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A lack of faith or confidence in our ability as an artist is something all writers struggle with. Sometimes it's fleeting like a summer breeze, other times, it lingers like a winter frost. So how do we navigate the storm and overcome self-doubt?
We've all heard the little gremlins, but what makes us carry on despite the crippling fear. One of my favourite quotes is by Suzy Kassem. She hits the proverbial nail on the head with her wise words.
"Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will." – Suzy Kassem.
Sometimes it's the shove I need to keep going, to keep trying. I cling to the hope that tomorrow I'll believe in myself once again.
For me, perseverance is the only option. In the past, I've buried myself in a double quilt, hidden in Netflix series whilst gorging on chocolate: The ultimate self-pity, self-sabotage, procrastination. If you catch yourself in this place, ask yourself these three questions:
- What do you fear the most? Failure? Ridicule? Or is it success and living in your own power?
- What's Holding you back? Is it a lack of knowledge, practice, or feedback? And how can you change that?
- What would you do differently if you believed in myself?
"If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced." – Vincent Van Gogh
And so we should continue to paint with our words, dream up characters, learn our trade, and most importantly, let your joy and passion lead you. Forget the outside world, the setbacks, the criticism and write.
Remember we have the right to nurture ourselves, to take a step back, regroup and reconnect to those we care about. As a suffer of Complex PTSD, I understand that sometimes the inner voice is the cruelest one of all. I now know, self-care and self-love are important for me to be able to create. Occasionally, I need to step back from a project and recharge my creativity. I no longer allow guilt to weigh me down, it's all part of the process. Me time, strengthens my writing.
"Our doubts are traitors,
and make us lose the good we oft might win,
by fearing to attempt." – William Shakespeare.
What helps you navigate the choppy waters of self-doubt? Please share your experiences to help other writers, and to help me, you know I love hearing from you.
Thanks for stopping by, until next time, Much Love.


text:
Event: 125 FPS
Scheduled: 10:00 CDT, 8 October 2017 to 15:00 CDT, 8 October 2017
Schedule: Passed
The 125 FPS Quake Champions Duel Sunday Cup#12
Bracket: http://125fps.challonge.com/sundaycup94 (will be available in 1-2h before cup start)
When: 08 Oct 2017, 10:00 CDT
MapPool: Blood Covenant, Blood Run, Corrupted Keep, Ruins of Sarnath
Mapchoice -
BO3: The first map in the best of 3 series will be pre-determined prior to bracket completion. The player that loses the first or second map will choose next map.
BO1:The map will be pre-determined prior to bracket completion.
You cannot pick the same map during one round. All the maps should be different during the match.
1st map per rounds (WB and LB):
1st round Blood Covenant, 2nd round Blood Run, 3rd round Corrupted Keep, 4th round Ruins of Sarnath, 5th round Blood Covenant, 6th round Blood Run etc etc
PrizePool: 1st 2000 RUB; 2nd 1000 RUB.
Rules:Full Double Elimination, Winner Bracket: BO1 till the quarter final (1/4), BO3 WB 1/4, WB semi, WB final and Grandfinal (two BO3 if it will be needed); Low Bracket: BO1 all matches (including LB final).
Donate: 125FPS Paypal donate link; 125FPS money links (bitcoin, yandex-money, webmoney)
Streams: 125 FPS, 102, Polosatiy, zLive, nvc; Quake streams
Links:125FPS Balance 2017; 125FPS Discord
Edited by Nico_QD at 09:52 CDT, 6 October 2017 - 16142 Hits

subset: commoncrawl


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Industry News for ChrioSight
Carroll, Iowa 51401
Gatineau, QC, May 10, 2011 - ImaSight Inc. and Atlas announce today that they will begin comarketing the ImaSight Vision software and the Atlas Chiropractic System to all Atlas and ImaSight customers.
The co-marketing agreement will make available the software tools that both companies developed to all present and future customers. An embedded version of the ImaSight Vision software will be integrated into the Atlas Chiropractic System software. End-users will be able to automatically view and annotate patient x-rays during their diagnosis. Owners of the ImaSight 4600 sensors will have access to the patient data and all ImaSight Chiro Power Tools via the Atlas Chiropractic System.
To promote the joint program and demonstrate the benefits of their integrated software solution, both companies agreed to create a training centre at Atlas premises. The showroom will be used to demonstrate the software solution, increase product visibility and train personnel and end-users.
"The combination of both tools will procure significant benefits to both Atlas and ImaSight client base," said Dr. Stephane Laverdiere, president of Atlas Chiropractic system. "We are dedicated to offering more functionality to our products and ImaSight has the right set of tools needed by our chiropractic client base. We intend to demonstrate that this software integration is a natural evolution for clients who are asking for user-friendly tools and efficient workflow."
"Integration with a Practice Management Software is the next step for ImaSight and Atlas is an excellent opportunity for us," said Steve Johnston, V-P of Marketing at ImaSight Inc. "Atlas is well adopted and popular and provides excellent connectivity to our product. The ImaSight Vision Chiro Power Tools associated with the Atlas extensive practice management application is definitely a winning combination."
About Atlas
ATLAS is the developer of Atlas Chiropractic System, an innovative paperless system for chiropractic Practice Management Software. Our focus is serving the Chiropractic profession's very specialized needs alone. Our software solution is client driven and our commitment is to provide quality service along with the latest features integrated with the best technology.
About ImaSight
ImaSight manufactures and markets its patented digital x-ray sensor to veterinarians and chiropractors. Its hospital grade sensor is now authorized for sales in North America and Europe. Further information can be found at www.imasight.com.
Additional information:
Tony Slattery, V-P Sales at Atlas Chiropractic Systems
Steve Johnston, V-P Marketing at ImaSight
(819) 777-7979 ext 224


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This post was selected as one of the WOW posts by BlogAdda.
(This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.)
I had a headache. I could not remember if it was a mild hangover or the common cold making an appearance again.
But wait! this is not my house! But I know this place, this place looks familiar….this was my home, the home I lived some 20 years back. The joy of reclaiming back the known terrace and forlorn backyard of my South Calcutta home was somehow marred by the lingering thought about what I was doing here? Am I seeing a very nice dream or did time travel just turned real?
And then I looked at myself. That was me. Not the one who had seen broken hearts, compromised dreams and the truth behind some of the fairy tales, but it was the 'me' that I loved knowing. It was 'Papai', the carefree young girl, just the way I remember myself from the old photo albums.
And I did not know how to react! I was lying on my parent's bed, I could hear my mother cooking in the Kitchen and my grandmother talking to her about something. Will they be able to recognise me? My fears took a backseat when I saw my father approaching- "Mamoni! you shoud get up or otherwise your mother will come and scold you. She is already very angry as the domestic help has not turned up for work today."
I smiled. I knew that 20 years from now, that handsome face will have wrinkles all over but he will be a very successful man, one who could rise over any difficulty in life. Age does not spare any one, but he will continue to be the most handsome man I would ever meet in my life.
By now, I was feeling overjoyed. I had my 25 year old brain and 25 years worth of experience to give me company while I still was just 5 years of age! And I could do things all over again…I knew all of the true faces of friends turned foes, of the ones who stood by me and I could relive innocence. I did not know if this was 'science fiction turned real' but this was the best thing that happened to me.
(Image Source: Here)
I got up from my bed and peeped into the kitchen. I could see my grandmother sitting at a corner. In my mind, I was making a 'to do list' and spending more time with her was definitely on the top. I had seen her die and I knew the feeling about how it was when she was no more around. This time I am going to make sure that I end up spending a lot of time with her. I promised myself that I will not end up fighting with her just because she told me the same stories of her childhood again and again. After all, I knew that those moments were the most precious ones for me.
I turned my head to see my mother…a beautiful young lady who was busy managing everything on her own. I told myself that this time I will make sure that she pursues her own dreams and if that made me drink milk at one go, I would do that. I would also not hold her back for unnecessary things, cry over her absence just to make sure that she can very well pursue her hobby of interior designing.
The broken window pane at the corner of the kitchen reminded me how naughty I was. It was broken during one of my fights with the neigbourhood ruffian, more of the miniature ruffian of our group. Time and again, I had missed them. I had made wonderful friends all across the globe during different phases of my adult life. But these were the friends that I missed the most…my first friends…my childhood buddies. 20 years from now, they would live in different corners of the world and only add rough and dry 'likes' on each other's Facebook display pictures. This time I will make sure that I spend more time with them.
While I was thinking whether my 25 year old brain would permit me to be a 5 year old again in circa 1992, I saw 'Bhudo' my best friend making a face while he was going to school riding pillion on his father's Bajaj scooter. I returned the gesture and then started thinking why did I forget to be in touch with Bhudo after they changed houses and moved to a different locality. After all, he was my secret box. I had to do this one thing differently this time.
I could have stood there and thought about how things could be done differently this time, when I heard my mother screaming at – "So you want to be late again for school? your class teacher will scold you and me, both. When will you learn discipline, shona? Come here, let me tie your hair..and yes! please bring your uniform. You do not have time to take a bath today. You bus will come any moment."
I chuckled when I thought about how I hated taking bath as a kid. Actually, I just hated those rushed and hurriedly taken early morning showers before going to school. I loved the ones where I could play abundantly with water when I came back from school or the Sunday ones. Those ones should not be missed, I made a mental note. And this time, I would repeat my earlier experience, that of getting up late so that an early morning shower could be avoided.
"Do not stand there, come I have your breakfast ready" my mother was now running against time to get me ready for school. I ran towards the dining table to find my favourite breakfast meal of "luchi aloor torkari" (Puri sabzi) being served by my mother. I had lived alone from the age of 17 and everytime I had to make my own breakfast consisting of boring bread toast and boiled eggs, I remembered everytime I used to make a scene when my mother served me freshly cooked 'luchi'. This time, I decided, that I will do no wrong.
My mother probably noticed a hint of tear on my face when she asked me- "What happened shona? Ki holo? ok! jus have one…I have packed your favourite lunch of egg sandwich….please eat, ok?"
My mother would probably never be able to guess why the 25 year old in me was crying. But she had no time to spare as my school bus had arrived and the honking horns made sure that both me and my parents ran the Olympic run. I climbed the stairs of the bus and smilingly said "Tata" to them. In my mind, I was super excited about reliving the golden years of my life- "my school life". I was excited to meet the little bully who would always tie my pigtails together and then laugh, my 'school' best friend who shared her lunch with me, the first boy whom I was always envious about….everyone. I was happy, probably the happiest. At that moment, I looked back and saw our house. I made two promises to myself. This house was smaller and did not have many modern amenities. My father would have rebuilt it a few years later. But somehow, I always ended up attaching the best part of my childhood with this house. I decided that I will convince him to let it be the way it was. Probably change a few things here and there, but not the entire house.
Also, that I will study hard and be in the top three of my class so that my parents can attend the prize distribution ceremony. It would not matter some 20 years later, but the happiness on their faces would really mean the world to me. Winning a prize at my Class 1 prize distribution ceremony would be a small memory later, but the photographs will always end up making happy memories.
I was sitting by the side of my bus window when I looked at the city..the city where I no longer lived, but the city which will always be 'home' for me. I could see people talking, people smiling at each other and none looking at their mobile phones. At that moment, I promised to see more of the city when I have time, be a part of everything that she stands for..after all, I had once desperately tried to leave her, but only realised her value in my life after she was gone.
I was probably feeling a bit sleepy and dozed off, just like old times…I knew my Bus uncle would wake me up and drop me till the school gate.
"Helllo!!!! wake uppppppp!!!! you are late for work!!"
And then I woke up again. It was my mother's voice, but this time it was the phone alarm. I never quite managed to wake up all by myself and none of the alarm clocks worked for me. So I had devised this plan of recording my mother's voice as the phone alarm and evidently, that worked wonders. I woke up groggy eyed. It was still 2014, we had mobile phones and I was still 25. It was 6'o clock in the morning. I had to make my own breakfast, call up my parents living in another city and get dressed and leave for work. I smiled at myself and thought about the 'if only' question.
Later that day I told my mother about this really weird dream I had and since mothers always engulf you with the most endearing thoughts, she told me- "Great! you will get to relive your childhood again, after all 'early morning' dreams always come true".
She smiled and I hoped that it happened that way. Soon.


text:
Adult Female
Name: unnamed
Species: Tevera Enox
Birthday: Friday, March 17, 2023
Owner: Junee
Mother: unnamed
Father: unnamed
So bizarre as to be almost a figment of imagination, tevera enoxes are strange creatures. A blend of horse, dragon, and bird, their presence in dreams is said to foretell either good fortune or doom. Many superstitions surround these creatures, and common folk believe that if one sees an enox, they will either prosper that year, or some dreadful even will take place. While these notions are considered foolish to magi, it does seem that a human's fortunes changes depending on how well they treat their enox companion. Unlike the other enoxes, tevera enoxes are not seen as either good or bad, and are not particularly feared by villagers. They are free to come and go as they please, and are often presented with an apple or carrot by children. Though friendly enough, their red spikes and sharp teeth give them the advantage in battles, making them as dangerous as their riders. They will kick and bite any enemy that comes within reach, protecting their magi throughout. There are not many wars these days though, and enoxes are free to do as they will. They roam about during both the day and night, often venturing in the Silva Forest in search of prey, though there are oats aplenty at the castle. They are difficult to train, more willing to graze than be taught. The work is well worth it, though, for they make powerful steeds due to their ability to carry a rider in flight, and can travel for long hours before they tire.
Tevera enoxes are not the most common of enoxes, as they are a result of a mating between a niveus and noctix enox. It is said that these light and dark enoxes can hardly stand each other, and it is indeed a strange sight to see two standing companionably together. Usually these equines remain in different fields, and when they do cross paths, the foul tempered noctis will attempt to bite. So it is that these tevera enoxes are not born very often, and thus are considered to be very rare. These beautiful horses have gray coloring, with sharp red spikes from one parent and a gentle nature from the other. Tevera enoxes are hardly ever seen in the wild, and their eggs have never been easily found. Wild enoxes are to be avoided if spotted, and it is known to be extremely difficult to steal an egg from them. Unlike most horses, they do not travel in herds, and are very territorial, guarding their land with vengeance. In The Keep, these creatures grow restless if not given free reign, and often leave for weeks to frequent the Silva forest. Like their darker companions, they make powerful steeds, and magi often ride them on their travels, for the common folk do not fear them as much as they do the noctix enoxes.
Sprite art: GlassWalker | Description: Damien


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Editor's Note: Melinda Gates is co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Story highlights
Melinda Gates: Women throughout the world deserve access to birth control
She says women in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia often lack sufficient access
Women who have contraception can plan their lives and make intelligent choices, she says
Gates: A new initiative aims to provide birth control to 120 million additional women, girls
The vast majority of women in the United States use birth control. Some of us may even consider it a minor annoyance. Sometimes we forget to take our pills. The side effects can be painful. But we put up with it because it's so important to have the power to determine our future.
I didn't fully appreciate how much contraceptives changed my life because I never lacked access to them.
That is, I didn't fully appreciate them until I got involved in global health and learned that hundreds of millions of women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia don't have access to contraceptives. The lack of birth control is more than a minor annoyance. It can be a significant barrier to a better life. When I learned what many women in poor countries faced, I asked myself: What would my life have been like if I hadn't been able to use birth control?
This week at the London Summit on Family Planning, a partnership of national governments from developing and developed countries, foundations, the private sector and NGOs is launching a groundbreaking effort to make sure no woman has to ask herself that question. Our goal is to make modern contraceptives and family planning information and services available to an additional 120 million women and girls in the world's poorest countries over the next eight years.
I'm passionate about family planning because when I travel and talk to women in developing countries, what's universally clear is that they demand access to contraceptives. They want the power to determine their future. They know that when they can decide when they have children, they are healthier, their children are healthier, their families are more successful and their communities are more prosperous.
Tragically, there are too many places where this virtuous cycle of social and economic development isn't happening. Nearly 13 million adolescent girls give birth each year in developing countries, typically before they are physically, emotionally or economically prepared. And when girls delay childbearing until their 20s, they are more likely to stay in school. Women who have been educated are likely to marry later, have healthier families and be able to invest in their children's education.
Simply giving women the means to space the births of their children three years apart would decrease deaths of children 4 and younger by 25%.
Already, there are a number of efforts underway that promise to give more women access to the lifesaving contraceptives they demand. In Senegal, we are investing in a pilot project to ensure that health clinics are always stocked with the full range of modern contraceptives, including implants, injectables and IUDs that put the power in the hands of women. Imagine what it would be like to travel for hours to a clinic for contraceptives, only to find that they are out of stock.
I am excited to see that developing countries such as Senegal are investing in innovative programs to ensure that women will always have options when they go to the clinic.
There is also important research underway on new health products that offer women even more options. I am enthusiastic about a new injectable device that women can administer themselves, so they don't have to travel to the clinic. In the United States, we administer our own birth control. It's hard to picture what it would be like if we had to see our doctor constantly to plan our families effectively. This new device will empower women in countries where the pill isn't popular to plan for themselves.
Last year, I met with a group of women in Nairobi's Korogocho slum who talked openly about their family life and why they use birth control. After two hours, a woman named Mary Ann summed up the conversation with something I will never forget. She said: "I want to bring every good thing to one child before I have another."
That single phrase captures the reason I am so deeply committed to family planning and why I am so enthusiastic about the London Summit. Bringing every good thing to our children starts with women everywhere being empowered to plan their family. On July 11, I hope you can tune in to witness the unprecedented commitments of all our partners and pledge your support for every woman and girl to have the opportunity to determine her own future.
Melinda Gates responds to contraception program controversy
Overheard: Contraceptives and Catholicism
Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter
Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Melinda Gates.


text:
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Syria's first man in space has fled to Turkey and joined opposition forces fighting President Bashar Assad's regime, the latest in a string of high-ranking defections from the conflict-stricken country, Turkey's state-run news agency reported Sunday.
Mohammad Ahmad Faris, 61, crossed into Turkey after reaching the headquarters of the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo, meeting with rebel commanders there and declaring his solidarity with the umbrella group of rebel fighters, the Anadolu agency reported.
"We are with you with our lives and blood," Anadolu quoted Faris as telling members of the Free Syrian Army.
The agency said Faris crossed into Turkey on Sunday, but Mahmut Osman, an Istanbul-based member of the Syrian opposition group — the Syrian National Council — said he had arrived in Turkey on Saturday and would hold a news conference in Istanbul in the coming days. He would not disclose Faris' current whereabouts.
Anadolu reported that it was Faris' fourth attempt to defect, after three previous efforts had failed. It gave no details on his escape and provided no source for the report.
Faris joins a string of high-profile figures, including senior army officers, who have abandoned Assad's regime since the uprising began in March 2011. Last month, Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass, an Assad confidant and longtime friend, became the first member of his inner circle to defect in a move hailed as a triumph by the opposition. In July, a member of Syria's parliament also fled denouncing the violence by Assad's regime.
Faris, an air force pilot, was part of the three-man crew of a Soviet space mission in 1987 and Syria's first man in space, Anadolu reported.
Aleppo, Syria's largest city, is close to the Turkish border and is where the rebels have their rear bases. Armed government troops have been steadily shelling rebel-controlled parts of the city.
Turkey has some 45,000 refugees in camps along the 911-kilometer (566-mile) border and is also a staging ground for the Free Syrian Army rebels.


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The Church of England has put of a web site to explain their opposition to assisted suicide. Here's a pit of the intro:
Protecting Life – opposing Assisted Suicide
Produced by Mission and Public Affairs, in association with the Communications Office
The Church of England is opposed to any change in the law, or medical practice, to make assisted suicide permissible or acceptable.
Suffering, the Church maintains, must be met with compassion, commitment to high-quality services and effective medication; meeting it by assisted suicide is merely removing it in the crudest way possible.
In its March 2009 paper Assisted Dying/Suicide and Voluntary Euthanasia, the Church acknowledges the complexity of the issues: the compassion that motivates those who seek change equally motivates the Church's opposition to change.
Principles behind this position
- Personal autonomy and the protection of life are both important principles that are often complementary but sometimes compete.
- Personal autonomy must be principled and not without regard to others.
- Protection of life should take priority when there is a conflict between the two.
- When protection of life is impossible that does not undermine these principles.
- Every human being is uniquely and equally valuable, hence human rights are built on the foundation of the 'right to life', as is much of the criminal code.
- An obligation on society, doctors and nurses, to take life or to assist in the taking of life would create a new and unwelcome role for society.


text:
Celebrating Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: 200 Years of Jane Austen's Masterpiece, By Susannah Fullerton, published by Voyageur Press, USA 2013 (Published in the UK as Happily Ever After: Celebrating Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice) Available in January, 2013
200 Years of Pride and Prejudice: The Beginning
I was asked by Frances Lincoln, the UK publishing firm who published A Dance with Jane Austen (read review here), if I would write a book about 200 years of Pride and Prejudice. I had barely finished Dance and knew it would be difficult to meet the tight deadline, but how could I resist? What better way to celebrate 200 years of that wonderful novel than to write a book about what it has meant to me and to so many people and about the extraordinary afterlife it has enjoyed. And so I set to work and I can honestly say that no book has given me such joy to write. For months I was deeply immersed in the world of the Bennets, Mr Collins, Lady Catherine and Mr Darcy. I have always adored the novel, but as I wrote my own book about it, I came to appreciate it even more, to be more fully aware of its intricacies, skill and its amazing power to charm and enchant again and again and again.
My book looks at many aspects of the novel. We all know that it was originally turned down, but for how long did it languish before its author again tried to get it into print? It was not a best-selling book, but from the beginning it had its admirers – who were they, and what did they say about it? I loved writing a chapter about the first sentence. Would I find enough to say, I wondered, as I sat down to write – a whole chapter about a few lines?? Could it be done? In the end, the problem was having almost too much to say, and I hope that chapter will make my readers see clearly just why that first sentence has achieved such fame.
I then turned to the characters. Every reader loves Elizabeth Bennet (I think there must be something wrong with anyone who does not fall in love with Elizabeth!), but why do we love her so, and in what ways is she so radically different from every heroine who had come before? How does her creator skilfully introduce her to us, show her growing and learning as the novel progresses, and endear her to us so greatly? And what of Mr Darcy, that archetypal romantic hero, progenitor of so many tall, dark and handsome men in romantic novels? I loved writing chapters on heroine and hero. I also explore their families and relatives – the Bennets and Mr Collins on her side, Lady Catherine, Anne, Georgiana and Colonel Fitzwilliam on his. How is each character revealed to us and what have 200 years done for them in the way of sequels and further careers?
Pride and Prejudice Translations
In the same year that Pride and Prejudice was published, the first translation appeared. It was published in a Swiss journal, written in French. Jane Austen never knew about it and received no money for it, which is probably a good thing – her own characters would have been almost unrecognisable to her in that Swiss 'bastardisation'. Generally Pride and Prejudice fared badly for many decades in European translations, but things slowly improved and the non English-speaking world is now catching up on the delights of reading Jane Austen.
They say you should not judge a book by its cover, but many people still do, and Pride and Prejudice has had an extraordinary range of covers over 200 years. From the first edition, to the modern Chick-Lit covers, and much in between, it has been 'packaged' in a myriad of different ways. And as for illustrations, they range from the positively ugly (where Elizabeth isn't handsome enough to tempt anyone at all!) to the gorgeously decorative. My book includes many of these illustrations from the familiar Hugh Thomson ones, to some that will be very new indeed to my readers.
Film Adaptations of Pride and Prejudice
We all know about the Greer Garson film version, the lovely Elizabeth Garvie TV series and the hugely popular Colin Firth BBC series, but did you also know about the Dutch TV version, the Italian one with a Mrs Bennet rather like Lucrezia Borgia, the Israeli version (modernised), and several old BBC adaptations? My chapter on the various films will tell you about those, plus modernisations such as Lost in Austen and Bride and Prejudice. And there's a chapter on sequels. I knew there were lots of them out there, but until I began my research for this chapter I had no idea quite how many, or to what lengths some of them go. There are sequels, prequels, continuations which mix characters from all the Austen novels, modern re-tellings, zombie-infiltrated versions, and even pornographic sequels. You will be amazed at the afterlife of Darcy and Elizabeth in the minds of some sequel writers!!
Today Pride and Prejudice is big business. There is the tourism it has engendered – theme tours, sightseeing in houses where films were made, swimming in a certain lake, and travel to Jane Austen museums and centres. And there is marketing – you won't believe what items Pride and Prejudice has inspired, from soaps to clothes pegs, skateboards to romper suits. Pride and Prejudice sells things, and manufacturers have given full vent to the fancy in creating literary merchandise from the novel.
And, finally, what of Pride and Prejudice in the future? In this age of kindles and Ipads, audio versions and information on the internet, what will the future of this adored novel be? I had to speculate of course, but see if you agree with me?
Celebrating Pride and Prejudice: 200 Years of Jane Austen's Masterpiece is, if I say so myself, a very beautiful book. The illustrations are just gorgeous and were chosen with great care, and the book is a pleasure to hold. I hope you will also love its content! I am thrilled that it has also been published by Voyageur Press, an American publisher and that I have been invited to do a lecturing tour in the USA next year to talk about it. I wrote this book for every person who has fallen in love with Pride and Prejudice , who has read and re-read it, discussed all the film versions, and who feels that Elizabeth and Darcy are a part of their lives. I do hope you will want to read it and will join me in celebrating the fact that Pride and Prejudice has lived 'happily ever after' for 200 years!
Susannah Fullerton
President, Jane Austen Society of Australia
Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Voyageur Press (January 1, 2013)
Language: English


text:
Noos corruption case
The magistrate said there was evidence the princess was aware that her husband had used her name and status in his dealings, which could lead the princess to be classified as an accomplice.
Iñaki Urdangarin and Princess Cristina. Photo: EFE
In another blow to Spain's royal family, a court named Princess Cristina, the king's daughter, as a suspect Wednesday in a corruption case involving her husband.
The Palma de Mallorca court announced that the 47-year-old princess will be called in for questioning on April 27. She has not been charged with any offense and faces no restrictions on her freedom. Her husband, Inaki Urdangarin, a lead suspect in the investigation, has also not been charged with any crime.
The court summons is a first for a member of the king's immediate family. The Royal Palace expressed surprise at the judge's decision and would not comment about what the princess' defense will be.
The announcement comes after a year of health and image problems for 75-year-old King Juan Carlos, once one of Spain's most popular figures, widely admired for his role in helping steer Spain to democracy in the 1970s after decades of dictatorship.
But the Mallorca corruption case and other issues have eaten away at Spaniards' admiration for their royal family, especially as a crippling economic crisis has widened the gap between rich and poor.
"This is the toughest blow the royal family has received within the last few years, or ever since I can remember," Jan Martinez Ahrens, deputy editor of El Pais, the country's leading newspaper, told The Associated Press.
Investigating authorities allege that Urdangarin and his former business partner Diego Torres funneled about 5 million euros ($6.4 million) in public funds to companies they controlled. The two ran a nonprofit organization called the Noos Institute, through which the funds were channeled and of which the princess was a board member.
In a court document Wednesday, investigating magistrate Judge Jose Castro said the princess was a board member on two of her husband's companies. The magistrate added there was evidence the princess was aware that her husband had used her name and status in his dealings, from which both had benefited. Castro said such evidence could lead the princess to be classified as an accomplice.
Urdangarin, 45, has already been questioned twice by Castro since the probe began two years ago.
The magistrate said for the investigation to be completed and to show that justice treats all equally, the princess must be questioned.
Speculation that the princess could be involved began when Torres reportedly began turning over to the judge copies of emails he had exchanged with Urdangarin.
Public contracting
The judge recently set joint bail of 8.2 million euros ($10.5 million) for Urdangarin and Torres and said the two "ignored the rules of public contracting as long as they achieved their aim, which was no other than to divert public funds for their own benefit or that of others."
He said the two decided to make as much as possible out of Urdangarin's relationship with the Royal Palace in their dealings with public and private entities.
The bail was not paid and the court has now begun a process to freeze their property and other assets.
Urdangarin is a former professional and Olympic handball medalist. The deals he landed were for things such as organizing seminars or using sports as a tourism lure.
Urdangarin comes from a wealthy Basque family but is not nobility; he became Duke of Palma because Cristina is Duchess of Palma. The couple has four children. Cristina, whose full name Cristina Federica de Borbon y Grecia, is the youngest of the king's two daughters and the middle child of his three children. She is seventh in the line of succession.
The royal family last year sidelined Urdangarin from all official royal activities. It has also removed him from the family website.
Fortune turned
The king's fortunes first turned sour last year when it was revealed that he broke his hip while on an unannounced luxurious African safari to hunt elephants at a time when ordinary Spaniards were suffering under government austerity measures.
He has also had several other health problems and in recent months has looked decidedly frail. In March, the king was operated on for a herniated disc in his lower spine. The operation was the head of state's fourth in 12 months.
When Dutch Queen Beatrix, also 75, announced in January that she would abdicate and pass the crown to her eldest son, some said the same should happen in Spain. The palace, however, has said Juan Carlos has no plans to fast track the succession of Prince Felipe, his youngest children.
There is no major movement in Spain to eliminate the monarchy and restore a republican form of government. So far, only the leader of the regional Catalan Socialist Party has called openly for Juan Carlos to abdicate and allow his son to take the throne.
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Koo Jeong A, Constellation Congress [Dia at the Hispanic Society]
November 5, 2010–June 26, 2011, Dia at the Hispanic Society
Koo Jeong A's exhibition for Dia will unfold at three locations: the Hispanic Society of America, Dia:Beacon, and The Dan Flavin Art Institute. Commissioned by Dia, Koo Jeong A's installation for the Hispanic Society emerges out of a distinctive multidisciplinary approach to art making, revealing her interests in natural phenomena and the intricacies of perception and memory.
Koo Jeong A, Constellation Congress at the Dan Flavin Art Institute
Koo Jeong A
Koo Jeong A was born in Seoul in 1967. She lives and works in London.
Koo Jeong A: Constellation Congress
This publication investigates the past two decades of Koo Jeong A's artistic practice, with drawings by the artist.


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Few recent MMA scenes can churn a stomach like the sight of Jon Jones' mangled big toe following his win over Chael Sonnen in Saturday's UFC 159 headliner.
In our latest installment of "Ask the Fight Doc," MMAjunkie.com medical columnist Dr. Johnny Benjamin explains why the immediate care for Jones could have presented problems.
When it comes to "open fractures" like the one Jones suffer (warning: it's graphic), cleanliness is key.
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Doc – Did you see that Jon Jones' toe injury sustained during his fight with Chael Sonnen at UFC 159? Is that an injury that might alter his career a bit? – Steve M. from Austin, Texas
Did I!
The probable diagnosis was easy but the immediate treatment, which is crucial, leaves me scratching my head.
The Internet had multiple pictures of Jon Jones' left great toe open injury – a fracture, dislocation or both. Then I viewed a pic of Jones with the injury reduced (straightened) and closed with stitches wearing one of his sporty new signature Nikes on his uninjured foot. The caption from his twitter account read, "Got my big toe back intact :)."
As Jones walked around with his bone exposed on a filthy cage mat that had seen tens – possibly hundreds of – pairs of shoes spread bacteria all over it, I pray that happy face doesn't turn to a frown.
I think most sports fans heard some mention of a similar injury that occurred during the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. Kevin Ware, a player for the University of Louisville, jumped to block a shot, landed a bit awkwardly, and found a broken bone sticking though the skin of his lower leg. It was what we as orthopedic surgeons call an "open fracture" – open in the sense that his bone is exposed (open) to the outside and often-filthy world.
The injured Ware had excellent care at the scene and immediately had the wound covered to limit further exposure to outside contamination. He also had immobilization and rapid transport to the hospital. This type of open injury, whether it involves a bone in the leg or foot, requires proper immediate care at the scene and surgical intervention within eight hours to limit the chances of serious infection. Surgery usually consists of a thorough wash and inspection with removal of any foreign bodies (dirt, sand, clothing fibers, etc.) that may have been introduced into the open wound, strong antibiotics, and hardware to fix the bone injury (pins, plates, screws, rods, etc.).
Unfortunately, Jones was allowed to give a post-fight interview in the cage, and then he went to the dressing room, where someone closed the wound with stitches, possibly trapping dirt and bacteria inside, and fashioned a rudimentary splint. He then sat through some portion of the post-fight press conference to answer questions – all with the eight-hour clock ticking away.
I have a question: Where was the UFC orthopedic surgeon or medical director during the immediate on-scene triage, care and medical decision-making process of one of the promotion's and MMA's greatest stars?
Jones' future is relatively easy to predict: very, very bright if he does not get an infection, but not so much if he does.
But please, please, please don't start pointing fingers at New Jersey State Athletic Control Board officials. They did their job on Saturday night.
For complete coverage of UFC 159, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.
Dr. Johnny Benjamin is MMAjunkie.com's medical columnist and consultant and a noted combat-sports specialist. He is also a member of the Association of Boxing Commissions' MMA Medical Subcommittee. Dr. Benjamin writes an "Ask the Doc" column approximately every two weeks for MMAjunkie.com. To submit a question for a future column, email him at askthedoc [AT] mmajunkie.com, or share your questions and thoughts in the comments section below. You can find Dr. Benjamin online at www.drjohnnybenjamin.com, and you can read his other sports-related articles at blog.drjohnnybenjamin.com.


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Every season, we cover New York fashion week — the clothes, the money, the parties, the putative "trends." But we also cover the racial makeup of the casts of models high-profile brands select to walk in their fashion shows.
We do this because the fashion industry continues to have a vexed relationship with race. Some magazines and designers treat skin color as a kind of a fashion trend in itself. Anecdotal evidence and the accounts of numerous models of color suggest that overt racism shows itself in fashion in a way that it doesn't in other industries: because it is acceptable to hire or not hire a model based entirely on her physical appearance, it is also, apparently, acceptable to cancel a model because you "already have" an Asian in the show, or to tell a model, "We're not doing black girls this season."
This season, NYFW was more diverse than it has ever been since we began keeping this data, eight seasons ago. But only very slightly. The good news is that models of color finally topped 20% of the models booked for fashion week shows. In the 141 shows and presentations covered by Style.com this season, designers presented 4,561 individual outfits, or "looks." Of those 4,561 opportunities to use a model, 3,641 went to white models, and 920 — or 20.1% — went to models of color.
The largest single ethnic category, after whites, was Asians. Asian models were used for 402 looks, or 8.8% of the time. Black models were close behind, at 367 looks, or 8%. Non-white Latina models were used 110 times, or 2.4% of the time. Models of other races were used 41 times, or 0.9% of the time.
There were still certain shows that lacked diversity. Calvin Klein, as usual, showed its collection on 32 white models, and one black model. The Olsen twins' attempt at high fashion, The Row, had a 20-look collection — and not a single model of color. Reed Krakoff, the Coach creative director-turned-designer, showed his 30-look collection on an all-white cast. Doo.Ri had only one model of color. Lacoste had two, and no black models. Victoria Beckham had just two non-white models in her show. So did BCBG Max Azria, Derek Lam, and Diesel. What's interesting is that most of these are multinational brands that seem very interested in taking the money not only of minority Americans, but of women in countries like Brazil, India, and China. But it seems that to a lot of fashion brands, white skin is still "aspirational."
Of course, there were some designers who demonstrated that they do value racial diversity. Diane von Furstenberg, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Jason Wu, J. Crew, Suno, Mara Hoffman, Betsey Johnson, Tracy Reese, L'Wren Scott, L.A.M.B.: all of these shows had numerous models of color. So did, to his credit, Tommy Hilfiger, a designer whose shows have not always been terribly diverse. Also this season, Max Azria booked not one but two black models at one of his shows — Hervé Leger by Max Azria. And he had two Asian models in his cast, too; that's the first time he's used four whole entire non-white people to sell his clothing at any runway show since the Spring, 2000, season. Maybe Azria is the king of diversity, after all.
It's difficult to quantify a problem like high fashion's demonstrated preference for white skin. Race is a social construct, not a fact. And our "categories" — black, Asian, non-white Latina, and what we for lack of a better term call "other" — are not (and probably cannot be) perfect. We don't count white women from Latin America in our gerrymandered "Latina" category; though they are as Latina as their darker-complected countrywomen, on the international modeling circuit, the color of their skin is more important than the passports they bear or the cultural heritage they represent, and they have the privilege of competing with other white models for the much larger pool of jobs that are open to white models. So this count comes with some obvious caveats. And for those who are curious, all of our raw data is available at the bottom of this post.
We perform this census, the interns and I, because it's interesting to have a record of just how racially diverse fashion is becoming. People are always arguing that things are getting better, that fashion is on some long, meliorative journey towards post-racial harmony, or whatever. Some people argue that fashion is already there! (To which I have only these words: slave earrings.) In an industry where the criticism and the reporting alike are informed by a certain amount of anecdote and conjecture, it's good to have some hard numbers. (Sometimes you can even catch a major critic calling an 85% white fashion week a shining example of multiethnic celebration.)
So with these numbers, this fashion week represents a step, however small, in the right direction. That's more encouraging than last season. This is news that should be greeted positively, of course, but it bears pointing out that in one of the most diverse cities on the planet, and in an industry that has many people of color in leadership positions (in addition to being historically very tolerant of sexual minorities), a fashion week that is roughly four-fifths white is still only a modest indicator of progress. We have a long way to go before racial diversity starts being the norm in fashion, and not the exception.
Below, Jezebel's model-counting data.
And a special thanks to Madeleine Davies, Chelsea Hoffmann, Doug Barry, and Olivia Fleming for their assistance with this beast of a project.
Related: The Spring-Summer 2012 Report
The Fall-Winter 2011 Report
The Spring-Summer 2011 Report
The Fall-Winter 2010 Report
The Fall-Winter 2009 Report
The Fall-Winter 2008 Report


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Sunscreen for your Plants
Q: Every summer, when the heat finally comes, I start hearing about "xeriscaping." (Or is it "xeroscaping"?) What is this, science fiction?
A: It is said, perhaps apocryphally, that in the 1970s, somewhere near the mile-high city of Denver, conservationists coined the word xeriscaping blending landscape with the classical Greek root xer ("dry") to promote gardening techniques that use less water. It is often misspelled as "xeroscaping"(or even worse, "zeroscaping"), malapropisms that evoke depressing volcanic rock wastelands with solitary, straggly yucca plants stuck in the middle, of the kind often found near fast-food restaurants.
In any case, xeriscaping simply means creating a drought-tolerant landscape—a smart idea in a changing climate, especially one with such dry summers as ours. Done well, the technique creates stylish, colorful, sustainable gardens.
In western Oregon, drought occurs only in summer (for about three months, give or take), so plants that tolerate wet winters but survive without extra watering in summer are ideal for xeriscaping here. Look for plants adapted for the world's Mediterranean-type climates. Great choices include:
California lilac Blue, fluffy flowers on West Coast native shrubs
Madrone Evergreen Mediterranean trees or shrubs
California fescue West Coast grass with evergreen blue foliage and tan flowers
Agave Fashionable spiny and spiky succulents (pick hardy varieties)
Rosemary Evergreen culinary herb with blue, pink, or white flowers
California fuchsia Orange tubular blossoms, beloved by hummingbirds
Yucca Spiky, leathery rosettes of leaves
Drought-tolerant plants still need watering during their first few dry seasons. Pick plants this summer, plant this fall, and let winter rains help your xeriscape take root.


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The Inside Story of When China's State-Run TV Criticized the Party
CCTV's famous 1988 documentary, River Elegy, was a landmark -- and costly -- moment for Chinese media.
In 1988, a six-part documentary series, River Elegy (also translated as The River Dies Young), shown on China Central Television, delivered a poignant and pointed message about how agricultural-based and inward-looking China came to be defeated by maritime and ocean based civilizations. For China to succeed, the documentary elaborates, it had to replace its regressive civilization with a more open and adventurous ocean culture like that found in the West. Deemed as having fanned the democracy fever among young people and therefore fomenting the 1989 student movement, the director Xia Jun was forced into an involuntary career hiatus. Xia was eventually rehabilitated and returned to CCTV in 1996 as a producer at News Probe, where he worked for four years before moving on to take over Beijing TV's entertainment channel.
I sat down with Xia at the conference room of his company, Chinese Culture Group, which takes up a section of the fifteenth floor of the Jinyu Plaza Office Building in Beijing's Haidian District. Xia looks a little pale, with a soft and slightly round physique, like many desk-bound affluent Chinese men I met whose daily routine involves more banqueting than exercising.
Like many others, Xia graduated from the Beijing Broadcasting Institute, majoring in TV news. A humanities scholar in his heart, he stayed on to enter BBI's first graduate class, majoring in history of modern Chinese literature. He joined CCTV in 1986, becoming the network's first employee with a graduate degree.
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Upon arrival at CCTV, he participated in making Great Yellow River, a thirty-episode National Geographic-style documentary jointly produced by CCTV and NHK (the Japanese TV network) that celebrated the Yellow River as the origin of Chinese civilization. During the course of making the documentary, Xia was jolted by the naked poverty surrounding the crisis-ridden Yellow River. Xia grew frustrated with what he saw as the series' unmitigated celebration of the magnificence of the Yellow River as the cradle of Chinese civilization. Inspired by pioneering films such as Chen Kaige's Yellow Earth and cultural modernization movements, Xia gathered a group of like-minded young intellectuals from China's literary circle with the hopes of injecting serious cultural musing into CCTV programming. The result was the ground-shaking River Elegy, the first widely viewed Chinese documentary with hostile attitudes toward traditional Chinese culture and the legacy of the CCP. River Elegy became an overnight sensation, stirring heated debate among Chinese intellectuals, the party leadership, and the overseas Chinese community.
The River fever came to an abrupt halt as the 1989 student uprising implicated the reform-minded Zhao Ziyang, dragging down the entire reform camp. River was accused of instigating the student movement, and an intense media campaign was launched to discredit the series. CCTV broadcast a self-criticism meeting on the evening news, denouncing River as bourgeois propaganda.
With the documentary repudiated, its creators, many of them having openly endorsed the democratic movement, were purged, detained, or forced into exile. Xia was promptly stripped of major responsibilities at CCTV. Instead of leaving China like many of his collaborators, he underwent a self-imposed exile, spending the next five years roaming around China's poverty-ridden rural areas.
Reflecting upon his unexpected early fame and career at CCTV, Xia said simply, "It is fate. I had my five minutes of fame because I was at the right place at the right time. The moment passed, and that's that. It was during the optimum period when the society was allowed to open up, and media, which was influenced by the cultural fever at the time, was receptive to this type of programming. The freedom was there for the program to appear on Chinese television. It all ended after June fourth."
Xia continued, with a jaded smile on his face, "Obviously I was completely marginalized at CCTV after that, but luckily my skill and expertise were valued by other organizations so I became a floating independent producer. From 1990 to 1995, I spent five years wandering around China's rural areas, exploring topics of my own choice. I made a documentary about China's peasants in 1992 and then another six-part, two-hundred-minute one called East, which is an anatomy of ancient civilization in Asia. The documentary was never released."
Xia returned to CCTV in 1995, answering Yang Weiguang's call to help initiate the fledgling News Probe.
"Many things had changed during my five years in exile. I returned to a different CCTV, now housing celebrated shows such as Oriental Horizon and Focus. Reform and opening up had brought changes to CCTV. And I was a changed person as well. When I made River at twenty-six, I knew little about the real world. I did not have a real in-depth understanding of the many issues facing China. My years wandering around China's countryside transformed me. I experienced the real China and realized that there was a gap between my abstract notion of Chinese tradition and how the tradition is lived through real Chinese people."
He would work at CCTV for four years before leaving for Beijing TV.
"China is at a very awkward stage," said Xia. "I don't think intellectuals fully comprehend the level of China's dilemma. Urbanization and industrialization have unleashed a hard-to-tame desire for a more materialistically enriched life, resulting in vast disruption to life's natural balance and equilibrium."
It is interesting to see how Xia has moved from the position of a radical Occidentalist to someone with a self-professed understanding of the logic of China's agrarian-based civilization.
Xia left CCTV in 2000 to experiment with running a lifestyle channel leased from Beijing TV as a private contractor, an opportunity that gave him the freedom to run his own media entity. He emphasized that his freedom was worth the price of losing CCTV as a major platform. He reminded me that his former CCTV colleagues have little moral or professional control working for CCTV.
When I relayed this to Chen Xiaoqing, CCTV's director of documentary programs, there was a touch of sarcasm in his response: "I hope so, though probably not. I feel that the old Xia's spirit has actually been straitjacketed today. His trademark sharpness and precision are all gone now. He caters more than he had to before. You have to cater [to sponsors] if you want to do projects. There is no way out. The difference is that instead of serving the party-state, you're now at the mercy of money. Perhaps we all need to find places that are right for us as individuals."
Perhaps this was an overly harsh assessment of Xia's recent career move, but like Xia, Chen is not someone who minces words. Chen is a man in his mid 40s, a decade younger than most other middle managers at his level. In 1989, after completing his master's degree, Chen joined CCTV's Local 30 Minutes, a curated program that showcased local documentary productions or productions about local events. In 1991, he was sent to report on flood-control efforts in southern China. There he shot The Story of a Lonely Island on location. The film became China's official documentary entry at that year's Cannes TV Festival. Encouraged by the success, Chen started to toy with the idea of making an independent documentary about migrant workers from his hometown who worked as nannies in big cities.
The film, A Faraway Home in Beijing came out in 1993, bringing both fame and financial backing for Chen's work. His next project, The Dragon's Back, about rural school dropouts, came out in 1995 to more critical acclaim. Chen suffered bouts of depression while he was making Dragon. He was clinically depressed for a year and half, losing his sense of purpose and questioning why he would want to continue working for CCTV. He seemed to have come out the other side of depression with a firm grasp of the limitations and imperfections of contemporary Chinese media, and the implications of those conditions for his own life as a media professional. Resigned but not jaundiced, he is among the most thoughtful and clear-eyed people I talked to.
Though Chen hinted in our early correspondence that he'd rather not discuss his depression, by the time our appointment arrived, I could hardly fail to address the issue, since it had already become apparent from background research and in previous interviews that CCTV is full of serious-minded creators who regularly experience bouts of self-doubt, philosophical ambivalence, and in some cases, like Chen's and Cui Yongyuan's, clinical depression. Certain common themes, about ideals distorted or altogether thwarted by commercial and political pressure, were also emerging. I broached the subject with Chen with an open-ended question: "Are you happy where you are?"
"Doesn't matter. Work is work." He shrugged. "I'm the employee, so my loyalty lies with my employer." With a palpable disenchantment in his tone, he continued, "Prior to 1999, I thought I was part of the collective ownership of the network and worked hard to make the network better."
CCTV's accelerated commercialization since 1999 troubled Chen. "National TV should represent the nation, not the moneyed interests. Now it all depends on who can sell more products and cater to more viewers. You're rewarded based on the amount you sell and bring."
Are there many others who share these feelings about the state of Chinese television?
"Certainly," Chen said. "Mine are hardly radical. Many have written articles and spoken to journalists about this. I don't usually do that."
Perhaps the then incoming new president would protect quality programs from the ratings war?
"It all depends on whose criteria we are talking about, quality-wise," Chen said. "Quality according to the state machine, the general public, or the social ideals of intellectual circles?" he asked. "They are not equivalent."
Chen regards his documentary program as a kind of gateway toward high-culture television in China, the most nimble vehicle for ideas and information that would otherwise scrape against too many political and commercial barriers to make it to the air. In every other type of programming, he complained, the road is already laid out for you, especially the news. "No need for you to look for news, because news outside the boundaries does not exist. ... You say whatever you are told to say."
I asked if the program he produced was in sync with his ideas about programming and life in general. Chen answered for his generation rather than himself. "I think that our generation was brought up to love what we do and that what we do becomes part of who we are." This appeared to be partly a dig at the latest generation of post-Tiananmen, post-socialist Chinese, who are less inclined to selfless service in the collective interest of the broader society. It may also have been partly an expression of generational regret and a rationalization of personal professional resignation. Certainly, Chen was not the only person at CCTV who downplayed his foiled ambitions.
Excerpted from Ying Zhu's Two Billion Eyes: The Story of China Central Television (The New Press).
This article originally appeared at Asia Society, an Atlantic partner site.


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A team of graduate students from Concordia University have developed a new tool that rates the level of compliance between environmental impact and the urban planning goals of development projects, which will also help increase the potential for long-term sustainability.
In the new study, researchers used this tool to evaluate early proposals for the redevelopment of the Turcot highway interchange. They found that the proposal adopted in 2009 was inadequate for long-term sustainability.
Undiné-Celeste Thompson, lead author of the study said, "Government agencies often produce statements about their plans, policies, and programs to protect the environment and promote sustainable development. So we began by examining such statements to create a list of environmental goals that were relevant to the Turcot redevelopment."
The study's authors believe their method of analysis can help prevent the adoption of inadequate proposals in the first place, and that their method should also be applied to the revised Turcot plan to identify further room for improvement. Ultimately, the new analysis method could be used for a wide range of projects and help future construction in Montreal begin to set new sustainability standards.
"This is a powerful tool for comparative analysis, because it is straightforward enough that both experts and members of the general public can use it," said Thompson. "It will be particularly useful to non-governmental entities that wish to lobby against a particular project or propose alternative solutions."
This free webinar will inform attendees on the most significant updates and modifications in the new standard, known as E1527-21 Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process.


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Iraq war: a baffling defense of Bush policy from a former Pentagon insider
In an interview about the Iraq war, former Pentagon official Douglas Feith suggests Washington was fooled by Saddam Hussein's bluff about weapons he wanted foes to believe he had.
| Washington
In April 2003, I was embedded with the US Army's 7th Cavalry in the western suburbs of Baghdad, sleeping on top of a Humvee. Seven years later I still wonder why we were there. So, I suspect, do many Americans.
What responsibility – what options – do generals have when they believe civilian leaders, the president, the vice president, and the secretary of Defense, are bent on a "wrongheaded" war?
I recently put that question to former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, who served from 2001 to 2005 and was a major architect of the war in Iraq.
"If it's a debate over what's the smart and right thing to do," he said, "the president is the elected representative of the American people. Somebody has to make policy for the country, and the country decides by democratic means [that] it's going to be the president."
His implication seemed clear. Americans elected George W. Bush, and the public must live with the consequences of its former president's decision. As I write this, the Associated Press is reporting that Iraqi gunman dressed as US and Iraqi Army soldiers raided Sunni Arab homes south of Baghdad and executed 24 people, including five women, then brutalized the bodies beyond recognition.
The catalog of what has gone wrong during the US occupation is thicker than the Manhattan phone book.
Despite some encouraging signs, such as parliamentary political jockeying as Baghdad lurches toward civilian government, Mr. Feith was only modestly hopeful about Iraq's progress.
"All the things which have been gigantic problems in recent years remain," he said. "The fact that the political system is evolving is good and hopeful. But it's not inevitable. You can still have a breakdown and a lot of violence." A friend with the US Agency for International Development privately told me that when the Americans leave Iraq there will be an "enormous score-settling between majority Shiites and minority Sunnis."
Opponents of the war have vilified Feith, although he sees himself as "a man more sinned against than sinning." His book "War and Decision" seems the definitive Bush administration defense of the war to date.
In our interview, Feith portrayed a Bush administration at war with itself, with Secretary of State Colin Powell and the Central Intelligence Agency undercutting the Pentagon's civilian leadership and President Bush's policy. Unanswered is why Bush tolerated this.
Other recent books about Iraq, such as "The Fourth Star," by Greg Jaffe and David Cloud, suggest even greater internal disarray and conflicting goals. The authors say that "President Bush wanted to transform Iraq into a model democracy for the Middle East." Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, meanwhile, wanted to get out of Iraq as soon as possible. And the generals wanted to turn the war over to a future Iraqi Army just as quickly.
The original casus belli, Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction, has become the stuff of revisionist history. Feith blames the error largely on bad intelligence from the CIA, which allegedly led the president to believe that Mr. Hussein had stockpiled chemical and biological weapons and that he had a nuclear weapons program.
Feith suggests Washington was fooled because of Hussein's bluff about weapons he no longer had. The Iraqi leader feared more uprisings by Kurds and Shiites, and Feith now speculates that Hussein deliberately wanted potential insurrectionists in his own country to believe he had WMDs to use if they revolted again.
My own difficulty with that explanation is that it leaves the impression that Bush blundered into an unnecessary war because of a bluff.
Perhaps most curious is Feith's contention that the Bush administration never did anything to promote the idea that Hussein or Iraq was linked to the 9/11 terrorism in order to manipulate public opinion. "I don't believe anybody ever said Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11," he said.
"Why then polls showing more than 60 percent of the American public believed Iraq was implicated?" I asked. "Who led us down that road?"
"I know I never believed it," Feith said.
Former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke has accused Mr. Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, of taking advantage of the 9/11 tragedy to promote their agenda of deposing Hussein.
What emerges today is an unflattering picture of Bush's war presidency. He got WMDs wrong. He ran an embarrassingly "weak shop," ignoring destructive bureaucratic infighting in Washington. Most astonishing, Bush's critical judgments were so badly flawed he allowed himself to be persuaded that leaving a petty Arab tyrant like Hus sein in power actually threatened the mighty United States of America, which defeated Nazi Germany and Japan and won the cold war against the Soviet Union.
It is simply mind-boggling.
Walter Rodgers, a former senior international correspondent for CNN, writes a biweekly column.


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Posts Tagged Aoharu x Kikanjuu
Summer 2015 – Season Preview
Posted by avvesione in 2015 Summer, Anime, Season Reviews on July 4, 2015
For anime characters, summer means vacation, sun, the beach, bikinis, shaved ice, matsuri, fireworks, catching bugs, and doing all your homework on the last day before it's due. For me, summer means another season of anime, and it's time for me to preview all the new and exciting anime that will air over the next three months. What anime am I looking forward to the most this summer? Let's check out this Summer 2015 anime season together!! (except not because I already reviewed and wrote everything by now. Sorry!)


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The North Star Project, 2013 Summer Report Number Thirty-Seven — Northern Ireland, Goodbye
By Megan Hennen
My eight weeks in Derry had seemed to have come and gone in the blink of an eye and before I knew it, we were all packing up our belongings once again for our week long field study in Dublin before heading back to the University's Coleraine campus. It was a very bittersweet last week because although I was beyond excited to head down to Dublin as well as having the whole group reunited once again, it was extremely difficult to say goodbye to a city that I had become so familiar with and made so many memories in. People had actually started asking me for directions to places around the town and I was able to tell them how to get there with confidence despite the look of doubt they had on their faces once they heard my American accent. And to this day I still miss this place more and more, everything from the people with their stories and their Derry accents to something as simple as walking down Strand Road into the city center or taking a 'wee dander up the walls'.
Though the goodbyes were difficult and that I could've spent months in Derry, it was time to see and learn more and try to get a better grasp on the conflict and the peace process from the perspective of those down South. So with that we were off to the Republic of Ireland to act as both tourists and students, we would hit all of the main tourist attractions as well as take advantage of the opportunities that come with being a HECUA student and that was something to look forward to.
The North Star Project: Collaboration between The Middle Ground Journal Student Interns, The College of St. Scholastica, and North Star Academy 8th Grade Global Studies Classes, 2013-2014 School Year Summer Reports.
Under the leadership of our North Star host teachers and student interns, The North Star Project has flourished for two years. For a brief summary, please see a recent article in the American Historical Association's Perspectives on History, at:
This summer we will re-tool and re-design the collaborative program, drawing on the experience of our veteran student interns, ideas from our host teachers, and new projects provided by our incoming student interns. This summer The Middle Ground Journal will share brief dispatches from our North Star Project student interns, particularly from those who are currently stationed, or will soon be stationed abroad. As of the time of this report we have confirmed student interns who will be reporting from Mongolia, Southern China, Shanghai, northeastern China, The Netherlands, Tanzania, Ireland, England, Finland, Russia, and Haiti. We also have students developing presentations on theatrical representations of historical trauma, historical memory, the price individuals pay during tragic global conflicts, and different perceptions of current events from around the world. We will post their brief dispatches here throughout the summer, and report on their interactions with the North Star students and teachers throughout the school year.
Hong-Ming Liang, Chief Editor, The Middle Ground Journal, The College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, MN, USA, June, 2013
(c) 2013 The Middle Ground Journal, Number 6, Spring, 2013. See Submission Guidelines page for the journal's not-for-profit educational open-access policy.


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Dakster Sullivan is gearing up for the release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 3D release. On Saturday she will be serving the Empire at City Walk Orlando AMC theaters. If you're in the area, stop by and say hi.
Marziah is getting her fourth grader ready for her first science fair entry, and it's not a volcano.
Nicole Wakelin is going to see Star Wars in 3D this weekend. She's still a wee bit leery about the whole thing, but Star Wars on the big screen is just too good to pass up.
Amy is descending into the madness that is the New York Toy Fair. She'll be on the lookout for what's new and awesome, and will try to contain her constant outrage about the narrow gendering of toys, at least until she can channel her rage into a blog post or two.
Judy Berna had a crazy week. After having the time of their lives, seeing the Winter X Games in person last weekend, her family finally moved out of the tiny temporary condo, and are now calling a much larger house 'home'. Two days after the big move, three feet of snow blanketed their new yard. Their local resort got 57 inches of new powder, just in time for the town's 1st Annual Evergreen Winter Festival (where her 11 year old bravely competed in the Rail Jam). Colorado living is everything they'd hoped it would be!
Kelly is attending her first ever book club meeting this weekend. She hopes she sounds intelligent and that the others won't notice she's only read half the book. Doh!
Laura has discovered annoying the man she loves is simple. Just take him to a 12 week class on quantum physics. She's also writing about Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule as it applies to kids and offering seven cures for cabin fever.
Kris Bordessa got lost down a rabbit hole and discovered that there is a way to identify foods that have been irradiated. And then a guava tree fell on her chicken pen and there were chainsaw sounds. Happily, the chickens survived and the new and improved chicken pen has been fast tracked.
Brigid will be vending at her first SciFi event in Irving, Texas (just outside Dallas) this weekend. If you are in the area be sure and stop by and see her! She's in booth 100.
Cathe is balancing geek and mom this week. She is helping to organize new Pokémon leagues and tournaments and to find first grade science projects and math problems to keep her six-year-old busy.
Kristen Rutherford and Melissa Wiley have taken their n00bfound passion for Pinterest to a new place: the GeekMom Pinterest page! Come join us and help us PIN ALL THE THINGS!
Corrina is recovering from jet lag from a whirlwind trip from the East Coast to Los Angeles as part of a press event for the upcoming The Loraxmovie. She discovered on this event that, yes, Betty White is just as awesome in person. More to come in articles in upcoming weeks. But the movie looks terrific!


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The mainstream media has had difficulty understanding the eruption of strikes in the fast food industry. They have acted as if they have come out of nowhere and for no apparent reason. Neither is true.
The strikes in the fast food industry are the result of intolerable wages and working conditions faced by a workforce that has become increasingly dependent on this sector of the economy in order to survive. Today's fast food industry is a bit different from days of old. The jobs in fast food are no longer being held exclusively by teenagers and the '20-plus' who are in school looking for some extra money. As the economy has reorganized and older workers have been thrown out of full-time employment, the fast food industry has become a location one step away from unemployment and homelessness for many workers of various ages.
The strikes, which were initiated by organizing conducted by a project of the Service Employees International Union, have become a front-line in the battle against the polarization of wealth in the U.S. Specifically, these are fights over the immediate necessity to raise the minimum wage. Fast food workers are generally kept at substandard wages and have to piece together various part-time jobs (much like workers in retail). They have few, if any, benefits and do not know from one day to the next whether they actually have a job that will last for any significant duration.
The fast food strikes have come to resemble the movement for the eight-hour day from the 19th century. In that case, workers undertook strikes, demonstrations and other forms of protest (including the strikes that led to the creation of May Day as 'International Workers Day') in order to demand that there be a shorter workweek with no cut in pay. Today's fast food workers are making an analogous demand: they want a livable wage.
Fast food workers are fighting the good fight not only for themselves but also for other vulnerable workers. They know that their conditions will not improve by bargaining a contract one fast food outlet at a time, but that instead there needs to be a governmental raise in the minimum wage and, frankly, there need to be industry standards to which all fast food (and retail) outlets are held. This will happen if and only if there is a continuous outpouring of public support, much of which has already occurred.
Thus, these actions are being conducted by some very courageous workers of all ages who have decided that they have had enough. They need to know that you are backing them up.
(Bill Fletcher, Jr. is the chairman of the Retail Justice Alliance, which supports workers in the retail industry fighting for fairness. He is also a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum and the author of They're Bankrupting Us — And Twenty Other Myths about Unions. He can be followed on Facebook and .)


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The prescription medications you have requested were lawfully prescribed by a qualified and licensed physician. You have attended, have had a physical examination, and have received a prescription from a duly licensed practitioner within the last year, and do not require an additional physical examination. You have not altered your prescription in any way. The duty of care with respect to the prescribing of your medications is and shall remain the responsibility of your physician. You will consult with your physician for any appropriate monitoring and testing. You will use your medication only as directed by your physician and will remain under the care of your physician while taking your medication. Except as specifically authorized by law (and further clarified herein), you are not purchasing medications for anyone else, and you will be the only person using the medications prescribed for you. In the event that you are unable to personally place your order with CheapoMeds due to age or infirmity, you can authorize someone else to place your order and assist you in acquiring your medications, so long as they have power of attorney over your affairs, and provide a copy of their legal authorization to act on your behalf to CheapoMeds.


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SQLite 3.0 Membership and Role Provider for ASP.NET 2.0
Peter A. Bromberg, Ph.D.
"Wrong is right." -- Thelonius Monk
I've been working with the SQLite Database for well over two years now, and I was extremely pleased when I found out that Robert Simpson, a developer par excellence who has been using this amazing little database engine for a large commercial project he works on, decided to take the time to port the ADO.NET SQLite provider to the full ASP.NET 2.0 ADO.NET provider model. When I say "full", I mean he implemented designer support and even user defined functions.
Actually the word "Port" is an insult, Robert used Generics and literally started with the Provider model from scratch. Take a look at the benchmarks he provides against other popular databases, most of which are much larger and extremely complicated, and you'll share my enthusiasm for SQLite.
Recently I was cruising the .NET and found an excellent article by "andriniana" at codeproject with a well-done pass at Roles and Membership provider classes for the MySQL database. Well, it didn't take me more than ten seconds to figure out that with some careful reconstruction of the sample provider classes and the required SQL, I could have a set of ASP.NET 2.0 membership and role providers for SQLite (which in my opinion, runs rings around MYSQL in terms of being a no-installation and very lightweight, "drop in the dll" database engine). So, that's what I did!
Microsoft provides a Membership provider in the 2.0 Framework but it is only for SQL Server. However, there is provider sample code included in the framework SDK which can be used as a model. What this work here does is wire up the necessary web.config settings and the required class implementations to automatically use a SQLite provider for membership and roles. So, if you drop a Login Control or a CreateUser control on your form, they will automatically use SQLite!
I hope experienced developers will get the portability picture on this - you don't need to "install" anything, you don't even need the MS Jet OleDb provider to be installed. You can just copy or distribute your solution to any IIS Webserver, possibly with a pre-populated database, and provided that the account identity your app is running under has read/write permissions to your SQLite XXX.db provider database file, that's it! Perfect for shared hosting solutions, or custom distributions to a customer that need to "work out of the box".
I've included a sample web.config, completely filled out, a sample provider.db SQLite Database, the SQL script required to generate the tables and indexes, and completely reworked SQLiteMembershipProvider and SQLiteRoleProvider classes that can be dropped into your APP_CODE folder, and you are ready to roll! It even works with the ASP.NET 2.0 Web Site Administration Tool web page, right out of the box, so if you click on the little black arrow at the top right of a Login or Create User Control and choose Administration, you'll be completely hooked into your SQLite Database automatically with this setup (you can still use Access or Sql Server for other sites).
NOTE: SQLite connection strings are maps to a physical database file, just like JET connection strings. Therefore, unless you happen to store your web folder in the exact location on your C drive that I did when developing this solution, you'll need to change this element to match the location on your machine in the web.config:
<add name="ConnString" connectionString="Data Source=C:\CSHARPBIN2\SQLiteProvider\Provider.db;Version=3;"/>
The sample solution has most of the various Login - related controls already on it, along with a separate "Welcome" page that serves as the success target of the Login Control. If you want to test the Recover Password control, you'll need to use the WebSite Configuration web page to configure your SMTP server settings; the current block is commented out in the web.config.
Let's take a look at a sample method, CreateUser, from one of these classes, the SQLiteMembershipProvider class, to see what's involved:
public override MembershipUser CreateUser(string username,
string password,
string email,
string passwordQuestion,
string passwordAnswer,
bool isApproved,
object providerUserKey,
out MembershipCreateStatus status)
ValidatePasswordEventArgs args =
new ValidatePasswordEventArgs(username, password, true);
if (args.Cancel)
status = MembershipCreateStatus.InvalidPassword;
return null;
if (RequiresUniqueEmail && GetUserNameByEmail(email) != "")
status = MembershipCreateStatus.DuplicateEmail;
MembershipUser u = GetUser(username, false);
if (u == null)
DateTime createDate = DateTime.Now;
if (providerUserKey == null)
providerUserKey = Guid.NewGuid();
if (!(providerUserKey is Guid))
status = MembershipCreateStatus.InvalidProviderUserKey;
return null;
SQLiteConnection conn = new SQLiteConnection(connectionString);
SQLiteCommand cmd = new SQLiteCommand("INSERT INTO `" + tableName + "`" +
" (PKID, Username, Password, Email, PasswordQuestion, " +
" PasswordAnswer, IsApproved," +
" Comment, CreationDate, LastPasswordChangedDate, LastActivityDate," +
" ApplicationName, IsLockedOut, LastLockedOutDate," +
" FailedPasswordAttemptCount, FailedPasswordAttemptWindowStart, " +
" FailedPasswordAnswerAttemptCount, FailedPasswordAnswerAttemptWindowStart)" +
" Values($PKID, $Username, $Password, $Email, $PasswordQuestion, " +
" $PasswordAnswer, $IsApproved, $Comment, $CreationDate, $LastPasswordChangedDate, " +
" $LastActivityDate, $ApplicationName, $IsLockedOut, $LastLockedOutDate, " +
" $FailedPasswordAttemptCount, $FailedPasswordAttemptWindowStart, " +
" $FailedPasswordAnswerAttemptCount, $FailedPasswordAnswerAttemptWindowStart)", conn);
cmd.Parameters.Add("$PKID", DbType.String).Value = providerUserKey.ToString();
cmd.Parameters.Add("$Username", DbType.String, 255).Value = username;
cmd.Parameters.Add("$Password", DbType.String, 255).Value = EncodePassword(password);
cmd.Parameters.Add("$Email", DbType.String, 128).Value = email;
cmd.Parameters.Add("$PasswordQuestion", DbType.String, 255).Value = passwordQuestion;
cmd.Parameters.Add("$PasswordAnswer", DbType.String, 255).Value = EncodePassword(passwordAnswer);
cmd.Parameters.Add("$IsApproved", DbType.Boolean).Value = isApproved;
cmd.Parameters.Add("$Comment", DbType.String, 255).Value = "";
cmd.Parameters.Add("$CreationDate", DbType.DateTime).Value = createDate;
cmd.Parameters.Add("$LastPasswordChangedDate", DbType.DateTime).Value = createDate;
cmd.Parameters.Add("$LastActivityDate", DbType.DateTime).Value = createDate;
cmd.Parameters.Add("$ApplicationName", DbType.String, 255).Value = pApplicationName;
cmd.Parameters.Add("$IsLockedOut", DbType.Boolean).Value = false;
cmd.Parameters.Add("$LastLockedOutDate", DbType.DateTime).Value = createDate;
cmd.Parameters.Add("$FailedPasswordAttemptCount", DbType.Int32).Value = 0;
cmd.Parameters.Add("$FailedPasswordAttemptWindowStart", DbType.DateTime).Value = createDate;
cmd.Parameters.Add("$FailedPasswordAnswerAttemptCount", DbType.Int32).Value = 0;
cmd.Parameters.Add("$FailedPasswordAnswerAttemptWindowStart", DbType.DateTime).Value = createDate;
int recAdded = cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
if (recAdded > 0)
status = MembershipCreateStatus.Success;
status = MembershipCreateStatus.UserRejected;
catch (SQLiteException e)
if (WriteExceptionsToEventLog)
WriteToEventLog(e, "CreateUser");
status = MembershipCreateStatus.ProviderError;
return GetUser(username, false);
status = MembershipCreateStatus.DuplicateUserName;
return null;
Virtually all the methods in both providers are overrides of the base class. For example, the class definition of the MembershipProvider class:
namespace PAB.Web
public sealed class SQLiteMembershipProvider : MembershipProvider
After posting this article, a reader asked about alternative access to the database and asked about a SqlDataSource. I responded incorrectly. Yes, you can certainly use a SqlDataSource control with the ASP.NET 2.0 SQLite / ADO.NET Provider. But, design-time support doesn't come free. When you download the distribution of the Provider from SourceForge.net (the link can be found at Robert's site above) you will see that there is a Designer folder containing the following files:
To install designer support, execute the "Install.cmd" batch file which will install the System.Data.SQLite.dll assembly in the GAC, and the required Registry entries for designer support. Then, you'll be able to add a SqlDataSource control to your WebForms, and configure it using the SQLite data source which should now appear in the list. Note that this is only a requirement for Design-time support, it has nothing to do with deployment, which required nothing more than your System.Data.SQLite.dll assembly and your database file in locations where your ASP.NET 2.0 application expects them. With the simplified deployment model, that would be in the APP_CODE folder for the dll, and wherever your connection string specifies for the database file. Users of x64 OS versions should be aware of the fact that the entries in the vbs and .reg files will need to be changed to reflect the fact that things are different for x64 support.
It is also important to note that the account identity that your application is running under (which could be one of several different accounts, depending on how your app and IIS is configured) needs to have write permissions on the folder that the SQLite database file is located in. What this means is that if your IIS application is running under the ASPNET, IIS_WPG, or IUSR_["machineName"] accounts, the respective account must either be granted write permissions on the folder where the SQLite database file is resident, or you can use the
<identity impersonate="true" userName="privilegedUser" password="userPassword" />
web.config element to make the app run under specified credentials that have write privileges. This is no different from (and is virtually identical to) the requirements for using an MS Access database MDB file, with the exception that the OleDb JET provider is NOT required to be installed on the target machine for SQLite database usage. Once you get used to using SQLite instead of MS Access you will see huge improvements in throughput and speed, so believe me -- its well worth the effort in terms of the additional study and testing that are required to master this.
You can
download and unzip the Web Site zip file below into your favorite folder anywhere on your hard drive, and load the WebSite in Visual Studio.NET 2005 using the File Access option. No IIS Configuration is required. The SQLite engine and ADO.NET 2.0 provider DLL is included as is the complete web.config, and the provider.db SQLite Database already has 2 users "test1" and "test2" with passwords "test1" and "test2" respectively. The Default page has both a login control and a Create New User control for you to play with.
I have also included a second zip file inside the main download with a working copy of the SQLiteQA app that works a lot like Query Analyzer, which I have modified to work with SQLite 3.0 databases. NOTE: If you want to use the included SQL Script file in SQLiteQA, you'l need to highlite each separate CREATE statement separately and press F5 to execute it.
Download the Visual Studio.NET 2005 Web Site folder zip file accompanying this article.


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All right, you've been researching your family history and uncovering information on your ancestors from one, two or three generations back...maybe even more.
You have their names, dates, and hometowns, but now what? What was their life like? How did they live? Where did they do they shopping? What did a loaf of bread cost, or a pair of shoes?
Of course, the real details will come from personal records...journals, family bibles, house accounts, wills and estate records, and so on. But you can also get a feel for day-to-day living from several sources, including:
This is just an image, folks. Click on the text link to get to the real thing
The Inflation Calculator from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows the value of a dollar in current terms, going back to 1913.
For an even broader perspective on daily finances, a site called Measuring Worth shows how the cost of living and the value of money has changed over decades, generations, and centuries. There are a lot of different data soruces here, and careful explanations of how to use (and not use) the data...take a look at this comparative record of gold prices from 1257-2008.
This collection of Historic Prices in Morris County, NJ (1900-2009) shows prices of goods advertised in the local newspaper, and how they changed over the decades.
If you (well, your ancestors, actually) were heading west in the mid-1800's, here's a detailed breakout of the costs of provisions for the Oregon Trail. The trip west could easily take six months, and require close to 2,000 pounds of cargo costing about $1,000.
From one of my new favorite online resources, Hathi Trust, here's some typical diner prices from 1910.
The Home Economics Archive -- Research, Tradition and History (HEARTH) is exactly what it sounds like, a digital collection at Cornell covering daily life and keeping a home during the years 1850 to 1925.
A good window on the life of new arrivals in the US can be found at Harvard University's Immigration Collection. Some beautiful materials here, both text and visual.
You can also learn a good deal from historical maps, like these detailed topographical maps covering much of the east part of the US.
And of course, you can get one of the most detailed views of daily life from the local newspapers of a given time and place. Check out the massive collection at NewspaperArchive.com, look into Google News Archives, and if you want to explore overseas, here's a terrific site for free international newspaper archives.
Visit the main page of Free Genealogy Tools for more, umm, free genealogical tools.
And don't forget to also check for your family history at Ancestry.com a subscription database, and one of the most powerful research tools available for looking into family roots.


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