Palpitations photos on Flickr

3 6

Eccola... E' stata una vera avventura questa piccola. Tre anni fa, quando vendetti la gran parte della mia collezione per cause di forza maggiore, chiusi tutte i canali di comunicazione con il collezionismo. Troppo dolore rivedere le mie ex adorate in altri album. Avevo una midpart bruna, occhi verdi trucco scuro, splendida, con dei capelli fenomenali. Una delle più rimpiante. Quando ad Ottobre 2012 (per una pura casualità...grazie Simo, per sempre) sono ritornata, mai avrei pensato di riuscire ad adottare la gemellina della mia piccola Amber May. Una mattina di Aprile (un mese che mi ha veramente messa alla prova), vedo un'asta su ebay e rimango folgorata: la bambola era la perfetta copia della mia ex adorata. Non aveva puntato nessuno, decido di contattare il venditore. In tanti anni di collezionismo, mai ho avuto la fortuna che qualcuno accettasse di vendermi una bambola al di fuori di un'asta. Lassù qualcuno mi ama ho pensato. Ho pianto di gioia. E' stata un'impresa prenderla. Ho dovuto fare 400 km. Qualcuno ha cercato di mettersi in mezzo in malo modo. E' stata dura e ho pregato fino all'ultimo che i venditori mantenessero fede alla parola data. Così è stato. Che dire: ho ancora le palpitazioni. Passo ore a rimirarla....è un'esplosione di gioia. Tutta completa e originale, le mancavano il pannolino, le scarpette rosse e le barrette originali (comprate appositamente per lei). Tutti e 4 gli elastichini originali, il pantaloncino ancora cucito alle calzette bianche...la prova di quanto è nuova. Un incanto di cui ancora non mi capacito. Chiamata come la signora che me l'ha venduta. Grazie al supporto e sostegno morale che alcune amiche vere mi hanno dimostrato. E' questo il bello del collezionismo: le sorprese inaspettate e le persone speciali con cui condividerle. Vi presento Nicoletta :)

Here she is ... It was a real adventure this little baby. Three years ago, when I sold the most of my collection due to force majeure, I closed all channels of communication with the collecting world. Too much pain to see my ex babies in other albums. I had a midpart brunette, green eyes and dark makeup, stunning with phenomenal hair . One of the most missed. When in October 2012 (by pure chance ... thanks Simo, forever) I came back, I never thought of being able to adopt the twin of my little Amber May. One morning in April (a month that I was really put to the test), I see an auction on ebay and I cannot believe to my eyes: the doll was a perfect copy of my ex beloved Amber May. No one bidded on her soI decided to contact the seller. In many years of collecting, I 've never had the good fortune that someone would agree to sell me a doll outside of an auction. Somebody up there loves me, I thought. I cried for joy. It 'been an adventure to take her home. I had to do 400 km. Someone tried to get in the middle of the transaction in a bad way. It 'was hard and I prayed for the honesty of the seller. So it was. What can I say: I still have palpitations. I spend hours looking at her .... she is an explosion of joy. All complete and original, she missed the diaper, red shoes and original barrettes (all bought specially for her) how new she is! A charm which still beyond me. Named after the lady who sold her to me. Thanks to the moral support that some true friends have shown me. And 'this is the beauty of collecting: the unexpected surprises and special people with whom to share them. Introducing Nicoletta :)

A Side Order Of Cholesterol, Please. Heart Attack Grill On Fremont Street Las Vegas by Pete Davis

4 4

The food served here is saturated in fat, salt and calories.

The waitresses dress in nurse uniforms.

You get the picture.

Gives me heart palpitations just looking at this place.

West Nile VIrus & Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever Survivor by C.A.Taylor

11

This year is my 9 year anniversary of the journey of getting a co-infection of West Nile Virus and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. From the tick bite, it was still another couple of weeks before the bad symptoms started, but this is the anniversary of the month the infected tick got me. Oh, and if you would like to know how long it was before I found a doctor that would listen to me about all these weird symptoms that started with the tick bite, add another couple of months. For the most part, the medical field failed me last year. I had to go to seven doctors before one would take my word for it and another couple more that would test for something other than Lyme’s disease. It ended up being Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (Rickettsia rickettsii), a very poorly named disease. It took me three months to get into an infectious disease doctor only to hear him say there is no way I got Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in Texas, it only occurs in the Rocky Mountains. Really!? Really??!!! A quick search on the CDC website will quickly show you it is actually most common in the Eastern U.S. with Oklahoma having the third highest cases per capita. The CDC is going to rename the disease Spotted Fever Rickettsiosis to avoid confusion. Anyway, I was FINALLY given a three week round of the antibiotic that is used to treat ALL tick-borne diseases, Doxycycline (Cost: $4.00). If they had only done this treatment a couple months earlier I would have had very minor symptoms. If not treated in the first three weeks from the tick bite, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever kills 25% of adult males. I was treated at 2.5 months. So, halfway through the treatment I started to feel much better except for a severe headache, stiff feeling neck, and extremely sore back. During one of my six ER visits, a doctors says “Hmmmm…. Let’s test you for West Nile just to make sure you don’t have a co-infection.” Well, he was right, a week later I got the blood work back confirming it. Aren’t I the lucky one? Both of these diseases are potentially fatal and are bad enough on their own. Now I get to deal with a bacterium that feeds on the endothelial cells of blood vessels, organs, & smooth muscles, as well as a virus that attacks the nervous system. My primary care physician thinks I actually had West Nile for a couple of months prior to the Rickettsiosis infection, was handling it alright (most younger people do), and when I got the tick-borne disease, it suppressed my immune system allowing the West Nile Virus to take over. The odds of getting either of these diseases are very low. There were ~5,000 cases of West Nile (only 300 of which were the severe neuroinvasive form) in the U.S. last year, and ~3,000 cases of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Once I finished the Doxycycline, none of the symptoms of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever returned (i.e. blood pooling on the palms of hands, feet, and lower back; heart palpitations; major sleep disturbances; temperature dropping into the 94’s). Also, this was around the time I got blood work back confirming these two diseases. It is amazing how much better you do mentally once you know what you are fighting. In the couple months prior to diagnosis, I heard everything from MS, Lupus, Chrone’s, depression (wanted to punch that doctor in the face), and even cancer. So my mind was going all kinds of directions with those. Here’s the thing about viruses…. they can not be treated! They have to run their course, so for all the doctors out there that give you an antibiotics when you have a sinus infection, they are doing this just to make you feel better about your pretty little selves. Waste of time and money. So, I stayed as active as I could. Walked4-8 miles every morning. Only missed two trips into the field. I can’t describe the back pain. It was so bad I couldn’t pick anything up off the floor and had to go a couple of months without picking up my daughter which broke my heart. My wife did everything around the house, even the yard work. You are the best Lisa!! All I could really do was walk. Wish I could have slept. During June I maybe got an hour of sleep a night. That was the month I lost 40 lbs. too. Doctors kept telling me I was ok. LOL Wow. I really don’t like doctors or the medical field anymore. Anywho, I kept chugging along, Christians kept praying for me, hippies kept dancing around fires naked …. yadda, yadda, yadda… here I am! Whooo hooo! I tell you what though…. I would rather get bit up by mosquitoes and ticks than work in the office all the time. Not seeing the trees and grass or light of day is not good for me. “All office and no field makes Chris a dull boy.” Even last week, I returned to the exact location I got bit and had a blast. I am better prepared now with all my bug repellent and Elimitick clothing, but I swatted the heck out of the mosquitoes! I went on what the movie advertisements referred to as a roaring rampage of revenge. I roared, and I rampaged, and I got bloody satisfaction. Mosquitoes died! I let the one tick I did find go so he could tell all his friends that I lived. Oh, the good part of this story….. I can never get West Nile or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever again!!!!!

Like Fred Astaire by The Inner Light

5 8

Doctor, what is happening to me?

Palpitations, my mind's diseased

Even my vision is impaired

[..]

I feel like Fred Astaire

youtu.be/_j1SnnrgXrI

The Breech-Birth of Super-duper Male by Marcel Mac Duchamp and Rroseeen Ní Shélavy in Infrat(h)in

2

on a half-shell (Invisible detail)...

Pre-History, and all that palaver, even.

Rack: I’m not sure if you can see it, but the writing keeps evolving. When I read the above, having just read the bones of it yesterday, I was completely absorbed and compelled to keep on reading. This whole exercise between us is hard to describe or define. I think we are doing something very good for each other. An active expression of our care for each other.

Anyway. I am a little verklempt this morning. A tear or two has been elicited from my dry old súile donna.

Ruin: I understand verklempt, and yes, I see it, both evolving and supporting each other.

Rack: Good to see the photos of your sister’s visit. How was it? Both of you have a handsome refinement that belies your beginnings (as you describe them). As if there was some lost in your mother or father’s status. That Joycean inexorable spiral downwards that his family experienced.

Ruin: Yes, I am convinced I was given away by royalty to a family of paupers, with some evil twin or other sitting on a throne somewhere.

Rack: But your sister looks sophisticated too.

Ruin: She is unbelievably right wing, Loves Gov. DeSantis, and hates Biden.

Rack: It’s like Séamus and his family. Oh!!! Yikes!

Ruin: She also thinks we are all being killed off by a Jewish Cabal. She has researched it too, apparently, she informed me.

I just smiled, inwardly aghast.

Rack: Well, appearances can be mightily deceiving. Oh fucking lordy!

How does she square your life choices with her disbeliefs?

Ruin: She loves Gays too though, her son came out as Gay recently, her only son.

"they're so gentle".

Ruin: she's in trouble when our memoir come out. No, I will leave this out, change it, not attack, find a way to understand it.

Rack: Well, there you go. Look at those 12 Republicans voting to enshrine marriage equality.

We’re you ever close?

Ruin: Yes, way back, but then I left, and when I got back there was something amiss, but that was some years later.

Rack: So, she felt abandoned by you.

Ruin: she was 14 or so, when I left, next I knew I was finding her an apartment in ‘Battery Park City’ for her honeymoon.

Rack: Have you ever asked?

Ruin: I am sure she did. They all did, feel abandoned I mean. My feeling was that at least they had each other. I was setting out completely alone. No, I have never asked directly.

Rack: Where do you fall again in the line up?

Ruin: Oldest boy, with one older sister, the other three following on, Paula next to me, followed by two boys.

Ruin: It's very hard to get anything out of her other than Oirish platitudes.

Rack: Maybe you should?

Ruin: I have had pains in my heart, and tinges in my arm all day, post-Paula panic attack, probably. Family! Spared of that one now. Paula ‘caused’ my first panic-attack. I refused to see her after that for 5 years. Having her in our apartment was the first time since that last ‘event’. Perhaps I was heading towards those palpitations anyway, but they were hastened by a very strained interaction. I will go there, if you want to understand more, but it will recur in those sixteen months I spent nursing my mother later.

Just in case, I am moving the latest writing onto that external hard drive as we speak

that's what I was doing when you popped up.

Segueing, the twist in the ‘Maeve’ story is also strange, the part I haven’t written yet.

Rack: OK, but you better not croak. You’re just getting up a head of steam. The Paris bit? Or later?

Ruin: I brought a huge heaving portfolio of art with me, one of those back-breaker over-stuffed jobbies, thinking I would drop it off in London, to apply for college there. I was lugging it with me, when Maeve turned up 4 hours late.

It was so heavy, I decided to drop it off at ‘Liverpool College of Art’ as soon as we got off the ferry. I took it there, and left it with the janitor, to the aptly named ‘Hope Place’, the Alma Mater of a certain John Lennon. Every second easel there had his name roughly carved into it, the collective vandalism of the students from whichever years that followed on. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Rack: Twist of fate there.

Ruin: He, the janitor, said it was too late to apply, and I would have to have an interview anyway, there was an application procedure. I left it with him, somehow convincing him to take it, and pass it forward, and headed towards the south, hitching, in the direction of Dover and eventually Bergerac. I knew I wouldn’t have dragged it much further, it would have ended up in some hedgerow or other before we reached London. Bergerac was never an intended destination, that just happened.

Eventually, when I got home from Bergerac, though I don't like calling Clondalkin home, there was a letter telling me I was being offered a studentship in ‘Hope Place’.

As it turned out, with that springing eternal, I was the only student in the year who hadn't had an interview, and this, of course, went to my head. I have always groped feverishly for any vestige that might suggest that I was capable of being somebody, though at the same time never really felt that I was worthy of it, that I had somehow slipped in under the line. Of course, at that age we never see the somebody that we actually are, it’s all aspiration. This must have generated a certain obnoxiousness, a certain strutting and insecure posturing. Well, that’s part of my excuse for me, for most of my life, anyway. This alone would have been reason for quarantine. But then even quarantine doesn’t stymie those tendencies whilst writing. It will out it seems.

I love the word ‘whilst’, I like its sound, its cadence, its longing. I read somewhere that you shouldn’t use it, it being outdated, or pretentious or somesuch (another non-word I love). But I use both, they are sort of comfort-words for me, though I don’t know why.

Hence my heading off to Liverpool, eventually (coming to a Cineplex near you), with a pregnant ‘Sorcha’, and never really returning, that final rupture. I didn’t actually leave with her, she followed on a few weeks later, before her belly started to show.

Rack: The leavings.

Ruin: That's the next part of the story, slowly getting to you, and your verklemptness?

Rack: There’s a lot in between. How old were you when you arrived in NY?

Ruin: I was 34. Yes, London was a white-knuckle ride too, of course, but a wondrous one.

Rack: That “verklemptness”. My mother had it worse than me. Always weeping at the sink and during the hymns at church.

You were so young. I would have said older.

Ruin: and there’s me just after writing that about our 'Annie' (Ernaux), that “I am sitting here with tears in my eyes”, and not wanting to write that myself.

Rack: There’s 9 years between us?

Ruin: Born in 54, met in 88.

Rack: 8 years.

Ruin: yup

Rack: but I knew you as Kim before that

Ruin: True. A hound at your heels. A bitch at your breeches.

Rack: I would love to hear the story from your side, the same story, with you getting there, and beyond, both totally contradicting each other, of course. We do that anyway. It’s that ‘Rashomon deal’, the same story told by all the protagonists, and each story being completely different from the other.

Rack: I’m going to approach it. I do remember feeling huge relief when I met with you and the joy of being able to offload my recent news.

Who was the other person with us in the Moondance?

Ruin recoils in shock and horror. Ruin recoils in shock and horror. Ruin recoils in shock and horror. Ruin recoils in shock and horror. The room spins. Breathless, he continues.

Ruin: Was there someone else in Moondance with us that day?

Rack: In my memory, yes. I could be wrong.

Ruin: That day, when you told me you had just found out? about HIV, I mean.

Rack: Yes, very recently, I think. I might have to open diary from 1988. My Pandora’s booklet.

Ruin: I have no memory of anyone else being there at all. I only saw you! This is very shocking to me, I have the memory of us there, but we are alone. I love/hate this confusion.

Rack: I found out 3 days before my 25th Birthday.

Ruin: Yes, but was it not just the two of us there at the table? It does make me less special than I was, this makes me laugh openly now, or at least chuckle away to myself. “I am sitting here with tears in my eyes, laughing”, as our Annie might have wrote.

Rack: Mmmm. I’m going to have to look. Might never be able to corroborate that one. Memoir is as much about memory as what happened, of course.

Ruin: Anyway, he or she is not getting in the book. I would scratch their eyes out (whilst in the meantime putting him or her in, right here, right now). I do 40 shades of green as well as you do, that green-eyed monster is always there.

Rack: I have a wildly unreliable memory. Partly why I resort to keeping a diary. Demented from the get-go.

Ruin: I am demented, unravelling, as of recent, but it is galloping nicely apace.

Rack: No need to be a slave to the facts.

Ruin: absolutely, as if I could tell truth from lies anyway, then throw delusions into the mix and Bob’s your uncle, and not James at all, at all.

But so far, it's all as I remember, recovering misremembered memories even, as I force myself to recall 'Maeve', and discover at the same time that I might have ‘disappeared’ some innocent bystander at that birthing table in the ‘Moondance Diner’. Some survive, some don’t. If I could forget my whole family for 40 years, I could forget anyone, even James, who trained me to forget, to never tell anyone. But no, I decided to carry him forward on my back, attached, even, ‘siamised’ beyond the call of duty for fifty years.

Rack: Yes, people say writing it dredges up a huge amount.

Ruin, Yes it dredges, but then it sets you free, adrift even, at last.

Is the way of writing okay, that weaving thing, chopping between descriptions and our conversation? I think it is. You know I like the epistolary. I remember saying in one of our first letters: “OK. I promise not to attain towards literature, but I did have this hankering Laclos’ fantasy of a book made up completely of e-mails. I'm sure it's been done already. In fact, I think you told me about one such tome previously. Anyway, my vanity couldn't accept being the lesser talent in the correspondence.”. On the 24th of November 1998, at 11a.m, to be precise.

Rack: I think absolutely.

Ruin: Tomorrow I will start to write about the fourth, and last, leaving. Then I will have a pair of bookends: A beginning, you licking your own bottom, and an ending, ‘Orphans of the storm’ arriving in Liverpool, as the closing of the first part. Then I can start to work into it.

I still think you licking your own bottom is an inspired opening, so to speak.

Ruin: I want to embrace all that new communication, though we do it in a rather old-fashioned sort of way, with punctuation and whatever

perhaps I can let that go too, in places.

Rack: Nothing wrong with punctuation. It is the tool of measuring thought.

Ruin: Yes, I know, it's considered rude in SMS's, apparently

Rack: I try not to be a snob about it. But I am. Only because it’s useful.

Oh, for god sake. Fuck them.

Ruin: But we are old geezers, so we can use 'em.

Exactly

I am sorry, but I find that full stop offensive

Anyway dearest, I am going to lie down for a few hours

afternoon nap

Ok. Going to walk the hound. xox

💪

🐕

Rack: What a fuckin day. I could write a book about it. But instead, I’m sending you an inspirational quote. Past midnight. Apologies. All round.

Ruin: Sounds like our type of girl, Lorde, Lorde. You shouldn't have your phone near the bed, I hate the thought of this waking you up, but I am compelled to send it anyway. My phone is usually on silence, and I don't get notifications. I never let the phone near the bedroom, and leave it at home, often, when we go walking. I want to read that book. Nearly finished Keegan, lovely book, but I don't want to write like her.

Caught you, sleep!

Rack: Hah! Can’t sleep. You’re right about the phone. Going to get up and deposit it elsewhere.

Ruin: groovy!

Mount Kinabalu trail by Amazing Borneo

1

To book : (Direct link) bit.ly/xqUmlS

Category:Mt Kinabalu Climb

City/Region:Kundasang & Ranau

Tour Code:ABK-MK01

Duration:2D1N

Package:MOUNT KINABALU CLIMB (TIMPOHON)

Min Pax:1

Pricing:Adults: From MYR 680.00 ; Child: From MYR 680.00

Itinerary: 2 Days 1 Night Mount Kinabalu Climb via Timpohon

Departure Time : 06:30hrs

Promotional Package Rates Per Adult:

(No hidden or extra costs unless otherwise stated)

Tour Validity: Until 29th Feb 2012 - Please enquire for new rates starting 1st Mar 2012.

Sample Tour Itinerary:

DAY 01KOTA KINABALU / KINABALU PARK HQ / TIMPOHON GATE / ASCEND

MOUNT KINABALU / LABAN RATA

(06:30hrs) Pick-up from your hotel lobby and depart on a 2 hrs journey to Kinabalu Park Headquarter. Collect your packed lunch.

(09:00hr) Our guide will arrange for all necessary registrations, assign you a mountain guide and apply for your ID TAG.

Remember to wear your ID TAG at all times.

You'll then be transferred to starting point – Timpohon Gate – where your journey and quest to the summit of Borneo’s highest mountain begins!

The climb will take approximately 4-5 hours.

The trek will pass by different vegetation zones from Oak and Chestnut to mossy and eventually to alpine type of vegetations.

Arrive and check into Laban Rata rest house or similar in the late afternoon.

Buffet Dinner at Laban Rata restaurant and overnight.

(Packed Lunch, Buffet Dinner)

DAY 02LOW’S PEAK / DESCEND MOUNT KINABALU / KOTA KINABALU

(02:00hrs) Wake up for early supper and depart for continuation of journey towards the summit of Mount Kinabalu.

The journey up to the Low's peak (4,095m) will test your fitness and determination. Depending on speed of trekking, you might be able to experience the glorious sunrise over the majestic Mt. Kinabalu if weather permits.

(07:00hrs) Descend back to Laban Rata for late breakfast and check out.

Trek down to Timpohon Gate for transfer back to the Kinabalu Park Headquarter (est. arrival 13:00hrs to 15:00hrs).

Congratulations, you can now collect your Certificate of Achievement!

Lunch will be served at the Balsam restaurant in Kinabalu Park.

Transfer back to Kota Kinabalu City. Journey takes approx. 2 hrs.

(Early Supper, Breakfast, Lunch)

~ END OF TOUR ~

Meals: 01 Breakfast, 02 Lunches, 01 Dinner & 01 Supper

Includes:Meals as Stated, 01 Night Accommodation, Entrance Fee, Return Hotel Transfer (Seat-In-Coach), Return Transfer (Park HQ - Timpohon Gate - Park HQ), English Speaking Mountain Guide, Climbing Insurance, Climbing Permit and Certificate

Accommodation:01 Night Laban Rata Rest House or Similar (Non-Heated Dormitory)

Excludes:Airfares, Optional Tipping & Porter Fee, Alcoholic Drinks, Any Items Not Mentioned

Note on Meals Arrangement:

1) Lunch will be converted to packed lunch on Day 02 (Mt Kinabalu Descent) in Balsam Restaurant for climbers who arrived late and missed the buffet lunch timing.

Balsam Restaurant Buffet Lunch Time: 12:00 - 16:30hr.

Things You Should Prepare For Mountain Climb:

Waterproof backpack to store your items

Trekking or running shoe with good grip

Warm clothing/Long sleeves shirt/Hiking pants

Jacket/Wind breaker

Extra clothing and socks

Small towel

Hand gloves and winter hat

Disposable raincoats

Head torch

Personal toiletries

Refillable water bottle (0.5 - 1 Litre)

High energy food such as chocolates, nuts, biscuits, sweets, energy bars

Your extra luggage can be stored at Kinabalu Park HQ at a nominal fee of RM10 per piece prior climb.

Things You Wish To Bring:

Medication such as headache tablets or altitude sickness tablets

Tissue paper / Toilet roll

Sun block lotion, lip gloss, plasters

Insect repellent / Mosquito Oil

Camera with water proof bag

Sandals / Slippers

Plastic bags

About Climb Transport Arrangements:

1Our friendly guide will greet and meet you at the Airport arrival hall or your Hotel lobby with a placard bearing your good name. Should you encounter difficulties in locating our guide, you could call our local ground handler who will assist you.

2We do not recommend you to catch your flight on the same day that you descend the mountain due to possible delay from injuries, tiredness and/or bad weather and traffic conditions.

3For 2 days / 1night packages, our transport will pick you up from your Hotel between 06:30hr - 07:00hr. (Arrange with your hotel for early breakfast)

4For packages starting from 3 days / 2 nights, our transport can pick you up from either Airport OR your Hotel. Time is dependent on your arrival flight schedule. Please provide us your flight details.

5For transport pick up from Airport on day 1 after 18:00hrs, surcharge for late night airport transfer to mountain area may apply.

6Add RM30nett per person per way for transport to/from locations outside Kota Kinabalu city (e.g. Nexus, Rasa Ria Resort).

7All transportations are based on Seat-In-Coach. This is a transfer service in which clients share their vehicle with other clients. This is a door-to-door service with multiple pickups & drop-offs throughout the journey. Do expect some short waiting time.

8 After descending to Kinabalu Park HQ, climbers are subject to pre-determined pickup time set by Amazing Borneo Tours with the last transport returning to Kota Kinabalu city latest by 18:00hrs. We will ensure your possible wait of not more than 2 hours at Park HQ. However, if you missed the last transport (which is unlikely) or wish to depart at your own preferred timing, we can arrange a vehicle for private transfer for you (Subject to availability). Please understand that the surcharge for any private transfer will have to be borne by you.

9Private Transfer Surcharge:- RM 250/vehicle/way

10Our group rates are quoted without deviation, which means we provide only one return transfers for your group. If your group requires more than one return transfers, additional transfer charges may apply.

Important Note:

1Do take note that your passport will be required for verification during registration at the Kinabalu Park office. Please bring it along with you.

Friendly Note From Sabah Parks:

It is recommended that all climbers should have themselves medically checked before attempting any mountain climb. If you have a history of suffering from the following ailments, it is highly recommend that you should refrain from climbing: Hypertension, Diabetes, Palpitation, Arthritis, Heart disease, severe anemia, Peptic ulcers, Epileptic fits, Obesity (overweight), Chronic asthma, Muscular cramps, Hepatitis (jaundice); or any other disease which may hamper the climber.

Amazing Borneo Tours brings you accommodation (Hotels/Beach Resorts/Lodges) at great discounted prices now! Enquire to find out the best rates for your preferred accommodation when you book this tour with us.

Redfish's message ... by Hamed Masoumi

5 19

رفته بودم سر حوض

تا ببینم شاید عکس تنهایی خود را در آب

آب درحوض نبود

ماهیان می گفتند

هیچ تقصیر درختان نیست

ظهر دم کرده تابستان بود

پسر روشن آب لب پاشویه نشست

و عقاب خورشید آمد او را به هوا برد که برد

به درک راه نبردیم به اکسیژن آب

برق از پولک ما رفت که رفت

ولی آن نور درشت

عکس آن میخک قرمز در آب

که اگر باد می آمد دل او پشت چین های تغافل می زد

چشم ما بود

روزنی بود به اقرار بهشت

تو اگر در تپش باغ خدا را دیدی همت کن

و بگو ماهی ها حوضشان بی آب است

باد می رفت به سر وقت چنار

من به سر وقت خدا می رفتم

سهراب سپهری

I went to the pond

Hoping to see the reflection of my loneliness in the water

There was no water in the pond.

The fishes were saying:

"“It is not the trees’ fault at all.

It was a sultry summer noon,

The bright son of water, sat by the pond's edge

And the eagle of the sun dived down and lifted him up & up in the air.

To hell with our not reaching any oxygen from water.

And the glitter has left our scales all together.

Instead, that big light,

The reflection of that red carnation in the water

Whoes heart, if the wind was blowing, would beat behind the layers of neglect,

was our eyes.

It was a window to the confession of paradise.

If you see God in the palpitations of the garden,

Make an effort and tell him that the fishes'’ pond is dry."”

The wind was going to visit the plane tree,

I was going to visit God.

"Sohrab Sepehri"

Vietnam - Sapa - Market - Ginseng - 35d by Manfred Sommer

Ginseng (/ˈdʒɪnsɛŋ/) is any one of the 11 species of slow-growing perennial plants with fleshy roots, belonging to the genus Panax of the family Araliaceae.

Ginseng is found in North America and in eastern Asia (mostly northeast China, Korea, Bhutan, eastern Siberia), typically in cooler climates. Panax vietnamensis, discovered in Vietnam, is the southernmost ginseng known. This article focuses on the species of the series Panax, which are the species claimed to be adaptogens, principally Panax ginseng and P. quinquefolius. Ginseng is characterized by the presence of ginsenosides and gintonin.

Siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus) is in the same family, but not genus, as true ginseng. Like ginseng, it is considered to be an adaptogenic herb. The active compounds in Siberian ginseng are eleutherosides, not ginsenosides. Instead of a fleshy root, Siberian ginseng has a woody root.

Over centuries, ginseng has been considered in China as an important component of Chinese traditional medicine, but there is no scientific confirmation of it having any clinical benefit to human health.

ETYMOLOGY

The English word ginseng derives from the Chinese term rénshēn (simplified: 人参; traditional: 人蔘). Rén means "Person" and shēn means "plant root"; this refers to the root's characteristic forked shape, which resembles the legs of a person. The English pronunciation derives from a southern Chinese reading, similar to Cantonese yun sum (Jyutping: jan4sam1) and the Hokkien pronunciation "jîn-sim".

The botanical/genus name Panax means "all-heal" in Greek, sharing the same origin as "panacea" was applied to this genus because Linnaeus was aware of its wide use in Chinese medicine as a muscle relaxant.

Besides P. ginseng, many other plants are also known as or mistaken for the ginseng root. The most commonly known examples are xiyangshen, also known as American ginseng 西洋参 (P. quinquefolius), Japanese ginseng 東洋参 (P. japonicus), crown prince ginseng 太子參 (Pseudostellaria heterophylla), and Siberian ginseng 刺五加 (Eleutherococcus senticosus). Although all have the name ginseng, each plant has distinctively different functions. However, true ginseng plants belong only to the Panax genus.

HISTORY

Control over ginseng fields in China and Korea became an issue in the 16th century. By the 1900s, due to the demand for ginseng having outstripped the available wild supply, Korea began the commercial cultivation of ginseng which continues to this day. In 2010, nearly all of the world's 80,000 tons of ginseng in international commerce was produced in four countries: China, South Korea, Canada, and the United States. Commercial ginseng is sold in over 35 countries with sales exceeded $2.1 billion, of which half came from South Korea. China has historically been the largest consumer for ginseng.

FOLK MEDICINE

The root is most often available in dried form, either whole or sliced. Ginseng leaf, although not as highly prized, is sometimes also used. Folk medicine attributes various benefits to oral use of American ginseng and Asian ginseng (P. ginseng) roots, including roles as an aphrodisiac or stimulant treatment, but there are no studies to date proving the effectiveness of ginseng for treating any disease.

Ginseng may be found in small doses in energy drinks or herbal teas, such as ginseng coffee. hair tonics and cosmetics preparations, but none has been proven effective.

RESEARCH

Ginsenosides, unique compounds of the Panax species, are under basic and clinical research to investigate their potential for use in medicine or when taken as a dietary supplement.

SAFETY

CONSIDERATIONS

Ginseng is known to contain phytoestrogens.

SIDE EFFECTS

A common side effect of P. ginseng may be insomnia, but this effect is disputed. Other side effects can include nausea, diarrhea, headaches, nose bleeds, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, and breast pains.

INTERACTIONS

Ginseng has been shown to have adverse drug reactions with phenelzine and warfarin; it has been shown to decrease blood alcohol levels. A potential interaction has also been reported with imatinib resulting in hepatotoxicity, and with lamotrigine causing DRESS syndrome.

Ginseng may also lead to induction of mania in depressed patients who mix it with antidepressants.

OVERDOSE

The common adaptogen ginsengs (P. ginseng and P. quinquefolia) are generally considered to be relatively safe even in large amounts. One of the most common and characteristic symptoms of acute overdose of Panax ginseng is bleeding. Symptoms of mild overdose may include dry mouth and lips, excitation, fidgeting, irritability, tremor, palpitations, blurred vision, headache, insomnia, increased body temperature, increased blood pressure, edema, decreased appetite, dizziness, itching, eczema, early morning diarrhea, bleeding, and fatigue.

Symptoms of gross overdose with Panax ginseng may include nausea, vomiting, irritability, restlessness, urinary and bowel incontinence, fever, increased blood pressure, increased respiration, decreased sensitivity and reaction to light, decreased heart rate, cyanotic (blue) facial complexion, red facial complexion, seizures, convulsions, and delirium.

Patients experiencing any of the above symptoms are advised to discontinue the herbs and seek any necessary symptomatic treatment, as well as medical advice in severe cases.

COMMON CLASSIFICATION

ASIAN GINSENG (ROOT)

Panax ginseng is available commercially as fresh, red, and white ginsengs; wild ginseng is used where available.

RED GINSENG

Red ginseng (traditional Chinese: 紅蔘; simplified Chinese: 红参; pinyin: hóng shēn; Hangul: 홍삼; hanja: 紅蔘; RR: hong-sam), P. ginseng, has been peeled, heated through steaming at standard boiling temperatures of 100 °C, and then dried or sun-dried. It is frequently marinated in an herbal brew which results in the root becoming extremely brittle.

FRESH GINSENG

Fresh ginseng is the raw product. Its use is limited by availability.

WHITE GINSENG

White ginseng, native to America, is fresh ginseng which has been dried without being heated. It is peeled and dried to reduce the water content to 12% or less. White ginseng air-dried in the sun may contain less of the therapeutic constituents. It is thought by some that enzymes contained in the root break down these constituents in the process of drying. Drying in the sun bleaches the root to a yellowish-white color.

WILD GINSENG

Wild ginseng grows naturally and is harvested from wherever it is found. It is relatively rare, and even increasingly endangered, due in large part to high demand for the product in recent years, which has led to the wild plants being sought out and harvested faster than new ones can grow (it requires years for a root to reach maturity). Wild ginseng can be either Asian or American, and can be processed to be red ginseng.

Woods-grown American ginseng programs in Vermont, Maine, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado, West Virginia and Kentucky, and United Plant Savers have been encouraging the planting of ginseng both to restore natural habitats and to remove pressure from any remaining wild ginseng, and they offer both advice and sources of rootlets. Woods-grown plants have a value comparable to wild-grown ginseng of similar age.

Partially germinated ginseng seeds harvested the previous Fall can be planted from early Spring until late Fall, and will sprout the following Spring. If planted in a wild setting and left to their own devices, they will develop into mature plants which cannot be distinguished from native wild plants. Both Asian and American partially germinated ginseng seeds can be bought from May through December on various eBay sales. Some seed sales come with planting and growing instructions.

P- QUIQUEFOLIUS AMERICAN GINSENG (ROOT)

According to traditional Chinese medicine, American ginseng promotes yin energy, cleans excess yang and calms the body. The reason it has been claimed that American ginseng promotes yin (shadow, cold, negative, female) while Asian ginseng promotes yang (sunshine, hot, positive, male) is that, according to traditional Chinese medicine, things living in cold places or northern side of mountains or southern side of rivers are strong in yang and the converse, so the two are balanced. Chinese/Korean ginseng grows in Manchuria and Korea, the coldest area known to many Koreans in ancient times. Thus, ginseng from there is supposed to be very yang.

Originally, American ginseng was imported into China via subtropical Guangzhou, the seaport next to Hong Kong, so Chinese doctors believed American ginseng must be good for yang, because it came from a hot area. They did not know, however, that American ginseng can only grow in temperate regions. Nonetheless, the root is legitimately classified as more yin because it generates fluids.

Most North American ginseng is produced in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and British Columbia and the American state of Wisconsin. P. quinquefolius is now also grown in northern China.

The aromatic root resembles a small parsnip that forks as it matures. The plant grows 6″ to 18″ tall, usually bearing three leaves, each with three to five leaflets two to five inches long.

OTHER PLANTS SOMETIMES CALLED GINSENG

Several other plants are sometimes referred to as ginsengs, but they are either from a different family or genus.

Angelica sinensis (female ginseng, dong quai)

Codonopsis pilosula (poor man's ginseng)

Eleutherococcus senticosus (Siberian ginseng)

Gynostemma pentaphyllum (southern ginseng, jiaogulan)

Lepidium meyenii (Peruvian ginseng, maca)

Oplopanax horridus (Alaskan ginseng)

Panax notoginseng (known as san qi, tian qi or tien chi; ingredient in yunnan bai yao)

Pfaffia paniculata (Brazilian ginseng, suma)

Pseudostellaria heterophylla (prince ginseng)

Schisandra chinensis (five-flavoured berry)

Withania somnifera (Indian ginseng, ashwagandha)

WIKIPEDIA

Palpitation Brae (M1301004 E-M1 9mm iso200 f4.5 1_1250s -0.7ev) by Mel Stephens

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Operation Ramsey by Greater Manchester Police

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Superintendent Craig Thompson.

Sellers of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), also known as ‘legal highs’ were targeted yesterday (23 July 2015) as part of a Forcewide operation.

Operation Ramsey was the first of its kind for GMP and tackles the growing concerns over NPSs.

More than 150 officers across the Force visited more than 100 premises to ensure that they were abiding by the law, as well as visiting areas associated with the use of NPSs to check young people were safe and well.

Trading Standards and other partners including the Department for Work and Pensions accompanied police.

NPSs have the same or similar effects as drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy, but are not controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Side effects from these substances are common and can include heart palpitations, vomiting, dizziness, fainting, panic attacks and psychosis. They are often designed to mimic class A drugs, but are structurally different enough to avoid them being classified as illegal substances. However, some ‘legal highs’ contain substances, which are banned, and it is also against the law to sell them to anyone under the age of 18.

Only last week, five people collapsed and were hospitalised in Bury following an adverse reaction after taking the drug known as ‘Spice’.

Superintendent Craig Thompson said: “There are growing concerns around these so-called ‘legal highs’ and we’ve seen a number of young people hospitalised following their use.

“What we want to instil in people is that just because these substances are legal, doesn’t mean that they are safe and I would urge people not to buy or take and consider the danger they pose. Don’t play Russian Roulette with your life.”

Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd said: “We are seeing an increasing number of calls to Greater Manchester Police in relation to the misuse of dangerous drugs branded as so-called ‘legal highs’. People are unwittingly putting their lives in danger because of the misconception that a legal drug must be a safe one.

“All too often these drugs end up in the hands of young people who have no idea what it is they are taking or what it will do to them.

“All agencies must come together – police, health and trading standards – to stem this tide, educate people about the risks they are taking, and – ultimately – save lives.”

Members of the public wishing to report a shop selling these products are advised to contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 03454 04 05 06 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

For help or advice on all drugs including Legal Highs contact ‘Talk to Frank’ on 0800 776600 www.talktofrank.com

To find out more about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website www.gmp.police.uk

You should call 101, the national non-emergency number, to report crime and other concerns that do not require an emergency response.

Always call 999 in an emergency, such as when a crime is in progress, violence is being used or threatened or where there is danger to life.

Smooth Ink Cap Mushroom by David Ayres

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The smooth ink cap mushroom is related to the shaggy ink cap. When young and white inside it is regarded as edible, but no alcohol must be taken within 24 hours of eating this mushroom, or vomiting and palpitations will occur.

The black liquid from both this and the shaggy ink cap have been added to ink to make it forgery proof. If the writing is examined under a microscope the spores can be seen.

Mount Kinabalu trail tour by Amazing Borneo