Pain From An Ovarian Cyst When Do You Need To See The Doctor?

Almost every woman in the childbearing age suffers from one level of ovarian cysts. The good news is that only few of them are cancerous. If this is the case the ovarian cyst has to be treated as fast as possible. So how do you know you suffer from an ovarian cyst? If you notice a stabbling pain which usually occurs on the lower back you may suffer from an ovarian cyst. Of course there are some medications which will help to stop the ovarian cyst pain, however, a lot of women do not like taking any kind of drugs but prefer the natural approach. Below you can find some relief techniques to treat ovarian cysts. The most common way to treat ovarian cysts naturally is applying heat to the affected area. A heating pad will almost always do the trick so having one at home (and even at work) is a good thing to have. But if you want to pamper yourself while relieving the ovarian cyst pain, you can give yourself a long hot bath. Also changing the way you eat is another recommended technique. There are certain food items that can intensify the pain and there are some that relieve the pain. Try to avoid spicy food as much as possible because of the certain chemicals present. Also avoid food that is rich on estrogen such as red meat, diary products and tomatoes. Lastly try to avoid food that contains iron. Cancer cells feed on iron this is why it is extremely important to avoid iron rich food. The pain you experience from ovarian cyst is hard to deal with. However, following these tips can somehow lessen the pain you feel. In case the pain becomes unbearable, you should talk to your doctor and ask him for further methods to relieving it. Taking over the counter drugs might be a good idea – However, if your doctor wants you to take prescription drugs try to avoid taking them. As many times pain medication has addictive qualities and other unwanted side effects. One last thing you should note: simple functional ovarian cysts will not require any treatment. Most likely your doctor will tell you to take birth control pills and this in most cases solves the problem.

Article Source: sooperarticles.com/health-fitness-articles/women-health-articles/pain-ovarian-cyst-when-do-you-need-see-doctor-176841.html

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Discover How To Get Rid Of Ovarian Cysts Naturally. Visit Treat Ovarian Cysts Naturally At ovariancystspcos.org

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IESnumKjf2g[/youtube]

Author: Robbie Meiers

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11 February

The Importance Of The Pmp Course And Of The Pmp Itself

By Jessica Parklanes

There is much debate about the necessity for a PMP course in preparation for the Project Management Professional (PMP) examination itself. Indeed, there are varying opinions on the importance of possessing a PMP credential on your resume.

Necessary and Important

You will come across employers who will specify that the PMP certification is preferred and/or required. This is usually because the PMP allows for a standard measurement by which prospective project managers can be initially assessed, usually on the basis of the resume. As such, a PMP course and certification is necessary and important, especially in high-profile corporate projects.

Most employers who prefer and/or require a PMP certification do so because it speaks of an employee who can enter the organizational structure, manage projects and people, and achieve desired results without need for more training and supervision. If you have the certification, you can open more doors for yourself.

You will also get benefits from a PMP course beyond the credential itself. It is a great source of theoretical knowledge, which can lead to a treasure trove of research materials and the best practice research available today. Indeed, you can never have too much of updates on the field of project management, especially when you want to make a successful career out of it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IESnumKjf2g[/youtube]

Furthermore, you will see an increased need for project management skills in the business world. More and more, people are encouraged to do more and more with less and less, which demands ample project management skills. If you have the PM course and credential under your belt, you will be more capable to take on the challenges that come your way even in a non-project manager capacity.

Important but Not Necessary

You will encounter people who opine that the PMP training and certification can be of importance but is not necessary. You do learn about project management techniques and principles but application in the real world is another matter. In other words, a PMP credential does not a good project manager make.

There is also the matter of quantifying the certification’s contribution to successful project management. Because of the many variable factors involved, you simply cannot clearly attribute contribution values of the PMP credential, continuing education, changing environment and personal characteristics to project management success. Unfortunately, this is not a cut-and-dried return on investment calculation.

Not Important, Not Necessary

You will meet people whose opinion veer towards the commercialization and commoditization of the PM course and credential. In a sense, it has become a factory assembly-line operation whereby books and software are generated to feed the masses of potential project managers who desire to jump on the bandwagon.

The growing demand for the PMP certification as actually diluted its value. Since more and more people want the certification, it has become the standard rather than the differentiator. There is nothing wrong with establishing standards per se; the problem comes when every Jack and Harry can get one.

In the end, your view of the PM course and certification will depend on your motivation for getting them. Also, you have to consider that actual experience in project management is the ultimate differentiator of project managers. How you actually use the course and the credential depends on you and you alone.

About the Author: You can find a guaranteed

PMP Exam Preparation Course

complete with a

PMP Exam Training Online

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29 January

Coaching An Engineer: What Makes Top Performers Better?

Submitted by: Martina Carroll-Garrison

I had been an Engineer, Project Manager, and Program Manager (PM) for nine years. For the last three of them, my performance as a PM had reached a plateau. I would like to think it was a good thing that I had arrived at my professional peak early in my career.

Unfortunately, it seemed as if I had just stopped growing, and I felt as if I was stuck. During the first two or three years of my engineering career, my skills and confidence improved almost daily. Scope, schedule and budget were my stock, my value was high, and my end-users loved me because I delivered. I remember being 20-something and feeling invincible. The middle three years seemed to be about pushing through barriers and expanding my professional repertoire, while the last three years seemed to lack passion or engagement.

As an Engineer in the Facilities and Construction Industry, I have had a great team around me for most of my professional life. I recognized that I was stuck, especially when colleagues were moving ahead organizationally and professionally, while I appeared to have hit the proverbial brick-wall. My mentor suggested that I engage an Executive Coach; as he felt he was too close to give me objective advice about my professional stagnation. What? Engineers do not hire coaches I thought we are smart enough to figure this out for ourselves. I must admit that I found it ludicrous to pay someone to come into my worklife and coach me on my work methods, when I had already been successful. Fortunately, I had a strong mentor and reason prevailed, and I made the investment in myself. For me the investment in an Executive Coach was a watershed experience. Through coaching, I developed deep self-awareness, albeit the experience of learning about myself was excruciating. That first journey into self was the most revealing yet most difficult road my logical mind has ever travelled. Through the experience, I discovered that I had created my own professional brick-wall, and I was the only person impeding my professional advancement.

Through coaching, I experienced a tectonic shift in my professional wellbeing, which resulted in my accelerated transition from nine years of technical positions to emerging executive assignments within 12 months. I grew as a leader simply because I had excellent coaches who taught me how to know myself, or they taught me how to think as a leader of people rather than a leader of projects, scopes and schedules. There was no distinct formula for my coaches positive influence over my career, and I have engaged an Executive Coach several times. I suspect the secret to each successful coaching engagement is that I admired and respected each of them, and I listened to them. I understood that the coaches in my worklife were not infallible, and I had to learn how to apply their wisdom to my specific environment and work culture. Through remaining curious about their unique perspective, listening to and understanding their feedback, being open and transparent about testing their ideas, and using them to test my ideas or explore my fears, I was able to work through some sticky leadership issues. Unequivocally, I achieved personal and professional growth, and transitioned from being an Engineer to an Executive because of Executive Coaching. As I progressed professionally, I also discovered that as a leader, I was expected to be a coach to my team. I studied the art and science of coaching my team and I discovered that I excelled at coaching. I now pursue my second career as an Executive Coach and delight in working with Engineers and other high performing individuals who aspire to achieve greater executive influence. I could never have achieved such deep self-awareness or professional growth without the help of my various Executive Coaches.

Is Executive Coaching For Me and How Do I Use One?

Executive Coaching re-awakens passion, curiosity, engagement, and dreams, while also deepening your self-awareness and leadership capacity. An Executive Coach s job is to observe, to assess, and to guide your professional development. An Executive Coach will tell you what others will not or cannot about your leadership presence and your impact on others.

You are a young or mid-career Engineer who aspires to be an executive, and your mentor suggested that you hire an Executive Coach. Alternatively, your organization sees your leadership potential and engages an Executive Coach to help accelerate your executive growth. Although a less frequent scenario, your organization recruited you into an executive position, and now is offering you an Executive Coach to facilitate your transition from being an Engineer to an Executive. Regardless of how you have come to the coaching relationship, the top three coaching objectives are:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrkJsEw8p5M[/youtube]

Develop self-awareness. By becoming more aware of your limitations and growth opportunities as a leader, and understanding the root cause of your behavior in the workplace and its impact on others.

Enhance life development. By balancing personal and professional roles more effectively, you increase your capacity for executive level performance.

Accelerate leadership capacity. By developing interpersonal and team leadership skills, you become more effective in leveraging influence within human systems at the executive level.

Use Your Executive Coach

Coaches come in all shapes and styles. Whether your Executive Coach is a seasoned professional, an internal asset, or an empathic listener and thought provocateur, or a combination of all three they all have one thing in common. An Executive Coach will assist you to lay the foundation for your accelerated learning. They help you to develop greater self-awareness, give you motivation, provide accountability and support, and they keep you focused while you are taking specific actions towards your professional goal.

10 Ways to Use Your Executive Coach

To optimize the relationship it is therefore important to understand how to use your Executive Coach by developing an effective coaching strategy

1. Choose to make the most of your Executive Coach. This is your decision alone and your attitude rather than your aptitude will make the difference to a successful coaching relationship. Accept that there is a teaching moment in every coaching conversation if your mind is open to learning. Making the most of your Executive Coaching relationship begins with choosing to do so. Every successful career journey you make begins with the end in mind, and so it is with your Executive Coaching journey. By reflecting upon why you need an Executive Coach and what issue or issues you want to explore with an Executive Coach you will have already begun your journey towards self-improvement.

2. Ain t nobody s business but your business because only you can change you. Your Executive Coach does not change you. Coaching is a one-on-one process in which your Executive Coach helps you to resolve your work related issues. An Executive Coach provides just-in-time training to help you to develop greater self-awareness. You should expect to receive motivation, accountability and support, towards keeping you focused while taking specific actions towards your goal. However, you define the goal, because the coaching outcome is unique and specific to you.

3. Seek pain. Change sucks, it can hurt and it s good for you! If your Executive Coaching relationship is not causing you some discomfort then you are missing the point. We like where we are because we are comfortable, or at least we have learned to tolerate it. Changing our situation causes so many other secondary impact spirals that we often forget the benefit of the original change. Thus, change becomes uncomfortable and even painful. Newton’s laws of motion remind us that a body at rest stays at rest and a body in motion stays in motion. Start moving, embrace the pain and work through it with your Executive Coach.

4. Demand accountability. The Executive Coach serves as your accountability partner. The Executive Coach gets you moving, but you are the one that endures the pain of flexing mental, emotional, spiritual and physical muscles you did not even realize you had. When the Executive Coach is working harder than you are, he/she will know they are in the wrong relationship and usually offer to resign.

5. Demand feedback. We know what we know about ourselves quiet well, but what we do not know is what causes us the most problems. Out blind spots are the reason we need an Executive Coach to provide us feedback on how others perceive us. Feedback can be uncomfortable but if you do not demand it from the safest relationship you will ever have you are missing the greatest growth opportunity of your life.

6. Test your learning. Your Executive Coach is not infallible, and sometimes may inadvertently substitute his/her coaching hat with a consultant hat. If you are uncomfortable with a new direction , test it before you deploy it. In coaching, one size does not fit all and you have to know how to interpret and adapt your learning within the culture and environment where you live and work. When I worked in Belgium it was normal to greet and kiss colleagues (both men and women) on the cheek, however as a coachee I would be very confused and even misled if my Executive Coach asked that I exhibit similar interpersonal behavior in New York or Atlanta.

7. Coaching styles are different. Do not be put off by them. My coaching style is one of gentle irreverence, as I will call you on your BS. This is my style and you may be uncomfortable with it, but this is the authentic version of me. You want to work with an authentic coach, not one who will change to meet every whim as they become too distracted to serve your real needs. Before you fire me ask yourself are you firing me because I am unable to coach you, or because my style irritates you. This is a life-test, as you face the same dilemma in your workplace and among your customers and clients. Learn from the experience and work through it by focusing on the goals and the outcomes.

8. Be transparent with your Executive Coach. While trust takes time to build, you can accelerate the process by being open and honest, as this will lead to a better relationship and a better coaching outcome. Be clear about what your personal value system is and share it with your Executive Coach. An authentic coach will know if there is disconnect and offer to remove himself or herself from the relationship. Likewise, an authentic coach should not take you outside the boundaries of your personal value system. Be open to exploring new ideas; however know where you stand and why you stand there.

9. Do not harbor resentment nor suffer in silence. If an Executive Coach does not meet your expectation, be direct. Unless you articulate to the Executive Coach when or how the relationship is not working he/she will not know how or when to fix the issue. This is a simple life-hack with application beyond the coaching relationship; do not assume that people know what you are thinking. A client once told me after the coaching engagement that I did not hold her accountable for assigned activities during our time apart, and she felt cheated. I had no idea that she felt this way in what was otherwise a very successful relationship.

10. Keep your eye on the prize. An Executive Coach s job is to help you to become unstuck, but does not give you the answers; rather an Executive Coach helps you to unlock the answers from within yourself. Through the process of coaching, you will discover there are many other questions that need to be asked and answered. Before you deploy on another coaching adventure be sure that are satisfied with the progress you have made on your first quest. Stay focused on the prize and on your contracted engagement.

.

About the Author: Dr. Martina Carroll-Garrison is an Executive Leadership Coach with the MCG Consulting Group, LLC at http://www.mcgconsultinggroup.com

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24 January

Used Car Loans Now Credit Score Would Not Come In The Way

Used Car Loans – Now Credit Score would not Come in the Way

by

Peter Darwin

Not every person can afford to buy a car with his salary alone. Availing a loan is good alternative for such people, but what if he is suffering from poor credit status? The question is quite incomprehensible, but the answer is easy. Lenders have particularly launched a loan for imperfect creditors for purchasing a used car known as used car loans that are really easy to obtain.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8TAgIP1Xus[/youtube]

The loan is specially planned to feed the financial needs of those who are having blemished credit and considering buying a car. It is obtainable for financing both the new car and old car. You can have this facility in secured and unsecured form. Secure form needs car to play as the security for the money while unsecured selection does not need anything to pledge. However, if you are looking for cheap APR in this help, you should go for the secured choice because there your car plays works as collateral for the lender which makes it easier to have the money at cheap rates. Yet, the rates of unsecured form do not go too high due to heavy competition in the market. They are accessible for a reasonably shorter period of time. These advances are obtainable online which is possibly the basic cause why this credit option comes cheap. Most of the lenders have to go online for their simple accessibility which results in a huge mass gathered in the online market. And, this creates hard competition among them for which they are bound to advance you reasonable rates. You can also take new car loans online. You can also use this in making the credit report healthy. This is possible as you pay the loan amount on time. Through the online mode you just need to complete the form with some basic details. Lender checks the form and approves the amount. The money will be deposited in the account directly.

Peter Darwin is financial adviser for UK Finance World. Click here to know more about

used car loans

, unsecured loans, bad credit loans and

new car loans

.

Article Source:

ArticleRich.com

18 January

Forex Trading Androids

Submitted by: Nicholas Jarder

According to the latest statistics more and more people are surfing the net using their mobile devices. This trend is expected to accelerate further in the near term and eventually render the desk tops useless. This has given rise to the development of various android applications for all sorts of purposes from entertainment to serious business including forex. Forex trading androids would definitely be a welcome development to all forex traders who by necessity must have access to trading information and data at all times and where ever they may be.

The foreign currency market is a fast paced, round-the-clock market place that keeps traders on their toes 24 hours a day. Opportunities to make profits may pop up any time of the day or night. The need to adjust positions due to some sudden unexpected market development must be attended without delay when ever they do occur. Access to vital after-market financial news and developments is vital to making decisive trading decisions and must be had at all times. These are some of the sticky situations a forex trader can find himself in after he steps out of his office or away from his desktop. This is where forex trading androids can prove to be their dearest companion.

Forex trading androids are mobile applications for Droid smart phones. There are now android applications that allow you to connect to the trading platform on your pc. 4 There are also forex chart androids that support the real time feed of more than 30 currency pairs. Currently, a number of forex brokers have converted their trading platforms into androids for mobile devices so traders can execute trades using their phones or other mobile devices. Major financial news networks already have their own android applications and they are all available for download from the android market.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01F9Dm_oVYE[/youtube]

The latest buzz circling various forex forums today is the existence of Forex Android a forex trading system currently undergoing a massive Beta test among a select group of traders. Accordingly, the trading system is proving to be effective in giving profitable trade signals that it is leaving even the most skeptical trader in amazement after only one week of use. The talk is that the android is presently being used and tested by a group of money managers who have so far been amazed themselves by the android s performance. A forex trading android that will automatically generate profits on my smart phone that will be super! There is a working link to the Forex Android website but all you get to see there in the intro page is a declaration that the Forex Android will automatically tell you what to trade and when to get out. There are no details about the application and the website is for members only. To get in, you need to be a member, and to be a member you need to sign up for a subscription. A full one year membership will cost you $500 or you can choose their monthly scheme which is $99 per month.

And what will you get from them?

A New trade every 24 hours, and includes Critical Stop loss & money management details

Well, it would not be wise to part with your money for something which you have no way of knowing whether it can really deliver or not. For now, it will be wise to just wait until there is more transparency from the developers of this application.

About the Author: Are you looking for more information regarding

forex trading androids

? Visit

forextradingforaliving.com

today!

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15 December

Challenges For Audio Systems In Multi Purpose Conference Rooms Part 1: Set Up And Storage}

Submitted by: Wesley Sutliff

The first challenge to jump out in my mind for audio systems in multipurpose conference rooms, and probably for a lot of others, is where to put all the equipment when its not being used. And if youve ever been in charge of setting up or breaking down equipment for these rooms, the first challenge that might jump out in your mind is, having enough time to set everything up. These challenges are usually dictated by the equipment being used and as such when preparing to buy your A/V equipment a little foresight to these questions will go a long way towards the solution.

For your microphones and speakers (the equipment that will be in the room) we will look at two different options. Option 1 will consist of wired microphones with table stands using parallel cabling to a mixer. From the mixer a stereo channel output will be sent to self powered speakers on tripods. Option 2 will consist of an all-in-one conference system (push-to-talk microphones) with detachable gooseneck microphones and built-in speakers wired in series to a main control unit.

Right away we look at the lengthy set up time for all the cabling in the first option. If this is a small group of five then the time differences are minimal, but when you get to twenty different microphones your time for connecting and dressing the cables has gone up dramatically for option 1 where as in option 2 the microphones just keep daisy chaining with one, maybe two, cable runs back to the control unit. The other difficulty with option 1 is tuning the room to eliminate any feedback while at the same time making sure everyone can hear each other. This takes time and may not be possible with a one man set up. Conversely, the all in one conference system has an automatic mix-minus built in so that without any additional setup time feedback will be eliminated and everyone will be able to hear each other because each participant will have a speaker right in front of them.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z027WfeIqoU[/youtube]

An alternative to options 1 and 2 is using a completely wireless conference system. Using the latest technology in conferencing, a wireless system offers the fastest setup time and the most optimal solution for portability. The latest wireless systems are equipped with the same features as a wired system which provides an excellent solution for audio systems in multi-purpose conference rooms.

There are also differences in storage between these options. Depending on your specific availability for storage of the A/V equipment the differences may be moot, but option 2 requires far less cabling and because the microphones and speakers are all built in, the mic stands and self-powered speakers are not needed either. With less equipment in option 2 the physical space required to store them is lessened as well.

Overall, option 2 provides a faster set up time with generally easier storage. The other benefit is that the system is highly portable. Whether you are changing rooms in the building or going off-site, using a daisy-chained conferencing system will give you the versatility and the efficiency to run your meetings when you want and how you want.

About the Author: Wesley Sutliff is Product Manager of Media Vision USA, the

Diplomacy Technology Solution

provider in North America including audio conferencing, electronic voting, and

simultaneous interpretation

solutions for council chambers, courtrooms, boardrooms, and videoconferencing applications

Source:

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13 December

Iran’s morality police crack down on un-Islamic dress

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The Iranian police forces have faced criticism from Ayatollah Hashemi Shahrudi, the head of the judiciary who was appointed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for their re-invigorated campaign to do away with un-Islamic dress.

Ayatollah Shahroudi proclaimed, “Tough measures on social problems will backfire and have counter-productive effects.” Others have, of course, made it clear that un-Islamic dress can lead to moral corruption, engender innumerable vices, and hurt the Islamic character of the nation.

Some believe that no one had any issue with the creation of an Islamic atmosphere. The core of the matter revolves around the implementation of the Islamic dress code; additionally, heavy-handed measures should be shunned. For instance, Mehdi Ahmadi, information head of Tehran’s police, told Al Jazeera: “Some citizens may complain about the way the law is being enforced but they all agree with the plan itself.”

According to one student, “You simply can’t tell people what to wear. They don’t understand that use of force only brings hatred towards them, not love.” Nevertheless, Hojatoll-Islam Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, Iran’s interior minister who is in charge of policing, prognosticated positive feedback from the populace when he said, “People are unhappy with the social and moral status of the society. They expect that the fight against social insecurity be properly implemented.” Thus, Hujjat al-Islam Pour-Mohammadi re-iterated the necessity of proper implementation and methodology towards the restoration of morality in the Islamic Republic. Islamic officials and religious people affirm that this is indispensable to promote righteousness, curb sin, and bring open sinners to justice.

Following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, hijab became mandatory in Iran for every woman including foreigners after over 98% of citizens voted for an Islamic government. Women may face caning up to 74 strokes for failing to observe hijab. In this recent crackdown, the authorities have arrested many citizens throughout the country. Not only have women been taken into custody for their hair being uncovered on their foreheads and tight clothes that show body shapes, For men they need to cover from knee to their waist as according to Sharia. Even a foreign journalist was detained because the photograph on her press card was indecent.

It has not been clear whence the directive for the re-newed clampdown emanated. Some have blamed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while Gholam Hossein Elham, the government spokesman, stated to reporters, “The police work as agents of the judiciary to confront crimes. The government as an executive body does not interfere in the affairs of the judiciary.” The following pre-election speech seems to corroborate this latter statement:

In reality, is the problem of our people the shape of the hair of our children? Let our children arrange their hair any way they wish. It doesn’t concern me and you. Let you and me overhaul the basic problems of the nation. The government should fix the economy of the nation and improve its atmosphere…[It should] better psychological security and support the people. People have variegated tastes. As if now the arch obstacle of our nation is the arrangement of our kids’ hair and the government disallowing them <He chuckles>. Is this the government’s responsibility? Is this the people’s merit? In actuality, this is the denigration of our people. Why do you underestimate and belittle the people? It is the real issue of our nation that one of our daughters donned a certain dress? Is this the issue of our nation and the problem of our nation?
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9 December

What The Patient Should Do In The Days Following Outpatient Eye Surgery In Fort Collins, Co

byAlma Abell

Many vision problems that could not be corrected in decades past can now be resolved with the aid of some kind of Eye Surgery in Fort Collins CO. Even procedures that were possible to correct previously are often less risky and more effective using today’s techniques. While that’s great, none of the more recent methods has eliminated the need for the patient to take a few precautions in the days after the procedure. Here are some points to keep in mind as the recovery period begins.

Forget About Driving for a Day or Two

Depending on the type of outpatient Eye Surgery in Fort Collins CO that the patient undergoes, the patient must refrain from driving for at least one day. If the surgeon recommends a longer period, take that to heart and follow the advice to the letter. The goal is to avoid strain and excessive exposure to sunlight, both of which can cause complications and undo whatever good the surgery would otherwise provide.

Stay Off the Computer

It’s not a good idea to engage in any activity that could cause strain on those healing eyes. That includes spending time on a computer or other Internet-connected device. For at least the first day, that means not using a desktop, tablet, or smartphone to check messages, surf the web, or spend time scrolling through the feed on a social network. There will be plenty of time to do all those things when the eyes are sufficiently healed.

Forget the Lifting

Too much physical exertion is not a good thing while the eyes are recovering. In fact, things like bending over to pick up anything, carrying heavier containers, and essentially doing anything that directly or indirectly exerts pressure on the eyes should be avoided. Along with slowing down the healing process, those activities could trigger problems that require more surgery to correct.

Visit Visioneyeland.com today and learn more about what modern eye surgery techniques have to offer. Arrange for a full eye exam and discuss what some type of procedure would do to correct an existing vision problem. Once the surgery and the recovery time is complete, the patient will enjoy a quality of vision that has not been present for years.

Like Vision Eyeland Super Optical, LLC on Facebook for more news & updates!

22 November

Bat for Lashes plays the Bowery Ballroom: an Interview with Natasha Khan

Friday, September 28, 2007

Bat for Lashes is the doppelgänger band ego of one of the leading millennial lights in British music, Natasha Khan. Caroline Weeks, Abi Fry and Lizzy Carey comprise the aurora borealis that backs this haunting, shimmering zither and glockenspiel peacock, and the only complaint coming from the audience at the Bowery Ballroom last Tuesday was that they could not camp out all night underneath these celestial bodies.

We live in the age of the lazy tendency to categorize the work of one artist against another, and Khan has had endless exultations as the next Björk and Kate Bush; Sixousie Sioux, Stevie Nicks, Sinead O’Connor, the list goes on until it is almost meaningless as comparison does little justice to the sound and vision of the band. “I think Bat For Lashes are beyond a trend or fashion band,” said Jefferson Hack, publisher of Dazed & Confused magazine. “[Khan] has an ancient power…she is in part shamanic.” She describes her aesthetic as “powerful women with a cosmic edge” as seen in Jane Birkin, Nico and Cleopatra. And these women are being heard. “I love the harpsichord and the sexual ghost voices and bowed saws,” said Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke of the track Horse and I. “This song seems to come from the world of Grimm’s fairytales.”

Bat’s debut album, Fur And Gold, was nominated for the 2007 Mercury Prize, and they were seen as the dark horse favorite until it was announced Klaxons had won. Even Ladbrokes, the largest gambling company in the United Kingdom, had put their money on Bat for Lashes. “It was a surprise that Klaxons won,” said Khan, “but I think everyone up for the award is brilliant and would have deserved to win.”

Natasha recently spoke with David Shankbone about art, transvestism and drug use in the music business.


DS: Do you have any favorite books?

NK: [Laughs] I’m not the best about finishing books. What I usually do is I will get into a book for a period of time, and then I will dip into it and get the inspiration and transformation in my mind that I need, and then put it away and come back to it. But I have a select rotation of cool books, like Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés and Little Birds by Anaïs Nin. Recently, Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch.

DS: Lynch just came out with a movie last year called Inland Empire. I interviewed John Vanderslice last night at the Bowery Ballroom and he raved about it!

NK: I haven’t seen it yet!

DS: Do you notice a difference between playing in front of British and American audiences?

NK: The U.S. audiences are much more full of expression and noises and jubilation. They are like, “Welcome to New York, Baby!” “You’re Awesome!” and stuff like that. Whereas in England they tend to be a lot more reserved. Well, the English are, but it is such a diverse culture you will get the Spanish and Italian gay guys at the front who are going crazy. I definitely think in America they are much more open and there is more excitement, which is really cool.

DS: How many instruments do you play and, please, include the glockenspiel in that number.

NK: [Laughs] I think the number is limitless, hopefully. I try my hand at anything I can contribute; I only just picked up the bass, really—

DS: –I have a great photo of you playing the bass.

NK: I don’t think I’m very good…

DS: You look cool with it!

NK: [Laughs] Fine. The glockenspiel…piano, mainly, and also the harp. Guitar, I like playing percussion and drumming. I usually speak with all my drummers so that I write my songs with them in mind, and we’ll have bass sounds, choir sounds, and then you can multi-task with all these orchestral sounds. Through the magic medium of technology I can play all kinds of sounds, double bass and stuff.

DS: Do you design your own clothes?

NK: All four of us girls love vintage shopping and charity shops. We don’t have a stylist who tells us what to wear, it’s all very much our own natural styles coming through. And for me, personally, I like to wear jewelery. On the night of the New York show that top I was wearing was made especially for me as a gift by these New York designers called Pepper + Pistol. And there’s also my boyfriend, who is an amazing musician—

DS: —that’s Will Lemon from Moon and Moon, right? There is such good buzz about them here in New York.

NK: Yes! They have an album coming out in February and it will fucking blow your mind! I think you would love it, it’s an incredible masterpiece. It’s really exciting, I’m hoping we can do a crazy double unfolding caravan show, the Bat for Lashes album and the new Moon and Moon album: that would be really theatrical and amazing! Will prints a lot of my T-shirts because he does amazing tapestries and silkscreen printing on clothes. When we play there’s a velvety kind of tapestry on the keyboard table that he made. So I wear a lot of his things, thrift store stuff, old bits of jewelry and antique pieces.

DS: You are often compared to Björk and Kate Bush; do those constant comparisons tend to bother you as an artist who is trying to define herself on her own terms?

NK: No, I mean, I guess that in the past it bothered me, but now I just feel really confident and sure that as time goes on my musical style and my writing is taking a pace of its own, and I think in time the music will speak for itself and people will see that I’m obviously doing something different. Those women are fantastic, strong, risk-taking artists—

DS: —as are you—

NK: —thank you, and that’s a great tradition to be part of, and when I look at artists like Björk and Kate Bush, I think of them as being like older sisters that have come before; they are kind of like an amazing support network that comes with me.

DS: I’d imagine it’s preferable to be considered the next Björk or Kate Bush instead of the next Britney.

NK: [Laughs] Totally! Exactly! I mean, could you imagine—oh, no I’m not going to try to offend anyone now! [Laughs] Let’s leave it there.

DS: Does music feed your artwork, or does you artwork feed your music more? Or is the relationship completely symbiotic?

NK: I think it’s pretty back-and-forth. I think when I have blocks in either of those area, I tend to emphasize the other. If I’m finding it really difficult to write something I know that I need to go investigate it in a more visual way, and I’ll start to gather images and take photographs and make notes and make collages and start looking to photographers and filmmakers to give me a more grounded sense of the place that I’m writing about, whether it’s in my imagination or in the characters. Whenever I’m writing music it’s a very visual place in my mind. It has a location full of characters and colors and landscapes, so those two things really compliment each other, and they help the other one to blossom and support the other. They are like brother and sister.

DS: When you are composing music, do you see notes and words as colors and images in your mind, and then you put those down on paper?

NK: Yes. When I’m writing songs, especially lately because I think the next album has a fairly strong concept behind it and I’m writing the songs, really imagining them, so I’m very immersed into the concept of the album and the story that is there through the album. It’s the same as when I’m playing live, I will imagine I see a forest of pine trees and sky all around me and the audience, and it really helps me. Or I’ll just imagine midnight blue and emerald green, those kind of Eighties colors, and they help me.

DS: Is it always pine trees that you see?

NK: Yes, pine trees and sky, I guess.

DS: What things in nature inspire you?

NK: I feel drained thematically if I’m in the city too long. I think that when I’m in nature—for example, I went to Big Sur last year on a road trip and just looking up and seeing dark shadows of trees and starry skies really gets me and makes me feel happy. I would sit right by the sea, and any time I have been a bit stuck I will go for a long walk along the ocean and it’s just really good to see vast horizons, I think, and epic, huge, all-encompassing visions of nature really humble you and give you a good sense of perspective and the fact that you are just a small particle of energy that is vibrating along with everything else. That really helps.

DS: Are there man-made things that inspire you?

NK: Things that are more cultural, like open air cinemas, old Peruvian flats and the Chelsea Hotel. Funny old drag queen karaoke bars…

DS: I photographed some of the famous drag queens here in New York. They are just such great creatures to photograph; they will do just about anything for the camera. I photographed a famous drag queen named Miss Understood who is the emcee at a drag queen restaurant here named Lucky Cheng’s. We were out in front of Lucky Cheng’s taking photographs and a bus was coming down First Avenue, and I said, “Go out and stop that bus!” and she did! It’s an amazing shot.

NK: Oh. My. God.

DS: If you go on her Wikipedia article it’s there.

NK: That’s so cool. I’m really getting into that whole psychedelic sixties and seventies Paris Is Burning and Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis. Things like The Cockettes. There seems to be a bit of a revolution coming through that kind of psychedelic drag queen theater.

DS: There are just so few areas left where there is natural edge and art that is not contrived. It’s taking a contrived thing like changing your gender, but in the backdrop of how that is still so socially unacceptable.

NK: Yeah, the theatrics and creativity that go into that really get me. I’m thinking about The Fisher King…do you know that drag queen in The Fisher King? There’s this really bad and amazing drag queen guy in it who is so vulnerable and sensitive. He sings these amazing songs but he has this really terrible drug problem, I think, or maybe it’s a drink problem. It’s so bordering on the line between fabulous and those people you see who are so in love with the idea of beauty and elevation and the glitz and the glamor of love and beauty, but then there’s this really dark, tragic side. It’s presented together in this confusing and bewildering way, and it always just gets to me. I find it really intriguing.

DS: How are you received in the Pakistani community?

NK: [Laughs] I have absolutely no idea! You should probably ask another question, because I have no idea. I don’t have contact with that side of my family anymore.

DS: When you see artists like Pete Doherty or Amy Winehouse out on these suicidal binges of drug use, what do you think as a musician? What do you get from what you see them go through in their personal lives and with their music?

NK: It’s difficult. The drugs thing was never important to me, it was the music and expression and the way he delivered his music, and I think there’s a strange kind of romantic delusion in the media, and the music media especially, where they are obsessed with people who have terrible drug problems. I think that’s always been the way, though, since Billie Holiday. The thing that I’m questioning now is that it seems now the celebrity angle means that the lifestyle takes over from the actual music. In the past people who had musical genius, unfortunately their personal lives came into play, but maybe that added a level of romance, which I think is pretty uncool, but, whatever. I think that as long as the lifestyle doesn’t precede the talent and the music, that’s okay, but it always feels uncomfortable for me when people’s music goes really far and if you took away the hysteria and propaganda of it, would the music still stand up? That’s my question. Just for me, I’m just glad I don’t do heavy drugs and I don’t have that kind of problem, thank God. I feel that’s a responsibility you have, to present that there’s a power in integrity and strength and in the lifestyle that comes from self-love and assuredness and positivity. I think there’s a real big place for that, but it doesn’t really get as much of that “Rock n’ Roll” play or whatever.

DS: Is it difficult to come to the United States to play considering all the wars we start?

NK: As an English person I feel equally as responsible for that kind of shit. I think it is a collective consciousness that allows violence and those kinds of things to continue, and I think that our governments should be ashamed of themselves. But at the same time, it’s a responsibility of all of our countries, no matter where you are in the world to promote a peaceful lifestyle and not to consciously allow these conflicts to continue. At the same time, I find it difficult to judge because I think that the world is full of shades of light and dark, from spectrums of pure light and pure darkness, and that’s the way human nature and nature itself has always been. It’s difficult, but it’s just a process, and it’s the big creature that’s the world; humankind is a big creature that is learning all the time. And we have to go through these processes of learning to see what is right.
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18 November

Iran’s morality police crack down on un-Islamic dress

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The Iranian police forces have faced criticism from Ayatollah Hashemi Shahrudi, the head of the judiciary who was appointed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for their re-invigorated campaign to do away with un-Islamic dress.

Ayatollah Shahroudi proclaimed, “Tough measures on social problems will backfire and have counter-productive effects.” Others have, of course, made it clear that un-Islamic dress can lead to moral corruption, engender innumerable vices, and hurt the Islamic character of the nation.

Some believe that no one had any issue with the creation of an Islamic atmosphere. The core of the matter revolves around the implementation of the Islamic dress code; additionally, heavy-handed measures should be shunned. For instance, Mehdi Ahmadi, information head of Tehran’s police, told Al Jazeera: “Some citizens may complain about the way the law is being enforced but they all agree with the plan itself.”

According to one student, “You simply can’t tell people what to wear. They don’t understand that use of force only brings hatred towards them, not love.” Nevertheless, Hojatoll-Islam Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, Iran’s interior minister who is in charge of policing, prognosticated positive feedback from the populace when he said, “People are unhappy with the social and moral status of the society. They expect that the fight against social insecurity be properly implemented.” Thus, Hujjat al-Islam Pour-Mohammadi re-iterated the necessity of proper implementation and methodology towards the restoration of morality in the Islamic Republic. Islamic officials and religious people affirm that this is indispensable to promote righteousness, curb sin, and bring open sinners to justice.

Following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, hijab became mandatory in Iran for every woman including foreigners after over 98% of citizens voted for an Islamic government. Women may face caning up to 74 strokes for failing to observe hijab. In this recent crackdown, the authorities have arrested many citizens throughout the country. Not only have women been taken into custody for their hair being uncovered on their foreheads and tight clothes that show body shapes, For men they need to cover from knee to their waist as according to Sharia. Even a foreign journalist was detained because the photograph on her press card was indecent.

It has not been clear whence the directive for the re-newed clampdown emanated. Some have blamed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while Gholam Hossein Elham, the government spokesman, stated to reporters, “The police work as agents of the judiciary to confront crimes. The government as an executive body does not interfere in the affairs of the judiciary.” The following pre-election speech seems to corroborate this latter statement:

In reality, is the problem of our people the shape of the hair of our children? Let our children arrange their hair any way they wish. It doesn’t concern me and you. Let you and me overhaul the basic problems of the nation. The government should fix the economy of the nation and improve its atmosphere…[It should] better psychological security and support the people. People have variegated tastes. As if now the arch obstacle of our nation is the arrangement of our kids’ hair and the government disallowing them <He chuckles>. Is this the government’s responsibility? Is this the people’s merit? In actuality, this is the denigration of our people. Why do you underestimate and belittle the people? It is the real issue of our nation that one of our daughters donned a certain dress? Is this the issue of our nation and the problem of our nation?
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3 October