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I've been thinking a lot about Thread for Thought's latest post on the difficulty of defining "American fashion". Of course, the ways in which the normative relations between fashion, beauty, and nationalism are articulated through racial, gender, and class terms are frequent topics on Threadbared. But what especially struck me about Thread for Thought's post was that it calls attention to the very problem that sparked the initial idea for Of Another Fashion.
Last June, I wrote a post introducing the idea for a different kind of fashion exhibition, one that explores not only the fashion histories of women of color but also the curatorial and critical neglect of these histories. The response to this exhibition has been overwhelming and gratifying. Moreover, what I've learned in the last six months about what it takes to curate even a modest-sized exhibition is mind-blowing.
Set aside for a minute the amount of funding and organization such an exhibition demands (this, I expected, thanks to Sarah Scaturro's patient counsel). More challenging and, well, eye-opening is the unintended consequences of the neglect of minoritized fashion histories. I've received so many emails from people telling me about objects that would have been perfect for the exhibition but they no longer know where these items are. Many family photographs are torn, bent, or sun- or water-damaged. I've been able to digitally correct a few but many are too compromised to fix. In an attempt to provide a glimpse of the fashionable worlds of women of color historically, I've also collected various kinds of media images in local magazines and newspapers. Again, because many of these publications do not have the bold faced names of Vogue or the New York Times, they haven't been safely preserved in carefully ventilated special collections (in which white gloves must also be worn) and so they too are difficult to digitally reproduce in high resolution and thus impossible to enlarge for display. Those who still possess the sartorial ephemera of their mothers, aunts, and grandmothers wanted to share their stories with me but were very nervous – understandably – about parting with them even temporarily for the duration of the exhibition. [And by the way, as I've noted on the original announcement and call for contributions, we ask that you first email a photograph of your contribution (be it a family photo, vintage ads, packaging, garments, or accessories).]
Ironically, the difficulty of finding and acquiring objects for this exhibition only underscores for me how much we need this exhibition and others like it. And not just exhibitions but books, articles, lectures, and, yes, blogs and websites too. While I continue to work on securing funding and materials for the kind of exhibition these incredible social and sartorial histories deserve, I also created a digital archive of the visual and textual materials related to the exhibition. Unfortunately, many of these items can only be viewed online because, again, their fragile condition doesn't allow them to be enlarged or displayed physically. Still, I hope this digital archive will function as a virtual and conservational space where they might be viewed, studied, and of course appreciated.
I've just begun to add images to Of Another Fashion – 16, so far. I have at least another 50 more images to go. I think what you'll find are vibrant, complex, and touching images and stories of histories that, though not quite hidden, have too long been ignored. If you want to contribute to the recovery of these histories and the reimagining of the very meanings, images, and bodies that constitute "American fashion," please get in touch! Information about contributing can be found here and here.


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Wind blows stronger and more consistently as you rise above ground obstacles like buildings, trees, and hills. This makes for a lucrative green energy source—assuming you can lift generators 1000 feet in the air. This Airborne Wind Turbine could well become the first.
Altaeros Energies is currently developing the Airborne Wind Turbine (AWT). It consists of a cylindrical series of helium-filled bladders that surround a central turbine. The AWT's shape ensures that it consistently faces the wind and the entire assembly is anchored to the ground via an electrically-conductive tether. Since the AWT doesn't rely on propellers or mechanical processes to stay aloft, it can remain in the air for much longer and at a greatly reduced cost.
Altaeros has successfully tested a 35-foot scale prototype in Limestone, Maine, in which the aereostat autonomously climbed to 350 feet. Using its Southwest Skystream turbine, it produced twice as much power at altitude as it did at ground level, and then landed.
The company hopes to scale up the platform to reach altitudes of over 1000 feet, where wind speeds are five times faster than on the ground and can generate over 20 times the power. (Each time wind speed doubles, the amount of energy it theoretically holds increases eight-fold.) If it works, Altaeros believes it can cut the cost of energy production by 65 percent. "For decades, wind turbines have required cranes and huge towers to lift a few hundred feet off the ground where winds can be slow and gusty," explained Ben Glass, the inventor of the AWT and Altaeros Chief Executive Officer. "We are excited to demonstrate that modern inflatable materials can lift wind turbines into more powerful winds almost everywhere."
The downside to the AWT, however, is that it relies on helium for its lift, and helium is becoming increasingly scarce. If the price of this element continues to rise, it could offset any savings gained by lifting the turbines in the first place. [Wired.UK - Altaeros - ABC News - Nomada - AWT Wiki - Southwest Windpower]

subset: commoncrawl


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Get pooped on! Read More »
Back in a flash!
Headed back to Oweegeen today! I should be there by the end of this week so I'm aiming to get things up and running again by Monday of next week. Worst case scenario the pass is icy and I end up in a smoking heap at the bottom of the mountain. In that case I'll see you hell Dannyboy!!!!!!!!!!!1111!!!! PS: ... Read More »
Fashionably Ignorant: The Call of Duty Conundrum
"hurrdurr its the same as last year". Not even close. Fashionable to hate CoD, but it's also ignorant. – Total Biscuit. Read More »
Steam Early Access: Deconstructed
Previously I've spoken about the issues that have been cropping up with Steam greenlit/early access titles; namely the lack of motivation they have to push forward after making it big selling a half finished product. DayZ is probably the biggest offender here as it claims to still be in Alpha stages but looks to pull in close to $100 million ... Read More »
Nvidia Shadowplay is a great way to record your PC games
I've been shopping around for a while now looking for another way to record locally while streaming. There are a plethora of options to choose from out there and I think I might have finally stumbled onto a winner. Read More »
The Evil Within TLDR Review
Creating a next-gen version of Resident Evil 4 in 2014 whist being lauded for genius-level game development the likes of which the world has never seen. Read More »
5 characteristics of next-gen RPG's
With Dragon Age: Inquisition launching in about a month (Nov. 18th) I thought it'd be a good time to go over what I think are few traits associated with great RPG's. Read More »
Alien Isolation TLDR Review
Alien Isolation: Isolated from fun and strapped into spaceship repetition staffed by mouth breathing androids. Read More »
The dream is real!
We've been going at it for around ~3 weeks now full time (ish). I couldn't be more excited with the way things are progressing. It feels so good to see people come in and compliment the streamers and chat on the novel concept of people carrying on conversations and trading gamer tags. I love seeing people swap tags and get together both during ... Read More »


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It was the closest I've come in the last little while to ending up under the wheels of a car. As I cycled home from work in
London on July 20, just
by the Oval cricket ground, a car passed me far, far too close. I pulled
towards the kerb and jammed on my brakes. But, amid precisely the kind of light
drizzle that makes roads treacherous, the slippery surface of one of the London Mayor's ironically-named Cycle Superhighways nearly did for me. I started to
skid alarmingly, swinging side to side in close proximity to the speeding car.
It's the kind of incident I'm sometimes inclined to think may reflect my
cowardice rather than the actual danger. But, as I slithered to a stop and my
right pedal skinned the back of my calf, a pedestrian came up to me, looking worried.
"Did he hit you?" he asked.
The memory of cycling all that time ago nevertheless put a
question in my mind. Are
London and other cities enjoying fast-rising
cycling numbers rising because cities are making progress, learning from their
past mistakes, in their treatment of cyclists? Or are cycling numbers
increasing despite city authorities' failure to understand what cyclists need?
There has been some modest improvement in the quality of
cyclist-specific infrastructure in
too. The number of bike parking places has increased sharply – albeit not as
fast in many areas as the demand to park bicycles. The number of markings
telling motorists to leave space for cyclists at junctions has increased. The
cycle superhighways have appeared along a number of main roads, although my
experience in July illustrates the problems with putting routes with slippery
surfaces along busy main roads where nothing is done to prevent cars driving
|Brooklyn Bridge: a new focus for
the Invisible Visible Man's frustrations
Nasty though it was, my sliding stop at the Oval would not have been especially notable – except that it took place on my last commute for the foreseeable future in
My route-to-work gripes are now about the stupidity of tourists on the Brooklyn Bridge,
the traffic snarl of downtown Brooklyn and when precisely the large model rat
that protesters have placed in one lane of W54th Street in Manhattan might disappear for good. The London mayor's
superhighways and the Metropolitan Police's indifference towards anti-cyclist
crime are fast becoming a distant memory.
|W54th street: rat trouble
But the incident seemed as neat a bookend as any to 11 years of cycling in
London – nine years during my most
recent stint and two years prior before our four-and-a-half years in Hungary. As I
thought about it afterwards, my mind wandered back to a dark January night in
1997 when I swung my leg over my then Raleigh Mercury bicycle and set off for
my first-ever bike ride in London. I was at a car rental depot in Catford and had just
returned the rented van that had brought my and the Invisible Visible Woman's
belongings down from Edinburgh.
I had to find my way across the alternately grim and genteel suburbs of
south-east London
to my new home.
To hear
politicians bragging about their recent achievements in encouraging cycling,
one would imagine that my journey 15-odd years ago should have been nearly
impossible. In fact, there were already some designated cycle routes to guide
me across tracts of non-descript suburbia such as Forest Hill. The journey was
about as pleasant as a ride on a cold January evening in a strange area could
|The Invisible Visible Man's Raleigh Mercury:
gaudy-coloured veteran of his first ride in London.
It would be silly, naturally, to claim
London cycling had shown no improvement over
my time. The biggest positive change has been the wholesale redesign of many
urban London
roads. The space at many junctions has been narrowed, to prevent cars swinging
round them at high speed. Many streets have been made to look narrower, a step
that has brought motorists' speed down. Parking spaces in many places are now
more clearly marked as an area off to the side of the main carriageway. I used,
when I first cycled in London,
inwardly to ask drivers who'd prevented my swinging round a parked car, "How
did you think I'd get round it? Fly?" It's a line that popped into my head far
less often later in my time in London
than in the late 1990s. That it's coming back to me again regularly in New York illustrates how big a lesson the Big Apple's
traffic planners have to learn from London
in this area.
|Cycle Superhighway 7 at Southwark Bridge.
This part still has a slippery surface -
but is at least protected from poor drivers
But the curious point that my July 20 experience illustrates is not how much has changed since 1997 but how much remains the same, despite 15 years when every senior politician associated with London has expressed devotion to improving the cyclist's lot.
I'd seen the motorist that buzzed me behind me at traffic lights and, seeing that he was driving a black, souped-up saloon car, guessed that he was likely to overtake me dangerously. Sure enough, instead of waiting for a safe place and space, he barged through as if, essentially, I weren't there. Looking at it from the motorist's point of view, perhaps that isn't surprising. The British Highway Code certainly tells motorists they should give cyclists as much passing space as another car. But who's reminding motorists of that point? Aside from a half-hearted Transport for
campaign a few years ago urging motorists and cyclists to "share the road,"
there's been almost no effort to educate motorists over ten years when cyclist numbers have doubled.
|Copenhagen: other cities want the sense of cool -
but not the messy reality of cyclists
Yet almost none of the politicians or officials I've heard talking about encouraging cycling has seemed to have cyclists and cycling as their focus. Cycling was meant to cut road congestion, or reduce pollution or increase people's physical activity rates. With some politicians, it's tempting to conclude that they want mass cycling almost as a sign of their city's coolness – look, our people cycle just like people in
Amsterdam! Look, you could barely tell us
apart from Copenhagen!
A few years ago, there was a similar craze in Europe
for planning light rail systems. Bikes seem, in more straitened times, to have
taken over.
The result is that the people who make decisions in big cities seem ill-prepared for cycling's messy reality. Since 1997, tens of thousands more Londoners have started pedalling into central
London every morning. Most of them are in a
hurry; many are no more considerate of their fellow road users than the
motorists alongside them and all of them take up at least some space on the
roads. The picture of cycling in many politicians' heads seems to be drawn from
the architectural drawings they show off when boasting about a planned
riverside park or other "green" amenity. The cyclists in those never look like
they're in a hurry or like they're shouting at some idiot that's stepped into
the cycle lane without looking. Many policymakers – and plenty of motorists –
seem affronted when cyclists diverge from this unrealistic ideal. Nobody wants to
spell out to motorists that, in a given road space, more cyclists means less
space for cars. We're meant to take as
little effort to pass as the paper-thin, pencil-drawn cyclists in the
politicians' drawings. People are happy if their neighbours free up a parking
space by taking up cycling – and furious if they ever get in their way on the road.
It's certainly not a London-only problem. Ten days after my permanent move to
New York, I was bowling fast
down a marked cycle lane in Brooklyn,
reflecting that the lane was far too close to the parked cars. A car door
suddenly opened, I jammed on my brakes and, just as I had in London, lost traction and skidded – once
again fairly safely – to a halt. New York cycle lanes' placing reflects the
same, apparently widespread delusions as policy in London – that cyclists
should take up no space, have no momentum and always be ready to give way to
pretty much any other road user.
It's not inevitable, however, that every politician will always prefer to let motorists set the agenda. The change that has done most since 1997 in
London to boost cycling numbers
was introduction in 2003 of a charge for driving into central London during weekday peak hours. The
decision, by making clear the costs of road use, instantly removed large numbers of vehicles from central London's roads. Cyclists took up some of the freed space. Advisers to Ken Livingstone, London's
then mayor, advised strongly against introduction of the congestion charge, on
the grounds that no battle with London's
motorists could ever be won. In recent mayoral elections, while candidates have
proposed modifications, no serious candidate has suggested ending the charge
It's hard to foresee the circumstances that would prompt a future
London leader – or a mayor of New York or any other
similar world city – to take firm action finally to prioritise bicycles
properly over cars. Until it happens, there may be further, incremental rises
in cyclist numbers of the kind London
has experienced since 2003. But proper progress will require real boldness.


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N.C. 107 connector: County leaders to weigh in on controversial project
Jackson County commissioners have been asked to select their Top Six road priorities to pass along to the state Department of Transportation — a decision that could help decide whether a controversial, five-mile bypass around Sylva is ever built.
The commissioners' input will help shape an even bigger to-do list: a Top 25 for the entire 10-county region of DOT's Division 14. The projects on that list, in turn, eventually must vie for funding statewide.
The list compiled by the county's board of commissioners is likely to figure heavily in whether the bypass (once dubbed the Southern Loop, now called a "connector" by the transportation department) moves forward. The bypass would be a new major highway bisecting Jackson County, with the intention of diverting traffic from N.C. 107.
Jackson County's planning board recently compiled their Top Six projects. That recommendation was done to help guide commissioners in making their own selection.
All that sounds very tentative and preliminary. But, in fact, a 10-year work program compiled last year by the transportation department shows right-of-way acquisition on the bypass is scheduled for fiscal year 2016; construction would start in fiscal year 2018. The existence of actual startup dates for the project (if approved) are likely to underscore opponents' beliefs that the transportation department has "fast-tracked" the new highway over widespread public wishes to the contrary.
Funding already has been secured, too, for an environmental study of the proposed bypass' path, Julia Merchant, transportation department spokeswoman, confirmed last week.
Related Items
"(But) the environmental planning has been placed on hold as the department waits to see the outcomes of the feasibility study to improve N.C. 107 and receive the county's list of transportation priorities to determine how the county would like to move forward," Merchant wrote in an email to The Smoky Mountain News.
Commissioners are expected to work on the list for the next couple of months. The regional ranking must be completed by summer, said Ryan Sherby, who oversees transportation for the state agency Southwestern Development Commission.
"The county commissioners represent the citizens of this county," said Susan Leveille, a member of the Smart Roads Alliance, an activist group in Jackson County. "It matters a lot that they make decisions based on what the citizens want and what is in the best interest of the citizens in the future."
Leveille questioned the potential cost of a bypass.
"It is our hope that (commissioners) will put other DOT projects ahead of this bypass that the citizen and experts say will not cure the ills on N.C. 107, and will cost so much in money and natural resources," Leveille said.
Jackson County planning board Top Six highway recommendations:
• Redesign N.C. 107 in Sylva to improve traffic flow
• Add a west bound on-ramp at exit 85 on U.S. 74
• Improve Cashiers crossroads intersection, possibly with a roundabout
• Redesign U.S. 23 business from town to the hospital
• Install new interchange at U.S. 441 and N.C. 116
• Build N.C. 107 connector (Southern Loop), specifically on the existing Cane Creek/Blanton Branch corridor
Source: Southwestern Development Commission


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Insight and advice for front office computing.
We research and analyze innovations from established and emerging CRM companies and specialize in identifying trends that you can capitalize on to improve business results. Our analysis is influenced by three primary sources — our market research, the thought leadership and research coming from leading business schools and our knowledge of the vendor and customer communities. We apply our knowledge to marketplace demands to formulate advice about business needs for applications and services.
Market research
Beagle Research Group has an active research calendar in the major areas of the front office including sales, marketing and customer service and support. We also conduct investigations into emerging areas such as social media, platforms and on-demand computing. We generally publish synopses of our research in white papers and KeyFindings that are freely available on the Beagle Research Web site (www.BeagleResearch.com).
Advisory services
We leverage our market research along with thought leadership from other sources to provide our clients with insights and advice they need. Advisory services can include one-on-one consulting, presentations to groups of managers and customized reporting to aid strategy formulation.
Beagle Research articles, papers, blog posts, webinars and speeches all leverage our research and analysis and deliver our insights to the market.
To learn more about our distinct research model and how it can help your business, contact us at, 781-297-0066 or email@example.com


text:
CNN's Arwa Damon is inside Syria and reports on the significant gains made by the rebels.
Post by: Arwa Damon
Filed under: Syria
Anderson Cooper goes beyond the headlines to tell stories from many points of view, so you can make up your own mind about the news. Tune in weeknights at 8 and 10 ET on CNN.
Questions or comments? Send an email
Want to know more? Go behind the scenes with AC361°


text:
Dylan Landis: You didn't really almost tear it down!
Amanda Lindroth: I did. I grew up in a Bauhaus modernist house in Florida, and it taught me about proportion—but I never wanted to live in a modern house again. Treehouse—this house—had two incredibly beautiful lots on the highest ridge of Lyford Cay, but I wasn't sure we should keep the structure.
What exactly irked you about it?
More From House Beautiful
It's a 'Caribbean modern' house—the Bahamian version of a 1950s international house, all one level and full of glass. If you didn't like it you'd call it a ranch house, but it's better than that. My good friend Tom Scheerer, the designer who redecorated the Lyford Cay Club, laid his body in front of it. He said, 'You can't replace this charm.' I was like, 'You mean sliding glass doors again?'
Sliding glass doors again—and they're everywhere!
But now I think they're fantastic. They offer a completely clean view. I hung floor-to-ceiling curtains at the sides, and dummy rattan blinds to hide the space between the ceiling and the top of the sliding-door assembly. Think of all the homeowners in Florida who put in French doors because they didn't know they could do that.
You embraced your past, architecturally.
I really embraced it. I went to every junk shop in Florida and snapped up rattan swivel chairs and rattan peacock chairs and everything amusing about the midcentury resort moment that was also elegant. Tom finally said, 'Enough with the peacock chairs, Amanda.'
What island clichés did you have to resist?
You always have to resist clichés in the Bahamas! The orange coral. Overshelling your house—the trick is to keep them segregated. And too much color. People move to the island and think they should use a riot of color, and their house looks like a kindergarten classroom.
And mosquito netting. In your bedroom I found about 5,000 yards of gorgeous white bed drapery—tailored and pleated—but no netting.
To give the room some architecture, I raised the canopy to the ceiling. It's just white 1960s eyelet. I found two bolts of it downtown—$6 or $7 a yard, different patterns, with remnants of a third. My upholsterer patched it together, but you'd never know, the quality is so beautiful.
White eyelet feels so American. So do the nautical and cottagey blues in your house. Where are the glittering teals and turquoises one ogles from the plane?
Teals and aquas can be misused, and turquoise is quicksand for the beginner. I'm more royal and French and navy blues. I'm inclined to throw them all together and not to sweat it too much, not to tremble. Mostly, blues all fall together and do pretty well, especially navy and French.
Is that why you weren't afraid to mix ikat with boating stripes?
I just happen to love ikat. And something about the way the house was all one level, which is a very American plan, made me feel that some continuity of pattern would give it one identity, like a big resort-hotel villa.
Did you have to talk yourself into that gutsy stripe on the armchairs?
Not at all. The house had been lived in by one woman for a very long time, and I wanted to make it new. Out with the French château chandeliers and the fanciness. In with the sporty Sunbrella stripe.
You have seagrass everywhere.
It was such a midcentury house, it had a terrazzo floor. And I didn't have the oomph to jackhammer it out. Seagrass seemed like a cozy remedy. I do it a lot. When you need to clean it, you replace it. Did you know seagrass is a dollar a square foot? It goes down, and if there's a problem, it comes up. Or we just hurl down one of those Dash & Albert striped cotton rugs, if a guest has spilled a glass of red wine on the seagrass, or if a dog or child has done worse. We have a stock of them on hand.
Do you live outdoors on that little boat out back?
I'm a failure at boating. Everyone has these boats that go a gazillion miles an hour and you're bashed around and your hair is all tangled, and then you're supposed to wash them. I'm resolutely against it. There's a joke here—when you're dating, you're all for boating. When there's a ring on your finger, you're like, 'I'll meet you there. I'll fly.'
What island influence sang to you most powerfully?
The fact that you see water from three sides—the garden, too, and the sky—was the biggest influence on the interior design. So the house is all white, in order not to compete. In the islands, white is like a uniform. But it's also a very American trait to use a lot of white paint.
What's the art behind that seeming artlessness in the living-room picture grouping?
Ultimately, it's: You have shelves, and you lean the pictures. You just make it work. It has an insouciance, as if you might change or add things. You can't live in a purely resort house, with four shell prints in the living room. You need paintings and books, that layer of life. An island house should look like home.


text:
I've kept this particular submission in the "hold" folder for quite some time while I pondered whether to include the real name of the alleged offender or edit it out. I finally decided to edit it out.
I am very politically active in my local area; I have previously done door-to-door volunteer work for the municipal-level party, as well as some phone banking at county HQ, and I receive many invitations to rallies, committee meetings with bigwigs, and so on and so forth. In 2008, as the infamous presidential primaries were starting to wind down, I was invited to a rally at the county's party headquarters in honor of my Congressman (who is a gentleman and a warrior) and his primary Senate run, which coincided with the day of the final presidential primaries.
I put on my best casual clothes, tied my hair back, and drove to HQ. All the TV stations from across the river had sent their vans to HQ, and they were milling about interviewing people and people watching. Most of the people present were dressed ranging from street clothes to business casual, excepting mayors, assemblypeople, state senators, committee members, and other elected and/or party officials, who were in their suits, and, where necessary, ties. I met local news anchor and got my photograph taken with her; she was incredibly nice and good humored. We talked for a few moments and shook hands before she went back to her job. One of the volunteers informed all of us that there would be food served in an outdoors pavilion within the next ten minutes, and that the actual rally would start a little later afterward. I didn't expect catering beyond the soda, wine, and cold cuts I'd previously enjoyed at other functions, so I got in line.
And who was behind me in line? Nobody but the big political boss himself. This man, while having no office himself, elected or appointed, pulls many of the political strings in the region, and having him behind me was, to say the very least, intimidating. The food service wasn't open yet, so I looked up at him and gave him a sheepish smile, extending my hand.
"Hello Mr. XXXXX, it's an incredible honor to meet you."
He gave me a look that was a cross between catching me keying his car and not being impressed, and didn't bother raising a finger in return. I swear I could have heard him snort. He then chewed his bottom lip slightly as though I had committed some unforgivable sin. Apparently in the moment this all occurred, food service had started, when I heard him cough the following.
"Well, are you hungry or not?"
Initially, I was embarrassed at my unwittingly holding up the line, but when I turned around to face the food service volunteers, they were as mortified as I was. Mr. XXXX did not intimidate me anymore, but for all the wrong reasons. He made some patronizing small talk about the food selection but I simply nodded in reply, dished up my share, and then sat as far away from him as possible, which admittedly wasn't too difficult. He sat at another table surrounded by two or three other men similar in age, apparently wanting to keep other commoners away from his sphere of presence. Oh the horror.
Ultimately, my Congressman lost his bid for the Senate primary, though all present were relieved the presidential primary battle was finally concluded. As soon as the losing news hit, I didn't even stay to meet my Congressman (I had not met him at the time), as the sour taste in my mouth from my earlier encounter with Mr. XXXX lingered, so I went home.
Safe to say though, since that incident at HQ, I haven't been back to HQ for anything but sign collection and/or return. Mr. XXXXX even had the gall to try and harass me into patronizing his favorite charity through various mailings. For some reason the fundraiser and rally invites have all but stopped too. Hmm. At least his brother and everyone else in this party doesn't view me as a lowly peasant. Every other person in this organization has helped me out in some way, from work on Election Day to Senate gallery passes and a tour of the Capitol for me and my mother, but not the boss man. What a snooty grouch. Our party's emblem may be a jackass, but its downstate leader sure is a horse's you know what. 0108-11
My opinion on the situation is that the OP allowed the actions of one person to negatively affect her perspective on her political party and her favorite candidates and even her enjoyment of volunteering. Just because Mr. XXXX was an inhospitable curmudgeon shouldn't have deterred her from introducing herself to the candidate. I do, however, relate to feeling marginalized politically when I attended a fundraising BBQ for a candidate running for the US Senate. I should note that this was the first political fundraiser event I have ever attended and probably my last. My perception was that unless I was a big dollar donor, my value to the candidate was low and therefore my thoughts on certain issues were not worth spending the time to hear. He did not win election to the office he was running for.


text:
Many beautiful homes in the Atlanta area are decked out for the holidays and featured on candlelight tours. Many tours have become favorite holiday traditions and are fundraisers for local charities. Here are the highlights of candlelight tours scheduled in historic Grant Park and in the cities of Marietta, Roswell, and Decatur.
The 30th Annual Decatur Holiday Candlelight Tour of Homes is scheduled for November 30 and December 1, from 5:30-9:30pm each evening. The 2012 tour features seven homes that are beautifully decorated for the holidays. Some homes have been carefully renovated and others are newer builds. Rosehill estate and its lovely gardens are included on this years tour. Tickets are $20 in advance when purchased online or in several locations around Decatur. Tickets are $25 the weekend of the tour. Proceeds benefit four youth and educational organizations. Parking at tour sites is limited. It is recommended that visitors use the free shuttle that can be boarded at the Courtyard by Marriott in downtown Decatur. The shuttle stops at all tour sites.
The Marietta Pilgrimage holiday tour is scheduled for December 1-2. Six private homes in the Church-Cherokee Street Historic District will be featured, as well as several churches and other historic buildings. Day Tour tickets are $20. The $15 Candlelight Tour includes admission to three of the homes. There is also a $25 combination ticket. Tickets may be purchased at tour homes and at the Marietta Visitors Bureau. Shuttle service is available during the day.
Roswell, Georgias Southern Trilogy Candlelight Tour will be held on December 8 from 5-9pm. Visitors will be greeted by costumed docents at the citys three historic home museums. The Greek Revival style Barrington Hall was built in 1830 by a Rowell founder. The 1839 Bulloch Hall was the childhood home of President Theodore Roosevelts mother, Mittie Bulloch. The Archibald Smith Plantation was built in the 1830s by a well-to-do cotton farmer. Candlelight Tour tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children. All three historic homes have a variety of other activities scheduled throughout the holiday season.
The Grant Park Candlelight Tour of Homes will take place December 8-9 from 6-10pm. The tour benefits three local non-profits in this historic neighborhood east of downtown Atlanta. Eight homes are included on the tour including the historic 1868 Burns Mansion and the 1856 L.P. Grant Mansion, now the headquarters of the Atlanta Preservation Center. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 the weekend of the tour. The tour begins at St. Paul United Methodist Church, where visitors will find childrens activities and an artist market.


text:
The fourth confirmed case of rabies in Colorado livestock this year was confirmed Saturday, when a Weld County bull tested positive for the infectious disease, according to the Colorado Department of Agriculture.
Before the virus killed the bull on Friday it showed severe clinical signs.
"The bull was depressed, dehydrated and down — it couldn't stand," said Nick Striegel, assistant state veterinarian for the Department of Agriculture. "The bull was likely bit by a rabid animal."
Although the bull may have been bitten by an infected fox, coyote or other carnivore, Striegel suspects a skunk. "Recently we've seen a high incidence of rabid skunks."
Livestock and pet owners should be cautious and discuss rabies vaccination with their veterinarian, according to a news release from the Department of Agriculture.
Three horses have tested positive for rabies earlier this year — one in Logan County in April and two in Weld County in June.
On Saturday, the state health officials announced three adults and five children had been bitten or scratched by a rabid kitten are undergoing rabies treatments in Larimer County.
It was the first time since 1968 that the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment confirmed a domestic feline was infected with rabies, according to a department bulletin.
Born to an unvaccinated barn cat north of Fort Collins, the kitten bit a veterinarian while being examined for neurological problems, the bulletin said. The kitten was euthanized and sent to the CSU Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, which confirmed it had rabies.
Adrian D. Garcia: 303-954-1729, email@example.com, twitter/ adriandgarcia


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After watching Charles Eisenstein's Deschooling Ourselves workshop video, I realized how important it is to be aware of how much of 'who we become' as a person in our society and in relation to others is shaped in and by the schooling system. To this, it would also be unfair to only look at school as the only one problem there is in our society, because schools were created by us human beings in the first place so there's a human mind behind it all; albeit for all practical purposes, the idea of 'education' and the blind trust that parents confer to the schooling system makes of the schooling system set up the most easy way to actually justify integrating values, beliefs, behaviors, ways of thinking reality, ways of relating to others, ways of survival among one another where we are geared to continually having to prove ourselves to be 'the best' or 'the worst' in a system of standardized marks.
School is also the place where we come to first get in contact with people of different backgrounds, where our initial social clash begins which leads us to start inherently doing a process of preference over principle, which is how we come to build our very first friendships and relationships, where we as children do not have a full awareness of us in fact being in a closed-system where one gets to be friends with people that could or could not afford some private/public school, and so already from there, we start classifying ourselves based on our socioeconomic background.
I have to say it is also unfortunately the place where parents place their most trust on within the systemically integrated belief that 'whatever happens in school is just fine' and that teachers and the government system behind it as education system 'knows best' – while parents mostly see this as some free time from their parental duty – or are deliberately also kept busier with long hours of work which is leading to unattended children growing up in front of TV's, computers plugged into the myriad of boundless information on the internet and learning tricks about drugs and developing sexual deviances as a way to escape the inherent anguish of living in a world where parents must work 24/7 to get money to live, and where you as a child/youngster will invariably have to end up doing the same… I mean, who would not react to that expectative of one's 'future' in this broken world? Yet we dismiss it and actually have come to blame schools, blame media, blame the government, blame parents and so as you can see blaming each other for the problems we have co-created in our society of which school is one great and pivotal pillar of.
There's a complete structural problem in our society and a large part of it has to do with how we haven't questioned our sacred institutions like schools and the way they exist nowadays, which from my perspective are more like prisons or reformatory cells, they have always been the brewing ground for behavioral conditioning, human experimentation and indoctrination which goes unnoticed within the idea that there's always an authority that somehow has a 'greater understanding,' because we place our trust on systems of validation, certification and quality-proof standards placed by some organization we've defined as government, which are a few individuals that have unfortunately proven to be easily bribed to rather arrange laws and regulations in a way where other individuals can be benefitted from it all – either for profit, for further population control or both. All of this apparatus of authority is currently quite skewed of course and it is rather alarming since school is the spot where kids are mandated to go to every single day – yet, even if kids do not go to a school per se, the same principles of it are still embedded in the way that we organize ourselves, in the way that we related with one another, in the way that we value ourselves, in the way that we choose what we want to do with our lives, in the way that we behave with our families and friends. The sheer idea of 'education' as it exists now is only a reinforce and catalyzer of essential mind and behavioral patterns that have existed within us as human beings since the beginning of our species, as they are all existent in the very core programming and functioning of our minds. So, what have we done then? We have only perfected the mechanism to make it a continuous mandatory process for kids to get to like/dislike certain things and make decisions based on, well, mostly fear of survival so that we can keep the same slave system mechanism running. But is it really the system that is the enslaving one? Or is it that we haven't really realized where the real policeman 'in the head' resides in? Hint, the answer is already given in that question.
In Charles Eisenstein's Deschooling Ourselves, a group of people walk through and expose all the behaviors, personalities, quirks and fears that they have become throughout their schooling years, wherein either one would stick to the rules and follow or dissent and rebel in whichever way possible, one would start valuing oneself according to the kind of work you deliver to the teacher, another would seek to prove the teacher wrong, another would seek be approved by them, another just wanted to break free and rebel against all rules… this also included some other more personal aspects like because in school we also have mostly faced some of our most embarrassing or stressing moments.
I've shared before about crying over getting lost during math calculation exercise and not being able to keep track of it, getting so anxious that I burst into tears. From my experience, I've shared before about the usual pressure one would get when being 'on the top' and so having some classmates trying to 'take me down/take 'my place' and directly letting me know how they would win over me and how they would see me fall and be glad for it, etc. All kinds of bullying also comes when being the one that sticks to all rules and does things 'to the T,' which to me for example later on became a way to simply dislike being used as an example for the class, which led me to then want to hide while still wanting to keep my sense of public recognition. This influenced the way I shaped my main personalities: I started to desire being 'cool' for any other reason other than getting straight A's … and kind of a 'rebel' by liking non-popular things so that I could make it clear that I wasn't 'the teacher's pet' either for example.
All of these patterns are part of a lengthy self-investigative process that is contained in the pages of this blog as I've seen that most of the times when investigating any mind pattern, word or behavior, it invariably goes back to one of those 'memories of schooling days' and how some of the most ingrained fight or flight patterns, behaviors, attitudes, self-definitions like qualities and virtues, likes and dislikes as well as career choice a.k.a. who I wanted to be and become as a person, were shaped based on the same education system. To me it also involved a process of sharing a room with either 6 other kids in my first school and then moving onto being with over 35 in the following schools and universities, which is already quite a challenge when it comes to seeing how it is virtually impossible for teachers to be truly aware of students in large classes.
School becomes 'the place' where we are supposed to 'find our ground in life' and so, it's quite obvious that we only become copies of the copies of stereotypes that we also acquire from the usual imprinting of professions we are supposed to go veering toward from an early age as part of the social-structure – however along with that, we got movies, TV shows imprinting a whole different set of values with which we believe we are in fact 'making a free choice' to do what we want, but we have never even questioned whether what 'we want' is in fact something we truly developed for ourselves or something we learned from school or saw on TV or internet.
In essence, we have never really been genuinely 'ourselves' as all we have become is copy of the copy of the coping and survival mechanisms we've shaped as personalities or professions, and that's what I mostly have realized also when it comes to investigating myself and my 'core personalities' and how everything that I developed as 'my personality' was a collection of bits and pieces of popular counter-culture aspects along with a decision to antagonize the system no matter what, while remaining 'safely' in it at the same time since I would still like to be the obedient straight A person in school, lol, even if I tried to 'rebel' at the end… it just would not work as I couldn't simply fathom myself being irresponsible at school which involved a sense of responsibility of 'school being the one thing that I had to do as my main activity' throughout the years.
What is behind that, for example? Fear of being punished, fear of being left behind, fear of losing my self-value and definition? Fear of losing my 'throne' as the first one in the class? Well, these points are definitely something that come to define 'who one is' based on a particular setting like school, where we actually acquire this way of thinking based on achievements, values, marks, behaviors and responsibilities that lie not within a common sensical practical outcome, but according to doing things the way they are asked to be done and according to a ranking system that is in no way based on the particular skills and abilities that are unique to each child, that is simply not part of our school system.
At the end of that Deschooling workshop by Eisenstein, the ultimate question remains: how to Deschool ourselves? And I simply realized that actually walking this process of self-investigation, of writing oneself to freedom, of developing self-honesty wherein we investigate our core patterns within ourselves is the best way to deschool ourselves, because in investigating our behaviors, our personalities, our fears, our manias, our weaknesses and strengths, our relationships, our friendships, our first traumas, our first embarrassments, our bullying experiences, our relationship to authority, our ability to learn, our qualities and deficiencies, comparison and judgment toward others, our discriminatory or empathic behaviors, our friendships, our enemies… all of these aspects that one actually gets to first live in school – most of the times – are part of what one can write out for oneself, investigating each pattern within the awareness of writing the experience out to identify how is it that one has limited oneself in such pattern.
So for example, if I had continued to only value myself according to what marks I would get in school, and feel 'bad' for getting a lower mark, then I would have continued to seek to get some 'straight A's' or the equivalent way to get such 'superiority validation' somewhere else in my world, just because of not wanting to get to the opposite side of that and so lose my self-validation/recognition. So I had to work with understanding 'who am I as recognition' and the desire thereof, where am I not valuing myself, how have I accepted and allowed myself to only value myself according to achievements at school? Or how have I believed myself to only be a brain that thinks well? Where am I not actually seeing myself beyond this limited valuing perspective and really seeing through a broader potential that I had probably and most likely would not have developed if I had continued to only stick to my personality and personal desires.
So, deschooling ourselves involves a practical and continuous application of walking a process to self-forgive and let go of all the plethora of perceived flaws, definitions, beliefs, limitations, fears and rather work with developing real self-value, real self-acceptance and skills to develop ourselves to our utmost potential. In this, for example, I had to stop the desire to be recognized by others, while at the same time also walking the opposite polarity – because, as one walks one pattern you also get to understand how the mind works in polarities. And so I realized that along with my desire to be recognized, I also got to fear being recognized and so actually sought to 'hide' or become a rather 'low-key' individual while still holding on this 'recognition' point in place, so essentially I would create my own inner conflict which I even externalized in the way that I would dress in a rather extravagant manner while at the same time using my body's posture to indicate that I didn't want to be seen, so I would hunch while walking because I believed that standing straight was 'showing off' and only able to be done by good looking girls for example, lol, yes all of this is a fine example of how we pollute our minds in fact.
So, this is just a tip of the iceberg example that one is actually able to investigate for oneself when looking at all the patterns we've become in our lives, not only from school but acquired from parents, from people we watch on TV, from the books we read, from the people we admire, from our friends and people around us, etc. As I've mentioned, we've become the copies of the copies and so the schooling system, the social system has become nothing but a reflection of these categories and identities existent and developed in our minds wherein we get lost in comparison, judgment and the idea of value in relation to 'who we are' within the system, all of which actually enables us to coexist within our current dog-eat-dog mentality, where all that matters is achieving personal glory regardless of who or what is abused and affected by it, or 'collaterally damaged.'
I am a product of this society and I've had to walk this rather astounding process of deschooling myself, of deprogramming myself in my mind while at the same time walking a process of self-creation, which is a continued process of self-investigation of every single moment, every single day wherein one continues to assert oneself as the new integration of common sense, of living principles, of a sense of commonality, of a consideration of what's best for all, of not following an experience as to 'how I feel' or how I believe 'I should feel/be like/act like/talk like' to dictate who I am in the moment, wherein it is a continuous process of letting go of any constrains and limitations that I have previously identified through writing, and have released through the process of self-forgiving behaviors, emotions, feelings, thinking patterns, ideas about myself so that I could then practically and actively work on stopping myself from running-through the same old programmed 'me.'
Now I place my focus on attention on this self-creation process which is truly a first-timer for us all to be able to walk and do, because it is now that we are for the first time becoming more and more aware of things that were deeply rooted in the unconscious before. Now we are able to slowly but surely as humanity able to spot these patterns and behaviors with greater ease, and I have to say that this then a great opportunity and it does rejoice me to see more and more people starting to question themselves, and the overall world-system, which indicates there's in fact a great opportunity existent here to change the direction of our lives if more and more people start waking up and smelling reality for what it is so that we can work together to correct and align it.
I must also say that when I speak of this process, it isn't something I do 'by myself' nope, it would have been mostly more difficult I'd say – I walk with a group of people networked through the internet – around the globe – with whom we've shared our lives, our writings for over 7 years now, keeping in constant processes of developing and strengthening our communication and feedback processes to ensure that we don't get lost in this re-educational process we're walking, which has to do little to nothing to any regular 'schooling system,' but we are all more than certain that more individuals must recognize the vital importance of implementing this self-investigation process as part of our schooling system, learning how to work with our minds as our thoughts, feelings, emotions, to learn how to effectively write them out and communicate about them while integrating a sense of self-support through developing common sense: the consideration of what is best for all.
It is about time we realize that it makes complete sense to actually focus on empowering each other to learn how to best coexist as human beings rather than focusing on being liked by the teacher, or beating our classmates, or planning ways to get into a group of friends to 'fit in,' or planning our greatest success where we disregard another's life of lack of opportunities and suffering that is and has become our collateral damage in this zero sum reality.
It is thus in our greatest and most common interest that we could all walk this self-education process of self-honesty which is a process of self-creation according to living principles to get to develop ourselves to our fullest potential, and so make it part of our educational programs in whichever way they take shape in the (near) future once that we more and more realize how detrimental and even harmful our current standardized type of educational systems are which actually stems from the skewed and misconstrued value systems in our minds.
So, the best way to deschool ourselves, which is the same as saying the best way to change ourselves is definitely walking the Desteni I Process. There's no greater set of tools in this world, nor greater group of people that commit themselves to support one another throughout this Journey to Life, to live in dignity and equality. And I can only encourage everyone to try it out for yourself, because if I had aimed at simply wanting to 'change' but not really investigating my mind and living patterns to the utmost degree, to really learn how to sweep behind the rug of my memories, my past, my experiences, to understand who am I within my mind and how to practically apply and establish solutions in my day to day living, I would have been equally lost in a constant yearning 'for change' but not really knowing how or where to start.
This isn't an easy thing to do either, it's probably the greatest commitment we'll ever make in our lives, which is our commitment to actually learn how to live in the benefit of ourselves and all life considered. However, it will for sure be the most rewarding and long lasting for future generations as well.
Recommend to Read:
Teacher's Journey To Life
Artwork by Damián Ledesma
Recommended to watch:
Anna Brix' vlog One School, United Against Life
Charles Eisenstein's Deschooling Ourselves
Jane Elliott A Class Divided
The Forbidden Education subtitled English (Movie HD) – La Educación Prohibida
How to Herd Your Tax Cattle – Corbett Report
[44] Solutions for Common Core's Industrial Education
Hear the Podcasts:
- 47. A Class Divided and Conquered
- 23. Nice Guys Finish First
- 46. Egosystem: Recognizing our Limitations
- 35. The Forbidden Education: A Stepping Stone for New Education
The Free Desteni I Process Lite course is a first platform of self-support to learn more about ourselves, our mind and understand how we can practically improve our potentials and skills.
- Desteni
- Desteni Articles
- Destonians
- Desteni I Process
- Agreement/Redefining Relationship Course
- Desteni Forum : Discuss and share with us
- Desteni Wiki
- Desteni Español
- Creation's Journey to Life
- Heaven's Journey To Life


text: Back Make Healthy Eating a Habit The earlier you teach children sound eating habits, the more likely they are to maintain a healthy weight. But helping a child learn the right skills takes patience and repetition. Well-meaning parents often fear their children are eating too little rather than too much. Overfeeding starts as early as the toddler years. For toddlers, serve a tablespoon of vegetables per meal for each year of age. This may help head off future struggles over getting your child to eat vegetables. Snacks should be healthy, just like meals. Make produce a key element. Vary the selection of fruits and vegetables to introduce children to new foods. Between ages 2 and 6, children fear new foods, and it may take several tries. But if you don't make the effort, your kids may never develop a taste for healthy foods. Nine easy steps 1. Add volume to high-fat foods so kids feel satisfied without getting too many calories. For example, top a frozen pizza with mushrooms or broccoli. 2. Have a plan for eating out. Choose fast-food restaurants that offer salads and order low-fat or fat-free dressing. 3. Let children choose lunch foods to take to school. Tangerines, grapes, apples, bananas, carrot sticks, raisins, or graham crackers are healthy, enjoyable examples. 4. Don't let children leave home without breakfast. At least serve a piece of fruit, fat-free milk, and a whole-grain cereal or a slice of whole-grain toast. 5. Take children grocery shopping and let them choose a new fruit or vegetable. 6. Stock the refrigerator with fruits and vegetables, such as berries and low-fat plain yogurt for making smoothies. 7. Play with food. Vegetable "faces" made from carrots may get a child's attention. 8. Don't ban popular snacks like chips; kids may sneak them. Just buy small amounts and offer them less frequently. 9. Urge kids to trade soft drinks for water.


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RT @Martina: It's a beautiful wall, the best anywhere, I am telling you!!!🤡🤬😱
Displaying items by tag: guitar
Guitar songs
Out of your mind
This is a song I've had in my head for a long time, finally got around to recording a demo. There's also a middle 8 I wrote for it, missing here. I think eventually it might be a nice little rock song.
'In days of wonder, stolen and lost'
This is a song from 2009 recorded live.
Mechanical Nightingale
This is a song fragment that I'm working on. The idea is to mix the rhythmic electronica with the raw organic of the electric guitar. I will add vocals and restructure it in time.
KHITN5Y (kill him in the next five years)
A rock song from 2009. Kill Him in the Next Five Years.
Dehydrate/Rehydrate from Kill Care Club on Myspace.
This is a slow rock song from 2010, preserved in the prehistoric amber of Myspace
My love is not a red, red rose
My Love Is Not a Red, Red Rose from Kill Care Club on Myspace.
This is me singing on a song from 2011, buried in the internet time capsule that is MySpace.
Take More
This is a song written by Mark Norton, me singing.
This is a song that I wrote in 2011. It relies on one guitar part that alternates between finger picking and then fairly meaty riffs as I wrote it to be played live with just guitar, bass, drums and vocals. I hope you find something to like in it.
Fading Away
I wrote this song in the summer of, I think, 2011, it may have been 2010. It's based on one guitar part. I wish I was a better singer, but I'm not, so this will have to do.
'Hey, it's a beautiful thing we lost'.


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Kimberly Noel "Kim" Kardashian (born October 21, 1980) is an American celebutante, socialite, television personality, producer, actress, and model. She also is the daughter of late attorney Robert Kardashian. She is widely known for a sex tape with her former boyfriend Ray J and her E! reality series which she shares with her family, Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Since then, Kim has launched multiple fragrances, guest starred on numerous shows and competed on ABC ABC's Dancing with the Stars. She also has had roles in movies such as, Disaster Movie, and Deep in the Valley. (source : http://ping.fm/7pnif) From: http://ping.fm/QJQL5
via Ping.fm


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Margot Kinberg, Mystery Author, Blogger and Academic, is my Guest Author today: Her second appearance
Today I am excited to present
Mystery Author Margot Kinberg
as my guest.
This is her second appearance here.
She is the only author I've hosted twice.
Welcome Margot, do tell us what you have been up to since your last visit here:
Thanks so much for hosting me, Jane.
It's my pleasure.
The publishing journey never quite works out the way we think it will. Ask any author, and you'll hear that things often don't go as planned. But sometimes, just when things seem to be going all wrong, something good comes of it all.
That's basically what happened with my third Joel Williams novel, Past Tense. Let me tell you about it, and you'll see what I mean.
A few years ago, I began work on what I thought was a very promising Joel Williams story. I had the characters, scenes, everything sketched out, and I was busily writing the first draft. I was optimistic about the plot, and I did like the main characters.
Then came disaster.
My hard drive died. Completely.
I had several things backed up on memory sticks, but not the novel.
I sent the drive to a data recovery firm, and they did recover bits and pieces of the novel, but not anything useful, really.
Word to the wise: if you don't already have an account with Carbonite or another data backup company, today is the day to get one.
I learned my lesson the hard way.
As I said, though, good really did come out of the whole situation. Since I didn't have my original story any more, I had to start anew.
That meant I had to re-think everything.
And that was a good thing. The result of beginning again was Past Tense.
A bit of my original idea found its way into Past Tense. Both stories are about past murders that come to light years later. And I do think Past Tense benefited from my having sketched out the earlier novel (I may yet return to that original cast of characters). So, in that sense, losing my data actually ended up making my writing better – well, in a strange, roundabout sort of way.
So, besides that lost novel, what inspired Past Tense?
I've always thought 'cold cases' were fascinating. They require an entirely different sort of approach to solving contemporary cases, and the police can't rely on the same sources of information that they tap for current cases.
Even if 'cold case' witnesses are still alive, and still willing to cooperate, time does have an impact on their memories. There's also the issue of forensics and other identification challenges.
But 'cold cases' are at least as important as current cases. That's especially so for those who've lost loved ones and have never had the closure that comes with knowing the truth. And, for me, one of the most important aspects of any murder case, real or fictional, is the impact it has on the people involved.
Put that all together, and you have the reason I wanted to include a 'cold case' in my Joel Williams series.
What about the historical context?
The focus of Past Tense is a murder that took place in 1974.
The mid-1970s were pivotal years for US college campuses.
Many social issues (e.g. women's place in society, the Vietnam War, race relations) were being debated. Student activism was an important part of campus life.
The Watergate scandal that brought down the Nixon administration made many people question what they were being told by those in authority.
With everything going on, it was, to say the least, an eventful time for colleges and universities, and a time of great change. So, what better time period for a 'cold case' sort of story?
With that background, here's the blurb for Past Tense:
A long-buried set of remains…a decades-old mystery
Past and present meet on the quiet campus of Tilton University when construction workers unearth a set of unidentified bones.
For former police detective-turned-professor Joel Williams, it's a typical Final Exams week – until a set of bones is discovered on a construction site…
When the remains are linked to a missing person case from 1974, Williams and the Tilton, Pennsylvania police go back to the past. And they uncover some truths that have been kept hidden for a long time.
How much do people really need to know?
It's 1974, and twenty-year-old Bryan Roades is swept up in the excitement of the decade. He's a reporter for the Tilton University newspaper, The Real Story, and is determined to have a career as an investigative journalist, just like his idols, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.
He plans to start with an exposé article about life on the campus of Tilton University. But does everything need to be exposed? And what are the consequences for people whose lives could be turned upside down if their stories are printed?
As it turns out, Bryan's ambition carries a very high price. And someone is determined not to let the truth out.
If you'd like to listen to an excerpt from Past Tense, it's right here.
As you can see, the journey to publication for Past Tense was a bit rocky, especially at the start. But the end result was, I think, a lot better than it might have been if I hadn't had to re-think the novel.
Sometimes, it takes a step or two back to help a person move forwards.
Thanks again, Jane, for hosting me!
Margot it has been my pleasure. Thanks so much.
I love reading about the publishing journey other authors have undertaken.
None of the trials and tribulations in achieving a published book is apparent to a reader when they turn the first page of something which has taken blood, sweat, and tears to write and get on the shelves.
Reading about your hard-drive problems and your having to write the book again from scratch rings so many bells with me, and others I am sure.
I've just completed two books which have taken forever to get finished – after many re-writes – and to my Publisher much longer after I'd intended, I know exactly how you felt when confronted with the loss of your work.
I am so happy you managed to complete Past Tense which I am reading and thoroughly enjoying at the moment.
It is especially enjoyable for me as you touch on Forensics and DNA and, as you may well have guessed, I love anything scientific to do with crime.
I do hope those visiting here and reading your guest post, will dash over to Amazon and purchase Past Tense. They won't regret it I am sure. I am loving it.
Early in my writing adventure Margot kindly accepted two stories from me for inclusion in the Anthology, In A Word: Murder and I am forever grateful to her for giving me the opportunity to share my stories alongside her and so many other talented authors.
Links are on Amazon for the Paperback and e-Book editions.
I hope everyone enjoys reading about Margot and her writing and that you'll leave her any comments or questions you might have for her in the usual manner.
If you'd like to read her earlier Guest Post with me: A Day in the Life of Joel Williams, here is the link:
Margot Kinberg is a mystery novelist who writes the Joel Williams series. She is also the editor of In a Word: Murder, an anthology of short crime stories. She has also written several non-fiction books and articles. Margot is also an Associate Professor, who's been working in higher education since 1988. You can connect with Margot at her blog Confessions of a Mystery Novelist, where you can read her daily posts on crime fiction and find out more about the Joel Williams series. Margot's also on Twitter, on Facebook and on Google+. You can also read her short crime fiction stories on Wattpad.
Categories: Blog


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About Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south and Greater London to the south and south-west. The county town is Chelmsford, which remains the only city in the ceremonial county until Southend-on-Sea is formally accorded city status. For the purposes of government statistics, Essex is placed in the East of England region.There are four definitions of the extent of Essex, the widest being the ancient county. Next largest is the former postal county, followed by the ceremonial county with the smallest being the administrative county – the area administered by the County Council, which excludes the two unitary authorities of Thurrock and Southend-on-Sea and the areas administered by the Greater London Authority.
Neighborhoods in Essex, MD
Anneslie, Anthonyville, Arcadia, Armistead Gardens, Baltimore Highlands, Banner Neighborhoods, Barclay, Belair - Edison, Belair-Edison Neighborhoods, Inc., Berea
Things to do in Essex, MD
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Writing, Typing, and Economics
Marshall McLuhan once said, or is said to have said, that clarity of expression betrays an absence of thought. Not necessarily so says the author of more than twenty books, innumerable essays and reviews, and the recent television series "The Age of Uncertainty." His advice to would-be writers combines considerable thought with laudable clarity.
Six or seven years ago, when I was spending a couple of terms at Trinity College, Cambridge, I received a proposal of more than usual interest from the University of California. It was that I resign from Harvard and accept a chair in English. More precisely, it was to be the chair in rhetoric; they assured me that rhetoric was a traditional and not, as one would naturally suppose, a pejorative title. My task would be to hold seminars with the young on what I had learned about writing in general and on technical matters in particular.
I was attracted by the idea. I had spent several decades attempting to teach the young about economics. And the practical consequences were not reassuring. When I entered the field in the early 1930s, it was generally known that the modern economy could suffer a serious depression, and that it could have a serious inflation. In the ensuing forty years my teaching had principally advanced to the point of telling that it was possible to have both at once. This was soon to be associated with the belief of William Simon and Alan Greenspan, the gifts of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford to our science, that progress in this subject is measured by the speed of the return to the ideas of the eighteenth century. A subject where it can be believed that you go ahead by going back has many problems for a teacher. Things are better now. Mr. Carter's economists do not believe in going back. But they are caught in a delicate balance between their fear of inflation and unemployment and their fear of doing anything about them. It is hard to conclude economics is a productive intellectual and pedagogical investment.
Then I began to consider what I could tell about writing. My experience was certainly ample. I had been initiated by two inspired professors in Canada, O.J. Stevenson and E. C. McLean. They were men who deeply loved their craft and who were willing to spend endless hours with a student, however obscure his talent. I had been an editor of Fortune, which in my day meant mostly being a writer. Editor was thought a more distinguished title and justified more pay. Both as an editor proper and as a writer, I had had the close attention of Henry Robinson Luce. Harry Luce is in danger of being remembered for his political judgment, which left much to be desired; he found unblemished merit in John Foster Dulles, Robert A. Taft and Chiang Kai-shek. But more important, he was an acute businessman and a truly brilliant editor. One proof is that while Time, Inc. publications have become politically more predictable since he departed, they have become infinitely less amusing.
Finally, as I reflected, among my qualifications was the amount of my life that I have spent at a typewriter. Nominally, I have been a teacher. In practice I have been a writer—as generations of Harvard students have suspected. Faced with the choice of spending time on the unpublished scholarship of a graduate student or the unpublished work of Galbraith, I have rarely hesitated. Superficially, at least, I was well qualified for that California chair.
There was, however, a major difficulty. It was that I could tell everything I knew about writing in approximately half an hour. For the rest of the term I would have nothing to say except as I could invite discussion, this being the last resort of the empty academic mind. I could use up a few hours telling how a writer should deal with their publishers. This is a field of study in which I especially rejoice. All authors should seek to establish a relationship of warmth, affection, and mutual mistrust with their publishers. This is in the hope that the uncertainty will add, however marginally, to compensation. But instruction on how to deal with publishers and how to bear up under the inevitable defeat would be for a very advanced course. It is not the sort of thing that the average beginning writer at Berkeley would find immediately practical.
So I returned to the few things that I could teach. The first lesson would have to do with the all-important issue of inspiration. All writers know that on some golden mornings they are touched by the wand — are on intimate terms with poetry and cosmic truth. I have experienced those moments myself. Their lesson is simple: It's a total illusion. And the danger in the illusion is that you will wait for those moments. Such is the horror of having to face the typewriter that you will spend all your time waiting. I am persuaded that most writers, like most shoemakers, are about as good one day as the next (a point which Trollope made), hangovers apart. The difference is the result of euphoria, alcohol, or imagination. The meaning is that one had better go to his or her typewriter every morning and stay there regardless of the seeming result. It will be much the same.
All professions have their own ways of justifying laziness. Harvard professors are deeply impressed by the jeweled fragility of their minds. More than the thinnest metal, these are subject terribly to fatigue. More than six hours teaching a week is fatal—and an impairment of academic freedom. So, at any given moment, they are resting their minds in preparation for the next orgiastic act of insight or revelation. Writers, in contrast, do nothing because they are waiting for inspiration.
In my own case there are days when the result is so bad that no fewer than five revisions are required. However, when I'm greatly inspired, only four revisions are needed before, as I've often said, I put in that note of spontaneity which even my meanest critics concede. My advice to those eager students in California would be, "Do not wait for the golden moment. It may well be worse." I would also warn against the flocking tendency of writers and its use as a cover for idleness. It helps greatly in the avoidance of work to be in the company of others who are also waiting for the golden moment. The best place to write is by yourself, because writing becomes an escape from the terrible boredom of your own personality. It's the reason that for years I've favored Switzerland, where I look at the telephone and yearn to hear it ring.
The question of revision is closely allied with that of inspiration. There may be inspired writers for whom the first draft is just right. But anyone who is not certifiably a Milton had better assume that the first draft is a very primitive thing. The reason is simple: Writing is difficult work. Ralph Paine, who managed Fortune in my time, used to say that anyone who said writing was easy was either a bad writer or an unregenerate liar. Thinking, as Voltaire avowed, is also a very tedious thing which men—or women—will do anything to avoid. So all first drafts are deeply flawed by the need to combine composition with thought. Each later draft is less demanding in this regard. Hence the writing can be better. There does come a time when revision is for the sake of change—when one has become so bored with the words that anything that is different looks better. But even then it may be better.
For months in 1955–1956, when I was working on The Affluent Society, my title was "The Opulent Society." Eventually I could stand it no longer: the word opulent had a nasty, greasy sound. One day, before starting work, I looked up the synonyms in the dictionary. First to meet my eye was the word "affluent." I had only one worry; that was whether I could possibly sell it to the publisher. All publishers wish to have books called The Crisis in American Democracy. My title, to my surprise, was acceptable. Mark Twain once said that the difference between the right adjective and the next-best adjective is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
Next, I would stress a rather old-fashioned idea to those students. It was above all the lesson of Harry Luce. No one who worked for him ever again escaped the feeling that he was there looking over one's shoulder. In his hand was a pencil; down on each page one could expect, any moment, a long swishing wiggle accompanied by the comment: "This can go." Invariably it could. It was written to please the author and not the reader. Or to fill in the space. The gains from brevity are obvious; in most efforts to achieve brevity, it is the worst and dullest that goes. It is the worst and dullest that spoils the rest.
I know that brevity is now out of favor. The New York Review of Books prides itself on giving its authors as much space as they want and sometimes twice as much as they need. Even those who have read only Joyce must find their thoughts wandering before the end of the fortnightly article. Writing for television, I've learned in the last year or two, is an exercise in relentless condensation. It has left me with the feeling that even brevity can be carried to extremes. But the danger, as I look at some of the newer fashions in writing, is not great.
The next of my injunctions, which I would impart with even less hope of success, would concern alcohol. Nothing is so pleasant. Nothing is so important for giving the writer a sense of confidence in himself. And nothing so impairs the product. Again there are exceptions: I remember a brilliant writer at Fortune for whom I was responsible, who could work only with his hat on and after consuming a bottle of Scotch. There were major crises in the years immediately after World War Il, when Scotch was difficult to find. But it is, quite literally, very sobering to reflect upon how many good American writers have been destroyed by this solace — by the sauce. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, Thomas Wolfe, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner — the list goes on and on. Hamish Hamilton, once my English publisher, put the question to James Thurber: "Jim, why is it so many of your great writers have ruined themselves with drink?" Thurber thought long and carefully and finally replied: "It's this way, Jamie. They wrote these novels, and they sold very well. They made a lot of money and so they could buy whiskey by the case."
Their reputation was universal. A few years before his death, John Steinbeck, an appreciative but not a compulsive drinker, went to Moscow. It was a triumphal tour; and in a letter that he sent me about his hosts, he said: "I found I enjoyed the Soviet hustlers pretty much. There was a kind of youthful honesty about their illicit intentions that was not without charm. And their lives are difficult under their four-party system [a reference that escapes me]. It takes a fairly deft or very lucky man to make his way upward in the worker's paradise." I later heard that one night, after a particularly effusive celebration, he decided to make his way back to the hotel on foot. On the way, he was overcome by fatigue and the hospitality he had received and sat down on a bench in a small park to rest. A policeman, called a militiaman in Moscow, came along and informed John, who was now asleep, and his companion, who spoke Russian, that the benches could not be occupied at that hour. His companion explained, rightly, that John was a very great American writer and that an exception should be made. The militiaman insisted. The companion explained again, insisted more strongly. Presently a transcendental light came over the policeman's face. He looked at Steinbeck asleep on the bench, inspected his condition more closely, recoiled slightly from the fumes, and said, "Oh, oh, Gemingway." Then he took off his cap and tiptoed carefully away.
We are all desperately afraid of sounding like Carrie Nation. I must take the risk. Any writer who wants to do his best against a deadline should stick to Coca-Cola. If he doesn't have a deadline, he can risk Seven-Up.
Next, I would want to tell my students of a point strongly pressed, if my memory serves, by Shaw. He once said that as he grew older, he became less and less interested in theory, more and more interested in information. The temptation in writing is just the reverse. Nothing is so hard to come by as a new and interesting fact. Nothing is so easy on the feet as a generalization. I now pick up magazines and leaf through them looking for articles that are rich with facts; I do not care much what they are. Richly evocative and deeply percipient theory I avoid. It leaves me cold unless I am the author of it. My advice to all young writers is to stick to research and reporting with only a minimum of interpretation. And especially this is my advice to all older writers, particularly to columnists. As the feet give out, they seek to have the mind take their place.
Reluctantly, but from a long and terrible experience, I would urge my young writers to avoid all attempts at humor. It does greatly lighten one's task. I've often wondered who made it impolite to laugh at one's own jokes; it is one of the major enjoyments of life. And that is the point. Humor is an intensely personal, largely internal thing. What pleases some, including the source, does not please others. One laughs; another says "Well, I certainly see nothing funny about that." And the second opinion has just as much standing as first, maybe more. Where humor is concerned, there are no standards — no one can say what is good or bad, although you can be sure that everyone will. Only a very foolish man will use a form of language that is wholly uncertain in its effect. That is the nature of humor.
There are other reasons for avoiding humor. In our society the solemn person inspires far more trust than the one who laughs. The politician allows himself one joke at the beginning of his speech. A ritual. Then he changes his expression, affects an aspect of morbid solemnity signaling that, after all, he is a totally serious man. Nothing so undermines a point as its association with a wisecrack — the very word is pejorative.
Also, as Art Buchwald has pointed out, we live in an age when it is hard to invent anything that is as funny as everyday life. How could one improve, for example, on the efforts of the great men of television to attribute cosmic significance to the offhand and hilarious way Bert Lance combined professed fiscal conservatism with an unparalleled personal commitment to the deficit financing of John Maynard Keynes? And because the real world is so funny, there is almost nothing you can do, short of labeling a joke a joke, to keep people from taking it seriously. A few years ago in Harper's I invented the theory that socialism in our time was the result of our dangerous addiction to team sports. The ethic of the team is all wrong for free enterprise. The code words are cooperation; team spirit; accept leadership; the coach is always right. Authoritarianism is sanctified; the individualist is a poor team player, a menace. All this our vulnerable adolescents learn. I announced the formation of an Organization to combat this deadly trend and to promote boxing and track instead. I called it the C.I.A. — Congress for Individualist Athletics. Hundreds wrote in to Harper's asking to join. Or demanding that baseball be exempted. A batter is on his own. I presented the letters to the Kennedy Library.
Finally, I would come to a matter of much personal interest, intensely self-serving. It concerns the peculiar pitfalls of the writer who is dealing with presumptively difficult or technical matters. Economics is an example, and within the field of economics the subject of money, with the history of which I have been much concerned, is an especially good case. Any specialist who ventures to write on money with a view to making himself intelligible works under a grave moral hazard. He will be accused of oversimplification. The charge will be made by his fellow professionals, however obtuse or incompetent. They will have a sympathetic hearing from the layman. That is because no layman really expects to understand about money, inflation, or the International Monetary Fund. If he does, he suspects that he is being fooled. One can have respect only for someone who is decently confusing.
In the case of economics there are no important propositions that cannot be stated in plain language. Qualifications and refinements are numerous and of great technical complexity. These are important for separating the good students from the dolts. But in economics the refinements rarely, if ever, modify the essential and practical point. The writer who seeks to be intelligible needs to be right; he must be challenged if his argument leads to an erroneous conclusion and especially if it leads to the wrong action. But he can safely dismiss the charge that he has made the subject too easy. The truth is not difficult.
Complexity and obscurity have professional value—they are the academic equivalents of apprenticeship rules in the building trades. They exclude the outsiders, keep down the competition, preserve the image of a privileged or priestly class. The man who makes things clear is a scab. He is criticized less for his clarity than for his treachery.
Additionally, and especially in the social sciences, much unclear writing is based on unclear or incomplete thought. It is possible with safety to be technically obscure about something you haven't thought out. It is impossible to be wholly clear on something you do not understand. Clarity thus exposes flaws in the thought. The person who undertakes to make difficult matters clear is infringing on the sovereign right of numerous economists, sociologists, and political scientists to make bad writing the disguise for sloppy, imprecise, or incomplete thought. One can understand the resulting anger. Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, John Maynard Keynes were writers of crystalline clarity most of the time. Marx had great moments, as in The Communist Manifesto. Economics owes very little, if anything, to the practitioners of scholarly obscurity. If any of my California students should come to me from the learned professions, I would counsel them in all their writing to keep the confidence of their colleagues. This they should do by being always complex, always obscure, invariably a trifle vague.
You might say that all this constitutes a meager yield for a lifetime of writing. Or that writing on economics, as someone once said of Kerouac's prose, is not writing but typing. True.


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r and Brandon Gormley adde
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DUNEDIN, Fla. cheap nba jerseys china . -- Edwin Encarnacion hit a three-run homer, Colby Rasmus drove in two runs and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Detroit Tigers 9-4 on Saturday. Toronto shortstop Jose Reyes left the game after the third inning due to tightness in his left hamstring. Reyes said his exit was just a precaution and insisted that he is fine. Two-time American League MVP Miguel Cabrera was 0 for 2 with a strikeout and an RBI for the Tigers. Encarnacion connected off Tigers starter Kyle Lobstein in a five-run first inning, which included a solo shot to right field by Moises Sierra and an RBI double from Melky Cabrera. It was Encarnacions third home run of the spring. Encarnacion finished 2 for 4 with a double and three RBIs. If you look at it, our regulars have been getting a lot of hits all spring," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "We havent necessarily been scoring a lot of runs, but lately we have. But, top guys are swinging the bats pretty good. Were kind of starting to put it together a little bit these last few days." Tigers outfield prospect Ezequiel Carrera homered and Tyler Collins hit a two-run double against Blue Jays starter Todd Redmond in the sixth inning. Redmond, a candidate for the fifth spot in the Blue Jays rotation, allowed five hits, walked one and struck out eight in six innings. STARTING TIME Blue Jays: Gibbons said Redmond was outstanding during his first five innings, but thought fatigue settled in when the right-hander gave up four runs -- three earned -- in the sixth. "We tried to stretch him out a little bit, but you look at his first few innings, he was dominating," Gibbons said. "He had a real good splitter, nice little slider and was spotting the ball pretty good." Tigers: Lobstein yielded seven hits with five runs, one walk and four strikeouts in three innings. Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said the left-hander lost command too many times when he was behind in counts, which led to trouble. "He was just getting behind, I think," Ausmus said. "Commands a big part of his game. When he gets behind, it tends to be a little more painful." TRAINERS ROOM Blue Jays: Gibbons said he doesnt have any worries about Reyes, despite the three-time All-Stars history with leg problems. Reyes has landed on the disabled list five times in his career with hamstring injuries, most notably with the New York Mets in 2009 when he missed all but 36 games. For now, though, Gibbons said he is not going to dwell on it. "Zero (concern), right now," he said. "If he hasnt played a week from now, weve got a lot of concerns." Infielder Maicer Izturis felt better, but was given the day off after fouling two pitches off his ankle on Friday against Tampa Bay. Tigers: Left fielder Rajai Davis missed his fifth straight game with a sore right hamstring. Ausmus said Davis participated in running drills for the second straight day and could return on Monday against Pittsburgh. DONT RULE OUT VIZQUEL With shortstop Jose Iglesias out for the season because of stress fractures in his legs, Ausmus joked that he may need to convince Tigers first base coach and former major league shortstop Omar Vizquel to come out of retirement. Ausmus said hes actually spoken with the 46-year-old Vizquel about the possibility and thinks the 10-time Gold Glove Award winner could play on a temporary basis if he wanted to. "He could probably do it part-time, to be honest with you. But then Id have to go find a first base coach," Ausmus said with a laugh. "I dont know if he could play 150 games, but he could probably be a platoon shortstop if he got himself in shape. He certainly still has the hands." Vizquel played 24 seasons with the Mariners, Indians, Giants, Rangers, White Sox and Blue Jays before retiring in 2012. SANCHEZ THROWS Ausmus said starter Anibal Sanchez did not have any issues after his bullpen session on Saturday morning. Barring an unexpected setback, Sanchez, who has been out with shoulder inflammation, will pitch in a minor league game on Monday in Lakeland. "Everything went well," Ausmus said. "We just want to see how he feels tomorrow; see how he bounces back. But if hes fine in the morning, well stay on schedule for Monday starting on the minor league side." ROSTER MOVES The Blue Jays optioned right-hander Aaron Sanchez, first baseman Dan Johnson and outfielder Kevin Pillar to minor league camp. nba jerseys china . 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Home Page Chess Life Online Archives GM Alexander Stripunsky
|GM Alexander Stripunsky
The former Soviet Union is often thought to be the breeding ground for top players. In Stripunsky's case, his largest leap of improvement came after he moved to the United States, in 1997. At this time, he switched many of his main lines, such as his White Open Sicilian to offbeat lines in the closed Sicilian. He often catches his opponents off guard in systems they've never seen, let alone studied. Meanwhile, Alex can relax. Stripunsky is a specialist in finding positions that are easy for him to play.
He earned the grandmaster title in 1998, and began to rapidly increase his rating. He played as often as he could, especially at the Marshall Chess Club, where he frequently won the New York Masters weekly rapid tournament. By the 21st century he was solidly above 2600.
He gained respect as one of America's elite grandmasters in the 2005 U.S. Championship. He won a beautiful last round game against Alexander Goldin, tying for first in a field of 20 other grandmasters. His fabulous tournament came to an end when he lost to Hikaru Nakamura in the playoff match.
His play in this tournament was all the more remarkable because he had just suffered a terrible car crash. He dons sunglasses frequently to protect his left eye, which was badly injured in the accident.
Stripunsky lives in Queens with his wife Julia Shiber, a WFM. Alex coaches talented kids in Queens, like the 11-year-old chess master, Parker Zhao. Memphis is Alex's second home. He travels there several times a year to organize and lead chess camps, and to train U.S Championship participant Jake Kleiman.
Stripunsky is disciplined when it comes to his chess career; he runs regularly and works hard at the board. He also appreciates the aesthetic power of chess, "The more you play, the more beauty you are able to see."