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CVNE Monopole Rioja Blanco, 2015

Nothing about this wine, drinking it, no words sound good: Assertive.  Astringent. Metallic.  And yet it is nothing but pure pleasure; nutty and lemony and complex.  It is bottled sunshine.  There is nothing so striking as a bold, balanced, boisterous Rioja Blanco.  There is something so sensationally Spanish about it, somewhere between Sauvignon Blanc and Sherry.  Of course it bears the “golden ticket” of 90 points on its collar, which is a bugbear, but nevertheless…

Price: $22 at Marquis, and worth every cent.

Market Liquidity: When pointster and anti-pointster see eye to eye.

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Qucik London (Seedcamp Week) Update

Just a quick post Monday morning from London. I arrived last night, after a great flight. First I met and chatted with the star and orchestra conductor of Julius Caesar, which opened Saturday night in Gothenburg, at the awesome opera house, which I’ve been to a couple of times. Sitting next to me on the airplane was this really cool Swedish-Greek woman on her way back to London, where she currently lives.  We talked about all kinds of cool stuff and will connect again soon.

After arriving at Heathrow and making my way to Notting Hill, where I’m staying with a friend I know through another friend, Steve and I went straight out for some beers and burgers at a cool neighborhood bar/restaurant.

This morning, I’m off to get an adapter (so I can plug in my laptop) and a UK SIM card (will Twiter the number when I get it).  Next is to work on a BuzzPal document I may show to prospective team members or angels this week.  And to continue connecting you guys here in London and involved with startups and angel capital.  My schedule so far is here: buzzpal.com/cal.  I won’t be doing any more blogs until I’m back in Sweden, but I will be updating my Twitter page, which is here: twitter.com/chrisco.  Follow me there to see what’s going on and to connect.  That’s where I’ll post my UK mobile phone number (when I get it).  Please get in touch if you think we should meet.

PS: Why I used the TehCrunch, Seedamp, BuzzPal, YOOSE image header: Because BuzzPal is sponsoring the TechCrunch Tech Talk on Thursday.  YOOSE (Seedcamp participant) is coming, as are about 100 others, from what I understand.  If there are any more tickets left, you can buy them here.

2 Responses to “Qucik London (Seedcamp Week) Update”

  1. The official TechCrunch Tech Talk / Seedcamp party press release. BuzzPal is a sponsor (our first-ever sponsorship): http://asset.soup.io/asset/0129/9148_93d9.pdf

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Zuma Will Not Suspend Shaun Abrahams For Gordhan’s Fraud Debacle – See Why

After a request by Freedom Under Law and the Helen Suzman Foundation for Zuma to suspend NPA boss, Shaun Abrahams, the North Gauteng Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Sibongile Mzinyathi and the Acting Head of the Priority Crimes Litigation Unit, Dr Torie Pretorius, President Zuma reluctantly wrote to Abrahams asking him to state why he shouldn’t be suspended.

Presidency spokesman Bongani Ngqulunga confirmed at the time that the three advocates received the notice – dated November 15, 2016.

The advocates were served the notice over the manner in which they handled the fraud charges against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and former deputy SA Revenue Service commissioner Ivan Pillay and former SARS commissioner Oupa Magashula.

Read Also: NPA’s Shaun Abrahams To Possibly Drop Gordhan’s Court Charges Today

As contained in the notice, Zuma categorically questioned the roles Shaun Abrahams and advocates Sibongile Mzinyathi and Torie Pretorius’ offices played in the Gordhan debacle.

Dr Torie Pretorius

After three months, President Zuma at last, announced in a short statement released on Friday, March 3, 2017, that he will not suspend the trio for their roles in a decision to charge and then subsequently withdraw charges against Gordhan.

He said he couldn’t find any evidence of misconduct or proof that the three are unfit for their positions.

The president said that an inquiry into the trio’s fitness to hold office would be terminated; adding that his decision followed submissions made by the trio on why they should not be suspended pending the outcome of an inquiry into their fitness to hold office.

The statement reads: “Having considered the submissions received from the three prosecutors and concerns raised by the Helen Suzman Foundation and Freedom Under Law regarding their conduct… the President could not find substantiation for the claim that Adv Abrahams, Adv Mzinyathi and Dr. Pretorius’s conducts were actuated by ulterior motive or any other improper motive which would give rise to a charge of misconduct or that they are no longer fit and proper to hold office.

There is no “prima facie evidence pointing to the conduct of three prosecutors, constituting misconduct or lack of fitness and propriety.

Taking the aforementioned into consideration the President decided not to provisionally suspend Adv. Abrahams, Adv Mzinyathi and Dr. Pretorius and hold an inquiry into their fitness to hold office.”

On October 31, 2016, Abrahams withdrew fraud charges against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and two former South African Revenue Service (Sars) officials Oupa Magashula and Ivan Pillay, to the exasperation of many South Africans.

The NPA boss said he found that Gordhan, Pillay and Magashula lacked the requisite intention to act unlawfully after considering representations tabled before him.

Abrahams and his cohorts were the first to accused Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan of fraud.

Many described the withdrawal of fraud charges against Gordhan and others as the lowest point in the history of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

Meanwhile, the Director of the Helen Suzman Foundation Francis Antonie said they would be writing to Zuma on Monday, asking for the letter Abrahams and his colleagues wrote to Zuma. The foundation added that it will press the president to share his full reasons behind his decision.

Also, Freedom Under Law chairman, retired Judge Johan Kriegler said the organization would be meeting its lawyers. The organization argued that Zuma shouldn’t have cleared the trio since their letters weren’t publicized.

The spokesman for the NPA, Luvuyo Mfaku welcomed President Zuma’s decision on Friday.

Read Also: Zuma Airs His Viewpoint On Growing Calls For Shaun Abrahams’ Suspension

He said: “We are happy that this is over. We were quite certain that he (Abrahams) had exercised his powers and acted with the right prosecutorial discretion.

We were quite certain that the president would not suspend a prosecutor for acting within this discretion as allowed for in the prosecutions act.”

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Ryan Gosling: Did His ‘Pines’ Face Tattoo Go ‘Too Far’?

Movie Talk

You'd think the last thing a director would want to do when making a Ryan Gosling movie is to mess up Gosling's perfect mug. Especially with a face tattoo.

But Derek Cianfrance had no qualms about giving Gosling such a tat in "The Place Beyond the Pines." And his star was not too pleased.

Luke, played by Gosling, is a stunt motorcyclist at a traveling carnival, a wandering bad boy with a troubled soul and a big heart. He wants to do good by the son he had out of wedlock with Romina (Eva Mendes), a waitress with whom he had a fling whilst passing through Schenectady, NY. He's also got -- according to Gosling himself -- the "most tattoos in movie history."

"Ryan and I had had experience on 'Blue Valentine,'" writer-director Cianfrance said about his close working relationship with the actor in a recent interview with NPR. "And he called me about six months before we started shooting 'Pines' and he said, 'Hey, D, how about the most tattoos in movie history?'"

Luke's extensive ink is genuinely striking in the film, especially when you compare the character to the eccentric nebbish Gosling played in "Lars and the Real Girl." But what's most impressive is the tattoo on his face.

"I was like, OK, you want some tattoos, huh?" said Cianfrance. "And he says, 'Yeah, I want to get a face tattoo. Face tattoos are the coolest. This one's going to be a dagger and it's going to be dripping blood.'"

Gosling didn't feel it was "the coolest" for very long, though, as the star regretted his rather extravagant character choice by lunchtime on the first day of shooting.  Gosling told Moviefone that he felt he crossed a line with the face tattoo. He said, "I felt a lot of shame for having gone too far and for making a decision that was careless that might ultimately affect the movie. I was so ashamed that that shame lived with me on set, as I had to wear that stuff around."

Despite his lead actor's sudden reservations about tattoo, Cianfrance held true to his film's themes and didn't allow for a do-over.

"[Gosling said] 'Do you think we can, you know, take it off and, like, reshoot that stuff? It wasn't that much we shot this morning,'" said Cianfrance. "And I was, like, absolutely not. This movie is about consequence and now you have to live with your choices."  And Gosling agreed that the feeling of regret when he saw how he looked transferred over to his performance. Gosling said, "It was humiliating, and I feel like that was something inherent to the character, and probably something that I couldn’t have acted."

Compared to all of the other bad decisions Luke makes in "The Place Beyond the Pines," getting a face tattoo is pretty mild. But the thought that Gosling perhaps drew inspiration for his character's deep sense of regret and existential dread from the bloody dagger on his face is rather amusing.

See Ryan Gosling in the trailer for 'The Place Beyond the Pines':


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August 30, 2017 / 2:52 PM / 2 months ago

Home Capital's Buffett plan opposed by shareholder proxy ISS

TORONTO (Reuters) - Home Capital Group Inc (HCG.TO) could face a revolt over U.S. billionaire Warren Buffett’s plan to increase his stake in the business after proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recommended shareholders vote against it.

FILE PHOTO - The entry to the Home Capital Group's headquarters is seen at an office tower in the financial district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada on May 1, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

Home Capital and Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) investment vehicle agreed in June to a deal worth up to C$400 million ($318 million) for an initial stake of 20 percent in the business. The position could increase to 38 percent if Home Capital shareholders give approval in a vote on Sept. 12.

Under the terms of the deal, Berkshire Hathaway can purchase the additional shares at a price of C$10.30 per share. Shares in Home Capital rose 1.6 percent at C$13.45 on Wednesday.

Home Capital benefited from Buffett’s initial investment as well as a C$2 billion credit facility. The deal helped rebuild confidence in the financial strength of the company after depositors withdrew funds from its high interest savings and Guaranteed Investment Certificate accounts.

Home Capital’s executives had emphasized the importance of having an investor of Buffett’s credibility backing the company.

However, ISS said much of the benefit is already in place after the initial transaction and questioned the benefits for Home Capital’s shareholders of Buffet increasing his stake.

“The proposed Berkshire second tranche appears to offer nominal additional reputational and strategic benefits to those already established under the Berkshire first tranche, while dilution cost of the discounted second tranche is substantial,” ISS said in a statement.

($1 = 1.2593 Canadian dollars)

Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe

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April 20, 2010 / 10:33 PM / 8 years ago

Author Toibin sees novel surviving new technology

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Award-winning Irish writer Colm Toibin firmly believes the novel will remain fundamentally unchanged by the Internet or other high-tech innovations, a realm in which he admits he is nearly illiterate.

Toibin, the author of such critically acclaimed novels as “Brooklyn,” “The Master” and “The Blackwater Lightship,” is set this week to appear on a panel to discuss “The Author in the Age of the Internet,” part of the London Review of Books’ 30th anniversary celebration events in New York.

Toibin is a technophobe. He writes with a fountain pen on paper and cannot figure out how to send e-mails by phone. An interview with Reuters on Tuesday was delayed as Toibin fumbled with his cell phone, repeatedly failing to answer it.

“I actually miss most calls,” Toibin said apologetically over a landline from Princeton University where he teaches. “Like an awful lot of writers, I am barely literate in the things that seem to matter now.”

The recent launch of Apple’s iPad tablet computer and the pending release of similar devices have many in publishing experimenting with new forms of content for increasingly powerful mobile computing devices.

Toibin is aware technology is encroaching on literature, but he remains unimpressed with new gadgets such as Amazon’s Kindle.

On a train to Boston, he tried out a Kindle belonging to a fellow passenger, but he did not like it. “I thought it took longer to turn the page than it would take me and ... I just didn’t like that second of waiting,” he said.

At a dinner party, a fellow guest admitted to never reading his work but said she could rectify that immediately.

”She took a Kindle out of her handbag and ordered one of my books in front of me,“ he said. ”She seemed immensely happy, and thought I should be too, that she now had the book.

“But I wondered if she would read it, and I didn’t think so,” he said.

Toibin, who has won several literary awards and been shortlisted for the coveted Man Booker Prize, is impressed by the way the Internet has made “an infinite choice” of books available.

But he said he believed the way novelists work -- in solitude and from the imagination -- would remain essentially unchanged.

“I am 55 and I‘m not going to change ... and my readers are not going to change either,” he said. “The idea that technology will change how we function would be just absurd.”

But he finds after growing up gay in the rural Irish town of Enniscorthy when homosexuality was viewed as sinful and unnatural, that technology has changed gay life.

“Now if you are gay, you go online at night and realize the whole world is gay,” he said. “Before the Internet, there was a lot of solitude. Now there is an awful lot of solidarity.”

The Internet has changed what he writes, he added, because his themes such as gay loneliness, solitude and tragedy have been replaced by gay solidarity and enjoyment.

With gay life as one of his most common topics, “the Internet has fundamentally changed how I write about it.”

Toibin has a collection of short stories due for publication in the fall in Britain and next year in the United States. He also is working on a novel set in Ireland during the 1960s economic boom after the country dropped its protectionist policies.

Toibin said there had been a lot of interest in Hollywood about making a movie from his latest novel, “Brooklyn,” set in an Irish enclave in the 1950s, and that he expected to sell it to a studio in the coming weeks.

Reporting by Mark Egan: Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Peter Cooney

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August 23, 2012 / 10:13 AM / in 5 years

South Africa seeks steps to counter British bulk wine buy: official

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa is mulling retaliatory measures to protect its centuries-old wine industry and counter job losses caused by a British retailers’ move to buy the product in bulk rather than in bottles, a trade official said.

British retailers including Tesco and J Sainsbury are bottling the bulk wine themselves, leading so far to as many as 700 job losses in South Africa, said Stephen Hanival, chief director of agro-processing at the Department of Trade and Industry.

“We certainly hope that the developments on bulk wine don’t lead to any kind of trade war between either South Africa, the UK or any of the European Union countries with whom we trade extensively,” Hanival told reporters late on Wednesday.

“However, South Africa does have a responsibility to protect its trade interests. Our view is that this is a serious risk to the South African wine industry,” he said.

The bulk buying helps British retailers save costs and package the products in ways that may be more appealing for local customers.

According to the Department of Trade and Industry, last year South Africa imported 1.7 billion rand ($204 million) of British whisky. It exported wine valued at 993 million rand to Britain during the same period, a significant trade imbalance, which Hanival suggested could be exploited to South Africa’s advantage.

“Why shouldn’t South Africa be importing bulk whisky from the UK and bottling it locally, so that we can at least attempt to prevent some of the job losses that we’ve seen up to now spreading to other parts of the economy,” he said.

South Africa’s wine industry currently employs around 275,000 workers and has seen exports grow more than 200 percent between 1998 and 2010, with the major markets including Britain and other countries in the European Union.

($1 = 8.2180 South African rand)

Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Jon Herskovitz and Alessandra Rizzo

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October 9, 2008 / 7:30 PM / in 9 years

Gecko-like glue is said to be stickiest yet

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A new type of dry glue designed to mimic gecko feet is 10 times stickier than the gravity-defying lizards, and three times stickier than other gecko-inspired glues, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

A flying gecko is displayed during a live reptile exhibition in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, May 19, 2007. REUTERS/Nikolay Doychinov

“It’s the stickiest dry glue yet,” said Liming Dai of the University of Dayton, who reported on the glue in the journal Science.

A 1-inch (2.5-cm) square of the adhesive can support the weight of a 220-pound (100-kg) man climbing up a vertical surface, but it can be easily lifted and reapplied, an ideal material for, say, a Spider-Man suit.

“That is not real. What we do is real,” said Zhong Lin Wang of Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, referring to the comic book superhero’s wall-climbing prowess.

Aside from helping people walk up walls, the glue could be used in electrical components without the need for soldering, Wang and Dai said in a telephone interview.

And because it is dry, it could be used at very low temperatures as in space, where more conventional glues lose their grip.

Like other gecko-inspired glues, the new glue uses a carpet of carbon nanotubes, thin filaments of carbon molecules. But attached to the ends of these filaments are curly strands of carbon that expand the surface area of the glue’s gripping action.

This design matches the structure of real gecko feet, which have microscopic hairs that branch off in different directions.

“Our sticky glue has a force 10 times that of gecko feet and three times more than previous sticky glues trying to mimic the gecko feet,” said Dai, who also worked with teams from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory near Dayton and the University of Akron to develop the glue.

Dai said the design is meant to maximize the effect of atomic-scale attractive forces known as van der Waals forces. When the curly part of the tubes are pressed onto a surface, the tubes become aligned with the surface, forming a strong bond. But, when lifted at an angle, this bond is broken.

Wang uses the analogy of having a foot stuck in mud. If you pull straight up, the foot stays stuck, but if you slowly peel the foot away, the bond is broken.

Editing by Maggie Fox and Xavier Briand

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September 16, 2015 / 2:21 AM / 2 years ago

China's finance minister wants better corruption fighting mechanisms

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China’s finance ministry must make better use of corruption inspections and take the work of inspections to a new level, the ruling Communist Party’s top anti-graft watchdog quoted finance minister Lou Jiwei as saying on Wednesday.

A Chinese national flag flutters at a construction site for a new residence complex in Beijing November 4, 2013. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Chinese President Xi Jinping has launched a sweeping crackdown on deep-rooted graft since taking over the party’s leadership in late 2012 and the presidency in 2013. Dozens of senior officials have been investigated or jailed.

Lou said the ministry should “resolutely carry out Ministry of Finance inspection work” and use discipline inspections and rules “to restrict the behavior of party cadres”.

Ministry corruption inspectors should use inspection results in evaluating and promoting officials, Lou said without elaborating.

China’s financial regulators have been under heavy pressure since stock markets began to tumble in mid-June after a long bull run. Lou made no mention of the market turmoil.

Reporting by John Ruwitch; Editing by Paul Tait

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May 30, 2016 / 8:27 AM / a year ago

Two Tunisians killed in landmine blast near Algerian border: ministry

TUNIS (Reuters) - Two Tunisian civilians were killed and one other injured on Monday by a landmine planted by jihadist groups in a mountainous region near the Algerian border, the defense ministry said.

Security forces are engaged in a crackdown on Islamic State militants after they carried out four major attacks in the last year, and a small group of al-Qaeda linked group is also fighting troops along the Algerian border.

“A mine implanted by terrorists exploded in Samama Mountain killing two women and injuring another,” ministry spokesman Belhassen Oueslati said.

Dozens were killed in militant assaults on a Tunis museum and a beach resort last year, crippling Tunisia’s vital tourism industry. Another attack hit a town near the border with Libya, where 50 militants were killed by the army.

Reporting By Tarek Amara; editing by Patrick Markey and Toby Chopra

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September 26, 2016 / 3:08 AM / a year ago

Germany to Britain: Live up to promise not to block EU reforms

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said she does not expect Britain to block a Franco-German initiative to deepen military cooperation among the 27 remaining European Union members after Britain’s vote to leave the bloc.

German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen speaks to Kurdish Peshmerga and German Bundeswehr soldiers during her visit to the educational centre Banslawa near Erbil, Iraq, September 23, 2016. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari

Berlin and Paris have proposed reviving EU common defense plans long blocked by Britain, partly to give the bloc a sense of purpose after Britons voted to quit the EU and also to counter the loss of the union’s biggest defense spender.

British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told The Times newspaper this month that London would resist any attempts to duplicate infrastructure that already existed in NATO.

However, von der Leyen told Reuters in an interview that she expected Britain to “make good its promise that it will not hinder important European Union reforms.”

She said she had called Fallon before the initiative was unveiled to tell him that it was not directed against Britain.

“I told him the initiative is designed for a strong Europe, and that this Europe also wants to have good relations with Britain in the future, especially in the area of defense.”

Von der Leyen and the other EU defense ministers will discuss the proposals in Bratislava on Monday evening and Tuesday.

She said all members were welcome to participate in the initiative, but it was not mandatory.

The proposals include a joint and permanent EU headquarters for civilian and military missions, possibly in Brussels, which London says will drain away finite resources when NATO already has its military command center, also in Belgium.

Negotiations on Britain leaving the EU could last up to two years once London triggers divorce proceedings, which British officials have suggested could happen early next year.

Most EU members, including Britain, France and Germany, are also NATO allies. But Europe wants to be able to act independently of the United States in its neighborhood.

Von der Leyen was upbeat about the initiative’s chances, noting that some of her EU counterparts and even some government leaders had already expressed interest.

“There is definitely a chance that we can finally take a step forward that is long overdue,” the minister said. “After Brexit, the EU must show that it is capable of acting and that the bloc offers specific advantages.”

A majority of people in the EU wanted quicker and more aggressive action on external security issues, von der Leyen said, citing the EU’s response to the Ebola epidemic and the need to address problems prompting Africans to flee their homes.

She insisted the goal of the initiative was not to found a European army, but to tackle projects already covered under the EU treaty but never fully realized.

Von der Leyen rejected the idea that Germany would take over the military leadership of the EU, saying: “The idea is to become stronger and more efficient by working together. None of us can solve the big crises on our own,” she said.

She said deeper EU defense ties could start early next year if EU leaders agreed to move forward at their meeting in December.

Reporting by Sabine Siebold, Writing by Andrea Shalal, Editing by Adrian Croft

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Witch Wood by Melanie Karsak

December 11th, 2015 kimbacaffeinate Review 64 Comments

11th Dec
Witch Wood by Melanie Karsak
Witch Wood
by Melanie Karsak
Series: Harvesting #2.5, Witching Hour Collection
Genres: Fantasy, Horror
Source: Author
Purchase: Amazon
Rating: One StarOne StarOne StarOne Star

Harm none, and be ready for zombies. In the little town of Brighton, Amelia’s practice of Wicca makes her an outcast in school and the subject of disdain at home. But Amelia can’t change what she is. Knowing how to use herbs, see auras, and create spells comes naturally to her. Only Madame Knightly, the ancient matriarch and owner of Witch Wood Estate to whom Amelia plays caretaker, doesn’t seem to mind her conjoining. In fact, the library in the crumbling old mansion is full of old books and oddities. However, when modern treatments fail to make a dent in the flu outbreak sweeping the globe, those who once ridiculed her white witchcraft turn to Amelia for help. While her eucalyptus tinctures prove no more effective than western medicine, her spell-casting is another matter. The residents of Brighton soon depend on the very magic they once ridiculed to save their lives. Witch Wood is a tie-in novella that complements The Harvesting Series. It can be read as a stand-alone or as Book 2.5 in the series

AMAZEBALLS apocalypse fantasy magical ZOMBIE

Witch Wood by Melanie Karsak is a novella in the Harvesting series, a zombie infested fantasy series I have come to love. It is highly original with magic and twists that keep me flipping the pages and eager for more. Witch Wood is also the first in the Witching Collection and at first; I wondered how it would tie into the Harvesting world. All I can say is that it does and it is bloody brilliant.

Karsak takes us to Brighton and introduces us to Amelia, a young teen who practices Wicca. I adored Amelia from the start. She is strong, confident, caring and knows exactly who she is. Such confidence is rare in one so young and was refreshing. She can see auras, heal and is good with herbal remedies. Amelia follows her own path. While she is not overly popular, she does have friends but spends her weekends and free time at Witch Wood Estate caring for Madame Knightly.

Witch Wood Estate was delightful and I would love to spend my weekends traipsing the grounds and explore all the unique nooks and crannies of the old manor. Madame Knightly is unique, colorful and a soothing soul to be around. Interaction between them was that of student and mentor, but there was also a tenderness there.

An epidemic flu virus is plaguing the nation. Schools are closing and whole cities are shutting down. In Witch Wood, the epidemic finally hits Brighton and Karsak lets us experience the horror along with the characters. We get some intense scenes, and witness the friends working together which created some nail-biting moments.

As has become so typical of Karsak’s books Witch Wood leaves us with a cliffhanger just as she makes a shocking reveal. Curse her I say! Curse her. I need the next book!! While, Karsak claims this book works as a standalone and indeed it does I do feel the experience will be enhanced by having read the earlier books. This way you can bask in her brilliance and pine for the next book with me.

Read Chapter One

THE AURA AROUND MRS. DELANEY had faded from vibrant green to dull, sludge-colored green-brown as the last class of the day wore down to its end. Despite the fact she was still standing at the blackboard lecturing, a patient smile on her face, her energy told another tale: she was about to drop. She turned and jotted some notes on the board. I noticed that the chalk tray had left a white line of chalk across the back of her black skirt in a none-too-flattering spot. I hoped the boys wouldn’t notice.
“Witch,” a whisper came from behind me. “Amelia…hey, witchy woman.”
Nate must have gotten bored. Instead of just texting like everyone else, he was about to launch into his tired barrage. I ignored him, hoping it would dissuade him, but pretending he didn’t exist rarely fazed him. He was the glowing center of his own universe. Other people’s perceptions didn’t matter to him.
“Ah-meel-ya,” he chanted. “Witch, why don’t you let me put some sex in your hex.”
I looked at Zoey who was sitting beside me in the next row and rolled my eyes.
I was so over with this day. With half the class out sick, Nate—hipster extraordinaire and total douche—was running low on girls to hit on. Jenna and Sam, who sat behind Zoey and me, usually acted as a buffer. For some reason I never understood, they both liked Nate’s attention. But they were both absent. If I didn’t know it would come back on me tenfold, I’d cast a spell to silence his disgusting mouth. But I was a good witch, Glinda without the bubble, and I had no business casting hexes.
“Rhyming? I didn’t know you were that smart, Nate,” Zoey, who was less patient than me, shot back.
“Logan, you smell fish?” Nate whispered to Logan who sat beside him. “Zoey, close your legs.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced at Logan. A newcomer, Logan had moved to Brighton at the beginning of the year. I could see him and the soft purple and indigo glow that always surrounded him.
Logan shifted uncomfortably then frowned at Nate. “Don’t be a dick. Sorry, Zoey. Nate doesn’t have any manners.”
Nate laughed. “Whatever. Oh, Edward Cullen, you’re such a gentleman,” Nate teased him. “Like Zoey and Amelia even matter.”
Since he first started school, Logan had always lingered on the outskirts of Nate’s tribe. It seemed that he wasn’t actually a jerk like Nate and his friends. And then there was the other thing about him that set him apart. He was an A student, too busy actually paying attention to what Mrs. Delaney had to say in class to be a jerk. And today, Mrs. Delaney’s lecture focused on Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
I scanned around the classroom. Of the less than a dozen students in class, half of them were on their phones. Mrs. Delaney was explaining—mainly to the board at this point—the meaning of the witches’ chant in the play.
“Hey, Amelia, can you brew me a love potion to get Jenna to suck me off?” Nate whispered.
“Could you be any more disrespectful?” Logan chided just as Mrs. Delaney, who’d finally had enough, turned and faced the class.
“In the back…shush. Now, someone tell me, which goddess is said to have been insulted by this play? Anyone actually paying attention? Which goddess cursed Shakespeare’s work?”
I glanced back at Logan through my long, wheat-colored hair. Most days we would race to be the first to answer but not today. The last thing I wanted to do was draw more attention to the fact that I knew about witchcraft. While I’d been practicing Wicca since I was thirteen, the year I stumbled across a used copy of Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham in a used bookstore, I’d always been different. Being Wiccan meant promoting peace, protecting my environment, and feeling at one with the Great Mother. The idiot behind me, however, didn’t know the difference between a devil worshipper—which I was not—and Samantha from Bewitched. And I wasn’t in the mood to explain to him that I only performed good magic, earth and healing magic.
“Zoey?” Mrs. Delaney called.
“Sorry, Mrs. D. I zoned.”
“Of course. Amelia?”
“I…” I began, then glanced up at her. Mrs. Delaney was, by far, my favorite teacher. In the ninth grade, she’d introduced me to Madame Knightly, the owner of Witch Wood Estate, whom I took care of three nights a week and on weekends. I was eternally grateful for the job. I’d already stashed away enough cash to pay for my first year of college. Just the week before, I’d gotten my invite to Claddagh-Basel College for an admission interview. It was really happening. I was going to study Psychology at one of the best schools in the country. And all that had happened because Mrs. Delaney, who kept crystals on her desk and wore a medicine bag around her neck, had seen something in me that the others had ignored. “Hecate,” I said then. “Hecate is the dark goddess named in the play. The editor’s notes said that Shakespeare got the Weird Sisters’ chant from a real witch and that Hecate cursed the play because of it. Some productions remove Hecate just to get rid of the jinx.”
“Exactly. Well done,” she said with a smile then glanced up at the clock. My eyes followed hers.
Thank the Goddess, the day was done.
“All right, class. Please review King’s essay on the use of symbolism in the play and compose a two-page summary.”
“You’re kidding, right? School’s gonna be closed next week,” Brant, a football player, grumbled from the front row—where his coach had mandated he sit.
“Are you really asking me that?” Mrs. Delaney replied, frowning at him. I could see her aura growing even darker, sadder. She really needed to get out of here. “Thus far, they haven’t announced a closure for Monday. Yes, we’re the last school in the county still open. But still, read, write. It won’t hurt you.”
A moment later, the bell rang.
“Whatever,” Brant grumbled under his breath then headed out the door.
“Let’s get out of here,” Zoey said. Rising, she stuffed her book into her backpack.
Nate pushed past. “Sorry,” he said as he pretended to trip, banging his crotch against Zoey’s butt.
“Screw you, Nate. Do that again, and I’ll have Amelia cast a spell to rot it off,” Zoey warned him.
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Freaks,” Nate said, glaring from Zoey to me, but I couldn’t help but see the look of fear cross his eyes. He wasn’t sure if I could really do something like that. In the end, it was better that he didn’t know I would never, ever practice dark magic. Harm none and do as you will, that is the motto of Wiccans. I wasn’t looking for trouble to come back to me.
I dug into my bag. “Almost forgot,” I said, handing Zoey a small, amber-colored vial.
“What’s this?” she asked, looking at the bottle.
“Eucalyptus and rosemary oil,” I replied. “Put it in your bath or on a cloth to inhale it. It helps keep your respiratory system clear. Should help ward off the cold going around.”
“Thanks,” she said, opening the bottle to take a sniff. “Ooh, my nose is burning.” She giggled.
Logan walked up behind Zoey and me. “Hey, Amelia…you’re organizing the Halloween dance?” he asked.
His dark hair fell over his black-rimmed glasses. He pushed it back then paused to arrange his scarf inside his heavy winter pea coat. For autumn, it was terribly cold and the reports of flu were already out of control. No wonder he was bundled up. His honey-colored eyes crinkled in the corners when he smiled at me. My knees went soft.
“Uh, yeah. We’ve just started planning. We’re still working on a theme.”
“Ms. Flynn says I need another extracurricular. Mind if I help?”
“If you want,” I replied, trying to play it cool when inside I was screaming like a tween at a Justin Bieber concert. “The next meeting is Tuesday at six. We meet down at Studio,” I said, referring to the local coffee bar where Zoey worked. When I wasn’t at Witch Wood, I spent all my time there, especially when Mom was at work. The last thing I wanted was to be penned up at home with my stepdad, Larry.
“Great. I’ll be there,” he replied then looked at the vial Zoey was holding. “So, a white witch? For real?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, I know, it’s weird, but, it’s just, you know…” I said, trailing off. It’s just what, Amelia? You’re a witch. Own it.
Logan raised an eyebrow at me.
“Yes, I’m a white witch. I do healing and stuff. All-natural lifestyle. That kind of thing.”
“Dude?” Nate called to Logan from the door.
Logan grinned at me. “You do protection spells? I need one. My sister got that flu. She was puking all night, and I hate being sick.”
“I do,” I said then arched an eyebrow at him. “You really want me to—“
“Go for it. Please.”
“Okay then. This will just take a minute.” I closed my eyes, inhaled deeply, and then tried to envision the energy field, the aura, surrounding him. I envisioned white light passing from me to him, surrounding him with a glowing white energy that would protect him. With my mind’s eye, I inscribed this light with a protection rune that glowed with glimmering blue light. In my mind, I chanted:
“Goddess Mother, may this light protect him from all harm.
May this light keep away all illness.
May this light keep him safe from darkness.
May this light bring him peace.
So mote it be.
With thanks, I pray thee.”
I exhaled then opened my eyes. I could still see the white light shimmering all around him. “Done,” I said then smiled.
Logan grinned. “That easy? Cool. I feel much safer now. Thanks, Amelia. See you next week,” he said then headed toward the door.
“What were you doing?” Nate asked Logan.
Logan shrugged off the question, not answering, and they headed down the hall.
“God, I’m crushing on him so hard right now. That was awesome. You should have seen how he was looking at you. Lu-st!” Zoey said, emphasizing the last word in sing-song. “But I don’t get it. Why in the hell does he hang around with Nate?” Zoey asked as she pulled her long black and mermaid blue tresses out of the back of her jacket. They tumbled down her back to her waist.
“Their parents are connected or something,” I replied. “Brianna and Brian said their dads work together. And he’s new. He doesn’t know better yet. You heard him call Nate out. He’s not like them.”
“Well, he’s definitely into you,” Zoey said as we moved toward the door.
“Na. I’m just a curiosity.”
“Did you even register what just happened? All guys secretly dig the weird girls, but I think Logan actually likes you.”
“You think?” My heart slammed in my chest.
“Guess you’ll find out Tuesday.”
“So mote it be,” I said with a wink.
Zoey laughed.
“Amelia?” Mrs. Delaney called as Zoey and I headed toward the door. “Will you see Madame Knightly this weekend?”
I nodded.
“Be sure to wish her well for me.”
“Will do,” I said with a smile.
“Oh, and Amelia, don’t cast in class,” she said with a laugh.
I smiled at her. “Okay, Mrs. D. Get some rest this weekend. You…you feeling okay?”
“Just run down,” she said then tapped her medicine bag. “We’re going out to the reservation this weekend to see my husband’s parents. They usually do powwow this time of year. School year started rough…” she said, her voice trailing off.
Rough. Yes, her aura definitely agreed. “Rest up. We’ll see you Monday.”
She nodded and waved us off.
Zoey and I then turned and headed down the hallway toward the exit. Over the loudspeaker, Coach Nestor was making announcements. “Tonight’s basketball game against the Laughlin Vikings is cancelled. Laughlin High School has been closed due to the flu outbreak. A reminder from the nurse’s office, please stay home if you are experiencing flu-like symptoms. Call the attendance line to report any absences. Make ample use of hand sanitizer to avoid spreading illnesses.”
“Have a good weekend, Miss Beatrice,” Zoey called as our lanky, blonde-haired biology teacher rushed past balancing her school bag, a coffee cup, and her cell phone. She was texting furiously.
“You too, Zoey…Amelia. I’ll see you at Studio Saturday night. Allen and I got tickets for the play at the theater. If they don’t cancel. Later, girls,” she said then raced down the hall.
I couldn’t help but notice that half the male teachers and male students turned to watch her go past. She was gorgeous, that was certain, like the kind of hot teacher you always saw getting fired because she was secretly a bikini model in her spare time. Her boyfriend was the town celebrity, a PGA golfer or something. I didn’t have her for class this year, but I’d taken advanced biology with her junior year. She was wicked smart. I must have wondered a hundred times why she was teaching at a high school.
“God, if I could get the flu maybe I could drop these last ten pounds before the Halloween dance. My dieselpunk outfit would look so hot if I wasn’t so flabby,” Zoey said absently as we headed out into the crisp, autumn air.
With her athletic frame from playing softball, Zoey was hardly flabby. “That’s gross. Just stop eating fries like they’re a food group.”
“They aren’t?” she asked with a wink. “Don’t go hippie on me, Miss perfect-boho-more-lithe-than-air figure because I am one with mineral water and acorns. Figure out what you’re going to go dressed up as yet?”
“I was thinking Harley Quinn. Not sure yet.”
“Well, I’m sure you and your date will come up with something.”
“Logan, of course, when he asks you on Tuesday. Don’t say no.”
“Stop shipping.”
“You know you want him.”
When we reached the front steps, we stopped so Zoey could dig through her bag for her van keys. I eyed the parking lot. Logan was getting into a car with Nate, Katie, and Brad. The popular crowd. Not my crowd. I looked around for Brian and Brianna. Their car was gone. I hadn’t seen them since first period. Had they gone home sick?
Zoey finally pulled out her keys. “Sure you don’t want me to drop you off?”
“Na. I haven’t had enough bonding time with the acorns today.”
Zoey laughed. “Fine. But you want me to pick you up at Witch Wood Monday morning?”
“Hugs,” she said then, pulling me into an embrace. “Don’t overdose on too much Matlock and Werther’s candies this weekend. And don’t get sick. Call me, okay?”
“Dead spot, remember? I’ll try…if the rotary phone is working. It’s been acting strange.” Strange was an understatement. Since last weekend the old rotary phone kept ringing, but there was never anyone on the line…just static and strange tinny sounds.
Zoey nodded. “Okay, I’m gonna be late for work. Later, babes,” Zoey called then flounced down the steps toward her van.
I took a deep breath, inhaling the crisp autumn wind. This weekend marked the feast of Mabon, the harvest festival, and I was planning to spend it with the one person who understood me best, Madame Knightly. Of course, before I could run off to the haven of Witch Wood Estate, I had to make a stop at the place where I hated to be most…home.

About Melanie Karsak

Melanie Karsak is the author of the Amazon best-selling steampunk series The Airship Racing Chronicles (Chasing the Star Garden and Chasing the Green Fairy) and the award-winning horror/dark fantasy Harvesting Series. She grew up in rural northwestern Pennsylvania and earned a Master’s degree in English from Gannon University. A steampunk connoisseur, white elephant collector, and zombie whisperer, the author currently lives in Florida with her husband and two children. She is an Instructor of English at Eastern Florida State College.

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About Kimberly
Kimberly is a coffee loving book addict who reads and listens to fictional stories in all genres. She's a self-professed Whovian, as well as a Supernatural, and Sherlock Holmes junkie, She enjoys sharing books, tips, recipes and hosting the Sunday Post. The coffee is always on and she is ready to chat... Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

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64 Responses to “Witch Wood by Melanie Karsak”

  1. Tracy Terry

    Loving that cover but alas it is about the only thing that truly appeals to me. Not keen on the novella, even less so when they come about as part of a series, and a tad tired of the whole zombie thing, I think I’ll be giving this a miss … for a while at least as you have me almost convinced by your glowing review.

    Tracy Terry recently posted: OF BELSNICKEL AND THE CHRISTMAS SPIDER.
  2. Debbie Haupt

    This sounds amazing Kim, I guess I’ll just have to GET OVER MYSELF and read a Zombie novel, and sleep with the lights on, and be scared and probably scarred for life. There’s just something about zombies that scare the beejeesus out of me! Oh well enough about me 🙂
    thanks for the great review!

  3. Jenny

    Why must there always be cliffhangers Kim!!!! I can’t deal with them unless the entire series is done and in my hands so I can pick one up after the next:) Glad this was an outstanding addition to the series though!

    Jenny recently posted: Top 5 of 2015
    • kimbacaffeinate

      No…every book, word has impact and meat. I absolutely love this series I never, ever know what will happen next and the way she ties these together…gads.

    • kimbacaffeinate

      Ha, thanks I thought it be nice to add a little holiday to the blog. I have had a blast reading the Harvesting series and cannot wait for more.

  4. Edana

    Haven’t heard of this series but going by Chapter 1, it looks scrummy. BTW love the blinking Christmas lights!!

  5. Lorna

    Bought it-it doesn’t take much for you to talk me into stuff 🙂 However, your Amazon button didn’t take me anywhere, but a blank screen. I haven’t read any of the others but if it’s as good as you say, I will probably be going back to try the others as well! Thanks!

  6. Tyler H. Jolley

    First off, I love the buttons above the review! What a cool idea and easy way to find similar books. You must be an html queen! On to the review, I really appreciate a unique magic system. It’s really hard to find a completely fresh system.

    Tyler H. Jolley recently posted: Cover Reveal


text:
The Claiming

The Claiming

eBook - 2016
Rate this:
Submitting is just the beginning... Sasha Blake never thought her emotional wounds would heal--that they were a part of her just like her physical scars. But that was before Cole Johnson's boundless love and overwhelmingly sexy control set her free, unleashing a confident side that she never knew she had. He's more than just her Master; he's her world. And she'll do anything he asks... Cole's days of restless wandering are done--he's found everything he needs in Sasha. Now, it's time to make it official. When his childhood home in England goes up for sale, he realizes the old estate is the perfect place to claim Sasha as his own, and the ideal opportunity to show her just how much she means to him. As Sasha, Cole, and their closest friends from their Partners in Play community descend on the British countryside for a titillating adult vacation, the submissives and Dominants alike will test their boundaries--and have an adventure none of them will ever forget.
Publisher: New York :, InterMix,, 2016.
ISBN: 9780399584527
Characteristics: 1 online resource.

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text:
trueborn: ([smol] nervy.)
( ＴＲＡＩＴＯＲ ＰＲＩＮＣＥ) ninurrтa. ([personal profile] trueborn) wrote in [community profile] calimport 2017-03-28 04:44 am (UTC)

[ Please... stay casual........

It's already disheartening enough, to be witnessed by Sidon in such a state. Not the state of undress, oh no. Ninurrta is not ashamed of this body! After all there have been many people, mostly servant, who have seen him without a scrap of clothing. It is the state of disarray that causes him this distress. He looks like a fool, in front of someone who is so meticulous and! kindly! offering him! aid!

Be still, his tender little heart. ]

Please. I can't see where I've caught myself.

[ Gesturing to the length of dark antler, tangled up in pale lacework. ]

I wanted to surprise you. You came all this way, and I haven't been able to tear myself from my duties.

[ An arm's distance. There is practically no space between them at all. ]

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text:
I live on the coast of eastern Australia. I am a Christian. I trusted in the LORD down here at the beach, amazingly it is not far from where I now live. It was over 40 years ago, after a Beach Mission Service at the age of 12 years

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

WOYWW, Flora + Fauna of Oz + Card Challenge!

Hullo there everyone!!!
Well, here we are - yes another delightful day here of lovely summery weather - great temps at the mo - not too hot and not too cold - Goldilocks right!
Now to my desk, as it is WOYWW or "What is On Your Workdesk Wednesday". Over at Julia's we check out one another's workdesk/ floors or wherever we may create (peek here)!  Join us, do!
Okay a lot of inkiness going on here - or was last night!! Monkeys survey it, they are not quite sure if it came off or no!! this type of "brayered ink with cling wrap" aka Barbara Gray. Maggie Silvercrafter wrote of it on her post last week - see here!
As  we dont have such things on TV with Babara Gray over here - Maggie kindly sent me the instructions. I shall confess, I cant help myself, and I have put my own slant on it! do that with cooking recipes too! Will do a separate post on it one day (have it started) - when have finished pieces have in mind. So watch this space. Awesome colours aren't they?
Otherwise desk playing is mostly tidied away, as cleaning day again.

Well, have some lovely photos of interest today from Oz!!
Firstly it is the pineapple growing in our yard; put it in after seeing them growing in my friend's garden just around the corner. About eighteen months ago cut the top off shop bought pineapple, and planted it in the backyard, in well drained spot with sun, and bit of water when remembered.
Yesterday look what I spied! It has shot at last with its wee new fruit about to appear after the flowering, from all our rain no doubt! and you would not believe how prickly it was. I thought it would be soft at this stage - but no, prickly all the way!
I thought at as I looked at it how similar to the bromeliad family it was, so did some research.. see HERE and was right!
Pineapples are bromeliad flowers (which also bear fruit) who would have thought?  :D
Click on pickies if want a better look.

Here 4 weeks later are two HUGE little fluffy baby Peewee's pushing at each other almost to fit in the nest. They are according to reports a laugh a minute as they try to learn to fly and wibble-wobble on branches around the nest. One is slightly more advanced than the other - didn't my sister take a good photo?!
To close, I thought I would share with you the card which I began on WOYWW last week on my desk, (with Memory Box dies - if you need tip to  help come them out ~ look here)!
Hope you like it, Sarn? (see her's here)
Have so many birthdays this month I thought I'd to make it up for my sister's Birthday on Saturday. No worries she does not read this blog, so quite safe. 'Tis the same sister who took the Peewee pickies :D
Recipe: Memory Box Die Nottingham Border, Cuttlebug Vintage corners, Spellbinder fancy label, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder, few pearls. As these are all scraps used ( the Kraft coffee coloured paper is from an iceblock packet.. shock horror!! but I like it) and entering it in Di's Snippet's Challenge!
 Happy WOYWW everyone!
Thanks so VERY much for popping over for a peek and chat, and may God bless your day wherever you may be!!
Shaz in Oz.x
I would like to enter this card in the following challenges also:
Sparkles: Die cuts & flowers. (15th)
Twisted Tuesday: Free for All. (10th)
Cute Cards Thursday: A different corner.
Natalie & Amy's challenge: Something old , something new. Two dies used.. Memory Box border brand new - Cuttlebug vintage corners were some of earliest dies. (28th)
Pretty little Ribbon Shop blog - Anything goes. (monthly - started 4/2)
Challenges for Everybody - Always anything goes (monthly - 2/3 approx.)

MaggieC said...

You have definitely got the hang of the cling film technique. Those papers are beautiful. It is a great way of getting matching backing papers,too. Have a lovely week playing. xx Maggie (no number yet)

scrappymo! said...

Your backgrounds are just so lovely looking...Is that a butterfly in the swirls.

Love this card. Your MB dies are fabulous on this lovely card! Your sis is going to love it.

She sure takes great photos! Your garden never ceases to amaze me and those birds are so sweet!
No WOYWW for me this week...too much on the go to get round to visit properly...just visitng those i follow to say Hi.

Tracie said...

What a beautiful card. I really like your color choices. Thanks for playing with us at Twisted Tuesday Challenges.

RosC said...

Great post altogether, Shaz.
Your sister's peewee photo is really sweet - I'd be proud of that one! I love their lovely teacup mud nests too.
The background papers are terrific. I recall Elizabeth talking about Barbara Gray too, and she's a bit of a hoot.
And the card...did you use Swiss dots? It's very appealing.
Well, good to catch up.
Take care,
Ros. (waiting for Mr Linky)

Ustvarjalni utrinki Tamara P. said...

Ohhh so gorgeous foto of birds, and your card is stunning,
love it.
Hugs Tamara

Lunch Lady Jan said...

I love the colours you've used for the splotchy backgrounds...what exactly is a brayer???
And the peewee chicks are fab! What a great picture, it's so funny to see them them squished in to that little nest together...that made me smile on this dismal cold morning!
Hugs, LLJ 45 xx

Francesca said...

The cling film look ok to me. How great to be able to grow a pineapple in the garden. I did manage it here one year approx 25 yrs ago in the greenhouse when we still had hot summers! Francesca #67

Sandra (Stamping For Pleasure) said...

Beautiful pictures of the wildlife and a pretty inky looking desk. What's not to like?

Sarn xxx

Helen said...

Great cling film technique. Are you not able to follow Barb on your computer? I have to as I don't have the right tv package to carry the channel on my tv. Mind, I don't know if you can, from outside the uk! Great card, and photos. Have a good week. Helen 14

brenda said...

Oh wow Shaz, pineapple tree in your back garden - awesome !

I scrutinised your work desk but don't see those Pan Pastels anywhere, that inky technique is fun though isn't it.

Very elegant card and it looks like yet another die I 'this isneed'.

Thanks so much for sharing with us at Pretty Little Ribbons challenge this month.

B x

Sandy said...

Love the colors of the cling wrap paper just lovely. Look at the colors on the pineapple they look so bright. Great pics of the birds they grow so quick hey. Love the dies on your card it looks fab.
Sandy :) #10

Shazsilverwolf said...

There are always loads of interesting things in your posts Shaz, its a joy to visit. The card is a beauty. I admit, like you I would have expected baby pineapples to be soft,and now you mention it I can see the bromeliad resemblance. Have a great week, Hugs,xx Shaz #75

sandra de said...

Your cards are always stunning but now you can add cute bird pics and a pineapple. ... amazing!
Sandra @81

Andrea said...

what a fab post as always .love the pics and amazed that you can grow a pineapple! the birds are so cute too. will love to see what you make with those pretty papers love the colours used. re Barbara Gray you can watch her shows on the create and craft website she has her own link pages there from her classroom shows she does each month on create and craft ..they are all there . i've not tried brayering yet but it looks so wonderful when I see it
hope you have a wonderful week
Andrea #77

Ann B said...

Pineapples and Peewees, a bit different to scrubby weeds and Sparrows in mine. Your brayedieces are so pretty, love the colours.
Ann B

Caz said...

Beautiful card Shaz. I love the simplicity of it.
Caz x

Glenda said...

Love the backgrounds you are working on! Thanks for all the photos of your area. It makes me want to visit the region! Happy WOYWW!

Ria Gall said...

love love love the colours you have used on your inky bits so pretty. I will be back to see what they become.
Your card is really lovely nice colour combo and your photos wow
Happy WOYWW #192
Ria #75

Maxam Made said...

Hi Shaz, I love your post today, your desk looks like I want to jump in and try it, and I love the Nature photos!! I am hoping for a a camera for my birthday, you pictures inspire me, well your Photos' opf God's Creation inspire me!!
Hugs and have a wondwerful day!! I am # 129 today!!

Di said...

Oh WOW Shaz, what a fabulous post today. Love the backgrounds, and your snippets card is just gorgeousness all over!! Can I say that the birdies and your very own pineapple almost stole the show though :))

In Thailand I think pineapples have two crops a year - so you could get another one within 6 months.

Now, where's me roll of cling film - you just had to mention that didn't you - I'm still recovering from the brayer exertions of a few weeks ago!!

Happy WOYWW, hugs, Di xx #52

Mrs A. said...

Well I bit my Nemeses and finally had a go at the brayer melarky. It didn't go too bad until i thought it was dry and smudged a streak off it. Tried to repair it and ruined the whole thing. Will send you a pic of it for your eys only, Then you have to destroy it by eating it!
Now you tell me about cling film!!!
There are only 24 hrs in a day you know and am currently using 19 of em up. Hugs Mrs A.

Queenie Jeannie said...

So much yumminess in one post!!! LOVE fresh pineapple, you're in for a treat! Great card for your lovely sister, who took such wonderful photos!

Happy Crafting!
Jeannie #4

MaryH said...

So many lovely places to look around here today. Love your brayering...will check out instructional link. (definitely need to view that!) Always enjoy seeing the pictures, and your pineapple is magnificient. How long to harvest time? Your sis is a polished photographer...does she make house calls? Cute birdies, and she must have a zoom lens to get so close...felt as though practically in the nest with 'em. Loverly card too, love the light kraft cream with the white dots background. Thanks for such a pleasant start to my day. Hugs

lisa said...

Your backgrounds are looking very pretty, Shaz. I love the cling technique.
Wow, look at that pineapple, I've tried that so many times myself but without success. I don't think we have the right conditions here!
Hugs Lisax #54

Almo said...

Hi Shaz I am loving the inked backgrounds what colours are they? Those birdies are so sweet well done your sis. Hugs Mo x

Caro said...

The backgrounds look stunning and I love your card. Thanks for sharing the lovely summery photos with us...the birds are adorable. Happy WOYWW! Thanks for sharing. Caro #72

Deb said...

oh wow, what a fabulous post, love your inking on your desk, that looks amazing! So fascinated by you growing a pineapple! Totally love your card too, the die cuts are so gorgeous!
Many thanks for joining in the Cute Card Thursday Challenge this week!

Deb said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Deb said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
pearshapedcrafting said...

So many lovely things to see today! Love that card! What a fantastic view of your little birds too! Chris130

Anne said...

Superb card! Innovative and very elegant! Love the inkyness too! I'm about out of glossy card and my multi-inkpads are off to inkpad heaven now... So it makes it extra special to see your creativeness! Beautiful photos! Hubby grew a pineapple top in the greenhouse which was great fun!Aren't those pee-wees cute! Weather here...cold, strong winds, hailstones and rain...want to swap?

Jackie said...

Love your pineapple plant
Love the baby birds
Love the inky goings on
Jackie 11

JoZart said...

Super card but you are eclipsed this week by those sweet pee wee chicks. Isn't Nature amazing? Thanks Shaz for your blessings. I am very lucky in so many ways and give my thanks every day. hope you are keeping better,
love jo x

Samantha Elliott said...

Gosh there is a lot to look at on your post today!! Those brayer papers look wonderful. And that pineapple is wonderful. I used to try and grow those when I was a kid as fresh pineapples were a big thing then!
And the piece de resistance was those Pee Wees! Beautiful! As is your card!
Thanks for popping over and your kind prayer.

voodoo vixen said...

Love the colour of your backgrounds, very pretty indeed! Imagine a pineapple just rooting like that!! Now you have done it... I'm buying a pineapple as soon as I get to Brisbane!! LOL Cute peewees too, lovely variety and it is so nice to see sunny photos!! Annette #18

fairy thoughts said...

Hi Shaz
Not sure what the clingfilm is all about but it sounds interesting, will try and investigate. I saw Barbara Grey demo-ing once ..... she was very good.
Fancy actually growing a pineapple from a shop one, amazing.
the card turned out really well. I did a quick trial with the candle on the die.... not sure if it worked or not. I will try it again when I use my memory dies next
thanks for sharing your lovely photos.
janet #38

Nan G said...

Love the colors of the card bases! Thanks for sharing the piccies ...great looking pineapple and the birdies are so cute! Happy WOYWW! Nan 28 p.s. sis took a great pic.

Betsy said...

Oh a pineapple tree of your very own. I'm so jealous! I've always loved pineapple and who knew it would be easy to grow, (if you have the right climate, obviously not where I live). And the little birds are just darling. How special to have such a "birds eye" view as they grow.

Darnell J Knauss said...

What a fun, fun post, Shaz! I think your card, and the peewee pics, and the pineapple, and your papers on the deak are all spectacular! I had no idea you could do that with pineapples (I'm sure, depending on where you live) and am so tickled for you that it grew so well. And the baby birds, oh my, how fabulous!! Thank you for sharing.

Thank you, too, for coming by to visit the Playhouse earlier! Have a wonderful week if I don't see you before! Darnell #47

Sandie Edwards said...

Loved your post too Shaz... your card is so sweet, love how you created it, very very nice!!
We watched our Peewi birds to adults this year, was beautiful. One of the 3 babies was a lot (considerably) than the other 2, and often fell from his nest. We would put him back. He is the only one that survived, and now is best mates with our dog! (I kid you not). Your sisters photos are so precious!
Loved your Pineapple, imagine what it is going to taste like YUMMO!

Neet said...

Lovely brayering and cards Shaz. Think the baby peewee's steal the show though, sorry. Fluffy things and all that always bring an 'aaw'.
Hope you are feeling well, thanks for the email - setting off iln a few hours for the airport.
Net xxxxxx

Craftychris said...

Love your brayered backgrounds, the colours are gorgeous! Your card is fabulous, I love that border die. How cool to have a pineapple growing in your garden and those little birds are soooo sweet! xx

Anne said...

Hi there lovely photos. The card is great. Love the backgrounds. Need to check out details re what you did. Sorry I'm late. Anne x

Robyn said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tamika said...

Shaz you always have such beautiful pictures! I also think the card is adorable. Tamika #126

Joynana said...

Loving your wonderful photos. They are just gorgeous. The simplicity of your card and the details make it so perfect. #105

Peet said...

So beautiful, Shaz!
Thanks for joining us at the Pretty Little Ribbon February challenge.

Sandy said...

Hey Shaz glad to see you entering your lovely card at Challenges 4 Everybody. Good Luck!
Sandy DT :)

Gale said...

Great card. Thanks for sharing with us at Twisted Tuesday and good luck. Hugs, Gale DT

Jocelyn aka JoBear2 said...

Beautiful card Shaz - love how you used all the diecuts.

Such sweet photos of the birds. We call them Mudlarks where I live and have a pair that come to be fed often (and they bring a new baby each year). Very flighty birds though and scare easily.

Jocelyn X

Angela Coles said...

beautiful colours on those papers

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Redeeming Rocks

(yummy recipie to follow!)

School lunch. Ah, the days of a mass produced meals served in the compartmentalized, plastic tray, with a carton of milk and plastic silverware. A long line to get your appointed portion all while (slowly) working your way up the pecking order of tables. . . In our school lunch room there was a definite order to where people sat. Kindergartners at the end of the middle table, THIRD graders sat at the far end of the first table (prime spot) and so on.

The lunch menu was published each week in the “Snowshoe” and I could almost predict the sort of week it would be by the lunch menu. If it was a “Chili” Wednesday and “Burrito Friday”. . it was a GOOD week. . throw in a Grilled Cheese Any day. . and wow LIFE WAS GOOD. Now if the menu included Beef-a-Roni (need a I say more, just the name. . ) Cold Ham & Cheese (on a homemade, a bit too floury roll. . ) and horror of horror’s BEEF ROCKS. . . it was going to be a pretty disastrous week!

Beef Rocks. . . let’s just talk about Beef Rocks. . . first the name. . who wants to eat something called. . B-E-E-F R-O-C-K-S?? Some of you more open minded people out there might say, “well what is it, it can’t be that bad, can it?” IT CAN, my friend, picture ground beef (the school lunch room variety of ground beef. . have you been watching the news lately, can we say BEEF RECALL?) surrounded in a mushy, homemade (with that same too floury dough) roll. It sends shutters up my spine to recall. Beef Rocks always meant “sack lunch”.

So, when in a recent issue of “O” (The Oprah Magazine) I saw a recipie for “Chocolate Rocks” my mind leapt to “beef rocks”. . how often do you see “rock” in the name of a recipie?

Chocolate Rocks. . . ROCK! This little morsels of yummy, wholesome (really) chocolate chip cookie goodness made up for any bad association of recipes with the name “Rock”. . .

Try them. . you’ll see. .

Chocolate “Rocks”

2 Cups whole wheat flour
1 Cup rolled oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
8 Tbsp (1 Stick) unsalted butter
1 1/2 Cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 Cup Apple Butter
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 Cup Walnut pieces (I used pecans)
3/4 C Raisins (I didn’t have any, so I didn’t use, but next time I will)

Preheat oven to 375.

In a large bowl combine flour, oats, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Set aside
In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Remove from heat; stir in brown sugar. Stir in apple butter, eggs, and vanilla. Add flour mixture, stir until well combines. Stir in chocolate chips, walnuts (or pecans) and raisins. Return dough to bowl, cover, and refrigerate until firm 30 minutes to hour. (I just put in freezer for about 5-10 minutes. Worked out fine)

Line baking sheet with parchment paper (or spray with Pam). Drop by rounded spoonful. Bake 13-15 minutes. Cool. Eat!

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Get Salon Quality Blowout With The Actual Super Solano Moda Dryer

Marion, North.C. has a wonderful idea for this holiday season, family gathering together seeing friends old and new eating great food and joking day time away. One of the best things folks in Marion like to do is shop, so I really hope this secrets your local holiday market will help some folks out there shop smarter.

Hair styling at Brooklyn offers clientele a large variety of hairstyles. The hairstyle you discover here will not be missed in any corner around the globe. Their skilled hair stylists are efficient artists. They will transform the dull looking hair into beautiful dilled and voluminous hair. Various hair salons in Brooklyn which supply the treating of broken hair color. Broken hair means imbalance in the keratin content of your hair. Keratin is a pigment found your hair roots which allow your hair to grow. But if due towards a reasons, your roots are damaged, the keratin part might be lost in addition to hair would stop multiplying. Brooklyn salon keratin treatment is suggested the best to get regarding broken and unwanted loss of hair.

Pictures may be a must when you are attending prom and you need to your prom makeup to look bad in pictures. When you touch up your make up and reapply lip liner and lipstick before you are preparing on taking pictures if you’ll like them to come out perfect. So always make use of a mirror when reapplying your prom makeup.

Take examine their workplace. It should be clean (obviously) and professional but with some personality. Does she have her license in a frame or perhaps is it just stuck under the mirror’s cutting tool? Do her tools seem organized or are the cords all tangled as well as the brushes just chucked in a bucket?

In freezing climates, blow drying can certainly save wild. This is because wet hair that freezes can crack causing split ends and other damage. Unless you live in subzero temperatures but need quick drying, microfiber towels provide considerably drying than blow hair dryers. They absorb water much more quickly than terry cloth. The warmth is the leading hair damager according to Denver beauty salons. So instead of heat use a low fixing. This may not address the tangling issue.

Do not spend a lot of money on your honeymoon. Nowadays, there a wide range of websites which enables you set you up by using a honeymoon package that you will save money. Also, if your wedding reception is inside of the summer, make sure to consider putting your honeymoon off until winter, when vacation packages are much more.

The compound will not cover crow’s-feet. It will raise the skin’s moisture content, so that it look better. Occurs three months of use, you should see a couple of 30% improvement in your skin’s emergence. That’s what volunteers participating on the inside studies can see.

For those men that don’t like strong cosmetics, you will find milder ones, with less fragrance and fewer polishing special effects. Most of the acne treatment and face treatments done are on herbal packs which just work at the oil removal procedures. There are also painless techniques of removing black heads and techniques in these salons. Many of these salons have health physicians who would guide upon what would keep aloof from damaging your pattern.

Rock lets the humor of at the time. the interview subjects their body. and the sobriety of the very best so-called “good hair” speak for alone. The result is a funny, revealing and the best kinds poignant the black America’s perception of beauty. and also the society provides shaped that perception depended into today.


text:
Price transparency is first consumer priority: survey

CarGurus, a popular online automobile listings site, has found that trust is a decisive factor among Canadians when shopping for automobiles, real estate and other costly purchases.

Price transparency ranked as the highest priority among respondents to the CarGurus survey.

According to the survey, trust levels among Canadian car buyers stand at nine per cent, second-last on the list to obtaining a mortgage which garnered the least trust among respondents with seven per cent.

The more transparent and reputable a website, the more likely consumers will be inclined to make a major purchase, with 73 per cent of respondents noting that trust and transparency are much more important to shoppers than its speed, design, efficiency and shareability.

When determining whether a website was trustworthy, almost half of those surveyed relied on customer reviews while 31 per cent decided by word of mouth.

Negative customer reviews factored in to almost half of the 1,000 respondents’ sense of a site’s transparency and trustworthiness when positive and negative reviews appeared together.

Providing a detailed cost breakdown was voted by 23 per cent of the randomly picked survey participants to be a way for vendors to increase buyer trust and transparency. And almost a third said that discovering a higher price at the point of purchase than was advertised online, would cause them to lose trust in the dealer.

“Establishing trust goes a long way with consumers, particularly those making big purchases,” said Sarah Welch, SVP of Consumer Marketing.

“In our experience at CarGurus, we’ve seen just how much transparency – providing reliable, easily accessible customer reviews, engaging with negative reviews and keeping updated price information across online inventory platforms – enhances the consumer shopping experience, and in turns benefits dealers.”

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Canadian auto dealer


text:
Systems Advocacy

Combining Systems-Advocacy and Individual-Level Advocacy

Advocacy efforts are generally classified as either individual-based—working specifically with or on behalf of individuals to ensure access to resources and opportunities—or systems-based, which entails advocating to change and improve institutional responses. In reality, many advocacy efforts involve both working to change systems and assisting individuals simultaneously. The Community Advocacy Project was designed to do exactly this, by providing numerous individualized advocacy interventions with the intention of ultimately creating community-level change. For example, advocates would send letters to the local police chief either commending or criticizing an officer’s performance as appropriate. Other community service providers were doing this as well, and the police chief commented at a local meeting that such letters had led to specific policy changes in the department.

Sometimes the advocacy supervisors worked on systems-level change while advocates were working with their individual families. For instance, it became clear over time that workers within the county Friend of the Court office (responsible for handling child visitation and child support issues) were unlikely to take domestic violence into account when mandating mediation between couples and when determining child visitation. The advocacy supervisors documented a number of cases where this had occurred, and took this information to a senior-level manager. Policy changes were implemented and the advocacy supervisors noted advocates having fewer such problems over time. These are just two examples illustrating how the project was determined to focus on the community’s responsibility to respond effectively to women with abusive partners.


text:
Originally published June 3, 2016

This post is vaguely in response to the kid who fell into the gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati zoo. Let’s just get that out of the way. And while we’re at it, let me be clear: I am not a gorilla expert. I’m not a parenting expert. I’m not perfect. My kids aren’t perfect. I know we all make mistakes.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t have an opinion. And I do. An opinion fueled largely by a frustration that has been growing since LONG before I had kids of my own. Hell, it’s been growing since I was a kid myself.

Because, you see, my whole life, I have encountered parents who just refuse to PARENT their damned kids. In a restaurant, I’d be eating my meal politely – the way I was supposed to – and some stupid kid behind me would be turned around in the booth, standing up, throwing crayons at my head. I’d be sitting in an airplane seat, bored out of my mind, and the kid behind me is kicking my seat to entertain himself. I’d be standing in a zoo, watching all the other kids climb all over the railings and blocking MY view of the animals, but I had to stay off the railings because it VERY CLEARLY SAYS not to climb on them.

It’s cool. I’ll just sit here not being able to see anything or enjoy myself because your fun is more important than anyone else’s.

Not only was it annoying to constantly have to deal with other people’s kids getting away with murder while I was forced to have a second rate experience everywhere we went, it wasn’t fair! How come that kid gets to act like that and I have to behave?! Even better, why won’t someone make that kid behave so we can ALL have a good time?! That’s some bullshit right there.

As I got older, the annoyances didn’t stop. There’s always someone’s rotten little brat running around a museum, climbing on things that AREN’T SUPPOSED TO BE CLIMBED ON, or screaming in a movie theatre, or walking around to different tables in a restaurant. And I shouldn’t call those kids rotten little brats, really, because it isn’t their fault. It’s their parents’ fault. But, unfortunately, pinpointing the fault doesn’t change their behavior, so they ARE rotten little brats to those of us who have to deal with OUR experiences being ruined by them.

I know. I know what some of you are going to say. “If you don’t want to deal with kids, don’t go to public places.” You know what? The world doesn’t belong to you and your illbehaved offspring, and teaching them how to behave is basically your only job as a parent. Other than like…keeping them alive.

–Ok, we’re back —

Now, I don’t know the gorilla kid from Adam and I don’t know his mom from Eve.

I have read  that several eyewitnesses saw the mother acknowledge her child saying he wanted to go swim with the gorillas, then ignore him and go back to her phone. Several times. That she was taking pictures on her phone while her child ran away from her, climbed a fence that was as tall as him, crawl under some bushes, and fall 15′ into a gorilla enclosure – an adventure that took longer than “a second.”

But I don’t know how accurate any of that is because I wasn’t there.

This has been shared with me a lot today, as though it makes the negligence ok.

What I DO know is that I somehow managed to go to LOTS of places – from zoos, to Disneyland, to Egypt – before I was 5 years old, and I would never have DARED try going somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be at that age. What I DO know, is that my children somehow managed to go to that SAME zoo when they were toddlers, and somehow miraculously managed to NOT fall into the gorilla enclosure.

How? Am I magical? Do I possess some incredible mind-power over my children? No. My children are imperfect little monsters that have been yelled at and swatted in every public place we’ve ever been (Lowe’s lighting department just last week…) because they want to run and act like fools and explore, but THERE IS A PLACE AND TIME FOR THAT. Whenever we are in a busy, public place, they are either holding my hand (or their father’s) or they are – at the very least – ALWAYS in my sight.

I am the mother who is CONSTANTLY nagging at my children: “WALK, don’t run,” “look with your EYES,” “don’t touch ANYTHING,” “don’t climb on that,” “stay by my side,” “hold my hand.” I’m sure I drive them batshit crazy with my nagging, but it isn’t going to stop me. Because without my constant nagging, their oh-so-easily-distracted little minds would get them (and my wallet..and their lives) into trouble. Big trouble. Trouble like, “you’re now the proud owner of this beautiful, broken, 6″ glass dragon and it only cost you $600!” Trouble like knocking over a $15,000 LEGO sculpture (oh, yes, those would have been my kids if I stopped nagging). Trouble like falling into a gorilla enclosure and making it necessary for a member of a critically endangered species to be shot.

parent talking to child.jpg
Mom: Why you gotta be an asshole, Susie?

It is a constant, infuriating, battle of wills to make my children behave – because I did NOT inherit whatever powerful presence my father had that kept us in line without ever even raising his voice – but it is a battle I will NEVER stop fighting. Because it is my JOB to make sure I know where they are and that they are NOT breaking rules or disrupting other people’s enjoyment.

They are NOT perfect. They do break things – their own bones, occasionally, but mostly my stuff. Just yesterday, 8 called me to tell me that 6 had broken the TV, and my response was “Not again.” Because 8 had broken a different TV a few years ago. (Thankfully, it was inaccurate information, but I wasn’t SURPRISED is what I’m getting at).

And I’m not here to nag at that woman, because I think the Internet (including me) has done enough of that – and hopefully she has learned from this tragic experience and will WATCH HER KIDS more closely in the future. Though I admit my frustration would abate a bit if she would just take responsibility for her negligence instead of saying “it was an accident” and blaming the zoo for faulty enclosures – which they may well be, but they’ve been fine for nearly 40 years without incident including the time MY rotten children were there, so…

ethan gorilla.jpg
8, before or after he failed to fall into the enclosure.
Logan looking.jpg
6, before or after he failed to fall into the enclosure. 8 behind him.

But seriously, look how cute.

We all make mistakes as parents. I do. You do. That perfect mom that promises she never swears in front of her kids? She makes mistakes. But unless you take responsibility for your mistakes, own up to them, learn from them, you’re doing yourself – and your children – a disservice.

Sorry. Tangent. I do that.

The point is, there is a time and a place for you to let your children roam free and explore, to yell and scream and laugh and run and be kids-without-boundaries. But that place is not a zoo, or a library, or a museum, or an art show, or a restaurant-that-isn’t-Chuck-E-Cheese. You have a responsibility to teach…hell, TRAIN…your kids how to behave in different public places, and you have a responsibility to MAKE SURE they do so.

Because it isn’t fair to the people who are trying to enjoy their experience. It isn’t fair to the employees who have to clean up or repair things. It isn’t fair to other kids who aren’t having fun because your kids are ruining it for them.

There’s nothing wrong with a kids-will-be-kids mentality, as long as you understand that a Parents-will-Parent mentality has to go along with it. You’re not here to be your kids’ friend and make sure they’re never bored, or sad, or angry with you. You’re here to be their parent. Do it.

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The future of remote monitoring

Stefan Sack
Stefan Sack

Stefan Sack, chair and director, Department of Cardiology, Pneumology and Intensive Care Medicine, Academic General Hospital Munich, Germany, speaks to Cardiac Rhythm News about what current data for remote monitoring shows and what studies on remote monitoring are currently investigating.

On the whole, what do we know about remote monitoring of cardiac devices compared with standard in-hospital follow-up?

There is fundamental evidence that remote monitoring can reduce follow-up burden and costs and that it can improve patient outcomes. For example, the REFORM study (Hindricks G et al, Dtsch Ärztebl 2008: 105:156-9) and the TRUST study (Varma et al, Circulation 2010; 122:325-32) demonstrated a decline in patient adherence with standard in-hospital follow-up and a reduction in costs.

Both the ECOST and EVATEL studies, which were presented at the European Society of Cardiology 2011 annual meeting, showed that remote monitoring reduced the number of inappropriate shocks. What are the reasons behind this and what are the implications of this result?

In the ECOST trial, my understanding is that the early detection capabilities of remote monitoring (Biotronik Home Monitoring) allowed early identification of changes in the clinical condition such that an intervention, like a modification of medication, could occur before the patient’s condition worsens to the point that a shock occurs. The implications for this are increased battery longevity of the implant, which is an economic benefit because the patient gets more treatment days out of one device. Furthermore, there is an improvement of care due to reducing inappropriate and potentially painful shock delivery.

We are still waiting for data for the cost-effectiveness of remote monitoring. Do you think remote monitoring will be shown to be cost effective and how important is it to the future of remote monitoring that it is found to be cost-effective?

Convincing health economic data, although not necessarily cost-effectiveness data in a methodological sense, will remain crucial to allow payers to assess whether remote monitoring provides value for money compared with alternative investments. Economic data are available that show remote monitoring to have potential to be either cost neutral or cost-effective, depending on the healthcare system that uses it.

In addition, for hospitals, economic and quality of care considerations become more and more important as hospitals face an increasing demand for their services (due to an ageing population and an increasing adoption of device therapy), significant cost pressure (eg. in the form of fixed case payments in some diagnosis-related group systems), and quality demands from payers (eg. the “payment by results” initiative in the UK, although devices are not part of this initiative).

Randomised controlled trials and observational evidence have shown that by using remote monitoring, hospitals can tailor their service provision to patients that have an actual medical need for in-hospital follow-up visits. Considering that between 71% and 93% of all calendar-based in-hospital follow-up visits do not need further action, there is an enormous potential for streamlining hospital services and increasing efficiency at no compromise to patient safety.

On the whole, do you think that patients/doctors trust remote monitoring? (ie, if using remote monitoring, do they also use standard in-hospital follow-up just in case?) and how can doctors/patients be encouraged to trust remote monitoring?

Remote monitoring is a tool that can be seen as an extension in-patient care from the physician’s point of view. Outside of office hours, the patient is under surveillance. Clinical events are monitored at 24 hours a day, seven days a week; the doctor can be informed right away of an event or at scheduled intervals. The patient’s primary care physician must be sent the information provided by the device and this information must be analysed by the referring hospital or cardiologist. Scepticism about the benefits of remote monitoring is high but once the patient has seen the benefits of remote monitoring, I do not think they will miss an in-hospital follow-up.

Shaunmugam et al (Europace 2011; Epub) recently showed that device-detected atrial high-rate events were associated with an increased incidence of thromboembolic events. What are the implications of this?

Atrial fibrillation is silent and undetected in 30% of cases. Almost one third of episodes can be detected by a remote monitoring device. This has implications for using device therapy with anticoagulants and/or antiarrhythmic therapy.

Are there any data or any current studies that show whether the detection of atrial high-rate events with remote monitoring can reduce the risk of stroke or other adverse outcomes?

Currently there are a number of studies in the pipeline on this issue, such as EchoCRt and Home PAT.

There are reports given that detection of atrial fibrillation and subsequent therapeutic consequences might improve mortality and morbidity. The COMPAS study (European Heart Journal 2011 Epub) demonstrated that remote monitoring (Home Monitoring, Biotronik) allows earlier intervention for pacemaker patients and showed a 66% reduction in hospitalisation for atrial arrhythmia and related strokes. Another study, IMPACT, is comparing anticoagulation by atrial tachycardia episodes detected by remote monitoring with conventional physician-directed anticoagulation criteria. The composite endpoint is stroke, systemic embolism, and major bleeding.

What are the advantages of remote monitoring for the patient’s quality of life? Are there any disadvantages?

Based on the available evidence so far, the quality of life in patients who are monitored remotely is maintained. This has been confirmed in several studies, using different tools. The hypothesis that patients who receive remote monitoring would be concerned that they are not being properly cared for has not been realised.

By using remote monitoring technology, patients can be relieved from having to attend unnecessary in clinic visits and spared the burden of travelling. Unfortunately, quite often, such real benefits for patients are left out when payers make decisions about funding.

Do you think there will ever be a point where all cardiac devices are monitored remotely?

The adoption of remote monitoring technology of devices is hampered by the widespread lack of reimbursement for either the transmitter device or the remote physician service or for the ongoing data transmission costs, or all three of them.


text:
Pay with a Tweet

Sell your products for the price of a tweet.

In today’s world the value of people talking about your product is sometimes higher than the money you would get for it. ‘Pay with a Tweet’ is the first social payment system, where people pay with the value of their social network.

It’s simple, every time somebody pays with a tweet or post on Facebook, he or she tells all their friends about the product.

Pay with a Tweet – Case Study – OMG version from Leif on Vimeo.