Cynde Soto (pictured) dreads the arrival of yet another benefit notice.
Her cash assistance has been cut four times in two years. State medical coverage is getting more expensive and no longer includes dental care or podiatry. And the in-home help she needs to take care of basics has been cut by about 20 minutes a day.
"That doesn't sound like a lot to people but … I'm a quadriplegic," said the 54-year-old Long Beach resident. "I can't even scratch my own nose."
Faced with years of recession-driven budget shortfalls, state lawmakers have made deep cuts to health and social services. The reductions, including a round that took effect this month, translate into sizable state savings but are sharply scaling back the safety net for California's most vulnerable residents: the elderly, the disabled and the poor.
Since mid-2008, more than $3 billion has been sliced from CalWorks, the state's welfare program for nearly 600,000 families with children, according to an analysis by the California Budget Project, a nonpartisan think tank. Another $3 billion has been cut from Medi-Cal, which provides health coverage to about 7.5 million Californians. And $4.6 billion has been cut from the Supplemental Security Income program, which supports nearly 1.3 million elderly and disabled people with little or no other income.
The cuts are reversing longstanding policy priorities and eroding the ability of public agencies to cope with a growing and aging population, advocates for low-income families say.
More than a billion dollars has been slashed for childcare, job training and other services that have helped hundreds of thousands of unemployed Californians reenter the workforce since a Clinton-era overhaul of the national welfare system imposed strict limits on benefits in 1996.
"We've gone back on the social compact of welfare reform," said Jean Ross, the California Budget Project's executive director.
Because those programs are stretched, welfare recipients with small children have not been required to participate in workforce preparation activities since 2009, increasing the number of exempt families by about 60,000, according to the County Welfare Directors Assn. of California.
"We have a lot of people we're telling to sit at home," said Michael Herald, a lobbyist for the Western Center on Law & Poverty. "We have fundamentally distorted the program in recent years because of the budget crisis."
Programs that help the poor, the elderly and the disabled stay healthy and independent have also been hit, undercutting local, state and federal efforts to keep the needy away from high-cost emergency rooms and institutionalized care.
"You've got the most vulnerable people in society getting hit with multiple cuts," said Frank Mecca, who heads the welfare directors association. "The same person gets hit over and over."
Soto is paralyzed from the shoulders down but does not let that keep her from doing advocacy work for people with disabilities at a Los Angeles independent living center. Using her mouth, she can operate a computer trackball and type numbers into a phone with a Popsicle stick. Several times a week, an aide helps her into an electric wheelchair so she can take the train to work.
Most of the $800 she earns a month goes toward work expenses, including paying someone to feed her lunch. She has relied on $723 a month in SSI to cover rent and utilities. In July, the state reduced its portion of the grant for single beneficiaries like Soto to the federal minimum, shaving $15 from her income.
The same month, the state began charging Medi-Cal beneficiaries copayments of $5 for prescriptions, $50 for emergency room visits and up to $200 for hospital stays. Soto has five prescriptions and went to the hospital four times last year. "That can really add up," she said.
But the cuts that worry her most are those to the In-Home Supportive Services program, which is paying for about nine hours of care a day. The two women who have been assisting Soto for more than a decade have told her they will have to look for other jobs if their hours are cut again. Without them, she fears she would have to go into a nursing home.
"Oh, my gosh. That's no way to live," she said. "I wouldn't be able to continue working. I would lose my quality of life.... I think I would rather just die."
State lawmakers said tough choices had to be made because of the size of the budget shortfalls, which totaled tens of billions of dollars. Health and human services account for about a quarter of state spending.
Last month, Gov. Jerry Brown signed another "painful budget" with deep cuts to services after losing a bid to win enough Republican votes to extend temporary taxes. Republicans said the taxes were a drag on the struggling state economy.
Among the cuts taking effect this month is an 8% reduction to CalWorks grants for low-income families. A single mother with two children living in Los Angeles County now receives a maximum $638 a month. If the mother has been on the program for more than four years, her portion of the grant will expire Aug. 1, and the family will be left with $516 a month. Previously, adults could receive cash aid for five years.
A Times analysis shows that the maximum monthly payment for a family of three has fallen to just 41% of the federal poverty level, compared to 55% before welfare reform began in 1996.
Margarita Romo, a 61-year-old widow from Pasadena with two children at home, says she is careful about money and reluctant to complain about benefits.
"That's not me," she said. "I find I always have enough for food, for rent." But the thought of managing with the latest cuts, she said, makes her "sick."
Romo's household income is being hit on two fronts: the reductions in CalWorks and SSI payments, which they receive to help care for a child with Down syndrome. Her older children say they want to help. But one has a child of her own; another has been looking for work for months; and the third had to drop out of college to pay a $2,000 emergency room bill because he had no insurance.
"We worry about her, all of us," said eldest daughter Marisol Salcedo, 23, who is studying engineering. "We give her money, but later on it's one of us borrowing $20."
Federal programs, including food stamps and job subsidies, helped ease the impact of some state cuts, said Caroline Danielson, a fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. But the subsidies were temporary and food stamps can't be used for rent or utilities.
In addition to affecting beneficiaries, the state cuts are eroding the ability of counties to provide quality services, Mecca said. Even before the current recession, state funding to administer services was not keeping pace with inflation. Many counties have had to reduce staff even though caseloads are growing.
Mecca's association estimates the cuts have left the state short about 1,280 child welfare workers and 465 adult protective services workers, who investigate elder abuse and neglect.
"We know that we're not responding to all the calls that we should be," Mecca said. "You just can't."
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services has lost about 1,500 employees since 2007, said Director Philip L. Browning.
"I don't see us ever getting back to the level of staff that we have had," Browning said. "I think we're going to have to do things smarter." Among adjustments the county has made is taking benefit applications online.
The Medi-Cal cuts and the elimination of state funding for community clinics have reduced access to healthcare, , said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a consumer advocacy group. And he said the problem could get worse if the state wins a legal fight to cut reimbursement rates for Medi-Cal service providers.
The combined cuts have left many families hard-pressed to manage day-to-day needs.
Carlos Garbutt, a 45-year-old database manager from Riverside, gets up before dawn to make breakfast for his 74-year-old mother, Nubia. He wakes her by gently stroking her cheek, then bathes and dresses her and carefully styles her curly dark hair. She has Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Garbutt has been able to continue working because the state has paid for her to attend a day care program at Loma Linda University Medical Center and receive 126 hours a month of in-home care. But, the latest state budget could upset this arrangement.
The state's Adult Day Health Care program are being eliminated, and it is not clear what alternatives will be provided. That leaves Garbutt wondering whether he can continue to care for his mother at home.
"I want to be part of her journey," he said. Although his mother no longer speaks, he said, "I'm able to see when there is a glimmer of a smile or when she enjoys her meal... Those are gifts that will live on."
From The AP. In the picture, a bust of Helen Keller scorched and covered in World Trade Center dust on display in New York.
NEW YORK — Letters written by Helen Keller. Forty-thousand photographic negatives of John F. Kennedy taken by the president's personal cameraman. Sculptures by Alexander Calder and Auguste Rodin. The 1921 agreement that created the agency that built the World Trade Center.
Besides ending nearly 3,000 lives, destroying planes and reducing buildings to tons of rubble and ash, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks destroyed tens of thousands of records, irreplaceable historical documents and art.
In some cases, the inventories were destroyed along with the records. And the loss of human life at the time overshadowed the search for lost paper. A decade later, agencies and archivists say they're still not completely sure what they lost or found, leaving them without much of a guide to piece together missing history.
"You can't get the picture back, because critical pieces are missing," said Kathleen D. Roe, operations director at the New York State Archives and co-chairwoman of the World Trade Center Documentation Project. "And so you can't know what the whole picture looks like."
The picture starts in the seven-building trade center complex. Hijackers flew jetliners into the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001, which collapsed onto the rest of the complex, which included three smaller office buildings, a Marriott hotel and U.S. Customs. 7 World Trade Center, a skyscraper just north of the twin towers, collapsed that afternoon.
The trade center was home to more than 430 companies, including law firms, manufacturers and financial institutions. Twenty-one libraries were destroyed, including that of The Journal of Commerce. Dozens of federal, state and local government agencies were at the site, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Central Intelligence Agency had a clandestine office on the 25th floor of 7 World Trade Center, which also housed the city's emergency command center and an outpost of the U.S. Secret Service.
The first tangible losses beyond death were obvious, and massive.
The Cantor Fitzgerald brokerage, where more than 650 employees were killed, owned a trove of drawings and sculptures that included a cast of Rodin's "The Thinker" — which resurfaced briefly after the attacks before mysteriously disappearing again. Fragments of other sculptures also were recovered.
The Ferdinand Gallozzi Library of U.S. Customs Service in 6 World Trade Center held a collection of documents related to U.S. trade dating back to at least the 1840s. And in the same building were nearly 900,000 objects excavated from the Five Points neighborhood of lower Manhattan, a famous working-class slum of the 19th century.
The Kennedy negatives, by photographer Jacques Lowe, had been stowed away in a fireproof vault at 5 World Trade Center, a nine-story building in the complex. Helen Keller International, whose offices burned up when its building, a block from the trade center, was struck by debris, lost a modest archive. Only two books and a bust of Keller survived.
Classified and confidential documents also disappeared at the Pentagon, where American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into it on 9/11.
A private disaster response company, BMS CAT, was hired to help recover materials in the library, where the jet plane's nose came to rest. The company claimed it saved all but 100 volumes. But the recovery limited access to information related to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, as the U.S. prepared to launch an attack a month later.
In New York, CIA and Secret Service personnel sifted through debris carted from the trade center to a Staten Island landfill for lost documents, hard drives with classified information and intelligence reports. The CIA declined to comment.
Two weeks after the attacks, archivists and librarians gathered at New York University to discuss how to document what was lost, forming the World Trade Center Documentation Task Force. But they received only a handful of responses to survey questions about damaged or destroyed records.
"The current atmosphere of litigation, politics and overall distrust surrounding the 9/11 attacks has made information sharing and compilation a complex task," said the final 2005 report of the project.
Federal agencies are required by law to report the destruction of records to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration — but none did. Federal archivists called the failure understandable, given the greater disaster.
After Sept. 11, "agencies did not do precisely what was required vis-à-vis records loss," said David S. Ferriero, the Archivist of the United States, in an email to The Associated Press. "Appropriately, agencies were more concerned with loss of life and rebuilding operations — not managing or preserving records."
He said off-site storage and redundant electronic systems backed up some records; but the attacks spurred the archives agency to emphasize the need for disaster planning to federal records managers.
Said Steven Aftergood, the director of the project on government secrecy at the watchdog group the Federation of American Scientists: "Under extreme circumstances, like those of 9/11, ordinary record keeping procedures will fail. Routine archival practices were never intended to deal with the destruction of entire offices or buildings."
Only the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District formally requested help from federal archivists after discovering stored case files kept had been damaged by mold and water.
The EEOC had to reconstruct 1,500 discrimination case files, said Elizabeth Grossman, supervisory trial attorney for the agency in 2001 at the time of the attacks. Cases were delayed for months. Computers had been backed up only as of Aug. 31, 2001. Witness interviews had to be conducted all over again.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the region's airports, bridges and the World Trade Center, had much of its archives and the contents of its library — which had closed in 1995 as a cost-cutting measure — in the building.
But a decade later, it only has "a general idea" of what documents were destroyed, Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman said, including most of its video and photo archives, board meeting minutes and the compact that created the bi-state agency. It was kept on the 67th floor of the north tower.
"We do not have a detailed list" of the missing records, Coleman said in an email. The agency meticulously stores thousands of tons of steel from the building and other wreckage of the trade center in a hangar at Kennedy Airport.
A meeting had been scheduled — on Sept. 11, 2001 — between the agency and a group of libraries that had wanted to claim parts of the Port Authority collection, stored in the north tower. The meeting had been postponed at the last minute, said Ronald Becker, the head of special collections at Rutgers University Libraries, who was supposed to attend.
Not everything was lost. Copies of inventories had been sent out to the libraries that had sought to take parts of the collection, and as workers sifted through the rubble at ground zero, they found remnants of a photographic collection kept by the agency. Tens of thousands images dating back to 1921 were restored from what had been a collection of one million before the attacks.
One photo contact sheet — a picture of the Port Authority's aviation director — was discovered by a recovery worker two days after the attacks. It was given to the Sept. 11 museum, along with office IDs, letters and other bits of paper that were recovered in the rubble in the days and weeks afterward.
Jan Ramirez, the curator of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, said there was no historical consciousness surrounding the site before it was destroyed.
"It was modern, it was dynamic. It was not in peril. It was not something that needed to be preserved," she said.
When terrifying battlefield memories come rushing back, war veterans have for years had to rely on therapy and other low tech methods to cope in the civilian world.
But now veterans have a new weapon in the fight against post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) - mobile phone apps.
'I'm not going to lie - when this came out, we sort of wanted to slam it,' a once sceptical Staff Sargent Meg Krause said of her group of veteran friends.
'But it surprised us and has been a phenomenal tool,' said the 29-year-old reservist and medic, who has had counselling for post-traumatic stress disorder.
A half-dozen apps with names like 'T2 MoodTracker,' 'PTSD Coach' and 'Breathe2Relax' have been developed by the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department, but not to diagnose illness or replace psychiatric counselling.
Rather, the apps offer at-your-fingertips information about what the military calls 'invisible wounds' of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - and techniques for managing the symptoms.
All but one were the work of the Pentagon, starting with MoodTracker, which lets users rate how they're feeling - worthless, happy, lonely and so on - and keep a record of their ups and downs over time.
The newest, released in May, was a joint Pentagon-VA effort - PTSD Coach. It helps self-assess symptoms, gives step-by-step instructions in muscle relaxation and breathing, helps users create a phone list of people to call when they need support and helps vets contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline in an emergency.
'Someone who's struggling ... all they have to do is pull out their smartphone or their iPhone and say, 'I can help myself,' Krause said.
'To know that there is something that I can pull out and watch, and it will help me go through my breathing techniques so I don't get to that crisis moment, I think is immensely important.'
There's also an app for health care providers that includes definitions, causes and severity ratings for mild traumatic brain injury - or concussions - suffered by so many troops from roadside bombs and other explosions.
Another for doctors treating PTSD is expected in the coming months. Officials hope the apps for troops, vets and their families will encourage more people to get professional help and will be used by others to supplement professional therapy.
Krause served twice in Iraq and has worked for the "Real Warriors" campaign, a separate defence program in which service members tell their personal stories to encourage other troops to go for counselling.
Finding others to talk about using the apps is hard since the free downloads are anonymous.
Preserving that privacy is a big selling point for a military population that hides its problems for fear of appearing weak or being passed over for promotions.
'Engaging veterans on their own terms is especially crucial in the area of mental health,' said Dr. Sonja Batten, a clinical psychologist who works on national mental health policy for the VA.
For now, what's known is that MoodTracker was downloaded about 17,000 times since it was introduced.
Since PTSD Coach was released in May, it has been downloaded about 11,000 times in 37 countries, including Mexico, Latvia and Japan.
Although the app is particularly tailored to the needs of active-duty troops and veterans, some users may also be PTSD sufferers with no military background.
Officials believe it's likely some are civilians who've had other types of trauma, such as from physical or sexual assaults, car accidents or natural disasters.
ATLANTA -- From reveille to marches to taps, music plays a vital role in the life of a soldier. One disabled Iraq veteran says he believes it may play an even more important role for wounded warriors.
Paul Delacerda spent 15 years jumping out of airplanes with the Army's vaunted 82nd Airborne Division before he blew out his kornee, ending his paratrooper career. But he wasn't done serving. He fought his way through grueling rehab and back into the Army on his third attempt.
No longer able to jump, Delacerda was serving on the ground in Iraq when his life changed suddenly and forever.
"A lot of bad stuff happened that day," he said.
Delacerda, a staff sergeant, was driving a truck on a route-clearing mission -- searching for roadside bombs -- in the dangerous Tal Afar area in 2005.
"The pucker factor in that is greater than you can imagine," he quipped.
As Delacerda and his squad crept down the road, chaos broke out all around them. A youth of about 12 threw a grenade, and the soldiers shot back, he said.
"Suddenly everything went black," Delacerda recalled. An improvised explosive device had exploded under the truck.
The blast didn't tear Delacerda's body apart, but it violently knocked his brain around inside his skull. Everyone in the squad survived, but Delacerda's military career really was over this time.
Now he suffers severe headaches, numbness in his arms and legs, nightmares, post-traumatic stress disorder and profound memory loss. Sometimes he doesn't recognize close friends. On one occasion he found himself inside a Walmart, unable to remember his own name, let alone why he was there, he said.
But one thing he has no trouble remembering is songs: "I hear it once, I can play it on drums," he said.
Out of the Army, on disability and unable to work, Delacerda found that music was one of the few things that could hold his focus, and that he felt better when he played -- once he relearned how to play. He knew he couldn't be the only one helped in this way.
Delacerda got the idea in 2009 to form a band of wounded warriors who would play for audiences of wounded warriors. By early 2010 the band Warrior Spirit was up and jamming at Veterans Affairs hospitals, rehab facilities and Warrior Transition Units.
"We can talk to these wounded soldiers and talk to them about what they're going through," Delacerda said. "We can say, 'Hey man, I've been there.' ...
"We're helping these guys heal while we heal ourselves."
Warrior Spirit has seen some personnel changes, but the current version is made up of Delacerda on drums, Levon Ingram on rhythm guitar and vocals, Robert Ferguson on vocals, King Burton on bass and Brian Hunter on saxophone. The band is searching for a lead guitarist.
Burton was wounded with the Army in Vietnam. Hunter served in the Navy during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
"I don't know that it's helped as far as the problems that I have," said Ingram, 29, who suffered a head injury with the Army in Qatar in 2003 and continues to struggle with PTSD. "But it's relaxing. It's a kind of therapy.
"It helps a lot to be around other combat veterans," he added. "It's not like talking to regular people. You automatically have a bond."
Ferguson said bluntly: "We show our fellow veterans and soldiers that are just coming back and are all jacked up that it's not the end of the world."
Most of the band members' injuries are not apparent to the casual observer. You can't say that of Ferguson, 32.
Ferguson makes a point of wearing shorts for gigs and photo shoots so everyone can see his metal right leg.
"I do show it off, because with the rest of the guys in the band, their injuries are internal, but the leg brings validity to the mission," he said. "With me out there, it says, 'Well, maybe these guys are for real.' "
Ferguson lost his leg in an accident at Fort Hood, Texas, while training for the Army Reserve after a hitch in the Air Force. But he almost never has to explain that to other warriors, he said.
"Nobody asks what branch (you belonged to) or how you got hurt," he said. "All anyone cares about is 'You're one of us.' "
And there's no shame in Ferguson's game.
"My wife says I'm cocky; I just say I'm overconfident," he joked.
"Kids' reactions are hilarious," he added. " 'Mom, did you see that guy with the robot leg? I wonder if he has special powers!'"
In a way, he does. The whole band does.
"It's an inspiration," said Tina Raziano, a case manager at the Shepherd Center, a private rehabilitation facility in Atlanta that treats many service members who've suffered spinal or brain injuries as well as emotional trauma.
"A lot of these guys can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. These guys are coping with a lot of things," Raziano said. "If they can see other wounded warriors doing better, playing in front of them, doing well, it helps them see the light at the end of the tunnel."
It's good for the musicians themselves, too, she noted. Learning and playing a musical instrument helps the injured brain rebuild neural pathways and can improve cognitive abilities, she said.
The Shepherd Center's music therapy program received a huge boost last winter when a story about it by CNN affiliate WXIA-TV in Atlanta mentioned the center had just two guitars for wounded soldiers to play. Viewers responded by donating more than 20 guitars within a few days, and the National Pawnbrokers Association came through with over 100 more.
"We don't need any more guitars!" Raziano said. But the instruments have been a boon for the wounded warriors she sees.
"It diverts them from whatever psychological thing they're dealing with," she said. "They don't have to deal with all those horrible thoughts they're carrying with them from the war."
"You remember a lot of things you don't want to," Delacerda affirmed. "So having these guys (band mates) here is pretty cool. We all have issues we have to deal with."
Warrior Spirit plays its blend of country rock, blues and progressive music -- including songs written by Ingram and Ferguson -- throughout the Houston area but would like to take their show on the road. The band is seeking sponsors to help finance a reliable touring vehicle and meet other expenses.
On the schedule are concerts August 6 at the Vets & Hawks Bike Rally in Cleveland, Texas, and September 4 at the Freeport (Texas) Blues Festival. "We use our music as a healing tool," Delacerda said. "Never give up and never quit.
"The lineup may change, but the name and the mission will stay the same. We're warriors playing for warriors, and we always will be."
I was running outside today, and it was BRUTALLY hot. However, my music was the only thing giving me the pep I needed to keep going. Some songs made me feel motivated, some made me feel grateful, and some made me feel like a freaking gazelle! Ha ha.
Anyhow, it gave me the idea to let you listen to the songs that cater to certain moods, for me at least. When I'm sad, J. Cole has a way of cheering me up. When I feel discouraged or doubted, Rapsody and Chris Brown make me feel worthy, just as Kelly Rowland makes me feel sexy! (PS) RELAX! I can sense the opposition MOST people felt when they read the word "Chris Brown" and "worthy" in the same sentence... But let me say something... Chris Brown is an incredible musician. If I connect with someone by their music, that doesn't mean I connect with someone on their lifestyle, or past decisions they have made. Chris Brown deals with adversity on a daily basis, rightfully so, for the most part. However, I'm a Christian woman who has asked for forgiveness PLENTY in my life, and yes, I do believe in second chances. OK, enough with that tangent. Let's talk MUSIC!
So here we go:
When I am feeling sad, even when everything around me is going well, I listen to J. Cole's "Cheer Up." In this song he even says "Lord knows I can't complain, But even when I do it feels the same... I’m getting high just to fight the lows, cuz that's all I know..." Despite his fame and fortune, he still battles sadness.
When I'm feeling doubted and angry, Chris Brown's "Real Hip Hop Sh*t #3" takes me to another level. Whether it's the fact that, subconciously I know his experiences in the past have made people doubt him, this song makes me feel hopeful. The song just goes HARD. 9th Wonder's beat makes the emotional aspect of the song that much more ALIVE!
When I want to feel powerful as a woman, I listen to Rapsody ft. Estelle, "Fly Girl Power." Seeing as both are inspirational and powerful females themselves, this song gives me courage and motivation. One thing that Rapsody told me that will forever stay with me was, "I'm an emcee that happens to be female... I'm an emcee first." She slashes every stereotype that could possibly be used against her.
"Fly girl power, that's what we've been missin' here...."
When I'm surrounded by temptation, trying to stay level headed, I listen to "100 Keys," by Big Sean ft. Pusha T and Rick Ross. I'm not the biggest fan off Rick Ross because sometimes I feel like his songs are TOO similar, but he is a perfect feature in this song and his lyrics are on POINT.
"And for that paper all the wrong things sound right... Where I'm from they push 100 keys and it sounds like..." This is one of my favorite songs of all time. This song also has one of my FAVORITE Big Sean verses. If you listen to the lyrics, you'll see what I mean. The beat is incredible too... the incorparation of the piano is perfect. The "piano keys" are metaphorically used, as a "bittersweet symphony." You will see why in the song.
"And don't worry 'bout the info From where they rob Pintos and could afford Enzos Cause everybody knows keys open doors, but bricks open windows Counting a hundred hundreds, more by more Built this from the tile up, floor by floor Talk shit, I'll send 'em door by door Made for the Snow White like 4 by 4s"
A ton of literal and metaphoric meanings in one verse...
When I just want to rock out to one of the greatest songs ever made, in my opinion, I listen to "Legendary" by Royce Da 5'9 and Travis Barker. The song's instrumentals and Travis Barker's drums create a rock vibe, and Royce's INSANE lyrics maintain the raw hip hop feel. It's a multidimensional song that I will be able to listen to for years. I don't even want to post any lyrics because the entire song is a lyrical masterpiece. Just listen!
Kelly Rowland and Big Sean is a sexy collab, and this song represents just that... Catchy beat too!
When I am feeling confident and driven, Skyzoo's "Written in the Drums" has a way of intensifying that feeling. Knowing Skyzoo, and having had the incredible opportunity to interview him, I got a first hand sense of his passion and talent. He is hands down one of the greatest lyricists in the game. See what I mean:
Sexy song. Sexy Beat. That is all. Actual Proof x Median x Bluu Suede. The lyrics are stellar. There are certain artists that have such unique sounds... Enigma of Actual Proof is one of those artists. I love the tone of his voice! Him and Sundown (other half of Actual Proof) have the intelligence to create abstract stories with their lyrics.
I drove my mom to the store yesterday and when we got back she noticed there were huge scratches on the passenger door of my car. She asked my if I was aware of this, which I was not. I went to inspect and behold, this is what I saw:
Two big deep scratches, obviously made by some wanker with a key! Who does that!! Poor grandpa car is now mutilated (named so for the vague, but after a whole year still lingering smell of the 84-year old man I bought the car from). I have no idea when these were made or where. But I assume it happened by the station, where I park my car when I go to work. Some punk kid who thinks it's funny to drag a key over someone's car. It's very likely that it happened last week, when I left my car there overnight when I came home late from drinks in Brussels with the colleagues and had my dad pick me up at a different station. It just seems more likely that someone keyed it when my car was practically the only one there rather than in the middle of the day when the parking is packed. Was really pissed off when I saw that, I just paid off the damn car! I'm not having it fixed of course, as it would cost far too much. And it's not exactly a Ferrari, so not worth the money to fix a scratch. Doesn't make it any less annoying though.
Anyway, on to more cheerier subjects! I had my extra day off yesterday, and I must say it really made a difference. I was really in dire need of some time off work, and even though this is just a one day extra weekend, I will feel a bit more refreshed when I go back to work on Monday. Right on time, as it is looking like it will be very busy the next two weeks with the sudden change of post of our ambassador. I well get a lot of administrative work dumped on me as the First Secretary is overwhelmed with work and due to lack of staff, us lowly consular officers will have to help carry the load! So I'm really glad I decided to ask for a day off this week, good thing work doesn't mind last minute leave requests.
Less than two months now until my trip to Spain! Will be so nice to finally get a proper holiday and 8 whole days off of work! I wish it wasn't so long anymore, as I could really use some time out of Belgium. As I mentioned before, I'm getting quite fed up with these surroundings. But just a little while longer and I'll be off to the sun and hopefully see some nice things as we have planned.
I do love to travel, it just feel so nice to get away from everything for a while and get a breather and see some beautiful things. What I'd really love to do some time is make some sort of spontaneous trip. Just pick something random on the airline website, and just go as soon as possible, no planning, just off on a little adventure with someone. Far away, for short or long, that doesn't matter, just the surprise and adventurousness of the whole thing would be very fun. I'm more of a planner when it comes to travelling, so doing it like that would be exciting! Or alternatively, just get in the car and drive. I do love a good roadtrip.
The feeling of being off somewhere, seeing something new, not having to think about anything stressful, few things beat that. Just you and the horizon, and the wind in your hair.
New York’s NewFest, in its 23rd year, came to a close July 28 with the announcement of its winners prior to their closing night screening of “Gun Hill Road.” Of over 50 films, winners included Maryam Keshavrz’s “Circumstance” (Best Film - Narrative Feature), John and Gretchen Morning’s “Gone” (Best Film - Documentary), Eric Brach’s “Habana Muda” (pictured) (Special Jury Prize - Documentary), Michael Stabile’s “Smut Capital of America” (Best Doc Short), Kyle Henry’s “Fourplay: San Francisco” (Best Narrative Short), and “Tomboy” star Zoé Héran (Best Performance).
This is not your typical director-grills-the-subject kind of documentary, and don’t expect to have the characters all figured out after watching Eric Brach’s Habana Muda. Brach, a self-proclaimed true documentary filmmaker, chose to leave the story of a contorted love triangle ambiguous to even the most insightful.
The film follows Chino, a deaf mute jack-of-all-trades, trying to support a mute wife and two children in Cuba. But, this film is neither a rags to riches story nor a nasty soap opera affair. In addition to being a supportive husband and father, Chino is in an open relationship with a man from Mexico. Chino suddenly finds himself dreaming about a new life, a new job and a new love. Believe it or not, Anaylis, his wife, is all for it. “He’s a free man. What can I do?” she signs. However, as plans begin to fall through and lies start to mix with truths, Chino becomes trapped between two countries, two loves and the fine line between dreams and reality.
Habana Muda is a film unlike many others. Brach definitely takes advantage of his talented photographers. Every shot is a photograph in itself. There are no special effects or fancy cinematography, just beautiful, true images of this captivating story. Sound is as much of a presence in the film as the characters and images are. As you can imagine, with deaf mute characters, the film is mostly silent, filled with traffic, people yelling, the sounds of the ocean and music in the place of character voices. You can’t help but listen to the sounds of Cuba and realize Chino and Anaylis have never heard them and never will.
At the heart, this film covers love in all the confusing forms it can muster and depicts it with all the drama and comedy that comes with life. The audience becomes torn between two couples: Chino and Anaylis who look so in love, while they dance and laugh to music they can’t hear and Chino and Jose who support each other, but their motives are indistinguishable. Be prepared to test the typical stereotypes of love and family and to create your own idea of what these characters are really about.
High-school senior Michael De Sousa (pictured) has a lot on his mind -- basketball practice, volunteering, the Air Force Academy -- and most important, his mom's degenerative disease, leukoencephalopathy.
De Sousa's mother, Patricia De Sousa, was diagnosed with leukoencephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease, in 1997. Patients with this disorder tend to be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis first. As the disease progresses, patients display symptoms of multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's. Other symptoms they display include being absent-minded, confusion, fits, and loss of balance and motor skills.
Michael and his sister, Melissa De Sousa, do what they can to keep their mother comfortable. But some days can be more challenging than others. For those days, De Sousa turns to his blog, "Students with Disabled Parents," where he shares his experiences with others.
The idea behind the blog, he said, is to show other young teens who are going through the same thing that they are not alone.
"I want this to be a place where everyone going through the same thing can go to," Michael De Sousa said. "Sometimes people might feel embarrassed, but this is a place where they can talk about it and share what they are going through."
Since Michael's mother was diagnosed at 32, things have changed at home.
"She used to inject herself with the medicine," Michael De Sousa said. "But as she got worse, we started to do that, and now she's actually on several medications."
Other members of the family, including Michael's father, Paul De Sousa, were also affected by Patricia's illness.
"Suddenly I knew that my daughter would be turning to me for questions that I didn't know if I would be able to answer," Paul De Sousa said. "So I started checking out books and reading them so I could be prepared when that day came."
Before his mother was diagnosed with the disease, Michael described his mom as a beautiful woman who would always be with him at school and go with him and his sister to parties.
The first sign that something was not right with his mom came in 1997 when Michael noticed that she wasn't walking as quickly, and then her muscles became stiff.
Now his mother needs help with everyday tasks. The family -- Michael, his sister and their father -- help her bathe and brush her teeth, as well as with other basic necessities.
Some days are more difficult than others, but through it all, the family gets through it, said Paul De Sousa.
"We use our humor," he said.
"We are always joking in my house. Either we poke fun at each other, or we poke fun at ourselves. And Michael just continues to try to raise awareness about this degenerative disease."
Since his mother's diagnosis, Michael De Sousa has read up on the disease so he can be up-to-date on the current research. He began bottled water sales in the area to raise money to research multiple sclerosis in the hopes of a future cure or better treatments.
All the money raised goes toward research for a cure to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society chapters in El Paso and in Long Island.
Casey Anthony is once again making headlines, but this time for the nearly one million dollar offer...
...for her face.
Yes, she is this year's Snooki when it comes to the high demand for a Halloween costume.
The description on Ebay where the mask was just sold could not be any more fitting:
"Forget Freddy, Jason [and] Meyers, here's your chance to scare the *#&% out of everyone and win every costume contest with this amazing Tot Mom latex rubber mask, possibly the most frightening mask on the planet."
In addition to that description above, the seller, identified as "Prophunter," also urges that, "This one is in excellent condition and it is numbered six of nine. ... No matter what your opinion of the trial is, this is still one heck of a conversation piece."
How will people react to this though? Is the death of an innocent 4-year-old child becoming more of a joke than anything?
When the bidding ended on Wednesday, the final bid was for $999,990, according to the Sun Sentinal.
So who is this mysterious person that dropped almost ONE MILLION dollars on this mask? The buyer is only identified as "9***6." Hmm... that's no fun!
However, it is probably smart that they concealed their identity, seeing as the amount of outrage sparked by Anthony's innocence could also score this mysterious person a couple of death threats as well.
Friendship drove Brad Parks (pictured) to become founder of wheelchair tennis. In 1976, the 18-year-old sat in a hospital bed pondering what his life would look like -- after being paralyzed from the waist down by a spinal cord injury suffered in a ski accident. Parks didn't want to lose his athletic friends, and wondered what sport he could play, given his injury. He had played recreational tennis before the accident, and thought to himself, I could probably play tennis from a wheelchair, although he had never actually sat in one.
From that vision, Brad Parks went on to found the sport of wheelchair tennis, and for 20 years, served as president of the National Foundation of Wheelchair Tennis. For his pioneering role, Parks became the first wheelchair player to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2010. Wheelchair tennis tournaments are now held in 41 countries worldwide, with programs existing in almost 100. San Clemente resident Brad Parks is also a real estate agent in Orange County.
Q: How and when did you get the idea for starting wheelchair tennis?
A: When I was in the hospital and realized I would most likely be in a wheelchair for life, I began to think about things I could do, and one was tennis. I thought just maybe a guy in a wheelchair could play tennis. At the time, I had one set of friends who were all skiers and surfers -- since that's what I did. My first thought was, what can I do so I don't lose all my friends?
So I started playing tennis just after I got out of the hospital. My parents were playing at a park, and asked me to give it a try, because they knew I was thinking about playing. I loved it from the first hit. I thought that I'd give myself a year and see if it could be done, and after that year, I never stopped playing.
Our first wheelchair tennis tournament was held in Griffith Park in 1977, and I played in the finals against David Kiley, who was a premiere wheelchair basketball player. At that time, basketball was the main wheelchair sport, and many of those players also became wheelchair tennis players. A few years later, after giving an exhibition and clinic in Southern California, a small group -- mainly me and a local teaching pro -- decided we should form an organization to develop the game, and so we did.
Q: What were the challenges in getting it going?
A: It was hard at first because the wheelchairs were so bad. There were no sport-type chairs in the 1970s, only hospital chairs. We also used two bounces, which was hard for people to grasp. Many court owners did not want wheelchairs on their courts, and it looked sort of weird to see a bunch of handicapped people try and play tennis. But over time, they realized that wheelchairs didn't harm the courts, and there was a whole new group of people who wanted to play their sport.
The invention of lightweight chairs and techniques used in pushing the chairs and positioning the body in the chair enabled more people to be able to play -- like quads. In my playing days in the '70s and '80s, a guy who was an amputee or had polio with really good balance had such an advantage over someone with a higher-level (spinal cord) injury. In those days, too, guys were trying to modify their wheelchairs to try and make them turn better. There were kids in their 20s in wheelchairs who started making wheelchairs in their garages and forming their own companies, and it revolutionized the wheelchair industry.
Q: Have you been surprised at how successful the program has become?
A: Yes and no. I always felt wheelchair tennis was a wonderful sport, and one where a disabled person could play with an able-bodied person -- making it even more special. But success at the top level, playing in the Grand Slams, prize money, and the development of (light-weight) wheel chairs has been fantastic. I did not imagine that we would be playing in the Grand Slams or be run by the organizations of tennis, and be part of the game versus being separate. I also know a lot of coaches who have told me that wheelchair tennis revived their interest not only in playing, but in coaching. It's been a good thing.
Q: What has being involved with wheelchair tennis done for your health and life?
A: I wanted to participate in sports with my able-bodied friends after my accident. Tennis gave me this opportunity. It made me feel alive and more normal. With the growth of the game and the competition, I was able to travel the world and make wonderful friendships because of tennis. It also kept me fit throughout my adult life.
Q: What is your philosophy on what disabled athletes can achieve?
A: I am constantly amazed at what wheelchair athletes have been achieving. I was injured in a skiing accident, and I thought my skiing days were over, but I went helicopter skiing this past March in Alaska. With the invention of sports equipment and the continued improvement in wheelchairs, disabled people can go hiking, biking, and water and snow skiing. There is even a guy who does back flips in skate parks in a wheelchair.
There are always lines at Comic-Con. Lines to get in, lines to see the "Twilight" panel, lines to play the newest video game. Lines are a part of life at this convention devoted to comics, movies and all things pop culture. But in recent years, even the lines at disabled services are long.
Joy Banks waits to register at disabled services with a companion, who she introduces. "This is Angel, my service dog." Angel is a little restless. Banks says she's bored and asks her family, "How long have we been waiting here, an hour and a half?"
Banks, 50, has been attending Comic-Con for nine years. She uses a wheelchair because she has hip problems and emphysema. She says Comic-Con really caters to people with special needs. "They have a rest area so when we’re tired we can come over here and rest, which helps a lot because it’s a very big venue, and it’s hard for all of us to get around."
Comic-Con doesn’t track the number of disabled who attend every year, but spend just one day walking the convention hall and you’ll see plenty of wheelchairs moving through the notoriously large crowds. Bill Cademy says that’s the hardest part. He presses a button on his wheelchair. "This little "beep beep" on the scooters, no one pays attention to it. It’s too quiet. This year I decided to try the bicycle bell and it seems to work. It worked last night anyway, like magic!"
Comic-Con set up disabled services in 1988. It rents wheelchairs and provides cold storage for medicine. If a disabled person needs a helper or attendant, that person can attend Comic-Con for free.
Doug Lathrop is in a wheelchair and has been going to Comic-Con for 15 years. He brings a friend he’s known since junior high to help him. Lathrop explains: "It’s good having someone, I get tired of having to push this thing around so he’ll push me around for awhile and there are other people who really need a helper and need an attendant for various things."
Lathrop saw his disability, a bone condition called Osteogenesis Imperfecta, portrayed in a superhero movie from 2000 called "Unbreakable," starring Samuel L. Jackson. He laughs, "Yeah, they got some of it right but most of it they got wrong. Particularly since, you know, I don’t know anybody with it that looks like Samuel L. Jackson."
Professor Xavier of the popular "X-Men" franchise is in a wheelchair. The superhero Daredevil is blind. Comic-Con spokesperson David Glanzer says the world of comics often celebrates difference. He says, "when you deal with comic books, fantasy and all that, somebody in a wheelchair isn’t all that different when you talk about people who have two heads or multiple limbs or is green in color or whatever."
Lathrop says his interest in comic books and science fiction started when he was young. "I had a very active fantasy life when I was a kid. I spent a lot of time in and out of hospitals and I couldn’t do a lot of active, physical stuff so I spent a lot of time at home and I read a lot."
Lathrop says he’s noticed more disabled people coming to Comic-Con. Fans will wait in line for hours to get into Comic-Con’s popular panel events like the one for Harry Potter, or HBO’s "True Blood." There’s a separate line for the disabled to wait in, and Lathrop says now those lines are really long. He explains, "Last year, I tried to get in the panel for 'Glee' and we got there and the line was so long there was no way. We didn’t even bother getting in line because we weren’t going to get in."
Comic-Con spokesperson Glanzer says, "I don’t know if we have a special appeal to the disabled but I think that those who come to Comic-Con, find an accepting environment. And that is true for all of those people who didn’t feel they fit in quite well in the real world, well for four days out of the year, at Comic-Con, you can not only fit in, but you know be the cool people."
I’ve often heard about a man who comes to Comic-Con every year and outfits his wheelchair with a large dragon head. This year I finally saw him, moving through the crowds, but because of that dragon head, he had to stop every few feet so someone could take his picture.
From the Los Angeles Times. In the picture, Mark Beckwith, who has muscular dystrophy, walks his dogs.
A genetic technique that allows the body to work around a crucial mutation that causes Duchenne muscular dystrophy increased the mass and function of muscles in a small group of patients with the devastating disease, paving the way for larger clinical trials of the drug.
The study in a handful of boys age 5 to 15 showed that patients receiving the highest level of the drug, called AVI-4658 or eteplirsen, had a significant increase in production of a missing protein and increases in muscle fibers. The study did not last long enough to show clinical improvement in the patients, but it demonstrated that the drug is safe in the short term and researchers are confident that longer-term trials, now in the planning stages, will show clinical benefit.
"I've worked with patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy for many years and this is the first time we can say with confidence that we've made a significant breakthrough towards finding a targeted treatment," said Dr. Francesco Muntoni of the University College London Institute of Child Health, who led the study. Results were reported Sunday in the journal Lancet.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy affects about one in every 3,500 males worldwide. It is caused by any one of several different mutations that affect production of a protein called dystrophin, which is important for the production and maintenance of muscle fibers. Affected patients become unable to walk and must use a wheelchair by age 8 to 12. Deterioration continues through their teens and 20s, and the condition typically proves fatal as muscle failure impairs their ability to breathe.
Muntoni and his colleagues studied a variety of Duchenne muscular dystrophy in which affected boys are missing a fragment of the dystrophin gene called exon 51, a mutation that affects about 13% of such patients. The missing fragment converts exon 51 to a "stop" signal that halts the production of dystrophin, leading to a severely truncated protein that cannot carry out its normal function.
Two decades ago, pharmacologist Ryszard Kole of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill began exploring the use of a technique called antisense RNA to treat the condition. He used a specially prepared chain of ribonucleotides called an oligomer that binds to the mutated part of the gene, effectively hiding the stop signal from the cell's protein-making machinery.
The result is a slightly shorter form of dystrophin that is missing the portion normally coded for by exon 51. Despite the absence of that fragment, however, the dystrophin is functional. Kole took a leave of absence from the university and has been working at AVI Biopharma in Bellevue, Wash., to develop the treatment. That company produced the AVI-4658 used in the trial, and partially funded the trial.
Antisense technology can also be used to block the replication of viruses, and new drugs based on it are currently being tested against the ebola and Marburg viruses, as well as against hepatitis C.
"When I first tried my approach in a test tube some 20 years ago, a reviewer of my manuscript commented that it was 'molecular gymnastics that would never amount to anything,'" Kole said in a statement. "Now we have evidence that it works and in an illness that has no other good therapeutic options."
Muntoni and his colleagues gave the drug for 12 weeks in a variety of doses to 19 British boys. Seven of the boys responded to the drug, primarily those receiving the highest doses of the agent. At the beginning of the study, the boys, on average, were producing about 2% of the normal levels of dystrophin. After 12 weeks, six of them who received the highest dose were producing 18% of normal levels of dystrophin. No significant side effects were observed. The team believes that longer administration of AVI-4658 will raise the proportion much higher, and are now organizing blinded clinical trials of the drug.
In an editorial accompanying the report, two Japanese researchers noted that the barriers to scaling up the treatment are much lower than those for gene therapy because the targeted RNA is unlikely to affect other cells in the patients' bodies. The approach might thus also be valuable for "developing treatments for other intractable hereditary neuromuscular disorders."
It almost seems as if pregnant women are becoming more concerned about their weight gain than the health of their child.
Barely there bumps?
Young women are setting unrealistic goals in order to maintain their svelte figures, post baby.
What is inspiring these women to think this way?
One word: Hollywood.
We see Victoria Beckham with what looks like "belly bloat" after 8 months, and Heidi Klum walking the runway in lingerie two weeks after having her third child.
Maternity clothes are selling size 0. Yes, size 0. That is a size that is considered "tiny" for a person who ISN'T pregnant. So not only are these women being inspired by glossy magazines and reality television, but maternity retail stores are banking off of this unrealistic attitude.
Mommy-rexia
So what exactly are you risking by trying to stay slim while pregnant? Well let's start with an increased risk of hypertension and developmental issues. You starve your fetus.
What's a healthy mindset?
Your body took nine months to make this child, give your body AT LEAST nine months to get it back to where it was.
Doctors stress that a healthy mom-to-be should gain 25-35 lbs during pregnancy.
OK... My sister gained 80 POUNDS!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, she gained a bit much, but she gave birth to the most beautiful and healthy baby! How are you fulfilling your duties as a MOTHER, when you are starving your child? When you are keeping your body from things that it CRAVES?
Pregnancy is a time to embrace in ALL realms... That includes the GROWTH and the change of your body. Celebrities were even reported saying their bodies were "distorted" while pregnant. WHAT? Then WHY did you get pregnant? This is vulgar and unrealistic. If you want to stay skinny, don't put your child in danger. Just pull a Sarah Jessica Parker and pay someone else to have it.
Random Thursday is back! This time without 'only in America' jokes, in case more anonymous Americans without a sense of humour take offence. Extra long this week as I didn't post it last week, hope you all like as I spent ages looking for these pics, very fun during bored at work times. Hope you are all having a good week, and remember to keep on smiling, no matter how bleak it gets.
Talk about always smiling, this is the funniest headstone I've ever seen. It sure does Mitchell, it sure does.
Cause: lack of adhesive ducks (big bang theory in case you're confused)
Not funny, but I sure wish I was in a place like that right now. I'm in serious need of some fresh air and some beautiful scenery. I'm tired of smelling car fumes and hobo pee and being surrounded by buildings here in Brussels. Need some time away!
Wouldn't mind spending my honeymoon there! Heck wouldn't mind spending tonight there! What a gorgeous romantic place. Could use some of that too! And some sunshine, July has been nothing but cold and rainy. I'm still wearing clothes I wore in February for crying out loud.
Raspberry berets, only Prince can rock them.
Just smile awkwardly and mumble 'yes yes thank you, it's my birthday, yes.'
As a commuter, this one really cracked me up.
Exactly what I was thinking, now where is my cider!
Music today..I just don't get it.
That is one big pooch. You can forget about furniture, and you won't be needing a carpet either. How much must this dog eat!!
Ah the dream wedding of all women. Perfect hair, perfect dress, perfect teeth O_o
This is for all of you with clown phobia ;)
I initially added a horrible hairy manboob picture, which really caught my off guard in my quest for good pics, and I wanted to share that reaction with you :p But as I don't want you to all suffocate on your tea, here's something less revolting :D
Homework win! :D
Have a good day ;) For me it's almost weekend as I'm taking a day off tomorrow, hooray!
This might be the coolest but craziest idea to shop with a goat, right? But of course, it is not a usual stuff for Mark Malkoff, one of "The Colbert Report's" personality who recently earned the attention of the media when he appeared walking with his goat in an Apple retail store somewhere in United States. According to our source, his YouTube video gain thousands of views in just a matter of few hours.
Mark is well-known comedian, a filmmaker, and one of University of New York alumni. However, this odd story of this man is not common to others but because of his unique way to buy a MacBook or probably an iPad, he really captured our attention recently. You can go and shop in any Apple store in any comic-con characters if you want and nobody will kick you out because of that.
According to our source, the store even sell pizza, drinks, and more for the convenience of their customer. You can see people walking around with their dogs but with a countryside goat, that is awesome!
That store might be in New York City where Mark recently lived and because probably of his career as a comedian, he is ready to share the funny moments from his true-to-life experience in buying something in an Apple store.
As we can remember, he tried to visit Starbucks branches in Manhattan which also gained the attention of the world. Not to promote the coffee shop, but just for another fun he can share for everyone. That is way back in the summer of 2007 and now, this year, Mark made a new set of online video that can really turn your heads.
See the following video of Mark Malkoff below. You see him asking for a pizza delivery, romantic date with his wife, in Darth Vader asking someone within to fix his broken iPhone, and guess what, along with his goat in an Apple store.
These are just the few hilarious scenes taken straight from the 2nd floor of that probably, lucky or curse store of Steve Job. Catch Mark once again as we continue to follow his appearances in YouTube after this break.
Hot air-balloons fly over Chambley-Bussieres aerodrome eastern France on July 26, 2011 as part of the yearly event "Lorraine Mondial air ballons", an international air-balloon meeting.
carry their babies under the rain
Filipino women carry their babies under the rain as they cross a street in suburban Manila, Philippines on Tuesday July 26, 2011. Tropical storm Nock-ten, locally named Juaning, has entered the country, causing suspension of classes up to the high-school level in some parts of the country, including the capital of Manila
Folk artists prepare to participate
Folk artists prepare to participate in a cultural rally demanding the creation of the state of Telangana, carved out from the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, in Hyderabad, India, Tuesday, July 26, 2011. Telengana supporters said the drought-prone northern area is underdeveloped and ignored by powerful politicians from southern Andhra Pradesh. The Telengana demand has erupted sporadically since the 1950s.
Somalia carrying their belongings
Somalis from southern Somalia carrying their belongings make their way to a new camp for internally displaced refugees in Mogadishu Tuesday, July 26, 2011. The U.N. will airlift emergency rations this week to parts of drought-ravaged Somalia that militants banned it from more than two years ago _ a crisis intervention to keep hungry refugees from dying along what an official calls the "roads of death." The foray into the famine zone is a desperate attempt to reach at least 175,000 of the 2.2 million Somalis whom aid workers have not yet been able to help. Tens of thousands already have trekked to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, hoping to get aid in refugee camps
malnourished child who died,
Somalis from southern Somalia perform funeral prayers with relatives of a malnourished child who died, Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at a refugee camp in Mogadishu, Somalia. Some thousands of people have arrived in Mogadishu seeking aid and The World Food Program executive director Josette Sheeran said Saturday they can't reach the estimated 2.2 million Somalis in desperate need of aid who are in militant-controlled areas of Somalia.(
Indian artist Devaraj Vajragiri
Indian artist Devaraj Vajragiri, 32, gives the finishing touches to 1.8m high Mahatma Gandhi and other statues, the symbolic representation of Dandi March, in the southern Indian city of Bangalore on 26 July 2011.The artist took 14 months to re-create these statues which represents the Mahatma Gandhi-led 'Salt Satyagraha'; a campaign of nonviolent protest part of India's struggle for independence from the British Empire.
Cool weather and water tempertures
Leonie sits on the diving platform in gloomy weather at Schaalsee Lake near Zarrentin, Germany, 26 July 2011. Cool weather and water tempertures under 18 degrees aren't attracting many vacationers into the water, but for the beginning of August summer tempertures sould return to Germany with a new high pressure area.
vendor sells Eiffel tower models
A souvenir vendor sells Eiffel tower models for tourists in front the Eiffel tower at the Trocadero in Paris July 26, 2011.
dresses sing songs
Artists wearing Belarussian national dresses sing songs at a field during celebrations of the start of harvesting near the village of Shchomislitsa, some 10 km from Minsk, Belarus, 26 July 2011.
artist wearing Belarussian national dress
An artist wearing Belarussian national dress binds a sheave in a traditional technique during celebrations of the start of harvesting near the village of Shchomislitsa, some 10 km from Minsk, Belarus, 26 July 2011.
Two men try to stop an elephant
Two men try to stop an elephant which freed itself and tried to escape during the filming of a commercial in the centre of Budapest July 26, 2011.
Somali women fleeing drought
Somali women fleeing drought and famine wait to be registered at a transit center in the Doloow region, southern Somalia, close to the border with Ethiopia on July 26, 2011. The UN's World Programme Programme airlift of food for the Somali capital Mogadishu was delayed on on July 26, 2011 after efforts were hampered by last minute paperwork in Kenya. An estimated 3.7 million people in Somalia -- around a third of the population -- are on the brink of starvation and millions more in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda have been struck by the worst drought in the region in 60 years.
man sells water tubs
A man sells water tubs as it rains on a roadside in Peshawar, Pakistan on 26 July 2011. Pakistan is currently reeling under a grip of intense heat wave, with mercury soaring up to 48 degrees Celsius in several parts of the country in the recent days.
Pakistani people cool
Pakistani people cool off in the Indus river near Ghulam Mohammed Barrage Jamshoro, in Hyderabad, Pakistan, 26 July 2011. Reports state that temperatures reached 48 degrees celcius in most parts of the country as mainly hot and dry weather is forecast in many area across Pakistan.
Egyptian artist Taha el Korany
Egyptian artist Taha el Korany puts final touches on his painting " Al Shohadaa", the martyers, showing Major General Muhsen Al-Fangary giving a military salute to the "martyrs" of the revolution, at his atelier in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, July 26, 2011. A day after an Egyptian court decided to combine the trials of the country's former interior minister and ousted President Hosni Mubarak for the killing of nearly 900 protesters during the 18-day uprising that toppled the longtime leader in February.
carved stone portraying three
A carved stone portraying three felines is seen at the archaeological site of Chalcatzingo in the state of Morelos in this undated handout photo by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) released July 25, 2011. Mexican archaeologists restored a 2800-year-old carved stone from the pre-Columbian Olmec civilization titled "Triad of the Felines" found in eleven pieces last April at this archaeological site. The carved stone portrays three felines and weighs one and a half tons.
garlig-shaped sauna
A picture made available on 26 July 2011 shows a garlig-shaped sauna, entitled The Sounding Dome Sauna, designed by Jan-Erik Andersson at the Outdoor Swimming Arena of Kupittaa Park in Turku, Finland, 23 July 2011, as part of the Turku European Capital of Culture 2011 program. The sauna incorporates a soundscape created for it by US sound artist Shawn Decker. Turku is the European Capital of Culture 2011 concurrently with Tallinn in Estonia.
An "Indignant" demonstrator sleeps as they camp
An "Indignant" demonstrator sleeps as they camp out on Madrid's Paseo del Prado avenue July 26, 2011. Hundreds of "Indignants" from major Spanish cities converged in Madrid this past weekend after a month-long march towards the Spanish capital and held a demonstration on the streets of Madrid against politicians, banks, the economic crisis and the austerity measures of Europe on Sunday.
distribution of 40,000 litres ..
The distribution of 40,000 litres of water is seen among the local community in El Srief, North Darfur, July 25, 2011
distribution of 40,000 litres of water
The distribution of 40,000 litres of water is seen among the local community in El Srief, North Darfur, July 25, 2011. The nearest water point is 15 km away and women have to spend 6 hours a day to collect water for their families. Due to the drought, the community leaders report that the lack of water is severe in the area. Picture taken July 25, 2011
The Citroen 2CV cars
The Citroen 2CV cars arrive on July 26, 2011 in the western city of Salbris to attend the 19th World meeting of 2 CV Friends that takes place until the 31st of July. In 2006, on this same site, more than 2650 2CVs and A-types gathered for the 14th National Meeting of French 2 CV Clubs
Children dressed as a soldier and nurses
Children dressed as a soldier and nurses prepare to march during a school parade on a school holiday in Villa El Salvador in Lima July 26, 2011. President-elect Ollanta Humala will be sworn in as president on July 28, the Independence Day of Peru
Children watch television
Children watch television at a tea shop in Sultan Kot, located in Pakistan's Sindh province July 26, 2011. The town of Sultan Kot was devastated by the 2010 floods, which left one-fifth of Pakistan submerged. Last years flooding left some 2,000 people dead, 11 million homeless and another 7 million were affected.
the sun sets
A fisherman casts his line as the sun sets on the outskirts of Havana July 25, 2011.
Fishermen drive towards
Fishermen drive towards the coast carrying their rods and an inflated inner tube in the boot on the outskirts of Havana July 26, 2011.
Fishermen carry their makeshift polystyrene foam
Fishermen carry their makeshift polystyrene foam rafts near the sea on the outskirts of Havana July 26, 2011.
one ton of ivory seized
In this photo supplied by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Tuesday, July 26, 2011, are items that were among the one ton of ivory seized by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agents during their investigation of Philadelphia art dealer Victor Gordon's smuggling schemes and U.S. business deals.
Colombian University Students of design
Models wear creations by Colombian University Students of design during the Colombia Moda fashion show in Medellin, Colombia, Tuesday, July 26, 2011.
Australian one dollar coins
Australian one dollar coins surround a U.S. twenty dollar note in this photo illustration taken in Sydney July 27, 2011. Australian consumer prices rose by more than expected last quarter while underlying inflation proved alarmingly high, reviving pressure for an increase in interest rates and lifting the local dollar to a 29-year peak.
donkey race in Palling, Germany
Donkey and their owners fight for the victory in a donkey race in Palling, Germany, 09 July 2011. Within the scope of a folk festival, the animals could be pulled to increase their speed, but not hit under any circumstances.
A road is cluttered with fallen trees
A road is cluttered with fallen trees and debris after a landslide occurred due to downpours of more than 400mm in the Seoul, South Korea, on 27 July 2011.
heavy rainfall in Seoul July 27,
Damaged cars are seen at a village after a landslide and heavy rainfall in Seoul July 27, 2011. Wild weather has battered the peninsula since late Tuesday, causing widespread flooding and transport delays, while the share price of insurers fell on fears that damage costs would run into millions of dollars.
floodwaters along a main street in Navotas city, north of Manila
Boys run through floodwaters along a main street in Navotas city, north of Manila, July 27, 2011 after officials of the Department of Education postponed classes in the capital due to continuous rainfall brought by Typhoon Nock-Ten, locally known as Juaning. Tropical storm Nock-Ten slammed into the eastern mountain areas of the Philippine main island of Luzon on Wednesday, killing 20 people but sparing the country major rice producing provinces, a disaster and weather official said.
Conejta Pinta Caritas
"Conejta Pinta Caritas," of Guatemala holds her daughter"Conejita" as they watch the III Latin American Clown Congress parade from a street corner in Guatemala City's historic center, Tuesday July 26, 2011. More than 200 clowns from North and Central America and the Caribbean are gathering in the capital city for the third year to attend workshops and exchange experiences.
Salzburg Festival on 29 July.
A picture made available on 26 July 2011 shows German soprano Evelyn Herlitzius (C) as Faerberin performing during photo rehearsals for Richard Strauss Opera 'The woman without a Shadow' in the grand festivalhouse in Salzburg, Austria, 24 July 2011. The production is to be premiered as part of the Salzburg Festival on 29 July. The festival takes place from 27 July to 30 August
Ivorian traditional hunters known as 'Dozo'
A picture made available on 26 July 2011 shows Ivorian traditional hunters known as 'Dozo' attending their first annual meeting in Abobo, Abidjan, Ivory Coast 25 July 2011. Many traditional hunters from the north of Ivory Coast, or Dozo, joined forces with pro-Ouattara soldiers belonging to the Republican Forces of Ivory Coast (FRCI), in fighting against troops loyal to former President Laurent Gbagbo during the post electoral crisis. This is the first time they have met as a group since then
shows Ivorian traditional hunters
A picture made available on 26 July 2011 shows Ivorian traditional hunters known as 'Dozo' attending their first annual meeting in Abobo, Abidjan, Ivory Coast 25 July 2011. Many traditional hunters from the north of Ivory Coast, or Dozo, joined forces with pro-Ouattara soldiers belonging to the Republican Forces of Ivory Coast (FRCI), in fighting against troops loyal to former President Laurent Gbagbo during the post electoral crisis. This is the first time they have met as a group since then.
Afghan refugee
An Afghan refugee residing in Pakistan, who survived last year's flooding, walks at a camp in Nowshera on July 26, 2011. Pakistan has failed to invest in prevention measures since last year's floods that killed 1,750 people and is vulnerable to another disaster this monsoon season, Oxfam said July 26
Clowns pose
Clowns pose for the camera during a parade in the historic centre of Guatemala City in the framework of the III Latin American Clown Congress on July 26, 2011.
A general view of Manhattan
A general view of Manhattan facing south seen from the Observation Deck at the Empire State Building in New York, July 26, 2011.
pro beach volleyball
NBA All-Star Kevin Love, at net, with, from left, pro beach volleyball players Christal Engel, John Hyden, and Sean Scott as they play together after announcing that Love will compete in the Jose Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball Series in New York's Times Square, Tuesday, July 26, 2011. Jose Cuervo proclaims that beach volleyball will always keep players on the court and fans in the stands.
People hold up flowers during a vigil in memory
People hold up flowers during a vigil in memory of the eight people killed in Friday's blast in Oslo and the 68 who died in the shooting at the youth camp on Utoya, in Vik, near Sundvollen close to Utoya island, near Oslo, Norway, Tuesday, July 26, 2011.
SOUTH KOREA LANDSLIDE
Rescue workers at a landslide scene, caused by torrential rains, which destroyed several houses, including a pension, in a mountain resort in Chuncheon, about 85km northeast of Seoul, South Korea on 27 July 2011, killing at least six college students doing volunteer work and injuring dozens of others.
flooded neighborhood near Los Remedios river in Mexico
Residents of a flooded neighborhood near Los Remedios river in Mexico State, Mexico are evacuated after the 'Arlene' storm, on 01 July 2011. A man died by electrocution in Tampico on 30 June 2011, when a power line fell down during the storm.
Performers wait
Performers wait for their turns in the backstage while Chinese paramilitary policemen and spectators watch a Shaolin Kungfu performance at a festival in Beijing, China, Friday, July 15, 2011.
people try different ways to beat the hot weather
Natalia Rozumkoda, age 3, runs through a fountain in John Jay Park on the Upper east Side of New York City on July 21, 2011 as people try different ways to beat the hot weather. Heat indexes are expected to reach near 105F degrees (40.5C).
