As I sit in my study writing this column, I find myself in a contemplative mode. I have just experienced a Christmas season unlike any other in my eight decades of existence.

One of the most common sayings in the English language is "the straw that broke the camel's back," signifying the gradual accumulation of heavy burden until finally, one additional blade of straw collapses the camel to his knees, no longer able to successfully bear the burden.

It takes far more guts to confront your ideological compatriots than your foes and a recent book documenting the assault of gender ideology on women’s rights from a leftist perspective exhibits such courage in spades.

This is a test of American resolve, a test of whether we will keep our commitments to our NATO allies and to our allies in Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan or whether we will shrink back into the neo-isolationism that was a catalyst for world war a century ago.

The woman who journalistically captured a burgeoning epidemic of self-harm among teen girls suddenly identifying as transgender has confronted yet another colossal behemoth: the mental health industry.

If American Evangelical Christians want any moral legs to stand on in the sexuality debate, we must own up to our sordid racial past.

It is notable that those who most vociferously denounce Christian nationalism often seem to be the ones intent on keeping Christian voices out of politics.

Author Stacy Schiff gives a 10-minute writer's workshop before an event recorded for radio in Portsmouth. The workshop was recorded backstage. #writing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Author, columnist and political satirist Christopher Buckley entertains and enlightens us as we talk about his writing process. #writing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We spoke to YouTube superstar and writer of books Grace Helbig after the publication of her second tongue-in-cheek guide, Grace & Style: The Art of Pretending You Have It. She gave us a glimpse at her writing process backstage at The Music Hall in Portsmouth, NH before a Writers on a New England Stage event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, married co-authors Kevin Flynn & Rebecca Lavoie. Together, they have written four true crime books, most recently Dark Heart: A True Story of Sex, Manipulation, and Murder. They are also two of the eponymous crime writers behind the podcast Crime Writers On... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anyone who's ever been an awkward adolescent knows that for decades now, dog-eared copies of Judy Blume's books have been passed around school playgrounds like secrets, or read under the covers after lights out. Her best known books - Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Deenie, Blubber, and Forever - offered young readers plain language and shame -free stories about periods, bullying, sexual urges and, even 'going all the way'. Judy Blume finally tells her own story with In the Unlikely Event. It’s set in 1952, when three planes crashed into her hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey. We sat down with her in the greenroom at the Music Hall in Portsmouth before a Writers on a New England Stage live event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kelly Link is one of a handful of writers to manage to be wondrous, fantastical and ominous at the same time. As Kirkus says, her work is “like Kafka hosting Saturday Night Live, mixing humor with existential dread.” Her most recent collection, Get in Trouble, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. She and her husband manage Small Beer Press. Photo © 2014 Sharona Jacobs Photography Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The novelist, short story writer and essayist Cynthia Ozick's best known piece of writing is called The Shawl, a brutal, phantasmal story of a woman and two children marching to a Nazi concentration camp. The Holocaust and Jewish identity are recurring topics in Ozick's fiction and criticism. Growing up in the Bronx, she was called Christ-killer, and humiliated for not singing Christmas carols at school. Now 88, her 7th volume of criticism, Critics, Monsters, Fanatics, And Other Literary Essays, was published recently, in July 2016. Ozick's last public reading was 6 years ago, but, happily, we got her on the phone from her home in Westchester County, New York. Photo: Ric Kallaher Music: Podington Bear Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Legal decisions are rarely read for pleasure. And though read and re-read and excerpted and quoted, they are not always quotable. Clocking in at an average of just under 5000 words, they can sound jargony, pompous and bone-dry in the wrong hands. Today's 10-Minute Writers Workshop asks an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States about what goes into writing an opinion. Justice Stephen Breyer was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1994 and is an exuberant advocate for participatory democracy, animated explainer of the reasoning behind decisions and author of several books. I spoke with Justice Breyer in the green room at The Music Hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just before talking with him about his most recent, The Court and the World - American Law and the New Global Realities for Writers On A New England Stage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

'In Maine, when we say something is "wicked good" – we really mean it.' That's how LL Bean describes their Wicked Good Slippers, and how we describe Jeff Ryan, who for decades wrote Bean's catalog copy. We spoke to him about finding the story in everyday objects and the tricks of the trade when it comes to copy writing. Jeff Ryan is also the author of Appalachian Odyssey, a memoir of hiking the Appalachian Trail, bit by bit, over 28 years. Episode music: "Auld Lang Syne" by Podington Bear Credit music: "Joy in the Restaurant" by David Szesztay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lindy West, columnist for The Guardian, and author of How to be a Person and Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman. Lindy writes about feminism, social justice, body image, pop culture and, lately, politics. She's a funny and original thinker, and brave. She's been a contributor on several memorable episodes of This American Life - one on "coming out" as fat, another about confronting an internet troll, one of hundreds who'd harassed her online. She's got a bunch of balls in the air - TV and movie projects, an idea for a podcast - but we honed in on the demands of being a columnist. Episode music by Ari de Niro Ad music by Uncanny Valleys Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ohio State has sold the name of a building before. Actually, several times before. But the naming rights to a job title? That seems a bit different.

It can costs kids and parents several hundred dollars to play a single sport in high school. Could there be big changes to the "pay-to-play" system in Ohio?

This week on After The Score the guys talk about the slim chance Ohio State basketball has at making the NCAA Tournament, and how the hopes may be all but over before they even get off the air.

Upper Arlington native and Olympic diver Abby Johnston is aiming for gold in the Rio Olympics. When she’s not diving or studying medicine, she’s probably eating fast food and lounging with her fiancé .

89.7 NPR News's weekly sports show After The Score is back after taking most of the summer off. This week we talk with an Upper Arlington native competing at the Summer Olympic in Rio. We also look check in on Ohio State's football team as they start training camp and talk about an OSU world championship in powerlifting. Then we'll get an update on the first place Cleveland Indians.

This week on After The Score, Steve and Thomas talk to Martin Jarmond about the process of scheduling Ohio State football games. The process is a lot more in-depth than one might think.

Ohio State prepares for its second game this week against Tulsa.

After a bye week, the Ohio State Buckeyes are back in business. Ohio State took care of Oklahoma in a big matchup on the road. Now it's time for the Buckeyes to avoid a mishap against Rutgers on Homecoming.

 That's how it started: www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=273122249390826&l=3365249543954861233

Hello Everyone! Today, August 16, 2013 is the day that this site was created and has been edited for the first time ! Here you may find my own compositions and arrangements, many will also have have the chance to hear my performances at the piano. All of this can be found on page "Products" section of this site.I hope is to have fun!

On December 20 in Sofia, Bulgaria held a charity concert for financial assistance of Eleonora-piano teacher suffered from severe physical abuse with many operational quantity treatments for which she did not have enough money.  The concert was held at the Russian Cultural and Information Centre in Sofia and the main organizer and performer of the works of the piano was Pavlin Stanchev, the author of this site and all of it displayed in musical products.

A Most Anticipated Book from: New York Times * People* Associated Press * Time * Saturday Evening Post * Real Simple * Book Bub * Alta * Chicago Tribune * Harper's Bazaar From New York Times bestselling author Jami Attenberg comes a dazzling novel of family, following a troubled mother and her two daughters over forty years and through a swiftly changing American landscape as they seek lives they can fully claim as their own. The women of the Cohen family are in crisis. Triggered by the death of

A straightforward guide to communicating more effectively on the job and building a more inclusive, creative, and productive workplace. How to Listen and How to Be Heard is a guide to empowering yourself and others to communicate with people who think, act, and experience things differently than you do. It's also guide to communicating with more confidence, candor, and authenticity. Too often, people avoid difficult conversations, but these discussions often need to happen to bring people togeth

A wandering fortune teller finds an unexpected family in this warm and wonderful debut fantasy, perfect for readers of Travis Baldree and Sangu Mandanna. Tao is an immigrant fortune teller, traveling between villages with just her trusty mule for company. She only tells "small" fortunes: whether it will hail next week; which boy the barmaid will kiss; when the cow will calve. She knows from bitter experience that big fortunes come with big consequences… Even if it’s a lonely life, it’s better th

In this "rare feast" of a novel, a young Indian American book editor inherits her estranged family’s ancestral home–and their long-buried secrets (Rachel Lyon, author of  Self-Portrait With Boy ). It is the summer of 2015, and Lila De is on the verge of a breakthrough in her career at a prestigious New York publishing house. But when she gets a call from her mother in India, informing her that she’s inherited her family’s sprawling estate, she must confront the legacy of an extended family that

In this electrifying novel, Richard Price, the author of Clockers and a writer on The Wire , gives us razor-sharp anatomy of an ever-changing Harlem. East Harlem, 2008. In an instant, a five-story tenement collapses into a fuming hill of rubble, pancaking the cars parked in front and coating the street with a thick layer of ash. As the city's rescue services and media outlets respond, the surrounding neighborhood descends into chaos. At day's end, six bodies are recovered, but many of the other

AP Photo The number of overweight children under five years of age is set to almost double from 42 million to 70 million worldwide, which is a ticking global pandemic. The United Nations Organization blames the marketing of unhealthy food and beverages and asks governments to reverse the trend. 1990 - 31 million overweight under-5s. 2014 - 41 million overweight under-5s. 2024 - a projected 70 million overweight under-5s. And the focus of the UNO's concern is that many of these cases of childhood obesity are occurring in developing countries. The culprit? "The marketing of unhealthy food and non-alcoholic beverages is a major factor in the alarming increase", reads the report by the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity (ECHO), presented this week to the World Health Organization. Direct negative effect on health and education Childhood obesity can have a direct negative effect on educational development, quite apart from posing economic hardship and physical and mental health consequences. The phenomenon cuts across all socio-economic groups and is not restricted to Western Europe and North America. Around three-quarters of overweight children of this age group reside in Asia and Africa: around half in the former and a quarter in the latter.

University of Coimbra Failure by immune cells worsens Alzheimer's disease, reveals study by the University of Coimbra A team from the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC), University of Coimbra (UC) in Portugal discovered how some cells of the immune system lose the ability to fight Alzheimer's disease. This new knowledge can help to find a definitive diagnosis. Ana Luísa Cardoso, the coordinator of the research group, explains that "We found that monocytes (the innate immune system cells) of Alzheimer's patients are unable to move when stimulated by substances produced in the brain, which may lead to reduction of cells that can be recruited to the nervous tissue and participate in fighting the disease."

Autism: study published in "Nature" reveals that it is possible to reverse symptoms of the disease in adulthood - A team of American scientists and a Portuguese, Patricia Monteiro, investigated the SHANK3 gene, a gene implicated in autism, an incurable disease that affects about 70 million people worldwide. A study in which participated the Neurosciences and Cellular Biology Center (CNC), University of Coimbra (UC), published last week in the prestigious "Nature" *, reveals that it is possible to reverse some of the behaviors associated with autism in adulthood. SHANK3 gene under study A team of American scientists and a Portuguese, Patricia Monteiro, investigated the SHANK3 gene, a gene implicated in autism, an incurable disease that affects about 70 million people worldwide. In Portugal it is estimated that the prevalence of 1 case per 1,000 children of school age. In the USA, there has been a tenfold increase in the last 40 years.

459 infections and 178 deaths is the latest information coming out of Angola, where an outbreak of Yellow Fever was first reported in the capital city, Luanda, in December 2015, the first outbreak of the disease in three decades, and has now spread out to ten of the country's eighteen provinces. Worse, the outbreak is reaching neighboring countries, with cases reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Namibia. Other cases in Kenya and the People's Republic of China have been described as travel-related cases with links to Angola. A massive vaccination campaign was launched by the health authorities and the National Response Plan saw 87 per cent of the targeted 6.4 million people at risk vaccinated, as 7.3 million doses of the vaccine were made available with help from countries such as Brazil, the World Health Organization and the International Coordinating Group for yellow fever vaccine provision.

The new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes atypical pneumonia COVID-19, can also penetrate into the brain, disrupt the work of the nervous system and cause other severe complications. The disease may not be limited to respiratory infections only. As practical studies show, in a significant number of patients, the virus affects the nervous system. The mechanism of its impact on nerve cells has not been studied yet, but scientists believe that there is some connection: a temporary loss of taste or smell was recognized as specific symptoms of COVID-19 in the middle of March. To make matters worse, the virus may penetrate directly into the brain from the nasopharynx. In this case, the virus may trigger a series of complications, disrupting the normal functioning of almost any organ. The list of possible concomitant diseases is extensive:

In the last few years, we’ve seen increasing awareness of the lasting consequences of serious brain injuries, in part due to high-profile cases connected to the NFL. For those who have recently suffered a brain injury, though, it can be hard to think about what the future will hold, even though planning for long-term care needs is an important step.  In particular, if you’re currently involved in a legal case seeking to recover damages after incurring a brain injury, it’s vital that your legal team consult appropriate medical professionals to ensure the calculation of damages will cover your future care needs. Current Injury Future Risk Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) vary widely in severity and can result in many different symptoms. Among the most common symptoms of TBI, however, are headaches and dizziness, memory loss, lack of concentration, and agitation and other personality changes. Symptoms of TBI may be temporary, lasting for weeks or months after the initial injury, or may result in permanent impairment, which is why it’s so important to work with a lawyer well-versed in TBI cases.

LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky managed to get revaccinated. For the first time, the politician chose Sputnik V; for the repeated procedure, he opted for CoviVac. As Zhirinovsky explained, "the level of antibodies is gradually decreasing, I wanted to strengthen the defense of my body." Mass vaccination against coronavirus, which is now taking place in all countries, including Russia, still raises a huge number of questions. This is not surprising, given the fact that the coronavirus infection with which we are dealing has not been thoroughly studied yet, and the vaccines for it have not gone through all the required stages of clinical trials. Pravda.R asked most burning questions related to the topic of vaccination to Professor of Virology, Chief Researcher at the Gamaleya Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Anatoly Alshtein.

Good hair implies good health Myth 1: Cutting hair makes it stronger. Moreover, hair will grow faster Nonsense. A head is not a lawn. No one knows why people think this; probably, this is due to men’s beards. However, there is a very big difference between hair on the face and on the head. Hair on the head grows 1.5 centimeters a month. Myth 2: Split ends can be cured Unfortunately, this is not true. One should cut the hair immediately to avoid any further damage. Myth 3: Combing hair is good for it Unfortunately, it is very bad for hair.  A comb often makes gives hair split ends and pulls them out of the skin. It is best not to comb hair too often.

Experiments with colors are very interesting and useful Pensioner Valentina Aleksina from Moscow is a real enthusiast; she is an expert in color therapy. The woman believes that the color with which a person contacts can influence his state of health and spirits. But how is it possible? Ancient healers of the East believed that color had the unique capability of healing people's bodies and souls. The medicines of Ancient India, China, Egypt, Laos and other eastern countries had a trend called ra-therapy which cured people with the help of the rainbow colors. The ancient wise were not Orthodox and believed that energetic peculiarities of each person are unique. This in its turn means that each person has colors and shades that are particularly favorable for him. The ancient wise men made up a reasonable system revealing the influence of different colors upon the human organism; the system is based upon the individual properties of each color.

McDonald's new Bandera burger, which was introduced at restaurants of the chain in Oslo, Norway, sparked criticism on social media in Norway itself, in Ukraine, and in Russia. McDonald's sells Bandera burgers in Europe Many assumed that the fast food chain that suspended its businesses in Russia has thus expressed its support for Ukraine, where Stepan Bandera* is considered a national hero. However, it turned out that the Bandera Burger has nothing to do with the Ukrainian Nazi collaborator.

Spring arrived late. Much later than usual. It was already mid May. However, the numerous narrow streams of clean cool mountain water atop the blacktop, confirmed the season’s arrival. Those rivers of water were everywhere. This was normal. It was time. Lift the aluminum garage door. First, strip the tarp. Then roll the British Twin from its hibernation. This was its first season under covers, tucked away from the Old Man Winter. Kind of like a debutante’s arrival.

On October 5, SpaceX Crew Dargon blasted off to the International Space Station. Anna Kikina, a woman cosmonaut from Russia, was on board the SpaceX spacecraft. "A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the Dragon Endurance spacecraft into orbit carrying NASA astronauts Nicole Mann as mission commander, and Josh Cassada, pilot. JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina, also aboard the Dragon, will serve as mission specialists for their science expedition in microgravity aboard the space station," NASA wrote. The participation of a Russian cosmonaut in the launch launch was made possible owing to the cross-flight programme: a Russian cosmonaut boarded SpaceX, and an American astronaut flew to the ISS on board a Soyuz spacecraft.

Not every serial killer should necessarily be either a social outcast or a sociopath. Some of them are good at disguise and may at times have a reputation of exemplary society members. Biographies of many famous serial killers of the USSR era testify to this. Chikatilo helped to catch himself Andrey Chikatilo, a serial killer from Rostov, committed his first crime in 1973, the last in 1990. Chikatilo killed 53 women and children in all that time. All the crimes were sexually motivated; he would stab and dismember his victims' bodies.

Kent McLellan, a 32-year-old American neo-Nazi who fought in the Donbass as part of the Nazi Right Sector* movement, who then joined Azov Battalion* after Russia launched the special operation in Ukraine, returned to Florida and started sharing his experience with media outlets. Some of his interviews do not fit into the framework of what American propaganda says about the Ukrainian conflict. In a conversation with Juan Sinmiedo, Ken "Boneface" McLellan busted myths about the coup on the Maidan, about today's Ukraine, and about how many neo-fascists Ukraine has actually sheltered.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of private military company Wagner, was killed in a plane crash on August 23. His Embraer ERJ-135BJ Legacy 600 plane crashed in the Tver region. Prigozhin was 62. Prigozhin was born in 1961 in Leningrad. He lost his father in his early childhood, and was raised by his mother and stepfather. Yevgeny Prigozhin received his first criminal record when he was 18, the second and third one followed soon afterwards. After he was released from prison, Prigozhin decided to open his own business. He and his stepfather started selling hotdogs in Leningrad.

On December 7, a girl student, an eighth-grader, went on a shooting spree at Bryansk School No. 5. Five people were injured, two were killed, including the girl shooter herself. The girl's motive for the attack is yet to be established. According to unconfirmed reports, the girl suffered from bullying at school. This is the first time in the history of school shooting incidents in Russia, when the shooter was a girl. No incidents of school shooting were known in Russia before 2014. Before 2014, many in Russia believed that the phenomenon of school shooting was inherent with the United States. After 2014, however, episodes fo school shooting began to occur throughout Russia on a regular basis. 2014, Moscow

Liya Zaurbekova, a young woman who escaped from her family in Chechnya and took refuge from her relatives in the police department in Moscow, left Russia, the woman's lawyer Natalia Tikhonova said adding that she could not disclose any other details for her client's safety. Adam Delimkhanov, an associate of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, believes that Zaurbekova will be returned to her family in the republic. In turn, Alexander Ionov, a member of the Human Rights Council under the President of Russia, who reported her escape, urged not to exaggerate the degree of the threat for the Chechen woman who left her home due to mental and physical violence. Adam Delimkhanov, Kadyrov's adviser and State Duma deputy, believes that Liya Zaurbekova was misled after she found herself under someone's influence. The girl is being manipulated, Delimkhanov believes.