Friday, August 31, 2012

How to Balance your Work and Home Life Effectively

Balancing work and family life isn?t easy. As the man, you want to be able to provide for your family, which requires grit and determination in your work life. However, you also need to be a part of your children?s lives ? helping to shape and grow them into responsible adults. In today?s modern family most parents share in the work and home life responsibilities. So, how can you climb the corporate ladder while still being the world?s best dad?

Your work is going to take 40 hours out of you a week, minimum. Give those 40 hours your all, and save as much of what is left over for your family. All the time spent with your kids and your wife will help keep you grounded and make any pressures you are facing at work much more bearable. A strong and happy family man makes a better businessman.

Source: http://thegentsblog.com/mens-advice/how-to-balance-your-work-and-home-life-effectively/

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High School Sports Roundup for Aug. 30, 2012

Updated: August 30, 2012 11:02PM

Girls Volleyball

No. 1 Marist 25-25, Young 8-13: Taylor Holder had 12 assists, nine service points and eight digs to lift host Marist (2-1). Elyse Panick added 11 kills for the RedHawks.

No. 2 Lockport 25-11-25, No. 8 Stagg 20-25-23: Katie Tabisz had 14 assists and six kills for host Lockport (1-1) in the SouthWest Suburban crossover. Alexa Janus led Stagg (5-2) with 14 assists and Lexi Mantas chipped in 13 kills.

No. 7 Providence 25-25, St. Ignatius 20-19: Allie Marthaler had 16 digs and Becca Rachke added five kills for visiting Providence (6-1).

No. 10 Chicago Christian 22-25-25, Illiana Christian 25-18-23: Emily Lindemulder had 13 kills and nine digs to aid host Chicago Christian (7-1). Emily Workman added 28 assists and 11 digs for the Knights. Kylie Van Roekel paced Illiana Christian (2-5) with eight kills and five blocks.

Lemont 25-25, Eisenhower 10-4: Kelly Ferguson (6 kills) and Haley Sullivan (13 digs) aided visiting Lemont (7-2, 2-0) in the SouthWest Suburban crossover.

Oak Lawn 25-25, Hillcrest 9-13: Rachel Kestian had 11 assists for host Oak Lawn (3-1, 2-0) in the SouthWest Suburban crossover.

Oak Forest 21-25-25, Evergreen Park 25-17-21: Alissa Tattas posted nine kills and 10 digs to lead visiting Oak Forest (5-3, 1-1) in the South Suburban crossover. Colleen Burns had 20 digs for Evergreen Park (2-2, 0-2).

T.F. South 25-25, Argo 5-13: Kylie Bechely?s 17 service points and Crystal Lee?s nine kills led visiting T.F. South (3-1, 2-0) in the South Suburban crossover.

Football

De La Salle 34, Gordon Tech 0: Mikale Wilbon had nine carries for 170 yards and three touchdowns to lead De La Salle (2-0) at Lane Stadium. Wilbon also caught a 24-yard scoring pass from quarterback Shelby Spence.

Boys Soccer

Stagg 1, Young 0: Sebastian Kolpac?s goal and Erick Estrada?s seven saves powered host Stagg (2-2-1).

Marist 2, Mount Carmel 2: Brian Greenwood and Brandon Rizzo scored for visiting Marist (3-1-1). Hrovje Juric and Scott Tobin had goals for Mount Carmel (1-3-1).

Lincoln-Way Central 4, Homewood-Flossmoor 1: Jake Lysik contributed a goal and two assists for host Lincoln-Way Central (4-1) in the SouthWest Suburban crossover.

Shepard 2, Tinley Park 0: Goals by Ivan Magana and Will Somerfield sparked visiting Shepard (5-2, 1-0) in the South Suburban crossover.

Oak Lawn 1, Kennedy 0: Jakub Gil?s goal was the difference for host Oak Lawn (3-1).

Argo 2, Kelly 2: Erik Martinez and Jonathan Marquez scored for host Argo (4-1-1).

Beecher 7, St. Anne 1: Josh Cialdella netted a hat trick for visiting Beecher (5-1) in its River Valley opener.

Crete-Monee 2, Lincoln-Way North 0: Austin Palanca and Jesse Santillian had goals for visiting Crete-Monee (5-1-1).

Hinsdale Central Tournament

Lincoln-Way East 1, Hinsdale Central 1: Alan Hernandez had the goal for Lincoln-Way East (1-0-3) in the final round of pool play.

Lemont Tournament

Lemont 2, Lockport 0: Tommy Gasienica had one goal and one assist to guide visiting Lemont (4-1-1).

Windy City Ram Classic

Providence 3, Little Village 1: Ben Salvador?s two goals led host Providence (4-1) to a fifth-place finish.

Boys Golf

Reavis 180, Argo 190: Argo?s Anthony Rago (38) was the medalist in the South Suburban Red dual at Stony Creek.

Eisenhower 175, Evergreen Park 179: Eisenhower?s Vinny Curta shot a 41 to win medalist honors in the South Suburban Red meet at The Meadows.

St. Rita 173, St. Laurence 178: Medalist Patrick Henry shot an even-par 37 to spark St. Rita in the Catholic League dual at Tuckaway.

Sandburg 156, Bradley 157: Sandburg teammates Luke Ostrom and Jake Stefan each shot 2-over 38 in the SouthWest Suburban crossover at Silver Lake?s North Course.

Lincoln-Way Central 156, Homewood-Flossmoor 173: Medalist Bryant Bolden carded a 38 for Lincoln-Way Central in the SouthWest Suburban crossover at Ravisloe.

Lemont 163, Oak Forest 177: Co-medalists Joe Paloian and Joe Ziebell shot 39 for Lemont in the South Suburban Blue dual at Broken Arrow.

Lockport 170, Stagg 190: Gehrig Hollatz (36) led Lockport in the SouthWest Suburban crossover at Big Run.

Girls Golf

Lemont 180, Plainfield Central 195: Lemont?s Bridget Lynn (40) was the medalist at Woodbine.

Girls Tennis

Lincoln-Way East 7, Thornwood co-op 0: Stefanie Hunniford and Andie Doyle won at No. 1 singles for host Lincoln-Way East in the SouthWest Suburban crossover.

Chicago Christian 5, Walther Lutheran 0: Lexi Chionis won at No. 1 singles for host Chicago Christian in Suburban Christian meet.

St. Viator 3, Marian Catholic 2: Gaby Rosales (No. 1 singles) prevailed for host Marian Catholic in the East Suburban Catholic.

Hillcrest 3, Reavis 2: Claudia McGee and Janay Stowers won at No. 2 doubles for visiting Hillcrest in the South Suburban crossover.

Sandburg 6, Andrew 1: Allia Abunaim won her match at No. 2 singles for host Sandburg in the SouthWest Suburban crossover.

Providence 5, Bishop McNamara 0: Marybeth Galick (No. 1 singles) won her match for visiting Providence in the East Suburban Catholic.

Lockport 6, Lincoln-Way Central 1: Kelsey Forkin and Kat Samardzija won at top-seeded doubles for host Lockport in the SouthWest Suburban crossover.

Mother McAuley 3, Mount Assisi 2: Julie Stanton and Caitlyne Beyer (No. 2 doubles) posted a victory for visiting Mother McAuley in the GCAC.

Contributing: Josh Krockey

Source: http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/sports/14815480-419/high-school-sports-roundup-for-aug-30-2012.html

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Moving toward regeneration

ScienceDaily (Aug. 30, 2012) ? The skin, the blood, and the lining of the gut -- adult stem cells replenish them daily. But stem cells really show off their healing powers in planarians, humble flatworms fabled for their ability to rebuild any missing body part. Just how adult stem cells build the right tissues at the right times and places has remained largely unanswered.

Now, in a study published in an upcoming issue of Development, researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research describe a novel system that allowed them to track stem cells in the flatworm Schmidtea mediterranea. The team found that the worms' stem cells, known as neoblasts, march out, multiply, and start rebuilding tissues lost to amputation.

"We were able to demonstrate that fully potent stem cells can mobilize when tissues undergo structural damage," says Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Stowers Investigator Alejandro S?nchez Alvarado, Ph.D., who led the study. "And these processes are probably happening to both you and me as we speak, but are very difficult to visualize in organisms like us."

Stem cells hold the potential to provide an unlimited source of specialized cells for regenerative therapy of a wide variety of diseases but delivering human stem cell therapies to the right location in the body remains a major challenge. The ability to follow individual neoblasts opens the door to uncovering the molecular cues that help planarian stem cells navigate to the site of injury and ultimately may allow scientists to provide therapeutic stem cells with guideposts to their correct destination.

"Human counterparts exist for most of the genes that we have found to regulate the activities of planarian stem cells," says S?nchez Alvarado. "But human beings have these confounding levels of complexity. Planarians are much simpler making them ideal model systems to study regeneration."

Scientists had first hypothesized in the late 1800s that planarian stem cells, which normally gather near the worms' midlines, can travel toward wounds. The past century produced evidence both for and against the idea. S?nchez Alvarado, armed with modern tools, decided to revisit the question.

For the new study, first author Otto C. Guedelhoefer, IV, Ph.D., a former graduate student in S?nchez Alvarado's lab, exposed S. mediterranea to radiation, which killed the worms' neoblasts while leaving other types of cells unharmed. The irradiated worms would wither and die within weeks unless Guedelhoefer transplanted some stem cells from another worm. The graft's stem cells sensed the presence of a wound -- the transplant site -- migrated out of the graft, reproduced and rescued their host. Unlike adult stem cells in humans and other mammals, planarian stem cells remain pluripotent in fully mature animals and remain so even as they migrate.

But when Guedelhoefer irradiated only a part of the worm's body, the surviving stem cells could not sense the injury and did not mobilize to fix the damage, which showed that the stem cells normally stay in place. Only when a fair amount of irradiated tissue died did the stem cells migrate to the injured site and start to rebuild. Next, Guedelhoefer irradiated a worm's body part and cut it with a blade. The surviving stem cells arrived at the scene within days.

To perform the experiments, Guedelhoefer adapted worm surgery and x-ray methods created sixty to ninety years ago. "Going back to the old literature was essential and saved me tons of time," says Guedelhoefer, currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was able to reproduce and quantify results obtained in 1949 by F. Dubois, a French scientist, who first developed the techniques for partially irradiating planarians with x-rays.

But Guedelhoefer went further. He pinpointed the locations of stem cells and studied how far they dispersed using RNA whole-mount in situ hybridization (WISH), specifically adapted to planarians in S?nchez Alvarado's lab. Using WISH, he observed both original stem cells and their progeny by tagging specific pieces of mRNA . The technique allowed him to determine that pluripotent stem cells can travel and produce different types of progeny at the same time.

"In other systems, most migrating stem cell progeny are not pluripotent," says Guedelhoefer. "For the most part, blood stem cells in humans stay in the bone marrow but their progeny leave and turn into a few other cell types." But in planarians, it looks like those two things are completely separate. Stem cells can move and maintain the full potential to turn into other types of cells."

Next, S?nchez Alvarado looks forward to implementing genetic screens and transplantation experiments to disrupt or enhance the cellular behaviors the team observed, to figure out the "rules of engagement" for stem cell migration, he says.

"Why can some animals regenerate whole body parts but you and I are not good at it?" says S?nchez Alvarado. "Can we write an extra rule or erase one? Is it possible, for instance, to get rid of cancer while gaining regenerative properties? These are questions we'd love to have answers to."

The Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a National Institutes of Health Training Grant (5T32 HD0791), a National Institutes of Health Grant (GM057260), and Howard Hughes Medical Institute provided funding for this work.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stowers Institute for Medical Research, via Newswise.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. O. C. Guedelhoefer, A. S. Alvarado. Amputation induces stem cell mobilization to sites of injury during planarian regeneration. Development, 2012; DOI: 10.1242/dev.082099

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/uktQj3LwC3A/120830152301.htm

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Stephen Hawking to help open 'inspirational' Paralympics

A spectacular opening ceremony starring acclaimed British scientist Stephen Hawking was set to ring in the biggest ever Paralympic Games on Wednesday, aiming to transform ideas about disability and champion the human spirit.

Hawking, author of the best-selling "A Brief History of Time" and described by organisers as "the most famous disabled person anywhere in the world", will make a rare public appearance to narrate parts of the ceremony at the Olympic Stadium.

Organisers said Hawking, who has motor neurone disease and has been paralysed for most of his life, would guide a central character on a journey of discovery in a story inspired by William Shakespeare's "The Tempest".

"What came through to us was the humanity and humour of Professor Hawking," said Bradley Hemmings, the ceremony's co-artistic director.

"He's a fun guy."

Hawking, who speaks using a voice synthesiser, will deliver a series of messages about "the origins of the universe and how humanity has tried to understand how everything is ordered," Hemming's co-director Jenny Sealey said.

The ceremony, involving 3,000 performers, many of them with disabilities, brings the curtain up on the highest-profile Paralympic Games in the event's 52-year history.

South Africa's Oscar Pistorius, who made became the first double-amputee to run in the Olympics this month, will be among the biggest stars of the 11-day competition for disabled athletes.

Queen Elizabeth II will officially open the Games at the ceremony, which will be also watched by her grandson Prince William and his wife Catherine, an 80,000-strong crowd, and a television audience of millions around the world.

The Paralympic torch -- lit at Stoke Mandeville, the spiritual home of the Games, on Tuesday evening -- made its way to the stadium past London's most famous landmarks, including Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus.

A record 4,200 Paralympic athletes from 165 countries, including for the first time reclusive North Korea, will perform in 20 sports.

There are an unprecedented 2.5 million tickets -- which are expected to sell out for the first time -- and the International Paralympic Committee predicts that more than four billion people will watch the Games on television.

Organisers believe much of the interest comes after a successful Olympics for British athletes, which saw the host nation finish third in the overall medal table behind the United States and China.

Britain is considered the "spiritual home" of the Paralympics, as the first recognised sports events for athletes with disabilities was held in the southern English village of Stoke Mandeville in 1948.

As the flame was lit in the village on Tuesday, London 2012 chief Sebastian Coe said the Paralympics owed a huge debt to Ludwig Guttmann, the German-Jewish neurologist at Stoke Mandeville hospital who set up the first wheelchair sports tournament there.

"It was that work, that drive and that passion, that created a games that are now the second-largest sporting event in the world," Coe said of Guttmann, who died in 1980.

Shooting is set to provide the first gold of the Games on Thursday in the women's 10m standing air rifle.

Medals are also up for grabs in the velodrome with the finals of the men and women's individual pursuit, in four weight categories in judo at the ExCel Arena and at the Aquatics Centre, where 15 swimming finals are to be held.

The showpiece athletics programme gets under way on Friday with the spotlight on Pistorius, who is seeking to defend his 100m, 200m and 400m titles from Beijing four years ago.

But Pistorius, dubbed the "Blade Runner" because he runs on carbon fibre blades, has played down expectations of repeating the treble, with world-record holder Jonnie Peacock and world champion Jerome Singleton likely to feature in the 100m final.

"It's important to note that I haven't run a 100m personal best in five years," Pistorius told a press conference, adding that he would "be happy" with a medal of any colour in the blue riband sprint.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/inspirational-paralympics-open-london-065857668--oly.html

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Thursday, August 30, 2012

The Television Will Not Be Revolutionized

Fox News anchor Bret Baier speaks in front of the camera at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. Fox News anchor Bret Baier speaks in front of the camera at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.

Richard Kalvar/Magnum Photos for Slate.

Cable-news coverage of the Republican National Convention has been ? well, can we just leave it at that? It has been. It has existed and will continue to, with networks playing to old strengths, tripping over new weaknesses, and indulging signature quirks, all while faithfully recording the silly hats worn in the audience.

CNN effectively kicked off its coverage with the Sunday-night broadcast of Romney Revealed: Family, Faith, and the Road to Power, a 90-minute documentary fronted by Gloria Borger. If you approached the special hoping for a crisp personality profile, you were well rewarded, but if you were expecting Romney Revealed to reveal Romney, then you were a sucker. Striving to be anodyne, Borger, the network?s chief political analyst, strenuously avoided analysis.

What we learned about Romney?s tenure as the governor of Massachusetts is that, midway through his term, he decided that he needed to accomplish something significant and proposed a health care-reform plan. If you wanted to know anything about that plan, in terms of policy or politics, you were out of luck. Or look at it this way: The documentary touted its unprecedented access to Beth Myers, Gov. Romney?s chief of staff, and what we learned from her was that she and Romney talked very often.

Preparing a C-Span TV feed at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. Preparing a C-Span TV feed at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.

Richard Kalvar/Magnum Photos for Slate.

There was some definite human interest in Borger?s interview with Ann Romney, who ?opened up? about her health problems. And then there was some vague inhumanity in the way that, after re-airing the documentary on Monday, CNN set its personalities chatting about the value of Ann?s illness as a political asset, as if multiple sclerosis were a telegenic running mate.

This set a certain tone on CNN, where panelists have been panelizing up in a skybox at the arena while, elsewhere in the Tampa Bay Times Forum, Wolf Blitzer has been urgently co-anchoring CNN?s coverage with Erin Burnett, who seems slightly drowsy. Who could blame her? Wolf interviewed the five Romney sons on Tuesday night. His takeaway: ?I think they really love their mom and dad.? What a scoop it would have been had he determined otherwise! Erin, I learned that Tagg?s still pissed about being grounded for breaking curfew during Reagan?s second term.

Rachel Maddow has been anchoring MSNBC?s coverage from New York, in front of a green-screen image of the convention floor, turning to journalists on the ground for eyewitness report and to Chris Matthews, stationed outside the arena in sherberty neckties, for a peculiar cocktail of sharp commentary and blunt bluster. MSNBC has been the best place for a long view of proceedings, with Chris Hayes noting the running theme of nostalgia in the floor speeches, their misty evocation of an Arcadian past that we might yet roll back to, if we work hard and play by the rules.

On the other end of spectrum, there was Fox. On Wednesday, Fox News?which was giving more thorough coverage of the storm in New Orleans than its rivals?was presenting a convention-ized version of its regular schedule, with Bill O?Reilly bloviating at 8, Hannity leading the braying at 9, and a panel gathering at the end of the evening. Same old, same old; the real action was on Fox Business, where a jolly Neil Cavuto was interviewing guests at an outpost located immediately behind the Texas delegation, the cowboy hats of which added to the festive vibe. Cavuto bantered with Herman Cain, asking if he?d like to be commerce secretary. ?We?ve never had one from the fast-food sector,? Cavuto remarked. Cain rejected the idea. Cavuto pressed him further. Cain re-rejected the idea, scarcely concerning himself with the if-called-to-serve-my-country routine. Oddly, Cavuto all but rubbed salt into the wounds of Rick Santorum, repeatedly asking what it felt like not to have won the nomination: ?You gotta tell me, Senator: Do you feel a little weird?? Doesn?t he always?

Rick Santorum gets interviewed by Fox News at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. Rick Santorum gets interviewed by Fox News at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.

Richard Kalvar/Magnum Photos for Slate.

Current TV has been promoting its coverage as ?the collision of TV and social media.? Indeed, it seemed last night as if the broadcast had been nastily sideswiped by a Mac truck of Web 2.0 hucksterism. The faces at the podium and in the studio were lost in digital clutter, with half of the screen given over to a scroll of Twitter messages. For instance, when Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio took to the stage, we saw messages such as ?@RepublicanGOP: Welcome to Sen. Rob Portman of OH.? This was generally unenlightening?anti-enlightening, really?but there were highlights, as when Tim Pawlenty took to the stage and various tweets likened his presence to prescription sedatives. Current bailed on the soporific Minnesotan quickly, returning to New York so that its anchors and analysts could share a few hearty groans.

Obviously, the only place to get a truly objective look at the proceeding was C-SPAN, which never blinks, inviting you to absorb all the details in their numbing tedium and riveting weirdness. C-SPAN is the unofficial home of the jarring juxtaposition, the channel where a speech by Mitch McConnell, dry and bankerly, gave way not to commentary or a commercial break but to the in-house entertainment: a hard-rocking vocal performance by someone boasting a Sammy Hagar corona of hair and a Rod Stewart fit of trousers. The singer ran to and fro, gyrating gently as the guitars crunched and delegates weavingly waved their Romney/Ryan placards before them, tapping their loafers in time with the beat.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=7d4f21a030c35e10ea4647cd65a6c054

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:: growing a family :: | Two Peas in a Pod

Growing a family.

August has been all about family for us (which has left me mostly absent from this space).

Family celebrations for the Gardener on his retirement from his Park Ranger / Officer job.

Family vacation to the beach.

Family visiting from California.

Family wedding at home.

Family hiking.

Family gardening and harvesting.

Family swimming, playing, eating, biking riding, shopping for school supplies.

We have been a busy family just being a family enjoying the last few days before school started. ?The peas loved having cousins around and Aunts and Uncles and grandmas and a house full of people ? there is much to be said about spending quality time together with family and firming up those relationships with our loved ones who live so far away.

We?ve been eating tomatoes for just about every meal lately and we have plenty to share. ?I eat them on my bagels, eat them with cottage cheese at lunch, eat them with pasta in the evening. ?Our garden has been plentiful this year under the Gardeners watchful eye.

The Peas started, gulp, middle school last week. ?I am the mother of 2 6th graders. ?Not sure how THAT happened but it has and so far, they love it. ?They?ve mastered opening their lockers and they have been blessed with an amazing team of teachers who we have fast fallen in love with.

Sprout will be doing homeschool preschool with a lady who did the same with the Peas. ?She is amazing and Sprout loves it and we love the small group ? 3 students total. ?She loves circle time and calendar time and craft time and science centers and more.

And the Gardener and I ? we have some big projects we are working on. ?He?s organizing the barn. ?And my ?life??he?s quickly taken on the task of keeping ME on task whatever it may be. ?I secretly, love it. ?It does really help. ?When you work alone mostly, it?s nice to have someone check in with you and see what?s going on, planning together, etc. ?I?m terribly at keeping secrets but there is a secret I just have to hold close to the vest ? but 2013 will be a fun year for our business.

So, we?ve been a family very busy with the business of family as of late and I?m sure you?re the same. ?Wishing you smooth transitions back to school, peaceful mornings, a perfect cup of coffee, and a little ?me? time as summer comes to a close. ?Be back soon with so much more?

?

Source: http://twopeasinapoddesigns.com/2012/08/growing-a-family/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=growing-a-family

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Sensibly Spellbound ? Sisters of the Pen

I made a promise a while back I would contribute regular writing exercises. I?ve been pretty slack on that front. I hope this?ll make up. But bear with me. ?It?s kind of a of book review with a writing exercise at the end.

I?m currently writing a thesis (exegesis) to accompany a group (flock, herd, pack?) of short stories I?ve written for my creative writing Honours project. The ?thing? each of these stories has in common is shape-shifting ? each tale has a central character that shifts form from human to other-than-human, or vice versa, or something in between.? The theoretical bit I am in the midst of, looks at a bunch of stories (by more famous people than me) that also have a strong element of shape-shifting in them, and examines what kind of stuff gets opened up when metamorphosis is given such an overt presence.

Image

Hathor ? Susan Seddon Boulet

The thing about shape-shifting is, when you start to really think about it and engage with it, it opens up into an incredibly rich and ever-expanding territory. It?s big. It?s fun. There?s so much to explore. You kind of start out with these loose ideas about human/other-than-human relations and end up being taken on a wild ride through genetic engineering and poststructural cyborgs, through ecofeminism and postcolonial thought via fairy tales and mythology, and then deep inside the philosophy of phenomenology and finding yourself on the doorstep of animism, opening up to the inherently aware life of everything around us. Well, that?s what happened to me.

All along the way I knew that I wanted to speak about the way shape-shifting in stories is not something made-up and magical, at its essence (if it has one), but is a process inherent in all life, and when it happens in stories, it is addressing something both ordinary (in that it happens all the time) and profound (in that when we take it personally, we can see that it expands and connects us to EVERYTHING).

Image

Ok, I?m being a bit abstract about all this, I know. I?m still forming these thoughts into something that can make some kind of sharable sense. In the meantime, though, I wanted to share the beautiful articulation of thought that I have found in a book called ?The Spell of the Sensuous? by David Abram. This book is that rare thing ? the one you start to read and shivers go down your spine. The one you read and you don?t feel so much like you?re being talked to so much as feeling like you?ve been plunged deep inside a reciprocal conversation, because each bit you read seems to be a direct answer to an ache that?s been in your heart since the time you first started to figure out how most people lived in this world.

Image

And the marvellous thing is, the way the book does this, it actually embodies what it is speaking about, which is about perception being ?an experience of reciprocal encounter? when we pay attention to it at its most direct intersection with what it is we perceive ?prior to all our conceptualisations and definitions.?

This recognition of perception as a dynamic exchange has a heck of a lot to do with writers and writing. Our perceptions are the base materials that we use in our craft, they?re what we paint with, weave with, build with and blend and bend into all the countless creations possible when words are turned into imagery. No matter how imaginative we are, no imagery is really pulled straight from our heads. It is from our experiences with the world, with things, with other beings, with landscapes and rooms and objects and voices and wavelengths and winds ? all the myriad experiences open to the perception of the senses of our physical body, that this imagery is based upon, whether first-hand, or handed down over centuries from our ancestors.

Image

Der, you might say. That?s obvious. And okay, maybe it is. But it?s so goddam obvious I think we miss the profundity of it much of the time.

Take this, for example: ?? in so far as my hand knows hardness and softness, and my gaze knows the moon?s light, it is as a certain way of linking up with the phenomenon and communicating with it. Hardness and softness, roughness and smoothness, moonlight and sunlight, present themselves in our recollections not pre-eminently as sensory contents but as certain kinds of symbioses, certain ways the outside has of invading us and certain ways we have of meeting this invasion?? They?re the words of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, whose major work was to investigate and elaborate the philosophical terrain known as ?phenomenology?, which is the intellectual basis of Abram?s book.

There is something profound in recognising that what is ?outside? our bodies, can ?invade? us in the process of perception. As Abram points out in his book, Merleau-Ponty?s writing is full of such words. Throughout his work, all that we traditionally describe as ?passive and inert?, is ?consistently described in the active voice?, so that the ?sensible world? beckons, summons, ?holds itself aloof?, expresses itself, takes possession and even ?thinks itself within me?. Abram suggests that this isn?t just a pretty, poetic turn of language, but is an inevitable result of what happens when you try to speak about the world as it is directly experienced, rather than shutting off from it.

So here?s my writing exercise for those who are up for it (and the potential profundity it may reveal in the ordinary world surrounding you): write about the ?sensible world? in the active voice. Any bit of it, whichever bit of it presents itself to you. It might be a cup or the sky. It might be a cat or a rock, a breeze or a building. See what happens.

Image

image by Miftah Fauzan

But if you remain unconvinced of the worth of this exercise for your writing (or your life), read this:

?We conceptually immobilise or objectify the phenomenon only by mentally absenting ourselves from this relation, by forgetting or repressing our sensuous involvement. To define another being as an inert or passive object is to deny its ability to actively engage us and to provoke our senses; we thus block our perceptual reciprocity with that being. By linguistically defining the surrounding world as a determinate set of objects, we cut our conscious, speaking selves off from the spontaneous life of our sensing bodies? Only by affirming the animate-ness of perceived things do we allow our words to emerge directly from the depths of our ongoing reciprocity with the world.?

So, go for it. See what happens when you open up to experiencing the world as awake and alive and active and write from this openness. I dare ya.

?

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Source: http://sistersofthepen.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/sensibly-spellbound/

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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Home and Family Counselling: Short Term Financial Assistance for ...

There will be time that your short term bill is cornering you. Making the payment as soon as possible is a wise priority. To do that in an instant, there will be more than good intention is needed. You will need fresh money anyway. If you have something to sell such as jewelry, it will be a quick shortcut. But be sure not to make it as a habit because selling all that precious to you will only let you have none to face bigger financial problem in the future.?

To avoid losing the precious stuff for such short term need, you will need to make a clear evaluation on your spending pattern. Tick off the need that is waste your money too much from the list will be a good start. If you love to drink alcoholic stuff, stop yourself from such habit actually will help you financially. The same thing is also worth to consider who spend more on something that will ruin your health and takes your time needlessly.

Since the evaluation will not give you fresh cash instantly, taking the online payday loans will be the next to do. You can use the money to pay your bill only. Never borrow more than you need. Such attitude will only let you taken into more serious financial problem. Any failure in paying the loan on time will also lower your approval level in the future.

Source: http://mooreallison.blogspot.com/2012/08/short-term-financial-assistance-for-you.html

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Adelaide: A Popular City of Australia

Intro to Adelaide

Adelaide is Australia's fifth largest city with a population of one million people and It is the most populous and capital city of Southern Australia representing some scenic beauty and an interesting culture. It is the relaxed and friendly atmosphere of the city which makes it attractive to tourists. The city boasts easy access to great Australian beaches, parks, state forests and is just a stone's throw away from some of Australia's best wineries.

Famous For

Picturesque outdoors, exquisite Wine, stylish architecture, and boutique shopping are the four main highlights of Adelaide. The charm of Adelaide lies in the fact that it offers modern conveniences as well as an innocent appeal like that of a picturesque village. The reason for Adelaide's natural beauty can be owed to the fact that it is surrounded by the wine regions of Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, and Clare Valley.

Weather in Adelaide

Adelaide enjoys a mild climate with four distinct seasons. These seasons include summers , Autumn, Winter and Spring. Summer runs between December and February with temperatures between 20-32C.Autumn runs between March and May with temperatures between 15-23C.Winter runs between June and August with temperatures between 10-15C.Spring runs between September and November with temperatures between 16-27C.

Attractions in Adelaide

There are plenty of attractions in Adelaide from the Glenelg beaches to the historical monuments . Some of the best places for families and children include the Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary, which offers guided day and night tours. Some of the animals you will get to see at the sanctuary include Bilby, Tree Kangaroo, Platypus, Quoll, Potoroo, Bettong. If you are looking for Kangaroo, the national animal of Australia then you need to visit the Cleland Conservation Park. The Park has other animals as well like emu, waterfowl, wallabies, Wombats, Koala, and Tasmanian Devils.

Dining in Adelaide

Eating out in Adelaide is a culinary adventure - its cafe and restaurant menu covers all cuisines and budgets. Surrounding the city, the main eating precincts are the bohemian Rundle Street East, the bar precinct of Hindley Street, Melbourne Street and O'Connell Street in trendy North Adelaide and the international strip in Gouger Street. For the essential Adelaide experience in late night eating, try a pie floater from one of the nocturnal pie carts!

Accomdations in Adelaide

In Adelaide there is superb accommodation available. Adelaide offers a remarkable variety of accommodation options to suit every taste and budget. You can choose to stay in and around Adelaide city centre, while other popular tourist hotel areas include Adelaide's many suburbs such as North Adelaide and the seaside resort of Glenelg. As for types of accommodation, you can choose from budget to exclusive and from self contained to fully-serviced.

About the Author

Pels is an articles writer whose major area of focus is travel where she shares lots of travel information. In this article she is sharing her experience about Adelaide the perfect holiday destination. If you want to book Tickets to Adelaide Please visit http://www.ticketstoworld.co.uk.

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Ticketstoworld/299008


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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Even if they win, Republicans face demographic challenges that make for an uncertain future (Star Tribune)

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HBT: Felix Hernandez logs fifth shutout of season

Felix Hernandez pitched a five-hitter Monday against the Twins to become the first American League pitcher since David Wells in 1998 to notch five shutouts in a season.

It was his ninth career shutout.

Hernandez has won nine straight decisions to put himself right in the thick of the AL Cy Young race. The shutout stat can?t hurt. Besides Wells, the only AL starter to record five shutouts in a season since 1990 was Roger Clemens in 1992. In the eight seasons from 2003-2010, there were six years in which no AL starter had more than two shutouts.

Hernandez made an unlucky loser of Liam Hendriks tonight in a 1-0 game. Hendriks pitched a three-hitter in his first career complete game, yet he fell to 0-7 on the season.

Hernandez hasn?t lost since June 12. At 13-7, he?s still three wins behind David Price and Jered Weaver. However, he is closing in on Price?s AL ERA lead (Price is at 2.28, Hernandez 2.43 and Justin Verlander 2.50). He?s also third in the league with 184 strikeouts.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/08/27/felix-hernandez-beats-twins-for-fifth-shutout-of-season/related

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Artificial intelligence fights notorious crop pest

A software-based monitoring system could keep the oriental fruit fly in check, saving farmers billions of dollars

CALIFORNIA is facing a dire threat: oriental fruit flies. Officials sprang into action laying traps and spreading insecticide after 13 of the insects were spotted in the state. They issued an emergency statewide alert on 8 August, and the next step is a lockdown of huge stretches of farmland in a crippling quarantine.

This is no overreaction. The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, is among the most feared insects in agriculture, responsible for crop losses that can run into billions of dollars. It is known to infest 230 crop species, with the larvae that hatch in the fruits leaving them rotting.

"They are one of the world's worst fruit and vegetable pests because of their rapid breeding, broad range of host plants and invasive abilities," says Gary Steck, an entomologist at Florida's Department of Agriculture.

Now a system developed in Taiwan, where the pest is endemic, aims to harness artificial intelligence to warn of imminent outbreaks, limiting the need for such drastic action.

In Taiwan, fruit fly populations are normally monitored using traps that are manually checked every 10 days. Cheng-Long Chuang and colleagues at the National Taiwan University in Taipei wanted to automate the counting process, so they placed infrared beams in the traps. Each trap records when the beam is broken, indicating that an oriental fruit fly has entered, attracted by a chemical designed to lure the insect. The results collected are sent via radio to a local station every 30 minutes, allowing real-time measurements of the population.

Part-funded by the Taiwanese government, the team have so far set up 240 traps on fruit farms around the country. Machine learning algorithms pool the continuous data arriving from each of these traps and predict when the local fruit fly population is about to explode.

To help in this prediction, the traps are also fitted with weather sensors that monitor temperature, humidity, wind speed and rainfall. Fruit fly population surges tend to match changes in weather - when it is humid, the level of insects is expected to rise, for example.

In Taiwan's current system, a red alert is issued when the number of flies caught in a trap surges beyond 1024 in a 10-day period. But the AI system can learn what counts as a normal level of fruit flies in an area and adapt its warnings on the basis of the current weather and time of year. It can also work out where the pest is likely to be breeding.

When a potentially devastating infestation is predicted, it automatically sends a text message to government officials' cellphones, providing the time, location and severity of the potential outbreak. The warning should allow authorities to pre-empt the outbreak by putting down insecticide.

Tested on historical data taken from the network of traps, the AI system was accurate in predicting an outbreak 88 per cent of the time (Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, doi.org/h6b).

"It is good to know the real-time status of my farm without physically going there," says Zai-Lang Jiang, who owns a guava orchard in Yuanlin, and is taking part in the experiment. "Also, I can reduce some production cost by avoiding unnecessary pesticide spreading."

Chuang believes the system can have immediate benefits for local farmers and help slash the annual fruit-crop loss. "If this system is widely deployed in most of the fruit orchards in Taiwan, we expect it to reduce the damage caused by the oriental fruit fly by 50 per cent," he says.

Farmers around the world will hope it works. The oriental fruit fly lives mainly in south-east Asia, but it is also seen in Hawaii, California and Florida, usually carried in on fruit that is illegally imported. As the effects of climate change play out, it is expected to expand its stomping ground into higher latitudes as temperatures rise (Bulletin of Entomological Research, doi.org/b6jjzd).

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Monday, August 27, 2012

Nutrition tied to improved sperm DNA quality in older men: Healthy micronutrient intake linked to reduced DNA fragmentation

ScienceDaily (Aug. 27, 2012) ? A new study led by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) found that a healthy intake of micronutrients is strongly associated with improved sperm DNA quality in older men. In younger men, however, a higher intake of micronutrients didn't improve their sperm DNA.

In an analysis of 80 healthy male volunteers between 22 and 80 years of age, the scientists found that men older than 44 who consumed the most vitamin C had 20 percent less sperm DNA damage compared to men older than 44 who consumed the least vitamin C. The same was true for vitamin E, zinc, and folate.

"It appears that consuming more micronutrients such as vitamin C, E, folate and zinc helps turn back the clock for older men. We found that men 44 and older who consumed at least the recommended dietary allowance of certain micronutrients had sperm with a similar amount of DNA damage as the sperm of younger men," says Andy Wyrobek of Berkeley Lab's Life Sciences Division.

"This means that men who are at increased risk of sperm DNA damage because of advancing age can do something about it. They can make sure they get enough vitamins and micronutrients in their diets or through supplements," adds Wyrobek.

Wyrobek conducted the research with a team of researchers that includes Brenda Eskenazi of the University of California at Berkeley's School of Public Health and scientists from the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom. They report their findings in the August 27 online issue of the journal Fertility and Sterility.

Their research comes as more men over 35 have children, which raises public health concerns. Previous research conducted in Wyrobek's lab found that the older a man is, the more he's likely to have increased sperm DNA fragmentation, chromosomal rearrangements, and DNA strand damage. Older men are also more likely to have increased frequencies of sperm carrying certain gene mutations, such as those leading to dwarfism. These findings help explain why aging men are less fertile and are predicted to have more chromosomally defective pregnancies and a higher proportion of offspring with genetic defects.

But until now, researchers haven't understood whether diet can protect against the detrimental effects of aging on the sperm genome.

The scientists studied a group of about 80 men between 20 and 80 years old with an average age of 44. They were recruited several years ago as part of the California Age and Genetic Effects on Sperm Study when Wyrobek was at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Each man who participated in the study filled out a 100-item questionnaire that estimated their average daily vitamin intake, both from food and supplements.

In addition, their sperm DNA quality was assessed via a lab analysis in which a voltage gradient pulls broken DNA strands from intact strands within the sperm nucleus.

Each volunteer's intake of a micronutrient was classified as low, moderate, or high based on how they compared to other participants. The median daily intake, both from diet and supplements, was 162 milligrams for vitamin C, 23.7 milligrams for vitamin E, 2,586 micrograms for ?-carotene, 475 grams for folate, and 12.3 milligrams for zinc. Many participants, even those who reported to be healthy, consumed much less than the recommended dietary allowance for many of the micronutrients.

The scientists analyzed the data several ways and came up with the same result each time: A diet high in antioxidants and micronutrients may decrease the risk of producing sperm with DNA damage, especially in older men.

Why this is so isn't a mystery. Antioxidants scavenge reactive molecules that cause oxidative damage to cells. Studies have shown that dietary supplementation with antioxidants and increased consumption of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables can decrease the amount of oxidative DNA damage.

Based on their results, the scientists believe this same protective mechanism may also be at work in the reproductive tract of older men.

"The different response of the old and young men presents new opportunities for health care, especially for older men planning families," says Wyrobek.

More research is needed, however. Although the scientists found a clear link between higher vitamin intake and improved sperm DNA quality in older men, they don't know whether this link extends to male fertility and the health of offspring.

"Our research points to a need for future studies to determine whether increased antioxidant intake in older fathers will improve fertility, reduce risks of genetically defective pregnancies, and result in healthier children," says Wyrobek. "The research also raises a broader question beyond sperm DNA: How might lifestyle factors, including higher intakes of antioxidants and micronutrients, protect somatic as well as germ cells against age-related genomic damage?"

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Thomas E. Schmid, Brenda Eskenazi, Francesco Marchetti, Suzanne Young, Rosana H. Weldon, Adolf Baumgartner, Diana Anderson, Andrew J. Wyrobek. Micronutrients intake is associated?with improved sperm DNA quality in?older men. Fertility and Sterility, 2012; DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2012.07.1126

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/yAYOTWHQ1C0/120827074843.htm

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NAR Outlook: Commercial Real Estate ... - Commercial Source

Geographic center of the contiguous United Sta...

While underlying fundamentals remain positive and continue to support all commercial real estate sectors, ongoing tight loan availability and a slowdown in job creation has softened growth in some areas, says the NAR quarterly commercial real estate forecast.

Exports and jobs

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun finds mixed results among the commercial sectors. ??Job creation in the second quarter was about half of what we saw in the first quarter, which is moderating demand in the office sector,? he said.? ?Industrial and warehouse space is holding on better because imports and exports have advanced.? While exports to Europe generally are down, trade has been robust with India, China and other Asian nations, along with Brazil, Mexico and our strongest trading partner ? Canada.?

Although still positive, dampened demand is slightly moderating rent growth with the exception of the multifamily market.? ?Sharply higher demand for apartments is causing rents to rise at faster rates,? Yun said.? ?A return to normal household formation will mean even lower vacancy rates and higher rents in the future.?

Credit crunch continues

The current commercial real estate cycle has been driven by shifts in demand without an oversupply of new construction.? ?The difficulty small businesses have in getting commercial real estate loans for leasing or purchase is keeping a lid on demand,? Yun explained.? ?Multifamily is the only commercial sector with a notable growth in new space, with some lending provided through government loans.?

With the exception of multifamily, vacancy rates remain above historic averages seen since 1999.? Over that timeframe the typical vacancy rate has been 14.4 percent for the office market, 10.1 percent in industrial, 8.1 percent for retail and 5.8 percent in multifamily.

Vacancy rates are marginally declining and rents are modestly rising in all of the sectors, but significant changes in the outlook are unlikely before the end of the year.? Many corporate decisions on spending and job hiring are on hold given uncertainty over the upcoming elections, whether Congress will effectively avoid a ?fiscal cliff,? and unsettled issues such as health care and banking/financial regulations.

?Overall companies hold plentiful cash reserves, but they are hesitant to hire without clarity over how these outstanding issues will impact the bottom line,? Yun said.

?Commercial real estate gains could be thwarted if lending from small and community banks dry up from excessive regulatory compliance costs, and if international big-bank capital rules are applied to smaller lending institutions,? Yun added.

The sectors

NAR?s latest Commercial Real Estate Outlook1?offers projections for four major commercial sectors and analyzes quarterly data in the office, industrial, retail and multifamily markets.? Historic data for metro areas were provided by REIS, Inc.?a source of commercial real estate performance information.

Office

  • Vacancy rates in the office sector are expected to fall from an estimated 16.1 percent in the third quarter to 15.6 percent in the third quarter of 2013.
  • The markets with the lowest office vacancy rates presently are Washington, D.C., with a vacancy rate of 9.4 percent; New York City, at 10.0 percent; and New Orleans, 12.8 percent.
  • Office rent is projected to increase 2.0 percent this year and 2.6 percent in 2013.? Net absorption of office space in the U.S., which includes the leasing of new space coming on the market as well as space in existing properties, should be 24.1 million square feet in 2012 and 47.8 million next year.

Industrial

  • Industrial vacancy rates are forecast to decline from 10.7 percent in the third quarter of this year to 10.5 percent in the third quarter of 2013.
  • The areas with the lowest industrial vacancy rates currently are Orange County, Calif., with a vacancy rate of 4.6 percent; Los Angeles, 4.8 percent; and Miami at 6.8 percent.
  • Annual industrial rent is likely to rise 1.7 percent in 2012 and 2.4 percent next year.? Net absorption of industrial space nationally is seen at 59.8 million square feet this year and 67.2 million in 2013.

Retail Markets

  • Retail vacancy rates are projected to decline from 10.9 percent in the third quarter to 10.7 percent in the third quarter of 2013.
  • Presently, markets with the lowest retail vacancy rates include San Francisco, 3.8 percent; Fairfield County, Conn., 3.9 percent; and Long Island, N.Y., and Orange County, Calif., both at 5.3 percent.
  • Average retail rent is forecast to rise 0.8 percent this year and 1.3 percent in 2013.? Net absorption of retail space should be 10.3 million square feet this year and 20.1 million in 2013.

Multifamily

  • The apartment rental market ? multifamily housing ? is expected to see vacancy rates drop from 4.3 percent in the third quarter to 4.2 percent in the third quarter of 2013; vacancy rates below 5 percent generally are considered a landlord?s market with demand justifying higher rents.
  • Areas with the lowest multifamily vacancy rates currently are Portland, Ore., at 2.0 percent; New York City and Minneapolis, both at 2.2 percent; and New Haven, Conn., and San Jose, Calif., both at 2.4 percent.
  • Average apartment rent is likely to increase 4.1 percent in 2012 and another 4.4 percent next year.? Multifamily net absorption should be 219,300 units this year and 236,600 in 2013.

?

Source: http://blog.commercialsource.com/nar-outlook-commercial-real-estate-recovery-slows/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nar-outlook-commercial-real-estate-recovery-slows

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Flying Into the Light: The Complexities of Midlife Relationships

Flying Into the Light: The Complexities of Midlife Relationships

The Complexities of Midlife Relationships

I write this as someone who's navigating that complexity myself.? Again, not as an expert, just as a human with life experience having her thoughts about it.

It's been suggested to me more than once that I could or maybe should look into becoming a couples counselor.?? I've said no thus far, with a lot of my reasons resting in my lack of formal training (I had exactly one marriage and family class in my program, and never got to actually witness or perform any couples counseling due to a seeming problem with getting clients within the clinic) and also my ongoing evaluation of couples counseling as a whole.? I do believe that people who want to be together benefit from help and coaching about how to do that and get what they want out of their relationship.? However, I'm also wary of the strong prejudice toward heteronormative relationships that is often found in marital therapy.? I believe that if people want to get married they should get married (and have the right to, by the way) but I also don't think that marriage is necessarily a marker of commitment or maturity in the relationship.? Those things come from the inside, from the work and commitment two (or more) people do with themselves; a piece of paper or ceremony doesn't confer those qualities.? I once worked for a while for a relationship coach who specialized in polyamory, which was a fascinating and extremely complex world to look into.? I'm not poly myself, but I learned a lot about it during that time.

I just think relating at midlife is complex.? By midlife there are previous marriages, often children, finances, houses in the mix for most people, career stuff, health stuff.? It's a lot more layered than dating when everyone around you is relatively unburdened by such concerns.? I see a fair number of midlife clients who want committed relationships but are unsure about getting married again, and I get that.? A lot of them are women who suffered enormously from previous divorces and have finally regained some financial and emotional stability and are afraid of getting back into a situation where they are legally responsible for someone else's debts or potential unemployment.? I totally get that.? I try to do my best to talk about all the options from a kind of "perma-dating" to living together to marriage to whatever it is they come up with.? I like the idea of being married myself again some day (I was married once for not too long, it ended with great compassion on both sides, we are still friends and overall it was a positive experience) but when I sit with people who have been financially and emotionally devastated by divorce and had to rebuild, I get their concerns and fears and ambivalence.? I realized early on that I was unconsciously thinking of marriage in this perhaps overly positive way because of my own, fortunate experience with it, and retooled the way I talk with people about it as a result.

There's also the whole sexist angle, which I resist.? There is all this garbage in our society about older women being alone and how that's some kind of reflection on our diminished value.? I don't believe this at all.? I believe it's far better to be happy, with good friends and a rich life, than in a bad or destructive relationship, no matter your age or orientation or gender.? We all want love but it needs to be nourishing and honest and real.? Everyone suffers in relationships that are hostile, immature, abusive, one sided, codependent, addictive, dishonest.? I often get asked if I think there is something wrong with my client if s/he has not married one of the last few people dated.? I say to my clients that I would much rather they honestly let go of what was not nourishing and keep bravely looking than to stay in something that makes them sad, depressed, or lonely despite their best efforts.? Relationships take work, including the best of them, and you need to be able to see commitment and results from that work in order to navigate life with another person.? No one can keep on giving and giving and waiting and waiting without becoming depressed.

I guess I think the most important thing in relationships is emotional maturity--the ability to truly be yourself and let others be themselves, to be able to give and receive, be realistic, communicate openly and honestly, accept flaws, honor commitments and promises, be trustworthy, reliable, kind, warm, sincere, and brave.? It's a lot for any person to realize within themselves and definitely an ongoing project for those who take it on.? We have to know what we need and be able to speak it.? We have to see if we are with someone who is willing to listen and interested in being there for us even if they sometimes don't understand us or make mistakes.? No one can read our minds or guess what we are feeling all of the time; we're responsible for stating and growing our happiness, whether in partnership or not.??

So would these beliefs equip me to counsel couples?? I don't know.? Currently I am not sure enough of where I stand on the question of marriage or what I think the goal of doing such work might be for myself.? Thus far I have focused on building the strength of the individuals I see so that when they're ready for a relationship they can approach it and explore it without freaking out too much or getting too down on themselves.? That seems like a do-able goal.? I suppose you never know what life will bring but, as I myself navigate the complex waters of a midlife relationship, I see more questions than answers, which is maybe alright too.

Source: http://www.dovehealingarts.com/2012/08/the-complexities-of-midlife.html

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Sunday, August 26, 2012

Owasso OK Real Estate - 14309 E 113th Owasso OK 74055 MLS ...







Source: http://www.davenportcompany.com/blog/14309-e-113th-owasso-ok-74055-1226117.html

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T.O. released by Seahawks

RENTON, Wash. (AP) ? Terrell Owens' NFL return lasted less than three weeks.

Owens was released by the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, part of the league-mandated roster reductions from 90 to 75 players.

The 38-year-old posted a message on his Twitter account shortly before 11 a.m. PDT that he had been released and the Seahawks made the move official later in the afternoon.

"I'm no longer a Seahawk. I THANK the organization 4 the opportunity, I'm truly blessed beyond belief. My FAITH is intact & will NOT waiver."

Owens wasn't the only veteran to get cut by the Seahawks. Offensive linemen Deuce Lutui and Alex Barron both had their veteran contracts terminated, while Seattle waived/injured defensive back Roy Lewis (knee), tight end Cameron Morrah (toe), defensive tackle Pep Levingston (knee) and linebacker Jamison Konz (shoulder).

Owens signed a one-year deal with Seattle (No. 22 in APPro32) on Aug. 7, following a sterling workout that had coaches and Seahawks staff raving about how good he looked for having not played an NFL game in more than 18 months.

He signed just before Seattle's first preseason game and made his debut in the second week against Denver.

But his preseason performance was more notable for the passes he dropped than anything he caught.

Owens dropped a potential 46-yard touchdown against Denver on a perfect throw from Matt Flynn. He failed to make a catch in any of his five targets against the Broncos and then had another glaring drop against Kansas City on Friday night.

He finished the preseason with just two receptions ? a 40-yard catch from Russell Wilson where Owens had to slow down and lean back to haul in the pass and a 1-yard reception on a screen.

For as impressive as his long catch was in Seattle's 44-14 win over the Chiefs, it served as Owens' only highlight in a Seahawks uniform.

Owens was trying to make a comeback after not playing since Week 15 of the 2010 season while with Cincinnati. He sat out the entire 2011 season following surgery on his left knee and failed to receive any offers.

Owens got the rust off this spring playing for the Allen Wranglers of the Indoor Football League. He had 35 catches for 420 yards and 10 touchdowns while playing eight of 11 games, but was released and lost an ownership stake in the team in May.

Owens, a third-round draft choice by San Francisco in 1996, has started 201 of the 219 regular-season NFL games he has played in his career. He has 1,078 receptions for 15,934 yards and 153 touchdowns ? the second most in league history.

His nine seasons with at least 1,000 yards receiving and 13 years with at least 50 catches rank third. His total receptions are sixth on the NFL career list. Owens spent eight seasons with San Francisco, two with Philadelphia, and three with Dallas before a pair of one-year stints with Buffalo and Cincinnati.

"I've been rehabbing and working out for the past year since the injury and that's all I've ever wanted since I've been out is another opportunity," Owens said following his first practice on Aug. 8. "That has been given to me by the Seattle Seahawks and again I am very grateful for that."

Among Seattle's other cuts to reach the 75-man limit were wide receiver Phil Bates, running back Tyrell Sutton, cornerbacks Ron Parker and Donny Lisowski and offensive lineman Edawn Coughman.

___

Online: http://bigstory.ap.org/NFL-Pro32 and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/t-o-released-seahawks-215128000--nfl.html

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Layton Hower ? Money and You: Improve Your Relationship

It may be tough to spend time thinking about your financial situation, but there is no escaping the fact that money is an important part of life. This article is full of tips that will help you get your finances under control.

Your expenses and after tax income should dictate your spending habits. Begin by totaling all your income after taxes, including salary, child support, alimony or any other income. How much you payout cannot exceed the amount of money you receive in a month.

Make sure you have a detailed list of expenses when creating a budget. You should include all payments, even payments that occur occasionally. Many costs such as vehicle maintenance and insurance premiums may not be monthly, but they do occur regularly and should be planned for. You list of expenses should also include miscellaneous expenses, such as entertainment and spontaneous purchases. Remember to make allowances for even the least formal of your spending, like the babysitter down the block or the coffee you pick up on the way to work. By carefully detailing all your expenses, you will be able to put together the proper budget for your family.

Now that you have a detailed snapshot of your household?s incoming and outgoing cash flow, it is essential that you devise a workable budget. Remove all unnecessary expenses from your budget. You will find more leeway in your budget if you stop buying expensive coffee drinks from Starbucks or eating fast food.

Excessive utility costs are an indication that it may be time to make some upgrades to your home. Weatherized windows can reduce the amount of heating and cooling you need to do in your home. Install a new energy-efficient hot water tank in order to reduce your power consumption. If you want to lower the cost of your water bill, fix any leaks in your pipes, and do not run the dishwasher if it is not full. Making these fixes may cost you money up front, however, in the future you will reap the benefits.

Swap old, inefficient appliances for those that use less energy. It?s true that these may be more expensive, but the savings will add up along the way. Unplug the electrical cords from any appliances or electronics that are not being used. Over time, you will see a difference in utility costs.

You may want to check if you need to upgrade the insulation in your attic since heat can escape from it if not properly insulated. Performing these repairs will make heating and cooling your home much less costly.

The advice in this article can help you save money, and keep more of your income. The additional cash can be used for home improvements or possibly energy-efficient electronics or appliances that can lower your utility bills. In this way you can elevate your standard of living and also take more control over your finances.

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Source: http://www.laytonhower.com/index.php/test/money-and-you-improve-your-relationship-6/

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Saturday, August 25, 2012

Owner Of Shangri-La Hotel Tries To Make Amends With Jewish Groups - NYTimes.com

mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com:

LOS ANGELES -- Tehmina Adaya, owner of the Hotel Shangri-La in the beach town of Santa Monica, Calif., announced on Friday some measures meant to repair her standing among Jews in the wake of a jury decision last week that found she had violated the civil rights of members of a Jewish group she tried to evict from her hotel in 2010.

Read the whole story at mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/25/owner-of-shangrila-hotel-_n_1830241.html

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The feasibility of nipple aspiration and duct lavage to evaluate the breast duct epithelium of women with increased breast cancer risk - Corrected Proof

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Source: http://www.ecco-org.eu/Global/News/rss_ejcancer/The-feasibility.aspx

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