IWS Person of the Week...Happy Birther Day President Obama

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">On this date of August 4th, in 1961, unto the world was born a child in Honolulu, Kenya who would later grow up to be a divisive political scalawag, a one-man wrecking crew of capitalism, and most importantly, President of the United States.<br /><br />His name?<br /><br />Barack Hussein Obama or as some know him, the 44th President of the United States of America.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaWTU3t-0c6aMO69-fwLnY9-A5CjJsYSCXpSCcOL4jDJ1JxCYU-_7J3IumBDW-LBy4MHI2BGWiQLTvxD30ma7KiEudmamgyXXL5DUScG4_4nGgNUtyo2eJZjkTjijZTTBFz-z0K-h_ndU/s1600/Barack+Obama+Stylish+Handsome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaWTU3t-0c6aMO69-fwLnY9-A5CjJsYSCXpSCcOL4jDJ1JxCYU-_7J3IumBDW-LBy4MHI2BGWiQLTvxD30ma7KiEudmamgyXXL5DUScG4_4nGgNUtyo2eJZjkTjijZTTBFz-z0K-h_ndU/s400/Barack+Obama+Stylish+Handsome.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />That’s right…today is President Barack Obama’s Birthday, and it is only fitting that we at IWS Radio who affectionately refer to him as BO-Dawg, make him our Person of the Week…<br /><br />Look at that smile, that charm, that…<i>”Devil-May-Care, I was doin’ drugs thirty years ago and yet I became President”</i> grin.<br /><br />And even though he is now busy trying to keep and/or organize the Free World, and no longer prowling the hipster scene like the party animal that he was, he can still pull off, “cool.”<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9qg_Wlz93u5ErtYg1tiZo7PckU3RwDvsTr5T-dU38KKrijYQ_yHp4PkhUQlmiLXMG8uBGDCYTSFbt9Ng-mpw_RCn_tZJwdxMrkObCwl6maTW9ivEBMU3m9HnFFFhOmxAGDwiIDd2U2mc/s1600/barack+obama+cool+birthday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9qg_Wlz93u5ErtYg1tiZo7PckU3RwDvsTr5T-dU38KKrijYQ_yHp4PkhUQlmiLXMG8uBGDCYTSFbt9Ng-mpw_RCn_tZJwdxMrkObCwl6maTW9ivEBMU3m9HnFFFhOmxAGDwiIDd2U2mc/s400/barack+obama+cool+birthday.jpg" width="356" /></a></div><br />Yep…today, at the slight majority in the Senate age of 52, Barack Obama is a loyal husband to Michelle, and a doting father to his two girls, but he can still make ladies like Jennifer Hudson swoon…<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ_DgTCs9aDfNPU5hYXoobncdSOEyMlSfuvgT8HQq8LuaFvFOdFMTm7t_-SbvXh8DilapSrW5s5UT41O-oLM-O-xo4-BBAqbtIP6Wgm2PEa_yX4dKuxEyqxTdn8KVSRd7G_epQ1GvDQHA/s1600/Barack+Obama+Jennifer+Hudson+Ladies'+Man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ_DgTCs9aDfNPU5hYXoobncdSOEyMlSfuvgT8HQq8LuaFvFOdFMTm7t_-SbvXh8DilapSrW5s5UT41O-oLM-O-xo4-BBAqbtIP6Wgm2PEa_yX4dKuxEyqxTdn8KVSRd7G_epQ1GvDQHA/s400/Barack+Obama+Jennifer+Hudson+Ladies'+Man.jpg" width="250" /></a></div><br />And that is why, no matter if you like him or not, President Barack Obama can put his feet up on his Presidential desk, smile, and think to himself…<br /><br /><i>“If I was any cooler; I’d be Shaft.”</i><br /><i><br /></i> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPVxNbrG3o2mId7m2SJWDYcSZ0ZsZSLzbiFylaZJsHVsYWodSx1SI-x_UhOJR-713vjEaHbfiblzOGmdLyJLhFfZkXxz9yW-PvE-S8MKtF-Bz7PzMoQDvgrpABvW88tjKKPWfr6bjBiRI/s1600/Barack+Obama+Smile+Asshole+Hated.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPVxNbrG3o2mId7m2SJWDYcSZ0ZsZSLzbiFylaZJsHVsYWodSx1SI-x_UhOJR-713vjEaHbfiblzOGmdLyJLhFfZkXxz9yW-PvE-S8MKtF-Bz7PzMoQDvgrpABvW88tjKKPWfr6bjBiRI/s400/Barack+Obama+Smile+Asshole+Hated.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />So here’s to Birthday <strike>Boy</strike> Man, President Barack Obama, the <i>IWS Radio Person of the Week.</i><br /><br />And in his honor?<br /><br />I hope all of you join Jay, Matt, and the entire IWS Radio team for a <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2013/08/04/happy-birther-day-barack-obama" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Happy Birther Day Barack Obama</span></a> extravaganza on IWS Radio from Noon-2 PM ET today on Blog Talk Radio.<br /><br />Headliners from the world of politics, pop culture, and entertainment will be airing their Birthday wishes, and we will be taking your calls at 661.244.9852.<br /><br />So listen<a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2013/08/04/happy-birther-day-barack-obama" target="_blank"> <span style="color: blue;">LIVE</span></a>, call-in with your birthday wishes, and hang out with Jay and Matt from Noon-2 PM ET on the IWS Radio Show.<br /><br />You can catch all the hilarity by clicking <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2013/08/04/happy-birther-day-barack-obama" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">HERE</span></a>.</div>

IWS Person of the Week...Happy Birther Day President Obama

On this date of August 4th, in 1961, unto the world was born a child in Honolulu, Kenya who would later grow up to be a divisive political s...

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Is Eating out challenging on Belviq?

Good Saturday evening everyone. Sorry my post is so late for a Saturday. I had a fun day which brings me to this particular blog post. So, one of my brother's birthday was this week. My dad and my other brother live about 2 hours away so we decided to meet 1/2 way for lunch. Most of my family is relatively thing, so picking places that are healthy are not as much as important to them as it is me! Then after that I spent the afternoon with a very good friend who was in town from Mississippi with her husband and mom - all who are like family to me. We went to dinner, and of course, you got to go where you know they would love to eat right? Hospitality? So as I anticipate both events this week, I become a bit nervous as to how I will handle temptation.<br /><br />I try no to eat out much to avoid temptation.  Not that I feel any particular temptation or craving, I just like to eat freshly prepared home cooked foods.  The Kickstarter60 program helps me with more creative meals, outside of the box.  So the big question is, what am I to order???<br /><br />For lunch today, I ordered the vegetable plate.  It was actually a rather easy choice.  I was surprised that I didn't even wander my eyes over to the "other side" (of the menu).  I stayed focused.  I was SHOCKED to learn that not only did it come with a salad, I had to chose 4 sides.  So, my sides were, green beans, broccoli, corn, and red beans and rice.  When I got my food, it was SOO MUCH food.  So, I hate a good majority of my salad (LOVE salads) and then I basically took a few bites of every vegetable so I could get a taste of everything.  There was enough there for 3 meals for me ha!  Belviq really keeps that fullness feeling and it is wonderful to not devour my entire plate.   <br /><br />My brothers and dad had chips, queso, and salsa.  I did not eat one chip.  Honestly, I really wasn't interested.  GO BELVIQ!<br /><br />For dinner, my friends wanted Seafood.  I ordered the shrimp salad and it was really good with the grilled shrimp on a fresh bed of lettuce and vegetables.  I did eat all of my shrimp, but once again, I couldn't eat all of my salad.<br /><br />Other than spending a WONDERFUL day with great friends, the best part of the day was when this one guy, who doesn't know me from adam but knows my one friend, said, "you look hot" (I was in a cute dress that I haven't been able to wear in years).  Also, my dad said he really could tell I lost weight.  So, for once, it is my heart that is full!!<br /><br />Remember - tomorrow is my day off from blogging.  See you all Monday in print! HA!<br /><br />xoxox<br />Ellie

Is Eating out challenging on Belviq?

Good Saturday evening everyone. Sorry my post is so late for a Saturday. I had a fun day which brings me to this particular blog post. So...

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In Need of a New Hip, but Priced Out of the U.S. - NYTimes.com

WARSAW, Ind. — Michael Shopenn's artificial hip was made by a company based in this remote town, a global center of joint manufacturing. But he had to fly to Europe to have it installed.<br><br>Mr. Shopenn, 67, an architectural photographer and avid snowboarder, had been in such pain from arthritis that he could not stand long enough to make coffee, let alone work. He had health insurance, but it would not cover a joint replacement because his degenerative disease was related to an old sports injury, thus considered a pre-existing condition.<br><br>Desperate to find an affordable solution, he reached out to a sailing buddy with friends at a medical device manufacturer, which arranged to provide his local hospital with an implant at what was described as the "list price" of $13,000, with no markup. But when the hospital's finance office estimated that the hospital charges would run another $65,000, not including the surgeon's fee, he knew he had to think outside the box, and outside the country.<br><br>"That was a third of my savings at the time," Mr. Shopenn said recently from the living room of his condo in Boulder, Colo. "It wasn't happening."<br><br>"Very leery" of going to a developing country like India or Thailand, which both draw so-called medical tourists, he ultimately chose to have his hip replaced in 2007 at a private hospital outside Brussels for $13,660. That price included not only a hip joint, made by Warsaw-based Zimmer Holdings, but also all doctors' fees, operating room charges, crutches, medicine, a hospital room for five days, a week in rehab and a round-trip ticket from America.<br><br>"We have the most expensive health care in the world, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's the best," Mr. Shopenn said. "I'm kind of the poster child for that."<br><br>As the United States struggles to rein in its growing $2.7 trillion health care bill, the cost of medical devices like joint implants, pacemakers and artificial urinary valves offers a cautionary tale. Like many medical products or procedures, they cost far more in the United States than in many other developed countries.<br><br>Makers of artificial implants — the biggest single cost of most joint replacement surgeries — have proved particularly adept at commanding inflated prices, according to health economists. Multiple intermediaries then mark up the charges. While Mr. Shopenn was offered an implant in the United States for $13,000, many privately insured patients are billed two to nearly three times that amount.<br><br>An artificial hip, however, costs only about $350 to manufacture in the United States, according to Dr. Blair Rhode, an orthopedist and entrepreneur whose company is developing generic implants. In Asia, it costs about $150, though some quality control issues could arise there, he said.<br><br>So why are implant list prices so high, and rising by more than 5 percent a year? In the United States, nearly all hip and knee implants — sterilized pieces of tooled metal, plastic or ceramics — are made by five companies, which some economists describe as a cartel. Manufacturers tweak old models and patent the changes as new products, with ever-bigger price tags.<br><br>Generic or foreign-made joint implants have been kept out of the United States by trade policy, patents and an expensive Food and Drug Administration approval process that deters start-ups from entering the market. The "companies defend this turf ferociously," said Dr. Peter M. Cram, a physician at the University of Iowa medical school who studies the costs of health care.<br><br>Though the five companies make similar models, each cultivates intense brand loyalty through financial ties to surgeons and the use of a different tool kit and operating system for the installation of its products; orthopedists typically stay with the system they learned on. The thousands of hospitals and clinics that purchase implants try to bargain for deep discounts from manufacturers, but they have limited leverage since each buys a relatively small quantity from any one company.<br><br>In addition, device makers typically require doctors' groups and hospitals to sign nondisclosure agreements about prices, which means institutions do not know what their competitors are paying. This secrecy erodes bargaining power and has allowed a small industry of profit-taking middlemen to flourish: joint implant purchasing consultants, implant billing companies, joint brokers. There are as many as 13 layers of vendors between the physician and the patient for a hip replacement, according to Kate Willhite, a former executive director of the Manitowoc Surgery Center in Wisconsin.<br><br>Hospitals and orthopedic clinics typically pay $4,500 to $7,500 for an artificial hip, according to MD Buyline andOrthopedic Network News, which track device pricing. But those numbers balloon with the cost of installation equipment and all the intermediaries' fees, including an often hefty hospital markup.<br><br>That is why the hip implant for Joe Catugno, a patient at the Hospital for Joint Diseases in New York, accounted for nearly $37,000 of his approximately $100,000 hospital bill; Cigna, his insurer, paid close to $70,000 of the charges. At Mills-Peninsula Health Services in San Mateo, Calif., Susan Foley's artificial knee, which costs about the same as a hip joint, was billed at $26,000 in a total hospital tally of $112,317. The components of Sonja Nelson's hip at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, Fla., accounted for $30,581 of her $50,935 hospital bill. Insurers negotiate discounts on those charges, and patients have limited responsibility for the differences.<br><br>The basic design of artificial joints has not changed for decades. But increased volume — about one million knee and hip replacements are performed in the United States annually — and competition have not lowered prices, as would typically happen with products like clothes or cars. "There are a bunch of implants that are reasonably similar," said James C. Robinson, a health economist at the University of California, Berkeley. "That should be great for the consumer, but it isn't."<br><br><b>'Sticky Pricing'</b><br><br>The American health care market is plagued by such "sticky pricing," in which prices of products remain high or even increase over time instead of dropping. The list price of a total hip implant increased nearly 300 percent from 1998 to 2011, according to Orthopedic Network News, a newsletter about the industry. That is a result, economists say, of how American medicine generally sets charges: without government regulation or genuine marketplace competition.<br><br>"Manufacturers will tell you it's R&D and liability that makes implants so expensive and that they have the only one like it," said Dr. Rory Wright, an orthopedist at the Orthopedic Hospital of Wisconsin, a top specialty clinic. "They price this way because they can."<br><br>Zimmer Holdings declined to comment on pricing. But Sheryl Conley, a longtime Zimmer manager who is now the chief executive of OrthoWorx, a local trade group in Warsaw, said that high prices reflected the increasing complexity of the joint implant business, including more advanced materials, new regulatory requirements and the logistics of providing a now huge array of devices. "When I started, there weren't even left and right knee components," she said. "It was one size fits all."<br><br>Mr. Shopenn's Zimmer hip has transformed his life, as did the replacement joint for Mr. Catugno, a TV director; Ms. Foley, a lawyer; and Ms. Nelson, a software development executive. Mr. Shopenn, an exuberant man who maintains a busy work schedule, recently hosted his son's wedding and spent 26 days last winter teaching snowboarding to disabled people.<br><br>His joint implant and surgery in Belgium were priced according to a different logic. Like many other countries, Belgium oversees major medical purchases, approving dozens of different types of implants from a selection of manufacturers, and determining the allowed wholesale price for each of them, for example. That price, which is published, currently averages about $3,000, depending on the model, and can be marked up by about $180 per implant. (The Belgian hospital paid about $4,000 for Mr. Shopenn's high-end Zimmer implant at a time when American hospitals were paying an average of over $8,000 for the same model.)<br><br>"The manufacturers do not have the right to sell an implant at a higher rate," said Philip Boussauw, director of human resources and administration at St. Rembert's, the hospital where Mr. Shopenn had his surgery. Nonetheless, he said, there was "a lot of competition" among American joint manufacturers to work with Belgian hospitals. "I'm sure they are making money," he added.<br><br>Dr. Cram, the Iowa health cost expert, points out that joint manufacturers are businesses, operating within the constraints of varying laws and markets.<br><br>"Imagine you're the C.E.O. of Zimmer," he said. "Why charge $1,000 for the implant in the U.S. when you can charge $14,000? How would you answer to your shareholders?" Expecting device makers "to do otherwise is like asking, 'Couldn't Apple just charge $50 for an iPhone?' because that's what it costs to make them."<br><br>But do Americans want medical devices priced like smartphones? "That," Dr. Cram said, "is a different question."<br><br><b>A Miracle for Many</b><br><br>When joint replacement surgery first became widely used in the 1970s, it was reserved for older patients with crippling pain from arthritis, to offer relief and restore some mobility. But as technology and techniques improved, its use broadened to include younger, less debilitated patients who wanted to maintain an active lifestyle, including vigorous sports or exercise.<br><br>In the first few decades, implants were typically cemented into place. But since the 1980s, many surgeons have used implants made of more sophisticated materials that allow the patient's own bone to grow in to hold the device in place. For most patients, implants have proved miraculous in improving quality of life, which is why socialized medical systems tend to cover them. Per capita, more hip replacements are done in Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands, for example, than in the United States.<br><br>Motivated in part by science and in part by the need to create new markets, joint makers churn out new designs that are patented, priced higher and introduced with free training courses for surgeons. Some use more durable materials so that a patient requiring a hip implant at age 40 or 50 might rely on it longer than the standard 20 years, while other models are streamlined and require smaller incisions.<br><br>Zimmer got a big sales bump a few years ago when it began promoting its new "female knee," a slightly slimmer version of its standard design, in an advertising campaign directed at patients. Hospitals on average pay about $800 more to buy the gender-specific knee implants, according to MD Buyline.<br><br>Many doctors say that for most patients, older, standard implants with a successful track record are appropriate. Expensive modifications make no difference for the typical patient, but they drive up prices for all models and have sometimes proved to be deeply flawed, they say.<br><br>In the last few years, joint manufacturers have faced lawsuits and have settled claims with patients after new, all-metal implants, which were meant to be more durable than the standard version, had unusually high failure rates. As for those "female knees," a studyfeatured at the meeting of the American College of Orthopedic Surgeons this year concluded, "While we certainly use the female components frequently in surgery, we don't detect any objective improvement in clinical outcomes."<br><br>That is why Dr. Scott S. Kelley, an orthopedist affiliated with Duke University Medical Center, generally tries to dissuade patients who request "new, improved" joints. "I tell them: 'That's taking a big risk for the potential of a few percentage points of improvement. You wouldn't invest your retirement account this way.' "<br><br><b>A Town's Lifeblood</b><br><br>The power and profits of the medical device industry are on display here in Warsaw, which has trademarked itself the Orthopedic Capital of the World. Four of the big five joint manufacturers in the world are based in the United States; the other is in Britain. Three of these giants — Zimmer, Biomet and DePuy, a division of Johnson & Johnson — have their headquarters here, a town of 14,000.<br><br>An industry that began as a splint-making shop in 1895 has made Warsaw the center of a global multibillion-dollar business. The companies based here produce about 60 percent of the hip and knee devices used in the United States and one-third of the world's orthopedic sales volume, local officials said. Nearly half the jobs in Kosciusko County, where Warsaw is, are tied to the industry. Residents joke that a mixed marriage is when one spouse works for Zimmer and the other for DePuy.<br><br>The industry's benefits are evident. The county has the lowest unemployment rate in Northern Indiana, and the median family income of $50,000 puts it significantly above the state average. The town boasts lush golf courses and streets lined with spacious homes. The lobby of the elegant City Hall, which is in a restored 1912 bank, features plaques about device manufacturers.<br><br>"We eat, sleep and breathe orthopedics," said Ms. Conley of OrthoWorx, which she said was set up to "plan for the future of the orthopedic industry here." OrthoWorx's board of directors includes executives from Biomet and DePuy.<br><br>With a high-tech industry as its lifeblood, Ms. Conley said, Warsaw needed to attract engineers and doctors from afar and train local youths for "the business." It has upgraded the public schools and helped create programs at local colleges in orthopedic regulation and advanced machinist techniques.<br><br>Officials at OrthoWorx say the device makers do not discuss "competitive issues" among themselves, including the prices of implants, even as employees stand together watching their children play baseball. Still, it is in everyone's interest not to undercut the competition. In 2011, all three manufacturers had joint implant sales exceeding $1 billion and spent about only 5 percent of revenues on research and development, compared with 20 percent in the pharmaceutical industry, said Stan Mendenhall, the editor of Orthopedic Network News. They each paid their chief executives over $8 million.<br><br>"It's amazing to think there is $5 billion to $6 billion going through this little place in Northern Indiana," said Mr. Mendenhall, adding that the recession has meant only single-digit annual revenue growth rather than the double-digit growth of the past.<br><br>Device makers have used some of their profits to lobby Congress and to buy brand loyalty. In 2007, joint makers paid $311 million to settle Justice Department accusations that they were paying kickbacks to surgeons who used their devices; Zimmer paid the biggest fine, $169.5 million. That year, nearly 1,000 orthopedists in the United States received a total of about $200 million in payments from joint manufacturers for consulting, royalties and other activities, according to data released as part of the settlement.<br><br>Despite that penalty, payments continued, according to a paper published in The Archives of Internal Medicine in 2011. While some of the orthopedists are doing research for the companies, the roles of others is unclear, said Dr. Cram, one of the study's authors.<br><br>Although only a tiny percentage of orthopedists receive payments directly from manufacturers, the web of connections is nonetheless tangled.<br><br>Companies "build a personal relationship with the doctor," said Professor Robinson, the Berkeley economist. "The companies hire sales reps who are good at engineering and good at golf. They bring suitcases into the operating room," advising which tools might work best among the hundreds they carry, he said. And some studies have shown that operations attended by a company representative are more likely to use more and costlier medical equipment. While some hospitals have banned manufacturers' representatives from the operating room, or have at least blocked salesmanship there, most have not.<br><br><b>No Gift Shop</b><br><br>There are, of course, a number of factors that explain why Mr. Shopenn's surgery in Belgium would cost many times more in the United States. In America, fees for hospitals, scans, physical therapy and surgeons are generally far higher. And in Belgium, even private hospitals are more spartan.<br><br>When Mr. Shopenn arrived at the hospital, he was taken aback by the contrast with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where his father had been a patient a year before. The New York facility had "comfortable waiting rooms, an elegant lobby and newsstands," Mr. Shopenn remembered.<br><br>But in Belgium, he said, "I was immediately scared because at first I thought, this is really old. The chairs in the waiting rooms were metal, the walls were painted a pale green, there was no gift shop. But then I realized everything was new. It was just functional. There wasn't much of a nod to comfort because they were there to provide health care."<br><br>The pricing system in Belgium does not encourage amenities, though the country has among the lowest surgical infection rates in the world — lower than in the United States — and is known for good doctors. While most Belgian physicians and hospitals are in business for themselves, the government sets pricing and limits profits. Hospitals get a fixed daily rate and surgeons receive a fee for each surgery, which are negotiated each year between national medical groups and the state.<br><br>While doctors may charge more than the rate, few do so because most patients would refuse to pay it, said Mr. Boussauw, the hospital administrator. Doctors and hospitals must provide estimates. European orthopedists tend to make about half the income of their American counterparts, whose annual income averaged $442,450 in 2011, according to a survey by the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation that studies health policy.<br><br>Belgium pays for health care through a mandatory national insurance plan, which requires contributions from employers and workers and pays for 80 percent of each treatment. Except for the poor, patients are generally responsible for the remaining 20 percent of charges, and many get private insurance to cover that portion.<br><br>Mr. Shopenn's surgery, which was uneventful, took place on a Tuesday. On Friday he was transferred for a week to the hospital's rehabilitation unit, where he was taught exercises to perform once he got home.<br><br>Twelve days after his arrival, he paid the hospital's standard price for hip replacements for foreign patients. Six weeks later he saw an orthopedist in Seattle, where he was living at the time, to remove stitches and take a postoperative X-ray. "He said there was no need for further visits, that the hip looked great, to go out and enjoy myself," Mr. Shopenn said.<br><br>With baby boomers determined to continue skiing, biking and running into their 60s and beyond, economists predict a surge in joint replacement surgeries, and more procedures for younger patients. The number of hip and knee replacements is expected to roughly double between 2010 and 2020, according to Exponent, a scientific consulting firm, and perhaps quadruple by 2030. If insurers paid $36,000 for each surgery, a fairly typical price in the commercial sector, the total cost would be $144 billion, about a sixth of the nation's military budget last year.<br><br>So far, attempts to bring down the price of medical devices have been undercut by the industry.<br><br>When Dr. Daniel S. Elliott of the Mayo Clinic decided to continue using an older, cheaper valve to cure incontinence because studies showed that it was just as good as a newer, more expensive model, the manufacturer raised its price.<br><br>"If there was a generic, I'd be there tomorrow," he said.<br><br>With artificial joints, cost-trimming efforts have been similarly ineffective. Medicare does not negotiate directly with manufacturers, but offers all-inclusive payments for surgery to hospitals to prompt them to bargain harder for better implant prices. Instead, hospitals complain that acquiring the implant consumes 50 percent to 70 percent of Medicare's reimbursement, which now averages $12,099, up 25 percent from $9,645 in 1993. Meanwhile, surgeons' fees have dropped by nearly half.<br><br>With the federal government unwilling to intervene directly, some doctors and insurance plans are themselves trying to reduce the costs by mandating preset prices or forcing more competition and transparency.<br><br>After concluding that hip replacements billed at $100,000 yielded no better results than less expensive ones, the California Public Employees' Retirement System, or Calpers, told members that it would pay hospitals $30,000 for a hip or knee replacement, and dozens of hospitals have met that number.<br><br>Dr. Wright's orthopedic hospital near Milwaukee has driven down payments for joints by more than 30 percent by resolving to use only two types of hip implants and requiring blind bids directly from the manufacturers; part of the savings is passed on to patients.<br><br>The Affordable Care Act tries to recoup some of the medical device manufacturers' profits by imposing a 2.3 percent tax on their revenues, effective this year. But Brad Bishop, the executive director of OrthoWorx and a former Zimmer executive, said that the approach would harm an innovative American industry, and that the cost would ultimately be borne by joint replacement patients "whose average age is 67." He argued that the best way to reduce the cost of joint replacement surgery was to rescind the tax and decrease government interference.<br><br>The medical device industry spent nearly $30 million last year on lobbying, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The Senate moved to repeal the tax, and the House is expected to take it up this fall. The bill's supporters included both senators from Indiana.<br><br>Mr. Shopenn's new hip worked so well that a few months after returning from Belgium he needed a hernia operation — a result of too much working out at the gym. He was home by 4 p.m. the day of the outpatient surgery, but the bill came to $16,500. Though his insurance company covered the procedure, he called the hospital's finance department for an explanation.<br><br>He remembers in particular a "surreal" discussion with a "very nice" administrator about a $750 bill for a surgical drain, which he called "a piece of plastic in a sealed bag."<br><br>"It was mind-boggling to me that the surgery could possibly cost this much," he said, "after what I'd just done in Belgium."<br><br><br><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/health/for-medical-tourists-simple-math.html?hp&_r=0">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/health/for-medical-tourists-simple-math.html?hp&_r=0</a>

In Need of a New Hip, but Priced Out of the U.S. - NYTimes.com

WARSAW, Ind. — Michael Shopenn's artificial hip was made by a company based in this remote town, a global center of joint manufacturing....

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YEMEN

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href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj88e12wzEXL01RPWgSnoyToronTip2To3fdlarPmv-H7ja4dvGrXpwz5zixR4eayCOMExprS3aUTi032FfMi4afp-0PqHHolV6TtpnSEfDSDsf1hUkdijZP8Yywi9sco1Znxjs1WNNkCUK/s1600/20080426mudbrick-houses-shibam-yemen-20052.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj88e12wzEXL01RPWgSnoyToronTip2To3fdlarPmv-H7ja4dvGrXpwz5zixR4eayCOMExprS3aUTi032FfMi4afp-0PqHHolV6TtpnSEfDSDsf1hUkdijZP8Yywi9sco1Znxjs1WNNkCUK/s400/20080426mudbrick-houses-shibam-yemen-20052.jpg" width="400" /></a></b></div><br /><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";"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">THE GEO-STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF THE RED SEA</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;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Via YemenPost</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; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The ARABIAN Peninsula Seas contain two of the most important strategic waterways in the world: Bab Al-Mandab and Strait of Hormuz. Without them much of the geopolitics of the Horn of AFRICA and SOUTH WEST ASIA would make little sense.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Red Sea is moderately integrated into the regional level but it is much more deeply integrated into international level. National pride, regional developments, international commerce and worldwide political events all have played a part in shaping the Red Sea Region as it exists today.<br />The “new” Red Sea Region should be characterized by regional cooperation. The aim should bring people, businesses and organizations of the region together, and providing added value to both people and businesses.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">BAB-AL-MANDAB, THE GATE OF TEARS</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; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">YEMEN`S Highlands – which include the ARABIAN Peninsula’s highest mountain, Nabi Shuayb (3.760 metres) – result from the formation, millions of years ago, of the Great Rift Valley system. They constitute a spectacular upland area which forms the backbone of the ARABIAN Peninsula, along its western flank. The escarpment edge overlooks the coastal strip, a continuation south to the Bab al Mandab Strait where the island of Perim constitutes a stepping-stone between AFRICA and ASIA.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmad3BQEYR4K18lcBIfQFGCDMe3AYDcp5d0jOfo7GB8qVAuDKr8wLP6_sh3bhFn5d9kuLktYZJQH-OjOa7fJq0dBSne8-PVzZo3DFNLaCq788URW4nudJIrm5ucqKhnixJBp_ihLR7V3fX/s1600/yemen.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmad3BQEYR4K18lcBIfQFGCDMe3AYDcp5d0jOfo7GB8qVAuDKr8wLP6_sh3bhFn5d9kuLktYZJQH-OjOa7fJq0dBSne8-PVzZo3DFNLaCq788URW4nudJIrm5ucqKhnixJBp_ihLR7V3fX/s400/yemen.gif" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In Arabic, Bab al Mandab, also Bab- el-Mandeb, Bab al Mandib or Bab al Mandeb means “Gate of Tears” referring to the strait’s precarious navigation. The distance across is about 20 miles (32 km) wide from Ras Menheli in Yemen to Ras Siyan in Djibouti. The island of Perim divides the strait into two channels, of which the eastern, known as Bab Iskander (Alexander’s Strait), is 2 miles (3 km) wide and 16 fathoms (30 m) deep, while the western, or Dact-el-Mayun, has a width of about 16 miles (25 km) and a depth of 170 fathoms (310 m). Near the coast od Djibouti lies a group of smaller islands known as the “Seven Brothers”. There is a surface current inwards in the eastern channel, but a strong undercurrent outwards in the western channel.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><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";">BAB AL-MANDAB: STRATEGIC LINK BETWEEN THE INDIAN OCEAN AND THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA, VIA THE RED SEA AND THE SUEZ CANAL. </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; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bab al-Mandab is at the tip of the South-East end of the Red Sea, towards the INDIAN Ocean. From there, ASIA and AFRICA seem fairly close to another. The passage is 40 miles long, and is sprinkled with small islands such as the Islands of the Seven Brothers, and Perim Island which splits the strait in two, thus creating a navigation lane for oceanic ships on one side, and a coastal navigation lane on the other. These little islands are frequently used by fishermen, as stopovers or shelters as they cross the strait.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The marine currents which flow through the strait are “complex phenomena”, and this particular strait is quite special. In the North, the Suez Canal bears its name for a reason: it’s a canal, not a channel. Water exchanges happen here, from the South.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Contrary to common believe, the Red Sea isn’t completely engulfed. Currents coming from the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden deliver the essential part of the nutrient salts (or fertilizer) the Red Sea needs, and keep flowing towards the North, slowly dwindling as they are absorbed by phytoplankton.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Red Sea acts like an evaporation pond; as the water evaporates, the seawater salinity’s increases and it becomes colder, therefore denser. The water then sinks deeper down and forms deep sea currents which cross the Red Sea in the other direction: from North to South, finally leaving the strait, “kind of like a moving walkway”. Consequently, the major part of the Red Sea’s biomass is concentrated in the South.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><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";">NAVIGATION CHALLENGES AS WELL AS STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As for navigating, crossing this channel is far from easy! Three different forces drive the currents: the monsoon, the tide and the local winds. Therefore, what characterizes these currents is variability from the dominance of one of those three. The monsoon is a periodical atmospheric current found in the inter-tropical zone of the globe. It is due to the crossing of the equator by trade winds. In this part of the globe, the monsoon is quite probably the determining factor when it comes to meteorology.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">During the monsoon – from May to October- in the area of Bab al- Mandel, the sea level in the Gulf of Aden falls and tends to become lower in the Red Sea, and the surface current flows in a South, South- East direction. From November to April, the opposite phenomenon occurs and the surface current goes North, North-West.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">During times of strong wind and lively water, when the wind is blowing against the current’s direction, the surface of the water becomes highly agitated. Legends warning navigators weren’t created simply to give the traveler an empty scare; places such as the “Gate of Tears” require the utmost attention and care upon crossing.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><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";">SUEZ CANAL ACCESS </span></b></span><br /><br /><br /></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; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHljn5CbxJH6PUGyXz8LWjPn3NXZZI6Cm0ytTOO8ccC6G1gcX7oAdDkaTTqvu77lUzQvMxyQQ8i18JYN6TAaeJzdPE89-EZS1c_numA-QGfKDtYLDIyWL5YumFFuUX2sPbCVAUHQgh0JDq/s1600/1-1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHljn5CbxJH6PUGyXz8LWjPn3NXZZI6Cm0ytTOO8ccC6G1gcX7oAdDkaTTqvu77lUzQvMxyQQ8i18JYN6TAaeJzdPE89-EZS1c_numA-QGfKDtYLDIyWL5YumFFuUX2sPbCVAUHQgh0JDq/s320/1-1.gif" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Another major aspect of this bottleneck lies in its strategic importance. Bab al- Mandab, the channels of Ormuz and the Dardanelles are the only three navigable straits which cannot be circumvented, which makes them crucially important. The Bab al-Mandab passage became important when the Suez Canal was opened for navigation – thus making the Red Sea an optional route allowing ships to avoid going around AFRICA, through the Cape of Bonne Espérance (Good Hope). .</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The two colonial powers of the time, FRANCE and ENGLAND, created two naval bases to regulate its access: Djibouti and Aden, which to this day remain the two locks guarding the channel.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><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";">SUEZ CANAL AND BAB AL-MANDAB STRAIGHT VITAL FOR MARITIME TRADE </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The main shipping lanes use the channel to the west of Perim Island. It is estimated that approx. 18.000 ships transit Bab al-Mandab annually, or about 50 a/day, or 33 million barrels of oil transit daily. Approx 30 percent of the world’s oil, including all of the oil and natural gas from the Persian Gulf heading west passes through Bab al-Mandab which is in the territorial waters of YEMEN, DJIBOUTI and ERITREA. Of these, YEMEN is well placed to exercise direct control of the shipping lanes. Yemen is a non-OPEC oil producer and liquid gas exporter whose economy depends heavily on its development.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Background Information</span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">IRAN-IRAQ: PIPELINE TO SYRIA UPS ANTE IN PROXY WAR WITH QATAR</span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/07/crisis-qatars-transition.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/07/crisis-qatars-transition.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">IRAN - IRAQ - SYRIA GAS PIPELINE AGREEMENT  A “WIN WIN” SITUATION, BUT NOT FOR QATAR AND TURKEY </span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/05/pipelineistan.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2013/05/pipelineistan.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">IS THE TRANS ARABIAN PIPELINE “TAPLINE” THE ANSWER TO FOREIGN INTERVENTION IN THE SYRIAN UPRISING? At </span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2011/12/syria-cause-and-effect.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2011/12/syria-cause-and-effect.html</a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: .5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ENORMOUS GAS FINDINGS AND PROSPECTS OF OIL FINDINGS COMPLICATE TURKEYS STANCE IN THE REGION. At </span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2012/02/eastern-mediterranean-sea.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2012/02/eastern-mediterranean-sea.html</a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">REGIME CHANGE IN SYRIA WOULD DIMINISH RUSSIA’S IMPORTANCE AS GAS EXPORTER AS WELL AS NAVAL PRESENCE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA</span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/01/syrias-destiny-sealed.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/01/syrias-destiny-sealed.html</a>and</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/01/strait-of-hormuz-and-syria.html">http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.co.at/2012/01/strait-of-hormuz-and-syria.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;"><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The strait sees almost all of the trade between the EUROPEAN UNION and ASIAN economic powerhouses like CHINA, JAPAN, and INDIA. All of maritime trading nations which use the SUEZ CANAL have an interest that Bab al-Mandab remains open and safe for shipping. Closure of Bab Al-Mandab would have costly implications on global economies.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The States bordering the Arabian Peninsula seas also have an obvious interest in preserving peace and stability in the region. However, too little attention has been given to the significance of proximity of the southern Red Sea region which includes highly volatile parts of the Horn of AFRICA at one end, and the Arab- Palestinian interface at the other.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">POTENTIAL FOR CONFLICT AND SUBSEQUENT REGIONAL INSTABILITY?</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Although the Sea is a major cause of rivalry and conflict by virtue of geographical configuration, physical resources, and global location, it could be also unifying factor during the forthcoming decade.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The guest for regional security, problems of environmental management, and a common desire to limit outside power interference could form the basis for fruitful regional cooperation, and recognition of common problems which can only be solved by regional cooperation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thus the sea which is a potential source of disunity is also a powerful argument for cooperation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Red Sea states may yet to recognize the value of unified political front on matters associated with the sea while gaining space for formulation ideas for their own development. It is the geo-strategic significance of the Red Sea as resource which the Red Sea countries themselves have yet to explore to the full.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But as long as they remain disunited they will be unable to do so. The alternative to conflict resolution and practical cooperation between coastal states will be a period of costly confrontation and environmental deterioration.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According to the recent single origin hypothesis, the strait of Bab al Mandab was probably witness to the earliest migrations of modern humans, which occurred roughly 60,000 years ago. At this time, the oceans were much lower and the straits were much shallower or dry, allowing a series of emigrations along the southern coast of ASIA.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><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";">FRESH LOOK AT THE RED SEA REGION AND THE BATTLE FOR YEMEN</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Archaeological studies have revealed cultural connections between the two sides of the Red Sea dating to prehistory. The issue has still not been properly addressed. The studies focus on the mitochonodrial haplogroup HV1 that is present in both the ARABIAN PENINSULA and EAST AFRICA, a finding concordant with archaeological records suggesting intensive maritime trade in the Red Sea from the sixth millennium BC onwards. Closer exchanges are apparent between the Horn of AFRICA and YEMEN, while EGYPTIAN HV1 haplotypes seem to be more similar to the Near Eastern ones.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPY57pU81MU9jsQzhxNkgwH7N2t2U_VlY-dfYYBwyGg_hmxlPDEgYbh2ba03MrOIyaWPjObscjilz2FjzoIAJb3fFRzZi78V-QOiLifSHjK51fiCYSElp9O9Rv4uDw8JaEetGAOwdLhLa8/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPY57pU81MU9jsQzhxNkgwH7N2t2U_VlY-dfYYBwyGg_hmxlPDEgYbh2ba03MrOIyaWPjObscjilz2FjzoIAJb3fFRzZi78V-QOiLifSHjK51fiCYSElp9O9Rv4uDw8JaEetGAOwdLhLa8/s320/images.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The autosomal and uniparental data from ETHIOPIA and SOMALIA strongly leans us toward the proposition of admixture of two very distinct population, one in EAST AFRICA (“Ancestral East Africans”), and EURASIAN group which are likely to have been intrusive. The genetic distance between the EURASIAN inferred ancestral component, which is nearly identical to that of southern ARABIA, and other EURASIAN components is not so large that is seem plausible that there could have a separation during Pleistocene.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">In other words, there was a lot of Holocene migration; it had something to do with agricultural and pastoral lifestyles brought by ARABIANS to the Horn of AFRICA within the last 10.000 years. Simple ecology imposed a limit upon the expansion of these peoples into more classical lush tropical AFRICA. Just like the Arabian-AEA hybrid peoples, other would encounter ecological, and also demographic, limits on the margins of the Semitic and Cushitic dominated territories in the Horn of Africa. And then of course there were the Nilotes</span>

YEMEN

THE GEO-STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF THE RED SEA   Via YemenPost The ARABIAN Peninsula Seas contain two of the most important strategic waterway...

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Richmond: More than 20,000 fans turn out for Redskins Fan Appreciation Day

<blockquote>Practice has begun here at the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center, and crowds are still lined up all the way to DMV Drive, waiting to enter the facility.<br /><br />More than 20,000 fans have entered already today, though many have turned around and headed right back out after seeing the conditions. Mud and fertilizer has created a pungent smell in the main viewing area, and security guards have been overmatched against the throngs trying to enter and leave at the same time.</blockquote>So writes Michael Phillips in Saturday's <i><a href="http://trainingcamp.blogs.timesdispatch.com/2013/08/03/more-than-20000-pack-redskins-camp-on-fan-appreciation-day/">Richmond Times-Dispatch</a></i>. Sounds to me like Richmonders are really enjoying having the <a href="http://www.redskins.com/">Redskins</a> in town. Fan favorite RGIII has been a hit:<br /><blockquote>During the practice portion, quarterback Robert Griffin III was once again the focal point, and he hit his first four passes during 7-on-7 play.</blockquote>Perhaps the enthusiastic outpouring of support will <a href="http://www.rantsports.com/nfl/2013/07/30/washington-redskins-training-camp-in-richmond-a-success-so-far/">help temper the criticism</a> surrounding the move to Richmond. Perhaps. Meanwhile, <i><a href="http://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/eight-ways-to-spot-a-redskins-training-camp-tourist/Content?oid=1927043">Style Weekly</a></i> lightens up the atmosphere with a humorous list of eight ways to spot a Redskins Training Camp tourist. <br /><br />I checked out the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/redskins">Redskins' Facebook page</a> and found photos, links to press conferences, rallies and gatherings at local restaurants, and more. Seems like a win-win for Richmond <i>and</i> the fans.<br /><br />Cross-posted at <a href="http://vapolitics.us/2013/08/richmond-more-than-20000-fans-turn-out-for-redskins-fan-appreciation-day/">Virginia Politics On Demand </a>

Bon Secours facebook football RGIII Richmond Richmond Times-Dispatch Robert Griffin III SPORTS Style Weekly training camp Washington Redskins Richmond: More than 20,000 fans turn out for Redskins Fan Appreciation Day

Practice has begun here at the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center, and crowds are still lined up all the way to DMV Drive, wait...

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London - Day 2

We started out in Covent Garden where we visited the London Transport Museum. We expected it to be brilliant but were disappointed - it really is more so for children. <div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1XUrF78B-mCyLF7HgaN5jqBG1Gzw17KyQtnjAe-ynu25EMkOoIWTIjp2easDy3dJHPek6U6goCrTZEap1A2zDGOxsnenJNwE2PZ0Lp-cv0pyRtgVuVzMZJ3yV5dcG9FsktjTIsx3Idihf/s640/blogger-image-686046015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1XUrF78B-mCyLF7HgaN5jqBG1Gzw17KyQtnjAe-ynu25EMkOoIWTIjp2easDy3dJHPek6U6goCrTZEap1A2zDGOxsnenJNwE2PZ0Lp-cv0pyRtgVuVzMZJ3yV5dcG9FsktjTIsx3Idihf/s640/blogger-image-686046015.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Recruitment "drive" (geddit!) for women drivers in the 1970's - still paid less than men tho </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnqye0PbigQS9pIKYY2iFt8QRxlzDAPcZ21Bj4qLQyV4j19EWbc6Qiqbg_K3MOtQxDtHw85xmKabX3OVWLNPeuolGVkTkvvNcJDjFUfj0a9PEiJ7bxnE66lhQzrdpTK3Aruk6jkunBdVtv/s640/blogger-image--489942195.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnqye0PbigQS9pIKYY2iFt8QRxlzDAPcZ21Bj4qLQyV4j19EWbc6Qiqbg_K3MOtQxDtHw85xmKabX3OVWLNPeuolGVkTkvvNcJDjFUfj0a9PEiJ7bxnE66lhQzrdpTK3Aruk6jkunBdVtv/s640/blogger-image--489942195.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">One man bomb shelter</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyArBoDArt2Ey4A9rAKh4SeUStQGKYCDFZd7Cf00OqtlXRqYYN-NQFEIvwL-8s1F5eOIuNsBFq7eonTChpiOgCotIrqbkl31Q-FpuwSWrxnWiiie_PTQGaRzIi6hy-gHXwHgZMdbmxf-o3/s640/blogger-image-1792140453.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyArBoDArt2Ey4A9rAKh4SeUStQGKYCDFZd7Cf00OqtlXRqYYN-NQFEIvwL-8s1F5eOIuNsBFq7eonTChpiOgCotIrqbkl31Q-FpuwSWrxnWiiie_PTQGaRzIi6hy-gHXwHgZMdbmxf-o3/s640/blogger-image-1792140453.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Here's Amy outside Covent Garden</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimRR9BVWXKtPnLQEp2XGxne5F8EI3yUB2Hnlxv51nFsrdaYG0DGOsHbc0BiEivj3C0e22-iZGEQ1d7M7elanLJ08ULrW2wIbfy0an0ROtQ-xkH9tHCi0oBLf8RgkNMqBmCQ2_ue33UseY8/s640/blogger-image--331897899.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimRR9BVWXKtPnLQEp2XGxne5F8EI3yUB2Hnlxv51nFsrdaYG0DGOsHbc0BiEivj3C0e22-iZGEQ1d7M7elanLJ08ULrW2wIbfy0an0ROtQ-xkH9tHCi0oBLf8RgkNMqBmCQ2_ue33UseY8/s640/blogger-image--331897899.jpg"></a></div><br></div><br></div>We walked around China Town and Soho - very cool!</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG4LSw6PgKlmB3g88-VJXqHLiSrUqXWcQ3idn9d72PeDqzvXVy6yqju9YBzC3TNVjrz6EIFJj1rsyAZp0yspVDVmJ4E_NFfZUbo-bO9Dblq27lOZlLqDErx6ywWnQ-9_AtN0RDiTs0ogHc/s640/blogger-image-121459953.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG4LSw6PgKlmB3g88-VJXqHLiSrUqXWcQ3idn9d72PeDqzvXVy6yqju9YBzC3TNVjrz6EIFJj1rsyAZp0yspVDVmJ4E_NFfZUbo-bO9Dblq27lOZlLqDErx6ywWnQ-9_AtN0RDiTs0ogHc/s640/blogger-image-121459953.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>Later that day we went to the musical Rock of Ages.  All I can say is Wow Wow Wow! It was an amazing show - the singing and dancing was high energy. It was funny, charming and had a great love story. If you love the 80's you will adore this show. If you get the chance you should go!</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRctxqBzAVI-IPsmlM5LpLS7o_QnlQl9S_NUXRW6gd1Dz7GnGliMD62MvCaMaIT8l8BHDEo6X_y2X0xehaRRoNXR-CBgYtQT009Ds-P5_5dDiSMgrVFlZ_1PMIYEH1XFu_iHFFh3Kadg-m/s640/blogger-image-632354877.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRctxqBzAVI-IPsmlM5LpLS7o_QnlQl9S_NUXRW6gd1Dz7GnGliMD62MvCaMaIT8l8BHDEo6X_y2X0xehaRRoNXR-CBgYtQT009Ds-P5_5dDiSMgrVFlZ_1PMIYEH1XFu_iHFFh3Kadg-m/s640/blogger-image-632354877.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">After Rock of Ages we went home and changed quickly and met Kasey and her friends in the Soho Hotel for some delicious cocktails - this is a great spot!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Amy and I had caipirosca</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC-k75sl6zCe5SPulKED2Rw8nunfXuRLAGvD3zB4jD1hCCtH1010AqkNO_EO3LBGDOgPk-hEUZhezHT7nUveTyKw3u6zLewZtwMzVygSLFdwnIqXr99n63afiVUsafUK8ap2n76_6fxuNI/s640/blogger-image--1334253678.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC-k75sl6zCe5SPulKED2Rw8nunfXuRLAGvD3zB4jD1hCCtH1010AqkNO_EO3LBGDOgPk-hEUZhezHT7nUveTyKw3u6zLewZtwMzVygSLFdwnIqXr99n63afiVUsafUK8ap2n76_6fxuNI/s640/blogger-image--1334253678.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div></div><div>For dinner we went to Burger & Lobster.  There are only 3 choices on the menu Burger, Lobster or Lobster Roll. What fun! There was a gang of 7 of us and we all really enjoyed the food and super atmosphere.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOO-PEbk_JaOxEQNJ18hjkP3Crh1ZacvYoNkuUipy4PuUS3y60nBBqoA6nR0fwcTeNVUnOGj77uJH4j3Chusy8B78YAeloejncjJ-VSKaFwDZi2MBGj1IOxMgu94FszPSf5kbnPEVzBvx/s640/blogger-image-277670787.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOO-PEbk_JaOxEQNJ18hjkP3Crh1ZacvYoNkuUipy4PuUS3y60nBBqoA6nR0fwcTeNVUnOGj77uJH4j3Chusy8B78YAeloejncjJ-VSKaFwDZi2MBGj1IOxMgu94FszPSf5kbnPEVzBvx/s640/blogger-image-277670787.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ypJsAtUQFl7RHFAP0qFTvmgM3Z4q4FclQISt5ZgVrQaA4HomZUQXybrDbHDdwXQQPha6VzTh1bNavxDx2n_hBLWmw40JablYOKa5GffuMgY1NlXQq5L3om1uEzBe3F54nhusQXa7zlTx/s640/blogger-image--57347141.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ypJsAtUQFl7RHFAP0qFTvmgM3Z4q4FclQISt5ZgVrQaA4HomZUQXybrDbHDdwXQQPha6VzTh1bNavxDx2n_hBLWmw40JablYOKa5GffuMgY1NlXQq5L3om1uEzBe3F54nhusQXa7zlTx/s640/blogger-image--57347141.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEp7BEMsAxue8hS-KWthIKBq6rYZcgQngXFy61jKVpAaziFU7S1A7q62z94A-rFm3M6BA-MPfH65r4MwK7lXvg1QvO3ommPGr8hAn8_-vyx29pMXdKmmQyHvcxt443_MSvlPxK_-MgjXK6/s640/blogger-image--104452728.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEp7BEMsAxue8hS-KWthIKBq6rYZcgQngXFy61jKVpAaziFU7S1A7q62z94A-rFm3M6BA-MPfH65r4MwK7lXvg1QvO3ommPGr8hAn8_-vyx29pMXdKmmQyHvcxt443_MSvlPxK_-MgjXK6/s640/blogger-image--104452728.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTIbJVZF4xzM7f1i_-1T2TtTmQuW-J9rU3xMijpY3rdeel3EluVFhwNrhTC2LiXwklkt2YXHauLxCXGKdbzQb-5UUbzx5cydPSzX9Pn7Y0Xu0cqdYQaN6M_sycepGdK92S8InUfWFejDcx/s640/blogger-image-2002860996.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTIbJVZF4xzM7f1i_-1T2TtTmQuW-J9rU3xMijpY3rdeel3EluVFhwNrhTC2LiXwklkt2YXHauLxCXGKdbzQb-5UUbzx5cydPSzX9Pn7Y0Xu0cqdYQaN6M_sycepGdK92S8InUfWFejDcx/s640/blogger-image-2002860996.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyeHlLuuUS-k0xczkMNfd1Zlzh6jUPuxdvVQ5LxesiQa7E7dT6YcTVn6XnQGFo1T7Zn0xOEL4fVrhvL5ti1Iyhr2vY3eIIwJzCEaEWoelx1VTUxcgqx8ZDc3PdwzZOmBIwrzkMxbj_9SJN/s640/blogger-image-1725770831.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyeHlLuuUS-k0xczkMNfd1Zlzh6jUPuxdvVQ5LxesiQa7E7dT6YcTVn6XnQGFo1T7Zn0xOEL4fVrhvL5ti1Iyhr2vY3eIIwJzCEaEWoelx1VTUxcgqx8ZDc3PdwzZOmBIwrzkMxbj_9SJN/s640/blogger-image-1725770831.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Then after dinner it was time for another drink in a nice bar/restaurant across the road. What a lovely end to a fabulous day in London Town!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzuK1kj_k4KCNta-C6j57hpBI5EfdCPaRrZUvkZakTPU_x1C8REKXW5SODMXmEaJNhv4lg1nrWWmatlm-dTHf-6nhVlS4LTi_qkls4guIQ9DUs6Hm_ws03xMi-V6BMafzQm_OEwzpmmsAT/s640/blogger-image--899654974.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzuK1kj_k4KCNta-C6j57hpBI5EfdCPaRrZUvkZakTPU_x1C8REKXW5SODMXmEaJNhv4lg1nrWWmatlm-dTHf-6nhVlS4LTi_qkls4guIQ9DUs6Hm_ws03xMi-V6BMafzQm_OEwzpmmsAT/s640/blogger-image--899654974.jpg"></a></div><br></div><br></div><br></div><br></div>

London - Day 2

We started out in Covent Garden where we visited the London Transport Museum. We expected it to be brilliant but were disappointed - it real...

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August Superfoods

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">August Superfoods :</span></h1><center> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "ca-pub-5028478688240504"; /* LargeInPost_waysforweightloss_300-600 */ google_ad_slot = "6695176472"; google_ad_width = 300; google_ad_height = 600; //--></script><script src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js" type="text/javascript"></script> </center><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>August, the last month of summer, is about time you enjoy in the warm-weather. Take a look at some of our August Best superfoods.</b></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="August Superfoods" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj90uWVaG4nzUWZv8x9qanmN_1NDGh3JeErt8tv-iVxrJwos2dugV_R1R8SMgbiEL2ZmaLMaZ5V7jdFZIRqSsZVJFGSFPAFkBFdQqKc88Guh5tF18hHiyrvTiHePynzPHZFCXndibH7GFc/s1600/o-BLACKBERRIES-570.jpg" title="August Superfoods" /></div><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Blackberries: </b></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Very good source of vitamins C, fiber and K and manganese. It's also contains potassium and vitamin E. Helps protect your heart and lower blood pressure.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Eggplant:</b></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Very good source of fiber. It's also contains vitamins K and B6. Helps protect your heart and memory.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Zucchini:</b></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">It's a good food to add bulk and substance to your diet without a lot of calories. Very good source of fiber, vitamins A, C and K and potassium. One serving has just 29 calories.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Cantaloupe:</b></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Very good source of potassium. It's also contains Vitamin C, Fiber, Folate and Beta Carotene. Cantaloupe loaded with hydrating water. Helps protect your eyes and keeps your blood pressure under control. One serving has just 46 calories</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Yellow Summer Squash:</b></span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Very good source of potassium, fiber and vitamins C, K . all for very few calories.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><center><script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "ca-pub-5028478688240504"; /* inPost_waysforweightloss_336-280 */ google_ad_slot = "6975892477"; google_ad_width = 336; google_ad_height = 280; //--></script><script src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js" type="text/javascript"></script> </center></div>

Superfoods August Superfoods

August Superfoods : August, the last month of summer, is about time you enjoy in the warm-weather. Take a look at some of our August Best...

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