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We're Smith & Williamson's charity The Bristol office of accountancy, investment management and tax group, Smith & Williamson, has announced BRACE as its charity of the year for 2016-17. Around 200 staff from Smith & Williamson’s Bristol office voted for their charity of choice and BRACE came out on top. Funds raised by the firm over the next 12 months will help to maintain BRACE’s cutting edge Brain Bank in the Learning and Research Centre at Southmead Hospital. Mike Lea, Managing Partner at Smith & Williamson’s Bristol office, recently visited the SW Dementia Brain Bank (SWDBB) where he met BRACE’s Chief Executive Mark Poarch and Brain Bank Manager Dr Laura Palmer for a tour of the facility and to find out more about the ground-breaking work that is being done. Mike Lea said, “Dementia touches the lives of so many people and BRACE is doing an incredible job in funding research to better understand this devastating condition. We are delighted to announce BRACE as the main beneficiary of our fundraising activities over the next 12 months. We look forward to hearing more about their work and doing as much as we can to help.” Mark Poarch, Chief Executive of BRACE, said, “We were delighted to hear of Smith & Williamson’s decision to support dementia research with BRACE. The backing of a major professional firm can have such an impact on our fundraising and help us to build urgently-needed resources for new science here in the South West.” He continued, “It was great to show Mike the world-leading research facilities represented by the Brain Bank. Funding research remains the best hope we have to find real treatments for this cruel condition. The Smith & Williamson team are setting about their fundraising task with great enthusiasm and I know they will make a big difference this year.”

Guest Blogger: A Christian Astronomer Reflects on the Total Solar Eclipse (This article was written to be published this coming Monday, August 21, but we decided to post it a few days early due to the tremendous interest in the upcoming total solar eclipse.) My name is Andy Puckett, and I’m a professional astronomer. When I look at the world around me, I tend to see the big picture. The Sun “rises and sets” because the Earth rotates. Seasons change due to the tilt of the Earth’s axis. The position and phase of the Moon are based on the predictable motions of the Moon and the Earth. And all of these are based on the physical laws of the universe: motion, gravitation, acceleration. I am also a Christian, so I see God’s hand in all of this. I know that He doesn’t move the moons and planets capriciously. I see the order and predictability of their motions. And I believe that God wrote the underlying laws of motion, and that he also gave me the curiosity to try to understand them. Today (August 21st), many of you may get to see a total eclipse of the Sun. That’s when the Moon gets directly between the Earth and the Sun, and you find yourself in the darkest part of the Moon’s shadow. The Moon is 400 times smaller than the Sun but also 400 times closer, which is the happy “coincidence” that makes this amazing event possible. But the Moon’s orbital plane doesn’t line up perfectly with the Earth’s, which is what prevents solar eclipses from being regular monthly events. It’s very rare that a total solar eclipse passes within driving distance of your house, and even rarer for one to pass directly over where you live. If you do happen to be within the 70-mile wide “path of totality” today, you’re in for a treat! For up to 2 minutes 40 seconds, it will become as dark as night; the wind will get cooler and change direction; the solar corona will pop into view; and everyone around you will know that they’ve experienced something extraordinary. Total Solar Eclipse I’m a scientist, and there’s great science to be done during an eclipse, but that’s not my plan for today. I’ve been looking forward to this eclipse for 20 years, so I’m going to just take it all in. And I’m going to make sure my family gets to experience it safely, including my brother-in-law Shannon and all of our kids. I hope to help them see the big picture, and God’s hand in all of it. A note from Shannon about this week’s article: Andy Puckett is my brother-in-law and the Assistant Professor of Astrophysics at Columbus State University in Columbus, GA. Andy is also a practicing Catholic and is perhaps more excited than anyone else I know about the much-anticipated Total Solar Eclipse, set to dazzle us this Monday. For this article, Orin and I asked Andy to do an eclipse-related followup to Orin’s joy-themed article from a few weeks ago, entitled “Ongoing Creation”. In that article, Orin asked the question: “What is it that you are doing these days, using the creative gifts given you, at the service of God and the Church?” In our view, through the witness of his Catholic faith and the joyful enthusiasm with which he shares his knowledge of our physical universe, Andy is daily answering God’s call to glorify God with his life. We thank Andy for taking the time to write this for us.

Tag Archives: bilderberg We are creating videos for the proper interpretation of the geopolitical and geo-economic events in the hope that when more people understand their true significance, they will be able to supplant the motives of those who are taking them for fools! Continue reading The Covert Hybrid WW3 Video Series→ In the early part of our uncivilization, there were only three estates, each with distinct political rights: Priests or spiritual lords Nobility or temporal lords Commoners or slaves Soon, the fourth estate emerged from free thinkers, philosophers, poets and playwrights. Wired technologies facilitated a new vocation called journalism. Just like its predecessor, journalism has its own limits, one of which is the unidirectional flow of information. Today, a more decentralized exercise of sharing information and views is helping shape public opinion, i.e. blogging. While the Fourth Estate has gone bigger and better, the First and Second Estate have decided to join forces in order to have full control of the components of the Fourth Estate. This resulted to a profound subjugation of the Third Estate. Collectively, this elite force dominating the planet right now is called the Deep State. Thanks to Rick2012 for the article below… The Dollar and the Deep State If we consider the Fed’s policies (tapering, etc.) solely within the narrow confines of the corporatocracy or a strictly financial context, we are in effect touching the foot of the elephant and declaring the creature to be short and roundish. I have been studying the Deep State for 40 years, before it had gained the nifty name “deep state.” What others describe as the Deep State I term the National Security State which enables the American Empire, a vast structure that incorporates hard and soft power–military, diplomatic, intelligence, finance, commercial, energy, media, higher education–in a system of global domination and influence. Back in 2007 I drew a simplified chart of the Imperial structure, what I called the Elite Maintaining and Extending Global Dominance (EMEGD): At a very superficial level, some pundits have sought a Master Control in the Trilateral Commission or similar elite gatherings. Such groups are certainly one cell within the Empire, but each is no more important than other parts, just as killer T-cells are just one of dozens of cell types in the immune system. One key feature of the Deep State is that it makes decisions behind closed doors and the surface government simply ratifies or approves the decisions. A second key feature is that the Deep State decision-makers have access to an entire world of secret intelligence. Here is an example from the late 1960s, when the mere existence of the National Security Agency (NSA) was a state secret. Though the Soviet Union made every effort to hide its failures in space, it was an ill-kept secret that a number of their manned flights failed in space and the astronauts died. The NSA had tapped the main undersea cables, and may have already had other collection capabilities in place, for the U.S. intercepted a tearful phone call from Soviet Leader Brezhnev to the doomed astronauts, a call made once it had become clear there was no hope of their capsule returning to Earth. There is another, more shadowy, more indefinable government that is not explained in Civics 101 or observable to tourists at the White House or the Capitol. The subsurface part of the iceberg I shall call the Deep State, which operates according to its own compass heading regardless of who is formally in power.The term “Deep State” was coined in Turkey and is said to be a system composed of high-level elements within the intelligence services, military, security, judiciary and organized crime. I use the term to mean a hybrid association of elements of government and parts of top-level finance and industry that is effectively able to govern the United States without reference to the consent of the governed as expressed through the formal political process. I would say that only senior military or intelligence officers have any realistic grasp of the true scope, power and complexity of the Deep State and its Empire.Those with no grasp of military matters cannot possibly understand the Deep State. If you don’t have any real sense of the scope of the National Security State, you are in effect touching the foot of the elephant and declaring the creature is perhaps two feet tall. The Deep State arose in World War II, as the mechanisms of electoral governance had failed to prepare the nation for global war. The goal of winning the war relegated the conventional electoral government to rubber-stamping Deep State decisions and policies. After the war, the need to stabilize (if not “win”) the Cold War actually extended the Deep State. Now, the global war on terror (GWOT) is the justification. One way to understand the Deep State is to trace the vectors of dependency. The Deep State needs the nation to survive, but the nation does not need the Deep State to survive (despite the groupthink within the Deep State that “we are the only thing keeping this thing together.”) The nation would survive without the Federal Reserve, but the Federal Reserve would not survive without the Deep State. The Fed is not the Deep State; it is merely a tool of the Deep State. This brings us to the U.S. dollar and the Deep State. The Deep State doesn’t really care about the signal noise of the economy–mortgage rates, minimum wages, unemployment, etc., any more that it cares about the political circus (“step right up to the Clinton sideshow, folks”) or the bickering over regulations by various camps. What the Deep State cares about are the U.S. dollar, water, energy, minerals and access to those commodities (alliances, sea lanes, etc.). As I have mentioned before, consider the trade enabled by the reserve currency (the dollar): we print/create money out of thin air and exchange this for oil, commodities, electronics, etc. If this isn’t the greatest trade on Earth–exchanging paper for real stuff– what is?While I am sympathetic to the strictly financial arguments that predict hyper-inflation and the destruction of the U.S. dollar, they are in effect touching the toe of the elephant. The financial argument is this: we can print money but we can’t print more oil, coal, ground water, etc., and so eventually the claims on real wealth (i.e. dollars) will so far exceed the real wealth that the claims on wealth will collapse. So far as this goes, it makes perfect sense. But let’s approach this from the geopolitical-strategic perspective of the Deep State: why would the Deep State allow policies that would bring about the destruction of its key global asset, the U.S. dollar? There is simply no way the Deep State is going to support policies that would fatally weaken the dollar, or passively watch a subsidiary of the Deep State (the Fed) damage the Deep State itself. The strictly financial arguments for hyper-inflation and the destruction of the U.S. dollar implicitly assume a system that operates like a line of dominoes: if the Fed prints money, that will inevitably start the dominoes falling, with the final domino being the reserve currency. Setting aside the complexity of Triffin’s Paradox and other key dynamics within the reserve currency, we can safely predict that the Deep State will do whatever is necessary to maintain the dollar’s reserve status and purchasing power. In my view, the euro currency is a regional experiment in the “bancor” model,where a supra-national currency supposedly eliminates Triffin’s Paradox. It has failed, partly because supra-national currencies don’t resolve Triffin’s dilemma, they simply obfuscate it with sovereign credit imbalances that eventually moot the currency’s ability to function as intended. Many people assume the corporatocracy rules the nation, but the corporatocracy is simply another tool of the Deep State. Many pundits declare that the Powers That Be want a weaker dollar to boost exports, but this sort of strictly financial concern is only of passing interest to the Deep State. The corporatocracy (banking/financialization, etc.) has captured the machinery of regulation and governance, but these are surface effects of the electoral government that rubber-stamps policies set by the Deep State. The corporatocracy is a useful global tool of the Deep State, but its lobbying of the visible government is mostly signal noise to the Deep State. The only sectors that matter are the defense, energy, agriculture and international financial sectors that supply the Imperial Project and project power. What would best serve the Deep State is a dollar that increases in purchasing power and extends the Deep State’s power. It is widely assumed that the Fed creating a few trillion dollars has created a massive surplus of dollars that will guarantee a slide in the dollar’s purchasing power and its demise as the reserve currency. Those who believe the Fed’s expansion of its balance sheet will weaken the dollar are forgetting that from the point of view of the outside world, the Fed’s actions are not so much expanding the supply of dollars as offsetting the contraction caused by deleveraging. I would argue that the dollar will soon be scarce, and the simple but profound laws of supply and demand will push the dollar’s value not just higher but much higher. The problem going forward for exporting nations will be the scarcity of dollars. If we consider the Fed’s policies (tapering, etc.) solely within the narrow confines of the corporatocracy or a strictly financial context, we are in effect touching the foot of the elephant and declaring the creature to be short and roundish. The elephant is the Deep State and its Imperial Project. Please support us by downloading our Towards Healthcare Emancipation – Second Edition, a fully illustrated eBook about how you can implement a low cost but extensive and decisively effective healthcare system in the comfort of your own home. The proceeds from this book will be used to fund our next project, Towards Energy Emancipation. The aim is to make the subject of free energy more understandable for the layman so that anybody could replicate and install his own power plant and be completely living off-grid. If you haven’t done so, please like our FB page to encourage others to learn more about our work. I have suffered numerous murder attempts. The people who tried to kill me include Henry Kissinger, George Bush Sr., David de Rothschild in Geneva. And the people who are now at the source of the problems in the United States include Frank Carlucci, James Baker, Paul Wolfenson, George Soros, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Timothy Geitner; these people are murderers and criminals, you need to arrest them. If they resist arrest, they are murderers, you must shot them. You must not let these people be free. This is important, they’re planning to start World War III, and murder billions of people. David de Rothschild in Geneva, don’t think that you’re safe in your castle there, you’re not. We know where you are, we know who you are. And you have this serial child rapist pope, Pope Malevolent XVI. Well, he’s going to be dead soon. And good riddance, Satan is waiting for you. There are a lot of these scumbags now, who are on the run, and we’ve got to push, we’ve got to remove them from power. They are preventing humanity from progressing. They’ve held back technical progress by at least a hundred years, if not, more. They are trying to murder four billion people. They are trying to start World War 3 right now in Iran and in Syria. And everybody say, “Gee, I don’t know what to do.” C’mon, it’s just a few old men. Why don’t you Americans put them in jail? And I’m letting you know now, there’s a threat against Japan. There’s a ship drilling nuclear bombs into the seabed off the shore of Cheba, it’s called Shikyu Maru. And if Japan is attacked again with a nuclear tsunami, then I’ve heard that there’s going to be retaliation. They’re going to sink a large rock formation in the Canary island which will cause a 300-foot tsunami to hit the East Coast of the United States including New York, Washington DC, and Miami. You must prevent such tragedy. You must arrest these criminals. We know who they are. And I have another thing; I want to tell the Jewish people: you are a god fearing good people ruled by Satan worshiping gangsters. Okay? The Israeli flag should have been the menorah. Instead, you have a satanic symbol. Okay? That is a satanic symbol on your flag — that is not a Jewish symbol. Why isn’t the menorah on the Israeli flag? I tell why, because the Rothschild family, who created Israel, worship Lucifer. They worship Satan. They don’t worship Yahweh. They’re not real Jews. Their real name is Bauer. They’re using you. And they’re making fool of yourselves by going along with this insane plan. Hurry up and arrest those criminals who have taken leaderships of your society. This is not a joke. There’s enough evidence out there for everybody to know it’s true. It’s all over there. Anybody who has done any research in the well documented thoroughly proven facts will know that a criminal gang has control of your financial system for the past three hundred years, and they are planning genocide. They must be stop. We will stop them. This is a declaration of war. Do you hear me, David the Rothschild? Okay? You’re not safe anymore. We’re tired of your murderous games. I’ve heard that Evelyn de Rothschild, a family leader, is now quietly hiding in his castle in England. Well, Evelyn, tell your family to stand down. Tell them enough is enough. No genocide. Your family is in danger unless you stop this madness. Time is running out. I don’t like to have an angry face just as we approach Christmas. This should be a time now, we have the possibility to have the richest possible boom in the history of civilization. We have the technology to turn the desert green. We can refill the ocean with fish. We can have world peace. And all that’s blocking us is a few dozen old men. Please everybody arrest them. What is wrong with you people? We can have world peace. We can have all these good things. We’re just being block by a tiny group of old men who worship Satan. That’s a fact. Please, we must save the planet. Thank you. Final thing to say: this is not getting the bad guys. It never has been. But they are trying to get us. And after certain point, after so many murder attempts, after so much harassment, telling everybody I knew that I have gone insane, I was taking drugs. Going around and killing people I’ve known. You know, they murdered more people than anyone else in history. They’re responsible for World War 1. They are responsible for World War 2. They’re responsible for the holocaust. They killed Kennedy. They killed Martin Luther King. They killed John Lennon. They killed Michael Jackson. They’ve murdered leaders all over the world. They are the worst type of gangsters. They’ve turned the United States into a banana republic. And they are trying to turn Europe into fascist dictatorship. And all they have as their weapon is an illusion; fake money that’s not backed by anything real. We’re cutting off their money, and we’re going to put them in jail. They have to surrender. We can have world peace. We can have prosperity. We can have increased longevity. We can rid ourselves of this nightmare. It’s just up to us. Everybody who’s listening to this, do what you can. Remember, we outnumber them, a billion to one or more. Certainly, even in the area of the most infested, you outnumber them a hundred to one. Arrest the criminals you know, we’re closest to you, we can save this planet. Thank you. ___ Kim Jong Il was murdered last Saturday in a major power struggle that’s taking place here in Asia. The Rothschild family is trying to replace him with Kim Jong Un, who’s a playboy educated in Switzerland, who they hope would follow their orders, in exchange with beautiful woman and fancy cars and other toys. But this is now a chance for the people in the Korean Peninsula to become independent once again. They have been artificially divided in order to put under the control of the forces in Europe. There is no need for the Korean people to be divided. United, they will one of the strongest countries on Earth. There’s a chance for peace in the Korean peninsula, and of course, that would led to a boom never seen before in this region of the Earth. At the same time, the network of North Korean agents in Japan pretending to be Japanese is being dismantled. People are being arrested. Japan is going to be free from the control of foreign forces pretending to be Japanese. And this is a chance for the Japanese and Korean people who are cousins if not brothers to have friendly and prosperous relations. Remember, the Rothschilds need war to control us. They need war to put us in debt. There’s no need for humans to fight each other. We can have world peace. This is a chance. A power struggle has begun. We must not give them the chance to once again put us under their control. Humanity can now free itself. The battle has begun. We must fight them on every front until there’s world peace, and there’s an end to poverty, and an end to environmental destructions. We can accomplish that within a matter of months, once we get these murderous Satan worshiping cabal. It is started. This message is primarily directed to the WhiteHats and other entities working for the light. The days ahead will be heating up, but as Alfred Lambremont Webre had said, “Just enjoy the show”. For those who have been asking, how they could join the WDS, you don’t need to. Organize your own group and effect the arrest. The evidence is overwhelming against these people, and all legal actions are useless if these cabalists are still out there. This week’s update from Fulford, which came after his foiled assassination, is a very strong signal that they can make good of their promises to kill or arrest any member of the Cabal within their sphere of influence. It is time for the WhiteHats to do likewise. Note: If you’re new to this site, you can read all Ben Fulford’s update here. And if you want to fully understand what’s going on behind the scene, try hovering on the “Global Issues” link of the main menu above. Thanks.

21 Reasons Why We Wish Sheldon Cooper Was Our Best Friend 10/22 9. He’s brimming with the greatest relationship advice. Relationship troubles got you down? Take a seat on Dr. Sheldon's couch—just not in his spot!—and let him help you sort out your romantic woes. He might have the greatest track record when it comes to navigating his own relationship with Amy, but he's way cheaper than a licensed therapist.

Denver Premium Outlets® PROPERTY OVERVIEW THINK INSIDE THIS BOX. Great Space Available! Complete this form to have us contact you about leasing opportunities. CONTACT US Located in Thornton, Colorado in the northern part of the Denver metro area, Denver Premium Outlets is scheduled to open in 2018 and will serve the metropolitan Denver market. Positioned along I-25, the north- south interstate running between Denver and Ft. Collins, the center will be located at the intersection of I-25 and Baseline Road, which carries 112,000 cars daily. The center has excellent visibility along I-25. Denver, Colorado is a market of 2.8 million people and is the 21st largest metro area in the United States. This center will be the only outlet center serving the north side of Denver. The Denver market also receives 12.7 million overnight visitors per year generating $3 billion in total spending. Positioned north of Denver, east of the Boulder market with 313,000 people just 15 miles away, southwest of the Greeley market with 267,000 people 30 miles away, and south of the Loveland/Ft. Collins market with 316,000 people 27 miles away, Denver Premium Outlets will benefit from these populous areas as well. GIFT CARDS CONTACT US Property Management: The Property Management Team has the primary responsibility for maintaining Simon's industry leading position, by providing our customers a quality shopping experience. This includes focus on such diverse elements as: quality of service, safety, convenience, visual appeal, cleanliness and comfort. Property Management fulfills all day-to-day operational responsibilities at the properties, as well as managing operational and upgrade capital investments to insure a consistent and reliable retail product with desirable customer touchpoints. Mall Manager Assistant Mall Manager WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. *oops. you missed a few. Are you a Simon retailer? Yes No RequiredYes, I want Simon to be able to contact me as I am 18 years of age or older and agree to Simon Property Group’s Terms of Use, Privacy Policy & Cookie Policy. You agree that by providing personal information on this page, you are consenting to Simon’s use, storage and maintenance of the information for the intended purposes. WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. *oops. you missed a few. Less than 12 month lease 12+ month lease RequiredYes, I want Simon to be able to contact me as I am 18 years of age or older and agree to Simon Property Group’s Terms of Use, Privacy Policy & Cookie Policy. You agree that by providing personal information on this page, you are consenting to Simon’s use, storage and maintenance of the information for the intended purposes.

Your Source for Everything RIEGL Main Menu Performance Considerations for Small-Footprint Topobathymetric LiDAR Amar Nayegandhi, Manager of Elevation Technologies at Dewberry, posted this article earlier in the week about performance considerations for small-footprint topobathymetric LIDAR and their use of the RIEGL VQ-820-G airborne laser scanner. Enjoy! A new suite of commercial small-footprint, green-wavelength airborne LiDAR systems are being developed to enable topobathymetric mapping in coastal and riverine environments. These sensors can provide seamless topography across the land-water interface at very high spatial resolution (five to six points per square meter). The Role of Water Clarity in Mapping Submerged TopographyWater clarity plays a vital role in the ability of topobathymetric systems to map submerged topography. Compared to traditional bathymetric LiDAR systems, topobathymetric LiDAR uses a low-power laser pulse, resulting in a depth performance between one and two Secchi depth. Traditional bathymetric LiDAR sensors offer up to three Secchi depths, but with a footprint 20 times wider than topobathymetric LiDAR. Small-footprint topobathymetric LiDAR sensors can map submerged topography between 20 to 25 meters in clear water with high reflective bottom (such as sand), but may only map up to two meters in turbid waters. Mapping Topobathymetry in Various Riverine EnvironmentsIn collaboration with Watershed Sciences, Inc., we used the Riegl VQ-820-G sensor to collect and process topobathymetric data in Sandy River for the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Studies. We mapped channel and floodplain morphology and evaluated the effectiveness of new topobathymetric LiDAR technology in a riverine environment. The results showed that in more than 83 percent of the channel (a “high confidence” area), bathymetric point density averaged two points per square meter, with water depths ranging from zero to three meters. The remaining 17 percent of the channel (a “low confidence” area) contained water deeper than three meters. In the high confidence area, we compared the LiDAR measurements with 303 channel points acquired using GPS-based techniques along channel cross sections. The bathymetric accuracy was assessed at 18.4 centimeters RMSE. These results suggest that topobathymetric LiDAR is a viable solution to mapping channel and floodplain morphology at Sandy River for ongoing monitoring studies to understand the impacts of the 2007 Marmot Dam removal on downstream morphology and fish habitat. The image of the left shows the mouth of the Sandy River flowing into the Columbia River. Using the Riegl VQ-820-G sensor, we obtained a seamless topobathymetric Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the same area—water depths ranging from zero to three meters. Commercializing Small-Footprint Topobathymetric LiDARThe commercialization of small-footprint topobathymetric LiDAR has opened the possibility of high-resolution seamless topography and bathymetry in coastal and riverine environments. The applications of these data are endless and there is a lot of excitement within the geospatial community on the use of this technology. However, it’s important to understand the technology’s limitations and the conditions that will enable a successful survey. Water clarity and bottom reflectivity play a very important role. Knowledge of the LiDAR sensor and production process is crucial to a successful topobathy dataset. At Dewberry, we’re at the forefront of this new commercial technology with successful completion of three recent topobathymetric projects, such as Sandy River, using the Riegl VQ-820-G sensor.

A Finnair pilot arrested with more than $800,000 while on his Melbourne honeymoon thought the cash was his wife's, a court has heard. A lawyer for Finnish national Lauri Metsaranta, who is charged with dealing with property suspected to be the proceeds of crime, told the Melbourne Magistrates Court his client was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. In a police interview, Metsaranta said he thought the cash was his wealthy wife's money, "like someone owed her money or something", the court heard. Metsaranta said he did not know he and his common law wife, Changchen Chen, would be collecting the cash en route to their suite at the Hyatt in February, on the Australian leg of a trip that was "sort of a honeymoon". Chen has also been charged with dealing with property suspected to be the proceeds of crime. In the interview read to the court, Metsaranta said he had picked up instruments or other small things for his wife before, but the large sum of money was unusual. Advertisement Metsaranta had never met his wife's family, who live in China, but he knew they were very wealthy, the court heard. He and his wife had known each other about 18 months when they were arrested in Melbourne. He said when they collected the cash from the Mantra hotel he was not concerned about where it was coming from or where it was going, he was just hoping they wouldn not be robbed. "To me it felt a little grey area," Metsaranta told police. "I have to admit I was a little uncomfortable with that much money." Metsaranta said his wife had received a call after they landed in Melbourne, but he did not know what it was about because he could not speak Mandarin or Cantonese. They travelled to a second hotel "where a huge pile of money was". "All I see is the sports bag but I have no idea of the origins of the money," Metsaranta said. He said his wife dealt with an Asian man at the hotel, but he did not have a conversation with him and had never met him before.

Mario Manningham paused from his own injury rehabilitation Thursday to rally 49ers teammates in the wake of Michael Crabtree's Achilles tear."It's sad to see somebody get hurt that's a great value to our team," Manningham told SiriusXM NFL Radio, "but the next person has to step up, man. We all know injuries are a part of the game."Manningham sustained a season-ending left knee injury Dec. 23 at Seattle, and he's been constantly rehabilitating from that anterior cruciate ligament tear."I have started and running cutting and doing little things," Manningham said. "When you have knee injuries, you can't really take any time off. Every time I think about it, I'm trying to do something with my knee. I'm not rushing it but I am going hard on my knee."Manningham, the 49ers' second-leading receiver last year, is not expected to be ready for the start of training camp in two months. The 49ers open defense of their NFC title Sept. 8 against the Green Bay Packers at Candlestick Park.Rather than announce a timetable for his return, Manningham said: "Whenever God wants me to come out and play, then when I'm 100 (percent), that's when I'm going to go out there."Crabtree is likely out for at least the next five months. The 49ers are currently without three of their top four receivers, with only Anquan Boldin fully healthy while Crabtree, Manningham and Kyle Williams (knee) rehabilitate their injuries.

Indie, Noise, Shoegaze… Music “We wanted to make a more energetic record. I personally looked to artists like Springsteen, 70’s Bowie, The Smiths, The Cure, Neil Young as inspiration for—not really for sound as much as for that dichotomy of bands who were entertainers still making, at times, weird dark music and writing songs that seem totally over-the-top by today’s rock band standards,” says Cymbals Eat Guitars bassist Matthew Whipple of his band’s wildly ambitious fourth LP, Pretty Years” (Press)

The firm was founded in 1997 by Robert J. Wise Jr., who has 20 years of experience in the historic preservation field. He is assisted by Seth Hinshaw, Senior Planner, who has been with the firm since 2001. Both planners have M.S. degrees in historic preservation from the University of Pennsylvania and exceed the 36 CFR 61 Professional Qualification Standards established by the National Park Service for architectural historians. Overview Wise Preservation Planning LLC completed a Historic Resource Impact Study for Cheyney University in 2010. The Study was submitted per Thornbury Township, Delaware County historic resource protection ordinance. The project involved the demolition of the non-historic Robinson Hall Dormitory (and later two other dormitories in the residential complex) and the construction of a new residential complex of buildings. The study was required because the proposed project was adjacent to several identified historic resources, including the University's early 20th century Quadrangle. The "Quad", consisting of substantial stone buildings, is the heart of the campus. In recent years, the University has renovated several historic buildings and has started to relocate activities to the historic Quad. Major recommendations by Wise called for reducing any negative impact of the new construction upon the Quad and in fact visually and functionally integrating the new complex with specific historic resources within the Quad. Cheyney University is the current name of an institution that was founded in Philadelphia in 1837. It operated under the guidance of a board of Quakers until the early 20th century. The campus relocated to Thornbury Township in 1903. Buildings on the historic Quad were built during the first three decades of the 20th century, partially during the long presidency of Leslie P. Hill (1913-1951). During the 1960s and 1970s, Cheyney extended the campus off the Quad. Robinson Hall was built on the site of the former Elkinton Athletic Field in 1964. Cheyney became a University in 1983, and with the passage of time, it has been increasingly interested in the re-use of its historic buildings. The image on the left shows the architects' rendering of the proposed new residence hall. The Impact Study recommendations were generally accepted by the University and the Township. The report commended Cheyney University for its foresight in planning for the future of its campus. The reconstruction project is now underway.

A semi-biased commentary on British and American politics, culture and current affairs Contraception CULTURE Amanda Marcotte, writing at Slate magazine, makes a compelling case for movie scriptwriters and directors to show more condom use in their movies. She makes a fair point: “In the world of movies and TV, people seem to be having sex all the time, but they almost never talk about or are shown using contraception. Since so much of movie sex serves the plot, you get encounters that are much more spontaneous than they would be in real life, without any pause in the action to wrap it up. Young viewers could easily get the sense that the norm is to hop right in bed with someone without ever worrying about unintended pregnancy.” And it’s true – if realism is your aim (and admittedly this is not always the case), pretending that people hop into bed with each other without going through that awkward “fumbling in the bedside cabinet drawer” moment is a misrepresentation, and one that can be easily (and, if done well, humorously) corrected. Jim Henson Studios, creator of The Muppets, is boycotting Chick-fil-A over that company’s president’s condemnation of gay marriage. In a stern rebuke, their statement reads: “The Jim Henson Company has celebrated and embraced diversity and inclusiveness for over fifty years and we have notified Chick-Fil-A that we do not wish to partner with them on any future endeavors”. Proco Moreno, Alderman of Chicago’s 1st Ward, joined in the anti Chick-fil-A backlash, stating that he would block the restaurant chain’s attempts to open their second Chicago outlet in his district because of the aforementioned statement issued by their CEO. His statement is somewhat over-the top – “If you are discriminating against a segment of the community, I don’t want you in the 1st Ward” – it is hard to see how any discrimination is taking place, as the restaurant does not check the sexual orientation of its customers upon entry, or have any policies in place that discriminate against one or another. But the fact remains that needlessly coming out in favour of a regressive social policy position that has no direct impact on your business or bottom line, can cost you money. Getting in on the act, The Onion reports on Chick-fil-A’s new homophobic sandwich. Reports The Onion: “In a press conference to reporters, company representatives said the homophobic new sandwich will include the national fast food chain’s trademark fried chicken filet wrapped in a piece of specially-smoked No Homo ham that would be topped with a slice of Swiss cheese and lathered in a creamy new Thousand Island-based Fag Punching sauce”. BRITISH POLITICS The UK economy shrank by another 0.7% according to the latest figures released today. Iain Martin, writing in The Telegraph, thinks that George Osborne has six months to turn things around. I would guess that this estimate sounds about right, but I am not optimistic that Osborne will do anything differently, given his obstinate refusal to implement the needed supply-side reforms, and his obsession with trying to score cheap political points from Ed Balls, a diversion which should be beneath him. The Guardian’s foremost education journalist twists herself in knots trying to explain why she is against private schools, and yet is sending her daughter to a private school. She takes a whole article, and many unnecessary words to explain what I can say in just three – she’s a hypocrite. She says: “I remember reading about Diane Abbott’s decision to send her son to the £10,000-a-year City of London school. She said she was a mother first and a politician second, a point that resonated strongly with me.” Precisely. She’s happy to inflict her left-wing social engineering on other people to make them conform to her ideal worldview (uniform standards, uniform people, uniform outcomes), but as soon as her own interests come in to play, she takes the conservative position. AMERICAN POLITICS Oh noes. The house of cards built by Grover Norquist has started to come crashing down as more and more elected officials repudiate his “tax pledge”. Whether you think the current tax burden in America is sustainable or not, I think most reasonable people can agree that Norquist’s pledge is overly restrictive on lawmakers, preventing them from closing unwarranted and discriminatory tax loopholes on the grounds that doing so would constitute a “tax increase”. Norquist, and his advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform, are one of several significant hurdles standing in the way of a fundamental simplification of the existing byzantine tax code. We should all cheer its demise, and hope that similar obstacles from the American left fall by the wayside too, in the name of meaningful, lasting reform. It is hard to disagree with this piece from Marbury, discussing the old-fashioned political art of persuasion, and the relative aptitudes of Obama and Clinton at using it. Through the lense of the Northern Irish “Good Friday” peace accord, Marbury looks at the way that President Clinton was able to flatter, cajole and reassure the key parties so that they reached a point where a deal could be signed, and how this skill is currently lacking in the Obama administration. Money quote: “Obama likes the big set-piece speech. But every policy he has backed, from the stimulus to healthcare, has declined in popularity the more speeches he made about it. His speeches explain things very well, very precisely. But they don’t change minds. This, it turns out, was the big hole in Obama’s campaign rhetoric of unification, of bringing red and blue together. He spoke about it eloquently, but he was never going to be the president who put it into action. Obama is a preacher, not a persuader. He’s terrific if you already agree with him, but doesn’t have much impact on those who don’t.” Jacob Weisberg, writing in Slate magazine, effectively deconstructs the Romney campaign’s attempts to smear President Obama with the “Chicago machine politician” label. Says Weisberg: “Of course, Romney isn’t interested in this kind of nuance. ‘Chicago-style politics’ is mainly just a way for him to call Obama corrupt without coming out and saying so”. At least some people in the Republican Party seem to have woken up to the demographic timebomb ticking away under their feet, and have started to lament, if not yet analyse, the fact that the vast majority of young people in America today would sooner give up their loud music and Pac-Man video games (or whatever it is that young people do for fun these days) than vote for a GOP candidate in a presidential election. Mitt Romney is apparently the latest Republican to develop a sense of outrage that no one outside of the grey haired brigade would be seen dead voting for him: ‘I don’t mean to be flip with this,’’ said Mitt Romney during a Q&A with students at the University of Chicago last week. “But I don’t see how a young American can vote for a Democrat.’’ He cheerfully apologized to anyone who might find such a comment “offensive,’’ but went on to explain why he was in earnest. The Democratic Party “is focused on providing more and more benefits to my generation, mounting trillion-dollar annual deficits my generation will never pay for,’’ Romney said. While Democrats are perpetrating “the greatest inter-generational transfer of wealth in the history of humankind,’’ Republicans are “consumed with the idea of getting federal spending down and creating economic growth and opportunity so we can balance our budget and stop putting these debts on you.’’ At which point the needle on my “Are You For Real?” machine jolted as far toward the “You Must Be Kidding” end of the spectrum as it could go before the whole machine exploded in a shower of sparks. The author himself does a good job of pouring cold water on any Republican claims to the mantle of fiscal restraint: But that debt wasn’t piled up without plenty of Republican help. During George W. Bush’s presidency, annual federal spending skyrocketed from $1.8 trillion to $3.4 trillion, and $4.9 trillion was added to the national debt. Bush left the White House, in fact, as the biggest spender since LBJ . Granted, the profligacy of Barack Obama has outstripped even Bush’s bacchanal: CBS reports that Obama has added more to the national debt in just three years and two months than Bush did in his entire eight years. Still, younger voters can hardly be blamed if they haven’t noticed that Republicans are “consumed with the idea of getting federal spending down.’’ Therefore I do not intend to say anything more about the glaring, shameless hypocrisy of the Republicans – the party that gifted America two unfunded wars, large tax breaks not balanced by spending cuts and the joke that is Medicare Part D – laying any claim whatsoever to competency in handling the nation’s finances. Except that I will say that much of the “profligacy of Barack Obama” mentioned by the author was the result of a fiscal stimulus implemented (despite its imperfections) at a time when the US economy was in freefall, and without which the tepid recovery currently being experienced would likely be nothing but a sweet dream. Mitt Romney and those others in the Republican Party who scratch their heads wondering why young people don’t like them miss the point entirely when they sulk that young people should embrace their economic policies. Though their fiscal policies may perhaps benefit young people in certain ways (and even this is arguable), there is no evidence based on past behaviour that they will actually have the political courage to implement them if voted into office. Old people (the beneficiaries of the “wealth transfers” that Romney claims to lament) actually vote in large numbers. Younger people don’t. The policy priorities of our political candidates duly reflect this fact. Besides, it is not the GOP’s economic policies that are the main problem. The problem is the fact that in a bad economy, the opposition party is spending more time talking about abortion, contraception, mass deportations of illegal immigrants, repealing ObamaCare, questioning the president’s eligibility to hold office, and reinstating “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and a host of other socially regressive policy positions which are anathema to a majority of young people today than they are about how to reduce unemployment and help a population ill-equipped to perform the more highly-skilled, non-manufacturing jobs of tomorrow. Rick Santorum in particular often complains that the media focuses on his socially conservative policy positions and not his economic plan, but he can hardly expect young voters to thrust him into office on the back of his inspired ideas on the economy (spoiler – they are not that great) when they are more worried that he will cut off their unemployment insurance, or close down the Planned Parenthood centre where they go for medical care, or start a war with Iran. It is no coincidence that the one Republican presidential candidate who actually walks the fiscal conservatism walk and who doesn’t continually bleat on about social issues and the culture wars – Ron Paul – vastly outperforms his rivals with young voters, in primary after primary. Newsflash to Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich: Even if you had a cogent economic policy (which, by the way, none of you do) you will never appeal to young people by just tweaking your fiscal message a little bit. You had a choice when you started your presidential campaigns, and in your desperation to secure the party base you chose to fearmonger and rant about “taking back America”, and fret about turning into a socialist state, and speak about the importance of individal freedom in one breath while promising to impose your religious values on the whole country in the next. Many young people would like an alternative to President Barack Obama, but you offer them nothing by way of a contrasting, conservative vision for the country that they could ever find acceptable. You offer them nothing. You offer racial minorities nothing. You offer women nothing. You offer the working poor and the unemployed nothing. And all of these constituencies will dutifully line up to vote for Barack Obama, and you will lose the presidential election on November 6th. It could be otherwise, if only you offered the American people a genuine acceptable choice when they cast their votes. I have a partly tongue-in-cheek list of US states that I am currently ‘boycotting’, or have no intention of visiting in the immediate future, either because of unfortunate things that have happened to me there, or most usually because of particularly stupid and offensive laws that have been either proposed or actually voted on and passed in their legislatures. Arizona was already strongly competing to join this exclusive list (it is difficult to join and even harder to be removed from the list) with the signing by Gov. Jan Brewer of their famous anti-illegal-immigration law, allowing state police to detain anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant (quite how you tell such a person from a natural US citizen by their appearance or behaviour is anyone’s guess, but I think we all know the criteria they have in mind): But then came this gem that I was alerted to by a friend on Facebook – now, the Arizona State Senate Judiciary Committee (a pompous title for a pompous group of individuals) has endorsed a controversial bill that will, if passed, allow Arizona employees to exclude contraception coverage from the healthcare plans that they offer to their employees, if their religious beliefs or moral convictions encourage them to do so. Furthermore, the bill would also allow employers to demand proof of a medical prescription (for non birth-control related reasons) if an employee wishes to claim for contraceptive pills on their health insurance policy. The author of the bill – one Debbie Lesko, Republican of course – says that: “So, government should not be telling the organizations or mom and pop employers to do something against their moral beliefs.” Okay, well guess what. Maybe I’ll set up shop in Arizona and start a small business. But I am from a small and little-known religion that doesn’t believe in mammograms or cervical cancer screening. I don’t know why, my particular interpretation of my hypothetical holy book just tells me that to test for these diseases to allow early intervention would be an affront to God. So none of my female employees will get to benefit from these forms of healthcare as part of the insurance plan that I provide them. Oh, and my new religion also thinks that heart disease and erectile dysfunction are punishments from God that should be meekly accepted rather than treated, so no Viagra or anti-cholesterol medication for the gents. If you need Viagra to treat some other ailment not connected with erectile dysfunction we can maybe talk about coming to an agreement, but I’ll need a signed letter from your doctor explaining your precise medical history and needs. Can you imagine the uproar? Let us be quite clear. This is not about freedom of religion. Many states have been living under an expressed requirement that employers include birth control coverage in their healthcare plans for many years with nary a whisper of complaint until a Democrat named Barack Obama occupied the oval office. This is about slowly trying to establish a fundamentalist Christian theocracy in America, one in which even the overwhelming majority of Christians, myself included, would not wish to live in were it fully implemented. Republicans – who once criticised Obama because of the type of Christian church that he attended and the pastor who preached there – have decided that it would now be more politically fruitful to fan the embers of suspicion that he is in fact a muslim, and that he is launching an all-out assault on “Judeo-Christian” principles. And while we’re on the topic, can someone please initiate a sensible conversation about moving away from the current employer-based health insurance system in America? Aside from the damage it does to the economy in terms of issues such as impeding mobility of labour (especially important during the current fragile recovery with unemployment so high), if individuals purchased their own health insurance rather than relying on the employer to do it for them, we could sidestep this whole argument about coercing employers to act against their moral beliefs. If Debbie Lesko ever chose to leave her political career and return to the private sector, she wouldn’t have to stay up all night worrying about what naughty things her employees might be doing with the healthcare coverage that she paid for, because the employees would be paying the premiums and taking their chances that they won’t be struck down by lightning for daring to use a condom, or the pill. And I think everyone would sleep better at night as a result. Arizona, you have been teetering on the brink for a long time now. But congratulations, you have officially made the list. I decided to join the Roman Catholic church at eighteen years of age, and went through the Church’s RCIA programme (the Rite of Catholic Initiation of Adults), which required attending weekly lessons with the parish priest over a period of six months. I look back on the night that I was confirmed into the Church as one of the happiest and most sacred moments of my life, and though the strength of my faith (and my weekly Mass attendance) has seen several peaks and rather more lows in the intervening decade, I still consider myself a member of the Church, and I always intend to be. Many people have made similar conversions to the Church, notably two of the current Republican presidential contenders, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum. It is said that there is no zealot like a convert, and though I may be the exception to the rule, Gingrich and Santorum appear to prove it rather well with many of their public pronouncements. In many respects, both men are probably better and more observant Catholics than me, at least now (Gingrich), and I don’t presume to judge them at all. What I will do, however, is call them out when they claim to represent the only political party that will defend Catholic teachings and priorities. Because that is pure, grade A baloney. Said Newt Gingrich of the ObamaCare requirement for employers operating in the public sphere, serving the public and employing people regardless of their religious affiliation, to offer health insurance that includes access to birth control: “I frankly don’t care what deal he tries to cut; this is a man who is deeply committed. If he wins re-election, he will wage war on the Catholic Church the morning after he is re-elected.” (Yes, I fear that the O RLY owl is going to be a frequent visitor to this blog). Really, Newt? Wage war? I’m curious to see Obama’s glistening new clone army sitting in storage, waiting for Inauguration Day in January 2013 when they will be activated and unleashed to desecrate churches and force people into unwilling same-sex marriages across the land. If I could talk with Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Santorum, I would say: the protection of life should not end at the moment of birth. I will never understand my Church’s current teaching on contraception – especially when male sexual enhancement drugs, in vitro fertilisation and other techniques that can result in the creation or destruction of a fertilised embryo are given a free pass, while contraception, the morning-after pill and stem cell research are not. But I can appreciate the consistency of the argument that all human life is precious, is worthy of respect, and that none should be taken unnecessarily. My own views on abortion are not yet fully developed, but I know that I would want it to be as rare as possible, and yet readily available at least under some limited circumstances (such as the survival of the mother, rape or incest, or in the case of catastrophic developmental anomalies). I understand your policies for caring for and protecting life while it is in the womb. But what effect would your policies have once these children are born? Is it important, as you so often say, that they are born into loving (married, heterosexual) families who are ready for a child, or does it not matter if they are unwanted and abused, or end up in the custody of the state until they reach eighteen years of age? It’s all very well advocating strongly for a new life until it reaches the nine month threshold, but what then? And to the Bishops, I would say: why do you deny holy communion to politicians who advocate for general public access to abortion services (while not supporting the practice themselves), but welcome with open arms those who support the death penalty, fight measures to improve social justice, support the torture of enemy prisoners or beat the drum for pre-emptive wars around the globe? You diminish your public standing, your credibility and the importance of these other important Church teachings when you do so. Andrew Sullivan makes a similar point in his excellent blog, with regard to the current enthusiasm in Republican circles to go to war with Iran: “I’d also argue that pre-emptive war based on an enemy’s alleged intentions, when it publicy declares the opposite, or based on inherent evil or insanity is counter to just war theory. Certainly the rhetoric of Santorum and Gingrich on this subject is a profound attack on Catholic just-war teaching. But don’t expect the Bishops to make any fuss about that. War and torture seem trivial issues to them, compared with access to contraception or gay rights.” Seriously, maybe I missed this in my RCIA classes. Will a Republican (since they are the ones who claim to have the direct hotline to God these days) please let me know which of these Church teachings it is okay to brazenly defy while still declaring myself a proud standard-bearer for the Church, and which are so inviolable that I would be literally declaring war on Catholicism if I dare to dissent? Thanks. “The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society’, whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil” – Sarah Palin, August 2009 “Barack Obama is the most dangerous president in modern American history. This administration has intellectually disarmed, it is morally disarmed, it is incapable of describing what threatens us” – Newt Gingrich, Republican Presidential Candidate, February 2012 “People have birth certificates. He doesn’t have a birth certificate. He may have one but there’s something on that, maybe religion, maybe it says he is a Muslim. I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t want that. Or he may not have one. But I will tell you this. If he wasn’t born in this country, it’s one of the great scams of all time” – Donald Trump, Improbably Rich Idiot, March 2011 On the Federal Budget. The US national debt stood at $10.6 trillion when President Obama took office, and in 2011 reached $14.6 trillion. Cue lots of self-righteous bluster from the American right that Obama is wrecking the national finances and, to use a much overwrought phrase “running up the national credit card” that the next generation will have to pay off. You can agree or disagree with Obama’s economic stimulus, and TARP, and the auto bailouts – though as I remind my Republican friends, it is easy to criticise all of these measures and claim that they had no positive effect when none of us will ever have to live in an alternate reality where they had not taken place. What you cannot do, however, is pose as a staunch fiscal conservative and a concerned American worried about the financial stability of the United States if you have done any of the following: Voted to approve the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan without seeking additional revenues to fund them. Voted for Medicare Part D, the prescription drug programme for elderly Americans, again with no commensurate revenue increases (strange how “government-run healthcare” is an assault on individual liberty, with the huge exception of Medicare). Voted for or supported the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 that were not met with equal cuts to government spending. Obstructed the recent vote to raise the US debt ceiling, raising fears of a default and directly resulting in the downgrading of the government’s AAA credit rating. On Religious Liberty. I have amused myself watching several of the Republican presidential candidates twisting themselves in rhetorical knots trying to make the case that the founding fathers were only joking when they enshrined a “wall of separation between church and state” in the constitution (in Rick Santorum’s case, he went as far as to say that it made him physically sick to contemplate). Or rather, that it exists in much the same way as a cell membrane permits osmosis, allowing religion (or rather, certain favoured religions and denominations) to impose their beliefs beyond their congregations on the entire US population while making religious organisations themselves immune from any requirement to conform to state or federal laws. If we take as one example the recent furore over the fact that the Affordable Care Act (ACA, ObamaCare) mandates that insurance companies provide birth control coverage, it is telling that many of the religious prelates – including many Catholic Bishops – have lived under similar requirements to provide employees with insurance that includes birth control in their home states for many years without raising a chorus of objection, until the same issue came up at a federal level. One cannot help but feel that religion and the concept of religious freedom are being used as a convenient cudgel with which to bash the Democrats in an election year, rather than being truly respected and protected by the GOP. In terms of the Tea Party, there seems to be a genuine if uneven split between the minority true libertarians (of the Ron Paul mould) who believe in a separation of church and state and have the courage to say so, and the bulk of those others who are able to maintain in their minds the cognitive dissonance that must surely arise when you advocate for individual liberty in the economic realm on one hand, but insist that people abide by select teachings from your holy book (whichever it may be) on the other. On Healthcare. Being a conservative used to mean being a realist, dealing with the world as it is and hopefully proposing pragmatic, typically non-radical solutions. One of the persistent problems with the US healthcare system is the “free rider” problem. Hospitals are required to treat and care for any patient that arrives suffering from a grave, life-threatening injury or illness, regardless of whether or not that patient carries health insurance. Of course, this includes the more than 30% of Americans who lack such insurance. Even the most fervent tea-partier would (probably) pause before proposing that people be left to die on the street if they are in need of medical care but lacked insurance. Unfortunately, this creates a rather significant free rider problem, with US taxpayers and health insurance policyholders essentially paying to cover the cost of these uninsured healthcare expenses. This contributes to the unsustainable rate of inflation in US healthcare costs, makes no sense and is just plain silly. Even the conservative Heritage Foundation used to think so too, and at one time proposed an individual mandate requiring all citizens to purchase at least basic health insurance (http://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2011/10/20/how-a-conservative-think-tank-invented-the-individual-mandate). But now any such mandate is considered a grave assault on liberty. Okay, constitutional scholars can debate that point for a long time. But pragmatic conservatives should surely try to find a way around this issue, to solve the serious free rider problem which makes healthcare more expensive for everyone. Instead, the tea party rail against the “tyranny” of having to purchase healthcare, and yet say nothing about the free rider problem which hurts lower income people most of all in the form of higher insurance premiums and medical bills. Neither do they propose an alternative solution to address the fact that so many of their fellow citizens – some through choice but many through no fault of their own – live with the daily fear that accident or sudden illness could bring them to ruin. And no, promising to clamp down on medical malpractice lawsuits and muttering quietly about perhaps allowing insurers to sell policies across state lines, while both sensible ideas, do not solve a problem of this magnitude. I could go on to talk about “death panels” – the GOP’s term for the basic idea that end-of-life care counselling should be offered (not mandated, just offered) as part of health insurance policies in order that more people are given the opportunity to make these key decisions while they are young and healthy, and potentially avert the suffering and huge proportion of total lifetime medical expense which is incurred during the end stages of terminal diseases, through the issuance of Do Not Resuscitate Orders etc. But there is no need, because anyone who reads the language in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and somehow extrapolates in their mind that offering end of life counselling as part of an insurance plan could in any way equate to a “death panel” that decides whether the disabled or infirm should live or die is clearly smoking something quite mind-alteringly potent and will not be swayed by anything committed to print here. I could also talk about the fact that the GOP’s constant use of the term “government-run healthcare”, or suggestions that government has taken over the healthcare industry (i.e. nationalisation) are ludicrous, alarmist and clearly and demonstrably false. But again, there is no need, because any thinking person should be able to see that while government may have now infringed on the way that consumers choose their health insurance provider (to some limited extent, in certain cases), this insurance and the healthcare itself is still provided by private-sector or non-profit organisations as much as it ever was. Those who scream “government takeover” or “socialism” would do well to go back to school and relearn the meaning of those terms – were it not for the fact that getting a college education is, of course, a form of snobbery these days. But there is no need to talk about these things. At present there is no reasoning or engaging at all on the topic of health reform with the Tea Party-beholden GOP, who, in the words of David Frum, “followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and [were led] to abject and irreversible defeat”. (http://www.frumforum.com/waterloo). ObamaCare is here now, with all of its benefits and imperfections. The Republicans had an opportunity to engage with the Democrats and ensure that some more conservative principles were included in the law. Instead, they chose obstructionism and got none of what they wanted. Why Now? I am curious about this, and I would love for any thinking, Tea Party-supporting readers to comment and to help educate me. I do not believe that the recent groundswell of constitutional originalism and small government fervour is entirely the result of resentment that a black man currently occupies the Oval Office. I think it is a factor, but not the only one, or even the main one necessarily. However, given the fact that the US federal government expanded in terms of raw expenditure, percentage of GDP, scope of activities and power over the individual for many years prior to the election of Barack Obama, I would like to understand – why the Tea Party, why now? Why the sudden need in 2009 for people to buy pocket editions of the US constitution, to dress up in 18th century clothes, to attend these rallies and rail against the subversion of America? Why deselect long-serving and relatively competent congressional representatives in favour of unknowledgeable and in some cases laughable primary challengers who vowed even before getting to Washington (or declaring on television that they are not a witch and being comprehensively beaten, in one depressing case) that they would never seek to strike a bipartisan deal? If you are a fiscal conservative, that’s great, campaign for greater fiscal responsibility. If you believe in small, limited government – marvellous, advocate strongly for it (I assume that your enthusiastic support of individual liberty applies to peoples’ bedroom and nuptial activities too though, right?) If you believe that some of the key edifices of the American social safety net and federal government are technically unconstitutional, then you can probably make that argument quite convincingly. But before you do any of those things, and if your name is not Ron Paul, please explain where you stood, and who and what you voted for in the months and years prior to Inauguration Day, 2009.

I think the real issue here is that most people don't understand /how/ to use MongoDB. The best use case for MongoDB is as a document store. I can essentially cache numerous MySQL requests into a compiled set of useful information. Especially if the information changes somewhat infrequently, then instead of running MySQL requests for every page load I can pull the information from MongoDB. In most cases when I use MongoDB, its not as a persistent data store, but as a "compiled" data store. MongoDB also has some useful set operations. I for one don't believe that MongoDB is /directly/ competing with MySQL, Postgres, etc. but rather enhances these databases.

November is flying by and that means the end of the semester will be here in a month or less. Ultimately, lots of exams and papers that need to be written. Methinks, however, I will write about that particular topic in another post…perhaps on summing up Fall 2010 semester at large. I think I’ll post something for the very end of the year as well. But I digress. Without further ado–may I present Richelle Mead’s Shadow Kiss. “Suddenly, the burn of that black magic vanished from the bond, along with that sickening sensation. Something hit me like a blast of wind in the face, and I staggered backward I shuddered as a weird sensation twisted my stomach. It was like sparks, like a coil of electricity burning within me” (340). Probably my favorite out of the series thus far. There was so much action in this particular novel–I can only imagine the coming action in the next novels-I am so excited! I guess you want an example of this action, yes? I figured–you shouldn’t want so many spoilers, my dear readers. 😉 But guess what–the above is as much as you’re getting. Anyway, Mead has done a wonderful job with Shadow Kiss as far as her descriptions and the plot is, as usual, fantastic! To be ‘shadow kissed’ means to have been to the other side and come back; a second chance at life and forever bonded with whomever brought you back. Rose is shadow kissed and that is why she is bonded to Lissa Dragomir, a spirit user (keep in mind spirit is highly rare). It is one of the five elements the Moroi use as magic: Fire, Earth, Wind, Water, and Spirit. Adrian Ivashkov is actually another spirit user and fire belongs to Christian Ozera. Speaking of Christian, I really want him to become less insecure–he is such a sweet guy and Lissa loves him. That and he helps Rose kick some serious Strigoi ass. Sweet!! I’ve come to the conclusion that Adrian is going to be another Mason. Sad day. Good guys who love Rose, but she doesn’t or didn’t want them. Not saying that Belikov isn’t *cough*wasn’t*cough* a good guy, but she can’t be exclusive with him and the really places burden on her shoulders that she shouldn’t have. However, if there is one thing I believe to be true–just because someone is good to you does not mean you will be happy. I’m hoping that Rose will be able to find someone who can be her equal in most, if not all facets of their lives. Or, I should say that Mead will hopefully write the story in that way. So, anyway–lots of laughs, action, and a perfect amount of romance… and heartbreak. I leave you to read and discover what happens. I’m still rooting for Dimitri Belikov and Rose–but there’s a lot that needs to happen in order for that to happen. If you’ve read the books, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about… I loved Shadow Kiss! Completely fantastic and it is because it was so good I read it in one day–I want to say six hours. I’m giving Richelle Mead’s Shadow Kiss a 4/4.5 out of 5. Impressive and truly pulls you into their world. “Unique and mesmerizing… this little gem is sure to be a hit… Readers will bite on this series for some time to come.”–VOYA Hello Readers. Long time, no see. So far, October has been a busy month. And besides, since it is October, you would think I would try to get a theme for all the books I read and make them all supernatural–I already read that general genre, so I’m good and maybe slightly ahead of the game. 76 days (give or take a day or two) until a new year which means I will soon be compiling a new list of books that look interesting. This time I know to keep it looking reasonable. So, to the reason this entry is going up:Frostbite byRichelle Mead. If you haven’t already guessed, the title says it all. “It had taken me several moments to grasp what she was talking about. Then it occurred to me that in decapitating two Strigoi, I’d earned two molnija tattoos. My first ones. The realization had stunned me. All my life, in considering my future career as a guardian, I’d looked forward to the marks. I’d seen them as badges of honor. But now? Mainly they were going to be reminders of something I wanted to forget” (Pg. 312). In the sequel to Vampire Academy, our favorite dhampir is back and we meet her mother, Janine Hathaway. I won’t pretend to have immediately liked her character, but the more I read, the more I understood her. While part of me is going, “Yes! I understand the mind of a parent!” While at the same time, my mind is screaming at me, “What the hell!” In any case, based on Rose’s words in Vampire Academy, I’d assumed that her mother would not be in the picture at all. The way it had been worded made me think “working mom who puts her career before her child.” However, reading this novel made all the difference. So, that being said, you will like Janine. Speaking of people you will like, I would like to bring up someone you will love. I would know, I fall in love with fictional characters–but that’s another blog, another time. Anyway! Guardian Dimitri Belikov. There is so much going on with him and Rose in Frostbite–intense as hell. I mean, you add another woman into the mix–not cool Belikov, not cool. Buuut, things are working out and reaaally going well. Things are amping up! I mean, stuff happened with Mason–he might have been what she needed, but he was not what she wanted. Btw–RIP Mason. That’s all I’m saying. Now, I’m very happy for Lissa and Christian. Interesting new character by the name of Adrian. Bad boy in every sense of the word–almost–he has a heart of gold. There are other characters that have been developed a great deal and I am really enjoying seeing them transform into the kind of character that is endearing. Granted, there are some that just need to go away. Permanently. Got to meet some Strigoi–they are nasty pieces of work. So, overall, I really liked Frostbite. Richelle Mead is consistent in how she writes and she writes well. I am looking forward to reading the next novel and finding out where all this leads. Content was great, plot was fantastic, and of course, I love the characters. I am giving Frostbite a 3.5/4 out of 5. “In a world that seems saturated with vampire books, Richelle Mead has created characters and a world that is both unique and believable.”– TeensReadToo.com Five hours. Total time it took to read Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy. Incredibly quick read, but an incredibly good book. I could not put it down. Okay, I put it down a couple of times so I could move around. This might sound familiar, but I have never read a novel like it. It is different from what I have read and definitely different than the Blue Bloods series. I’m not going to lie–I love the idea that Montana (of all places) has a hidden area where vampire teens and their companions go to school. Mead takes a different approach to vampires and their companions. The main character’s name is Rose Hathaway–half-human, half-vampire–a dhampir. Her best friend is Lissa Dragomir–a Moroi princess–Moroi being mortal vampires. In Mead’s world, there are two kinds of vampires: Moroi, good; Strigoi, evil. A dhampir’s purpose is to protect a Moroi royal. Personally, I’ve never heard of mortal vampires and vampire guardians–but I think it is fantastic! Character development is very high in this novel–and as such, I hope so in the rest of the series. I am all for the relationships that are forming: Lissa/Christian and Rose/Dimitri. I look forward to future novels, partly for these couples, and partly because I like the plots. Lissa and Christian understand each other because they are the last in their line, everyone else has passed on. Then there is Rose and Dimitri. Hmm… Dimitri Belikov. I am not sure what is to happen with this pair, but I love them together! Don’t know why–maybe it is the older guy thing–the maturity and knowledge that younger males seem to… lack. Ahm. Anyway, the romantic relationships are not nearly as complicated in Vampire Academy as in the Blue Bloods series. Don’t get me wrong–love them both and really love the complications as an outside looking in–that’s it. 🙂 ”’That’s part of it, ‘ he said. ‘But also… well, you and I will both be Lissa’s guardians someday. I need to protect her at all costs. If a pack of Strigoi come, I need to throw my body between them and her.'” (324) I think I will introduce this series to my sister. That is, if she hasn’t already discovered them. So–I like Mead’s storytelling and characters. I’m giving Vampire Academy a 3.4/4 out of 5. I really wish I had come across this series earlier than now.

Error Codes)UE_ Top Loader If the customer is calling regarding uE/UE displays after the recall you need to probe the issue a bit further to determine if service is necessary.Is your machine displaying a uE(lowercase"U") or UE(uppercase"U")? A. ″uE″ or “UE” is informing customers that the sensor has detected unbalance of laundry. When the excessive unbalance of laundry occurs, a sensor detects unbalance of laundry. While the machine performs the process to rearrange and untangle unbalance of laundry. This display is appeared to inform the customer that “ When the excessive unbalance of laundry occurs, abnormal vibration can shorten the life of the washing machine, and even result in damage to the product. Please be careful to avoid the unbalance of laundry (Refer to the owner’s manual.)” (It occurs frequently when washing different kind of clothe, bulky items, such as waterproof sheet, shoes, mattresses, large dolls, etc.) Q. What cycle was selected? Cotton/normal or heavy duty cycle? Cotton/Normal or Heavy Duty cycle,If you use Cotton/Normal or Heavy duty cycle, it can happen easily. These two cycles are DOE cycles, meaning they provide energy savings according to the USA government requirement. As DOE Cycles, they use less water than other cycles. This requirement is same for all US energy star labeled washing machines. * For models WT5860**/WT1701** : For this reason, we recommend “Power Cleanse" cycle * For models WT5******/WT4***CW : For this reason, we recommend "PermPress/Casual" cycle. * For models WT1****** : For this reason, we recommend "Pure color" cycle. (If customer want to use cotton or heavy duty, recommends water plus or fabric softener option) This cycle uses more water and a deep tub rinse, so better washing and rinsing performance. The deep tub rinse will give less UE or unbalance.(Deep rinse compared to Jet spray Rinse) If you decide to continue to use Cotton/Normal, Sanitary, and Heavy Duty cycles. Adding the Fabric Softener Option to the cycle will change the Jet Spray Rinse to a Deep Rinse. This increase in water will help to better distribute the load during the rinse cycle which may result in fewer vibrations. Other cycle : Proceed to unbalanced load or Leveling. Article Feedback 1. Overall, how satisfied were you with the usefulness of this article? Very SatisfiedSatisfiedNeutralDissatisfiedVery Dissatisfied 1.1 Why did the article not resolve your issue? I was disappointed with the product quality or performance. My product requires repair service. I followed the instructions but my issue was not resolved. The article contain inaccurate information The article is difficult to understand. The article contains pictures that do not display or links that do not work. LG SupportNeed information? Got a question? We can help.Whether you need to register your product, communicate with an LG Support Representative, or obtain repair service. Finding answers and information is easy with LG online service and support. Owner’s Manuals, requesting a repair, software updates and warranty information are all just a click away.

Savoy, Texas -- Savoy ISD has named Mr. Danny Henderson as the new Principal of Savoy Elementary. Mr. Henderson was selected from over 80 applicants and was approved unanimously by the Savoy Board of Trustees. Danny Henderson Mr. Henderson has 13 years of administrative experience in Blue Ridge and in Pottsboro. Although his duties officially begin next school year, he will be visiting with staff at a get to know you meeting soon.

Firefighters encountered intense heat and cut several holes in the piping and ceiling to release the heat and prevent a possible explosion. Sewert said emergency workers transported the firefighters to area hospitals for treatment of ‘heat-related problems’ but injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. All workers safely evacuated the building before firefighters arrived. The cause of the blaze is unknown and is undergoing assessment by Cargill workers. “The company said after making an initial assessment of what occurred here, they expected it to be a lot worse than what it was,” Sewert said.

Like mother, like daughter WHITSETT — There have been times Stanford Smith couldn’t tell his daughter’s cooking from his wife’s. And that’s a compliment, seeing as both women have been honored as Times-News’ Cooks of the Month. Stanford’s wife, Hasseena Smith, was Cook of the Month in September 2012, and his daughter, Kaamilya Furman, is Cook of the Month for April. Kaamilya graduated from Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte last May. It was through her studies there that she gained the confidence to experiment with ingredients and concentrate on presentation. “That’s what I love — the presentation,” she said. “You do, after all, eat with your eyes.” When Kaamilya was a senior at Eastern Guilford High School, Kathy Jo Mitchell came to speak to her class about Johnson & Wales University. Mitchell’s talk, Kaamilya said, inspired her to attend the school. The tips and tricks she learned at the university have encouraged her to pursue a career in food services and strengthened her ability as a chef. “She doesn’t play around when she’s in the kitchen,” Hasseena said. “She does well with properly putting a menu together and making sure each dish complements the next. Kaamilya has learned and taught me how to make some salad dressings and sauces from scratch with items we have here in our kitchen cabinets.” Kaamilya, along with her mother, are on the hospitality committee at Clapp’s Chapel AME Church in Whitsett and prepared a meal on Feb. 24 to celebrate Heritage Day. Those in attendance wore African attire and Kaamilya and Hasseena made Jamaican Jerk Chicken, potato croquettes, green beans and baked chicken. “Everyone really seemed to enjoy the food and complimented us on it,” Hasseena said. During a recent visit to their home, Kaamilya prepared two of her mother’s favorite dishes, Bourbon chicken with homemade bourbon sauce and potato croquettes. “They are so delicious,” Hasseena said, observing the preparation of the potato croquettes, or as she referred to them — “potato cakes.” Both Hasseena and Kaamilya also prepare healthier versions of drinks and dishes because some family members have suffered from high blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart disease. Kaamilya went to the cabinet and pulled out organic sugar, which she uses in recipes. Kaamilya currently works at the Food Lion on Ramada Road in Burlington in the deli as a cashier and cake decorator; cake decorating was one of the skills she learned at Johnson & Wales. When she’s not preparing food for others, though, Kaamilya described her food tastes as “plain Jane.” “I like simple foods, not fancy.” Since she has such a passion for food, Kaamilya would like to be a caterer someday. “I love watching others sample my food,” she said with a smile. Page 2 of 3 - We’re looking for Cooks of the Month Do you know someone worthy of being recognized as Cook of the Month? If so, contact Charity Apple at capple@thetimesnews.com or (336) 506-3057. We are looking for cooks for May, June and July at the moment. Cook of the Month is published on the next to the last Wednesday of each month in Accent’s Food section. COOK OF THE MONTH RECIPES Sweet Bourbon Chicken 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced ¼ cup butter, melted ½ cup whiskey 1 medium onion 2 tablespoons parsley ½ cup lemon juice ¼ tablespoon brown sugar ¼ cup honey Mix all ingredients well and marinate chicken for one to four hours. Melt butter in pan; add chicken until tender. Remove chicken when it begins to crisp up. Cook chicken in small batches. For sauce, use the same marinade ingredients listed above, but with ½ cup heavy cream, and heat on stovetop until it begins to thicken. Top chicken with sauce and serve. Orange-Filled Slices 3 oranges, sliced in half and remove pulp. Fill with strawberry Jell-O make for a beautiful presentation. You can also add Yogurt (plain) with diced strawberry chunks mixed and filled into oranges. •n Cook’s note: You can make this either with Jell-O or yogurt. Beer-battered Fried Shrimp 2 cups flour, seasoned with tablespoon of salt and pepper 3 cups beer (any, except dark) 3 cups all-purpose flour 3 teaspoons salt 2½ pounds shrimp, shelled and deveined In a bowl, whisk beer into flour until smooth and stir in salt. Make several shallow cuts across each shrimp. Dredge shrimp in seasoned flour first, then in batter to coat completely, letting excess drip off. Fry in a 350-degree F. fryer, working in batches and turning until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Drain excess oil and season with salt. Remove from heat and cool. Add paste or Sriracha and season; blend until smooth. Potato Croquettes 2 pounds russet potatoes 3 large eggs 1 tablespoon chopped parsley ¼ teaspoon chopped tarragon 2 tablespoons unsalted butter Page 3 of 3 - 1/8 teaspoon black pepper ¾ cup flour (or as needed) ¾ cup breadcrumbs (or as needed) Peel potatoes. Cut into 2-inch pieces and boil until tender; drain until potatoes are dry. Mash the potatoes and cool them. Lightly beat 1 egg into the cooled potatoes along with herbs, butter, salt and pepper and mix well. Now you can begin to roll potatoes to your desired size. Lightly beat remaining eggs into bowl and set aside. Spread flour and bread crumbs onto pan. Working in batches roll croquettes in flour to coat and gently shake off excess and then dip in egg. Let excess drip off then roll into bread crumbs and return to tray. Chill potatoes for about 30 minutes and you can begin to fry them.

Kowa Genesis-D / Genesis-Df Handheld Fundus Camera The main unit incorporates all the optical system, but the main and power supply units are compact and lightweight. 2.5-inch large TFT liquid crystal display screen ID input function Forehead pad equipped in standard You want a wider field of view with the ability to observe peripheral area in the indirect ophthalmoscopy. Observation of peripheral sites, which was not possible until now, was made possible with the development of the Genesis Lens Holder. By simply mounting the device on the front of the camera, photographing the peripheral area is easy.

POWER tycoon Paul Massara sparked an outrage after claiming energy bills are sky-high because British households waste energy. THE £600,000-a-year boss of energy giants npower was condemned by hard-up families last night after saying they were to blame for sky-high bills. Chief executive Paul Massara, whose company’s average 10.4 per cent winter price hike was the highest of the Big Six suppliers, sparked a storm of outrage when he claimed: “Bills are high because British homes waste so much energy.” And instead of apologising to customers for the rises, the millionaire with a three-storey 16th century mansion said ordinary households had to do more to cut costs. Scots mum-of-one Alison Lindsay, 35, said Massara was “seriously out of touch”. And the civil servant from East Kilbride said she and husband Mark, 41, already do all they can to keep their astronomical bills down. Alison, who has an 18-month-old son, Jake, said of Massara: “We can’t afford to be flippant with our money and I think he has been very flippant with his comments. “These people are obviously completely out of touch with people such as myself. “ I would love to know the last time they personally sat down and consulted single parents, young families and pensioners over their needs and struggles. “They are misguided and he has obviously lost touch with the average person, on an average salary with an average life.” Daily Record Alison Lindsay with son Jake Pensioner Cathy Leach, 70, a retired postal worker from Glasgow, said: “Energy companies are dodging and diving, and once again trying to take the onus off them and all the fantastic perks they get. “How dare they treat people with such contempt when they are struggling? “I go around my house switching everything off in a panic, like most people do, because they know their bills are going to be sky-high. “For an energy boss to say people are being wasteful is absolute rubbish. What planet is he on? If I’m told to put another cardigan on or wear a woolly hat in my house, I’ll scream.” Mark Todd, co-founder of energyhelpline.com, said: “For an energy supplier to blame customers for rocketing bills beggars belief. Suppliers have raised prices by 140 per cent in nine years while users have cut usage. “Typical gas usage is down 34 per cent and electricity usage by three per cent, in part because many customers can no longer afford to heat their homes. “To blame bill rises on wasteful customers is thus totally incorrect. It’s the suppliers who have put up the bills, not the customers.” Massara said: “The actual unit price of energy in the UK is one of the lowest in Europe, but bills are high because British homes waste so much energy. “If we can increase the efficiency of the UK’s old and draughty housing, we can ensure that annual energy bills are some of the lowest too.” Adam Sorenson The lights are on at npower boss Paul Massara's house His comments come less than a week after our sister paper the Daily Mirror revealed that a fatcat who helped npower’s owners avoid millions in tax is now on the board of HM Revenue and Customs – advising the taxman. Former npower boss Volker Beckers ran a tax avoidance operation in Malta which meant the firm paid no UK corporation tax for four years while bills rose by 55 per cent. Caroline Flint MP, Labour’s Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said: “It’s hypocritical for energy companies like npower to blame households for ‘wasting’ energy and then lobby the Government to cut back on insulation schemes. “If npower really want to help, they could always use some of their profits to improve the energy efficiency of their customers’ homes. “If these companies want to win back customers’ trust they should admit they’ve been overcharging and back Labour’s price freeze, which will save money for 27million households and 2.4million businesses.” And Gary Smith, national secretary for energy at the GMB union, said: “Npower are in crisis. They’re sacking thousands of workers across the UK, offshoring other jobs and their credit rating is going down the pan. Yet this company seem to think it is fine to use customers as a scapegoat for their problems. “Some of the poorest people in this country live in private rented accommodation, yet there isn’t enough pressure on landlords to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. “But instead of trying to improve their lot, npower seem happy to blame them. They are a disgrace.” Massara’s “don’t blame us” message over rising bills has been touted repeatedly by his company. Npower have claimed more than half of Britain’s homes are wasting money by “allowing expensive heat to escape through walls and roofs”. They said they controlled less than 20 per cent of customers’ bills, made “no hidden profits” and had a profit margin of 3.2 per cent in the first nine months of 2013. They also complained that Government regulations on energy would add £308 to bills by 2020. Their report, Energy Explained, was slammed by regulator Ofgem, who said it contained “incorrect and misleading” figures on the cost of the UK’s energy supply network. In October, Massara claimed on the npower website that 84 per cent of the retail price of energy was “outside our control”. The firm were then accused of censoring comments on the site from angry customers, one of whom told Massara he was “full of it”. Npower have increased gas prices by 39.6 per cent, and electricity prices by 34.3 per cent, since October 2010. They announced a 2.6 per cent price cut this month after the Government reduced green levies on bills. They were the last of the Big Six to agree to pass on the cuts.

OpenDoc in Microsoft Office a Reality The OpenDocument Foundation has developed a plug-in for Microsoft Office that would provide transparent compatibility with ODF, allowing users to open and save like any other office document. The group has apparently been working on the plug-in for quite some time, however only publicly acknowledged it after the state of Massachusetts put out a request on Wednesday. The request asked for information on a plug-in that would "allow Microsoft Office to easily open, render, and save to ODF files, and also allow translation of documents between Microsoft's binary (.doc, .xls, .ppt) or XML formats and ODF." According to the OpenDocument Foundation, the plug-in would work for any version of Office from Office 97. Testing of the plugin has been completed by the group and no issues have arisen. The group is now in the process of submitting the plug-in to the state through the proper channels, it told Groklaw in an interview Thursday. While some may find the organization's moves as somewhat contradictory to its stated premise, OpenDocument Foundation's Gary Edwards does not. This isn't about Windows, Edwards told Groklaw. "It's about people, business units, existing workflows and business processes, and vested legacy information systems begging to be connected, coordinated, and re-engineered to reach new levels of productivity and service." "It's also about the extraordinary value of ODF and it's importance to the next generation of collaborative computing," he continued. It is not clear if the group plans to make the plug-in publicly available.

Popular March 25, 2009 Scientists Find New Way To Battle MRSA by Sam Savage Experts from Queen's University Belfast have developed new agents to fight MRSA and other hospital-acquired infections that are resistant to antibiotics. The fluids are a class of ionic liquids that not only kill colonies of these dangerous microbes, they also prevent their growth. The development of these new antimicrobial agents was carried out by a team of eight researchers from the Queen's University Ionic Liquid Laboratories (QUILL) Research Centre. The team was led by Brendan Gilmore, Lecturer in Pharmaceutics at the School of Pharmacy, and Martyn Earle, Assistant Director of QUILL. The discovery is published in the scientific journal Green Chemistry. Many types of bacteria, such as MRSA, exist in colonies that adhere to the surfaces of materials. The colonies often form coatings, known as biofilms, which protect them from antiseptics, disinfectants, and antibiotics. Earle said: "We have shown that when pitted against the ionic liquids we developed and tested, biofilms offer little or no protection to MRSA, or to seven other infectious microorganisms." Ionic liquids, just like the table salt sprinkled on food, are salts. They consist entirely of ions - electrically-charged atoms or groups of atoms. Unlike table salt, however, which has to be heated to over 800o C to become a liquid, the ionic liquid antibiofilm agents remain liquid at the ambient temperatures found in hospitals. One of the attractions of ionic liquids is the opportunity to tailor their physical, chemical, and biological properties by building specific features into the chemical structures of the positively-charged ions (the cations), and/or the negatively-charged ions (the anions). Earle said: "Our goal is to design ionic liquids with the lowest possible toxicity to humans while wiping out colonies of bacteria that cause hospital acquired infections." Microbial biofilms are not only problematic in hospitals, but can also grow inside water pipes and cause pipe blockages in industrial processes. Gilmore said: "Ionic liquid based antibiofilm agents could potentially be used for a multitude of medical and industrial applications. For example, they could be used to improve infection control and reduce patient morbidity in hospitals and therefore lighten the financial burden to healthcare providers. They could also be harnessed to improve industrial productivity by reducing biofouling and microbial-induced corrosion of processing systems."

Interfaith if you were in an interfaith relationship, how would you raise your children? j(wh) and i have asked that question several times as we’ve discussed what the future may hold for us. and it will continue to be a topic of conversation, i’m sure. i have, from very early in our relationship, taken the stance that, if we were to marry and have children, our (hypothetical) children should be taught the beliefs and history of both of our faith traditions; that they should attend both quaker and mormon meetings regularly (not both every Sunday, but on some kind of split schedule); that they should have both quaker and mormon communities; and that ultimately they should decide for themselves (when they’re older than eight) which tradition works for them—or that neither works for them. j(wh) sees the balance and fairness in such a suggestion, but he still has reservations about raising his children with any exposure to mormonism. primarily because he fears the ways in which mormonism could cause them pain—the pain and depression he’s seen me experience because of the church’s teachings about gender and marriage; the pain men and women close to us have felt as they’ve attempted to fit themselves into the mold the church prescribes; the pain some of our friends felt as they left the mormon community. he doesn’t want to expose his children to a belief system that can generate such deep psychological and spiritual hurt. and i do not blame him. in fact i agree with him. i don’t want my children exposed to such pain either. while we haven’t resolved this particular problem, we both very much believe there is a middle ground—a way to teach our (hypothetical) children about both of our faith traditions while doing our best to control for teachings we believe are harmful. that middle ground is possible because j(wh) and i share deeply cherished values and we envision living those values in similar ways. in other words, while our formal faith traditions are different, our beliefs are very similar. as we’ve discussed this question, j(wh) has asked me whether i know anyone who has raised their kids the way i’m suggesting we should raise our (hypothetical) children—half in the mormon church, half in another church. and i’ve had to say that, no—i don’t. so i went searching the bloggernacle for other people’s experiences, trusting i would find useful information. i was rather surprised at what i did find. but i also found ideas that very much disturbed me. here’s a few, in brief: that a woman will be ‘available’ to be sealed to a man in the next life, regardless of whether she stays single or marries a non-mormon. the implication being that were such a woman to marry a non-mormon, she would not be sealed to her non-mormon spouse. that marriage to a non-mormon pre-supposes a ‘divorce-upon-death.’ again implying that it’s impossible for an interfaith marriage to be sanctioned in the next life. that there should be a pre-nup understanding that the non-mormon spouse’s failure to actively support the LDS lifestyle would constitute sufficient grounds for divorce. that a mormon marries a non-mormon out of desperation for sex and companionship. that when a mormon marries a non-mormon, the mormon has settled for marrying someone who does not cherish the same values. that marriage is about making babies, not about the spouses. that therefore, because marrying a non-mormon will jeopardize future children’s moral character, interfaith marriage should be avoided at all costs—even the cost of debilitating depression and loneliness. that interfaith parents necessarily compete for control of their children’s moral training—because clearly they couldn’t have moral values in common. that the children of interfaith marriages should, obviously, be raised exclusively mormon. that marriage is teleological—about the ends achieved, rather than about the way life is lived now. that mormons in interfaith marriages should be pitied, as if their marriages must be a daily burden instead of a source of joy and happiness. that only mormons with serious testimony issues or rebellious natures marry outside the church. that marrying a non-mormon constitutes a deliberate and active sin. as i read these various posts and comments—literally hundreds of comments—i was stunned. and furious. and sad. sad because essentially what i heard over and over was that interfaith marriage is inherently lacking; that it constituted sin; that it was begging for trouble. sad because of the lack of faith—faith that god will sanction any marriage built on love and equality and sound foundations, rather than just those begun with the proper ritual and form. i cannot understand the privileging of form (starting a marriage with a temple sealing) over principle (building a strong, loving, lasting marriage—a ‘celestial’ marriage, if you will). i cannot understand it in spite of my acceptance of the importance of saving ordinances. my search for ideas about how to build interfaith marriages and families also took me to a couple of articles in dialogue. and it was there i found what felt right to me. in his short article “eternity with a dry-land mormon,”* levi peterson explains the rites of “baptism, confirmation, healing, and wedding” as ordained by god “for the comfort, not the condemnation, of human beings. a ritual is not a ticket allowing one to enter a certain door or gate. it is a reminder and a symbol; it concentrates meaning and rouses emotion” (113-4). this understanding of ordinances resonates with me. it makes sense to think of rites as focusing attention on living principled, examined lives while recognizing that they are not the only means of doing so. peterson later concludes: “a wedding announces a marriage, celebrates it, establishes its hope and ideal, but doesn’t create it. the joy a couple has in one another’s presence creates their marriage. i therefore believe that, if god grants althea and me to participate in the miracle of the resurrection, he will also grant us the privilege of continuing our marriage. there will need be no other reason than that we have loved each other long and dearly” (115). i could not agree more fully. for me, love is the well-spring of the gospel. it is the power that should direct our daily lives. it is the hope i feel for myself and my world. love—not form—will lead to exaltation. form, ritual, ordinances can only help set expectations of love, focus attention on love; they cannot take love’s place. because my own interfaith relationship is with a quaker, i read heidi hart’s article “householding: a quaker-mormon marriage”** with great interest. i appreciated her story of spiritually journeying away from mormonism into quakerism; of her and her husband’s efforts to not only preserve their marriage, but to use their divergent spiritual paths as an opportunity to strengthen their marriage. she speaks of a jewish creation story in which “god’s divinity is shattered into pieces at the beginning of the world. . . . that our job as human beings is to gather the pieces of goodness scattered all around us,” regardless of where they lay (142). i understand this vision because i see goodness everywhere in my world. i have no interest in making all of that goodness mormon, in redefining it so it fits neatly somewhere in the mormon cosmology. i am interested in exploring the goodness where it lays, in coming to understand how the goodness in mormonism and the goodness outside mormonism work together to make a beautiful world. it is that desire, as much as any sense of fairness, that inspires my desire to raise (hypothetical) children with j(wh) as truly interfaith. i know it’s an unusual desire for a mormon. i know it will be a course with challenges. but i believe it can be done. because i believe that “it’s not our differences that divide us. it’s our judgments about each other that do” (150)**. so why am i writing this post? i suppose i’m writing it in hopes that i’ll find some mormons who don’t agree with the crazy notions i encountered in the bloggernacle. more importantly i’m writing it hoping for thoughts about how to go about raising truly interfaith children. i don’t particularly want to repeat the extremely long, extremely hurtful discussion that happened at times & seasons a few years ago; which means that i’m not particularly interested in talking about whether a mormon should marry a non-mormon in the first place. the reality is that it happens. instead, i’m interested in ideas about how to go about building a strong, interfaith family (not just a mormon or a quaker family with one parent who believes differently). Share this: Related Amelia has recently relocated to Salt Lake City for her new job selling college textbooks (a job she loves). She’s a 9th generation Mormon redefining her relationship with the church (the church she both loves and hates). She’s passionate about books, travel, beauty, and all things cheese. In addition to her Dialogue article, you need to read Heidi Hart’s book, _Grace Notes_, about raising her family in an LDS/Quaker home (she’s Quaker, her husband is LDS, and their children are primarily LDS but also are a part of the Quaker community). She’s also done several Sunstone sessions on this topic that are available for download as mp3s. 2 things: I am concerned about potential husband’s attitude towards your faith; if his primary reaction is fear of that faith because it causes pain, that seems to indicate a lack of support for you and your chosen religion. Also, you seem a bit knocked off your feet with the idea that some LDS people (of course the vocal ones) will disapprove of your marriage. That is a fact, some people will. Why does it matter to you? It seems that if you were more at ease with the prospect, other people’s opinions would not matter. I want to say that I think such an interfaith family could exist peacefully and happily, but I just don’t know if I have that much faith in the Mormon community. I wouldn’t trust them to not treat your kids as “the ones with the crazy parents”. Since my marriage is turning out to be a little more interfaith than I even expected, I would also like tips on how to handle it. While at BYU, I took the missionary prep class taught by Randy Bott, and of all the many motivational things he said, the single thing I remember from that full semester is when he told the class that he would rather his daughters died than marry outside the temple. Such talk can be so damaging, where it creates the sense that non-temple marriage is evil and/or damning (in the sense that you will never be exalted). The conclusions in your bullet points are many times the result of such black and white declarations, which are, in the first place, only given as opinion. I’m currently having a very hard time separating the important bits of doctrine from the actions of the church and its members, and the idea that my marriage is doomed for eternity if I don’t shape up and fix my beliefs doesn’t give me hope, it is heart wrenching. I would rather just concentrate on how much we love each other and are trying to make each others’ lives better while creating a loving family. I agree with the poster who notes your husbands very negative view of the LDS faith; I would add that you also seem ambivalent at best about your religion. In light of your views, I do not agree with your idea of taking your children to both churches and “letting them choose”. Children need a spiritual foundation that they can build from, not competing ideas and mixed messages. I think you should raise them as Quakers if you truly believe that taking them to an LDS primary would cause them pain. Amelia, Thanks for this thoughtful post! I’m glad to have someone to share Mondays with 🙂 You hit the nail on the head when you asked about what an interfaith family would look like. It seems easy to talk about some kind of religious balance, but how that actually plays out can be much different. The devil’s in the details, I guess. I’m not in the same situation, but I do think there are adjustments that families have to make as one of the parents becomes less (or non) believing in the LDS church. I think I’m on that path. Of course, starting out a marriage expecting the interfaith issue is a lot different than starting out in the temple and thinking you’ll both be on the same religious wavelength for the rest of your lives (and eternity). I appreciate your research on this topic and it will be so helpful to refer people to this post in the future. Best of luck in your journey. Wow. I think some commenters are not focusing enough on how similar your beliefs are to j(wh). If you two believe in the same principles of kindness, charity, love, and equality, I think you can make it work. Obviously there would be difficulties. It will get complicated when they learn in primary that only families that are sealed can be together forever. But like you, I think you can control for that. Tell them that that’s how some Mormon’s look at it, but others believe in God’s grace and love and that we’ll be with our loved ones in the hereafter. Give them the Quaker viewpoint on the subject. Ask them what’s the most compelling to them and why. I think this could lead to some wonderful discussions where the kids’ can learn to take the best from these two great religious traditions. I also wanted to comment on how jaw droppingly awful it is to hear Mormon’s say they’d rather their children die than marry outside the church. Sarah, that was a horrific story. Also awful was that discussion on T&S that you linked too, Amy. I’m shocked that anyone could for a second think that no marriage is better than a great marriage to a non-Mormon. Absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. Would anyone really wish that on our friends and family? (Not that a single life can’t be great, but if someone has that chance to find a companion and have children, and that’s what he/she desires, good grief, how could you not see how potentially wonderful that marriage could be for them?) I find it really sad that some Mo’s don’t have faith that God in all his infinite love won’t be completely compassionate and sympathetic towards those in interfaith marriages and ultimately ratify those marriages in the next life. Of courses, I am the product of an interfaith marriage, so maybe I’m biased. Thank you for this thought provoking post, Amelia. It briefly reminded me of a conversation with my current home teacher. He knows that I am interested in women’s issues so he told me that he wrote his thesis on why Mormon women marry outside of the church. Unfortunately, most of his conclusions could be found in your bulleted points. He was none to pleased when I told him that I thought that his points did not fully explore the complexity of why many LDS women choose to marry non-members. I am a firm believer that each couple must develop a theology that they will teach to their children. All couples do this regardless of whether they are interfaith or devout Mormons; we all pick and choose portions of the doctrine that are very important to us and overlook things that are not. This is something that my husband and I are currently working on. There are several aspects of Mormon doctrine and culture that are profoundly hurtful to me and I must say that I have the same fears that j(wh) has expressed. In order to assuage some of my reservations, DH and I are working towards a theology of our own to give to our children. Personally, I think this is one of the greatest gifts you can give your children, a belief system that you have deeply explored and are committed to living and sharing. Why does this conversation have to be limited to interfaith relationships? Parents will have their biases and, I would imagine, it would easier if they shared those biases, but let’s be honest: even in monofaith relationships, the individual parents are unlikely to have the exact same interpretations of the faith. If I were a parent, I would explore as many faiths, perspectives, and community as I could with my children, because not only would I want them to find their own truth, but I want to expose them to diversity–not only for the sake of being able to learn the impotency of discrimination, but also to find those golden areas that all faiths teach: compassion, love, respect, etc. But of course faith is more than just values, right? It is also about community. I don’t have a good personal answer for how I would deal with this as a parent, but what I do know is that if I loved and chose to marry someone of a different faith-perspective than my own, there comes the implicit understanding that for any harm that the faith and faith community she comes from must be balanced with the fact that it also made her who she is–and I simply have to respect that to some level. Maybe it’s because the faith instilled good values; maybe it’s because the hurt and struggle made her learn good lessons; likely, it is both and more. But how does that translate to the children? I have to go back to my original point, though: it may be magnified in an interfaith relationship, but these issues of values, faith, and community are something I believe all parents must struggle with. I don’t know if this is way off base with the questions you’ve asked in your post and with the other comments here, but it occurred to me today as I was thinking of you and J(wh) and contemplating your relationship. What I’m wondering is do you, Amelia, have enough faith? I mean, do you have enough faith in J(wh) as someone who will be a loving and righteous husband? Do you have enough faith in yourself to be the spouse that he deserves? Do you have enough faith that the two of you together can weather the challenges that will come when your kids come home from LDS church repeating some racist folklore? Do you have enough faith in a God who loves you and who wants you to be happy? Do you have enough faith to deal with the hurtful and pitying comments from LDS members about part-member families? Do you have enough faith to step into the unknown without the support of your family and your church community? I know you have the gumption to do all of this–you are one of the most strong-willed people that I know. But having faith and having gumption are not necessarily the same thing. i appreciate the concern ESO and E expressed, but i feel like i must not have communicated the nuances of my situation well. so a couple of things to clarify: 1. j(wh)’s fear regarding mormonism has to do with raising children mormon; not with my own involvement in it. he supports me in my chosen religion and my practice of it and i think he always will. he has no desire to change the way i believe because he recognizes that it’s not his place to change the way i believe. 2. i couldn’t care less what other random mormons think about my relationship with or my potential marriage to j(wh). what upset me about what i found on the bloggernacle was not anticipation of others responding to me in that way–i have a very thick skin and pretty often dismiss the stupid things i hear people say at church (and everywhere else). what shocked me was that people actually think these things. at all. they’re so clearly not in keeping with the peace and charity and compassion and mercy and love of christ’s gospel, that i have a hard time understanding how people can think them. such thoughts have never even occurred to me. 3. i’m not ambivalent about my religion. but i do believe that every individual has their own particular understanding of religion. i’m very passionate about my understanding of my religion and i live it fully. the thing is that my personal version of my religion very much aligns with many of j(wh)’s beliefs and values. so i don’t think our children will be without a foundation. quite to the contrary, i believe they’ll have an even more solid foundation than many traditionally raised mormon children. because i won’t simply trust that all the random mormons who teach my kids in primary, sunday school, YW/YM, and seminary think the same way i do. if anything, i think the difference in our religious beliefs will make j(wh) and i more involved and proactive about shaping our (hypothetical) children’s moral and spiritual foundation than the average mormon family. and i’m not married to him yet. though i want to marry him someday. 🙂 sarah: i understand and share your concern about the openness of the mormon community. i would hope that a faith community would not be so petty in how it responds to others, but i know i can’t really expect that. i suppose i respond to the concern in a couple of ways. 1. trying to be in touch enough with my kids that i hear about such instances; and 2. making sure that my kids have a diverse enough community that when some freaky mormon makes them feel bad because they’re from a part-member family or because they’re black or whatever, they’ll realize that those individuals aren’t like the other people in their larger community. and i think randy bott’s statement about his daughters being better off dead than married outside the temple is utterly unconscionable. what a truly awful thing to say. as for your last concern–about separating the opinions/behavior of church members from doctrine, i think you should read levi peterson’s article i referenced. if you go here: caroline: thanks for calling attention to the importance of shared values. i think it’s such a mistake to believe that if two people don’t share a religion, they therefore don’t share beliefs and values and morals. nothing could be further from the truth. why would two people get married if they didn’t share those things? and i like your idea of talking to kids about beliefs. i realize that to a certain extent that’s an idealized vision of how things can be. but at the same time i think we far too often sell short our children and their ability to think and consider and understand truth. mraynes and jessawhy: i appreciate your calling attention to the fact that any set of parents must navigate the differences between their beliefs. i really think it’s a mistake for a couple to assume they’re on the same wavelength in terms of spiritual and religious beliefs simply because they’re both mormon. no marriage is without its challenges in terms of reconciling different beliefs and understandings. while those differences may be more apparent in an interfaith marriage, i don’t think that necessarily means they’re insurmountable. it could, in fact, mean they’re more workable (as long as the two partners are willing to do the work) since they’re more visible. okay, so after that long comment, a little more. do put up with me a bit longer. 🙂 isaac: i really appreciate your comment and completely agree with you about every marriage requiring a negotiation of differing beliefs. and i really like your suggestion about exposing children to a wide variety of religions. i’ve thought about that–going to visit another church every once in a while–as a means of removing some of the potential for competition between our two religions. you know–letting children know that there are many ways people experience the divine. and that many of them do have the kinds of commonalities you identify. in addition to community, i think faith is also about history and heritage. maybe those things are caught up in ‘community.’ but i just keep coming back to the fact that even if i were to stop practicing mormonism (which i don’t envision ever happening), i’d still be mormon. it’s part of me. jana: the simple answer is yes. i have the purest, strongest faith i’ve ever experienced in j(wh), in myself, and in god. i could not experience the peace and joy that i am experiencing in this relationship if i didn’t. even when j(wh) and i have had difficult conversations about this (and other topics), i continue to experience that peace and trust. it’s incredible. and beautiful. I am in a very similar situation to you where I am LDS and the boyfriend (hopefully future husband) is not. Except for I very recently converted to my religion, while my boyfriend remains mainline/liberal Protestant. Like j(wh), J (my boyfriend) is concerned about exposed our (hypothetical) kids to mormonism. He’s afraid that some things that the church teaches are damaging – and I agree. But many of the things the church teaches are wonderful! The question is, can kids filter out the bad and embrace the good like I do as an adult? Not without guidance. If I had the perfect interfaith family (though nothing ever goes to plan) I would teach them both my and J’s religions and treat them equally. I would be very careful to discuss what the kids heard in primary, and to modify any damaging ideas that they received. This should be repeated with J’s religion. J thinks that it’s best that a family is united in faith and only attends one church. I think that it’s perfectly fine to attend two church services and let the kids decide when they are old enough. Most importantly, before I build an interfaith family, I and J must be a truly interfaith couple. He and I need to fully respect and accept each other’s religion. We must be able to say, “I love you and I want to be a part of anything that is important to you. Teach me about your beliefs. I’ll listen with an open heart and only ask questions to clarify things.” I would like J to take lessons from the missionaries, and if/when he joins a church in his new city, I’ll participate in the new member class. J and I aren’t to this point yet, but I believe that once we are, the issues around raising children in an interfaith marriage will diminish greatly. So it’s a struggle and I know J is upset that I’ve joined a church without him – especially a church that he would not choose for himself. We talk talk talk about it, and I try not to get upset about it. It’s one thing to go into a relationship where you know that you’ll be an interfaith couple, and it’s quite another to make that change in the midst of it all. ps – I know it’s hard, but ignore those crazy, hurtful things people write on the internet. Just look into your heart and you’ll know what’s right. 🙂 I find it ironic and sad that this post–calling for tolerance and love–has prompted a string of comments so critical and dismissive of Randy Bott and those who share his view on this topic. Amelia, it sounds like you and j(wh) are working this through and are in a good place to build the type of family you envision. Certainly it is possible to build a loving, successful interfaith family–I know many such families! On the other hand, an interfaith family is not what everyone wants–I know, because it’s not what I want. For me, my choice is to stay single until I have the opportunity for a temple marriage (and yes, I realize that’s no magic guarantee, that any type of marriage requires a huge amount of work, etc.). I feel so strongly about that for myself that I’m certain I will feel the same way about my children–isn’t it only natural that a parent wants the same things for their children that they want for themselves? Of course I can’t speak for Randy Bott, but I suspect that’s somewhere along the lines of where he is coming from–I think it is *because* he cares about his daughters that he says what he does, not because he wants to cause them pain. Can’t we give him a break? I think this church is big enough for all of us, and the Botts, too. This is a hard one. That is why you cant find much. I think each individual marriage has to find for themselves how it works. My husband decided he was done with the church on Sunday. It is hard on a marriage to not be on the same page. It is hard when each of you want to teach your kids different things. I was shocked when he asked if this meant I would leave him. I dont think it is that simple. I told he no way. I love him and we have a good marriage. Where we go from here I am not sure. We both love our children and want the best for them. We both agree that Christ’s teaching are something they need and if they following those teaching it will help them in their lives. How this all comes about will happen one step at a time. I will not force my children. So some of it is up to them and what they choose. I just want to encourage them to be good people who are kind to others and make choices that will keep them from many of the pains you can experience when choosing to sin. It is hard because I know there will be have to be compromises on both sides. Compromises on things I thought I would never compromise on. Good luck to you. I know the Lord loves all of us and in the end if we look for His direction on behalf of our children. He will guide us in what they will need. sunlize: thanks for sharing your experience. i think you’re right that it’s important that each partner respect the other’s beliefs. without that, i doubt an interfaith marriage/family could work. the concern about making a change of religion after a relationship has begun reminds me of some of what i read about mormon couples in which one partner left the church. the situation is a little different, but some of the feelings are the same. it might be helpful to read some of what’s available about those experiences. good luck. melanie2: i appreciate your comment, also. of course there’s room in the church for all kinds of perspectives, including yours–i.e., preferring to remain single until you have the opportunity to marry in the temple. i want to be very clear that my comment about randy bott’s attitude has nothing to do with either 1. preferring to remain single oneself until one can marry in the temple; or 2. preferring temple marriage for one’s children. my own parents prefer that i marry in the temple. that has caused some difficult conversations between them and me. but while my parents feel very strongly about how important it is that i marry in the temple, they also recognize that i am the only one who can receive revelation about who and how i marry. so they accept that i should be the one to make that choice, regardless of their view. what i find unconscionable in randy bott’s reported statement is not his preference that his children marry in the temple–not hoping his children have the same blessing he have. what’s unconscionable, in my opinion, is that his expression of that desire (i’d rather they die than marry outside the temple) proscribes his children’s right to revelation for themselves about who to marry. it implies an inability to accept and love one’s own children regardless of whether they make the same decisions one made for oneself. and it reinforces all of the misinterpretations of the church’s teaching about marriage that i listed in my post. i agree that we should tolerate all kinds of perspectives and ideas in the church. i especially think that on the issue of marriage. but i do not think we should tolerate hyperbolic statements that imply such violence to other people’s (even our own children’s) spiritual autonomy. i realize that what inspired his comment was likely a desire that his children have the same blessing he has had and a conviction that sealing is vital. but in my mind those feelings do not justify the mode of expression he chose. i’m a firm believer that language has power beyond the intent behind what’s spoken. and i believe we have a responsibility to use that power carefully. i don’t think we should tolerate careless use of langague. gladtobeamom: thank you so much for sharing your own experience. i’ve watched friends navigate the situation you find yourself in and i know it can be difficult. but i also know it can be done. i’m glad that, in spite of the difference of opinion over what church to participate in, you and your husband recognize where you have the same desires for your children–teaching them about christ and his gospel. in such situations i think recognizing that you still have common ground and similar hopes for your children must be a vital beginning point. i’m sure that, while your new course will present challenges, you’ll be able to maintain your good marriage and be good parents as long as you act in love, as it sounds like you have. as for resources: you might take a look at faces east (i linked to it in my post). there was some good conversation there. and i really thought heidi hart’s article was a great look at a marriage in which one partner left mormonism. that article is not available online, but i could mail you a photocopy of it if you’d like. email me at whilikers at hotmail dot com if you’re interested. she also has a book which would be a bit easier to find–grace notes. jana mentioned it above. Amelia – You make a great point about the power of language and our responsibility in using it carefully. But I don’t think Bott is advocating violence, spiritually or otherwise. I see a major difference between “I would rather my daughter die than do X” and “I will kill my daughter if she contemplates doing X.” Nor did his statement say anything about how he would actually treat a daughter who chose contrary to his wishes for her, or how he would respond to her if she told him that she felt prompted to do something he disagreed with. I took Bott’s mission prep class years ago, and while I don’t remember the specifics (or if this particular marriage discussion ever came up that semester), I know that the class as a whole did focus on the importance of agency, personal revelation, etc. Putting myself in his shoes, teaching a roomful of prospective missionaries, my priority would be getting them to focus on worthy preparation–and I think it’s pretty clear that the temple is major part of that. It may well be that making such a dramatic statement about the value of the temple–suggesting that anything less would be unthinkable for his daughters–was the best way to grab the attention of a bunch of 18-year-old boys. You make a great point about the power of language and our responsibility in using it carefully. But I don’t think Bott is advocating violence, spiritually or otherwise. I see a major difference between “I would rather my daughter die than do X” and “I will kill my daughter if she contemplates doing X.” Nor did his statement say anything about how he would actually treat a daughter who chose contrary to his wishes for her, or how he would respond to her if she told him that she felt prompted to do something he disagreed with. I disagree with your view on the nuance of this wording. If I say, “I’d rather you die than make this choice,” it draws a clear line in the sand about my preferences. It says, quite clearly and dramatically, “this choice is more important to me than your life.” j(wh), I would see that differently because that would be you addressing me directly. (As you said in your example, “I’d rather *you* die…”). As far as we know, he was actually talking to a classroom of students, not to the daughter(s) in the position of making the choice. To me that makes the statement more categorical–in the same vein as other general preferences about how people live their lives. I think it’s possible to have very strong views about religious beliefs, politics, values, etc., and express those, and yet still treat those who disagree with us with love and respect (for them and for their agency). As far as tolerance of the intolerant goes–isn’t that what tolerance really is? It’s easy to deal with those with whom we agree; the difficulty is in tolerating those who annoy us. (Which I fully admit is one of my major faults!) Amelia, I’m sorry I’ve taken us so far off-track…I’ll step aside from the threadjack now. i don’t think bott is advocating violence; i think he’s committing violence against his daughters’–and others’–spiritual autonomy when he makes a statement like that. i understand that such statements are rhetorically powerful–that they will in fact gain and hold attention, so much that they will be remembered long after the moment in which they are spoken. which increases the amount of violence they commit. why do i insist they commit violence against others’ spiritual autonomy? because those words–like most of the attitudes i encountered in the bloggernacle re: interfaith marriage–constitute an unjust and unwarranted exercise of force; because they do damage to others through distortion. (definitions of violence pulled from dictionary.com) no matter how pure bott’s intent was when he uttered those words, the fact is that they distort gospel principles. and they exert power over others–because they become mental and spiritual barriers to an individual making their own choice regarding marriage. why do i keep talking about bott’s statement? because i don’t think doing so is actually much of a threadjack. most of my bulleted points are, in spirit, very much like bott’s comment. and i believe that bott’s comment–as well as most of the bulleted points–violate tenets of the gospel. is it really preferable that an individual’s mortal opportunity to grow through experience, to repent of previous problems, to make the most use possible of the time god has given us on earth be cut short rather than that she/he marry outside the temple? i just cannot reconcile that with my understanding of the gospel. how does the notion that it’s better to never experience the deep love and commitment of marriage and parenting than to marry outside the temple work given the gospel’s emphasis on love? is it really better to die young, having not had the many various opportunities life gives to love others, than to marry outside the temple? the thought simply boggles my mind. i understand preferring to marry in the temple oneself; i understand preferring that one’s children marry in the temple; i do not understand preferring one’s children die rather than marry outside the temple. i know some would justify that last preference by arguing that the next life is a drastic improvement on this life. but i stand by my first paragraph of questions here. i cannot understand why, if this life is necessary as a period in which we grow in ways necessary for our eternal progression, it’s ever preferable that someone die. the peace of the next life may be a means of reassuring ourselves about the inevitable loss of a loved one, but i cannot understand it as a justification for preferring that loved one die rather than _________ (insert whatever un-ideal, but still fulfilling choice you’d like there). thus my astonishment and my anger when i read the various comments i listed in my post. i simply cannot understand the kinds of attitudes that cannot recognize that in the absence of the ideal, a situation that is still incredibly wonderful is a good thing. and quite frankly, i don’t think temple marriage is the ideal. i think a strong, loving, growing marriage is the ideal. i think that starting a marriage with a temple sealing may help in the pursuit of that ideal. but i also believe that ideal can be pursued outside the bonds of temple sealing. one more quick thing: i think this kind of comment (like bott’s)–so exclusive and thoughtless in the effort to drive home a point so thoroughly that the listeners would be manipulated into accepting it–is one of the kinds of things that causes j(wh) to fear raising his (hypothetical) children within mormonism. please do correct me if i’m wrong, j(wh). it’s certainly one of the things i vehemently dislike about mormonism. Amelia, Yes, of course a strong, loving, growing marriage is possible outside of the temple. I agree, and I never meant to imply otherwise. That’s exactly the type of marriage I want, but I also want the temple aspect. I won’t move forward with a relationship unless both components are there–I hope it’s clear that I’m not advocating a temple marriage for its own sake if love, respect, growth, and so on are not also present. My own decision (to remain single until that type of marriage, in the temple, is possible) is the result of very specific personal revelation. I would not deny anyone’s privilege to receive exactly the opposite prompting and to act on it. On the other hand, as important as agency and personal revelation are, I don’t think it is inappropriate for the church (and thus, the body of members)to have an institutional preference for marriage to other members, in the temple. Indeed, I think it would be absurd to have the doctrine that we have about the temple, eternal families, and so on, and then not privilege those ordinances. That type of preference can, I believe, extend to religion professors at BYU or to parents, and I simply disagree that having a general preference is problematic or manipulative. Hyperbolic statements expressing that opinion are just that: hyperbolic. In my mind, over-the-top is not necessarily manipulative. Unfortunately, I’m afraid there will always be those in the church who do make ill-advised, rude, and judgmental comments about others’ choices. (By this point, you may think I’m one of them, though you’ll just have to trust me that that is not my intent at all.) Certainly some of those bullet points you listed are incredibly hurtful and demeaning. Still, I do see how some of those points stem from real gospel principles (albeit with strong doses of zeal and judgment), so I don’t see them as having the same violent quality that you seem to see. I get the sense–though please correct me if I’m wrong–that you and I disagree on the nature of Mormonism and what it encompasses. I think our differing perspectives have a lot to do with how we see comments such as Bott’s so differently. I hesitate to start picking apart those bullet points, but to give one example: one point suggests that a member marrying a non-member has married someone who does not share the same values. Whether or not that might be true in a given case depends greatly on what we consider to be “values.” Values like love, charity, compassion, forgiveness, integrity, faith, humility, repentance, etc. obviously transcend Mormonism. But what of temple ordinances and eternal families? What about the church’s teachings about the nature of God, the authority of the priesthood, the divine origins of the Book of Mormon and latter-day revelation? Surely those principles/beliefs–which I include in my own definition of values–do not extend to most non-members. What that difference in beliefs means to any specific relationship will vary, but I think that distinction between “values” is real for a significant number of members. Thus, you can see your values as identical to j(wh)’s, while others might think–based on their different definition–that your values are different, or at least only partially aligned. Given what I perceive as our conflicting views, what do you say we agree to disagree? agreeing to disagree is often a wonderful thing. 🙂 and i don’t at all think you’ve made rude or inappropriate comments, melanie–you’ve maintained a perfectly appropriate tone throughout and i genuinely appreciate your perspective. what good are these conversations if they don’t include multiple perspectives? i agree that the church as a whole, and its members as a body, should express a preference for mormons marrying in the temple. i have no problem with that. my problem is with the kinds of exclusionary and (in my opinion) unjustifiable extensions of that. i completely understand your point about differing understandings of what constitutes “values.” i’m sure you’re right in surmising that a large part of our disagreement over some of these things stems from different understandings of what constitutes a “value” and of our different perspectives on mormonism. i readily admit that my perspective on mormonism is a little heterodox (though i don’t think it’s unorthodox). what i would hope is that we all have charity when it comes to looking at other people and their choices. which, to my mind, means someone assumes, as a default, that two people who choose to marry each other do in fact have values in common, rather than assuming that such commonality is impossible simply because that person couldn’t imagine such a thing for him/herself (just one example). i try very diligently to look at others’ choices with charity, assuming they act with integrity and good intent. heaven knows i don’t always succeed. but i do try. i would hope others would, too. but when i read an entire conversation of nearly 400 comments in which the kinds of attitudes i listed above are expressed ad infinitum ad nauseum–well i get a little discouraged. and a little angry. Thanks for your response. I wish you the best in your relationship with this wonderful man. I think you have a very challenging situation; it’s hard for me to see a solution that doesn’t seem likely to cause conflict. I’ve certainly seen many successful interfaith marriages, but never one where one or both partners think the other person’s church is a threat they need to protect their children from. I would consider professional counseling to help the two of you come to specific agreement about exactly what you will teach your children, before you decide to have them. As it stands, it still seems to me that raising them as Quakers may be the way to go. thanks for your good wishes, E. and i agree with you re: counseling. but then, i think pre-marriage counseling is a good idea for just about any couple. it’s something i think is too often overlooked in our church. i know couples go through a series of interviews with their bishop/stake president, but from what i understand i don’t think those interviews involve the kind of counseling one would get from a professional. For some reason I feel compelled to add my support to amelia’s stance that a statement like “I’d rather my daughters were dead than married outside the temple.” I can only think how I would feel having that comment spoken by my own father in a public environment full of strangers. I think it is highly inappropriate. If he is comfortable saying that, he should be comfortable enough to say to my face, “I would rather you die than marry outside the temple.” I do not think passive threats like that belong anywhere in a father-daughter relationship. Also, being in an interfaith relationship myself, I couldn’t help but go through the laundry list you posted, amelia, and I am saddened. I feel like I’m going to have to grow a thicker skin. In personal experience, I remember the feeling of trying to squish myself into the image of what I thought the Mormon men I dated were looking for. In the last couple years, I’ve let go and decided to be myself. That allowed me to be open to relationships outside the church, and I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time. I realized I didn’t finish this thought: For some reason I feel compelled to add my support to amelia’s stance that a statement like “I’d rather my daughters were dead than married outside the temple,” is nothing but harmful. First, I apologize for using the name of the person who made the comment. That was completely irrelevant to the discussion, and is just the sort of thing I would normally find irritating, since it has the possibility of coloring people’s opinion of the speaker, religion classes at BYU, BYU itself, etc., etc. Perhaps Melanie2 had a great experience in that class, and perhaps the offending statement was not made during the time she took it. My bringing up who said it was construed as a criticism of the speaker, and his name just should have been left out. I guess I just wanted to emphasize that this sort of thing goes on in the mainstream church, even at “The Lord’s University”. I also cannot help but disagree that the statement was made in a passive or hyperbolic sense. Every kid in that classroom heard it, and reacted some way. Maybe some nodded with agreement, knowing in their hearts that their parents also would rather see them dead that married outside the temple. Maybe some made the decision on the spot to only marry in the temple, only to ignore promptings later on to get involved with someone who was a good person, but not a member. Using the temple as a measuring stick, to me, can express doubt in the plan of salvation, which includes the ability for people to change, to repent, to accept the gospel, to be sealed in the temple after 20 years of happy marriage. In that way, the exclusionary view of the temple being the only viable option other than death can hurt both the people who have made that choice, and those who will never be touched by them because of the choice. Which is not at all to say that I don’t respect people who do wish to be married there. I just wish people would see that it’s not the end of the world if they don’t. It’s not a sin, it won’t necessarily cause unhappiness, it’s not a sure road to divorce. I also wish that when someone makes the decision to marry elsewhere, their friends and family members and acquaintances from church would embrace the decision and the new family member, without recrimination at a choice that would not have been their own, or hurtful or pitying comments, or talking to others with that whispered emphasis “they didn’t get married in the temple… gasp!” as if it were somehow evil. zenaida: i understand the frustration with trying to fit expectations when one is dating. i don’t think i did it very often. but it hurt that the expectations were there. which sounds odd. i k now that dating is always a process of finding someone who meets expectations on some level. but mormon dating feels more pressured than that–like people always come to dating with this preconceived notion of what a spouse should be and they immediately start measuring the other person against that ideal. i’m sure non-mormons do it, too. but in my experience dating non-mormons, it’s been so much more about exploring and discovering who the other person is, rather than measuring them against a checklist. which seems so much more healthy. and you’re right. the peaceful assurance does come with time. i didn’t have it early on. and because i didn’t, j(wh) and i are lucky i made it to date 4. 🙂 and sarah–thank you for your comment. especially the last paragraph. a marriage should always be a time for celebration and joy. for family or friends to be more focused on their own disappointed expectations than on their loved one’s joy simply seems wrong on so many levels. “interested in exploring the goodness where it lays, in coming to understand how the goodness in mormonism and the goodness outside mormonism work together to make a beautiful world.” That seems like a great goal — drawing from the good in both traditions. “i don’t particularly want to repeat the extremely long, extremely hurtful discussion that happened at times & seasons a few years ago; ” I’m sorry that you found that thread hurtful, Amy. As someone who commented on that thread, I’m not sure what to make of that reaction. The thread essentially consisted of Julie saying that interfaith marriages are inherently bad, followed by every other bloggernacle regular who commented — Russell, Lisa, Melissa, me, even Adam Greenwood — telling her that she was wrong. She even called herself “the cheese standing alone” by the end of comments. It seemed pretty clear that Julie’s position (interfaith = bad) was the outlier. “Amelia, Thanks for this thoughtful post! I’m glad to have someone to share Mondays with :)” Wait — you share Mondays? So I have to wait 2 weeks for Jess, and 2 weeks for Amy? Grumble. “While at BYU, I took the missionary prep class taught by Randy Bott, and of all the many motivational things he said, the single thing I remember from that full semester is when he told the class that he would rather his daughters died than marry outside the temple. ” A stupid, bullshit attitude that’s unfortunately not uncommon. Or at least, people say it. I don’t know if they’d _actually_ prefer a dead child. Either way, it’s an awful way to try to make a rhetorical point. Kaimi, I haven’t read the T&S thread Amy is referring to, but I’ve always found your comments to be very tolerant and supportive. Thanks, btw, for looking forward to my posts, but I am running out of angst to blog about. (well, that’s not exactly true, running out of time is more like it) You’ll be so delighted (as my 5 yo would say) to hear that MRaynes is sharing a spot on Mondays as well. (I think the schedule is MRaynes, Jess, Amy, Jess) We’re really excited to have her blogging with us. I do understand the real life constraints, though. My own blogging goes inevitably in cycles, depending on real life. “You’ll be so delighted (as my 5 yo would say) to hear that MRaynes is sharing a spot on Mondays as well. (I think the schedule is MRaynes, Jess, Amy, Jess) We’re really excited to have her blogging with us.” Hey, that is good. I like MRaynes’s comments. And you women have a good track record at adding new bloggers. Well, it may have started out kinda sketchy, what with the unipedal, camera-wielding maniac and “no flower unphotographed.” But it’s gone well enough since then, and . . . hey, stop hitting me! i found it hurtful because even in the face of so much thoughtful, reasonable explanation why marrying outside the temple is not the end of the world, julie (and others) continued to hammer on the same point over and over. and to do so in an incredibly callous way that showed absolutely no consideration for anyone else’s experience. and i heard in that the voice of the mormon mainstream. and it’s hurtful to me that that mainstream could be so thoughtless about a person’s feelings. that they could dismiss a marriage as sinful or misguided or bound to destroy children when, for the two people (getting) married, it’s actually a source of great joy. i very much appreciated all of the efforts at reasoned and thoughtful counterargument. but none of them made any difference to julie. i don’t really care what other people think of my relationship. not in a way that would allow their thoughts to shape my choices. but, being a human being and therefore a social animal, i of course would like my family and community to recognize and celebrate the joy and happiness i’ve experienced in my relationship. to realize that instead that community will deem it sinful or misguided or destructive–well that hurts, even if it won’t affect my choices re: the relationship. though it may affect where i choose to find community. it’s one of the reasons that, if i do marry outside the temple, i will not have a mormon bishop/stake president perform the ceremony. One thing that I’ve never understood is why so many Mormons think that it’s like THE END if you marry a non-member, that you’re throwing away your eternal salvation, etc, etc. I’m married to a non-member. It hasn’t always been easy, but I don’t regret it because it was the right decision for ME. (You can find out why if you read the posting called “The Marriage Mission” on my blog.) We’re a church who actually believes in the opportunity of sorting out details in the hereafter through proxy during mortal life, whether through baptism for the dead or sealings. So the way I look at it, even if we both die being only civilly married, why can’t someone in this life do my husband’s temple work and have us sealed, including any children we may have someday? He might not accept it in this life, but maybe he will in the next. Who knows? Anyone who says that’s not a possibility is contradicting a fundamental Mormon belief. Or am I wrong? amelia, I’ve never attended a wedding in which a member and a non-member were married. I tend to agree with you that I would not have a bishop perform a ceremony like that for me, but I’m not sure where that comes from. I have this sense that it would not be the joyful celebration I would want it to be. i’ve attended a handful, zenaida. and the thing that always struck me was that there seemed to be this emphasis on the fact that the marriage ended at death. i’m not sure why it struck me that way. it could just be a factor of having been raised thinking about eternal marriages and knowing that the wedding i witnessed didn’t begin an eternal marriage–not in mormon terms. having been raised in the mormon church i am conditioned to feel that way, just like so many others. i’m sure that’s part of it. but i’m sure it’s not the entirety of it. i’ve also always been struck by the absence of celebration during these ceremonies. they’re very short. the vows can’t be changed at all by any of the participants. i don’t know. they just don’t feel celebratory. in contrast to the weddings of non-members i’ve been to. i was at one last month and it was beautiful. a joyous celebration of these two people’s love for each other. and i think that it was that way in large part because they, as a couple, were able to shape the ceremony as they wanted it to be. which i like. I think a lot depends on the individual bishop and his personality. My bishop at the time was actually a huge help in helping me make the decision to get married in the first place. I was very torn because I also was born and raised in the Church and although my parents didn’t raise me with the mindset that I had to get married in the temple, we all know that it’s everywhere in Mormon culture. So, I was actually very surprised when my bishop was nothing but encouraging, taking the time to fast and pray with me until I felt it was right, and then performing the ceremony. My husband and I were the ones who wanted it very minimal and simple, but the bishop gave a wonderful “sermon” on love, marriage, and although he talked about the possibility of temple marriage (which I didn’t object to), I never got the feeling he was looking down upon us for marrying outside the temple. Everyone who attended the wedding, including many non-members, were thoroughly impressed by him. I was also especially impressed that he didn’t use the line “until death do you part,” but rather “for as long as you both shall live.” So I have no regrets about getting married in the chapel by the bishop. I wouldn’t have wanted to invite the whole ward, but that’s just the way I am. I only needed those around me who I knew cared about us and had our best interests at heart. I’m a child of a part-member family, and currently a young single adult in the church. We were raised catholic (my father’s faith), but with a great deal of exposure to my the LDS church (the faith of my mother, who is incidentally one of two members of an RS stake presidency whose husbands are not members). When I joined the church, as a 20-year old, despite years of obvious interest in the church, it was a problem. My Dad tried very hard to convince me not to. I know it caused a series of very difficult fights between my parents. My father now objects to my mom paying tithing on her income–something that was not true in the past–will no longer come to church with my mom on special occasions–which he did in the past–and often objects when there are ‘too many mormons’ coming to visit (not missionaries, vt’s or ht’s, just my mom’s friends). So long as we kids weren’t interested, he was fine with her participation, was fine with the church. Once I joined, everything changed. So, based on your representation of your boyfriend, and those of the person representing themselves as your boyfriend, you need to be sure that his acceptance of the church in your life will extend to the eventuality of your children’s enthusiastic membership; the representations of him give me pause that this would be the case. More generally, do you care if your kids make gospel including the priesthood, part of their lives? Because the odds are that they won’t if you follow this course, just because this often happens in families where the are religious divides–it’s evident in my own family–I’m LDS, one sister is catholic, and the third is entirely uninterested in religion. Which has provided lots of heartache for both parents, as they have both sought for us to believe in things they deeply believe in. I don’t know you, but perhaps this is ok with you–the church does not seem to be the first place you look for your beliefs, so this might be fine with you. But you should be sure about your answers here before you proceed. i just wanted to thank you for sharing your experience, TMD. i hope that the hard parts of that experience ease with time. the eventuality of our (hypothetical) children joining the mormon church is something j(wh) and i have talked about. he believes that, so long as they make the choice as adults, he would be accepting of that. i think his biggest concern is the way a total immersion in mormonism could shape children before they’re old enough to make carefully considered decisions for themselves. which is something i can respect because religion is so important to me. i don’t think one’s religious beliefs should be anything but carefully considered. i know him well enough that i trust he would accept his adult children’s decisions, even if they were choices he would not make for himself. and i believe i would do the same. for both of us the most important thing is the principles and values that inform our beliefs, rather than the form the beliefs take. I would be accepting of my adult children’s choices as well, but it’s 18 years to adulthood, sometimes longer. I was tempted to ask a what if question here, but I think the point is that you can’t prepare for every single eventuality. The only thing you can do as a parent is the best you can. I have a friend with a Catholic mother and a Jewish father. I think the parents decided to raise the kids with both religions and then let them choose. She is now 25 and while not a super devout Catholic, she definitely tends towards the Christian side. This partly has to do with the fact that he father didn’t put in much effort to teaching her and her brother about Judaism. When they moved to Canada when she was a child, her parents assumed they would need to put their kids in private school (evidently this was the case in Peru) and so they enrolled them in Catholic school. Anyway, apparently now the father seems slightly hurt that the kids didn’t “pick his side” but come on, man, you put them in Catholic school. Anyway, I think it’s good that one of the big things being considered here is how to raise the children. I’m surprised that some people have a hard time understanding how being raised in a typical Mormon fashion could cause pain. Or maybe I shouldn’t be. I suppose this has to do with the fact that lately I have become acutely aware of how indoctrinated I am… I have really been pondering about whether I could feel good about really raising my future children in the church… Stephanie, I think that at least for me, the idea that the mormon experience is uniquely painful is this issue. Unless someone is in a faith community that lacks any kind of community and interpersonal dynamics, and lacks any kind of coherent or strongly held beliefs, the same things will apply. There are no fewer “pain problems” being raised Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish (well, maybe not some of the reform varieties, which are almost UU anyways, but certainly conservative and orthodox). And come to think of it, I want to explicate this term ‘interfaith’ here. Before Christianity and its mythologies reached the Samoan islands, us native islanders had our own ideas and worshippings toward ‘god’/’gods’. The ancient pre-Christian beliefs are a part of me (gods ie, Nafanua, Pili, Salamasina, etc.) most notably in Samoan linguistics (I am fluent in my native tongue). Reprising the pre-contact religions and ‘faiths’ in my life is my way of ‘faasolo le faaSamoa’, or further flourishing of my Samoan culture (part of the ‘twist’ I mentioned in my previous post). In this regard, the ‘split’ between two camps of ‘faith’ (affiliated with this particular forum’s use of the term ‘interfaith’) is not so much between me & my nonmember husband Rob. In this situation, my husband Rob being a nonmember is kind of an afterthought, really (to him, loving & following Jesus is his innate religion – add to that his newfounded disgust for Brigham, Joseph, McConkie and the other Mormon weirdos). Hmmm…i’ll hafta think more upon this dilemma of mine: colonized, native Pacific Islander who hates and loves her LDS membership. Subscribe to Magazine Submit a Guest Post Monthly Archive Search This Site Exponent II is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Exponent II participates in Google Adsense.

afrol News, 28 October - With the signing of two large contracts last week between international oil companies and the Moroccan government to explore promising oil fields off the coast of Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara increases, international protests are being voiced. French and UK organisations yesterday called the agreements "scandalous". The French association of friends of the Sahrawi Republic (AARASD) yesterday "strongly denounced" the "scandalous agreements" between international oil companies and the Moroccan state regarding the sale of exploration rights off the Western Sahara coast. Also The Western Sahara Campaign UK yesterday condemned two oil contracts between TotalElfFina and Kerr McGee to exploit the oil resources of the territorial waters of Western Sahara. Under the contracts, TotalFinaElf may explore 115, 000 kilometre square area off the coast of Dakhla Western Sahara for a 12 month period. Kerr McGee signed a deal to explore 110, 000 kilometre square area of deep water off the northern coast of Western Sahara. President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, said Wednesday that contracts signed by oil companies Kerr McGee and TotalFinaElf to explore the oil resources offshore Western Sahara were a "provocation." The President appealed to the United Nations to annul the contracts with Morocco because they violate international law. Pro-Sahrawi pressure groups and President Abdelaziz claim this on behalf of the UN refusal to recognise the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara and the territory's status as a colony. They refer to a 1991 UN resolution, stating that "the exploitation and plundering of colonial and non-self-governing territories by foreign economic interests, in violation of the relevant resolutions of the United Nations is a grave threat to the integrity and prosperity of those Territories." According to the US Geological Survey of World Energy, year 2000, estimated oil and gas resources off the Saharan coast are substantial and the probability (including both geologic and accessibility probabilities) of finding lucrative oil and gas fields is very high. While it is assessed that Western Sahara has relative large and probable offshore oil resources, numbers for Morocco proper are low and insecure. Richard Stanforth, spokesperson of the Western Sahara Campaign UK, however comments that in signing the contracts the companies are "trampling over the basic Human Rights of the Sahrawi people. The contracts are an attempt to legitimise the brutal Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara" "Most Sahrawi people from Western Sahara are languishing in refugee camps struggling to survive. They will not see a penny of this money. All this money will go to help Morocco build up its army in Western Sahara." AARASD adds that "as the territory not is autonomous, one cannot accept these resources being alienated at the benefit of the occupying state." If the international community lets this happen, it would be "to accept the occupation of Western Sahara". The Paris-based oil multi TotalFinaElf last week announced that it "has signed a reconnaissance contract with the Moroccan state oil company, Office National de Recherches et d'Exploitations Pétrolières (ONAREP), for the Dakhla Offshore zone. Located offshore the town of Dakhla, the zone covers an area of 115,000 km2." Dakhla was the capital of the Spanish Western Sahara colony before 1975. According to a TotalFinaElf release, "the contract covers an initial period of 12 months, during which regional geological and geophysical studies will be undertaken in order to assess the petroleum potential of the zone. These studies will complement the knowledge base that TotalFinaElf has been building-up over several years along the length of the Atlantic coast of Africa.2 The American oil company Kerr-McGee is far more restrictive on its information. The company's website only informs that Kerr-McGee is involved in "focusing on international deepwater opportunities offshore ... Morocco, ... where it has lease positions". In November last year, the US company has acquired 33.33 percent interest in the 3 million-acre Cap Draa Haute Mer exploration license offshore Morocco. Earlier operations abandoned According to information gathered by UK Western Sahara Campaign, previous attempts to explore Western Sahara oil resources have all been abandoned due to the political risks. Gulf Oil, WB Grace, Texaco and Standard Oil were considering a joint venture with the Spanish authorities in the 1960s. In the second half of the 1960's the US companies Pan American Hispano Oil, Caltex, Gulf Oil and Phillips undertook an exploration of 2443.192 hectares of Western Saharan desert which led to the discovery of a small layer of 100 km at Faim el Oued. In total 27 strata of oil were discovered in 1964. In 1978, offshore blocks were awarded to Philips and BP but were quickly abandoned because of the war. In the basin between El Ayoun, Western Saharan capital and Tarfaya (Morocco) bituminous shale was discovered with reserves of 100 million barrels of crude but this can only profitably be extracted if oil prices rise to US$ 40 a barrel. Shell signed a contract to build a treatment works in 1981 but the work was never completed.

LATEST NEWS Affordable Honda Full-Faired Bike Launch Soon Honda is likely to launch a full-faired version of the CB Hornet 160R in India by late 2017. The new bike is expected to be priced between Rs 90,000 and Rs 95,000 (ex-showroom) Honda is gearing up to launch 4 new products in the Indian two-wheeler market this year. The announcement was made by Minoru Kato, new president and CEO for Honda 2Wheelers India. Out of the new product line-up, one will be the Honda Africa Twin adventure tourer motorcycle. Honda officials announced that they have started trial assembly for the Africa Twin, which will be the second performance motorcycle by Honda to be assembled in India. Honda officials refused to divulge any details on the second motorcycle but just mentioned that it will be a “fun” motorcycle and something that would be part of the commuter segment. In our opinion, the new motorcycle is question can be a fully-faired version of the Honda CB Hornet 160R. Honda currently has one full-faired bike in the 150cc segment as part of its product portfolio - the Honda CBR150R. A faired version of the CB Hornet 160R does make sense as Suzuki has achieved great success with the Gixxer SF, which is the faired version of the Gixxer 155cc motorcycle and currently holds the distinction of being the cheapest full-faired motorcycle on sale in India. The muscular styling of the CB Hornet 160R has played a key role in its success and we expect the new Honda motorcycle to get sharp and sporty styling. It is likely to follow the Suzuki Gixxer SF’s footsteps of being a relaxed and easy to ride bike and will not have a committed riding posture like the CBR150R. The engine of the new motorcycle will be the same 162.7cc air-cooled motor that churns out 15.9PS of max power with peak torque rating of 14.8Nm. The frame and cycle parts will also be carried forward from the naked motorcycle. We expect the new Honda full-faired bike to be launched by late 2017 and likely to be priced between Rs 90,000and Rs 95,000 (ex-showroom).

Card clampdown on gamblers CREDIT card companies are clamping down on customers that use their cards to bet on online gambling sites. A number of card issuers are changing their terms and conditions so that money placed in an online betting account from a credit card will be treated as cash advance and incur a higher rate of interest. They will also be charged a 2% handling fee for cash advances, which starts at £2. The interest charged on cash advances is usually much higher than normal card purchases. For example, Mint charges 14.9% APR on a normal card purchase, but 17.9% for cash advances. Online gambling has proliferated over the past three years and many gambling sites are challenging the traditional High Street bookies. Punters enjoy the ease and anonymity of betting at home, and online sites also typically offer better odds. Royal Bank of Scotland is introducing the change from May 1 for its 11m customers. A spokeswoman said: 'The gambling transactions are to be treated as advances as this is felt to be a more accurate means of reflecting that a gambling transaction is effectively a cash equivalent exchange.' Egg, which has 3m customers, will introduce its own change from April 1. Spokesman Mark Maguire said: 'Essentially, using your card for gambling is quasi cash and we are changing our rules to reflect that. Basically, you are using your card to buy currency.' A spokesman for PartyGaming, one of the largest online gambling sites on the web, said that very few of its customers are using credit cards to pay for their bets. He said: 'There are 23 different ways to load your account. Most of our customers use 'e-wallet' services, such as those provided by Neteller or FireOne.' Credit Card Reality Check Calculator Your plastic debt This calculator will show you just how long it's going to take you to clear your credit card balance if you don't wake up, face reality, stop paying the bare minimum and start clearing this punitive form of debt. Your credit card balance:£ Interest rate:% Monthly payment:£ Result Number of monthly payments: Clear your debt quickly Now see how much you need to pay a month to clear your balance in the shortest possible time.

THE Q ROCKS » bath salthttp://klaq.com El Paso's Best RockTue, 31 Mar 2015 17:34:33 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2http://klaq.com/files/2013/05/KLAQ_LOGO-resized2.pngTHE Q ROCKShttp://klaq.com Some of Johnnie's Favorite Songs to Eat Brains To – A Zombie-pocalypse Tributehttp://klaq.com/some-of-johnnies-favorite-songs-to-eat-brains-to-a-zombie-pocalypse-tribute-2/ http://klaq.com/some-of-johnnies-favorite-songs-to-eat-brains-to-a-zombie-pocalypse-tribute-2/#commentsTue, 05 Jun 2012 03:49:42 +0000Johnnie Walkerhttp://klaq.com/?p=93152Continue reading…]]>Here I am, sitting in the control room at KLAQ, playing El Paso's Best Rock, and wondering where I can get me some bath salts. Do you think Bed Bath and Beyond has had a huge run on the stuff this past week? I seem to know a lot of people who wouldn't fight becoming a zombie. (Ask Stephanie the Corporate Computer Babe for her reasoning behind this.)

Eleven dedicated educators who have been quietly changing the lives of city school kids for the better took center stage on Wednesday at the Daily News Hometown Heroes in Education awards. Mayor de Blasio joined local luminaries and top education leaders for an emotional ceremony at the Edison Ballroom in Times Square and presented a special posthumous award to the daughter of Kevin O’Connor, the beloved 61-year-old Queens social studies teacher and dean who passed away in April. “This kind of gathering puts things in a proper perspective and help us focus on what really matters,” de Blasio said. “We're going to take every opportunity to celebrate our educators and I'm so happy we're doing that today.” The winners of the fourth annual awards included a big-hearted Brooklyn principal who makes sure homeless students and their families have everything they need to succeed in school, a Bronx teacher dedicated to improving communication between parents and teachers and a Queens school nurse who also teaches kids about good nutrition. Stars from the world of music and television journalism shared the winners' inspirational stories and presented the awards, including hip-hop pioneer DMC and DJ Funkmaster Flex, and local news heavyweights Mary Calvi, David Ushery and Brenda Blackmon. The educators were presented with Hometown Heroes in Education awards on Wednesday. “To think about the tens of thousands of lives being shaped, guided and inspired every day in our city's schools is amazing,” said Daily News Editor-in-Chief Jim Rich. “Our educators are the most unsung heroes we have. Today's event is a well-deserved way of honoring them.” The city’s public school system is the largest in the nation with 1.1 million students, over 76,000 teachers and 1,800 schools. The News received more than 200 nominations from colleagues, students and others who wanted to recognize the hard work of teachers, principals and other school staffers. A panel of judges comprised of education experts and parent advocates selected the winners in August. Kevin O'Connor Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña, CUNY Chancellor James Milliken and United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew served as judges and presenters at the ceremony, emphasizing the importance of recognizing top-notch educators. “What binds us together as educators is that we know we make a difference,” said Fariña, a 50-year veteran of city schools. “The difference you make, you will sometimes never know,” she added. “It's not the award you get today— it's the fact that because of you, someone's life is transformed.” Delfina Cheung and DMC. “How do they show up every September with the enthusiasm they had their first September on the job? That to me is remarkable,” Kiernan said. “They're thinking, 'I've got another fresh class in here and this is a class that once again I'm going to make a difference in their world.' And they're special people because of that.” The winners of the fourth annual awards included Tammy Katan-Brown, a big-hearted Brooklyn principal who makes sure homeless students and their families have everything they need to succeed in school; Adrian Brooks, a Bronx teacher dedicated to improving communication between parents and teachers; and Sherry Branch, a Queens school nurse who also teaches kids about good nutrition. O’Connor, a veteran educator, worked at Francis Lewis High School in Fresh Meadows and Campus Magnet High School in Cambria Heights. He was popular for his ability to connect with his students. His daughter, Kristen Rajak, travelled from Florida for the awards ceremony. She said she plans to follow in her father’s footsteps and pursue a career in education. “I can’t even really describe how proud I am of him,” Rajak said after accepting the honor for her father. “I knew that he was special. But this really solidified it that people recognize that and made note of it.”

Deadlock 0.4.8 - We need your feedback Deadlock version 0.4.8 is online and available to all Spearheads and Frontliners. Remember that you can get access to Deadlock and help speed-up the development of Interstellar Marines by upgrading your profile to Spearhead or Frontliner in our store. Summary Since the last build we’ve moved into our new (and smaller) office in an effort to save money and keep developing on the game. After the move we started migrating the project to Unity 4 (from previously running on Unity 3.5), which unfortunately took a lot longer than we had planned for. Basically there were some fundamental changes in the new engine which caused a lot of small problems with our old pipeline and code. As a result almost all of the time for the last 3 weeks have been spent cleaning up and getting everything to work again in the new engine. So this build turned out to be mostly about maintenance. Fortunately there’s been some nice optimizations in our workflow, and we fixed a couple of vital bugs in the process that had been around for a while. But most importantly we are now set-up in new offices and on the latest version of Unity, so we can get back to progressing the actual game from here on out! When we actually get to play the game will we be able to customize our suit. including helmet color, flashlight color. Will we be able to change the suit's vision like night vision, EM Vision, Infrared Vision, Thermal Vision, Optic Vision. Does our suit include an oxygen Tank to supply air when atmospheres are depressurizing and pressurizing. Add a few air Dispensers and maybe add an Air monitor on the hud just in case you want to know the level of oxygen. Maybe include hazardous areas that require an air filter. What about a zero-g environment? floating through air and dodging attacks while firing back. I mean people don't always want to walk but maybe float to make it a more real-like environment. I just bought this last week. I have only ever seen just a single person playing though, and he was new like me. What gives? With this new update I expected some more people to play. it's mostly crowded. today was the only time I found the servers empty. Better luck next time. Unity4 is vastly improved for performance. That being said, there is still much that can be done. Shader 1 (SSAO): Much improved from before, though it is highly sensitive to dynamic lights (the klaxons for instance). In more static lighting conditions, it is only a 20fps drop or so. With the klaxons, SSAO gives me a drop of about 30-40fps Can we get settings for SSAO quality and samples? Shader 2 (Brightness/Color Correct): No appreciable impact on FPS. Awesome. However, this does seem to wash the color out a bit too much (for my tastes) Shader 3 (Bloom/Coronas): About a 5fps impact for me. Almost negligible. Shader 4 (HUD Blur): This seems far too heavy. I'm getting about a 7fps drop. Would it not be simpler to just change to a different HUD overlay with the feathering baked in instead of using an apparently costly shader? Shader 5 (Vignetting/Vaseline): Another pricey shader, costs me about 7-8fps in most situations. Surely, vignetting could be accomplished with less impact by using semi-transparent texture overlays instead of a costly shader, yes? Shader 6 (Edge Smoothing): About a 18-20fps hit for me. I find it also muddies up the ground textures, etc. I keep it off honestly, takes away the crispness of the things you've created. Some performance gotchas: The lightning. Oh, the lightning. I typically play with shaders 1,3,5 enabled for what I think "looks best". For what works best for competitive play, I use everything off except Shader 2. ATTENTION LINUX USERS i am not sure if this works but this might help with the not being able to play deadlock problem http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/20888/what-ca n-i-do-for-linux-support.html basically it says install google chrome due to it supporting native client The facts is that despite the obvious maintenance overhead ... we have talked about combining all images effects into one script ... to make it 3-4x faster overall as we do not have to recalculate each shader pass pr. image effect. (Hope this makes sense) ... That's the challenge of doing pre-pre-alpha development ... it's not always logical to do performance optimizations all the time! :) Regarding the image effects settings in general ... you know that we're going for ultra high sci-fi realism and not glowing, colorful, lens flared madness ... "cough" Battlefield 3 "cough" Halo 4 ... but this is a process and we're still a long way from the expression we want ... and at that point not all images effects will be toggleable (for competitive reasons) as gameplay will saturate every artistic choice we make! (Exhausted from sprinting will distort your vision via DOF, color correction, vignette etc.) and so forth! But, rest assured I/we will listen and evaluate carefully in regard to everybody's shit-filter on look and feel! No problem Hicks :) I just wanted to point out how each one behaves currently. If I run native (1280x1024 @ 75fps) on Fastest with everything off, I'm typically getting about 125fps solid. If I turn it up to Fantastic and keep everything off, I'm usually around 79fps or so. In the previous Deadlock builds on Unity 3.x, I'd be at about 25fps on Fantastic with everything off and about 50fps on Fastest at native. This represents a HUGE step forward in playability for myself, and I'd imagine most other people. I realize you're going for a realistic vision for the game, and I completely agree with doing that. However, I think the color correct filter is a bit TOO aggressive. I have a high density of cone cells in my retina, as I imagine most other people do, so I see the world as a fundamentally colorful and vibrant place. The effect of the color-correct filter is most prominent in the sunset period on the outside level. With it off, the world looks rich and colorful, as it should during the setting of the sun. With it on, everything gets very washed out and the visual impact of the setting sun is lessened considerably. I just want to caution you against making the mistake that many make in that "real" has to look like 50 shades of gray & brown everywhere. I do like the idea that you'll present a consistent visual experience for competitive reasons, though I do think you (when you get there) should discuss with the community exactly what VFX they agree should be mandatory, and what ones should be optional. For instance, SSAO is not something that will render player shadows into the world, correct? So I would say this should be optional as it provides no tactical advantage, and can be quite heavy for some. Things like that need to be considered. I do think that using desaturation, vignetting, DOF changes, possibly image smearing, and other "stress" effects when fatigued/damaged/poisoned would serve to add depth to the gameplay, so I completely agree. If you combined all the various effects into one script, what would happen? Would we still be able to toggle each effect, or would it simply be a ON/OFF for all 6 shaders? I know it would be a massive bit of extra work, but would you ever consider making multiple scripts that are combinations of the various settings users could choose? So a script with everything off, a script with everything on, a script with just 1,3,5 on, etc? Again, I realize there are a large number of combinations of the various effects, but in this manner, each option would be fully optimized to run well, correct? In any case, I look forward to continued testing and experience with IM. I've been... dis-involved for a long time and it was really exciting for me to get back in and to think critically about the game.

The Case of the Missing Polygamists The origins of our sexuality is the greatest mystery in human evolution. But could our prime suspect be a case of mistaken identity? If reproductive success were applied to fiction the two billion copies of Agatha Christie's novels (only trailing behind Shakespeare and the Bible) would be considered a stunning example of evolutionary fitness. Her work, in such classics as Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, or Witness for the Prosecution represents a significant portion of our collective memory that is being passed on to future generations. However, researchers have recently uncovered evidence of a tragedy that befell the world's most popular mystery writer and, in so doing, provided a useful lesson when considering genetic evidence for the evolution of human sexuality. Ian Lancashire and Graeme Hirst at the University of Toronto analyzed the vocabulary used throughout Christie's writing career and determined that the sophistication of her language underwent a significant decline in her final years. By looking at the number of different words used in her novels, as well as the number of repeated phrases, the researchers determined that her vocabulary dropped by almost 31% with the largest decline occurring in her last four books. This, in combination with her family's testimony about undiagnosed physical and mental decline, led the researchers to conclude that they were witnessing the effects of Alzheimer's disease on the world's best-selling author. As a result, Christie's final novels maintained echos of her former work, but they were of a substantially different character to most of her 54-year career as a writer. Imagine for a moment that everything Agatha Christie had ever written was lost to history except for her last book. If you were to try and form conclusions about her work from this limited account it would result in significant distortions. It would represent the author after she had undergone a profound change and you would be hard pressed to understand why she had ever been so popular. But this kind of selection bias is essentially what we have when we look at the written record of our human past. All of written history, from the earliest accounts in 3,200 BCE to the present, is a mere fragment of human existence on this planet. It is the equivalent of only looking at Agatha Christie's final novel out of 85 published works during a long and distinguished career. There is no greater mystery in human evolution than the origins of our sexuality. Following the trail of clues available researchers have independently concluded that humans evolved through systems of monogamy, polygamy, as well as polyamory. However, only one can be the culprit. Like a detective interrogating multiple suspects, the solution ultimately depends on which account you're willing to believe. In 2009 Owen Lovejoy made the case for monogamy based on the fossil remains of the early human ancestor Ardipithecus ramidus. Meanwhile, Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá have argued that polyamory (or, more precisely, a multimale-multifemale mating system) is the most likely scenario from an analysis that emphasized anthropology, behavioral biology, and physiology. To further complicate matters the third suspect in this mystery, polygamy, has been the conclusion from scientists conducting DNA analyses. These conflicting accounts therefore require careful detective work in order to determine which story is the most convincing. Polygyny (the single male-multifemale version of polygamy) is most well known among primates such as baboons or gorillas. These are the species that have been (incorrectly) described as living in "harems," and are often easy to identify since the males can be up to twice the size of females. Many anthropological accounts, most famously George Murdock's Ethnographic Atlas, have suggested that the human species is "moderately polygynous" since the majority of studied societies practice polygynous marriage (982 out of 1157 according to Murdock's account). To test whether these reports of polygyny are a local or species-wide phenomenon evolutionary biologist Michael F. Hammer and colleagues at the University of Arizona published their findings in the journal PLoS Genetics. By analyzing the clues left in our X-chromosomes and comparing their results to human autosomes (any of the additional 22 chromosome pairs that aren't sex-linked) the researchers sought to discover what they call male vs. female "effective population size," or the percentage of males compared to females who were effectively reproducing. If polygyny were indeed the norm it would mean that most men throughout human evolution never reproduced and, in strictly genetic terms, had mysteriously vanished without a trace. Because women have two X-chromosomes they will always pass one of these to either their son or their daughter. Men, on the other hand, will either pass along an X-chromosome (in the case of a daughter) or a Y-chromosome (if they've had a son). But both men and women pass along the same number of autosomes. This means that by comparing the genetic differences between X-chromosomes and autosomes you can estimate the effective population size of men who successfully reproduced compared to women. In other words, the genetic evidence for effective population size is being used to determine the mating system. Skewed upwards and only a few men in any given population were having children with multiple women as in polygynous systems. However, if the ratio is closer to 1:1 it would be consistent with monogamy since an equal number of men as women were passing on their genes. Mike Hammer and his team of genetic detectives therefore analyzed the chromosomes from six different societies: French Basque, Han Chinese, Melanesian islanders from Papua New Guinea, Biaka foragers from Central African Republic, Mandenka villagers from Senegal, and San hunter-gatherers from Namibia. The researchers found evidence that there was greater variability on the X-chromosome than would be expected if monogamy had been the standard practice. Instead, the evidence suggested a male-female ratio of relatively few men and multiple women as would be expected in polygyny (ranging from 2.4-to-1 among the San and 8.7-to-1 among the Basque). This genetic evidence by Hammer and colleagues would seem to support Murdock's data on marriage systems and confirm that polygyny was the dominant mating system during human evolution. But like every good detective mystery, just when you think the case is closed you're treated to a twist ending. Primatologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy (author of The Woman That Never Evolved, Mother Nature, as well as her latest book Mothers and Others) is one of the leading experts on polygynous mating systems in primates. As she explained to me in our recent correspondence there are several important considerations that have been left out of this story. The most important is the kind of sample bias I referred to earlier if we were to make conclusions about Agatha Christie's work based only on her final novel. The DNA evidence may be a record of the human past, but how far into the past does it actually go? As Hrdy explained: Keep in mind that in terms of interpreting such genetic evidence we are of necessity confined to a fairly recent time depth (and remember, by "recent" someone like me means the last 10,000 years or so). For this time period multiple lines of evidence do indeed suggest that humans were moderately to extremely polygynous and that women were moving between groups more than men were. There is also something very important to consider that dramatically influenced human behavior within the last 10,000 years: the invention of agriculture. Prior to about 12,000 years ago all humans were hunter-gatherers and lived a migratory existence. With the advent of farming some human societies began to remain sedentary for the first time in our history. This change had serious impacts on human life and behavior. Just as Alzheimer's dramatically altered the content of Agatha Christie's work, so agriculture radically transformed human society and, by consequence, sexual behavior. Hrdy argues that there was a major disruption in human residence patterns as a result of this "agricultural revolution." In small bands of modern day hunter-gatherers there is a mixture of what anthropologists call matrilocal and patrilocal residence, the practice of women or men to stay within the community they're born into while the other migrates between communities. However, recent research has shown that hunter-gatherer societies today emphasize matrilocal (or bilocal) residence while fewer than 25% are considered patrilocal. This is in stark contrast to the larger scale agricultural societies where an estimated 70% are patrilocal. According to Hrdy, pre-agricultural human societies would likely have been similar to modern day hunter-gatherers, but the rise of agriculture changed this pattern dramatically. Over the past 10,000 years or so, Hrdy explained, "matrilocal societies gave way to pressures from more expansionist patrilocal societies." This simple change had serious repercussions for both human life and the genetic record. Patrilocal societies typically show increased hierarchies, greater male control over women's sexual choices, and more competition among men compared to matrilocal societies. Patrilocal societies are also usually polygynous. Therefore, the larger numbers of patrilocal (and polygynous) societies today is likely the consequence of agriculture and not a true reflection of the human past. Like Agatha Christie's writing, many human societies underwent a dramatic transformation and basing our conclusions on this period would distort our understanding of what came before. But there is an even more basic problem in assuming a polygynous human mating system. Modern day bonobos and chimpanzees have a male vs. female effective population size of between 2-to-1 and 4-to-1. If we were using the same argument presented by Hammer and colleagues, these two species should be considered "moderately polygynous" as well. Two independent genetic studies found both bonobos and chimpanzees to be similar to humans on identical criteria. As one study (Erickson et al., 2006) concluded, "the male effective population size in bonobos is small and similar to that suggested from comparable data in humans," while, in the second study (Langergraber et al., 2007), the "data indicate that the sex difference in effective population size is similar in chimpanzees and humans." It turns out that our would-be perpetrator has two reliable alibis. Despite Pan's moderately polygynous genetics, the bonobo and chimpanzee mating system is most accurately described as multimale-multifemale because males and females each mate with multiple individuals. Of course, this isn't random or indiscriminate mating since females are making careful decisions about who they choose to mate with, and when. The effective population size in bonobos and chimps shows up looking genetically similar to humans because females choose to preferentially mate with high-ranking males during their peak of ovulation. Females still choose to mate with additional males at other times of their cycle, but since these don't produce offspring the end result is that relatively few males are passing on their genes. As Hrdy has demonstrated, something very similar has been shown among humans. This makes a multimale-multifemale mating system the prime suspect in our evolutionary whodunit. In humans, bonobos, and many other primates, there is a great deal more non-conceptive sexual behavior going on than most people -- from Saint Augustine to contemporary biologists - realize. For example, in South American partible paternity societies, the woman's official mate or husband is still statistically more likely to be the progenitor of offspring she produces, even though other men can and do have some probability of paternity, or at the very least, perceive that they do. Because of this, Hrdy notes, in a large number of human societies women may be having multiple sexual partners at any given time, but there will usually be a relatively small number of men who are the actual fathers of their children. In this way the missing persons in our evolutionary mystery would be the result of sample bias. It's not because our genes don't reveal the full story, it's because women have only chosen some men whose genetic tale they wanted future generations to remember. In the evolution of human sexuality, as it was in Agatha Christie's life and work, such stories can be subject to dramatic alterations depending on the circumstances and care must be taken lest we misinterpret and obscure the very mystery we're trying to solve. Hrdy, S.B. (2005) Cooperative Breeders With an Ace in the Hold. In Voland, E., Chasiotis, A., and Schiefenhövel, W. (Eds.), Grandmotherhood: The Evolutionary Significance of the Second Half of Female Life. New York: Rutgers University Press. Hrdy, S.B. (2000) The Optimal Number of Fathers. Evolution, demography, and history in the shaping of female mate preferences. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 75-96. PMID: 10818622 The views expressed are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of Scientific American. ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S) Eric Michael Johnson I grew up in an old house in Forest Ranch, California as the eldest of four boys. I would take all day hikes with my cat in the canyon just below our property, and the neighbor kids taught me to shoot a bow and arrow. I always loved reading and wrote short stories, poems, and screenplays that I would force my brothers to star in. A chance encounter with a filmmaker from Cameroon sent me to Paris as his assistant and I stayed on to hitchhike across Europe. Nearly a year later, I found myself outside a Greek Orthodox Church with thirty Albanian and Macedonian migrants as we looked for work picking potatoes. After my next year of college I moved to Los Angeles to study screenwriting and film production. My love of international cinema deepened into larger questions about the origins of human societies and cultures. I entered graduate school with a background in anthropology and biology, joining the world-renowned department of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University to pursue a PhD in great ape behavioral ecology. But larger questions concerning the history and sociology of scientific ideas cut my empirical research short. I am now completing a dissertation at University of British Columbia on the intersection between evolutionary biology and politics in England, Europe, and Russia in the nineteenth century. In 2011 I met the economist and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen whose work inspired my award-winning research. My writing has always been a labor of love and a journey unto itself. I have written about the hilarity that ensues once electrodes are stuck into your medial ventral prefrontal cortex for Discover, the joy of penis-fencing with the endangered bonobo for Wildlife Conservation, and the "killer-ape" myth of human origins from Shakespeare's The Tempest to Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey for Times Higher Education. My work has appeared online for Wired, PLoS Blogs, Psychology Today, Huffington Post, SEED, ScienceBlogs, Nature Network and a host of independent science related websites. I have appeared four times in The Open Laboratory collection of the year's best online science writing and was selected the same number as a finalist for the Quark Science Prize, though better writers have always prevailed. I am currently working on my first book. If I am not engaged in a writing or research project I spend time with my young son, Sagan. Whenever I get the chance I go on backpacking trips in the mountains of British Columbia or catch the latest film from Zhang Yimou, the Coen Brothers, or Deepa Mehta. To this day one of my favorite passages ever written is from Henry David Thoreau's Walden where he describes an epic battle between ants in Concord, an injured soldier limping forward as the still living heads of his enemies cling to his legs and thorax "like ghastly trophies at his saddle-bow." Thoreau helped fugitive slaves to escape while he mused on the wonder and strange beauty of the natural world. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon. Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at www.springernature.com/us). Scientific American maintains a strict policy of editorial independence in reporting developments in science to our readers.

New contributor this month. He has written for Hakin9 Magazine and is now working on a few projects for us. This first article is a toe in the water for Maltego 3. Look for more articles in the future diving deeper into this great tool. Maltego, developed by Roelof Temmingh, Andrew Macpherson and their team over at Paterva, is a premier information gathering tool that allows you to visualize and understand common trust relationships between entities of your choosing. Currently Maltego 3 is available for Windows and Linux. There is also an upcoming version for Apple users that has yet to be released. Information gathering is a vital part of any penetration test or security audit, and it’s a process that demands patience, concentration and the right tool to be done correctly. In our case Maltego 3 is the tool for the job. In this article we explore Maltego 3 and examine its fundamental features and a little hands-on with the newly designed version. If you haven’t already had a chance to upgrade to or pick up Maltego 3 you are missing out. Let us know what you think as well as what you'd like to learn regarding Maltego.

I need some help ladies! Bout my ex texting me how am I and what not? so she texts me after a couple months of not talking asking how I've been so for me it was like oh shit cause i still have mad feelings for this girl right? but it just feels weird texting her now and even how we were texting just seemed like a friendly manner which kind of throws me off yet she was trying to keep a convo.. after bout a day or two of texting i said well i know you wanted to see how i was but im going to knock out and i dont know if you feel obligated to keep texting me but if not ill text you tomorrow or whenever and she replied that she nver felt obligated but was saying she was going to bed too cause she is exhausted and i never texted her back goodnight or the next day.. im lost what do you guys think this means? should i text her or see if she ever texts me again even tho i said i would? by the way she dumped me and is in college What Girls Said 2 there's no need for you to feel obligated by replying her text messages. from my point of view. Once an EX is only an EX. no need to be friends with them. friends? for what? that'll be useless. You can still text them back or talk to them but only a respect not feel obliged with it. just ignore her or if she keeps on troubling you, you can change a contact number. :) 0 0|0 0|0 Asker thank you! helps a lot but i told her i dont know if she feels obligated to text me and she said she isn't so she's wanting to but a question i have is should i wait and see if she ever texts me again or should i text her back? by the way you're amazing thank you for the help for me.. when she said that she's not obligated, maybe i agree with but on the other side, it's the guilt that's holding her back. And NO, for me.. there's no point in waiting and no point texting her back. Just go forward.. it' s not easy at first but you'll get over it soon. You'll find someone whose much better than her. ^_^

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726. Source Control with Unity and Visual Studio The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company. DISCLAIMER: Because I am going to be recommending a Microsoft product, it behooves me - for several reasons - to inform you that I currently work for Microsoft. That said, all of the opinions on this blog, my Twitter, etc., are my own. The Story So Far It's unquestionable that Unity has become the go-to engine for indie developers. The ease with which you can add objects to your levels, script behaviors, and build to several different platforms makes it an obvious choice for everything from rapid prototyping to releasing a full AAA title. When Psydra Games was ready to dive into our second game, after a short break following the release of Dark Scavenger, I was still a beginner with Unity, but its potential was already obvious. If nothing else, we could quickly get a prototype up and running of Lead Designer Alex Gold's crazy idea. The more we dove in, the clearer it was that this was definitely the engine for us. And although Unity is for the most part a one-stop solution for game development, we were lacking in two areas: Code Editor: While adequate for prototyping, as a long-term solution, MonoDevelop just isn't up to the standard of Unity's user-friendliness. Version Control: This certainly isn't a failing on Unity's part, particularly for a free game development tool. Still, it's a necessity for having backups of your work, as well as collaborating with teammates. As it turns out, both of these issues were solved with the same tool: Visual Studio. Visual Studio has had its free Express version for a long time, but in November, Microsoft released the so-called "Community Edition", which has almost none of the restrictions that exist in Express. This was a great day particularly for Unity users, as the new Community Edition of Visual Studio even allows for plugins, such as UnityVS, which can be very useful for debugging your games. Many developers are still unaware of the benefits to using Visual Studio, especially its source control, so I wanted to provide a little how-to (as well as a why-to) guide for Unity and Visual Studio, working in (near) perfect harmony. Connecting Unity and Visual Studio With that installed, you just need to set it as your code editor in Unity via Edit->Preferences->External Tools. To be honest, I've had mixed results with this setting, and so by habit, I just open VS separately and open the solution directly. I've not found a great reason to constantly close and reopen VS, so opening it the same time as Unity and getting yourself set up should be a quick one-time process per development session. That's really all there is to connecting VS with Unity. Again, UnityVS will further enhance this connection, allowing you to use the Visual Studio debugger, set breakpoints in your scripts, and many other handy features. The only important thing to note is that Unity will make edits to the solution file upon loading the project and upon adding or removing source files, which will prompt you to reload it in VS. This means that if you load up VS and your project's solution file before you load Unity, get ready to reload that solution right away, even if no changes have been made since you last loaded Unity. Visual Studio Source Control That brings us to the fun stuff: source control. If you are working alone, maybe you just need to backup your project and have versions to reference. If you're working on a team, source control can make all the difference in how quickly and smoothly your updates integrate with those of your colleagues. There are different settings that may apply to either scenario, so I'll include both options. The first step in source control is the Unity set-up. By default, Unity has "hidden meta files". These meta files contain settings for the assets in your project, such as import settings and the GUIDs for those assets. This information is obviously vital to your project, and so your source control needs to be able to see them. Go to Edit->Project Settings->Editor, and under Version Control, Select "Visible Meta Files". Also, while you're in these settings, if you set "Asset Serialization" to "Force Text", you can have multiple people working in the same scene, and merge the changes through your source control, as version control systems are often made to merge text files. Next, you need to get set up with hosting for your source control. To use Visual Studio's Team Foundation Server, you can sign up for a free Microsoft account, providing you with version control hosting with no space or version limitations. The only limitation to the free service is a maximum of 5 users for your projects. If you are working with a larger team, you could either pay to upgrade, or work with another service (a Git source control plugin is also included with Visual Studio). Because our team fit perfectly in the 5-user limit, we went with Team Foundation Server hosting. As a bonus, TFS provides an agile task board, something else we had shopped around for a lot before settling on Visual Studio. You'll want to create a new project through the website to contain your game. Then log into your account in Visual Studio, and under the "Team" menu, select, "Connect to Team Foundation Server...". The URL for your TFS hosting will show up in the server dropdown, which will contain your new project. Here's where some options may change depending on your preferences and team setup. Working with Workspaces There are two options for workspaces in Visual Studio. One is Local (which for some reason is recommended), and the other is Server. A local workspace allows you to edit your files locally, and only connects with the server when you sync and submit files. A server workspace requires connection to the server when you check files out, and all server files are marked as read-only until they are checked out. Personally, the only way I can recommend using a local workspace is if you are working alone, and are only using the server to back up your project. I'm sure there are other scenarios, such as working from a laptop while traveling with no access to WiFi, but in general, I would stick with server workspaces for team projects. And there are a few big reasons for that. First, because local workspaces don't connect to a server to check files out, your teammates cannot see what you are working on, which could mean duplicate work, incompatible edits, etc. Second, it means that you can't enforce exclusive checkouts, so that you don't have to worry about merging changes. And third, something I'm in favor of for everyone's awareness, it forces you to know what files you're editing, which also prevents you from editing files you didn't mean to, and submitting them to the source control. For these reasons, I made the default workspace for our project a server workspace. To set this, go to Team->Team Project Collection Settings->Source Control However, if you want, you can change your own workspace to be local. I changed the default because it makes it easier for everyone to get set up with the type of workspace I wanted them to use - and to be perfectly honest, if you want to "enforce" a workspace type, the less ambitiously curious members of your team will probably never dig deep enough to realize they can change it. So don't let them read this blog, because here's how you do that. On the right side of Visual Studio, under the Team Explorer tab, click on your workspace name (probably your computer's name), and select "Manage Workspaces". Click the "Edit..." button on the next screen, and then "Advanced >>>". The "Location:" dropdown determines whether your workspace is local or server. With your workspace all set up, you can start synching and submitting files. First, map the server to a location on a local drive. Then right-click and click "Get Latest", which will download the temporary files that Visual Studio Online provided to get you started. Now you're ready to get your project online and accessed by other team members. Put your existing project into the folder you mapped in source control, and grab the "Assets" and "Project Settings" folders. You don't need the "Library" folder, nor the solution files in your source control, as they are generated/edited by Unity when you load and make changes to the project. If you go to the Team Explorer tab on the right and select "Pending Changes", you can see all of the files ready to be submitted to the server. You can submit these files by clicking the "Check In" button, and optionally (and certainly recommended) adding a comment about what you did. Being Tricky Now, if you're only adding a file/folder or two, this is pretty painless. However, once your project is on the server, you'll most likely start to add several different files in several different places. Adding these one by one can get tedious, so there is a shortcut. First, do all of your work locally; add the files you need in your local version of the project, and make whatever changes you need (sometimes manually checking out server files is required, but Unity will force overwrite asset files you edit). When all of you work is done, go to your Source Control Explorer, and right-click the "Assets" folder (do not use the root project folder, as you don't need the library folder and its metadata), and click "Compare". A list of your changes (and possibly file updates you didn't sync yet) will show up in a new tab. From here, you can select all, right-click, and select "Reconcile". This will provide you with some options such for resolving these differences. By default, it will add any files that aren't already on the sever and download updates you don't have from the server. It will not by default, however, open for edit the files you have changed but didn't already check out. This may be a good thing, as it will show you files you may have edited by mistake, and give you the opportunity to undo those changes rather then submitting them, or you may want to change that setting to check out all files that you have edited. Another quick thing to note about Visual Studio source control is that any files you have checked out and submit with no changes will be automatically reverted. This means that you can check out an entire folder, edit one file, and when you check everything in, only that one file will be submitted, and the rest will simply have the server checkout undone. This minimizes the number of files everyone has to sync to without you having to explicitly undo files you didn't end up editing. I could probably go on far longer, but this already feels too long for one post. Further posts on this topic may be added upon request. For any feedback/questions/hatemail, go to my about page.

This is the first day of our official monitoring for Marine invasives. We put a 49' long rope off the top of the Stone Pier Wharf of which 27' would be always under water. The idea is that when we look for invasives on the float that we will pull this rope up and check it out each time. The rope will remain in this place as long as we do the studying.

The Rub on Conjunctivitis (Pink Eye) The Rub on Conjunctivitis (Pink Eye) Conjunctivitis, or “pink eye” as it’s more commonly called, affects more than 3million Americans each year. While most commonly found in children ages 3-13, conjunctivitis can be contracted at any age. Itching, noticeable redness, and tearing in the affected eye are all symptoms, but conjunctivitis can be caused by several different factors. In simple terms, pink eye is an irritation (or inflammation) of the conjunctiva – the thin, clear outer membrane that covers the whites of the eyes and the insides of the eyelids. Foreign bodies come into contact with the surface of the eye and this triggers inflammation in the conjunctiva, which causes the conjunctival blood vessels to dilate. This dilation of blood vessels is what causes the pink-red, bloodshot appearance of the eyes. In each case of pink eye, it’s important to immediately remove contact lenses and wear only your glasses to lessen the risk of any possible complications. And though it sounds scary, conjunctivitis is typically easy to treat; and, with proper awareness and precautions, it can even be avoided. There are three primary types of conjunctivitis, and though there are some similarities, each type is very different from the other. 1. Allergic Conjunctivitis This type of pink eye is caused by any number of different allergens making contact with the surface of the eyes. Depending upon the specific allergies, susceptible individuals could be at higher risk for allergic conjunctivitis either seasonally or year-round. For instance, those suffering from pollen allergies would be at a higher risk for pink eye during the season in which those plants are pollenating. While those suffering from dust, dander, or environmental allergies would be more susceptible to allergic pink eye year-round. Allergic conjunctivitis is marked by itchy, burning, and watering in both eyes, never just one. Most allergies are multi-systemic, meaning the histamine releases associated with allergic reactions affect two or more of the body’s systems. For this reason, allergic conjunctivitis is often accompanied by a runny nose or sinus congestion. However, because allergies can’t be passed on from person to person, this type of pink eye isn’t contagious. 2. Bacterial Conjunctivitis Though less common than the other two types, bacterial conjunctivitis can lead to infection and serious eye damage when left untreated. Bacteria are usually introduced to the eye from physical contact as opposed to contact from airborne bodies. For instance, bacteria could be present on a door handle or flat surface. After touching these surfaces and then touching or rubbing eyes, bacteria could be introduced to the conjunctiva and cause inflammation. Maintaining good hygiene and regular handwashing can help to limit infection and the colonization of harmful bacteria. In addition to the typical redness associated with pink eye, bacterial conjunctivitis is marked by a thick, yellow or green discharge in the corner of the eye. In some cases, the discharge can be productive enough to cause the eyelids to become stuck together after sleeping or napping. Pink eye caused by bacteria can affect one or both eyes and is contagious, with bacteria usually being transmitted after direct contact with the infected eye, infected hands, or after handling instruments or objects that have touched the infected eye. Bacterial conjunctivitis can be a serious medical issue. Contact your optometrist immediately if you show any signs or symptoms of bacterial conjunctivitis. 3. Viral Conjunctivitis The most common form of conjunctivitis is also, unfortunately, the most contagious. For this reason, an outbreak of viral conjunctivitis, say, in your child’s 5th grade class will spread like wildfire. Viruses are expert travelers, and in most cases, are transmitted through the air via sneezing or coughing from an infected individual. As with any viral infection, those with viral conjunctivitis should limit their exposure to non-infected people while experiencing symptoms. Although it can affect both eyes, symptoms of viral conjunctivitis typically present themselves in just one eye. As with any virus, this type of pink eye will typically run its course and symptoms will subside with no medical treatment required. In addition to rest, applying a cold, damp washcloth to the eyes several times daily can help relived the itchiness and irritation associated with viral conjunctivitis. However, be sure not to share your washcloth, so as not to infect anyone else with viral pink eye. Though each of the primary types of conjunctivitis are distinct from each other, it can often be difficult to determine which type of pink eye you may have by symptoms alone. Any time you develop red, irritated eyes, you should call an optometrist immediately to schedule an eye exam. In the downtown Naples area, call Naples Optical Center at 239.263.6677. In the Pine Ridge/Vineyards area, call Naples Optical Too at 239.353.8794. In the North Naples/Immokalee area, call our sister store, Spectacles of Naples (located in Mercato) at 239.566.9307. In addition to our incredible, independent Doctors of Optometry, our licensed opticians are ready to redefine your view with our hand-picked selection of designer frames and the latest in digital lens technology. For more information on helping protect yourself from conjunctivitis, check out the CDC’s latest infographic by clicking here.

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The arm bones of women who lived 7,000 years ago show an incredible level of strength – even higher than today’s elite athletes. That’s according to a first-ever study comparing prehistoric bones to those of living people. The finding suggests a revision of history – the everyday lives of prehistoric women were filled with hard manual labour, rather than just sitting at home doing lighter domestic tasks while the men slogged. Prior to the advent of writing, there are no clear records describing how our ancient ancestors lived. We have some artefacts, and rock art, and bones – and, as it turns out, those bones can tell us a lot. “It can be easy to forget that bone is a living tissue, one that responds to the rigours we put our bodies through,” said lead author Alison Macintosh of the University of Cambridge’s Department of Archaeology and Anthropology. “Physical impact and muscle activity both put strain on bone, called loading. The bone reacts by changing in shape, curvature, thickness and density over time to accommodate repeated strain.” Previous studies only compared female bones to contemporary male bones, the researchers said – and that’s a problem, because the response of male bones to stress and change is much more visibly dramatic than that of women. For instance, as humans moved from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle constantly on the move to a more settled agrarian one, changes can be observed in the structure of the shinbone (or tibia) – and these changes were much more pronounced in men. However, a comparison of the bones of prehistoric women to the bones of living female athletes can help us work out a more accurate picture of what those prehistoric women were doing. “By analysing the bone characteristics of living people whose regular physical exertion is known, and comparing them to the characteristics of ancient bones, we can start to interpret the kinds of labour our ancestors were performing in prehistory,” Macintosh said. Macintosh’s team recruited Cambridge athletes such as rowers and runners, as well as more sedentary volunteers, and used a small CT scanner to analyse their arm and leg bones. They also used 3D laser imaging and silicone moulding to create models of 89 tibiae and 78 humeri of women from the Neolithic, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age and the Medieval. What they found was that women’s leg strength hasn’t changed a great deal over the millennia – but powerful arms used to be the norm. Neolithic women, the researchers found, had arm strength 11-16 percent stronger than those of modern rowers, and 30 percent stronger than those of non-athletes. Bronze Age women’s arms were 9-13 percent stronger than those of rowers. It’s difficult to say what activities would have contributed to this increased strength, but we can make some educated hypotheses – such as grinding grain into flour by hand using stones, an activity that could have taken up to five hours a day. “The repetitive arm action of grinding these stones together for hours may have loaded women’s arm bones in a similar way to the laborious back-and-forth motion of rowing,” Macintosh said. And there were other tasks women would have been performing, too. “Prior to the invention of the plough, subsistence farming involved manually planting, tilling and harvesting all crops. Women were also likely to have been fetching food and water for domestic livestock, processing milk and meat, and converting hides and wool into textiles.” So next time you see some sexist twerp wonking on about how prehistoric men did the work while women sat on their hands, feel free to scoff long and loud.

Blogs I Follow * Fracking in U.S. Lifts Guar Farmers in India NY Times: “Sohan Singh’s shoeless children have spent most of their lives hungry, dirty and hot. A farmer in a desert land, Mr. Singh could not afford anything better than a mud hut and a barely adequate diet for his family. Farmers waited this month to receive free guar seeds from an Indian company. But it just so happens that when the hard little bean that Mr. Singh grows is ground up, it becomes an essential ingredient for mining oil and natural gas in a process called hydraulic fracturing. Halfway around the world, earnings are down for an oil services giant, Halliburton, because prices have risen for guar, the bean that Mr. Singh and his fellow farmers raise. Halliburton’s loss was, in a rather significant way, Mr. Singh’s gain — a rare victory for the littlest of the little guys in global trade. The increase in guar prices is helping to transform this part of the state of Rajasthan in northwestern India, one of the world’s poorest places. Tractor sales are soaring, land prices are increasing and weddings have grown even more colorful. “Now we have enough food, and we have a house made of stone,” Mr. Singh said proudly while his rail-thin children stared in awe. Guar, a modest bean so hard that it can crack teeth, has become an unlikely global player, and dirt-poor farmers like Mr. Singh have suddenly become a crucial link in the energy production of the United States.”

Diocese in the Province of Avellino, Southern Italy. The city was established by the Lombards at an unknown period. There are sulphurous springs in its vicinity. In 1664 it was almost completely destroyed. It became an episcopal see under Gregory VII, but its first known bishop is Thomas, in 1179, when the see was a suffragan of Conza. In 1540 under the episcopate of Rinaldo de' Cancellieri, it was united to the Diocese of Bisaccia (the ancient Romulea), a Samnite town captured by the Romans in 295 B.C.; it appears first as a bishopric in 1179. Another of its prelates, Ignazio Cianti, O.P. (1646), was distinguished for his learning. In 1818 it was incorporated with the See of Monteverde, the earliest known bishop of which is Mario (1049), and which in 1531 was united to the Archdiocese of Canne and Nazareth, from which it has been again separated. The see contains 9 parishes with 40,000 souls, 45 secular priests, and some religious, 3 monastic establishments, and a girls' school. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.

Houston’s best family photo spots We asked readers to tell us their favorite place to go for a portrait session. Send a photo of your go-to spot, with the family name and photographer’s name, to photos@chron.com and we’ll add it to the slideshow.

Thursday, February 2, 2017 Do you know the story of Jacob’s ladder? We have Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, trying to flee from his twin Esau who had vowed to kill him. Esau was angry with Jacob for taking away his inheritance. On his way to his relative’s house, Jacob laid down to rest, and dreamt of a ladder descending with God’s angels upon it. Jacob saw God standing above it, repeating his promise of support that he had made to Jacob’s father and grandfather, saying “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you….” (Genesis 28:15) In the book of Genesis, Jacob’s ladder is the long link between earth and heaven, God’s promise of redemption and support. This image has revisited my mind so many times in the last few weeks. When I have read of bans and detentions. Of outcry and protest. Of fear. Let me tell you another story, of a woman who is tired and traveling with a fractious 2-year-old which has only made her more so. She is missing her mother, too ill to travel and visit her in America, but now she is looking forward to seeing her husband and making sure he is eating. Her neighbors will look in on him, she is sure but still. This trip had been planned for months. Money scraped together to make the visit. And it was a wonderful one. But there is a problem. Her greencard will no longer permit her entry into the United States. The TSA agent has detained her. And her child sensing her fear, begins to cry. She tries to call her husband, who is frantic with worry. He tells her he is trying to find someone to straighten everything out. He asks if she is well, if their daughter is all right? As the hours pass and the tension mounts, and she is regarded with piteous suspicion she looks forward to the double doors that clear customs and wonders if she will see her husband on the other side. Then there is another mother, who hasn’t seen or smelled or considered home in over a year. Ever since she had to flee with her child and her brother-in-law, when she had to barter and steal to make sure her family could eat, when she worried about the anger forming in her nephew’s eyes as he struggled to understand that asylum can also mean “trapped.” She has not bathed often and even when she has, it has been in cold water. Her digestive system is in ruins because she eats rarely, preferring instead to give her portion away to the children. She has been forced to undress in front of strangers and sleep on floors. Her university education and love of poetry no longer matter. Another woman in the temporary camp she lived in for 6 months told her that her husband’s cousin, a law professor, was now a check-out clerk. Despite the humiliation she has endured she says she will do the same. Anything was better than worrying if she was going to be alive by the day’s end. She prays constantly. And finally, the interviews are over and she is here, in the United States. But she is barred entry. Her accented flawless English, cultivated from years of pouring over the Romantics, is mocked. She closes her eyes, and takes a seat. And waits. In a clean airport, at least, she does not have to fear being raped. But she has not stopped asking God for deliverance. Her eyes seek heaven. When everything on earth is gone. When someone is vowing to kill you for stealing a birthright, you look towards heaven with profound faith. Your clothes, food and any other cultural marker has vanished. Your faith is all you have left. And that carries you all the way to a new shore. Jacob’s ladder. I will not be the one to break the rung of another's faith; I will help her hold on to it. I have hurt while watching voracious and blatant attacks on social media with unverified links from both sides. And since it seems that so many get their news from social media where anyone can post anything with an email address and a pseudonym, truth and justice is being pulled further away and fear is the sole resounding rallying cry. A dangerous wail of frustration. When fear moves us, the ladder stretches even higher. The rungs increase in spacing and number. We forget entirely about bringing the kingdom of heaven here, and we forget what that means. We forget kindness. We forget love. We breed our own terror. My son wrote in his notes about the Boston Massacre, “In 1770, a snowball was thrown at a British solider and he then fired his musket killing 5 colonists.” Can you imagine an environment of such tension and fear that a simple snowball would result in the spark that began a war? Because when I see the fear in the eyes of protestors, the fear is mirrored in those detainees. And such fear will culminate in an extraordinary way, if we do nothing. Let me explain by relaying a part of a particularly frustrating conversation I had with someone recently: “I’ve seen the order—there is NO BAN.” Me: “It doesn’t matter.” “What do you mean it doesn’t matter?! These people are protesting for nothing. There isn’t a ban, it is the same document that has been instituted by administrations over the last 16 years!” Airport Demonstration Me: “I don’t care.” “You have to care. This is crazy. People are just willing to protest anything.” Me: “They’re afraid— ” “Afraid? Of what!” “It no longer matters what the language says. All that matters is the fear that it inspires. That should we start turning away those in need of help— ” “It’s temporary.” “Tell that to the detainee. Tell her it’s only temporary after she traveled a lifetime to get there. Tell him that his business, his family, the life he created after leaving another behind is no longer his to claim. Tell him he must wait even though he’s paid taxes, met with his daughter’s teachers, volunteered in his community, gone to public meetings. Tell him.” “Come on.” “No. No come on. I saw on Facebook, a woman I know posted, ‘I guess we’re all immigration experts now,’ complete with an eyeroll. But she doesn’t understand, that this is just now too much. That the democracyde Tocquevillecritiqued is becoming realized while the ideals the Founders stood for seems to be radically misunderstood.” “No, wait a minute.” “No. These people? They are afraid. And maybe for too long we’ve all just passively accepted that those elected officials embody the ideals they are sworn to uphold. We haven’t kept an eye on them. Now their grandstanding seems divided on party lines, exacerbated by the tension in the air.” “That’s not the law. That is not what it says. We have a responsibility to the citizens of this country. And we have a court system and Congress that were created to check and balance one another. You know that.” “It doesn’t matter. It’s the state of the union. And unless this President addresses this fear. A very real fear to the people he represents, something will happen that will be bigger than a snowball fight.” “A snowball fight?” “Never mind. It’s just that they’re afraid. And while fear can be irrational, it needs to be taken seriously. I would never send my child back to bed to face the monsters he believes are there. I will go. I will turn on the lights. I will recheck the closet and under the bed. I will stay and hold his hand until he feels safe. I will do it so he feels he doesn’t see monsters everywhere when he is older and when it is the bright light of day. For some people the monsters never go away and the shadow they cast becomes real, because no one took the time to explain that they are NOT real. My cousin is Muslim. Another came into this country seeking asylum. I am a first-generation immigrant. I took the oath of citizenship just shy of my 18th birthday, the original oath promising to defend America and bear arms against any enemies foreign or domestic. I am proud to have grown up here, for the intense sacrifices and scrutiny my parents have borne to raise me here. My father said that there is nowhere else on earth where dreams can be realized. Where if someone worked hard enough success would come despite family name or the circumstances of birth. This, for me, is deeply personal. Nuccio DiNuzzo/Chicago Tribune/TNS via Getty Images There has not been a single year in my memory when I haven’t been witness to a parent (or I myself) being told to “get out of the country and never come back.” Through the years of both party administrations, the racism and sexism has kept coming: My mother was given threatening letters at work during theIran hostage crisisand told to “watch [her] back, that [someone] would be coming for [her].” When my mother showed her supervisor, she looked the other way and shrugged. I was jovially, loudly (and repeatedly) warned by Mr. Adams, my high school Biology teacher, not to be found riding the elephant in the rotunda at the Natural History Museum before getting off the bus for our field trip. I was asked for my contact information because the little boy in my grocery cart looked so well cared for, was I available then to nanny for [her] family? “He’s my son,” I said quietly and placed the packages woodenly on the belt. “He’s my son and I teach in the English Department at ----- College.” My father had full cans of soda thrown at him during his lunch walks in Georgetown and screamed at and called everything but a child of God. At the park when Joe was a toddler, I went to grab something from the stroller, and saw Joe reaching over to say hi to another little boy. They spun wheels on the playground together. When I walked over to see him, his mother, a lovely blonde just like her little boy, abruptly picked him and said in a carrying whisper, “We don't play with those people.” My father was punched and his cheekbone crushed by a drunken African American orderly when my father told him he couldn’t touch one of his patients in that condition. We have had bricks thrown through our window. Years ago, I was told I was taking away good American jobs, I remember looking up from the vegetable bins at the market and said, “I wasn’t aware you were looking for an Assistant Professorship in Literature?” So none of this language, as bad as it has gotten, is surprising for me. In fact, as a minority woman, in an interracial marriage, I can tell you I’ve experienced much worse. If any good can come out of this intense unrest and pain—such excruciating pain—we are witnessing, it is this: that people are understanding the process of Democracy. They are looking to understand how government works. They are learning the names of their representatives and calling them. Accountability is becoming important, passivity can no longer be the order of the day, no matter who is in charge. --Jamal Joseph “There is no expiration date on dreams and there is no start date on activism.” But there has to be a purpose and a common one, of a better and kinder and more decent world. To be even more personal, I’ll share with you an insight a therapist once told my husband and myself, “You know I think you both needed this. Your marriage needed this. You needed to hit a bottom in order to rebuild and begin again to talk to one another. To learn to talk to one another.” A hard reset. Maybe this is a truth for us all now as well. We need a call-back to the gravity and courage of the founding of this country that sought liberty from any kind of oppression. I hold those truths very dearly indeed and have explained to my children that despite our personal disagreements we have to look at the manner in which the country works, and allow that process to continue. And yet, this order? The rationale is not sound and the agents involved to carry it out, do not seem to be equipped to undertake it. With one brief exception, I have not found any TSA agent to be especially kind or helpful. I have found them to be uniformly brusque, rude and having serious misconception of their authority. One team in Tampa took aside my then 4-year-old son, and removed him from my presence as he looked at me in panic. They tested his small palms for gunpowder residue: twice. And yelled at him when he, so scared and shocked, as I could see through the partition, was too nervous to place his hands palm up. He had tears in his eyes as he was delivered back to me. Through clenched teeth, I said, “you are not allowed to take a minor away from his parents to search him.” The man grinned, winked and said, “have a nice day Paki.” So these are the people who have to enforce these restrictions. These men and women are in full charge of people who have been traumatized once, twice, many many times over? “We have to let this play out in the court system.” “No we cannot. We cannot. How much longer does a permanent resident have to wait before moving beyond those double doors? The court system? And if one such detainee can by some miracle find a lawyer just beyond the door to file an injunction, what form needs to be used? No. There is no more time.” “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are alone in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Step-by-step, rung by rung we have to climb this ladder. We cannot do it alone. And we must help each other reach further. Fear cannot divide us. We have to confront it; we have to ask the hard questions of why we are scared. We have to recall Japanese-American internment, Chinese labor camps, and the lingering shock and acrid residue of war; we must face our fear. Your humanity and decency calls upon you to act in kind to another. To believe in both of those ideals despite any evidence to the contrary and to see them in another. We must try. Remember that woman, that mother trying to calm the racing of her heart and seeking with eyes to find recognition of her humanity in another's? That woman could have easily been my mother in 1973. That child—me. That man seeking asylum and rest? Jesus. There can be no greater evidence of God than our love for one another in the face of our differences. I have to thank you for reading this, when you are most likely tired and weary of reading so much on the same. When you have seen and witnessed and borne pain yourself, watching friendships end and relationships crumble. The first person I know I must reach is the person whose views are in absolute contradiction to my own. So I foresee many formidable arguments in my future. But it’s worth it. Change cannot come without discomfort, and challenge will sharpen our own ideas. Combined is a path toward cooperation and a willing hand to continue the climb. In its undertaking, I wish you peace, strength, and above all else, courage. What the story said...my reviews on goodreads “You must understand, this is one of those moments.” “What moments?” “One of the moments you keep to yourself,” he said. “What do you mean?” I said. “why?” “We’re in a war,” he said. “The story of this war—dates, names, who started it, why—that belongs to everyone. [….] But something like this—this is yours. It belongs only to you. And me. Only to us” (56). This moment, in Téa Obreht’s lyrical first novel, The Tiger’s Wife, tells you the entirety of the story of love and loss, of memory, maps and war, of science, fables and imagined histories. The tale, set in a fictional Balkan province, is about the relationship between the narrator, Natalia and her grandfather who is a doctor. And the story involves the wars that have ravaged that area for years. If you think back to the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia, you may remember the horror and shock of those years of unending war. The bombing of a 400 year old bridge, the massacres, the deadening of Sarajevo. While none of these events are overtly, or even covertly, covered in the novel, their echo remains. This is a novel whose strength lies in the ability to translate myth and fable, to make the moments that seem almost unknowable known. The excerpt offered in the beginning of this review is an example of that, the Grandfather takes the young Natalia past curfew to witness the surreal site of a starving elephant being led on the city streets to the closed city zoo, the place of their weekly pilgrimages. During mercurial times, there was this moment of placidity and fantasy. The war which raged and continued and was irrational as wars are, there is the fantastical presence of an elephant sloping up the quiet neighborhood street. While Natalia frets that no one will believe her, her grandfather corrects her idea by telling her that history can be something personalized and intimate. Not meant to be shared by the world, but by those who you love and trust to see your vision. It makes sense, because when histories are challenged and threatened, documents concerning your birth, the death of your families are challenged or lost, history becomes something far more ephemeral. Far more illusory unless it is placed in the permanence of your own heart. She begins Chapter 2 by saying, “Everything necessary to understand my Grandfather lies between two stories: the story of the tiger’s wife, and the story of the deathless man” (32). So it is between these poles of myth and story that we can locate the history of this narrator and her grandfather, both physicians, both straddling the line between science and home remedy. I could tell you at length about both, but that truly would be spoiling the journey of the story for you. But I will say that the language Obreht uses is so languid and lush, masterful and mindful that you begin to be seduced by it all. So reason, the questions of markings of slippery occurrences of war that do belong to the world that could ground the reader in the world Obreht is translating is lost because that is the moment she is NOT choosing to share. But here is the thing. I needed it. Even in a footnote or an afterward. I needed a timeline of the events that brought the destruction of these people to such impossibilities of existence. Because even though it is a public history, it is one I do not know well. It would be wrong to assume the knowledge on the part of a Western audience I think, it’s unfortunate that this is not a familiar landscape or language. I know, in the recesses of my mind I know the wars in the Balkans. The horrors, the rape camps of Bosnia, the destruction, the evacuation of Serbians…but I don’t know enough, not nearly enough to be lulled into this lush tale. A part of me refused to be completely seduced by it. Because I didn’t understand enough about it. There is a way in which myth sustains us when horrors are too much. When person and home and identity fall away, and where you cannot locate your birthplace on a map, because it has been eliminated, what do you hold onto except your stories? As the author writes, “We had used a the map on every road trip we had ever taken, and it showed in the marker scribbling all over it: the crossed-out areas we were supposed to avoid…. I couldn’t find Zdrevkov, the place where my grandfather died, on that map. I couldn’t find Brejevina either, but I had known in advance that it was missing, so we had drawn it in” (16). Map lines, map dots, erased and redrawn because of war. How do you locate who you are, if you cannot really know where you are from? The erasing of history, of place, of belonging, of self is such a legitimate tragic legacy of war. So it is understandable that the novel moves between these two myths to bookend it, asking the reader to locate the grandfather and the narrator in its midst. I just think that the novel, which is a remarkable achievement for such a young writer, would have been that much more strong, viscerally, had it had the historical reference points it alluded to. That being said, though, it is a novel of quiet questions and loud answers and makes you wonder long after you’ve set it aside. Questions like, “What is the moment you have? The one you find that belongs to you? Who will you share it with and what familiar myth might you create?”

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Strictly speaking, this and the preceding panel are part of the same scene. Rather than showing St Nicholas in the guise of a holy man in the midst of the other pilgrims (in keeping with the text), the artist has shown him reaching out from his shrine to issue his warning. As well as strengthening the spatial correlation between saint and shrine, this has fortuitously positioned St Nicholas standing outside his shrine in the top right hand panel, as if framing the whole narrative.

Junior point guard Shelton Mitchell has gone from regional to national recruit over the last year. On Friday night, Mitchell capped his rise when he announced via Twitter that he has committed to Wake Forest. Mitchell drew college coaches from the Demon Deacons, North Carolina and North Carolina State to the Holiday Invitational at Raleigh (N.C.) Broughton High last week. He averaged 22.3 points per game with a high of 30 against Hampton (Va.) High and Wolfpack point guard signee Anthony Barber. Mitchell said some of the college coaches gave him a heads up that they were coming to watch him. "It was good, and I knew coming into this that during my whole high school career, I knew about this tournament and playing in front of big crowds," Mitchell said. "I talked to [UNC assistant] Coach [C.B.] McGrath, [Wake Forest assistant] Coach [Jeff] Battle and Coach Roy [Williams of UNC], and they all said they were coming." When Mitchell plays with the Chris Paul All-Stars, he's more likely to aim for double-digit assist totals than gaudy scoring numbers. "CP3, if they need me to score, I'll attack more and be aggressive, but with this team, [it's scoring] all the time," Mitchell said. "CP3 has a lot of guys that can get hot and same with this team [at Cuthbertson]. I just have to be a little more aggressive with this team." Cuthbertson coach Mike Helms is appreciative of the work ethic and leadership Mitchell has displayed. "Shelton is the hardest working kid I've ever coached," Helms said. "The kid is back in the gym. He's texting me, 'How can I get back in the gym the next day?' He wants to get in there and get better in all facets of his game, and he has. He has continued to improve and knows there are areas he still needs to improve. "He is a kid, I have no question he will reach his ceiling. He is going to be the best player he can be before it is all said and done." Rivals.com ranks the lanky 6-foot-3 point guard No. 60 in the country in the class of 2014. The Nike Elite 100, which took place in St. Louis last June, helped boost his stock nationally "That was huge," Mitchell said. "Playing then, I wasn't as known as I am now. Being able to go against guys that were ahead of me, and basically on the same path as me, and competing against them was huge." Mitchell has been well-known in Charlotte circles since playing in the eighth grade for Covenant Day and winning the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions. In that tournament, he played with Team United's Kennedy Meeks (UNC signee) and Sindarius Thornwell (South Carolina signee). Mitchell grew up in Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Ore., before settling in the Charlotte area for middle school. He transferred to brand-new Cuthbertson High his ninth grade year and helped them finish second in the NCHSAA 2A playoffs. Cuthbertson fell to Kinston 58-55 in the title game, despite 22 points from Mitchell. Cuthbertson and Kinston were able to renew their rivalry in the losers bracket at the Holiday Invitational. Mitchell and senior wing Isiah Cureton sparked a second half comeback to pull out a 50-47 win over Kinston back on Dec. 28. Mitchell had 19 points in the big win and looks like he has improved since last March. "I've gotten a little stronger, though he [Helms] might not believe that," Mitchell said. "I'm more mentally tough. Even when things aren't going my way, I still keep my head in the game. Last year, I think I got down on myself at times. This year, I just keep playing."

Words of Healing with Kaotik the Poet Hey everybody I’m back again, and this time I got to speak with another inspirational artist that goes by, Kaotik the Poet. Our talk was very spiritually nourishing. We got a chance to speak about passions, desires, and inspirations. As well as, the power of expressing your thoughts through words. I believe people’s artistry can heal; therefore, I hope you are healed by our conversation with Kaotik the Poet. Q: Can you please give use your name, background, business name, and business background? A: My name is Louis Caldwell. I own Caldwell Services, and Sweet Lou’s Bar B Que. Caldwell Services is an automotive core purchasing service. I buy warranty parts from dealerships and sell them to rebuilders. I started these businesses because I wanted to leave something to my kids. Q: Who is the Kaotik poet? How does he differ from you I everyday life?A: Lol, who is Kaotik Poet? He is the manifestation of my passions and desires. He is the compromise between flesh and spirit. My expression of self in its purest form. He is the moment that I leave this plane and mentally let it all hang out. I don’t have to dumb it down for others. I am him and he is me in many aspects, yet I am bridled somewhat in real life. I find myself having to hold back, lol, I don’t think the World is ready. Kaotik Poet does this on some levels as well. Some things they just can’t handle. Q: Why do you leave your poetry without a title?A: Most of my poems are left without titles because, titles make them so impersonal. It’s like they have no beginning and no end. I don’t want to tell the reader what they’re about, I want their hearts to do that for me. Now mind you, In a lot of my earlier writing they have titles. Q: Where does your inspiration to write come from? What is your creation process? A: My inspiration to write comes from my past, present and hope for the future. It derives from an overwhelming need to teach, guide and love. Hmmmm, creation process, I don’t think I have one. It’s like my words just fall atop me all at once. I can be sleep and they come to me. I have dreamt of entire ideas for stories…lol. I know that sounds crazy but true. Someone may say something. I don’t know. The world feeds me its needs, and I am its speaker. Q:When you state, “I just returned from war I did. With its smokey mouths and hidden lies. It’s hurried red lights and busy bodies with no business of their own. I just emerged from the battlefield where there were no soldiers, just drama Kings and Dairy Queens. From 9-5 I fought this war. From the country sides to the concrete jungles. I did indulge in civil gore,” what struggle did you overcome at that point? A: This poem came to me while sitting at a red light. I am a people watcher. I sat and watched all of the soccer moms, the restless teens, the exhausted fathers. I saw how they all watched this red light. For that moment they all had one thing in common, that light. That light offered them a moment peace, which they rejected. I watched how they glared at one another. No love, no compassion. Like the light belonged to them. I then pushed on through my day and lent my attention to more observations. We fight our way through our days. Leaving behind casualties, whether it be emotionally, mentally or spiritually. We are on a course to slaughter one another. We are at war. Q: What new projects are you working on? How can we expect your poetry to evolve? A: Currently I am gathering up my writings. I have found someone to help me with editing and organization. The problem is there are over five hundred manuscripts that I know of. I have my work cut out for me. I believe my poetry will evolve into a more pure truth. I want to take some writing classes, but we will see. Whatever is in God’s will. Q:What do you want people to take from your poetry? A: I want people to take from my poetry, that they are not alone in any journey, any struggle. We have all gone through it. Don’t be afraid to speak your truths. I want them to know that I have lived every word I wrote. Know That I am my brother’s keeper, and he will be kept. Hopefully you were touched and took something from the Kaotik Poet. Moving forward I hope you let your spirit free and can inspire through your words. If you were moved by this interview please follow Louis @kaotikpoet on Instagram. Tune in on Friday to hear from a visual artist Diane Roka. I will leave you with a poem by Kaotik the Poet! Killing Me Slowly Someone help me I’m bleeding words, my pen has become a scythe and it’s killing thoughts by the second. It’s a lyrical psychopath going straight for the jugular, it’s become a verbal juggernaut. I’m running but I’m in slow motion, my pen is in flow motion, with each poem it’s picking up momentum…. Someone help me, I’m bleeding words. I am hemorrhaging words, my passion is falling away from me, help me, I struggle to catch my misery, I lay in a pool of ink, pumped from my flesh. From the center of my bones did this ink spill. Help me. With surgical precision this pen will expel my deepest pains. I’m dying indeed, my soul has been taken, I’mlying in need, I can’t feel my heart where my words did feed. Someone help me I’m bleeding words. I have found my peace, do not mourn me, weep for my words for they are lost to my mind, they have known me for a time, but are now dead to me, I wade within the dark corridors, for I am sightless,, my words gave vision, but now I don’t feel clearly, I’m sightless, my purpose has departed. I’m fight less. I am beyond help I’m bleeding words. When I have past the last wisp of my living breath, tell them of these words that did die. Lay me within a shallow keep where I may write from the grave, that I mayspeak from behind the vail of the permanent sleep, from the unending dream my words did form. Upon my stoned head, may my truths be perched, I will lay not where you searched, I’m lurking about the bones of the slumbering poets where sorrows are heard……I have bled my words……..LTC3

Peter Quigley | Kelly Services US Peter Quigley is executive vice president of Kelly Services, a global leader in providing workforce solutions. He is one of two EVPs reporting to George Corona, president and chief executive officer. In his role, he is responsible for both operational and functional support areas. On the operations side, Mr. Quigley serves as president of Global Staffing where he oversees the Company’s staffing operations in the Americas and EMEA regions. In terms of functional responsibility, he is the general manager of several corporate administrative departments including IT, Global Service and Global Business Services. Prior to his current role, Mr. Quigley was chief administrative officer for Kelly Services, responsible for Corporate Communications, Facilities, Global Business (Shared) Services, Global Service, Human Resources, IT, Legal, and Risk Management. He also served as the Company's General Counsel. As a key member of Kelly's senior leadership team for more than 10 years, Mr. Quigley has progressed through the leadership ranks since joining the Company in 2002. He led the Contracts Administration team for three years before being promoted to associate general counsel in 2005, at which time he also assumed responsibility for the Risk Management, Workers' Compensation, and Unemployment Compensation groups. In 2008, Mr. Quigley left the Law department to manage what was then termed the "Office of the President Accounts" and later, was responsible for account management and business development functions that is now Global Solutions. Prior to joining Kelly, Mr. Quigley worked at Lucent Technologies and AT&T Corporation in a variety of roles, as well as serving on the management committee of Lucent's internal venture capital business. Earlier in his career, he practiced law in Washington, D.C. He earned a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) with honors from the National Law Center at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and a bachelor's degree with distinction from the University of Michigan. He is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and the District of Columbia Bar. He is on the boards of Persol Holdings Co., LTD (formerly TempHoldings) and PersolKelly APAC, a joint venture between Kelly Services and Persol Holdings Co., Ltd. In addition, Mr. Quigley serves as an active board member of the American Staffing Association (ASA), serving as second vice chairman of the ASA's board of directors, vice-chair of the thought leadership task force, and a member of the legal and legislative committee. Mr. Quigley has been named to the Staffing Industry Analysts Staffing 100 List for three consecutive years (2017, 2018, 2019). The list recognizes the industry's most influential leaders across the workforce solutions ecosystem.

Why preventive care is important Remember the old saying that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"? This can be especially true when it comes to preventive health care. Maintaining or improving your health is important - and a focus on regular preventive care, along with following the advice of your doctor, can help you stay healthy. Stool ova and parasites exam Apr 30, 2005 Viewed: 267 Alternative names Parasites and stool ova exam Definition Stool ova and parasites exam is a test for the presence of a parasite or worm-like infection of the intestine from stool analysis. Ova refers to the egg stage of a parasite’s life cycle. Some parasites are single-cell organisms such as amoeba, Giardia, and trichomonas, while others have a worm-like appearance. How the test is performed Adults and children: There are many ways to collect the samples. You can catch the stool on plastic wrap that is loosely placed over the toilet bowl and held in place by the toilet seat. Then, put the sample in a clean container. One test kit supplies a special toilet tissue that you use to collect the sample, then put the sample in a clean container. Infants and young children: For children wearing diapers, line the diaper with plastic wrap. If the plastic wrap is positioned properly, isolating the stool from any urine output, mixing of urine and stool can be prevented for a better sample. A small smear of stool is placed on a microscope slide and examined. How to prepare for the test You will be given a specimen container for the stool sample. Do not mix urine or toilet tissue in with the stool specimen. How the test will feel There is no discomfort. Why the test is performed The test is performed if a parasitic infestation is suspected, for prolonged diarrhea of unknown cause, or other intestinal symptoms. Normal Values The presence of normal bacteria and other microorganism in the stool is normal. What abnormal results mean Parasites or eggs are present in the stool indicating parasitic infestation. See also: Medical Encyclopedia All ArmMed Media material is provided for information only and is neither advice nor a substitute for proper medical care. Consult a qualified healthcare professional who understands your particular history for individual concerns. It's easy to make a financial decision based on what you need right now, but making an informed choice will benefit you in the long run. Meet a former Red Sox pitcher who picked security over an uncertain future

Papio Papio En ligneHors ligne motion graphics, 3d animation, video. We can make it. I am a versatile producer / designer with seven years of senior-level production experience in advertising, fiction and documentary television with a current emphasis in international projects. I speak english, spanish and italian fluently, and have knowledge of french, german, dutch and norwegian. I also ran a small production company in Buenos Aires. I am accomplished at taking projects from conception to completion and have produced advertising campaigns that were successfully picked up. I work very well in challenging, high-pressure situations and have experience on multi platform projects (video+web+graphic+realtime 3d). As a Producer, I am adept at crafting engaging, entertaining and informative stories while simultaneously overseeing all aspects of a production including managing crew, staff, budget, and production schedule. As a designer, I am experienced at working with technical crews, agency reps, clients, and artists to realize compelling pieces from web to cinema. I am also a skilled and creative Shooter, Editor and English-Spanish simultaneous interpreter. I've developed business plans for video e-marketing solutions to a regional government in Italy and am experienced writing proposals for a variety of projects including advertising, tv, cinema and web. Specialties production, advertising, photography, motion graphics, graphic design, postproduction, international liaison, web 2.0, branding, cgi, 3d, videogames, mmorpg, concept art, illustration, realtime Digital Artist Big Buddha Jan 2005 - Jan 2007 (2 years) Planning and execution of projects for several international companies as Coca-Cola, Siemens, Playboy TV, Chevrolet, etc. Coordination of tailored crews for specific projects, both for tv and viral advertising.

Disclosed is a mold-BGA-type semiconductor device which has: a semiconductor chip which includes insulating resin film formed on at least a part of the surface of the semiconductor chip except a pad; a conductive layer formed in a region on the insulating resin film, the region including at least part...http://www.google.de/patents/US6218728?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US6218728 - Mold-BGA-type semiconductor device and method for making the same Mold-BGA-type semiconductor device and method for making the sameUS 6218728 B1 Zusammenfassung Disclosed is a mold-BGA-type semiconductor device which has: a semiconductor chip which includes insulating resin film formed on at least a part of the surface of the semiconductor chip except a pad; a conductive layer formed in a region on the insulating resin film, the region including at least part corresponding to a position where a solder ball is mounted; a first metal thin wire which is wire-bonded between the pad and the conductive layer; a second metal thin wire which is wire-bonded on the conductive layer; resin part which seals the semiconductor chip, the resin part including a hole to expose part of the second metal thin wire; and a solder ball which is mounted on the hole. Bilder(5) Ansprüche(4) What is claimed is: 1. A mold-BGA-type semiconductor device, comprising: a semiconductor chip which includes insulating resin film formed on at least a part of the surface of the semiconductor chip except a pad; a conductive layer formed in a region on said insulating resin film, said region including at least part corresponding to a position where a solder ball is mounted; a first metal thin wire is wire-bonded between said pad and said conductive layer; a second metal thin wire having a first end and a second end which is wire-bonded on said conductive layer; said second metal wire is substantially U-shaped, said first end and said second end of said metal wire are both wire bonded on said conductive layer; resin part which seals said semiconductor chip, said first wire and partially seals said second wire, said resin part including a hole to expose part of said second metal thin wire for accommodating a solder ball; and a solder ball which is mounted on said hole. 2. A mold-BGA-type semiconductor device, according to claim 1, wherein: said insulating resin film is polyimide film. 3. A mold-BGA-type semiconductor device, according to claim 1, wherein: said conductive layer is an aluminum layer. 4. A mold-BGA-type semiconductor device, according to claim 2, wherein: said conductive layer is an aluminum layer. Beschreibung FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a mold-BGA (ball grid array)-type semiconductor device and a method for making the same. BGA means to connect arranging an array of ball solders on a main plane of substrate. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A conventional mold-BGA-type semiconductor device is, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, structured by adhering a buffering elastic material called elastomer 10 onto the surface of a chip 1, thermo-compression-bonding a copper wiring 12 to a pad 2 of the chip 1, sealing with a sealant 13. FIG. 1A shows a state that the pad 2 is disposed at the center of the chip 1, and FIG. 1B shows a state that it is disposed peripherally. Also, Japanese patent application laid-open Nos. 3-94438 (1991) and 8-204062 (1996) disclose examples of mold-BGA-type semiconductor devices where solder balls are disposed on the surface of resin package on the front-face side of semiconductor chip. As one example of them, the semiconductor device disclosed in Japanese patent application laid-open No. 3-94438 (1991) is shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B. FIG. 2A is a cross sectional view showing the semiconductor device before forming the solder balls, and FIG. 2B is a cross sectional view showing the semiconductor device after forming the solder balls. As shown in FIG. 2A, it is fabricated by forming a dummy support 15 uniting with a die pad 14 on which a semiconductor chip 1 is to be mounted, adhering the semiconductor chip 1 onto the die pad 14, bonding between the pad 2 of the semiconductor chip 1 and the dummy support 15 through a wire 5 (metal thin wire), resin-sealing the whole members. After resin-sealing, as shown in FIG. 2B, outsides from the line B-B′ and line C-C′ in FIG. 2A are cut down and separated, thereby allowing part where the semiconductor chip 1 is mounted to be remaining. The surface of the remaining part and the wire 5 are polished to expose the surface of wire 5 until having a predetermined thickness. Solder balls 6 are formed on the exposed and polished part of the wire 5. However, in the BGA-type semiconductor device in FIGS. 1A and 1B, there are the problems that the cost for material becomes expensive because the wiring structure from the pad 2 to the solder ball 6 uses a polyimide tape 11 and the elastomer 10, and that the fabrication process is complicated because of the adhering structure. Also, in the BGA-type semiconductor device in FIGS. 2A and 2B, there is the problem that the cost for material becomes expensive because the dummy support 15 is used. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a mold-BGA-type semiconductor device where the connection with solder ball through wire can be made at a lower cost. It is a further object of the invention to provide a method for making a mold-BGA-type semiconductor device where the connection with solder ball through wire can be made at a lower cost. According to the invention, a mold-BGA-type semiconductor device, comprises: a semiconductor chip which includes insulating resin film formed on at least a part of the surface of the semiconductor chip except a pad; a conductive layer formed in a region on the insulating resin film, the region including at least part corresponding to a position where a solder ball is mounted; a first metal thin wire which is wire-bonded between the pad and the conductive layer; a second metal thin wire which is wire-bonded on the conductive layer; resin part which seals the semiconductor chip, the resin part including a hole to expose part of the second metal thin wire; and a solder ball which is mounted on the hole. According to another aspect of the invention, a method for making a mold-BGA-type semiconductor device, comprises the steps of: forming insulating resin film on at least a part of the surface of a semiconductor chip except a pad; wire-bonding between the pad and the conductive layer and wire-bonding on the conductive layer; resin-sealing the semiconductor chip; forming a hole through the sealing resin to expose part of a metal thin wire which is wire-bonded on the conductive layer; and mounting a solder ball on the hole. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be explained in more detail in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein: FIGS. 3A and 3B are a plan view and a cross sectional view showing a mold-BGA-type semiconductor device in a preferred embodiment according to the invention, and FIGS. 4A to 4F are cross sectional views showing a method for making a mold-BGA-type semiconductor device in a preferred embodiment according to the invention. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The preferred embodiments of the invention will be explained below, referring to the drawing. FIG. 3A is a plan view showing a mold-BGA-type semiconductor device, whose resin is partly removed, in the embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 3B is a cross sectional view of FIG. 3A. As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, laminated metal layer 4, such as aluminum, is formed by vapor deposition etc. on polyimide film 3 formed on a chip 1, connected with a pad 2 by a wire (metal thin wire) 5A. Further, on the laminated metal layer 4, inverted-U-shaped wiring is provided. Solder balls 6 are bonded to the inverted-U-shaped wire exposed by holing resin 7 after sealing with resin 7. Next, a method for making the above mold-BGA-type semiconductor device will be explained using FIGS. 4A to 4F. First, as shown in FIG. 4A, polyimide 3 is formed on the surface of the chip 1, and aluminum 4 is vapor-deposited at part to dispose the solder ball 6. As shown in FIG. 4B, wire bonding from the pad 2 to the aluminum layer 4 is conducted with the wire 5A. The position of the pad 2 is varied depending on a circuit on the chip 1. Therefore, wiring to the part to dispose the solder ball 6 is conducted with the wire 5B. Next, as shown in FIG. 4C, wire bonding is conducted on the aluminum layer 4. Further, as shown in FIG. 4D, resin sealing is conducted with resin 7. Then, as shown in FIG. 4E, a solder-ball hole 9 is formed by laser light 8 to expose part of the wire 5B formed in FIG. 4C. The solder-ball hole 9 can be also exposed by polishing, but it can be exposed without hurting the wire when using laser light. Finally, as shown in FIG. 4F, the solder ball 6 is mounted on the solder-ball hole 9. Advantages of the Invention: As explained above, in the present invention, due to a conductive layer formed on insulating resin film of chip, the cost of material for wire-binding can be reduced, thereby making the semiconductor device at lower cost. Also, the bonding of solder ball and metal thin wire can be easily conducted. Although the invention has been described with respect to specific embodiment for complete and clear disclosure, the appended claims are not to be thus limited but are to be construed as embodying all modification and alternative constructions that may be occurred to one skilled in the art which fairly fall within the basic teaching here is set forth.

Stash Report When I was going back and forth to my doctor appointments I’ve also been periodically stopping at the thrift stores. I was able to find some fabric. The purple floral is destine to be the back of the quilt…the purple plaid is flannel and I think that will back a baby quilt. The others are just fabrics that will go into my collection. While I was there I also found this…Goodies to make sock monkeys!! There should be plenty of socks and stuffing to make two sock monkeys and that’s perfect. I think I’ll make them next Christmas..one will be for Carver and the other for Scott, Buck’s girlfriend’s little guy. This all made me super happy. I’ve made a couple of sock monkeys before. They are quick, easy and lots of fun too. Now I have to somehow remember that I have the goodies and get them made. It’s a happy coincidence that they were there. I likely wouldn’t have thought of making them had I now found the socks. To see what others are doing with their fabric collections check out Patchwork Times.

At Rainy Day Reviews you will find my personal reviews on books as well as reading challenges, weekly memes I participate in, and all other bookish topics. Thank you for stopping by my blog:) I hope you enjoyed yourself and hope to see you again:) It’s Monday! What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between! D This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from! I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! This past week I kept it real easy since I am potty training my daughter. I knew it would suck up my daytime reading a lot with keeping a special eye on her. So far so good. Except for the other day when my older sister and I took her to get her Easter pictures done and were gone for five hours doing so; so her potty training was kind of put on pause. Anyway, this past week I read and review two books. I also had to put The Opposite of Me to the side since two other books came in the mail for review and I only have a few days between the reviews. Friday, April 15, 2011 Do you find yourself living in memories, imaginations, and fears more than in the current moment? As Dr. Warren W. Wiersbe writes, "My past may discourage me and my future may frighten me, but 'the life I now live' today can be enriching and encouraging because 'Christ lives in me' (Gal. 2:20)." In Jesus in the Present Tense, Dr. Wiersbe explores the I AM statements of God- from His burning-bush conversation with Moses, to His powerful reassurances to the Israelites to Jesus' startling claims to be the Light of the World, the Good Shepherd, and the True Vine. The better you understand God's I AM statements from both the Old and New Testaments and apply their truths to your life, the more you will abide in Christ and bear fruit for His glory today. Then you will be free to live, serve, and know God more richly in the present tense- which is just where He wants you to be. I loved this book. I honestly could not put it down. It was so interesting and educational and real. I didn't find it preachy either. I liked that Dr. Wiersbe had scriptures through-out the book to back up he was saying. He shows that just because the Bible is old and just because we aren't in those biblical times anymore, people dealt with most of the same issues we deal with today and how we can use His Word for our everyday life even if we think the Bible is outdated. The chapter I liked the most was chapter eight, " The Way, The Truth and The Life." He gave a full chapter to the I AM statements of Christ. Giving a bunch of scriptures backing them up then explaining the scriptures in such a way making them easy to understand and explain to other people which I found handy. I can't gush enough about this book! I soaked this book up in a couple of nights. I also found that this book would be good for a bible study group. He even has notes at the end of his book for each chapter. I am looking forward to reading more of Dr. Warren's books:) I would totally recommend this book, it wasn't boring in the least. Presley Thurman, a sassy, thirty-something redhead, lover of shopping and Starbucks had just been fired so she decided to follow her dream. With her feisty nature and a spirit to not "sweat the small stuff," she was ready to tackle any challenge (even if she had no idea how she would pay the bills). However, the new job turned into murder-in her hometown! Presley was excited - she hadn't seen so much buzz since the spring sample sale at Saks. Presley was able to discover the Senators wife, Helen, had been having an affair...with her best friend's boyfriend! Did Helen kill the Senator? Or was it the Senators love of gambling that got him killed? And what was Cooper's secret tie to the mob boss Garrison Palozzo? But could she find the killer and write her story while resisting the good looks and charm of old flame Cooper. Presley was betting her favorite pair of Manolo's she will find the killer...but will time run out? * * * I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I'm not usually a fan of books with romance being a main key in the storyline. Yet I fully enjoyed this read. I loved the mystery and shoes;) And even though I had a hunch what may take place or not take place, I had to keep reading to find out for sure. Laina really does have a gift for writing this style of book. I enjoyed the main character, Presley. She is independent and goes after what she wants. She deals with what I think all women who get to a certain age that are single deal with. And that is that their mother won't stop trying to connect them to men they think are right for them because they want to see their daughter(s) happy and they want grand-kids. Heck, I know some mothers who ask if the man is single (and after getting a yes) shove him at their daughters lol. I loved how real and well developed the characters were. I could see myself at the cafe with Presley having a large black coffee with cream and two sugars talking about all the men in the town or sitting at her and her best friend growing up Katy's table at La Casa sipping on a margarita looking at the all the men and getting filled in on all the gossip while wishing I had half of Presley's wardrobe or Katy's figure lol! I could get along with Presley and a few of her friends but Presley's ex Brian seemed a bit immature and desperate; especially after they had gone out for coffee. They hadn't seen each other in a few years and he got upset and left her stranded at the coffee shop because she wasn't for getting back together. I also think that it was a hidden blessing that Presley got the online magazine job that sent her back to her hometown for a few days because Presley did a lot of growing up and finding out who she was and growing more confident in herself and in her own skin and not just portraying it on the outside or convincing herself that she was happy. You gotta read this book. Bottom line. Laina has a great writing style and seems to have a knack for making her characters real and imaginative. I would recommend this book and I can't wait for her next book! I have added Laina as a 'fav author'. This was a fun read with twists and turns and I couldn't wait for her next book:) I like this Presley Thurman;) Thursday, April 14, 2011 To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions...• What are you currently reading?• What did you recently finish reading?• What do you think you'll read next? I am currently reading: Stilettos & Scoundrels by Laina Turner-Molaski and The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen I am reading Stilettos & Scoundrels for review/blog tour:) Review will be up later tonight. Though I haven't read much of The Opposite of Me in the past few days as I have been busy finishing up reading and writing my review. I also have been reading Jesus in the Present Tense (Victory in Jesus) by Warren W Wiersbe for review (up later tonight:) I recently finished reading a few books by Kerry Cohen-Hoffmann:The Good GirlIt's Not You, It's MeEasyAlso,A Conversation with God by Alton Gansky Tuesday, April 12, 2011 Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: Grab your current read Open to a random page Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! I have two teasers this week starting with the book I am continuing to read this week: "Glad you still find this so amusing, Dad" Presley said, rolling her eyes. "What can I say? It's what I live for," he joked back. "It wouldn't seem the same if you two didn't bicker all the time." Page 37-38 Stilettos & Scoundrels by Laina Turner-Molaski "He's probably got a chippie on the side," one of them hissed as they shot him dirty looks. All in all, a bit lacking in the ambience department. Page 27 from The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen Monday, April 11, 2011 It’s Monday! What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between! D This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from! I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! Along with this weekly meme I strongly encourage you to visit as many other participants as possible:) Well my reading plan hasn't changed too much.... This past week I have been reading:The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen Stilettos & Scoundrels by Laina Turner-Molaski (for review/blog tour- at the end of this week!) I hope to finish these in the next couple days then get started on following:Testimony by Anita Shreve Thursday, April 7, 2011 What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS! :D After reading Possession by Rene Gutteridge I went to see is she had any other books out. I had a dork moment and instead of typing her name I typed Snitch. That, to my surprise had a few responses that I have added to my tbr not only because of what the book is about but because (yes I am a book cover snob!) either I liked the cover and/or it intrigued me. One made me raise an eyebrow and I am willing to bet you can figure which had this affect on me. So my first few friday finds are by different authors same title: A book by Desi Arnaz looks interesting to me because he called it A Book. And I haven't read any of his work yet but I like the movies I have seen him in so far so I want to check that one out as well. I recently finished reading:Easy by Kerry Cohen HoffmannWIt's Not You, It's Me by Kerry Cohen HoffmannThe Good Girl by Kerry Cohen HoffmannA Conversation with God by Alon GanskyChasing Zebras by Barbara Barnett What I plan to read next: The Wiersbe Bible Study SeriesI also have a few books from the library that need to be read but I'm not sure which I should add to my 'next to be read' and what should wait. We shall see... Tuesday, April 5, 2011 If you'd like to play along on Teaser Tuesdays, just click the button above. Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: * Grab your current read * Open to a random page * Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) * Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! My teaser: "Are you trying to tell me that if I am not nice to you, you are going to fire me?" "I'm not doing anything. This is your choice." David sat back in his chair looking smug, as if he really thought sh would change her mind. Hon Hoh, a teacher of the Revelation, takes readers on a riveting journey Do each of us play a role in the kingdom of God? Can the choices we make affect God’s timing of future events? Hon Hoh examines these questions while taking his readers on a riveting adventure in The Trigger: A Novel on the Revelation. Through twists and turns, readers will be led on a powerful journey. The Trigger follows three individuals (a pastor, a spy, and a missionary) from three continents (the United States, China, and Australia) who find their lives merged in a single divine purpose: to win the last unreached people group on earth and usher in the Second Coming of Christ. They must succeed in order to release the trigger for the return of the Lamb as declared in Matthew 24:14. In their way stands a legion of demonic principalities intent on destroying the plan. Against the backdrop of unprecedented persecution and the onslaught of cataclysmic events, they must remain steadfast in order to carry out the priority revealed to them by God. It is evident that no believer will escape the greatest tribulation in human history and that only the matchless return of the King can deliver mankind from evil’s reign. The climactic battle between Good and Evil unfolds as Lucifer executes his definitive act of defiance: the global genocide of all Christians. With the sound of the trumpets reverberating throughout the heavens, the events that have been set in motion must now complete their course. Eternity and the fate of the earth are at stake, and there is no plan B. Far more than just another End-Times novel and theologically distinct from the Left Behind series, Hoh will alter the way you see the world and prepare you for the future. This novel is based closely on Hoh’s theology expressed in his book Risen Lamb, Empowered Saints: The Book of Revelation Made Easy.Although the events described are entirely fictional, they are but one of many plausible scenarios in which the end could occur. Though these depictions may not arise for more than another hundred years, it is conceivable that they could begin to unfold within the next decade—or less. Hoh has written a thought-provoking and exciting novel that looks at the events leading up to the Second Coming and challenges us all to follow the plans that Christ has for our lives. Monday, April 4, 2011 It’s Monday! What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between! D This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from! I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! As part of this weekly meme I love to encourage you all to go and visit the others participating in this meme. I feel very good about myself this week with bookish things. Because Hubby and I moved a few weeks ago I have been busy with unpacking, putting away, organizing, getting new things for our place plus keeping up with life. That said, this past week I posted two reviews: Imagine that it is just you and God…Have you ever looked into the night sky and asked, "Why?" It's not unusual to ask questions. But it's rare to find reliable answers since so many of our questions involve difficult issues or mysteries too great for our comprehension. But there is One who knows. A Conversation with God was created because life is challenging and your heart longs to understand. In this book you will find fifty-five of life's greatest questions and the answers you've been seeking about the past, the present, and the future. This book wasn't quite what I thought it was going to be. It was better. I couldn't read it fast enough. I loved how the author really made you feel like you reading one of those Q and A's you read about authors, celebrities and such. It didn't feel preachy either and I liked that. It makes it easier for me to recommend this book to people who aren't sure about God and His hand in the why, where, how and why, etc. It was a fun, delightful, educational and informative read that was a complete page turner. I read it in a couple of nights while lying in bed. The first night I got into bed around midnight, picked it up to look it over and get a feel of the book. The next thing I know it's two thirty in the morning and I am about halfway through the book. I loved how the author wrote it in a conversation style. I loved the questions he brought up. Like, are we really living in the end time? If you love us, why do we suffer? There are so many religions, an each says it's the only one that has things right. Is there just one way to heaven, or do they all work? There are so many other questions with answers from the Bible with scripture(s) where to find the answer(s). Bottom line, it's a reference book in conversation style. And I loved it. I highly recommend this read to everyone. This is a good resource to use for kids askingtough questions, Bible study groups or for your own study, debates, etc. I lent it to my older nephew who has questions and he told me just last night that so far it is being a big help and that he likes that it isn't preachy and tell you where to find it in the Bible. Medical students are taught that when they hear hoof beats, they should think horses, not zebras, but Dr. House's unique talent of diagnosing unusual illnesses has made House, M.D. one of the most popular and fascinating series on television. Inside this book, Barbara Barnett, widely considered a leading House expert, takes fan deep into the heart of the show's central character and his world, examining the way the medical Sherlock Holmes colleagues and patients reflect him and each other; how the music, settings, and even the humor enhances our understanding of the series' narrative; what the show says about modern medicine, ethics, and religion; and much more. When I first saw the opportunity to read and review this book, I was excited. I haven't ever really seen the show. But I know people who like the show and follow it. So I figured reading this book was a way for me to see what everyone is talking about. To get the inside look on the show and characters. To see what all the fuss is about. I have learned that finding the person to play the main character (Dr. House) wasn't easy because he isn't the pretty guy type (but not ugly either). House' character has horrible bedside manners, he rude, a pill popper and is a cripple that walks with a cane. I also learned that he seems to have a niche for solving medical cases at the last moment. He doesn't go for simple. He digs beneath the surface. And he usually gets little faith from his colleagues/friends for his ways of doing things and his ideas of what is wrong with a patient and how to fix them. But he is usually right. I had so much fun reading this book. I also think I am going to start watching the program and be able to talk with family and friends about the show. Especially my father; he thinks that House is the biggest jerk but is absolutely addicted to the show. He is now reading Chasing Zebra's. I like the cover of this book. I think it is very fitting. I would recommend this book to pretty much anyone; in particular to people who like the show or House himself of course. I received my copy for review from Pump Up Your Book Thank you Dorothy for letting me be part of this blog tour! I loved the book!

Finally someone did it! // YESSSS OH MY GOSH I HAVE BEEN WAITING SO LONG FOR THIS I'M CRYING // THIS IS SO AWESOME------ yes it's perfect but if u were a true disnerd u would have noticed that the line is, "a horrible decision, really". Amateurs. :)

Wise Words "Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot." - Morpheus, The Sandman - Dream Country (Neil Gaiman) "A powerful agent is the right word. Whenever we come upon one of those intensly right words in a book or a newspaper the resulting effect is physical as well as spiritual, and electrically prompt." - Mark Twain "At the beginning there was the Word - at the end just the Cliche." - Stanislaw J Lec Small Press I’ve been really looking forward to the release of this book and it’s finally here in paperback as well as ebook. The ebook has been out for ages, but I saved mentioning it here until the print edition was available too. It contains my story, “Shadows of the Lonely Dead”, which is probably the most personal story I’ve ever written. I drew extensively on my experiences surrounding the deaths of people very close to me in the writing of it. It’s sharing the pages with a plethora of amazing people and I’m sure their stories will be excellent. Here’s the skinny and some sweet blurbs: “Disquieting and at times terrifying, SUSPENDED IN DUSK shows that horror can, and should, have substance.” ~ Kaaron Warren, Shirley Jackson Award winner, and author of Slights, Mystification, Walking the Tree. “SUSPENDED IN DUSK offers a delicious assortment of chills, frights, shocks and very dark delights!” ~ Jonathan Maberry, Bram Stoker Award winner and New York Times bestselling author of Fall of Night and V-Wars DUSK A time between times. A whore hides something monstrous and finds something special. A homeless man discovers the razor blade inside the apple. Unlikely love is found in the strangest of places. Secrets and dreams are kept… forever. I decided it would be really cool to put together a list of great books by Australian Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror writers so people could essentially have the best Xmas shopping list of Aussie SFF and horror books ever. After drowning in an inbox full of Aussie spec fic goodness, I now have this sweet megapost of Aussie spec fic goodness. It’s far from definitive – there are loads more out there – but it’s pretty impressive nonetheless. There really is something for everyone. Have a scroll through, enjoy the covers, read the blurbs – if you like it, buy it! Links to places of purchase are right there with every book. Books are listed alphabetically by author surname. And don’t forget to buy loads of books for your family and friends for Xmas too. There’s really no better gift than a book. (Unless you need a new bodily organ or something, but you know what I mean.) Amazon allows you to gift ebooks as well, don’t forget, as do several other outlets and publishers. Have it at! Dean J Anderson Unnaturals Unnaturals tried to kill Mason Douglas and his family. Big mistake. He became The Butcher, a cold relentless Hunter with a vendetta that took him across the world. And now, on his return home to Australia – to mend his heart, soul and family – his destiny collides with a millennia-old struggle between strange Gods. Their prize is Earth. Their warriors are warring races of Unnaturals: the Bloodells and the Darkells. As an unlikely alliance forms between Natural and Unnatural – between the Douglas clan and the Darkells – Mason’s family grows in unexpected ways… not all of whom are human. In a far future where technology is all but indistinguishable from magic, Tanyana is one of the elite. She can control pions, the building blocks of matter, shaping them into new forms using ritual gestures and techniques. The rewards are great, and she is one of most highly regarded people in the city. But that was before the “accident”. Stripped of her powers, bound inside a bizarre powersuit, she finds herself cast down to the very lowest level of society. Powerless, penniless and scarred, Tanyana must adjust to a new life collecting “debris”, the stuff left behind by pions. But as she tries to find who has done all of this to her, she also starts to realize that debris is more important than anyone could guess. The bitter war between the sinister Puppet Men and the nebulous Keeper for the control of the ancient city of Movoc-under-Keeper has intensified. For Tanyana, imprisoned within her extraordinary suit and cast down as a lowly debris collector, choosing a side should be simple. But when even her own suit becomes aggressive against her, Tanyana must weigh some very personal issues against her determination to serve the greater good. The grand city of Movoc-under-Keeper lies in ruins. The sinister puppet men have revealed their true nature, and their plan to tear down the veil between worlds. To have a chance of defeating them, Tanyana must do the impossible, and return to the world where they were created, on the other side of the veil. Her journey will force her into a terrible choice, and test just how much she is willing to sacrifice for the fate of two worlds. Enter a world where terrible secrets are hidden in a wind chime’s song Where crippled witches build magic from scrap And the beautiful dead dance for eternity The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories collects the finest science fiction and horror short stories from award-winning writer Joanne Anderton. From mechanical spells scavenging a derelict starship to outback zombies and floating gardens of bone, these stories blur the lines between genres. A mix of freakish horror, dark visions of the future and the just plain weird, Anderton’s tales will draw you in – but never let you get comfortable. Alex Caine is a martial artist fighting in illegal cage matches. His powerful secret weapon is an unnatural vision that allows him to see his opponents’ moves before they know their intentions themselves. An enigmatic Englishman, Patrick Welby, approaches Alex after a fight and reveals, ‘I know your secret.’ Welby shows Alex how to unleash a breathtaking realm of magic and power, drawing him into a mind-bending adventure beyond his control. And control is something Alex values above all else. A cursed grimoire binds Alex to Uthentia, a chaotic Fey godling, who leads him towards destruction and murder, an urge Alex finds harder and harder to resist. Befriended by Silhouette, a monstrous Kin beauty, Alex sets out to recover the only things that will free him – the shards of the Darak. But that powerful stone also has the potential to unleash a catastrophe which could mean the end of the world as we know it. Alex Caine is looking for direction and trying to build a new life with his recently acquired magical talents, and Kin girlfriend, Silhouette. He is recruited by a secret organisation to head off an impending doom, foretold by Seers as already somehow linked to his destiny. Claude Darvill is desperately trying to get in touch with his father, Robert Hood. When the company, Black Diamond, reveals that Hood had gone missing after chasing Alex Caine, Darvill takes over control of Black Diamond and starts hunting Caine himself. Alex and his crew close in on three amateur mages in Britain’s north, who think they have uncovered ancient magic that will reveal great powers. But they are caught in a vortex and pulled through to a strange lost city, isolated in the void. Trapped in a place removed from everything they know, ruled by a hierarchy of monsters, Alex and his friends must find a way to escape Obsidian. Alex Caine has been suffering the weight of the world, and some days it’s hard to even get out of bed. Alone one night, a band of Fey overwhelm him and steal him away from the mortal realm. Silhouette, desperate to save her lover, calls in Armour, but the organisation seems reluctant to help. Claude Darvill, his fragile alliance with Alex at an end, is still searching for the remains of his father, Robert Hood. In frozen wastes of Iceland, Darvill is driven by a deep-burning grudge and a need for revenge. His efforts are backed by all the considerable resources of Black Diamond Incorporated. Silhouette must overcome her greatest fears and use all her skills to locate Alex. But even if she can find him, that’s only the start of their problems. In this third Alex Caine book, sequel to the bestsellers Bound and Obsidian, old enemies and new share a common goal. Alex Caine hates to be the centre of attention, but he and Silhouette need to pull together as the world is threatened once more and only Alex can save it. The future does not belong to us anymore. The mighty Wolfen of Valkeryn, descendants of the canines of the era of man, have ruled for many millennia. But now their kingdom has fallen to the monstrous hordes and the remaining Wolfen scattered. Arnold ‘Arn’ Singer, a youth from the past and perhaps the last human being alive on the planet, finds himself cast into this maelstrom of chaos and horror. He seeks answers to the missing Ancients – mankind itself. But back in his time the world continues to destabilize. The portal through which he fell is destroying the planet. The portal must be closed. Arn holds the key, and our world and its future is at stake. Colonel Marion Briggs leads a team of Special Operations soldiers into the distant future, fully armed and with one order – bring back Arn or his body. But there are more dangers in this strange and beautiful world than anyone knew. More horrors dwell in the deep jungles, below the inland seas and deep below the earth. There are things that can change the shape of two worlds, tear at sanity, and stretch friendships and loves to the limit. Valkeryn is an epic adventure that spans worlds and time itself. “… mixed in fantasy with hard, biological, and evolutionary science. Beck has yet again created fast-paced, literary escape that I just couldn’t put down.” War is Hell… Soldiers fight to survive. They fight each other, and they fight the demons inside. Sometimes, they fight real monsters. SNAFU collects stories of ancient myths, time travellers, horrors in the old west… And the soldiers who fight them. Featuring some of the best writers working in the field today. Jonathan Maberry, Weston Ochse, Greig Beck and James A Moore lead the way, with a contingent of emerging authors to back them up. Fight or die. Available on: Amazon, Kobo, Nook, and as a signed limited edition from the publisher. In a climate-changed future, after the gene and borders wars of the 2060’s, and in a world governed by the Alpha-Omega Accord and its Interplanetary Exchange, Capra Jane fights a never-ending battle against crime. Things change in unexpected ways, however, when she is teamed up with the enigmatic and beautiful Zanzibar Black of HomeWorld Security, and Decker, a returned astronaut who’s never been in Waking in Anaskar Prison, covered in blood and accused of murder, nobody will listen to Notch’s claims of innocence until he meets the future Protector of the Monarchy, Sofia Falco. But Sofia has her own burdens. The first female Protector in a hundred years, her House is under threat from enemies within, the prince has made it clear he does not want her services and worst of all, she cannot communicate with her father’s sentient mask of bone, the centuries-old Argeon. Without the bone mask she cannot help anyone — not herself, and certainly not a mercenary with no powerful House to protect him. Meanwhile, far across the western desert, Ain, a young Pathfinder, is thrust into the role of Seeker. Before winter storms close the way, he must leave his home on a quest to locate the Sea Shrine and take revenge on the people who drove his ancestors from Anaskar, the city ruled by the prince Sofia and Notch are sworn to protect, whether he wants their help or not. The stories you are about to read showcase a wonderfully talented writer; someone with a vivid imagination and the unique ability to create stories that can just as easily shock and frighten as they can move and disturb (often all in the one story). These are serious works, not merely light entertainment designed simply to give the reader a quick jolt or a nervous chuckle, but designed to make you think and feel. You’re about to embark on a dark and wondrous journey through the mind of a very talented young writer. Be prepared to visit strange worlds and even stranger beings. Horror and violence abounds, but there’s also time for reflection, to ponder some of life’s most important questions. – Brett McBean, 2014 Caeli-Amur: an ancient city perched on white cliffs overlooking the sea; a city ruled by three Houses, fighting internecine wars; a city which harbours ancient technology and hidden mysteries. But things are changing in Caeli-Amur. Ancient minotaurs arrive for the traditional Festival of the Sun. The slightly built New-Men bring their technology from their homeland. Wastelanders stream into the city hideously changed by the chemical streams to the north. Strikes break out in the factory district. In a hideout beneath the city, a small group of seditionists debate ways to overthrow the Houses. How can they rouse the citizens of the city? Should they begin a campaign of terror? Is there a way to uncover the thaumaturgical knowledge that the Houses guard so jealously? As the Houses scramble to maintain their rule, it becomes clear that things will change forever in Caeli-Amur. What would you do if you woke in a room filled with strangers, with no memory of how you got there, and no way out? Morgan Drimmel wakes to find herself in the midst of this nightmare. The gouged, blood-splattered walls scream of terror and torture, and the unrelenting light that shines between the cracks in the walls fills her with dread. When the others in the room wake, they form alliances, and Morgan finds herself drawn to rogue biker Slade Rivers. But dependence, for her, has always come with a deadly price. Those inside the room have secrets too; dark secrets they will go to any length to keep from getting out. When evil rears its ugly head, Morgan will not only have to fight to survive—she will also have to trust. The newly widowed Queen Ellyria just wants her sick triplet sons to live, each ruling over a third of the kingdom as their dying father decreed. When she finds herself trapped in a deadly bargain with a dark spirit, she recruits a band of young mages to help – but a terrible curse takes over. Young guitar virtuoso Clarice Marnier is on the verge of success when she crosses the wrong A&R man. Suddenly, instead of being signed to the major label that’s been courting her, she finds herself blacklisted. So Clarice makes a deal with the Devil: the soul of her greatest enemy for a record deal and a second chance. As Clarice and her band, Bloody Waters, begin their ascent to rock stardom they are are beset by a strange array of enemies. Has-been guitar heroes, popstar succubi, spell-slinging DJs, angry divas and killer angels—every occult freak and music industry player in LA wants something from them, whether it’s a slice of their fame or a bite out of their souls. Clearly, there’s more at stake than just a record deal—but what does the Devil really want, and how far will Clarice go to protect what’s hers? An exciting adventure story in the style of the classic Choose-Your-Own-Adventure series. Seven companions set out to free the woman trapped in the moon, and change the world along the way. In this exciting story that allows the reader the choice of following different characters, young, sheltered Branguin discovers that his ancestor, Marama, has been trapped in the moon, and sets out to free her. But he must first unravel the mystery of how she got there, confront and defeat the sorcerer Raul, and counter a menacing new force that’s assembling an army to attack the capital. Branguin deciphers the clues with the help of his companions, several lost relatives along the way. The Lunation Series is a modern-day moon myth about ordinary people discovering their inner strength and overcoming extraordinary challenges, in order to solve a great mystery. Follow murderous trails into the bloody foothills of Kathmandu; destroy yourself with obsessive sexual jealousies; disappear into the drug-hazed dust of the Baluchistan desert; and share health-conscious recipes with a gourmet cannibal. Read Paul Haines’s dark, hard-edged fantasies about real people dealing with strong emotions in impossible situations and experience the paranoia, fear and lust that lurks in the shadowy recesses of the human soul. With an introduction by Jack Dann, this anthology contains twenty-one stories, including the Aurealis Award and Ditmar winning novella “The Last Days Of Kali Yuga”. It also includes two previously unpublished stories “Burning From The Inside” and “Mnemophonic”. Paul Haines sliced through the Australian writing scene with his twisted and murderous black humour in 2002. he has since won many awards and praise for his dark and surreal stories that make you think twice about his sanity and good taste. Published here together for the first time are the Ditmar winning story “The Devil In Mr Pussy”, the Aurealis Award shortlisted horror story “Doof Doof Doof” and the complete “Slice of Life” series of stories, including the previously unpublished “Slice of Life – A Spot of Liver” which also won the Aurealis Award 2009 for Best Horror Short Story. HAINES’ SLICE OF LIFE – seventeen glistening stories, sweating with twenty first century paranoia and anxiety from the decaying mind of the winner of the 2005 Ditmar for New Talent. These are the last days … Travel the blood-stained trails of Kathmandu. Explore doorways to other worlds. Fight for humanity’s darkening soul. … when the powers of the Gods wane and evil walks the Earth. The Last Days Of Kali Yuga is dark urban fantasy at its darkest. You won’t find traditional vampires or werewolves in Paul Haines’s stories. Instead, you will stare deep into the heart of the cruelest monster of all: man. Paul Haines is one of Australia’s and New Zealand’s leading dark fiction authors. He pioneered the ‘backpacker horror’ sub-genre with stories of Westerners confronted by dark powers and corrupted souls in India and Asia. His novellas “The Last Days of Kali Yuga”, “Doorways for the Dispossessed”, and “Wives”—all of which appear in this book—have won Australia’s highest honours for speculative fiction. The Last Days of Kali Yuga is a collection of Paul Haines’ best work. “Paul Haines knows what it is to be human, in all our cruel beauty, with all our vile dreams. His stories tear the masks off our civilised faces and expose the raw, bleeding apes beneath” – Sean Williams, New York Times Bestselling author of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and the Books of the Cataclysm series. “Paul Haines has an unnerving sense for the softest, most secret corners of the male psyche, and in this collection dissects them excruciating skill. There is no better horror writer working in Australia today.” – Max Barry, author of Syrup and Jennifer Government. Lisa L Hannett’s debut collection, Bluegrass Symphony, deals with cowboys and fallow fields, shapeshifters and rednecks, superstitions and realities in harsh prairie country — and a whole bunch of other things thrown in the mix. Introduction by Ann Vandermeer. Finalist for the World Fantasy Award. Winner of the Aurealis Award for Best Collection. In The Female Factory, procreation is big business. Children are a commodity few women can afford. Hopeful mothers-to-be try everything. Fertility clinics. Pills. Wombs for hire. Babies are no longer made in bedrooms, but engineered in boardrooms. A quirk of genetics allows lucky surrogates to carry multiple eggs, to control when they are fertilised, and by whom—but corporations market and sell the offspring. The souls of lost embryos are never wasted; captured in software, they give electronics their voice. Spirits born into the wrong bodies can brave the charged waters of a hidden billabong, and change their fate. Industrious orphans learn to manipulate scientific advances, creating mothers of their own choosing. From Australia’s near-future all the way back in time to its convict past, these stories spin and sever the ties between parents and children. When Mymnir flees the devastation of Ragnarok, she hopes to escape all that bound her to ?sgar?r ? a heedless pantheon, a domineering brother, and her neglectful father-master, ??inn. But the white raven, a being of memory and magic, should know that the past is not so easily left behind. No matter how far she flies, she cannot evade her family? In planting seeds of the old world in the new, Mymnir becomes queen of a land with as many problems as the one she fled. Her long-lived Fae children ignite and fan feuds that span generations; lives are lost and loves won because of their tampering. Told in thirteen parts, Midnight and Moonshine follows the Beaufort and Laveaux families, part-human, part-Fae, as they battle, thrive and survive in Mymnir’s kingdom. Midnight and Moonshine is a collection of interconnected tales with links between them as light and strong as spider-silk. From fire giants to whispering halls, disappearing children to evening-wolves, fairy hills to bewitched cypress trees, and talking heads to moonshiners of a special sort, Midnight and Moonshine takes readers on a journey from ninth century Vinland to America?s Deep South in the present day. Hannett and Slatter have created a mosaic novel of moments, story-tiles as strange as witchwood and withywindles. Midnight and Moonshine is a rich tapestry of dark fantasy, fairy tale and speculation. One false step could undo everything the Timekeepers hope to accomplish… Earth’s ancient past, the future of the planet Kila – the Timekeepers universe of origin, the primordial era when the Nefilim first ruled the galaxy and a timeless universe of utter darkness are all vital periods to advancing human consciousness. After surviving Ancient Zhou, the Timekeeper’s efforts turn to rescuing Kila from its ill-fated future. But a mishap in the remote mountains of Tibet before departure provides a nemesis with the perfect opportunity to launch a time-hopping vendetta against them. There is no where in this universe to hide. The discovery of a gate thought to lead to several universes promises more than just the means to undermine their stalker; it offers the chance to remember their lives as the Grigori, who once dwelt with the fallen Elohim in the dark universe beyond the Eternity Gate. Steam clouds rise off the water as a ferry approaches a jetty in ancient China. On board is Hudan, one of the mysterious Wu who reside on the sacred mountain of Li Shan. The Wu have been living in isolation for decades, while the arrogant Shang emperor and his enchantress have ruled the land. It has been a terrible time for the common people and the noble Ji brothers – Dan and Fa – are keen to bring the emperor’s reign of terror to an end. They are told a Wu prophecy has predicted the fall of the emperor, but first they must journey to Li Shan to learn the truth. When the Ji brothers join forces with the enigmatic Hudan and her equally mysterious tiger sister, Huxin, they begin a powerful journey of love and adventure. But the Shang emperor is not their greatest threat. There is a dark curse that has plagued the rulers of the land for generations. The mysterious Sons of the Sky who visit Hudan in her dreams have a plan to destroy it., but can they be trusted? Dreaming of Zhou Gong is a beautiful, evocative journey through ancient China. Lissa Wilson’s life hasn’t been quite the same since people she cared about started getting themselves killed. By vampires. And Lissa learnt that the opposite of life is not always death. On the plus side, she made a new friend. Gary Hooper may be the worst best-friend a librarian could have – and easily the worst vampire ever – but he has taught Lissa the real meaning of life. Gary’s world view has also improved remarkably since meeting Lissa, but all that could be lost if she discovers what services he provides Melbourne’s undead community. Meanwhile, as their friendship brings him closer to the humanity he lost, it also puts them both in grave danger. And there’s a big chance that the evil stalking them could them both killed – in his case, for good this time. Fifty years after a second Dark Age has nearly destroyed humankind, the World Union is now confronted with a new threat that doesn’t just challenge their survival but also the nature of life and civilisation itself. The Hunt for Pierre Jnr is the first book in a trilogy of futurist thrillers that follows the attempts of a powerful world government to track down and kill a telepathic eight-year-old boy. In Manifestations, a mysterious new threat has been unleashed that destroys an entire city. As tensions with the psis rise and political fortunes shift, the World Union appears perilously close to collapse. From geopolitical convergence to emergent online super organisms, the future is coming. Henley’s books explore themes of technological evolution, species diversification and takes the ‘all-powerful creepy child’ theme to a scary new level. In a land where no stars appear in the night sky, a group of strangers with ancestries reaching back to an earlier apocalyptic disaster come together to track down a resurrected corpse whose very existence portends the End of the World. Fragments of a Broken Land: Valarl Undead is an epic tale of greed, dying magic, distorted monstrosities and a motley group of heroes, with a strange and breathless climax you won’t easily forget. “This is a tale of heroes. It includes all sorts — born of the gods, descended from ancient, magical bloodline, member of a legendary order, reincarnated, last of their tribe and way too intimate with their own sentient weapon — cycling through various degrees of reluctant and unlikely. There is a villain, of course, although he’s thoroughly sick of the whole business; dark gods, giant monsters and an ancient magical artefact. But principally it is a tale of heroes, heroism and what it means to be in such an uncomfortable position.” (Review, Kyla Ward) She hates school and only has a few friends. She has an obsession with angels and fallen angel stories. Life was boring until she one day decided to steal a famous painting from a small art gallery. Her life will never be boring again. She meets a stranger at the gallery who claims to know her. She stumbles into a world where cities float in the sky, and daemons roam the barren, magma-spewing crags of the land far below. But not all is well. Maree is turning into something she loves but at the same time, fears. Most fearful of all is the prospect of losing her identity, what makes her Maree, and more importantly, human. Guardian of the Sky Realms takes the reader on a journey through exotic fantasy lands, as well as across the globe, from Sydney to Paris, from the Himalayas to Manhattan. He thought he’d return from Hell a hero. But things are never easy when your business is Death. Steven de Selby gave up his love, his life, and his lucrative position as Head of Mortmax, the corporation in charge of Death. Then he found himself banished to the briny depths of hell. But hell has never held him before … Now Steven’s back from hell, after escaping from the cruel Death of the Water, but he’s not sure how or why, or even if. No one at Mortmax trusts him, and he’s running out of time to prove he is who he says he is. Steven is about to discover that hell really is other people, and the worst of them may well be himself. On remote Rollrock Island, the sea-witch Misskaella discovers she can draw a girl from the heart of a seal. So, for a price, any man might buy himself a bride; an irresistibly enchanting sea-wife. But what cost will be borne by the people of Rollrock – the men, the women, the children – once Misskaella sets her heart on doing such a thing?Margo Lanagan weaves an extraordinary tale of desire and revenge, of loyalty, heartache and human weakness, and of the unforeseen consequences of all-consuming love. Daniel Rolan is bored. Not your average, everyday kind-of bored. The seriously mind-blowing I’m-stuck-here-at-the-end-of-the-universe-surrounded-by-nerds kind of bored. Living on a space station might sound like an adventure straight out of a science fiction movie, but in reality – as Daniel was discovering day after boring day – it was really, well… mostly boring. But Daniel will soon come to regret wishing for an action and adventure filled life. One seemingly innocent decision – and a catastrophe he could not have foreseen – is about to change his world forever. It will set him on a path he never imagined, introduce him to new friends and even aliens he could not have thought up in his wildest dreams. Eventually it will even challenge his notion of where the end of the universe actually is. Meanwhile, on the alien world of Nomassaii, the larger of the two planets through the Veil, Jacdan would love a bit of boredom. He has far more action and adventure in his life than he’d like. Sentenced to die in the arena, he’s fighting – battle by battle – to survive another day. But it’s one thing to fight for your own life – quite another to discover you are fighting for your little brother’s life, as well. These alien worlds are about to collide, changing the lives of Daniel and Jacdan forever. In a post-apocalyptic Australian landscape dominated by free-wheeling cyborgs, a young man goes in search of his lost lover who has been kidnapped by a rogue AI truck – the Brumby King. Along the way, he teams with Sinnerman, an independent truck with its own reasons for hating the Brumby King. Before his final confrontation with the brumbies, he must learn more about the broken-down world and his own place in it, and face his worst fears. I am in a world deeply strange and strangely deep, a world as different from my old life as it’s possible to be, and it feels completely natural. An unexpected encounter with a handsome stranger in a Russian wood changes the life of 22-year-old traveler Helen Clement forever, catapulting her into a high-stakes world of passion, danger, and mystery. Tested in ways she could never have imagined, she must keep her own integrity in a world where dark forces threaten and ruthlessness and betrayal haunt every day. Set against a rising tide of magic and the paranormal in a modern Russia where the terrifying past continually leaks into the turbulent present, Trinity is a unique and gripping blend of conspiracy thriller, erotically charged romance and urban fantasy, laced with a murderous dose of company politics. With its roots deep in the fertile soil of Russian myth, legend, and history, it is also a fascinating glimpse into an extraordinary, distinctive country and amazingly rich culture. A girl in a tower. An underground kingdom. A crystal heart split in two, symbolising true love lost . . . When Kasper joins the elite guard watching over a dangerous prisoner in a tower, he believes he is protecting his country from a powerful witch. Until one day he discovers the prisoner is a beautiful princess – Izolda of Night– who is condemned by a prophecy to die on her eighteenth birthday. Kasper decides to help her escape. But their hiding place won’t remain secret forever. Will they find their happily ever after? ‘A deftly woven tale of warring kingdoms and the redeeming power of love. Another winner from Sophie Masson.’ – Juliet Marillier, author of the Shadowfell series . Antoinette and Jacqueline have little in common beyond a mutual antipathy for their paranoid, domineering mother, a bond which has united them since childhood. In the aftermath of a savage betrayal, Antoinette lands on her sister’s doorstep bearing a suitcase and a broken heart. But Jacqueline, the ambitious would-be manager of a trendy Melbourne art gallery, has her own problems – chasing down a delinquent painter in the sweltering heat of a Brisbane summer. Abandoned, armed with a bottle of vodka and her own grief-spun desires, Antoinette weaves a dark and desperate magic that can never, ever be undone. Their lives swiftly unravelling, the two sisters find themselves drawn into a tangle of lies, manipulations and the most terrible of family secrets.” The debut collection from multi-award nominated author Andrew J McKiernan brings together 14 of his previously published short stories and novelettes, plus two brand new tales unique to the collection. Often defying conventions of genre and style, these stories range from fantasy and steampunk to science fiction and horror, but always with an edge sharper than a razor and darker than a night on Neptune. From the darkly hilarious “All the Clowns in Clowntown” to the heart-breakingly disturbing title story, the collection pulls no punches. Delving deep into what scares us most, McKiernan’s tales are by turns heartfelt and gut-wrenching. With an Introduction by Will Elliott, Last Year, When We Were Young is a collection of horror and dark fantasy from one of Australia’s finest new authors that should not be missed. There are people involved. That’s the first mistake. Scientists were never meant to be part of history. Anything in the past is better studied from the present. It’s safer. When a team of Australian scientists – and a lone historian – travel back to St-Guilhem-le-Désert in 1305 they discover being impartial, distant and objective just doesn’t work when you’re surroundedby the smells, dust and heat of a foreign land. They’re only human after all. But by the time Artemisia is able to convince others that it’s time to worry, it’s already too late. ‘Viscerally powerful, deeply felt, strongly written: Langue[dot]doc 1305 challenges reader expectations of time travel, of ‘Grim-dark’ and of mediaeval life and brings a haunting, authentic voice both to the past and to the struggles facing the present.’ Elizabeth Smith, recently made redundant, thinks that her life is deadly dull. She feels like cellophane like people look right through her, like she’s not even there. A simple redecoration job involving a mirror turns her life upside down. Through ominous horror and an unexpected romance Liz learns to become a whole person someone who takes up space in the world, and demands to be herself. Part gentle love story, part bizarre horror tale, but never, ever boring, Ms Cellophane is a revealing look at one woman’s nightmare transforming her reality in unexpectedly amusing ways. In 2010 the best-selling book at the world science fiction convention was…unexpected. Humankind carries the past as invisible baggage. Thirteen brilliant writers explore this, looking at Australia’s cultural baggage through new and often disturbing eyes. Baggage explores layers and complexities that are oddly Australian. If you think Australian culture is all about surfboards and mateship, you may find Baggage distressing. What is Australia? What baggage do Australians carry? Pick up this book. Have a read. You know you want to. “Baggage collects many of the finest voices in Australian speculative fiction. Each author contributes a unique cultural perspective, with stories ranging from the deeply personal to the highly disturbing. Baggage is an anthology not to be missed.” Shane Jiraya Cummings, OzHorrorScope “Baggage is a fascinating exploration of Australian issues through characters and situations that feel immediate and real. There’s little in the way of escapism here, but instead much subtlety and nuance, combined with stunning writing. From the incendiary, no-holds-barred ‘Acception’ by Tessa Kum to the quiet power of K.J. Bishop’s ‘Vision Splendid’, and beyond, this anthology tackles difficult and diverse subject matter.” Rawk is one of the great Heroes. He has travelled the world for forty years, hunting exotic creatures, battling magic and fighting evil wherever he found it. But he has been fighting mostly mundane battles since Prince Weaver outlawed magic. And with no great deeds left to be done, Rawk is afraid he’ll soon be the old man in the corner of the tavern, dreaming of the good old days and telling tales for anyone who will buy him a drink. But when a huge wolden wolf is spied from the walls of Katamood for the first time in a decade, Rawk is the man the city looks to once more. He’ll save them. He always has. Rawk will fight to ensure the Age of Heroes doesn’t slip away into history, but what if the good old days aren’t quite as good as he remembers? Links… Welcome back to the magic and pathos of Angela Slatter’s exquisitely imagined tales. The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings returns to the world of Sourdough and Other Stories (Tartarus, 2010), introducing readers to the tales that came before. Stories where coffin-makers work hard to keep the dead beneath; where a plague maiden steals away the children of an ungrateful village; where poison girls are schooled in the art of assassination; where pirates disappear from the seas; where families and the ties that bind them can both ruin and resurrect and where books carry forth fairy tales, forbidden knowledge and dangerous secrets. The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings is enhanced by eighty-six pen-and-ink illustrations by artist Kathleen Jennings. In the cathedral-city of Lodellan and its uneasy hinterland, babies are fashioned from bread, dolls are given souls and wishes granted may be soon regretted. There are ghosts who dream, men whose wings have been clipped and trolls who long for something other. Love, loss and life are elegantly dissected in Slatter’s earthy yet poetic prose. Blurb Black-Winged Angels is a collection of 10 incredible contemporary retellings of fairy tales, and will be available in a limited hardcover edition illustrated by the multiple World Fantasy Award nominated Kathleen Jennings. The book will appeal to fans of Angela Carter (“The Company of Wolves”) and Emma Donoghue (“Kissing the Witch”). Murder and betrayal in deep space, with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance… Thirty-four light years from Earth, the explorer ship Magellan is nearing its objective – the Iota Persei system. But when ship commander Cait Dyson wakes from deepsleep, she finds her co-pilot dead and the ship’s AI unresponsive. Cait works with the rest of her multinational crew to regain control of the ship, until they learn that Earth is facing total environmental collapse and their mission must change if humanity is to survive. As tensions rise and personal and political agendas play out in the ship’s cramped confines, the crew finally reach the planet Horizon, where everything they know will be challenged. “Refreshingly plausible, politically savvy, and full of surprises, Horizon takes you on a harrowing thrill-ride through the depths of space and the darkness of the human heart.” – Sean Williams, New York Times bestselling author of the Astropolis and Twinmaker series Journey beyond the borders of the real with our first annual collection of stories appearing in Dimension6 magazine, with all new stories from some of the best speculative fiction authors working in Australia today including Richard Harland, Dirk Strasser, Jason Nahrung, Alan Baxter, Robert Hood, Cat Sparks, Robert N Stephenson, Steve Cameron and Charlotte Nash. A businessman staying in a Scottish manor makes the mistake of deciding to spend the evening in the library. A group of unpopular teenage girls uses witchcraft to pursue their aims. A rich banking tycoon has forgotten his university days when he and his friends dared to imagine a world ruled by social justice and working class ideals. The estranged family of a deceased aristocrat bicker over their inheritance. A botanist’s love for his plants is unnaturally deep-rooted. “Hoffman’s Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales” is the first short story collection from Cameron Trost. It plunges the reader into a world of mystery, suspense, obsession and greed. From the Scottish highlands and the jagged peaks of the Pyrénées to the streets of Brisbane and the Australian countryside, Cameron Trost provokes the reader by ensnaring recognisable characters in disturbingly plausible situations. His writing seeks to entertain while exploring the absurdities and peculiarities of society and the human mind. Subtropical Suspense Anthology of Suspense and Mystery Tales set in Brisbane “Cameron Trost has brought together a dark pantry of crime stories and mysteries, and cooked up a gumbo rich and spicy enough to befit any of the world’s sultry cities… but these happen to be set in Brisbane. Sixteen short stories take the reader from Morningside to Indooroopilly, from Hamilton to Acacia Ridge. There is baking sun and flooding rains, police procedurals and criminal capers, murderous mermaids and poison pens… all give a ripple of pleasure to the reader who knows Brisbane – or wants to know it – and who has wondered why stories of murder, malice, and magic couldn’t be set here. And of course, they should be: Brisbane’s shadows are as dark and good to hide in as any in the world – and Subtropical Suspense revels in this.” Clair and Jesse have barely been reunited when the world is plunged into its biggest crisis yet … It’s the end of the world as Clair knows it – and it’s partly her fault. A brilliant science-fiction thriller, the second in the Twinmaker trilogy. This edition includes a bonus short story. Stranded in the desert, the last of mankind is kept safe by a large border fence… Until the fence falls. Squid is a young orphan living under the oppressive rule of his uncle in the outskirts of the Territory. Lynn is a headstrong girl with an influential father who has spent her entire life within the walled city of Alice. When the border fence is breached, the Territory is invaded by the largest horde of undead ghouls seen in two hundred years. Squid is soon conscripted into the Diggers – the armed forces of the Territory. And after Lynn finds herself at odds with the Territory’s powerful church, she too escapes to join the Diggers. Together Squid and Lynn form an unlikely friendship as they march to battle against the ghouls. Their journey will take them further than they ever imagined, leading them closer to discovering secrets about themselves, their world, and a conspiracy that may spell the end of the Territory as they know it. Arrabella Candellarbra is like no one you’ve ever met before; even though her questy thing is the stuff of legend. Arrabella, a beautiful, flaxen-haired maiden trained in all things warrior-like by The Reginas – the most famous warriors of all – embarks on a quest to claim her birthright and to wield the power of all the lands. The Four Adventurers soon find themselves pitted against the Evil Betty-Sue – the meanest of evil beings in all of the lands – and her scary minions: the Saw-Toothed Bunnies, the Viscous Tongued Frogs and the Barella Monkeys – to rescue The Reginas from… something! Arrabella Candellarbra and the Questy Thing to End All Questy Things, a fairy tale for grown-ups, features love and lust, action and inaction, battles, incantations, sexual shenanigans and high-kicking sing-a-longs. And it promises that all those epic questy things will never be the same again. Fourteen year old Byron James wishes he’d never been dragged to Parkton. It’s a crazy sideshow of a town in the middle of damn nowhere, and he’s stranded there. To make matters worse, his two new friends – his only friends – turn out to be class rejects with an unhealthy interest in monsters. They want to discover the truth to the infamous monster house at number 809 Jacob Street. Joey Blue is an old bluesman who fell into his songs and couldn’t find his way out again. Now he’s a Gutterbreed, one of the slinking shifting shadows haunting the town’s alleys. When an old dead friend comes begging for help, Joey’s world is torn apart. He is forced to stare down the man he has become in order to rescue the man he once was – and there is only one place he can do that. The house on Jacob Street calls to them all, but what will they find when they open its door? By now you all know I’m good friends with Angela Slatter. You should also know that I’m a huge fan of her work – it’s great when one of your friends is also one of your favourite writers. One of the best books I’ve read in recent years was Sourdough & Other Stories, Angela’s collection of short stories published by Tartarus Press. Not only is it a collection of brilliant stories, it’s a beautiful artifact of a book too. Tartarus make wonderful things. Well, Angela was supposed to write a sequel collection, but being the contrary writer she is, she wrote a prequel collection instead. It’s called The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings. Tartarus agreed to publish it and Angela scored the amazing Kathleen Jennings to do internal illustrations for it. The result is a book even more beautiful than Sourdough, and equally chock full of amazing stories. I know that, because I’ve read it. The book’s not out til September 1st, but we’re friends, remember? So I got Angela and Kathleen to talk a bit about it and the process of its creation. You can read that below. At the end is a link to the Tartarus Press website where you can pre-order the book, and I really, really recommend that you do. And if you haven’t read Sourdough, buy that too and you can read it while you wait. I’m not just talking up my friends here, either – Sourdough was nominated for the World Fantasy Award and the Aurealis Award for Best Collection. These are books you do not want to miss. Over to Angela and Kathleen. *** Angela: My Author’s Note to Bitterwood goes thus: The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings is intended as a prequel to Sourdough and Other Stories. It was meant to be a sequel, but the tales were determined to defy me—they insisted upon telling what had happened before, to show how the books of Murcianus came to be, how Ella came into the world, where Hepsibah Ballantyne—who appears only as a name on a headstone in Sourdough’s Lodellan cemetery—began the chain of events that are traced through the mosaic of this book. Bitterwood expands and builds upon the world of Sourdough and, I hope, makes readers feel they are coming home once again. I’d written “The Coffin-Maker’s Daughter” in 2011 as a standalone story for Steve Jones’s A Book of Horrors anthology, and that seemed the place to start. Hepsibah had gone from being a name on a grave to a powerful presence, so that story is one that threads through the whole of Bitterwood. As I wrote the stories fell into place and I can honestly say that this collection was one of those rare things that a writer dreams of: knowing exactly what was going to happen, when, and to whom. I was able to weave together so many of the things I love: elements of history and myth and fairy tale and folklore. There are little nods to writers as diverse as Umberto Eco and Kim Newman. There are vampires, boarding schools for assassins, pirates who are being hunted to extinction, a brazen head that tells the future, bakeries and rats, transformed badgers and dreadful revenges − and books. So many books. As the narrative came together I started to think not about a cover, strangely, but about internal illustrations. I love Kathleen Jennings’ artwork and I knew she had an ambition to do endpapers, so I asked if she would like to beta read the stories as I finished them and, if perhaps the spirit moved her, do some illustrations as she read? She said yes, which was lucky for me; luckier still the lovely people at Tartarus took both the collection and agreed to use Kathleen’s illustrations. I feel very fortunate and privileged to have drawings done that truly capture the spirit of the tales I wrote. And of course there was the absolute wicked delight of having Kathleen text me photos of what she’d done as she read a story. It was such a pleasure to work with her and I hope I was a well-behaved author! I don’t think I was critical or asked for any kangaroos to be added to The Last Supper. I’m doubly spoiled because Kathleen also did the artwork for my limited edition collection of Black-Winged Angels (Ticonderoga Publications), which echoes the silhouette technique of Arthur Rackham, but has its own wonderful unique beauty. Kathleen: Angela would keep dropping hints about the most beautiful parts of her stories, often before they were written – badgers (sigh) and a school for poison girls, doors in trees, dangerous quilts… so any workload-related resolve was fairly well weakened by the time she sent me the manuscript, because now they were here! They were real stories in the world, and I could read them! I spent a lot of time in cafes, reading and sketching, sending Angela texts with reactions and pictures – each gaining energy from the other’s excitement! We’re still doing this, if you saw our comments back and forth when Tartarus released pictures of the Actual Book. It was a lovely way to work, actually: just a free hand to sketch my way through the book. Because the original plan was to try and sell Tartarus on the idea of endpapers, I was going for multiple small images and the individual pressure was off – I could just draw anything that caught my fancy. And then Angela would edit it out of the manuscript. But anyway. I’m still haunted by images from this book. Images and titles (‘Now all pirates are gone’). And Tartarus did a lovely job of putting the pictures in just where they ought to be – Angela and I had to check in with each other to say, “Did you see where they put the badgers? I knowwww!” This has come up a couple of times in various conversations recently, so I thought I’d talk about it here. Ebooks are here to stay, obviously. While there will always be print books too, even if that does eventually reduce to Print-on-Demand and collector’s folio editions, ebooks will only continue to gain strength. There’s the whole format and DRM thing to still sort out – Amazon aren’t about to give up the mobi format any time soon, and a lot of places are struggling with where they stand on DRM – but these are all ongoing teething problems. I’d like to imagine a utopia where ePub is the standard across all vendors and publishers (which it already is if you don’t include Amazon) and where DRM is a thing of the past. But regardless of how it all shakes down, ebooks are mainstream now. I love ebooks. I dig that I can carry hundreds of books around on my phone. Honestly, how living-in-the-future is that shit? And I do read on my phone. But primarily I read from an iPad Mini. I love my Mini – it’s the perfect size and does all the things I want. Plus, I have this sweet leather cover for it that makes it look like a cool old hardback book. Here it is: Pretty sweet, huh? I use it for internet, email, videos, TV, games and loads of other stuff as well as reading. It’s just the best thing ever, technology-wise. But I didn’t always read ebooks on the Mini and I use several apps even now. Other people I’ve spoken to use a variety of devices and all swear by them. Some people consider dedicated ereaders a cul-de-sac technology that’ll die down to almost nothing because tablets are so much more versatile, while others love their dedicated ereader precisely because it’s just for reading and has no other distracting functions. I got onto the whole ebook bandwagon pretty early on. For example, when I originally self-published RealmShift back in the day, it was the 376th book to be uploaded to Smashwords, as evidenced by its URL there. There are now over 300,000 books on Smashwords. I would read ebooks on my PC from very early on too. I guess I knew right off the bat that this technology was going to quickly become the norm and it most certainly did. Interestingly, that massive rush into the mainstream that ebooks made was largely encouraged along by Amazon and their Kindle device. They really saw an opportunity and exploited it with expert (some might say evil) skill. After reading on my laptop and phone for a while, my first dedicated ereader was an old generation Kindle 3, like the one pictured on the left, and I got hooked fully into the Amazon ecosystem. I was already there really, using the Kindle app – I even converted ePub files to mobi to use on the Kindle. I didn’t mind at all at the time – Amazon always had the most content, you could buy with one click and it would roll straight onto your reader. And the battery life of the Kindle is awesome. The reading experience is great too, with no backlight and all that jazz. Apparently, the new Paperwhite is even better, but I’ve yet to see one of those in the flesh… plastic… whatever. But I don’t use my Kindle any more. My wife uses it a bit and I do actually miss it in some ways, but it became superfluous to my needs. I used the Kindle app on my phone while I used my Kindle 3 and that was awesome. If I was out and had ten minutes to spare, I could dial up whatever book I was reading and the app would automatically sync it to the last place I’d read. But I began to get more and more disillusioned with Amazon and at the same time, more or less, got my iPad Mini. The Kindle was no good for comics and I read a lot of those, so an iPad was a great choice. I got the Kindle app for it and discovered that the backlit screen really doesn’t bother me at all. So the Kindle 3 became unnecessary luggage. Now my phone and iPad are all I carry, and they do all I need. But I’m not all about Kindle any more. There are so many reading apps out there. Rather than buy in to the Amazon ecosystem entirely, I started looking at other options. I found that a lot of publishers sell direct from their own websites, a lot of small press use places like Smashwords as well as Amazon, and I recently discovered that the Kobo store is great. All of these use ePub, and don’t tie you to Amazon. And I particularly like ePub because I discovered a couple of years ago an app called Marvin. It’s only for iDevices at the moment, but apparently an Andriod version is in the works. It’s my favourite ereader now and I’ll always look for an ePub file that I can sideload to Marvin as my first port of call when I want a new book. If I can’t find that, I’ll shop at Kobo and use the Kobo app. As a last resort, I’ll go back to Amazon and read with the Kindle. I also still use the Kindle app to read PDFs and Word documents that I send myself using my Kindle email thing. It’s really a case of what’s best for any given situation, but always looking for ePub first. So while I almost exclusively read ebooks on the iPad Mini now (with occasional forays on my phone), I do it with a variety of apps and stores. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to a dedicated ereader. And I read about 50/50 ebook/print, so I’ll certainly never abandon paper books. I’m an utter bibliophile and love my bookshelves. I love to get beautiful editions, especially hardbacks, of my favourite books, though income doesn’t allow me to indulge that as much as I’d like. And if I read an ebook that I really enjoy, I’ll get the paper edition for my shelves. Most recently that happened with Nathan Ballingrud’s amazing debut collection of short stories called “North American Lake Monsters”. I bought the ebook, absolutely loved it and, as soon as I’d finished reading, I flipped from the reading app to the browser on my iPad and bought the last signed hardcover from the Small Beer Press website. All without leaving my couch. There’s that living-in-the-future shit again. So brilliant. So what about you? What’s your ereader of choice? How do you shop for ebooks? Let me know in the comments and let me know too about any great apps or readers I might have missed out on. I’ve been going on a lot lately about Bound. It’s no surprise, really. I have a book out from a major publisher and it’s on shelves in bookstores and everything! I’m still finding it hard to believe, but I’m certainly enjoying it. However, now I want to spread the love – I’ve been going on so much lately about myself, it’s time I talked about other people a bit. Below are the books and stories I’ve been really enjoying lately and I highly recommend you check them out. Let’s go: The Hunt for Pierre Jnr By David M. Henley (the sequel, Manifestations, is out now too.) As the blurb says, “He can make you forget, he can control you and he is only eight years old. Three months after his birth he escaped. An hour later he was lost to surveillance. No one knows where he has been for the last eight years … Now Pierre Jnr is about to return.” Sounds good, right? It is. Last Year, When We Were Young by Andrew McKiernan. I had the pleasure of MCing the launch of this excellent debut collection of short stories. It’s fantastic and Greg Chapman sums it up nicely in this review here. Exile by Peter M Ball. Okay, I haven’t read this one yet as I’ve only just bought it, but Peter Ball’s stuff is always good and I expect this novella to be up there as well. So I’m including it here. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. I mean, really, it’s enough that it’s by Gaiman, right? But this is a wonderful book and very British in style and setting. As an ex-pat Brit, that appealed to me a lot. But whether you’re British or not, it’s well worth your time. SNAFU: An Anthology of Military Horror edited by Geoff Brown and A J Spedding. I had the honour of writing a foreword for this collection of military horror short stories. There’s fantastic variety here and it’s a tremendous collection. You’ll be surprised at the scope. Trucksong by Andrew Macrae. A post-apocalyptic Australia with sentient trucks fighting and fucking and stuff. I know, right? It’s written in an incredibly well-developed Australian voice and is something quite different. Galveston by Nic Pizzolatto. This is the guy who wrote True Detective, which is some of the best television I’ve seen in recent years. This is a southern crime noir kinda thing, fantasically written. I loved it. North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud. Possibly the best short story collection I’ve read in recent years. Again, I reviewed it for Thirteen O’Clock, so go here to read me gushing about it. Lexicon by Max Barry. My book of the year last year and it won an Aurealis Award. A fantastic story about the power of words and language and modern magic rolled up with science and it’s a thriller and… and… Just read it. The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes. A superb supernatural serial killer, crime thriller thing. This book has had loads of attention and all of it well-deserved. A must read. And next up on my list are Guardian by Jo Anderton (which will be great because it’s book three after Debris and Suited, which were great), Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes (after the awesomeness of The Shining Girls, I can’t wait for this one) and Dreaming of Zhou Gong by Traci Harding (which I only got yesterday, signed no less, and I’m looking forward to a lot). Very exciting reading ahead, I think. A quick web search will reveal any of these to you, so off you go and get some good stuff. Let me know what you think. And if you’ve read something simply brilliant lately, drop a mention in the comments and we can keep this sharing of good stuff going. You guys have heard me talk about Angela Slatter plenty before. She’s a good friend of mine, but more than that, she’s one of the best writers I know. Specialising in dark fantasy and horror, she’s the author of the Aurealis Award-winning The Girl with No Hands and Other Tales, the World Fantasy Award finalist Sourdough and Other Stories, and the Aurealis finalist Midnight and Moonshine (with Lisa L. Hannett). And that’s just a fraction of her bio. She’s the first Aussie to win a British Fantasy Award too. Check out all about her publications and awards here. Angela has a new chapbook out from Spectral Press called Hearth and Home. It’s a great read and I’ve asked her five questions about it and about horror and her writing in general. The questions are below, but before you read them, go and get the chapbook, as it’s limited edition and there aren’t many left. You can send an email to spectralpress[AT]gmail[DOT]com or maybe get one of the last ones from Angela herself by emailing me[at]angelaslatter[dot]com You won’t be sorry. So, on with the Qs: 1. What’s “Hearth and Home” all about and why did you write this story? Well, it’s about a woman whose teenaged son has come home after a lengthy trial. He was found innocent but things are not as they should be, life doesn’t return to ‘normal’. Basically it’s the story of Caroline’s journey through figuring out just how far from normal things are. I wrote it because Simon Marshall-Jones from Spectral Press had said ‘Sooo, hey, how about a chapbook story?’ And I’d seen the work he’d done with other authors such as Gary McMahon in the chapbook series and thought ‘Yep, get me some of that!’ 2. What’s the real draw card for you with horror? I don’t mind gore if it’s well used and cleverly placed for maximum effect, but I really, really hate explicit shock for the sake of shock. It has a numbing effect after a while and that is not the point of horror for me. Horror is about the creeping shiver that becomes a full-blooded scream … I enjoy the psychology of that journey, that’s what wraps me up in a good horror story. 3. Chapbooks are still cool. Why? I think they’ve never really gone out of fashion in particular, i.e. genre, quarters, and they’re now riding the wave of small press resurgence. I think that’s because small presses are in a unique position to create books that aren’t your traditional trade paperback with the imperative to sell millions. That’s not to say they don’t want to make money, but there’s definitely a place for books are collectable artefacts that remains even in an age of e-books and the throwaway paperback. I also like to think that you can see the craft in them, they don’t necessarily look like something that’s from a cookie cutter … there’s an individuality to them that feels very human and person-made. 4. If you could organise one of those haunted house murder mystery dinners, who would you invite? And who would be the killer? Oooooh. I’m going to ask the living and the dead, the real and the imagined! Angela Carter and Tanith Lee, Tom Hiddleston and Benedict Cumberbatch, Robert Shearman and Lisa Hannett, Mark Gatiss and Christopher Lee, Helen Marshall and Helen Mirren. And Neil Gaiman, who would be the killer and whom no one would suspect coz he always seems so nice. 5. What’s next for Doctor Slatter? Dr Slatter has three books out this year: The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings (from Tartarus Press), Black-Winged Angels (from Ticonderoga Publications), and The Female Factory (written with Lisa Hannett and coming out from Twelfth Planet Press). No matter what anyone tells you, I am open to working with publishers that don’t start with the letter ‘T’. I currently have a novel called Vigil doing the rounds; I am finishing my novella for Spectral Press, which is called The Witch’s Scale; and I’m finishing up my collection The Tallow-Wife and Other Tales, which is the result of my Queensland Writers Fellowship year; I’m working on another novel called Scandalous Lady Detective, and going back to an old novel called Well of Souls to finish it off. In between I am occasionally offering an editing and story development service, but it’s starting to feel like a bit of a time-squeeze at this point! My story, “Shadows of the Lonely Dead”, is coming out in the Suspended in Dusk anthology (Books of the Dead Press, due mid-late 2014) and the editor, Simon Dewar, has just released the full list of contributing authors and their stories. It’s a stellar bunch: That’s alphabetical, of course. The final order of stories and a cover reveal are apparently coming soon. I think this is going to be a great book. A few of those stories are reprints, but the majority are original, and all follow the theme of “suspended in dusk” to some degree. Should be well worth a read. And can I just point out that I’m going to be in a book with Ramsey Campbell. Achievement Unlocked! Issue 14 of SQ Mag is out. It’s the Australiana Special Edition and includes loads of great stuff like new stories from Kaaron Warren and Sean Williams, lots of other top stories and features, and my novelette, The Darkness in Clara. I’m really proud of this story and I hope other people like it too. I was honoured to learn that it inspired the cover for this issue. The best thing about SQ Mag, apart from the stellar content obviously, is that it’s all free to read online. Here’s the opening to my story: The Darkness in Clara by Alan Baxter Michelle saw Clara’s feet first, absurdly suspended a meter above the ground, toes pointing to the carpet, ghostly pale and twisting in a lazy spiral. The rest of the scene burst into her mind in one electric shock a fraction of a second later; Clara’s wiry nakedness, limp arms, head tilted chaotically to one side. Her tattoos seemed faded against ashen skin. Her so familiar face grotesque and wrong, tongue swelling from her mouth like an escaping slug. And her bulging eyes, staring glassy and cold as Michelle began to scream. Light from the bedside lamp cast Clara’s shadow across the wall like a puppet play, glinted off the metal legs of the upturned chair beneath. I bought her that belt, Michelle thought, as she stared at the worn black leather biting deep into the blue-tinged flesh of Clara’s neck, and she drew breath to scream again. I got a wonderful surprise on Saturday when a few messages started coming in saying something along the lines of, “Congratulations on your Ditmar nomination!” I hadn’t realised the Award shortlist had been released, but it only took a moment to see social media alive with the news (at least, spec fic related social media in Australia.) It turns out that my story, Not the Worst of Sins, published in issue 133 of Beneath Ceaseless Skies magazine, has been noninated in the Best Short Story category. Thanks so much to everyone who voted for that, it’s a real honour. The Ditmars are an Australian national award decided by popular vote. Anyone active in the SF scene and fandom can nominate works, then anyone who was at the previous year’s NatCon (National SF Convention) or has a full or supporting membership for this year’s NatCon can vote for the winners. This year, the NatCon is Continuum X in Melbourne in June. The awards ceremony will be held there. If you went to Conflux in Canberra last year, or you’re going to Continuum this year, you can vote in the Ditmars. I really recommend that you do vote, as the more people who get involved, the more the winners will reflect the opinion of the wider community. If you’re not going to the cons, but you want to vote, you can buy a supporting membership for Continuum X for just $35, which gives you several benefits including voting rights. And you can vote online in a matter of minutes. Couldn’t be easier! Voting is open now until one minute before midnight AEST (ie. 11.59pm, GMT+10), Wednesday, 28th of May, 2014. I’ll post the full list of nominated works in all categories below, but here are a few relevant links: So please do get involved. My own inclusion notwithstanding, I honestly think this is one of the strongest Ditmar Award ballots for years, in every category. You could do worse than getting hold of everything on this list (and anything on the Aurealis Awards list from last month) and you’d be set up with some fantastic reading of Aussie spec fic.The AAs and now the Ditmars are showing very clearly that Australian spec fic is stronger than ever. So, get your membership and get voting (or if you went to Conflux last year, just get voting!) and if you’re going to NatCon this year in June, I’ll see you there! * Tsana Dolichva, for body of work, including reviews and interviews in Tsana’s Reads and Reviews * Sean Wright, for body of work, including reviews in Adventures of a Bookonaut * Grant Watson, for body of work, including reviews in The Angriest * Foz Meadows, for body of work, including reviews in Shattersnipe: Malcontent & Rainbows * Alexandra Pierce, for body of work, including reviews in Randomly Yours, Alex * Tansy Rayner Roberts, for body of work, including essays and reviews at www.tansyrr.com Best Fan Artist * Nalini Haynes, for body of work, including “Defender of the Faith”, “The Suck Fairy”, “Doctor Who vampire” and “The Last Cyberman” in Dark Matter * Kathleen Jennings, for body of work, including “Illustration Friday” * Dick Jenssen, for body of work, including cover art for Interstellar Ramjet Scoop and SF Commentary Saturday was a big day. I drove down to Canberra, took part in the Conflux Writer’s Day minicon, where I did a highspeed “Social Media for Authors” presentation, then went for a quick change of clothes in order to attend the Aurealis Awards ceremony. Nicole Murphy, who organised everything that day, did a truly amazing job. The writers day and awards ceremony were both superb. We caroused and drank and laughed, and fantastic Australian fiction scored very well-deserved awards. Here are all the fantastic nominees and winners. If you want a sampler of excellent recent Aussie spec fic, here’s your huckleberry: (The winners are separated at the top of each list of nominees.) Best Science Fiction Novel Lexicon, Max Barry (Hachette) Trucksong, Andrew Macrae (Twelfth Planet) A Wrong Turn at the Office of Unmade Lists, Jane Rawson (Transit Lounge)

Wednesday, November 30, 2011 The following sounds like a description of an airplane, like something you might hear from somebody like Bert Rutan: when we addressed the wing, we started with a complicated rule, to limit what a designer could do. We added more and more pieces as we thought of more and more outcomes, and we came to a point where it was so complicated—and it was still going to be hard to control, because the more rules you write the more loopholes you create – that we reverted to a simple principle. Limit the area very accurately, and make it a game of efficiency. But it's not from Rutan at all; it's an excerpt from Wings, the Next Generation, an article discussing the sailboats to be used in next summer's America's Cup qualification matches. Now, everybody knows that sails, and airplane wings, actually have very much in common, so it really isn't surprising that this sounds like aerospace design. However, as Paul Cayard notes in the article, the wings on a competition sailboat have a few special constraints: the America’s Cup rules don’t allow stored power, so two of our eleven guys—we think, two—will be grinding a primary winch all the race long. Not to trim, but to maintain pressure in the hydraulic tank so that any time someone wants to open a hydraulic valve to trim the wing, there will be pressure to make that happen. It will be fascinating to see these boats in person, racing on the bay, but I'm glad I won't have to be one of those grinders! Tuesday, November 29, 2011 Over the long weekend, a number of people seem to have picked up and commented on Mikeal Rogers's essay about Apache and its adoption of the source code control tool, Git. For example, Chris Aniszczyk pointed to the essay, and followed it up with some statistics and elaboration. Aniszczyk, in turn, points to a third essay (a year old), by Josh Berkus, describing the PostgresQL community's migration to git, and a fourth web page describing the Eclipse community's migration to git. (Note: Both Eclipse and PostgresQL migrated from CVS to git). I find the essays by Rogers and Aniszczyk quite puzzling, full of much heat and emotion, and I'm not sure what to take from them. Rogers seems to start out on a solid footing: For a moment, let's put the git part of GitHub on the back burner and talk about the hub. On GitHub the language is not code, as it is often characterized, it is contribution. GitHub presents a person to person communication system for contributions. Documentation, issues, and of course code, travel between personal repositories. The communication medium is the contribution itself. Its value, its merit, its intention, all laid naked for the world to see. There is no hierarchy or politic embedded in the system. The creator of a project has a clear first mover advantage but the possibility is always there for its position to be supplanted by a fork, creating a social imperative to manage contributions in a satisfactory manor [sic] to her community. This is all well-written and clear, I think. But I don't understand how this is a critique of Apache. In my seven years of experience with the Derby project at Apache, this is exactly how an Apache software project works: Issues are raised in the Apache issue-tracking system; discussion is held in the issue comments and on mailing lists; various contributors suggest ideas; someone "with an itch to scratch" dives into the problem and constructs a patch; the patch is proposed by attaching it to the issue-tracking system; further discussion and testing occurs, now shaped by the concrete nature of the proposed patch; a committer who becomes persuaded of the desirability of the patch commits it to the repository; eventually a release occurs and the change becomes widely distributed. This is the process as I have seen it and participated in it, since back in 2004, and, I believe, was how it was done for years before that. So what, precisely, is it that Apache is failing at? Here is where Rogers's essay seems to head into the wilderness, starting with this pronouncement: Many of the social principles I described above are higher order manifestations of the design principles of git itself. [ ... ] The problem here is less about git and more about the chasm between Apache and the new culture of open source. There is a growing community of young new open source developers that Apache continues to distance itself from and as the ASF plants itself firmly in this position the growing community drifts farther away. I don't understand this at all. What, precisely, is it that Apache is doing to distance itself from these developers, and what does this have to do with git? Rogers offers as evidence this email thread (use the "next message by thread" links to read the thread), but from what I can tell, it seems like a very friendly, open, and productive discussion about the mechanics of using git to manage projects at Apache, with several commenters welcoming newcomers into the community and encouraging them to get involved. This seems like the Apache way working successfully, from what I can tell. Aniszczyk's follow-on essay, unfortunately, doesn't shed much additional light. He states that "what has been happening recently regarding the move to a distributed version control system is either pure politicking [sic] or negligence in my opinion." So, again, what is it that he is specifically concerned about? Here, again, the essay appears to head into the wilderness. "Let's try to have some fun with statistics," says Aniszczyk, and he presents a series of charts and graphs showing that: git is very popular lots of job sites, such as LinkedIn, are advertising for developers who know git There is no 3. At this point, Aniszczyk says "I knew it was time to stop digging for statistics." But again, I am confused about what he finds upsetting. The core message of his essay appears to be: The first is simple and deals with my day job of facilitating open source efforts at Twitter. If you’re going to open source a new project, the fact that you simply have to use SVN at Apache is a huge detterent [sic] from even going that route. [ ... ] All I’m saying is that it took a lot of work to start the transition and the eclipse community hasn’t even fully completed it yet. Just ask the PostgreSQL community how quick it was moving to Git. The key point here is that you have to start the transition soon as it’s going to take awhile for you to implement the move (especially since Apache hosts a lot of projects). Once again, I'm lost. Why, exactly, is it a huge deterrent to use svn? And why, exactly, does Apache need to convert its existing projects from svn to git? Just because LinkedIn is advertising more jobs that use git as a keyword? That doesn't seem like a valid reason, to me. Note that, as I mentioned at the start of this article, the PostgresQL team migrated from CVS to git, not from Subversion to git. I can completely understand this. The last time I used CVS was in 2001, 10 full years ago; even at that time, CVS had some severe technical shortcomings and there was sufficient benefit to switching that it was worth the effort. So I'm not at all surprised by the PostgresQL community's decision. The article by Berkus, by the way, is definitely worth reading, full of wisdom about platform coverage, tool and infrastructure support, workflow design, etc. So, to summarize (as I understand it): PostgresQL and Eclipse are migrating from CVS to git, successfully (although it is taking a significant amount of time and resources) Apache is working to integrate git into its policies and infrastructure, but still uses Subversion as its primary scm system Some people seem to feel like Apache is making the wrong decision about this But what I don't understand, at the end of it all, is in what way this is opposed to "the Apache way?" From everything I can see, the Apache way is alive and well in these discussions. UPDATE:Thomas Koch, in the comments, provides a number of substantial, concrete examples in which git's powerful functionality can be very helpful. The most important one that Thomas provides, I think, is this: It is much easier to make a proper integration between review systems, Jenkins and Jira, if the patch remains in the VCS as a branch instead of leaving it. I completely agree. Working with patch files in isolation is substantially worse than making reference to a branched change that is under SCM control. Certainly in my work with Derby I have seen many a contributor make minor technical errors while manipulating a patch file, that on the whole just adds friction to the overall process. Good point, Thomas! But there is very little else. George Trimble's homepage no longer exists, and most of the links from the existing summary pages at Wikipedia and elsewhere point to articles in the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, which (like Bloom's original paper at the ACM site) is protected behind a paywall and can't be read by commoners. Computer Usage Company is credited with being "the world's first computer software company", but it seems on the verge of disappearing into dust. It's a shame; you'd think the software industry would work harder to keep information about these early pioneers alive. I wonder if the IEEE keeps any statistics regarding how many people have actually paid the $30 to purchase this 20-year-old, five page memoir? I would have been intrigued to read it; I might even have paid, say, $0.99 or something like that to get it on my Kindle. But thirty dollars? Saturday, November 26, 2011 It's amazing to me that Stanford are, at this point, clinging to hopes for a BCS at-large bid. Should it really be this hard to get two Pac-12 teams into the BCS? I guess that the SEC are still hoping they will field 3 teams in the 10 team BCS schedule... The interviewer, who goes by the handle "moshboy", describes the intent of the project here: all I wanted to do was get some words of insight out of a few independent videogame developers that weren’t known to put many of their own words ‘out there’. In the beginning, the idea was to interview those that had rarely or never been interviewed before. Both reconciliation and deduplication can be abstracted as the problem of efficiently computing the set difference between two sets stored at two nodes across a communication link. The set difference is the set of keys that are in one set but not the other. In reconciliation, the difference is used to compute the set union; in deduplication, it is used to compute the intersection. Efficiency is measured primarily by the bandwidth used (important when the two nodes are connected by a wide-area or mobile link), the latency in round-trip delays, and the computation used at the two hosts. We are particularly interested in optimizing the case when the set difference is small (e.g., the two nodes have almost the same set of routing updates to reconcile, or the two nodes have a large amount of duplicate data blocks) and when there is no prior communication or context between the two nodes. The paper itself is well-written and clear, and certainly worth your time. It's been particularly rewarding for me because it's taken me down a path of investigating a lot of new algorithms that I hadn't previously been studying. My head is swimming with Invertible Bloom Filters (a variation on counting Bloom filters, which in turn are a variation on basic Bloom filters, an algorithm that is now 40 years old!) Tornado codes Min-wise sketches Characteristic Polynomial Interpolation Approximate Reconciliation Trees and many other related topics. I hope to return to discussing a number of these sub-topics in later posts, whenever I find the time (heh heh). One of the things that's challenging about a lot of this work is that it's based on probabilistic algorithms, which take some time getting used to. I first studied these sorts of algorithms as an undergraduate in the early 1980's, but they still throw me when I encounter them. When studying probabilistic algorithms, you often encounter sections like the following (from the current paper): The corollary implies that in order to decode an IBF that uses 4 independent hash functions with high probability, then one needs an overhead of k + 1 = 5. In other words, one has to use 5d cells, where d is the set difference. Our experiments later, however, show that an overhead that is somewhat less than 2 suffices. The question always arises: what happens to the algorithm in those cases where the probabilities fail, and the algorithm gives the wrong answer (a false positive, say)? I believe, that, in general, you can often structure the overall computation so that in these cases the algorithm still gives the correct answer, but does more work. For example, in the deduplication scenario, you could perhaps structure things so that the set difference code (which is trying to compute the blocks that are identical in both datasets, so that they can be eliminated from one set as redundant and stored only in the other set) fails gracefully on a false positive. Here, a false positive would need to cause the overall algorithm to conclude that two blocks which are in fact distinct, but which collide in the data structure and hence appear to be identical, are treated as distinct and retained in both datasets. That is, the algorithm could be designed so that it errs on the side of safety when the probabilities cause a false positive to be returned. Alternatively, some probabilistic algorithms instead fail entirely with very low probability, but fail in such as way as to allow the higher-level code to either simply re-try the computation (if it involves random behaviors, then with high probability it will work the next time), or to vary the computation in some crucial aspect, to ensure that it will succeed (which is the case in this particular implementation). Most treatments of probabilistic algorithms describe these details, but I still find it important to always keep them in my head, in order to satisfy myself that such a probabilistic algorithm is safe to deploy in practice. Often, the issue in using probabilistic algorithms is to figure out how to set the parameters so that the behavior of the algorithm performs well. In this particular case, the issue involves estimating the size of the set difference: To efficiently size our IBF, the Strata Estimator provides an estimate for d. If the Strata Estimator over-estimates, the subsequent IBF will be unnecessarily large and waste bandwidth. However if the Strata Estimator under-estimates, then the subsequent IBF may not decode and cost an expensive transmission of a larger IBF. To prevent this, the values returned by the estimator should be scaled up so that under-estimation rarely occurs. That is, in this particular usage of the probabilistic algorithms, the data structure itself (the Invertible Bloom Filter) is powerful enough that the code can detect when it fails to be decoded. Using a larger IBF solves that problem, but we don't want to use a wastefully-large IBF, so the main effort of the paper involves techniques to compute the smallest IBF that is needed for a particular pair of sets to be diff'd. If you're interested in studying these sorts of algorithms, the paper is well-written and straightforward to follow, and contains an excellent reference section with plenty of information on the underlying work on which it is based. Wednesday, November 23, 2011 I mostly avoid political topics on my blog, but the current events on the University of California campuses are very important and need more attention. Here is a superb essay by Professor Bob Ostertag of U.C. Davis about the events of the last week, and a follow-up essay discussing ongoing events. Meanwhile, it's interesting that some of the most compelling and insightful commentary is being published outside the U.S., for example this column and this column in the Guardian. I don't know what the answers are. But I do know that the debate is important, and I salute the Davis and Berkeley communities for not backing down from the questions, and for opening their minds to the need to hold that debate, now. Our universities, and our children, are our future. Both articles are extremely interesting, well-written, and deeply and carefully considered. Here's an excerpt from the WSJ discussion: The strategies that people use to assert privacy in social media are diverse and complex, but the most notable approach involves limiting access to meaning while making content publicly accessible. I’m in awe of the countless teens I’ve met who use song lyrics, pronouns, and community references to encode meaning into publicly accessible content. If you don’t know who the Lions are or don’t know what happened Friday night or don’t know why a reference to Rihanna’s latest hit might be funny, you can’t interpret the meaning of the message. This is privacy in action. And here's an excerpt from the First Monday article: Furthermore, many parents reported that they helped their children create their accounts. Among the 84 percent of parents who were aware when their child first created the account, 64 percent helped create the account. Among those who knew that their child joined below the age of 13 — even if the child is now older than 13 — over two–thirds (68 percent) indicated that they helped their child create the account. Of those with children who are currently under 13 and on Facebook, an even greater percentage of parents were aware at the time of account creation. In other words, the vast majority of parents whose children signed up underage were involved in the process and would have been notified that the minimum age was 13 during the account creation process. And there are actually many reasons why I would want to allow her to do that. First and foremost, this is the opportunity for me to monitor her interactions on Facebook — requiring she be a friend at least for a few years. That allows me some access and the ability to educate. Second, all of her friends were on Facebook. This is where tween interactions occur. Finally, I actually think that it is the evolving means of communication between people. To cut off a child from that seems like cutting them off from the future. I can entirely sympathise; my wife and I had similar deep discussions about these questions with our children (although at the time it was MySpace and AOL, not Facebook ). They are your kids; you know them best. In so many ways, Facebook is just another part of life that you can help them with, like all those other temptations of life (drugs, sex, etc.). Talk to them, tell them honestly and openly what the issues are, and why it matters. Keep an eye on what they are doing, and let them know you'll always be there for them. There are no simple answers, but it's great that people like boyd and Gans are pressing the debate, raising awareness, and making us all think about what we want our modern online world to be like. Here's boyd again: We must also switch the conversation from being about one of data collection to being one about data usage. This involves drawing on the language of abuse, violence, and victimization to think about what happens when people’s willingness to share is twisted to do them harm. Just as we have models for differentiating sex between consenting partners and rape, so too must we construct models that that separate usage that’s empowering and that which strips people of their freedoms and opportunities. This isn't going to be easy, but it's hard to think about anything that is more important that the way in which people talk with each other. So don't just "get over it". Think about it, research it, talk about it, and help ensure that the future turns out the way it should. This morning, the O'Reilly web site is running a condensed interview with Jonathan Stark, discussing, with the benefit of several months of hindsight, the intriguing "Jonathan's Card" events of the summer. If you didn't pay much attention to Jonathan's Card as it was unfolding in real time, this is a good short introduction, with a summary of the events and some links to follow-up material. Tuesday, November 15, 2011 If you have any interest at all in the software industry, you'll be absolutely fascinated to read this detailed article at the GrokLaw website about the legal dispute between Microsoft and Barnes & Noble over Android-related patents. The Microsoft-created features protected by the patents infringed by the Nook and Nook Color tablet are core to the user experience. and Our agreements ensure respect and reasonable compensation for Microsoft's inventions and patent portfolio. Equally important, they enable licensees to make use of our patented innovations on a long-term and stable basis. However, what has never been known (until now), is precisely what those patented innovations are. As Mary-Jo Foley observed more than 6 months ago, Microsoft refuses to identify the patents, and why it believes Android infringes upon them, unless a Non Disclosure Agreement is signed agreeing not to reveal that information. Barnes & Noble apparently refused to sign that agreement, and instead found counsel to represent them, and now the information about the patents in question is no longer a secret. According to the Barnes & Noble filings, the primary Microsoft patent which Android infringes is a 16-year-old patent (U.S. Patent 5,778,372), which patents: A method of remotely browsing an electronic document residing at a remote site on a computer network and specifying a background image which is to be displayed with the electronic document superimposed thereon comprising in response to a user's request to browse to the electronic document. Apparently, changing the background on your screen when a document is displayed is patented. I understand software quite well. I don't understand law at all, and specifically I don't understand intellectual property law. However, I find the GrokLaw analysis of the Barnes & Noble v. Microsoft dispute absolutely fascinating. These Internet-scale datacenters have really taken off in recent years. Last month the Open Compute community held their second Open Compute Summit, and part of that effort was the establishment of a foundation to guide the work as it moves forward; read more about that effort here. I haven't seen too much technical information flowing from the Open Compute Summit, although James Hamilton of Amazon posted his slides online here: here Meanwhile (was this part of the summit, or independent?), the team at AnandTech have done some independent testing of the Open Compute server components; in their conclusion, they commend the Open Compute work as showing tremendous potential: The Facebook Open Compute servers have made quite an impression on us. Remember, this is Facebook's first attempt to build a cloud server! This server uses very little power when running at low load (see our idle numbers) and offers slightly better performance while consuming less energy than one of the best general purpose servers on the market. The power supply power factor is also top notch, resulting in even more savings (e.g. power factoring correction) in the data center. While it's possible to look at the Open Compute servers as a "Cloud only" solution, we imagine anyone with quite a few load-balanced web servers will be interested in the hardware. So far only Cloud / hyperscale data center oriented players like Rackspace have picked up the Open Compute idea, but a lot of other people could benefit from buying these kind of "keep it simple" servers in smaller quantities. Lastly, since much of the activity in this area of computing has to do with power efficiency, let me draw your attention to this interesting work on power management in Android. Cheaper, faster, and more power-efficient: the future of computing beckons! Monday, November 7, 2011 This month, the IEEE's Spectrum magazine publishes its special report, Fukushima and the Future of Nuclear Power. It's an immense and detailed report, with multiple articles, multi-media presentations, and lots of material to dig through. A good place to start is the lead article, 24 Hours at Fukushima. This article summarizes the events of the critical first 24 hours after the earthquake, with a focus on specific events and actions that seem like they represent learning opportunities. The article has all sorts of fascinating details about the events of that day, such as the fact that it was hard to bring emergency equipment to the site when the roads were full of evacuations headed from the side; the observation that, after the earthquake but prior to the tsunami, an emergency cooling system was intentionally shut down because it was cooling the reactor too fast; the detail that, once power went out, electric security locks on building doors and fences had to be first broken before emergency equipment could be moved through them; and the observation that, when reactor 1 exploded, debris from the explosion ripped through the emergency backup power cable that had been installed to bring emergency power back to the plant. And much, much more. There are so many small breakdowns, and decisions, and implications, that can be considered and thought about and studied. The article notes that many of the subsequent problems arose from the fact that backup electrical power was lost, and could not be restored, and suggests several lessons that should be learned, including various ways to ensure that backup electrical power would be less likely to be lost, more likely to be subsequently restored, and perhaps even less likely to be needed; specifically, the article calls out 6 "lessons": LESSON 1: Emergency generators should be installed at high elevations or in watertight chambers. LESSON 2: If a cooling system is intended to operate without power, make sure all of its parts can be manipulated without power. LESSON 5: Ensure that catalytic hydrogen recombiners (power-free devices that turn dangerous hydrogen gas back into steam) are positioned at the tops of reactor buildings where gas would most likely collect. Not all of these lessons seem self-evidently obvious to me; for example, it seems like the recommendation to store backup power trucks "very close to the power plant site" would simply have resulted in leaving those trucks vulnerable to the same event that took out the main building power systems. As we know, the 14-meter tsunami washed away much larger and more resilient structures than backup power trucks. Still, the lessons seem well-meant and clearly point out starting points for the discussions to come about improvements and enhancements. I love lesson 2 in particular, as it points out one of those "obvious in hindsight" mistakes that clearly represents an opportunity for all operators in every such site to review their similar equipment and ensure that it doesn't suffer from the same design flaw. Engineering is hard. Things happen that you didn't expect, and you have to study your mistakes, learn from them, explore alternatives, test systems, and revise, revise, revise. As the article notes, we've learned a great deal from the tragedy at Fukushima, and we need to continue to learn more. I'm not a nuclear engineer, but I am immensely grateful for efforts such as this one, to help us interested lay-people try to come to grips with what happened, and why, and what does it mean, and how do we make it better in the future. Certainly, it makes me more motivated to return to my own designs, and to study them, and test them, and continue to learn from my own failures and make my future work better. I recommend this article highly; I think you'll find it interesting and well worth your time. This is the second major release since I joined the team, and I'm quite excited about it. Although I played only a minor role in this release, I had a chance to get involved in many of the new features, and there are some really powerful enhancements in this release. Engineers love releases (really, we do!): the whole point of writing software is to build something that gets used, and in order for it to get used, it has to get released. So even though a release is a whole lot of work, the result is that a new version of the product becomes available, and gets used, and that's always exciting! This is the sort of book that takes you about 2 solid hours to read, if you try hard. And I'm not exactly sure why you would try hard, because it isn't really a book that rewards that. It is a very transparent book: it sets a simple goal, and it achieves it, completely: If you've ever wondered, while browsing the web, "Why is this weird thing popular? Who cares about this stuff? How does this thing have so many views? Why do people waste their time with this? Where did it come from and where is it all going?" then read on. Stryker's book succeeds: it helps you understand the concept of Internet memes; it shines a little light into the odd, strange corners of the Internet; it gives you some context for approaching some of the aspects of Internet life that probably seemed, if not downright horrifying, at least hard to comprehend: What are memes? Why is anonymity such a big deal on the Internet? What are griefers, trolls, noobs? If you've never heard of Anonymous, 4chan, lolcats, Rule 34, Star Wars Boy, or Encyclopedia Dramatica, then you should probably just pass this book by; its subject matter is of no interest. But if you've heard of those topics, yet been slightly intimidated, and slightly unsure of how to proceed, then you might find this book helpful: it de-mystifies much of those lesser-known areas of the Internet, sets them out in plain terms and simple descriptions, and gives you at least enough knowledge to decide for yourself whether you want to know more. As I reflected on the book, and tried to understand what I had learned, and how to summarize it, I found myself drawn to a particular passage. Stryker is describing an old (1986) computer game called Habitat, which was an early investigation of human-versus-human gaming: One contentious game play element in Habitat was "Player vs. Player" or "PvP" killing. Experienced players were able to handily murder noobs, which made the game less fun for everyone but those who'd been there the longest. In addition, the very concept of virtual murder was controversial. It didn't take long for trolls to start randomly killing other players as they wandered around the virtual town. But if the engineers were to disallow PvP killing entirely, they would rob players of the thrill of danger and the joys of conquest. The moderators held a pool, asking if killing should be allowed in Habitat. The results were split 50/50. So they compromised. Killing would be disallowed inside the carefully manicured urban areas, but the moment you left town and headed out into the frontier, you were announcing to other players that you were down to scrap, if need be. This clever solution pleased most players, and continues to be the standard for many massively multiplayer games. So will the Internet continue to look. Those who value safety over freedom will hang out on Facebook and other proprietary communities and mobile apps walled off with identity authentication. And those willing to brave the jungles of the open Internet will continue to spend time in anonymous IRC channels and message boards like 4chan. It's an interesting metaphor, and I think it's insightful. In a new world, it's important to have a discussion about rules. And to have that discussion, there has to be a certain amount of discussion about where (and when) the rules apply. As Stryker notes: /b/ is significant because it's the only board on 4chan that has no rules (the only thing prohibited is committing or plotting actual crimes, the same rules that apply to any public forum on or offline). Actually, as it turns out, there are more rules than these, but to a certain extent in order to understand the rules, you have to be a member of the community. The Internet is still young, and we are still learning how we want to behave in this new cyberspace. Places like 4chan, although almost certainly not your cup of tea, are still worth understanding and thinking about, and Stryker's book is a step toward opening the discussion and having those debates. This is great news, and really emphasizes not just the excellence that is currently manifest in the top levels of chess, but also its growing spread, as the top list includes players from several countries not previously known for chess prowess (Carlsen is from Norway, Anand from India, and Wang Hao from China is in the top twenty as well). But McClain goes on to claim: But ratings inflation — caused in part by looser rules guiding them — makes it difficult to compare different eras. The ratings system was actually never intended for such comparisons. It was created in 1960 by Arpad Elo, a physics professor, as a snapshot of each player’s ability and a tool for predicting games’ outcomes. The system has been tweaked over the years, but it has held up well. McClain provides no evidence for this claim, which is a shame, as from what little I know, the evidence in fact shows entirely the opposite. As I described in a short blog post last summer, a fairly detailed study by students at the University of Buffalo recently concluded that there has been little or no ‘inflation’ in ratings over time—if anything there has been deflation. This runs counter to conventional wisdom, but is predicted by population models on which rating systems have been based Regardless of whether or not the ratings are being inflated, there is no doubt in my mind that today's chess players are playing some wonderful chess. As we look toward next year's World Chess Championship, there is lots of reason to be excited about the world of chess! Friday, November 4, 2011 Gibson, of course, is one of the greatest science fiction writers ever, the man who coined the term "cyberspace", who gave us (so far) nine spectacular novels, with hopefully more coming. What will you learn if you go read the interview? Well, all sorts of things! You'll learn about Gibson's fascinating writing techniques: never planning past the first sentence, constantly re-working and re-considering his story: Every day, when I sit down with the manuscript, I start at page one and go through the whole thing, revising freely. ... I think revision is hugely underrated. It is very seldom recognized as a place where the higher creativity can live, or where it can manifest. I think it was Yeats who said that literary revision was the only place in life where a man could truly improve himself. letting the work flow from someplace hard to describe: I’ve never had any direct fictional input, that I know of, from dreams, but when I’m working optimally I’m in the equivalent of an ongoing lucid dream. That gives me my story, but it also leaves me devoid of much theoretical or philosophical rationale for why the story winds up as it does on the page. The sort of narratives I don’t trust, as a reader, smell of homework. You'll learn about Gibson's view on whether science fiction writers are writing about the future, the past, or the present: Nobody can know the real future. And novels set in imaginary futures are necessarily about the moment in which they are written. As soon as a work is complete, it will begin to acquire a patina of anachronism. I know that from the moment I add the final period, the text is moving steadily forward into the real future. ... all fiction is speculative, and all history, too—endlessly subject to revision. You'll learn what Gibson, surprisingly, finds to be the technology that is most characteristic of the human species: Cities look to me to be our most characteristic technology. We didn’t really get interesting as a species until we became able to do cities—that’s when it all got really diverse, because you can’t do cities without a substrate of other technologies. There’s a mathematics to it—a city can’t get over a certain size unless you can grow, gather, and store a certain amount of food in the vicinity. Then you can’t get any bigger unless you understand how to do sewage. If you don’t have efficient sewage technology the city gets to a certain size and everybody gets cholera. You'll get some great anecdotes that will totally drop your jaw: For years, I’d found myself telling interviewers and readers that I believed it was possible to write a novel set in the present that would have an effect very similar to the effect of novels I had set in imaginary futures. I think I said it so many times, and probably with such a pissy tone of exasperation, that I finally decided I had to call myself on it. A friend knew a woman who was having old-fashioned electroshock therapy for depression. He’d pick her up at the clinic after the session and drive her not home but to a fish market. He’d lead her to the ice tables where the day’s catch was spread out, and he’d just stand there with her, and she’d look at the ice tables for a really long time with a blank, searching expression. Finally, she’d turn to him and say, “Wow, they’re fish, aren’t they!” After electro­shock, she had this experience of unutterable, indescribable wonderment at seeing these things completely removed from all context of memory, and gradually her brain would come back together and say, Damn, they’re fish. That’s kind of what I do. It's a thrilling roller-coaster of an interview, with so many choice bits that you'll find yourself returning to his ideas again and again. I think that most of this blogging activity has been inspired by Ben Horowitz, who is by far the most active and best blogger of the bunch. But the other blogs are quite interesting too, and there are some additional interesting materials on the site. If you're interested in the software industry, and more specifically in the VC-funded software startup industry, there is a lot of interesting material to see here, including blogs from: I know from my own experience how much time and effort it takes to write a blog. I'm pleased that this group, who have lots of experience and knowledge, are investing the energy into sharing their thoughts and opinions; hopefully it will inspire others to do the same, and in the meantime it means more interesting essays to read! Tuesday, November 1, 2011 Legacy software, so goes the old saying, is any software that actually works. Of course, there is a fair nugget of truth to this aphorism, for once a system is running we start to be increasingly unwilling to change it. Yet software is soft for a reason; it can be changed, and it can be improved. It's always interesting to watch this process at work, for the improving of software can be a messy business, not just for technical reasons, but also because of social, cultural, and business reasons. A major event recently was Google's decision to take a new direction with their proposed new Dart language. As Weiqi Gao observes, this has grown into quite the discussion, with some backers wanting to continue to improve JavaScript, while others feel that it's time to embark on designing a new language (such as Dart). Major discussion has ensued, and some of the emotions have been rather heated: I respect the people involved and believe they’re for the most part making their own choices. But Dart and other unrelated Google agenda items do impose clear and significant opportunity costs on Google’s standards actiivities. "Unrelated"? I think that is an overly strong critique. Surely Dart is strongly related. What is the best way, then? Continue to improve the existing language, or work on building new languages? Can we really not do both? After all, Dart is not the only new language built on top of and closely related to JavaScript: consider CoffeeScript, for example. It is another new language which is designed for the web, and is implemented by being compiled into JavaScript. CoffeeScript is interesting; it pushes the envelope in other directions, such as borrowing the "whitespace is structure" paradigm from Python (a technique I've always found fascinating, even if I can barely manage to maintain decent indentation standards in my own code). I think such experimentation with new languages is wonderful, which is why it's so great to see techniques such as Source Maps, which allow tools like IDEs and Debuggers that were written for one language to be used, in a semi-interpreted style, with other newer languages built atop those old languages. Clever! So, just as Weiqi Gao does, I applaud the invention of these new languages, and I hope the experimentation continues. And I applaud the improvement of compilers and VMs and language runtimes, to enable such language experimentation and innovation. Even though I continue to earn my living coding in Dennis Ritchie's good old C language, all these new ideas and new approaches help us all think about problems in new ways, and find better techniques to solve problems.

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Containment of Yosemite fire now 23% as blaze climbs record books Firefighters capitalized on a blanket of moist air that settled over the mountains near Yosemite National Park on Tuesday night to increase containment of the Rim fire to 23%. The blaze – now entering its 12th day – has burned 187,466 acres and is on pace to soon become the sixth-largest fire in state history. Containment was up from 20% Tuesday. Advertisement Overnight, firefighters continued to build and strengthen containment lines and conduct backfiring operations to slow the blaze as it rages farther into Yosemite National Park. Authorities also ordered evacuations for residents in the fire's path south of California 120 and north of Old Yosemite Road. The U.S. Forest Service said Tuesday that ground crews planned to work through the night to build containment lines on the northern flank of the fire. Communities north of the blaze, along the Highway 108 corridor from Tuolumne City to Pinecrest, also remained under evacuation orders. Officials said crews on the southeast flank in Yosemite were planning to conduct extensive backfires, a dangerous tactic in which firefighters burn vegetation inside a fire line to help contain a rapidly spreading blaze. Nearly 4,100 firefighters are taking part in the effort. The blaze has destroyed 111 buildings, including 31 homes, and was the seventh-largest fire in California history. The fire was spewing out huge clouds of smoke that drifted into Nevada. The blaze had spread across 281 square miles. The Rim fire, said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant, was "burning its way into the record books." A number of structures were lost in the Tuolumne Berkeley Family Camp, which includes three commercial properties and 85 tent cabins and outbuildings, the Forest Service said. While firefighters have used the Tuolumne River and granite formations on the fire's northern edges to set up defenses, crews have found little to work with on the blaze's eastern front south of the Hetch Hetchy reservoir. "They're in scouting mode," Dick Fleishman of the U.S. Forest Service said of fire crews. "There's not a lot of real good areas to get out in there and do a lot of work." The Stanislaus National Forest is taking the brunt of the blaze, with the Groveland Ranger District making up most of the southern flank. The region has been hit hard by fires in the past, the most significant in 1987, which claimed the life of a firefighter. This week's fire has brought sorrow among the district's employees, who not only recall the past devastation but also begrudge the current damage. The fire burned though an area that had a pending $1-million timber sale, said Maggie Dowd, district ranger in the Groveland Ranger District. "The economic impacts are real, but we haven't begun to estimate them yet," Dowd said Tuesday from her office in a building shrouded in smoke.

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Dynamic Opinions and Views “The Tea Party: a Movement Running Out of Steam!” by jim_worthPosted: Friday, 3/12/2010 What started out as a ‘Grass Roots’ movement is low on steam. By definition grass roots is: ‘ordinary people regarded as the main body of an organization’s membership. Therefore, the ‘main body’ of the Tea Party is a collection of ordinary people with a common interest. So what is the common interest of the members of this Tea Party: government spending, or taxation, or a return to the Constitution, or seeing President Obama’s birth certificate, or maybe the elevation of Sarah Palin? Which ever it is, it is clearly evident that even the members of this ‘grass roots’ movement aren’t sure which it is. From the moment of the first demonstrations, Tax Day, Wednesday, April 15th, it was evident that the movement was destined to struggle! People screaming of “no more taxation” when there hasn’t been any new taxes in more than 6 years. Some were adamant about government spending which was creating a deficit that was untenable, despite the fact that the Bush administration had more than doubled government debt in his 8 years in office. But, any party that has Sarah Palin at the heart of it’s national agenda or platform is in serious trouble. Sarah referred to the Tea Party Movement as the ‘future’ of politics. But, contrary to what the Tea Partiers believe, there is no future for any group as fragmented as this movement is. The Tea Partiers do have one thing right. This country is ripe for revolution. But their anger is misplaced and they’re attacking the wrong target. As I stated in an article entitled “The MadHatter’s Tea Party,” written and submitted to the Los Angeles Times on Tax Day last year, the movement has no clear direction. Nor is it a ‘grass roots’ movement when it’s organized and supported by right wing lobby organizations and Fox Views. Those who are pushing the Tea Party movement have become more ‘grass roots’ in their attempt to affect change. Several different factions have sprouted up in an attempt to keep their varied agendas moving forward. In order to be ‘truly’ grass roots the Tea Party needs to shed organizations like Freedomworks, Human Events, and Fox. They must avoid the talking points these self-absorbed organizations use to manipulate the message and adopt platforms and an agenda of their own. The newest agenda of some Tea Party organizations is to promote candidates for many elected positions on the local, state, and national level. Their intent, to replace incumbent elected officials, is admirable. There is a growing nationwide desire to clean up government by removing corporate bought partisan congressional representatives and replacing them with individuals who will work ‘for the people.’ The Tea Party thinks they have the solution! A few of the small Tea Party leaders visualize their ideals as the seeds of a third National Party. But to many outside observers they appear to be the Libertarian Party without the clear focus. There are some pretty smart people who have joined the movement, who have some good ideas, and a ‘real’ desire for positive change. They could help the Tea Party movement survive if their ideas and plans are embraced by the members. The big question—will their voices be heard above the din? Or will the crazies drown out the voices of the sane? The recent Tea Party Convention was an attempt to bring Tea Party factions together. But it only served to further fracture the fragile movement. Despite attempts by the organizers to declare the event a success, the low attendance and late withdrawals of featured attendees was evidence of the struggles the embattled movement faces. Convention organizers, Judson and Sherry Philips, founders of Tea Party Nation, had high hopes for the first National Tea Party Convention, but the event ran into early troubles over fees and payments to speakers. The low attendance, estimated at about 600, the exodus of Representative’s Marsha Blackburn and Michelle Bachman, and the disjointed speech by ex-congressman Tom Tancredo were all signs of fractures within the movement. As the keynote speaker they chose Sarah Palin, whom, reportedly, was paid over $100 thousand for her appearance. Those deeply committed to the movement are enamored by Palin who feigns the suggestion that she is their potential leader. Her bubbly, charismatic presence clearly energizes the Tea Party base, but her star is fading outside the movement as more people realize she has little substance in her convictions. Her speech to around 1,000 people at the convention was a series of the same tired talking points. Rarely does she advance any issue with facts. Even her charisma will not get her beyond mere talking points. And as Palin’s leader role runs out of steam, so, too, does the Tea Party movement. Unless someone rises with a clearer platform Tea Partier’s will begin to lose interest. And if things improve in the economy and unemployment, the passion for revolt will die. Regardless of whether they survive or not, the Tea Party movement has proved one thing. It proves there is a strong and pervasive level of unrest throughout the nation. A stirring nation that has tired of politicians who no longer represent the interests of ‘the people’; career politicians who treat their constituents with utter disdain, no longer listening to their needs. Unless the factions of the Tea Party coalesce their ideas, narrow their scope and message, find some dynamic leaders with vision, it will lose steam. But even in failure the movement will have left an indelible mark on the political landscape. This entry was posted on Friday, March 12th, 2010 at 2:03 pm and is filed under Politics, Tea Party. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

ABOUT US The doctrinal standards of the Methodist Church of the Bahamas are as follows: The Methodist Church of the Bahamas claims and cherishes its place in the Church universal, which is the Body of Christ. It rejoices in the inheritance of the apostolic faith and loyally accepts the fundamental principles of the historic creeds and of the Protestant Reformation.It ever remembers that in the providence of God Methodism was raised up by God to spread scriptural holiness throughout the land by the proclamation of the evangelical faith and declares its unfaltering resolve to be true to its divinely appointed mission.The doctrines of the evangelical faith which Methodism has held from the beginning and still holds are based upon the divine revelation recorded in the Holy Scriptures. The Methodist Church of the Bahamas acknowledges this revelation as the supreme rule of faith and practice. These evangelical doctrines to which the preachers of the Methodist Church of the Bahamas both ministers and lay persons are pledged are contained in Wesley's Notes on the New Testament and the first four volumes of his sermons.Wesley's "Notes on the New Testament" and "The 44 Sermons" are not intended to impose a system of formal or speculative theology on Methodist preachers, but to set up standards of preaching and belief which should secure loyalty to the fundamental truths of the gospel of redemption and ensure the continued witness of the Church to the realities of the Christian experience of salvation. Christ's ministers in the Church are stewards in the household of God and shepherds of His flock. Some are called and ordained to this sole occupation and have a principal and directing part in these great duties but they hold no ministry differing in kind from that which is common to all the Lord's people and they have no exclusive title to the preaching of the gospel or the care of souls. These ministries are shared with them by others to whom also the Spirit divides gifts severally as the Spirit wills. It is the universal conviction of the Methodist people that the office of Christian ministry depends upon the call of God who bestows the gifts of the Spirit the grace and the fruit which indicates those whom He has chosen.Those whom the Methodist Church of the Bahamas recognizes as called of God and therefore receives into its ministry shall be ordained by the imposition of hands as expressive of the Church's recognition of the minister's personal call.The Methodist Church of the Bahamas holds the doctrine of the ministry of all Christians and consequently believes that no ministry exists which belongs exclusively to a particular order or group of persons but in the exercise of its corporate life and worship special qualifications for the discharge of special duties are required and thus the principle of representative selection is recognized.The Methodist Church of the Bahamas recognizes two sacraments namely Baptism and the Lord's Supper as of divine appointment and of perpetual obligation of which it is the privilege and duty of members of the Methodist Church of the Bahamas to avail themselves.

Vehicle Safety Quiz The Articulate e-Learning Heroes Challenge of the week #159 was to design how multiple choice quizzes are used in e-Learning. I decided to use “show me, tell me” vehicle safety questions that driving examiners can ask in a car driving test.

IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO) is pleased to announce its support for MEF as an analyst partner at the MEF18 networking event, held October 29 to November 2, 2018, at the JW Marriott LA LIVE in Los Angeles, California. Despite unabated network usage, global telecom revenue is on track to grow just 1.1 percent in 2017 over the prior year, according to a new report by business information provider IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO). IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO), a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions, conducted in-depth interviews with global service providers that have deployed software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) or will do so in the future and found that respondents identified Cisco/Tail-f, Nokia and Ciena—including Cyan—as the top SDN vendors. As service providers seek service agility and operational efficiency in their networks to stay competitive, the global market for carrier software-defined networking (SDN) software, hardware and services is expected to grow from $103 million in 2014 to $5.7 billion in 2019, according to IHS (NYSE: IHS). IHS (NYSE: IHS) conducted in-depth interviews with telecom carriers around the world to determine their plans for evaluating and deploying network functions virtualization (NFV) and found that 35 percent are planning to deploy NFV in 2015. IHS conducted in-depth interviews with telecom carriers around the world to determine their plans for evaluating and deploying network functions virtualization (NFV) and found that 35 percent are planning to deploy NFV in 2015. Architectural changes based on virtualization and packet-optical technologies will hold the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the worldwide service provider router and switch market to 2.1 percent over the 5 years from 2014 to 2019, according IHS. Infonetics Research, now part of IHS Inc, released excerpts from its 2014 Telecommunications Equipment Vendor Scorecard, which profiles and analyzes the 6 leading suppliers of telecom infrastructure, software and services.

3 years( again) Jan 19, 2005 dr.young I wrote to you asking abpot my vl and tcells a month ago.thank you fore your response.I was asking you why my tcells have increased so much over the past 3 years from 240 to 1350 and my vl went from 704,000 to 200. you mentioned that the concern is that such a low viral load might lead to some resistance.I did forget to mention that in the past 3 years my cd4's have always increased but there where a few times that my vl increased also.one of my tests revealed that my vl went frome like 900 to like 2500 i dont remember the excact numbers.at that time i told my doctor i wanted a resistance test wich came back that i wasnt resistant to my meds.my next test my vl was back down again.also my latest labs where my vl went from 170 to 800 and my cd4's went from 1350 to 1170.a couple points to note: 1 I did my blood work a 7am and ii herd thet your cd4's are lower in the morning then afternoon,2 it seems to me when i do my labs after haveing been sick with the flue or a cold my numbers seem to be worse and 3 these latest labs that i gave you i did in nov of 2004 after being ill for awhile.( cold i think )and at 7am,I am retesting in feb just to see whats going on if infact these increases in vl and decreases in cd4's infact where do to being ill.so my question is what do you think about being ill affecting your numbers and about the fluctuation in vl over the years with my test saying i had no resistance? Response from Dr. Young Hello again, 3 years, You're correct on all points-- there is a lot of variability to the viral load test, and illness (even something as insignificant as a cold) or immunizations can cause small increases in the measurement. The later nearly always occurs in the abscence of resistance. Such could be the case when your viral load is higher. I certainly recommend that patients defer getting their viral load and CD4 cell counts during periods of such illness; wait a couple of weeks before getting the tests done. That said, it's rather unlikely that you're always sick when your lab tests are done-- I still am puzzled about cases like yours, but rest assured that there are others like you. This forum is designed for educational purposes only, and experts are not rendering medical, mental health, legal or other professional advice or services. If you have or suspect you may have a medical, mental health, legal or other problem that requires advice, consult your own caregiver, attorney or other qualified professional. Experts appearing on this page are independent and are solely responsible for editing and fact-checking their material. Neither TheBody.com nor any advertiser is the publisher or speaker of posted visitors' questions or the experts' material. The Body is a service of Remedy Health Media, LLC, 750 3rd Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10017. The Body and its logos are trademarks of Remedy Health Media, LLC, and its subsidiaries, which owns the copyright of The Body's homepage, topic pages, page designs and HTML code. General Disclaimer: The Body is designed for educational purposes only and is not engaged in rendering medical advice or professional services. The information provided through The Body should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or a disease. It is not a substitute for professional care. If you have or suspect you may have a health problem, consult your health care provider.

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It gets worse. When Patton saw the picture of Thicke with his hand on another woman’s backside at one of the VMA after parties, she supposedly “went nuclear.” The couple reportedly never recovered. Last week, Paula told Robin it was over, but he is trying desperately to win her back, but will it twerk? The singer confirmed the rumors to TMZ, telling the site, "I'm just trying to get her back." See the video below.

This past Tuesday, I had two photo sessions planned.First, with the amazing vocalist Jo Wymer in Freehold (previews coming soon!).. Later that day, with the adorable Katie and Nick scheduled to get married this coming fall. That morning I looked out the window.. and saw huge sheets of fog everywhere. I knew I’d be safe with Jo’s session, because it was very inland. Katie and Nick took off work that day for the occasion so I knew I’d be have to work with the fog.. not against it. I was... Read The Rest →

What do we wish most for our children? Next to being healthy, we want them to be happy, of course. Fortunately, a wide array of scientific studies show that happiness is a learned behavior, a muscle we can help our children build and maintain. Drawing on what psychology, sociology, and neuroscience have proven about confidence, gratefulness, and optimism, and using her own chaotic and often hilarious real-world adventures as a mom to demonstrate dos and don’ts in action, Christine Carter, PhD, executive director of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, boils the process down to ten simple happiness-inducing steps. With great wit, wisdom, and compassion, Carter covers the day-to-day pressure points of parenting—how best to discipline, get kids to school and activities on time, and get dinner on the table—as well as the more elusive issues of helping children build healthy friendships and develop emotional intelligence. In these ten key steps, she helps you interact confidently and consistently with your kids to foster the skills, habits, and mindsets that will set the stage for positive emotions now and into their adolescence and beyond. You will discover the best way avoid raising a brat—changing bad habits into good ones; tips on how to change your kids’ attitude into gratitude; the trap of trying to be perfect—and how to stay clear of its pitfalls; the right way to praise kids—and why too much of the wrong kind can be just as bad as not enough; the spirit of kindness—how to raise kind, compassionate, and loving children; and strategies for inspiring kids to do boring (but necessary) tasks—and become more self-motivated in the process. Complete with a series of “try this” tips, secrets, and strategies, Raising Happiness is a one-of-a-kind resource that will help you instill joy in your kids—and, in the process, become more joyful yourself. Download and start listening now! bf3q Quotes & Awards “This collection of research, personal stories, and advice couldn’t be more smoothly organized and accessible. With Emily Durante’s sunny performance making it sound even more appealing, it’s an audio message that will help parents open up to new possibilities for helping their kids—and themselves.” [ShoppingCartItemsAddedOnMerge] audiobook(s) were left in your cart from a previous visit, and saved to your account for your convenience. You may view or remove these audiobooks on the shopping cart page.

Questions or Need Help Related to The Hunting Report Newsletter.Call us at 800-272-5656 or 305-253-5301 Search: HuntingReport.com This news bulletin was sent exclusively to Email Extra subscribers of The Hunting Report at least 24 hours prior to becoming available to other viewers. printer-friendly version New Move To open Hunting In Zambia (posted December 17, 2001) In a move that appears to signal a reopening of hunting next year, the Zambia National Tender Board today officially asked safari operators to submit bids for the control of the country's hunting concessions. The deadline for submitting bids is January 4. "I'm definitely taking this to mean hunting will reopen next year," Mike Faddy told The Hunting Report this morning. Faddy is head of the Zambia Professional Hunters Association, and he has his finger on the pulse of hunting developments. The other good news on hunting in Zambia is, a Director General of Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) has finally been named. We hope to have more information on the new director as early as tomorrow. Suffice it to say, the new director is getting rave reviews so far. The call for tenders is directly related to his being named, according to sources we spoke with this morning. ZAWA, you'll recall, is the new quasi-private organization that was slated to take over all wildlife-related matters in Zambia more than a year ago, which is when the old National Parks Department was disbanded. Since then, Zambia has been without any kind of game department at all. The European Union during this period has had millions of dollars ready to help ZAWA get rolling, but has refused to release the funds until a director general and support staff are in place. Presumably those funds will now be released. If so, Zambia's wildlife programs could be on their way to a complete recovery shortly. To be sure, there are some open questions still. The most important revolves around the possible impact of the presidential election, which is slated for December 27. Will the current tender process be acceptable to whoever wins the election? Or will still another tender process be initiated by the winner? No one we spoke with had any idea how to answer those questions. In fact, no one we have spoken with for months has been willing to predict just who will win the election. It's no secret that the closure of hunting in Zambia was linked to presidential politics. Surely, its reopening will be too. The other open question at this point is the condition of Zambia's game. With no game department in place for more than a year, and with concessions empty of personnel for an entire summer, poaching has been widespread. Doubts and questions aside, the underlying news here is good. A definitive move has been made toward the reopening of hunting in Zambia. We're hoping for the best, and we are keeping our fingers crossed. More details soon. - Don Causey. Get important news bulletins like this sent directly to your email 24 hours before anyone else sees them, plus unlimited access to our database of hunt reports and past articles, a special expanded electronic version of our newsletter and more! Upgrade your Hunting Report subscription to Email Extra today. Click here for more information.

Border problem: A pipeline of children Jul. 15, 2014 | A teenage boy looks out the window of his sleeping area on June 19, 2014, at the Instituto Nacional del Migracion, a municipal shelter in Reynosa, Mexico, for child migrants that is receiving growing numbers of children caught by Mexican authorities and will be deported to their countries of origin. / David Wallace, David Wallace/The Republic by USA TODAY Network, USA TODAY by USA TODAY Network, USA TODAY According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, more than 47,000 unaccompanied children have crossed the border into the U.S. in the past fiscal year, a number that could double in the coming months. The vast majority of these kids are coming from the troubled Central American countries of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. The Arizona Republic has a team of journalists reporting from Central America and the McAllen, Texas-Mexico border working on a project that will attempt to fill in this pipeline from the impoverished neighborhoods these kids are leaving, to the Mexican-Guatemala border, then the rugged journey to the Rio Grande and the raft ride across the river, where they are almost immediately picked up by the Border Patrol. Reporter Bob Ortega and photographer Michael Chow are reporting from Central America, based in San Salvador and Guatemala. Reporter Daniel Gonzalez and photographer David Wallace are reporting from the Rio Grande Valley, both sides of the border, based in McAllen, Texas. Upcoming stories: Finding shelter. Many of the kids stop in shelters before they cross into the U.S. We will paint a picture with photos and words of the scene there. Do they know where their parents are? What do they expect in America? Videos: The team is making daily videos from reporting locales available via the Gannett Video Production Center (VPC).

Schools' actual budget becomes clearer A final accounting shows that cuts made in December were important. For the past year, the most important question facing the Hernando County school system has been about the health of the district's budget. It was a year during which the district had three budget directors: one who said the sky was falling, another who said there were no worries and a third who tried to sort out the truth. It was a year in which then-superintendent John Sanders and the School Board at times didn't know whom to believe or where things stood. Eventually, they sought a middle road, agreeing in December to cut their budget back by $2.4-million. Now, a final accounting of the books shows that the December cuts were much-needed but that a financial meltdown feared by some never materialized. In short: The district spent $85.5-million last year on day-to-day expenses, about $100,000 less than the revenue it took in. Before the cuts, the board was on pace to spend about $2-million more than it took in. The cuts not only brought the budget in line but also added $143,000 to the district's slim rainy day reserve, which now stands at $1.3-million. Medical costs in the school district's self-funded health insurance plan outstripped the money put into the plan by $2.9-million, creating an internal debt that must be repaid with cash that could otherwise be spent on the classroom. The new numbers bring clarity to a budget that was anything but clear in the past year. The fog developed when budget director Vince Benedict, who resigned last summer for health reasons, and Sara Perez, his successor, came to vastly different conclusions about the district's financial state. Benedict, a veteran who relied on his experience and his insight as much as raw data, predicted that 2000-2001 would be a tight year. But, with some routine adjustments, he predicted that his final budget would prove accurate. Perez, who put her faith in hard numbers instead of gut feelings, said Benedict's original budget was on pace to spend $5.9-million above its expected revenues. Carol MacLeod, a former auditor who took over the budget office in December after Perez resigned for family reasons, was asked to sort out the truth. By then, the board had cut its budget, enacted a hiring freeze and put strict limits on new spending. The cuts weren't devastating. But they were far more drastic than Benedict's past practice of covering shortfalls in one area of the budget with surpluses from other parts. Jo Ann Hartge, who was president of the Hernando Classroom Teachers Association last year, said cuts meant the district wouldn't pay for substitute teacher's aides when regulars were out sick, leaving teachers to fly solo in crowded classrooms. They meant that a handful of teachers working outside the classroom, including two that taught rookie teachers survival skills and helped struggling veterans improve, had to fill teaching vacancies. Their previous jobs were simply eliminated. For a time, Hartge said, it also meant that supplies ranging from workbook materials to art supplies were hard to get and professional training was reduced. Toward the end of the year, things eased up some. But, Hartge said, "I don't want to repeat that again." MacLeod has refused to declare a winner in the Perez-Benedict debate. But she has some thoughts on the problems in the budget. Benedict, who was on chemotherapy for bladder and prostate cancer at the time, didn't leave any clear documentation of what early adjustments Perez needed to make to the budget. At the same time, MacLeod said people overreacted to Perez's worst-case prediction that the budget was $5.9-million out of line. Even Perez knew that routine retirements and resignations would result in less-than-expected payroll spending, she said. In the end, MacLeod said the school district was never in a budget "crisis." Budgets are spending plans, she said, and they are not etched in stone. By definition, they require constant tweaking. But she agrees that a $2.4-million cut is nothing to laugh at. "I would have hoped we would have done our front-end work better so we wouldn't have needed to do that," MacLeod said. "But there is nothing wrong with that." The school district faces two financial audits in the next few months that are mandated by the state. And MacLeod plans to give a clearer view of where the December cuts were made. Both should shed further light on the budget. For now, the district has an $86.8-million budget, slightly larger than last year's. But schools have been ordered to cut back on spending money they have discretion over -- one final safeguard to keep history from repeating itself. - Times staff writer Robert King covers education in Hernando County and can be reached at 754-6127. Send e-mail to rking@sptimes.com.

This is a hybrid collective/class action FLSA/Pennsylvania state minimum wage law case arising from work in the gas fields of our region. The Court has previously written on matters related to this case, including substantial recitations of the underlying facts, so they will not be repeated here. By prior Order, the Court authorized the mailing of notice of FLSA opt-in procedures to certain current and former employees of the Defendant related to certain of its Pennsylvania operations, and its facility in Decatur, Texas. The opt-in period will soon expire, and the Court directed the parties to meet and confer and to then submit a proposed case management order relating to further pretrial activities, including discovery. Counsel has met to do that, and while many matters relative to such an Order have been agreed upon, not all were, so the Court convened an extensive status conference with counsel in an effort to resolve those open issues. Some were, and some were not, and after consideration of the positions and proposals of each party, the Court will enter the Third Amended Case Management Order ("Order") of this date. The Court provides this Opinion in order to explain its rulings on some of the disputed matters, and to set out its further expectations of counsel. Counsel for the Plaintiffs has urged the Court to permit somewhat more limited discovery followed by comparatively prompt summary judgment practice as to the application (or not) of the "Motor Carrier Exemption" to the FLSA in this case, contending that doing it that way would protect the material interests of the parties, would foster fruitful settlement discussions, and would minimize anticipated costs. Counsel for the Defendants, on the other hand, says that unless and until discovery as to a significant portion of the actual/potential claimants occurs, his clients cannot fairly and accurately assess the likelihood or magnitude of liability, [1] something necessary both to defend the case and to be in any position to meaningfully think about (let alone discuss) potential settlement. Defendants also point out that for quite some time now, the Plaintiffs have propounded, and the Defendants have responded to, lots of "paper" discovery (100 interrogatories and requests for production of documents). Without saying so directly, the Defendants seem to contend that just as they are getting into the discovery they think that they need to both size up and fully litigate or settle the case, the Plaintiffs are urging that discovery now be truncated, when doing so would be inappropriate and would materially prejudice them.[2] Given the current status of this case, the discovery and proceedings to date, the procedural posture of the proceedings, the complexity of the factual and legal issues resolved and to be resolved, and what the Plaintiffs say may well be the amount in controversy, the Court concludes that the Defendants have somewhat the better of the argument, and that further discovery as authorized by the Order is appropriate to permit the parties to prepare and advance their claims and defenses, which will also facilitate meaningful ADR proceedings. The currently open issues seem to come in several categories: pretty significant (location of depositions), somewhat important (the number of certain discovery requests and dates for amendments to pleadings), rather unusual (what to do if deponents just don't show up as noticed?), and essentially meaningless (must reply briefs to summary judgment motions coming months from now be filed, if at all, in 14 or 20 days?). As to the identity and location of depositions, the Court will direct that counsel meet and confer (a teleconference or video conference is OK), and come up with a "master list" of all anticipated deponents for both sides. Once that is done, counsel should endeavor to group them by day/series of days to cut down on travel costs for all concerned, and also to determine whether they can be handled by video, [3] and if not, where is the most logical, fair, economical place for those depositions. As to "in-person" depositions, if they are to occur, they should be done where they are most logical, convenient and cost-effective. While the Defendant is correct in the broader sense that plaintiffs should ordinarily be deposed in the judicial district where an action is pending, that is not necessarily the case here. The nature of the business and operations involved here presumed that crews will move around. While those persons that opt-in as Plaintiffs in a FLSA case are just that, "party plaintiffs" (to use the verbiage of 29 U.S.C. § 216(b)), if they are no longer present here, and there is no reasonable anticipation that they will be returning here in the near future, and it is reasonable to depose them along with other deponents in a single location elsewhere, that may be the "just, speedy, and inexpensive" thing to do.[4] By the same token, such persons are, by statute, "party plaintiffs", so they have some responsibility to participate in the lawsuit that they have joined. The long and short of it is that counsel should apply logic and reason to resolving such locational matters, and any thorny issue as to such matters as to which reasonable minds could differ can be resolved by the Court. As to the number of "paper" discovery requests, the Court has considered the proposals of each side, and the Order issued this date strikes what is in the Court's judgment the appropriate balance of interests given the nature and context of the case. The parties have attempted to address the circumstance of a deponent failing to appear for a noticed deposition. As the Court observed at a recent status conference, just not showing up at a deposition is a new concept for the Court, and one not countenanced by the Civil Rules. The Order issued by the Court provides what appears to be a mechanism for the parties to confirm the dates/time/attendance of depositions and deponents that is structured to avoid the incurring of unnecessary costs and preparation. In these regards, the Court would also note that it expects any party or witness of a party in this litigation to show up when and where they are supposed to be, absent extenuating, unavoidable/unexpected circumstances. That is one of the responsibilities of being a party in a federal lawsuit, and it will be enforced here. As to the "date" for the filing of any motions for leave to file amended pleadings, the Court believes that prevailing Circuit law requires that it give rather wide latitude for the filing of such motions. Of course, any such motion may well be met with vigorous opposition if the proposed amendment causes real prejudice to the substantial rights of a party, would result in the avoidable duplication or delay in the disposition of the case, complication or repetition of discovery, or other issues that the law recognizes are properly considered in the grant or denial (or limitation) of any amendment effort. Should such a motion be filed, any opposing party will be given plenty of time to respond, and the Court will then rule on the merits of such motion to amend. Finally, the Court has in the Order resolved the minor, rather meaningless differences in timelines for the filing of briefs that would be due months from now. The Court finds and concludes that the Third Amended Case Management Order Dated this date complies with the applicable provisions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, does not prejudice the material interests of the parties, is consistent with the nature and context of this civil action, and furthers the just, speedy and inexpensive disposition of this action. An appropriate Order will be entered. Our website includes the main text of the court's opinion but does not include the docket number, case citation or footnotes. Upon purchase, docket numbers and/or citations allow you to research a case further or to use a case in a legal proceeding. Footnotes (if any) include details of the court's decision. Buy This Entire Record For $7.95 Official citation and/or docket number and footnotes (if any) for this case available with purchase.

Last Thursday at Comic-Con, Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth) announced that he will co-write and produce–and may also direct–a movie based on Disney’s Haunted Mansion attraction. He also took pains to emphasize that it will have no relationship to that hideous Eddie Murphy thing.* And thank gawd for that. It’s apparently going to be family-oriented but “scary.” Walt Disney Studios also unveiled a new piece of artwork for the movie (seen above, with a larger version at the Disney blog), which looks promising. I’m assuming the story will be based on the whole “phantom bride” thing that’s hinted at in Disneyland’s version of the ride and fleshed out more fully in EuroDisney’s Phantom Manor. Given del Toro’s fantastical imagery in his other movies, this could really be pretty cool.

Everyone knows there are gays and lesbians in everybody’s family. And no office would be complete without a sassy gay character. And just about every other kid in high school is wresting with his sexuality. I know. I watch TV. Except it isn’t true, and the Centers for Disease Control just proved it. A new comprehensive study by the CDC with over 33,000 participants has confirmed earlier estimates; less than 3 percent of the U.S. population self-identifies as gay, lesbian or bisexual. Earlier, much smaller-scale surveys have put that number at 4 percent. The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), published July 15 by the CDC, was the first large-scale study of it’s kind. Data was collected from the Census Bureau, as The Washington Post reported, and 33,557 adults between the ages of 18 and 64 participated in the study, which included in-person interviews as well as follow-up phone questions. The NHIS study found that, while 96.6 percent of adults identified as “straight”, 1.6 percent identified as gay or lesbian, and 0.7 percent called themselves bisexual. 1.1 percent responded “I don’t know” or said they were “something else” not listed. That sure doesn’t sound like society according to Hollywood, or the news media, which have young Americans convinced 30 percent of the population is gay. Maybe that’s because gay characters pop up in just about every product out of Hollywood. Men dress as women, give lap dances to other men and even get married in national awards shows likethe Grammys and Tony Awards. Media festivals likeSouth by Southwest and Sundance celebrate gay sex and all other kinds of relationships as completely normal. TV shows like “Modern Family,” “The New Normal” and “The Fosters” attempt to show that gay families are just as common and normal as any other family. The news media does their part too. CNN has a particularly cozy relationship with GLAAD, the gay speech police. CNN’s Paul Begala claimed in 2011, “One out of 10 Americans is gay...At Least 10 percent of us are gay or lesbian.” The media attacks businesses and churches as being out of step with reality, and calls for children’s organizations like the Boy Scouts to include gay scout leaders. Meanwhile the media highlights stories of transgender toddlers and invokes pity for the handful of gay students who go to Christian colleges and are open about their sexuality, then complain when they are asked to abide by the school’s religious rules. Gay activists who say hateful things get a pass from the media too. Take Dan Savage, who has said all kinds of vile comments towards conservatives, Christians, and women, yet the media ignores his hate. The moment a Christian refers to the Bible on homosexuality, the media relentlessly attacks the person, their family, and tries to take away their livelihood. They did that with Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty and Chic-Fil-A’s Dan Cathy. A much higher percentage of the population believes marriage should be between man and a woman. The annual March for Marriage is the largest march of its kind yet themedia refuse to report on it each year. I'm really getting tired of being reminded that about 3% of men like to ---- other men everywhere I turn. All the time, everywhere. Can't watch TV, can't see a movie, can't go to the store, can't go to work, can't watch a damn cartoon even! "Have a nice day 'cause about 3% of men like to ---- other men!" "Would you like a free appetizer? We're having a special because about 3% of men like to ---- other men." "The all new 2015 POS Sedan! Because about 3% of men like to ---- other men!" "On the next "All My Widgets" Steve and Kim discuss how about 3% of men like to ---- other men." "And now the news. Our top story again tonight- Approximately 3% of men still like to ---- other men." At work- "This month is '3% of Men Like to ---- Other Men' Month." It's really getting aggravating. Seriously. It is now literally impossible for me to go 24hrs and not be reminded by something or someone that anal sex between dudes is a 'thing.' And I bet gay advocates think that is just peachy. The word “gay” is misunderstood. It is a self-identifier. It is possible that the number of men that have or have had sex with another man is 10% and the number of “gay” people are still 2%. So really, it is all about how the question is asked. Young, “heterosexual” women have been having sex with each other at high rates for about 20 years. Now, young heterosexual men are doing it and that is of particular concern given the public health fallout. Well, it would be fair to say that whatever the answer is, politics is not it. I say that the answer is faith, which is something that goes beyond “religion” and even transcends it. I used to think people were quibbling who made a distinction between faith and religion, but now I know from experience it isn’t a quibble. Religion is all outward. It doesn’t guarantee that there is anything in the heart behind it. Faith is inward... in fact it results when you actually believe that God loves you. Religion could be a response to a conviction that either God does not care or is chiefly bent on hating you. 19 posted on 07/15/2014 11:08:58 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.) I don’t call them “gay”. That is a bastardazation of the word. Similar to the rainbow flag. I call them queers. And so do a lot of FReepers. The word gay and the rainbow has been usurped by the homos and is now engrained with the connection of that life style. The same way the swastija became synonomis with the Nazi party. It’s inseperable. I prefer to call them what they really call themselves, queers. And as for their use of the term gay marriage, THAT is a huge misnomer. Whatever it is, it IS NOT a true marriage. 31 posted on 07/15/2014 11:56:14 AM PDT by NCC-1701 (You have your fear, which might become reality; and you have Godzilla, which IS reality.) Everyone knows there are gays and lesbians in everybody’s family. And no office would be complete without a sassy gay character. And just about every other kid in high school is wresting with his sexuality. I know. I watch TV. Except it isn’t true, and the Centers for Disease Control just proved it. A new comprehensive study by the CDC with over 33,000 participants has confirmed earlier estimates; less than 3 percent of the U.S. population self-identifies as gay, lesbian or bisexual. Earlier, much smaller-scale surveys have put that number at 4 percent. The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), published July 15 by the CDC, was the first large-scale study of it’s kind. Data was collected from the Census Bureau, as The Washington Post reported, and 33,557 adults between the ages of 18 and 64 participated in the study, which included in-person interviews as well as follow-up phone questions. The NHIS study found that, while 96.6 percent of adults identified as “straight”, 1.6 percent identified as gay or lesbian, and 0.7 percent called themselves bisexual. 1.1 percent responded “I don’t know” or said they were “something else” not listed. Maybe that’s because gay characters pop up in just about every product out of Hollywood. Men dress as women, give lap dances to other men and even get married in national awards shows likethe Grammys and Tony Awards. Media festivals likeSouth by Southwest and Sundance celebrate gay sex and all other kinds of relationships as completely normal. TV shows like “Modern Family,” “The New Normal” and “The Fosters” attempt to show that gay families are just as common and normal as any other family. Meanwhile the media highlights stories of transgender toddlers and invokes pity for the handful of gay students who go to Christian colleges and are open about their sexuality, then complain when they are asked to abide by the school’s religious rules. Gay activists who say hateful things get a pass from the media too. Take Dan Savage, who has said all kinds of vile comments towards conservatives, Christians, and women, yet the media ignores his hate. The moment a Christian refers to the Bible on homosexuality, the media relentlessly attacks the person, their family, and tries to take away their livelihood. They did that with Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty and Chic-Fil-A’s Dan Cathy. A much higher percentage of the population believes marriage should be between man and a woman. The annual March for Marriage is the largest march of its kind yet themedia refuse to report on it each year. But Major League Baseball just deemed that 3% so important to America's game that Bud Selig named Billy Bean as Ambassador for Inclusion. Not a single major leaguer identifies himself as gay, but Bean is desperately needed to "help create educational initiatives against sexism, homophobia and prejudice, presenting at annual events like the winter meetings and rookie career development program." It’s less than 1%. And that 1% has changed what the definition of marriage was since the beginning of recorded history. None of this degenerate, immoral garbage would would have happened if not for the election of the homosexual in the White House, wiht an assist from the spineless, worthless republicans cowering down to him like a dog in heat. Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Contents Following the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, Manabendra Narayan Larma founded the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) on February 15, 1972, seeking to build an organization representing all the tribal peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Larma was elected to the BangladeshJatiya Sangsad, the national legislature of Bangladesh as a candidate of the PCJSS in 1973.[4] When Larma's continued efforts to make the government recognize the rights of the tribal peoples through political discussions had failed,[5] Larma and the PCJSS began organizing the Shanti Bahini (Peace Corps), an armed force operating in the Hill Tracts area. It was formed in 1972 and fought for many years against the government.[6] Members of Shanti Bahini in Khagrachari on 5 May 1994. Shanti Bahini began attacking Bangladesh Army convoys in 1977.[7] They carried out kidnappings and extortion.[8][9][10] Larma subsequently went into hiding from government security forces.[8][10] Factionalism within the PCJS weakened Larma's standing and he was assassinated on November 10, 1983.[8][10] On 23 June 1981 the Shanti Bahini attacked a camp of Bangladesh rifles, killing 13 people. They later captured and executed 24 members of the Bangladesh rifles.[11] In the 1980s the Government of Bangladesh started to provide land for thousands of landless Bengali . Many Bengali were forced to move to secure regions because of the insurgency, abandoning their land to the tribal communities.[12] On 29 April 1986, Shanti Bahini massacred 19 Bengali.[13][14] On 26 June 1989 the Shanti Bahini burned down villages where inhabitants had voted in Bangladeshi elections.[15] In 1996 Shanti Bahini abducted and killed 30 Bengali.[16] On 9 September 1996, the Shanti Bahini massacred a group of Bengali woodcutters, who were under the impression they'd been called to a meeting.[17] Members of Shanti Bahini extorted some four million dollars from the local population in the name of toll collection.[18] The Shanti Bahini abandoned militancy when the Bangladesh Awami League negotiated the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord between the government and the PCJSS on 2 December 1997.[19] Members of Shanti Bahini surrendered their weapons in a stadium in Khagrachari. The treaty saw the lifting of nighttime curfew and the return of 50 thousand refugees.[20] However, some members opposed to the peace deal formed a dissident group.[21] Some of those who opposed the peace treaty formed the United People's Democratic Front as an alternate to the PCJSS.[22] The treaty was also criticised by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party[23] and has not been fully implemented.[24] Some members of Shanti Bahini became police officers after the peace treaty. On November 2012, two of those members of Bangladesh police were arrested for stealing ammunition from the police.[25] On August 2014 Indian security forces arrested members of Shanti Bahini, two Bangladeshi and three Indian nationals, with weapons in Mizoram.[26] The spokesman for the Shanti Bahini, Bimal Chakma alleged Indian involvement by stating that after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the removal of Bangladesh Awami League from power in 1975, [27] India provided support and shelter to the members of Shanti Bahini.[28][29][30] Members of Shanti Bahini were trained in Chakrata, India.[31][32]

Welcome to the best KC Chiefs site on the internet. You can view any post as a visitor, but you are required to register before you can post. Click the register link above, it only takes 30 seconds to start chatting with Chiefs fans from all over the world! Enjoy your stay! The ONLY political and religious thread allowed on Chiefscrowd 0 Clinton, McCain emerge as comeback winners in New Hampshire primary WASHINGTON - Democrat Hillary Clinton pulled off an unexpected narrow victory in New Hampshire on Tuesday, dramatically rescuing her bid for the White House in a tense battle with Barack Obama. Clinton, who's fighting to become the first woman in the Oval Office, mounted a surprisingly strong showing after bracing for a second defeat following her devastating third-place showing in Iowa. Republican John McCain also nabbed a major comeback victory, putting him solidly back in his party's nomination race. While Obama, vying to make history as the first black U.S. president, scored big among independents and voters between 18 and 24, Clinton attracted lower-income voters and seniors and did best among voters citing the economy as their top concern. But a big factor for Clinton was women voters, who had gone over to Obama in large numbers in Iowa. Nearly half in New Hampshire were once again supporting her, while Obama got only a third. You can come to Germany and see how we treat our people better with paying about the same tax rate as in some states in the USA. You all saying it is going to get bad, no matter who won or lost, the United States needs to be United. "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy." Make no mistake; this was a vote for more handouts by the permanently dependent. Until they finish burying the Constitution, which Obama will do as fast as he can, it's still the best country in the world. "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy." Make no mistake; this was a vote for more handouts by the permanently dependent. Until they finish burying the Constitution, which Obama will do as fast as he can, it's still the best country in the world. You guy make it sound like the end of the USA. It just needs politicians to meet in the middle, on all sides of the issues. I also think if the republicans would leave religion out of politics, then they would have a good chance in 2016. You guy make it sound like the end of the USA. It just needs politicians to meet in the middle, on all sides of the issues. I also think if the republicans would leave religion out of politics, then they would have a good chance in 2016. I personally believe that we are well on our way, look closely at Greece; I believe that could well be us in four years. We have a president who touts getting Bin Laden and then hangs four of our own out to dry in Libya and the media by in large gives him a pass because the mere insinuation of impropriety on the administrations part is "offensive" to the President. Well, sometimes the truth hurts, and here's the truth as I understand it: The consulate was denied the security forces required to protect it despite numerous requests. In spite of using the term "terror" in his address to the nation in the White House rose garden Obama and his surrogates spent nearly the next two weeks blaming a spontaneous "protest", which never happened, that had gotten out of control over some ridiculous You Tube video. As far as I'm concerned the president can be offended all he wants to but it doesn't change the facts in the matter. Lastly, unless everyone thinks we'll be just fine going 20+ trillion dollars in debt and maintaining trillion dollar deficits over the course of the next four years, selling more and more debt to China and devaluation our own currency by simply printing more money, then we are headed for ruins IMO. The House Speaker and the rest of the Republicans want to keep their jobs so they'll cower in the corner with their tails tucked between their legs to protect what’s left of their genitals allowing the President to run roughshod all over them being unfettered and unchecked now that he doesn't have to worry about re-election. Obama now has more "flexibility" to lighten up on the Iran sanctions for Putin making the world a more dangerous place. I'm not real optimistic about our country's future. That attack in Libya was not the first attack that killed Americans at an Embassy. It happened many times before and it will happen again no matter who is President. It is sad and it sucks but if these groups, terrorist or not, want to attack us, they will. I just see how we are too far to either the left side or the right side. If we do not get back to the middle, then we will end up like Greece. The USA does not have a "Germany" to bail them out so I truly believe in being fiscal conservative. At the same time though we have to pay for the things that are and have been on the books before Obama became President, the other 10t debt. No, I do not want more debt so we should cut the social programs and put in check and controls making sure only those who really need it get it. Still though, we have to pay and I rather see the Bush tax cuts for those making more than 250k to go back up that 3%. I just do not believe the budget can be balanced just on reducing the social programs alone. Like I said, if we do not get to the middle, then the future of the USA will not be a good one. That attack in Libya was not the first attack that killed Americans at an Embassy. It happened many times before and it will happen again no matter who is President. It is sad and it sucks but if these groups, terrorist or not, want to attack us, they will. I just see how we are too far to either the left side or the right side. If we do not get back to the middle, then we will end up like Greece. The USA does not have a "Germany" to bail them out so I truly believe in being fiscal conservative. At the same time though we have to pay for the things that are and have been on the books before Obama became President, the other 10t debt. No, I do not want more debt so we should cut the social programs and put in check and controls making sure only those who really need it get it. Still though, we have to pay and I rather see the Bush tax cuts for those making more than 250k to go back up that 3%. I just do not believe the budget can be balanced just on reducing the social programs alone. Like I said, if we do not get to the middle, then the future of the USA will not be a good one. Agreed, but that doesn't excuse ignoring and denying the need for additional security even after several requests for it. I agree that the approach needs to be increased tax revenue combined with spending cuts. However, this can be done by doing away with loopholes rather than raising the tax rate which has a way of "tickling down" to those of us making under that 250k. ...And that first ten trillion you make mention of was racked up by all the other Presidents in US history combined. The last 6+ trillion is new debt racked up by Obama in just the last four years.

About Pathophilia Allergan Files “Free-Speech” Complaint Against Govt The latest in the conflict between Constitutionally granted free speech and the government’s prohibition of off-label drug discussions by pharma. Last week, Allergan, maker of Botox (onabotulinumtoxinA), announced a suit against the US government, seeking “declaratory relief” from such long-time federally mandated off-label speech restrictions.* The complaint, filed in US District Court for the District of Columbia, specifically applies to the sharing of information about Botox Therapeutic (not Botox Cosmetic) and recent requirements of the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) program. In its complaint, the company is represented by Paul Clement, former Solicitor General and a current partner in the DC law firm of King & Spalding. Allergan’s suit was filed with respect to the FDA’s REMS program for botulinum toxin products. The program was instituted this year because of postmarketing reports of toxin spread after injections for off-label conditions—namely, spasticity in children with cerebral palsy and arm spasticity in adults. In the program, the FDA requires manufacturers to create a “communication plan” that provides information to physicians about the risk of the distant spread of botulinum toxin after local injection. But Allergan argues that the FDA’s required communication plan puts the company in a double bind—effectively mandating proactive discussions about the safety of off-label Botox Therapeutic, while simultaneously prohibiting proactive off-label discussions. Allergan claims that it cannot reasonably abide by the FDA’s REMS program for Botox Therapeutic (ie, “proactively provide comprehensive information to physicians about these off-label uses [emphasis added]”) without fear of prosecution. The company writes, “Allergan seeks a judgment that would permit it to provide currently available and truthful information to doctors for common off-label uses of [Botox].” In a conference call on Friday, Allergan’s General Counsel, Douglas Ingram, provided additional information about the complaint and fielded questions. Ingram stressed that the company’s suit applies to the provision of “truthful,” “nonmisleading,” and “comprehensive” information about the off-label uses of Botox Therapeutic. Ingram would not comment on a recent investigation of the company by the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, which issued a subpoena in March to the California-based firm regarding the alleged off-label promotion of Botox for headache. Both Ingram and Allergan CEO, David Pyott, stressed that the company’s current complaint does not relate to alleged past activities. Ingram also declined to comment on Pfizer’s recent record-breaking $2.3-billion settlement with the government concerning off-label drug promotion. * Mandated by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938. The FDCA dictates that an approved drug is “misbranded,” if it is marketed (in interstate commerce) for an unapproved use. The act stipulates that the product’s approved label, in this case, does not provide “adequate directions for use.” A native East Tennessean, Barbara Martin is a formerly practicing, board-certified neurologist who received her BS (psychology, summa cum laude) and MD from Duke University before completing her postgraduate training (internship, residency, fellowship) at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She has worked in academia, private practice, medical publishing, drug market research, and continuing medical education (CME). For the last 3 years, she has worked in a freelance capacity as a medical writer, analyst, and consultant. Follow Dr. Barbara Martin on Google + and Twitter.

The Benefits of App-Based Mobile Research Mobile Research: The Next Chapter Research has certainly come a long way. From in-person interviews, to mailers, to phone centers; researchers have always been quick to harness new technologies. Yes, we still get the occasional phone survey, but research has largely relocated to the internet. In the past, joining an online survey panel became a great way to make a few extra bucks and researchers gained direct access to respondents. But, these traditional panels aren’t without issues– They tend to have a shallow reach, and it is difficult to fill them with a truly representative sample. Their panelist can be “professional” survey takers, who know they are taking part in research. Clever respondents can game the system, and commit fraud which hurts the value of your data. To avoid these issues, many researchers are turning to mobile research. Mobile is the next chapter; and what better way to reach people than with the apps they use everyday? Mobile research conducted with app-recruited respondents has many benefits. Here are just a few: Broad Reach Research done through mobile apps has been proven to reach a broad and diverse set of respondents. Everyone is plugged in. PEW research found that more than 95% of adults in the US have a cellphone, and the majority of those are smartphones. Adults are also spending more and more time on those devices. People are spending almost twice as many hours on digital devices than they were in 2008, with more than half of that growth on mobile. More people are spending more time on their phones, and this represents a great opportunity in research. We no longer have to rely on hand-picked or self-selecting groups of respondents that don’t represent the public’s real views. Since apps are so widely used, we can harness their broad reach to get our surveys into the hands of real people. Professional Panelists vs App Survey-Takers Respondents on traditional survey panels tend to take survey after survey. We all know that practice makes perfect, but with data you don’t want perfect; you want the truth. Many “professional panelists” are able to navigate questions more intelligently and manipulate the process to gain rewards. This sometimes leads to insincere results. In comparison, app survey-takers are often new to the process and only take surveys every so often. These respondents tend to put more thought into how they answer, and are often more expressive. The experience of participating in research is still novel, and so their responses are more natural. Virtual Rewards Means Less Fraud Respondents taking surveys through mobile apps are awarded virtual rewards, such as in-game items or virtual currency. They are rewarded instantly, so there is no waiting for a monthly pay-out or gift card to come in the mail. Instant in-app rewards are a great incentive, because they harness the power of useful (and sometimes addictive!) apps, while discouraging fraud. When the reward can only be spent in the app, people are much less likely to game the system. Good News for Research This new approach provides access to groups of people who were difficult to engage before, allows us to engage those users in a more natural way, and cuts down on fraud. This is great news for researchers who can use mobile app-recruited respondents to avoid the issues inherent in traditional panels. If you are interested in seeing the results for yourself email us, or go DIY with our easy to use tool.

After you choose your school, the next most important decision you need to make is which computer you'll have for the next four years. Start your short list with these top-rated, value-focused laptops. Powerful virtualization utilities let you run Windows and all its apps on your OS X or Linux system, host older versions of Windows on newer systems, isolate your main operating system by running a virtual OS in a sandbox, and much more.

Thursday, December 13, 2012 Breaking Her Stunned And Traumatized Silence Quick roundup - US initial claims continue to bounce around frenetically, but that is because of seasonal adjustment. Actual claims, allowing for the Thanksgiving delay in processing, are pretty steady. They are not very different from the prior year's. This is the current release, and with it I grumpily concede that claims are in the 380s rather than the 370s where I wanted them to be. While not dire, this is an unfavorable development.All-important inventories to sales ratios - Total business remains where it has been cycling, which obscures the unhappy fact that the reason we are seeing the slow down in production-type PMIs is that it is cycling - businesses are notching down employment in order to keep it cycling. The forward impetus you get by looking at wholesalers, and there we get news of another downward notch. Again, not dire, but again, unfavorable.Wholesalers adjust their buys so that inventory doesn't accumulate too much, which then passes through to manufacturers.Retail sales for November were okay, but not if you were a department store or a grocery chain operator. There is an obvious slowing in YoY gains for retail sales. Table 2 gives you rolling three month comparisons YoY and for the previous 3 months. The YoY is now 4.3%, but the previous 3 months is 2%. This data is not price-adjusted, of course. There is a relatively high current error in this report for each month's data, but the three-month totals should have much less variance. Grocery store sales dropped in November in comparison to October, which is a sign that consumers aren't that flush. Food spending dropped in Q4 last year as well; consumers cut their food expenditures to pay for other spending. This, btw, is the biggest single indicator that we are in a recession, and it is truly an amazing one, due to the continued expansion of the SNAP (food stamp) program. It is Table 2.3.6, real-dollar food and beverages purchased for off-premises consumption, and since Q2 2011 it has not moved. But the population has increased and our subsidy for food has increased. SNAP expenditures continue to rise by month, and they are roughly equivalent to a 1.5% payroll tax cut. In fiscal year 2012, we spent 74.6 billion on SNAP, which is 9% of the total annualized BEA reported off-premises food consumption. (Table 2.3.5). In comparison, in fiscal year 2008 we spent 34.6 billion versus 740 billion total, or 4.7%. If this doesn't scare you witless, nothing will. Your mind is gone. You have exited the reality highway. You have achieved the nirvana of total mental drift, and you are floating in a warm sea of disassociation. There is also WIC, which at 4.8 billion in FY 2012 gets us to more like 9.5% of basic food expenditures.All this money, and the increasing population is buying less food per capita? This is Japanese-style deflation. The following BEA-generated chart shows CURRENT-dollar food trends: It might be time to stop importing immigrants that need government subsidies to feed themselves. All we are doing is crushing the working-class population into the ground. In this context, it's easy to see why the Fed is launching a Treasury bond-buying program, which at an annual total of 540 billion, would amount to funding close to half the fiscal year 2012 federal deficit. But the reality is that any measure which does not restore the ability of the general population to buy food at at least a continuous per-capita level is doomed to fail as an economic stimulus. I do have one favorable thing to say of MMT versus current more mainstream economics - the MMTers generally do seem to really get that a theoretical increase in the money supply does not equate to an actual increase in the money supply. You can dump "money" into the system all day long, but without a circulating mechanism, the "money" does not exist in fact. Another aspect of our current future expectations is that GASB is gradually tightening up the standards for government pensions. The current change in standards will fully take effect in 2014, and it will force higher contribution levels for government pensions, which will further cramp a lot of state and local governmental budgets. Of course there is a loophole which would allow and indeed force marginally funded plans to use a higher discount rate for the first-pass calculation in order to avoid the forced low-end discount rate. But some plans don't have this option, and this should be an adventure in fiscal reality. Well, I could write more, but I think I have come to the conclusion that the best way to proceed is to focus on real money supply in the context of theory and evidence. We can discuss what I think is happening to it, what MMT thinks it is, and what the Fed thinks it is doing to it! We've gone to the lowest price food goods we can go...next stop is the dumpster behind the store...lol. Probably should've started there, the trip would've been shorter.I look forward to seeing your take on the MMT'ers and their (nominal versus real) financial prestidigitation. It's a neat trick, their use of operational identities as their proof of "theory" while unmooring the feedback between the nominal and the real economy. Global 3-card monte...AnonPA TJ, I think you're right. Most of the people I know, myself included, are in a state of low confidence. Lots of money in CDs, MMAs, bonds, under the mattresses, and in gold/silver. IMO, a restoration of confidence would release a torrent of investing and spending. Only one thing standing in its way - government policy. The regulations to strangle coal, tight formation fracking, and even regular oil/gas production are now ready to go. A small businessman of my acquaintance has a big cash hoard. He's waiting for something that gives him the confidence to put it to work. Imagine that multiplied by millions of small businesses. Sure, it could cause another bubble. But that would be a nice problem to have compared to another four years of stagnation. Jimmy - it's not clear that the Fed alone can produce inflation, but your comments point out why some of the Fed Heads are worried about inflation. Once the fire starts, at 4 Trillion in how does the Fed get out? Trying to pull that much money out of the economy could only be done over a period of years, so likely the Fed would raise rates. It would be messy to say the least, and very resistant to attempts at calibration. Of course, our problems are not likely to clear up so one may doubt an explosion of confidence. The biggest fallacy of MMT, I don’t even know why we are talking about this, is that all the money printing goes to bonds first to finance government spending. If money printing is so good then just print it and deposit it to the US Treasury’s bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank. That goes for all the other 12 central banks that are printing. Just think of all the world resources that go into managing all that debt (and all that trauma) that could be diverted to more productive uses. I guess as long as the Velocity of money is not zero the more the Fed pumps in the more it should help the economy. That said I think the velocity of money may be structurally zero. As I've commented before we've passed the tipping point with the reelection of Obama. The class warfare he preaches will do nothing but widen the gulf between the haves and have nots. Pity. As in the "Only Nixon can go to China" theme he could sort out spending and entitlements but he's too wrapped up in the hate the rich meme to see the light or seize the opportunity. Obama doesn't realize that Fed stimulus actually widens the income gap. He can try to ram through tax increases for the top 10%, but if he doesn't get the budget balanced and federal regulation/control reduced (and he is incapable of such) then there will be no choice but more Fed money printing which essentially undoes any income gap compression the tax increases would enable.

simple interesting this coat hook design is the result of a challenge to take an everyday object u0026 remold rebuild repurpose it create entirely new item while using and interesting coat hooks bored panda.

Apple stores your Siri queries for up to two years Apple keeps your Siri data in its servers for up to two years, it has been revealed. Apple keeps your Siri data in its servers for up to two years, it has been revealed. Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller told Wired that the company only collects Siri voice clips, which can include questions, messages and other commands, in order to improve the voice-activated personal assistant that was launched with the iPhone 4S in 2011. "Our customers' privacy is very important to us," she said, adding that Apple takes steps to ensure that the data is kept anonymous. Wired explains that, when a user speaks to Siri, the voice-clip gets sent to Apple's data farm for analysis. Apple creates a random string of numbers to represent the user, therefore keeping their identity anonymous. Each time that user speaks to Siri, the same string of numbers (which is not an Apple ID or email address) will be associated to the voice clips collected. After six months, Apple "disassociates" the number from the voice recording, but can keep the file for up to 18 more months in order to carry out further testing and help improve Siri, Muller said. "Apple may keep anonymised Siri data for up to two years," Muller added. "If a user turns Siri off, both identifiers are deleted immediately along with any associated data." You can turn Siri off on your supported iOS device by going to Settings > General > Siri. While its understandable that Apple would want to keep Siri data in order to improve the service, American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Nicole Ozer says that Apple should make it clear to users that this is the case in its Siri FAQ, with a link to the Siri Privacy policy. At present, users can only find the Siri Privacy policy within the settings of an iPad or iPhone, so they aren't made aware of Apple's storage of voice clips until after purchasing an iOS device. "There is no good reason for Apple not to include information about privacy practices on their Siri FAQ page," Ozer told Wired, adding that, while data is anonymous, "what you say to Siri could reveal sensitive things about you, your family, or business." Gigaom's Erica Ogg highlights that Apple's two years of data storage is longer than Yahoo, Microsoft and Google's, all of which retain search data for 18 months. How do you feel about Apple's storage of Siri data? Let us know in the comments section below, or on Twitter.

Viktor Pimenov Vaynakh Television March 11, 1996, in Grozny, Russia Pimenov, a cameraman for Vaynakh Television, a Chechen station supported by Moscow-backed forces, was fatally shot in the back by a sniper positioned on the roof of a 16-story building in Grozny, the Chechen capital. Pimenov had been filming the devastation caused by the March 6-9 raid on the city.

General Nha Trang is a seaside town, also the capital city of Khanh Hoa Province – on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. Nha Trang is becoming increasingly popular in recent years because of its pristine beach, best scuba diving center of Vietnam as well as lots of interesting places and delicious food to enjoy. 08h30: Pick-up at the hotel. Transfer to the National Oceanographic Institute, where performances various sea creatures. It was built at the begin of the century by French. 09h30: Visit Bao Dai Villa, it was built on the hill and surrounded by the poetic scenery. 10h00: Visit Long Son pagoda with the white huge Buhhda statue on the top of Trai Thuy hill, Ponagar tower a typical historic building of Cham people, Chong Ptomontory which is a beautiful sightseeing. 12h30: Have lunch and relax. Then you will soak and relax in Thap Ba Hot Mineral Spring Center (pay ticket which enjoy Mud Bath for yourself) 15h30: Shopping at Dam Market. Then you have a chance to listen about Nha Trang history at The Second of April Square, take photo with Tram Huong Tower and Opera House. Take an over view of Nha Trang city from the hight of Tram Huong Tower.

Five Crazy Headlines: Babies for sale, a DUI hood ornament and a cartoon getaway van How much is a baby worth nowadays? In China, one was enough to buy a new iPhone and a motorbike. A young couple were arrested in China after they sold their 18-day-old baby to a man they met through the Chinese messaging app QQ. The couple planned on using the money from the sale to buy several different items including a motorbike and an iPhone. The 19-year-old father was sentenced by a judge to three years in jail, while the underage mother of the baby received a two and a half year suspended sentence since she had not yet completed her schooling. After hearing about the arrests of the parents, the man who bought the baby turned himself in to authorities, but it is unclear at this time if he has been sentenced to jail time. The baby is now being raised by the sister of the buyer, as the judge determined that the conditions the birth parents currently faced were too difficult for raising a child. At a city-run pregnancy seminar, the mayor of Tangerang City, Indonesia gave expectant mothers a warning. Feeding babies instant noodles or milk formula will make them gay. Arief R. Wismansyah explained that because parents today are so busy that they feed their babies instant foods and formula, it has a negative impact on children’s development. He added that it is because of this that there have recently been more gay people. Homosexuality is not widely accepted in Indonesia, but it is also not illegal except for in the province of Aceh, which follows Sharia law. Source: DNA India No officer, I’m not drunk. It’s a hood ornament! If you are drunk and try to drive, just know you aren’t as subtle as you think you are. Recently an officer in Roselle, Illinois pulled over and arrested a man for driving under the influence. The officer suspected something was wrong when he saw a car driving along with a 15-foot-tall tree stuck in the front grill. When he got closer he noticed the airbags had been deployed inside the car. He then arrested the man for DUI. His case is still pending. A video of the incident was posted on the department’s Facebook page, where it has now been shared almost 20,000 times. Source: NBC Chicago A couple dollars for you and a couple million dollars for me Brothers James and Bob Stocklas hit it big recently, when they combined to win $291,000,007 from the Florida lottery. James won the $291 million Powerball jackpot. Bob won $7. James Stocklas, a judge from Pennsylvania, was eating breakfast at his favorite restaurant when he discovered he had won the jackpot. To celebrate his winnings, he paid for the meal of everyone in the restaurant at the time. To commemorate the pair of winners, the Florida State Lottery also printed off a full-size winner’s check for Bob’s $7 prize. Source: CNN Like, zoinks! The cops are after us! A 51-year-old woman in Redding, California is being sought after by police after she led them on a high-speed chase last week in a van painted up to look like the Mystery Machine from the Scooby-Doo cartoons. Sharon Kay Turman was wanted for violating her probation when an officer from the Redding Police Department tried to pull her over. Turman then led police on a high-speed chase, speeding through major roads and highways before running a red light and crashing into four cars. She managed to continue driving after the crash, and later abandoned her van and fled on foot.

We are excited that you will be attending the Madison Mission Trip! The trip will be exciting opportunity for participants to strengthen their relationship with Jesus, step out of their comfort zone, learn the needs of the Madison area, serve our community and have fellowship with members of all three church sites. It is a four day mission trip in our own backyard from Sunday, April 13th to Wednesday, April 16th. Everyone is welcome- young, old, families, couples, singles. Whether you have gifts to share, or you're not sure how God can use you in Madison, you are welcome to join us on this adventure! To participate in the mission trip you must complete this form by Saturday March 1st.

Simon Cowell Just Let Slip Which X Factor Judges Are Paid The Most! There has always been speculation about the pay packets of the panel but Simon has just added fuel to the fire. When it comes to judges on the X Factor, it's only the best for Simon Cowell. The talent show boss is no stranger to coughing up the cash either, with reports he was prepared to pay Mariah Carey £1 million to appear on the panel. With just weeks to go until X Factor returns to our screens for its thirteenth series with Simon Cowell has shed light on just how much his co-judges are being paid and even let slip that some are paid more than others. According to the SyCo label boss, Sharon Osbourne and Nicole Scherzinger and former judge Cheryl cost him the most money they paid favourably in comparison to fellow judge Louis Walsh, who is also set to reprise his role on the panel this year. Simon believes paying his female stars more is a pioneering move and a stark contrast to the BBC, who received backlash last month after their highest paid stars were revealed to be men. Speaking about his female co-stars, he told The Sun: “For once this is good news. Victory. Yeah, they definitely are [paid more]. I just don’t tell Louis.” The revealing interview also shed light on X Factor USA, which ran for two years between 2010 and 2012, as Simon confirmed he paid Britney Spears a hefty fee to appear on the panel. Speaking about the comparison between wages, Simon explained: “If they get the money, it doesn’t matter to me whether you’re a boy or a girl. But I would say we’ve probably paid girls more money than guys over the years.” “The truth is, in showbusiness normal circumstances, you are paid by your worth and that’s just the way it goes."

Despite his recent legal troubles, rapper DMX received some good news yesterday (May 16), when a Maryland judge overturned a $1.5 million defamation judgment against him. The judgment, which was handed down in January, came as a result of a defamation of character lawsuit brought against DMX by Monique Wayne. The suit stemmed from allegations the rapper (born Earl Simmons) made during a 2006 interview with Sister 2 Sister magazine. In the story, Simmons claimed he was raped by Wayne while staying at a hotel in Baltimore in 2003. Simmons’ comments triggered a $6 million lawsuit that was filed by Wayne in Prince George’s County Circuit Court in Upper Marlboro, Md., in October 2006. The rapper was later ordered to pay Wayne $518,400 in compensation and $1 million in punitive penalties after missing a scheduled court hearing for the case in January. Soon after, Simmons hired The Murphy Firm, a Baltimore-based law firm, to dispute the ruling. According to reports, the New York native was unaware that a hearing was scheduled to take place. Despite the initial outcome, Hassan Murphy, a managing partner of The Murphy Firm, was happy to see his client vindicated by the new ruling, which was handed down by Judge Thomas P. Smith. “Today a very large judgment was vacated by Judge Smith,” Murphy told AllHipHop.com in a statement. “The judge clearly agreed with us that Mr. Simmons was never properly notified and therefore he threw out the judgment.” Although the overturned judgment ended Simmons’ week on a good note, the rapper is still mired in legal drama. Earlier this month, the rapper was arrested on numerous motor vehicle charges stemming from a January incident that involved him driving 114 mph on a local highway with a suspended license. On Thursday (May 15), Simmons pleaded not guilty to various felony drug charges and animal cruelty charges, after arriving an hour late to a court appearance in front of Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner Lisa VandenBerg. The court appearance followed a May 9 raid of the rapper’s Cave Creek, Arizona home that came after a seven month investigation into animal cruelty charges.

Creative Worx I am an artist whose main focus is on abstract pieces. I love to draw and doodle a design and I love to paint. I love the expression and individualism that art has given me. Art makes me happy and I truly enjoy doing it. I hope you enjoy my work! :)

WoW Tailoring Guide 1-600 This WoW Tailoring Guide details the most efficient method of leveling Tailoring from levels 1 to 600 in the World of Warcraft. Tailoring is a primary profession (of which you can only choose two at any point in the game) and allows your character to create a variety of items such as armor, bags and clothing. Tailoring probably complements the Enchanting profession better than any other, as the items that are crafted with Tailoring can be disenchanted to provide materials for Enchanting. Updated for WoW patch 5.2 This guide focuses on making the training path easier by using patterns that can be learned from Tailoring trainers and patterns with the most easily obtained materials. It also looks to make the items that are Green or better quality, as these can then be disenchanted. Unless stated otherwise, all the patterns used in this guide can be purchased for a Tailoring Trainer of appropriate level. If you’re having trouble collecting the cloth required for tailoring patterns, then take a look at the Cloth Gathering Guide for locations (with maps) of the best mobs to farm. 1Alliance players purchase from: Neii in the Traders’ Tier, The Exodar1Horde players purchase from: Deynna in The Bazaar, Silvermoon1There is also a neutral vendor to purchase from: Eiin in the Lower City, Shattrath 2This pattern grants 3 levels at a time3This pattern grants 4 levels at a time4These patterns are available to purchase for 1 x Spirit of Harmony each from vendors in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Vale of Eternal Blossoms is accesible after completing the quest A Celestial Experience (requires level 87) Alliance Vendor is Raishen the Needle in the Shrine of Seven Stars Horde Vendor is Esha the Loommaiden in the Shrine of Two Moons Specializations As of WoW patch 4.0.1 the tailoring specializations of Mooncloth, Shadoweave and Spellfire have been removed from the game. I hoped you found this WoW Tailoring Leveling Guide useful and that it has helped you on your way to level 600. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Metabolic syndrome, Obesity, Insulin resistance, Liver fibrosis, NAFLD treatment Sažetak: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has, although it is a very common disorder, only relatively recently gained broader interest among physicians and scientists. Fatty liver has been documented in up to 10 to 15 percent of normal individuals and 70 to 80 percent of obese individuals. Although the pathophysiology of NAFLD is still subject to intensive research, several players and mechanisms have been suggested based on the substantial evidence. Excessive hepatocyte triglyceride accumulation resulting from insulin resistance is the first step in the proposed 'two hit' model of the pathogenesis of NAFLD. Oxidative stress resulting from mitochondrial fatty acids oxidation, NF-kappaB-dependent inflammatory cytokine expression and adipocytokines are all considered to be the potential factors causing second hits which lead to hepatocyte injury, inflammation and fibrosis. Although it was initially believed that NAFLD is a completely benign disorder, histologic follow-up studies have showed that fibrosis progression occurs in about a third of patients. A small number of patients with NAFLD eventually ends up with end-stage liver disease and even hepatocellular carcinoma. Although liver biopsy is currently the only way to confirm the NAFLD diagnosis and distinguish between fatty liver alone and NASH, no guidelines or firm recommendations can still be made as for when and in whom it is necessary. Increased physical activity, gradual weight reduction and in selected cases bariatric surgery remain the mainstay of NAFLD therapy. Studies with pharmacologic agents are showing promising results, but available data are still insufficient to make specific recommendations ; their use therefore remains highly individual.

Artificial intelligence Devices, machines and vehicles that are fully autonomous will become a reality during the next 20 years. The Global Digital Foundation will explore the social, legal and economic implications of this development.

I don't have personal experience to contribute but after talking to a friend who's been through the cloth diaper routine a few times, I changed my planned "all pre-fold all the time" stance to a combo of prefold and pocket diapers. Apparently the pockets are great for overnight, since you can stuff them with extra inserts or more absorbent inserts or whatever. She also directed me towards http://jilliansdrawers.com/ , which has a trial set where you can try out a bunch of brands before committing. As far as I can tell, brand loyalty is basically a religious issue and babies vary in how they fit a given brand, so I'm a little scared to buy a lot before trying them. for us, pockets at night were great when i changed him during the night, but now, its all about how much stuffin i can get on his bottom at night, and layers of prefolds are more effective, and i throw a sheet of microfleece over it to act like the stay dry of a pocket. Of course i couldn't shell out for the hitech pocket stuffin, and just stuff my pockets with prefolds. that said, they are my diaper bag, out and about diapers, all three of them. For out and about I really like my Bummis wet bag - I have a size small, which is 10" x 12" and just right for about three medium sized prefolds, but you can get bigger ones if you use pockets or want it to hold more. I like it because it has a zipper, and the handle unsnaps so I can hang it on something if I need to. I got wet bags from SnuggyBaby on Etsy, but they have their own website you can order from, too. Here are the wet bags. I haven't used them yet (stillllllllll pregnant), but they seem really well made and come in some super cute patterns (which is kind of pointless, but I'm a sucker for cute fabric). I have a diaper sprayer, but again: haven't used it yet. I don't know why I keep posting in this thread when I don't actually have anyone to diaper yet. i have that exact diaper sprayer. i didn't worry too much about breastfeeding poops since they were pure liquid, but once he started eating solids it came in handy. the only thing is the pressure is REALLY touchy, and if you aren't careful you're going to get backsprayed with poo water... _________________Gwyneth Paltrow: "I'm superstitious. Whenever I start a new movie I kill a hobo with a hammer." I saw (but didn't actually read) an article about the dangers of diaper sprayers. I think because of strangulation risks. If you have one or plan to get one I would read it. I think I saw it on the diaper junction blog. I am not saying not to use one but I see the potential hazard, so make sure you have the bathroom door baby proofed. I got wet bags from SnuggyBaby on Etsy, but they have their own website you can order from, too. Here are the wet bags. I haven't used them yet (stillllllllll pregnant), but they seem really well made and come in some super cute patterns (which is kind of pointless, but I'm a sucker for cute fabric). Oh my! I love it! I'm of huge fan of fabric and paper for that matter with design. I actually have the fabric for the "Tranquil Leaves Wet Bag" as a camera bag that I bought on Etsy. i don't have a sprayer- i dunk diapers in the toilet or shake of more solid poops into the toilet. I used to use a scraper, but in the last move, it disappeared (it was a golden cake scraper i picked up at a thrift store, i could replace it, but i'm to cheap and lazy). as they said, until they start solids, you don't need to worry about it. I also figure it keeps me washing my hands, which i should do anyway. oh, and on the cheap and lazy note, for diapering out and about i keep a couple plastic shopping bags in the zippered compartment of my backpack for wet bags. What is your night time set-up? I've been using Nature's Best disposables at night, because they're easier when I'm half asleep and because, now that he's sleeping for more than 2 hours at a time, I don't want a wet diaper against his skin. But lately it seems we have a poop leak every night--poop goes up his back, through his pajamas, and onto my sheets. I never have leaks when he's in cloth, so disposables are actually turning out to be more work. Plus they smell bad. I want to make the switch to cloth at night, so I ordered some fleece-lined hemp doublers. Most nights he's not pooping until 4 or 5am (I think) so if he's in the same diaper 10pm-4am, he's not sitting in poop. Green Mountain Diapers recommends wool for overnight, but obviously I'd like to avoid that. Do you have special covers for nighttime, or do you just use your regular covers with extra absorbency inside? I only had two covers that were Nikky brand. I always saved them for night time because they were bullet proof and fully breathable poly. They run about $14.00 new and worth ever single penny. Nikkys have been around since the early 80's and rival any of todays brands. I would highly receommend trying one for nightime. my two sons never pooped during the night, but they pee'd twice as much as my daughter and nursed every 1-2 hours untile the bitter end. I swear I birthed little piggies. The nikkys were great. I noticed turd through the window of the front-load washer while I was running a load of diapers last night. My husband kindly disposed of it. I guess I need to start making sure all the disposable liners have been flushed. I don't know how that one got past us. ;p I noticed turd through the window of the front-load washer while I was running a load of diapers last night. My husband kindly disposed of it. I guess I need to start making sure all the disposable liners have been flushed. I don't know how that one got past us. ;p Hahaha! I couldn't help but get a mental picture of Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo from South Park when I read this. Not helpful at all, but it gave me a hearty laugh...On a more helpful note, I really love my Maxwell Designs Diaper Bag, Wet Bag and Changing Pad. My wet bag sounds exactly like what Poopie B described. Also, if you are interested, the Maxwell Designs chic will match your changing pad, diaper bag and wet bag, if you are into that sort of thing. Linky http://tootsntots.com/main/shop/categor ... l-designs/I got the XL and to be honest, I could have gotten by with the L or M. _________________Go gentle unto the night, children. For the flouncin' hat is sure to unflatter even the finest face ~ PandacookieGet with the times, nameless fourth banana ~Tofulish Like Mel I have the Maxwell gear - bag, change pad and wetbag. Mine match because I am into that sorta thing ;) I do love that it zips from a mess containing perspective, but I actually like one of the other bags I have from http://www.applecheeks.com better (it's drawstring style) because I find it easier to load diapers into without getting my hands messy. And maybe it's just me, but I've found having more than 1 wetbag to be pretty beneficial, as sometimes we have crazy weekends and I don't have time to wash one or wait for it to dry before we have to head out again. For overnight, we actually put one of our applecheeks inserts into one of our BumGenius AIO diapers and have never had a leak. We were getting all kinds of leaks with every other combination we tried (we have pockets, the Bumgenius, and a bunch of fitteds with covers - were never into prefolds) but I think we have hit the jackpot. I thought this was a useful page: http://www.esbaby.net/whatdoineed.htm I am still pregnant myself but just spent a good part of the weekend navigating this and interrogating my cloth diapering friends! Things I have learned:- one-size diapers are great, and eventually if I like them I plan to use a mix of one size Fuzzibunz and Flip system. (with flip cloth inserts most of the time and maybe disposable inserts when we travel).. HOWEVER, even my friend with giant babies finds that her kids don't fit well into "one size" diapers until they're a little over 10 lbs, so it's good to have some newborn or small diapers to span that 7-12 lb range. (Assuming you plan to have big babies - my mom and MIL churned 'em out in the 7.5-10+ range so I'm not too worried about fitting a 5lber myself!) From reading around it does sound like the Flip diapers can possibly be used with larger newborns, but I've decided to get plenty of NB options just in case. - count on using about 12 inserts or all-in-one/pocket diapers per day for a newborn, larger babies go less frequently. So then you multiply by how often you want to do laundry, and you probably don't want to go over 3 days because things will get rank. If you plan to air dry, leave time for that! So personally my plan is to have 3 days' worth of diapers, so that means 36 changes. - For all-in-one/pocket diapers, that means one per change for the most part - For prefolds (those are pieces of cloth sewn on the side that you have to put inside a cover) or fitted diapers (these look a little like all-in-ones and have snaps or velcro to hold them together, BUT they're made of non-waterproof material so if you go out or baby moves a lot you need a cover on that), you'll need one prefold or fitted per change PLUS a certain number of covers (that site recommends 5-9 total for a 3 day supply). The covers are just a waterproof shell that go over the diaper. - Personally I've been mulling the tradeoff between nice matchy-match commercial system vs. collecting a little of everything and seeing what I like. After talking it over with the husband and doing some research I've decided that with newborn diapers I'm going to get a few each of different things. All babies are shaped differently and even the same TYPE of diaper can fit very differently between brands! I guess this is why some people RAVE about one brand while others hate it, and vice versa with another brand. So I'm preparing to be flexible! But after doing gobs of research, here's what my newborn shopping list is: [ ] Small Fuzzibunz in various colors: 6-8 (these are pocket diapers, so very convenient for nighttime!) Zulily has these on sale for >1/2 off every once in a while so I'm planning on waiting for the next sale. Already have a couple, they seem very soft and well-made.[ ] Fitted newborn diapers: 6 (lots of options on etsy with cute fabrics! my friend says that if you're just at home with baby still immobile, you don't necessarily need a cover. If you go out, you do. I figure these will be almost as easy as the fuzzibunz at night[ ] Small size indian prefolds - 24 (they're cheap)[ ] Snappis - 2 - these hold the prefolds in place if you don't want to use diaper pins. You need to replace them every 6 mos and need 1-2 of them.[ ] NB/small covers - need 5, ordered 8 of a couple types - Bummis with snaps and the suspiciously cheap Real Nappies with velcro[ ] One Flip system one-size day pack - 2 covers + 6 inserts. I don't know if these will fit a young baby but I'm going to try.[ ] Pondering getting a few newborn all in ones, since there are cute inexpensive ones on etsy. I also am planning on the husband not wanting to do elaborate prefold securing in the middle of the night (nor will I probably!), so I'm hoping to find what works for us among pocket diapers, all-in-ones, and fitted diapers. It sounds like some brands of velcro are easier to remove by older babies than others. I'm not worried about this for NBs, and planning on going with snaps personally because I don't like velcro, but it does sound like it's slightly easier to put on (and, thus, take off). Oh I forgot to mention: one important thing with newborns is that the umbilical cord shouldn't be covered/bothered by a diaper. So for example these newborn fitted diapers (again, these aren't waterproof so they need a cover with them), have a little notch where it's lower to accommodate that: http://www.etsy.com/listing/66693480/tiny-flowers-newborn-tt-fitted-cloth?ref=v1_other_2 Now I don't quite understand exactly what is and isn't compatible, but apparently you can adjust prefolds a little so they're folded under, and some diapers seem to have a setting where the front can be put lower.. The frustrating thing is that talking to people it seems like the cord can come off anywhere between a couple days after birth to weeks and weeks! so it's tough to say how much you need to accommodate this. Maybe the expert diaperers can chime in about this. I'm pretty sure, though, that for example the small fuzzi bunz I bought might not be usable the first few days because of this issue. I've heard of friends just sticking with disposables until the cord is gone and healed, to avoid the issue entirely. And so my backup plan is to just have a pack or two of disposables, honestly. I also considered just going with those until the baby is big enough to fit into one size because the amount you'll spend on newborn cloth diapers can pay for itself if you have a preemie, but if your baby is larger they might be in newborn sizes just a few weeks! For a cost comparison, It looked on diapers.com that Pampers Swaddlers for newborns worked out to about $3/day. Also, EVERY brand seems to have different sizing, so be careful about that, but it sounds like weighs are also just guidelines and you'll need to adjust the fit and even how much absorbent material you stuff in the diaper to suit your particular baby! ACK! I hope all this gets a lot more obvious once I have a baby in diapers.. I agree that it is incredibly confusing! I feel like I spent most of the weekend on this and it's still a mystery. I bought newborn prefolds and covers from Green Mountain Diapers. Prefolds are just squares of quilty cotton fabric that you either pin around the baby or fold in thirds and hold in place with a waterproof cover. Prefolds and covers are the cheapest option, and I've found them very, very easy. My husband only changes one or two diapers each day and always says he can't believe how easy they are. I have pins but I like the snappis fasteners. Green Mountain Diapers has a newborn starter package that lets you try a sampling of different brands of covers. That's a good idea, because you just don't know what you'll like until you try it. I thought I would like velcro, but then it curled under and scratched my son, so now I only use covers with snaps. The covers I thought were adorable had leg holes that were way too small for my kid, so I'm glad I waited before ordering lots of covers in larger sizes. I like thirsties duo covers--size small fits birth through about 15 lbs., size large lasts 15 lbs. until potty training (or so they say). You should just try several brands, see what is easy for you and what fits your kid best. How many diapers and covers you need for a newborn depends on how big your baby is and how fast he/she grows, which is impossible to know now. Walter was out of newborn covers in 3 weeks, so those were kind of a waste of money. But if he had been tiny for a long time, the next size up would have been too big and leaky. So yes, you may end up wasting money on diapers that are too small. An alternative is to just use disposable until the baby grows into size smalls. We used disposables about half the time the first 2-3 weeks. It just felt easier; I was overwhelmed and didn't feel like figuring out a washing routine. Now I think cloth is easier than disposable, but just tossing the diapers in the trash made the first weeks (esp. nighttime) go more smoothly. You're not the only one who finds this all confusing; I spent DAYS reading cloth diapering websites trying to figure it out. The good news is, once you're actually doing it every day, it'll seem easy. You're not the only one who finds this all confusing; I spent DAYS reading cloth diapering websites trying to figure it out. The good news is, once you're actually doing it every day, it'll seem easy. Ha ha. No kidding. I remember being really confused and concerned about it. We went with prefolds and covers (the Thirsties Duos, which are two sizes... which for us were basically newborn and post-newborn) with the plan of moving on to AIOs as the Emperor got older/we could afford them. But I actually found that AIOs aren't a good match for us. They take forever to dry, for one thing, and we don't have a dryer. We ended up sticking with just prefolds etc and I expect that's what he'll be in for the duration. I think there's no real way to know what's going to work for you and your baby til you've got the kid. Alas... By the way, mitten, our nighttime diaper is pretty simple. We use super huge prefolds (toddler sized maybe?), tri fold them, then fold the front over so it's doubled up. So he's got basically six layers of prefold in his pee area overnight. It works really well now that he's older-- we barely every have nighttime leaks. It's really hard to diaper babies so they don't leak some substance when they're younger. We didn't have poop leaks, but we did often have pee leaks when he was younger. I'm another hardcore prefold fan (I love the thirstie duo covers and my husband likes the bummi super brights). We've tried AIOs and pockets, but they've always leaked on us or seem way too baggy. Turns out the cheapest route was the best fix for us! (love when that actually happens!)

You are Bigger than Your Anxiety Today’s article is brought to you by AG contributor Bryan3000. Bryan and I have been exchanging ideas for weeks and I’ve enjoyed those conversations. I think that you’ll enjoy his perspective as well. — Paul Dooley So, it’s another Sunday afternoon and I’m lucky enough to be spending some time at home, playing with my little four year old girl and watching football. Life doesn’t get much better. That said, as I sat there… I had some of the usual slow-boiling anxiety that seems to just hang around some days for no particular reason. Attempting to use the things I’ve learned, I did my best to simply accept the symptoms and go about my day. My little girl also was dealing with her own health issues that day. She had another cold, which seem to come on an almost weekly basis at this age. Her forehead felt a little hot, her nose was runny and she occasionally looked up from her toys to cough a few hacking coughs. As I sat dealing with my own discomfort, it dawned on me that she must have been dealing with a good deal of her own. Her outward symptoms surely weren’t the only ones. These colds almost always come with a host of uncomfortable effects on our heads, bodies, moods, etc. Sure, she seemed a little crabby at times, but she kept right on focusing on the little play-set and animal figures she had set up… mouthing words for them to talk to each other, and creating her own little fictional world. She was completely immersed in what she was doing. All of those symptoms, and yet no complaining from her. It appeared to be the furthest thing from her mind. Now, a cynical mind might look at this situation and assume that she’s just a child. She doesn’t know the real dangers of health issues. She’s too young to have developed an actual sense of self-awareness with regards to her health. But, there’s another way to look at this. This child of four years has certainly dealt with sickness before. She’s been to the doctor. She’s gotten shots. (She just loves those!) She’s aware of medication and sometimes even claims to need it. (Likely because it’s cherry-flavored and sugary.) She’s not oblivious to the concept of illness. Instead, she’s just simply not that impressed with it. Of course, at some point… she’ll have a rough flu or illness that does slow her down. It’s part of growing up. But right now, she’s got a view of her illness that just might be one we can all learn from. Now, I’m certainly not the first to suggest that we’re larger than our afflictions. This is a well-covered topic. However, it may be a concept that we need to remind ourselves of, and on a regular basis. The reality of my daughter and I sitting in that living room that day was that her illness was likely a much bigger threat to her than my simmering anxiety was to me. In fact, by this point if you’ve read or listened to enough material from this very website, you know anxiety symptoms aren’t dangerous at all. Yet, there I was doing my best to accept and flow with my symptoms,struggling at times as she sat care-free playing with her toys and urging me to do the same. The problem with panic and anxiety is that by its very nature, it feels so much larger in scope than it really is. The symptoms come on in such a way that it affects that very brain mechanisms that estimate a perceived threat. It’s function is to convince us that we are in trouble. As we all know, that is its biological purpose and is part of all of our make-up. Yet, if you’re reading this, you also probably know that anxiety itself is not a real threat. As Dr. Claire Weeks put it, “don’t be bluffed by a thought.” You are bigger than anxiety. The reality on a short-term basis is that anxiety is probably far-less dangerous than the common cold and certainly less dangerous than the flu. (No, you shouldn’t be afraid of the flu, either!) We all need to remind ourselves every day just how big we are and just how small anxiety really is. Think of your body, mind, spirit, and all of the things that comprise your being. Think of what you’ve accomplished and want to accomplish. Think of the mind you’ve been blessed with and the positive attributes you’ve been given, physically. We all have them, regardless of our conditions. Think of the complex tasks your body completes every day without any effort on your part. Think of all the illnesses your body has defeated over your lifetime. We’re all giants in so many regards. Anxiety pales in comparison. No one else sees your anxiety. It doesn’t even make your nose run! People see you, the giant entity that you are. We all need to give ourselves this daily reminder so the picture becomes (and remains) crystal clear. If we can all view ourselves as bigger than the problem, perhaps we can eventually deal with anxiety as easily as a child deals with a cold. As for me, I did manage to work through the symptoms and enjoy much of the day. I’ll now remember that Sunday as a special time spent with my child, not for the bothersome physical symptoms. I have my struggles like we all do, but life only offers so many of those moments. I don’t intend to let anxiety take them away from me. I hope you won’t, either. Comments Bryan, I agree 100%. I have a four yr old of my own and that guy could care less about feeling bad for too long. He really does have better things to do. And although it is partly ignorance on his part, the bottom-line is that if you don’t focus on the negative, that negative issue shrinks in size. It’s when you sit and worry that the trouble starts. Great article. Hey Emily, thanks for thinking of me. Bryan is right, if you go to the home page and click on the Anxiety Superhero article you’ll find highlighted links to the book title that will take you straight to amazon.

? PARTICULAR DESIGN – The excellent design of our karaoke microphone is very suitable for your hand, which can make you feel more comfortable. And the built-in high-quality Bluetooth module can be used as speaker, player and Recorder, compatible with various singing applications ? TWO WAYS CONNECTION – Bluetooth Connection & Cable Connection. You just need to connect your phone with cable or Bluetooth, and then open the singing APP on your phone. The built-in clearly audio and vividly sound effect can make you enjoy listening and singing anytime and anywhere. Great for KTV singing, gathering singing, family singing, travel singing, car stereo, instrument recording, interviews and live ect ? HIGH COMPATIBILITY – Supporting micro SD card max 64GB(NOT INCLUDED) and song switch. The Bluetooth has a great distance of connection(10m), and supports Android, iPhone, iPad, IOS and all Smartphone ? EASY TO USE – Multi-function buttons can adjust the Music, Echo, Volume and PA/R. Free to switch the previous and next song mode. Adjustable echo length effect can bring super surround with immersive enjoy. And the USB port allow you to plug USB and turn this magic piece to MP3 and play directly Introducing Indigi’s MQ09 Portable Handheld Wireless Bluetooth 4.0 Karaoke Microphone & MP3 Speaker System, plus built-in Disco LED Dance Light. The MQ09 delivers powerful and full sound with a built-in mixer attached to the device! Connect to a device through Bluetooth 4.0 or use the micro SD Memory card and play music directly through the speaker and sing through the microphone for the ultimate karaoke experience! With the HiFi upgraded microchip, the MQ09 delivers clear and crisp vocals that you’d expect while singing or speaking. And because it’s wireless and ultra-compact, it’s easy to take anywhere. Use it at a friends house to sing karaoke, a family reunion, party, or if you’re a street performer, this will replace your loud speaker! With the built-in dual speakers, you get a 360º projection of sound. The Indigi MQ09 Wireless Bluetooth Microphone and Speaker Combo can play unplugged up to 5 hours and can be charged from most USB power sources. The microphone is layered with three types of filters to remove any distortion/background noise from your voice to provide true to life vocals. Play Music and Sing over the chrous while controlling the volume of the music to harmonize The Dual 3W speakers with the full-range provide amazing clarity and sound from both Music through Bluetooth/AUX and your Voice. Fitted with a mixer onboard the MQ09, you can control Treble, Bass, Independant Volume controls for Voice & Music, and also add Echo to your voice. Bluetooth 4.0 wireless transmission solves the need to carry around an AUX cord, but we’ve included one for you incase your device doesn’t have Bluetooth. It also has a micro sd card or TF card slot to play music from the memory card. No special charger needed, fitted with the most popular charger (microUSB) The appearance of new, metallic finish + iron mesh + professional mixer

How do I stop my dog lunging at traffic? (Q) I have awful trouble walking my dog because she lunges and barks at traffic, and she almost has me off my feet. She especially does this with lorries and buses. (A) Jackie Drakeford says: First you need to restore control for your own safety, and I recommend getting a harness that has the lead attachment on the chest. Walk your dog from a lead on her collar, but have a second lead on the harness. It's a lot easier than it sounds to work with two leads, and the beauty of this arrangement is that when your dog lunges, the chest fastening means that as the harness lead comes into play, it turns her towards you. Next you need to look at your dog's motivation. Most dogs who do this are trying to scare the traffic away, because there is a big element of fear involved. Not only is there the size to consider, but the noise, vibration, and the diesel fumes at dog height make these vehicles a very unpleasant experience for the dog as they go by. And of course the traffic does go away, so your dog thinks her actions have succeeded, which is rewarding her. Her imagined success brings with it a big rush of excitement hormones, which are highly addictive, and so prompt her to repeat this behaviour for the thrill of it. Thrill and fear are very closely linked in the mind. If your dog is a herding breed, then she is also genetically programmed to dive at moving things and get them moving faster, so there is yet another another huge reward in this. Every dog has a reaction distance. Right now, you are too close to the traffic, so find places where you can both observe it while being far enough away that your dog doesn't feel the need to react. Sit together watching the traffic going by, while rewarding calm behaviour with a few treats, a toy or a game. If your dog reacts, you are still too close. Go to places where large vehicles are parked, and walk by at a sufficient distance that your dog doesn't react, and reward as before. Don't rush this, but be happy with small victories, and keep lessons very short — five minutes is ample to begin with. These are training sessions, and she will still need to be walked, but away from traffic so she can enjoy a calm time out exercising. At home, concentrate on giving your dog an occupation that makes her think, such as puzzle toys, stuffed Kongs, and scattering some of her food about the garden for her to search out. This will satisfy the reward centres in her brain to replace the high she gets from attacking traffic. Using these methods together, you will gradually desensitise her to traffic, but it will take time and you must go at her pace. Your aim is to stop the lesson before she reacts rather than pushing her to the point when she does.

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CLARK — A park in Clark that will host this weeks’s Union County MusicFest, expected to draw tens of thousands of spectators this weekend, has been sprayed for mosquitoes after health officials discovered an insect carrying the West Nile Virus there last week. A mosquito pool, used by health officials to trap insects for testing, tested positive on Aug. 31, the county said. The pool was located in Oak Ridge Park, the site of the county’s annual free concert festival. “It is not uncommon to find West Nile Virus in mosquito pools throughout the county, and the state of New Jersey as a whole,” Sebastian D’Elia, a county spokesman, said in an e-mail Thursday afternoon. “When it is found, the site is immediately treated.” The state Department of Health and Senior Services, as well as local health offices throughout New Jersey, regularly test mosquitoes for the virus. Hundreds of insects regularly test positive, state reports show. But cases of humans contracting the disease are rare, both the state and county said. In the past several years, there has been only one confirmed human case of the virus in Union County, D’Elia said. MusicFest started earlier this week but will host its featured acts this weekend. Bands include headliners Train and Spoon, as well as OK GO, Soul Asylum, Suzanne Vega, The Bravery and The Zombies. D'Elia urged those planning to attend the concerts to take common precautions such as wearing long pants and applying mosquito repellent.

King Kong to Open on Broadway The long-anticipated musical of King Kong, itself based on the 1932 novel of the same name by Merian C. Cooper, will finally be coming to Broadway, complete with the titular mammoth ape. Set to open on November 8, 2018 at the Broadway Theatre, the musical will utilize an innovative mix of robotics, puppetry, and stagecraft to bring this character to life. The production will be directed and choreographed by Oliver Award-winner Drew McOnie (In the Heights). “Based on the 1932 novel, the stage production of King Kong is a contemporary take on the classic tale of beauty and the beast. The story follows a young actress and a maverick filmmaker as they voyage from the bustling streets of 1930s New York to an uncharted island to capture the greatest wonder the world has ever seen. At the center of this 21st-century reimagining: a 20-foot high, 2,000-pound gorilla brought to life by a team of seamlessly integrated artists and technicians. King Kong is a larger-than-life encounter with a legend that’s always been too big to contain.” King Kong’s book writer Jack Thorne won the 2017 Olivier Award and the Evening Standard Award for Best Play for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which is poised to make its Broadway premiere this spring. The musical features a score by composer and music producer Marius de Vries (the films La La Land, Moulin Rouge, and Romeo + Juliet) who is a four-time Grammy nominee. Eddie Perfect (songs) is a Helpmann Award winner and composer and lyricist of the Broadway-bound Beetlejuice, Strictly Ballroom The Musical and Shane Warne The Musical. The design team for the Broadway production of King Kong will include Peter England (Set and Projection Design), Sonny Tilders (Creature Design), Roger Kirk (Costume Design), Peter Mumford (Lighting Design), Peter Hylenski (Sound Design), Gavin Robins (Aerial and King Kong Movement Director). Casting will be announced at a later date. Mark Robinson is the author of the two-volume encyclopedia The World of Musicals and maintains a theater and entertainment blog at markrobinsonwrites.com.

BANGALORE, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Canada's Ram Power Corp RPG.TO said its San Jacinto-Tizate project in Nicaragua encountered construction delays, and was also facing higher material and labor costs, sending shares of the company down to a nearly 21-month low. The project has about $15-$20 million of additional construction costs, the renewable energy company said in a statement. Steven Scott, director of investor relations, said the company is moving to a new contractor as labour and procurement issues had delayed the project. "We just have not had the luck that we thought we would have with our current contractor," Scott told Reuters. Continued...

The lush green hills, limestone headlands, towering trees and giant boulders have attracted a host of artists who are inspired by the stunning nature. Walk among giant karri trees at nearby Tree Top Walk, indulge in top drops from rustic wineries or treat yourself to a tasting tour of the bramble, blueberry and herb farms or the cheese and toffee factories. In town visit the historic fire station, old butter factory, Denmark’s first school, and the popular drinking hole the Denmark Hotel. Explore the town’s maze, alpaca stud, animal farm and sandalwood factory or take a whale-watching tour. Water-lovers can hire canoes, motorboats, paddleboats or aqua bikes and mess around on the river. Throw in a line for herring, salmon and bream at Lights Beach or just kick back and watch the waves crashing over the rocks at Wilson Head and Lions Lookout. Wherever you stay, end your day with a glass of local red under a clear night sky scattered with thousands of sparkling stars. Denmark and the Great Southern Region The great Southern and Albany region is fast becoming one of Australia's leading wine and food regions. How to get to Denmark Travelling by bus/train Daily Transwa bus services are available between Denmark and Perth and there are alternative routes which you may choose from, some of which include transfers to the Australind rail service between Bunbury and Perth. We understand what you are going through, when you are looking for the best deals and the best tours. Should I go on this one or that one should I stay at this one or that one?. Questions,questions you want to know, how many people on the tour?. How old are the people?. What type of accommodation?. Do they do nice food?. Is there a lot of driving?. What type of vehicle do they use? And many more

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On the summary page of the Archos store it says the 28 has bluetooth, when I click on the full specs there is no mention of BT. Checking the product page there is no mention of BT, so I assume there is a mistake on the store summary. Can anyone confirm that it does or does not have BT communications?