United: Adapting To Adversity

When Manchester United are at their fluent attacking best Sir Alex Ferguson's players delight in confounding opponents by frequently, if temporarily, interchanging roles. Invariably wonderful to watch, such positional rotation is something only very good teams dare indulge in. Moreover their managers tend to ensure that these fluid interludes of movement are firmly underpinned by the reassuring presence of tactical safety nets.

Under enemy fire, leading sides usually revert to default starting formations with defenders deployed conventionally and even free spirits in the Wayne Rooney or Dimitar Berbatov moulds detailed to perform specific marking tasks. Yet as Ferguson prepares to celebrate his 70th birthday on Saturday he knows that so many pieces of United's basic framework have recently required patching up with ill‑fitting parts that he has little option but to improvise for entire 90-minute stretches.
With 11 senior players – including the long‑term absentees Nemanja Vidic and Darren Fletcher – occupying the Old Trafford treatment room the phrase "positional rotation" has assumed a whole new meaning as United's fit squad members are asked to pretend they are Ajax-type "total footballers".
If Michael Carrick and Patrice Evra cannot be described as exactly "ersatz" centre‑halves, the fact that Ferguson's team played much of their 5-0 Boxing Day thrashing of Wigan Athletic with the midfielder and the left-back paired at the heart of defence can only have warmed Roberto Mancini's heart. Even so, Manchester City's manager knows that a wounded United represents a most dangerous enemy. Since his side humiliated Ferguson's men 6-1 at Old Trafford in October, their neighbours have proceeded to win eight of the subsequent nine Premier League games, the last two 5-0.
Yet if fielding a talented winger such as Antonio Valenica at right-back and again promoting the hitherto unwanted Darron Gibson from the reserves to central midfield, clearly did not cramp United's style against Wigan, greater challenges await. The prospect of being without a cadre of key performers during a January programme featuring tricky league trips to Newcastle and Arsenal could conceivably cost United the title.
Pointing out that they now stand level on points with City at the top of the table, Evra takes a rather less gloomy view. Although Chris Smalling and Phil Jones may well recover in time to man the centre-half stations against Blackburn on Saturday, the France international is confident he and Carrick could, once again, prove able deputies.
"At United, the team is the star," says Evra. "That's why you can put me and Michael Carrick at centre-back and we're still going to win. It's about the team effort and the team spirit and that's why I'm confident. The United spirit is that you can play everywhere, in any position. No other side has United's spirit. That's why I'm so proud to play here."
There have been blips along the way but Evra now regards the Champions League exit to Basel as a disguised blessing. "It was a big disappointment when we went out early," he says. "But it was a wake-up call; maybe everyone looked at themselves in the mirror and said 'we can do much better'. What the fans expect of every player, we're all doing now. We're working hard. Nothing is easy but we have to keep our momentum going and trust each other."
If such endeavour is thrilling Ferguson, his side surely cannot keep on exceeding the sum of their currently out of position parts. "The injuries start to be annoying," acknowledges Evra. "We want everyone fit if we want to win the league." The fear inside Old Trafford is that history could be in recycling mode. With the manager's room for January transfer market manoeuvre presumably restricted by the gargantuan debt imposed on the club by the Glazer family, memories have been rewinding almost 14 years.
Despite at one stage enjoying an 11-point lead over Arsenal, a rash of injuries variously afflicting Peter Schmeichel, Gary Pallister, Roy Keane, Ryan Giggs and Nicky Butt in March 1998 saw Ferguson forced to ultimately concede the title to Arsène Wenger.
Coming second to Mancini would hurt more but the Glaswegian is often at his most innovative when backed into corners. "United can adapt to adversity," argues Roberto Martínez, Wigan's manager. "They have the mentality every other team wants. Anyone wanting to win the league has to better United's mentality."
Louise Taylor
@Guardian

Santa Claus Is Weird

Every light is on fire

The final scene is empty

Your beautiful face is alive

What the hell am I supposed to do

I watch the meter drop

I can't think about external judgment

I wish you'd go away

I've got to grow up someday

The light is perfect now

Santa Claus is weird

Idaho

Les anges du peche (1943)

The Secular and the religious, the extremism and the wisdom, innocence and sin, these have been thematic concerns of Robert Bresson and are present as this movie as well. Bressonian stylistic signature is visible in images and narration. 
The story takes place in a convent which aim is to rehabilitate former convicts. The story orbit around the character of Anne-Mariea: a rich and idealistic girl who joined the convent  as a dedicated novice. In a visit from a jail she becomes preoccupied with a prisoner, an opportunistic person (Therese). After her release from prison, Therese kills an ex-friend because of which she has been imprisoned. Thereafter Therese joins the convent as an escape from the public and police. Anne-Marie's expects the event and embrace her with absolute fascination. Therese is reluctant to tell her the dark secret and protests against her innocence and kindness.  pedram


aka: Angels of the streets or Angels of sin
 Director/Writer: Robert Bresson
Starring: Renee Faure, Jany Holt, Mila Parely
Produced: 1943
Release Date (USA): 1950

My Author of The Month (November 2011)

I finished "The Buddenbrooks" in november and i dedicate this post to its great creator Thomas Mann. The drama is a twisted epic about the decline of a family. It conveys many dimensions which can be analyzed and studied. I attached an article from Ian Sansom, explaining the term "the Buddenbrooks effect", an extension of Mann's novel to fields like economics, history, etc. He intends to formulate a great dynasty through this. pedram 

Historians and economists sometimes refer to the Buddenbrooks effect. The term derives from Thomas Mann's 1901 novel, Buddenbrooks, in which he depicted the decline of a bourgeois family (which rather resembled Mann's own). The Buddenbrooks effect refers to the tendency among family businesses to decline over a period of about three generations. All good things, in other words, must come to an end. And all good columns also.

In our discussion of family dynasties we have covered princes and politicians, kings, queens and emperors, movie stars, musicians, writers, artists and wrestlers. We never quite got round to the Capetians, the Merovingians or the Carolingians. Many families of dictators got away, including the Gaddafis and the Kabilas. As for banking and business families, there were just too many: the Barings never got a look in, or the Fords, or the Gettys.
We barely mentioned the French – the Mitterrands, the Le Pens, the De Gaulles – let alone the Swiss Bernoulli family of mathematicians, or the English Knott family of lighthouse keepers. Among the fictional families, the Simpsons got a mention, but Tolkein's Tooks and JD Salinger's Glass family failed to make the cut.
For some of the families we surveyed, as well as many whose stories are untold, the Buddenbrooks effect certainly seems to apply. The classic Buddenbrooks downcurve looks like this. There is a founder of the dynasty. They achieve great success: they build a better mousetrap. Their son or daughter then struggles to achieve similar or greater success: there are only so many amazing things one family can do with a mousetrap. Then along come the grandchildren, who turn out to be nogoodniks who squander the inheritance, sully the family name, and sell the mousetrap business. And so back to square one.
This pattern applies particularly to family business dynasties: capitalism triumphs over hearth and home. But for others, the Buddenbrooks effect is only the beginning of a much longer and more complicated story, or simply does not apply at all. The Mughals, for example, ruled for generations, demonstrating, if anything, a kind of double Buddenbrooks effect. And there were dozens of Bachs who excelled as musicians from the 16th to the 19th century. The great Khan squash dynasty were more like a sprawling clan than a family. And the Holy Family abide by rules entirely of their own.
In his book Dynasties: Fortunes and Misfortunes of the World's Great Family Businesses (2006), economist David S Landes quotes from a set of rules drawn up by Robert Peugeot, scion of the French car manufacturing dynasty. Peugeot sought to secure the family future and fortune by insisting that "Shares in the enterprise would be passed only to sons, never to daughters or sons-in-law" and that "Black sheep had to be put aside, where they could make no trouble". It is one way of avoiding the Buddenbrooks effect. There are others.
Stephen R Covey, in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families (1998), suggests that families write their own mission statement, which may be worth considering, though try explaining your Latin motto – Virtus Repulsae Nescia, say, or Nec pluribus impar – to your Xbox-addicted teen. Versions of the Covey approach can be found in Matthew Kelly's Building Better Families: A Practical Guide to Raising Amazing Children (2008) and Steve Stephens' 20 Surprisingly Simple Rules and Tools for a Great Family (2006), where the first rule is simply, "Plan ahead".
Other ways to ward off the Buddenbrooks effect include: not having children; not allowing your children to have children; or simply ensuring that any children you do have inherit only your good humour, tolerance and a capacity to muddle through.

 by: Ian Sansom

A Warning Shot For Putin

Russia's parliamentary election last Sunday saw Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's party, United Russia, receive slightly less than 50 percent of the popular vote. In most countries, this would be viewed as a stunning victory. Instead, it is being interpreted by the Russian and Western press as a rebuke by a restive Russian public to Putin and his policies.
Although the electoral results are undoubtedly a signal to Putin and his political protégé, President Dmitry Medvedev, that Russian voters will not blindly follow wherever the Kremlin leads, in reality they do not portend seismographic shifts in the Russian political landscape.
Some reports, including that of The New York Times earlier this week, have argued that with only 238 seats in the 450-seat Duma, as opposed to the 315 parliamentary seats it previously held, United Russia will now be unable to change the Russian constitution unilaterally. True enough -- but what they fail to mention is that the Kremlin has little need to make any significant constitutional changes in the foreseeable future. The constitution is already stacked in favor of the presidency, and even with a reduced number of seats in parliament for United Russia, the Duma will still be compliant, since no new parties have gained seats.
The Duma is already relatively powerless compared to what Russia watchers call the "super" presidency enshrined in the 1993 constitution that was hastily written by Putin's predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, Russia's first elected president. Between the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and 1993, Yeltsin faced a recalcitrant parliament (then called the Congress of People's Deputies), whose members resisted his attempts to reform the country's troubled economy. The standoff reached its climax in the fall of 1993, when Yeltsin disbanded parliament. When Russian deputies trapped inside the parliament building broke out and attempted to take control of a national television station, Yeltsin ordered tanks to fire on the building, putting an end to the showdown.
The constitution that Yeltsin then forced through by popular referendum in December 1993 resolved the issue of legislative executive power in no uncertain terms. It allows the president to rule by decree in almost every area but the budget. At the same time, the president has the authority to disband the Duma and call new elections should parliament refuse three times to accept the president's choice of prime minister, and the executive branch has full control of the country's security and defense ministries.
The ruling tandem of Putin and Medvedev has made further constitutional changes to strengthen the executive's hand. In the constitution's original version, the president could serve a maximum of two consecutive four-year terms. In his first year as president, Medvedev changed the constitution, then approved by the United Russia-dominated Duma and the compliant Federation Council (Russia's appointed upper house of parliament), to allow for two consecutive six-year terms, paving the way for Putin to serve for a total of 12 years when he retakes the presidency (as he intends to do in the upcoming March 2012 presidential elections).
What is more, even if Putin and his allies decided they needed to change the constitution (and this is doubtful), they would still have little difficulty doing so. Sunday's election results, however dispiriting for United Russia, will not bring about any significant change to the composition of the Duma. The Communist Party (which finished second with just under 20 percent of the vote, translating into 92 seats in the Duma), the Just Russia party (13 percent and 62 seats), and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (11.7 percent and about 56 seats), are exactly the same parties that have sat in the pliant Russian Duma of the past four years.
Of the three, the Communist Party has taken the most oppositional positions toward United Russia -- at least relatively speaking -- but it has seldom voted against United Russia on legislation that actually mattered. It provided modest opposition on cuts to subsidized transportation fares for pensioners, for example, but strongly supported the invasion of Georgia in 2008.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democratic Party, which was created by the Kremlin in the 1990s, has not provided any true opposition in the last ten years. Its outspoken and flamboyant leader, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, is more concerned with attracting attention and outrage for his appearances on television than in having any substantive debate with Putin and those close to him.
Finally, although Just Russia did manage to increase its representation in the Duma over its 2007 standing, it, too, is a Kremlin construct. (The party was originally conceived as a social democratic alternative to United Russia, but one that would still vote with the ruling party on big issues.) Historically, it provided little opposition to United Russia and is unlikely to do so now.
In effect, the opposition parties that gained seats are no real opposition at all. Any true opposition forces were weeded out far in advance of Sunday's elections. Only seven political parties met the state's strict registration requirements; the courts simply did not permit other parties that represent more independent liberal alternatives to register. The leadership of some of these groups -- in particular, Boris Nemtsov of Solidarity -- are now leading street protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg. They have little nationwide support, however, and given the degree of state control over the media, their brave efforts this week will not bring about a popular revolution.
In the end, the biggest loser on Sunday was neither United Russia nor Putin, but rather his fall guy, Medvedev. At United Russia's party congress on September 24, Medvedev nominated Putin to take over again as president. Accepting the nomination in a well-choreographed exchange, Putin then nominated Medvedev to become his prime minister should he win the presidency next March. This "castling" of positions is evidently the straw that broke the back of many Russians' tolerance for Putin's growing autocracy. Medvedev, now the party's nominee for prime minister, was the only name that appeared on the United Russia electoral list in the Duma elections. The Kremlin's apparent logic was that Medvedev's personal popularity would carry the party to easy victory.
Given the effects within Russia of the global economic downturn, a decline in the fortunes of the ruling party was inevitable, at least relative to United Russia's high in 2007, when it captured 62 percent of the vote. But few predicted that the party would receive less than 50 percent of the vote; as of late last week, reputable Russian polling agencies were predicting that it would receive at least 53 to 55 percent. The fact that United Russia supporters resorted to ballot stuffing and other falsifications to boost their votes and still fell below 50 percent will likely affect Medvedev's political prospects the most, given that he headed the party's ticket. In a foreshadowing of exactly such a scenario, Putin late last week amended his offer of the office of prime minister to Medvedev, suggesting the post might be contingent on United Russia's performance in the Duma elections. Medvedev is now particularly vulnerable.
Despite the clear falsification of electoral results, international expressions of displeasure with the electoral process, public demonstrations in Moscow and St. Petersburg calling for "Russia without Putin," the new Duma will most likely be seated by the end of the month. Putin's largely successful efforts to control the country's media and curb freedom of expression and assembly eviscerated any meaningful opposition years ago. Further, Putin remains personally popular, still polling at slightly below 70 percent approval. And if the need for muscle arises, Putin has already shown willingness to use the security forces to put down any opposition activity; he is also adept at mobilizing the country's state-controlled media and government-created youth groups to counter protests.
Still, although there will be no immediate seismic shift in the balance of power in Russia today, the masses have fired a warning shot at Putin's presidential bid. Protests against the election may be relatively small and are unlikely to lead to a Ukrainian-style popular revolt, but should Putin and Medvedev not appear to listen to voters and be ready to make a few concessions, they may have to resort to the sporadic use of force to keep the regime afloat.

by: Kathryn Stoner-Weiss

Solemnly

Who is it that walks so solemnly through the graves?

Is it a shadow or just some vision?

Apocalyptic dream

Tracing patterns to bring us down

Who is it that walks?

The March of Death

Mourning Beloveth

Super-family of Blackened Souls

I was wondering why these rosy kind intelligent super-tender people, always deliver the worst feelings to me?
One by one i must unmask their malicious deeds?
Have they left a corner of the earth unspotted?
just curious!

Wilson

"Don't worry Wilson, I'll do all the paddling. You just hang on."

Mimic

Since you feel utterly secure in the depth of your heart

Ghastly Realm

 Ghostly doves flew to the shambles

Manchester United 2 Benfica 2
Conceded goals were really freaky !
The defensive progress after 4 consecutive clean sheets, overshadowed by these errors.

My Album of The Month (October 2011)

Giving Yourself Away (2007)

Bow

Each breathe that i take,
I must remind myself,
This very moment of my life is irreplaceable
I'm silently alive.

The Road

Ambushed by terror
Dwarves escape
It never meant to be anything less than a war
It never meant to be fair

pic : from delts.org

My Author of The Month (August and October 2011)

Andrei Tarkovsky

I've been reading some pieces and parts of screenplays.  I was extremely engrossed by the depth of his thought and the adamantine element of poetry entwined with philosophy.

My Album of The Month (August 2011)

Listening to his wonder skillful pieces was one of the memorable moments...

Hello again

Life with its ups and downs. Just want to remind myself what matters the most is my attitude.

Crack Rabbit Heroics

Master of Your Own Demise

Only you

You are the sole reason
Of falling down
Down into the well of sorrow
You are the master
The master of your own demise

Officium Triste

My Author of The Month (July 2011)

بابک احمدی

اول به دلیل ترجمه ی دشوار متن" طبیعت و قاعده" قسمت هایی از دیالوگ که ریکور سخن می گوید را احمدی ترجمه کرده است. اما دلیل اصلی من برای این انتخاب کتاب "امید بازیافته" در تحلیل سینمای  آندری تارکفسکی است. چندی پیش بود که با یکی از دوستانم در کافه ی تئاتر شهر،به درد دل مسئول کتابفروشی تئاترگوش می دادیم.از کلاس های احمدی برای اهالی تئاتر و سینما می گفت. از نادر بودن این فرهیختگی در اهالی سینما می نالید.والبته واهمه ایست به جا: گم شدن این تک صدا در همهمه ی عامیان. 

My Album of The Month (July 2011)

A decent work by finnish gothic metal band : Sinamore
My favorite tracks are : Dressed in White, Eyes of May and Frozen Mile

Operation Rock Avalanche

Just to mention a true inspiration in one's way is damn important.
Soldiers in iraq or afghanistan are worthy role-models in my mind;in terms of facing difficult occasions.
Thank you Allie , for reminding the hidden beauties of our lives.To enjoy the very moment of my life.
I appreciate.

Best Regards

That's a sign of a progress;they say

So;

You !

Superstar !

Still determined to erect your red flags all across the globe ?

Parasite ! Enjoying your free ride?

Your friendship ; This fabulous postiche ;

Won't be missed !

اي جلجتا، اي كه از چوب دارو درختت بود

ديدي كه آن مرد مصلوب از جام آخر مست

چون دانه بعد از نهفتن از كام سنگش رُست

چون غنچه بعد از شكفتن از دام تنگش رَست

سیمین بهبهانی

Some New Stuff

I added 4 new albums to my music archive:
Canaan : A Calling To Weakness 2002
Evadne : The 13th Condition 2007
Orestea : Love Lines and Blood Ties 2010
Future of Forrestery : Travel III EP 2010

An Iconic Visit

"Had a tour around The White House. Unfortunately never met The President as he was locked in meetings but a great experience all the same."

Michael Owen on twitter

@Manutd.com

Dilapidation and Death

Trying to separate the outside from the inside
Trying to remain calm, 'though they mix in subtle manner
Chaos inside, losing all hope, basking in pain that seems endless
Alone in this life and its futile signs of malignant forms
Silent hatred for nothing, weakened for everything


Gloom is no more the same, light increases the pain in this suffering
Feelings have shriveled to death, awaiting to die with no idolatry
Believing in nothing at all
These bleeding veins are as indifferent as existence in itself
No sorrow behind these wounds, just hatred and pain
Reaching the end for good


I might as well just sleep and awake no more to watch the dilapidation of all
I might as well just dream there would be a life instead of growing nothingness


"Who told you that I wouldn't come back to you
I am inside and growing, destroying your mind and your worthless dreams
Corrupting your senses, erasing the reason and all that's left of you
You can't escape for I've become you - forevermore!"


The sight is darkening and chaos reigns in here
There's no more explanations for this seems like the end
All your precious memories and wishes are gone
The swirl of damnation furls you to this nightmare
Touching the cosmic horror beyond the space and time
Reaching for inhuman experience, the journey to afar
The limits of mind are gone, hallucinating the death of the universe
Vortex of chaos and hell leaves only ash and dust


There was none to witness the death of a man who saw it all coming
Juhani Palumaki

The Dilemma of Breast Cancer Screening

By : Kevin Pho
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recently released their recommendations for breast cancer screening.
Previously, they had recommended a mammogram every 1 to 2 years for women between the ages of 40 to 49.
Now, they recommend more intensive screening:
Due to the high incidence of breast cancer in the US and the potential to reduce deaths from it when caught early, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (The College) today issued new breast cancer screening guidelines that recommend mammography screening be offered annually to women beginning at age 40. Previous College guidelines recommended mammograms every one to two years starting at age 40 and annually beginning at age 50.
This contradicts the 2009 recommendation from the USPSTF, which recommended an individualized approach and against routine screening for women aged 40-49.
No wonder patients are confused.
In our society, which values tests and generally believes that earlier cancer detection is better care, the ACOG recommendations were met with media acclaim.
Gary Schwitzer, for instance, points out the bias in CNN’s reporting the guidelines, and specifically takes senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen’s Tweet on the issue to task:
On many occasions that we’ve written about on this blog in recent years, CNN has demonstrated a bias in favor of screening – touting benefits, minimizing harms. Sanjay Gupta’s badgering of US Preventive Services Task Force member Lucy Marion will always stand out in my mind – and in the minds of many of who saw it – as opinionated “attack” journalism that reflects the polarization we often see in politics now creeping (leaping?) into health care and into health care journalism.
As to which guideline to believe, physicians will be divided. I suspect that physicians who practice more strict evidence-based medicine will go with the USPSTF recommendations, while gynecologists will follow their college’s more aggressive recommendations.
Although I’m a proponent of clinical guidelines, obtaining the needed consensus will be difficult. There are too many proverbial cooks in the pot, with every medical society releasing potentially conflicting recommendations and confusing both doctors and patients.
@KevinMD

Amy Winehouse's Death:Still Mystery

An autopsy on the body of Amy Winehouse revealed no cause of death Monday for the 27-year-old retro-soul singer, leaving fans and family to wait for the results of toxicology tests due in two to four weeks.

A funeral for Winehouse, who was Jewish, was likely to be held Tuesday or Wednesday.
"I can't tell you what this means to us," father Mitch Winehouse told fans gathered Monday outside her home in London's Camden district. "We're devastated and I'm speechless, but thanks for coming."
The singer's mother, Janis Winehouse, was in tears as she examined the flowers, candles, vodka bottles, flags, drawings and handwritten cards left by neighbors, fans and well-wishers. Many of the offerings expressed the same sentiment: "What a waste."
Amy Winehouse, who had last spoken to members of her team around 10 a.m. Saturday, may have been dead for several hours before she was found by security guard Andrew Morris in her home that afternoon.
"She was in her bedroom after saying she wanted to sleep and when (Morris) went to wake her, he found she wasn't breathing," Chris Goodman, her representative in Britain, told the Sun. "He called the emergency services straight away. He was very shocked.
"At this stage, no one knows how she died. She died alone in bed."
The frail singer had been getting regular doctor checkups, the Sun said, most recently the night before her death. Her family said Monday that reports their daughter had bought cocaine, ketamine and ecstasy hours before she died were "nonsense."
Though only in her 20s, Winehouse reportedly suffered from emphysema as a result of smoking cigarettes and crack cocaine.
Winehouse's last public appearance came Wednesday when she briefly joined her goddaughter, singer Dionne Bromfield, on stage at the iTunes Festival near Camden. Winehouse didn't sing, but danced and clapped and encouraged the audience to buy Bromfield's album.
An inquest into the singer's death was opened and adjourned at London's St. Pancras Coroner's Court on Monday. During the two-minute hearing, an official read out the name, birth date and address of Winehouse, described as "a divorced lady living at Camden Square NW1."
Ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil, currently serving a 32-month jail sentence for burglary and gun possession, was "in total shock" and inconsolable upon hearing about the death, girlfriend Sarah Aspin told the Sun.
The scene at Winehouse's home had been investigated and "determined non-suspicious." In Britain, inquests are held to establish facts when a person dies violently or in unexplained circumstances. Winehouse's inquest will resume Oct. 26.
By Christie D'Zurilla, Los Angeles Times
@Edmonton Journal

یک انتقاد

    ریشه ی این مشکلات کجاست؟ چیست ریشه ی این نخوت ؟ چیست رازاین کلبی مشربی  ؟

اعتقاد من این است که کسی جرات نکرد یک بار ، صریح ، روشن ، مستدل بگوید  حرف هایت یاوه گویی است... ،جرات نکرد بگویداین رفتارها یت زننده و بچگانه است...جرات نکرد بگوید منشا این غرور ،ضعف است. جرات نکرد برملا کند پشت این ژشت دموکراسی خواهانه ،خودکامه ترین اگو نشسته است.جرات نکرد فاش بگوید ،پشت پرده ی عقلانیت معظم تو هزار کتاب نخوانده است

با کمال احترام ، این موضع برتر تو را درک نمی کنم.این تمسخربه اصطلاح فرودست و این تحقیرهمنوع  برایم قابل فهم  نیست. ...رفته رفته به میانسالی نزدیک میشوی...کمبود هایی حس می کنی   

Ramadan

Raven perched on the dusty balcony , staring at me.
Pedram

Gutted by The Bitter News

Wow

Marine researchers in South Africa had a narrow escape after a three-metre-long great white shark breached the surface of the sea and leapt into their boat, becoming trapped on deck for more than an hour.
The incident occurred while the research team was conducting a shark population study off Seal Island, near Mossel Bay, on South Africa's Cape coast.
Using sardines as bait to attract the predators, the seven-strong crew was able to observe four great whites. The animals are renowned locally for bursting through the surface as they prey on seals.
Dorien Schröder, team leader at Oceans Research, based at Mossel Bay, said that last Monday morning, after more than an hour of shark activity around the vessel, the Cheetah, the waters at the stern had been quiet for five minutes. "Next thing I know I hear a splash, and see a white shark breach out of the water from [the] side of the boat hovering, literally, over the crew member who was chumming [throwing food bait] on the port side," she said.
Schröder recounted how she pulled her colleague to safety before the shark, weighing about 500kg (half a ton) landed on top of the bait and fuel containers. At first half of its body was outside the boat but in a panic the shark thrashed its way further on to the vessel, cutting the fuel lines and damaging equipment before becoming trapped between the containers and the stern. The crew found safety at the bow of the boat.
As Schröder poured water over the shark's gills to keep it alive, another boat was sent out to the Cheetah. A rope from the second vessel was secured around the shark's tail, but repeated efforts to tow the fish into the water failed.
The rescue ship then towed Cheetah to the port with the shark still on deck. A hosepipe was placed in the fish's mouth to ventilate its gills, before it was lifted off the boat with a crane, then lowered back into the water.
Though the shark swam away it was unable to navigate its way out of the harbour and soon beached. With Oceans Research's co-director, Enrico Gennari, an expert on great white sharks, the team tried unsuccessfully to "walk" the shark back to sea. Finally they tied ropes to the shark's tail fin and behind its pectoral fin, and attached these ties to the rescue vessel, which towed the shark out through the harbour estuary. The ropes were then removed and the animal swam away.
Gennari said it was the first time he had heard of a great white shark jumping onto a research vessel. He estimated the predator would have had to have leapt about three metres out of the water to be able to land on the boat. A smaller vessel would have capsized, he said.
As for the cause of the shark's behaviour, Gennari said it was almost certainly an accident rather than an attack on the boat. In the low-visibility water the fish could have mistaken the vessel's shadow for prey, or been disturbed by another shark close by, he said.
"It's all speculation," he said. "But sometimes a shark breaches the surface when it feels another shark underneath it. They [move] like a flying fish and end up several metres away."
@Guardian
pic :A great white shark off Seal Island, South Africa. The animal on the Cheetah would have leapt three metres out of the water, scientists said. Photograph: Chris Brunskill Ltd/Rex Features

تکامل را به عروسک بازیمان راهی نیست

همان است ، عینا همان ، همان بازی بچگانه ، همان عروسک بازی.شگفتا ،سال ها،به اصطلاح بلوغ ،به اصطلاح آکادمی ، به اصطلاح تمدن،چیزی را در توتغییر نداده است.میوه ای  که گویا هر زمان بچینی طعم فساد می دهد.مشغول با همان توهمات کودکانه.احساس ابلهانه ی تملک در رگهایت می جوشد. تکامل بر علیه خود بر آشفت، به خودت واگذار کردندو چنین شد...توانستی همه چیز را با قواعد عروسک بازیت سامان بدهی ولی این یک نقطه خلا ،مغفول مانده و تا لب به سخن می گشایی،  اسرار هولناکی آشکار می شود. صادقانه بگویم کمتر رغبتی در وجودم باقی می ماند وقتی به این تقابل نامیمون با تووامثال تومی اندیشم.وقتی بیشتر حس می کنم نباید هم انتظار آسودگی داشته باشم.باید جامه ی رزم بر تن کرد،بر علیه شما قوم همواره بر حق باید جنگید.

کودک میانسال ما :به عروسک بازی خود ادامه بده.صاحب شو:هر آنچه لیاقتش را داری ...و نداری.سخن بگو :راجع هرآن چه درک می کنی ...و نمی کنی.عروسک جان ندارد . حس نمی کند.پاسخی نمی دهد،نفرتش را ابراز نمی کند،بر خلاف انسان. پدرام 28 تیر 1390

Biutiful (2010)

(Courtesy of Adelina)
a dazzling movie. It's become one of my favorites.Javier Bardem's just astonishing.Inarritu surprises again this time with a gritty biutiful ! It will be watched several times.

The Risks and Benefits of 5α-Reductase Inhibitors

Authors : Marc R. Theoret, M.D., Yang-Min Ning, M.D., Ph.D., Jenny J. Zhang, Ph.D., Robert Justice, M.D., Patricia Keegan, M.D., and Richard Pazdur, M.D.
The use of 5α-reductase inhibitors for prevention of prostate cancer continues to be widely discussed within the scientific and medical communities. Much of this discussion has been fueled by the findings of two large randomized, placebo-controlled trials — the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT) with finasteride and the Reduction by Dutasteride of Prostate Cancer Events (REDUCE) trial . Together, these trials showed an overall relative reduction of 23 to 25% in prostate-cancer diagnoses, a seemingly significant benefit from drugs aimed at preventing one of the most common cancers in men. However, the observed reduction resulted from a decreased incidence of only low-grade prostate cancer (Gleason score, ≤6). In fact, in both trials, there was an absolute increase in the incidence of high-grade prostate cancers in the chemoprevention group.
Evaluating the potential chemopreventive benefits of 5α-reductase inhibitors and assessing the potential increased risk for high-grade prostate cancers have been central issues for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). There has been much hope for an FDA-approved chemopreventive agent for prostate cancer, and there is clearly ongoing off-label use of 5α-reductase inhibitors for this indication. The FDA has been actively evaluating the relevant data and held a meeting of its Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee to address this topic in December 2010.

Both chemoprevention trials were conducted in men who were at risk for prostate cancer but did not have diagnosed prostate cancer at study entry. The FDA’s analysis of the trials confirmed that there was a relative reduction of approximately 25% in the overall incidence of prostate cancer and a significantly increased incidence of high-grade prostate cancers. During the FDA review of the REDUCE trial, we requested that biopsy specimens be reassessed, according to the modified Gleason scale, by an independent pathologist who was unaware of the earlier scores. The central pathologist for PCPT performed this reassessment. The use of modified Gleason scores is consistent with current recommendations for prostate-cancer grading and the grading system used in PCPT; modified Gleason scores were not originally reported in the REDUCE trial.
The reassessment revealed no reduction in the incidence of tumors with modified Gleason scores between 7 and 10 — a finding that was consistent with the published data. However, an absolute increase of 0.5% in the incidence of tumors with modified Gleason scores of 8 to 10 (relative risk, 2.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13 to 3.75) was observed with dutasteride treatment. This increase is similar to the absolute increase of 0.7% in the incidence of such tumors observed with finasteride treatment (relative risk, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.23 to 2.34) .These results suggest that one additional man would receive a diagnosis of high-grade prostate cancer (modified Gleason score, 8 to 10) for every 150 to 200 men treated long-term with a 5α-reductase inhibitor.

It has been suggested that detection bias, attributable to the fact that 5α-reductase inhibitors reduce serum levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and prostate volume, led to an increase in detection of high-grade prostate cancer in the finasteride group of the PCPT. Indeed, the sensitivity of an elevated PSA level (a PSA level above 4 ng per milliliter in the placebo group or, in the finasteride group, above the adjusted value designed to correct for a finasteride-induced PSA reduction of approximately 50%) for the detection of prostate cancer, including high-grade tumors, was increased in the finasteride group of the PCPT. The observation that the increased risk of high-grade tumors (modified Gleason score, 8 to 10) with finasteride or dutasteride persisted in analyses of scheduled biopsies independent of PSA results argues against PSA-related detection bias as the cause of the observed increase in the incidence of high-grade tumors. Approximately 56% of all prostate cancers in the PCPT and 90% of those in the REDUCE trial were diagnosed by means of scheduled biopsies.
As for detection bias due to 5α-reductase inhibitors’ reduction of prostate volume by approximately 20%, it is possible that core needle biopsies may uncover more cancers, including high-grade tumors, in smaller prostates because of increased sampling density. Proponents of this hypothesis accounted for the intergroup difference in prostate volume either by statistically adjusting for prostate volume at the time of biopsy (using logistic-regression analysis or the Peters–Belson method) or by circumventing any potential for sampling bias by extrapolating from the Gleason scores for a subgroup of patients who had had prostatectomies to patients without prostatectomy data (weighted imputation estimation). These analyses resulted in estimates of the relative risk of high-grade prostate cancer (Gleason score, 7 to 10) in the finasteride group ranging from no increase to a relative decrease of 27%. Since conventional criteria define “high-grade” as a Gleason score of 8 to 10 and 75% of the increase in tumors with modified Gleason scores of 7 to 10 observed in the finasteride group involved tumors with a score between 8 and 10, the FDA repeated the same analyses, statistically adjusting for prostate volume and using a modified Gleason score of 8 to 10 as the definition of a high-grade tumor. The results of those analyses do not support the contention that increased sampling density is responsible for the increased incidence of high-grade tumors in the finasteride group (see table for opposing risk estimations for tumors with a modified Gleason score of 7 to 10 and those with a score of 8 to 10). Although questions concerning detection bias remain, none of the post hoc exploratory analyses provide convincing evidence that the increased incidence of high-grade disease observed in both trials can be dismissed.
Analyses of these trials indicate that the reduction in prostate-cancer risk with both drugs was limited to tumors with a modified Gleason score of 6 or lower. Prospectively collected data in REDUCE showed that 80% of such tumors met the Epstein pathological criteria for “very-low-risk” disease, which indicates that a reduction in their incidence is unlikely to be clinically significant. An analysis of biopsies performed in response to an elevated PSA level or an abnormal digital rectal examination, as would be done in clinical practice, revealed a smaller reduction in the relative risk of prostate cancer (14%; 95% CI, 4 to 23%) than that reported for all cancers in men receiving finasteride. Therefore, the trade-off inherent in using a 5α-reductase inhibitor for prostate-cancer prevention is the acceptance of one additional high-grade cancer in order to avert three to four potentially clinically relevant lower-grade cancers.

The conclusion drawn by the advisory committee in December was that finasteride and dutasteride do not have a favorable risk–benefit profile for the proposed use of chemoprevention of prostate cancer in healthy men. The FDA agrees with this assessment. The effects of finasteride or dutasteride on the incidence of metastatic prostate cancer and prostate-cancer–specific morbidity and mortality have not been evaluated.
Strategies for reducing cancer risk expose people who do not have and may never develop cancer to a drug and its potential adverse effects. In these circumstances, a high level of certainty about benefits and risks of intervention is warranted. The labels of approved 5α-reductase inhibitors, which are currently indicated for the treatment of symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia and male-pattern hair loss, have been modified to include the observation of high-grade prostate cancers in the relevant trials. In addition, health care professionals prescribing 5α-reductase inhibitors to men who opt for PSA screening should be aware that these agents reduce PSA values and that any increase in the PSA level above the lowest value obtained may signal the presence of prostate cancer, even if the value remains in the normal range for men not taking such an agent.

Post-Galactico Madrid Era

If there's anyone in the world who could have done with a decent summer holiday and a month-long lie-down it was José Mourinho. In May, the plot-losing Madrid manager was at war with Barcelona, UEFA, his own bosses, the Spanish FA, the Spanish League, referees and probably his own reflection if he gave himself a funny look, as the pressure of having to deliver immediate success at the Santiago Bernabeu took its toll on the Special One's suffering psyche.

That grey-haired, slouching, bleary-eyed rant-bag has been banished and replaced by an infinitely more relaxed figure, who sat in the team hotel in Los Angeles and spoke to the media for the first time since his self-imposed press exile two months ago. There was good reason for the Special One to be looking so sprightly, as Mourinho is now enjoying full control of the sales and signings at the club without having suits standing over him, tutting about marketing values or shirt sales in Singapore.
On Monday, the Real Madrid squad gathered together and headed to the UCLA campus for a second summer in a row for pre-season training and three friendly games. And as in the year before, there were no new shiny Galacticos on board the plane. Instead the new recruits for Real Madrid would barely get 80 people to their presentations, rather than the 80,000 who turned up to see Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.

This is especially the case with 19-year-old French defender, Raphael Varane, who was signed from Lens for €10m with 'Marca' claiming that the young centre-back was the new Hierro, for lack of any other information on him. Even Michel Platini admitted that he had never heard of him in an interview with the paper.
Midfielder, Nuri Sahin, may have been the Bundesliga player of the year last season, but is hardly a household name in Spain. Free transfer, Hamit Altintop, didn't exactly set the pulses racing and nor did the purchase of former youth team player, José Callejón and his trademark wedge haircut, who joined from Espanyol.
Most money has been spent on speedy left back Fabio Coentrao, but few Madrid fans would admit to knowing that much about the former Benfica defender aside from the fact that he has bleached hair, has cost quite a lot of cash and shares the same agent as Mourinho.
The fairly low profile of the footballers reflects the control that Mourinho now has at the club with former Director General, Jorge Valdano, moved out by Florentino Pérez. Rather than Galacticos coming to the Spanish capital like Kaká, the Portuguese boss has brought in footballers he sees as being pliable team-members rather than superstars, a long way from mohican-sporting, show-boating, five sponsor-possessing Neymar for example. "We have signed players that we felt were important for completing a squad that was already very good."
Mourinho says that there is one more recruit to come over the summer in the form of a striker and the signs are that it won't be Neymar or Sergio Kun Agüero joining for €45m, despite the latter being the obsession of Florentino Pérez, but the less glamourous Emmanuel Adebayor returning for a permanent spell after a decent loan period last season. "Adebayor is better as it is closer," admitted the Madrid boss.
A second sign of the power that Mourinho now has in being able to mould the club to his own desires is the footballers that have been shunted onto the sidelines. These include Pedro León and Sergio Canales - two players brought in by Valdano that Mourinho appears to neither rate as players nor like as people - and Lassana Diarra who refused to travel to Los Angeles and instead chose to sulk in Madrid and wait for a move to the Premier League.

'Cantera' players such as Pablo Sarabia and Juan Carlos have been sold to Getafe and Zaragoza respectively, rather than being moved into the first team as Barcelona might have done. Mourinho still has little sentimentality when it comes to hiring and firing his players and feels no obligation to promote youth teamers no matter how much supporters and the press grumble when comparing Madrid's youth policy to La Masia.
Another former youth-teamer, Dani Parejo - a footballer that Alfredo Stefano thought was one of the best he had ever seen - was allowed to move from Getafe to Valencia after Mourinho decided not to activate the buy-back clause on the U-21 international.
The former Chelsea man appears to have succeeded where so many have failed, in turning Florentino Pérez away from the Galactico policy of 'Zidanes and Pavones' to a much more balanced way of doing business. While Zinedine Zidane has become Madrid's Sporting Director - although the role is not yet clearly defined - it is obvious who is wearing the trousers in this relationship.
Indeed, Real Madrid may even make money this summer if Kun and Neymar are passed over with the resale value of the transferable Diarra, Fernando Gago, Léon, Canales and Royston Drenthe potentially being greater than the current outlay of €55m.
However, this more modest strategy of Mourinho could all change if Barcelona manage the double whammy deal of bringing in Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sánchez to strengthen for the season ahead. At this point Florentino Pérez may begin to panic and revert to default mode by bringing in a big name, against Mourinho's wishes. But until this moment comes, Real Madrid is becoming a Galactico-free zone as Mourinho begins to take complete control of the club.
By Tim Stannard
@Football365

The Adjustment Bureau(2011)

Written and Directed by George Nolfi
Starring : Matt Damon,Emily Blunt
I liked the concept .

In a Stew

A piece of bread which tastes nonexistence.
Pic : James Nachteway/Magnum:Famine victims received rehydration salts and food from volunteer aid workers

My Album of The Month (June 2011)

If you'd asked , i'd definitely say it was Gavin Hayes' voice , lurking in my ears all these long days.
Two thumbs up Dredg , Two Thumbs up "The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion".Their fantastic concept album is a fair mix of Progressive Rock and experimental music .Gavin Hayes' vocal's adorable.

ADT for Prostate Cancer

In the 1990s, reversible androgen suppression with the use of luteinizing hormone–releasing hormone analogues and oral antiandrogen agents was shown to induce apoptotic regression in androgen-responsive cancers, potentially improving the prospects of local control and the duration of survival free of metastatic disease.
Clinical Pearls

How can short-term androgen deprivation be achieved?
In this study, patients assigned to short-term androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) received flutamide at a dose of 250 mg orally three times a day and either monthly subcutaneous goserelin at a dose of 3.6 mg or intramuscular leuprolide at a dose of 7.5 mg for 4 months.
How more effective was ADT with radiotherapy as compared to radiotherapy alone for patients with localized prostate cancer in this study?
According to the results of this study, the 10-year rate of overall survival was 62% among patients receiving radiotherapy plus short-term ADT (the combined-therapy group) versus 57% among patients receiving radiotherapy alone (hazard ratio for death with radiotherapy alone, 1.17; P=0.03). The addition of short-term ADT was associated with a decrease in the 10-year disease-specific mortality from 8% to 4% (hazard ratio for radiotherapy alone, 1.87; P=0.001).
Morning Report Questions
Q. Which group of patients benefited the most from ADT in this study?
A. The addition of short-term ADT to radiotherapy conferred the greatest clinical benefit in the intermediate-risk subgroup, with an increase in the 10-year rate of overall survival from 54 to 61% and a reduction in the 10-year disease-specific mortality from 10 to 3%.
Q. What are adverse effects of ADT?
A. In prospective studies, short-term ADT caused measurable muscle loss, fat accumulation, decreased insulin sensitivity, and increased cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
@NEJM

This Crazy Summer

Is he coming?

Business and Healthcare;Entrepreneurship Joints?

Part-maverick, part-unconventional, part-smart business owner Sir Richard Branson has business lessons to share in spades. Since I recently read his third autobiographical book Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur, I wanted to pass on some of what I learned from the book.

Without knowing exactly why, I have long admired his acumen and chutzpah. His story has provided me insights into why I’ve been so drawn to his adventures in business and his larger-than-life personality.
For those of you who don’t know much about him, Branson is the product of a somewhat privileged middle-class upbringing (he descends from a line of barristers and judges) and an English public school (what we in the US call a private school). A self-proclaimed poor student with dyslexia, he failed to complete any college degree, but opted instead to start a business, first as a magazine publisher and then as a mail-order record company owner. He went on to found Virgin Records, and this single venture expanded over the decades to become the Virgin Group, a conglomerate of businesses focused on travel (planes, trains, space travel), entertainment and lifestyle (including humanitarian ventures like fighting HIV, AIDS and climate change).
I came away with many business lessons. Here are a few.
Branson’s business philosophy is crystallized in these words, when asked why he went into business:
I’ve never been interested in being ‘in business’. I’ve been interested in creating things … Business is creative. It’s like painting. You start with a blank canvas. You can paint anything – anything – right there, is your first problem. For every good painting you might turn out, there are a zillion bad paintings just aching to drip off your brush. Scared? You should be. You start. You pick a color. The next color you pick has to work with the first color … People who succeed in business have swallowed their fear and have set out to create something special, something to make a difference to people’s lives …
Lesson: To thrive in business, it really helps to be passionate about creating something worthwhile. As a relative newcomer to entrepreneurship, I have maintained for years now that being an entrepreneur is a radical act of creativity, and it makes an every day “practice” so much more fun once you think of it as an entrepreneurial venture.
His fiercely independent path to success, in the face of rampant naysayers and critics, is both inspirational and hard to imagine duplicating. His gut instincts have won out many times over the analytics and pompous prognostications of others. He’s a master as staying on course with his vision and sense of purpose and ignoring the conventional wisdom.
I’m not good at theory. Almost everything I’ve learned, I’ve learned by doing.
Lesson: While you may draw insight and inspiration from someone else’s success story, you must rely on knowledge about your own marketplace, along with your inner talents and skills, to forge your own path.
Branson has been driven by the desire to innovate, partly I suspect because it’s in his genetic make-up and partly because he has been an astute observer of his own ecosystem’s evolution.
The best, most solid way out of a crisis in a changing market is through experimentation and adaptation.
Lesson: Healthcare is in crisis and the market is changing. It’s vital that we, as providers in an unstable setting, experiment and adapt. New business models? New levels of customer service? New joint ventures, relationships, partnerships?
His two greatest secrets of business success, in my opinion?
1. His relentless focus on the Virgin brand, along with his absolute clarity about what the brand stands for.
2. His dogged insistence on placing the people who work for him first. Wouldn’t that be nice, in healthcare?
by Philippa Kennealy, MD, MPH