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The Marauders and the Deathly Hallows by TheOnlyLota
Chapter 1 : Prologue
Rating: MatureChapter Reviews: 1

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Chapter 1

Disclaimer for all of story-the bits in bold that are in this story are all owned, and written by the fabulous J.K.Rowling and sadly not me.The bits in italics belong to the wattpad author xXxEmxXx of whose story I am completing, meaning that any character that you do not recognise belong and are personalised by me.This applies to all chapters

“Hello Potters!” Sirius Black jubilantly exclaimed as he let himself into his best friends’ house. Remus Lupin followed closely behind.

‘Honestly Padfoot, do you always have to make such a spectacle of yourself?’ Remus asked, rolling his eyes at Sirius.

“Moony, I’m shocked.” Sirius said, dramatically clutching his heart, pretending to be terribly hurt by Remus’ comment.”how many years have we been friends? You should know by now that a grand entrance is not a want, but a necessity.”

“That it is’ laughed James Potter as he made his way down the stairs to greet his friends.”Sirius you’re lucky Harry wasnt asleep, Lily would have slaughtered you. The kid’s a nightmare to put to bed. So, to what do I owe this pleasure? I thought you two had order duties to attend to tonight.”

“Nah, we got Benjy Fenwick and Dedalus Diggle to cover for us. I’ve decided that with this war and all, we haven't had time to hang out like we used to. It’s really been cutting into my personal life.”

Remus smiled “Of course, Sirius. The real tragedy about all this is the loss of your free time.” Sirius just shrugged

Lily walked down the stairs with a smiling Harry  in her arms.

“Hello Boys,” She greeted them.”No wormy tonight?”

“No,” Remus answered.”He said he had other things to do, though he didn’t specify.”

Harry began to struggle in Lily’s arms, desperately trying to reach his Godfather. Sirius reached out for him.

Hey,buddy.” he said as he tickled Harry’s tummy, “Always happy to see your godfather aren’t you?” harry giggled. The four friends began to talk and joke with each other, all of them falling into their old patterns. It was hard to believe that outside, a vicious was raged on, with people dying everyday.”Hey James,” Lupin shouted from his seat next to the bookshelf, as usual.”What’s this?” He held up a thick orange book, a perplexed expression on his face.”it’s called Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

James walked over to remus and took the book from him. His expression became as confused as Lupin’s. “What in the hell...” he muttered under his breath. he held it up slowly to show Lily “Lils, have you ever seen this?”

“No,” she answered. “But the boy on the cover looks exactly like you when you were seventeen, but it can’t be Harry...I mean, why would there be a book about him? He’s just a baby?”

“I haven’t the slightest idea...”

“Give it here James,” said Sirius. James handed him the book. He opened it and flipped to the copyright page, then lifted his head slowly. “This was published in 2007.”

There was a collective gasp

“But it’s only 1981,” Lily muttered, completely dazed. Everyone stared at Harry while the silence filled the room, no one knowing what to do. Sirius was the one to break it.

“Well... I guess the only way to find out is to...read it”

Everyone looked at Sirius, breaking out of their trance.

“Yeah,yeah,” James agreed, shaking his head.

Sirius cleared his throat, and began to read

Okay first chapter done, and she has a couple more before I start writing my own stuff. Also, read my story Invisibly Me, which is solely mine, and my one shot Small Bump based on Ed Sherran’s songPlease Read and Review!

From Chika, your Indian Pot

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Penname: Silver_Rayne
Member Since: 2007.07.24

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1 : A Strange Moon Rising by Silver_Rayne     Novel
Rating: Mature   Chapters: 2   Reviews: 0

Venus Stanford and Remus Lupin were Hogwarts' golden couple untill they went their seperate ways. Sirius Black and James Potter devise a plan to get them back together but something goes horribly wrong . . .

Genres: Romance, Angst  Era: Marauders   Characters: James, Lily, Lucius, Lupin, OC, Sirius, Snape  Pairings: Remus/OC, James/Lily
Advisory: Strong Language, Mild Violence, Scenes of a Mild Sexual Nature
Published: 2007.10.08   Latest Chapter: 2008.06.24 Updated: 2008.06.24 Status: WIP (4585 words)
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 Giving in the way of Allah (infaq) is a defining characteristic of Muslims

Giving in the way of Allah (infaq) is a defining characteristic of Muslims

There is a most important truth revealed in the verse “You will not attain true goodness until you give of what you love,” (Surah Al ‘Imran, 92) One of the most basic qualities that leads people to “goodness” in the true sense is “altruism.” The word itself means the willing and immediate renunciation of things a person possesses, loves and values. It means being prepared when necessary to undergo all kinds of difficulty and trouble for the values one believes in or those whom one loves, and to do all in one’s power on their behalf with enthusiasm, determination and will. It means being able to renounce one’s own interests when faced with a choice between them and the values one upholds and the people one loves and to make all kinds of material and other sacrifices for their sake.
However, human passions have been created with a predisposition towards poor moral values such as selfishness and egotism. Unless properly trained, these selfish emotions come to completely dominate a person’s moral framework. Such a person thinks mainly of himself rather than of anyone else. He always wants the best, the most attractive, the most perfect of everything for himself. Yet he also expects everyone else to demonstrate understanding and self-sacrifice. Whenever he encounters any difficulty he expects those around him to undergo risks and inconvenience for him, and to support him even to the extent of foregoing their own interests. He desires to protect his own wishes and interests and to ensure his own ease and comfort. In an adverse situation a person may be able to renounce many things he values – in the name of protecting his or her interests and preventing any harm from coming to him. Allah has revealed this excessive selfishness in the human spirit in the Qur’an:
Truly man was created headstrong – desperate when bad things happen, begrudging when good things come. (Surat al-Ma‘arij, 19-21)
It is possible to free one’s spirit from this weakness by understanding faith and living by the moral values of the Qur’an. Someone who understands the truths revealed in the Qur’an and the moral conception commanded by Allah will achieve a state of morality capable of exhibiting altruism at any moment of his life. That is because in the verse “It is the people who are safe-guarded from the avarice of their own selves who are successful” (Surat at-Taghabun, 64), Allah has revealed that it is safeguarding their desires from this vice that will lead people to salvation in this world and the next.
Allah has created the human conscience in order for people to protect their passions from evil and to attain the kind of moral values beloved of Him. The voice of that conscience shows people the way to avoid all forms of wickedness and to attain what is good. The deep love and powerful fear of Allah in the heart of a true believer prevents him from being vanquished by the wickedness of his desires. Knowing that the true purpose behind his existence in the life of this world is to attain Allah’s approval, such a person seeks to spend every moment of his life behaving in such a way that will be pleasing to Allah. He knows that the life of this world is but short, and that a person must strive for the eternal life of the Hereafter. He never forgets that all the interests he obtains here are transitory, after which he will have to render account to Allah. He knows that those who seek to ensure their own desires and interests in the life of this world, instead of seeking Allah’s approval, mercy and Paradise, may be rewarded with eternal suffering in the Hereafter. On the other hand, Allah will recompense altruistic moral values with goodness and beauty in this world and by eternal, incomparable blessings in the next. In the Qur’an, Allah imparts these glad tidings to people who behave morally,
Those who do good will have the best and more! Neither dust nor debasement will darken their faces. They are the Companions of the Garden, remaining in it timelessly, for ever. (Surah Yunus, 26)
So Allah gave them the reward of the world and the best reward of the Hereafter. Allah loves good-doers. (Surah Al ‘Imran, 148)
... If anyone desires the reward of the world, We will give him some of it. If anyone desires the reward of the Hereafter, We will give him some of it. We will recompense the thankful. (Surah Al ‘Imran, 145)
When one thinks of self-sacrifice, however, what comes to mind should not be solely giving away part of one’s material possessions, that part which represents more than one actually needs for oneself. Self-sacrifice is a way of life that stems from strength of faith and dominates a believer’s entire life. This spirit of altruism needs to be present within a sensitivity of conscience to everything going on around a person.
Altrusim means a person seeking to feel himself responsible on every matter, from social problems to the oppressed, persecuted, starving and needy people all over the world, and striving to find a solution to them. It is the employment of one’s reason and conscience at the highest possible level, without ever saying, “There are plenty of people with the means and resources to resolve all these issues, so let them do it.” It means those with a “vestige of good,” as revealed in the verse: “Would that there had been more people with a vestige of good among the generations of those who came before you, who forbade corruption in the Earth, other than the few among them whom We saved. Those who did wrong gladly pursued the life of luxury that they were given and were evildoers” (Surah Hud, 116), Muslims who believe, who listen to the voice of their consciences and fear Allah, acting in the knowledge of their responsibilities.
When we look at the events experienced by Muslims throughout the course of history we see that they have always been able to overcome troubles and diffculties in this way. Beginning with the Prophet Muhammad (saas), made a role model for all humanity by Allah, and his companions, Muslims have always lived this moral framework in the best manner possible and have been a means whereby, with their superior solidarity and instances of self-sacrifice, Islam and the moral values of the Qur’an have spread all over the world. The superior moral values and generosity of the Prophet (saas) are revealed thus in the hadiths:
* The Prophet (saas) was the most generous of people in auspicious deeds. The Prophet (saas) was more generous even than the wind blowing from the direction of good.
* He never said “I do not possess such” when asked for something and never begrudged anything asked of him.
* Abu Zerr told me the following: “Son of my brother! I went to the Prophet’s (saas) side. Taking my hand, he said, ‘Abu Zerr! Even if I had as much gold and silver as Mount Uhud I would wish to spend it in the way of Allah, leaving not a farthing behind’.”
The Prophet (saas), the finest role model for Muslims with his superior moral values, encouraged the faithful to be generous in these words during a sermon:
* In one of his sermons, after giving thanks to Allah he [The Prophet Muhammad (saas)] said: “O People! Know that Allah has chosen Islam for you as your religion. Adorn your Islam with generosity and pleasing moral values. I wish you to know that generosity is a heavenly tree, with its roots in Paradise and its branches in this world. Those of you who have generosity will adhere to one of those branches, and that branch will carry him to Paradise. As for parsimoniousness, that is a tree with its roots in Hell and its branches in this world. Whoever clings to one of those branches by being parsimonious, it will carry him to Hell.” Later the Prophet (saas) again said, “Be generous in the way of Allah.”
The companions of the Prophet (saas) who were ready to unquestioningly give up their goods and lives in order to gain the approval of Allah exhibited great examples of self-sacrifice throughout their lives. Since they possessed a sure and certain belief in Allah and the Hereafter they never regarded giving in the way of Allah (infaq) as representing any kind of loss; on the contrary, they saw it as an important opportunity to gain the love of and closeness to Allah. As revealed by Allah in the verse: “And how is it with you that you do not give in the way of Allah,when the inheritance of the heavens and the Earth belongs to Allah? Those of you who gave and fought before the Victory are not the same as those who gave and fought afterwards. They are higher in rank. But to each of them Allah has promised the Best. Allah is aware of what you do.” (Surat al-Hadid, 10), those who sacrificed their property in times of difficulty acted in the knowledge of the value of that action in the sight of Allah.
Therefore, all Muslims must take these superior moral values of our Prophet (saas) and his companions as role models for themselves, and must compete with one another to help those in need. It must never be forgotten that self-sacrifice performed with true sincerity is most valued in the sight of our Lord and a marvellous opportunity for Muslims who seek to attain the infinite blessings of Paradise.
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Old Hastings City Bank
Hastings City Bank was founded in 1886 when 35 Hastings investors provided the initial capital of $50,000. The original investors included farmers, publishers, dry goods and hardware merchants, druggists, lawyers, a doctor and an accountant.

The intent was to finance manufacturing activity so that Hastings could share the fruits of a growing industrial revolution. At the time, the town’s economy was mostly served by sawmills. There were two rail lines which brought freight, passengers and daily newspapers from Grand Rapids and Detroit. As our bank grew through the years, we expanded into new service areas including Middleville, Caledonia, Nashville, Bellevue, Wayland and Marshall. Our main branch and corporate headquarters remain in downtown Hastings, one block from our original site.

Today’s assets total over $250 million. Over 125 years later, our focus remains the same - providing and maintaining the excellent customer service that has been our hallmark since 1886.

Hastings City Bank…meeting customer needs, exceeding expectations.

Learn About Our 5 Point Pledge »


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View Full Version : Jon Hyers Harry Potter Spoof Film Trailer

02-20-2011, 08:44 PM
I hope this is ok to post this, I'm not selling it. It's a trailer for a film short I am making, very low budget, and instead of Blue Screen, for parts of the films I'm using video projectors. Long before I was working in the haunt industry, I did independent films. I began doing that again, not really with a clear vision of what I would do with the film. For now it's free entertainment, and might possibly inspire any other filmmakers that you can actually PROJECT effects into scenes with actors.

This is the trailer for my work in progress, Harry Murdoch and the Curse of the Grim Reaper - so alas, it is horror related. There's some ghosts in it too. It was shot almost entirely in my own house, and within a mile of it. The Graveyard scenes were set up in my yard, and the SKY CAM view was taken out a window of the house. My goal was an enjoyable film short, for almost no money. Here is the trailer, have fun. I will post episodes [10 minutes each] once I get some feedback and find out if this is wanted by people, and if it IS or is NOT the right section of this forum.

Finally I am shooting episodes 4-6 this spring and summer, and I will be working on some really cool wizard effects.

Pumpkin King
02-23-2011, 03:44 PM
This is really good! I love the CGI! Nice job!


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Defibrillators to be put into eight vehicles

defib 1

Havelock Police Officer K.C. Schutzman holds one of the new automatic external defibrillators that will be placed into eight patrol cars. The devices may help save the lives of heart attack victims.

Drew C. Wilson/Havelock News
Published: Wednesday, January 2, 2013 at 06:10 PM.

Havelock police officers are almost always the first on the scene to emergency calls in the city, and about a third of those calls involve possible heart attacks.

Those heart attack patients will soon have a greater chance of survival with the addition of eight automatic external defibrillators that will be place in Havelock police cars.

"If you’re going to have a heart attack, Havelock is the place to do it," said Steve Coffey, chief of operations for the Havelock Fire and Rescue Department.

The eight defibrillators are part of a $140,000 project, with the money coming from state 911 funds.

Havelock had already placed defibrillators in the Havelock Tourist and Event Center, the Havelock Senior Center and the Havelock Recreation Center. Defibrillators are also included in all of its four ambulances.

Coffey said adding the life-saving equipment to police cars will improve the chances a heart attack victim will survive. He said the quicker a victim’s heart can be jump-started with an electric shock from a defibrillator, the more oxygen can be pumped to vital organs.

"Every minute increases you chance of survival by 10 percent," Coffey said.

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The Salvation Army is privileged to have the partnership of corporate leaders in our community.  Through their financial and in-kind gifts, we are able to expand our social service programs to reach as many people as possible who need assistance. We thank our corporate partners for supporting us to help do the most good, and we extend an invitation to others to join us in our mission of mercy to serve those in need.

Premium Partners:

bank of hawaii

central pacific bank

hawaiian bank

hawaii news

kiwanis club

lions club

rotary club

Event Sponsors:
A-1 A-Lectrician
American Carpet One
Anna Millers
Bank of Hawaii
Central Pacific Bank
Costco Hawaii
Crackerjack Consulting
Danny Kaleikini Foundation
Department of Refuse, C&C of Honolulu
Dole Food Company Hawaii
Don Quijote
Duke's Waikiki
First Hawaiian Bank
Fresh Leadership
Ralph Gray
Halekulani Hotel
Ham Produce & Seafood, Inc
Hawaii Coffee Company
Hawaii Jobs Corps Center
Hawaii State AFL-CIO
Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian Dredging Company, Inc.
Hawaiian Ice Co
Hilton Hawaiian Village
Hokulani Bakeshop
Honolulu Disposal Services/Oahu Waste
Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Kalihi Print Shop
Kapiolani Women & Children's Hospital
Kazi Foods (Burger King & KFC Hawaii
Hawaiian 105 KINE
Longs Drugs
Loves Bakery
Malolo Beverages & Supplies, Ltd.
Market City Shopping Center
Massachusetts Mutual Financial Group
Matson Navigation Company
McDonald's Restaurants of Hawaii
Meadow Gold Dairies, Inc.
Ritchie & Sunny Mudd
MW Groups, LTD.
Nursery Associates
Oceanic time Warner Cable
Caroline & Francis Oda
Olsten Staffing & Executive Search Services
Pacific Beach Hotel
Paul Ganley Carlsmith Ball
Pomaikai'i Transport Services
Reasearch Institute for Hawaii.USA
Sam Choy's Restaurants
Sam Shenkus Marketig
Servco Foundation
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Waikiki
Sodexo Hawaii Hale Aloha Cafeteria
Starbucks Coffee - Manoa
Starbucks Coffee - Ward
The Kalaha Hotel & Resort
Times Supermarket
Triple F Distributing, Inc.
Dr. Lawrence Tseu, DDS
Waikiki Beach Marriott
Wai'oli Tea Room
World of Aloha
Zippy's/Napoleon's Bakery
Volunteer Groups:
Alina's Childcare
Aloha United Way
Alpha Phi Omega Alumni Association of Hawaii
Bank of Hawaii
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Community of Christ
Doubletree of Hilton Alana Waikiki Hotel
Frances' Team
Hawaii Job Corps Center
Hawaii Ski Club
Honolulu Community College
Honolulu Community College/Hui Oiwi (Hawaiian Club)
Intruders of Hawaii Motorcycle Club
Jewish Community
Kaiser Buds
Kiwanis Clubs and Key Clubs
McKinley High School Cultural Cooking Club
McKinley High School Leo Club
New Hope Oahu Irresistible Church
NICE Program UH Manoa
Palisades Baptist Church
Papakolea Hawaiian Civic Club
Punahou Waterpolo
Roosevelt High School French Club
Roosevelt High School National Honor Society
Rotary of Kahala Sunrise
TEAM Clean
The Body Shop
US Army
US Marines
US Navy
Waipahu Hawaii County Chapter - Harley Owners Group


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Rebates and Incentives

Hawaii is at the forefront of the nationwide movement to generate power from renewable sources of energy. In fact, under the recent Hawaii Global Warming Solutions Act, the state intends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. To achieve this goal, Hawaii offers substantial incentives to business owners who wish to invest in renewable energy technologies. In combination, these incentives enable businesses to receive approximately 65% off the price of a solar electric or solar thermal system and pay back their initial investment fast—in some cases within two years!

Hawaiian landscape

Federal Incentives

Federal Investment Tax Credit Extension

On October 3, 2008, President Bush signed an 8-year extension of the business Investment Tax Credit for solar, small-wind, and geothermal systems. The ITC gives businesses a tax credit equal to 30% of the net cost of an installed solar electric, solar thermal, fuel cell, and small-scale wind system. Learn more.

Changes to Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) Law

Businesses may now apply the Investment Tax Credit toward money owed to the Internal Revenue Service under the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).

5-Year Depreciation

Businesses may further recover costs for investment in solar power and solar thermal systems by taking advantage of 5-year accelerated depreciation on all generating equipment and its installation under the IRS's Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System.

USDA Loans and Grants

Through its Rural Energy for America (REAP) program, the United States Department of Agriculture offers loans and grants to rural businesses installing solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass energy systems. Almost all of Hawaii is considered rural. Eligible businesses must have fewer than 500 employees and annual gross revenues under $6 million. Learn more.

State and Local Incentives

Hawaii Solar and Wind Energy Credit

Businesses in Hawaii can receive a state tax credit for their investments in solar power, solar thermal, and wind power systems. These credits cover the cost of equipment and installation. Businesses may receive the following credits:

Commercial Rebate Program

Hawaiian utility companies HECO, MECO and HELCO offer their commercial customers a rebate for installation of solar thermal systems on a case-by-case basis. They also provide design assistance and energy reduction incentive payments to help with the initial purchase. Find out more!

Schedule a free site evaluation today!


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City of Hays will have March 12 town hall to discuss water issues

The city of Hays will have a town hall meeting at 7 p.m. March 12 to discuss a series of water issues.

A continuing drought, Thursday’s declaration of a Stage 2 water warning and the development of a pipeline to deliver water to the Hays area will be among the topics.

The town hall will be at Fort Hays State University’s Sternberg Museum of Natural History.

Related story: City declared Stage 2 water warning.

Related story: City announces intent to develop R9 Ranch.

Commenting Disclaimer
  • Be respectful.
  • Do not use obscene, profane or vulgar language.
  • Do not make accusations or personal attacks
  • Comments considered to be 'trolling' or for the sole purpose of angering others will be removed.
  • johnny

    i’m sure they’ll have an overflow capacity crowd on this one.

  • Guest 12

    Not me They will do what they want anyway. Makes no difference what you say.

  • water water everywhere

    They should have it on the 18th fairway at one on the irrigated golf parks or the grass fields at sports complex.


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Lumbres, France Hotels offers access to over 2 hotels in Lumbres. We have a wide range of hotels in Lumbres - from budget, business, tourist to luxury accommodation in all Lumbres major areas.
We categorize Lumbres hotels into both Star rating and location for your best experience. With lowest rate guarantee for all Lumbres hotels, your money will be well spent on every minutes of your stay in Lumbres.

Top hotels in Lumbres

Lumbres Hotels Search

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Mary and Martha

HBO Films

Ian Redford

as Charles

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Sex and the City 57: Sex and the Country

Duration :

Summary: Charlotte decides that truly loving Trey means at least trying to love his mother. Miranda's prickly bedside manner turns out to be just what the doctor ordered for Steve. Out in the country, Carrie attempts to deal with Aidan's rustic side, while Samantha shows a farmer what city girls are made of.

Genre : Sex and the City


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ACAS - Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service

Business Link

DBS - Disclosure and Barring Service

DfE - Home Page

DfE - Academies

DfE - Schools

ISA - Independent Safeguarding Authority

ISC - Independent Schools Council

NASBM – National Association of School Business Managers

UK Border Agency

Contact Us

HC Associates Limited
26a New Walk
East Riding of Yorkshire
HU17 7DJ

Tel: 01482 866534

"HC Associates has provided excellent HR advice and guidance to the school over the past 5 years and their knowledge of Education personnel is sound and thorough. They always go the extra mile to provide the help when we need it. (2010)"

Debbie Louw, Bursar at St Dominic's

"Helen guided us through the complexities of taking over schools and gave us direction through the legislation and technical issues, with respect to establishing our first three Academies."

Steve Chalke, Founder of Oasis Global and CEO of Oasis Community Learning


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Items by Michelle Nijhuis

Arizona hiker tracks climate change
A habitual hiker finds familiar plants blooming in new places.
Whither the weeds?
Climate change and the fate of the West's least favorite plants
Carbon storage gets a tryout
Field testing of CO2 sequestration underway in Washington state.
59,000 trees can't be wrong
Big new forest study documents a regional die-off.
The Big Melt continues
Here's yet another reason to dislike dirty fuels.
The Doc is in
The Doc is in
Rural folks find common ground at a vet's office in Western Colorado.
Slideshow: The unflappable Doc Vincent
Slideshow: The unflappable Doc Vincent
In rural western Colorado, a vet tends to pets and their humans. Michelle Nijhuis reads her essay, along with slides by JT Thomas.
Only the scared survive
Joel Berger’s The Better to Eat You With and William Stolzenburg’s Where the Wild Things Were examine predators and the role of fear.
Under the asphalt a rumor thrives
In Grand Junction Colo. a team of investigators excavate a downtown parking lot in search of an old safe supposedly buried a century ago.
Shifting sands in Navajoland
On the drought-stricken Navajo Nation, scientist Margaret Hiza Redsteer studies the movement of sand dunes.
Remembering Rrrrrip City!
The essays in Matt Love’s anthology Red Hot and Rollin’ take a lively and nostalgic look at Oregon in 1977, the year the Portland Trailblazers won their one and only NBA championship.
Madame Merian and her passion for metamorphosis
In Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis, Kim Todd uncovers the life and legacy of a pioneering 17th century woman
The hidden history of a sneeze
Medical historian Gregg Mitman offers a fascinating history of the national allergy boom in Breathing Space: How Our Allergies Shape Our Lives and Landscape.
Quest for darkness
Chad Moore and the members of the Park Service Night Sky Team keep an eye on the stars in the nation’s parks and monuments.
Beetle Warfare
Scientists unleash a new weapon in the fight against invasive tamarisk – a tiny exotic beetle from Kazakhstan.
Bloodied but unbowed
The Western novel is not entirely dead; it has simply changed a great deal since the glory days of Zane Grey.
The Last Ride
Longtime hitchhiker Dev Carey tells Michelle Nijhuis about some of his best – and worst – adventures on Western highways.
A downside to downing dams?
Removing dams is more a complex experiment than a panacea, as Arizona’s Fossil Creek shows.
The Weed-wackers
Botanist Sue Rutman has had surprising success just yanking up buffelgrass, but herbicides remain the first line of defense
Taking the conservation movement to task
Law professor Eric Freyfogle castigates the environmental movement and offers straightforward advice in Why Conservation is Failing and How It Can Regain Ground.
Don’t move a mussel
Boaters, kayakers, anglers and other recreationists can help stop the spread of quagga mussels and other aquatic invasives by following a few simple rules.
Battling over ballast
Congress has tried to regulate ballast water in ships in order to stop the spread of zebra mussels, but so far loopholes in the law and tussles over policy have made the effort ineffective.
Wish You Weren’t Here
Quagga mussels – an extraordinarily prolific and costly invasive species – have appeared in Lake Mead, and no one is sure how to keep these unwanted newcomers from infesting the West.
This dog believes
An undergrown Australian shepherd mix named Pika offers advice on living in the moment despite frightening and challenging times
Xeric Families of the West
Photo descriptions of Xeriscapers in the West
What is Xeriscaping?
The seven basic principles of Xeriscaping are explained
The Lure of the Lawn
It’s not easy to wean Westerners away from their lush, traditional, turfgrass lawns, but with drought an increasing fact of life, Xeriscape gardening is finally catching on
Between the body and the world
The creepy glamour of the scientific exhibit Body Worlds 2 – which showcases actual preserved sections of human bodies – never answers the question of how – and where– these people lived
Dust and Snow
In Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, Tom Painter and other scientists study the dust in the snow and ponder its implications for future drought and weather conditions, especially in the era of global warming
Dear friends
Matt Jenkins leaves the HCN office to become California-Great Basin correspondent; Western Slope Environmental Resource Conference and North Fork River Improvement Association hold annual meetings; visitors; "secretary" Bruce Babbitt


text:
Dear Friends

  • Rosemary Winters, Stephanie Tidwell and Pixel

    JoAnn Kalenak

A new look, same old spunk

Here it is, at long last — the new High Country News. As promised, the paper has a lively new look, but what’s inside remains largely the same: sagacious reporting, balanced perspective, a skeptical edge. Here’s hoping you like what you find.

To research the cover story, our editor in the field, Ray Ring, traveled to Boise, Idaho. There, he worked side-by-side with freelance radio journalist Guy Hand, who has produced part of a three-part series on fire, which will air on public radio stations around the region on Radio High Country News.

We’ll also be compiling a special collection of fire stories from the HCN archive for the Web site,, and publishing a booklet called Fire in the West, with the highlights of HCN’s fire coverage from the last two decades (see page 19 for details). It’s all part of our effort to pull more folks into this community of hard-thinking, solution-minded people who care about the West.

The new crew

New HCN intern Rosemary Winters thinks that sewing can be an exercise in environmentalism. She recycles old clothing, ripping discarded scarves and pillowcases apart and remaking them into colorful skirts.

Rosemary just received double bachelor’s degrees in mass communication and environmental studies from the University of Utah. Although sustainable agriculture is the topic that interests her most, she has been involved in a range of environmental issues. She has volunteered with Wasatch Community Gardens, worked with the Utah Rivers Council to keep the Bear River from being dammed, and helped convince University of Utah students to add a dollar to their student fees so the school could buy wind power. When she’s not busy saving the world, she likes to telemark ski.

Stephanie Tidwell descended to Paonia from her perch at 10,000 feet at the edge of Colorado’s Indian Peaks Wilderness. For the past two years, she’s been the sole resident of Caribou, an abandoned mining town near Nederland. Stephanie spent her time chasing off-road vehicles from fragile alpine wetlands and completing a master’s degree at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in journalism and environmental policy.

Stephanie became interested in journalism after five years of protecting prairie dogs and fighting public-lands grazing. She also worked for the National Forest Protection Alliance and Ancient Forest Rescue, and trained activists in nonviolent protest. An avid rock climber, she has been known to scale trees in the name of preservation.

You’re invited

Join the staff and board of High Country News for a potluck picnic in our hometown, Paonia, Colo. The event will be held Saturday, June 7, at 6:30 p.m., at Paonia Town Park, on the corner of 4th St. and North Fork Ave. Please bring a dish to share. Drinks will be provided. RSVP to Gretchen A-P at 970-527-4898, or e-mail

While you’re in the neighborhood, check out the exhibit of pastel landscapes by HCN’s inimitable Diane Sylvain. Her paintings of orchards, mesas and mountains bring out colors and light that only an inspired eye could see. The show will be at Gallery Connections in Hotchkiss.


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Will the Badlands become the first tribal national park?

  • Louie Brings Plenty carries sweet grass for burning while singing prayers on the sharp pinnacle overlooking the Stronghold in Badlands National Park. Louie is the whip carrier for a Lakota Tokala society, a traditional Warrior Society, and a member of NYM, the Native Youth Movement.

    Aaron Huey
  • Keith Janis' hogan on Stronghold Table in the South Unit of Badlands National Park.

    Brendan Borrell
  • The Palmer Creek area of Badlands National Park, part of what could become the first tribal national park.

    Steven Donley, NPS
  • A storm moves into the town of Manderson, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

    Aaron Huey
  • Badlands National Park paleontologist Rachel Benton has worked to protect the park's Titanothere fossils from looters.

    Brendan Borrell
  • John Rondeau, showing the scars of life on the reservation, says the new park won't help people like him.

    Brendan Borrell
  • Gerard Baker is optimistic that a new tribal national park could be a model for management of other parks on tribal lands.

    Brendan Borrell
  • The former military bombing range as seen from Sheep Mountain Table in the South Unit of Badlands National Park.

    Rikk Flohr
  • Former national rodeo star Merle Temple runs cattle on land leased from the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the South Unit of the park. He fears his family would be kicked off their land for a second time, if the park plan goes through.

    Brendan Borrell

updated 3/11/13

Near the northern tip of South Dakota's Stronghold Table, where wind-whipped buffalo grass gives way to the Badlands' chasms and pinnacles, stands a hogan hammered from plywood and chipboard. Ten summers ago, Keith Janis, a rowdy, long-haired Oglala Lakota Sioux, roared out here in his truck, hooting and gesturing at the gray-shirted park rangers. This is Lakota land, he thought. The National Park Service has no business here. He pounded two cedar posts into the high prairie and defiantly strung a hammock beneath the stars. A Colorado couple helped him finish the hogan before winter.

Janis, now in his 50s, sought to reclaim 133,000 acres of tribal land that the National Park Service had controlled since 1968. Earlier, the U.S. Air Force had used it for bombing exercises. But to the Lakota, the Stronghold, at the southern end of Badlands National Park and the northwest corner of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, has long been a place of both protest and prayer. In 1890, Ghost Dancers gathered here to escape U.S. Army troops, which had recently arrived on the reservation after being alerted about "wild and crazy" dancing Indians. It's believed that the last Ghost Dance of the 1800s was performed here, just weeks before the Army slaughtered more than 200 men, women and children at Wounded Knee Creek, 30 miles south, in one of the darkest chapters in American history.

Soon, Janis' encampment held around 30 people, who quickly became as involved in tribal conflicts as in righting a historic wrong. Janis wanted his family's plot of land back. His blood cousin, George Tall, who declared himself the occupation's spokesman, wanted the land to be conserved and managed by the tribe. The Two Bulls family wanted to ensure that nobody, Park Service or not, confiscated the fossils they collected and sold on the black market.

A decade later, none had achieved their goals. Nevertheless, the protest had an unintended consequence: It catalyzed the creation of what could become the country's first Tribal National Park. Last June, John Yellow Bird Steele, then Oglala Lakota president, and the National Park Service agreed on a management plan that would return control of this region, known as the South Unit, to the tribe. Essentially, it will remain in the park system and comply with all the federal laws that apply to national parks, yet be managed entirely by the tribe. The Park Service and the tribe are already laying the groundwork for the management transfer, though an act of Congress will be required to formalize it, a process that could take several years. At least one Lakota has suggested renaming it "Wankankil Makoce Ki: The Awesome Land."

For all the symbolic heft of the pact, tribal members remain torn about the details and confused about what effect it will actually have on their daily lives. So last summer, I spent a week at the South Unit, trying to find out if the new park had a chance of succeeding amid the infighting, corruption, crime and desperation that have long plagued Pine Ridge. Park boosters expect it to bring in tourism dollars, and say it represents one of the best economic development opportunities the tribe has seen in years. Plus, it would create a nationally known landmark that the entire tribe could rally around. "I don't mean to be melodramatic, but it could change lives," says Steve Thede, deputy superintendent of Badlands National Park, adding, "I don't think for a minute it's going to be easy."

If you look at the official map, you'll see that Badlands is really two parks linked by an umbilical cord of land. About a million visitors a year visit the North Unit, which has paved roads, a year-round visitor's center, hiking trails, a café and two campgrounds. Bison, bighorn sheep and antelope are abundant, along with prairie dog metropolises and endangered black-footed ferrets.

Although fewer than 2 percent of tourists make it to the South Unit, it survives on a small infusion of cash from the north. The largest hunk of land is the Stronghold Unit. Another part, Palmer Creek, is completely separate -- an island surrounded by private ranches and three strands of barbed wire. Although the geology of the South Unit rivals anything in the north, much of it is remote and accessible only by four-wheel-drive. It serves mostly as a place for locals to poach fossils and graze cattle. There are no bison or marked trails, and the land harbors unexploded ordnance left over from its Air Force days. Visitors are warned not to pick up suspicious objects; they might explode.

Driving through the Pine Ridge Reservation (population 28,787), I was struck by its beauty: the low, chalky buttes and fissures in the rolling prairie packed with gnarled trees. The landscape was easy to romanticize. But then the next charmless town would appear, with its potholed roads, lopsided mobile homes, and gas stations with bars over their windows. One of the first things many locals told me was whether or not they had diabetes. They usually did.

The best jobs on the reservation are with the tribe or the Bureau of Indian Affairs, followed by Prairie Winds Casino, Taco John's and Subway. The poor soil means that ranchers need vast grazing allotments, such as those inside the South Unit. Only a fraction of the reservation is suitable for farming, and the tribe's flagship agricultural experiment -- industrial hemp cultivation -- was quashed by the Drug Enforcement Agency in the early 2000s. Some members earn an income from the South Unit and other tourist sites, leading hunts or horseback trips, running guest houses, or selling dreamcatchers by the side of the road. But the county's average per capita income is only $7,772, and the tribe's unemployment rate usually hovers around 80 percent, making this one of the country's poorest regions.

Although alcohol is banned, just south of the reservation is Whiteclay, Neb., a town of 10 that sells 4.9 million cans of beer each year. Fetal alcohol syndrome and drunk driving accidents are rampant on the reservation. In 2011, tribal police reported 2,011 cases of child abuse or domestic violence, 2,561 fights or assaults, and one homicide. Just 49 police officers patrol Pine Ridge's 3,159 square miles. Rapid City, by comparison, has twice the officers and gets fewer calls.

The Oglala Lakota trace their decline to the breaking of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, which gave them and other Sioux tribes land stretching east from the Black Hills through most of South Dakota and into neighboring states. Peace lasted six years. Then, Lt. Col. George Custer came to the Black Hills to establish a fort, and civilians struck gold. Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull took up arms and killed Custer in the Battle of Little Bighorn. One year later, Crazy Horse was stabbed in the back after he surrendered in Nebraska. The Great Sioux Reservation was splintered into five smaller reservations, and further whittled away through shady land deals. The Sioux tribes won a 1980 Supreme Court case over the broken treaty, but have refused settlement money. They're holding out for the return of the Black Hills.

erin demarco
erin demarco
Sep 16, 2013 12:40 AM
Thank you for this. Such heartfelt writing and reporting. A real story.


text:
A remembrance of Jo Anne Garrett

A remarkable Western activist.

For more than 30 years, the Nevada activist Jo Anne Garrett fought to preserve the environment, character and beauty of her sagebrush-stubbled quarter of the rural West.

The unlikely base for her “brushroots” organizing was the tiny outpost of Baker, Nev., on the doorstep of lightly visited Great Basin National Park and close to the spot where U.S. 50, the “Loneliest Road in America,” crosses into Utah.

There was a lot for her to fight. First was the Cold War “shell game” of the MX missile system. This wacky scheme envisioned confusing the enemy by continuously trucking real and fake nuclear weapons through dozens of remote valleys across Utah and Nevada. Next came the Yucca Mountain repository in southern Nevada, which would be used to bury deadly radioactive waste after it was trucked in from nuclear plants all across America.

After tireless organizing by Garrett and many others helped defeat the first threat and shelve the second scheme, a third menace loomed. This is the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s multibillion-dollar plan to drill wells and pipe away east-central Nevada’s most precious and irreplaceable resource – its groundwater. She helped mobilize the earliest local and regional opposition to the plan.

But in the second week of October, Garrett, 88, died unexpectedly on a solo walk in the shadow of Wheeler Peak, steps away from the ruggedly elegant home she built herself, just on the edge of the national park boundary. When searchers found her body days later, they said that her face looked serene.

No one who knew her was surprised to hear that. Jo Anne Garrett loved where she lived, surrounded by piñon pine, juniper and sagebrush, and atop glacial rubble from the Snake Range. Her high-desert retreat fueled her intense drive to protect the landscape and people of the Great Basin.

Garrett, however, was no firebrand. She was politely insistent in a era of shouts and brawls. She delivered precise criticisms against project promoters with such grace and civility that they often failed to realize she’d left them bleeding, for they had yet to even feel the cut.

She lasered in on the essential truth that needed speaking aloud, and then she spoke it. Her words were not conventional sound bites, but their succinct messages always had teeth.

Over the years, her house, built with her late partner, Joe Griggs, from hand-gathered rock and old railroad timbers, became command central for activists. The couple hosted organizing meetings of the bi-state Great Basin MX Alliance, which forged an improbable rural-urban coalition of ranchers, farmers, Native Americans, miners and environmentalists.

Later, she hosted steady streams of friends and activist colleagues as

she gradually finished the house alone. From annual retreats for Citizen Alert, Nevada’s environmental justice movement, to gatherings of the Great Basin Water Network, her house was a refuge for people of different backgrounds yet similar goals. She knew the importance of building relationships among people who may have had little in common except a shared love of place and a determined resistance to any schemes that threatened it.

She also knew that the more time anyone spent on the land, the more fiercely they would fight for it. Her concluding words at a 2011 water hearing typified this: “To remove water from all that good soil is to kill the real economy. If the economy means anything besides cash, if it means something real, what’s real is the fertility of those valleys, besides the beauty, which is as nourishing as food itself.”

Garrett became ill for a time last summer and went through hospitalization and recovery in Reno. Once on her feet and home again in Baker, she told us over and over how relieved she was to be back in “this place, this marvelous landscape.”

The imprint of Jo Anne Garrett’s activism there, and on the landscape of the greater West, is profound. Her absence now -- the missing smile, lusty laugh and her gracious invitations to stay another day or two -- is heartbreaking. But we tell ourselves that Jo Anne Garrett was like a bristlecone pine, an enduring icon of the Great Basin landscape that she loved.

The writers are contributors to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News. Abby Johnson of Carson City and Baker, Nev., is president of the Great Basin Water Network; Bob Fulkerson of Reno is co-founder and director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada and former executive director of Citizen Alert, where he met Garrett in 1984; and Patrick O’Driscoll of Denver is a public affairs specialist for the National Park Service and a former reporter, who first interviewed Garrett in 1981, while covering the MX missile project.

Linda VanFossan
Linda VanFossan Subscriber
Dec 07, 2013 08:46 AM
Is there more than one Wheeler Peak? I too live almost in the shadow, and it's sure not in Nevada!
Daniel Watts
Daniel Watts Subscriber
Dec 09, 2013 07:25 AM
Linda, do you live near the Wheeler Peak of New Mexico? That's the other one that comes to mind.


text:
"Battle of the Dragons"
Synopsis and Review
Cartoon Series: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe - 1983-85
Season: 2
Year: -1
Production No:

Original Airdate: ?/?/1985

Summoned by Granamyr, Man-At-Arms and He-Man fly in the Wind Raider to Darksmoke. The evil dragon Morning Star wants to incite a war between dragons and humans so that he can conquer Eternia for himself. Morning Star uses the Ice Crystal to put out Granamyr's flame and then blames the incident on unnamed humans. The young dragons join Morning Star in his crusade against humans and vent their anger out on the Wind Raider flying by, forcing He-Man and Man-At-Arms to crashland. They find in the wreckage Orko, who stowed away without telling them. Granamyr is saddened by his people's desire for war. He-Man, Man-At-Arms, and Orko volunteer to find fire to restart Granamyr's Darksmoke flame. They travel beneath Darksmoke, into the Pit of Shadows, where Orko retrieves the magic fire. Morning Star and the dragons begin their war on humans by attacking a nearby village. Morning Star tries to stop Orko from returning the magic fire to restart Granamyr's flame. The magic flame is too much for Orko to handle, causing him to evince magic surges that drive away Morning Star, whose war is openly challenged by a revived Granamyr. Morning Star and Granamyr square off in the test of fire with Granamyr victorious. The dragons and the humans make peace and plan to build a city together.

Synopsis by Zadok Angell

Episode Image Gallery
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text:
Head-Fi.org › Head Gear › Headphone Amplifiers › Amp/DACs › Cypher Labs Algorhythm Solo

Cypher Labs Algorhythm Solo

100% Positive Reviews
Rated #8 in Amp/DACs

Pros: Unlocks iDevices and delivers unparalleled Sound to the portable mp3 Generation

Cons: Might be out of some people's budget

I Have spent some days with the new Algorhythm Solo and felt I could honestly give my impressions. I could probably do it in two words but where is the fun in that?

Starting off I would like to say that I have been on an incredible portable/digital journey since the ipod was released. A huge lover of music has always caused me some trouble with traveling as much as I do. I am a musician/producer & writer. I spend months away from home. Prior to having an iPod I used a CD player with countless cases full of CD’s. I went down the Minidisc route as well. Which I loved but I thought for some reason the SQ was not that exciting. Let me say this is well. I was never a hugh fan of CD’s either. I grew up listening to vinyl and still I love it. The sound, the feel, the experience. For me CD’s were a better alternative to cassettes :). After owning an iPod I came to love and appreciate CD’s. :). My experience with an ipod is that I was able to carry lots of music with me while traveling but found myself always examining how bad the quality was. I had a hard time enjoying the music I was listening to. My thought was that if I improved my headphones then I would improve the SQ of the ipod. So that journey began and I will not bore you with the details of that. It was not until a few years ago I discovered Headroom. I wanted to try the AKG701 which I was told would require a headphone amp. Hmmm I thought great, that is a brand new direction... So started that journey. On my third or fourth pair of Headphones the guy on the phone asked me if I used a LOD. “No I replied. What’s That?” He sent me one and I thought Wow I have uncovered the secret to having a great portable set up with an ipod. I am finished searching... The next day I went on line to see if I could find a nicer LOD than the one they had sent.... I discovered ALO. Ken has been an unbelievable source of great information and inspiration for me. Many emails, phone calls and the chance meeting at Can Jam when it was in LA. Since then my game was uped for sure. Many cables, Headphone amps, Headphones, Re-cabled Headphones and a couple of iMod’s later here I am and now I am saying my search is over :). Remind me I said that next week when I am after a new cable :)

The Solo:

Opens up whole new sonics for us iPod/idevice users. I want to say before I go on that I am comparing my now set up of Solo>RXMK2> LCD2 (re-cabled with a Silver & Copper 8 Weave ALO from ALO)  & a set of ALO custom Solo interconnects. Prior to the arrival of the Solo I went from an iMod>RX1>LCD2 re-cabled with the flat weave by ALO.

There was about a month that I switched to the ipod Touch>RXMK2 & The LCD-2 re-cabled with the flat weave. I wanted to break in the RXMK2 and see if the iPod Touch would work for me as I had to give up a lot of real estate after having the 240GB iMod. So my ears had adjusted to the iPod with no mod :)

The Solo is without a doubt leaps and bounds ahead of anything out there that any of us have heard of. These guys have hit the nail squarely on the head. The build quality is great and I love that they matched up the RXMK2 to make it a nice little package. The layout is great and still remains very, very portable. The case really is a nice surprise I have to say. I was trying to figure out how to move this all around without banging it up.

Starting it up for me was very exciting. Ken had been telling me it was going to kick the iMod’s ass. I had a little trouble getting mine to work at first as the sound kept coming out of the ipod. Once I got the sequence from Ken. It worked perfectly. (ipod on and set for music then solo on). No problem, no worries.

My Library of Music is Massive. I have  a good handful of my favorite records (Albums) ripped to Lossless, A majority of my music is ripped at 256 AAC. A very small portion at the old protected 128 from iTunes. I am looking at 44 Thousand+ songs.

I started listening to some Pop/Rock stuff from the 70’s ripped at 256. WOW! If you were wondering what the solo would unlock the SQ for a regular old MP3 you will be blown away. The Soundstage is so good. It was like listening to my old Hi-Fi set up in the late 70’s. Smooth, Velvety. The highs were greatly improved and smoothed out. This area is always a thorn in my side. Even the best headphones have had problems here. I think the LCD-2’s hands down are the best thing out there to date. Way ahead of the pack. The Solo just shot them through the Stratosphere! Mids are muscular. Guitars are quite happy here. The Low end is so rich and natural. I am talking about 70’s production on a record that was a one hit wonder. That all said it was very neutral and natural. Not hypey and not colored.

I moved on to Electronica, some alternative records. A bit of Classical. All these things were still applying.

I made the leap and started listening to the records I have ripped with Lossless. I started with Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Raising Sand. I use this as a reference all the time. It is very natural and organic. I know the process T-Bone goes through to make his records. He still uses tape. He is an a big fan of Analogue. This records sounds like you are in the room with the Musicians. THis is the Solo at work. Once again the Soundstage was huge but appropriate. The EQ on all levels was sweet beyond belief.

I also noticed that I have a little more wiggle room with volume from the RXMK2 using the Solo.

The biggest joy of the Solo is that you stop analyzing how the music sounds and you simply enjoy it. There is no better way to put it for me. I could try to get rather technical about all of this but really what I want to get across is that. If you have the desire to listen to better sounding music out of your iDevice. This is the way to go. It is not cheap and it is not expensive. The whole rig yes will cost but the people reading these forums are interested in a higher quality listening experience and that is what the Solo will give you. I do not see how you could be disappointed with this product. It does what it says it will do and then some. We all have different preferences for how we like our music to sound and I think this device allows for that. Which is not an easy thing to do. It simply allows your music to sound as good as it was recorded for better or worse. Everything goes into play and that should be understood. Your Headphones, Your Amp, your cabling. These are all things to experiment with to find what works best for you.

Overall: If you are an mp3/AAC listener you will hear great improvements. The Solo removes some of the graininess you used to hear. It smooths out the highs that are often harsh coming off these kinds of files. As for Lossless I noticed great openness, putting the air back in the recordings, reverbs became open and with liquid effect.

The overall tone of the machine is like unplugging your ears. You will want to re-listen to everything you own, well almost everything :).

Hats off to all at Cypher and those before and after that take the time to enrich all our lives by returning the sound quality to the iPod Generation!

Michael Lockwood

Pros: sound, build quality, customer service

Cons: None for my usage

I have been listening now for a number of hours to the Solo and thought I would pen a few words on it.

It is quite the brick! Larger by a small margin than the iPod classic and much bigger than my Stepdance it feels substantial, the case work is very well done, very professional, it feels like it is built to last and take the knocks of portable use. The three supplied straps are perfect to stack the whole lot together, one being longer so as to reach around the whole pile and keep things nice and stable! I know I shall get the higher quality cables in the near future so as to tidy things up a bit, at the moment my set up looks like Medusa's head!

To the sound. I was just using the 160G classic before, ALO LOD into my Stepdance. I really liked the sound of that set up and found nothing lacking really. The addition of the Solo has made me alter that point of view!

I guess the best way I can describe the Solo effect is to say that music becomes alive, it breathes, fills the headphones. The layers and textures that are shown with the Stepdance are ones I just did not hear with the classic (and I thought I heard layers and textures with the classic!). Textural is a good word to describe the sound, organic is another. It reminds me of the days long ago that I would listen to my vinyl record collection.

Vinyl engages the listener on far greater emotional level, this is what the solo brings to the table. Emotion from the performer is palpable, like one is privy to the inner thought just before they emote it in the performance.

Bass is tighter, deeper and more resonant, mid's move forward slightly but that is not the whole story, any sense of graininess is gone, velvet smooth yet able to portray the gravel in say Leonard Cohen's aged voice in the live from London set. Female vocals like Alison Krauss show her vocal maturity and at the same time the combined innocence that makes her voice remarkable. I have heard this all before with my previous set up, just not to the level, texture and emotion that the solo brings to the table!

Treble has no grain whatsoever, crystalline and detailed yet not fatiguing or grating, The sound of wooden stick hitting cymbal, one can hear the woodiness turning into metallic sheen as the sticks energy is transferred into the cymbal.

Julian Breams guitar is beautifully portrayed, resonance of the strings, fingers plucking or stroking the strings can be easily defined, the vibrations through the body of the guitar can be felt, really quite remarkable and one has to keep reminding ones self that this is all coming from a portable set up!

In conclusion. This is one of those landmark defining moments in HiFi I feel. It changes the playing field and what is thought Possible. Yes it is expensive but like a great many things that are the expense cannot just be thought of in terms of building and parts costs. When one brings into the equation that this unit's capabilities enable one to relax into the music more, forget about everyday worries or troubles then the initial cost pales in comparison I feel.

It is a bit like driving a Rolls Royce, one can get all the toys and quietness much cheaper in a Mercedes or BMW but one just won't get the level of feel good factor or bespoke feeling that you get in a Rolls. This is the same for the Solo..You just feel good with it in the chain, it makes music come alive, live and breath.

To Ken and the team, you did an outstanding job, it is worth every penny!

Equipment used: iPod Classic latest generation, Meier Corda Stepdance amplification, Interconnects, standard USB/LOD supplied with the solo, 3.5-3.5mm interconnect that came with the Stepdance.

Headphones (all fully burned in) Denon AH-D5000's with V3 Jmoney pads, Etymotic ER4S, Ultimate Ears Triple.fi10.

algorythm and porto 015.JPG

Pros: Extended

Cons: Clunky ... will wait for next iteration

Bought used and sold within a week ... kept the 801 ... great detail and frequency extension but just did not speak to me - especially since it was clunky - not very portable ... it sounded quite good ... but just did not speak to me ...

Will wait for similar products that do function like it but are smaller and cheaper ...

Pros: Excellent, clean DAC, great build quality

Cons: Pricey, can't double as a stand-alone USB DAC

I recently invested in a pricey set of UE in-ear monitors because I listen 3 hrs/day while commuting and to allow me to mix and master on the go.  I after listening to the output of my iphone and MacBook Air I realized I'd need a DAC and amp to do any critical listening.

I did some research and didn't find much that was both truly portable and bypassed the iphone's DAC.  I read about the AlgoRhythm Solo and it sounded like just what I needed and since ALO and Ken had such a great reputation I went ahead and pre-ordered back in January.  Just received the Solo and a matching Rx Mk II Amp.

The Solo uses a proprietary Apple chip that allows it to bypass the internal DAC of the iDevice (it works with all iPhones, iPods and iPads) in order to let it's internal Wolfson higher end DAC do the decoding.  To my ears, the difference in SQ from my iPhone 4 is subtle.  An improvement to be sure, but a very subtle one.  I've read that the DAC chips used in later iPods are of lesser quality so I expect this is where the Solo really pays off.  I'm planning to pick up a 160gb iPod Classic to pair with this rig because banding my phone together with two boxes makes it a bit tricky to play Angry Birds or switch gears suddenly to take a picture or take a call.

The bigger improvement is coming from the Amp itself, IMO.  This little amp really opens up the soundstage and makes the source material more lively.  Dynamics are more evident and the transient response allows me to hear the leading edge of each drum kick, vocal and note, making the overall sound punchier and more coherent.

I am dying to pair this rig with a high-end set of cans like HD 650's as I imagine they'd make my ipod really sing.

I am a bit disappointed to learn that although the Solo has a USB input it won't function as a straight USB DAC so it can't double as a DAC for my MacBook.  I'll ask Ken if this is possible to achieve with an upgrade or firmware update.

Overall, high marks!

Cypher Labs Algorhythm Solo

Cypher Labs LLC is pleased to offer the AlgoRhythm Solo, which delivers uncompressed, high quality audio from an iPod, iPhone or iPad to portable or home audio DACs and amplifiers, via both digital and analog outputs. Long lasting lithium-ion batteries mean your CD library is now portable and can go where you go.

Model Name/TypeMPNEAN/UPC
Head-Fi.org › Head Gear › Headphone Amplifiers › Amp/DACs › Cypher Labs Algorhythm Solo


text:
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

*Like New* Total Bithead for sale- cheap!

post #1 of 3
Thread Starter
Like new Total Bithead for sale- $150 + $3 shipping. Retails for $269 at HeadRoom. Still in the box and includes all the accoutrements. I used this maybe 3x- it does amazing things, but, to be totally honest, I just need the money right now, so this baby's gotta go.

read info and specs. here:

email me at if interested.
post #2 of 3
FYI, I just purchased this amp from the seller. So I suppose it is already sold.
post #3 of 3
Thread Starter
Yep! SOLD!
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text:
Fenninger takes podium in Schladming
March 18th, 2012

Fenninger ends season with Podium

Anna Fenninger ended the Giant Slalom season with second place to the defending World Cup Champion, Viktoria Rebensburg. Fenninger, who won her first World Cup race in Lienz in December posted the second fastest time on the first run and then extended her lead as she waited in the finish for Rebensburg to come down. In the scorching sun that gave the World Cup finals a tremendous atmosphere, Fenninger had done all she could in terms of trying to win the race, yet had to settle for second.

The race had been billed as the big shoot out for the Giant Slalom Globe between Lindsey Vonn and Rebensburg. Vonn was also chasing twenty world cup points that would give her the record for the most amount of World Cup points scored by a skier in a single season. For Vonn, the loss of her stick in the start gate on the second run meant that the point’s record will have to wait for another year. Having won 12 races, four crystal globes and taken the record for the most amount of points by a female, Vonn believes “everything happens for a reason.”

Fenninger had “put everything into the last race. It was my goal to do well here,” she explained after the race. “It was almost perfect. To win at home would have been brilliant, I tried but Vicky is in such good form and so strong that I can only congratulate her.”

Vonn will be back next season after training hard over the summer and was still happy to have placed second in the Giant Slalom Globe. “Last year I was fifteenth or so, so this is a great improvement,” she admitted. The 2000 point mark is “a great motivation,” she declared “but it is a lot of points and very difficult to do.”

With the Overall Globe, the Downhill Globe, the Super G Globe and the Super Combined Globe already in her possession as well as twelve race wins, Vonn believes it will a few days before she will feel the satisfaction of the season. “I am really proud of what I have accomplished this season,” she declared “but there is still more to come. I will train hard over the summer,” she ended with!

1. Viktoria Rebensburg (GER)
2. Anna Fenninger (AUT) HEAD
3. Federica Brignone (ITA)
13. Lizz Goergl (AUT) HEAD
24. Lindsey Vonn (USA) HEAD


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Anxious Lino
Regular Member

Date Joined Mar 2011
Total Posts : 60
   Posted 7/8/2012 11:24 PM (GMT -6)
hi! i was diagnosed as hypertensive at the age of 25.. since then i regularly have a RIGHT ARM PAIN which i dont know if it is connected being hypertensive.. before i refused to take hypertensive meds because that time i am still young.. instead i begin a healthy life style.. diet and exercise and no vices....
but as years go by , diet is not effective as well as exercise, my bp constantly at 130/90 sometimes it went high as 150/100.. So i came back to my doctor and take meds... now my bp fluctuates from 110/70 to 120/80.. but i am confused because before, when having a hypertensive attack i always have right arm pain starts from the right under arm down to the the little finger but now my bp is stable still i have occational attacks..

Also those right arm pain comes when i am very anxious or i am tired.. sometimes when having a strenouse physical activity... i already told it to my doctor but he refused to give any idea and told me that it is a simple muscle strain.. i did several exams test like stress test, 2D Echo,chest xray, 24hr holter monitoring and blood works which came back to normal.. my abnormal result was uric acid and cholesterol which is slightly elevated... but after taking meds for cholesterol it came back normal but still i have this right arm pain come and go. Sometimes i feel this pain while having dizzy after a heavy heavy heavy work out... please help

Forum Moderator

Date Joined Apr 2007
Total Posts : 32602
   Posted 7/9/2012 8:40 AM (GMT -6)
Looks like your Dr. has check out your heart and does not feel that your right arm pain is related to heart or cardiovascular disease.  Your BP is great now that you are on medications and good for you for getting your
cholesterol back in the normal range.
I cannot say what is causing your arm pain however an injury, muscle pull,  or a pinched nerve in the upper arm region are some of the common causes of pain. Also anxiety and strenous physical activity may be your culprit which you posted you have both of these possible causes in your life.
Take care and I hope you find the reason for your arm pain.
Moderator: Anxiety, Osteoarthritis,
GERD/Heartburn and Heart/Cardiovascular Disease.

"I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship" ~ Louisa May Alcott
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Old 04-22-2008, 09:02 PM   #6
TCgottapee TCgottapee is offline
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Re: Tight Bladder Neck Urge Rention? 23 YO Now What? I need Help

Originally Posted by UnNaMeD1 View Post
Ok since I was about 13 I have had the urge to urinate almost all the time. I look at how much my friends drink before they go and they all are like man you going way to often. I can drink 5 mouthfuls of water, and be in the restroom less than 30 mins. I wake up twice a night to take a leak, I also feel dehydrated at night. Only now I'm getting the urge more often. I now sometimes feel like it leaks drop or to if I try to hold it. I cannot hold back from urinateing if I have to go I gotta go then. Also once in a blue moon I urinate a cloudy color that feels like needles coming through my penis and bladder neck. I have to litterly message it for like 5 minutes when this happens. The pee is usually clear except morning pee's which is orange colored, which I have to drink lots of water to get the urine flowing again, and get myself feeling good. Cuase usually in the mornings I feel very cold until I start urinateing. Or maybe it's because its cold in the morning anyway I have chills/goosebumps sometimes.

I have been doing so measuring amounts myself. I just grabbed one of those powerade 32 oz bottles. Now listen to this, I have filled one of those bottles almost to the rim so I know my bladder can hold alot. But sometimes I get this urge so bad, and I try the bottle method again to see how much comes out and it's not even a half of cup of urination. Whats going on with it? Surely if I can almost fill a 32 oz bottler once in a blue moon I should be able to hold the amount at all times shouldn't I? Sometimes when I go I have a nice thick stream, then other times it's barely even a stream almost a dribble. Sometimes after I finished I start up full stream again then again Seems like I have to wait for a while and let my bladder refill sometimes and push some more out.

Ok so now Im 23 been going to a urologists for about 3 months now. I have had a urinalyisies at every visit for infection which is negative. First time I had a post void residue test. He said not bad on my post void. Then I was prescribed Detral LA. Which didn't help much still had a urge but seemed to hold alot more urine though. STill a slow stream weak with dribbling, spraying sometimes etc. And alot more of waiting to refill and push whatever is left in my bladder out.

Next visit was a flowmetery said my flow was weak. So I was sent home and was suggested a cystocopy.

Came back again told him i have had some severe Cramping Like a knife being twisted in my lower left side stomach pains which to me consists with diverticulitis. I fall in the floor roll. It last about 15 mins to 30 Which about landed me in the emergency room the last episode. I think my instestines about exploded from pressure. But during these episodes it sends these shocks of pain from the lower left side area down through my bladder and through my penis. Which I have had these attacks on and off since I was a child they may come only once a year then sometimes they may come 2 or 3 times. Then I hear this very loud roaring sounding like a balloon full of water in my lower left side then the bowel seems to break through the blockage then I have a bowel movement WHich doesn't seem to be constipation seem to be a bunch of funny shaped dumps looks that looks to be soft, but I also see what may be some consipation as well within in it, after there out the pain goes away. Could this be related?

I also told him I feel like something is always jumping or contracting near my prostate which makes my urethra jump as well. I guess these are spasms. So he told me to take a leak and come get another ultrasound this time he ultrasounds my kidneys (cause he put the ultrasound on my ribcage on both sides. Then he done my bladder and said your not emptying your baldder completely. I was then put I ditropan which I hated. I was told to come back in two weeks for a cystocopy to stretch my bladder and look inside.

Finally I came back for a cystocopy and finally had it done. I had a cathereter done first to drain it I guess since I didn't have to urinate. I'm not sure they even got it all drained all I felt was alot of poking and pain in the bladder neck area. Then they somehow got that huge scope up through it though. He said my bladder looked normal. But I didn't feel him put any type of fluid to strech it out like he said he was going to do. But they did squirt a huge needle up my pee hole of stuff twice. About 1 minute after inserting the scope I said I felt like I had to pee. So he took it out. Then I was told to pee in a bottle which hurt like u know, and the bottle barely even filled up. Anyway he may have pumped air up there cause my penis like farted jelly like stuff out the next urniation they had suirted up in there. Was that normal?

Then I was told I had a tight bladder neck, and spasms, something about a sphinter muscle. And that if I could empty my bladder completely I wouldn't have the urge nor the leaking feeling anymore. I really wasn't listening cause all I could think about was how bad it was going to hurt to pee again when I got home. I Got prescribed Valium, and was told not to use any other meds he had prescribed. Told to come back in 6 weeks well now 1 week later no difference really, and the stream is still slow at times with low volume, seems my bladder can hold more as I mentioned above. But it's just not. I also asked if this doesn't work whats next? he said will talk about that in 6 weeks.

So whats next for me? Why can I urinate a think solid stream then at other times a small thin stream? Why can my bladder hold alot more at other times, and then alot less at others? Why the first post void not bad, then the second time he said your not emptying your bladder? If this Valium does not help what can be done for me? I've just about lost all hope!

This has seriously ruined my life, I can't go anywhere, I can't enjoy nothing, I've completely lost interests in just about everything. All I wanna do now is sleep. I so badly want to go out and enjoy my early 20's.

Man, I can relate to your story totally, except that I am now 43 and have been dealing with bladder issues since I was about 5. This has been a vexation on my life and I truly believe I could have accomplished more had I not had to deal with this. On the other hand, my symptoms have had a tendency to come and go, or increase and decrease through time, with varying persistance throughout my life.

Let me say that I hope you are in better spirits and feeling better. I have lived through your story plus a bunch of other details which I will tell you.

The bottom line for me is I have a tight bladder neck and may need a surgery called BNI, bladder neck incision, where they incise in two places by cutting at the 5 o'clock and 7 o'clock position and then use a loop to remove the tissue in between. I have chosen not to do this for now because of the side effect, retrograde ejaculation, where semen is forced via the path of least resistance into the bladder instead of out of the penis. This is an undesirable consequence, aside from a 5 day layup with a catheter and 6 week "take it easy"recovery. I am still considering this surgery.

My symptoms are more nagging lately, and vary from day to day. I get that same pain in the left side and it does increase if I eat alot and a full colon corresponds to a full ureter. The ureter is involved in urinary reflux. The syndrome begins with a tight bladder which leads to urinarary retention and because of high pressure some urine can be forced back up into the ureter.

In my case I have had all this going on but have stayed healthy and strong, while miserable and depressed. Most of my friends dont even know I have a problem because I look healthy. I've had many different diagnoses, most correct and many treatments. It started as a UTI as a child, with blood in urine. Later in life I developed calcium stones in my prostate ducts, which were removed a few times by cysto, and also times when chunks of fibrin, a white waxy susbstance came shooting out. These bouts can cause low grade infections that can cause chills and make you feel miserable, but not so bad you can't function, mostly.

My condition was treated as a child repeatedly by my family doctor and also by a urologist, essentially they gave me antibiotics which were effective for a while, then at 23 I started seeing a urologist every six months. He kept me on antibiotics for years for a problem I understood to be prostate stones which were not removable. He did urethral dilations in his office whenever I felt tight down there.

Then one day, I couldn't pass water at all and went to the emergency room. There were stones blocking my passage. He subsequently removed the stones using a cystoscope and opening the ducts with ballons. Once the stones were gone I felt much better for a few years then started having symptoms again. This time he removed stones again and did a resection of my prostate. After I recovered from that, I felt great. For a long time I had no symptoms and never did I have any sexual malfunctions. I managed to father 3 children throughout the years, and I think my semen volume increased after prostate resection.

After UTI's and prostatic calculi, my diagnosis became urethral stricture. This led to more dilations, which probably led to eventual scar tissue in my bladder neck. Or perhaps its been the problem all along and led to the stones and now reflux. Its now persistant in that I feel the urge to go too often and a dull pain in my left abdomen and sometimes flank pain. My urologist say the surgery will cure me forever except with retrograde ejaculation. I also fear incontinence, though most of my sources say its not likely. If I felt any worse I'd do it tomorrow, but I feel just not terrible enough to interrupt my life and take the risk.


text:
HealthBoards (
-   Lupus (
-   -   Aps (

LMHART 02-03-2006 04:29 AM

Hi everyone,
I want to tell everyone my little story about firing my rheumatologist. My original one moved out of the country and one of his partners took over. That was the worst day of my life. He was rude, confusing, abrupt, and uninformed. For some reason, my ANA came back negative (it does that at a certain lab). So, he confused me and I thought that he said that I didn't have Lupus. The more I asked questions, the nastier he got! I had three bad appointments with him and that was enough. He was such a monster! My ins doesn't cover any other doc, so I was prepared to pay cash. He had started me on Imuran and I started bleeding vaginally, hemorragic bladder, nosebleeds, etc. So, I stopped it. Well, I am still bleeding. I was then told about another rheumy who works out of the same building but doesn't take my ins yet. I went to see him and he was GREAT! He answered all those questions plus some. He said he doesn't care about the ANA and that the anti-nDNA was very positive - specific to Lupus. He agreed that I have Cushings from the prednisone (2 years of it) and that they should be used as needed from now on. I am weaning off of them.
But the most interesting things he told me blew my mind. He said that I have RUPUS. A diagnosis of Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis. That is why I will have funky blood results sometimes uncommon to just Lupus patients. It is not a dual diagnosis, but something a little different.
The other thing was something that VEEJ caught. I developed that Livido Reticularis awhile back and VEEJ had commented that APS patients usually get that. Well, this doc asked why I wasn't on Aspirin therapy!!! Yep, I have the Hughes syndrome. He was very disappointed that no one told me about it. He gave me my lab copies and there it was! That would explain the symptoms that I have been having. I have positive D-Dimers and am often tested for pulmonary embolisms. I have memory loss, vision loss, and confusion that resolves. I cannot believe that the other doc neglected to tell me something so important and easily treated. Thank goodness that I didn't fly or drive long distances because of the blood clot risk.
I just want everyone to know that they are in charge of their body and they can hire/fire whomever they want. There are so many more shocking details regarding my meds, including mistakes, that I won't bore you with. Just be in charge of your body and don't let people push you around. Make sure that you are being monitored appropriately. My other doc never did a 24 hour urine and knew that I had Lupus Nephritis several times.
I am so glad that I have my friends on this site that get my wheels turning. VEEJ got me thinking and I pursued it and got a second opinion.
Thanks to all of you and I hope that I can help you out someday!
Leslie :)

VeeJ 02-03-2006 06:49 AM

Re: Aps
Dear Leslie, I'm really glad you switched rheumies & tacks, plus that your new rheumie looked into APS and now knows to watch & treat you if need be.

I wonder if you are the only one here who fulfills both the ACR criteria for lupus & RA, i.e., to have "rhupus"? Aren't the ACR criteria for RA roughly as confusing and difficult to fathom as the ones for lupus? (Yikes!)

Anyway, I suspect it takes a really sound rheumie to see both, not to try to pigeonhole you into either/or, and make that unusual "call".

Did your bleeding stop yet? HOPE SO! Looking forward to your next update. Bye for now. Always, Vee

VeeJ 02-03-2006 06:52 AM

Re: Aps
Leslie, P.S. I hope AngelicBrat sees your post, as she did a lot a few years back to throw a spotlight onto APS. Does anyone know how she is doing? V.

pambyboo 02-03-2006 10:28 AM

Re: Aps
I too have Rhupus- and am having a hard time. I went to the Mayo Clinic, and the doctor there was basically the same as your disaster story. (See my posting under "need support"). I had a question- can you elaborate more on the lab's being messed up and not specific for lupus? I was kind of confused. Thanks-

LMHART 02-03-2006 05:45 PM

Re: Aps
VeeJ - thanks again. No, my bleeding has not totally stopped. It has slowed down a lot, though. My platelets are actually too high, figure that. I have not been on this site for so long because of all this craziness with the doc's and trying to keep my job. I have been so sick and trying to make it through gracefully! So, I have not heard too much of Angelicbrat. Thank goodness she has the sticky posts for everyone out there to read. I have never heard of rhupus. I am going to research it more. How do you stay so informed? ;)
Pambyboo - the lab results over the past couple years are all over the map. One time I am positive for something and then it comes back totally normal. Like my came back normal last time but my CCPIGG for RA came back very positive. The not so nice doc said that it didn't make sense. He said that the very positive RA test should influence a very high ANA result. He said that he wasn't impressed with my ANA. (I had high positives sometimes, though in the past.) So, I thought that I didn't have Lupus. He snapped at me and said not to put words in his mouth! He just said that my case was too confusing and gave him a headache. I would have full blown pericarditis and pleurisy, proteinuria, etc., etc and my labs would be perfect. He never tested the anti-ndna, the new doc did. My sed rates were always high, though. The old doc said that I didn't fit the "typical" Lupus patient. When the Lupus would be in control, the RA would flare terribly, to where I could barely walk. I started back on the Enbrel and feel so much better RA wise. The new doc says that Rhupus patients are VERY complicated and are a great challenge. I think that most docs don't understand it and are intimidated by it. That's when they get defensive when asked questions that they cannot answer. I am so lucky that I found someone who loves a challenge. He said that Rhupus is a mystery still but can be treated basically the same as SLE & RA, we just have to be monitored closer. The kidneys, CNS and heart are our big issues. What does your doc say? What state are you in? I bet that so many of these people on this site actually have Rhupus and just don't know it yet. Can't wait to hear back from you!
Leslie :)

cookingmom 02-04-2006 12:35 PM

Re: Aps
Holy Moly ! I never heard of rupus - I have SLE and RA - my rheumie calls it lupus arthritis - could this be rupus :confused: I also have APS.

It never ceases to amaze me - and scare me - that dr.'s are not up on this. It stresses the need to learn as much as you can and to make sure your dr. listens to what you have to say about how you are feeling. I think that many, many people with these diseases do not fit into the exact mold of what the criteria say - there is a big gray area and dr.'s need to pay more attention to that.

I am thankful for all that I learn on these posts. Take care everyone.

LMHART 02-04-2006 07:38 PM

Re: Aps
I agree! It's so complicated with just Lupus. I am not sure if having Ra and SLE automatically label the Rhupus, I had never heard of it before either. I just know that my new rheumy says that people get labeled with Lupus and all those hot, painful joints are swept under the rug as the old "lupus flare". Their doc is actually missing the other diagnosis because they are so stcuk on the SLE. I do know that a [U]specific[/U] combination of drugs is specific to Rhupus. I have been on Plaquenil for a long time and he is planning on taking me off next month. He says that Plaquenil is great for [I]most[/I] patients but for "Rhupus" it is considered too mild. There are a variety of drugs that treat both diseases and hit them hard. My other rheumy was always so gloomy about my prognosis, this one is so excited and optismistic. He has a very positive attitude and says that he loves a challenge. He just sweeps through my labs and says that it all makes sense when you look at the big picture. He said that Rhupus is the hot topic among rheumatologists -ones that keep current, that is!
The key with our disease is to monitor, monitor, monitor. We must have the 24 hour urine tests done on schedule, drink 2-3 liters of water PER DAY, and balance our meds. He believes in taking the least amount of meds with the most results. He said that he promises to not sacrifice one organ to save another. Makes sense to me! The other guy was going to start me on Remicaide IV infusions and this new one had a fit. He said that he would like to leave my liver alone and only use that as a last resort. The Enbrel is working so well for me. We know there is a chance of producing Lupus antibodies, but he said we would handle that immediately if that happened, which is rare. As far as the steroids, I am weaning off them and will only take them as needed or for the proteinuria, etc. He said that they are more effective to take for flares in moderate amounts, like for a week, then everyday like I have been doing.
I hope that you are on the right track and are stopping the progression of these diseases. Do all you can to get your life back!
This board is a great start to learn. My rheumy says that experienced patients know more than he ever will. How true!!!
Leslie :wave:

VeeJ 02-05-2006 04:45 AM

Re: Aps
Dear Cooking Mom & Leslie, re: "lupus arthritis"---

I asked my rheumie to explain the relationship between lupus and RA when I was first Dx'ed, as I hurt almost daily, have some swelling, and have first cousins on both sides with full-blown RA.

Basically he said that like the lupus "4 of 11" criteria, the RA "4 of 7" criteria are tricky. Some must exist for 6 weeks; some have to be observed by a physician; etc. BUT, having an elevated RF is only one criteria and doesn't necessarily mean you have RA. Apparently RF can elevate in lupus patients *without* the other required criteria.

So I have arthritis that he calls simply "lupus arthritis". BUT it's not RA, meaning not erosive, no subcutaneous nodules, swelling doesn't last 6 weeks, no "mouse bites" on X-rays, etc... So there really IS something some rheumies refer to as "lupus arthritis", but it's doesn't fulfill the criteria for RA in *most* lupus patients.

For what that's worth... Leslie, I hope you'll correct anything I just wrote that's wrong or misleading. And CookingMom, I hope you are getting all the help required. All my best, Vee

LMHART 02-05-2006 09:35 PM

Re: Aps
Hi Veej,
No corrections, that sounds right. My doc just says that other docs are overlooking that a patient may have RA also. Which is sad because the majority of damage is done within the first year. I can tell a huge difference between my Lupus flare and the RA flare. The pain is totally different. The CCP blood test is 99.9% definitive for RA. The RF helps, but it can also be positive with just Lupus alone. It can be negative with RA alone. And, ANA's can be positive with just RA. That's why we all need a REALLY good rheumy who is trained well and keeping up with the latest info on all of this. From what I understood, Rhupus is a diagnosis of RA and SLE "plus some". I still think that name is so funny! When I learn more about this, I will post something. I do hope that everyone out there has been tested appropriately. I can't wait for the day that I can sit back and put my trust 100% in the doc's hands. I always have one eye open, thank goodness that I did with the last one!
Thanks for the info!
Leslie ;)

patience 50 02-06-2006 06:00 AM

Re: Aps
Hi Leslie,

Cheering for you for being your own advocate here. :bouncing: I tested pos. for both diseases two years ago as well. I was told at the time that it is very rare to have both RA and Lupus in combination but that it does happen. My Rheumie currently is wondering about the Lupus dx. as the last 4 sets of blood work have come back very normal. He is now telling me that I have a very mild form of the disease that it only seems to flare when there is other stress on my body, ( except of course when I go to sunny areas and the develope sores). He thinks this last long flare was because my thyroid was undertreated for more than 5 years. Because my systems were struggling so hard from a lowered thyroxine level it kicked up a flare and set my immune system into overdrive. He feels if my family Dr. and my endo can keep my thyroid level for a couple years my lupus symptoms, except for my skin, will subside because I have always gone into a spontaneous remission after pregnancies and illness that caused flares have cleared up. I suppose it all sounds logical. Time will tell.

For now, I would have to remind you that long ago we all talked about always getting copies of any tests done for your own records. I always do and it is much easier to form pertinant questions when you have the time to read it at home.

Take care. Hugs and luv to you
May God Bless and Keep Us All
Patience 50

LMHART 02-06-2006 09:19 AM

Re: Aps
Same to you Patience! I hope that you don't have SLE. That would be a miracle in itself. I pray that you work through this with wonderful results. I agree about those lab results. It is so important. I was getting a copy of each one until my doc left the country. Then the new guy acted like I was asking for his firstborn!!! I eventually did get copies of everything. Thanks for your guidance like always!
Hugs and prayers to YOU!
Leslie :)

patience 50 02-06-2006 01:18 PM

Re: Aps
Hi Leslie,

I think I have somehow mislead you.
I do not have SLE. I have been dxed with scarring discoid lupus with associated mixed connective tissue disease. Most of what is effected on me is my skin and the connective tissue in my joints. I have only ever had 1 bout of pericariditis years ago and only 3 bouts of pluerisy in all my life. The Dr feels that I had flares during all three pregnancies and later after a surgery. I do also have intestinal problems, ( diverticulosous ) that can be tricky to control.

This is why I say I have a very mild form of the disease. My skin looks horrible and my joints hurt a lot. I do physical therapy exercises every day to maintain what I have left and hope there is no more damage but my major organs do not seem to have suffered major problems. I have some minor interstitial tissue damage in my lungs and kidneys but I can function around that.

At the time when my Lupus tests were coming back pos. I also tested pos. for RA and Hashimoto's thyroiditis ( also an autoimmune disease ). So you see, several things can go on at once in one body. Hope this clears things up a bit. I don't ever want to mislead anyone into thinking I have SLE when I have not been dxed with that form of Lupus.

May God Bless and Keep Us All
Patience 50 :wave:

LMHART 02-06-2006 07:41 PM

Re: Aps
Hi there,
I understand. Boy, these diagnoses get more and more complicated! ;)
I hope that everything works out well for you, Patience. I should have remembered your diagnosis from reading all your posts. But, it's been awile. Hope you're staying in where it's's 28 here in Michigan.
Take care!

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