It is now the month of December, when the greatest part of the city is in a bustle. Loose reins are given to public dissipation; everywhere you may hear the sound of great preparations, as if there were some real difference between the days devoted to Saturn and those for transacting business….Were you here, I would willingly confer with you as to the plan of our conduct; whether we should eve in our usual way, or, to avoid singularity, both take a better supper and throw off the toga.

Seneca
–From the Epistolae

It is a deletion mutation of a gene that has a specific impact on the function of T cells. CCR5-Δ32 is widely dispersed throughout Northern Europe and in those of European descent. It has been hypothesized that this allele was favored by natural selection during the Black Death, or during smallpox outbreaks, which is unlikely, given that the frequency of CCR5-Δ32 in Bronze Age samples is similar to that seen today.^[4] The allele has a negative effect upon T cell function, but appears to protect against smallpox, plague and HIV. Individuals with the Δ32 allele of CCR5 are healthy, suggesting that CCR5 is largely dispensable. However, CCR5 plays a role in mediating resistance to West Nile virus infection in humans, as CCR5-Δ32 individuals are enriched in cohorts of West Nile virus symptomatic patients ^[5], indicating that all of the functions of CCR5 may not be compensated by other receptors.

While CCR5 has multiple variants in its coding region, the deletion of a 32-bp segment results in a nonfunctional receptor, thus preventing HIV R5 entry; two copies of this allele provide strong protection against HIV infection.^[6] This allele is found in 5-14% of Europeans but is rare in Africans and Asians.^[7] Multiple studies of HIV-infected persons have shown that presence of one copy of this allele delays progression to the condition of AIDS by about 2 years. CCR5-Δ32 decreases the number of CCR5 proteins on the outside of the CD4 cell, which can have a large effect on the HIV disease progression rates. It is possible that a person with the CCR5-Δ32 receptor allele will not be infected with HIV R5 strains.

Liber I

Epistula I

1. Ita fac, mi Lucili: vindica te tibi, et tempus quod adhuc aut auferebatur aut subripiebatur aut excidebat collige et serva. Persuade tibi hoc sic esse ut scribo: quaedam tempora eripiuntur nobis, quaedam subducuntur, quaedam effluunt. Turpissima tamen est iactura quae per neglegentiam fit. Et si volueris attendere, magna pars vitae elabitur male agentibus, maxima nihil agentibus, tota vita aliud agentibus.

2. Quem mihi dabis qui aliquod pretium tempori ponat, qui diem aestimet, qui intellegat se cotidie mori? In hoc enim fallimur, quod mortem prospicimus: magna pars eius iam praeterit; quidquid aetatis retro est mors tenet. Fac ergo, mi Lucili, quod facere te scribis, omnes horas complectere; sic fiet ut minus ex crastino pendeas, si hodierno manum inieceris.

3. Dum differtur vita transcurrit. Omnia, Lucili, aliena sunt, tempus tantum nostrum est; in huius rei unius fugacis ac lubricae possessionem natura nos misit, ex qua expellit quicumque vult. Et tanta stultitia mortalium est ut quae minima et vilissima sunt, certe reparabilia, imputari sibi cum impetravere patiantur, nemo se iudicet quicquam debere qui tempus accepit, cum interim hoc unum est quod negratus quidem potest reddere.

4. Interrogabis fortasse quid ego faciam qui tibi ista praecipio. Fatebor ingenue: quod apud luxuriosum sed diligentem evenit, ratio mihi constat impensae. Non possum dicere nihil perdere, sed quid perdam et quare et quemadmodum dicam; causas paupertatis meae reddam. Sed evenit mihi quod plerisque non suo vitio ad inopiam redactis: omnes ignoscunt, nemo succurrit.

5. Quid ergo est? non puto pauperem cui quantulumcumque superest sat est; tu tamen malo serves tua, et bono tempore incipies. Nam ut visum est maioribus nostris, ’sera parsimonia in fundo est’; non enim tantum minimum in imo sed pessimum remanet. Vale.

REALITY IS SINISTER

WASTEMAN

PHOTO: STEVE DUNCAN 

PHOTO : WILL ROBSON-SCOTT

Helvete

Targets for both highspeed internet access and getting government services online.
Political leaving messages calling on the UK and the US to stop attacks on Muslims and.

-SUBMISSION BY AWESOME EM

SOLSTICE CANYON, MALIBU

1968 NBC outraged football fans by cutting away from the final minutes of a game to air a TV special, “Heidi,” on schedule. Viewers were deprived of seeing the Oakland Raiders come from behind to beat the New York Jets 43-32.

Mars, in Roman religion and mythology, god of war. In early Roman times he was a god of agriculture, but in later religion (when he was identified with the Greek ARES) he was primarily associated with war. Mars was the father of Romulus, the founder of the Roman nation, and, next to Jupiter, he enjoyed the highest position in Roman religion. The Salii, his priests, honored him by dancing in full armor in the Campus Martius, the site of his altar. Chariot races and the sacrifice of animals were primary features of the festivals held in his honor in March (named for him) and October. Mars was represented as an armed warrior. His attributes include the spear and shield, and the wolf and woodpecker were sacred to him. He was frequently associated  with Bellona the Roman goddess of war.

Photography by Jasper Russell Watts

SEE THE SIGNS

TO BE ANNOUNCED:

THREE ACTS IN AN OPERA OF VIOLENCE..

By August 1968 Charles Manson and his “Family” had already been evicted from Dennis Wilson (of The Beach Boys) house and had established a base for the group at Spahn’s Movie Ranch, near Topanga Canyon. On March 23, 1969, Manson called, uninvited, on 10050 Cielo Drive, which he had known as the residence of record producer, Terry Melcher. By that time Melcher was no longer residing there; since that February, the tenants had been actress Sharon Tate and her husband, film director Roman Polanski.

February 28th 1997, North Hollywood. A series of bank robberies culminated in quite possibly the most violent shootout in modern American police history. The lives of 36 patrons and 12 employees were endangered when two heavily armed men, Larry Phillips Jr and Emil Matasareanu, wearing body armor decided to rob the Bank of America in North Hollywood. Seen entering the bank by Los Angeles police officers, the two men intimidated employees and patrons by firing shots inside while not realizing that Los Angeles police officers were surrounding the building. As they left the bank, the robbers became aware of their predicament and began shooting at police and civilians.

Three civilians and nine officers were shot within the first five minutes of the shootout, and a total of 350 officers were called to the scene. As police bullets bounced off the suspects, it became evident that the two men were wearing body armor and had out-gunned the police with their armor piercing bullets and semiautomatic weapons. A total of seven civilians and eleven LAPD officers were injured. Despite the overwhelming odds, many heroic officers, while in grave danger, initiated officer and citizen rescues as the suspects continued to exchange shots with other officers. The suspects fired more than 1,100 rounds from their semiautomatic assault rifles. Eventually, members of the LAPD SWAT team shot and killed them both. This event in Los Angeles history, changed law enforcement rules of engagement throughout the country.

This was my television memory; now I was seeing first hand what was really happening.
I peered through my side-window as the copter continued to circle in a steep bank. I could see that traffic was moving through the intersection below us. I watched as various cars whipped in a U-turn around to avoid the ominous chaos ahead. There were clusters of people milling around. They were throwing rocks and bottles at the passing cars. There were no police officers around, just an unruly mob venting hate on innocent motorists who happened to find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Other figures on the street were darting in and out of a liquor store at the corner, taking what they wanted. The looting, the beating and the hysteria was going on right below me. My mind went back 27 years to when I covered the Watts riots in 1965. I tried to draw up similarities that might help my reports on what was going on below. I remember telling myself that the big difference was that in Watts, they had fires.

ALL SHIRTS CUT & SEW, FOUR COLOR PROCESS