagazine</a> has a feature I assembled on houses that architects have designed for themselves, culled from the many profiles featured on the site. <a href="http://www.world-architects.com/en/pages/architects-house-themselves">Architects House Themselves</a> highlights nine projects—3 from Europe, 3 from the Americas, and 3 from Asia/Oceania—and their varied responses to unique architect-as-client scenarios.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.world-architects.com/en/pages/architects-house-themselves"><img alt="Insight13-17.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/Insight13-17.jpg" title="Architects House Themselves" /></a><br />[Tower House, GLUCK+. Photo: Paul Warchol]<br /><br />The introduction for <a href="http://www.world-architects.com/en/pages/architects-house-themselves">Architects House Themselves</a>:<br /><blockquote>There exists a long tradition of architects designing houses for themselves, many of them becoming historically notable works of architecture because of experimentation, a mix of living and working spaces, and an obviously unique architect-client relationship. Think of Frank Lloyd Wright's Home and Studio in Oak Park and his Taliesin estates in Wisconsin and Arizona; Alvar Aalto's house in Helsinki; Walter Gropius's house ten miles from Harvard; the Charles and Ray Eames House in California; Luis Barragán's House and Studio outside Mexico City; Frank Gehry's exploded bungalow in Santa Monica. The list of architects and houses goes on, with pre-20th-century examples found in Thomas Jefferson's plantation home at Monticello and Sir John Soane's house-museum in London, to name just two.<br /><br />Even as architects continue to design houses for themselves and their families, very little attention is given to the unique circumstances these projects represent. How do architects design for themselves? What experiments do they incorporate that can't be done with traditional clients? What are the stories behind the design and realization of an architect's own house? As a means of answering these and other questions, this "Insight" collects some houses of architects with profiles on World-Architects. Since this architect-client situation isn't geographically unique, we've assembled one house from many of our national platforms, grouped by larger geographical area—Europe, Americas, Asia/Oceania. These houses illustrate that the tradition of "architects housing themselves" is still alive, producing some of tomorrow's historically notable works of architecture.</blockquote>

Architects House Themselves

The current World-Architects eMagazine has a feature I assembled on houses that architects have designed for themselves, culled from the ma...

Cookie Monster

8:23 AM Tukiyooo 0

On Saturday evening I was in the form for some homemade cookies.  In Donnybrook Fair I saw this dough in the fridge which I thought would make good cookies.<br /><br />I cut the dough twice the size that they suggest for a standard cookie.  I cooked them for 1 minute less than they suggest as I wanted soft bake cookies.<br /><br />I was disappointed when I ate them.  They just didn't taste that good and they didn't look too good either.  I won't be buying them again.  I do think it is clever, however, that the dough is wrapped in parchment paper that you use on your baking tray. <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs5o0028_c0o8K5DBU0zAejgbuERS7wxs1khMUBcTcuMyjovS55mdFFaL5c8D6kMbXN6usuouUjo2JVHhxn85KIuEl_cp6iNkPcw195HIq_VWyM09mevR620wP3OuMSTNNAdneESKb2dRo/s640/blogger-image--73063587.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs5o0028_c0o8K5DBU0zAejgbuERS7wxs1khMUBcTcuMyjovS55mdFFaL5c8D6kMbXN6usuouUjo2JVHhxn85KIuEl_cp6iNkPcw195HIq_VWyM09mevR620wP3OuMSTNNAdneESKb2dRo/s640/blogger-image--73063587.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDq6YQ0eSuM_HpB6l-HlDfaJU7h7ke3W75F2r7QN7wfAPXOWg44RfSywDMjoumjGIyKctp9fOwwWcI_NzoZdNa5uQqUhfSe9uxMr7gj7Tr2BvQGn0gAYUrUdoYrZ69t6L74Vl6LmwyJxL4/s640/blogger-image-138702152.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDq6YQ0eSuM_HpB6l-HlDfaJU7h7ke3W75F2r7QN7wfAPXOWg44RfSywDMjoumjGIyKctp9fOwwWcI_NzoZdNa5uQqUhfSe9uxMr7gj7Tr2BvQGn0gAYUrUdoYrZ69t6L74Vl6LmwyJxL4/s640/blogger-image-138702152.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRJmXR3sXjMQnElszw7m8GuijKbpPsb5CHM9fSyIipO2qKuMUdbsMXND5ptlYw_QIHcOf8d620sA4uPhmMbZadBJQDZglX005CKpXGJnLJ-7kdqo7zrr_UBlvQkL-FrHjfJ6TLl-gQ9exM/s640/blogger-image-724412799.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRJmXR3sXjMQnElszw7m8GuijKbpPsb5CHM9fSyIipO2qKuMUdbsMXND5ptlYw_QIHcOf8d620sA4uPhmMbZadBJQDZglX005CKpXGJnLJ-7kdqo7zrr_UBlvQkL-FrHjfJ6TLl-gQ9exM/s640/blogger-image-724412799.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0EQhx5aKU84hlkyNdN6aJtc2j9lWOjoLKOL1-4ZQmMI-N8Xlv6w2btlYkLvTNDNlElRS2inBOLiNcM0e5qwgXmJfgnjqso2lX9lIfaOig2Tmlamhn5LjHNn-Y1wbKR8VNS8ncd2h6lowW/s640/blogger-image-1612784349.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0EQhx5aKU84hlkyNdN6aJtc2j9lWOjoLKOL1-4ZQmMI-N8Xlv6w2btlYkLvTNDNlElRS2inBOLiNcM0e5qwgXmJfgnjqso2lX9lIfaOig2Tmlamhn5LjHNn-Y1wbKR8VNS8ncd2h6lowW/s640/blogger-image-1612784349.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZja_QpJbnjbCUEz_97p1bBoV9oeZqO_m_8w54hiOAH_6m_QdO9wMJK_Vj-zDmT1_-gGSYLP_a4ZS6bJVmEnti1Nk8-zLZLmVtqVp-7J9Aso0VoN0Qrs9Y06YfVsk9JGH7xh4RFK7WyKk0/s640/blogger-image--328091069.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZja_QpJbnjbCUEz_97p1bBoV9oeZqO_m_8w54hiOAH_6m_QdO9wMJK_Vj-zDmT1_-gGSYLP_a4ZS6bJVmEnti1Nk8-zLZLmVtqVp-7J9Aso0VoN0Qrs9Y06YfVsk9JGH7xh4RFK7WyKk0/s640/blogger-image--328091069.jpg" /></a></div>

Cookie Monster

On Saturday evening I was in the form for some homemade cookies. In Donnybrook Fair I saw this dough in the fridge which I thought would ma...

you had to be there

7:21 AM Anonymous 0

It's warm, sunny and Monday. Two out of three, not bad. How was your weekend? Did you wake up confused as to what day it might be? I did. Bummer when you think for a split second that it is Sunday.<br /><br />Anyway, as those of you that are long time readers know, I can't go very long without changing things around these parts. It is chronic and there is no end in sight (sorry hubs). But often the changes are small enough that they aren't meaty enough for their very own post. (see, I now <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2013/04/whats-word.html" target="_blank">remember the word meat</a>)<br /><br />So I thought I'd gather them up and every once in a while do a little show and share - thus, the birth of 'you had to be there'.<br /><br />Let's go into the living room, shall we? Don't look at the Barbie's on the floor but turn your eye up. I decided that keeping blue and white platters in a closet is just as bad as putting Baby in a corner. So I've added them above my favorite <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/thepinkpagoda" target="_blank">Pink Pagoda</a> couple.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikfiyaQlZMhlRfM7rnVw2BqaAXb-dj5S2CQYxvtZdyYmlWZksxrKonBgaz16v4apC263zidn4K9OfzJYI2GYVNoQs1mbe8Lx70r3we2k_jtK18I8c3xLBBxaI7rYBnNZTwNs2IlZDPo5ml/s1600/livingroomupdates3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikfiyaQlZMhlRfM7rnVw2BqaAXb-dj5S2CQYxvtZdyYmlWZksxrKonBgaz16v4apC263zidn4K9OfzJYI2GYVNoQs1mbe8Lx70r3we2k_jtK18I8c3xLBBxaI7rYBnNZTwNs2IlZDPo5ml/s400/livingroomupdates3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Since you are already looking up, you may also notice this.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJjl3_hGLN8gEj9alSqTnzpT5fIpOsY9-q4AreQb2wSXKxL52wzy3W6sKz7u1eoSySBJzCFTv7FWTfYHNjdHjk3R2mz_vbFJO9UcdVm0eDN8Psd28hr0NDOnObjzZy_sqdqOxCqLQOwkS/s1600/ceilingupdate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJjl3_hGLN8gEj9alSqTnzpT5fIpOsY9-q4AreQb2wSXKxL52wzy3W6sKz7u1eoSySBJzCFTv7FWTfYHNjdHjk3R2mz_vbFJO9UcdVm0eDN8Psd28hr0NDOnObjzZy_sqdqOxCqLQOwkS/s400/ceilingupdate.jpg" width="327" /></a></div><br />Yes, I'm changing my dining room chandelier again.<br /><br />We finally have a rug in our <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2012/05/now-i-can-lay-down-bedroom-reveal.html" target="_blank">bedroom</a>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPEPAedEE2onsYsjuuMU_g_KOtfjl4xEimb_26IX5ySo_7xGbHLmxuwQvTtl3JPiUg-oDWPs8raY4fBG1MXNBAOf9JCoG6hRGRkOVXPd8WLqRGauTiu2Du90WSM8OxpU_YkBmWj2eZdiU5/s1600/newruginbedroom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPEPAedEE2onsYsjuuMU_g_KOtfjl4xEimb_26IX5ySo_7xGbHLmxuwQvTtl3JPiUg-oDWPs8raY4fBG1MXNBAOf9JCoG6hRGRkOVXPd8WLqRGauTiu2Du90WSM8OxpU_YkBmWj2eZdiU5/s400/newruginbedroom.jpg" width="318" /></a></div><br />The hubs got it for me for Christmas. Which is in December. And it is now April. I know, I know.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3JaqHgDuryA83Q0jaDj_eka60GoHKyMUC42vXS2AUcmBUTSePARJRCecfUj8M_va17inFPvvd2NHchyphenhyphenzhTNop3H_UnGK-Vpwv1iZouCC_VttK0qCBIrXHc56WRboGST6798ucdHaXceAt/s1600/fronthallprogress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3JaqHgDuryA83Q0jaDj_eka60GoHKyMUC42vXS2AUcmBUTSePARJRCecfUj8M_va17inFPvvd2NHchyphenhyphenzhTNop3H_UnGK-Vpwv1iZouCC_VttK0qCBIrXHc56WRboGST6798ucdHaXceAt/s400/fronthallprogress.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />This is happening in the entry hall (if you can call it that).<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrPn1Gz7C2bvEdVte0hTceJFLtXPgTqmSNY509byzSYOuVvxRNV8uGHz10MDy8KWo7FKOQZLt0gjsGpLpU4T8BQbuvsa33-J7A5MBk1O1M2D3YTw0m2_BHgHe3J-Irr_HB1pQO3hcNyuwn/s1600/mantelupdate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrPn1Gz7C2bvEdVte0hTceJFLtXPgTqmSNY509byzSYOuVvxRNV8uGHz10MDy8KWo7FKOQZLt0gjsGpLpU4T8BQbuvsa33-J7A5MBk1O1M2D3YTw0m2_BHgHe3J-Irr_HB1pQO3hcNyuwn/s400/mantelupdate.jpg" width="391" /></a></div><br />And finally, my ongoing battle with my mantel continues and I've changed it yet again. I pulled out some old sconces that I got at an estate sale way back when and slapped those suckers up. I had always thought I might spray them but I think I like the patina on the brass. And I love my pink candles.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghBeuc5mPxOhnRkQ2biOPI62ODXxRMGxg4wwSFseRDxHBj-QhWSAcnXyUYF4rStpvqUDYq33NjTC4B-7sK2QGL0eP8IP_kkYiUBrdTvlXZUhyphenhyphenslWnhM-qdGZocdatmkQbgLjpnJM6df8rx/s1600/sconce.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghBeuc5mPxOhnRkQ2biOPI62ODXxRMGxg4wwSFseRDxHBj-QhWSAcnXyUYF4rStpvqUDYq33NjTC4B-7sK2QGL0eP8IP_kkYiUBrdTvlXZUhyphenhyphenslWnhM-qdGZocdatmkQbgLjpnJM6df8rx/s400/sconce.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Why yes, that is one of my lovely Indie Mats on the mantel. Good eye! Let it serve as a reminder - this is the last day you can enter to win these lovelies for your own home! Make sure you <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2013/04/indie-mats-giveaway.html" target="_blank">enter to win</a>!<br /><br />What about you? Do you move things around your house often? Made any small updates lately?

you had to be there

It's warm, sunny and Monday. Two out of three, not bad. How was your weekend? Did you wake up confused as to what day it might be? I did...

ARGENTINA: BUENOS AIRES FLOODING

7:14 AM Tukiyooo 0

<br /> <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/AVvXsEg_3_u7e2gBizACg1apfL62OIibxWBc0oyjtQo2UFvHlYh0bnGN4xkUNi-WTAXSlHeG1Pm_iyrdW-OZuLf0whMHqdI3x9HGnsdronSzER8Mvuh8yuX857bvTWxY5p7M2J5etGQmkff6HanT/s1600/big_18993.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_3_u7e2gBizACg1apfL62OIibxWBc0oyjtQo2UFvHlYh0bnGN4xkUNi-WTAXSlHeG1Pm_iyrdW-OZuLf0whMHqdI3x9HGnsdronSzER8Mvuh8yuX857bvTWxY5p7M2J5etGQmkff6HanT/s400/big_18993.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NOR DELTA GATED COMMUNITY</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 24.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">LUXURY HOMES BLOCK UP RIVER DELTA NEAR BA - CAUSE FOR FLOODS?</span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><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/AVvXsEiZ7QGQMcF8P9S7Om05jkrWAGbo5fQwnpxwTj38n5Li8o0EaYMtilsNCoi99aT9GXVkRUSB8L_m4J_5JUn9Vge4LI7K35aNx3GGXt9IsTpgUOwxr5ycO0V3TRvHb2iGTEnaOdBH5H63Xb4u/s1600/largest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ7QGQMcF8P9S7Om05jkrWAGbo5fQwnpxwTj38n5Li8o0EaYMtilsNCoi99aT9GXVkRUSB8L_m4J_5JUn9Vge4LI7K35aNx3GGXt9IsTpgUOwxr5ycO0V3TRvHb2iGTEnaOdBH5H63Xb4u/s320/largest.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">flooded Buenos Aires after torrential rainfalls </td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">AN INCREASE IN REAL ESTATE PROJECTS MAY PARTLY EXPLAIN FLOODS IN THE CITY</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">by Marcela Valente via IPS</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Gated residential communities on the Paraná Delta have sprawled out of control in recent years, and are plugging up the local ecosystem and preventing the natural runoff of water that cushions the impact of floods in a vast area near the ARGENTINE capital.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The problem was particularly highlighted after the tragic flooding in early April in the city of Buenos Aires, and especially in La Plata, the capital of the province of Buenos Aires, where torrential rains caused the death of almost 60 people.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">LACK OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND FAR SIGHT AS WELL AS CONTINGENCY PLANS ARE PART<span style="font-size: small;"></span> OF THE CAUSE FOR INCREASED FLOODING IN BUENOS AIRES </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The real estate construction boom, the lack of infrastructure such as storm drains to cope with increasingly frequent and heavy rains, and the lack of contingency plans in response to disasters are now at the centre of debate in Argentina.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Paraná river delta is an immense wetland covering 17,500 square kilometres in the lower course of the nearly 5,000-kilometre-long Paraná river, which divides into a labyrinth of smaller branches before flowing into the River Plate estuary.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Traditional houses on the islands of the delta are built on stilts, have wooden jetties and are surrounded by reed beds. They coexist harmoniously with an ecosystem that is prepared periodically to receive large amounts of floodwater.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">229 HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS OF DIFFERENT SIZES HAVE BEEN BUILT ON THE FLOODPLAINS OF THE DELTA IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS ONLY...........</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY9DdTUfIAUYUgstaIHEJm91UxHwmq5REAgeQpPTrm2B2zfvo30p2mxBm-aI0-5m7xP8MIVs-hWj-EBIPzxwwtKdiMUE3AmbTOCdOd19OUa_BJeYoIgE1aiq15WJhLq-V2AVa8hahixVtK/s1600/salinity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY9DdTUfIAUYUgstaIHEJm91UxHwmq5REAgeQpPTrm2B2zfvo30p2mxBm-aI0-5m7xP8MIVs-hWj-EBIPzxwwtKdiMUE3AmbTOCdOd19OUa_BJeYoIgE1aiq15WJhLq-V2AVa8hahixVtK/s640/salinity.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is an area of high biodiversity which also provides many environmental services. The most outstanding are provision of water and the capacity to regulate the river’s floods, which are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change caused by global warming.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In recent years, however, 229 housing developments of different sizes have been built on the floodplains of the delta, most of them with luxury homes, golf courses, tennis courts, shopping centres, schools and horse-riding centres.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">TOWN PLANNERS SAID THAT ABOUT 90 PERCENT OF THESE DEVELOPMENTS WERE BUILT ON FLOODPLAINS SUBJECT TO OVERFLOW FROM RIVERS AND STREAMS</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #cc0000;">, </span>and 10 percent on silt islands that were artificially levelled or filled in to support the residential complexes.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Daniel Blanco, the head of Fundación Humedales (Wetlands Foundation), said that the building expansion was “very aggressive.” Now the area is at risk of losing its natural capacity to absorb water, just as storms are becoming more intense.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Experts with the NGO, which works for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands, say that under the false pretext that the land is unproductive, real estate projects went ahead with levelling, draining and diverting water courses, affecting the natural functions of the wetland.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“They are trying to convert the place into a dryland system,” complain the authors of “Bienes y servicios ecosistémicos de los humedales del Delta del Paraná” (Ecosystem Goods and Services in the Paraná Delta Wetlands), a study that warns of the risk of flooding in adjacent areas.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The study, by Patricia Kandus, Natalia Morandeira and Facundo Schivo of Fundación Humedales, indicates that the delta ecosystem does not prevent flooding, but cushions the rise of the river level, retains part of the volume, filters the water and releases it slowly thanks to its plant cover which acts like a sponge.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">PROJECTS SUCH AS COLONY PARK (GATED COMMUNITY) HAVE BEEN BROUGHT TO A HALT </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIiYPrEdeQixYGqCIpz-k1VMA68GFY-C-RgTF5oE1p9_OjJ7eJhHhmsbZdwPu8not7VWmrwnRBv_iBTWunvMsPEQNat-Su4GpJplcg_1DPsofvRxBEiXxyf3UOdpXm3ZHapEOKGWsvl-dE/s1600/colony+park.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIiYPrEdeQixYGqCIpz-k1VMA68GFY-C-RgTF5oE1p9_OjJ7eJhHhmsbZdwPu8not7VWmrwnRBv_iBTWunvMsPEQNat-Su4GpJplcg_1DPsofvRxBEiXxyf3UOdpXm3ZHapEOKGWsvl-dE/s1600/colony+park.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Colony Park project</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Warnings from environmentalists and local residents, added to the severe impact of heavy rains in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area, managed to block some investment projects, and have led to progress in regulating new building on the islands.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One of the projects brought to a halt is Colony Park, which promised “a private island of peace and tranquillity” on 300 hectares of the Delta del Tigre, the lowest-lying section of the wetlands, in the northeast of the province of Buenos Aires. According to its promotional advertising, the building of 1,000 “luxury” dwellings was planned.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Due to the controversy generated by the project, as well as a lawsuit brought by residents, in 2012 the municipality of Tigre with the help and expertise of environmental organizations drew up stricter planning regulations for building on the islands in that district.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Acknowledging the fragility of the delta ecosystem, the new regulations require buildings to be constructed on stilts, forbid the alteration of the natural elevation of the islands — which usually grow by accumulating sediment — and ban artificial filling-in of the centre of the islands.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The islands of the delta are normally bowl-shaped, with a hollow in the centre that contributes to retaining excess floodwater. But these hollows were being filled in to raise the elevation and avoid flooding the building site.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In Campana, another municipality of the province of Buenos Aires, a local association, Vecinos del Humedal, got a temporary stay against a residential development planned for 40,000 people on the Luján river, one of the delta tributaries.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">PARANÁ RIVER ROSE TO NEARLY FIVE METERS, CREATING SEVERE FLOODING</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Alejandro Fernández, a member of the association, said that local people got together to resist the project in their area, where several gated communities are already causing flooding in the surrounding areas.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In late October a heavy storm caused the level of the Paraná river to rise by nearly five metres, creating severe flooding not only along the riverside but also in the centre of the city of Luján, where the floodwater reached the basilica, an international tourist attraction.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“All along the Luján river, the building of private complexes has been allowed on the floodplains that alter the natural ebb and flow of the river. If they cap a virtually flat area with cement, they create a serious problem,” Fernández said.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Then when the floods come, political leaders clutch their heads, but they were the ones who signed off on the permits for those real estate projects without proper urban planning,” he said.</span></div>

ARGENTINA: BUENOS AIRES FLOODING

NOR DELTA GATED COMMUNITY LUXURY HOMES BLOCK UP RIVER DELTA NEAR BA - CAUSE FOR FLOODS? flooded Buenos Aires after torrential rainfalls AN ...

Life, Interrupted: A Chat With Suleika - NYTimes.com

7:06 AM Tukiyooo 0

It was just about a year ago when Well readers first met Suleika Jaouad, who at 22 was facing a cancer diagnosis and a potentially lifesaving bone marrow transplant. Her first column "Life, Interrupted: Facing Cancer in Your 20s," captivated readers and transformed Ms. Jaouad from an unknown writer to a national advocate for young people with cancer.<br /><br><br /><br>Although Ms. Jaouad is now cancer-free, she is still undergoing a yearlong chemotherapy regimen. She recently took some time to talk about her writing schedule, the challenges of being a "cancerlebrity," and a new love in her life, Oscar, a rescue dog. Here's our conversation.<br /><br><br /><br>Q.<br /><br>Can you start by giving us an update on your health and treatment?<br /><br><br /><br>A.<br /><br>I just celebrated my first post-transplant anniversary, which was really exciting. I have mixed emotions about it, because the same day I celebrated my "transplanniversary," which is what I call it, I had to go into chemo that morning. As much progress as I've made and as grateful as I feel to be here today, cancer is still part of my day-to-day life in a big way.<br /><br><br /><br>Q.<br /><br>Where are you in treatment right now?<br /><br><br /><br>A.<br /><br>I've completed eight cycles of chemotherapy since my transplant. I have about four more left. I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm kind of up and down. Because these treatments are cumulative, I have been feeling more and more exhausted by them. Luckily, I have only about four more, and then it looks like I'll be done, hopefully forever.<br /><br><br /><br>Q.<br /><br>Looking back, you've had so much professional success in the past year with your writing. Is it hard to reconcile that your success coincided with having cancer?<br /><br><br /><br>A.<br /><br>It's confusing sometimes. I don't consider cancer a gift by any means. I've seen it take people's lives, and the toll it's taken on my life and my family. As with any difficult experience, there is always a silver lining. The biggest silver lining for me has been not only finding my voice as a writer, but having an opportunity to know my audience, hear their stories and learn from them. During my transplant, the highlight each week for me was reading the comments section of "Life, Interrupted." Receiving that support was unlike anything else I've ever experienced. Hearing from other people who have gone through what I've gone through but were many years out from it – it was so inspiring and continues to be. On a professional note, it was exciting to me to see my name in print, to have my first byline during the very same week that I was going in for a life-threatening procedure. It gave me hope for the future and hope that one day I might be able to be a writer without the cancer as my main message.<br /><br><br /><br>Q.<br /><br>How do you feel about being a "cancerlebrity"? Did you ever expect that writing about your cancer would create so many new opportunities?<br /><br><br /><br>A.<br /><br>It's been a strange feeling. When I first started writing these columns, I was completely bedridden. For the first few months I was in isolation and couldn't leave my room or go to public spaces. It was only when I got well enough to walk around that I realized just how public my story had become. I was sitting in a coffee shop and the barista came over to me — this healthy, normal-looking 20-something, and she said, "Oh, you're that girl who writes the 'Life, Interrupted' column." She didn't have a cancer history, but she could relate to the life-interrupted message and found inspiration in that. That's happened to me several times since then, and every time it takes me by surprise. It's been incredible for me to meet so many new people in the cancer community and outside of it. Some of my best friends today are young women who are living with cancer whom I met through Twitter or Facebook or the comments section of my column.<br /><br><br /><br>Q.<br /><br>What are some of the other opportunities that writing the column has created for you?<br /><br><br /><br>A.<br /><br>One thing I've enjoyed has been doing the video series and doing other television and public speaking. That's something I never thought I'd be doing particularly because I had horrible stage fright. For me to stand up in front of 1,000 people and share my story and talk about advocacy or blogging and social media was something I never dreamed of doing. It's been very empowering to face that fear head-on. Now a lot of what I do is travel around and speak at colleges and hospitals. Next week I go to Las Vegas for a young adult cancer conference. I'll be speaking there and hosting a workshop called "Healing Through Writing." Then I'm off to London – it will be my first time abroad since I got sick in Paris two years ago. I'll be speaking at a blood cancer gala, and I'm very excited.<br /><br><br /><br>Q.<br /><br>Lately, you have not been writing your column as frequently as in the beginning. Readers often worry this means you are not doing well. Do you have a response to that?<br /><br><br /><br>A.<br /><br>I think post-bone marrow transplant complications are quite common. I did struggle with a minor case of graft-versus-host disease. And recently, I had to have a new port catheter placed into my chest because my veins had become difficult to access. It was a minor procedure, but it did put me out of commission for a little while. And as anyone who has done chemotherapy can tell you, the exhaustion doesn't come just the week of chemotherapy but most often the week after, when side effects start to take effect. I guess I would say that over all I'm doing really well, as well as can be expected, but because of the additional year of chemotherapy I had to do after my transplant I have been very fatigued and unable to write at times.<br /><br><br /><br>Q.<br /><br>But when you are feeling well, aren't you also incredibly busy?<br /><br><br /><br>A.<br /><br>Yes, that's part of it, too. I think the thing that helps me the most is seizing those moments when I'm well and trying to make the most of them whether it's writing a column or traveling to host a young adults cancer symposium. I really try to stay as busy as possible. My way of coping with my disease has been to constantly try and look for those silver linings and, when I find one, to make the most of it.<br /><br><br /><br>Q.<br /><br>You have such a large following on Well. Is there a way for readers to catch up with you between columns?<br /><br><br /><br>A.<br /><br>I'm constantly posting updates through my Twitter, Facebook pageand Instagram. For those who want more regular updates for what's going on medically with me or otherwise, they are welcome to look there.<br /><br><br /><br>Q.<br /><br>In your videos and column, you have shared moments in your relationship with your boyfriend, Seamus McKiernan, whom you had known only a short time before your diagnosis. How is he doing now?<br /><br><br /><br>A.<br /><br>Everything is really great. We're living together with our dog, trying to find a new normal. I think that's something I'd like to write about – what does that expression mean? I think as a cancer patient, when you transition into that survivorship period it can be difficult. For me it's been hard to know what's the next step, where do I go from here. We've been trying to figure that out together. So much of our relationship has been dominated by disease; we are both looking forward to moving on with our lives. Seamus recently started "Generation Why" a platform for other young adults to blog about their cancer. I feel really grateful to him for doing that because not only has he stood by me for all of this, but he's taken time out of his workday to offer other young patients the chance to share their stories publicly. He's seen how much writing has helped me, and he has found a way to give that gift to other young people.<br /><br><br /><br>Q.<br /><br>You also wrote about how cancer interrupted the last year of collegefor your brother, who was your bone marrow donor. What is he up to now?<br /><br><br /><br>A.<br /><br>My brother is doing really well. He's in the Dominican Republic studying Spanish and working odd jobs. He hopes to enroll in the Peace Corps. I think all of this has been very difficult for him as my donor. He's felt a lot of responsibility in regards to how I'm doing, so I think it's a really nice feeling for him to know I'm well enough that he can travel and leave the country without worrying about how I'm doing.<br /><br><br /><br>Q.<br /><br>With your personal health and life now so public, do you have a way to escape the constant focus on cancer that your column brings?<br /><br><br /><br>A.<br /><br>It can be too much cancer, 24/7, all the time. I've started drawing a lot and painting, which is something I did a lot growing up because my mother is an artist. I find a lot of pleasure and comfort in doing things that are completely unrelated to writing or speaking. It's also been so incredible to adopt Oscar, my rescue dog. I'm able to take walks with him, which is something I wouldn't have necessarily done on my own. It's a distraction that's set in stone four or five times a day. That's been really wonderful.<br /><br><br /><br>Q.<br /><br>I know you have thought about writing a book. Are you still considering that?<br /><br><br /><br>A.<br /><br>I am working on a book proposal. That's the next step for me. I'm hoping to write about my relationship with Seamus. I'd like this book to be a coming-of-age love story. Cancer is part of that story, but not necessarily the focus of it. I'm hoping to call it "Life, Interrupted," but instead of focusing so much on the interruptions, I'd like to focus on the "Life" part of the title.<br /><br><br /><br><a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/life-interrupted-a-chat-with-suleika/">http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/life-interrupted-a-chat-with-suleika/</a>

Life, Interrupted: A Chat With Suleika - NYTimes.com

It was just about a year ago when Well readers first met Suleika Jaouad, who at 22 was facing a cancer diagnosis and a potentially lifesavin...

Patients’ Genes Seen as Future of Cancer Care - NYTimes.com

7:04 AM Tukiyooo 0

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><nyt_text 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; "><div id="articleBody"><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Electric fans growl like airplanes taking off and banks of green lights wink in a basement at Mount Sinai's medical school, where a new $3 million supercomputer makes quick work of huge amounts of genetic and other biological information.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Just a couple of miles away, a competitor, Weill Cornell Medical College and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell hospital are building a $650 million research tower. Across the street is a newly completed $550 million tower housing labs for another competitor, <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/m/memorial_sloankettering_cancer_center/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center" class="meta-org" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center</a>.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Major academic medical centers in New York and around the country are spending and recruiting heavily in what has become an arms race within the war on <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/cancer/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Cancer." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">cancer</a>. The investments are based on the belief that the medical establishment is moving toward the routine sequencing of every patient's genome in the quest for "precision medicine," a course for prevention and treatment based on the special, even unique characteristics of the patient's genes.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Among other projects, Harvard Medical School has its Center for Biomedical Informatics, which among a broad array of approaches uses mathematical modeling to predict when genetic information could lead to more effective treatment. Phoenix Children's Hospital opened the <a title="A link to the Web site. " href="http://www.phoenixchildrens.com/about/research/molecular-medicine-research.html" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Ronald A. Matricaria Institute of Molecular Medicine</a> in December, recruiting researchers from Los Angeles and Baltimore and planning to sequence the genomes of 30 percent of their childhood cancer patients in their search for better therapies.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Johns Hopkins, with its focus on public health, wants to develop a "systematic genomic sequencing program" over the next two years that will combine genomic analysis with a patient's environmental exposure, family history and other factors to support <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/specialtopic/preventive-health-care/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Preventive health care." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">preventive medicine</a>, said Scott Zeger, vice provost for research.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"There will be a moment in time when whole genome sequencing becomes ubiquitous throughout health care," said Peter Tonellato, director of the Harvard personalized medicine lab and a clinical investigator in pathology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. "Let's say we figure out all the individuals who might have a cancer, and we can predict that with a relatively high level of accuracy. Then presumably we can take steps to avoid those, let's say, decades of treatment."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Sequencing an entire genome currently costs in the neighborhood of $5,000 to $10,000, not including the interpretation of the information. It is usually not reimbursed by insurance, which is more likely to cover tests for genetic mutations that are known to be responsive to drugs. The treatments themselves, which are sometimes covered, typically cost several times that.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Even optimists warn that medicine is a long way from deriving useful information from routine sequencing, raising questions about the social worth of all this investment at a time of intense fiscal pressure on the health care system.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"What's the real health benefit?" said Dr. Robert C. Green, a Harvard professor and a medical geneticist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "If you're a little bit cynical, you say, well, none, it's foolish."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Dr. Green is part of a federally sponsored research project that is looking at the economic and medical impact of whole genome sequencing. "One of the most prominent downsides is you start chasing risks for a whole lot of disease you'll never have, and generate a lot of cost for little benefits," he said.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">He was not ready to dismiss the efforts of Mount Sinai and others, though. "The other side of the question is, what was there to look up on the Internet when the first person got a personal computer? Very little."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The race entails large sums spent not only on construction and technology but also recruitment, salaries and incentives for scientists like Weill-Cornell's Dr. Lewis Cantley, who was lured from Harvard, or Eric E. Schadt, plucked from the biotech world to head the <a title="A link to the Web site. " href="http://icahn.mssm.edu/research/institutes/genomics-institute" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Mount Sinai Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology</a>.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell announced a new Institute for Precision Medicine, headed by a <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/prostate-cancer/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Prostate Cancer." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">prostate cancer</a> expert, in January. (The newly fashionable term "precision medicine" is an updated version of another genomics buzzword, "personalized medicine.") "I am not in this for competition," said Dr. Laurie Glimcher, dean of Weill Cornell Medical College. "I consider it collaboration, and I think we all have the same goal in mind, which is to cure disease."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">As Weill Cornell was courting Dr. Cantley, Memorial was pursuing another Harvard eminence, Dr. José Baselga, to be its physician in chief. "It's a small world," Dr. Baselga, a <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/breast-cancer/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Breast cancer." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">breast cancer</a> specialist, said, recalling that he and Dr. Cantley had exchanged notes on what each was being offered.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Memorial sequenced 16,000 tumors last year, mainly in lung cancer patients, Dr. Baselga said. In addition to the research building just completed on East 68th Street, a new outpatient building on East 74th Street, to be finished in 2018, will have whole floors dedicated to early-phase clinical trials.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The promise of whole genome sequencing can be seen in trials like one for <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/bladder-cancer/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Bladder cancer." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">bladder cancer</a> at Memorial, where the effects of a drug normally used for breast cancer were disappointing in all but one of about 40 patients, whose tumor went away, Dr. Baselga said. Investigators sequenced the patient's whole genome. "The patient had a mutation in one gene that was right on the same pathway as the therapy," Dr. Baselga said. "And that explained why this worked."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">At Mount Sinai, Dr. Schadt, 48, an all-around risk aficionado who rides a BMW S 1000 RR Superbike, says he will use the mathematical principles of weather and markets forecasting to assess the risk of disease, and, given a disease, determine the subtype and best drugs to use.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Mount Sinai has collected what it calls an electronic "biobank" of information on 24,000 patients, who have agreed to participate in DNA sequencing and research over their lifetimes.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Some of that information will be fed into the supercomputer, which is named Minerva, after the Roman goddess of wisdom. Data storage alone is a challenge: one genome is 300 gigabytes of raw data per patient sample. Minerva's supervisor is Patricia Kovatch, 44, a computer engineer who led the team that built Kraken, the world's third fastest computer, in 2009, while working for the University of Tennessee at <a title="A link to the Web site. " href="http://www.tennessee.edu/ornl/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Oak Ridge National Laboratory</a>.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">So much hiring has been going on surrounding personalized medicine at Mount Sinai, she said, that "it feels like a start-up."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">At this point, scientists have only an imperfect understanding of how snippets of genetic material can determine a patient's chances of getting many diseases, especially more common ones. And patients are often reluctant to enroll in clinical trials of drugs still in development. But by setting up the right infrastructure — collecting and sequencing patient DNA, identifying patients who could benefit from a particular drug and aggressively recruiting patients for trials — the academic medical centers hope to play a bigger role in the development of new drugs, which could lead to lucrative patent royalties.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"The pharmaceutical companies need the expertise of academic medical centers, they need our patient groups to participate," said Dr. Dennis Charney, dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Those groups could include patients like Kieran P. Holohan, a 45-year-old lawyer who received a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia in 2009. After his <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/chemotherapy/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about chemotherapy." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">chemotherapy</a> and the disease's remission, his original doctor pushed him to have a bone-marrow transplant to prolong the remission. A friend from his rugby club, a geneticist, told him that "this has a lot to do with chromosomes," he recalled, and sent him to a doctor at Weill Cornell, Gail J. Roboz.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">A relatively new laboratory test found that Mr. Holohan's leukemia had a mutation that meant that his chances of survival would not necessarily improve with the risky transplant. So he opted for more chemotherapy, and his cancer is still in remission.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"They didn't go with a suit off the rack," he said. "This was bespoke medicine."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">His doctor is more cautious. "Unfortunately, cancer is cured three times a day in the media," she said. But that does not mean that there might not be truly customized treatments for cancer 10 years down the line, she said.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Dr. James M. Crawford, chair of pathology at Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, said his institution, a competitor in some ways with the Manhattan medical centers, was "quite literally on the fence" about whether to join the race or to "let more data emerge before we decide we are going to commit more resources to this."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"What is the ultimate utility of this personalized medicine?" he said. "As a medical profession but also as a society we have not answered this question to our satisfaction."</p><nyt_correction_bottom><div class="articleCorrection" style="font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 2.8em; "></div></nyt_correction_bottom><nyt_update_bottom></nyt_update_bottom></div></nyt_text><span 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); display: inline !important; float: none; "></span></div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/22/health/patients-genes-seen-as-future-of-cancer-care.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0&pagewanted=print">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/22/health/patients-genes-seen-as-future-of-cancer-care.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0&pagewanted=print</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Patients’ Genes Seen as Future of Cancer Care - NYTimes.com

Electric fans growl like airplanes taking off and banks of green lights wink in a basement at Mount Sinai's medical school, where a new ...