Malignant mesothelioma is a rare cancer of the tissue that lines the body’s interior organs. About 2,000 new instances are diagnosed each year in the whole US. Out of this group, almostthree out of four of occurrences concern the sac that protects the lungs, named the pleura. This is known as pleural mesothelioma. In around ten to twenty percent of cases, mesothelioma may affect the tissue that encircles visceral organs, referred to as the peritoneal membrane, generating what is then referred to as peritoneal mesothelioma.

Introduction to asbestos is positively the overwhelming risk factor for this uncommon aliment. Following asbestos exposure, the time period to progression of the mesothelioma disease may be two to four decades. Because of work related exposure, cancer of the mesothelium is almost 3 times more regular in males, than in females. Due to the number of instances rises with age, there are about 10 times more cases in the males over age 64 than in the men in their thirties.

Developing Cancer of the mesothelium is a serious disease, which, at the current time, has a decidedly bad degree of continuing continuance. On the other hand, if it is recognized early, regimens are then at hand that might significantly lengthen the patient’s life. Cutting edge approaches continue to be and are being developed through the use of clinical trials.

There may be criticism of reporting from Iraq and Afghanistan but what about reporting of wars very much nearer the “West”? If “The Dream of the Decade” is anything to go by, European populations were poorly served by their journalists.

While the quartet “The Dream of the Decade” treats various issues in its four novels, the final one included in the volume “Good Morning, Britain” suggests war-reporting is not very professional at all. The book has already been praised by the publishers of Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie and Ian McEwan.

“Good Morning, Britain” traces the entrance of an ingénue youngster, whose path from the North of England to London is described in the previous novel of the quartet, “A Taste of Money”, into an establishment television station. Whilst producers back in the world’s media capitals take a lot of the blame, this book shifts “Broadcast News”-style fiction to even darker levels than those found in the seminal film about TV journalism, Network by Alan J. Pakula.

With each turn, we see the incompetence but, it is Yugoslavia where an estimated 250,000 people lost their lives, that the protagonist finds himself surrounded by carelessness, ahistoricism and downright amateurism albeit attempting to be mitigated by foolish courage.

Here’s an excerpt:

“He was keen to research the history of Yugoslavia but soon realised from the thickness of recent histories that he would have no time. Most of his preparation concerned how to get there. The easiest way, so his computer said, was to get a flight with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees which had a base in Ancona, on the Adriatic coast of Italy. The RAF, German and Belgian air forces were based there, in an operation run by the British. As he sat with the printout, he sometimes looked at the pile of video rushes that he was to log and code as a squeamishness test. The rushes had just been fed in on the “bird”, or satellite, and he had to check which images were suitable for Britain’s evening meal viewing.
The notes on Yugoslavia would at first be over-simple and then impossible. To Jonathan, the sentence “UNPROFOR cards are essential as usual but CANNOT be issued in Ancona, only in Zagreb or Belgrade” meant as little as the reasons for the war itself. Quickly, he scanned which Alitalia flights flew from Rome and Milan to Ancona. Then he looked at the possibility of travelling from Split on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The Split-Rome flight could then take him to Ancona via Rome but he was told he must bear in mind that because of NATO “air movements” the advertised flight duration of one hour was now double that.

Any time Jonathan wanted to devote to understanding the actual conflict was now wholly shelved in favour of travel arrangements. Another way to Sarajevo, he discovered, was to go to the UNHCR office located in a cargo-warehouse next door to Ancona’s customs office. Because the sentry on the gate was likely to be a British soldier, Corporation staff would be well directed, so his printout said.”

Selected Quotes

“I can still feel the force of it, as a passing gale” Christopher MacLehose, Collins Harvill.

“I admired it, particularly the pace and atmosphere.” Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, Sinclair Stevenson Ltd.

“He captures the atmosphere of the late 80s.” Dan Franklin, Martin Secker and Warburg.

“Interesting and involving.” Laura Longrigg, William Heinemann Ltd.

Book details

Title:The Dream of the Decade

Subtitle:The London Novels

Author:Afshin Rattansi

ISBN:1-4196-1686-2

LCCN:20059093841

Edward Victor is a London-based agent.
http://www.zen13743.zen.co.uk/html

The most important rule is to be sure that your storage area is dry and not subject to extreme temperatures, either hot or cold. Moisture and temperature are the enemy.

Even though you may be new to this, you need to have some idea of just what you’re planning to store. If you only plan to collect single postage stamps, your stamp housing should reflect this. If you collect multiples of postage stamps, such as a block of four stamps, large strips, or even complete sheets, you will need to design your housing to accommodate larger, more floppy items. And, if you collect covers - first-day covers, event covers, or inauguration covers - you will need to provide a home that will accommodate the bulk of items that are multiple thicknesses of paper each.

If you have friends or relatives that already collect stamps, look at how they house their collections and ask why a particular approach was taken.

While I don’t want to overplay buying an album or supplies to make your own album, after you begin to shop and notice that it is possible to spend more for an album than for the stamps that go into it, you will need to know why certain types of albums are better or worse for your needs.

Some basic, before-you-start things to consider:

Just what is available on the marketplace? You may spend time designing exactly what you want, only to find out it’s unavailable.

How expensive are various types of albums and album making supplies? If you are not purchasing locally, be sure to figure in shipping costs.

If you want matching album binders across the board, what is available?

How easily can you update your album pages with new issues or varieties of older material? Flexibility is definitely an issue.

Finally, before beginning the housing process, here is a list of things that should be kept away from your stamps and covers. While some of them may seem like a good idea none of these items should be used.

Ballpoint pens. You must press hard to write. Therefore, you will leave an impression in any soft surface under the pen’s point. Don’t write on any stamps or covers with anything. Write on envelopes in which you keep stamps or on slips of paper that you keep with the stamps.

Clear plastic tape. Both the permanent and the removable types of this tape will leave residue behind and even if it is not visible to the naked eye, the acids in the residue can deteriorate the surface it is on. Tape and stamps do not mix.

Masking tape. Although seemingly removable and while it does leave less residue than clear tape, the longer it is attached, the less removable it becomes. Removing old dried-up masking tape from any paper surface is not pretty.

Paper clips. These, along with other metal fasteners, leave creases in your paper items. If left for a long time, paper clips may even rust, indelibly staining the surface they are on.

Photo albums. The “magnetic” pages are adhesive-coated papers that use PVC and acidic adhesives that will cause rapid degradation of stamp paper. Use only acid-free paper in whatever housing you decide to use.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Hobbies

Although the book is considered fiction, Shaila portrays each woman “like it really is” living in a South Asian country where societal rules prevail. In one of the stories she talks about
matriarchal control over the daughter-in-law where the daughter-in-law is expected to do all the work, where the daughter-in-law is not able to eat rice because money is short but she has
to cook it for her husband because he is the only one that can embellish in the luxury of eating rice. In another narrative, Shaila tells us how the bride, who is not able to produce a male offspring within a short time of an arranged marriage, is ostracized and blamed.

Life for many women, especially in the rural areas, becomes an
existence that many of us in the Western world cannot relate
to. Yet, deep inside these women clash with the realities of their existence and the knowing that things are different outside their realities, often yearning for a different way of life but being trapped within their culture.

Shaila writes each story with passion and soul, drawing the
reader deep into the feelings of the women. Reading Beyond the
Cayenne Wall gave me an insight and understanding that
regardless of where women live, they have the same feelings
that I would have if in the same situation. After reading each
story, I found myself contemplating and comparing my life to
theirs, being grateful for my freedom.

Irene Watson is the Publishing Editor of Reader Views, a book review service that specializes in book reviews, for readers, by readers. http://www.readerviews.com

The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta known as the Knights of St. John, or the Knights of Malta, is the oldest order of chivalry in existence, dating back to the eleventh century. The Knights of St. John came to Malta in 1530 after accepting the offer made to them by Charles V. They brought with them an international body of men from Catholic Europe with a strong tradition in government, accompanied by a sound source of income and a wealth of experience in architecture. For a large number of years Malta flourished under the rule of the Knights of St. John and it is on the Maltese islands that the Knights have left their most notable legacy reflected in the beautiful architecture of the palaces in Valletta and in Birgu, and Forts of St. Angelo, St. Elmo, Ricasoli, Manoel and Tigne; and a number of churches, most notably St. John’s Conventual Church. Two of Miranda Publishers’ books Legacy in Stone and Sovereign Palaces give a pictorial review of the heritage left by the Knights of St. John.

Malta is a veritable treasure-house of architectural interest. The Maltese have, since the beginning, always been incessant builders, but there is a special period in Malta’s history that has particularly left its mark on its architectural wealth. During their first years in Malta, the Knights of St John strengthened the existing meagre fortifications and built new ones in expectation of an attack from the Turks. A year after the Great Siege in 1565, from which the Order with the help of the Maltese emerged victorious, the first stone of Valletta was laid. The Order employed the best architects from Malta and other European countries and for more than two and a half centuries of continuous building and re-building, they succeeded in giving Valletta its unique character. In the early 17th century, the building movement moved out into the country, and here again the Knights vied with one another to build churches, country-houses and magnificent villas with exquisite laid-out gardens. The architectural legacy the Knights left in Malta remains an everlasting monument to the artistic acumen of the noblest chivalric Order of all times. This comprehensive photographic study celebrates the rich honey colour of the soft yet resilient limestone that distinguishes local architecture, and reveals the Baroque splendours of the period. It also documents the finest and best preserved fortifications in Europe.

Legacy in Stone is hard-bound with leather spine, and presented in a handmade sturdy slipcase. The text is in English with Italian and Maltese translations.

Miranda Publishers is at the forefront in the publication of large format Maltese books about Malta’s cultural and historical heritage. For more details or to purchase any of our books visit http://www.mirandabooks.com

Naomi Jo Rush new book of poetry, I Kissed a Frog and My
Prince Forgave Me, is a well-crafted poetic journey through
infidelity.

Naomi reveals the most vulnerable time in her married life.
Her poetry teaches us that married couples tend to forget
about each other’s needs and become absorbed in habitual
day-to-day behavior. While she strained for the attention that
her husband would not or could not provide Naomi put on a
performance of a happily content wife, when she was really
screaming with frustration inside.

Her confusion ripens with the prospect of temptation. The
thrill of spontaneity coupled with feeling of being desired
draws Naomi to her lover like a drowning person would
desperately clutch at a lifeline.

Craving for her husband to notice the change and
discovering she never wanted the marriage to end prompts
Naomi to confess her wrong doings. When it is all revealed,
Naomi endures the torturous guilt while watching her
husband writhe in the pain she inflicted upon him.

In the end, I think Naomi provides hope for us all in showing
us the reasons and effects of infidelity by walking us through
the steps of recovering a marriage. I felt encouraged that
marriages have a chance of thwarting this common mistake
if we show one another love and open the channels of
communication .We can thrive in a world of strife and
temptation.

~ Book Reviewer: Lillian Brummet - Co-author of the book
Trash Talk, a guide for anyone concerned about his or her
impact on the environment - Author of Towards
Understanding, a collection of poetry.
(http://www.sunshinecable.com/~drumit)

It’s your wedding day. You want everything to go as smoothly as possible. And for that to happen, you should be courteous and thoughtful and use proper wedding invitation etiquette. We’ve compiled several helpful tips that can make your wedding invitation organizing and planning less stressful and more effective.

DO!

Send out your wedding invitations in a timely fashion. For national guests, send your invitations approximately 6-8 weeks in advance. For international guests, 8-10 weeks should suffice. Although this may sound very early, it gives your guests plenty of time to make accommodations for your special day. Leaving you invitations until the last minute will result in less guests before the wedding date. This will give your guests plenty of notice. Leaving the invitations too late will result in guests, who would have loved to be there for your wedding day.

Try personalizing your ‘thank you’ notes by writing them yourself. Your handwritten note should me sent within four weeks of receiving a gift from your guests.

Get all of your wedding planning done months before the actual wedding date. If you start shopping around at the last minute, you’ll end up feeling a lot of unnecessary stress.

If you’re feeling stressed, pamper yourself about 10 days before your wedding. Enjoy a nice massage at a day spa. This will lift you back up again!

Keep your budget reasonable and realistic. You don’t want to spend the next two years paying off debts from your special day.

Relax and enjoy spending time with your friends and loved ones at the reception. Try and devote time to everyone, don’t sweat the small stuff. Your vendors are there to perform a function, they’ll take care of everything.

Give everyone invited a small token from your wedding. Your guests will adore a wedding favor in any shape or form.

DON’T!

Send wedding invitations to outdated addresses. Make sure that all of your guest information (including address, postal code, and city) is correct.

Do not lose your cool if something ‘doesn’t go according to plan.’ A vendor may be late, a photographer may not be dressed appropriately. These are little things that you have little or no control over. Don’t let it ruin your mood.

It’s not a good idea to invite every single person you’ve ever met. Weddings are outrageously expensive. Stick to friends, colleagues, and loved ones who have supported the decisions you’ve made in life.

Jen Carter is owner of My Wedding Blog, a free wedding planning guide about weddings. The following article can be found in our wedding invitations category. You may publish our articles on your website only if you do not edit the article in any way, and include all html as direct links to our site.

Graduation Announcement

Sending a graduation announcement can be lots of fun and can be quite fulfilling experience for the grandaunt since the person gets to include the people that will be able to join him as he celebrates his achievement, the people in turn will also shower him with gifts and money as a congratulatory gesture. Graduation announcements can be bought from the school but this is usually very expensive and it would therefore be better for one to make the graduation announcement personally. The first step would be to have a rough figure of the number one intends to invite giving priority to relatives and close friends. This is because schools and colleges have a number restriction for guests.
One should purchase blank announcements with a suiting design, stamps, seals, and thank you notes incase they are not offered along with the announcement. Once this is complete the designing should take place from a word processing program, Include the degree type, date, names, the time and location of the ceremony in a clear and readable text. A proof reading should be done and any necessary corrections made .The graduation announcement should then be printed out, addresses and then sealed together with RSVP cards in an envelope and sent well in advance.
GraduationSource, a leader in graduation regalia products since 1960.

In his book, Who Is Jesus Christ For Us Today, James Cone Ph.D., answers this question taking into consideration the dynamic interplay between social context, Scripture, and tradition from a Black perspective.

By the “social context,” Cone refers to the encounter of Jesus Christ in our ordinary everyday existence. It is the experience of Christ in the social world of injustice and oppression: a world of top-dog and underdog. It is the experience of Jesus in the midst of life’s absurdities that motivates one toward exploration of the Christological question, “Who is Jesus Christ for us today?

Cone cautions against assuming however, that the meaning of Christ is derived from or dependent upon our social context. He insists that the Scriptures must also be incorporated into our total understanding of the truth of Jesus Christ. He feels that this is vital because it provides us with reliable data about the Jesus Christ we encounter in our social existence.

Tradition, Cone declares, is “the bridge that connects Scripture with our contemporary situation.” He sees the Black religious tradition as representative of the Black Church’s affirmation of their humanity as well as affirmation of their faith at various junctions in history. This, he believes, provides the Black Church of today with a deeper understanding of the truth of Jesus Christ.

According to Cone then, social context, Scripture and tradition form the theological presuppositions upon which an investigation into the meaning of Christ should begin.

Who is Jesus Christ for us today? Cone poignantly points out that “Jesus is who He was.” The historical Jesus was the truly human Jesus who was also a Jew. His humanness and His identity as a Jew are both relevant and important for the affirmation of faith. Cone stresses that Jesus was not so much a “universal” man, but He was a “particular” man; a particular Jew who came to fulfill God’s will to liberate the oppressed. Blacks could relate to the historical human Jesus because He stood as a symbol of human suffering and rejection. Jesus too, was unaccepted and rejected of men; Jesus too, was beaten and condemned, mistreated and misunderstood; Jesus too, suffered from an unjust social system where the “little ones” were oppressed. Blacks identified with the historical Christ because they believed He shared in their misery and struggles. Without the humanness of historical Jesus, Cone contends that “we have no basis to contend that His coming bestows upon us the courage and the wisdom to struggle against injustice and oppression.”

Secondly, Cone suggests that “Jesus is who He is.” What he seems to be saying is that who Jesus is today is intrinsically related to who He was yesterday. His past existence affirms His present reality that is experienced with the common life. Thus, Blacks believed, not only because of the validity and authenticity of the historical Christ, but also because of their actual experience of the Christ in their everyday social existence. Christ in the present helped and strengthened them in their struggle for liberation in an oppressive society. The experience of Christ in the present enabled them to keep on fighting for justice even when odds were stacked against them. Their view of a just social order was inseparable from their faith in God’s liberating presence in Jesus Christ.

Thirdly, the meaning of Christ is taken further when Cone suggests that “Jesus is who He will be.” He is “not only the Crucified and Risen Lord, but also the Lord of the future who is coming again to fully consummate the liberation already happening in our present.” Black hope, which emerged from an encounter with Christ in the fight for freedom, is the hope that Jesus will come again and establish divine justice. The eschatological hope found in Black faith was not an opiate, but was born out of struggle in their present reality.

Finally, Cone asserts that “Jesus is Black.” He is not referring to a color but a state or experience of oneness. He draws an analogy between Christ’s historical Jewishness and present Blackness. Cone seems to be at least intimating that as the Jews were the elect chosen for divine liberation in history, so are Blacks chosen for liberation through Jesus in the present to be fully realized in the future.

Jesus’ blackness to Cone is both literal and symbolic. In the literal sense, Christ becomes one with the oppressed Blacks. He takes on their suffering and pain. Symbolically, He represents the Black experience.

This book is enlightening and educative in that it sheds a bright light on the subjectivity of Black Theology.

You are welcome to visit AMEN Ministries: Your Soul’s Service Station for reviewing spiritual services being offered, obtain spiritual refreshing and soul edification, browse our newly expanded Stop & Shop Specialty Store or review our recommended books you may want to add to your personal library.

Blessings to all!

So much research has gone into the effects of divorce on children. Some have tried to say that if you do it right, divorce will not effect the kids.

I think that is a load of self serving crap.

Divorce will effect the kids, and effect them in ways that are painful. There is no way around it.

3 things kids must have after divorce

1. Reassurance

Kids need to be frequently reassured about many things after a divorce. In my experience as a marriage and family coach, here are the top three:

* In absolutely no way is the the divorce the fault of the kids.

* While Mom and Dad do not love each other any more, Mom and Dad will always love the kids.

* When in doubt, go back to the first two.

2. Predictability

Kids do much better when they can count on certain events happening day to day, week to week, month to month. During the chaos of a divorce, kids need to be able to count on certain things, such as contact with each parent, where they will be living, etc.

3. Consistency

A close cousin to predictability, consistency provides just as powerful a calming effect.

Kids always need parents to do what they say they are going to do. This is even a stronger need after dvorce.

Here is the way it works - the words about about the divorce not being their fault and Mom and Dad always loving them, are just that, words.

For kids, the way words become the reality is through predictably and consistently seeing the behavior match the words.

Visit ParentingYourTeenager.com for tips and tools for thriving during the teen years. You can also subscribe to our f*r*e*e 5 day e-program on The Top 5 Things to Never Say to Your Teenager, from parenting coach and expert Jeff Herring .