text:
The Most Important Character on 'True Blood': The South
Ostensibly about vampires and werewolves, the HBO series paints a complex, historically sensitive portrait of rural Louisiana.
At first glance, True Blood seems to be a show preoccupied with sex, violence, and vampires, a combination that over four seasons has been successful for HBO and creator Alan Ball. But it's one character—comfortably familiar yet unknowable, modern but still historical—that breathes life into a show about the undead. This character is the South.
True Blood, HBO's biggest hit since The Sopranos, follows a telepathic waitress (Anna Paquin) in a made-up Louisianan town called Bon Temps, where life suddenly gets more dramatic when vampires make their public debut and "come out of the coffin."
For anyone suffering cuddly teenage vampire fatigue, True Blood and its generous helping of inspired deaths and even more ambitious sex scenes offers a breath of fresh, R-rated air. But Ball has pulled off something even more brilliant here—and will hopefully continue when season five premieres on Sunday—by making the South a character in its own right.
The small-town Southern setting serves a purpose. Vampires, werewolves and other supernatural creatures are the things of old, well-loved stories. Making the South—an old, well-loved piece of America—as important as the rest of the cast satisfies our craving for stories about ourselves, while also mixing in some fantasy for extra excitement. It's the best of both worlds.
The South is to True Blood as Olympus was to the Greek gods, or the enchanted forest was to A Midsummer Night's Dream. In his introduction for The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Charles Reagan Wilson points out that "few topics are more important than mythology in understanding the origin and development of the American South as a distinctive place."
This mythical presence always threatens to appear at a moment's notice in Southern stories, and that is an integral part of the show. Alongside the South's traditional mythology—remembering the good fight and carefree antebellum living—the supernatural world slips right in.
Different versions of the South make appearances. Even with the majority of filming done in Los Angeles, the set is distinctly Southern. (It helps that it looks as if producers have trucked in tons of Spanish moss and coated every tree in sight.) There is a sense of a tight community, and even a bar where everybody does know your name.
One of the main characters, Bill Compton, the vampire king of Louisiana and a former Confederate soldier who didn't lose any of his manners when he was turned into a vampire, is the old South personified. A more contemporary example is last season's hookup between a good old Southern boy and another vampire in the back of a pickup truck with a planation-style mansion in the background. A pack of werewolves that seem to love their Harleys as much as they love howling at the moon is another example of the current South. At every turn, the South, as a state of mind and a place, fills characters with their essence or sets the scene to illuminate them.
The family dynasties of the South are mirrored in the close relationships between older vampires and the younger vampires they created. The old class system rears its head in the aristocracy of the vampires compared with the packs of werewolves, who are hicks in comparison, much like the so-called "white trash" of the old South. In a clever twist on history, the humans in True Blood are meals, in much the same way that slaves were often regarded as less than human. It's also not a stretch to see the hypnotism the vampires love to do as an example of the widespread delusion that developed after the Civil War that the South will rise again.
Ball's previous entry into television, the critics' darling Six Feet Under, applied a similar storytelling device. Six Feet Under had death as a character, making it a constant presence, as the recently departed continued interacting with the living to push each episode along. Death or the fear of it is a common theme in stories. By making death so routine and have characters desensitized to it, Ball made viewers confront death differently, too.
Since so many of the characters in True Blood are already dead, however, this trick would have been stale if it weren't reinvented. So Ball took something as abstract as a culture and made it work in his storytelling trick of seeing something familiar in a new way. People tend to form strong opinions about the South, either good (home and heritage) or bad (closed-minded and xenophobic). Ball, with all the positives and pitfalls in the show, makes it clear the land of Dixie is neither entirely here nor there.
In True Blood, Ball, an Atlanta native, stays away from a patronizing view of rural life or relying too heavily on the Old South. The complicated racial history is not forgotten, however. The werepanthers have more than a passing resemblance to the rednecks in Deliverance. The discrimination against vampires is a barely veiled metaphor for the current struggle for gay rights with antagonists using the slogan of "god hates fangs" and a Vampire Rights Amendment being pushed by undead lobbyists in the Senate.
"The South is a place of real extremes, really making it a perfect place for a horror tale," says Scott Poole, a professor of history at the College of Charleston and author of Monsters in America. "There's a long tradition of seeing the South as other, the evil twin."
Can you imagine True Blood set in the laidback California beach culture? In the bundled up and completely unsexy Boston winter? The South, with its blurred understanding of history and even murkier mythology, lends itself to the alternate universe of True Blood. It doesn't hurt that a made-up town in rural Louisiana is as foreign to an urban audience as some of the deeper recesses of outer space. Viewers want stories to take them somewhere new. The South, with its understanding of itself always changing, can be revisited again and again.
Vampires have been used in stories as stand-ins for societal concerns since Irish author Bram Stoker made up the name Dracula in 1897. In True Blood, vampires are just vampires and the South is something more complicated. It's a place, but it's also lifestyle, it's a land that scorns the unfamiliar while basking in its varied history. It's a place where it's imaginable that a vampire bar named Fangtasia could do brisk business.
In Absalom! Absalom! Faulkner wrote: "Tell about the South. What it's like there. What do they do there. Why do they live there. Why do they live at all." But Ball finds an answer in another quote about Southerners from the same novel: "No wonder you folks all outlive yourselves by years and years and years."


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A few weeks ago, the good people at Disney contacted us to tell us Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's movie The Game Plan was coming out on DVD today and did we want to do a little something about it?
In about five minutes, our afternoon email round robin took a decidedly "OMG THE ROCK!! SQUEEEEEEE!!" tone. So today and tomorrow, we're grooming our eyebrows and sharpening our People's elbows to bring you Rocky goodness in review, flashback and quiz form.
And you can win stuff! That's right! We have real, honest to blog prizes to give away.
Smell what the Ladies… are cooking after the jump.
1. Which of these is NOT one of the Rock's signature moves?
a) The Samoan Drop
b) The Sharpshooter
c) The Mindblower
d) The Spine on the Pine
2. The Rock is an alum of what university?
3. Which of these timelines is the correct progression of the Rock's career?
a) Heel as part of The Corporation, face with Nation of Domination, feuded with Stone Cold Steve Austin
b) Heel with Nation of Domination, joined The Corporation, feuded with Stone Cold Steve Austin, kicked out of The Corporation, face as The People's Champion
c) Made out with Stone Cold Steve Austin
d) Founded The Corporation, face with The Corporation, turned heel with The Corporation, eventually succeeded Vince McMahon as CEO of The Corporation
4. Name three characters The Rock played on Saturday Night Live.
5. How many times and for what roles was The Rock nominated for a Razzie?
Final question:
Which was a better catchphrase: "Know your role and shut your mouth" or "Can ya smell what The Rock is cooking?" Please reply in the comments in essay format. Support your opinion with examples. Creativity is strongly encouraged.
Bribes accepted.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Mr Saeid Rasouli has been appointed the new Vice-Minister for Roads and Urban Development, Chairman of the Board and President of RAI as of March 2019.
Mr Rasouli has been Member of the Board at the Railways of the Islamic Republic of Iran (RAI) since 22 January 2017. Ha was formerly Vice-President for Planning and Transport Economy at RAI and held various high-level roles at Iran's President Office and within the Management and Planning Organisation.
UIC Director General Mr Jean-Pierre Loubinoux is pleased to acknowledge the appointment of Mr Rasouli by congratulating him on his new role at the head of Iranian Railways. He said that Iran has significant railway projects in the pipeline and UIC will be delighted to pursue its cooperation to support Iranian Railways in their development. The UIC office in Tehran will remain for its part very active by working in conjunction with the Middle-East region and fostering links with all its members.
Mr Saeid Rasouli was born in 1968 in Malayer. He graduated from Shahid Chamran
University in Ahvaz in the field of Water Engineering and is a graduate in Structural
Engineering from the same university at PhD level. He has been working at different
positions the most important of which are as follows:
- Member of the Board at the Railways of the Islamic Republic of Iran (RAI)
- Vice-President for Planning and Transport Economy (RAI)
- Advisor to Iran President's Deputy for Strategic Planning and Supervision
- Chairman of Iran's Coordination and Integration of Planning and Budget
- Affairs
- Chairman of Coordination, Integration, and Allocation of the Iran's Budget,
- Director General for "Parliament Affairs Coordination Office" of Management
- and Planning Organisation of Iran
- Deputy for Iran first Vice- President's Office
- Deputy Director General for Human Resource Development of Management,
- and Planning Organisation of Iran
(Source: RAI)


text:
I have a pretty incredible job. My current role has me leading Microsoft's efforts at designing, constructing, and operating its world-wide Data Center infrastructure in support of our cloud services initiatives, or more correctly "Software + Services".
There aren't many people around tasked with this kind of challenge, in fact the number of companies attempting this challenge can be counted on one or two hands. One routine question I get asked is 'what methodology or approach I use to deliver against this challenge?'. The question of course assumes there is an answer. As if some there is some book one can run out and purchase to figure it out. No such book exists.
The real answer involves the hard work and dedication of an incredibly talented team focused on a single mission. That is exactly what we have on the Data Center challenge at Microsoft. I have the world's most talented team and I am not in the least shy about my confidence in them. However, even with the raw materials produced by this incredible team, the technology breakthroughs in Data Center design, the incredible process and automation improvements, the focused reduction of energy consumption and drive for greater energy-use efficiency is not 100% of the formula.
There is one missing element. Clues to this one missing element can be found in products for sale at your local Target or Walmart store. Many people may be surprised by this, but I suspect most wont.
I recently spent a good part of a weekend putting together deck furniture for my home. It was good quality stuff, it had the required parts and hardware and not unlike other do-it-yourself furniture it had directions that left a lot to be desired. In many ways its like IT Infrastructure or running any IT shop. You have all the tools, you have all the raw components, but how you put it all together is where the real magic happens, and the directions are usually just as vague on how to do it.
One of the common themes across all steps of the deck furniture pieces was a common refrain, 'Do Not Tighten Bolts". The purpose was to get all of the components together, even if a bit loose, to ensure you had the right shape, all components were in the right place, and then and only then do you tighten the bolts.
If you really want to know the secret to putting together solutions at scale, remember the "Do Not Tighten Bolts" methodology. Assemble to raw components, ensure you have the right shape and that all components are in the right place, and then "Tighten it down." This can be and is an iterative process. Keep working to get that right shape. Keep working to find the right component configuration. Tighten bolts. As I built my first deck chair, there was significant amounts of trial and error. The second deck chair however was seamless, even with the same cruddy directions. Once you learn to 'Not Tighten' technique the assembly process is quick and provides you with great learnings.
Some may feel this approach too simplistic, or lacks the refinement of a polished methodology. The fact of the matter is that Cloud Services infrastructure takes lots of hard work, great natural resources, and above all flexibility without adherence to dogmatic approach.
That is why I have named this blog "Loose Bolts". I will be moving my formal blog activity to this forum and hopefully post interesting topics from time to time.
Thanks so much for reading,
Mike Manos


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11:03 AMAone Ultra Video Joiner 6.1.0225
Aone Ultra Video Joiner 6.1.0225 | 9.45 Mb
Ultra Video Joiner is a professional video file joining tool which join or merge multiple video files into a large one like AVI Joiner, MPEG Joiner, WMV Joiner, RM Joiner, MP4 Joiner etc. The Movie Joiner supports so many video formats including AVI, Divx, XviD, MPEG, WMV, ASF, RM, MOV, 3GP, MP4, FLV, MKV formats. You can add an unlimited number of video files to the list and easily rearrange their order if needed , then merge the videos files to AVI, Divx, XviD, MPEG, VCD, SVCD, DVD, WMV, MP4, FLV formats. You even can use it to convert a single file. It also supports join video files to VCD/SVCD image and DVD-Video files, so you can burn them into one VCD/SVCD/DVD disc easily by using third-party burning tools. It already includes all video encoders and decoders , you don't need to download any other codecs to make it work. With just a few mouse clicks, you can enjoy your movie clips without interruption.
Key Functions
* Join video files directly without re-encoding
You can use Ultra Video Joiner to join multiple AVI MPEG WMV MP4 FLV clips directly without re-encoding
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You can use Ultra Video Joiner to join multiple AVI DivX files with Fast conversion speeds because All encoders/codec are built-in
* MPEG Joiner
Ultra Video Joiner to join multiple MPEG1, MPEG2 files. A lot of settings you can tweak to achieve high quality.
* Join multiple videos to another format
Combine and join multiple video formats to one file with comprehensive video formats supported like DVD, VCD, SVCD, AVI, DivX, MPEG, ASF, WMV.
Key Features
* Super fast conversion speed provided as it full supports Intel Pentium D Dual-Core Processor and AMD Athlon™ 64 X 2 Dual-Core Processor which ensures full use of your CPU
* All encoders/codec are built-in and any supported conversion can be done once you downloading the software
* Join video files directly without re-encoding, very fast and without any quality loss
* Merge your favorite video files to another formt
* Join unlimited number of video files in different formats
* Cut unwanted parts by specifying start time and end time
* NTSC/PAL setting options for DVD, VCD, SVCD exporting
* Add letterbox to keep the original aspect ratio
* High conversion speed and wonderful output quality
* Support "Drag and Drop" from Windows Explorer
* Simple GUI and very EASY to use
* Lifetime FREE Technical Support and FREE upgrade. Free trial download. 30 day money back guarantee
Home page - http://www.aone-soft.com/
|Total comments: 0


text:
|Jazz Journalists Association Entrance Gallery Library
Clarence Penn
Dave Liebman
David Murray
Dena DeRose
Clarence Penn Dave Liebman David Murray Dena DeRose Denny Zeitlin Don Braden Ernie Watts Gary Smulyan Ingrid Jensen James Genus James Moody Kenny Wheeler Slide Hampton
copyright © 2003 Chris Hovan
Chris Hovan has been active in the field of jazz since his days at the Berklee College of Music in the mid '80s. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, he has been a past trustee of the Northeast Ohio Jazz Society and a jazz deejay at WCPN-FM. A freelance musician and record collector, Hovan has been a contributor to the MusicHound album reference guides for jazz and swing, and is a regular contributor to All About Jazz, The Jazz Review and The Cleveland Scene. Hovan also regularly pens liner notes for the independent Criss Cross Jazz label.
See Chris's article on IAJE at www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=57.
|Jazz Journalists Association Entrance Gallery Library


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Top Items:
Karlgaard / CESblog:
Yahoo! Snaps Up Mybloglog.com — Yahoo! is making notoriety a mouse click away. — The Internet portal has purchased Mybloglog.com, an Orlando, Fla.-based website that enables readers of web pages to leave information about themselves, building a social network among fans of such things …
Zoli Erdos / Zoli's Blog: Let's Not Spam MyBlogLog
Chris Messina / FactoryCity: Sticking eyeballs with toothpicks; or Yahoo buys MyBlogLog
Chris Winfield / 10e20: Yahoo Acquires MyBlogLog.com - For Real This Time
Amit Agarwal / Digital Inspiration: MyBlogLog: Now Playing At the Yahoo! Theatre
Duncan / duncanriley.com: Yahoo! buys MyBlogLog
Steve O'Hear / The Social Web: Yahoo buys MyBlogLog
Allen Stern / CenterNetworks: Yahoo! buys MyBlogLog - Yep, it's confirmed
Junior Hines / Clickety Clack: Yahoo Buys MyBlogLog
Om Malik / GigaOM:
Yahoo buys MyBlogLog... for real! — Updated: 8.58 pm: A few minutes after we had ordered our dinner at Mehfil Restaurant in San Francisco's SOMA district, Scott Rafer, chairman of Orlando, Florida-based MyBlogLog, checked his Blackberry Pearl, and broke into a smile.
Discussion: Mark Evans, Screenwerk, Search Marketing Gurus, Web Worker Daily, hyku | blog and Marketing Blog Bent …
Greg Sterling / Screenwerk: Getting Y!'s Mojo Back: A Release a Week
Chris Gilmer / Web Worker Daily: MYBLOGLOG, A VIRTUAL COMPANY, SOLD TO YAHOO
Josh Hallett / hyku | blog: Congrats to the MyBlogLog Gang
Jason Dowdell / Marketing Blog Bent …: Yahoo Aquires MyBlogLog for 12 Million
Chad Dickerson / Yodel Anecdotal:
Bloggers unite! Yahoo! joins forces with MyBlogLog — There once was a time when bloggers basically lived in silos of independent existence. Hunched over your keyboard, you checked your ego feeds every day, looked for inbound links, followed the various meme-tracking sites, and read who you thought was interesting.
Discussion: Search Engine Land, 10e20, Search Engine Watch Blog and Yahoo! Developer Network blog
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land: Yahoo Acquires MyBlogLog & More On How It Works
Chris Winfield / 10e20: How Long Until Spam Becomes a Huge Problem for MyBlogLog?
Kevin Newcomb / Search Engine Watch Blog: Yahoo Acquires MyBlogLog
Jeremy Zawodny / Yahoo! Developer Network blog: MyBlogLog Joins YDN!
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Yahoo Buys MyBlogLog. No, They Didn't. Wait, Yes. — Ok so it's official and confirmed from Yahoo: They bought MyBlogLog. This was first rumored to be happening in November, but was never confirmed and we updated our post to reflect that. This morning the news broke again but was pulled immediately afterwards.
Discussion: Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, Webomatica and Susan Mernit's Blog
Andy Beal / Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim: Yahoo Acquires MyBlogLog
Eric / The MyBlogLog Blog:
The Jig is Up — MyBlogLog joins Yahoo! — Todd, John, Steve, Scott and I are pleased to announce that Yahoo! has brought MyBlogLog into the fold. I've been drafting a post about this for the better part of a week and it's just not happening. No matter how hard I try, there's just too much here that I can't yet put into words.
Discussion: Read/WriteWeb, A View from the Isle and Scott Rafer at WINKsite
Richard MacManus / Read/WriteWeb: MyBlogLog Acquired by Yahoo - Grist To The Distributed Network Mill
Tris Hussey / A View from the Isle: MyBlogLog joins Yahoo, is this good?
Pete Cashmore / Mashable!:
Confirmed: Yahoo Acquires MyBlogLog for $10 Million — Valleywag started a rumor in November that Yahoo had bought MyBlogLog - Yahoo then denied it and everybody backtracked. Another story popped up on MarketingShift early today, adding a $10 million price tag - that post was quickly pulled …
Discussion: digg
Jeremy Zawodny / Jeremy Zawodny's blog:
Welcome MyBlogLog to Yahoo! — It seems like only yesterday that TechCrunch posted a premature story about Yahoo! buying MyBlogLog. — Well, now it's official and I'd like to publicly welcome the MyBlogLog team to Yahoo. In the last month or so, I've had the chance to meet and get to know the team …
Rafat Ali / PaidContent:
Yahoo Buys Distributed Social Network MyBlogLog; Reportedly Around $10 Million
Yahoo Buys Distributed Social Network MyBlogLog; Reportedly Around $10 Million
Discussion: TechAddress, MediaVidea, Message and Marketing Blog Bent …
Pramit Singh / MediaVidea: Mybloglog: a better model for blog networks?
Evan Roberts / Marketing Blog Bent …: Something Smells Funny in this Shoe
John Siracusa / FatBits:
MWSF 2007 keynote bingo — I debated doing a MacWorld bingo card for a long time. At first, I was sure I wasn't going to create one. WWDC bingo was a cute diversion, but do I really want to commit to doing one of these for every Stevenote? I also didn't know if people would be hungry for more bingo after WWDC's bingo bust.
Ewan McIntosh / edu.blogs.com: Play MacWorld Stevenote Bingo
Michael Calore / Monkey Bites: Macworld: Feel the iHeat
Jeff Ventura / Graceful Flavor: Get Your Macworld Bingo Card(s) or Risk Ridicule From Those Who Have Them
John Gruber / Daring Fireball: Daring Fireball, Live Tuesday at Macworld Expo
Matthew Himler / Blogging Stocks: Smackdown! Jobs vs. Gates
Ryan Katz / Think Secret:
Eve of Expo: MWSF Rumor recap — With some 24 hours until Apple CEO Steve Jobs takes the stage at the Moscone Center in San Francisco to kick off Macworld Expo, Think Secret presents a compilation of information we have received and reported over the last number of months concerning Apple's anticipated announcements.
Discussion: CNET News.com, VentureBeat, Valleywag and digg
Longofest / MacRumors:
Last Minute Macworld San Francisco Notes [Updated] — As the final hours before the Macworld San Francisco keynote draw to a close, a few final notes on late-breaking news, rumors, and speculation. — More Display Rumblings — Perhaps adding some legitimacy to previous conflicted rumors …
Discussion: TechBlog and Blogging Stocks
Jim Thompson / TechBlog: Macworld 2007: big news or big yawns?
Eric Buscemi / Blogging Stocks: Possible releases at Macworld
Sprint Nextel Provides Update On Financial Outlook and Operating Performance — Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) announced today an update to its financial outlook and detailed its plans designed to improve operational performance and drive long-term shareholder value.
Discussion: GigaOM, SeekingAlpha Wireless Stocks, Seeking Alpha, Tech Trader Daily and MobileTracker
Om Malik / GigaOM: For Sprint, a tough 2007 ahead
Judy Weil / Seeking Alpha: Sprint's Crawl To The Finish Line
Tiernan Ray / Tech Trader Daily: Sprint's "Huge Miss": How Bad Will Things Get?
Sprint Nextel Cites WiMAX Network Progress For 2007
Sprint Nextel Cites WiMAX Network Progress For 2007
Discussion: dailywireless.org and Phone Scoop
Rory / Channel 9:
Windows Home Server — Microsoft is a big company. Everybody knows this, but it really hits home when your job is to go around and interview people from its many divisions. — Before shooting this video, I didn't even know there was a Windows Home Server coming out. — But there is.
Discussion: Bankwatch, Web Worker Daily and saunderslog.com
Nathan Weinberg / InsideMicrosoft:
Microsoft CES 2007: The Day After
Microsoft CES 2007: The Day After
Discussion: Monkey Bites, Microsoft News Tracker and Computerworld Blogs
Michael Calore / Monkey Bites: Total Media Convergence, Courtesy of Microsoft
David Hunter / Microsoft News Tracker: Not much happening in Gates' CES07 keynote
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
Windows Home Server prototypes on parade
Windows Home Server prototypes on parade
Discussion: Seeking Alpha and Computerworld Blogs
Preston Gralla / Computerworld Blogs: Will bad backups doom Windows Home Server?
Thomas Hawk / Thomas Hawk's Digital Connection:
1000 Shots of CES? — Well I think my goal of getting 1,000 shots of CES up online before heading back home to San Francisco may be tougher than I thought. I'm here for four days, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and flying back out Thursday afternoon. It's now almost 1 a.m. in the morning …
Discussion: Scobleizer and The Jeff Pulver Blog
Gamers, Get Your Hands on This: Microsoft and Razer Launch Cutting-Edge Gaming Keyboard — Microsoft Hardware and Razer alliance continues to elevate PC gameplay. — Today at the 2007 International CES in Las Vegas, Microsoft Corp. and Razer USA Ltd. set a new standard in gaming innovation …
Microsoft's Upgraded Fingerprint Reader Makes Windows Vista Features More Convenient
Microsoft's Upgraded Fingerprint Reader Makes Windows Vista Features More Convenient
Discussion: Bink.nu, Neowin.net and Microsoft News Tracker
Daniel Fleshbourne / Neowin.net: Microsoft's Upgraded Fingerprint Reader for Windows Vista
David Hunter / Microsoft News Tracker: Other Microsoft announcements at CES07
Aral Balkan:
FlashForward KeyNote at MacWorld — I took notes during the FlashForward keynote at MacWorld today but couldn't post them since I didn't have WiFi in the room. It was a nice keynote and we got some cool sneak peeks at Flash CS3 and Apollo and a fun presentation on Flash on the Wii by Justin.
Discussion: Ryan Stewart
San Francisco Chronicle:
O Googlers, where art thou? — Some employees found instant riches in the Internet search company's initial public offering — affording them the luxury of pursuing new dreams — Who in their right mind would leave a job at Google Inc., a company legendary for pampering workers with free annual ski trips and gourmet food?
Discussion: Got Ads? and Google Blogoscoped
Wagner James Au / GigaGamez:
Second Life Goes Open Source- First Thoughts, With Linden Lab's Replies — Analysis — I was only hours from posting a sequel to the ongoing "Is Second Life Over-Hyped?" controversy, when Linden Lab spun the conversation in a totally different direction: starting today …
Discussion: NevilleHobson.com, tecosystems, MediaVidea, O'Reilly Radar and digg
Pramit Singh / MediaVidea: Second Life officially declares open house for spammers
Allison Randal / O'Reilly Radar: Second Life as Open Source
Cabel / cabel.name:
Apple's Next-Generation Themes — See, I was going to originally title this "Apple's Secret Theme Tool!!", in an effort to clutch your e-eyeballs dramatically. (I've gotta get this here vortal to be more sticky!) Unfortunately, a public patent filing isn't exactly "secret".
Discussion: The Unofficial Apple Weblog


text:
Laws, Regulations and Annotations
Business Taxes Law Guide – Revision 2023
Sales And Use Tax Law
Revenue and Taxation Code
Division 2. Other Taxes
Part 1. Sales and Use Taxes
Chapter 4. Exemptions
Article 1. General Exemptions
Section 6363
6363. Meals. There are exempted from the taxes imposed by this part the gross receipts from the sale of, and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, meals and food products for human consumption furnished or served to the students of a school by public or private schools, school districts, student organizations, parent-teacher associations, and any blind person (as defined in Section 19153 of the Welfare and Institutions Code) operating a restaurant or vending stand in an educational institution under Article 5 (commencing with Section 19625) of Chapter 6 of Part 2 of Division 10 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. The term "food products" as used in this section has the meaning ascribed to it in Section 6359.
The exemption provided by this section shall not apply when the meals or food products are sold for consumption within a place, the entrance to which is subject to an admission charge, except for national and state parks and monuments.
History—Added by Stats. 1943, p. 2456, operative July 1, 1943. Stats. 1947, p. 2029, operative July 1, 1947, added provisions respecting food products. Stats. 1955, p. 2104, in effect September 7, 1955, added provisions respecting blind persons, and rearranged wording. Stats. 1963, p. 3763, in effect September 20, 1963, deleted the provisions relating to "employers or employee organizations." Stats. 1965, p. 3131 in effect September 17, 1965, deleted "or teachers." Stats. 1970, p. 1059, in effect November 23, 1970, substituted reference to Welfare and Institutions Code for reference to Government Code, deleted wording following "in section 6359" from last sentence of first paragraph, and added second paragraph. Stats. 1971, p. 3713, in effect December 14, 1971, operative January 1, 1972, added the words "furnished or" preceding "served to students".
Construction of prior exemption.—This section constitutes a change in the law rather than a clarification of former Section 2(e) of the Retail Sales Tax Act, under which the tax did not apply to sales of meals served by employers or employee organizations exclusively to employees. An employer who served meals to its employees and the employees of subcontractors did not serve meals "exclusively" to its employees and was required to pay tax on the sale of the meals to employees and others. Twaits v. State Board of Equalization (1949) 93 Cal.App.2d 796.


text:
Is your child interested in joining team tennis?
There are fun opportunities in your area to get out and play! Fill out this simple form and a local USTA Middle States representative will reach out to you.
Why wait until high school to join a tennis team?
USTA Junior Team Tennis brings together boys and girls, ages 6 to 18, to play singles, doubles and mixed doubles against other coed teams. Beyond being fun and a great form of exercise, Junior Team Tennis is a competitive, level-based environment that promotes individual growth, social growth and life skills.
Why Junior Team Tennis is Right For You
With Junior Team Tennis, you'll learn about unity, sportsmanship and how to work together to achieve success. You'll also learn that success isn't just about winning; it's about how you play the game and respond to challenges.
Parents can get involved in Junior Team Tennis, too. ADVERTISEMENT If there isn't a Junior Team Tennis league near you, your parent can start a team!
Nearly 100,000 kids nationwide play Junior Team Tennis annually, thanks to the parents who donate their time and talents. In fact, your parents can get involved today, whether they're pros or if they've never picked up a racquet. They can even start a team if there isn't one nearby.
Local Junior Team Tennis or Championship Junior Team Tennis: Which is right for me?
Junior Tennis Team follows two tracks to provide opportunities to players of all abilities: Local Junior Team Tennis or Championship Junior Team Tennis. The local track allows kids and team organizers to play on local level with flexible structures, while the championship track provides teams the opportunity to advance to a national championship – the crown jewel of the USTA Junior Team Tennis season.
Looking to join a team in your area? Contact the JTT Coordinator in your district for more information.
Resources and Other Information
2021 National Championships Regulations
Middle States COVID-19 Protocols


text: Back Male Menopause Male menopause is an informal term used for a condition caused when testosterone levels decrease in aging men. Experts disagree on how widespread the condition is. Some say only around 2 percent of men older than 60 have below-normal testosterone levels. Others say 40 to 80 percent of men older than 70 have it. The Endocrine Society estimates that millions of American men don't produce enough testosterone. What is testosterone? Testosterone is the male sex hormone responsible for male characteristics. It triggers the penis and testicles to form in a fetus. At puberty, it causes the penis and testicles to grow larger. It also causes facial and pubic hair to grow, the voice to deepen, and muscle mass and strength to increase. It governs where fat is distributed on the body and oversees the increase in body height that occurs during adolescence. Testosterone also controls sex drive and sperm production. Testosterone is made by the testicles. A small amount also is made by the adrenal glands, located on top of the kidneys. (In women, small amounts of testosterone are made by the ovaries.) Testosterone production is controlled by a complicated process that begins in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus sends a hormone called gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) to the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland makes luteinizing hormone (LH), which signals the testicles to make testosterone. When there is enough testosterone, the hypothalamus sends a message to the pituitary glad to stop making LH, and the testicles slow down production of testosterone. In an adult male, about 7 mg of testosterone is made each day. Testosterone production reaches its peak during adolescence and young adulthood. The range of what is considered a "normal" level of testosterone varies widely. Testosterone levels usually decline as a man ages, but never drop to zero, as estrogen does for a woman when she reaches menopause. What causes low testosterone? In young men, a testosterone level that is too low can be caused by genetic conditions such as: Klinefelter's syndrome. A condition in which men have an extra X chromosome. Hemochromatosis. A disorder in which too much iron is deposited in body tissues, including the pituitary gland. Kallmann's syndrome. A genetic condition that affects the X chromosome in men. Prader-Willi syndrome. A disorder in which the genitals are underdeveloped; often testes don't descend. Myotonic dystrophy or adult muscular dystrophy Other causes in young men include: Trauma to the testicles Inflammation of the testicles often caused by getting mumps after puberty Radiation treatment or chemotherapy Treatment of tumors of the testicles Castration for cancer of the testicles or prostate Tumors of the pituitary gland Medications, such as narcotic pain medications, prednisone and anabolic steroids HIV/AIDS Medical conditions, such as tuberculosis, fungal infection, and autoimmune disease that affects the pituitary gland Aging causes a normal decrease in the production of testosterone in men. This is sometimes called andropause. Andropause usually occurs between the ages of 40 and 55. Beginning around the age of 40, testosterone production decreases by about 1 percent each year. What are the symptoms of low testosterone? The normal decline in testosterone because of aging causes some men's hormone levels to go down more than others. Some men have more symptoms than other men. Symptoms of low testosterone in older men can also be symptoms of many other conditions. Talk to your health care provider if you have any of these symptoms: Progressive decrease in muscle mass Decrease desire or interest in sex (libido) Erectile dysfunction Weight gain Problems sleeping Feeling irritable or angry Loss of motivation Loss of drive at work Nervousness Problems with memory and concentration Indecisiveness Lower self-confidence Tiredness Depression Mood swings Loss of energy Bone loss How is low testosterone diagnosed? A simple blood test can determine your testosterone level. The serum total testosterone test is the most common. This test should be done in the morning, when the testicles usually release more testosterone. Normal results usually range from 300 to 1000 ng/dL (or 10 to 38 nmol/L). A total testosterone level that is repeatedly less than 250 ng/dL (8.5 nmol/L) indicates a very low level of testosterone production. Treatment to replace testosterone may be needed. Because a normal level of testosterone is different for each man, however, it may be hard to know if you have low testosterone with just one test; you may need several tests taken over time. About 98 percent of the testosterone carried in the blood is bound to two proteins and is not available to the tissues of the body. The remaining 2 percent, which circulates freely, causes the effects on body tissues. As men age, more testosterone is bound by proteins. Too little free testosterone can cause the symptoms listed above. What is the treatment for low testosterone? For men whose testicles produce too little or no testosterone (a condition called hypogonadism), health care providers may prescribe testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). TRT works to restore sex drive, fertility, muscle strength, and prevent bone loss. But the long-term benefits and risks of TRT in healthy, aging men have not been studied. In the majority of short-term studies, TRT decreased a man's fat mass, increased muscle mass, improved strength, and increased bone mineral density. Because ED usually has causes other than low testosterone, TRT does not help in the majority of ED cases. High doses of testosterone can cause sleep problems and infertility, and increase the risk for stroke. In addition, high doses of testosterone may cause benign (noncancerous) growth of the prostate gland. This can lead to a condition called benign prostatic hyperplasia. If an undetected prostate cancer is present, experts worry that TRT could cause rapid growth of the cancer. Acne can also be a side effect of TRT. TRT can be given by injections every two to three weeks; by skin patches; and by implanted pellets that are inserted every four to six months. A recently approved form of testosterone is by tablet and placed under the tongue or beside the gum. Testosterone is not given orally because it can affect the liver, raise total cholesterol levels, and decrease high density lipoprotein (HDL) levels, the "good" cholesterol.


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text: The excitement of traveling a bike measures up with nothing else. Unfortunately, the effects of this thrill, when applied inappropriately, can grow to be really costly as well. Accurate, motorcycles make our driving a car experiences almost mystical, but they are often dangerous weaponry if not powered with maximum care. Bike Driving Schools allow us… Continue reading Motorcycle Driving School


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Summer Missions and Semester Missions are an opportunity and adventure of a lifetime! If you are interested in serving for all or part of a summer or even for a semester in Mississippi, the United States, or around the world, then we have opportunities for you! BSU's from around Mississippi send over 200 students each year. The types of ministry opportunities range from the more traditional Vacation Bible School in suburban or urban America to the exotic riverboat team in the Philippines.
To find out more, click on the MissionsNow link (www.missionsnow.net).
To know the will of God, we need an open Bible and an open map. - William Carey


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Hauntworld will introduces a new Haunted House in dover, New Hampshire this Halloween Season! Whether you are from dover, or you are simply visiting this Halloween Season, there are plenty of festive fun to enjoy this Halloween Season. The Biggest, Best and Scariest Haunted House in the city of dover, NH from haunted attractions, haunted hayrides, paintball zombie hayrides, corn mazes, to massive screamparks can all be found here at Hauntworld.com.
Here's a list of the top Haunted House in dover, New Hampshire. Take a look and find the Best and Scariest Haunted Attractions near you: Haunted House in New Hampshire
Find Haunted Houses in
Open select evenings in October, The Dark Woods is an interactive, fun, and creepy Halloween event located in the remote woodlands of Trombly Gardens in Milford, NH. Guests take a self-guided tour through the dimly-lit woods while being "met" by a unique group of misfits. Perfect for families and romantics looking to create lasting memories and sometimes uncomfortable moments with complete (cree... [Read more]
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Join the Lajoie family for Main Street Haunts in Jaffrey NH Lajoie's Haunted Walk - 141 Main Street Jaffrey NH
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All your life, you've heard the story of the yellow brick road. But it's not the only paved path emanating from the middle of Munchkin Square. If follow, follow, following the yellow brick road lands you in the wonderful Land of Oz, where does the red one lead? Come visit us for the 19th edition of Fitzy's Fright Fest, in the Top 5 on WMUR-TV viewer's choice Best Haunted Houses for the past... [Read more]
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New England's Only Locked-in-a-Haunted House Escape Attraction! *** OPEN YEAR-ROUND! *** Experience five horror-themed escape rooms in one terrifying haunted walkthrough. You've never seen anything like this.
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Visit our historic 200-year-old farm along the banks of the Merrimack River and experience one of New Englands most unique Haunted Attractions. Welcome to Ravenwood Haunted Farm. Experience fear, fun, laughter, and excitement as you journey through our haunted woods and discover the secrets earthed in our ominous cornfield. Immerse yourself in the macabre grounds of Ravenwood Estates. Sit... [Read more]
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Ghost Ship Harbor is Boston area's only haunted attraction!
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Quarter Mile Nightmare Walk, the Graveyard of the Damned, the Maze from Hell, the 3-D Nuclear Accident House, and Cell Block 13. Speed Passes, Family 4-Packs, and group rates available. Dry waiting area for all attractions and always free parking. Haunted Acres is the best deal in New England - the most attraction for your money! Boston Events Insider gives it a more than 5 Star rating and says "I... [Read more]
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North Conway's premier Haunt, the Ghoullog, is back its 13th season. Held at the base of Cranmore Mountain, the month long, annual haunt has been rated as one of the top haunts in New England, including: #6 on Buzz Feed's 23 Haunted Houses Around the World That'll Freak You The F*** Out, one listed in USA Today's 10BEST Extreme Haunted Attractions, 10 Must-Visit Haunted House Attractions in the... [Read more]
- 28 Web reviews
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FIVE large-scale, professional, INDOOR Halloween attractions, all for ONE low price: Bloodmare Manor, a Victorian-style haunted house, Psycho Circus, a haunted tour completely in 3D, Apocalypse Z, Grim and Castle of Corpses, where the fangs come out and the screams don't stop!!!
- 4 Web reviews
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ME Haunted House HIGHLIGHTS: VOTED BEST HAUNTED ATTRACTION IN MAINE! 4 ATTRACTIONS IN ONE!!! 1) TWILIGHT TRAIL 2) BURIED ALIVE CEMETERY 3) EXECUTION CENTER 4) LEBANON LABORATORY IT GENERALLY TAKES APPROXIMATELY 30 MINUTES TO WALK THRU THE ENTIRE PARK. YOU WILL BE OUTDOORS. PLEASE WEAR APPROPRIATE FOOTWARE AND APPAREL.
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Cook stuff! (and send me pics)
September 5, 2012
I'll be out for a couple weeks my dear friends. My right shoulder has a date with a surgeon.
Please do come back by in the middle of the month, there's no telling what fun posts the painkillers will bring!
Until then, cook stuff! (and send me pics!!) d.
6 Comments leave one →
Helen permalinkSeptember 5, 2012 8:04 pm
Good luck with your surgery! Hope you get back to cooking and baking as quickly and pain-free as possible.


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Many people already use their smartphones as far more than mere telephones—as gadgets for Web surfing, e-mailing or listening to music. Some scientists are now turning them into handheld tools to diagnose cancer or infectious disease, track treatment progress or check water safety. Given that the handsets are so common, they could bring cutting-edge health care technology to the developing world.
Diagnosing cancer is a challenge because it requires expensive, time-consuming assays. But in a recent study published in Science Translational Medicine, Ralph Weissleder and his colleagues at Harvard Medical School used a cell phone and a lunch box–size machine to diagnose cancer from tiny pieces of tissue, taken via needle from the abdomens of patients with suspected metastatic cancers. Researchers mixed the samples with antibodies that bound to four known cancer-related proteins. The machine analyzed the samples using nuclear magnetic resonance—measuring levels of the antibody-bound proteins based on their magnetic properties. It then sent the results to the smartphone, which, using an app that the researchers designed, displayed the data. Because doctors don't need a laptop or desktop, it would be easier for them to assess patients outside the clinic. In comparison, results from more traditional diagnostic methods are typically not available for three days and require more invasive tissue sampling.
By using different antibodies, doctors could use the device to diagnose any form of cancer, says Harvard systems biologist and co-author Hakho Lee. They could also track treatment progress. "If there is a decrease in either the number of cancer cells or the expression levels of certain disease markers, then that means the treatment might be working," he says. He expects a product within five years.
Other researchers are taking advantage of smartphone cameras to create diagnostic microscopes. Electrical engineer Aydogan Ozcan and his colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, have developed a 4.5-centimeter-long phone attachment that shines LED light on biological samples, producing holograms of each cell based on how the light scatters. The phone's camera then snaps a photograph, compresses the image and sends it to a clinic for evaluation. With the ability to decipher details as small as 1/1,000th of a meter, the microscope could identify sickle-cell disease or malaria from blood samples and perform blood cell counts. The devices could bring an elegant simplicity to nations that struggle with infectious diseases.


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This week, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver forcefully announced that his sport would not countenance a hateful racist. He banned Clippers owner Donald Sterling from the league for life and "will urge the board of governors to exercise its authority to force a sale of the team." For Sterling to finally get his comeuppance, to feel the wrath of public opprobrium, and to lose his prime asset seems just. For the NBA, which was engaged in a decades-long battle with its longest-tenured, and worst, owner, this was a perfect opportunity to act swiftly and harshly.
Yet one has this niggling feeling that Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has a point when he says, "If we're taking something somebody said in their home and we're trying to turn it into something that leads to you being forced to divest property in any way, shape, or form, that's not the United States of America."
Removing Sterling as an owner will require a three-quarters majority vote of NBA owners. In his press conference, Silver said he expects he'll have enough votes to oust Sterling. It's unclear if Cuban will ultimately be one of those anti-Sterling voters — after the press conference, the Dallas owner tweeted, "I agree 100% with Commissioner Silver's findings and the actions taken against Donald Sterling." But it's likely that Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski is correct when he writes, "There isn't a franchise that could withstand public backlash of failing to vote with Adam Silver on Donald Sterling's ouster."
Indeed, it would be hard to imagine many owners willing to align themselves with Sterling, even if they were to portray their "no" votes not as an endorsement of the Clippers owner, but as a criticism of the process.
The process, however, does raise some troubling issues. A private citizen whose private thoughts were audiotaped (perhaps illegally) has been told he can no longer own his private property because of the thoughts that were revealed on that tape. These thoughts were loathsome to be sure, but didn't advocate anything illegal and didn't call for any violent or even literally hurtful actions.
To say that Sterling, with his long history of racism, sexism, parsimony and obstreperousness, was a thorn in the side of the NBA is to do a disservice to thorns, which are sharp, strong and affixed to a living thing. Sterling is a desiccated relic who squeezed every drop of profit out of his basketball team while caring nothing for his fans or employees. Having been lucky enough to buy the team for a pittance in the days when an NBA team was seen as no wiser an investment than a yacht, Sterling gamed the system by being as cheap as possible while the league got richer around him.
His business dealings away from the NBA, which has unions and a salary floor, were worse, as he was famously fined millions of dollars for discriminatory housing practices. That should have been the flashpoint of a conflagration. But it wasn't. It took an audiotape of Sterling telling his mistress that he didn't want her seen with black people (though she reportedly is black and Mexican) to fully roast the 80-year-old.
I would argue that refusing to rent to black and Hispanic families is a far worse societal ill than decrying the presence of Magic Johnson on the Instagram account of your girlfriend. The NBA apparently didn't think so, having never raised any kind of public ruckus about Sterling's shameful, well-established behavior. It's telling that Clippers coach Doc Rivers claims he "didn't know a lot about" Sterling's racism before he accepted his current position.
A swift beheading by the commissioner robs players and fans of a chance to foment justice on their own. Silver did a favor to the Clippers players who didn't want to be put in the uncomfortable position of having to actually do anything beyond the symbolic in opposition to Sterling's racism. Clippers fans, too, can continue to comfort themselves by explaining that they support their favorite players wearing their favorite jerseys, not the man who actually pays the players and supplies the jerseys. How great would it have been if there were a nationwide backlash against the Clippers, which might have not only convinced Sterling to sell, but actually depressed the value of the brand?
In accepting plaudits for serving as an exacting executioner, Silver also sidesteps the fact that his office — led by David Stern with Silver as his longtime No. 2 — was for years an institutional enabler. The lesson of Donald Sterling seems to extend no further than Sterling himself, and stretches no earlier than the revelations of the past week.
In fact, injustice existed longitudinally and latitudinally, with the damage done by the NBA's inaction reaching beyond that league's offices. If the NBA had punished Sterling a long time ago, would Major League Baseball have approved Astros owner Jim Crane, despite his company having paid a multimillion-dollar settlement for allegedly having engaged in discriminatory behavior?
In his remarks before the Silver decision, Mark Cuban went on to say that in America people are allowed to be morons. That's true, and proved every day in the halls of Congress, on cable television and on barstools everywhere. This was a rare instance, though, where the anti-moron message could have been an authentic, populist one. Donald Sterling shouldn't own the Clippers. But Cuban is right: The NBA shouldn't divest the moron of his team.
Mike Pesca is the host of Slate's upcoming daily podcast. He also contributes reports and commentary to NPR. This column appeared on Slate.com, an online current affairs and culture magazine owned by The Washington Post.
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It's Friday which means you are probably already drinking to forget the week you've just had or are on Facebook and wondering why one of your colleagues has created an album dedicated to you.
If you are doing neither of the above though then welcome to One More Thing, your daily dose of technology which marries odd with brilliance and sadness with joy…
Eye spy – We thought it would never happen but the Daily Mail – the world's most popular news site – has written a positive piece on videogames, reporting that someone is reporting that videogames can cure cataracts. They did use single quote marks in the headline to indicate that the doctor who is claiming this to be the case is completely wrong. But we are pretending not to see this and focusing on the positives. [Daily Mail]
At the drive in – Nevada has decided that self-driving cars are the future and is writing up guidelines for automatic automobiles, one of which is that every car that drives itself needs a red licence plate. We're guessing this is because red means danger, or in this case red means 'get out of the way there's a car on the loose being driven by a robot from the future sent back in time to…' you get the idea. [PC Mag]
White (coat) Stripes – Below is a video of the White Stripes' 7 Nation Army being played on a variety of laboratory instruments. That's all you need to know really. [YouTube]
ET phone home –Cinemas seem to be giving off mixed messages at the moment. Some frisk you before you event enter to watch a film, take your phone off of you and give it back to you at the end – well, this happened to us once – but now there is one movie that wants you to keep your smartphone on you. That's because the movie in question is all about Twitter and its maker wants you to tweet during the film. Mental. [Nokia Conversations (opens in new tab)]
Mac not daddy – Apple sold more iOS devices in 2011 than it has Mac computers in 28 YEARS. This is so startling we had to use caps to emphasise the point. You'll never know, we'll be using something stupid like this symbol: ---> next. [SlashGear]
Sky and speedy cars – Sky has confirmed that a new iPad app is incoming which will offer multi-screen versions of its F1 coverage. This way you will get to see just what the F1 folks see, which is a little like going into warp drive apparently. [T3]
Back to Africa – Orange lance un nouveau service pour rendre Facebook accessible sur tous les téléphones en Afrique (Facebook is now available on all phones in Africa). [Afrik.com]
Sing us a social song – The band Riot !n Paris has come up with the frankly brilliant idea of singing about strangers' social media profiles. So it's a bit like a sing-a-long version of Timeline. Great stuff, unless they are rubbish singers then it would be out-of-Timeline. [TNW]
Samsung Galaxy killer - Samsung has killed off plans for a 32GB version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, so shed a little tear if you were waiting for a more capacious version of the Google phone. [SlashGear]
Siri is learning Japanese – this is according to screenshots which show that the lovely voice-activated helper is looking to bring its helpfulness to the Far East. To illustrate this we have Siri singing I Will Always Love you. Warning: it's a little weird. [PocketNow]


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Drought prompts disaster declarations in 11 states
Federal officials have designated portions of 11 western and central states as primary natural disaster areas because of a drought.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's announcement yesterday includes counties in Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Kansas, Texas, Utah, Arkansas, Hawaii, Idaho, Oklahoma and California.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement that he sympathizes with farmers and ranchers who are dealing with the lack of rain and snow, and assured them that the USDA will stand by them.
The designation means eligible farmers can qualify for low-interest emergency loans from the Agriculture Department.
Counties adjacent to those that are affected also are eligible for assistance.
The United States Drought Monitor reports that while storms have dumped rain and snow in the East, droughts are persisting or intensifying in the West.


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"Jambo" may mean hello in Swahili, but a slave brought to the United States would not have recognized that greeting. There may not have been a single Swahili-speaking African brought to these shores amid the slave trade. If there were any, it was very few.
I get to thinking about this during the holidays as we start hearing about Kwanzaa, which starts the day after Christmas and runs until New Year's Day. Kwanzaa is fine, but it was rooted in a '60s fashion for treating Swahili as black America's "ancestral" language. The choice of Swahili out of the thousands of languages spoken in Africa was innocent, and made a certain sense in that it is a lingua franca across several African nations where hundreds of other languages are spoken.
But the nations where it's spoken are in East Africa. Black Americans' ancestors came mostly from West Africa. And as we all know, Africa is enormous.
The thing is this: To treat Swahili as meaningfully ancestral to black Americans because it's "African" is to lump diverse peoples together in a way that might seem less appropriate if done by whites. Or, imagine someone with roots in Wales cooking borscht and toasting with vodka in salute to their "Europeanness."
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If black Americans are to seek an ancestral language, shouldn't it be one that our ancestors actually spoke?
Picking just one is tough, though. No one African language is used as common coin from Senegal all the way down to Angola, and slaves brought to the United States came from places throughout this stretch. In the past, I have suggested Mende of Sierra Leone, the language of the songs that some Gullah speakers in South Carolina still remember in fossilized form. But there aren't that many Mende speakers in the U.S., and there are virtually no books in print for learning it (and not many even out of print in libraries). Nigeria's Yoruba is a tempting alternative, presenting neither of those problems. But its speakers were never a significant proportion of slaves brought to the United States.
If there is one West African language that a great many slaves in America spoke and is also realistically available to us, it is Twi. It's spoken in Ghana and is the lingua franca there for speakers of dozens of smaller local languages. Many slaves brought to the New World by the English, or sold to them, were from Ghana, then known famously as the Gold Coast, where Twi was a dominant local language. Just as important, a great many Ghanaians have relocated to the United States in the past 40 years, and therefore, someone trying to pick up some Twi could have native speakers to practice with.
Twi, unlike Swahili, will not throw you with piles of prefixes and nouns divided into seven different classes (which means that Swahili has seven "genders" instead of the two that are hard enough to deal with in French and Spanish). Twi is a language in which, while words are on the short side, the same one means different things, depending on what tone you say it with. This trait is why many African groups can communicate with drums set to different tones.
Say "fa" with a high tone and it means "festival." Say it in a low tone and it means "take." It gets interesting: Say the word for "my" when it's referring to part of your body, and you say it with a low tone. But if you are saying "my (something else)," like an umbrella or a table, then you say it with a high tone.
Yet the fact is that Rosetta Stone, Living Language, Berlitz and the other grand language-teaching outfits haven't gotten to Twi the way they have to Swahili. One way we could get their attention is to start buying up what education sources there are. If you just want to get your feet wet, Pimsleur has a neat little intro kit. If you really want to get into it, then get this offering and remember to get the audio materials, too, since they're the only way to get the knack of the tones.
Imagine black America reuniting with a language that its ancestors actually used.
For the record, the name "Kwame" and the Anancy spider of folklore are Twi. Let's fill things in from there — especially because of one other fact: Twi is actually quite similar grammatically to none other than Chinese. Anyone who has even played with Twi a bit will be in a good position to pick up Mandarin, which will be a handier business decision by the year for all Americans.
So, "jambo" means "hello"? Well, in Twi, biakong, abieng, abiesang is "one, two, three." Try that on a Ghanaian you know, and watch someone delighted to see you making the acquaintance of a language that at least one of your ancestors probably spoke.
John McWhorter is a regular contributor to The Root. He is the author of Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English.
John McWhorter is a contributing editor at The Root. He is an associate professor at Columbia University and the author of several books, including Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America and Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English.


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Home Page Chess Life Online Archives Fringe chess Theater
|Fringe chess Theater
|Jennifer's Blog
|By Jennifer Shahade
|August 21, 2006
Last night (Sunday), I went to the 10 pm showing of The French Defenseat the New York City Fringe Festival. I was intrigued by the concept of a play geared toward the lay American on the first game of the 1960 Botvinnik-Tal match.How was Dimitri Raitzin going to make this accessible to a mainstream audience?
Daniel Hendricks Simon playing Mikhail Tal and Robert J. D' Amato, playing Mikhail Botvinnik.
The answer is great acting, a wonderful musical score to accompany the chess moves, and a lot of explanatory dialogue. It was also delightfully and unpretentiously short. On the other hand, at 45 minutes and 15$, it's a pricey play, per-minute.
Raitzin took some understandable liberties in his goal to showcase the inner thoughts of World champions: "The idea for the French Defense came while watching two grungy dudes play chess in the south-west corner of Washington Square Park...How great would it be if instead of the two grungy dudes, the two best chess players in the world, playing for the highest of stakes, were free to talk to each other, to vocalize their inner feelings as if no on else were watching?"
Essentially, Tal and Botvinnik are chattering throughout the play. Raitzin for the most part, used this creative device to explain the histories of both players and invent trash-talk. The fear and excitement that must have enveloped both players during this very dramatic first round game wasn't really gleamed from this fast-paced performance. One nice exception is when Botvinnik plays a novelty (Bd7!) and Tal jumps out of his chair in fear and surprise.
There is some great writing, especially in, Botvinnik, played with vigor by Robert J. D' Amato. According to "IronMike", as he is nicknamed in the script, the player with the "colder blood and the bigger balls" wins in chess, not the player with the higher intellect. He envies Tal's ability to play with such abandon, describing his own approach as playing to stay alive, just as he lived through Stalin's rule to stay alive. Botvinnik monologues include one on Capablanca's energy psychologically rattling opponents ("The game was already lost before you made your first move, because he was Jose Raul Capablanca"), and another on anti-semitism under Stalin.
Tal, played by Daniel Hendricks Simon is not written as well. The real Tal is known as the coolest and all around "best guy" of the world champions. However, he's cast as an immature, uneducated, talented brat. He bangs the clock, claims that champions such as Capablanca and Steinitz could be defeated by "second-rate club hackers from Odessa", and is surprised that Botvinnik has studied his games. The playwright does achieve something by creating this contrast, and it's all imaginary dialog, but it does seem somewhat unfair to Tal's legacy.
As for chess accuracy, the actors move the pieces smoothly, and the script includes technically correct chess analysis. There was a blooper at the end, in which the actors made the wrong moves, starting with Tal's 30. Rxc4?! instead of Bxc4! "Botvinnik" had no idea what to do, so he played the totally inexplicable a6? Then Tal remembered his lines and played h5, ending the game. Tal ends the game saying: "Mate in six", although there was not a forced mate in six in the real game or the new messed up end position. I could dig this for dramatic effect, but they didn't go to the trouble to go through that alleged mate to satisfy the blood thirsty audience members.
The real score is posted below. Kasparov annotates this game in Volume II of the Great Predecessors Series. Garry was particularly impressed by Tal's rook maneuvers. (Rh1-h3-e3) and (Ra1-b1-b4xf4-d4!)
In other news, WIM Dr. Alexey Root will be on Fred Wilson's chess.fm show Tuesday night, talking about chess in education and her new book, Children and Chess: A Guide for Educators. Dr.Root is part of UTD's amazing chess program, which offers hundreds of thousands of money in chess scholarships to America's most talented.
I'm getting hyped for the second season of the U.S. Chess League. I'll be managing the New York Knights again. Be sure to check my blog for frequent, completely biased recaps on Chess League. Speaking of bias, I also have a place in my heart for the Philadelphia Masterminds. My father manages the team, I go to Philly all the time, and played on the "Masterminds" (Masterman's high school chess team). If Philadelphia were playing New York in any sort of sporting match-up besides the Chess League, I'd root for Philly. As for our match-up on August 30, I warn my father that I will be posting a power line-up. Be very afraid!


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About 15 oz capacity and 3.5 inches tall.
This unique, hand-thrown on a pottery wheel, and individually painted mug is food safe and dishwasher friendly to use. I don't recommen to use microwave.
I leave the exterior unglazed for a raw, stone-like touch and a better feel, but the handle and inside the mug is glazed. This handmade object has the artist's hand touch and imperfections appear that uniquely differentiate them from factory made ceramics.
All sales are final. No refunds or exchanges.
I take care to pack your items well for shipping, so they arrive to you safely. However, if an item is damaged during shipment, please contact me with an attached photograph of broken item within 7 days after receiving the package. Please note, I'm not responsible for lost and stolen packages, but all shipments will have a tracking number supplied.


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Bounty Hunters
AVERAGING 11 INCHES long, the pikeminnow probably will never make it onto one of those ESPN fishing shows or be stuffed, trophy-style, and hung above the fireplace. Nor, thanks to its mushy flesh, is the silver-and-green fish fit for the dinner table. Still, Gresham resident Nikolay Zaremskiy reeled in more than 5,700 of them during pikeminnow season (May to October) in 2007, a feat that earned him nearly $50,000.
Zaremskiy is one of about 1,200 fishermen who sign up annually for the Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Fishery Program. Run by the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission and paid for by the Bonneville Power Administration, the "bounty program," as it's commonly called, is an attempt to thin the ranks of a fish that feasts on up to six juvenile salmon a day.
The program pays at least $4 per fish to anyone who registers and has a fishing license. There's also a $500 prize if you catch a pikeminnow that's been tagged by fisheries biologists, a sum that encourages more fishermen to go after the predaceous species. Last year, 192,518 pikeminnows were taken from the Columbia River and turned into chicken feed and fertilizer. Total payout: $1,285,971.
The lure of cash may motivate plenty of fishermen to try their hand at pike-minnow hunting, but hooking the fish is anything but easy money, as Jonathan Stoddard, a research assistant at Oregon Health & Science University, can attest. Stoddard and his father, Patrick, hit the M. James Gleason Memorial Boat Ramp near Portland International Airport on a recent Sunday, but they caught only two fish. "I don't know why they're hard to catch," Stoddard says. "There're only a select few people who can get 'em."
In fact, says Eric Winther, a biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, 80 percent of the pikeminnows caught in a given year are hooked by only about 10 percent of the fishermen. One of the most skilled, clearly, is Zaremskiy, who duels each year with Vancouver cab driver David Vasilchuk for the top pikeminnow angler title—but no one's really certain where or how they do it. Other fisherman say Zaremskiy makes sure his boat is free of all clues when he checks in a day's catch at the Dalles Boat Basin or the Gleason boat ramp: His rods are hidden from sight, and there's no hint of what bait was on board. (For the record, though, Winther recommends fresh chicken liver).
But one key to success is no secret at all: Do it every day, for 10, 12, even 22 hours. Which makes it more time-consuming than most full-time jobs. Then again, there are worse ways to earn a paycheck than spending your days drifting down the river.


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"Little Bunnies Hop Around" Same melody as "Mary Had A Little Lamb"
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This is the standard notation used on Ordnance Survey Landranger maps.
Each reference consists of two letters identifying a 100,000 metre square block then three digits defining the Easting and finally the three digits defining the Northing with reference to the South West corner of the block.
NN166712 is the grid reference for the summit of Ben Nevis. Where you are given the map number ( For Ben Nevis = 41) it is acceptable to omit the two initial letters e.g. 166712. (Instructions on how to read the references are given on the OS maps).
The UK is covered by 204 Ordnance Survey Landranger 1:50,000 scale maps. Maps numbered 1 to 86 cover Scotland but for the highest mountains (Munros) only 23 maps are required. The name given roughly describes the area covered by the map.
A description of the characteristics of the mountain including any hazards of which you should be aware.
Access to Tolmount is normally from Glen Doll to the SE by the path known as "Jocks Road" or from Carn a Claise at the W limit of the plateau.
Looking to loch callater from tolmount.
© Jim Hunter
Heading up to Loch Esk
© Stephen Cormie
Looking towards Tolmount and Glenshee.
Tolmount viewed form Loch Callater.
© Graham Young
A selection of weather forecasts local to #GetMountain.Top_Name#.
Ordnance Survey digital maps are also available to members.
A selection of local accommodation options who advertise with Munromagic.com.
The summary information of one or more ascent routes that include Tolmount.
Click on the route title to load the full content for that route.
Pictures submitted by members on the summit of Tolmount
Summit of Tolmount
© Tony Dick
At the summit of Tolmount as part of the east gleshee 6 on a misty day 9/6/12
© Stuart Mcgeown
Me Karl and Oscar on top, 7/10/12.
© Mark Thomson
Summit of Tolmount on Sunday 19/2/12 at 1:30pm.
© John Cockburn
If a member has uploaded a tracklog as part of their personal route log and opted to share it then it will be presented here.
You can view a members route overlayed on an online map or download the KMZ file for use in Google Earth.
Post a few words about Tolmount or read what others have had to say.
A full written account of a climb submitted by our members.
You can prepare your own write up by first making an entry in your route log and then visiting the logging section above.


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Over the weekend, Girl Scouts helped clean up their Baltimore neighborhood during the Comprehensive Housing Assistance Program's Good Neighbor Day community clean up program, WJZ- CBS Baltimore reports.
During the community clean up, the Girl Scout troop 1726 helped pick up trash and plant flowers.
"Part of our Girl Scout is the Girl Scout Law and Girl Scout Motto and we have to be resourceful and use resources widely so our hands are today's resources," troop 1726's Girl Scout Leader Atara Lazar told WJZ.
Watch the full report here.
Categories: Community Service, In the news


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Supported Education Evidence-Based Practices (EBP) KIT
Treatment of Depression in Older Adults Evidence-Based Practices (EBP) KIT
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MedTEAM (Medication Treatment, Evaluation, and Management) Evidence-Based Practices (EBP) KIT
Published: February 2011This kit equips treatment teams at mental health agencies with guidance on incorporating the latest scientific evidence with patient input to help them make decisions about medication management. It includes seven booklets that cover the process of starting through program evaluation.
Permanent Supportive Housing Evidence-Based Practices (EBP KIT)
Published: July 2010This toolkit outlines the essential components for supportive housing services and programs for people living with mental illness disorders. It discusses how to develop and integrate evidence-based programs in mental health systems. The toolkit includes eight booklets on program development.
Family Psychoeducation Evidence-Based Practices (EBP) KIT
Published: March 2010This toolkit offers evidence-based practices to help public officials develop family psychoeducation mental health programs. The programs create a partnership between consumers, families, practitioners, and supporters. The kit includes a brochure (English, Spanish), nine booklets, a PowerPoint presentation, and a introductory video.
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Published: February 2010This kit provides practice principles for supported employment, an approach to vocational rehabilitation for people living with serious mental illness. The kit promotes the belief that everyone living with serious mental illness is capable of working competitively in the community.


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YOU'VE probably been around us long enough to know that the Houndbloggers are partial to old hounds (even when they are as bad as our Harry) and hounds that won't give up (even when, as in the case of our Eider–late of the Clear Creek Beagles–their desire to hunt anything and everything, all night if necessary, results in their being expelled from a respectable pack with a disgraceful report card). We can't help ourselves: we love them.
We also have a real soft spot for The River Bottom, a quietly wonderful blog about life in the country with beagles. The posts over there are a highlight for me, and when a new one goes up, I stop whatever I'm doing and pay attention, right then, in order to savor whatever news there is from River Bottom country in Litchfield, Minnesota. They came up with a beautiful one today that spoke to us, partly because it was about an old beagle who is a tried-and-true hare-tracker. Didn't hurt that it reminded us a little of Mr. Box who, in his youth, failed to return from a hunt with the sun going down and the snow blowing in (to read about his great adventure, click this link and scroll down the page to "Mr. Box's Epic Journey").
Here is how The River Bottom began this afternoon:
I'm listening but I can't hear anything. The spruce trees are all covered in snow, big snowflakes are drifting down. It's getting dark, And cold. I don't think Rose is coming back.
Pete is down on the south road waiting and listening. We covered all the roads looking for tracks, two or three times. No dogs crossed the road.
I've been in and out of this trail it seems like ten times. Under that dang jack pine that hangs over the trail. Its branches slide up over the windshield. I swear it's going to pull off my wiper blades next time through.
The woods are deep to the west, she could have gone a few miles that way. Even if she is right here and something happened, I could never find her in this stuff. Me and Pete have walked all over this spot looking for her.
When I was loading dogs this morning Rose was there waiting. I was going to put her in the house. She would have cried all day. She's about 14 now. I loaded her in the dog box too.
I guess I would rather see her disappear into the spruce trees running a hare in the snow than live a long and unhappy old age.
This spot is loaded with hare. Thick heavy spruce trees, aspen and brush when they go out the west side with thick alder and willow swamps. The dogs ran steady all day long.
Rose hasn't hunted much the last couple years, she mostly just follows me around. I didn't think she needed a tracking collar.
She started a hare on her own. Her voice is just as loud and pretty as ever. I heard her a couple times after that. With all these dogs running it was tough to pick her out.
When we started catching them up we hadn't heard or seen Rose for a couple hours. Now we are trying to guess what happened to her.
Read on, please do, at The River Bottom. It's fine writing telling a good story. With pictures that will make you smile. Enjoy.


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September is National Cholesterol Awareness Month. If you're the way I was 6 months ago, that doesn't mean much to you. I've always eaten well and I get plenty of exercise, so going in for my check-up just a month shy of my 30th birthday, I was expecting a gold star and a pat on the back. All signs were pointing to praise until my doctor asked about my family history. Going back for 4 generations on my father's side, the men have died of heart attacks before their 50th birthday—and one as young as 30 (eek, that's how old I am!). My doctor seemed concerned and ordered a bunch of precautionary tests. When my blood work came back from the lab, it confirmed that history was repeating itself—my total cholesterol was 232 (less than 200 is desirable). My doctor started to speak about statins—a class of prescription medications that lower unhealthy cholesterol levels—but I considered that a last resort. I wanted to try diet modification first before committing to popping a pill for the rest of my life.
I decided to clean up my diet and return in 6 months. When I got back to the office I ran straight to our Nutrition Director, Samantha Cassetty. "What more can I do?" I asked, "I already eat so well!". Her response? Nix the saturated fat. Visions of goat and blue cheese flashed before my eyes. I was fine with cutting back on ice cream and could easily sub olive oil for butter on my crusty bread, but my beloved daily dose of cheese atop my salad? Heartbreaking. And once I divulged my daily egg intake (three!)...that pat on the back was more like a kick in the rear-end. Yet, I was determined to beat this with diet and willing to make any sacrifice.
I've learned how important it is to get your cholesterol checked regularly and know your numbers as well as your family health history. If you don't know yours, there's no better time to schedule an appointment than during National Cholesterol Awareness Month! Be an informed patient and learn the basics about cholesterol below:
More From Good Housekeeping
What is cholesterol?
Contrary to popular belief, cholesterol isn't bad. In fact, you need it to stay healthy. Your body makes about 75% of its cholesterol supply and the rest comes from the food you eat (only animal products contain cholesterol). The cholesterol your body produces naturally can be affected by genetics (thanks, dad).
What Your Numbers Mean
Total: There are two main types of cholesterol, HDL (good) and LDL (bad). I like to differentiate the two by remembering "L" for "lousy" and "H" for "healthy". Your total cholesterol count is made up of your HDL and LDL levels as well as your triglycerides. High blood cholesterol can increase your risk of heart disease. Less than 200 is desirable.
HDL: HDL stands for high-density lipoprotein. HDL cholesterol is often called "good" cholesterol because it helps carry cholesterol away from your body's organs and to your liver where it can be removed. HDL levels should be above 40 and the higher the better.
LDL: LDL stands for low-density lipoprotein. LDL cholesterol is referred to as "bad" cholesterol because it's linked with a higher chance of heart disease. LDL levels should be below 100 if you're at a higher risk for heart disease and below 129 if you're not.
Triglycerides: Triglycerides are made in the body. High triglycerides can be due to obesity, lack of exercise, cigarette smoking, excess alcohol consumption, and a diet very high in carbohydrates. Triglyceride levels should be below 150.
All adults over the age of 20 should have their cholesterol checked every five years. Your doctor will determine if you're at risk for heart disease and provide any necessary treatment.
Check back next week for Samantha's tips on how to lower your cholesterol with diet and stay tuned for my final blood test results. Can diet alone trump your genes? We'll see!


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From the beginning we were prepared, we knew just what to do, for hadn't we seen it all a hundred times?—the good people of the town going about their business, the suddenly interrupted TV programs, the faces in the crowd looking up, the little girl pointing in the air, the mouths opening, the dog yapping, the traffic stopped, the shopping bag falling to the sidewalk, and there, in the sky, coming closer . . . And so, when it finally happened, because it was bound to happen, we all knew it was only a matter of time, we felt, in the midst of our curiosity and terror, a certain calm, the calm of familiarity, we knew what was expected of us, at such a moment. The story broke a little after ten in the morning. The TV anchors looked exactly the way we knew they'd look, their faces urgent, their hair neat, their shoulders tense, they were filling us with alarm but also assuring us that everything was under control, for they, too, had been prepared for this, in a sense had been waiting for it, already they were looking back at themselves during their great moment. The sighting was indisputable but, at the same time, inconclusive: something from out there had been detected, it appeared to be approaching our atmosphere at great speed, the Pentagon was monitoring the situation closely. We were urged to remain calm, to stay inside, to await further instructions. Some of us left work immediately and hurried home to our families, others stayed close to the TV, the radio, the computer, we were all talking into our cells. Through our windows we could see people at their windows, looking up at the sky. All that morning we followed the news fiercely, like children listening to a thunderstorm in the dark. Whatever was out there was still unknown, scientists had not yet been able to determine its nature, caution was advised but there was no reason for panic, our job was to stay tuned and sit tight and await further developments. And though we were anxious, though quivers of nervousness ran along our bodies like mice, we wanted to see whatever it was, we wanted to be there, since after all it was coming toward us, it was ours to witness, as if we were the ones they'd chosen, out there on the other side of the sky. For already it was being said that our town was the likely landing place, already the TV crews were rolling in. We wondered where it would land: between the duck pond and the seesaws in the public park, or deep in the woods at the north end of town, or maybe in the field out by the mall, where a new excavation was already under way, or maybe it would glide over the old department store on Main Street and crash through the second-floor apartments above Mangione's Pizza and Café, with a great shattering of brick and glass, maybe it would land on the throughway and we'd see eighteen-wheelers turn over, great chunks of pavement rise up at sharp angles, and car after car swerve into the guardrail and roll down the embankment.
Something appeared in the sky shortly before one o'clock. Many of us were still at lunch, others were already outside, standing motionless on the streets and sidewalks, gazing up. There were shouts and cries, arms in the air, a wildness of gesturing, pointing. And, sure enough, something was glittering, up there in the sky, something was shimmering, in the blue air of summer—we saw it clearly, whatever it was. Secretaries in offices rushed to windows, storekeepers abandoned their cash registers and hurried outdoors, road workers in orange hard hats looked up from the asphalt, shaded their eyes. It must have lasted—that faraway glow, that spot of shimmer—some three or four minutes. Then it began to grow larger, until it was the size of a dime, a quarter. Suddenly the entire sky seemed to be filled with points of gold. Then it was coming down on us, like fine pollen, like yellow dust. It lay on our roof slopes, it sifted down onto our sidewalks, covered our shirtsleeves and the tops of our cars. We did not know what to make of it.
It continued to come down, that yellow dust, for nearly thirteen minutes. During that time we could not see the sky. Then it was over. The sun shone, the sky was blue. Throughout the downpour, we'd been warned to stay inside, to be careful, to avoid touching the substance from outer space, but it had happened so quickly that most of us had streaks of yellow on our clothes and in our hair. Soon after the warnings, we heard cautious reassurances: preliminary tests revealed nothing toxic, though the nature of the yellow dust remained unknown. Animals that had eaten it revealed no symptoms. We were urged to keep out of its way and await further test results. Meanwhile it lay over our lawns and sidewalks and front steps, it coated our maple trees and telephone poles. We were reminded of waking in the morning after the first snow. From our porches we watched the three-wheeled sweepers move slowly along our streets, carrying it off in big hoppers. We hosed down our grass, our front walks, our porch furniture. We looked up at the sky, we waited for more news—already we were hearing reports that the substance was composed of one-celled organisms—and through it all we could sense the swell of our disappointment.
We had wanted, we had wanted—oh, who knew what we'd been looking for? We had wanted blood, crushed bones, howls of agony. We had wanted buildings crumbling onto streets, cars bursting into flame. We had wanted monstrous versions of ourselves with enlarged heads on stalklike necks, merciless polished robots armed with death rays. We had wanted noble lords of the universe with kind, soft eyes, who would usher in a glorious new era. We had wanted terror and ecstasy—anything but this yellow dust. Had it even been an invasion? Later that afternoon, we learned that scientists all agreed: the dust was a living thing. Samples had been flown to Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C. The single-celled organisms appeared to be harmless, though we were cautioned not to touch anything, to keep the windows shut, to wash our hands. The cells reproduced by binary fission. They appeared to do nothing but multiply.
In the morning, we woke to a world covered in yellow dust. It lay on the tops of our fences, on the crossbars of telephone poles. Black tire tracks showed in the yellow streets. Birds, shaking their wings, threw up sprays of yellow powder. Again the street-sweepers came, the hoses splashed on driveways and lawns, making a yellow mist and revealing the black and the green underneath. Within an hour the driveways and lawns resembled yellow fields. Lines of yellow ran along cables and telephone wires.
According to the news, the unicellular microorganisms are rod-shaped and nourish themselves by photosynthesis. A single cell, placed in a brightly illuminated test tube, divides at such a rate that the tube will fill in about forty minutes. An entire room, in strong light, will fill in six hours. The organisms do not fit easily into our classification schemes, though in some respects they resemble blue-green algae. There is no evidence that they are harmful to human or animal life.
We have been invaded by nothing, by emptiness, by animate dust. The invader appears to have no characteristic other than the ability to reproduce rapidly. It doesn't hate us. It doesn't seek our annihilation, our subjection and humiliation. Nor does it desire to protect us from danger, to save us, to teach us the secret of immortal life. What it wishes to do is replicate. It is possible that we will find a way of limiting the spread of this primitive intruder, or of eliminating it altogether; it's also possible that we will fail and that our town will gradually disappear under a fatal accumulation. As we follow the reports from day to day, the feeling grows in us that we deserved something else, something bolder, something grander, something more thrilling, something bristling or fiery or fierce, something that might have represented a revelation or a destiny. We imagine ourselves surrounding the tilted spaceship, waiting for the door to open. We imagine ourselves protecting our children, slashing the tentacles that thrust in through the smashed cellar windows. Instead, we sweep our front walks, hose off our porches, shake out our shoes and sneakers. The invader has entered our homes. Despite our drawn shades and closed curtains, it lies in thick layers on our end tables and windowsills. It lies along the tops of our flat-screen televisions and the narrow edges of our shelved DVDs. Through our windows we can see the yellow dust covering everything, forming gentle undulations. We can almost see it rising slowly, like bread. Here and there it catches the sunlight and reminds us, for a moment, of fields of wheat.
It is really quite peaceful, in its way. ♦


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