More than half of the Italian city of Venice is underwater as water levels rise to their highest this year…. From BBC News. Full story

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More than half of the Italian city of Venice is underwater as water levels rise to their highest this year…. From BBC News. Full story

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Here all all of the great things that have happened to The Sawdust Chronicles this year.
Thanks for being such great fans!

Photographed by WTL photos

To love deeply in one direction makes us more loving in all others.
Anne-Sophie Swetchine

#89 on November 1st, 2008

– License

(Beauteous embryos. Courtesy of beingfed.wordpress.com)

The exam must be getting close, because I’ve cracked.

Today, Dr. Waters gave our final lectures in embryology, which covered the male and female reproductive systems. This is the last bit of new material we’ll learn before our big exam on Friday. As part of it, she occassionally shows diagrams and slides of embryos and asks us to identify parts. At the end of her first lecture, she then puts up the following picture:

(from onshuffle.wordpress.com)

 ”What is this?” she asked. Like everyone else, I stare intently for a full minute, trying to discern the structures, and I draw a blank.  

“It’s a picture of the planet Venus!”

She’d shown a photo of the Venus de Milo at the beginning of the lecture, so she’d put that in as a closing slide. We all groan out of shame. Apparently I and many others cannot tell a planet apart from an embryo.

***

Truth be told, though, though there’s been a lot of info, it’s amazing how much we’ve absorbed. Take Dr. Waters’ lectures, for instance. At the end of her last lecture, she pulled up a diagram of an embryo, pointed to various parts and asked us which germ layer (endoderm, mesoderm or ectoderm) they came from. We got them all right.

But there’s an exam on the horizon, so now we need to review. And that meant that the rest of today was spent in various review sessions.  

The first such session I went to was a TA-led Histology review of the male and female reproductive systems, where we went over what each part looks like under a microscope. To quiz us, then, they’ll put up an image, and they’ll ask us to identify it and explain why. Here are two questions and the actual responses.

“What is this?” “Active breast tissue.” “Why?” (Medium-length pause before response.) “…because it looks more full.”

“What is this?” “It’s prostate.” “Why?” “Because it looks like prostate! I don’t know! I just memorize the pictures!”

***

Then in the afternoon, there is another “Open Help in Gross Lab” session. This, you may recall, is the time when all the gross lab TAs and lecturers come in for two hours. Groups of students will huddle around one of these instructors, who will then go to various bodies, tag different structures on it and then quiz us.

Ellen the Magnificent is there, and she spends a little more time on physiology. If you want pure anatomy tag review, then Betsy (i.e. Dr. Ezerman) or Jean (i.e. Dr. Szilva) is the way to go. Traditionally, I’ve gone with Betsy. Today I try Jean, who is as perky and excitable as she has been throughout the entire course.

So we tag. There are always a few things you have to brush up on, but in general I feel stronger in anatomy than I ever have. We also ask questions about how they’ll want us to phrase various answers. For instance, one of the first rules we learned is that you always have to specify your answer as a ”nerve”, “bone”, “artery”, “vein”, “ligament” or other structure. If you put “internal pudendal” as an answer, you’re wrong, since the full answer is “internal pudendal artery”.

So someone asks this question after we correctly identify something as the portal vein: “Would you want us to say hepatic portal vein?” Jean replies, “That would be nice. But it’s Christmas! So we won’t be too picky.”

Another student then responds, “Can you tell Dr. Carson Cornbrooks that too? That way, I can just put ‘cell’ down for all the Histology questions.”

We’ll see how easy they go very soon, I suppose.

Josh Pothen (UVM’s Meager Med Student)

Donate $1 to The Meager Med Student!

“I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat-cat bankers on Wall Street,” Obama said in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes.”

That seems like a pretty un-presidential way of putting it.

Today those fat-cats are being “invited” to the While House to get another lecture.

According to the WSJ, however, they will also talk about the fact that all bankers are getting mixed messages from the government, Congress and regulators,” … “They are told to lend more, but on the other hand there are existing policies and proposed policies that will inhibit lending.”

That is a very significant point because when the government gets in the way of free enterprise something seems to always go wrong.

The government regulated those bankers using the SEC, FDIC,  and OTS to name a few.

Congress had their dirty hands in it as well.  Frank, Dodd, and Waters all pushed the banking industry to make more and more loans to less than credit worthy borrowers.  “Equal opportunity lending” was the term.

The banks securitized those loans and sold them to Wall Street, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac.  That, along with artificially low-interest rates from the Federal Reserve, fueled a housing bubble that exploded.

The market took a hit, people lost jobs and now the bankers are at fault.

Think about this.  Bankers, are by nature, pretty conservative.  Pushed by Congress and their regulators they tried to comply.  Had government stayed out-of-the-way some would have taken irresponsible risks and the market would have taken care of it.

They would have failed and gone out of business.  A stark reminder to the others.

There would have been no need of bailouts, new regulations, or speech making by the President.

Rather than the President calling them names like some little school boy he should look at congress and the Fed for someone to blame.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8391138.stm… From BBC News. Full story

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Image Credits: Dave Bullock/Wired.com

…Roger Waters…

One of the creators of the best Rock band in history Pink Floyd…, along with David Gilmour, Nick Mason, And the Late Richard Wright and Syd Barrett…

Anybody whose anybody that thinks he/she knows music knows at least a couple of albums, and that’s not hard at all with 1973’s Dark Side of the Moon being the third best-selling album of all-time and voted in the top five best albums on almost every Rock site and magazine… You also have 1979’s The Wall which was adapted into the 1982 film by Alan Parker Starring Bob Geldolf, and later in 1990 performed Live in Berlin in front of a staggering sell-out crowd of over 350,000 people, with people from fifty-two countries watching the two-hour event television broadcast.

After Pink Floyd dis-banded in 1985 he continued on leading an amazing career as a solo artist, releasing 3 excellent studio albums (each in its own way), 2 soundtrack albums, one opera (Ça Ira), and playing a number of world tours two of which were released on DVDs (The Wall Live in Berlin, In The Flesh)

I can’t do the man justice writing only a few paragraphs, but there is enough information online, and I’ll give you links and references you can go to learn more about the best songwriter that ever lived… These are my personal opinions and to me there’s no debating the fact that no other artist can ever come close to Roger’s musical and lyrical genius…

…

What I want to point out in this post is a recent short documentary film Roger was a part of about the humanitarian effects of the separation wall in Palestine… The unjust, unaccepted, and blatant disregard to international laws. A disgusting slap in the face to a people who are now being publicly harassed and stripped away of their most human basic rights and needs… We all know the story, and that’s why we never forget, and we all “try” to “do” something…

My respect goes to all of those people who contributed in making that film, although I know it’s a simple reminder, and it could’ve been much stronger… But for now it’s reassuring to know a film like this can be made… with the help of an international public figure like Roger Waters…

“The reason for walls is always fear, whether the personal walls that we build around ourselves or walls like this that frightened governments build around themselves,” Waters says.

“It fills me with horror, the thought of living in a giant prison,” Waters says as he spray-paints “We don’t need no thought control” on the wall.

…

The 15 minute film named Walled Horizons is divided into 2 parts on YouTube…

You can watch it here…

…

…

…

More Information:

Official Site

Currently Offline

Wikipedia Page

Informative Page

Imdb

Contains soundtrack details

Fan Page

Another decent source of info

The Wall in Berlin Gallery

A collection of photos

Fan Club

Poorly designed but has LOTS of info and links

Quotes

A collection of quotes

Storm Thorgerson Works

Storm Thorgerson’s Studio was responsible for most of Pink Floyd’s record sleeve designs, that and a lot of their other works are really good, you have to check out this link…

Gerald Scarfe

The man responsible for the visuals included in The Wall album, film, and live performance. Amazing artist, with an impressive body of work

…

One more video:

This is one of Roger’s most recent songs… Leaving Beirut.

…

Thank you for reading and watching… If you have any comments go ahead…

…

THERE will be an anonymous review to see if a person may be investigated…. From The Australian. Full story

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Scuba diving is an amazing activity that allows your body and mind to be active in a wonderful way. Seeing the world that exists underwater transposes you in a dream world full of creatures’ colors. If you are passionate about scuba diving and you are constantly looking for new places to go, Africa should definitely be one of your destinations at some point. You can find in Africa’s waters anything from wrecks and sharks to whales and dolphins. Especially South Africa is one of the most visited places when it comes to quality scuba diving. The location is beautiful and you will surely feel like you are home because of local people’s hospitality.

The temperatures the water has vary so you can choose to dive in any kind of water you like. For example, in the Cape Province you can find cold waters, while in Mozambique the water is much warmer. In another area from Africa’s waters, KwaZulu Natal, you can find exciting wrecks, turtles, beautiful coral reefs and dangerous sharks. In what concerns sharks, in the Cape Province you can get to see white sharks.

Another great thing that you must see when you do scuba diving in Africa is represented by Rocky Bay, an amazing group of reefs. Anyhow, you should take care with that location as it is meant for experienced divers. Finger Reef, Butchers Reef and Cowry Reef are places where you can easily find strange species of creatures, in different colors and sizes, including lots of species of coral.

At about 8 kilometers offshore you can find Protea Banks, which is also a place meant for advanced divers. There you can find a huge variety of sharks, including Tiger, Ragged Tooth or the Mako shark, depending on how deep you want to swim. Protea Banks is surely known for this wide variety of sharks that you can find when scuba diving there. You will get there in a semi rigid boat leaded by local people that are very familiar with that location. The visibility is very good, you can see even at 40 meters away in some cases and the water in never colder than 24C during summer. Anyhow, as mentioned above, it is not recommended for you to practice scuba diving there if you are not experienced enough.

Another great location in the waters of Africa is Sodwana, which can be found near Mozambique. Here, you will also benefit from a warm climate and, as a diver, you will benefit from a wonderful view underwater. Scientists identified over 1200 species in these waters. The species you will discover when scuba diving in these locations vary between different times of the year, depending on their existence cycle.

There are many other places that can be taken into consideration if you are a professional or even amateur scuba diver. You should not only read this information but also go and visit these beautiful locations as you will definitely be amazed of the underwater magic you will find there.

Two cities, in Africa and Europe, braced for higher seas… From BBC News. Full story

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With the explosion of resorts from the 60s and 70s that dominated the Alp’s spine, Bad Gastein lost to infamy and the rich found allure in other ski resorts. Today, though, Bad Gastein has reclaimed its once well-to-do-ness and has become affordable for the snafu of people. Like the royalty before them, today’s crowds come to steep in the spas and relax in the outdoor thermal pools. A review of these comes below.

Visitors believe that dousing yourself in the curative waters of Heilstollen (a healing cave, literally) will heal any disposition-from bodily ailments, illness and sickness to defects, maladies and constipation. Bad Gastein can assist with your ailing constitution. The spa centers offer renovated facilities with broad mountain views from the saunas, steam rooms, where facials and massages (of many nations-Swedish to Thai) give way to sport and thermal pools. These are found at Bad Gastein and Bad Hofgastein.

Therapeutic waters aside, there is more skiing in Bad Gastein than other commercialized Alp resorts. It’s just recently that this area of Austria has been reviewed again and again. The resort altitude begins at an even 1,000 meters. However, the highest lift will take you to nearly 2,700 meters with an 8 km long piste and over 250 km of pistes in the whole ski area. There will always be room “at the top,” so to speak, as you’ll have access to 19 chairlifts, 11 cable cars with over 140 snow cannons.

The slopes face all directions of the compass rose-N, E, S, & W-so if there’s snow, one section of slopes is surely to catch it. If you’re a beginner skier, don’t let the Alps scare you into staying home. You’ll have virtually 20 wide runs to practice on while your intermediate family members will skirt down nearly 40 ski runs. If you’re an advanced skier, you’ll have the least of all with only six total runs. However, they’ll keep you challenged for a long while and they’re not easily defeated. You can review all these slopes and pistes from the brochures available in the downtown tourist’s office.

The area circumnavigating Bad Gastein Austrian ski resort is quite sizable compared to other Alp resorts. The town is named after the Gasteinertal ski area compromising both Bad Gastein and Bad Hofgastein, the latter being the slimmed down, quieter version of the former. Both areas are famous for skiing, but Bad Gastein is known more for the extra apres ski venues. Both places, too, are given respect to snowboarders as a fantastic place to not only learn but also refine those taxing jumps and pipes. Cross-country skiers can go off-piste with a guide, where the landscapes open up giving way to infinite skiing opps.

Bad Gastein, Austria, is smack dab in the middle of the Hohe Tauern National Park outside of Salzburg. In the 50s, the area held the world ski championships in the Alpine region. The town Bad Gastein at first may seem substandard with “Bad” leading the title of the village. However, “Bad” means “Spas” and thermal waters. In this case, “Bad” will make you feel good.

The latest reviews gave Bad Gastein some rave: There is nightlife aplenty to keep the night owls hooting. There’s a casino, ice skating, curling and tobogganing to boot. You can take a sleigh ride or go for a walk on snowshoes. Moreover, ice climbing is doable, but a guide with certified equipment will be necessary to both find the best cascades and get you there and back safely. There’s nearly 40 restaurants, bars and discos in all, so you can visit two per night for a fortnight and still not go to them all.

People are advised to be careful when they go out in flooded areas as water levels in Lough Erne continue to rise…. From BBC News. Full story

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More flooding is expected in County Fermanagh as heavy rain means water levels in Lough Erne continue to rise…. From BBC News. Full story

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Waters Says He’ll Perform if Israel Tears Down Wall

Waters Says He’ll Perform if Israel Tears Down Wall

Pink Floyd’s former frontman Roger Waters said Tuesday he’ll take to the stage the minute Israel tears down its West Bank separation wall, just as he did in Berlin two decades ago when another wall came down.

Visiting a Palestinian refugee camp in the shadows of the towering concrete structure, the British rocker who co-wrote the iconic 1970s album “The Wall” said he hopes “this awful thing is destroyed soon.”

Waters, 65, said the West Bank wall has been on his mind since he first saw it up close in what he described as an eye-opening visit in 2006, following a concert in Israel.

“People who haven’t actually seen this, what’s going on here, can’t actually imagine the impression that it has on you, the sick, kind of churning feeling that you get in your very heart when you see this, how depressing it is,” Waters told The Associated Press in an interview.

Water’s comments didn’t sit very well with Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev, who, quoting The Wall’s most famous lyric, said “we don’t need no education” from Waters.

Israel began building the barrier — a concrete wall in urban areas and fence with sensors and barbed wire along rural stretches — in 2002 following Palestinian bombings and shooting attacks on Israeli civilians. Israel insists it’s a temporary security measure.

Palestinians says it’s a land grab because, once the final third is built, it will slice off 10 percent of the West Bank, part of the lands they want for their state.

The stretch of barrier between Jerusalem and the biblical West Bank town of Bethlehem consists of graffiti-covered gray slabs, with army watchtowers rising up at intervals. At an Israeli-run wall crossing, large crowds of Palestinians wait in long lines, particularly during morning rush hour, to reach jobs in Israel.

On the northern outskirts of Bethlehem, the Aida refugee camp, home to about 5,000 Palestinians, abuts the wall. Palestinian officials often escort foreign dignitaries to the camp — among them Pope Benedict XVI during his Holy Land pilgrimage last month — to illustrate the disruption of daily life by the barrier.

Waters dismissed Israel’s security argument, saying he believes the wall “is not here to stop Israelis being blown up on buses.” He said if that was the sole reason, “what’s it doing in the occupied territories, surrounding settlements and cutting (Palestinian) farmers off from their olive trees and so on and so forth?”

“This is an exercise of colonialism,” said Waters.

Regev said the barrier has sharply reduced Palestinian attacks, which have killed hundreds of Israelis since the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in 2000.

“We don’t need no education about suicide bombers coming into Israel and murdering innocent people, and how the security barrier has prevented that by more than 95 percent.”

But Waters said he believes the barrier is indefensible.

“When you stand in front of an edifice like this, whether it’s here or outside a township in South Africa, or in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Second World War, or in Berlin in the 60s and 70s, it’s something you know instinctively that this is wrong. It’s a bad thing,” he said. “It cannot survive forever.”

If it does come down one day, he said, he’ll perform at the site, just like he did in 1990, at a spot where the Berlin Wall had fallen just a year earlier. “In fact, I would insist on it,” he said.

In the meantime, he’s considering performing elsewhere in the West Bank, perhaps in the town of Ramallah, but has not made firm plans. On Monday, Waters visited a refugee camp in the northern town of Jenin to support efforts to reopen a local movie house that closed in 1987.

When he played in Israel in 2006, he was criticized by Palestinian activists trying to organize a cultural boycott of Israel. Waters said he now feels ambivalent about having performed in Israel.

Waters, who left Pink Floyd in 1985, ruled out a reunion with his former band mates; their last joint performance was in 2005, for a Live 8 concert. “We had a great career as Pink Floyd. We all enjoyed it. We all worked together and enjoyed everything and it was brilliant. I think it’s over,” he said.

Hundreds of people in Cumbria are forced to spend the night away from their homes after the county’s devastating floods…. From BBC News. Full story

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EU waters down new role of president… From BBC News. Full story

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Our correspondent Mark Dummett returns to the Bangladesh village of Char Atra to see how it is faring following the monsoon season…. From BBC News. Full story

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Thai city, built along banks of Chao Praya river has long been vulnerable to flooding; poor urban planning careless expansion have made problem worse… From VOA. Full story

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Take a dream step

From the house,

Pin it back fast

Over Time.

Take a road stun

Out of mist

To the train tracking

Past.

Make an in-rail over

Muddy waters where

The wind blows crude

Circles through the

Window’s timber

Lanes, bowling pins

Over heads clean

Through the dark.

Scary water time,
Lord save us from the eco
Agenda on show.
Only got going late on,
Next comes the Master, again.

la da dee la doo dow la da dee la doo dow la da dee la doo dow la da dee la doo dow la da dee la doo dow la da dee la doo dow la da dee la doo dow la da dee la doo dow

Imix, in common Mayan usage, means root, waters. Its energy brings the qualities of primal nurturance, support, trust, and receptivity.

Tone 9 holds the purpose and intent for fulfillment, mastery, and completion of large cycles.

Red is the color of the East. Its element is fire. Its medicine is for birthing things.

So, the message for today is:

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in, and feel your belly expand. Breathe out, and feel your shoulders release. Imix represents the Source of Life, the Divine Mother supporting everything, the foundation of all ventures. Today is an excellent day to be present to that deepest level of support and to fully receive it, knowing that you can master and fulfill your dreams. Fulfill the pattern you came to weave.