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Usage Statistics

GALILEO has been capturing usage data from its system since its inception in 1995 and aggregating data from database vendors since 2002. GALILEO maintains a repository of usage data that includes both local GALILEO system data and vendor data (obtained from database vendors).

GALILEO was originally built on OCLC’s SiteSearch Software, which provided Z39.50 searches of both local (ProQuest and EBSCO) and vendor-hosted (OCLC FirstSearch) collections. From 1995-1998, the GALILEO system captured detailed information about user logins, types of searches, indexes searched, and full-text usage. In 1998, the GALILEO vendors began to offer robust web interfaces with more features than were possible through the GALILEO interface. At that time, GALILEO began a transition to becoming a web portal to multiple different subscription resources in addition to locally-developed resources. From 1998 to 2002, database-vendor-provided data proved elusive and impossible to capture. Many vendors did not provide data on the usage of their products, consortial reporting features were not widely available, and data elements were consistent from vendor to vendor.

Beginning in 2003, GALILEO embarked on a project to collect, normalize, and make available through a central GALILEO Reporting Tool as much vendor-provided usage data as possible. GALILEO offers a research portal through which over 2,000 institutions may access hundreds of resources. The ability to gather and report data in this complex environment across many years and many changes is a multi-dimensional problem. Every change in subscription requires a new effort to capture new statistics while maintaining access to previous statistics to products no longer available or even in existence. Every change a vendor makes to a database may impact their statistical reports, changes to which impact GALILEO’s data in turn. GALILEO has a history of seeking out solutions that provide economies of scale, and usage data is one source for documentation of success. This history and ability to provide information consistently and accurately has had many pitfalls. Although there have been several iterations of the GALILEO Reporting Tool since its inception, it has remained the central source for collecting usage data for GALILEO institutions.


Self Publishing: DIY

Self Publishing: DIY

Writing, like most arts, can be a passion or a hobby. Whether you write for self-expression, to raise awareness on a specific subject, or because you’re certain your story will change the literary world forever, a time may come when it’s simply not enough to have those words on paper or on the screen. Novelists and journalists alike all tend to strive to see their works published and available to the masses, and with new technology and a changing market, it’s now easier than ever.

 When traditional publishing houses won’t (or simply can’t) do the trick, self-publishing your book or magazine can be a wonderful option.

 If you’ve never written or published anything before, self-publishing can help you get your foot in the door and help you understand what to expect. It also means having a physical product to use as an example later should you choose to try the traditional publishing route– Taking the task into your own hands means you can test the waters for your work to judge whether or not it would be a good fit for mass production.

 Perhaps you’re writing for a niche market! If the goal of your magazine is to highlight community events for the British Virgin Islands and surrounding areas, maybe you don’t need global marketing but would be well-suited for small-scale production made available to your neighbourhood communities.

 Self publishing puts you in control, no matter your intended audience. After initial production costs, all royalties go to you! You may not see enough income from your projects to live on, but even some of the more recognisable names in literature rely on another primary breadwinner in their household or on a “day job” to make ends meet. Wouldn’t you rather see the fruits of your labours reflected in the money you earn rather than divvied up amongst professionals who aren’t at all worried about the impact of one book sale?

 So if you’re a columnist, a poet, a novelist, or anything in between, consider self-publishing as a helpful alternative to traditional publishing — Or worse! –to leaving those manuscripts in your hard drive or on those notepads to collect dust. Let your work shine!


Restarting the LHC: Why 13 Tev?

The LHC was designed to run at a maximum collision energy of 14 TeV, so why has CERN decided to start the second run at a lower energy?

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is scheduled to restart for physics early in 2015 after two years of maintenance and upgrading. The collision energy at restart will be 13 TeV, a significant increase over the initial three-year LHC run, which began with a collision energy of 7 TeV, rising to 8 TeV. But the LHC was designed to run at a maximum collision energy of 14 TeV, so why has CERN decided to start the second run at a lower energy?

The decision to begin the LHC’s second run at 13 TeV has been taken in order to optimise the delivery of particle collisions for physics research, and thereby speed the route to potential new physics. It is based on the properties of the 1232 superconducting dipole magnets that guide the beams around the LHC’s 27-kilometre ring. The higher the beam energy, the higher the magnetic field needed to maintain a constant orbit, and the higher the electric current flowing in the magnet’s superconducting coils.

At LHC beam energies, the electric currents are extremely high, up to 12,000 Amperes, and superconducting cables have to be used. Superconductivity is a low-temperature phenomenon, so the coils have to be kept very cold, just 1.9 degrees above absolute zero to be precise, or about -271°C. Even a tiny amount of energy released into the magnet for any reason can warm the coils up, stopping them from superconducting. When this happens, the current has to be safely extracted in a very short time. This is called a quench, and just one millijoule – the energy deposited by a 1-centime euro coin falling from 5 cm – is enough to provoke one. Magnet protection in case of quenches is a crucial part of the design of the LHC’s magnetic system.

When a new superconducting magnet is qualified for use, it needs to be trained. That involves steadily increasing the current until the magnet quenches, then starting again. At first, the quenches may occur at relatively low current, but over time, as the components of the magnet settle in, the current increases until the magnet can be operated routinely at its nominal current. If a new training cycle is started after an extended period during which the magnet is warm, the magnet usually restarts training at a value that is higher than first quench in the first training cycle but lower than the maximum previously reached. In other words, the magnet’s ‘memory’ is usually less than 100%.

Before the LHC started operation, all of its magnets were trained up to a current equivalent to a collision energy of over 14 TeV. Tests with individual magnets, along with hardware commissioning tests in 2008, have shown that for some dipole magnets the memory is slightly lower than expected, demanding a larger number of quenches to reach nominal field. However, retraining these magnets to 13 TeV should require only a short period of time, whereas retraining to 14 TeV would take longer, taking time away from physics research. That’s why the best way to get to new results quickly, at an energy considerably higher than ever achieved before, is to start operation at 13 TeV. A decision on when to go higher will be taken at a later date in the LHC’s second run.

LHCmagnet13 TeV


Self Care: Sleepy Day & Short Post

Thanks for reading.

Back to Basics: Building Small Successes

In terms of life, this week sucked.  Flashbacks, panic attacks, nightmares, more spider bites, and unexpected costs of flight/hotel to go visit family just made me miserable.  On top of  that, I’m still mostly unpacked, feeling low energy, and having noise/heat issues again.  Still, these heat and noise issues are nowhere near as bad as as the last place.

Did I mention the smoker who breaks the rules and smokes pot in the building?  No?  All I can say is that I can’t wait to start blending and diffusing essential oils in my place again.

But all the small stuff adds up, accumulates until my mind is overwhelmed and unable to cope with normal stuff.

So, back to basics.  Stay home.  Sleep as much as possible.  Set small goals.  Ask for help.  Act on the help.  Use every known coping strategy or technique available.  Then use them again.  Set a goal.  Conserve energy.  Accomplish the goal.

This week’s goal: set up my new bed frame and sleep on it.

With Ikea bed frames, it helps to also be creative, resilient, and resourceful – all characteristics trauma survivors learn in order to cope with the craziness.  Here’s an example of my resourcefulness:

Headboard to frame...
Cushions prop up the frame so one person can attach the headboard without help

Now, it’s Sunday night in the US, possibly edging into Monday morning depending on your time zone.  And in spite of some misgivings and one wobbly bit, I now have a bed frame put together.  Yay!  A real bed to sleep on.  With my new peanuts blanket and favorites sheets.  Fresh pillow cases to lie on too.

And here is the finished bed:

New bed
Bed first, the rest comes later 🙂

Hope the spiders don’t follow me in there.

And for anyone else struggling for whatever reasons, please remember that you got through it once before.  It was hard then; it’s hard now.  But you’ll get through this time too.

Thanks for reading!

Coping Strategy: Letting go of negative feelings visualization

This is my first time trying to articulate a meditation practice that I created and want to share.  Please excuse any awkwardness as I try to put this into a framework that makes sense outside of my mind.  Feel free to skip the background section and go right to the visualization practice instructions at the bottom of the post.

I have always struggled with expressing and letting go of negative feelings, especially anger and shame.  My parts also struggle with finding healthy, positive, safe ways to express and then let go of anger.  Shame is something all of us try to acknowledge and let go of, but sometimes requires the assistance of an objective third party.

Many people will say that exercise, journaling, crafts, punching pillows, yelling, dancing, tearing paper, drawing, etc. can help release the negative energy that comes with anger.  I agree with those people in a general sense.  Personally, every single one of the suggested activities can be or is triggering and makes my feelings worse.  Only in the past year have I been able to utilize any of these strategies without being triggered.

Lashing out is not something I ever wanted to do.  Therapy and internal reflection taught me how to identify triggers that caused the lashing out at other people/objects/beings.  Real friends and mentors helped me become aware of my words and actions so that I could change my behaviors through a combination of CBT and DBT.  These days I hardly ever lash out at others.  And when I do, I work hard to reflect on why and not feel shame about making a mistake.

The Hotline and therapy sessions along with self-help books eventually helped me stop lashing out at myself – punishment, self-harm, reckless and dangerous behaviors – except under certain conditions when I have to use last resort coping strategies.  Meditation, reflection, and grounding strategies helped me the most with this kind of lashing out.

But none of these strategies or techniques helped me safely express the negative energy that comes with feeling angry or let go of the negative feelings that come from a flashback.

I had to figure out a way to express or let go of the energy stressing out my body without physical activity that caused more instead of less pain and negativity.

That’s how this meditation or visualization practice works.  It helps me let go of the negative feelings and associated energy bursts without moving or harming anyone.  Maybe it will help you too.

The Visualization

Move into a comfortable position that supports your whole body (I prefer lying down)

Close your eyes and take several slow, deep breaths.  Inhale for 10 seconds.  Pause for 10 seconds.  Exhale for 10 seconds.  Repeat.

Next imagine you are sitting in a clear bubble.  You can see everything around you (a 360 degree view), but none of it can reach you inside the bubble.  You are safe inside the bubble.  You control what enters and leaves the bubble.

All around you the negative feelings are moving – sometimes they look like dark clouds, other times bright streams of light; maybe monsters, or spiders, or ghosts.  But you are safe inside your bubble.  The negative feelings can’t hurt you or take over.  The negative energy can’t hurt you or take over.

Now imagine a large recycling container with a vacuum on one side and a hose on the other side.  The vacuum sucks the negative feelings and energy into the container.  The container recycles the negative feelings and energy into neutral feelings and energy unrelated to you and any of your experiences.  Then the hose pumps the neutral feelings and energy back into the universe.  All of this is done using a remote control.

The remote control is inside your bubble.  You turn on the recycling container and adjust the speed.  As you watch, the vacuum starts sucking up the negative feelings and energy. You control the speed and sound of vacuuming and the recycler.

Slowly, but surely, the area around your bubble changes, becomes lighter, less crowded, less foggy until all of the negative feelings and energy bothering you right now is gone.  You turn off the recycling container, put it away, and observe your surroundings.

Notice any color changes, or sensory changes.  Notice your breathing – is it still slow and deep, or rapid and quick.  Observe how your body feels – are the muscles relaxed or tense?  Observe your energy levels – have they lowered or evened out or something else? Observe your feelings – do you feel more or less clearheaded, calm, relaxed?

Take two slow deep breaths.  Inhale for 10 seconds.  Pause for 10 seconds.  Exhale for 10 seconds.  Repeat.

Continue to breathe slow and deep.  Open your eyes when you feel ready.

***feel free to substitute your images for mine at any time in the visualization.  Some people prefer sitting inside an auditorium with a clear dome or laying on the grass instead.  The goal is for you to try this meditation and then adapt it to suit your specific needs if it works***

Thanks for reading this long post.

Shame: Another Backlash Epiphany

There have been a lot of good experiences and positive changes in my life lately.  There have also been some unsettling realizations and uncomfortable changes about how I see myself and interact with the world.

The Pain of June (past)

One of the most difficult parts of June is pain management.  When I am awake, my body hurts.  As I try to sleep, my body still hurts.  I want to stay home and rest because the pain keeps me awake.  None of my “regular” coping strategies work.  In the past, the more I tried to use any coping strategies, the more pain I felt.  The more I tried to relax, the more tension my body experienced.

I felt at war with myself, and giving in to my OCD self- harm compulsions was the only way to get relief.  Because self-harm made the obsessive thoughts, voices, and words go away.  But the self-harm provided temporary relief and was addictive.  The window of relief shrunk as my body got used to the distraction.  And like any other addict, I had to increase the pain and self-harm to get any relief.

The Pain of June (present)

This year, the pain arrived on schedule.  The OCD compulsions to self-harm DID NOT follow.  The body memories, flashbacks, and hallucinations did follow the pain.  I’ve been living with the hallucinations for a week now.  The pain has ebbed and flowed…some days worse than others.  But the weekly Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) treatments have helped a lot.

I use TCM because each visit includes acupuncture and body work in the form of cupping, massage, or gau sha.  My intern practitioner also teaches me self-massage techniques I can use between appointments.  Together, the acupuncture, massage, and body work helps manage my pain to acceptable levels in spite of triggers.  This allows me to sleep less, feel more energetic, and do more with my time.  (all positive changes)

The Shame of Backlash

The downside is intense backlash and triggering that feels different and is difficult to cope with.  Shame is one of the few emotions we all still struggle with.  It’s something that requires help and perspective from an objective third party who can listen with empathy and help clear out the confusing bits.

Once the shame trigger is identified, healing with coping strategies can begin.  Why the hotline?  Because my counseling sessions take place every week or 1.5 weeks and this type of trigger often occurs between sessions.  If the hotline can’t help, I do reach out to my therapist.  But only when all other resources have been utilized first.

The hotline helped me and my triggered parts calm down enough until our weekend session.  Calm down as in be able to sleep and quiet the anxiety the evening before therapy; not as in make the backlash go away.  My therapist witnessed how the backlash affected me in real time.  She asked some questions and helped me understand why this version of backlash felt different:

Therapist: how do you feel?
Me: I feel fine; just tired.  My emotions are calm even though I am experiencing backlash.
Therapist: how does your body feel?
Me: tense.  All of my muscles hurt, but especially around here (pointing).
Therapist: you’re braced for an attack.  Am I correct in thinking this?
I paused
Me: yes, you’re right.  I do feel braced for an attack – a slap of some kind or my head being pulled back by my hair.

The backlash is my younger par way of saying:
don’t do this!  It’s dangerous.  Our body is going to get hurt.  Then ALL of us will feel t he pain.  And we’ll be humiliated in front of everyone.  And then be punished even worse.

This time, backlash has to do with memories of physical abuse for showing confidence or accomplishments instead of hiding and letting someone else take the credit.  It happens most often when I interact with the world by sharing my experience, skills, knowledge, accomplishments, and abilities with confidence.

The more often I step out and do this, the more often I experience backlash.  When combined with anniversaries or other flashbacks, the pain increases.  Emotional distress remains the same or decreases.  With this new information, my therapist and I are working on coping strategies and techniques for pain-related flashbacks.

As I learn more, I will share the information in future posts.

Thanks for reading

Coping Strategy: Meditation Conflicts & Confusion

A quick review of my thoughts about and experience with meditation

I started meditating as a child in Taekwondo classes.  We had 5-15 minutes of meditation every class 2-3 times a week.  The purpose of that meditation was to practice focus and calmness – we focused on breathing in and out, sitting quietly, not moving.  As we got older, the focus transitioned to clearing our minds and letting thoughts flow in and out while focusing on our breath.  It was a sitting meditation with our eyes closed, posture straight.

As I got older and went to college, I learned about yoga and moving meditation too.  This was more like mindfulness meditation where the focus was on being present and acknowledging the sensations brought on by moving slow (yoga) or by the environment (walking meditation).  We let our feelings and thoughts flow in and out, acknowledging each bit while focusing on the deliberate, slow movement our bodies made with each position.

Then I started learning about Buddhism and meditation to clear my mind or free myself from the clutter of incessant thoughts and feelings.  This meditation was the most difficult for me as an adult because every time I started to clear my mind, my past memories (blocked by amnesia) would surface and cause flashbacks, anxiety, panic attacks, etc.  That kind of ruined the whole clear-my-mind and look into the emptiness goal.  Visualization worked better for me because I got to “paint a picture” with my imagination; less scary than looking into clear water or dark nothing.

Different kinds of meditation suit different purposes

The meditation taught in most therapy groups, sessions, and programs is mindfulness meditation.  Mindfulness can help keep an individual grounded in the present while also teaching how to slow down and be more aware of self/surroundings.  Mindfulness teaches individuals how to be more aware of one’s internal landscape and offer tools to cope with overwhelming feelings.

Focused meditation is about learning mental and emotional self control by letting go of feelings and staying calm.  This is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps build clarity of thought, compassion, and resilience depending on the goal of each session.  The hardest part about focused meditation is clearing one’s mind of stray thoughts and focusing on breathing or emptiness.

When I was in the partial programs, many of the moderators skipped meditation and dismissed it as too hard and not useful because of their failures to achieve positive mediation practice.  I felt angry when I heard this repeated; it made me rethink everything they taught.  Meditation helped me get to where I am and was my frame of reference so I could understand their emotion regulation concepts.

I use focused meditation to help with my shame and compassion work more than any other type.  It helps all of us (my alters and I) get in touch with the scary feelings from a safe and grounded place inside of ourselves.  The mindfulness meditation helps with the severe physical pain that comes from anxiety and body memories; we use this most often during panic attacks, nightmares, and insomnia.  And the moving meditation helps us cope with too much energy or compulsion to over exercise.  It offers a stretch and tone without a lot of exertion.

Lessons from almost 2o years of meditation practice

  • Meditation is hard
  • Meditation takes practice, persistence, and patience to learn
  • Trying to practice a focused meditation with DID and many alters is scary, confusing, and frustrating because the thoughts and feelings of other alters enter and flow through the same consciousness as the one trying to meditate.
  • Maintaining a level of physical stillness for some meditation practices with DID might be a big challenge
    • So far I have not found a way to stop my eyes from moving (sign of switching alters) when I practice a focused standing or sitting meditation with my eyes open.
  • Remember that meditation practice can be fluid and flexible to a degree
    • Try to accommodate personal quirks like alters or injuries in ways that still allow for beneficial practice
  • Clearing one’s mind is not exactly the goal – calming one’s mind is a better option
  • Calming one’s mind is scary for everyone because once you calm down, you can see everything you’ve been hiding from or ignoring or denying about yourself
  • The goal is not to attain emptiness or numbness, but to be able to  observe and acknowledge your internal feelings and sensations without having them take over your life.
  • The goal is to feel and let feelings/thoughts/sensations inform you and help make choices in every day life
  • Meditation helps me pause and step back when I feel overwhelmed, confused, or stressed out so that I can calm down and make choice based on emotion and logic instead of only emotion or only logic

Meditation is a skill worth learning.  There are many ways to learn, but I think that in-person lessons with an experienced practitioner are the best option for anyone with doubts and questions.  Instructors have experienced many of the barriers that frustrate people on all levels and can help students work through them one-on-one.

As with any strategy discussed here, practice, patience, and persistence make the difference between a useful and a not-helpful tool in the tool box.  Please take your time and go into each experiment with an open mind if you try out any of these options.  Then, if the strategy still doesn’t feel right, please move on or tweak the strategy in ways to make it useful to you.

Thanks for reading.

Anniversary: Family Reunions, Birthdays & Shame

End of July and most of August are typically the time of year when out-of-town relatives stay at my aunts’ houses and visit for a long family reunion that ends with the maternal grandmother’s birthday.  Some used to stay with my parents, but that changed sometime when I was in college.  This is speculation because no one ever told me anything, but I guess my relatives couldn’t face the truth of who was acting out against (aka abusing and scaring) their young children.  It’s easier for them to blame the scapegoat than to face a reality they refuse to acknowledge.

Why this anniversary is so scarring

But back to family reunions.  As scapegoat, I was mostly ignored or bullied by everyone.  And made to be the de facto babysitter as a young teen to keep me separated from the rest of my age-mate cousins and younger brother.  I didn’t mind because that gave me something to do with my time.  As I got older, though, so did the kids.  And the next generation of young children came from my older cousins – people who didn’t trust or like or respect me – and other relatives by marriage who didn’t want my help.  So I suddenly had nothing to keep the anxiety away.

And that generation of children were raised to treat me the same way as the adults.  And they did it with relish.  No one scolded them for being mean or indulging in bad habits around me, so they constantly made up ways to antagonize me.  And then with the silent treatment and shunning from the adults, I basically had no place to hide at family reunions.  No one to offer empathy, compassion, friendly conversation, etc.  And no place to go and cope with my anxiety or triggers.  I was on a stage with bright lights pointed at me all the time; they used every word, every gesture to humiliate and condemn me.

Typical Response

Dissociate, not leave the house, feel hyper-vigilant and scared all the time, stop sleeping, have nightmares, miss time from work, have panic attacks, severe body pain and memories, get sick, pass out, not eat, etc. for days or even weeks.  Lose time, lose memories, switch and practice self harm.

Response in new environment

Some disturbed sleeping, lots of anxiety, some flashbacks, lots of shame and tears, problems with my digestion and visit the bathroom a lot, increased body memories and body pain but not so much that I stay home and am incapacitated.  Some switching and reckless behavior – but that is more due to mistakes and learning a new environment that the shame capitalizes on than anything deliberate.

I am:

  • still working 5 days a week
  • going out with friends
  • active on the blog and website
  • going shopping/cooking/to restaurants
  • exercising
  • decorating my apartment
  • keeping in touch with safe family and friends (another post)
  • Utilizing my coping strategies (especially the hotline) while I try to find a provider here
  • making and keeping appointments for graduate school, scholarship research, etc.

The 2 months of anniversaries are tough.  Remembering how I was treated brings back lots of negative feelings that are hard to accept and cope with.

But being here in my new place, I truly feel safe and able to move beyond the typical fear.  Yes, it hurts.  yes I cry a lot.  Yes my body loses control sometimes.  Yes I feel aggression rise to the point where I scare myself of what could happen.

But it all goes away much faster.  I can let myself cry and experience all of these sensations instead of blocking them out.  And because of that, the pain and fear and anxiety lessen each time.  And each experience takes less out of me too.

So yeah, I’m still in rough shape.  The shame overwhelms me and causes me to apologize and over explain and feel terrible about good decisions.  It is constantly messing with my mind.  But I can get help from the hotline and my friends; they listen and help me find self-compassion through validation and reality testing.

I need my quiet evenings and 1 day a week of staying inside.  But I can spend that time being productive and happy (either doing something or doing nothing) instead of out of my mind with fear and disorientation.

Thanks for reading

DID Post: Different Parts; Different Symptoms to Address

This will not be an in-depth post.  Goal here is to explain that not all alters experience all  of the same symptoms at the same time or ever with examples from our system.  The adults and teens are searching the memory banks, but no one can remember exactly which book or news article or blog post we read that explains this phenomenon in layman’s terms.  Finding and confirming the source may take a while.

This is a very big topic with multiple layers.

It will probably be explored as part of different DID posts, PTSD posts, Alter Posts, and Life Changing Moments posts.  If you are ever in doubt about POV or tone, you are welcome to leave a comment and ask for clarification.  Writing with alters can be tricky to navigate and consistently use the correct tone of voice, grammar, point-of-view, etc. for the guests without getting confused or awkward in the flow of writing.  It’s also a pain to organize multiple POVs in 1,500 words (Maximum of 2,000) or less.

Why is this important to understand?

To the outside world, I am one person with a set of symptoms and co-curring disorders that make up the complex PTSD diagnosis.  As such, I (the whole person) experience all of the symptoms below.

In truth, I am 1 person made up of 88 alternate personalities.  About 20 of these personalities maintain control of our system (aka parenting, basic wellness care, interacting with the outside world, ensuring basic needs are met).  Not all of us experience the same kind or severity of symptoms even though all of us feel body pain and physical symptoms to different degrees.  This is because not every one of us alternate personalities has every symptom and disorder on the list.

Confusing and scary, yes?  Or no?

A List of Symptoms and Co-Curring Disorders related to the Complex PTSD and DID:

  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Panic Attacks
  • Body Memories
  • Anorexia Nervosa
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
  • Fear related to crowds and feeling trapped
  • Dissociation
  • Body dysmorphia
  • Phobias – spiders; agoraphobia; bathrooms, pools/oceans/swimming; slugs/caterpillars/flies and other insects that leave trails of slime, silk, sound in the environment; the dark; falling down
  • Fainting/passing out
  • Severe body pain
  • Insomnia, restless sleep, disordered sleeping, nightmares, night sweats, night terrors, sleep walking
  • Flashbacks, deja vu, and related fugues
  • Shame/guilt/anger/self-harm/emotional overload

Some examples:My child alters experienced the most abuse and have all of the symptoms above.  But they struggle with utilizing coping strategies because the shame is embedded so deep in them.  The disordered eating started young with neglect, got worse with diets, and became full-blown anorexia by 6 or 7 years old.  But they don’t understand body pain or menstruation – any kind of physical pain scares them and reminds them of abuse.

My teen alters experienced less physical abuse (thank you for the martial arts training), but more physical and non-physical sexual abuse in the form of inappropriate visuals/touching/talk and body shaming.  Many of them have the worst body image issues and eating problems.  They have a hard time accepting our body.  The physical pain is acknowledged, but hard to cope with – triggers self-harm, starvation/restriction, suicidal thoughts, etc. to numb it out.

The adult alters experienced mostly verbal and emotional abuse, neglect, shaming, isolation, public humiliation, silent treatment/shunning, emotional blackmail, bullying (all alters experienced this, but not like adults), and stalking to  isolate and remove opportunities to move forward.  They experience the most body pain and have the best resources to cope with it.  But their ways of coping are not always useful or helpful because they do not address the needs of teens and children to learn how to acknowledge, accept, and cope with physical pain or the accompanying triggers and flashbacks.

Female alters have trouble coping with the pain related to menstruation because of memories related to specific punishments for any talk or overt physical changes that took place during puberty.

Male alters have trouble with body image and sexuality because of the sexual abuse and gender misdirection during childhood.  Females and males sexually abused our body/self.  They also liked to physically abuse our body during the sexual encounters.  Mom kept trying to convince daughter she was a boy and adopted throughout childhood.  Many non-incestuous sexual and physical abuse experiences also happened in a quasi-religious/cult environment with drugs and alcohol involved.

And the non-human alters hold most of the negative feelings like aggression, anger, guilt, sorrow, and of course shame.  Their first response is: a) fold up and disappear; and b) lash out and hurt/defend/protect with violence.  They also hold the internalized messages from abusers and struggle with hearing the voices, obeying compulsions, obsessive thoughts, and reality testing.

When I and my alters get triggered, we all experience a range of flashbacks, anxiety, and symptoms.  One strategy does not work for everything – not even grounding or self-soothing or meditation.  Sometimes one strategy can help take the edge off of the worst of the symptoms for everyone in the short-term.  But that strategy will not work in the long-term or even feel helpful sometimes.

As alters learn to trust and communicate with self and each other, they find ways to “tell” what kinds of coping strategies will help, what kinds will make the symptoms worse, and what ones they are unsure about.  Having one body with so many different needs to address can be difficult.  That is why many of the strategies and techniques here are mental and emotional based instead of physical.

With imagination and creativity, many alters can learn to use, utilize, and/or adapt the coping strategies and techniques on their own or in groups on the inside while the ones “in charge” and maintaining life on the “outside” are working, walking, shopping, interacting with others, etc.  That’s what we do, and it allows us to function better in the outside world.

I hope maybe some of this can help others struggling to understand and cope with the internal confusion that sometimes comes with unexpected and expected triggers/anniversaries/symptoms.

Thank you for reading.

DID Post: What does my internal system look like?

I haven’t written much about DID lately.  That is because my alters and I have been quietly working on internal strategies related to communication and organization.  We’ve been creating a map of where everyone lives and trying to establish coping strategies to help with shame and backlash that comes from self-expression and communication related to switching.  This way, even when alters go away for alone time or get lost, they have a way to find home again.

My first DID homework

After my therapist finally admitted to me that I had DID and why she didn’t tell me sooner, she gave me a homework assignment.  It was a long-term, multipart project that ended up taking months.

The assignment: identify my alters and map out what the system looked like visually.

My first attempt identified 20 alter personalities and looked like an idea map (brainstorming tool) of bubbles.  The next one had 60 alters and looked like a flow chart.  Finally, a flow chart and idea map became a spider web.  But no one inside liked that version.  For almost a year, I believed our system topped out at 60 alters, including me.  But then I started hearing a voice speaking in Spanish.  And another two or three played songs related to how they felt.  Many sent pictures or movies.

In fact, 80 alters showed up for the next roll call.

By now, we’d stopped trying to map out the ever-changing landscape and trying to identify the alters with names.  No one had a concrete visual of safe spaces.  And many alters changed their names as they grew and changed through the recovery process.  When I explained this to my therapist, she agreed to put this exercise aside and concentrate on other parts of IFS therapy.

2014 is the year I legally changed my name and finally started to feel safe.  It’s also the year our last 7 alters appeared to the system.  They appeared just after I re-read a book called Amongst Ourselves and started reading/listening to Pema Chodron’s books about fear, courage, and compassion.  And that’s when I realized we were coming at the homework assignment from the wrong perspective.  Instead of going back to our roots (pun intended) and looking for a nature-based metaphor, we had been using logical tools to draw a reasonable representation of an ever-changing, chaotic landscape.

What our internal system looks like

My internal system looks like a bent, twisted, stunted tree with a short trunk and many strong branches that extend in every direction instead of a straight, tall one with a strong trunk and perfect horizontal branches.  Our underground root system is deep and strong like any other tree, but visually, we look different from maples and pines and cedars, etc.  More like an oversized bush that got lifted during a wind storm and continued growing.  Or maybe like a bamboo that a got knotted and twisted into various shapes before continuing to grow to maturity.

IMG_7080  This tree reminds me of the knotted bamboo metaphor above.  I wrote the first draft of this post before finding the photo, but decided not to change either description.  It’s not often I find a mature tree that represents my internal family so well.

But this is important to us because with switching and communication comes a giant helping of shame and self-hatred.  For too many years, we all were taught not to communicate with each other, not to work together.  And when caught, we were abused even more – many of my alters are mouthy and assertive.  They speak their minds and do not hold back.  This was seen as rebellion and defiance; two actions that caused any and all perpetrators to escalate their tactics in order to shut everyone down again.

So you probably will be seeing more posts about DID and coping strategies we use to help with anxiety induced switching, panic attacks, shame, and other triggers.

You will also see a few posts about mindfulness and meditation as relates to trauma and recovery.

Thanks for reading.

PTSD: Depression is not always a chemical imbalance

Final Thoughts

Thanks for reading

Body Memories: Am I sick or reliving an experience or both?

CAUTION: The story below is kind of gross…read at your discretion

Every year around April and May, I get really sick with a sinus infection of sorts.  It’s viral and causes my sinuses to get filled with fluid; it blocks passageways around my jaw, ears, and throat while leaving the areas around my nose and eyes slightly swollen and heavy-feeling.  The sensation itself is not unknown to me as I have been prone to head colds and sinus infections since childhood.

The difference between this one my others is the intensity of symptoms that come with it.  As a child and teen, I spent the months sneezing and blowing my nose; it looked rather gross to people who saw me constantly sneezing and using up tissues like people change underwear or socks or started sneezing and couldn’t get tissues quick enough.  During college, when I realized tissues were hard to carry and dispose of with class schedules, the sneezing changed to nausea followed by bouts of vomiting over a period of days.

And if I was lucky, that wouldn’t happen again for a while.  As for outward symptoms, nothing swelled up or looked obviously wrong with my face.  My jaw and teeth started to hurt.  My nose and eyes started to hurt.  Then my throat and ears.  Everything felt stuffy.  Finally, headaches and exhaustion kept me from feeling hungry or thirsty.

The doctors told me it was allergies and gave me medication.  The medication kept the stuff inside me so I stayed sick longer; made me sleepy and lethargic; caused other reactions that made me sick.  Then they thought it was a bacterial infection and gave me antibiotics.  Then they thought maybe it was a deviated septum; that got corrected in high school and kept the worst infections away for a while.  When I switched doctors, the new PCP told me that there are bacterial and viral sinus infections.  Antibiotics don’t work with viral ones, so try saline solution, lots of fluids and warm liquids, tylenol, etc.  That actually did/does help some.

Odd part is, I only get sinus infections and head colds around or after certain events and anniversaries:

  • Visiting parents and certain relatives
  • Going to parties, bars, dancing, social events with family or acquaintances
  • Memorial Day, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas/New Year, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day
  • Birthdays and family get-togethers
  • School beginnings/endings, holidays, graduations

And the severity of symptoms depends on how long I stayed at events and anniversaries.  A new trigger is painting my nails; I tried it over the weekend for the first time in over 10 years.  Won’t be doing that again.

So now I wonder: am I really sick with an infection or is my body reliving something that is making me feel and act sick?

Either way, I have to treat this like an illness, yes?  It’s not going away on its own, so I guess the answer is to try the usual and then some less typical strategies?

Thanks for reading.

Coping Challenge: How do I Cope with happy, positive feelings? Part 1 – Background

Since I was thirteen, I dreamed about getting a tattoo.  When I was sixteen, I got my first henna tattoo at a fair in Canada (high school field trip).  It caused an uproar within my family – not in a good way.  But that was my rebellious year   the year after the forced abortion – when I acted out and got into all kinds of trouble.  A few months later (summer), my younger brother convinced his friends to help him get a real tattoo (something he lorded over me for years and used to make fun of me when I got other henna tattoos).

In college, I learned discovered a severe nickel allergy through a bacterial infection (nickel plated earrings) and a rash (metal-framed glasses and buttons on denim jeans).  Some research told me that people with nickel allergies couldn’t get tattoos because a) most of the inks had traces of nickel in them; and b) the stainless steel needles had high levels of nickel in them.  That was between 2000 and 2004.  Between then and now, various cosmetic permanent makeup artists and tattoo artists refused to talk to me about either option because of my nickel allergy.

On the good side, there had been improvements to inks and needles so that people with minor to moderate nickel allergies could get tattoos as long as they didn’t mind the increased risk of allergic reaction and infection.  That was about 3 years ago.  And yes obsessing about getting a tattoo helped keep me sane when life got really bad.  I even tried contacting Native American and other cultural societies that had different ways of tattooing (not using metal needles/inks, etc.) without success.

Two years ago, I moved to my new apartment in a small city/town southwest of where I grew up.  On my first visit to look at the building, I got lost.  Instead of apartments, I found a 1950’s diner inspired storefront that looked interesting.  It turned out to be a tattoo studio.  Then, the realtor found me and helped me to the apartment building.  Not perfect, but it had everything I was looking for at the time.  After 2 weeks of consideration, I signed a lease.  And kept thinking about tattoos in a diner.  Eventually, I looked up the tattoo studio.  The owner had 30 plus years of experience and only did tattoos – old school style.  We exchanged emails; I met him face-to-face once.

But I had a downswing in finances and physical health just as I got ready to make the appointment.

Event 1

Last Saturday, I finally got my two tattoos in black/gray ink: a turtle and a Tibetan Endless Knot aka Chinese Wisdom Knot.  Turtle on left inner forearm near elbow.  Endless Knot on opposite position.  My dream finally came true.  Since then, I’ve been so happy that I managed to sleep every night – real sleep through most of the night.

Event 2

Then I went to work today and shared my tattoos with friends and close co-workers who know my story.  They were happy for me; full of acceptance, joy, respect even though some did not like tattoos (especially on females).  Some asked me what they meant and listened with appreciation as I described the meaning.   The head of our division even told me to wear my tattoos with pride in the office too.  i.e. I won’t get in trouble for leaving my arms uncovered at work.

The Dilemma

I was and am overwhelmed.  I feel happy, sad, anxious, guilty, shamed, unworthy, joyous, content, safe and unsure how to cope with the happy feelings inside of me (hence the negative feelings worming in).  I know how to cope with negative, neutral, and mildly positive feelings.  I don’t know how to cope with this, and it’s making me feel edgy.  Especially with an extra heavy workload and other big things coming up.

Thanks for reading

Shame: Being Kinder to Myself Helps Remove Shame

The Meat of It

These days, being kind to myself means the following:

Thanks for reading.

Survival Mode: A different kind of survival part 3 – obsessions, compulsions, hearing voices – and getting through one moment at a time

This last post in the series is in essay or story-telling format.  The Q&A doesn’t work this time.

I hear voices.  Lots of voices from different parts of my mind.  Not all of them are from my alters.  In fact, most of the time, my alters choose video, images, story-telling, play-acting, music, writing, and sensation to communicate with me.  They only talk when the other communication formats don’t work.   That is how I learned to tell the difference.  Most of the time.  My alters learned to recognize when the voices are triggering them by realizing we only talk to each other when nothing else works.  The rest of the time, we find other ways to show love, respect, acceptance, affection, and information.

The Voices

The voices are different from my hallucinations because they sound real to me; they are the voices of my family members, abusers, bullies, and fake friends telling me to hurt and punish myself because I am worthless.  They insult me; verbally abuse me; taunt me; and constantly tell me ways to hurt myself; then urge me to act on those thoughts.  And if the voices are not working on me, they work on my alters.  It’s a mental loop of negativity that seems impossible to break, let alone stop or ignore.

Sometimes the voices sound like me talking to myself.  Sometimes they sound like a parent or sibling or relative.  Sometimes they sound like a medical professional or an authority figure.  The voices play on my weaknesses, insecurities, and fears.  They use those insecurities and fears to persuade me  to hurt myself and others.  Sabotage my plans for going forward.  Or freeze up so that I can’t study or pass a test or complete assignments or put myself in situations where I will be emotionally hurt and shamed.

Then the voices hit me with shame and guilt for not accomplishing my goals.  They reaffirm my inability to do anything right.

And they don’t stop.  The voices speak to me, to my alters, waking and sleeping.

Why and when and how they appear, none of us know.  My therapist thinks it is a symptom of increased anxiety and a form of backlash or flashbacks or nightmares.  I tend to agree with this.  But that’s not the only time the voices visit.

Only one successful way to stop the voices permanently: give in and hurt myself.

Other less successful ways to stop the voices: take a knock out pill; watch a funny or feel good movie; distract myself; listen to music; use affirmations and positive self talk; reality test my thoughts and fears

When I don’t give in to the voices, I start to obsess about ways to make them stop talking to me.  And then I think about what the voices are saying and remember all or many past experiences where their predictions of current outcomes came true.  And I get anxious; start to doubt myself.  Then try to use coping strategies to get myself out of the mental loop.  And when the strategies don’t work, feel more angry and depressed.

One way I learned to deal with the obsessive thoughts and feelings of anxiety from hearing voices was giving in to compulsions or compulsive routines.  I try not to give in to the compulsions because they tend to take over my life.  I get so caught up in using the activity or routine that the rest of my life suffers; not going to work, missing deadlines, procrastinating, feeling shame for doing something I don’t want to do, etc.  Not all compulsions are bad ones, but even safe ones can become problems when I can’t do anything or go anywhere until I finish my compulsion first.  It’s one reason why I am so careful with my habits and routines.  I don’t want them to become compulsions.

Giving In

Sometimes, when nothing else works and I absolutely need temporary relief, I give in to the voices, obsessions, and compulsions.  I try to find the least harmful behavior or activity that will also soothe the anxiety and do it.  I am not proud of this.  I prefer to find alternatives instead.  The backlash is painful.  But worse, the temptation to give in gets stronger every time I use a negative coping strategy.  And when I am coming off of an adrenaline high with the voices in my mind telling me to use this energy for revenge or punishment, the temptation to get relief instead of waiting it out is strong.

“Waiting it out” means: going without sleep or rest; listening to the voices fighting us (our internal system); experiencing all of the headaches, migraines, physical pain that comes with the internal fighting; not dissociating or switching and forgetting for a while; living with the memories and experiences all of this brings back; and continuing with life and work while coping with it all.

One Moment at a time

Sometimes the best strategy is also the hardest concept to understand.  When I first started therapy/recovery, I was in crisis mode aka survival mode.  Every moment felt like a thousand years.  So I learned to live one moment at a time.  Dissociation and daydreaming helped a lot here.  But that doesn’t help as much now because all of my parts and I have different daydreams.  And lack of focus in the outside world is dangerous.  So now it’s time to find another version of “one moment at a time”  that works for us.  I guess that means going back to basic survival strategies.

I hope anyone else caught in some form of survival mode makes through this round too.

Survival Mode: A different kind of survival part 1 – PTSD

I’m late with this week’s post.  The last few days have been difficult with high anxiety, hyper-vigilance, and an adrenaline high that wouldn’t stop; my reactions to recovered memories involving physical violence combined with seasonal body memory pain.  It’s a different kind of survival mode for me and one that I struggle with a lot.  Instead of typical essay format, I’m using a Q&A interview style for this series

Questions and Answers

Q: What is an adrenaline high?

A: I get triggered into panic without having a panic attack.  Adrenaline surges through my system.  I suddenly have extra acute senses, strength, mental clarity, etc. in order to run, fight, or freeze until I can escape.  But once I realize the threat is over, the adrenaline keeps on flowing.  The hyper-vigilance stays and increases over time.  I am jumpy and anxious and unable to concentrate.  I can’t relax.  The adrenaline does not stop.

Q: Why doesn’t the adrenaline stop?  Isn’t there a physiological on/off switch built into our bodies/minds?

A:  My on/off switch was permanently disabled because of past experiences.  Yes most people have an on/off switch that automatically controls how, when, and for what length of time the adrenaline flows and then slows down without crashing too hard.  I have to find ways to manually turn the adrenaline off without causing harm to myself and (potentially) others.

Q: How does it relate to PTSD specifically?

A: Symptoms of PTSD get exacerbated.  Agitation, irritability, anger easily, frustration, lack of focus, increased anxiety, panic attacks, etc.  PTSD is considered an anxiety disorder.  For me that means all of my “natural” alertness and environmental sensitivity get put on steroids to make flashbacks, nightmares, and triggers both more likely to occur and more intense with each occurrence.  That sends more adrenaline into my system until I am flying on super high energy levels and awareness even as I start to crash from being physically and emotionally drained of energy from the last wave.  No matter how tired I am, no matter how much I want to relax, the adrenaline and hyper-vigilance won’t let me because my brain senses a threat that doesn’t exist anymore.  Once I identify the cause of this state (that I call Adrenaline High), I have to find ways to slow down the adrenaline until it stops.

Q: How do I know when my adrenaline starts/stays on/stops?

A:  My first signs are physiological.  As in my body reacts to the adrenaline first.  Sweating, chills, shaking/trembling limbs, chest tightness, muscle tension, headaches, face pain, joint pain, extra saliva in my mouth, skin feels itchy, flushed or pale skin/skin changes color.  Then comes acute senses: everything is more sensitive and reactive; I jump at noises, can smell or scent objects from longer distances, flavors increase or decrease – taste too much or nothing at all, etc.  And then comes the distraction, loss of vision (everything is blurry), and an increase in mental static/confusion caused by the “hearing voices” that are not my alters trying to convince me that the past is reality and present is a dumb fantasy that will get me (put your idea of a threat here).

Q: Do automatic defenses and coping strategies kick in during adrenaline?

A:  Yes.  I try everything in my arsenal first.  All of positive, healthy, healing coping strategies and techniques from therapy, programs, hotlines, books, etc. get used and reused until I get frustrated.  Then I try last resort strategies.  Hopefully they work.  And if not, there are the strategies I refuse to consciously use: my past automatic coping and defense mechanisms: chemical help (something stronger than Tylenol like prescription anti-anxiety meds); inducing a panic attack that causes me to pass out; self harm (emotional, verbal, physical, spiritual).  As I’ve mentioned before, self-harm comes in many forms and is not always noticeable.  Luckily for me, I have caring friends and co-workers who gently point out and remind me when this happens so that I know it happened and can be more careful next time.

Q: What are some ways to make the adrenaline stop?  Are they positive/neutral/negative?

A:  I don’t know.  This is where I am still experimenting and learning.  The only ways I know for me to successfully make the adrenaline stop are negative (see question above).  Some neutral ones suggested by others include: exercise; deep breathing; hobbies and activities that allow adrenaline-based energy to be released and do not require a lot of focus; listening to music or lullabies; distractions like favorite books, TV, and movies.  I call those neutral because they can be triggering to some and not to others.  As for positive, I am still working on that.

Q: Is there anything else you want to share?

A: Yes.  The backlash from using what’s necessary to come down from an adrenaline high can be worse than the adrenaline itself.  It can cause guilt and shame and more triggers or memories to resurface.

If you can ride it all out with minimal harm to self and others, you have won.  That is the attitude I have to take or else I’d be swimming in shame and guilt every time it happens.  Instead of healing, I’d be back in the downward spiral.  So, when nothing works, ask for help.  Reach out to supports if you can.  Help comes in many forms.  Sometimes I ask myself for help and support to get  through the next (time period varies).  Or I ask for spiritual help.

If you can’t reach out, do what you have to do to stay safe and protect yourself.

And always remember: this is not going to last.  You got through it last time.  You will get through it again.

Coping Strategies: Internal Multitasking Part 2

Summary of Part 1

In Part 1, we provided examples of situations, conflicts, coping challenges, coping strategies, and possible solutions for addressing triggers and anxiety in the whole DID system.  Many of the strategies were combinations of coping techniques previously discussed on the blog.  Some were new and probably scary-sounding to readers.  Either way, it was a lot of information condensed into one post.

The main point of that post was: sometimes coping challenges require us to step outside of our comfort zones and be brave in order to find calm again.  That means observing the internal struggle like a third party and finding ways to address each trigger on its own.

When people say “multitasking isn’t possible; scientific research…”

We don’t know about you or anyone else who visits here, but the quote above is one of our most hated ones.  Too often, people would tell us to stop, slow down, do one at a time.  Multitasking makes things worse not better.  And how can we tell those educators or family members or co-workers, etc. that we are doing one at a time?  To someone with DID, multitasking is each part working on a single task.  We just happen to occupy one body and appear to be doing multiple tasks at the same time.

In that sense, finding a coping strategy to help each alter in the system when all of us are overwhelmed makes sense right?  And if this coping strategy requires mental and emotional energy (read imagination and feelings) instead of physical energy (body-related activities), then everyone has a chance to find their calm center while also allowing our physical and spiritual parts time to sleep, relax, energize, and find their calm centers too.

Please understand that we are not promoting permanent separation of alters in a system.  Nor are we devaluing the idea of integration at any level.  Instead, we are advocating for us alters to work within our current situation to promote cooperation, collaboration, and semi-integration so that our mind, body, and spirit help each other instead of working against each other during triggering situations.  It is not always possible.

In fact, sometimes we are our own worst enemies because none of us want to hurt or burden the others with our pain when it gets overwhelming.  Therapy and life are teaching us that sharing the pain and the burden with each other helps us more because we can stand together and support each other when one falls.

Ever heard of the quote “Different Strokes for different folks”?

Each of us is similar and different.  We are different ages, genders, and types of living beings.  And we have different needs at different times.  That is why self-care and self-soothing can be so difficult.  How to address the needs of many over a set period of time?  And this quote reminds us to be open-minded and allow for multiple options during a session of multiple coping strategies.


Stakeholder Discussion to Reduce Population-Wide Sodium Intake and Decrease Sodium in the Food Supply: A Conference Report From the American Heart Association Sodium Conference 2013 Planning Group

The following are 10 points to remember about the American Heart Association (AHA) sodium conference:

1. This 2-day forum focused on the health implications of sodium in the diet. Forum participants included 128 stakeholders who are engaged in food research and development, food manufacturing and retail, restaurant and food service operations, regulatory and legislative activities, public health initiatives, health care, academia and scientific research, and data monitoring and surveillance. Topics discussed included evidence for the benefits of health related to sodium reduction, public policy recommendations, past and present experience of the food industry, and implementation of recommendations to reduce sodium in the diet.

2. Currently, Americans consume >3400 mg of sodium per day, which increases their risk of hypertension, stroke, and other serious health problems. High blood pressure (BP) and high dietary sodium are believed to be responsible for >400,000 deaths annually among US adults.

3. Given that >75% of sodium consumption comes from sodium added to food before it is sold, Americans have relatively little control over how much sodium they consume, and it is often challenging to choose diets that are lower in sodium. There are wide ranges in sodium levels among packaged and restaurant foods, which suggest that there is an opportunity for substantial reductions in sodium that can go unnoticed by consumers.

4. The benefits of sodium reduction in people with poorly controlled BP are striking. In a trial of patients with resistant hypertension, a reduction in sodium intake by 4600 mg/d lowered systolic and diastolic BP by 22.7 and 9.1 mm Hg, respectively.

5. Sodium reduction also blunts the age-related rise in BP. Because BP rises with age, approximately 90% of adults eventually become hypertensive. The DASH Sodium trial demonstrated that sodium reduction to a level of approximately 1500 mg/d lowers BP more in older adults than younger adults. Systolic BP decreased by 8.1 mm Hg in those ages 55-76 years compared with 4.8 mm Hg in adults ages 23-41 years. In people without hypertension, BP decreased by 7.0 mm Hg in those >45 years of age compared with 3.7 mm Hg in those ≤45 years of age.

6. The AHA stated it believes in the health benefits of reducing sodium to <1500 mg/d based on strong scientific evidence. The long-term goal of 1500 mg of sodium per day can be achieved incrementally. Research has shown that behavioral modification techniques can help people reduce sodium, but these techniques alone have not been successful in decreasing population-wide sodium intake. Environmental and policy approaches to accompany behavior change strategies are needed to achieve a meaningful impact on the public’s health. Public policy approaches have successfully decreased population salt intakes in other countries including the United Kingdom and Finland.

7. Food manufacturers are under increasing pressure to reduce sodium, and improvements have been observed. Other critical government efforts include supporting robust sodium criteria within school nutrition standards, foods advertised and marketed to children, and foods purchased by employers or government feeding programs. The AHA also supports improved food labeling that helps consumers understand how much sodium is in the foods they purchase, and consumer education in restaurants to help consumers choose lower-sodium options. The association eagerly awaits the release of the federal government’s draft voluntary sodium targets for packaged and restaurant foods, which will be a critically important step for lowering sodium in the food supply.

8. Further research is critical, but calls for more research should not postpone efforts to meet current AHA guidelines for sodium reduction. Monitoring and surveillance should be continued and enhanced with regard to sodium knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors; sodium intake measurement; salt taste preference; and sodium content of foods. Maintenance of food and nutrient databases that reflect the current sodium content of the food supply will also be important to quantify population sodium intake.

9. The authors concluded that a well-established body of scientific research shows that there is a strong relationship between excess sodium intake and high BP and other adverse health outcomes. Since Americans are getting >75% of their sodium from processed and restaurant food, reducing sodium in the food supply could have significant health benefits. However, the reduction of sodium in the food supply is a complex issue that involves multiple stakeholders.

10. The success of new technological approaches for reducing sodium will depend on product availability, health effects (both intended and unintended), research and development investments, quality and taste of reformulated foods, supply chain management, operational modifications, consumer acceptance, and cost. The conference facilitated an exchange of ideas and set the stage for potential collaboration opportunities among stakeholders with mutual interest in reducing sodium in the food supply and in Americans’ diets.

Clinical Topics: Congenital Heart Disease and Pediatric Cardiology, Diabetes and Cardiometabolic Disease, Prevention, CHD and Pediatrics and Prevention, Diet, Hypertension

Keywords: Cooperative Behavior, Stroke, Great Britain, Food Supply, Food Labeling, Finland, Blood Pressure, Metabolic Syndrome X, Child, Diet, Sodium-Restricted, Hyponatremia, Sodium, Dietary, Cardiovascular Diseases, Nutritional Status, Restaurants, Hypertension, Hypernatremia

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New "Rock Around The Clock" Style Added

This rock and roll song was written in 1952 by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers (Myers writing under the pseudonym "Jimmy De Knight"). The best-known and most successful rendition was recorded by Bill Haley & His Comets in 1954 for American Decca. It was a No1 single in both the US & UK charts. It also re-entered the UK Singles Chart in both the 1960s and 1970s..

Haley's recording became an anthem for rebellious 1950s youth and is widely considered to be the song that, more than any other, brought rock and roll into mainstream culture around the world. The song is ranked No. 158 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.


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What Happens to the Pacers on the Road?

Indiana will need to shake their road woes against Washington

Thereâ€™s a stone-cold fact in NBA life: teams are better at home than they are on the road. Whether itâ€™s the home cooking, sleeping in their own beds, the familiarity with the rims or the lack of travel, every single team in the league had a better record in their home gym than on the road.

The Pacersâ€™ splits are as dramatic as any team in the league. Indiana was a below average offensive team overall in the regular season, with an offensive rating of 101.5 for the season, according to The difference from home to road is quite noticeable. They were a passable 103.9 at Bankerâ€™s Life Fieldhouse, but that dropped down to 96.7 on the road for a negative differential of -7.2.

The splits on defense are even worse. Even through their inexplicable slump, Indiana still led the league with a smothering defensive rating of 96.7. At home, youâ€™re simply not scoring on the Pacers. They locked teams down with a 92.6 DRtg. Teams shot a pathetic 40.4 percent from the field. Indianaâ€™s opponents did everything worse in Indianapolis than they did when the Pacers took the road. In fact, that superhuman Pacersâ€™ home defense turned very pedestrian when they donned their road unis, and took a steep dive from their home numbers - an 8.3 point dive, to be specific. On the whole, their net rating of 11.4 at home drops down to -1.8 on the road. That just doesnâ€™t compute.

The Star

Part of the Pacersâ€™ offensive downfall on the road could very well lie with Paul George, who started the season looking like an MVP candidate. The problem with that start was that it masked the hard truth that George just isnâ€™t an efficient scorer or reliable shot creator. After setting the nets on fire from midrange to start the year, George regressed to hitting just 39 percent from that range by seasonâ€™s end, per When his usage rate jumps two points to 29.2 on the road, it becomes more of a problem that heâ€™s chucking 5.2 mid-range jumpers per game. Georgeâ€™s shoddy ball handling comes back to bite him more than usual on the road as well, as his turnover rate jumps from 9.6 at home to 12.0 in enemy territory.

Is there a solution for George? Well, maybe. It would make sense for the swingman to start attacking the rim more, where heâ€™s shooting nearly 75 percent in the postseason, but thatâ€™s not as easy as it sounds against Washington. The Wizards start two bigs more than capable of clogging the lane in Nene and Marcin Gortat, and whichever of them is guarding Roy Hibbert rarely has to stray far from the hoop. But considering that George shooting 28.3 percent from mid-range in the postseason, driving into the forest seems a better option.

The Wildcard

Lance Stephenson was groomed in the Pacers cocoon. When he was making choking gestures at the Heat a few years ago, few imagined heâ€™d be one of the hottest free agents in the summer of 2014, yet here we are. The good with Lance is that he can spaz and go for a triple-double (four of his five trip-dubs were at home), but he's just as capable of having one of those 33 percent shooting, 6 turnover nights (7 of his 11 worst shooting performances of the season came on the road).

Lance is actually not as unreliable on the road as youâ€™d imagine. The high-stepping, highlight-seeking Stephenson actually drops his turnovers by 0.4 per game on the road, while upping his 3-point shooting percentage by nearly 2 points. The only problem with trusting Lance with the ball - other than trusting Lance with the ball - is that he canâ€™t shoot free throws on the road, where his percentage drops from 76.8 to 65.7.

Youâ€™re rolling the dice with Stephenson basically every night. But the Pacers, especially if they drop Game 3, are going to need some magic. Theyâ€™re 14-7 when Lance shoots better than 50 percent on the road, and he did sink a dagger to seal their Game 2 win. So why not let Lance be Lance?

The Defense

There are jabs galore to throw around when it comes to Roy Hibbert, but facts are facts: the man still anchors the best defense in the league, and opponents hardly even try to take it at him. NBA.comâ€™s player tracking shows that he only faces 4.4 attempts per game at the rim, and allows buckets on 32.5 percent of them. And itâ€™s not like the team gets significantly worse on the road: they allow league-low percentages in the restricted area for both home and away games, although at the rim opponent shooting percentages did rise by about 5 percent, per In the postseason, though, they have dropped to third in rim protection (53.8 percent) at home, and that jumps to 58.7 percent on the road.

So why the defensive fall off on the road?

There are a few not-so-small factors that come into play. One is the foul rate; the Pacers commit two more fouls per game on the road, leading to 2.5 more free throw attempts per game for opponents. With teams generally shooting better from the line at home, that resulted in three more made free throws per game for opponents, per

The Pacersâ€™ once-vaunted offensive rebounding, a major strength of last yearâ€™s Eastern Conference finalist, drops by about 3 percent on the road, and the Pacersâ€™ hosts grab an average of about three more rebounds per game on the defensive end than they do in Indiana. Thatâ€™s three fewer offensive opportunities for the Pacers, and for a team that plays as slowly and inefficiently as they do (20th in pace, 23rd in offensive rating) that can have a major impact on both ends.

What the Wizards Do

Washington deserves plenty of credit for turning into a top-flight defensive unit. They finished at number eight in regular season defensive rating, and have dropped their mark under 100 in the postseason, right there with the stingy Pacers. When Gortat and Nene share the court together, as theyâ€™ve done for about 23 minutes per game in the playoffs, they drop their defensive rating down to 97.9, which would be tops in the postseason. Those two present some unique problems for the Pacers. Obviously, at this point, Hibbert doesnâ€™t require any sort of double teams. A crucial component of Indianaâ€™s offense has been David West's ability to draw some extra coverage, either due to his proficient mid-range shooting or bullying guys in the post. But Washington can throw two guys at West that can handle his bulk, clogging up the rest of the already-clogged Pacers' offense.

With guys like John Wall, Bradley Beal and Trevor Ariza causing havoc for the Pacersâ€™ guards and wings with their speed, length and athleticism, itâ€™ll be tough for Indiana to have any more success on either end when they walk into the Phone Booth on Friday.


"Yes, in theory, words are words. But literature isn't data. The difference between Shakespeare on a BlackBerry and Shakespeare in the Arden Edition is like the difference between vows taken in a shoe store and vows taken in cathedral," - Jonathan Franzen.


Ethereum -What is Ethereum

What is Ethereum?

What is Ethereum

Ethereum Primer

By Stephan Tual

The fundamental building block in Ethereum is a contract, a program that lives on the Ethereum network and follows a series of steps every time it receives a transaction. Contracts can store data, send and receive transactions and even interact with other contracts holding third party data. They are maintained by the network, without any central ownership or control. Contracts are written in a language instantly familiar to any programmer and powered by Ether, the base unit of Ethereum cryptocurrency (put differently, its cryptofuel).

ethereum what if

Ethereum can therefore be thought of as a programmable distributed network. This has implications going far beyond the seemingly obvious applications such as financing agreements. The fact that Ethereum, is, by its very design, resistant to tampering and fraud, also permits a range of other solutions to everyday problems regarding identity and verification which are currently solved at great expense. Voting machines, healthcare software, registration of legal documents such as wills, transfer of title to goods and land, reputation systems, and even traffic navigations systems or social networks can be build on a network where users stay in control of their personal information — and funds — at all times.

It may even be that the Ethereum applications that will have the most impact on the world are yet to be discovered, just like it took about four years for social networks to be ‘invented’ on the web — and many more for them to diversify and invent novel applications such as microblogging.

eretheum software

Ethereum can be used to develop, decentralize, secure and trade just about anything, and is limited only by the creativity of developers. For example: company governance, startup crowdfunding, voting, domain name registration and intellectual property. Even smart property — transferring and securing real-world assets — could be implemented, provided that complementary hardware is developed and integrated.

Freedom of Entrepreneurship

If you’ve seen people excited about Ethereum’s potential, it’s probably because they realized it empowers them to build applications that will have a genuine, measurable societal impact — the ‘a-ha’ moment of Ethereum.

Ethereum makes funding, launching a business and listing its stocks a universal, straightforward process. Think Kickstarter on steroids where early adopters acquire ‘shares’ in a business rather than a pre-ordered product. Coupled with Ethereum’s potential to deliver on the promise of microfinance, it could also empower the 2.5 billion unbanked with the tools required to elevate themselves in a truly free world economy.

Even where ample business infrastructure exists, such as it does in the developed world, Ethereum holds the potential to assist companies of all kinds reduce their operational costs and scale more rapidly. It also creates a two way conversation between consumers and corporations through total transparency. There is no room for collusion or corruption within decentralized organizations running on Ethereum as all assets relating to accounts and governance are stored in plain text on every network node.

Within this infinitely free market, bad actors are weeded off almost immediately, as establishing competing and fairer businesses becomes trivial to anyone willing to offer a similar service.

Business in most countries exists in two states : grey area (“System D”) and government sanctioned. Ethereum’s technology allows for a third state, enabling access to global resources for any businesses regardless of location, accelerating both democracy and free enterprise.

Here are a few verticals where Ethereum could engender disruptive innovation:

Decentralization of consumer contracts and consumer credit

All forms of existing business contracts are surprisingly simple. The vast majority of the complexity sits in the arbitration, compliance and fraud protection associated with said contracts. Ethereum itself forms the backbone for arbitration, regulation and fraud protection. The business contracts are the entities that you program into its network using a powerful, yet approachable programming language. Decentralized, user-friendly web interfaces will lower the barriers of entry even further, down a simple exercise involving the selection of a few boilerplate parameters at the click of a mouse.

Universal access to financial instruments

Any financial instruments or security can be modeled within Ethereum, including stocks, bonds, letters of credit, loans, mortgages, derivatives (futures, forwards, swaps, options) and CfDs (Contracts for Difference).

Consumers could use decentralised markets to trade instantaneously, internationally, and inexpensively; financial institutions themselves could use decentralised applications to remove the need for expensive transaction managers and gain access to capital from a broad user base in a secure and transparent way.

Disruption lies in the fact that their trading takes place on decentralized markets, with no censorship and virtually no fees, in a peer to peer fashion. Trustless exchanges and decentralized escrow would allow funds to remain under the user’s control and never be at risk from a corporate insolvency, fraud or theft, even if the exchange itself were to shut down or its operators were to disappear.

Socially beneficial distributed computing

Ethereum makes it possible for distributed computing platforms to reward their users with an additional incentive layer, which could be implemented as part of a contract. This special type of currency — or ‘meta coin’ — issued by research departments or charities, could be assigned to users after completing arbitrary actions such as folding protein for cancer research or participating in the SETI at home program.

‘Drop in’ economic application layer

Games or applications that embrace user-driven economies such as CCP’sEve Online could leverage Ethereum-based economies across franchised games — a digital good acquired in a real time strategy game could for example be traded on decentralized exchange and be used as part of a first person shooter. Of course, these economies would benefit from having access to the same variety of financial instruments mentioned above.

Decentralized cloud services

Using cloud services today, while convenient, is also fraught with risk of hacking and companies going out of business, along with their users data. Ethereum enables some users to pay for nodes to encrypt and archive their data, while others could earn money by renting out the free space on their hard drive (using decentralized storage options such as MaidSafe or Bittorrent). Of course, all of this would be driven by market forces, with contracts autonomously relocating to more cost efficient nodes as required.

The dawn of Super Applications, DAOs and Intelligent Agents

Because contracts live as independent processing units on a decentralized network, making use of existing services instead of reimplementing basic functionality is common sense. A decentralized version of Ebay could for example interact with an escrow contract, a reputation service, a postal delivery tracking service and a distributed storage layer.

Applications assembled with ‘lego blocks’ of logic hint at the future formation of ‘Super Apps’, the components of which would be individually compelled to maintain maximum value and customer satisfaction or face being replaced.

Taking this concept further are ‘Decentralized Autonomous Organizations’ (DAOs). Consisting of one or more contracts, a DAO is funded by a group of like minded individuals, who subsequently own ‘shares’ in the project. DAOs operate completely transparently without human management, and are no longer subject to voting or other control by their creators or any other stakeholder. A DAO will survive for as long as it can offer valuable services to its user base and earn revenue sufficient to cover its survival costs.

As such, there are too many examples to list in this brief overview. Ethereum’s potential for disruption encompasses many other verticals, including medical data, consumer loyalty and media distribution. By bringing the creation of trustless and decentralized applications within the reach of any developer, Ethereum is set to precipitate the next phase in innovation acceleration.

Ethereum represents the intersection of several disciplines: computer science, monetary theory, business development, and economics. It operates in these areas to effect positive change in social systems. It may represent the first viable system that guarantees free market capitalism and universally fair social systems, in short, the first Social Operating System.

This Information was posted by the CEO of Ethereum and is amazing to say the least. This new technology will change the world, peer to peer systems running everything we need without any middlemen. When bitcoin came out we never thought it would evolve into such a powerful technology. We at , want to share this information with the world. Such a large number of people have no idea what is happening and we need more awareness to help shape the development of Dapps and systems that will be available very soon.

 Visit the Ethereum Builder’s Guide

Main site:

IRC Freenode: #ethereum


“Where love is deep, much can be accomplished.” - Dr. Suzuki

Dr. Suzuki created a method to teach music as a language.
Children naturally learn their mother-tongue easily with a few ingredients:

  1. Begin Early - when a child’s brain is scientifically proven to be most open to acquiring new languages. This is the same area of the brain that processes music.

  2. Parental Involvement - positive feedback and encouragement inspire children to continue.

  3. Repetition - repeating new skills while reviewing old ones builds ability and confidence.

  4. Group of friends - Learning the standardized repertoire, students enjoy playing in a weekly group class with their friends. Children learn leadership and ensemble skills in a playful environment.

  5. Step by Step - learn songs that are singable and gradually get more difficult; build upon acquired skills, adding vocabulary.

  6. Weekly Private Lessons - Regularly see a master teacher to fine-tune and personalize the learning process.

  7. Listening - Surround the child with beautiful representations of music (daily listening); listen as often as you hear people speak.

  8. Delay Reading - we learn to read after we learn to speak. Once the child’s foundation of beautiful posture and tone are strong, we'll start learning to read music.

You do not have to be a musician to be a successful Suzuki Parent. The “Suzuki Triangle” of Parent, Child and Teacher is integral to the process. We will regularly check-in to make sure you are confident in your home practice.

Suzuki offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to strengthen the parent-child relationship. Your child will gain many skills as they strive for excellence in music and life.

The Suzuki Method is more than music. It’s a holistic philosophy: an approach to music that enriches students’ self-esteem, self-awareness, and parent-child relationships. At cSSm, we believe Every Child Can develop their ability and character through the study of a musical instrument.

Are you ready to grow?


The filming industry has become a huge part of our lives during the last century. People are watching movies every day, and new films are produced all the time. Thus, this is hard to say that people are not fond of watching movies. And by knowing how influential the film industry is for a life of a person, we have to admit that movies have spread into all the fields. We can see that they are used in such places as hospitals to make the patients relax, and they are also used for commercial purposes. People are watching movies to spend their free time with family, friends or just on their own. And we can also claim that every movie will be able to find its viewer. Therefore, there is a need to discuss such a topic as educational movies, which are used in all types of instances that are linked with education. For example, at schools, teachers use movies to show historical situations and to illustrate some things. At colleges, many movies are analyzed on a deeper level. But there is a whole section of movies created just for educational purposes. Those movies are divided into smaller genres, but we can definitely call one that really stands out. Those are documentaries, and they have gone out of just the educational meaning. Nowadays, many people watch them all around the world just because they are interesting. And that brings us to the point where we have to talk whether the educational movies are still topical in everyday use at such places at schools and colleges.

First of all, we have to look at the situation when people think that watching educational movies is still a great idea to help the kids learn more. For example, good movies are still considered as homework helper for English. Such people tend to think that all the info that the movies bring is going to be easy to understand and this is a better way to teach the kids to memorize useful information without having to note it down. No doubt, they have a lot of reasons to think so. The whiteboards are getting out of fashion today, and people see the decision to switch to movies as a great idea. Definitely, they are right as there are many reasons to replace the usual things with newer and better ones. The strategy that was described above is a great idea for most of the people, as it simply replaces something really old and boring with the fresh concepts.

On the other hand, there is a completely opposite opinion to the previous one. It was formed recently because the younger generation thinks that we should not use the old way of teaching today. They believe that with the creation of the new ways of educating people, we should forget both about movies and blackboards. Youth insists on using such ways as interactive teaching. Certainly, there are a lot of great things about movies, especially the fact that you do not need to think about all of the factors, but at the same time, there is no such thing as the teacher that would talk with everybody individually. That is actually a thing that is taking over all of the educational instances all over the world. People think that if the teacher would be working with everyone in person, there would be much more chances that the students will understand the given information. And that is something that the educational movies are lacking. They are great to watch for the people with the same level of understanding the information. That is why movies have to be used at the beginning of studying new topics to explain the students the basics of something. But when it comes to the middle of a semester, people are feeling like they might be missing out on some of the information that has been given to them. Therefore, a thought that the movies are outdated today has a lot of reasons to be true.

Yet, we have to say that the interactive classes are hard to organize and teach. So, we have to look at the idea of keeping movies at the educational instances and that will most likely let the kids spend much less effort on trying to understand the topic right away, as they will have a lot of time at home to think about all the things they will need. Moreover, the teachers will start feeling better too. The reason for that is the fact that you might have to work with everybody in the class, and that is not something that all the teachers would love to do. So, we will have to say that excluding movies at all will make all the people in class feel less comfortable to some extent. That brings us to the brief summary of this question.

In the end, we are just going to repeat that both ideas have a lot of things that could be pretty useful, and many people are going to agree with them. Consequently, we have to look at them separately and after that try to find a good decision for both of the sides. And at this point, the idea is to actually leave the movies for the intro lessons, and after that, it’s better to move on to the individual teaching and all of the things that the new generation loves so much.

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Technical Pathway

The ROP Program is a great way to explore different career paths.The Santa Cruz County Regional Occupational Program (ROP) provides students with the opportunity to acquire career training and technical skills that prepare them for success in a changing workplace and continuing education. ROP provides job training for youth 16 and older. ROP works closely with local employers and many classes offer on-the-job training. Follow-up studies of our students indicate program completers have a high rate of job placement.

For a full list of ROP Programs, check out this link. ROP is not just at Harbor High, in fact, there are courses offered across the county.

At Harbor, the ROP Porgram is run by Sheri Williams. Sheri’s contact info is as follows:

Sheri Williams
ROP Program Coordinator

A vocational school is a way to get a particular training or certification for a specific program. Examples of this would be training to become a medical assistant, massage therapist, automotive service technician, cosmetologist, or computer information technologist.

Some benefits to attending a vocational school are

-They provide a more direct path into a career

-They’re general cheaper and take less time than a 4-year college

-There are many virtual, on-line programs that allow for schedule flexibility

Sound like this might be right for you?

Check out the RWM vocational schools database at:

An apprentice is an employee who receives an hourly wage and other benefits while learning a craft/trade. The vast majority of training occurs on-the-job, and is supplemented by classroom instruction. The apprentice works side-by-side with an experienced craftsperson or "journeyperson."

To look up opportunities for apprenticeships in California, go to:

Considering going straight into the workforce upon graduating? Check out what opportunities are out there for recent grads. Do a job search for a particular region, occupation, or both, at local job-search websites. Some good places to start:


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Home | France | Loire Valley - The Garden of France

Loire Valley - The Garden of France

The Loire [pronounced L'wahr] Valley is located in northern France.  It follows the Loire River (France's longest river), stretching over 600 miles from central France in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. It is often referred to as “the garden of France,” because of the abundance of vineyards and orchards that line the banks of the river.

The Loire Valley is one of France's larger wine regions, encompassing approximately 310 square miles and about 185,000 acres of commercially planted vineyards within its boundaries. There are fifty very diverse sub-appellations within the region. The farthest east region is Sancerre and the farthest west region is Muscadet,
which borders on the Atlantic Ocean.

History of the Loire Valley

The Loire Valley has been inhabited since the Middle Paleolithic Period (about 2000 years). Its earliest inhabitants were the Celtic tribes known as the Gauls. The Romans staged many battles there and the Loire Valley became part of the Roman Empire for several centuries. During that time, Attila the Hun was defeated there by an army made up of Romans and Visigoths. During this period of Roman rule, many settlements were established in the valley. One of the more important settlements was called Torones, which eventually became Tours, where in the year 732, Charles Martel defeated an invading Islamic army from Spain. This was one of the most important battles of the middle ages.

Tours later became a place of refuge for the Kings of France during the Hundred Years War with England. The nearby town of Orléans is where Joan of Arc helped to end that war. The region eventually became a popular retreat for the royalty of France - the Emperor Napoleon's wife even had a residence there. In 2000, UNESCO added the central part of the Loire River valley to its list of World Heritage Sites.

There are more than 300 historic chateaux in the Loire Valley, many of which have been converted into museums or plush hotels.

The Wines of the Loire Valley

The Loire Valley is the most diverse wine region in France – sparkling wines, dessert wines, and red and white wines of many styles are produced with great success there. Loire wines tend to exhibit a characteristic fruitiness, with fresh, crisp flavors. The main white wines of the Loire Valley are Sancerre (Sauvignon Blanc), Vouvray (Chenin Blanc), Savenniéres (Chenin Blanc), Menetou-Salon, Montlouis (Chenin Blanc), Muscadet, Pouilly-Fumé (Sauvignon Blanc) and Quarts de Chaume (Chenin Blanc). The main sparkling wine is called Crémant de Loire. The main red wines of the Loire Valley are Bourguil and Chinon.

Grape Growing in the Loire Valley

Because the area is so large and so diverse, there is a variety of soil types, although the main components in the soils tend to be limestone and chalk.

Overall, the climate is considered to be a temperate maritime climate, with generally mild temperatures. The summers tend to be hot (but they rarely exceed 100 °F) and the winters tend to be cool and rainy. Annual rainfall averages between 25 and 27 inches per year. This climate is considered to be the most pleasant in northern France – this temperate, cooler climate produces grapes, and consequently wines with great balance and intense aromatics.

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·  Cote de Nuits
·  Languedoc-Roussillon - The French Riviera
·  Provence
·  Beaujolais Nouveau - The Thanksgiving wine
·  France - Birthplace of Wine
·  Burgundy (Bourgogne)
·  Champagne "Come quickly ! I'm tasting stars!"
·  Bordeaux - Best in the World?
·  Alsace - Planet of the Apes?

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