Métis leader disappointed with delay in Sixties Scoop apology
Formal apology promised last year, provincial government says scheduling difficulties caused delay
Métis Nation-Saskatchewan president Robert Doucette says he's disappointed there has still been no formal apology from the provincial government over the Sixties Scoop.
That's the name given by some to the government practice in Canada from the 1960s to 1980s of removing of aboriginal children from their homes and placing them in foster homes or putting them up for adoption.
Premier Brad Wall announced the apology would happen more than a year ago. The premier of Manitoba apologized in June 2015.
Thousands of children were taken from their families in the Adopt Indian Métis program between 1966 and 1975.
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Doucette said he was told the apology had been delayed due to scheduling difficulties, especially due to issues around the latest provincial election, held in April.
"I haven't heard anything [lately] about this apology," said Doucette. "To say that I'm disappointed would be an understatement, because Premier Wall had promised First Nations and Métis people that Sixties Scoop survivors would receive an apology, and we're still waiting."
Critics say the Scoop robbed thousands of First Nations and Métis children of their language and culture.
"[The government] thought they knew better than our own people on how to raise our kids," he said.
"You first had the residential school, where they took our kids away, you had the Sixties Scoop, the second vestige of our kids being taken away again, and now we have the millennium scoop, where we have more kids in custody than the Sixties Scoop."
The provincial government says it's still committed to the formal apology, and is working with the Federation of Indigenous Sovereign Nations (FSIN) to find a date for the formal apology.


Think of Earth as a fragile shell of cold, stiff rocks enveloping
a mass of gooey rock that is, technically speaking, beastly hot.
Now imagine the shell springs a leak. Not a pinhole like Mount St.
Helens or Krakatau. Not an itty-bitty pipe like the one that fed
magma into the tallest structure on Earth, Mauna Loa in Hawaii.
The solitary horn corals disappeared forever during the Permian-Triassic
extinction. Photo: Richard Paselk, HSU
Natural History Museum
Think big. Imagine a flood of lava oozing through an enormous fissure in the crust, and continuing for, say, a million years. That's the basic blueprint for the flood basalts.
These rocks form from basaltic lava, whose chemistry allows it to spread quickly into massive "flood basalt provinces." (Thicker lava makes steeper piles -- volcanic mountains.)
In Oregon and Washington, flood basalt underlies the 200,000 square-kilometer Columbia River Plateau. In India, flood basalts called the Deccan Traps are up to 3.5 kilometers deep.
Now max out the magma-maker and imagine the Siberian Traps -- a hunk of lava measuring 1.6 million square kilometers. Or larger.
Because these floods of lava must have released vast clouds of sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen fluoride and other gases that reflect or trap solar heat, it's a fair guess that the flood basalts mucked with the climate.
The only flood basalt in recorded history (a 12-cubic-kilometer
puddle in Iceland in 1783), released so much gas that Benjamin Franklin
noticed a dense "dry fog" in Europe. Toxic chemicals from the volcanic
gas settled on Iceland's pastures, poisoning sheep and starving
20 percent of Iceland's population to death.
Volcanoes clearly can affect climate. In 1991, sulfur dioxide from
Mount Pinatubo reflected sunlight back to space, cooling the atmosphere
by 0.5 degree Celsius.
color image of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, after the 1991
eruptions. The brown color surrounding the volcanic crater shows
the mudflows spreading into the valleys below. Photo: NASA
Although Pinatubo was the largest eruption of the 20th century, it wasn't
even a water pistol compared to the flood basalts. And even if these
fantastically large lava flows did not poison the landscape or cool
the planet, they may have spewed carbon dioxide and cooked the planet through the greenhouse effect. Did volcanic
climatic chaos cause extinctions? It's a possibility. Two jumbo
flood basalts overlapped with two deadly waves of extinction:
Deccan traps coincided with the Cretaceous-Tertiary
extinction, the die-off about 66 million years ago that dumped the
dinosaurs in the dust bin of history. However, the extinction may
have been caused by a comet or asteroid,
since a crater near the Yucatan Peninsula dates to the same period.
Siberian Traps oozed up about 250 million years
back, close to the Permian-Triassic extinction. (During that little
test, 90 percent of all groups of related species were flunked and
disappeared from the ocean.) No big impact crater has been located
from this time.
After this wordy but useful intro, let's meet two recent studies relating volcanic activity to extinction. In 2002, Marc Belchow of the University of Leicester (U.K.) and colleagues looked at underground rocks and doubled the minimum size of the Siberian Traps, to 1.6 million square kilometers -- as big as Iran (see "40Ar/39Ar ..." in the bibliography). Belchow and Co. concluded that the finding "strengthens the link" with the Permian-Triassic extinction.
But did the Siberian Traps erupt at the precise moment of extinction? Good question.
The Permian-Triassic transition appears in this rock outcrop in
Shangsi, China. Researchers have dated volcanic crystals from before
and after the mass extinction, pinning the blame for the giant extinction
on massive volcanic activity. Courtesy Roland Mundil, Berkeley Geochronology Center
A rude question, sometimes. But unless you can produce accurate dates from one-quarter billion years ago, you can't know if the Siberian Traps and the wave of extinction happened at the same time. In a new study, Roland Mundil and colleagues at the Berkeley Geochronology Center came up with a precise date for the extinction.
The researchers looked at volcanic crystals called zircons found in rocks that solidified around the time of the extinction.
The continents have moved a long way since the Permian-Triassic
extinction. The zircons came from Shangsi; the Siberian flood volcanism
is marked in red. Modified from original map, courtesy Christopher Scotese
How do you ask a quarter-billion-year-old rock its age? By looking at the radioactive decay of uranium into lead. As zircon crystals form in magma, uranium enters, but not lead. So all the lead found in a zircon must come from the decay of uranium after the crystal formed. The ratio of uranium to lead indicates how much time has passed since formation.
Getting dates from an individual zircon, which weighs less than a thousandth of a gram, is an exacting science, but precision accounting is standard in geochronology. (No, they don't hire folks from Enron and WorldCom.)
But when lead leaches from a zircon over the millions of years,
the results go astray, and geological daters have to adjust their
hard-won dates based on experience and intuition. To increase accuracy,
Mundil borrowed a procedure from Jim Mattinson of the University
of California at Santa Barbara, and removed radiation-rotted hunks
of the zircons before doing the dating.
micrograph of a zircon. The tiny crystal was treated to make uranium-lead
dating more accurate. Areas that had lost lead were removed before
the dating was done. Courtesy Josh Feinberg, University
of California at Berkeley
Eliminating parts where lead leakage was likely located produced dates that lined up more closely with each other. Those dates (see "Age and Timing..." in the bibliography) also placed the extinction at precisely the time of the Siberian Traps, 252.6 million years ago (give or take 200,000 years).
The coincidence between enormous extinction and excessive eruption may raise a red flag about cause-and-effect, but just because the flood basalt could affect climate doesn't mean it did.
The jury is still out, the evidence is mixed, and it's raining cliches like cats and dogs.
Still, the cause -- 1.6 million square kilometers of fiery, gassy lava -- was so massive that the new timing does point a finger at extinction, Mundil says. "If you imagine a whole continent, and Siberia was a whole continent, and large parts of it are covered by volcanics within short period, unlike anything we see today, it's not difficult to imagine that it had consequences for the climate ... and severe consequences for life."
The link remains a hypothesis, Mundil says. "We can do no better than one part in a thousand [in terms of accuracy]. But we know, within the limits of our uncertainty, that these things happened at the same time."
How did life respond to the 1980 eruption at Mount St. Helens?


— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) April 3, 2019
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Banksy is back with two more pieces published on his official website. The first we’ve dubbedBirds of a Feather and it appears in Clacton-on-Sea (a district in Essex, England). The scene includes a mob of xenophobic pigeons rallying against a colorful bird from Africa. Featuring the street artist’s signature sense of humor, the stenciled flock carry picket signs against the southern bird’s presence, perhaps referencing the recent ebola outbreak which began in West Africa and the impending local elections. The second piece, meanwhile, continues Banksy’s belief of street art’s relevancy in the fine art world as an aging woman observes a work that has since been removed. The Bristol artist titled the work himself and jokingly included it as part of the Folkestone Triennial.
The Birds of a Feather piece was swiftly removed by the city on October 2, 2014 after locals called it “racist.”
( Before the vandalism) A mural called Art Buff, created by Banksy.
A penis has been spray-painted on to the piece in Folkestone, which showed an old woman staring at an empty plinth
A Banksy mural has been vandalised just two weeks after it appeared on a wall in a seaside town.
The piece, called Art Buff, depicts an older woman staring at an empty plinth while wearing headphones with her hands clasped behind her back.
On Sunday evening, a spray-painted penis was added to the plinth of the artwork in Payers Park in Folkestone, Kent.
The damage is not expected to be permanent and clear plastic sheeting was placed over the mural not long after it appeared.
A mural called Art Buff, created by Banksy, was vandalised in Folkestone, Kent.
Visitors flocked to admire the Banksy when it arrived last month and Shepway district council said it would work with the owner of the building to ensure it remained undamaged.
The Banksy website also showed pictures of the wall before and after the artwork appeared and claimed the image was “part of the Folkestone triennial. Kind of”.
The triennial is a two-month showcase of art in the resort, which has attracted the attention of Yoko Ono, widow of the late Beatle John Lennon, among others.
The event made headlines at this year’s launch when Berlin-based artist Michael Sailstorfer hid 30 bars of 24-carat gold, worth £10,000, on Folkestone beach.
A Kent police spokesman said: “We were called at 8pm on Sunday to a report of criminal damage in Rendezvous Street, Folkestone. It was reported that artwork on a wall had been painted on and officers attended the scene. Inquiries are ongoing.”


A new project showing a way to play Nintendo DS games in augmented reality has got a lot of people online excited.
DSReality is a new proof-of-concept from the developer Zhouwei Zhang, which aims to rip sprites in realtime from titles emulated through MelonDS (using MelonRipper & @rileytestut MelonDS iOS core), before rebuilding them as holographic 3D models that you can view with RealityKit for iOS.
Zhang recently showed a demo of this in action on Twitter, testing it with a few games including Pokémon Black, Pokémon HeartGold, and Mario Kart DS, and the clip has been getting a lot of buzz online with people sharing their excitement about how the project might progress in the future.
As Zhang states on the GitHub page, this is currently only a prototype version of the AR solution, which explains why there are still some kinks that you can clearly see in the video. The converter, for instance, that translates assets from MelonRipper to RealityKit doesn't handle transparency very well at the moment and it has only been tested extensively with the camera position used in Mario Kart DS, meaning Zhang had to remove the shader that crops the model in either Pokémon game.
There's also currently a known memory leak, which causes the setup to crash, and no way either to select a ROM or provide any touchscreen input.
Nevertheless, it's still early days, and we're interested to see where this project goes!


The gunman, who attacked the Capital Gazette, a local newspaper in Annapolis, was engaged by responding officers within about 1 minute and taken into custody, officials from Anne Arundel County Government said.
There was no gunfire exchanged between the suspect -- described as an adult male -- and officers, officials said during an afternoon news briefing.
The suspected shooter wasn't carrying a wallet or identification and is not cooperating with authorities, officials told ABC News.
Authorities identified the gunman by using facial recognition, a law enforcement source told ABC News. The gunman had mutilated his fingers in an apparent attempt to avoid being identified, the source said.
Phil Davis, a crime and courts reporter with the Capital Gazette, said the gunman shot through a glass door into the office.
"There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload," he tweeted.:


(Bloomberg) — Thomas Healy was secretly arranging a deal to turn his Texas-based truck electrification startup into a publicly traded company when the coronavirus pandemic struck.
The crisis halted many transactions, but not the one between special-purpose acquisition vehicle Tortoise Acquisition Corp. and Hyliion Inc., which Healy founded in 2015.
The company created from the merger — Hyliion Holdings Corp. — began trading Friday in New York after shares in Tortoise surged more than 300% ahead of a shareholder vote last month. Healy’s stake is now worth more than $1.4 billion, making him one of the world’s youngest self-made billionaires. Still, the 28-year-old knows luck was involved.
“We were fortunate on timing,” said Healy, the firm’s chief executive officer. “If we were trying to close right when the stock market was on that downswing, we might have been having different discussions.”
Hyliion advanced 3.2% to $40.75 at 10:05 a.m. after slumping 12% in its first full day of trading on Friday.
There is growing skepticism of the blank-check phenomenon as such deals have proliferated in recent weeks. SPACs are now getting scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which wants to ensure investors are receiving appropriate disclosures about insiders’ pay structures.
Bloomberg spoke with Healy ahead of his ringing the opening bell on Monday to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Comments have been edited and condensed.
How did the deal come about?
In the first quarter, we kicked off our next financing round. Going public and being able to bring in more capital than we would staying private was attractive. From


Peter Benchley’s novel Jaws was published in 1974. In 1975 it was turned into a film. For years various cultural critics, most famously the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, have deconstructed Jaws to mean more than just a story about a fictional tourist spot, Amity Island, being tormented by a shark.
Peter Biskind in his 1999 book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls writes that, since the novel and its film adaptation arrived during a particularly severe economic and political crisis in the US, Jaws immediately struck a chord with an audience disoriented by the apparently indefinable nature of the crisis.
In 2012, Žižek saw the shark as a combination of prejudices and fears that are encapsulated into a single definable entity, so that a bemused polity is able to clearly perceive it as the cause of society’s dread. To Žižek, the shark of Amity Island can thus be understood as a metaphor of any community seen to be existing outside the homogeneity of the majority community and is thus suspect. These can be immigrants such as Muslims in Western countries (and now in Modi’s India), non-Muslims in Muslim countries, non-whites in white-majority societies, etc.
For Žižek, the fictional shark was like the Jewish community in Nazi Germany. An existentialist enemy created to explain the humiliation that Germany had to face after its defeat during World War I. With the formation of the Jew as an entity that was diseasing the national body, an enemy was created and then ‘unmasked’ to give the disoriented polity a face to channel its anger at. Maybe this is exactly what the minority Ahmadiyya community faced in Pakistan as well when the country lost its eastern wing in 1971 after a devastating civil war.
Films often reflect social, political and economic conflicts that are hidden behind their more audience-friendly and entertaining narratives. They just require some decoding
Others have delved deeper still to catch the metaphors in the seas of Amity Island. A recent video-essay on the academic website Then & Now sees the shark just as Žižek had understood it. Despite the shark attacks, the character of Larry Vaughn in Jaws refuses to close down Amity Island’s beaches because it would be bad for the economy. So the essay sees Mayor Vaughn as a metaphor for unrestrained and amoral capitalism.
The island’s chief of police, Martin Brody, who insists that the beaches must be closed, is seen as symbolising the rational state, whereas a marine biologist Dr Hooper represents science. But since science in this context can only help explain the malaise, and can’t eradicate it, enter Quint, a veteran shark hunter.
Quint is uncouth and a loner. He symbolises the excesses of behaviour that are often understood to exist outside the norms of ‘civilised’ societies. But it isn’t Quint who kills the shark. He is an outsider. In fact, he gets killed by the dreaded predator. It is Brody (the state) who kills the shark.
Jaws surfaced in the 1970s, when the state was still seen as having control over political, economic and social outcomes. But the 1970s were also a decade when, because of certain unprecedented global events and economic stresses, the state began to struggle to control these outcomes. So Jaws reinforced the trust in a faltering state by making the police chief kill the shark.
The Indian film Deewar (1975) makes a similar reinforcement. Released during intense political turmoil in India, the film’s three main characters include a downtrodden mother and her two sons. One son grows up to become a police officer while the other, still vexed by the manner in which society had treated his mother, becomes an amoral ‘angry young man.’ He climbs his way to the top of the criminal underworld just so he can build a grand house for the mother. The mother disapproves, and decides to stay with her other son, the honest police officer. The angry son is eventually shot dead by his brother.
In her 1996 book Ire In The Soul, the Indian film critic Nikhat Kazmi describes the mother in Deewar as a metaphor of Bharat Maata (Mother India) or the national personification of India as a mother goddess. The goddess sides with the police officer who symbolises the state. The angry son is the culmination of the wayward and amoral impulses that can ruin societies. He is thus eliminated by the state.
The British documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis, in his 2016 film HyperNormalisation, is of the view that, as the state failed to control the outcomes of increasing economic upheavals, it began to ‘outsource’ its responsibilities to the private sector. This led to ‘globalisation.’ John Hardy, in a 2008 essay for E-International Relations, writes that globalisation cast aside the homogenising tendency of modern economics with a more heterogeneous process that interlinks international economies, further shrinking the role of the state in an increasingly interdependent world.
The receding state and ascent of the private sector is satirised in the 1988 film They Live, in which a man stumbles upon a pair of glasses with which he can see through the illusions of capitalism. For example, when, after he wears the glasses, he sees a harmless billboard of a brand and can only see the word ‘obey.’
Years later, in the TV series Breaking Bad (2008-2012), the state is entirely cast aside. In the series, a ‘normal’ middle-class man who has cancer, decides to make and peddle crystal meth. The state cannot fully pay for his medical expenses. He starts to sell meth so that he can save enough money for his family. Much of the series is him battling other (but darker) forces of cynicism, whereas his brother-in-law, a cop, is brutally assassinated by those who are also peddling meth. The state thus dies in the crossfire between two tendencies of amoral private enterprise gone wrong.
In Pakistan, between 2007 and 2014, when Islamic militants were running wild, exploding bombs and assassinating opponents at will, one often heard commentators warning that the state was failing. The 2013 Urdu film Waar tries to reinforce the message that the state was still strong. Interestingly though, the same year, another film Chambaili does not see militants as the enemies of the state, but ‘corrupt’ politicians.
Chambaili is a middle-class political fantasy in which a ‘patriotic’/pro-state movement emerges against corrupt politicians and feudal lords. This is based on the narrative formed in 2011 by Imran Khan’s PTI. If seen in the context of the symbology of Jaws, one can conclude that Brody, in this case, is the amalgamation of pro-PTI urbanites and the state (mainly the military-establishment) retaliating against ‘corrupt’ intruders (the shark) disturbing the calm seas of middle-class righteousness.
Published in Dawn, EOS, March 14th, 2021


Updated : November 9, 2018, 6:12 pm
For the past four years, Dholakia has been doling out expensive gifts such as cash, jewellery and even cars to his employees for Diwali. His benevolence has earned him a name across the country.
Updated : November 3, 2018, 1:10 pm
The review of the flexi-fare scheme was done based on the recommendation of the review committee, comptroller and the auditor general's report, and representations from passengers.
Updated : November 1, 2018, 5:07 pm
Updated : October 29, 2018, 9:12 am
Think-tanks like the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) have repeatedly stressed that bikes and scooters are an environmental hazard.
Updated : October 29, 2018, 5:42 am
At least 40 Thai women have been rescued this year during police raids
on massage parlors acting as fronts for prostitution in western cities
such as Mumbai and Pune.
Updated : October 17, 2018, 2:00 pm
As women break their silence to name and shame sexual predators, the nation goes through a collective catharsis. #TimesUp for workplace wolves.
Updated : October 15, 2018, 3:52 pm
According to the Limca Book of World Records, the most expensive sari in the world is a 15-pound sari priced at USD 100,000 that pays tribute to the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma.
Updated : October 5, 2018, 11:38 am
Updated : October 1, 2018, 8:00 pm
Updated : September 26, 2018, 6:23 pm
Updated : September 26, 2018, 10:22 am
Updated : September 23, 2018, 10:44 am
More than 20,00,000 people nationwide have been cheated of staggering Rs 3,000 crore, claim Cyberabad Police.
Updated : September 23, 2018, 10:09 am
Radheshyam, who founded Future Maker Life Care Global Marketing Private Limited three years ago, sourced funds from gullible clients promising extraordinarily high returns.
Updated : September 22, 2018, 2:15 pm
Updated : September 19, 2018, 9:55 pm


A look back at Queen Elizabeth’s coronation
As King Charles’s coronation approaches, it’s the perfect time for a trip down memory lane. The last time a monarch was crowned in the UK, it was 1953, and the world was a very different place. It was also really the first time most Americans got a glimpse of the monarchy’s grandeur, since Queen Elizabeth’s coronation was the first royal ceremony ever to be televised. And it was quite the event, with England’s crown jewels and lavish wealth on full display, more than 8000 invited guests and thousands of British citizens flooding the streets in celebration.
Of course, more than 70 years have passed since then, and King Charles also has a more reined-in view of the monarchy. As a result, there will definitely be some changes to the coronation proceedings, says royal expert Marlene Koenig. On the other hand, British coronations follow a format designed nine centuries ago, so a lot will be surprisingly similar.
We rounded up some stunning pictures of young queen Elizabeth at her coronation that will highlight both those similarities and probable differences. But most of all, you’ll love seeing Queen Elizabeth’s stunning and highly symbolic outfits, figuring out what’s really going on from her body language and spying other members of the British royal family tree, including a preschool-aged Charles!
The queen’s coronation dress
In this photo, which was taken as 25-year-old Queen Elizabeth was leaving Buckingham Palace for the pre-coronation ceremonies, we get a good view of the incredibly intricate coronation dress. The work of British designer Norman Hartnell, it was made of white satin and embroidered with the emblems of the UK and all the Commonwealth nations. Her bouquet featured English orchids, Scottish stephanotis, Welsh orchids and carnations from Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man.
Fashion aside, however, this photo reflects something on a deeper level, according to royal expert Nicoletta Gullace, associate professor of British History at the University of New Hampshire. It demonstrates the use of “antique court costume” as a way of symbolising the profound nature of the coronation rite. King Charles’s coronation on May 6, 2023, is expected to honour tradition while also making a statement about the role he feels the British monarch should be playing in the modern age.
The journey to Westminster Abbey
For her pre-coronation journey from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey, Queen Elizabeth II took the ornate horse-drawn Gold State Coach, which truly looks like something out of a fairy tale. Built in 1762 during the reign of George III, it has transported every monarch to their coronation since George IV in 1821. Nevertheless, King Charles is expected to break with tradition by travelling to his coronation in a different, and likely more modern, vehicle.
Although Elizabeth wears the George IV State Diadem in this photo, her actual “coronation crown” was a replica of St. Edward’s Crown. (The original was lost to history when Oliver Cromwell overthrew the monarchy in 1649, according to Koenig.) Solid gold and weighing nearly 2.2kg, St Edward’s Crown is the centrepiece of the British crown jewels. Although it’s considered the traditional coronation crown, Koenig tells us only six monarchs have actually worn it as such. Charles is expected to be the next.
Westminster Abbey, by the way, has been the site of many royal events, from Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding to Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.


The Week 4 NFL Sunday action concludes with an AFC North showdown as the Pittsburgh Steelers host the Baltimore Ravens. Pittsburgh enter this one off of a gutsy road win over the Buccaneers on Monday Night Football. Conversely, the Ravens come into this matchup off of a comfortable home win over the Broncos. The holdout of star Running Back Le’Veon Bell continues to be a talking point for the Steelers. They’ll need to overcome his absence against a strong Ravens defensive front to avoid falling too far behind in the AFC North race.
Where to Watch: ESPN, 7 Mate or NFL Game Pass Monday at 10:20am
While the Steelers have been underwhelming so far this season, QB Ben Roethlisberger has been at his brilliant best. Roethlisberger has thrown for 1140 yards and 7 touchdowns so far this season, completing 66% of his passes in the process. Fill-in Running Back James Conner has been hit or miss so far this season and will look to get back to his impressive Week 1 form. Star receiving duo Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster have gotten off to an impressive start, combining for 566 yards and 3 scores so far this season.
Defensively, the Steelers have struggled so far this season. They held the Browns offense in check in Week 1 but have been carved apart by Patrick Mahomes and Ryan Fitzpatrick these past two weeks. The rushing defence has admittedly approved, holding the Bucs to only 63 yards and under 4 yards per carry last week. A unit led by T.J. Watt, Jon Bostic and Vince Williams will need to be at their best this week against the upstart Ravens offense.
With first round draft pick Lamar Jackson waiting in the wings, Joe Flacco has stepped up big time this season. He’s averaging just under 300 yards per game and completing over 63% of his passes en route to a 3-1 touchdown to interception ratio. Starting Running Back Alex Collins hasn’t been as effective, averaging only 3.4 yards per carry so far this season. Expect Baltimore to rely on Flacco to connect with new Receivers John Brown and Michael Crabtree against a vulnerable Steelers secondary.
The Ravens defence looked dominant in two comfortable home wins this season but struggled in a road loss against the Bengals. They successfully shut down the Broncos passing offense last week, allowing only 173 yards to complement the interception by LB Patrick Onwuasor. This holds them in good stead against a dominant Steelers passing offense that has looked the goods so far this season. Led by the ageless Terrell Suggs and Eric Weddle, I expect the Ravens defence to hold the Steelers offence in check this week.
After a solid primetime win in front of a national audience, I believe the general public is starting to overrate the Steelers. The Ravens put in just as good of a performance last week and are emerging as a deep and balanced team on both ends. Their front seven is very capable of applying consistent pressure to the Quarterback, whilst their opportunistic secondary makes opponents pay on the back end. Offensively, QB Joe Flacco is starting to find form at the right time as he leads his team into the raucous Heinz Field environment.
In a matchup that has so often been decided by 3 points, I believe there’s some strong value in taking the Ravens with the 3.5 points. There’s a strong case to be made that they are the more talented team and the Steelers are coming off of a short week. With a strong defence behind them and some extra time to prepare, I feel as though the Ravens are a very live underdog here that can win this outright.
Given the strong offensive starts these two teams have gotten off to, this total is a little bit too low in my opinion. The Steelers passing offense has been on a tear this season. Whilst I do think that the Ravens passing defence can slow them down, I still expect Big Ben to put up some numbers and put up at least 24 points. Where I really see the Ravens staking their claim here is with their rapidly improving passing offense.
Joe Flacco has accepted the challenge from Rookie Lamar Jackson and is poised for a bounce back season. In front of a national audience against his most bitter rival, I’m expecting a vintage Flacco performance that gives the Ravens sole position of top spot in the AFC North. This will also open up opportunities for Running Back Alex Collins, who I expect to have his best game of the season so far.
Ravens Moneyline $2.35
When you like an underdog against the spread in the NFL, it goes without saying that you should sprinkle some money on the moneyline. Despite their road loss to the Bengals, I’ve been impressed by the Ravens start to the season. They have real difference makers on both sides of the ball that can single handedly win games like this. Their ideal mix of veteran experience and youthful exuberance also means they won’t be intimidated by playing in one of the most difficult environments in the league.
On defence, I expect their strong front seven to match up well with a mediocre Steelers offensive line. They can put some pressure on big Ben Roethlisberger and force him into making some uncomfortable throws. Offensively, I’m expecting a standout performance from QB Joe Flacco against this underperforming Steelers secondary. Buoyed by protection from a strong offensive line, expect the Ravens to look for the deep ball early and often.
Best Bet: Ravens +3.5
Whilst I’m confident that the Ravens can steal this one outright, getting the handicap through the key number of 3 represents immense value. These two teams have played some very close football games over the years, often decided by 3 points or less. This also opens up the opportunity for a backdoor cover if the Ravens are trailing late.
Score Prediction: Ravens 30-27 Steelers


HOUSTON (KTRK) --Police received a call around 4:30 Sunday morning about a woman's body found on I-45 at Little York exit ramp.
Officers are investigating it as a hit and run.
"A Hispanic female was walking on the North Freeway at the 6900 block at West Little York exit ramp when she was struck by an unknown vehicle," said Sergeant Karl Harris with the Houston Police Department.
There are no known witnesses at this time.
About two blocks north of the accident, a tow truck driver discovered an abandoned car with the driver and passenger door open and the key still in the ignition.
The discovery was made around the time that the hit and run was reported.
Police are working to determine if the car belongs to the victim.
They say it is not the suspect's car because it did not sustain any front-end damage.
We're following this story on Eyewitness News. Watch for updates on air, online and on our mobile news app.
Keep checking back on this page to get real-time updates as this story unfolds. To get alerts for breaking news, download the abc13 news app for iPhone or Android. You can also get breaking news alerts sent to you by email.


Dana White: Dan Henderson is next in line for 205 title shotPosted on March 30, 2012, 07:05 PM by Trent Reinsmith
According to the UFC President Dana White, he has offered Dan Henderson two fights since he defeated Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 139, which took place at San Jose’s HP Pavilion. White has stated that Henderson has turned down both of those fights.
For his part Henderson has made it clear that he is only interested in a title shot, at either middleweight or light heavyweight.
Earlier this week, White announced that he would capitulate to Henderson’s desires, but made it clear that Henderson was the exception and not the rule, "Yes, Dan Henderson will get the winner of that fight (Jones vs. Evans) or the winner of the Anderson Silva fight. Dan Henderson just wants a title shot. You know, there was a lot of talk about the stuff I said. Here is the thing. I offered Dan Henderson two fights. Dan Henderson wants this fight. Normally I don't do that. Guys don't sit around and wait and pick their fights. There's been very specific cases where that has happened and it's guys who have earned it or deserved it. Dan Henderson is one of those guys. Listen, Henderson has been around forever. He is forty-something years old. He has been knocking guys out left and right and if he wants to sit around and wait for this title shot, he can do it." – for more see Heavy.com
Further Reading: Dan Henderson plans on fighting two or three more years


A "large, unpopular and unwelcome" housing development in a small Somerset village has been struck down due to a lack of car parking.
Gladman Developments applied in late-2017 to build 130 new homes west of the A357 Stalbridge Road in Henstridge, a short distance from the Dorset border. South Somerset District Council refused the plans in January 2018, but this decision was overturned in November 2018 following a successful appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.
Barratt David Wilson Homes purchased the site from Gladman and submitted revised proposals for the development, laying out where the houses will be based and what sort of properties will be delivered. But the council's area east committee voted on Wednesday morning (April 13) to refuse these new proposals, claiming there was not enough provision for new cars and the homes would increase existing traffic problems.
The site (which has been dubbed 'Yenston Landings') lies to the south of existing residential properties on Woodhayes Way, just north of the Somerset-Dorset border along Landshire Lane. Under the new proposals, access will be created on Woodhayes Way between the two existing junctions with Townsend Green.
Of the 130 homes proposed, 46 will be affordable - meeting the council's target that 35 per cent of any new homes in a development of ten dwellings or more should be affordable. Ken Courtenay, chairman of Henstridge Parish Council, raised several concerns about the plans when the area east committee met virtually on Wednesday morning (April 13).
He said: "We believe this development is being imposed upon us. Our main concern remains the increase in road traffic through the centre of the village. Had we been given the opportunity, we would have raised the possibility of providing a footpath along the A357 to the south to join the one at the Dorset boundary - that would have had a material benefit to the village.
"The design of the play area in the application seems to take no account of the facilities that already exist at our award-winning recreation ground. Other facilities to broaden the choice available in the village would have made more sense.
"We are concerned about parking provision and the displacement of parking places by this development on both Woodhayes Way and the A357." David Sekers, who lives just off High Street, described the development as "large, unpopular and unwelcome", adding: "Traffic and pedestrians are a bit issue here.
"There is no mitigation [for these issues] in place yet - this is putting the cart before the horse." Retired doctor Adrian Gamer, who has lived and worked in Henstridge since the 1970s, said the new homes would put an increase strain on both the A357 and the surrounding residential streets.
He said: "Parking is a major and increasing problem in Henstridge, both for residents who do not have driveways or garages and for general functions, such as weddings or funerals. Your report shows a shortfall of 19 parking spaces - that's cars that may spill out of the estate and try to park on village streets.
"All in all, we need more parking spaces in this village, not more cars trying to park. Nineteen cars looking for somewhere to park in here is like having a funeral every day of the week." Councillor Hayward Burt, whose Blackmoor Vale ward includes the site, said it was "very odd" that traffic concerns were not being dealt with before the fine details of the development were approved.
He elaborated: "Anyone who has driven through the centre of Henstridge will know how incredibly difficult that is - adding more houses here will not be helpful. Anyone who has parked on Woodhayes Way will know that it is full of cars - there's nowhere else to go. You will start to push more cars into places which simply do not exist."
Councillor Lucy Trimnell concurred: "I live in Bruton, where parking is becoming more and more difficult - people are complaining to me frequently about issues driving through the town. This has to be something that is completely sorted, and there should be an excess of parking for properties on a new estate in order to ensure that everyone has a place to put their cars."
After around an hour's debate, the committee voted to refuse the plans on the grounds of insufficient parking by a margin of six votes to one, with two abstentions and two councillors absent due to technical difficulties. Following the vote, Councillor Henry Hobhouse (who chairs the committee) remarked: "This will go forward to appeal and I hope that we don't end up having to pay."
Barratt David Wilson Homes has not formally indicated whether it intends to appeal the committee's decision. Mr Burt, Ms Trimnell and Mr Hobhouse are all standing in the local elections for the new unitary Somerset Council on May 5, in the divisions of Blackmoor Vale, Wincanton & Bruton and Castle Cary respectively.


Arsenal are reportedly keen on Lyon midfielder Houssem Aouar.
Arsenal brought in two signings in January, with Mikel Arteta choosing to bolster his defensive options by bringing in Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares.
Both players are fighting for permanent moves, but Arteta is no doubt already eyeing other summer targets, with a creative midfielder surely a priority.
Mesut Ozil’s future seems unclear, Dani Ceballos is only on loan, whilst it may be too soon for Emile Smith Rowe to take such an important role.
The Daily Mail now report that Arsenal have a host of playmaking targets in mind, including James Maddison, Orkun Kokcu and Mohammed Ihattaren, but Houssem Aouar is also in the mix.
The Lyon star has become one of the most highly-regarded young midfielders in Europe since emerging in the Lyon first team back in 2017, and interest in his signature is no surprise.
The 21-year-old has picked up seven goals and six assists this season, whilst continuing to show his smooth, silky dribbling ability and his quality to pick out a pass in the final third.
Aouar looks destined for the top, and Arsenal appear to be keen, even though he plays a little deeper than Mesut Ozil – something fans seem to like.
Fans believe that signing Aouar would allow Arteta to play a 4-3-3 rather than shoehorn Ozil into the side, branding him a ‘dream’ signing whilst urging the club to get a deal done.
Others think Aouar may be going to Manchester City instead, even feeling that Arsenal need to go ‘all out’ for him in order to make sure they don’t miss out on a player who can immediately improve their midfield.
Houssem Aouar would be my dream midfield signing for Arsenal.— Blanco (@Blanco_N5) February 12, 2020
But my gut tells me he’s on his way to Man City to replace David Silva
Get this done .. will be over the moon if this happens— ICUMIN2MINUTES (@austinesmith28) February 11, 2020
Please!!!— Josh’! (@joshugwu) February 11, 2020
I prefer Aouar. Would rather arsenal play a 433 than have a lone creator.— Askellad (@MajesticMatteo) February 12, 2020
Arsenal need Aouar instead of a #10 just because we have suffered so much trying to shoehorn a #10 into our side as they are easy to neutralise. Better to follow the Klopp system than Guardiola one just because we don’t have that sort of money— #9 (@futboIrh) February 12, 2020
Soumare, Aouar and I won’t care what else we do https://t.co/2oKIwOefaN— New Age Purist (@FcCesc) February 12, 2020
Houssem Aouar to arsenal, We move! https://t.co/BUDhg4CcRw— Metwally (@ma7modmetwaly) February 12, 2020


Dubai: UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) on Thursday confirmed that inbound passenger traffic from India would remain suspended until further notice.
“As far as inbound passenger traffic from India is concerned, the status quo remains,” an official said. “We are closely monitoring the situation in India, and a decision on when to lift the suspension on inbound travellers will be taken keeping in mind the safety and security of all parties involved”
Starting from April 24, GCAA and the National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Emergency Management Authority (NCEMA) suspended all inbound flights for national and international carriers coming from India.
No updates have been issued since the last statement by GCAA and NCEMA, said the official.
The travel suspension includes inbound transit passengers with exception of transit flights coming to the UAE and heading to India. The GCAA had previously stated that UAE nationals and diplomatic missions between the two countries, official delegations, businessmen's planes and golden residence holders are excluded from the decision, provided that they should take preventive measures that include a mandatory 10-day quarantine and a PCR test at the airport as well as another test on the fourth and eighth days of entering the country.
Meanwhile, UAE and Indian airlines are looking to resume flights from July 6 onwards, as per booking sites and customer care representatives.
“Flights from India to the UAE are suspended until 6 July 2021 - this may be extended,” said Etihad on its website.
Air India tweeted the following on Wednesday in response to a customer query: “In view of travel restrictions announced by the UAE government, flights between India and UAE are suspended till 06th Jul'21. Please keep a watch on our Twitter handle and website for further updates”


According to a survey, liberals are much more likely than conservatives to block someone for having an opposing viewpoint. It’s kind of an open secret that liberals have a lot more problems dealing with opposing viewpoints than conservatives. A lot of that is because even though we conservatives are more numerous, liberals tend to dominate the media and we can never escape their viewpoints. This actually makes us stronger, as we know what liberals are thinking and why and can directly refute their ideas. Liberals, on the other hand, tend to just shut out other viewpoints and never understand them, just reacting to them screeching things like “racist!” — as fear and anger are common reactions to things people don’t understand. This is why they’re often surprised they’re ideas (like gun control) aren’t more popular as they think they own the argument when all they’ve done is cover their ears whenever the other side speaks.
The core of the left’s arguments are weak. That’s how we can win in this country (and do on some issues like guns). We just have to focus on bringing are ideas directly to the American people and not even bothering with the left who don’t even want to listen.


Do you know this? Adopting 5 easy practices can significantly lengthen your lifetime by up to an additional 14 years for women and 12 years for men, according to a 34-year Harvard University study of more than 123,000 participants.
The greatest desire that we all have is to live a happy, healthy, and long life. Well, nobody likes to be sick and no one loves to die at an early age, although we all desire to live longer, we might not always be taking the proper steps to do so.
HERE ARE THE FIVE MOST IMPORTANT STEPS TO BE TAKEN TO LIVE LONGER:
SAY NO TO SMOKING
- According to research from "Action on Smoking and Health," a 30-year-old smoker can assume living roughly 35 additional years, while a 30-year-old non-smoker can estimate living 53 more years.
- Secondly, an average man loses 11 minutes of life for every cigarette he smokes. Thus, each carton of cigarettes is a day and a half of life wasted. A man who smokes a pack a day annually loses roughly two months of life, as stated in the Health Letter from the University of California, Berkeley.
- "Smoking is harmful to your health," is a regular sign you'll encounter in bus and train stations, furthermore while you watch a movie you could notice the same phrase on the screen; however, nobody cares about that phrase, despite the warning side effects.
- At the same time, I don’t say that quitting that habit is easy, but once you start trying and when you could leave that smoking habit, it will add great benefits to your life and your body will thank you in the long term.
- The cigars that you smoke contain many harmful components such as:
- Tar is a carcinogen (cancer-causing agent) and it also constricts the bronchioles in your lungs, thus disturbing the absorption of oxygen.
- Secondly, the dangerous gas carbon monoxide causes your heart to work harder and has negative effects on your lungs by replacing the oxygen present in your blood.
- There are a few other compounds such as benzene and arsenic which are carcinogenic too, therefore the entry of these harmful substances into your body, while you smoke a cigar increases the greater risk for lung diseases, heart diseases, cancers, etc,
WHAT HAPPENS, WHEN YOU STOP SMOKING?
- The first thing that you can see is dropping in your blood pressure and heart rate to normal limits just within the 30 minutes of quitting smoking.
- Additionally, our body's carbon monoxide levels will return to normal the next day.
- Furthermore, in the next 2 weeks, your breathing and circulation will start improving, and over the coming months, your coughing and breathing problems will get better.
- Finally, your chance of developing heart problems will be 50% that of a smoker, after a year. So, as long as you don't smoke, the health advantages and lower risks remain.
EAT A HEALTHY DIET
- There are many studies that have been conducted to understand the link between a healthy diet and life expectancy, and one of the original research articles published in PLOS medicine is conducted based on other studies such as the global burden of diseases study, where the study declares that making the sustained shift from the standard Western diet to the ideal diet starting at the age of 20 might extend life expectancy by roughly 10.7 years for women and 13 years for men.
- The ideal diet here represents legumes, whole grains, and nuts, which contributed towards the benefit of gaining an extra 10 years of life in women and nearly 13 in men.
- One of the important things to be remembered as one in five deaths is caused by inadequate diets, as reported in the British magazine The Lancet, and it may result in issues like diabetes and high blood pressure, therefore reducing the intake of animal-based foods such as red meat and processed meats or fried foods is as important as the consumption of these plant-based foods such as legumes, to live longer.
LET EXERCISE BE A PART OF YOUR DAY
Organizing a time slot for exercise is crucial, as Oprah Winfrey, Sheryl Sandberg, and Bill Gates—some of the most famous business people in the world also prioritize physical activity on a daily basis On the other hand, just a little bit of exercise each day can increase life expectancy by up to 4.5 years, according to research from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The reason behind exercise improving your survival rate is the fact that exercise has the ability to lower the risk of developing aging-related disorders including heart disease and type 2 diabetes. So take a few minutes for exercise and if your job is such that you have to sit throughout the day, make your get up every hour and have a small walk and then come back to your place, also you can do a brisk walk before you go to work or after you come home.
- PHYSICAL ACTIVITY RECOMMENDATIONS
- In order to put this into viewpoint, the regular exercise recommendations for Americans state that adults should engage in 150–300 minutes of moderate–intensity activity per week (or 20–45 minutes per day)
- 75–150 minutes of vigorous–intensity aerobic physical activity per week (or 10–20 minutes per day).
- Practicing the activities such as brisk walking for 20-25 minutes per day is considered to be moderate-intensity activity.
- Alternatively, jogging, running, and taking vigorous fitness classes which require some additional effort fall into the category of vigorous exercises.
- Weight control is the most important step toward the control of death rates since obesity is the cause of many conditions such as hypertension, cancer, musculoskeletal disorders, and heart diseases.
- The Harvard study found that losing weight considerably lowered the risk of developing diabetes mellitus, risk factors of heart disease, and breast cancer.
- According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), a body mass index (BMI) of 18.5 to 24.9 is regarded as healthy, while a person's definition of a "healthy" weight differs from person to person.
- The deposition of fats in our body is mostly due to the sedentary lifestyle and the unhealthy diet that we include in our daily routine, therefore following a healthy lifestyle such as practicing exercise and having a healthy diet as mentioned above can help you in maintaining the proper weight, without actually leading to the serious problems of overweight.
LIMIT YOUR ALCOHOL
- Alcohol is everywhere; it may be seen at happy hour, meetings, social gatherings, and many other events. Some people may even turn to alcohol as a social stimulant to get through difficult days.
- One study claims that consuming one drink per day on a regular basis lowers mortality by lowering the likelihood of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, heart failure, and strokes.
- Either one or two glasses per day after the ages of 40 are associated with an average six-month reduction in life expectancy, according to additional research.
- However, it’s very significant to note that long-term alcohol use can lead to various serious effects such as a compromised immune system, and alcoholic liver disease also can lead to fatal accidents.
- Remember that you may start with a glass, but sooner you will be an alcohol addict, since it's highly difficult to withdraw yourself from drinking after you get used to it, better not to drink at all, since drinking is not the ultimate solution to your problems and will rather add more problems to your life.
Every one of us loves to live longer, however, how many of us really put some effort to achieve that longevity or long life? is a question to all of us today. let’s try to follow the five popular tips mentioned above according to the Harvard study and live a healthy, happy, and longer life, as every tip you follow is a link or connectivity to reach your aim of living long.


Believe it or not, it’s been 30 years — an entire generation — since GUESS’ original, three-zip Marilyn jean put their mark on fashion forever. To celebrate, the brand is going back to its roots with a new campaign featuring the star of its classic ads, Claudia Schiffer, and releasing a limited-edition line of updates on their iconic pieces. To join in the festivities, we snapped 30 of our favorite fashionable friends wearing the vintage-inspired 30th anniversary collection and asked them what GUESS means to them. Thirty women, 30 days, 30 sexy years of GUESS.
Name: May Kwok
Ten-second bio: "I’m a 27-year-old New Yorker, fashion enthusiast, and part-time DJ, but I’m primarily known to my colleagues within the industry as a publicist and marketing executive. I love puppies, leather, and shoes."
Favorite ‘80s memory: "I was a child in the ‘80s, so I’d have to say my Barbie dolls and Cabbage Patch Kids."
Favorite GUESS memory: "Claudia Schiffer’s iconic GUESS ads."
Favorite returning ‘80s fashion trend: "Fishnets."
Photographed by Michael Flores


Guangdong woman was diagnosed as asymptomatic infection 10 days after she was released from isolation
The novel coronavirus pneumonia cases mainly have a fever, cough and other respiratory symptoms. They will excrete respiratory secretions containing viruses through cough and sneezing, and infect others through close airway droplets.
However, asymptomatic patients do not have any cough, sneeze and other respiratory symptoms, so they have little chance to discharge respiratory secretions. Compared with patients with obvious symptoms, the transmission ability is limited.


Joan Carr’s Catholic faith was her compass. It guided her in everything she did.
Carr devoted herself to many aspects of Catholic life – as a teacher, principal, administrator and later superintendent of Edmonton Catholic Schools, as a volunteer, and as a board member for a variety of Catholic initiatives and causes. Her loss is being felt across the Catholic community.
Carr died of cancer on Feb. 9. She was 67. Her funeral is scheduled for Feb. 15 at St. Joseph’s Basilica, where she was a parishioner. Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith will preside, and Bishop David Motiuk of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton will concelebrate. The service will be livestreamed here at 10:30 a.m.


Mountain Lakes Brewing (201 W. Riverside Ave.) is celebrating the release of its 2019 edition pumpkin ale from 3-9 p.m. in its taproom.
Several local spots will be celebrating Halloween, so throw on a costume and get ready to have some fun.
Bellwether Brewing (2019 N. Monroe St.) is featuring a costume contest, bingo and other festivities from 5:30- 9 p.m. Anyone in costume receives $1 off the first pint. This is a family-friendly event.
Genus Brewing (17018 E. Sprague Ave, Spokane Valley) is releasing its new “Sour Patch” IPA and will be showing Halloween-themed movies all evening. There will be candy for trick-or-treaters young and old. All ages welcome from 6-9 p.m.
Natural 20 Brewing, formerly English Setter Brewing (15310 E. Marietta Ave., Suite 4, Spokane Valley) is featuring from 4-9 p.m. candy- and chocolate-themed beers on tap, a costume contest, plus Halloween trivia starting at 6:30.
Hunga Dunga Brewing (333 N. Jackson, Moscow) is hosting a party with a costume contest and DJ from 9 p.m.-close. Ages 21 and older.
Brandywine Bar & Bottle Shop (2408 W. Northwest Blvd.) is offering drink specials, a costume contest, pumpkin decorating and a raffle from 3-10 p.m.
Nectar Beer and Wine (1331 W. Summit Parkway) in Kendall Yards from 5-9 p.m. will be putting together a tap list of dark and barrel-aged beers. There will be prizes for the best costumes and other fun activities.
River City Brewing (121 S. Cedar St.) is hosting its monthly First Friday Garage Party featuring local music and beer specials from 6-10 p.m.
Humble Abode Brewing (1620 E. Houston Ave.) is releasing imperial stouts to celebrate the cold weather. Come down to try these small batch beers from 3-9 p.m.
Find more beer news at 509beerblog.com.
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With the onset of the pandemic, e-commerce solidified its market share, in some cases leapfrogging brick-and-mortar retail in product categories like groceries. Then, as Covid-19’s dust began to settle, it began to become clearer that given the rapid acceleration of mobile penetration throughout the African continent. ‘m-commerce’ or mobile-based shopping was showing signs of becoming the next evolutionary step for online shopping.
This caught the attention of digital players and platforms like TikTok who identified a golden opportunity to “bring e-commerce home” in a way that leverages its ability to foster authentic conversations and build communities around inspiring, entertaining and informative content. This intuitive move from m-commerce into the world of online entertainment and onto digital platforms is what we like to refer to as ‘community commerce.’
Historically, commerce – the trade of goods and services – has been inextricably linked to culture. Motifs like the Great Silk Road and the bustling street markets of Africa provide us with a window into what commerce used to be – a social experience that involved skills like negotiation, driven by a cultural exchange.
At this intersection of commerce and culture, people engaged with each other, exchanged opinions and shared their experiences. Fast-forward to the twenty-first century and digital commerce at scale felt lonely – devoid of the human touch.
Now, community commerce, where users can browse, shop goods and services and pay for them without needing to leave an app or digital platform, marks a return to the building blocks of commerce: human interactions.
Biggest driver of sales is good old word-of-mouth-marketing
Community commerce happens natively, within applications, which are fully integrated with digital payment methods. And in this model, the biggest driver of sales is good ol’ word-of-mouth marketing – social proof in the form of product reviews and testimonials are a way in which communities and individual users are reclaiming the driver’s seat in the digital commerce journey.
The community is no longer a commodity to be used by retailers – they are the drivers of commerce and the determinants of the ‘next big thing.’
In a sense, community commerce has therefore injected a generous dose of humanity back into online retail – a welcomed development in a world in which people long for authentic and meaningful engagement.
Of course, the fact that community commerce is native to apps caters to the heightened demand for absolute convenience. Before, convenience was a unique selling point – something that brands could use as a differentiator in the market. Now, it’s a must-have.
Online shoppers demand quick turnaround times, a seamless payment journey, fast response times to customer service queries and fast and reliable delivery. These are the hallmarks of the retail brands that will dominate the online shopping landscape of the future – brands will simply not survive without them. If anything, the pandemic has brought about among the online shopping community, it’s more control over the retail experience – if retailers aren’t fostering a convenient user experience, they’re simple losing business to more on-the-ball competitors.
In this sense, the rise of community commerce marks a call to retailers to ‘step it up’ and get the customer sales journey right – to engage in social listening, to ensure that the integration of technology makes for a hassle-free shopping experience and to invest resources into serving customers through real-time interactions.
One of the most outstanding features of community commerce is the fact that it is predominantly content-driven. It could be argued that this form of commerce has catalysed a shift from “persuasion to participation.”
Shoppers no longer fall for pushy marketing campaigns – they don’t want to just buy products. Instead, they want to buy something more – the “why” – they want to buy into a story rather than just a sales gimmick. The challenge for brands therefore is to create content that is not disruptive or too obviously purposed towards advertising. Marketing content needs to blend in seamlessly with users’ edutainment time. It needs to be compelling, engaging and insightful – very simply, it needs to add value.
Trust is the new commodity in the world of community commerce. Earn the trust of a community of content creators and consumers and half the job is done. And it’s a good thing, this return to a more human-driven form of buying goods and services. It’s a much-needed intervention in a world in which human interaction is just not the same as it used to be. What an exciting time to be alive and an exciting time to be online.


Playing The Devil's Advocate When Talking About Able-Bodied People Dressing Up As Disabled People For Halloween
In one of my previous opinion pieces I stated that people should not dress up as a disabled person during Halloween. Sometimes people dress up as disabled historical figures and don’t even realize it (and it isn’t even their own fault to some extent). That is because some famous people with invisible disabilities have done a good job of hiding their disabilities, thus giving the illusion that they are not disabled. This is where I think we shouldn’t criticize people for dressing up as historical figures that have a disability. One rule of thumb I go by is “If this person was able to get to where they are without support programs for those with their disability, would they still be successful?”. Another rule of thumb is asking,” When can you use person-first language to describe the person and also have no descriptors change”, that is the time when it is ok to not criticize others who dress up as a historical figure with a disability for Halloween. If at least 10% of all adults have an invisible disability, you are likely to find a handful of people dressed up as historical figures with learning disabilities at any Halloween event.
Whenever people talk about Elton John, Edward Snowden, and Julius Caesar, all epileptics, their disability is almost never mentioned in the conversations about them. One could call Greta Thunberg an activist instead of an autistic activist: since anyone can memorize the amount of CO2 a sweatshop produces. One thing people in the United States don't talk about when mentioning Greta’s rise to fame and success is that she is a “nepotism baby”, even though she attributes her success to her autism. Also Elton John’s, Edward Snowden's, and Julius Caesar's epilepsy didn't get in the way of them doing their work at the height of their careers. Almost all the people dressing up as Greta Thunberg, Julius Caesar, Elton John and Edward Snowden aren't doing so to mock disabilities. In their context, those people are dressing up as famous influencers whose achievements define them more than their disability.
However, unlike the celebrities above, you cannot separate Helen Keller from her disability while having a conversation about her. If Helen Keller didn't have a disability she would just be known as a woman with a university degree. You also cannot separate Temple Grandin from her autism when talking about her, as her autism has played a huge role in her inventions. If Temple Grandin didn't have autism, she might have just been a veterinarian instead of someone who revolutionized the way livestock are treated and cared for.
Another problem within the Halloween costume debate is when able-bodied people treat adaptive equipment like accessories. I've heard of stories of “emotional support peacocks” and “emotional support pigs” pooping on planes, which can lead to people questioning the legitimacy of actual guide dogs. People who need adaptive equipment to do regular tasks is another situation when a person can't separate themselves from their disability, even if they are able to hold a regular job. An example is Walter White Jr from Breaking Bad. Despite the fact that his personality has a bigger influence than his physical disability in terms of his relationships with other people, he couldn't do every day tasks without his adaptive equipment.
Come to the Table
August Come To the Table
When the Family Scapegoat Is Dying
My family is treating me like a vulnerable narcissist with Munchausen Syndrome...even those who are Emergency Medical Technicians. To be clear, I have been on Social Security Disability Insurance since 2002. My family assumes this is because of mental illness; although, no one ever asked.
My disability was based upon both physical and mental health issues...a chronic pain disorder; which, causes mental distress. Since being granted SSDI, I have had one or more diagnoses added to my chart after every single one of my Medicare annual exams. Most of these diagnoses are considered disabling according to the Social Security Administration.
Over the years, unlike family members, no one ever saw me posting on Social Media every time I received a new diagnosis, when I had a medical procedure, when I had surgery, every ER visit, etc. I was never posting pleas for prayers pending outcomes of labs, imaging, or having a high risk surgery. I never posted how many times I almost died.
The only time I made a FB post about my health, until now, was when I was rigged up for outpatient EEG monitoring. I posted it with pictures because I looked hilariously pathetic. The photos went along with the story of riding the bus in this condition and the shocked reactions of the passengers. I posted this comical story in an attempt to make light of the situation and put a positive spin on it.
The only reason I'm posting about this current life-threatening illness is: !) The pathogen I am infected with is resistant to all known remedies and I'm scared 2) I am angry at the utter lack of compassion by my entire family--family of origin, adult children, and extended family.
There are many articles about when a Narcissist is aging and has failing health. Where are the articles about when the family Scapegoat is dying?
Come to the Table
Everyone is different & the smart ones are the ones getting help. Maybe we aren’t the ones with the disabilities. We just talk about it & get help.
In this day and age it's unbelieveable
What you need to know
This happened to someone close to me 🤦♀


Uhuru Kenyatta recently announced that all government officials and their families would undergo a lifestyle audit as part of his war on corruption, starting in July 2018. This would include him and his deputy, William Ruto. Those found guilty of corruption would be sent to jail regardless of their status, and he would not intervene, he said. Days later, his partner in handshake matters and People’s President Raila Odinga said that he and his ODM Party would no longer serve as whistleblowers, but instead they would partner with Kenyatta in the war on corruption. He too would undergo the lifestyle audit.
Lifestyle audits are tests that tend to be used by forensic auditors to determine whether a person’s lifestyle matches up with their known income stream(s). Because corruption, fraud and money laundering tend to leave little to no paper trail, they are difficult to detect, and many times only a sudden, inexplicable shift in lifestyle can signal to them. For example, Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Achesa believes that Raila Odinga needs to explain how he built a KES 1 billion home in Kisumu while he was Prime Minister, when his monthly salary was KES 1.2 million and his mortgage was KES 40 million. Allies of William Ruto have come out to claim that this audit targets him, and politicians such as Kimpchumba Murkomen have claimed the exercise will expose politicians as “poor”, and no one likes a poor politician.
Indicators of lifestyle tend to be public: the houses, cars, companies and properties one owns, one’s entertainment preferences, the schools one’s children attend, the size of one’s bank accounts and the transactions through these accounts, among others. However, even then, this cannot be taken as conclusive evidence of fraud, corruption or money laundering – it is merely an indicator, and sometimes the person being audited can explain it.
During the police vetting exercise, for example, one police officer said he was worth KES 20 million because he relied on loans. Another said he was wealthy because he was paid to escort a Hindu god around town for religious processions, while others credited their hardworking wives. It is also not unheard of for people to claim having inherited large sums of money. It is worth noting that this exercise has yet to be completed, and that no police officer has been prosecuted yet as a result of a lifestyle incongruous with their income (although some have been sacked). And yet, this does not ensure justice to the people of Kenya, and it goes against our constitution.
Chapter Six of the Constitution of Kenya (2010) speaks about leadership and integrity. The guiding principles of leadership and integrity include selection on the basis of personal integrity, competence and suitability, or election in free and fair elections; objectivity and impartiality in decision making, and in ensuring that decisions are not influenced by nepotism, favouritism, other improper motives or corrupt practices; selfless service based solely on the public interest (demonstrated by: honesty in the execution of public duties; the declaration of any personal interest that may conflict with public duties); accountability to the public for decisions and actions; and discipline and commitment in service to the people.
State officers are expected to behave whether in public and official life, in private life, or in association with other persons, in a manner that avoids any conflict between personal interests and public or official duties; compromising any public or official interest in favour of a personal interest; or demeaning the office the officer holds. A person who contravenes this shall be subject to the applicable disciplinary procedure for the relevant office; and may, in accordance with the disciplinary procedure referred to in paragraph (a), be dismissed or otherwise removed from office. A person who has been dismissed or otherwise removed from office for a contravention of the provisions specified is disqualified from holding any other State office. It further states that a State officer shall not maintain a bank account outside Kenya except in accordance with an Act of Parliament; or seek or accept a personal loan or benefit in circumstances that compromise the integrity of the State officer.
In addition to the constitution, we have the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act, Public Officers Ethics Act, Income Tax Act, Leadership and Integrity Act, and Proceeds of Crimes and Money Laundering Act, among others acts of parliament that dictate the conduct of public officers and other citizens, and define financial impropriety and its legal outcomes.
Given that these are the dictates of our constitution, and that there are other laws that have been passed to enforce these dictates, it is a wonder that the police officers sacked after the lifestyle audit/vetting exercise have not been taken to court, and it serves as an indicator of the outcomes of Uhuru Kenyatta’s vetting exercise. Some people who are implicated in this process may argue that they are being victimized, and that their constitutional right to own property is being contravened.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), the body that would be tasked with investigating those found to be inexplicably living beyond their means, itself worked hard to stop its staff from being vetted. How can it be relied upon to investigate these public servants and take them to court? Vetting of the staff at the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) also stalled after junior staff threatened to expose the dealings of senior staff. Before the 2017 General Election, over 100 people running for office were found to have failed the standards of leadership and integrity. They were not barred from running. There is simply no political will to carry through with these exercises, and one wonders why that would suddenly change.
For as long as we rely on such gimmickry instead of enforcing a culture of servant leadership and integrity in public service as envisioned in our constitution, we will continue to find ourselves here, because the proceeds of corruption far outweigh the costs in Kenya.


Don’t Worry Darling arrives in movie theaters everywhere on September 23rd. Best described as a psychological thriller directed by Olivia Wilde and headlined by Florence Pugh and Harry Styles, Don’t Worry is definitely designed to generate various conversations and opinions once it’s widely released next week.
Our Entertainment Editor Dana Abercrombie has seen the movie twice and shared her thoughts in a spoiler-free reaction video shortly after the world premiere at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month. Likewise, I saw the movie at a free AMC stubs screening last night and wanted to share my thoughts on what I had just witnessed.
With this in mind, we decided to record this in-depth review discussion. We talk about the good, bad, and ugly aspects of the film while diving into the central themes that Wilde wanted to express with this piece.
Are you planning on seeing Don’t Worry Darling? If you have seen it, did you like or dislike the film? Please feel free to let us know your thoughts and more in the comments section below.


Fact sheet: Homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth in Denver,
1) How many homeless youth in the city/state?
a) Denver: There were 853 homeless youth (ages15 to 25) in the metropolitan Denver
area in 2004 according to the Metropolitan Denver Homeless Initiative, Inc. (Source
b) Colorado: There are an estimated 1,500 homeless youth in the state of Colorado at any
given time according to the web site of the Colorado Department of Public Health and
2) How many are LGBT?
a) Denver: We estimate that between 170 and 340 homeless youth in Denver identify as
b) Colorado: We estimate that between 300 and 600 homeless youth statewide are LGBT
c) These calculations are based on research that demonstrates that 20-40 percent of all
homeless youth identify LGBT.
3) What are the public agencies that deal with homeless youth?
a) The Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) houses the Office of Homeless
Youth Services within the Division of Supportive Housing and Homeless Programs.
CDHS also houses the Office of Children, Youth and Family Services, which in turn
houses the Division of Child Welfare.
4) What has the city/state done to address needs of homeless LGBT youth?
a) The city of Denver has implemented a 10 year plan to end homelessness called
“Denver’s Road Home.” However, there is no specific LGBT youth focused effort.
b) Jamie Vanleeuwen is the project manager of this plan and is personally committed to
serving the LGBT homeless population (see Jamie’s contact info on the next page).
5) Contact information for a Denver service provider with expertise on LGBT youth:
Urban Peak Denver
Craig Archibald, CEO
730 21st Street
Denver, CO 80205
Susan Boyle of Urban Peak in Denver contributed a chapter to the study Lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender youth: An epidemic of homelessness, which focuses on specific challenges facing transgender homeless youth and the agencies seeking to serve them.
Susan is no longer with the agency.
6) Contact information for public agencies or key person’s office:
a) Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS)
1575 Sherman St., Denver, CO 80203
b) Office of Children, Youth and Family Services
Office Director: Steve Bates
1575 Sherman Street
enver, Colorado 80203
c) Division of Child Welfare
Director: Ted Trujillo
1575 Sherman Street
Denver, CO. 80203
Telephone: (303) 866-5932
Fax: (303) 866-5563
d) DHS serving Denver County (covering Denver, the city)
Mgr: Roxane White
1200 Federal Blvd.
Tel (720) 944-3666
Fax (720) 944-3096
e) Office of Homeless Youth Services / CDHS
Coordinator: Andy Johnson
4020 S. Newton Street
Denver, CO 80236
f) Denver’s Road Home
Project Manager: Jamie Van Leeuwen, Ph.D.
1200 Federal Boulevard
Denver, Colorado 80204
** Source: The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force: http://thetaskforce.org/downloads/reports/fact_sheets/HomelessYouthDenver012507.pdf


The Democrats are keeping quiet on the rumor published this morning in the Politico, that Norm Coleman might take over as RNC chairman after a potential Michael Steele departure.
So far, the national party and the Franken campaign are not commenting. Even the Minnesota DFL Party — the folks who have brought us some of the best anti-Coleman attack lines out there — is declining to comment. As one anonymous Democratic official said: “When the Republicans are forming a circular firing squad, the last thing we’re going to do is step into the middle.”
Meanwhile, a Washington GOP source expressed some skepticism to TPM about the whole idea of putting Norm in: “If the argument against Steele is that he’s not conservative enough, then no, it’s absurd.”


SETENA Reforms Begin With New Director
María Guzmán began her duties as the Secretary General of the Technical Secretariat of the Environment Ministry (SETENA) this week as part of a process aimed at reforming SETENA, Environment and Energy Minister Roberto Dobles told The Tico Times.
Guzmán, who used to head the Environmental Quality Management Division of the Environment and Energy Ministry (MINAE), was officially inaugurated June 16, according to MINAE spokeswoman Patricia Alpizar.
She succeeded former Secretary General Patricia Campos, who will be transferred to a different department within MINAE, Minister Dobles said.
“With this change, SETENA’s reform begins,” said Dobles, explaining that the switch is not a result of poor performance on Campos’ part.
Experts from the Inter-American Development Bank (BID) and the Canadian government are expected to assist in developing a plan to reform SETENA, he added.
Talk of SETENA undergoing a process of modernization began during the administration of former President Miguel Angel Rodríguez (1998-2002). Ex-President Abel Pacheco (2002-2006) furthered the modernization project by requiring SETENA personnel to keep electronic copies of the agency’s many paper files.
SETENA was created in 1996 to evaluate environmental-impact studies and environmental management plans for any development project that could potentially impact the environment (TT, July 2, 2004).
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U.S. bobsled pilot Steve Holcomb crashes, finishes 20th in Winterberg
- A tough week culminated in a crash and a 20th-place finish in the four-man event on Saturday.
- Holcomb crashed in a corner nine during the second of two runs in the World Cup race
- While Holcomb has had success on European tracks%2C he set out to prove he could continue his dominance
A tough week for U.S. bobsled pilot Steve Holcomb on the sliding track in Winterberg, Germany culminated in a crash and a 20th-place finish in the four-man event on Saturday.
Holcomb crashed in a corner nine during the second of two runs in the World Cup race on Saturday – after crashing in corner nine during four-man training on Tuesday.
"Corner nine has always been an interesting corner because there's not a lot of variance in finding the right line," U.S. bobsled coach Brian Shimer said. "You have to be on the right line or you'll go over, and finding that spot is tough when you've only had two training runs in four-man."
It was the first time Holcomb didn't win a World Cup race this season, and it was not the start to the European season Holcomb wanted with the Sochi Winter Olympics a month away. He was dominant on the North American portion of the World Cup circuit in December, going 7-for-7 with three wins in four-man and four wins in two-man.
Holcomb was in medal contention after the first run – in second place by Germany's Maximilian Arndt, who ended up winning gold. Germany's Francesco Friedrich and Russia's Alexander Zubkov were second and third.
USA-2 pilot Nick Cunningham, who also crashed in corner nine during training, finished 12th. USA-3 pilot Cory Butner crashed in corner nine in the first run and failed to qualify for the second heat.
While Holcomb has had success on European tracks, he set out to prove he could continue his dominance headed into Sochi. He finished seventh in two-man on Friday.
After his crash in training, Holcomb wrote on Facebook, "Don't mistake my crash as weakness. On the contrary, it shows the commitment, courage, and determination my team has to win. In order to get better and go faster than you ever have before, you must step outside your comfort zone, try things you've never tried, do things you've never done, and see just how far you can push your limits. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. Either way, you get back in the sled and go again."
The sled sustained some damage in the training run crash, but mechanic Jim Garde said it wouldn't impact performance on race day.
The World Cup circuit continues next week in St. Moritz, Switzerland. At last year's world championship in St. Moritz, Holcomb finished third in four-man and fourth in two-man.
"It's all about character now," Shimer said. "Life unfortunately gives you ups and downs, and the higher you go, the steeper you fall. We've all been through it, and we were prepared for the low. These guys are determined, probably the most motivated they've ever been, and whatever happens we keep looking ahead with the big picture in mind."


I didnt know Jennifer Steines until recently. A blue and white fund-raiser wristband a Roscoe teen was wearing led me to her and the story of her 6-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn, who contracted a virus four years ago that traveled to her brain, resulting in multiple daily seizures.
Neither Jennifer nor I are vegetarians, but we both opted for Roscoes Anna Marias Restaurants amazing cheese tortellini.
The family-owned eatery has the best Italian food Ive found in the statelinetender pasta with memorable marinara sauce. Food talk didnt last long. It was Kaitlyn on Jennifers mind.
I thought she had an ear infection, Jennifer said. She was whiny. The pediatrician said it was probably just a virus. But you read your kid. Thats why I do respect my pediatrician. From day one, shes believed that as a mom, you know best. I dont cry wolf. That was Friday.
Monday, Kaitlyn kept getting whinier, and Jennifer called the doctor to say something was terribly wrong.
Her white cells were elevated. Immediately they thought meningitis, Jennifer said.
They went to a Rockford hospital for a spinal tap.
Jennifers husband, Cale, was at workat Chrysler, where hes a clinical psychologist. Their 12-year-old son, Brennen, and 10-year-old daughter, Alison, were at school.
The tap came back negative…but she kept getting more and more lethargic, Jennifer said. She was exhausted, but couldnt sleep. They didnt know what to do. I was in a hospital, and she was having a seizure. She started foaming at the mouth.
In the middle of the chaos, Cale called. Jennifer told them to get him there immediately.
He didnt know. On the weekend, she was walking and talking. It happened in a matter of hours, Jennifer said.
At the hospital, Jennifer was crying hysterically. The staff wanted her out of the room.
I thought she was dying, Jennifer said of her daughter. They had taken her to ICU. She had had a grand mal seizure. Its your entire brain…you see a lot of jerking…dont have any mental capacity to know whats going on. There was a wonderful lady there…(who) came up and talked to me. I started hyperventilating and almost passed out. Had she not been there to calm me…then Cale showed up. They wouldnt let me see her in ICU, but once they told me it was a seizure, I felt relieved. I knew they had given her stuff to stop the seizure. I felt like my whole world, in five minutes, completely changed.
You have a strong marriage, I said.
Oh, I have a great marriage, Jennifer said. We were best friends before we ever dated.
That was at Northern Illinois University, where Jennifer earned her degree in economics.
Theres always that respect thing, she said.
Yeah, we do.
Sounds like this helped you get through all of this, I said.
Oh, I couldnt have done it alone. Ive always kind of had…not smooth sailing. I mean a happy life…but it was always one fiasco after another. Our whole family is real close, although my Mom passed away from breast cancer, right after Kaitlyn got sick.
When I was pregnant with Kaitlyn…driving my sons friend home…I was at Dorr and Rockton Roadbefore there was a four-way stop sign there. A truck slammed into me. No injuries you could see on the outside, but I started having problems with my neck, and with the pregnancy. They thought everything looked OK, but found out, she was a twin. I ended up losing one of the pregnancies. Part of us always wondered (if Kaitlyns) illness could have been due to that accident.
After Kaitlyns seizure at the Rockford hospital, it was a week before Jennifer and Cale convinced them to transfer Kaitlyn to a bigger Chicago hospital for more tests.
They didnt know what was going on, Jennifer said. She kept having seizures. So they flew us from Rockford to Chicago.
Did they know it was a virus?
No. Well, the reason they thought she had a virus was because her white blood count was so high, and she broke out in a viral rash all over her body.
In Chicago, they did another spinal tap. Nothing was conclusive.
They said, We see this all the time, Jennifer said of the hospital staff in Chicago. They thought it was encephalitis…a virus that spreads to your brain. You hit rock bottom, then you start to get betterif youre going to make it. But her seizures were getting worse. The seizures are what caused the damage. We were there for three days. They said everything looked good, everything should be fine. They sent us home, supposedly with a clean bill of health. But I didnt want to go. I tried to tell them…shes not fine.
Marjorie Stradinger is a free-lance writer residing in Roscoe. She has covered food, drama, entertainment, health, and business for publications in California and Illinois for the past 25 years.
From the Oct. 12-18, 2005, issue


Happy women’s day everyone!
We're super excited to share this awesome initiative by Go For Visual who want to put forward women who have inspired many of us to grow, change and inspire !
Have a look at the many profiles they have by scanning the QR in the flyer!
My (Alizée) inspiration to start living Zero Waste, gather the Zero Waste Shanghai Community, write the website and run a company called Zer’0waste, started with Bea Johnson !
Even though, many other women inspire me today, most of them are part of our community right here in Shanghai, that’s where it started for me.
Here’s her infographic!


Our very own Bengali beauty Bipasha Basu tied knots with her beau Karan Singh Grover in April 2016. The duo first met on the sets of the movie ‘Alone, have, offshoots’ and Cupid stuck when they saw each other the first time. Bipasha and Karan were spotted spending ample time together offshoots, and they finally decided to make their relationship official.
Ever since their marriage, the so-much-in-love couple has been enjoying the marital bliss amidst going on romantic holidays and spending time with family. While Bipasha and Karan are happily living their married life, there are rumours abuzz about the couple expecting their first child. The speculation of Bipasha’s pregnancy arose when the newlyweds were spotted visiting a gynae-obstetrician couple of times, few months back. The duo however kept quiet for some time and this added fuel to the fire.
When the news of her rumoured pregnancy caught waves, Bipasha Basu finally decided to break the ice. She clearly dismissed all the news of her pregnancy and even expressed how infuriated she was by such cooked news on social media. At the press conference she clearly urged people to at least let them take decisions on such important issues in life. She humbly requested her fans to not believe all these rumours and stated that she will be happy to announce the arrival of her baby when the apt time comes.
In an interview Bipasha Basu also stated that she wants to enjoy her married life for 2 more years before she steps into the phase of motherhood. She even expressed how she liked the way Kareena was open about her pregnancy and continued with her work. Bipasha also wants to do the same and heartily congratulated the new parents, Saif and Kareena.
Finally dismissing all the news of her rumoured pregnancy, Bipasha affirmed that she wants some more ‘we’ time with her loving husband, Karan Singh Grover before she thought seriously about having a baby. According to the latest news, Bipasha Basu and Karan Singh Grover will soon be seen together in a reality show.
Connect with us for more news on the newlyweds and the latest update on B-town!
Cover Image: Source


Josh Gilmore Jr.
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I just searched in vain for a story regarding the Nov. 2 vote in Oak Park and River Forest for governor, senator, etc. What was turnout like? How did the two villages vote? I just looked through your Nov. 10 print issue and your website, and found absolutely nothing. That’s quite disappointing.
I campaigned here pretty hard and really wanted to know how things turned out. And come to think of it, I don’t remember any 2010 endorsements in Wednesday Journal, either.
Your failure to cover the 2010 election and its results is in startling contrast to your coverage of the 2008 election, and suggests that you don’t consider midterm elections to be at all important to our villages and your readers. Not only is this false, but it does nothing to encourage people to exercise their right and duty to vote.


Forest Hills still has many gaps in the sidewalk system, and ANC 3F continues to push the District Department of Transportation to fill them. It appears that our commissioners and residents want a continuous network of sidewalks that safely lead to buses, shopping and other destinations on Connecticut Avenue, and also to community amenities such as the Forest Hills Park.
ANC 3F at its October 20th meeting unanimously approved a resolution in support of filling gaps on 32nd and Fessenden Streets.
In the resolution, ANC 3F asks that DDOT:
With those sidewalks added, residents will be able to walk from Linnean Avenue to Connecticut Avenue and the park without competing with cars on the roadway.
Other gaps remain, including one on the 4600 block of 30th Street, and on Davenport between Linnean and just west of 30th, which is a walking route to Murch. Are these next on the agenda?


Hype is on Wordpress! Get all the latest info about what is going on around campus!
We recently changed the format of our award-winning publication to include more events across campus and the local community.
Outdoor Movie Madness: Casablanca
Wednesday, Aug 21, 2013 9:00 pm
CWU Campus Activities is offering a fun, FREE way to spend time with your family this summer. Grab some snacks, a few lawn chairs and get ready for the last Outdoor Movie Madness: Casablanca on the Student Union and Recreation Center (SURC) East Lawn. The movie will start at dusk (around 9 p.m.) and is family-friendly.