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The following article was written by a friend and colleague, Boz Tchividjian. It has been my honor and privilege to become friends with Boz and to begin working together with his organization, G.R.A.C.E. (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) It's refreshing to hear someone speak up on behalf of survivors of childhood sexual abuse, whose abuse occurred at the hands of the church. Boz does not try to defend the actions of churches who failed to protect victims; to the contrary, he wants to see real change take place within the church. Thank you Boz.
I did take the liberty of redoing his title for the purpose of emphasizing my personal perspective on how churches should begin acting. The original title is shown below.
7 Ways To Welcome Abuse Survivors In Our Churches
Churches should be some of the safest and most welcoming communities for those who have suffered from sexual abuse. Sadly, today these are some of the places survivors feel most vulnerable as they are often shamed, silenced, and judged.
This is most tragically illustrated by the case of a young girl who was sexually abused by a missionary doctor on the mission field. When she finally stepped forward and reported the abuse, the missionary leaders made this little 13-year-old girl sign a "confession" letter in which she had to acknowledge having "participated in a physical relationship" with the offender and end the letter with "…I know what I did was very wrong, and I am very sorry for it." Years later this survivor told me that this damning letter is what shamed her into decades of feeling worthless and being silent. It doesn't take a demand to sign a confession for a church to become an unsafe and unwelcoming place for survivors. Hurtful comments, the embracing of alleged perpetrators, the failure to offer assistance, and the pretending that this offense doesn't exist in the Christian community are just a handful of ways that further wound survivors and drive them out of the very places that should be their refuge.
I want to share seven ways that I believe will help transform our churches into some of the safest and most welcoming communities for survivors of abuse.
Be a friend and listen: One of the best ways to serve survivors is to simply be their friend and listen. This does NOT mean we pity them and turn them into our special project. It means that we spend time with them, laugh with them, cry with them, and support them. It means that we validate them as human beings made in the image of God. It means that we don't have all the answers, and it's ok. Too many survivors have been traumatized by churches that fail to protect them, and then turn around and ignore them or tell them what to do. Perhaps we can help these amazing survivors shed the shame by being a safe person in a safe place.
Know the available resources: Survivors often need professional assistance to help shed the shame fueled by abuse. Becoming familiar with local resources such as qualified therapists, victims' advocates, attorneys, and support groups will enable us to introduce them to our church communities and to any survivor who may need their services.
Acknowledge & address spiritual struggles: Those who have been sexually abused often struggle with many spiritual doubts, concerns, and questions. Criticizing or judging these struggles will only fuel more shame as survivors are pushed away from yet another unsafe place. On the other hand, offering no response or simply providing oversimplified answers can minimize the importance of these struggles in the lives of these individuals. Sometimes we answer best by simply connecting individuals with sound spiritual resources that may provide them a starting point to address their particular spiritual struggles. This can be anything from recommending a book, blog, or podcast to encouraging them to become part of an abuse-survivor support group at the church. It could also mean connecting them with a clergy member or other professional who has worked through many of these spiritual issues. Before recommending any particular spiritual resource, it is critical that we seek the counsel of Christian child-protection experts and other Christians who have the training for and experience with serving survivors. Organizations such as GRACE and Together-We-Heal are equipped to provide such assistance.
Connect with local law enforcement: Developing a relationship between our faith communities and local law enforcement is invaluable. Believe it or not, most law enforcement officers are thrilled when people in the community seek them out for advice and help. Our churches would greatly benefit from the guidance provided by law enforcement on issues such as child protection, dealing with known sex offenders, status of pending cases, and available community resources for survivors. In most cases, this as easy as calling the local law enforcement office and scheduling an appointment with the officer who supervises the investigation of abuse cases. Simply let him/her know that your church is seeking guidance on issues related to abuse. I highly recommend having a member of the church leadership be a part of this meeting. Connecting with law enforcement will communicate a strong message to the survivors in our churches that we take this issue seriously as we seek to love and protect them with excellence.
Start an abuse-survivor support group: Support groups often create safe places within our churches for survivors to be honest and vulnerable as they continue to walk the long and difficult road of healing. Giving survivors a safe place to speak freely about their abuse and struggles can offer real healing from the isolation they have experienced. When survivors know they are not alone, they can encourage one another by walking through the often difficult journey together. Though one doesn't have to be a survivor to start such a group, I highly recommended that we seek out the invaluable input and assistance of survivors when putting together such a group. Developing and supporting this group is a powerful way a church can communicate that it values, protects, and cares for those suffering in its midst.
Develop response protocols: Work with the church leadership and outside child-advocate experts to develop a protocol for responding to abuse disclosures. How we respond to abuse disclosures is perhaps the single most important way we demonstrate value to those who have been abused. A protocol that follows the law and places the needs of the survivor first is needed in every church. I will be writing more about this in future posts.
Speak Up: We serve survivors best when we are their biggest advocates. Those who have been abused should find their greatest and most vocal supporters inside the church. Shaming, silencing, and judging have no home in a community that loves and advocates on behalf of abuse victims. Unfortunately, there are still many within the walls of the church that don't see it that way. That is where we step in and speak up. We speak up for these amazing survivors, constantly encouraging them with our words and actions to hold their heads up high and walk away from shame and silence. We speak up because it is these unsung heroes who so often teach us, inspire us, and reflect Jesus. We speak up because Jesus speaks up for all of us. We speak up because it is our privilege.
Transforming our churches and faith communities into places of refuge for those who have been violated, judged, and marginalized is what the Gospel is all about. If God is our refuge, then our churches must be the places where these precious souls find safety and rest.
Let's begin this transformation today…
This article was published with permission from Boz Tchividjian.
It's original publication can be found here – http://boz.religionnews.com/2014/05/16/7-ways-welcome-abuse-survivors-churches/


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I will be participating on a panel discussion scheduled for Tuesday, June 17th from 6:30-8:00 pm to discuss the work of Bay Area artist Evie Leder. Her current body (no pun intended, maybe) is currently on view at A Simple Collective (San Francisco, CA). Here's an excerpt from the shows press release,
Evie Leder's The Objects is a meditation on the male body consisting of approximately thirty videos, along with a series of detail photographs and video stills. Over a filming period of ten days, fourteen men—a diverse group of performers and artists in the San Francisco queer scene—visited the artist's studio one by one. Creating an intimate space and relationship between artist and subject, Leder gave simple, but deliberate instruction: stand quietly, breathe, stretch, open and close eyes, turn…In Leder's series, the men are objects, but specific, very human objects, with presence.
For more information, please visit the event link here

subset: commoncrawl


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Sarah Forshaw (@Forshawsarah) and Miss Amy May (@miss_amy_may) are southern belle and southern brit pinups, respectively, who found one another on Instagram part way through their pinup transformations in mid 2013, at which point they tentatively, then all of a sudden, become devoted and divine friends. Bonding over their urge to bring full on glamour to their every day lives, their shared opinions on cake, and their fierce nerd hearts, the two quickly began to look upon one another as fabulous sisters–who simply hadn't met yet outside the confines of the interwebs. Due to finally meet IRL to share many squishy hugs and swing-skirted spins in fall 2015, they're opening up their friendship and their closets to you in this shared blog post while they eagerly await their meeting.
Sarah: Amy and I have been crazy busy lately, so we've been a bit delayed in bringing you this post about accessories maker Little Miss Savage, but finally it's here!
Little Miss Savage, Emily, hand makes headwraps, necklaces, pins, keyrings and bags/wallets, which she sells on her Etsy store and eBay. When we first came into contact with her we immediately fawned over several of her items, and we were so thrilled when she was kind enough to send us both a selection of cuteness.
Here are the Grey rose skinny bandana $8.60, Flamingo Original Bandana $10.16, Cup of tea brooch $4.68, Cupcake brooch $4.68, Moth necklace $7.81.
When I first started incorporating pinup looks into my life I found headwraps were one of the easiest ways to achieve a rockabilly/pinup look, and over the years I still find this to be true. I'm much too lazy to pincurl my hair every night, and sometimes you have a last minute outing that you were unprepared for…but you still want to be your cutest most retro babe self, and nothing helps a look get there more than the right accessories. Headwraps are a great way to frame a good hair day, but on the flipside they're also great for camouflaging a monstrous bedhead hair day, and I can honestly say Little Miss Savage's head wraps are some of the best I've ever worn.
Oh and can we all give Emily a round of applause for her jewelry? The moth necklace I have is so me I cannot even believe it, it's a little bit edgy and almost has a Victorian taxidermy feel to it, but it's still pretty and girly. And teacup and cupcake brooches? I mean who doesn't want to indulge in something as sweet as that?
Below are some of the looks I put together using the headwraps. I didn't use the jewelry in these pics because they kind of got lost, but in person they're real statement pieces.
Flamingo Headwrap: Little Miss Savage
Chambray Shirt: Target
Pencil skirt: H&M/Similar
Wedges: Payless/Similar
Headwrap: Little Miss Savage
Moto Jacket: Forever 21
Dress: Lindy Bop
Wedges: Restricted Footwear
Buy me a giant cookie and throw me a party! I finally managed to get some decent bumper bangs. Now when you have a great quiff, pomp, or bumper bangs day the last thing you want to do is mess them up with a tricky bandana scarf situation, this is where Little Miss Savage comes in to play. Emily's headwraps are made from 100% cotton so they're not slipping and sliding all about, and you don't have to worry about folding your scarf just so. Emily has done all the hard work for you by getting rid of cumbersome fabric and leaving you with a streamlined easy to use headwrap that finishes off any look. She's basically the fairy godmother of the hair accessories world.
Here's the Music Notes 'Original' headwrap £6.49, Anchor 'Skinny' headwrap £5.49, Cherry Polka dot 'Skinny' headwrap £5.49, Cherry necklace £7.99 and a Pinup Brooch £3.99.
I love the headwraps because I am awful at wrangling headscarves and bandanas, and with a wrap like these all you have to do is throw it on and tie the cute little bow, something I can handle. The availability of them coming as thicker wraps or skinny versions is great because it gives you the choice to have a custom made piece in the width that you most love and the fabric you love–because here's the awesome thing, Emily hand makes every piece to order so she will create your reversible wrap out of any two fabrics of your choice available in her store. This means that at your request you can have whatever combo you like.
The cherries necklace is adorable. Red is my favourite accessories colour because I find it really pops within a lot of different colour combos. Below I've styled it with whites and reds for a classic and casual pinup look but I've also worn it with colours like my purple gingham Hell Bunny dress and it totally made the whole look.
I've styled some outfits below to show you these cute pieces in action.
Little Miss Savage Skinny anchor headwrap
Tatyana Alika White Blouse
Collectif Red Capri pants
Primark striped ballet pumps
Little Miss Savage Cherry Necklace
Little Miss Savage Skinny headwrap
Pinup Girl Clothing Doris top in white
Collectif Black Capri pants
Primark ballet flats bedazzled by myself
Little Miss Savage Pinup Brooch
Hell Bunny Claudia dress
Red Mary Jane heels
I am just in love with my pinup pin! It's the perfect addition to any collar or top. At only £3.99 each it's hard to resist the urge to collect the full set.
Little Miss Savage Musical notes Original Headwrap
Unique Vintage Manhattan Gingham Day Dress
Dorothy Perkins clutch bag
Primark pumps bedazzled by me
Since Sarah has shown you how great it looks to add one of these wraps to a well formed hairdo like her lovely bumper bangs I thought I'd show you the other side of the coin; how useful they are to have around when you're not doing so well with your hair that day, or in too much of a rush to spend a lot of time crafting yo' curls.
I have a couple of go-to dos that I whip out when I'm having a busy day or my hair is misbehaving. One of them is what I call the Messy Poodle. It's like the Lucile ball and carmen Miranda style Poodle Do…but with much less skill. It basically involves piling all of my hair on top of my head as quickly as possible, tweaking only slightly to make sure it doesn't look totally insane, and then adding a super cute headwrap to detract from my laziness. It's great on busy work days or when I'm heading out for something more casual.
So if you're looking for an adorable piece of jewellery or a custom bandanna or two, head over to Little Miss Savage, and while you're there tell her The Brit & The Belle send her our love!
Amy and Sarah


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(2018) Sports Biography (Bleecker Street) Aldis Hodge, Greg Kinnear, Sherri Shepherd, Morgan Freeman, Melanie Libaud, Dorian Missick, Tiffany Dupont, Matt Battaglia, Xosia Roquemore, Gina Vento, Mytie Smith, Rick Vyper, Edward Parker, Charles Alexandre, Dean Denton, Mary Faulkner, Jennifer Pierce Mathus, Kevin Yamada, Harrison Stone, Monique Grant, Elizabeth Donaldson. Directed by Tom Shadyac
There is little doubt that the American legal system is seriously broken. Justice seems to be the sole province of the wealthy and the white. Standards of proof seem to fluctuate depending on the color of one's skin and the gender of the accuser.
Brian Banks (Hodge) is a 16-year-old kid with an incredible future before him. A star linebacker at Long Beach Poly high school, one of the premier high school football programs in the entire country, he has already been accepted to the University of Southern California and seems guaranteed to be on the fast track to NFL stardom.
That rosy future is interrupted by an accusation of kidnapping and rape by a fellow Poly student (Roquemore). Banks is arrested and indicted, then his ineffective lawyer convinces him to accept a plea agreement that turns out to be a raw deal for Banks, sending him to prison for five years which would be followed by probation for an additional five years – plus being labeled a sex offender for the rest of his life. Sounds pretty much like justice except for one thing; the rape never happened.
Banks struggles to prove his innocence, reaching out to Justin Barber (Kinnear), founder of the California Innocence Project who gently informs Banks that because he entered a no contest plea, the only way to get his conviction reversed is literally for his victim to recant her testimony.
Amazingly, Banks perseveres even though he is as much a prisoner on the outside as he was in prison. Nobody will hire a convicted sex offender and Banks isn't allowed within a certain distance of public parks and schools. Every time it seems like Banks finds a ray of hope, some tough-on-crime politician rams through legislation that slams the door shut.
This is meant to be an uplifting, inspirational film about the power of perseverance and believing in one's self and one's dreams. Hodge delivers a star-making performance that carries the picture, holding his own nicely against stellar actors like Kinnear and Freeman (who plays a prison teacher whose platitudes help Banks find inner peace). While the true story is compelling enough, it is Hodge that most people will remember best after seeing this film.
Definitely the movie makes some commentary on the gulf in the justice system that exists between black and white. Had Banks been a white athlete, it's likely that the accuser would not have been believed and even if the case went to trial, the perpetrator would have gotten a slap on the wrist if he did any time at all. Boys will be boys, but African-American boys will be criminals – at least that's how our legal system apparently sees things.
In the #MeToo era there is a bit of tone deafness about this project. False rape accusations are relatively rare and more often than not, accusers are treated with disbelief and scorn, often being blamed for their own assault. Even though this is a true story, it's not a typical one and the movie really doesn't address that.
Still, Banks is an inspirational person and watching Hodge absolutely nail his performance is a treat. That the plot gets a bit maudlin especially in the last half of the film doesn't help matters. The real Brian Banks couldn't have asked for a better performance to capture his life; he certainly could have asked for a better movie to frame it.
REASONS TO SEE: Hodge delivers the performance of his career.
REASONS TO AVOID: The script gets a bit soapy in places.
FAMILY VALUES: There's a certain amount of profanity, as well as some adult thematic content and accompanying images.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: At least eight of Banks' teammates on the Long Beach Poly team eventually played professional football either for the NFL or overseas.
CRITICAL MASS: As of 8/28/19: Rotten Tomatoes: 58% positive reviews: Metacritic: 58/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: A Time to Kill
NEXT: Seaside


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Uh hold on a sec…I'll start this blog in a minute I'm talking to someone.
Ok I'm back sorry 😉 What were we talking about? Oh ya, is social media making us anti-social? I mean as I sit here writing this I am practically shunning my own family, people who I could literally reach out and touch, just so I can talk to people, must of whom I will never meet.
How many times have you been out with a friend, and heard a buzz, beep, ring, or clip of a song, only to have them whip out their precious phone like an asthmatic whips out their inhaler during an attack?
I believe it was Jerry Seinfeld that said talking on your phone while with someone, was the equivalent to opening a magazine in front of their face and reading it. I must say I agree, of course I have been guilty of this (not anymore though cause I haven't a cell phone). But I just find it so rude, I mean here I am a person who has made time in their day to specifically spend time with you, and you are going to ignore me to talk to someone who has made no more effort than it takes to pop popcorn in a microwave? Seriously do I have to push buttons in order to get your undivided attention?
Oh the wonder that is Facebook. Don't get me wrong, I really love Facebook, it's a great way to get more clients, talk to faraway friends, and find old friends who I had lost touch with. But I feel as though it can convenience you right out of a social life, oh well I don't need to pick up the phone, or go see said person, I can just talk to them on Facebook. Not to mention if you live with anyone you tend to alienate them to be on the computer.
Then there is twitter and instagram, hey I know how about I tell/show everyone what I am up to right now, that way they'll think I'm cool, and the next time I see them they wont have to even ask what I've been up to, cause they will have seen all of have done lately.
If I am starting to sound like an old fogey I'm sorry, I just felt like it's something I should write about. I really do enjoy social media, I just happen to love spending real time with people more. I feel as though I should challenge myself to be more sociable, and for others to do the same. How horrible is it going to be when our children ask us what we did in our hayday, and all we can respond with is I spent a lot of time on the computer and phone? Get out go party and talk to people in front of you! You need to make friends not add them! I really hope you all enjoyed this post, and that this didn't come across too preachy. I love you guys and wish you have a very happy Wednesday.


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The one-day ban of news channel NDTV India is a significant escalation against India's free press. The government has long monopolised the carriage of speech, particularly radio and television, a stranglehold broken only by the rise of private cable TV in the mid-1990s. All channels are forced to obey the Programme Code, a bizarre, poorly-drafted censorship law which is clearly unconstitutional.
Tag Archives: Programme Code
In India, a cable television channel's content has invited a government warning, which the channel has judicially challenged. The incident recasts light on India's absurd system of television censorship, which primarily flows from the Cable Televison Act, 1995. A poorly-drafted list of prohibited content, called the Programme Code, is interpreted by a group of unaccountable bureaucrats with no specialized knowledge of television, arts, or the law. Similar to the erstwhile section 66A of the Information Technology Act, which was recently judicially struck down for vagueness, the Programme Code has survived by evading judicial scrutiny. How does such arbitrary censorship subsist? Humpty Dumpty might have the best answer.


text: Rahul Nabar wrote: > I'm currently shopping around for a cluster-expansion and was shopping > for options. Anybody out here who's bought new hardware in the recent > past? Any suggestions? Any horror stories? > > We've been using Dell SC1435's with Quad-Core AMD 2354 Opterons @ > 2.2GHz. 16 Gig RAM. > Hi Rahul, list Sometime ago I asked this question on this list (and on the Rocks list also): "How much memory per core is right?" I've got a variety of answers, with 2GB/core being the bottom line (but also the most popular value). A number of people recommended more and up to 128GB/node, depending on the application. We bought 16GB/node = 2GB/core and so far so good, all programs we tried were significantly below the memory watermark (say 80% of total physical memory). "Top" on a compute node on your current cluster, running typical applications, may give the best insight. If it is close to the watermark, buy more than you have now. > Any new-cutting edge stuff I ought to be asking my vendors to put into > the quotes? I already have gigabit bonded backbones and don't think we > have the financial muscle to upgrade to Myrinet or Infiniband yet. In > the interest of homogeniety and not wanting to have dual trees of > executibles I might be tempted to stick with AMDs unless there is > compelling temptation otherwise. > > I am already looking at the CPU benchmarks on the Intel/AMD websites > but they can sometimes be misleading / misrepresenting other than the > obvious glaring conflict of interest. I rather trust first-hand > anecdotal evidence from you guys actually administering them for > scientific applications. Unless there is a good third party, relevant > database? > > For some reason the top500 sublists seem skewed to prefer the Intel > Xeons. True, probably reflecting the current market share. > Why so few Opterons or any other AMD hardware? Just curious if > this is driven by technological inferiority of only a marketing > effect. My vendor seems to be trying to steer me towards an Intel > Nehalem or Clovertown for whatever reasons good or bad. > Climate/Atmosphere/Oceans problems (the bulk of our research here) are computational fluid dynamics (CFD) problems. The codes solve time-dependent PDE's with domain decomposition techniques, and march the solution in time on a big grid/mesh (typically 3D), with tons of memory arrays being read and written all the time. I.e., the codes are memory-intensive. Hence, they require good memory bandwidth. We tested some codes that we use in dual-dual and dual-quad, single node computers with Opteron and Xeon processors. Some computers that we have here, and one test thanks to a kind vendor on his shop. You only need one node to test memory bandwidth and the way the code scales on the *processor*. (How it scales on the network requires a cluster, of course.) In all cases we tried to compare similar generations of Opterons beat the Xeons, and whenever possible with similar speeds (didn't have all this luxury available), but always with particular interest on scaling. Typically the walltimes flattened out on the Xeons, after the number of cores in use exceeded half (or half+1) of the total cores, whereas on Opterons the (almost-)linear scaling continued up to the total number of cores, with walltimes always decreasing. I don't know if your codes (computational chemistry, right?) are memory-intensive. If they are, don't get impressed by one short walltime only. Look for scaling. You don't want to keep half of the cores idle in your cluster, due to memory bandwidth saturation. The tests I mentioned were up to Harpertown, 5400 series, which is actually a notch above the Clovertown 5300 series that you mentioned, IIRR. Haven't tested Nehalem. Haven't seen any benchmark of CFD-type codes on Nehalem either. I remember there were some synthetic benchmark numbers, maybe posted here on this list. Maybe somebody tested computational chemistry codes, or CFD, and may post results here. We have Opteron Shanghai, and it works as well/better than previous Opterons we used (which were older than your Barcelonas). > Ultimately of course, it might be best if I just got to benchmark my > very own application on these CPUs before I bought them. But that's > just wishing I guess! > Not really wishful thinking. Send your codes to a potential vendor, ask him to run on a single node, and report to you the walltimes for, say, 1,2,4,8 cores working in parallel. Big vendors may not do it, smaller shops probably will, or will offer you access to a test machine for a "do-it-yourself". Also, ask details about memory configuration, and which ones are optimal. We recently saw a discussion about this here on the list, search the archives. Somebody posted this useful link then: http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/hpcc/archive/2009/04/08/nehalem-and-memory-configurations.aspx My two cents, Gus Correa --------------------------------------------------------------------- Gustavo Correa Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory - Columbia University Palisades, NY, 10964-8000 - USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------


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Chances are good that if you've received any phishy e-mails lately, at least one of them has been for either PayPal or eBay. The two companies are by far the most popular phishing targets—according to Sophos, ebay and Paypal alone accounted for 75 percent of all the phishing e-mails sent in 2006. PayPal has been working on a series of comprehensive anti-phishing initiatives since then and has seen the amount of fake e-mail sent under its name drop tremendously as a result. The company detailed (PDF) its multipronged approach at the RSA Conference this week, and also went into some detail on its plans for future antiphishing defenses.
In the past, Paypal's efforts against phishing attacks were focused on reimbursing customers if their accounts were defrauded. This approach ultimately proved too limiting, and may have actually led to an increase in the total amount of PayPal-themed e-mail. As a result, PayPal created a five-point blocking system (see below). While none of these roadblocks would effectively halt the problem by itself, PayPal hoped that they'd be far more effective when deployed as a group.
Thus far, the company's strategy has proven successful. PayPal has worked with individual ISPs to filter phishing e-mail attacks before such messages are ever delivered, and has incorporated a series of digital signatures into its genuine messages that are meant to notify and reassure readers that the missive in question is, in fact, from PayPal itself. With these systems taking shape, PayPal is taking the next step in securing its users and itself from phishing attacks, and plans to begin phasing out its support for older browsers.
In its presentation, PayPal states: "In our view, letting users view the PayPal site on one of these [older] browsers is equal to a car manufacturer allowing drivers to buy one of their vehicles without seatbelts." The company plans to introduce a tiered system of browser access. First-tier browsers (currently defined as Firefox 2, IE 7.0, and Opera 9.25 and up) will be able to log in to Paypal normally.
Second-tier browsers, defined as being one major browser version back from the current version, will be allowed to log in, but will be warned that their browser version is out of date and does not include a phishing filter or does not support Extended Validation SSL certificates. PayPal doesn't list the current browsers it considers to be second-tier, but the title would presumably apply to Firefox 1.5, Opera 8, and Internet Explorer 6.
Third-tier browsers are the only browsers that would be blocked from accessing PayPal altogether. Again, PayPal is light on the details, though the company does state that both Internet Explorer 3 and IE 4 fall into this category. The most surprising part of the company's presentation, in fact, may have been its revelation that some PayPal users are actually still using IE 3 at all. Other browser versions likely to fall in this category include Opera 3.5 and below, and any 4.xx version of Netscape, IE 5.0/5.5, Opera 4.0-7.2, Firefox 1.0, and extremely early versions of Camino could potentially fall into either category.
Judging by the version numbers, PayPal's decision to push users towards modern browsers with better security support will hurt virtually no one and may lower the risk that phishing attacks pose to users on computers that should have been recycled as floor lamps years ago. Judging by diagram 5 from PayPal's report, the company's efforts thus far have yielded real success. PayPal-themed "phishmail" is only a fraction of what it was two years ago. There's no single defense strategy that can keep phishing attacks at bay, but PayPal's five-way approach to the problem has made for impressive results.


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Our guest is filmmaker, Tara Price. Tara and I met at Ground Control by way of kind introduction by former Something2XP guest, Patrick Duncan. Tara and I talked about her short film The Routine, science fiction, The Twilight Zone, retro sci-fi, 50s and 60s culture revival, Ray Bradbury, timeless art, David Lynch, challenging art, Doctor Who, Tales from the Dark Side, The X-Files, Twin Peaks, time travel, Dean Stockwell, accents, Mad Max, representation in media, #OscarsSoWhite, systemic intersectionality in media, roles for women, Ellen Ripley, feminism, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Sisters, comedians in drama, Bridesmaids, Robin Williams, The World According to Garp, John Lithgow, John Irving, The Office, Fight Club, Harry Potter, Alan Rickman, nail polish, the death of intolerance, unixex bathrooms, entitlement, parenting, Las Vegas, creative minds, Bowie, death, short films, visual storytelling, John Nance, her new film Earworm, and the New Year.
Tara Price on Twitter
Tara Price on Facebook
Tara Price on Vimeo
Dana DeLorenzo


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Tejate, a traditional Oaxacan drink made from maize, cacao, mamey seeds, and other ingredients—all handmade—is a labor-intensive preparation. And that's an understatement. From the hand-shelling of cacao and the grinding of the nixtamal to the serving, takes several hours.
At Mi Lindo Oaxaca in Dallas, Honorio Garcia and family take that time to make tejate from scratch at their restaurant. Here's a video of the incredible process that shows how the preservation of tradition trumps the creativity of modernity.


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Richie lost his fight with brain cancer and went to his heavenly home within the past twelve hours. Below is the post I wrote when I met Richie in 2016. He was a wonderful young man. Even at the worst, he had a smile on his face, a song in his heart, and praise for God. He will be sorely missed by his family and friends – which includes everyone he ever met. I can still hear him sing his song, For A Reason. Rest in peace, Richie.
I was hosting the Angela's at the Crosswalk Monday night open mic on Halloween when I first met Richie Smith. He came in with his mom and dad, waving to people as they came by the tables – just saying hi. His dad, Rick, came over and told me who he was so I knew when his slot came up. I asked him what he needed, sound-wise. He said Richie just needed a mic because he was going to play the song on a small Bose iPod/iPhone player.
When his time came, Rick helped Richie up to the microphone. Richie's left leg was in a brace and his left arm was in a sling. I got him set up with the mic and his dad helped him start the songs. I adjusted the sound and Richie introduced himself.
"I'm Richie Smith. I had surgery for brain cancer to remove a tumor and what was left was diagnosed as grade 4 brain cancer. After surgery, I came out I was like this. This isn't part of my costume."
The crowd erupted in laughter. That is a perfect introduction to Richie. He is a twenty-two year old young man who has always loved music. He could play piano as well as other instruments. Music came to him naturally. He performed in cafes for charity.
Then he was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2011. No one outside of his family knew he had brain cancer. When it worsened in 2012, he had two
days to live without immediate brain surgery. After the surgery on November 24, 2012, what could not be removed was diagnosed as grade 4 brain cancer, and he was given two years to live. "The fight raged on, and in 2013 there were two brain tumors growing in size, leading Richie to lose most mobility on the left side of his body, but he never gave up."1
Richie thanks God for his music even after all that has happened. His positive attitude and faith in God is infectious. There were a number of his close friends there, but, as far as Richie is concerned, everyone there was his friend. He had everyone laughing and dancing along to one of his songs. Even me – and I don't dance – used to long ago, but not anymore. Except for Halloween night.
Two weeks later, when I once again hosted the open mic, Richie was on the list. His left arm hung by his side rather than held up in a sling. He played piano with his right hand while he sat behind it and sang. His father, Rick, played the cajon. Once again, his laughter and infectious spirit filled the room. He played a hilarious cover of Skinny Girl Jeans with some additions of his own. Richie had the crowd singing along on Lean on Me by Bill Withers.
And, naturally, he played his song, For A Reason. Not only is it the name of his song, but it is also the name of his For A Reason Foundation. For A Reason is also Richie first official song release, produced by multi-platinum producer, John Kurzweg. The song was released this past Thursday, the fourth anniversary of his first brain surgery. It was also – as Richie pointed out at Angela's – Thanksgiving, his mother, Veronica's, birthday, and his re-birth. His re-birth is how he refers to the immediate emergency surgery.
For A Reason is available on iTunes, Amazon, and the usual online music distribution sites. You can also check out Richie's Facebook page and his YouTube channel. You can see Richie on Mondays at Angela's or at the fourth Saturday Dallas Songwriters Association (DSA) showcase on December 17.
Peace be with you.


text: FAQ on paintings Posted on March 10, 2022 by jawara318 via IFTTT Let the world know.TwitterFacebookEmailTumblrPinterestLike this:Like Loading... Published by jawara318 I'm a painter from the beautiful West Indies. I love colors and textures. I started painting at age 4 and have kept doing it everyday. View all posts by jawara318


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Harvard honors Elton John for efforts to fight HIV and AIDS
NEW YORK — Elton John will receive an award from Harvard University next month for his philanthropic efforts to fight HIV and AIDS.
The Elton John AIDS Foundation announced Tuesday that the 70-year-old singer will be awarded the Harvard Foundation's Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award on Nov. 6. Previous winners include Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Secretaries General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, Kofi Annan, Boutrous-Boutrous Ghali and Javier Perez de Quellar.
John says the award is "both gratifying and tremendously humbling." He says he remains committed to "sustain and grow the progress we've made to eradicate stigma and end the spread of HIV/AIDS, once and for all."


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SwanShadow Gives Thanks, Volume 15: Crystal Turkey Edition
As unlikely as it seems, this post marks the 15th anniversary of my yearly Thanksgiving Day blog entry. Given that crystal is the traditional gift for a 15th anniversary, I will attempt herein to be as transparent, sparkling, and multifaceted as possible.
Those of you (and you know who you are) who've kept up with these posts over the years know that I have many, many people and things in my life for which I am thankful. I don't take that responsibility of gratitude lightly. I earnestly, honestly appreciate how blessed my life is.
When I roll over the side of the bed every morning, even when that effort comes accompanied by the creaks and crackles of advancing age, I am grateful that I have two feet to stand on, and legs that support the standing. I know there are millions of people in the world who can't get out of bed and would give anything to do so. And, as I go about my day, I am thankful that I have a comfortable home, clean clothes, abundant food and water, work I enjoy, the entertainment of a companion animal, and the love of a life partner. I know there are millions of people who have few, or none, of these, and would sacrifice anything they do have to possess that which they do not. I am not better, or more deserving, than they. I am merely more fortunate. Again, I don't take that for granted.
And especially when I find myself living in a state where entire communities have been consumed by disastrous wildfires over the past year-plus, robbing people of every material possession and a lifetime of treasured memories…
I take none of this for granted.
Because I have far more things to be thankful for than I can enumerate, on Thanksgiving Day it's been my custom these past 15 years to focus my gratitude on a list of just 26 items, one for each letter of the alphabet. Some items on the list are trivial (indeed, some are literally that). Others are profound. All stand in the place of many, many others that I simply haven't time in one day to name. It's just my way of acknowledging how deeply moved in soul and spirit I am when I pause to consider how rich my life is, even in those countless moments when I feel poorly within.
With all that said, on Thanksgiving Day 2018, here are the things for which I'm giving thanks.
Air. In our part of the world, it's easy to forget about air — we have it fresh and without limit… until an event like the fire that destroyed Paradise, California clouds the atmosphere with toxic fumes and ash for days on end, even for those of us living a couple hundred miles from the event. After breathing soot for two weeks, today's clean air (courtesy of our first rains in months) gives us NorCal residents something extra special to celebrate.
Bob Almond. My comic art collection began in earnest almost simultaneously with these annual posts, 15 years ago. During that time, one artist's work has come to be represented in my galleries far more frequently than any other — more than 50 times, at last count. It might be easy to miss that, however, because Bob Almond toils as an inker, an embellisher of other artists' pencil drawings. Bob's unique ability to meld his ink lines with a broad variety of styles — always enhancing, never imposing or interfering — gives me the confidence to keep putting projects in his capable hands, knowing that the art will always return to me better than when it left. And, as founder of the Inkwell Awards, Bob labors tirelessly to gain recognition and appreciation for other practitioners of his craft — artists whose work often goes unnoticed, but is indispensable to the art form we call comics.
Confetti. I play quite a few online trivia games (although fewer all the time, it seems, as some of the upstarts have gone or are going out of the picture). I have the most fun playing the Facebook-based Confetti every weeknight. Confetti's distinction is that it allows one to play in concert with one's Facebook friends, seeing their responses to each question in real time and benefiting from their collective wisdom. Assuming, of course, that one has smart friends. I just happen to be lucky that way.
Doctor Who. Until this season, I haven't been a regular viewer of Doctor Who, the venerable BBC science fiction series, since the days of the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker in the 1970s. When the show was revived several years back, I sampled an episode or two of each new incarnation of the Doctor, but was never drawn back into steady attendance. Then came the Thirteenth Doctor, played with charm and spunk (and a goofy-to-American-ears Yorkshire accent) by Jodie Whittaker, the first female actor to be cast as the Time Lord. In the Doctor's own phrase, "Brilliant!"
Egg foo young. Yes, I know, it's not real Chinese cuisine. But sometimes, I just gotta have it. It's probably the gravy.
Freddie Mercury. I have yet to see Bohemian Rhapsody, the recent biopic starring Rami Malek as the legendary front man of Queen. Part of my reluctance is the reviews. The greater part, though, is my fear that nothing could compare with the reality of Freddie, perhaps the most uniquely talented performer in rock history, and one whose music and memory means so much to me.
Garlic. Can't cook without it. Okay, maybe breakfast. But not after that.
Hawaiian Airlines. Truly the friendliest airline in the skies. You'd be friendly too if every one of your round trips ended in Hawaii. At the Pirate Queen's insistence, I got a new credit card this year that earns Hawaiian Airlines flying miles. Maybe one of these years I'll earn enough miles to just stay.
Infinity War. Every time I think the Marvel Cinematic Universe has gone about as far as it can go, Kevin Feige and company find a whole new way to turn things up past 11. Coming in hot on the heels of Black Panther — quite possibly, the greatest superhero film ever made, and one that could have dominated this Thanksgiving list had I not decided not to be quite so obvious — Avengers: Infinity War raised the stakes and broke our hearts by taking our Panther (and several other Marvel headliners, including Spider-Man and Doctor Strange) away. The sequel can't get here fast enough. (Also, Black Panther 2.)
Journalists. I've never practiced the trade — the closest I came was my years as an online film reviewer — but I trained at university as a journalist. I value the talent and commitment of those who tell the true stories within our world, and deliver the news even when those in power would undermine and even physically thwart them. Now more than ever, we need legitimate journalism, and we all need to support those outlets and individuals determined to publish the truth.
Kansas. This summer, the Pirate Queen and I spent a weekend in Central California centered around a concert by the classic rock band Kansas. This was the fourth time I've seen Kansas live — the first was on my 19th birthday, at the Cow Palace — but the first time in more than 20 years. I still love the music. Kansas is the only significant American band to focus largely on progressive rock for the majority of its career (yeah, I know, Styx — but they were only prog-ish, and at that, only sometimes). Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Maybe not… but who cares? All we are is dust in the wind.
Lutron. One of the many things I love about our little abode here at Pirates Cove is the auto-dimming LED light fixtures, manufactured by a company named Lutron about whom I know nothing. Great lights, though.
Marriage. In the words of a certain Impressive Clergyman, "Mawwiage is what bwings us togevvah today." In May, The Daughter entered into vows with The Son-In-Law. It was a beautiful day, and they still seem totally happy together six months later. I'm glad she found someone special to share her heart and her life with (and he does indeed seem like a great guy). I'm glad that the Pirate Queen and I found each other, too. Ain't love grand?
Notability. An essential tool in my everyday working life — I import all of my scripts into it, where I can annotate and mark them up as I will. I also use it for note-taking in workshops and sessions, and for general brainstorming. If you can use a high-quality document markup / notation tool with a wealth of functionality, I highly recommend Notability. (Not a paid endorsement. Just a satisfied customer.)
Outrigger Reef Waikiki. We stayed here on this year's trip to Oahu, and it immediately became our new favorite hotel on the island. Centrally located on Waikiki Beach, the Outrigger Reef offered a ton of features that we liked: unmatched location, warm hospitality that personifies aloha, first-rate beach access, a reliable breakfast venue, super-convenient layout that minimizes walking (something that can't be said of many large resort hotels), great pool, live music nightly, and a Starbucks. I almost hate to mention it here, because now you people will fill it up the next time we want to stay there.
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco has presented a couple of exhibitions in recent years featuring the works of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, an association of 19th-century British artists and writers. This year's show afforded the opportunity to see a number of stunning paintings by the Brotherhood's leading lights: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt, and John Everett Millais. I'm always impressed by art that keeps me thinking about it for days after I've seen it. The Pre-Raphaelites and their acolytes accomplish that.
Quizmasters. Having written a few quizzes for LearnedLeague and elsewhere, and played thousands more, I'm acutely aware of how difficult it is to compose top-shelf trivia questions and answers. I'm in awe of people — including LearnedLeague Commissioner Thorsten A. Integrity and newly inducted Trivia Hall of Fame member Paul Paquet — who manage to do it consistently over long periods of time.
Radio. As some of you know, I was a radio disc jockey in a previous life. Thanks in part to the SiriusXM subscription that came with our new Subaru Forester, I've been listening to more radio of late. It's a format that I hope never goes away.
Stan Lee. Some idolized Marvel Comics writer/editor/publisher "Stan the Man" and gave him perhaps more credit than he deserved. Others in their zeal to counteract Stan's penchant for self-aggrandizement were perhaps too quick to denigrate his contributions. All I know is this: Stan Lee co-created (we can disagree as to what percentage) several of the most iconic characters and stories of my lifetime, including some that had a tremendous impact on my youth and beyond. I can't say this about many people whom I never met, but I would be a dramatically different person today were it not for Stan Lee. Rest in peace, and excelsior.
Taarna. I don't like to talk myself up, but for some years, I was among the primary resources online for information about the 1981 animated science fiction anthology film Heavy Metal. I compiled and maintained the Squidoo lens spotlighting the movie, contributed significantly to its Wikipedia entry, and wrote material about the film for several (mostly now defunct) websites. My art collection reflects my obsession, with its gallery of commissioned artworks featuring Taarna, the lead character in Heavy Metal's concluding segment and star of its iconic poster. When Sideshow Collectibles announced early this year that they were releasing a statue of Taarna, I knew I had to own one, even though I'm not a statue collector. The Taarakian defender now upholds The Pact from a shelf in my office/studio.
Ukulele. I decided a while back that I wanted to learn to play the ukulele. This decision did not come without trepidation — I took years of guitar lessons as a youngster and never got very good at playing the guitar. (Which is a charitable way of saying that I totally sucked at playing the guitar.) I'll probably never be very good at playing the ukulele either. But even my clumsy fretting and strumming brings me joy. That's something, yes?
Victoria Coren Mitchell. One of the world's best female poker players, and the presenter of one of my favorite quiz shows, Only Connect. Is there anything she can't do?
Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room. I fell in love with the Tiki Room on my first visit to Disneyland, way back in 19[mumble][mumble]. When I visited with the Pirate Queen in February of this year, I found my love unabated. It's cheesy yet classic, dated yet timeless, silly yet charming. The performances by the lead voice actors (Wally Boag, Thurl Ravenscroft, Fulton Burley, and Ernie Newton) remain engaging, despite their broad (some might say stereotypical, and some might not be wrong) accents. There's always at least one Audio-Animatronic character that doesn't function quite perfectly. And yet, the moment the Tiki Room show concludes, I want to queue up again for another round. It's one of my favorite childhood memories. Also, Dole Whip.
Xenon. It's the noble gas used most frequently in film projection lamps. When you go to the movie theater and look at the brightly lit screen, you're seeing xenon at work.
Yacht Rock. It's not just a musical genre — it's a way of life. The smooth, studio-crafted, jazz-inflected sounds of such late-'70s/early-'80s acts as Steely Dan, Toto, Kenny Loggins, Christopher Cross, Al Jarreau, and the Michael McDonald-era Doobie Brothers are my jam. (One of my jams, anyway.) Please don't confuse true Yacht Rock with that stuff that gets played on the SiriusXM channel of the same name — most of it's Nyacht Rock. (Hint: Jimmy Buffett is Nyacht Yacht Rock.) For the real deal, check out the pioneering 2005 web video series Yacht Rock, and Beyond Yacht Rock, the subsequent podcast hosted by connoisseurs JD Ryznar, Dave Lyons, Hunter Stair, and "Hollywood" Steve Huey.
Ziploc bags. I don't know who invented them, or how that individual came up with the technology. But how did we ever live without them? The ones with the slider sealing mechanism? Pure engineering genius.
And as always, friend reader, I'm grateful for you. Thanks for stopping by on yet another Thanksgiving. I hope you've found much to be thankful for today. If you have, share some with someone who has a little less.
Peace.Explore posts in the same categories: Aimless Riffing, Celebritiana, Cinemania, Dead People Got No Reason to Live, Disney, Food Glorious Food, Hawaii, Hero of the Day, LearnedLeague, Listology, My Home Town, Reminiscing, Ripped From the Headlines, Sexiest People Alive, Soundtrack of My Life, SwanStuff, Teleholics Anonymous, Thanksgiving, That's Cool!, Trivial Pursuits


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Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
for myself, I have chosen your altars,
my King and my God.
Psalm 84:3
(Léonie Martin, known as Sister Françoise-Thérèse)
Since I was adopted as a baby I've never known whether I had a sister or not.
I did not have a sister in my adoptive family.
However, I do know what it means to have been a bit of a difficult child.
I was rather headstrong growing up.
I wouldn't say I was difficult, but that label might need to be addressed by my mom and dad,
and since neither of them is here to add to or refute such a claim, we'll just keep it as headstrong.
I was often willful, somewhat defiant and had a mind of my own.
I knew what I liked and what I wanted despite those wants and ideas not always being the
wisest of thoughts.
After reading the following story about a rather obscure woman and nun,
I found that I could actually relate to her story.
She is what I call a shadow dweller—a person who lives in the shadows of a more prominent sibling.
A girl who wrestled with her own standing in life and what hand she had been dealt.
That's the thing…isn't life just merely a matter of what we make of it…
or on the other hand, it's what Life makes of us?
Either of which makes us, in turn, who we will become
Will we choose to rise above or will we simply succumb?
Will we allow all of the negative to swallow us whole or will we learn to stand up and out
of the negative, rising up to our true potential?
We can either give in and up or we can purposely and willfully fight our demons in order
to be who we are truly called to be.
And who we are called to be might just be a person who is content living in the shadow
of a more famous sibling…
"Léonie Martin is arguably the least known and admired member of her entire family,
but I doubt she minds.
She's used to being in that position."
I've written often about one of her sisters.
A now well know sister, who despite having lived a very short life, dying from TB at the age of 24,
made a tremendous impact on the world.
Her parents were just recently recognized by the Pope as exceptional.
All of her sisters sought the vocation of serving Christ.
One sister, however, had a more difficult path to walk than that of her siblings.
And the thing is that once she found her way…Grace prevailed over a lifetime of trial,
willfulness, and difficulty.
Here is the link to Léonie Martin's story…the sister of The Little Flower.
What We Can Learn From the Forgotten Sister of St. Thérèse of Lisieux


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If we were having coffee today, January 6th, I'd wish you a Happy New Year and invite you in. I'd make you a cappuccino with my new coffee maker and share some of the many cookies I have left from the family cookie swap. They are delicious! I'd tell you about that evening when we all gathered at my sister's for a meal and how we played games and had a lovely evening. I'd ask you about your family and tell you about mine. We are at the cusp of that next stage where many of our children are young adults and how much I'm enjoying this new phase. I'd show you the picture of my niece and I. We showed up at the party wearing matching outfits. It was very funny. Sarah has started her own fashion blog on Instagram and it just goes to show that creativity runs in the family.
I'd show you the new xylophone my husband bought for me. I've been trying to teach myself how to play piano and love having music in the house. My children are less than thrilled with our new instrument though. I had to giggle when one of my daughters was on the phone with the other. "Mom got a xylophone. Ugh!" My husband has several guitars and a banjo and tries to practice on a regular basis. He's pretty good. Me? Not so much… I'd ask you if you play any instruments and invite you to bring them next time we visit.
As we sipped our coffee, I'd apologize for not posting as many poems lately. I've been engrossed in the writing of a short story. It's very dark and was inspired by a simple phrase my principal uttered one morning at work. I don't want to give too much away, but I'm very pleased with how things are progressing. My youngest sister has always been my Reader and she's told me she likes the story but is a bit taken aback at how creepy it is. I'd ask you about your writing and if you stick to one genre or write in many. I'd tell you that in addition to my poetry, I've written historical fiction, young adult fantasy, romance, and now, thriller. I would explain that I started my blog five years ago to get myself back into the habit of writing every day and that I can't wait for the day when I can give up the classroom and spend each day, all day writing. I'd ask you about your projects and writing habits.
Since it is the new year, I'd ask you about any resolutions you've made. I've made a few. I have decided to make more time for reading this year. I finished Where the Crawdads Sing over Christmas. It was my favorite book of the year. I've just started Hillbilly Elegy and am really enjoying it. I'd ask for book recommendations and if you are looking for some, I'd direct you to my friend, Marsha. She has an outstanding blog, Belle of the Book, and always has fantastic books on her list. Check it out!
My writing resolutions are pretty much the same as every year. I want to continue to grow my blog. As I checked my stats for 2018, I was pleased to see that my work has been read in 114 countries. I am excited about all the talented writers I've befriended and will continue to widen this circle. I will continue to participate on various platforms and for the months of January and February, will moderate "Promote Yourself Monday" on Go Dog Go Cafe. If you haven't visited that site, be sure to check it out. It's a wonderful space for writers. I'd ask you about any writing sites you belong to and what you do to reach out to the writing community. One of my resolutions is to be more active in my responses to posts. I read quite a bit but need to respond on a more regular basis.
Before you go, I'd show you my latest collection of poetry. I put this book together as a Christmas gift for my family. I didn't promote it because I didn't want to spoil the surprise. The Family Table is a collection of poems about what it means to be a family. I'm blessed to have the family I do and to be able to interact with people like you.
Have a great day! Check out other Weekend Coffee shares here.
Until next time…


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Tag: Menace
There need to be nooks and crannies; there need to be inbetweennesses.
There need to be othernesses and odd-ones-out that defy gravity, expectation, formula, form. The enemy of perfection is impatience, I know, and yet I find me a-longing, what for I know not. Could it be as banal as attention? This Monday was bluer than I have rhyme for or reason. Or song. And it was the Blue Monday, by name. Need I dramatise myself better, spectacularise myself? Invite preposterousness, scandal, sensation, or noise? Or simply dress up and say: 'oi!'?
'The problem,' Sedartis muses, in what seems a conciliatory mood, 'with standing in the room shouting loudest just to make sure you get heard is that you don't hear anyone else in the room, let alone perceive what is happening quietly, under the din. The greatest menace and greatest wisdom have this in common: they enter the fray in silence. The menace by stealth; it creeps up on you, seemingly harmless, sometimes friendly even, or if not friendly, then maybe quaint. The wisdom though simply spreads, where it can, unspectacular, slow, like the proverbial dawn, until it is really quite splendid and inescapably heralds the day. I'm mixing my metaphors. You get my meaning.'
I inwardly nod. None of this seems new to me, or revelatory.
'The problem with standing in the room silently, or muttering to yourself, is that you may not just be forever ignored, which is one thing, and bad enough, but taken for mentally unstable, dangerous even, certainly weird. There is nothing in itself wrong with weirdness, but when your task is to be taken seriously, it's unhelpful. Your task is to be taken seriously. Accept the challenge.'
This piques my interest: how then, I wonder at Sedartis who has been with me for the last twenty months now, dispensing his snippets of 'insight' liberally, as a Father Christmas hands sweets to children, do I make myself heard while being able to listen, do I speak but not mutter, do I send signals, not simply make noise?
'That is easy,' Sedartis, unsurprisingly, now that I think of it, claims: 'You stand in the room, upright and tall as you are, not flustered, not blustering, not puffing yourself up, not screaming, not shouting, but saying what you have to say, with confidence, clear. When you're spoken to, listen. When you see someone in the room who isn't being paid any attention, go to them: pay attention. Give yourself a rest now and then and sit quietly in the corner to observe. There, if somebody joins you, you may yet have your most meaningful conversation.
'Keep an eye and an ear out for the people regaling themselves, roaring with laughter. More often than not they are harmless, even if they're annoying. But be alert. Keep a feeler out for the subtleties, the changes of tone in the room, the small movements, the quiet arrivals. The sudden departures.
'Listen out for the music that's setting the mood. Who do they dance to, who stand aside for. And then you may just have to pick your own moment. Because this room has no host. So it may never happen that someone who knows you invites you to say a few words and bids the others, "pray silence!" – You may have to pick your own moment and command the attention. As you are. Without fuss, but with authority, flair. Then, though, know what you're talking about. That moment may just be brief. So be prepared and worth listening to, even if just to one or two, three or four. That's enough. Be patient. Be humble. Be strong. And if you speak any truth at all, prepare to be shouted down, even chased from the building. Such, I'm afraid, is the world that you live in. Your reward may never materialise: do not expect a reward.'
I do not expect a reward, do I?
'Yes you do,' Sedartis thunders, now vehemence in his wrath. 'Rise above this need to be appreciated.' Is that even possible, I now seriously ask myself and Sedartis in tandem: isn't being appreciated simply another expression for being loved?
Sedartis is quiet. Have I managed to shut up Sedartis? Really? I feel a minuscule pang of guilt, but triumph as well. It doesn't last long:
'George.' I don't think Sedartis has ever called me by any of my names before: 'Your need to be loved is only human. You cannot, nor should you, be super or let alone subhuman. But learn to be loved in manifold ways, unspoken, unreciprocated, unneedy, generously, unspectacularly. Appreciate love when it is not shown, not expressed, but still felt. Yours is a singular path, maybe lonely, at times: fear it not. You've been given advice on this matter before, and you will be again: heed it, it was sound. Accept love, don't crave it: give love, don't take it for granted; don't overstate it, don't desire it, don't keep it: be love.'
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There are stories and there are libraries. Libraries are not only repositories of completed stories, but the raw material from … More
Tag: adventure
A fractured continuum
Photographs, particularly digital or polaroid photographs (remember those?), are both immediate and mediated, both portals and barriers. They are small … More
The Blackswords: Episode 5
The dice were not favouring Rajir. He looked at yet another fistful of ones, twos and threes, taunting him from the table, and threw a handful of coppers at them, standing.
'I've had enough of this, you whoresons,' he grumbled.
'Your luck could change at any moment, sir,' said Falcon, the new recruit, his black hair tumbling chaotically about his face. He was no more than a footman, a spear carrier as green as his own eyes, but he had stood out from the new crop of axe-fodder for his confidence, and his skill with a blade. He also had a way with dice, and was not at all intimidated by Rajir or any of the other officers.
The Blackswords: Episode 4
The cabin shutters were closed, slicing the the sunlight into a gridwork of thin lines: thicker verticals at the hinges, or where the two leaves met, and fine horizontals that passed between the boards. Ashurra's eyes traced the lines across the wall, and abruptly out, around the lean knots and cords of her brother's chest and arms. The swell was a nurturing, hypnotic regularity, in contrast to the chaotic chop that had carried them north up the Gulf Of Dorna, away from their destination; it helped her to lose herself, but it hindered her focus, and she realised with a small sting of frustration that she had allowed herself to be distracted by the pattern of the light. Her eyes de-focussed as she tried again to grasp the whole energy of their working …
The Blackswords: Episode 3
Umbaral rode scout to the port, handing his lance to another rider and stringing his bow; being an archer usually let him keep a safe distance from the enemy, which was why he'd specialised as one, but there were other times it when condemned him to the van. It was a fair trade-off, he supposed, but it didn't feel very fair right now. Luckily, in the confusion of the battle, nobody would be looking for their detachment, and he didn't anticipate ambushes, but he was still alert to every alley and side turning that might let him leave the fight to his comrades if the situation looked alarming. The Suluf were large and ferocious, and he had no desire to cross swords with one if it could be avoided.
The Blackswords: Episode 2
The Beroan family kept the matriarchal Roganid Custom in their domestic arrangements; Feldua sat on his wife's right hand, and Ukhand faced him across the table, sitting, as the most honoured male guest, on her left. Shenailo directed the meal from the head of the table, beautiful, pale, and very young, her courage fragile as she feigned normality, and cast continual anxious glances at her husband. The fare was good, wrasse in a green sauce, roasted tomatoes, rice with pumpkin seeds and dried apricots; Dorna's port remained open, the pretender having no ships. 'With food like this on the table, we must assume the pretender intends to assault the walls,' observed Ukhand. 'He has no way to lay an effective siege.'
The Blackswords: Episode 1
Irtain could smell burning, and hear the rumble of a crowd at war. It wasn't so much the clash of arms, although there was that as well, muted and intermittent, but the sound of many voices; he had survived enough battles to know the difference between the note of a market, or an angry mob, or an arena audience, and that of many soldiers, shouting and acknowledging orders, calling for supplies, asking for intelligence, bellowing in pain. It was not the voice of a victorious army, but of one recently defeated, in fear of more bad fortune.


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Here is my entry for Debbie's, Travel With Intent blog, One Word Sunday Challenge.
I've gathered a list of challenges and their hosts. So if you know a challenge host, please direct them to my blog. Feel free to contact me anytime. I hope everyone will be able to use my lists.
Qi (energy) hugs


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Tim Gunn is Coming to Portland!!
Hang onto your hearts my fellow fashionistas. The great guru Gunn will not only be here in the flesh next month, you can go see him in person.
Of course, the next question is: What's he doing here? When he's not onscreen mentoring the designers for Project Runway, Gunn operates as the Chief Creative Officer for Liz Claiborne Inc. using his talent to sprinkle delight throughout their brands. On Saturday May 12, Gunn and event co-host Leah Caruso?Salak (Director of Marketing and Special Events for Liz Claiborne Inc.) will kick off a live Lucky Brand Jeans Runway show at Washington Square Mall.
But wait, it doesn't stop there. Professional models will walk along side 'real' models that will be selected through the Lucky You Runway Contest, a local casting held two days before the fashion show. The lucky participants (aka maybe you) selected to be on the runway will have a full backstage experience, complete with some fierce runway lessons. They're looking for all shapes and sizes at the casting event held two days prior to the show, so if you've been itching to become an overnight modeling sensation (well, for a day) here's your chance. "To those considering attending the casting, I would say, don't be shy! If you've ever worn a pair of jeans, you can walk our runway." says Caruso?Salak.
"This event is the ultimate reality experience—seeing real fashion, on real bodies," says Tim Gunn, "I commend Lucky Brand Jeans for recognizing how stunning all shapes, sizes and ages can be with the right fit." The Lucky Brand Jeans Tim Gunn Fashion Show will take place at Washington Square Mall on Saturday, May 12 starting at 1:00pm at Nordstrom Court. A word to the wise: No reservations are necessary, but seating is limited.
Dying to meet him in person? Guests who purchase $100 or more at the Lucky Brand Jeans store at Washington Square Mall between May 6th and May 12th will be professionally photographed with Tim Gunn on the runway, and some will walk away with a limited edition Tim Gunn signature tote (while supplies last). That might be the best excuse to go shopping you've ever been given.
The Model Casting Details:
When: May 10th 4–7pm
Where: Lucky Brand Store in Washington Square Mall
*Note: Gunn will not be present for the casting, though he does have input in the decisions.
Lucky Brand Fashion Show:
When: May 12th 1pm
Where: Nordstrom Court in Washington Square Mall
Not going to be able to make it to the event or do celebrities just make you tongue-tied? I get the chance to interview Gunn next week and want to pass on your questions. Leave 'em in the comment section below and I'll pick a few to take to the top gun, er, Top Gunn.


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Treecam is back
Posted by Matty
The treecam is live for another Christmas Holiday. If you want to get right to it, head over to tree-cam.no-ip.org and get started. You'll need to type in guest as the user name and password to gain access. It should work on most modern browsers and smartphones.
The setup this year is about the same as last year, with the addition of a ticker that displays the location of the ten most recent visitors. It's been cool to see people stop in from all over the globe! This was fun to code, and works by looking up the IP address of each visitor after they log in.
This year has been fun. Evie and Kaylee have both spent time playing in front of the camera, interacting with friends and family. Something new this year… I've been occasionally activating the microphone, so that family can hear Evie sing holiday classics like "Restless Sloppy Dog" (Feliz Navidad). The microphone only works in IE currently, but I may try to reverse engineer the activex control to bring the same functionality to other browsers.
We decided to use our old artificial tree this year, since Max and Lola both are actively trying to knock it over every night. Every morning, Nanc or I gather the fallen ornaments, and try to piece the tree back together. Hopefully next year we'll be able to use a live tree again.
Since the resolution of the camera isn't great, here are some snapshots of the different items that you can interact with.
Happy Holidays, Everyone!


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Where to Buy Fireworks in the Wichita Falls Area
July 4 is just around the corner, and while it's a day to celebrate our independence, it's also a day of food, fun, and fireworks! If you're looking to put some bang in your celebration, here are a few places in the Wichita Falls area where you can find fireworks.
Before we get to the list, remember that it is illegal to possess or discharge fireworks within the city limits of Wichita Falls. If you're caught, the fine is punishable up to $2,000, so think before you act. It's not because the city doesn't want you to have fun, it's because fireworks pose a risk for personal injury and property damage. If you're looking to really see a big fireworks show that night, the city is providing a display at the MPEC.
For those who like to have a show of their own, check out these places where you can purchase your supplies for an evening with lots of pop!
Russell's Fireworks Kingdom
1926 State Hwy 79 North, Wichita Falls 940-763-8857
Open 10am – 10pm (or later)
Get current specials and information on the Russell's Fireworks Kingdom Web site!
Planet Fireworks
10465 US Hwy 287 North, Wichita Falls 940-766-0854
Open 10am – 10pm (or later)
Swagerty Fireworks
2000 Kemp & Hwy 79, Wichita Falls
Monday –Thursday 9am – 11pm
Friday – Sunday 9am – 12am
Like them on Facebook!
TNT Fireworks
6827 US Hwy 281, Wichita Falls
We don't have hours or a phone number, but you can visit their Web site to get more info on products.
Alamo Fireworks
6307 Central Freeway North, Wichita Falls 940-497-0636
Get current specials and more info on the Alamo Fireworks Web site!
Fireworks Unlimited
7196 Seymour Hwy, Wichita Falls 940-322-8663
9am – 12am


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Here's one that comes up in conversation more often than it should. But this year was significant because it was the first and last time I was the tallest of this shady lot of cousins. You can't even really tell in this picture but it was a really big deal at the time. Needless to say every last one of them shot past me not too long after that. The photo was taken at the apartment of my Grandma Ethel and eventual Step-Grandfather Don in Grand Rapids, MI.
Happy holidays and happy hunting!