Hawkfyre's Hideaway

Fibromyalgia symptoms are reduced by low-dose naltrexone: a pilot study.

2011-10-09T05:26:00.001-07:00

Pain Med. 2009 May-Jun;10(4):663-72. Epub 2009 Apr 22.

Younger J, Mackey S.
School of Medicine, Department of Anesthesia, Division of Pain Management, Stanford University, 780 Welch Road, Suite 208, Palo Alto, CA 94304-1573, USA.
jarred.younger@stanford.edu

OBJECTIVE: Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain disorder that is characterized by diffuse musculoskeletal pain and sensitivity to mechanical stimulation. In this pilot clinical trial, we tested the effectiveness of low-dose naltrexone in treating the symptoms of fibromyalgia.

DESIGN: Participants completed a single-blind, crossover trial with the following time line: baseline (2 weeks), placebo (2 weeks), drug (8 weeks), and washout (2 weeks).

PATIENTS: Ten women meeting criteria for fibromyalgia and not taking an opioid medication.

INTERVENTIONS: Naltrexone, in addition to antagonizing opioid receptors on neurons, also inhibits microglia activity in the central nervous system. At low doses (4.5 mg), naltrexone may inhibit the activity of microglia and reverse central and peripheral inflammation.

OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants completed reports of symptom severity everyday, using a handheld computer. In addition, participants visited the lab every 2 weeks for tests of mechanical, heat, and cold pain sensitivity.

RESULTS: Low-dose naltrexone reduced fibromyalgia symptoms in the entire cohort, with a greater than 30% reduction of symptoms over placebo. In addition, laboratory visits showed that mechanical and heat pain thresholds were improved by the drug. Side effects (including insomnia and vivid dreams) were rare, and described as minor and transient. Baseline erythrocyte sedimentation rate predicted over 80% of the variance in drug response. Individuals with higher sedimentation rates (indicating general inflammatory processes) had the greatest reduction of symptoms in response to low-dose naltrexone.

CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that low-dose naltrexone may be an effective, highly tolerable, and inexpensive treatment for fibromyalgia.

PMID: 19453963

New study of depressed minds

2011-10-06T15:24:00.000-07:00

Depression unplugs brain’s ‘hate circuit’

U. WARWICK (UK) — A new study using MRI scans shows that depression affects several areas of the brain, including the one that controls feelings of hatred.

For the new research, reported in Molecular Psychiatry, scientists scanned brain activity in 39 depressed people (23 female 16 male) and 37 control subjects who were not depressed (14 female 23 male) and found the brain’s “hate circuit” is uncoupled in a significant number of depressed patients.

Straight from the Source

Read the original study

DOI: 10.1038/mp.2011.127

Other major changes occurred in circuits related to risk and action responses, reward and emotion, attention, and memory processing.
The researchers found that in the depressed subjects:

The hate circuits were 92 percent likely to be decoupled
The risk/action circuit was 92 percent likely to be decoupled
The emotion/reward circuit was 82 percent likely to be decoupled

The hate circuit—involving the superior frontal gyrus, insula, and putamen—was first clearly identified in 2008 by Semir Zeki, a professor at University College London, who found that a circuit which seemed to connect the three regions in the brain when test subjects were shown pictures of people they hated.
“The results are clear but at first sight are puzzling as we know that depression is often characterized by intense self-loathing and there is no obvious indication that depressives are less prone to hate others,” says Jianfeng Feng, professor of computer science at the University of Warwick.
“One possibility is that the uncoupling of this hate circuit could be associated with impaired ability to control and learn from social or other situations, which provoke feelings of hate towards self or others.
“This in turn could lead to an inability to deal appropriately with feelings of hate and an increased likelihood of both uncontrolled self-loathing and withdrawal from social interactions. It may be that this is a neurological indication that is more normal to have occasion to hate others rather than hate ourselves.”
More news from University of Warwick: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/

You've got to be kidding me.

2011-10-06T11:21:00.001-07:00

Bride beat up pagan neighbour for being ‘white witch who cursed groom’s dad’

Bride: Imogen Hope

Published on Thursday 6 October 2011 01:45

A BRIDE spent her wedding night in the cells in a bloodied gown after turning up on her neighbour’s doorstep and attacking her.
Imogen Hope, 37, was found guilty of assaulting Samantha Pilling by Calderdale magistrates yesterday.
The court was told she and her new husband Keith, known as Homer, were on their way back from their reception when they confronted Mrs Pilling next door but one.
They had earlier married at Calderdale Register Office, Spring Hall, Halifax, before spending the evening drinking lager and spirits at The Shears Inn nearby.
Mrs Pilling told the court how she heard Hope drunkenly shouting abuse at her in the early hours of July 19 before coming up the path and banging on her door.
When she opened it, she said Hope tried to force her way into the hallway and punched her in the face around three times.
“I thought personally it wasn’t a way for a bride to behave on her wedding night. You don’t turn up at someone’s house and beat them up,” she said.
Mrs Pilling, a practising pagan, was accused of cursing the bridegroom’s parents, who live in the terraced house in between the two couples.
Mr Hope branded the mother-of-three a “white witch” who had given his father cancer.
Rubbishing the claim, Mrs Pilling said: “I don’t deal in curses. I work with crystals and herbs.
“In our belief system it’s the law of threefold - whatever you do will come back to you three times worse.”
When asked why she didn’t fight back, Mrs Pilling, who was in the Army before enrolling as a student nurse, told the court: “I am trained to kill.”
Her husband Stuart called police and when officers arrived to arrest Mrs Hope, she refused to change out of her wedding dress.
PC Stephen Young said: “It was suggested to her that she get changed out of her wedding dress. That was the initial agreement. She then changed her mind and decided to attend the custody suite as she was.”
He added: “There was a little bit of amazement from the lady and quite understandably on her wedding day. Her husband was obviously disappointed.”
Mrs Hope told officers she had bloodstains on her dress because she had earlier tripped on cobblestones and broken a nail, causing a cut to her finger.
She said she had confronted Mrs Pilling because she had been making her mother-in-law’s life hell by playing loud music and allowing her cats to breed “uncontrollably”.
The court heard there had also been a long-running dispute over a fence.
Mrs Hope was not allowed to return to her marital home in Clough Lane, Mixenden, for two weeks after her arrest due to her bail conditions.
Tearfully, she told the court she regretted the drunken confrontation but denied any violence.
“I was taken from my home for two weeks, I couldn’t see my kids, my husband, my dogs, for something I haven’t done, and it’s upset me,” she said.
She claims Mrs Pilling started the altercation by shouting insults from her bedroom window as she and her husband walked home.
Mr Hope told the court neither he nor his wife were violent and would not have started trouble on their big day without being provoked.
It was not the way they had planned to start their marriage, he added.
He said: “I remember her getting into the back of the police car. I said to the police officer: ‘Please don’t, it’s my wedding night.’”
Mrs Hope, a trainee nursery nurse’s assistant with no previous convictions, was sentenced to a 12-month conditional discharge.
She was also ordered to pay £300 prosecution costs and £75 compensation to her victim.

Where did summer go?

2011-09-27T15:39:00.001-07:00

No real summer this year, and now it feels like we've even gone past fall into winter weather! My poor ole Fibro body isn't liking the rain and wind storms that are hitting us here. I sure hope that this next visit with my pain doctor will get her to return me to pain killers, as I am struggling so very, very badly. I have been basically bed bound for the duration of being off the med's.
The other long term crappy neighbour's have been evicted HORRAY, but the little puke son keeps coming back to this complex and causing problems. Why don't people look after their own kids??? What kind of parents let their 13 yr old be out til 9 pm in pitch black, yelling obscenities and nonsense just to be noisy, on a school night? He obviously doesn't have homework or anything. He'll be in jail shortly anyways, because he's just that type. He'll be into drugs if he isn't already into weed, and will continue to lie, cheat and steal. I just want him gone from our lives. I've smudged the house and have to every time he shows up, with his screaming and breaking things.
Starting back with the UVIC Center on Aging Self Management programs, and currently in the middle of a leader training as a master trainer. This time the class is in Chronic Pain. It's been real hard to be up and going for that length of time, and I come home totally exhausted, but at least I'm getting out of the house and doing quality volunteer work. But with the weather changes and the Fibro, I end up in agony.
The leaves are all turning and with the cold snap, I wonder about the 4x4 trip for Thanksgiving being too cold for me to attempt. I just don't want to dare get a chill because the Fibro will never let me live it down. I even heard it snowed in the hills in the Okanogan, so that could cinch it for me. Decisions, decisions....

Life's quandries

2011-04-20T12:23:00.001-07:00

What do you do? Just what do you do?
I have lived, if you call it that, under the torture of one neighbor for 4 yrs now, and for 6 months on the other side. We're not talking about little annoyances here, we're talking threatening to kill my dogs, stab me, setting fires, burning my curtains in my house after throwing firecrackers thru the window, banging around so that picture fall off the walls, and sicking a Pitt bull on me and the dogs, spitting on me, harassing me constantly so I can't go outside, stealing our mail, destroying our garden, assaulting other people in the complex types. I am and have been a prisoner in my house for 4 yrs now. I live only in my bedroom in my bed. It is the quietest part of the house, although it is a horrible noise chamber with decibels reaching 90 quite often (that level can cause hearing damage). The new landlady wouldn't do anything against the thieves until they started to harass her. Now she won't finish the business she started and finish evicting them permanently by changing the locks, so they slip into the house with no electricity, via the open sliding door. Meanwhile I stand tortured.

My health is, as usual, giving me grief. My liver is being hit very hard and is showing signs of damage, my thyroid is off, and isn't just hypothyroidism anymore, they are cutting my pain med's down without giving me something to substitute it for. The pain doctor is only worried about me being fat, and is concentrating on that intend of pain management. She doesn't think all these psych Meds add to my weight, like the last one did increasing my weight by 15 lbs., and I'm sure she'll just harass me again the next time I see her. Then my family doc ups and quits so now I'm thrown into limbo again with my medical care, scared shitless out of my fricking brain of how I am going to survive! Whe am I supposed to go. Then the GP says she wants me to go to the psychiatrist for psych Meds, but I'm only allowed to see him thru my case worker, and I only have 2 more appointments with her and I'm cut off. What the f? How can I get my psych Meds then? I'm swimming in so much stress and fear right now, not knowing what is going to happen to me. I am terrified beyond being terrified.

I am turning 45 this summer and that for me signals the fact for sure, I will never have children. It kills me inside so much, people just don't realize how much pain it puts me thru. They can all sit there and say how important family is and all that, but I don't have a family and sure as shit, I don't get invited to anything. I was told off at Christmas for writing out my feelings about not being invited to Christmas dinners anymore. How I was given the ultimatum that if I wasn't the one to make peace with Ron, that I wasn't welcome at dinners. Then I get told no one gets invitations, you just show up. I don't agree with that statement because of being told NOT to come but what can I do. They make up the rules and the reasons. Then this Easter, I look at my nieces Facebook page and low and behold, her she is inviting another cousin to Easter dinner and telling her when and where, while I sit by not being told squat. I thought no one was invited, but apparently I am wrong again and the rules and reasons have changed, if only for me. I know I'm like a beaten dog, and keep going back hoping I will be included, I keep trying to be part of a family since I have none. I keep trying to be loved for who I am rather than what has been 2nd and 3rd handed around, but no. I am being dumped from all 3 families. Bradley's niece dumped me from FB, the Farquhars hate me, and don't want me any part of them, and well the Plecas family doesn't care. They bring up things I did as a child, and apply them to me now as an adult and won't change any idea's they have. I challenge them to be judged on how they were as kids and have that follow them completely as an adult. They may not have been as conscious of what they did back then too. But they grew out of it, and people gave them the benefit of the doubt. But not me. And I 'm not talking about horrible things here. I'm talking about holding it against me for things they think I should have done, but didn't tell me. Ie. Bringing flowers to a family dinner. No one ever did that, and so as a child and teenager i was supposed to know to bring them when I had contributed to the dinner in other ways, being the built in babysitter for a BIG one. I always asked my mom and dad what I could bring to family dinners, etc, but I was told not to bring anything. And since they were the ones asking me to come, why should I ask anyone else? It was always explained to me that the cost of traveling and such was my contribution. But, I get this held against me for the rest of my life. I even gave small little trinkets to all who helped with dad's funueral, I can't afford much with being on a disability pension, but I did try and give something. But then the whole I don't fit in, or bring anything comes into play again.

I am just a big fat ugly useless stupid piece of crap. I've about covered the sentiments of everyone else, but feel free to add more to the pile, because I'm sure I missed something.

Biomarker May Determine Disease Activity, Predict Next Relapse in MS

2010-10-20T14:47:00.002-07:00

October 8, 2010 — Myxovirus resistance protein A (MxA) messenger RNA (mRNA) level in peripheral blood correlates with clinical and radiologic measures of disease activity in patients with newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study shows.
"MxA mRNA has potential as a biomarker for clinical disease activity in MS," Laura F. van der Voort, MD, and colleagues from VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, conclude in an article in the October 5 issue of Neurology.
In a prospective cohort of 116 therapy-naive patients diagnosed as having MS in the previous 6 months, the researchers measured baseline MxA mRNA levels and correlated them to clinical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings at baseline and during a median of 45 months.
They found that MxA mRNA (before therapy) was higher in the 93 patients who were clinically stable at baseline (in remission, no relapse or progression) than in the 23 having clinical exacerbations at baseline. Likewise, there were fewer MRI lesions in patients with a high MxA mRNA level relative to those with a low MxA mRNA level (mean, 0.9 vs 1.7).
A low MxA mRNA level was associated with the occurrence of relapse (P = .002) and contrast-enhancing lesions (CELs) on baseline MRI (P = .045). In addition, a high baseline MxA mRNA level correlated with a longer time to a first new relapse (hazard ratio [HR], 0.59; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.35 – 1.00; P = .044).
Cumulative Value
According to the investigators, a high MxA level was as effective in predicting time to next relapse (HR, 0.59) as the absence of CELs (HR, 0.54). A combination of no CELs and high MxA mRNA level additively predicted lack of future disease activity (HR, 0.35; 95% CI, 0.17 – 0.74; P = .006), “clearly showing a cumulative value of combining both factors,” the researchers say.
On the basis of receiver-operator characteristic curve analysis, the optimal cutoff for MxA levels that discriminated between clinical remission and relapse at baseline was 0.0750. MxA levels below this cutoff were considered low; levels above this cutoff were considered high.
At enrollment, none of the patients had ever received disease-modifying treatment, but 55 (47%) started it during follow-up, most commonly an interferon-beta (IFN-β) preparation. Response to therapy was not predicted by baseline MxA mRNA levels in 40 patients treated during 2 of 4 years of follow-up for whom responder status could be determined.
But the author of a commentary in Neurology, Anthony T. Reder, MD, of University of Chicago, Illinois, cautions that the "group size, and the fact that data were pooled from 3 IFN-β preparations and glatiramer acetate, add to uncertainties about this negative conclusion."
The Big Picture
Studies have shown that MxA may be considered a surrogate marker of individual immunologic response to recombinant IFN-β in MS and a marker of average IFN levels in the circulation.
"The findings in the current study hint "that a person's innate/intrinsic 'set point' of IFN regulation and the proteins that IFN turns on will determine how that person will respond to IFN therapy,” Dr. Reder told Medscape Medical News. This is "important because MS patients are often abnormal in this regard even before any IFN therapy."
Dr. Reder believes "we are getting closer to personalizing neurology drugs, [learning] how to tailor the best therapy to every patient, and [we] hope to use a tailor with great skills for this."
Dr. van der Voort and coinvestigators and Dr. Reder disclose having received funding or serving on boards of various pharmaceutical companies. A complete list can be found in the original articles.
Neurology. 2010;75:1222-1223, 1228-1233.

The brain may feel other people’s pain

2009-12-26T16:50:00.001-08:00

Reuters Tags : brain-imaging Posted: Saturday , Dec 26, 2009 at 0249 hrs

If you’ve ever thought that you literally feel other people’s pain, you may be right. A brain-imaging study suggests that some people have true physical reactions to others’ injuries. Using an imaging technique called functional MRI, researchers from the UK found evidence that people who say they feel vicarious pain do, in fact, have heightened activity in pain-sensing brain regions upon witnessing another person being hurt. The findings, published in Pain, could have implications for understanding, and treating, cases of unexplained “functional” pain.
“Patients with functional pain experience pain in the absence of an obvious disease or injury,” said Dr Stuart WG Derbyshire of the University of Birmingham, one of the researchers . “So there is considerable effort to uncover other ways in which the pain might be generated.” He now wants to study whether brains of patients with functional pain respond to images of injury in the same way the study participants’ did.

For the study, he and colleague Jody Osborn had 108 college students view several images of painful situations — including athletes suffering sports injuries and patients receiving an injection. Close to one-third of the students said for at least one image, they fleetingly felt pain in the same site as the injury in the image.
Derbyshire and Osborn then took functional MRI scans of 10 of these “responders,” along with 10 “non-responders” who reported no pain while viewing the images.
Functional MRI charts changes in brain blood flow, allowing researchers to see which brain areas become more active in response to a particular stimulus. They found that while viewing painful images, responders and non-responders showed activity in emotional centres . But responders showed greater activity in pain-related brain regions. “We think this confirms that at least some people have an actual physical reaction when observing others being injured or expressing pain,” Derbyshire said.
He noted that the responders also tended to say that they avoided horror movies and disturbing images on the news “so as to avoid being in pain” — which, the researcher said, is more than just an empathetic response.

The new 4x4 clan

2009-12-16T21:12:00.000-08:00

Chinese Acupuncture Affects Brain's Ability To Regulate Pain, UM Study Shows

2009-12-07T17:10:00.001-08:00

Chinese Acupuncture Affects Brain's Ability To Regulate Pain, UM Study Shows

Sinc it has been shown to open up more opiod receptors, acupuncture may be a help!
Certainly worth trying!~

Strange, Strange, Strange

2009-10-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

Well in the advance of Facebook, and real life interrupting, this blog has sat dormant for 3 years now, but I find it extremely ironic that is was Samhain of 06 that I stopped blogging and am coming back to it Samhain of 09.

Samhain holds a special place in my heart as my brother Bobby committed suicide overnight Oct 31-Nov 1 of 1992, and that we were married on Nov 1 - as quite a coincidence to Bradley's parents wedding date! We were originally supposed to be handfasted on Oct 31as the ancestors stood with us, but it needed to be moved to Nov. 1st, which we didn't know at the time, was Bradley's parents' anniversary date.

In the old days, peoples would dance with their ancestors on Samhain, as the veil between the world of the living & the dead. Today we use the day to try and scare the bejesus out of each other.

Also at this particular time of year I post an essay that means a lot to me about why we see portrayals of green ugly old hags as witches. I hope it can open your eyes.

THE HALLOWEEN WITCH

Each year they parade her about ... the traditional Halloween witch.

Misshapen green face, stringy scraps of hair, and a toothless mouth beneath her disfigured nose. Gnarled, knobby fingers twisted into a claw, protracting from a bent and twisted torso that lurches about on wobbly legs.

Most think this abject image to be the creation of a prejudiced mind, or merely a Hallowe’en caricature.

I disagree. I believe this is to be how witches were really seen.

Consider that most witches: were women, were abducted in the night, and smuggled into dungeons or prisons under the secrecy of darkness, to be presented by the light of day as a confessed witch.

Few, if any, saw a frightened, normal looking woman being dragged into a secret room filled with instruments of torture. To be questioned until she confessed to anything that was suggested to her, and to give names or whatever would stop the questions. Crowds only saw the aberration denounced to the world as a self-proclaimed witch.

As the witch was paraded through the town, en route to be burned, hanged, drowned, stoned, or disposed of in various other forms of "Christian Love" ... all created to free and save her soul from her depraved body. The jeering crowds viewed the results of hours of torture. The face, bruised and broken by countless blows, bore a hue of sickly green.
The once warm and loving smile gone. Replaced by a grimace of broken teeth and torn gums that leers beneath a battered, disfigured nose. The dishevelled hair conceals bleeding gaps of torn scalp from whence cruel hands had torn away the lovely tresses. Broken, twisted hands clutched the wagon for support. Fractured fingers locked like groping claws to steady her broken body. All semblance of humanity gone. This now was truly a demon, a supplied bride of Satan, a proclaimed witch.

I revere this Halloween crone and hold her sacred above all. I honor her courage and listen to her warnings of the dark side of humanity.

Each year I shed tears of respect for her sufferings.

Author Unknown

2006-12-03T00:00:00.001-08:00

Blessed Samhain!

2006-10-31T14:50:00.000-08:00

photo hosting

What the $&$% did that sign say?

2006-06-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

Too funny - but why can I see others doing this now?

Week 8 of 16 & Chronic Pain Management

2006-04-12T11:20:00.000-07:00

I'm in week 8 of a 16 week self developement program but find it's like being in a torture chamber. We are supposed to be working on our errant feelings and emotions but it seems one sided for only some patients to work on .

On the positive side, the pain management specialist has finally finished his assessments and has got me under some routine pain medicines. I don't care what anyone says when you're in pain and you get under some pain control you don't feel woosy or high, you just feel better.

I'm looking forward to a 4x4 trip to see how I make out with the pain meds.

Global Warming or Just the Seasons Re-alligning?

2006-02-17T18:04:00.001-08:00

There's been much talk of late about Global warming causing all these horrible weather conditions. We get behind the environmental issues to a degree, recycle, reuse, etc., but I'm honestly thinking now that the seasons are 'shifting' somewhat along with our Earth going into a different cycle/phase. Right now it's February; we can have a couple of cold snaps but usually by now it's raining in buckets, not cold. This cold snap is remnant of November or January's type weather and I find myself thinking that the months, independant of the seasons, are shifting a month or two back from where they should be.

Our humidity right now is bone dry at 17%, and unseasonably the temp's are dropping in the -5'c range with full wind's of 30 km/hr gusts making the wind chill -12 or so. It's nippy, but to me it feels like November. Hmmmm.

QUIZ Update: Dragon Colour Am I?

2006-01-07T12:20:00.000-08:00

I am a A Spectral Dragon!

Hey, I took the http://dragonhame.com online Inner Dragon quiz and found out I am a Spectral Dragon on the inside.

In the war between good and evil, a Spectral Dragon tends to walk the fine line of Neutrality....
When it comes to the powers of Chaos vs. those of Law and Order, your inner dragon walks a fine line between Law and Chaos....
As far as magical tendancies, Magical spells come as natural to the Spectral Dragon as breathe from it's body....
During combat situations, a true Spectral Dragon prefers to defeat opponents by the use of spells and other tactics....

The resurrected spirits of fallen dragon warriors, Spectral Dragons usually find no allure in the ways of mortals or 'flesh-beings.' To this end most never possess a single gold piece. Instead, they live their unlives by a strict code of mental and metaphysical discipline. Their bodies are honed, focused avatars of dragon gods long-dead. They are leaders and teachers who prefer acolytes to be mages with an intense dedication to the betterment and empowerment of one's own spirit. However, these creatures can be fierce in combat; because of their nature, Spectral Dragons can change form at will, and their undead state does not mean they have no physical influence.'

The magnificent blue-and-green flames of a Spectral Dragon are said to burn hotter than the fires of the living. In physical appearance Spectrals are often a shimmering grey-blue-white, much like a ghost; their common form appears similar to that of a shade-dragon. Their eyes glow one of three colors; the eyes of the honorably slain glow a bright green. The eyes of the murdered glow blood-red. And the eyes of the condemned, those whose greed or hatred destroyed their bodies, glow a bright violet.

This Dragons favorite elements are: are rose quartz, black roses, rain, funeral pyres, and songs sung for the dead

All Dragon Types Listed

QUIZ: Okcupid - What kind of Human Being are you?

2006-01-03T23:56:00.000-08:00

Teacher
You scored 52% Do Gooder, 60% Drive, and 75% Intellect!

You are a smarty-pants and eager to share your knowledge with others, while still open to absorbing everything in your environment. That is why you are a teacher (and at the same time, a perpetual student). You have above average intelligence and the drive to be effective in your life and the lives of others. You are also a good person who cares about others, but yourself as well, generally not letting people take advantage of you. A teacher is a great thing to be and we need more humans like you in the world.

All human being categories are: Lazy SOB, Rebel w/out a Cause, Evil Mastermind, Henchman, Criminal, Dictator, Frat Boy, Socialite, Philosopher, Stunt Double, Upstanding Citizen, Teacher, Cheerleader, Sister Mary DoGood, Benefactor, Loyal Sidekick, Candy Striper, Goody Two-Shoes.

OkCupid Mythological Creature Test Results

2006-01-02T10:23:00.000-08:00

Vilkacis
You scored 70% Esotericism, 64% Power, and 64% Malevolence!

Vilkacis (to be translated literally as "wolf's eyes"; 'werewolf') is usually a malicious creature; a scary being people can turn into. There are particular ways how the people with this curse turn into the wolves and then get their human appearance back and places where this is said to have happened. Although mostly malevolent, on occasion it would bring treasures. It belongs to the same lower level of mythological beings as Dievini, Ragana, Pukis and Vadatajs. It is not clear whether with Vilkacis it is the flesh or just the soul that transforms, as there are accounts of moving an apparently sleeping person whose soul is out "running as a werewolf", after which the person turns out to be dead, as the soul couldn't enter the flesh to return.

Another few quizzes - Virtual Pet Quiz

2006-01-01T16:19:00.000-08:00

What type of virtual pet are you?

Octo-Pet

As your name probably suggests, you are an extra-special virtual pet containing eight different creatures in one model! You even have a pause button, an alarm clock, AND a color screen! Gasp! The 8 octo-tastic creatures include: a frog, an alien, a cat, a chicken, a dinosaur, a dog, a panda, and a penguin!

Click Here to Take This Quiz
Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

My Story in News RE: Liberals Legal Handgun Ban

2005-12-20T12:47:00.000-08:00

Another letter published ...

Like many other Canadians, I legally own a handgun, which I shoot recreationally at an approved firing range. There is such a thing as responsible legal gun ownership in Canada & that has only increased with the restrictions of the gun registry. We have to have a certificate to say where we are transporting the gun to & from and why, so if a legal firearm is involved they know who transported the gun. The fact is legal guns do not cause violence, illegal guns cause violence. We use our revolvers (which we had to get special certification for over & above for) in the wilderness for protection from predators. I am a woman, who does a centuries old tradition of prospecting in the wilderness, I am also of an age where my biological cycles can be somewhat inviting & enticing to some predatory animals. I went thru and received competency in wilderness handgun (revolver) operation. Now you are telling me I don't deserve to be protected? Under current legislation I cannot keep a loaded shotgun on the ground beside me while panning in a creek, so my only recourse is a 44 revolver in my chest holster which I have to train to use in an accurate method.

It occurred to me that non-firearms owners might not understand the already heavy restrictions placed upon handgun ownership in Canada. So, in order to clarify, I thought I would write and explain the steps I have to go through in order to use my firearm:

1) I go to my gun safe, where I am legally required to store the gun.

2) I key in the combination to open the safe.

3) I confirm that the handgun is secured and rendered inoperable by a legally required trigger lock.

4) I transfer the handgun into a lockable carry case. I also pick up the box of ammunition which must be stored separately from the firearm for safe transport.

5) I lock the case, as I am legally required to do.

6) I confirm that I have the registration certificate for the firearm on my person.

7) I confirm that my Possession and Acquisition License for restricted firearms is on my person.

8) I confirm that I have a valid, federally issued, authorization to transport my firearm.

9) I take the locked case to my vehicle, and lock it in the trunk, as I am legally required to do.

10) I drive my vehicle, without stopping, and by the most direct route, to the nearest approved firing range, as I am legally required to do.

11) When I am finished shooting at the range I take the gun directly home, clean it and lock it back in the safe, along with the ammunition stored separately from the firearm, as I am legally required to do.

12) Authorization to carry the firearm in the wilderness using all the same criteria above comes with added expense and training which is updated yearly, and the expectation of carrying that paperwork with me at all times.

Perhaps Mr. Martin, or any of your other readers, would be so kind as to explain something for me. How does confiscating a handgun, from a law-abiding Canadian such as myself, help to solve the problem of illegal gun violence?

The issue here, now & has always been - ILLEGAL gun possession. Stop the rhetoric. Make illegal gun possession a real crime. First possession of an illegal firearm = 10 years jail. Second possession of an illegal firearm = 20 years jail. Third possession of an illegal firearm bring back the death penalty for it. Make the illegal possession a real crime not take it out on legal responsible gun owners. This is just a wavering party's attempt to grab votes.

L Thompson
Surrey, BC

November Hells

2005-11-16T14:06:00.000-08:00

November started with a bought of bronchitis that turned into pneumonia. With already being very sick in the depressive phase of my illness, I now had this to deal with. Plus the fact that the antibiotic they put me on ($80 for 7 pills) wasn't covered by our stupid supposed health coverage, and besides that lovely shock to the pocketbook (considering I am already a NoN-person here without any help from the government otherwise), on day 3 of the antbiotic, it felt like my depression med's were totally nullified.

So fun begins, I am a mess then the anxiety/panic attacks start. Holy hell. I phoned to get back into my therapy only to have some idiot tell me that I'm no longer eligible because my husband has an employee assistance program for counselling. So great, suicidal and in a total breakdown I get told I have no where to turn as well! EAP is fine for counselling but I needed the psychiatrist at the previous place I was going to re-assess my meds (which is the reason I started there in the first place!). A few days later I get told that yes I will be accepted back into the program, but not after going thru Hell for days thinking it was endgame.