Solihull has played host to a new dinner show with real heart... and lungs, brains and intestines.

Because diners at the Village Hotel were offered an extra course with their meal - live dissection.

Welcome to Anatomy Lab Live, the brainchild of teacher Sam Piri, who was inspired to create this evenings infotainment after watching the delight of schoolchildren studying biology.

The event begins with a good dinner of salmon, served with roast potatoes, green beans and roasted butternut squash and carrots, followed by apple pie and custard or Eton mess - washed down with wine or lager.

The only clue of what is to come is an unsettling table centre piece, made up of medical waste sacks, syringes, and petri dishes.

After the food has been cleared away, a curtain is drawn back to reveal an operating theatre, complete with a body lying on a trolley, feet poking out from under a white sheet.

Dressed in full scrubs, pathologist Sam peels back the blanket and reaches carefully into the gaping chest.

There is a gasp from the audience as he pulls out the heart and lungs, holding them high for everyone to see, before setting them down on a stainless-steel table.

Former forensic science student Kellie Bown at the next table to me, is clearly enjoying herself. Its like the most macabre dinner party ever, she says.

Thankfully all is not quite as it seems - the body on the operating table is plastic, the insides pig organs, chosen because they are almost identical to humans.

The operating theatre is a decommissioned pathology laboratory from a Sheffield hospital, rebuilt inside the banqueting room at the Village Hotel in Solihull.

This is only the opening night in Birmingham, but the show is proving offally popular with tickets for Cardiff, Manchester, Newcastle and Blackpool performances already sold out.

Sam dissects the brain, heart and lungs for the audience to see how they work. He explains the left lung is smaller than the right to make space for the heart and demonstrates by feeding a plastic tube into the lungs, then putting the other end to his pursed lips and blowing them up like a ballon.

He even brings the organs round to each table so we can get a closer look.

If things start getting a bit too much for people, they are free to walk out, get some fresh air and compose themselves, then come back in, he says.

The brains look like blotches of blancmange spilt on the tabletop and smell like the bin in a butchers shop. Suddenly Im glad we werent served pork for dinner.

I take a deep breath and lean in for a closer look but Kellie keeps her distance, covering her mouth and nose as her face turns the same shade of pale pinks as the pig brains.

I wasnt expecting to get so close, she admits. I dont mind looking at them, its the smell I cant stand. I dont eat meat!

Not everyone is so squeamish. During the mid-show interval 100 diners don rubber gloves to poke and prod the organs, even picking them up to pose for photographs.

Eve Hubbleday is here to indulge her fascination with anatomy and rummages around inside the body as if she was digging through the discount bin at the Next sale.

The 32 year-old, from Birmingham, says: Ive always been interested in the human body, but this is the first time Ive seen anything like this. The chance to get hands on was too good to miss.

Her fianc Tom Ruthven, 30, is president of Coventry University Occupational Therapy Society and is one of many students in the audience.

This is a great chance to see the inner workings of the human body after learning all the theory during our lectures, he says. Its is a lot more interactive than the stuff we do in the classroom.

Fellow society member Beth Waudby, 20, adds: And a lot more fun. Im really enjoying it.

The second half starts with Sam pulling out the stomach and intestines, which resemble a deep sea monster and smell equally foul.

Sam points to the gallbladder, the luminous bile inside glowing green. It looks like a dinosaur egg, thats the only way I can describe it, he says.

Then comes the pancreas which feels a bit like a bunch of grapes.

The intestines and other organs are bought from slaughter houses that kill 3,500 pigs each day to meet demand for pork, sausages and bacon.

Sams company Vivit Apparatus which is Latin for Living Machine has a special licence from the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) to put on these shows.

His team also use the organs and hand-drawn diagrams to explain how diseases like meningitis and strokes effect the body.

Sam says: With the NHS in crisis under unprecedented pressure, we want to educate people so they understand and can take ownership for their own health.

They even amputate a leg using an enormous pork thigh between the plastic torso and knee.

Medical student Alice Gwyn-Jones, 23, spends several minutes cutting through the flesh and bone with a giant hacksaw before Sam delicate carves it to show the audience the bone and artery.

Alice says: If this was a live patient, you would need to clamp the artery first to stop blood spurting everywhere.

At the end of the evening the discarded organs are tipped into the heavy duty yellow sacks labelled, Clinical waste for incineration only, to dispose of them safely.

Sams dad Kevin, the companys chief operating officer, says: Thats the worst part of the job, the smell is unbelievable. In summer its so bad we have to tape the bin lid shut.

With that I make my way home, taking time to digest everything I have learned before deciding Ill probably pass on those sausages I was intending to have for breakfast tomorrow.

*There are still a few tickets left for Anatomy Lab Live in London, Leeds, Plymouth, Exeter, and Cornwall at http://www.anatomylablive.co.uk.

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Anatomy Lab Live: Review of Solihull show where fine dining and autopsies are on menu - Birmingham Mail

In the second in my series on the crisis besetting the National Electricity Market (NEM) in eastern Australia, I look at the tightening balance of supply and demand.

Australias NEM is witnessing an unprecedented rise in spot, or wholesale, prices as market conditions tighten in response to a range of factors.

As shown above, spot prices are typically highest in summer, due in large part to the way extreme heat waves stretch demand. The historical summer average across the NEM is around $50/MWhour. As recently as 2012, summer prices were as low as $30/MWhour. With only a few days to go in the 2017 summer, prices are averaging a staggering $120/MWhour on a volume-weighted basis. Many factors have played a role, including hot weather, and the drivers vary from state to state.

In South Australia, the high prices have been accompanied by a series of rolling black-outs culminating on 8th February. Spot prices are more than twice last summer, on a volume-weighted basis, and three times the summer before that. Volatility has increased markedly, as evidenced by the way the volume-weighted price has diverged from the averaged spot price.

But the price rises and security issues have not been restricted to South Australia, with Queensland and New South Wales experiencing steeper rises in percentage terms. Current Queensland volume-weighted prices are averaging $200/MWhour, some 300% above the long-term summer average.

On the 12th February new demand records were set in Queensland, with prices averaging $700/MWhour across the day. New South Wales narrowly averted load shedding on 10th February as temperatures and spot prices soared. So far, the exception has been Victoria, where summer prices have remain relatively subdued, at levels not far above the recent average.

Demand for electrical power varies over a range of time-scales, from daily, weekly to seasonal, as well as with longer-term economic trends. A key determinant in how much power is needed on any given day is the maximum daily temperature. As shown below, the maximum daily demand marks out a characteristic boomerang shape when plotted against maximum daily temperature. The boomerang bottoms out at temperatures of around 25C when air conditioning loads are at a minimum.

As illustrated above, demand increases significantly in response to heating loads as the weather cools below 20C and cooling loads as the weather warms above 30C. The difference in demand across the weather cycles can be substantial. For example, in South Australia the maximum daily demand varies from around 1500 megawatts on a day with a maximum temperature of 25C to around 3000 megawatts during heatwaves when the temperatures exceed 40C. With minimum daily loads under 1000 megawatts, this implies well over half the generation capacity in South Australia is for peaking demand, with much of it sitting idle most of the time waiting for extreme hot weather events. In an energy-only market like the NEM, such peaking capacity demands extreme pricing accompany its dispatch in order to recoup costs. In reality, to manage risks such capacity is normally hedged at a cap-contract of around $300/MWhour.

Similar patterns apply in other states, although in percentage terms the range is less severe. In Queensland the increase between 25 and extreme degree days, which top out at about 37C in Brisbane, is about 2000 megawatts or approx 30%.

A comparison of the figures above show some subtle but important differences in the South Australia and Queensland markets. Notably, the diagrams show that annual demand in Queensland has been rising progressively over the last four years, while it has been static in South Australia. The extreme weather of Sunday 12th February set a new demand record in Queensland, and well above any previous weekend day. In contrast, the 8th February peak in South Australia was lower than previous peaks. To understand why spot prices spiked to similar levels in the different regions requires a deeper dive into the local market conditions.

One reason for seasonal variability in prices is the natural variability in weather conditions, and particularly the frequency and intensity of heat waves. As illustrated below, the 2017 summer in Adelaide has been rather normal in terms of weather extremes, so far with only six days above 40C compared to seven last summer and thirteen in the 2014 summer. To date, the mean maximum is around 29.7C , more-or-less spot on the average over the last five years. As such weather variability would not seem to be the key factor driving the recent dramatic rise in spot prices.

The most significant change in the South Australian market last year was the closure in May of its last coal fired-power plant - Alintas 520 megawatt capacity Northern Power Station. Along with questions about long-term coal supply, Alintas decision to close had a lot to do with the low spot prices back in 2015.

Back then, spot prices were suppressed on the back of a fall in both domestic and industrial demand as well as the addition of new wind farms into the supply mix. As shown below, the rapid uptake of solar PV in South Australia had impacted the demand for grid based services, especially during summer, limiting price volatility, and affecting generator revenue streams via a lowering of forward contract prices. In combination, the conditions made for a significant excess in generating capacity, or capacity overhang.

Despite the falling average demand, and a changing load distribution, the peak demand during the recent heat wave reached above 3045 megawatts in the early evening of 8th February (at 6 pm Eastern Australian Standard Time). That was 340 megawatts lower than the all time South Australian peak of 3385 megawatts for South Australia on the 31st January 2011. The peak on February 8th was accompanied by a spot price of $13160/MWhour.

With the closure of Northern, any comparison with previous peak demand events should factor in any demand previously served by Northern Power Station. Before its closure Northern contributed around 420 megawatts power on average over the summer months. Without that supply available this year, the February 8th peak effectively exceeded the previous peak by around 80 megawatts in adjusted terms.

Queensland has experienced a hot summer with the maximum daily temperature in Brisbane reaching 37C for the first time since 2014, and an average daily maximum of 31.2C (at the time of writing). That is about one degree above the average of recent years. However, with only four days with a maximum temperature above 35C, compared to five in the summer of 2015, weather effects seem unlikely to fully account for the extraordinary rise in spot prices this summer.

In detail the Queensland market differs from other regions in the NEM in as much as it is the only region to have experienced significant demand growth in recent years. Mapping the change of demand growth over the years, by time of day, helps reveal the drivers for market tightening, as shown below firstly in absolute terms, and then in relative terms normalised against 2014.

Between 2009 and 2014, summer demand fell by about 400 megawatts (or 6%), with the greatest change occurring in the middle of day. This pattern is akin to the signal in South Australia shown above, and reflects how the growing deployment of domestic rooftop PV was revealed to the market as a demand reduction.

Since, 2014 summer demand has grown appreciably across all times of day, skewed somewhat towards the evening. Relative to 2014, demand is up by almost 800 megawatts across the board, and by as much as 1200 megawatts at 8 pm. The ~800 megawatt base increase in demand can be attributed in large part to new industrial loads associated with the commissioning of the LNG export gas processing facilities at Curtis Island.

In terms of extreme events, it is notable that February 12th this year set a new Queensland demand record at 5.30 pm of 9368 megawatts (at the half hour settlement period) with a spot price of $9005. This is extraordinary given it was a Sunday, a day which normally sees demand down several percentage points on corresponding weekdays with similar temperature conditions.

Victoria is the exception to the trend of rising spot prices, with the summer prices of 2017 not much above long term average. In part, the relatively subdued prices can be attributed to the absence of extreme heat in southern Victoria so far this summer. The mean maximum daily summer temperature in Melbourne stands at about 27C, slightly below average of the previous five years. So far there have been no days with temperatures above 40C, compared to eight in 2014 and four in 2016.

The dominant factor in subduing the Victorian markets prices is likely to be the ongoing fall in demand. In the year to 18th February, demand in Victoria fell by 200 MW. This follows a persistent reduction in demand that has seen a fall of almost 500 megawatts over the last three years, equivalent to 9% of average demand. As shown below, the contrast with Queensland is stark, and reflects significant reductions in industrial demand stemming from the closure of the Point Henry aluminium smelter in August 2014 (Point Henry consumed up to 360 megawatts) and more recently the reduced demand from the Portland smelter on the back of damage caused by an unscheduled power outage on December 1st, 2016. While power capacity in Victoria was reduced by the closure of the 150 megawatt Anglesea coal-fired power plant in August 2015, the cumulative demand reduction over the last decade has led to substantial capacity overhang. All that is set to change with the closure of the 1600 megawatt Hazelwood power station, slated for the end of March.

The figures shown in the previous sections reveal that peak demand events are stretching the power capacity of the NEM in unprecedented ways, for a variety of reasons. The tightening in the demand-supply balance is driving steep price rises that, if sustained, will have widespread repercussions. For example, a $20/MWhour rise in the Queensland spot price translates to a notional annual market value of $1 billion, that must eventually flow through the contract markets. With summer prices already more than $100/MWhour above last year, the additional costs to be passed onto energy consumers may well tally in the many billions of dollars.

In South Australia, the market tightening follows substantially the reduced supply stemming from the closure of the Northern Power Station.

In Queensland, the market tightening is being driven substantially by industrial loads such as the new LNG gas processing facilities. To the extent that the LNG industry is a significant driver, it is a heavy excise to pay for the privilege of exporting our gas resource. The makings for a policy nightmare, should the royalties from our LNG export be outweighed by the cumulative cost impacts passed on via our electricity markets.

It is important to note that the electricity market is designed so that prices fluctuate significantly in response to the normal capacity cycle, as capacity is added to or removed from the market following rises and falls in demand. In small markets, such as South Australia, the spot price fluctuations over the capacity cycle can be extreme, because the capacity of an individual large power plants can represent a large proportion of the native demand.

Although not large in terms of total capacity by Australian standards, Northerns 520 megawatt power rating represented around 40% of the South Australias median demand. That made Northern one of the Australias most significant power stations in terms of its regional basis size. Its withdrawal has dramatically and abruptly reduced the capacity overhang in South Australia. Spot prices were always going to rise as a consequence, because that is the way the market was designed. In addition, Northerns closure has also increased South Australias reliance on gas generation, and it has concentrated market power in the hands of remaining generators, both of which have had additional price impacts beyond the normal market tightening.

In both Queensland and South Australia, the rises in spot prices is signalling the growing tightness in the market. Under normal circumstances that should serve to drive investment in new capacity. The lessons of Northern show that any new capacity in South Australia will need to be responsive to the changing pattern of demand, unless the market rules are changed.

Further, both regions have questions about the adequacy of competition. Both are sensitive to the impacts of parallel developments in the gas markets, which have made gas-fired power production much more expensive in recent times. In the case of Queensland this is greatly exacerbated by the extra demand from the LNG gas production facilities. Finally, these insights have importance for predicting how the markets the will react to the impending close of the 1600 megawatt Hazelwood Power Station in Victoria, all topics I hope to consider in following posts in this series.

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The anatomy of an energy crisis a pictorial guide, Part 2 - The Conversation AU

The state has the work gloves on again to cut the revolting plantation down to size. The cordless reciprocating saw has all the power and velocity needed to chop down the smaller trees. If you attach a larger blade it can even reach out to cut down branches that are away from the base. But it never touches the roots.

The cross-section of a tree trunk tells you everything you need to know about its origins, nourishment, growth and demise. Dendrochronology is a comprehensive field of study on its own, but the anatomy of a tree trunk can be sufficiently understood through its five main components: bark, cambium, sapwood, growth rings and heartwood.

The bark protects the tree from the outside world; cambium produces new cells; sapwood transports water and minerals; growth rings highlight the age and the heartwood, at the core, defines the very nature of the tree. The concentric circles epitomised by the growth rings, and the various ingredients of the tree, help us study each section distinctly.

A cross-section of ideological violence shows similar concentric circles. Theres apologia shielding the inner structure, propaganda producing new adherents, ideologues propagating and justifying the violence, and the ideology at the core. The number of growth rings determines the extent to which the violent ideology has seeped to the branches.

The anatomy of armed jihad is all about studying these concentric circles: Mullah/madrassa, jihadism, Islamism, Muslim supremacy/takfir and the apologia that shields it all from the outside world. The latter could be anything, from using legitimate criticism of Western policies as smokescreen to claims that devotees at a religious shrine, or place of worship, were indulging in heresy and hence asking for trouble from brutal purists.

While the apologia, like any other gamut of excuses, ranges from the shameful to the criminal, its the other four parts of the jihadist structure that need to be carefully studied to curb this ideological savagery, which last week alone killed over 100 of our citizens, in all four provinces of Pakistan.

The mullah and the madrassa are the sapwood transporting the jihadist ideology to the various branches. While we lacerate those branches, the madrassa remains rooted. And it doesnt have to be uprooted all it needs is a revamp to sift the toxicity out of the ideology being distributed. That, in turn, needs state regulation and auditing for both funding and the curricula.

Even so, none of this is possible without an ideological substitute. For that one needs thorough dissection of jihad and restructuring of its core.

The ideological core of the tree bearing jihadist fruits is made of up three concentric circles, growing from supremacism to Islamism to eventually culminating in jihadism.

The idea that Islam is the most superior religion, and in turn Muslims the supreme people, is the foundation of jihad. While everyone believing in Muslim supremacy wouldnt necessarily take up arms to establish that superiority, the superstructure of jihad rests on Muslim domination over the rest of the world.

This concept, ubiquitous in the Muslim world, is the seed that grows into a beanstalk, elevating the vilest produce. At worst it lays the groundwork for massacre in the name of Islam, at best its anathema to religious tolerance and coexistence.

Unlike racial or ethnic supremacism, the religious superiority complex is often self-mutilating. In the case of Muslims, it doesnt rest with the establishment violent or otherwise of non-Muslim inferiority, it extrapolates into excommunication also known as takfir. When supremacy is attached to Muslims and Islam, its natural to put a ceiling on the identity and narrow down the scriptural interpretations.

This brings us to our second growth ring. Islamism, the idea that Islam should be imposed on a society or state, is the canonical corollary of Islamic supremacy. If an ideology has been divinely, and indubitably, established as superlative, does it not make sense to enforce it?

Of course, if mere preaching doesnt suffice and the state doesnt play ball on centralised propaganda, taking up arms to establish Islamic law is the next step. That is known as armed jihad, or jihadism, to separate it from other forms of struggles an individual might take up, without infringing upon the freedom of others.

The growth rings move from believing that Muslims are superior, to executing organised carnage for Islamic supremacy. And unfortunately, the vast majority of Muslims in our neck of the wood lie in one of these three concentric circles. The simple reason for this is the teaching of an unadulterated, literal version of Islam, which fails to incorporate modern thoughts into millennia old canonical texts. What is needed to be taught in madrassas and mosques is a diluted version that endorses pluralism through focus on individuality.

Were quick to distance ourselves from the jihadists, because most of us might not pick up a gun to murder someone over identity or belief. But wed involuntarily endorse Muslim or Islamic authority. And we, being the microcosm of the state we live in, are now watching the various institutions replicate the same.

Hundreds of alleged jihadists have been arrested in the aftermath of last weeks terror attacks. Hundreds of others have been killed. While the military action is important to nullify the immediate threat and those already indoctrinated with the genocidal ideology, but the action itself amounts to scratching the surface over and over again.

Deracination of jihad would need the state to eventually undo the privileges granted to its Muslim citizens, which form the raison detre for the spread of jihadism. A state that exercises takfir itself, or upholds Islam as the supreme religion through its Constitution, will never be able to muster the decisive victory against jihadism, till it rectifies its persistent howlers.

Instead of going on a chop-fest, the state would need to plant new trees and nourish their roots, if it wants better tasting fruit in the future. Sowing Islamic supremacy only yields jihad. Four decades of poisonous harvest shouldve made that clear.

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Anatomy of jihad - The Nation - The Nation

In March 2014, Boston Childrens Hospital learned the worst possible security newsfrom a third-party vendor with no formal relationship to the facility.

That vendor told the pediatric facility that it had seen online documents threatening the hospital, as well as posted documents with information on physicians such as cell phone numbers, addresses and work locations. And the information also included details of Boston Childrens infrastructure, such as the main IP address of its organizational web site.

Any kid could find this stuff easily online, but it was clear someone was trying to damage the reputation of Boston Childrens, said Daniel Nigrin, MD, senior vice president and CIO in the division of endocrinology, during the Cybersecurity Forum at HIMSS17.

Then came a video from the activist hacking organization Anonymous, accusing the hospital of having tortured a child. Ive been a CISO for 16 years; this was a new one me, Nigrin recalled.

In particular, the charge from Anonymous centered on a teenage girl that the hospital determined was suffering from malnutrition. The case went to court, where a judges ruling removed the child from parental custody. The family fought the decision, and the controversy found its way to Anonymous, which decided that Boston Childrens needed to be taught a lesson.

We wondered if it was the real Anonymous; thankfully, the decision was to take the threat seriously, Nigrin said. The hospital convened an incident response team and starting forming contingency plans for an expected attack, which included going dark and cutting itself off from the Internet while assessing the systems and processes still necessary to keep the facility running.

Also See: Many organizations lack direction on cybersecurity

In the meantime, Boston Childrens contacted local police and the FBI, who were reluctant to step in proactively, and told hospital executives to get back to them if anything happened. Three weeks went by without incident, and the facility was hit with low-value distributed denial of service attacks that were handled. But then, tactics started to change as attacks increased in volume.

One week later on a Saturday night, the cat-and-mouse game ended with a dramatic uptick in attacks and a third party was engaged to help the hospital defend itself. The concerted Anonymous cyber attack started April 14 and ended on April 27. At its peak, the hackers were sending 30-day levels of malicious traffic in very short periods of time.

The teenage patient at the center of the controversy had long since been discharged, but Anonymous was demanding she be sent home, according to Nigrin. The group threatened the hacking of documents of the hospitals staff was coming next, with a HIPAA breach thereafter. Then, Boston Childrens saw a penetration of attacks across all organization web sites and ports, which were shut down, and also saw a massive influx of malware-laden emails100 times more than normaland because of the high volume, that some malware eventually would get through, so it shut down the email system temporarily.

Boston Childrens recontacted local and federal authorities, and this time, they were much more interested in what was happening, and told the hospital not to notify the press. While reporters were calling for information, the hospital was not responding. It didnt matter; reporters already knew. The top story in the next days Boston Globe read, Cyberattack Hits Childrens Hospital.

The hospital wasnt the only organization being attacked; an energy company that had sponsored an annual walkathon also was hit and advised to stop helping Boston Childrens. Then, within 36 hours, the attacks subsided. Boston Childrens gradually brought external facing web sites back on line after expensive penetration testing from a third-party vendor.

Before the attacks, Nigrin did not think a childrens hospital would be targeted, so you cannot assume you are above this, he warned colleagues. We were fortunate to have a three-week period to prepare.

In the current cyber environment, CISOs need to be much more aggressive, he asserted. You need to push through security measurestheres no excuses anymore. Were beyond allowing ourselves to get pushed by that pushback. Focus on the pain and millions of dollars that can be spend to end an organizational incident. I urge you to use this experience as a burning platform. If your organization is not paying attention, scream louder and ask them to talk to me.

Also See: 6 top IT security for 2017

The FBI later told Boston Childrens to pay attention to its audio-video conferencing systems, after the FBI itself was hacked by Anonymousthe group had been on calls and published transcripts, because the FBI calls had not been secure, Nigrin said.

After the attack, Boston Childrens conducted a round of security re-education and urged employees to be more observant. Soon after, that training was put to the test as the hospital was hit by phone phishing efforts.

The hospital had cyber insurance in place, but had to fight for coverage because the insurer contended what while there was an attack there was no breach. We argued that if we had not done what we did, we would have had a massive data breach, Nigrin said.

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Anatomy of a cyber attack explained at HIMSS17 | Health Data ... - Health Data Management

Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret." ~ Ambrose Bierce

Over the years I have become an avid student of energy and how it moves. What I have discovered is that as human beings, not only do we consist of pure energy, we are also conduits through which it flows. Once we understand that thought is energy in one of its purest forms well become aware that the thoughts we think make us energy directors. Thus, when we have misguided thoughts fueled by the energy of anger our words can be very destructive.

When I was a kid, I had a hair-trigger temper. By the time I was a teen it didnt take much to set me off and ignite my anger. Years later I discovered that I had real issues around my physical stature. Being the skinniest, shortest kid in the schoolyard made me a moving target for the local bullies and just about any of my peers. As an adult I began to understand where my anger was coming from; my own sense of inferiority and defensiveness. On more than one occasion thoughts of anger fueled by enraged emotions sent misguided words soaring out of my mouth which I later regretted. As I matured I discovered that once words are spoken in a moment of misguided passion (rage), they cannot be called back. Its sort of like launching a guided missile and then realizing there is no abort & destroy button once the missile has been launched. Sometimes our misguided words can be like misguided missiles if we are not mindful.

As I began to study the universal law of cause and effect and how the energy of anger moves from cause (thought plus feeling) resulting in effect (words or actions), I came to understand that I play an undeniable role in being the creator of my own experience. This does not mean that I always have control over what others say or do at any given moment, but it does mean I always have absolute control over how I choose to respond to what has been said or done. No doubt, people can say and do some incredibly cruel and thoughtless things that can understandably trigger our anger. However, at the end of the day, without exception, justified or not, it is we who suffer the toxic effects of being the conduit or vessel through which that energy of anger flows. Buddha wrote, Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. In other words, the misguided missiles of anger we fire at others always come home to roost.

It has been said that behind all anger is fear. Consider the idea that anger is an outward manifestation of an inner fear of loss of control over something or someone, including ones behavior and words. In A Course In Miracles, it states, Anger is a cry for love. When I flashback to my own childhood experiences around anger I can see that my anger really was a cry for love and acceptance based on a belief that somehow I wasnt good enough (lovable) just as I was. Love seems to be the universal antidote for the toxin of anger. Buddha also wrote, Let a man overcome anger by love. Let us know this applies to little boys and girls as well as adults.

As a mindfulness practice today, consider becoming the observer of your thoughts and feelings remembering that the presence of the Divine exists at the center of each of us as unconditioned Love. It is there and It is accessible--we need only remember to call on It. So, perhaps the next time we come across the energy of anger within ourselves or another, we might first consider pausing, taking a deep intentional breath, and before we react, sending misguided missiles hurling out of our mouth, silently ask ourselves, What (or who) needs to be loved here? We might just save ourselves from making the best speech well ever regret.

Here is the original post:
The Anatomy of Anger - Huffington Post

Marika Dominczyk as Eliza, Jessica Capshaw as Arizona. Photo: Mitch Haaseth/ABC

It Only Gets Much Worse Season 13 Episode 13

Editor's Rating 3 stars

Well, that escalated quickly. April Kepner is now the interim chief of general surgery and the attendings are not enthused.

The ones we get to see, at least. Meredith and Alex are completely sidelined for this surgery-heavy episode, which seems like a misstep for Greys Anatomy. Especially since Aprils predicament has so much to do with Mer. Are Mer and Alex at home eating waffles in bed? One can only hope.

Meanwhile, April is doing her best to assert her new authority. Shes pretty pumped about her promotion, and she should be. I mean, sure, the day before accepting the job she did seem pretty gung-ho on the Stop Minnick front, but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. In previous recaps, weve discussed how polarizing April Kepner is. Im Team April. Shes unabashedly herself a Goody Two-shoes who strives to be taken seriously. I get that. Also, she bagged Doctor Hotface (and also Smart Person, obviously). Give the girl props. I get that she can be grating, but she adds a nice mix to the goings-ons at Grey Sloan.

Anyway, Aprils first task as chief of general surgery is to help Eliza Minnick roll out the next phase of her teaching plan: two randomly chosen residents will become lead surgeon, and see their cases through while an attending assists. Minnick is overseeing Stephanies surgery, and April has to find someone to assist Ben Warren. She lands on Webber. The ask goes about as well as youd expect, if you were expecting April to have to beg and Webber to agree only after throwing some savage snark. Its the sure thing, Chief heard round the world.

Aprils taking flak from all sides. Her esophageal-cancer patient is constantly comparing her to her former doctor, Meredith Grey. She only refers to April as Not Doctor Grey! Her friends are either ignoring her or giving her crap. She has to eat lunch alone at the Grey Sloan High cafeteria. When Jackson finally confronts her about the situation, he insults her by implying that she only got the job because his mother manipulated the situation. Shes left screaming in the middle of the day-care room that she earned the position. That she is a good surgeon. Yeah, its a rough day for our farm girl.

The adversity fuels April. Once it dawns on her that she is, in fact, the boss lady, she starts acting like it. She starts doing her job. She kicks Maggie out of the esophageal-cancer case because Maggie made it clear she thinks April is a traitor. After April kicks that cancers ass, she doesnt gloat she simply appreciates that her patient finally asks for her name. A boss lady should always be classy.

If April wasnt already feeling better about being the woman in charge, a nice chat with Catherine Avery who, for the record, did not tell Bailey to give the job to April does the trick. The other doctors, Jackson included, are angry that April gave up the cause. That shes an opportunist who shouldve known to say no. And yes, it could look like that from the outside. Catherine, however, reminds April that people like Jackson are not like the two of them. (April getting giddy over being compared to Catherine is precious.) They had to work for what they have. Jackson doesnt know what its like to live without a safety net. If he did, hed know April had no choice but to take the job. It is a lovely little conversation that leads to a lovely little glass of wine because neither of the girls really wants to return home to their angry dudes. Remember when Catherine first showed up and made April pump a penis implant? Man, times have changed.

Since being a part of Minnicks phase two is what gets April an overabundance of side-eye from her friends, lets talk about how that goes down. Neither chosen resident has the smoothest of times.

Bailey wants to observe Bens surgery with Webber, even after her husband has told her to back off. The surgery goes swimmingly, but with no help from Webber or Bailey, who devolve into a heated argument. Bailey wants to know why Webber is helping this hospital fall further behind. Webber wonders when Bailey, whose first solo surgery was also with him, forgot that he knows how to teach. Things have gotten so bad between these two because of how much they care for one another. (Webber later tells Catherine that Bailey was his start to finish. Aww.) Still, Ben is right to call them out for spending time arguing about teaching instead of actually, you know, teaching. This was his first solo surgery and it was ruined. Hell never get his first time back.

Neither will Stephanie, whose first time is infinitely worse. She is obviously pumped to be getting a chance to run a case on her own. She is Eliza Minnicks No. 1 and, well, only fan. The two end up with a 9-year-old patient named Matty. He is very cute and his parents are very cute while talking about a family cruise and you just know this is going to end badly.

Matty has gallstones and an inflamed bladder, so he needs surgery. No family cruise for cute Matty today. Arizona is livid that Minnick would allow a resident to perform her first lead surgery on a child. YOU DO NOT EXPERIMENT ON TINY HUMANS. But Eliza has complete faith in Stephanie and in her teaching methods. Arizona 100 percent disagrees. Which is how Stephanie, Eliza, and Arizona end up in the O.R. with blood gushing out of Mattys abdomen. Very quickly, Matty dies.

Stephanie is beside herself and asks Minnick what she did wrong. Did I kill that boy? Oof, you guys. It is rough stuff. Even worse, Minnick cant answer her. She cant even speak. The teaching guru runs off in tears.

With nowhere else to turn, Stephanie seeks guidance from her greatest teacher: the always-dependable Richard Webber. Still shaking, she walks him through the surgery, determined to find out where she went wrong. Richard stays calm and tells her that doctors arent able to fix what they cant see and how was she supposed to know there was a bleed? Arizona and Minnick didnt catch it either. You lost. Its not your fault, but you lost. Every good surgeon does, he says as he brings her in for a patented Richard Webber healing hug. Its the most moving scene of the episode, and it proves, once and for all, that Webber is right. He has always been an excellent teacher.

Elsewhere in the hospital, Arizona tracks down Minnick to tell her that she is pretty much the opposite of Webber. A good attending has to be able to teach her resident more than just the how-tos of surgery; she has to teach her resident how to handle the consequences of surgery. Minnick cries and cries and admits that she cant teach Stephanie what to do in this situation because shes never been in it. Shes never lost a child in surgery.

I guess this is an attempt to make Minnick a little more sympathetic? Or at least shade in some character details. Okay, sure. It does make Minnick seem a little more human, but I am still not onboard with the increasingly imminent Minnick-Arizona love affair. Even if Arizona does pull out Minnicks horn wires. Thanks, but no thanks, Greys.

Okay, it doesnt turn out so great, but Stephanies excitement to take a surgery from start to finish is just one more example of why shes the best. Mamas gotta go do surgery. Yes, lady. YES.

Ben Warren gets called Mrs. Bailey and refers to himself as Mirandas First Lady. How are either of those things insults?

April shrieking about being the nicest is peak April.

Im unsure what this says about me, but I could totally watch a good 30 minutes of the attendings snacking on baby carrots and talking about Switzerland. They have good banter, what can I say?

Bailey used to have Hansons MMMBop on her surgery playlist. Ill just leave that right there for you all.

Did anyone else cheer when Jo called April a badass for telling off Maggie and April told her to shut up? Even April Kepner cant handle Jo Wilson.

Who among us can watch Richard Webber take a weeping resident into his strong, caring arms and walk away dry-eyed? We are but mere mortals, after all.

Larry Wilmore and Milo Yiannopoulos Spar on Real Time: You Can Go F*ck Yourself

Stephen Colbert: Please, Random Celebrities, Keep Digging Up Dirt on Donald Trump

Hes one of 10 commission members to resign.

Nice mirror smash.

Things are getting interesting.

Their custody battle is no closer to resolution.

Sing it, Stevie.

When presented with a choice, pick the dull knife.

Not now, 2017.

Way to feed right into those vigilante abandonment issues, Matt.

To learn right out of film school that you can take a scene you think is good and then continue to rewrite it is priceless.

Its cool, because Trump is a random celeb, too.

Castle Rock is a mystery built on many mysteries.

In which Melanie Lynskey drinks from a flask.

A head banging anthem for head smacking times.

The Lion King remake just got its reluctant king (and a familiar father).

The Colbert Trump Bump continues.

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Grey's Anatomy Recap: The First Time - Vulture

Sara Ramirez, who is bisexual and played a bisexual surgeon on Greys Anatomy, had a bone to pick with The Real ONeals.

The actress blasted the sitcom Thursday over a Jan. 17 episode in which a gay character played by Noah Galvin likened bisexuality to having webbed toes or money problems, several outlets noted.

The 41-year-old actor, who came out last October, implored network ABC and The Real ONeals on Twitter to own and address the issue and empower LGBTQ youth with accurate positive reflections.

Ramirez said shes disappointed in the network for which she worked for 10 years on the doctor drama. She left the show in May. I will invest my brand where Im respected, she wrote.

Rodin Eckenroth via Getty Images

Galvin and Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, known as PFLAG and which partnered with The Real ONeals on the episode, issued apologieslast month for causing offense, the New York Daily News reported. A PFLAG spokeswoman said that the group blew it for not catching the comment earlier.

But in another tweet Ramirez called for a network response.

The actress also encouraged followers to sign a change.org petition protesting the show.

Read this article:
'Grey's Anatomy' Star Rips 'The Real O'Neals' For Bisexual Joke - Huffington Post

ABC

If Grey's Anatomy fans didn't like Eliza Minnick before tonight, they probably hate her now.

The brash doctor (played by Marika Dominczyk) brought in to overhaul Grey-Sloan Memorial's teaching program went full throttle with her plans by placing particular surgeries in the unprepared hands of attendings, leaving the residents to simply observe and guide. Because this is Shondaland, the results were calamitous, resulting in Edwards (Jerrika Hinton) accidentally killing one of Arizona's (Jessica Capshaw) pediatric patients when she misses the fact that the kid's bleeding internally. Making matters even worse, when a distraught Edwards looked to her budding mentor for guidance, Eliza just abandoned her in the hallway to go have a meltdown of her own.

In short, it was not her finest moment.

But it just might be the thing needed to change her aloof and abrasive ways, Dominczyk told E! News."It was such a big event for her to reflect on herself and think about, you know, maybe her approach isn't the best," she admitted. "And I think it makes her take a moment to reflect on who she is, what she really wants, the good that she wants to do and how to do that without making things bad. It knocks her down. It definitely knocks her down a lot of pegs and she has to build herself up again and push through it and, in a way, still be confident and not let it ruin her. Because it's such a huge thing that happened that she didn't foreshadow. She didn't see it coming at all."

Another thing she didn't see coming? Just how much her failure to react properly would push Edwardsone of Minnick's biggest supporters among the attendings up until that momentback into Webber's (James Pickens Jr.) arms (literally) as she was looking for guidance.

"I think that after Eliza deals with how it makes her feel as a doctor and how it affects her, so she can get over that huge hurdle, then she can look around at the damage that it's caused around. And I think that sheit's not like she was building momentum in a good way, anyway," Dominczyk added. "It's kind of like maybe starting from ground zero and doing it over, but maybe with kinder hands, maybe gentler. Being more socially aware of how she comes off when she does stuff like that, you know? I think that initially when she blows off Edwards, it doesn't have anything to do with Edwards, which is the main mistake, right? She's supposed to be the teacher and help, but she's so consumed with what happened that she can't even see. She can't even see it yet. I think it hits her when Richard gives her that look. It crushes her because she looks up to Richard and she respects him so much and she wants to be accepted, but still hold her ground and come off as strong. So, it's a balancing act."

ABC

So, could a kinder, gentler Minnick be just the thing to stop this civil war before it consumes the hospital? It couldn't hurt, Dominczyk admitted, but don't expect a miracle."I would say that it makes people take a long hard look at what they're doing and the repercussions of certain actions," she said about how Grey-Sloan moves forward from here. "To slow down a bit and try to do what's best for everybody and not just best for one person. Because at the end of the day, they all want the same thing. They all want the hospital to be the best hospital it could be, and they all want all the attendings to learn everything the proper way and be good doctors. So, it might bring everything together, but not like a 'Kumbaya, we all love Minnick now.' That definitely, unfortunately, doesn't happennot overnight. But it's a step in the right direction."

Despite the disaster of a day, Minnick did find herself in the arms of a sympathetic Arizona out in the parking lot, who reinforces the notion that Eliza could make things easier on herself with everyone if only she'd try. Is romance on the horizon for these two? And how will the other docs respond to Arizona's flirting with the enemy?I think they are drawn to each other and they are cautious, for the right reasons, with how much they let people know because I don't think they know themselves where this is going or what's going to happen," Dominczyk teased."You're just going to have to watch and see this cautious circling. They're only human, so people do slip up sometimes."

This being Grey's Anatomy, expect the slip up sooner rather than later.

Where do you stand on Minnick after her big screw-up? Let us know in the comments below.

Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

E! Online - Your source for entertainment news, celebrities, celeb news, and celebrity gossip. Check out the hottest fashion, photos, movies and TV shows!

Read the original here:
Grey's Anatomy's Civil War Just Took on Collateral Damage & Eliza Will Never Be the Same - E! Online

Islamic State (Isis) has ordered its followers to kill three Sydney imams: the Grand Mufti of Australia, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed (pictured); Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman; and Sheikh Ahmed Abdo. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

Ive been called many things in my time working for the Muslim community in Sydney, but there is a recurring name that has stuck: sell out. Although often associated with musical acts that move from indie niche to mainstream success, abandoning their fans and values in the meantime, it has come to mean something slightly different to Muslims.

To Muslims, selling out refers to making a compromise on your beliefs and is often associated with engagement with power structures. On the surface, this logic is based on the idea that engagement with these structures, especially in the west, can never be genuine and can never be on Muslim terms.

It is upon this logic that Islamic State (Isis) has ordered its followers to kill three Sydney imams: the Grand Mufti of Australia, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed; Sheikh Shady Alsuleiman; and Sheikh Ahmed Abdo. All three are known for their work in engaging different communities and working with government, policing agencies or with other faith groups.

By trying to excommunicate these sheikhs and essentially branding them as sell outs, Isis is seeking to justify its call to violence against them. The use of such inflammatory rhetoric, as a form of propaganda, is neither new nor exclusive to Isis, and has been used time and again by groups from across the political spectrum. However, it is vital to note that what lies beneath the rhetoric from all sides is an important point on engagement.

Its important to state (although it has been said in a variety of ways, ad infinitum), that the violence of Isis is abhorrent and unacceptable. The best way to thumb our collective nose at their desire to be part of a discussion about faith and engagement would be to have that conversation without their input or presence.

The term sell out is used as a counter to a power imbalance, as a means of expressing distrust in the avenues for engagement between Muslim communities and state power structures. And it is here where the conversation must begin when discussing the reasons for branding such individuals in this way.

Engagement in and of itself must be underscored by a power balance between the participating parties. Without this balance, what will result is a skewed conversation, one that is almost theatre in the way it follows a pre-determined script. What is not to be spoken about is ignored, what is focused upon is the symbolism and platitudes that are used to maintain the status quo.

By taking part in these so-called conversations without the ability to frame the discussion or the ability to have it on our terms, Muslims become complicit in our own silence. Moreover, we are also complicit in the injustices eked out under that silence, having been unable to break the cycle of violence and enforced obliviousness.

The wounds and trauma of the Syrian civil war, the Iraq war, the invasion of Afghanistan, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the Israeli occupation of Palestine, the Lebanese civil war, and the current violence in Yemen all of these conflicts are partly the result of the interference of western powers, both recent and long-standing. Colonisation continues to deeply affect communities, with the trauma lasting generations as the entire region seeks to reconcile its history with its present, and its people with the interests of foreign powers.

These scars, fresh or deep, are at the forefront of any conversation on power and politics, no matter the level or relevance. Conversations at all levels must be framed by these injustices, by a global, historical, political context that would seek to be guided by a need to recognise and right those injustices.

So, when the Muslim community is in conversation with government agencies or police, on any particular issue, whether it be criminality, socio-economic challenges, obstacles to education and so on, the coordinates of that conversation need to be reset.

Unfortunately, when discussing something apparently irrelevant to international politics or history, respectability politics plays a huge role, with nobody wanting to appear rude or inconsiderate. However, it is essential we shelve such considerations in the face of a growing need to reshape the way we think about engagement with government and police.

And its here where the notion of the sell out remerges, because without its global or historical context these conversations will continue to exclude and alienate any group or party seeking to have their scars recognised and healed.

Without it, genuine progress will be hampered by the notion of the sell out, both in conversations with institutions of power, and with a community continuously sidelined and dismissed.

At the end of the day, its not that I dont want people to call me a sell out, its that I want to see the roots of that notion no longer dismissed as just a rhetorical tool used by fringe groups. There are genuine problems with the way we, as a community and as a nation, see engagement, and until we fix that, the issues we face will never be addressed.

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Anatomy of a sell out: why Isis targets scholars for working with the government - The Guardian

Sara Ramirez is calling out her old network.

The 41-year-old actress, who starred for 10 years on ABC's Grey's Anatomy, took to Twitter on Thursday to slam the network for a joke about bisexual people that aired during a recent episode of The Real O'Neals.

WATCH: 'Grey's Anatomy' Star Sara Ramirez Comes Out as Bisexual

On the episode in question, which aired on Jan. 17, Noah Galvin's openly gay character, Kenny, compared being bisexual to having "webbed toes" or "money problems."

Ramirez, who played bisexual character Callie Torres on Grey's, and identifies as bisexual herself, said that she was "truly disheartened and disappointed" by the joke, and that she would "invest my brand where I'm respected."

The actress addressed ABC and The Real O'Neals in her tweet, encouraging them to "own" and "address" the mistake, to "empower our #Queer and #Bisexual youth & community w/accurate positive reflections." She also asked fans to sign a Change.org petition imploring ABC to "end biphobia and bi-erasure" on the comedy.

WATCH: Shocker! 'Grey's Anatomy' Star Sara Ramirez Exits Show After 10 Seasons

In another tweet, Ramirez reacted to Galvin's response to the joke, saying it "wasn't enough for me."

RELATED: 'Real O'Neals' Star Noah Galvin Slams Colton Haynes, Eric Stonestreet & More, Immediately Apologizes for 'Hurtful' Comments

The Real O'Neals star, who found himself surrounded by controversy last year after slamming Eric Stonestreet's portrayal of a gay man on Modern Family and mocking Colton Haynes' decision to come out as gay, addressed the joke last month on Twitter.

The 22-year-old actor said he "respects and loves the bi community," though defended the joke, saying it represented "a panicky teen expressing his 'deepest fear' which was his boyfriend leaving him for a girl." "I'm sorry if we offended anyone. I hope you know our show fights for visibility and inclusivity and we will do better in the future. BUT, we also have to remember, it's a comedy."

WATCH: 'Greys Anatomy' Boss Addresses Sara Ramirez's Exit: 'I Had a Different Plan'

Excerpt from:
'Grey's Anatomy' Star Sara Ramirez Calls Out ABC for 'Biphobia ... - Entertainment Tonight